the 31. verse to the end wherein hee drawes all that hee hath spoken in this Chapter to a short summe contayning the glorious triumph of a Christian ouer all his enimies The triumph is first set downe generally verse 31. What shall wee then say to these things if God bee with vs who can bee against vs c. This generall incontinent hee parts in two there is sayeth hee but two things may hurt vs either Sinne or Affliction As to Sinne hee triumphs against it verse 33. and 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God his chosen it is God that iustifieth who shall condemne It is Christ who is dead or rather who is risen againe who is also at the right hand of God and maketh request for vs. As to Affliction hee triumphs against it from the 35. to the end Who shall seperate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation anguish or persecution shall famine nakednesse or perill yea shall death doe it or that which is much more shall Angels principalities or powers doe it No In all these things wee are more than Conquerours through him that loued vs. Thus doth the Apostle like a faithfull steward in the house of God take by the hand the weary sonnes and daughters of the liuing God that hee may leade vs into the Lords winesellers there to refresh and stay vs with the â—lagons of his Wine to comfort vs with his Apples to strengthen vs with his hid Manna and to make vs merry with that Milke and Hony which our immortall husband Iesus Christ hath prouided for vs to sustaine vs that we faint not through our manifold tentations that compasse vs in this barren wildernes We come then to the first part of the Chapter wherein the Apostle keepes this order First hee sets downe a generall proposition of comfort belonging to the iustified man Secondly he subioynes a confirmation therof Thirdly he explanes his reason of confirmation and fourthly applyes iâ—first by commination of them who walke after the flesh secondly by consolation of the godly against the remanents of the flesh thirdly by exhortation of both not to walke after the flesh In the proposition againe set downe Verse 1. first he points at the comfort Now then there is no condemnation secondly he sets downe a limitation restrayning this comfort To them who are in Christ thirdly hee subioynes a clearer declaration of those persons who are in Christ to wit they walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Verse 1. Now then This is a relatiue to his former discourse and is as I haue said a Conclusion inferred vpon that which goeth before Seeing wee are iustified by Faith in Iesus Christ and are now no more vnder the Law but vnder Grace seeing we are buryed with Christ by Baptisme into his death that like as he was raised from the dead by the glory of his Father so we also should walke in newnesse of life hauing receiued that spirit of Christ whereby wee fight against the Law of sinne in our members which rebelleth against the Law of our minde seeing it is so we may be sure that the remanent power of sinne in vs shall neuer be able to condemne vs. We see then that these words containe the Apostles glorying against the remanents of sinne the sense whereof in the end of the last Chapter made him burst out in a pittifull lamentation and cry O miserable man who will deliuer me from the body of this death but now considering the certaintie of his deliuerance by Iesus Christ he reioyceth and triumpheth Wherein for our first lesson we marke the diuersitie of dispositions to which the Children of God are subiect in this life sometime so full of comfort that they can not containe themselues but must needs breake forth into glorious reioycings at other times so far deiected in mind that their ioy is turned into mourning and this ariseth in them from the variable change of their sight and feeling The Disciples on mount Tabor seeing the bright shining glorie of Christ were rauished with ioy but incontinent when the cloud ouershadowes them they become afraid If the Lord let vs feele his mercies wee are aliue but if hee hide his face and set our sinnes in order before vs wee are sore troubled As the troubles wee haue in this life are not without comforts blessed bee God the Father of our Lord Iesus the Father of mercies and God of all comfort who comforts vs in all our tribulation so our ioy saith Saint Peter is not without heauinesse the one arising of the knowledge of that vndeserued inheritance reserued for vs in heauen the other of our manifold tentations to which wee are subiect here vpon earth it is these vicissitudes and changes which wrought in Dauid such different dispositions as appeareth in him in the Booke of the Psalmes and which all the godly may be experience finde in themselues Pascimur hic patimur for here we are so nourished with the comforts of God that we are nurtred with his crosses It is the Lords dispensation and we are to reuerence it resting assured that the peace and ioy which once the Lord hath giuen vs may be interrupted but can neuer vtterly be taken from vs the Lord who will not suffer the rod of the wicked for euer to lie vpon the back of the righteous least they put out their hand to wickednesse will fâ—rre lesse suffer his owne terrours continually oppresse our consciences least we faint and dispaire though he wound vs he will binde vs vp againe after two daies he will reuine vs and we shall liue in his sight Weeping may abide in the Euening but ioy shall come in the Morning The chosen vessell of God shall not alway lament and cry woe is me sometime the Lord will put a song of thanksgiuing in his mouth and make him to reioyce thus de aduersis prosperis admir abilivirtute vitam Sanctorum contexuit Deus The life of a Christian may bee compared to a webbe so meruailously mixed and wouen of comfort and trouble by the hand of God that the long thread thereof reaching from the day of our birth to the day of our death are all of trouble but the weft interiected manifold comforts and this haue we marked vpon the coherenee of the beginning of this Chapter with the end of the former Now in these words it is to be obserued the Apostle saies not there is no sinne in them who are in Christ but he saith there is no condemnation to them he hath confessed before that he did the euill which he would not and that he saw a law in his members rebelling against the law of his minde but now hee reioyceth in Christ that sinne in him is not able to condemne him It is then a false exposition of these words which is made by Caietane and
in the commandements of God it is an agreement that as yet hee had not attayned to the marke to the which wee may adde the third out of that same place the dombnesse inflicted vpon him for his misbeleeuing euidently proues he was not so perfect as to bee without sinne Beside this he customably distinguishes betweene peccatum crimen sinne and a crime that is some grieuous offence that giues slaunder and is worthie of crimination Sanctorum hominum vitam inveniri posse dicimus sine crimine we affirme that the life of holy men may be found without a crime And againe nunc bene viuitur si sine crimine sinâ— peccato autem qui se viuere existimat non id agit vt peccatum non habeat sed vt veniam non accipiat now men liue well if they liue without crime but he who thinkes he can liue without sinne doth not thereby make himselfe free of sinne but debarres himselfe from the pardon of his sinne And so much for refutation of their errour Now for our instruction we marke againe here that seeing the end of Christs death is our sanctification it cannot be but a mocking of the sonne of God and a treading of his holy blood vnder the vncleane feete of men to make the death of Christ a nourishment of sin let such thoughts bee farre from vs that we should take liberty to sinne because we haue a Sauiour this is to make Christ a minister of sinne and as was said to build vp that which Christ came to destroy O thou who louest the Lord Iesus bee it far from thee to take pleasure in that which made his blessed soule heauie vnto death let vs neuer nourish that life of sin which was the cause of the death of Christ but let vs daily cleanse our selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit and grow vp vnto full holinesse in the feare of God For albeit by Christ we be deliuered from the curse of the Law yet are we not exempted from the obedience thereof In respect of the one the Apostle said Wee are not vnder the Law but vnder Grace in respect of the other hee hath said that the Law is good and our Sauiour protests he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it both in himselfe and his members not onely by righteousnesse imputed but also inherent For the law stands to vs a rule of our life we loue the holinesse thereof and striues to conforme our selues vnto it iustificati enim amici leges efficiuntur for men when they are iustified become louers of the law which before they hated So that hereby wee are to try whether we be in Christ if we delight in the law of God if wee be grieued when our sinfull nature transgresses the precepts thereof if we finde a begunne harmonie betweene our affections actions and her commandements by these and the like effects may we know that in Christ we are iustified Lastly we haue this comfort that seeing our sanctification is an end which the Lord Iesus hath proposed vnto himselfe wee may be sure hee shall attaine vnto it In the first creation what he commaunded was done hee made light to shine out of darknesse no impediment could stay the work of the Lord so is it in the second creation neither Sathans mallice nor the deceitfull allurements of the world nor the sinnefull corruption of our owne nature shall stay that work of our perfect sanctification which the Lord Iesus hath not onely begun but also taken vpon him to accomplish Verse 5. For they who are after the flesh sauour the things of the flesh but they who are after the spirit sauour the things of the spirit HItherto we haue heard the proposition of comfort the reason of confirmation and explication thereof Now because the Apostle restrayned that comfort to those who walkes after the spirit not after the flesh now in this third member of the first part of the Chapter hee subioynes an exhortation Wherein by sundry reasons he disswades vs for walking after the flesh and exhorts vs to walke after the spirit wherein he keepes this order First he oppones these two to walke after the flesh and after the spirit as contraries which cannot consist He lets vs see the miserable estate of them who walke after the one and illustrates it by the happy estate of those who walke after the other and then concludes that they who are in the flesh cannot please God vers 5. 6. 7. 8. Secondly he comforts the godly least that they considering vpright and can looke to heauen the soule which is from aboue hath forgotten her originall is crooked to the earth and like a Serpent creeping on many feet so walketh it after the dust with all her affections sauouring onely those things which are carnall This is mans miserable estate by nature The Lord open our eyes that wee may see how farre wee are fallen by our apostacie how deadly wee are wounded that in time wee may make our recourse to the Physition of our soules who now offers by Grace to restore vs. But to returne this diuersitie of dispositions in the man naturall and spirituall the Apostle designes to flow from the diuersitie of their generations they who are after the flesh that is as our Sauiour expounds it that which is borne of the flesh is flesh so then the cause why they are carnall and sauours onely the things of the flesh is because they are onely pertakers of a carnall generation Euery creature as ye may see hath an inclination to follow the owne kind some liues in the earth some in the water euery one of them by instinct of that nature which they receiued in their generation following so earnestly their owne kinde that a contrarie education cannot make them to forsake it The Fowle whose kinde is to liue in the waters though she be brought vp vnder the wings of another damme whose kinde is to liue in the earth so soone as shee is strengthened with feathers forsaking her education followes her kinde so also in euery man the disposition of his affections and actions is answerable to the nature of his life If he haue no more but a naturall life his cogitations counsels resolutions and actions are onely carnall but if he haue also a spirituall life then shall he be able to mount aboue nature hauing an inclination to heauenly things for euery one who is risen with Iesus seekes those things which are aboue Now this difference of ther dispositions flowing from their different kindes shall appeare the more clearely if ye compare the affections words and actions of the one with the other And first to begin at the vnderstanding it is certaine that the naturall man vnderstands not those things which are of God Let Iesus Christ speake to naturall Nicodemus of regeneration and Nicodemus shall conceiue that he
his light Tota vita martyrium esse debet hoc est testimonium deo reddere c. the whole life of a Christian should be a martirdome that is a continuall witnessing of the truth of God and this is so necessarie that without it the second martirdome that is the testimonie vvhich thou bearest to the truth of God by shedding of thy blood is worth nothing it availes not to giue thy body to be burnt in the fire vnlesse that first thou mortifie thy earthly members and by reasonable seruice offer vp thy body a liuely and an acceptable sacrifice to God And hereunto also tendeth that which bee subioynes Efficacius est vitae quam linguae testimonium habent etiam opera suam linguam c. The testimonie of the life is more effectuall than the testimonie of the tongue workes haue also their owne language yea and their owne eloquence though the tongue be silent therefore our blessed Sauiour in the Gospell sayeth the workes which the Father hath giuen mee to doe the same workes that I doe beare witnesse of mee Like as Cyprian sayeth good workes professes that there is a God so euill workes say in their owne kinde that there is no God nor knowledge of the most high Thus it is a most fearefull sinne for them to walke after the flesh who professes that they are in Iesus Christ. For no sinne can be committed of them vvithout horrible sacriledge euery worke of the flesh though done by a Pagan is a transgression of Gods law which shall bee punished vnto death but the same committed by Christians are not onely sinnes but sacrilegious sinnes and that of the highest degree then came the sinnes of Belshazar to the height when to all his former sinnes hee ioyned the abuse of those vessels which were holy to haue drunke intemperately for the honor of his Idol in any vessell was a fearfull sinne but to doe it in the vessels dedicated to the honour of the true God was a double sinne Yet is this sacriledge small if it shall bee compared with thine who professing Christ liues profanely hee abused dead vessels of gold siluer but thou erects a temple for the liuing God in a temple for Idoles thou defilest the sanctuary of God with all vncleannesse those vessels which by Baptisme O what neede haue wee therefore in all the actions of our life to walke circumspectly we haue neede of eyes within and without vs that wee may discerne the inward desires of the Spirit from these of the Flesh and may looke rightly on those outward obiects which may cherish the one and suppresse the other In a battaile betweene two euery man assists that partie which hee would faine haue to be victorious for the helpe of the one saith Baâ—il is the ouerthrow of the other so is it in this combat betweene the Flesh and the Spirit the Flesh being strengthened by outward allurements and carnall exercises quencheth the Spirit and bringeth it in subiection but the more the body bee subdued by moderate discipline the stronger waxes the man of God Happy were wee if our care were continuall to strengthen the one by all spiritual exercises that we might daily weaken the other For the greatest perfection wherevnto we can attaine in this life is to fight against these lusts of the Flesh which fight against our soules Our life saith Iob in the earth is a warfare Bellum est non triumphus it is a battaile not a triumph saith Augustine though after many particular victories the Lord put that voyce of triumph many times in our mouthes thanks be to God who alway makes vs to triumph in Christ Iesus yet let vs remember that incontinent we must fight againe so long as we are in this mortall body wherein the Flesh lusts against the Spirit wee cannot bee free from carnall and euill desires if thou dissemble not thou shall alway finde within thy selfe some thing which hath neede to be resisted for our sinfull superfluities saith Bernard are such putata repullulant effugata redeunt reaccenduntur extincta that being cut off they spring out againe chased away they returne againe being quenched they are kindled againe Velis nolis intra fines tuos habitabit Iebusaeus will thou nill thou the Iebusit shall dwell within thy borders Subiâ—gare potest exterminare non potest he may be subdued but cannot be rooted out And this againe doe wee marke for the comfort of weak consciences it is Sathans subtiltie whereby commonly hee disquiets many that because carnall corruption is in them he would therefore beare them in hand that they are none of Christs In this hee playes the deceiuer hee tryes vs by the wrong rule when hee tryes vs by the rule of perfect sanctification this is the square vvhich ought to be laid to Christs members triumphant in heauen and not to those who are militant here vpon earth Sinne remayning in me will not proue that therefore I am not in Christ otherwise Christ should haue no members vpon earth but grace working that new disposition which nature could neuer effect proues vndoubtedly that we are in Christ Iesus Let this therefore bee our comfort that albeit there bee in vs a fleshly corruption yet thankes be to God we walke not after it that is wee follow not willingly the direction and commandement thereof It is true and alas wee finde it by experience the regenerate man may bee led captiue for a time to the law of sinne hee may bee pulled perforce out of the way of Gods commandements wherein he delights to walke and compelled to doe those things which hee would not yet euen at that same time he disclaymes the gouerment of the flesh mourning and lamenting within himselfe that hee should bee drawne from the obedience of his owne Lord and gouernour the spirit of Iesus And indeede it is worthie to bee marked that what euer seruice the regenerate man giues vnto sinne it is like the seruice that Israell gaue to Pharaoh in Egipt throwne out by oppression and therefore compelled them to sigh and cry vnto God but the seruice which the regenerate man giues to the Lord is voluntarie done as vnto his most lawfull superiour with gladnesse ioy and contentment of minde Happie is that man who can make this reply to his spirituall aduersarie when hee is challenged of his sinnes It is true O enimie that I haue done many things by thy entisement yet heerein I reioyce that whatsoeuer seruice I God as Dauid did O happy â—ourney wherin Christ is both the end the way and the guid Eamus post Christum quia veritas per Christum quia via ad Christum quia vita Let vs vvalke after Christ because he is the truth let vs walke in Christ because hee is the way let vs vvalke toward Christ because he is the life If yee looke to the companies of
men in the vvorld ye shall see some in stead of following Christ flying from him Qui enim male facit odit lucem for hee vvho doth euill hateth the light Others vvhere they should follow him runne before him not waiting vpon his light direction in matters of his vvorship followes their owne spirit doing that vvhich is good in their owne eyes they run vvith zeale but not in the right vvay And vve haue so much the more to take heede vnto the vvay because euery mans course declareth vvhat kinde of man he is vvhether carnall or spirituall and vvhat vvill be his end he that soweth to the flesh of the flesh will reape corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reape life euerlasting I am perswaded there is no man among vs vvho vvill not say hee vvould be at the best end vvhich is eternall life but here is the vvonderfull folly of men the proposed end of their pilgrimage vvhereat they vvould be is heauen but the vvay vvherein they vvalk is the vvay that leadeth close into hell Who vvill not esteeme him a foole vvho in word saith his iourney is toward the South and yet for no mans vvarning vvill refraine his feete from vvalking toward the North but more foolish is hee vvho professing himselfe a pilgrime trauailing towards heauenly Ierusalem keepes notwithstanding a contrarie course hauing his backe vpon heauen and his face towards hell vvalking not after the Spirit but after the Flesh. O pittifull blindnesse and folly how many witnesses of God haue forewarned thee in thy life all crying to thee vvith a loud voice this vvay wherein thou walkest O sinfull man is the way of death hee vvho liues after the Flesh shall dye assuredly yet wilt thou not returne nor change the course of thy life to walke after the liuing God that thy mayest be saued And hauing once found the right way which may lead vs vnto God let vs strengthen our selues to walke in it by those three most notable helpes of a godly life deliuered to vs by Dauid in three verses of 119 Psal. vers 57. O Lord I haue determined to keepe thy word 58. I haue made my supplication in thy presence with my whole hart 59. I haue considered my wayes and turned my feete vnto thy testimonies Determination is the first it is a good thing by setled resolution to conclude with thy selfe that thou wilt liue godly Supplication is the second except by continuall prayer our determination bee confiâ—med and strengthned by grâ—ce from God our conclusions vvhich vve take to day shall vanish to morrow Consideration is the third and it is profitable to reduce vs againe into the way of God so often as of weaknes we wander from it contrary to our first determination These are the three helpes to keepe our hart in the way of God so necessary that if without them we doe any worke it is not possible but wee shall bee snared And therefore as in a ship which is ready to sayle so soone as the sayles are hoysed vp presently some skilfull Marriner starteth to the rudder so euery morning wherein vve rise from our rest and make our selues ready to go forward in our pilgrimage let vs first of all take heed vnto the hart for it is the rudder of the whole bodie let vs knit it vnto God by this threefold cord whereof I haue spoken so shall our wayes be ordered aright and vve shall make a happie progresse euery day in that way which leades to eternall life By determination we begin to keepe a good course By supplication vve continue in it By consideration we see vvhether we be right or wrong if vve be out of the way consideration warnes vs to returne againe into it Happie is that man in whose life one of these three is alwayes an actour And fourthly by this metaphor of walking that in our Christian conuersation there should bee a continuall progresse in godlinesse For as in walking saith Basil the steps other thing but the life of Christ like that Reuel 11. 11. Againe the law of the spirit of life in Christ is no other thing but that forcible working liuely power vvhich is in Christ for it is customable to the holy Apostle to vse the vvord law to expresse any thing wherein there is a commanding or working power so hee hath ascribed a law to sinne a law to his members a law to death and now very properly hee oppones vnto them a law of the spirit of life in Christ vvhich is more liuely and powerfull to saue to free and to quicken then any law that hath contrary power can be able to destroy captiue or slay them who are in Christ. Thus the words being expounded the first lesson will arise out of the Apostles manner of speach who ascribing to sinne and death a law vvhich may condemne and destroy ascribes to Christ a more powerfull law to iustifie and preserue Most sure then is our estate vvho are in Iesus Christ for there is a power in our Lord vvhich shall bring euery contrary power of man and Angell in subiecton to him that tyrant sinne hath indeede oppressed and ouer-ruled many a one but our Lord Iesus the valiant conquerour hath a mightie power able to disanull the lavv of sinne and Sathan is that strong one vvho by nature possesses the hart of man as his owne house but Iesus is that stronger one vvho vvill dispossesse him and cast him out of the hearts of all such as are his The God of peace shall shortly tread Sathan vnder our feet and therefore suppose vve bee vveake in our selues yet vve vvill reioyce in the strength of the Lord Iesus Secondly vve learne here that without Christ vve liued in a vile seruitude and bondage of all seruants those are in vvorst case who are sould and of those vvho are sould they are vvorst vvho must doe seruice in prison and of them vvho are in prison most lamentable is their estate vvho are chayned and bound in prison yet such seruants were vve by nature before Christ made vs free vve were not onely the seruants of sinne and sould vnder sinne as witnesseth the Apostle but more also vve vvere as sayth Esay captiued and bound with chaines in prison the Iaylour vvhereof is infidelitie for wee were all shut vp vnder vnbeliefe a Iaylour so straite and tyrannous as permitted vs not so long as wee were in his keeping so much as â—o lift vp our head or looke vp to heauen for deliuerance from him from whom onely comes our helpe Our oppressers in this bondage are Sathan and Sinne and sinnes of so many sorts as doe miserably distract the soule Pride one while vsurping dominion ouer vs Auarice another while vendicating a seat to her selfe with power to commaund vs Concupiscence most commonly challenging vs to doe her seruice as our soueraigne Sic certant in me de me
spirit are not sure of mercy ye blaspheme as of before speakes yet manifestly against the Apostle who sayes that the witnessing of this spirit vnto our spirit makes vs to cry Abba father But wee will speake more of this hereafter But now to conclude this verse seeing hee who hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his whose then shall hee be certainely he is the vassall of Sathan the Lord shall deny him the Lord shall disclaime him as not belonging to him depart from mee yee workers of iniquitie I know not whence you are O the bitter fruit of sinne which causes the Lord to deny that creature to be his which once he made to his owne image Let vs therefore hate our sinne vnto death let vs in time make hast to depart from iniquitie which shall at the last draw on that sentence vpon the wicked depart from me The Lord deliuer vs from it through Iesus Christ. Verse 10. And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sinne but the Spirit is life for righteousnesse sake HItherto hath the Apostle comforted the Christian against the remanents of sinne now hee comforts him against the fruites and effects of sinne which he findeth in himselfe The godly might haue obiected ye haue said before the fâ—uite of carnall wisedome is death are wee not subiect vnto death and so of the fruites and effects of sinne what can wee iudge but that wee are carnall To this hee answeres first by a confession it is true that the body is dead because of sinne but if Christ be in you the spirit through his righteousnesse is endued with life yee are not therefore to conclude that yee are carnall because death through sinne is entred into your bodies as to confirme your selues in this that life through the righteousnesse of Christ is communicated to your soule and so the summe of his comfort will bee this the death whereunto you are subiect is neyther totall nor perpetuall that it is not totall he declares in this verse for it strikes not vpon the whole man but vpon the weakest part of man which is his body as for his most excellent part which is his soule it is pertaker of a life that is not subiect vnto death That it is not perpetuall he declares in the next verse our bodyes shall not bide for euer vnder the bands of death the spirit of Christ that now dwels in them shall at the last raise them vp from death and cloth them with immortalitie and incorruptibiliâ—ie If Christ be in you Before the Apostle bring in his comfort hee premits a conâ—â—tion to teach vs that the comforts of God belong not indifferently vnto all men hee who is a stranger from Christ hath nothing to doe with these comforts When our Sauiour commaunded his Disciples to proclaime peace vnto euery house they came to hee foretold them it should abide onely with the sonnes of peace he foâ—bad them in like manner to giue those things which were holy vnto dogs or to cast pearles before Swine This stands a perpetuall Law to all Preachers that they presume not to proclaime peace to the impenitent and vnbeleeuing but as Iehâ— spake to Iehorams horseman What hast thou to doe with peace so are wee to tell the wicked who walke still on in their sinnes that they haue nothing to doe with that peace preached by the Gospell Secondly if wee compare the former verse with this we shall see that the manner of Christs dwelling in his children is by his Spirit To make vp our vnion with Christ it is not needfull that his humane nature should bee drawne down from heauen or that his body should be euery where as the Vbiquitaries affiâ—me or that in the Sacrament the bread shold be transubstantiate into his body as the Papists imagine his dwelling in vs is by his spirit and our vnion with him is spirituall neyther yet by so saying doe wee diuide his two natures for they are inseperably vnited in one personall vnion which vnion doth not for all that import that his humane nature is extended ouer all as his diuine nature is The heauens must containe him till hee come againe Noli dubitare ibi esse hominem Christum vnde venturus est Put it out of doubt that the man Christ Iesus is in that place from which hee shall come Keepe faithfully that Christian confession He is risen from the death ascended vnto Heauen and sits at the right hand of his Father and that hee shall come from no other place but from Heauen to iudge the quicke and the dead and hee addeth that which the Angell said to his Disciples this Iesus who is taken vp from you into heauen shall so come as ye haue seene him goe into heauen that is saith Augustine in eadem carnis forma atque substantia cui profecto immortalitatem dedit naturam non abstulit that is in that same forme and substance of flesh to the which hee hath giuen immortalitie but hath not taken away the nature thereof Secundum hanc non est pâ—tandem quod vbique est diffusus vbique per id quod Deus in coâ—lo autem per â—d quod homâ— according to this nature wee are not to thinke that he is in euery place it is true that as God he is euery where but as man he is in the heauens and this for the condition Now to the comfort wee haue by Iesus Christ a threefold comfort against death whereof two onely here are touched The first that the death whereunto we are subiect is not totall The second that the nature and qualitie of our bodilie death is changed The third that it is not perpetuall the body shall not for euer lie vnder death The Ethnicks had also their owne silly comforts but nothing comparable to ours Nazianzen records that Cleopatra Queene of Aegypt demaunding of certaine learned men what kinde of death was without the bitter sense of paine receiued this answere there is no death without dolour but that death was most gentle which was brought on by the Serpent Aspis and namely that kinde thereof which is called Aypnale because they whose flesh is enuenomed with the poyson therof doe incontinently sleepe vnto death for which cause also shee made choyse of it And Seneâ—a being by Nero to bee executed to death got it left to his owne pleasure as great fauour shewed vnto him to make choyse of any death hee pleased he chose to bleede to death in hote water others among them that offered themselues to most fearefull deaths such as Curtius Regulus and others had no comfort to sustaine them but a silly hope of immortall fame of their affection to their country It was saith Augustine the silly comfort of the Gentiles against the want of buriall Coelo tegitur qui non habet vrnam and as comfortlesse is the comfort of many
speaking in the name of the Lord not thy merits for if I should seeke thy merits thou shouldst neuer bee pertaker of my gifts When the Apostle Saint Paul had reckoned out how hee had laboured more aboundantly in the worke of the ministerie then all the rest of the Apostles hee subioynes as it were by correction yet not I but the grace of God in me learning vs when vve haue done all the good we can to be humble in our selues and giue the glory to God if he promise vs a crowne nihil aliud coronat nisi dona sua he crownes no other thing but his owne gifts if by promise hee bindes himselfe a debter vnto vs to giue vs a reward debitor factus est nobis non aliquid a nobis accipiendo sed quod ille placuit promittendo he is become a debter vnto vs not by receiuing any thing from vs but by promosing freely to vs that which pleased him and therefore when we are exhorted to mortifie the deeds of the body by the spirit let vs first turne this and the like of the precepts into prayers that the Lord would enable vs by grace to doe that which he commaunds vs and then when in some measure we haue done it that we returne the praise and glory to the Lord. Mortifie c. Seeing the first part of our sanctification is called mortification vve are to consider hovv in this word there lurkes a rule vvhereby euery man may try hovv farre forth he hath profited in sanctification vve see by experience that the neerer a man drawes to death the lesse motion is in him but after hee is once dead hee moues not at all present him pleasant obiects they delight him not praise him yet he is not puffed vp speake euill of him yet he is not offended euen so is it with the spirituall man the greater progresse he makes in sanctification the motions of sin are euer the weaker in him the pleasures of the world moues him not as they were wont if thou praise him the breath of thy mouth cannot lift him vp if thou offend him the more he is mortified the lesse he is grieued As a man saith Basile being dead is seperate from those with whom he was conuersant before so hee who is mortified is instantly sundred in his affections from those who before were his familiar companions in sinne yea those actions wherein he delighted before are a griefe vnto him now it is a vexation of his soule to heare and see the vnrighteous deedes of the wicked which were wont to be vnto him the matter of his sport and laughter Therefore doth he wish and so should we that we might alwayes die this kind of death foelix mors quae alienum facit hominem ab hoc saeculo certainly it is a happy death which alienates and turnes away the hart of man from the loue of this world Bona mors quippe vitam non aufert sed transfert in melius for it is a good kinde of death which doth not take life away but changes it into a better But alas how farre are we from this spirituall disposition doth not the angry countenance of one in wordly authoritie terrifie vs the disdainfull words of men doe they not put vs out of the state of patience if the world flatter vs are we not puft vp if she frowne vpon vs are wee not cast downe and this our great weakenesse proceeds onely from the strength of sinne in vs this lets vs see what cause we haue to bee humbled considering that hauing liued long in this time of grace yet haue we profited little in the mortification of our sinfull lusts and affections Againe out of this same word of Mortification wee learne that the worke of our Sanctification is a worke of difficultie not accomplished without labour paine and dolour for it receiues these three names as to bee called Mortification Regeneration and Circumcision As no birth no death no cutting off the flesh can bee without dolour and sorrow so the conuersion of a sinner is not wrought without inward paine and sorrow The Infant that hath laid but nine Moneths in the wombe of the mother is not deliuered without great paine suppose shee conceiued it with pleasure and shalt thou thinke to part with sinne which in thee was conceiued with thee and which since so often thou hast nourished with pleasure and not to proue the dolours of the New-birth No assuredly In the worke of mans conuersion there is the contrite spirit the humbled heart the mourning weede the melting eye the pale countenance the voyce of lamentation let not such as feele them if they find therwith a rending of their affections from their old sins be troubled for these are but the dolors of their new birth and for others who know not these inward humiliations and wrestlings of the Children of God they haue iust cause to suspect themselues that they haue not so much as the beginnings of Mortification Regeneration and spirituall Circumcision By the Spirit Nature will not destroy our sinfull lusts they are mortified by the Spirit of Christ and therefore vve are to nourish and entertaine this Spirit by the meanes before prescribed As those Beasts which sacrificed to God vnder the Law were first slaine by the knife of the Leuite and then offered to God vpon the Altar so the Lord Iesus must mortifie our affections by the power of his word and Spirit before they can be presented acceptable sacrifices to the Lord our God Yee shall liue As I spake of death which is threatned so speake I of life here promised this temporall life cannot bee the recompense of righteousnesse for it is common both to the Godly and the wicked If in this life onely we had hope of all men wee were the most miserable but the life here promised is eternall life the beginning whereof presently vve enjoy by the Spirit of our Lord who hath quickned vs so that wee may say now I liue yet not I but Christ Iesus liueth in mee the accomplishment thereof wee looke for hereafter Thus hath the Apostle set before vs both life and death he hath shewed vs the way how wee may eschew the one and attaine to the other the Lord graunt that according to his counsell wee may make choyse of the best Verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sonnes of God IN this Verse the Apostle subioynes a Confirmation of his preceding argument in the last part thereof hee hath said If yee mortifie the deedes of the body by the Spirit ye shall liue now he proues it They who mortefie the deedes of the body by the Spirit or they who are led by the Spirit of God for these phrases are equiualent are the Sonnes of God therefore they must liue the necessitie of the consequence is euident of that which followeth the Sonnes of God
to Ioseph when she pulled the garment from him There are three notable things for which we striue and which the world is neuer able to take from vs the loue of God which he hath borne to vs the grace of God which hee hath communicated to vs in our calling the glory of God and eternall life which hereafter doth abide vs no power of man nor Angell is able to depriue vs of these things An example whereof we haue in that notable warriour of God Patient Iob whom the Lord set vp as an obiect of all Sathans buffets and against whom hee was permitted to vse all the strategems of the spirituall warfare that possibly hee could hee crossed him not onely in his goods in his children and in his owne body but also in his minde by his wife hee tempted him to blasphemie by his friends to diffidence yet by none of these could hee ouercome him In his outward troubles his resolution was the Lord hath giuen the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord for euer in his inward terrours his resolution was Albeit the Lord would slay me yet would I trust in him so impossible is it for Sathan by any tentation whatsoeuer to seperate from the loue of God his Children chosen called and iustified To cleare this let vs yet know that God is many manner of wayes present with his children in trouble first hee is with them by preuenting the danger so that hee will not suffer the intended euill of the enimie to come neere them so he brought Senacherib to see Ierusalem without but suffered him not to shoot so much as a dart against it within Somtime again the Lord enters his children into the trouble as Daniel into the den Ioseph into the prison the three Children into the fire but deliuers them in such sort that both his glory and their comfort is greater than if they had not beene in trouble at all Sometime hee suffers his children to end their mortall liues in trouble and yet is with them strengthening them by his glorious might to all patience and long suffering filling them with such a sense of his loue that in death they rest vnder the assurance of life The practise of this see in the examples of Eliah and Paul when Iezabel vowed to haue the life of Eliah yee shall see that the Lord is with him sometime to hide him that albeit Achab and Iezabel seeke him they cannot finde him sometime God lets Achabs captaines see where hee is but consumes with fire them that came proudly to take him Sometime hee presents him to Achab and Iezabel but bridleth the tyrants that they haue no power to stirre him The Apostle Paul in like manner being sent prisoner to Rome the Lord assisted him in such sort that hee deliuered him out of the mouth of the Lyon Nero and yet the second time suffered him to fall by the sword of the same tyrant shall wee thinke that the Lord was not with the Apostle to assist him the second time as well as the first let it be farre from vs. The Lord was with him indeed to make his death a seale and confirmation of that Gospell which hee had preached in his life The comfort then remaines that howeuer God worke with his children in trouble no aduersarie is able to take from vs that for which wee striue to wit grace and glory they may be vnto vs as the sharpe rasers of God to cut away our superfluities but shall neuer be able to bereaue vs of the end of our Faith which is the euerlasting saluation of our soules Verse 32. Who spared not his owne Sonne but gaue him for vs all vnto death how shall he not with him giue vnto vs all things also NOw followeth the second part of the Apostles generall triumph wherein hee gloryeth that the Christian can want nothing needfull for him for seeing the Lord hath giuen vnto him the greatest and most excellent gift to wit his owne Sonne is it possible that he will denie him any secondary or inferior gifts needfull for him Sathan who is a lyer from the beginning accused the Lord of two things first of an vntruth albeit the Lord hath said it yet ye shall not dye secondly of Enuy. In the first Sathan is proued false and the Lord is found true for are they not dead to whom the Lord said yee shall dye In the second Sathan is found a calumniator for what good tree will the Lord refuse to his owne who hath giuen vnto them this excellent tree of life which brings with it vnto them all things needfull for them To amplifie this great loue of God the Apostle saith not simply that hee gaue his Sonne for vs but that hee spared not to giue him O wonderfull loue the Naturall and onely Sonne of God is not spared that the adoptiue sonnes may be spared for our sins being imputed to him by the ordinance of God his Father and voluntarily accepted by himselfe so the punishment of our sinnes and chasticement of our peace was laid vpon him that by his stripes wee might be healed The bitter cuppe due to vs was propined to him for the which albeit hee prayed to his Father that if it were his will this cuppe might passe by him yet the Father spared him not but held it to his head till hee dranke out the vttermost dregs thereof So straite is the Iustice of God that sinne being imputed to the Sonne of God who had no sinne of his owne is pursued to the vttermost The greatest example of Iustice that euer the Lord declared in the world the drowning of the originall world the burning of Sodome the plaguing of Egypt were terrible proofes of the straitnesse of diuine Iustice but nothing comparable to this Which I marke partly for a comfort to the Godly and partly for a warning to the wicked it is our great comfort that the saluation which Iesus hath purchased vnto vs hee hath obtained it with a full satisfaction of his Fathers Iustice so that now wee that are in him are not any more to feare it The great Iudge of all the world will not doe vnrighteously to require that againe from vs which our Christ whom hee himselfe hath giuen vnto vs hath payed for vs. And as for the wicked who are not in Christ how miserable will their state and condition be for they must beare the punishment of their owne sinnes in their owne persons If the burden of that wrath due to our sinnes caused Iesus to sweat bloud and to say that his soule was heauy vnto the very death O how shall the burden of this wrath presse downe the wicked it is euen a horrour to think of it their faces shall be confused without and their spirits oppressed within with tribulation and anguish hee that spared not in his owne Sonne sinne imputed vnto him will hee spare in
deliuering vs from so fearefull a condemnation Last of all as this is the happy estate of them who are in Christ that now there is no condemnation for them so is it the contrary miserable estate of the damned doe what they will euery action of their life makes out the processe of their most iust condemnation for to the vncleane all things are vncleane yea euen their consciences are defiled and their prayer is abhominable and turned into sinne but thanks be to God through Iesus Christ who hath deliuered vs from this most vnhappie condition To them who are in Christ. Albeit the former mentioned deliuerance from the wrath to come be most comfortable yet this which is subioyned should waken euery man to take heed vnto himselfe when we heare that this deliuerance is limited and restrained onely to them who are in Christ. It is true that by the offence of one man the fault came on all to condemnation but by the obedience of one all are not made righteous onely they who receiue the abundance of grace and gift of righteousnesse shall reigne in life through one Iesus Christ. As therfore we haue receiued within our selues by nature the sentence of death knowing that we are borne heyres of the wrath of God by disobedience so wisedome craues that we neuer rest nor suffer our eies to sleepe nor our eye-lids to slumber but that wee should recount our former sinnes in the bitternesse of our heart and water our couch with teares in the night and call vpon the Lord without ceasing in the day continually vntill we finde that we are translated from darknesse to light taken out of nature and planted in Christ and that first sentence of absolution be pronounced to our conscience by the spirit of adoption goe thy way thy sinnes are forgiuen thee For the Apostle vseth here this limitation of the comfort to certain persons thereby to declare that it appertaines not vnto the remnant of the world When the originall world was ouerwhelmed with waters none were saued but such as were in the Arke when Sodome was burnt with fire none were saued but those of the familie of Lot when Iericho was destroyed none were preserued but such as were in the Familie of Rahab all these are figures shadowing vnto vs that when the Lord shall come to cut downe the wicked with the sword or hooke of his iustice to cast them for euer into the wine-presse of his wrath saluation shall belong onely to those who are of the houshold of faith euen that whole familie whereof God in Iesus Christ is the Father which number is indeede exceeding small if they bee compared with the remnant and great multitude of the world therefore let not their euill example deceiue vs but remembring the kingdome of heauen suffers violence let vs cast away these burdens and impediments specially this sinne which hangeth so fast on that we may enter in time into the arke of God and Familie of Rahab that so vvee may bee saued Wee haue here then first to obserue a certaine distinction of mankinde whereof some are in Christ these are vessels of honour reserued to mercy others out of Christ and these are vessels of dishonour ordained vnto wrath This distinction is first made in God his secret counsell electing some and leaâ—ing others according to the good pleasure of his will and this is onely knowne vnto himselfe It begins first to be manifest when the Lord by effectuall calling seperates his Elect from the children of wrath and disobedience and then it is knowne but properly and truely of those onely who are effectually called for that now name which To them that are in Christ. The Apostle you see changes the manner of his speach when hee spake of the power of sinne remayning in our nature he spake of it in his owne person but when hee speakes of our deliuerance by Iesus Christ he speakes of it in the person of others Thus the Apostle by an holy wisedome doth order his speach for the comfort of the children of GOD for least that other weake christians might bee discouraged by reason of their sinnes hee speakes of remanent sinfull corruption in his owne person to declare that none no not the holy Apostles are exempted from it Of deliuerance againe he speaks in the person of others least any should thinke that the grace of Christ were restrayned onely to such singular persons as holy Apostles were not also extended to others Commonly these whâ— are of such a tender Conscience makes exception of themselues as if the comfort of other christians belonged not to them the Apostle therefore includes within the communion of this benefit all vvhosoeuer Pastors people learned vnlearned poore rich weake and strong prouiding that they bee in Iesus Christ. Men who are truely godly in the matter of misery chiefly contemne themselues therefore the Apostle calles himselfe the chiefe of all sinners but they neuer exclude others from the same communion of mercie I know sayes the Apostle that there is layd vp for mee a crowne of glory and not onely for mee but for all them who loue the second appearing of the Lord Iesus It is farre otherwise with naturall men blinded with presumption they extoll their owne righteousnesse aboue others in their conceit with the proud Pharisee condemneth euery other man as a greater sinner than himselfe they carrie in their bagge two measures by the one they take to themselues making much of the smallest good which is in them by the other they giue setting that by for light which is most excellent in another Our Sauiour properly expresses their corrupt iudgement when hee compares it to the light of the eye which can see any other thing better than it selfe and can espye a moate sooner in another than a beame in it selfe After this manner hipocrites looke out curiosi ad cognoscendâ—m vitam alienam dâ—sidiosi ad corrigendum suam curious searchers of the life of others carelesse correcters of their owne Mens peracute perspiciens alienos errores tarda est ad proprios cognoscendos defectus the minde that sharply lookes to the faults of others doth but slowly consider her owne defects but let vs learne by the precept of our blessed Sauiour and practise of this holy Apostle rather to looke to our selues searching out our owne sins then neglecting our selues to prattle vainely of the sinnes of other men That are in Christ. But now to come to the matter The spirit of God in holy Scripture expresses our vnion with Christ by fiue sundry similitudes first by a marriage wherin Christ is the husband and we the spouse Secondly by a body whereof Christ is the head and wee the members Thirdly by a building or house wherein Christ is the foundation or ground stone and wee the vpper building vpon him Fourthly by the
giuen vs such deliuerances shall we returne any more to breake thy Commaundements but much more should it binde vs to doe seruice to our Lord Iesus seeing hee hath made vs free by his bloud shall wee againe make our selues the seruants of sinne The Lord neuer shewed a greater mercie on man then this that hee gaue his sonne Iesus Christ vnto the death for vs and there can be no higher contempt done to God by man then if after so great a loue shewed vs wee shall still refuse to bee his seruants much will be required of him to whom much is giuen those Gentiles to whom the Lord reuealed himselfe in goodnes onely as their Creator because they did not glorifie him the Apostle saith that the wrath of God was reuealed from heauen vpon them and what wrath then maist thou looke for to whom the Lord hath manifested himselfe in mercy also as thy Redeemer in Christ and yet thou wilt not glorifie him thou receiuest not him whom thy Father hath sent vnto thee neyther wilt thou liue vnto him that gaue himselfe to dye for thee but by thy wicked life thou crucifiest againe the Sonne of God and treadest vnder thy feet the bloud of the new couenant certainely Sodome and Gomorrha shall be in an easier estate in the day of iudgement then the wicked of this generation For in this last age the Lord hath spoken to vs by his Son he hath none greater to send after him those labourers of the vineyard that slew the Seruants of the great King were not for that instantly punished but when the Sonne came and they had murthered him also then was their iudgement no longer delayed It was not written for the Iewes onely in whom it was first accomplished but for vs also to whom the Father in this last age hath sent his owne Sonne and by whom hee hath spoken vnto vs from himselfe if we despise him there remaines no more but a violent looking for of iudgement The third dutie is that for Christs sake wee loue vnfainedly those vvhom hee hath recommended vnto vs our goodnesse cannot extend vnto the Lord neither haue vve him vvalking vvith vs vpon earth that vve may minister vnto him may wash his feete and annoynt his blessed bodie vvith precious oyntments therefore should our delight bee vpon these his excellent ones that are vpon earth When Ionathan was dead Dauid for Ionathans sake shewed kindnesse to Mephibosheth our Ionathan is not dead hee liues and raignes in heauen yet can we not declare our kindnesse to himselfe let vs seeke some Mephibosheth some of Christs little weake and impotent children of vvhom he hath said what yee doe to one of these little ones for my sake is done to mee and let vs shew kindnesse vnto them for the great loue which the Lord Iesus hath shewed vnto vs. And that for sinne These wordes containe the end of Christs manifestation in the flesh which is that in our nature hee might beare the punishment of our sinnes satisfie the iustice of God and so abolish sinne Saint Iohn makes this cleare when he saith that hee appeared to destroy the workes of the diuell that is sinne for sinne being remoued there is nothing in man but the workmanship of God By this it is euident how highly they offend God who abuseth the death of Christ to nourish themselues in their sinne being the bolder to commit sinne because Christ dyed for them surely this is to turne the grace of God into wantonnesse The Lord came to abolish sinne not to nourish it Christ once suffered the iust for the vniust not that we should still abide vniust but that hee might bring vs to God Thou therefore who continuest vniust maist say as thou hast heard that there is a Sauiour come into the world but can not say in truth that there is a Sauiour come to thee For where Christ comes hee worketh that worke for which hee came namely hee destroyes the worke of the diuell that is hee enfeebles and abolishes at the last the power of sinne Condemned sinne Sinne by a metaphor is said to be condemned for as they vvho are condemned are depriued of all the liberty power and priuiledges they had before and hath no more any place to appeare in iudgement so hath the Lord Iesus disanulled sinne that it hath now no power to command and condemne vs hee hath spoyled principalities and powers and triumphed ouer them in the Crosse and hath nayled vnto it the obligation of ordinances which was against vs and so sustulit illam quasi authoritatem peccati qua homines detinebat in inferno hath taken away that povver and authoritie of sinne whereby it detayned men vnder damnation This hath hee done most lawfully and in iudgement as vve shall heare bearing our sinnes in his blessed body on the Crosse hee hath suffered that punishment vvhich the law required to bee inflicted on man for sinne and that in the flesh that is in the same nature of man vvhich had offended For this word of Condemnation imports a iust and lawful proceeding of a Iudge in iudgement which that vve may the better vnderstand let vs consider that there are two generall and head iustice Courts vvhich the Lord hath set vnto men the one is holden already the other is to bee holden in the first the sinnes of all the elect are lawfully condemned that themselues may be absolued in the second the persons of all the reprobate shall bee iusty condemned In the first by the ordinance of God the Father our sinnes were laid vpon the back of Iesus Christ and a law imposed to him which was neuer giuen to any other neyther Angell or man to wit the law of a Mediator that hee should make vp peace betweene God and man loue God in such sort that hee should by suffering preserue the glory of his Fathers iustice and yet make manifest the glory of his mercy that hee should loue his brethren in such sort that hee should take the burden of their transgressions vpon him which as by the Father it vvas inioyned vnto him so did hee vvillingly vndertake it And therefore hauing our sinnes imputed vnto him hee presented himselfe for vs vpon the Crosse as vpon a pannell before the Iudge to vnderly the law which craued that our sinnes should be punished to the death The decree according to the law is executed death yea an accursed death as the punishment of sinne is laide vpon Christ wherevpon there followes of equitie an absolution of all those for whom the Lord Iesus suffered as Cautioner their sinne is condemned and made of no force to condemne them hereafter The other generall iustice court will bee holden in the last day wherein all flesh must appeare before the Lord as their superiour and in that supreame and last Court of iustice shall bee condemned the persons of all those whose sinnes were not condemned before in Christ
Iesus onely therefore blessed are they who are in Christ Hee that heares my wordes and belieues in him that sent me hath euerlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life And lastly we may obserue here what a powerfull Sauiour wee haue when to the iudgement of man he was weakest then did hee the greatest worke that euer was done in the world he was powerfull in working of miracles in his life but more powerfull in his death for then hee darkened the Sunne hee shooke the earth hee made the rockes to cleaue he rent the vaile of the temple a sunder and caused the dead to rise Mortuum Caesarem quis metuat sed morte Christi quid efficacius if Caesar bee once dead who will feare Christ euen when hee is dead is terrible to his enimies nothing can be more effectuall then his death By it he did a greater worke than was the creation of the world by it he brought in new heauens and a new earth by suffering death he destroyed him who had the power of death when hee was condemned of man hee condemned sinne that it should not condemne man passus est vt infirmus operatus vt fortis â—e suffered as a weake man but wrought as a strong one Sicut serpens mortuus c. As that Serpent without life erected by Moses in the wildernesse ouercame the liuing Serpents that stung Israell so the Lord Iesus by suffering death hath slaine that serpent that liuing in vs had slung vs vnto death Hic vides mortem morte peremptam maledictum maledicto extinctum per quae Diabolus iam antea valebat per ea ipsa tyrannidem ipsius esse destructam here thou seest saith Chrisostome death slaine by death and the tyrannie of Sathan destroyed by these same meanes by which before most of all he preuailed O wonderfull worke surely the weaknesse of God is stronger then man hee is that stronge One indeed stronger then Samson When the Philistines thought they had him sure within the portes of Azzah hee arose at midnight and tooke the doores of the gates of the Cittie and the two posts and carried them away with the bars thereof on his shoulders vp to the top of the mountaine which is before Hebron but our mightie Conquerour and deliuerer the Lord Iesus hath in a more excellent manner magnified his power for being closed in the graue clasped in the bands of death and a stone rolled to the mouth of the graue the Sepulcher sealed and guarded with souldiers he rose againe the third day before the rising of the Sunne he carried like a victor the bars and posts of death away as vpon his shoulders and vpon the mount of Oliues hee ascended on high leading captiuitie captiue Like as therefore wee receiued before great comfort through the consideration of Christs incomprehensible loue toward vs so is it now confirmed by the meditation of his power Let Sathan boast like Rabsache that the Lord is not able to deliuer Ierusalem out of his hands hee is but a blasphemous Lyar the Lord will rebuke him and will shortly tread Sathan vnder our feet it is the curse of the wicked hee shall be oppressed and there shall bee none to deliuer him but blessed bee the Lord who hath prouided a strong deliuerer for vs who certainly shall set vs free from our enimies and destroy all the oppressours of our soules Glory therefore be vnto him for euer Verse 4. That the righteousnesse of the Law might be fulfilled in vs who walke not after the Flesh but after the Spirit THe Apostle hauing taught vs in the former verse how the Lord Iesus hath freed vs from the condemning power of sinne doth now let vs see how we are freed also from the commanding power of sinne for hee sets downe this to bee the first and neerest end of Christs death in respect of vs the renouation of our nature and conformitie thereof with God his holy law which hee expresses more cleerely in another place when he saith that Christ gaue himselfe to the death for his Church that hee might sanctifie it and make it to himselfe a glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinckle or any such thing but that it should bee holy and without blame This is the end which Christ hath proposed vnto himselfe and whereof hee cannot bee frustrate as hee hath begunne it so he shall finish it he shall conforme vs to the law the righteousnesse thereof shall be fulfilled in vs there shall not bee left in our nature so much as a sinfull motion or desire but hee shall at the last present vs pure and without blame to his Father This righteousnesse of the law I vnderstand to be that perfect obedience to the Commaundements thereof which the law requires flowing from the perfect loue of God and our neighbour and it is fulfilled in vs two manner of wayes first by application or imputation of Christs righteousnesse vnto vs he is our head and we his members and are so vnited with him that now we are not to be taken as sundry but as one bodie with him By vertue of the which communion it comes to passe that that which is ours is his and that which is his is ours so that in our head we haue fulfilled the law satisfied Gods iustice for our sinnes Secondly it will be fulfilled in vs by our perfect sanctification though now wee haue but begunne obedience and in part the Lord Iesus at the last shall bring it in vs to perfection The Iesuites of Rhemes in their marginall notes on this Verse collects a note which the word here rendreth not vnto them Wee see say they that the Law which is Gods commandements may be kept that the keeping therof is iustice and that in Christian men that is fulfilled by Christs grace which by the force of the Law could neuer be fulfilled that the law may be fulfilled and also shall be fulfilled by the grace of Christ who hath deliuered vs from the Law of sinne is euident out of the Apostles words we confesse it and are comforted in it this is an end which Christ hath proposed vnto himselfe that he may make vs perfectly answerable to that holinesse which the Law requireth and in his owne good time he shall bring it to passe but that the Law is fulfilled of men in this life cannot be proued neyther out of this place nor any other place of holy Scripture Damnatum est pecatum non extinctum Sinne is condemned sayeth Caietane one of their owne but not extinguished And hereunto beside infinite testimonies of holy Scripture agreeth also the suffrages of pure antiquitie Non dicit familia tua sana sum medicum non requiro sed sana me Domine sanabor It is not saith Ambrose the voyce of thy familie I am whole and needes not a Phisition but
man doth persecute him and seekes by all meanes to oppresse him but at the last hee shall be cast out This metaphor of dwelling doth also yeelde vnto vs exceeding great comfort in all other habitations the lodging is larger than the inhabiter but this is maruailous that the lodging here is so little and the inhabiter so great that infinite maiestie vvhom the heauen of heauens cannot contain vvho hath the heauen for his throne and the earth for his footestoole hath chosen for his dwelling and place of rest the soule of him that is poore contrite and trembles at his word A wonderfull mercy that the highest maiestie should so farre dimâ—t the selfe as that passing by all his other creatures hee should make choyse of man to be his pleasant sanctuary From this it is euident that this dwelling doth designe some speciall presence of God with his own children which he shewes not vnto others it is true hee is present in euerie place bounded within no place he containes all things vncontayned of any where hee dwelleth not as a Father there hee sits as a Iudge and is a terrour which manner of way the damned are continually vexed with his presence but in the Christian hee dwels as a maister in his owne familie as a Father with his children quickning ruling and preseruing them Worldlings may match the Christian in externall gifts but cannot compare with him in this internall glory though without hee be but an earthen vessell yet hath hee within an heauenly treasure for hee is the habitation of God in whom the Lord dwels by his spirit It was Beniamin his glory that the Lord should dwell betweene his shoulders and the glory of Ierusalem that there the Lord dwelt between the Cherubins but most of all the glory of a Christian that the Lord dwelleth betweene the secrets of his soule let worldling reioyce in their outward priuiledges and in their presumptuous minds leap like the mightie mountaines esteeming themselues high as mount Basan yet this is the glory of a Christian that God delights to dwell in him Let vs therfore make much of them who feare the Lord though in regard of their outward estate they were neuer so base we should not be ashamâ—d to doe them honour for his sake who dwelleth in them Dariâ—s preferred Daniell because the spirit was excellent in him and Pharaoh honoured Ioseph because the Spirit of God was in him yea the Angels are content to be Seruants and Ministers to them who feare the Lord they honoured Shepheards for Christs sake with their presence which they did not vnto King Herod for all his glory and shall not wee delight in Gods excellent ones vpon earth surely hee shall dwell in the Tabernacle of God in whose eyes a vile person is contemned but hee honoureth them who feare the Lord. Hereby wee know that wee are translated from death to life because wee loue the brethrâ—n Not onely doth this Metaphor of dwelling import a familiar presence but also a continuance thereof for he soiourns not in vs as a stranger that lodges for some dayes or Moneths in a place but hath setled his residence to dwell in vs for euer howeuer by temporall desertions he humble vs yet shall he neuer depart from that soule which once hee hath sanctified to be his owne habitation and this comfort is confirmed to vs by most sure arguments The first is taken from the nature of God Hee is faithfull saith the Apostle by whom wee are called to the fellowship of his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord hee will confirme vs to the end that we may bee blamelesse in the day of our Lord Iesus And againe saith hee I am perswaded that hee who hath begunne this good work in you will performe it vntill the day of Christ. That word which the Lord spake to Iacob stands sure to all his posteritie I will not forsake thee till I haue performed that which I promised thee The couenant of God is perfect and euerlasting and therefore with Dauid will wee giue this glory vnto God that he will performe his promise toward vs and bring forward his owne worke in vs to perfection The second argument is taken from the nature of that life which Christ communicateth to his members it is no more subiect vnto death We know that Christ being raised from the dead dyes no more this life I say is communicated to vs for it is not we that liues but Christ that liues in vs. And the third is taken from the nature of that seede whereof we are begotten for as the seede is so is the life that comes by it now the seed saith the Apostle is immortall wee are borne of new not of mortall seed but immortall our life therefore is immortall But against this is obiected that the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and that which Dauid prayes take not thine holy Spirit from me To this I answere that the spirit is taken sometime for the common and externall gifts of the spirit such as are bestowed as well vpon the wicked as vpon the godly as the gift of Prophecie gouernement working miracles and such like and these once giuen may bee taken againe in this sense it is said that God tooke the spirit that was vpon Moses and gaue it vnto the seauentie Elders and so also it is said that the spirit of God departed from Saul there it is put for the gift of gouernement sometime againe it is taken for the speciall and internall gift of sanctification this spirit once giuen is neuer taken away for this gift and calling of God is without repentance that is they neuer fall vnder reuocation To the second when Dauid saith take not thine holy spirit from me and restore me againe to the ioy of thy saluation this impoâ—â—s not a full departure of Gods spirit from him otherwise he could not haue prayed but that his sinne had diminished the sense and feeling of that operation of the spirit in him which he was wont to feele before and so is it with others of Gods Children that eyther the neglect of the spirituall worship or the commission of some new sins doth so impayre the sense of mercy in them that to their iudgement the spirit of God hath iustly forsaken them This I confesse is a very heauie estate and more bitter to them that haue felt before the sweetenesse of Gods mercy than death it selfe yet euen in this same estate wherein no comfort is felt let patience sustaine men let them learne to put a difference betweene that which they feele and that which is and remember that this is a false conclusion to say the spirit of grace is not in thee because thou canst not feele him for as there is a substance in the Oake or Elme euen when it hath cast the leaues so is there Grace in the heart
bastard Christians which stands onely in a fayre Sepulcher prouided before hand for themselues in an honourable buriall commanded expected of them before death and in abundance of worldly things which they leaue to theirs behinde them all which as saith the same Father viuorum sunt solatia non mortuorum are comforts to them that liue behinde but no help to them who are dead I note this that considering the magnanimitie of these Ethnicks in suffering of death notwithstanding the weake and small comforts which they had to sustaine them we may be ashamed of our pâ—sillanimitie who hauing from Christ most excellent comforts against death are afraide at the smallest remembrance thereof An euident argument that albeit many professe him yet few are pertakers of his power life and grace and that many hath him dwelling in their mouths in whose harts he dwelleth not by his spirit The body is dead Hee sayes not the body is subiect to death but by a more significant manner of speach he sayth the body is dead There is a difference betweene a mortall body and a dead body Adams body before the fall was mortall that is subiect to a possibilitie of dying but now after the fall our bodies are so mortall that they are subiect to a necessitie of dying yea if wee will here with the Apostle esteeme of death by the beginning thereof our bodies are dead already The officers and sergeants of death which are dolours infirmities and heauieâ— diseases hath seased already vpon our bodies and marked them as lodgings which shortly must be the habitation of death so that there is no man who is not presently dead in some part or other of his body Not onely is the sentence giuen out against vs thou art dust and to dust thou shalt returne but is begun to bee executed our carkasses are bound with cords by the officers of death and our life is but like that short time which is graunted to a condemned man betweene his doome and his execution all which the Apostle liuely expresses when he sayes the body is dead Whereof there arises vnto vs many profitable instructions and first what great neede wee haue as wee are commaunded to passe the time of our dwelling here in feare working out our owne saluation in feare and trembling seeing our sinnes haue cast vs into the hands of the first death shall we not cry without ceasing that we may be deliuered from the power of the second Alas it is pittifull that man should so farre forget himselfe as to reioyce in the time of his misery to passe ouer the dayes of his mortall life in vanitie and wantonnesse not considering how the first death is already entred into his carkasse nor foreseeing how hee may bee deliuered from the second but liues carelesse like to the Apostates of the old world who in the middest of their sinfull pleasures were sodainly washed away with the waters of the wrath of God and their spirits for disobedience sent vnto the prison where now they are and like those Philistims who banquetting in the platforme of the house of Dagon their God hauing minde of nothing but eating drinking and sporting not knowing that their enimie was within were sodainely otherthrowne and their banquetting house made their buriall place so shall it be with all the wicked who liuing in a dead body cares for nothing but how to please themselues in their sinne the piller of their house shall be pulled downe destruction shall come vpon him like a whirlewinde and in a moment shall sodaine desolation ouertake them And let this same meditation represse in vs that poyson of pride the first sinne that euer sprung forth of our nature next to infidelitie and last in rooting out Wilt thou consider O man that thou art but dead and that thy body be it neuer so strong or beautifull is but a lodging of death and what cause shalt thou haue to waxe proud for any thing that is in the flesh quid â—u superbis terra cinis si superbientibus Angelis non pepercit deus quanto minus tibi putredo vermis what hast thou to doe to be proud O dust and ashes if God spared not the Angels when they waxed proud vvill he spare thee who art but a rotten creature yea Vermis crastino moriturus a worme that must dye to morrow If so was done to an Angell saith Bernard what shall become of me ille intumuit in coelo ego in sterquilinio he vvas puft vp in heauen and therefore was cast downe from the place of his habitation if I waxe proude lying in a douâ—g-hill shall I not bee punished and cast downe into hell So oft therefore as corrupâ— nature stirreth vp the heart of man to pride because of the flowers of beautie strength that grow out of it let this humble thee thy flowres O man cannot but wither for the roote from which they spring is dead already And lastly is the body dead then learne temperance and sobrietie what auaileth it to pamper that carkasse of thine with excessiue feeding which is possessed by death already if men tooke the tenth part of that care to present their spirits holy and without blame vnto the Lord which they take to make their bodyes fat and beautifull in the eyes of men they might in short time make greater progresse in godlinesse then they haue done but herein is their folly Carnem pretiosis rebus impinguant c. they make fat their flesh with delicate things which within few daies the woâ—ms shall deuoure Animam vero non adornant bonis operibiu but beautifies not the Soule with good works which shortly is to bee presented vnto God Let vs refraine from the immoderate pampering of this flesh Meates are ordained for the belly and the belly for meates but God will destroy them both We haue here moreouer discouered vnto vs the shamelesse impudencie of Sathan who daily tempting man to sin promiseth vnto him some good by committing of it as boldly as if hee had neuer falsified his promise before He promised to our Parents in Paradise that if they did eate of the fruite of the forbidden tree they should become like vnto God but what performed he in stead of making man like vnto God hee made him like vnto himselfe yet as I sayde so shamelesse is that lying Spirit that hee dâ—re as boldly promise vantage by committing of sinne this day as he did the first day to Adam in Paradise notwithstanding that wee see through miserable experience that death because of sinne is enâ—â—ed into our bodyes Is hee not a deceiuer indeed that did first steale from vs our birth-right and now would also take from vs the blessing all those benefites wee got by our first creation he hath stollen them from vs with his lying words and now hee goes about by lyes also to steale from vs that
blessing of restitution by Christ offered and exhibited vnto vs. Iacob iustly complayned of Laban that hee had deceiued him and had changed his wages seauen times but more iustly may we complaine of Sathan who innumerable times hath beguiled vs hee hath changed our wages how oft hath hee promised vs good things and behold what euill is come vpon vs Happy were wee if in all our tentations we did remember this and reply to Sathan in this manner The Lord rebuke thee thou shamelesse Lyar from the beginning with what face canst thou speake that vnto mee wherein thou hast beene so oft conuinced by so manifold witnesses to be a manifest Lyar. Of the fruites of sinne which wee haue seene wee are to iudge of the fruits of sinne which are not seene if sinne hath made vs so miserable in this life how miserable shall it make vs in the life to come if wee continue in it This is that wisedome which the Apostle recommends to vs in that worthy sentence happy were wee if it were sounded continually in the eares of our minde as oft as we are tempted vnto sinne What fruit haue yee then of those sins whereof now yee are ashamed He that will search within himselfe the fruit of his foâ—mer transgressions shall easily perceiue there is no cause why hee should commit sinne vpon hope of any better fruit in time to come It was Samsons destruction that notwithstanding he found himselfe thriâ—e deceiued by Dalilah yet the fourth time he hearkned vnto her deceitfull allurements and it shall in like manner be the destruction of many who notwithstanding they haue found themselues abused by Sathan in time past yet wil not learne to resist him but giues place vnto his lying entisements and are carryed headlong by him into the wayes of death hee was a lying Spirit in the mouth of Achabs Prophets to draw him forward in a battell promising him victory in the vvhich he knew assuredly that he should dye so is hee a lying spirit in the harts of all the vvicked promising vnto them gaine glory or pleasure by doing those works of sin whereof he knowes well inough they shall reape nothing but shame and euerlasting confusion Againe that vve may yet see hovv foolish they are who liue still in their sinnes vve may marke here that they are murtherers of themselues the mallice of the wicked shall slay themselues his owne sin which he hath conceiued brought forth and nourished shall bee his destruction Euery man iudges Saul miserable that dyed vpon his owne sword but what better are other wicked men are not their sins the weapons by vvhich they slay themselues Thus are they twise miserable first because they are subiect to death secondly because they are guiltie of their owne death Oh the pittifull blindnesse of men albeit in their life they feare nothing more then death yet doe they entertaine nothing better than sinne which causes death In bodily diseases men are content to abstaine euen from ordinary foode vvhere they are informed by the Phisition that it will nourish their sicknesse and this they doe to eschew death onely herein they are so ignorant that notwithstanding they abhorre death yet they take pleasure in vnrighteousnesse which brings on death And lastly seeing vve are taught here that sinne brings death vpon the body vvhat meâ—uaile the Lord strikes the bodies of men by sundry sorts of diseases and sundry kindes of death seeing man by sundry sorts of sinnes pâ—ouokes the Lord vnto anger he frameth his iudgement proportionable vnto his sinnes If yee walke stubbornly against me and will not obey mee I will then bring seauen times more plagues vpon you according to your sinnes Hee hath famine to punish intemperance and the abuse of his creatures hee hath the deuouring sword to bring low the pride of man hee hath burning feuers and vncleane consuming goutes to punish the fierie and vncleane lusts and concupiscence of man If now the Lord after that hee hath striken vs vvith famine and pestilence come among vs to visit vs also with vnaccustomed diseases what shall vve say but the despising of his former fatherly corrections and our stubborne walking against the Lord our God hath procured this vnto our selues Quid mirum in poenas generis humani crescere iram dei cum crescat quotidie quod puniatur what meruaile the wrath of God increase euery day to punish men seeing that increases among men vvhich deserues that God should punish it But there are two impediments which suffers not these vvarnings of God to enter into the harts of men The one is albeit they finde within themselues sinnes condemned by the word of God yet the plagues threatned against those sinnes hath not light vpon them This is that roote of bitternesse whereof Moses vvarned Israell to beware that they should not blesse themselues in their harts when God doth curse them thinking they shall escape iudgement notwithstanding they doe those things vvhich God hath forbidden them Salomon marked this to be a great cause of iniquitie because iudgement is not executed speedely vpon the wicked therefore the hart of the children of men is set within them to doe wickedly But O man doest thou not know that the iudgement of God is according to truth against all that commit such things Why despisest thou the riches of his bountifulnesse and patience because the Lord holds his tongue and spares thee for a while thinkest thou that he will spare thee for euer Euery iudgement of God executed vpon another malefactor may tell thee that thou shalt not escape dies poenae nondum aduenit the day of punishment of iudgement of retribution is not yet come though in this life the Lord should not come neere thee yet thy iudgement is not farre off and thy damnation sleepes not Interim plectuntur quidam quo caeteri corrigantur tormenta paucorum exempla sunt omnium In the meane time some are punished that the rest may be corrected the torments of a few are the examples of all As the Lord Iesus set those eighteene men on whom the tower of Siloam fell for examples to all the rest of the people so euery one punished before vs stands vp to vs as a preacher of repentance and an example to warne vs that vnlesse wee repent wee shall perish in like manner Si nunc omne peccatum manifesta plecteretur poena nihil vltimo iudicio reseruari putaretur si nusâ—um nunc peccatum puniret Deus nulla putaretur esse prouidentia If in this life euery sinne were punished with a seene iudgement nothing should be reserued to the last iudgement and if no sinne were punished in this life it might bee thought there were not a prouidence to regard it The Lord therefore punisheth some sinnes in this life to tell there is a God who iudgeth righteously in the
as for the fourth it shall be the estate of the Saints of God in heauen Let not therefore the children of God be discouraged by looking either vpon the remanents of sin in their soule or the beginning of death in their body for why this estate wherein now we are is neither our last nor our best estate out of this we shall be transchanged into the blessed estate of glorious immortalitie our soules without all spot or wrinckle shall dwell in the body freed from mortalitie and corruption made like vnto Christs owne glorious body which the Lord our God who hath translated vs out of our second miserable estate into this third shall not faile to accomplish in his time Againe it comes to bee considered here seeing by Iesus Christ life is restored to the soule presently why is it not Last of all there is here a notable comfort for all the children of God that there is begun in vs a life which no death shall euer bee able to extinguish albeit death inuade the naturall vitall powers of our bodies and suppresse them one after one yea though at the length he breake in vpon this lodging of clay and demolish it to the ground yet the man of God who dwels in the body shall escape with his lifâ— the Tabernacle is cast downe that is the most our enimie can doe but he who dwelt in it remoues vnto a better as the Bâ—â—d escapes out of the snare of the Fowler so the soule in death flighteâ—s out and flies away with ioy to her maker yea the dissoluing of the bodie to the man of God it is but the vnfolding of the net and breaking open the prison wherein hee hath beene detayned that hee himselfe may be deliuered The Apostle knew this well and therfore desired to be dissolued that he might be with Christ As in the battell betweene our Sauiour and Sathan Sathans head was bruised and hee did no more but tread on the heele of our Sauiour so shall it be in the conflict of all his members with Sathan by the power of our Lord Iesus we shall be more then conquerours The God of peace shall shortly tread downe Sathan vnder our feete the most that Sathan can doe vnto vs Manducet terram meam dentem carni infigat conterat corpus let him lick the dust let him eate that part of mee which is earth let him bruise my body this is but to tread vpon the heele my comfort is that there is a seede of immortall life in my soule which no power of the enimie is able to ouercome It is true that so long as wee inioy this naturall life with health of body the losse that comes by the want of the spirituall life is not perceiued no more then the defects of a ruinous house is knowne in time of fayre weather but when thy naturall life is wearing from thee if thou want the other how comfortlesse shall thy condition bee when thou shalt finde in thine owne experience thou haddest neuer more but a silly naturall life which now is to depart from thee In this estate the wicked eyther dye being vncertaine of comfort or then most certaine of condemaation Those who are strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them hauing no more but the light of nature the best estate wherein they can dye is comfortlesse if for want of light they know not that wrath which is prepared for the wicked and so are not greatly terrified yet farre lesse know they those comforts which after death sustaines the Christian that they should bee comforted The Emperour Hadrian when hee dyed made this faithlesse lamentation Animula vagula blandula quae nunc abibis in loca O silly wandring Soule where away now wilt thou goe and that other Seuerus proclaiming the vanitie of all his former glorie cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue beene all thingâ— and it profits me nothing the one saith he found no comfort of things that were before him the other saith hee found no comfort of things that were behinde thus the wicked dye comfortlesse good things to come they neither know nor hope for good things past profit them not Or if they haue beene such wicked men as by the light of the word haue knowne the will of their master and yet rebelled against their light they go out of the body not onely comfortles but certain of condemnation hauing receiued sentence within themselues that they shall neuer see the face of God and such was the death of Iudas let vs not therefore rest contented with the shadow of this vanishing life let vs prouide for that immortall seede of a better life within vs which receiues increase but cannot decay it waxeth stronger the weaker that the bodily life is but cannot be weakned far lesse extinguished by bodily death He that finds it with in himselfe shall reioyce in death hee shall dye in faith in obedience and in spirituall ioy Committing his Soule vnto God as vnto a faithfull Creator hee rests in him whom hee hath beleeued being assured that the Lord will keepe that which he hath committed vnto him The Lord worke it in vs for Christs sake is that which the Lord promised to Iacob when hee bad him goe downe to Egypt Feare not to go for I will go downe with thee and I will bring thee vp againe He forewarned him that hee should dye in Egypt and that Ioseph should close his eyes but he promiseth to bring vp againe his dead body vnto Canaan O what a kindnes is it that the Lord will honour the dead bodyes of his Children The prayse of the canuoy of Iacobs corps the Lord will neither giue it to Ioseph nor to Pharaohs Seruants with their Chariots who in great number accompanied him the Lord takes it vnto himselfe I will bring thee vp againe saith the Lord the like kindnesse and truth doth the Lord keepe for all the remanent of his seruants Is thy body consecrated is it a vessell of honour a house and temple wherein God is dayly serued he shall honour it againe hee shall not leaue it in the graue neither cast off the care thereof but shall watch ouer the dust thereof though it tast of corruption it shall not perish in corruption The holy Spirit who dwelt in the body shall be vnto it as a balme to preserue thee to immortalitie this same flesh and no other for it though it shall bee dissolued into innumerable pickles of dust shall be raised againe and quicned by the omnipotent power of this Spirit It is a pittie to see by what silly meanes naturall men seeke the immortall conseruation of their bodyes and cannot obtaine it there is no helpe nature may yeeld to prolong the death of the body but they vse it and because they see that death cannot bee eschewed their next care is how to keep
it in the graue longest from rottennesse and corruption and how when themselues are gone to preserue their names in immortall remembrance with the posteritie thus by the very instinct of nature are men carried away with a desire of eternitie but herein are they foolish that they seek it the wrong way they lay out their siluer but not for bread they spend their labour and are not satisfied immortalitie and life is to bee sought there where the word of the Lord directs vs let the Spirit of Christ dwell in thee and thou shalt liue otherwise though thou wert the greatest Monarch in the world though all thy meate were soueraigne medicines though thy body were laid in graue with as great externall pompe as worldly glory can afford to any creature and thy flesh were embalmed with the costliest oyntments these are but miserable comforts perishing preseruatiues thou shalt lye downe in dishonour and shalt be raised in greater dishonor to euerlasting shame and endlesse confusion Now as wee haue these three degrees of eternall life by the Spirit dwelling in vs so are wee to marke the order by vvhich hee proceedes in communicating them vnto vs first hee restores life to the soule and secondly he shall restore life vnto the body saith the Apostle where the one is done bee assured the other shall bee done the one is the proper end of his first comming therefore his Heraulds cryed before him Behold the Lambe of God who taketh away the sins of the world In his second comming shall bee the redemption of our bodyes when hee shall appeare hee shall change our vile bodies and make them like to his owne glorious bodie Let this reforme the preposterous care of men art thou desirous that thy body should liue be first carefull that life be communicated to the soule for surely the redemption of thy body shall not follow vnlesse the restitution of thy soule goe before Oportet cor nostrum conformari humilitati cordis Christi priusquam corpus conformetur glorioso corpori eius our heart must first bee conformed to the humilitie of Christs heart before that our body be configurated to his glorious body this is the first resurrection blessed are they that are pertakers of it for vpon such the second death shall haue no power But it is out of doubt qui non resurgit in anima resurget in corpore ad poenam hee that riseth not now in his soule from his sinnes shall rise hereafter in his body to iudgement But now leauing the condition to come to the comfort he that raysed vp Christ from the dead saith the Apostle shall also quicken your mortall bodies What necessitie is there here that he who raysed Christ shall raise vs yes indeed the necessitie is great the head and the members of the misticall body cannot be sundred seeing the head is raysed from the dead no member can be left vnder death the Lord workes in euery member according to that same mightie power by which hee wrought in the head his resurrection necessarily imports ours seeing hee arose not as a priuate man but as the head of all his members full of power to draw the body after him and to communicate that same life to euery member which he hath declared in himselfe Christ in risen from the dead and is made the first fruits of them that sleepe the first fruit is â—isen the after fruit shall in like manner follow Vexit in coelum carnem nostram tanquam arhabonem pignus totius summae illuc quandoque redigendae the Lord Iesus hath carryed our flesh into heauen as an earnest and pledge of the whole summe which afterward is to be brought thether hee hath not thought it inough to giue his spirit vnto vs here on earth as the earnest of our inheritance but to put vs out of all doubt hee hath carryed vp our flesh into heauen and possest it in the kingdome in the name of all his members Who raysed vp Iesus from the dead Then we see that our Lord was once among the dead but now is risen from them let vs not then be afraid when God shall call vs to lye down among the dead also shal the seruant be ashamed of his Masters condition or will the patient refuse to drink that potion which the phisition hath tasted before him No we must follow our Lord through the miseries of this life through the dolours of death through the horrours of the graue if wee looke to follow him in his resurrection in his ascension to be amongst those hundred fortie and foure thousand in mount Sion who hauing his fathers name written in their foreheads follow the Lambe wheresoeuer hee goeth singing that new song which none can sing but they whom hee hath bought from the earth When those women came to seeke the Lord Iesus in the Sepulchre all the feare they had conceiued concerning Christs death the Angels remoues it by sending them to meditate on the resurrection Why seeke yee him that liueth among the dead hee is not here but hee is risen Wee are not yet laid downe among the dead but or euer we goe to the graue we haue this comfort that the Lord by his power shall raise vs out of it where the head growes through the members will follow Per angustum passionis foramen transiuit Christus vt latum praeberet ingressum sequentibus membris Our Lord is gone through the narrow passage of death that he might make it the wider and easier to all his members who are to follow him We see by experience the body of a man drownes not though it be vnder the water as long as the head is borne aboue many of the members of Christ are here in this valley of death tost too and fro in this sea of tribulation with continuall tentations yet our comfort is we cannot perish for our head is aboue and a great part of the body liuing and raigning with him in glory there is life in him to draw forth out of these miseries all his members and hee shall doe it by that same power by which he raised himselfe from the dead For we are taught here that our resurrection is a worke not to be done by man nor the power of nature but by the power of God we are not therefore to hearken to the deceitfull motions of our infidelitie which calles in doubt this article of our Faith wee must not consider the imbecillitie and weaknesse of nature neither measure heauenly and supernaturall things with the narrow span of naturall reason but as it is Abrahams praise the father of the faithfull that when God promised him a sonne in his old age he was not weake in the faith hee considered not his owne body which was dead neither the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe but was strengthned in the faith and gaue glory to God being fully assured that he who
had promised was also able to doe it so should we sanctifie the Lord God in our harts Of these figures shadowing the resurrection many more are to bee found in holy scripture As for examples in euery age of the world the Lord hath raised some from the dead to be witnesses of the resurrection of the rest Before the flood hee carryed vp Henoch aliue into heaâ—en and hee saw no death vnder the law Elias was transported in a fierie chariot and in the last age of the world not onely hath our Lord blessed for euer risen from thâ— lead and ascended into heauen as the first fruits of them which rise from the dead but also by his power hee raised Lazarus out of the graue euen after that stinking rottennesse had entred into his flesh and vpon the Crosse when hee seemed to bee most weake hee shewed himselfe most strong hee caused by his power many that were dead to come out of their graues and to enter into the citie Yea his seruant Peter by the power of the Lord Iesus raised the damsell Dorcas from death and in the name of the Lord Iesus made him that was lame of his feete to arise and walke when we see such power in the seruant of Christ working in his name shall we not reserue the praise of a greater power to himselfe And lastly as for the practises of God in nature we are not to neglect them for the Apostle himselfe brings arguments from them to confirme the resurrection Hee first propones the question of the Atheist how are the dead raised vp and with what body come they forth and then subioynes the answere O foole that which thou sowest is not quickned except it dye it is sowen in the earth bare corne and God raises it with another body at his pleasure seeing thou beholdest this daily working of God in nature why wilt not thou beleeue that the Lord is able to doe the like vnto thy selfe Qui illa reparat quae tibi sunt necessaria quanto magis te reparabit propter quem illa reparare dignatus est Seeing the Lord for thy sake repaires those things which are necessary to maintaine thy life will he not much more restore thy selfe and raise thee vp from death vnto eternall life And to insist in these same confirmations which we may haue from the working of God in nature both in our selues and in other creatures if eyther with Iustin Martyr wee consider of how small a beginning or then with Cyrill how of nothing God hath made vp man we shall see how iustly the Apostle calleth them fooles who deny the resurrection of our bodyes The Lord saith Iustin Martyr of a little drop of mans seede which as Iob saith is powred out like water buildeth vp daily this excellent workmanship of mans body who would beleeue that of so small a beginning and without forme so well a proportionate body in all the members thereof could be brought forth nisi aspectus fidem faceret were it not that daily sight and experience confirmeth it why then shall it be thought a thing impossible to the Lord to reedifie the same body after that by death it hath beene dissolued into dust and ashes And againe if with Cyrill wee will search out our beginning and consider what vvee vvere this day hundred yeare wee shall finde that vvee vvere not seeing the Lord of nothing hath brought out so pleasant and beautifull a creature as thou art this day shalt thou thinke it impossible to him an hundred yeares after this or longer or shorter as it pleaseth him to restore thee againe and raise thee from the dead qui potuit id quod non erat producere vt aliquid esset id quod â—am est cum ceciderit restituere non poterit he that could bring out that which was not and make it to be something shall wee thinke that he cannot raise vp againe that which now is after that it hath fallen Which of these two I pray thee is the greatest and most difficult worke in thy iudgement for vnto the Lord euery thing that he will is a like easie whether to make one who neuer was or to restore againe one who hath beene Doubtlesse to make a man in our iudgement is a greater thing then to raise him In the worke of creation the Lord made that to bee which was not in the worke of resurrection the Lord shall make that to bee which was before the one thou honourable manner in this life seeing they are to bee raysed vp as vessels of honour and glory in the life to come Againe when the Apostle saith that the Lord shall raise vp our mortall bodyes wee are to know that so hee calleth them in respect of that which they are now not in respect of that which they shall bee then For in the resurrection the Apostle teacheth vs in another place that our bodies shall bee raised immortall honourable glorious spirituall and impassionable First I say the body shal be raised immortal not subiect any more to death nor diseases nor standing in neede of these ordinary helps of meat drinke and sleepe by which our naturall life is preserued Secondly our body shall bee raised honourable now it is layd downe in dishonour for there is no flesh were it neuer so beautifull or beloued of man but after death it becommeth loathsome to the beholder so that euen Abraham shall desire that the dead body of his beloued Sarah may be buryed out of his sight but in the resurrection they shall be raised more honourable then euer they were they shall bee redeemed from all their infirmities euery blemish in the body that now makes it vnpleasant shall bee made beautifull in the resurrection and euery defectiue member thereof shall be restored to integritie Membri detruncatio vel obtusio nonne mors membri est si vniuersalis mors resurrectione rescinditur quanto magis portionalis for the perishing of the member is no other thing but the death of the member if the benefit of resurrection cut off the vniuersall death of the body shall it not also take away the portionall death of a member in the body if the whole man shall bee changed to glory shall hee not much more bee restored to health Out of all doubt the bodyes of Gods Children shall be raised perfect comely and euery way honourable hoc est enim credere resurrectionem integram credere Thirdly the body shall be raised a glorious body When hee shall appeare hee shall change our vile bodyes and make them like to his glorious body They who conuert many to righteousnesse shall shine like the stars in the firmament yea the iust saith our Sauiour shall shine like the Sun in the firmament A shadow of this glory we haue in Christs transfiguration on mount Tabor his face shined as the
Sunne and his clothes were white as the light Moses after fortie dayes talking with God on the Mount came downe with so bright a shining countenance that the Israelites might not behold him what then may we thinke shall be the glory of the children of God when they shall be transchanged with the light of Gods countenance shining vpon them not fortie dayes onely but for euer and euer And if euery one of their faces shal shine as the Sun in the firmament O how great light and glory shal be among them all if their bodies shal be so glorious what shal be the glory of their soule surely no hart can conceiue it no tongue is able to expresse it Fourthly our body shall bee raysed spirituall which is not so to bee vnderstood as if our bodies should loose a corporall substance and receiue a spirituall substance but then shall our bodies bee spirituall as now our Spirits by nature are carnall which are so called because they are subiect to carnall corruption pressed downe and carryed away after earthly and carnall things so shall our bodies then be spirituall because without contradiction they shall obey the motions of the spirit the body shall be no burthen no prison no impediment to the soule as now it is the soule shall carry the body where it will without resistance where now it is earthly heauie and tends downward it shall then be restored so lightsome and quick that without difficultie it shall mount from the earth to meet our Lord in the aire As our head ascended on the mount of Oliues and went through the cloudes into heauen so shall his members ascend that they may be with the Lord they shall follow the Lambe where euer he goes Let vs beleeue it and giue glory vnto God for hee who is the worker of our resurrection is also the worker of our ascension If the wit of man be able to frame a vessell of sundry mettels that our Resurrection is put betweene the Article of the remission of sinnes and that other Article of eternall life to â—each vs that then onely the Resurrection of the body is a benefite when remission of sinnes goes before it and eternall life followes after it whereof the Lord of his great mercy make vs pertakers through Iesus Christ. Verse 12. Therefore Brethren wee are debters not to the flesh to liue after the flesh AS it is true concerning vs that a necessitie lyeth vpon vs to preach and woe will be to vs if we preach not so it is true concerning you that a necessitie lyeth vpon you to heare and woe will bee to you if you heare not It is commaunded to vs that when wee speake wee should speake as the oracles of God and it is also required of you that ye receiue this word not as the word of man but as it is indeede the word of God therefore take heede how yee heare for as Moses said to the Israelites so say wee vnto you It is no vaine word concerning you it is your life Ye haue heard that maine proposition of Comfort there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ yee haue heard it confirmed explaned and applyed the miserable estate of them who walke after the flesh hath beene shewed vnto you as likewise the happy estate of them who walke after the Spirit and what comforts the godly haue both against the remanents as also against the fruits of sinnes hath beene declared vnto you Examine your selues and see how far forth these comforts belong vnto you If yee bee such as thinke with those scornefull men in Ierusalem that yee haue made a couenant with death and it shall not come neere you then goe on in your securitie and doe that which is good in your owne eyes but if yee finde by experience that death is already entred into your mortall body bee wise in time see that thou haue this onely soueraigne comfort against death the spirit of Christ dwelling in you otherwise flatter your selues in your securitie as you will miserable shall your end be Now the Consolation being ended the Apostle subioynes the Exhortation both these two consolation and exhortation are needefull for vs in the course of this life the one to keepe vs that wee faint not through the remanents of sinne left in vs and beginnings of death which already haue seased vpon vs exhortation againe to stir vs vp when wee linger in the way of godlinesse For it fareth with vs as it did with Lot in Sodome the Angels warned him of the imminent iudgement and exhorted him to escape for his life yet hee delayed and lingred hee could not bee gotten out of Sodome till they as it were violently thrust him out And allbeit the Lord admonish vs earely and late by his messengers of that wrath which is to come vpon the children of disobedience and warne vs in time to flye to the mountaine of his saluation yet alas so loath are wee to forsake our old finnes that the Lord is forced to double his exhortations vnto vs all which yet shall not auaile vs if the Lord lay not the hands of his grace vpon vs and by his holy Spirit make vs obedient to the heauenly vocation Let vs therefore take heede to the exhortations made vs by the Lord and that so much the more because it is most certaine that the sweetnesse of Gods consolation shall not bee felt of them who are not moued with his exhortation Contemplationis enim gustus non debetur nisi obedientiae mandatoruâ— the tast of Gods mercy by contemplation is onely due to them who make conscience of the obedience of his commaundements Therefore This particle is relatiue to the words preceding seeing it is so that by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in vs wee haue such excellent benefits wee are debt bond not to liue after the flesh but after the Spirit Of this wee haue first to learne that euery benefit wee receiued from God is an Obligation binding vs debters of seruice to God Debters Of this it is euident that the doctrine of grace proclaimes not liberty to men to liue as they will but rather bindes them to liue godly there can be no higher contempt done to the Lord than to turne his grace into wantonnesse Certainly the iniquities of Pagans doth not halâ—e so much offend him as the licentiousnesse of bastard Christians who will sinne the more freely because Christ hath suffered for sinne they heare that a man is not iustified by good workes and therefore being deceiued by Sathans sophistrie they cease to doe well not considering that good workes must proue wee are sanctified and sanctification must proue that wee are iustified In the second verse the Apostle said that Christ hath freed vs from the Law of sinne and here he sayth that hee hath made vs debters to righteousnesse these are not contrary they agree very well together hee hath loosed
meanes vvee hate the oppressours that spoile vs of worldly goods onely vvee cannot hate Sathan to the death who seekes by sinne to spoyle vs of eternall life That same Commaundement which vvas giuen to Adam and Euah if yee eate of the forbidden tree yee shall dye is in effect here giuen to vs all if ye liue after the flesh ye shall die let vs not make an exception where God hath made none euery sinne to vs is as that forbidden tree to Adam if vvee meddle with it vvee shall finde no better fruite then that which Adam found on it before vs there is a fruit which man seekes vpon the tree of sinne and hee shall not finde it to wit profit or pleasure and there is another fruit which God hath threatned and Sathan saith it growes not on the tree of sinne but man assuredly shall finde it Bitter death growes vpon the pleasant tree of sinne for the vvages of sinne is death albeit there came no vvord from the Lord to teach this former experience may confirme it for what fruit haue vve this day of all our former sinnes but a guiltie conscience which breeds vs much terror accusing thoughts and anguish of Spirit It is therefore a point of great wisedome to discerne betweene the deceit of sinne and fruit of sin before the action Sinne is Inimicus blandiens a flattering and laughing enimie in the action it is dulce venenum sweet poyson but after the action it is Scorpio pungens a pricking and biting Serpent Hee that vvould rightly discerne the face of sinne when it stands before him to tempt him let him looke backe to the taile of a sinne which hee hath committed alreadie and of the sting which that sinne hath left behind it let him learne to beware of the smiling countenance of the other which wil no lesse vvound him the second time vnto death if so be he embrace it Most properly may the pleasures of sin bee compared to the streames of the riuer Iordan vvhich carryeth away the fish swimming and playing in it delighted vvith such pleasures as are agreeable to their kind euen til it deuolue them into the salt sea where incontinent they die euen so in the wicked inordinate concupiscence is as a forcible streame which carryeth away with it impenitent men playing and delighting themselues in their lusts till at length they fall into that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone out of the which there is no redemption for them The perishing pleasures of sinne are payd home with euerlasting perdition it is done in a moment but when it is finished it bringeth out death and breedes the worme that will neuer dye paruum ad horam peccatum longaeua autem est ex eo aeterna verecundia it is the deuoring Locust of the bottomlesse pit which hath haire like a woman teeth like a Lyon and a tayle like a Scorpion miserable are they who are blinded with it they may sleepe in their sinne but their damnation sleepes not though their heads bee laid downe like the Kine of Bashan to drinke in iniquitie like water yet their iudgement is not farre off and they are but like vnto Oxen fed for the slaughter Wee perceiue here further that euery mans state and condition in this life is a prediction of that state and condition which abides him when this life is gone He that soweth to the flesh of the flesh shall reape corruption but hee that soweth to the Spirit shall reape immortalitie and life As no man commeth eyther to a Pallace or a Prison but by the entry thereof so no man goeth eyther to heauen or hell but by the way thereof A wicked life is as a thorow-way to that prison and place of darkesse hee who goes on in it without returning shall out of all doubt when hee hath passed the path-way enter into the prison and a godly life is the very way to heauen hee that walkes in it perseuering to the ende shall enter at last into that Pallace of Glory which is the paradise of God Salomon saith that where the tree fals there it lyes and experience teacheth vs that it fals to that side on which the branches thereof grow thickest if the greatest growth of our affections and actions spring out after the Spirit out of doubt vvee shall fall to the right hand and shall be blessed but if otherwise thy affections grow downeward and thou vvalke after the flesh then assuredly thou shalt fall to the left hand and die in sin vnder the cuâ—se of God But seeing they vvho vvalke after the flesh are dead already how sayth the Apostle they shall dye To this I answere both are true presently they are dead and yet a more fearefull death abides them That they vvho liue in their sinnes are dead already vvee shewde before for sinne is that vnto the soule of man vvhich fire and water are to the body that is to say an vnkindely Element in the which it cannot liue but certainely a more fearefull death abides them which the spirit of God calleth the second death wherin they shal not onely liue depriuâ—d of life wanting all sense yea all hope of the mercy of God but shal also feele the full measure of his wrath due to their sinnes powred out vpon them Now albeit they bee dead in sinne and depriued of the fauour of the Creator yet the vaine comforts of the creatures doth so bewitch and blinde them that they know not how vvretched and miserable they are but vvhen the last sentence of damnation shall bee pronounced vpon them they shall not onely bee banished from the presence of God into euerlasting perdition where the fiâ—e of the Lords indignation shall perpetually torment them but also the comfort of all Gods creatures vvhich now they haue shall forsake them The least degree of their punishment shall bee a fearefull famine of vvorldly comforts The Pomegranat Tree the Palme Tree the Apple Tree shall wither The Apples after which now their soule lusteth shall depart from them they shall finde none of them yea if a cup full of colde vvater might comfort them it shall not be giuen vnto them thus you see how they are dead and yet a more fearefull death abideth them Therefore the spirit of God to expresse the fearefulnes of that second death he calleth it a vvrath and giues it these two â—ules first hee calleth it a vvrath prepared by God Salomon saith the vvrath of a king is the messenger of death vvhat then shall we say of the wrath of God Secondly hee calles it a wrath to come to teach vs that it farre exceedes all that wrath that we haue heard of seene The drowning of the originall world the burning of Sodome a great wrath but nothing comparable to the wrath which is to come Beside this both the place the vniuersalitie the eternitie of their
shall perish but hee doth remaine they shall waxe old as doth a garment but hee is the same and his yeeres shall not faile Hee is the father of eternitie in whom there cannot fall so much as a shadow of change farre lesse is hee subiect to death but as for vs by suffering death we must enter into our kingdome wee cannot see him so long as wee liue nor be satisfied with his image till wee awake therefore should the day of death be a ioyfull day vnto vs because it is the day of our entrance to our inheritance Vnnaturall worldlings reioyce at the death of their Parents because by it they come to the heritage they carry merriest harts within them when they put on their blackest garments but as for vs wee should reioyce at the day of our owne death it is not the day of our sorrow as naturall men accounts it but the day of our delight in the which we enter into the fruition of our heauenly inheritance Hee cals vs not onely the Heyres of God but annexed Heyres with Iesus Christ that so he may shew Nos grandes futuros haeredes that wee are to be great heyres The Lord Iesus hath a twofold right to his fathers inheritance one by his eternall generation and so hee is the heyre of God in a manner proper and peculiar to himselfe onely the other hee hath by conquest for by the merit of his death he hath conquered eternall life for all his brethren and this right he communicates vnto vs whereby we also become heyres annexed with him in the first hee admits no companion in the second hee cals vs to be pertakers with him And this serues vnto vs not onely for a speciall comfort in the houre of tentation and day of death as wee marked before but should also prouoke vs to answere the heauenly vocation by a holy disposition seeing wee are the sonnes of God shall wee not resemble his image seeing wee are called to be heyres of an heauenly inheritance shall we any more minde earthly things Farre be it from vs that wee should be prophane like Esau who sould his birth-right for a mease of pottage or like Demas wee should forsake the fellowship of our brethren and imbrace this present world but let vs rather with the holy Apostle account all things to be but doung in respect of the excellent knowledge and fellowship of our Lord Iesus Seeing Christ must be our comfort in death when all other comforts will foâ—sake vs let vs make him our ioy and pleasure in life that so both in life and death he may be an aduantage vnto vs for these things for which miserable worldlings forsake their God shall in the end forsake them Let a couetous man see in the houre of his death those treasures of Gold and siluer which hee fought in his life more than God and they shall be no more pleasure to him than was those thirty peeces of siluer to Iudas which hee tooke in exchange of Iesus Christ. Present a spoonefull of Wine to the drunkard whose bellie was his God in his life time and hee shall not be able to receiue it Let the harlot stand at that time in the sight of the whoremonger shee may encrease his sorrow and terrifie his conscience but shall not render him comfort Yet these are the strange Gods after which most part of the world goes a whooring but let vs not cast in our portion among them we are pertakers of the heauenly vocation called to bee the sonnes and daughters of the liuing God blessed shall we be if we walke worthie of our calling For we see here whervnto we are called by adoption we are made the sons of God and brethren of Christ of rebels we are made the seruants of God yea more than that the friends of God hence forth call I not you seruants but friends yea more than friends he hath made vs brethren hee that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one wherefore he is not ashamed to call them brethren O wonderfull comfort the Father cryes from heauen this is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him the Sonne againe speaking to vs on earth saith I goe vp to your Father and my Father hee that is my Father is also your Father therefore goe yee vnto him and call vpon him as your Father O qualis ille dominus qui omnes seruos suos facit amicos suos quod multo maius est fratres suos O what a sweet Lord is hee who makes all his seruants his friends and which is much more his brethren Surely the yoake of Christ is easie and his burthen is light we are called to be annexed pertakers with him of all the good that is in him The Lord therefore more and more confirme vs that despysing all the subtill offers of Sathan whereby he would steale vs away from the loue of Christ and delighting in that high dignitie whereunto we are called our harts may cleaue to the Lord for euer without seperation THE RIGHT WAY TO Eternall Glory VVherein the counsaile of God concerning Mans saluation is so manifested that the Christian effectually called may heare himselfe after the Crosse ordayned to the Crowne and read his owne Name written in the booke of Life Being the second benefit wee haue by our Lord Iesus Christ. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word at Perth LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and are to be sould at his shoppe in Popes-head Pallace 1609. â—â—… the welfare of your Highnesse royall children the terrour of your enimies and common benefite of all your Maiesties well affected subiects A good so much the more carefully to bee keept because Sathan out of all doubt spitefully doth enuie it as being the very fountaine out of which doth flow that great and common good both of your royall posteritie and loyall people the aspect of your Highnesse fauourable countenances looking in loue one of you to another and both of your maiesties in coniunct compassion to your people sweeter than the influence of the vndiuided Pleiades bringing to Church and common wealth vnder your happy raigne a flourishing spring of innumerable blessings We doe therefore blesse the Lord who hath confirmed your royall hearts and set it in the foremost of your godly cares how to keep and increase this holy and happy band of loue which keepeth you both For the continuance whereof as after my weake measure I stand vp a dayly supplicant vnto the Lord among others your Highnesse loyall subiects so doe I humbly craue that your Highnesse impute it not to me for presumption that I haue conioyned your maiesties in the participation of this small propine of the first fruits of my labors whom I doe wish for euer to be conioyned in the communion of al good present and to come but that rather
part is euill spoken of but on your part is glorified Thus wee see quam magnos habeamus commilitones how great and strong fellow-warriours wee haue to assist the Lord being so present with vs non vt seruos suos spectet tantum sed vt ipse luctetur in nobis that hee doth not onely behold his seruants in their conflicts but hee himselfe also doth wrestle in them Where for our further comfort if any man be desirous to know whether if his sufferings be sufferings with Christ or not let him consider these three things first how Iesus receiued the Crosse as a cuppe giuen to him out of his Fathers hand neither looking to Iudas that betrayed him nor to the Iewes that pursued him Secondly hee receiued it not grudgingly nor impatiently but with an humble submission of his will to the will of his Father Thirdly hee suffered for this end that he might abolish sinne and destroy him who had the power of death If these three concurre in thy sufferings thou mayest be sure they are suffrings with Christ first if passing by the instrument of thy trouble thou looke to the hand of God tempering and giuing it vnto thee secondly if thou receiue it with a humble submission of thy spirit to him who is the Father of Spirits and thirdly if it worke in thee a mortification of thy sinfull lusts and affections And of this we haue to make our vse in all our afflictions inward or outward and first concerning inward afflictions if at any time it please the Lord to exercise vs with fearefull agonies of Conscience let vs looke vnto GOD who killes and makes aliue who casts downe and raises vp let vs for a while beare his indignation he abides but a moment in his anger if we finde that by them wee are more humbled wakened out of securitie and stirred vp more feruently to pray and that the life of sinne is weakened in vs let vs be out of all doubt that these inward troubles are sufferings with Christ whose soule for our sinnes was heauie vnto the death and his body did sweat blood through the vehement anguish of his spirit And as for outward sufferings they are either such as concernes our Name our goods or our persons As for those which concerne our name it is a singular pollicy of Sathan to beare downe the children of God in the estimation of others vt qui conscientiae suae luce clarescunt alienis rumoribus sordidentur that they who are glorious in the light of their owne conscience may be made filthie by the false reports of others and so made vnprofitable to doe others the good that they would but let vs in such tentations learne from Dauid to looke vnto God and not to Shimei vsing the vndesâ—rued contumeliâ—s of men as profitable meanes to worke in vs that inward humiliation which our manâ—fold sinnes though not against man yet against God requireth of vs so shall we suffer with him who being the innocent Lambe of God sustayned neuerthelesse great contradiction of sinners reproched to be one possessed with a Diuell notwithstanding that hee was the very sonne of God filled in his manhood with the holy Ghost And as concerning the losse of worldly goods who euer bee the instrument learne thou to take it as a cup out of the hand of thy heauenly Father after the example of Iob who passing by the Sabeans and the Caldeans looked to the hand of God the Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken saith hee blessed be the name of the Lord. It is not for lacke of loue that the mother withdrawes from the Childe the vse of the pappe but that shee may acquaint him with stronger meat and if the Lord take from vs these transitorie things it is not because we are not beloued of him but that we may set our harts vpon those things which are more waightie and permanent which if wee doe then are our sufferings sufferings with him who being rich became poore that in all things we might be made rich in him And the same are we to doe in those troubles which we sustayne in our bodyes for if as the Apostles sayth wee haue had fathers of our bodies who haue corrected vs and we haue giuen them reuerence should we not much rather be in subiection to the father of Spirits that we might liue and if we can yeeld our bodies to phisitions to be cut or burnt at their pleasure how much more should wee submit them to the Lord in all humble contentment to be chastised as he will seeing hee protests himselfe hee doth it not but for our singular profit that wee might be pertakers of his holines We shall raigne with Christ. Worldlings wrestles for their corruptible crowne as vncertaine whether they shall obtaine it or no but it is not so with the Christian we runne not as vncertaine we are sure that if we suffer with Christ we shall also raigne with him though for the present no trouble bee sweet yet is the end thereof most comfortable and we are by the eyes of faith to looke vnto it least our present manifold tentations driue vs vnto impatience for as he that going through a strong running riuer is in danger to fall drowne by reason of the dissinesse of his braine vnlesse he fixe his eyes vpon the bancke so shall we be ready to faint in affliction vnlesse we looke to the comfortable end thereof If we shall looke to Lazarus vpon the dunghill and Ioseph in the prison what can wee iudge them to be but miserable men but if we consider their end we shall see the one in Abrahams bosome and the other raigning in great glory vnder Pharoah in Egipt then shall wee say verely there is fruit for the righteous and we shall find it true which here the Apostle saith that if we suffer with Christ we shall also raigne with him Verse 18. For I count that the afflictions of this present time are not worthie of the glory to be reuealed THe Apostle here subioynes an amplification of his first argument wee shall not onely saith hee raigne with Christ but raigne in such a glory as doth so farre surmount all our present sufferings that if they be weighed together in a balance the one shall bee found but light in regard of the other For I count The word the Apostle vseth here imports thus much after reasoning I conclude or after iust reckoning this is the summe which I collect and gather here then are two circumstances which greatâ—y amplifies his purpose one that hee sets not downe this as an vncertaine opinion but as a most sure conclusion gathered out of good reason And againe that it is the conclusion of such a one as by experience knew both what experience the Apostle had of our present suffering hee telleth vs 2. Cor. 11. what experience he had of the glory to be
forget them as thou committest them yet the Apostle tels thee that thou hast laid them vp in a treasurie Yea not onely hast thou laid vp in store thy sinnes but with euery sinne hast gathered a portion of wrath proportionable to thy sinne which thou shalt know in that day wherein the Lord shall breake vp thy treasure and open the booke of thy conscience and set thy sinnes in order before thee then shall thine owne wickednesse correct thee and thy turning backe shall reproue thee then shalt thou know and behâ—ld that it is an euill thing and a bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God Thou shalt be astonished to see such a multitude of witnesses standing vp against thee those sins which thou hast cast behind thy backe thou shalt see them set in the light of the countenance of God woe then shall be vnto thee for the Lord then shall turne thine owne wayes vpon thiâ—e head the Lord shall giue thee to drincke of that cuppe which thou hast filled with thine owne hand when thou shalt haue accomplished the measure of thine iniquitie and hee shall double his stripes vpon thee according to the number of thy transgressions But as for the children of God if yee doe aske when they are at the best I answere praysed be God our worst is gone our good is begunne our best is at hand As our Sauiour said to his kinsmen so may wee say to the worldlings your time is alway but my time is not yet come We were at the worst immediately before our conuersion for our whole life till then was a walking with the children of disobedience in the broad way that leads to perdition then we were at the worst when we had proceeded furthest in the way of vnrighteousnesse for then we were furthest from God Our best began in the day of our recalling wherein the Lord by his word and holy spirit called vpon vs and made vs change our course turning our backes vpon Sathan and our faces toward the Lord and so caused vs to part company with the children of disobedience that where they went on in their sinnes to iudgement we came home with the penitent forlorne vnto our fathers familie That was a a happy day of diuision betweene vs and our sinnes in that day with Israell we entred into the borders of Canaan to Gilgall there were we circumsised and the shame of Egipt taken from vs euen our sinne which is our shame indeede and which wee brought vvith vs euen from our mothers wombe The Lord graunt that we may keepe it in thankfull remembrance and that we may count it a double shame to returne againe to the bondage of Egipt to serue any more that Prince of darknesse in bricke and clay that is to haue fellowship with the vnfruitfull workes of darknâ—sse but that like the redeemed of the Lord wee may walke from strength to strength till we appeare before the face of our God in Sion Alway this difference of estates betweene the godly and wicked should learne vs patience let vs not seeke that in the earth which our gratious father in his most wise dispensation hath reserued for vs in heauen Let vs not be like the foolish Iewes who loued the place of their banishment in Babell better than their home Now our life is hid with God in Christ and we know not yet what we shall be but we know when hee shall appeare we shall be like him the Lord shall carrie vs by his mercy and bring vs by his strength into his holy habitation hee shall plant vs in the mountaine of his inheritance euen the place which he hath prepared and sanctuary which he hath established then euerlasting ioy shall be vpon our head and sorrow and mourning shall flye from vs for euer And now till the Lord haue accomplished his worke in vs let vs not faint because the wicked floorish how euer they prosper they are to bee pittied more than enuied let them eate and drinke and be merry sure it is they will neuer see a better life then that which presently they enioy they haue receiued their consolation in this life and haue gotten their portion in this present world Surely no tongue can expresse their miserie and yet as Samuel mourned for Saul when God reiected him and Ieremie wept in secret for the pride of his people that would not repent of their sinnes how can wee but take vp a bitter lamentation for many of you whom in this time of grace wee see to be strangers from grace wee wish from our harts ye were not like the kinsemen of Lot they thought hee had but mocked when hee told them of an iminent iudgement and therefore for no request would goe out of Sodome but tarryed till the fire of the Lords indignation did consume them but that rather as Sarah followed Abraham from Caldee to Canaan so yee would take vs by the hand and goe with vs from hell to heauen but alas the lusts of the flesh hold you captiue or then the loue of the world doth bewitch you but all of them in the end shall deceiue you for all the labour vnder the Sunne is but vanitie and vexation of Spirit when you haue finished your taske you shall be lesse content than you were at the beginning you shall be as one wakened out of a dreame who in his sleepe thought hee was possessor of great riches but vvhen hee awaketh behold hee hath nothing or not vnlike that rich man who said in his securitie Now my Soule thou hast much goods for many yeares and euen vpon the next day redacted to such extreame necessitie with that other who dispised Lazarus that he had not so much as a drop of cold vvater to coole his tongue withall then shall you lament and say We haue wearied our selues in the way of iniquitie and it did not profit vs. Alas how shall I learne you to be wise Is not this a pittifull blindnesse the Lord vvhen hee created man made him Lord aboue all his creatures and now vnthankfull man sets euery creature in his heart aboue the Lord. O fearefull ingratitude Doe you so reward the Lord O foolish people and vnwise There is nothing which yee conceit to be good but when yee vvant it you are carefull to seeke it vvhen you haue it you are carefull to keepe it onely you are carelesse of the Lord Iesus though hee be that incomparable iewell vvhich bringeth light in darkenesse life in death comfort in trouble and mercy against all iudgement ye should set him as a signet on your heart as an ornament on your head and put him on as that glorious attire vvhich gets you place to stand before God But vvhat paines doe ye take to seeke him vvhat assurance haue yee that yee are in him or vvhat mourning doe yee make for that yee doe not possesse him can you say in truth that the
tenth part of your thoughts or words haue been bestowed vpon him No no it is the shame of many that they haue taken more paynes to keepe a signet on their hand than euer they did to keepe Iesus in their hart they wander after vanitie and follow lyes they forsake the fountaine of liuing waters Oh consider this yee that forget God least hee teare you in peeces and there be none to deliuer you The last lesson vve obserue in this part of the Verse is this as all things workes for the best to them who loue the Lord so all things workes for the vvorst vnto the vvicked there is nothing so cleane which they defile not nothing so excellent vvhich they abuse not Make Saul a King and Balaam a Prophet and Iudas an Apostle their preferment shall be their destruction if they be in prosperitie they contemne God and their prosperitie becomes their ruine if they be in aduersitie they blaspheme him and like raging waues of the sea cast out their owne dirt to their shame yea what speake I of these things euen their table shall be asâ—are vnto them Iesus Christ is a rocke of offence vnto them the Gospell the sauour of death vnto them and their prayer is turned into sinne and what more excellent things then these As a foule stomacke turnes most healthfull food into corruption so their polluted conscience turnes iudgement into gall and the fruit of righteousnesse into wormewood And all this should prouoke vs to a holy care to become good our selues or else there is nothing were it neuer so good can be profitable to vs. To them that loue God We haue heard the Apostles last argument of comfort which is that the Lord so ruleth all things by his prouidence that those things which seemes to be against his children are made to worke together for the aduancement of their good Deus enim adeo bonus est vt nihil mali esse sineret nisi etiam adeo esset potens vt ex quolibet malo possit elicere bonum for God is so good that hee would suffer no euill to be were it not he is also so powerfull that of euery euill hee is able to draw out good Now wee proceede to the persons to whom this comfort belongs who are first described to be such as loue God secondly as are called according to his purpose Here are three things conioyned together euery one depending on another First the purpose of God vvhich is no other thing but his eternall and immutable decree concerning our saluation Secondly our calling flowing from this purpose Thirdly a loue of God wrought in our hearts by this effectuall calling These three are so inseperably conioyned together that from the lowest of these we may goe vp to the highest of that vnâ—ayned loue of God which is in thee thou mayest know that he loued thee and in his vnchangeable purpose hath ordayned thee to life This is the greatest comfort that can be giuen to men vpon earth to let them see that or euer the Lord laide the foundations of the earth he first laid the foundation of thy saluation in his owne immutable purpose which being secret in it selfe and obscured from vs is now manifested vnto vs by our effectuall calling But of this we will speake more God willing hereafter The loue of God then is set downe here as a principall effect and token of our calling As the Lord calles none effectually but those whom hee hath elected so none caâ— loue him but those who are effectually called by him yea thou thy selfe who now loues the Lord before thy calling louedst him nod thy heart went a whooring from God and thou preferredst euery Creature before him and for the smallest pleasure of sinne thou caredst not to offend him It is thought among the multitude a common thing and an easie to loue the Lord and euery man abhorres in word to be counted such a monster as hath not the loue of God but they are farre deceiued for man till he be called by grace cannot loue the Lord herein is loue not that we loued God but that hee loued vs. If now we doe know him and know him so that we loue him it is because we were first knowne of him and so knowne that we were beloued of him not that there is any equalitie betweene these loues or that we are able to match the Lord in affection non enim pari vbertate fluunt hi duo amores for these two loues flowes not in a like plentie as the running of a little strand is nothing in comparison of the great Ocean so is our loue to God as nothing if it be compared with his incomprehensible loue toward vs yet is it most certaine amor Dei amorem animae parit it is Gods loue to vs which begets in the soule a loue to God Nemo itaque se amari diffidat qui iam amat let no man therefore who loues God distrust that he is beloued It is very comfortable that among all the pen-men of the holy Ghost none doe speake more of loue than Iohn euen hee who vvas Christs beloued Disciple whom hee loued aboue the rest for it doth teach vs that whosoeuer is greatly beloued of God shall also become a carefull practiser of loue toward others That therefore we may know the heart of God toward vs it shall not be needfull that we enter into his secret counsell but let vs goe and enter into our owne hearts and there we shall finde resolution albeit the Lord send not now to you that are men an Angell to witnesse as hee did to Daniel that he was a man greatly beloued of God or to testifie to you that are women that which he did to Mary that shee was freely beloued of the Lord yet so many of you as vpon knowledge in sinceritie can say with Peter Lord thou knowest that I loue thee haue here a testimonie no lesse certaine to wit his owne Oracle in his word to make you sure that yee are beloued of him And that the comfort may be the more sure vnto vs seeing loue is the principall token of our calling wee will speake a little of Loue that so we may know whether wee be endued with this most excellent grace of the spirit or no. Naturally the affection of Loue iâ— man is so inordinate that not vnproperly Nazianzen called it dulcem tyrannum a sweet tyrannie that by deceitfull allurements compels the whole man to follow it and it is not onely in it selfe distemperated but altogether set vpon wrong obiects our loue being so set vpon the creature that we neglect the Creator a fearefull ingratitude that where in the beginning the Lord set vp man as Prince and ruler ouer all his creatures putting all the workes of his hands in subiection vnder him that man should meet the Lord with such vnthankfulnesse as to set in his affection euery creature
Peter when hee heard that Iesus behoued to suffer because hee loued him said to him Maister pittie thy selfe but receiued this answere Goe behinde me Sathan for thou vnderstandest not the things that are of God culpans in vtroque non affectum sed consilium blaming in them both not their affection but their vnderstanding yet afterward when Peter was better informed that Iesus behoued to dye and rise the third day hee disswaded him no more but rather promised that hee would dye with him hee had now learned to loue Iesus not onely with his heart but also with his minde not earnestly onely but also wisely yet when it came to the poynt hee denyed his Maister at the voyce of a Damsell because hee had not learned to loue him with strength as hee did afterward when he had receiued the holy Spirit in greater measure hee loued Iesus euen to the very death with so strong an affection that before the Counsell hee choosed rather to dye for Christ than to denye him Licet vitam tunc minime posuit deposuit tamen in so much that albeit hee lost not his life yet hee freely laid it downe for Iesus These are thee three whereunto wee are to aspyre in all our life to loue the Lord heartely to loue him wisely for inconsiderate zeale and temerarious precipitation doth not please him and to loue him with so strong an affection that wee chose rather to suffer death than to forsake him But alas how farre are wee from this holy disposition who can say hee hath attained to that measure of holy Loue which the Law of God requireth in him and therefore should vve endeuour to grow daily in loue earnestly praying the Lord that hee vvould breath by his Spirit vpon that little sparke of heauenly life vvhich hee hath created in our hearts that it be not extinguished with the ashes of our corruption but may increase and become a great flame to burne vp our affections with such a loue of God as may carry vp all the powers of our soule toward him To this effect let vs meditate frequently vpon these foure causes for vvhich wee should loue the Lord first for that which hee is in himselfe to wit the fountaine of all goodnesse the greatest and supreame good if it be good that man would haue let him loue the Lord to vvhom there is none like in goodnes inuenito si potes aliquid pretiosius Deo dabitur tibi finde out if thou canst any thing more pretious than God and it shall bee giuen thee The Platonists by the light of nature saw that all the pulchritude and beautie which shineth in the creature vvas but spendor quidam summi illius boni which should transport vs in our affection toward him from whom it came Pulchrum coelum pulchra terra sed pulchrior qui fecit illa the heauen and earth are beautifull but more beautifull is hee who made them and therefore as oft as any good in the creature beginneth to steale our heart after it let vs in our affection goe vp to the Creator considering that the Lord hath not made these beautifull or profitable creatures that we should go a whooring after them but that by them as steps we should climbe vp to him that made them and rest in him The second cause that may breed the loue of God in vs if we meditate vpon it is that the Lord hath first loued vs Inuenimus eum sed non praeuenimus we haue found him but we did not preuent him we knovv him novv but were first knowne of him hee found vs first and that euen vvhen vve vvere enimies vnto him dilexit non existentes imo resistentes he loued vs vvhen vve vvere not yea vvhen vve vvere rebels against him and shall vve not novv being reconciled by the death of his sonne endeauour to loue him againe Thirdly the Lord by his continuall gifts hath testified his loue to vs he hath not beene vnto vs as a wildernesse or as a land of darknes if we vvill remember and tell what the Lord hath done to our soule vvee shall finde vvee are ouercome with the multitude of his mercies and there is none that hath deserued the loue of our hearts comparable to the Lord. If our loue be free let vs set it vpon him who is most worthy to be loued and if it be venall let vs also giue it vnto him who hath giuen vs most for it And fourthly it shall waken in vs the loue of God if vve consider in our hearts what great things the Lord hath promised to giue vnto vs euen such as the eye hath not seene and the eare hath neuer heard life without death youth without age light without darkenesse ioy without sadnes a kingdome without a change and in a word he shall then giue vs a blessed life non de his quae condidit sed de seipso not of those things which hee hath made but of himselfe But to returne to our former purpose that we may know vvhether this holy loue be created in our hearts by the spirit of grace or no we must try it by the fruits and effects of loue whereof novv it shall content vs to touch a few First it is the nature of Loue that it earnestly desires and seekes to obtaine that which is beloued Hereby shalt thou knovv whether thy affection of loue be ordered by Christ or remaine as yet disordered by Sathan The affection which Christ hath sanctified will follow vpward seeking to be there where he is Euery thing naturally returnes to the owne originall as the waters go downe to the deep from whence they came so carnall loue powred out like water returnes to Sathan who begat it and carries miserable man captiued with it downward to the bottomles pit but holy loue being as a sparke of heauenly fire kindled in our hearts by the holy Ghost ascends continually and rauishes vs vpward toward the Lord from whom it came not suffâ—ing vs to rest till we inioy him Let this then be the first tryall of our loue if wee vse carefully those holy meanes by which vve keepe and entertaine familiaritie with our God it is an argument that vve loue him and what other meanes is there by which man vpon earth is familiar with God but the exercises of the word and prayer Godly Dauid who protests in some places that he loued the Lord prooues it in other by the like of these reasons O how loue I thy law it is my meditation continually and againe I haue loued the habitation of thine house and the place where thine honour dwels One thing haue I desired of the Lord that I may dwell in the house of my God all the dayes of my life to behold the beautie of the Lord and to visit his holy temple As this doth serue for the comfort of those who delight in the exercise of
the word and prayer so doth it serue for the conuiction of those to whom any other place is more amiable than the labernacles of God an euident proofe they haue not the loue of God because they neglect the meanes euen when they are offered by which familiar accesse is gotten vnto the Lord. And againe because the fight we haue of God in this life is but through a vaile and the tast we get of his goodnesse is but in part and that in the life to come the Lord will fully embrace vs in the armes of his mercy and kisse vs for euer with the kisses of his mouth therefore is it that the soule which vnfainedly loues the Lord cannot rest content with that familiaritie which by the Word and Prayer it hath with God in this life but doth long most earnestly to be with the Lord where shee knoweth that in a more excellent manner shee shall embrace him whereof proceedeth these and such like complaints As the Hart brayeth for the riuers of water so panteth my soule after thee O God O when shall I come and appeare before the presence of my God My Soule desireth after thee as the thirsty land For I would be dissolued and be with the Lord Therefore come euen so come Lord Iesus But alas here are wee taken in our sinnes thou sayest thou louest the Lord but how is it then that thou longest not to see him neyther desirest thou to be with him yea a small appearance of the day of deaâ—h or mention of the day of iudgement doth terrifie and afray thee where as otherwise if thou didst loue him they would be ioyfull dayes vnto thee seeing in the one wee goe to him and in the other he commeth to vs to gather vs and take vs thether where he is Surely those men who contenting themselues with the gifts of God in this life thinke not long to enioy himselfe are but like an adulterous woman who if so be shee possesse the goods of her husband regards not albeit shee neuer see himselfe I confesse indeed wee may reioyce in all the gifts which God hath giuen vs as in the tokens and testimonies of his loue but wee are alwayes to vse them with this protestation that nothing giuen vs in this life be allowed vnto vs for our portion and inheritance and that no contentment euer come vnto our hearts till wee get himselfe who gaue them If the loue of the Corinthians made the Apostle to say I seeke not yours but you how much more should the loue of God compell vs to say vnto him It is not thy gifts O Lord but thy selfe I long for thou art the portion of my soule if thou wouldest giue me all the workes of thine hands yet shall I neuer haue comfort nor contentment except thou dost giue me thy selfe Therefore O thou whom my Soule loueth shew me where thou feedest where thou lyest at noone and dost rest for why should I be as shee that turneth aside to the flockes of thy companions Blessed is he that hungers and thrists for thy righteousnesse for hee shall behold thy face and be filled with thine image for in thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for euermore The second tryall of our loue is Obedience and an holy care in all our callings to serue and honour the Lord. Preachers must be tryed by this rule Peter louest thou mee feede my flocke Gouernours and Counsellers must be tryed by this Can yee say in truth with the Godly Gouernour Dauid I loue the Lord then will yee also say with him what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits how shall I shew my loue toward him and what shall I doe in my time for aduancement of his glory If thou dost loue the Lord then wilt thou be a nourishing Father to his Church a carefull aduancer of his kingdome a wise prouisor to remoue those stumbling blocks which hinder the course of the Gospell If yee loue the Lord then will yee stand vp with Dauid and say Doe not I hate them O Lord that hate thee doe not I earnestly contend with them that rise vp against thee surely I hate them with vnfained hatred as if they were mine vtter enimies If ye honour the Lord as Dauid did the Lord shall blesse you as hee blessed Dauid Dauid sware vnto the Lord that hee would not rest till hee found out a place for the Lord euen an habitation for the mightie God of Iacob And the Lord sweares againe vnto Dauid that of the fruit of his body hee would set vp one to raigne after him But if otherwise there be nothing in you but a care to stablish your selues and your houses vvith the neglect of the glory of God then remember that the curse of Shebna and not the blessing of Eliakim shall be vpon you Yee shall not be fastned as a nayle in sure place but shall be rolled and turned away like a ball the Lord shall driue thee from thy station and out of thy dwelling place shall hee destroy thee For the wicked shall not haue his desire his thoughts shall not be performed neyther shall hee be established on the earth but euill shall hunt him to destruction The Lord shall take thee and plucke thee out of thy Tabernacle and roote thee out of the Land of the liuing And generally all of you in your callings remember that the value of your Christian loue must be tryed by the same touchstone not by your words but by your workes If any loue mee saith Iesus let him keepe my commandements but here also the hypocrisie of this age is discouered as the Iewes called Iesus their King and bowed their knees before him but spat in his face and buffetted him so the bastard Christians of this age call Christ their Lord and bowe their knees before him yet by their sinfull life they crucifie him and tread his bloud of the couenant vnder their feete they kisse and betray him with Iudas it is but a Scepter of reed they allow him for they giue him no commaundement ouer their affections wherefore great is the controuersie which the Lord hath this day with the men of this generation The third tryall of loue is Bountifulnesse the Apostle sayth Loue is bountifull experience proues that euery louer bostoweth bountifully on that which hee loueth yee loue your bodyes and therefore largely bestow vpon them to feede them and cloth them yea with excessiue apparrell yee loue your Children and lets them want no needfull thing for them yea yee loue your beasts and spares not to bestow largely vpon them onely you say you loue the Lord but wherein are yee bountifull toward him It is true that in nothing can a man be profitable to the Almightie but are there not workes commaunded vs which should so shine before men that by them
vnto vs for an example for so are wee exhorted Let vs runne with patience the race that is set before vs looking vnto Iesus the author and finisher of our Faith these and such like are the workes wherein vve are commaunded to conforme our selues vnto him The other poynt wherein stands our conformitie with him is in patient suffering with him for righteousnes which wee shall not be able to doe except wee liue first after the similitude of his life what liker suffering to the suffering of Christ than the suffering of that reprobate theefe who dyed with Iesus at the same time the same kinde of death yet because his life was neuer like the life of Christ his sufferings shall neuer be accounted the sufferings of Christ. Similis in poena dissimilis in causa But as for the other whom the Lord Iesus conuerted vpon the Crosse to declare to all the world that euen in death hee retayned the power of a Sauiour able to giue life to them who are dead hee brought out in the last houre of his life the first fruites of amendement of life hee liued long a wicked malefactor but short while a conuerted Christian yet in that same space hee abounded in the fruits of Godlinesse confessing his sinnes giuing glory to the iustice of God rebuking the blasphemies of the other and pleading the cause of his innocent Sauiour thus being turned from his sinne hee began euen on the Crosse to liue with Iesus and therefore heard that ioyfull sentence This night thou shalt be with me in Paradise Now that wee may be moued to embrace this conformitie with Iesus let vs remember that the image of God by which wee were created conforme vnto him is the most auncient glory to which we can make claime and therefore if there be in vs any peece of manhood and spirituall wisedome wee ought to endeauour to recouer it which our enimie craftily and maliciously hath stollen from vs. O what a pittie is it to see that man cannot doe that in the matter of saluation which he can do in the smallest things pertaining to this life There is no man among vs vvho knoweth that any tenement of land or portion of earth possessed now vniustly of another did of old pertaine to his Fathers but if hee can hee vvill seeke to recouer it seeking by iustice to bring that home to himselfe which oppressors vniustly had taken from him Is it not then most lamentable that where the Lord Iesus the King of righteousnesse and Prince of peace offers to restore vs to our most auncient glory which is his owne image that vvee vvill not call the oppressours of our soule before him nor seeke to be restored to that glory which most deceitfully our aduersâ—ry hath stollen from vs but this commeth also vpon man by the subtiltie of Sathan that hauing once spoyled vs of the image of God hee doth what he can so to blinde vs that vve should neuer seeke it againe nor doe so much as receiue it when it is offered vnto vs. Iacob complained of Laban that hee had deceiued him and changed his wages ten times and Esau complained of Iacob as of a supplanter who first had stollen from him his birth-right and then the blessing also but more cause haue vvee to turne these complaints vpon Sathan who hath not onely stollen from vs the Image of God but daily stealeth away the blessing vvhereby it is restored vnto vs. Oh that vve had vvise and vnderstanding hearts that we might be stirred vp to an holy anger against the enimie of our saluation seeking in despite of him to be restored to that right vvhich by creation belonged to our fore father But alas what a beastly stupiditie is this that man will not doe so much for recouerie and maintenance of the image of God as hee will doe for preseruation of his owne portraiture drawne on a peece of timber if any man pollute it incontinent hee is offended and stomacks it as an iniuâ—ie done to himselfe but as for man who is the image of God he lyes downe like a beast content that Sathan should tread vpon him pollute defile him with all kind of abhomination all which proceeds from a pittifull ignorance of his own glory The second reason vvhich should moue vs to conforme our selues to Iesus is that hee hath first of all conformed himselfe vnto vs hee vvas not ashamed to take vpon him the shape of a seruant and to become man like vnto vs in all things sinne excepted and shall wee refuse to conforme our selues vnto him let it be farre from vs but rather putting from vs that foolish emulation by vvhich vvee striue to conforme our selues vnto this world let vs consider vvhereunto vvee are called euen to be pertakers of the diuine nature and may thinke it our greatest glory to be like vnto our head and husband the Lord Iesus Thirdly necessitie so craueth seeing vvee cannot be saued vvithout conformitie vvith him It is not Caesars money which hath not vpon it Caesars image and superscription he is not the Sonne of God vvho carryeth not the image of his Father for vvhom the Lord begets in the regeneration he communicateth to them his owne spirit which transformes them into the similitude of his owne Image No vncleane thing shall enter into heauenly Ierusalem neither shall any man see him in his glory who by grace is not made like vnto him That hee may be the first borne among many brethren The Apostle insists here in the explication of his former purpose adding that it is necessary wee should conforme our selues vnto him for ratifying that superioritie and priuiledge of the first borne vvhich God the Father hath estabished vnto his Sonne the Lord Iesus Christ and he maketh it very properly to serue his purpose for seeing it is so that Iesus our elder brother and Prince of our saluation hath beene consecrated by affliction and by suffering hath entred into his kingdome shall wee refuse to follow him in his tentations if so be vvee desire to sit vvith him in his glory The name of the first borne is ascribed vnto Iesus Christ three manner of wayes first as hee is God secondly as he is man thirdly as hee is both God and man our mediator and the head of his misticall body vvhich is his Church As hee is God hee is called by the Apostle Primogenitus omnis creaturae the first begotten of euery creature and that by such a generation as none saith Esay are able to expresse Now before the creature was what could there be surely nothing but the Creator Secondly as hee is man S. Luke calleth him the first borne that opened the wombe of the Virgin Thirdly as Mediator and head of his mysticall body as Prince of that kingdome vvhich is the communion of Saints hee is here called the first borne among many brethren and in an other place
already by himselfe and in his owne person but for our sanctification Secondly the good workes of men regenerate are so wrought by Christ in vs that they are also wrought by vs and we haue our working in them and therefore by reason of our imperfection cannot be perfect for as the fountaines of the actions are so must the actions be themselues the fountaines are mixed being partly good and partly euill for our mind is not so illuminated that there is no darknesse in it neither is our hart so sanctified that there is no vncleannesse in it and therefore the actions flowing from thence cannot be perfect workes of light and sanctification They insist yet further and obiects if the Apostle say they in his conclusion we are iustified by Faith without the workes of the Law did vnderstand the workes of Grace then it would follow that he oppones things which are not to be opponed for workes and Grace workes and Faith workes and Christ are not opposite but agrees very well together as the cause and effect as the tree and the branch To this we answere that Faith and workes agrees well together but there is no thing in the world which agree so well the one with the other but in some things they may be opponed as for example the tree and the branch agrees very well together but if the question be moued whether the tree beares the branch or the branch the tree in this they are opponed that which is affirmed of the one must be denyed of the other Againe there is a very sweet harmony betweene a naturall Father and the sonne the one of them cannot be without the other for hee is not a Father who neuer had a sonne neither is he a sonne who neuer had a father but if this be the question which of them gaue beginning to another here we must oppone them affirming that of the one which wee deny of the other In like manner there is a very sweet harmonie and agreement betweene Faith and good workes but if this be the question for which of them it is that God doth iustifie vs there wee must oppone them affirming with the Apostle that we are iustified by Faith and not by workes alway the opposition is not simple but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their second euasion is a distinction of the workes of the Law Morall and Ceremoniall It is true say they that the workes of the law ceremoniall iustifies not but the workes of the Law Morall iustifies But the Apostle in his conclusion excludes from iustification the workes of the Law Morall for these reasons he excludes those workes of which he hath proued both Iewes and Gentiles to be guiltie but so it is he hath proued them to be guiltie of the transgression of the Law Morall as is euident out of the sins wherewith he charges them therefore c. Secondly he excludes from iustification the workes of that law by which comes the knowledge of sinne but so it is the knowledge of sinne comes by the law Morall therefore c. I had not knâ—wne saith the Apostle that concupâ—â—cence is a sinne except the law had said thou shalt not couet Now it is euident that this is a pâ—ecept of the law Morall Their third euasion is by a distinction of the first and second iustification the first whereof say they is by Faith but the second is by workes But this twofold iustification is also forged for iustificatio est actus indiuidius simul totus there is no first and last in the act of iustification hee that is once condemned iudicially stands so and hee that is absolued stands so Againe this distinction confounds two benefits iustification sanctification which to them is the second iustification That they are distinct benefits the Apostle doth teach vs Christ is made to vs righteousnesse and sanctification but they inconsiderately confound them for if these new qualities infused by Grace into the soule of man and good workes flowing there from be the matter as they say of mans second Iustification then let them tell vs what is the matter of his sanctification To conclude this these are two inseperable benefits to whomsoeuer the Lord imputes the righteousnes of Christ and giues them Faith to accept it as their owne like as for it hee absolues them from sinne and death and adiudges them vnto life so also incontinent workes he in them by his holy spirit an inherent righteousnesse by which they become new creatures so that our iustification hath inseperably annexed with it sanctification But this sanctification of ourâ— is so imperfect that howsoeuer it be accepted of the Father for the righteousnesse of Christ yet is it not so perfect nor sufficient that for the merit thereof wee dare seeke to be absolued from our sinnes and receiued into fauour Them he also glorefied Glorification the last lincke of the chaine is the last and highest benefit that we haue by Christ by which both our soule and body shall be restored to a greater glory and more happy than euer wee enioyed in Adam Hee had his owne most excellent priuiledges hee had this inward glory that he was created to the image of God hee had also for outward glory a dominion and Lordship ouer all the creaâ—ures of God the heauens were made beautifull for his sake the earth made fruitfull Paradise assigned to him as a speciall garden of pleasure and all the creatures ordained to serue him but by our second creation we are beautified with more excellent priuiledges that same image is restored to vs new heauens and new earth created for our sake and with all these we shall haue the Crowne of perseuerance which Adam had noâ— for glorification is our last and highest happie estate out of which wee shall neuer be transchanged and therefore the Apostle goes not beyond it And herein appeares the Lords wonderfull power and goodnesse who of the fall of man takes occasion to make man better than hee was before the fall Our bodyes shall not be raised like to Adams body for euen in the state of innocencie hee was mortall but they shall be raised vp like to the glorious body of Christ. Salomon built a Temple the Chaldeans destroyed it and it was neuer againe restored to the former glory which moued the auncient men to mourne when they saw how the glory of the second Temple was not like the glory of the first but it shall be the great ioy of our auncient Father Adam when hee shall see how farre the glory of the second creation shall exceed the glory of the first Of this Glorification the Apostle speakes in the time past partly to declare the certainetie thereof and partly because it is already begunne for there are three degrees of that Glory The first in this life and that is our sanctification called by S. Iohn the first resurrection and by S. Paul our
transformation into the glorious image of God The second is in the houre of death and that is a neerer vnion of our soules with Iesus The third will be in the last day wherin both soule and body shall be glorified this is the highest step of Salomons throne vnto the which we must ascend by the former degrees As for the beginning of this glory which now wee haue it consists in these three Righteousnesse Peace and Ioy there is a ioy which is no presumption flowing from a peace which is not securitie bred of righteousnesse which is not hypocrisie in these three stands the beginning of eternall life here vpon earth and in the perfection of them shall consist the perfection of eternall life afterward in heauen perseuerance in righteousnesse peace ioy and glory being adioyned vnto them This Ioy which is the highest degree of eternall life wee can attaine to here vpon earth hath also these three degrees first there is a Ioy which ariseth of beleeuing wee haue not as yet seenâ— the Lord Iesus yet doe wee beleeue in him and reioyce in him with Ioy vnspeakeable and glorious Secondly there is a Ioy which ariseth of feeling and tasting taste and consider how gratious the Lord is and this feeling is much more than beleeuing Thirdly there is a ioy which ariseth of sight and of spirituall embracing such vvas the ioy of Simeon when hee saw that promised saluation and embraced the Lord Iesus in his armes Hereof ariseth to vs first a lesson of comfort if the beginnings of this glory be so great that as S. Peter saith they bring to vs ioy vnspeakable and glorious what shall the fulnesse thereof be let this waken in vs a loathing of these vaine perishing pleasures and a longing for that better and more enduring substance Certe non sunt tibi not a futura gaudia si non renuit consolari anima tua donec veniant thou knowest not those ioyes which are to come if thy soule do not refuse all comfort till they come vnto thee Certe si sempiterna essent haec terrena tamen prae coelestibus essent commutanda Certainely albeit these earthly things were eternall yet were they to be exchanged with those that are heauenly And therefore let the little tast of that ioy which wee haue now worke in vs a greater hunger and thirst after the fulnes thereof And againe we are here to be remembred that as pearles are found in the bottome of the water and gold is not gotten in the superfice but bosome of the earth so this ioy is not to be found but in the inward parts of a broken and contrite spirit many speake of this ioy who neuer felt it Righteousnesse is the mother of Peace and Peace the mother of Ioy they who haue not learned to do well and cannot morne for the euil which they haue done how shall they taste of the ioyes of God wee must pearce by the hammer of contrition into the very inward of our harts or euer we we can finde the refreshing springs of Gods sweet consolations arising vnto vs. It deceiues many that they thinke eternall life is not begunne but after death but assuredly except now thou get the beginnings thou shalt neuer hereafter attaine to the perfections thereof and therefore looke to it in time As for the second degree of this glory which is a neerer vnion of our soules with Iesus Christ after our dissolution by death it is not my purpose now to insist in it As for the third degree which consists in the glorification both of our soules and bodyes we haue spoken of it before specially in the 18. verse Now the Tabernacle of God is with men but then shall our securitie be without feare and our glory consummated when we shall dwell in the Tabernacle of God vnto the which the Lord bring vs all for Iesus Christs sake Amen THE GLORIFICATION of a Christian. VVhere you may see the counsaile of GOD concerning mans Saluation more cleerely manifested THEY THAT HAVE EYES MAY COME and see the Christian possessed and crowned in his heauenly Kingdome Which is the greatest and last benefit wee haue by Christ Iesus our Lord. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word at Perth LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and are to be sould at his shoppe in Popes-head Pallace 1609. TO THE MOST EXcellent Vertuous and Gratious Prince Henry by the Grace of God Prince of Wales and Heyre Apparent vnto the most famous Kingdomes of England Scotland Fraunce and Ireland All happinesse in this life and eternall Glory in the life to come THat which the Apostle hath seuerally deliuered in the two former Discourses dedicated to your most Royall Parents hee now in this last Treatise collects and conioynes in one which therfore of right can appertaine to none more then to you Sir who being by them both the happy fruite of heauenly prouidence and decrest pledge of their mutuall loue and ioy may iustly challenge interest in the smallest good ouer which their names are named Sir here is the way to that Crowne of Triumph which the more you know the more I hope shall you place your glory in it Crownes of earthly Kingdomes are indeede the gâ—fts of God but such as bring not so much Honour as they breed vnquietnesse O nobilem magis quam foelicem pannum said Antigonus If the cares which dwell in the Diadem wâ—re knowne no man would stoope to the ground to take it vp said Seleucus And albeit it be not giuen to all to know this in their entrie to Honour yet are they all compelled to acknowledge it in the end Seuerus Monâ—rch of the world found his Crownes but comfortlesse to him in death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue said hee beene all things and it profiteth mee nothing Not onely the teares of Xerxes but the laments of Salomon may witnesse to all the world that the end of the worme-eaten pleasures of this life is heauie displeasure yea the golden head of Babell had at length worms spread vnder him worms to couer him Esa. 14 For all flesh is grasse and the glory thereof as the flowre of the field Onely The word of the Lord endures for euer By which that same God who hath called you to be an apparant Heyre of the most famous Kingdomes on earth doth also call your Grace to a more certaine inheritance of a better Kingdome in heauen which cannot be shaken whereby aboue other Princes and Rulers of the earth yee are blessed if so be yee answere your Calling endeauouring to be no lesse than you are named Principem te agnosce neseruias affectibus It is vnseemely in any but most of all in a Prince to become asâ—ruant eyther to the corrupt humours of men without him who creeping in into the Courts of Kings like wormes into the bosome of excellent trees doe nothing but consume
thee sinne committed by thy selfe no no when he beginneth to smite thee hee shall neuer lift vp his hand from thee but double his stripes vpon thee and there shall be no end of thy sorrow As the ioyes prepared for the godly so the paines prepared for the wicked are such as the eye neuer saw the tongue cannot vtter nor the heart conceiue That place of the damned is the great deepe the Ocean of all the iudgements of God all his temporall plagues are but like little riâ—ers and strands running into it If therefore the beautie of Sion doth not allure vs let the terrour of Sinai afray vs. The Lord proclaimed his Law in a fearefull manner vpon mount Sinai but in a more terrible manner will hee execute it if Moses who was so familiar with the Lord trembled when hee heard it proclaimed what horrible feare shall ouer-take the wicked when they shall see it executed vpon themselues Let therefore the children of wisedome hearken in time to the ioyfull tidings of peace which are daily proclaimed on mount Sion let vs drinke of the still and peaceable waters of Siloh which flow from it let vs embrace that mercy which Iesus by the merit of his death hath conquered vnto vs that so wee may be saued from the wrath which is to come His owne Sonne Iesus Christ is called Gods owne Son both in respect of his diuine and humane natures for as hee is God he was begotten of the Father by so vnspeakable a generation that as Esay saith none are able to declare it and as hee is man hee is the Sonne of God conceiued by the holy Ghost made man indeed but not after the manner of other men but of this see Verse 3. But gaue him for vs all This is very often alleadged in holy Scriptures as an argument of the great loue of God toward vs that he gaue his sonne to death for vs and so it is indeed for it is not by any corruptible thing as Gold and siluer that he hath redeemed vs but by the precious blood of his owne Sonne the Lambe vndefiled and without spot There is no man will giue much for that whereof he esteemes but little we measure the price of a thing according to the worth of it in our iudgement euen so of the greatnesse of that gift which our God hath giuen for vs wee may estimate the greatnesse of his affection toward vs. Pretious indeed in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints who to redeeme vs from death spared not to giue his dearest sonne vnto the death It was the Lords reasoning to Abraham now I perceiue thou louest mee because for my sake thou hast not spared thine onely sonne and haue we not much more cause to turne ouer the same reasoning to the Lord now Lord we perceiue thou louest vs because for our sake thou hast not spared thine onely one sonne The Lord shed abroad in our hearts more aboundantly the sense of that inestimable loue that we may be carefull to requite the kindnesse of the Lord putting his holy will before all things in our affection and endeauouring in holy loue to serue him who hath saued vs. Shall hee not with him giue vs all things also Wee are to vnderstand all things that are needfull for vs And here it is necessary that we put a difference betweene our right and our possession The children of God haue the right and propertie of all Gods good creatures for Christ their Lord is the heire of all and hath made them with himselfe fellow heires All things are yours saith the Apostle and yee are Christs and Christ is Gods But as for the possession of them the Lord giues it or with-holds it according as hee sees may be for the good of his children We know our father Abraham had the right of Canaan when he had not the possession of it and are not therefore to thinke it strange that the Lord giues not alwayes possession of that to his Children whereof they haue the right But as for the wicked they haue possession without a right and therefore shall be punished as theeues and robbers and violent vsurpers of Gods creatures whereunto Iesus Christ who is the heyre of all hath neuer giuen them a right Secondly wee marke here that the giuing and dispensation of earthly things is from God if wee could remember this it would moderate our care and make vs in our callings first to seeke the Lords blessing loath any manner of way to take the things of this world vnlesse we see they be giuen vs out of the hand of God For we are to know that Sathan who is a counterfaiter of God doth also arrogate to himself though falsely to be the giuer of things hee that durst say to the sonne of God all the kingdomes of the earth are mine I will giue them to thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me will hee stand in awe to speake it vnto sinnefull man No indeed it is his daily tentation by which he circumuents many intangling their hearts with the loue of worldly gaine that to obtaine it they care not to lye to steale to sweare to oppresse to deceiue one another which in effect is to fall downe before Sathan and worship him Thus Sathan rules in the kingdome of Babell like a spirituall Nabuchadnezar presenting to his subiects his great image of gold accompanied with all sorts of musicall instruments that is worldly pleasures vvealth and prosperitie which bewitch the simple and makes them fall downe and worship yeelding themselues seruants to Mammon But happy are those children who refuse so to do and can stand vp vvith their father Abraham lifting vp his hand to heauen can say I will not haue so much as the latchet of a shoe from the king of Sodome I will haue nothing by any crooked or indirect meanes out of the hand of Sathan or any of his instruments the buddes of Balak shall not hire me to doe euill neither the wages of iniquitie nor the reward of Sodome for doing good shall euer cleaue to my hands I will looke for my portion from the Lord. Againe seeing God is the giuer of all things let vs learne with the Apostle in whatsoeuer state we are to be content remembring that euery mans portion of vvorldly things is measured vnto him from the Lord. We see that a steward in a familie ministers not alike vnto all that are in it the aged and the young the seruant and the Lord receiues not a like portion yet no man gainsayes it and shall vve not reuerence the Lords dispensation who is the great steward of his familie in heauen and earth shall vve murmure against him if he giue Beniamin a double portion and bestow vpon some of his children these worldly things in greater aboundance than he doth vpon others farre be it from vs for he dispenses these
Lord in the world to come As this is the comfort of Gods chosen so doth it point vnto vs the contrary miserable estate of the reprobate for there is nothing in heauen and earth which shall not stand vp against them to accuse them the Lord himselfe shall come neere them as a swift witnesse against them O miserable are they to whom the Lord is a Partie a Iudge and a Witnesse as our Sauiour said to the Iewes Moses and all the seruants of God shall be witnesses against them yea the dust of the feete of those who brought the glad tidings of peace shall witnesse against them the stones of the field said Ioshua the heauens and earth said Moses their moth-eaten garments said S. Iames yea they themselues said our Sauiour shall witnesse against themselues woe be vnto them they must be presented to iudgement but shall haue none eyther in heauen or earth to speake for them nothing without them nothing within them which shall not be a witnesse against them when they are iudged they shall be condemned and their owne conscience shall say righteous is the Lord and iust are his iudgements It is God that Iustifies Of this ye may see cleerely that Iustification as the Apostle vseth it here is a iudicial terme for he oppones it to accusation and condemnation but leauing that because wee marked it before in the poynt of Iustification we will adde this more that the Apostle brings not the reason of his comfort from his owne innocencie but from Gods mercy he saith not there is nothing in me worthy to be accused or to be condemned but his comfort is that whateuer it be God hath pardoned it This is it that breedes vnquietnesse and perturbation in many weake consciences they seeke within themselues that which should commend them to God as if they could not be saued vnlesse they were perfect this commeth of Sathans singular subtiltie who labours to creep in betweene vs and our warrant as if our owne innocencie were the warrant of our saluation and not Gods mercy nor Christs merit It is true it becomes vs for our greater comfort to nourish within our selues the tokens of Grace but to conclude that because they are weake therefore wee cannot be saued it is Sathans sophistrie with which wee should not suffer our soules to be abused Verse 34. Who shall condemne it is Christ which is dead yea or rather which is risen againe who is also at the right hand of God and maketh request also for vs. THe Apostle insists in his perticular triumph against sinne and hee demaunds now who shall condemne it may be as wee heard there be some bold to accuse but is there any saith the Apostle that hath power to condemne none at all and that hee proues from the death resurrection exaltation and intercession of Christ for as all these were done for vs so doe euery one of them render vnto vs the sweete fruit of consolation Of the comfort arising from Christs death we haue spoken before The next is his resurrection we haue comfort saith the Apostle in his death but much more comfort in his resurrection therefore saith the Apostle It is Christ who is dead or rather who is risen againe for if wee looke to Iesus dying albeit in death hee shewed himselfe a powerfull Sauiour yet in his death his glory was greatly obscured vnder the couering of mortalitie which againe in his resurrection was more clearely manifested for hee was declared mightily to be the sonne of God by his resurrection and hath made vs sure of the remission of our sinnes for hee had not come out of the prison of the graue if hee had not payed the vttermost farthing of our debt If Christ saith the Apostle be not yet risen then are we yet in our sinnes thanks be to God we may turne it to our comfort Iesus is already risen therefore wee are not in our sinnes As for his exaltation the Apostle saith hee sits at the right hand of God to speake properly the Lord who is a Spirit hath neyther right hand nor left but by these borrowed speaches the Lord who dwelleth in light inaccessible to whom wee cannot ascend by our selues that wee should know him descends vnto vs and speakes of his vnspeakeable Maiestie vnto vs in such manner as wee are best able to conceiue it so that when eyes and eares and hands are ascribed to the Lord wee are to thinke these hee hath per effectum non per naturam And this may rebuke that bolde blasphemie of the Papists who presume to paint the incomprehensible Maiestie of God vnder the similitude of an aged and worne creature expresly contrary to Gods commaundement In that day saith the Lord that I spake vnto thee out of the mountaine thou heardest a voyce but saw no Image beware therefore thou make none and in many places is the same presumption condemned by the Prophets Where if they excuse themselues that they paint the Lord in such a similitude as hee appeared vnto Daniell and no otherway I answere first this is false for sometime which is horrible to speake they paint him in the shape of an humane body hauing three heads but albeit it were true which they say yet doth it not excuse them for the Lords extraordinary facts are not to bee vsed as warrants to breake his ordinary and eternall Commaundements neyther doth it any more excuse them than that deed of the Lord whereby he caused the Israelits to take from the Egiptians their siluer gold and Iewels which they neuer rendred can excuse them that doe borrow steale and robbe from others but neuer restore But howeuer they excuse themselues as long as the word of the Apostle stands true they shall not rubbe off them the blot of idolatry they turne the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible man The Maiestie of God is eternall the heauens waxe olde but he remaines the same why then doe they paint him vnder the similitude of a worne creature weakned by the length of dayes The Iesuites of Rhemes conuinced of darknesse are ashamed of the light that shines in this place of Scripture and passe by it without an answer they excuse the making of the Image of Christ and of his Saints but speak not one word to defend that grosse Idolatry whereby they turne the glory of the inuisible God into the image of a corruptible man It had ben good for them they had beene as dumbe in the defence of the rest of their abhominations as they are in this This speach therefore to sit at the right hand of God is a borrowed speach the Metaphor being taken from Kings who vse to set on their right hand those whom they honour most as Salomon did his mother Bathsheba and so the phrase will import that high honour and dignitie whereunto Christ
Iesus as man is exalted being crowned with glory both aboue Angels and men This right hand of God wherat Christ sits is expounded by other places of Scripture to bee the high and heauenly places which serueth to improue that paralogisme of the Vbiquitaries who will haue Christs naturall body to be in euery place because the right hand of God is in euery place It is true indeed Christ sits at the right hand of God but so that hee sits in the high and heauenly places The right hand of God that is the power and glory of God stretches throughout the whole world but wee are plainly taught that the place of the residence of Christ Iesus the man is in the heauenly places and not in earthly places in the high places to which hee is ascended and not in the low places in which we soiourne for the heauens must contayne him vntill the day of refreshment come And makes request also for vs. Christ our Lord hath entred into heauen not to enioy for himselfe a blessed life onely but to appeare in the presence of God for vs. As the high Priest when he entred into the most holy place had grauen in stones vpon his breast the names of the twelue tribes of Israell so the Lord Iesus presents to his father the names of all his elect that by the merit of his death hee may procure mercy vnto them Here againe wee are taught that Iesus Christ is descrybed to vs in holy Scripture as our mediatour of intercession and that there is no other beside him recommended vnto vs. In all the old testament no prayer is made to Henoch Moses nor Eliah who ended their dayes not after the common course of men no prayer to Abraham albeit he was the Father of the faithfull yea no prayer to Cherubin nor Seraphin though now the Apostate Church of Rome haue made as many aduocates for vs in heauen as there are Saints departed and hath framed perticular prayers vnto them and which is more ridiculous hath parted among them the patrocinie of sundry sorts of sicknesse and diseases It is true indeed that the Saints which are departed haue not as yet all their desires fulfilled and shall not be perfected without vs wherefore also it is that they long for the full gathering together of the Saints and for the restitution of their bodyes and for the last day of iudgement but that they know the perticular troubles of Gods children our greatest troubles being inward tentations and wrestlings of conscience neither knowne to man nor Angell but onely to God who is the searcher of the heart or that we can in faith vse them as mediators vnto God for vs wee iustly deny it Where if they take them vnto their common refuge that ther is but one mediator of redemption but many mediators of intercession to this wee answere that in the same place wherin the Apostle saith there is one mediator betweene God and man the subiect whereof hee entreats is Prayer so that euen in prayer he will haue vs to acknowledge no mediator of intercession but Iesus Christ. And beside this Augustine doth so define a mediator of intercession that it can be competent to none but to Iesus Christ. It is commanded sayth he that euery Christian pray to God for another Pro quo autem nullus interpellat sed ipse pro omnibus hic vnus verusque mediator est but he who requests for all and for whom none requests is the onely one true Mediator And where againe they alledge that the Saints of God in heauen are not ignorant of things done vpon earth we are to know that things are knowne three manner of wayes first by hearing and seeing Secondly by reflex as by looking in a glasse those things are made knowne to vs which are behind our backes and thirdly by report This second and third way say they there is no doubt but Saints that are in heauen know those things which are done vpon earth but both of these are false for if they say they know our estate by report of Angels or such as are departed this life how can that be seeing wee know that when Hanna prayed in the presence of Eli yet hee knew not her trouble yea those who liue in one familie are not priuie to the tentations of others that which they knew not in their life how shalt thou make them to know it when they are dead If againe they say that they haue it by reuelation from God then I pray you consider how that one errour of Papistrie dashes against an other for sometime in the same controuersie they say that as in earthly courts we must first communicate our petitions to those who must be our mediators to the King now if it be so that they haue no intelligence of our estate but such as they receiue from God wherefore shall wee pray to them to commend our cause vnto God who knowes it better than they pities it more than they as Augustine prettily obserues out of that Parable proponed by our Sauiour wherein he who knocked at midnight to seeke bread from his neighbour found the whole familie a sleepe onely the Master of the house answered opened and gaue him that which he craued Nullus de ianitoribus respondit quia omnes tenuerat sommus non Angeli non Archangeli non Prophetae non Ministri None of the Porters answered because they were all asleepe neither Angels nor Archangels nor Prophets not Seruants made any answere but O Lord albeit so it be answere thou me for at thee I knocke thou art the doore licet puâ—ri tui dormiant tu non dormis qui custodis Israel albeit thy children sleepe yet thou that keepes Israell sleepes not But leauing them let vs pray to the Lord in whom wee beleeue let vs vse the mediation of Christ whom S. Iohn recommends to vs an aduocate with the Father whom Saint Paul calles in this place our intercessor and in that to Timothie our onely one Mediator For knowledge his eyes are like flaming fire and his seauen eyes goe through the earth for compassion hee came into the earth to seeke vs when wee knew him not and hee gaue his life for vs that wee might liue he speaks perpetually to his Father for vs by the merit of his death and cryes to vs by himselfe in his word Come to me all you that are weary and laden and I will refresh you Let the Papist say what he will to any other than Christ or any other before Christ will I neuer goe so long he as cryes Come vnto me Verse 35. Who shall seperate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword WEe haue heard the Apostles perticular triumph against sinne now followes his perticular triumph against the Crosse he glories not
the heauens hath ministred food to Gods people as in that barren wildernesse wherein Israell soiourned the earth yeelded no fruit but the heauens rayned downe Manna and Quailes and sometime the heauens haue beene as brasse yet in the earth hath the Lord prouided nourishment as he did by the Rauens and the Widdow of Sarepta for Eliah and if otherwise it please the Lord by famine to inflict death vpon his children then he strengthens their spirits with the bread of life and comforts their hearts with hid Manna so that they can say to worldlings as our Sauiour said to his Disciples I haue bread to eate that yee know not of and so no famine can seperate them from the loue of God Nakednesse This is also a great tentation partly for the shame and partly for the decay of naturall life which followes it Before the Iewes crucified Christ they striped him naked of his garments Basile makes mention of fortie Martyres who being striped naked were put foorth in the night to be pined with cold and afterward burnt with fire in the day Of these it is euident that nakednesse is one of those tentations whereby Sathan seekes to trouble our faith and patience but he who hath put on the Lord Iesus for a garment neither shame nor losse of naturall life procured by nakednesse can seperate him from the Loue of God Where we may perceiue how different the dispositions of the Christian and the worldling are The men of this world esteemes nakednesse their shame and places a great part of their glory in gorgeous garments and no meruaile quia dâ— proprio non habent decorem necesse est vt aliunde mendicent for hauing no glory of their owne they must borrow glory from others From the Beasts of the earth they borrow skins wool from the Fowles of heauen they borrow feathers from the Wormes they borrow silk from the Earth siluer gold from the Waters pearles and of these doth man make vp his begged glory whose glory in the beginning was to be clad in the image of God but what is it decor qui cum veste induitur cum veste deponitur vestis est non vestiti that beautie which is put on and put off with the garment is not the beautie of the person but of the garment Yet are these but licitae quodammodo insaniae if they be compared with the madnesse of others who alter by artifice the shape and colour of the countenance which God hath giuen them Manus deo inferunt cum illud quod formauit reformare conantur for they put hands as it were into God while they prease to reforme that which God hath formed Nescientes quia opus dei est omne quod nascitur diabeli quod mutatur I know they excuse their fact with the couerings of comelinesse and necessitie but praetextu tegendae turpitudinis in maiorem turpitudinem incidunt for worldlings are neuer so naked as when they are best apparelled As for men truely godly they will thinke shame of wickednes but not of nakednesse improbum vocarite pudeat non pauperem aut ignobilem blinde Egiptians may account sheepe keepers abhomination but true Israelits will thinke shame to be prophane but no shame to be poore those godly ones in the wildernesse clad with sheepes skins and goates skins were more honourable in the eyes of God than Herod in his royall robe of shining siluer glancing the more brightly by the shining of the Sun vpon it if we will credit Iosephus But what of all this our vnwillingnesse to want superstuitie of apparell argues that we are euill prepared to endure nakednesse for Christs sake Againe we learne here that seeing nakednesse is one of those crosses whereby the Lord tryes the faith and patience of his children and that then it is time for vs to endure a crosse when God layes it vpon vs it cannot be good religion to impone it to our selues where God layes it not vpon vs. It is a hard thing to keepe mediocritie not to be either too remisse in religion or too superstitious Wil-worship what euer shew of godlines it hath in the eyes of men is but abhominable idolatry in the eyes of God and we are not to place true religion in those things which he hath not required the false Prophets ware a rough garment but it was to deceiue the Priests of Baal spared not to lance their owne flesh but it is reiected by God as blinde zeale to walke bare footed or weare a garment of haire without linnen or wooll next the skinne to carry on our head a Franciscanes hood and at last to be buried in it If these things haue in them such holinesse as they pretend is it not a meruaile their holy Father the Pope is not careful to make himselfe more holy by changing his triple Crowne with a Franciscanes hood or that his Cardinals are so inconsiderate as to redeeme by so excessiue prices a Cardinals hat the haire garment being better cheape and much more meritorious of eternall life Perills The life of a Christian is full of perils euery place vnto him is a palaestra in the sea in the land in the citie in the wildernesse goe where he will hee shall encounter with perils These are so many probations of our Faith and Patience of Gods truth and prouidence Our preseruation depends on our protector euen the Watch-man of Israell who neither slumbers nor sleepes As a Father hath compassion on his children so hath the Lord on them who feare him and wee know that a naturall father doth neuer looke more pittifully vpon his childe than when hee sees him in greatest danger and shall we expect lesse kindnesse from our heauenly Father The men of this world when they send out their seruants in commission goes not with them themselues knowes not their danger and are not able to preserue them but the Lord our God when he sends out his seruants foresees the perill goes with them to preserue them Feare not for when thou passest through the water I will be with thee and through the flouds that they doe not ouerflow thee The more perils we fall into the more experience haue wee of Gods louing preseruing vs for the which wee may say perils may well make vs grow in the sense of the loue of God but cannot seperate vs from him Sword This is the last and by it the Apostle expresses any kinde of violent death for vnto these also the seruants of God and his best beloued Children haue beene subiect euer from the beginning The Apostle gloryes that no kind of death can seperate vs from Christ yea as he saith in another place it conioynes vs more neerely vnto him as Nebuchadnezzans fire loosed the bonds of the three children but hurt not their bodyes so death inflicted by man may loose our bodily bonds but cannot
vnproperly compared to a Rock in the sea which being beaten on euery side vvith vvaues raysed by the wind yet stands vnmoueable vnbroken it selfe breakes them that assaults it Againe yee see that the Apostle who speaking of the estate of christians vpon earth sayd before wee are slaine all the day long saith now we are more then conquerours strange it is that hee who is slaine should be a conquerour but so it is the christian battell euery way is meruailous paâ—tly because it is foughten within and against himselfe and partly because then is hee a conquerour when â—ee seemes to be vanquished being the member of that head who obtayned greatest victory vvhen hee suffered most shamefull death Through him that loued vs. The Apostle doth so giue comfort to the christian that he reserues the glory vnto the Lord the strength whereby we preuaile is from him that loued vs not from our selues It is very comfortable to consider that a christian is not a man standing or liuing by himselfe he hath his being in Christ as long as there is life in him we cannot die it is true that sometime being deserted and left to our selues we fall away for a time as we may see in Peter vvho at the voyce of a Damsell denyed the Lord Iesus and this is to teach vs that the praise of our standing perseuering and ouer-comming pertaines to the Lord. Verse 38 For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come 29. Nor height nor any other creature c. THe Apostle continuing in his triumph mounts to an higher sort of enimies and hee also proclaimes defiance to them affirming that neither death nor life nor Angels nor things present nor things to come nor any other creature whatsoeuer if any other be are able to seperate vs from the loue of God Of the which wee haue first to learne that a Christian man in this life may be perswaded of his saluation neyther is it to be accounted presumption for as much as in so doing hee leanes not vpon himselfe but vpon the word and promise of God which the Lord hath confirmed by an oath that hee may make sure to the heyres of promise the stabilitie of his counsell Where if the aduersary obiect that the word of the Lord out of all doubt is true and that they who beleeues and repents shall be saued but euery one who saith hee beleeues doth not beleeue and so cannot be perswaded of his saluation To this I answere that hee who repents vnfainedly and beleeues knowes as certainely that hee hath repentance and faith as hee who hath in his hand a iewell knowes that he hath iâ— and therefore may conclude with himselfe that the promises of saluation made to the penitent beleeuers belongs vnto him for albeit it be true there be many in the Church like vnto those fiue foolish Virgins who suppose they haue that which they shall not be found to haue in the end yet is there no reason to conclude that because some are deceiued all are deceiued because some thinke they haue faith and haue it not therefore none can be sure that they haue faith Out of all doubt where the Lord Iesus dwelleth by his Spirit hee makes himselfe knowne to them in whom hee dwelleth according to that Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates and these names giuen to the holy Spirit of Adoption doth also confirme the same truth for hee is called the Seale the Witnesse earnest penny of God which names hee receiues from his effects and operations which hee workes in them to whom hee is giuen eyther therfore must the aduersary say that there are none to whom the Spirit is giuen or they must graunt that they to whom he is giuen are sure the first they will not affirme the second they cannot with reason deny for what is this to say that a man hath the Seale the Witnesse and the Earnest of God giuen to confirme the promise of God and yet all these doe not make him who hath them sure of saluation But here least that which I haue said discourage them who are of weake consciences let them know that this assurance of saluation doth not alway continue with the Christian in a like measure for here wee doe so beleeue that we want not our owne vnbeleife and albeit our faith when it is in the full strength ouer-comes all doubting yet is it oftentimes so weake that it is againe disquieted with doubting for which if we pray instantly with the Father of that child Lord I beleeue but helpe my vnbeliefe wee may be sure at length Faith shall ouercome and thus farre teach we concerning the assurance which the Christian man hath of his saluation But as for that Religion which teacheth doubtings and pronounceth them accursed who hold that a man may be assured of saluation wee accurse it as a doctrine enimie to Faith and Saluation such as is the doctrine of the counsell of Trent Si quis dixerit hominem renatum teneri ex side ad credendum se certo esse ex numero praedestinatorum anathema sit It is strange to see that where they teach a man is able to fulfill the whole Law of God and by his workes to merit eternall life yet they accurse him if hee say hee is sure to be saued so directly doth one point of their false doctrine impugne another But indeed it is no meruaile if their Religion can yeeld no comfort nor certaintie of saluation to the weary conscience because they draw men from off the foundation Iesus Christ in whom onely it is promised that wee shall finde rest to our soules and would make vs to leane vpon rotten foundations such as the merit of Masses the vertue of our workes and humane satisfaction and because all these cannot yet satisfie the doubting consciences of men they suspend them with a vaine hope of greater comfort which they shall finde in their forged and comfortlesse Purgatorie thus doe they hold the poore people comfortlesse both in life and in death But as for vs wee will abide on the rocke renouncing all purgation but the purgation of his bloud wee will content our selues with Iesus Christ in whom the Father is well pleased that in him we may finde rest to our soules which neyther in our selues nor in any other creature shall wee euer be able to finde Let them call it Presumption Non arrogantia est sed fides praedicare quod acceperis non superbia est sed deuotio it is not presumption but Faith or otherwise if wee say vnto him who hath begotten vs by the lawer of regeneration Pater bona praesumptio est Father this said Augustine is a good presumption And to the same effect said Bernard Propter hoc data sunt signa quaedam
manifesta salutis vt indubitabile sit â—um esse de numero Electorum in quo ea signa permanserint This is the truth of God agreeable to Scripture and auncieâ—t Fathers which wee doe affirme howeuer they doe accurse it That neyther life By life vve are to vnderstand the pleasures of this life strong tentations indeed for in the hearts of many they preuaile against the loue of God that we may learne to despise them and to count with the Apostle all things to be doung in regard of Iesus let vs looke vnto those two things which discouers vnto vs the vaniâ—e of worldly pleasures first they are most loathsome to them who haue them in greatest abundance and aâ—e most admired of those who haue them not A proofe of this we haue in Salomon who wanted nothing delectable vnder the Sunne yet by the very vse of them he found the vanitie of them and was moued to abhorre them It is far otherwise with heauenly pleasures the more we tast of them the more wee esteeme of them hungring still for more we cannot be satisfied with that which wee haue gotten already Secondly worldly pleasures are of this nature that if they be continued without intermission they turn into pains therefore is it that those same things which now we choose for recreation incontinently they become wearisome vnto vs and wee cast them away so that it is not so much by themselues as by the change of them that we are delighted Sola vicessitudine recreamur being weary of walking we refresh our selues with sitting againe being vveary of fitting we rise to refresh our selues with walking and so fareth it with all the recreations of this life being continuall they become wearisome So oft therefore as Sathan by worldly pleasures would steale away our hearts from the loue of God let vs consider how vaine and small a pleasure it is vvhich he would giue vs in respect of that vnspeakeable ioy which he would take from vs. Nor death By death vvee vnderstand not onely death it selfe but all those paines that goe before it and terrouâ—s which accompanie it There vvas neuer life so long but it hath beene concluded by death no life so pleasant but the paines of death shall swallow vp all the pleasures therof As the seauen leane Kine deuoured the seauen fat the seauen yeares of famine consumed the fruit of seauen yeares of plenty so shall the dolours and terrours of death eate vp all the pleasures and delectations of this vvretched life If vve suffer the pleasures of this life to bewitch vs be sure the terrours of death shall confound vs. It were therefore good that as Ioseph of Aramathia had his sepulcher in his Garden so vvee season all the pleasures of our life with remembrance of our death this is summa Philosophia Yet our comfort is that if wee liue in Christ no terror of death can seperate vs from him yea death conioynes vs neerer to the Lord Iesus then wee were before wee see oft-times by experience that the children of God haue so triumphed in the very dolours of death and reioyced in the sense of Gods loue that they haue forgot all their bodily paines As the top of mount Pisgah was to Moses the place of his death and the first place wherein euer hee got a sight of Canaan so shall death be to the children of God where we lay downe the sight of this world there shall wee take vp the sight of eternall life which shall neuer be taken from vs. Nor Angels By Angels here I vnderstand not elect Angels for they are not enimies to vs but ministring spirits for our saluation but reprobate Angels for these names of Angels principalities and powers are common both to good and euill Angels And they are so called partly from the power which God hath lent them and partly from the message vvherein hee imployes them for sometime they are sent out as messengers of his wrath to punish the wicked and so an euill spirit was sent from the Lord to punish Saul and sometime to exercise the godly and so an Angell of Sathan was sent to buffet the Apostle Paul for his humiliation we are not exempted from their tempting but praysed be God we are exempted from their tyrannie dominion Their working in regard of the wicked is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the efficacie of errour for the Lord hath giuen them vp into the hands of Sathan but their working in regard of the godly is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tentation Alwayes seeing so long as we liue wee must wrestle against so strong enimies let vs watch and be sober let vs stand with the compleat armour of God vpon vs. Againe we mark here how that our estate in Christ is better than the estate of Adam by his first creation for then an apostate Angell drew Adam to an apostasie also from God but now no Angell is able to seperate vs from the loue of God the reason is the couenant which God made with Adam was without a mediatour hee had the keeping of his owne saluation in his owne hand but the couenant of grace with vs is bound vp in the mediator Christ Iesus to whom the Father hath committed vs that hee might redeeme and saue vs hee hath taken vs into his hand and none are able to take vs from him our saluation depends not on our selues it is not in our keeping but in his and therefore is it most certaine Principalities nor powers These names are not to terrifie or astray vs seeing as I said these reprobate Angels haue no power but that which is lent and limited of God Therefore Saint Iude saith that they are reserued in chaines vnder darknesse and here for our comfort we are to consider how that there are two chaines wherewith they are bound and other two wherewith they are tormented the first chaine that bindes them is their owne nature the second is Gods prouidence the first restraines them that they cannot doe the euill which they would the second restraineth them that they doe not the euill which they can Sathan being a naturall creature is bounded within the compasse of nature his insatiable malice would doe much more euill than by nature he is able to performe for aboue or contrary to nature can hee worke nothing and againe many euils is hee able to doe by naturall meanes which the prâ—uidence of God permits him not to doe The tormenting chaines which are vpon him are an euill conscience and the wrath of God for as he growes in euill doing so groweth his conscience worse and worse and the wrath of God accordingly encreaseth vpon him with which two he is continually tormented Nor things present nor things to come This is a great amplification of our suretie that neyther present euils inflicted vpon vs nor any euill to come can seperate vs
21. What vgly guests dwelt in vs before hee came to possesse vs. He prouides all necessaries where hee dwels Iren. cont val lib. 4. cap. 28. Not like kings of the earth who oft times are burdenable to them with whom they lodge Ang. de verb Apost ser. 15 Psal. 84. 11. What duties of thankfulnes we owe to our Lord who 〈◊〉 in vs. Eph. 4. 30. 1 Thes. 5. 19 That we discerne the voyce of our Master and obay it Math. 8. 9. Macar hom 12 That euery day we sweepe and water his chaÌ„ber with the besome and teares of repentance Zach. 13. 1. Cyprian That in his Temple there want not morning and euening sacrifice Macar hom 28 Bastard professors lodges this holy spirit in a wrong roome Eph. 3. 17. 1 Cor. 6. 20. Humble gestures of the bodie in publike exercises of diuine worship prophanly scorned by some Superstitiously abused by others Seeing we are the temples of God we should be more beautifull within then without Exod. 28. 36 But the wicked are compared sometime to open and sometime to paâ—nted Sepulchers Mat. 23. 27. Psal. 32. 2. Ioh. 1. 47. Rom. 2. 29. The secondary great question in religion is this who are Christians Mat. 11. 3. A soueraigne rule whereby Christians of all estates must be tryed Acts. 25. 23. Christ and his Spirit are not sundred 1 Iohn 4. 13 Gal. 5. 22. 23 24 Operations of the spirit are two-fold Externall common to al men Iohn 1. 1 Cor. 12. 3. Internall and proper to the godly Three effects wrought by the speciall operation of the spirit in the godly Sanctification Intercession Consolation Math. 26. That a Christian who hath Gods spirit knowes that he hath him Gal. 2. 20. 2 Cor. 13. 5. And therefore may be sure of saluation is proued by three names giuen to the holy spirit 1 He is Gods Seale Eph. 4. 30. Gods earnest 1 Ioh. 5. 10. Rom. 8. 16. Gods witnesse Sinne causes the Lord deny his owne creature Luk. 13. 27. Consolation against the fruite of sin specially against death whereunto we are subiect The death whereunto we are subiect is neither totâ—ll nor perpetuall The Comforts of God are not common to all men indifferently Mat. 10. 12. 13. Mat. 7. 6. 2. Kin. 9. 18. Christ dwelling in vs is by his spirit no carnal presence required to make our vnion with him Act. 3. 21. Aug. epist. 57 adâ— Darâ—â—n Act. 1. 11. The comfort of Ethnikes against death not comparable to ours and our courage inferior to theirs Tit. 1. 16. Our bodies are not onely mortall but dead The officers of death hath bouÌ„d vs alredy Gen. 3. 19. Therefore should we liue in the body vnder feare 1 Pet. 1. 12. Phil. 2. 12. The pittifull securitie of carnall professors Psal. 58. 9. Psal. 73. 19. Death entred into the body should represse our naturall pride Bernard Aug ser. 21. Should learne vs temperance and sobrietie Bernard 1 Cor. 6. 13. Sathans shamelesse impudencie discouered Gen. 31. 7. A good answer to be giuen Sathan in all his tentations to sinne Rom. 6. 21. Seeing he hath deceiued vs so oft let vs beleeue him no more Iudg. 16. 1 King 22. How they who liue in sin are murtherers of themselues Psal. 34. 21. Strange death and diseases commeth vpon men through the groth of their sinnes against God Leuit. 26. 25 Cypri ad Demet. Delay of iudgement confirms the wicked in euill and it is the first impediment which stayes them froÌ„ repenting at Gods threatnings Deu. 29. 18. Eccles. 8. 11. Rom. 2. 4. But they who are spared should learne wisedome by iudgements exâ—cuted vpon others 2 Pet. 2. 3. Cyp. de lapsis serm 5. Luke 13. Aug. de ciuit Dei cap. 8 Why some wicked men are punished in this life and not others Psal. 58. 11. It is a great iudgement not to be corrected by God Hos. 4. 14. Ber. in Cant. hom 42. Philo. lib. de confus linguarum Psa. 119. 71 Psal. 73. 4. Prou. 1. 32. Aug. Marcellino epist. 5 Impediment Wicked men repent not because they see the Godly subiect to the same outward euils which come vpon them The actions pasâ—â—ons of the 〈◊〉 and wicked different in one and the self same thing Cyprian ad Dâ—met Basil. hexam hom 10. Tertull. de resur carnis As also of their meruailous coniunction Bern. in die natal dom serm 2. This doctrine knowne but not considered How that harmony which was betweene the soule and body by creation is now turned into disagreement Foure estates of mans soule body vnited Comfort our estate in this life is neither our last nor best estate Comfort wee 〈…〉 which no deâ—th can extinguiâ—h The prison of the body being broken the soule that was prisoner escapes Phil. 1. 21. Gâ—n 3. Rom. 16. 20. Amb. de poem lib. 1. cap. 13. Wicked men dye eyther vncertaine of comfort Eph. 4. 18. Or most certaine of condemnation 1 Pet. 4. 19. Gen. 46. 4. O what a kindnes He is a holy balme wherby the body shall be preserued immortall Worldlings seeke immortalitie the wrong way Esay â—5 2. Life is first restored to the soule and then to the body Iohn 1. 29. Phil. 2. 21. Ber. de adueÌ„ dom ser. 4. What necessity is here that hee who raysed Christ shall also raise vs Ephe. 1. 29. 1 Cor. 15. 20 Tertul. de resur carnis Seeing our Lord was among the dead let vs not feare when God cals vs to lye down among them also Reâ— 7. What comfort Christs reâ—urrection giues vs against death Mat. 28. 5. 6 Resurrection is a work of God and not of man Rom. 4. 19. Examples of the ResurrectioÌ„ Gen. 5. 2 Kings 2. Acts. 9. 40. Acts. 3. Gods working both in our selues and the creature coâ—firmes the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. Aug. de verb. Apost ser. 34 A two-fold meditation to coÌ„firme the resurrection How of a litle drop God madâ— vs that which now wee are Iust. Mart. â—pol 2. ad Senat. Rom. How God hath made vs of nothing to be that which now wee are Ciril catech 4 It is easier to restore one that hath been then to make one that neuer was Ouâ— bodâ—es shall be raised with new qualities They shall bee honourable Members lame shal be restored Tertul. de resur carnis They shall be glorious Phil. 3. 2â— Mat. 17. They shall be spirituall Acts. 1. 11. Resurrection is a benefit when remission of sin goes before it and eternal life follows after it Exhortation What fruit wee should gather of the Apostles former doctrin Consolation exhortation both necessary for vs. Ber ser. 46. in Cant. Euery benefite of god is a new obligation bâ—â—ding vs to serue him Christ hath freed vs from all other seruice that we might be bound to his owne He is a seruant of seruants who is not the seruant of Christ Iesus We are bound to do God seruice by two great bands especially Creation 1 Cor. 9. 7. It is a shame that man craues that of his inferiours
which he giues not to his superiour Redemption here consider first that we are bought seruants That which cost Christ full deare men sels good cheape Secondly Sworâ— seruants Thirdly wee haue receiued wages before hand for seruice to be done Mal. 1. 10. But many receiue that from the true God which they return noâ— to him but sacrifice to Idols Hos. 2. 8. Eph. 5. 18. A double debt lying vpon vs the one the debt of sinne which â—e must seeke to be forgiuen the other the debt oâ— obedience which we must seeke to performe A three-fold comfort for the godly for the debt of obedience The Lord to whom we owe it giues vs wherewith to pay it 1 Chron. 29. 14. He accepts for a time part of payment The more wee pay of this debt the more we are able to pay Good works are debts therfore not merits Luke 17. 7. 8 9. 10. No penman of the holy Ghost did euer vse the word of merit The Fathers thought it smelled of presumption Mac hom 15 Ber in Psal. qui habitat Ser. 1. In Cant. ser. 61. Serm. 66. De quadruplici debito Our life should declare whose Seruants and debters we are Philem. v. 19. Iam. 2. 18. Mal. 1 6. An accusation of the carelesse Christians of our time Nehe. 13. 24. Micah 7. 3 Math. 7. 21. Is is a difficult thing so to nourish the body that we nourish not sinne in the body Rom. 13. 14. Not like that Cherubin a minister of iustice to hold Adâ—m out of paradise Eâ—e 18. 32. Both the word and deed of the Lord declares that he craues not the death of a sinner That the spirit of God vseth threatnings is an argument of our rebellious nature The word should be vsed as milk to some as salt to others But now men cannot abide the rebuke of Gods word 2 Tim. 4. 3. Amos. 5. 10. 1 King 22. 8 Micah 2. 7. Aug. ser. 1. Zach. 7. 11. Either we must slay sin or sin shall slay vs. Aug. de temp serm 29. Euery sin is to vs the forbiddeÌ„ tree Men seeke on it that fruit which they shall not finde and finde on it that fruit which they would not haue Great wisdome to discerne betweene the deceit of sin and fruit of sinne Sinfull lusts compared to the streame of Iordan And to the locusts with womans hair lions teeth Scorpions taile Basil in verb. Mos. attende tibi Cirill catech 2. Gal. 6. 8. This life is a thorow-way or middle passage eyther to heauen or hell Eccles. 11. 3. They who liue in sin are dead and yet a worse death abides them in hell The least degree of their punishment shall be a feareful famine of all worldly comforts Ioell 1. 12. Reu. 18. 14. Why that secoÌ„d death is called a wrath and a wrath to come The place of the damned shews the greatnesse of their iudgement Reu. 21. 8. Esa. 30. 33. Iude verse 6. Mark 9. 48. 1 Pet. 3. 19. Math. 5. 22. The vniuersalitie of it Nothing in man shall be without paine all Gods plagues shall concur to punish him The eternitie of it In the most regenerate there is some thing that needes to be mortified For out of the stony rocke springeth noysome weedes Cyrill That which God works in vs he calles it our worke Phil. 2. 12. Therefore vve should be humble and giue God the glory 1 Chro. 29. 14 Presumptuous opinion of Merit damned Aug. de verb. Apost serm 2 1 Cor. 15. 10 Aug. hom 14 Aug. de verb. Apost ser. 14. A tryall of our Mortification Death to sinne takes not life away but restores it Sanctification is a work of difficultie for it is a birth a death a circumcision c. The knife by which beastly lusts are slaine to be sacrificed Mac. hom I. Temporall life is not the recompense of righteousnesse and why 1. Cor. 15. 19 Gal. 2. 20. He proues the last part of his preceding argument The operation of the Spirit is eyther vniuersall extending to all his creatures Comfort The beginning progresse and perfection of our saluation is from him Heb. 12. 2. In that we can not walk without a guide we â—re warned that we are but babes Act. 8. 30. 31 It is good religion to turne Gods precepts into prayers Psal. 43. 3. Psal. 143. 10 We ought to follow our guide as Israell did the Lord in the wildernesse A three-fold operation of the spirit in the Sons of God Why in his first operation he is called a spirit of bondage to fear By the preaching of the Law he discouers sin and wrath due to it which causeth feare Mat. 3. 10. Hee is not here comparing the godly vnder the Law vvith the godly vnder the Gospell A seruile feare A filiall feare Psal. 130. 4. A Diabolicall feare Iames. 2. 19. From what sort of feare are we exempted In the godly feare prepares a place for the perfect loue of God and then departs it selfe Mat. 15. But in the wicked feare of wrath once begun encreases till it proceede to despâ—rate feare No prayer to God without the spirit of God How the godly sometime are transported in Prayer 2 King 2. Mat. 26. 38. The godly should cry together not one against an other Vnion of desires in prayer commended Iames. 5. 16. As many hands lift a burthen importable to one so The Parents of Prayer The wings whereby praier ascends Dan. 9. 22. 23. Efficacie of prayer euery petition returns with profit Gen. 18. Acts. 10. Mat. 17. Sathan an enimie to the Word and Prayer Acts. 16. 16 Zach. 3. 1. Gen. 15. In all the scripture no prayer to Abraham Moses c. nor to Cherubin nor Seraphin Psal. 6. 1. Psal. 4. 1. Reu. 19. 10. It is not in the court of heauen as in the courts of earthly kings Euery tongue and language is sanctified for prayer if we vnderstand it They are builders of Babell who speake to the people in a language they vnderstand not A comfort for weake Christians who are moued by their wants to doubt of this testimonie A necessary admonition so to mourn for that which we waÌ„t that wee giue thanks for that mesure of grace which we haue Rom. 7. 24. Ibid. ver 25. This testimonie of the spirit is not alway perceiued in a like measure of them who haue it Rom. 8. 35. CoÌ„fort against spirituall desertions Isai. 1. 9. The Sons of God cannot but liue because they are the heires of God Gods goodnes is shewed to all his creaturs but his inheritance is resâ—â—ued to his Sonnes Gen. 25. Mat. 5. 45. Psal. 119. 57 Lam. 3. 24. All the sons of God are his heyres and yet the inheritance is not diminished Aug. de verb dom in Euan. Ioan. ser. 64. They who wer born in the first age of the world shall not be perfected without vs. Heb. 11. 40. In earthly inheritances the father dyes or the sonne inherit but here the sonne must dye or else hee cannot inherit Psal. 102. 26 Psal. 17.
Famine is one of Gods ordinarie plagues and with it also the godly are tryed Leuit. 26. 19 Deu. 11. 14. Miserable are they whose gaine is to encrease Famine they are Caterpillers in the Land Basil. ser. 1. in Auar The lord who changed the Serpent into a flourishing rod hath changed cursed famine into a blessed crosse to his children Mat. 4. 3. Pro. 30. 8. How the Lord prouides in famine for his children Iohn 4. 32. Christians tryed also with Nakednesse The begged glory of worldlings is in their apparell Bern. in cant serm 41. Ber. ad Soph. Virg. epi. 113 Vnder pretence of hiding their nakednes they shew forth their Nakednesse Cypri trac 2. de habi virg Cyril catch 4 Nazian sent Heb. 11. 37. Act. 12. 21. Crosses should not be assumed by our selues but patiently borne when God layes them on False Prophets weares rough garments to deceiue so they did of old and so they doe stil. The Christian in euery place subiect to perils 2 Cor. 11. 26 Comfort for the Christian in all perils Esay 43. 2. The Christian subiect also to violent death Dan. 3. 25. That the christian is subiect to these crosses he proues by a testimonie of holy scripture Worshippers of God howsoeuer disioyned in time or place yet are of one communion Psal. 44. 22. A pleasant harmonie among the writers of holy Scripture Ezech. 1. 11 Luke 5. 7. Euery Ecclesiastique teacher is bound to confirme his doctrine by Scripture Acts. 17. 11. No booke betweene Malachie and Matthew to be receiued for Canonicall Scripture Mal. 3. 1. Three things obseruedin this testimonie The causes for which God sends affliction should bee marked Afflictions laid on for sin past are medicinall restoratiues Psal. 81. 12. Hos. 2. 6. Afflictions laid on to preuent sin to come are wholesome preseruatiues 2. Cor. 12. 7. But euery affliction is not laid on the godly for sinne Iohn 9. 3. 1 Tim. 1. 19 Two things required in those afflictiōs which are suffered for Gods sake 1 Pet. 4. 15. Cyprian de duplici mart That Gods Martirs may be knowne from Sathans Martyrs Aug. l. 1. con Parmen Epi. cap. 8. 9. It is common to al Christians to suffer with Christ not so to suffer for him Heb. 10. 34. How causes falsely pretended by the wicked takes not from the christian this comfort that he suffers for Gods sake Psal. 96. 4. Psal. 59. 3. In suffering we must distinguish betweene that which men that which our owne conscience laies to our charge Death cannot hurt the man of God Mat. 10. 28. Aug. de ciuit dei li. 13. c. 8. A godly man not troubled in his owne person is pertaker of Christs afflictions by sympathie Rom. 12. 15 Heb. 13. 3. Amos. 6. 6. All true christians are Martyrs in affectiō Cyprian de dup Martir How their ready will is accepted as a deed is declared in the example of Aquila Priscilla Rom. 16. 4. Persecuters in this last age are most miserable The whole time of our life is but a day of suffering Reu. 3. 10. Or an houre of tentation Mat. 26. 40. With what patience wee should endure in suffering referring the time of our deliuerance to the Lord. Mat. 2. 13. Worldings esteeme christians but vile persons and what comfort wee haue against their contempt Mat. 26. 15. 1 Cor. 4. 13. In what respects wickedment account the godly as sheepe How God also compares his children to sheepe but in farre contrary respects Cyprian de simp. prael The Christian compared to a rock in the sea In death christians are conquerours A christian is not a single man standing by himselfe but a man incorporate in Christ. A Christian may be assured of his saluation in this life contrary to the doctrine of papists This is proued from the nature of the holy spirit whom the Christian hath receiued 2. Cor. 13. 5. Rom. 8. 16. 2. Cor. 1. 22. Comfort for the godly whē they cannot finde this assurance Mark. ◠24. A good religion may haue doubting but it is an euill religion which leaues men in doubt Sess. 6. cant 15. Mat. 11. 29. Why Papistry cannot make a man sure of saluation It is not presumption but faith to shew what we haue receiued Aug. ser. 28. Bernard in Septuag Vanitie of worldly pleasures discouered The abundāce of them makes thē loath some Eccles. 2. 10. If they be continuall they become painfull Remembrance of death profitable to keepe vs vncorrupted with the pleasures of this life Comfort for the godly against death Deut. 34. 1. Reprobate Angels how they are God messengers and to what end 1 Sam. 16. 14 2. Cor. 12. 7. Two sorts of Sathans operation Eph. 6. 11. In Christ we are restored to a better estate thā that which Adam had in Paradise Iohn 17. 12. How names of power are giuen to reprobate Angels Iude. ver 6. Sathan bound with three chaines In our Christian warfare our greatest battell is the last Christians are sure of perseuerance Philip. 1. 6. Sathan hath two armes whereby he wrestles the one is presumption Mat. 4. 5. How Sathan tempts to presumption His other arme is desperation 2. Cor. 4. 9. No man is sure to continue in his estate but the Christian. Esa. 47. 7. Luke 12. 19. No worldling shall abide in the state wherin now hee stands Esay 22. 18.
hurt our soules Non sunt timenda spiritui quae fiunt in carne quae extra nos est quasi vestimentum let not our spirit feare those things which are done in the flesh which is as a garment without vs. Thus we see how no kinde of crosse can seperate vs from the loue of God Verse 36. As it is written for thy sake are we killed all the day long wee are counted as sheepe for the slaughter THe Nature of man doth greatly abhorre the crosse and therefore the Apostle here is the more aboundant in furnishing vs with comforts against it glorying in this that no crosse can seperate vs from Christ a comfort exceeding great indeed for seeing we know that the Lords loue towards vs in vnchangeable hauing his fauour which is better than life what other losse should wee regard or make mone for Now because hee hath made an enumeration of sundry sorts of crosses hee proues here by a testimonie of scripture that it is the lot of Gods children to be subiect vnto them for seeing they are not exempted from the greatest which is to be slaine by the sword why shall wee promise to our selues any immunitie from the smallest The testimonie is taken out of the 44. Psalme wherein the Church of God being heauily afflicted as some thinkes vnder Antiochus complayned to God of her heauie trouble that albeit they had not fallen away from the pure worship of his name nor lifted vp their hands to a strange God yet they were counted as sheepe for the slaughter and this testimonie the Apostle applyes to the estate of the Church in his time wherein the Apostle wil teach vs that howsoeuer the true worshippers of God liue in sundry times and ages yet they are of one communion maintayning all one cause therefore the Apostle vseth that which is spoken of the afflicted Church of the Iewes as competent to afflicted Christians As it is written Albeit the Apostles had their immediate calling from God and spake and wrote nothing of priuate motion but by diuine inspiration yet is it their custome to confirme their doctrine by testimonies of the Prophets This harmonie among the writers of holy Scripture is no small confirmation of our Faith that they who neuer saw one another in the face yet all together agrees to breath out one truth As the Cherubines stretch their wings one to another so the Prophets and Apostles reach their testimonies one to another and as the Mariners in Peters ship hauing a greater draught than they were able to haile in beckned to their companions to help them so doe the Apostles call on the Prophets and require their helpe for confirmation of the truth of God that the more may be conuerted by them And their fact stands for a rule to teach vs that whateuer calling men pretend they should confirme their doctrine by that which is written a necessary ground to be holden in these dayes wherein the name of the Church is abused to impugne the truth of the Church The Apostles after the example of their Maister confirmed their doctrine by scripture Saint Paul was content that the Beraeans should try his doctrine by the Scripture what pertnesse then is it that the doctors of the Romish Church challenge to themselues this singular exemption as not to be iudged by the word as though they themselues and not that which is written should be the warrant of their doctrine and all men were bound to beleeue them fide implicita Againe we are to marke here how that one place of holy scripture doth interpret and confirme another Moses layes a ground to the Prophets the Prophets expounds them and deliuers them clearer to the Apostles the Apostles builds vpon them a plaine and perfect doctrine for the edification of Christs misticall body The two Testaments are as the two lippes of the mouth of God by which hee hath breathed out to vs his minde concerning his worship and our saluation And it is to be marked that out of these bookes which the primitiue Church of old the reformed Church now hath esteemed Apochrypha neyther Iesus our Lord nor any of his Apostles haue brought out any testimonie for confirmation of doctrine and therefore those Bookes interiected betweene Malachie and Matthew are to be reiected as an vncouth breath Malachie endeth the old Testament with a promise of the comming of the Angell euen the new Eliah who should goe before the face of our Lord to prepare his way Iohn the Baptist and Matthew beginneth the New Testament with a narration of the accomplishment of that Prophecie but betweene these two the holy Ghost employed no pene-man of the holy Oracles For thy sake In the testimonie wee haue three things first the greatnesse of the affliction of a Christian when hee saith we are slaine subiect not onely to smaller crosses but to the greatest Secondly the continuance of their afflictions All the day long that is not in one age but in all ages of the world hath it beene our lot thirdly the cause of their suffering for thy sake It is necessary for our comfort that wee marke the fountaine and from whence affliction proceedes to the Godly for the ignorance thereof makes many to erre with the friends of Iob and iudge wrong of the godly as if they were stricken alway for their sinnes when indeed they are not wee are therefore to know that sometime affliction comes to the Godly for sinne past sometime for sinne to come sometime neyther for sinne past nor sinne to come but that the workes of God may be made manifest The first way afflictions to them whom the Lord loueth are medicinall restoratiues by which they are wakened to recouer their health by repentance for those sinnes through which they haue become spiritually diseased for howsoeuer the Lord giue loose reines to the children of wrath and deliuers them vp to their owne hearts desire yet will he hedge in with thrones the wayes of those whom he purposeth to saue and will waken them by some sharp rod or other when he feeth them sleeping in securitie so taught hee Miriam by Leprosâ—e to leaue her murmuring so wakened hee Ionas out of his sleepe by casting him into the sea he cured Zachary of infidelitie by striking him with dumbnesse hee diuerted Paul from his euill course by blindnes blessed is the man whom the Lord this way correcteth Sometime againe the Lord sends affliction as preseruatiues to his children to keepe them from sinne whereunto hee seeth of their weaknesse they are ready to fall if they be not preuented and so hee sent an Angell of Sathan to buffet Paul not for any sinne he had done but for a sinne that he might doe least he should haue beene exalted out of measure And sometime the Lord layeth on affliction neyther to correct sinnes past nor to preuent sinnes to come