the Mount he went down to suffer at Ierusalem 2. This was an offence to the Apostles that their Master should dye Matth. 16. 22 23. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee 3. This was the Jews stumbling block 1 Cor. 1. 23. We Preach Christ Crucified to the Iews a stumbling block 4. This was prefigured in the Rites of the Law foretold in the Writings of the Prophets In the figures of the Law it was represented Heb. 9. 22. and almost all things are by the Law purged with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no Remission especially the Apostle urgeth the entring of the High Priest with Blood to the Mercy-seat verse 23 24. All the legal Sacrifices were slain their blood brought before the Lord. So the predictions of the Prophets Isa. 53. 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make thy soul an offering for sin c. And Dan. 9. 26. The Messias shall be cut off but not for himself In short that Christ should dye for the sins of the World was the great thing represented in the Law and Prophets Rabbi Simeon and Rabbi Hadersim out of Daniel that after Messias had Preached half seven years he shall be slain 5. It was necessary that by death he should come to his Glory of which now some glympse and foretast was given to him Luke 24. 46. Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and rise from the dead the third day that is with respect to the predictions verse 44. All those things which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Book of Psalms concerning me may be fulfilled and again Luke 24. 21 26. Oh fools and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to have entered into his Glory 6. The Redemption of the Church by Christ is the talk and discourse we shall have in Heaven the Angels and Glorified Spirits are blessing and praising him for this Rev. 5. 9. Thou art worthy for thou wert slain and hast Redeemed us to God by thy Blood The Angels verse 12. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and streneth and glory and honour and blessing The Redeemed Church and glorified Saints and Angels have all one song and one praise the honour of the Lamb that was slain 7. It is an instructive pattern to us that Christ in the midst of his Transfiguration and the Glory which was then put upon him forgat not his Death In the greatest advancements we should think of our desolution if Christ in all his Glory discoursed of his death surely it more becommeth us as necessary for us to prevent the surfeit of Worldly pleasures we should think of the change that is comming For surely every man at his best estate is vanity Psalm 39. 5. In some places they were wont to present a deaths head at their solemn Feasts merry dayes will not alwayes last death will soon put an end to the vain pleasures we enjoy here and the most shining glory will be burnt out to a snuff 2. The notion by which his Death is expressed his decease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the going out of this Life into another which is to be noted 1. In respect unto Christ his death was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he went out of this mortal Life into Glory and so it implyeth both his suffering Death and also his Resurrection Act. 2. 24. God hath raised him up having loosed the pains of Death because it was impossible he should be holden of it The Grave was like a Woman ready to be delivered it suffered Throws till this blessed burden was egested 2. With respect to us Peter calls his death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1. 15. I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease the death of the Godly is a going out but from sin and sorrow to glory and immortality as Israels going out of Egypt whence the second Book of Moses is called Exodus was no destruction and cessation of their being but a going out of the House of Bondage into Liberty Paul saith I desire to be dissolved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 1. 23. a setting sail for the other World In Scripture language the body is the House the soul is the Inhabitant 2 Cor. 5. 1. We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were disslolved we have a building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens The soul dwelleth in the body as a Man in a House and death is but a departure out of one House into another not an extinction but a going from House to House 3. The necessity of undergoing it in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this word accomplish noteth three things 1. His Mediatorial duty with a respect to Gods Ordination and Decree declared in the Prophesies of the old Testament which when they are fulfilled are said to be accomplished Whatsoever Christ did in the work of Redemption was with respect to Gods Will and Eternal Decree Acts 4. 28. To do whatsoever thy hand and counsel determined before to be done Now this was the more binding being it was a declared counsel in the Prophesies and Figures of the Old Testament therefore Christ cryed out at his death Iohn 19. 30. It is finished or accomplished Meaning principally that the Prophesies and Figures and Types which prefigured his death were all now accomplished 2. His voluntary submission which he should accomplish noteth his Active and voluntary concurrence it is an active word not passive not to be fulfilled upon him but by him for though his death in regard of his Enemies was violent and enforced yet he voluntarily underwent it for our sakes no man could have taken his Life from him unless he had laid it down Iohn 10. 18. it was not forced upon him but he yielded to it by a voluntary dispensation as to men it was an act of violence but as to his Father it was an act of obedience as to us an act of Love on Christs part his Enemies could not have touched him against his Will as indeed they cannot also one hair of our heads but as God permitteth 3. That it was the eminent Act of his Humiliation for this cause he assumed humane Nature his Humiliation begun at his Birth continued in his Life and was accomplished in dying all was nothing without this for less could not serve the turn then the death of the Son of God then all sufferings were undergone which were necessary to take away sin therefore there is a consummation or perfection attributed to the death of Christ Heb. 10. 14. By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are Sanctified there is done enough to expiate sin
will put my words into his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him and whosoever will not hearken unto him I will require it of him Which cannot be understood of any other Prophet but Christ the Messiah for it is said Deut. 34. 10 11. There arose not a Prophet in Israel like unto Moses who knew the Lord face to face in all the miracles and wonders which the Lord sent him to do But the Messias doth match and overmatch him he was a Man as Moses was for the Promise was made on that occasion let me hear the Voice of the Lord God no more nor see this great Fire that we dye not saith God they have well spoken I will raise up a Prophet like unto thee from among their Brethren he must be a Law-giver as Moses but of a more perfect Law he must be such an One as should see God face to face he is of a Divine Nature approved to the World by Miracles Signs and Wonders As Moses was so Christ Moses divided the Sea as dry Land Christ walked upon it Moses healed the bitter Waters that were sick Christ raised the dead All the prejudice is that he changed the Law of Moses into the Rites and Institutes of the Christian Religion Answ. That was necessary the substance being once come that the Shadowes and Ceremonies should be abolished and besides these were proper and peculiar to one Nation in the World namely Iudaea the Exercise permitted but in one only place of that Country namely Ierusalem whither they were all to repair three times each year but the Messias Law was to be common to all men serves for all Countries Times Places Persons for he was to be the Light of the Gentiles as well as the Glory of his people Israel how should Nations so far distant from Ierusalem repair thrice every year or a Woman dwelling in England or America repair thither for purification after every Child-birth Lev. 12. When Moses delivered the Law to them Deut. 18. 15. The Lord thy God will raise thee up a Prophet like unto me unto him shalt thou hearken And the Prophets when they prophesie of his Law Isa. 2. 3. The Law shall go forth out of Sion and the word of God from Ierusalem Moses's Law was published from Sinai not from Sion but the preaching of the Gospel begun at Ierusalem and from thence was spread over all the World Again it is said Isa. 42. 4. The Isles shall wait for his Law that is the Maritime Countries I pursue it no farther now 2. To us Christians Our Religion is true Oh let us be true in the profession of it otherwise it will little help us in the day of our Accounts 2 Thes. 1. 8. Taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ. You stand upon the Vantage-ground but are not Taller in Stature than Heathens and Iews Disciples in Name not in Deed Ioh. 8. 31. If ye continue in my words then are ye my disciples indeed Christians of Letter not of the Spirit Oh Reverence Christ if Moses and Elias did him Homage When we have found Truth let us look after Life and having owned the true Religion express the Power of it II. The next thing we learn is the Necessity and Value of Christs Death For Moses and Elias insist upon his Decease at Ierusalem which quite contradicteth the Iewish deceit and establisheth the Christian Hope The Death of Christ for our Redemption is the great Article of the Christian Faith the thing foretold and prefigured by Law and Prophets Luk. 24. 44. and the ground of our Comfort and Peace Isa. 53. 4 5. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted But he was wounded for our Transgressions he was bruised for our Iniquities the chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his stripes are we healed Let us Consider 1. The Notions by which Christs Death is set forth 2. The Necessity of it First The Notions by which Christs death is set forth Two solemn ones A Ransom And A Mediatorial Sacrifice 1. A Ransom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 20. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 2. 6. Who gave himself a Ransom for all A Ransome is a Price given to a Judge or one that hath power of life and death for to save the life of one capitally Guilty or by Law bound to suffer death or some other evil and punishment This was our Case God was the supream Judge before whose Tribunal Man standeth guilty and liable to death but Christ interposed that we might be spared Iob 33. 24. deliver him from going down to the Pit for I have found a Ransom There is a Price or Recompence given in our stead 2. A Mediatorial Sacrifice Isa. 53. 3 When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin Eph. 5. 2. Christ hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour He hath undertook the Expiation of our sins and the propitiating of God Gods provoked Justice would not acquit the Controversie it had against us till it were appeased by a proper Sacrifice 1 Ioh. 2. 2. He is the propitiation for our sins Secondly The Necessity of it 1. The sins and guilty Fears of Mankind needeth such a Remedy we are naturally sensible that the punishment of death is deserved and due to us by the Law of God Rom. 1. 32. They which commit such things are worthy of death Now these Fears are not easily appeased Micah 6. 6 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of Oyle Shall I give my first-horn for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my seul Christ came and died to free us from them that we might serve God chearfully Heb. 2. 14 15. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil Heb. 9. 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God 2. The Glory of God requires it 1. To declare his Justice Rom. 3. 25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to delare his Righteousness for the Remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Iesus If God will pardon sin there must be a fit means to
keep up the Honour of his Justice and the Authority of his Law for sin is not a wrong done to a private party offended but a disobedience to Authority and disturbeth the order of Government 2. To declare his Holiness that he is a Pure and Holy God hating sin This was demonstrated in the Sufferings of Christ and the dear rate at which it was expiated for if this was done in the green Tree what shall be done in the dry USES 1 Oh then be affected with this great Mistery the death which the Son of God accomplished at Ierusalem look upon it under a double Notion with respect to his Fathers Command it was an Act of Obedience carried on with such Humility Patience Self-denial Resignation of himself to God Charity Pity as the like cannot be done by Man or Angel Rom. 5. 19. by the obedience of one many were made Righteous Phil. 2. 7. He humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross this commendeth Obedience to us it was an Act of Love Gal. 2. 20. Who loved me and gave himself for me Rev. 1. 5. To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his blood He thought no price too dear for our Salvation let us love him again who loved us first 1 Ioh. 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us And be contented to suffer with him and for him that we may enter into his Glory Rom. 8. 17. If so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together if he call us thereunto 2. Feel the Vertue of it in Heart and Conscience In Heart by our dying to sin then we are planted into the likeness of his death Rom. 6. 5. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Gal. 5. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness Then Glory in it Gal. 6. 14. God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified to me and I unto the world In Conscience 1 Ioh. 5. 10 He that believeth in the son of God hath the witness in himself c. Heb. 12. 24. And to Iesus the Mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel doth it appease our guilty fears and purge our Consciences from the stain and guilt of sin III. The State of Future Glory and Felicity 1. The dead in the Lord are not perished but live for ever with God in Heaven for here they appear long after their departure hence Luk. 20. 38. He is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him They all live to God though they are gone out of the sphere of our commerce they have another Life with God Now fix this in your hearts for many carry it so as if there were no Immortality or Life to come we do not vanish into the Air when we die Moses is somewhere and Elias somewhere in the Hand of God and can appear when God will have them 2. The Saints appeared in a true and in their own Bodies to establish the Faith of the Resurrection their bodies were reserved for this use one of them was already in Glory in soul and body the other now raised out of the dust after many years Burial and why cannot God gather up our dust again and enliven it that we may accompany Christ at his coming 3. This Instance sheweth also the Degrees of Glory All the Saints have their Portion in Bliss but not a just equality Moses and Elias appeared in Glory not Enoch nor were any of the rest admitted to this solemnity Here were three choice disciples when the rest stood at a remote distance so two glorified Saints but the rest not admitted to this Honour but stood waiting for his glorious Ascension There is difference on Earth in the Worldly State some have greater Riches Honours and Dignity than others difference in the Church both in Gifts and Graces yea a difference in Hell some have a hotter others a cooler punishment so in Heaven according to eminency in Holiness and Faithfulness with God otherwise there would not be a suitableness in Gods dispensations 4. The perfect subjection of the glorified spirits to the will of God either to remain in the Vision of God or to be imployed in the service of their Redeemer we should think that a self-denial which they count an Happiness to come from Heaven to Mount Tabor they take up or lay down a body as God pleaseth Heaven is a state not onely of perfect Happiness but of exact conformity to God 5. We shall have the Company of the Blessed Saints in Heaven The disciples here did not onely enjoy the company and sight of Christ but the company and sight of Moses and Elias being glorified Saints so in the Heavenly Life Mat. 8. 11. It is made a part of our blessedness in the Kingdome of God to sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob And Heb. 12. 23. Ye are come to the general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect Here we are ioyned to them by Faith and Hope there by sight and Fellowship The company of wicked Men is now grievous and tedious to us Ezek. 2. 6. but we shall have better company hereafter here we often part with our choicest Friends and Acquaintance but there we shall meet and never part more It is not to be imagined but that we shall have the comfort of our glorified Fellow-creatures The Body hath its Objects and Felicity fit for a Body 6. The Saints shall know one another as the disciples knew Moses and Elias though not by Countenance having never seen them before but by Revelation Christ told them who they were and we who have known before our old Acquaintance shall know them again Memory is not abolished but perfected we shall make one body one society now we shall not converse as strangers Abraham knew Lazarus Luk. 16. 25. Ministers 1 Thes. 2. 19. What is our hope or joy or crown of Rejoycing are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Iesus Christ at his coming Christs Argument Luk. 16. 9. Make to your selves friends of the mamon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Angels know not onely themselves but all the Elect now how else do they Minister about them they know the least believer Math. 18. 10. Take heed that ye offend not one of these little ones for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven And they are at length to gather them from the four Winds Matth. 13. 41. The son of
censure of the Holy Ghost Luke saith not knowing what he said In Mark chap. 9. 6. He wist not what to say for they were sore afraid They were words of a man in a Rapture or surprized with great astonishment There were two affections dazled with the Majesty of this Glory and transported with joy there was also a great fright usually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such things as bring a hurt occasion fear and also things of excellent Glory such as surpass our present meanness as here the change of Christs Person and the glorious Appearance of the great Prophets so long since separated from the commerce of mankind Observe before we proceed the inconvenience of great and excessive Passions they make us speak we know not what Peter is an instance in Scripture let us keep to him you see him surprized with a great passion of fear when at Christs command a great draught of Fish came to hand in an unlikely time Luke 5. 8 9. Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord. For he was astonished and all that were with him at the draught of Fishes that they had taken you find him at other times transported with a passion of excessive Reverence or Humility Iohn 13. 8. Lord thou shalt never wash my feet With a passion of Love or Pity to his Master Lord let it be far from thee this shall not be unto thee when his Master had foretold his death Mark 16. 22. in case of contempt of Christ here with a passion of joy or ravishment or transport of soul Lord it is good for us to be here Now all these passions were religiously exercised but it is dangerous when Religion which should bridle and govern our passions is made the matter and fuel of them Passionate joy or passionate fear passionate reverence or passionate zeal and anger may easily transport us to some uncomely action or motion for though in all these there was Religion at top yet sin at the bottom and therefore you see how much it concerneth us to moderate and reduce our selves to a due temper for passion causeth us to do things without and against reason yea to speak and do we know not what and when Religious matters over heat our affections we may erre exceedingly Now having opened this part of the History let us observe something that conduceth to our practical instruction I. Doctrine That the state and condition of the glorified Saints is a most delightful state and condition For when Peter had but a glimpse of it in the transfiguration of Christ it seemed so ravishing and transporting that here would he abide and stay by it so was he affected with joy in the company and presence of Christ and Moses and Elias appearing with him that all his natural comforts and relations were forgotten This would compensate all if once we be gotten into this blessed estate we shall never desire to come out of it and part with it this which the Disciples had was but a little glimpse and tast of the Life to come this must needs be so it is called joy Mat. 25. 21. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord and fulness of joy Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence there is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore no better estate can be expected The Soul is at rest as having obtained its end And it is also proved by the priviledges and benefits the Saints shall enjoy in the world to come 1. A Freedom from all Evil which here are matter of Grief to us And 2. The Fruition of all Good which may any way bring Ioy and Delight and Contentment 1. There is a Freedom from all Evil. There is a twofold evil either of Sin or Punishment In Heaven there is neither Sin nor Misery 1. To begin with sin that is the worst evil because it maketh us hateful to God and grieveth the Saints most Rom. 7. 24. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death If any man had cause to complain of Afflictions Paul much more being often imprisoned whipped stoned but his lusts troubled him more then scourges and his captivity to the Law of sin more then Prisons Gods children are most weary of the World because they are sinning here whilst others are glorifying of God and enjoying God and the company of his blessed Ones Now in Heaven there is no sin Eph. 5. 27. there is neither spot nor blemish nor wrinkle on the face of the glorified Saints their faces were once as black as yours But now they are washed in the Lambs blood and fully cleansed now with much ado we mortifie sin but then it is nullified but if we subdue the power of sin we do not get rid of the being of it but then we are rid of all at once of all sin and temptation to sin There was a Serpent a tempter in Paradise but there is none in Heaven the devil is shut out and the old man is left in the Grave never to rise more 2. There is not the least evil of Affliction Rev. 21. 4. All tears shall be wiped away from their eyes whatsoever is painful and burdensome to nature is a fruit of sin a brand and mark of our Rebellion against God Therefore when sin is done away Affliction which is the fruit of it is done away also In Hell there is Evil and onely Evil in Heaven Happiness and onely Happiness here our wounds are healed but the scars remain something to put us in mind that we have sin yet dwelling in us but there all the effects of it cease there is neither death nor sorrow nor crying nor any more pain 2. They shall enjoy all Good things which shall bring Joy and Comfort to them in blessedness there is a confluence of all Good our joyes are full and eternal 1. There is the immediate sight and presence of God and Jesus Christ who shall be all in all to them 1 Cor. 13. 12. Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part then shall I know as also I am known And John 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the World We are brought into the presence of him who is blessedness it self 2. The society of all the blessed Angels and Saints glorified Mat. 8. 11. Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven 3. The perfection of all Heavenly gifts both in soul and body 1. In Soul that is the Heaven of Heaven 1 Iohn 3. 2. Now are we the sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but this we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him
that believeth will not make hast but he that believeth not is precipitant must have Gods Mercy Power and Goodness manifested to them in their own way and time 3. Some will not be satisfied as to their spiritual Estate without some sensible proof or such kind of Assurance as God usually vouchsafeth not to his people As suppose they must be fed with spiritual dainties and overflow with sensible consolation in every holy duty or else they are filled with disquieting thoughts about their acceptance with God We must have matters of Faith put under the view and feeling of sense or else we will not take comfort in them But we mustnot limit God to give proofs of his Love nor prescribe such signs as are not promised by him but study our case in the Word For God will not alwayes treat us by sensible experience Thomas is allowed to touch Christ but Mary is not allowed to touch him Ioh. 20. 17. compared with verse 27. 2. In a way of Presumption so we tempt God when without any warrant we presume of Gods Power and Providence As here the devil tempted Christ to cast himself down from the pinacle of the Temple to try if he would take the charge of him in the Fall whereupon Christ replyeth Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Now this is done several ways 1 When we presume upon Gods help forsaking the ordinary way and means Christ would not throw himself down when he could go down by the stairs or steps of the Temple Down stairs and over the battlements is not all one Christ that could walk upon the Sea in the distress of his Disciples in ordinary cases taketh a Ship Whosoever will not use the ordinary means that God hath appointed but in ordinary cases expects extraordinary supplies tempteth God God is able to bring water out of the Rock when there is nothing but Rock and Stone but when we may hope to find spring-water we must dig for it God can rain Manna out of heaven but when the Soil will bear Corn we must Till it When Elisha was in a little Village not able to defend him from the Syrians he had Chariots and Horsemen of Fire to defend him 2 King 6. 17. but when he was in Samaria a strong walled town and the King of Israel sent to fetch his head he said to those that were with him shut the door ver 32. Christ in the Wilderness miraculously fed many but near the City he sent his disciples to buy bread Ioh. 4. 8. When the Church of God had need of able helps at first Gifts were miraculously conferred but afterwards every man to his study 1 Tim. 4. 15. Meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all In short Gods Omnipotency is for that time discharged when we have ordinary means to help our selves To disdain ordinary means and expect extraordinary is as if a man should put off his cloathes and then expect God should keep him from cold 2 When we expect the End without the Means If Hezekiah had refused the bunch of Figs or Paul's companions to tarry in the Ship they had tempted God When we desire any blessing we must not refuse or neglect any good means for attaining of it In spiritual things this is very usual men hope to have the End without the Means In temporal things we will soon confess there must be means used for if any would not work neither should he eat 2 Thes. 3. 10. In warfare no victory is to be hoped for without fighting only in spiritual matters we think to do well enough though we never put to our endeavors to cry for knowledge and to dig for it this is a tempting of God Prov. 2. 3 4 5. If thou criest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God We dream of Heaven when there is no Mortification no exercising our selves unto Godliness A great many say as Balaam did Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his Numb 23. 10. but they care not for living the life of the Righteous If they can but charm themselves into a secure presumption of Salvation they never give diligence to make their Calling and Election sure This cometh from hardness of Heart not strength of Faith Many defer their Conversion to the last and then think that in the twinkling of an eye they shall in a trice be in Heaven with Elias in a Whirle-wind It was a Prayer of Sir Thomas More Domine Deus fac me in iis consequendis operam collocare pro quibus obtinendis te orare soleo Lord make me to bestow pains in getting those things for the obtaining of which I use to pray to thee Otherwise we tempt God 3 When without Call we rush into any danger or throw our selves into it with an expectation God will fetch us off again As if Christ when no body went about to thrust him down should wilfully have cast himself down Whether the danger be certain or inevitable or very probable we must not throw our selves on it but when God calls us then we may expect his help according to his promise as to go into places or houses infected In spiritual cases it is often done men that by often experience have found such and such things to be occasions to them of sinning yet presume to do the same again These tempt God ride into the Devils quarters go into dangerous Places and Companies where they are like to be corrupted as Peter went into the High Priests Hall and those that go to live in Popish Families We pray that we be not led into temptations but when we lead our selves what shall become of us as we do when we cast our selves upon Temptations and dangerous occasions of sin 4 When we undertake things for which we are not fitted and prepared either habitually or actually As to speak largely without Meditation when an unlearned man undertakes the handling a weighty Controversie and a good cause wanteth shoulders we tempt God When we undertake things above bodily strength all will condemn us so to undertake things that we have no ability to perform is unlawful The sons of Sceva would take upon them to Exorcise the Devil and the man in whom the evil spirit was leapt on them and overcame them and prevailed against them so that they fied out of that house naked and wounded Act. 19. 16. 5 Another sort of tempting God is when we come to him with an Idol in our hearts that is when people are resolved of a thing they will go and ask counsel of God In all matters we resolve on we are to take Gods leave and counsel and blessing but they first resolve and then ask Gods Counsel And therefore God saith
that Spirit of unsubjection which is so natural to us Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Psalm 2. 3. Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us Duties are more displeasing to the flesh then Happiness and we like pardon and Life more then we like strictness purity and that watching and striving and waiting and exercising our selves unto Godliness which the Scripture calleth for USE To press us to get this disease cured and our Hearts reconciled to our duty as well as to our Happiness These Considerations may be an help to you 1. God is a Governour as well as a Benefactor and must be respected in both Relations and therefore we must not only desire and wait for his benefits but submit to his Government his Government is seen in his Laws and Providence In his Laws he appoints our Duty in his Providence he appoints their Trials to refuse either is to question his Soveraignty Psal. 12. 4. Who have said With our tongues will we prevail our lips are our own who is Lord over us Exod. 5. 2. And Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go so also not to submit to his Trials Therefore now if we love God as a Benefactor we must be subject to him as our true and proper Soveraign who will bring us to Heaven in what way he pleaseth 2. The Terms and Means appointed conduce to mortifie our Love to the false Happiness for one great part of Religion is to draw off our hearts from the vain Pleasures and Honours of the World the other part is to carry us on in the pursuit of the true Happiness a Recess from the World and an Access to God Mortification and Vivification We shall sit down with present things if we abandon our selves to our sensual Inclinations Luk. 16. 25. so that our desires of the true happiness will be feeble and easily controuled if we submit not to the means 3. The care and due observance of the Means sheweth the value and Respect to the true Happiness If we do not labour for it and suffer for it we do not value it according to its worth There is a simple naked Estimation and a practical Esteem Naked Approbation Rom. 2. 18. And knowest his will and approvest the things that are excellent being instructed out of the Law The Practical Esteem is a Self-denying Obedience Rom. 2. 7. To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory c. Then they respect means and end together and submit to the one to obtain the other If the wicked are said to despise Eternal Happiness it is not simply as Happiness nor as Eternal for they that love themselves would be happy and everlastingly happy but it is in conjunction with the Means as the Israelites despised the pleasant Land and murmured in their Tents Psal. 106. 24. Yea they despised the pleasant land and they believed not his word but murmured in their tents and hearkened not to the voice of the Lord. The Land was a good fertile Land but afar of and because of Giants and walled Towns and so no thought worthy the pains and difficultiest to be undergone Heaven is a good place but out of Indulgence to the Ease of the Flesh we dislike difficulties and strictness of holy walking 4. The difficulty of Salvation lies not in a respect to the End but the Means and therefore the Trial of our Sincerity must rather be looked for there There is some difficulty about the End to convince men of an unseen Felicity but that may be done in part by Reason but savingly and throughly by the Spirit of Revelation Eph. 1. 18. The eyes of your understandings being inlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his Inheritance in the Saints But man is sooner convinced than converted than drawn off from worldly Vanities that he may seek after this happiness and usually we have a quicker ear for offers of Happiness than Precepts of Duty and Obedience Balaam Numb 23. 10. Oh that I could die the death of the Righteous and that my latter end were like his Ioh. 6. 34. Evermore give us this bread of life But a true Christian if by any means I may attain to the Resurrection of the dead Phil. 3. 11. 5. The Necessity of this Self-denying Resignation of our selves to God to bring us to Heaven in his own way is necessary That we may begin with God Luk. 14. 26. If any man come to me and hate not father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple And also that we may be true to him and go on with him and be fortified against all the difficulties we meet with in the way to Heaven Heb. 11. 35. Others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection that none of these things move us Acts 20. 24. Mat. 20. 22. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptisme that I am baptized with 6. There is such an inseparable connexion between the End and Means that God will not give us the one without the other if we believe mortifie waite suffer then shall we reign with him otherwise not Doct. III. Much evil would ensue if we had our Desires in all those thing that we think good for us Peter said It is good for us to be here but alas how ill would it have been for the World if Christ had abode still in the Mount Peters instance sheweth us two things 1. That we are apt to consult with our own Profit rather than Publick Good The World needed him he had great business to do in the Valley but he would be in the Mount It is our Nature if it be well with our selves to forget others Peter little minded his Fellow Apostles the Redemption of the World the Conversion of Nations c. 2. How much we are out when we judge by present sense and the Judgment of Flesh. We consult with the ease of the Flesh and so desire Rest more than Pains and labour what pleaseth rather than what profiteth Peter saith It is good to be here but he must labour first suffer first before he entreth into Glory Well then Let us learn by what measure to determine Good or Evil. 1. Good is not to be determined by our Fancies and Conceits but by the Wisdom of God for he knoweth what is better for us then we do for our selves and the Divine Choices are to be preferred before our foolish Fancies and what he sendeth and permitteth to fall out is better for us than any thing else Could we be perswaded of this how would