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
in his Revelation tels us he often heard them crying Worthy is the Lambe who was stain This is the songe of Moses and the Lambe that is sung there and in conformity to this he breaks off the Revelation Rev. 1 v. 5. with these words Now to him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood to him be glory and dominion for ever If we would have a communion day resembling heaven this must be our worke also Secondly Consider this is the proper work of the day However beleivers be taken up with tossing their doubts and fears yet there may be something of a tentation in this to divert them from something more suitable to their present work it is ane unanswerable Argument some bring to prove that the primitive Church did not kneel in reception of the Sacrament because they did not kneel for some Centuries on the Sabbath at all looking upon it as a day of joy for Christs resurrection It is trew in this Sabboth we are met to commemorat a death and that the death of the most loveing husband that ever had a being Yet since it is the death of one who hath overcome death and who hath sent us word Revel 1 18. I am he that was dead and am alive our work ought to be praises and admiration Thirdly Consider there is nothing we can repay for all the love He hath manifested yea there is nothing else he requires but praises and admiration The deliverance from Egypt cost Israel many of their best and cheiffest catel there is nothing such here Offer to me the sacrifices of thanksgiving is all that is demanded and when will this sacrifice be offered if not upon such a day But this and many such considerations though they may convince the minde that the thing is rational yet not sufficiently help to it if these practises be not added First Labor to get the heart in frame for praises and admiring this love from what thou hast heard thou mayst perceave thou hast ane excellent song but if the instrument be out of tune it may be spilt as many a good tale is in the telling the 108 Psal begins well My heart is fixed Lord I will sing get thy heart fixed that is possibly like Israel in Eliahs tyme halting betwixt two then praise Secondly repel the tentations that would put thee by from praising and admireing this love say to them that which Felix said to Paul I will hear thee at a more convenient tyme shall thou come to a mariage-feast where thou art called to singing in thy mourning suit Or is Christs love in giveing himself any thing the less worthy that thy heart is ill But some will say this is easier said then done they are not tentations but well-grounded reasons that keep me back from admireing and praising this love Christian what are they 1. Some say let them praise and admire who are interested in it and advantadged by it but thou art not such a one but 1. thou commends many things thou art not much advantadged by The courage of Alexander the Policie of Hanibal the wisdome of Solon the bounty of Vespasian ar all much comended in Histories and yet the writters of all these Histories not much profited by any of them Christs love is admirable to mankind and praise worthy be it terminat to thee or not Beside many praise such as the glorified Angels that are not interested in it if thou shalt say He is to them a Mediator of Confirmation many great divyns say so indeed and others deny it and as it is not easy to prove from Scriptur so not easy to answer The objections brought against it However He was not to them a Mediator of redemption and yet they admire and praise him Thirdly thou mayst have interest in it and yet not descerne it Christ say practical divines hath delivered believers from all danger of vindictive wrath but not from all the fear of it till they come to glorie Thy fears then are no proof of thy danger But if all these will not doe get interest yet in it it is the scope of the work of the day to make an offer of it Imbrace his offer it is free and so praise Others say they cannot praise though they will not deny their interest in it yet they are under a present desertion and so cannot praise nor admire This objection Sion makes Isay 49. v. 14. The Lord calls on heaven and earth to sing because of the Covenant of redemption Sion sayes sing who will I will sing none Sion said I am forsaken my God hath cast me off It is true it is with us as the Marygold that opens and shuts or closses as the Sunne rises and goes down yet be doing it as thou may the Lord sometimes denyes assisting grace that his accepting grace may shine the brighter If he give the poor widdow but two mits to cast into the treasury it is all one if he Counts the two mits The purest obedience though I confess not the most comfortable is to doe duties under a desertion praise it then and admire it But I go to the second branche of the use If his love be so matchless render him love for love It is reported of holy Bredfoord that some tymes the tears would be running downe on his truncheor when sitting at his meat and when he was asked the reason of it he said because he could not get fervent enough love to Christ our obligation to Christ is such that the coldness of our love is wonderful especially the exercise of love is suitable to this feast Zenophon in his Cyroped tels of one Lygranes King of Armenia who was taken with his Queen captive by Cyrus on a tyme Cyrus asked him if he desyred his liberty and to have his Kingdome and his Wife restored to him Lygranes answered him For my liberty and my Kingdome I prayse them not much but if my heart blood could redeeme my Wyffe I would cheerfully give it afterward Cyrus haveing restored him all and he was comes home in his Kingdome he asked his Queen what a one she thought Cyrus was shee replyed she knew not my heart and my mynd said she was so much taken up with the man who would have given his blood for my ransome that I could think upon no other If a Heathen could say so much of one who made but ane offer of his blood for her ransome O how much more we of Him who hath gone far begond offers He hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood But since the exercise of love is so suitable a work to a feast of love and one great part of our communion with him in the sacrament herin I shall only give thir things to try the sincerity of our love and so close 1. Thou most take up a-right the nature of love many think they love him because they doe not hate him quid
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
in considering what might be said against the promises God made to him as who he was that made them Let Isaack be brought to Ashes yet Abraham will not stagger at the promise so long as two attributs of God remain he judged him faithful that had promised and he knew that he was able out of the ashes of Isaack to accomplish his promise However in a tentatione the promise goe out of thy light so that thou art put to say what is become of the promise Yet goe not to doubt of it lest thou question or deny either that God is faithful or that he is able O how honourable to God is it to hazard on the credit of a promise of God which is in appearance by providence as overturned on the account of the faithfulness and power of God Learn then to answer the objections against them as the Psalmist does Psal 56.4 In God will I praise his word I will not fear what flesh can doe Fourthly Abraham did shalte himself loose of all the outward Impediments that might intangle him and imped his obedience to God in this tentation he told not Sarah of it and as some Jewish Doctors relate the cause of her death which followed shortly after Abraham came home was the report of so strange ane attempt by Abraham how then would she have taken it being told her before Beside Abraham said at the foot of the mount to the Servants abide ye here and I and the lad will goe up to the mount Ordinarly in tentations to which we are called we are intangled by our too much consulting with flesh and blood who alwayes give Peter his advice but if we could shake ourselves loose of these intanglements from all which we will shostly be loosed whither we will or not we should be fitter for a tentatione and have more cheerfulness under it Lastly Abraham in this tentatione though he could not see thorow it yet he was very confident the event would be well ordered by God for his comfort it was a remarkable answer he gave Isaack goeing up the mount when he asked him my Father where is the sacrifice my Sone said Abraham God will proved as confidently as he had seen the Ram already caught by the horns amongst the bushes if we could like obedient children out of love to God follow our duety to him we needed not be anxious what will become of this or that it would satisfie us abundantly God will provide And indeed how darke soever this tentation was in the begining yet there were three things remarkable in it Which three or one of them may be found in the event of what tentation God shall think fitt to tryst thee with First Abraham had a clearer discovery of the truth of his own grace then before by ane immediate voice by this I know thou lovest me love to Christ in us is often times like fire in flint if the flint be not striken upon the fire appears not and who knowes but thou art much doubting of it at this communion if indeed thou lovest him But the trials for the discovery of it may be reserved Secondly Abraham had a cleare view of Christ in the Ram ready to be a sacrifice for Isaack to which some interpreters think Christ relaâ—s in the 8th of John where he tells Abraham saw my day affar off and rejoiced And what canst thou tell but this may be the event also of the tentations thou art so much afrayd of A clearer discovery of Christ then in all thy life before Only be content to goe to the mount if he call thee saying God will provide Lastly on the same mount where Isaack was bound his posterity saw ane statly Temple that was one of the wonders of the world built by Solomon whereas any might have thought mount Moriah was the mount upon which the Church was undone in cutting off the promised seed Yet they saw the same mount the place where the Temple did stand So contrary are Gods thoughts often to ours and his wayes to our wayes that light comes out of darkness and order out of confusion and life out of death SERMON I. On Josua 1 v. 2. Moses my Servant is dead THese words containe Mose's Epitaph In which a description of Moses from his life his original and his end His original Moses which signifies drawen out his life a Servant his end he is dead We shall 1. clear the words though not much difficulty in them First His Original imported in his name Moses It was given him as we may read Exod. 3 10. because of his being drawn out of the water where his Mother had layd him in obedience to Pharaoh's Edict The Lord would have his original writt on his name that he could not so much as lay to minde his very name but he behoved to remember that he was drawen out for as eminent a servant as he was as among all the Prophets of the Old Testament none was like him yet God had him to fitt for it he found him not so but drew him out when he was destinat to death The second thing is his life My Servant A Servant is one who is not at his own disposal but at the beck of another they are as Aristotle calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 liveing instruments or tools because they are at the will of another to be used at their discretion So was Moses but my Servant is ane eminent elogy he is called so in a three-fold sense 1. By way of distinction and difference some are Servants of Sin serving divers lusts and pleasures Some are Servants of Men in opposition to God some as Rom. 16. serve their own bellies but Moses MY Servant 2dly My Servant by way of special right and propriety being his by election by purchase 1 Cor. 6. yea and by Covenant which was made at the burning bush 3dly This My Servant hath something of glorying in Moses as when the Saints say My God they triumph in their portion So when God sayes My Servant as Job 1. Hes thou considered my Servant Job there is a glorying in it and this was Moses high Elogy that he was not a Servant of sin or of men but of God The third Particular is his End He is dead We have his Death threatned Numb 20. because of his cariage at the waters of Meribah and execute Deut. last where he goes up to mount Nebo and dyes and is buried in the plains of Moab Though He was a great Prophet to whom none under the Old Testament came near eminently learned in all the wisdom of the Aegyptians though admitted to so near communion with God yet none of these can exeeme him from the common lot of mankind but he must dye He is dead Having thus briefly cleared the words we shall take some Observations from them and be briefe in some of them and insist on others Observ 1. That often Gods most eminent Servants when first he