will still reign in us though we cannot actually commit sin So likewise if we do spiritually feed upon the body and blood of Christ at the Lords Table we do then seal this Covenant of grace to our souls and we shall finde the comfort of all those promises that are contained in it This spiritual food was the fruit that the Spouse did feed upon h Cant. 2. 3. which was so sweet to her taste and we shall also finde the same sweetnesse in that blessed fruit But if we come to that holy Supper with mindes full of worldly cares or sinfull lusts and with hearts full of hypocrisie and unbelief we do eat and drink damnation to our selves We need not now envy at the prosperity of ungodly men their wealth is their snare to bring them into the paths of perdition their gain is their losse their pleasure will be their pain and their sweetnesse will be bitterness to them in the end so that what gain soever they make of this world if they do not also gain Christ with it they will finde no Advantage nor true comfort by it It is a shame for rich men and a dishonour for such as are in eminent places of authority if they are not truly vertuous and religious This heavenly gain is peculiar onely to the Children of God which they have onely by Christ and they seek it no where but of him Our Advantage and Gain by CHRIST in Death AS Christ is our spirituall gain in this life so he is no lesse our advantage and Gain in our death for he hath so conquered death that it shall neither sting us nor hurt us though we must at Gods appointed time yield and submit unto it Death of it self is a terrible enemy and destructive to our whole nature and it is the greatest part of the curse for the breach of the Law but Christ hath made it our friend and hath taken the curse from it so that if we live an holy and pious life in Christ we shall also dye a comfortable and a Christian death in him a Rom. 5. 12 By the fall of Adam sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned b Heb. 9. 2â— Therefore it is appointed unto all men once to dye and after this is the judgement Thus saith the Psalmist c Psal 89. 48 What man is be that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Paul saith d 2 Cor. 4. 7 that our bodies are but earthen vessels which are soon broken or e 2 Cor. 5. 1. earthly houses which are soon dissolved The wise man hath no priviledge from death more than the fool one event happeneth to them both f Eccl. 2. 14 16 How dyeth the wise man As the fool saith the Preacher g Eccl. 3. 20 All go unto one place both high and low rich and poor all are of the dust and all turn to dust again For we must be conformed to Christ in his death if we desire to be conformed to him in his resurrection This is the way that every man must go before he can h Rom. 3. 23. come to eternall life for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God i Rom 6. 23 and the wages of sin is death If it be so that none can escape the stroke of death but that it will seize upon all flesh with an unresistible power we ought then to be alwayes well prepared that death may not come suddenly upon us to take us away in our sins before we have made our peace with God by faith in Christ and before we have got a modest and sober assurance of the pardon of our sins by true repentance that we may willingly part with this world and comfortably resign up our souls to God in full hope that we shall injoy a better life hereafters for evermore and this preparation for Death is onely by Christ Consider now that Christ will fit and prepare us for Death and will also fit a Death for us which shall make most for the glory of God and be most advantagious to us and he will so sanctifie it to us that our gain thereby shall be far greater than our loss If we dye in the Lord or for the Lord death may part our souls from our bodies but it cannot part our souls from Christ the soul may be parted for a time from a crazy diseased and corruptible body which is but an earthly Tabernacle but we shall receive the same bodies again in full strength in perfect beauty and incorruptible free from aches or diseases from decay or corruption Death may take our souls out of a world of miseries and calamities of sorrowes troubles and vexations but it will presently convey them into an haven of rest and into an heaven of happinesse where there is no labour nor toil no troubles nor sorrow but perfect peace and fulnesse of joy for ever and our bodies shall be raised up to injoy the same blessednesse with our souls k 2 Cor. 5. 1. Death may dissolve the earthly house of our tabernacle but we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the heavens What if we lose our lands and possessions wherunto we are but tenants at will l â— Pet. 1. 3 4 We have a lively hope by Christ to injoy an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us Death may take us from our earthly friends but it will bring us into the society of the glorious Angels and blessed Saints in heaven and to be wedded to Christ our Beloved for ever to whom in this life we are but espoused Consider in the next place for our further comfort that we have this Advantage by Christ above other men when we are to dye m 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. that death hath nothing to hurt us sin hath no power to condemn us and therefore death cannot binde us over unto judgement Thus saith the Lord by his Prophet n Isa 42 â—5 I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins How can death then be any way hurtful to us As Christ hath taken away the guilt of our sins so he will also fasten all our good works and pious duties to our souls which will go with us to the grave o Rev. 14. 13 and will follow us to the day of judgement to be had in remembrance then before God This is a blessed Advantage that we have by Christ in death above other men that have no interest in Christ For their evil works cleave so close to their souls that they will follow them unto judgement to increase their torments in their condemnation Thus saith Paul p 1 Tim. 5. 24. Some mens sins are open before hand
Cor. 1. 3. who is the God of all comfort for thus he saith by his Prophet h Isa 51. 11 12. The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads they shall obtain gladnâ—sse and joy and mourning shall flee away I even I am he that comforteth you What comfort can we then want if God be our Comforter Secondly if we delight in pleasures heaven will afford us more than our hearts can desire i Psal 36. 8 9. There we shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of Gods house and he will make us drink of the river of his pleasures for with him is the fountain of life in his light shall we see light Also the Psalmist saith thus k Psal 16. 11 God will shew us the path of life in his presence is fulnesse of joy at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore For heaven is the place of all peace and comfort of all joy and happinesse and of all glory and immortality Thirdly heaven is the place of all security as Abraham said to Dives l Lu. 16. 26 Between us and you there is a great gulf sixed so that they which would passe from hence to you cannot neither can they â—asse to us that would come from thence Also thâ—â— saith Christ m Mat. 25. 10. When the Bridâ—groom cometh and they that are ready are gone in with him to the marriage the door will be shut and theâ— none can go in and none can come out n Mat. 6. 20 â—n heaven we may safely keep our spiritual â—reasure from the moth and rust and from that arch theif the devil If this precious jewel which is our â—ouâ— be laid up in heaven it will be safely kept there for nothing can corrupt it and no theif can steal it away Lastly that which makes up the fulnesse of our joy and happinesse in the Kingdom of heaven is the eternity of it for if we should injoy it but for a time it would greatly lessen the comfort of our felicity there shall be an end of time but there will be no end of our blessed condition in heaven For thus saith the Lord o Isa 65. 17 18. Behold I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come into minde But be you glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy And again he saith by the same Prophet p Isa 66 22 For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain bâ—fore me so shall your seed and your Name remain Thus saith John q Rev. 2 2. 5. The servants of the lambe shall be in this city of God and they shall reign for ever and ever Paul speaking of the resurrection saith thus r 1 Thes 4. 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Daniel also saith thus Å¿ Dan. 7. 18. And the Saints of the most high God shall take the Kingdome and possesse it for ever even for ever and ever Holy David saith t Psal 37. 18 that the inheritance of the upright shall be for ever Thus it is evident how great our gain shall be by Christ after death and that there shall be no end of our happinesse Consider now that whatsoever we suffer in this life is but for a short time and that the bitternesse of our sorrowes is sweetned with some comforts also that our joy and felicity in heaven is for eternity and that it is no way imbittered with any troubles or vexations that we may patiently and meekly bear whatsoever God shall lay upon us and earnestly desire to be uncloathed of this corruptible body that we may put on the glorious robes of immortality for ever Thus saith Paul u â— Cor. 4. 17 Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory So likewise if we consider and believe that we have this Gain and advantage onely by Christ it will make us study and labour by all meanes to injoy him and when we have gotten some interest in him to stick close to him by Faith to love him with intire affections and to be obedient to his will and commands Wherefore now if thou hast any holy desire to be freed from all temptations from all sin and from all sorrow vexation and calamity then set the Meditations of thy heart upon the fruition of the Kingdom of Heaven where thou shalt be freed from all these evils though here upon earth they will rush in upon thee Also if thou desirest to injoy all the happinesse that heaven can afford thee and to injoy God himself for ever then look up unto Christ thy Saviour with the eye of faith who hath purchased heaven for thee with his own blood and hath made thee the Son of God by adoption that he might bestow all this upon thee whereof he hath given thee some taste in this life but thou canst not be made perfect in it untill this life is ended u 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence therefore as Peter saith to make thy calling and election sure by a lively faith in Christ and get the seal of the new Covenant which is the blood of Christ to be stamped upon thy heart that thou mayest carry it to thy grave and then death will give thy soul free passage into the mansions of heaven where this perfect freedome is to be obtained and where this gain of eternall blessednesse is to be gotten Wherefore walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit live not as a citizen of this world but live here as a free denizen of the heavenly Jerusalem having thy minde and the affections of thy heart set upon the holinesse and righteousnesse thereof that thy life and conversation may be pure and holy here upon earth and then thy soul shall live and eternally possesse it after it is dissolved from thy body How CHRIST is our Spirituall life MAn in his first creation had a spirituall life which was free from any spot or stain of sin but he soon lost it by his transgression and defaced this lively image of God that was stamped upon his soul and then in himself he had no ability to recover his lost happinesse This leprosie of sin hath infected all his posterity that proceed from him by naturall propagation which hath brought upon them a spiritual death and layeth them open to eternall death hereafter Though this be our condition by nature yet a Eph. 2. 4 5 6 7. God who is rich in mercy for his great love where with he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together in
it might run down to every member of his mystical body which was typified by r Psal 133. 2. that pâ—ecious ointment which was poured upon Aarons head and ran down to the skirts of his garments so that we have a spiritual light to discern the things that belong to our peace then Christ hath wrought this life in us by his holy Spirit for in the state of nature we were dead to any thing that is heavenly f 1 Cor. 2. 14 and we could not receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned Secondly if our soules can feed upon heavenly food and if we can expresse all other actions of a spiritual life as to walk in the paths of holinesse to speak the pure Language of Canaan and to have our conversation in heaven while we live here upon earth we may then be fully perswaded that there is a spirituall life in us for so long as sin reigneth in our mortall bodies and untill there be a new creation wrought in us we are spiritually dead to every good work and we can expresse no actions of a sanctified life Thirdly if our souls are cleansed from the guilt of sin in the blood of Christ and if the filth and stains of our sins are washed away in the Laver of Regeneration by his sanctifying grace and covered under his righteousnesse that they appear not to the dishonour of God or to the hurt of our neighbour and that we delight not in any sin but do study and endeavour to serve and please God with a sincere heart and pure affections it is a sure evidence that Christ hath quickned and raised us up from the death of sin to the life of grace Lastly if our duties and services to God proceed from a clean and a purified heart which is sanctified and perfumed with the graces and merits of Christ then God will smell the perfume of them to accept of our persons and of our holy offerings because the Spirit of Christ is in us Thus we may know to our great comfort if we narrowly look into our condition what spirituall life we have and that we have it onely from Christ and by him Wherefore now if thou desirest to live spiritually by Christ thou must faithfully believe that he hath taken away that spiritual death which by nature was upon thee for thy sins and that he onely can give thee this spirituall life for as he hath vanquished and overcome the power of death both spiritual and temporal so he can give a spiritual life as well as a temporal to whom and when he pleaseth This spiritual life thou must have from him if thou canst make a particular application of him to thy self by faith that he is thy Saviour and thy Redeemer for he hath then breathed into thee the Spirit of grace which hath wrought this spiritual life in thee though at the first thou canst feel no power of it without this application of Christ to thy self thou canst draw no comfort from him and he will profit thee nothing It did much comfort Job in his greatest misery when he did thus apply Christ to himself t Job 19. 25 27. I know saith he that my Redeemer liveth whom I shall see for my self If thou canst bring thy heart to close thus with Christ he will give light to thine eyes food to thy soul balm for thy diseases and comfortable refreshing for thy languishing spirits But if thou art still dead in thy sins and hast no spiritual life in Christ thou canst then feel no comfort by him for what good can light do to a dead man What benefit can he have by the daintiest food What can the best medicine profite him And what sense hath he of the best perfume But if thou doest live in Christ and he in thee thou shalt partake with him in his fulnesse of all spiritual graces u Col. 1. 19 for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullnesse dwell u John 1. 16 And of his fulnesse have all we received and grace for grace Now consider further that Christ is the meritorious cause of this spiritual life x Tit. 2. 14 for he gave himself freely and voluntarily to be an oblation and a sacrifice for us to redeem us from all iniquity and from whatsoever we are lyable unto by reason of sin to wit from the guilt of sin from the dominion of sin from the curse of the Law from the bondage of Satan from the terrours of death and from eternall condemnation Also by the power of his resurrection he hath subdued and overcome death hell and the grave that we might be raised out of the grave of sin to live a spiritual life to God in Christ Christ hath wrought our redemption by his active and passive obedience to the will of God whereby we are justified in his sight for he hath taken our life out of the hand of Gods justice where we had no hope to injoy it and hath put it into the hand of his mercy where we are sure through Christ to have the comfort of it here and the happinesse of it hereafter Though we must passe by the gates of hell before we can injoy the sweet consolation of this spiritual life and though we must bring our selves so low in our humiliation and in mortifying of our sins and corruptions as if we were ready to be thrust down into hell yet God will then give us a spiritual life in Christ to support us he will then raise us up to newnesse of life by the sanctifying grace of his Spirit that our spiritual life may appear and that we may be made fit to injoy Christ for ever in the Kingdom of heaven This is the first main end of the passion of Christ that we may be redeemed by the merit of his blood Secondly Christ is the efficient cause of our spiritual life for as we have our justification by the merit of his blood so we have our sanctification by the same blood and these two cannot be separated but must go together for we have no sure evidence that we are justified in the sight of God but by the sanctification of our lives The Act of our justification is wrought at once as soon as we are ingrafted into Christ by Faith but our sanctification must be a continued Act so long as we live in the flesh for the best of Gods servants have so many spots and stains of sin in them that they have dayly need to pray to be every day purified and cleansed with the blood of Christ and to be dayly renewed with the graces of his Spirit This is the second main end why Christ gave himself to be an oblation for us that he might purifie us to be a peculiar people to himself according to this of Paul y Tit. 2. 14 Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself
true end for which we were created Now we may take a view of our own condition and we may see in what state we stand with our God For if if we do principally attend to the true end of our Creation that our studies endeavours and all our actions are chiefly bent for the glory of God and that we can truly say with good Hezekiah e 2 Kin. 20. 3 I have walked before the Lord in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in his sight or as holy David said f Psal 26. 3 Judge me O Lord for I have walked in mine integrity I have walked in thy truth Also if we can truly say g Phil. 2. 12 That our whole course of life hath tended to the working out of our salvation with carefulnesse fear and trembling then we are most happy we steer our course to the right end and we shall at length attain to that Kingdom of eternall glory which we desire and hope for But if upon a diligent search we finde our selves to be in a contrary course to sit with vain and prophane persons to have fellowship with hypocrites and dissemblers to love the society of evil doers and to delight in earthly vanities all which will easily corrupt us by their evill example and sinfull wayes then the course of our life is not tending to the glory of God but it is dishonourable to him and destructive to our own souls Thus we are brought into a perillous and dangerous way that leadeth directly into perdition if God in mercy doth not bring us into the right way Wherefore it doth greatly concern us to raise up our thoughts to God our Creator to fix the Meditations of our hearts upon him h Isa 51. 7 to look unto the rock whence we are hewen and to the hole of the pit whence we are digged to look unto Adam our first parent as he was in the state of innocency before his fall that we may labour for his purity that we may follow after his righteousnesse and seek the Lord with pure affections and study how to serve and please him in all things as Adam was then able to do Also it behoveth us to consider how dangerous it is to conform our selves to the common errour of the world that man was born to be for himself and for his ownn ends which errour we must carefully avoid and then we shall labour to sâ—eer our course the right way and we shall bestow our time to the right end i Mat. 6. 33 First to seek the Kingdome of heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and then those things that shall be needfull for this present life shall be added unto us Concerning the fall of man MAn had power and ability given him to stand and continue in that perfect and blessed condition wherein he was created but he did soon fall from God by transgressing his command in eating the forbidden fruit whereby he brought himself and all his posterity that were then in his loyns and came out from him by naturall propagation under the severe curse that God laid upon him for his sin and this was the Originall of sin to all his posterity By this meanes Adam defâ—ced the bright image of God that was stamped upon his soul for he lost the perfection of his understanding the liberty of his will and the integrity of his heart Also the earth was cursed for his sake and the creatures became rebellious to him he is now a slave to the devill and to his own sinfull lusts and he hath no power to redeem himself out of that captivity and bondage onely he hath a possibility by Christ to be restored again to his former happinesse whereas the Angels that kept not their first Station but sinned against God and were thrust out of heaven have no possibility to be again restored Adam also hath made himself and all his posterity lyable to all outward crosses and sorrowes of body goods and good name to all inward troubles of minde and anguish of spirit to all temporall plagues and punishments and to all eternall pains and torments This was our condition in him we did also fall from God with him and our losse hereby is as great as his was our misery as much as his he did eat of the forbidden fruit and our teeth are set on edge so that now we have great cause a Isa 38. 1 2 3. to turn our faces toward the wall with good Hezekiah and to weep with great weeping to be ashamed of our selves and to be confounded in our selves for the sentence of eternall death is pronounced against us and we are now under the curse of the Law and under the fierce wrath and fury of an omnipotent Judge because we have sinned against God our Maker b Psal 137 2 3. we may now hang up our harps on the willowes for we can sing no more the joyfull songs of Zion we are cast out of paradise and out of the favour of God and we are now captives in a strange land under the tyranny of the devill We have not now that sweet familiarity with God which we had in the loynes of Adam before his fall we cannot now injoy the light of his countenance nor look upon him with comfort for all the beauty of our first holinesse is stained and polluted with sin and uncleannesse the pure image of God is defaced in us we have no knowledge in heavenly things no holy zeal in our hearts no purity in our affections and no readinesse of will to obey God We have lost all those precious Ornaments of grace of righteousness and true holiness of heavenly wisdom understanding and fear of God which made us lovely in his sight and now we are wholely naked c Ezek. 16 like a wretched infant that cannot help it self and we are void of all goodness and of all help and comfort in our selves If we look further into our condition we shall see how we are plunged into the depth of all misery for we are now slaves to every vanity and to every base sinfull lust and our servitude and bondage under them is very miserable because they tyrannize over our souls and yet we do willingly submit unto it which make us not able to break those chains of sin wherewith we are bound We have lost our right to the creatures and our dominion and soveraignity over them the earth will yeeld us no increase without excessive labour and toyl we ly open continually to all our spirituall enemies to all kinde of perills and dangers to all sorrows aad miseries in this life and to eternall burnings in the life to come Whatsoever we want in spirituall or temporall blessings and whatsoever we suffer by outward afflictions or inward troubles of minde is the fruit of sin and should make us call to minde and with much grief and sadnesse of heart to think upon our fall in
but when they saw Christ in so mean a condition they were offended in him and refused him according to this of Paul p 1 Cor. 1. 23. that Christ crucified was a stumbling block unto the Jewes and foolishnesse unto the Greeks If Caiaphas had rightly understood the Prophets he would have applied their Prophesies unto Christ that he came not to deliver them from the Romanes but to deliver them ouâ— of the bondage of sin and Satan also he had then understood by the words of Christ that he was both the Son of God and the Son of Man and though he stood before him in a contemptible manner and though his enemies did then insult over him yet they even they should hereafter see him sit in his humane nature at the right hand of God and also coming in the clouds of heaven at the last day to judge both the quick and the dead But he had no spirituall eye to discern the Divininity of Christ in this his despicable condition and he had no believing heart to give credite to his words though they were the words of truth and of eternall life but he made them an occasion of his death for presently upon this he delivers him up to Pilate the Romane Magistrate to be put to death for a blasphemer for the Regall Scepter was now taken from Judah and they had no power to put any man to death Here Meditate with pious affections upon the boundlesse mercy and bountifull goodnesse of God in offering grace to all Christ preacheth salvation even to those that did seek his life he revealeth unto them that were his deadly foes the greatest mystery that ever was to wit the incarnation of the eternall Son of God the exaltation of his humane nature and his glorious triumphing over all his enemies both spirituall and temporall at his second coming which will be at the great day of judgement q 1 Tim. 3. 16. This is the great mystery of godlinesse God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into glory But behold and see the ingratitude of most men who will not receive the glad tidings of salvation though it be brought home to their houses except they may have it on their own conditions if they may still injoy the pleasures and vanities of the world their carnall delights and bosome sins they are willing to imbrace it but if they must part with these and must have it with crosses troubles persecutions and torments and with such like incumbrances they are willing then to be without it Proud men will not receive the Gospell of peace of such as are of no esteem or reputation and Caiaphas will not receive the meanes of grace from Christ himself nor learn the way to salvation of him because he was in bands and his spirituall pride would not suffer him to hearken to the heavenly doctrine of Christ as he was now in this sad condition because he conceived him to be a man of no extraordinary gifts or endowments But be thou O my soul alwayes ready and prepared to receive the Gospel of salvation with all humblenesse of mind meekness of spirit and with hearty and pure affections whensoever or howsoever it be brought to theee from Christ for this heavenly liquor coming from Christ may be as wholsome as comfortable and as profitable if it be brought in an earthen Pitcher as in a silver Cup so that it be purely tempered and that the holy Ghost doth joyn in the administration of it to bring it close home to all thy spiritual diseases that by faith in Christ thou maist be cured If the Gospel of Christ be sincerely preached thou wilt find it full of heavenly comfots and of holy directions for a pious life and conversation 2 Tim. 3. 16. for it is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction and for instruction in righteousnesse that thou maist be perfect and throughly furnished unto all good works If thou doest esteem of it according to the condition or quality of him that brings it and not according to its own worth or the honour and majesty of him that sends it thou doest then too much undervalue it and dost dishonour God himself that sendeth it For God hath wrought mighty things by weak meanes 1 Cor. 1. 27. he hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty Also t Jam. 2. 5. He hath chosen the poor of this world to make them rich in faith and in grace for grace is the true riches of the soul and this is the wealth which is most to be desired When God works great things by small means he is then most to be glorified u Judg. 7. 2. God brought down Gideons Army of two and thirty thousand to three hundred that he might have the honour of the overthrow of the Midianites that Israel might not vaunt themselves against him saying Mine own hand hath saved me The Apostles of Christ did many mighty works by their Ministerie though most of them were but poor Fishermen for they did not work by their own strength but they had their power and abilities from Christ 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. for they were his Ambassadors and the word of Reconciliation was committed to them Peters denial of CHRIST COnsider now by Peters example how weak the deâ—rest of Gods Servants are if he doth leave them to their own strength and how unable they are to resist any temptation if the Devil be permitted to assault them and if God doth with-draw his assisting Grace from them in their temptation For though Peter but a few hours before did stoutly oppose a Band of Souldiers in his Masters defence to the hazzard of his own life yet now he is surprised with sudden fear through the subtiltie of the Devil which did greatly shake and endanger his Faith We may very well conceive that it was not barely the words of the High Priests servants that made Peter fall so fearfullie a Mat. 26. 69. as to deny his Lord and Master three several times and that with bitter execrations seeing he loved him so dearlie and did so faithfullie promise not to forsake him though he should die with him But the Devil put a sting into their words which did strike Peter with deadlie fear that he should be brought into the like troubles as his Master was then in and also into danger of his life without doubt the Devil did use all means to aggravate these feares in Peter by his suggestions to make him forget his former promise and to abjure his beloved Master For doubtless he did suggest unto him That if Christ were the Son of God then surelie God would not suffer him to be thus shamefullie intreated or if Christ were able to help himself he would not endure such
hearts Then much more should we be compassionately affected when we remember what great things Christ hath suffered for us and yet the remembrance of them should be delightfull to us because it was the Work of our redemption and the price which he paid for our ransome out of that spirituall bondage wherein we were holden by sin and Satan Wherefore if thy Saviours sufferings have made any impression in thy heart shew some fruits of thy thankfulnesse to him by thy bowels of tender compassion and of pity to his poor Saints that are in want and misery for thou mayest shew thy love to him in them Christ looked with the eye of mercy upon thee and did commiserate thy wofull and distressed condition he poured out the streams of his most precious blood from all parts of his body to wash away the filth and the staines of all thine iniquities and hast thou no sparks of Charity for his poor distressed members Canst thou think upon his poverty d Mat. 8. 20 who had not whereon to lay his head and not restrain thy thoughts from pride and ambition Canst thou see thy self in prosperity and not pity and relieve the servants of God that are in misery Think upon his nakednesse when he was upon the crosse for thee to asswage thy vainity in apparell and to induce thee to cloath his servants in their naked condition remember his hunger and thirst to make thee sober and temperate in thy diet and to refresh his hungry Members with something that comes from thy table that Psal 69. 22. thy table become not a snare before thee If thou injoyest thy liberty think upon thy Saviours bonds and cast an eye of compassion upon his poor servants in the dungeon If thou canst make this good use of thy Meditations upon the passion and sufferings of Christ it is a comfortable evidence and a good assurance that Christ suffered for thee and that thou art of the number of those whom he hath bought with his own blood and whom he hath redeemed out of the prison of eternall death CHRISTS sufferings under the Crosse VVE come now to consider yet further how cruelly the stony-hearted Jewes and the barbarous people dealt with our beloved Saviour for they laid the heavy crosse upon him to bear it to Mount Calvary whereon he was to be crucified though he was much weakened by his bitter Agony but a little before and for want of rest all that night and though his back was rent and torn with the whip his body fore with cruell blowes and faint with fasting and with the losse of blâ—â—â— But because they feared he would faint by the way or not come soon enough to the place where he was to dye that they might have their fill of cruelty against him and because the day was now farre spent a Luk. 23. 16. Mat. 27. 32. they compelled Simon a Cyrenian to bear his crosse after him Now we may inlarge our Meditations upon the sorrows of our sweet Saviour which do every hour increase upon him and his deadly foes do still add grief to his misery by laying his crosse upon his tender back yet he did patiently bear it though he was very sensible of the weight and burden of it which was too heavy for his humane strength considering how much he was weakened This wooden Crosse was but the shadow of that which did most presse him for it was the wrath of God which was now poured out upon him that was such an unsupportable burden that his humane nature could not bear it without the power of his Deity to support and assist him in it Simon could help him bear this crosse but no creature either man or Angel could help him bear the burden of Gods wrath for the guilt of our sins that was now charged upon him which was so great and so heavy that it made his knees to bow his heart to faint and his very soul to tremble for he stood now before the Tribunal of Gods justice as guilty of all manner of sin Original and actual of Omission and of Comission for the guilt of the foulest sins of all the elect of God was imputed to him and he was to satisfie the justice of God for every sin great and smal before he could be eased of his sorrowes paines and torturings and before he could finish the work of our redemption which God sent him to do In Christ was verified this of the Prophet b Isa 63. 3 5 I have trodden the wine-presse alone and of the people there was none with me and I looked and there was none to help and I wondered that there was none to uphold therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me and it upheld me This is he whom John saw sitting upon a c Rev. 19 11 13. white horse who was cloathed with a vesture dipt in blood and his name is called the Word of God Christ was that d Isa 63. 1. mighty warrier who came from Edom who had many strong enemies to encounter with that did sorely wound him but at length he got the victory over them all by the greatnesse of his strength and by the righteousnesse of his Words and therefore he was glorious in his red apparell and mighty to save all such as belong unto him and do put their trust in him This crosse is a fit resemblance of all the troubles and sorrowes that we shall meet with in this life for it was heavy and troublesome to bear First because Christ himself did bear it he found the weight and trouble of it and he was a man of sorrowes he was acquainted with grief and he did feel the burden of our afflictions and tribulations to make them easie to us and according to our strength Secondly because it was so heavy unto Christ that he was ready to faint under it whereby he did expresse in himself the weaknesse and frailty of our nature for if crosses and tribulations presse hard upon us we are ready naturally to repine to cast off all hope and to sink under the burden of them and therefore Christ knowing by his own experience the weight of them and our inabilâ—ty to bear them with a contented patience will comfort support and strengthen us under them Thirdly that was a wooden crosse which was not for perpetuity but continued onely for a time to shew that our crosses and sorrowes continue not for ever for God doth afflict us but for a short time but his loving kindnesse and tender mercies to us continue for ever Thus saith holy David e Psal 30. 5. His anger endureth but a moment in his favour is life weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Christ will not suffer us to faint under our troubles and miseries but will ease and refresh us as Simon eased him when he was under the like condition But if it be the will and pleasure of God that the crosse
darkning of the Sun was also an evident sign to the Jews of their unbelief and to shew the blindnesse of their understanding the obstinacy of their will and that they were given up to a reprobate mind as a just judgement of God for their unbelief and for this their loud crying sin in which sad condition they continue even to this day d 2 Cor. 3. 13 14. for their mindes were blinded and in the reading of the Old Testament there was a vail upon their heart so that they could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished which vail is not yet taken away from them This was typified by that vail which Moses put over his face when he was come down from the Mount and from â— Exod. 34. 33. the Presence of God In the dayes of Samuel God did shew a manifest token of his high displeasure against his people for their great sin f 1 Sam. 12. 17. when he sent thunder and rain in the time of wheat harvest to let them know that their wickednesse was great in the sight of the Lord in asking them a King g 2 Sam. 8. 7. because they had rejected the Lord that he should not reign over them God will set his mark upon obstinate and rebellious sinners that will not be reclaimed and turn to the Lord as he did upon Cain and others to brand them with perpetuall infamy and shame for their impenitency God hath also severall judgements for wicked men as we may see by dayly experience in these sinfull times Some he marks for the sword some for famine others for the pestilence sudden death or the like upon whomsoever his mark is set there the judgement will fall God hath likewise his mark of preservation which he will set upon his own servants in times of mortality or of any other common calamity h Zech. 9. 4. for when he sendeth forth his destroying Angel in a general calamity to destroy thousands he will also in much mercy send forth another Angel to mark and seal those in their foreheads who are to be preserved that whatsoever the calamity be it may not hurt them Consider now how uncomfortable it is to want the light of the Sun and what little joy we can take in this life if we want the light of our eyes and then we shall see that it is much more uncomfortable to want the spirituall light of our understanding Thus saith Christ i Mat. 6. 22 23. The light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light But if thine eye be evill thy whole body shall be full of darknesse If therefore the light that is in thee be darknesse how great is that darknesse Wherefore if the Sun of righteousnesse doth not shine upon us to give light to our understanding if he doth not heal the perversenesse of our will and the sinfulnesse of our affections we shall walk in darknesse and in the shadow of death for we shall be without a guide to keep us from stumbling and falling dangerously into grosse sins wherein if we continue without repentance we may justly fear some judgement of God to fall on us or some manifest sign of his indignation to be shewed upon us for our sins We should therefore learn this heavenly wisdom to break off from our sins to day by true repentance turning to the Lord lest we be marked for destruction too morrow and we should make our peace with God by faith in Christ that we may be marked with the seal of redemption which Christ will stamp upon every true believers heart for their preservation from evill in this life and for their eternall felicity in the life to come Consider yet further how the Sun in the Firmament did mourn to see the King of glory thus abased to see the ignominy and disgrace that was cast upon him how cruelly he was used and how unjustly he was put to death This should teach us to mourn for the calamities of the Church of God for the loss of any pillar in that spirituall building We have many examples of the servants of God for this pious duty Jeremiah Ezrah Nehemiah and others mourned and lamented greatly for the first desolations of Jerusalem and of the Temple k Luk. 19. 41 42 43. Christ himself wept over Jerusalem when he beheld it because he knew the finall destruction that should shortly after come upon it When Elisha l 2 King 13. 14. the Prophet was fallen sick of the sicknesse whereof he dyed Joash the King of Israel came down unto him and wept over his face and said O my Father my Father the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof This was a full expression of the grief and sorrow of his heart for the losse of so great a Prophet who was a strong Pillar in the house of Israel Consider also that if there be no mourning and no tears for the sins of a nation or people God will make the heavens to mourn and the clouds to pour down rivers of tears to teach us what we should do when the land is over-grown with the weeds of sin If it be so that the servants of God do mourn for the miseries that his Church doth suffer and for the losse or pulling down of any polished stone in that heavenly building then whose servants are they and what master do they serve that dismember the mysticall body of Christ that pull down any Pillar of his Church or pull any polished stone out of his spirituall Temple whereby it may be in danger of ruine or to fall to decay Also they are in a sad condition that pollute deface or throw down his materiall temples to the dishonour of his Name to the suppressing of his true worship and service and to bring in sects and schismes profanenesse and superstition God will not suffer such instruments of wickednesse to go unpunished but in his due Time he will make them examples of his fury if they do not sincerely repent of their crying sins and cursed abominations By this strange darknesse of the Sun we may also learn how uncomfortable it is to a childe of God to have the light of his Countenance clouded from him m Psal 30. 7 David was much troubled when God did hide his Face from him How was Christ himself perplexed in his soul when the light of Gods countenance was withdrawen from him It made him cry out in the bitternesse of his Spirit My God my God why hast thou forsaken me As it is the greatest blessednesse to â—njoy the favour of God so it is most uncomfortable when we have no apprehension of it Thus saith David of himself n Psal 21. 6 Thou haste made him exceeding glad with thy countenance Also thus he prayeth o Psal 4. 6. Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us It doth likewise teach us
should he have learned by his own experience what we suffer when we are under the crosse that he might pity us This may teach us to bear patiently whatsoever God doth lay upon us though the instruments that he useth be our deadly foes because it is his will and pleasure to have it so b 2 Sam. 16. 1â— Thus did David meekly bear the cursing of Shimâ—i and would not suffer Abishai to kill him because it was the Lords will it should be so This Meditation will greatly comfort our fainting spirits when we are under any strong temptation or worldly misery that no enemy be he never so powerfull or his heart never so malicious can imagine more against us in his wicked thoughts or act more with his cruell hands than Divine Providence hath appointed Also no calamity pain or sicknesse can afflict us without his will no perill or danger can come near us without his permission and we shall suffer no more under any crosse than God in his wisdom knoweth to to be profitable for us If we are thus perswaded it will greatly comfort us in all our sufferings and keep us from murmuring and repining when GODS visitation is upon us Wherefore let no fear of danger cast down our hope let no storme of persecution shake the foundation of our faith and let no waves of affliction quench the flame of our love or abate the zeal of our affections to our dear Saviour who spared not his own life for us but poured out his very heart bloud for our justification and salvation If the strength of grace that is in us be not answerable to what we suffer or to the power of our corruptions Christ will either take off some part of our burden or give us more strength to bear it and he will also make us able by degrees to overcome our corruptions that we may live a sanctified life to the Lord and then let death come how or when it will we shall dye in the Lord which will be great gain and advantage to us Now let the Meditations of thy heart be fixed upon the death of thy precious Saviour that from thence thou maist draw vertue and power by faith to mortifie and kill the body of sin that by nature is in thee also to have a firm assurance that he hath reconciled thee to God by the merit of his blood Why then dost thou cherish any sin to crucifie thy Redeemer afresh What is this that thou doest when thou delightest in swearing in uncleannesse in drunkennesse and the like Why dost thou delay thy turning unto God Why dost thou thus indanger the salvation of thy soul Oh think upon the iniquity of thy sin with hatred and detestation which hath put to death thy gracious Redeemer think upon thy sin with godly sorrow and true compunction of heart which did so separate thee from thy God that nothing could restore thee into his grace and favour but the death of his eternall Son Wherefore seek earnestly by faithfull Prayer to thy sweet Saviour that thou mayest finde the vertue and power of his death in the crucifying of all the severall members of this body of sin that by nature is inherent in thee that so thy corruptions may be weakened and thou mayest be dayly renewed by the strength of that sanctifying grace which the Holy Ghost hath wrought in thee Consider now in the last place how rigorously God did deal with his onely Son throughout his whole passion he gave him no intermission in his suffering but as soon as one sorrow was past another presently came in the place when one pain was over a greater was ready to supply the room c Psal 102. 4. his heart was smitten and withered like grasse so that he forgat to eat his bread his torturings came so fast upon him that he had no time to refresh himself with bread or water but above all Gods fury was upon him in all his sufferings which made his passion beyond the strength of nature God never dealt thus with any of his servants but still they had some intermission in their afflictions some comfort in their sorrowes and some heavenly consolation to uphold their spirits or else a joyfull deliverance out of them Joseph had his afflictions and yet at length God advanced him to great honour Jobs afflictions came upon him as fast as one messenger could follow another at last misery seized upon his own body but in the end God gave him double as much as he took from him So likewise David and many more have suffered very great afflictions and torments but none like unto Christ whose passion continued to his heath d 2 Cor. 11. Paul was above measure afflicted persecuted and tormented for the Name of Christ and at last he dyed by the sword but all this while he had Christ to support him with many spiritual consolations Wherefore howsoever God is pleased to deal with us in this life it will be in mercy and in judgement for our good and not in fury or in the rigour of his justice for our confusion and he will bountifully reward us in the life to come if we hold out constant to the end What happened at CHRISTS Death VVHen the soul of our blessed Redeemer was dissolved and separated from his breathlesse body a Mat. 27. 51. The vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottome the earth did quake the rocks rent the graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose and came out of their graves after his resurrection God did shew these strange signs and wonders at the death of his Son as fore-runners of the fearfull judgements that soon after should come upon that renowned City and upon the whole nation of the Jews and so strike terrour into their hearts for their odious and detestable sin in crucifying the Lord of glory if by any means they could be made sensible of their sins that they might repent and turn to the Lord that so God might turn away his judgements and have mercy on them This hath been Gods usuall course to give warning before he strikes to threaten before the judgement comes and nothing but repentance can stay Gods hand b 1 Kin. 21. 29. Ahabs outward form of humiliation kept off the judgement from himself that God hath denounced against his house by his Prophet The Ninivites repenâ—ed at the Preaching of Jouah and therefore God brought not the evill upon them which he threatned against that great City But the house of Juda would not repent though God sent his Prophets to them early and late and therefore they were carried away captives into Babylon Thus doth God in great mercy give warning before he doth visite a nation or a people in his wrath that they should prevent the judgement by their repentance First God did shew by the renting of the vail of the Temple that the partition wall was
Christ shall be received up to eternall glory The Saints that then arose out of their graves were forerunners of this generall resurrection This was a dreadfull sign to the cruell Jews who had imbrewed their hands in the blood of Christ for the same Jesus whom they crucified shall be the Supream Judge at that day before whom they must appear to answer for this their bloody fact It may also be a terrible warning to all wicked men that are defiled with innocent blood and that live in profanenesse and sensuality fulfilling their sinfull lusts without any remorse of conscience or holy desire to be reclaimed from their wicked wayes and without any care to make their peace with God by faith in Christ and by true repentance for a time will come when they must answer the rigour of Gods justice for all their crying sins and hainous abominations Wherefore enter into a serious consideration with thy self how thou art prepared and fitted for thy grave If thou hast lived to the world to the flesh to the devill or to thy self thou art in a sad and lamentable condition for the grave cannot keep thee from judgement but must open her mouth h Jona 2 10 like Jonahs Whale at the sound of the last Trumpet and it will deliver thee up even as it sound thee If thy grave receive thee an hypocrite a blasphemer a swearer an unclean person or the like it will deliver thee up to judgement all polluted with the guilt and filth of the same sins i Job 20. 11 If thy bones are full of the sins of thy youth they will lye down with thee in the dust and they will cleave fast to thee when thou shalt rise again How canst thou then stand before the Tribunall seat of God and before all his glorious Angels and blessed Saints if thou art in this sinfull condition And how canst thou endure the rigour of his justice and the severity of his judgement If this consideration were well imprinted in thy heart it would make thee afraid to go on in a way of sin without repentance But such as have lived to the Lord shall dye in the Lord and shall sleep quietly in their graves as in their beds k Mal. 3. 17. for they are the Lords Jewels and he keeps them in these cabinets untill the day that he shall make up his Jewels Wherefore if we have any interest in Christ by faith his blood will cleanse us from all our sins his righteousnesse will make us accepted in the sight of God and he will account us as his jewels and then Christ will sanctifie the grave to us l Isa 57. â— We shall enter into Peace we shall rest in our beds walking in his righteousness Thus comfortably shall we enter into the grave if we have an holy assurance by the witnesse of his Spirit to our spirits that we dye in the Lord and then our resurrection will be with unspeakable joy and comfort to us Of the Buriall of Christ THough Christ dyed a most shamefull and ignominious death yet he had honourable buriall according to the manner of the Jews a John 19. 40 41. For Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus two honourable men among the Jews begged leave of Pilate and took down his body from the Crosse and wrapped it in linnen cloathes with spices and laid it in a new sepulchre which was hewen out in a rock wherein was never man yet laid and they rolled a great stone to the doore of the sepulchre But the chief Priests and Pharisees thought him not safe enough and therefore to prevent his resurrection as they thought b Mat. 27. 64 65. they got leave of Pilate to make the Sepulchre sure Then they sealed the stone and set a watch about the Sepulchre yet notwithstanding at Gods appointed time he did rise again from the dead by the power of his Deity which was not separated from his humane nature though he were now dead c Psal 16. 10. for God would not suffer his holy One to see corruption d 1 Cor. 15. 44. and his naturall body was raised up a spirituall and glorified body But what comfort can we draw from Christ now he is dead Can we have any benefit by him as he is now buried It is true which Christ said e John 6. 63 It is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing Though we can draw no comfort from the body of Christ as it is now in the grave yet by his eternall Spirit which ever liveth we may receive great benefit and much spiritual consolation by the death burial of our Saviour Christ For by faith we may draw vertue and power from thence to kill that body of sin which by nature is in us and to bury it with Christ that the new man of holinesse and righteousnesse may be quickned and raised up in us for it is not enough to mortâ—fie and kill this body of sin but we must also bury it and every member of it with Christ that no sin though it be never so profitable or pleasing to our nature may gather strength to over-power us or to bring us again into subjection that â—very base lust should reign over us to make us slaves unto sin It is true that sin will still dwell in us but the Spirit of Christ will make us able by the vertue of his death so to kill the power of it that it shall not have dominion over us Grace worketh our sanctification by degrees and we cannot expect perfection of holinesse untill we come into the Kingdome of Heaven Now if we will bury our sins in the Sepulchre of our blessed Saviour we must not onely forbear the actuall committing of sin but we must quite loose the delightful remembrance of it for if we do still retain with approbation a sinfull remembrance of our former sins we do then keep them above ground and unburied and they will be odious in the sight of God though the act of sin be mortified in us f Rom. 6. 3 4 5. If we are baptized into Jesus Christ we are baptized into his death and therefore we are buried with him by Baptisme into death that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin but should walk in newnesse of life If we be thus buried with Christ then the sweet perfume and precious odours of his merits will take away the stench and noisomnesse of our sins from the Lord our God Wherefore by faith we shall draw a new principle of grace from Christ to be crucified with him to live and dye in him to be buried with him both in the act and in the delight of sin g Col. 3. 1. and to rise again with him in an holy and sanctified life and we shall be continually with him to have our communion and fellowship with him for every member of his mysticall body will be where he is in
which was determined by all the three Persons in the holy Trinity before the world was he laid aside his Glory and humbled himself for that great Work which was decreed in the secret Counsel of God and to be wrought at his appointed time The first degree of Christs Humiliation was that he gave away the manifestation of glory of his Deity which he had with the Father in heaven which was his due from his first incarnation the bright beams whereof were clouded with his humanity for he took upon himself our flesh and was cloathed with our weak and frail nature and was subject to such humane passions and infirmities as might be without sin This was a great degree of Humiliation for the eternall King of glory to leave his glorious mansions in heaven and to come down and be with us men here upon earth and to take up his habitation in an earthly tabernacle which was subject to hunger thirst and heat and cold to pain torment and death it self The second Degree of his Humiliation was that he took upon himself the guilt of our sins and did undertake to fulfill the whole righteousnesse of the Law for us and to satisfie the justice of God for all the sins of his Elect not that his humane nature was polluted or stained with any sin For the holy Ghost did so sanctifie the Virgins wombe that he was conceived and born without Originall sin and he lived without any actuall transgression but our sins were imputed to him and therefore as the Apostle saith a Gal. 3. 13 He was made a curse for us Also b Tit. 2. 14. Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works He gave his body and all the parts of it to the persecutors tormentors he gave his blood to be spilt and his life for the redemption of man he gave his soul to suffer anguish and sorrow c â—sa 53. 10. and to be aâ— of fering for sin also in some sort he gave his Deity by suffering most horrible blasphemies that were cast upon him d Acts 20. 28. and God purchased to himself a Church with his own blood This was a very low abasement of Christ when he left all his glory in heaven and came down to live here upon earth not in the nature of Angels but he cloathed himself with our flesh which was all stained and defiled with the guilt of our sins e Isa 53. 6. for God laid on him the iniquity of us all The third degreee of Christs Humiliation was that he was content with a mean condition of life here upon earth his birth and education was very mean he was exposed to wants and necessities to perils and dangers even from his infancy and after he began his Ministry he had no abiding place f Mat. 8. 20. he had not where to lay his head and he did the office of a servant to his own Disciple g John 13. 5 when he washed their feet for as the Apostle saith h Phâ—l 2. 7. He made himself of nâ— reputation and took upon him the form of a servant Christ continually travelled from place to place to teach the people to heal the sick to cleanse the lepers and to cast out Devils he was often wearied often hungry and often thirsty Thus was his whole life full of sorrowes and full of afflictions and thus low did the eternall Son of God humble and abase himself to advance us and to perfect the work of our redemption Lastly in his passion he was made a scorn to the most abject of all the people and a derision both to Jew and Gentile he suffered both in his soul and in his body as much anguish pain and torment as the power of the divell and the malice of wicked men was able to inflict upon him And as if all this was not sufficient to humble him enough God himself did fiercely assault him for he kept all comfort from him when he was in his greatest extremity and his wrath went along with all his other sufferings When Christ had suffered to the full so much as the justice of God required in satisfaction for all our sins and that the work of our Redemption was perfectly finished then he commended his soul unto God and dyed upon the Crosse according to this of the Apostle i Phil. 2 8. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the crosse this kinde of death was most painfull shamefull and accursed Here is a short view of the humiliation of Christ for our weak understandings cannot reach to the depth of that which Christ suffered for us much lesse can we reach to the honour and dignity of his Person in his Divine nature which doth make his sufferings and his Humiliation far the greater If we do seriously meditate upon it with pious affections it will teach us to adore his sacred Majesty with reverence and godly fear to love him with a perfect love to serve and obey him with a pure and upright heart and to suffer any thing for his sake with a cheerfull minde Also if we have gained any grace by the death and passion of Christ it will teach us meeknesse of spirit and humility of minde though we have places of preheminence and authority above other men If God shall bring us down from an high degree to a mean condition of life we shall bear it contentedly because God is the sole disposer of all things and he can raise us to an higher degree if he pleaseth If what we have be too little for us and that we can improve more to the best advantage of Gods glory he will then in his good time bestow more upon us If our life be full of troubles and sorrowes the Humiliation of Christ will teach us k 1 Pet. 5. 6 7 to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt us in due time We may safely cast our care upon him for he careth for us l Psal 18. 35 His right hand will hold us up m Psal 17. 5 He will hold up our goings in his paths that our footsteps slip not n Cant. 2. 6. Christ also will put his left hand under our heads and with his right hand he will imbrace us Wherefore if we have this gracious humility of spirit it will produce these and many more blessed fruits to give us comfort in a troublesome and painfull life And when death comes it will be favourable to a meek and humble spirit and well-come to a good conscience if we be thus qualified it will bring us to our graves in peace and then we shall have a joyfull and a blessed resurrection Christ did willingly humble himself to the death for us why should we be unwilling to resign up our life unto him do we know no other happinesse or
going before to judgement and some mens follow after Zophar also saith thus of the wicked q Job 20. 11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth which shall lye down with him in the dust Consider also that Christ through his own death hath destroyed the Divell r Heb. 2. 14 that had the power of death so that now the Divel is most weak against the servants of God at the time of their death whereas to the wicked he is a strong enemy and will not be beaten from their beds-feet until he hath gotten their souls which are given him for a prey Å¿ Luk. 10. 22 But God hath appointed his holy Angels to attend upon his children when they depart out of this life and to receive their souls from the hand of death to carry them up into Abraham's bosome This is a great comfort and benefit to them when they are to leave this world and it is such a Gain as no naturall and unregenerate man can expect Wherefore t 2 Pet. 1. 10 we ought to use all care and diligence to make our calling and election sure and to make sure our union with Christ by faith that so we may live a sanctified life to the Lord and then let Death come how or when it will we shall undoubtedly dye in the Lord for death may come in an hour or in a moment when we look not for it it may break in upon us like a theefe in the night and take away our souls at unawares but this need not trouble us for if our life hath been holy and upright towards God our death cannot be but sanctified to us in Christ who wil keep our souls out of the power of the divel For if we have no other power to preserve them from destruction but what nature or common grace can afford us we are not able to encounter with death to make any advantage by it for the strength of nature will decay in us and common grace can give us no antidote against the sting of death it is onely faith in Christ which is the true Antidote against the terrours of death and against the power of the Divell nature can give us no balm to heal the wounds and putrid sores that sin hath made in our souls which must be cured before we go hence or else death will deliver them up in such a loathsome condition as that God will not accept them u Jer. 46. 11 But if we go up to Mount Gilead we shall finde balme there which will cure us of all our spiritual diseases For in vain we shall use many medicines if we neglect this balm which is the blood of Christ Jer. â— 22. There is balm in Gilead there is a Physician even Jesus Christ our blessed Redeemer that can recover the health of our souls and can rescue them out of the jawes of death and from the power of the Divel Now let the Meditations of thy heart be continually how to injoy Christ in thy life that thy soul may injoy him at thy death and how to make the true gain of thy time here that when death shall bereave thee of all time Christ may be then thy gain for ever If thou wilt have any hope of a comfortable death thou must labour to live an holy life unto God for a vicious and sinfull life can give thee no assurance of a blessed death and if Christ be not thy Redeemer in thy life he will not be thy Saviour at thy death to save thy soul from destruction and to bring it to eternall blisse Also if thou desirest to injoy heavenly felicity with the Saints of God thou must so live in the true fear of God that thou mayest dye in his favour and then death will open the door and give thy soul free passage to injoy it All the good that Christ hath procured for us by his death cannot be fully injoyed in this life but is reserved for us in heaven which we must come to possesse by death and therefore Christ will so prepare us for it with his sanctifying grace and will also prepare death for us that it shall not hinder us of these great benefits but be a speciall means to bring us to the full possession of them If we do well consider and faithfully believe that we shall have this gain by Christ in our death how will it strengthen us against the fears and terrours of death How will it confirm us in a stedfast hope of a joyful resurrection How will it stir up our hearts and affections to live as becometh the children of God that death may deliver up our souls unto him and how willingly shall we part with this world if we have an holy assurance to injoy a far better Inheritance in the world to come But Christ is no gain to unregenerate men in their death for as they would not know him in their life so he will not know them when they dye but will leave them to the power of death to binde them over unto judgement Death will bereave them of all their wealth and possessions it will strip them of all their rich jewels and precious ornaments it will lay their honours in the dust it will take away all their beauty strength and comelinesse which was their pride and it will leave them nothing but their winding-sheet neither will it give them any recompence for all their losses but shame and confusion pain and torment which never shall have end x Luk. 16. Thus it was with the rich man in the Gospel for death took him away from all that he had and left him not so much as a little water to cool his tongue when he was in the tormenting flames and thus it is with all rich men if they are not rich in faith and in grace But some are not willing to dye through humane frailty and weaknesse though they be in the state of grace y Mat. 26. 41. for the spirit may be ready though the flesh be weak Others have no assurance of a better life and therefore they would willingly keep this which they now injoy Some again have their hearts and affections so glewed to earthly things that the very thoughts of death is bitter to them Others also are loath to dye because they cannot provide for wife and children and they have none to take care of them Though God requires this Christian care of them yet we must not distrust the goodnesse of God whose eye of providence is upon all his creatures then much more upon those that belong unto him But when we have done our best endeavor in an honest calling to provide for them yet must leave them scant of means for their subsistance then God will have a special care of such Widows fatherles children therefore he hath given many strict commands concerning them and he hath made many promises of protection help and comfort to
them z Psal 68. 5 A father of the fatherlesse and a judge of the widowes is God in his holy habitation Also God will blesse the children if their fathers have lived in the true fear of God and he will provide for them if death takes away their parents and they are left destitute of food and rayment But this may be an advantage even to such children because then they are immediatly commended to the care and providence of God who best knoweth how to make provision for them and he will neither be wanting in the trust that is committed to him neither wil he frustrate the hope of those that rest and depend upon him for succour in time of need Consider in the last place what the Son of Sirach saith a Eccl. 41. 1 2. That as the remembrance of death is bitter to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions unto the man that hath nothing to vex him and that hath prosperity in all things yea unto him that is yet able to receive meat so the sentence of death is acceptable unto the needy and unto him whose strength faileth that is now in the last age and is vexed with all things and to him that despaireth and hath lost patience But none can be truly willing to dye but onely a true Christian that is ingrafted into Christ and hath an holy assurance that he dyeth in the love and favour of God and doth faithfully hope for that Crown of righteousness and that heavenly Inheritance which the righteous Judge hath reserved for him If we have this assurance by our union with Christ and also a stedfast hope of salvation well grounded upon the promises of God we shall not be afraid to look death in the face nor unwilling to resign up our souls unto God before death doth violently or suddenly take them from us For Christ hath taken away the evill that is in death and hath so weakened the power of it that it cannot bereave our souls of that spiritual comfort and gain which we have by him though sometimes we cannot feel it in a sudden or violent death neither can it binde us over unto judgement For nothing can dissolve the union that is between Christ and our souls by faith Though God should take us away when we are young or in our middle age as he did that good King Josiah yet it shall be for our great Advantage that we should not see the evill that is to come and the sooner to injoy our eternall rest and happinesse with Christ Our Advantage and gain by CHRIST after death BUt the chiefest gain that a true Believer hath by Christ is after death for whatsoever he gained by him in life or in death was to fit him for the injoyment of this great gain and to give him some assurance of it and some taste how great and how comfortable it is We have this heavenly advantage by Christ in this life but in hope and we cannot come to the full fruition of it until after death and then we shall find it to be so great that no tongue can expresse it and no heart can conceive it but if we duly consider from what evils and miseries we shall be then freed and what glory and blessedness we shall then injoy we may conceive something of this unspeakable gain First we shall be freed from all the temptations and suggestions of the devil a Rev. 12. 9. for he is cast out into the earth and all his wicked Angels are cast out with him They never had any place in heaven since their fall though they flie in the air or mount up to the first or second region of heaven yet they cannot come into the heaven of happinesse where the Saints and Angels of God have their habitation for heaven is not a place for such unclean spirits Also in heaven we shall be freed from all worldly temptations from all carnal delights and earthly vanities that may intice us to sin b Rev. 21. 27 For there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth nor whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie for as the place is most pure so they that come there must be pure and holy Secondly in heaven we shall be freed from the issues of temptation and that is sin for thus saith the Prophet c Jer. 3. 17. When the Nations shall be gathered unto the Throne of the Lord they shall walk no more after the imaginations of their evill heart In this life the soul is purged and purified from the guilt of sin by the bloud of Christ and all the spots and staines of sin are taken away by the laver of regeneration the body also is purified and refined in the grave by the vertue of Christs death and burial and therefore d 1 Cor. 15. 41. though it be sown in corruption in dishonour and in weaknesse yet it is raised in incorruption in glory and in power it is sowen a naturall body but it is raised a spirituall body which is subject to no sin corruption or infirmity which are the fruits of sin and it is endowed with perfect abilities to glorifie God together with the Saints and Angels in heaven So long as we live in the flesh we cannot but sin against God but when this mortal shall put on immortality there will be then no more place for sin but our whole nature shall be made spiritural and heavenly This consideration should make us desire with Paul e Phil. 1. 23. To be dissolved and to be with Christ that we might no more sin against our God nor offend him with our pollutions but alwayes to sing praises and Hallelujahs unto him as the Saints and Angels do in heaven Thirdly we shall then be freed from all troubles and sorrowes from all pain and diseases of body from all anguish of spirit and grief of hears f Rev. 25. 4. For God will wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Thus are the servants of God freed from all temptations unto sin from all sin and from all misery and sorrow after death by the merit of Christs death and passion but carnal and unregenerate men carry their sins with them to the grave and death opens the gate to their eternal torments in hell for it bindeth them over to the great and terrible day of judgement when the fiercenesse of Gods wrath shall be poured out upon them to their utter confusion We come now to consider what great honour and what joy and comfort the servants of God shall have by Christ after death for though their life here be full of sorrowes yet after death they shall be freed from them all and they shall also have the fulnesse of all true comfort and consolation First we shall injoy God himself g 2
Prophesies were then fulfilled that were spoken of him in his life e Luk. 23. 46. Then he commended his Spirit into the hands of his Father and gave up the Ghost As this Lamb of God lived in perfect innocency so he dyed in perfect meeknesse Then presently after f Joh. 19. 34 one of the souldiers pierced his side with a spear to his very heart and forthwith câ—me thereout bloud and water that the Scripture might be fulfilled g Zech. 12 10. They shal look on him whom they pierced This was also done that we might faithfully believe the truth of his death This is a speciall Article of our Faith which we must stedfastly believe if we will have comfort in the assurance of our redemption for if Christ had not truly dyed the justice of God had not been fully satisfied for our sins we could have had no power to dye unto sin or to mortifie our corruptions and sinfull lusts and death would be most bitter fearfull and terrible to us If Christ had not dyed and rose again how could death have been destroyed How could the sting of death be taken out Who should have sanctified death unto us And how could we be willing to imbrace it Wherefore if we do truly believe the death of Christ and that he dyed for us it will minister much matter of exceeding great consolation to our souls at the hour of our dissolution From the former considerations we may draw much comfortable matter for our hearts to meditate upon First it doth evidently appear that our Saviour Christ did assume to his Deity our whole nature soul and body which did still retain all the properties of humane nature unconfounded with his Deity h Heb. 2. 17 He was like unto us in all things i Heb 4. 25. sin onely excepted His soul was sensible of grief and sorrow his body did feel the smart of pain he was subject to all our naturall passions and infirmities which may be without sin he was sensible of hunger thirst wearinesse and the like he was also subject to mortality though not to corruption for k Psal 16. 10 God would not suffer his holy One to see corruption because he had no spot or stain of sin in him and there was a true dissolution of his soul from his body when he dyed If Christ had not assumed our whole nature he could not have perfectly saved and redeemed us soul and body and then the work which God sent him to do had not been finished but we had still remained in our sins Heb. 10. 10 But the whole work of our Redemption was fully wrought by that which he suffered both in his soul and in his body to give us an holy assurance that we are freed from the guilt of sin here and saved from the condemning power of sin hereafter Secondly we may learn from thence this instruction so to regulate our thirsty desires that they may be for the glory of God and not for own sinfull ends If we thirst after the things of this world for any other end than for the honour of God our thirst is sinful and it will be satisfied with vinegar or gal and if we thirst after blood rapine or revenge the end of these and the like thirsty desires will be the death of our souls But if our thirst be holy and heavenly we shall then have thirsty desires and holy endeavours m Isal 613. how to injoy God and to do his will how to preserve our neighbours safety and how to keep our selves undefiled and if we can say as David did n Psal 143. 6. My soul thirsteth after thee O Lord as a thirsty land then our thirst shall be quenched and our souls shall be refreshed with the sweet comforts of God Also if we thirst after Christ Jesus who is the chief honour of a Christian and after grace and godlinesse which are the true riches of the soul then Christ will be a fountain of living water to us which onely can quench our spirituall o Joh. 4. 10. thirst and refresh our panting souls and it shall spring up in us to everlasting life Christ calleth every one to drink of this water p John 7. 37 Is any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Thus saith the Prophet q Isa 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and ye that have no silver come buy and eat come I say buy wine and milk without silver and without money Here Christ offereth himself and his graces freely But to whom It is onely to such as have a spiritual thirst after him Wherefore if this be the thirst of our souls to injoy Christ and him crucified we shall see such a Fountain of water of life flow out of his blessed fide as will purifie our hearts from all sin and cleanse our consciences from all iniquity whereby our thirsty souls will be more comforted and refreshed than our bodies can be by any Fountain of Water in our naturall thirst r Psal 42. This holy thirst made Davids soul pant more after God than the Hart panteth after the water-brooks Thirdly from this consideration that Christ had vinegar given him in a spunge we may learn this profitable Doctrine that there is no content nor stability in any earthly thing for though we should injoy all the contentment that the world can give us yet it will not satisfie our desires something will be wanting and we shall still thirst after more and we shall finde soureness and bitternesse in the best of earthly things Also that which we do possesse we have it but in a spunge a sudden casualty by fire or water a word spoken against King or State will wring it out a little pain or sickness a little trouble or sorrow will soon blaste the comfort of of it and make it like vinegar to our taste If we should meet with nothing to imbitter or blast our earthly joyes yet in their own nature they are transitory and unstable Å¿ Eccl. 12. 1. and when old age cometh we shall take no pleasure in them and death will quite bereave us of them all Now then if we put our trust in these vain things they will deceive and will give us no solide comfort except we do injoy them in Christ for without him the best of all earthly blessings are but vanity and vexation of Spirit Wherefore let this be our greatest care our chiefest joy and the desire of our souls to injoy Christ to be joyned unto him with the bond of faith and love and then whatsoever our estate or condition be we shall finde comfort in it we shall injoy it with a good conscience we shall glorifie God with it and if we do casually lose it we shall lose nothing by it for we shall still injoy Christ who will abundantly recompense our earthly losses with spirituall comforts here and with an eternall
inheritance hereafter Fourthly when death comes near to us we have most need of the best comforts both for soul and body that we may the more strongly encounter with this terrible enemy in the dissolution of our souls from our bodies but Christ at this time had soure vinegar given him which could no way comfort him but rather aggravate his pains and sorrowes when he was every way in great extremity This doth fitly resemble the case of many of Gods dear servants for they are often troubled and perplexed with many fears doubtings temptations and evil sugestions of the devil when they are to enter into a single combate with death it self for then he will lay their sins before them with all the aggravations that may be and he will labour to hide the mercies of God in Christ from them that they might have no hope or comfort to support them in this great conflict which doth put them into trouble of minde grief of heart and anguish of spirit and it is more uncomfortable and unpleasing to their spirituall taste than any vinegar can be to the palate Then is the time when the Divell is most maliciously bent against them then doth he bestirre himself to trouble the Peace of their consciences to disquiet the tranquillity of their mindes and to keep them from the assurance of the love and favour of God to them in Christ that they should not comfortably resign up their souls unto God he will affright them with the fear of death with the greatnesse of their sins with the hypocrisie of their hearts with their infidelity and unbelief he will labour to keep the gracious promises of God from them or else to perswade them that they belong not unto them that so they should have no comfortable assurance of the pardon of their sins Also he will terrifie them with the fear of Gods justice and with the terrour of the dreadfull day of judgement if it were possible to drive them into despair But here is comfort for a poor sinner that it is thus assaulted by the Divel when he is near his departure out of this life or at any other time that Christ hath sanctified all these sorrowes and conflicts to him and he will confirm his faith and stablish his hope upon his true humiliation for his sins and then those fears and doubtings will vanish away for he knoweth that we are not able to resist such temptations and the weaknesse of our spirits and of body is such that we cannot withstand such strong assaults and therefore Christ will give most strength to our inward man when the outward man is most weak and he will most weaken the power of the Divell when his malice is strongest to do us hurt And though we may be dangerously foyled in these spirituall combates yet Christ will uphold our faith he will give us spirituall consolation and will speak peace to our souls and consciences when through weaknesse of body we cannot expresse the joy and comfort of it Fifthly before we can willingly leave this world we must be well perswaded that we shall injoy a better habitation in the world to come which holy perswasion that we may have we must seriously consider how we have done the works which God hath appointed us how we have improved the talent that he hath lent us how we have glorified God in our calling and what good we have done to our neighbour according to the means and ability that God hath given us for we must give an account of all these things before the Tribunall Seat of God and we shall be judged according to our works Wherefore if we can truly say that we have done Gods works to the best of our power with an upright heart and that we have well improved our time and our talent to the glory of God then we may say with Christ It is finished and with Paul t 2 Tim. 7. 8 I have finished my course and have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but unto all them also that love his appearing And though our work hath been very imperfectly done by us yet Christ our Saviour will make it perfect by that which he hath done for us in our nature and God will accept it for his sake then we shall cheerfully resign up our souls to God at the hour of our dissolution Sixthly Christ doth here teach us to commend our souls into the hands of God we received them immediatly from God and therefore we ought to resign them up again unto him he breathed into us the breath of life which is our chiefest and most precious Jewell and therefore we ought to keep it holy and undefiled for him that when he is pleased to call for it we may be sure to deliver it up to himself for the Divell will be ready watching for it as soon as it is separated from the body and none can keep it from him but onely God Wherefore we must keep our souls so pure and clean that God may accept them and take them into his charge for if we present unto him a filthy soul polluted with the guilt of sin we have no ground to believe that God will take care of it and keep it unto the general resurrection Wherefore we should study and labour to keep our souls clean from sin by washing them dayly in the blood of Christ by faith if they be stained with the sins of the day we should thus cleanse them at night before we sleep and if they are defiled with the pollutions of the night â— we must not forget to wash them with the teares sighes and groanes that flow from a sorrowfull and contrite heart in the morning before we set about our necessary occasions in our calling that we may comfortably believe that God will blesse and prosper our handy work If this be our dayly and constant practise the blessing of God will go along with us in all our actions sin cannot then cleave to our souls to make death fearfull to us death cannot then come suddenly upon us neither will the remembrance of it be terrible but we shall cheerfully commend our souls to God because we may confidently believe that he will keep them in his heavenly mansions untill they shall be again united to our bodies with an unseparable union and made glorious bodies fit to live and reign with Christ for ever But naturall men know not the worth of their souls nor the great price wherewith they are redeemed if they belong unto Christ they suppose that the soul cometh from a Principle of nature as the body doth whereas it is an immortall spirit which proceedeth not from any mortall principle but is breathed into us by the holy Ghost as soon as the body is framed in the wombe and made capable to receive this breath of