Men and Angels and exposed us to an open Shame or hardens us in a dead careless Course Lusts let alone end in gross Sins and gross Sins in final Apostacy Love of Pleasure will end in Drunkenness or Adultery or the rage of unclean Desires or else in such a vain light frothy Spirit which is no way fit for Religion Envy will end in Mischief and Violence if not in Murder Iudas by his Covetousness was brought to betray his Master Gehazi was first surpriz'd with Covetousness then blasted with Leprosy and then became a Shame and Burthen to himself The Devil trieth by Lust to bring us to Sin and by Sin to Shame and by Shame to Horror and Despair But do the Children of God run into such notable Excesses and Disorders Yes when they let Sin alone discontinue the exercise of Mortification when they do not remember the Sacrifice must be salted with Salt Witness David who ran into Lust and Blood Witness Peter who ran into denying Christ with Oaths and Execrations Witness Solomon who ran into Sensuality and Idolatry And in all of us old Sins long since laid asleep may awake again and hurry us into spiritual Mischiefs and Inconveniencies if we make not use of this holy Salt 2. As to Punishment Sins prove mortal if they be not mortified Either Sin must dye or the Sinner There is an Evil in Sin and there is an Evil after Sin The Evil in Sin is the Violation of God's righteous Law the Evil after Sin is the just Punishment of it Eternal Death and Damnation Now those that are not sensible or will not be sensible of the Evil that is in Sin they shall be made sensible of the Evil that comes after Sin The unmortified Person spares the Sin and destroys his own Soul the Sin lives but he dies In the Prophets Parable to the King of Israel when he had let go the Syrian saith he Thy Life shall go for his Life So our Lives shall go for the Life of our Sins The End of these things is Death Rom. 6. 21. And The Wages of Sin is Death v. 23. But you will say What is this to a justified Person There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ. I answer You must take in all Those who are in Christ that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit they have the Salt of the Covenant But if you can suppose a justified Person to live after the Flesh you may suppose also a justified Person shall be condemned Eternal Death may be considered two ways either as to the Merit or as to the Event As to the Merit as an Evil which God hath appointed to be the Fruit of Sin or as to the Event an Evil that will certainly befall us A justified Person one that is really so may must fear it in the first Sence There is such a Connection between living in Sin and Eternal Punishment that he ought to represent the Danger to his Soul of living willingly and allowedly in his Sins that he may eschew it For this is nothing but a holy making use of the Threatnings or considering the Merit of Sin But as to the actual Event and perplexing Trouble that ariseth from the apprehension of it if his Sincerity be clear and unquestionable he must not fear it Now to make Application I. For the Reproof of those that cannot abide to hear of Mortification The Unwillingness and Impatience of this Doctrine may arise from several Causes 1. From sottish Atheism and Unbelief They despise all sober spiritual Counsel they make no Conscience of yeilding obedience to God Solomon tells us Prov. 19. 16 He that keepeth the Commandments keepeth his own Soul but he that despiseth his Way shall dye There are the different Issues of a strict Obedience and a slight vain Conversation And mark the Opposition of the two Tempers he that keeps the Commandments and he that despiseth his own Ways that is takes no heed to his Life and Actions to order them according to the Will of God He cares not whether he please or displease whether he honour or dishonour God but leaves the Boat to the Stream lives as his brutish Lusts incline him come of it what will come He despiseth his own Ways and so runs into Vanity Luxury Riot Fraud Injustice and all manner of Licentiousness Now no Man thus despiseth his own Ways but he despiseth other things which should be very sacred and of great regard and esteem with him He despiseth God and the Word of God and his own Soul Prov. 14. 2. He that walketh in his Uprightness fears God but he that is perverse in his Ways despiseth him He that makes Conscience of his Duty hath a high esteem of God he looks on his Authority as supreme his Power as infinite his Knowledge of all things exact his Truth in Promises and Threatnings as unquestionable his Holiness as immaculate his Justice as impartial and his Goodness exercised to us in sundry Benefits as rich and every way glorious Therefore he dare not but please God he hath such a deep reverence for him that he is always saying within himself What will the Holy and All-seeing God have done Or How can I do this Wickedness and Sin against God But now the careless and slight Person that takes no care to govern his Actions according to the Will of God hath contemptuous and slight thoughts of God as if he were a senslels Idol that took no notice of humane Affairs that sees not or would not punish the breaches of his Laws They also despise the Word of God Prov. 13. 13. He that despiseth the Word shall be destroyed but he that fears the Commandment shall be rewarded There are some gracious Hearts that stand in awe of the Word and though their Minds be never so much set upon a thing yet if a Commandment stand in the way it is more than if an Angel with a drawn Sword stood in the way to keep them back they dare not break through God's Hedge But now a carnal careless and unbelieving Wretch sets at nought all the Precepts Promises and Threatnings of God and can break with him for a trifle for a little vain delight and profit Nay further he despiseth his own Soul Prov. 15. 32. He that refuseth Instruction despiseth his own Soul He only cares for the Body but neglects his Soul scarce ever considers whether he has a Soul to save or a Soul to lose as if he counted all fabulous which is spoken of God and Immortality of the Day of Judgment or of Heaven and Hell Now it is in vain to speak to these to renounce and mortify their pleasing Lusts till their Atheism and Carelessness be cured And their Case is the more desperate because the Disease doth not lye in their Minds but in their Hearts and comes not so much from Opinion as Inclination A setled Opinion must be vanquish'd by Reason but a brutish Inclination must be
it is yet the full Reward lieth in another World and the main Encouragements must be fetcht from thence There is an opposite Principle against it in the Heart which must always be curbed and suppressed and it meeteth with many Temptations from the Reproaches and Oppositions of those who like not this sort of Life The sensual and ungodly will use all Ways and Means to brand the Holy and Heavenly as an humorous Sort of Men and if their Hands be tied by the restraint of Laws and Government so that we are not exposed to Sufferings by their Violence yet we cannot but expect slanderous Abuses from them Now the Case being so the Motives must be sufficient to resist all the Temptations of this Life to keep us in the Love and Obedience of God to the end which the bare Sense of our Duty would hardly do in the midst of so many Temptations We are in an estate of Imperfection and Sense is very strong in us all and the Sufferings of the Obedient are very great that if we had not an eye to the Recompence of the Reward we could not so well deny our selves Let every Man consult his own Soul what would support him when all the World is against him and he is hooted at by the Clamours of the wicked Rabble and pursued with sharp Laws and exposed to great difficulties and hardships if he had no Life to live but this what would he do Besides it will not stand with the Goodness of God if you can suppose one that loves Goodness for Goodness sake and is so hardy as to contemn all his natural Interests that such a Man should be a Loser by his Faithfulness and Obedience to God and be made altogether miserable by his Duty without any Recompence 1 Cor. 15. 19. And upon another account his Goodness is engaged to take his Servants into his own blessed Presence for the prevailing Inclination of Holiness that is planted by his own hand in their Breath to love serve and see him is an earnest that we shall not always be thus imperfect for our Reward consisteth as of compleat Felicity so exact Holiness seeing God and being like unto him 1 Joh. 3. 2. We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is But suppose this were true that Vertue were a Reward to it self then what Provision is there made for the punishment of Vice Cannot it be said that they that addict themselves to that Course of Life are punished enough by doing so Alas wicked Men profess great Contentment in that Course of Life which they lead and would be glad of the News that they should have no other Punishment than to wallow in their Lusts. Nature teacheth us and the Practice of all Nations confirmeth it that Evils which consist in a breach of Duty must be punished with afflictive Evils painful to Nature Never such a Law-giver was heard of that would punish a Man for Robbery by causing him to commit Adultery And for Vertue though it hath a Beauty to draw our Love yet it cannot it self be its own price and recompence for Man is of such a Nature as he is still drawn on with the hope of some further good till he come to the enjoyment of the chiefest Good And so many are the Trials of the Righteous in this World that the Apostle telleth us We were of all Men most miserable if our hopes were only in this Life 1 Cor. 15. 19. The Calamities of the Good are as great a discouragement and offence as the prosperity of the Wicked therefore there is an estate of Life and Death to come Besides if Man be God's Subject employed by him in a Course of Duty and Service when his work is ended then must he look to receive his wages accordingly as he performed his Duty or faulted in it Now our work is not ended till this Life be over then God dealeth with us by way of recompence either in Pains or Joys Add further Reason will tell us that these Pains and Joys after Death should be everlasting that the recompence should last as long as Man lasts For Man as to his Soul is immortal and there is no change of Estate in the other World after our Trial is over and things of Religion become meer matter of Sense Certainly one that hath lived holily and is translated to Glory there is no Reason that he should afterwards be made miserable and the Punishment holdeth Conformity to the Reward Luk. 16. 26. Between us and you there is a great Gulph fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence There is no changing of Estates or Places in the other World the Blessedness and Misery is Eternal Things to come would not considerably counter-ballance things present if there were not Eternity in the case 2. Conscience hath a sense of it and on the one hand standeth in dread of Eternal Death and on the other is cheared with the hopes of Eternal Life The first is proved Rom. 1. 32. and Heb. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 15. 56. Men are afraid of Death not only as a natural Evil as it puts an end to present Comforts but as it is an entrance to an unknown Countrey What is the reason of the stings of Conscience which are never so sensible and quick as when Men approach near Death or behold themselves in some near danger What are these but presaging Fears that anticipate Miseries after this Life If the Soul were extinguished with the Body then troubles should in reason vanish but we find that this is the time when these Allarms are redoubled and these Tempests increase with violence On the other side there are Joys of the Spirit which are a taste and earnest of Eternal Life Eph. 1. 13. He hath given us the earnest of the Inheritance Good Men have so much of Heaven upon Earth as may assure them they may look for more this hath supported them in all their difficulties and labour Now if there were no such thing the wise and best Men that ever the World saw would be Liars or Fools Liars in pretending Comfort which they had not or Fools in being deceived by their own vain Imagination and in taking such pains in subduing the Flesh hazarding their Interests and performing their Duty upon the hopes of another World 3. Scripture if we will take God's Word for it is express Rom. 8. 13. Rom. 6. 21 22. and Gal. 6. 8. The present World is comprised in two Ranks either Sowing with the Flesh that is such who employ their labour to make Provision to gratify the Carnal Appetite or Sowing to the Spirit such as employ their Time and Study in advancing the work of the Spirit and they issue themselves into two States in the other World the State of Everlasting Perdition or Everlasting Life Thus do the Scriptures propound Good and
nearer we draw to the one the more we avoid the other so that we have a double reason not to go back and much to engage us to go forward Application Use of Exhortation 1. Suffer us to discharge our Duty in this kind Heb. 13. 22. I beseech you Brethren suffer the Word of Exhortation It is but a small request we have to you that you will but suffer us to take pains to save your Souls it is irksome to carnal Men to have their sluggishness stirred up But what is there that should make it grievous and distastful Many can endure us when we treat of the Joys of Heaven but when we come to flash Hell Terrors in the Face of obstinate Sinners and tell them of Damnation and Wrath to come they think us harsh and severe and say as Ahab of Micaiah He prophesieth nothing but evil to me I but we must set both before you both Life and Death and it is better to hear of Hell than to feel it That is a cowardly Confidence that cannot endure the mention of our Danger There are others that like the offer of Heaven but would sever those things that are so aptly joined Life and Good Death and Evil that cannot indure this Doctrine in this Sense they say with those carnal Hearers Evermore give us the Bread of Life Joh. 6. 35. But they mistake the Terms upon which it may be had Oh! but we are not in the place of God and cannot make the way to Heaven easier than it is but we propound God's Covenant as we find it Life and Good the Conditions as well as the Offer Would you have us compound with you and deceive your Souls with a false hope which will leave you ashamed when you most need the comfort of it Men would live with the Carnal die with the Sincere therefore suffer us to be earnest with you 2. The next thing that we exhort you to is to believe the certainty consider the weight and importance of these Truths that there is a difference beetween Good and Evil that the fruit of the one is Death of the other Life and consider how irrational it is for a Man to love Death and refuse Life No Man in his right Wits can make a doubt which to choose In vain is the Snare laid in the sight of any Bird. Prov. 1. 17. You cannot drive a dull Ass into the Fire that is kindled before his Eyes It is true you hate Death and yet it is proper to say you choose it Prov. 8. 36. All they that hate me love Death Why refusing the Good do you so eagerly pursue the Evil How can ye hate the Wages and yet love the Work by which the Wages is to be earned and in requital of which it will be certainly paid If you detest Hell why not Sin if you love Heaven why do not you do good There is an inseparable Connection between these Who can pitty the Torment of that Man that thrusts his Hand into the Fire What should be the cause of this but Incredulity and Inconsideration 1. Unbelief and Atheism they do not think God will recompence Men according to their Works Now till Men believe it tell them of Hell or Heaven never so much it will not work upon them Who would lose that which is certain and present for the hope or fear of that which is to come and doubtful when they suspect or believe it not fully No wonder they go on still in the Paths that lead down to the Chambers of Death and are prejudiced against the Ways of Life But why are Men such Infidels as to future things 1. You cannot disprove what is declared in Scripture or by any sound Argument evince that there is no Heaven or Hell for all you say or know there are both really existing and if there were no more but that it were good to take the surer side especially when you part with nothing but a few base Pleasures and carnal Satisfactions Reason should make us very careful In a Lottery where there is but a possibility of gaining Men will venture a Shilling or a small matter for a Prize If there be either no Hell or Heaven you part with no more than the vain Pleasures of a fading perishing Life but if this Doctrine prove true you run the hazard of Eternal Torments and lose the Comfort of Eternal Joys therefore it is better to trust this Doctrine than try it it is Prudence to make provision for the worst 2. But doth not natural Reason and Conscience and the Presages of our Hearts shrewdly evidence that there is a World to come as before was proved an Heaven for the Good and an Hell for the wicked At present the Wicked flourish and the Good many times suffer what shall we conclude thence Mol. 2. 17. Every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in him or where is the God of Iudgment 3. If Nature be not so clear Scripture is full and positive If we do indeed believe the Scripture as we profess to do certainly we cannot so grosly go against the whole Current and Drift of it That Scripture which you profess to be the Book of God and take for the Rule of your Lives and Expectations that Scripture which your Consciences dread as owning the Voice of God therein that Scripture which is confirmed by God's Providence and frequent Experiments that Scripture which hath such a rational Evidence in it self 't is that assureth us of a World to come and bringeth it to light in the Word The very thoughts of such an Hell and Heaven as was invented by the ancient Heathens was enough to make them vertuous though as to the Manner and Circumstances of it the more understanding knew it to be a very Fable and Supposition yet the Thing it self being bottom'd and founded upon those natural apprehensions of the Immortality of the Soul and the Attributes of the Deity had powerful Effects upon them Now shall we talk of Christianity pretend a Reverence to the Scriptures and shall we tremble no more at the Certainty of an Hell than Gentiles at the possibility of it Shall their Suspicion work more than our Faith If they were so pliable to Poets discipline how should we be moulded and framed by the Doctrine of Christ what awe and holy trembling should it breed in our Hearts 2. Inconsideration We are so taken up with the Cares and Pleasures of the present Life that we are not at leisure to think of Death and Life Hell and Heaven or upon what Terms we stand with God Jer. 8. 6. Eccles. 11. 9. Remember that for all these things God will bring thee to Iudgment The young Man in the heat of his Lusts forgetteth that a time of reckoning will come Oh think of your ways and whither you are a going It is foolish to busy our selves about many things and neglect the main Luk. 10. 41 42. You
43. And he hath commanded us to preach and testify to the People that it is he that was ordained of God to be the Iudge of the quick and dead To Him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of Sins So Acts 3. 19 20 21. Surely we that are to appear before the Bar of an Impartial Judge being so obnoxious to him for the breach of his holy Law what have we to do but to make supplication to our Judge and prevent Execution by a submissive asking of a Pardon and accepting the Grace God hath provided 5. A Iudge implies a Iudgment-day or some Time when his Justice must have a solemn Trial when he will reckon with the lapsed World He reckons sometimes with Nations now for Ungodliness and Unrighteousness by Wars and Pestilence and Famine He reckons with particular Persons at their Death and when their Work is done he pays them their Wages Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed for all Men once to dye and after that the Iudgment But there is a more general and final Judgment when his Justice must have a solemn Tryal which is in part evident in Nature for the Apostles did slide in the Christian Doctrine mostly by this means into the Hearts of those to whom they preached Acts 24. 25. He reasoned of Righteousness Temperance and Iudgment to come The particularity of it belongs to the Gospel-Revelation but Nature hath some kind of Sense of it in it self and they are urged to repent because God hath appointed a Day wherein he will judge the World in Righteousness by the Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead Acts 17. 31. God judgeth the World in Patience now but then in Righteousness when all things shall be reviewed and every thing restored Vertue to its publick Honour and Vice to its due Shame 6. If there be a Solemn Iudgment-day when every one must receive his final Doom this Judgment certainly infers a Condemnation to a fallen Creature unless God set up another Court for his Relief for now Man is utterly disinabled by Sin to fullfil the Law and can by no means avoid the Punishment that is due to his Transgression I shall prove this by three Reasons The Law to fallen Man is Impossible the Penalty is Intolerable and the Punishment for ought yet appears if God do not take another Course is Unavoidable 1. The Duty of the Law is impossible The Apostle tells us what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the weakness of our flesh It could not justify us before God it could not furnish us with any Answer to his Demands when he shall call us to an Account Man is mightily addicted to the Legal Covenant therefore it is one part of a Gospel-Minister's work to represent the Impossibility of ever obtaining Grace or Life by that Covenant Man would stick to the Law as long as he can and will patch up a sorry Righteousness of his own some few superficial things He makes a short Exposition of the Law that he may cherish a large Opinion of his own Righteousness and curtails the Law of God that the Ell may be no longer than the Cloth and brings it down to a poor contemptible thing requiring a few external superficial Duties of Men. We read often of being dead to Sin and to the World it is as certainly true we must be dead to the Law Now how are we dead to the Law the Scripture tells us in one place that through the Law we are dead to the Law and in another place that we are dead to the Law through the Body of Christ The first place is Gal. 2. 19. Through the Law I am dead to the Law Men are apt to stand to the Legal Covenant and have their Confidence in the Flesh to place their Hopes of acceptance with God in some few external things which they make their false Righteousness For the carnal World as it cryes up a false Happiness as its God so Men have a false Righteousness which is their Christ. Now through the Law they are dead to it How The Law supposeth us as innocent and requires us to continue so Cursed is every one that continues not in every thing c. Suppose a Man should exactly fulfill it afterwards yet the paying of new Debts will not quit old Scores And then we are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ Rom. 7. 4. By the crucified Body of Christ by which he hath merited and purchased a better Hope and Grace for us Well the Duty is impossible 2. The Penalty is intolerable for who can stand when God is angry Ezek. 22. 14. Can thine Heart endure or can thine Hands be strong in the Day that I shall deal with thee We that cannot endure the pain of the Gout or Stone how shall we endure the eternal Wrath of God It is surely a very dreadful thing to fall into the Hands of that living God that lives for every to punish the Transgressors of his Law 3. The Punishment is unavoidable unless Sin be pardoned and you submit to God's way for I would ask you what Hope can you have in God whose Nature ingageth him to hate Sin and whose Justice obligeth him to punish it 1. Whose Nature ingageth him to hate Sin and Sinners Hab. 1. 13. He is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity I urge this for a doubleReason partly because I have observed that all the Security of Sinners and their Neglect of seeking after Pardon by Jesus Christ it comes from their lessening thoughts of God's holiness and if their Hearts were sufficiently possessed with an awe of God's unspotted Purity and Holiness they would more look after the Terms of Grace God hath provided Psal 50. 21. Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self Why do Men live securely in their Sins and do not break off their evil Course They think God is not so severe and harsh and so all their Confidence is grounded upon a Mistake of God's Nature and such a dreadful Mistake as amounts to a Blasphemy Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self The other Reason is this partly because I observe the bottom Reason of all the Fear that is in the Hearts of Men is God's Holiness 1 Sam. 6. 20. Who is able to stand before this holy God And Who would not fear thee for thou art holy Rev. 15. 4. We fear his Power why because it is set on work by his Wrath. We fear his Wrath why because it is kindled by his Justice and Righteousness We fear his Righteousness because it is bottom'd and grounded upon his Holiness and upon the Purity of his Nature 2. His Justice obligeth him to punish Sin that the Law might not seem to be made in vain It concerns the Universal Judge to maintain the Reputation of
for the Spirit is our Sanctifier and he works by congruous means USES 1. Believe the Promises for they are most sure and certain God's Testimony of the good things he will bestow upon us cannot deceive us or beget a vain and uncertain Hope His Promise is a Testimony of his Will and against his Power nothing can stand There shall be a Performance of those things spoken of by the Lord Luk. 1. 45. 2. Esteem them Heb. 11. 13. These all dyed in Faith not having received the Promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and embraced them We can never embrace them till we are perswaded of their Truth But then consider their Worth Great is the Stupidity of those who are nothing taken with these things If a great Man ingages himself any way we make great reckoning of his Word and shall we not make great matter of the Word of God and esteem his Promises Esteem them so as to get them at any price Mat. 13. 46. Sell all for the Pearl of Price Esteem them so as to be contented with a mean Condition in the World Though God keeps us low it is enough to be made Partakers of his Holiness Heb. 12. 10. For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own Pleasure but he for our Profit that we might be Partakers of his Holiness Esteem them so as to perform the Duties required Psal. 119. 14. Esteem them so as to keep up your Rejoycing in Christ Phil. 3. 8 9 10. I count all things but Loss for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord. And ver 3. We are the Circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Iesus and have no Confidence in the Flesh. 3. Labour to improve the Belief of every Promise for the Increase of Holiness that we may be like God pure and holy as he is 2 Cor. 7. 1. Having therefore these Promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God SERMON V. MARK 9. 49. For every one shall be salted with Fire and every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt IN the Context you have a Caution which our Lord gives against Scandals and Offences given to others either by Defection from the Truth or by a sinful Conversation And 1. He intimates the Cause of these Scandals which is some beloved Lust and that is better mortified than satisfied There is something precious profitable and pleasant in our Opinion Estimation and Affection that calls us from God and the Duties we owe to him and apprehended by us as so necessary for us that we can no more spare it than a right Eye a right Hand or a right Foot 2. Our Lord compares the Loss of Satisfaction in such Lusts with the Danger of perishing for ever and shews that all things considered it were better to be deprived of this Profit Pleasure or Honour than to lose Eternal Life and run the hazard of Eternal Death Either that Pleasure or Lust must be denied or we perish for ever The right Hand must be cut off or else we shall be cast into Hell-Fire 3. Our Lord shews the Danger of perishing for ever amplified by a notable Description Their Worm never dyes and their Fire shall never be quenched The Scripture lisps to us in our own Dialect and speaks in such Notions we can best understand and therefore represents the State of the Damned by what is terrible to Sense By the Worm is meant the Anguish of Conscience by Fire the Wrath of God Memoria praeteritorum Sensus presentium Metus futurorum The Torment of the wicked arises partly from their own Consciences There is a vexing Remembrance of what is past their Folly in the neglect of Grace and there is a bitter Sense of that doleful State into which they have now plunged themselves and a Fear of what is yet to come Now beside this Remorse for their Folly there is also a Fire that shall never be quenched or the sharp Torments that are prepared for the wicked 4. Here is a Collation or Comparison of Opposites the Pains of Hell with the Trouble of Mortification First or last we must endure Troubles and Difficulties Now it is much more eligible to take Pains in the mortifying of Sin than to bear Eternal Pains in the punishment of it This is that which is exprest in the Text For every one shall be salted with Fire and every Sacrifice shall be salted with Salt In the Words 1. Observe a double Salting either with Fire or with Salt the one referring to one sort of People and the other to the other They agree in the common Nature for Salt is of a fiery Nature and apt to consume but they differ in the matter to be consumed Salt consumes the superfluous Moisture which is apt to cause putrefaction but the Fire consumes the Substance it self So that to be salted with Fire is to be given up to everlasting Destruction Fire consumeth all things and God is called a Consuming Fire to the wicked Heb. 12. 29. 2. Here is also an Allusion to Sacrifices for every Man that lives in the World must be a Sacrifice to God The Wicked are a Sacrifice to God's Justice but the Godly are a Sacrifice dedicated and offered to him that they may be capable of his Mercy The first are a Sacrifice against their Wills but the Godly are a free-will-Offering a Sacrifice not taken but offered Now the Law of all Sacrifices was that they were to be salted with Salt Levit. 2. 13. And every Oblation of thy Meat-Offering shalt thou season with Salt neither shalt thou suffer the Salt of the Covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy Meat-Offering with all thine Offerings thou shalt offer Salt Three times it is repeated there to shew that every Sacrifice must be salted That the Wicked the Objects of God's vindictive Justice are accounted Sacrifices is evident by Scripture When the Destruction of Moab is spoken of Isa. 34. 6. The Sword of the Lord is filled with Blood it is made fat with Fatness and with the Blood of Lambs and Goats and with the fat of the kidneys of Rams for the Lord hath a Sacrifice in Bozrah and a great Slaughter in the Land of Idumea So Ier. 46. 10. God threatens there that the Sword shall devour and be made drunk with their Blood For the Lord God of Hosts hath a Sacrifice in the North Country by the River Euphrates What is in these places called a Slaughter is also called a Sacrifice So when God intended a great Carnage of his Enemies he calls upon the Fowls of Heaven Ezek. 39. 17. Assemble your selves and come to my Sacrifice with an allusion to the Beasts offered in Sacrifice This may be gathered from the Signification of the Sacrifices the Burnt-Offerings especially which signified the Guilt of the Sinner the Death of Christ which is
that are sanctified are all of one He is of the same Stock with all Mankind but the Kindred is reckoned to the Sanctified because there it holdeth of both sides Christ is born of a Woman and they are born of God and so he is a Kinsman doubly ratione incarnationis fuae and regenerationis nostrae In regard of his own Incarnation and our Regeneration He partaketh of the humane Nature and we partake of the Divine Nature And it followeth therefore he is not ashamed to call us Brethren We are said to be ashamed when we do any thing that is filthy dishonest or base or misbecoming our Dignity and Rank which we sustain in the World The former Consideration is of no place here For the latter those that bear any Port and Rank in the World are ashamed to shew too much familiarity towards their Inferiors but such is the love of Jesus Christ towards his People that though he be infinitely greater and more worthy than these yet he is not ashamed to call us Brethren Well then here is the first step of our Comfort and Hope to see God in our Natures The Eternal Son of God became our Kinsman that he might have the Right of Redemption and recover the Inheritance which we had forfeited We could not have such familiar and confident recourse to an Angel and one who was of another Stock and different Nature from ours nor put our selves into his hands with such trust and assurance Now he and we are of one Nature we my be the more confident 'T is a motive to Man Lev. 8. 7. Thou shalt not hide thy self from thine own Flesh. In Christ all the perfections of Man were at the highest This made Laban though otherwise a churlish Man kind to Iacob Gen. 29. 14. Surely thou art my Bone and my Flesh. One of our Stock and Lineage will pity us more than a Stranger 2. This Kinsman was to pay the Price and Ransom of his captivated Brother that also is implied in the Notion of a Redeemer Lev. 25. 48 49. After that he is sold his Uncle or his Uncles Son may redeem him or any that is nigh of Kin to him of his Family may redeem him So when we had sold our selves Jesus Christ who only of the Kindred was free and able to do it paied a price for us 1 Cor. 6. 20. We are bought with a Price And this Price was no less than his own precious Blood 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. A Price was necessary for God was not an Enemy that could be overcome but must be satisfied and Amends made for the Wrong done to his Majesty that the Notions which are ingrafted in Mans Heart concerning God might be kept inviolate The Lord knows how apt we are to please our selves with the thoughts of Impunity as if it were nothing to sin against God and a small matter to break his Laws Now to prevent this thought in us before his Justice would let go the Sinner he demandeth Satisfaction and equivalent Satisfaction to the Wrong done to expiate the Offence done to an infinite Majesty Therefore no less could be a sufficient Ransom for lost Sinners than the Blood of Christ. This is the Price which our Kinsman hath paid down for us In short the Wrong was done to an infinite Majesty the Favour to be purchased was the Eternal Enjoyment of the Ever-blessed the Sentence to be reversed was the Sentence of everlasting Death And therefore Christ alone could serve the turn Here is another Ground of Comfort Cyril calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. This Kinsman was to revenge the Quarrel of his slain Kinsman upon the Murtherer So he is a Redeemer and that not only by Merit but by Power not only as a Lamb but as a Lion There needed no Price to be paid to Satan we are redeemed from him not by Satisfaction but by Rescue The Apostle tells us Col. 2. 15. He spoiled Principalities and Powers Luk. 11. 21. He bindeth the strong Man and taketh away his Goods Heb. 2. 14 15. That through Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil And deliver them who through Fear of Death were all their Life time subject to Bondage The Devil had partly an usurped Power over Man as the God of this World or at least as the Enemy of Mankind so Christ rescues us by force partly a ministerial and permitted Power as the Executioner of God's Curse and Vengeance so he over-aweth him and puts him out of Office by the Merit of his Passion Satan had no Power over Death as Dominus Mortis as the Supreme Lord that hath power to save and to destroy but as Minister Mortis as an Hangman and Executioner hath power from the Law to put the Malefactor to death So Christ destroyed him not in regard of Essence as if there were no more a Devil to tempt and hurry us to Destruction nor in regard of Malice as if he did no longer seek to devour but in regard of Office and Ministry he is put out of office and hath no more Law-power to destroy those that have fled to Christ for Refuge and so hath freed us from all the fears of Death and Hell which our Guilt and Satan's Temptations subjected us to 2. That he is their Redeemer is the next Ground of Comfort Iob doth not profess Faith only in a Redeemer but in his Redeemer I know that my Redeemer liveth not by an uncharitable Exclusion shutting out others and engrossing the Redeemer to himself But 1. By a fiducial Application making out his own Title and Interest Some things in Nature are common Benefits not lessened to any because others enjoy them As a Speech heard and the Sun shining c. The Saints do not exclude others 1 Ioh. 2. 2. And he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but for the Sins of the whole World 2 Tim. 4. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness not for me only but for all them also that love his Appearing This doth not lessen the Benefit to us and our Obligations to him Plato thought himself obliged in kindness to one that paid his Fare for his Passage over a River and reckon'd it positum apud Platonem Officium a Courtesy that obliged Plato but when he saw others Partakers of the same Benefit he disclaimed the Debt and onely took part of it on himself Upon which Seneca groundeth this Aphorism That it is not enough for him that will oblige me to him to do me a good Turn unless he do it to my self directly non tantùm mihi sed tanquam mihi otherwise quod debeo cum multis solvam cum multis I will only pay my Portion and Share of Thanks and Respect But this cannot be applied to this extraordinary Kindness of Christ for every Man is indebted for the whole not every Man for a part of Redemption God's Love to every
for the Glory of God and the Advancement of his own Kingdom I say the Glory of God Rom. 6. 10. In that he liveth he liveth unto God His own Kingdom Psal. 110. 1. Sit thou at my right Hand till I make thine Enemies thy Footstool He is at the right-hand of God and there shall abide till he return to judge the World In the mean time he hath the Inspection of all Affairs All Iudgment is put into his Hands Joh. 5. 22. Things are not left to the Will of Man nor to their own Contingency but are guided and ordered by him with good Advice However Matters go Christ is Governor who is not cannot be deposed from his Regal Office nor justled out of the Throne As Luther said upon some Loss that befel the Friends of the Gospel Etiamnum vivit regnat Christus When the Floods lifted up their Voice and all things seemed to threaten Ruin and to over-whelm then follows The Lord reigneth The Lord on high is mightier than the Noise of many Waters Psal. 93. 1 4. It is spoken of the Kingdom of Christ for the advancing and preserving of which he gives forth signal Testimonies of his Regal Power 2. In spiritual Distresses when we want Life and Quickning are opposed with troubled thoughts about our sinful Infirmities Your Redeemer hath Life in himself but not for himself alone he came into the World that we might have a fuller Communication of his Grace Ioh. 10. 10. Now he is gone back again to God and filled with the Spirit to communicate it to the Members of his Mystical Body Eph. 4. 10. He is ascended up to fill all things When we are dead our Redeemer liveth as a Fountain of Life to God's People 3. In outward Calamities He liveth when other Comforts fail or are taken away from us he will prove the nearest and best Friend when all others forsake us he will not only sympathize with us but help us and knoweth how to to give a comfortable Issue out of the sorest Troubles 2 Cor. 4. 14 16. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Iesus shall raise up us also by Iesus and shall present us with you For which cause we faint not 4. It is a great Comfort in Calumnies and Slanders when our Names are taken up in the Lips of the Taunters and cast forth as evil Iob here when his Friends suspected him as fallen from the Grace of God puts his Cause into the Hands of the great Mediator who was now with God in Heaven making Intercession for him and will one Day stand on the Earth judging the World We need not fear any partial Judge here below nor be troubled at their Prejudices and Misconstructions Christ is the true Judge who will bring to light the hidden things of the Heart and then shall every Man have praise of God 1 Cor. 4. 15. That is every one that hath done well Though we have Failings yet those that flee to a Redeemer for Pardon and Reconciliation with God and Grace to walk uprightly shall then be acquitted 5. Chiefly it is a Comfort against the Fears of Death that you may yeeld up yourselves into Christ's Hands Thoughts of dwelling with God in Eternal Life are less comfortable because Death and the Grave interpose we must pass through them before we can enjoy him But though we die Christ liveth who is the Resurrection and those that believe in him shall live though they die Ioh. 11. 25. For our Souls he standeth ready to receive them Acts 7. 54. Lord Iesus receive my Spirit And our Bodies at the last day shall be raised again to immortal Life When Christ who is our Life shall appear we shall appear with him in Glory Col. 3. 4. We need not fear Death for by his dying and rising again the Powers of the Grave are shaken and Death it self is become mortal The Grave is not a Prison but a Place of Repose Isa. 57. 2. And Death not a final Extinction but a Passage into Glory It is ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. All things are yours Life Death Things present Things to come all are yours And it is Gain Phil. 1. 21. For to me to live is Christ and to die is Gain Therefore we may go to the Grave with Comfort and Hope Christ died and yet is alive so shall we He is risen as the First-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15. 20. The whole Harvest was blessed and sanctified by an handful of the first-Fruits dedicated to God When Christ arose he virtually drew all the Elect out of the Grave with him being renewed and reconciled by his Grace they may be confident of a joyful Resurrection for Christ is their fore-fruits The First-fruits did not bless the Tares Darnel and Cockle that grew amongst the Corn no Man that ever offered the first-Fruits desired a Blessing upon the Weeds no Bind the Tares in Bundles and gather the Wheat into my Barn But if he indeed be your Redeemer and hath redeemed you from all Iniquity that is from the Guilt and Power of Sin it is a Comfort to you to know that he lives gloriously with God and will draw all his own after him that they may live gloriously with him He is our Fore-runner Heb. 6. 20. Who is gone to Heaven and hath taken Possession for himself and in our Behalf to make the Way more passable for us When we die we do but go thither whither he is gone before us he standeth upon the Shore ready to receive us into Glory Use of Exhortation I. Believe it and be perswaded of this Truth that you have a Redeemer living with God in the Heavens 1. This is a matter of meer Faith and therefore it must be soundly believed before it can have any efficacy upon us Some points of Faith are mixed partly evident by Natural Reason partly by Divine Revelation as that there is a God it is matter of sensible Experience Rom. 1. 20. and a matter of Faith also whosoever comes to God must believe that God is Nature helpeth forward the entertainment of these things but Redemption by Christ is a matter of pure and meer Faith and is received by believing Gods Testimony 2 Thess. 1. 10. there is no improving these points till we soundly believe them 2. Because we often think we believe these general Truths when indeed we do not believe them at all or not with such a degree of assent as we imagine Our Lord when he speaks of these Truths Joh. 11. 26. He that believeth in me shall live though he die Believest thou this Joh. 16. 31. Do ye now believe We conceit our Faith to be much stronger than indeed it is about the main Articles of Faith 3. Because among them that profess themselves Christians there are monstrous defects in their Faith Naturally we look upon the Gospel as a well devised Fable 2 Pet. 1. 16. and many that dare not speak it out yet do but speak of Christ
This sheweth that he is fuller of Mercy and Goodness than the Sun is of Light or the Sea of Water So great an Effect shews the greatness of the Cause Wherefore did he express his Love in such a wonderful astonishing way but that we might have higher and larger thoughts of his Goodness and Mercy By other Effects we easily collect the Perfection of his Attributes that his Power is Omnipotent Rom. 1. 20. That his Knowledge is Omniscient Heb. 4. 12 13. And by this Effect it is easy to conceive that his Love is infinite or that God is Love Use 2. Is to quicken us to admire the Love of God in Christ. There are three things which commend any Favour done unto us 1. The good Will of him that giveth 2. The Greatness of the Gift 3. The Unworthiness of him that receiveth All concur here 1. The good Will of him that giveth Nothing moved God to do this but his own Love It was from the free Motion of his own Heart without our thought and asking No other Reason is given or can be given We made not suit for any such thing it could not enter into our Minds and Hearts into our Minds to conceive or into our Hearts to desire such a Remedy to recover the lapsed Estate of Mankind Not into our Minds for it is a great Mystery 1 Tim. 3. 16. And without Controversy great is the Mystery of Godliness c. Not into our Hearts to ask or desire for it would have seemed a strange Request that we should ask that the Eternal Son of God should assume our Flesh and be made Sin and a Curse for us But Grace hath wrought exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think Eph. 3. 20. Above what we can imagine and above what we can pray for to him 2. The Greatness of the Gift Great things do even force their way into our Minds whether we will or no. The Gift of Jesus Christ is so great that the Love of God is gone to the uttermost in it He hath not a better Christ nor a more worthy Redeemer nor another Son to die for us nor could the Son of God suffer greater Indignites than he hath suffered for our sakes God said to Abraham Gen. 22. 12. Now I know that thou fearest God since thou hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son from me God was not ignorant before but the Meaning is this is an apparent Proof and Instance of it So now we may know God loveth us here is the manifest Token and Sign of it 3. The Unworthiness of him that receiveth This is also in the Case We were altogether unworthy that the Son of God should be incarnate and die for our sakes This is notably improved by the Apostle Rom. 5. 7 8. For scarcely for a righteous Man will one die but for a good Man some would even dare to die But God commendeth his Love to us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us The Apostle alludeth to the Distinction familiar among the Iews they had their good Men or bountiful their righteous Men zealous for the Law and their wicked Men obnoxious to Judgment Peradventure one would venture his Life for a very merciful Person but you shall hardly find any to be so liberal and friendly as to venture his Life for a righteous and just Man or a Man of rigid Innocence But mark there are abating Terms Scarcely and perhaps the Case is rare that one should die for another be he never so good and righteous But God's Expression of Mercy was infinitely above the proportion of any the most friendly Man ever shewed There was nothing in the Object to move him to it when we were neither good nor just but wicked without respect to any Worth in us for we were all in a damnable estate he sent his Son to die for us to rescue and free us from Eternal Death and to make us Partakers of Eternal Life God so loved the World when we had so sinned and wilfully plunged our selves into an estate of Damnation But you will say If this Mercy be so great why are Men no more affected with it I answer 1. Because of their stupid Carelesness they do not see the Need of this Mercy and therefore do not prize the Worth of it If they were sensible that there is an Avenger of Blood at their heels or God's Wrath making Inquisition for Sinners they would more earnestly run into the City of Refuge Heb. 6. 18. 2. They do not truly believe this Mystery of Grace but speak of it by rote and hear-say after others All Affections follow Faith 1 Pet. 1. 7. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious 3. They do not seriously consider the Importance of it therefore the weightiest Objects do not stir us Our Minds are taken up about Toys and Trifles 4. They have not the lively Light of the Spirit Rom. 5. 5. The Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us It is not our dry Thoughts and doctrinal Knowledge that will affect and change our Heart till the Spirit turneth our Light into Love and our Knowledge into Taste Use 3. Is to exhort us 1. To improve this Love It is an Invitation to seek after God for see what Preparations his Love hath made to recover you to Himself and will not you be recovered God doth not hate you and therefore you need not flee from him as a revenging God He so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son In that capacious Expression you are not excluded therefore exclude not your selves And such a broad Foundation of his Mercy being laid what may you not expect from it 2 Cor. 5. 19. He hath procured a Remedy and Ransom as soon as you repent and believe you shall have the Comfort of it 2. It exhorteth us also to answer it with a fervent Love to him that hath given such a signal Demonstration of his Love to us 1 Ioh. 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us Men always expect to be loved there where they love and think it hard dealing if it be not so 3. Let your Love to God be like his Love to you Love was at the bottom of all this Grace let it be at the bottom of all your Duties Let all your things be done in Love 1 Cor. 16. 14. Let your Carriage apparently be a Life of Love 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. For the Love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead And that he died for all that they which live should not live unto themselves but unto him that died for them and rose again I come now to the second Branch of the Text the Way God took to express his Love to us He gave his only begotten Son Jesus Christ is so called to distinguish him from the adopted Children and to shew
his personal Subsistence which is by way of Filiation or being eternally begotten in the Divine Essence So great was our Misery that no less Remedy would serve the turn and so great God's Mercy that he with-held him not from us Doct. The greatest Manifestation of God's Love to the Sons of Men is the giving his only begotten Son to be their Redeemer and Saviour There is a twofold giving of Christ. 1. He is given for us 2. He is given to us 1. He was given for us when he was sent into the World to become Bone of our Bone and Flesh of our Flesh and to die for our Sins This is spoken of Rom. 8. 32. God spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all 2. He is given to us when we have a special Interest in him and a Participation of his Benefits 1 Cor. 1. 30. Christ Iesus is made of God to us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption He is given for us as he took our Nature he is given to us as he dwelleth in our Hearts by Faith He is given for us as he undertook the Work of our Redemption he is given to us as he accomplisheth and brings about our Conversion to God and applying to us the Benefits of his Purchase I shall speak of both I. As he is given for us it mightily bespeaketh the Love of God and his Care of our Salvation In Creation God made us after his own Image and Likeness In Redemption his Son came in the similitude and likeness of sinful Flesh. In Creation the Angels were dignified above us but not in Redemption Heb. 2. 16. He did not redeem the Apostate Angels In short this was the most convenient Way for God to bring about the Purposes of his Grace towards Man for these Reasons 1. That our Faith might be more certain by the appearing of the Son of God in our Nature by his dying rising again from the Dead and ascending into Heaven and so giving a sensible Proof of our whole Religion 1. By appearing in Human Nature he had opportunity of conversing with Men to convince them of the gracious Will of God and teach them Obedience to him not only by his Doctrine but his Example and securing the Truth of both by the many Miracles which he wrought in the days of his Flesh. Ioh. 6. 27. Him hath the Father sealed that is owned acknowledged demonstrated that whatever he did or said was the Will and good Pleasure of God 2. By his dying he satisfied the Justice of God and so maketh a way for the Course of his Mercy to us that we might obtain Release and Pardon of all our Sins and Transgressions against the Law of God Rom. 3. 25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God c. 3. His rising again from the Dead was a visible Satisfaction to the World that his Sacrifice was accepted Rom 4. 15. Who was delivered for our Offences and raised again for our Iustification The unbelieving World by that supreme Act of Power have no reason to stand out against his Faith and Doctrine 4. By his ascending into Heaven the Truth of Eternal Life was more confirmed for thereby he gave us a real Demonstration of that Glory which he spoke of and promised to his Disciples and Followers 1 Pet. 1. 21. God raised him from the Dead and gave him Glory that your Faith and Hope might be in God He himself is entred into that Happiness and we shall follow him 2. That our Hope might be more strong and lively being built upon the Example of Christ and his Promises to us The Example of Christ is of great Support to us in all our Troubles for if we fare as he fared in this World we shall fare as he fareth in the World to come Therefore we are said to be begotten to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ from the Dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. That is have a Ground of Hope and chearful Assurance as he by by his Sufferings came to his Reward and Crown so shall we obtain the matter of his Promises 1 Ioh. 2. 25. And this is the Promise which he hath promised even Eternal Life Joh. 12. 26. If any Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be If any Man serve me him will my Father honour 3. That our Love to God may be more fervent If God had saved us some other way the Salvation had been something less for according to the degrees of the Gift so is our Obligation Now God would oblige us at the highest rate and therefore he gave his only begotten Son to die for us It is said He spared not his own Son Rom. 8. 32. There is a twofold not sparing either in a way of impartial Justice or in a way of transcendent Bounty the last is chiefly intended in that place though the other not altogether excluded He delivered him up to die for our sakes Now surely this should gain much upon us when God thought nothing too good to part with for our Salvation 4. It makes our Obedience more ready for Jesus Christ came to live by the same Law that we were bound to Gal. 4. 4. When the Fulness of Time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law Yea to obey God at the dearest Rates Heb. 5. 8 9. Though he were a Sen yet learned he Obedience by the Things which he suffered And being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him He submitted unto and performed the whole Law his Obedience cost him dear since an ignominious and shameful Death was a part of it II. God that gave Christ for us giveth him also to us and with him the Benefits of Pardon Reconciliation Adoption and Right to Eternal Life if we be duly qualified The Offer is made in the Gospel on our part there is required only a thankful acceptance of Christ on his own Terms This also is the greatest Gift for the other is in order to this and this is the compleating of it and applying it for our Comfort I shall prove it by three Reasons 1. Without Christ there is no Recovery of what we lost 2. No Removal of that Misery we incurred 3. No Obtaining of what we should desire and pursue after as our proper Happiness 1. No Recovery of what we lost What did we lose by the Fall The Image and Favour of God and Fellowship with God 1. The Image of God was defaced by Sin Man abode not in the honour of his Creation but became as the Beasts that perish Now the Restitution of this great Gift we only have by Christ who is the Pattern and Author of it The Pattern 2 Cor. 3. 18. We all with open face beholding as
the Text which is the end of this Love That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Life everlasting Where I observe 1. The connection of our Duty and Priviledg Christ dyed to procure a Covenant wherein Pardon and Life is offered to us upon gracious Terms In the Gospel we must observe what God hath promised and what we must do both must be alike acceptable us the Duty as well as the Benefit or else we consent not to the whole Tenour of the Covenant 2. The Universality of the Proposal That whosoever believeth on him no sorts of Men are excluded from the Remedy but those that exclude themselves by their Impenitency and Unbelief 3. The Nature of this Act and Duty which giveth a Right and Title to the Benefits offered and that is believing no more is mentioned here But none truly believe but those that carry themselves accordingly or perform the Duties which that Belief calleth for If it be such a lively operative Faith it will secure our Title to these Benefits 4. The Benefits are Negatively and Positively expressed Negatively they shall not perish Positively but have everlasting Life 1. The Negative Expression is mentioned partly because of our former Deserts we incurred the Sentence of Eternal Death which is taken off from penitent Believers they shall not be condemned with the unbelieving World partly because of our present Fears Guilt presents Destruction before our Eyes but the cause of that is taken away as Sin is remitted and weakned And partly to support us in our troubles they may be Afflicted but not perish for ever Chastned but not destroyed not for Perdition but amendment 2. The Positive part is expressed partly to shew our Heavenly Fathers Love who cannot be satisfi'd til he hath brought us into his immediate Presence And partly to answer the desire of the Faithful who long for everlasting Communion with him we cannot be satisfied till we befor ever with the Lord in a perfect state of Subjection to him and Fruition of him Doct. That Faith is the Way which God hath appointed whereby to receive Benefits by Christ. I. What Faith is II. How this is to be understood III. Why the Gospel Covenant layeth so much weight on it What is Faith surely it concerns us to know it since the Scriptures speak so much of it every-where There are in it three things 1. Assent 2. Consent 3. Trust. 1. A firm and cordial Assent to this Truth that Jesus is the Son of God and Saviour of Mankind who came down from heaven and suffered for our Sins and became the Foundation of that new Covenant which offereth Pardon and Hopes of Bliss to all those who feeling the Burden of their Sins will trust their Souls upon Christ's Redemption and Ransom and forsake the World the Flesh and the Devil and take him for their only Lord and Saviour that by him they may return to God This Assent is a part of Faith but this is not all The reasonable Soul in Man hath Life Sense Appetite and Motion as the Souls of the Beasts have but this is not the difference between us and them besides Sense Life and Appetite we have Reason and Discourse So here Knowledg and Assent are implied in Faith but more is required to make it justifying and saying Assent is good as it is inductive of other things or leadeth on other things to wit Choice and Trust and it is not only good but necessary lest we build without a Foundation It was of great weight heretofore when Christ's Person and Doctrine was more questioned and contradicted Ioh. 8. 24. Unless ye believe that I am he ye shall die in your Sins lose all the Benefit of his Coming 'T is said 1 Ioh. 5. 1. Whosoever believeth that Iesus is the Christ is born of God It was a mighty thing then to believe and profess Christ to be the Messiah and to cleave to that Profession whatever Temptations they had to the contrary But I dare not leave the Decision of Mens Spiritual Estate upon that Trial only The bleak Winds that blew then in their Faces blow now on our backs and it as dangerous now to deny Christ to be the Messiah as it was for them to profess it However Assent is still necessary to put the greater Life and Power into our Faith for if the Fire were well kindled it would of it self break out into a Flame The stronger our Assent is the more powerful to beget Love and Dependance on God's Promises Obedience to his Commands and Perseverance notwithstanding Temptations This Assent to do its Work must be firm and cordial 1. Firm. You must believe unfeignedly that Christ is the Messiah and Redeemer of the World Acts 2. 36. Let the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this Iesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. The word signifies safely they may venture their All upon it Ioh. 17. 8. They have known There is a common customary superficial Belief that Men take up upon the Credit of their Forefathers and the Consent of the Country where they live And there is a sound Perswasion of the Truth of the Gospel wrought in us by the Spirit of God And though Human Credulity doth little yet this last serveth to renew the Soul Mat. 16. 17. Flesh and Blood hath not revealed it to thee but my Father which is in Heaven when Peter had said Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God This makes us victorious over the Devil the World and the Flesh. 1 Ioh. 5. 5. Who is he that overcometh the World but he that believeth that Iesus is the Son of God If this important supreme Truth were well believed it would doubtless prevail against the Allurements of the World and the Flesh and make Men see that they have something else than this deceitful World to look after Truths go to the quick when soundly believed 2. Cordial Many seem verily to be perswaded that Jesus is the Son of God but are no way affected with this Mystery of Grace nor changed The Devils may give a bare Assent to this great Gospel Truth Compare Mark 5. 7. with Matth. 16. 16. The Confession of the Devil with the Profession of Peter The Devil owned Jesus to be the Son of the most High God as well as Peter the Son of the Living God Austms Observation is very good Hoc dicebat Petrus hoc dicebant Daemones Petrus ut Christum amplecteretur Daemones ut Christus ab iis recederet Peter said the same thing and the Devil the same thing Peter said it that he might embrace Christ the Devils that he might depart from them It is one thing to be of this Opinion that Christ is the Saviour of the World another to accept and receive him into our Hearts 2. The next thing which I shall observe in Faith is a Consent to receive Christ as God offereth him to us in the Gospel Joh. 1. 12. To as
excelling in Holiness himself loveth the Vertue and Holiness of his Creature Prov. 11. 20. For how can he be imagined but to love his own Image And as Goodness and Holiness are loved by him so he hateth the Workers of Iniquity Psal. 5. 5. and abhorreth those that despise that which is most glorious in Himself his Holiness And then if God loveth the Good and hateth the Evil he will express this in answerable Effects Good with Life and Evil with Death In short The Difference between Good and Evil is not more naturally known than it is naturally known that the one is to be punished the other rewarded Whether we consider the Wisdom of God which sorteth and joyns all things according to their natural Order and therefore Sin which is a Moral Evil is joyned with Sufferings a Natural Evil that is a feeling of something painful to Nature and afflictive to it Or the Justice of God which dealeth differently with Men that differ in themselves Or the Holiness of God who therefore will express his Love to the Good in making them happy and his Detestation of the Wicked in the Misery of their Punishment 2. The Greatness of both these Life and Death they are both Eternal Punishment in one Scale holdeth Conformity with the Reward in the other The full Reward is an Eternal and far more exceeding Weight of Glory called everlasting Life so is the full Punishment the Eternal Abode of Body and Soul under Torments expressed by everlasting Fire If we did only deal with you upon slight and cheap Motives you might refuse to hearken but when we tell you of Life and Death Eternal you ought most seriously to consider Whatever can be hoped or feared from Man is comparatively of little moment because his Power of doing Good or Evil is limited But on the one side it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God Heb. 10. 31. On the other side Rom. 5. 2. We rejoyce in the Hope of the Glory of God God will act like himself infinitely gloriously especially when he is All in All when he doth not act by the mediation of the Creatures but immediately punishing the Wicked and rewarding the Good The Vessel can convey no more than it receiveth When the Creature is an Instrument of Vengeance God acteth according to the proportion and rate of that Creature as if a Giant should strike one with a Straw If God doth us good by an Ordinance the Water runneth but as the Pipe will contain he cannot manifest himself in that Latitude but then God is All himself immediatly Consider 1. The Greatness of the Death that accompanieth Evil. The Afflictions and Sorrows of this Life are a part of this Death When Moses here had insisted on many temporal Plagues which should befall his People he saith I have set Life and Death before you There are many Miseries in this Life which are the Fruit of Sin which would make your Hearts ake and your Ears tingle to hear of And then Death which consists in the separation of the Soul from the Body is the King of Terrors But we speak of the second Death which is far more terrible which consists in an Eternal Separation from the blessed and glorious Presence of the Lord no Death like this In all Creatures that have Sense Death is accompanied with Pain but this is a perpetual living to deadly Pain and Torment from whence there can be no Release In the first Death the Pain may lie in one place but in the second it extends all over The first Death the more it prevaileth the more we are past feeling but in this Death the Sufferer has a greater vivacity than ever the Capacity of every Sense is enlarged and made more receptive of Pain While we are in the Body Vehemens sensibile corrumpit Sensum the more vehemently and violently any thing strikes upon the Senses the more doth it dead the Sense as the Inhabitants about the Fall of Nilus are deaf with the continual noise Too much Light puts out the Eyes Taste is dulled by Custom But here the Capacity is improved by feeling The Power of God sustains the Sinner whilst his Wrath torments him As the Saints are prepared for the Blessedness of Heaven we cannot bear the least Glimpse of that Happiness which they enjoy above so the wicked are fitted to endure those inconceivable Pains When the first Death approaches there is strugling for Life Men would not dy but in the second Death they desire a final Destruction they would not live 2 The Greatness and Excellency of that Life that ensueth Good All manner of Blessings in this Life is the lowest step of it At Death when the Spirit returneth to God that gave it then it beginneth to be discovered but it is consummated when Body and Soul shall be translated to Heaven This is Life indeed Nescio an ista Vita mortalis Vita an vitalis Mors dicenda sit the present Life is a kind of Death always in fluxu like a Stream it runneth from us as fast as it cometh to us Iob 14. 1. He fleeth away as a Shadow and continueth not We die as fast as we live like the Shadow of a Star in a flowing Stream This Life is annoyed with a thousand Sorrows and Calamities but there is a freedom from all Sin and Misery and a full fruition of Pleasures for evermore Psal. 16. 11. And our Capacities are strong to bear them This Life is patched up with Supplies from the Creatures there is a full Fruition of God himself 1 Cor. 13. 12. And in this Life such Days may come wherein we have no pleasure Eccl. 12. 1. Life it self becomes a Burthen but that Life as it lasteth for ever so we are never weary of it The Enjoyment of God is new and fresh to us every moment As the Angels for thousands of years are beholding the Face of God but never weary of so doing so shall we always delight our selves in seeing God as he is 3. The Certainty of both these Life and Death Hell and Heaven as the Fruits of Good and Evil. 1. Reason sheweth it certainly that there is Eternal Life and Death or a State of Torment and Bliss after this Life All Men are perswaded that there is a God and very few have doubted but that he is a Rewarder of Vertue and and a Punisher of Vice Now neither the one nor the other is fully accomplished in this World even in the Judgment of those that have no great knowledg of the Nature of Sin nor what Punishment is competent thereto Therefore there must be after the sojourning in the Body a time in which retributive Justice shall be executed and Punishments and Rewards that here are dispensed so disproportionably even to what natural Reason would expect from the Hand of God shall most equally be dispens'd to Persons If any say Vertue is a Reward to it self as in some sence
Life Evil and Death Secondly The Manner how this is to be done it must be set forth with all Evidence and Conviction as to the Reason of Men with all Earnestness and Affectionate Importunity to awaken their Affections In short 1. So as will become the belief of these things We must not speak of them as a thing spoken in jest and by rote but as firmly perswaded of the truth of things as if Heaven and Hell were before our Eyes and as evident to Sense Heb. 11. 1. We look upon these things naturally as at a distance and so have but a cold apprehension of them but we should by Faith see them as near at hand As you would pull a Man out of the Fire Iude 23. or as falling into a deep Pit or bottomless Gulph as one in the greatest earnest Belief puts a Life into Truths which otherwise are but dead and weak in their Operation I believed and therefore did I speak as if we had a deep sense of these things upon our own Hearts 2. As will become Experience 2 Cor. 5. 10. Knowing the Terrors of the Lord we perswade Men. A Man that knoweth the Terrors of the Lord that hath been scorched himself will set them before Men as if they were at hand ready to surprize them Others that talk of these things but as cold Opinions they will not be so careful to rouse up Men to mind the case of their Souls If one went unto them from the Dead then will they repent Luk. 16. 30. 3. So as will become Zeal for the Glory of God which is much promoted by the Subjection and Obedience of his Creatures and his Interest in them therefore we should be diligent and industrious in drawing Souls to Christ. Col. 1. 27 28. Christ in you the hope of Glory whom we preach warning every Man and teaching every Man in all Wisdom that we may present every Man perfect in Christ Iesus 2 Cor. 11. 13. They have blind unbelieving Hearts therefore need to be taught cold careless Affections and need to be warned and this with the greatest Wisdom that can be used that all may be presented to Christ at the last day This is that which sets all a going When we are wooing for Christ we should not do it coldly and triflingly but as those that would prevail for their Master that he may be glorified in their being gained to him 4. So as will become compassioners of precious and immortal Souls for whom Christ died Souls that must live for ever in Heaven or Hell Oh mind them of their Duty warn them of their Danger they are ready to tumble into the Flames of Hell every moment therefore with all earnestness set Life and Death before them We should use the more compassion to Souls because God himself who hath employed us hath expressed so much of his Compassion he doth not only tell them they will die but expostulateth with them Why will you die O House of Israel Ezek. 33. 11. And Ezek. 28. 25. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die and not return from his ways and live The greatest quarrel Christ hath with Sinners is because they will not come to him for Life John 5. 40. Ye will not come to me that ye might have Life Two Reasons make this more evident 1. This is God's Will 2. This is of great Profit to the Souls of Men. First This is God's Will that his Law should be propounded with the Sanction of it that is with Penalties and Rewards God might rule us with a Rod of Iron require Duty out of meer Sovereignty but he will draw us with the Cords of a Man Hos. 11. 4. with such Arguments as are fitted to Mans Temper as he is a reasonable Creature that is by Promises and Threatnings We are best moved and induced to any thing by those two Affections of Fear and Hope the one Affection serveth for Aversation and Flight the other for Choice and Pursuit Therefore he that knoweth the Wards of the Lock accordingly suiteth the Keys and doth not only require an exact Duty but also promiseth Good and threatneth Evil. Sovereigns in their publick Edicts do not argue with their Subjects but only interpose their Authority but God condescendeth to reason with his Creatures He doth not say as sometimes Thus shall ye do I am the Lord but if you do thus this will be your ruine and obey these Statutes for your Good Deut. 6. 24. and so doth perswade as well as command Secondly It is of great Profit to the Souls of Men. 1. It is of Profit that they should often be minded of the Issues of things Israel's want of Wisdom cometh from this Deut. 32. 29. O that they were Wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end that is how Obedience and Disobedience will succeed with them Lam. 1. 9. David's trouble at the prosperity of the Wicked arose from want of this Psal. 73. 17. Then I understood their End Rom. 6. 21. The end of these things is Death Fugientes respice what will they leave in their farewel and departure Jer. 17. 11. At his latter end he shall be a Fool. The first addresses of Sin smile upon us but the Sting is in the Tail So the beginning of Godliness is Bitter but afterward it yieldeth everlasting Peace and Comfort 2. That they may reflect on both combined either of them single is of great force but both joyned together comes in upon the Heart with greater Power We need a Bridle and a Spur a Bridle because of our proneness to Evil and a Spur because of our Backwardness to Good We have both we are compassed and hedged in with our Duty on every side If we look back there is Death to affright us if forward Heaven to allure us there is Eternal Life to draw us there is Eternal Death to drive us If God had only terrified us from Sin by unexpressible Pains and Horrors and made no promise of unspeakable Joys this were enough to engage us to live without Blame and Blemish that we might not be cast into the Prison of Hell or if only to quicken our Diligence he had propounded Hopes and Happiness as the Priviledg of those that live Vertuously and Holily and evil Men did utterly perish when they die this were enough to draw us If God had only promised Heaven and no Hell there would not be so strong a Motive but can we be cold and dead when both Life and Death are laid before us and both for ever this is very unreasonable Solomon telleth us Prov. 15. 24. That the way of Life is above to the Wise to avoid Hell beneath Every step they tread is a going from Eternal Death and an approach to Eternal Life Therefore as we would escape the Torments of Hell and possess the Joys of Heaven we should be serious We are undone for ever if we be not blessed for ever and the