he was more Godly and holy then his Fellows Heb. 1. 8 9. He was one that knew no sin that did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth but he always did those things that pleased his father And when the due season was come he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross as he received commandment from his father And because in obedience to his father he laid down his life and hath taken it up again therefore the father loveth him and so loveth him that he hath given all things into his hands Joh. 10. 17 18. with chap. 3. 35. And unto him the promises were made Originally and most fully now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made he saith not unto seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ Gal. 3. 16. And he is become the root and foundation of godliness for us 1 Tim. 3. 16. Without whose Abasement Death Resurrection and Exaltation there had been no forgiveness of sins for us nor could we have been made partakers of the favour of God nor would Repentance and Faith have availed us any thing Heb. 9. 22. 1 Cor. 15. 12 17 20 Nor could we have come unto God so as to have received mercy and salvation from him Joh. 14. 6. Act 4. 11 12. But now in Him who by the grace of God tasted death for every man and rose again all the promises of God are yea and in him Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. And if we be Christ's to wit in a special consideration then are we Abraham's seed and Hears according to promise Gal. 3. 16 26 29. And Heirs of the promises in being united by Faith unto him who is the Heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. 1 Cor. 3. 21 23. 1 Joh. 5. 11 12. The promises are not made with or absolutely assured unto any person in a personal Consideration but to such manner of persons as do exercise themselves unto Godliness and Righteousness Thus the everlasting Covenant which did contain exceeding great and precious promises was not made with Abraham as a man known by that name simply but it was made with him as he was a Truly Pious and upright man Thus it is said the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said unto him I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect or sincere and I will make my Covenant between me and thee c. Gen. 17. 1 2 7 8. And to the same purpose it is else-where said thou foundest his heart faithful before thee and madest a Covenant with him Neh. 9. 7 8. And this Covenant was thus made with him not for himself onely but for his spiritual Seed also and so it was made with him as a father of many Nations Gen. 17. 4 5 8. Rom. 4. 16 17. And so those that are sincere like unto him are Heirs of the same Covenant as to the choice things therein contained and assured Rom. 4. 16 17 24. As the Apostle saith know ye therefore that they which are of Faith the same are the Children of Abraham So then they which be of Faith are blessed with faithful Abraham Gal. 3. 7 9. with Rom. 4. 11 13 16. It is out of God's love to righteousness that God doth delight in and is well-pleased with them that heartily follow it and walk in it the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and therefore his countenance doth behold the upright Psal 11. 7. To him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward Righteousness tendeth to life Prov. 11. 17 18. In the way of righteousness is life and in the path way thereof there is no death ch 12. 26 28. Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way chap. 13. 6. and chap. 8. 20. 21. And this is the general and constant Current of the holy Scriptures both of the Prophets and Apostles that not such persons meerly but such manner of persons graciously qualified persons are the Heires of the promises of life and salvation and shall so abiding in due season inherit the blessings therein propounded and thereby assured Who shall Ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place he that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O God of Jacob. Selah Psal 15. and 24. 3. 6. When the Evangelical Prophet largely treats of the Everlasting Covenant and of the blessings thereof in Isa 54. He then in the close of that Chapter gives us to understand who are the Heirs of it and shall inherit the Blessings and Benefits of it saying This is the Heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord. And then by his servant the Prophet he makes this Proclamation and Invitation Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money no worth no worthiness Hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight it self in fatness Incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you even the sure mercies of David As if he should say if ye will indeed learn the way of my people as Jer 12. 16. and sincerely become my servants also then upon these terms you shall be heirs with them of the same Covenant and inherit the same blessing with them Isay 54. 17. and chap. 55. 1 2 3. Psal 84. 11 12. and 125. And to the same purpose our Lord and Saviour and his Holy Apostles have spoken to us in the Word of the Lord My Sheep saith our Lord Jesus hear my voice and I know them and they follow me And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of mine hand John 10. 27 30. and chap. 14. 21 23. Matth. 7. 24 27. Col. 1. 22 23. 2 Pet. 1. 3 4 8 10 11. 1 John 2. 24 28. Rev. 22. 12 14. The way of the Lord even sincere Holiness and Righteousness is strength to the upright Prov. 10. 29. And he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul Prov. 16. 17. But as for them that turn aside to their crooked paths the Lord will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity but peace shall be upon Israel even upon the Israel of God Psal 125. 5. with Gal. 6. 15. 16. For Persons therefore to rely on and bolster up themselves with the Promises while they walk ungodlily and their way is perverse before the Lord this is to turn the grace of our God into Lasciviousness and Wantonness as Jude 4. And this is that which is highly provoking unto the Holy Lord God Hence Moses gives this caution to the People of Israel when they
first use but shall now proceed on unto a second namely 2. Seeing God hath made that which is our Duty to be our great and only real Interest seeing he hath made Godliness our true and most excellent Gain and Advantage we may infer and learn from hence that it is his good Will and gracious Mind in Christ concerning us that we should all of us seriously and in good earnest exercise our selves unto true Piety That we should not onely or chiefly have a form of Godliness upon us but that we should entertain and obey the Power thereof and be all of us in sincerity Godly Persons Therefore hath he entail'd all profitable Prosperity on Godliness that we might never think of enjoying the former without our embracing the latter No good thing will He withold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84. 11. Hence he thus expresseth himself and evidenceth it to be his Cordial desire that we should apply our selves to the hearty Obedience of him O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their Children for ever Deut. 5. 28 29. And now Israel saith Móses what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul to keep the Commandments of the Lord and his Statutes which I command thee this day for thy good chap. 10. 12 13. It adds nothing really unto him if we be holy and good nor doth it take any thing from him if we be ungodly and prophane If thou sinnest what dost thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiplyed what doest thou unto him If thou be Righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand Job 36. 6. 8. No but he hires us to the Embracement and Practice of sincere Piety and Purity with the undoubted Advantage of it to our selves And therefore we may rationally and certainly conclude that God our Saviour will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledg of the Truth as 1 Tim. 2. 4. That he is not willing that any man should perish while it is called to day but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. Therefore he sets before us Life and Good and Death and Evill Blessing and Cursing not as if he was indifferent which of them we chuse but he doth Councel us and Cordially desire we should chuse Life and to that end that we love the Lord our God and obey his voice and cleave unto him for He is our Life and the length of our dayes Deut. 30. 10 15 19 20. And doubtless seeing it is his hearty will we should seriously exercise our selves unto the obedience of Faith he will not be wanting to enable us thereto by the asistance of his grace if we be not wanting to our selves for he giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not Jam. 1. 5. It is God that worketh in you saith the Apostle both to will and to do of his good Pleasure Phil 2. 12 15. If therefore we continue disobedient and ungodly and so perish in conclusion we shall have no just cause to blame the God o◠all Grace who hath done so great things for us and set so great encouragments before us to move and engage us to serve him acceptably But our Destruction will appear to be wholly of our selves and that we our selves have by observing lying vanities forsaken our own mercies and have been too too like prophane Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his Birth-right Heb. 12. 14 17. 3. Seeing Godliness is profitable unto all things and that our exercising our selves thereto is our most certain excellent and eternal advantage This then discovers and evidences unto us the great and pernicious mistake and folly of them that think and speak otherwise and so exercise not themselves thereto but walk in Ungodly Unrighteous and Intemperate ways and practises as if Impiety were the onely and mainly gainfull thing they could exercise themselves unto To this purpose Job speaks of some wicked ones who did greatly Flourish in this world in their unrighteous courses and who thought that because they did so therefore it would be a vain and unprofitable thing to serve and fear the Lord. They spend their days saith he in Wealth or Mirth and in a moment go down to the grave Therefore they say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledg of thy ways What is the Almighty that we should serve him And what profit should we have if we pray unto him Job 21. 14. 15. And to the same purpose Eliphaz speaks of them namely They say unto God depart from us And what can the Almighty do for them see how brutish they are in their thoughts or expressions of God while they give him the Title of the Almighty they yet say What can he do for them whereas they might rather and most truly say What cannot the Almighty do for them most strange That he should be Almighty and yet should have no Hands no power to provide for his servants Thus some wicked ones did Reason with such contradictious Talke But though they doubted of or denyed his Providence and Bounty they did partake thereof while they spake so Atheistically for it presently follows yet he filled their houses with good things Job 22 15. 17. 18. Yea such foolish and brutish ones there were not onely amongst them that were without the Church but of them also that were of the Church and of the most Reformed part thereof of Judah God's pleasant Plant. Hence it is said concerning some therein your words have been stout against me saith the Lord Yet ye say what have we spoken against thee ye have said it is vain to serve God And what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance And that we have walked Mournfully before the Lord of hosts But whence proceded this unreasonable and absurd talk of theirs Surely from hence Because wicked ones did grow Great and were Fat and Flourishing therefore they thought that their Impiety was their great Interest and Advantage for so much is signified in the following words of these simple and unwise Persons to wit And now we call the Proud happy yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered Mal. 3. 13 14 15. Nay that Good Man was envious at the foolish when he saw the prosperity of the wicked That there were no Bands in their death but their strength was firm That they were not in trouble as other men neither were they plagued like other men That their eyes stand out with fatness and they have more than heart could wish Behold saith he these are the ungodly they prosper in the World they increase in Riches And while he looked upon their security and prosperity according to outward appearance he was to ready and
man his whole duty excellency and interest that it may be well with us in the life to come And it is worthy our serious consideration and observation that when the Apostle Paul referrs to that forementioned prophecy of Isaiah in which he fore-declares and prophesies of the future judgment in which every knee shall bow to our Lord Jesus and every Tongue shall confess him Lord to the glory of God the Father He then gives such like exhortation as is before-mentioned to the believers saying Wherefore my beloved work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of good pleasure Do all things without murmuring and disputings that ye may be blameless and harmless That I may rejoyce in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain neither laboured in vain Isa 45. 22 23. 24 25. with Phil. 2. 9 10 12 13 14 16. And as this Holy Apostle gives such like counsel to the Believers unto whom he writes so he also set before them an Imitable example by his own practice that they might be followers of him I have hope toward God saith he that there shall be a Resurrection of the dead both of the just and of the unjust And herein do I exercise my self to have alwayes a conscience void of offence toward God and toward Men Act. 24. 14 16. And again he saith of himself and of other hearty Believers We labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him For we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may Receive the things done in his own Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade Men c. 2 Cor. 5. 9 10 11. Eccl. 12. 13 14. Luke 21. 34 35 36. But we shall enlarge no further unto this particular but proceed on to what remains to wit 2. We come in the next place to enquire and consider what is meant by and contained in The Life to come which is mentioned in the Text now we may premise this before we come to speak more distinctly hereto That though in the Evidences before-mentioned we have spoken of the future state indistinctly and in a general consideration Yet here in the place we are discoursing of and from by the Life to come we are to understand that blessed and happy Estate they shall enter into hereafter who do now exercise themselves to sincere Godliness and unfeigned Obedience And so much is plainly intimated to us in the words themselves to wit Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the Life that is to come Without all peradventure that which is promised and which is promised unto Godliness and unto them that heartily exercise themselves thereto must needs be as is there also said Profitable and highly desirable and valuable As also we may premise this that I shall not here distinctly discourse of that Intermediate State which the Spirits of Righteous Men made perfect are in between the Death and Resurrection of the Body but of that which they shall enter upon and perfectly enjoy in and after the Resurrection of their proper Bodies Now having very briefly premised these two things we may say in general that by the Life to come here mentioned we are to understand a full and compleat deliverance from all that is evil and afflictive and a perfect glorious and everlasting enjoyment and fruition of all that Good and Bliss which they shall be made capable of And as on the one hand Death comprehends all that Misery Curse and wosul Punishment which is the due and deserved reward of Mens Trangression and Disobedience Thus the Lord at the beginning threatned our first Parent Adam saying In the day thou eatest of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Thou shalt dye the Death Thou shalt surely dye Gen. 2. 17. and so the Apostle saith The wages of Sin is Death to wit all Misery and Affliction Rom. 6. 23. and that eternal and dismal Torment and Destruction wherewith they shall be punished and tormented who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour is called The second Death Rev. 2 11. and chap. 20. 6. So on the other Hand all that Glory and Happiness which is assured unto and shall hereafter be enjoyed by them that exercise themselves unto and perservere in well doing is called Life and Eternal Life and here The Life that is to come So also it is said This is the Record that God hath given unto us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath Life These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal Life 1 Joh. 5. 11 12 13. And concerning both the punishment of sin and the gracious Reward of Piety the Apostle saith The wages of Sin is Death but the Gift of God is eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord As in like expressions also Moses had spoken in former times calling the punishment of Sin and Disobedience Death as that comprehends all Cursing and Misery and the reward of Righteousness and Obedience Life As that encludes and containes as we have said all Blessing and Happiness whatsoever of which they shall be made capable Rom. 6. 23. with Deut. 30 15 16 19 20. Ezek. 33. 11. And so we may say of all who continue to exercise themselves to true Piety 1. That though they must needs all of them dye as well as other men yet they shall in due season be Raised again to the Resurrection of Life John 5. 29. Luk. 14. 14. They that are Christ's in a special consideration shall be quickned at his coming John 11. 25. 1 Cor. 6. 14. and chap. 15. 23. Our Lord Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life and He hath the Keys of the Grave and of Death Rev. 1. 18. And therewith he will in the proper season open the Gates of Death and the Doors of the Grave and will bring them forth that sleep in him to the compleat enjoyment of that Glory and Happiness which he hath by his precious Blood obtained for them and and Promised to them and will then give unto them Spiritual Powerful and Immortal Bodies so as then they Can dye no more for they are equal unto the Angels and are the Children of God being the Children of the Resurrection Luk. 20. 35 36. For this Corruptible saith the Apostle Paul must put on Incorruption and this mortall must put on Immortality c. 1 Cor. 15. 53 55 58. Then their Body which is now Vile shall be fashioned into the Likeness of the Glorious Body of Christ Phil. 3. 20 21. 2. Eternal Life by our blessed Saviour is opposed unto and set against Condemnation Joh. 5. 24. and chap. 3. 15 16. with ver 18. and so it