endeavour to glorify God in the body Vse 3 Sound comfort to the Godly let the meditation on these glorious qualities of the body in the day of resurrection comfort thy heart under all the pains and troubles in the body Thy vile body will be changed now thy body is decaying and dying daily thou art troubled in underpropping thy ruinous house of clay and do what thou canst one time it will fall down but there is thy comfort it will be raised in incorruption This was the ground of the Apostles comfort against the decay and dissolution of the body 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens there we will get a Mansion John 14.2 In my Fathers house are many Mansions then our condition will not be subject to alterations like men dwelling in a Tabernacle and removing from place to place but it will be fixed and permanent without any change it will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an abiding of glory and joy 2. Though now possibly there be some deformity in thy body yet in that day thy body shall be compleat and comely though at thy death thy body were full of fores and ulcers yet if thou dye in the Lord thy body shall be raised in honor and comely beauty in that day Lazarus will have no sores as the body will be fully purged in that day from all contagion of sin so will it be freed from all deformity which was only a Symptom of indwelling corruption 3. Whereas thy body is now weak and frail a little thing doth soon distemper thy Spirit and little labour makes thy body weary This is thy comfort that in the day of resurrection thy body will be raised in strength though now thou canst not go up a little hill without some weariness in the body yet in that day thou shalt go up in the body to the third heaven and shalt not be weary 4. Now thou art much troubled about the natural operations and imployments of the body for food and rayment and other things pertaining to this decaying life but in that day thou wilt have appetite after nothing but God himself and all thy appetite will be fully satisfied by a perpetual delight in thy God infinite all-sufficient unchangeable and eternal in glory goodness and bounty towards thee Thou who art vexed disquieted in this life with the relicks of inordinate concupiscence remaining in the body thou hast cause to be humbled in the sight of God for that body of death yet there is thy comfort thou shalt be freed in that day from all such molestation in the body and thou shalt be like unto the spotless Angels without all inclination to delight in any thing but in the knowledge and love of God◠In that day great will be thy joy at the meeting of the soul and the body Though at parting here by death there was much pain and trouble like the parting of Iacob and Benjamin yet their meeting will be with great joy like the meeting of Iacob and Ioseph the soul will bring down good news from heaven to the body like the report of the faithful spies Numb 14. to encourage the body to go with it unto the heavens where they shal rejoyce together for ever in the presence of God then shall their joy be encreased at their meeting with Christ and perpetuated in their abode with Christ in the third heaven and following with praise and triumph the Lamb where-ever he goeth To him with the Father and holy Spirit be all praise honour and glory now and ever Amen Of Eternal Life by and with CHRIST PSAL. 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness AS the glorious resurrection of the body is a refreshing stream from the fulness of Christ so is also eternal life Eternal life is in and from Christ which is the full and compleat happiness of soul and body in one person This is purchased by the Merit of the righteousness and obedience of Iesus Christ Rom. 5.20 21. Where sin abounded Grace did much more abound that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Iesus Christ our Lord by Faith in Iesus Christ we get a right and claim unto eternal life Ioh. 6.47 he that believeth on me hath everlasting life by him we shall be put in possession of eternal life Math. 2◠34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you After that the bodies of them that have done good are raised up and inlivened with the souls then shall the Saints go with the Lord unto the third heaven and there in soul and body enjoy eternal life The great blessing of eternal life is laid before us by the Psalmist The sense of the words in these words I know some Interpreters understand the words to be meant of the lively sense of Gods favour bestowed upon his children after they have been for a time under a night of trouble It is most true light is sown even in darkness for the upright in heart though the Lord hide his face in a little wrath for a moment yet with everlasting kindness will he have mercy Isa 54.8 But I conceive as many sound Interpreters do the Prophet speaketh of that confidence and hope the children of God have of rest happiness and satisfaction after this life when their bodies that sleep in the grave shall be awaked to the resurrection of life Because he opposeth the hope of after happiness as a strong prop to sustain the children of God in all their troubles and wants in this life against the temptations from the prosperity of wicked men in this present world to whom God giveth a large portion of things worldly The Prophet comforteth himself and all the Godly with the hope of that full and enduring portion in the other life some read the latter part of the verse thus I shall be satisfied when thy Image or likeness is awaked and the original will bear it as if the meaning were thus when I who was once created to thy Image shall rise again I shall be satisfied but I encline rather to the ordinary reading I shall be satisfied with thy Image when I awake by Image is understood the face of God which in the former part of this verse is called a beholding of Gods face in the immediate seeing whereof will stand our eternal happiness when we shall see him as he is 1 Ioh. 3.2 In the words we have The parts of the Text. 1. The time of his compleat and consummate happiness when I awake 2. The matter of his happiness and the manner of enjoying it the matter and object Gods face or likeness the manner
will have an accessory joy reflecting from the soul as light within a glass is transparent so the inward glory of the soul will be legible in the large Characters of an ever cheerful countenance in the body As the joy of the glorified Saints will be in full measure and extent 2. Permanent so it will be permanent and perpetual Ps 16.11 At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore Joh. 16.22 Your joy said our Lord to his Disciples no man taketh from you Though a sound believer hath matter of joy in his God even amidst his greatest troubles yet many times there are here sad interruptions of his joy in respect of the exercise of it in this vail of tears our condition is mixed at one time a shour of tears and prayers at another time a Sun-shine of joy and praises at one time we are ravished as it were to the third heavens with the sense of Gods love at another time we are cast down into the depth of sorrows when the Messenger of Sathan even some violent tentation doth buffet us at one time we are full both of matter and affection to praise our God that we may say with Elihu Iob. 32.18 The Spirit within constraineth me I am full of matter at another time our heart and spirit is like a bottle in the smoak all our former joy is spent and dryed up Psa 102. Our joy here is like the husband-mans joy in harvest he must be put again to the troubles and the pains of seed time so after our joy here we are put again to sow in tears Iacob had much joy at the return of his sons with corn from Egypt but it endured not for soon after he had great sorrow the corn was spent and he must part with his beloved Benjamin but in heaven our joy will be everlasting a full joy without mixture of sorrow a continual harvest a joy ever in perfection as the fruits are in time of harvest we shall never sow again in tears a perpetual joy but without wearying or loathing because there will be infinite and recent variety of sweetness in God to delight and rejoyce our hearts for ever Object But will there not be degrees of glory in heaven It is probable there will be degrees of glory in heaven 1. and if there be degrees how will all be satisfied can he that hath less be as well satisfied as he that gets a greater measure of glory Answ 1. It is most probable there will be degrees of glory in heaven Dan. 12.3 some shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and others as the stars for ever and ever 1 Cor. 15.41 there is one glory of the Sun another of the Moon and another glory of the Stars so also is the resurrection of the dead There are also divers degrees of torments in hell according to the divers degrees of sin and guiltiness in this life so according to the divers degrees of grace in this life it is probable there will be divers degrees of glory in heaven The servant who knoweth his Masters will and doth it not will be beaten with more stripes then he that is ignorant of it though he do it not Luke 12.47 It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Iudgement then for those Cities which did contemn and reject the offer of the Gospel Mat. 10.15 2. Though there will be degrees of glory in heaven Yet all the Saints will be fully satisfied yet all the Saints will be fully satisfied with that one essential and substantial glory communicate to all in the vision and fruition of the one infinite and al-sufficient God As vessels of divers measures are all filled in the same Ocean though all of them be not of equal capacity The greater degree of glory communicate to some will not be for the excellency and differences of their graces here but according to the divers degrees of grace freely bestowed on them in this life by the spirit of Jesus As they were merited onely by him who is the sole procurer of our grace and glory so in heaven the degrees of glory are a crowning not of our merits but of his own gifts for the giving of a former gift doth oblige the receiver to thankfulness but not the giver to bestow another gift so grace given freely of God obligeth us to thankfulness but doth not oblige God to give unto us glory more or less Because grace and glory in all their degrees are of his free love Rom. 5.17 for if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Iesus Christ This doctrine affords a ground of sharp reproof against all profane and earthly-minded men Vse 1 They are fools who for perishing pleasures part with everlasting joyes who with profane Esau do sell their part of this full refreshment and satisfaction for the deceitful and perishing pleasures of sin To such in our time I say as Isaiah did to those in his time Isa 55.2 wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfies not Therefore to the end thy heart may be rectified I offer these considerations 1. Consider that worldly pleasures are 1. unsatisfactory Consider in time the pleasures of this present world cannot satisfie thy vast appetite Riches do not satisfie the covetous man he desireth more what he yet wanteth then he delighteth in what he hath already The Heathen Moralist spake truth to this purpose when he said the covetous man wanteth as much what he hath as what he hath not as he possesseth not what he wanteth so he hath no heart to make use of what he possesseth honour doth not satisfie the ambitious man what he hath of it already is but a step to raise up his vain spirit to the desire of more and where are vehement desires of more preferment there cannot be satisfaction Neither do sensual pleasures satisfie the incontinent or intemperate man his sinful desires are not satiated thereby the more he sinneth his corruption is the more set on fire of Hell more sin is but more fewel to the fire of concupiscence Therefore as Isaiah exhorts in the same place hearken diligently unto the word of the Lord and eat that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness obey that exhortation of the Apostle Col. 3.2 set your affections on things above and not on things on earth covet the best things be thou truly generous and heavenly-minded set thy heart on these durable riches on that immortal crown of glory and on these pleasures that fade not away those pleasures in the vision and fruition of God will satisfie thy soul for ever they will fill up the measure of all thy desires thou wilt have more set before thee in an infinite God then thy finite
he was slow to anger but ready to forgive The remembrance of Gods former kindness upheld David in his comfortless condition Psal 77.5 11. I have considered the dayes of old This comforted Jonah 2.4 I said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy holy temple He remembred the comfortable testimonies of the Lords love and presence in his holy temple 4. Wait thou upon God by an humble confidence and dependance Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God This is the counsel of the Prophet when the Caldeans oppressed the people of God and prospered at such a time God hid himself did neither deliver his people nor reveal the time of their delivery and of their enemies destruction yet he will have them to wait on and depend on God by Faith when there was no sense of comfort Habak 2.3 4. The vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lyâ— though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry his soul which is lifted up in him is not upright but the just shall live by Faith the soul that is lifted up in a time of great trouble the Apostle Heb. 10.30 Expounds it the soul that draweth back to wit by unbelief Heb. 3.12 When men say as wicked Jehoram in a time wherein they see no appearance of deliverance 2 King 6.33 Behold this evil is of the Lord what should I wait for the Lord any longer Therefore in hope and patience wait thou upon the Lord so the Church of God resolved to do Isa 8.17 I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him So did David Psal 42.11.43.5 Why art thou cast down within me O my soul hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him It is an evidence of a true and loving servant to wait and attend on his Master though for a time he get neither a kind word nor a benign countenance his patient attendance and constancy in doing duty is the way to obtain it A soul believing and waiting patiently on God shall not be disappointed of the desired and expected end Psal 9.18 The needy shall not alway be forgotten the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever One time or other thy God will put a new song of praise in thy heart and mouth as he did to David who waited patiently and in the end was delivered out of the horrible pit Psal 40.1 2. It is good even under great calamities quietly to hope Lament 3.26 Hope is our Anchor that establisheth our hearts in the stormy day from being carried about with every strong wind of the present time Let us therefore do as those men Act. 27. When they saw neither Sun nor Stars for many dayes they cast out their Anchors and waited and wished for the day So in our cloudy times of desertion wherein we have no light or comfort more or less let us cast our Anchor of hope within the vail and wait for that glorious day wherein our Lord will wipe away all tears from our eyes and give us glorions rest for ever Before I close this purpose of our perseverance in the estate of grace through the strength of Christ Two questions resolved I would answer two questions 1. If a renewed man may have any certain knowledge of his perseverance 2. What kind of knowledge it is whether at the best only Moral as some Popish Divines grant or fiducial by a certitude of Faith Answ To the 1. I answer affirmatively A believer may have certain knowledge of his perseverance 1. Examples as is evident from examples in holy Scriptures of the dear children of God who were assured of their perseverance Job 19.26 In my flesh shall I see God he was assured to see God in his Country above and therefore was assured to persevere in his journey toward it even in an estate of Grace Psal 23.6 Kindness shall follow me all the dayes of my life Psal 48.14 He will be our guide even unto death Where he speaketh not of himself only as by a special revelation but he speaketh in the plural number in the name of all Believers Asaph also was confident of his perseverance in grace unto glory Psal 73.24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory Rom. 8.39 Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus and 1 Joh. 3.14 We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren in which places the Apostles speak of the certain knowledge of perseverance and of salvation in the name of all believing and Justified persons It is also evident from reason 2. Reasons and necessary consequence from Scriptural Truths 1. Because a renewed man may know that thing certainly wherein he rejoyceth for joy is not in things uncertain but we rejoyce in the hope of glory Rom. 5. 2 therefore a renewed man may know that he shall persevere in grace unto glory 2. A renewed man may know that in certainty for which he blesseth God seeing we bless not for things uncertain But renewed men bless God for the grace of perseverance 1 Pet. 1.5 blessed be God we are kept by his power through Faith unto the inheritance c. 3. If a man renewed may know that he hath justifying Faith then may be know certainly that he shall be saved and persevere in grace unto eternal life because there is an inseparable conjunction betwixt this Faith and eternal life Ioh. 3.16 Ioh. 5.24 Ioh. 6.47 but a renewed man may know that he hath Justifying Faith because it were in vain to require a man to examine himself if he be in the Faith if so be he could not know it after examination for a man cannot examine himself in that which is impossible to be known but we are commanded to examine our selves if we be in the Faith 2 Cor. 13.5 which cannot be understood only of that Catholick and Dogmatick Faith as Adversaries alledge because Paul speaketh to them who had received the Christian Doctrine already and there was no doubt concerning the soundness of it as also he speaks there of Christ his dwelling in us by Faith when we are assured Christ is ours as a man is assured of the society and company of one who dwelleth in the same house with him and the Faith whereby Christ dwels in a man is that special Faith which purifieth the heart where he dwels A renewed man may know his perseverance by a certainty of Faith To the second I answer there is a knowledge of a thing to come from probabilities or conjectures and this is opinion only which is liable to error and
in the hour of temptation we get rest in time of our life from divers temptations which Satan as a crafty fowler useth thereby as so many calls and whistlings to allure into his Net divers kinds of silly fools in our yonger years we are tempted to untowardness and frowardness in riper years to riot and sensuality after that to pride and ambition and in our declining age to covetousness and worldly mindedness To have our hearts even then fixed in the world when one of our feet is already in the grave a most untimely temptation and yet prevails with too many Is it not therefore best to be dissolved and to be with Christ There and then will be perfect peace and freedom from this body of sin and inordinate concupiscence which like a troubled sea raised up with the winds of temptations doth cast up mire and dirt but in heaven with Christ our Lord there is a perpetual calm all the stormy winds are in the inferior region of the air so all the winds of temptations are here below but none there where our Sun of righteousness shineth for ever Man here is subject to one cross after another like Paul no sooner out of the danger of the raging sea but a Viper leapeth upon his hand Act. 28. No sooner do our eyes dry but we are put to weeping again The breathing times and respite God in his goodness giveth to us at one time are to prepare us for a new onset at another time is it not therefore best to be there where all tears will be wiped from our eyes Rev. 21.4 2. It is best to be in heaven with Christ if we compare the small beginnings of glory here with that cempleat glory and hapiness there here the children of God receive the earnest of the spirit and the first fruits of eternal life but what is the earnest penny in comparison of that full sum of glory which cannot be conceived or numbred by the heart of man here And what is the handful of the first fruits in comparison of the full harvest of Joy in heaven I grant the earnest should comfort and encourage us in the assured expectation of the full bargain of happiness for faithful is he who hath promised And the first fruits some grains of peace and joy bestowed on us here should comfort us in the hope of that full joy there that shall never be taken from us The same was a ground of the Apostle his willingness to be dissolved and of his confidence to be eternally happy after his dissolution 2 Cor. 5.6 8. He hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit we are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord 6. Consider to what society and company we go at our death we remove not to a strange countrey but to our fathers house to the immediate fruition of God Father Son and Holy Ghost to the soc ety of holy Angels and to the souls of just men made perfect what ravishment and contentment of spirit had Peter upon the Mount in the society of our Lord at his transfiguration and of those two witnesses Moses and Elias It is good to be here said he what then wilt thou think and say when thou shalt have an immediate communion with thy Lord and a comfortable but unspeakable communion with all the Angels and Saints in heaven Old Jacob was much encouraged to go down unto Egypt when he considered Joseph was there before him to receive and welcome him when he looked beside to the waggons and provision sent to him for his journey and when he looked behinde him to a land of famine from which he was to depart So at the hour of death we have matter of encouragement when by faith we look before us Our Joseph the Lord Jesus Christ the great Steward and dispenser of grace and glory is before us to welcome us when we look with the eye of sense and experience beside us Our Ioseph sendeth some provision of faith and hope to hold in the life of grace by the way And when we look behinde us we leave a world abounding in sin and misery That divine Philosopher Socrates said death would be a hard matter to me if I thought not I were going to men departed this life and those far better then many who stay behind them Therefore in this respect also it is best to be dissolved and to be with Christ 7. Consider our happy condition is a thing certain and sure already prepared for us by the merit of Christ and reserved for us in heaven 1 Pet. 1.4 It is not with us blessed be God as with the Emperour Hadrian he knew not whether his soul went at death when he said O my silly wandering soul into what places wilt thou now go But a Believer saith with Paul 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed Our Lord hath told us Joh. 14.12 I go to prepare a place for you As a man espousing a wife in a strange countrey returneth to his own countrey maketh all ready for her coming home and in his convenient time sendeth his special friends for her to convoy her home so our Lord by his word hath suited us and by faith wrought in us by his Spirit hath espoused us unto himself he hath gone before us prepared all happiness for us and in his own good time doth send his holy Angels to convoy our souls at death unto that eternal house in heaven not made with hands The sight and knowledge of this made the Apostle to groan in his spirit and long for it 2 Cor. 5.1 2. As one dwelling for a time in a strait dark and rainy house compassed about with naughty and wicked neighbours such a man after he hath gotten a promise of a large lightsome and close house that hath the society of good and comfortable neighbours how much will he long for the term of removal Such is our condition in the body Much straitness and suppression of spirit through many grievous troubles much ignorance and darkness in our understanding Many temptations like rain dropping in through the open and ill-guarded organs of our senses And also many wicked men do compass us like Bees to sting us but in that house and happy condition above there is largeness of spirit and freedom from all molestation full light and knowledge stability perpetual in grace and glory above the rain and wind of temptations And there is the blessed society of God Angels and perfect souls Therefore from all these considerations we must and should conclude it is best to be dissolved and to be with Christ with whom our life is hid in God Object Object But may not the child of God in a time of sickness desire to live and pray to God for recovery Answ I answer no doubt he may so did David Psal 39.13 Answ A believer may in time of sickness pray to live and Ezekias Is
most true that good Works are necessary by way of concomitancy in him who is to be saved for without holiness none shall see the face of God Heb. 12.14 Although thou canst not be justified in this life by thy good Works yet in the day of resurrection thou shalt be judged according to thy Works Math. 25. 2 Cor. 5.10 Therefore as in the day of resurrection thou wouldest differ from evil doers who will be raised unto damnation see thou differ from them in thy living and dying Godly differ from the wicken in living 1. The wicked man in his life-time employeth his desires endeavours and time to serve his own lusts but the care of a Godly man and sound believer will be to serve his Lord Rom. 13.14 Put on the Lord Iesus and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof 2. The wicked man walketh in the broad way that leadeth to destruction he taketh unto himself ease and pleasure in sin as one having room in a broad way he doth not afflict or grieve his own heart at any time by refusing the unlawful desires of it But thou who wouldst rise to life must walk in the strait way that leadeth unto life thou must straiten and hem up thy desires and afflict thy unrenewed part and flesh by refusing and rejecting unruly desires and if at any time thy heart look back unto sin thou must afflict thy Spirit with Godly sorrow for any step thou hast made toward the broad way The Godly man and sound believer differeth also from the wicked in his dying Godly differ from the wicked in dying The wicked man at his death layeth not hold on Christ and dyeth unwillingly but thou that wouldst rise unto life thou must with old Simeon an old expectant of glory embrace Christ and hug him and the Promise of life made in him in the arms of thy faith as a dying man holdeth fast his gripe so shalt thou keep thy gripe of Christ in the day of resurrection thou shalt be found in him The Godly man dieth willingly commending his Spirit unto God as a faithful Creator he goeth unto death as his bed out of the which he will rise in that morning of eternity with refreshment but the ungodly and impenitent go to death unwillingly as unto a prison out of which they know they will be carried unto Judgement This is the heavenly posture of a Godly man on his death-bed he resteth by Faith on the only merit and satisfaction of Jesus Christ as a sick man doth upon a soft Mat underneath him he hath the lively hope of a glorious rest to his soul after its parting from the body and of a glorious resurrection of the body as a Pillow to hold up his head and heart that in all his pain he fainteth not and he hath good Works as a coverlet to adorn him in the sight of all that behold him The Believer at his death resteth not on them they are his coverlet but not his mat he is adorned and covered with them before the world who seeth them in him and should both glorifie God in his rich and free love for his graces bestowed on him and should labour to imitate him in his good life and happy death If thus thou differ from wicked men in thy life and death and be not an evil doer as they are in the purpose of their heart and course of their life The Lord who by his grace maketh thee to differ from them in this life shall in eternal mercy make thee to differ from them in thy resurrection for thy resurrection shall be unto eternal life if thou live to Christ thou shalt dye in Christ and in that day thou shalt be found in him and go with him to the third heaven and remain in glory for ever with him It serveth for a ground of terrour and awakening to the ungodly Vse 2 Terror to ungodly men who rush into sin as the horse into the Battle go on in their sins like the Ox unto the slaughter and will not know the evil of their wayes till the deadly dart of Gods wrath strike through their souls Remember O foolish man if thou live and dye in thy sins and as Zophar speaketh Iob 20.11 If thy bones be full of the sins of thy youth and they lie down with thee in the dust thou shalt rise unto damnation what thou wouldest not believe in this thy day thou shalt be forced from sense of pain to believe in that day of the Lord and then shall the faithful Ministers of Jesus Christ say as Paul did to his fellow-Passengers in the Ship Act. 27.21 If ye had hearkened unto me ye should not have gained this harm and loss The remembrance of neglected opportunities will encrease the fretting torment of their souls It may be thou hast pain and sickness in thy body with great agony at thy death but consider all that is but as a flea-bite in comparison of that worm that dyeth not and the fire which cannot be quenched Thou mayest be assured unless thou repent while thou art in the body thy pained and deformed body shall be raised up in greater pain and deformity An ugly and hideous spectacle will thy face and body be so that if it were possible in that day thou wouldest flye from thy self Then soul and body at their reunion and uniting will in a manner curse one another and live or rather languish together as it were in mutual imprecations for ever This will be a part of their hell like two Mastiffs chained together and tearing one another the soul will curse the body and all the Members of it for ministering temptations by the eyes and ears and for being too ready to bring forth and act sin conceived in the heart then soul and body that sinned together shall be tormented together as they were bound together in sin so also in punishment therefore let the sad forethought of pain in the body in that day calm thy impetuous affections Remember as thou sowest in the body so shalt thou reap in the body Gal. 6.8 thou shalt receive according to that thou hast done in the body 2 Cor. 5.10 The serious forethought of this will be an awful means to suppress thy tumultuary affections The Town-clerk Act. 19.40 composed the tumult with one word we are in danger said he to be called in question for this dayes uproar so consider thou art in danger to be called in question in that day of resurrection for the insurrection and rebellion of thy heart against thy Lord in this thy day The Royal preacher soundeth forth this sad but profitable Note into the ears of young men who are dit-times violent like Jehu in their sinful courses Eccles 11.9 Rejoyce O young man in thy youth c. but know thou that for all those things God will bring thee unto Judgement This Doctrine serveth for a solid ground of comfort to the Godly who
another time in the course of his providence he looks upon us as a stranger and wayfaring man like Ioseph with a strange countenance towards his brethren for their tryal But in such a dark hour wait thou upon him he will not absent himself for ever Though the full and permanent manifestation of his love be delayed until the day of resurrection yet now and then he will give unto thee a blink of his favour to uphold thy heart till the day of thy full refreshment Math. 28 7. the Angel said of Christ to the woman He goeth before you into Galilee there shall yee see him and yet the woman did get a sight of him at Ierusalem before he passed into Galilee Ioh. 20.19 so though the full manifestation of his glorious presence be delayed until thou pass over by death into heaven yet wait thou on God in the conscientious use of the means and thou shalt get some sight here and a full sight of glory there Our faithful and bountiful Lord giveth never less but many times more then he promiseth 4. 4. Company of evil neighbours It may be thou art much discouraged and vexed with the company of evil neighbours they are thorns in thy sides and make thee many times in the bitterness of Spirit to cry out Wo is me that I dwell in the Tents of Meseck but be of good comfort if God in his wise providence hath placed thee amongst such men he is able to preserve thee from the contagion of their society as he did Joseph and Daniel from the Idolatry of Egypt and Babylon and Obadiah from the abominations of Achab and his Court in the mean time let thy light shine in their darkness be thou the more circumspect in thy walking though thou mayst have an evil communion with them as Citizens of the same present world yet must thou not have a communion or fellowship with their unfruitful Works of darkness for thou art a Citizen of heaven and called out of darkness unto light be earnest in daily prayer with God to be saved from that froward generation rejoyce in the hope of that comfortable communion with the Saints in heaven while thou art here on earth distance of place is an impediment to that full communion for the Saints here who are the salt of the earth for its preservation are also like unto salt in this respect they are not all in one place of the earth but scattered here and there whereas in heaven they will be all together without any mixture of the wicked here we know a very few of the Saints but in heaven we shall know them all as Peter in the Mount did know Moses and Elias as Adam in the state of integrity after he awoke knew Evah to be his wife we will know none there after the flesh we will love them all as Saints and all with the like affection because all will be alike holy even in the perfection of created holyness Therefore under sense of any wants here bodily or spiritual rejoyce thou in the hope of that full sight full peace full joy and full perfection in holyness Then God will be all in all to his Saints To this purpose Augustine speaketh well lib. 22 ch 30. of the City of God That saying saith he is rightly to be understood To wit that God will be all in all he himself will be the end of all our desires who without all end will be seen who will be loved without loathing who will be praised without wavering Then saith Bernard The rational parts of our soul will be filled with the light of wisdom the concupiscible part with the fountain of righteousness and the irascible part of our soul with perfect tranquillity Therefore the Believer who hath received Grace for Grace out of the fulness of Christ both may and should in his life and death rejoyce in the hope of that full satisfaction in his Fathers house for here is a sure ground of comfort when thou awakest in the day of resurrection thou shalt behold his face in righteousness Now to the Lord Iesus Christ of whose fulness we receive both Grace and Glory with the Father and holy Ghost be ascribed all praise honour and glory for now and ever Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for Joseph Cranford at the Phoenix in St. Pauls Church-Yard THe Practice of CHRISTIAN PERFECTION wherein several Considerations Cautions and Advices are set down for the Perfecting of the Saints and Compleating them in the Knowledge of Christ Jesus by Thomas White Minister of Gods Word at Anne Alde sgate London ΠΑÎΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑ or the Summe of Practical DIVINITY Practised in the Wilderness and Delivered by our Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount being Observations on the fourth fifth sixth and seventh Chapters of S. Matthew to which is prefixed PROLEGOMENA or Preface by way of Dialogue wherein the Perfection and Perspicuity of the Scripture is vindicated from the Calumnies of Anabaptists and Papists By Thomas White Minister of Gods word at Anne Aldersgate London ANIMADVERSIONS or the Rabinical Talmud of RABBI Iohn Rogers Wherrein is Examined his Doctrine as of the Matter Form of a Church The duty of Separation Matter Form of a Church The subjects of Church Power c. By Zach. Crofton Minister of Gods word at Iames Garlick Hythe London A PRACTICAL DISCOURSE of PRAYER Wherein is handled the Nature the Duty the Qualifications of Prayer viz. Ejaculatory Publike Private and Secret Prayer with the necessity and Ingagements unto Prayer together with sundry Cases of Conscience about it By Thomas Cobbet Minister of Gods Word at Lyn. JUS DIVINUM Ministerii Evangelici or the Divine Right of the Gospel-ministry Published by the Provincial Assembly of London A VINDICATION of the Answer to Mr. Brabourn concerning the Civil Magistrates Power as to changing Church-Government Wherein the Reverend Mr. Perkins and some Truths of God are Vindicated from the Lyes and scurrilous expressions cast upon them A PROSPECT of Eternity Or mans everlasting Condition opened and applyed by Iohn Wells Mr. of Arts now Pastour of Olaves Iury in London
him a little before the time of publick execution of the sentence whereas a man reconciled and absolved is well content with any morsell So a wicked impenitent person at his death hath no contentment with all his worldly advantages But if thou be reconciled to God thy contentment in thy prosperity is multiplied for then thou lookest upon the good things of this world as pledges of better things and this super-addition to them of a new relation multiplies thy contentment and at death thy contentment is encreased as that of a Pilgrim at the border of his own Countrey and Seafaring man at the entrance of the harbour 2. Receive Christ to dwell in thy heart by faith and then nothing can come amisse that comes with Christ we make strangers welcome to our house who come along with a dear Friend No affliction is so strange but it will be made welcome with Christ Not only are beleevers content with it but glory in it As couragious Souldiers to be employed in hard service So did the Apostles when they were ignominiously beaten Act. 6.41 Paul and Silas did sing in the dungeon Act. 16.14 it was Pauls gloriation Gal. 6.17 that he bare in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus he esteemed them marks of favour and honour put upon him by his Lord he gloried in them as a valiant Souldier in the cicatrice of his wounds Our Lord brings with him peace to the soul where he dwels Peace with God Rom. 5.1 and peace to the conscience which is the Eccho and resound of our peace made in heaven with God This peace is the health of the soul and as a man in bodily health can well comport with course diet for a time whereas a sickly man frets and cankers at better entertainment So a man that hath peace with God and with his own conscience can comport with the bread of adversity and water of affliction But the man that hath not this peace hath a fretting of spirit in the midst of his plenty while there is laughter in his mouth there is much sorrow in his heart 3. Labour to be holy in all manner of conversation for holinesse hath the promises of this life and that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 The precious promises of God are the common places out of which faith draweth several arguments of contentment for all our several wants bodily or spiritual Out of the bounty of providence the godly man gets supply for his outward condition and out of the Fulnesse of Christ he receives for his inward man grace for grace Lastly Moderate thy desires after things worldly Impatient desires to have breed much discontentment for disappointment and immoderate desires still to enjoy what we once have breeds us much discontentment at our losses Rachels impotent desires of posterity bred her so much discontent with the want of children Therefore the Apostle exhorts Heb. 13.5 Let your conversation be without covetousnesse and be content with such things as ye have Covetousnesse is like Hagar there is no peace in the house to Sarah till she be cast out so there is no quietnesse nor contentment to our spirits until covetousnesse be mortified Moderate therefore your desires after the things of this world and the greater shall be your contentment both in your abundance and in your wants Covet the best things even the Kingdom of God and his righteousnesse and things worldly shall be added to you Ye cannot exceed here in your desires after things heavenly but your enjoyment in heaven will exceed all your desires for it cannot enter into the heart to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him To this God Father Sonne and holy Ghost be all praise honour and glory now and for ever Amen Now followeth the fourth and last particular to be considered in the words to wit The fourth particular the sole and only author of all his ability and strength for doing and suffering the good will of God I can do all things saith he through Christ which strengtheneth me Before I raise the Doctrine the words would be cleared 1. What is meant by this strength 2. Next Wherefore it is called the strength of Christ And 3. How it is said he can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth him First By strength is not meant that infinite power 1. What is meant by strength wherein Christ is equal with the Father that mighty power by which in a soveraign and authoritative way he wrought miracles Luk. 9.73 They were all amazed at the mighty power of God by which he subdued all things and will raise the dead Phi. 3.21 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things This strength is essential to the Sonne of God and incommunicable to the creatures the mighty one of Israel puts forth this strength toward the defence and protection of his own children in time of danger but puts it not in them as a strong man will use his strength for the defence of them that are weak but puts not his strength within them But by strength is here meant an ability created and infused into the heart of a beleever whereby he is enabled in such perfection as is accepted of God in Christ for doing and suffering the will of God It is a strength from Christ in them as the Original imports 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a strength in the innerman but from his Spirit Eph. 3.16 strengthened with might by his Spirit Secondly 2. Why it is called the strength of Christ It is called the strength of Christ 1. Because Christ hath procured this strength to us by his merit and intercession Joh. 14.16 I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever Our Lords departing out of the world by the death of the Crosse was the cause procuring to us the comfort and strength of of the Spirit Joh. 16.17 If I go not away the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you 2. Because Christ is the efficient cause and worker of this strength in us 1 Tim. 1.12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me it is the same word which is used here 2 Tim. 2.1 Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus or by Christ Jesus as the Preposition is frequently used as Mat. 5.34 it is rendred by the Heaven Matth. 23.20 21 22. where it is five times so used Rom. 12.21 Overcome evil by good so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Christ who by the efficiency of his Spirit applieth to us the strength of grace procured by the merit of his death Thirdly 3. How a man by the strength of Christ is able to do all things As to the third thing to
be not reconciled to him Answ The Lord grants unto them a general protection in a time of outward troubles as a Judge guarding and protecting a condemned malefactor from the violence of private avengers of blood until the day he be brought forth to publick execution but he protects those with whom he is reconciled by a special protection of grace as a father doth his weak and sick children until they be confirmed in health and strength The Lord protects them sometimes from falling under the power of a temptation and at other times if they fall he restores them by repentance that they lye not and live not under the bondage of temptation 2. As thou wouldst have strength to sustain thee when ever God calls thee to a duty though hard to flesh and blood Go about it with all diligence decline it not out of fear of personal weaknesse if thou meet thy God in the way of obedience to his call thy God shall meet thee with strength at the time of thy greatest need Moses out of fear of weaknesse at first declined that charge to speak unto Pharaoh yet he no sooner went about it actively but God furnished him with strength in the discharge of it Stephen did not decline a dispute with men of contentious and violent spirits when God called him to it and the Lord filled him with such a strong measure of wisedom that they were not able to answer him Acts 6. according to that promise of our Lord Luke 12.11 12. When they bring you into Synagogues unto Magistrates and Princes take ye no thought how or what ye shall answer or what ye shall say Our Lord doth not prohibit all premeditation of what we should speak but only an anxious solicitude that perturbs the judgment and disables men in a day of trial when men will trust nothing to a divine assistance unlesse they be very strong in their studied preparations and defences It is our best course to wait on the Lord who in his own due time will give strength and comfort when our extremity is greatest some Martyrs have complained heavily to God against themselves for want of courage in the time of their imprisonment yet in the day they were taken out to the place of execution they no sooner saw the fire but incontinent they cried out with joy venit venit the spirit is come he is come Lastly Vse 5 It serveth for Direction how to carry thy self after that in the Lords strength thou hast stood and withstood a temptation Directions to conquerors in any temptations or after thou hast done any service acceptable to the Lord First Give all praise to the Lord and say with the Church Psal 44.3 They got not their land in possession by their own sword neither did their own arm save them but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance because thou hadst a favour unto them Hast thou at any time resisted a strong and violent temptation blesse God who girdeth thee with strength it may be in these sad times thou maist say of thy self as Jacob said of his sonne Joseph Gen. 48.23 The archers have sorely grieved thee and shot at thee and hated thee yet praise thy Lord who gave strength and courage to thy spirit that thou maist say also from the experience of Gods assisting and strengthening presence Thy bow abode in strength and the arms of thine hand were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob It may be thou hast stood when others by all appearance stronger then thou have fallen blesse thy God who by his strength only made thee to differ from others in an hour of temptation The weaknesse of God is stronger then men 1 Cor. 1.25 Gods strength in his weaknesse is farre above the strength of moral abilities in men that are counted the able men in this world It may be at one time thou hast resisted a mighty temptation when at another time thou hast fallen fouly under the power of a lesser blesse God in his strength who makes thee to differ from thy self who art by nature weak and ready at all times to be carried about with every wind of temptation 2. After God hath given thee some victory over any temptation be not secure but watch and pray that thou be not led into a new temptation Satan watches for a new opportunity from thy security or pride of thy former victory he departed from the Captain of our salvation but for a season Luk. 4. though he had no hope to prevail by his temptations thou maist be sure though he be repulsed by thee at one time and put from possession yet thou canst never put him from obsession and molesting thee with assaults for he thinks so long as his correspondent thy corruption is within thee possibly he may get entrance and prevail It was a good and seasonable counsel of the Prophet to the King of Israel after his late victory over the Assyrians 1 Kings 20.21 22. The Prophet came to the King of Israel and said unto him Go strengthen thy self and mark and see what thou dost for at the return of the year the King of Syria will come up against thee So say I Still strengthen thy self in the Lord mark and observe the approaches of temptation thy enemy will rally his forces again and come not only at the return of a new year but at the return of a day or a night yea of an hour Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultlesse before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy To the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty dominion and power now and for ever Amen Perseverance in GRACE through CHRIST PHIL. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ AS regeneration and the beginning of sanctifying grace so perseverance in grace received Perseverance a peculiar priviledge procured by the death of Christ to the Elect. and the continuance of a renewed and gratious disposition in believers is a special priviledge of the Covenant of grace procured to the Elect by the death of the mediatour Jesus Christ Luke 1.73 74. In which words the grace of Justification in our delivery from all our spiritual enemies The grace of new obedience to serve the Lord and the grace of perseverance to serve him all the days of our life are reckoned up together as priviledges and benefits promised in the Covenant of grace and confirmed by an oath of God to Abraham and to all believers his children according to the promise In the words we have two main points considerable 1. The Author of Perseverance In the words two points he which hath begun the good work in you will perform it 2. The certaintie of Perseverance in the grace received in these words being confident of this very thing The
Author of their Perseverance and performing the good work of grace is God to whom the Apostle giveth thanks vers 3. for calling the Philippians to the fellowship of the Gospel by preaching whereof the Lord had begun in them a good work of grace and of inward communion with Jesus Christ Doct. Perseverance is the free gift of God alone Perseverance the free gift of God Hos 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me for ever in loving kindness and in mercies 1 Cor. 1.8 The Lord Jesus shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ Heb. 2.10 It became him in bringing many sons into glorie to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings Our election to glory is of Gods free love the decree and actual sending of Christ to suffer for us and in the end to bring us to that glory is also of free love Joh. 3.16 but we get a right and title to that glory only by the merit of his sufferings by his Spirit he leads us in the way of Sanctification and brings us in the end to that promised inheritance by his merit in our Justification we get jus ad rem a title and claim to the heavenly inheritance in our Sanctification and Perseverance we get the first fruits and the earnest and when our Sanctification is perfected at the end of our life we get jus in re actual possession and all this is through the merit of Christ and the efficacy of his Spirit for he is both the author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 Reasons for confirming this doctrin are Reasons 1 1. As the new creature of grace depends on God alone in the production being of it for of him are all things and we to wit believers and renewed persons are his workmanship created unto good works Eph. 2.10 The new heart and the new spirit are his free gift Ezek. 36.26 As the new Creature depends on God in the production and being of it so also in the conservation and continuance of it for as he upholdeth all things by the word of his power Heb. 1.3 so by the power of his grace he keepeth the new creature 1 Pet. 1.5 Ye are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation 2. Our Lord and great High-priest in our behalf prayeth to the father for our perseverance Joh 17.15 Father keep them in thy name and power It were needless to pray unto God for perseverance if it were not of Gods free gift but of mans power to persevere The Apostle also prayeth to God for it 1 Thes 5.23 I pray God your whole spirit soul and bodie be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ 3. Thanks are given to God for the grace of perseverance Iud. 24. and by our thanksgiving we acknowledge him the Author of perseverance 4. Because it is God alone who establisheth and preserveth us in an hour of temptation and so maketh us to persevere 2 Thes 3.3 The Lord is faithful who will stablish you and keep you from evil Vse 1 This doctrine serveth for admonition Let no man depend on his grace received seeing God is the Author of perseverance let no man rest on the beginnings of Sanctification as if grace once received or begun Sanctification could preserve and continue it self No the creature cannot create it self no more can it by its own power keep and conserve it self in a being it is not the first gale and blowing of the wind that will continue a ship in her course if the wind do not continue there is no progress There must not only be a begun but a continued influx of water for continuing the motion of the Mil-wheel so the breathings of the Spirit of God must be continued upon our souls Otherwise we advance not in the course of Sanctification notwithstanding our fair and specious beginnings if the Spirit of God withdraw his breathing and influence we are as a ship under sail presently in a dead calm As a musical instrument though well tuned soundeth not when the skilful player withdraws his hand so a heart though well set in the work of regeneration by the finger of the spirit yet in its actings cannot sound forth to the praises of his grace if God with-hold his assisting grace Yea the Angels who stood not in the truth and also our first Parent Adam received grace of God in a large measure yet when it was left to their own keeping they both lost it and themselves For Exhortation Vse 2 when ever God calleth thee to renew thy duty of repentance faith and obedience Go to God for a new supply of grace go to God for assistance and a new supply of grace 1. Because we are not able to guide our selves and continue in a course of wel-doing without his assisting grace Joh. 15.5 without me ye can do nothing Jer. 10.23 It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Man cannot without a guiding and over-ruling providence set down one foot after another in his bodily motion far less in his spiritual course toward heaven and happiness Psal 73.23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. 2. Go to God for assistance and for continuance of the work of grace in thee because he hath promised to renew strength to them that faint Prov. 8.20 I lead saith the wisdom of the father in paths of righteousness Jer. 31.9 I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight war wherein they shall not stumble It is said I will lead them with supplications that is in all the acts of piety taking one special part of piety for all the duties thereof This leading of us and our perseverance either in a gracious disposition or in actings is all of his free and fatherly love for I am a father to Israel saith the Lord. 3. The dear children of God pray for this assisting and leading grace of God Psal 5 8. Psal 27.11 Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path not only are we ignorant of the way of righteousness and have need of the grace of faith and illumination but our will is froward and our affections impotent therefore there is a necessity they be set on God and his will and then led by his assisting grace in the course of obedience Psal 119.5 O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes 4. Because the children of God from faith into the promise and their own experience of begun graces have been confident of a leading and guiding grace in the course of Sanctification Psal 73.24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glorie Psal 23.3 He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake Psal 48.14 He will be our guide even unto death 5. There is a necessitie for thee to go to God for a renewed assistance so oft
therefore in it there is no certain knowledge 2. There is a knowledge of a thing from the natural and immediate cause of it This is an assent firm and evident and is called Science 3. There is a Moral certitude when a man knoweth the certainty of his estate for the present but is uncertain whether it will continue as a man from sense may know a present heat in his body but is uncertain whether the same will endure some learned Divines in the Roman Church grant this moral certitude of salvation 4. There is a Certitude of Divine Faith whereby we assent to supernatural truths not from any evidence intrinsecal in the thing known but from evidence of Divine authority revealing the same in the Word The certitude of knowledge in a man renewed concerning his perseverance is not opinion for that is uncertain and lyable to error It is not Science because this is from natural reason But the knowledge of perseverance is taught by Scripture and divine revelation Neither is it moral certitude only for the present but it is a certitude of divine Faith grounded on divine Authority in holy Scriptures Obj. Obj. But how can a man know with certainty of Faith that he himself believeth because it is not particularly revealed in Scripture that such a man by name believethâ— Therefore the proposition of his believing in special not being founded on divine authority the conclusion concerning his perseverance and certainty of salvation cannot be certain by a divine Faith Answ I answer 1. A conclusion may be de fide Answ 1 and should be assented to by a divine Faith if it be deduced from one proposition set down in holy Scripture and another made evident by the light of nature or sense As for example this conclusion the Father and the Son in the holy Trinity are two distinct persons is and should be assented to with a divine Faith and yet is deduced from one proposition known by the light of nature To wit that which begets is distinct from that which is begotten and from another proposition known by the light of the Word To wit but the Father begets and the Son is begotten in like manner this couclusion Jesus born of the Virgin Mary is the Messiah is to be assented to with divine Faith and yet our Lord inferreth the same from one proposition known by the light of Scripture To wit Isaiah 35. he that doth the works of the Messiah is he true Messiah But I do these works saith our Lord Math. 11.3 Now this assumption was known by sense and by seeing him do those works So I say this conclusion I shall persevere in grace unto eternal life is assented unto by divine Faith and is deduced from one proposition known by the light of Scripture To wit He that believeth shall not perish but persevere unto eternal life Ioh. 3.16 And from another known by the light of spiritual sense in the renewed man To wit But I believe 2. This spiritual sease of a Believer is not a fantasie or imagination but is soundly founded on the qualifications and marks of true saving Faith as they are holden forth in holy Scripture as 1. That true faith from sense of Gods love doth humble the heart and afflict the spirit with sorrow for sin Zach. 12.10 They shall look upon him whom they pierced and they shall mourn This look is by believing and it brings home with it a sense of love which woundeth the heart with sorrow for sin 2. True Faith purgeth and purifieth the heart Act. 15.9 Christ received by Faith to dwell in our hearts doth by the sweet smell of his oyntments and graces purge out of our hearts the sent and delight of sinful and vile lusts 3. This true saving Faith is not dead and idle but holy and operative It worketh by love Gal. 5.6 as the fire worketh by heat on the objects see before it so Faith by love to God bringeth forth works of holyness toward God and of righteousness toward our neighbour 4. Lastly it is a prevailing and overcoming Faith 1 Joh. 5.4 This is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith and Faith resisting and overcoming temptations is a sound Faith Though a renewed man and sound Believer may be overcome by temptation at a time in his affections Yet his will is not wholly subdued and overcome for the ill he doth he willeth it not Rom. 7.19 To Iesus Christ the Author and Finisher of our Faith with the Father and holy Ghost be all praise Amen Victory over DEATH through CHRIST 1 COR. 15.56 57. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through Jesus Christ AS our perseverance in the state of grace A peaceable death flows from the fulness of Christ is a fruit of the Merit of Christ so a peaceable death in the savour of God and in the hope of glory is a refreshing stream flowing from the fulness of Jesus Christ The comfortable tast of the fruits of the Cross of Christ doth sweeten the bitterness of death as that tree did sweeten the waters of Marah Exod. 15.25 In the words two points offer themselves to our consideration 1. A twofold misery from which we are delivered In the words two points to wit the sting of death and the strength of sin 2. The procurer of our deliverance Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ As for the one part of our misery In what sense the Law is the strength of sin the curse and rigor of the Law and how we are delivered from it we spoke already in a Sermon on Act. 13.39 Only I would speak one word or to clear how the Law which forbiddeth sin and threatneth punishment to the sinner is said to be the strength of sin It is not to be understood so as if the Law did strengthen a man to or in sinning for it prohibites sin and reveals wrath from heaven against all unrighteousness and disobedience but the Law is called the strength of sin because a man unrenewed before the time the Lord by grace rectifies his will and affections doth from his own inbred corruption take occasion at hearing of the Law to enlarge his vast desires toward all the sins forbidden therein It is not so much the forbidding of sin as sin forbidden and heard of that provoketh the sinful appecite Rom. 7.7 8. Is the Law sin God forbid Nay I had not known sin but by the Law but sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concup scence for without the Law sin was dead Our inordinate concupiscence when it is once awaked by hearing of sins forbidden like a sleeping Dog awaked becomes more fierce to commit sin like those whose appetite is depraved by that disease called Malacia or Pica they long most after meats forbidden for this reason Aquinas renders
the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augmentum Aquinas as if the Law were the encrease and augmentation of sin because by hearing the Law the desire of a man unrenewed is the more increased after sin Luther Luthers similitude is very apposite to this purpose as fire saith he in burnt lime-stone appeareth not until ye cast water on it and then immediately it smoaketh so the fire of concupiscence which should be quenched by the Law is from mans own latent corruption provoked by the Law There is no fault in the Law but in mans distempered will and appetite As when a sick patient longs after meat forbidden by the Physitian there is no fault in the Physitian but in the distempered appetite of the patient The other part of mans misery through sin How sin is a sting is the misery of death the sting of death is sin As by the sting of a venomous Serpent cometh an inflamation of the blood together with a great torment and pain in the body so by sin which is the sting of that old Serpent cometh pain and horror in the conscience and consumption in the body with dissolution and death at last And as the sting is the only weapon of a Serpent without which he can do no harm so sin only specially impenitency and unbelief are the strength and weapon of death which make it both fearful and hurtful to the children of men Sin which is the sting of the old Serpent Sin brings death when it came into the world and was tastened in our nature by a virtual consent in our first parents it brought death along with it Rom. 5.12 By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin 1 Cor. 15.21 By man came death By death the wages of sin we understand both all the alterations in the body preceding our death and also all the pains and evils that accompany death Thus then by death we understand those particular evils of misery 1. A subjection to the necessity of dying 2. Alterations and sickness in the body disposing it for death 3. Fear of death 4. Pain in death 5. The separation of soul and body 6. The curse of death First man by sinning became subject to a necessity of dying By death is understood 1. The necessity of dying Assoon as he sinned he became mortal No sooner sin entred into his soul but mortality and corruption immediately entred into his body then the parcels of dust that were bound together by the bond of innocency were shaken loose and as a glass of sand turned up the body became mortal and the life of man subject to a continual flux and decay for after he had sinned and not till then it was said by the Lord of life unto him Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return Gen. 3.19 It may be truly said of Adams body that in the state of innocency it was both Mortal and Immortal in respect of a capacity indifferent to dye or live and also it may be said to have been neither mortal nor immortal in respect it was created free from a necessary subjection to dying or an absolute appointment of God to live for ever It was the gross error of Pelagius a patron of corrupt nature and an enemy to free grace Pelagius confuted To affirm that Infants were not born in sin but that they had it only by imitation when he was pressed by force of argument taken from the death of Infants as a bitter fruit of original corruption in them his answer was that man would have dyed though he had never sinned because said he man had a mortal body composed of contrary elementary qualities which warring one against another would have made alteration in the body and in the end brought it to corruption and dissolution But for confutation of this error we should consider First as God created Adam with power of free will to stand or fall so he created him with a capacity to dye or not dye according to the right use or abuse of his free will Next as God did not create Adam with an inclination though he was of a mutable condition to sin for as an inclination to sin being the first step of turning from God is sinful and the most holy God is not the Author of sin so a subjection to the necessity of dying was not before man subjected himself willingly to sin for our most just God though by an act of soveraign power and dominion over his own creature as the Potter over his vessel he might annihilate the same yet would he not punish his innocent creature before it had sinned and was found guilty and lyable to punishment This was Abrahams argument for sparing the innocent in Sodom if there were any Shall not said he the Iudge of all the earth do right Gen. 18.25 As for the contrary Elementary qualities of heat and cold moystness and dryness created in the body I answer if man had persisted in his integrity keeping an harmony with God and his will then God would have kept these qualities in a right temper and just symmetry amongst themselves without destroying one another As by an over-ruling providence he preserved the Lyon and the Lamb the Woolf and the Kid together in one Ark of Noah without the destruction of the Lamb and Kid as he restrained the Lyon from destroying the living Ass or the dead body of the Prophet 1 King 13. As he restrained the fire Dan. 3. in the exercise of it that it did not so much as singe a hair of their heads though at the same time he did not destroy the fire in the heat and nature of it So the Lord would have preserved those elementary qualities in their nature and first act though in their second act and exercise he would have restrained them from destroying one another if man had stood in integrity And will not the Lord preserve our glorified bodies in heaven in a condition of an immutable immortality and incorruption though they will be raised as is very probable with the same Elementary qualities wherewith they were created in the state of integrity 2. Weakness and sickness Secondly as sin brought on man a necessary subjection to death and dissolution so it brought alterations upon the body by weakness and sickness Thus David acknowledged in the time he was under some distemper in body Psal 38.3 there is no rest in my bones because of my sin weakness and sickness of the body is a consequent of sin if man had continued in the state of innocency his labour exercise in the body should have been to him as a recreation with delight and continued strength in his Spirit whereas it is since the fall with toyl in the body and faintness in the Spirit Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread Mans fainting and weariness of Spirit in the labour of his calling do convince him guilty of
dying man with an incurable wound unto eternal death As the sting of of the Scorpion inflameth and tormenteth the whole man that is stung so known sins unrepented of put soul and body in a flame of unquenchable fire thus it was with that miserable rich man Luke 16.24 Delay not thy repentance and the seeking of thy remission till thou art on thy death bed would ye not think that malefactor a careless fool and unnatural to himself who should delay to seek his remission unto the very day he were taken out of prison to the place of execution though God hath promised mercy to him that repenteth yet hath he not promised repentance to him that delayeth The sluggard foldeth his hands and saith yet a little sleep a little slumber and his poverty cometh as an armed man he cannot resist it Prov. 24.34 so it is with a careless Professor who sleepeth over his days and hath not a thought of death till it be at door then doth it surprize him as an enemy armed with the dart and sting of sin unrepented of and such a man not guarded by the shield of faith into the righteousness of Jesus Christ is confounded and overcome as a naked souldier with fear at the very sight of death Such debtors who delay to think on their debts and in time to speak for favour with their creditors when the term of reckoning and payment comes they are confounded with shame and fear therefore delay not but in time confess thy debts unto God seek thy discharge and acquittance in the blood of Christ who is the surety of the new Covenant Labour by faith in the charter and Covenant of grace for a sight of that great salvation purchased by the death of Jesus that at thy death with old Simeon thou mayst say and sing that Swan-like song Mine eyes have seen thy salvation now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2.29 2. As thou wouldst be well prepared for death Labour to keep a good conscience in thy life-time This is the chest wherein thy remission and peace is kept a man of good conscience in all things willing to live honestly as the Apostle describes Heb. 13.18 he liveth aad dieth in peace It was Hezekiah his great comfort in his sickness and apprehension of death 2 Kings 20 3. I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart It was Pauls comfort 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness A good conscience is a continual feast it hath the sweetest relish at death when a man at that time is become like old Barzillai through age and debility 2 Sam. 19.35 his senses of seeing tasting and hearing fail him yet even at that time the relish of a good conscience will most refresh him 3. Be thou prepared as the wise virgins were to meet the bridegroom not only with light in their lamps as the foolish virgins were also but with oyl in their vessels Not only must thou have the light of a fair profession before the world but also thou must have in thy heart the oyl of charity toward God and man If thou have love toward God and his holy commandments and love unfained toward thy neighbour but specially toward those in whom thou seest most of the image of God then art thou prepared for death and life eternal is prepared for thee 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him And 1 Joh. 3.14 By this we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the Brethren but thou who hatest thy neighbour art filled with bitterness and desire of revenge and wilt not commit thy cause to him who judgeth righteously thou art not yet prepared for death so long as thou art in the gall of bitterness for he that loveth not his brother abideth in death 1 Joh. 3.15 That rigid and merciless servant who had no pity on his fellow servant was cast into prison So saith our Lord our heavenly father will do unto us if we from our hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses Mat. 18.33.4 We should be prepared as good and faithful servants waiting for the return of their absent Lord. Luke 12.36 Having their loyns girded and watching In those Eastern countreys the servants for their better expediting business at home or their Journeys abroad did gird up their long cloaths that they should not entangle their feet and retard them in their course The Apostle Eph. 6. speaketh of the girdle of truth and sincerity when our affections are taken off from things earthly trussed up united together and set on God when our heart is in heaven where our treasure is Then and not till then is a man prepared for death When his minde is heavenly and his affections are not trailing on the things of the earth like long garments licking up the dust for a worldly minded man is not yet prepared for death A man that spendeth all his time and care upon repairing the house where he dwelleth for the present but speaketh not for another house nor sendeth away any of his furniture to it will ye say such a man hath any mind to remove so a worldly-minded man that spendeth his time and strength of spirit upon this present world who speaketh not to God in time by prayer for that eternal house in heaven that sendeth not his heart before him as a part of his heavenly furniture such a man is not prepared for removal out of this world Therefore let us obey our Lords warning Luke 21.34 Let not your hearts be oppressed with surfeiting or drunkenness and with the cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares A heart fixed on the world is taken away unwillingly at death the worldly man who had his full heaven in a full barn his soul was taken from him Luke 12.20 The worldly-minded man unless he repent and become heavenly-minded doth in some respect die a violent death he doth not as our Lord did commit his spirit into the hands of his Father but his soul is taken from him against his will he is drawn forth as a Malefactor from the prison of his earthly house to the place of execution But the spiritual man that hath his heart drawn off the world and set on God he hath his soul ready in his hand to put it over into Gods hand he knoweth whom he hath believed and that his faithful creator will keep the good thing committed to him against that day As thou must gird up thy loyns so thou must watch for thou knowest not how soon thy Lord may send his messenger for thee Watch over thy heart that it depart not from the living God by unbelief nor be drawn away by thy inordinate concupiscence and unruly affections watch over thy
ways that thou maist be found in thy Lords ways walking in his holy commandments blessed is the man whom his Master when he cometh sindeth so doing as thou watchest over thy own heart and ways so watch and long after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and this longing for death out of a love to be with him is a sure evidence of a soul well prepared for death 2 Tim. 4.8 The Lord will give a Crown of righteousness not to me only but to them also who love his appearing To him with the Father and holy Ghost be all praise Amen Having spoken of the sting of death we proceed to speak the cure and of our deliverance from it Of the cure of death The Author of our deliverance and victory is the Lord Iesus Christ the Captain of our salvation The Apostle compareth death to a conquering and prevailing enemy which by its sting and weapon woundeth many with a mortal and incurable wound because such men as live to sin and die in their guiltiness go down by the first death to the second into that bottomless pit out of which there is no redemption Jesus Christ our Lord by the merit of his death alone hath overcome death Doct. Christ only hath overcome death for all that believe in him and of a bitter enemy hath made death a comfortable friend to all who believe in him for by him alone we get victory over death That we may understand this point the better we should consider in what respect Christ hath delivered us from death he hath not delivered us from our obligation and subjection to the necessity of dying for we see believers dye as well as unbelievers Neither hath he delivered us from being subject to sicknesses and alterations going before death David complains the pains of hell got hold upon him Psal 116.3 that is extream pains in his body and anxiety in his spirit Neither hath our Lord delivered from pain at the hour of death nor from the separation of soul and body by death But our Lord hath overcome death in these respects 1. In respect of 1. The sting of death In respect of the sting of death he hath taken away our sins and as an enemy is overcome when his deadly weapon is taken out of his hand so our Lord overcame death by taking away sin on his cross for sin is the sting of death Hos 13.14 O Death I will be thy plagues This the Apostle cites 1 Cor. 15.54 The Captain of our salvation upon the cross as in an open and pitched battel did spoyl principalities and powers Col. 2.15 One of these powers armed against us was death he took away our sins on the cross and so spoyled death of his weapon as a valiant Conquerour takes away the weapons from a subdued enemy 2. 2. The fear of death Jesus Christ our Lord hath freed us from the fear of death Heb. 2.15 he was partaker of flesh and blood he took upon him our nature that he might deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Our Lord by taking away our sins the sting and weapon of death doth deliver us from the fear of death for that which maketh an enemy fearful is his deadly weapon It is true sometimes men may fear even a naked enemy but they have no cause seeing he cannot harm them so some of Gods dear children at a time may exceed in the fear of death but they have no such cause of fear neither would they be so afraid 3. The curse of death if they were strong in the faith of Jesus Christ who hath disarmed death 3. Our Lord hath delivered us from the curse of death that to us the first death is not a dreadful passage to the second Ioh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life Rev. 14.13 Blessed are they that die in the Lord that henceforth they may rest from their labours As for weakness sickness pain and alterations in the body though our Lord hath not delivered us from them yet by the merit of his death and the grace of his Spirit he sanctifieth them to us and in a gracious providence turneth them to a good and spiritual use Our Lords death is like to that salt that purged and sweetned the naughty waters of Jericho 2 Kings 2.21 and like the meal cast into the pot wherein was the bitter herb 2 Kings 4.41 The death of our Lord hath taken wrath and the curse from out of all our afflictions and maketh them useful and profitable unto us Our Lord in a gracious dispensation turneth the bodily sickness of his own children into a spiritual medicine for purging an humorous and distempered soul for bringing down the tympany and swelling pride of the heart such as glory and boast in the beauty or strength of the body do see in time of sickness the weakness and vileness of the body and so being humbled learn to glory onely in the Lord and in the beauty of his grace in the inward man A sanctified sickness purgeth out of the heart covetousness the hearts Dropsie thirsting for more of this present world when the sick man seeth the emptiness of things worldly which cannot give him any ease in the time of his greatest need A sanctified sickness purgeth out unruly lusts which are as a burning feaver to the soul sickness takes down the body and grace sanctifying it turns it into a temple to the holy Ghost The wise Master-builder useth sickness as a sharp edged tool for polishing the body for the inhabitation of the Spirit that it may be a temple prepared In like manner our wise and merciful Lord though he deliver not his own children from death yet he maketh their death to be of singular good use to them It is a putting off of corruption that they may be clothed upon with incorruption The death of wicked men dying in their guiltiness is like unto a thiefs putting off his cloaths to the end he may be scourged but the death of the godly is like unto a childs putting off the old garment that he may put on the new that is incorruptible and will not fade but ever have a beautiful lustre It is for this their soul doth groan and long 2 Cor. 5.2 In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven 4. The dominon of death As for deaths dominion and power over our bodies in the grave our Lord did take it also away by the merit of his death and declared his victory over and our deliverance from it by raising his own body and by loosing the bonds of death when our Lord awoke from death and stretched out the strength of his Godhead like Sampson he broke asunder those bonds as cords of flax Our deliverance from the grave will
then will he return and double his temptations as he did to that man Math. 12. he returned with seven worse but watch thou and pray that thou be not led into temptation though now thou be molested with one temptation after another yet resist them being stefast in the Faith and be comforted in the hope of thy eternal rest and immunity from all temptations in thy Country that is above in it there will be no tempter Then shall Sathan be fastened to damnation by the indissoluble chains of darkness in heaven there will not be remaining in us any inordinate concupiscence to be tempted Then our will and affections will adhere so close unto to God the supreme Good that it will be impossible to draw the heart from God No ayr of temptation can intervene The Angels who stood not in the truth though they had neither a tempter from without nor inordinate concupiscence from within they being created pure and holy yet were they created of a condition mutable but the Saints in heaven will be confirmed and established as pillars in a condition immutable Revel 3.12 Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God Adam in the estate of innocency had posse non peccare a power not to sin but in heaven there will be a non posse peccare an impossibility to sin 3. Here is comfort for them who groan under the burthen of indwelling corruption rejoyce in this the day of refreshment is coming Let thy indwelling corruption be the matter of thy daily grief and humiliation before God Let it be to thee as Hagar and her brood was to Sarah and as the daughters of Heth to Rebekah Let it be the occasion of thy daily wrastling and subjecting the flesh by works of mortification Let it be as pricks and goads in thy sides to push thee toward the throne of Grace with Paul 2 Cor. 12. that the strength of Gods Grace may be perfected in thy weakness In such a wrastling condition rejoyce in hope and be of good comfort though now the flesh lusteth against the Spirit yet at death thy warfare will be accomplished And after thy resurrection there will be nothing in the whole person but Spirit and grace here in an hour of temptation thou prayest for strength in heaven thou shalt praise God for thy victory over sin Sathan and the world 4. Here is matter of comfort against all thy calamities publike or private in the midst of all thy troubles rejoyce in the hope of that glory Rom. 5.3 We glory in tribulation 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Rom. 8.18 I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us That Kingdom in heaven cannot be shaken that treasure of unsearchable and durable riches cannot be robbed nor wasted There all tears will be wiped from thine eyes all enemies will be subjected to Christ and also unto all the members of his Mystical body they will be made his footstool and the footstool in below all the parts of the body in that day of perpetual separation of the wicked from the godly it will be seen as it is said of Pharaoh and his hoast that persecuted the Israelites Exod. 14.13 The Egyptians which ye have seen to day ye shall see thē again no more for ever To God who giveth us victory over all our enemies and crowneth us with everlasting mercy the father son and holy Ghost be all praise honour and glory for now and ever c. Amen I having spoken of the time when our compleat happiness will begin 3. Point the perfect disposition of glorified Saints and of the matter and manner of our happiness at our awaking in the day of resurrection from the sleep of the death we shall behold the face of God Now we proceed to speak of the the perfect disposition of the glorified Saints and of the measure of their happiness The third point considerable in the words is the perfect disposition of Saints glorified in soul and body I shall behold saith he in righteousness at my awaking and rising out of the grave I shall be perfectly righteous in my soul and body and being wholly pure shall behold thy face and so be satisfied in this life the personal righteousness of the Saints is not perfect in many things we fail all Righteousness is a conformity to the will of God the only and supream rule of right and wrong in the estate of innocency man had a righteousness pure without mixture of imperfection but not exempted from mutability in the estate of renovation the renewed man hath personal inherent righteousness firm and sure with an immunity from a total and finall decay 1 Ioh. 3.9 but it is not perfect and pure though our renovation be perfect in parts both in soul and body yet not in degrees In heaven our personal righteousness will be pure perfect in degrees and unchangable then will the Saints follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth there will be no declining from him and his commandments The Saints in heaven will be perfectly and wholly righteous in their souls and bodies then will there be a perfect conformity in all things Doct. The Saints in heaven will be perfectly righteous in souls and bodies and for ever to the acceptable will of God Eph. 5.25 26 27. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word and that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle in the course of our regeneration he clean 〈◊〉 but the perfection of holiness and beauty will be in that day when the marriage between the Lamb and his Spouse shall be consummate here the Church of Christ is like an house in building but there the topstone and crown of Glory will be put on here it is as a young child growing in his dimensions but in heaven we will be at our term of consistence even our perfect measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Eph. 4.13 here there is much imperfection in the righteousness of the children of God there be many infirmities and faults that others may and themselves should censure and condemn but in heaven we shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faultless Iude Ep. 24. To him that is able to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Saviour be glory and Majesty The Church triumphant will be then as a beautiful bride adorned and prepared for her Husband Rev. 21.2 here on earth is the time of her purification but at the day of resurrection she will be presented perfectly pure in that Temple not made with hands and praise him for ever for his mercy and grace bestowed on her