forgive Sins This saith St. Paul is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief 1 Tim. And if the chief be saved others have no cause to fear The blood of Iesus Christ saith St. Iohn cleanseth from all sin 1 Joh. i. This is that Fountain which was opened to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of Ierusalem for Sin and Uncleanness The Reason why Jesus can ease us of the Burden of Sin and take away the Guilt and free us from the Punishment of it is because he hath in his own Person born our Sins and satisfied for them he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities and by his stripes we are healed and God laid on him the Chastisement of us all Isa. liii The Iust died for the Unjust and he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God through him In the next place as Jesus Christ taketh away the guilt and burden of our Sins so he freeth us from the fear and terrour of Death For asmuch saith the Apostle as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. ii 14 15. Jesus Christ hath brought Life and Immortality to Light he hath discovered a Life far better than this a State in which there is fulness of Joy and Rivers of Pleasure for evermore a Life which admits neither Hunger Thirst Nakedness Cold nor Heat and where all Tears are wiped away And he hath made Death the necessary Passage to this blessed State so that instead of fearing Death Men desire to Depart And whereas before it was reckoned a loss to die now it is counted gain O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Cor. XV. 55 c. He hath purchased to himself the Keys as of Hell and Death so of Life and Immortality and has Power to admit whomsoever he pleaseth It is he that hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day saith Christ. And again I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me tho' he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die But Thirdly Jesus Christ not only giveth rest to the Soul and ease to our Minds by begetting in us a lively hope of future Bliss but also he greatly refresheth us at present by settling our Minds in Peace and giving them a secret Pleasure which cannot be uttered The Happiness of a Christian is not all in Reversion he has some in hand that the deferring of his hope may not make him faint he has a present Possession given him which yields abundant Satisfaction to stay the longing of the Soul and to prevent its languishing That Contentment which Men do in vain seek among the Creatures is only to be found in him therefore St. Paul counted all things but loss and dung to the knowledge of Iesus Christ He is a Fountain of living Waters and none but he can quench or satisfie the thirst of the Soul Whosoever shall drink of this water shall thirst again but whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to eternal life said he in his Conference with the Woman of Samaria Joh. iv 13. My flesh saith he is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed that is true Meat and Drink which both nourish and satisfie for it is proper and well suited to our Natures Every Creature has its proper Food nothing but that can satisfie it when that is wanting it languisheth So our Souls which are of a spiritual and heavenly Nature cannot feed upon earthly things nothing can be Food to them but that bread which came down from Heaven The Contemplation of Christ and his Doctrine can only cheer them up These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full which St. Peter saith is a joy unspeakable and full of glory Lastly Jesus Christ giveth his Disciples rest under Afflictions Indeed he doth not promise them an exemption from Trouble and Affliction nay on the contrary they are forewarned to look for this more than others but he makes them very light and supportable by the Strength and Instruction which he gives He doth not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able and with every temptation sends a way by which they may escape that they may be able to bear it 1 Cor. X. he abates the Grief and Molestation which Troubles and Afflictions were wont to procure by clearing the Divine Oeconomy in disspensing them by shewing the Nature and Use of them and by giving Rules how to improve them to our Perfection and Happiness So that what was wont to fright Men is now become matter of Joy and Gladness Count it all joy saith St. Iames when ye fall into divers temptations Thus you see what a blessed and desirable Rest may be expected by coming to Christ. O fortunatos nimium O happy we if we knew our own Happiness Here is the place where we may put off all that burden which lieth heavy upon us Here is an opportunity of being eased of all the Misery which we are born to Bodily or Spiritual Temporal or Eternal Here we may refresh our wearied Minds and get that perfect rest we would be at there is nothing to let or hinder us there is nothing to obstruct this Happiness but our own carelesness and contempt We are freely invited and shall we refuse Do we sit still unconcernedly Will we delay so great Happiness Shall we be so ungrateful to him who makes the offer as to slight it Shall we be so cruel to our selves as to neglect rest when it may be had Will ye thus requite the Lord O O foolish people and unwise O ye sons of men how long will ye love vanity and seek after leesing How long will ye spend your Labour for that which profiteth not How long will it be e're ye have pity on your own Souls Turn ye turn ye why will ye die Why will ye weary your selves in a vain and dangerous Chace The World where you have been all this while hunting is a dry and barren Wilderness in which you may perish before
times Father if it be thy will let this Cup pass from me and from these disconsolate Words which his inward Sorrow and Anguish extorted while he hanged upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The Sufferings of Jesus cannot be reckoned up no Man can describe no Tongue can express all the Particulars of his bitter Agony and bloody Passion and cruel Death The Words of the Prophet are applicable to him and as they were spoken prophetically of him so in him only they were fully accomplished Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger From above he hath sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them he hath spread a net for my feet he hath turned my back he hath made me desolate and faint all the day Who then that beheld this could Or who that hears and lays it to heart can refrain from weeping Tears indeed are due to the Memory of Christ's Death and Passion But yet our Lamentation and Weeping must not be as that in Rama spoken of by the Prophet Like Rachel weeping for her children who would not be comforted because they are not We may and should weep at the Remembrance of what Christ suffered but our Sorrow should not run to an Excess meerly on his Account Wherefore you see that our Lord turned about and checked the excessive Sorrowfulness of these Women saying Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me which was the Second thing I promised to speak to This is not a total Prohibition of weeping for Christ the Negative Particle Not is not always to be taken so peremptorily for frequently it imports only Rather or not so much as when it is said I will have mercy and not sacrifice the Meaning is Mercy rather than Sacrifice or not so much Sacrifice as Mercy So here weep not for me but for your selves is only as much as to say weep for your selves rather than for me or not so much for me as for your selves Thus all Weeping is not forbidden And as I have shewn it to be very just proper and suitable so we find it made both a necessary and an acceptable Duty Zach. xii 10. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of Grace and of Supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born However we should so bewail his Death as to keep within a certain Measure Not as those good Women in the Text who apprehended that all their Hope and all their Comfort would have perished in his Death The Death of Christ is not to be lamented like the Tragical end of Pompey Caesar and other Heroes of the World whether Ancient or Modern whose Deaths were sad and convincing Instances of the Changeableness of Fortune of the Vanity of the World and of the Uncertainty of humane Affairs When they died their vast Designs and Projects were defeated and the Expectation of their Friends frustrated in that very Day all their Thoughts perished they instantly ceased to be either the Hope of their Friends or the Dread and Terrour of their Enemies and left nothing behind them save a faint Memory and uncertain Conjectures But the Death of Jesus Christ is quite another thing As our Lord still liveth so he reigneth and it was by his Death that he advanced and secured his Kingdom His Death was glorious and the Issue of it was eternal Praise to God and himself and everlasting Advantage to all the World Never any Triumph was so illustrious as the Death of Christ The greatest triumph in the World was only over Beasts and weak Men and set forth with the Spoils of earthly Kingdoms But Jesus at his Death triumphed over Devils he conquered Hell and the Grave made Spoils of Principalities and all the Powers of Darkness By his Death he quenched the Fire of God's Wrath blunted the Edge of the Law weakned the Strength of Sin loosned the Bands of the Grave ransomed Sinners and opened the Kingdom of Heaven to Penitents and Believers His Death gave Life to the World and renewed Nature so that the Face of things is altered ever since Thus as upon one Account there is Reason to lament the Death of Jesus Christ so upon another there is no less Reason to rejoice for by it God is glorified Jesus exalted and Mankind saved But when we leave off to mourn for Christ we should continue to mourn for our selves So you see here that our Lord biddeth the Women moderate their Grief upon his Account but still requireth it for themselves which was the third thing proposed Weep not for me but for your selves And very good Reason alas There is more than sufficient Cause for this Mourning For tho' Jesus Christ has merited Salvation for us yet our natural Wretchedness our Original and Actual Guilt is no less than it was both which are deplorable and neither of them can ever be enough lamented And if we are not sensible of the heinous Nature of these let us look upon the persecuted reviled mocked buffetted scourged and crucified Jesus let us call to mind his bitter Death and Sufferings and these will instruct us For all these things befell him for our sake and upon our Account The Jews who crucified him and put him to so vile and shameful a Death were only the Instruments But otherwise every one of us as well as they were the Cause and Occasion of all that evil which befell him They are to be considered only as the common Executioner who executeth the Law and the Will of the Judge and consequently our Rage and Indignation should not be against them but against the Crimes which caused and required so heavy a Punishment Now they were not his own Crimes for which he suffered for he knew no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth he was a Lamb without Spot and Blemish But he was made Sin for us Surely as the Prophet speaks he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him and he received stripes that we might be healed Let us not go about to clear our selves of all Accession to the Death of this good and righteous Person because we are come to the World so long after it fell out and are not of the Race of those who laid wicked and violent hands on him For though Jesus died but once yet he did bear the Sins of all and was charged with the Sins of all that went before or shall come after From the time that he
at any time prevail God will not condemn us They are innocent and clean according to the Gospel who inwardly hate and loath Sin and keep a continual War with it and who love Holiness and constantly aim and endeavour after it and he who is so clean inwardly will give an outward Manifestation and therefore it is added that we have In the last place our Bodies washed with pure water The former Clause as we have seen referred to the inner-Man and this relates to the outward Man for both must be made clean in the Sight of God We must cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of the flesh and spirit neither of them singly will do well God has united Spirit and Flesh together to make up one Person and therefore what God hath thus joined together ought not to be put asunder Our Minds and Spirits must ascend to God but the Body must not be left behind wallowing in the mire and filth of Sin and Uncleanness else the other will not speed they will not get Access unto God We ought to glorifie God both in Soul and Body for both are his therefore as under the Law Men were tied to frequent washing of their Body that they might be legally clean and fit to enter the Temple or approach the Altar from which they were debarred if they had any corporal Filthiness upon them or had touched any unclean thing so in Allusion to this the Apostle here exhorts us to purifie our Life and Actions to sanctifie our outward Conversation in the World by breaking off the Course of Sin and conforming our Words and Actions to the Word of God for that is like pure Water to cleanse us from all Spiritual Filthiness By what means saith David shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word Psal. cxix 9. Now until we be thus cleansed both inwardly and outwardly we are not fit to draw near to God nor throughly disposed for Reconciliation with him without holiness saith our Apostle no Man can see God There must be both outward and inward Holiness to render us worthy of Peace with God we must be endued with holy Minds and the Beauty of Holiness must appear in our Lives and Conversations and if the outward Man have not a holy Face and Countenance the inward Man is much to be suspected Scabs and Ulcers in the Skin betoken corrupt and impure blood in the Veins 'T is great Hypocrisie to pretend change of Heart when there is no Change of Life for Persons to say they are regenerate within when no Reformation appears without When Saul pretended a Performance of the Command which the Lord gave against Amalek Samuel said to him what meaneth then this bleating of the Sheep and the lowing of the Oxen which I hear For that was an Evidence against him So I would ask those who say their Heart is right they have a good Conscience towards God and yet walk in Sin what means their evil Speeches their Cursing and Swearing their Reviling and Backbiting their obscene Talk and immodest Behaviour Revellings and Drunkenness Injustice and dishonest Dealing Cruelty and doing Injury to others and the like Crimes For doth not our Saviour tell us that these proceed from the Heart He whose Heart is perfect and upright with God is always careful to do that which is good in his Sight 'T is true the beginnings of Conversion to God do not always visibly appear as the Recovery of the Body from Sickness is not at the first discernable to others But in Process of time a sincere Conversion will certainly manifest it self in the Life and Actions The path of the just is as the shining light which shines more and more unto the perfect day Men and Brethren Sin was the Cause why we were cast out of God's Favour and there is a Necessity of laying aside Sin before we can recover it Indeed Christ died to take away the Guilt of Sin but he has not taken away the intrinsick Evil of it that remains still he by his Death has made Sin pardonable but not allowable and therefore we must not continue the Servants of Sin We must quit a vain and wicked Conversation turn every one from his Iniquity die to Sin and live to God and yield our selves to be Instruments of Righteousness according to his Will and Pleasure and then we shall please him and he will greatly love us Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the Widow and then come saith the Lord though your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though red like Crimson they shall be as Wool Isa. i. 16 c. Thus we have explained the Conditions of obtaining Reconciliation with God and if you please to make Reflections on them you will find them most just and reasonable and as easie as can be required God could not pass these without renversing the Order of Nature and laying aside his Holiness and Honour which was impossible nor could any Terms be more proper for Man nor better accommodated to the State and Condition of all If many expensive Sacrifices rich Gifts or Summs of Money had been required what would become of the poor who make the greatest part of the World But now neither the Rich are received upon the Account of their Riches nor the poor rejected for their Poverty But both the one and the other are accepted according to their Faith Repentance and Obedience Some there are who will not allow us this Privilege whatever we believe or practise because we are not of their Church But as the Italian Proverb is Better be condemned by ten Physicians than one Iudge So certainly it is better to be condemned by any Number or Quality of Men than to be condemn'd by the Word of God the Word of God you see condemns none who has the Qualifications in the Text but encourages them to draw near to God and gives them Assurance of Acceptance If then through the Grace of God we come to be so qualified in the Union and Communion of the Catholick Church we need not fear what they say who themselves are Schismaticks from the Catholick Church We have all the reasonable Assurance we can have of our Salvation we may be more sure of it than if we had the Pope's Bull for it a thousand Indulgences ten thousand Masses daily sung for us and all the Church treasure of Merits bestowed on us And if we lack this that will not cannot be compensated with Pilgrimages Processions Pennances Bowings Prostrations before Altars Crossings and Sprinklings with Holy Water nor yet the Absolution of Priests for as our Apostle saith bodily exercises profit little as to Salvation and by what hath been said you may understand that the Religion which recommends us to God must be
Death their imagination of things to come and the day of death trouble their thoughts and cause fear of heart said the Son of Sirach Eccl. xl 2. And the Apostle tells us that through fear of death they were all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. ii 15. They saw it was appointed for all men to die they understood that the Sentence of Death was passed upon all Men and none knew how soon or after what manner this Sentence was to be executed upon himself so that they stood in jeopardy every Hour Neither Youth nor Health nor Strength nor Vigour nor any natural or acquired Vertue and Endowment could secure Men from Death and what was to come after it they knew not their hopes of another better Life were faint for it was not yet revealed Therefore as they were daily liable to Death and had cause continually to apprehend it so the fear of it and the uncertain consequence of it as every one's Experience witnesseth damped their Joys and filled them with Melancholy and embittered their Life The terrours of the Mind are more burdensom and grievous than outward weights and pressures upon the Body Now nothing is so terrible to Men as Death it is called the King of terrours Iob xviii 14. And again it is said Chap. xxiv 17. they are in the terrours of the shadow of Death My heart said David is sore pained within me and the terrours of death are fallen upon me Psal. lv 4. Aristotle and other Heathens have declared that it is of all things most terrible and certainlv it is and shall be and must be so to all who believe not in Jesus who are Strangers to him his Doctrine and Promises until Men come to him take his Yoke upon them and learn of him the fear and terrour of Death must make them to labour and be heavy laden Fourthly The great Evil which Men labour under and which is the Cause of all other Evils is Sin As this lyeth upon all Men for there is no Man who hath not sinned except the Man Christ Jesus so this indeed is a heavy burden and most grievous whether we consider it in it self or in its Consequences The load of Sin which is upon us is great enough to press us down to Hell and to crush us in pieces It is Sin which maketh us to travel all our days with pain the guilt of this is uneasie to the Mind and disturbeth its rest and also maketh us liable to the Wrath of Almighty God which is a weighty burden too heavy for the strongest Shoulders This burden of Sin tho' it be of all others the heaviest yet few are sensible of it many do not feel it tho' it be ready to sink them because the weight of it has benummed their Senses and stupified their Spirits But they who are sensible of it complain most heavily O wretched man that I am saith St. Paul who shall deliver me from the body of this death Rom. vii 28. And David upon this account uttereth this grievous Lamentation Thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin for mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long Fools make a mock of sin but who have a due sence of it find it is not to be sported with or set light by for certainly it is the greatest and saddest of Evils No Misfortune which befalls us is so great as that of Sin He that is not sensible of this let him take a view of our Saviour in the Garden and repair to a dying Person and consider what inward Agony and Torment such suffer for Sin And if this do not affect him he must be very insensible The guilt of Sin is unsupportable no Man has sufficient strength to bear it Therefore saith Solomon the spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear Thus you see that all Mankind is liable to a fourfold Misery Four several Burdens are lying upon every Man that cometh into the World viz. The Burden of Affliction the want of true Satisfaction in things relating to this Life the fear of Death and the guilt of Sin each of which is enough to bear down the Spirit of Man and to crush or break it O then how heavily are they laden when they have the weight of all these upon them how weary may they be how much stand they in need of Rest and Ease how desirous should they be of it And how thankful to him who offers it unto them And thus I come to consider the gracious Promise which our Lord here makes to miserable Men whom he invites to himself come to me and I will give you rest Rest is very desirable but no rest so desirable as this An ease of those Burdens which were presently set before you would exceedingly lighten the Mind and quicken and cheer up the Spirit But none can give this Ease but Jesus who here promiseth it Some Philosophers have proposed some Antidote against Afflictions but for the most part they talked impertinently when they spoke of the other Three But as the greatest and truest Comfort under Afflictions cometh from Jesus Christ so it is he only who can satisfie the large Cravings of the Soul who can take away the Fear of Death and the Guilt of Sin And as he can so he will for he hath promised it here Come and I will give you rest This rest must certainly imply a full and perfect Ease of all Misery which lieth upon Men For if all were not taken away if any part of it did remain the Soul could not be at rest Now because the very News of Rest is Matter of Comfort and it is yet more comfortable to be assured of it I will confirm this gracious and comfortable Promise by other Places of Scripture and also shew the Reasons why we may expect and look for Rest from Jesus with a Respect to that Fourfold Misery which is upon us I will invert the Order which was used in enumerating those Burdens we groan under and will take the last first because it is the greatest and that the Removal of it prepares the way for taking the rest away That the Burden of our Sins shall be taken away by Jesus is evident from his Name and the Reason why he got that Name for he was called Jesus because he was to save his people from their sins therefore also he is called the Lamb of God which taketh away the Sins of the world when one sick of the Palsie was brought unto him he said to him Son be of good chear thy Sins be forgiven thee And he said so that they might know the Son of Man had power to
fitly joined together here a proud Man can never be meek and he who is lowly in Heart cannot be of another Temper So if we would learn Meekness we must study Humility And we may soon be perswaded into this if we but hearken unto Reason for that demonstrates that we have nothing to be proud of because we have no good but what we have received and therefore if we glory we should glory in the Lord. Humility is not to undervalue ones self but not to think above what we ought to think And if the Thoughts of our selves be just not higher than they ought they will not be high nor lofty nor will they shew others at the distance of Contempt and Scorn for we all stand upon the same Level have the same Original Nature Frame Constitution and End And as this makes the Condition of every Man much the same so it does not afford Matter of boasting to any our Extract and Original is from the Dust and to it we must return our Frame and Constitution is frail and easily disordered our Strength and Beauty like the Flower of the Field is withered before Noon We carry our Breath in our Nostrils and it goes out as a Vapour We are Children a Third part of our time and the other Two parts are consumed in Sin and Vanity all our Actions are either grossly Evil or to little Purpose our Righteousness is as the Morning Cloud and as the early Dew that passeth away not being able to endure the Heat of the Sun Men of low Degree are Vanity and Men of high Degree are a lye lay both the one and the other in the Balance and they will be found altogether lighter than Vanity Surely every Man even the best of Men in their best State is nothing but Vanity and Emptiness when set in the Sight of God Sin is indeed Matter of true Humiliation but the deepest and truest Humility arises from the Contemplation of the Infinite Nature and Perfections of God He who proposes himself as a Pattern of Humility and Lowliness here knew no Sin he had all the Weakness of Flesh and Blood he was surrounded with the Infirmities of our Nature but he was altogether free from the Corruption of it and never did any thing amiss and yet he was lowly in Heart because of his intimate Union with God and did bear about with him a full Idea of his glorious Attributes For as the Glory of the Sun extinguishes the Glory of the Stars so all created Excellencies must disappear upon a View of the uncreated Glory of God whose Perfections can never be found out When even the most perfect and upright Iob does see this with his Eye he abhorreth himself and doth repent in Dust and Ashes Iob xlii 5 6. If we have these two Vertues Meekness and Humility we will not murmur at the Commands of Christ as if any of them were grievous then we shall be sensible of the Reasonableness and Equity of them then we shall find his Yoke easy and his Burthen light For besides the new Strength and Vigour that we shall receive from above for the bearing of it we shall then clearly discern that it is most just and reasonable admirably adapted to our Nature and well accommodated to our Interest wisely contrived to give us all Peace and Satisfaction at present and to prepare us for perfect and Eternal Happiness hereafter Now the God of Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Iesus Christ that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well pleasing in his Sight through Iesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON III. ON Christmass-Day PHIL. II. 6 7 8. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. THERE are in our holy Religion two Sublime Mysteries which as they can never be fully comprehended so they can never be too much or too frequently thought upon For nothing can make more for the Glory of God nothing can be of more Comfort and Profit to our selves they enlighten the Understanding warm the Heart add vigour to all the rational Faculties and so cherish and strengthen the Spiritual Life that by these means we may become able to walk straight and to run with Patience without fainting the Race that is set before us By these I mean the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God and that of his Passion and Death both which are jointly spoken of in the Text as the Day and the Action we intend to set about call us to consider both the Day being by the Appointment of the Catholick Church the Anniversary of our Lord Jesus his Birth therefore the Incarnation is a proper Subject for it But some of us intending at this time and others against the next day to make that solemn Address to God by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper this also makes it fit to think upon his Death Nor is it Unsuitable to commemorate his Death upon the Festival of his Nativity for the one was the End and Reason of the other His Birth was in order to his Death and if he had not died his Birth could not have profited us This Sacrament is a proper Christmass Feast to feast devoutly by Faith upon the Sacrifice which Christ offered upon the Cross is the best Entertainment we can give unto God or make for our selves This will put more Joy into our Hearts than either Wine or Oil or any of the Delicacies of richest Banquets By this it appears that the Text is suitable but before I enter upon the Explication of it it will be fit to shew you the scope of the Apostle in this place and upon what occasion he utters these words In this place the Apostle sets himself to perswade the Philippians to Humility and a generous Charity or such a mutual concernedness for each other as might make every Man ambitious to serve his Neighbour as himself and even to prefer others to himself This is an excellent temper of Mind and the very height of Vertue but withal the Practice of it is hard and the Attainment very difficult This gives a true resemblance and conformity to the Divine Nature and therefore is not easily arrived at seeing now by the corruption of our Natures we are removed to a great distance from God The things which St. Paul requires here are directly opposite to the Nature of Man in his present Natural or Corrupt state for in this state the Soul of Man hath no generous Expansion or Enlargement towards others but is almost altogether pent up
bear the Punishment inflicted by the Law or make that Satisfaction which the Honour and Justice of God required Angels could not for their Spiritual Nature makes them incapable And what Man could have made an Atonement for the rest Seeing every Man was guilty in the sight of God What Man was sufficient for or worthy of the office of Mediator Suppose one had all the Advantages and Excellencies which Nature could bestow and free of Sin too which must necessarily be supposed in this case yet it would have been too much Presumption even for such an one to take upon him to Mediate betwixt God and his Rebellious Creatures Mediators and Arbitrators ought to be either Superiour to both Parties or at least equal to the offended Party and independent in some manner from it for without this Qualification they have not sufficient Authority nor a powerful enough Influence to oblige the Parties to agree and accept of Peace And this requisite Qualification excluded not only all Men but Angels and all Creatures from being Mediator and Umpire betwixt God and Man As therefore it behoved our Mediator and Saviour to be Man that he might do and suffer what was proper and incumbent and have the Interest good Will and Concernment necessary to such a Person so it behoved him to be God that he might be worthy of so high and honourable a Function and to the end his Mediation might be meritorious and effectual And as it behoved our Mediator and Peace-maker to be thus and thus qualified so the Wisdom and Goodness of God has provided us of one with these Qualifications and so contrived it that he who thought it not Robbery to be equal with God should be made into the Likeness of Men. For this end the Eternal Son of God became Man who is this Jesus the Text speaks of by whose Name we are all called O! the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Iudgments and his Ways past finding out Rom. ii 33. The Socinians who reject this Mystery and deny the Divinity of our Saviour and the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ which I have made most evident from Scripture now and at the last Occasion they make the Oeconomy of the Gospel to signifie little or nothing either for the Glory of God or the Comfort of Man And as they give God the Lye who has attested the Truth of this so clearly and fully so they rob him of the Praise which is due to the greatest Manifestation of his Goodness and to the most wonderful Contrivance of his Wisdom From which and such damnable Heresies good Lord deliver us Having considered who the Person is of whom our Text speaks and what is his Character it follows next according to the Method proposed that we take into Consideration what he did and suffered which is here represented in these Words he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. From which Words we may First observe That all which happened to Jesus Christ in this mysterious Oeconomy was his own Choice His Sufferings as well as Actions are the pure Effect of his own Will there was no force or necessity upon him to oblige his Obedience and Subjection to these things We must not think it was with Jesus Christ as with other Men. The Birth and Quality the State and Condition the Death and Exit of other Men fall not under their own Cognizance nor is the same any part of their Choice But all is unknown to them and imposed upon them by Nature or Providence or those to whom Nature and Providence have subjected them And the greatest Praise due to any Man is that he can bear his State and Circumstances thus imposed patiently and chearfully though he neither would have desired them nor yet made Choice of them if it had been in his own Power But as to Jesus Christ all was his free Choice his voluntary Act and proper Deed The meanness of his Birth the Contemptibleness of his State the Troubles of his Life and the Shame and Bitterness of his Death were all known before-hand to him and set before him and he freely and willingly submitted himself to them and therefore there is more Merit and Praise due to him than can be to any from meer Patience or Passive Obedience Therefore doth my father love me saith Christ because I lay down my life that I might take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again And again he said to Pilate thou couldst have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above Secondly It is to be considered that the Humiliation of Jesus Christ in this Verse referrs to some other thing than that which is made mention of in the former When before it is said he made himself of no Reputation that referrs to his Pre-existent State and God-head and thereby is set forth his Debasement by his Incarnation For by becoming Man his God-head was put under the Veil of Flesh and the Majesty and Glory which belonged to him were for so long time eclipsed which was certainly a stupendous Debasement and an astonishing and most wonderful Instance of his Love to those for whom he was thus debased But the Humiliation in the Text is posterior to the Incarnation and referrs to what he did after he was become Man therefore it is said being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself What is meant by humbling himself is explained by what follows viz. That he became Obedient unto Death that is he entirely subjected himself to the Will of God and all the Methods of his Counsel and all the Contrivances of his Wisdom for manifesting his Mercy and good Will to Mankind and for effectuating their Redemption and Salvation to which he was not otherwise obliged than by his own voluntary Undertaking Jesus Christ by his Divine Nature being equal to God was therefore free independent and subject to none And though as a Man he owed Obedience yet being altogether free from Sin he was not liable to the Curse of the Law nor obnoxious to those Evils Troubles and Calamities which for Sin are inflicted on other men Therefore it was a great Act of Humility in him to submit to those things who might have pleaded an Exemption from them It was great Humility in him to put himself into a State of Subjection and Obedience who by Nature was subject to none but as God himself supream Lord over all in Heaven and Earth What Humility would it be in a free-born Prince one whose Birth gave him Right to a Scepter Crown and Sovereign Command and whose State and Circumstances put him in a Condition of keeping the same against all Rebellion Encroachment and Usurpation
of God to give us either Comfort or Instruction So this Constancy and generous Publick Concernment of the Women must not pass unobserved For as the Revealing of his Birth to the Wise Men in the East was a Comfort to the Gentile World and a sign that they were to be called to a share of that Salvation which he brought with him So God ordered the Behaviour of these Women for a Comfort to all their Sex God gave them this tender Love to his Son which prompted them to wait upon him even to the last minutes of his Life when he was deserted by all the rest of the World to bewail his Sufferings when Men were mocking and scoffing him and finally to seek him early the Third Day at his Grave that they might do him honour there They were made Compassionate Witnesses of his Death and the first Messengers of his Joyful Resurrection to assure the Faith of Women and to confirm their Hope of Salvation by Christ tho' it was by Woman that Sin entered amongst Men. The Devils who were the Authors of Sin are Reprobated and are never to find Mercy but Women have found Grace in the sight of God And tho' Adam was not deceived but the Woman being deceived was in the transgression notwithstanding she shall be saved by him that was Born and died if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety 1 Tim. ii 14 15. Again This passage informs us of the wise Providence of God who never leaves himself without a Witness amongst Men but always even in the times of greatest Defection either from Truth or Holiness in the midst of the greatest corruption of Doctrine and greatest wickedness of Manners he preserves a Remnant pure from the publick Contagion and also moves some more or less to reprove such General Apostacy from the Principles or the Practice of Religion either directly by open and plain Rebukes or indirectly by their own manifest Stedfastness At this time the Rulers Priests and People were combined in a Conspiracy against the Lord and against his Anointed they were all of them persecuting him to Death as an Enemy to God Church and State and the common Interest of the Nation So bent was the Multitude upon this Wickedness that to shew their Inclinations and to press the Roman Governours to it they gathered themselves together tumultuously and not only officiously consented to his Death but sought it as a favour to themselves and the Nation Such was the Malice and Prejudice against Christ that like a torrent it carried all away with it some few only excepted and they were but very few who kept their Integrity and detested this Villany But the few who did so lurked in private and as they did not concur so neither did they oppose the Multitude nor their wicked Designs But behold while Courage and Integrity failed amongst Men some few Women appear abhorr the Villainy and by publick bewailing and lamenting testifie against it Fear might have detained them if they had considered their own weakness and the madness of the Multitude at this time they might have apprehended that their tears would have provoked the Multitude to trample them under foot but Love knows no Difficulties nor did these Women consider the Difficulties they run by paying their Just respects to their hated and persecuted but very Innocent Lord. And from the Example of those Good Women let us learn how to behave our selves in times of Danger and Difficulty let them teach and encourage us to a stedfastness in the Truth and to a constant adherence to that which is Just and Right tho' all the World about us take a contrary course and that Error and Iniquity have the common Vogue Politicians will tell you that Dum furor est in cursu cedendum est furori that it is Wisdom to yield to the Evils which are not in our power to remedy that it is safer to comply with Peoples inclinations when violent tho' Unjust and Unreasonable than to resist them for by opposing them we provoke their Fury and hazard our own Ruin whereas by complying we leave our selves in a capacity of rectifying things at another occasion And so by these and the like Maxims Men are taught to turn with every Tide to serve different and contrary Interests notwithstanding of particular ties and obligations and to give way to the greatest Injustice for pleasing Men and diverting the Wrath and Fury of a prevailing Party But these Maxims are calculated with a respect to Mens temporal Interest rather than for keeping a good Conscience for they who would do that and please God must resolve never to turn their Back upon that which is right or to consent to that which is Evil. Indeed every one has not a Call to resist a wicked Course or to punish the Authors and Promoters of it nor is it in the power of private or particular Persons to do it but it is in every Man's power to withdraw his consent and refuse his concurrence Tho' we cannot hinder others yet we ought to keep our own hands clean and as Prudence directs us according to the Nature and Importance of the thing we should own that which we are perswaded is right and good which if we cannot favour otherwise we should at least with the Women here bewail and lament the loss and miscarriage and the wickedness of Men which occasions it to be so though by this we incurr a popular Odium and run other Inconveniencies Plutarch tells of a certain Woman that being questioned how she could attempt a thing Prohibited by the Tyrant under whom she lived and which would highly incense him She answered resolutely It pleaseth the Gods with whom I intend to live longer than with the Tyrant If our Design be to live with God for ever if Eternal Life or his Favour be our Expectation we should search out his Good Perfect and Acceptable Will and cleave to that whatever the World think of it And if the fear of Men begin to prevail we should consider how much wiser it is to fear God I say unto you my friends be not afraid of them which kill the body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him Luke xii 4 c. But to return to the Women who are said to bewail and lament Christ as they followed him The words in the Original import the greatest measure of Grief and Sadness and are never used but when the very height of it is expressed the Consternation of Sinners at the Day of Judgment their sad Apprehensions of the Terror of that Day and the Melancholy Effects it worketh in them are set forth by the same words Matth. xxiv and Rev. i. 7. So that it seems the Sorrow of these was not small nor the Expressions of it mean
their Hearts were swelled up with Grief their Souls were inwardly pierced with excessive Sorrow which abundantly appeared by all the ways by which People use to express their sorrowful Thoughts and sad Apprehensions smiting their Breasts and rending their Garments which the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth howling and mourning with the Voice which is the signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now it will be worth the while and very proper for the Day to consider what it was that moved them to all this Indeed the Hearts of Women by Nature are soft and tender and their Passions are sooner and more easily moved than those of Men but if we view the Object of their Grief we will not think it strange that these Women did thus bewail and lament it will be much more strange if we can restrain our Passions and refrain from weeping at the account of it and yet all know that the sight of a thing toucheth more sensibly than the hearing of it doth These Women had seen all which our Lord had hitherto suffered at the hands of wicked and sinful Men and had lively Apprehensions of what he was yet to suffer for the Death he was going to was known and ordinary but known only to be a vile shameful and most painful Death as upon other accounts so upon this that it was not a speedy but a lingering Death If they themselves were not Witnesses yet they well enough understood how he was seiz'd in the Garden as a Thief when he was most serious in Devotion and Prayer and dragged from thence to the High-Priest's Palace which ought to have been a Refuge to Innocence and a Safeguard against Indiscretions and an Unmerciful Threatment But alas even there they saw him unjustly used and most indiscreetly Handled falsely Accused illegally convicted of Blasphemy and other Crimes and all the rules of Discretion Civility and Good Manners broken in treating him He was Spit upon and Buffetted Blindfolded and smitten on the Cheek with a Prophesie who it was that smote thee By the break of Day he was hurried away to Pilate from him to Herod and back again to Pilate every one making their Sport of him After some Mock-Formalities of Law and Justice these Women saw him delivered to the Roman Soldiers a sort of Men who took Pleasure in Blood and Cruelty and then they beheld him dressed like a Fool with a Crown of Thorns a Purple Robe and a Reed instead of a Scepter because he was said to be the King of the Iews They saw him strip'd of these Ornaments of mocked Majesty and unmercifully Whipt and Scourged by the same Soldiers with Cords till Furrows were made in his Back and the Blood ran down his innocent Body And when all this would not satisfie the Malice of his Enemies they saw him given in exchange for a Villain and Notorious Robber and against all Law and Reason meerly upon the importunity of an unreasonable Multitude condemned to a Violent and Cruel Death and contrary to all Equity denied any respite or breathing time but instantly forced away to the place of Execution and made to bear that Cross on which he was to hang and pine away his Life in Pain and Torment Represent all this to your selves and consider if it be not sad and doleful who would not shed Tears at such a Sight May not this force Tears either from Man or Woman Suppose Jesus had been as bad and criminal as his Enemies would have made him yet such cruel and unmerciful Usage called for Compassion Quod non homini detur humanitati Even when it is necessary to satisfie the Law and to execute Justice Pity should be shewn to the Offender But if Pity and Compassion be due to Calamity and Misery even when there is guilt to deserve it what should be shewn when there is no Guilt at all If it should touch our hearts to see any of our Fellow-Creatures suffer though it be no more than the just Punishment of their Sins how should we be affected How should our Passions be stirred when unspotted Innocence and Vertue suffer These good Women knew that Jesus had no Crime they saw his very Enemies could not fix any upon him and that they were baffled when they undertook to prove any against him Nay he was not only innocent but also perfectly righteous he not only was guilty of no Ill but also he was one who went up and down doing good and had done many great and good and wonderful Works The Malice of his Enemies was not occasioned by any Fault of his but only by the Truth and Purity and Powerfulness of his Doctrine and by the Holiness and Integrity of his Life both which reproved their Errors their false Teaching their Hypocrisie and their Covetousness Add to all this his Quality which was the greatest in the World For tho' these Women were not yet instructed fully about his eternal Generation nor yet perhaps believed him to be the true Son of God equal with the Father as the Catholick Church doth teach and hath always taught and which must be believed if the Scriptures be true and genuine yet they believed him a Prophet and knew him to be a good Man mighty in Word and Deed they were perswaded that he was the Messiah and trusted that it was he who should have redeemed Israel Judge I pray you then what cause of Grief was here The greatest Dignity trampled upon and affronted The greatest Innocence condemned The greatest Righteousness punished The greatest Meekness reviled The greatest Charity and Beneficence persecuted The Man who preached the Word of God with Authority who shewed them the true way to Life who comforted them in their Affliction who cured their Diseases who restored their Children and Friends to Life who fed them with Miracles and from whom they expected the Salvation promised by all the Prophets to see this Man mocked scourged and put to Death before their Eyes Lord what matter of Grief was this What Occasion for Weeping Mourning and great Lamentation But though all this was more than sufficient to afflict and grieve the minds of these Women yet there was something more than all this which Jesus suffered which they knew not he suffered in his Soul and Spirit by the immediate Hand of God which none was sensible of save himself Inward Trouble and Disturbance of the Soul is much more sad and weighty than Pains and Torments in the Body The spirit of a man may sustain his Infirmity but a wounded spirit who can bear Jesus was at this time drinking the Cup of his Father's Wrath and Displeasure against Sin and the Sin not of one or two but of all Mankind What it was that he suffered in his Soul on this Account we do not know but that he did suffer in that part is certain and that he suffered heavily appears from his sweating Blood in the Garden in a cold Night from his praying three
was set apart to be the Sacrifice for Sin he bears the Iniquity of Men and that is from the beginning wherefore he is called the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World that is appointed to be slain And therefore our sins come in among the rest and consequently we have all Reason to deplore his Death and to bewail our own Wretchedness and Sin which was in part the Cause of it O ye Children of Men ye of the sinful Race of Adam come and behold the wretched and deplorable State of your Nature look upon the Cross and let thine Eyes see Jesus bleeding and dying on it and then consider that Blood was shed to wash away thy natural Filthiness and his Life taken to redeem thee from Death O how unreasonable How insolent a thing is Pride in Man Art thou Proud who hast an evil Disease cleaving to thee and inherent to all thy race which cannot be cleansed but by the precious Blood of the Eternal Son of God Art thou vain who art born such a slave that nothing could have ransomed thee except the Death and Sufferings of the Lord of Life and Glory Pride Arrogance and Boasting are no wise suitable to Persons of our Condition but Mourning and Weeping are very proper especially considering the guilt we have contracted since our coming to the World the heinousness of which the Cross of Christ will also shew us for that heavy Cross was laid on him to take away the guilt of those Sins which we daily commit The Son of God was humbled and Crowned with Thorns to make atonement for our Pride and Ambition he was stript naked because of our Covetousness he was unmercifully treated that he might bear the Punishment of our Revenge and Cruelty towards our Brethren The inward agony of his Soul was occasioned by our wanton Mirth and Lasciviousness and that he might be a Propitiation for our Excess and Riot there was nothing left him but Vinegar and Gall to drink His Bowels his Hands and Feet were pierced upon the account of our Oaths and Blasphemies In a word he was mocked had no pity shewed him was Scourged and put to Death contrary to Law Justice and Equity because we are false and treacherous and have no respect to the Commands of God Ye Fools who make a mock of Sin and who think it but a Sport to commit Iniquity come hither be instructed and learn to be Wise. Is the Shame and the Pain Is the Agony and Grief Is the Death and are the unspeakable Sufferings of Jesus the Son of God only a Sport Are these things only matter of Laughter Has any the Impudence either to say it or to think it No sure But then if these be bitter Sport what shall we think of our Sins which produce it for the Sufferings of our Lord are only the Effects of our Sins Doth it not trouble every honest and thinking Man when he is so unfortunate as to be the occasion of any Evil and Mischief to another Casual Murther or Manslaughter by an accidental Rencounter the throwing of a Stone the shooting of a Bow or Gun or the like do not infer guilt the Actors are innocent when they have no design of that Nature in their head and yet no Man who hath not lost Humanity but will be affected when any such Misfortune falls in his hands and his Grief will be so much the greater as the Person whose Death is occasioned is worthy and deserving What cause of Grief then have we who not accidentally but wittingly and willingly by our deliberate Sins and Transgressions have drawn Death on the Innocent and Righteous Jesus and that too the worst of Deaths the most shameful the most painful and the most bitter Death of the Cross Have we not reason to weep for our selves Can we ever bewail enough either our misfortune or wretchedness by Nature or our guilt through our actual Transgressions Certainly we should lament our condition on all occasions should set apart times for it and especially at occasions of this Nature when our guilt and the sad Effects of it is represented to us we should mourn and weep This is the only way to clear our selves to lessen our guilt and to keep innocent Blood from being charged upon us Blessed are they that thus mourn for they shall be comforted They who sow in tears shall reap in joy Jesus shall bear the Iniquities of those who regret his Death and their own guilt which caused it and made it necessary his Blood shall wash away their guilt and his Death shall prevent their Eternal Death for he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God through him 2 Cor. v. But as the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ procureth Mercy to the humble and Penitent so his Blood calleth for vengeance upon the hardned and impenitent Which leadeth me to the last thing in the Text for upon this account he added and weep for your Children for behold the days are coming c. by this intimating that the Imprecations of the People were ready to light upon them for as they cried out and wished his blood be upon us and our Children so to revenge it sore and heavy Calamities were impending over the City and the whole Nation Jesus spoke not these words from any Spirit of desire of Revenge nor out of any complacency at those sad Evils which were to befall them for the Injuries done to himself It is a fault which too many are guilty of when they think themselves wronged and cannot at present either revenge or remedy it they delight and please themselves with the thoughts of God's revenging their quarrel But Jesus was far from this temper for we find in the 19th of this Gospel That when he beheld the City he wept over it out of Compassion of those Evils which he saw would come upon it And they who have the same Mind in them which was in him will neither desire the destruction of their Enemies nor rejoice at it but will both pray against it and fear and tremble when they see it unavoidable But our Lord uttered these words to testifie his Divinity and Godhead and his Love and good Will even to those sinful Men his Divinity in that he knew what was to come for none knoweth future things but God alone his Love and good Will in that he forewarned them of their Danger that being forewarned they might if possible either prevent it or obtain a delay and suspension of it When he bids them weep for their Children he doth not mean the Children of these Women only or particularly but the whole Generation of the Iews for he speaks to those Women in the Name of the whole Inhabitants of Ierusalem or rather of all the People of Iudaea therefore they are called Daughters of Ierusalem which is as much as to say Israelites for Ierusalem was the Chief or Mother-city and to
be stiled after it did import their relation to and interest in that state The word Behold denotes the certainty of what he foretells by saying the days are coming he lets them know that the Calamity approacheth and is not far off as indeed it fell out within Forty Years The greatness and dreadfulness of that Calamity he holds out by telling that it shall be then said Blessed are the barren and the womb that never bare and the paps which never gave suck For these words are not to be taken absolutely but with a respect unto these Evil days In times of Peace in the days of Prosperity it is a great Blessing and Comfort to have Children and especially it was thought so among the People of the Iews But in times of grievous Trouble and sad Calamity when War or Famine or Pestilence rageth they who have Children are more heavily afflicted than those who want them for besides the Evils which they suffer in their own Person they suffer also in the Persons of their Children and are affected with their Misery Moreover Women who are either with Child or who have young Ones sucking at their Breast cannot so easily escape Calamities or provide against them as others Some also do think that this may have a particular reference to what afterwards fell out at the Destruction of Ierusalem viz. That during the strictness of the Siege some were reduced to that strait that to preserve their own Lives they Eat the flesh of their own Children which could not but be very grievous to Parents However it is to be interpreted not with any relation to Peoples Spiritual or Eternal State for in respect of that there is no difference betwixt the having and wanting Children but it is to be understood wholly as to this Life and that too only in relation to Times of great Trouble and sad Calamity As to what follows that then they shall begin to say to the Mountains fall on us and to the Hills cover us This is a further intimation of the dreadful Calamity of these Days for People shall then be in such Consternation and Fear that they shall wish Death rather than Life and any kind of sudden Death rather than to live to see and feel such unspeakable Misery And as all this was foretold here and Matth. 24. so whoever is pleased to read Iosephus his History will find That all was actually accomplished upon Flavius Vespasian and Titus his Son their Invading Iudaea Besieging and Sacking of Ierusalem For if they do these things in a green tree what shall be done in a dry As it is a Proverbial Speech so it is here used by our Lord both for a Proof of the Prediction and also as a Reason why such Evils are inflicted Green Wood is neither proper nor profitable fewel but sure if they be forced to cut it down and make use of it they will not pass by what is dry and withered and good for nothing so seeing God has suffered his own Son to be thus treated who never displeased him they might assure themselves that such gross and notorious Sinners would not escape As St. Peter says If the Righteous scarcely are saved where shall the Wicked and Ungodly appear Our Lord by comparing himself here to a green flourishing and fruitful Tree doth point out the greatness of their Sin who thus treated him and persecuted him to Death with such Malice and Cruelty And he also clearly intimates to them that for this Cause all these Evils would come upon them A little before this time he laid it more plainly home to them by the Parable of the wicked Husband-men who when they saw the Son said This is the Heir come let us kill him and seize on the Inheritance And accordingly they caught him and cast him out of the Vineyard and slew him The Doom of these Husband-men the Iews pronounced with their own Mouth for when our Lord asked when the Lord of the Vineyard cometh what will he do unto these Husband-men They replied He will miserably destroy these wicked men and will let out his Vineyard to other Husbandmen which shall render him the fruits in their season Upon which he instantly added Did ye never read in the Scriptures the stone which the Builders refused the same is become the head of the corner This is the Lord 's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes Therefore I say unto you the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder The Application was so plain and the meaning so obvious that it is said that the Chief-Priests and Pharisees perceived that he spoke of them Matth. xxi 38 39. These Predictions and the Event which in all things answered them declare what a heinous Crime it is to be guilty of shedding the Blood of Jesus and what a Provocation it was to the great God to see his Son crucified by Men. But some may perhaps say what is all this to us This was the Sin of the Iews long since committed and which can never be acted over again seeing Jesus the Son of God has his abode in Heaven and so is out of the reach of Men and therefore it is impertinent to insist now upon it They who say or think so must give me leave to say that they are mistaken and do deceive themselves for Christ may yet be Crucified and with as great Provocation to God nay with greater than was before Doth not St. Paul tell us Heb. vi 6. of some who crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to open shame and both by that Chapter and the 10th we are made to understand who they are that do it viz. They who Sin wilfully after they have received the Knowledge of the Truth They that undervalue the Death of Jesus and are not so affected with it as to hate and forsake Sin which was the cause of it but on the contrary cherish indulge and love it for they who do so by an after Act consent to his Death and are guilty of his Blood Not to speak what Jesus suffers in his Servants and Members by the Persecutions which they meet with for his Sake and for their Observance of his Laws Jesus still suffers immediately in himself when his Doctrine is despised his Authority affronted and his Power resisted They who question the veracity of his Doctrine confirmed by Miracles and Prophecies laugh at the Truth and Mysteries which he hath revealed and quarrel at his Ordinances and Institutions these Persons do violence to his Prophetical Office They who lessen the Merits of his Death and the worth and price of that Sacrifice which he offered they who advance their own Righteousness and put little or no Confidence in his Mediation and make the Mediation of others as necessary they
the Old nor the New found World can yield it Many Discoveries have been made of late of Plants Stones Minerals and the like which were not known before but no place is found with the Qualifications of the Text. This is only to be looked for above it is saith the Text reserved in the heavens and that it is there we are the surer of it for no destroying Fire ariseth there no boisterous Wind bloweth there nor doth Subtilty Malice Cunning and Oppression take place there it is without the reach of Men and Devils and therefore we need not fear either to be put by it or to be justled out of it O happy Inheritance How blessed are they who are called to such an Inheritance The very hope hereof doth give greater joy than the actual Possession of all Earthly things How little may one be cast down with the loss of Temporal things who hath this heavenly Inheritance ensured to him Let not thy Crosses and Sufferings overwhelm thee with Grief seeing so great and so glorious an Inheritance awaits thee But then it will be enquired how came I to know it and by what means may I be assured of it Truly this is no Delusion there is undoubted Evidence of the Truth thereof viz. the resurrection of Iesus Christ. All this is done saith St. Peter by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead Though the Resurrection be only mentioned yet all the former acts of Jesus Christ are included as his Incarnation Birth Life Sufferings and Death But because the Resurrection was the last act of his Mediatorship upon Earth gave a lustre to the rest did demonstrate the Merit of them and was an evidence of their acceptance therefore it is put here alone instead of all the rest Jesus Christ by coming in the Flesh and by what he did in the Flesh hath wrought a perfect Redemption for us he was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our Iustification Rom. iv 25. And as he died to become a Propitiation for our Sins so he arose to witness that he had made a perfect atonement and that there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit for as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift is upon all men unto justification of life Rom. v. 18. I say to all who believe for as Jesus Christ by his Death and Resurrection hath purchased Salvation for us so it is necessary that we have Faith in him his Death and Resurrection to the end we may partake of his Merits Faith in his Death takes away the guilt of our Sins and Faith in his Resurrection begets us to a lively Hope and entitles us to this Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and which fadeth not away He that believes has as great assurance as the Word of God can give him If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Rom. x. Faith unites us to Christ and brings us where he is if we believe we shall also rise with him and sit down with him in heavenly places at the right hand of God Our Thoughts therefore should much run upon the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and in particular we should frequently make remembrance of them by this Ordinance of the Lord's Supper which was appointed for this end both because those means wrought our Salvation and that the Effects of them are conveyed to us through Faith in them and the serious Meditation of them Men use to produce their Evidences and Rights to their Earthly Heritages and diligently to consider them when they are brangled or like to be justled out of their Possession Now the Devil the World and the Flesh envy this Happiness which hath befallen us and seek daily to put us by it by filling us with doubts and fears and making us question the greatness or certainty thereof Is it not fit nay necessary then to view the means by which this was effectuated and thereby strengthen our Faith in them that we may not lose our Hope but maintain it and assure to our selves this blessed Inheritance There is no place for doubting a Matter of Fact of which there is some publick Monument attested by an uninterrupted Tradition and to Commemorate which certain Days and Ceremonies are observed He who doubts after this is not to be convinced It is in vain to reason with him for he affronts both Sence and Reason by refusing his consent to reasonable things Things past cannot be seen they can be proved only by Tradition or History or some visible Effects He is most unreasonable who asks another Proof or who is not satisfied with this Now as there is an Universal uninterrupted Tradition of the History of Jesus Christ as it is witnessed by the Testimony of both Friends and Enemies to the Christian Religion so the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which we have this day Received is a solemn publick visible and authentick Memorial of it for no other account can be given of its Institution no other Reason for the devout Celebration of these Sacred Rites from the beginning but the Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ and his Death had never been so devoutly commemorated by the Apostles and Primitive Christians nay they had been ashamed of it if there had not been clear Conviction and Undoubted Proof of his Resurrection By this then it appears that the Gospel is no cunningly devised Fable that the History of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is certain and true and if this be true our Faith is not in vain nor is our Hope ill grounded then it is certain that we have an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and which fadeth not away Why then do we stagger through unbelief why are we faint and wearied in our Minds why do we suffer Afflictions to overwhelm us why are we so backward to run the Race which is set before us why do we loiter so much about the things of this World and why are we so afraid of Death which is a necessary Passage to that blessed state to which we are called That we may not marr our own Happiness that we may not deprive our selves of the greatest Consolation even of this present Life that we may have courage to encounter Afflictions and Death it self and that at last we may obtain the Possession of that Inheritance to which we have a Right and Title let us not doubt but believe let us entertain a full assurance of Faith and look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the Shame and is set down at
the right hand of God Finally let us be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord for our labour is not in vain Now the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Iesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON VII ON EASTER-DAY 1 JOHN V. 12. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life THE Yoke of Christ is so far from being heavy and troublesome that on the contrary it is very Light and Easie His Commands are so far from being Grievous that they are very Profitable and in keeping of them there is great Reward It is no less our Interest than our Duty to become Christians and we cannot shew our selves more Wise more Careful of our own Welfare than when we give our selves up to be the Disciples of Jesus Christ and to follow him whithersoever he leads us For by doing so we secure to our selves all desireable Happiness What is more desireable than Life Now He that hath the Son hath Life but he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life The Meditation of these words can never be Unseasonable it may always be Useful and Profitable but it is especially very proper and pertinent for the Day and Work which we are now setting about I pray God we may so clearly understand these words and so seriously consider them that we may not from any constraint or formality only but chearfully and heartily join our selves to the Lord Jesus Christ and resolve to maintain not only an External Communion with him in his Sacraments and Ordinances but an Internal one also by Faith Love and Obedience that by so doing we may obtain that Life and all the Blessed Fruits and Benefits of it which is in and through him Now That we may Treat of this Text the more profitably we shall first Explain the Phrases here used of having the Son and of Life and then shall shew how True it is That he who hath the one hath the other also As to the First By the Son of God we are to understand here the Lord Jesus Christ the History of whose miraculous Conception and Birth and Death and Resurrection and Ascension we have fully Recorded and plainly set down in the Four Gospels that this is the Person which St. Iohn designs and points at here is so Evident that it needs not to be proved who Reads the Epistle or but takes notice of the 1 5 and 20 Verses of this Chapter will find it past all doubt In this Epistle Jesus Christ is not only frequently stiled the Son of God but the Necessity of believing it is also clearly held out by the Apostle thus Chap. ii 23. Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also And a little before our Text He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the Record which God gave of his Son And This St. Iohn insists the more upon because even in his time there were some Cerinthus and Ebion by name who began to spread Damnable Heresies denying the Divinity of Jesus Christ and giving him out to be only a meer Man In Refutation of whom it is said also that he wrote his Gospel at the desire of the Asian Bishops And in it indeed he sets himself more than any other of the Evangelists to advance this great Truth That Jesus is the Son of God not by Adoption or upon the account of his Sanctity and Divine Mission which hath given the Title to other Men but after a peculiar and ineffable manner so that None other is or can be the Son of God as he is for he doth evidently hold him out to be the only begotten Son of God and declares his Eternal Generation and Godhead by clear and Undoubted Testimonies St. Iohn doth not only with the other Evangelists Record such Actions and Speeches of Jesus Christ from which his Deity may be inferred and deduced they speaking out both an Omnipotency and Omniscience But he expresly calls him God and brings in our Lord frequently asserting his Oneness and Equality with the Father in plain and clear terms and both suffering some and calling upon others to pay him equal Homage and Worship with the Father which he would never have done but would have guarded against if he had not been the Son of God in that sence which the Catholick Church hath believed it for then it would have been Idolatry and a downright robbing of God Jesus could not be Ignorant whether he was the Son of God or no neither can we suppose him to swerve from the Truth or to go about to perswade Men to believe in the least what was not True for if he had not been Truth God would not have born Witness to him by so many Prophecies before he came to the World by so many Audible Voices and Wonders when he was in it by raising him from the Dead and finally by confirming the Preaching of the Gospel both with Signs and Wonders and with diverse Miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost If we receive the witness of Men the witness of God is greater and this is the witness of God which he hath testified That Iesus Christ is his Son And who will not believe and receive the Testimony which God hath given to his Son maketh him a Liar He who refuseth this opposeth himself to the Truth of God and so reproacheth and dishonoureth him who hath so positively and so many ways testified of him And Therefore it is said by this Apostle as we cited before Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father And in the following Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God And as the Denying of Jesus Christ to be the Son of God is a Reproaching the Truth of God so also it is a Despising of his Wisdom and an Endeavouring to baffle and Undervalue all the admirable contrivances thereof and all the Wise and Wonderful Dispensations of his Providence and the Eternal Purposes of his Counsel For as all things are of Christ and through him so all things were designed with a respect to him The Creating of the World the permitting of Man to fall the Miraculous Constitution of the Iewish Nation and the no less wonderful Preservation thereof for so many Years the Shame Ignominy and Banishment which that People suffer now the Calling of the Gentiles all God's Dealings with Men and Angels and in a word all that hath hitherto fallen out and all that is to be any time hereafter and the End
making Man's Life so much shorter now than what it was at first in the Patriarchs timse is so far from being a Matter of Complaint that it is indeed a great Blessing He who must run will not complain of the shortness of the Race especially if the way be not good but rough and uneven The shortest Life is long enough if it be well employed If we can be so wise as to live well it is our Happiness to die soon for then Death is but the ending of our Misery and a wafting us over to eternal Bliss And this is it which St. Iohn here calls Life it is that glorious and happy State in the other World which God hath prepared for all true Believers That it is this which is here meant we need no further Proof than to look to the Verse before and after our Text for there he names it expressly Eternal Life This is indeed the End of our Faith the Completion of the Promises the great and last Design of Christianity All other are subordinate to this Whatever else is given is either to further the Attainment of this or to cherish the Hopes of it For this end Christ was born for this end he died and rose again for this end the Gospel was preached and thither tend all the Dispensations of the Divine Providence even to bring Men to Eternal Life which also is called by other glorious Names in Scripture as Heaven the Kingdom of God the Kingdom of Glory If you ask why the Apostle should call this State Life simply when Men do live who are not in this State The Answer is he calls it Life by way of Eminence and Excellency no State being comparable to it It is deservedly called Life if we either consider the Felicity or Duration of it First it deserveth the Name of Life upon the Account of the Felicity and Happiness it affords for Life and Happiness are often used as Reciprocal Terms as Words of one Importance according to that Saying non est vivere sed valere vita to live merely to have a being and no more is not worth the Name of Life A Man would chuse to be dead rather than miserable Wherefore it is also that St. Paul calleth this Life a dying daily He only is said to live truly who liveth happily And there is no true Happiness but in this Life which the Apostle here speaks of What and how great this Happiness is is not yet known Some late Enthusiasts and Visionaries have taken upon them to describe this future State as particularly as if they had already lived some time in it But St. Iohn saith It doth not yet appear what we shall be and we have Reason to believe that there was as much revealed to him as to them What he says is certain what they add ought to be rejected as presumptuous Dreams and Delusions God has revealed clearly that there is another Life and has assured us that it is more than a sufficient Recompence for all our Labours and Services and that it will afford perfect Contentment and Satisfaction But the particular Circumstances of that Life are yet kept secret partly because we could not conceive or comprehend them We are not capable of a full Discovery of that Life for it exceeds our highest Thoughts and best Apprehensions Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The Scripture speaks to us of Rivers of Pleasure Kingdoms Scepters and uncorruptible Crowns But we are to understand this no otherwise than as Similitudes representing something of exceeding great Worth and Value As our greatest Thoughts of God fall short of what he is so also all our Apprehensions of Heaven for the Happiness of Heaven is infinite like the Nature of God Kings and Princes study to have their Courts answerable to their Magnificence and Dignity How Glorious and Magnificent then must Heaven be the Court of the great King Whose Power is Almighty whose Wisdom is Infinite and all whose Perfections are past finding out either by Men or Angels Surely God shall there display himself and his Attributes most clearly and most fully to all Beholders St. Iohn who had a clearer Prospect of Heaven than ever any mortal Man tells us That there is no manner of Imperfection there The city saith he had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof And there is no night there and they need no candle neither light of the Sun for the Lord God giveth them light There is also he tells us a Freedom and absolute Exemption from all Misery Pain and Trouble they who are there shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them neither any heat for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and lead them to living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their Eyes There we shall not be clogged and fettered to a weak infirm sickly Body as now for then this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality and Christ Iesus shall change this vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself And if our Bodies shall suffer such glorious Changes what think you shall be done to our Souls those precious and better parts of us It is not to be doubted but they also shall be highly exalted and perfected we shall not be liable to Ignorance and Error but shall be enlightned with the Knowledge of all Truth for as St. Paul saith Now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now we know in part but then shall we know even as we are known There shall be excellent choice and most desirable Company not only all Saints and the Spirits of just Men made perfect but Angels and Arch-Angels Cherubims and Seraphims And we shall not only have the Pleasure of their Company but shall be equal unto them as our Saviour tells us Nay which is yet more there we shall enjoy Christ and God and not only enjoy them but be transformed into their Likeness Beloved saith St. Iohn now we are the Sons of God and it doth not appear what we shall be but this we know that when he doth appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Seeing this doth appear what needs more there is no climbing higher God is the Height of Perfection and the Fountain of all Happiness And it is impossible to conceive greater Felicity than what this Enjoyment of God and Likeness to him amount to The highest Creatures are not capable of more The aspiring to be as Gods was the Sin of our first Parents and did tempt them
to eat the forbidden Fruit and was the Occasion of all that Misery which came upon them and us both But behold we are now to become as God in a higher better and truer sense than what they aimed at or could have come to by any Fruit tho' it had not been forbidden Behold what manner of Love is this wherewith the Father hath loved us that we should be called the Sons of God! What ineffable Glory What high Dignity is this that Man is now exalted to Lord what is Man that thou art so mindful of him And the Son of Man that thou visitest him Thou hast made him but a little lower than the Angels here in this World and hereafter thou designest to make him equal to them yea like unto thy self How astonishing are the Thoughts of this What Admiration may they breed Especially when all this Glory and Honour is not for a Day a Month or a Year but to all Eternity The Duration of this State is another Reason why the Apostle calls it Life What is short and momentany deserves not the Name of Life and therefore our Life in this World is reckoned in Scripture but as a Breath a Vapour it is to be esteemed but as a Puff of Wind. But that Life above suffers no Changes it is unalterable it never hath an end it lasts not only a thousand thousand Years but for ever and ever Here we think much if we have a few Days Peace and Contentment But they who are in Heaven are eternally happy Thus we see what sort of Life it is our Text speaks of If you ask to whom are we indebted for it Look to the preceeding Verse and there you will find it This is the Record that God hath given to us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son It is to Jesus Christ only that we owe the Obligation it is by him and through him and for him that we come to Life for he only is the Discoverer of it he only is the Author of it and only hath the disposing and giving of it First he is the Discoverer thereof he hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel Before the Gospel was published Men were ignorant of this Life neither the Certainty nor Nature of it were known The Wise Heathens indeed had some Notion of a Life after this they judged it reasonable that the Soul should survive the Body But however all they talkt were mere Conjectures they had no Assurance of the Truth And tho' it be certain that the Jews had the Promise of Eternal Life as well as temporal good things and that all the pious and holy Men among them lived in Expectation of it yet it was so darkly revealed even to them that you know there was one Sect amongst them who denied the Resurrection altogether and even those who believed it had no very right and worthy Thoughts thereof or else they might have soon refuted the Sadducees gross Apprehensions But whatever Knowledge either Jews or Heathens of old had of another Life it is to be ascribed to Christ for he is the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World And now he hath put this Matter clearly out of Doubt Neither the Resurrection from the dead nor the Life hereafter needs now be disputed as doubtful Problems for Jesus Christ hath given evident Demonstrations of the Truth of them by his plain Assertions and express Promises and his own Resurrection But Secondly Christ is not only the Discoverer of Eternal Life but the Author thereof also There was more required to the attaining this than the mere Discovery of it This was above humane reach It was too great a height for Man of himself to climb to If any had attempted this trusting in his own worth he had been certainly baffled and defeated His Boldness as it served to be laught at so it should have been punished But as Christ hath shewed us this so he hath purchased it for us It is the Merits of Christ which have opened the Kingdom of Heaven and it is by his Strength that we perform the Conditions of entering into it And when we have performed the Conditions it is even he himself who bestows it on us for he is that holy one who hath received the key of David who openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth It is he who putteth on us the Crown of Life When we have done our Work it is from him that we receive Reward and this Reward is promised to all who believe Which leads us to the last particular namely to shew That all who have the Son have Life This is a Point we need not stand much upon for it is so clear and evident not only through this Epistle but the whole New Testament there is not the least shadow of pretence for the doubting of it Verily verily I say unto you saith Christ he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into Condemnation but is passed from death unto life And again it is said he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God Believers have full assurance of Eternal Life for their Faith unites them to Christ. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood that is believeth in Christ dwelleth in me and I in him See also Chap. xvii Now Christ and his Members will not be divided where the one is the other will be also Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me And we are sure the Father heareth the Son Believers also have good ground to hope for Eternal Life for Faith is the very Seed and Principle from which it flows The Life of Faith is the beginning of the Life of Glory the one is but the Perfection and Completion of the other Blessed is he therefore who believeth for there shall be a Performance of those things which are told him from the Lord. It is Faith then and Faith only which giveth us a title to Eternal Life such a Faith I mean as was formerly described He that so believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him They who do not and will not embrace Christ here shall not be Embraced by him hereafter They who refuse his Yoke in this World shall in the World to come be cast out of his glorious Kingdom and thrown to that place of darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth Now that we may draw to a close what an Influence should these Considerations have upon our Souls What a holy disdain should they work in us
of those Sublunary and perishing things How much should we despise and undervalue those empty and fading Vanities seeing we have such infinitely better things prepared for us and waiting upon us Doth he who is called to a Kingdom mind Sticks and Straws Trifles and petty inconsiderable things Remember O Christian what thou art and what thou art called to keep up the Decorum that is suitable to the dignity of thy Person and walk worthy of the Vocation whereunto thou art called Do not creep upon thy Belly and lie groveling upon the Ground lift up thy Head and let thy Heart be where thou seest thy Treasure is Be not like the foolish Indians who sell their Gold and their Pearls and other precious things for Brass and Iron and Glass Beads Do not seek to fill thy Belly with Husks when thou mayst have fulness of Bread in thy Father's House Do not grasp so fast but let go those painted Vanities those mere shadows of Delight and make sure to thy self that fulness of Joy and those Rivers of Pleasure which are at God's Right hand for ever and ever Secondly Consider those things that thou mayst have Comfort in thy Afflictions that thou mayst bear up with a chearful Spirit under all the Crosses that are laid on thee The hopes of Heaven do lighten the burthen of Affliction they take away the heavy pressure thereof How light should we consider our Affliction which is but for a moment seeing it is followed by a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory Look unto Iesus the author and finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God Now if we suffer with him we shall be also glorified together with him And I reckon saith St. Paul that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Thirdly Consider what a mighty Encouragement this Blessed life is and what a powerful inducement it should be to Prayer Meditation to all Holy Duties and in a word to a hearty compliance with the whole Gospel We are not commanded those things in vain for naught all the pains we are at this way shall be well rewarded Do we toil and sweat for the Bread which perisheth And shall we not labour for that which endureth to Eternal Life Do Men venture upon Merciless Seas Do they throw themselves upon the Points of Swords and before the mouths of Cannons for a little Gain or some small piece of Honour And shall we refuse to walk Circumspectly to live Soberly Righteously and Godly for Heaven and Eternal Life Be ashamed O Christian of thy Sloth and Laziness blush to see some taking more Pains for Earth than thou art for Heaven for Perishing thant hou art for Eternal Riches You see your Labour is not in vain be stedfast therefore and immoveable and always abounding in the Work of the Lord run with Patience the Race that is set before you and run so that you may obtain Do not faint and weary in well-doing but persevere therein to the very End Be thou faithful unto the death saith Christ and I will give thee a Crown of life Finally Let what hath been said raise your Appetite and stir up in you a Holy and Sincere Desire of this Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which strengthens your Faith cherishes your Hope gives you the Encrease of Grace here and is to you a sure Pawn and Pledge of Glory hereafter For this Holy Sacrament is the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus not the Sacred Symbols and Representations thereof only but the conveyance of the Merits of his Death and Sufferings also Now Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood ye have no life in you Eat therefore O Friends Drink yea Drink abundantly O Beloved that your Souls may be satisfied and live for evermore Now unto him who hath loved us and given himself unto the Death for us and who hath opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers even unto Iesus Christ with the Father and Blessed Spirit the Glorious and Incomprehensible Trinity be all Praise Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON VIII ON EASTER-DAY 1689. 1 COR. XV. 19. If in this Life only we have Hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable WHAT the Church Commemorates in this great Festival of Easter solemnly celebrated by all Antiquity St. Paul evidently proves in this Chapter viz. That important Article of our Creed the Resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ. And from this necessarily he deduceth another most material Point which is the Certainty of our own Resurrection The firm Belief of both these Points are not only absolutely Necessary but also the serious and frequent Consideration of them is most useful that we may be strengthened and encouraged in our Temptations comforted in our Troubles and animated to a chearful Labouring in every work of the Lord. The certainty of an after state as well as the Quality thereof is only known by the Gospel it is Iesus Christ only who hath brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel The Heathens had some knowledge thereof but it was very faint It was only as a Dream and Imagination for when our Apostle taught it at Athens he was counted a Babler and was mocked there even by the Philosophers themselves And among the Iews there was the Sect of the Sadducees who believed neither Resurrection nor Spirit St. Paul attacks these Epicurean and Sadducean Principles in this Chapter for it would seem that some of the Church of Corinth were corrupted with them and said That there is no Resurrection of the Dead though the belief of this point be so essential to a Christian that he ceases to be one who denies it The words of our Text are one of those Arguments St. Paul makes use of for evincing the Truth and certainty of our Resurrection and it is an Argument taken ex absurdo which is accounted a demonstration even in the strictest Science for there be many Propositions of the Mathematicks which cannot be otherwise demonstrated than by shewing the absurd Consequences of their being false I shall endeavour to demonstrate the strength and force of this Argument of St. Paul for another Life But first let us consider the Truth of his Assertion here that we that is Good and Sincere Christians would be of all others the most miserable if there were no more expected than what this Life doth afford St. Paul saith here that if Christians had no hope but in this Life they would be of all Men most miserable He doth not say they would be the only miserable Persons whereby he clearly insinuates that others as well as they are liable to Misery in this World As some Ignorant and Unjust Men charge
that it answered every Man's Taste that is it relish'd according to each Man 's particular Appetite affording every one that Satisfaction in his Taste which pleased him best So the Joy afforded us upon the gaining this Spiritual Victory shall be most ravishing it shall fully answer all the Desires of our Souls and shall yield us that full Satisfaction they would be at wherefore it is called a Joy unspeakable and full of Glory and our Lord tells us that they who taste thereof shall not hunger or thirst any more Whosoever shall drink of this water shall thirst again but whosoever shall drink of this water that I shall give him shall never thirst Moreover as there was Plenty of Manna so we shall not have this Heavenly Joy in narrow and scanty Measures but it shall flow and abound beyond all Expression Therefore it is said in Scripture to pass all understanding that is the heighth and greatness thereof can never be sufficiently comprehended Finally as Manna was permanent it lasted all the while the Children of Israel were in the Wilderness that is so long as they needed it neither was it possible for their Enemies to hinder it so this Joy shall never cease our Enemies Malice and Power cannot reach it but it abideth for ever All earthly Goods are liable to Rapine and Violence our Enemies may bereave us of them But they cannot take away the Consolations of the Spirit of God here these we may enjoy in the midst of Bonds and Imprisonment and Afflictions and much less can any stay that joy and those Pleasures which shall be bestowed hereafter And as these are the Reasons why the Joy prepared for those who overcome is called Manna so it is called hidden Manna alluding to the Pot of Manna laid up in the Ark or else because the Nature and Quality and Excellency of this Joy is without the reach of Sense Our bodily Sense does not discern it nor can humane Reason scan it Strangers do not intermeddle with this joy None understand it but they who possess it Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of Man the good things which God hath laid up for them that love him But I said by Manna are not only set forth the Nature and Quality of those Delights he who overcometh is to be feasted with but also the particular Entertainment which affords such excellent Joy and Delight is pointed at And therefore by Manna here we are to understand Jesus Christ himself for Manna was a Type and Figure of him and he is expressly called Spiritual Manna 1 Cor. x. 3. And as a Pot of Manna was laid up in the Ark so Jesus Christ is kept and reserved in the Heavens which were figured by the Ark and therefore he is called hidden Manna Now they who overcome shall have Christ to feast upon not after a corporal and carnal manner eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood as some senselesly dream they do in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper nor yet sacramentally as all true Believers do in this World in the Elements of Bread and Wine For hereafter in Heaven which is here pointed at there is neither place for nor need of Types Figures and Symbols which would not be suitable Entertainment for such a pure and perfect State But the meaning is they shall feast on everlasting Bliss the Purchase and Merits of his Blood the Fruits of his Incarnation Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascension and whatever he did or suffered to purchase Eternal Happiness for us There is no proper Food but this He who wants it is utterly miserable for nothing but the Enjoyment of Christ in Heaven can give Life or Pleasure to the Soul of Man And the Soul that is entertained in his beatifick Presence is entertained in the Fullness of Joy and cannot but be happy for there is no Grief or Sadness in that glorious Place where he is but perfect Delight Joy Pleasure and Satisfaction as will appear by what follows which is the effect of this Entertainment He who gets to eat of this hidden Manna shall also get a white Stone When St. Iohn had this Revelation he was in Patmos an Isle in the Egean or Egarean Sea and here he alludes to a Custom practised or well known there for in Asia and other Eastern Countries they were wont to give their Votes for acquitting or condemning such as were accused by casting white and black Shells or Stones the white as an Emblem of Innocency was for the Persons Absolution and Justification as the black betokened Guilt and declared for their Condemnation which Ovid has thus delivered Mos erat antiquis niveis atrisque lapillis His damnare reos illis absolvere culpa By the white Stone then is meant a Sentence of Absolution and so our Saviour here promiseth to absolve and justifie such as overcome from all that may be laid to their Charge He will take away their Guilt wash them from their Sins and deliver them from the Death that is due to them And O what a Happiness is this What matter of Joy is there in this Promise It is as Health to the sick Ransom to the captive and a Remission to him who is ready to be led forth to Execution If any be not affected herewith it is because they are not sensible of their Guilt and do not consider the heinous Nature of Sin or the Misery which attends it But they who have laid this to Heart will prize it exceedingly What would a troubled Conscience give for the least Assurance or smallest Hope of this Comfort O Who will deliver me from this Body of Death saith St. Paul and David who roared all the day long because of his Sin and on that Account found God's Hand Day and Night heavy upon him cries out Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose Sin is covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity Despair not because thy Sins are many and great for be they never so numerous or heinous Christ is able to take them away and here he promises to absolve thee Be of good cheer O Sinner thy Sins shall be forgiven thee for there is now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit But there is here promised not only a white Stone the Sign of Absolution and a Deliverance from Death due to us but also something more which we could never deserve and which exceeds all Expression In the Stone there shall be a New Name which is still an Allusion to the Custom of these former times and Eastern Countries where Letters and Words used to be written also upon the Stones they cast into the publick Urn. What is the Importance of this New Name we will know when we have found out whose Name it is whether of him who gives it or of him who receives it
into shame how long will ye love vanity and seek after leesing Do ye slight God set at nought your Maker and court the World Are ye taken up with Toys and Trifles and will ye despise Life and cast behind you eternal Bliss Be astonished O ye Heavens at this And be horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord for my People have committed two great evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hew'd them out Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no water O! that Men were wise O! that they did understand O! that they would but seriously consider this Come I pray you let us reason together call in your Thoughts consult your Knowledge advise with your Experience and then tell me what you have ever found preferable to God Is there any thing more worthy your Thoughts or Care What is it that doth equal his Favour and Love Or what can compensate the Loss thereof Will Riches will Honours will Pleasures or will any thing else be profitable as God Can we expect to draw from them either separately or jointly as much Comfort and Satisfaction as from him Behold every Day lets us see that all these things are frail brittle and uncertain and that there can be no fast hold of them But though they were more certain and stable yet being unsuitable to the Nature of our Souls 't is impossible to draw from them alone that good which our Souls crave It is indeed somewhat hard to convince Men but though they should act over all the Experiments of Solomon and prove what good is under the Sun they could not draw another Conclusion than what he has left us viz. That all things are vanity and vexation of Spirit and that Mans chief and only good is to seek God and to delight themselves in him The Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore will I hope in him O consider what an Honour it is to be admitted into Favour and Fellowship with God The Psalmist falls into Admiration when he beheld Man but a little lower than the Angels and invested with Dominion over the Fowls of the Air the Beasts of the Field and the Fish of the Sea And whatever Reason there be for Praise and Admiration in that Case yet Angels being but Fellow-Creatures and the other destitute of Reason and Understanding and so far below us this is nothing so considerable as to be advanc'd into Communion with God himself this is indeed a Heighth and Dignity which may both amaze the Beholders and those on whom it is conferred To be made the Friends of God is truly an Honour to our Nature nothing else can give any Lustre or Glory to us but this is the highest can be aspir'd to either by Angels or Men and therefore we have great Reason to cry out Lord what is Man that thou shouldest be so kind to him And so kind too after he had turn'd Rebel and Traytor is indeed beyond Expression Behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God Constantine had good Reason to say that he gloried more in being a Member of the Church than in being Head of the Empire for to be a true lively Member of the Church doth unite us to God and so is more to be desired than the greatest Dominion or an universal Monarchy For hereby we are not only highly honoured but greatly enriched we have not only an honourable Title and Relation conferred on us but also the largest Emolument Eliphaz advised Iob to seek unto God that he might be relieved out of all his Trouble and if he got him his Friend he told him he should be in League with the stones of the Field and the beasts of the Field should be at peace with him for God will certainly oblige all his Creatures to keep Peace with those with whom he is at Peace as a King maketh Peace not only for himself but for all his People or if he let any of them break Peace it is that he may make those his beloved and peculiar Friends to be the more glorious by gaining a Victory over them He that draws near to God is sure of his Hearts wish Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart What can any wish for more than what an infinite Wisdom can contrive an infinite Power act and an infinite Bounty bestow Now he who hath God his Friend is allied to infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness which will ever interess themselves in all his Concerns Happy are the People whose God is the Lord blessed is the Man who chuses God for his Inheritance for he will give grace and glory and will with-hold no good thing from him All things shall work together to the good of them that love God Trouble as well as Prosperity and the saddest Affliction as well as the greatest outward Plenty Many say who will shew us any good But saith David Lord lift thou up the light of thy Countenance upon us Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their Corn and Wine increased They who draw near to God have Joy which the World cannot rob them of the Ground of their Happiness and Comfort is not liable to Rapine or Violence nor doth it ever decay Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you saith Christ but not as the World giveth give I unto you that is he gives neither so inconsiderable nor yet so brittle and uncertain a Peace as what the World gives but what is more solid and substantial wherefore he adds let not your hearts be troubled neither be afraid If we have Peace with God through Christ we need not startle at any thing neither at private Personal Disasters nor at publick Calamities Because God is our refuge and present help The Children of God cannot be without Crosses and Afflictions but God will not suffer these to marr either their present inward Comfort or after Happiness their Joy cannot be taken from them He will let them be tossed up and down with the Waves of Trouble but they shall not be swallowed up they shall have a joyful exit Mark the perfect and behold the upright for the latter end of that Man is Peace Psal. xxxvii When Men draw near the end of their Life when their Days are near a Period whether through Age or by any Accident they have need of some comforting Cordial to keep them from fainting and nothing is possible to administer this but the Hopes of Peace with God The Sense of God's Favour and Love will make Death appear without a frightful Visage though generally it is esteemed the King of Terrours this will make one to be so far from abhorring Death as in many Cases to be even glad of it because it opens a Door to eternal Rest unspeakable Joy and Fullness of Glory Is it not then good for
somewhat more Spiritual than what these amount to But to leave this and come to an Application This Text in both parts may be accommodated to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper These words Let us draw near may be without stretching applied to our coming to this Ordinance for this is one way of drawing near to God and the most solemn we can make in this Life and an earnest of that intimate admission into his glorious presence hereafter and hereby also is set forth that which procur'd us this gracious Privilege viz. The Death and Sufferings of Jesus Christ. Wherefore those who desire to draw near to God and would have the comfort of his Favour and the hopes of everlasting Glory should embrace readily and chearfully the occasion of the Sacrament And to speak freely to you I know nothing can keep People from this Sacrament and make them slight it but the want of a true desire after God and the little concern they have for their Eternal Salvation I pray God forgive those who have made some believe it a mark of Religion or greater Sanctity to withdraw themselves from our Communion I intreat you be not easily deceived believe not every Spirit but examine well what you hear whether it be agreeable to Truth None that knows the Truth or loves the Purity of the Gospel can join in Communion with the Church of Rome But I appeal to all your Consciences if there be any Doctrine taught in this Church or any thing practised in our Worship disagreeable to the Word of God And if there be not why should Persons withdraw from our Communion And what can excuse such withdrawing These Tables are indeed too seldom covered but when they are covered let them be filled with Guests and if they be not what a shame is it Let not this poor Church be miserably torn with needless and unwarrantable separations whereby we become both a prey and a laughing-stock to our Enemies How comely a thing is it saith the Psalmist for brethren to dwell together in unity and it is as profitable as comely Are the Times bad We should meet to pray God to make them better Is this a wicked generation That should not make us forsake the assembling our selves together but we should the rather do it to provoke one another to love and good works Let not any pretend a liberty of doing what they please or say they are not accountable to us whether they go or come Consider I pray you that you are all accountable to God as also as Christians and Members of his Church you are all accountable to his Ministers especially to his Supream Ministers under Christ the Bishops to whom you are subject as to your Spiritual Superiours and ought to obey them This is his Command and therefore you are obliged to do what he Commands and not what is right in your own Eyes or in the Eyes of others let therefore his Laws be punctually observed and his Ordinances waited on And let none take to themselves a Dispensation from any of these lest they incurr his displeasure which of all things is most to be feared But though I wish all would come to this Sacrament yet I would not have any to come unworthily and without due Preparation for St. Paul has told us the sad danger of that Now what is required to render one worthy you may learn from the Text he hath the wedding garment who hath the qualifications in the Text. Let me therefore beseech you all to retire Home to lay aside the thoughts of other Business and in all seriousness to examine how it stands between God and you see whether you be already adorn'd with these Qualifications here spoken of if you have them rejoice and bless God and come up to Morrow to the House of God and to this Sacrament that they may be confirmed and perfected in you If as yet ye are Strangers to these Qualifications do not resolve to withdraw for that is to continue in your sin and so without God but be ye rather more earnest this Night in acquiring them In so short a time 't is true you cannot bring them to Perfection but you may have them in Sincerity which for the present will be admitted O! rouze up your Faith and let it operate in your Minds besprinkle your selves with the Tears of true Contrition and cleanse your selves with stedfast Purposes of departing from all Iniquity and of keeping ever hereafter the Commandments of God and if you do so you shall go back justified in God's Sight Amen SERMON XII On HOSEA X. 12. Sow to your selves in righteousness reap in mercy break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you THESE words contain a sound and wholsome Advice to a miserable People lying under the weight of God's Anger and threatned with many sad and grievous Judgments The People were Israel the Children of the Ten Tribes with whom God had a Controversie because there was no Truth nor Mercy nor Knowledge of God in the Land They had cast off the Service of the true God and corrupted themselves with the Idolatry Superstition and other Abominations of the Heathen Nations among whom they dwelt For which God's Wrath was kindled against them and this Prophet was sent forth to intimate the Divine Displeasure and how severely it would fall on them But the Divine Threatnings are for the most part like Ionathan's Arrows shot for Warning rather than Destruction In the midst of Wrath he remembers Mercy and when he denounceth War he intends to spare and therefore denounceth it that Men may be awakened to their Duty and so prevent if not the Temporal Evils which they deserve yet their Eternal Ruin which is worst of all Wherefore it is that the Prophet so often intermixeth his Threatnings with Exhortations to Repentance Obedience and seeking the Lord as here in our Text. This Advice has no particularity in it to restrain it to those to whom it was here given but it may very well suit with any other People who are desirous of God's Favour and have reason to fear his Displeasure Nay here is laid down the general and indispensable Conditions on which any People may expect Peace and Reconciliation with God and the sure means of obtaining good things from him and so they are proper to be considered by you at this time Hosea speaks here in Metaphorical terms borrowed from Husbandry which as it is the most ancient Employment of Mankind So according to Cicero it is of all others most becoming and worthy of a Gentleman and hath employed the Pens of the greatest among the Romans and there is a great deal both of Grace and Force in the terms of it to carry the things recommended by the familiar use of them home to the Minds of Men and render them more effectual Upon which account nothing is more
fighting the good fight and endeavouring to do all things commanded us through Christ that strengtheneth us More Reasons might be given but these are sufficient not only to clear the Divine Wisdom and Goodness of all Imputation but also to make them appear eminently in such Dispensations towards his best and most beloved Servants When I first entred on this Discourse I intended to have taken in the two following Verses not thinking that this one would have furnished matter enough for a Discourse but you see how far the handling of it hath carried us and how without digressing from the Purpose of the Text or doing Violence to the Words thereof several material and important Observations have been drawn From which we may see as St. Chrysostom observes the fullness of the Scripture and that an inexhaustible Treasure of Wisdom and Knowledge is contained in it when one single Verse and so barren at the first Appearance can afford so many and so useful Instructions If one Verse can do such what may the whole do Surely It is able to make us wise unto Salvation and beyond all Question is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works God grant that this Word of his may dwell in all Christians richly in all Wisdom but especially in the Ministers of the Gospel whose Office it is to instruct others therein Amen FINIS Snake in the Grass A General Call to all Persons Joh. 5. 40. Isai. 55. 1. Rev. 22. 17. Why all Men are said to Labour and to be heavy Laden I. Because of Afflictions II. The Emptiness and Vanity of Life Ezek. 24. 〈◊〉 2. Isa. 29. 8. Eccl. 1. 5. 9. 2. 17. 4. 2 3. III. The fear of Death IV. Sin Psal. 38. 2. Prov. 18. 14. How Christ giveth rest I. From Sin Matt. 9. II. From the fear of Death Rev. 3. 7. III. Under the Vanity of this Life IV. From Troubles and Afflictions The necessary Qualification to the rest Promised I. Coming to Christ is 1st To follow his Counsel 2d To believe in him Heb. 11. 6. 2 Cor. 4. 3. Heb. 3. 12. 3d. What Faith is 1 John 5. 9. Chap. 2. 22 23. II. Taking the Yoke Gal. 5. 1. Gal. 5. 13. 1 Pet. 2. 16. III. Learning of Christ. John 13. 15. Phil. 2. I. The Scope and Coherence of the Text. II. The Truths contain'd in the Text. III. The perverse disingenuity of the Socinians in their Explication of this Text. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Hydra Socinianismi Tom. 2. Praef. * Naked Gospel IV. Of Iesus Christ his Pre-existence and Deity V. Of his humane Nature and Humiliation VI. Inferences from the Nature and Quality of Iesus Christ. 1st Admiration 2d Love III. Comfort against Tentations and Afflictions I. Of Iesus Christ his Person Nature and Quality Gal. 4. 4. Isa. 7. 14. 9. 6. II. His Actions and Sufferings They were voluntary Joh. 10. 17 18. What his Humiliation referrs to His great Obedience His Death III. Why Iesus abased and humbled himself For the Glory of God and Man's Redemption To demonstrate God's Love and Mercy His Iustice and Authority The heinous Nature of Sin The Dignity of Humane Nature The Perfection of it The Exaltation of Iesus Christ. Eccles. 7. 2 3 4. I. The Womens Behaviour A Comfort to Women An Example in dangerous times The Greatness of the Womens Sorrow The Cause of it Lam. 1. 12. II. Our Lord's Check to the Womens Sorrow The Prohibition not absolute The glorious Effects of Christ's Death III. Why Iesus Christ requireth us to mourn rather for our selves than him Is. 5. 3 4 5. IV. The dreadful Effects of the death of Iesus Christ upon the Impenitent Iesus may be Crucified again V. The Application I. The Author of our Happiness God Jam. 1. 16 17. God and the Father * Qui 〈◊〉 udam Dei Majestatem extra Christum mente concipiunt Idolum habent Dei loco sicut Iudaei Turcae proinde quisquis verum Deum verè cognoscere cupit hoc patris Christi titulo ipsum vestiat nisi enim quoties mens nostrae Deum quaerit Christus occurrat vaga confusa errabit donec prorsus deficiat Calvinus in locum II. The Motive which induced God His abundant Mercy * Posset Apostolus saith Fulgentius vasa misericordiae potius vasa justitiae nuncupare Sed si vasa justitiae vocarentur forsitan ex seipsis habere justitiam putarent Nunc autem cum vasa misericordiae dicit proculdubio quid ipsi fuerint non tacuit quare quid eis à Deo collatum sit evidenter ostendit Lib. de Praedest p. 58. III. The Benefits conferred Begotten again A lively Hope An Inheritance Incorruptible Undefiled It fadeth not away In the Heavens IV. The ground of Assurance Iesus his Resurrection I. Iesus Christ is the Son of God Philip. 2. 9. 10 11. II. What is meant by Having the Son True Faith described Matth. 7. 22. Cor. 10. 5. Gal. 2. 20. Heb. 11. Rom. 10. 17. 2 Cor. 4. 3. III. Life explained 1 Tim. 4. 8. 1 Cor. 15. 19. Why Heaven and the future State of the righteous is called Life 1. Cor. 15. 31. Mad. Antonia Borignian and some others 1 Cor. 2. 9. Revel 21. 23. 22. 5. Rev. 7. 16. 1 Cor. 15. Philip 3. 21. 1 Cor. 13. 12. Luke 19. 36. Iesus Christ the Discoverer of this Life 2 Tim. 1. 10. John 1. 7. And the Author of it Rev. 3. 7. Rev. 2. 10. IV. Faith gives a right and title to Life Joh. 5. 24. 3. 18. Joh. 6. 56. John 17. V. Practical Inferences 1. 2. Heb. 12. 2. Rom. 8. 18. 3. Rev. 2. 10. 4. I. Misery and Trouble not peculiar to a state of Christianity Job 18. 20. Isai. 57. 20. II. They are Common to the state of Mankind in this World Eccl. 4. 23. III. Christians and Good men more liable to be miserable in this Life than others And the Reason why it is so Mat. 10. 37. Luke 14. 26 27. 2 Tim. 3. 12. 1 Thes. 3. 3. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Psal. 37. 16. IV. The Force of St. Paul's Argument for the Proof of another Life V. Inferences First Second Third 1 Cor. 4. 16. Rev. 7. 16 17. Fourth Joh. 3. 36. I. All Christians are concerned in this Advertisement II. Of Hearing It s Necessity The manner of doing it Whom we should hear III. Of Overcoming Christianity is a Warfare The Nature of the Christian Warfare What Christian Victory is No Victory so honourable Prov. 16. 32. IV. Of the hidden Manna It is an Allusion to the Custom of entertaining Conquerours and to what the Iews fed upon in the Wilderness The Nature and Quality of the Entertainment appointed for Christian Conquerours Joh. 4. 13. Iesus Christ is the hidden Manna V. Of the white Stone Ovid Metam Lib. xv Psal. 32. 1. Rom. 8. 1. VI. Of the New Name VII How these words No man knoweth but he