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
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
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
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
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
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
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