attends the commendation of such a man's wit and learning indeed he is a pretty man a good Scholar of fine parts good understanding but he knows it too well his proud self-conceitedness vain-glory spoils it all and renders the man under the just repute of a fool and ridiculous notwithstanding all his Clerkship and Learning But yet farther Pride by a kind of physical and natural consequence very oftentimes robs men even of their Wit and Learning wherein they pride themselves by carrying up into the brain those exhaled hot cholerick humors and fumes that break the staple and right temper and texture of the brain More learned men grow mad and brain-sick with the pride of that learning they think they have attained than in the pursuit and acquest of it Therefore beware of Pride of thy Wit Learning or Knowledge if thou intend to keep it or to keep thy just esteem or reputation of it On the other side Humility and Lowliness of mind is the best temper to improve thy faculties to add a grace to thy Learning and to keep thee Master of it it cools and qualifies thy spirits and blood and humors and renders thee fit to retain what thou hast attained and to acquire more 4. In all thy reflexion upon thy self and what thou hast never Compare thy self with those that are below thee in what is worthy or eminent but with those that are above thy self For instance in point of Learning or Knowledge thy partiality and indulgence to thy self will be apt to put thee upon comparing thy self with those that are ignorant or not more learned than thy self as we see ordinarily idiots or fools or men of weak intellectuals delight to converse with those they find or think more foolish than themselves with a thought that they are the wisest in the company but compare thy self with those that are more learned or wise than thy self and thou wilt see matter to keep thee humble If thou thinkest thou art a pretty proficient in Philosophy compare thy self with Aristotle with Plato with Themistius or Alexander Aphrodisaeus or other great Luminaries in Philosophy if thou thinkest thou art a pretty proficient in School-Learning compare thy self with Aquinas Scotus Suarez if thou think thou excellest in the Mathematicks compare thy self with Euclide Archimedes Tycho c. and then thou wilt find thy self to be like a little Candle to a Star The most of the Learning that this Age glories of is but an Extract or Collection of what we find in those men of greater parts only we think we have done great matters if we digest it into some other method and prick in here and there a small pittance of our own or quarrel at something that the Ancients delivered in some odd particulars And yet even in this very essay Self-love playes such a part that unless there be a great excess and admirable advantage of others that are above as in any learning or knowledge we are ready to exalt our selves above our standard and seem in our own eyes to be at least equal to those that exceed us or by envy and detraction to bring down others below our selves especially if we hit upon some little caprichio that we think they said not 5. And lastly consider the great Example of our Lord and Master Christ Jesus who was the only Son of the glorious God full of Wisdom Knowledge Power Holiness Goodness and Truth and notwithstanding all this humbled himself and became of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant emptied himself and humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross Philipp 2.5 6 7 8. Christ Jesus brought with him from heaven the Doctrine of Holiness and Righteousness ness and in all his Sermons there is not any one Virtue that he commendeth and commandeth more than Humility and Lowliness of Mind nor any one Vice that he sets himself more against than Pride and Haughtiness of Mind In his Beatitudes Matth. 5.35 Poverty of Spirit hath the first promise and Meekness and Humility the third Matth. 23.6 7. He checks and disparageth the Pride of the Pharises commands his Disciples to run quite counter to their method He that will be great among you shall be your servant Again Matth. 18.1 Luk. 9 Mar. 9 34. when the bubble of Ambition arose among the Disciples who should be greatest he checks their Pride with the pattern and commendation of a little Child And what he thus taught he lived One of the great Ends of the mission of Christ into the world was that he should not only be a Preacher of Virtue Goodness and Piety but also an Example of it And if we look through the whole life of Christ there is not one virtue that he did more signally exercise or by his example more expresly commend to the imitation of Christians than Humility I do not remember that he saith in any place Learn of me to do Miracles for I am mighty in power no nor yet Learn of me for I am Holy for I am Obedient to the Law of God for I am Liberal though in all these he was exhibited as an excellent Example of Holiness Obedience and Charity and must be the pattern of our imitation But as if Humility and Lowliness of Mind were the great Master-piece of his Example he calls out even when he was in one of the highest Extasies of spirit that we find until his Passion Matth. 11. 25 29. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls And in that signal advice given by the Apostle Phil. 5 Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man and being found in the fashion of a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the cross But Blessed Saviour was there nothing else for us to learn of thee but thy Meekness and Humility was there not something else wherein we were to bear in Mind thy Image and write after thy Excellent Copy was there not thy Holiness Purity Obedience Patience Trust in God and all that Constellation of Virtues that appeared in thy Doctrine and Life Surely yes he was exhibited both as a Prophet to Teach and an Example to be Imitated in all these also but in his Humility if we may say with reverence before all 1. Because the instance and example of his Humility was the most signal and wonderful of all the rest of his admirable virtues that the Eternal Son of the Eternal God should condescend so low as to become a man born of a woman and live upon earth such a despised life and dye such an accursed death is an instance of Humility not only beyond all example but an
enemies and unintermitted dangers and difficulties that our light afflictions which are here but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Our afflictions and incoveniences in this world 1. are light in comparison of that exceeding far more exceeding weight of glory 2. As they are but light so being compared with that eternal weight of glory they are but for a moment The longest life we here live is not ordinarily above threescore and ten years and though the more troublesom and uneasie that life is the longer it seems yet compared with the infinite abyss of Eternity it is but a moment yea less than a moment if less can be yet such is the longest stay in this life if compared with Eternity And the gracious God hath presented this greatest and most important truth to us with the greatest evidence and assurance that the most desponding and suspitious Soul can desire 1. He hath given his own Word of Truth to assure us of it 2. He hath given his own Son to seal it unto us by the most powerful and convincing evidence imaginable by his mission from Heaven on purpose to tell us it by his Miracles by attestations from Heaven by the laying down his own Life in witness of it by his Resurrection and Ascention by the miraculous Mission of his Holy Spirit visibly and audibly Again 3. He hath confirmed it to us by the Doctrine and Miracles of his Apostles by their Death and Martyrdom as a Witness of the Truth they taught by the numerous Converts and Primitive Christians and godly Martyrs who all lived and dyed in this Faith and for it who made it their choice rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season declaring plainly that they sought a better City and Countrey that is a heavenly Heb. 11.15 25. and this Countrey and this City they had in their Eye even whiles they lived in this troublesom world And this prospect this hope and expectation rendred this lower world of no great value to them the pleasures thereof they esteemed but low and little and the troubles and uneasiness thereof they did undergo patiently cheerfully and contentedly for they looked beyond them and placed their hopes their treasure their comfort above them And even whiles they were in this life yet they did by their faith and hope anticipate their own happiness and enjoyed by faith even before they actually possessed it by fruition for Faith is the substance of things hoped for Heb. 11. and makes those things present by the firmness of a sound perswasion which are in themselves future and to come And this is that which will have the same effect with us if we live and believe as they did and be but firmly and soundly perswaded of the truth of the Gospel thus admirably confirmed unto us This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith Heb. 10.38 The just shall live by faith 2 Cor. 5.7 We live by faith and not by sight and excellent is that passage to this purpose 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal And therefore if we do but seriously believe the truth of the Gospel the truth of the life to come the best external things of this world will seem but of small moment to take up the choicest of our desires or hopes and the worst things this world can inflict will appear too light to provoke us to impatience or discontent He that hath but Heaven and everlasting glory in prospect and a firm expectation will have a mind full of contentation in the midst of the lowest and darkest condition here on Earth Impatience and discontent never can stay long with us if we awake our minds and summon up our faith and hope in that life and happiness to come Sudden passions of impatience and discontent may like clouds arise and trouble us for a while but this faith and this hope rooted in the Heart if stirred up will like the Sun scatter and dispell them and cause the light of patience contentation and comfort to thine through them And as we have this hope of immortality and blessedness set before us so the means and way to attain it is easie and open to all no person is excluded from it that wilfully excludes not himself Isa 51.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat without money and without price Rev. 22.17 Whosoever will let him take of the waters of life freely Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest The way to everlasting happiness and consequently to contentation here is laid open to all It was the great reason why God made mankind to communicate everlasting happiness to them and when they wilfully threw away that happiness it was the end why he sent his Son into the world to restore mankind unto it And as the way is open to all so it is easie to all his yoak is easie and his burthen light The terms of attaining happiness if sincerely endeavoured are easie to be performed by virtue of that grace that God Almighry affords to all men that do not wilfully reject it namely to believe the truth of the Gospel so admirably confirmed and sincerely to endeavour to obey the precepts thereof which are both just and reasonable highly conducing to our contentation in this life and consummating our happiness in the life to come And for our encouragement in this obedience we are sure to have if we desire it the special grace of the Blessed Spirit to assist us and a merciful Father to accept of our sincerity and a gracious Saviour to pardon our failings and deficiencies So that the way to attain contentation in this life and happiness in the life to come as it is plain and certain so it is open and free none is excluded from it but it is free and open to all that are but willing to use this means to attain it And I shall wind up all this long Discourse touching Contentation with this plain and ordinary Instance I have before said that our home our Countrey is Heaven and Everlasting Happiness where there are no sorrows nor fears nor troubles that this World is the place of our travel and pilgrimage and at the best our Inn Now when I am in my journey I meet with several inconveniencies it may be the way is bad and foul the weather tempestuous or stormy
hast set up And therefore our Blessed Lord redoubles the injunction of our fear toward him that can destroy both body and soul in hell but forbids any fear of such persecutors who can only destroy the body and then can do no more And certainly that man that hath full assurance of favour and esteem with the great God of heaven and earth of an incorruptible weight and crown of glory the next moment after death must needs have a low esteem of the reproaches and scorns and persecutions of men for righteoufness sake and so much the rather because that very favour with God and that very crown of happiness that he expects is enhanced by those very scorns and those very afflictions For Our light afflictions which are here for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 3. Concerning the third kind of world namely the Providential world consisting in external dispensations of adversity or prosperity And first concerning the dark part of this world namely Adversity as casualties losses of wealth or friends sicknesses the common effects whereof are impatience distrust murmuring and unquietness Faith conquers this part of the world and prevents those evil consequences which either temptations from without or corruptions from within are apt to raise 1. Faith presents the soul with this assurance that all external occurrences come from the wise dispensation or permission of the most glorious God they come not by chance 2. That the glorious God may even upon the account of his own Sovereignty and pro imperio inflict what he pleaseth upon any of his creatures in this life 3. That yet whatsoever he doth in this kind is not only an effect of his power and sovereignty but of his wisdom yea and of his goodness and bounty No affliction can befall any man but it may be useful for his instruction or prevention 4. That the best of men deserve far worse at the hands of God than the worst afflictions that ever did or ever can befall any man in this life 5. That there have been examples of greater affliction that have befallen better men in this life witness Job and that excellent pattern of all patience and goodness even as a man our Lord Christ Jesus 6. That these afflictions are sent for the good even of good men and it is their fault and weakness if they have not that effect 7. That in the midst of the severest afflictions the favour of God to the soul discovering it self like the Sun shining through a cloud gives light and comfort to the Soul 8. That Almighty God is ready to support them that believe in him and to bear them up under all their afflictions that they shall not sink under them 9. That whatsoever or how great soever the afflictions of this life are if the name be blasted with reproaches the estate wasted and consumed by fire from heaven if friends are lost if hopes and expectations disappointed if the body be macerated with pains and diseases yet Faith presents to the believer something that can bear up the Soul under these and many more pressures namely that after a few years or days are spent an eternal state of unchangeable and perfect happiness shall succed that death the worst of temporal evils will cure all those maladies and deliver up the soul into a state of endless comfort and blessedness and therefore he bears all this with patience and quietness and contentedness and cheerfulness and disappoints the world in that expectation wherein its strength in relation to this condition lyes namely it conquers all impatience murmuring unquietness of mind 2. As to the second part of this Providential world namely Prosperity which in truth is the more dangerous condition of the two without the intervention of the divine grace the foils that the world puts upon men by this condition are commonly pride insolence carnal security contempt or neglect of duty and religion luxury and the like The method whereby Faith overcometh this part of the world and those evil consequences that arise upon it are these 1. Faith gives a man a true and equal estimate of this condition and keeps a man from overvaluing it or himself for it lets him know it is very uncertain very casual very dangerous and cannot out-last this life death will come and sweep down all these cobwebs 2. Faith assures him that Almighty God observes his whole deportment in it that he hath given him a law of humility sobriety temperance fidelity and a caution not to trust in uncertain riches that he must give an account of his stewardship also to the great Master of the Family of Heaven and Earth that he will duly examine all his Items whether done according to his Lord's commission and command and it lets him know that the more he hath the greater ought his care to be because his account will be the greater 3. Faith lets him know that the abundance of wealth honour power friends applause successes as they last no longer than this short transitory life and therefore cannot make up his happiness no nor give a man an ease or rescue from a fit of the Stone or Colick so there is an everlasting state of happiness or misery that must attend every man after death And on the one hand all the glory and splendor and happiness that this inferior world can afford is nothing in comparison of that glory that shall be revealed to and enjoyed by them that believe and obey 1. Nothing in respect of its duration if a man should live a thousand years yet that must have an end and the very pre-apprehension of an end is enough to dash and blast and wither any happiness even while it is enjoyed but that happiness that succeeds after death is an everlasting happiness 2. Nothing in respect of its degree there is no sincere complete perfect happiness in this world it is mingled with evils with fears with vicissitudes of sorrow and trouble but the happiness of the next life is perfect sincere and unmixed with any thing that may allay it And upon these accounts faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen and therefore by a kind of anticipation gives a presence to the Soul of those future joys renders the best happiness this world below can yield but languid and poor like the light of a Candle in the presence of the Sun On the other side the misery that after death attends the mispent present life over-ballanceth all the good that this life can yield both in its degree and duration and therefore with the pre-apprehension of it it sowres and allays all the good that is in the greatest happiness of this life 4. Faith doth assute every believing Soul that as sure as he now liveth and enjoyeth that worldly felicity it hath so surely if he in belief and obedience to the will of God revealed in and through Christ
me Let sweet Repose and Rest my portion be Give me some mean obscure Recess a Sphere Out of the road of Business or the fear Of Falling lower where I sweetly may My Self and dear Retirement still enjoy Let not my Life or Name be known unto The Grandees of the Times tost to and fro By Censures or Applause but let my Age Slide gently by not overthwart the Stage Of Publick Interest unheard unseen And unconcern'd as if I ne're had been And thus while I shall pass my silent days In shady Privacy free from the Noise And busles of the World then shall I A good old Innocent Plebeian dy Death is a mere Surprize a very Snare To him that makes it his lifes greatest care To be a publick Pageant known to All But unacquainted with Himself doth fall OF CONTENTATION AND The MOTIVES to It BOTH MORAL and DIVINE PHIL. IV. II. For I have learned in Whatsoever estate I am therewith to be content THere are Three excellent Virtues which especially refer to our condition in this life and much conduce to our safe and Comfortable passage through them 1. Equality of Mind or AEquanimity 2. Patience 3. Contentedness 1. Equality of Mind or Equanimity is that virtue which refers both to prosperity and adversity whereby in all conditions of that kind we carry an even and equal temper neither over-much lifted up by prosperity nor over-much depressed in adversity 2. Patience properly refers to crosses disappointment afflictions and adversity whereby we carry a quiet and submissive mind without murmuring passion or discomposure of spirit in all afflictions whether sickness loss of friends poverty reproach disgrace or the like 3. Contentation which differs from equality of mind because that respects as well prosperity as adversity this only adversity and in some respects differs also from Patience though this always accompanies it 1. In the extent of the object for patience respects all kinds of affliction contentedness in propriety of speech respects principally the affliction of want or poverty 2. In the act it self for patience in propriety of speech implyes only a quiet composed toleration of the evils of adversity but contentedness imports somewhat more namely not only a quietness of mind but a kind of cheerful free submission to our present condition of adversity a ready compliance with the Divine Providence and in effect a choice of that state wherein the Divine Dispensation placeth us as well as in bearing it These though they may in strictness give a distinction between Patience and Contentation yet we must observe that Contentation is never without Patience though it be something more and that in the common acceptation and latitude of the word Contentation doth not only extend to the condition or affliction of poverty but even to all other outward afflictions reached to us by the inflicting or permitting hand of Divine Providence and in this large acceptation I shall here apply and use it Content therefore in its large acceptation is not only a quiet and patient but also a free and cheerful closing with that estate and condition of life which the Divine Dispensation shall allott unto us whether mean or poor or laborious and painful or obscure or necessitous or sickly or unhealthy or without friends or with loss or absence of friends or unkindness of friends or any other state that seems ungrateful to our natures or disposition For we need not apply this virtue to a state of high prosperity in all things wherein though men are not ordinarily contented yet they have but small temptations to discontent from the estate it self wherein they so are This lesson of Contentation was learnt by this Apostle which imports these things 1. That it is a lesson that is possible to be learned for the Apostle had learned it 2. That it is a lesson that requires something of industry and pains to acquire it for he learned it before he attained it 3. That it is a lesson that deserves the learning for he speaks of it as of a thing of moment and great use well worth the pains he took to attain it And the truth is it is of so great importance to be learned that without it we want the comfort of our lives and with it all conditions of life are not only tolerable but comfortable And hence it is that this excellent Apostle doth very often inculcate and press and commend this lesson in many of his Epistles 1 Tim. 6.6 Godliness with contentment is great gain Heb. 13.5 Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will not leave thee nor forsake thee Again 1 Tim. 6.8 And having food and rayment let us be therewith content I shall therefore set down those Reasons that may perswade and encourage us to contentation with our condition and likewise to patience under it for patience and contentation cannot be well severed And the Reasons are of two sorts 1. Moral 2. Divine and Evangelical Neither shall I decline the use of Moral Reasons considering how far by the help of these many Heathens that had not the true knowledge of God revealed in his Word and Son advanced in the practice of these virtues The Moral Reasons therefore are these 1. Very many of the external evils we suffer are of our own choice and procurement the fruits of our own follies and inadvertence and averseness to good counsel And why should we be discontented or impatient under those evils which we our selves have chosen or repine because these trees bear their natural fruit 2. The greatest part of evils we suffer are of that nature and kind that are not in our power either to prevent or help Some come from the very condition of our nature as sicknesses death of friends and of absolute necessity the more relations any man hath the more evils of this kind we may suffer And can we reasonably expect that the very natures of things should be changed to please our humour Again some come from the hands of men that it may be are powerful more subtil and malicious Why should we discontent our selves or be impatient because others are too strong for us Others again come by occurtences natural though disposed by the hand of the Divine Providence as losses by storms and tempests by unseasonable weather by intemperateness of the air or meteors Can we reasonably expect that the great God of Heaven and Earth should alter his setled Laws of Nature for the convenience of every such little Worm as you or I am It may be that storm or intemperate season that may do you or me some prejudice may do others as many and as good or it may be more and better a benefit that wind that strikes my Ship against the Rock may fetch off two or more from the Sands Let us be content therefore to suffer Almighty God to govern the World according to his wisdom and not our will
and when all was done Jesus that was made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of death was crowned with glory and honour That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sens to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings Heb. 2.9 and this was done besides that Expiatory Sacrifice thereby made for us for these admirable Ends 1. That we might see before us the ordinary method of the Divine Dispensation his own Eternal Son that knew no sin yet was made a man of forrows and then why should we poor sinful men expect to be exempted and priviledge more than the Eternal Son in whom God from Heaven proclaimed himself well pleased 2. That we might have an Example before us He that is made the Captain of our Salvation was likewise to be the common pattern and image whereunto all his disciples and followers are to be conformed both passively and actively he was exhibited as the First-born among many Brethren the common image according to which all his disciples and followers should be conformed Rom. 8.29 As he was made perfect by sufferings so must we and as he through a vail of Sufferings passed into Glory so must we that if we suffer with him we may be glorified with him He was exhibited as the common standard and pattern of a Christian's condition in the lowest estate that can befall him in this life and surely we have reason to be contented to be conformed and subject to the condition of the Captain of our Salvation 3. That as he was thus exhibited as a passive example of our conformity so he became an active example for our imitation full of quietness composedness submission patience and contentation to give us an example 1 Pet. 2. 21. and to imprint upon us the same temper and frame of mind Phil. 2.6 that whiles we behold his example we may by a secret sympathy be transformed as it were into the same mould and image 4. That we might have this great pledge and assurance that he who once lived in this world and had experience of the difficulties and troubles of it and is now translated to the right hand of the glorious Majesty of God and hath the prospect of all our wants and needs and sorrows and troubles and sufferings and of the degrees of strength we have to bear it and hath the plenitude of power to support to strengthen and deliver us I say that we may be assured that he is a merciful and faithful High Priest sensible and compassionate of our condition Heb. 2. 18. for in that he himself suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Thus it hath pleased the goodness of Almighty God who knows our frame and considers that we are but dust to use as much indulgence and compliance as is possible for a most tender Father to his weak and froward Children That since he knows affliction and crosses are as necessary for us as the very best of all our blessings yet he gives us all the helps and supplies that are imaginable with the greatest suitableness to our nature to make them easie supportable and profitable and to bear us up to bear them with the greatest patience and contentation We cannot be without them for then we are very apt to grow proud and secure self-conceited insolent to set our rest and be building of Tabernacles here to dread and fear death beyond all measure and order and to be utterly unprovided for it to be desirous to take our portion in this life and to make our Heaven on this side death as the two Tribes desired their lot on this side Jordan because they found it convenient Num. 32. And though we cannot well be without them yet we frand in need of daily helps to bear them patiently contentedly and and profitably and we are accordingly by the Divine Goodness furnished with helps suitable to our condition and frame As all the afflictions crosses and troubles of this life are managed by the wise Providence and Government of the most wise and merciful God and have their voice errand and message from him to us Hear the Rod and him that hath appointed it So he hath given us the inestimable Jewel of his Word to expound and unriddle what he means by them and to instruct us how to carry our selves under them how to improve them all for our spiritual and everlasting good how with patience and cheerfulness to undergo them how to be drawn the nearer to God by them And to this end he hath given us most divine and wise counsels touching them great assurance of his love goodnrss and the light of his countenance to carry and conduct us with comfort and dependance upon him in them and hath given us admirable Examples which are as so many Commentaries and Expositions upon them and to shew us what he means and intends in them and by them As the examples of the Jewish Church and People the examples of his best Saints and Servants and their sufferings and the reasons of them and their deportment under them and wherein they failed and wherein they benefited by them as Abraham Job Moses David Hezekiah Josiah and all the Apostles and Primitive Christians in whom we may with great clearness and satisfaction observe how much advantage they got by their afflictions what losses they we are at by their peevishness frowardness and discontent with their afflicted conditions what comfort satisfaction and benefit they attained by their patience quietness equality of mind voluntary submission to the Divine Providence and contentation with their estates though never so troublesom and uneasie But above all the bountiful God hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel He hath given us the clearest conviction imaginable that this world and our life in it is not our principal End and Scope but the place of our Pilgrimage at best our Inn not our home our place of tryal and preparation for a better state He hath shewed us that it is but our passage and such a passage as must and shall be accompanied with afflictions and it may be with persecution by evil men evil Angels evil occurrences that it is the place of our warsare a troublesom and tumultuous stormy Sea through which we must pass before we come to our Haven that our Countrey our home our place of rest and â—â—ppiness lies on the other side of death where there shall be no sorrow nor trouble nor fears nor dangers nor afflictions nor tears but a place of eternal and unchangeable comfort fulness of most pure and uninterrupted pleasures and that for evermore that through many tribulations and afflictions we must enter into that Kingdom as his ancient People entred into their Canaan through a red Sea a tiresom and barren Wilderness firey Serpents wants
life and all things 2. As in the certainty so in the Plainness and Easiness of the truth The most excellent subjects of other knowledge have long windings before a man can come at them and are of that difficulty and abstruseness that as every brain is not fit to undertake the acquiring of it so much pains labour industry advertency assiduity is required in the best of judgments to attain but a competent measure of it witness the studies of Arithmetick Geometry Natural Philosophy Metaphysicks c. wherein great labour hath been taken to our hands to make the passage more easie and yet still are full of difficulty But in this knowledge it is otherwise as it is a knowledge fitted for a universal use the bringing of mankind to God so it is fitted with a universal fitness and convenience for that use easie plain and familiar The poor receive the Gospel Matth. 11.5 and indeed the plainness of the doctrine was that which made the wise world stumble at it and thence it was that it was hid from the wise and prudent Matth. 11.25 who like Naaman with the Prophet could not be contented to be healed without some great ostentation nor were contented to think any thing could be the wisdom of God and the power of God unless it were somewhat that were abstruse and at least conformable to that wisdom they had and were troubled to think that that wisdom or doctrine that must be of so great a use and end should fall under the capacity of a Fisherman a maker of Tents a Carpenter But thus it pleased God to choose a Doctrine of an easie acquisition 1. That no slesh should glory in his sight 1 Cor. 1.29.2 That the way to Salvation being a common thing propounded to all mankind might be difficult to none Believe and thy sins be forgiven Believe and thou shalt be saved Believe and thou shalt be raised up to Glory Joh. 6. 40. This is the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and Believeth on him may have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day 3. As in the Certainty and Plainness so in the Sublimity and Loftiness of the subject And hence it is that Metaphysicks is reckoned the most noble knowledge because conversant with and about the noblest subject substance considered in abstractâ— from corporeity and particular adherents falling under other Sciences But the subject of this knowledge is of the highest consideration Almighty God the dispensation of his counsel touching man in reference to the everlasting condition of mankind the true measure of just and unjust the pure will of God the Son of God and his miraculous Incarnation Death Resurrection and Ascention the great Covenant between the Eternal God and fallen man made sealed and confirmed in Christ his great transaction with the Father in their Eternal Counsel and since his Ascention in his continual Intercession for man the means of the discharge and satisfaction of the breach of the Law of God the state of the Soul after death in blessedness or misery these and many of these are the subject of that knowledge that is revealed in the knowledge of Christ such as their very matter speaks them to be of a most high nature the great transactions of the counsel and administration of the mighty King of Heaven in his Kingdom over the children of men such as never fell under the discovery or so much as the disquisition of the wisest Philosophers and such as the very Angels of Heaven desire to look down into 1 Pet. 1. and behold with admiration that manfold wisdom of God which is revealed unto us poor worms in Christ Jesus 4. As the matters are wonderful high and sublime so they are of most singular Use to be known There be many pieces of Learning in the World that are conversant about high subjects as that part of Natural Philosophy concerning the Heaven and the Soul the Metaphysicks the abstruser parts of the Mathematicks that are not in order to practice But as it may fall out that the knowledge of the subject is unaccessible in any certainty so if it were never so exactly known it goes no farther and when it 's known there 's an end and no more use of it Whereas many times subjects of an inferiour nature are more useful in their knowledge as practical Mathematicks Mechanicks Moral Philosophy Policy but then they are of an inferiour nature more useful but perchance less noble But here is the priviledge of the knowledge of Christ Jesus that as it is of Eminence and Height so it is of Use and Convenience and that in the highest measure as it is a Pearl for Beauty so it is for Value This knowledge is a kind of Catholicon of universal use and convenience In reference to this life Am I in Want in Contempt in Prison in Banishment in Sickness in Death This knowledge gives me Contentedness Patience Cheerfulness Resignation of my self to his will who hath sealed my Peace with him and Favour from him in the Great Covenant of his Son and I can live upon this though I were ready to starve when I am assured that if it be for my good and the glory of his Name I shall be delivered if not I can be contented so my Jewel the Peace of God and my own Conscience by the Blood of Christ be safe Am I in Wealth Honour Power Greatness Esteem in the world This knowledge teacheth me Humility as knowing from whom I received it Fidelity as knowing to whom I must account for it Watchfulness as knowing the Honour of my Lord is concerned in some measure in my carriage and that the higher my employment is the more obnoxious I am to temptation from without from the that watch for my halting and from within by a deceitful heart And in all it teacheth me not to overvalue it nor to value my self the more by it or for it because the knowledge of Christ Jesus presents me with a continual object of a higher value the price of the high calling of God in Christ it teacheth me to look upon the glory of the World as rust in comparison of the glory that excelleth and the greatest of men as worms in comparison of the great God And as thus in reference to the temporal condition of my life this knowledge of Christ is of singular use and makes a man a better Philosopher than the best of Morals in reference thereunto So it guides me in the management of all Relations 1. To God it presents him unto me in that representation that is right full of Majesty yet full of Love which teacheth me Reverence and yet Access with boldness Love and Obedience 2. To Man Justice giving every man his due for so the knowledge of Christ teacheth me Do as ye would be done by Mercy to forgive Compassion to pity Liberality to relieve Sobriety in the use of creatures and yet Comfort in
his own Tragedy still poor despised of his own Countreymen and of those that were of reputation for Learning and Piety scandalized under the name of an Impostor a Winebibber a friend to Publicans and sinners a worker by the Devil mad and possessed with a Devil These and the like were his entertainments in the World and which is more often put to shift for his life and in sum what the Prophet predicted concerning him fulfilled to the uttermost Isa 53.3 Despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and all this to befall the Eternal Son of God under the vail of our flesh And all this voluntarily undertaken and cheerfully undergone even for the sakes of his Enemies and those very people from whom he received these indignities 3. But all these were but like small velitations and conflicts preparatory to the main Battel We therefore come to the Third Consideration Christ Jesus and him Crucified there is the account of the Text As Christ Jesus is the most worthy subject of all knowledge so Christ Jesus under this consideration as Crucified is that which is the fullest of wonder admiration love And therefore let us now take a survey of Christ Jesus crucified as that is the highest manifestation of his love so it is the eye the life of the Text Christ above all other knowledge and Christ Crucified above all other knowledge of Christ And now a man upon the first view would think this kind of knowledge so much here valued were a strange kind of knowledge and the prelation of this knowledge a strange mistake in the Apostle 1. Crucified Death is the corruption of nature and such a kind of death by crucifixion the worst the vilest of deaths carrying in it the punishment of the lowest condition of men and for the worst of offences and yet that death and such a death should be the ambition of an Apostle's knowledge is wonderful 2. Christ crucified carries in it a seeming excess of incongruity that he that was the Eternal Son of God should take upon him our nature and in that nature annointed and consecrated by the Father full of Innocence Purity Goodness should dye and that by such a death and so unjustly Could this be a subject or matter of knowledge so desireable as to be preferred before all other knowledge which should rather seem to be a matter of so much horrour so much indignation that a man might think it rather fit to be forgotten than to be affected to be known 3. Jesus crucified a Saviour and yet to be crucified it seems to blast the expectation of Salvation when the Captain of it must dye be slain be crucified it carries in it a kind of victory of death and hell over our salvation when the instrument thereof must suffer death and such a death When the Birth of Christ was proclaimed indeed it was matter of joy and worthy the proclamation of Angels Luke 2.12 To you is born this day a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and can the death of that Saviour be a thing desireable to be known The Birth of Christ seemed to be the rising Sun that scattered light hope and comfort to all Nations but can the setting of this Sun in so dark a cloud as the Cross be the choicest piece of knowledge of him which seems as it were to strangle and stifle our hopes and puts us as it were upon the expostulation of the dismay'd Disciples Luke 24.21 But we trusted it had been he which should have redeemed Israel But for all this this knowledge of Christ Jesus crucified will appear to be the most excellent comfortable useful knowledge in the world if we shall consider these Particulars 1. Who it was that suffered 2. What he suffered 3. From whom 4. How he suffered 5. For whom he suffered 6. Why and upon what Motive 7. For what End he suffered 8. What are the fruits and Benefits that accrew by that suffering All these Considerations are wrapt up in this one subject Christ Jesus and him crucified 1. Who it was that thus suffered It was Christ Jesus the Eternal Son of God cloathed in our flesh God and Man united in one Person his manhood giving him a capacity of suffering and his Godhead giving a value to that suffering and each nature united in one person to make a compleat Redeemer the Heir of all things Heb. 1.2 the Prince of Life Acts 3.15 the Light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world Joh. 1.9 as touching his Divine nature God over all blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 and as touching his Humane nature full of Grace and Truth Joh. 1.14 and in both the beloved Son of the Eternal God in whom he proclaimed himself well pleased Math. 3.17 But could no other person be found that might suffer for the sins of Man but the Son of God Or if the business of our Salvation must be transacted by him alone could it not be without suffering and such suffering as this No. As there was no other Name given under Heaven by which we might be saved nor was there any found besides in the compass of the whole World that could expiate for one sin of man but it must be the Arm of the Almighty that must bring Salvation Isa 63.5 So if the Blessed Son of God will undertake the business and become the Captain of our Salvation he must be made perfect by suffering Heb. 2.10 and if he will stand in the stead of man he must bear the wrath of his Father if he will become sin for man though he knew no sin he must become a curse for man And doubtless this great mystery of the person that suffered cannot choose but be a very high and excellent subject of knowledge so full of wonder and astonishment that the Angels gaze into it And as it is a strange and wonderful thing in it self so doubtless it was ordained to high and wonderful ends bearing a suitableness unto the greatness of the instrument This therefore is the first Consideration that advanceth the excellency of this knowledge the person that was Crucified 2. What he suffered Christ Jesus and him crucified though all the course of his life was a continual suffering and the preamble or walk unto his death which was the end of his life yet this was the completing of all the rest and the tyde and waves of his sufferings did still rise higher and higher till it arrived in this and the several steps and ascents unto the Cross though they began from his Birth yet those which were more immediate began with the preparation to the Passover The Council held by the chief Priests and Scribes for the crucifying of our Saviour was sate upon two days before the Passover Matth. 26.2 Mark 14.1 and this was the first step to Mount Calvary And doubtless it was no small addition to our Saviour's Passion that it was hatched in the Council of the chief
thee it is thy Son that Son in whom thou didst proclaim thy self well pleased that Son whom thou hearest always it is he that begs of thee and begs of thee a dispensation from that which he most declines because he most loves thee the terrible unsupportable hiding thy face from me And this was not one single request but thrice repeated reiterated and that with more earnestness Mark 14.39 And again he went away and prayed and spake the same words Luke 22.44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly Certainly that impression upon his soul that caused him to deprecate that for which he was born to deprecate it so often so earnestly must needs be a sorrow and apprehension of a very terrible and exceeding extremity 4. Such was the weight of his sotrow and confusion of soul that it even exceeding the strength of his humane nature to bear it it was ready to dissolve the Union between his Body and Soul insomuch that to add farther strength unto him and capacity to undergo the measure of it an Angel from Heaven is sent not meerly to comfort but to strengthen him to add a farther degree of strength to his humane nature to bear the weight of that wrath which had in good earnest made his Soul sorrowful unto death had it not been strengthned by the ministration of an Angel Luk. 22.43 and this assistance of the Angel as it did not allay the sorrow of his Soul so neither did it intermit his importunity to be delivered from the thing he felt and feared but did only support and strengthen him to bear a greater burden of it And as the measure of his strength was increased so was the burden which he must undergo increased for aster this he prayed again more earnestly the third time Luk. 22.43 the supply of his strength was succeeded with an addition of sorrow and the increase of his sorrow was followed with the greater importunity He prayed more carnestly Heb. 5.7 With strong crying and tears Luk. 22. 44. And being in an agony be prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground This was his third address to his Father Matth. 26.44 and here was the highest pitch of our Saviour's passion in the Garden His Soul was in an agony in the greatest concussion consusion and extremity of sorrow fear anguish and astonishment that was possible to be inslicted by the mighty hand of God on the soul of Christ that could be consistent with the purity of the nature of our Saviour and the inseparable union that it had with the Divine nature Insomuch that the confusion and distraction of his soul under it and the strugling and grapling of his soul with it did make such an impression upon his body that the like was never before or since The season of the year was cold for so it appears Joh. 18.18 the Servants and Officers had made a fire of coals for it was cold and the season of the time was cold it was as near as we may guess about midnight when the Sun was at his greatest distance and obstructed in his influence by the interposition of the Earth for it appears they came with Lanthorns and Torches when they apprehended him Joh. 18.3 and he was brought to the high Priest's Hall a little before Cock-crowing after some time had been spent in his Examination Math. 26.69 And yet for all this such is the agony and perturbation of our Saviour's soul that in this cold season it puts his body in a sweat a sweat of blood great drops of blood drops of blood falling down to the ground and certainly it was no light conflict within that caused such a strange and un-heard of symptom without Certainly the storm in the soul of Christ must needs be very terrible that his blood the seat of his vital spirits could no longer abide the sense of it but started out in a sweat of blood and such a sweat that was more than consistent with the ordinary constitution of humane nature And during this time even from the eating of the Passover until this third address to his Father was over the suffering of our Saviour lay principally if not only in his soul Almighty God was wounding of his spirit and making his soul an offering for sin And though the distinct and clear manner of this bruising of our Saviour's soul cannot be apprehended by us yet surely thus much we may conclude concerning it 1. He was made sin for us that knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 he stood under the imputation of all our sins and though he were personally innocent yet judicially and by way of interpretation he was the greatest offender that ever was for the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6.2 And consequently he was under the imputation of all the guilt of all those sins and stands in relation unto God the righteous Judge under the very same obligation to whatsoever punishment the very persons of the offenders were unto the uttermost of that consistency that it had with the unseparable union unto the Father and this obligation unto the punishment could not choose but work the same effects in our Saviour as it must do in the sinner desperation and sin excepted to wit a sad apprehension of the wrath of God against him The purity and justice of God which hath nothing that it hates but sin must pursue sin wherever it find it and as when it finds sin personally in a man the wrath of God will abide there so long as sin abides there so when it finds the same sin assumed by our Lord and bound as it were to him as the wood was to Isaac when he was laid upon the Altar the wrath of God could not chuse but be apprehended as incumbent upon him till that sin that by imputation lay upon him were discharged For as our Lord was pleased to be our Representative in bearing our sins and to stand in our stead so all these affections and motions of his soul did bear the same conformity as if acted by us As he put on the person of the sinner so he puts on the same sorrow the same shame the same fear the same trembling under the apprehension of the wrath of his Father that we must have done And so as an imputed sin drew with it the obligation unto punishment so it did by necessary consequence raise all those confusions and storms in the soul of Christ as it would have done in the person of the sinner sin only excepted 3. In this Garden as he stands under the sin and guilt of our nature so he stands under the curse of our nature to wit a necessity of death and of undergoing the wrath of God for that sin whose punishment he hath undertaken for us the former the dissolution of his body and soul by a most accursed death and the latter the suffering of his soul and
this latter he is now under God is pleased to inflict upon him all the manifestations of his wrath and to fling into his soul the sharpest and severest representations of his displeasure that might possibly befall him under that bare imputed guilt considering the dignity of his Person And surely this was more terrible to our Saviour than all his corporal sufferings were under all those not one word no perturbation at all but as a Sheep before his shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth but the sense of the displeasure of his Father and the impressions that he makes upon his soul those he cannot bear without sorrow even unto death without most importunate addresses to be delivered from them and a most strange concussion and agony upon his soul and body under the sense of them And the actual manifestation of the wrath of God upon his Son consisted in these two things principally 1. Filling his soul with strange and violent fears and terrors insomuch that he was in an amazement and consternation of spirit the Passion-Psalm renders it Psal 22.14 My heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels the God of the spirits of all flesh that knows how to grind and bruise the spirit did bruise and melt his soul within him with terrors fears and sad pre-apprehensions of worse to follow 2. A sensible withdrawing by hasty and swift degrees the light of the presence and favour of God He is sorrowful and troubled and he goes to his Father to desire it may pass from him but no answer he goes again but yet no answer and yet under the pressure and extremity he goes again the third time with more earnestness agony a sweat of blood yet no it cannot be and this was a terrible condition that the light of the countenance of the Father is removed from his Son his only Son in whom he was well pleased his Son whom he heard always And when he comes to the Father under the greatest obligation that can be with the greatest reverence with the greatest importunity once and again and a third time and that filled within with fears and covered without with blood and yet no answer but all light and access and favour intercepted with nothing but blackness and silence Certainly this was a terrible Cup yet thus it was with our Saviour Christ The light of the favour of God like the Sun in an Eclipse from the very institution of the Sacrament began to be covered one degree after another and in the third address to the Father in the Garden it was even quite gone But at that great hour when our Saviour cryed My God my God why hast thou forsaken me then both lights that greater light of the favour of God to his only Son together with the light of the Sun seemed to be under a total recess or Eclipse and this was that which bruised the soul of our Saviour and made it an Offering for Sin and this was that which wrung drops of blood from our Saviour's body before the Thorns or the Whips or the Nails or the Spear had torn his veins And now after this third application for a deliverance from this terrible Cup of the wrath of God and yet no dispensation obtained he returns to his miserable comforters the three Disciples and he finds them the third time asleep These very three Disciples were once the witnesses of a glorious Transfiguration of our Saviour in the Mount and in an extasie of joy and fear they fell on their faces Matth. 17.6 and now they are to be witnesses of a sad Transfiguration of their Lord under an agony and sweat of blood and now under an extasie of sorrow they are not able to watch with their Lord one hour Our Saviour calls them but whiles they were scarce awakened they are rouzed by a louder alarm Matth. 26.47 whiles he yet spake Judas one of the twelve came and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the high Priests Joh. 18.3 with lanthorns and torches And though this was little in comparison of the storm that was in our Saviour's soul yet such an appearance at such a time of the night and to a person under such a sad condition could not but be terrible to flesh and blood especially if we consider the circumstances that attended it 1. An Apostle one of the twelve he it is that conducts this black Guard Matth. 25.47 Whomsoever I shall kiss that same is he hold him fast one that had been witness of all his Miracles heard all his divine Sermons acquainted with all his retirements he whose feet his Master with love tenderness had washed who within a few hours before had supped with him at that Supper of of solemnity and love the Passover this is he that is in the head of this crew certainly this had in it an aggravation of sorrow to our Blessed Saviour to be betrayed by a Disciple 2. The manner of it he betrays him by a kiss an emblem of homage and love is made use of to be the signal of scorn and contempt as well as treachery and villany 3. Again the carriage of his Disciples full of rashness and yet of cowardize they strike a Servant of the high Priest and cut off his Ear Matth. 26.57 which had not the meekness and mercy of our Saviour prevented by a miraculous cure might have added a blemish to the sweetness and innocence of his suffering He rebukes the Rashness of his Disciple and cures the wound of his Enemy again of Cowardize Matth. 26.56 Then all the disciples forsook him and sled and Peter himself that but now had professed the resolution of his love to his Master follows but a far off Matth. 26.58 in the posture and profession of a stranger and a spectator So soon was the love and honour of a Master deserved by so much love and purity and miracles lost in the Souls of the very Disciples After this he is brought to the high Priests the solemn assembly of the then visible Church of the Jews in the persons of the greatest reverence and esteem among them the high Priests Scribes and Elders and before them accused and convicted of those crimes that might render him odious to the Jews Romans and all good men Blasphemy and by them pronounced worthy of death Matth. 26.66 and after this exposed to the basest usage of the basest of their retinue the Servants spit on him buffet him expose him to scorn saying Prophesie unto us thou Christ who is he that smote thee Matth. 26.67 injuries less tollerable than death to an ingenuous nature and to add to all the rest Peter instead of reproving the insolence of the abjects and bearing a part with his Master in his injuries thrice denying his Master and that with an oath and cursing So far was he from owning his Master in his adversity that he denied he knew him and this in the very presence of
only both Evangelists Matthew and Luke testifie it was a cry with a loud voice to evidence to the world that in the very article of his giving up of the ghost the strength of nature was not wholly spent for he cryed with a loud voice 3. The comfortable resignation of his soul unto the hands of his Father Luk. 23. 46. Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And although but even now the black storm was upon his soul that made him cry out with that loud and bitter cry yet the cloud is over and with comfort he delivers up his soul into the hands of that God whom he thought but even now had forsaken him It is more than probable that that bitter cry was uttered at the very Zenith of all his pains and when he had taken the vinegar and proclaimed that it is finished though they were all wrapt up in a very small time about the end of the ninth hour yet now there remained no more but for him to give up his spirit which he instantly thereupon did Joh. 19.30 He said It is finished he bowed the head and gave up the ghost Now the things wonderfully observable in the death of our Saviour are many 1. That it was a voluntary delivering up of his spirit this is that which he said Matth. 10.18 No man taketh it from me but I lay it down I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again this commandment have I received of my Father And truly this voluntary delivering up of his soul was well near as great an evidence of his Divinity as his resuming it again so that this very delivering up of his soul converted the Centurion Mar. 15.39 When he saw that he so cryed and gave up the ghost he said Truly this man was the Son of God Now that he thus voluntarily gave up his spirit is evident 1. By the strength of nature that was yet upon him in the very article of his death he cryed with a loud voice 2. That the Thieves who were crucified at the same time dyed not till there was a farther violence used by breaking their legs Joh. 19.32 but he expired to prevent the violence of the Souldiers and to fulfill the type and prophecy Not a bone of him shall be broken Joh. 19.36.3 That the suddenness of his death caused admiration in those that well knew the lingring course of such a death in the Centurion Mar. 15.39 in Pilate Mar. 15.44 which might probably be the cause that the insolent Souldier to secure the assurance of his death pierced his side with a spear Job 19.34 and thereby fulfilled that other Scripture which he never thought of Job 15.37 Now the wonderful occurrences that accompanied our Saviour's death were very many and considerable 1. A strange and particular Fulfilling of the Prophecies and Types that were concerning our Saviour's death and the very individual circumstances that attended it and all to consirm our Faith that this was indeed the Messias and that he was thus delivered over to death by the most certain and pre-determinate Counsel of God The Time of his Death so exactly predicted by Daniel ch 9.v.25 26. the parallel circumstances with the Paschal Lamb in the nature of him a Lamb without spot Exod. 12.5 in the time of his delivery over to death at the Feast of the Passover and the very evening wherein the Passover was to be eaten In the Manner of his Oblation not a bone to be broken Exod. 12.46 again the Manner of his Death by piercing his hands and his feet Psal 22.16 the very Words used by him Psal 22.1 Matth. 27. 46. the Words used of him Psal 22.8 Matth. 27.43 the crucifying of him between Malefactors Isa 53.12 the Whippings Isa 53.5 the Dividing of his Garments and casting Lotts upon his Vesture Psa 22.18 the Thirst of our Saviour upon the Cross and the giving him Vinegar and Gall Psal 69.21 2. A strange and miraculous Concussion of nature giving testimony to the wonderful and unheard of dissolution of our Saviour's body and soul Darkness from the sixth hour until the ninth hour And it is observable in the night wherein he was born by a miraculous light the night became as day Luk. 2.9 but at his death a miraculous darkness turned the day into night for three hours Matth. 27.45 at his birth a new Star was created to be the lamp and guide unto the place of his birth Matth. 2.9 but at his death the Sun in the firmament was masked with darkness and yielded not his light while the Lord of life was passing into the vail of death Again another prodigy that accompanied the death of Christ was an Earthquake that rent the rocks and opened the graves and strake amazement and conviction into the Centurion that was watching him Math. 27.52 53 54. When our Saviour was entring into the earth by death the earth trembled and so it did when he was coming out of it by his Resurrection Matth. 28.2 3. Again the Graves were opened and the dead bodies of the Saints arose As the touch of the bones of Elisha caused a kind of resurrection 2 Kings 13.21 so our Saviour's body new saln to the earth did give a kind of particular resurrection to the Saints bodies to testifie that by his death he had healed the deadliness of the Grave and that the satisfaction for Sin was accomplished when Death the wages of Sin was thus Conquered 4. Again the Vail of the Temple was Rent in twain from the top to the bottom Matth. 27.57 the Vail was that which divided the most holy place from the rest of the Tabernacle Exod. 26.33 and in that most Holy place were contained the mysterious Types the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy-Seat and within this Vail only the high Priest entred once a year when he made an atonement for the People and for the Tabernacle Levit. 16.33 Heb. 9.7 and now at our Saviour's death this vail was rent from the top to the bottom and it imported divers very great Mysteries 1. That now our great High Priest was entring into the most holy with his own blood having thereby made the atonement for us Heb. 9.12 By his own blood he entred once into the most holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us 2. That the Means whereby he entred into the most holy place was by the Rending of his Humanity his soul from his body typified by the rending of that vail and therefore his flesh that is his whole humane nature was the vail Heb. 10.20 Consecrated through the vail that is his flesh 3. That now by the death of Christ all those dark Mysteries vailed up formerly in the most holy the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy-Seat are now rendred open and their Mysteries unfolded Christ the Mediator of the Covenant and the Seat of Mercy and Acceptation unto all believers founded and seated upon him and thereby that Life and
corruption and ariseth and thereby proclaimed the completing of our Redemption and therefore not possible he should be longer holden of it Acts 2.24 his victory over death and the grave for us 1 Cor. 15. When our Lord raised up Lazarus he came forth of the grave bound hand and foot with grave-cloaths Joh. 11.44 though he was for the present rescued from death by the power of Christ yet he must still be a subject to it he is revived but yet riseth with the bonds of death about him he must dye again But when our Lord riseth he shakes off his grave-cloaths the linnen that wrapped his body in one place and the linnen that bound his head in another Joh. 20.6 7. Our Lord being risen dieth no more death hath no more power over him Rom. 6.9 And thus we have considered the History of Christ's Passion and Resurrection the first and second general Consideration Who it was that suffered and What it was he suffered The Third Consideration follows 3. From whom he suffered all these things the consideration of which doth highly advance the Sufferings of Christ 1. He suffered this from the hands of his Own Father it was he that bruised him put him to grief made his soul an Offering for Sin Isa 53.10 it was he that reached him out this bitter cup to drink Joh. 18.11 The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it was he that bound that burden so close upon him that made him sweat great drops of blood in the garden and though thrice importuned for a dispensation from it yet would not grant it it was he that when the greatest extremity of pain and sorrow lay upon him to add thereunto withdrew the sense of his presence from him which wrung from him that bitter cry My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The injuries of an Enemy are easily born but the forsakings of a Father are intollerable 2. The immediate Instruments and Contrivers of his suffrerings were such as had a nearness of relation to him people of the same Nation and his kinsmen according to the flesh the seed to Abraham people of his own Religion that worshipped the same God acknowledged the same Seripture the visible Church of God and chief representatives of that Church most eminent in place reputation and pretence of holiness the chief Priests and Elders and Scribes people that he had never injured in his life but obliged them with his many miraculous cures his precious and heavenly instructions his tenderest and dearest love and compassion That very Jerusalem which he wept over and would have gathered as a hen gathereth her Chicken under her wings is now that brood that seeks the destruction of him that came to save them and in that vile competition offered to them between their Redeemer and a murderer chose rather to save a malefactor and to deliver their innocent and merciful Saviour And these were they that beyond the examples even of common humanity pursued their Kinsman their Benefactor their Redeemer with such exact bitterness and malice and scorn and cruelty that as it seemed barbarous to the heathen Judge so it hath out-gone the practice of the heathenish Tyrants Psal 55.12 It was not an enemy that reproached me then could I have born it but it was thou mine acquaintance 4. Let us consider How he suffered all these things and this doth infinitely advance the Excellence and Value of his Suffering 3. He Suffered Innocently Isa 53.9 he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him 2 Cor. 5.21 he made him to be sin for us who knew no sin the companions of his suffering justifie him Luk. 23.41 We indeed justly but this man hath done nothing amiss his Persecutors justifie him and yet their malice rested not but sought out false witness against him Math. 26.60 and when they themselves were convinced of their own injustice in prosecution of an innocent yet what they could not avouch upon the account of justice they do upon the point of expedience Joh. 18.14 Caiaphas gives them counsel that it was expedient that one should dye for the people Judas that betrayed him justified him Matth. 24.4 I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood his Judge acquits him and in a signal testimony of his judgment Matth. 27.24 He took water and washed his hands before the multitude saving I am innocent of the blood of this just person and yet though in testimony of the satisfaction of his judgment he washeth his hands in water before them yet he condemns the person that he acquits and stains those hands in the blood of our Lord whom yet he pronounceth innocent And this Innocence of our Saviour was not only a Negative Innocence an absence of guilt but a Positive Innocence he suffered that had not only done no ill but that had done nothing but good he healed their sick cured their lame their blind their deaf their lepers cast out their devils and which was more than all this shewed them the way to Eternal Life to the saving of the Souls of many and the convincing of the Consciences of all that heard him Joh. 7.46 Never man spake like this man And well might he ask as once he did upon another occasion For which of all my good works do ye stone me do ye crucifie me Blessed Lord they crucifie thee for all thy good works if thou hadst been guilty possibly thou mightest have been spared in the stead of Barabbas nay if thou hadst been only innocent it is possible thy persecutors might not have been altogether so violent against thee but thou sufferedst for the very good thou diddest it was not only an act of injustice that spared not thy innocence but an improvement of envy that did malign thy very goodness Math. 27.18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him 2. He suffered all Patiently Isa 53.7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearer is dumb so he openeth not his mouth Betrayed by his Disciples hurried away by the black guard that apprehended him reproached and vilified by the high Priests and Elders forsaken and denied by his followers stricken spit upon and basely injured by the abjects in the high Priests Hall derided by Herod insulted upon by Pilate Knowest thou not that I have power to condemn thee whipt cloathed in scorn with purple and crowned with a crown of thorns and in that disguise saluted in scorn with Hail King of the Jews forced to bear his burdensom Cross which must afterwards bear him and then as one of the basest of men and vilest of malefactors nailed to the Cross with most exquisite torment and then by one of his companions in death by the general rabble that were about him by the superstitious Scribes and Elders reproached
might receive it with as much readiness willingness and chearfulness as a faithful and diligent Servant would receive this command from his Master You must take such a Journey for me to morrow These and such like businesses as these besides the constant tenor of a just virtuous and piou◠life are the most important businesses of 〈◊〉 Christian First such as are of absolute necessity to him he may not he cannot be without them Secondly such as cannot be done else-where than in this life this world is the great Elaboratory for perfecting of souls for the next if they are not done here they cease to be done for ever death shuts the door and everlastingly seals us up in that state it finds us Thirdly And every season of this life is not at least so suitable for it sickness and pain and wearisome and froward old Age have business enough of themselves to entertain us and any man that hath had experience of either will find he hath enough to do to bear them or to struggle with them And fourthly We know not whether the grace and opportunities that God hath lent us and we have neglected in our lives shall ever be afforded again to us in the times of our Sicknesses or upon our Death-beds but a little portion of time in our lives and healths are furnished with thousands of invitations and golden opportunities for these great works Let us therefore redeem those portions of time that our life and health lends us for this great and one thing necessary And now if a man shall take a survey of the common course even of the Christian world we shall find the generality of Man-kind the veriest Children Fools and Mad-men that ever Nature yielded The very folly of Children in spending their time in Rattles and Hobby-horses is more excusable than theirs whose reason and experience should better instruct them There is not any man so senseless but he knows he must die and he knows not how soon he shall hear of that sad Summons and if he were so brutish as not to think of it or believe it yet the weekly Bills of Mortality gives him daily instances of it and yet if we do but observe the world of men they do for the most part wholly trifle away their time in doing that which is evil or in doing nothing or in doing nothing to any purpose or becoming a reasonable Nature One man trifles away his time in Feasting and Jollity another in Gaming or vain and unnecessary Recreations in Hunting Hawking Bowling and other wastful expences of time another in fine Cloaths Powderings and Painting and Dressing another in hunting after Honours and Preferments or heaping up of Wealth and Riches and lading himself with thick clay another in trivial speculations possibly touching some criticisme or Grammatical nicety and all these men wonderfully pride themselves as the only wise men look big and goodly and when they come to die all these prove either vexations and tortures of a mis-spent time or at least by the very appearance of sickness and death are rendred poor empty insipid and insignificant things and then the Minister is sent for and Sacraments and nothing but penitence and complaints of the vanity of the world the unhappy expences of time and all the Wealth and Honour would be presently Sacrificed for the Redemption of those mis-spent hours and days and years that cannot be recalled nor redeemed by the price of a world But the great misery of man-kind is this they cannot or will not in the times of health anticipate the consideration of death and judgment to come nor put on any apprehensions or thoughts that the time will come when things will be otherwise with them than now is or that they will be driven into another kind of estimate of things than now they have and this their way is their Folly Man being in Honour in Health in Life understandeth not but becomes like the Beasts that perish 4. I come to the Reasons why we ought thus to Redeem our Time which may be these 1. Our time is a Talent put into our hands by the great Lord of the whole Family of Heaven and Earth and such whereof we are to give an account when our Master calls and it will be a lamentable Account when it shall consist only of such Items as these Item So much of it spent in Plays and Taverns and Gaming Item So much of it spent in Sleeping Eating Drinking Item So much spent in Recreations and Pastimes Item So much spent in getting Wealth and Honour c. and there remains so much which was spent in doing nothing 2. Our time is a Universal Talent that every man that lives to discretion hath Every man hath not a Talent of Learning or of Wealth or Honour or Subtilty of Wit to account for but every man that lives to the Age of Discretion hath time to account for 3. Every man hath not only a Talent of Time but every man hath a Talent of Opportunity to improve this Talent in some measure put into his hand The very works and light of Nature the very principles of natural Religion are lodged in the hearts of all men which by the help of his natural reason he might exercise to some acts of Service Duty and Religion towards God But the Christian hath much more 4. The Redemption and Improvement of our Time is the next and immediate End why it is given or lent us and why we are placed in this life and the wasting of our time is a disappointment of this very end of our being for thereby we consequently disappoint God of his Glory and our selves of our happiness 5. Upon the management and disposal of our time depends the everlasting concernment of our Souls Ex hoc momento depende◠〈◊〉 If it be redeemed improved imploved as it ought to be we shall in the next moment after death enter into an immutable eternal and perfect state of glory 〈◊〉 be either sinfully or idly spent we fall into an everlasting irrecoverable and unchangeable state of misery 6. The business we have to do in this life in order to the cleansing of our souls and fitting them for glory is a great and important business and the time we have to live hath two most dangerous qualities in reference to that business 1. It is short our longest period is not above 80. years and few there be that arrive to that Age. 2. It is very casual and incertain there be infinite accidents diseases and distempers that cut us off suddenly as acute diseases such as scarce give us any warning and considering how many strings as it were thereare to hold us up and how small and inconsiderable they are and how easily broken and the breach or disorder of any of the least of them may be an in-let to death it is a kind of Miracle that we live a month Again there be many diseases that render us in a manner dead while we live as Apoplexies Palsies Frenzies Stone Gout which render our time either grievous or very unuseful to us 7. Time once lost is lost for ever It is never to be recovered all the Wealth of both the Indies will not redeem nor recall the last hour I spent it ceaseth for ever 8. As our time is short so there be many things that corrode and wast that short time so that there remains but little that is serviceaable to our best imployment Let us take but out of our longest lives the weakness and folly of Childhood and Youth the impotency and morosity of our old Age the times for eating drinking sleeping though with moderation the times of sickness and indisposedness of health the times of Cares Journeys and Travel the times for necessary Recreations interview of Friends and Relations and a thousand such expences of time the residue will be but a small pittance for our business of greatest moment the business I mean of fitting our souls for glory and if that be mis-spent or idely spent we have lost our treasure and the very flower and jewel of our time 9. Let us but remember that when we shall come to Die and our Souls sit as it were hovering upon our lips ready to take their flight at how great a rate we would then be willing to purchase some of these hours we once trifled away but we cannot 10. Remember that this is the very Elixir the very Hell of Hell to the damned Spirits that they had once a time wherein they might upon easie terms have procured everlasting rest and Glory but they foolishly and vainly mispent that time and season which is now not to be recovered FINIS THE Great Audit WITH THE ACCOUNT OF THE Good Steward Rom. 8.28 2 Cor. 4.17 Rom. 8.18 Lu. 13.1 2 v. Jos 9.2 3. 〈◊〉 Act. 28.4 Isa 51.20 Lam. 3.39 Rom. 8.28 Heb. 12.28 Psal 119.75 1 Cor. 10.13 2 Cor. 4.17 2 Kings 6.17 Heb. 5.9 Isa 53.7 Heb 12.24 v. Rom. 8.32 * By Adoption and participation of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 v. Antonin 1.8 se 45. Hand minw vis Intellectrix ubique circumfusa est omni qui trahere potest se ingerit quam communis hic aer omni spirare volenii Effles 10.4 v. Prov. 25.15 A sofi tongue breaketh the bone