of Deuteronomy allures and threatnes them to stedfastness in it appoynts them a successor to him and layes his hand on Josuae There are two acts we find performed by two eminent Saints in reference to the Church after their death and they that cannot doe the one to promove the good of it when they are gone may yet doe the other Moses leaves a written law to them to walk by Joseph acts faith on the promise I know the Lord will visit you and he will have them swear to carry up his bones If thou cannot writt books to be standing monuments of the Church's duties yet be with Joseph acting faith for the prosperity of it upon the promise and thus one way or another thou may promove the good of it when thou art gone But in the third place take a view of some consequences of Moses death I shall for brevities sake name but these three First The Lord takes the charge on him of burying his Servant Deut. last The Lord buried him in the plains of Moab His care of his Saints bodies ends not with their lives It is the Fathers will that he should lose nothing of what is given him but takes it up at the last day and gives it life eternal Mark it is not no man but no thing of any of them given him the body that did run and act and speak in his service he casts it not off at death as ane unprofitable old Servant but looks after it even though the bodies should be given to be food to the foules of Heaven Secondly This burial of Moses was so secret as no man knew of it the common and indeed the true reason was to prevent superstition which readily Israel would have fallen into with these precious relicts If the Lord ever had intended such a high esteem of the relicts of the Saints as some press he had never concealed the body of Moses We have reason to praise that we are not intoxicat with the poyson of those who adore the creature more then the Creator and delude the World with the forgeries of relicts which though true as they are not yet ought not to be committed Idolatry with the Lord did here as a wyse parcht take the knyfe out of the childs hand least he should cut his fingers with it Lastly This Moses though none knew what became of his body nor where it was layd yet we find him afterward appearing glorious on mount Tabor at the transfiguration It is in effect no matter what become of our bodies after death since the Saints may be assured one day to appear and be like his glorious body let Philosophers debeat where are they that are eaten by fish and these fish eaten by men and the bodies of these men turned into grasse and that grasse eaten by beasts c. though we can no more tell what is become of them nor Israel could tell what became of the body of Moses it is comfortable enough he will make them like his glorious body by the mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe This much for the things particularly observable in Moses death We come now in the second place to speak of death as a lot from which the most eminent servants cannot expect to be exeemed Observation That there are none how eminent soever in parts holyness or communion with God can expect to be exeemed from death Eminent was Moses in all these yet Moses is dead yea see through all the Scripture from Adam to Christ Enoch and Elijah excepted whose extraordinare translation supplied vicem mortis who are exeemed from it Neither need we insist on the reasons of this since it is decreed for all It is appointed for all men once to dy and after death to come to judgment Yea 2dly All are interested in Adams sin and so lyable to the punishment of it which in part is temporal death 3dly Actual sin influences this the wages whereof is death It is among the errors of Socinians to say death is only a natural fruit of the constitution of the body It is true it does indeed naturally follow on it but man being immortalized by Covenant before the fall the loss of that priviledge makes death to him a punishment and the wages of sin as the Apostle Rom. 6 last words it That which I shall insist a litle on is to answer this Question Why Christ hath not restored his Saints to ane exemption from death which by Adam's fall they have forfaulted Answer Though Christ hath not done this yet he hath done so much in reference to it that the Apostle is not afrayed to say he hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel We shall therefore insist a litle in opening the differences betwixt the death of the Saints through Christ and the death of others There be especially this threefold difference betwixt them 1. In respect of the persons dying 2dly In respect of death it self 3dly In respect of the consequences of it This Balaam observed when he said Let my end be as their end First In regard of the persons dying the difference is great especially in these three 1st The Servants of God though they dy yet they dy in Christ Revel 14 v. 13. Blessed are they that die in the Lord As they believed in the Lord and walked in the Lord and rejoiced in the Lord so they dy in the Lord death does not loose their union not so with others 2dly They dy in faith All these dy in faith Heb. 11. haveing a good report they dy in faith for themselves for the Church of God for their relations and in the faith of whatever promised not so others 3dly They die in obedience as Christ was obedient to the death so their very death is an act of obedience Goe up to mount Nebo and dy the doeing whereof was obedience as well as goe down to Aegypt goe in to Pharaoh or such like commands as Moses obeyed Not so others their soul is taken from them Secondly The difference is great in regard of death itselfe Mark especially these First Though the thing be a curse in it selfe it is a blessing to the man Blessed are they that dy in the Lord the curse is not only removed but converted it is now a priviledge 1 Cor. 3 last All things are yours and ye are Christs whither things present or things to come death or life Here death is theirs who are Christs as a Servant is his Masters Death is yours and ye are Christs 2dly The sting of death is removed 1 Cor. 15 55. It is now as a bee that cannot sting 2 Cor. 9 21. It may well bumb and make a noyse but sin and the hurtful sting of it is removed It is not so with others the sting and all remains 3dly The dominion of it is removed Rom. 5 14. there are some Psal 49. that death shall have dominion over not
good there is a cautioner who takes all his peoples debt on him since it is impossible for us to expiat sin though we had never so many moral parts as Moses learned in all wisdom of Aegypt never so great a Prophet never so much zeal or communion with God yet all this cannot remove one sin 2dly In this cause of Moses death remark that it was not in doeing any thing contrary to the command of God only a doeing beside it he exeeded his commission and indeed what he did might have had many appearances of reason for it The rod had been the instrument of many mirackles in Aegypt and at the red Sea yea at Rephidim he did strick the rock with it and brought water But since his commission was to speak his striking was his sin for which he must die So dangerous a thing it is in things relating to God to act without his warrand Some tell us they add no corrupting additions to the word but perfecting But as corrupting additions is a contradiction so perfecting are eminently reflecting both on the Law and Law-giver Ye may be pressed with things which will be told you are lawful because not contrary to the word But if they be not consonant ye are in danger of anger from him who hath forbidden all adding to his word as well as taking from it 3dly Undoubtedly this sin for which Moses died was pardoned as to any guilt which should draw any eternal punishment after it Yea more many friendly acts after this smiting the rock passed betwixt God and him yet he must die for it Antinomians foolishly tell us that the sins of the elect being pardoned there are no chastisements layed on for sin Nay the sin which is pardoned the person may yet be corrected for it as is evident here and in Nathans words to David The Lord hath also put away thy sin nevertheless thy Child shall dy Argue not then from a temporal chastisement to ane eternal punishment Since the very sin which is pardoned may yet influence sad stroks yea and death it selfe 4thly This was but one sin of Moses which he acted also when his meek Spirit was provoked by a stiff-necked people and yet it is followed by the same outward stroke with which their sins who had tempted 40 years in the wilderness is followed their stroak Psal 95. Is not to enter Canaan but dy by the way and for this one sin Moses meets with the same Is is very remarkable how sharply the Lord will chastise a little thing in his own when he will let others runn on till their cup be full It is true the sins of his elect servants have many aggravations the sins of others wants as being acted against more light against greater mercies yet the thing in itself but litle in comparison of what he will pass in another Cast not at his service notwithstanding of this better to to have our way in sin hedged with thornes then strawed with roses It is dreadful to have scope in sin and when like Balaam in the way to Balack have the Lord say to us goe 5thly Moses earnestly prayed Deut. 3. that the Lord would have averted this stroke v. 25. I pray thee let me goe over and see this goodly Land beyond Jordan and that goodly Mountain and Lebanon fain would he have been there but there is no dealing let it suffice thee speak no more of this matter is his answer How earnest will the best be for temporary mercies and how peremptor in prayer for them when yet their prayer cast out It is true a view of Canaan which Moses had by way of exchange declares the prayer not lost though refused Now in all these in Moses death see how just God is in reckoning for sin even in the best of his Saints But in the next place let us take a view of his mercy mixed in herewith in the manner of Moses death which is the 2d thing proposed And here also take notice of five things First However the Lord will have him die for this sin yet he warnes him of it a long time before he die yea and determines both tyme place Got up to mount Nebo dy It is a great incouragment to the Saints in their death that it comes not on them as a thiefe in the night yea and though it be not revealed to them as to Moses yet both tyme and place are so determined as all their adversaries cannot alter the least circumstance though one of them dy in his bed another in the sea the third in a foraign land yet not one hair of their head falls without their heavenly Father his providence and though secondary causes work contingently yet the event followes necessarly as it is decreed Secondly Ere he die though the Lord chastise him for his sin yet the Lord gives him a view of Canaan before his death Deut. 3 27. Get thee up to the top of Pisgah and behold it with thine eyes The passage through the valey of the shadow of death is indeed dowisome but a view of Canaan will make it so lightsome that some of the Saints have cryed out on death for his slow motions toward them and when recovered out of sickness that threatned death have halfe repyned that they should have been within sight of the land and yet driven back to Sea again And wysely the Lord reserves these sights of Canaan till his Saints have death to graple with that he may allay a litle the bitter pill and suggar it better before they swallow it Thirdly This death of Moses it was indeed a chastisement of his unbeleife yet withall a Reward of his faith which he had ane eye to Heb. 11. v. 15. When he preferred the reproach of Christ to the treasures of Aegypt There is indeed in death something bumbling to the Saints but there is also something comfortable If it be a fruit of sin and the wages of it it is likewayes the passage to glory and the truth is as in our life so till it end betwixt the views of sin and glory our joyes and sorrowes eb and flow Fourthly Moses death though it proceeded from his disobedience yet it was in it selfe ane act of obedience the same God who bid him goe down to Aegypt and speak to Pharaoh bids him now goe up to mount Nebo and dy and he obeyes the one al 's well as the other up he goes and dyes as it is said of Christ so may it be said of his Saints He was obedient unto the death so are they There are some their souls are taken from them and they are carried to death as a prisoner unto ward by the officer but his people give up the Ghost when it is called for and as they lived obeying so they dy Lastly Moses in his death was careful for Israel that it should prosper after he was dead for this end he repeats the Law over again to them in the book
general and follow it a little Observ That there is a mariage-relation betwixt Christ and beleevers He is the Brydegroom and they are the Bryde This point as it is clear here so it is frequently asserted in other Scriptures Psal 45. all throughout in a type of the mariage betwixt Solomon and Pharohs Daughter the same mariage is expressed there we have the Brydegroom in state all his garments smelled of mirrhe and aloes and cassia and the Bryde in rayment of needle-work brought unto the King Isai 54 5. The Lord comforts his afflicted people there with the representation of this mariage Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth and no more remember the reproach of thy widdowhoode for thy maker is thy Husband the Lord of Hosts is his name The same we have the Apostle asserting Rom. 7 4. for for ye are maried unto another that ye may bring forth fruit unto God In prosecuting this point we shall follow this method 1. Inquire a little in this Allegory of a mariage betwixt Christ and beleevers 2dly Enquire how can there be such a mariage especially parties and 3dly Shall apply it For the 1. of these there is nothing more sutable for a mariage-feast then to be inquiring into the nature of the mariage neither do we stretch the allegory beyond its scope when we find these four betwixt Christ and beleevers implyed in this mariage betwixt Christ and his Church 1. A near and a firme union which in mariage hath not a paralel 2. Intimat fellowship and communion which results likewayes from mariage 3. The performing the several duties of their several stations in their maried relation Lastly A reciprocal communicating of what belongs unto the one party unto the other All these four are in a mariage and all four concurre in this mariage betwixt Christ and his Church First There is an union betwixt them which though it be mystical yet ceases not therefore to be real it is frequently expressed in Scripture by similitudes taken from the union of the head and members root and branches fundation and building but that which I am to evidence is that it is the nature of a mariage-union and there be two properties of it will evidence this 1. In the Scripture wee find the union of many relations joyned togither to express this union alone take one place for all Mark 3. v. last For whosoever shall do the will of God the same is my brother my sister and my mother How nearly are they united that are stated in all these relations as brother sister and mother He that doth the will of God is so to Christ Beside 2dly The union betwixt Christ and his Church is not only nearer then that which is betwixt him and standing Angels he haveing united the humane natur to the divine But it is nearer then that which was between God and Adam Divyns say that betwixt God and Adam there was soedus amicitiae but not foedus conjugale there ws such an union while he stood as is betwixt two who are intimatly friends But this is foedus conjugale where the union is so near that the Church is not only called the Bryde of Christ or the body of Christ which is nearer but sometimes gets the name of Christ himself 1 Cor. 12 12. For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members are one body so also is Christ A strange name to be given to the Church so also is Christ but so near is the union that the Church hath the very name Christ given to it Is not this then a mariage-union But if we shall in the 2d place add to this the firmeness of the union neither adultery nor death can dissolve it which usually loose the mariage-union Not adultery Jer. 3 1. Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers and yet in the 14. Turne backsliding Children for I am maried unto you the mariage not dissolved no not for adultery Yea death does not dissolve it The woman layeth the Apostle Rom. 7 2. is bound by the Law to her Husband while the Husband liveth but if the Husband be dead she is loosed but here death looseth not the law of the mariage Revel 14. Blessed are they that die in the Lord as they trusted in the Lord and walked in him and delighted in him so they die in him yea whither they live or die still they are the Lords so that the union is a mariage-union We come 2dly to shew the intimat fellowship and communion which concurs to make up this mariage and which is the 2d thing we proposed from the allegory It is true though the mariage-union be even in this life as firme and sure as ever it will or can be yet the mariage-communion is farr from the perfection it shall have there is notwithstanding real communion betwixt them Truely our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1 3. Truely it is not then a fancy and that truly there is such a mariage-fellowship betwixt them is evident among many things from these two 1. Their neer conversing togither 2dly Familiar communication of secrets one to another 1. Their familiar conversing togither which in the Scripture is holden out in these such like expressions of walking with them of dwelling in them in comeing to them and supping with them they with him of rejoycing over them to do them good as the Brydegroom rejoyceth over the Bryde and if all these be too little to express it he putts them in his bosome Isai 40.11 the Lambs that are not able to walk he puts them in his bosome Doth not all these laid togither evince a free a familiar conversing togither But if we shall add to this the 2d the free and familiar commutation of secrets the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and the Spirit of the Lord. Christ can tell his Disciples John 15 I call you not Servants but Friends because he had put them so farr on his secrets which usually is not done to meer Servants I have told you all sayes he I have heard of my father Is there not here a commutation of secrets upon Christs pairt The like is also upon the Churchs David puts it in one of his Psalmes All my complaint is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee My groaning there are many things wee groan for that we would tell none on earth But my groaning is not hide from thee Is there not then here a mutual commutation of secrets There be many other things wherein communion betwixt Christ and his Church consists but thir two tend most to prove a marriage-communion their familiar converse togither and their spiritual commutatione of secrets I go to the 3d. In the third place if we shall consider for constituting this marriage their mutual performing the duties of this relation we find them in Scripture proposed as paterns to all that are in
mariage relations Husbands love your wyves as Christ hath loved his Church and Wyves be subject to your husbands as the Church is subject unto Christ The love which is the summe of the husbands duty upon his part Eph. 3. Passeth knowledge thee can no love be found to resemble it but one John 15. as the Father hath loved me so have I loved you how lovingly speaks he to the Church throughout the song usually in such termes as these My love my dove my fair one and on the other part the Church is subject unto him she obeyes him even as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him Lord That is true the obedience is imperfect and hath many craks into it yet she esteems all his commandments concerning every thing to be right and He graciously accepts of the will in stead of the dead Lastly There is in this mariage a reciprocal commutation of what belongs to the one party unto the other 1. Upon Christs part it is impossible to enumerat all the particular Jewels far less the high inheritance that is given the Church by Him we must rest upon that the Apostle hath 1 Cor. 3. towards the end all things are yours and ye are Christs all things present and things to come amongst the rest death is yours it is no longer your enemy but your servant for ye are Christs Now whatsoever may be comprehended under all things He communicats to his Church It is true the Church hath nothing to give him Let Pelagians talke of their preventing God and Papists of their merit and of their supererogating what they will beleevers know their goodness extends not unto him Only she gives herselfe and she gives her debt 1. She gives herself the Apostle commends this in the Macedonians that they gave themselves unto the Lord. And 2. their dept because his he payes it and discharges their debt the hand writting of ordinances which was against them and contrary to them by nailing it unto the Cross Thus we have briefly shewed wherein this mariage consists The 2d thing we proposed is how can such a mariage be possible especially considering the vast odds betwixt the parties For clearing this I shall briefly say only these things First Beleevers in their eternal election are given to Christ by his Father it is true we know but little of the manner and way of the eternal transactions betwixt the father and sone and some are too bold with Gods secrets in determining herein that is sufficient to our purpose to know that the father hath from all eternity made a gift of his elect unto Christ and in this is laid the first foundation of their mariage-union and communion All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and again of all that the Father hath given me I have lost none so that whatever they be in themselves yet since they are the fathers gift in their election there is in this a foundation laid for a mariage Secondly The love of Christ however it be high in regarde of the person loving yet withall it is very condescending in reference to the thing loved yea the more condescending it be and the less attracted by any excellency in the object the more of the nature of pure love there is into it amor purus said Bernard non est mercenarius His love then being altogither free hence it is stouping can and does very well condescend to bestow this highest love-relation upon basest wormes even so great a God to love with such a great love such as we Now from the love which is pure love proceeds this mariage and who can hinder his love Thirdly How low soever our naturs be in regard of creation being made a little lower then the Angels yet not a little advanced above the angelical nature by reason of the personal union of the humane nature with the divin in the person of the Mediator God-man haveing sit down at the right hand of the Father to which of the Angels said he at any tyme Sit thou down at my right hand Ahasuerus in his mariage with Esther did make her no more noble in blood then she was before But in this Brydegroom this is singular that he hes lifted up the nature of his Bryde in the union of the same nature with the divine it is nothing so strange then there be a mariage Lastly As for the moral distance betwixt Christ and his Bryde this is also removed by washing her in his own blood It is needless to debar whither our union with Christ or out justification preceed in order of natur since in order of tyme the odds cannot be great But we are all washen before our mariage-communion with Christ and as Esther perfumed with the incense of the righteousness of Jesus the Brydegroom Now lay these four togither and the mariage notwithstanding the wast odds betwixt the parties will not appear so strange But I go to the Application Application There is a threefold use we shall follow from this point Is there such a mariage betwixt Christ and beleevers Then let all admire and praise the Brydegroom for this admirable condescendency thy Maker is thy Husband are words of wonder there be these things that make the mariage truely admirable First The majesty and greatness of the Brydegroom The Apostle forbidds us to be unequaly yoked but how unequaly is he yoked the brightness of the Fathers glory the express image of his person he that thinks it no robbery to be equal with God the man that is his fellow whom all the Angels adore thus to condescend how admirable is it Especially if in the second place we consider the baseness of the Bryde Might not the Church say as Abigail said to David when he sent to take her in mariage 1 Sam. 24 4. Behold let thine Handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the Servants of my Lord How base and polluted are we and yet admitted to such a mariage and taken into his bosome If thirdly We consider how earnestly he suited us and how many repulses he indured before he could gain our consent How oft he did stand at the door and knock till his locks were wet with the dew of the night How oft did he put in his hand at the hole of the door and his fingers dropped myrrhe How oft did he intreat beseech alure with promises and yet we greived his Spirit despised it quenched it How oft was he made to sit down and weep over us as he did over Jerusalem and say Oh! if that thou in this day had known the things that belong to thy peace How oft hes he pyped unto us and we have not danced and mourned unto us and we not lamented Fourthly Consider the admirable priviledges we are advanced to by this mariage the Church in the 2d of Hosea after she hes tryed all other lovers vers 7. I will go and return to my first husband for then it was better with