Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	law_n	sin_n	sin_v	8,157	5	9.6294	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77498	The drinking of the bitter cup: or, The hardest lesson in Christ's school, learned and taught by himself, passive obedience. Wherein, besides divers doctrinall truths of great importance, many practicall directions are held forth, for the teaching of Christians how to submit to their heavenly father in suffering his will, both in life and death, patiently, obediently, willingly. / As it was lately presented to the church of God at Great Yarmouth, by John Brinsley, minister of the Gospel there.	Brinsley, John, 1600-1665.	1660 (1660)	Wing B4713; Thomason E1838_1; ESTC R210133	201,893	311

is free from his Master so Job describes the state of the dead Job 3.17 18 19. Thus doth God our heavenly Father make use of this as his Handkerchief to wipe away all tears from the eyes of his Children as we have it Rev. 7. last After death there shall be to them no more death nor crying neither shall there be any more pain as that other Text hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ae chylus Rev. 21.4 Death lets out the Christian as it doth all men from the sense and fear of all temporall Evils 2. Yea it freeth him from what is far worse from Spiritual Evils Spirituall giving a Quietus est as to the Body so to the Soul Freeing him 1. From Sin He that is dead is freed from sin Rom. From sin 6.7 So it is indeed with a mortified soul a regenerate person that is spiritually dead dead to sin which the Apostle there chiefly aymeth at he is freed from it viz. from the guilt and power of it But this is but a partiall freedome which is compleated and perfected in and by naturall death by which the Believer obtaineth a perfect freedome Being hereby so freed from sin as in this life he cannot be Freed from the committing of it From the inbeing of it From the beholding of it From the committing of it 1. From the committing of it which while he is here he is not cannot be However as the Apostle hath it in the verse there foregoing Rom. 6.6 the old man being crucified with Christ the Body of sin is so far destroyed that henceforth the regenerate person doth not serve sin he having thus suffered in the flesh ceaseth from sin as St. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 4.1 Corruption being in measure mortified he doth not now sin as before he did so as to make a custome and practise of it yet through weaknesse he doth commit some acts of sin and that daily There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccl. 7.20 But Death giveth the Believer a perfect discharge so as thenceforth he sinneth no more He that hath entred into his rest saith the Apostle he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his Heb. 4.10 God upon the seventh day kept a Sabbath resting from his works of Creation such as he had wrought upon the six dayes before So doth the Believer in death he entereth into his rest that Eternall Sabbatisme where he ceaseth from his own works such works as he here wrought in the flesh specially from the works of the flesh sinfull works Opera nostra vocantur labores curas vocationis nostrae tùm opera carnis noturae vitiosae peccatae quae vere sunt nestra quia â nobis fiunt nec probantur Dec c. Pareus Com. ad loc which as Pareus there noteth upon it may most properly be called a mans own works inasmuch as he doth them of himself without any approbation or allowance from God From these works the Godly man after death wholly ceaseth Which the wicked man doth not who being in Hell ceaseth not to blaspheme God Like as the followers of the Beast are said to doe upon the powring out of the Vials They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains c. Rev. 16.9 11 21. so doe the damned in hell because of their torments they blaspheme God and commit other sins such as that their state is capable of Which whether they be formally and properly sins in them not lying under a Law as here they did I shall not dispute but Materially I am sure they are being the same sinfull acts which here they committed But from such acts shall the believer now cease so as never more to commit any sin Noe nor yet to be in any possibility of committing it Such a state doth death bring Gods Children to a state in this respect far more happy then that wherein our first Parents were in Paradise There they were free from sin but not from a possibility of sinning which the event shewed But Gods Saints by death are freed from this being hereby put into an impeccable state and so confirmed as that they shall never more have any will or inclination to that which is evill Thus are they freed from the acting the Committing of sin 2. From the inbeing of it And so Secondly from the Inbeing the Indwelling of it So it is that the best of Saints while they are here they have sin dwelling in them It is no more I that do it saith Paul but sin that dwelleth in me Rom. 7.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby meaning Innolita illa pridem peccandi consuetndo Grot. Annot. ad loc not that Habit and Custome of sin which is in an unregenerate person as Grotius expounds it but that Naturall Corruption which still cleaveth to the Regenerate This he found still dwelling in him And so it will in the most sanctyfied soul upon earth And there dwelling it will also be warring seeming sometimes to Conquer So also that Apostle there out of his own experience complaines v. 23. I find another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Such a conflict there is and will be in the best of Saints Corruption striving against Grace Yea and sometimes prevailing against it Even as a strong tide carrieth the ship against the stroke of the Rowers Which cannot but create a great deal of trouble to the Soul So it did to that blessed Apostle who upon this account looked upon himself as a miserable man crying out in the next verse verse 24. O wretched man that I am who shal deliver me from the Body of this death That Body of sin as he elswere calleth it Rom. 6.6 which he found living in him was to him a Body of death making his life miserable to him So would it be to a Child-bearing woman to have the Child lye dead within her rotting and putrifying in her womb whereof notwithstanding all indeavours used she cannot be delivered Or to a living man to be tyed to a dead karkesse Even so is it with a regenerate person whilest he is here the living and the dead are tyed together Grace and Gorruption And so tyed together as nothing can part them but death Like as it was with that fretting leprosie of which we read Lev. 14.45 which having eaten into the Wals there was no cure for it but by pulling down the house Even so is it with this Leprosie of sin having seized upon the soul and eaten into all the powers and faculties of Soul and Body there is no way to be freed from it but by death And this will do it The house being pulled down the Leprosie ceased And so doth sin in death The dissolution of the Body is the Absolution of the Soul freeing it from this

Curse which in it own nature it is being the issue and wages of sin and the very Gate of Hell But look we upon it in the glasse of the Gospell that we shall find representing it unto the believer under another shape as being much changed and alterd by Christ Newe names put upon Death Whereupon it puts new names upon it Calling it sometimes a sleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Joh. 11.11 Them which sleep in Jesus 1 Thes 4.14 Such is the grave to the true believer Not a Prison but a Bed sor the Body to rest in for a time They shall rest in their beds Isai 57.2 Elsewhere we find it called a Departure Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace saith old Simeon Luke Vid-Leigh Critica Sa●ra 2.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dimitti● thou loosest dismiss●st me lettest me out of Prison So the Syriack there renders the word Now thou openest the Prison And so we find it properly used Act 5.40 Where it is said that the Councell let the Apostles goe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. out of prison Such is this life to the believer noe better then a Prison death is his dismission A like word is that which we find used by the Apostle Phil. 1.23 Where expressing his willingnesse to dye I desire saith he to be dissolved or to depart as the new translation hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to return home So the same word is used in his proper sense Luk 12.36 Where servants are said to wait for their Lord till he return to his home 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such is this World to gods people a strange Country where they live as strangers and pilgrims being from home Ad remigrationem Beza Now death is to them a Remigratio as Beza there renders the word a removing a returning to their own Country their home The Soul leaving the Body where it lodged for a time returns to God that gave it Eccles 12.7 Elsewhere the same Apostle calls it the dissolving of a Tabernacle If our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved 2 Cor. 5.1 Not destroyed So is a house when it is pulled down the materials of it being so broken as they can never be put together again But not so a Tabernacle or Tent where the parts are only taken asunder for a time but afterwards put together and set up in another place Such is death only a dissolution of the parts whereof man is composed a severing of the soul and Body for a time which shall afterwards be reunited And so St Peter making use of the same Allusion he calleth it a putting off or laying down of a Tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 depositio tabernaculi mei as the vulgar Latine renders it properly The laying down of my Tabernacle is at hand Such is the Body to the Soul like a Tent to him that carrieth it about with him a burden which being layed down he is eased And so is the Soul by the deposition the laying down of the Body in death Which in the next verse that Apostle there sets forth under another name calling it his Exodus after my decease v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Exodus A word with the sound whereof you have been well acquainted it being the Title given to the second book of Moses which is so called from the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt which is there fully described Such an Exodus is death to the believer a Translation of him from an Egypt an house of bondage into the Celestial Canaan the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Thus hath death now new names put upon it The Gospell representing it after another manner with another face then the Law holdeth it forth And well may it have new names The nature of death changed by Christ when as the Nature of it is so changed and altered as by Christ it is Who hath taken away the maliguity of it that which was hurtfull in it Having pulled the sting out of this Serpent O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory so the Apostle triumpheth over this conquered Enemy 1 Cor. 15.55 Bot the sting and strength of it are now gone The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ so the Apostle there goeth on This hath Christ done for all that are in him having made satisfaction for sin and fulfilled the Law So as now though death may threaten as the Serpent having lost the sting may hiss yet it cannot hurt And why then should we fear a conquered enemy Which is not only disarmed but lyeth as it were dead before us l●ke that Philistine when his head was off In Christi morte mors obiit In Christs death Death died Being thereby abolished as the Apostle hath it 2 Tim. 1.10 Who hath abolished death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made it of none effect So is naturall death the fear and sting of it being taken away it is now as a shadow without a substance Thus is Death now qualified by Christ as to all true Believers Which being seriously considered will be of speciall use to free them from the inordinate fear of it and make them not unwilling to submit to God in the suffering of it To passe on In the Fourth place thus looking upon death Look beyond Death look beyond it Even as the timorous Passenger in ferrying over a River where the water is rough by fixing his eye on the bank of the other side settles his brain which otherwise might be troubled thus let the timorous Christian whose nature inclines him to fear death look beyond it look to the issues the fruits and consequents of it Here taking notice of two things The Evils which it freeth the Believer from and the Good which it bringeth him to Considering 1 1. The Evils which it freeth him from Which are of two sorts The Evils which it freeth the Believer from Temporall and Spirituall 1. Temporall which I have touched upon already Such are bodily Infirmities sicknesses Temporall some of them very dolorous and painfull and such are losses and Crosses in Estate with Reproaches and Ignominies and many Vexations and Disquietments with wearisome labours and Imployments All these is the life of a Christian here infested with this world being to him as I said a troublesome Sea But Death is the Havens mouth which letteth him into a quiet Harbour where he is at rest from all these Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord c. that they may rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest There the Prisone●s rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor The small and great are there and there the servant

known to him before time And so was this work the work of Redemption wrought by the sufferings of Christ it was foreseen foreknown by God from Eternity This none will question 2. Foreseeing of this before it was done he also permitted it to be done Foreseeing whatever should be done to his Son Christ by Satan and his Instruments he gave way to it permit●ing Satan to enter into Judas and Judas to betray his Master and the Officers to apprehend him and carry him away and Pilate and the rest to sit in judgement and passe sentence upon him and to execute that sentence All which he could have hindered if he had pleased Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more then twelve Legions of Angels saith our Saviour to Peter Math. 26.53 God the Father wanted no power to have hindered all that was done to his Son but he permitted it Thus far Bellarmine and the whole Church of Rome will go along with us But we must not stay here The phrase in the Text imports more Gods giving this Cup to his Son imports more then a bare provision or permission And therefore here leaving them passe we on 3. In the third place God as he foresaw and permitted this so he willed it He willed it Bradward contrà Pelagianos lib. 1. cap. 33. So he doth whatever he permits So Bradwardine rightly determins it Respectu cujuscunque est Dei permissio est ejus volitio actualis Whatever God permits to be done he also actually willeth that it should be done And so he did the Death and Passion of his Son So much we may learn from those words of our Saviour Math. 26.39 where praying that if it were possible this Cup might passe from him he subjoyns Neverthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt God did not only permit his Son to dye but he willed his death Upon which account it is that the Prophet Isai there saith It pleased the Lord to bruise him Isa 53.10 Dominus volu●t It was his will his pleasure that he should suffer what he did having in his secret Counsell decreed and determined it from eternity For this expresse is that known Text Idem est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et 1 Pet. 1 2. nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his libris Decretum soepe significat Grot. Anno● in loc Act. 2.23 which informs us that Christ was delivered by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God That is by his decree for so are we to understand the word knowledge there not barely of a simple prescience a foresight but of a determinate and absolute decree So we finde the word elsewhere used as 1 Pet. 1 2. where Believers are said to be elect according to the foreknowledge of God that is according to his Decree And so was Christ delivered according to the foreknowledge the determinate Counsel of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in his eternal Counsell and Purpose had decreed that his Son should suffer and dye Upon which account among some other he is said to be the Lamb slayn from the foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 He was so in Gods Decree who had determined that he should dye The Circumstances of Christs death all determined by his Father And determining the thing he determined also all the circumstances concerning it As what kinde of death he should dye even that accursed death upon the Crosse So much our Saviour intimated to Nicodemus Joh. 3.14 where he tells him that As Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wildernesse even so must the Son of man be lifted up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oportet exaltari must be lifted up so Patris decreto as Grotius there rightly according to the Decree of God the Father lifted upon the tree of the Crosse And the like to the Jewes cap. 12. of the same Gospel vers 32. where speaking in the same language he tells them that If he were lift up from the earth he would draw all men unto him This he said saith the next verse signifying what death he should die viz. the death of the Crosse And so also the Time when he should dye which till it was come his enemies could not lay hands on him As yet no man layed hands on him saith that Text Joh. 8.20 for his hour was not yet come the time appointed by his Father for him to suffer in And as the time so the place So much he declared to his Disciples Math. 16 21. where he tells them that he must goe to Jerusalem Neque enim hic aut de praefinito Dei consilio aut de utilitate rei agitur sed res futura nudè praedicitur Grot. Annot. in loc and suffer many things of the Elders and be killed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where I know not any just ground why Grotius should refuse to expound the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he did in that former Text Oportet eum ire He must go thither It was not a thing left to his own liberty or choice but being determined by his Father it was now necessary necessitate decreti divini in regard of Gods Decree which was immutable as Pareus expounds it Haecerat aetrrni Patris voluntas immutabilis Pareus Com. in loc And the like we may say for the Persons who should be Actors in this Tragedy and what part every of them should act what they should do Never a circumstance but was predetermined by God So that one Text sets it forth most fully Act. 4.27 28. Of a truth saith Peter against thine holy Childe Jesus whom thou hast anoynted both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to doe whatsoever thy hand and thy Counsell had determined before to be done Thus did God the Father as I said appoint and order all the severall Ingredients every grain that was to be put into this Cup decreeing and determining whatever his Son was to suffer 4. He revealed his will concerning it And fourthly having thus in his secret Counsell decreed this his suffering he also revealed it making known his will concerning his Son that he should suffer and die This he had done by Types and Figures As that of Abrahams offering his Son his only Son in whom all the Nations of the earth should be blessed of which I spake before So also in and by all those bloody Sacrifices under the Law all which were shadowes of what was to come representing the death of Jesus Christ who was to be offered up a true Propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of the World But more clearly by Prophesies divers of which we meet with in the Old Testament Among which that of the Prophet Isai is most clear Isa 53. where he describeth the Death and Passion of Christ rather like an Evangelist then a Prophet as if he had been a Spectator of it And so other of the

off from it For this a threefold Reason may be assigned Answ This he did upon a threefold ground 1. Reas 1 The first and principal whereof is that which we meet with in the Text. His obedience to his Father His Father had given this Cup to him to drink and therefore he will drink it The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it God his Father had decreed willed that he should suffer and dye and this his will he had made known unto him And therefore in obedience to his command he thus willingly yieldeth hereunto I lay down my life of my self saith he but wherefore Why This Commandement I have received from my Father so himself there giveth the Reason of it Joh. 10.18 Even as Isaac herein a type of him in obedience to his Father yields himself to be bound and layed upon the Wood to be sacrificed Gen. 22. which he did willingly without the least reluctancy or resistance that we read of So did the Lord Jesus in obedience to his Father he willingly yielded up himself to the death He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.8 Such an absolute and universal complyance there was betwixt Christ and his Father What his Father willed that he willed So himself declares it Joh. 5.30 I seek not mine own will but the will of him that sent me And again in the Chapter following v. 38. I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me Thus did he as God perfectly comply with the will of his Father Being one God with him there was but one will betwixt them What the Father willed the Son willed And as Man he was in every thing subordinate to him Not doing his own will I seek not myne own will As Man if it had been consistent with the will of God his Father he could have wished that this Cup might have passed from him which he doth Matth. 26.39 Father if it be possible let this Cup passe from me There was the will of his humane i●firmity Nature being desirous to preserve it self which it might doe without sin But this will he submits and resolves into the will of his Father Neverthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt so he there limits his desire And again vers 42. O my Father if this Cup may not passe from me except I drink it thy will be done Thus was there a perfect conformity of his will as God and subordination as Man to the will of his Father And from hence flowed this willing submission of his in drinking of this Cup. This he did in obedience to his Father Which I shall God willing make some Application of hereafter for the present passing it by 2. Reas 2 As herein he had an eye to his Father willing this so also to his Elect people needing it His good wil to his Elect people Their redemption their salvation depended upon it As for what he had already done in his Active Obedience in fulfilling the Law this alone could have been no wayes available unto them The Justice of God required further satisfaction even the suffering of death This was that which the Law had threatned In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye saith the Lord to Adam Gen. 2.17 thou shalt die the death be subject and bound over unto death not only temporall but eternall And under this sentence do all the Sons of Adam by nature lye being bound over unto death not only in their Bodies but in their Souls bound over unto eternall death Now this Law must be satisfied before the Elect of God could be redeemed And how should this be without shedding of blood Without shedding of blood there is no Remission Heb. 9.22 And upon this account again it was that our blessed Saviour was so willing to drink this Cup to subject himself to this accursed death not only to a naturall but to that which was equivalent to an eternall death to suffer the wrath of God due unto the sins of the World that so he might free his Elect people from that Curse Which he did out of an unspeakable love to them This it was that induced God the Father to give this Gup to his Son God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. Joh. 3.16 And this it was which also induced him so willingly to drink it in this way to give himself for them Who loved me and gave himself for me saith Paul Gal. 2.20 Christ hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God Eph. 5.2 Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it v. 25. This it was which next to the will of God his Father put him forward upon this service with such resolution and willingnesse even that ardent affection which he bare to his Elect people This will love doe The power of intense Love It beareth all things as the Apostle saith of it 1 Cor. 13.7 Where it is intense it will make a heavy burden light Jacob loving Rachel he served a Seven-years Apprentiship for her And saith the Text they seemed to him but a few dayes for the love he had to her Gen. 29.20 And thus would men serve their God did they but love him as they ought though it were for many years their service would not be tedious unto them So was it here with our blessed Saviour Loving his Elect people with such an intense affection as he did he thinks nothing too much that either he could doe or suffer for them Applic. Where before we passe any further Applic. This Love of Christ to be admited make we a stand a little suffering our thoughts to be taken up with an holy Contemplation and high admiration of this matchlesse love which our blessed Saviour doth herein expresse in shewing himself so willing to drink this Cup. A Bitter Cup So he had found it already Yet behold he not only submits to the drinking of it but will not indure that it should be taken from his mouth till he had drunk it off The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it As if he had thirsted after it no lesse then a thirsty man doth after a Cup of drink to quench his thirst withall Thus was he carryed on to this his Passion with an earnest desire Even as he was to the drinking of that mystical Cup concerning which he tells his Disciples Luk. 22.15 With desire I have desired that is Earnestly desired to eat this Passeover with you before I suffer meaning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper so was he to the drinking of this metaphoricall Cup whereof that was a forerunner and a sign his Death and Passion this was a thing which he was carryed to with the like earnest desire This is that which he tells his Disciples Luk. 12.50 I have a

Apostle himself who tells his Corinthians 2 Cor. 1.8 that by the trouble which hapned to him in Asia he was pressed out of measure beyond strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so falleth it out sometimes with other of the Saints There is a great disproportion betwixt their burden and their strength the one great the other small Now how shall a Christian be able to bear up in such a case so to fortifie and strengthen his spirit as that he may not faint in the day of Adversity A. A great and difficult work I confesse A. Some soveraign Cordials prescribed yet through the help of Grace attainable To help you therein let me prescribe unto you some Soveraign Cordials some spiritual Consolations which may be and being taken into the soul will be very usefull for this purpose for the supporting and bearing up the spirit under whatever affliction this poor life of ours upon earth is subject to These Consolations are many as also our Afflictions are I shall single out some of the choisest Which I shall desire you carefully to lay up Happily at the present you may have no great need of them but how soon you may you know not And therefore lay them up in the Closet of your hearts They are not like the Apothecaries Drugs some of which being long kept lose their vertue The day may come when some one of them may requite all your care and pains In the First place then look at Afflictions themselves Direct 1 Lo●k at Afflictions themselves wherein consider The Israelites in the Wildernesse were cured of the stinging of the Serpents by looking upon the Serpent And so may a Christian by looking upon Afflictions strengthen his heart against them The Hony of the Bee is a medicine for the Sting Afflictions though never so bitter yet will afford somewhat that may serve to allay that bitternesse In them cast we an eye upon 4 or 5 particulars which may be usefull this way The Quality Quantity Continuance Commonnesse Issue of them 1. Consid 1 The Quality of them Here we shall finde that in themselves they are a Curse The Quality of them as qualified by Christ Such are all Afflictions all fruits and consequents of sin and punishments of it every one being an Appendix to that first Curse The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death surely die Gen. 2.17 that is be subject to manifold evils as in soul so in body tending to death to the destruction of both But by through Christ their nature is now altered the Curse is taken away That was one and the chief of those Ingredients which was put into this Cup which was given to Christ to drink and which he did drink upon the Crosse He being there made subject to that accursed death that he might free us from the Curse of death and of all its retinue Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 So that what the Apostle saith of Death it self 1 Cor. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting We may say the same of whatever afflictions and crosses can befall the children of God upon earth their Sting is gone Surely the bitternesse of death is past saith Agag having as he thought armed himself against the fear of it which is the greatest part of Deaths bitternesse 1 Sam. 15.32 And the like may all true Believers say concerning all their Afflictions and sufferings The bitternesse of them is past as to them the Curse being taken away from them by Christ which is indeed the chief part of their bitternesse Even as Moses altered the quality of those waters of Marah took away the bitternesse of them by casting into them that Tree which the Lord had shewed him so hath Christ taken away the bitternesse of all the waters of Affliction by the Tree of his Crosse to which he was designed by his Father The bitternesse of Afflictions as I said was the Curse going along with them they being in themselves all tokens of wrath But now that bitternesse that Curse is taken away So as to true Believers they are no longer tokens of wrath but rather Love-tokens Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth Prov. 3.12 chasteneth Heb. 12.6 Yea Pledges of Adoption So it there followeth Heb. 12.6 7. He scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastenings God dealeth with you as with Sons Not to know what Chastisements mean it is no good sign If ye be without Chastisement whereof all all Gods children are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons so it there followeth v. 8. For God to exercise his Children with afflictions it is a sign that he owns them for his Children and a demonstration of his fatherly love to them and care of them Thus do these Cups which Gods people drink of they come from the hand of a Father not of a Judge being to them not satisfactory but castigatory punishments Not properly punishments but Chastisements Not tokens of wrath but Love-tokens A usefull and comfortable meditation for the soul of a Believer to feed upon in the midst of whatever distresse What is it that maketh these Cups so bitter unto the soul Why when it looketh upon them as they are in themselves as Cups of divine wrath and fury Now no wonder if it shake and tremble at the drinking of them So long as a man apprehends these Arrowes which he feeleth to stick fast in him to be poysoned Arrowes shot at him by the hand of a revenging God now no wonder if the soul have no peace no quiet But look upon them as they are changed and altered by Christ having the Curse taken away and as they are tokens and pledges of Adoption which being sanctified they certainly are the soul being perswaded of this this will be as a soveraign Cordial to it to keep it from fainting Q. Q. Yea but you will say how shall a man know this How Chastisements may be known from Punishments that they are so to him that they are only Chastisements and not Punishments and that they are tokens of love and pledges of Adoption When as they are tokens of wrath to some how shall I know that they are not so to me A. A. To this I have in part hinted an Answere already Take it a little more fully yet briefly 1. How do you drink this Cup how doe ye suffer these afflictions Doe you quietly patiently By the manner of suffering them contentedly submit to the hand of God in them If so now hear what the Apostle saith to you in that Text even now cited Heb. 12.7 If ye indure chastning God dealeth with you as with Sons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not if you suffer afflictions for so do the worst of men But if ye endure chastening receive Afflictions from the hands of God as Chastisements kissing the Rod humbling your selves under the hand of God as dutifull Children under

crosses which he met with And the like more or less must every one make account to meet with upon earth even a succession of troubles like waves of the Sea where depth calleth unto deep one Crosse following upon the neck of another So as the more daies the more sorrows All which serve to wean the heart from this world as the infant is from the brest by laying bitter things upon it 2. Divine But I shall not any longer insist upon these or any other Arguments of the like nature The Resolution of a Christian must be built upon better grounds then these If God shall please to open the eyes of a naturall man to see death as it is it is not any or all of these or whatever other Arguments Reason can suggest that will bear up the soul against the terrors of it They must be Cordials of a higher extraction that will strengthen the heart in this last conflict divine Considerations such as the word holdeth forth Of these take a few among many 1. In the First place Look upon God who hath appointed and determined Let our eye be upon God our Father whose Cup this is So was our Saviours here The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it And so must theirs who would drink this Cup as he did submit unto the stroke of death patiently and willingly they must see God in the ordering and disposing of it looking upon it as his appointment Which it is he having 1. Appointed that men shall die It is appointed to men once to die Heb. 9.27 Appointed viz. That men shall dye by God who as he is the Lord of life so he is the appointer of death Having passed a generall law for it Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. Which Law also he executeth upon particular persons bringing them to death I know that thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living Job 30 23. So it is however secondary Causes concur in bringing men to their Graves yet God himself hath the principall stroke in it Death being his Messenger sent by him He hath appointed that men shall dye Which taking notice of look we upon it as our duty to submit hereunto when he calleth us to it 2. As he hath appointed that men shall dye so when they shall dye The time when Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth viz. how long he shall-live Job 7.1 His dayes are determined the number of his Moneths are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot passe Job 14.5 So certain are Gods decrees concerning the time of mans life that he cannot go beyond the term limited the Year the Moneth the Day the Hour set down Father the hour is come saith our Saviour speaking of the time appointed for his suffering of death Joh. 17.1 3. As the time so the place As the time when so the place where The place where that is also determined by God Goe up into Mount Nebo and die there saith the Lord to Moses Deut. 32.50 Our Saviour must goe up to Jerusalem and there suffer many things and be killed so he tells his Disciples Matth. 16.21 4. And appointing the time and place he also appointeth the manner The manner how how men shall dye what kinde of death whether naturall or violent So it was determined concerning our Saviour that he should die upon the Crosse be crucified which he acquaints his Disciples with Math. 20.19 And so concerning Peter to whom our Saviour foretells by what death he should glorifie God Joh. 21.19 And so is it determined concerning every of the sons of men as when and where so how they shall dye None of these are left to Chance and Fortune Time place manner all appointed by God Which being seriously considered and believed it will be of great use to bring the heart to a quiet and willing submission to the will of God in suffering what he hath so appointed Thus look at God In the Second place look we upon Jesus Christ Look upon Jesus the Captain of our Salvation as the Apostle calleth him Heb. 2.10 Where behold we him 1. Drinking of this Cup before us Suffering death And shall not we then pledge him Shall the Captain goe before and shall not the Souldiers follow after Malus miles qui Imperatorem gemens sequitur He is but an ill Souldier that weeps when he is to march after his Generall Shall our Joshua go before us over this Jordan and shall not we go after him It was a good Resolution in that man that Scribe had he held to it who said to our Saviour Master I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest Mat. 8.19 Such should be the Resolution of every Christian to follow Christ when he cals him to go after him though it be to Mount Calvary or Golgotha the place of a skull as both those words signifie and the latter of them is expounded Joh. 19 17. and Mat. 27.33 the Caemeterie or Church-yard as we call it 2. And whilest we behold him suffering of death behold we also the issues of this his suffering Conquering it as St James saith of Job Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord Jam. 5.11 What Issue God was pleased to give him which was very joyfull and comfortable So here looking upon Christ submitting to his Father in suffering of death behold we the end of the Lord the issue of this his suffering which was victorious and glorious Victorious Even as David cut off the head of the Philistine with his own sword so did this our David by dying he conquered death which he manifested in his Resurrection Where he brake the bands of death rising again by his own power and so became the first born from the dead as the Apostle calleth him Col. 1.18 Now the first born openeth the womb for those that come after him And so hath Christ opened the grave for all true believers so as it shall be no more able to hold them then it was him Thus was the issue of this his conflict with this his last enemy victorious And as victorious so Glorious we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angels for or through 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour He. 2.9 In this way he entred into his glory Luk. 24.26 Through this dark entry he went into his heavenly palace And so shall they who do herein follow his steps being obedient as he was Obedient to the death 3. Look we upon death it self But here look upon it in Look upon death it self Not in the glass of the Lawe but gospell and through a right glass Not that of the Law but of the Gospell The glasse of the Lawe presents the face of it as ghastly and terrible holding it forth as a