death and resurrection study them set thine eye upon them till thy Heart take in the Impression of them by much Spiritual and affectionate looking on them beholding the Glory of thy Lord Christ then be transformed unto it 2 Cor. 3. It is not only a moral Patern or Copy but an effectual Cause of thy sanctification having real influence into thy Soul dead with him and again alive with him Oh Happiness and Dignity unspeakable to have this Life known and cleared to your Souls If it were how would it make you live above the World and all the vain hopes and fears of this wretched Life and the fears of Death it self yea it would make it most lovely to them that is the most affrightful Visage to the World It is the Apostles Maxime that the carnal mind is enmity against God as it is universally true of every carnal mind so of all the motions and thoughts of it even where it seems to agree with God yet it s still contrary if it acknowledge and conform to his Ordinances yet even in so doing it s in direct opposite terms to him particularly in this that which he esteems most in them the carnal mind makes least account of He chiefly eyes and values the inside the Natural Man dwells and rests in the shell and superfice of them God according to his Spiritual Nature looks most on the more Spiritual part of his worship and Worshippers The carnal mind 's in this just like it selfe altogether for the sensible external part and cannot look beyond it Therefore the Apostle here having taken occasion to speak of Baptism by terms of Paralel and resemblance with the Flood is express in correcting this mistake It is not says he in putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience Were it possible to perswade you I would recommend one thing to you learn to look on the Ordinances of God suitably to their Natures spiritually and enquire after the spiritual effect and working of them upon your Consciences We would willingly have all Religion reduced to outwards this is ouâ— natural choice and would pay all in this coyn as cheaper and easier by far and would compound for the Spiritual part rather to add and give more external perâ—ormance and ceremony Hence the natural complacency of Popery which is all for this service of the flesh and body-services and to those prescribed of God all deal so liberally with him in that kind as to add more and frame new Devices and Rites what you will in this kind Sprinklings and Washingâ— and Anointings and Incense but whither all this is it not a gross mistake of God to think him thus pleased or is it not a direct afront knowing that he is not pleased with these but desires another thing to thrust that upon him that he cares not for and refuse him what he calls for that single humble heart worship and walking with him that purity of Spirit and Conscience that he only prizes and no outward-service but for these as they tend to this end and do attain it Give me says he nothing if you give not this Oh! saith the carnal Mind any thing but this thou shalt have as many washings and offerings as thou wilt thousands of Rams and ten thousand Rivers of Oyl yea rather then fail let the Fruit of my Body go for the Sin of my Soul Thus we will the outward use of Word and Sacraments do it then all shall be well baptised we are and shall I hear much and communicate ofâ—en if I can reach it shall I â—e exact in poâ—nt of Family Worship shall I pray in secret all this I do or at least I now promise Ay but when all that is done there is yet one thing may be wanting and if it be so all that amounts to nothing is thy Conscience purged and made good by all these or art thou sâ—â—king and aiming at this by the use of all means then certainly thou shalt â—ind life in them But does thy heart still remain uncleansed from the old ways not purified from the Pollutions of the World do thy beloved sins still lodge with thee and keep possession of thy heart then art thou still a stranger to Christ and an enemy to God the word and seals of Life are dead to thee and thou still dead in the use of them all Know you not that many have made shipwrack upon the very rock of Salvation that many which were baptised as well as you and as constant attendants on all the Worship and Ordinances of God as you yet remained without Christ and died in their sins and are now past recovery Oh! that you would be warned there are still multitudes running headlong that same course tending to destruction through the midst of all the means of Salvation the saddest way of all to it through Word and Sacraments and all heavenly Ordinances to be walking hellwards Christians and yet no Christians baptised and yet unbaptised as the Prophet takes in the prophane multitude of God's own People with the Nations Jer. 9. 26. Egypt and Iudah and Edom all these Nations are uncircumcised and the worst came last and all the House of Israel are uncircumcised in the Heart Thus thus the most of us unbaptised in the heart and as this is the way of personal destruction so it is that as the Prophet there declares that brings upon the Church so many publick Judgments and as the Apostle tells that for the abuse of the Lord's Table many were sick and many slept Certainly our abuse of the holy things of God and want of their proper Spiritual Fruits are amongst the prime sins of this Land 〈◊〉 which so many 〈◊〉 have fallen in the Fields by the Sword and in the Streets by Pestilence and more likely yet to fall if we thus continue to provoke the Lord to his Face for it is the most avowed direct affront to prophane his holy things and thus we do while we answer not their proper end and are not inwardly sanctify'd by them we have no other Word nor other Sacraments to recommend to you than these that you have used so long to no purpose only we would call you from the dead forms to seek the living power of them that you perish not You think the renouncing of Baptism a horrible Word and that we would speak only so of witches yet it is a common guiltiness that cleaves to all who renounce not the filthy lusts and the self will of their own hearts for Baptism carries in it a renouncing of these and so the cleaving unto these is a renouâ—cing of it Oh! we all were sealed for God in Baptism who lives so few that have the Impression of it on the Conscience and the expression of it in the walk and fruit of their life We do not as clean washed persons abhor and fly all pollutions all fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness We have been a
the strength of his God Psal. 18. Men's resolutions fall to nothing and as a Prisoner that offers to escape and does not is bound faster thus usually it is with Men in their self purposes of forsaking sin they leave out Christ in the work and so remain in their Captivity yea it grows upon them and while we press them to free themselves and shew not Christ to them we put them upon an impossiblity but a look to him makes it feisable and easie Faith in him and that love to him which faith begets breaks through and surmounts all it s the powerful love of Christ that kills the love of sin and kindles the love of holiness in the Soul makes it a willing sharer in his death and so a happy partaker of his life for that always follows and must of necessity as here is added He that hath suffered in the flâ—sh hath ceased from sin is crucified and dead to it but he looses nothing yea it is his great gain the loss of that deadly life of the flesh for a new spiritual life a life indeed living unto God that is the end why he so dies that he may thus live That he no longer should live c. and yet live far better live to the will of God He that is one with Christ by believing he is one throughout in Death and Life as Christ rose so he that is dead to sin with him through the power of his Death rises to that new life with him through the power of his Resurrection And those two are our Sanctification which whosoever do partake of Christ and are found in him do certainly draw from him Thus are they joyned Rom. 6. 11. Likewise reekon you your selves dead indeed to sin but alive to God and both through Christ Iesus our Lord. All they that do really come to Jesus Christ as they come to him as their Saviour to be cloathed with him and made righteous by him they come likewise to him as their Sanctifier to be made new and holy by him to die and live with him to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes through the hardest sufferings and Death it self and this spiritual suffering and dying with him is the universal way of all his followers They are all Martyrs thus in the cruciâ—ying of sinful flesh and so dying for him and with him and they may well go cheerfully through though it bear the unpleasant name of Death yet as the other Death is which makes it so little terrible yea often appears so much desirable to them so is this the way to a far more excellent and happy life so that they may pass through it gladly both for the company and end of it it s with Christ they go into his death as unto life in his life Though a Believer might be free upon these terms he would not no sure could he be content with that easie life of sin instead of the Divine Life of Christ no he will do thus and not accept of deliverance that he may obtain as the Apostle speaks of the Martyrs a better resurrection Think on it again you to whom your sins are dear still and this life sweet you are yet far from Christ and his life The Apostle with intent to press this more home expresses more at large the nature of the oppoâ—te estates and lives that he speaks of so sets before his Christian Brethren 1. The Dignity of that new life 2. By a particular reflex upon the former life presses the change The former life he calls a living to the lusts of Men this new spiritual life to the will of God The lusts of Men. Such as are common to the corrupt Nature of Man such as every Man may find in himself and perceive in others The Apostle in the third verse more particularly for further clearness specifies these kind of Men that were most notorious in these lusts and those kind of lusts that are most notorious in Men. Writing to the dispersed Jews he calls sinful lusts the will of the Gentiles as having least controul of contrary light in them and yet the Jews walked in the same though they had the Law as a light and rule for the avoiding of them and implies that these lusts were unbeseeming even their former condition as Jews but much more unsuitable to them as now Christians Some of the grossest of these Lusts he names meaning all the rest all the ways of sin and representing their vileness the more lively not as some take it when they hear of such hainous sins that lessen the evil of more civil nature by the Comparison as if freedom from these were a blameless condition and a change of it needless No the Holy Ghost means it just contrary That we may judge of all sin and of our sinful nature by our estimate of these sins that are most disâ—â—rnable and abominable all sin though not equal in degree yet is of one nature and originally springing from one root arising from the same unholy nature of Man and contrary to the same holy nature and will of God So then 1. These that walk in these high ways of impiety and yet will have the name of Christians they are the shame of Christians and the profest enemies of Jesus Christ and of all others most hateful to him that seem to have taken on his name for no other end but to shame and disgrace it but he shall vindicate himself and the blot shall rest upon these impudent persons that dare hold up their faces in the Church of God as parts of it and are indeed nothing but the dishonour of it spots and blots that dare own to Worship God as his people and remain unclean riotous and prophane persons How suits thy sitting here before the Lord and thy sitting with vile ungodly Company on the Alâ—-Bench How agrees the Word sounds it well there goes a drunken Christian unclean basely covetous earthly minded Christian and the naming of these is not besides the text but the very words of it for the Apostle warrants us to take it under the name of Idolatry and in that name he reckons it to be mortified by a Christian. Col. 3. 5. Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncâ—eâ—nness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetoâ—sness which is Idolatry 2. But yet men that are some way exempted from the blot of these foul impieties may still remain slaves to sin alive to it and dead to God living to the Lusts of Men and not to the Will of God pleasing others and themselves displeasing him And the smoothest best bred and most moralized Natural is in this base thraldom And the more miserable that he dreams of liberty in the midst of his chains thinks himself gay by looking on those that wallow in gross prophaneness takes measure of himself by the most crooked lives of ungodly men about him and so thinks himself very streight but lays not the streight
further This is indeed a a great vanity and a great misery to lose that labour and gain nothing by it which duly used would be of all others most advantageous and gainful and yet all meetings are full of this Now when you come this is not simply to hear a discourse and relish or dislike it in hearing But a matter of life and death of eternal death and eternal life and the spiritual life begot and nourisht by the word is the beginning of that eternal life Follows To them that are dead By which I conceive he intends such as had heard and believed the Gospel when it came to them and now were dead And this I think he doth to strengthen these brethren to whom he writes to commend the Gospel to this intent and not to think the condition and end of it hard As our Saviour mollifies the matter of outward sufferings thus so persecuted they the Prophets that were before you And the Apostle afterwards in this Chapter uses the same reason in that same subject so here that they might not judge the point of mortification he presses so grievous as naturally Men will do he tells them it is the constant end of the Gospel and they that have been saved by it went that same way he points out to them They that are dead before you died this way that I press on you before they died and the Gospel was preached to them for that very end Men pass away and others succeed but the Gospel is still the same hath the same tenour and substance and the same ends As Solomon speaks of the Heaven's and Earth that remain the same while one Generation passes and another cometh the Gospel surpasses both in its stability as our Saviour testifies they shall pass away but not one Iot of this Word And indeed they wear and wax old as the Apostle teaches us but the Gospel is from one Age to another of most unalterable integrity hath still the same vigour and powerful influence as at the first They that formerly received the Gospel it was upon these terms therefore think them not hard and they are now dead all the difficulty of that work of dying to sin is now over with them if they had not died to their sins by the Gospel they had died in them after a while and so died eternally it is therefore a wise prevention to have sin judged and put to death in us before we die if we die in them and with them we and our sin perish together if we will not part but if it die first before us then we live for ever And what think you of thy carnal will and all the delights of sin What is the longest term of its life uncertain it is but most certainly very short thou and these pleasures must be severed and parted within a little time however thou must dye and then they dye and you never meet again Now were it not the wisest course to part a little sooner with them and let them dye before thee that thou mayest inherit eternal life and eternal delights in it pleasures for evermore It s the only bargain and let us delay it no longer This is our season of enjoying the sweetness of the Gospel others heard it before us in our rooms that now we fill and now they are removed and remove we must shortly and leave this same room to others to speak and hear in It is high time we were considering what we do here to what end we speak and hear and to lay hold on that Salvation that is held forth unto us and that we lay hold on it let go our hold of sin and those perishing things that we hold so firm and cleave so fast to do they that are dead who heard and obeyed the Gospel now repent their repentance and mortifying the flesh or do they not think ten thousand times more pains were it for many Ages all to little for a moment of that which now they enjoy and shall enjoy to eternity And they that are dead who heard the Gospel and slighted it if such a thing might be what would they give for one of these opportunities that now we daily have and daily lose and have no fruit nor esteem of them You have lately seen many of you and you that shifted the sight have heard of numbers cut off in a little time whole families swept away by the late stroke of God's hand many of which did think no other but that they might have still been with you here in this place and exercise at this time and many years after this and yet who hath laid to heart the lengthning out of their day and considered it more as an opportunity of that higher and happier life than as a little protracting of this wretched life which is hastening to an end Oh! therefore be intreated to day while it is day not to harden your hearts though the Pestilence doth not now affright you so yet that standing mortality and the decay of these earthen lodges tells us that shortly we shall cease to preach and hear this Gospel Did we consider it would excite us to more earnest search after our evidences of that eternal life that is set before us in the Gospel and we would seek it in the characters of that spiritual life which is the beginning of it within us and is wroâ—ght by the Gospel in all the heirs of Salvation Think therefore wisely of these things 1. What 's the proper end of the Gospel 2. Of the approaching end of thy days and let thy certainty of this drive thee to seek more certainty of the other that thou maist partake of it and then this again will make the thoughts of the other sweet to thee that visage of death that is so terrible to unchanged sinners shall be amiable to thine eye having found a Liâ—e in the Gospel as happy and lasting as this is miserable and vanishing and seeing the perfection of that life on the other side of death will long for the passage Be more serious in this matter of daily hearing the Gospel why it is sent to thee and what it brings and think it is too long I have flighted its Message and many that have done so are cut off and shall hear it no more I have it once more inviting me and it may be this may be the last to me and in these thoughts ere you come bow your knee to the Father of Spirits that this one thing may be granted you that your Souls may find at length the lively and mighty power of his Spirit upon yours in the hearing of this Gospel that you may be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the Spirit Thus is the particular nature of that end exprest and without the noise of various senses intends I conceive no other but the dying to the World and sin and living unto God which is the Apostle's
main subject and scope in the foregoing Discourse that death was before called a suffering in the flesh which is in effect the same and therefore though the words may be drawn another way yet its strange that Interpreters have been so far wide of this their genuine and agreeable sense and almost all of them taken in some other intendment To be judged in the flesh In the present sense is to die to sin or that sin die in us and it s thus exprest 1. Suitably tably to the nature of it it is to the flesh a violent death and it is according to a Sentence judicially put against it that guilty and miserable life of sin is in the Gospel adjudged to death there that arrest and sentence is clear and full Rom. 6. 6 c. 8. 13. That sin must die that the Soul may live it must be crucified in us and we to it that we may partake of the Life of Christ and Happiness in him And this is called to be judged in the flesh to have this sentence executed 2. The thing is the rather spoke here under the term of being judged in counter-ballance of that Judgment mentioned immediately before v. 5. The last Judgment of quick and dead wherein they that would not be thus judged but mockt and despised those that were shall fall under a far more terrible Judgment and the sentence of a heavy death indeed everlasting death though they think they shall escape and enjoy liberty in living in sin And that to be judged according to men is I conceive added to signifie the connaturalness of the life of sin to man 's now corrupt nature That men do judge it a death indeed to be severed and pulled from their sins and that a cruel death and the Sentence of it in the Gospel a heavy Sentence a hard Saying to a carnal Heart that he must give up with all his sinful delights must die indeed in self-denial must be separated from himself which is to die if he will be joyned with Christ and live in him Thus men judge that they are judged to a painful death by the Sentence of the Gospel although it is that they may truely and happily live yet they understand it not so They see the death the parting with sin and all its pleasures but the life they see not nor can any know it till partaking of it it is known to him in whom it is it is hid with Christ in God And therefore the opposition here is very fiâ—ly thus represented that the death is according to men in the flesh but the life is according to God in the Spirit As the Christian is adjudged to this death in the flesh by the Gospel so he is lookt on and accounted by carnal men as dead for that he enjoyes not with them what they esteem their life and think they could not live without it one that cannot carrouse and swear with prophane Men is a silly dead Creature good for nothing and he that can bear wrongs and love him that injured him is a poor spiritless fool hath no mettal nor life in him in the World's account thus is he judged according to men in the flesh he is as a dead man but lives according to God in the Spirit dead to men and alive to God as ver 2. Now if this life be in thee it will act all life is in motion and is called an act but most of all active is this most excellent and as I may call it most lively life it will be moving towards God often seeking to him making still towards him as its principle and fountain holy and affectionate thoughts of him sometimes on one of his sweet attributes sometimes on another as the Bee amongst the Flowers And as it will thus act within so outwardly laying hold on all occasions yea seeking out ways and opportunities to be serviceable to thy Lord employing all for him commending and extolling his goodness doing and suffering chearfully for him laying out the strength of desires and parts and means in thy station to gain him Glory If thou be alone then not alone but with him seeking to know more of him and be made more like him if in company then casting about how to bring his name in esteem and to draw others to a love of Religion and Holiness by Speeches as it may be â—it and most by the true behaviour of thy carriage Tender over the Souls of others to do them good to thy utmost thinking each day an hour lost when thou art not busie for the honour and advantage of him to whom thou now livest thinking in the Morning now what may I do this day for my God How may I most please and glorifie him and use my strength and wit and my whole self as not mine but his and then in the evening reflecting O Lord have I seconded these thoughts in reality what glory hath he had by me this day whither went my thoughts and endeavours what busied them most have I been much with God have I adorned the Gospel in my converse with others And if finding any thing done this way to bless and acknowledge him the spring and worker of it If any step aside were it but to an appearance of evil or if any fit season of good hath escapt thee unprofitably to check thy self and to be grieved for thy sloth and coldness and see if more love would not beget more diligence Try it by sympathy and antipathy which follows the nature of things as we see in some Plants and Creatures that cannot grow cannot agree together and others that do favour and benefit mutually If thy Soul hath an aversion and reluctancy against holiness this is an evidence of this new Nature and Life Thy heart rises against wicked ways and speeches oaths and cursings and rotten communication yea thou canst not endure unworthy discourses wherein most spend their time findest no relish in the unsavory societies of such as know not God canst not sit with vain persons but findest a delight in those that have the image of God upon them such as partake of that Divine Life and carry the evidences of it in their carriage David did not disdain the fellowship of the Saints and that was no disparagement to him he implies in the name he gives them Psal. 16. The excellent ones the Magnifick or Noble and that word is taken from one that signifies a robe or noble Garment so he thought them Nobles and Kings as well as he and had robes royal and therefore Companions of Kings A spiritual eye looks on spiritual dignity and esteems and loves them that are born of God how low soever be their natural birth and breeding The Sons of God have of his Spirit in them and are born to the same inheritance where all shall have enough and they are tending homewards by the conduct of the same Spirit that is in them so that there must be amongst them a
painful diseases that either quickly cut the thread of Life or make their aged bones full of the sins of their youth Take what way you will there is no place nor condition so senc'd and guarded but publick calamities or personal griefs find away to reach us Seeing then we must suffer however this kind of suffering to suffer for righteousness is far the best what he said 〈◊〉 of doing ill we may well say of suffering ill if it must be 't is best to be for a Kingdome And those are the terms on which Christians are called to suâ—â—er for righteousness if we will reign with Christ certain 〈…〉 sâ—ffer with him and if we do suffer with hi◠〈…〉 we shall reign with him And therefoâ—◠〈…〉 are happy But 〈…〉 suffering for righteousness only with relation to 〈◊〉 Apostle's present reasoning his conlusion he establishâ— 1. From the favour and protection of God 2. From the nature of the thing it self Now we would consider the consistence of this supposition with those reasons 1. The Eyes of the Lord being on the righteous for their good and his Ear open to their Prayer how is it that for all that favour and inspection they are so much expos'd to suffering and even for the regard and affection they bear towards him suffering for righteousness these seem not to agree well yet they do 'T is not said that his Eye is so on them as that he will never see them afflicted nor have them suffer any thing no but this is their great priviledge and comfort in suffering that his gracious Eye is then upon them and sees their trouble and his Ear towards them not so as to grant them an exemption for that they will not seek for but seasonable deliverance and in the mean while strong support as is evident in that 34th Psalm If his Eye be always on them he sees them suffer often for their afflictions are many ver 19. and if his Ear be to them he hears many sighs and cries press'd out by sufferings and they are content this is enough yea better then not to suffer they suffer and often directly for him but he sees it all takes perfect notice on 't therefore 't is not lost And they are forc'd to cry but none of their cries escape his Ear he hears and he manifests that he sees and hears for he delivers them and till he does he keeps them from being crush'd under the weight of the suffering he keeps all his bones not one of them is broken He sees yea appoints and provide these conflicts for his choicest Servants he sets his Champions to encounter the malice of Satan and the World for his sake to give proof of the truth and the strength of their love to him for whom they suffer and to overcome even in suffering He is sure of his design'd advantages out of the sufferings of his Church and Saints for his name he loses nothing nor they lose nothing but their Enemies when they rage most and prevail most are ever the most losers his own glory grows and his peoples graces grow yea their very number grows and that sometimes most by their greatest sufferings It was evident in the first Ages of the Christian Churches where were the glory of so much invincible love and patience if they had not been so put to it 2. For the other that the said following of good would preserve from harm it speaks truly the nature of it what 't is apt to do and what in some measure it often doth but the considering the nature of the World its enmity against God and Religion that strong poyson in the Serpents Seed it is not strange that it often proves otherwise that notwithstanding the righteous carriage of Christians yea even because of it they suffer much 't is a resolv'd case all that will live godly must suffer Persecution it meets a Christian in his entry to the way of the Kingdome and goes along all the way no sooner begin thou to seek the way to Heaven but the World will seek how to vex and molest thee and make that way grievous if no other way by scoffs and taunts as bitter blasts to destroy the tender blossom or bud of Religion or as Herod to kill Christ newly born you shall no sooner begin to enquire after God but twenty to one they will begin to enquire if thou art gone mad but if thou knowest who 't is whom thou hast trusted and whom thou lovest this is a small matter what though it were deeper and sharper sufferings yet still if you suffer for righteousness happy are you Which is the Second thing was proposed and more particularly imports that a Christian under the heaviest load of sufferings for righteousness is yet still happy notwithstanding these suffering 2dly That he is happier even by these sufferings And 1. All the sufferings and distresses of this World are not able to destroy the Happiness of a Christian nor diminish it yea they cannot at all touch it 't is out of their reach If it were built on worldly enjoyments then worldly deprivements and sufferings might shake it yea might undo it when those rotten stoups fail that which rests on them must fall he that hath set his heart on his riches a few hours can make him miserable 't is almost in any bodies power to rob him of his Happiness a little slight or disgrace undoes him or whatsoever the Soul fixes on of these moving unfixed things pluck them from it and it must cry after them ye have taken away my God's But the Believer's happiness is safe out of shot he may be impoverished and imprison'd and tortur'd and kill'd but this one thing is out of hazard he cannot be miserable still in the midst of all these subsists a happy Man If all Friends be shut out yet the visits of the Comforter may be frequent bringing him glad tydings from Heaven and communing with him of the love of Christ and solaâ—ing him in that 'T was a great word for a Heathen of his false 〈◊〉 kill me they may but they cannot hurt me how much more confidently may the Christian say so banishment he â—ears not for his Country is above nor death for that sets him home into that Country The believing Soul having hold of Jesus Christ can easily despise the best and the worst of the World and give a defie to all that 's in it can share with the Apostle in that which he gives I am perswaded that neither death nor life shall separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Yea what tho' the frame of the World were a dissolving and salling a pieces this happiness holds and is not stir'd by it for 't is in that Rock of Eternity that stirs not nor changes at all Our main work truly if you will believe it is this to provide this immoveable happiness that amidst all changes and losses and sufferings
may hold firm You may be free chose it rather not to stand to the courtesie of any thing about you nor of any Man whether enemy or friend for the tenure of your happiness lay it higher and surer and if you be wise provide such a peace as will remain untouch'd in the hottest flame such a light as will shine in the deepest dungeon and such a life as is safe even in death it self that life that is hid with Christ in God But if in other sufferings even the worst and saddest the Believer is still a happy Man then more especially in those that are the best kind suffering for righteousness not only do they not detract from his happiness but 2dly They concur and give accession to it he is happy even by so suffering As will appear from the following considerations 1. 'T is the happiness of a Christian until he attain perfection to be advancing towards it to be daily resining from sin and growing richer and stronger in the graces that make up a Christian a new creature to attain a higher degree of patience and meekness and humility to have the heart more weaned from the Earth and fixed on Heaven now as other afflictions of the Saints do help them in those their sufferings for righteousness the unrighteous and injurious dealing of the World with them have a particular fitness for this purpose those trials that come immediately from God's own hand seem to bind to a patient and humble compliance with more authority and I may say necessity There is no plea no place for so much as a word unless it be directly and expresly against the Lord's own dealing but unjust suffering at the hands of Men requires that respect unto God without whose hand they cannot move that for his sake and for reverence and love to him a Christian can go through those with that mild evenness of Spirit that overcomes even in suffering And there is nothing outward more fit to perswade a Man to give up with the World and its Friendship than to feel much of its enmity and malice and that directly acting it self against Religion making that the very quarrel which is of all things dearest to a Christian and in highest esteem with him If the World should caress them and smile on them they might be ready to forget their home or at least to abate in the frequent thoughts and fervent desires of it and turn into some familiarity with the World and favourable thoughts of it and thus let out somwhat of their hearts after it and thus grace would grow faint by the diversion and calling forth of the Spirits as in Summer in the hottest and fairest weather 't is with the body 'T is a confirm'd observation by the experience of all Ages that when the Church flourish'd most in outward peace and wealth it abated most of its spiritual lustre which is its genuine and true beauty and when it seem'd most miserable by persecutions and sufferings 't was most happy in sincerity and zeal and vigour of grace when the Moon shines brightest towards the Earth 't is dark Heavenwards and on the contrary when it appears not is nearest the Sun and clear towards Heaven 2dly Happy in acting and evidencing by those sufferings for God their love to him Love delights in difficulties and grows in them the more a Christian suffers for Christ the more he loves Christ accounts him the dearer and the more he loves him still the more can he suffer for him 3dly Happy as in testifying love to him and glorifying him so in conformity with him which is loves ambition affects likeness and harmony at any rate a Believer would readily take it as an affront that the World should be kind to him that was so harsh and cruel to his beloved Lord and Master Canst thou expect or wouldst thou wish smooth language from that World that revil'd thy Jesus that called him Beelzebub couldst thou own and accept friendship at its hands that buffetted him and shed his blood or art thou rather most willing to share with him and of S. Paul's mind God forbid that I should glory in any thing save in the Cross of Christ whereby the World is crucified to me and I unto the World 4. The rich supplies of spiritual comfort and joy that in those times of suffering are usual that as sufferings for Christ do abound consolations in him abound much more as the Apostle testifies God speaking most peace to the Soul when the World speaks most War and enmity against it and this compenses abundantly when the Christian lays the greatest sufferings Men can inflict in the one ballance and the least glances of God's countenance in the other it says 't is worth all the enduring of these to enjoy this says with David let them curse but bless thou let them frown but smile thou And thus he usually doth refreshes such as are prisoners for him with visits that they would buy again with the hardest restraint and debaring of nearest friends The World cannot but misjudge the state of suffering Christians it sees their Crosses but not their anointings Was not St. Stephen think you in a happy posture even in his enemies hands was he afraid of the Showre of Stones coming about his ears that saw the Heavens opened and Jesus standing on the Father's right hand so little troubled with the stoning him that as the Text hath it in the midst of them he fell a sleep 5. If those sufferings be so small weigh'd down even with present comforts and so the Christian happy in them in that regard how much more doth the weight of Glory surpass that follows these sufferings they are not worthy to come in comparison they are as nothing to that glory that shall be revealed in the Apostle's Arithmetick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when I have cast up the sum of the sufferings of this present time this instant this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they amount to just nothing in respect of that glory Now these sufferings happy because the way to this happiness and pledges of it and if any thing do they raise the very degree of it however 't is an exceeding excellent weight of glory the Hebrew word that signifies glory signifies weight yet the glories that are here are all too light except in weight of cares and sorrows that attend them but that hath the weight of compleat blessedness speak not of all the sufferings nor of all the prosperities of this poor life nor of any thing in it as worthy of a thought when that glory is named yea let not this life be called life when we mention that other life that our Lord by his death hath purchas'd for us Be not afraid of their terrour No time nor place in the World so favourable to Religion that it is not still needful to arm a Christian mind against the outward oppositions and discouragements he shall meet with all
Christ in whom all our rights and evidences hold good his death assuring us of freedom from condemnation and his life and possession of glory the foundation of our hope Heb. 6. 19. If you would have it immoveable rest it there lay all this hope on him and when assaulted feteâ— all your answers for it from him for 't is Christ in you that is your hope of glory Coloss. 1. 27. Verse 16. 16. Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse your good Conversation in Christ. THE prosperity of fools is their destruction says Solomon none of God's Children die of this disease of too much ease he knows well how to breed them and fit them for a Kingdome he keeps them in exercise but yet so as they are not surcharg'd he not only directs them how to overcome but enables and supports them in all their conflicts and gives them victory One main thing tending to their enablement and victory is this which is here requir'd in the Saints and is withal wrought and maintained in them by the Spirit of God Having a good Conscience c. 1. Two parties here opposed in contest the evil Tongues of the ungodly and the good Conscience and Conversation of the Christian they speak evil of you and falsly accuse you but have you a good Conscience 2dly The success of their contest the good Conscience prevails and the evil-speakers are ashamed They speak evil This is a general evil in the corrupt nature of Man though in some it rises to a greater height than in others Are not Tables and Chambers and almost all Societies and meetings full of it and even they that have some dislikings of it yet readily carried with the stream and for company's sake take a share if not in sending in their word yet lending their ear and willingly hearing the detractions of others and unless it be of their friends or such as they have interest in do insensibly slide into some forc'd complacency and easily receive the impression of calumnies and defamings But the most are more active in this evil can cast in their penny to make up the shot have their taunt or criticisme upon some body in readiness to make up the feast such as most companies entertain one another withal but 't is a vile diet Satan's name as the Syriack calls him an eater of calumnies This tongue-evil hath its root in the heart a perverse constitution there pride and self-love an overweening esteem that Men naturally have of themselves mounts them into that Chair gives them a fancied authority of judging others and self-love a desire to be esteem'd and for that end spare not to depress others and load them with disgraces and missensures upon their ruins to raise themselves But this bent of the heart and tongue unrenew'd to evil speaking works and vents most in the World against those that walk most contrary to the course of the World This Furnace of the tongne is kindled from hell as St. Iames tells us and is made seven times hotter than ordinary As for sincere Christians a Company of hypocrites say they who so godly but yet they are false and malicious and proud c. And no kind of carriage in them shall escape there shall be some device to wrest and misname it if they be cheerful in Society that shall be accounted more liberty than suits with their profession if of a graver sad temper that shall pass for sullen severity thus Iohn Baptist and Christ Matth. 11. If they be diligent and wary in their affairs then in the World's construction they are as covetous and worldly as any if careless and remiss in them then silly wiâ—less bodies good for nothing still somthing stands cross The Enemies of Religion have not any where so quick an Eye as in observing the ways of such as seek after God my remarkers David calls them they that scan my ways as the word is will not let piss the least step unexamined If nothing be found faulty then their invention works either forges compleat falshoods or disguises somthing that lyes open to mistake or if they can catch hold on any real failing no end of their triumph and insultations 1. They aggravate and raise it to the highest 2. While they will not admit to be judged of themselves by their constant walk they scruple not to judge of the condition of a Christian by any one particular action wherein he doth or seems at least to miscarry 3. They rest not there but make one failing of one Christian the reproach of all take up your Devoto's there 's never a one of them the better 4. Nor rest they there but make personal failings of those that profess it the disgrace of Religion it self Now all these are very crooked Rules and gross injustice 1. There is a great difference betwixt a thing taken favourably and the same action misconstrued 2. A great difference betwixt one particular act and a mans estate or inward frame which they either consider not or willingly or maliciously neglect 3. How large is the difference that there is betwixt one and another in the measure of Grace and of their prudence either in their Naturals or in Grace or possibly in both that some who are honest in matter of Religion yet being very weak may miscarry in such things as other Christians come seldome near the hazard of and though some should wholly forsake the way of Godliness wherein they seem'd to walk yet why should that reflect upon such as are real and steadfast in it they were amongst us sayes the Apostle but were not of us Offences of this kind must be but the woe rests on him by whom they come not on other Christians and if it spread further than the party offending 't is to the prophane World that take offence at Religion because of him as our Saviour hath express'd it Woe to the World because of offences they shall stumble and fall and break their necks upon these stumbling blocks or scandals Thou that art prophane and seest the failing of a Minister or Christian and art hardened by it this is a Judgment to thee that thou meetest with such a block in thy Way Woe to the World Its judgement on a place where God makes Religion in the Persons of some to be scandalous 4. Religion it self remains still it self whatsoever be the failings and blots of one or more that profess it it is pure and spotless if it teach not Holiness and Meekness and Humility and all good purely then except against it but if it be a streight golden Reâ—d by which the Temple is measured then let it have its own esteem both of streightness and preciousness whatsoever unevenness be found in those that profess to receive it Suspect and search your sâ—lves even in general for this evil of evil-speaking Consider that we are to give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an account of words and if for idle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worklets words how much more of lying or biting words Learn more humility and self-censure blunt that fire-edge upon your own hardand disordered hearts that others may meet with nothing but charity and lenity at your hands But particularly beware this in more or less earnest or in jest to reproach Religion or those that profess it know how particularly the glorious name of God is interess'd in that and they that dare to be assronting him what shall they say how shall they stand when he calls them to account If you have not attained to it yet do not bark against it but the rather esteem highly of Religion love it and the very appearance of it where you fâ—â—d it give it respect and your good word at least and from an external approbation Oh! that you would aspire to inward acquaintance with it and then no more were needful to be said in this it would commend it self to you sufficiently but in the mean time be ashamed be 〈◊〉 of that prosess'd enmâ—y against God that is amongst you a malignant hateful Spirit against those that desire to walk holily whetting your Tongues against them 1. Consider What do you mean this Religion we all profess is it the way to Heaven or is it not do you believe this word or no If you do not what do you here If you do then you must believe too that they that walk closest by this Rule are surest in that way they that dare not share with your Oaths and excessive Cups and prophane Conversation what can you say it is not possible to open your mouth against them without renouncing this Word and Faith Therefore either declare you are no Christians and Christ not yours or in his name I enjoyn you that you dare no more speak an ill word of Christianity and the power of Religion and those that seek after it There be not many higher signs of a reprobate Mind than to have a bitter virulent Spirit against the Children of God Seek that tie of affection and fraternity for hereby we know says the beloved Apostle St. Iohn that we are translated from death to life because we love the Brethren But because those hissings are the natural Voice of the Serpents Seed expect them you that have a mind to follow Christ and take this guard against them that is here directed you having a good Conscience 'T is a fruitless verbal debate whether Conscience be a Faculty or Habit or not and as in other things so in this that most of all reqaires more solid and useful Consideration the vain mind of man feedeth on the wind loves to be busie to no purpose How much better is it to have this supernatural goodness of Conscience than to dispute about the Nature of it to find it duely teaching and admonishing reproving and comforting rather than to define it most exactly When all is examin'd 't will be found to be no other but the mind of man under the Notion of a particular Reference to himself and his own Actions And there is a twofold goodness of the Conscience Purity and Tranquillity and this flows from the other so that the former is the thing we ought primely to study and the latter will follow of it self for a time indeed the Conscience that is in a good measure pure may be unpeaceable but still it is the apprehension and sense of present or former impurity that makes it so for without the consideration of guiltiness there is nothing that can trouble it it cannot apprehend the wrath of God but with relation unto sin The Goodness of Conscience here recommended is the integrity and holiness of the whole inward Man in a Christian so the Ingredients of it are 1. A due Light or Knowledge of our Rule that as the Lamps in the Temple must be still burning within as filthiness is always the companion of darkness therefore if you would have a good Conscience you must by all means have so much Light so much Knowledge of the Will of God as may regulate you and shew you your way teach you how to do and speak and think as in his presence 2. A constant regard and using of this Light applying it to all not sleeping but working by it still seeking a nearer conformity with the known will of our God daily redressing and ordering the affections by it not sparing to knock off whatsoever we find irregular within that our hearts may be polish'd and brought to a right Frame by that Ruiâ— and this is the daily inward Work of the Christian his great business to purifie himself as his Lord is pure And 3. For the advancing of this work is needful a frequent search of our Hearts and of our Actions not only to consider what we are to do but what we have done these reflex inquiries as they are a main part of the Conscience's proper work they are a chief means of making and keeping the Conscience good 1 Acquainting the Soul with its own estate with the motions and inclinations that are most natural to it 2. Stirring it up to work out and purge away by repentance the pollution it hâ—th contracted by any outward act or inward motion of sin 3. This search both excites and enables the conscience to be more watchful teaches how to avoid and prevent the like errors for the time to come as natural wise Men labour to gain thus out of their former oversight in their affairs to be the wiser and warier by them and lay up that as bought wit that they have payed dear for and therefore are careful to make their best advantage on 't God makes the consideration of their falls preservatives to his Children from falling makes a medicine of this poyson Thus that the Conscience may be good it must be enlighten'd and it must be watchful both advising before and after censuring according to that light The most little regard this they walk by guess either ignorant Consciences and the blind you say swallow many a fly yea how many Consciences without sense as feared with an hot Iron stupified that feel nothing others satisfied with a civil righteousness an imagin'd goodness of conscience because they are free from gross crimes others that know the rule of Christianity yet study not a conscientiou respect to it in all things some transient looks upon the rule and their own hearts it may be but sit not down make it not their business have time for any thing but that share not with St. Paul do not exercise themselves in this to have a conscience void of offence towards God and Men. Those were his asceticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he breath'd himself in striving against what might defile the Conscience or as the word signifies elaborately wrought and dress'd his conscience Think you that other things cannot be done without diligence and
for his Companion against evil and troubleous times if moral Integrity went so far as truly it did much in some men that had much of it that they scorn'd all hard Encounters and esteemed this a sufficient Bulwark a strength impregnable Hic murus Aheneus esto nil conscire sibi how much more the Christians good Conscience which alone is truly such 2. As the Christian may thus look inward and rejoyce in tribulation so there is another look upward that is here likewise mention'd that allays very much all the sufferings of the Saints If such be the will of God The Christian mind hath still one eye to this above the hand of men and all inferiour causes in suffering whether for the name of God or otherwise Looks on the Sovereign will of God and sweetly complies with that in all Neither is there any thing that doth more powerfully compose and quiet the mind than this makes it invincibly firm and content when it hath attained this resignment of it self to the will of God to agree to that in every thing This is the very thing wherein tranquility of spirit lies it is no riddle nor hard to understand yet few attain it And I pray you what is thus gained by our reluctancies and repinings but pain to our selves he doth what he will whether we consent or no our disagreeing doth not prejudge his Purposes but our own Peace if we will not be led we are drawn we must suffer if he will but if we will what he wills even in suffering that makes it sweet and easie when our mind goes along with his and we willingly move with that stream of Providence which will carry us with it though we row against it and we still have nothing but toyl and weariness for our pains But this hard Argument of Necessity is needless to the Child of God perswaded of the Wisdom and Love of his Father knows that to be truly best for him that his hand reaches Sufferings are unpleasant to the flesh and it will grumble but the Voice of the Spirit of God in his Children is that of that good King good is the Will of the Lord let him do with me as seems good in his eyes My foolish heart would think these things I suffer might be abated but my wise and heavenly Father thinks otherwise he hath his design of honour to himself and good to me in these which I would be loath to cross if I might I may do God more service by these advantages but doth not he know best what fits cannot he advance his Grace more by the want of these things I desire than I could do my self by having them cannot he make me a gainer by Sickness and Poverty and Disgraces and loss of Friends and Children by making up all in himself and teaching me more of his all-sufficiency yea even concerning the Affairs of my Soul I am to give up all to his good pleasure though desiring the light of his countenance above all things in this World yet if he see it fit to hide it sometimes if that be his will let me not murmur there is nothing lost by this obedient temper yea what way soever he deals with us there is much more advantage in it No Soul shall enjoy so much in all estates as that which hath devested and renounced it self and hath no will but Gods Verse 18. 18. For Christ hath also once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit THE whole Life of a Christian is a steady aiming at Conformity with Christ so that in any thing whether doing or suffering there can be no Argument so apposite and perswasive as his Example and no obedience either active or passive so difficult but the representment of that Example will powerfully sweeten it The Apostle doth not decline the often use of it here we have it thus for Christ also suffered Though the Doctrine of Christian suffering is the occasion of speaking of Christ's suffering yet he insists on it beyond the simple necessity of that Argument for its own excellency and further usefulness so we shall consider the double capacity 1. As an encouragement and engagement for Christians to suffer 2. As the great point of their Faith whereon all their Hopes and Happiness depends being the means of their reduction to God The sufferings of Christ being duely considered doth much temper all the sufferings of Christians especially such as are directly for Christ. 1. It is some known ease to the mind in any distress to look upon Examples of the like or greater distress in present or former times It diverts the eye from continual poreing on our own suffering and when we return to view it again it lessens it abates of the imagined bulk and greatness of it Thus publick thus Spiritual troubles and particularly the sufferings and tentations of the Godly by the consideration of this as their common lot their high way not new in the Person of any 1 Cor. 10. 13. If we trace the Lives of the most eminent Saints shall we not find every notable step that is recorded marked with a new cross one trouble following on another as the Waves do in an uncessant succession And is not this manifest in the Life of Abraham and of Iacob and the rest of God's Worthies in the Scriptures and doth not this make it an unreasonable absurd thought to dream of an exemption would any one have a new untroden way cut out for him free of Thorns and strewed with Flowers all along no contradictions nor hard measure from the World or imagine that there may be such a dexterity necessary as to keep its good will and the friendship of God too this will not be and its an universal conclusion all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution this is the Path to the Kingdom that which all the Sons of God the Heirs of it have gone in even Christ as that known word is one son without sin but none without suffering Christ also suffered The example and company of the Saints in suffering is very considerable but that of Christ is more than any other yea than all the rest together Therefore the Apostle having represented the former at large ends in this as the top of all Heb. 12. 1 2. There is a race set before us it is to be run and run with patience and without fainting now he tells us of a cloud of Witnesses a cloud made up of instances of Believers suffering before us and the heat of the day wherein we run is somewhat cooled even by that Cloud compassing us But the main strength of their comfort here lyes in beholding of Christ eying of his sufferings and their Issue The considering and contemplating of him will be the strongest cordial will keep you from wearying and fainting in the way v. 3.
the first was there is no power of hell can dissolve it He suffered once to bring us once unto God never to depart again as he suffered once for all so we are brought once for all We may be sensibly nearer at one time than another but yet we can never be separate nor cut off being once knit by Christ as the bond of our Union Neither Principalities nor Powers c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God because it holds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit The true life of a Christian is to eye Christ every step of his life both as his rule and as his strength looking to him as his pattern both in doing and suffering and drawing power from him for going through both for the look of Faith doth that fetches life from Jesus to enable it for all being without him able for nothing Therefore the Apostle doth still set this before his Brethren and here having mentioned his suffering in general the condition and end of it he specifies the particular kind of it that which was the utmost put to death in the flesh and then adds this issue out of it Quickned by the Spirit The strongest engagement and the strongest encouragement he our head crowned with Thorns and shall the body look for Garlands We redeemed from hell and Condemnation by him and can any such refuse any Service he calls them to they that are washt in the Lambs blood will follow him wheresoever he goes and following him through they shall find their Journeys end overpay all the troubles and sufferings of the way These are they said he to Iohn which came out of great tribulation tribulation and great tribulation yet they came out of it and glorious too arrayed in long white robes The scarlet Strumpet as follows in that Book died her Garments red in the blood of the Saints But this is their happiness that their Garments are washt white in the blood of the Lamb. Once take away sin and all suffering is light now that is done by this his once suffering for sin they that are in him shall hear no more of that as condemning them binding them over to suffer that wrath that is due to sin Now this puts an invincible strength into the Soul for all other things how hard soever Put to death This tâ—e utmost point and that which Men are most startled at to die and a violent death put to death and yet he hath led in this way who is the Captain of our Salvation In the flesh Under this second his humane Nature and Divine Nature and power are differenced Put to death in the flesh a very fit expression not only as is usual taking the flesh for the whole Manhood but because death is most properly spoken of that very person or his flesh the whole Man suffers death a dissolution or taking a pieces and the Soul suffers a separation or dislodging but death or the privation of life and sense particularly to the flesh or body but the Spirit here opposed to the flesh or body is certainly of a higher Nature and Power than is the Humane Soul which cannot of it self return and reinhabit and quicken the body Put to Death His death was both voluntary and violent that same power that restored his life could have kept it exempted from death but the design was for death he therefore took our flesh to put it off thus and offered it up as a Sacrifice which to be acceptable must of necessity be free and voluntary and in that sense he is said to have died even by that same Spirit that here in opposition to death is said to quicken him Heb. 9. 14. Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself without spot unto God They accounted it an ill boding sign when the Sacrifices came constrainedly to the Altar and drew back and on the contrary were glad in the hopes of success when they came chearfully-forward but never Sacrifice came so willingly all the way and from the first step knew whether he was going Yet because no other Sacrifice would serve he was most content Sacrifices and burnt Offerings thou didst not desire Then said I loe I come c. Was not only a willing Sacrifice as Isaac bound peaceably and laid on the Altar but his own Sacrificer the Beasts if they came willingly yet offered not themselves but he offered up himself and thus not only by a willingness far above all those Sacrifices of Bullocks and Goats but by the eternal Spirit offered up himself Therefore he says in this regard I lay down my life for my sheep it is not pull'd from me but I lay it down and so it is often exprest by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he died and yet this suites with it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put to death yea it was also expedient to be thus that his death should be violent and so the more penal carry the more clear expression of a punishment and such a violent death as had both ignominy and a Curse tyed to it and this inflicted in a judicial way though as from the hands of Men most unjustly that he should stand and be Judged and Condemned to Death as a guilty Person carrying in that the Persons of so many that should otherwise have fallen under Condemnation as indeed guilty he was numbred with transgressors as the Prophet hath it bearing the sins of many Thus then there was in his Death external violence joyned with internal willingness But what is there to be found but Complications of Wonders in our Lord Jesus O! high inconceivable mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh nothing in this World so strange and sweet as that conjuncture God Man humanitas Dei what a strong Foundation of Friendship and Union betwixt the Persons of Man and God that their natures met in so close embraces in one Person And then look on and see so poor and despised an outward condition through his life yet having hid under it the Majesty of God all the brightness of the Fathers Glory And this the top of all that he was put to Death in the flesh the Lord of life dying the Lord of Glory cloathed with shame But it quickly appeared what kind of Person it was that died by this he was put to Death indeed in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit Quickned He was indeed too great a morsel for the Grave to digest for all its vast craving mouth and devouring appetite crying give give yet forced to give him up again as the fish that Prophet who in that was the figure of him the Chains of that Prison are strong but he was too strong a Prisoner to be held by them as our Apostle hath it in his Sermon that it was not possible that he should be kept by them They thought all was sure when they had rolled to the Stone and
sealed it that then the Grave had indeed shut her mouth upon him it appeared a done business to them and lookt very compleat-like in his Enemies eyes and very desperate like to his Friends his poor Disciples and Followers were they not near the point of giving over when they said This is the third day c. And we thought this had been he that should have delivered Israel And yet he was then with them who was indeed the Deliverer and Salvation of Israel that rolling of the Stone to the Grave was as if they had rolled it towards the East in the night to stop the rising of the Sun the next Morning much further above all their Watches and power was this Sun of Righteousness in his rising again That body that was enâ—omb'd was united to the Spring of Life the Divine Spirit of the Godhead that quickened it Obs. 1. Thus the Church which is likewise his Body when it seems undone is brought to the lowest Posture yet by vertue of that mystical Union with Jesus Christ as his Natural Body by personal Union with his Deity shall be preserved from destruction and shall be delivered and raised in due time Yet as he was nearest his exaltation in the lowest step of his Humiliation so is it with his Church when things are brought to the most hopeless appearance then shall light arise out of darkness Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses Therefore as we ought to seek more humble Sense of Sions distress so withal not to let go this hope that her mighty Lord will in the end be glorious in her deliverance and all her sufferings and low estate shall be as a dark Soil to set off the lusture of her restorement when the Lord shall visit her with Salvation As in the rising of Jesus Christ his Almighty Power and Deity was more manifested than if he had not died and therefore we may say confidently with the Psalmist to his Lord Psal. 71. Thou which hast shewed me greâ—t and sore troubles shall quicken me again and shall bring 〈◊〉 up from the depths of the Earth thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side Yea the Church comes more beautiful out of the deepest distress let it be oâ—erwhelmed with waves yet it sinks not but rises up as only washt And in this confidence we ought to rejoyce even in the midst of our sorrows and though we live not to see them yet even in beholding afar off to be gladed with the great things the Lord will do for his Church in these later times he will certainly make bare his holy Arm in the Eyes of the Nations and all the ends of the Earth shall see the Salvation of our God His King that he hath set on his holy Hill shall grow in his Conquests and Glory and all that rise against him shall he break with a Rod of Iron He was humbled once but his glory shall be for ever as many were astonished at him his Visage being mar'd more than any Man they shall be as much astonished at his Beauty and Glory so shall he sprinkle many Nations and Kings shall shut their mouths at him According as here we find that remarkable evidence of his Divine Power in rising from the dead put to death in the Flesh but quickened by the Spirit 2. Thus a believing Soul at the lowest when to its own sense it is given over unto death and swallowed up of it as it were in the Belly of Hell yet look up to this Divine Power him whose Soul was not left there will not leave thine there Yea when thou art most sunk in thy sad apprehensions and far off to thy thinking then is he nearest to raise and comfort thee as sometimes it grows darkest immediately before day Rest on his power and goodness which never failed any that did so It is he as David says that lifts up the Soul from the Gates of Death 3. Would any of you be cured of that common Disease the fear of Death look this way and you shall find more than you seek you shall be taught not only not to fear but to love it Consider 1. His Death He died by that thou that receivest him as thy life maist be sure of this that thou art by that his death freed from the second death and that 's the great Point let that have the name which was given to the other the most terrible of all terrible things and as the second death is removed this death that thou art to pass through is I may say beautified and sweetned the ugly Visage of it becomes amiable when ye look on 't in Christ and in his death that puts such a pleasing comeliness upon it that whereas others fly from it with affrightment the Believer cannot chuse but embrace it longs to lie down in that Bed of Rest since his Lord lay in it and hath warmed that cold Bed and purified it with his fragrant Body 2. But especially looking forward to his return thence quickened by the Spirit this being to those that are in him the certain pledge yea the effectual Cause of that blessed Reâ—urrection that is in their hopes there is that Union betwixt them that they shall rise by the communication and vertue of his rising not simply by his Power so the wicked to their grief shall be raised but they by his life as theirs Therefore is it so often re-iterated Io. 6. where he speaks of himself as living and Life-giving Bread to Belivers adds I will raise them up at the last day This comfort we have even for the house of Clay we lay down and for our more considerable part our immortal Souls this his death and rising hath provided for them at their dislodging entring into that Glory where he is Now if these things were lively apprehended and laid hold on Christ made ours and the first Resurrection manifest in us quickened by his spirit to newness of life certainly there would not be a more wellcome and refreshing thought nor a sweeter discourse to us than that of death and no matter for the kind of it were it a violent death so was his Were it that we account most judgement like amongst diseases the plague was not his death very painful and was it not an accursed death and by that curse endured by him in his is not the Curse taken away to the Believer Oh! how wellcome shall that day be that day of Deliverance to be out of this woâ—ful Prison I regard not at what Door I go out at being at once freed from so many deaths and set in to enjoy him who is my life Verses 19 20 21. 19. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison 20. Which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight souls were saved by water 21. The like figure
save as the Apostle here avers of Baptism Now that which is intended for our help our carnal minds are ready to turn into a hinderance and disadvantage The Lord representing invisible things to the eye and confirming his Promises even by visible seals we are apt by the grossness of our unspiritual hearts instead of steping up by that which is earthly to the Divine Spiritual things represented to stay on the outward Element and go no further therefore the Apostle to lead us into the inside of this Seal of Baptism is very clear in designing the effect and fruit of it Not says he putting away the silth of the flesh and water if you look no further can do no more There is an invisible impurity upon our Nature chiefly on our invisible Part our Soul this washing means the taking away of thatâ— and where it reaches its true effect it doth so purifie the Conscience and makes it good truly so in the sight of God who is the â—udge of it Consi 1. â—s a pitiful thing to see the Ignorance of the most professing Christianity and partaking of the outward Seals of it and yet knowing not what they mean know not the spiritual dignity and vertue of them blind in the Mysteries of the Kingdom and not so much as sensible of that blindness And being ignorant of the Nature of these holy things cannot have a due esteem of them which arises out of the view of their inward worth and efficacy A confused fancy of some good in them and this rising to the other extream to a superstitious confidence in the simple performance and participance of them as if that carried some inseparable Vertue with it which none could miss of that are sprinkled with the Waters of Baptism and share in the Elements of Bread and Wine in the Lord's Supper And what is the utmost Plea of the most for their Title to Heaven but in these relative and external things they are Christians are Baptized hear the Word and are admitted to the Lord's Table not considering how many through all these have gone and daily are going on in the ways of death never coming near Jesus Christ who is the Way and Truth and the Life whom the Word and the Seals of it hold forth to Believers and they are washt in his Blood and quickened with his Life and made like him and Coheirs of Glory with him 2. Even thâ—y that have some clearer Notion of the Nature and 〈◊〉 of the Seals of Grace yet are in a practiâ—â— Error that they look not with due diligence into themselves enquiring after the efficiency of them in their hearts do not study the Life of Christ to know more what it is and then to search into themselves for the Truth and the growth of that Life within them Is it not an unbelieving thing for a Christian when he is about to appear before the Lord's Table and so looks something more narrowly within to find as little Faith as little Divine Affection a Heart as unmortified to the World as cold towards Christ as before his last Address to the same Table after the intervening possibly of many Months in which time had he been careful often to reflect inwards on his Heart and look back upon that new sealing in his last Participation he might likely have been more suitable And truly as there is much guiltiness cleaves to us in this so readily much more in reference to this other Sacrament that is here the Apostles Subject Baptism because but once administred and that in Infancy very seldom and slightly considered by many even real Christians And so we are at a loss in that Profit and Comfort that increase of both Holiness and Faith that the frequent recollecting of it after a Spiritual manner would no doubt advance us to And not only neglect to put our selves upon the thoughts of it in private but in the frequent opportunities of such thoughts in publick let it pass unregarded are idle inconsiderate and so truly guilty beholders and the more frequent we have them are the less toucht with them they become common and work not and the â—lighting of them grows so common with us as the thing Yea when the Engagement is more special and personal when Parents are to present their Infants to this Ordinance and then might and certainly ought to have a more particular and fixed eye upon it and themselves as being sealed with it to ask within after the Fruit and Power of it and to stir up themselves anew to the Actings of Faith and Ambition after newness of Life and with earnest prayer for their Children to be Suâ—ters for themselves for further evidence of their interest in Christ yet possibly many are not much in these things at such times but are more busied to prepare their House for entertaining their Friends than to prepare their hearts for offering up their Infant unto God to be sealed and withal to make a new offer of their own hearts to him to have renewed on them the inward Seal of the Covenant of Grace the outward Seal whereof they did receive as it is now to be conferr'd upon their Infant Did we often look upon the Face of our Souls the seeing of the many spots we have defil'd them with after our washing it might work us to shame and grief and would drive us by renewed Application to wash often in that blood which that water figures which alone can â—etch out the stain of sin and then it would set us upon renewed Purposes of Purity to walk more carefully to avoid the pollutions of the World we walk in and to purge out the pollutions of the Hearts that we carry about with us that deâ—ile us more than all the World besides It would work an holy disdain oâ— sin often to contemplate our selves as washed in so precious a â—aver shall I would the Christian say considering that I am now cleansed in the precious blood of my Lord Jesus run again into that puddle where he so graciously took me out and made me clean Let the Swine wallow in it he hath made me of his Sheâ—pâ—old he hath made me of that excellent order for which all are consecrated by that washing that partake of it washt us in his Blood and made us Kings and Pâ—â—ests unto God the Father Am I of these and shall I debase my self to the 〈◊〉 pleasures of sin No I will think my self too good to serve any sinful lust seeing he hath lookt on me and taken me up and washt and dignified me I am wholly his all my study and business shall be to honour and magnifie him The Answer of a Good Conscience c. The taking away of Spiritual 〈◊〉 as the true and saving effect of Baptism the Apostle here expresses by that which is the further result and effect of it The answer of a good Conscience unto God For its the washing of that filthiness which makes both the Conscience
be filthy still in the sight of God There is such a Generation a Multitude of them that is pure in their own Eyes and yet are not washed from their filthiness Moral evil persons that are most satisfied with their own estate or such as have further a form of Godliness but their lusts not mortified by the power of it secret pride and earthliness of Mind and vain glory and carnal wisdom still pleasingly entertained within these are foul Pollutions filthy and hateful in the sight of God so that where it is thus that the heart is peaceably possest with such guests there the blood and Spirit of Christ are not yet come neither can there be this answer of a Good Conscience unto God This answer of a Good Conscience unto God as likewise its questioning to enable it self for that answer is touching two great points that are of chief concern to their Soul its Iustification and Sanctification for Baptism is the Seal of both and purges the Conscience in both respects that water as the figure both of the blood and water the justifying blood of Christ and the pure water of the sanctifying Spirit of Christ takes away the condemning guiltiness of sin by the one and the polluting filthiness by the other Now the Conscience of a real Believer enquiring within upon right discovery will make this answer unto God Lord I have found that there is no standing before thee for the Soul in it self is overwhelmed with a World of guiltiness but I find a blood sprinkled upon it that hath I am sure vertue enough to purge it all away and to present it pure unto thee and I know that wheresoever thou findest that blood sprinkled thine anger is quench'd and appealed presently upon the sight of it That hand cannot smite where that blood is before thine eye And this the Lord does agree to and authorises the Conscience upon this account to return back an answer of safety and peace to the Soul So for the other Lord I find a living Work of holiness on this Soul though there is yet corruption there yet it is as a continual grief and vexation it s an implacable hatred there is no peace betwixt them but continual enmity and hostility and if I cannot say much of the high degrees of Grace and faith in Christ and love to him and heavenliness of Mind yet I may say there is a beginning of those at least this I most confidently affirm that there are real and earnest desires of the Soul in these things It would know and conform to thy will and be delivered from it self and its own will and though it were to the highest displeasure of all the World it would gladly walk in all well pleasing unto thee And he that sees the truth of these things knowing it to be thus owns it as his own work and engages himself to advance it on and bring it to perfection This is a taste of that intercourse the purified Conscience hath with God as the saving fruit of Baptism And all this it doth not of it self but by vertue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ which refers both to the utmost effect Salvation and the nearer effect as a means and pledge of that the purging of the Conscience By this his Death and the effusion of his Blood in his sufferings are not excluded but are included in it His Resurrection being the evidence of all that work of Expiation both compleated and accepted full Payment made by our Surety and so he set free and his Freedom the Cause and the Assurance of ours Therefore the Apostle St. Paul expresses it so That he died for our sins and rose for our righteousness and our Apostle shews us the worth of our living hope in this same resurrection Chap. 1. v. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead Now that Baptism doth apply and seal to the Believer his Interest in the death and resurrection of Christ the Apostle St. Paul teaches to the full Rom. 8. 3. The dipping into the waters our dying with him and the return thence our rising with him The last thing is the resemblance of Baptism in these things with the saving of Noah in the Flood and it holds in that we spoke last of for he seemed to have rather entred into a Grave as dead than into a safeguard of Life in going into the Ark yet there being buried he rose again as it were in his coming forth to begin a new World The Waters of the Flood drown'd the Ungodly as a heap of filthiness washt them away they and their sin together as one being inseparable and upon the same Waters the Ark floating preserved Noah Thus the Waters of Baptism are intended as a deludge to drown Sin and to save the Believer that by Faith is separated both from the World and from his Sin so it sinks and he is saved And there is further one thing specified by the Apostle wherein though it be a little hard yet chiefly intends the paralel The fewness of these that are sav'd by both for though many are sprinkled with the Elemental Water of Baptism yet few so as to attain by it the Answer of a good Conscience towards God and to live by participance of the Resurrection and Life of Christ. Thou that seest the World perishing in a deluge of Wrath and art now most thoughtful for this how thou shalt escape it fly into Christ as thy safety and rest secure there thou shalt find life in his death and that life further ascertained to you in his rising again so full and clear a Title to Life in these two that thou canst challenge all Adversaries upon this very Ground as unconquerable whilest thou standest on it and speak thy challenge in the Apostles stile It is God that justifieth who shall condemn But how know you that he justifies it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen who sitteth at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us It alludes to that place Isa. 50. where Christ speaks of himself but in the name of all that adhere to him he is near that justifies me who is he that will contend with me so that what Christ speaks there the Apostle with good reason imparts to each Believer as in him If no more to be laid to Christ's charge being now acquitted as is clear by his rising again then neither to thine who art cloathed with him and one with him This the grand Answer of a good Conscience and in point of justifying them before God no answer but this What have any to say to thee thy debt is paid by him that undertook it he is free answer all accusations with this Christ is risen And then for the mortifying of sin and strengthing of thy Graces look daily on that
Faith in that his Glory and then think thy self too good to serve any base lust look down on Sin and the World with a holy disdain being united to him who is so exalted and so glorious And let not thy mind creep here engage not thy Heart to any thing that Time and this Earth can afford Oh! why are we so little there where there is such a spring of delightful and high thoughts for us If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where he sits what mean you are ye such as will let go you interest in this once crucified and now glorified Jesus if not why are ye not more like it why does it not possess your hearts more ought it not to be thus should not our hearts be where our Treasure where our blessed Head is Oh! how unreasonable how unfriendly is it how much may we be ashamed to have room for earnest thoughts or desires or delights about any thing beside him Were this by these that have right in it much wrought upon the heart would there be found in them any ingagement to the poor things that are passing away would death be a terrible word yea would it not be one of the sweetest most rejoycing thoughts to solace and ease the heart under all pressures to look forward to that day of Liberty This inâ—ectious Disease may keep possession all the Winter and grow hot with the year again do not flatter your selves anâ— think its past you have yet remembring strokes to keep it in your eye But however shall we abide still herâ—â— or is there any thing duly weighed why we should desire it well if ye would be untied beforehand and so feel it less this is the only way look up to him who draws up all hearts that do indeed behold him then I say thy heart shall be removed beforehand and the rest is easie and sweet when that 's done all is gained And consider how he desires the compleating of our union Shall it be his begging and earnest desire and shall it not be ours too that where he is there we may be also with patient submission yet striving by desires and suits looking out for our release from this Body of Sin and death The End of the Third Chapter 1 Ep. St. Peter Chap. IV. Ver. 1. Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin THE main of a Christians duty lies in these two patience in suffering and avoidance of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they have a natural influence each into the other altho affliction simply doth not yet affliction sweetly and humbly carried doth purifie and disingage the heart from sin weans it from the world and the common wayes of it And again holy and exact walking keeps the Soul in a sound healthful temper and so enables it to patient suffering to bear things more easily as a strong body endures fatigue heat and cold and hardship with ease a small part whereof would surcharge a sickly constitution The conscience of Sin and careless unholy courses do wonderfully weaken a Soul and distemper it so that it is not able to endure much every little thing disturbs it Therefore the Apostle hath reason as to insist on these two points so much in this Epistle so to interweave so often the one with the other pressing jointly throughout the chearful bearing of all kind of afflictions and the careful forbearing all kind of Sin and out of the one discourse slides into the other so here And as the things agree in their nature so in their great Pattern and Principle jesus Christ and the Apostle still draws both from thence that of Patience ch 3. ver 18. that of Holiness here Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us c. The chief study of a Christian and the very thing that makes him to be a Christian is conformity with Christ. This is the Sum of Religion said that wise Heathen to be like him whom thou worshippest But the example being in it self too sublime is brought down to our view in Christ the brightness of God veil'd and veil'd in our own flesh that we may look on it The inaccessible Light of the Deity is so attempered in the humanity of Christ that we may read our Lesson by it in him and may direct our walk by it and that truly is our only way nothing but wandring and perishing in all other wayes darkness and misery out of him but he that follows me says he shall not walk in darkness And therefore is he set before us in the Gospel in so clear und lively colours that we may make this our whole endeavour to be like him Consider here 1. The high ingagement to this conformity 2. The nature of it 3. The actual improvement of it The ingagement lies in this that he suffered for us Of this before only in reference to this had he come down as some have mis-imagined it only to set us this perfect way of obedience and give us an example of it in our own nature this had been very much that the Son of God would descend to teach wretched man and the great King to descend into man and dwell in a Tabernacle of Clay to set up a School in it for such ignorant accursed creatures and did in his own person act the hardest lessons both in doing and suffering to lead us in both But the matter goes yet higher than this Oh! how much higher hath he suffered not simply as our rule but as our Surety and in our stead He suffered for us in the flesh We the more obliged to make his suffering our example because it was to us more than an example it was our ransom This makes the conformity reasonable in a double respect 1. It is due that we follow him who led thus as the Captain of our Salvation that we follow in suffering and in doing seeing both were so for us its strange how some Armies have addicted themselves to their head to be at his call night and day in Summer and Winter to refuse no travel or endurance of hardship for him and all only to pleasure him and serve his inclination and ambition as Caesar's trained bands especially the eldest of them a wonder what they endured in countermarches and tracing from one Country to another But besides that our Lord and Leader is so great and excellent and so well deserves following for his own worth this lays upon us an obligation beyond all conceiving that he first suffered for us that he endured such hatred of Men and such wrath of God the Father and went through death so vile a death to procure our life what can be too bitter to endure or too sweet to forsake to follow him Were this duly considered would we cleave to our lusts or to our ease would we
not through fire and water yea through death it self yea were it through many deaths to go after him 2. Consider as its due so it is made easie by that his suffering for us our burden that pressed us to hell taken off is not all as nothing that is left to suffer or do our Chains that bounds us over to eternal Death being knock'd off shall we not walk shall we not run in his ways Oh! think what that Burden and Yoke was he hath eased us of how heavy how unsufferable it was and then we shall think what he so truly says that all he lays on is sweet his yoke easie and his burden light Oh! the happy change rescued from the vilest slavery and called to conformity and Fellowship with the Son of God 2. The Nature of this Conformity to shew the nearness of it is exprest in the very same terms as in the pattern it is not a remote resemblance but the same thing even suffering in the flesh But that we may take it right what suffering is here meant it is plainly this ceasing from sin so suffering in the flesh here is not the enduring of afflictions which is a part of a Christians Conformity with his head Christ Rom. 8. But this is a more inward and spiritual suffering it is the suffering and the dying of our Corruption the taking away the life of sin by the death of Christ and that death of his sinless flesh works in the Believer the death of sinful flesh that is the Corruption of his Nature which is so usually in Scripture called flesh Sin makes Man base drowns him in flesh and the lusts of it makes the very Soul become gross and earthly turns it as it were to flesh so the Apostle calls the very Mind that is unrenewed a carnal mind Rom. 8. And what doth the mind of a Natural Man hunt after and run out into from one day and year to another is it not on things of this base World and the concernment of his flesh What would he have but be accommodated to eat and drink and dress and live at ease he minds earthly things savours and relishes them and cares for them examin the most of your pains and time and your strongest desires and most serious thoughts if they go not this way to raise your selves and yours in your Worldly condition yea the highest projects of the greatest natural Spirits are but earth still in respect of things truly spiritual all their State Designs go not beyond this poor life that perishes in the flesh and is daily perishing even while we are busiest upholding it and providing for it present things and this lodge of clay this flesh and its interest take up most of our time and pains the most yea all till that change be wrought the Apostle speaks of till Christ be put on Rom. 13. put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ and then the other will easily follow that follows in the Words make no provision for the flesh to fullfil it in the lusts thereof Once in Christ and then your necessary general care for this natural life will be regulated and moderated by the Spirit And for all unlawful and enormous desires of the flesh you shall be rid of providing for these instead of all provision for the life of the flesh in that sense there is another guest and another life for you now to wait on and furnish for in them that are in Christ that flesh is dead they are frâ—ed from its drudgery he that hath suffered in the flesh hath rested from sin Ceased from sin â—e is at rest from it a Godly Death as thâ—y that die in the Lord rest from their labours he that hath suffered in the flesh and is dead to it dies indeed in the Lord rests from the base turmoil of sin it is no longer his Master As our sin was the cause of Christs death his death is the death of sin in us and that not simply as he bear a moral pattern of it but the real working cause of it hath an effectual influence on the Soul kills it to sin I am crucified with Christ says S. Paul Faith so looks on the death of Christ that it takes the impression of it sets it on the heart kills it unto sin Christ and the Believer do not only become one in law so as his death stands for theirs but are in nature so as his death for sin causes theirs to it Rom. 6. 3. This suffering in the flesh being unto death and such a death Crucifying hath indeed pain in it but what then it must be so like his and the believer like him in willingly enduring it all the pain of his suffering in the flesh his love to us digested and went through it so all the pain to our nature in severing and pulling us from our beloved sins and our dying to them if his love be planted in our hearts that will sweeten it and make us delight in it love desires nothing more than likeness and shares willingly in all with the party loved and above all love this Divine Love is purest and highest and works strongliest that way takes pleasure in that pain and is a voluntary death as Plato calls love it is strong as death makes the strongest body fâ—ll to the ground so doth the love of Christ make the activest and liveliest sinner dead to his sin And as death fevers a Man from his dearest and most familiar friends thus doth the love of Christ and his death flowing from it fever the heart from its most beloved sins I beseech you seek to have your hearts set against sin to hate it to wound it and be dying daily to it Be not satisfy'd unless ye feel an abatement of it and a life within you disdain that base service and being bought at so high a rate think your selves too good to be slaves to any base lust you are called to a more excellent and more honourable service And of this suffering in the flesh we may safely say what the Apostle speaks of the sufferings with and for Christ that the partakers of these sufferings are co-heirs of glory with Christ if we suffer thus with him we shall also be glorified with him if we die with him we shall live with him for ever 3. The actual improvement of this Conformity Arm your selves with the same Mind or thoughts of this Mortification Death taken Naturally in its proper sense being an intire privation of life admits not of degrees but this figurative death this Mortification of the flesh in a Christian is gradual in so far as he is renewed and is animated and acted by the Spirit of Christ he is throughly mortified for this death and that new life joyned with it and here added ver 2. go together and grow together but because he is not totally renewed and there is in him of that corruption still that is here called flesh therefore is
this great task to be gaining further upon it and overcoming and mortifying it every Day and to this tend the frequent Exhortations of this Nature Mortifie your members that are on the earth So Rom. 6. Likewise reekon your selves dead to sin and let it not reign in your mortal bodies Thus here Arm your selves with the same Mind or with this very thought Consider and apply that suffering of Christ in the flesh to the end that you with him suffering in the flesh may cease from sin Think it ought to be thus and seek that it may be thus with you Arm your selves There is still fighting and sin will be molesting you though wounded to death yet will it struggle for life and seek to wound its enemy will assault the graces that are in you Do not think if it be once struck and you have a hit near to the heart by the Sword of the Spirit that therefore it will stir no more No so long as you live in the flesh in these bowels there will be remainders of the life of this flesh your natural corruption Therefore ye must be Armed against it Sin will not give you rest so long as there is a drop of blood in its vein one spark of life in it and that will be so long as you have life here This old Man is stout and will fight himself to death and at the weakest it will rouze up it felt and act its dying Spirits as Men will do sometimes more eagerly then when they were not so weak nor so near death This the Children of God often find to their grief that corruptions which they thought had been cold dead stir and rise up again and set upon them A â—assion or Lust that after some great stroke lay along while as dead stirred not and therefore they thought to have heard no more of it though it shall never recoverfully again to be lively as before yet will revive in such a measure as to molest and possibly to foyl them yet again Therefore is it continually necessary that they live in Arms and put them not off to their dying day till they put off the body and be altogether free of the flesh you may take the Lord's promise for victory in the â—nd that shall not fail but do not promise your self ease in the way for that will not hold if at somtimes you be at under give not all for lost he hath often won the Day that hath been foiled and wounded in the fight but likwise take not all for won so as to have no more conflict when sometimes you have the better as in particular battels be not desperate when you loose nor secure when you gain them when it is worst with you do not throw away your Arms nor lay them away when you are at best Now the way to be armed is this the same mind how would my Lord Christ carry himself in this case and what was his business in all places and Companies was it not to do the will and advance the glory of his Father If I be injured and reviled consider how would he do in this would he repay one injury with another one reproach with another reproach No being reviled he reviled not again Well through his strength this shall be my way too Thus ought it to be with the Christian framing all his ways and words and very thoughts upon that model the mind of Christ and to study in all things to walk even as he walked 1. Studying it much as the reason and rule of Mortification 2. Drawing from it as the real Cause and Spring of mortification The pious Contemplation of his Death will most powerfully kill the love of sin in the Soul and kindle an ardent hatred of it The Believer looking on his Jesus crucified for him and wounded for his transgressions and taking in deep thoughts of his spotless Innocency that deserved no such thing and of his matchless love that yet endured it all for him then will he think shall I be a friend to that which was his deadly enemy shall sin be sweet to me that was so bitter to him and that for my sake shall I ever have a favourable thought or lend it a good look that shed my Lord's blood shall I live in that for which he died and died to kill it in me Oh! let it not be To the end it may not be let such really apply that Death to work this on the Soul for this is always to be added and is the main indeed by holding and fastning that Death close to the Soul effectually to kill the effects of sin in it to stiâ—â—e and crush them dead by pressing that death on the heart looking on it not only as a most compleat model but as having a most effectual vertue for this effect and desiring him intreating our Lord himself who communicates himself and the vertue of his death to the Believer that he would powerfully cause it to flow to us and let us feel the vertue of it It s then the only thriving and growing life to be much in the lively Contemplation and Application of Jesus Christ to be continually studying him and conversing with him and drawing from him receiving of his fullness grace for grace Wouldest thou have much power against sin and much increase of holiness let thine eye be much on Christ set thine heart on him let it dwell in him and be still with him When sin is like to prevail in any kind go to him tell him of the insurrection of his enemies and thy inability to resist and desire him to suppress them and to help thee against them that they may gain nothing by their stirring but some new wound If thy heart begin to be taken with and move towards sin lay it before him the beams of his love shall eat out that fire of these sinful lusts Wouldest thou have thy Pride and Passions and love of the World and self love kill'd go suit for the vertue of his death and that shall do it seek his Spirit the Spirit of Meekness and Humility and Divine Love Look on him and he shall draw thy heart heavenwards and unite it to himself and make it like himself And is not that the thing thou desirest Verses 2 3. Ver. 2. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God 3. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness lusts excess of Wine revellings banquetings and abominable idolatries THE Chains of sin are so strong and so fastened on our Nature that there is in us no power to break them off till a mightier and stronger Spirit than our own come into us The Spirit of Christ dropt inâ—o the Soul makes it able to break through an host and leap over a Wall as David speaks of himself furnisht with
heart and so though I have used it sometime it s still unprofitable and uncomfortable to me although it be so yet hold on give it not over or need I say this to thee though it were referr'd to thy self wouldest thou forsake it and leave off then what wouldest thou do next for if no comfort in it far less any for thee in any other way If tentation should so far prevail with thee as to try intermission either thou wouldest be forced to return to it presently or certainly wouldest fall into a more grievous condition and after horrours and lashings must at length come back to it again or perish for ever Therefore however it go continue praying strive to believe that love thou canst not see for where sight is abridg'd there it is proper for faith to work if thou canst do no more lie before thy Lord and look to him Lord here I am thou maist quicken and revive me if thou wilt and I trust thou wilt but if I must do it I will lie at thy feet my life is in thy hand and thou art goodness and mercy while I have breath I will cry or if I cannot cry yet I will wait on and look to thee One thing forget not that the ready way to rise out of this sad yet safe estate is to be much in viewing the Mediator and interposing him betwixt the fathers view and thy Soul Some that do orthodoxly believe this to be right yet as often befals us in other things of this kind they do not so consider and use it in their necessity as becomes and therefore fall short of comfort he hath declared it no Man comes to the Father but by me How vile soever put thy self under his robe and into his hand and he will lead thee in to the Father and present thee acceptable and blameless The Father shall receive thee and declare himself well pleased with thee in his well beloved Son who hath covered thee with his righteousness and brought thee so Cloathed and set thee before him 3. The third thing is the reason binding on these The end of all things is at hand This is needful often to be remembred for even believers too readily forget it and it s very sutable to the Apostles foregoing discourse of Judgement and to his present exhortation to sobriety and watchfulness unto prayer even the general end of all at hand though since the Apostle writ this many Ages are past For 1. The Apostles usually speak of the whole time after the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh as the last time for that two double Chiliads of years past before it the one before the other under the Law and in this third it is conceived shall be the end of all things And the Apostles seem by divers expressions to have apprehended it in their days not far off So St. Paul 1. Thess. 4. 17. We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds As not impossible that it might come in their time which put him upon some explication of that correction of their mistakes in his next Epistle to them wherein notwithstanding he seems not to assert any great tract of time to interveen but in that time great things were first to come 2. However this might always have been said in respect of succeeding Eternity the whole duration of the World is not considerable and to the eternal Lord that made it and hath appointed its period a thousand years are as one day We think a thousand years a great matter in respect of our short life and more through our short sightedness that look not through to eternal life but what is the utmost length of time were it millions of years to a thought of eternity We find much room in this earth but to the vast heavens it is but as a point Thus that which is but small to us a field or little inclosure a Fly had it skill would divide it into vinces in proportion to it self 3. To each man the end of all things is even after our measure at hand for when he dies the World ends for him Now this consideration fits the Subject and presses it strongly seeing all things shall be quickly at an end even the frame of Heaven and Earth why should we knowing this and having higher hopes lay so much out of our desires and endeavours upon these things that are posting to ruine it s no hard notion to be sober and watchful to prayer to be trading that way and seeking higher things very moderate in these seeing they are of so short a date and as in themselves and their utmost term so more to each of us particularly who are so soon cut off and flee away why should our hearts cleave to those things from which we shall so quickly part and if we will not freely part and let go we shall be pulled away and pull'd with the more pain the closer we cleave and faster we are glued to them This the Apostle St. Paul casts in seasonably though many think it not seasonable at such times when he is discoursing of a great point of our life marriage to work Christian minds to a holy freedom both ways whether they use it or no not to view it nor any thing here with the World's Spectacles that make it look so big and so fixed but to see in the stream of time as passing by and no so great matter the fashion of this World passeth away as a pageant or shew in a Street going through and quickly out of sight what became of all the marriage Solemnities of Kings and Princes of former Ages that they were so taken up with in their time when we read of them described in History they are as a night dream or a day fancy that passes through the wind and vanishes Oh! foolish man that hunts such poor things and will not be called off till death benight him and his great work not done yea not begun no nor seriously thought of your Buildings your Trading your Lands your Matches and Friendships and Projects when they take with you and your hearts are after them say but for how long all these their end is at hand therefore be sober and watch unto prayer learn to divide better more hours for it and fewer for them your whole heart for it and none of it for them seeing they will fail you so quickly prevent them come free lean not on them till they break and you fall into the pit 'T is reported of one that hearing that 5th of Genesis read so long lives and yet the burden still they died Enoch lived 905 and he died Seth 912 and he died Methuselah 969 and he died took so deep the thought of death and eternity that it changed his whole frame and set him from a voluptuous to a most strict and pious course of life how small a word will do much when God sets it into
wills and loves that 's Law and a powerful Law so written on the Heart this Law of Love that it obeys not unpleasantly but with delight no constraint but the sweet constraint of love to forgive a wrong to love even thine enemy for him is not only feisible now but deâ—ectable that ere while thou thoughtest impossible That Spirit of Christ is all sweetness and love so calms and composes the Heart that peace with God and that unspeakably blessed correspondence of love with him doth so fill the Soul with lovingness and sweetness that it can breath nothing else hates nothing but sin pities the sinner and carries to the worst that love of good-will desiring their return and salvation but to those in whom appears the Image of their Father those their heart cleaves to as Brethren indeed No advantages natural no birth no beauty nor wit draws a Christian's love so much as the resemblance of Christ wherever that is found it is comely and lovely to a Soul that loves him Much communion with God sweetens and calms the mind cures the distempers of passion and pride that are the avowed enemies of love particularly Prayer and Love suit well 1. Prayer disposes to this love he that loveth not knoweth not God saith the beloved Apostle for God is love he that is most conversant with love the spring of where 't is purest and fullest cannot but have the fullest measure of it flowing in from thence into his heart and flowing forth from thence unto his Brethren if they that use the society of mild and good men are insensibly assimilated to them grow like them and contract somewhat of their temper much more doth familiar walking with God powerfully transform the Soul into his likeness makes it merciful and loving and ready to forgive as he is 2. This love disposes to prayer to pray together hearts must be consorted and tun'd together otherwise how can they sound the same Suits harmoniously How unpleasant in the exquisite ear of God that made the ear are the jarring disunited hearts that often seem to joyn in the same prayer and yet are not set together in love and when thou prayest alone thy heart imbitter'd and disaffected to thy Brother altho' upon an offence done to thee 't is as a mistuned Instrument the Strings are not accorded so are not in tune amongst themselves and so the sound is harsh and offensive try it well thy self and thou wilt perceive it how much more he to whom thou pray'st when thou art stirr'd and in passion against thy Brother or not on the contrary lovingly affected towards him what broken disordered unfastened stuff are thy requests therefore the Lord will have this done first the Heart tun'd go thy way says he leave thy Gift and be reconcil'd to thy Brother c. Why is this so much recommended by Christ and so little received by Christians given by him as the cognisance and badge of his Followers and of them that pretend to be so so few that wear it Oh! little real Christianity were more worth than all that empty profession and discourse that we think so much of Hearts receiving the mould and stamp of this Rule these were living Copies of the Gospel ye are our Epistle says the Apostle We come together and hear and speak sometimes of one Grace and sometimes of another and the most never seek to have their hearts enricht with the possession of any of them We search not to the bottom the perversness of our Nature and the guiltiness that is upon us in these or we shift off the Conviction and find a way to forget it when the hour 's done That accursed root self-love that makes man an enemy to God and Men enemies and devourers one of another who sets to the discovery and the displanting of it bends the force of holy Endeavours and Prayer supplicates the hand of God for the plucking of it up Some Natures are quieter and make less noise but till the heart be possest with the love of God it shall never truely love either men in that way due to all or the Children of God in their peculiar relation Among your selves c. That is here the point the peculiar love of the Saints as thy Brethren glorying and rejoycing in the same Father the Sons of God begotten again to that lively hope of glory now these as they owe a bountiful disposition to all they are mutually to love one another as Brethren Thou that hatest and reproachest the godly and the more they study to walk as the Children of their holy Father the more thou hatest them art glad to find a spot to point at on them or wilt dash mire on them where thou findest none know that thou art in this the enemy of God that the indignity done to them Jesus Christ will take it as done to himself truely we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the Brethren he that loveth not his Brother abideth in death So then renounce this Word or else believe that thou art yet far from the Life of Christ that so hatest it in others Oh! but they are but a number of Hypocrites wilt thou say Brethren if they be so this declares so much the more thy extream hatred of holiness that canst not endure so much as the Picture of it canst not see any thing like it but thou must let fly at it and this argues thy deep hatred of God holiness in a Christian as the Image of God and the Hyprocrite in the resemblance of it is the Image of a Christian so thou hatest the very Image of the Image of God for deceive not thy self it is not the latent evil in hypocrisie but the apparent good in it that thou hatest The prophane Man thinks himself a great Zealot against Hypocrisie he is still crying out of it but it s only this he is angry at that all should not be ungodly wicked enemies of Religion as he is either dissolute or meerly civil and the civil man is readily the bitterest enemy of all strictness beyond his own size as condemning him and therefore he cries it down as all of it false and counterfeit wares Let me intreat you if you would not be found fighters against God let no revilings be heard amongst you against any that are or seem to be Followers of Holiness if ye will not reverence it your selves yet reverence it in others at least do not reproach it It should be your ambition else why are you willing to be called Christians but if you will not pursue holiness yet persecute it not if you will not have fervent love to the Saints yet burn not with infernal heat of fervent hatred against them for truly that is one of the likliest pledge of these flames and society with damned Spirits as love to the Children of God is of that inheritance and society with them in glory 2. You that are Brethren and