Holy-days in Memory of the Apostles and of their Saints as they would call and make them Now in this Case if we would have all things done according to the Pattern shewed to us in the Gospel see Heb. 8. 5. we should throw off and surcease from the Observation of many or most of these latter sort but therefore in no wise from the former I speak as unto wise Men judge ye what I say That is no good Argument why we should not Yearly Commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead because we would not willingly mind all the Saints Days in the Romish nor yet in the English Almanack Calender According to that Reasoning which may be gather'd from Matth. 23. 23. Seeing that the first seems to be the Mind and of the Institution of God This ought to be observed but the other being the Tradition Invention or Imposition of Man may be left unobserved and let alone We should be zealous for and observe each thing according as it is the Commandment and Institution of God But there is no such Obligation as to what proceeds only from the Law of a Carnal Commandment or from the Rudiments and Ordinances of Men. To shew and put a difference is one Essential Part of the Ministerial Duty Ezek. 22. 26. And thus to put a difference between what is of Divine Institution and Appointment to shew a Difference between the Law and Commandment of God and between the Orders and Impositions of Men As also to point out both Extreams for both Extreams are bad and to shew how the Truth lies in the middle way be tween them both All this Rightfully and Skilfully done would prevent abundance of Errors and Mistakes in Matters of Religion True indeed that now under the Gospel Oeconomy and Dispensation Holiness unto the Lord should be inscribed and intended in all the Actions of those who would frame and order their Conversation according to the same Gospel And consequently to a Christian Man or Woman every day to him or her not the Sabbath Day only but every Week Day also should be Holiness unto the Lord. And as every Day we draw nearer towards our End and so we ought to grow better Even so likewise we should endeavour that we keep each day to morrow more than this notwithstanding it be the Week Day and this is Sabbath more and more Holy unto the Lord and try also if you can live the next Day yet more Holy Sober and Innocent and so on Nevertheless as in the Six Days it is lawful to do worldly Work and Labour and therein we serve God acceptably also as on the Lord's Day in the Place of his Worship which yet is not lawful to do on that And as we read in the Scriptures of a double Portion and of a double measure of the Spirit of Pre-eminence and Excellency that Christ in all things should have the Pre-eminence so in like manner all this hinders not that tho every Day unto a Christian Man or Woman should be Holy unto the Lord yet nevertheless some particular Days as those Three Great Festivals before-mentioned may be Holy above all the rest by way of Pre-eminence and Excellency Having thus prepared the way and shew'd the middle way between the too much superstitious Observance of Holy Days on one Hand and the total Neglect or Contempt of them on the other Let no Man therefore judge you in Meat or in Drink or in Respect of an Holy Day or of the New Moon or of the Sabbath Days which are a Shadow of Things to come but the Body is of Christ Col. 2. 16 17. The Apostle doth not here speak to surcease the Use of them utterly in no wise But as those great Holy days now in Use and Observation among us have all a Relation and Tendency unto Christ as his Nativity his Suffering on the Cross His Resurrection from the Dead His Ascension up to the Right Hand of God and his sending the Holy Ghost and Comforter on his Disciples Apostles and Followers on the Day of Pentecost and so in a less measure on each Day of our Assembling our selves together throughout the Year Proceed we now to shew the right manner how to observe this Holy-day in the which our Saviour Jesus Christ rose from the Dead As to which there cannot be a more fit proper and pertinent Text in all the Bible than that we have chosen If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above Wherein is to be taken notice of 1. a thing supposed If ye then be risen with Christ 2. A Direction given Seek those things which are above From the Words consider'd all together is intimated forth that wrong manner of observing Festivals now in Use in the World who look upon and practice it no other than as a time of Feasting and Idleness But herein they forget the Benefits which Christ did for them at such a time as also what Duty is expecting from themselves as arising from thence The Scripture like the Author thereof Christ Jesus who is the Word of God doth effectually answer that true End of his Priesthood As to have Compassion upon the Ignorant and those who are out of the way that is to Heaven and Happiness The Scripture gives them Notice and Warning and Direction to put them in the way again Many of the Commandments and Directions in Scripture are silent Reproofs for it often doth in an implied Manner take Notice of what is amiss or wanting in order to rightly instruct and make it up again And so where Paul by the Spirit speaketh on this wise If then ye be risen with Christ In that manner of Speech of his is contained an hidden Innuendo or Meaning as if many were not risen with Christ for He writes unto these as the choice and best of Christians and thereby He implies that even they had made a good Proficiency and Advancement if even they had gone and proceeded so far which can in no wise be said of that mixed Multitude which is abroad in the World Again many do hear or read concerning the Resurrection of Christ but they do not at the very same time mind and give heed unto what Instruction and Application is to be made thereof unto themselves namely That they also should be risen with Christ For altho People now living on the Earth are not put to Death on the Cross nor as yet laid in the Grave as He was how then can they rise with him This Question is somewhat like that of Nicodemus in John 3. 4. and like that in 1 Cor. 15. 35 36. and so it is to be answer'd in like mauner For as Jesus answer'd Nicodemus Verily verily I say unto thee except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God even so it is here except a Man be risen with Christ he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God he can have
no Benefits of Christ's Resurrection Marvel not at this that the Apostle Paul should say Ye must be risen again with Christ that is as Christ was raised again in the Body so ye must be raised again even whilst in Body in your Spirit As the same Apostle Paul explaineth himself elsewhere touching this matter as Christ rose from the Dead even so we should rise up to newness of Life And so the like Reason is to be learned from his Crucifixion The Sixth Chapter of the Romans is full and express to this Purpose Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection Knowing this that our old Mnn is crucified with him that the Body of Sin might be destroyed That henceforth we should not serve Sin For he that is dead is freed from Sin knowing that Christ being raised from the Dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him For in that he died he died unto Sin once But in that he liveth he liveth unto God Likewise reckon ye also your selves be dead indeed unto Sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. And so to allude unto 1 Cor. 15. 44. Christ was raised again in his Natural Body even in that Body of Flesh which He brought from out of the Womb of the Virgin Mary and He carried about him more than Thirty Years while the Lord Jesus went in and out among us So we should be raised again with him in our Spiritual Body that is in those Spiritual Qualifications and Inward Endowments which even now we have and derive down from Christ our Head altho He sits on the Right Hand of God There is a Natural Body and there is a Spiritual Body both in this our present State as well as it will be so in the future Resurrection And even now we are made up both of this Natural Body and of this Spiritual Body all one and in like manner as man is now made up of Body and Soul all one and in like manner as there is a living Soul and a quickening Spirit The first gives Life here and the latter is in order to Life hereafter And this is that first Resurrection which the Scriptures speak of particularly in that Great and Remarkable Place of the Revelations Blessed is that hath his part in the first Resurrection upon such the second Death hath no Power From what hath been aforesaid may be perceived the great Importance and Necessity of rising with Christ as also it hath been shewed from Rom. 6. what this rising and to be risen with Christ means even to walk in newness of Life For we know that when one is dead and raised again he hath thereupon a new Life or another Life given unto him And so People should turn over a new Leaf and run Counter to all the Thoughts Words and Actions of their former natural unregenerate State There is an Old Common and Proverbial Saying That People should have somewhat new upon them at Easter Which tho it be commonly understood of Cloaths and Garments yet there is some Divine and Serious Truth contained therein and to be gather'd from it And that is what was just now said now at this time our Thoughts are taken up with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead we should also examine and prove our selves whither we be risen with him and then question further and look about or rather from within our selves whither we have any thing new on us or rather within us Do we walk in Newness of Life And have we put off concerning the former Conversation the old Man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts thereof And have we put on the new Man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness There is a great Fault and Failure abroad in the World amongst the too superstitious Observers of Lent and Holy-days for many think that such a Season of the Year is for Mortification and Repentance which Mortification by the way is not a Popish Word but a Gospel Duty Mortifie therefore your Members which are upon Earth Col. 3. 5. for he that is dead is freed from Sin Rom. 6. 7. Now Mortification signifies the making dead that is unto Sin whereas this ought to be a Christian's Business all the Year round And so I have read and heard that the Papists do observe their Carnival before Lent wherein they give themselves over unto Sin and to all manner of Excess of Riot like them of whom Isaiah speaketh And behold Joy and Gladness slaying Oxen and killing Sheep and drinking Wine Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Isa 22 13. And so upon Shrove Tuesday they glut and make themselves drunken because afterwards they must take up and be very demure and fast And so after that is over again they return to their former Excess and Gormandizing There is too much of the Leaven and Remainder of this kind of Popery amongst too many who call themselves Members of the National Church of England for the manner of many of them is to practise a Fit of Holiness for a Season That is to be in a serious Mood upon the Sabbath or Holy-Day But then they are of the Worldly Vain and Ungodly manner of Spirit all the Residue of their time And this is like the putting on of new Cloaths at such a Season and upon such an Occasion and then putting them off again But all this and such like is not to walk in Newness of Life according to the Meaning and requiring of the Spirit of God For to walk denotes a constant and continuing Posture which we abide in as often and as long as we move It is such a pace as holds on and continues in going And so Life again is a constant and continuing thing which abides whither we sleep or wake even as long as we breathe So that to put these two together it is certainly the Will of the most High God that we his Creatures and Servants should walk in Newness of Life as constantly and continually as we move and breathe and live for the new Life is not a thing to be put on and off to be changed altered or laid aside upon every shift or turn no more than we can destroy this natural Life and raise it up again of our selves without endangering or hurting it This cannot be done And tho many pretend to live or lead a new Life for a Season as a Day or a Week or a Month and then they leave it off again and then they return to their old ways like a Dog to his Vomit But in such the new Life was never truly or
thoroughly ingrafted but it was a Shadow or Representation and a Name only of the new Life For the new Life or the new Creature is a more fixed and abiding thing than that amounts unto But that the new Life is not to be laid down again when it is once truly taken up or when we are risen with Christ we are not to fall down again into the former worldly manner of Life All this is signified by what is written Knowing that Christ being raised from the Dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him Rom. 6. 9. From which place the Inference is natural easie and necessary that if we also be risen with Christ we must die to Sin no more Death in Trespasses and Sins shall have no more Dominion over us And so from henceforth we should reckon our selves to be always dead indeed unto Sin but ever alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord if we would indeed have this Newness of Life avail unto Life for evermore That to the Life we live here in the Body there may succeed Glory hereafter That the Seeds and Principles of Holiness and Righteousness being planted and rooted in us even whilst these Souls of ours are in these Bodies so that at and against the Time when these Souls of ours go out which will be when this Life which is as a Vapour and continueth not is ended there may succeed Glory and Immortality and Eternal Life To be thus risen with Christ is the very Means that we may attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead in that Good and Happy Sense spoken of in Phil. 3. 11. and also this is that knowing of Christ and the Power of his Resurrection so significantly expressed in the Verse immediately foregoing Saith the same Apostle Paul Seeing that ye seek a Proof of Christ speaking in you and so this is the Proof of our being with Christ if we have Christ speaking in us or actuating us as the Soul doth the Body or if we know Christ and the Power of his Resurrection effectually and mightily raising us up to newness of Life knowing that he who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ will also raise up our Mortal Bodies And so the same God who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the Dead according to his Grace which worketh in us mightily provided we consent and yield unto and walk together with that same Grace will raise us up also from the Death of Sin unto the Life of Righteousness which word Righteousness signifies a Conformity to all the Laws and Directions of that great Rule of Righteousness in Scripture or to the new Life Which is so called in Opposition and Distinction unto that kind of Life which we did lead in our Natural and Unconverted State Every one that understands the least truly in the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God doth also know thus much That the Principal and only Drift and Design of the whole Scripture the Book of the Lord is to promote a Righteous Holy and Obedient Life in Men and Women For throughout the same are Line upon Line Line upon Line Precept upon Precept Precept upon Precept here a little and there a little and all to this same end It is not only the Result and Conclusion of the whole Matter but the Sum and Substance of the whole Bible both Law and Gospel both Old and New Testament And if there be any other Commandment and Words therein it is all briefly comprehended in this Saying Namely Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole Duty of Man It is the whole and all which God requires of Man and tho God in his written Word which we commonly call the Bible doth therein speak of this in divers Places and sundry Manners and in different Words yet they have all a Significancy and Tendency to this The Grace of God whereby is meant and intended his written Word and Revelation answering and agreeing together as in Water Face answereth â—o Face hath appeared unto all Men teaching us that denying Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts we should live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World And so Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apostles spake by one and the same Spirit of God and hence it is that they do all so wonderfully agree and meet together like several Lines in a Center in these things of Obedience Godliness Righteousness Holiness and Sobriety To these particularly the Apostle Paul instructs in and exhorts in all his Epistles wherein He uses more than a thousand Words which are all to the same Purpose and so where He expresses it in one place by being risen with Christ. In another Place by knowing of Christ and the Power of his Resurrection in another Place A proof of Christ speaking in you in another place He mentioneth A Being made Conformahle unto his Denth Yea he hath many such kinds of Phrase and Speech they are all to the same Meaning and Signification they do all carry infolden in them the same Instruction and Signification namely that we should die unto Sin and rise again to newness of Life And so tho many Captious Ignorant and Ungodly Hearers are offended and do find Fault with Repetitions and Tautologies in Sermons as to this the Apostle Paul speaketh To write the same things to me is not grievous but to you it is safe For he knew that it was a kind of making sure Work in his teaching the way of Salvation For one can never be put in Mind of a good thing too often especially of what is so absolutely necessary to our Eternal Well-Being Salvation and Happiness To preach the same things over and over doth seem to People according as they are for indeed it is not Grievous and Irksome to Godly and Christian Minds to such who seek diligently to go to Heaven and would not miss of it for all the World For these know that Precept must be upon Precept Precept upon Precept Line upon Line Line upon Line here a little and there a little Isa 28. 10. and all is little enough to bring them over unto God and good Things we being by Nature so averse towards him and apt to forget him But as for the Sinners and Transgressors to whom this kind of Repetition is so nauseous and wearisome so it would be but once to mention that which they have no Mind to hear or know If I should use more Words than what I have already to explain and make known unto you what it is to be visen with Christ I cannot truly nor yet would I explain it otherwise than by Rising again to Newness of Life or that we should live yet more unto God and not to our selves for this is the Reasoning of the Apostle aforementioned for in that He died He died unto Sin once I but in that He liveth He liveth unto God Rom. 6. 10. And so as He pursues the same and like reasoning elsewhere no Man should
In which we draw nearer in Time when all these things shall be once more manifested before us This is the right manner of keeping this Feast when according to the Allowance given in Joel 2. 26. We shall eat and be satisfied observe it is said satisfied not glutted or clogged for the Righteous eateth to the satisfying of his Soul and praise the Name of the Lord our God especially for these Great and Particular Mercies which He vouchsafed to Mankind at or about this Season of the Year remembring still that we are to offer up an Offering of Praise to a Spiritual and an Holy Being and to rejoyce and be glad in the Lord our God Which same Gladness and Rejoycing if we should go about to raise with the help of strong Drink as the manner of some is but God forbid and turn it from us this would not be Spiritual Joy but Sinful Mirth To such Prophane Christians it may be said Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish People and unwise By keeping the Feast it is the Gospel Phrase so that keeping of Festivals are certainly allow'd under the Gospel Dispensation with the Leaven of Sin and Wickedness Is that your Tribute and Return of Praise to transgress and provoke him yet more Is that a Seasonable Time of Rioting and Drunkenness when you should put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not Provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof Rom. 13. 13. But now indeed the right manner of keeping the Feast is To have nothing but Praises unto the Lord in our Heart and Tongue It is ever seasonable but at this Return of the Year most especially to use those VVords of Peter in our Mouth and to have them in constant Remembrance within Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead to an Inheritance Incorruptible and Vndefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. It being as we are here told reserved in Heaven for us our Duty thereupon is but Natural and Reasonable that we should in this short mean while between look and seek after it which would be in the second Place according to the Direction given in our Text Seek those things which are above We read in Phil. 3. 10. of being made conformable unto the Death of Christ Now there is a wonderful Consequence Connexion and Agreement between his Death and Resurrection Concerning his Death we read elsewhere on this wise His Life is taken from the Earth Acts 8. 33. If the Son of Man be lifted off from the Earth then will He draw all Men unto him This He spake signifying by what Death He should die Now put all this together His Life is taken off from the Earth He is lifted off from the Earth If we would be indeed made conformable unto his Death What doth all this teach and instruct us in Any one may gather and apprehend it namely That whilst in Life our Life also should be taken off from the Earth and that we should be lifted off from the Earth in Soul and Mind even whilst the Corruptible Body is pressed down and confined unto the Earth for it is no impossible Thing as we by Experience know to have ones Body in one place and ones Heart in another And so a Christian may yea he ought to have his Conversation in Heaven even whilst God hath determin'd the Bounds of his Habitation as yet it is but for a very little while on the Face of the Earth That whilst He moves and walks up and down here and sees the outside of Heaven above at a vast Distance and Height yet in Mind and Soul He may enter within the Vail and be upon the continued Thoughts and most diligent Endeavour how He may make sure of and secure a Rest and Habitation for her there against the time she shall be dislodged off and turn'd out from this Tabernacle of Clay And the Lord said unto Abraham after that Lot was separated from him lift up now thine Eyes and look up from place where thou art Northward and Southward and Eastward and Westward for all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy Seed for ever Arise walk thro the Land in the length of it and in the breadth of it for I will give it unto thee Gen. 13. 14 15 16. And so as Lot was separated from him if our Fellow-Creatures and the things of this World were separated from us and we go upon a Mountain or like Isaac into the Field to meditate As we lift up our Eyes and survey the Heavens above in the height in the length and in the breadth of them all things here below appear but as little and inconsiderable paltry and trivial They are Emphatically and distinctly called the Heavens of the Lord Lam. 3. 66. When I consider thy Heavens Ps 8. 3. God hath reserved these peculiarly to Himself Tho He hath now seem'd to give the Earth Promiscuously to the Children of Men whither they be good or bad but His Heavens He will give only to such who shall be found meet and whom He shall judge worthy thereof And so our Saviour Jesus Christ doth discriminate and phrase it on this wise But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead Mat. 22. 30. They will not so far abuse and love the World as for the sake thereof either of the men of the things therein as to commit Sin or omit Duty And if we do neither of those then we may use the world safely enough Indeed because we are in the midst thereof we cannot but think and see a little of it do whatever we can But as long as the Invisible God and how to please and approve our selves unto him that we may get his Favour and Acceptation and Heaven above takes up much the greater part of our Thought Care and Endeavour then indeed we are so as is the Will and Requiring of God that we should be for then we live and act in Faith and by Faith Not having received the Promises as yet His Great Glorious and future ones but we now see them afar off and are perswaded of them and do embrace them and confess that we are Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Country And this is to seek those things that are above It is to have our Life taken off from the Earth even whilst we are in the midst of Life For the Life which we now live in the Flesh is by Faith in the Son of God who loved and gave himself for me And this is to be lifted off from the Earth altho we are neither hung on the Cross not yet do fly in the Air. But if our Hearts and Souls are lifted up from or above the things of the Earth then we are lifted up also and by this way God and Christ doth draw up our Souls unto Himself to Heaven above Draw me saith the Soul in the Canticles and I will follow after thee Now drawing is from one Place to another and God doth draw up the Souls from Earth unto Heaven I hope that by declaring and delivering Sentences and Propositions of Truth the foregoing Discourse hath been Use or Useful all along but however the Use thereof is manifold 1. To teach us to have a great Indifferency as to the Things of this World 2. To think much and continually upon the Place we are going unto 3. As Abraham had God speaking unto him and also a sight of the Promised Land when Lot was separated from him So we should for some convenient time separate our selves even from our Wife and Children Kinsfolks and the Men of this World from our necessary Family Concerns and our Business in the World in order to enjoy more close Communion with God and seek the things above 4. As we read or hear any of the things of God we should instantly make Application thereof unto our selves As when we read or hear of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ this should apply and bring it home to our selves as to examine and prove our selves also If we be risen with Christ For every Article of Faith doth carrv a Word of Instruction in it and in each wonderful Work which God hath done for the Children of Men is infolded and contained a Duty of us towards him 5. What hath been aforesaid should teach us to beware of Extreams Dum vitant stulti vitia in contraria currunt But to go on in the way of God's Commandments not turning aside from them to the Right Hand nor to the Left avoiding too much Superstion on one Hand in the Observance of the meer Ordinances of Men as also the Neglect and Contempt of the Institutions of God on the other FINIS