false they were sent to be their Guides and Deliverers to bring thâ—m to the good Land But the Lyars mouth was open and this Christ is made to submit to to have his Life taken from him unjustly and without cause 4. Another Thing Christ submits to when he says Thy Will be done is to be put to the worst and shamefullest death of all The Circumstances aggravate the Death 1. He is crucified among two Thieves as one of that company guilty as they He is numbered with transgressors The Truth suffers as guilty though it be clear as Deceivers and yet true saith Paul Truth suffers between the Man and the Devil they are the two Thieves The Devil he is the great Thief he steals to himself Lordship and Power and to sit in the seat of God and to be Disposer of things He brags and vaunts All this will I give if thou wilt fall down and worship c. Alas they are none of his goods Then the Man he is a Thief too he steals a little hope and ease and rest a little release of his burthen when it presses very sore and this Thief steals for his want to satisfie his hunger and therefore he may be saved with Christ But between these two the Truth must dye as one of that number as a sinner and transgressor We have looked amiss as if the man only and the Devil were to suffer but the Truth in us because clear therefore that might scape No no that must suffer and lead the way to the man or else he alas can never suffer nor go through death But the good shepherd when he puts forth his own sheep he goes before them He suffers first and drinks the first cup. But 2. Where do they crucifie him Out of the City out of the place of blessing and carry him to the place of a skull as one of the Evangelists hath it a field of blood as another calls it but by both it appears to be a loathsom unworthy disgraceful place a place of filth and rottenness Out of the belly of Hell have I cryed unto thee c. No better a lodging for the Soul in this day then the belly of Hell it self and this Christ submits to 3. Yet further The Souldiers part his garments among them And truly this is a very sad case to consider How the Lusts that crucified the Truth yet they will divide its garments and put them on and they 'l be covered with a garb and covering of Truth The wisdom of the flesh that puts in for a share the hasty and eager zeal and affections they plead for a share the strange imaginations they plead a share and all will seem to be Friends to Truth notwithstanding they have but now put it to death yet they part his garments among them And this is a sad case to the sensible Soul that is bereaved of the Life of its Truth and of the garments also that hath lost all such a Soul can cry out bitterly with Mary They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have layd him 5. Yet further He submits to be left and forsaken of all his Friends His Disciples left him and fled Might he but have had them to stick to him in this day of his calamity it had been a great support and stay but they all leave him and are scattered every one to his own And herein lies a sore aggravation of misery if your Souls can read it that now in this woful day when all these woes are upon the back and press the Soul to death almost yet this must come in to add to all the rest That all the good that ever the Soul hath done and thought and laboured in the Truth all is now scattered and leaves it What ever it hath done singly and honestly and out of the good-will sown in its heart towards the Truth all the labours under the Sun now take their leave and seem vanity and vexation of spirit And here Christ cries out I have spent my labour in vain time will come you will forget that ever you had a good thought or a good word or did any thing for the Truth all wil leave you and be gone when now your Souls can sometimes hold on the innocency and single mindedness within and truly pray to be remembred according to that inward cleanness yet a day will come when all this will be laid aside and forgotten I forgot prosperity saith David and in another place he compares himself to the Dead that are forgotten for ever How had Christ once his Disciples about him and ready to his command when he sent out the Seventy two by two and now to be left of all and not one to stand by him this is a hard Trial and if it were not hid from the Soul if it could foresee what a day of Scattering of all its good and labours would come upon it as though they had not been it would discourage and make it flag in all its actings for God if it thought such a day of stripping all were to come They pierced my hands and my Feet saith Christ His Hands that had laboured in the Truth and his Feet that had ran the way of his Commandments These are now nailed fast to the Cross and he is not able to stir them The day will come when your Souls will hate all the Labours you have taken under the Sun when that Strait shall be upon you to crie out My God My God Why hast thou forsaken me Mark what I say for the day will surely come upon you and then all your Works and Labours will leave you All the good that ever hath passed upon you will not stand you instead in that day nor answer that Strait O Lord how is my Soul troubled when I feel how senselesse you are and far off from having the thing seise upon you indeed But it will surely come and then you will remember what hath been told you this Condition will befall you to be left alone as Christ complains Lover and Friend hast thou put far from me and my acquaintance into darkness 6. Another misery greater then all is this His father hides his face from him he seems to forsake him and become an enemy that he cries out my God my God c. My God he can yet say but not my father he hath hid himself from the house of Jacob all the bowels are hid But why must this befall Christ that his father leaves him 1. He hides himself that he may not see the death of his childe the father cannot endure that and therefore he turns aside and hides his face his bowels and tenderness and puts on another habiâ— Cloaths himself with vengeance as with a garment when this work of death must pass then he seems all anger and hardens himself against the cries and tears of his Son then he comes with Refiners fire now the fire that hath no mercy
out of the words I. Who are They that will kill the Body They are hinted out Vers 17 21. Beware of men And they are ranked into four sorts 1. Governors Which are set to defend and protect yet beware of these they shall be against you 2. Kings Which are set to defend and protect yet beware of these they shall be against you 3. Brethren Brother shall betray Brother to Death c. 4. Children and Children against their Parents c. This wonderful unnatural yet all made true in our own experience II. What is it to kill the Body what ways may they take to do that 1. By taking away estate and means which maintain the Body 2. By reproaches and evil reports that none will Trade with us 3. By binding our hands that we may not defend our selves 4. By ensnaring and making an evil of our words 5. By tentering the Law to the utmost that no stirring but we may be found offenders 6. By false witness as against Christ when He innocent 7. They may kill by their Law when we clear by Law of God These several ways may They kill the Body if the Lord prevent not III. The Exhortation Fear not them Why should not They be feared that kill the Body 1. Fear them not in respect of themselves For 1. They are vanity a nothing fade as the grass 2. They but instruments the sword cannot cut without the hand 3. Pity them 'T is their woe and misery to do this work 4. Before their Plots are ripe They may be cut off so Haman was and the Powder-Treason prevented in very nick 2. Fear not in regard of the Body which they can kill 1. The Body is but the outside the cask the shell 2. 'T is a perishing thing and will soon dye of it self 3. This is not to enter into glory but must first put on incorruption therefore this but a small thing to kill the Body IV. Whom ought we to Fear FEAR HIM that can destroy Soul and Body And that for these Reasons 1. He is our Maker our Being and all we have is of Him 2. He can bring down and twist away thy life and all in a moment 3. He hath no Controuler none can rescue out of his hand 4. In thy own conscience He hath many just occasions against thee 5. He will certainly bring to judgment and account for all thoughts words actions Therefore there is good ground to fear Him 6. Fear Him because there is mercy with Him VI. What is it to have the Soul destroyed what ways doth God take to bring this about Five several ways 1. By withdrawing the sap when God leaves striving and motioning the Soul dyes of it self if not fed upheld maintained 2. By giving up the Soul to beleeve lyes wholy filled with them 3. By leaving it alone without one to pity pray or care for it 4. By shutting out all prayers and means that nothing shall prevail 5. By taking away all doors and gates that all lusts and floods of ungodliness may break in and mould the Soul into the image of the Devil VII What is it to be in Hell In three Things 1. When the Soul sensibly feels it is excluded from God Many are in Hell and know it not the thing is not opened 2. To feel the torments and pains of Hell the warm that dyes not 3. To have the everlasting sentence of this condition witnessed to the Soul this makes up all the saved ones may be in the two former All summ'd up in a word of Vse 1. If possible to warn some of this woe That They may never come into this place of torment 2. To minde such as shall be saved both by hintings in themselves and witness from others yet see how neer destruction you may come 3. To counsel us to stand in awe always to fear not knowing what we may be left to lest that day come unawares c. MATTH 10.28 And fear not them that can kill the Body and are not able to kill the Soul c. I Would propound these several things to you to be considered of out of this Scripture 1. Who they be that will kill the Body 2. What it is to kill the Body 3. Why should they not be feared that can kill the Body 4. Whom ought we to fear Fear Him c. 5. Why should we fear Him what cause for it 6. What is it to have the Soul destroyed 7. What is it to be in Hell First Who are they that will kill the Body You may see in the Verses before Christ speaks to his Disciples Behold I send you forth as sheep amongst Wolves be ye therefore wise as Serpents and innocent as Doves But beware of MEN for they will deliver you up to the Councels c. And it is farther explained who these MEN be of whom they should beware Ver. 18. And you shall be brought before Governors and Kings for my sake for a testimony against them And vers 21. And the Brother shall deliver up the Brother to death and the Father the Child and Children shall rise up against their Parents and cause them to be put to death So that these MEN are of these four sorts Governors Kings Brethren and Parents 1. Beware of Kings Kings should preserve their People and Solomon saith The Glory of a King is in the multitude of his People And we can truly witness for our selves and God is our Witness that we have been and are as true faithful and loyal to the present Government of the Kingdom as any other who ever yet we know not how their hearts may be ordered to consider of us Such cases have been we know as that Kings have been let out to undo and pillage and kill their own Subjects And though we may yet truly own the many mercies and liberties we have enjoy'd by this Parliament yet who knows how Things may be turned against us such a case may be Christ bids beware of Kings 2. Beware of Governors Now Governors and Rulers are appointed of God to be a Terror of evil works but not of good They were set to be Defenders and Protectors of them that do well to defend to secure to do them right and justice against such as falsly reproach slander or any ways wrong and injure them yet Beware of men saith Christ Governors themselves shall be against you such as should defend and secure you And we have lately had some experience of this how our Governors which should have been our safeguard and protection that they have slighted our Cause and rather inclined to the false accusations of our adversaries then hear us speak the Truth for our selves nay if the Lord had not prevented it we might have been knockt on head and have lost our lives by the rude and envious multitude which were set against us 3. Brethren Brother shall betray Brother c. Beware of Brethren And how hath this been made true upon us also
foregoing Verse According as his divine power hath given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledg of Him that hath called us to glory and vertue Where four things are layd down in which these precious Promises are fulfilled Life Godliness Glory Vertue These are the exceeding great things promised to be though not yet attained For it is one thing to have a Promise given and another to see the accomplishment of it as Christ saith to his Disciples I will send you the promise of my Father the Holy Ghost was promised before but yet to be sent by Christ 1. The first thing promised to which you are called is Life as the promise was to Sarah That according to the time of Life God would surely visit her and she should conceive c. The Spirit of Life is promised to you though yet the Thing is to be accomplished For how do we lie at present in our graves like Dead men long out of minde how dry and desolate and waste because the Spirit of Life that should quicken and enliven is not come The time of Life is not accomplished but the promise is gone forth that at the set time He will surely visit Sarah and the dry womb shall conceive though Abrahams body be dead and Sarahs womb dead and all seem to work to the contrary For great is the desolation now upon us We are sealed in our graves under death but yet this is the promise That the Dead shal hear the Voyce of the Son of God and live And This is an exceeding large and precious Promise 1. Life implies in it a freedom from death a recovery and deliverance out of its power Alas to Live is another manner of thing then we have conceived it We have gone about and acted and spoke like living men but have we Lived in all this have we been yet ever acquitted and freed from fears of death The Terrors of Death made me afraid saith David Are you not yet kept all your life time under this fear of Death You can never have rest nor quiet because the Jaylor is ever at your heels you are not yet freed from him Death reigned it is said from Adam to Moses now Adam was made a Living Soul He had a life to see and know good and evil but yet he could not come at it could not reach the Tree of life a sword was set to keep him off there But the second Adam is a quickening Spirit He hath life in Himself He was raised up by the power of God never to dye more and this is life indeed Now how many in the World are there that never yet came to be Living Souls to have understanding and light to know good and evil but when brought to that yet there is no freedom from Death Death reigns from Adam to Moses to that farther light which comes in by the Law opened and read to the Soul When the Commandment came saith Paul sin revived and I dyed Death yet reigned And now to be freed from this cruel Tyrant from eternal Death and to be made partakers of Life is an exceeding great and precious mercy Who can value it 2. The Man that is alive is capable of instruction and teaching He can hear and learn from others but the Dead know nothing at all saith Solomon while we lie dead in darkness fears unbelief faintings of spirit so long we know nothing hear nothing we are capable of nothing of the minde of God All is confused and without order in this land of Death What is the reason think you there is such a stupid senceless careless Heart upon you not an ecchoing back as was in Davids Heart When Thou saidst Seek my face My Heart answered Thy face Lord will I seek Why is not this minde and quickness and breathings of Truth in you Why you are dead Death reigns sin hath dominion you are not yet freed from that body of Death For were you but alive it were impossible but you should hear the voyce of the Son of God Truth would touch you and that is the first thing to be done to give you life and then sense and hearing will follow But you are now as unsensible at times as a post in the house and therefore you come and go and come and go and nothing is done why because you are under death It is not yet the time of Life and He will make us know we cannot quicken our own souls Adam would have been reaching to the Tree of Life when his Eyes were opened to know Good and Evil I but a flaming sword is set turning every way to keep the Tree of Life and if ever Adam live again it must be upon other terms He must be raised by another power and that freely of gift For he is now a dead man and cannot quicken his own Soul unless that quickening spirit of Life be put within and here lies the great strait to lie at the mercy of another whether He will ever again give life or not and if he will yet it must be in his own time too and not ours and therefore the Church is at a strait and complains There was none could tell her how long How long we must lie in the dust in our graves before Life shall be given we know not we cannot get it out of his hand Truth would never be good and sweet if we could attain it by our reachings Many may press in to take the Kingdom by violence and stealth but the Examiner will come Friend how came you in hither But of a certain this Promise of Life is given to some of us Hear O Earth for the Lord hath spoken The word is gone forth that you shall surely be visited at the Time of Life and till this be accomplished you cannot be capable of instruction Your reason and thoughts cannot reach it but are to sit silent in your graves till Christ shall call Lazarus come forth and so life be given and put within and this will be an eternal Life never to dye any more Death is no more to have dominion but yet it reigns This is your hour saith Christ and the power of darkness and whilest this government is up and those noises of Hell are within we cannot hear the voyce of Truth till the Soul is freed from the stormy wind and tempest and a calm be made We many times go about to quicken our selves and get life at our own hands and so reach up hopes and conclusions and promises to bear up a while but alass all must down again we must to our center to our graves till the spirit of Life be put in We are asking what we should do and what is our way as if then we could easily turn and do it but alass there is a mistake in the bottom Life must first be given us and we must rest in our graves till then and sit in silence in our darkness and
sure we are beyond them and honester then They There is something that judges and gets above them do what they can and however they envy hate and oppose and will not stoop under it yet such a glory there is in the Truth such a lustre and shining as will manifest it self and therefore the promise is The Righteous shal shine as the Sun in the firmament 4. The fourth great and precious Promise is to be Partakers of Vertue Now Vertue is either taken for a quick and lively fresh power in any thing as when we say such an herb is full of vertue to smell on or such meat is full of vertue to taste on or else Vertue is some secret hidden power which can neither be smelt nor tasted but yet is perceived As in the Loadstone there is a hidden vertue to draw Iron c. So there is a lively Vertuous Power in the Word of Life it will take some effect or other and not return in vain for either it meets with its own kind in us and that relishes and tastes and finds a sweetness in it as David says Thy Word is sweeter unto me then the honey and the honey-comb It is a sweet smelling savour to that a savour of life unto life but if it meet with the enemy that evil principle in us that curses and rages and rends and teers the child at the sight of Jesus it is a savour of death unto death to That Who ever they are that neither taste a sweetness in Truth nor smell a savour of rest from it yet there is a secret vertue that will cut them to the heart Nabal's heart dyes and faints in him do what he can It strikes a secret blow and gets in between the joynts of the armour There is a living vertue in it and like a potion of Physick it will work one way or other either make better or worse And thus the first thing is opened to you What are these great and precious Promises And before I come to the next thing to open what it is to partake of the Divine Nature I would have this I have said well looked over by you For who of you is yet fit to be marryed to Christ He will not take another mans wife whilest we have a husband living any created thing in whose bosom we lie and take delight and pleasure so long we are not a wife for Christ and if our hearts be pulled off by force only and the way hedged up that we cannot find our Lovers this is not that which pleaseth him neither He will not marry a divorced woman but only a chaste Virgin a Heart that stands loose and clean from all corruptible things such a heart only is a fit Spouse for Christ to be Partaker of this divine Nature But 1. It concerns some of you to enquire what â—it is you seek Life or Death None of you I know will say Death you would all have Life But what then mean the bleatings the cryings and huntings after perishing Things where Death is in the pot Why are you living in the creatures in your own wills and counsels Why are you not at a strait to cry out to be saved if Life be the Thing you seek There are many Seekers in the World the Greeks seek after wisdom and the Jews they seek a sign some seek ease and quiet and rest from their torment some seek wisdom and knowledg and parts to be great and honoured but Death is in all this See then what would you have Is Life the thing you seek for or have you it already If you are partakers of Life indeed then the rest will follow Godliness will then come in a God-like mind to be just single merciful h ly like to the Pattern and then Glory will follow your good works will shine before men and then a vertue will go forth which may be savored and relished in all your words and actions But now do these things appear in us what is it we seek what would we have is Life the Thing would we have Christ to dwell in us No we would not all come so near we would have Christ a great way off at the right hand of God to save us at the last gasp when we come to dye but not live the life of the Righteous But be not deceived it is in vain to come hither if we seek not Life But then 2. Suppose a stress be upon you that indeed you would reach out to the Tree of Life because you are smit to the ground and cannot escape the hand but it will bring you to Death do what you can But now enquire upon what grounds wouldst thou have Life upon what account why dost thou hope or expect it is it promised to thee is the word gone forth from Christ that He will raise thee up at the last day what ground have you to hope more then all the world though you may seek it yet that will not do it neither Esau sought the blessing with tears And Christ saith Many shall seek to enter and shall not be able And Paul saith That Israel obtained not what they sought after but the Election obtained it There is a People which shall surely be Partakers of Life to whom the Promise is made but no other The Promise is sure to all the Seed therefore see how standest thou in all thy seeking and hoping for Life Hadst thou ever a Promise of Life given thee either to thy self witnessed to thy own Soul or given to any of his People for thee that Thou shalt Live c. For a vain thing it is to go and take Promises up out of the Scripture and make them our own Promises made to Abraham and David and the rest what are these to thee unless God make them over and give them to thee as He did to them And then 3. Enquire what would you have Life for would you have it to please your selves to live to your wills to be at ease and be freed from troubles Alas this is not a right seeking of it As Jehu answered the Kings messenger concerning Peace What hast thou to do with Peace So what hast thou to do with Life it belongs not to thee unless there be that end in it to live for anothers service and not thy own Therefore it is of great concernment to know what we are about I wonder sometimes on what uncertain bottoms you stand you know not whither you go nor what you would have in all your hearings but like the picture of a rampant Lyon on the wall come seven years hence and that is still in the same place So I have known some of you these many years to be Seekers and Professors and Talkers but you are still where you were seven years ago as carnal sensual as blind ignorant in the ways of God as much glued to the world and seeking your selves not removed a step nearer God then you were c.
Who are they that have been our Accusers that have secretly informed and raised mischief against us and made an evil of what they have heard and seen amongst us were they not our Brethren such as were in society with us men of our own house and we walked together into the House of God as friends such as have heard and pray'd and joyned with us and yet have gone out because they were not of us These have been our greatest Enemies 4. Children shall rise up against their Parents to put them to death And how hath this proved true in my my own child coming as the main Witness against me He that came out of my bowels he was not ashamed to witness falsly against me and to say to my face He would take a hundread oaths if he might but ensnare me And then Parents against their children This I have proved true also Those that have looked upon themselves as my Fathers in Christ from whom I have first received the Truth such as have travelled and prayed yea and witnessed for me that I belonged to God yet how are these now secretly turned against me and in a treacherous undermining way have wrought and do work what they can to undo me Such a strange unnaturalness is there among men and if the Lord favour us not we know not but they may see their wills accomplished against us and take away our lives We know not what They may be suffered to do against us For This is not our Country our Kingdom is not of this world And it is certain there is malice and envy enough in all these relations against us in Kings Governors Brethren Parents Children therefore beware of men though your Cause be never so just and innocent Secondly What is it to kill the Body How may men do that what ways may they find out to bring this about For though it be not the main thing or that which we should fear if called to lay down our lives yet it may be of Use to be informed in the several ways men may take to destroy our Body if the Lord prevent not 1. This way they may take to destroy the Body by taking away our estates and means that which should maintain and keep up our bodies Our bread may be taken out of our mouths we may be so impoverished by Lawyers and Jaylors and Fines and strange ways that may be found out by our Enemies to waste our estates that we shall not be able to maintain our selves Such dealings some of our Fathers and the Martyrs have met with in their days 2. Men may destroy the Body by raising strange reproaches and scandals and such evil reports against us that all men will be shy of dealing with us all our trading and commerce with men by which our lives are outwardly maintained may be thus taken from us As I heard some say in my own hearing Hang them speaking of Us they are a base reproached people we 'l not buy of them of all others And thus by such scandalous reports as these it may grow to that pass that we may have neither liberty to buy nor sell c. 3. Another way by which men may destroy the Body is by binding our hands that we may not defend our selves who ever set upon us And thus we have been dealt with some of us bound to our good behaviour that we may not so much as strike a Dog to defend our selves and who ever will may come and set upon us and we have no remedy in our hands we may not stir against them for our defence 4. Another way they may take to destroy our Bodies is by lying at the catch to insnare and intrap and make an evil in wresting words contrary to our real intentions and purposes As my own son was not ashamed to say to my face I 'le take a hundred oaths if I could insnare you Now what a miserable case is this if a word should slip either unadvisedly or out of ignorance that this should be catched at and a thing never once thought of nor intended charged upon us even to the hazard of our lives for ought we know 5. They may do it another way as by making an evil in tentering our words beyond their meaning so by tentering out the Law to the utmost exactness and rigour in all points against us so that a man can hardly speak to another or stir any ways in his business but if the Law be reached out and tentered to the utmost he may be found liable to some forfeiture or other You that are strangers this day and come without any ill intent into this House to hear me speak you might be troubled for coming into the House or passing through a Close without leave such strange ways may be to tenter out the Law if the Lord shall suffer men in this to stir against us 6. Men may destroy the Body by raising false Witnesses against us and charge us of that falsly which we are no ways guilty of And thus was Christ dealt with and many of the People of God have been falsly accused falsly witnessed against and so condemned to death And in our late Indictment charged upon us those that have appeared against us what utter falsness hath been in their oaths and witnessing against us and what further they may be suffered to swear against us we cannot tell and at last two false Witnesses came point-blank against Christ and so took away his life 7. Our Life may be taken away by the Law of Man sometimes when we may be no ways guilty by the Law of God So I remember when the Bishops Courts were up some have said to me there You may be Honest and your way may be good and harmless for ought we know but how ever the Law will not bear you out in it We have a Law say they to Pilate and according to that Law He ought to dye And here you see are Ways and Means and Doors enough open if the Lord stand not for us and prevent it by which men may break in upon us and destroy the Body And thus I have spoke to you of two of the general Points from the words 1. Who they be that will kill the Body that Christ bids Beware of Kings Governors Brethren Parents and Children This seems wonderful unnatural that these of all others should do it to be for signs and for wonders in Israel as Christ complains I and the children that God hath given me are for Signs and Wonders in Israel Were it in Turkey or some forreign Land to meet with this usage it would not be so much But Thou my Familiar my Friend we took sweet Counsel together and walked into the House of God as Friends to be Signs and Wonders a scorn and reproach and laughing stock in Israel amongst men of our own house our own Rulers and Brethren and Children this is very unnatural But Beware of men And then I
should have said No thy love is too heady Let her go out of the Camp seven days and bear her shame and then let her be received again But Paul could say I have learn'd in all things to be contented both how to abound and how to want And this is that which God delights in Sober love ordered love He that rules over men must be just saith David ruling in the Fear of God in Soberness in Humility c. to be wise slow to do evil swift to do good more ready to hear then to offer the sacrifice of fools What need of this When we are but a little brought from our hypocrisie and can truly say our love is single then we think sure this is enough No but yet be you sober that 's the counsel But who will be wise none but the Prodigal that has learn'd experience Peter meant singly when he said to Christ I will lay down my life for thy sake But how heady was it He was unsober in it He knew not that was to be fulfilled that was ordained before of God that he should deny him All you shall this night saith Christ to him be offended because of me and shall leave me for it is written I will smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered abroad He little thought of this Alas is there no other way to find this Soberness but through sorrows through banishments sending into Captivity This is hard dealing indeed But now the Prodigal can tell this Mystery now he has learn'd Sobriety he is made to admire at the way his father took to make him a sober man Now he can say as David It was good for me that I was afflicted A friend loves at all times And now he seeth That Love is as strong as Death It has Hinds feet it hath quickness singleness and soberness and when you shall be thus shod then love as much as you can nay then you cannot but love And thus the son is welcom'd Bring hither the best robe and put a ring on his hand and shooes on his feet And if ever we shall see this Return then shall we be made to say as Paul Thanks be to God that we are the servants of sin But who would fetch pearls from the bottom of the Sea It 's ten thousand to one not to be spoiled in this venture For there shall be but a remnant saved here and there one as the shaking of an Olive tree here and there one in an uppermost branch What to be found dead and stinking in the grave as Lazarus to be incompast about with Harlots c. and yet get home again Sure the Prodigal did not discover himself to the Citizen he joyned to that he was a Jew for then he would not have received him he was fain to use all the shifts he could for entertainment And so do we and yet we can find none that pities us we cannot so much as feed with the swine But what has God wrought that no inchantment nor divination should be against him Oh the wonder that ever he should welcom his Prodigal with such entertainment as I have shewed you But 4. The next thing considerable in his Entertainment is And kill the fatted Calf c. The Robe I shewed you what it was I also shewed you why he must have that put on before he has meat and why the rings and shooes go first seeing he came out of the Land of famine and the main cause that moved him to return was because his father he knew had bread enough and he perished for hunger I shewed you the Reasons c. But why must he have such abundance And this is not all neither Bring the musick there must be dancing and mirth too Well may this be likened to Jacobs ladder for it reached to Heaven The fatted Calf what 's that The Everlasting Righteousness to be establisht with the free Spirit Seventy weeks saith Daniel are determined to finish transgression and make an end of sin to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in the EVERLASTING RIGHTEOVSNESS c. Dan. 10.24 This David cries out for when his blood-guiltiness lies upon him O deliver me from my blood-guiltiness saith he establish me with thy free Spirit Psal 51.14 12. With that Spirit Christ could say It 's my meat and drink to do the Will of my Father This made David say Thy Word is dearer to me then my necessary food But what benefit is it to the man or woman that eats this fatted Calf There are three Benefits considerable that comes to him by this meat 1. There 's refreshment to the weary Soul When the Inwards are dying and sinking and tyred quite out when hunger has smit the Inwards for want of the enjoyment of God how good then is the Spirit of Truth to refresh to the heart After a great abstinence after a long time of distance then Christ saith But I will send the Comforter the Holy Ghost who shall abide with you for ever After many a weary step and hard pang for want of meat a mans inwards close together and as it were devour themselves Is it not enough that I take my flesh in my teeth saith Job I lookt on my left hand and none stood by me and on my right hand and found none to comfort me And O that I could find him saith Job Alas Hope deferred makes the heart sick but when the desire is come it is a tree of life After a weary journey long want every morsel is good nay bitter things become sweet But 2. The second use of meat is to strengthen mans heart so is the Communion of the Holy Ghost a Strengthener to the Soul As Paul prayeth concerning the Ephesians That you might be strengthened saith he in your spirit with might in the inward man that Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith that you being rooted and grounded in love c. Rooted and grounded As if he should say That now you may be able to stand strongly and unshakeably through temptations and provings and all storms as the Prodigal here now never more having a mind to wander from his fathers house and this will be your happiness indeed if ever you attain to it We have had many deliverances and experiences and helps in the wotk but are not yet made able to stand but as David says we mount up to Heaven and down again to the deeps not yet come home But when God shall have given victory then will there be a sure standing we shall then move no more when once establisht upon mount Sion that steady Foundation which shall never change nor wax old as a garment then shall we stick to our Principles and not after a vow enquire as now we do But 3. Meat if a blessing be with it makes a man look well have a good countenance but how through want does a man look lean and ill favored Wo is me saith
that are to be saved may dye in this Wilderness And there is an everlasting Death to be utterly cut off and separated from God And can you have any rest till you are satisfied in both these for your state and for your attainment Can you get off from that voyce within you If I sit here I dye 2. You that indeed hear this noyse in your Souls do you learn of these Lepers venture into the host fall under the hand let nothing keep you back not because you are forlorn and miserable and all overspread with sin shall this keep you back But it shall not keep back all some must enter and come as they are in their rags and unclean garments they must venture upon the swords point and if ever you get bread it must be this way not by ease and sitting still and shunning sufferings No but by venturing into the midst of the Host in taking up the Cross dayly not by picking and choosing here a bit and there a bit but if hungry indeed the whole Lamb must down and the bitter herbs nothing must be too hard 3. The manner of these Lepers going without conclusions one way or other for or against themselves this may shew you the right way of coming at a peradventure not propounding to our selves what will come on it but to venture and leave the success to another to lie before the sword and say Let him do his pleasure Lo here I am let him do what seems him good If it please him he is able he can cure and heal and save us but if not lo here we stand in his presence and lie at his mercy Thy Will be done OR Christs Amen to the bitter Cup. SERM. XV. July 6. 1651. MATTH 26.42 He went away again the second time and prayed saying O my Father if this Cup may not pass except I drink it Thy Will be done The Analysis FOur General Things observed from the words I. This Cup must in no ways pass from Christ without drinking II. Christ certainly knew this by proving and trying to the utmost to escape III. The ground why it cannot pass was the Will of God IV. Christ submits and bows to this at last Thy Will be done In this Submission of Christ seven Particulars considered 1. He submits to be betrayed by one of his Disciples that eat at his Table they took sweet counsel together this a great woe 2. Submits to be betrayed into the hands of sinners not righteous persons and here seven Aggravations considered 1. They are a multitude that which is the Betrayer of the Soul le ts in a multitude an Host swarms of ungodliness 2. They come against him with swords and staves not only swords to kill but staves to defend and prolong the misery 3. They lay hold on him sins get upon the Soul and are too strong it cannot shake them off 4. They bring him before the High Priest an Enemy and unequal Judg so the Soul brought befo e the Devil to be judged 5. When He begins to speak they flap him on the mouth so is the Truth snib'd within if it speak a word to clear it self 6. They crown him with thorns so the Truth pestred and cumbred with thorns cares fears c. 7. They seek false witness against him to put him to death so the great search in the Soul is to prove all has been deceit c. 3. Christ submits to be put to death unjustly no just thing is against him but only false accusations yet he submits to dye 4. He submits to a most base unworthy and ignominious death 1. Crucified between two Theeves Truth dies between the man and Devil 2. Buried in the field of blood the place of a skull 3. The Souldiers part his garments Lusts share the garments of Truth 5. Submits to be left of all his Disciples and Friends they all fly away so all the labours and good that ever the Soul hath done now forsake it 6. His Father hides himself from him He cries My God my God but not now my Father His bowels are hid 1. He hides himself because his Son is to dye and he will not see the death of his Child 2. He doth it that the Son may learn obedience from what he suffers Nothing so crushes the Soul as the absence of God 3. He doth it that the blow may seize whilest he is present 't is impossible the Soul should dye Three children burn not 7. That which adds to all He submits to be dumb and silent not to complain under all this and that for three Reasons 1. That he may stand to his word He had consented Thy Will be done and if now complain he contradicts all 2. Dumb to give no evil example of murmuring to others 3. That he might not lose all his recompence and reward All was brought home practically and Application made 1. To enquire every one What is my Judas that lurks and lies hid what will be my Betrayer need to know it 2. To inform what we are to meet with if we will go to life we must drink the same Cup therefore let it not be strange MATTH 26.42 He went away again the second time and prayed saying O my Father if this Cup may not pass except I drink it Thy Will be done HAving spoke several times to you of the General Points observed from the words we came at last to the fourth Point viz. After all means used by Christ to avoyd this Cup after all strivings intreatings and prayings O my Father if possible let this Cup pass yet at last submits Thy Will be done In the conclusion he bows and buckles and is ground under and made to cry out Thy Will be done And in this saying there is so large and vast and deep a thing contained that truly it swallows up all things else Heaven and Earth and all creatures are as nothing before this Will of God All things must come to buckle and be crusht and lie in the dust before it Alas it will make the sensible heart to shake and tremble and the ears to tingle to hear and see what Christ here submits unto what he gives consent to in saying this word Thy Will be done an unfathomed depth of submission and bowedness of Soul lies up in it to take up all sufferings and sorrows and miseries that can befall For more plainness I branched out the thing into seven Particulars which Christ here submits to and to which all the saved ones must consent and follow in the same steps In which seven particulars ten thousand miseries and sufferings are layd up which no heart can conceive nor tongue express what all they must pass through that go to life and shall be made to drink of the Brook in the way before they must lift up their heads 1. In this saying Thy Will be done He submits to be betrayed by one of his Disciples one of his own house lifts up himself against him
one that eat of his bread and was his familiar friend as 't is expressed in the Psalmist We took sweet counsel together and walked in the House of God as friends And this is a wonderful misery to take up Had it been an enemy I could have born it but thou my friend my familiar c. This cuts to the heart This very case befalls the Soul in which Truth is There is something that sticks near to it a friend that lies in its bosom and is nursed and favoured by it something that walks in the House of God with it and pretends to be for God and Truth and pleads hard as if all were intended for the Souls good and this will be a sad day when this very thing shall be found to be the Betrayer and yet this Christ submits to when he consents Thy Will be done 2. Fâ—rther He submits to be betrayed into the hand of Sinners And here are seven great Aggravations of misery 1. They are a multitude into whose hands he is betrayed This flattering and smooth-mouth'd Betrayer this Judas that comes with a kiss and salutes Hail Master a great multitude is at his heels he brings in a whole Troop after him Oh that you could read the thing in your selves in the work upon your own Souls For there is all this to be fulfilled if you go in the same way with Christ and tread in his steps if you drink of the same Cup as all the saved ones must for there is no other way to life but to be planted into the likeness of his death the likeness in all cases though not the very same particular Tryals that he had And now this you shall find true that when ever this Judas that betrays the Soul gets in when by his counsel or wisdom or flatterings and fair promises that cursed Betrayer gets in his foot and deceives the Soul with a kiss then he lets in a multitude of enemies against us then come in the swarmings of wickedness They compassed me about like Bees saith David Then come in all the floods of ungodliness and make the Soul afraid Then all the fountains of the great deep are broke up and come with violence ready to sweep away all before them Then the Sea brings forth abundantly all manner of creeping things Then a night presently overtakes the Soul and all the beasts of the Forrest creep forth Strange monsters and things we never saw before mire and dirt and strange wickednesses appear that we never thought had been in us This Betrayer brings out all against us We had thought we had been knowing and well seen into the ways of God but now ignorance and mists and confusion beset that the Soul cannot see nor know one distinct Truth We had thought we had been good-natured and tender-hearted and friendly however but now rage and madness and desperateness get up We had thought sure we had a will and desire towards God and were willing to be ruled and ordered by him but now the punctual fightings and opposings and resistings shew themselves that the Soul is made clearly to see it chooseth Death rather then Life All monstrous wickedness gets up when this son of perdition is to be revealed in the Soul and hath once betrayed it I would you might read these things as we go for all this a written for our learning and if this was done to the green tree then what shall be done to the dry This is no other condition then what hath befallen our fathers in their day When God hath brought them to Judgment and this work of bringing them through death to life was in hand they ever had a Betrayer that lay close and did them all the mischief and brought these Troops of Enemies against them and it cannot be prevented This son of perdition will thus act he will betray and bring the Soul to death and he lies close he is in all the saved ones and there is no other way to life but by having him cast out But he will first surely spit his poyson and play all his pranks if it were possible to undo the very Elect Such an Host such a multitude he brings with him that sometimes it agasters and amazes the man to see how he is beset what swarms of iniquities strange unthought of lusts appear And we shall all surely find this true in our selves when God shall have that work in hand of bringing us down to death the house appointed for all the living which all the saved ones must pass 2. This multitude come armed and provided against him with swords and staves and herein lies a great mystery if you were able to read it Thy rod and thy staff sustain me saith David The Enemy also he hath swords and staves to destroy and mind there are staves as well as swords Now staves are dull weapons and though they may bruise and batter yet they kill not and this is a great aggravation of the misery that the sword may not come alone suddenly to cut off and make an end but there are staves too that bruise and batter the Soul and yet touch not its life but it must hang in death And this Job cries out against O that I could find the grave then should I be at rest I but in those dayes it is said men shall seek death and it shall fly from them They cannot dye and this wonderfully adds to the misery that the Soul is wounded and cut and pierced and yet cannot reach to dye the staves keep off the sharpness of the Sword that it doth not quite kill The Sword of the spirit is the Word of God the true Light that the enemy makes use of that searches and cuts and judges and finds guilty every where and leaves no thought unjudged and this Sword would soon cut off where it let loose Thou writest bitter things against me saith Job and this though it be cruell yet it would seem easier to the Soul in that day and under that anguish if it might but go on to make an end then should I yet have comfort c. saith Job Iob 69 10. But there are staves too that keep off the blow from coming to the heart There are secret hopes from the Devil steal in and get up do the Soul what it can that so it cannot dye but lies thus miserably hattered to and fro and can get no wayes as David cries out Thou hast beset me behind and before that the Soul can neither get to God nor from God nor to death nor from death O Lord who can read the Riddle 3. This multitude lay hold on Christ and lead him away they are too potent and strong and he hath no might nor strength to withstand them This is your hour and the Power of darkness but it is the day of his weakness his wings are cut that he cannot get away He cries out I am a worm and no man a scorn and reproach
at him Hail King of the Jews and make a sport at his misery And thus many times the cursed Lusts within insult and triumph and mock the poor Soul when it is in this miserable strait and upon the nick of Life and Dâ—ath Can you read it 7. They sought false witness against Christ They were busie to search and enquire out all that could come against him right or wrong they matter not And if you mind in this day there will be a most strict search and enquiry made if any can come in against the Soul to prove it a Deceiver and Hypocrite in all it hath done or said for Truth Can you not read the Parable What inquisition is made by the high Priests to prove against the soul that all its best good was tainted all it hath ever done or spoke for God that all this was in deceit and a base selfish taint ran in all that there is no singleness in the bottom to carry it through This is the thing the Enemy mainâ—y aims at and this cuts to the heart as a sword to be thus upbraided and dog'd with accusations and outcries within that all was but deceit and the Soul shall come to nothing c. And this I would have you mark what will surely befall us in the day of our calamity what dealing we may look for and expect if we will follow our Master and tread in his steps Many speak much of the Death of Christ but they come not to it to know and feel it in themselves But if we never be planted together with him into his death never shall we partake of his resurrection if we come not to the same submission of heart to say Thy Will be done And in this word I told you seven Things were considerable which Christ accepts of and consents unto though the Execution was yet to come and pass upon him 1. He submits to be betrayed by one of his own House by a Disciple one of the Twelve one that goes for a Friend and had another heart given him though never a new heart 2. He submits to be betrayed into the hands of sinners a multitude come against him and there I opened to you seven particular Aggravations Now to come to the next Thing 3. He submits and yeelds to be put to death wrongfully He is falsly accused falsly judged falsly condemned They bring nothing truly but only lyes against him and yet he submits to take up death though never so unjustly condemned They lay that to my charge which I never did and therefore their Witnesses could not agree there is ever a jar will be between lyes One comes and witnesses This man blasphemed and said I am the Son of God another says This man said I will destroy the Temple of God made with hands and in three days raise one made without hands And this was a lye He had said no such thing but spake of the Temple of his Body And thus is the Soul dealt within this day false Witnesses come against it and upbraid it Well you said once you should never be moved you should never be left nor forsaken of God but that he was your Father for certain and you should be saved When alas the Soul that is to be saved never durst conclude any such thing till it be sure indeed but in its best day ever it stands in fear and jealousie what the end shall be Other Witnesses come and bring in a false charge on the other hand ' Well you said once there was no God no ' Heaven no Hell nor Life to come And this is a flat lye also The Soul to be saved could never nor durst ever say there was no God though it hath truly complained and bewailed that it knew not God nor Heaven nor the life to come it was dark and ignorant in these cases as a blind creature and this was its heavy woe and bitterness And all this while the Witnesses agree not they differ in their Tale and their Accusations are all false and unjust and groundless no one true thing is brought against him and yet he must dye still they cry Crucifie him crucifie him and he submits to take it up But what is the reason why must he dye when no just Cause is found against him 1. Because it is determined so it is the determinate Counsel of God it should be thus though brought about by wicked hands 2. He dyes for the glory of God that his Power and Might and Truth and Faithfulness might appear the clearer in raising up from the dead As Christ said of the blind man Not for this mans sin nor his parents was he born blind but for the glory of God Alas were man to dye for sin for that very cause and no other he might dye again and again ten thousand times over and never have done the work No but precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his Saints They dye not to satisfie for their sin but for the glory of God Did the Father lay any thing to the Prodigals charge when he came home No his sin was that he came no sooner the father was ready to receive him notwithstanding all his rags and riotous behaviour this hindered not his acceptance but his keeping away from his father that was his great sin When they accuse Christ as a glutton a wine bibber a Companion of Publicans and Harlots a Breaker of the Sabbath a Blasphemer and would put hâ—m to death for these alas they charge him unjustly he is not guilty of these So all that is layd to the charge of the Soul in that day by the Enemy all the hypocrisie and deceit and envyings and coverings and lustings alas all this belongs not to the Son of God the Truth is clear But these are the Devils goods his ware and he and his goods must perish together The Truth is free and disowns and hates all and the man take him as separate from that evil Spirit as standing alone and he is harmless and innocent only his woe add misery is to be cumbered and pestered and plagued with these goods of the Devil lodged within him But now the Accusation and Charge is never layd rightly and truly for then the Enemy must accuse himself which he will never do He never hits rightly on the sore where the Souls great woe and misery and weakness lies that is hid from these false Witnesses but they venture to speak desperate and punctual lyes if it were possible to destroy the Soul by them if you do but mind how the wheels move within when ever the man is indeed put to a strait and stands in anguish then the Lyar steps up and witnesses falsly then they say acted by this Spirit 'T is you Moses and Aaron that have made our savor stink in the nostrils of Pharaoh and his servants and you have brought us into this Wilderness to slay us with thirst It was all