Curse which in it own nature it is being the issue and wages of sin and the very Gate of Hell But look we upon it in the glasse of the Gospell that we shall find representing it unto the believer under another shape as being much changed and alterd by Christ Newe names put upon Death Whereupon it puts new names upon it Calling it sometimes a sleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Joh. 11.11 Them which sleep in Jesus 1 Thes 4.14 Such is the grave to the true believer Not a Prison but a Bed sor the Body to rest in for a time They shall rest in their beds Isai 57.2 Elsewhere we find it called a Departure Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace saith old Simeon Luke Vid-Leigh Critica Saâ—ra 2.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dimittiâ— thou loosest dismissâ—st me lettest me out of Prison So the Syriack there renders the word Now thou openest the Prison And so we find it properly used Act 5.40 Where it is said that the Councell let the Apostles goe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. out of prison Such is this life to the believer noe better then a Prison death is his dismission A like word is that which we find used by the Apostle Phil. 1.23 Where expressing his willingnesse to dye I desire saith he to be dissolved or to depart as the new translation hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to return home So the same word is used in his proper sense Luk 12.36 Where servants are said to wait for their Lord till he return to his home 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such is this World to gods people a strange Country where they live as strangers and pilgrims being from home Ad remigrationem Beza Now death is to them a Remigratio as Beza there renders the word a removing a returning to their own Country their home The Soul leaving the Body where it lodged for a time returns to God that gave it Eccles 12.7 Elsewhere the same Apostle calls it the dissolving of a Tabernacle If our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved 2 Cor. 5.1 Not destroyed So is a house when it is pulled down the materials of it being so broken as they can never be put together again But not so a Tabernacle or Tent where the parts are only taken asunder for a time but afterwards put together and set up in another place Such is death only a dissolution of the parts whereof man is composed a severing of the soul and Body for a time which shall afterwards be reunited And so St Peter making use of the same Allusion he calleth it a putting off or laying down of a Tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 depositio tabernaculi mei as the vulgar Latine renders it properly The laying down of my Tabernacle is at hand Such is the Body to the Soul like a Tent to him that carrieth it about with him a burden which being layed down he is eased And so is the Soul by the deposition the laying down of the Body in death Which in the next verse that Apostle there sets forth under another name calling it his Exodus after my decease v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Exodus A word with the sound whereof you have been well acquainted it being the Title given to the second book of Moses which is so called from the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt which is there fully described Such an Exodus is death to the believer a Translation of him from an Egypt an house of bondage into the Celestial Canaan the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Thus hath death now new names put upon it The Gospell representing it after another manner with another face then the Law holdeth it forth And well may it have new names The nature of death changed by Christ when as the Nature of it is so changed and altered as by Christ it is Who hath taken away the maliguity of it that which was hurtfull in it Having pulled the sting out of this Serpent O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory so the Apostle triumpheth over this conquered Enemy 1 Cor. 15.55 Bot the sting and strength of it are now gone The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ so the Apostle there goeth on This hath Christ done for all that are in him having made satisfaction for sin and fulfilled the Law So as now though death may threaten as the Serpent having lost the sting may hiss yet it cannot hurt And why then should we fear a conquered enemy Which is not only disarmed but lyeth as it were dead before us lâ—ke that Philistine when his head was off In Christi morte mors obiit In Christs death Death died Being thereby abolished as the Apostle hath it 2 Tim. 1.10 Who hath abolished death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made it of none effect So is naturall death the fear and sting of it being taken away it is now as a shadow without a substance Thus is Death now qualified by Christ as to all true Believers Which being seriously considered will be of speciall use to free them from the inordinate fear of it and make them not unwilling to submit to God in the suffering of it To passe on In the Fourth place thus looking upon death Look beyond Death look beyond it Even as the timorous Passenger in ferrying over a River where the water is rough by fixing his eye on the bank of the other side settles his brain which otherwise might be troubled thus let the timorous Christian whose nature inclines him to fear death look beyond it look to the issues the fruits and consequents of it Here taking notice of two things The Evils which it freeth the Believer from and the Good which it bringeth him to Considering 1 1. The Evils which it freeth him from Which are of two sorts The Evils which it freeth the Believer from Temporall and Spirituall 1. Temporall which I have touched upon already Such are bodily Infirmities sicknesses Temporall some of them very dolorous and painfull and such are losses and Crosses in Estate with Reproaches and Ignominies and many Vexations and Disquietments with wearisome labours and Imployments All these is the life of a Christian here infested with this world being to him as I said a troublesome Sea But Death is the Havens mouth which letteth him into a quiet Harbour where he is at rest from all these Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord c. that they may rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest There the Prisoneâ—s rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor The small and great are there and there the servant
is free from his Master so Job describes the state of the dead Job 3.17 18 19. Thus doth God our heavenly Father make use of this as his Handkerchief to wipe away all tears from the eyes of his Children as we have it Rev. 7. last After death there shall be to them no more death nor crying neither shall there be any more pain as that other Text hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ae chylus Rev. 21.4 Death lets out the Christian as it doth all men from the sense and fear of all temporall Evils 2. Yea it freeth him from what is far worse from Spiritual Evils Spirituall giving a Quietus est as to the Body so to the Soul Freeing him 1. From Sin He that is dead is freed from sin Rom. From sin 6.7 So it is indeed with a mortified soul a regenerate person that is spiritually dead dead to sin which the Apostle there chiefly aymeth at he is freed from it viz. from the guilt and power of it But this is but a partiall freedome which is compleated and perfected in and by naturall death by which the Believer obtaineth a perfect freedome Being hereby so freed from sin as in this life he cannot be Freed from the committing of it From the inbeing of it From the beholding of it From the committing of it 1. From the committing of it which while he is here he is not cannot be However as the Apostle hath it in the verse there foregoing Rom. 6.6 the old man being crucified with Christ the Body of sin is so far destroyed that henceforth the regenerate person doth not serve sin he having thus suffered in the flesh ceaseth from sin as St. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 4.1 Corruption being in measure mortified he doth not now sin as before he did so as to make a custome and practise of it yet through weaknesse he doth commit some acts of sin and that daily There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccl. 7.20 But Death giveth the Believer a perfect discharge so as thenceforth he sinneth no more He that hath entred into his rest saith the Apostle he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his Heb. 4.10 God upon the seventh day kept a Sabbath resting from his works of Creation such as he had wrought upon the six dayes before So doth the Believer in death he entereth into his rest that Eternall Sabbatisme where he ceaseth from his own works such works as he here wrought in the flesh specially from the works of the flesh sinfull works Opera nostra vocantur labores curas vocationis nostrae tùm opera carnis noturae vitiosae peccatae quae vere sunt nestra quia â nobis fiunt nec probantur Dec c. Pareus Com. ad loc which as Pareus there noteth upon it may most properly be called a mans own works inasmuch as he doth them of himself without any approbation or allowance from God From these works the Godly man after death wholly ceaseth Which the wicked man doth not who being in Hell ceaseth not to blaspheme God Like as the followers of the Beast are said to doe upon the powring out of the Vials They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains c. Rev. 16.9 11 21. so doe the damned in hell because of their torments they blaspheme God and commit other sins such as that their state is capable of Which whether they be formally and properly sins in them not lying under a Law as here they did I shall not dispute but Materially I am sure they are being the same sinfull acts which here they committed But from such acts shall the believer now cease so as never more to commit any sin Noe nor yet to be in any possibility of committing it Such a state doth death bring Gods Children to a state in this respect far more happy then that wherein our first Parents were in Paradise There they were free from sin but not from a possibility of sinning which the event shewed But Gods Saints by death are freed from this being hereby put into an impeccable state and so confirmed as that they shall never more have any will or inclination to that which is evill Thus are they freed from the acting the Committing of sin 2. From the inbeing of it And so Secondly from the Inbeing the Indwelling of it So it is that the best of Saints while they are here they have sin dwelling in them It is no more I that do it saith Paul but sin that dwelleth in me Rom. 7.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby meaning Innolita illa pridem peccandi consuetndo Grot. Annot. ad loc not that Habit and Custome of sin which is in an unregenerate person as Grotius expounds it but that Naturall Corruption which still cleaveth to the Regenerate This he found still dwelling in him And so it will in the most sanctyfied soul upon earth And there dwelling it will also be warring seeming sometimes to Conquer So also that Apostle there out of his own experience complaines v. 23. I find another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Such a conflict there is and will be in the best of Saints Corruption striving against Grace Yea and sometimes prevailing against it Even as a strong tide carrieth the ship against the stroke of the Rowers Which cannot but create a great deal of trouble to the Soul So it did to that blessed Apostle who upon this account looked upon himself as a miserable man crying out in the next verse verse 24. O wretched man that I am who shal deliver me from the Body of this death That Body of sin as he elswere calleth it Rom. 6.6 which he found living in him was to him a Body of death making his life miserable to him So would it be to a Child-bearing woman to have the Child lye dead within her rotting and putrifying in her womb whereof notwithstanding all indeavours used she cannot be delivered Or to a living man to be tyed to a dead karkesse Even so is it with a regenerate person whilest he is here the living and the dead are tyed together Grace and Gorruption And so tyed together as nothing can part them but death Like as it was with that fretting leprosie of which we read Lev. 14.45 which having eaten into the Wals there was no cure for it but by pulling down the house Even so is it with this Leprosie of sin having seized upon the soul and eaten into all the powers and faculties of Soul and Body there is no way to be freed from it but by death And this will do it The house being pulled down the Leprosie ceased And so doth sin in death The dissolution of the Body is the Absolution of the Soul freeing it from this
Prophets they foretold what things Jesus was to suffer As St. Peter sets it forth Act. 3.18 These things saith he which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his Prophets that Christ should suffer he hath also fulfilled Thus God revealâ—d what before he had decreed Which our Saviour taking notice of he here speaks of his Passion after this manner Non loquitur dubitativè fortasse Pater â—â—c vult sed assertativè Calicem quem dedit Ferus Com. in Text. calling it the Cup which his Father had given him Being fully acquainted with his Fathers will he speaks of what he was to suffer non dubitativè sed assertivè as Ferus notes upon it not as a thing doubtfull but certain The Cup which my Father hath given me 5. Yet further God having thus decreed and made known his purpose concerning his Son He delivereth him up he also delivereth him into the hands of those who were to execute that his decree Who was delivered for our offences saith the Apostle speaking of Christ Rom. 4. vers last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delivered unto death by God his Father as that other forecited Text explains it Rom. 8.32 He spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all This he did when by his all-disposing providence he brought him into the Garden where the Officers should come to apprehend him and so delivered him into their hands and into the hands of other his enemies 6. And lastly having delivered him into their hands he also impowred them for the doing of what they did to him So our Saviour upon his Arraignment tells Pilate Joh. 19.11 Thou couldest have no power against me at all except it were given thee from above That Authority which Pilate had to sit in Judgement and passe sentence upon him and so that power which others had to execute that sentence they had it from above from God In all these they were but Instruments made use of by him in the mean time it was he that had the main stroke in the work he being the chief and principal agent Thus you see how God did concur in the death and Passion of this his Son He not only was privy to it and permitted it but he decreed and determined it and every circumstance in it making known his will concerning it delivering him into the hands of his enemies and giving them power to execute what he had decreed So as putting all these together well may we conclude what our Saviour there asserts concerning this Cup that it was given him by his Father But was it so Quest From hence now arise two Queries two scruples Two questions of great importance calling for satisfaction before we proceed any further If God the Father did thus give this Cup to his Son Christ why then 1. How did the Jewes sin in putting him to death And secondly if they did sin How then is Ged free from being the Author of that sin or from partaking in it Two Questions of great importance I shall endeavour to give a full solution to both To begin with the first Q. 1 If God thus gave this Cup to his Son How the Jewes finned in executing of what God had thus decreed so concurred in this his Passion as we have heard how did the Jewes sin in putting him to death Quaeritur si Pater dedit Christo hunc calicem quid peâ—caverunt Judaei qui cum Christo dederunt intulerunt propinaverunt Carthus Enar. in Text. When as they were but Instruments onely reaching this Cup to him God himself being the principal Agent how were they culpable To this let me return a threefold Answer Answ 1 They were voluntary Instruments 1. Distinguishing of Instruments which are of two sorts Meerly Instrumentall or Ministerial Meer Instruments are such as have no activity nor efficacy in themselves for the doing of any thing further than as they are acted by another Such is the Axe in the hand of the Carpenter and the Sword in the hand of the Souldier But such were not the Jewes they were not meer but Ministerial Instruments voluntary Agents doing what herein they did not by any coaction or constraint but freely willingly Impii dum peccant non sunt proprâ—è Instrumenta Dei mota scâ— sine interno principio motus sed metaphoricè ita sc mota ut liberè moveant semetipsa D. Ames Bellarm. Enerv. t. 4. c. 2. Hominis voluntas est quodammodo Dei Instrumentum non purum merum sed liberum Alvartz Disput 68.5 Such an Instrument is man in the hands of God Being a reasonable creature indued with understanding and will what he doth he doth it freely there being no violence in any thing offered to his will True it is the will of man also is Gods Instrument but such an Instrument not a meer but a Ministerial a free and voluntary Instrument Being moved it moveth of it self not being subject to coaction or compulsion Voluntas si cogeretur desinit esse voluntas If the will could be compelled it should cease to be a will it ever acteth freely And so did the Jewes in putting the Lord of life to death they were not meer Instruments but voluntary Agents and so cannot be excusable in what they did 2. The Jewes were culpable in acting of that which God had decreed and determined Answ 2 inafmuch as they had no warrant They had no warrant for what they did no rule for what they did Nay they went against the rule What is the Rule by which all the actions of men ought to be squared Why Gods secret will no warrant for man it is the Revealed will of God As for his secret will that is his own rule not Mans. Secret things belong unto the Lord but revealed things to us and to our children Deut. 29.29 Obj. Why Obj. but was not this will of God revealed to them Whether this will of God was revealed to the Jewes that Christ should die Caiaphas the High-priest by a Prophetical Spirit tells it them that it was expedient for them that one man should die for the people Joh. 11.50 so prophesying that Jesus should die for that Nation and not for that Nation only but that he might gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad as it there followeth vers 51 52. A. Yet had they no word of command to put him to death But suppose they had understood this which yet Caiaphas himself did not This spake he not of himself saith that 51. vers God only made use of his Tongue to utter an Oracle which he knew not the true sense and mystery of yet could not this have been an excuse for them inasmuch as they had no direction no word of command from God to put their hands to this work This it is which is mans warrant for all his actions without which actions which in themselves seem to
peace Luk. 2.29 And the like do we in a spirituall sense receive we the Lord Jesus being held forth unto us in the promise of the Gospell and take hold upon him clasping and imbracing him in the armes of our faith receiving him as our Saviour and Lord. As our Saviour believing on him for the pardon and remission of all our sins As our Lord yielding up our selves to be guided and governed by him by his word and Spirit Which whilest we do now shall we have no just cause to fear this Enemy which is by this Captain of our Salvation conquered and disarmed so as now it cannot hurt any of those that are his O then let every of us make sure our interest in him Upon which depends all our hope and comfort both in life and death Christ being once ours now we may hear the Apostle telling us that all things are ours 1 Cor. 3.21 All things among which he reckons Life and Death with things present and things to come All ours so is Life even temporall life so as it shall be continued to us whilest it is expedient And so is Death which when it comes shall not be hurtful but advantagious and beneficial To me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Phil. 1.21 So are things present the concernments of this present life as Crosses so Comforts both serving for our good And things to come Eternal glory and happinesse Which whilest a Christian is assured of why should not he be as willing to dye as live 3. Only in the third place look out also for the seal of the Spirit Look out for the seal of the Spirit Thus are Assurances made among men by setting seals to writings to bonds and bils and other conveyances And such Assurance labour we for to get the promises sealed unto us and that by this seal the seal of the Spirit which the Apostle calleth the earnest of our inheritance Eph. 1.13 14. An earnest confirms the bargain and assures the payment of the whole summe And so doth the earnest of the Spirit as he elswhere calleth it 2 Cor. 1.22 the work of Regeneration and Sanctification begun in the soul this is as Gods seal which confirmeth his promises to his people and giveth them assurance of their heavenly inheritance Which being assured off what should make them unwilling to depart hence when God calleth for them Having now another house to receive them when they are turned out of this and that infinitely better as the Apostle telleth them 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building not made with hands eternal in the heavens Now what man would be unwilling to leave a poor ruinous Cottage which he holdeth only at the pleasure of the Land-lord being subject to be turned out of it every day when as he may have posession of a Royal palace whereof also he shal have the fee-simple estate And such is that heavenly house that celestial glory and happinesse which Christ having purchased for those that are his is gone before to take posession of and to prepare for them I go to prepare a place for you Joh. 14.2 it infinitely excelleth all earthly glory far more then the most princely palace doth the meanest cottage O labour we but to make sure this our Inheritance in that other world this will make us not unwilling to leave this Here is a first Direction Seek after Assurance that we have an interest in God and Jesus Christ and so a right to eternal life And being thus assured of Life Dir. 2 now Prepare for death Prepare for death by dying daily So did the blessed Apostle who tels his Corinthians that he dyed daily 1 Cor. 15.31 I protest by your rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord I dye daily Apprehending death continually hanging over his head he was daily preparing for it And the like do we that we may be willing to dye once when God calleth us to it dye daily Q. But how shall we do this A. Take the answer in three or four particulars 1. Dye daily to sin This the Apostle telleth us Christ once did for us To sin In that he dyed he dyed unto sin once Rom. 6.10 This he did not for himself for he knew no sin but for us for the expiating of our sins the taking away the guilt of them And what he did once doe we daily daily dye to sin for the taking away the power of it in our selves A work which will not be done at once as that of our Saviour was True the Apostle speaking of believers saith they are dead to sin Rom. 6.2.11 in as much as they are not now under the power of it as sometimes they were But this is but an imperfect work not done at once Though sin hath received its mortal wound in them yet it is stil alive Though they be dead to it yet it liveth in them And therefore they must make this their daily their continual work to be dying to it mortifying the body of sin that it may dye before them The life of sin is the life of death So long as a man liveth in any one sin he will never be willing to dye And therefore set we upon the mortification of all our sinful Lusts Specially our beloved Lusts those which have been most near and dear to us most strong and prevalent in us Never resting until we find our hearts brought to an utter abhorrence and detestation of them and of all other sinful waies and courses so as we can say with the Psalmist that we hate every false way Psa 119.104 Thus Sin being dead death will not be so terrible As we get ground of the one we shal get strength against the other Secondly Dye daily to the world To the world So did the Apostle who telleth us of himself that he was crucified to the world and the world to him Gal. 6.14 He had as little affection to the world as the world had to him he was dead to that and that to him And it is the counsel which he giveth to others 1 Cor. 7.31 that they should so use this world as not abusing it Not doting upon any thing here below whether riches oâ— pleasures or honours Not setting the heart upon them If riches increase set not your hearts upon them Psal 62.10 And so for the rest Not being inordinately affected with any contentments which this world can afford but looking overly upon them so using them as if they used them not So run those foregoing directions of the Apostle there 1 Cor. 7.29 30. This I say brethren the time is short It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not And this let every of us strive to
THE DRINKING OF THE BITTER CUP OR THE HARDEST LESSON IN CHRIST's School Learned and Taught by Himself Passive Obedience WHEREIN Besides divers Doctrinall Truths of great Importance many Practicall Directions are held forth for the teaching of Christians how to submit to their Heavenly Father in suffering his Will both in Life and Death Patiently Obediently Willingly As it was lately presented to the Church of GOD at Great YARMOVTH By JOHN BRINSLEY Minister of the Gospel there Heb. 5.8 Though he were a Son yet learned he Obedience by the things which he suffered 1 Pet. 2.21 Christ also suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps LONDON Printed by E. C. for Joseph Cranford at the Castle and Lyon in St. Pauls Church-yard 1660. Mr. BRINSLEY of Passive Obedience To all his Near and Dear RELATIONS Natural and Spiritual within the TOWN of Great YARMOVTH or elsewhere Grace and Peace Much affected in the Lord NOT having a better Legacy to leave you I doe here present you with a Cup your Saviours Cup which having himself drunk he hath left it for you to pledge him in A thing which sooner or later in some kinde or other you must all make account to doe meeting with many Crosses and Conflicts here upon Earth and at length be brought under the power of that last Enemy Death Now that you may learn so to drink this Cup as your blessed Pattern did submitting to your Heavenly Father in suffering his Will Patiently Obediently Willingly is the Design of this Treatise Wherein you shall meet with many usefull and needfull Directions tending to this end These I shall desire you carefully to lay up in the Closet of your Souls that you may have them at hand to make use of as Providence shall offer occasion Which that they may be blessed to my selfe and you and through Grace made effectuall for the purpose to which they are designed is and shall be the Earnest Prayer of him who is Yarmouth Anno 1659. M. 2. D. 23. Yours in the best and nearest Relation John Brinsley THE DRINKING OF THE BITTER CUP OR The Hardest Lesson in Christs School Learned and Taught by Himself Passive Obedience JOH XVIII 11. The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it SOwre Hearbs are sometimes more wholesome then sweeter morsels Of all Meditations which the Soul of a Christian hath to feed upon I know none more usefull in this Vale of Tears then those which concern his Passive Obedience his Drinking of the bitter Cup his suffering of Affliction A handfull of these herbs The occasion of undertaking this Subject the loss of two hopefull Sons the one succeeding the other in his Apprentiship and Sepulcher a few of these Meditations such as my own soul hath as heretofore so of late been dieted with my purpose is through Gods assistance to present unto you and set before you being assured that as they may be seasonable to some so they will not be unusefull to any For this purpose I have here taken up these words which fell from the mouth of our blessed Saviour a little before his Passion Upon what Occasion Occasion of the words the Verses foregoing will readily inform you Judas with the High-priests Officers coming to apprehend his Master Peter more forward then the rest steppeth forth drawes upon them attempts a rescue and making an Assault cuts off Malchus's Ear. Whereupon his Master interposing himself taketh the peace of him commanding his Sword into the Sheath Put up thy Sword into the Sheath For which he subjoyns this Reason The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it In which passage we meet with two Generals Division Two Generall parts the Fathers Dispensation the Sons Submission presenting themselves to our consideration The Fathers Dispensation and The Sons submission The Fathers Dispensation in giving this Cup to his Son The Cup which my Father hath given me The Sons submission in receiving and drinking of it The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Begin we with the former of these The Fathers Dispensation in giving this Cup to his Son First Generall paâ—t wherein three particulars The cup which my Father hath given me In which words for the more distinct handling of them we may take notice of three particulars What is here said to be given By whom To whom What The Cup. By whom The Cup which my Father hath given To whom The Cup which my Father hath given me Upon these look we severally each of which will afford us somewhat worthy the taking notice of Begin with the first What is here said to be given The Cup Partic. 1 The thing given The Cup. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod potum contineat Sâ—gnifâ—cat id â—idc bâ—bitur sive Cyathus sive Calix sive Vâ—ceus sit Leigh Cri. Sac. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence both the Latine Poculum and our English Pot are conceived to have their Originall it properly signifieth Potorium a word answering it both in sound and sense a Drinking Vessell Id unde bibitur Any kinde of Vessell that men use to drink out of of what material size or fashion soever This is the proper signification of the word Improperly it is both frequently and variously used in Scripture where we meet with divers sorts of Cups Among the rest A Mystical Metaphorical Cup. two of special note Calix mysticus metaphoricus A Mystical Cup and a Metaphorical Cup. 1. A Mystical a Symbolical Cup. A Vessel which having some naturall liquor in it Mystical Cups importeth some spiritual Mystery Such was that Cup which the Psalmist speaketh of Psal 116.13 I will take the Cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Cos Jeshugnoth calieem salutum The cup of Healths salvations A Cup of Wine or some such other Liquor which the Jews at some solemn meetings were wont to take and drink in token of their thankfullnesse to God the Author of their temporal and spiritual salvation And such was that Paschâ—l Cup which was in use in the Passeover of which we read for so are we to understand that Text Luk. 22.17 where it is said He took the Cup viz. The Paschal Cup. And such was that other Cup which we there meet with vers 20. Likewise after Supper he took the Cup viz. the Eucharistical Cup that Sacramental Cup which at his last Supper he blessed and gave unto his Apostles to drink in remembrance of him leaving it unto his Church as a Memorial of his Death and Passion untill his second coming Of which St. Paul speaking calleth it The Cup of Blessing 1 Cor. 10.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Blessed Consecrated Cup set apart by the Word and Prayer from a common to a sacred use These are Mystical Cups representing some spiritual mystery To leave these 2. There are in the second place Metaphorical
Cups Metophoricall Cups so called by way of Allusion and Resemblance Of these we meet with two kindes in Scripture A sweet Cup and a Bitter Cup. 1. A sweet Cup a Cup of Prosperity an happy and prosperous state and condition in the world A sweet Cup. when men abound with temporall comforts and contentments Of this Cup speaks David Psal 23.5 My Cup runneth over God had given him a large portion as of spirituall so of temporall mercies so as he had not only for necessity and conveniency but even for superfluity But this is not the Cup which here we meet with in the Text. Surely had such a Cup been presented unto Christ Peter who was so ready to bid him favour himself and consult his own security which he doth Math. 16.22 and had so many thoughts about a Temporall Kingdome that his Master and his Followers should enjoy upon earth would not have been so forward in putting it from him 2. Besides this there is also a Bitter Cup. A Cup of Wormwood and Gall A Bitter Cup. a Cup of Affliction and Suffering This in phrase of Scripture we oft times finde set forth under the name of a Cup and that both in the Old Testament and New Of this speaketh the Psalmist Psal 75.8 In the hand of the Lord there is a Cup that is a Cup of wrath and vengeance Such was the Cup which the Prophet Jeremiah received at the hand of the Lord to carry it to all the Nations Jer. 25.15 viz. a Cup of fury as it is there expressed And such a Cup it is which the Spirit threatneth that all those who have received the mark of the Beast shall drink of Rev. 14.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cup of wrath The Cup of Gods indignation And such a Cup it is that our Saviour speaketh of once and again As Matth. 20. vers 22. where he puts this Question to the sons of Zebedee Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of So again Cap. 26. vers 39. If it be possible let this Cup passe from me And so here again in the Text The Cup which my Father hath given me meaning a Cup of suffering that Bitter Cup of his Passion the bitterest that ever was drunk upon earth Of this Cup our Saviour had already tasted in that bitter Agony of his in the Garden Hoc loce nihil est unde certe collâ—gas sudori huic sanguinem suisse pâ—rmistum Nom non dictum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Theophilac Euthym. ad loc Sudor vix solet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grot. ibid. where conflicting with the apprehension of what he was ere long to undergoe it put him into a strange bodily distemper an unheard of sweat insomuch as he sweat either drops of blood as it is generally received or rather as it were drops of blood so the Originall hath it Luk. 22.44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a thick sweat as it were clottered and congealed blood And made him to break forth into that thrice-repeated Deprecation Father if it be thy will let this Cup passe from me And this Cup he was now to drink to drink it off to wring out even the dregs thereof which he did in that painfull shameful accursed death upon the Cross And this bitter Passion it is which our Saviour here calleth a Cup 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cup. Q. And why so called A. Christs Passion why called a Cup. The expression as I told you is Metaphorical and borrowed Reasons and grounds of the Metaphor held forth by Expositors are divers Dicendo autem poculum insinuat mortem dulcem desidâ—rabilem in salutem hâ—minuâ— Theophyl ad loc To let passe that of Theophylact who conceives our Saviour here to call his Passion a Cup to intimate how acceptable and welcome the work of Mans Redemption was unto him and in order unto that his Passion even as gratefull as desireable as a cup of drink is to a thirsty man In which sense some understand that word of his upon the Cross Joh. 19.28 I thirst viz. after the Redemption and Salvation of lost Mankinde As also that other of a later Expositor Idâ—ò calicem nominat ut estendat â—â—am gâ—avissimas affuÌ„ctiones in hoc mundo nihil esse ut uà dicam â—isi unum hauslum statim â—â—im cessahunt Ferus in loc who conceives in and by this word to be insinuated the momentaninesse the short continuance of all afflictions and sufferings upon earth which be they never so bitter and grievous yet they are but as it were one draught a cup soon swallowed down soon put over according to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light Affliction which is but for a moment c. To let passe these with some other which I look upon as more witty then weighty With more probability the Metaphor may be conceived to be borrowed from one of these three Heads A threefold ground of the Metaphor all taken notice of by Aretius writing upon this Text. 1. Some fetch it from a custome among some of the Heathen From a deadly Cup given to Malefactors Formula petita â ritu Gentium quo noxios poticnibus missis in corcerem toâ—libant è medio Atet Com. in loc who were wont sometimes to put malefactors to death by giving them a deadly cup a Cup of Poyson to drink So Historians tell us of Socrates that famous Moralist that being condemned to dye a poysonous potion a Cup of the juice of Hemlock was sent him to drink which having done he ended his dayes To this custom some conceive that forenamed passage to allude Jer. 25.16 where the Prophet is sent to the Nations with a cup to cause them to drink it Vid. New Annot Engl. in Mat. 20. vers 22. And so they look upon the word here in the text And it must be acknowledged the allusion is very proper and fit Christ having taken upon him the sins of the World he was now by Imputation a grand Malefactor a great sinner the greatest that ever was having the sins of the World charged upon his account Hereupon God the Father as a just and impartial Judge for the satisfying of his Justice giveth him this deadly cup this poysonous potion of an accursed death to drink to undergoe But I shall not insist upon this though a truth and an usefull one Applic. Usefull as to other ends Sin continued in will be biternesse in the laâ—ter end so to deter all presumptuous sinners from daring to go on in any known evill which if they shall dare to do let them know that it will be bitterness in the latter end As Abner once said to Joab concerning his over-eagre pursuit of his Brethren 2 Sam. 2.26 Knowest thou not that it will be bitternesse in the latter end So may I say to all wicked and ungodly men who are so eager in the
The Action which is The Giving of this Cup The Cup which my Father hath given me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So it was Doct. it was God the Father which gave this Cup to his Son Christ God the Father gave this Cup to his Sonne gave his Son to dye Mark it Here is the chief and principal Doctrine that this former part of the Text affords us God the Father gave this Cup to his Son Christ Which in effect and for substance speaketh one and the same thing with that of the Apostle Rom. 8.32 God spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all So was it in the Type Abraham offered up his Son By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that received the Promises offered up his only begotten Son so the Apostle to the Hebrewes hath it Heb. 11.17 And St. James the like Was not Abraham our Father justified by works when be had offered up Isaac his Son upon the Altar Jam. 2.21 This did he intentionally in affection and resolution binding his Son and laying him upon the Altar stretching forth his hand with the sacrificing Knife to slay him as the story sets it forth Gen. 22.9 10. Which in Gods acceptation was all one as if he had done what he purposed and intended to doe And so was it in the truth of that Type God the Father offers up his Son his only begotten Son Jesus Christ offers him up upon the Altar of the Crosse Where as the Prophet Isai describeth his Passion Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin c. Thus did God the Father give this bitter Cup to his Son giving him to suffer and die that painfull shamefull accursed death of the Crosse Obj. Obj. But was this the Fathers act How is Christ said to give himself here to remove a stone which lyeth in my way to meet with an obvious Objection Did God the Father give this Cup to his Son give him to the death how then is Christ said to give and offer up himself So we finde it frequently elsewhere expressed He gave himself for us that he might redeem us Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for our sins that he might redeem us from this present evil world Gal. 1.4 Who through the eternal Spirit offered up himself Heb. 7.27 He poured out his soul unto death Isa 53.12 So runs the phrase of Scripture ordinarily speaking of the Death and Passion of Christ as his own voluntary act I lay down my life for my Sheep Joh. 10.15 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life vers 17. And again as it followeth No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down c. vers 18. How then is this here attributed to the Father that he should give this Cup to him A. Answ 1 To this the Answer is obvious 1. Christ as God co-working with his Father If we look at Christ as God the Son of God here that trite but true Maxim will be of use Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa All the external works and actions of the Trinity such acts as they do out of themselves for or upon the Creature they are common to all the three Persons so as they may be indifferently referred and attributed to all or any of them Such was the work of Creation the joynt work of all the three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost and so attributed sometimes to one sometimes to another And such was this work of â—edâ—mption however undertaken by one yet it was designed by all the three Persons being done by the mutual consent and agreement of all Father Son and Holy Ghost all concurring in the design though not in the execution of it What Christ as Mediator suffered he did it by the joynt consent of all the three Persons And therefore is it sometimes attributed to one sometimes to another Sometimes to the Father and sometimes to the Son who as they are one God so they have one will and one work The Son can do nothing of himself saith our Saviour but what he seeth the Father doe For what things soever the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise Joh. 5.19 Thus did Christ the Son not only imitate his Father doing works like unto his but Cooperate with him doing the same works And hence is it that the same Action is attributed sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other Thus we here finde the giving of Christ to the Death which yet was his own act attributed by him to God his Father he being the first worker in respect of Order and manner of working The Gup which my Father hath given me But secondly look upon Christ as Man A. 2 or rather as Mediator as God and Man As Mediator subservient to him so we shall finde him subservient to his Father readily doing his will Lo I come to do thy will O God Heb. 10.7 9. And as doing so suffering it Which he did in obedience unto him He humbled himself and became obedient to the death Phil. 2.8 And thus as his Father gave the Cup so he drank it so giving himself to the Death Even as it is not without ground conceived concerning the Type forementioned Abrahams offering of his Son Isaac This was Abrahams act and yet so as his Son concurred in it and that more then as a meer Patient being obedient to his Father at his command carrying of the Wood yielding himself to be bound and layd upon the Altar all which he did willingly So was it with our blessed Saviour Being acquainted with his Fathers will he yields himself to be bound which he was first in the Garden as we have it in the verse after the Text. and then by Caiaphas as we finde it Mar. 15.1 bears his Crosse submits unto the Death Thus the Father gave his Son and yet the Son gave himself But not to insist upon this Q. Explic. What God the Father did in and about the passion of his Son The way being thus cleared now come we by way of Explication to make enquiry what God the Father did in and about the Passion of his Son that he is here said to give the Cup to him The resolving of this Question will clear up this great and usetull truth A. This concurrence consisting in divers particulars The Action and concurrence of God the Father in and about the Death and Passion of his Son it consisteth in divers particulars Take we notice of five or six of them 1. He was privy to it he foresaw it he foreknew it He foresaw it This he did from Eternity So he doth all his Works Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the World Act. 15.18 Whatsoever God bringeth to passe in time it is
known to him before time And so was this work the work of Redemption wrought by the sufferings of Christ it was foreseen foreknown by God from Eternity This none will question 2. Foreseeing of this before it was done he also permitted it to be done Foreseeing whatever should be done to his Son Christ by Satan and his Instruments he gave way to it permitâ—ing Satan to enter into Judas and Judas to betray his Master and the Officers to apprehend him and carry him away and Pilate and the rest to sit in judgement and passe sentence upon him and to execute that sentence All which he could have hindered if he had pleased Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more then twelve Legions of Angels saith our Saviour to Peter Math. 26.53 God the Father wanted no power to have hindered all that was done to his Son but he permitted it Thus far Bellarmine and the whole Church of Rome will go along with us But we must not stay here The phrase in the Text imports more Gods giving this Cup to his Son imports more then a bare provision or permission And therefore here leaving them passe we on 3. In the third place God as he foresaw and permitted this so he willed it He willed it Bradward contrà Pelagianos lib. 1. cap. 33. So he doth whatever he permits So Bradwardine rightly determins it Respectu cujuscunque est Dei permissio est ejus volitio actualis Whatever God permits to be done he also actually willeth that it should be done And so he did the Death and Passion of his Son So much we may learn from those words of our Saviour Math. 26.39 where praying that if it were possible this Cup might passe from him he subjoyns Neverthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt God did not only permit his Son to dye but he willed his death Upon which account it is that the Prophet Isai there saith It pleased the Lord to bruise him Isa 53.10 Dominus voluâ—t It was his will his pleasure that he should suffer what he did having in his secret Counsell decreed and determined it from eternity For this expresse is that known Text Idem est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et 1 Pet. 1 2. nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his libris Decretum soepe significat Grot. Annoâ— in loc Act. 2.23 which informs us that Christ was delivered by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God That is by his decree for so are we to understand the word knowledge there not barely of a simple prescience a foresight but of a determinate and absolute decree So we finde the word elsewhere used as 1 Pet. 1 2. where Believers are said to be elect according to the foreknowledge of God that is according to his Decree And so was Christ delivered according to the foreknowledge the determinate Counsel of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in his eternal Counsell and Purpose had decreed that his Son should suffer and dye Upon which account among some other he is said to be the Lamb slayn from the foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 He was so in Gods Decree who had determined that he should dye The Circumstances of Christs death all determined by his Father And determining the thing he determined also all the circumstances concerning it As what kinde of death he should dye even that accursed death upon the Crosse So much our Saviour intimated to Nicodemus Joh. 3.14 where he tells him that As Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wildernesse even so must the Son of man be lifted up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oportet exaltari must be lifted up so Patris decreto as Grotius there rightly according to the Decree of God the Father lifted upon the tree of the Crosse And the like to the Jewes cap. 12. of the same Gospel vers 32. where speaking in the same language he tells them that If he were lift up from the earth he would draw all men unto him This he said saith the next verse signifying what death he should die viz. the death of the Crosse And so also the Time when he should dye which till it was come his enemies could not lay hands on him As yet no man layed hands on him saith that Text Joh. 8.20 for his hour was not yet come the time appointed by his Father for him to suffer in And as the time so the place So much he declared to his Disciples Math. 16 21. where he tells them that he must goe to Jerusalem Neque enim hic aut de praefinito Dei consilio aut de utilitate rei agitur sed res futura nudè praedicitur Grot. Annot. in loc and suffer many things of the Elders and be killed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where I know not any just ground why Grotius should refuse to expound the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he did in that former Text Oportet eum ire He must go thither It was not a thing left to his own liberty or choice but being determined by his Father it was now necessary necessitate decreti divini in regard of Gods Decree which was immutable as Pareus expounds it Haecerat aetrrni Patris voluntas immutabilis Pareus Com. in loc And the like we may say for the Persons who should be Actors in this Tragedy and what part every of them should act what they should do Never a circumstance but was predetermined by God So that one Text sets it forth most fully Act. 4.27 28. Of a truth saith Peter against thine holy Childe Jesus whom thou hast anoynted both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to doe whatsoever thy hand and thy Counsell had determined before to be done Thus did God the Father as I said appoint and order all the severall Ingredients every grain that was to be put into this Cup decreeing and determining whatever his Son was to suffer 4. He revealed his will concerning it And fourthly having thus in his secret Counsell decreed this his suffering he also revealed it making known his will concerning his Son that he should suffer and die This he had done by Types and Figures As that of Abrahams offering his Son his only Son in whom all the Nations of the earth should be blessed of which I spake before So also in and by all those bloody Sacrifices under the Law all which were shadowes of what was to come representing the death of Jesus Christ who was to be offered up a true Propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of the World But more clearly by Prophesies divers of which we meet with in the Old Testament Among which that of the Prophet Isai is most clear Isa 53. where he describeth the Death and Passion of Christ rather like an Evangelist then a Prophet as if he had been a Spectator of it And so other of the
be good and commendable become evil and sinfull Sauls sacrificing take it with all the circumstances of it and it seemeth at least not to be so great an evil yet haing no rule no such warrant for it it was displeasing to God and proved fatal to him and his And so Vzzahs putting his hand to stay the Ark when it was in danger of falling it was to the outward shew a pious action yet being irregular without warrant it became to him a mortall sin he was struck dead for it So on the other hand Actions which seem to be nay in some respects are unlawfull and sinfull yet if Gods word of command come upon them it is like the Kings Stamp upon a base piece of Metall which maketh it currant it maketh them not only excusable not sinfull but an acceptable service If Judas and the High-priests and the rest who imbrued their hands in the blood of this sacrifice who had a hand in putting Christ to death had had but a word of command from God for the doing of what they did and in obedience to that command had done it this had been no more sin in them then it had been in Abraham to have actually offered up his Son which he intended to have done or then it was in the Israelites to spoyl the Egyptians as they did by borrowing what they never intended to pay Exod. 3. vers last or then it is in an Executioner to execute that sentence upon a Malefactor which is pass'd upon him which another might not doe It was their swerving from the Rule acting without a Warrant which made this act of theirs so horrid and sinfull It matters not what God had purposed and determined in his secret Counsell that was no rule to them nor can it be any plea for them 3 And again in the third place however A. 3 herein they did nothing but what God had decreed and determined This Act of the Jewes done by them yet was this evill and sinfull in them inasmuch as they did what they did out of an evill principle and to an evill end 1. Out of an evil and sinfull principle Out of an evil Principle What was it that put them upon the doing of what herein they did Why in some of them it was base covetousnesse as in Judas What will you give me and I will deliver him unto you saith he Matth. 26.15 In others it was malice so it was in the High-priests Scribes and Pharisees and some other His Citizens hated him saith the Parable Luk. 19.14 They have hated both me and my Father Joh. 15.24 In some it was fear as in Pilate who being willing to content the people released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified as St. Mark sets it forth Mar. 15.15 Out of a base servile fear he would complie with a giddy inraged multitude doing what they would have him though against his own conscience And others out of a blinde and furious zeal So was it in many of the vulgar for whom our Saviour in his Passion puts up that charitable Prayer Father forgive them for they know not what they doe Luk. 23.34 Now this Evil principle rendred the Action sinfull in them though it had been warrantable in it self Secondly it was also evil in the End What was it that herein they aimed at To an evil End it Not the Glory of God not the fulfilling of his will not the salvation of his Elect people but the executing of their own covetous ambitious malicious purposes in taking that great Prophet out of the way and so extirpating of that Doctrine which he had preached amongst them As for Gods ends they never came into their thoughts Unde nec excusantur quia nec ea intentione Christum occiderunt quâ pater voluit eum mori Carthus Enar. in loc As it was with Sennacherib the King of Assyria of whom I spake before God sendeth him against the people of the Jewes that he might be a scourge unto them to punish them for their sins This was Gods end but this was not his end Howbeit saith the Text he meaneth not so neither doth his heart think so but it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off Nations not a few Isa 10.6 His intent and purpose was not to obey God in executing of his will but to satisfie his own cruel and ambitious desires Even so was it here God delivereth his Son into the hands of the Jewes to be crucified which he did for just and righteous ends But this came not in their thoughts The ends which they propounded were sinister and wicked As it was with Josephs Brethren in selling him into Egypt However God meant it unto good to save much people alive yet they thought evill against him as he tells them Gen. 50.20 they thought to make him away that they might never see or hear of him more So here however God had a gracious purpose in this delivering up of his Son even the saving of many people of all his Elect yet the Jewes thought evill against him thinking by this means to take him out of the way that they might never hear of him nor of his Doctrine any more Now where the end is evill the Action cannot be good Thus were they guilty of sin in executing of what God had decreed and determined Being voluntary Instruments acting without warrant against the revealed will of God out of an evill Principle to an evil End Thus you have the former of these Questions resolved Passe we to the latter How cometh God to be free from this sin of theirs so as not to be the Author of it Q. 2 How God was free from this sin or a Partaker in it A scruple of great intricacy Answ Give me leave a little to wade into the depth of it so far as I shall conceive you able to follow me The Protestant Doctrine vindicated that God is not the Author of sin Which I shall the rather doe for the vindicating of the true Protestant Doctrine from that odious Charge which Papists and Arminians would fasten upon it viz. That it should at least by necessary consequence make God to be the Author of sin A Doctrine which all our Divines have with one consent disclaimed as a Doctrine to be abhorred And so it is being directly contrary to Scripture which every where asserts God to be a just a holy God free from all iniquity The Lord is a God of truth and without iniquity just and righteous is he saith Moses in that his Swan-like Song Deut. 32.4 And we finde the Apostle seconding him What shall we say them Is there unrighteousnesse with God God forbid Rom. 9.14 And so St. John 1 Ep. 2.16 All that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not in the Father He is not the Author of any sin Let
not any think to charge their sins in whole or in part upon him Let not any man say saith St. James when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evill neither tempteth he any man Jam. 1.13 Sin is no wayes Gods work At the first his works were all good very good And God saw every thing which he had made and behold it was very goâ—d Gen. 1. last He did not then create Evil neither hath he done it since The evil of sin I mean As for the evill of Punishment that he challengeth to be his Creature I create evil Isa 45.7 the evil of Punishment Not so the evil of sin That was the Devils Creature having him for the Author of it Thence it is that our Saviour tells the malicious Jews Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father you will doe Joh. 8.44 And St. John layeth it down as an universall truth He that committeth sin is of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.8 So much of sin as there is in a man so much of Satan he being the proper Author of it When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the Father of it saith our Saviour in the former of those Texts Joh. 8.44 And the like may be said of all other sins they have Satan for their Father their proper Author Whence it is that he is called by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The or that evil one the wicked one 1 Joh. 2.13 and elsewhere As for God he being absolutely good evil is inconsistent with him it cannot dwell with him as the Psalmist hath it Psal 5.4 Being holynesse it self he hateth sin cannot behold it without abhorrence Thou art of purer eyes then to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity saith the Prophet Hab. 1.13 Such an utter Antipathy there is betwixt the pure and holy nature of God and Sin that he cannot look upon it without detestation It is the only thing which he perfectly hates so hating it as that he hateth the Workers of it for its sake So it there followeth Psal 5.5 Thou hatest all workers of iniquity So hateth them as that he will not let their sins goe unpunished Fulgent l. â— ad Monym Now as Fulgentius rightly Deus non est ejus rei Auctor cujus est ultor God cannot be the Author of that whereof he is the Avenger This is the true Protestant Doctrine which as it hath been so let it ever be held and maintained that God neither is nor can be the Author of sin any sin or yet a partaker in it Q. But what say we then to the case in hand The case in hand cleared Was not he the Author of this sin the horridest sin that ever was committed the putting of the Lord of life to death which if he so concurred in as hath been declared how can he be free from it A. For answer hereunto The Evasion of some Romish Doctors Actum Judaeorum non voluit Deus passionem vero Christi voluit Et pâ—steà Voluit itaque tota Trinitas ut Christus pateretur nec taâ—en voluit ut Judaei occiderent quià voluit poenam Christi sed non voluit culpam Judaeorum P. Lumb Sent. l. 1. Dist ult Cap. 2. 〈◊〉 Non volebat Deus actionem Judaeorum quae mala erat sed volebat passionem â—â—nâ—m Idem cap. 3. ibid. if we will consult with some of the Romish Doctors they will here help us with an Evasion God the Father saith P. Lumbard did indeed will the death and suffering of his Son Christ but not the Act of the Jewes in putting him to death the one whereof was good the other eviâ— That Christ should suffer it was good but that they should lay hands upon him was evill In malis operibus saepe accidit ut actio sit mala passio bona Bellarm. lib. 2. De Amiss Grat. c. 11. And to the same purpose Bellarmine treading in his steps determines the case after the same manner God saith he did indeed will and determine that Joseph should be sold into Egypt and that Christ should be slayn but the wicked Acts of those who sold the one and crucified the other he neither decreed nor willed but only foresaw and permitted Thus would they here have it that God gave this Cup to his Son to drink Deus igitur voluit ac praedefinivit opera ista virtutum quae in passione consistunt cum voluit ac praedefinivit ut Jeseph venderetur Christus occideretur Opera autem mala vendentium Joseph occidentium Christum non voluit nec praedefinitiv sed praescivit permisit Idem ibid. but not to Judas and Pilate and the rest that they should hand and reach it unto him He willed that he should bear this punishment not that they should inflict it His passion being good their Action evil But as for this Retracted and rejected we finde it ingenuously retracted by some of their own Suarez a late learned Jesuite states and concludes the point generally and confidently Dicimus tà m esse certum Deum influere immediatè ac per se in omnem actionem creaturae â—t id negare erroneum sit in fide Suarez Metaph. tom 1. disp 22. Sec. 1. num 7. and that not as his own private opinion but as agreed upon by the most approved Schoolmen that God hath an immediate influence upon every action of the Creature and that to deny this is Eâ—roneum in fide an Error in the Faith Yea it is positively layd down by another of them as the common Tenent of the Schools though the Pope could never be brought to determine it one way or other that the very Act of sin as it is an act Thom Cajer Ferrar. Capreol Albert. Alexand. Greg. Scotus ibid. citati Actus peccati in quantum â—ctus est à Deo est tanquam à Causâ Alvarez Disp 24. is from God as the Cause of it And it must needs be so inasmuch as the Creature as it hath its being from God so also its motion Man living in him also moveth in him and from him according to that of the Apostle In him we live and move and have our being Act. 17.28 And therefore to leave them For the returning of a full satisfactory Answer Two things here cleared up I shall clear up unto you these two things which I shall do with as much plainnesse as I can 1. How God willed the death of his Son And 2. How he concurred with Judas and the rest in putting him to death and yet both without sin For the First God gave this Cup to his Son he willed that he should suffer and dye Gods willing that his Son should die which he might doe And this he might doe in as much as 1. He hath jus Supremi Dominii a right of Supreme and absolute Dominion and Soveraignty
over his Creatures so as he may dispose of them as it pleaseth him This may not Man doe In respect 〈◊〉 his supreme absolute deminion in as much as he is not such an absolute Lord over what he injoyes It is not properly his own He is but usu fructuarius having only the use of what he possesseth not properly a Proprietary of any thing Neither his life nor estate are his own He is but Gods Steward and so must be accountable But God is an absolute Lord and so may dispose of all his Creatures according to his own pleasure and who shall challenge him of injustice This is that which warranteth all those actions which we read of in Scripture to have been done by his command being in themselves against the Rule As that act of the Israelites in spoyling the Egyptians of their goods This they did by an Order from God with his allowance which made it warrantable inasmuch as he hath a Supreme and absolute right to the goods and estates of men and so may dispose of them at pleasure giving them from one to another Is it not lawfull for me to doe what I will with mine own saith the Lord of the Vineyard to his Labourers Matth. 20.15 And so again for Abrahams slaying of his Son this was no more then what God might require him to doe Inasmuch as he is the absolute Lord as over the estates so over the lives of men which he only lends them to use and improve for him and so may without any injustice call for them at what time and in what way he pleaseth And so for the Case in the Text Gods delivering his Son to the death it was no more then he might doe being his Soveraign and absolute Lord. This maketh the act in him not to be unjust 2. Gods giving his So◠to dye an act of justice Nay Secondly this was in him not only not unjust but it was an act of Signall justice Christ having taken upon him the sins of the World become a Surety for his Elect ingaged himself to make satisfaction to the Justice of God his Father it was no other but Justice to exact this Debt Christ being now become a Malefactor a sinner by Imputation made sin for us as the Apostle hath it 2 Cor. 5. last yea the greatest sinner that ever was having a world of sin charged upon him for God not to spare him but thus to deliver him up was as I say signall justice 3. And thirdly as this was an act of Justice An act of grace favor so of grace and favour As of Justice towards his Son so of Grace and Favour towards his Elect people for whose sake he did what he did in giving up his Son that so by the giving up of one many might be saved which the High-priest judged to be a thing most expedient It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole Nation perish not Joh. 11.50 These were the motives and ends which God had an eye at in thus giving up his Son Which being far different from those which the Jewes propounded to themselves maketh that to be sinfull in them which was not so in him But not to insist upon this which will be yielded at all hands For God thus to dispose of his Son thus to give this Cup to him to will his suffering and death it was no more then he might doe But what was it for him to concur with Judas and the rest Q. 2 How God concurred in this Act yet without sin in such a manner as hath been declared not only to foresee what they would doe and to permit them to doe it but to will decree determine whatever they should doe and to give them power for the executing of it how shall we here free him from concurring and partaking with them in the sin yea from being the Author of that their sin here lyeth the main difficulty For the clearing hereof A. The former particulars reflected upon let me briefly reflect upon every of these now mentioned particulars shewing you how that there is not that in any of these which can fasten any such charges upon God 1. For the first his foreseeing of this His foreseeing of the sin no cause of it this he might doe and yet be no cause of it The Sun shineth upon noysome Dunghills and Kennels yet is it neither the cause of those offensive Vapours which are exhaled from them nor yet infected with them 2. Nor his permitting of it which he might doe being not bound to hinder evil He permitted that wicked act to be done which he could have bindered so he doth all other and it is no more then he may doe inasmuch as 1. He is not bound to hinder what evil he can which man is and that maketh this to be sinfull in man For him to permit sin when he can hinder it is all one as to act it Malum qui non impedit quando potest facit Inasmuch as the Law requires it from him But so is it not with God He is not bound to hinder sin to afford his restraining grace unto his Creature to hold it up from falling into this or that sin though he could doe it 2. And knowing how to bring good out of it And again he certainly knoweth how to order it how to dispose both of the sinner and sin so as to bring good out of evill And therefore he may permit it A man that rideth upon a mettalled Horse so long as he holdeth the Bridle in his hand he may let loose the reins and so suffer him to flie out because he knoweth how to check and take him up or turn him at his pleasure Such a Bridle hath God upon all the Sons of men I will put my book in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips saith the Lord to Sennaeherib Isa 37.29 He can restrain or turn them at pleasure knowing how to dispose of them and all their sinfull actions how to turn them to good This cannot Man do And therefore as he may not upon this account act sin for any to say Let us doe evill that good may come this Paul chargeth as a most desperate and damnable Doctrine Rom. 3.8 so neither may he willingly permit it But this God can doe and that certainly infallibly He who at the first brought light out of darknesse can bring good out of evill This was his design in permitting Josephs Brethren to sell him he meant it to good as I have shewen you And so it was in permitting the Jewes to crucifie his Son he knew how to bring the greatest good out of this worst of evils which also he did and therefore he gave way to it which upon this account he might doe 3. And thirdly he not only permitted but also willed this action of theirs But how God willed this not with a will
of Approbation but Permission Ordination Alsted Posâ—m p. 465. Here we must distinguish There is a twofold will in God Voluntas approbationis complacentiae and Voluntas Decreti Permissionis Ordinationis A will of approbation whereby he willeth that a thing should be done as well-pleasing to himself And a will of Permission and Ordination whereby he willeth to permit a thing to be done and to order it in the doing and when it is done Now in this latter way did God will this wicked act of the Jewes not by way of approbation giving them any allowance for what they did but only by way of permission and and Ordination he willed to permit them to doe it and then to order what they did making use of it for those righteous and gracious ends which he had propounded to himself Fourthly and lastly He did conour in the very act it self as in delivering his Son into their hands Gods concurring in this Act not sinful so in powering them for the executing of what he had dâ—creed Quest But how could this be without sin Bellarmine left to his shifts To this Bellarmin and some of the later Jesuites return Answere Deus non efficit actionem illam quae homini est peccatum ut causa particularis sed ut causa universalis praebens vim influxum quendam indifferentem communem ad illam actionem ad contrariam qui à concursu secundae causae Innitaâ—ur Bellarm. â—ubi suprà That God doth concurre with the Creature in finfull actions not as a particular but as a generall an universal cause affording to it only a kinde of generall influence and assistance which in it self is indifferent to carry it this way or that way to the doing of this action or the contrary to it good or evill the determining whereof is left to the Creature it self to the liberty of mans own will But as for this new device of theirs Gods concurrence in humane Actions more then generall Vid. Alvarez Disp 21. we finde it justly rejected by others of their own who look upon it as well they may as not a little derogating from the wise Providence of God making it to be confused and imperfect and altogether uncertain which it must needs be whilest it dependeth wholly upon the Creature for the determining of the event of it Absit quod Deus quicquam velit in universali consuse illud nolit in particulari distincte Bradward l. 1. c. 34. For a man to spur and put on his Horse leaving him to choose his own way all would conclude it to be no wisdome in the Rider And for God thus to leave the Creature to it self for the determining of its own actions whilest he only affords such a generall concurrence A. it derogates not a little from his Wisdome In every sinful Action two things the Act it self and the Deficiency in it And therefore to leave them More soundly for the resolving hereos take we notice that in every sinfull Action there are two things the Materiale and the Formale as some call them there is the Act it self and the Inordination or Deficiency in that Act. A known Distinction usually explained and cleared up to vulgar capacities by those plainer and obvious similitudes In a horse that halteth there is his going and his halting the one is the act it self the other is the deficiency in that act So in a crackt Bell when it is struck there is the sound and the jarring Even so in every sinfull actien in sins of Commission for in sins of Omission there is nothing but deficiency there is the Act it self and the inordination in that act Instance in the case in hand the Jewes putting Christ to death there was the Act their crucifying of him and the inordination in that act the evilnesse of the action which was their doing it without a warrant and with such evil intents and purposes as they did Now to apply the distinction As for the Act it self God the Author of the one not of the other that action in the doing whereof the Creature sinneth God hath a hand in it and that not only in the ordering and disposing of it but concurring in it he being the principal Agent and the Creature only his Instrument in acting of it But for the deficiency the inordination wherein properly lyeth the evil of the Action and so the sin that is the Creatures own God is not the Author of that nor any cause of it at all This is a mans own work the fruit of his own Corruption which is properly the Mother of all sin as Satan is the Father of it How this may be those forenamed similitudes do very fitly illustrate A man that spurreth a lame horse or strikes a cracked Bell he is the cause of the motion of the one and of the sounding of the other but not of the halting or jarring that is from themselves So here the motion or action is from God without whom as I told you the Creature cannot move but the deficiency therein is from man himself Siene aer sole Iucente per vitrum coloratum lumen habet a sole colorem a vitro sic hominum actiones malae habent a Deo ut sint ab hominibus ut malae sint Alsted Theol. Polem p. 402. And so that other made use of by some later Divines expresseth it well The Sun shining through a coloured glasse it is the cause of the light but not of the colour that is from the glasse it self Thus doth God make use of man as his Instrument in doing of this or that action in acting whereof the man sinneth the action here is Gods the sin is the mans own So is it with all sinfull Actions they have their existence their being from God their evilnesse from man Now apply this generall to the particular case in hand Applyed to the present câ—se God did concur with Judas and the High-priests and the rest in all those acts which they did in putting Christ to death They were herein but his Instruments it was God that acted in them and by them Thus the Act was his but the sin was theirs So it is No action in it self is simply evill as it is an action To put a man to death is not evill in it self The Judge pronounceth sentence against a Malefactor and the Executioner exeutes it and it is evil in neither But to put a man to death without Authority or without cause to do it wrongfully or cruelly there is the evill That Christ was put to death by the Jewes it was Gods action and in him as I have shown you not unjust but that they did it without warrant without cause maliciously and cruelly that was their sin How Gods Providence reacheth to the evill of sinfull actions which God had no hand in Q. But what then doth the Providence of God reach only to
the Actions doth it not extend also to the evil of the action to the sin it self A. To this I have in part returned Answer already Take it again briefly It doth However God be not the Author of the sin that is acted yet his Providence is exercised about it And that as I said 1. In permitting it to be done Which he doth not simply for it self In permitting it but in order to those just and righteous ends which he propoundeth to himself 2. And secondly in Ordering it Gods permission is not a bare Negative permission In ordering it a not hindering of the evill which is done but an Operative an Effectual permission so Melancton Dicitur autem permissio efficax non quod Deus peccatum efficiat sed Ordinem illius Alsted ubi suprà and Beza and some other of our Divines call it Efficax permissio not that God effecteth the evil of sin but ordereth it Thus did his Providence extend to this sin of the Jewes in crucifying of Christ which he so permitted as that he ordered it making it subservient to his own designs in effecting that great and good work by him intended the redemption and salvation of his Elect people And thus have I endeavoured to clear up unto you this important truth Which if I have not done so clearly as you could have wished let it be imputed to the depth of the matter and not to any affectation of obscurity in my handling of it To close it up with a word of Application Applic. Three Attributes of God shining in this Glasse Did God the Father thus give this Cup to his Son here behold and admire Wonderfull wisdome Exemplary Justice Vnparallel'd Love all clearly shining in this Glasse manifested and declared in this one Act. 1. Wonderfull wisdome Such is the wisdome of God which he hath manifested Won derfull wisdcome as in the work of Creation so of Redemption in finding out a way and means of restauration and salvation for lost Mankinde Which is effected in a wonderfull way such a way as all the wisdome of Men and Angels could never have thought of viz. by giving this bitter this deadly Cup unto his Son which being drunk by him might be a Cup of salvation to all that believe on him Were it so that a Physician could finde out such a medicinable Cup as would cure all Diseases who but would therein admire his skill Of such vertue is this Cup which God the Father gave unto his Son a true Catholicon sufficient for the cure of all soul-diseases in them who shall apply it to themselves through faith Herein admire we the wisdome of God in finding it out in finding out such a means whereby satisfaction being made to his Justice there might be way made for the full exercise of his grace and mercy towards forlorn sinners Never was the wisdome of God more wonderfully manifested in any act then in this Thence is it that the Apostle speaking of Christ and Christ crucisyed he calleth him the wisdome of God 1 Cor 1.24 We preach Christ crucified unto the Jewes a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishnesse but unto them which are called Christ the Power of God and the wisdome of God A crucifyed Christ was and is to the Jewes a scandall a stumbling-block They having dreamed of a Temporall Messiah that should be outwardly pompous and glorious armed with power for their deliverance they could not indure to think of a crucified Saviour He who could not save himself was no Saviour for them He saved others himself he cannot save say some of them in a scoffing and deriding way when they saw him hanging upon the Crosse Math. 27.42 And in like manner he was to the Greeks foolishnesse who could not by all their supposed wisdome see any Reason why salvation should be expected in such a way from such a Saviour But to them that are called called out of darkness into light indued with a right understanding of this sacred mystery to them is Christ the Power of God and Wisdome of God so called in as much as the Power and Wisdome of God were wonderfully manifested in him and by him and that as in his Life so in his Death His Power in conquering his and his Churches Enemies Sin and Satan His wisdome in this way and by this means executing his most wise Counsell and Decree touching the Redemption and Salvation of his Elect people Here was wisdome We speak the wisdome of God in a mystery saith the same Apostle speaking of the Doctrine of the Gospell 1 Cor. 2.7 And hereof give we unto God the glory admiring and adoring it saying with that Apostle what he doth upon another account Rom. 11.33 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God 2. Aud thus beholding his Wisdome do we the like by his Justice Exemplary Justice which was also in this act wonderfully declared and manifested in God the Fathers thus giving this Cup to his Son His Son having undertaken for his Elect to make satisfaction for their sins he being thus become their Surety God his Father spareth not him but delivereth him unto the death So just so impartial is God in the punishing of sin not sparing it wherever he meeteth with it but requiring satisfaction to his Justice which because men of themselves are not able to make therefore he required it of this their Suretie 3. in the third place behold we here unparallelled Love Unparallelled Love Herein is love saith St. John that God sent his Son to be a Propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.10 Herein is love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that love God hath in many other passages manifested his love to his Elect people but in none like unto this his sending his Son into the world for their sakes and that not only to teach and instruct them by his Doctrine and Example but to be a Propitiation for their sins to redeem them by his blood to die for them Here was unparallelled Love as in God the Son in thus giving himself so in God the Father in thus giving his Son Herein did Abraham expresse his love to God in offering up his Son to him And herein did God the Father expresse his love to us in offering up his Son for us Give we unto him the glory of this grace Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost saith the Church in that ancient Hymne giving us to take notice that there is a peculiar glory which is due unto each of the Persons in the blessed Trinity And so there is from this work of Redemption Besides the glory which is due unto the whole Trinity whose joynt design this was there is as I may call it a Personal glory due unto each Person Glory to the Father for giving his Son Glory to the Son for giving himself and Glory to the Holy Ghost for
denominated from his Divine nature God shed his blood that is that Person who was ruely God as well as Man shed his blood not as God but as Man Deus sed non qua Deus God but not as God Deus sed non Deitas God in the Concrete not the Godhead in the Abstract The Lord of glory was crucifyed the Author of life was killed that Person who was so in respect of his divine nature was crucified killed in his humane nature That which is proper to one nature is attributed to the person So is it with man in whom soul and body are united that which is proper to one of these is attributed to the Person As when the Body is sick wounded buryed we say the man is so So in the sufferings of Christ it was his Manhood which suffered not the Godhead yet it is attributed to the person Which is as I say sometimes denominated from the one nature sometimes from the other It was the humane nature of Christ or the Person of Christ in and according to his humane nature which properly suffered And this he did in his whole man Christ suffering in his whole man In his Body both in his Body and Soul 1. In his Body This it was which was bound scourged spit upon Crowned with thorns which first bare the Crosse and then was born of it which was pierced by the Nayls and the Spear which shed its blood Thus did he bear our sins in his own body on the Tree as St. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 2.4 And we are said to be sanctified that is freed from the guilt of sin and consecrated to the service of God through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ Heb. 10.10 2. But not his Body only but his Soul also In his Soul That also did bear a part in this suffering which it did not only by way of sympathy with the Body but immediately in and by it self So it did in that Agony of his in the Garden where he made that sad complaint to his Disciples My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even unto death Matth. 26.38 And afterwards upon the Crosse where being under a sad Eclipse the light of his Fathers countenance being hid from him by that black Cloud the sins of the World in that conflict he cryeth out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.46 Thus did he then suffer in soul His soul being made an offering for sin as well as his Body as the Prophet Isai hath it Isa 53.10 Thus did he suffer in his humane nature in his whole man both Body and soul Q. But it may be said what then did not the Godhead also act a part in this Tragedy Was that only a Spectator a Looker on whilest the Manhood suffered A. The Godhead acting in the suffering of the Manhood Not so the Godhead at this time was not idle though it did not bear yet it acted a part in this Passion Though it did not suffer with the humane nature yet it concurred with it in sufsuffering Which it did in divers particulars Take we notice of Four or Five of them 1. Voluit It willed that suffering Christ as God willed that his suffering as Man Willing that it should suffer So much he intimates unto his Disciples Joh. 10.17 18. where he tells them I lay down my life that I may take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self He layed down his life how why by the same power by which he took it up again by the power of his divine nature according to which he is properly called the Prince or Author of life Act. 3.15 By this power it was that he raised up his body from the death and by this power it was that he gave it up to death It was not the power of his humane nature that could doe this to lay down his life and take it up again at pleasure This was an act of his divine nature as well as his humane 2. Quievit As the Godhead willed that the Manhood should suffer Resting that it 〈…〉 suffer so it rested that it might suffer The divine nature was not withdrawn and severed from the humane in the time of its passion the union betwixt them being indissoluble but it rested not putting forth its power in any way of resistance which if it had done it was not all the Powers of Hell all the Men and Devils in the World that could have brought him to the Crosse The Godhead rested slept as it were even as Sampson did whilest his locks were cut off which it did for those three dayes during which time Christ seemed to be wholly left in the hands under the power of those his bloudy enemies for them to execute their rage and malice upon him Thus the Godhead though as I said not separated from the Manhood which it never was even then when Soul and Body were separated the one from the other the Godhead was severed from neither yet it rested Even as when a man is asleep his soul is not departed from his body yet it seemeth to have left it inasmuch as it doth not exercise those operations which before it did not looking out by the Eye not speaking by the Tongue not working by the Hand c. So was it here The Godhead being still with the Manhood dwelling in it and that as the soul doth in the body Bodily In ipso inâ—â—hitat plenitudo divinitatis corporaliter quià in Templo habitaverat umbâ—aliteâ— Grot. Annâ—t ex August in loc that is Pauls word Col. 2.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non umbraliter as Augustine explains it not in the shadow as it dwelt in the Temple but Corporaliter Bodily that is Personally substantially yet it rested for a time not shewing it self not exercising its wonted operations The Godhead rested that the humane nature might suffer 3. Sustentavit Though the Godhead thus rested that it might suffer Supporting it in suffering yet it secretly supported and bare it up in suffering inabling it to drink this Cup to suffer that which otherwise of it self it could never have been able to have done viz. the wrath of God due unto the sins of the World An insupportable burden Such is the least drop of it Who knoweth the power of thine anger Psal 90.11 What is then such a full Viall of it as was poured out upon Christ in his sufferings This could his humane nature of it self never have borne But it was secretly supported by the divine nature As it is in Man where as the Wise man hath it Prov. 18.14 his spirit sustaineth his infirmities the soul being of a cheerfull temper beareth him up under his bodily ailments So here that Eternall spirit which dwelt in the humane nature of Christ sustained and bore it up under those otherwise unsufferable sufferings 4. And not only bare it up under those sufferings And making
way and the Lord hath layed upon him the iniquity of us all vers 6. For the transgression of my people was he stricken vers 8. Thus did he suffer not for his own sake but ours Christ hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust 1 Pet. 3.18 Having taken upon him the sins of the World he was now made sin who knew no sin a sinner by Imputation And being so God giveth this Cup unto him as standing in the room of his Elect requiring satisfaction to his Justice from him Q. Q. 2 2. But why was this Cup given only to him why not to any other but him Why only to him A. A. For this take a threefold Reason 1. No other was able to drink it but he It is our Saviours speech to the Sons of Zebedee Matth. 20 2◠No other able to drink it Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of So it is others may taste of this Cup sip of it but none to drink it Not this Cup. Mihi hic calix datus est noa alteri nemo enim ad hoc sufficit praeter unum me Ferus in Text. As for the Cup of castigatory afflictions Gods own people may and often doe drink deep of it So did those two sons of Zebedee to whom he there speaketh James and John whom he tells in the next verse Ye shall indeed drink of my Cup vers 23. this accordingly they did the one of them James being Martyred Act. 12.1 the other John after many sufferings banished Rev. 1.9 But for the Cup of satisfactory punishment which properly was Christs Cup none could drink that without perishing by it but himself none but he who was more then Man God as well as Man 2. As none other was able to drink it None else needed to drink it so none else needed to drink it his sufferings being sufficient sufficient for all Men and all sins He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2.2 of all Believers in all Ages and Nations whether Jewes or Gentiles The bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin c. 1. v. 7. of that Epistle from Originall sin Actuall sin He gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 Now this one Cup which was given to Christ being such a Pan-pharmacon such an all-sufficient remedy there needed not a second of the same kinde to be given to any besides him 3. This Cup was given only to him that he might have all the honour of this great work That he might have all the honour of this work the work of Mans Redemption I have tiodden the Wine-presse alone and of the people there was none with me saith the Lord speaking of the destroying of his and his Churches enemies which he would do by himself alone Isa 63 3. And so did Christ in his Passion of which the greatest part of Expositors though not so rightly understand that Text he there trod the Wine-presse of his fathers wrath and he did it alone having no creature whether Man or Angel for his Coadjutor And this he did that all the glory of this great work the work of Redemption might redound unto him Which accordingly we finde acknowledged by that Quire of Angels and Elders in that Song of theirs Rev. 5. Thou art worthy c. for thou hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood v. 9. And again Worthy is the Lamb that was slayn to receive power and riches and wisedome and strength and honour and glory and blessing v. 12. Thus have I dispatched the Doctrinall part of this other important truth touching the subject of this Passion wherein I have showen you to whom it was that God the Father gave this Cup viz. to the Person of his Son Christ who suffered in and according to his Humane nature having the Godhead concurring with it And why he gave it to him and not to any other besides him That which now remains of this is Application Which let it be directed these four wayes Applic. By way of Information Terror Comfort Instruction 1. Vse 1 By way of Information Did God thus give this Cup to his Son Information give him to suffer in this manner Here again reflect we upon what was touched upon before the strictnesse of Gods Justice the greatnesse of his love both wonderfully appearing in this dispensation The strictnesse of Gods justice 1. The strictnesse of his justice in punishing of sin which he would not spare in his own Son Jesus Christ had not offended his Father in his own Person as I have shewen you he had no sin of his own whether Originall or Actuall yet taking upon him the sins of others and so become a sinner by way of Imputation God his Father will not spare him but causeth him to seel the smart of it If ever sinner might have hoped to have met with a favourable connivence surely he that was only made sin in such a way especially being a Person so nearly related to and dearly beloved of the Father might But we see how far God was from indulging of sin in him He prepareth a bitter Cup for him and giveth it to him causing him to drink it bruising him and putting him to grief powring out a full Viall of his wrath and indignation upon him The most exemplary and signall piece of Justice that ever was The drowning of the World with water the destroying of Sodome and Gomorrah by fire the plagueing of Egypt and the like they were remarkable demonstrations of divine justice But none like to this Gods not sparing his own Son but giving him to the death Such is his Justice so strict so impartiall that he will not spare sin in what subject soever he meeteth with it The reason whereof is because he hateth sin as sin Now à quatenus ad omnes c. say the Schools he who loveth or hateth a thing for it self loveth or hateth it wherever he findes it And thus God hateth sin It being contrary to his nature he hateth it for it self and therefore wherever he findes it he will not spare it Such is the strictnesse of his Justice 2. Behold the greatnesse of his love his love to his Elect people The greatness of his Love to his Elect. which he expressed in giving this Cup to his Son for their sakes This Cup was their due the desert of their sins The soul that sinneth it shall dye yet here God was pleased to finde out a Surety and to lay their iniquities upon him even upon his own Son not sparing him that he might spare them delivering him unto death that he might deliver them from death Never was there such a declaration of love as this When Abraham had layed his Son upon the Altar ready to sacrifice him in obedience to Gods command from hence the Lord concludes the truth and sincerity
of his affection towards him Now I know saith he that thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from me Gen. 22.12 And from hence may all true Believers conclude the intirenesse of Gods affection towards them saying in like manner unto him Now Lord we know that thou lovest us seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from us but hast given him up to the death for our sakes giving this bitter Cup to him which otherwise we must have drunk laying the burden of our sins upon him which otherwise we must have lyen under unto all eternity Wonderfull unparallel'd love to be for ever admired and adored by all those who can evidence their interest in it But this I have touched upon before This by way of Information 2. By way of Terror Vse 2 Did the Lord thus deal by his Son his dear Son Terror to Gods Enemies to give such a bitter Cup to him what then may his Enemies expect and look for This is the Application which our Saviour himself maketh hereof Luk. 23.31 If they do these things in a green tree what shall be done in a drye Christ himself was as a green tree which having sap and moisture in it is not so combustible so apt to take fire the Jewes were as a drye tree fit Fuel for the fire Now if this green tree were thus used Christ himself who was a just and a righteous person having no guilt no just matter of condemnation in him save only as he stood in the place of sinners if he were thus left to suffer such things as he did from them what then had they cause to expect who in regard of their manifold impieties were fit fuel for the fire of Gods wrath to feed upon And let it in like manner be applyed to all wicked and ungodly persons who being no better then drye trees having no sap of grace in them voyd and destitute of all goodnesse and so no other but Vessels of wrath fitted for destruction as the Apostle calleth them Rom. 9.22 if it was thus done to this green tree this so just and righteous a person what do they think will become of them This use St. Peter makes of the sufferings of Gods Saints wherewith God is pleased sometimes to exercise them 1 Pet. 4.17 If Judgement first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospell of God If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinners appear If the righteous such as being true Believers are justified by faith and endeavour to prove themselves righteous to God and Man if they scarcely be saved passe through so many difficulties meet with so many sufferings in their journey to Heaven where shall the wicked and ungodly appear Unbelievers such as live in a state of sin being wholly given up to it and as it were drowned in it what shall become of them when Christ shall come to judge the world in rightecusnesse and to give to every man according to his works And such use make we of this dealing of God with his own Son after this manner Did God his Father give such a Cup to him notwithstanding that he was in all things his obedient Son as the Apostle tells us Phil. 2.8 Oh what then may the children of Disobedience expect and look for Certainly there is a black Cloud which hangeth over their heads even the wrath of God which without repentance shall be poured out upon them Because of these things saith the Apostle speaking of wicked and ungodly courses and practises cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Eph. 5.6 And this let all such make account of taking notice that God hath a Cup for them and that a dreadfull one In the hand of the Lord there is a Cup saith the Psalmist and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them Psal 75.8 So it is God the Supreme Moderator and wise disposer of all things he hath appointed and measured out afflictions and sufferings to all the Sons of men so as his own people have their share in them they are made to drink of this Cup to taste of it I but the wicked and ungodly shall drink of it after another manner they shall wring out the dregs thereof and drink them God hath terrible Judgements in store for them such as shall end in endlesse despair and utter destruction Vpon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstome and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their Cup so the Psalmist sets it forth Psal 11.6 And O that this were but seriously thought of by all of this number that all profane and ungodly persons would but consider this that amidst their Oath Cups those Cups of abomination wherewith they are intoxicated they would but take notice of this Cup in the hand of the Lord this Cup of red wine his fierce wrath which is reserved for them to drink Certainly the very thought hereof being let into their souls it could not but fill them with horror and terror So did the apprehension of this Cup which our blessed Saviour saw coming towards him work upon him it put him into a strange and unheard of Agony as the story sets it forth And certainly such operation would the like apprehension have upon the most obdurate and obstinate sinner did he but seriously think of the fierceness of that wrath which one day without repentance he shall be sure to feel it could not but work horror and terror in his soul Now then suffer I beseech you this Meditation to take place with you What wicked men must expect you who lye in a state and go on in a course of sin daring to give allowance to your selves in any known evil what did God so severely punish those sins which were only imputed to his Son Christ and so were not properly his save only as he was a Surety for others how can you ever think that he should passe by those sins which you dare with so high a hand commit against him It is that which the Prophet Jeremie saith unto Edom the Edomites the Posterity of Esau Jer. 49.12 Behold they whose judgement was not to drink of the Cup have assuredly drunken and art thou he that shalt goe altogether unpunished Thou shalt not goe unpunished but thou shalt surely drink of it Seeing God had not spared his own people his people Israel who in regard of the Covenant which was betwixt him and them might have expected more favour then others much lesse had those accursed Edomites who had no such Relation any reason to hope that they should be spared And so say I here concerning the sufferings of Jesus Christ Did he whose judgement was not to drink of this Cup drink it Did the
off from it For this a threefold Reason may be assigned Answ This he did upon a threefold ground 1. Reas 1 The first and principal whereof is that which we meet with in the Text. His obedience to his Father His Father had given this Cup to him to drink and therefore he will drink it The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it God his Father had decreed willed that he should suffer and dye and this his will he had made known unto him And therefore in obedience to his command he thus willingly yieldeth hereunto I lay down my life of my self saith he but wherefore Why This Commandement I have received from my Father so himself there giveth the Reason of it Joh. 10.18 Even as Isaac herein a type of him in obedience to his Father yields himself to be bound and layed upon the Wood to be sacrificed Gen. 22. which he did willingly without the least reluctancy or resistance that we read of So did the Lord Jesus in obedience to his Father he willingly yielded up himself to the death He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.8 Such an absolute and universal complyance there was betwixt Christ and his Father What his Father willed that he willed So himself declares it Joh. 5.30 I seek not mine own will but the will of him that sent me And again in the Chapter following v. 38. I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me Thus did he as God perfectly comply with the will of his Father Being one God with him there was but one will betwixt them What the Father willed the Son willed And as Man he was in every thing subordinate to him Not doing his own will I seek not myne own will As Man if it had been consistent with the will of God his Father he could have wished that this Cup might have passed from him which he doth Matth. 26.39 Father if it be possible let this Cup passe from me There was the will of his humane iâ—firmity Nature being desirous to preserve it self which it might doe without sin But this will he submits and resolves into the will of his Father Neverthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt so he there limits his desire And again vers 42. O my Father if this Cup may not passe from me except I drink it thy will be done Thus was there a perfect conformity of his will as God and subordination as Man to the will of his Father And from hence flowed this willing submission of his in drinking of this Cup. This he did in obedience to his Father Which I shall God willing make some Application of hereafter for the present passing it by 2. Reas 2 As herein he had an eye to his Father willing this so also to his Elect people needing it His good wil to his Elect people Their redemption their salvation depended upon it As for what he had already done in his Active Obedience in fulfilling the Law this alone could have been no wayes available unto them The Justice of God required further satisfaction even the suffering of death This was that which the Law had threatned In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye saith the Lord to Adam Gen. 2.17 thou shalt die the death be subject and bound over unto death not only temporall but eternall And under this sentence do all the Sons of Adam by nature lye being bound over unto death not only in their Bodies but in their Souls bound over unto eternall death Now this Law must be satisfied before the Elect of God could be redeemed And how should this be without shedding of blood Without shedding of blood there is no Remission Heb. 9.22 And upon this account again it was that our blessed Saviour was so willing to drink this Cup to subject himself to this accursed death not only to a naturall but to that which was equivalent to an eternall death to suffer the wrath of God due unto the sins of the World that so he might free his Elect people from that Curse Which he did out of an unspeakable love to them This it was that induced God the Father to give this Gup to his Son God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. Joh. 3.16 And this it was which also induced him so willingly to drink it in this way to give himself for them Who loved me and gave himself for me saith Paul Gal. 2.20 Christ hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God Eph. 5.2 Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it v. 25. This it was which next to the will of God his Father put him forward upon this service with such resolution and willingnesse even that ardent affection which he bare to his Elect people This will love doe The power of intense Love It beareth all things as the Apostle saith of it 1 Cor. 13.7 Where it is intense it will make a heavy burden light Jacob loving Rachel he served a Seven-years Apprentiship for her And saith the Text they seemed to him but a few dayes for the love he had to her Gen. 29.20 And thus would men serve their God did they but love him as they ought though it were for many years their service would not be tedious unto them So was it here with our blessed Saviour Loving his Elect people with such an intense affection as he did he thinks nothing too much that either he could doe or suffer for them Applic. Where before we passe any further Applic. This Love of Christ to be admited make we a stand a little suffering our thoughts to be taken up with an holy Contemplation and high admiration of this matchlesse love which our blessed Saviour doth herein expresse in shewing himself so willing to drink this Cup. A Bitter Cup So he had found it already Yet behold he not only submits to the drinking of it but will not indure that it should be taken from his mouth till he had drunk it off The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it As if he had thirsted after it no lesse then a thirsty man doth after a Cup of drink to quench his thirst withall Thus was he carryed on to this his Passion with an earnest desire Even as he was to the drinking of that mystical Cup concerning which he tells his Disciples Luk. 22.15 With desire I have desired that is Earnestly desired to eat this Passeover with you before I suffer meaning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper so was he to the drinking of this metaphoricall Cup whereof that was a forerunner and a sign his Death and Passion this was a thing which he was carryed to with the like earnest desire This is that which he tells his Disciples Luk. 12.50 I have a
Baptisme to be baptized with so he calls his Passion and how am I straitned till it be accomplished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quomodo constringor how am I pressed viz. in spirit how earnestly do I desire the accomplishment thereof So we finde that word used Act. 18.5 where it is said of Paul that He was pressed in spirit and testified to the Jewes that Jesus was Christ Intus 〈◊〉 apud se astuabat prae â—tli ardore Beza Gr. Annot. in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he had a strong motion upon his spirit which put him upon that service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Annot. in loc And so is the same word here looked upon by some How am I straitned how am I pressed in spirit unto this work So it is explained by some of the Ancients As by Epiphanius taken notice of by Beza who readeth that Text thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I have a Cup to drink and how doe I hasten to the drinking thereof And I have a baptisme to be baptized with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grot ad loc ex Iren. and how doe I wish that I were even now baptized with it And to the same purpose Irenaeus taken notice of by Grotius who citeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have another Baptisme to be baptized with and I am carryed on with an earnest desire to it And what he there tells them he here maketh it good by not induring that any should hinder or delay his drinking of this Cup. And what an unparallel'd affection was this which the Lord Jesus bare to his Elect people which should thus put him on upon this work this service That for their sakes he should thus endure the Crossâ—e and despise the shame as the Apostle saith of him Heb. 12.2 not so regarding whatever it was that attended his Passion as that he should withdraw himself from it Thus do we here see the truth of what the Spouse saith concerning Love Cant. 8.6 7. Love is strong as death many waters cannot quench Love neither can the floods of waters drown it So it is with true love where it is intense it is inexpugnable and unconquerable Omnia vincit amor No dangers no difficulties can quench or quell it And such was this love which Christ bare to his Church it was not the fear of death though a painfull shamefull and accursed death it was not all the waters of Marah bitter waters nor the Flood-gates of Divine wrath which were now set open ready to be poured out upon him that could quench this love of his Come what will come can come nothing shall take him off from this undertaking which he had designed for the Redemption and salvation of his Elect people He had tasted of the bitter Cup already and now he is resolved how bitter soever he will drink it off for their sakes Which love let all those who have an interest in it for ever admire And admiring it now study how to answere it Vse 2 But how shall that be Why Chriâ—ians to answer this love it is the nature of Love it will be repayed in its own coyn And thus do we answere this love of Jesus Christ with love loving him who hath thus loved us Which whoso doth not the Apostle thundereth out an Anathema against him and that a deserved one If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 Let him be accursed for ever And this expresse we as in other waves Being willing to suffâ—r for Christ so in and by our readinesse to suffer for him Which if he shall call us to do it willingly Willingnesse in performance sets a marvellous glosse and lustre upon all the services of a Christian as upon his Active so upon his Passive Obedience Shall Christ call any of us forth in any kinde to suffer for him do it willingly This is that which Paul professeth in that Text forecited Act. 21.13 I am ready not only to be bound but to dye at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus And let the same minde be in every of us Being ready even to die for him This was Peters resolution and had he not taken it up in his own strength it had been highly commendable and exemplary I will lay down my life for thy sake Joh. 13.37 And the like take we up in the strength of Christ Taking notice that whatever we suffer for him it is no more then what he hath done for us No more say I nay not the thousandth part so much An infinite disparity and disproportion there is betwixt our sufferings for Christ and his sufferings for us Put all the sufferings of all the Martyrs that ever have been together and suppose them all meeting in one and the same person yet were they not worthy to be compared with the sufferings of Christ One drop of the wrath of God poured out upon the soul is more then all the most exquisite torments that cruelty it self can inflict upon the Body But behold here not drops but Vials of wrath poured out upon the Lord Jesus A full Cup measured out unto him by a measure of Justice his sufferings being proportioned to the sins of the World Alas as for those spittings scoffings buffetings scourgings the pâ—ercing of his hands and side with the Nails and Spear his sufferings in his body which we would account eminent sufferings they were the least drops in his Cup. It was his suffering in soul which was the soul of his suffering No compare betwixt his sufferings and ours his for us and ours for him And besides A service honourable and profitable to them Nâ—t so to Christ Christs sufferings no Honor to him there are many inducements which may put us upon suffering for Christ and make us willing therewith This is to us both an honourable and a profitable service But for him to suffer for us was neither What honour could there be in that infinite abasure That he who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equall with God being coessentiall and so co equall wih his Father as God should make himself of no reputation which the Apostle tells us he did Phil. 2.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he evacuated emptyed himself of that Glory and Majesty which he had from all eternity reducing himself as it were to nothing and that he should take upon him the form of a servant as he there goeth on subject himself to such a mean and servile condition as that was wherein he lived upon earth this may well be looked upon as a strange and wonderfull abasure But what was it then for him as the Apostle there goeth on to humble himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse to such a shamefull such an accursed death and to do this for us us poor worms vile worthlesse creatures Nothing lesse then honour in this
fervice Never was there suffering in it self so dishonourable so ingiâ—rious Neither was there in it properly more Profit then Honour To us indeed it was profitable Nor profit as to our Holynesse and Happinesse but not so to him It is but a groundlesse conceit of the Church of Rome that by his sufferings he merited the glorifying of his Humane nature True indeed this was the way by which he passed to his Kingdome and glory so he tells his Disciples Luk. 24.26 Ought not Christ to suffer these things and so to enter into his glory But not the meritorious cause of it As our works are to us so were Christs sufferings to him Via ad regnum non causa regnandi the way to his Kingdome not the cause of his reigning He had no need to merit any thing for himself For as he was God so he was coequall with the Father infinitely blessed and happy from all eternity and so there could come no accession or addition of glory to him from his sufferings only a reassuming of that glory which for a time he had layd aside And as he was Man so by the Papists own confession he was comprehensor non viator even from the very first instant of his conception he was made blessed by the union of the divine nature with the humane from which union also flowed the glorifying of the Humane nature after it had suffered But I will not stand to dispute the Controversie with them This we are sure of the spirit of God in Scripture speaking of the Death and Passion of Christ it still refers the merit fruit and benefit of it unto us Hereby were we redeemed and reconciled unto God Hereby did he obtain for us deliverance from sin and death with righteousnesse and eternall life By his stripes we are healed through the merit of his death the gates of Heaven are set open to us which were shut before as Paradâ—se was against our first Parents For all these Scripture is expresse Thus all the profit is ours Yet did he undertake this dishonourable this unprofitable service for our sakes and this he did willingly resolvedly And shall not we be ready to do the like for him In our sufferings for him there are both these Both Honour And Profit 1. Sufferings for Christ honourable to the Christian What service so honourable as to suffer for Christ Wounds for his sake make honourable scars Reproaches revilings spittings upon such base aspersions as are cast upon us for his sake are honourable badges Which as Job saith he would doe by whatever charge his Adversaries should bring against him Job 31.36 we may take upon our shoulders and binde as a Crown to us It is a mistake if any shal think what we are ready to do that God and Christ are really honoured by their suffering for them Alas this honour reacheth not unto them no more then David saith of his goods or goodnesse Psal 16.2 It reflecteth wholly upon our selves The honour of whatever we doe or suffer for God and Christ is ours not theirs The Apostles when they had been beaten by the Jewes for preaching of Christ they departed from the presence of the Councell saith the Text rejoycing that they were accounted worthy to suffer for his Name Act. 5.41 This is an honourable service 2. And no lesse Profitable And no lesse profitable then honourable Profirable here making us like unto Christ conformable to his death which the Apostle maketh so much of Phil. 3.10 Profitable hereafter Not a wound not a stripe not a scoff not a taunt not a reproach which we have suffered for Christ but shall turn to a good account another day meeting us in heaven with an abundant recompense of reward If we suffer with him we shall be glorified with him Rom. 8.7 They who are here partakers of Christs sufferings when his glory shall be revealed they shall be glad with exceeding joy 1 Pet. 4.13 No service so profitable as this for which we have our Saviours own ensurance Matth. 19.29 Verily I say unto you every one that hath forsaken houses or lands c. for my Names sake shall receive an hundred fold viz. now in this life as St. Mark explains it Mar. 10.30 of secular goods if good for them or of spiritual riches which are better and shall inherit everlasting life And what a shame is it then for Christians to bear the Crosse of Christ so heavily To bear the Cross of Christ heavâ—ly a shame to Christians as for the most part they doe Alas every thing that we suffer for Christ we are ready to think it enough if not too much How willingly do we withdraw our necks from his yoke How willing are we to hearken to that counsel which Peter would have given to his Master to spare and favour our selves How ready to accept of all means for the taking of this Cup from our mouths Herein how unlike unto Christ How far from suffering for him as he did for us not only patiently but willingly Such spirits indeed there have been in some of the Lords worthies They have kissed this Cup they have readily embraced and rejoyced in their sufferings taking pleasure in them So did Peter and those other Apostles of whom I spake even now And the like did Paul who tells his Corinthians that he took pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persâ—cutions in distresses for Christs sake 2 Cor. 12.10 And so did those Primitive Martyrs who took joyfully the spoyling of their goods Heb. 10.34 And the like have many of the Martyrs in succeeding Ages done who have gone to the Stake as our Saviour here did to his Crosse not as to a place of torment but as to a Chariot of Triumph Oh that there were the same spirit in all the Lords people Beloved they are but trivial sufferings which God calleth any of us to at this day for the cause of Christ for the most part but Tongue-persecution And what shall we not bear this with patience nay with chearfulnesse Was Christ so willing to suffer so much for us and shall not we be willing to suffer a little for him And being willing to suffer for him Vse 3 Christians not to be unwilling to suffer for those that are Christs be we not unwilling to suffer for his Herein follow we his example We see how willingly he offers up himself for his Church Do we the like if ever God shall honour us so far as to call us to such a service An honourable service next to our suffering for Christ to suffer for his Spouse his Body his Church A service which we are tyed to by many bonds We professe our selves Members of that Body Now every Member should be ready to suffer for the whole He who was the head of his Church we see how free he was of his dearest blood for it And shall we to whom it is an honour if we may be but
which fall not a few Reduce them into three ranks Such as despise the Judgements of the Lord Such as murmure at them Such as faint under them All which are far from this disposition which here we meet with in our blessed Saviour To speak a word to each of them severally 1. Sort 1 Some there are who despise the Judgements of the Lord Despisers of Gods Judgements As the Israelites are charged to have done by the Judgements of his mouth his word Ezek. 20.13 They have despised my Judgements So doe they by the Judgements of his hand Of which 4 sorts his works of Judgement they despise them sleight them under which head come divers 1 Such as put this Cup far from them So did they of whom the Prophet Amos speaketh Such as put this Cup far from them 6.3 They put far away the evil day In the midst of their other Cups whilest they were drinking Wine in Boles as the 6 vers there hath it quaffing and carousing drinking by measure without measure as Drinkers of Healths as they abusively call them use to do this Cup was far removed out of their sight Whilest they were rioting and revelling feasting and sporting they little thought of the day of Calamity which was then coming upon them And so is it with many In the time of Prosperity whilest they have the sweet Cup at their mouths they never think of that bitter Cup which sooner or later they may nay must drink of Never think of the day of Adversity the day of Affliction the day of Death And so they go on securely in their sins promising to themselves security that they shall not feel of the Judgments of God So was it as with literall Isa 47.8 so with Mysticall Babylon Rev. 18.7 She saith in her heart I sit a Queen and am no Widow and shall see no sorrow Being in a prosperous and flourishing condition she promiseth to her self that she should never see a change But mark what follows in the next Verse Therefore shall her plagues come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire c. See here what it is that all secure sinners may expect such as putting this Cup the Judgments of God far from them go on in their sinfull provocations certainly God hath a Bitter Cup for them which sooner or later they shall drink and that it may be sooner then they are aware of Expresse to this purpose is that known Text which I wish all of this rank may take notice of Deut. 29.19 20. Where the Lord telleth his people Israel that if there should be amongst them a root that beareth Gall and Wormwood any wicked and ungodly person whose sins are as distastefull unto God as the bitterest Gall or Wormwood are unto man And it come to passe saith the Text when he heareth the words of this Curse that he blesse himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of myne heart to adde drunkennesse to thirst one sin to another then mark what follows The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke like fire against that man The Cup of Gods wrath is not nearer to any than those who thus put it far from them 2. And others there are not much unlike them Such as will not see it when it cometh towards them who when this bitter Cup is coming towards them yet they shut their eyes against it so as seeing they will not see it Such the Prophet Isai speaketh of Isa 26.11 Lord saith he when thy hand is lifted up they will not see Notwithstanding God was at work wonderfully declaring and manifesting his power as in working miraculous deliverances for his people so in executing strange and remarkable Judgements upon his and their enemies yet they shut their eyes against it not regarding what he did Even so deal many When Gods hand is lifted up and his Judgements are abroad in the earth this Cup is walking to and fro on every side of them yet they shut their eyes against it will not take notice of it so as to be at all affected with it Though it be coming towards them yet they hope it shall not come at them so was it with those Edomites whom I spake of before Though the Cup of Gods fury went round among the Nations so as all their Neighbours had drunk of it yet they hoped they should not do the like Even so is it with many secure sinners In the midst of common calamities they promise to themselves immunity and freedome that this Cup shall passe by them So did the Jewes of old though the Lord sent his Prophets to them one after another every one with a Cup in his hand as the Prophet Jeremy there saith of himself in that Text forecited Jer. 25. a Cup of wrath and fury which they held forth unto them threatning them with the Judgements of God yet few of them gave credit to what they said But what saith the Lord to them for this You may read it as often elsewhere so Amos 9.10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the Sword which say the evil shall not overtake nor prevent us The Sinners of my people presumptuous sinners such as the greatest part of them were though God had threatned his Judgements against that Nation yet they neither feared nor cared for them they would believe no more then they felt still they flattered themselves that the Judgements threatned either should not come or not come at them they should do well enough Now as for such the Lord there tells them what they should expect they should be sure to dye by the Sword whoever escaped his Judgements they should not And the like let all secure sinners look for Such as make a Covenant with death and with Hell they are at an agreement as the Prophet Isai sets forth the security of the Rulers of Israel Isa 28.15 saying in their hearts as it there followeth when the overflowing scourge shall passe through it shall not come unto us Thus do they as he goeth on make lyes their refuge and under falshood do they hide themselves But let all such make account that this Covenant of theirs shall be disanulled So the Lord there threatens it against those Rulers vers 18. Your Covenant with death shall be disanulled and your agreement with Hell shall not stand when the overflowing scourge shall passe through then ye shall be trodden down by it Secure sinners shall not escape the Judgements of God They who when his hand is lifted up will not see they shall see and feel So the Prophet there threatneth them in that Text even now cited Isa 26.11 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed yea the fire of thine enemies shall devour them The fire of thine enemies the fierce
Apostle himself who tells his Corinthians 2 Cor. 1.8 that by the trouble which hapned to him in Asia he was pressed out of measure beyond strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so falleth it out sometimes with other of the Saints There is a great disproportion betwixt their burden and their strength the one great the other small Now how shall a Christian be able to bear up in such a case so to fortifie and strengthen his spirit as that he may not faint in the day of Adversity A. A great and difficult work I confesse A. Some soveraign Cordials prescribed yet through the help of Grace attainable To help you therein let me prescribe unto you some Soveraign Cordials some spiritual Consolations which may be and being taken into the soul will be very usefull for this purpose for the supporting and bearing up the spirit under whatever affliction this poor life of ours upon earth is subject to These Consolations are many as also our Afflictions are I shall single out some of the choisest Which I shall desire you carefully to lay up Happily at the present you may have no great need of them but how soon you may you know not And therefore lay them up in the Closet of your hearts They are not like the Apothecaries Drugs some of which being long kept lose their vertue The day may come when some one of them may requite all your care and pains In the First place then look at Afflictions themselves Direct 1 Loâ—k at Afflictions themselves wherein consider The Israelites in the Wildernesse were cured of the stinging of the Serpents by looking upon the Serpent And so may a Christian by looking upon Afflictions strengthen his heart against them The Hony of the Bee is a medicine for the Sting Afflictions though never so bitter yet will afford somewhat that may serve to allay that bitternesse In them cast we an eye upon 4 or 5 particulars which may be usefull this way The Quality Quantity Continuance Commonnesse Issue of them 1. Consid 1 The Quality of them Here we shall finde that in themselves they are a Curse The Quality of them as qualified by Christ Such are all Afflictions all fruits and consequents of sin and punishments of it every one being an Appendix to that first Curse The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death surely die Gen. 2.17 that is be subject to manifold evils as in soul so in body tending to death to the destruction of both But by through Christ their nature is now altered the Curse is taken away That was one and the chief of those Ingredients which was put into this Cup which was given to Christ to drink and which he did drink upon the Crosse He being there made subject to that accursed death that he might free us from the Curse of death and of all its retinue Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 So that what the Apostle saith of Death it self 1 Cor. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting We may say the same of whatever afflictions and crosses can befall the children of God upon earth their Sting is gone Surely the bitternesse of death is past saith Agag having as he thought armed himself against the fear of it which is the greatest part of Deaths bitternesse 1 Sam. 15.32 And the like may all true Believers say concerning all their Afflictions and sufferings The bitternesse of them is past as to them the Curse being taken away from them by Christ which is indeed the chief part of their bitternesse Even as Moses altered the quality of those waters of Marah took away the bitternesse of them by casting into them that Tree which the Lord had shewed him so hath Christ taken away the bitternesse of all the waters of Affliction by the Tree of his Crosse to which he was designed by his Father The bitternesse of Afflictions as I said was the Curse going along with them they being in themselves all tokens of wrath But now that bitternesse that Curse is taken away So as to true Believers they are no longer tokens of wrath but rather Love-tokens Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth Prov. 3.12 chasteneth Heb. 12.6 Yea Pledges of Adoption So it there followeth Heb. 12.6 7. He scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastenings God dealeth with you as with Sons Not to know what Chastisements mean it is no good sign If ye be without Chastisement whereof all all Gods children are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons so it there followeth v. 8. For God to exercise his Children with afflictions it is a sign that he owns them for his Children and a demonstration of his fatherly love to them and care of them Thus do these Cups which Gods people drink of they come from the hand of a Father not of a Judge being to them not satisfactory but castigatory punishments Not properly punishments but Chastisements Not tokens of wrath but Love-tokens A usefull and comfortable meditation for the soul of a Believer to feed upon in the midst of whatever distresse What is it that maketh these Cups so bitter unto the soul Why when it looketh upon them as they are in themselves as Cups of divine wrath and fury Now no wonder if it shake and tremble at the drinking of them So long as a man apprehends these Arrowes which he feeleth to stick fast in him to be poysoned Arrowes shot at him by the hand of a revenging God now no wonder if the soul have no peace no quiet But look upon them as they are changed and altered by Christ having the Curse taken away and as they are tokens and pledges of Adoption which being sanctified they certainly are the soul being perswaded of this this will be as a soveraign Cordial to it to keep it from fainting Q. Q. Yea but you will say how shall a man know this How Chastisements may be known from Punishments that they are so to him that they are only Chastisements and not Punishments and that they are tokens of love and pledges of Adoption When as they are tokens of wrath to some how shall I know that they are not so to me A. A. To this I have in part hinted an Answere already Take it a little more fully yet briefly 1. How do you drink this Cup how doe ye suffer these afflictions Doe you quietly patiently By the manner of suffering them contentedly submit to the hand of God in them If so now hear what the Apostle saith to you in that Text even now cited Heb. 12.7 If ye indure chastning God dealeth with you as with Sons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not if you suffer afflictions for so do the worst of men But if ye endure chastening receive Afflictions from the hands of God as Chastisements kissing the Rod humbling your selves under the hand of God as dutifull Children under
Chastisements upon his people the Jewes Isa 27.9 When he hath tried me saith Job I shall come forth as Gold Strengthning Grace Job 23.10 2. Corruption being thus in measure purged out now Grace cometh to be strengthned So Paul found it in his own experience In his sufferings as he tells us he fainted not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man saith he is renewed day by day 2 Cor. 4.16 Thus did he gather strength in and from his sufferings However the outward man his Body or the naturall man was thereby weakned and impayred yet his inward man his soul or the spiritual man was thereby confirmed and strengthned And so fareth it with Gods Saints Like Palm-trees to which we finde them compared Psal 92.12 The righteous shall flourish like the Palm-tree the more they are pressed down the more they spread and the higher they grow That which the Poets fained concerning their Antaeus that in his wrestling with Hercules he gained new strength by every fall is true in them Nothing contributes more to their spiritual strength then their temporall weaknesses Hereby God doth to use Pauls word 2 Tim. 1.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stir up that heavenly fire of grace in the hearts of his people making use of their Afflictions as his Bellowes to blow up those sparks which otherwise were subject to die Graces strengthned by exercise in Affliction And very usefull they are in this way for the stirring up and thereby for the strengthning of every grace in the soul by setting them awork exercising them Thus do they strengthen Faith and confidence in God Paul telleth us Faith that he received the sentence of death in himself to this end that he might not trust in himself but in God who raiseth the dead 2 Cor. 1.9 And St. Peter tells the Saints to whom he writeth 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Now for a season saith he ye are in heavinesse through manifold temptations that the tryall of your Faith being much more precious then Gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire might be found unto praise honour and glery at the appearing of Jesus Christ Gold is not more advanced by fire then faith by sufferings These are but as shakings to the Plant which make it root the better the deeper and surer Thus the Christian being shaken by Afflictions he taketh the firmer hold of Christ and is rooted more and more in him And as Faith so Patience Patiene The trying of your Faith worketh patience saith St. James Jam. 1.3 Upon which account in the Verse foregoing he willeth Christians to be so far from fainting under afflictions that they should rather account them matter of joy of great joy My Brethren account it all joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great joy when ye fall into divers temptations viz. in regard of the blessed fruits of them among which this is one Patience And as Patience Experience so Experience and Hope which the Apostle joyneth to the former Rom. 5.3 where he declares how Christians have matter of rejoycing and glorying as in their Crown so in their Crosse We rejoyce saith he in the hope of the glory of God And not only so but we glory in Tribulations also But wherefore in them Why in regard of the blessed Fruit which being sanctified they bring forth Knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience and Patience Experience and Experience Hope The first an immediate the latter mediate Fruits of such sufferings Such is experience of which a man gets more many times by one days adversity then by many years of Prosperity more experience of God and himself Such was the fruit of Jobs afflictions who when God had delivered him out of them makes this acknowledgment unto him I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now mine eye seeth thee Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Job 42.5.6 Thus that knowledge of his both of God and himself which before was Notionall was now made experimental And such is Hope Hope which is much confirmed and strengthened by this experience This I recall to minde therefore have I hope saith the Church speaking of her Afflictions Lam. 3.21 And the like we may say of Humility Humility Nothing more proper and effectuall for the producing and increasing of it then Affliction Remembring mine affliction and my misery the Wormwood and the Gall my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me saith the Church there in the Verses foregoing Lam. 3.19 20. This it was that brought the Prodigall upon his knees to his Father his being reduced to extremities Luk. 15.21 Pauls thorn in the flesh was to him a preservative against inordinate elevation keeping him that he should not be exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12.7 And as Afflictions humble the heart The heart inlarged by Afflictions so they also inlarge it As they humble it before God so also they inlarge it towards-him in seeking of him In their Affliction they will seek me early diligently Hos 5. last When nothing would bring Joab into Absaloms presence the setting of his Corn on fire doth it 2 Sam. 14.31 When the heart begins to be estranged from God Afflictions bring it home again And again Obedience learnt in this School nothing more usefull for the teaching Christians that great Lesson Obedience unto God their heavenly Father This Lesson did Christ himself learn in this School So the Apostle tells us Heb. 5.8 Alludit ad Proverbium Graecum Gro◠Annot. in loc He learned Obedience by the things which he suffered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Proverb hath it to which the Apostle may there seem to allude By this means he came to know by experience what Passive Obedience meant Yea and by his lesser sufferings he was prepared for that last and greatest act of obedience his Obedience to death And the same lesson do Christians sooner learn in this School then any other Before I was afflicted I went actray but now have I kept thy word saith David there Psal 119.67 These and many other fruits there are of afflictions in this life all which come under this generall head the fruit of Righteousnesse In the life to come take we notice of a double fruit In the life to come preventting the greatest evil procuring the greatest good The former the preventing of the greatest evill Eternall condemnation When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11.32 The other the procuring of the greatest good even that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle speaketh of in that forecited Text 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory Such shall the recompense be which Gods Saints shall meet withall in Heaven for all
grave compassed me about v. 5 My heart is sore pained within me and the terrours of death are fallen upon me Psal 55.4 And so Psal 116.3 This it was that rung those tears from Hezekiahs eyes Isai 38. Though a holy man one who as he appeareth to God in it v. 2 of that Chapter had walked before him in truth with a perfect heart and had done that which was good in his sight Yet when the Prophet commeth and presenteth this Cup to him bringing to him that message from the Lord that he must die and not live Now saith the storie Hezekiah turned his face to the wall as not daring to look this enemy in the face and he prayed unto the Lord v. 2. Yea as the next verse hath it he wept sore And himself tels us v. 14. that he chattered like a crane or swallow So unwelcome were those tidings unto him And St Paul though inferiour to none in holy courage and resolution which he shewed when he told the Disciples weeping about him that he was ready not only to be bound but to dye at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Act. 21.13 Yet being as he thought arrested by this serjeant having as he saith received in himself the sentence of death he declares to his Corinthians that he was pressed out of measure above strength 2 Cor. 1.8.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above the strength of nature yea even above the strength of that grace which he had which at the present he being suddainly surprized was hardly able to bear up his spirit under the apprehension of that eminent danger wherein he was And if Cedars be thus pressed how shall shrubs look to bear up head Should God now send the like message to any of us my Brethren as there he did to Hezekiah bidding us Set thine House in order for thou shalt dye and not live Or should we here see such an hand writing upon the wal as Belshezar once did giving us to take notice that our daies are numbred and our course finished put the question now to our own hearts what entertainment we could give to such a message such tidings Are there not some of us who would with Hezekiah turn away our face and weep at it as sore as ever he did Nay would it not fare with some of us as there it did with Belshazar of whom the story tels us that when he saw that hand-writing though he understood not what it meant yet his guilty conscience suggesting that it portended no good to him his countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his loines were loosed and his knees smote one against the other Dan. 5.6 How few are there of us that would so receive the Messengers of such tidings as our blessed Saviour doth here these Messengers which were sent to apprehend him so submitting to the will of God herein as he did But yet know we this to be our Duty Yet a Christians Duty a Lesson which our Lord and Master by his own example hath taught us And being so let every of us apply our selves to the learning and taking of it forth that we may thus submit to the drinking of this Cup when ever God shall give it unto us Which sooner or later he will do how soon we know not Q. And possible to be done I but you may say is this a thing possible to be done to bring the heart to such a willing submission hereunto A. Though not by Nature To this I answer as before that to flesh and bloud it is not possible Nature seeking the preservation of it self cannot readily and willingly imbrace that which is the destruction of it self Especially if the eye of the Soul shall be opened to see death as it is and to see the Consequents of it to look upon it as an inlet into a future Estate That which maketh meere naturall men sometimes so willing to dye is because they are blinded with mishapprehensions of it they look upon it as a period to their troubles as an end of all misery Whereas did they apprehend it as an inlet to Eternity yea to an Eternity of misery which to them it is as an entry into that dark dungeon where they shall be kept in those everlasting chaines under darknesse to the judgment of the great day it is not possible that they should look upon it or think of it without horrour and astonishment Yet by grace But to Grace this is possible This being one of those ends wherefore Christ dyed that through death he might deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject unto bondage as the Apostle tels us Heb. 2.15 Such is the condition of all the Sons of men by nature being continually subject unto death they are in bondage through the fear of it But this priviledge Christ hath by his death obtained for his Elect that through grace through faith in him they may be freed and delivered from this bondage this fear Though not from the Naturall yet from the slavish fear of it As for the Naturall fear of it that our blessed Saviour himself was not free from noe more are the best of Saints Not thus to fear death what is it but Hominem exuere to put off humanity But for the servile slavish fear of it that through grace believers may be freed from Yea so freed from it as to receive and embrace death readily and willingly This we find some of the Saints to have done Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace saith old Simeon Luk. 2.29 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ saith Paul Phil. 1.23 In this we groan desiring earnestly to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven saith the same Apostle of himself and other believers 2 Cor. 5.2 And again v. 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. So then this is a thing possible for Christians to attain unto to be willing to dye when God calleth them to it Some and many have attained it and others may if they be not wanting to themselves Nay A shame to Christians not to be willing to dye it is a shame unto those who professing themselves Christians doe not in some measure attain hereunto 1. In as much Frist as this is contrary to their professions Being contrary to their profession Being Christians they profess themselves strangers and pilgrims on the earth as the Fathers of old time are said to have done Heb. 11.13 Now as it there followeth v. 14. They which say such things declare plainly that they seek a Countrey that they desire a better Country that is an heavenly as the 16 verse explaines it Such is the Christians profession Now then for them to be unwilling to passe through this Jordan to take possession of this their heavenly Canaan it
crosses which he met with And the like more or less must every one make account to meet with upon earth even a succession of troubles like waves of the Sea where depth calleth unto deep one Crosse following upon the neck of another So as the more daies the more sorrows All which serve to wean the heart from this world as the infant is from the brest by laying bitter things upon it 2. Divine But I shall not any longer insist upon these or any other Arguments of the like nature The Resolution of a Christian must be built upon better grounds then these If God shall please to open the eyes of a naturall man to see death as it is it is not any or all of these or whatever other Arguments Reason can suggest that will bear up the soul against the terrors of it They must be Cordials of a higher extraction that will strengthen the heart in this last conflict divine Considerations such as the word holdeth forth Of these take a few among many 1. In the First place Look upon God who hath appointed and determined Let our eye be upon God our Father whose Cup this is So was our Saviours here The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it And so must theirs who would drink this Cup as he did submit unto the stroke of death patiently and willingly they must see God in the ordering and disposing of it looking upon it as his appointment Which it is he having 1. Appointed that men shall die It is appointed to men once to die Heb. 9.27 Appointed viz. That men shall dye by God who as he is the Lord of life so he is the appointer of death Having passed a generall law for it Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. Which Law also he executeth upon particular persons bringing them to death I know that thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living Job 30 23. So it is however secondary Causes concur in bringing men to their Graves yet God himself hath the principall stroke in it Death being his Messenger sent by him He hath appointed that men shall dye Which taking notice of look we upon it as our duty to submit hereunto when he calleth us to it 2. As he hath appointed that men shall dye so when they shall dye The time when Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth viz. how long he shall-live Job 7.1 His dayes are determined the number of his Moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot passe Job 14.5 So certain are Gods decrees concerning the time of mans life that he cannot go beyond the term limited the Year the Moneth the Day the Hour set down Father the hour is come saith our Saviour speaking of the time appointed for his suffering of death Joh. 17.1 3. As the time so the place As the time when so the place where The place where that is also determined by God Goe up into Mount Nebo and die there saith the Lord to Moses Deut. 32.50 Our Saviour must goe up to Jerusalem and there suffer many things and be killed so he tells his Disciples Matth. 16.21 4. And appointing the time and place he also appointeth the manner The manner how how men shall dye what kinde of death whether naturall or violent So it was determined concerning our Saviour that he should die upon the Crosse be crucified which he acquaints his Disciples with Math. 20.19 And so concerning Peter to whom our Saviour foretells by what death he should glorifie God Joh. 21.19 And so is it determined concerning every of the sons of men as when and where so how they shall dye None of these are left to Chance and Fortune Time place manner all appointed by God Which being seriously considered and believed it will be of great use to bring the heart to a quiet and willing submission to the will of God in suffering what he hath so appointed Thus look at God In the Second place look we upon Jesus Christ Look upon Jesus the Captain of our Salvation as the Apostle calleth him Heb. 2.10 Where behold we him 1. Drinking of this Cup before us Suffering death And shall not we then pledge him Shall the Captain goe before and shall not the Souldiers follow after Malus miles qui Imperatorem gemens sequitur He is but an ill Souldier that weeps when he is to march after his Generall Shall our Joshua go before us over this Jordan and shall not we go after him It was a good Resolution in that man that Scribe had he held to it who said to our Saviour Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest Mat. 8.19 Such should be the Resolution of every Christian to follow Christ when he cals him to go after him though it be to Mount Calvary or Golgotha the place of a skull as both those words signifie and the latter of them is expounded Joh. 19 17. and Mat. 27.33 the Caemeterie or Church-yard as we call it 2. And whilest we behold him suffering of death behold we also the issues of this his suffering Conquering it as St James saith of Job Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord Jam. 5.11 What Issue God was pleased to give him which was very joyfull and comfortable So here looking upon Christ submitting to his Father in suffering of death behold we the end of the Lord the issue of this his suffering which was victorious and glorious Victorious Even as David cut off the head of the Philistine with his own sword so did this our David by dying he conquered death which he manifested in his Resurrection Where he brake the bands of death rising again by his own power and so became the first born from the dead as the Apostle calleth him Col. 1.18 Now the first born openeth the womb for those that come after him And so hath Christ opened the grave for all true believers so as it shall be no more able to hold them then it was him Thus was the issue of this his conflict with this his last enemy victorious And as victorious so Glorious we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angels for or through 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour He. 2.9 In this way he entred into his glory Luk. 24.26 Through this dark entry he went into his heavenly palace And so shall they who do herein follow his steps being obedient as he was Obedient to the death 3. Look we upon death it self But here look upon it in Look upon death it self Not in the glass of the Lawe but gospell and through a right glass Not that of the Law but of the Gospell The glasse of the Lawe presents the face of it as ghastly and terrible holding it forth as a
impetuous inmate which otherwise will not out whatever warnings are given it The death of nature is the death of sin making that true Filia devoravit matrem The daughter devours the Mother Sin which at the first brought forth death is destroyed by it And were there no other Argument Noe perfect freedome from sin but by death how should this work upon the soul of a Christian to make him not averse to the drinking of this Cup it being the only Remedy for the perfect cure of this Malady We see how it is in bodily diseases having been long and painful and all meanes having been tryed for cure but proving ineffectuall this continuall conflict maketh the sick man weary of his life so long for death and to be glad when he can find the grave as Job describeth his condition Job 3.21 22. And such is sin to the Soul an inveterate an uncurable malady being an hereditary disease which man brought into the world with him and use what meanes he may yet he cannot be freed from it a continuall Affliction And so it will be so long as life it self continueth How willing then should this make a Christian to imbrace death So did this Consideration work upon the Apostle who upon this account cryeth out as even now you heard O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me As if he had said O that I were out of this miserable mortall life during which doe what I can sin will still dwell in me and from the molestation whereof I cannot be freed but by death So long as a Christian carrieth this mortall Body about with him he shall never be freed from this Body of sin O how willing should this make us to lay down the one that we might be rid of the other Which the believe shall be by death Hereby he shall be freed as from the acting so from the indwelling of sin 3. From the beâ—â—lding of it Yea in the third place from the Beholding of it As he shall henceforth have no more experimenatll knowledge of it in himself so he shall be no longer a be holder of it in others Which is no small eye sore to a sanctyfied soul So it was to righteous Lot of whom St. Peter tels us 2 Pet. 2.7 That being a just person he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked viz. Of those wicked Sodomites among whom he lived So the next verse explaines it For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his Soul from day to day with their unlawfull deeds To see God so highly dishoured his Lawes so shamefully violated as by all kinds of abhominations they were this was a continuall corrasive and heart-breaking unto him And so was it to David who was in like manner affected with the sins of the times wherein he lived as he sets it forth Psal 119. v. 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eys because they keep not thy Law And again verse 158. I beheld the transgressours and was grieved because they kept not thy word And it cannot be otherwise with a gratious spirit to see the Abhominations of the times and places wherein he liveth to hear the name of his God blasphemed to see his Ordinances profaned his worship sleighted his messengers scorned his truths affronted his waies evil spoken of c. this cannot but affect it This it was that made David crye out in his Banishment as he doth Psal 120.5 Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesheck that I dwell in the tents of Kedar that is amongst a savage and barbarous people who had no knowledge nor fear of God whose lives and conversations were wicked and abominable And truly such is this world in a great measure wherein a Christian shall meet with two many of this rank The consideration whereof should make him the more willing to leave it to embrace Death when it cometh which is Gods Fan whereby he severeth his Wheat from the Worlds Chaffe the precious from the vile his own people from others so as they shall no longer be in danger of being seduced by evill doers or yet be infested by them The Goats being separated from the Sheep they shall be no longer an annoyance to them as here by the stinch of their unclean and filthy conversation they were In that New Jerusalem into which Death letteth all true Believers there shall in no wise enter any thing that defileth neither whatever worketh abomination Rev. 21. last Thus doth Death free them from this worst of Evils sin both from the committing and inbeing and beholding of it To which may be added that it freeth them also from the Temptations and molestations of Satan Death freeth the Believer from Satanicall temptations Which in this life the best of Saints are subject to Paul complains of the buffetings of Satan which himself felt 2 Cor. 12.7 And who but hath experience of his assaults some way or other He being an unwearied Adversary making it his work to goe to and fro in the earth and to walk up and down in it as himself giveth account of it to God Job 1.7 As a roaring Lyon walking about seeking whom he may devour as St. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 5.8 So as none can be secure from his attempts He that spared not to set upon our Saviour as he did in the Wildernesse plying him with Temptations one after another will not spare to do the like to his Disciples Simon Simon saith our Saviour to Peter behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as Wheat Luk. 22.31 to shake him and the rest by tempting or troubling them seeking by all possible wayes and means to subvert and destroy them in their bodies or souls And the like he doth to the best of Saints having a speciall evill eye upon them being ambitious to cast them down whom he seeth standing He maketh it his work either to draw them into evill or to draw evill upon them either to turn them out of the wayes of God or to make them as rough and troublesome to them as he may But Death sets the Believer out of his reach The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly saith Paul to his Romans Rom. 16.20 This God doth partly in this life sometimes giving unto his people great victories over this their enemy but he will do it fully in Death By which they shall be carryed in their Souls where Satan cometh not This Old Serpent being once cast out of heaven shall never enter there again Thirdly as it freeth them from Satanicall Also from divine tentations so also from divine temptations such as God is pleased sometimes to exercise his people with those Soul-conflicts of which I spake before where God hiding his face from his people and letting in some apprehensions of wrath into their souls maketh their condition for the present very sad and uncomfortable Now from all these shall
Death free the Believer This gust shall blow away all those dark and gloomy Clouds which here intercepted the light of Gods countenance so as from thenceforth he shall never know what doubtings or fears mean but shall enjoy a constant Sunshine of Gods grace and favour to all Eternity Thus you see what evils Death freeth the Believer from Generally Universally from the sense and fear of all Evils both Temporall and Spirituall And thus freeing them from Evils Consid 2 it bringeth great Good to them The great good which Death brings the Believer to letting him into Paradise or them to it Letting them into Paradise This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise saith our dying Saviour to that penitent Thief Luk. 23.43 meaning the Celestial Paradise Heaven whereof the earthly Paradise was a Type and shadow so called from those transcendent pleasures delights and contentments which are there to be found Paul being caught up into this Paradise he heard as he tells his Corinthians unspeakable words such as himself could not utter 2 Cor. 12.4 And so shall the soul ascending thither see and enjoy unspeakable things such as the tongue of man cannot expresse Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 What things are layed up in heaven for them And these shall Death let the regenerate soul into the possession of letting it into life Mors Janua Vitae Temporall death is the dore which letteth into everlasting life Of this Tree shall he eat who hath overcome this his last Enemy To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Rev. 2.7 to partake of eternall life of those everlasting Joyes to which Death is the Entry Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord saith the Master having reckoned with his good and faithfull servant Matth. 25.23 Thus doth Christ reckon with all his servants at the day of death then giving to them according to their works This is the Evening wherein those who have laboured in his vineyard shall every one receive their Penny Matth. 20.9 The reward of all the service which here they have done unto him a superabundant recompense infinitely exceeding whatever they have deserved Even that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that eternall weight of glory as the Apostle calleth it 2 Cor. 4.17 Then shall the Crown be set upon the heads of all Gods Saints I have finished my course saith St Paul henceforth is layed up for me the Crown of righteousnesse 2 Tim. 4.8 All true believers they are Kings while here upon earth made so by Christ who hath obtained that honour and dignity for them He hath made us Kings unto God and his Father Rev. 1.6 Spiritual Kings But they are as yet but Kings Elect heirs apparent to the Crown having a right to it but Crowned they cannot be til death Now what Prince would be unwilling to hear of his Coronation daies And such is the day of death to the true believer his Coronation day At which time being divested of his rags he shall have a Robe put upon him A white Robe He that overcommeth shall be cloathed in white rayment Rev. 3.4 Thus was Christ himself cloathed in his transfiguration on the Mount His rayment was white as the light Matth. 17.2 And so shall his Saints be cloathed after their departure hence having white rayment a garment of glory put upon them Then shall they be cloathed upon with that their house which is from Heaven when once they have laid down this earthly Tabernacle The consideration whereof made the blessed Apostle to groan so earnestly as he said he did 2 Cor. 5.1 2. desiring his dissolution upon that account Then shall they enter into their Glory So did our blessed Saviour by suffering of death he entred into his Glory Luk. 24.26 And so shall all they who follow his steps imitate his obedience death shall be to them Porta Gloriae The gate of glory letting in the soul to the beholding and injoying of that glory and happinesse which now cannot enter into it Letting it into the presence of God where it shall see him Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matth. 5.8 And see him as he is as Saint John tels us 1 Joh. 3.2 Have a full sight of him see him after another manner then here it doth Now we see through a glasse darkly saith the Apostle but then face to face 1 Cor. 13.12 Now we see God only in the glass of his word and works which do but darkly represent him But after death believers shall have a clear and full view of him The beholding of God a beatifical vision Then shall their Faith be turned into Vision Which shall be to them as the Schools call it a truely Beatificall vision making the beholders happy Happy in as much as hereby they shall be transformed into the Image of God made like him we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is saith St John there 1 Joh. 3.2 This Believers in part are here upon earth Whilest they behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord they are changed into the same Image from glory to glory As the Apostle hath it 2 Cor. 3.18 Beholding God in the glass of his word thereby they come by degrees to be transformed into his Image to be made like him in holinesse But when they shall come to see him face to face then shall they be made perfectly like unto him Death brings the Soul to perfection so far as their finite natures are capable of partaking of his infinite perfections Then shal they be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect Perfect with a perfection both of Grace and Glory 1. Of Grace Which is here imperfect Such is Knowledge and Love Of Grace and all other graces in the most sanctyfied soul But upon the dissolution of the Body the soul comming into the presence of God it shal attain a full perfection A perfection of Knowledge Now I know in part saith the Apostle but then I shall know even as I am known 1 Cor. 13.12 Of knowledg Many things there are which the most knowing men upon earth are ignorant of Many mysteries in Nature which by all their search they cannot find out the reason of Much more Celestiall Mysteries concerning God and Jesus Christ As the Trinity of Persons in the unity of Essence The Hypostaticall union of the two Natures The Godhead and Manhood in the person of Christ Mysteries too sublime for any of this side heaven to pry into so as to comprehend or yet apprehend them otherwise then by faith But these with whatever else may any waies conduce to the happinesse of the soul to know it shal have a clear knowledg of after death Seeing God as he is it shall
see all in him see all things after another manner then here it doth When that which is perfect is come then that which is imperfect shall be done away 1 Cor. 13.10 And as perfect knowledge so perfect Love Love Seeing God as he is it cannot be but the soul must be inflamed with Love to him And so perfect Holinesse This Christians are here called upon to endeavour after Holinesse Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holynesse in the fear of God so the Apostle exhorts 2 Cor. 7.1 But this while we are here we shall never attain unto But comming to see God now shall we be like him holy as he is holy being perfectly restored to that Image of God wherein man at the first was created consisting in Knowledge Holinesse and Righteousnesse Such is the perfection of Grace which the soul attaines by this beatificall vision 2. And as Grace so of Glory Like as silver or gold being set against the Sun Of glory by the beames thereof cast upon it it becommeth radiant and shining So shall it be with the soul by beholding the glory of God it shall it self be made glorious Such a glory had Moses put upon his face when he beheld the glory of the Lord having so near a communion with him upon Mount Sina the skin of his face did shine saith the story so as Aaron and the rest of the Children of Israel were not able to behold him Exod. 34.29.30 Such shall be the glory of the glorified soul having communion with God in Heaven and there beholding his glory it shall be made glorious This office doth death perform unto the believer it letteth in his soul into the presence of God whereby it becommeth perfect with perfection of Grace and Glory 2. The believer by death brought into the presence of Jesus Christ to have a full communion with him To this add It brings him also into the presence of Jesus Christ from whom while he is here he is absent While we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. 2 Cor. 5.6 But now death brings the soul into his presence to have a sweet communion with him A consideration which made the Apostle not only averse to death but desirous of it I desire to depart and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 This it was that made him so confident and resolute as he was not to regard life or fear death as he there telleth his Corinthians 2 Cor. 5 6.8 Therefore we are alwaies confident knowing that whilest we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord Which elswhere he concludes to be far better for him then to live here Phil 1.23 To see Christ to be with him to injoy him to have a full communion with him what happinesse shall this be to the soul And this doth death bring the believer to 3. As also to Communion and Fellowship with blessed Saints and Angels Also to Communion with Saints and Angels With them the believer hath Vnion whilest here upon earth Ye are come unto mount Sion saith the Apostle to his believing Hebâ—ews and unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the generall Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.22 23. Being true believers they were now made members of the Mystical body the Church whereof the one part is upon earth the other in heaven they had union with Saints and Angels being united to them by faith and Love which all Believers are But now by death they come to have a full Communion with them to see them to injoy them to have converse and society with them joyning with that heavenly Quire in singing Halelujahs to him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb for Ever and Ever Here is now the good which death bringeth the believer to and putteth him in possession of The thought whereof being seriously set on upon the soul it cannot but work it to a willing receiving and imbracing of such a messenger as bringeth tidings of so great good unto it Anticonsiderations or Objections answered I but it may be said though it be thus with the Soul yet in the mean time what becomes of the poor Body Obj. 1 Though the soul gain by death yet the body looseth Though the soul he a gainer by death yet the Body is a looser by it Though that return to God that gave it yet this goeth to the grave where it is subject to Corruption Which maketh our Saviours case and ours far different As for him he knew that though his Body being severed from his Soul for a time should lye under the power of death yet it should not see corruption So David had foretold it Psal 16.10 Where personating of Christ as Peter expounds it Act. 2.31 He foretelleth what manner of death his should be Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy one to see corruption And this our Saviour himself well knew who foretold his Disciples how though he were killed yet he should rise again the third day Mat. 16.21 And upon this account he might be more willing to dye But it is otherwise with other of the sons of men That which Paul saith of David that he saw Corruption Act. 13.36 is noe less true of others Be their Bodies never so richly embalmed yet will not that preserve them from putrefaction So much the Psalmist willeth the great men of the world to take notice of Psal 49.6 7. They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches None of them saith he can by any meanes redeeme his brother and so not themselves that he should still live for ever and not see corruption Such is the common fate None but must expect to have their bodies lye rotting in the grave in that land of forgetfulnesse as the Psalmist calleth it Psal 88.12 Where as they forget all that was done upon earth so they are forgotten by those they leave behind them Being laid up in the earth there the worm feedeth sweetly on them and they shall be no more remembred as Job faith of the cruell Oppressours Job 24.20 Now this is a thing which flesh and bloud cannot but look upon with great reluctancy the thought whereof may well make it loath to lay down the body upon such tearms To return an answer to this and some other Anticonsiderations or Objections of like nature which men are ready to take up and make use of in this way as discouragements hindring them that they cannot so willingly drink this Cup submit to the stroake of death as
our Saviour here did 1. Suppose this to be the condition of the body The Soul the kernell the Body but the shell that it suffereth after this manner in and by death yet what of that so long as it reacheth not unto the Soul So long as the kernell is safe what matters it what becomes of the Shell So long as the soul the better part is a gainer by death so great a gainer as you have heard what matters it what becometh of the Body being so vile as it is That is the Epithite which St. Paul giveth it Phil. 3.21 Our vile Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Body of vilenesse Corpus humilitatis nostrae saith the vulgar Latin he Body of our humbling And it is noe other then it deserveth The Body being no other but a Lump of clay which is little worth and carrying that in it or about with it which may serve to humble the owner of it and make him not to dote upon it as the greatest part do Now being so vile as it is why should men be so affected with what befalleth it 2. But Secondly the Body shall not ever continue in this estate The bodies of Gods Saints shal be changed Whilest it lyeth in the grave it is but a grain of Corn sowen in the earth as our Saviour maketh the comparison Joh. 12.24 As also the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.36 Which though it lye rotting there for a time yet after a few months it springs forth And so shall the Body in due time it shal arise and then it shal come forth after another manner then when it was laid down It is sown in corruption it is raysed in incorruption it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory c. so the Apostle describeth the resurrection of the Bodies of Gods Saints at the Last day 1 Cor. 15.42 c Thus shall the Body also be a gainer by death as well as the Soul 3. In the mean time consider that inseparable union that is between Christ and the Believer The union betwixt Christ and the Bodies of his Saints Death may separate his Soul and Body the one from the other but separate either from Christ that it cannot As it was with Christ himself when his Body lay in the grave it was separated from his Soul but stil the God-head was united to both Such is the union betwixt Christ and the believer an indissoluble union death doth not dissolve it That Body which was a member of Christ whilest living which the Bodies of all Gods Saints are Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6 15 it still retaineth the same relation when dead And being thus united unto Christ it shal by his power be preserved and by his vertue raised up again at the last day Even as the branches of a tree which seem to be dead in the winter yet having union with the root by a vertue springing from it they revive in the spring time So shal it be with the bodies of Gods Saints Though they be uncloathed by death as the tree is of his leaves by the winters cold yet shall they be cloathed upon having a vest a Robe of eternall glory also put upon them being changed by Christ and made like unto his glorious body as the Apostle tels us Col. 3.21 Thus is that first Objection readily answered And so may most of the rest which are made use of to this purpose Of which let me take notice of those which are most considerable As for those carnall ones which sway much with the men of this World viz their parting with their Riches Carnal allegations not worth the answering their Pleasures their Honours and such other contentments as this world affords which maketh them so loath to leave it I look upon them as not worth the answering all these being but shadows the substance whereof is to be found in that other world to which death bringeth the soul that is weaned from this The Considerations which I shall take notice of shall be only such as may lay hold upon a sanctyfied soul all which we shall find the text in hand meeting with Such is that of parting with near and dear Relations Wife Children Friends Obj. 2 Parting with near and dear Relations and leaving them in an unsetled condition Loath I am may one say to leave them behind me specially to leave them in such a condition as I am like to do not well knowing how they shal subsist when I am gone But was it not so with our blessed Saviour here When he was to leave the world So did our blessed Saviour his Disciples and mother did he not leave his beloved Disciples and dear Mother and left them in a low and unsetled estate therein not unlike himself scarse having a house of their own to hide their heads in As for his dear Mother the story tels us how when he was hanging upon the Crosse he committed her to the care and custody of his beloved Disciple Saint John Joh. 19.27 not having of his own any subsistance to leave her And for his Apostles he well knew in what condition he was to leave them even as Sheep among Wolves as he told them when he sent them forth Matth. 10.16 in a wretched World where they should meet with Tribulation enough of which he had forewarned them Joh. 16. Last Yet doth not the thought hereof take him off from this act of obedience to his Father in being willing to dye when he will have him Repl Repl. I but may some say his case was herein different from ours But he did not leave them Comfortlesse Though he did thus leave his Relations yet he did not leave them comfortlesse That is his promise to his Disciples when he had told them of his leaving them I will not leave you comfortlesse Joh. 14.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek I will not leave you Orphanes Noe he promiseth that himself would have a care of them and that after a time he would come to them so it there followeth I will come to you Which he made good after his Resurrection And though himself were gone yet he sent his Proxie the Comforter to them according as he promised them Joh. 16.7 If I depart I will send him unto you viz. the Comforter the Holy Ghost who as he assures them should abide with them for ever Joh. 14.16 performing all needful offices unto them as the 26 verse there hath it But so cannot we do may some say to our Relations if we be gone all is gone with them What all gone Is your God gone too A. Surely not so Being your God he will be theirs God a Comforter to the Widow and Fatherless I will be thy God and the God of thy seed Gen. 17.7 And being so a God in Covenant with them he both can and will take care of them Many are