with Christ and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindnesse toward us through Christ Jesus b Eph. 4. 23 This renovation in the spirit of our minde is wrought in us by the holy Ghost through Christ for he was anointed with the holy Ghost for this end and purpose that by him we might be raised up from the death of sin to a spirituall life of grace according to the signification of his Name for as he is Christ he is Anointed of God and as he is Jesus he is the Saviour of the world to save us from our sins and to work salvation for us whereof we are not capable untill we have a spiritual life wrought in us Thus saith the Spouse of Christ c Cant. 1. 3. Thy Name is as oyntment poâ—red forth A precious Oyntment hath many excellent vertues d Psal 104. 15. for it maketh a chearful countenance it comforteth and strengtheneth all the parts of the body it healeth all diseases and it sendeth forth a sweet savour when it is poured out which refresheth and comforteth all the senses Thus is Christ to every true believers soul he is the Anointed of God as saith the Psalmist of him e Psal 45. 7. Thou lovest righteousnesse and hatest wickednesse therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladnesse above thy fellowes f Act. 10. 38 for he was anointed with the holy Ghost and with power First by the power of his holy unction Christ doth put a spiritual light into our understanding by his Spirit that we may see how to walk in the paths of godlinesse and truth according to this of old Simeon g Lu. 2. 31 32. that God had prepared him to be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of his people Israel h Psal 97. 11 Light is sown for the righteous and the comfort and gladnesse of it for the upright in heart This Prophesie was fulfilled in Christ i Isa 2. 9. The people that walked in darknesse have seen a great light they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined k Eph. 5. 14 Wherefore awake thou that sleepest in fin and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light If we want this heavenly light we must needs wander and go astray from God and we have no means to obtain such a light but by Christ It is sin that hath brought this darknesse and this spiritual death upon our souls and none but Christ can take it away This is the beginning of our spiritual life when we have some light to discern the spirituall things of God for the good of our souls Secondly Christ is the food and nourishment of our souls to preserve this spirituall life in us whose flesh we must spiritually eat and whose blood we must spiritually drink by faith in the hearing of his Word preached and Sacramentally when we come to his holy Table or else we have not this spirituall life in us l John 6. 48 53. I am that bread of life saith Christ which came down from heaven who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed Wherefore if our souls do hunger and thirst after this heavenly food and do earnestly desire to be refreshed and fully satisfied therewith it is an evident sign that there is a spiritual life in us for Christ doth freely offer himself to every empty soul that can feed upon him by Faith in his Word or in his Sacraments But if our desires and the affections of our hearts are taken up with the love of this world and of earthly vanities it s no marvell if we have no hunger nor thirst after Christ and that we feel so little want and need of him Thirdly the blood of Christ is the true balm to heal and cure all the diseases and wounds that sin hath made in our souls it is like m Lu 10. 34 the good Samaritans wine and oyl for it hath a cleansing and an healing vertue There can be no wound so deep in the soul and no ulcer so festered but this precious Oyntment will cleanse and heal it if it be rightly applyed by faith and true repentance for repentance layeth open the wound by true confession and faith applyeth the remedy to it and then repentance giveth us an holy assurance that we shall be cured This is the way and the means of recovery when our souls are sick of any spirituall disease and also to preserve that spirituall life which is in us Lastly when the heavenly graces that flow from Christ are poured out upon our soules they will greatly refresh and comfort our spirits in all sadnesse of heart and they will so persume all our actions and services which we perform unto God that their sweet savour shall ascend up unto him that he may smell it and graciously accept of us and of our offerings n Gen. 8. 21. When Noah offered burnt offerings to the Lord after the floud the Lord smelled a sweet savour and accepted his sacrifice and blessed him exceedingly Wherefore if our souls are perfumed with grace they will so perfume all our holy oblations which we offer up to God that he will in mercie accept them for his Sonnes sake o I rev 5. 8. But the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord and they stink in his nostrils because they proceed from a corrupt and unclean heart which is not perfumed with grace how much â— Eccl. 10. 1 more when he bringeth them with a wicked mind â—o 21. 27 Sin is like dead flies in the ointment of the Apothecary which causeth it to stink for sin maketh us odious in the sight of God Wherefore take heed with what heart thou comest into the presence of God and that thou bringest no oblation to him with a wicked mind but first purifie thy heart from sinne by faith in the bloud of Christ and see that thy soul be perfumed with sanctifying grace and then come and offer thy gift and God will accept it But if there be any sin in thy bosome unrepented of or any iniquity in thy heart which thou seekest to hide from God then he cannot smell a sweet savour of thy prayers of thy praises and thanksgivings or of any duty which thou performest to him to make it accepted because thy heart is not upright before God Now we must examine our selves what spiritual life we have by Christ and we must know how he is our spiritual life if we will have any comfort thereby First q 1 Joh. 2. 20 If we have this holy unction from Christ which was poured upon him above measure that
darkning of the Sun was also an evident sign to the Jews of their unbelief and to shew the blindnesse of their understanding the obstinacy of their will and that they were given up to a reprobate mind as a just judgement of God for their unbelief and for this their loud crying sin in which sad condition they continue even to this day d 2 Cor. 3. 13 14. for their mindes were blinded and in the reading of the Old Testament there was a vail upon their heart so that they could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished which vail is not yet taken away from them This was typified by that vail which Moses put over his face when he was come down from the Mount and from â— Exod. 34. 33. the Presence of God In the dayes of Samuel God did shew a manifest token of his high displeasure against his people for their great sin f 1 Sam. 12. 17. when he sent thunder and rain in the time of wheat harvest to let them know that their wickednesse was great in the sight of the Lord in asking them a King g 2 Sam. 8. 7. because they had rejected the Lord that he should not reign over them God will set his mark upon obstinate and rebellious sinners that will not be reclaimed and turn to the Lord as he did upon Cain and others to brand them with perpetuall infamy and shame for their impenitency God hath also severall judgements for wicked men as we may see by dayly experience in these sinfull times Some he marks for the sword some for famine others for the pestilence sudden death or the like upon whomsoever his mark is set there the judgement will fall God hath likewise his mark of preservation which he will set upon his own servants in times of mortality or of any other common calamity h Zech. 9. 4. for when he sendeth forth his destroying Angel in a general calamity to destroy thousands he will also in much mercy send forth another Angel to mark and seal those in their foreheads who are to be preserved that whatsoever the calamity be it may not hurt them Consider now how uncomfortable it is to want the light of the Sun and what little joy we can take in this life if we want the light of our eyes and then we shall see that it is much more uncomfortable to want the spirituall light of our understanding Thus saith Christ i Mat. 6. 22 23. The light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light But if thine eye be evill thy whole body shall be full of darknesse If therefore the light that is in thee be darknesse how great is that darknesse Wherefore if the Sun of righteousnesse doth not shine upon us to give light to our understanding if he doth not heal the perversenesse of our will and the sinfulnesse of our affections we shall walk in darknesse and in the shadow of death for we shall be without a guide to keep us from stumbling and falling dangerously into grosse sins wherein if we continue without repentance we may justly fear some judgement of God to fall on us or some manifest sign of his indignation to be shewed upon us for our sins We should therefore learn this heavenly wisdom to break off from our sins to day by true repentance turning to the Lord lest we be marked for destruction too morrow and we should make our peace with God by faith in Christ that we may be marked with the seal of redemption which Christ will stamp upon every true believers heart for their preservation from evill in this life and for their eternall felicity in the life to come Consider yet further how the Sun in the Firmament did mourn to see the King of glory thus abased to see the ignominy and disgrace that was cast upon him how cruelly he was used and how unjustly he was put to death This should teach us to mourn for the calamities of the Church of God for the loss of any pillar in that spirituall building We have many examples of the servants of God for this pious duty Jeremiah Ezrah Nehemiah and others mourned and lamented greatly for the first desolations of Jerusalem and of the Temple k Luk. 19. 41 42 43. Christ himself wept over Jerusalem when he beheld it because he knew the finall destruction that should shortly after come upon it When Elisha l 2 King 13. 14. the Prophet was fallen sick of the sicknesse whereof he dyed Joash the King of Israel came down unto him and wept over his face and said O my Father my Father the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof This was a full expression of the grief and sorrow of his heart for the losse of so great a Prophet who was a strong Pillar in the house of Israel Consider also that if there be no mourning and no tears for the sins of a nation or people God will make the heavens to mourn and the clouds to pour down rivers of tears to teach us what we should do when the land is over-grown with the weeds of sin If it be so that the servants of God do mourn for the miseries that his Church doth suffer and for the losse or pulling down of any polished stone in that heavenly building then whose servants are they and what master do they serve that dismember the mysticall body of Christ that pull down any Pillar of his Church or pull any polished stone out of his spirituall Temple whereby it may be in danger of ruine or to fall to decay Also they are in a sad condition that pollute deface or throw down his materiall temples to the dishonour of his Name to the suppressing of his true worship and service and to bring in sects and schismes profanenesse and superstition God will not suffer such instruments of wickednesse to go unpunished but in his due Time he will make them examples of his fury if they do not sincerely repent of their crying sins and cursed abominations By this strange darknesse of the Sun we may also learn how uncomfortable it is to a childe of God to have the light of his Countenance clouded from him m Psal 30. 7 David was much troubled when God did hide his Face from him How was Christ himself perplexed in his soul when the light of Gods countenance was withdrawen from him It made him cry out in the bitternesse of his Spirit My God my God why hast thou forsaken me As it is the greatest blessednesse to â—njoy the favour of God so it is most uncomfortable when we have no apprehension of it Thus saith David of himself n Psal 21. 6 Thou haste made him exceeding glad with thy countenance Also thus he prayeth o Psal 4. 6. Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us It doth likewise teach us
be overthrown it may be shaken with his boistrous and violent temptation but it shall never be cast down because our faith is built upon a sure rock which is Christ Iesus our King and head If sorrows and crosses breaks in upon us which we could not prevent nor avoid we need not fear for we shall see the salvation of Christ either in our strength and patience to bear them meekly or in our deliverance out of them or else he will sanctifie them to our good We need not cark and care for the things of this life but when we have done our best indeavour in an honest and lawful calling we must leave the event and success to God which peculiarly belongeth unto him and then he will have a care of us Å¿ Deut. 8. 3. for man liveth not by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. t Luc. 12. 24 God feedeth the young ravens when they cry unto him then much more will he feed us for it is part of his Kingly office to provide all things that are needful for those that belong unto him Shall not the head provide for the members of the same body and shall not Christ provide for us who have neerer relation to him by faith Now try and examine thy self search into thine own soul to see if Christ hath set up his scepter of righteousness in thy heart to bear rule in thine affections to regulate thy crooked and perverse will and to bring unto his subjection whatsoever resisteth or rebelleth against the Spirit of grace If thou dost find the fruits of sanctifying grace in thee then make a further scrutiny to see unto what measure of grace thou hast attained What corruption hath it mortified in thee what strong holds of sinful lusts hath it beaten down how is the body of sinne dismembred and weakned how strong is thy faith to rest and depend upon Christ in all difficulties and dangers canst thou joyfully bear the scandal of the Cross canst thou meekly bear the loss of thy friends of thy liberty or estate for his sake hast thou faith and patience to suffer afflictions persecution sword or famine for him and canst thou resist unto blood if Christ thy King shall call thee to it then it is an evident sign that his Kingdome of grace is well established in thy heart and hereafter thou shalt have a large inheritance in his Kingdome of glory Pet. 1. 10 Wherefore give all diligence to make thy calling and election sure that thou mayest be invested into his Kingdome of grace here which will bring thee hereafter to eternal blessedness in the Kingdome of heaven Now set thy mind and the meditations of thy heart upon Christ as he is thy King and resolve with an holy resolution to submit thy self to his rule and government to be directed by him in all thy wayes and to expres thy thankfulnes to him for his great care of thee who by his divine providence disposeth all things for thy good If troubles and calamities follow thee like the billowes of the Sea Christ will calm them if they are ready to overwhelm thee then even then will Christ take thee by the hand u Mat. 14. 31 as he did Peter upon the sea and will keep thee from sinking If God looks angerly upon thee for thy sinnes Christ will appease his wrath and make intercession for thee If death looks upon thee with a grim countenance and is ready to bereave thee of thy soul and to expose thy body to the worms yet know with holy Iob x Iob 19. 25 that thy Redeemer liveth also y Luc 6. 22. that he will give his Angels charge to carry thy soul up into Abrahams bosom and at length he will raise up thy body out of the dust and will make it a glorious and incorruptible body fit to live and raign with him for ever Thus and much more will Christ do for all those that have any relation to him by faith or that belong to his spiritual Kingdom for the honour of his great Name and for the eternal good of his Church Of the Passion of Christ. VVHen Christ had finished his Prophetical office in his Ministry and had wrought so many miracles as seemed good to his divine wisdome the time was then come that he must offer up a sacrifice to God for our redemption which was his whole humane nature soul and body for our sins then a Rom. 4. 25. God delivered him up to the power of the devil and into the hands of his enemies for our offences because the guilt of all our siâ—nes was charged upon him For before this very time neither the devil nor his deadly enemies had any power against him this was the time which God had decreed in his secret counsel that Christ should submit himself to their malice and power that the work which God had sent him to do might be finished and when that work was perfectly wrought then God delivered him out of their power by his resurrection and ascension Wherefore we ought to prepare our hearts for holy and devout meditations upon the Passion of Christ which was most bitter to his humane nature because the wrath of God was poured out upon him for our sins and the powers of darkness were let loose against him like so many wolves to worry this immaculate Lamb of God or like so many fierce mastifes against the Lion of the Tribe of Iuda but the innocency of Christ did carry him through his whole Passion and by his own power he overcame the sury of all his enemies though they were permitted to torment and torture him at their pleasure even to the death Christ suffered nothing for himself but it was for all those that were of the election of grace the guilt of whose sins he did take upon himself and to pay their debt to satisfie the penalty of the Law for them by his death and the justice of God by the merit of his blood also it was to cloth them with his own righteousness that they might be justified in the sight of God Therefore let no circumstance of his Passion pass without due consideration b Lam. 1. 12 Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow which was done unto him wherewith the Lord hath afflicted him in the day of his fierce anger How was the perfection of beauty stained How was the Sun of righteousnesse clouded How was the bright morning starre darkned How was the Lord of glory contemned blasphemed scorned and spightfully used How was perfect holiness and innocency accused rejected condemned cruelly tormented and most shamefully killed And how was Truth it self despised and troden under foot Can we think upon his Passion without tears and mourning if we belong unto him Can we ruminate upon it and not accuse and condemn our selves who were the cause why he suffered these things and much
and he will not suffer us to be tempted above the strength of our Faith but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it i Psal 37. 244 Though we fall we shall not be utterly cast down For our Lord Christ holdeth us with his hand and he will raise us up again by true repentance as he did Peter If the floud-gates of sorrows are set open upon us if the fear of troubles or the fear of death doth surprize us Christ will stop those sloud-gates and will comfort us at the hour of death or else he will give us an eye of Faith not to look upon them with a sad and heavie heart but to look up above them to that coelestial happiness which he hath prepared for us which no eye hath seen no tongue can express and no heart can conceive and to wait patientlie for it until Christ our ever blessed Redeemer shall reveal it to us which will be but in part in this life by Faith but fullie and perfectlie in the life to come according to everie mans capacitie Also if the Devil doth aggravate our sins and sers them before us in a multiplying Glass to the breaking of our hearts with godlie sorrow and to the anguish of our Souls which will make us shed many bitter tears for them as Peter did then Christ will look graciouslie upon us and will give us a double measure of true consolation by the assurance of the pardon and forgiveness of them We may further learn Instructions by Peters fall that if we give way to any sin the Devil will easily draw us unto higher degrees of sinning as he did Peter For at the first he did but simply deny Christ then he denied him with an oath k Mat. 26. 74. And at last he began to curse and to swear that he knew not the man and therefore we must be very careful to nip sin in the bud lest it lay us open to the Devils tyranny or stop the current of grace to our hearts whereby we shall not be able to recover our selves but rather we shall fall away more and more from God Sin is a spiritual gangrene to the soul which will eate into all the faculties of it if it be not in time cut off and killed by faith in the death of Christ and by true Repentance There is so much of the unregenerate part in the best of Gods servants as that they sin daily and the Devil is ready to take advantage upon every sin but he cannot easily fasten his sting upon their sins because they are not glued so fast to their hearts but that they may easily remove them wheras his sting will soon take hold of any sin that is rooted in us either by custome or by delight to wound our souls even to the death If we sleight the least sin it will bring us on to greater and if we be careless of small sins they will bring us to a custom of sinning which will quickly beget an habit of sin in us which is a fit ground for the Devil to work upon to keep us from returning unto God and to plunge us deep into the gulf of sin unless Christ in his abundant mercy doth touch our hearts with his Spirit to let us see from whence we are fallen and doth also give us grace to repent and return to the Lord and then we shall keep a more diligent watch over our selves for the time to come If we look upon our selves in Peter we shall see that we also are subject to the like delusions of the Devil we are as ready to deny Christ and to fall away from God as he was and the fear of trouble persecution or danger for Christ will prevail as much with us as it did with him to make us renounce our Profession and the Truth of the Gospel and to bring us to the brink of perdition but Christ will not suffer us to fall into that bottomless pit but will look upon us in mercy as he did upon Peter The Devil did delude Peter with vain hope that by this means he should escape the trouble and danger that might come upon him if it were known that he was a Disciple of Christ for thus he brought him into the ready way to lose the grace and favour of his Lord and Master Jesus Christ and into the way that leadeth to eternal destruction Thus also doth the Devil delude us if we trust him for he will promise all worldly wealth and earthly pleasures and will give to some a large portion of them in part of payment but in the end he will pay them with wormwood and gall which will be more bitter to them than Peters tears were unto him When we think our selves most strong then we are soonest overcome and when we presume most upon our own strength then we give the Devil the greatest advantage against us In prosperity we think our selves so strong that we cannot be shaken we are then secure and able to stand unmoveable against any opposition l 1 Cor. 10 22. but let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall For alas we know not the wiles of Satan we cannot conceive how many wayes he hath to deceive us What way shall we then take to escape these wiles and deceits whereof the world is full by his means There is a deceitful tongue against which David thus prayeth m Psal 120. 1. Deliver my soul O Lord from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue There is also a bag of deceitful weights which is alwayes seconded with a false tongue as the Lord speaketh by his Prophet n Mic. 6. 11 12. Shall I account them pure with the wicked ballances and with the bag of deceitful weights For the rich men thereof are full of violence and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies and their tonguâ— is deceitful in their mouth The wise man telleth us o Prov. 14. 36. of a deceitful Witness p Prov. 23. 6. and that the dainties at a rich mans table are deceitful meat because they will easily intice us to gluttony Also q Prov. 27. 6. that the kisses of an enemy are dâ—ceiâ—ful for they proceed from a false heart Who can discover the deceitfulness of his own heart or the delusions of his own fancy Every sinful lust and evil concupiscence doth delude us the world is full of deceit to beguile us wicked men have their wiles to vex the godly and such as are simple in heart r Num 25. 18. as the Midianites vexed the Children of Israel with their wiles whâ—rewith they beguilâ—d them in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Câ—zby If we will be well fenced from these delusions which come from the Devil Å¿ Eph. 6 11. we must put on the whole Armour of God â—nd then we shall be able to stand against them all This holy Armour will
and sought opportunitie to betray him unto them Then he stirred up the chief Preists and Elders against him who out of malice and envie did persecute him and falslie accuse him before Herod and Pilate because the people did so much resort unto him Pilate condemned him out of fear and flattery to keep his grace and favour with Caesar and to please the people for he thought he did it for Caesars honour The Souldiers crucified him for a reward and to make a spoil of his garments Thus they are all the devils instruments to put the immaculate Lamb of God to a most shameful and cruel death for their own wicked ends But God did over-rule them all by his gracious and wise providence and made all their purposes and actions to serve for the furthering of his most loving and merciful end which was decreed from eternitie From hence we may draw sweet meditations for our comfort upon the power and goodness of God who can and will over-rule the power of the devil and of all wicked men and will so dispose of all their plots and devices which they intend for the hurt of his servants that they shall all serve for his own glorie and for their good he can frustrate their wicked intentions and can bring about his own end to effect his own work by them God hath this provident care of his people that whatsoever their enemies do maliciously intend or devise against them shall be brought to nought or else he will make it serve for their advantage and gain Though our enemies be as strong as c 1 Sam. â—â— Goliah was and though we are as unfit to encounter with them as David was to fight with that great Gyant yet if we put our confidence in God as David did and keep close unto him by faith in Christ he will direct a stone to beat out their brains And though they be as cunning and as subtile d 2 Sam 17 as Achitophel was yet God can confound them in their own craft and policy Mark now and consider it well how God in justice did revenge the treachery and cruelty that was used in betraying and in murthering of his dear and onely Son and how he brought their wickednesse upon their own heads for Judas was given up to a reprobate minde e Mat. 27 5 and immediatly after he hanged himself God did severely punish the whole nation of the Jews for this most horrible fact and laid the innocent blood of his Son upon them and upon their posterity which doth stil rest upon them because they did wilfully without cause and out of malice shed it Pilate also was soon after cast out of Caesar's favour and banished into France and the Devil was hereby quite vanquished and overcome so that now he hath no power to hurt the meanest of Gods Saints Thus will the Lord deal with all those that have their hands stained with the blood of his Anointed ones and with all such as are Actors in any wicked Design They may hide their counsels in the dark yet nothing can be hidden from God for he hath an All-seeing eye to discover what they go about and he will bring the evill of their doings upon themselves or upon their children Wherefore have thou no hand in the blood of Gods servants and partake not with the wicked in their evill designes for the guilt of their sins will cleave to thee and God will not suffer it to go unpunished for if thou art partaker of other mens sins thou shalt also partake with them in their punishment Therefore f Eph. 5. 6 7. Paul adviseth the Ephesians not to be partakers with wicked men because the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience for their sins God calleth his people out of Babylon saying g 1 Rev. 18. 4 Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues But it is a blessed thing to partake with the children of God in his holy Ordinances in all holy duties h 2 Cor. 1. 5 7. and in the sufferings of Christ Because we shall also partake with them in the consolation that is by Christ Thus the servants of God should mutually joyn together in the worship and service of God that they may also mutually have the benefit and comfort of those services here and also partake together with them of the glory that afterwards shall be revealed Of the penitent Thief NOw we come to consider that Christ was crucified between two thieves according to this of the Prophet a Isa 53. 12 He was numbered with the transgressors one of them had no remorse of conscience nor grief of heart for his offences but began to rail upon Christ to revile him and blasphemously to taunt him saying b Luk. 23. 39. If thou art Christ save thy self and us But the other was touched by the holy Ghost with a godly sorrow and a relenting heart for his sins and did freely confesse that they two did justly and deservedly suffer death for their offences but he did justifie our beloved Saviour for his blameless innocency and he rebuked his fellow saying Fearest thou not God seeing thou art in the same condemnation Then he turned to Christ to implore his mercy and made this short and sweet Prayer to him Lord remember me when thou shalt come into thy Kingdom To whom Christ immediatly gave this gracious Answer Verily I say unto thee This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Surely these gracious words of Christ did much mitigate and asswage the sorrowes of his perplexed minde and much eased the bitternesse of his torments and this blessed Promise gave him good assurance that after his present sufferings and pains he should injoy rhe blessed society of Christ in the heavenly paradise For as Faith wrought in his heart a true contrition to Repentance and opened his mouth to make a good confession of his sins and to vindicate the innocency of Christ from the aspersions of his fellow Malefactour and also to present his humble request unto Christ his Lord for some gracious rememberance of him so no doubt it sealed such an holy assurance of future happinesse to his sorrowfull soul and wounded conscience that he did stedfastly believe the promise and faithfully lookt for the performance of it whereby his fainting Spirits were much comforted and the cruell torturings of his body which he suffered were sanctified and sweetned to him Here set the Meditations of thy heart upon the free love and mercy of Christ to poor sinners he choseth whom he will and whom he will he refuseth his gifts of grace are free his love and favour is not necessitated to any c Gen. 25. 2â— There were twinnes in Rebâ—ccas wombe d Rom. 9. 13. God loved the one and he hated the other Two men may be in one bed God may take the one and he may leave the
other so likewise there were two thieves crucified with e Luk. 1â— 34. Christ and he had compassion on the one but he rejected the other for he bestowes his grace upon whom he will and when he pleaseth There is no person so vile no condition so base and no time so late as to hinder Christ from shewing mercy to a poor sinner that is truly sensible of his misery and feels the burden of his sinâ— and doth humbly acknowledge his miserable condition and his unworthinesse to him and doth earnestly sue for his grace and favour with a broken and a contrite heart as this Malefactor did Also Christ will not refuse those that renounce themselves and their own merits and rest onely upon his righteousnesse by faith for their justification also upon the merite of his death for the pardon of their sins and for the salvation of their souls for his promises of grace and mercy are made to such as sigh and mourn for their transgressions Now examine thy condition with a faithfull heart art thou a malefactour and a grievous sinner against God Doth the guilt of thy sins presse heavy upon thee Dost desire from thy heart to be eased of that burden Is the remembrance of them bitter unto thee though it be when thou art weak and faint and ready to give up the ghost Then look up to Christ with the eye of Faith confesse thy sins unto him with a penitent heart and if thine ear be spiritually opened thou wilt then hear a gracious and mercifull answer from him to thy Petitions and if thou wilt diligently search the Scriptures thou wilt find some promises of grace which will sute with thy condition that Christ hath made to such as thou art which thou must apply to thy fainting soul by true faith and stedfast hope that it belongeth unto thee then rest upon it with a firm confidence to comfort thee in the assurance of thy reconciliation unto God which will take away the evill of all thy sorrowes and the terrour of death it self which to a naturall man is most uncomfortable and death is most fearfull and terrible to such as see the hand-writing of God against them for as they have lived in sin without repentance so they dye with the guilt of sin upon their souls without forgivenesse This Act of Christ in the conversion of this poor sinner was extraordinary and it was a speciall work of mercy to manifest his power and goodnesse to him even at the last hour when he had no hope and no meanes of his salvation and when he was upon the Crosse expecting death every moment and also it was to shew that he is no respecter of persons and that he is not limited to time or meanes when or how to work repentance in the heart of a dejected sinner or to save any that come unto him with an upright heart and sincere affections though it be immediatly before they go hence and shall be seen no more For it doth not appear that this man had ever any knowledge of Christ or any opportunity to come unto him or any means of grace before this time or that he did wittingly and wilfully defer the time of his salvation or neglect the means of grace to the last hour or desperately reserve the hope of his Redemption to the time of his death But though it were late before this Malefactor was converted or had any true saving grace wrought in him or before he did believe in Christ yet his faith was true f Luk. 23. 41. and he made a good confession of his sins and did justifie the innocency of Christ in that instant of time when none of his friends durst speak in his cause and his Apostles either doubted or seemed to stagger in their faith of his Divinity Also this mans conversion was at such a time as that he could neither be baptized nor have further time for the amendment of his sinfull life Here is much matter of Spirituall comfort if we duly consider how powerfull true faith is to prevail with Christ in all our troubles sorrowes and necessities for if we rest and depend upon him and if our hope and confidence be onely in him let our condition of life be what it will he will not deceive us in our hope nor leave us without support and comfort also if he findeth faith and truth in our hearts he will deny us no good thing that we crave of him be it never so great or begged never so late for this poor sinner begged heavenly happinesse at the very last hour of his life when he had no time to expresse any thankfulness for so great a blessing and yet he had his request granted But this particular Act of Christs mercy makes no generall rule for remission of sins to those that do wilfully defer their repentance and turning to God to the last and worst part of their lives not that Christ is not alwayes ready to receive the truly humbled and repenting sinner but because late repentance is seldome sound God will not bestow this heavenly grace at their pleasure who do willingly neglect the meanes of grace and lose the opportunity that God hath given them for it and do rather choose to continue still in their sins than to leave and forsake them and to turn to the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul We cannot but dayly see what meanes the Lord useth to bring us unto Christ and to make us get an holy assurance of the pardon of our sins through him by true repentance his Law doth shew us the deformity of our sins and what we have justly deserved thereby which is a forcible means to drive us unto Christ by him to have Redemption from the curse of the Law the sense of our sins and the anguish of our Spirits for them are strong motives to make us seek to our crucified Redeemer that they may be washt away in his blood which he shed upon the crosse Also the smart of his rod in our troubles sorrowes and afflictions are speciall means which God is pleased to use to bring us to repentance but specially if we finde by the manner of his visitation that it is for some particular sins which we have committed we ought then speedily to repent of them and to seek after the blood of Christ to apply it to our selves by faith that the guilt of such sins may not cleave to our souls and consciences but that those spiritual wounds which they have made in us may be quickly healed before they come to putrid sores and ulcers and we may have a true assurance hereof by our repentance If repentance be truly wrought in us there will be such an holy change in all the faculties of our souls in all the affections of our hearts and in all the parts of our bodies that the corruptions of our Nature and the sinfull lusts of our flesh will be mortified and
resurrection whereof the earthly Paradise was but a shadow i Psal 16. 1. 1. This blessed place is in the presence of God where we shall have fullnesse of joy and it is at Gods right hand where there are pleasures for evermore k Exod. 34. 6. Thus is Christ abundant in goodnesse and in truth if we have but little comfort in this short time of our life yet when we come to the end of our dayes we shall have fulnesse of joy in the Paradise of God together with Christ our Saviour for evermore Wherefore though this life be full of vexations and troubles the meditation and hope of heavenly happinesse which we shall hereafter injoy to all eternity will sweeten the bitternesse of all our momentany afflictions and tribulations Now comfort thy self O penitent sinner if thou art so cast down in the apprehension of thy sins that thou darest not come into the presence of God in regard of Divine justice l Luk. 18. 13. or lift up thine eyes unto heaven with the poor Publicane to crave what thou wantest or desirest because thou hast justly incurred his high displeasure by thy manifold transgressions yet be not disheartned faint not but come cheerfully to Christ with true faith and firm confidence to be received for he will open a Fountain to thee from whence all Divine mercy floweth and thou wilt find him alwayes ready and willing to accept of thee make thy condition therefore truly known unto him put up thy prayers and supplications to him and though thou desirest but a drop of comfort yet he will give thee abundant consolation in what thou sufferest and much more than thou desirest By the example of this Malefactor we may draw holy Meditations upon the Divine Nature of true faith for our instruction and comfort for it looketh beyond the eye of reason and above the reach of nature it maketh us evidently to apprehend that which our reason or naturall capacity cannot shew us and it will make us believe in hope even against hope that which is impossible to nature and incredible to humane reason This miserable sinner had no reason to believe in Christ and to confide in him for his salvation for we do not read that ever he heard his preaching or saw any of his miracles but he saw him now ready to dye an ignominious and cursed death upon the crosse and he heard him thus reviled m Mat. 27. 39. If thou be the Son of God come down from the crosse Also he heard him mocked in this manner by the chief Priests and Elders He saved others himself he cannot save if he be the King of Israel let him come down from the crosse and we will believe in him He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him for he said I am the Son of God Though these and the like blasphemous words were spoken in derision against him which were sufficient in all reason to keep back this Malefactor from trusting in him yet the holy Ghost did so work upon his heart that he did faithfully believe that Christ was the Son of God that he was the King of Israel that he had saved others and therefore he could save him also which made him to apply himself to Christ for comfort and for his salvation and in his addresses to him he came with all modesty and humble submission he gave him all due honour and reverence as much as he was then able to expresse and then he made this humble suite and supplication to him and no sooner was his request made but it was granted because Christ did see truth and sincerity in his heart and integriry in his expressions We may observe from hence for our instruction and consolation that the holy Ghost can work the conversion of a sinner either without meanes or by contrary meanes he doth sometimes work very strangely upon the will and upon the affections of the heart for Christ was now preached by his deadly foes out of scorn and mockery n Phil. 1 15 as there were some in Pauls time that did preach Christ even of envy and strife others of love and good will yet the Spirit of God did so enlighten the understanding of this sinfull man and did so work upon his will and so seasoned his heart with saving grace that he received holy instruction thereby and what the enemies of Christ did speak in his disgrace he did apply it to himself to confirm him in the truth of his Divinity which made him stick close to him by faith when he was in the lowest degree of his humiliation his faith made him rest upon Christ and upon his promise above the strength of nature and contrary to all humane reason If he had seen the glory of Christ in his transfiguration upon Mount Tabor and if he had seen some of his great miracles or had heard his Divine Doctrine and powerful Preaching his faith had not seemed so great but now he did see him onely upon Mount Calvary nailed to his crosse as the worst of Malefactors are and rejected of his own nation so that to the outward eye he appeared nothing else but a pitiful spectacle of woful misery and yet this penitent sinner did expresse an admirable faith in the pangs of a cruell and violent death though his faults had been intolerable in his dissolute life for nothing but faith could move him to honour and reverence Christ now he was in this sad condition and to sue unto him to be remembred in his Kingdome By the eye of his faith he did see in Christ more than humane meeknesse and patience in his sufferings undaunted courage above the strength of nature to go thorough with all constancy those torturings and torments which with all cruelty and malice were inflicted upon him and he did see some glympse of Divine mercy in him when he heard him pray so graciously for his persecutors and tormentors and for those that put him to death In the last place ponder well in thy heart upon the mercifull answer of Christ to this penitent Malefactor Verily I say unto thee To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise whereby he did shew his power to forgive sins upon earth Thus he said to the sick of the palsie o Mar. 2. 5â— 10. Son thy sins are forgiven thee and hereby also he did shew that he had power to dispose of heaven at his own pleasure p Mat. 28. 18. for all power was given to him both in heaven and in earth therefore he did assure this Petitioner that though his body did now suffer the torments of a cruell death yet his soul should live and presently injoy a most happy and blessed condition in the Paradise of God and in the mansions of heaven to all eternity which place q John 14. 2. Christ hath prepared for his servants We shall meet with labour and toil troubles and crosses in this
life Though the soul be thus highly to be prized and far excelleth the body in worth and dignity yet naturall men will pamper and garnish out the body which is every day subject to corruption and change but they suffer their souls to starve for want of spirituall food and to go naked for want of spirituall cloathing whereby they are exposed to the venomous darts of the Divell and to the scorching heat of their sinfull lusts Their souls have no spirituall light to foresee dangers and to shun them they have no heavenly grace to resist the temptations and allurements of the world the flesh and the Divell but what the eye or the eare lets in is willingly received Thus their souls are polluted and unclean and death doth snatch them away because they cannot willingly deliver them up for they have no faith to believe and no assurance to perswade them that God will receive their souls when they are parted from their bodies This is the condition of our souls by nature and so long as they are in this condition God will not receive them and then they must needs be a prey to the Divell u Psal 103 4. But Christ hath redeemed our souls from destruction u 1 Cor. 6. 20. he hath bought us with a great price he hath shed his most precious blood upon the crosse to take away the guilt and filth of our sins Wherefore God may justly claim our whole man both soul and body as his due by a treble right by the right of creation of donation and of purchase x Act. 17. 28 for in him we live and move and have our being y 1 Cor. 4. 7 What have we that we did not receive from God What shall we bequeath unto him in thankfulnesse for all his benefits to us We can do no lesse than devote our selves souls and bodies to him and to his service while we live here and when this life shall be ended to bequeath our precious souls unto him purified and cleansed from all sin in the blood of Christ by faith for nothing can be too pure that is presented to him and nothing can be too dear and precious for him If we bequeath this precious legacy to God in our life-time then he will require it as of right belonging unto him and he will receive it from us at our death This will sweeten the bitternesse of death to us which will put an end to all our sorrowes and this will make us willing to leave this world and desire with Paul to be dissolved because we do stedfastly believe that we shall be with Christ But if we give our selves to worldly vanities to lewd and licencious living and not to the true worship and service of God we shall then be unwilling to part with this life or to look upon death when it comes because we know not to whom it will deliver our poor souls for we cannot comfortably commend them to God when we dye with any hope or good assurance that he will receive them seing they did God no service while we lived What thankfulnesse is it then to commend our souls unto God when we can keep them no longer for the world or for our sinfull delights And what comfort can we have at our death if we have no faith to believe that we shall injoy all happinesse with Christ but rather just cause to fear that the sinfulnesse of our life will bring us to everlasting torments after death It may sometimes fall out that we shall neither have time nor ability to dispose of our souls when we dye as we desire and as we ought for if death comes suddenly upon us by any casualty or otherwise we have then no time to commit our souls unto Gods protection or if we are taken away by some violent or malignant disease which doth distemper our senses and weaken our understanding and reason that we are unfit for this great work we have then no ability to resign up our spirits unto God in an holy way What shall we do then Where is our comfort in death This need not trouble our thoughts if we have formerly in our life had any holy assurance of our union with Christ of our justification by his righteousnesse of our redemption by the merit of his blood and of his death and of his sanctification by the holy Ghost and that we have lived vertuously and piously in the fear of God and have served the Lord our God with a perfect and upright heart in the time of our life for then death cannot come suddenly upon us and no extremity of sicknesse or pain can separate us from Christ nor take away our comfort from our souls at our death because God will receive them up into his holy habitation to abide and dwell with Christ for ever though we have neither time nor ability to commend them unto him Lastly let us zealously meditate for our great comfort upon the bloud and water that gushed out from our Saviours heart after he was dead when his side was pierced with the spear There was bloud to take away the guilt of sin for our justification and there was water to wash away the stains of sin for our sanctification For as our sins were imputed to him as our surety so by faith his righteousnesse is imputed to us and God doth account us just and righteous in his sight for the sake of Christ so likewise by grace we are renewed dayly and sanctified in our lives and conversations Wherefore we should raise up our thoughts and the affections of our hearts to this sanctifying water when we think upon our Baptisme or see that Sacrament celebrated that our hearts may be sprinkled with it by faith to purifie our souls from the leprosie and spots of our sins Also we must set the cogitations of our hearts upon this sacred blood when we feed at the Lords Table that by faith we may be perswaded that Christ did shed his blood and was crucified for us Consider also that though the body of our blessed Redeemer was miserably rent and torn by the cruelty of his enemies yet God would not suffer them to break a bone of him according to this of David z Psal 34. 20 He keepeth all his bones not one of them is broken and though they brake the bones of the two malefactors that were crucified with him yet they brake not a bone of him that the Scripture might be fulfilled a Num. 9. 12. that not a bone of him should be broken God so restrained his bloody enemies that they could do no more than what was decreed and what Christ was willing to suffer for he did not yield to their malice and cruelty but onely in obedience to his Fathers will for a word of his mouth had been sufficient to confound all his tormentours but how then should our redemption be wrought How should the will of God be fulfilled And how
now broken down which was between the Jew and the Gentile and that Christ was as freely given to the one as the other and the merit of his blood was as effectuall for the salvation of the Gentile as it was for the Jew if he were truly received by faith The vail being now rent the Gentile hath free accesse to the Mercy-seat which did typifie the Throne of grace by Christ Long before this God did choose some to be the first fruits of the Gentiles as namely Eliezâ—r of Damascus in Abrahams family Rahab of Jericho Ruth the Moabitesse and Naaman the Syrian with many more Secondly God did hereby shew that now there was an end put to the sacrifices of the Ceremoniall Law because the true Paschall Lambe was slain of whom these sacrifices were but types and shadows and that the Ceremoniall Law was now abrogated c Joh. 4. 22 23. and the true worship and service of God was not confined to Jerusalem or to the Temple but now God might be worshipped in any other place so that it be in spirit and in truth Thirdly we may see the free mercy and goodnesse of God to the Jew and also to the Gentile d Acts 15. 10. for by the death of his Son he hath cased the Jew of the great burden of Ceremonies which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear by putting an end to the Ceremoniall Law and he hath brought the Gentile within the Covenant of grace and hath admitted him into the most holy place for the vail of the Temple which before kept him out is now rent asunder God hath also sanctified every place where he is truly worshipped and served with a pure and upright heart and hath given us as great Priviledges in Christ as he gave to his ancient people the Jews Fourthly by these miraculous signes and wonders God did convince his people of the hardnesse of their hearts and of their wilfull blindnesse who would not see the fulfilling of their ancient Prophesies in Christ nor believe that he was that Messiah which was promised though they could object nothing against it Wherefore their hearts did not relent for their great impiety but the earth and the stony rocks were more sensible than they If we are thus hardned in our sins and thus blinded in our understandings it is a fearfull sign that we are given up to a reprobate minde Fifthly we may hereby see how God made the senselesse creatures to honour his Son at his death though both Jew and Gentile did most spitefully dishonour him in his life Christ honoured his Father while he was living and his Father honoureth him now he is dead by these great wonders and by the Testimony of the Centurion and others who seeing what came to passe said e Mat. 27. 54. Truly this was the Son of God Thus will God honour those that honour him by a vertuous and godly life or by their sufferings in his cause for he will make their innocency to appear and will manifest the truth of their Profession to the honour of his own Name and he will give them immortall glory in the life to come Wherefore if thou art in place of authority honour God by executing judgement and justice without exception of persons if thou art rich honour him in the right use of them and with works of mercy to the poor and needy if thou art poor be content with thy condition If thou hast children honour God in their good education teach them the fear of the Lord and let thy verteous life and good conversation be an example of piety to them Also if thou hast a family command thy children and servants to keep the way of the Lord to walk in his Statutes and to do righteously that the Lord may bring a blessing upon thee and upon thy house If thou art under the crosse honour God with thy patience hope and confidence in him whatsoever thy condition be honour him with thy thankfulnesse Sixthly God doth give us to understand by the trembling of the earth and by the renting of the rocks how powerfully the holy Ghost doth sometimes work upon our hearts at our first conversion to bring us to repentance f Acts 9. as he did at the conversion of Paul g Acts 16. and at the conversion of the Jailor and of diverse others for though our hearts be naturally as stupid and dull to any thing that is spirituall and heavenly as a lump of earth yet when the holy Ghost works upon them with his Almighty power he will make them quake and tremble and he will put a new Principle of grace into them whereby they shall be changed into a gracious condition and their natural dull and stupid properties shall be made active and ready for every holy duty And though our hearts are by nature as hard as any stone and no way capable of any gracious and heavenly impression yet the Spitit of God will break them in pieces and will mollifie and soften every piece to make it tender and flexible to the will and pleasure of God Wherefore if thou dost find this dulnesse in thine understanding this earthly mindednesse and this stupidity in thine affections that thou hast no will to serve thy God also if there be such obduracy in thy heart that thou canst not lament and mourn for thy sins and thy heart cannot melt into sighing and tears for thy transgressions and if there be such unbelief in thee that thou canst not apply any promise of mercy to thy self and canst have no hope nor assurance of the pardon and forgivenesse of thy sins upon thy repentance and turning unto God then make thy condition known to thy Saviour Christ in all meeknesse of spirit and he will put an holy light into thy understanding by his Spirit he will sanctifie thine affections and season them with grace he will take away thy hard heart of unbelief and will make it more sensible of thy miserable condition and will fit and prepare it for a deeper impression of grace Lastly God doth shew by the opening of the graves that there shall be a generall resurrection of every mans body at the last day when they must appear before the judgement seat of God to give an account of whatsoever they have done in the flesh Though our bodies are lockt up in the grave for thousands of years and though their dust and ashes are scattered abroad with the winde to the utmost parts of the earth yet at the last every grave shall be opened and shall deliver up her dead and every grain of dust shall be gathered together that every man may have his own body to deliver up his account before the great and dreadfull Judge of heaven and earth to receive the just reward of their works the wicked to be thrust down with the devils into everlasting burnings for their evill deeds and for their unbelief but such as belong unto
do we hope for no greater felicity than what we now injoy We hâ—ve no abiding place here but we are subject to changes every moment and upon every small occasion o 1 Chro. 29 15. We are strangers and sojourners here our dayes on earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding our mansion house where we must dwell for ever is in heaven which Christ our Saviour hath prepared for us to draw our mindes from all earthly delights which are fading and transitory and alwayes mixed and imbittered with some sorrowes and vexations that our hearts and affections may be inflamed to injoy that celestial happinesse where we shall be stablished and confirmed in perfect holinesse for ever and where we shall injoy the perfection of all blessedness for evermore Wherefore p Heb. 12. 2. look unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God q 2 Tim. 2. i2 If we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him if we dye with him we shall also live with him if we are buried with him we shall rise with him and if we partake with him in his humiliation we shall also partake with him in his exaltation for the members must be made conformable to the Head Of the Resurrection of CHRIST VVE come now to the Exaltation of our blessed Redeemer for though he suffered his enemies to tyrannize over him at their pleasure and to put him to a most cruell and shamefull death upon the crosse because it was his heavenly Fathers will it should be so yet he rose again the third day by the Almighty Power of his Deity and cloathed himself with the glorious robes of immortality triumphing over all his enemies both spirituall and temporall The truth of his Resurrection a Luk. 24. did first appear by the testimony of two Angels to the Woman that came the third day to his Sepulchre to imbalm his body b John 20. then he appeard to Mary and to his Disciples at several times also to five hundred brethren at once and he conversed with his Disciples fourty dayes upon earth before he ascended up into heaven Many Saints that slept were raised out of their graves with him who also appeared to many in the holy City and probably ascended up with him into heaven so that we may safely build our faith upon the truth of his Resurrection which is an Article of faith that we must believe for the well grounding of our hope that our bodies shal also rise again from the dead with songs of rejoicing and triumph Here is matter of exceeding great comfort to our souls for our hearts to Meditate upon if we do stedfastly believe that Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour is risen from the dead First we may be truly perswaded hereby that he hath fully satisfied the justice of God for all our sins and that the guilt of sin is taken away from our souls and nailed to his Crosse so that if God looks upon our sins there he will also see the precious blood of his dear Son that was spilt for them Secondly we may firmly believe that Christ by his Resurrection hath gotten the victory and conquest over sin death hell and the Devill c John 10. 18 for as he had power to lay down his life so he had power to take it up again Christ hath likewise taken away the strength of sin and hath pulled out the sting of death in that he hath fulfilled all righteousnesse and fully satisfied the penalty of the Law d 1 Cor. 15. 56. for the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law Wherefore we may now draw vertue and grace from Christ to overpower all the corruptions of our nature e Eph. 2. 1. and though we are dead in trespasses and sins yet by the power of his Resurrection he will quicken us and raise us up out of the grave of sin and will give us a spirituall life to live the life of grace to him here that we may live the life of glory with him hereafter for ever Why then should we fear death that hath no sting to wound us Why should we not smile upon it seing Christ hath sanctified it to us Why should we fear the Devill with a servile fear seing Christ hath redeemed us out of his bondage His malice may molest and trouble us if we be not well armed with faith but Christ hath weakened his power below our strength When our bodieslye in the dust our souls will be out of the devils reach for Christ will take them up to himself into the Paradise of God where the devil cannot come for he is cast down into utter darknesse he may be permitted to tempt or afflict us while we are in the flesh but Christ whom we serve will not suffer him to prevail against us Thirdly seeing Christ our head is risen from the dead we also that are his members must rise again at the last day for the Head will draw all the members of the body with it Christ hath redeemed our bodies from the grave as well as our souls from death if therefore we be not raised again out of the grave our redemption is not perfectly wrought Also if there shall be no resurrection of our bodies and if death hath power to keep them still in the grave then our union with Christ is not firm and our faith is not able to keep us close unto him and our hope is not stedfast but death hath not this power the graves will open and deliver up their dead and our bodies shall rise again to injoy that unconceivable happinesse with our souls of the beatificall vision of God and to be for ever with Christ our Redeemer because Christ our Head is risen Lastly our chief comfort dependeth upon our resurrection to glory for in this life we finde nothing but labour and travell sorrow and trouble vexation and anguish of spirit our hope of future rest and peace of joy and comfort happinesse and glory doth sweeten all our afflictions here and makes us bear them contentedly and chearfully for as David saith f Psal 58. 11. Verily there is a reward for the righteous and this reward is in heaven Now if there be no resurrection from the dead our hope is vain our comfort will deceive us and our life is most miserable of all men according to this of Paul g 1 Cor. 15. 15. If in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable for we shall never injoy this reward which God hath promised but our faith is grounded upon the sure promises of God which cannot deceive us concerning the resurrection of our bodies unto glory which will yield us unspeakable consolation when we seriously Meditate upon it Wherefore now raise
up thy spirit thou fainting soul for Christ hath redeemed thy body from the grave and thy soul from death by his Resurrection he hath conquered all the enemies of thy salvation sin hath no condemning power over thee death is advantage to thee hell is lockt up from thee and the Devill himself cannot go beyond his commission for thy hurt Though the world doth frown upon thee h Joh. 16. 33 and thou findest tribulation here yet be of good chear and lift up thy head for Christ hath overcome the world and he will sanctifie all thy tribulations to thee Thou livest here subject to shame and reproach to diseases of body and sorrow of spirit and to all miseries and calamities but death will put an end to all thy labour and travell the grave will refine thy body from all imperfections and diseases and thy resurrection will bring thee to thy reward which is laid up for thee in heaven If the powers of darknesse set themselves in array against thee if the terrours of death assault thee fear not but keep close to the Resurrection of thy Saviour by faith he hath overcome them all and will also subdue them unto thee i Eph â— 30. If thou art a member of his body of his flesh and of his bones thou must be made conformable to him as to thy head as well in his glory as in his shame as well in his resurrection as in his death and buriall If the crosse must try thy strength he will not tire thee with a greater burden than thou art well able to bear If pain or sicknesse brings thee near unto death the faithfull hope of a joyful resurrection will greatly refresh and comfort thy soul for though thy soul must be parted from thy body yet neither thy soul nor thy body shall be parted fuom Christ but thou shalt rise again out of the dust with a spirituall and immortal body to be joyned unto Christ thy head for ever Now think on these things with holy affections and they will minister heavenly comfort to thy soul when thou art in any perplexity of minde or body Consider now to whom Christ appeared after his Resurrection it was first to holy Women who in their pious devotion and love to him came to imbalm his body with spices and sweet odours then he appeared to his Disciples at sundry times and also to many Brethren that they all might be well confirmed in the truth of his Resurrection and of his Deity to comfort them in their sorrowes to uphold them in their sufferings to strenthen their faith against all persecutions and bloody tryals and to be able to strengthen others in the Doctrine of the Resurrection Thus did the holy Apostles testfiie that they had seen the Lord Jesus after he was risen to confirm their Doctrine of his Resurrection But Christ did not appear to any wicked or ungodly men for they could neither believe it nor understand it nor receive any comfort or benefit by it because they have no spirituall eye to discern his glorified body but chiefly because they have no relation to him as their Saviour Christ doth appear to us at this day by his Spirit when he doth manifest to us the truth of his Resurrection by his Word and doth give us grace to apply it to our selves for the confirmation of our faith in the Resurrection of our bodies at the last day But chiefly Christ doth appear to us when by faith we draw vertue and power from his Resurrection to rise from the death of sin to the life of grace when we can raise up the affections of our hearts from earthly and worldly cares to heavenly contemplations and when we can with the wings of faith mount up above the sinfull delights and pleasures of this life and above all the calamities and tribulations that we shall meet with here upon earth to have our conversation in heaven and can draw comfort to our selves in all our sorrowes and miseries from the hope of our resurrection There will also be a day of resurrection to the wicked which will be most sad wofull and miserable to them for they shall not rise with purified and glorified bodies but with filthy ugly and unclean bodies all besmeared with the guilt of sin which will make them odious to look upon and they have no covering to hide their sins but onely the Divels liverey which is a guilty conscience that they may be known to whom they belong For there is no place and no inheritance in heaven for such unclean monsters but they shall be thrust down into the lowest hell to partake with the devil and his angels in their everlasting torments which is the reward of all wicked men for their evill works Of CHRISTS Ascension up into Heaven VVHen Christ had fully instructed his Apostles after his Resurrection in those things which concerned the Kingdom of Heaven and had taught them how to plant his Church here upon earth he was taken up in the sight and view of them all and ascended up into heaven where he sitteth at the right hand of God in fulnesse of Majesty and glory until he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead whereby Christ is now become our eternall Advocate with the Father to make intercession for us and he is also our eternall high Priest to present our Prayers and oblations to God At his Ascension he carried up our humane nature with him into heaven and hath advanced it above the Angels and above all Principalities and powers also Christ hath taken possession of that heavenly Inheritance which we shall hereafter injoy for he keeps it for us Wherefore now let the thoughts of our hearts be raised up in our holy Meditations to contemplate the transcendent glory of Christ now he is at the right hand of the Father that we may firmly confide in him and have a longing desire to be with him to injoy that place of true blessednesse a John 14. 2 which he hath prepared for us in his Fathers house Also let all our Prayers and sacrifices proceed from an upright and a believing heart that they may be such as Christ will present to his Father for us and then we may confidently believe that God will graciously receive them Here is also great comfort for us that though we sin dayly through humane frailty or through the corruption of our nature b 1 John 2. 1 2. that we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins who will intercede for us and will present the merit of his blood unto him in full satisfaction for all our sins whereof we may have an holy assurance by faith and true repentance If we do faithfully believe that we have such an high Priest and such an Advocate in heaven why do we give our selves liberty in sin to displease him Why do we cherish any darling sin
will still reign in us though we cannot actually commit sin So likewise if we do spiritually feed upon the body and blood of Christ at the Lords Table we do then seal this Covenant of grace to our souls and we shall finde the comfort of all those promises that are contained in it This spiritual food was the fruit that the Spouse did feed upon h Cant. 2. 3. which was so sweet to her taste and we shall also finde the same sweetnesse in that blessed fruit But if we come to that holy Supper with mindes full of worldly cares or sinfull lusts and with hearts full of hypocrisie and unbelief we do eat and drink damnation to our selves We need not now envy at the prosperity of ungodly men their wealth is their snare to bring them into the paths of perdition their gain is their losse their pleasure will be their pain and their sweetnesse will be bitterness to them in the end so that what gain soever they make of this world if they do not also gain Christ with it they will finde no Advantage nor true comfort by it It is a shame for rich men and a dishonour for such as are in eminent places of authority if they are not truly vertuous and religious This heavenly gain is peculiar onely to the Children of God which they have onely by Christ and they seek it no where but of him Our Advantage and Gain by CHRIST in Death AS Christ is our spirituall gain in this life so he is no lesse our advantage and Gain in our death for he hath so conquered death that it shall neither sting us nor hurt us though we must at Gods appointed time yield and submit unto it Death of it self is a terrible enemy and destructive to our whole nature and it is the greatest part of the curse for the breach of the Law but Christ hath made it our friend and hath taken the curse from it so that if we live an holy and pious life in Christ we shall also dye a comfortable and a Christian death in him a Rom. 5. 12 By the fall of Adam sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned b Heb. 9. 2â— Therefore it is appointed unto all men once to dye and after this is the judgement Thus saith the Psalmist c Psal 89. 48 What man is be that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Paul saith d 2 Cor. 4. 7 that our bodies are but earthen vessels which are soon broken or e 2 Cor. 5. 1. earthly houses which are soon dissolved The wise man hath no priviledge from death more than the fool one event happeneth to them both f Eccl. 2. 14 16 How dyeth the wise man As the fool saith the Preacher g Eccl. 3. 20 All go unto one place both high and low rich and poor all are of the dust and all turn to dust again For we must be conformed to Christ in his death if we desire to be conformed to him in his resurrection This is the way that every man must go before he can h Rom. 3. 23. come to eternall life for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God i Rom 6. 23 and the wages of sin is death If it be so that none can escape the stroke of death but that it will seize upon all flesh with an unresistible power we ought then to be alwayes well prepared that death may not come suddenly upon us to take us away in our sins before we have made our peace with God by faith in Christ and before we have got a modest and sober assurance of the pardon of our sins by true repentance that we may willingly part with this world and comfortably resign up our souls to God in full hope that we shall injoy a better life hereafters for evermore and this preparation for Death is onely by Christ Consider now that Christ will fit and prepare us for Death and will also fit a Death for us which shall make most for the glory of God and be most advantagious to us and he will so sanctifie it to us that our gain thereby shall be far greater than our loss If we dye in the Lord or for the Lord death may part our souls from our bodies but it cannot part our souls from Christ the soul may be parted for a time from a crazy diseased and corruptible body which is but an earthly Tabernacle but we shall receive the same bodies again in full strength in perfect beauty and incorruptible free from aches or diseases from decay or corruption Death may take our souls out of a world of miseries and calamities of sorrowes troubles and vexations but it will presently convey them into an haven of rest and into an heaven of happinesse where there is no labour nor toil no troubles nor sorrow but perfect peace and fulnesse of joy for ever and our bodies shall be raised up to injoy the same blessednesse with our souls k 2 Cor. 5. 1. Death may dissolve the earthly house of our tabernacle but we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the heavens What if we lose our lands and possessions wherunto we are but tenants at will l â— Pet. 1. 3 4 We have a lively hope by Christ to injoy an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us Death may take us from our earthly friends but it will bring us into the society of the glorious Angels and blessed Saints in heaven and to be wedded to Christ our Beloved for ever to whom in this life we are but espoused Consider in the next place for our further comfort that we have this Advantage by Christ above other men when we are to dye m 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. that death hath nothing to hurt us sin hath no power to condemn us and therefore death cannot binde us over unto judgement Thus saith the Lord by his Prophet n Isa 42 â—5 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins How can death then be any way hurtful to us As Christ hath taken away the guilt of our sins so he will also fasten all our good works and pious duties to our souls which will go with us to the grave o Rev. 14. 13 and will follow us to the day of judgement to be had in remembrance then before God This is a blessed Advantage that we have by Christ in death above other men that have no interest in Christ For their evil works cleave so close to their souls that they will follow them unto judgement to increase their torments in their condemnation Thus saith Paul p 1 Tim. 5. 24. Some mens sins are open before hand
t Acts 3. 8. If the creeple whom Peter and John cured leaped and praised God then we have much more cause to praise and glorifie God with joyfull hearts because Christ hath cured us of our spirituall lamenesse and of all other spiritual infirmities Also u Mat. 27. 54. if the Centurion when he saw the earth-quake and what was done at Christs death glorified God saying Truly this was the Son of God then ought we to glorifie God for our regeneration and for our Spirituall life and to say Truly this was the work of the Son of God We may dayly see the wonderfull works of God which he doth for his own glory to give us dayly occasions to honour and glorifie him and therefore this should be our continual practise to magnifie the Name of God according to this of Paul u Cor. 10. 31. Whether ye ear or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God It is the continual work of the Saints and Angels in heaven to sing Hosanna to the highest and it should be our constant care here upon earth to glorifie God and to magnifie him for all his benefits mercies and goodnesse to us Thus we may come to have an holy assurance that we have a spiritual life in Christ if we do truly believe that he hath redeemed us by the merit of his blood from all our iniquities and from all the issues of sin also that he hath sanctified us and made us an holy people to himself not to serve the world the flesh or the divel but to serve the living God with a clean heart and pure affections So likewise if we finde a new principle of grace planted in our hearts whereby we are able in some measure to walk in the paths of godlinesse and so to steer all our actions that they may tend to the honour and glory of God the Peace of our consciences and the eternal comfort of our souls How to injoy true Happinesse ALL men desire to be happy but few seek it where it is to be found some seek it in morall vertues and natural endowments some in morall vertues and natural endowments some in worldly pleasures and profits others think to finde it in riches and honours but all come far short of the glory of true happinesse though they do obtain their desire in all earthly things for all that this world doth afford cannot make a man truly happy so much as in this life much lesse can it procure his happinesse in the life to come for there will still be something wanting or else something to imbitter their contentment in these things here below If we have honour or authority to day we may be in ignominy and disgrace to morrow if we have riches and plenty to day we may be exposed to want and penury to morrow sicknesse or pain will blast all our earthly contentments but when death comes it will bereave us of them all It is in vain therefore to seek our happinesse in these vain things or to put our confidence in them for our felicity doth not consist in uncertain riches or in transitory honours and pleasures which in themselves are nothing else but vanity and vexation of spirit But true happinesse is from above and it consisteth in the sweet fruition of God this happinesse we had in the state of innocency but we lost it by the fall of our first Parents and we have no means to recover it but onely by Christ Jesus our blessed Redeemer Wherefore a Rom. 8. 32. God took pity on our miserable condition and of his infinite mercy and love hath not spared his own Son but delivered him up for us all to work our redemption by his death and passion and to bring us again into the favour of God And as John saith b Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life so that we cannot have this true blessednesse but onely by Christ which is every where set forth in this Treatise Thus doth the boundlesse mercy and unlimited goodnesse of God appear in offering his dear Son to all that will come and imbrace him but some cannot come because they live not where the Gospel of Christ is preached which doth reveal him and must instruct them in the right way how to finde him some will not come but make excuses c Lu. 14. 1â— 19. like those in the Gospel that were bidden to the great Supper for they are hindered by their worldly occasions others are wholly taken up with carnall delights and pleasures which keeps them from coming to Christ though they may injoy this true happinesse by him Consider now that riches honours and lawful pleasures are not in themselves simply evill for they are Gods good creatures and his blessings neither do they keep us from coming unto Christ but we may injoy Christ together with them if we do not immoderately covet them and use no unjust means to get them or put our trust and confidence in them to derogate from the honour of God If we injoy Christ with them he will sanctifie them to us for our comfort and will make them the first fruits of our happinesse whereby we may glorifie God and do much good to our neighbour otherwise they are but the shadow of happinesse and not the true substance of it which in the end will be bitternesse when we must give a strict account unto God how we have used them Many a poor man that injoyeth Christ is more happy in his poverty than they that abound in wealth and honour if they are without Christ for they injoy a contented minde peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost and they have an holy assurance that their joy and happinesse shall be made perfect in the life to come Wherefore he that hath Christ hath the Fountain of all true happiness and some streams thereof will flow to him even in this life But this is true which Christ saith d Joh. 6. 44 No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and we can have no part in Christ nor happinesse by him except we do truly believe in him This is the way that God himself hath taught us Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life Also this is the same way which Christ taught his Disciples e Joh. 14. 1 Yee believe in God believe also in me Our faith must be as firm as strong and as well grounded upon Christ as he is our Redeemer God and Man as it is upon God alone or else we cannot injoy him and all that happinesse which floweth from him Though we dare not approach neer unto God in regard of his divine justice yet through the mediation of Christ our gracious Redeemer we may have free accesse unto our God and we shall find him sitting