and yet never perfectly learn it strive and indeavor to know it wee may but we shall never fully know it nor fathom the bottome of it Exuperat omnem scientiam Theophil And what was Peters last exhortation to the Saints to whom he wrote but that they should grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ As if this were the chiefe lesson they were to learn according to my text I desired to know nothing among you c. Wherein two things are to be considered 1. What knowledg of Christ it is that is to be studied of us 2. Why the knowledge of Christ and him crucified is specially to be studied of us For the first we are to study to know Christ with a fourfold knowledge with the knowledg of 1. Speculation or Contemplation 2. Particular application 3. Love and affection 4. Vertuall operation 1. With the knowledge of Speculation in three particulars viz. to know Christ in his 1. Incarnation 2. Crucifixion 3. Satisfaction CHAP. II. Teacheth us to study to know Christ in his Incarnation FIrst we must study to know Christ in his Incarnation That he is God and man joyned together that God and man might be joyned together that by sinne were separated one from another Wherein five things are to be learned of us 1. That he is the second Person in the Trinity who was the wisdome of the Father To teach us that the divine nature is not essentially but personally not simply but Relatively in relation to the second Person incarnated f Non essentia Deâ— absolutè considerata sed persona filii erat incarnata Buchan loc com Non essentia sed persona deitatis est incarnata Wolleb for else the Father and holy Ghost muâ—t be incarnated as wel as the Sonne which was the error of the Sabellians Anno Christi 257. who denied the three distinct persons and said they were but three names and so by consequence were compelled to say the Father and H. G. were incarnate and died for our sins as well as the Sonne 2. That he is the Son of God g Psal 2. 7. John 1 14. Not by creation as the Anâ—els and Adam were not by adoption as the Saints are but his naturall son by eternall generation as he was God being of the same substance and nature that his Father is as children are of the same substance with their Parents cald indeed the Father of Eternity Es 9. 6. but that was respectu essentiae non subsistentiae in regard of his essence not subsistence The manner is unspeakable incomprehensible for who can declare his generation In naturall generation the Father is 1. before the Sonne 2. the Son inferior to the Father 3. receiving his substance from the Father but in this generation the Father is not before the Sonne who was eternally his sonne or else there should be a time when God was without a Sonne and himselfe not a Father 2. Nor is he inferior to the Father for he is no more beholding to God to be his Father then the Father to him to be Essentia non generatnec generatur Scholoâ— his sonne 3. nor did he receive his Substance but his Sonship from the Father who is unbegotten in respect of his essence as having his essence of himselfe begotten only in respect of his personality for he hath his personall subsistence from the Father begotten as Son not as God Perk. on Creed learned Buchan saith Aliud est esse paâ—ris aliud esse filii aliud esse spiritus sancti that is as they are persons or subsistences but not as absolutely God for so their essence is the same But this mistery is deep and such as is fitter for the study of Angels then men Divines have set it forth by divers similitudes whereby I have thought they have rather darkened then illustrated it and therefore I spare to mention them And further as our Lord Christ is man he is the son of God but not by creation nor adoption nor eternall generation but by hypostaticall union namely by prerogative of his personall union contrary to the Feliciani that called Christ in his humane nature the adopted sonne of God And thus the Son of God became the son of man that the sons of men might be John 1. 12. Gal. 3. 5 6. Mat. 3 17. Iohn 1. 14. made the sonnes of God I go to your father and my father Ioh. 20. 17. And what greater love could the father shew unto us then to give his deare Son his beloved Son his only begotten son for us Joh. 3. 16. Herein appeared Abrahams love that he offered his only sonne Isaac whom he loved Gen. 22. There was one had foure sons who in a famine being sore oppressed with hunger the Parents resolved to sell one for relief But then they considered the eldest was the first of their strength therfore loth to sell him the second was the very picture of the father the third was like the mother the fourth and the youngest was the childe of their old age their Benjamin the dearly beloved of them both and therfore they were resolved not to part with any of them and so would rather suffer themselves to perish then to part with any of their children Another had two sons both were condemned to dye yet upon mediation the father was offered to have one spared But he could not find in his heart which to chuse to live so to leave the other to the stroak of death They both were so dear to him and so they both died so dear are children to their Parents Can a mother saith God forget her child yet God seems to forget his only son that lay in the bosome of the father and was his delight from all eternity that he might remember Prov. 3. 30 us deliver us from death and make us the adopted sons of God Thirdly that Iesus Christ is God The mighty God i Es 9. 6. who thought it no robbery to be equall with God k Psal 2. 6. Rev. 18. Mat. 8. 10. Col. 1. 15. 16. contrary to the heresie of the Samosetanians Servetus Ebionites Cerinthians Nestorians Turks Jews Arrians and all other Hereticks that deny the Deity of Christ but to him is attributed eternity l omnisciency omnipresence creation and providence which are only attributed to God Beside the works and miracles which our Lord Christ wrought when he was upon the earth declared him to be the mighty God m Joh. 5 36 10. 25. 37. 38. Now Christ must needs be God not only to support the humane nature to beare the wrath of God from sinking under it which else had ground him to powder As the altar of wood was covered with brasse that the fire might not consume it Exod. 27. 2. But also to give worth to his sufferings and to make them of infinite value because they were the sufferings of God n Acts 20. 28. Heb. 9.
63. 1. And all this in expectation of what he should suffer when no hand touched him but his Pliny reports of a serpent that when it stings it fetcheth all the blood out of the body but it was never heard of any before that did sweat blood own thoughts of what he was to suffer like dry Roses that under a fire distill sweet water 2. No burthen on him or bodily labor but the burthen of his spirit and of our sins 3. In cold weather for they had a fire to warme them 4. All his whippings thornes nayles never fetchr a bloody sweat from him as his owne thoughts did 5. If the thoughts of his sufferings were so terrible what were his sufferings themselves 6. His mournfull speeches and wrastling prayers shewed in what a bittternesse of grief his soule was when he cryed out My soule is heavy to the death and prayed three times O my Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me O the burthen of a wounded conscience As in Spira groaning under sinne as Christ for sinne it is intollerable It is a fearfull thing to fâ—ll into the hands of the living God And sure our sinnes should draw some drops of teares from our eyes that fetcht so many drops of blood from our Saviours whole body * Heyward sanct 7. He was crucified in his apprehension when he was betrayed by Judas who sold our Saviour for thirty peeces of silver who yet bought us with his dearest blood who kissed him with his lips and Typified by the beasts that were bound with cords to the Altar sought to kill him in his heart And they bound him with cords to teach us that by nature we are bound with the cords of sin and deserve to be bound hand foot and cast into hel fire Act. 8. 23. Thou art in the bonds of iniquity 2. To loose us from the bonds of wickednesse Col. 1. 13. 3. To teach us that bonds and imprisonments Acts. 21. 13 await us in this life but Christ hath sweetned them with his bonds whose bonds were bonds of love as it was love to Dalilah made Sampson bound 8. He was arraigned at the barre before Pilate an earthly Judge that wee might not be arraigned as malefactors before God at the day of Judgement for John 5. 24. He that believeth shall not come into judgement Indeed he shall have judgement 1. of examination 2 of approbation 3. of Remuneration 4. But not of condemnation 9. Againe he was crucified in that he was spit upon the most contemptible act almost that can be especially because being bound he could not readily wipe it off but stood with their filthy spawlings upon his face Esay 50. 6. I hid not my face from shame and spitting 10. He was crucified in his mockings blindfolding him asking him who smote him making sport with him as the Philistines did with Sampson when his eyes were put out The Roman Emperours had five priviledges 1. A Crown of gold was set upon their heads 2. A Scepter put into their hands 3. Clothed with purple rayment 4. Spoken to on the knee 5. Salutations All these they did in scorne to Christ 1. They crowned him with thornes Matth 27. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sharp as a needle or sword able to peirce the hardest heele and then smote him on the head thereby driving in the thornes and making his head all bloody 2. They put a reed into his hand instead of a Scepter 3. They cloathed him with a purple garment 4. They bowed their knees in scorn 5. They saluted him with haile King of the Jewes A great crucfixion to a noble spirit to be thus mocked But all this was for our exaltation for 1. he was crowned with thornes that we might be crowned with a crowne of glory Doe men gather grapes of thornes yet the bloud of Christs thornes was the bloud of our grapes 2. He had a reed in his hand to teach us to him it belongs to sway the Scepter Esay 6. 9 And perhaps to testifie that he will not break the bruised reed 3. He was cloathed with a purple robe that he might cloath up with the Isa 1. 16. purple robe of glory and purge us from our purple sinnes If your sinnes were as scarlet I will make them white as snow 4. They bowed the knee to teach us that every knee should bow and yeeld subjection to him Phil. 2. 10. 5. They saluted him as King to teach us he is the onely King of his Church 11. He was crucified in his scourgings being a shamefull punishment fit for dogges slaves and vassals A strange sight Matth. 27. 28. Isa 19. 1. to see a King scourged especially by his vassals A punishment they threatned Nero to scourge him to death adjudging him rather a beast then a man what is it to see the God of heaven stript naked and scourged before the multitude And as it was shamefull so it was very painfull because he was in his enemies hands which its likely would show him no mercy that sought his life Hierom saith six were appointed two to beat him with rods till they were weary and two with cords till they were weary and two with wires till they were weary Indeed sometimes they did not onely virgis caedere but whipt them with plummets of lead or sharp bones at the end of the cords which tare off the flesh to the bone called chastising with Scorpions If the Jewes scourged him it is likely he received forty stripes save one but it is probable that as he was sencenced by the Roman Judge so he was scourged after the Roman manner by Roman souldiers more cruelly who usually have not the lightest hands nor softest hearts certainly till the bloud issued out abundantly The ploughers ploughed on my backe they made long furrowes Psal 129. 3. Yea the very bones appeared Psal 22. 17. I may tell all my bones And so great was this punishment that Pilate himselfe thought it would have moved compassion from his enemies hearts and therefore he brought him before them saying Beâ—old the man Per vulnera patent Christi viscera Beâ—il Corpus loris verberatum ad corpus nostrum glorificandum Bern. Oh the love of Christ Christ might say as Zipporah said to Moses Sponsa sanguinum es mihi A bloudy Spouse thou art to me But this was that by his stripes we might be healed and freed both from the rods and lashes of a wounded conscience and from the Scorpions of eternall torments And to tel us afflictions and scourges in this life are like to be our portion Christ bids us every day to take up a Crosse and tels us all God loves he Luk. 9 23. Rev. 3. 19 chastens â—astigat quos amat etiamsi non amat castigare He chastens all he loves though he loves not to chasten God had one Son sine flagitio but hath no son sine flagello Heb. 12. he had
Return into thy countrey and I will do thee good David also stuck close to the word Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope Psal 119. 49. And the Prophet Esaiah saith Es 66. 11. They shall suck and be satisfied with the breasts of consolation so let us suck the bloud of the promises as a dog that hath got the blood of the Bear he hangs on and will hardly be beaten off 5. Though it is true that any one saving grace whatever is a signe Christ is thine yea though thou hast a 1000. temptations and doubts that thou canst not answer Yet it is good to gather an abbreviate of some few signes that thy soule may feed upon in time of trouble These I acknowledge are so plainly laid The more experienced Reader that finds lesse need of them may be pleased patiently to passe them over down in Scripture and so familiarly taught almost in every book that treats of faith that it would seem almost lost labour therefore I will be the briefer yet I dare not altogether neglect them for the benefit of some weak ones The generall sign is If any be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. Col. 3. 9. 10. which is called regeneration wherby the law is written in his heart God having Though the strings bee the same yet the tune is changed planted in him a love and liking to every good and a hatred to all that is evill Thou lovest righteousnesse and hatest wickednesse Psal 45. 7. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will cause you to walk in my statutes Ezek. 36 26. 27. More particularly I shall lay down eleven markes or signes whereby a man may know that Christ is his in particular which is nothing else but a strong act of justifying faith Signe 1 1. The first sign of assurance that Christ is thine is If it were wrought by hearing the Word preached ordinarily and is confirmed by it for faith commeth by hearing ordinarily a Rom. 10. 17. 1 Cor. 1. 21 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth Iam. 1. 18. every child hath a father So the 3000 were converted by hearing Peter b Acts 2. 37 Acts 8. 26. I deny not but that afflictions losses death of children or friends c. may prepare for Christ as Paul was by being unhorsed by Christ Act. 9. 3 4. Yet they do not work faith but usually that is wrought by the word preached therefore Ananias was afterwards sent to Paul Act. 9. 10. so likewise good councell reading good bookes c. may stir us up to seek after Christ as perhaps it did the Eunuch Act. 8. 28. but do not set us into Christ and hence Philip was sent to the Eunuch readding to work faith in his heart as appears verse 30. to verse 38. And as the word begets it so it feeds confirmeth and Ex iisdem nuâ—uimur à quibus constamus cherisheth faith as the ashes cherish the fire whereof they were bred 1 Pet. 2. 2. Eph. 4. 12 13. Now then inquire how came you by your particular knowledge of Christ to be your Saviour did the word preached convince humble and excite you to seek Christ and doth it confirme and stablish your faith then it is good But on the contrary if you know not how you came by your faith never by hearing of sermons but are like the Israelitish women quick of delivery before ever the midwife the Minister can come at you you may suspect your faith as we suspect those to be stollen goods when they know not how they came by them and that a base born child when it is not known who is the father although I say not that every one converted knowes the Minister that coÌ„verted him yet ordinarily he knowes he was converted by the word preached except God instilled grace into his heart when he was a young child as he did unto Samuel Timothy c. But especially they have cause to suspect their faith when the preaching of the word shakes and winnowes their faith and fils them full of doubtings and tormenting feares the preachers of the word being like the two witnesses their tormentors who say of them as Job did of his friends Rev. 11. 10. miserable comforters are you all Certainly she is but an ill mother that will not give such to the child she bare if she be able but rather hunch it beat it and deal unkindly with it Signe 2 2. The second signe is if thy heart were ever prepared for the receiving of Christ as the stones were prepared for the Temple or as a man prepares his house to entertain a king Luk. 3. 5. Every valley shall be filled or levelled In some sense a Christian sometimes may be said to be too low when he despairs of mercy then he is said to be too low for despair layes his soul as low as hell as it did Judas And every hill shall be brought low that is the mountanous and high thoughts thou hadst of thy self like the Pharisee that thought himselfe not like other men shall now be changed and now thou shalt have low thoughts of thy selfe saying as Jacob I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies as the Prodigall I am not worthy to be called thy sonne as the Publican Lord be mercifull to me a sinner as Paul of sinners I am chief or as David I am a worme and no man for Christ dwels only in the humble heart Esaiah 57. 15. with him will I dwell that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble It followeth And crooked things shall be made straight that is even the crooked paths of the serpent thy crooked wayes shall now be made straight and even now levelling at the rule of the word of God his glory And the rough wayes shall be made smooth that is even Bears and Lions rough Esaus shall now become Babes and Lambs for meeknesse and gentlenesse as it was prophesied Es 11. 6 7 8. Now all this is done by a spirit of bondage and feare of hell and damnation which God usually smites the heart with before he gives Christ as the plow goes before corn is sowen as it was with Paul a Acts 9. 45. with the Jailor b Acts 16. 29 30. with the 3000 Jewes at their conversion c Acts 2. 36 37. c. No woman brings forth a child without sorrow and pain nor is any born again usually without their spirituall pangs of sorrow though some feel more some lesse as some children come forth with more some with lesse pain of the mother yet all have so much as to make them willing to let go their sins to receive Christ Act. 9. 6. You know the stony ground wanted depth or softnesse of earth and so quickly withered Matth. 13. saith dwels not
to take part with us in our sufferings for sometimes God comforts us that by our experience we might be the better able to comfort others 2 Cor. 1. 4. 2. Secondly Remember what thou Psal 77. 11. 12. wert and whether thou didst never believe Christ to be thine and whether there be no signe of saving grace still remaining in thee as mourning under sin love to the brethren c. and then though thou hast a 1000. doubts thou canst not answer yet thou art sure to be saved for that cannot be a dead tree that hath fruit growing upon it 3. Thirdly if thou canst not believe Christ is thine yet resolve to love and obey him say thus whether he will save me or no I will love and serve him as well as I can I will walk in his wayes and not sin against him And this will reflect comfort upon us of its owne accord for how could I love God if he did not first love me Our affections of love to God saith a Reverend Divine are but reflections Dr. Sibs on Psal 42. of Gods love to us If cold bodies have heat it is a signe some fire has warmed them or the Sunne hath shined upon them 4. Fourthly Resolve what ever become of thee to die beleeving as Job did though he kill me saith he I will put my trust in him and as Joab did who would die with his hands holding upon the altar and as Ester resolved in another case upon Christ will I trust if I perish I perish CHAP. XXIII An exhortation to the ministers of the Gospell especially to preach Iesus Christ to the people IN the next place Vse 7 seeing Paul desired to know learne and teach nothing among the Corinthians but Jesus Christ and him crucified let it be an exhortation to all the minsters of the Gospell to follow the example of Saint Paul in two respects First to preach nothing to our people in comparison of Iesus Christ and him crucified Secondly to preach in such a manner as men may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ First I say to preach Iesus Christ especially to the people wo be to me saith Paul if I preach not the Gospell and again my little children of whom I travell in birth till Christ be formed in you Gal. 4. 19. It was the prayer of Luther at his death thee ô Christ have I known thee have I loved thee have I taught thee have I trusted and now into thy hands do I commend my spirit O the more of Christ in a sermon the sweeter is our preaching and our greatest ornament is that we can set forth the honour of Christ Saint Augustine professed of Cicero he was much delighted in his eloquence but he soon grew weary quianomen Christi non erat ibi because the name of Christ was not to be found there 1. And it must needs be so first because the preaching of Christ is most profitable for the people alas what can we inrich them withall in comparison of Christ the knowledge of whom can only make them happy This is life eternall to know thee the only true God and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ thus we shall save their soules from death hell and damnation and hide a multitude of sins Jam. 5. ult 2. It is most welcome and comfortable as it is sweeter to bring a pardon to condemned men then to read their sentence of condemnation for so we shall bee their ministeriall saviours whereas else we shall be but their tormentors 3. It is the readiest way to break the Eph. 3. 17 18. heart as the Traitor flyeth at the pursuit after with hew and cry but the kings proclamation of pardon that brings him in we know by the law is the ministration of death like Hagar that saw her bottle empty Gal. 2 16. Gal. 3. 10. nothing but death before her eyes but no fountaine to fill it again The law is like a glasse wherein we see our spots but no water to wash them out as Paul said when the commandement came sin revived but I died But the Gospel is like the Laver in Exod. 38. 8. which was made of the womens looking glasses whereby they might both see their faces and also wash out their spots for it was both a glasse and a laver and this typified Christ If any man sin we have an advocate with the father Iesus Christ the righteous 1 Iohn 2. 1. And certainly if any thing its mercy melts the heart Adam ran away from God when he heard the terrible voice of God in the garden saying I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid and I hid my selfe But when he spake to them with a milder voice then they came in Gen. 3. 9 10. In Eliahs vision the Lord was not in the whirlewiud nor in the earth-quake but in the still voice as you may read at large 1 Kings 19. 11. 23. c. I have heard a story of a Gentlewoman condemned to die for killing three of her children many godly ministers seeing her hardened as they thought in her sinne much pressed her with her grievous sin and the dreadfulnesse of her condition but all nothing moved her but rather she grew more obstinate but at last another Reverend Divine hearing of it comes to her preaching to her the unspeakeable mercies of God in Christ c. and that there was mercy for her notwithstanding her great sin if her heart were touched with griefe for what she had done c. what mercy for me said she O that 's impossible c. But expressing further how God delighteth in mercy that mercy pleaseth him that where sin hath abounded their grace and mercy with God abounds much more or to that effect she presently fell a weeping wringing her hands crying for mercy c. and died most comfortably as it was related having had the mercy of God abundantly revealed to her before her death 4. What greater joy can a minister have then to bring men to Christ to be able to say here am I and the children thou hast given me are not you our hope our joy and crown of rejoycing in the presence of our Lord Iesus Christ at his comming yea are our glory and our joy saith Paul 1 Thes 2. 19. 20. But on the contrary what comfort will this be to us when we lie a dying to say I studied to fill the houre but not a soule I have wonne to Christ 5. Fifthly and lastly the preaching of Christ is most profitable for our selves for they that winne soules to God shall shine as the starres in the firmament and Gal. 6 8. 1 Cor. 15. ult receive a Prophets reward yea we shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5. 4. every soule wonne to God is as a new pearle added to our crowne Matth. 24 45. 46. O what a heavy account shall that man have to give that must give
Incarnation of Christ. the humanity into the Deity nor by cohabitation onely as the Nestorians say nor by mixture as water and wine mixt together which is neither wine nor water but a compound of both nor by infusion of the Godhead into the manhood But by taking the manhood or humane nature into the person of the Sonne of God and so Per moduÌ„ Accedentis saith Durand In l. 3. sent dist 6. q. 4. to have his subsistence in the Godhead And hence the two distinct natures remaine in communicable each to other and yet make not two distinct persons but onely one person as the body and soule two distinct natures make but one man contrary to the heresie of Eutiches who said the humane nature was swallowed up in the divine so as there remained onely the divine nature And the reason of this union was because he was to be a Mediator between God and man and to reconcile God to man therefore meet he should have interest in both natures CHAP. III. A briefe view of the sufferings of Christ before he suffered on the Crosse SEcondly we must study to know Christ in his crucifixion or in his sufferings And him crucified All his life was a crucifixion from the womb to the tomb from his birth to his buriall concerning which though little can be said by way of explication more then is already largely related in the History of the Gospel yet give me leave for method sake to-give you a breife view of them He was crucified 1. In his conception in that he was conceived of the seed of the Virgin and lodged in her narrow womb whom the heavens could not containe and did not abhorre the Virgins womb But this was was to sweeten our conception who are conceived in sinne and born in iniquity 2. He was crucified in his birth in Psal 51 5. that he was borne of a woman the Cretor of the creature he that made her was born of her yea of a poore maid offering two Turtle Doves for her purifying as being not able to bring a Lamb according to the Law Levit. 12. 8. Was there never a great Lady in Jerusalem for this great Prince of heaven and earth to be borne of But he looked on the lowlinesse of his handmaid And this teacheth us that Christ regards 1 Cor. 1. 26. not the rich no more then the poor that he came for the poore poore Lazarus lay in rich Abrahams bosome when rich Dives was in hell torments Poore Shepherds had Christ revealed to them by Angels when he was hid from the Matth. 18. 10. great ones and Rulers at Jerusalem Who can then despise the poorest Saint who perhaps may have move of Christ in him and a higher seat in glory then our selves A pearl is rich when found on a dung-hill though it may glister more when set in a Ring of Gold Hath not God chosen the poore of this world to be rich in faith and heires of that Kingdome James 2. 5. 3. In that he was born in a stable Luke 2. 12. This shall be a signe unto you And well they had this signe for elle its likely they would have looked into the fairest houses stateliest chambers and not in a stable for him You shall find the Babe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sucking child A strange crucifixion the great God to become a Babe and the eternall Word not to be able to speak a word The Lyon of the tribe of Judah who when he roares he makes all the beasts tremble to cry like a child that sucks Nestorius despised to call an Infant God But hereby the greater power of God was seene that could by a Child overcome sin death and the divell and bring us to glory Nay more you shall find the Babe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swadled in cloutes such as we cover wounds and beggars sores withall they were not fine linen nor silke clouts but meane and poore liker to beggars raggs Now was not this a Crucifixion That he thaâ— shall come in the Cloudes should appeare in clouts which yet he weares not so much to cover his nakednesse as to discover ours and because he appeared in the similitude of sinfull flesh 4. More yet if a Babe in clouts yet in some faire Chamber and Cradle No in a Stable where horses and beasts were fed at least at that time when so great a concourse of people met and in the Manger instead of a Cradle Now be astonished and wonder that the great God who inhabiteth eternity whom the heavens cannot containe and Solomons Temple was too meane for him that he should be lodged among the beasts as Nebuchadnezar was turned out among the beasts Marcus Antonius brought Caesars robe before the people all bloody to move Compassion but I have shewed you our Lord Christ not in his Robâ—s of glory but in his raggs and clouts to teach us Christs humility and us humility by his example learne of me saith Christ that I am meek and lowly in heart Mat. 11. 29 Yet all this was for our exaltation Christ was clothed with clouts and raggs that we might be clothed with Robes of glory Christ was laid in a Manger that we might have mansion-places in heaven and lie in Abrahams bosome 3. He was Crucified in his Circumcision as a type of our defilement and his purity and to worke that on our spirits which was done to his flesh Col. 2. 11. 12. Cutting off our superfluous lusts that we might be all Circumcised in heart as Christ was in his flesh 4. He was crucifyed in his temptations when he was so basely solicited by the Divell to fall down and worship him a far greater reproach then if the greatest Queen should be sollicited to uncleannes by the basest scullion and carryed up and down in his armes at his pleasure But this was that he might experimentally know how to succour us when we are tempted Hebr. 2. 18. 5. He was Crucifyed in his whole life 30 yeeres together living in no account or reputation Phil. 2. He made himselfe of no reputation he was despised and we esteemed him not Esa 53. 3. At the most he was counted but the Carpenters son or the Carpenter perhaps working on his Fathers trade Mark 6. 3. And the deity was vaild in his flesh wherein it lay hid without any great manifestation To teach us that the same mind should be in us that was in Christ Phil. 2. To be content to live without respect in the world and be of no reputation for his sake 6. He was Crucifyed in his agony in Luk. 22. 44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Non grumi sed unda sanguinis Bern. not clots but a floud of bloud the Garden where he did sweat drops not of water but blood thick blood that ran through his garments trickling down to the ground Not as Josephs garment that was dipt in blood but his body and garments were dyed in blood Esa
the souldiers would let the godly women give him wine to cheare him and it s very probable the souldiers gave this wine to him themselves â— It is cold vinegar mingled with gall and wine mingled with myrrhe which cannot properly be called sweet wine 3. It was prophecied Ps 69. 21. they gave him gall and vineger to drink 4. They loved him not so well to cheere him â— Others say they used to give wine Ad stuporem mentis alienationem as Arias Mont. mixt with myrrhe to inebriate and intoxicate their sences that were to die this death that they might not feele their paine But this were a foule murthering sin to make men drunk before execution which should be a time of greatest and most solemn repentance thereby causing them to dy in their sins without mercy But thirdly I rather conceive the Iews Cornel. â—alapide Gerard in Harm Evang. did it ad ludibrium ad tormentum to mock and afflict him for they brought sowre wine like vineger and mingled it with Gall and myrrhe to make it bitter enough so that they did not afford Christ that comfort they did to ordinary malefactors And this was to teach us that our cup should have been gall and wormwood to all eternity but Christ hath drunk the cup of wormwood and gall that we might drink the cup of consolation 2. They rackt him as somethink till all his bones were out of joynt Psal 22. 14. All my bones are out of joynt for so they say was the custome of the Romans to deal with those that were to be crucified 3. His armes being stretched out they nailed him by the hands bearing the weight of his own body and then they nailed his feet to the foot of the crosse and so taking up the crosse with this bloudy sacrifice upon it probably they set it down into the earth or otherwise making it fast thereby exceedingly rending the wounds shaking his body They pierced my hands and feet or Lyon-like tore they them as the text with the marginall note reads it Psal 22. 17. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus were his hands and arms spread wide open to take us into his armes and embrace us with the armes of his mercy 4. Thus he continued hanging the Mors minus poenae quam mora mortis habet weight of his whole body by his hands the flesh rending opening bleeding for three houres together which could not be but a great torment They would likewise faine had his legs broken with an iron rod and heard his bones crash in his skin but that God prevented them And more they would have done but could not being dead already only one out of desparate malice runs at him and thrusts his speare into his heart to be sure to kill him and make his death to be without question But thus was Christs heart wounded that our hearts might be eased and cheared For from thence came water and bloud the pericardium about the heart having a little bagge of water to coole it which they pierced to signify he would be to us both water and bloud both Iustification and sanctification 1 Cor. 1. 30. 2. Thus you see what he suffered from men which were his bodily sufferings now followes what he suffered from God in his soul which were the soul of his sufferings which in comparison of what he felt from men were but as the biting of a flea to the tearing of a lion If God once fight against us who can stand before him when he is angry have pity upon me O my friends saith Job for the hand of God hath touched me Job 10. 11. And was not the hand of God also most heavy upon him when God made him feel all the wrath his elect should have suffered in hell to all eternity for he bare our sorrowes Esay 53. 4. Lam. 1. 12. though perhaps not in the same kind and Perkins on the Creed saith He suffrâ—d the very torments of the damned in his soul Perk. 1. vol. p. 215. And Answerable in extremity of pain to the torments of hell saith Cusan excit l. 10. p. 619. and Field on the Ch. p. 448. 2 Tim. 4. 16. different in regard of time for Christ was not capable of every degree of the second death as separation from the love of God despaire eternity of torment yet equivalent to the torments of the damned If the wrath of God against one sinner for one sin be unquenchable fire and the worme that never dieth wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever what torment was upon him who drunk up the cup of Gods wrath for all our sins This made him roare and cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me as if he should say all my friends have forsaken me my disciples are gone from me but wilt thou forsake me also he cryes not out of Peter or the rest of his disciples saying O my disciples why doe you forsake me but O my God why hast thou forsaken me And secondly wilt thou now forsake me now I am dying now I am in this my greatest conflict and misery its a great affliction to be forsaken of God at any time but especially in times of affliction sorrow and death 3. He calls him still his God My God I will put my trust in thee though thou dost forsake me Christ himselfe wanted comfort not faith for he was not forsaken in regard of the Hypostaticall union * Qâ—od â—emel assumpsit nunquam postea dimisit Damâ—sc Vestitutus omni solatio Tao Field on Ch. nor oâ— his faith but of his comfort and ravishing joy he formerly found in God as in a swound there is the stoppage of the souls operation or as the sunne when eclipsed for comfort is not ad esse fidei but ad bene esse not to the being but to the well-being of faith 4. And lastly wilt thou forsake me even Me of whom not long since thou didst pronounce this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased Yet must we not think this acclamation was vox errantis the voice of one that was deceived for he was indeed forsaken 2. Nor murmurantis 3. Nor desperantis of one that murmured or despaired but impostulantis of one that mourned and prayed even a strong supplication that he might not be thus forsaken And thus was Christ forsaken that we might be beloved and never forsaken I will never fail thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13. 6. 3. Thus you have seene Christ died neither an honourable nor an easie death Rom. 5. 7. Neither yet did hee die this bitter death for just or good men or for his friends that had dearly loved him but Ezâ—k 16. 8. for us ungodly enemies sinners that hated him in our hearts When he saw us in our bloud that was the time not of his 1 Tim. 1. 13. of whom I am cheife loathing but of his love to us yea to some of us
of his understanding It is said of Christ he knew no sinne k 2 Cor. 5. 21. because he did no sinne So here we are required to study to know Christ not with bare speculation but practically and operatively Phil. 3. 10. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection that is that we may finde the operation of that power in our souls which Christ shewed in raising himselfe from the dead And this appears in 2. particulars First whereby he gives us power against the love and dominion of sinne to feele vertue and strength from Christ to crucifie our sinnes that crucified our Saviour They that are Christs saith Paul have crucified the flesh with the lusts thereof l Gal. 5. 24. And if we know Christ to be ours we know that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sinne might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sinne m Rom. 6. 6. 1 Cor. 15. 31. Eph. 4. 21. And truly there is nothing more powerfull to mortifie sinne then the knowledge and meditation of the sufferings of Christ If one should kill our father would we hug and embrace him as our friend let him eate at our table and not rather hate and detest the very sight of him and seek to be revenged of him If a Snake should sting thy dearly beloved spouse to death wouldst thou preserve it alive warme it at the fire hug it in thy bosome and not rather stob it with a thousand wounds And were not our sinnes the causes and instruments of Christs death Were not they the whips that scourged him the nayles the cords the speares the thornes that wounded him and fetcht his heart bloud from him And can we love our sinnes that kild our Saviour Can a spouse love her husband and her heart embrace an adulterer We complaine of the sinne of Judas and of the Jewes and seeme to hate them and spit at the mention of them and can we love our Judas sins that set them all on work and put Christ to death And certainly he knowes nothing of Iesus Christ savingly as the truth is in Jesus that hath not put off the old man which is corrupt according to deceitfull lusts n Eph. 4. 21. 22. Though not totally yet abating the love and power of them daily as a man wounded mortally daily weakens Or as a tree cut at the root daily withers by little and little or as a dead man in the grave daily rots stinks and wasts for so saith Saint Paul by our rejoycing in Christ I die daily o 1 Cor. 15. 31. There were five Monkes that were studying what was the best meanes to mortifie sinne One said to meditate of death the second to meditate of judgement the third to meditate of the joyes of heaven the fourth to meditate of the torments of hell the fifth to meditate of the love and sufferings of Christ And indeed this is the strongest motive of all Camer reports that Solomon had Camer a glasse wherein if a worme were put and one prickt it so that the bloud issued it would break the glasse I am sure if any thing the bloud of Christ will break our hearts As they say the bloud of a Goat will dissolve the Adamant Secondly wee must study to know the power of his resurrection in raising us up to newnesse of life changing our natures creating in us new hearts and making us new creatures p Eph. 4. 21. 23. 24. That we may be able to say with Paul I live yet q Gal. 2. 20. Col. 3 1. 2. Phil. 3. 10. not I but Christ lives in me that we are risen with Christ seeking and setting our affections on the things above and not on earth having felt the spirit of Christ in our hearts like a loadstone drawing our hearts to heaven whither he is ascended Or as the Sunne drawes up the â—â—pours from the earth that whereas before we were like mouls alwayes moving in the earth now we are like the Eagles soaring up to heaven being clothed with the Sunne and having the Moone under our feet CHAP. IX That the knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified is the sweetest and most excellent knowledge ANd thus I have finished the first particular viz. What knowledge of Christ is to be studied of us consisting of foure particulars namely The knowledge of 1. Speculation 2. Application 3. Affection 4. Operation 2. Now followeth the second particular Why wee ought especially to study to know Iesus Christ and him crucified And that for these three reasons Because it is the most 1. Excellent Knowledg in the world 2. Profitable Knowledg in the world 3. Comfortable Knowledg in the world First the knowledge of Christ is the most excellent knowledge I count all things as losse not onely for the gaining of Christ but for the excellencie of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord saith Saint Paul a and yet to gaine Christ is much Phli 3. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more then to know him Nay more In him are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge Colos 2. 3. Now treasures we know are abundance of precious Thesauri sunt Divitiae congregater Aq. things So Chrys Aquin. Theoph. In Christ there is all rich and precious knowledge a fountaine of riches Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdome and knowledge of Christ Rom. 11. 33. Nay further In him are All treasures He that knoweth Christ hath all profitable knowledge so that he need know nothing else to make him happy And contrarily Si quishaberet librum ubi esset tota scientia non quaereret nisi ut sciret illum librum sic nos non oportet amplius quaerere nisi Christum Aquin in Col. 2. 3. if he know all things else and knowes not Christ he hath no rich or precious knowledge no treasures of knowledge but empty and unprofitable knowledge 3. Nay yet more All treasures are HID in him As men do hide and lay up their treasures from the sight and knowledge of men so there is such a vast sea of treasures and riches in the knowledge of Christ as men cannot apprehend And that in two respects 1. propter debilitatem intellectus as a candle is not seen of the blind so our understandings are not able to discerne them 1 Cor. 2. 14. And secondly propter velamen oppositum as a candle in a dark Lanthorne for they are not fully revealed As Aquin. Hence saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath Rom. 8. 18. Nos habemus non limpidos sed lippos occulos Acquin 1 Cor. 2. 10. not seene the riches that are to be found in Christ any further then they are revealed by the spirit of Christ d Reas 1. Now the reason why the knowledge of Christ and him Crucified is so excellent Is because it hath a more excellent and higher revelation then the knowledge of all other things Adam had
but they have been stung with a thousand Bees For so God hath told us before hand though we have golden dreames of framing a Paradise of pleasures to our selves here yet we shal find the gates of Paradise shut on earth open onely in heaven Our Paradise is now become a Bochim a place of Lamentation for so he hath decreed Cursed is the earth for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eate of it all the dayes of thy life Thornes and h Gen. 3. 18 19. thistles shall it bring forth unto thee But will Christ feed us with vanities vexations With earth and ashes No no he will feede us with the dainties of heaven and will open unto us the treasures and Iewels that are found in the richest Cabinet of God himselfe Eph. 1. 3. He will give us Grace and glory and no good thing will he withold from us if we walke uprightly Psal 84. ult First He will give us the grace of justification Col. 2. 13. a pardon for all our sins and deliverance from hell and death Rom. 8. 1. Reve. 20. 6. He will say to us as to the Palsy man be of good cheare thy sinnes are forgiven thee Matthew 9. verse 2. and as to weeping Mary Woman thy sinnes are forgiven thee Luke 7. And this alone is a greater blessing then all the riches in the world Blessed is that man whose iniquities are forgiven Psal 32. 2. He will give us the grace of acceptation we shall be looked upon and accepted as righteous as Christ himselfe was for us for as he is so are wee in this world 1. Ioh. 4. 17. i 2 Cor. 5. ult 1 Cor. 1 ult 3. He will give us The grace of sanctification Not onely pulling off our chaines of darknesse the devils fetters k Col. 1. 13 but also decking us with the Jewels of holinesse the Angels glory by clothing our soules with divine inclinations to be made partakers of the divine nature â—Ezek 16. 12. Ioh. 1. 16 and our hearts to be made after Gods own heart 4. The grace of Adoption of vassals and children of the divell to be the spouse the members of Christ nay the sonnes of God m Ioh. 1. 12 which perhaps is that new name spoken of Reve. 2. 17. Now behold what love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sonnes of God! n 1 Ioh 3. 1. thereby intimating that he beares to us the affection and protection of a father to his children 5. He will give us the grace of reconciliation whereby God is as good friends with us through Christ as if we had never offended him Col. 1. 21. 6. The grace of Cooperation for we are able to doe all things through Christ that strengtheneth us Phil. 4. 13. John 15. 44. 7. The grace of corroboration for his grace shall be sufficient for us that no sin shall have dominion over us Rom. 6. 14. 2 Cor. 12. 9. 8. The grace of coagulation enabling us to grow in grace till we come to the measure of Grace that God hath appointed us to come unto Eph. 2. 21. 9. The grace of preservation to continue to the end 1 Pet. 1. 5. we are kept by his power through faith unto salvation our life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3. 3. so as Nothing shall ever separate us from his love for who can pluck us out of the hand of God and of Christ Joh. 10. 28. Rom. 8. ult 10. The grace of consolation for he will send the holy Ghost not onely the sanctifyer but the comforter to cheare our hearts as he promised us Joh. 15. 26. which exceeds all other joy and comforts being unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet 1. 8. 11. Lastly he will give us the grace and gift of glorification if we know Christ is ours then we know heaven is ours and all the pleasures that are in it That that day we dye we shall be with Christ in Paradise for the same glory thou hast given me I have given them saith our Saviour Joh. 17. 24. and we shall sit together with him in heavenly places Eph. 2. 6. Other knowledge may bring pleasure and content but no other knowledge can bring salvation but onely the knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified can the sonne of Ishai give you orchards and Gardens c. said Saâ—l and can the knowledge of earthly things inrich you with these treasures 2. Secondly As Christ gives better things then the world hath so more satisfying These earthly things are cald empty pits because they are empty of content though there may be some good in them yet not the good we expect that is content Because nothing can give content but that that joynes God and the soule as friends together for which end it was created and without whom the soule can finde no content in all things else but flies up and down like a Bee from one flower to another from one comfort to another to get more sweetnesse but when once it enjoys God it saith I have enough as Jacob said I have enough my sonne Joseph is a live and then is as quiet as a Bee in her hive a bird in her neast a Beast in her den or the Dove in the Arke because God is alsufficient A Gen. 17. 1. Bee flyes from one flower to another because she wants hony enough in that flower but when she is put into a pot of hony then shee seekes no farther A thirsty man give him a glasse of water he is not satisfied for saith he this little water is not able to quench my great thirst but cary him to a river and then he saith he hath enougth Thirdly Christ gives more durable riches then the world hath Al other things have their time to leave us Hic acquiruntur hic amittuntur Here they are gotten and here they are lost The world is like the gardens in France or Italy where men may eat of the fruits of the garden what they please while they are in the Garden but can cary nothing out for then the Gardner searcheth and emptyeth their pockets even so when death comes she will empty our pockets that we can carry nothing with us out of the world Our time is a comming that we must bid a sad farewell to all things here farewell husband I shall never see thy face more farewell wife farewell children friends Riches have wings Honours are like a cristall glasse Quo magis splendescit citius frangitur And pleasures like bubbles of sope pleasant to see to but quickly blown out Luk 10. ult Rom. 8. ult riches honours and pleasures both sinfull and lawfull And perhaps if we be not the better provided we shall bid farwell God farwell Christ the joyes of heaven and eternall happinesse But Christ abideth ever If we know Christ ours we shall never bid farwell to Iesus Christ He is the good part that shall be never taken from us Then we may
same cause coming before him he that before pleaded for him did then condemn him So shall Christ which was your lawyer while you lived to plead for you become then your judge to condemne you Then shall he say to them on his left hand depart from me you cursed Matth. 25. 31. He even he that shed his bloud for you which you trod under your feet He that wept for you that begd reconciliation with you but you hardened your hearts against all tears expostulations and impetrations he shall say depart from me thou cursed He that once appeared like a lamb will then appear like a lyon when thou wilt tremble and fear to look him in the face when all nations shall waile Rev. 1. 7. Rev. 6. 15. 16 17. before him when Kings of the earth great men rich men mighty men shall say to the rocks and mountaines fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. 3. Thirdly General knowledg without application is hurtfull because it will aggravate thy condemnation Wo to him saith Christ by whom the sonne of man is betrayed Nay rather wo be to him by whom the son of man is not beleeved in it had been good for that man he had never been born yea perhaps that Christ had never been born This is condemnation John 3. 19 that light is come c. in three respects First it is condemnation inevitable there is no possibility of salvation for that man Mark 16. 16. He that beleeveth not shall be damned As Spira said God hath given me diverse gifts but denyed me the grace of faith and these are left but to increase my condemnation What hindred the Iewes from entring into Canaan but unbeleef And what hinders us from heaven but unbeleef Heb. 3. 19. God hath but two seats to sit upon his seat of Iustice and his seat of mercy If Iustice condemn a man yet mercy may plead for him but if mercy condemn him there is no help for him And God hath made but two Covenants one of the Law and the other of the Gospel If the Law condemn us we may flie to the Gospel but if the Gospel condemne us there remains no more sacrifice for sin but he must certainly perish He that beleeveth not saith our Saviour Iohn 3. 18. he is condemned already wanting nothing but execution first he is condemned by the sentence of the word he stands a condemned person Gal. 3. 10. 2. In the Court of mercy Mark. 16. 16. 3. In the Court of his owne conscience 1 Joh. 3. 20. 4. He shall be as certainly damned as if he were dam-Ned already 5. He is every houre in danger and feare of hell and damnation Nay farther John 3. ult The wrath of God abideth on him it sticks fast upon him so as there is no possibility of taking it off till he get into Christ but it shall abide upon him for ever Secondly It is condemnation inexcusable these judge themselves unworthy of eternall life As he that delpiseth his pardon tears it or treads it under foot is unworthy of mercy it is worse then the treason these despise their own mercy Jonah 2. 8. and love despised of all other injuries is hardliest borne of by God or man how can those expect God should have mercy on them that would have no mercy on themselvs surely they shal have judgement without mercy that would shew to themselves no mercy If the old world had bin drowned and they had had no ark or the Iews had bin stung to death in the wildernes if there had been no brazen serpent it had bin excusable But when God provided an ark to save them and yet they were drowned because they would not go into it And when he provided a brazen serpent and yet they were stung to death because they would not look upon it they were without excuse so likewise iâ— men had perished and there had been no Saviour sent to deliver them they might have pleaded some thing more for themselves but now their mouths are stopped and are without any shadow of excuse Thirdly this is condemnation Indeed Zanch. de Nat. Dei l. 4. c. 4. saith Christ is a Savior to all men by giving common gifts restraining grace moderatur paenas debitas that is that all are actuaally saved from some degree of death by Christ as he thinks But sure we are this shall aggravate their torment be their great est misery that they rejected Christ intolerable and unutterable as if no sins brought damnation upon men in comparison of unbelief When God threatens severest judgement against sinners it is to give them their portion with unbeleevers Luk. 12. 46. And Paul tels us Heb. 10. 27. These shall have sorer punishment then those that despised Moses law and yet they died without mercy under two or three witnesses because they trode under foot the bloud of God accounting it as dung and dirt which is prâ—tium lavacrâ—m and alleviacrum animarum the price laver refresher of soules they throw his blood in his face and count it as common bloud as the bloud of a swine of a theif or murtherer Hence the Lord charged his disciples that if any to whom he was offered did reject him they should wipe off the dust of their feet against them Luke 10. 41. The Iews rebellion idolatry and other sins were sometimes plagued of God by Ammonites Philistines Edomites and others and they were carried captive 70 years but when once they rejected Christ wishing his bloud upon them and upon their children then they were rejected of God totally and so have continued sixteen hundred years together In Matth. 11. 24. God threatens it shall be easier for Sodom in the day of judgement then for those that refuse Christ you know Sodoms sin and judgement that fire came down from heaven and burnt them to ashes and now they suffer the vengeance of eternall fire But it seemes the rejecting Christ is a greater sin then Sodomy in Gods account and shall have greater torments Turks and Pagans that never heard of Christ shall sport in hell in comparison of these The Devils themselves are not guilty of this sinne of despising mercy offered and the blood of a Saviour and therefore in this respect mans sin may bee said to exceed the devils Object But you will say who rejects Christ or desires not to have his part in him I answer It is true none absolutely refuse Christ but upon the hard conditions as they conceive upon which he is offered the plucking out their right eyes parting with their dearest lusts As Adam preferred the forbidden fruit before Paradise as Esau preferred his pottage before his birth-right or as a dung hill cock prefers a barley-corn before a Iewel And thus they are truly said to despise and reject Christ as the yong man in the Gospel did that preferd the world before his
in a stony heart as some flowers or herbs are found only in a soft soyl and not among the rocks so faith only is found in a soft heart A broken bleeding Christ dwels only in a broken heart a plaister will not stick upon the whole flesh but upon a sore Esa 61. 1. All beleevers can call their faith Benoni the child of their sorrow as Hannah said This is the child for which I wept and mourned and prayed 1 Sam. 1. 27. Signe 3 3. The third sign from the right operations of this strong faith or assurance that Christ is thine which are foure 1. It is little at the first like a little child that cannot go alone nor speak but is carried in the armes of others and lives almost by nothing but sucking and crying so this weak beleever is fain to be carried in the armes of stronger Christians and doth nothing almost but cry for his sinnes and hunger after the word and run to it it is a weeping faith full of doubtings temptations and fears as the poor man cryed weeping Lord I beleeve help my unbeliefe it is like Mat. 12. 20 the smoaking flax and bruised reed that smoakes with desires but the fire is not strong enough to flame with comforts and a reed now a reed is a weak thing scarce strong enough for a bird to sit upon but much weaker if it be bruised lastly it is like a grain of mustardseed which is so small a seed as you can scarce discern it so is faith so weak at first that the poor beleever can scarce discern whether he hath faith or no. But if the child bee of a mans stature so soon as it is born it is a monster so if thou beest all of a suddain fully assured that Christ is thine and no sooner art stept out of thy naturall sinfull condition but presently thou art so sure as that thou canst not be more this faith is a monster soon ripe and soon rotten like Jonas goard that did grow in a night and did perish in a night 2. It increaseth daily as a child groweth daily it lies not in the heart like a stone in the earth but like a tree or seed in the earth which groweth so Rom. 1. 18. the righteousnesse of God is revealed from faith to faith that is from one degree of faith to another as the little grain of mustard-seed in time growes to a great tree so that it is a shadow for the foules of the heaven so the faith that before could scarcely be discerned is now so strong that it is able to shelter other scorched soules under its shadow and the babe Rom. 15. 1. now can go alone yea is able to carry other children in his armes so Nicodemus that at first came by night but after went openly and boldly with Joseph to Pilate to beg the body of Jesus 3. The third operation of faith in the heart is that it opposeth infidelity and fights against it I have fought the good fight of faith saith Paul 2 Tim. 4. 7. and this made the poor man cry out against his unbelief Mark 9. 24. Lord help my unbeleef But if there be no opposition in thy heart no striving against doubting c. there may be bold and strong presumption but no faith no certain knowledge or assurance that Christ is thine for Satan tempted the faith of Christ Matth. 4. 2. and of Peter Luk. 22. 31. and surely he would shake thine if it were of God but thou mayest feare the strong man keeps the house and therefore all is at peace That man never beleeved that never doubted the liquor of faith is never pure in these vessels of clay without the lees of distrust saith bishop Hall The fourth operation of faith is if the same faith that makes thee believe that Christ is thine doth enable thee also to beleeve all other promises for temporall blessings and deliverances As Jacob beleeved God for his going safely back into Canaan upon the promise of God for it Gen. 32. 9. 10. I am lesse then the least of all thy mercies c. But thou hast said return into thy countrey and I will do thee good and Abraham beleeved God for a child after he had a promise as well as he did for salvation But many there are whose faith is strong enough to assure them of their salvation by Iesus Christ who yet cannot trust God for the performance of temporall promises Signe 4 4. The fourth signe is Repentance a if we carry our sinnes as Christ did with a heavy and broken heart grieving and Acts 3. 19. Acts 26. 18. 20. 2 Cor. 7. 10 Zach. 12. 10. mourning for the impieties and impurities of our natures still remaining contrary to the holinesse of the spirit of grace as fire to water as light to darkenesse hence Paul cryed out O wretched man who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7. 24. the evill I hate that I do Rom. 7. 18. Yea all the promises are made to a mourning spirit under sin Matth. 5. Blessed are they that mourn Psal 51. 17. Esa 61. 2. if a wound bleeds there is lesse danger but it wrankles if it bleeds not Yet not every repentance or sorrow for sin is a sign that Christ is ours for Esau Cain Saul Ahab and Judas had a kind of sorrow for their sins in relation to the punishment and as it wounded conscience which also was found in Pharaoh and is found even among the damned There is water in their eyes because of the fire in their bones every stubborne child will cry when the rod is on but it is more usually for the smart then for the fault a thief grieves when he is taken not because of his theft but because he fears he shall be hanged A man repents that he hath eaten sweet meats not but that he loved them well but because they made him sick children busie about the fire if they burn their fingers then they will cry but not for soyling their clothes c. So to be grieved for our sins and love them is but as if a snake should cast her coat but keep her poison or a man leave his whore but still love her or a merchant that casts away his wares into the sea but t is in a storme still he loves them wicked men may weep salt water tears of bitternesse they cry for anger as Saul cryed for madnesse 1 Sam. 24. 16. but the Saints weep sweet water spring or loving water even tears of love Hence it is that when they had been pricked thus in their hearts Peter bids them still repent Acts 2. 38. which is nothing else but sorrow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 7. 9. towards God when it proceeds from love to God and hatred of sin as offensive to God as a child grieves because he hath offended a loving father In Zach. 12. 10. it is said they shall see him whom they have pierced and
Yet ever remember the more sin is mortified the more faith is vivified the more the disease weakens the more health strengthens Doubt 7 Yea but I have relapsed into my old sins that I have vowed and covenanted against a thousand times and therefore I am but a dog that have returned to my former vomit or as a sow that was washed I have returned to my former mire I answer there are relapses into enormities which are peccata vastantia conscientiam these a godly heart doth seldome relapse into though sometimes through weaknesse of grace they may as Peter and others Secondly there are relapses into infirmities which are peccata quotidianae incursionis which we cannot help and God hath left daily to humble us with all and of which none are free as rash anger idle words vaine thoughts distraction in prayer c. And these the best do daily relapse into for originall sin doth still retaine its inclination to sin in the most sanctified heart Rom. 7. 23. Col. 3. 4. 5. Again there are relapses of wilfulnesse Ier. 31. 18. 19. 20. and of weaknesse now thy relapses are of weaknesse and not of wilfulnesse thy heart still is on Gods side there is a great difference between a woman forced and an alluring adulteresse between our entertainment we show to a friend whom we rejoyce to see and bid welcome c. and to a thief that breakes into our house of whose company we are weary and long to be rid of He is not a swine that is driven into the mire but he that delights to wallow in the mire Now if thy relapses are of weaknesse feare not for he will forgive us that so offend not seventy times 7 times but seventy thousand times every day as long as we live we must pray Lord forgive us our trespasses neither do future sins repeal former pardons Peccata semel remissa nunquam redeunt Neither can a child of God so sin as some think as to be in the stata of damnation by them no not for an houre And because it is an assertion that hath much troubled many I shall be larger in setting downe the arguments some make gainst it with the answer to their objections Object Some affirme that grosse sins of beleevers are not pardoned no not in heaven till they do actually repent of them that they cannot say My God and my Christ c. but do incurre an actuall guilt of eternall damnation redundant upon the person at least pro tempore so as if David should have died before his actuall repentance c. he should have been damned It s answered the sins of beleevers are not only actually pardoned in heaven after actual repentance but before any subsequent act of repentance even at once in the first act of Beleeving and Repenting So as if David and Peter had died one in the act of his adultery and the other in the act of his denyal of Christ yet they had been saved though as they say they cannot conceive a regenerate person can commit a known actual sin without some present act of repentance some resistance of spirit cald displicentia vel renisus voluntatis Cum peccant ea tantum parte qua non sunt regeniti peccant secundum vero interiorem partem nolunt detestantur peccatum ergo non plena voluntate peccant Zanch. Epist 91. p. 114. And to this agrees that in Gal. 5. 17. 1 John 3. 9. Rom. 7. 13. 24. But that he stands a condemned man till solemn acts of repentance as confession petition c. they deny 1. Because in the first act of beleeving our sinnes are so pardoned as there is no place or time after left for condemnation he that believeth hath everlasting life John 3. ult and cap. 5. 23. but if at any time any one sin were not pardoned he were for that time under the curse in the state of condemnation Gal. 3. 10. but can a man have right to heaven and hell at the same time 2. Because still he is regenerated 1 Iohn 3. 9. the seed of God remaineth in him but he that is in the state of regeneration cannot be in a state of condemnation at the same time 3. Still hee remains a beleever and a penitent person in habit at least except by his fall he hath lost all grace as the Arminians hold but a beleever is still a justified person Rom. 5. 1. they say they cannot see how that man can be properly said to be justified though he be acquitted of a thousand offences if he stands guilty of any one offence for which at that time he is in the state of condemnation except we will say a man may be in a state of Justification and condemnation of life and death at the same time 4. In the present act of his sinne he is united to Christ and a member of Christ but a member of Christ cannot be in the state of condemnation for then at the same time a member of Christ may be a member of the Devill 5. He is still an adopted child of God notwithstanding his fall John 1. 12. 13. but every adopted child is an heire of heaven if sonnes then heirs Rom. 8. therefore till he loseth his son-ship he cannot lose his right to life it would seem strange that God at the same time should be pater hostis reconciliatus infensus a father and an enemy 6. If greater sins are not forgiven till after actuall repentance then neither are the least and smallest sinnes committed every moment forgiven till after actuall repentance for all sinnes deserve condemnation as well the least as the greatest though some deserve a greater degree of torment Gal. 3. 10. Rom. 6. ult secondly there is the same way appointed by God for the pardon of the smallest sins as of the greatest viz. faith and repentance but it cannot be true of the smallest sins because then a beleever should never be justified a minute together for as for idle thoughts c. we are continually acting and so a beleever should almost every minute be in the state of death and then they see not but in ictu mortis he may perish except the last operation of his spirit be actuall repentance Yea if lesser sinnes peccata quotidianae incursionis need daily repentance surely that daily repentance is actuall repentance and then even those sins are not forgiven till actuall repentance 7. Then it is certain a beleever after his fall into some grosse sinnes shall live so long by Gods decree till he actually repents as the elect shall till they beleeve but they conceive this hath no warrant from scripture that a beleever shall not die in the act of a grosse sin as adultery selfe-murther bitter and malicious speeches when perhaps the provoked party may immediately run him through kill him yea this they say seems to judge too rigidly of those that die by selfe-murther as drowning hanging stabbing themselves
c. which though it be a sin to be trembled at it being blood murther yea self-murther against our selves to whom we owe greatest love yea the last act is sin and our hope of the salvation of these is exceedingly weakned by so terrible and dreadful an act yet they beleeve it were harsh judgement to conclude these certainly damned but what time have these men for actual repentance when they may die ipsoictu and as the wound may be their repentance must be very short having scarce time enough to say Lord have mercy upon me 8. That that instrumentally justifies on our part is not repentance but faith because faith only layes hold upon the merits of Christ and by it the merits of Christ are imputed to us and repentance only justifies declarative as an evidence and fruit of faith or as a speciall concomitant of it But pardon of sin is an act of justification therefore rather actuall faith is required at least as well as actuall repentance before actuall pardon 9. Argum. Then a beleever may â—ustly feare hell and to be damned till his actuall repentance after his sin But a beleever ought never to fear damnation The Major necessarily followes and cannot be denyed And the Minor they prove by laying down three particulars First they deny not but filiall fear may stand with fear of temporall corrections Psal 119. 120. my soul trembleth for Iob. 34. 31. 32. feare of thee c. the thing I feared is come upon me saith Iob a Iob. 3. 15. 31. 32. 2 Sam. 7. 14. Amos 3. â— And God is very severe in chastising his children in this life more sharply then the wicked for judgement shall begin at the house of God to the Jew first c. Thus Moses lost Canaan Eli fell down backward died Davids adultery c. how severely punished the child born in adultery died Tamar defiled Amnon slain in his drunkennesse Absalom rebelling and defiling his fathers wives yea the sword never departed from his house Hezekiah how severely did God deal with him for a suddain act of vain glory 2 King 20. 14 to 19. and David for his priding himselfe in his people God slew seventy thousand 2 Sam. 24. And therefore actuall repentance is not denyed to be necessary to beleevers as we heard before to get assurance of our pardon and prevent scourges Secondly they deny not but the Saints do often carnally and slavishly feare hell and damnation which proceeds sometimes from their weaknesse of faith and the root of infidelity still remaining in them which breeds doubting and doubting breeds feare though never so farre as to suffer the soule to be quite cut off from all hope in God There is certitudo fidei which doth import a stedfast cleaving In credente potest â—nfurgere contrarius motus huic quod firmissimâ— tenet Aquin though not absolute quietnesse as â— ship at Anchor may shake but not blow over And sometimes it is sent as a punishment and correction from God which he inflicts not poâ—â—ndo positivé or operativé that is not positively instilling that conception into them that they shall be damned but Abnegando desâ—rendo permittendo c. leaving them to Satan and their own spirits to be thus tormented Thirdly But they deny it to be lawfull for a beleever once justified to feare hell or to be damned after God hath left him to fall into a grosse sin 1. Because it is the feare of Reprobates and divels which God hath forbidden directly 1 Pet. 3. 14. Luk. 12. 32. Iam. 2. 19. Rev. 21. 8. Luk. 1. 74. True Filiall feare still remaines for blessed is he that so feareth alwayes but servile feare which is cum per timorem Gebennae homo se continet a peccato Pet. Lomb. l. 3. dist 34. Oderunt peccare mali formidine paenae c. though it remaines yet is forbidden 2. Because quod non licet credere non licet timere that which we ought not to beleeve shall happen to us that we ought not to fear but we ought not to beleeve we shal be damned till we actually repent 1. Because then we should beleeve a lye For here is nothing present or to come can separate us from the love of Christ Rom. 8. 36 and Iob. 10. 28. I give my sheep eternall life Secondly because for a beleever in Christ to beleeve or thinke he shall be damned proceeds from infidelity or weaknesse of faith and therefore is his sin Object If any object Adam in innocency had the feare of eternall death set before him to keep him from sin Gen. 2. 17. Answ they answer that which Adam might feare as they conceive even with filiall feare we cannot because Adam was liable to eternall death if he sinned but we are not being freed by Christ Lastly as it is true many learned Divines are not of this opinion as Bishop Davenant and Suffrag Theol. Mag. Brit. Art 5. and some other Divines not here mentioned So likewise many learned Divines do assert it * as Musculus on Iohn Dr. Twiss Dr. Ames Luther de capt Babil de Eucâ—ar Dr. Plaifer the sick mans couch p. 46. 47. c. clearly and excellently 5. 24. Non est intelligendum tantum de peccatiâ— ante fidem sed post acceptum fidei donum yea Bishop Davenant himselfe saith Persona hominis pii est semper deo grata non obstantibus delictis and addes that their sins displicent deo odio simplici sed non redundante in personam So Luther saith no sin with which faith may stand can hurt us I thinke he meanes to attract guilt of eternall condemnation except sin be raigning so as that it excludes faith And Zanch. Epist l. 1. p. 116. saith Reprobi quando peccant a regno Christi prorsus excidunt Sed electi quamvis aliquando inviti circumventi labuntur â—on tamen a Christi regno prorsus excidunt nec a Christo avelluntur The objections brought against this assertion are thus answered 1. Object Rom. 3. 25. Christ is said to forgive sins that are past They Answ he speaks not exclusivé excluding sins to come but inclusivé hence in Col. 2. 13. Christ is said to forgive us all our trespasses 2. Object Matth. 10. 28. fear not them that can kill the body c. Answ It is rather a description of the person whom we ought to fear then of the kind of feare wherewith he is to be feared namely that we should feare that God that can cast soule and body into hell in regard of his power but will not in regard of his promise 3. Object 1 Cor. 6. 9. 10. 11. No fornicator drunkard c. shall inherit the kingdome of God Answ They answer That is without he gets his pardon by Christ received by faith and discovered and confirmed to him by repentance its true Note that no man can be saved without faith and repentance but it may seem difficult to say
bono whether thy paines be profitable for the people for a man may preach painfully and yet very unprofitably and then as he that sweareth vainly taketh Gods name in vain so he that preacheth unprofitably taketh Gods word in vain And yet sometimes a minister may take comfort and shall have his reward though his people be not gathered I have laboured in vain c. saith Isaiah yet my reward is with the Lord and Es 44. 4. my worke with my God sometimâ—s we are sent to be the savour of death unto death Es 6. 21. and to make the heart of a people fat c. but this is not when the people perish through our negligence Aug. makes this resemblance suppose a Blackamore and another comes to a Barbers shop to be washed he takes equall paines with both the one is made whiter the other Blacker yet the Barber is equally payd There is cura offiâ—ii that belongs to us and cura eventus that belongs to God Weams Cert Law Alas it s not our work to convert soules but Gods we may sow the seed but God must give successe Rebecca may cook the meat but Isaâ—c must give the blessing Moses may hew the tables but God must write the law we may carry the bottle but its God that gives the wine we may speak words but its God that gives grace in Caelo cathedram habet qui corda movet Si non sit intus quidocet inanis strepitus noster Paul is nothing Apollos is nothing but God must give the increase 4. Ministers must preach Christ faithfully 4. Faithfully he that hath my word let him preach my word faithfully Jer. 23. 8. a 1 Cor. 4. 2. as stewards and ambassadours must do their masters message 1. Not to call evill good nor good evill making the heart of the righteous sad and strengthning the hands of the wicked b Ezek. 13. 22. 2. Not to suppresse or omit any needfull truths or reprooâ—es out of feare or â—avour as c Ezek. 2. 7. Ier. 1. 7. 8. Nathan was faithfull to David Iohn to Herod Elias to Ahab yea Balaam himselfe said the word that God putteth into my mouth that will I speake d Num. 22. 38. 3. Not to preach pleasing things out of flattery and desire to get â—avour e Ier. 6. 14. Ier. 13. 17. Ezek. 13. 19. 11. when like false glasses they represent not a true face f As those that told Dionysius his spittle was as sweet as honey and those that flattered Caesar that told him his freckles in his face were like the stars in the firmament flattery undid Ahab Nero Herod Alexander c. These are the undoers of the soules of the people like evill Chirurgions that skin over the e Ier. 6. 14. Lam. 2. 14. Ier. 23. 17. wound but never heale it g Especially at their deaths O then especially take heed of daubing them over with untempered mortar and so the poor man is in hell when he thought to have been in Abrahams bosome This sin will lie heavy upon a ministers conscience when he lies a dying Will you lie for God or talke deceitfully for his cause saith God Iob. 13. 7. 5. Ministers must preach Christ zealously with intention of affection and 5. Zealously speech Cry aloud spare not c. Es 58. 1. though we need not boare bellow out Es 40. 8. Tit. 1. 5. Act. 7. 5 yet we must acriter urgere and cloath the matter with suitable expressions as apparell to fit the body and the season when the Holy Ghost came upon the Disciples in Acts 2. 3. 4. fire sate upon their tongues And the Angel touched Isaiahs tongue with a cole of fire it was not dipt Es 6. 6. 7. in water and the two witnesses fire came out of their mouthes Rev. 11. 5. Elias was a man made up of heavenly fire and for his zeal was carried up in a fiery chariot into heaven And Jeremy professeth that the word was like a fire within his bones Jer. 20. 7. Gods word is compared to fire a hammer and a sword Ier. 23. 29. Heb. 4. 12. and therefore we must so use it as it may heat the coldest heart break the stony heart and cut and fetch bloud from the hardest hearts Acts 2. 37. Alas naturall men are in a dead sleep and many godly are in Eph. 5. 14. Es 6. 9. a lethargy and in asnorting sleep as the wise virgins and had need be awakened with a loud voice especially considering our message is of so great importance But this is a fault of Ministers now a dayes who love not to have their tongues tipt with fire but dipt in water not to be a hammer or a sword but a reed shaken with the wind they love not to be the salt but the sugar and honey of the word the salt hath lost its savour and the reason is because men will not endure it but are ready to gnash their Act. 7. 51. teeth at such preaching and call it malice c. when as indeed it is the greatestlove that can be As if a mans house be set on fire we must not speak softly as loth to awaken him Sir your house is on fire c. Cry aloud spare not save them with feare pulling them out of the fire he is the Iude 23. Zach. 3. 2. best Chirurgion or Physitian not that puts his Patient to least pain but that cures and heales Not he that is most pleasing but most profitable Yet alas men cry out of such preachers as fiery fellows like the fiery disciples that said command fire from heaven the man is mad now he railes and vents his malice And their best language is it s his passion the man is angry like the widdow while her oyle increased the Prophet was a good man but when shee thought hee slew her sonne then shee cryes out art thou come to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son 1 Kings 17. 18. What have I to do with thee Indeed anger may be a sin when it is against the person of another but not when against his sin keeping bounds so it is our duty to be angry as Pauls spirit was whetted sharpened c. Act. 17. 16. and c. 13. 10. And Iohns spirit Matth. 3. 7. And our blessed Saviour Matth. 23. 33. Yea serpents generation of vipers c. 6. Ministers must preach Christ lovingly 6. Lovingly take heed our own passions mingle not with our zeale that we vent not them to disgrace others or ease our own venemous spirits excellent is the speech of Bullinger in his preface before his Decades Abâ—it fel amaritudâ—nis petulantia Sit objurgatio prudens potius quam audax Ardeat non ira sed spirit us veâ—ementia scelus potius quam scelerati person im-persequi We were gentle among you saith Paul as a nurse cherisheth her children and we exhorted you as a father doth his