solemn Call and Dedication blessed Offices deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement A Treatise of the Soul of Man wherein the Divine Original excellent and immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the necessity of its Separation from it considered and improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immediately after Death asserted discussed and variously applied Divers knotty and difficult Questions about departed Souls both Philosophical and Theological stated and determined The Method of Grace in bringing home the Eternal Redemption contrived by the Father and accomplished by the Son through the Effectual Application of the Spirit unto God's Elect being the second Part of Gospel Redemption The Divine Conduct or Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated all the Methods of Providence in our course of Life opened with Directions how to apply and improve them Navigation spiritualiz'd or a New Compass for Seamen consisting of Thirty Two Points of pleasant Observations profitable Applications serious Reflections all concluded with so many spiritual Poems c. A Saint indeed the great Work of a Christian A Touchstone of Sincerity or Signs of Grace and Symptoms of Hypocrifie being the second Part of the Saint indeed A Token for Mourners or Boundaries for Sorrow for the Death of Friends Husbandry spiritualiz'd or the Heavenly use of Earthly Things All these Ten by Mr. John Flavell A Funeral Sermon on the Death of that Pious Gentlewoman Mrs Judith Hammond late Wife of the Reverend Mr. George Hammond Minister of the Gospel in London Of Thoughtfulness for the Morrow With an Appendix concerning the immoderate Desire of foreknowing Things to come Of Charity in reference to others Mens sins The Redeemers Tears wept over lost Souls in a Treatise on Luke 19.41 42. With an Appendix wherein somewhat is occasionally Discoursed concerning the Sin against the Holy Ghost and how God is said to Will the Salvation of them that Perish A Sermon directing what we are to do after a strict Enquiry whether or no we truly Love God A Funeral Sermon for Mrs Esther Sampson late Wife of Mr. Henry Sampson Doctor of Physick who died Nov. 24. 1689. The Carnality of Religious Contention In two Sermons Preach'd at the Merchants Lecture in Broadstreet A calm and sober Enquiry concerning the Possibility of a Trinity in the Godhead A Letter to a Friend concerning a Postscript to the Defence of Dr. Sherlock's Notion of the Trinity in Unity relating to the calm and sober Enquiry upon the same Subject A View of that Part of the late Considerations Addrest to H. H. about the Trinity Which concerns the sober Enquiry on that Subject A Sermon preach'd on the late Day of Thanksgiving Decemb. 2. 1697. To which is prefix'd Dr. Bates's Congratulatory Speech to the King All these Eleven by Mr. John Howe The Good of Early Obedience or the Advantage of bearing the Yoke of Christ betimes Octavo The Almost Christian or the false Professor Tried and Cast Duodecimo Spiritual Wisdom improved against Temptation Duodecimo The Vision of the Wheels seen by the Prophet Ezechiel Quarto A Sermon of Unity or Two Sticks made one Quarto All Five by Matth. Mead Pastor of a Church of Christ at Stepney Discourses upon the Rich Man and Lazarus Octavo Three last Sermons of Mr. Cruso To which is added a Sermon on Novemb. 5. 1697. Octavo Both by Tim. Cruso M. A. His Funeral Sermon preach'd by Matth. Mead. Quarto The Life and Death of Mr Philip Henry Minister of the Gospel at Whitchurch in Shropshire who died June 24. 1696. Recommended by Dr. Bates David Jones's Sermon in Ember-Week preached before the University of Oxford The Qualifications requisite towards the Receiving a Divine Revelation A Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul January the 2d 1699. Being the First for this Year of the Lecture Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By Samuel Bradford M. A. Rector of St. Mary le Bow
Vera Effigies TIMOTHEI CRUSO Aetat 40. 1697. T. Forster delin N. White scuÌ„lp TWENTY-FOUR SERMONS Preached at the MERCHANTS-LECTURE AT Pinners Hall By the late Reverend Mr. TIMOTHY CRVSO LONDON Printed by S. Bridge for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside MDCXCIX TO THE READER THese Sermons are some of the Reliques of one who is gone to receive the Fruit of his Labours who hath left Sowing for the sake of the Harvest wherein he is now reaping Though this is a Posthumous Piece yet it speaks out the living Praise of the dead Author whose it was without any Alteration or Addition being Printed from his own Notes If I may use the Phrase in Fashion he lived too fast not as too many do who shorten their Days by their Debaucheries and sinful Excesses but as a Taper which wastes it self to give Light to others His Bodily Constitution was too weak to undergo the Service his Soul put it to in constant Studies and hard Labour that he might Answer the Restlesness of his Mind which was always aspiring to greater Knowledge and higher Attainments whereby he laid greater load upon his Flesh than its weakness could bear and so sinking under the burden he died in the midst of his Days There is no need of my Epistle to Midwife these Excellent Discourses into the World nor had I had any hand in it had it not been to answer the Desires of some Relations of his to whom my Obligations will not allow me to deny any thing And also to take this occasion to Vindicate what I spake and published in his Funeral Sermon about the Vnion of the Spirit of Christ with the Dead Body of a Saint which hath by some been greatly stumbled at and called in question as a new Doctrine I therefore thought it Charity to such to remove this stumbling Block not by any Arguments further than what I have therein already urged but by calling in the Judgment of others in this matter and I shall look no farther back than to the Learned Men of our own Times Mr. Rutherford speaking of the Covenant of Grace Treatise of the Covenant of Grace p. 216. says It is thus Eternal in that the dead Parties Abraham Isaac and Jacob are still in the Covenant of Grace and there remains a Covenant Union between Christ and their rotten Flesh sleeping in the Dust Mr. Calamy says Morning Exercise of Giles in Fields Ser. 24. p. 548. The Bodies of the Saints shall be raised by vertue of their Union with Christ for the Body of a Saint even while it is in the Grave is united to Christ and is asleep in Jesus and shall be raised by vertue of this Union And in p. 557. If thou gettest into Christ while thou livest thou shalt die in Christ and sleep in Christ and be raised by Christ into Eternal Happiness Mr. Case speaking of the Vnion between Christ and Believers Case his Mount Pisgah first Part p. 38. says Not only in Death but even after Death this Union holds the Saints are said to sleep in Jesus that part of the Saints which is capable of sleep is not capable of Separation from Christ While their more noble Part is united to Christ in Heaven among the Spirits of Just Men made perfect Christ is united to their inferiour and more ignoble Part in the Grave their very Dust they sleep in Jesus Mr. Stedman says Stedman's Mystical Vnion of Believers with Christ p. 191. Death it self shall not separate Believers from Jesus Christ but still they are entirely in him even when they are dead As it was in the death of Christ himself though it made Separation between his Body and Soul yet it did not separate the Humane Body from the Divine So it is in the death of the Saints though it rend the Spirit from the Flesh yet it can part neither from the Son of God The very Bodies of Believers are united to Jesus when they are dead Dr. Collings on those words of our Lord Pool 's Annotations on John 11.26 He that believeth on me shall never die says Though his Body shall die because of sin yet his Spirit shall live because of Righteousness and God shall in the great Day quicken again his Mortal Body through the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in him and is united to him Dr. Thomas Goodwin Dr. Goodwin 's first Fol. on Ephes 1.14 p. â—â—1 Doth the Spirit dwell in you now When you are laid in the Grave that Spirit dwelleth in you as he did in the Body of Christ I do not say in the same manner The Spirit of God did dwell in the Body of Christ in the Grave and raised it up he never left him Though his Body was a dead Carkass without a Soul yet that Body was Hypostatically united to the Godhead therefore it was called Holy One My Holy One shall not see Corruption Now the Comparison is If we have the Spirit of Christ and if he dwell in us the same Spirit shall never leave our Bodies till he hath raised us up also Nay while thy Body is dead and rotten in the Grave the Holy Ghost dwells in it And hear what a great Man of the Church of England in his Day saith Christ's Deity was united to his dead Body his Resurrection was perform'd by the Power and Spirit of the Father God reached out his hand to him and raised him up Here then is our Comfort the same Spirit of God is communicable to us the same Arm of Power may be reached out to us He will imploy the same power for us as he did for Christ Ephes 1.19 And again in p. 210. His Spirit dwells in you The Inhabitation of God's Spirit that is the Ground of our Resurrection because it is Vinculum unionis the Spirit is the Bond of our Union and Conjunction with Christ By it we are Incorporated into his Body and made Members of it Now then if our Head rise all the Members must rise with it if the Head be in Heaven the Members shall not for ever perish in the Grave This Union by the Spirit is like the touch of a Load-stone it will attract and draw us to him that where he is we shall be also It is spoken of his Hypostatical but it is true also of his Mystical Union Quod semel assumpsit nunquam deposuit Christ will part with none of his Members Bishop Brownrig 2d Vol. p. 204. And again in the same Page Our Bodies by this Inhabitation are Consecrated to be a Possession of the Holy Ghost and the Temple of God must not be destroy'd God's Spirit takes Pleasure not only in these living Temples but owns them when they are dead takes Pleasure in the dead Bones and Favours the Dust of them I could multiply Testimonies of elder Date to prove the Truth of this Doctrine and that it is no new Notion but there needs no Proof from Humane Testimony
we have no other Evidence of invisible future Things but only our Faith thomas who would not believe what he saw John 20.25 tells Christ We know not whither thou goest John 14.5 'T is indeed an unknown Land and the way through which we pass to it is dark and gloomy without the enlightning Discoveries of Faith This alone will clear up all and so it is with every Believer as with Abraham Hebr. 11.8 By Faith when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an Inheritance obeyed not knowing whether he went SERMON XXII August 24. 1697. DEUT XXXIV v. So Moses the Servant of the Lord died there in the Land of Moab according to the Word of the Lord. III. WHY we should thus die in Obedience to the Will of God There are many Reasons for it 1. God is Supream and Absolute Lord. He hath the highest Proprietyin us and the most unlimited Dominion over us Behold as the clay is in the Potters hand so are you in my hand O house of Israel Ezek. 18.6 He forms every Vessel as he pleases and is at liberty to break his own Workmanship without controul so the same God whose power produces hath a right to dissolve our Substance He is the Father of our Spirits and they are his peculiar Off-spring and therefore ought to be entirely at his Command He created and infused them and on that account may justly call for them whenever he will 'T is but like the Stream's going back to its Fountain like the Rivers returning turning to the Sea whence they came and the Sun 's hasting to the place where he arose Eccles 1.5 7. We know nothing of God as we ought to know if we know not this that God hath a far greater Interest in us than we have in our selves And that it belongs to him and not to us to govern and appoint all those things which do concern us It was almost in the same breath that David said Thou art my God and my times are in thy hand Psalm 31.14 15. We destroy his Deity if we deny his Sovereignty we renounce him as our God unless we submit to him as Lord of our Lives If he may not determine the Period of Life why should he manage any of the Affairs of it And if we exclude his Providence why should we admit his Being 2. We have the Character of God's Servants and profess Subjection to him but we contradict this Character and Profession except we die in Obedience to the Will of God 'T is observ'd that Moses is never call'd the Servant of the Lord in all his life time till now that he came to die because hereby he did most remarkably approve himself such though he had performed many great and excellent Services to God before He that is another Man's Servant must be content to be called off from his present Work and Station at his Master's pleasure they that are under the Yoke are not to be the Disposers of their own Time or rather we may say they have no Time which is their own but what is allowed them We are under a stricter Law to God and he that calls Himself a Christian does thereby acknowledge it we are not our own but the Lords both living and dying and therefore there is as much reason for our dying as for our living to the Lord and as little reason for our dying as for our living to our selves Rom. 14.7 8. It was Paul's earnest desire and hope that Christ should be magnified in his Body whether by life or by death Phil. 1.20 And this became him as a Servant of Christ ver 1. For we are falsly so called and assume a Name which our Pactice does not agree to if his Will be not a Rule to ours in every thing and particularly in this grand and important Point of Life and Death 3. OUr Lord Christ when he took upon him the Form and Quality of a Servant was our Example in this Case He became Obedient unto death even the death of the cross Phil. 2.8 A Death so circumstanced wih the most tremendous Aggravations as we can never be call'd to be obedient to yet he did not refuse or decline it as he might have done when his Hour came His Life was not taken from him but he laid it down of himself because he had received such a Commandment of the Father John 10.18 It was a free and voluntary Act he gave up the Ghost in the strictest sense as is plain from all the Passages going before his Death It was in the prospect of its near approach that he said to his Disciples Arise let us go hence John 14.31 The words were spoken where Christ had celebrated his last Supper but the place which he speaks of removing to was the Garden where he knew that he should be betray'd and apprehended Chap. 18.4 Jesus knowing all things that should come upon him went forth c. He boldly and chearfully met the Enemy whom he could easily either have shun'd or defeated He was able to escape this Death but would not and therein is a pattern to us who have no such power 4. God never give a Commission to Death nor lays his command upon us to die but when 't is really the fittest Season for us to obey him in it To speak strictly an untimely Death is never permitted by God we are never suffer'd to die when it would be better for us to live Infinite Wisdom and Grace will not permit it and he that resigns himself to their Conduct is sure to die when it is best that he should The Scripture is express Psalm 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints This may be most clearly expounded and understood by comparing with Psalm 72.14 which is a Psalm for Solomon as Type of Christ He shall redeem their Soul c. and precious shall their Blood be in his sight so precious that when it is fitter to be spar'd than spilt he will certainly preserve it Though God can kill or keep alive as he will he does not act after an Arbitrary manner he never turns a Saint to destruction when it would be good for him that his Soul should be held in Life We do not indeed see the Grounds and Reasons of God's acting and therefore our Thoughts are not as his Thoughts but it would be very strange if we must not trust God further than we yet see because we shall see hereafter though not now 5. In our Obedience to this command of God there is the greatest reward There is a great Reward in the doing of every one but above all in this There 's no Act of Obedience so profitable to our selves as this if we consider the Glory Honour and Peace which immediately follows If a Servant desireth the Shadow Job 7.2 Why should we be unwilling to enter into our Rest and receive our full Reward when our Work is
Nature spoil the Reputation of the Works of Art Psalm 4.7 Thou hast put gladness in my Heart more than in the Time when their Corn and Wine increased If we had more spiritual Delight in God carnal Fruitions must needs be a less powerful bait 'T is in vain for the Devil to entice that Soul with a few drops of Pleasure that run through broken Cisterns which partakes of satisfying Refreshments from the Fountain of Life these Things are only suited to the Palates of those that never know the Joy of the Lord. Heaven's Favourites cannot fall in Love with Earths 't is natural for a Believer that 's cloathed with the Sun to have the Moon under his Feet Rev. 12.1 2. The Frowns of the World too often scare Men from their Obedience but a due Apprehension of the Love of God is a good Security against this Temptation also The belief of God's reconciled Heart and view of his pleased Countenance is enough to make us Triumph over the fiercest malignity of Men and Devils It Matters not who they be that are against us nor what they can do against us so long as we know that God is for us This will make us Glory in Infirmities Necessities Distresses and Afflictions of all sorts For he that can encourage himself with David 1 Sam. 30.6 In the Lord his God will not be dismayed by any of these Things Bitter Herbs will go down very well when a Man hath such delicious Meats which the World knows not of The Sense of our Father's Love is like Honey at the end of every Rod it turns Stones into bread and Water into Wine and the Valley 〈◊〉 Trouble into a Door of Hope it makes the biggest Evils seem as if they were none or better than none for it makes our Desarts like the Garden of the Lord and when we are upon the Cross for Christ as if we were in Paradice with Christ Who would quit his Duty for the sake of Suffering that hath such relief under it Who would not rather walk in Truth when he hath such a Cordial to support him than by the Conduct of fleshly Wisdom to take any indirect or irregular Methods for his own Deliverance 3. The Love of Life is a very frequent and pernicious Snare which a Sense of God's Love must deliver us from being entangled by What so desirable as Life if a Man have no Place in the Heart of God This is the greatest Temporal Blessing and nothing can out do it but the Favour of the God of our Life And this excels indeed Psalm 63.3 Thy Loving Kindness is better than Life What Comparison is there between the Breath in our Nostrils and the Favour of an Eternal God Any more than there is between an Everlasting Light and a poor vanishing Vapour compare Isa 60.19 with Jam. 4.14 Who would not therefore hate his own Life which hangs in doubt continually before him and of which he can have no Assurance when he knows that the Living God is his certain Portion Who would not freely yield up and part with Ten Thousand such Lives one after another if he had so many rather than the Wrath of God should be kindled but a little 4. The Fear of Death is a very usual and hurtful Snare too which can hardly be broken without a Sense of the Love of God Death which will rend and tear the Soul from the Body is the Lion in the way which discourages and affrights many from hazardous Duties thousands through sinful Cowardize have rather chosen to shipwrack their Faith and prostitute their Conscience then mingle their Blood with their Sacrifices But now they that have the Comforts of God to delight their Souls are more willingly brought to this King of Terrors if God cause his Face to shine what should hinder our chearful descent into the Valley of the shadow of Death Love is strong as Death and a great deal stronger one would dare to Dye for a good Man whose Love and Friendship hath endear'd him to us how much more for a God whose kindness hath been so exceeding This hath made so many Martyrs glorifie God in the midst of the Fires when they have been kill'd for Christ's sake all the day long and counted as Sheep for the slaughter they have been more than Conquerours through him that lov'd them and through the lively Impression of that Love upon them Rom. 8.36 37. 7. The New Nature is ingenuous and therefore will be wrought up to Obedience by the Love of God After we have tasted that the Lord is gracious we readily savour all the Things of God Humaue Nature indeed in our lapsed depraved State may Reward Evil for Good and Hatred for Love as David's Enemies did to him Psalm 109.5 before a saving Change is accomplish'd on the Soul but it neither is nor can be so when God gives Men another Heart as he does at their New-birth Then nothing eies us so fast to our Duty as those bands of Love nothing is so sweetly and yet so strongly attractive Jer. 31.3 With Loving Kindness have I drawn thee they that are only haled and drag'd by legal Terror will be striving to break away again and loose themselves from the Yoke of Christ but Love subdues all Things to it self it constrains to such Acts of Duty as make the mad World think us beside our selves 2 Cor. 5.13 14. The Soul is compell'd to come in to Christ and yet it walks at Liberty 't is so swayed by a Principle of Holy Gratitude as that it is always studying that Point What shall I render For this is a Principle that never fails to operate where the Root of thankfulness is the Fruit of Service cannot be wanting Therefore the Apostle beseeches by the Mercies of God that we present our Bodies c. Rom. 12.1 Love hath a mighty prevalency in the obtaining of all that is desir'd Herod would do any Thing at the Request of his beloved Herodias Esther chose that Time to perfer her Petition when she was expressing her Love to the King in a Banquet so when Christ is feasting a Believer with his Fat Things with his Love which is better than Wine the ravisht Believer can deny or grudge him nothing 8. That Love to God which a due Sense of the Love of God does produce in us is virtually all Obedience This Consideration consists of two Branches which to give it the greater Evidence and Force may be distincty open'd 1. A due Sense of the Love of God to us produces Love in us to God 1 John 4.19 We Love him because he first loved us Sic res accendunt lumina rebus Sanctified Affections are blown up in us by the believing Persuasions of Divine good Will towards us As there is something like an exchange of Souls between Bosom Friends so there are returns and reboundings of Love betwixt God and those whose Hearts are knit to him The Spouse of Christ proclaims their mutural
2 Cor. 12.10 The Spirit of God speaks in very large and comprehensive Terms upon this Subject Col. 1.11 Strengthened with all might according to his glorious Power unto all Patience c. So 2 Cor. 9.8 Here 's a remarkable heap of Expressions as Mr. Trail very well Notes pag. 236. All Grace first in God and that abounding towards us and then as the result of it our having a sufficiency and All-sufficiency and that always and in all Things and thence flows every good Work and our abounding to every good Work 5. You who are Believers and consequently to whom all Things are thus possible study all thankfulness What a Debtor is he to God whose Strength is in him According as his Divine Power hath given Relief to you make suitable returns to him The Man that had been Lame from his Mother's Womb assoon as he receiv'd Strength and stood up he entred with the Apostles into the Temple leaping and praising God Acts 3.7 8. Thus David cries out The Lord is my Strength and my Shield my Heart trusted in him and I am helped therefore my Heart greatly rejoyceth and with my Song will I Praise him Psalm 28.7 To Conclude therefore as your help comes from Heaven so let your Praises go up thither Remember every renewed Experience calls for a repeated Acknowledgement and there may be equal Danger of obstructing God's mighty workings by ingratitude and by unbelief both tend to with-hold his Hand and enfeeble ours SERMON XV. December 1. 1696. PSALM LXIX iv last Clause Then I restored that which I took not away THough the Title of this Psalm Points us to the Author a Psalm of David yet much of the Matter makes it plain that he is not the only nor the principal Subject The main Substance of the whole agrees well enough to David and he might have an Eye in it to his own personal Afflictions but yet his Thoughts and Expressions were so directed by the Holy Ghost as to be more fully and properly verified in Christ of whom he was an eminent Type than in himself There are several Remarkable Passages which have a particular Respect to Christ and to put it beyond all Doubt that this was the meaning and design of the Spirit of God in them they are so applied in the New Testament Compare ver 9. with John 2.17 And ver 21. with Mat. 27.34 A Circumstance of Suffering which we never meet with in the History of David's Troubles but punctually Recorded by the Evangelists concerning our Blessed Lord. Again ver 22 23. is applied not to David's Enemies but to the Jews upon their Rejection by God for the Crucifying of Christ Rom. 11.9 10. and so ver 25. is said to be fulfill'd in Judas for betraying him Acts 1.20 But we need to go no further for an Instance of this kind than the beginning of this verse which is Cited by our Lord himself as spoken with Reference to his Case John 15.25 They hated me without a Cause Only what is contracted in the Citation is here deliver'd more at large where we have four Things distinctly set forth concerning the Enemies of Jesus Christ their Iniquity Malignity Number and Power 1. Their Iniquity they were causeless haters of him and his Enemies wrongfully they had no just or real Ground for what they did no Provocation to do it they were his Adversaries for his good Works not for any Evil ones and that which should have rather engag'd their Affection to him was the occasion of their Opposition 2. Their Malignity they that would destroy me they sought no less than his Life they thirsted after his Blood that which was indeed necessary to be shed for the accomplishing of the Holy Ends of God these wicked Instruments would not be Content without so Devilish Rage was over-rul'd to bring about the Divine Purpose 3. Their Number they are more than the Hairs of my Head the whole Multitude of the Jews were for destroying him Mat. 27.20 c. And truly every Man in the World that is without Christ is against him He hath as many Adversaries as there are Men in a natural unconverted State 4. Their Power They are mighty so it was foretold that they would be The Kings of the Earth set themselves and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ Psalm 2.2 Which Peter cites as spoken with Relation to our Lord Jesus Acts 4.26 Paul says That none of the Frinces of this World knew him 1 Cor. 2.8 And being ignorant of him no wonder that they oppose him Antichrist hath more of the Potentates of the Earth on his side than Christ ever had But that which I intend to insist upon is what the Psalmist adds in the close of the verse Then I restored that which I took not away Then when he was so beset and surrounded with Enemies who were worrying him to Death then when the Waters were come into his Soul when he sunk in the deep mire and the Floods overflow'd him when his Throat was dryed and his Eyes failed ver 1 2 3. Which are all so many various Phrases to denote the Extremity of those Soul-troubles that our Lord Jesus was plung'd into by Reason of the Wrath of God let out against him as well as the Wrath of Man Then he restored that which he took not away he was not forc'd or constrain'd to do it but he did it willingly with his free Consent he was under no Obligation to do it but what he took upon himself the Law binds a Man indeed to make Restitution of that which he hath taken away Lev. 6.4 But the Lord of the Law could not be bound to restore that which he had not taken in order to the making of Peace and Reconciliation between God and the Sinner this was graciously undertaken and perform'd by Christ Obs It was the great and blessed Work of our Lord Jesus here upon the Earth to restore what he took not away In handling this I. Shew what is it which was taken away and from whom II. Wherein it appears that Christ took it not away III. How he restor'd it IV. Why he did so V. Use I. What is it which was taken away and from whom For 't is manifestly implied that there was something unjustly taken or else what need of any Restitution As to God there was Glory taken from him and as to Man there was Righteousness Holiness and Happiness taken from him also 1. There was Glory taken from God Not his essential Glory nor any Perfection of his Being for that cannot be taken away but that Glory which shines forth in the Moral Government of his Creatures and that Glory which we are tied to give to him 1. The Glory of God shining forth in the Holy Government of his reasonable Creatures was taken away by Sin It was preserv'd and maintain'd in the upper World indeed among the standing Angels but among fallen Men in this lower World it
be given Glory cannot be denied for though Glory is not merited by Grace yet always entailed upon it because the same Mercy is the constant never failing Spring of both The Lord will give Grace and Glory Psalm 84.11 These Things are continually coupled like the Creatures which enter'd into Noah's Ark two by two of every Kind Gen. 7.15 as God never gives Glory where he with-holds his Grace so on the other side where Grace is dispensed Glory is never kept back Indeed Glory is but the perfecting of the Gift of Grace the Difference betwixt them is only gradual Grace is Glory in the Bud and Glory is Grace full blown Therefore the Names of Grace and Glory are promiscuously given to one another sometimes Grace is stiled Glory 2 Cor. 3. ult And sometimes Glory called Grace 1 Pet. 1.13 3. If Grace be given to every one that is in Christ then every such one is worthy of our Affection and Esteem Wheresoever the Truth of Grace is it calls for more of our Love and inward Respect than all the Wealth and Power and Greatness in the World The smallest grain of saving Faith is more precious than thousands of Gold and Silver and 't is so precious in all that have it that one should not be set up in Competition with another Every gracious Person is really amiable and valuable and therefore a partial Regard to such or such only is sinful and groundless No one is to be preferr'd so as that another should be undervalued one is not to be had in Admiration and another in Contempt but all are to be lookt upon as Heirs together of the Grace of Life He that sincerely Loves any one for the sake of Holiness without little by Respects will love all Saints on the same account 4. If Grace be given to every one according to a particular measure it must needs be dangerous to attempt more than this measure will extend to 'T is unwarrantable Presumption to undertake what is above our Reach and beyond our Strength Therefore David says That he did not exercise himself in great Matters nor in Things too high for him Psalm 131.1 He that desires the Office of a Gospel-Bishop desires a good work and yet Novices are forbidden it 1 Tim. 3.1 with 6. Our sanctified Abilities are only in Part and design'd of God to fit us for that Place and Calling in which we are Over-bold adventuring where we are uncall'd may expose us to Temptations unassisted Peter's rash Zeal in the Garden was a means of betraying him to sinful Cowardise in the Palace of the High-Priest The Evangelist therefore takes notice of his being question'd by a Kinsman of Malchus whose Ear he had cut off John 18.26 5. If Grace be given from Christ to every one 't is the great concern of every one to know him and the main Work of those whom be sends to make him known If he be all and in all Col. 3.11 If he be the common Publick Treasury out of which every Soul is spiritually enricht and we have nothing but what comes through his Hands first we have nothing if we are ignorant of him And they do little Service to the Churches who only bow at his Name and make no mention of his Righteousness or Grace they that pretend to come from him and are silent concerning him seem like to Messengers that have forgot their Errand and tell a formal Story which hath no Relation to it and signifies nothing to them that hear it Such as expect any share of his saving Benefits should seek to be led into Acquaintance with his Person 6. If there be such a Likeness and Affinity between the Grace which was in Christ and which is in those that belong to him they are no Christians that do not Resemble Christ and that are not Imitators of him This is that which makes all real Christians truly glorious and the Glory of Christ as the Woman is said to be the Glory of the Man 1 Cor. 11.7 She reflects the excellencies of the Man so do they the Excellencies of Jesus Christ As Face answers to Face in the Glass so do they to him They are planted in the similitude of his Death and Resurrection i. e. made conformable to both Rom. 6.5 Phil. 3.10 As they are Created in Christ so they are Created after his Model They are his Brethren and he the first-born among them and as the first in every Kind uses to be a standard and president to the rest so is he Consequently they do not abide in Christ nor are they related to him that do not imitate his walk and follow his steps We shall never have Bodies like unto his glorious Body except we have Souls like his if we do not bear his heavenly Image now we shall not at the last We deceive our selves with vain Hopes and others with a vain Profession 2. For Practise To those that are yet graceless and to them that are truly gracious 1. What should they do that are yet gracless For some of that sort may without breach of Charity be suppos'd in every Assembly we never read but of one so pure as to be without such a mixture and that was when Christ Preacht his Farewel Sermon to his Disciples John 14.15 16. Chapters after Judas was gone out Chap. 13.30 31 c. 1. Labour to be sensible of your wretchedness while entirely under the Power of Sin and the Servants of Coruption If so great and good a Man as Paul cried out of himself as wretched because deliver'd only in part from the Body of Death Rom. 7.24 How much more miserable must you be that are not at all deliver'd from it When the second Temple was building which was greatly Inferiour to the former God puts it to the People Who is left among you that saw this House in her first Glory And how do you see it now Is it not in your Eyes in Comparison thereof as nothing Hag. 2.3 So if any of us had ever seen the Humane Nature cloathed with Original Righteousness before the entrance of Sin which was our House in its Primitive Glory what a woful ruinous heap should we discern it now to be 2. Improve this Conviction to the deepest Humiliation The most prostrate Frame of Soul is always the Foundation which God laies and builds upon He giveth Grace to the lowly and humble Prov. 3.34 James 4.6 1 Pet. 5.5 The Spirit of God which descends like a Dove does usually light upon the Ground not upon high and lofty Trees The first step of Paul's Conversion who had been an haughty Supercilious Pharisce before lifting up himself as the rest of that Sect did was his falling to the Earth Acts 9.4 Fountains are not wont to break out in the Tops of Hills but it is the Method of God in Nature to send the Springs into the Valleys Psalm 104.10 And all Waters run into the lowest Places so do the Influences of Grace fall upon
of the Comforts of it assign'd by God and when that Portion is exhausted we are truly full of Days whether we have lived long in the World or a little while No Man can die till then and after that 't is impossible to live It is certain that to this point we shall come and as certain that we shall not go beyond it 4. The place of our Death is limited by the purpose and pleasure of God as well as the of our Habitation while we live He prescribes not only when but where our Spirits shall reutrn to him He calls as it were to every Man out of Heaven though not so audibly as to Moses saying Die thou there upon that spot of Ground thy Carkass shall fall as God said concerning Ahab with reference to Naboth's Field which he had gotten by Murder I wil requite thee in this plat 2 Kings 9.26 One perhaps is struck in a Religious Assembly another in his Closet one in the City another in the Field one at Home another Abroad but all exactly in that place which was allotted by God's eternal Decree Our Lord could not be hurt in Herod's Jurisdiction because his last Stage was to be Jerusalem Luke 13.33 5. The means of our Death are disposed and managed by God whether natural or violent or casual means Whatsoever it be which brings us to the Grave 't is a Messenger of his sending When the Manslayer kills another undesignedly God is said to deliver the other into his hand Exod. 21.13 so when bloody Men seek after our Lives 't is as true that God delivers us into their hands also if we fall into them Him being deliver'd by the council and foreknowledge of God you have taken c. Acts 2.23 There is no Distemper which proves mortal to us amongst the many that we are incident to but what therein executes the Orders of God He who hath appointed such an Event does likewise appoint those things whereby it is brought about Diseases in the Body as well as Storms in the Air fulfil his Word 6. The manner of dying as to Slowness or Suddennes Ease or Pain is directed by the Will of God Some are snatch'd out of the World as Israel went out of Egypt in haste and cut off by a quick surprizing stroke like Sodom's overthrow in a moment Others have a lingring Departure and the Pins of their Tabernacle are loosned and pulled out by degrees God is the Supream Orderer of both for he takes away as he sees good Ezek. 16.50 Some slide out of the World like Rivers of Oil which run smooth and soft without any Bands in their Death and others die with Agony and Torture as if the Soul were rent and torn out of the Body like the casting of the dumb Spirit out of the Child Mark 9.26 And who knoweth not in all these that the Hand of the Lord hath wrought this II. What sort of Obedience we are to yield to the Will of God in this Case Here shew what is consistent with it and what are the proper and due Qualifications of it First What is Consistent with this Obedience which may seem opposite and repugnant to it Answ 1. The use of natural Remedies for the preservation of Life consists very well with our Obedience to God in dying it is the manifest Will of God that we should use them when his secret will is not to prosper them When we know not how he will do with us we know not what he hath requir'd us to do for our selves A diligent Application of Recovering means may be accompanied with our dutiful submitting of the issue to him 'T is no Rebellion against the Laws of God to follow the Rules of the Physician even in our last Sickness before we know whether it will be our last or not The Distemper'd Body ought not to be neglected though the departing Spirit is to be resign'd The Body is such an Hand-maid to the Soul that it must not like that Egyptian Servant be carelesly left when it falls sick 1 Sam. 30.31 2. Conditional Requests to God for sparing Mercy are not inconsistent with this Obedience Absolute Requests indeed are not allowable to ask Life in a peremptory Manner whether it be the Will of God to grant it to no is as sinful as 't is vain but to ask it with a becomeing Subjection to his unknown good Pleasure is what he approves though he denies to answer Our Lord himsself intreated the passing of the Cup from him if it were possible or if his Father were willing Luke 22.42 So long as there is hope there is Room for Prayer yea many Times against Hope Prayer hath prevailed While we are under God's Hand we cannot tell but that he may hear when we find that the unalterable Decree is gone forth we are to cease like those Disciples when Paul would not be persuaded saying The Will of the Lord be done Acts 21.14 3. A zealous pursuit of Holy Designs for the Service and Interest of Christ to the very last is consistent with our Obedience to the Will of God in dying It behoves us to be carrying on Religious Projects as long as we live though we should yield to dye before we have accomplisht them Though David was told that he should not have the Honour of building an House for God yet he continued his vast Preparations for it till the Time that he fell asleep While we have any being we should be aiming at further usefulnes continuing and drawing the Schemes of more good Works whether God will give us Opportunity for the performance or not It will be our Glory to dye with such Work upon our Hands for no Man ever yet but Jesus Christ was able to do all that was in his Heart to do for God Mr. N. Mather 4. The strugglings of Humane Flesh against the bitterness of Death though never altogether Innocent in us as in Christ will consist with our Obedience in dying Nature cannot receive such a Sentence in it self without some Aversion though Grace overcomes and subdues it Nature will look upon Death as an Enemy still though Grace looks upon it as Conquer'd The Mind so far as it is renewed is entirely given up to God but the Sanctification of the Spirit Soul and Body being still imperfect there will be some remaining Reluctancies These tho' not excusable from Sin are nevertheless reconcileable with Sincerity The dying Acts of Believers are not free from guilty weakness and yet are unquestionably done in greatest Uprightness There is something which pulls back but a stronger Principle which draws them forward 2. What are the due and proper Qualifications of this Obedience Ans 1. It includes a quiet expecting and waiting for God's Call Obedience to God in dying must not spring from an impatient Discontent of Living for then it is no Obedience but real unruliness of the Spirit seeking Deliverance before the Time from some burdensome Evils wherewith we are opprest
Persons under long and great Afflictions are very apt to say It is enough now oh Lord take away my Life as Elias 1 Kings 19.4 But whatever our Exercises be it is not enough till God thinks meet This is a venting of irregular Passion not an act of Duty Rebeckab cries I am weary of my Life because of the Daughters of Heath Gen. 27. ult But nothing will justifie such weariness till our Time to dye is fully come A discharge should be acceptable when God is pleas'd to give it but not be rashly sought out of the appointed Season 2. An humble bearing of God's fatherly displeasure if there should be any Tokens of it upon us in our Death We have an hint of this from the very Case of Moses here Chap. 32.51 Because you trespassed against me among the Children of Israel at the Waters of Meribah-kadesh c. Because you sanctified me not in the midst of them This one Sin and Miscarriage of Moses in the Conduct of the People is call'd to remembrance by God when he is going out of the World and therefore as the Lord on whose Hand the King of Israel leaned was to see the Plenty in Samaria with his Eyes but not to Eat thereof 2 Kings 7.2 So Moses now was to behold but not enjoy the good Things of this pleasant Land God had threaten'd to kill him a great many Years before for neglect of Circumcision to his Child Exod. 4.24 And now actually summons him to dye as a Rebuke for his unbelief for indeed this was the Sin that lay at the bottom Numb 20.12 Because you believed me not c. Zacharias was struck Dumb above nine Months for not believing the Angels Message Luke 1.20 But Moses must lose his Life God had once pass'd by great unbelief in him Numb 11.21 22. But this was not to escape without Corection and yet 't is born as from a Father without Complaint 3. A final Farewel to this World and to those Things particularly which are apt to render a stay in it most desirable When God calls us forth we must take our leave as Persons that are never to return as long as the present Frame of this World endures The Places which we now possess are to know us no more and we are to know them no more Every one at such a Time may say as our Lord did Now I am no more in the World John 17.11 I must reckon my self as one that shall have nothing more to do with it as one that is going to be everlastingly remov'd at the greatest distance from it and to be no further concern'd in any thing which hath the least Reference or Relation to it Such Thoughts are to govern and influence our Minds in the Performance of this dying Act of Obedience to God 4. A quitting and abandoning of this mortal Flesh as that which is not to be reassum'd till it puts on Immortality at the Dissolution of all Things 'T is indeed a great Tryal of Obedience to part with such an old and intimate Companion which hath been joyn'd and knit by the closest vital Bands it may be for Twenty Thirty Forty or Fifty c. Years together but 't is a trial which our Obedience must be approv'd in This Body of Flesh as it now is is to be given up as a Sacrifice to the Devourer that which so much Pains and Cost is bestow'd upon which so many Creatures are destroy'd to support and maintain is to be Meat for Worms corrupted and dispers'd we cannot tell where Under the Apprehensions of Death's feeding upon it after it 5. A willing Surrender of our Souls into God's hands from whence they originally came Death is exprest by God's requiring the Soul Luke 12.20 now in compliance with this great Demand of God the Soul is to be yielded up God commits this Treasure to us while we live and he expects a Resignation of it when we die But this must be with free and full Consent or else 't is no Resignation and consequently no Obedience for that which is forc'd and constrain'd is as none in God's Esteem He sees into the secret Springs and Motives of every Act and that which we do meerly because we cannot avoid it will be to him as it were not done for God's taking away of the Soul is his Act only the delivering of it up can be ours To die because we must needs die because we cannot keep alive our own Souls and have no power to retain our Spirit is consistent with the highest Disobedience and Rebellion against God But when our Wills fall in with the Appointment of God and we chuse to die when God orders that we should this is truly to die at the Commandment of the Lord as Aaron did Numb 33.38 Here is Freedom and Necessity going hand in hand as 2 Pet. 1.14 Putting off notes Freedom and must notes Necessity 6. An awful and serious Preparationto give an account of our selves to God This is as necessary as dying Rom. 14.12 Every one of us shall give Account c. And we cannot die according to the Will of God without some suitable Preparedness for it There is no true obeying of providential Calls to any Service here in this World without some previous Dispositions in our own Minds wrought by the Grace of God for its performance As when Paul was put upon remembring the Poor he tells us it was that which he was beforehand forward to do Gal. 2.10 So it is here as to departing out of the World we cannot obey God as we ought in it except we are competently fitted for it If we die in the Lord it supposes that we are ready to die and we are not ready unless our Accounts be so 7. A thankful Entertainment of our dying Lot as a real Privilege If we are in every thing to give Thanks we are to do it in this Case as well as any other Yea there is more cause for doing it at Death than at any season or time of Life going before it there is no Act of Obedience which deserves to be more chearfully performed than this nor so chearfully as this It becomes as christian to be glad when he can find the Grave to go down into it not as a Condemned Prisoner but as one who is a Triumphant Conqueror If there be matter of Joy when we fall into divers Temptations how much more when we are going to be freed from all If we are to Rejoice in the hope of Glory when farthest off how much more when upon the Borders of Fruition 8. A vigorous Exercise of Faith with respect to an unseen State when God is leading us forth to it All Obedience must be the Obedience of Faith flowing from it and impregnated with it Faith is to run through every Duty of our whole Lives or else no Duty would be accepted but especially we are to die in Faith And there is great need of our doing so for
done Can we think that our Services would be so well recompenc'd by a perpetual stay here 't is impossible to think so When the Master is come and calleth for us as John 11.28 we cannot but know it is in order to our unspeakable Promotion and Advancement The Arrows which Death shoots though they kill yet they are directed and design'd in greater Love than Jonathan's to David which were to prevent him from being killed Death may seem formidable at a distance as one says like Esau to Jacob but is very friendly when it comes nigher to us and does us the kindest Office which to have undone would be our greatest loss Though it did no more than case us of the grievous weight of indwelling Sin that 's a matchless Benefit for if we had not mortal Bodies we must have immortal Corruptions 6. This is the concluding and crowning Act of our Obedience to God in this World 'T is the compleat finishing of our whole Work here when we have done this we have no more to do on Earth Now how incongruous and unseemly how reproachful and dishonourable would it be for a Man to live many Years in a course of Duty and then spoil all by Disobedience in the last Act Undoubtedly the Man whose Heart is perfect and upright with God shall never be left to do so If we have been truly Faithful to the Death we shall not be Rebellious in it But however Exhortations and Arguments are of use to the best through the efficacious Concurrence of the Spirit with them He that lives to the Will of God cannot be said to persevere finally unless he dies according to that Will also We do not follow God fully if we start and fly back just at the end of our Race when we should lay hold upon the Prize I know thy works and the last to be more than the first was Thyatiras's Commendation Rev. 2.19 God expects that at the last we should outdo all which we have done before If we have run well 't is pity that the last step should be the slowest 7. This being the last Act of our Obedience here in this World will have the greatest Influence on those whom we leave behind us As the last words of dying Persons are apt to make the deepest Impression upon surviving Friends so their last Acts are most likely to encourage Imitation When we forget most of the Passages of their Lives we remember their Deaths and are ready to take our measures from thence And indeed the Holy Ghost calls upon us especially to mark the End of the perfect and upright Man Psalm 37.37 and to consider the End of their Conversation whose Faith we are to follow Hebr. 13.7 The End here signifies the close the issue of their Conversation Now where this is unimitable it will obstruct our following of all that went before how good soever it were This will still stick most upon their Minds that should take Pattern from our Faith and Obedience and tend to dishearten them from walking with God if after a Life of service we should flinch and faulter in the last Extremity it may tempt some to believe that God is an hard Master and that we too late begin to think him so Whereas an holy submissive Death will have all the contrary Effects 8. This is an Act of Obedience from which God 's chiefest Favourites on Earth are not exempted If this were a Cup which passed from every one else and were only filled out to us it might be more bitter to drink of it and sinful Flesh might have the more to say against it but God lays no other Burden upon us herein than what all his Saints excepting two have born from the beginning of the World yea even those two underwent a Change in their Translation in some respects we are sure equivolent to Death Are we so much better than our Fathers than the many Thousands which have gone to Heaven the same way that we should expect any peculiar Privilege Are we greater than Abraham who is dead and the Prophets who are dead whom do we make our selves as the Jews said to Christ John 8.53 Does God deal worse with us or require more from us than from all the Excellent of the Earth Why must not we give place to others when God thinks meet as others have made way for us that successive Generations may still go and come That Life which we are prone to complain of as too short 't is probable hath been longer than many and the shortest is certainly longer than we deserve that it should be 9. 'T is an Act wherein God's Saints on Earth out-do the Obedience of Angels in Heaven This is a mighty Honour to us that we are capable of honouring God by dying according to his will which is out of their Power for they die not 'T is their bright and glorious Character that they do his Commandments Psalm 103.20 but this is a command which they cannot do and which they were never tried with They have no such Bodies as we have to be separated from and by the Settlement which God hath made meer spiritual Beings cannot taste of Death Now this is a thing worthy of our Ambition to bring more Glory to God than the highest Angel can for a Saint of God would seek to excel all Creatures 'T is no Tryal to Angels to execute the orders which they receive in comparison of what Moses did here in the Text and yet 't is astonishing to read how familiarly he hears of his own Departure there was no noise no striving no trouble in the case God only says to him Go up and die and he does it as when the Prophet Elijah had Food set before him and was invited to arise and eat to which an hungry Man in a barren Wilderness would need very little perswasion To which of the Angels did God say thus at any time Our Mortality gives us an opportunity of obeying which they want 10. All the Obedience which we have to yield after this to God in Heaven will be like that of the Angels most easie and delightful Glorified Saints are doing endless Service but there is nothing of Labour or Difficulty in it nor can there be the least degree of aversion or unwillingness to perform it When we have once poured out our Souls into the Bosom of God we shall launch into the pleasant Enjoyment of Eternal Praise and so far as we understand the Worship of the Church above this will be the whole business that we shall be exercised in A business which will contribute greatly to our Blessedness There is a great deal of weight and force in this Argument if we think seriously upon it how hard and painful soever the work of dying be all our work afterwards will be entire and perfect like crowding through a strait Gate into a spacious Mansion where we are to walk at Liberty for ever How desirous soever the Flesh
is in any of us to be delivered from Death no Soul can be excused from that Work which is consequent upon it we could not be so happy in Heaven if we were not so employed as to be kept out of Heaven by an Immortality here and be most miserable IV. To Apply this By way of Information and Exhortation First Information 1. It is a great Act of Indulgence in God to spare us as he many times doth from Death since that dying is so great and necessary an Act of our Obedience If God had let loose his hand and cut us off many years ago it would have been our Duty to acquiesce in it but by his Favour as David said of his Mountain our clay Cottages do yet stand How many Mercies National and Personal have we liv'd to partake of which we might have been sent to our Grave without and as we could not have resisted the Will of God if it had been so so we ought not to have repin'd against it In how many lesser things hath God very often gratified his Servants by prolonging their Days wherein he could have denied them without doing them any wrong As the Life of old Jacob was lengthened out above Twenty years as some compute after he had given up his Son Joseph for dead to see him living and Governor of Egypt Gen. 46.30 So David saw his Son Solomon peaceably seated on his Throne before he fell asseep 1 Kings 1.48 2. If it be our duty to be Obedient to death it self how much more should we submit to all those Evils which are previous to death We are to Suffer according to the Will of God in every thing 1 Pet. 4 19. Or else how do we like David fulfil all his will Acts 13.22 and if in that which is great surely we must not stick at that which is less I do not only mean Sickness and Weakness c. which are the usual Harbingers of Death but all those other Troubles and Afflictions which we are born to and which we may naturally expect some share of while we are in this World He who cannot patiently part with any Comfort of Life when God takes it away from him is very ill-disposed to yield up Life it self at the Call of God Are we to obey God in dying and do we not think our selves oblig'd to bear these Calamities which Providence sends upon us while we live Are we to drink of such a Cup at last and can we think that we do well to be angry and discontented at any thing which befals us in the way These Things are inconsistent 3. How irregular are the workings of our Affections with respect to those that are fallen asleep in Christ God seldom or never removes any of our Friends especially if publickly useful Persons but that we are ready secretly at least to wish that they had not died when they did We know not how to restrain our selves from such desires and yet in desiring it we are like Peter when he talkt of making Tabernacles on the Mount who knew not what he said Luke 9.33 We do not only wish their Infelicity whom we pretend to love and value but we make our selves Rebels in Heart against God we wish in plain terms that our Wills might have stood in opposition to his and that our blind mistaken Judgments might have been allow'd to overturn or alter his Wise and Righteous unerring Counsels 4. How blessed should their Memories be above all others who are most eminently Exemplary in the performance of this Duty Going out of the World as Moses did is like the burning of rich and fragrant Spices which leave a sweet Perfume behind them 'T is observable that God did that to Moses who died according to his Word which he never did for any one before or since verse 6. And he buried him in a Valley in the Land of Moab c. Though there was none to accompany his Body to the Grave yet God's peculiar Undertaking for his Interment by the Ministry of Angels as may be reasonably supposed was ten thousand times more Honour to him than the pompous Funeral of the Patriarch Jacob when he was carried with so vast a Train of Mourners out of Egypt into Canaan Gen. 50.9 Secondly Exhortation Labour to learn this Lesson well of Obedience to the Divine Will in the Point of Death and that you may do so take these Directions 1. Make death familiar to you by frequent fore-thoughts of it Those things which surprize us most we are usually least submissive to God in but what we expect and look for we are gradually reconciled to If we propose a long Life to our selves and put away the remembrance of Death we shall certainly make our dying work so much the harder 'T is necessary not only to think that our Change must come unavoidably at last but that it may come quickly in a very little time If we live longer than we think we shall live the better but if we die sooner than we think we shall die the worse If God hath made our days generally as an hand breadth Psalm 39.5 we should measure them out successively by an hairs breadth that when we are at our utmost bounds we may quietly drop away 2. Look beyond death while you are looking for it Let not that terminate your Sight which in it self indeed is a doleful Melancholy Object Consider the Excellency of the Life to come which takes place immediately upon the conclusion of this We shall not die for ever as those words should be rendred which we read shall never die John 11.26 though we die once and there is nothing here so amiable and perfect as in that World we are going to If a view of that Canaan sufficed Moses which he was never to possess how much more satisfactory will the prospect of that Heaven be where we are to dwell eternally the seeing of our absent glorified Redeemer there will help us in our following of him thither and does distinguish us from the common Men of the Earth John 14.19 3. Look upon all the Enjoyments of this present Life with such an holy Contempt and Scorn as they deserve If we be not dead to these things before hand we shall not know how to part with them at Death If we lay up our Treasure here it must needs be troublesom and grievous to renounce and quit it He that would obey God chearfully in his going hence must not think that any of the things that are here beneath can make him happy and therefore the Heart should not be set upon them It made Rachel and Leah willing to go to Canaan that they had no Expectation left in Padan-aram Gen. 31.14 4. Make hast with your living work which God gives you to do with reference to the saving of your own Souls and the serving of your Generation A Man must be strangely stupified and harden'd in a false peace that can be content to leave
saved our first Parents from their first Sin which being a leading Act of Rebellion was a very great one He sav'd several of his Murderers and they that shed his Blood were wash'd in it He saves from the Sin of Unbelief which is the worst of Sins and in those that are guilty of it now is really greater than the Sin of the Jews in putting him to death 2. He saves from all that is in Sin from the guilt and filth of it He takes out every spot from the Soul and wipes out every Line from the Score He pays the uttermost Farthing and therefore saves to the uttermost he discharges all and leaves nothing to stand in God's Book against us His whole Church shall be presented Holy and without blemish Ephess 5.27 No Corruption is suffer'd to domineer where he comes to save as Job enters his solemn Protestation That no blot cleaves to his hands chap. 31.7 Blots may be and unavoidably will be contracted while we are in such a polluting World but they with whom Christ hath any thing to do soon shake them off again as Paul did the Viper which fastned on his hand and felt no barm Acts 28.5 Yea at length Christ will save from the in being of Sin too when we quit our earthly Houses Sin shall be quite turn'd out of Doors 3. He saves from all that 's due to Sin and from all the effects of it from Wrath present and to come not meerly from Hell but from all purely Judicial Strokes upon Earth too He does not save from God's loving Rebukes for that would be to our prejudice and therefore it would be no proper desirable Salvation but from God's furious Rebukes he does He hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law c. Gal. 3.13 from the whole Curse and every part of it There is not the least Grain of the Legal Curse in all the afflictions which Christ's saved ones do at any time undergo There are chastened as Children not persecuted as common Malefactors They are sav'd from every thing that would make them truly miserable they are exercis'd with nothing but what shall do them good those very Calamities of which Sin is the occasion shall be the means to advance their Blessedness 2. His being able to save to the uttermost notes duration As 1. The saving Power of Christ stretches it self to the final Accomplishment of his own Work Whatever He puts his hand unto he will give it his last hand the Author and Finisher of our Faith Heb. 12.2 Wheresoever he Designs to build it shall not be said that he is not able to finish he will give no occasion for any such Reproach to be cast upon his Eternal Power He is as able to bring forth the Head-Stone as to lay the first Foundation He carries on his Designs of Grace through all Hindrances and Oppositions till he hath conquer'd and surmounted all he never leaves off what he undertakes and is engag'd in before the thoughts of his heart are finally perform'd and all fulfilled which he had contriv'd and purposed to do He is the Omega as well as the Alpha he shuts up as well as opens the great work of a Sinners Salvation and Recovery 2. Christ's saving Power will not be exhausted or diminished to the end of the World He will be as able to save then as he was at the beginning for if he was invested with such a Power before he had actually paid the Price of our Redemption we have no reason to doubt the continuation of that Power afterwards If he had sav'd so many for about Four Thousand Years before he came and offer'd up himself 't is impossible that since this Sacrifice any should be born into the World too late for him to save Every successive Generation yet to come may have the same benefit as all that are past have had So long as the World stands the Elect of God that are in it shall receive as freely from Christ's Fulness as ever any did His Power is the same without any Change or Variation in all Ages Yesterday to day and to Morrow Is my band shortned at all that it cannot redeem Isa 50.2 3. His Power is sufficient for us in our greatest Extremities while we live in this World In our sorest Temptations and longest Desertions when like Peter we are ready to sink he is mighty to save still We cannot be brought so low by Hellish Rage and spiritual Darkness by the Buffetings of Satan and the Hidings of God but that he can lift us up As the Apostle speaks of the Jews who have been broken off by unbelief and abode in that unbelief so many Hundred Years God is able to graft them in again Rom. 11.23 When we are apt to think that there is no way to escape that we must and shall without remedy perish at the last he hath his Almighty Succors at hand and can in a moment rescue and deliver us from all our fears When the Waters are come into the Soul he hath power to save from Drowning or else that Prayer was vain Psalm 69.1 4. His saving Power is our present help when we come to die and stand in Judgment When we have past through the Changes Hazards and Tryals of this Life the chiefest of all is that which puts a period to Life and then Jesus Christ is able to save us in Death tho he do not save us from it able not only to carry us to our hoary hairs but to go with us farther when these hoary hairs are brought down to the grave able to support us when flesh and heart when strength and spirits fail able to receive and defend our Spirits at their Departure out of the Body and give them immediate possession of the place prepared for them able to answer for us before the Bar of God and shield us under the covering of his perfect Righteousness from all the Accusations that can be brought against us in short he is so well able to justifie us that even in that day we may boldly say Who is he that condemneth 5. The Salvation which Christ works and displays his power in endures in its full force and vertue to Eternity it self Isa 45.17 Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation You shall not be ashamed nor confounded World without end Again chap. 57.6 The Heavens shall vanish away like smoak and the Farth wax old like a garment and they that dwell therein die in like manner but my salvation shall be for ever c. As our Confidence is not in a God who cannot save or who can save only in part so not in a God who can save only for a limited time or restrained season Our God's Salvation lasts as long as himself it runs parallel with his very Being Titus 2.13 The great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Those Two Glorious Titles are chained together in Christ and you may as well suppose the
threatned with the burning Furnace Dan. 3.17 Our God is able to deliver us and he will deliver us Be satisfied that he who is able to save will actually save those that cast themselves upon him SERMON XXIV October 15. 1697. HEBREWS VII xxv Therefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them II. AS to the Evidence which the Apostle brings to prove his Assertion by The Eternal Life and Intercession of Jesus Christ in Heaven Here we are to consider three Things viz. The Life of Christ in Heaven His Intercession there And the Objects of it or Persons on whose behalf he lives and intercedes First The eternal Life of Christ in Heaven In opening of this we should shew That he lives and that he lives for ever and how the Conclusion of his being able to save is built and founded hereupon 1. That Christ lives not only as he is the living God Hebr. 3.12 and so eternal Life is essential to his Deity 1 John 1.2 15 20. but he lives as Mediator and that very Life which he laid down as Man he hath taken up again and possesses it now more advantagiously than before This was the grand Controversie in the Apostolical Times between the Jews and Christians so Festus represents it to Agrippa as a Quarrel about one Jesus who was dead whom Paul affirmed to be alive Acts 25.19 The Jews would have him to be really in the State of the Dead still and that his Disciples stole him out of the Grave to give Reputation to their new Doctrine but the Apostles were Witnesses of his Resurrection and preached this where-ever they preach'd the Gospel for indeed the whole Gospel would be but an empty Fable without it If Christ were not alive what 's become of the Type of the Living Bird in the cleansing of the Leper that was let loose into the open Field Lev. 14.7 What 's become of the Type of the Scape Goat that was sent away into the Wilderness Chap. 16.21 How have these things received their Accomplishment but in the Life of Jesus It was as necessary for our Consolation and Salvation that Christ should live as that he should die The meer Death of Christ would profit us nothing could be no support to us if he had continued under the Power of Death Therefore as old Jacob was transported with Joy when he heard that Joseph was alive Gen. 45.26 28. So Job in the midst of his Afflictions triumph'd and glorifie in this I know that my Redeemer liveth Job 19.25 2. That he ever lives When our Lord speaks of his Death it was matter of stumbling to the Jews because say they we have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever John 12.34 but they erred not knowing the Scripture This was not be understood in opposition to his dying but as consequent upon it for after his Death and notwithstanding his Death this was to be made good that he should abide for ever So we find our Lord himself from Heaven expounding it to John Rev. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore The Life which Christ lived upon Earth was a mortal temporary perishing Life as ours is for he took part of our Flesh and Blood in the same poor and miserable Circumstances as we do but the Life which he now lives in Heaven is of another sort of a more permanent and durable Nature So Rom. 6.9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him He cannot die a second time as Lazarus did who after his first Death was raised again and died again as the Body of his Humiliation even when dead saw no Corruption so his glorified Body with which he sits at the Right Hand of God can never see Death His present Life is such an one as swallows up mortality 3. How is the Inference of Christ's being able to save grounded here upon his Living for ever Answer Very strongly for the saving Power of Jesus Christ shines forth most illustriously in him as living Rom. 5.10 Being reconciled by his Death we shall be much more saved by his Life So Chap. 8. 34. Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is raised again c. If Christ had been held by the Bands of Death or if it had been possible for him so to be held it had been impossible for him to be the Author of Salvation to any our Faith in him had been vain and our hope as a Spiders Web whereas now 't is firm and establish'd stedfast and unmoveable considering that Jesus Christ since his ignominious accursed Death is raised up to such a Blessed and Glorious Life This gives us mighty encouragement in several respects For 1. If Christ had not been able to save he could not have conquer'd Death as he hath done This one Victory which he hath obtained over that Enemy is a signal demonstration of his Power The Grave would have detained him and must kept him as the legal Executioner of Justice if he had not finish'd the Work of our Salvation as to the purchasing part and done all in dying once He could not be discharged till he had answer'd all Demands and when they were answer'd he could be under Arrest no longer but the Prosecution must cease When the Debt was paid it would have been false Imprisonment for Jesus Christ to remain in the Custody of Death on the other hand his reviving and breaking loose from those Restraints shews that all the Obstacles of our Salvation are taken out of the way Therefore if we suspect his Ability to save we must with the Jews disbelieve his rising again and look upon him no otherwise than as a dead Man to this very day 2. Our eternal Life is inseperably connected with the Life of Christ 'T is as certain that he is our Life as that he himself lives Col. 3.4 he will not Live and Reign without us but we shall Reign in Life by him He does not live meerly for himself but for us as he did not die for himself but only for us He lives as a publick Person a second Adam in whom all that belong to him shall be made alive as a quickning Head to his whole Body and to every Member in particular John 14.19 Because I live you shall live also He asserts our Life in conjunction with his own for his Life and the Life of those that are united with him cannot be divided 2 Cor. 13.4 He though Crucified through weakness lives by the Power of God so we likewise though weak shall live with him by vertue of the same Power Hence it is that the Apostle makes the great Doctrine of Christ's Resurrection to stand or fall with the Resurrection of Believers 1 Cor. 15.15 16. Whom God raised not up if so be that the