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A44433 Discourses, or, Sermons on several Scriptures by ... Ezekiel late Lord Bishop of London-Derry. Hopkins, Ezekiel, 1634-1690. 1691 (1691) Wing H2729; ESTC R31535 75,889 298

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God that when Christ had satisfied his utmost Demands that any of the punishment due to our Sins for which he satisfied should have lain upon him longer for that would have been no other than punishing without an Offence Now nothing is clearer in Scripture than that Death is a punishment inflicted upon us for Sin Rom 6 23. So says the Apostle The Wages of Sin is Death And in another place and 5 1● By Sin Death entred into the World and Death passed upon all because all have sinned From all which it follows that as Christ taking upon him our Sins became thereby liable to Death so having satisfied for our Sins and thereby freed himself from the Guilt that he lay under by Imputation he was no longer liable unto Death which is one part of the punishment he underwent so that it could not have been agreeable to infinite Justice that Christ should have been holden of Death who by his undergoing of Death hath sustained the whole Load of God's infinite Wrath and Displeasure and fully satisfied for all those Sins that were imputed to him and therefore ought in Justice to be acquitted from all Penalties and consequentially from Death Fourthly Christ could not be holden of Death because of his Mediatorship It was impossible Christ should be holden of Death in respect of his Office of Mediatorship For having as our Mediatour undertaken the desperate Service of bringing sinfull and fallen Man to Life and Happiness he must of necessity not only dye but rise again from the dead without which his Death and whatever else he did or suffered for us would have been of no avail There are two Things requisite before any real or eternal Benefit can become ours First A meritorious purchase procuring the Thing it self for us Secondly An effectual Application of that Benefit to us The Purchase of Mercy was made by the Death of Christ by which a full Price was paid down to the Justice of God But the effectual Application of Mercy is by the Life and Resurrection of Christ Wherefore if Christ had only dyed and not risen again if he had not overcome Death within its own Empire and triumph'd over the Grave in its own Territories it would have been to his Disappointment and not at all to our Salvation The Loss of Christ's Life would not have procured Life for us unless as he laid it down with Freedom so he had again restored it with Power Our hope of Salvation otherwise would have been buried in the same Grave with himself but what he died to procure he lives to confer It was Ignorance of Christ's Resurrection from the Dead Luk. 24.16 19 20 21. that so stagger'd the two Disciples going to Emaus They tell Christ himself a sad Story of one Jesus of Nazareth that was condemned and crucified who while he lived among us by his Word and Works testified himself to be the true Messiah we little thought of his Dying and when he told us of his Death he likewise foretold us of his Resurrection the third Day and behold the third Day is already come and yet is there no Appearance of this Jesus Verily we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel but now our Hopes grow faint and languish in us for certainly there can be no Redemption for Israel by him who cannot redeem himself from Death There was nothing in the World did so much prejudice the Gospel and hinder its taking place in the Hearts of Heathens in the Primitive Times as this of the Cross and Death of Christ for believing that he was lifted up upon the Cross but not believing that he was raised up from the Dead they assented to their Natural Reason which herein taught them that it was Folly to expect Life from him who could not either preserve or restore his own It is true it was Folly thus to hope but that his Life applies what his Death deserv'd and our Salvation begun on the Cross is perfected on the Throne And therefore the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 15.17 our Faith in a crucified Saviour and our Obedience to him is all vain if he had not risen again from the Dead For unless he had risen from the Dead he could not have acquitted us from the Guilt of Sin because he could not have been justified himself We are justified by the Righteousness of Christ as the Apostle speaks in his Epistle to the Romans Rom 4 25 which Righteousness he wrought out for us both by his perfect Obedience to the Law and by his Submission to the Punishment of the Law But yet this Righteousness could not have availed to our Justification had he not after the Fulfilling of it risen again from the Dead because he himself had not been justified much less could we have been justified by one who could not have justified himself And therefore we read 1 Tim. 3.16 Great is the Mystery of Godliness says the Apostle God manifested in the Flesh in his Incarnation justified in the Spirit by his Resurrection seen of Angels in his Ascension Had he not been raised and quickned by the Spirit that is by the glorious Power of his Divine Nature he had not been declared just nor could he have justified us For this Declaration that Christ was just was made upon the Resurrection of his Body from the Dead by which he was set free from all those Penalties due to our Sins that were imputed to him If therefore the Justification and Salvation of Sinners was a Design laid by the infinite Wisdom of God it must needs follow that it was impossible for Christ to be kept under Death because that would have obstructed their Justification and Salvation and so would have brought a Disappointment upon the infinite Wisdom of God which was impossible to be done and therefore consequentially Christ could not be holden of Death The Application of this great Truth shall be briefly in these following Inferences Use I First then If it was impossible for Christ not to have risen from the Dead it is evident then that Christ is the true Messiah For had he been an Impostor or False Prophet it would have been so far from an Impossibility that he should not have been raised that it would have been a very Impossibility for him to have risen again for neither could he have raised himself being a mere Man neither would God have raised him being a mere Impostor and Cheat. When therefore the Jews call'd for a Sign from Christ to prove him to be the true Messiah he gives them the Sign of his Resurrection in Matth. 12.38 39. Master Matth. 12.38 39. say they we would see a Sign from thee He answered and said unto them An evil and adulterous Generation seeketh after a Sign and there shall be no Sign given to it but the Sign of the Prophet Jonas For as Jonas was three Days and three Nights in the Whale's Belly so
shall the Son of Man be three Days and three Nights in the Heart of the Earth So again when they tempted him at another time for a Sign of his being the Messiah he still instances in his powerful Resurrection from the Dead in Joh. 2.18 19. Joh. 2.18 19. The Jews answered and said unto him What Sign shewest thou unto us seeing thou doest these things Jesus answered and said unto them Destroy this Temple and in three Days I will raise it up So that still he made his Death and Resurrection to be the infallible Proof of his being the true Messiah Use II Secondly If it were necessary that Christ should rise from the Dead and that he did do so then certainly Sin is conquered for the Sting of Death and that envenom'd Weapon Death hath whereby it wounds yea kills the Sinner is Sin and as long as Death hath this Sting in it it could not have been conquer'd by any Sinner It is Sin that gives Death its Power to hold fast all those that come within its reach which since it could not do with Christ it is evident Sin is subdued by Christ who was in its Arms and Grasp but yet came safe out from it taking away the Sting and Weapon of Death with him Use III Thirdly If the Resurrection of Christ be thus necessary and hath been thus effectually accomplished we may comfortably from thence conclude the Necessity of our own Resurrection for the Head being raised the Members shall not always sleep in the Dust Christ's Mystical Body shall certainly be raised as well as his Natural Body and every Member of it shall be made for ever glorious with a glorious and triumphant Head FINIS Brotherly Admonition IN SEVERAL SERMONS ON Leviticus 19.17 By EZEKIEL HOPKINS Late Lord Bishop of London-Derry LONDON Printed by J. D. for Nathanael Ranew at the Kings-Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCI Brotherly Admonition IN SEVERAL SERMONS LEV. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer Sin upon him WAving all Prefaces and Introductions we may observe in these Words three Parts Division of the Words First A Negative Command Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart which implies in it the contrary positive Precept thou shalt love thy Brother Secondly A Direction how we should preserve our selves from this rancoured Vice of Hatred and express our more cordial Love in the best Service we can do for him Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour Thirdly A forcible Motive to excite us unto the performance of this Duty drawn from the Consideration of the great Benefit which will in likelyhood redound to him by the conscientious discharge of it By this means thou wilt not suffer Sin to lie upon him implying that if this charitable Duty of Fraternal Reproof be neglected he will still continue in his Sins his Guilt will remain upon him and thou wilt be accessory to it I shall not consider any of these Particulars by themselves but treat only of what is here chiefly intended namely the necessity of that much neglected Duty of Brotherly Reproof and Admonition And here I shall prosecute this Method with all possible Brevity and Perspicuity First Shew you what Brotherly Correption is Secondly The Difficulty of it Thirdly The Necessity of it Fourthly Lay down some Rules and Directions how it ought to be performed Fifthly Lay before you some Considerations that may be powerful Motives and Engagements to it First What Brotherly Reproof or Correption is To this I answer in brief What Brotherly Reproof is It is an Act of Love and Charity whereby we endeavor to reduce our offending Brother to Repentance and Reformation And there are two ways of doing it either by Words or Actions First Reproof is by Words By Words remonstrating to them the greatness of their Sin the Scandal they give to others either by encouraging or sadning them the Reproach they bring upon Religion and the Danger they bring upon their own Souls But if they be deaf to all these Admonitions and continue obstinate and resolv'd in their evil Courses we are then to reprove them Secondly Reproof may be by Actions By Actions That where Words have proved ineffectual we may try how Deeds can prevail Prevail I say either to deliver them or at least to deliver thine own Soul from Death And this also must be done these two ways First Reproof of Inferiors is to be by Authority If they be our Inferiours over whom we have Authority either as Magistrates or Parents or the like we ought when Admonition and Correption is fruitless to reprove them by Correction and Punishment If they will not hear they must feel Rebuke This Discipline if it be seasonably and prudently used is so far from being any Act of Cruelty that it is an Act of the greatest Kindness and Charity that can be both to them and to others To them Reproof tends to restrain f●●m Sin As it may restrain them from the commission of those future Crimes to which their impurity would else imbolden them And thus to fall into the Hands of Men may be a means to keep them from falling into the Hands of God To others As it may terrify them from following the Examples of such an ones Vices by seeing the Examples of his suffering Thus the Punishment of some is made to be come the Innocence of others Secondly If Equals continue obstinate under Reproof we must withdraw Society from them If they be our Equals over whom we have no Jurisdiction nor coercive Power we are then to rebuke them if they continue obstinate after Christian Admonition by withdrawing our selves from all necessary Converse with them not so as to deny them the offices of Civility Courtesy and our charitable Assistance to promote their temporal Good but to break off all Familiarity and Intimacy with them not to make such lewd and dissolute Persons our Friends and chosen Companions Thus the Apostle charges us 2 Thess 3.6 2 Thess 3.6 We command you Brethren in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw your selves from every Brother that walketh disorderly and not after the Tradition which he received of us And this way of reproving them ought to be so managed by us that it may appear it doth not proceed from any sowr morose surly Humour disdaining or hating of their Persons but meerly from conscience of our Duty towards the Glory of God and to do an Act of Love and Charity as indeed it is both towards them and towards our selves First Towards them When you thus endeavour to shame them out of their Wickedness by discountenancing them in it So says the Apostle 2 Thess 3.14 If any Man obey not our Word note that Man and have no Company with him that he may be ashamed And indeed if a Man be not altogether profligate if he be not