rule of contraries for the most part Where it fixes its marks of hatred we may usually find that which invites our respect and Love It should trouble us the less to be under the slights and disrespects of a blind world I could be even proud upon it said Luther that I see I have an ill name from the world And Ierome blessed God that counted him worthy to be hated of the world Labour to stand right in the Judgement of God and trouble not thy self for the rash and headlong censures of men Let wicked men said one cut the throat of my credit and do as they like best with it when the wind of their calumnies hath blown away my good name from me in the way to Heaven I know Christ will take my name out of the mire and wash it and restore it to me again Inference 7. From the whole of Christs Humiliation in his life learn you to pass through all the troubles of your life with a contented composed spirit as Christ your forerunner did He was persecuted and bare it meekly Poor and never murmured Tempted and never yielded to the Temptation Reviled and Reviled not again When ye therefore pass through any of these trials look to Jesus and consider him See how he that passed through those things before you managed himself in like circumstances yea not only beat the way by his pattern and example for you but hath in every one of those conditions left a blessing behind him for them that follow in his steps Thanks be to God for Iesus Christ. The TWENTIETH SERMON JOH XVII XI And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are WE now come to the Last and Lowest step of Christs Humiliation which was in his submitting to Death even the Death of the Cross. Out of this death of Christ the life of our souls springs up and in this blood of the Cross all our mercies swim to us The blood of Christ runs deep to some eyes The Judicious Believer sees multitudes multitudes of inestimable blessings in it By this Crimson Fountain I resolve to sit down and concerning the death of Christ I shall take distinctly into consideration the preparations made for it the nature and quality of it The Deportment and carriage of dying-Jesus The Funeral-solemnities with which he was buried And lastly the blessed designs and glorious ends of his death The preparatives for his death were six Three on his own part and three more by his enemies The preparations made by himself for it were the solemn recommendation of his friends to his Father The institution of a commemorative sign to perpetuate and refresh the memory of his death in the hearts of his people till he come again And his pouring out his soul to God by prayer in the garden which was the posture he chose to be found in when they should apprehend him This Scripture contains the first preparative of Christ for death whereby he sets his house in order prays for his people and blesses them before he dies The love of Christ was ever tender and strong to his people but the greatest manifestations of it were at parting And this he manifested two waies especially viz. in leaving singular supports and grounds of comfort with them in his last heavenly Sermon in Chap. 14.15 16. and in pouring out his soul most affectionately to the Father for them in this Heavenly Prayer Chap. 17. In this Prayer he gives them a Specimen or Sample of that his glorious intercession-work which he was just then going to perform in Heaven for them Here his heart overflowed for he was now leaving them and going to the Father the last words of a dying man are remarkable how much more of a dying Saviour I shall not lanch out into that blessed Ocean of pretious matter contained in this Chapter but take immediately into consideration the words that I have read wherein I find a weighty petition strongly followed and set home with many mighty Arguments First We have here Christs petition or request in behalf of his people Not only those on the place but all others that then did or afterwards should believe on him And the sum of what he here requests for them is that his Father would keep them through his name Where you have both the mercy and the means of attaining it The mercy is to be kept Keeping implies danger And there is a double danger obviated in this request danger in respect of sin and danger in respect of ruine and destruction To both these the people of God lie open in this world The means of their preservation from both is the name i. e. the power of God This name of the Lord is that strange Tower to which the Righteous flie and are safe Prov. 18.10 Alas it is not your own strength or wisdom that keeps you but ye are kept by the mighty power of God This protecting power of God doth not however exclude our care and diligence but implies it therefore he adds ye are kept by the mighty power of God through faith to Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 God keeps his people and yet they are to keep themselves in the Love of God Iude 21 to keep their hearts with all diligence Prov. 4.23 This is the sum of the petition Secondly The Arguments with which he urgeth and presses on this request are drawn partly from his own condition I am no more in the world i. e. I am going to die within very few hours I shall be separated from them in regard of my corporal presence Partly from their condition but these are in the world i. e. I must leave them in the midst of danger and partly from the joint interest that his Father and himself had in them Keep those that thou hast given me With several other most prevalent pleas which in their proper places shall be anon produced and displaied to illustrate and confirm this pretious truth which this Scripture affords us DOCT. That the Fatherly care and tender love of our Lord Iesus Christ was eminently discovered in that pleading prayer he poured out for his people at his parting with them It pertained to the Priest and Father of the family to bless the rest especially when they were to be separated from them by death This was a rite in Israel When good Iacob was grown old and the time was come that he should be gathered to his Fathers then he blessed Joseph Ephraim and Manasseth saying God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaack did walk the God which fed me all my life long unto this day the Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads Gen. 48.15 16. this was a prophetical and patriarchical blessing Not that Iacob could bless as God blesses he could speak the words
grace which he had not and therefore we cannot expect such extraordinary and unusual conversions as he had This poor creature never heard in all likelihood one Sermon preached by Christ or any of the Apostles He lived the life of a Highway man and concerned not himself about Religion but we have Christ preached freely and constantly in our Assemblies We have line upon line and precept upon precept And when God affords the ordinary preaching of the Gospel he doth not use to work wonders When Israel was in the Wilderness then God baked their bread in Heaven and clave the Rocks to give them drink but when they came to Canaan where they had the ordinary means of subsistance the manna ceased Reason 2. Secondly Such a conversion as this may not be ordinarily expected by any man because such a time as that will never come again It 's possible if Christ were to die again and thou to be crucified with him thou mightest receive thy conversion in such a miraculous and extraordinary way but Christ dies no more Such a day as that will never come again Mr. Fenner in his excellent discourse upon this point tells us that as this was an extraordinary time Christ being now to be installed in his Kingdom and Crowned with glory and honour so extraordinary things were now done as when Kings are Crowned the Streets are richly hanged the Conduits run with wine great Malefactors are then pardoned for then they shew their munificence and bounty it is the day of the gladness of their hearts But let a man come at another time to the Conduits he shall find no wine but ordinary water there Let a man be in the Goal at another time and he may be hanged yea and hath no reason but to expect and prepare for it What Christ did now for this man was at an extraordinary time Reason 3. Thirdly Such a conversion as this may not ordinarily be expected for as such a time will never come again so there will never be the like reason for such a conversion any more Christ converted him upon the Cross to give an instance of his divine power at that time when it was almost wholy clouded Look as in that day the divinity of Christ brake forth in several miracles as the preternatural eclipse of the Sun The great earthquake the rending of the Rocks and vail of the Temple So in the conversion of this man in such an extraordinary way and all to give evidence of the divinity of Christ and prove him to be the Son of God whom they crucified But that is now sufficiently confirmed and there will be no more occasion for miracles to evidence it Reason 4. Fourthly None hath reason to expect the like conversion that enjoys the ordinary means because though in this convert we have a pattern of what free grace can do yet as Divines pertinently observe it 's a pattern without a promise God hath not added any promise to it that ever he will do so for any other And where we have not a promise to encourage our hope our hope can signifie but little to us Inference 1. Let those that have found mercy in the evening of their life admire the extraordinary grace that therein hath appeared to them O that ever God accept the Bran when Satan hath had the Flour of thy days The forementioned reverend Author tells us of one Marcus Cajus Victorius a very aged man in the primitive times who was converted from Heathenism to Christianity in his old age This man came to Simplicianus a Minister and told him he heartily owned and embraced the Christian faith But neither he nor the Church would trust him for a long time And the reason was the unusualness and strangeness of a conversion at such an age But after he had given them good evidence of the reallity thereof there were acclamations and singing of Psalms the people every where crying Marcus Caâ—us Victorius is become a Christian. This was written for a wonder Oh if God have wrought such wondrous salvations for any of you what cause have you to do more for him than others What to pluck you out of Hell when one foot was in To appear to you at last when so hardned by long custom in sin that one might say can the Ethiopian change his hue or the Leopard his spots O what riches of mercy have appeared to you Inference 2. Let this convince and startle such as even to their gray hairs remain in an unconverted state who are where they were when they first came into the world yea rather farther off by much Bethink your selves ye that are full of days and full of sin whose time is almost done and your great work not yet begun Who have but a few sands more in the upper part of the glass to run down and then your conversion will be impossible Your sun is setting your night is coming the shadows of the evening are stretched out upon you you have one foot in the grave and the other in Hell O think if all sense and tenderness be not withered up as well as natural verdure think with your selves how sad a case you are in God may do wonders but they are not seen every day then they would cease to be wondred at O strive strive while you have a little time and a few helps and means more Strive to get that work accomplished now that was never done yet Defer it no longer you have done so too much already It may be to use Seneca's expression you have been these sixty seventy or eighty years beginning to live about to change your practice but hitherto you still continue the same Do not you see how Satan hath gulled and cheated you with vain purposes till he hath brought you to the very brinks of the grave and Hell O 't is time now to make a stand and pause a little where you are and to what he hath brought you The Lord at last give you an eye to see and an heart to consider Inference 3. Lastly Let this be a call and caution to all young ones to begin with God betime and take heed of delays till the last as so many thousands have done before them to their eternal ruine Now is your time if you desire to be in Christ if you have any sense of the weight and worth of eternal things upon your hearts I know your age is voluptuous and delights not in the serious thoughts of death and eternity You are more inclined to mind your pleasures and leave these grave and serious matters to old age But let me perswade you against that by these considerations First Oh set to the business of Religion now because this is the moulding age Now your hearts are tender and your affections flowing Now is the time when you are most likely to be wrought upon Secondly Now because this is the freest part of your time It is in the morning
Soul and be satisfied In which words thrâ—e things fall under our consideration First The travailing pangs of Christ. So the Agonies of his soul and Torments of his body are fitly call'd not only because of the sharpness and acuteness of them being in that respect like the birth pangs of a travailing woman for so this word signifies But also because they forerun and make way for the birth which abundantly recompences all those labours I shall not here insist upon the the pangs and Agonies endured by Christ in the garden or upon the Cross which the Prophet stiles the travail of his Soul having in the former Sermons open'd it largely in its particulars but pass to the Second Thing considerable in these words and that is the assured fruits and effects of this his travail He shall see the travail of his Soul By seeing understand the fruition obtainment or enjoyment of the ends of his sufferings He shall not shed his blood upon an hazard His design shall not miscarry but he shall certainly see the ends he aimed at accomplisht And Thirdly This shall yield him great satisfaction as a woman forgets her sorrow for joy that a man is born into the world Joh. 16.21 He shall see it and be Satisfied As God when he had finished the work of Creation viewed that his work with pleasure and satisfaction so doth our exalted Redeemer with great contentment behold the happy issues of his hard sufferings It affords pleasure to a man to see great affairs by orderly conduct brought to happy issues Much more doth it yield delight to Iesus Christ to see the results of that most profound wisdom and love wherein he carried on Redemption work All runs into this DOCT. That all the blessed designs and ends for which the Lord Iesus Christ humbled himself to the death of the Cross shall certainly be attained to his full content and satisfaction My present business is not to prove that Christ shall certainly obtain what he died for nor to open the great satisfaction and pleasure which will rise to him out of those issues of his death but to point at the principal ends of his death making some brief improvements as we pass along First Then let us enquire into the designs and ends of Christs humiliation at least the main and principal ones and we shall find that as the sprinkling of the Typical blood in the Old Testament was done for four weighty Ends or Uses answerably the pretious and invaluable blood of the Testator and surety of the New Testament is shed for four weighty Ends also First That blood was shed and applied to deliver from danger Exod. 12.13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are and when I see the blood I will pass over you And the Plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the Land of Egypt Secondly That blood was shed to make an attonement betwixt God and the people Levit. 4.20 And he shall do with the Bullock as he did with the Bullock for a sin offering so shall he do with this and the Priest shall make an attonement for them and it shall be forgiven them Thirdly That blood was shed to purifie persons from their ceremonial pollutions Levit. 14.6 7. He shall dip the Cedar wood and Scarlet and Hysop with the living bird in the blood of the bird that was kill'd over the running water and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the Leprosie seven times and shall pronounce him clean and shall let the living bird loose in the open field Fourthly That blood was shed to ratifie and confirm the Testament or Covenant of God with the people Exod. 24.8 And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words These were the four main Ends of shedding and sprinkling that Typical blood Sutably there are four principal Ends of shedding and applying Christs blood As that Typical blood was shed to deliver from danger so this was shed to deliver from wrath even the wrath to come That was shed to make an attonement so was this That was shed to purifie persons from uncleanness so was this That was shed to confirm the Testament so was this As will appear in the particulars more at large End 1. First One principal design and End of shedding the blood of Christ was to deliver his people from danger the danger of that wrath which burns down to the lowest Hell So you find 1 Thes. 1.10 Even Iesus who delivered us from the wrath to come Here our misery is both specified and aggravated Specifi'd in calling it wrath a word of deep and dreadful signification The damned best undâ—rstand the importance of that word And aggravated in calling it wrath to come or coming wrath Wrath to come implies both the futurity and perpetuity of this wrath It 's wrath that shall certainly and inevitably come upon sinners As sure as the night follows the day As sure as the Winter follows the Summer so shall wrath follow sin and the pleasures thereof Yea it 's not only certainly future but when it comes it will be abiding wrath or wrath still coming When millions of years and Ages are past and gone this will still be wrath to come Ever coming as a râ—ver eâ—er flowing Now from this wrath to come hath lesâ—s delivered his people by his death For that was the price laid down â—or their redemption from the wrath of thâ— grâ—at and terrible God Rom. 5.9 Much more then being â—ustified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him The blood of Jesus was the price that ransomed man from his wrath And it was shed not only to deliver them from wrath to come but to deliver them freely fully distinguishingly and wonderfully from it First Freely by his own voluntary interposition and susception of the mediatorial office moved thereunto by his own bowels of compaossion which yearned over his Elect in their misery The Saints were once a lost generation thaâ— had sold themselves and their inheritance also and had not wherewithall to Redeem either but they had a near kinsman even their elder Brother by the Mothers side to whom the right of Redemption did belong who being a mighty man of wealth the heir of all things undertook to be their Goell and out of his own proper substance to Redeem both them and their inheritance Them to be his own inheritance Eph. 1.10 And heaven to be theirs 1 Pet. 1.4 All this he did most freely when none madâ— supplication to him No sighing of the prisoners came before him He design'd it for us before we had a being And when the purposes of his grace were come to their parturient fulness then did he freely lay out the infinite treasures of his blood to purchase our
loved him even so believers hath he loved you Ioh. 17.22 what manner of love is this whoever loved as Christ loves whoever denyed himself for Christ as Christ denyed himself for us Hence we are informed that interest in Iesus Christ is the true way to all spiritual preferment in Heaven do you covet to be in the heart in the favour and delight of God get interest in Jesus Christ and you shall presently be there what old Israel said of the Children of his beloved Ioseph thy Children are my Children the same God saith of all the dear Children of Christ Gen. 48.5 9. you see among men all things are carryed by interest persons rise in this world as they are befriended preferment goes by favour 't is so in Heaven persons are preferred according to their interest in the beloved Eph. 1.6 Christ is the great favourite in Heaven his image upon your souls and his name in your prayers makes both accepted with God How worthy is Jesus Christ of all our love and delight you see how infinitely the Father delighteth in him how he ravishes the heart of God and shall he not ravish our hearts I present you a Christ this day able to ravish any soul that will but view and consider him O that you did but see this lovely Lord Jesus Christ then would you go home sick of love surely he is a drawing Saviour Ioh. 12 32. why do we lavish away our pretious affections upon vanity none but Christ is worthy of them when you spend your pretious affections upon other objects what is it but to dig for dross with golden Mâ—ttocks the Lord direct our hearts into the love of Christ. O that our hearts loves and delights might meet and concenter with the heart of God in this most blessed object O let him that left Gods bosom for you be embosomed by you though yours be nothing to Gods he that left Gods bosom for you deserves yours If Christ be the beloved darling of the Father's soul think what a grievous and unsufferable thing it is to the heart of God to see his dear Son despised slighted and rejected by sinners verily there is no such cut to the heart of God in the whole world unbelievers trample upon Gods darling tread under foot him that eternally lay in his bosom Heb. 10.29 smite the apple of his eye and how God will bear this that parable Matth 21.37 to the 40. will inform you surely he will miserably destroy such wretched sinners if you would â—tudy to do God the greatest despight there is none like this what a dismal word is that 1 Cor. 16.22 if any man love not our Lord Iesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha i. e. let the great curse of God lye upon that man till the Lord come O sinners you shall one day know the price of this sin you shall feel what it is to despise a Jesus that is able to compel love from the hardest heart O that you would slight him no more O that this day your hearts might fall in love with him I tell you if you would set your love to sale none bids so fair for it as Christ. 2. Vse of Exhortation To Saints if Christ lay eternally in this bosom of love and yet was content to forsake and leave it for your sakes then 1. Be you ready to forsake and leave all the comforts you have on earth for Christ famous Galleacius left all for his enjoyment Moses left all the glory of Aegypt Peter and the other Apostles left all Luk. 18.28 but what have we to leave for Christ in comparison of what he left for us Surely Christ is the highest pattern of self-denyal in the world 2. Let this confirm your faith in prayer if he that hath such an interest in the heart of God intercede with the Father for you then never doubt of audience and acceptance with him surely you shall be accepted through the beloved Eph. 1.6 Christ was never denyed any thing that he asked Ioh. 11.42 the Father hears him always though you are not worthy Christ is and he ever lives to make intercession for you Heb. 7.25 3. Let this incourage thy heart O Saint in a dying hour and not only make thee patient in death but in a holy manner impatient till thou be gone for whither is thy soul now going but to that bosom of love whence Christ came Joh. 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am and where is he but in that bosom of glory and love where he lay before the world was ver 5. O then let every believer incourage his soul comfort ye one another with these words I am leaving the bosom of a creature I am going to the bosom of God To sinners exhorting them to embrace the bosom-Son of God poor wretches whatever you are or have been whatever guilt or discouragement at present you lye under embrace Christ who is freely offered you and you shall be as dear to God as the holiest and most eminent believer in the world but if you still continue to despise and neglect such a Saviour sorer wrath is treasured up for you than for other sinners even something worse than dying without mercy Heb. 10.28 O that these discoveries and overtures of Christ may never come to such a fatal issue with any of your souls in whose eyes his glory hath been this day opened The THIRD SERMON ISAI LIII XII Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he was numbred with the transgressors and he bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors IN this Chapter the Gospel seems to be epitomized the subject matter of it is the death of Christ and the glorious Issue thereof by reading of it the Eunuch of old and many Jews since have been converted to Christ. Christ is here considered absolutely and relatively absolutely and so his innocency is industriously vindicated ver 9. though he suffered grievous things yet not for his own sins for he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth but relatively considered in the capacity of a surety for us So the Justice of God is as fully vindicated in his sufferings vers 6. the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all how he came to sustain this capacity and relation of a surety for us is in these verses plainly asserted to be by his compact and agreement with his Father before the worlds were made ver 10 11 12. In this verse we have 1. His Work 2. His Reward 3. The Respect or Relation of each to the other 1. His Work which was indeed a hard work to pour out his soul unto death aggravated by the companions with whom being numbred with transgressors the capacity in which bearing all the
Which still increaseth and aggravateth the misery of it If a man must die a violent death it 's a favour to be dispatcht As they that are pressed to death beg for more weight And it 's a favour to those that are hanged to be smitten on the breast or plucked by the heels by their friends On the contrary to hang long in the midst of tortures to have death coming upon us with a slow pace that we may feel every tread of it as it comes on is a misery The Tyrant that heard the poor Martyr was dead under his first torments said as one disappointed Evasit He hath escaped me For he intended to have kept him much longer under torments And it was the cruel counsel of another to his executioner Let him die so as he may feel himself how he dies And surely in this respect it was worse for Christ than any other that was ever nailed to the Tree For all the while he hanged there he remained full of life and acute sence His life departed not gradually but was whole in him to the last Other men die gradually and towards their end their sence of pain is much blunted They faulter fumble and expire by degrees but Christ stood under â—he pains of death in his full strength His life was whole in him This was evident by the mighty outcry he made when he gave up the Ghost Which argued him then to be full of strength contrary to the experience of all other men Which made the Centurion when he heard it to conclude Surely this was the Son of God Mark 15.37 39. Sixthly It was a succourless and helpless death to Christ. Sometimes they gave to malefactors amidst their torments Vinegar and Myrh to blunt dull and stupifie their Sences And if they hanged long would break their bones to dispatch them out of their pains Christ had none of this favour Instead of Vinegar and Myrh they gave him Vinegar and Gall to drink to aggravate his torments And for the breaking of his bones he prevented it by dying before they come to break his legs For the Scriptures must be fulfilled which saith not a bone of him shall be broken This now was the kind and nature of that death he died Even the violent painful shameful cursed slow and succourless death of the Cross. An Ancient punishment both among the Romans and Carthaginians But in honour of Christ who died this death Constantine the great abrogated it by Law ordaining that none should ever be Crucified any more because Christ died that Death Secondly As to the manner of the execution They that were condemned to the death of the Cross saith a Learned Antiquary of our own bare their Cross upon their own shoulders to the place of execution Then was stript of all their cloaths for they suffered naked And then were fastned to the Cross with nails The manner how that was done one gives us in these words They stretch him out meaning Christ like another Isaac upon his own burden the Cross that so they might take measure of the holes And though the Print of his blood upon it gave them the true length of his body yet how strictly do they take it longer than the truth Thereby at once to Crucifie and rack him Then being nailed like as Moses lifted up the Serpent so was the Son of man lifted up And when the Cross with the Lord fastned on it fell into its socket or basis it Jerked the whole and every part of his sacred body And the whole weight hanging on his nailed hands the wounds by degrees grew wider and wider till at last he expired in the midst of those tortures And that the equity of their proceedings might the better appear to the people the cause of the punishment was written in Capital Letters and fixed to the Tree over the head of the Malefactor Of this appendant to this kind of death I shall speak distinctly in the next Sermon before I come to handle the manner of his death there being so much of providence in that circumstance as invites us to spend more than a few transient thoughts upon it Mean while in the next place Thirdly We will enquire briefly into the reasons why Christ died this rather than any other kind of death And amongst others these three are obvious First Because Christ must bear the curse in his death and a curse by Law affixed to no other kind of death as it was to this The Learned Masius upon Iosuah 2.29 Commenting upon the death of the King of Ai who was hanged on the Tree until evening tells us that the principal reason of the malediction and execrableness of this death was because the death of Christ was prefigured in that mysterie Christ came to take away the curse from us by this death and so must be made a curse On him must all the curses of the Moral Law lie which were due to us And that nothing might be wanting to make it a full curse the very death he died must also have a Ceremonial curse upon it Secondly Christ died this rather than any other kind of death to fulfil the Types and prefigurations that of old were made with respect to it All the Sacrifices were lifted up from the earth upon the Altar But especially the brassen Serpent prefigured this death Numb 21.9 Moses made a Serpent of Brass and put it upon a pole And saith Christ Ioh. 3.14 As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up that so he might correspond with that lively Type made of him in the wilderness Thirdly Christ died this rather than any other death because it was predicted of him and in him must all the predictions as well as Types be fully accomplished The Psalmist spake in the person of Christ of this death as plainly as if he had rather been writing the History of what was done than a Prophesie of what was to be done so many years afterwards Psal. 22.16 17. For dogs have compassed me about the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me they pierced my hands and my feet I may tell all my bones they look and stare upon me Which hath a manifest reference to the distâ—ntion of all his members upon the Tree which was as a rack to him So Zech 12.10 They shall look upon me whom they have pierced Yea Christ himself had foretold the death he should die in the forecited Ioh. 3.14 Saying he must be lifted up i. e. hanged between heaven and earth And the Scriptures must be fulfilled Thus you have a brief account both of the kind manner and reasons of this death of Christ. The improvement of it you have in the following Inferences of truth diducible from it Inference 1. Is Christ dead And did he die the violent painful shameful cursed slow and succourless death of the Cross Then surely there is forgiveness with
1 Pet. 4.19 Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing as to a faithful Creator It 's very true this single relation in it self gives little ground of encouragement unless the creature had conserved that integrity in which it was originally created And they that have no more to plead with God for acceptance but their relation to him as creatures to a Creator will doubtless find that word made good to their little comfort Isa. 27.11 It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour But now grace brings that relation into repute Holiness ingratiates us again and revives the remembrance of this relation So that believers only can plead this Secondly As the gratious soul is his creature so it is his redeemed creature One that he hath bought and that with a great price Even with the pretious blood of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 This greatly encourages the departing soul to commit it self into the hands of God so you find Psal. 31.5 Into thy hands I commend my Spirit thou hast redeemed it O Lord God of truth Surely this is mighty encouragement to put it self upon God in a dying hour Lord I am not only thy creature but thy redeemed creature One that thou hast bought with a great price O I have cost thee dear For my sake Christ came from thy bosom and is it imaginable that after thou hast in such a costly way even by the expence of the pretious blood of Christ redeemed me thou shouldst at last exclude me Shall the ends both of Creation and Redemption of this soul be lost together Will God form such an excellent creature as my soul is in which are so many wonders of the wisdom and power of its Creator Will he be content when sin had marr'd the frame and defaced the glory of it to recover it to himself again by the death of his own dear Son and after all this cast it away as if there were nothing in all this Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit I know thou wilt have a respect to the work of thy hands Especially to a redeemed creature upon which thou hast been out so great sums of Love which thou hast bought at so dear a rate Thirdly Nay that 's not all the gratious soul may confidently and securely commit it self into the hands of God when it parts with its body at death not only because it is his creature his redeemed creature but because it is his renewed creature also And this lays a firm ground â—or the believers confidence of acceptecâ—a not that it is the proper cause or reason of its acceptance but as it is the souls best evidence that it is accepted with God and shall not be refused by him when it comes to him at death For in such a soul there is a double workmanship of God both glorious pieces though the last exceeds in glory A natural workmanship in the excellent frame of that noble creature the soul. And a gratious workmanship upon that again A new creation upon the old Glory upon Glory We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus Eph. 2.10 The Holy Ghost came down from heaven on purpose to create this new workmanship To frame this new creature And indeed it is the Top and glory of all Gods works of wonder in this world And must needs give the believer encouragement to commit it self to God whether at such a time it shall reflect either upon the end of the work or upon the end of the workman both which meet in the salvation of the soul so wrought upon the end of the work in our glory By this we are made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 It is also the design and end of him that wrought it 2 Cor. 55. Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God Had he not designed thy soul for glory the spirit should never have come upon such a sanctifying design as this Surely it shall not sail of a reception into glory when it 's cast out this Tabernacle Such a work was not wrought in vain neither can it ever perish When once sanctification comes upon a soul it so roots it self in the soul that where the soul goes it goes Gifts indeed they die All natural excellency and beauty that goes away at death Iob 4. ult But grace ascends with the soul. It is a sanctified when a separate soul. And can God shut the door of Glory upon such a soul that by grace is made meet for the inheritance O it cannot be Fourthly As the gracious soul is a renewed soul so it is also a Sealed Soul God hath sealed it in this world for that glory into which it is now to enter at death All gracious souls are sealed objectively i. e. they have those works of grace wrought on their souls which do as but now is said ascertain and evidence their Title to glory And many are sealed formally That is the spirit helps them clearly to discern their interest in Christ and all the promises This both secures heaven to the soul in it self and becomes also an earnest or pledge of the glory in the unspeakable joys and comforts that it breeds in the soul. So you find 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Gods sealing us gives high security His objective seal makes it sure in it self his formal seal makes it so to us But if over and above all this he will please as a fruit of that his sealing to give us those heavenly unexpressible joys and comforts which are the fruit of his formal sealing work to be an earnest a foretast and hansel of that glory how can the soul that hath found all this doubt in the least of a rejection by its God when at death it comes to him surely if God have sealed he will not refuse you If he have given you his earnest he will not shut you out Gods earnest is not given in Jest. Fifthly Moreover every gratious soul may confidently cast it self into the arms of its God when it goes hence with Father into thy hands I commit my Spirit For as much as every gratious soul is a soul in Covenant with God and God stands obliged by his Covenant and Promise to such not to cast them out when they come unto him As soon as ever thy soul became his by regeneration that Promise became its own Heb. 13.5 I will never leave you nor forsake you And will he leave the soul now at a pinch when it never had more need of a God to stand by it than it hath then every gratious soul is entitled to that Promise Ioh. 14.3 I will come again and receive you to my self And will he fail
of your life as in the morning of the day If a man have any business to be done let him take the morning for it For in the after part of the day a hurry of business comes on so that you either forget it or want opportunity for it Thirdly Now because your life is immediately uncertain You are not certain that ever you shall attain the years of your Fathers There are graves in the Church yard just of your length And skulls of all sorts and sizes in Golgotha as the Jews proverb is Fourthly Now because God will not spare you because you are but young sinners little sinners if you die Christless If you are not as you think old enough to mind Christ surely if you die Christless you are old enough to be damned There 's the small spray as well as great logs in the fire of Hell Fifthly Now because your life will be the more eminently useful and serviceable to God when you know him betime and begin with him early Austin repented and so have many thousands since him that he began so late and knew God no sooner Sixthly Now because your life will be the sweeter to you when the morning of it is dedicated to the Lord. The first fruits sanctifie the whole harvest This will have a sweet influence into all your days Whatever changes straights or troubles you may afterwards meet with The THIRTY TIHRD SERMON MATTH XXVII XLVI And about the ninth hour Iesus cried with a loud voice saying Eli Eli lamasabachtani that is to say my God my God why hast thou forsaken me THis verse contains the fourth memorable saying of Christ upon the Cross. Words able to rend the hardest heart in the world It is the voice of the Son of God in an agony His sufferings were great very great before but never in that extremity as now When this heaven-rending and heart-melting out-cry brake from him upon the Cross Eli Eli lamasabachtani In which words are considerable the time matter and manner of this his sad complaint First The time when it was uttered about the ninth hour i. e. about three of the clock after noon For as the Jews divided the night into four quarters or watches so they divided the day in like manner into four quarters or greater hours Which had their names from that hour of the day that closed the quarter So that beginning their account of their lesser hours from six in the morning which with them was the first their ninth hour answered to our third after noon And this is heedfully marked by the Evangelists on purpose to shew us how long Christ hanged in distress upon the Cross both in soul and body which at least was three full hours Towards the end whereof his soul was so filled distressed and overwhelmed that this doleful cry brake from his soul in bitter anguish My God my God c. Secondly The matter of the complaint It is not of the cruel tortures he felt in his body nor of the scoffs and reproaches of his name he mentions not a word of these they were all swallowed up in the sufferings within as the River is swallowed up in the Sea or the lesser flame in the greater He seems to neglect all these and only complains of what was more burdensom than ten thousand Crosses Even his Fathers deserting him my God my God why hast thou forsaken me It is a more inward trouble that burdens him darkness upon his spirit the hidings of Gods face from him an affliction he was totally a stranger to till now Here he lays his hand in this complaint This was the pained place to which he points in this dolorous out-cry Thirdly The manner in which he utters his sad complaint and that was with a remarkable vehemency he cried with a loud voice not like a dying man in whom nature was spent but as one full of vigor life and sence He gathered all his spirits together stirred up the whole power of nature when he made this grievous out-cry There is in it also an emphatical reduplication which shews with what vehemency it was uttered Not singly my God but he doubles it my God my God as distressed persons use to do So Elisha when Eliâ—ah was separated from him by the Chariots and Horses of fire cries out my Father my Father Nay moreover to encrease the force and vehemency of this complaint here is an affectionate interrogation Why hast thou forsaken me Questions especially such as this are full of spirits It is as if he were surprised by the strangeness of this affliction and rouzing up himself with an unusual vehemency turns himself to his Father and cries why so my Father O what dost thou mean by this What hide that face from me that never was hid before What and hide it from me now in the depth of my other torments and troubles O what new what strange things are these Lastly here is an observable variation of the language in which this astonishing complaint was uttered For he speaks both Hebrew and Syriack in one breath Eli Eli lama are all Hebrew Sabachtani is a Syriack word used here for emphasis sake Hance we observe DOCT. That God in design to heighten the sufferings of Christ to the uttermost forsook him in the time of his greatest distress to the unspeakable affliction and anguish of his soul. This proposition shall be considered in three parts The desertion it self The design or end of it The effect and influence it had on Christ. First The desertion it self Divine desertion generally considered is Gods withdrawing himself from any not as to his Essence that fills Heaven and Earth and constantly remains the same But it 's the withdrawment of his favour grace and love When these are gone God is said to be gone And this is done two ways either absolutely and wholly or respectively and only as to manifestation In the first sense Devils are forsaken of God They once were in his favour and love but they have utterly and finally lost it God is so withdrawn from them as that he will never take them into favour any more In the other sense he sometimes forsakes his dearest Children i. e. he removes all sweet manifestations of his favour and love for a time and carries it to them as a stranger though his love be still the same And this kind of desertion which is respective temporary and only in regard of manifestation is justly distinguished from the various ends and designs of it into probational cautional castigatory and poenal Probational desertions are only for the proof and trial of grace Cautional desertions are designed to prevent sin Castigatory desertions are Gods rods to chastize his people for sin Poenal desertions are such as are inflicted as the just reward of sin for the reparation of that wrong sinners have done by their sins Of this sort was Christs desertion A part of the curse and a special