even the language of our hearts when we tell you that ye are born heirs of wrath and slaves of sin and satan heâ—e is the secret whispering of hearts we be Abrahams seed we were never in bondage to any We be baptized Christians we have a Church State have the priviledges and liberties not only of Subjectâ— in the State but of Members in the Church why sayest thou we are bond-men I would wish ye were all free indeed but that cannot be till ye know your bondage Consider then I beseech you that you may be free subjects in a State and free members in a Church and yet in bondage under the law of sin and death This was the mistake that was a ground of presumption in the Jews and occasioned their stumbling at this Stone of salvation laid in Sion you think you have Church-priviledges and what needs more Be not deceived you are servants of sin and therefore not free There are two sorts or rather two ranks of persons in Gods house Sons and slaves the son abides in the house for ever the slave but for a time when the time expires he must go out or be cast out The Church is Gods house but many are in it that will not dwell in it many have the outward liberties of this house that have no interest in the special mercies and loving kindnesse proper to children The time will come that the most part of the visible Church who are baptized and have eaten with him at his Table and had a kind of frienâ—ship to him here shall be cast out as bondmen and Isaac only shall be kept within the child of the promise The house that is here hath some inward Sanctuary and some utter Porches many have accesse to these that never enters within the secret of the Lord and so shall not dwell in the house above It is not so much the business who shall enter into the holy hill but who shall stand and dwell in it The day of Judgement wâ—ll be a great day of excommunication O how many thousands will be then cut off from the Church of the living God and delivered over â—o satan because they were â—eally â—nder his poweâ— while they were Church-mebers and Abrahams sons Let me tell you then that all of us were once in this state of bondage which Christ speaks of He that committeth sin is the servant of sin John 8.34 and the servant abids not in the house for ever So that I am aâ—raid many of us who are in the visible Church and stand in this Congregation shall not have liberty to stand in the assembly of the fiâ—st-born when all the Sons are gathered in one to the new Ierusalem sin hath a right over us and it hath a power over us and theâ—efore it is called a law of sin theâ—e is a kind of authority that it hath over uâ— by vertue of Gods Justice and our own voluntary consent The Lord in his righteouâ—nesse hath given over all the posterity of Adam for his sin which he sinned as â— common person representing us he hath given us all over to the power of a body of death within us Since man did choose to depaâ—t from his Lord he hath justly delivered him into the hands of a strange Lord to have dominion over him The transmitting of such an original pollution to all men is an act of glorious justice As he in jusâ—iâ—e gives men over to the lusts of their own hearts now for following of these lusts Contrary to his will so was it at first by one mans disobedience mâ—ny were mâ—de sinners and that in Gods holy righteousnesse sin entred into the World and had permission of God to subdue and conquer the World to it self because man would not be subject to God But as there is the justice of God in it so there is a voluntary choice and election which gives sin a power over us we choose a strange lord and he lords it over us We say to our lusts Come ye and rule over us we submit our reason our conscience and all to the guidance and leading of our blind affections and passions we choose our bondage for liberty and thus sin hâ—th a kind of law over us by our own consent it exerciseth a jurisdiction and when once it is installed in power and clothed with it it is not so easie again to put it out of that throne there is a conspiring so to speak of these two to make out the jurisdiction and authority of sin over us God gives us over to iniquity and unrighteousnesse and we yield our selves over to it Rom. 6.16.19 we yield our members servants to iniquitie a little pleasure or commodity is the bait that ensnares us to this we give up our selves and joyn to our idols and God ratifies it in a manner and passeth such a sentence Let them alone he sayes go ye every one and serve your idols Ezek. 23. since ye would not serve me be doing go serve your lusts look if they be better masters then I look what wages they will give you Now let us again consider what power sin hath being thus cloathed with a sort of authority O! but it is mighty and works mightily in men It reigns in our mortal bodies Rom. 6.12 here is the throne of sin established in the lusts and affections of the body and from hence it emits laws and statutes and sends out commands to the soul and whole man Man choose at first to hearken to the counsel of his senses that said it was pleasant and good to eat of the forbidden fruit but that counsel is now turned into a command sin hath gotten a scepter there to rule over the spirit which was born a free Prince sin hath conquered all our strength or we have given up unto it all our strength any truth that is in the conscience any knowledge of God or Religion all this is incarcerated detained in a prison of unrighteous affections sin hath many strong holds and bulwarks in our flesh and by these commands the whole spirit and soul in man and leads captive every thought to the obedience of the flesh You know how strong it was in holy Paul Rom. 7. what a mighty battel and wrestling he had and how near he was to fainting and giving over How then must it have an absolute and soveraign full dominion over men in nature there being no contrary principle within by nature to debate with it it rules without much controlment there may be many convictions of conscience and sparkles of light against sin but these are quickly extinguised and buried Nay all these principles of light and knowledge in the conscience do oftentimes strengthen sin as some things are confirmed not weakned by opposition unequal and saint opposition strengthens the adversary as cold compassing springs makes them hotter So it is here sin takes occasion by the command to work all manner of concupiscence Rom. 7.8 Without the Law sin is
and besides it was for a pledge that at the last day all shall not die but be changed The true cause of death is sin and the true nature of it is penal to be a punishment of sin take away this relation to sin and death wants the sting But in itâ— fiâ—st appointment and as it prevails generally over men aâ—uleaâ—a est mors it hath a sting that pierceth deeper and woundeth soâ—er then to the dissolution of the body it goeth in to the innermost paâ—â—s of the soul and wâ—undeth that eternally The truth is the death of the body is not either the first death or the last death it is rather placed in the middle between two deaths and it s the fruit of the first and the root of the last There is a death immediatly hath ensued upon sin and it is the separation of the soul from God the fountain of life and blessedness and this is the death often spoken of you who were dead in sins and trespasses c. Eph. 2.1 Being past feeling and alienated from the life of God Eph. 4.18 19. And truly this is worse in it â—elf then the death of the body simply though not so sensible because â—pirituâ—l the corruption of the best pâ—â—t in man in all reason is worse then the corruption of his worst part but this death which consists especially in the losse of that blessed communion with God which made the soul happy cannot be found till some new life enter or else till the last death come which adds infinit pain to infinit losse Now the death of the body succeeds thiâ— souls death and that is the separation of the soul from the body most suitable seeing the soul was turned from the fountain spirit to the body that the body should by his command return to dust and be made the most defiâ—ed piece of dust Now this were not so grievous if it were not a step to the death to come and a degree of it introductive to it But that statute and appointment of Heaven hath thus linked it after death comes Iudgment Because the soul in the body would not be sensible of its separation from God but was wholly taken up with the body neglecting and miskenning that infinit losse of Gods favour and face therefore the Lord commands it to go out of the body that it maythen be sensible of its infinit loss of God when it is separated from the body that it may then have leasure to reflect upon it self and find its own surpassing misery and then indeed infinit pain and infinit losse conjoyned eternal banishment from the presence of that blessed Spirit and eternal torment within it self these two concurring what posture do you think such a soul will be into There are some earnest of this in this life when God reveals his terrour and sets mens sins in order before their face O how intolerable is it and more insupportable then many deaths They that have been accquainted with it have declared it the terrours of God are like poysonable arrows sunk into Jobs spirit and drinking up all the moisture of them Such a spirit as is wounded with one of these darts shot from Heaven who can bear it not the most patient and most magnanimous spirit that can sustain all other infiâ—mities Prov. 18.14 Now my beloved if it be so now while the soul is in the body drowned in it what will be the case of the soul separated from the body when it shall be all one sense to reflect and consider it self This is the sting of death indeed worse then a thousand deaths to a soul that apprehends it and the lesse it is apprehended the worse it is because it is the more certain and must shortly be found when there is no brazen serpent to heal that sting Now what comfort have you provided against this day what way do you think to take out this sting Truly there is no balm for it no Physitian for it but one and that the Christian is only acquainted with He in whom Christ is he hath this soveraign antidot against the pâ—yson of Death he hath the very sting of it taken out by Châ—â—st death it self killed and of an mortal enemy made the kindest friend And so he may triumph with the Apostle O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Thanks be to God in Iesuâ— Christ who giveth us the victory 1 Cor. 15.55 The ground of his triumph and that which a Christian hath to oppose to all the sorrows and pains and fears of death mustred against him is threefold one that death is not real a second that is not total even that which is and then that it is not perpetual This last is contained in the next vers the second expressed in this vers and the first may be understood or implyed in it That the nature of death is so far changed that of a punishment it is become a medicine of a punishment for sin it is turned into the last purgative of the soul from sin and thus the sting of it is taken away that relation it did bear to the just wrath of God And now the body of a Christian under appointment to die for sin that is for the death of sin the eternal death of sin Christ having come under the power of death hath gotten power over it and spoiled it of its stinging vertue he hath taken away the poysonable ingredient of the curse that it can no more hurt them that are in Him and so it is not now vested with that piercing and wounding notion of punishment though it be true that sin was the first in-lett of death that it first opened the slâ—ue to let it enter and flow in upon mankind yet that appointment of death is renewed and bears a relation to the destruction of sin rather then the punishment of the sinner who is f`orgiven in Christ And O how much solid comfort is here that the great reason of mortality that a Christian it subject unto is that he may be made free of that which made him at first mortal Because sin hath taken suâ—h possession in this earthly tabernacle and is so strong a poyson that it hath infected all the members and by no purgation here made can be fully cleansed â—ut but there are many secret corners it lurks into and upon occasion vents it self therefore it hath pleased God in His infinit goodnesse to continue the former appointment of death but under a new and living consideration to take down this infected and defiled tabernacle as the houses of leprosie were taken down under the Law that so they might be the better cleansed and this is the last purification of the soul from sin And therefore as one of the Ancients said well That we might not be eternally miserable mercy hath made us mortal Justice hath made the world mortal that they may be eternally miserable but to put an end to this misery
Christ hath continued our mortality Else he would have abolished death it self if he had not meant to abolish sin by death and indeed it would appear this is the reason why the world must be consumed with fire at the last day and new Heavens and earth succeed in its room because as the little house the body so the great house the world was infected with this leprosie so subjected to vanity and corruption because of mans sin therefore that there might be no remnant of mans corruption and no memorial of sin to inteâ—upt his eternal joy the Lord will purify and change all all the members that were made instruments of unrighteousness all the creatures that were servants to mans lusts a new form and fashion shall be put on all that the body being restored may be a fit dwelling place for the purified soul and the world renewed may be a â—it house for righteous men Thus you see that Death to a Christian is not real death for it is not the death of a Christian but the death of sin his greatest enemy it is not a punishment but the enlargement of the soul. Now the next comfort is that which is is but partial it is but the dissolution of the lowest part in man his body so far from prejudging the immortal life of his spirit that it is rather the accomplishment of that Though the body must die yet eternal life is begun already within tâ—e soul for the Spirit of Christ hath brought in life the Righteousnesse of Christ hath purchased it and the Spirit hath performed it and applyed it to us not only there is an immortal being in a Christian that must survive the dust for that is common to all men but there is a new life begun in him an immortal well being in joy and happinesse which only deserveth the name of life that cometh never to its full perfection till the bodily and earthly house be taken down If you consider seriously what a new life a Câ—â—istâ—â—n is â—â—â—aâ—lated unto by the operation of the Holy Ghost and the ministration of the word it is then most active and lively when the soul is most retired from the body in meditation the new life of a Christian is most perfect in this life when it carrieth him the furthest distance from his bodily senses and is most abstracted from all sensible engagements as you heard for indeed it restores the spirit of a man to its native rule and dominion over the body so that it is then most perfect when it is most gâ—thered within it self and disingaged from all external intanglements Now certain it is since the perfection of the soul in this life consists in such a retirement from the body that when it is wholly separated from it then it is in the most absolute state of perfection and its life â—cts most purely and peâ—fectly when it hath no body to communicat with and to entangle it either with its lusts or necessities The Spirit is life it hath a life now which is then best when furthest from the body and therefore it cannot but be surpassing better when it is out of the body and all this is purchaâ—ed by Christs righteousnesse As mans disobedience made an end of his life Christs obedience hath made our life endlesse He suffered death to sting him and by this hath taken the sting from it and now there is a new statute and appointment of Heaven published in the Gospel whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life Now indeed this hath so intirely châ—nged the nature of death that iâ— hath noâ— the most lovely and desirable aspect on a Christian that it is no more an object of fear but of desire amicable not terrible unto him since there is no way to save the passenger but to let the vessel break he will be content to have the body splitted that himself that is his soul may escape for truly a mans soul is himself the body is but an earthly tabernacle that must be taken down to let the inhabitant win out to come near his Lord the body is the Prison-house that he groans to have opened that he may enjoy that liberty of the sons of God And now to a Christian death is not properly an object of patience but of desire rather I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ Phil. 1.23 He that hath but advanced little in Christianity will be content to die but because there is too much flesh he will desire to live but a Christian that is riper in knowledge and grace will rather desire to die and only be content to live he will exercise patience and submission about abiding here but groanings and pantings about removing hence because he knoweth that there is no choice between that bondage and this liberty SERMON XXIX Rom. 8.10 The body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life c. IT was the first curse and threatning wherein God thought fit to comprehend all misery Thou shalt die the death in that day thou eatest though the sentence was not presently executed according to the letter yet from that day â—orward man was made mortal and there seemeth to be much mercy and goodness of God interveening to plead a delay of death it self that so the promise of life in the second Adam might come to the first and his posterity and they might be delivered â—rom the second death though not from the first Alwayes we bear about the markes of sin in our bodies to this day and in so far the threatning taketh place that this life that we live in the body is become nothing else but a dying life the life that the ungodly shall live out oâ— the body is a living death and either of these is worse then simple death or destruction of beeing The serious contemplation of the miseries of this life made wise Solomon to praise the dead more then the living contrary to the custom of men who rejoyce at the birth of a man-child and mourn at their death yea it pressed him further to think them which have not at all been better then both because they have not seen the evil under the Sun this world is such a Chaos such a masse of miseries that if men understood it before they came into it they would be far more loath to enter into it then they are now afraid to go out of it And truly we want not remembrances and representations of our misery every day in that children come weeping into the world as it were bewailing â—heir own misfortune that they were brought forth to be sensible subjects of misery And what is all our life-time but a repetition of sighs and groanâ— anxiety and satiety loathing and longing dividing our spiâ—its and our time between them How many deaths must we suffer before death come for the absence or losse of any thing much desired is a sepâ—ration no lesse gâ—ievous to the hearts of men
then the paâ—ting of soul and body for affection to temporal peâ—ishing things unites the soul so unto them that there is no parting without pain no dissolution of that continuity without much vexation and yet the soul must suffer many such tortures in one day because the things are perishing in their own nature and uncertain What is sleep which devours the most part of our time but the very image and picture of death a visible and daily representation of the long cessation of the sensitive life in the grave and yet truly it is the best and most innocent part of our time though we accuse it often there is both lesse sin and lesse misery in it for it is almost the only leniment and refreshment we get in all our miseries Iobâ—ought â—ought it to asswage his grief and ease his body but it was the extremity of his misery that he could not find it Now my beloved when you find that which is called life subject to so much misery that you are constrained often to desire you had never been born you find it a valley of tears a house of mourning from whence all true delight and solid happiness is banished seing the very Officers and Serjeants of death are continually surrounding us and walk alongs with us though unpleasant company in our greatest contentments and are putting marks upon your doors as in the time of the Plague upon houses infected Lord have mercy upon us and are continually bearing this motto to our view and â—ounding this direction to our earâ— cito procul diu to get soon out of Sodom that is appointed for destruction to fly quickly out of our selves to the refuge appointed of God even one that was dead and is alive and hath redeemed us by his blood and to get far off from our selves and take up dwelling in the blessed Son oâ— God through whose flesh there is accesse to the Father seing all these I say are so why do not we awake our selves upon the sound of the promise of immortality and life brought to our ears in the Gospel Mortality hath already seized upon our bodies but why do ye not catch hold of this opportunity of releasing your souls from the chains and setters of eternal dâ—ath Truly my beloved all that can be spoken of torments and miseries in this life I suppose we could imagine all the exquisite torments invented by the most cruel tyrants since the beginning to be combined in some one kind of torture and would tâ—â—n stâ—etch our imagination beyond that as far as that which is compoâ—ed of all torments surpasseth the simplest death yet we do not conceive nor expresse unto you that death to come Believe it when the soul is out of the body it is a most pure activity all sense all knowledge and seing where it is dulled and dampished in the body it is capable of so much grief or joy pleasure or pain we may conclude That being loosed from these stupifying earthly chains that it is capable of infinit more vexation or contentation in a higher anâ— purer strain Therefore we may conclude with the Apostle that all men by nature are miserable in life but infinitly more miserable in death only the man who is in Jesus Christ in whose spirit Christ dwells and hath made a temple of his body for offering up reasonable service in it that man only is happy in life but far happier in death happy that he was born but infinitly more happy that he was born mortal born to die for if the body be dead because of sin the spirit is life because of righteousnesse Men commonly make their accompts and calculat their time so as if death were the end of it truly it were happinesse in the generality of men that that computation were true either that it had never begâ—n or that it might end here for that which is the greatest dignity and glory of a man his immortal soul it is truly the greatest misery of sinful men because it capacitats them for eternal misery But if we make our accompts right and take the right period truly death is but the beginning of our Time of endlesse and unchangeable endurance either in happinesse or misery and this life in the body which is only in the view of the short-sighted sons of men is but a strait and narrow passage into the infinit ocean of eternity but so inconsiderable it is that according as the spirit in this passage is fashioned and formed so it must continue for ever for where the tree falleth there it lyeth There may be hope that a tree will sprout again but truly there is no hope that ever the damned soul shall see a spring of joy and no fear that ever the blessed spirits shall find a winter of grief such is the evennesse of eternity that there is no shadow of change in it O then how happy are they in whose souls this life is already begun which shal then come to its Meridian when the glory of the flesh falls down like withered hay into the dust the life as well as the light of the righteouâ— is progressive its shining more and more till that day come the day of Death onâ—y worthy to be called the present day becâ—â—se it brings perfection it mounts the soul in the highest point of the Orb and there is no declining from that again The spirit is now alive in some holy affâ—ctions and motions breathing upwards wrestling towards that point the soul is now in paâ—t united to the fountain of life by loving attendance and obedience and it iâ— longing to be more clâ—â—ly united the inward senses are exercisâ—â— about spiritual thingâ— but the burden of this clayie mansion dotâ— much dull and damp them and proves a great Remora to the spiriâ— the body indispoâ—es and weakens the soul much its life as in an Infant though a reasonable soul be there yet overwhelmed with the incapacity of the organs this body is truly a prison of restraint and confinement to the â—oul and often loathsome and ugly through the filthinesse of sin But when the spirit is delivered from this necessary burden and impediment O how lively is that life it then lives then the life peace joy love and delight of the soul surmounts all that is possible here further then the highest exercise of the soul of the wisest men surpasses the bruitish-like apprehensions of an infant and indeed then the Christian comes to his full stature and is a perfect man when he ceaseth to be a man How will you not be perswaded beloved in the Lord to long after this life to have Christ foâ—med in your hearts foâ— truly the generality have not so much as Christ fashioned in their outward habit but aâ—e within daâ—knâ—sse and eaâ—thinesse and wickednesse and without impiety and prâ—fanity will you not long for this life for now you are dead while you live as the Apostle speaks of widows that live in pleasure
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and glory of his power if it were duely apprehended it would weigh down a mans soul and make it heavy unto death This condemnation includes both damnum poenam poenam damni poenam sensus and both are infinite in themselves and eternal in their continuance What an unpleasant and bitter life would one lead that were born to a kingdom and yet to be banished it and losse it But what an incomparable losse is it to fall from an heavenly kingdome which heart cannot conceive and that for ever In Gods favour is life and in his presence are rivers of pleasures for evermore When your petty penny-losses do so much afflict your spirits what would the due apprehension of so great a losse do would it not be death unto you and worse then death to be separated from this life to be eternally banished from the presence of this glory If there should be no more punishment but this only if the wicked were to endure for ever on earth and the godly whom they despised and mocked were translated to heaven what torment would it be to your souls to think upon that blessednesse which they enjoy above and how foolishly ye have been put by it for a thing of no value what would a rich man's advantages and gaines be to him when he considereth what an infinite loser he is how he hath sold a kingdom for a dung-hill Now if there were any hope that after some years his banishment from heaven might end this might refresh him but there is not one drop of such consolation he is banished and eternally banished from that glorious life in the presence of God which these do enjoy whom he despised If a man were shut up all his lifetime in a pit never to see the light once more would not this be torment enough to him but when withall there is such pain joyned with this losse when all this time he is tormented within with a gnawing worm and without with fire these senses that did so greedily hunt after satisfaction to themselves are now as sensible in the feeling of pain and torment and when this shall not make an end but be eternal O! whose heart can consider it It is the comfort and ease of bodily toâ—ments here that they will end in death Destruction destroyes it self in destroying the body but here is an immortal soul to seed upon and at length the body shall be immortal that destruction cannot quite destroy it but shall be an everlasting destruction and living death This is the sentence that is once past against us all in the Word of God and not one jot of this Word shall fall to the ground Heaven and earth may fail sooner Ye would think it were an irrepealable decree if all the Nations in the earth and Angels above conveened to adjudge a man to death did pass sentence upon him Nay but this Word that is daily spoken to you which passeth this sentence upon you all is more certain and this sentence of death must be executed unless ye be under that blessed exception made here and elsewhere in the Gospel I beseech you consider what it is to have such a Judge condemning you Would not any of you be afraid if ye were under the sentence of a King if that judgment were above your head Who of you would fit in peace and quietness Who would not flee from the wrath of a King that is like the roaring of a Lion But there is a sentence of the KING of Kings and Nations above your heads Who would not fear thee to whom it doth appertain O King of Nations It is not a great man that can destroy thy body that is against thee it is not he who hath power to kill thee and he hath also a great desire so to do this were indeed much but it is the great and eternal Jehovah who lifts up his hand to heaven and swears he lives for ever he is against thee he who hath all power over body and soul is against thee and so is oblidged to improve his omnipotency against thee He can kill both soul and body and cast them into hell and by vertue of this curse he will not spare thee but pour out all the curses in this book Thou would be at no peace if thou wert declared rebell by the King and Parliament but alace that 's a small thing they can but reach thy body nay neither can they alwayes do that thou may flee from them but whither canst thou flee from him thou cannot go out of his dominions for the earth is his and the sea and all that therein is darkness cannot hide thee from him he may spare long because he can certainly overtake when he pleases men may not because they have no assurance of finding I beseech you then consider this it is of soul-consequence and what hath a man gained if he gain the world and lose his soul if the gainer be lost what is gained And it is of eternal consequence and what is many thousand years to this You can look beyond all these and might comfort your sâ—lves on hope but you cannot see to the end of this there is still more before than is past nay there is nothing past it is still as beginning O that ye would consider this curse of God that stands registrate upon us all What effects had it in Christ when he did bear it it made his soul heavy to death it was a cup that he could scarcely drink he that supported the frame of this world was almost near succumbing under the weight of this wrath it made him sweat blood in the garden He that could do all things and speak all things was put to this What shall I say When this condemnation was so terrible to him who was that mighty One upon whom all help was laid what shall it be to you No mans sorrow was ever like his nor pain ever like his if all the scattered torments were united in one but because he was God he overcame and came out from under it But what do you think shall be the estate of these who shall endure that same torment and not for three dayes or three years or some thousands of years but beyond imagination to all eternity I beseech you consider this condemnation which ye are adjudged unto and do not ly under it Do ye think ye can endure what Christ endured Do ye think ye can bear wrath according to Gods power and justice and yet the judgment is come upon all men to this condemnation But alace who fears him according to his wrath Who knows the power of his anger Ye sleep secure as if all matters were past and over your head We declare unto you in the Lords Name that this condemnation is yet above you because you have not judged your selves It is preached unto you that ye may flee from it
what hopes are there then of delivery when the prisoner accounts his bondage liberty and his prison a palace what expectation of freedom when all that is within us conspires to the upholding that tyrranous dominion of sin against all that would cast it out of its usurpation as if they were mortal enemies Yet there is a delivery possible but such as would not have entered in the heart of man to imagine and it is here expressed the Law of the Spirit of Life c. this declares how and by what means we may be made free Not indeed by any power within us not by any created power without us sin is stronger then all these because its imperial seat is within far without the reach of all created power there may be some means used by men to beat it out of the out-works of the outward man to chase it out of the external members some means to restrain it from such gross out-breakingâ— but therâ— is none can lay â—iedge to the soul wiâ—hin or sâ—orm the undeâ—standing and will where it hath its pâ—incipal residence its inaccessible and impregnable by any humane power no intreaties or perswasions no terrors or threatnings can prevail it can neither be stormed by violence nor undermined by skill because it is within the spirit of the mind Untill at length some other spirit stronger then our spirit come till the Spirit of life which is in Christ come and bind the strong man and so make the poor soul free You heard that we were under a law of death and under the power of sin now there is another Law answering this law and a power to overcome this power You may indeed ask by what law of authority can a sinner that is bound over by Gods Justice unto death and condemnation be released Is there any law above Gods Law and the sentence of his Justice The Apostle answers that there is a Law above it a Law after it the Law of the Spirit of Life Jesus Christ opposes Law unto law the Law of life unto the law of death the Gospel unto the Law the second Covenant unto the first Thus it is then Iesus Christ the eternal Son of God full of grace and truth did come in mans stead when the law and sentence of death was past upon all mankind and there was no expectation from the terms of the first Covenant that there should be any dispensation or mitigation of the rigour of it he obtains this that so many as God had chosen unto life their sins and their punishment might be laid on him and so he took part of our flesh for this end that he might be made a curse for us and so redeem us from the curse Thus having satisfied Justice and fulfilled the sentence of death by suffering death him hath God exalted to be a Prince and Saviour and the head of all things In compensation of this great and weighty work given him by his Father all judgment is committed to him and so he sends out and proclaims another Law in Sion another sentence even of life and absolution unto all and upon all them that shall believe in his Name Thus you see the law of death abrogated by a new Law of life because our Lord and Saviour was made under the law of death and suffered under it and satisfied it that all his seed might be freed from it and might come under a life-giving law so that it appears to be true that was said at first there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ there is no Law no Justice against them But then another difficulty as great as the former is in the way though such a law and sentence of life and absolution be pronounced in the Gospel in Christs Name yet we are dead in sins and trespasses we neither know nor feel our misery nor can we come to a Redeemer as there was a law of death above our head so there is a law of sin within our hearts which rules and commands us and there is neither will nor ability to escape from under it It is true life and freedom is preached in Christ to all that come to him for life to all that renounce sins dominion is remission of sin preached But here is the greatest difficulty how can a dead soul stir rise and walk how can a slave to sin and a willing captive renounce it when he hath neither to will nor to do Indeed if all had been purchased for us if eternal life and forgiveness of sins had been brought near us and all the business done to our conâ—ent and that only wanting if these had been the terms I have purchased life now rise and embrace it of your selves truly it had been an unsuccessful buâ—ineâ—â— Christ had lost all that was given him if the moment and weight of our salvation had been hung upon oâ—r acceptation Tâ—erefore it is well provided foâ— this alâ—o that there should be a power to overcome this power a spirit of life in Christ to quicken dead sinnerâ— and â—aise them â—p and draw them to him And so the second Adamâ—ath â—ath this prerogative beyond the fiâ—st that he is only a living soul in himself but a quickening spirit to all that aâ—e given him of the Father 1 Cor. 15.45 So then as Christ Jesus hath law and right on his side to free us from death so he hath vertue and power in him to accomplish our delivery from sin as he hath fair law to loose the chains of condemnation and to repeal the sentence past against us without prejudice to Gods justice he having fully satisfied the same in our name so he hath sufficient power given him to loose the fetters oâ— sin from off us When he hath pay'd the price and satisfied the Father so that justice can crave nothing Yet he hath one adversary to deal with Satan hath sinners bound with the cords of their own lusts in a prison of darkness and unbelief Jesus Christ therefore comes out to conquer this enemy and to redeem his elect Ones from that unjust usurpation of sin to bring them out of the prison by the strong hand and therefore he is one mighty and able to save to the uttermost he hath might to do it as well as right to it Consider then my beloved these two things which are the breasts of our consolation and the foundation of our hope we are once lost and utterly undone both in regard of Gods justice and our own utter inability to help our selves which is strengthned by our unwillingness and thus made a more desperat busineâ—s now God hath provided a suitable remedy he hath laid help on one that is mighty indeed who hath almighty power and by his power he fiâ—st conflicted with the punishment of our sins and with his Fathers wrath and hath overcome discharged and satisfied that and so hath purchased a right unto us to give salvation to whom he will be conquered
hath no force or power to hurt man but death being the wages due for sin Rom. 6.23 all the certainty and efficacy in the wages flowes from this work of darkness sin But Now the strength of sin is the Law this puts a poysonable and destructive vertue in the sting of sin for it is the sentence of Gods Law and the justice and righteousness of God that hath made so inseparable a connexion between sin and death this gives sin a destroying and killing vertue Justice arms it with power and authority to condemn man so that there can be no freedom no releasment from that condemnation no eschewing that fatal sting of death unless the sentence of Gods Law which hath pronounced thou shalt die be repealed and the justice of God be satisfied by a ransome And this being done the strength of sin is quite gone and so the sting of death removed Now this had been impossible for man to do these parties were too strong for any created power the strength of sin to condemn may be called someway infinit because it flows from the unchangeable law of the infinit justice of God now what power could encounter that strength except that which hath infinite sterngth too Therefore it behoved the Son of God to come for this business to condemn sin and save the sinner And being come he yokes first with the very strength of sin for he knew where its strangth did ly and so did encounter first of all with that even the justice of his Father the hand writing of ordinances that was against us for if once he can set them aside as either vanquished or satisfied he hath little else to do Now he doth not take a violent way in this either he doth it not with the strong hand but deals wisely and to speak so with reverence cunningly in it he came under the Law that he might redeem them who were under the Law Gal. 4.4 force will not do it the Law cannot be violented justice cannot be compelled to forgo its right therefore our Lord Jesus chooseth as it were to compound with the Law to submit unto it he was made under the Law he who was above the Law being Law-giver in mount Sinai Acts 7.38 Gal. 3.19 he cometh under the bond and tye of it to fulfil it I came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it Mat. 5.17 he would not offer violence to the Law to deliver sinners contrary to the commination of it or without satisfaction given unto it for that would reflect upon the wisdom and righteousness of the Father who gave the Law But he doth it better in an amicable way by submission and obedience to all its demands whatsoever it craved of the sinner he fulfils that debt he satisfies the bond in his own person by suffering and fulfils all the Commandments by obedience And thus by subjection to the Law he gets power over the Law because his subjection takes away all its claim and right over us therefore it is said that he blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances which was against us by nailing it to his cross and so took it out of the way Col. 2.14 having fulfilled the bond he cancell'd it and so it stands in no force either against him or us thus the strength of sin which is the Law is removed and by this means sin is condemned in the flesh by the suffering of his flesh it is fallen from all it's plea against sinners for that upon which it did hang viz. the sentence of the Law is taken out of the way so that it hath no apparent ground to fasten any accusation upon a poor sinner that flees in to Jesus Christ and no ground at all to condemn him it is wholly disabled in that point for as the Philistines found where Sampsons strength lay and cutted his hair so Christ hath in his wisdom found where the strength of sins plea against man lay and hath cutted off the hair of it that is the hand-writing of ordinances which was against us This is that which hath been shadowed out from the beginning of the world by the types of Sacrifices and Ceremonies All these offerings of Beasts of Fowls and such like under the Law held â—orth this one sacrifice that was offered in the fulness of time to be a propitiation for the sins of the world and something of this was used among the Gentils before Christs coming certainly by tradition from the Fathers who have looked afar off to this day when this sweet smelling sacrifice should be offered up to appease Heaven And it is not without a spâ—cial Providence and worthy the remarking that since the plenary and substantial One was offered the custom of sacrificing hath ceased throughout the world God as it were proclaiming to all men by this cessation of Sacrifices as well as silence of Oracles thâ—t the true atonement and propitiation is come already and the true Prophet is come from Heaven to reveal Gods mind unto the world There were many ceremonies in sacrificing observed to hold out unto us the perfection of our atonement and propitiation They laid their hands on the beast who brought it to signifie the imputation of our sins to Christ that he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him And truly it is worth the observation that even those sacrifices for sin were called sin and so the word is used promiscuously in Leviticus to point out unto us that Jesus Christ should make his soul sin Isa. 53.10 that is a sacrifice for sin and he made sin for us that is a sacrifice for sin When the blood was poured out because without shedding of blood no reconciliation Heb. 10. the Priest sprinkled it seven times before the Lord to shadow out the perfection of that expiation for our sins in the vertue and perpetuity thereof Heb. 9.26 that he should appear to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself to put it away as if it had never been by taking it on him and bearing it And then the High Priest was to bring in of the blood into the holy place and within the vail and sprinkle the Mercy Seat â—o shew unto us that the merit and efficacy of Christs blood should enter into the highest Heavens to appease the wrath of God Our High Priest by his own blood hath entered into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Heb. 9.12 And truly this is that sacrifice which being offered without spot to God pacifies all ver 14. Sin hath a cry cryeth aloud for vengeance this blood silenceth it and composeth all to savour and mercy It hath so sweet and fragrant a smell in Gods account that it fills Heaven with the perfume of it He is that true scape-goat who notwithstanding that he did bear all the sins of his people yet he did escape alive albeit he behoved to make his soul a sacrifice for
sin and so die for it yet by this means he hath condemned sin by being condemned for sin by this means he hath overcome death and the grave by coming under the power of death and so is now alive for ever to improve his victory for our salvation and by taking on our sinâ— he hath fully abolished the power and plea of them as the goat that was sent to the wilderness out of all mens sight was not to be seen again Truly this is the way how our sins are buried in the grave â—f oblivion and removed as a cloud and cast into the depths of the Sea and sent away as far as the East is from the West that they may never come in judgment against us to condemn us because Christ by appeasing wrath and satisfying Justice by the sacrifice of himself hath overthrown them in judgment and buried them in the grave with his own body You see then my beloved a solid ground of consolation against all our fears and sorrows an answer to all the accusations of our sins here is one for all one above all You would have particular answers to satisfie your particular doubts you are alwayes seeking some satisfaction to your consciences besides this but believe it all that can be said besides this atonement and propitiation is of no more vertue to purge your consciences or satisfie your perplexed souls then these repeated sacrifices of old were Whatsoever you can pitch upon besides this it is insufficient and therefore you find a necessity of seeking some other grace or qualification to appease your consciences even as they had need to multiply sacrifices but now since this perfect and full propitiation is offered up for our sins should not all these vain expiations of your own works cease Truly there is nothing can pacifie Heaven but this and nothing can appease thy Conscience on earth but this too If you find any accusation against you consider Christ hath by a sacrifice for sin condemned sin in his own flesh the marks of the spear of the nails of the buffettings of his flesh these are the tokens and pledges that he encountered with the wrath due to your sins and so hath cut off all the right that sin hath over you If thou can unseignedly in the Lords sight say that it is thy souls desire to be delivered from sin as well as wrath thou would gladly flee from condemnation thâ—n come to him who hath condemned sin by suffering the condemnation of sin that he might save these who desire to flee from it to him SERMON XIV Rom. 8.4 That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us c. GOD having a great design to declare unto the world both his justice and mercy towards men he found out this mean most suitable and proportioned unto it which is here spoken of in the 3. vers to send his own Son to bear the punishment of sin that the righteousness of the Law might be freely and graciously fulfilled in sinners And indeed it was not imaginable by us how he could declare both in the salvation of sinners we could not have found out a way to declare his righteousnesse and holinesse which would not have obscured his mercy and grace nor a way to manifest his grace and mercy which would not have reflected upon his Holiness and Justice according to the letter of the Law that was given out as the rule of life he that doth them shall live in them and cursed is every one that doth them not c. Wâ—at could we expect if this be fulfilled as it would appear Gods truth and holinesse requires then we are gone no place for mercy if this be not fulfilled that mercy may be shewed in pardoning sin then the truth and faithfulnesse of God seems to be impaired This is the strait that all sinners would have been into if God had not found such an enlargement as this how to shew mercy without wronging Justice and how to save sinners without impairing his faithfulnesse Truly we may wonder what was it that could straiten his Majesty so that he must send his own Son so beloved of him and bruise him and hide his face from him yea and torment him and not let the cup pass from him for any intreaties might he not more easily have never added such a commination to the Law Thou shalt die or more easily relaxed and repealed that sentence and past by â—he sinner without any more then exacted so heavy a punishment from one that was innoncent Was it the satisfaction of his Justice that straitned him and put a necessity of this upon him But truly it seems it had been no more contrary to righteousnesse to have past over the sinner without satisfaction then to require and take it off one who was not really guilty The truth is it waâ— not simply the indispensible necessity of satisfying Justice that put him upon such an hard and unpleasant work as the bruising of his own Son for no doubt he might have as well dispensed with all satisfaction as with the personal satisfaction of the sinner but here the strait lay and here was the urgency of the case he had a purpose to declare his justice and therefore a satisfaction must be had not simply to satisfie righteousnesse but rather to declare his righteousnesse Rom. 3.25 Now indeed to make these two shine together in one work of the salvation of sinners all the world could not have found out the like of this to dispense with personal satisfaction in the sinner which the rigour of the Law required and so to admit a sweet moderation and relaxation that the riches of his grace and mercy might be manifested and yet withall to exact that same punishment of another willingly coming in the sinners place to the end that all sinners may behold his righteousnesse and justice and so this work of the redemption of sinners hath these Names of God published by himself Exod. 34.6 7. to Moses engraven deeply upon it mercy and goodnesse spelled out at length in it for love was the rise of all and love did run alongs in all yet so as there is room to speak out his holiness and righteousness and justice not so much to afright sinners as to make his mercy the more amiable and wonderfull I know not a more pressing ground of strong consolation nor a firmer bulwark of our confidence and salvation then this conjunction of Mercy and Justice in the business there might have been alwayes a secret hink of jealousie and suspition in our minds when God publisheth mercy and foregiveness to us freely O! how shall the Law be satisfied and the importunity of justice and faithfulness that hath pronounced a sentence of death upon us answered Shall not the righteous Law be a loser this way if I be saved and it not satisfied by obedience or suffering how hard would it be to perswade a soul of free pardon that sees such
not desire to come again But how inconstrained how free are all other thoughts our minds can roave who le days about vanity about fancies dreams nothings but you nâ—ither like to admit nor retain the knowledge of God in your mind Rom. 1.28 Do you not intertain any sâ—rious weighty thoughts of Religion that by occasion may enter as fire-brandâ— as hot coals in your bosome how glad are you to get any diversion to other things how willing to shun them or cast them out but if it be any temporal thing any thing relating to this flesh your thoughts come freely off are steady and fixed as long as you please your minds can travel through all the ends of the earth to bring in some fancy of gain or advantage or to steal by precious time and that without wearying Now all these thingâ— considered my beloved are you not carnal I speak to the most of you are you not these who are born of the flesh since you mind nothing seriously resolutely constantly and willingly but the things of the flesh and the things of this life O! it is no light matter to be born of the flesh if you continue so you are ordained for corruption for death to be carnally minded is death vers 6. of this Chap. But I am perswaded better things of some of you that the true light of God hath shined into your hearts and revealed more excellent things unto you then these perishing fleshly things Heavenly substantiall and eternal things in the Gospel which you account only worthy of the fixed and continued meditation of your spirits I am sure you perceive another beauty and excellency in these things then the world doth because the Spirit hath revealed them unto you It is true that your minds are yet much darkned in the apprehension of spiritual things they are not so willing to receive them nor so ready to retain them as you desire they are very unsetled and unstudy in the meditations of spiritual things and there are innumerable thoughts of other things that pass through your hearts like common Innâ— uncontrolled at their pleasure all this is true but I am sure it is the grief of your souls that your hearts are not so fixed and stablished as the excellency of these spiritual things require I know it will be the aim and real indeavour of any spiritual heart to be shutting up all the entries and doors of the mind that vain thoughts enter not yet enter they will there are so many porches to enter in at and our narrow spirits cannot watch at all every sense will let in objects and imagination it self will be active in â—raming them and presenting them but yet the indeavour of a Christian will be not to let them lodge long within Ier. 4.14 If they come in unawars he will labour to make a diversion to a â—etter purpose and so still it holds good that the current and course of a Christians thoughts and cogitations arâ— upon the things of the Spirit how to get his own hâ—art washed and cleansed how to be more holy and conformed to Christ how to be at peace with God and keep that peace unbroken how to walk in obedience to God and in duty towaâ—ds men how to forsake himself and withall to deny himself in all theâ—e I â—ay his most serious and solemn thoughts are about these things his resolved and advised thoughts run most on tâ—is stâ—ain though it be true that whether he will or not other vain and impertinent or not concerning thoughts will passe more lightly and too frequently through his heart The other thing in which this spiritual life doth appear is the current of the affections or that relish and taste of the sweetness of the things of the Spirit flowing from the apprehension of them in the mind When the light iâ— discovered indeed and O! it is a pleasant thing for the eye to behold it as Solomon speaks then the spirit hath found an object suitable to its nature and so it relisheth and delighteth in it Therefore the word is not simple minding or thinking but savouring thinking with affection upon them tasting and seeding upon the knowledge oâ— them it is a minding of them with caâ—e and delight with eaâ—nestness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O taste and see how good the Lord is Psal. 34.8 Some things cannot be indeed known but by some sense you cannot make a blind man apprehend what light is till he see it a deaâ— man cannot form a notion of sounds in his mind except he once heard them neither can a man understand the sweetnesse of honey but by tasting it Truly spiritual things are of that nature there is some hidden vertue and excellency in them which is not obvious to every man that hath bare knowledge of the letter there is a spirit and life in them that cannot be transmitted into your ears with the sound of words or infused into ink and paper it s only the inspiration of the Almighty can inspire this sensible preception and â—eall taste of spiâ—itual things some powders do not smell till they be beaten truly till these truths be well powdered and beaten small by meditation they cannot smell so fragrantly to the spirit As meats do not nourish till they be chewed and digested so spiritual things do not relish to a soul nor can they truly feed the soul till they be chewed and digested into the heart by serious and earnest consideration this is that which makes these same truths to be someway not the same these very principles of Religion received and confessed by all to be lively in one and dead in another it is the living consideâ—ation of living truth the application of truth to the heart that makes it lively in one whereas others keep it only besidâ— them in a corner of their minds or in a book in the corner of one houâ—e the same meat is laid to you all the most part look on it others contemplat it and exercise only their understandings aboâ—t it but there are some who taste it and find sweetneâ—â— in it who digest it by meditation and solemn a vocation of their hearts from the things of the world and therefore some are fed some are starved Need we to enlarge much upon this subject Is it not too too palpable that many who fill up our Churches are in the flesh because they do mind and savour only the things of the flesh and not of the spirit Will you seriously search your hearts ask what relishes most with them Can you say that it is the Kingdom of God or the righteousness thereof Or is not rather these other things of food and raiment and suchlike that have no extent beyond this narrow span of time I am perswaded the hearts of many taste no sweetness in Religion else they would fix more upon it and pursue it more earnestly Are not the things of another world the great things of the Gospel counted all strange
the Holy Ghost hath levelled us all in this point of duty as he hath equally exalted all in the most substantial dignities and priviledges of the Gospel this bond is upon the highest and upon the lowest greatnesse doth not exempt from it and meanness doth not exclude from it though commonly great persons fancy an â—â—munity from the stricknesse of a holy conversation because of their greatnesse and often mean anâ— low persons pretend a freedom from such a high obligation because of their lownesse yet certainly all are debt-bound this way and must one day give accompt You that are poor and unlearned and have not received great things of that nature from God do not think your selves free do not absolve your selves for there is infinit debt besids that you will have no place for that excuse that you had not great parts were not learned and so forth for as the obligation reaches you all so there is as patent a way to the exercise of Religion in the poorest cottage as in the highest Palace you may serve God as acceptably in little as others may do in much there is no condition so low and abject that layeth any restraint on this noble service and imployment this jewel loses not its beauty and vertue when it lyeth in a dung-hill more then when it is set in gold But let us inquire further into this debt we are debters saith he and he instanceth what is not the creditor by which he giveth us to understand Who is the true creditor not the flesh and therefore to make out the just opposition it must be the Spirit we are debters then to the Spirit And what is the debt we owe to Him we may know it that same way we owe not to the flesh so much as to make us live after its guidance and direction and fulfill its lusts then by due consequence we owe so much to the Spirit as that we should live after the Spirit and resign our selves wholly to Him his guidance and direction There is a twofold kind of debt upon the creature one remissible and pardonable another irremissible and unpardonable so to speak the debt of sin and that is the guilt of it which is nothing else then the obligation of the sinner over to eternal condemnation by vertue of the curse of God every sinner cometh under this debt to Divine Iustice the desert of eternal wrath and the actual ordination by a divine sentence to that wrath Now indeed this debt was insoluble to us and utterly unpayable untill God sent His Son to be our Cautioner and he hath payed the debt in his own person by bearing our curse and so made it pardonable to sinners obtained a relaxation from that woful obligation to death and this debt you see is wholly discharged to them that are in Christ by another sentence repealing the former curse vers 1. there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. But there is another debt which I may call a debt of duty and obedience which as it was antecedent to sin even binding innocent Adam so the obligation of the debt of sin hath been so â—â—r from taking it away that it is rather increased exceedingly and this debt is unpardonable and indispensible the more of the debt of sin be paâ—doned and the more the curse be dispensed with the more the sinner owes of love and obedience to God she loved much because much was forgiven and the more was forgiven of â—in the more she owed of love and the more debt was discharged the more she was indebted to Him and therefore after this general acquitance of all believers vers 1. he presseth this obligation the more strongly therefore brethren we are debters It is like that debt spoken of Rom. 12. Owe no man any thing but to love one another which is not meant that it is unlawful to be debters to men but rather what ye owe or all things else pay it and ye are free your debt ceases and your bond is cancelled but as for the debt of love and benevolence you must so owe that to all men as never to be discharged of it never to be freed from of it when you have done all this hath no limitation of time or action Even so it is here other debts when payed men cease to be debters then they are free but here the more he pay the more he is bound to pay he oweth and he oweth eternally his bond is never cancelled as long as he continues a creature subsisting in God and abides a redeemed on in Christ for these continuing his obligation is eternally recent and fresh as the first day and this doth not at all obscure the infinit gâ—ace of God or diminish the happinesse of Saints that they are not freed from this debt of love and obedience but rather illustrats the one and increases the other for it cannot be supposed to consist with the wisdom and holinesse of God to loose his creature from that obligation of loving obedience and subjection which is essential to it and it is no lesse repugnant to the happinesse of the creature to be â—â—ee from righteousnesse unto sin Now this debt of duty and obedience hath a threefold bond which because they stand in vigor unâ—ancelled for all eternity therefore the obligation arising from them is eternal too The bond of Creation the bond of Redemption and the bond of Sanctification these are distinguished according to the Persons of the Trinity who appear most eminently in them We owe our beeing to the Father in whom we live and move and have our being for He made us and not we our selves and we are all the works of his hands Now the debt accruing from this is infinit if men conceive themselves so much oblidged to others for â— petty courtesie as to be their Servants if they owe more to their Parents the instruments of their bringing forth into the world O how infinitly more owe we to God of whom we are and have all Doth the Clay owe so much to the Potter who doth not make it but fashion it only and what owe we to Him that made us of nothing and fashioned us while we were yet without form Truly all relations all obligations evanish when this cometh forth because all that a man hath it lesse then Himself then his immortal spirit and that he oweth alone to God and besides whatsoever debt there is to other fellow-creatures in any thing God is the principal creditor in that bond all the creatures are but the Servants of this King which at his sole appointment bring alongs his gifts unto us and therefore we owe no more to them then to the hands of the messenger that is sent Now by this accompt nothing is our own not our selves not our members not our goods but all are His and to be used and bestowed not at the will and arbitrement of creatures but to be absolutly and solely at his