here a duty which is to be performed and put in practice by all other sinners besides and that is to labour to work themselves to such a shame as this is That which is here spoken of these Romans it is not spoken of them only in a way of simple Narration as signifying how they were affected but also in a way of tacite commendation as praising them for being affected in that manner and so it does implicitly exhibit a duty to us that we should labour to be so our selves Next to the shunning and avoiding of sin is to be ashamed and grieved for committing it Now this does justly come home to the Consciences of abundance in the world there are many which are perfrictae frontis of a bold and hardened forehead which have no shame nor relenting in them at all which can sin one sin after another in the highest and hainousest manner that can be and yet never be once wrought upon for it or ashamed of it the unjust knows no shame as it is Zephan 3.5 The Heathen could say he was lost that had no shame The Prophet Jeremy has set forth such as these in their colours to us Jer. 6.15 Were they ashamed says he when they had committed abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush c. This is the exact temper and disposition even of many in these days and in this land in which we live which are past all shame whatsoever they have no shame at all in them never more of the occasion and never less of the affection And I speak not only of that spiritual shame and holy blushing which belongs to Religion and is within the compass of Christianity it self which is taken from religious Grounds and spiritual Arguments and Considerations but I speak now of that natural shame which God has planted in all men by Creation an is not lost but in the height of wickedness and abomination it self This is that which many Monsters in this age are devoid and destitute of both men and women I should be exceeding sorry if I should have need to say much of it here in this place only I cannot but by the way take notice of it that I may testifie and bear witness against it as that which I look upon as one of the saddest symptoms of Gods wrath and indignation against us and if it be not timely prevented by those whom it concerns to reform it will not only be reckoned by God as the sin of some particular persons but also of the whole Nation it self which will be charged with it That impudence and boldness and undauntedness in sinful courses which many people are come unto which are so far from being ashamed of sin as that they rather boast of it and as the Apostle speaks glory in their shame This is the humour of too many in the world that which should most humble them and abase them and cast them down and lay them low in the sight of God and men and themselves is that which commonly most exalts them and swells them and puffs them with pride so far are they from this temper of the Romans of being ashamed And so now ye have the second particular for the Expression of sins inconvenience taken from the dishonourableness of it Whereof ye are now ashamed The third and last is taken from its perniciousness For the end of those things is death This is that which hits the nail on the head and brings all here indeed and 't is that which is very considerable forasmuch as the end is all in all and such an end as this which is here spoken of so more especially if the other two evils had been spared yet this alone were enough to deter us though there were some gain and honour in sin as we have shewed there is none yet whiles there 's death in it that 's enough against it and that there is The end of those things is death This Death here is to be taken by us in the latitude namely in each kind of it whether natural or else spiritual and eternal First For natural death which we call the death of the body that 's the end of sin and that which sin procures though not that which the sinner intends By sin death came into the world as the Apostle speaks Rom. 5.12 This is so in a double Explication First In the nature of the thing and as the effect immediately flowing from the cause And secondly by the just judgment of God who in his Providence does so order and dispose it and himself does inflict death for it First It is so in God's Pvovidence and Judgment How many do we read of in Scripture whom God himself has in an extraordinary manner stricken dead for their sins Er and Onan and Nadab and Abihu and such as these the end of of their ways was death and that in a more eminent manner There are some more gross and notorious sinners which God has not patience to suffer them and let them alone here in this world but to prevent Atheism and contempt of his Majesty will be presently avenged upon them Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days says the Prophet David Psal 55.23 and Eccles 7.17 Be not overmuch wicked neither be thou foolish why shouldst thou dye before thy time Intimating and implying thus much that such courses and ways as those do provoke God many times so to do Again secondly In the nature of the thing it self and as the effect immediately issuing from the cause Sin it ends in death so as we see by daily and common experience How many are there which by their passion intemperance lasciviousness uncleanness and such courses as these are hasten their own end and not only hazard their souls but likewise expose their lives and so in that regard are no better than self-murtherers It is true they do not always think so nor as I said intend it but yet it is that which follows upon it and in the event is consequent there unto there 's many which might have lived longer if they had lived better and had had a comfortable old age in conclusion if they had not had a dissolute youth going before The end of those things is death if we take it but for natural death the death of the body But secondly It is true also and especially of spiritual death the death of the soul and eternal death the death of soul and body for ever in Hell This is that death which is the wages of sin more particularly for spiritual death Sin it defaces God's Image in us it alienates us from the life of God And whatever Grace is already wrought in us if it does not kill it actually yet it tends to the killing of it and destroys it all it can it takes away a Christians vigor that liveliness and loveliness which should be in him and makes him little better than a
greater Guilt upon them and a secret Curse also cleaving to them for their abuse and perverting of thess Mercies And so much of the thing it self here signified for the main Gods Deliverance and preservation of David He hath not c. Now we may further here take notice of the Phrase and Expression which is here used He hath not given me over to Death It is not simply he hath not killed me or taken away my life from me though that be principally intended But he hath not given me over to Death This is true of the Servants of God even there where Death seases upon them yet they are not under the power of it It does not at last prevail upon them which holds true in a twofold regard First Not under the Curse of it it being sanctified to them for their Good Death to the servants of God is a Conquered Enemy it is a Serpent without a sting O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory The sting of Death is Sin the strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ as St. Paul in his Heavenly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15.55.56 God hath not given his Children over to Death but rather hath given Death over to his Children therefore Death is said to be theirs not they to be Death's 1 Cor. 3.21.22 All things are yours and amongst the rest even Death it self Death is under the power of the Church and in a sort at her Command forher Benefit and Advantage as an Entrance for her into Eternal Glory To me to live is Christ and to Die is gain says the Blessed Apostle of Himself Phil. 1.21 Which is true also of any other Beleiver Christ has redeemed us from Death as it is a Curse the Saints they are not under that Secondly As the Saints are not under the Curse of Death so neither under the Contrivances of it and so in that respect not given over to it as being at last made partakers of a blessed and Joyful Resurrection As our blessed Saviour Christ Himself who seems also to be tipified in this Psalm it is noted of him Acts 2.24 That God raised him up from the Dead having loosed the pains of Death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it As it was not possible for him so neither is it possible for any of his Members it was not possible for him to be detained many days Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy one to see Corruption For it is not possible for his Members to be absolutely and always detained but shall at last be loosed from it As Death had no dominion over him so neither over them This Corruption shall put on Incorruption and this Mortal shall put on Immortality and Death it self shall be swallowed up into Victory as the Apostle has it 1 Cor. 15.45 This is a point of singular Comfort to the Children of God and that which may satisfy them in the thoughts and Meditation of their Mortality that though they may and shall die at last yet they shall not be given over to Death It shall not tyrannize nor Dominear over them Indeed it is the Happy advantage of people that they are given over to no Evil whatsoever whether Spiritual or Temporal neither to the Evil of Sin nor to the Evil of Punishment though they be Capable and sensible of both and liable to them First Not to the Evil of Sin and Satan not given over to that As for wicked and ungodly persons it is their Misey to be so Satan rules in them God gives them over to sinful Courses as it is noted of the Gentiles thrice together in one Chapter the First of the Romans God gave them over He gave them over to Vncleanness and he gave them over to vile Affections and he gave them over to a reprobate Mind still he gave them over But he does not so with his own servants though for just and holy reasons he suffers them to be troubled with Sins while they live here below in the world yet he does not give them over to it Sin shall not raign in their mortal Bodies Iniquity shall not have Dominion over tkem nor presumptuous Sins especially shall not prevail upon them nor given over to the Evil of sin No nor Secondly To the Evil of Punishment neither not given over to that and in particular to this of Death As for wicked men and such as are none of Gods Children It is said they are like Sheep laid in the Grave and Death shall feed on them Psal 49.14 Death shall feed on them that is have it's fill and glut of them and shall do what it list unto them Yea but with the servants of God it shall be otherwise as David there makes the opposition in his own Person but God will redeem my Soul from the power of the Grave for he shall receive me Selah He was not given over to the power of Death And as not of Death Temporal so especially not of Eternal neither God did not give him over to this of any other whatsoever could be thought off God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain Salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5.9 God will be sure to keep his Children from this and does order all things to them in reference hereunto even Corrections and Afflictions themselves as I in part hinted before Chastens them here that he may not Damn them hereafter so that the Connexion holds very well here in this sense which we have now before us The Lord hath Chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to Death as a Mercy consequent to this his Chastening and Correcting of me And so we have done with both the parts of the Text The Condition and the Qualification of that Condition to him in this whole verse The Lord hath Chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to Death SERMON XXVI Psal 133.1 Behold how Good and Pleasant a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity It is the great advantage of Vertue that it carries it's Evidence within it self whereby it becomes lovely and amiable in the eyes of all that observe it and behold it and take notice of it And as other Vertues and Graces besides so amongst the rest the Grace of Love and peaceableness and Unity and brotherly concord It is such as is very eminent and illustrious and which commends it self to all mens Consciences in the sight of God This is that which is here exhibited to us in this present Scripture before us in the Testimony of the Prophet David wherein we have a lively representation set before us of the Benefit of the Communion of Saints which is a main and Principle Article of our Belief and Christian Faith And so an argument very sutable and agreeable to the present occasion of our Assembling and coming
behind him that 's another thing in it It is a mercy to have some strength yet left but here all is laid hands on Thirdly there 's also speed and hastiness in it as we shewed heretofore a cake not turned which would not stay but snap it up presently This again is in devouring we have a full place to this purpose in Hab. 1.8 9 They shall fly as the Eagle that hasteth to eat They shall come all for violence their faces shall sup up as the East-wind and they shall gather the captivity as the sand And so much of that first Branch to wit Ephraim's miserable captivity in these words Strangers have devoured his strength The Second is his symptoms of ruine approaching Gray hairs are here and there upon him It is not said he is gray all over but gray hairs are here and there upon him In the Original it is sprinkled upon him Seva zarkah bo which by the way is an expression suits very well with the vanity of these present times in that ridiculous powdering of the hair both in men and women it is enough only to name it and almost too much that This sprinkling here in the Text does imply some beginnings of wrath which were towards this people Gray hairs are here and there upon him that is he is in a state of declining and tendency to ruine He is not yet quite in his grave no nor in absolute decrepit old age but is making forward and coming to it This in a word is the sense of the Prophet that Ephraim had now some tokens and signs of manifest undoing and destruction upon him Gray hairs are here and there scattered Look as except in some special cases gray hairs are usually and for the most part the symptoms and concomitants of old age and of life declining so the circumstances which were at this time upon Ephraim they were the fore-runners of a period to him Now there are many of this nature which accordingly may be taken notice of by us The symtoms of ruine to a Nation First unfruitfulness under powerful means and dispensations of Grace amongst them This is one of the gray hairs bespeaking destruction The earth which bears thorns and briars is rejected and nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned Heb. 6.8 If we look into Scripture we shall still find how this has been made a fore-runner of perdition in sundry places As the barren Fig-tree was commanded to be cut down that it might not cumber the ground Luke 13.7 And the unfruitful Vine cast into the fire Ezek. 14.4 So that Nation which brings not forth fruit has the Gospel taken away from it and given to those who will do it God will by no means bear with barrenness in his Garden and Orchard but in such a case root it up Secondly Strange sins which do abound and increase in it This is another symptom to this purpose when the foundations are as it were destroyed there the house is not likely to stand long The foundations of Piety and Religion in the common principles thereof and the foundations also of Nature and Civility in the common principles thereof when these things which are the very sinnews of a Nation shall once begin to shrink or be cut asunder it is too evident an argument of no long continuance for it What 's any Nation whatsoever but the several states and conditions of it and ranks and orders of men in it Now when these shall once begin to fail what will become of it when Magistracy shall be slighted and contemn'd and trampled under feet when Ministry shall be scorn'd and revil'd and reproach'd and ignominiously handled when Piety and Learning and Righteousness and Justice shall be supprest and instead of these wickedness and ignorance and barbarism and oppression shall take place When the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honourable as it is there in Isa 3.5 What 's the meaning of all this if it be well and throroughly look'd into but so many gray hairs which are sprinkled upon that Nation and People which are guilty of them and plainly foretelling nothing else consider'd in the causes but destruction to them Add to all this in the third place not only sins but plagues likewise There are some kinds of judgments which usher in others and are as it were preparatory to the absolute and final destruction Thus before the destruction of Jerusalem there were many calamities antecedent to it And so our Saviour tells us there shall be also before the final destruction of the world Wars and rumors of wars and famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places There 's a sprinkling of judgment before it comes down in its full showers and inundations and streams and these bespeak it before it comes in good carnest There are not more evident symproms to a body natural of natural death than there are also in their kind to a body politick of civil destruction And this is that which is here signified to us Gray hairs are here and there upon him And so now I have done with the First General Part of the Text which is Ephraim's confidence in the simple consideration of it both in his miserable captivity as also symptoms of ruine approaching Strangers have devoured his strength and gray hairs are here and there scattered or sprinkled upon him Now the Second is the aggravation of all this from his senslesness in it He knoweth it not And which is further also amplified from the repetition and ingemination of the words He knoweth it not This now follows to be consider'd of by us And here besides the certainty of the thing it self which is implyed in the doubling of the phrase it may carry a double reference with it either to their sin or to their misery He is in a sinful and a deluded condition and knows not that And he is in a woful and destroyed condition and yet knows not that neither Wicked men they have neither right apprehensions of sin nor punishment they neither see their wickedness nor yet do they take notice of their danger in the very jaws of mischief and ruine yet do not observe it Yet this is not all which is intimated to us in this expression though somewhat it be These words And he knows it not may admit of a various explication and there are divers things pointed out in it First that which we now mention'd and instane'd in their simple ignorance and want of apprehension He knows it not i.e. he does not discern it This is the case and condition of sinful persons that they are worse many times than they think for or than they judg of themselves In the very gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity and yet do not know it This was the state of the Church of Laodicea in Revel 3.17 a people of Ephraim's temper neither hot nor cold a Cake not turned We shall hear
carkass and as a body without soul This for spiritual death And then for Eternal which is damnation it self that 's clearly the end of all such courses It is so demeritoriously to all who thereby ate made lyable thereunto In the day that thou eatest c. thou shalt surely dye and it is so actually to all such as by repentance and faith in Christ are not freed from the execution of this sentence This is the plain and constant Doctrine of the Scripture that the wages of sin are wages of damnation both as to poena damni the loss of Gods gracious Presence and poena sensus the enduring everlasting torment c. This is that which the Apostle still is so careful to perswade and fasten upon those to whom he writes in divers places Phil. 3.19 Whose end is damnation whose glory is in their shame c. and 1 Cor. 11.29 Drinketh damnation And 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Be not deceived c. and Gal. 5.21 speaking of the works of the flesh Of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Therefore let us labour more to be perswaded of these things and have serlous apprehensions of them let us look upon sin in its colours and in the true shape and representation of it as that which has Death and Hell at the end of it that so we may the better be kept and preserved from it We should make use of this present Doctrine now in all suggestions and temptations to sin which we are at any time put upon Think not upon sin in the profit of it or in the pleasure of it which is but a meer fancy though it usually shews it self so but think of it in the end of it and in the concomitants of it and in the sad and pernicious effects which is death and damnation it self which though men perceive not presently yet at last they shall find to their cost if they take not better care to prevent it as the Apostle Peter speaks of them their judgment now of a long time lingers not and their damnation slumbers not Let us not look upon these things as words and notions and expressions as bug-bears to scare Children but as realities and unquestionable truths and let us labour to find the Power and Efficacy of them upon our own hearts It being better to hear of them than to feel them and to feel them now in the conscience by being affected and wrought upon by them than to feel them hereafter after another manner as all such shall which now make nothing of them let all which hath been said make us so much the more out of love with sin and if one argument alone will not do it let us take them all together as the Holy Ghost does here offer them to us Here 's a threesold Cord which theresore is not easily broken and if one or two should fail yet the other would make amends for the rest Those which have a mind to sin yet if it appears to be any prejudice to their profit that they get no good nor benefit by it it may be here they would be restrained Now for this consider says the Apostle that there 's no such sad fruit in it others there are which do not stand upon their prosit but their honour that goes near unto them and they are loth to forfeit their credit and reputation Now for this consider that these things bring shame whereof ye are now ashamed A third there are which are not moved yet They care neither for profit no honour so they may have their pleasure and safety and ease but their skin that a little affects them and their life goes to their heart and is very dear unto them all they have they would part with for this Now therefore consider here further that it is death and if there be any that stick not at this yet if they have any care but of their own souls consider further that it is damnation not only natural the death of the body but spriritual the death of the soul yea eternal the death of both and as wisdom speaks of her self Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul all that hate me love death There 's but one thing more which I will here name and so end We may here from this Text further take notice not only of the wretchedness of sin considered in the streams and actions of it but also the wretchedness of nature and an unregenerate nondition as the fountain and spring which these issue from Here 's not only a Censure upon the performances What fruit had ye in those things c. But here is also a Censure upon the state What fruit had ye then Then when ye were unregenerate then ye were in your natural condition then when ye were at the present unconverted and as yet not brought home to God What fruit had ye then Whatever has been said of sin it may be applied in this An unregenerate condition is an unfruitful condition a shameful condition a dead and mortal condition All the time that any man spends and lives only in that he does but lose his time and run further upon the score with God for a back-reckoning hereafter We are all by nature the children of wrath Ephes 2.3 What 's the improvement which is to be made of this point and observation But first for all those which are yet but in the state of nature to labour to bear it and to come out of it as soon as may be and not to content themselves with it Let us not think too well of nature and our condition from that as many persons are ready to do both for themselves and others For our selves if we have no better Principles in us than we brought with us at first into the world we are but in a sad an miserable condition although perhaps we should abound in some kind of outward and moral actions which might have some lustre and splendor upon them as the Heathem had What fruit had ye in those We may say it not only of those actions which are plain sins in their nature but in a sense also of those which for the matter of them are duties themselves yet not done in a right manner and from a right principle What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed The sacrifice of the wicked says Solomon is an abomination to the Lord how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind Prov. 21.27 All the time that a man remains unregenerate he is unprofitable as to matter of duty as well as provoking as to matter of sin and let us take heed of being too well perswaded of the Heathem Philosophers rather make our own salvation than destruction This is a great
to Duty and the doing of that which God requires of them in their several places Great and strong lusts are hinderances to any noble performances and high atchievements which are to be undertaken by us The Apostle tells us in the verse immediately following to the Text vers 17. of this Chapter that from the flesh lusting against the spirit the Galatians were disinabled from doing the things which they would and so they were and all others with them whereas on the other side where these are kept down there is strength and ability thereunto namely to serve God with so much the more strength All these laid together do shew us the happiness of this particular condition and the truth of this point in hand to wit the benefit and advantage of not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh Again further we may here also take notice that as it is a benefit in it self simply considered so it is such as is apprehended and counted so by all those which have the Spirit of God in them Those which are the true children of God they look upon this as one of the greatest mercies which can happen unto them to be freed from the power of their lusts This is also implied in the Text it was not only so in the thoughts of the Apostle but also in the thoughts of the Galatians to whom he here wrote or else he had said nothing to the purpose and it had been to no end to signifie as much unto them that by walking in the spirit they should have this benefit confer'd upon them if they had not thought it to be a benefit indeed But now he uses argumentum ad homines and speaks to them in their own Element to their heart as the Hebrew phrase hath it He knew he should now please them and bring that which would be acceptable to them when he should tell them of being freed from their lusts and so he did A good and a gracious heart looks upon this as the greatest mercy and priviledg in the world which he longs for and most eagerly desires as the Apostle Paul Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord which is such as makes him willing to desire even death it self where in he shall indeed partake of this priviledg Again Moreover observe this as another thing implied in these words That the reward of Religion lyes within the compass of Religion The Apostle had stir'd up these Galatians and in them all other Christians to an holy Life and spiritual Conversation to walking in the spirit Now what does he here for their encouragement signifie to be the reward and recompence hereof unto them Why namely this that they should not fulfil the lusts of the flesh He does not say ye shall have such and such outward comforts heaped upon you riches and honours and the like nor he does not say ye shall have Heaven at last given you and ye shall be free from condemnation though this also be true no but ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh If we had no other recompence of a godly life but only that which is emergent from it and immediate to it yet this were enough to satisfie us in it and to perswade us to the leading of it And so much for that which is here supposed and implied in this expression I come now in the second place to that which is exprest which is the words of the Text And ye shall not fulfil c. This for the right handling of it we must take in its conjunction and connexion with the words before and as dependent thereupon Walk in the spirit and so ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh the one prevents the remedy against the other the more spiritual any are the less carnal and the more we are guided by the spirit the less we shall yield to the flesh This truth and expression may be made good to us according to a various explication which may be given of it First Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh that is ye shall not have so great a mind and desire to fulfil them ye shall be restrained in regard of inclination though Grace and the exercise of it does not as I said before wholly extirpate all cortuption out of us and make it cease to be whiles we live here in this world yet it does qualify the dominion of it and makes it cease to be in that measure and degree wherein it was in us before And as sinful acts do increase the habit of sin in us as we have formerly shewn in the point above so the other side do gracious acts dminish this habit and make it less It is the avantage of that man who is imploy'd and taken up in well-doing that he has not that lust and propensity in him to that which is evil as another has Godliness it puts our mouths out of taste to the pleasures of sin as on the other side sin does make goodness to be disrelish't by us Look therefore how far a man is freed from fulfilling the lusts of the flesh by having little or no desire unto them so far is he freed from them also by this course of walking in the spirit which is advantageous and effectual to this purpose to mitigate the desire of sin in them Secondly Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh that is ye shall not have temptation to fulfil them ye shall be kept from lustful and sinful suggestions and provocations The reason why many fall into sin now and then is because they have strong temptations and instigations to it because the Devil is very busie with them and it pleases God someimes in his Providence to give them up into Satans hands But now when men are careful to walk in the spirit they do very much provide for themselves in this particular Satan has not that power over them and advantage which otherwise he would have in the neglect of it nor they are not so much under the power of temptations as they would be if they did not thus walk This is true upon a ouble account both on Gods part and on Satans on Gods part who in this case does not so much give them over to temptation and on Satans who in this case has not that incouragement to fasten his temptation upon them First I say on Gods part who in this case does not so much give them over to Satan to be tempted Take a man that neglects his daily walk and converse with God that does not look so strictly and narrowly to his steps as it becomes him to do it pleases God now and then for his exercise and tryal and partly his correction to let Satan loose upon him and to suffer him to molest and trouble him with sad temptations not only for sin
a state of Subjection and Obedience to Him And for Heaven He is likewise the head of all Principalities and Powers Col. 2 10. And Angels and Authorities and Powers are made subject unto him 2 Pet. 3 22. This for his Kingly Office Secondly Take it for his Priestly Office And here he is likewise like Jacobs Ladder in the work of Atonement and Reconciliation as bringing Heaven and Earth together Thus Col. 1 20. It pleased the Father by him to reconcile all things to himself whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven And so likewise in Eph. 1 20. That in the Dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are in Earth Even in Him Take us what we are in our selves and there is a Disproportion betwixt God and us we are not onely Strangers but Enemies to him And he to us But now in Christ this Enmity is removed and taken away and there is perfect peace wrought according to that againe of the Apostle Col. 1 21. You that were sometimes alienated and Enemies in your minde by wicked works Yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his Flesh through Death c. And again Rom. 5 10. When we were Enemies we were reconciled unto God by the Death of his Son And not onely so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom we have now received the Atonement Christ hath made God and us Friends And then again as for Reconciliation so also for Access which is the Fruit and Effect of it It is by Christ that we come unto God and have Admission unto the Throne of Grace As we have the Benefit of his Satisfaction so likewise of his Intercession and both of them consider'd as our high Priest Thus the Apostle seats it Eph. 2 18. Speaking of Jew and Gentile Through him we both have an Access by one Spirit unto the Father And so Chap. 3 12. In whome we have boldness and Access with confidence through the Faith of Him What ever intercourse there passes at any time betwixt God and us it is in all the Covenant of Grace and as it is obtained and procured by Christ And it is he alone that does effect it for us and that brings it to pass And therefore upon this Ground are we still incouraged to have recourse unto God and to perfect our Communion with him as Heb. 4 14. Seeing then that we have a great High Preist that'is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need And so again Heb. 10.19 c. Having therefore boldness to enter into the Holyest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vayl that is to say his Flesh And having an high Preist over the House of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith And Rom. 5 1 2. Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ By whom also we have Access 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence has he in Scripture such Names and Titles put upon him as doe import thus much when he is called the Door whereby we Enter and the Key whereby we Open and the Rock whereby we Climbe and the Ladder whereby we Ascend as it is here in the Text. A twofold Ladder as I may so express it which he hath set up for us The Ladder of his Flesh and the Ladder of his Cross both together make that New and living way for us which was mentioned in the foregoing Scripture Christ is our Conveyance to God and He alone as the Scripture again inform's us Joh. 14 6. I am the way the Truth and the Life No man Cometh unto the Father but by me As no Man come's to Christ except the Father draws him so no Man com's to the Father except Christ brings him Neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved Acts 4 12. God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 2 Cor 5 19. Therefore this by the way shews the Vanity of all such Persons which dream of any other way or Conveyance besides whether of Angels or Saints or their own Free-will and the like that neglect and lay aside Christ as in a manner Needless and Superfluous in this great Work of Salvation surely such as those they are exceedingly deceived and mistaken These that throw down the Ladder they will never be able to get up to Heaven by all the Ropes they can hoyse up to themselves He that hath the Son hath Life but he that hath not the Son hath not Life 1 Joh. 5 12. And so as for final Salvation So for Intermediate Communion likewise It is that which we partake off through Christ and him alone we cannot come into the presence of God nor offer up a Prayer before him which may be acceptable to him but through his Mediation By the Mediation of his Spirit as inabling us and by the Mediation of his Blood as purchasing acceptance for us He is the Angel namely the Angel of the Covenant who offers up the Prayers of all the Saints upon the Golden Altar is before the Throne as it is in Revel 8 v. 3. And what ever are presented otherwise they are of no Force or Validitie at all Thus is Christ our Ladder that reaches from Earth to Heaven in the Consideration of his Preistly Office in both the parts of it whether of Satisfaction or Intercession Thirdly For his Prophetical Office if we take it there also we shall finde that Christ has the notion of a Ladder And as he conveys out Prayers and Desires to God so he does likewise carrye God's words and will to us Joh. 1 18. No man hath seen God at any time The onely begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him And again Joh. 3 13. No man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven Even the Son of man which is in Heaven He speaks concerning the knowledge of heavenly Mysteries and the Communication of them which did belong onely to Christ who though then upon Earth as Man Yet as to his Godhead was still residing in Heaven having the same Essence and Glory with the Father Matth. 11 27. All things are delivered unto me from my Father and no man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son And he to whom the Son will reveale him It is Christ that brings Heaven down to Earth in regard of discoveries And thus a Ladder in his prophetical Office also To draw up this Point to an head Take Christ in his full extent whether of Nature or Offices
of Gods servants in this regard who dare not trust him with their lives and the preservation of them notwithstanding so many Gracious Promises and experiences which they have received from him As David he was but just before delivered out of his enemies hands and he presently cryes I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul even so it is with many others besides who as the Apostle speaks through fear of death are all their life-time subject to bondage Heb 2.15 Now for such as these they may be here said from this passage before us though God may bring them to danger yet as he sees cause he will deliver them from it as he did here with this servant David The Lord hath chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to death Secondly Where we partake of this mercy let us acknowlelge it with all thankfulness Thus does David do here we are to take notice not onely of his words but also of his Affection which is signified in them and the Spirit from whence they came from him he utters them with a great deal of feeling and sensibleness of Gods goodness to him And so they are not onely a narration of his present condition but an acknowledgement of Gods favour to himself to an answerable temper and disposition which he does here Express by the words which came from Him He hath not given me over to Death They are not words of Boasting and Vanity and Ostentation and Carnal Rejoyceing but the words of Soberness and Piety and Discretion And there are divers things intended by them First He would make it an Argument for Patience The escaping greater Evils should breed Contentation under less That as God afflicts us below our Deserts so also below our Capacities that he does not afflict us in the utmost Extremity and so to this purpose should we argue and reason with our selves he has taken away my Health but he hath not taken away my Life He hath exercised me in my Body but he has spared my Soul He hath deprived me of Earthly Comforts but he hath not deprived me of Heavenly of the Graces of his Spirit of the assurance of his Love of the Communion with himself of his own blessed and Gracious presence these he hath not denyed me but continued them still in the midst of all other Discouragements Secondly He would hereby silence the false rumours which were to the Contrary and the Insultations of his Enemies from them for their mouthes were full to this purpose and delighted to be so as these which spake according as they would have it as in the place before alledged Psal 41.6.7 And if he come to see me he speaketh Vanity his Heart gathereth Iniquity to it self when he goeth abroad he telleth it all that hate me whisper together against me against me do they devise my hurt This was the Condition of David in regard of his Enemies They Tryumpht before the Victory and pleased themselves both in the thoughts and speeches of his supposed Ruine and Destruction now by this Expression here in the Text he does in an holy and Humble manner signifie their Mistake and Disappointment as if he had said unto them it is not so bad as ye thought it nor so bad as ye hoped it nor so bad as ye talked it I am through Gods goodness alive still for all the surmises The Lord hath Chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to Death Thirdly Which is here namely Considerable David I say would hereby express his Thankfulness to God for this Mercy they are words of Praise and spiritual Rejoyceing as appears by those that follow in the 19 verse of this Psalm Open to me the Gates of Righteousness and I will go into them and will praise the Lord namely for this his Goodness to me This is that which we all should do as we have occasion for it and indeed there 's none of us all but have so one way or other though some more then other either by way of prevention in keeping of Evils from us or by way of recovery in delivering us out of those Evils and especially in these late Distempers which have been so rife and frequent amongst us for this year now last past wherein Death hath come up into our Windows as the Scripture speaks that we should not be given over to it is matter of due praise unto us and to be acknowledged by us And we cannot better nenew the year unto us then by such performances as these are And further stir up others to do so occasionally from our Example which is another thing here intended by David in this Expression he does not onely hereby signify his own Thankfulness but also excite and stir up others to praise God both for him and themselves upon the like occasion as we find him in another place Psal 34.2.3 My Soul shall make her boast of God the humble shall hear thereof and be glad O magnify the Lord with me and let us Exalt his name together But especially as a third Improvement of this point let us be careful to use our lives well which God has given us to his Glory and so give them back to him again who has first given them too us Life it is a Blessing as it used and ordered by us For men to live onely a Natural Life here in the word to Eat and Drink and take their pleasures like brute Beasts Alas what a poor thing is that for men to live onely for such a purpose as this is to fiill up the measure of their Sins and to aggravate their Account at another Day by thinking that they are delivered to commit such and such Abominations this is very sad and Miserable but then is Life indeed when it is improved to Gods Glory The doing of good in our several Opportunities the Furtherance both of our own and others Salvation and laying up in store a good Foundation against the time to come laying hold on Eternal Life Therefore I beseech ye let us be careful especially to look to this and that likewise those which are in the prime of their Years and Health and Strength let them not neglect so Blessed an Opportunity as that is those that are past it let them indeavour to redeem it for time to Come We should labour to find our lives given us and continued to us in Mercy and Love which we may know to be no otherwise then accordingly as we have hearts given us with them for the improvement of them as we may do any other Mercy besides where it has the stamp of Gods love upon it it makes us to serve him better with it and our selves to be really and indeed so much the better for it whereas when it is otherwise it is a fign it is in wrath and to harden us so much the more in Evil There 's none are so bad as those who are bad after Mercies Received both as having
the place before cited I was shapen in iniquity c. And so Paul he has respect to that likewise Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death That is this corrupt nature in me which has all the lineaments of the Old man which it does extend it self unto This was that which the Apostle was so troubled with and so should we be likewise especially upon occasion of any corruption breaking forth in us we should have recourse hereunto That where sin takes its rise and beginning there Repentance may take its also If the streams be so foul and unsavoury what may we think of the Spring and Fountain which they issue from That 's one Improvement to be made of it Again We see here what cause we have to desire that God would change our Nature and bestow New Natures upon us while originally we are so desiled That God would give us a new heart and a new mind and put new principles into us which might work in the manner of a new Nature in us The more settled we are in corruption we should learn hence to be so much the more desirous to be strengthened and confirmed in grace But so much of that first patticular viz. The Inherence of sin it is Natural and such as the sinner does bring with him into the world like the skin and spots of the Leopard and the Ethiopian The Second is the Strangeness or Monstrousness of it it 's praeternatural as we have seen it in it's Generation so we may look upon it in it's Degeneration also It is such as turns the sinner into a nature far inferiour to him and worse than his own It alters the condition of a man's Country turns an Israelite into an Ethiopian and it alters the frame of a man's Being turns a man into a Leopard that is indeed into a very Beast These are the Resemblances whereby the Holy Ghost in Scripture laies forth sin before us thereby to make it the more odious to us and to convince us of the sad estate of those wherein it is First I say It alters a mans Country causes a degeneration there and so is exprest Because men do oftentimes very much pride themselves in that and count it a glory to them to come of such a race and stock therefore does the Lord shew that sin does disparage them even in this particular insomuch as they do not deserve such an honour to be put upon them So that here now in this expression of the Ethiopian there seems to be a secret gird and exprobration and upbraiding of this people who had so far debased themselves by their miscarriages as that they had now lost the very name of the Country whereunto they did belong Here 's Ami turned into Lo-ami that is my people into not my people as it is in Hos 1.9 That which was a Noble-Vine and wholly a right-seed turned into the degenerate Plant of a strange Vine unto the Lord as it is also in Jer. 2.21 And this we shall likewise find in divers other places besides as in Ezek. 16.3 When God speaks of the Genealogy of that People he will not vouchsafe to call them by Abraham but rather by the Canaanites And in Isa 1.10 He does not express them by Judah and Jerusalem but by Gomorrah and Sodom Hear the Word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom and give ear unto the Law of our God ye people of Gomorrah To signifie thus much unto us that God makes no account of mens Countries where they make no account of their own waies and lives and conversations Judah is Sodom and Jerusalem is Gomorrah and Rome is Babylon and London is Rome where the sins of one place do prevail and abound in the other If the same Vices and Abominations be amongst us which are in Judah or Turky or Italy or any of those Countries we are Indians and Turks and Italians also our selves though the climate or the scituation of the soil be never so different yea and that also which is much to be observed a great deal worse Sinners when they are transplanted or transported from one Country into another they are worse in that Country which receives them than in that which conveys them The sins of Italy in England are so much the more Italian and an English-man Italianate we use to say is a Devil incarnate Thus does sin alter a mans Country makes an Israelite an Ethiopian and causes a degeneracy in him So again Secondly Does it also alter a man's nature and cause a degeneracy there likewise It gives a man the quality and disposition even of the beasts and brute creatures themselves And so does the Scripture again often represent it unto us setting forth more desperate sinners by such means as these are of Wolves and Tygers and Bulls and Bears and Vipers and Lions and Leopards To intimate thus much likewise unto us how far sin does unman us and take away our very reason and the glory of our nature from us as indeed it does transforms us into meer Swine themselves like Circe's Cup makes us like so many Tygers and wild creatures that run about in the Forrest And that as we may conceive of it especially in two particulars First As to matter of Understanding And Secondly as to matter of Affection sin-it does cause a brutishness in either of these For the Understanding first it does mightily besot that and take it away there where it prevails and so has been confest by those who have best understood it It is that which the Prophet David delivers in general concerning all That man being in honour and not understanding is like the beasts that perish in Psal 49.20 And it is that which he delivers in particular concerning himself when a temptation prevailed upon him So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee And so in like manner the Wise man argues Surely I am more brutish than any man I have not the understanding of a man And then as for the Judgment so for the Affection sin it does inbrutish here it makes men cruel and savage like to beasts Homo homini Lupus one manâ—s a Wolf to another that is ready to destroy and devour There 's no such cruelty and fierceness like that of men where it does once prevail and take place in the heart with opportunity for the venting of it and putting it into execution Thus does sin even alter a man's nature And so ye have also the strangeness and monstrousness of it it degenerates and debases and puts the sinner far be low himself and makes him an Ethiopian and a Leopard The Third is the Multiplication of it It s various exprest here by the Leopards spots which are many and numerous and so it is likewise with sinners there are divers sorts and kinds of it It s a beast of divers colours and divers marks and spots which are upon it
's a calling of them to an account for their desire What end have you for it Secondly it is a discovering to them the fruitlesness of their desire What good have you by it The former in the notion of an Expostulation The latter of a Conviction First To look upon it in the former notion and that is by way of Expostulation What end have you for it or in it namely in this desire of yours for the coming of the day of the Lord. The Prophet Amos here calls them to an account for this desire which was in them From whence there 's this general truth to be observed by us That our desires should be still such as are rational and well-grounded in us Those that desire any thing they should know for what end they desire it or else it should not be desired by them To what end is it for you says the Lord here to this people namely when he speaks here of something which was desired by them The reason of it is this Because we are rational our selves at least in our principles we are so as men but we 〈◊〉 â—o more especially as Christians and therefore should every thing be rational that comes from us Loose and unreasonable desires do not become reasonable creatures Those who have light in their understandings by nature and this also elevated and enlarged by Grace for the guiding and directing of them they should be very much ordered and regulated in this particular Therefore let us by the way learn from hence a good rule for our practice to this purpose We may not think that we may desire what we please indefinitely or without any restraint that quicquid libet licet that whatever we have a mind to it may be pursued by us no but we must rather first see what ground and reason we have in us for such desires and restrain and bound our selves by such arguments and considerations as these In all inordinacy of appetite or desires which rises up in us put to our selves this question which the Prophet Amos puts to this people To what end is it for you to desire it And this will be an happy means for the ordering and regulating of it Our desires and affections and inclinations they are such things as for which we are accountable both to God and our selves So much for that as this passage carries in it the force of an Expostulation To what end is it for you i.e. To what end is this desire for you The Second is as it has the force of a Conviction To what end is it for you that is To what end is this day for you which you seem to desire There 's no good or advantage at all which can come to such as you by it by laying an emphasis especially upon the persons And so there 's this in it That the day of the Lord however it may prove to others yet it is no way desirable of wicked and ungodly people and such persons as live in their sins For you says the Prophet that walk in ways of sinfulness and opposition and rebellion against God for you to desire that day wherein he will call all men to account for that which hath been done by them here The day of Judgment and the second coming of Christ it is very sad and ridiculous in you This will the better appear unto us by considering what those things are which do especially make this day desirable of those who do rationally desire it the Saints and Servants of God We may reduce them to three Heads First as it is a day of Absolution Secondly as it is a day of Redemption And Thirdly as it is a day of Salvation for each of these it is to all good Christians and Believers First It is a day of Absolution wherein they shall be quitted and discharged of any thing which shall be laid against them Christ who is their Judge shall be also their Advocate and plead their cause for them and pass a sentence of discharge upon them Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect in that day This now makes it ery desirable to those who have an interest in it But wicked people have not this interest it belongs not to them They have no share in pardon or absolution and consequently have no ground to wish for that day when absolution shall be granted which themselves have no share or interest in No more than Malefactors have cause to wish for the day of Assizes and the coming of the Judge to sit upon them which being duly considered makes nothing at all indeed for them Secondly As it is a day of Redemption it is to God's children desirable so and they are call'd upon in that respect to desire it Luke 21.28 Lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh The day of the Lord is such a day as this is wherein those who are true Believers shall be redeemed from all those evils which here they were encompast withal And especially from the greatest evil of all which is the evil of sin which did here so much trouble and disturb them and makes them to cry out with the Apostle Oh wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death This day it is desirable of God's children in reference to this as a blessed day indeed unto them when as the fetters and shackles of sin shall be knocked off from them But now as for carnal and profane persons To what end is it for them to desire it What should they desire the day of the Lord that do not care for the fear of the Lord What should they desire that day which is a day of redemption from sin whose desire all their life-time is rather to continue in sin and to have all advantages and opportunities afforded them for the committing and following of sin Thirdly As it is a day of Salvation and the accomplishment of universal happiness it is upon this account also desirable of the Servants of God The day wherein God himself shall be glorified in his Saints because indeed the day wherein his Saints shall be glorified by him But what 's this now to those which walk in ways of sinfulness and impenitency What have they to do to desire to be glorified by God that do not care for glorifying of God Or what have they to do to partake of the life of Glory that are strangers to the life of Grace or to what purpose should they desire the end that despise the means and the ways that tend to that end So much for that And so I have done also with the Second General Part of the Text which is the convincing Expostulation laid down in these words To what end is it for you The Third and last is the express conclusion or determination in these The day of the Lord is darkness and not light which is to be understood by us of the day of death and
but examine it in the circumstances and particulars of it So much of the first particular the thing it self in the simple proposition That he answer'd discreetly distincty intelligently prudently Now the second is Christ's Inserence upon it in the connexion of the words together When Jesus saw that he answer'd discreetly then he said Thou art not far c. Where we see that Christ's favourable censure was grounded upon the Scribe's suitable answer yet not as I hinted before upon his answer simply in the letter but in the circumstances Christ who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he heard his words so he likewise knew his affection and discerned with what mind he uttered them and accordingly does pass this verdict upon them So that we see that the Lord he hath a specialregard to this he looks not only to good words but to good principles and to good affections in the speaking of them which otherwise is no more than even the Devils themselves sometimes have attain'd at This man that which he said he did not say it meerly in course or in a piece of flattery only to close with Christ and to gain acceptance with him Sir you have spoken very learnedly only to commend the Preacher or to say as he said c. and there 's an end No but he spake out of his own judgment and sense and experience as having some feeling in his own heart and conscience of the truth of that which he spake This should teach us accordingly our selves to be in this manner affected not only to have sound understanding but likewise to have savoury spirits Our hearts inditing a good matter as well as our heads as it is in Psal 45.1 Eructantes boyling it forth of us as out of a Pot or Caldron that so out of the abundance of the heart the mouth may speak This will make us most acceptable to Christ and cause him to pass a most comfortable sentence upon us at another day of coming neer into his Kingdom Again Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God It might be also taken Prophetically and by way of Prediction not only as shewing what he was but what he should be and signifying by way of encouragement what now ere long should befall him as to the work of Grace in him But this I do not insist upon I only hint it as rather resting in that exposition of it which we have before mentioned and laid forth So much also for the Second General observable and so the whole Text. When Jesus saw that he answer'd discreetly he said unto him Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God SERMON III. LUXE 12.20 But God said unto him Thou Fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee c. This Text which I have now read unto you that you may so much the more carefully attend it it is the Word of God twice both reflexively by way of Narration as it is apt of holy Scripture and directly by mediate Examination as it is the speech of the Almighty with a worldly and covetous person It was spoken at first to a fool but wise men may learn by it and be taught a great deal from it for their own edification and comfort yea every one indeed upon the matter is so much the wiser as he hath the more learnt that lesson pointed out to us in these words wherein we have God's warning and awakening to look after that which is a business of the greatest consequence and importance in all the world the Salvation of our own precious and immortal Souls The History is Parabolical and doth necessarily imply no more than the possibility of that which is related but we conceive of it so for the present as done in reality And in the words themselves there are four parts IN the Text it self there are these four parts especially observable First The Introductory Preface But God said unto him Secondly The disgraceful Compellation Thou Fool. Thirdly The threatning Tidings This night thy Soul shall be required of thee Fourthly The Expostulatory Inference And then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided We begin with the first The Introductory Preface But God said unto him It was no great honour to this man simply consider'd that God vouchsafed to speak to him for so he did to his enemy Satan God's speaking to his children is very sweet and full of delight but to his adversaries its full of terrour Speak Lord saies Samuel for thy servant heareth Let not God speak to us say the Israelites lest we die There 's the speaking of love and familiarity and there 's the speaking of anger and dislike and such was this here in the Text It was an hard and an heavy speaking a word of cold comfort which God here administers to him and that we have further exhibited in the Discretive Conjunction 5 but it mars all and carries with it for further aggravation a double Emphasis First an Emphasis of Interruption And secondly an Emphasis of Opposition God spake to him and God spake to him at the same time when he spake to himself there 's God interrupting him and God spake to him and God spake to him contrary to that which he spake to himself there 's God opposing him First God interrupts him he speaks to him whiles he is speaking to himself This man was talking to himself as fools use to do and God comes in and disturbes him How it was that God did it it is not agreed upon by all Interpreters do a little vary concerning this speaking some understand it to be a speaking no more but by way of intention not as if God did express himself any way unto him but only did resolve about him A meer simple efficacious determination and appointment in his own Divine counsel concerning the state and condition of this person without any intimation given unto the person himself others understand it practically that here by God's speaking we are to understand some dangerous disease which was already begun upon the body of this rich man which was to him as the messenger of death and bespake death unto him and indeed every disease if it be thought on is a speaking from God and accordingly we shall hear it A third sort would have it to be understood by way of express signification but then they are divided in the name of it Some by the ministry of an Angel others by the mediation of a Prophet others which is most probable and whereunto I rather incline by a secret application to the conscience although I must tell ye I do very well also approve of that interpretation which makes it practical There was somewhat which God did externally in the way of his providence by inflicting some sickness or the like and occasionally from hence he spake more close to the conscience Thus God spake in the Text he opened the man's understanding to see the folly of his imaginations as also
advantage of them so that where they will be troubled they shall be And where he at any time discerns any proneness or inclination in them to it he is ready as much as may be to promote it and set it on further that they may be troubled more He loves to fish in troubled waters and to add sorrow to sorrow for the greater perplexity of Gods People Hence he raises a great many fears and jealousies and suspitions in them whereby the more to afflict them Thirdly From the weakness of Grace Therefore it is that Gods Children are apt and subject now and then to be inordinately troubled in themselves because Grace is but weak in them We see how it is in the Body that those who are but of weak constitutions as Children and such as they a little matter troubles them and proves offensive unto them And so it is likewise in the Soul and Spirit and inward man Where Christians are but weak they will be disquieted and easily upon every turn put out of frame Thus it was now at this present with the Disciples of Christ They were as yet but weak Christians in regard whereof he tells them elsewhere that he forbore to speak of some things unto them This is the case also with many others They are but Children and Babes in Christ and therefore apt to be troubled Nay even those who have Grace in the greatest measure if we take it comparatively yet their Grace is but weak and slender in them here in this life as a ground of this perplexity in them Their Faith and their Love and their Heavenly-mindedness and their Zeal and their Patience all in a manner but weak and therefore are their Hearts full of fears and perplexities and disquietings in themselves as a consequent of it The use which we are to make of it is accordingly to take notice of it both in our selves and others that so we may be both humbled for it and prepared against it For it is that which the best that are they are prone to if they do not the better look to themselves It is that which we have dayly and continual experience of every moment How soon we are dejected and cast down and out of heart in our selves upon any occasion such a tenderness and moleities and softness and delicateness there is upon us as that the least thing that is it troubles us and fils us with disquietness And that 's the first thing here observable from these words viz. A Christians Disposition He is apt and subject to be troubled as appears from this Caution or Prohibition of Christ to his Disciples The Second is his Duty and that is not to be troubled or afraid Christians they should by all means shun and take heed of this trouble in themselves Let not your Heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Not troubled for the evil which is present and already upon you not afraid for the evil which is expected or looked for for time to come Here 's a Caveat both against Grief and against Fear Each of which are such Passions as in the miscarriage and exorbitancy of them have much evil and sinfulness in them We 'l joyn them both together in the handling of them as coming both to one and the same effect Where that we may rightly understand the Point we may not conceive as if our Saviour did here plead for a Stoical apathy or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a senselessness and stupidity of Disposition from whence men are altogether mindless and regardless of the condition in which they are This is so far from the mind of Christ as that he does rather exceedingly abhor it and abominate it in those it is in We see how even He himself sometimes was troubled as he consesses and acknowledges it of Himself And he did so far forth express his participation of our Humane Nature in Him Therefore it is not Trouble simply which he here prohibits but the inordinacy of it which therefore we should avoid For the better opening and prosecuting of this Point which we have now before us there are two things which we shall do with Gods assistance First shew how far we may or ought to be troubled Secondly shew how far we may not or ought not to be troubled for there is somewhat considerable as to both First then how far we may and ought There are two things which are the proper objects of Trouble which it is exercised and conversant about Sin and Misery And accordingly it is not unlawful but very requisite and warrantable for a Christian in a due manner and measure to be troubled for either of these as he hath occasion for it First A Christian may be very well troubled in point of sin yea and ought so to be That which troubles all the World as to the ground and matter of trouble as sins does it ought not to be slighted by a Christian but he is much to be affected with it Whether in himself or in other men as he does discern and observe it to be in them For himself first That which He is guilty of for his own particular it ought to go very near unto him It is that which the Servants of God in Scripture have been very much troubled for when they have considered it and reflected upon it as we may see in divers instances and examples David Psal 38.3 4 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin for mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Peter Math. 27.75 When he had deny'd his Master and remembred the words of Jesus unto him He went out and wept bitterly Paul Rom. 7.24 Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Thus have the Servants of God been much troubled when they have thought of their sin First As a dishonour in reference to God and a grief unto him whose Glory is or should be very dear unto them Through breaking of the Law thou dishonourest God Rom. 2.23 And by this deed thou hast made the Enemies of the Lord to blaspheme 2 Sam. 12.14 This it should go very near to a Christian Heart If I be a father where is mine honour Can we call our selves the Children of God and have no sense of the honour of God surely this is very unsuitable No it becomes us to be much troubled for sin so far forth as it is a dishonour to God as his Name is occasionally reproach'd and blasphemed by it And then not only as a dishonour to him but likewise as a grieving of him for so it is Isa 63.10 They rebelled and vexed his holy spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and fought against them Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed c. Eph. 4.30 Shall sin grieve God and shall it not grieve us
as he is God but as he is God-Man as he is the Mediator and Head of the Church in which sense we are here to understand it And so he is variously exprest in Scripture as the Tree of Life as the Bread of Life as the Water of Life Christ he is every way and in all respects Life unto us both in reference to Grace and Glory I am come says he that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly Joh. 10.10 Christ he is both the Author of our life and the matter of our life too He is the root and spring of it in whom it is and from whom it slows unto us And he is the substance of it in whom it consisteth because he only is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.2 He is our life as that which we feed on and are sustained and nourished by as a man is by his natural food in the life of nature His flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed and conveys life indeed by it There 's a threefold life which Christ does convey to all those who are true Believers First the life of Justification Secondly the life of Sanctification And Thirdly the life of Glory And in the conveyance of each of these unto them he is said to be emphatically the life as also in another place The life was manifested and we have seen it in 1 Joh. 1.2 First Christ is the life of Justification as to the pardon and forgiveness of our sins Persons that are condemned they are so far forth said to be dead namely as they are appointed to death they are dead in Law And this is the state and condition of us all by nature by reason of our first transgression there was a sentence of death past upon us and we were adjudg'd thereunto In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Gen. 3.17 Now Christ he hath reverst this sentence and removed this death from us by dying for us By his obedience and suffering he hath satisfied the Justice of his Father and thereby hath reconciled us and put us into a state of life again Thus Col. 2.13 You being dead in your sins and the circumcision of your flesh hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all trespasses Mark He hath quickned you by forgiving you I orgiving it is a kind of quickning because it makes a man a child of life who was before a child of death And this is that which Christ hath done for us he hath quickned us thus so far forth as he hath absolved us and set us free from condemnation by taking our guilt upon himself and that 's called a Justification of life Rom. 13.18 Now this it hath another life which is pertinent and belonging hereunto and consequent from it which therefore we may look upon under the same head with it And this is a life of peace and spiritual comfort For as by reason of sin we are plainly and absolutely dead and have a sentence of condemnation past upon us So from hence where it is discovered to us and we are made sensible of it we come to be dejected and cast down in our selves We are not only all dead but we are all a mort likewise Therefore as answerable to one death of sentence we have need of a life of absolution So answerable to the death of despair which is apt to follow upon that death of sentence where it does not appear to be remitted we have need of a life of consolation to be bestow'd upon us And this is Christ also unto us He is our Peace as the Scipture stiles him not only in the thing it self but also in our own consciences not only as to our state but as to our spirit not only as to our state to make it justifiable but as to our spirit to make it comfortable And in that respect also our life Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and rejoyce c. in Rom. 5.1 c. Secondly As Christ is the life of Justification so he is the life of Sanctification likewise When God pardoned our sins through the Blood of Christ he gives us Grace and Holiness from the Spirit of Christ as a fruit and consequent of that pardon and reconciliation And Christ himself does impart and communicate his Spirit unto us for this purpose He is of God made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 The law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 Not only from the law of death as to matter of guilt and condemnation but also from the law of sin as to matter of filth and pollution and hath put a new and another law into me which is the law of Grace and holiness of the Spirit This is the method wherein we partake of this spiritual life that it is first of all subjected in Christ and from him derived unto us The Spirit of God first sanctifies the humane nature of Christ and from thence sanctifies us and conveys a new nature unto us Christ lives in us by his Spirit Gal. 2.20 And therefore call'd a quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 This Life is further considerable not only in the principle of it but in the activity of it not only as that whereby we are simply enabled and made capable of doing our duty but also are made vigorous in it Christ is our life so far forth as we have a livelihood in any thing which is good And thus also the life of Sanctification Thirdly The life of Glory Christ is that likewise so far forth as he makes all his Servants to be partakers of it For so he does he raises up their bodies from the grave and he possesses both body and soul with eternal happiness And so the Scripture informs us Thus Joh. 11.25 Jesus said unto Martha I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye c. Christ is the life of the resurrection forasmuch as his resurrection hath an insluence and effect upon ours and is the cause of it Whatsoever is done to us it is done first of all to him He lives and we live in him He is risen again and we shall rise again by him and from him According to that of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 6.14 God hath raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power And again 2 Cor. 4.14 Knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you And again Phil. 3.22 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Thus is Christ the life
in their natural condition they are such as being out of Christ are therefore without Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is separated from Christ as we find this expression used of the Ephesians before their conversion Ephes 2.12 that they were at that time without Christ c Now for such as these we have accordingly also shewn how they are able to do nothing As the branch cannot bring forth any fruit in the course of Nature where it is separated from the Vine so the Soul cannot bring forth any fruit neither in the course of Grace where it is separated from Christ The second sense or notion of the words is that which is to be handled by us by God's assistance at this present time which is to shew that without Christ that is without influence from him and dependance upon him we are able to do no good neither in a spiritual and supernatural way as may conduce to salvation All our strength and ability as to the doing of any thing of this nature is to be fetch'd and drawn from Christ For the better and more distinct opening of which Point of Doctrine unto us we may take notice of three things especially which are requisite to any Christian performance each of which we do and must receive from Christ as tending to the accomplishment of it First a Spiritual life as the general grand work and foundation Secondly a Spiritual power slowing from this Spiritual life and answering to that particular Duty for the kind of it which God does require of us And thirdly a Spiritual activity or operation for the reducing of this Spiritual power into particular action of life As it is to explain it to you by a resemblance in Natural Motion There are three things which do make up this to us There 's the principle of Natural life there 's the Locom-motive faculty founded in this life and there 's the Walk it self which is produced and effected by this Faculty And as each of these are from God as the Author of Nature so each of the other are from Christ as the Fountain of Grace First There is a Principle of Spiritual life as the general Ground-work and Foundation of every Spiritual good work that comes from us Look as a man that is naturally dead cannot do any thing which belongs to Nature so a man which is spiritually dead also he can do nothing which belongs to Grace because Actus non excedit vires suae potentiae the Act cannot go beyond the Principle as we use to speak Now this Principle of Spiritual life we do derive wholly from Christ as the Branches derive life from the Root and the Members from the Head In which respect we are said not so much to live our selves as Christ is said to live in us in Gal. 2.20 Look as the First Adam was the Spring and Root of Natural life to all his Posterity so is the Second Adam the Spring and Root of Spiritual life to all his Members Therefore unless Christ by his Spirit do first change our hearts from that state of Spiritual death and corruption which we are in by Nature and put a contrary and better Principle of Spiritual life and holiness into us we can never be able to do any thing considerable to the purpose This I have in part declared already in our former Exercise and therefore shall not insist upon it now But secondly besides this Spiritual life whereby a Christian is qualified in general for the bringing forth of the works of new obedience namely the work of Grace and Conversion wrought in him by the Spirit of Christ there is moreover a Spiritual power slowing from this Spiritual life whereby a Christian being renewed by Grace hath some ability communicated unto him for the doing of such and such Duties as in particular in such and such cases are required of him And this is another thing which we do receive also from Christ without whom we are able to do nothing Of his fulness we all receive and grace for grace Joh. 1.16 that is answerable to grace in Christ grace in us We know that besides the common principle of Regeneration in general there are several habits of grace in particular according to the several kinds and distributions of them which have each of them their several abilities and qualifications belonging unto them as Faith enabling us to believe Love enabling us to embrace Patience enabling us to endure and so of the rest Now these particular Graces in specie as well as the work of Grace in general are communicated unto us from Christ and upon his account who is the Treasury and Storehouse of all Grace whatsoever for us It is true indeed that it is God in Scripture who is proclaimed to be the God of all grace 1 Pet. 5.10 but we must understand it still of God in Christ and in the mediation of the New Covenant out of which and out of whom God hath no intercourse at all with us nor we with him This is our state and condition now in the Covenant of Grace and a blessed state and condition it is that all our Grace and Comfort and Ability it is originated and founded in Christ who having taken our Nature upon himself and therein satisfied the Justice of God and being by Faith apprehended by us and united and made one with us is from hence a fit person for the conveying of all Grace unto us which we have need of and occasion for in the whole course of our lives Therefore it is profitable for us to understand and to take notice of the right method which is here in this particular used with us and wherein we come to be made partakers of this grace whereof we now speak and that 's this That the Spirit of God first of all sanctifies the Humane Nature of Christ and from thence sanctifies us who are Members of him The same Spirit that sanctified that blessed mass of his Body in the Womb of the Virgin and the same Spirit that sanctified his whole Nature both of Body and Soul which is now in Heaven the same Spirit does now also sanctifie his Mystical Body which abides still on earth and which is made partaker of Grace by communication and derivation from him As the Oyl which was upon the head of Aaron it ran down to the skirts of his garments which were upon him so the Spirit which is upon the Head of Christ and which he is said to have received without measure it runs down upon all Believers and they have it no otherwise than as he conveys it and transmits it unto them We see then here in what sense we are said to do all things by Christ and without him to have power to do nothing namely so far forth as he gives us grace for the doing of them The Faculties of the Soul are three the Vnderstanding and Will and Affections and such as these but the sanctifying of all
in reference thereunto If we speak of the persons themselves they are not always such as in every thing can be approved of we are men subject to the like infirmities and affections with other men though it would very much become us to have as few of them as needs must and a great deal fewer of them than any other besides yet notwithstanding so it is with us through the corruptions of nature which is in us we have our faults as well as you and it may be sometimes the more for your sakes If you were that which you should be we should be better than we are God may perhaps humble us now and then for your defects But that 's not that which we stand upon now in this point it is not the persons so much as the office which I now plead for the calling and profession it self though that also subjected and terminated in such and such persons as it was here in the persons of St. Paul and the rest of the Ministers This it was made manifest in their Conscices at least of those which were godly and gracioso amongst them And so likewise will be to the end of the world as long as there are any which have any saving work in their hearts their Ministry shall be sure to find acceptance and approbation notwithstanding all opposition And so much of the first particular viz. the thing it self which is asserted We are made manifest in you c. The second is the word of Transition or Introduction I trust or hope We may take notice also of this and it carries a double notion in it first of Endeavour and Desire and secondly of Confidence and Expectation it was that which he wisht it might be and it was that which he was perswaded it was First There was his Desire in it as he wisht it might be he desired to approve his Ministry and himself in the execution of his Ministry to the hearts and consciences of those which were faithful that they might be sure to close with him This should likewise be the desire and ambition of all others besides to be made manifest in the consciences of those which are the people of God whether in regard of their Doctrine or their life to deliver such Truths as are made good in their experience and to lead such lives as are suitable and agreeable to their principles and the practise of them Those men that walk not in the ways of good men they may well think they step aside and so are opposite to our Doctrine Those Points and Doctrines in Divinity are very questionable and suspicious and do expose the teachers of them to a great deal of just censure and exception which do thwart and cross and contradict the common sense and feeling and experiments of those which are most godly and religious and have the work of saving Grace in their hearts such are those points in particular of Free-will of Universal Redemption of uncertainty of Salvation the resistibility of Conversion of falling from Grace of conditional Election and the like they are such as do not only swerve from the plain Doctrine of the Scriptures but likewise do very much fall short of the experiences of the servants of God who need no other arguments against them than what they find in their own hearts and consciences as fighting with them So those which are the teachers of them as therein they are not manifest to God so neither are they manifested in the consciences of godly men which it would well become them to be for their own greater satisfaction as well as others and which St. Paul here seemed so to desire Secondly As there was his Desire in it so there was also his confidence and Expectation I hope or trust that is I believe and make account of it It is a word of Triumphant expression as you have another of the like nature with it 1 Cor. 7.6 I think also c. The Apostle was perswaded of it that so it was with him That he was made manifest in their Consciences And this again he was upon a double motive or consideration First from his own Integrity And secondly from their Ingenuity He knew that himself did deserve and he knew likewise that they were of themselves ready to imbrace it First I say he knew his own integrity that himself did deserve it The best way for any one to expect to be made manifest to others is first to be made manifest to himself and that he may be approved of in others Consciences to be approved of first in his own They whos 's own hearts condemn and upon a just examination of them do bear witness against them they may be very well afraid of others and think that they will not have that opinion of them as perhaps they could desire they might have Secondly As the Apostle concluded it from his own integrity so likewise from the ingenuity of the persons which he had to deal withal If a man be never so upright and sincere in his own heart and never so careful to approve what he does to his own Conscience yet if he be to deal with captious persons and those which have a mind to wrangle and contest and pick a quarrel with him he shall never approve himself to those for all this But these Corinthians were not so especially those which were the gravest and godliest amongst them which the Apostle does here principally intend these they had other kind of minds and dispositions in them which was that which made him to be so confident and perswaded of them I trust we are made manifest in your consciences There 's an Emphasis in both of the words whether in consciences or in yours and accordingly we may take notice of it To your consciences not to your fancies to your consciences not to your humours to your consciences not to your lusts And then to your consciences not to the consciences of strangers to Religion to your consciences not to the consciences of enemies to Religion to your consciences not to the consciences of the false teachers and false Apostles amongst you which labour all they can to pervert and entice and corrupt you in your consciences we are made manifest and desire and rejoice so to be So much also for the second General SERMON XXXIV 2 Cor. 1.10 Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us There are two Graces especially which do serve very much to amplifie and enlarge Gods mercies towards us the one is the Grace of Thankfulness and spiritual joy and the other is the Grace of Faith and spiritual trust joy that enlarges them to others and disperses and scatters them abroad to those persons with whom we converse and faith that enlarges them to our selves and makes them so much the greater to our own minds and expectations Now each of these we may here take notice of in
the course of this present Text and Scripture which we have now read unto you where the Apostle gives us an account of the deliverance of him with his company from a great danger which happened unto them and therein expresses his thankefulness and holy rejoicing as also gives us an hint of expectation of further deliverance from the like dangers that might happen unto them and therein expresses his hope and most holy faith Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust also c. This passage it relates to a story which we meet withal in Act. 19.29 30. which we may read at our leisure though I suppose that most of us are already sufficiently skilled in it and acquainted with it So that I need not now rehearse it or declare it unto you IN this present Verse before us we have three General Parts considerable of us First The Commemoration of a Deliverance past Secondly The signification of a Deliverance present Thirdly The prognostication of a Deliverance to come The Commemoration of a Deliverance past Who delivered us from so great a Death The signification of a Deliverance present And doth deliver us The Prognostication of a Deliverance to come In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Here 's all that we can possibly desire for all the limits and periods of time whether past or present or future This Deliverance it is extended to each here 's matter of thankfulness and matter of joy-fulness and matter of hope We begin in order with the first viz. The Commemoration of the Deliverance past Who delivered us from so great a death Wherein again we may take notice of two Particulars more First the terms of the Deliverance or the evil it self delivered from and that is here exprest to be so great a death Secondly the Deliverance it self or the time for the vouchsafing of it Who hath delivered us First We have here the terms of the Deliverance or the thing delivered from so great a death For the evil it self death and for the aggravation of it a great death it is a deliverance from both Chrysostom together with some others gives it in the Plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so great deaths And indeed there are more deaths than one which God does undertake to deliver his servants from and from which he delivered St. Paul with his Brethren and Companions amongst the rest And which it may not be amiss for our selves at this time by the way to take notice of though I shall insist chiefly upon that which is here chiefly intended and is most agreeable both to the scope of the Text and the present occasion First From spiritual death the death of sin that 's a very great death it puts a man into a state of death not only as exposing to wrath and future condemnation but likewise as disabling to the actions of Grace and Holiness alienating us and depriving us of that life of God which should be in us Ephes 4.18 For as there is a life of grace distinguisht from the life of glory so there 's likewise a death of sin distinguisht from the death of condemnation And this death of sin it is such as is to be numbered among great deaths and the deliverance from it reckoned among great deliverances Indeed it is not always counted so at least by the generality of the world they for the most part are ready to make nothing of it a light and small matter as for the death of the body do all they can to shun that but as for this body of death which the Apostle Paul so much complain'd of and blest God for deliverance from it this is such a thing as they are little troubled or solicitous about Well but every good Christian who has the eyes of his understanding inlightned and his heart truly sanctified with grace he looks upon this as a very grievous and fearful death and accordingly blesses Gods for his deliverance and redempton from it Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 7.24 25. Secondly Eternal death the death of wrath and condemnation that 's another great death also and such as follows likewise upon the former without recovery from it He that 's finally dead in sin he shall be certainly dead in judgment the death of sentence and condemnation follows upon the death of spirit and disposition This God has also delivered us from He hath delivered us from wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 And we are saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 This is a great death among other Considerations in this respect forasmuch as it required so great a death for the expiating of it which was the death of no other than of the Son of God himself who therefore tasted of this death for the kind of it that he might free us from it We are reconciled unto God says the Apostle by the death of his Son What a sweet and blessed Saviour have we that cares not how great a death he dyes himself that so he might free us from death for whom he dyed We should take all occasions that may be to celebrate our deliverance from this which I am therefore so much the willinger to mention upon this phrase which I now here meet withal in the Text though it is not that which I desire to insist or stand upon I come to that which is more pertinent The third and that which is here particularly aim'd at is Temporal Death which though it be the least Death of all compared with the former yet it is great considered simply in it self and so much the greater according to the several circumstances and aggravations which it may be cloathed withal Which we may take in these following particulars First From the nature and kind of it A violent Death not a natural This is a great death and so consequently a great mercy to be delivered from it to be kept from accidents and casualties and mischances which we are subject unto when the Candle is not put out but goes out when our life is not taken away from us but ends of it self This is a Temporal Blessing and such as when it is granted to the Children of God is granted in love and answerably to be looked upon by them as a merciful dispensation which they are to be thankful for As for wicked men it is threatned as a judgment upon them Joh 27.20 That a Tempest shall steal them away and a storm shall hurl them out of their places and they shall lye down and not be gathered and such was this God thrusts them and turns them out of doors like a company of disorderly persons whom he will no longer have patience with but now as for the godly and righteous there 's an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fair and kindly death which so far forth as they have an
circumstances and aggravations which I have now mentioned First For the nature and kind of it it was a death of violence it was a forced and unnatural death Unnatural indeed it was in a double consideration First It was unnatural actively in regard of those which complotted it and desired to inflict it For who I beseech you were they but those of our own Country Englishmen and bred at home The nearer at any time the relation the more unnatural still the rebellion Englishmen to destroy Englishmen as it has been in these latter times especially a most fearful and unnatural destruction contrary to the common principles of nature and that affection which God hath put into Heathen and strangers which never head of Religion This death which we now speak of it was such an one as this contrived and conspired by those which were of our own Land and Nation and came as it were out of our own bowels And then again it was unnatural passively as all deaths of violence especially are a taking away of mens lives from them and turning them out of the world a death of greater pain and reluctancy and indisposition and so it was great Secondly It was a great death if it had taken in regard of the suddenness it was the taking away of men without any warning or preparation at all the cruellest thing that could be in reference to the Patients and the cowardliest thing that could be in reference to the Instruments The manner and carriage and contrivance of it had the aggravations of a great death in it and made it more remarkable First I say it was cruel and very grievous in reference to the Patients or those which were designed to be so To come upon men on a sudden without any warning or preparation at all when they should neither settle their Temporal estates for this life nor yet which is more their spiriritual or eternal for a better what an unmerciful thing was this How great was that death wherein men should had no warning given them of avoiding everlasting death but have been in danger as much as men could make them of perishing both ways at once in body and soul And then besides how cowardly and unmanly also for those that acted it How unsuitable to the Principles of an Heroical and magnanimous spirit There was no skill in it but only violence no art at all but the black art no mystery but the mystery of iniquity It savoured and smelt of no other than Hell it self it was treachery and conspiracy and falshood the basest kind of killing of all as David said once of Abner 2 Sam. 3.33 c. Died Abner as a fool dieth thy hands were not bound nor thy feet put into fetters As a man falleth before wicked men so sellest thou So had these Worthies died if they had been taken away as a man falleth before wicked men basely cowardly injuriously without any provocation for no cause for no wrong for no offence but only their goodness they had not died as sools had died Not by their own carelesness not by their own wickedness not by their own rashness not by any default of their own but only by the mischief of those which were the children of iniquity not by the hands of law and iustice their hands nor feet had not been bound but only by the hands of cruelty and rebellion Thus had they been taken away thus had they fallen at this time and had not this been a great deliverance Thirdly It was likewise great in regard of the untimeliness and immaturity of it it was the taking of Persons away before their time many in their very youth and many in their riper years and many in the midst of their hopes in the fulness of their strength for their bodies and in the height of their parts for their minds and in the midst of their counsels for their imployment It was the barbarousness of that Soldier in Syracuse that killed the Mathematician in his study and whiles he was drawing his lines even so as I may say it had been here men in the midst of their very work And what work was it to not a work of ordinary concernment neither but the setling of the affairs of the Kingdom in Church and State the establishing of good and wholsome Laws this was the work which stuck so much in their stomacks and which provoked them to this means of interrupting it as it was the reason which some of them gave for the choice of the place Fourthly It was great also in regard of the extent of it here it was great indeed First for the number and plurality of the persons how many had been involved in this death even the whole State it self the Representative Body of the Kingdom assembled in Parliament As he that wisht he could cut off Rome at one blow what a sweeping death had this been which had carried away so many at once And what an unmerciful conspiracy that had bowels left for none We see how unlimited and unbounded malice is that nothing will serve its turn but the ruining and undoing of all friend and foe hopeful and desperate one as well as another all should have gone to the pot without any difference These are the Principles of such kind of persons All 's fish with them that comes to net Secondly For the condition and quality of the Persons consider that to make it somewhat more a multitude of mean rank and condition they are more easily spared but the loss of those which are of greater worth and eminency for their parts and place this is more to be lamented The death of great men it is no other than a great death It was that which grieved David so much in the aforenamed slaughter of Abner not only the wrongfulness of the cause but the eminency of the person Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel 2 Sam. 3.33 If David made such a matter of it the death but of one great person what had been the death of so many great ones at once King and Prince and Nobles and all the Peers of the Land to have been taken away in one moment Head and Tail Branch and root in one day the stay and the staff the mighty man and the man of War the Judg and the Prophet the Prudent and the Ancient the Honourable man and the Counseller the cunning Artificer and the eloquent Orator this had been the case here and how great had this death been Thirdly Look upon this extent likewise yet further in that which they principally aimed at and propounded to themselves herein which was not only the ruining of persons but also the ruining of Doctrines and the faith and truth of Christ it self the death of he Gospel and the death of the Ordinances and the death of Religion and the death of our own precious and immortal souls And now tell me whether
which accordingly may be appliedby us to this present Verse here before us which is the Sum as it were and Reversion of that which went before and has been hitherto handled by us Wherein the Apostles going over the same thing once again was not frivolous or superfluous in him but to very good purpose There are three things especially which are pertinently considerable in it First His confidence and firm perswasion of the Truth which he had taught and delivered It is a sign he was no Sceptick in his Religion nor yet in his Ministry but was well assured of that which he both belived and imbraced himself as also preacht and commended to others Those things whichmen are doubtful of they think it is enough to speak but once and hardly that It sticks for the most part in their teeth and comes difficultly from them they do but whisper it or lisp it out as well as they can but where they are certain here they are more free and bold in the uttering of it And so it was here with St. Paul he was confident and therefore he stuck not again to repeat it And we see from hence what it becomes every one else to be upon the like occasion Those which are Preachers and Teachers of others they had need to be well assured of the Truth of that which they preach and vent in their Ministry not to speak things at random or at a venture they care not how but deliberately and upon grounds of confidence First Because they deal in matters of great importance and the highest concernment As it is in the affairs of the world where men speak upon life and death they had need to be sure what they speak forasmuch as otherwise their miscarriage will be such as is irrecoverable Even so it is likewise in these spiritual matters and the subjects of the Ministerial Dispensations because they are such as concern mens souls and their well or ill being to all eternity therefore we had need so much the rather to take heed what we say To say no more than we are able to prove and make good if we should be questioned about it especially if we shall add the threatnings which they join with it as here Let him be accurst He that curses another for not being of his opinion had need to be sure of that opinion Secondly Because there are many more whose judgments do depend upon it If a Minister or Preacher mistake many others mistake with him It is not a single miscarriage but a multiplied for which cause it concerns him to have good ground for that which comes from him For if the blind lead the blind they shall loth fall into the ditch as our Saviour himself has told us Thirdly For the better inforcing of the Truth and Doctrine it self The confidence of the Preacher stirs up belief in the Hearer and makes him so much the more ready to assent to the things which are propounded As we see Agrippa to Paul Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian Perswaded him how did he so namely from that confidence and resolution which he did discern to be in him Whereas now on the other side as he that asks coldly we use to say teaches to deny so he that teaches coldly he does in like manner teach to mistrust and makes men to call in question the truth of that which is taught by him This the Apostle Paul here in this Scripture did not do but the contrary by that confidence which he exprest in himself Indeed this Point which we are now upon it both may be and often s abused by some kind of persons for we shall find by daily experience that there are none which are more confident than those which are most ignorant Truth it is for the most part modest and ready to suspect it self whereas error is bold and dark There are some kind of people in the world which are as stiff and resolute and peremptory in the assents of their private fancies and the imaginations of their own brain as if they were Divine Oracles and the very Articles of Faith it self neither Paul nor an Angel from Heaven could take them off from them The Devil the God of this world does two things with them first blinds their eyes from seeing the truth and their ears from hearing the errors and mistakes about it But what shall we now commend or imitate such a confidence as this no in no hand at all Neither is this that which was here observable in the Apostle this confidence of his it was of another strain and tincture which was in it It was not a confidence of presumption but a confidence of well grounded knowledg It was not a confidence of fancy or conceit but a confidence of assurance He knew and understood what he said and because he did so was therefore confident about it He that heareth speaketh constantly Prov. 21.28 And this Confidence is such as is commendable in any other besides when first of all we labour to be satisfied and well-grounded in the Truths of Religion and then keep our selves to them and stand stiffly and resolutely upon them in this case we should not cast away our Confidence which hath great recompence of reward as it is Heb. 10.35 Whether private Christians or Ministers private Christians as concerns the imbracing of the Truth and Ministers as concerns the spreading of it we should both of us so order our selves in this business as that nothing may be able to unsettle us or divert us from that which we have undertaken or discourage us in the prosecution of it For though some as I said are confident causelesly yet it is not so therefore with all There is a great deal of difference in reality between a presumptuous confidence and a rational as between one which is asleep and which is awake Both persons seem alike assured but in the thing there 's a wide distance betwixt them even so it is here But that 's the first Particular here considerable namely the Apostles confidence he was well perswaded of what he delivered The second is the Apostles zeal in the cause and truth of Christ There was a great deal of earnestness which was here exprest by him not only in the expression which he used in the simple Proposition Though we or an angel from heaven mentioned in the eighth verse but also in the additional repetition of it here again in the ninth verse What we said before c. that which men often speak of and repeat their affection is much in it and that which mens affection is much in they can never have done with it and so it was here with this blessed Apostle and holy man of God his heart it was very much raised and transported now in him when he considered how the Truth of God was now in danger to be impair'd on the one side and when he considered how the people of God were now in danger
our deceitful hearts First I say here 's the tenderness and holy jealousie of the Apostle Paul and the Spirit of God in him towards the Galatians and in them to all Christians in that he does reiterate and ingeminate his counsels to us This is still the nature of love and sincere affection that it thinks it 's never sure of the safety of the party whom it loves and therefore it repeats its admonitions and cautions again and again and is not satisfied to do it in one expression but is willing likewise to do it in another for the greater sureness and certainty of it But then secondly Here 's also the falseness and slipperiness of our deceitful hearts which stand in need of such kind of repetitions and inculcations as these are we are apt upon every turn and occasion to fall into evil and therefore we have need of all the helps against it that possibly may be not only to have our duty propounded and that which is to be done by us but likewise to be forewarned of sin and the countuary evil which we are to take heed of and avoid what we can And this by the way from the Addition of this second particular to the first But to come closely to the words themselves Do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh This is that which is in a special manner prohibited to all Christians not only here in this present Text but also in divers others besides The Scripture either in the same words or else in expressions like hereunto is very full of such Admonitions as these And accordingly it concerns us to observe them to take heed by all means that we be not guilty in this respect and to take notice of them and that especially upon these following Considerations First Because it is contrary to their professions those which are Christians have renounced the works of the flesh and vowed against them It is a part of our Covenant in Baptism wherein we are consecrated and given up to God that we will abandon such courses as these and therefore it concerns us in no hand to have to do with them If we have we transgress our Covenant and break the Bond which is betwixt us and God as an engagement to our new Obedience and Holiness of life Secondly It is contrary to our Principles and the work of Grace wrought in our hearts which in Baptism is also sealed unto us those which are true Christians they have the spirit of Christ in them which does incline them and carry them a clean direct and contrary way to these lusts of the flesh This we shall find to be the Argument of the Apostle in another place as Rom. 8.9 c. Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you Now if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness Therefore brethren we are debters not to the flesh to live after the flesh c. Every one that has the Spirit of God in him is a debter to walk after the spirit and so therefore on the other side not to fulfil the lusts of the flesh Thirdly It is contrary to their practice and that which they have done formerly already every good Christian as he has a Principle of Mortification in him whereby he is inabled to subdue the flesh so he has in some sort put this principle into action and has actually subdued the flesh indeed They which are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts says the Apostle Paul in ver 24. of this Chapter Now therefore for them to come and fulfil them is very incongruous and unsuitable and unagreeable to their former practise it is to take sin down again from the Cross and to put life and breath as it were into it after it is once mortified than which there can be nothing more absure or unfitting to be done Thus the Apostle does abundantly reason in Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin And again in ver 11 12. Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof And so all along in that Chapter Fourthly There is this also considerable against the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh the great evil and danger which comes by it and that is that it brings death and destruction along with it to be carnally minded is death Rom. 8.6 And if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Rom. 8.13 And he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption Gal. 6.8 And many such places as these which shew the deadliness and perniciousness of such courses What does all this now come to but teach us so much the rather to shame them and decline them and to abstain from them to follow and put in practice this counsel and admonition of the Apostle here in this Text Do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh For the better urging and pressing whereof it will not be amiss for us to consider the particular meaning of the terms themselves There are two Terms here to be explain'd as there were also in the former branch First What is here to be understood by the lusts of the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what we have prohibited therein Secondly What is here to be understood by not fulfilling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what we have prohibited therein To speak somewhat to both First What are we here to understand by the lusts of the flesh Desideria Carnis Now for these we are hereby to understand all the motions and inclinations and actions of the unregenerate part in us of what kind soever By the lusts of the flesh we are not only to understand those sins which by an eminency are called fleshly lusts such lusts as are terminated in the body and acted by that as Drunkenness and Adultery and Fornication and Uncleanness and the like though these be so in a special manner and in that regard to be avoided but by the lusts of the flesh we are to understand all the motions and affections and emanations of corrupt nature in us not only as acted by the body but also as more immediate to the soul as pride and envy and malice and such as these these are included by the Apostle and not only included but also more especially intended as those sins which he did aim at to mortifie and subdue in these present Galatians to whom he here writes This we may observe from the context an the coherence of these words with the former He had spoken in the Verses before of using their liberty for an occasion to the flesh in uncharitable conversation and in biting and devouring one another by slanders and
were all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2.14 15. And then likewise that he might sanctifie Death to all Believers and take away the sting and curse of it That 's one thing which is here intimated to us That Christ was amongst the dead The second is That he rose again from the dead he was begotten among the dead that is he was raised from death to life And this the Scripture also mentions in sundry places to be profitable and beneficial to us both in point of justification and in point of sanctification likewise The former we have in Rom. 4.25 where it is said expresly That he rose again for our justification And the latter we have in Rom. 6.4 where it is said That Christ was therefore raised from the dead by the glory of the Father that so we might walk in newness of life The third and last Point and which comes more home to the Text is That Christ was the first-begotten of the dead Thus he is call'd here in this place and also in some other Scriptures as in Col. 1.18 He is said to be the beginning and the first-born from the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This he is said to be according to a twofold Explication First In regard of order And secondly In regard of influence In regard of order as being himself the first in the resurrection In regard of influence as being operative and efficacious in our rising again First I say Christ was said to be the first-begotten of the dead in point of order as being first in the glorious Resurrection Therefore he is call'd in another place the first-fruits of them â—â—â—t sleep 1 Cor. 15.20 Christ is before any other in this particular And this again in a twofold respect First As to the principle of his Resurrection And secondly as to the terms of it For the principle first In that he alone rose by his own proper virtue and power others they rose from the dead but they were raised by the Power of Christ Christ he rose purely of himself Thus Joh. 2.19 Destroy this Temple and I will in three days raise it up he spoke of the temple of his body And so Joh. 10.18 I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it again This was the Power of his Divine Nature which from hence did manifest it in him And therefore in Rom. 1.4 he was said to be declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead Secondly As from the Principle of his Resurrection so likewise from the Terms of it Christ was the first that rose from Death to Life eternal and so to Glory Though Lazarus and some others rose from the dead before Christ yet they rose from natural death to natural life and so as to dye again but Christ so rose as never more to dye Rom. 6.9 Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him c. Thus now Christ is the first-begotten of the dead in point of order which is the first Explication The second is in point of influence so far forth as Christ's Resurrection was operative and efficacious to ours as indeed it was Christ's rising again from the dead is a cause of rising again to all his Members who rose in reference to him by way of Merit by way of Efficiency and by way of Pattern or Example Again which we may refer hereunto he is said to be the first-begotten of the dead in regard of that authority which he has over the dead obtained by his rising again We knew amongst the Jews he that was the first-born and eldest in the Family he had many priviledges and preheminences above his brethren as Lordship right of the Priesthood a double portion c. even so has Christ the like priviledg over those whom he is pleased to call his brethren And so the Apostle himself sets it That in all things he might have the preheminence But more expresly in Rom. 14.9 To this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of dead and living Which he is therefore said to be because in his rising again he entred into the possession and exercise of that Lordship which he had purchased over us and which did now of right give this Denomination unto him Christ was Lord of us before he rose again as he was also before he dyed and in dying it self but his Resurrection put him into the actual possession of this Lordship and was a fuller and clearer discovery and manifestation of it This is a Point of singular comfort and encouragement to God's Children and that especially against the fear of Death and the horror of the Grave wherein notwithstanding they belong to him as the head of them God is in this sense not only the God of the living but of the dead and Christ is likewise their elder Brother and as the first-begotten amongst them There is an inseparable and perpetual Union betwixt Christ and every Believer and that not only in regard of their souls but also of their bodies which as they are the Temples of the Holy Ghost so they are likewise the Members of Christ as it is in 1 Cor. 6.15 And God has made a gracious Covenant with them likewise in Christ to be their God even for ever and ever and in death it self which they shall at last be also raised up from upon the account of Christs Resurrection as it is in 1 Pet. 1.3 4. He hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you And so I have done also with the second General Part of the Text which is the description of Christ taken from his Office of Priesthood in those words The first-begotten of the dead The third and last is from his Regal or Kingly Office And the Prince of the Kings of the earth Christ is not only a Prophet and a Priest but likewise a King Act. 5.31 The God of our Fathers hath raised up Jesus c. and exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins not only a Saviour but likewise a Prince yea a Prince of all Princes as he is here and elsewhere called Thus 1 Tim. 6.15 Who is the blessed and only Potentate the King of kings and Lord of lords who only hath immortality c. And so Rev. 19.16 He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of kings and Lord of lords This Christ is said to be upon a twofold Consideration First In reference to his Nature Secondly in reference to his Office For his Nature first of all as he is God so together with the other two persons in the Sacred Trinity hath he justly this Title put upon him as being the Maker
tremble and quake at this coming and at the thoughts of it as malefactors at the coming of the Judg They desire that Christ would not come and where he gives any symptoms of it they cry out with the unclean spirit in the Gospel What have we to do with thee thou Son of God art thou come to torment us before our time A guilty and defiled conscience it abhors the coming of Christ and withdraws from it if it were possible it would altogether shun it and never have it to come to pass and when it does come it is matter of the greatest terror and astonishment to it that can be Therefore it is said of such persons at such a time That they shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and shall say unto the mountains and rocks Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Rev. 6.15 16 17. The ungodly shall not stand in judgment Psal 1.5 Not stand that is not stand upright but fall down before it and accordingly shall do all they can to avoid it Whereas on the other side the Children of God shall be well-pleased with it and hearty and couragious in it and very freely and cheerfully entertain it When he shall appear they shall have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming 1 Joh. 2.28 Indeed there are some cases and circumstances and times wherein the Spouse of Christ her self may not be always in such a present frame and disposition of spirit as to utter this speech here before us and to say Come even in this sense which we now speak of even the servants of God themselves may at least for such a particular season have an indisposedness upon them hereunto As namely when they have not finished their work or got their businesses ready about them but yet they have always a general and habitual preparation for it in them As a steward that is for the main faithful yet he may not always have his accounts made up and in that regard may not yet wish for the Audit And a Spouse that has a good affection for her Beloved yet may not presently have all her Ornaments upon her and in that Consideration may sometimes wish for the delay of his coming This is tha which is here chiefly considerable that God's Children they do still labour to frame themselves to an entertainment of Christ at his coming And that 's the first notion of this Expression as it may be taken for a word of simple acceptance or entertainment Come that is thou mayst come if thou so pleasest and shalt be welcom to me The second is as it may be taken as a word of desire or invitation Come that is I pray come it is my earnest suit and request that thou would'st come And here now we have a further inlargement and improvement of Grace in a Christian which is not only to be content with Christs coming and submitting unto it but also to be desirous of it and longing after it This is the temper and disposition of a good and of a gracious heart to pant and breathe and thirst for the second coming of Christ and not to be satisfied in it self till it does come The Spirit and the Bride say Come that is they say it importunately and earnestly with a great deal of affection This desire whereof we now speak it is laid and founded in sundry Considerations which do make for it As first in reference to the world it self in the present frame and constitution of it The world is at present in that condition as that the coming of Christ if very desirable in that regard And there are two particulars especially which do make up this unto us First In point of sin and wickedness And secondly in point of misery and affliction Both these two taken together do cast a disparagement upon the world and do therefore make Christians to desire the destruction of it First As it is a wicked and sinful world The world taken at the best was never over-good since it first began to be bad even presently upon the Creation of it Sin made an entrance upon it and got possession of it and not long after the whole earth had soon corrupted it self as the Scripture tells us but now as it 's grown any thing older and of longer standing so its sinfulness is so much the more improved and it grows worse every day than other The very times themselves we live in are a sufficient demonstration of it to us and we find it so by sad experience as being such wherein iniquity abounds more than ever and wicked men grow worse and worse as the Apostle speaks In these latter days and times of the world more especially as the spirit has foretold it there are the greatest incursions of wickedness of any other and that in all the kinds and degrees of it Now this is that which makes a gracious heart so to long for this second coming of Christ that so thereby he may put a period to these days of sin that God may be no longer dishonoured his Name may be no longer blasphemed his Laws may be no longer transgressed his Ordinances may be no longer despised his Spirit may be no longer grieved A good Christian has such an enmity and antipathy against sin as that he cannot but be very desirous of that which is destructive of it as the coming of Christ is not his first only but his second For this end will the Son of God be manifest that he may destroy the works of the Devil And for this end also do the Children of God so much desire the manifestation of him that so by this means sin may be destroyed and have a period and end put unto it And that both in others and also in themselves The Children of God they are both scandalized and offended at others abominations and likewise they are burdened and overprest with their own corruption and in each respect do desire that Christ would come for the remedying of either that their righteous souls with Lot's may be no longer vexed with the Conversation of the wicked and that themselves also with Paul may be delivered from the body of death that is the body of sin as we shall hear more anon in the following Explication But secondly As there is the world in the sinfulness and wickedness of it so there is the world also in the misery and afflictiveness of it which does make for this desire in them also that exceeding vanity which is upon the creature and those manifold calamities which do attend upon humane Life This is another thing here considerable in the world which does put the Church upon this Prayer for Christs coming that as God has promised he may wipe away all tears from