so Secondly some againe are maliciously massacred with dishonourable cruelties they are puld the flesh from the bones and burnt to ashes c. None of all these did fall to our Saviour these are personall things they belong not to the nature of man and therefore it was no way requisite that Christ should undergoe those kinds of death marke these two passages to open it a little Acts 2.27 quoted out of Psalme 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Now the Saints of God doe see corruption but this was a dishonourable infirmitie for Christ though he suffered for us yet hee raised up himselfe from the vildnesse of the grave and saw no corruption and therefore it was no dishonour to him Iohn 19.33 36. When the souldiers found our Saviour dead they brake not his legs that the Scripture might be fulfilled which saith not a bone of him shall bee broken Whatsoever dishonour our Saviour Christ did submit himselfe unto he was willing to suffer but what was not by Law required and what was not fit for him to suffer that Christ would not suffer the Jewes to doe unto him for the Law did not require this in the curse that his legs should bee broken and therefore Christ would not undergoe it this is the third conclusion Vse 1 From the former truth that our Saviour Christ did die this naturall death I gather thus much it is a marvellous sweet cordiall to all the Saints of God upon their sicke beds it is a ground of strong consolation as the Apostle saith to beare up the hearts of Gods people in the day of death that they may lift up their heads with comfort and looke grizzeld death in the face with courage and boldnesse for the death of Christ hath taken away the evill of thy death therefore be not thou troubled with it nor dismaid by it there is no bitternesse in that pill nor no venome in that cup to thee for the poyson is gone therefore bee not you troubled with it whensoever God sends it upon you for the sharpest death of a Saint of God is like a humble Bee that hath no sting in it which a childe may play withall and not be hurt and thus Saint Paul plaid with death 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh death where is thy sting as if he should say the wicked feare death because the sting is in it to them but that sting is taken away from mee by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ when Christ went downe into the grave he sugered it and made it sweet and easie as a bed of Downe for beleevers to rest upon There are three privileges which every beleever may challenge upon his deathbed the first is this First every beleever may and should under the authoritie of mercy challenge mercy and in the vertue of the death of Christ he should boldly lay downe his life 1 Thes 4.16 The dead in Christ shall rise first that is the value of the phrase in the vertue of the death of Christ wee die also that as he died by his owne power rose againe so also wee die that wee may rise againe The Saints of God die that they may bee like to Christ and be raised againe and so bee for ever happy with Christ this is the particular good that the death of Christ communicates to the faithfull ones 1 Cor. 15.36 Thou foole that which thou somest it is not quickned unlesse it die it must first be corrupted that it may grow againe into an eare of corne the meaning is a man therefore dies that he may rise againe the body must lie downe in the dust 1 Cor. 15.53 This corruption must put on incorruption and this mortalitie must put on immortalitie Now corruption cannot put on incorruption nor mortalitie cannot put on immortalitie so long as wee are here the body of Adam could not be made immortall of it selfe the frame of it would not affoord so much for Adams body needed meat and had it but immortall bodies need no food but live by the power of Gods Spirit therefore Christ tooke downe the frame of this nature that hee might make it a more excellent frame It is therefore said that a Christian dies rather in the authoritie of mercy than justice that as Christ died and rose again so Christ will have all his servants die that hee may of a corrupt nature and a mortall body make an immortall body he will make it immortall which nature it selfe no not in its perfection could not doe this is the first privilege A second privilege which beleevers receive is this the death of the beleever puts an end to all his sinnes and miseries and sorrowes that when the soule and body shall part in sunder then sin shall depart from both and when they goe out of this life they shall goe from all the miseries of this life we shall never bee more pestered with lusts and corruptions we shall never bee drawne from the Lord more Satan is now busie but when the Saints of God die there is a separation from all sinnes from all sorrowes from all temptations never to be assaulted more this is the meaning of that place 2 Cor. 4.10 Everywhere we beare about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life also of Iesus may be made manifest in our mortall bodies the meaning is this Christ by his death did subdue sinne and now by the sorrowes and troubles he suffered and by the power of his death there is a totall separation made from sin in soule and body therefore when as in the power of Christs death we can lay downe these bodies then are we separated from sinne this is to beare about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus this is quite contrarie in every unbeleever for death naturall in an unbeleever is but the very beginning of all their other plagues they sip of Gods vengeance now but they shall have the full cup then sinne in them now is restrained but then their sinnes shall take full possession of them Satan now doth but tempt them but then â—e shall take possession of them as it is said of the rich foole in the Gospell This night shall they fetch away thy soule and then as they shall bee for ever plagued so they shall be for ever sinfull nothing but sinne shall be in them they shall be altogether proud and for ever proud they shall be altogether malicious and for ever malicious and the devils shall drag the soule of the wicked out of the body downe to hell for evermore and there shall tyranize over it for ever but on the contrary it is not so with the Saints the end of their life is but the beginning of another they goe from a vale of teares to a haven of happinesse Thirdly the death of the beleever is a mean to bring and estate them into the full possession of all
of the faithfull p. 202 For the opening of the Doctrine three questions are to bee answered Question 1. What were the kindes of punishments which Christ did suffer and how farre did bee suffer them Answer First Christ did suffer death naturall that is the dissolution of soule and body p. 210 How far our Saviour did suffer death naturall appeareth in three conclusions Conclusion 1. Whatsoever did appertaine to the substance and essentials of the first death that Christ did suffer p. 210 Conclusion 2. Christ did undertake to die the death of the crosse a most shamefull and base death only appropriated to the basest malefactors that hee might thereby shew the hainousnesse of sinne which deserveth the worst death of all p. 211 Conclusion 3. Those dishonorable infirmities which befell men because of the infirmitie of the flesh as the having the body to rot in the grave to be torne in peeces our Saviour would not undergoe these because hee had no need to suffer these p. 206 Use 1. It is a sweet cordiall to all the Saints of God upon their death beds for the death of Christ hath taken away the evill of death p. 207 Secondly Christ did also suffer in his soule in that there was a reall withdrawing of the mercy and compassion of God p. 213 Secondly there was a reall inflicting of the indignation of the Lord and that fils the soule of a poore creature p. 214 Question 2. How farre our Saviour suffered these paines Answer This is to bee knowne in these five conclusions Conclusion 1. It is possile that some paines of hell may be suffered in this life therefore the living of our Saviour in this life is no hinderance but that he might undergoe them p. 215 Conclusion 2. Some paines of Hell were endured by Christ and yet the union of the Manhood with the Godhead might still be untouched p. 216 Conclusion 3. Our Saviour suffered paine in his soule as hee was our Mediatour in our roome and in our stead p. 218 Conclusion 4. Whatsoever punishment proceeded from the Father our Saviour tooke it upon himselfe yet so as that he neither had personal sin to deserve it neither did he sin in bearing of it as the wicked doe which are damned p. 220. Conclusion 5. The desperation of a damned soule in hell and the eternity of torments they are no essentials of the second death and therefore they could not nor ought not to be suffered by our Saviour p. 227 Use 1. It is a word of information labour from hence to see the hainousnesse of sinne and to hate it because it hath brought all this evill upon thy Saviour and would have brought the same upon thee had not the Lord Iesus stepped in between thee and the wrath of the Father p. 234 Use 2. Did our Saviour suffer these paines then see here the strictnesse of Gods justice p. 241 Question 3. When did our Saviour beginne these sufferings Answer Our Sauiour did beginne the paines of the naturall death from his cradle to his grave he began to die as soone as hee began to live p. 245 Secondly our Saviour did suffer these paines in his soule partly in the garden partly upon the crosse p. 247 Question 3. Whether our Saviour did suffer in body alone or in soule alone or in both Answer Christ did properly and immediately suffer the wrath of God in his soule as well as hee did the paines of death in his body p. 249 Use 1. Is it so was the Lord Iesus driven to this astonishment and to all this misery then let every soule learne from hence what will be the fruit of sinne and what hee may expect from sinne p. 260 Reason 1. Is taken from the divine justice of God which required this by way of satisfaction as being onely sutable and agreeable to the divine justice of God by reason of sinne p. 283 Reason 2. Is taken from the office of Christ because our Saviour was our suretie and so he was bound to it by faithfulnesse p. 287 Use 1. It is a word of confutation and it directly meets with Popish Purgatory p. 288 Use 2. It teacheth us that all the troubles miseries afflictions either inward or outward they cannot properly bee called punishments inflicted upon the faithfull but chastisements p. 289 Use 3. It is a word of comfort to all you that are beleevers you have heard the treasures of mercy and the death of our Lord Iesus Christ laid open view them and take them all for your comfort p. 293 FINIS Severall Treatises of this AUTHOUR 1 THE unbeleevers preparing for Christ out of Revelations 22.17 1 Corinth 2.14 Ezekiel 11.19 Luke 19.42 Matthew 20.3 4 5 6. Iohn 6.44 2 The soules preparation for Christ or a Treatise of Contrition on Acts 2.37 3 The Soules humiliation on Luke 15. verses 15 16 17 18. 4 The Soules vocation or effectuall calling to Christ on Iohn 6.45 5 The Soules union with Christ 1 Corin. 6.17 6 The Soules benefit from union with Christ on 1 Cor. 1.30 7 The Soules justification eleven Sermons on 2 Corin. 5.21 8 Sermons on Iudges 10.23 Sermons on Psalme 119.29 Sermons on Proverbs 1.28 29. Sermons on 2 Tim. 3.5 THE SOVLES union with CHRIST 1 CORIN 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit WE told you that the application of the merits of Christ consists especially in two things First the preparation of the soule for Christ Secondly the ingrafting or the knitting of the soule to the Lord Jesus Christ Of this preparation wee have heretofore largely treated partly in contrition where the soule is cut off from sinne partly in humiliation whereby the soule is cut off from it selfe whereby the Lord rases the foundation of all carnall confidence whereby a man rests upon his owne privileges and performances and makes his services his Saviour either the soule seeth no need to depart from sinne or else it thinke it can helpe it selfe out of sinne when both these are removed from the soule then it is fitted to receive the Lord Jesus Christ Secondly the soule comes to be ingrafted into Christ and that hath two parts First the calling of the sinner or the putting of the soule into Christ Secondly the growing of the soule with Christ these two take up the nature of ingrafting a sinner into the stock First it is put into the stock Secondly being put into the stock it growes together with the stock these two things are answerable in the soule The former of these two wee have largely treated of and fully finished in the great worke of vocation when the Lord brings the sinner to himselfe by the call of mercie and the voice of the Gospell we are now to proceed and we have made some entrance into the second and that is the growing of the soule together with Christ for though the graft be in the stock yet it cannot be fruitfull unlesse it grow together with the stock now this growing together
Alas I doe it not it was the Lord that wrought this heart in mee I have seene the day when I could have beene as well content to heare the Minister preach plainly as to have a knife run to my heart but the Lord wrought my heart to it therefore the Spirit puts that magnet stone of the mercie and grace of Christ upon my heart hee puts this temper upon my heart and makes it able to close with it selfe in the promise in 2 Corin. 5.5 when Paul there had disputed of his desire to lay downe his life for the Gospell and to put his body upon suffering for the Gospels sake he was even weary of the world and would faine have beene gone how gat he this temper why the text saith Now he that hath wrought us for the same thing if God who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit it is a great while before wee can bee brought to this temper when all the Ministers tongues are even worne to the stumps and the wicked will bee wicked still yet the Lord doth worke it so then you see that the Spirit of God by the promise works upon the soule and leaves a dint upon the heart and so brings the soule by the Spirit to close with it selfe in the promise and hence you may collect two things for your information in this kinde Colect 1 First that the beleever being moved by the stroke of the Spirit of the Father is made able to close with the Father and the Sonne because the Spirit of the Lord doth fasten fit and frame the heart hereunto in this manner and hence it is that the soule can close with the Father and the Sonne too why because the Spirit which proceeds and comes from the Father and the Sonne is able to frame the soule to close with both for the Spirit hath something of the Father and something of the Sonne and therefore is able to make the soule to close with both 1 Iohn 1.3 These things have I written unto you that you may have fellowship with us holy Iohn was a spirituall father unto them and hee writes to them that thereby they might have fellowship with the Saints and he saith Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Iesus Christ why doth he not say our fellowship is with the Father as well as to say our fellowship is with the Father and the Sonne because it is presumed before hand that a man must have fellowship with the Spirit before hee can have fellowship with the Father and the Sonne because it is the Spirit that hath fitted the heart and framed it to close with both Colect 2 Secondly hence it comes to passe that the person of the beleever may bee knit to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ the foot is knit to the head by the continuance of the order of the body and the members thereof as the foot is knit to the leg and the leg to the thigh and the thigh to the body and so to the head this is the meaning of that phrase Iohn 6.56 our Saviour presseth this hard upon the Disciples and saith My flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and in him then they begun to wonder at it and to say How can this be and yet Christ saith what if you see the the Sonne of man carrying the body of his flesh into heaven you will thinke it more hard to eat my flesh then yet you must eat my flesh then too how it is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak they are Spirit and life as if he had said my good Spirit is in the word and promise close you with my Spirit and then you draw my Spirit my flesh and my blood downe into your whole natures the words that I speake they are Spirit and Life that is my Spirit is in the Word of the promise though my body be gone up into heaven therefore close you with my Spirit in the promise and then you close with my flesh spiritually Thus much for the manner of the union Now for the order of this union how this is done and there the question will be this Whether the beleever is knit first to the humane nature of Christ or to the Divine nature Quest. 2 I am not greatly willing to meddle with this point in this popular congregation because there are many wise and orthodox Divines and godly too which are of contrary opinion they confesse both but they differ about the order but that I may bring no prejudice to the judgement of any I will shortly shew you the summe of those arguments Answ which either side hold and will shew to which I doe incline and so leave the point to the judgement of those that heare it to incline to which side they thinke best and thus I shall wrong none at all First some Divines wise holy and orthodox and many too doe goe that way all of them have it from that root they that hold that the soule is knit to the humane nature of Christ first have two reasons for it First say they as the Scripture reveales Christ to us so also our hearts embrace him and close with him but the Scripture reveales the Lord Christ more often and frequently in regard of his Manhood than in regard of his Godhead as in that place The seed of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and such like therefore the understanding first closeth with this and the heart first receives it the second reason why they hold this is thus much If say they all the great works of our redemption both sanctification and justification and redemption were wrought in the humane nature of Christ and as by a channell conveyed to us by his humane nature then it is reason that the soule should first close with the humane nature but it is so that all the great workes of justification sanctification c. were all accomplished in the humane nature of Christ for as the text saith He died for our sins and triumphed over sin and hell and death therefore say they it is fit that the soule should first close with the humane nature of Christ and this is the life and pith of all their arguments Againe other Divines and they are wise and orthodox they hold this and though all hold the maine substantiall truths of eternall life yet they differ in this they say the beleever is first knit to the Deity and they have also two arguments and the first is this That which is the maine and the proper object of faith to that the soule first lookes and to that the soule is first united for all union comes by operation in this kinde but the Godhead is the first object of faith in beleeving the Godhead and the third person of Trinity they are the first objects of
thy Spirit is a good Spirit thy Spirit is a blessed Spirit by the vertue of that Spirit Lord teach me the way to thee and let it lead me into the land of uprightnesse We know a child that hath his hand to write if he will not be ruled by him that teacheth him but will take the pen into his owne hand and write after his owne scauching fashion he will never write well nor make a letter handsomly as he should do but let his hand write by the mans hand and that will guide him and that will teach him quickly to write well in a short time so wouldst thou have thy heart framed aright why then keep thy soule under the hand of the Spirit and thou shalt bee guided by the vertue of that Spirit of God and moved and inabled to accomplish the good pleasure of the Lord and receive what ever grace thou standest in need of I have observed it sometimes upon the Sea looke as it is with the mariner that is going downe the streame if the winde bee faire will any man pull downe his saile and set it up againe why no for he doth but trouble himselfe and turmoyle and wearieth himselfe and troubleth the boat too with keeping such a pudder and misseth the gale of winde and all therefore a wise mariner he will set up his saile and hold out his sail that it may take the gale of winde fully and so goe on speedily all that he hath to doe is to keep his sail spred and to catch the winde your only course is to set up the saile and attend the gale of the Spirit to comfort you attend the gale of the Spirit to assist you hold thy heart and spread to the Spirit that it may catch the gale of grace that it may blow upon thy soule and by the vertue and power thereof thou shalt bee transported comfortably and carried on cheerfully to walke in that way which God chalks out before thee as for examples sake Imagine thy heart begins to be pestered with vaine thoughts or with a proud haughtie spirit or some base lusts and privy haunts of heart how would you bee rid of these why you must not set up and pull downe and set up and pull downe quarrell and contend and bee discouraged no but eye the promise and hold fast thereupon and say Lord thou hast promised all grace unto thy servants why therefore take this heart and take this minde and take these affections and let thy Spirit frame them aright according to thine owne good will by that Spirit of wisedome Lord informe mee by that Spirit of sanctification Lord cleanse mee from all my corruptions by that Spirit of grace Lord quicken and enable me to the discharge of every holy service thus carry thy selfe and convey thy soule by the power of the Spirit of the Lord and thou shalt finde thy heart strengthned and succoured by the vertue thereof upon all occasions Rom. 8.26 the Text saith The Law of the Spirit of life hath freed mee from the law of sinne and death the meaning is this you must know that sinne is a tyrant now a tyrant when he wins a citie hee swears all to his lawes so sinne will swear thy soule to his lawes pride saith I will have thee proud I will have thy heart unchaste saith uncleannesse I will have thee intemperate saith drunkennesse now by the Law of the Spirit of life God will free us from the law of sinne the Spirit of Christ in the promise it takes away the power of the law of sinne the Law of the Spirit of meeknesse takes away the law of the spirit of pride the Law of the Spirit of puritie takes away the law of the spirit of uncleannesse the Law of the Spirit of holinesse takes away the law of the spirit of prophanenesse and so in all other distempers of this nature this onely shewes us how to run over all Gather up now and so conclude this passage Eye the promise daily yeeld thy soule to the Spirit of the Lord in the promise let that have his full sway resist not those good motions the holy Spirit puts into thee and that is the way to have all grace and help and assistance communicated unto thee and thus much may suffice to have beene spoken in the generall touching this conveiance of grace into the heart we come now to the scanning of the particulars This conveyance it is of two kindes both in the Text Christ conveyes his grace two wayes partly by imputing partly by imparting they are the termes of Divines and I know not how to expresse my selfe better but thus if you will partly by imputation partly by communication This is that I would have you to take notice of in the generall they are both reall but one is habituall both these both imputation and communication expresse a reall worke of God upon the soule but the last onely leaves a frame and a spirituall abilitie and qualitie in the soule the conveyance by imputation doth not it leaves a thing morall as we use to terme it These two imputation communication are both in the Text Christ is made righteousnesse or justice that is hee doth justifie a sinner by imputation and hee doth sanctifie and redeeme a sinner by communication hee conveyes and workes some Spirituall abilitie and leaves a Physicall change when the Apostle saith Christ is made Iustice that is hee doth justifie a sinner by imputation when hee saith Christ is made Sanctification and Redemption that is by way of communication hee delivers the soule from the pollution of sinne that is sanctification hee delivers the soule from the power and dominion of sinne that is redemption This communication it is a Spirituall habit or a spirituall power or a spirituall qualitie or abilitie take which you will left upon the soule We will begin with the former touching the imputation of Christs righteousnesse to a soule whereby the sinner comes to bee justified this is a point then which I take it none more necessary and yet none lesse understood none lesse studied none more mistaken than these two great workes of justification and sanctification I speake it by experience Christians aged and experienced yet here they faile in the very catecheticall points and it drives many of our best Divines to a stand we will open it a little this justification wee terme a conveyance of the merits of Christ by way of imputation but what is the meaning of this word by way of imputation Thus you must conceive it this is the main thing I would have you looke unto Imputation is this when that which another hath that which another doth is accounted mine is set upon my score as though I had it as though I had done it this is Imputation I have it not I doe it not another hath it another doth it and it is accounted mine and reckoned mine in course of justice Now in the point of communication
and let your soules rest upon him with all your strength and unburthen thy selfe of all thy sinnes and the guilt of them and put them upon the Lord Christ commit thy soule to him and then for ever expect grace and mercy from him and resolve of this that the Lord Jesus Christ which was made guilty for thee will make thee guiltlesse and hee that was condemned in thy roome hee will acquit thee in his mercy and goodnesse But some may here object and say is not this a ground of comfort and a ground of loosenesse for drunkards and carnall libertines for they may say why should wee not live in our sinnes seeing Christ hath takeâ— the guilt of them upon him and will deliver us from them they thinke they may be carelesse of whatsoever they doe and sing care away never to be troubled for nor affected with the burthen of their sinnes and rebellions any more because Christ stands charged with their sinnes therefore they may throw away the care of them Thus as I may say with holy reverence they make Christ a stale for all their sinnes therefore let mee shew all such loose libertines of this last age of the world what fond conceits they have I meane the Anabaptists but specially the Familists who thinke it is unprofitable for a beleever to trouble himselfe for his sinnes and to goe up and downe with his heart full of griefe and his eyes full of teares and they thinke it unwarrantable and unlawfull and therefore they grow carelesse of sinne and fearlesse when they have committed sinne hath Christ undertaken for sin say they then why should a beleever take sinne to himselfe This is the cursed opinion of the Familists There is an unspeakable and an unmeasurable measure of comfort in this Doctrine for all the people of God and the other sucke as much poyson from it I have borne a secret grudge against this doctrine of theirs many a day but I could not tell how to meet with it neither doe I love to meddle with it till I meet at in my dish therefore to prevent the cavils of the wicked that a carnall heart may not presume of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ and also that the poore sinner may not burthen himselfe with needlesse â—eaâ—es nor with his sinne more than God requires suffer me to cleare the Doctrines by laying open two things Quest. 1 First how farre a sinner may and ought to charge himselfe with his sinne and how farre hoe may goe Quest. 2 Secondly how farre a sinner should not lay his sinne upon himselfe nor charge his folly upon himselfe and this will touch and discover the bounds and limits of the free grace of God and will open the way that wee may walke therein with comfort For the former Quest. 1 The question here growes how farre a beleever that hath an interest an Christ may charge himselfe with his sinne Answer I answer for the manner of it it shall appeare in these particular rules or conclusions First every beleever under heaven both the weakest and the strongest even hee that hath the strongest measure of grace is bound to this to the uttermost of his power to see and examine the sinfull carriages of his soule whether distempers inwardly or ungodly practices outwardly he is bound to consider of them and to judge of these his sinnes and every of them knowing that even the least of them is sufficient to make him guiltie of eternall death and to bring condemnation upon him as hee must see what his sinne is so he must judge that it hath the power to make him guiltie and also to condemne him should not the Lord by the power of his grace prevent it Every sinne in his owne nature and power doth and will procure guilt and condemnation to the soule by the sinne committed unlesse the Lord in mercy doe prevent it and Christ by the power of his merits stop the power and condemnation of sinne as the Apostle saith Rom. 1.31 which men though they knew the Law of God how that they which doe these things are worthy of death that is that in the least sinne which a man commits there is a fitnesse in it to make a man guiltie and it hath a power to condemne him unlesse the Lord did marvellous gratiously stop the power of corruption as the Text saith the repenting Church shall judge themselves worthy to be condemned every sinner may say of every sinne he commits that there is enough in it to damne him if God should deale with him after his owne deservings If I should be left to the power of my pride and malice hatred dead heartednes it were enough to condemne me for ever The wife Physitian that sees his Patient is in a plurifie will say here is enough in this man to kill him if I should neglect him but a few dayes it would kill him but now if the Physitian lets him blood hee stops the power of it that so the corrupted blood cannot bring death upon him so every sinne that a man commits both the distempers of the heart inwardly and the abuse of the means of grace and the practice of sinne outwardly there is enough in that plurisie of sinne to take away a mans comfort and happinesse unlesse the Lord be pleased to hinder the condemning power of them that they cannot hurt us therefore the summe of all is this as every beleever must examine his owne heart and life so hee must judge the nature of sinne and judge himselfe worthy to be condemned 1 Cor. 11.31 If we would judge our selves we should not be judged that is if wee condemne our selves and judge our selves worthy to be condemned for them I say not that a man should say that the Lord will condemne him but that he is worthy to be condemned for them and he deserves condemnation Every fiery Serpent in the wildernesse had a killing nature in it and if it did not kill it was not for want of power in it but because the vertue and power of the brasen Serpent which was a Type of Christ tooke away all the killing power of the fiery Serpents this is the practice of the soule whom the Lord hath truly brought home to himselfe as Ezekiel 16.36 after they were justified in Gods sight then shall they remember their evill wayes saith the Text and be ashamed and never open their mouths more when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done Though God hath accepted of a poore beleever yet hee must see his sinnes and lay his mouth in the dust and never pranke up his heart more but walke humbly before the Lord and though hee is accepted and pardoned yet hee shall judge himselfe worthy to bee condemned This is the first conclusion Secondly every beleeving soule justified and having an interest in Christ ought thus farre to acknowledge his sinnes as that it were righteous with the Lord to execute his wrath
that happinesse and glory which heretofore hath beene expected and Christ hath promised now it shall be attained the time now comes when the Saints of God shall have no more tears in their eyes nor sin in their soules not sorrow in their hearts when they die then their sins and sorrowes die too you shal never be dead harted more then you shal have holineâ— in ful possession which so long time you have longed for it is now only in expectation and you hope and looke for it when the Lord will put wisedome into your blinde mindes and holinesse into your corrupted hearts but when death comes it will bring you to the fruition of all that holinesse and happinesse and this is done by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Iohn 3.2 Wee are now the sonnes of God but it doth not appeare what we shall bee and we know that when he shall be made manifest we shall bee made like him that is like to him in all holinesse and happinesse as hee is altogether holy and altogether happy now you are children but onely in nonage now you are onely wives betrothed and you goe up and downe in your rags of sinne but when the solemnization of the marriage shall be in the great day of accounts then we shall be like him and hee will make us altogether holy and hee will fill our blinde mindes with knowledge and possesse our corrupt hearts withall puritie holinesse and grace so far as thy soule shall be capable of it and shall bee needfull for thee what are you unwilling to goe to your husband the wife sometimes receives letters from her espoused husband shee welcomes the messenger and accepts the tokens kindly and reads the letter gladly and will not part with his tokens above any thing but oh how she longs to injoy himselfe in his owne person this is her chiefest desire to be possessed of him and to have his company alwayes so the Lord Jesus Christ is your husband he died that ye might live he is ascended up into heaven and hath made passage for you you have many intimations of his mercy and many sweet smiles from heaven saying well goe thy way thy sins are pardoned and thy soule shall be saved these are his tokens and I hope you will lay them up by you make much of them but when will the time come that I may injoy my Saviour Now I have a little mercy and a little holinesse and a little pardon of sinne but oh that I might injoy my Saviour fully Now it is quite contrary with the wicked the death of the wicked is a means to shut them out of all the hope they had of receiving mercy for when death parts soule and body then there is no more cards and dice no more lusts the adulterer shall no more satisfie himselfe with his unclean lusts the drunkard shall not then bee drunke the blasphemer shall not then blaspheme so as hee was wont to doe for nothing but he shall be and blaspheme God for something and his soule shall bee full of Gods vengeance this is the death of the wicked the death of the Saints is like a ferriman to convey them over to eternall happinesse but the death of the wicked is as a hangman to bereave them of life and salvation too death to the saints is as a guide to convey them to happinesse but to the wicked death is as a Jailor to carry them away to the place of execution And thus much briefly of the former part of the answer namely that our Saviour suffered the death natural Now our Saviour did not onely suffer in his body but he suffered in his soule also you may conceive of it in two particulars First there is a reall withdrawing of the sense and feeling of the mercy and compassion of God a stoppage as I may say and a taking off the sweet operation of Gods love and favour from the soule when that sensible refreshing and conveyance of the mercy and kindnesse of Gods countenance is turned away from the soule this is a part of the second death and this is the paine of losse that is the poore sinner loseth that sweet influence of that abundant mercy and compassion and that sweetnesse that is in all those glorious attributes which should fill the soule with satisfactory sweetnesse and content as thus sometimes it pleases God to discover those pain of hell unto his servants here on earth and hee brings them by the suburbs of hell that they may know what it is to bee in heaven and also what it is to commit sinne so against a gracious God Psalme 31.22 I said in mine haste I am cast out of sight As if hee had said God hath taken away the sweet smiles of his countenance from the heart of David and 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 a part of the second death yet thou â—he art â—est the voyce of thy praier David was now in some distresse by reason of the withdrawing of the favour of God from his soule this is the first part of the second death Secondly when the fierce indignation of the Lord semeth upon the soule of a poore creature when the Lord sets open the floodgates of his anger and wrath and fils the soule unsupportably with his vengeance Psal 43. â— Why hast thou cast mee off and Psalme 51.11 Cast me not away out of thy presence c. The Lord seemed to cast him away and to send him packing and hee seemed to bee cast away in his owne apprehension both these you shall see concluded on in Iob 13.24 Thou râ—est bitter things against mee and hidest thy face away from me and takest mee for thy enemy The Lord not onely went away and hid him but he made Iob a But that so his arrowes might come against him pell mell and he let all his displeasure fall upon him with might and maine so then there is first a reall withdrawing of the sweetnesse of the mercy of God from the soule and secondly a reall inflicting of the indignation of the Lord and that fils the soule of a poore creature Quest. 2 Now the second question is this how far our Saviour suffered these paines To this I answer that so I may carry the cause with as much plainnesse and nakednesse as may be that each poore creature may get something give mee leave to answer the question in these conclusions one will make way for another onely here let mee tell you thus much that I mean onely to make declaration of the truth of the point and the argument shall be afterwards First it is possible that some paines of Hell may be suffered in this life and therefore the living and being of our Saviour in this life is no hindrance but that he might undergoe them This I say to prevent a weak plea of some that desire to tie and intail all the pains of Hell to another life and the place to be Hell and they thinke that
he had so deeply drunke of the cup of affliction he said now it is finished that is now the fierce indignation of the Lord is over Take a little childe or infant new borne and lay it in a little streame if no man come to succour it there can be no hope that it will live not properly because of the water but because the childe is weake and not able to keepe it selfe from being overpowred by the water and therefore there is no hope to have reliefe for it but let a strong man come and he will not be drowned by the streame for hee is of height and strength either to wade thorow it or else to save himselfe by swimming so there is the streame of the indignation of the Lord Now God will not help a poore sinfull creature and he cannot help himselfe therefore the streame will destroy him and there is no hope for he is never able to free himselfe because God will not and he himselfe cannot but the Lord Jesus Christ that hath skill and power because he is God as well as man therefore though he beare the wrath of God yet because hee is able to wade thorow it and to beare it therefore it is that he will deliver himselfe and all us with him Thus ye see that desperation is a consequent that followes from the sinfulnesse and weaknes of the creature and that it is no part of the second death The second part of this conclusion followes and I desire it may bee attended to by all you that are weake ones for this objection doth put many Divines themselves to a stand and yet the case is very cleere so farre as my light and line serves me Secondly the eternitie of the punishments say they for if Christ suffered the pains of the second death then hee must be in hell for ever It is a weake and a sinfull plea I say our Saviour might and did suffer the second death and yet not the eternitie of it I beseech you to take notice of two things herein First you must take notice of the difference betweene the death threatned and the death denounced and betweene the torments of hell also betweene the eternitie of time and the circumstances of time that may bee altered and changed as the debt or punishment is fully suffered or not suffered As for example the time of a mans lying in prison is no part of the payment but he doth lie in prison because hee cannot pay the debt as thus A man is in prison for a thousand pound he must lie in prison ten years because he can pay but a hundreth pound a year but now let a rich man come that can discharge the payment within ten moneths or ten dayes or ten houres it is as well if he doe it in ten houres as if he did it in ten years nay it is better done Just so it is here the debt is this In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death the punishment is death and every poore creature must die the first and second death Now because a poore creature cannot satisfie Gods justice 〈◊〉 this life for if God should but let in the power of his wrath in this life into the soule and fill the soule with his fierce indignation it would kill a man even in this life therefore the Lord by death takes away a poore creature and drags him downe to hell he doth arrest him by conscience here and saith Thou hast sinned and deserved wrath and thou canst not beare my wrath here therefore thou shalt die and be made immortall that thou maist beare it for evermore because a man cannot pay it now therefore he is paying of it to all eternitie for hee is never able to pay and satisfie for the whole summe but now the Lord Jesus Christ hath cash ready at hand and is able to lay downe the payment for all the faithfull to the full hee layes downe the life naturall and hee also suffers the paines of the second death therefore hee is able to deliver himselfe and all those that are his First of all Vse 1. hath our Saviour thus suffered and hath he stepped in betweene the wrath of God the Father and the faithfull Justice saith that foule hath sinned and must be damned and anger saith I must breake out against that poore soule then the Lord Jesus Christ steps in and saith I will beare all and undertake the satisfiing of all I will beare all those punishments due unto them you that are beleevers and have a share in Christ unto you I speake labour thou from hence to see the hainousnesse of sinne and to hate it because it hath brought all this evill upon thy Saviour and would have brought the same upon thee had not the Lord Jesus Christ stepped in betweene thee and the wrath of the Father Oh looke what thy sin hath done unto the Lord Jesus Christ and see if you can love it take contentment in the cōmission of it Let me teach you how to do it send your thoughts afar off and see our Saviour in the garden crying out and saying My soule is exceeding heavie unto the death my soule is even beset with sorrowes oh watch and pray And also when he was in that bitter agonie in the garden And he prayed yet more earnestly and hee stretched out his prayers that it broke his heart almost behold the teares in his eyes and the clodded blood that came from him and his soule was almost broken within him under the fierce indignation of the Lord and he fell upon the ground and yet all this would not doe the deed follow him to the crosse and seeing him attended with the souldiers and pierced thorow with a speare see then if thou canst love thy sinnes that have done all this and further when you have seene him thus nailed to the crosse and pierced thorow with a speare then if you have any hearts of men I doe not say of Christians listen a while and here those hideous cries My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Oh brethren it went very heavy with our Saviour Now imagine that you heard those heart breaking sighes which broke the heavens and let them breake thy heart too Oh goe your wayes home I charge you in the Name of Jesus Christ and answer your owne hearts or rather answer the petitions of our Saviour and say Lord why hast thou forsaken Oh Lord it was for my pride and my contempt of thy word and my despising of holy duties and for the rest of my sinnes I should have beene forsaken and thou wast contented to bee forsaken for me Oh can you consider of this and love your sinnes still which have brought all this misery upon a Saviour if you can love your sins now doe and if you can harbour that pride and stubbornnesse in your hearts which would have pluckt the heart out of Christs body and his soule from
his body then doe can it bee possible that men should harbour sinne in them if they did but know what it hath done to them can you see it and not haâ—e it Oh behold that sinne which hath caused God the Father to be angry with thy Saviour and doe thou hate it and let thy soule for ever loath thy sinne which hath caused Christ thus to doe to come downe from heaven and to bee tortured by wicked miscreants and to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and as sin hath caused God the Father to punish thy Saviour so goe thou and be revenged upon thy sin and say Oh my pride and my stubbornnesse and my loosenesse and uncleannesse and base drunkennesse these were the nailes that pierced his hands aâ—â— his feet they pierced his sacred body and 〈◊〉 the wrath of God the Father upon his soule therefore let mee bee for ever revenged of this proud stubborne and rebellious heart of mine and let mee for ever loath my sinne because it brought all this sorrow upon my Saviour To presse this use a little more I charge you brethren as ever you had any tender love unto Jesus Christ or any regard of your owne comfort goe your wayes and bee for ever cast downe and humbled for those evill waies of yours which have brought our Saviour to such a gulfe of misery and to be angry with those sinnes that have made God the Father angry with the Lord Jesus Christ and take thou revenge upon that proud stubborne heart that brought all this misery upon thy Saviour This is the course of humanitie amongst men if a man knew of any one which had murthered his father or his friend whom he highly regarded and honoured nature shewes us thus much that our hearts would rise against the man and you would not bee able to brooke the sight of him and you cannot endure to see him in your companies and if law and conscience did not forbid it you could be contented to give him his deaths wound and to bee his bane and you would cry out against him Oh he hath murthered my father or my deere friend and though you would not run upon him and kil him yet this every one would doe he would follow the Law to the uttermost and if all the law in the land will do it he will have him hanged and if he might have it put to his choyce what death hee should die hee would chuse him a death as bad as hee could devise and if he might be his Executioner how would he mangle him and say thou wast the death of my father and then hee would give him one blow for this and another blow for that and say thou wretch thou hast taken away the life of my father and I will have thy life Now is a man thus inraged and is the heart of a man carried with such violence unto him that hath murthered his father or his friend and that for the losse of the naturall life Oh then how should your hearts bee transported with infinite indignation not against the man but even against the sinne which is the cause of all this and which is wholly opposite against God and not onely because it hath taken away the life of the body of our Saviour but also made him undergoe the wrath of an everlasting father your sinnes are they that have thus slaine the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of life Therefore follow thou the law against these sins and raise hue and crie after them and bring them to the Sessions and set them before the tribunall of God and crie justice Lord justice against these sins of mine these slew my Saviour Lord slay them they have crucified my Saviour Lord crucifie them let me have life for life body for body and soule for soule these are the sins that have taken away the life from the body of our Saviour and tooke away all comfort from his soule Lord take away their life thus pursue thy sins and never leave them untill thou seest them bleed their last never thinke that thou hast power enough against corruption nor never thinke that thou dost enough against them but give thy corruptions one hacke more and confesse thy sinnes once more and say Lord his pride and this stubbornnesse Lord and this loosenesse of heart Lord these are they that kild my Saviour and I will be revenged of them and herein consider this when your hearts are inclining to any corruption or to any temptation of Satan and when thou findest thy soule drawne aside to any sin and when thou findest some temptings unto corruptions and stirrings of cursed lusts it is good then to have an actuall consideration of what sin hath done to the Lord Jesus Christ and reason thus with thy selfe and say these sins were the death of my Saviour and shall they be my delight these sins did pierce his hands and wounded his soule and shall they give contentment to my soule the Lord forbid did these sinnes plucke teares from his eyes and blood from his heart and shall I make them the delight of my heart the good Lord in mercy forbid it were it so that our hearts were fully and throughly perswaded that all the vanities of our mindes and all the lusts of our hearts and all the distempers of our affections were those that stabd the Lord Jesus Christ and wounded him to the heart it could not be that we should so delight in them and lavish out our soules and affections thereupon nay not onely Christianitie will doe it but nature and reason will even compell a man to doe the contrary could hee but reason thus with himselfe when corruptions tempt him and occasions call him and say thus with himselfe was it not enough and more than enough that the Son of God came downe from Heaven and suffered such grievous pains but shall I againe crucifie the Lord of life and shall I againe pierce those blessed hands of his and pierce that blessed side of his and all goare his sacred body with my uncleane sins and force him to crie out againe by reason of my sinnes which I have committed this is more than brutish and more than savage I beseech you in the bowels of the Lord to consider well of it you know what Christ said when Saul persecuted the poore Saints at Damascus Saul Saul why persecurest thou mee It pierced the Lord Christ when any of his members were pierced Acts 9.4 but now for such as beleeve in Christ and looke for mercy from Christ consider how neerly it will touch him and trouble him not onely to have his members pierced and persecuted but also to have his good Spirit grieved and himselfe to be wounded Imagine you heard the Lord speaking as the Church did in Lamentations 1.12 Is it nothing to you all oh yee that passe by is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow have you no compassion at all upon a Saviour
had undertaken these cautions I thought good to adde to stop the mouthed of all cavils that may arise in the hearts of those that are weake for the ground of Christs sufferings was freely and willingly according to the promise and agreement which was betweene the Father and himselfe Quest. 3 The third question followes and that is this whether our Saviour did suffer in body alone or in soule alone or in both Answer The answer apparantly and punctually is this Christ did properly and immediatly suffer the wrath of God in his soule as well as hee did the paines of death in his body hee did not onely suffer by communion and consent betweene the soule and the body as namely therefore the soule is pierced because the body is pierced no but he did properly and immediately receive and suffer the wrath of God in his soule as well as his body did death The Scripture doth expresse it this way and the Prophet foretold this in Esay 63.10 God shall make his soule an offering for sin you know every offering implies a full payment they did use to confesse their sinnes over the sacrifice and then to slay it intimating that the sacrifice was to undergoe whatsoever punishment was due unto their sinnes and so did Christ doe in bearing our sinnes nay Christ himselfe saith so Matthew 26.38 My soule is very heavie and sorrowfull even unto the death and that this must needs be the meaning of the text it shall appeare by further explication and therefore give mee leave to handle all the particulars of the sufferings of our Saviour and for our proceeding herein that I may be plaine and that this doctrine may drop as the dew and that every spire of grasse may receive some sap and sweetnesse and spirituall moisture there from let me doe two things wherein I will shew you that the sufferings of our Saviour were done partly in the garden and partly upon the crosse and for his agony in the garden let me doe two things First I will shew you what the Scripture saith of that agonie in the 14. of Saint Marke and in the 26. of Matthew Secondly I will make it good that those sufferings were most grievous sufferings which hee suffered in his soule For the first what our Saviour suffered when he was in that agony in the garden when he crieth out Father if it be possible let this cap passe from me The Scripture discovers the pith of all that anguish of soule and the whole compasse of it what it was that did thus fill the soule of our Saviour and that is in these two things and you shall finde them both in Marke 13.33 where the text saith when our Saviour was to enter into the combate he saith thus hee beganne to his amazed and to be very heavie let me expresse them thus hee beganne to bee driven to an astonishment and to have his soule fild with the indignation of the Lord. First our Saviour Christ foreseeing the wrath of God and the combate of God the Father comming against him hee began to be amazed the word in the originall is this That so you may see the depth of the distres and the bottome of the cup. The word amazement comes from a word that signifies to bee in a stand or to be astonished such a sorrow as men use to have for the losse of some deare friend nay the preposition in that which is added signifies a griefe beyond astonishment whatsoever griefe could befall a creature without sinne that all befell our Saviour this word carries two things with it First there comes an admiration from the suddennesse of the thing Secondly a stroke of errour which smiteth upon the soule with the admiration of it as when a sudden and an unwonted and an intolerable evil beginneth to seize upon a man and the stroke of some terrour and feâ—â— strikes in and drives the soule to an amaze and insomuch that the heart saith good Lord what will this come to if this befall mee what shall become of mee this is astonishment The second part is this and that goes further and our translation expresseth it to the full My soule beginnes to be very heavie that 's our translation but the word goes a degree further when this sorrow act onely strooke and shooke the heart of our Saviour with the suddennesse of it but it entred into his soule and fild it abundantly and rackt it to the uttermost of the abilities of nature to beare it shall I deale nakedly this word heavie carries two things with it First that the soule of our Saviour was surcharged and fild being full with the indignation of the Lord and that heavy vexation that lay upon him for so the word implies abundance of misery which doth beare downe the heart of a poore creature but this was not in the Lord Jesus Christ though his soule were filled brimme full of the indignation of the Lord yet hee was not overcharged with it Secondly hence it followes that all the faculties of the whole nature of the soule of our Saviour they gathered up themselves and they drew up all their forces to beare up themselves against the wrath of the Lord which was now comming upon them all the powers of his soule the minde and the memory and hope and feare they were all gathered up as in time of warre the souldiers come all forth from their garrisons to close in the maine battell so the Lord Jesus foresaw the wrath of the Father comming against him and hee drew forth all his abilities and left all other imployments wholly and brought them to fence and to fortifie themselves to beare this wrath of the Lord as if our Saviour had said Come yee all hither and help to beare up my soule against the unsupportable wrath of God this is the very skirt and selvedge of the word yet observe this by the way our Saviour was not deprived of this worke of any of his abilities but onely they were cald off from all other imployments and they wholly betooke themselves to beane the wrath of the Lord as the maine worke which now did lie upon them and this may be done and was done by our Saviour and yet without sinne As it is with a clocke a man may stoâ— the wheels upon force and make them stand still though there bee no distemper in the wheels causing it but onely the hand which stops it So it was with Christ there was no infirmitie in the minde or memorie of our Saviour but the hand of God was so heavie upon him and the wrath of God so seized upon him that all other actions ceased and hee attended to no other thing but to this how to beare the wrath of God the Evangelist in Matthew 26.38 shewes the explication of both these My soule is exceeding heavie tarrie yee here and watch with mee my soule is heavie even unto the death that is my soule is besieged and beset and
the world make their maine prize and they thinke thereby to procure praise unto themselves and great preferment in their owne eyes this way let me speake a little to these you that are guilty of this sinne see the compasse of it take notice of the reach how farre this rebellion goeth I would wish these men that persecute the Saints I would have them underst the compasse of their course how farre their wicked practice extendeth it is not against a despised Christian no let them know it their rage and malice ascends up to Heaven and offers violence to the Lord Iesus Christ and the labour what they can to plucke Christ from the right hand of his Father and they endevour what in them lies to shed his blood and take away his life let all know that have beene professed opposers and dead haters of the Saints of God let them know they are melted of light treason and that in a most hainous manner against the Lord of Heaven and Earth against the Lord Iesus Christ the Redeemer of the world I would that these men would not cozen themselves for God will not bee mocked they professe they love Christ with all their hearts and they will doe any thing for him but those nice fellowes those spruce fellowes it is those that they hate to the death doe you so indeed thou hast said enough then for thou hatest Christ in hating them and thou persecutest Christ in persecuting them Esay 37.23.28 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed saith the text and against whom hast thou exalted thy voyce and lifted up thine eyes on high even against the Holy one of Israel and in the 28. verse I know thy abode and thy going out and thy comming in and thy rage against me so that how ever Senacherib aymed at Hezekia onely and those that professe the truth yet the Lord takes it at done to himselfe he that knew their hearts and their malice hee saith I know thy rage against me it was against the holy One of Israel that they rayled Wicked men persecute the lives of beleevers now Christ lives in them and thou hatest the life of Christ and persecutest the life of Christ Acts 9. Paul had gotten letters from the Synagogue and hee would have haled to prison all the Saints of God that professed the Name of Christ now if a man had come to Paul and asked him Paul why doe you persecute Christ hee would have beene in great indignation what reverenced Paul learned Paul zealous Paul what hee persecute the Lord of life why Christ proclaimes it he doth so and hee puts it to an upshot and ends the controversie and puts the question out of doubt I am Iesus saith he whom thou persecutest as if he had said Poore foole thou knowest not and I perceive thou thinkest it not but I receive the wound the foot is prickt and the head complaines I would have a man make the case his owne and be his owne Judge If any man should pretend friendship to you and professe hee loves you and tells you hee tenders your person but yet hee will torment your body and hee loves your head but yet he will cut off your arme there is no man so weake but he would loath such cursed kinde of dissimulation a man cannot love the head and hate the member love the person and torment the body just so these men deale with the Lord Iesus Christ Gods faithfull beleeving servants are his eyes Zacharie 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye they are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone thou that pretendest to love Christ and to tender the head and in the mean time loathest his members and his poore Saints know that thou dost not persecute the Saints so much but thou persecutest Christ much more but haply thou wilt say I am no drunkard nor no whore-monger I tell thee this sinne is worse than drunkennesse or whoredome the text saith Luke 13. that Herod was an incestuous person and married his brother Philips wife but he added this sinne above all the rest hee put Iohn in prison therefore all that heare the Word of God if a man did see an incestuous wretch in the congregation whom humanity and reason and nature doth loath we would abhorre and detest him nay every man knowes that it deserves death Looke upon thy owne soule and lay thy hand upon thy heart thou that persecutest the Saints thy sinne is greater and thy condemnation shall be farre sorer than such a mans hence it is that God threatens such men with the heaviest judgements Psalme 82.5 it is spoken there concerning Doeg we may see the story 1 Samuel 22. When Abimelech gave David shew-bread and Goliahs sword Doeg saw it and told Saul and afterwards slew eighty five persons of the Priests now this Psalmist made this Psalme against this man and he saith Thy tongue deviseth mischiefe lik a sharp razor working deceitfully and God shall likewise destroy thee for ever He shal take thee away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place and out of the land of the living because he did oppose himselfe against Abimelech therefore the Lord would not let him go without a punishment nay as God threatens the sorest punishment against such person so the Saints of God by their prayers set themselves most against them Psalme 129.5 Let them all he confounded and turned backe that have ill will at Sion neither doe they that goe by say The blessing of the Lord bee upon you the poorest man that lives that is in the meanest place if he walkes in an honest calling the Saints wish a blessing to him but they that oppose the Saints of God the Saints curse them in the name of the Lord it is true I confesse wee must bee wary and wise but being wise and wary it is a thing wee may and should doe David by way of Revelation knew who were implacable and obdurate though wee know not this yet aiming at none in particular but onely in the generall at those who bee incorragible the Saints of God curse them and that bitterly in all their desires that they put up to God nay the greatest indirement at the day of judgement proceeds against sinners because of the persecution of his Saints because in them they persecute Christ himselfe they teare out the very eyes of Christ and rend his heart in peeces Iud. 14. The Lord commeth with thousands of his Angels to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly amongst them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Matthew 25. the latter end Depart from mee ye cursed I know ye not I was in prison and ye visited mee not I was naked and ye cloathed me not why Jesus Christ is gone to Heaven and haply they never saw him bâ—â— faith hee in that you did it not
how also it should bee implanted into him being called by the Spirit of God in vocation wee have heretofore fully and largely discussed and concluded that point then wee came to the second thing which is the second part of this implanting or ingrafting a sinner into the Lord Jesus Christ and it is the growing to of a sinner with our Saviour and that is accomplished and fully brought about by two workes there are two parts of it for it is not enough for the graft to be put into the stock but it must grow together with it if ever there be any conveyance of any sap or any helpe and strength which it may receive from the same so it is with the beleeving soule faith doth not onely bring us unto Christ but it makes us grow together with Christ and this growing is discovered in two particulars The first is a spirituall union of the soule with our Saviour when the soule comes to be united to and made one with the Lord of life that wee have also handled and concluded in the two last lectures Againe the second part that accomplisheth and makes up this growing together with Christ it is that heavenly communion that the soule doth get with our Saviour when the stock of the merits of our Saviour and the vertue of his grace is communicated to the soule for this we must remember that these two things make up the growing of the stock and the graft together First there must be an union of the graft with the stock Secondly there must be an intercourse or a communication of the sap in the stock to the graft so it is with Christ what ever he hath he hath for his Church and people and what ever he doth he doth for his Church and servants so that there is a kinde of conveyance of the vertue of his merits and power of his grace unto the soules of those that beleeve in him and are knit unto him by a true and a lively faith wee have done with the 〈◊〉 that the soule hath with Christ we are now to speake of the heavenly and spirituall communion the intercourse betweene the Lord and the soule when the soule is married unto him and this is that wee aime at this is that wee looke at at this time and this I must tell you by the way that our purpose is not to meddle with the particulars at this time but onely with the generall nature of the communion of the soule with Christ now for the discovery of this worke wee have chosen the words of the text now read unto you and the scope of the words it is mainly this to discover unto us the dowrie and feofment of all that spirituall grace that is conveyed and made sure to the beleeving soule being made one with the Lord Jesus that looke as it is with a man that hath a faire estate to himselfe it is only his owne but when the wife is wooed and brought home married he gives over the right of himselfe unto her and if hee make over his estate unto her shee hath title thereunto this now is the dowry of a Christian the Lord Jesus Christ is no bad match you must not thinke you could have done better it is a wonder that ever our Saviour would take us to himselfe or shew favour to us but the case is cleare if a beleever be called and brought home to Christ Christ is made to us wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption Christ hath all and whatsoever Christ hath it is all yours you have title thereunto and shall receive sap and benefit therefrom if you have hearts to take that good God offers and you may receive wee will not now meddle with the severals in the verse but these two things must be specially attended to in the words that we may make way for our selves in the point we have to trade withall First take notice of the compasse of that happinesse and spirituall grace which God vouchsafeth unto his and it is ranged into foure heads the text saith Christ is made unto us wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption all that Christ hath or can communicate all that the beleeving soule can desire or want may be referred to these foure First Wisdome that is the declaration of the way of God and eternall happinesse in and through the Lord Jesus Christ which all the policie of all cunning men and all subtill pates in the world could never pry into that wisdome which revealed the secret things and the deepe things of God the Lord Jesus is made that wisdome to the beleeving soule Secondly Christ is made unto us righteousnesse that is whatsoever guilt lieth upon us whatsoever sinne hath beene committed by us what ever punishment wee have deserved Christ is made unto us righteousnesse to acquit us of all Thirdly Christ is made unto us sanctification the soule of a poore sinner is defiled with many corruptions and polluted with many distempers now Christ is made unto him sanctification to purge and purifie him from all those sinnes and distempers Lastly because while we wander up and downe this vale of teares and in this pilgrimage of ours wee shall bee oppressed with many evils that will lye upon us and death it selfe which is the last enemy will seize upon us and captivate our bodies in the grave therefore Christ is made unto us redemption he will take away all trouble and wipe all teares from our eyes nay hee will breake open the grave and deliver his Saints from thence The Heathen to make the Saints of God sure in time of persecution they first slew them and then they burnt their bodies to ashes and then threw them into the water and then they said Let us now see how they will rise againe alas poore creatures why the Lord loves the very dust the very ashes of his Saints in the grave and the Lord will redeeme our bodies from the grave and our names from dishonour and our lives from trouble and our soules from sinne and will set us free from all miseries and inconveniences at the great day of account these are the foure things wherein the dowry and feofment of a beleeving soule consists I will not now trade in the particulars but only in the generall and shew how that every beleeving soule that rests upon Christ by faith hath an interest in these The second thing considerable is this to whom all these things belong and the text tels us Christ is made all this to us and the truth is it is made over to all beleevers there is not one man exempted not one man excluded every beleeving creature hath a part and portion herein however the holy Apostle crowds in for a share and if wee looke into the 26 27 28. verses wee shall see to whom this belongs Ye know your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mightie not many noble are called but God
or the like the aime of him that takes him is not to take away his life but to make him deny his colours and commander and if hee can make him doe this then he conquers him but if hee dye under the hand of the tyrant if he be more able to stand for his commander and countrie than he is to drive him from it if he can beare misery better than hee can inflict it then hee is not conquered but conquers so it is here a Saint of God is never mastered before his patience bee mastered and his holinesse crushed but when a man is more able to beare misery than the enemy to lay misery upon him if his patience hold and his courage hold and his uprightnesse hold he is not conquered in this case but he is a conquerer therefore the place is excellent Esay 58.8 see how the Lord preserves his people hee is said to be the whole army of his servants however there bee many storms yet the rivers of water make glad the people of God the text saith Thy righteousnesse shall goe before thee and the glory of the Lord shall bee thy rearward when a man doth walke uprightly and sincerly wee must presume that a man is in a combat for why doth hee speake of the rearward else there are two parts in a battell first the vant-gard which is the former part of the battell Secondly the rear ward which is the hinder part of the battell now Christ is both these you shall have enemies before you in the vant-gard and you shall have enemies behinde you to smite you in the rear-ward now righteousnesse shall goe before thee that is the vant-gard and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rear-ward that is God is all about his servants the vant-gard before them to succour them and the rear-ward behinde them to releeve them so that he doth not onely give grace but he maintaines and preserves that grace he gives to the soules of his servants The fourth part of the tenure and conveyance of grace to the faithfull soule is this and I speake but only in the generall the Lord doth not onely preserve what grace hee gives but hee quickens that grace he maintains he drawes forth that ability hee bestowes hee puts life unto that strength and succour which hee vouchsafeth to worke in the hearts of his children hence all those places are marvellous pregnant God giveth the will and the deed so that it is not onely the having but the doing that wee have need of from God and Paul professeth that hee hath not onely grace from Christ but he lives not but Christ liveth in him if Christ did all in him and this is that wee shall observe Luke 1.74 That hee would grant us saith the text that being redeemed from the hand of our enemies we might serve him without feare take notice of two things here First that the Saints of God are redeemed and justified by Christ and now one would thinke a man that is justified and hath Christ â—ght trade for himselfe no but that he would grant us that being redeemed from the hand of our enemies wee might serve him without feare it is one grant to be redeemed and it is a new grant to serve him without feare as it is a mercie for God to bestow ability before wee have it so it is a mercy to quicken that abilitie which hee vouchsafes that wee may honour him by it and he may honour himselfe by us therefore it is a most pregnant place Colos 1. last verse when Paul was there labouring what hee could yet as though hee had nothing as though hee did nothing he gives all to God for marke the manner of the sense of the words Whereunto saith he I also labour and strive the word in the originall signifies I sweat at it and take great paines according to his working which worketh in me mightily Paul laboured and strived but how comes this about his striving is by the working of Christ and by his working he works as who should say It is grace I have any grace it is hee assisting it is he co-operating it is he accompanying I know not what to say it is his worke works and hee works mightily in them that worke and strive to advance the glory of God so then we have those foure particulars that in reason almost might satisfie any man what you want Christ hath what is fit Christ will bestow if you cannot keepe it hee will preserve it for you if you bee sluggish hee will quicken it in you what would you have more one would thinke this were enough but that nothing might be wanting take a passage or two more Fiftly therefore as he quickens what hee maintains so hee perfects what hee quickens hee doth not only inable us to doe what we should but he makes us make worke of it and he brings to perfection what he bestowes Heb. 12.23 there the text speaks of the spirits of just and perfect men hee begins the worke and never leaves till hee makes the worke perfect it is Christ that puts a mans weapons into his hands it is Christ that teacheth him to fight with those weapons and it is Christ that gives him the victory in that fight 1 Corin. 15.55 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victorie the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the law but blessed be God that hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ the weapons are Christs and the fight is Christs and the victory is Christs he will not onely bring you into the field and put weapons into your hands but give you the victory and all you Saints of God that sinke under the fiercenesse of temptations without and corruptions within hee will give you grace hee will give you weapons and you shall triumph over all your enemies therefore Ephes 4.13 it is said Hee will bring his body to a perfect stature all the Saints of God are compared to members now looke as it is in the body every member doth increase according to its measure till it come to its full bignesse so it is in the body of Christ all the members thereof shall increase till they come to be perfect hath God given thee a heart to looke towards Zion and hast thou any intimation of his love then though the word and meanes may faile he will provide help and meanes he will never leave thee till thou art a perfect man and woman till thou hast attained to bee a perfect member in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ there is no withered bow in this stock of the Lord Jesus Christ but as he gives grace so he will bring it to perfection in its measure God will never leave thee till hee hath brought thee to that perfection he hath appointed now a man would think here were enough but yet a little further and then I am as farre as I can goe
is this Doctrine Our Saviour Christ never yeelded the least improvement of heart to sinne neither did hee ever commit the least sinne in his life and conversation our Saviour Christ knew no sinne at all by experience this is that which all the types and sacrifices of the old Law did signifie which were all as so many severall testimonies of the holinesse and puritie of the Lord Jesus Christ therefore he was called the Lambe without blemish and it was prophesied of him in Esay 53.9 That he had done no wickednesse neither was deceit found in his mouth and his enemy Pilate said I finde no fault in him at all and our Saviour himselfe saith the Prince of this world commeth and hath nought in mee that is no sinne Iohn 14.30 The arguments are briefly these Reason Looke into the Nature of our Saviour and the Office of our Saviour looke into his Manhood as he was perfect Man for the seed of the woman was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and was purged and sanctified and the course of originall sinne was stayed and when the body was framed the Godhead dwelt bodily in Christ and all the fulnesse of grace was in him then the point must needs bee cleere that there was no evill in him no mutabilitie to incline to any evil nor no power could prevaile with him to draw him to any evill Againe looke into the Office of our Saviour for he that came to be a sacrifice for sinne must needs want sinne or else he could not be a sacrifice for sinne so the point is cleere we come now to the application Vse 1 The first use is a word of exhortation and it ought to provoke all you that are faithfull and are beleevers to conforme your hearts and conversations answerable to the heart and life of Christ did not Christ give the least improvement of heart to any sinne nor practise the least sinne in any measure then goe thou and doe likewise be thou like thy Saviour that thou mayest have some evidence that thou hast a title unto him It is that which the Apostle makes as a speciall collection Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darknesse but bee you followers of God as deare children Ephes 5.1 Christ had no sinne nor fellowship with sinne let his course and practice bee thy copie But some will say what would you have us to bee Saints here on earth â— how can it be that we should know no sin when we have such a body of death hanging upon us yes we may know no sinne though it doe hang about us the Apostle doth not say equall God in holinesse but imitate him and he doth not say follow him fully but even as deare children Now though the childe cannot goe so fast as the father yet he will follow as fast as he can and when hee hath done what he can then he cries to his father to help him and carrie him to the journeyes end and so ought we to doe nay so we will doe if we are true children and not bastards the Father is infinitely full of holinesse Follow God as deare children doe what you can and then â—rie to him to inable you to doe what you cannot doe It was the practice of the Prophet David Psalme 63.1 My soule thirsteth for thee and my heart longeth after thee therefore in the 119. Psalme 4 5. Thou hast commanded to keepe thy Commandements diligently oh that my heart meâ— so directed thaâ— I might doe it as if hee had said I know the Law requireth it and it is my dutie to doe it helpe Lord and take Lord and carry Lord thy poore servant and lead mee into the land of righteousnesse it is an evidence of one that is borne of God 1 Iohn 5.18 Whosoever is borne of God sinneth not and the evill one toucheth him not so if you are such as have Christ Jesus formed in you you will labour to keepe your selves that the wicked one touch you not hee doth not say hee will not entertaine it but he will not keep company with it A man must doe by sinne as wee would do by a man whose coÌ„pany we shun if we would not have acquaintance with him then we carry our selves strangely to him if he call we will not answer if he knocke we will not open we keep our selves close that wee may not change a word with him so it will bee with every one of you that are borne of God you will have nothing to doe with your old pettish lusts and base humours and haunts of spirits and whomsoever it be that hath had dalliance with you heretofore you will avoid the place and presence of them and say I know not those distempers nor the place not occasions of them I will meddle with them no more I will not owne them I have done it too too much already if they come I will not yeeld and if they follow I will flee I have read an old story of a man that was carried away much by a harlot at last the Lord meets him and opened his eyes and humbled his soule and brought him out of his sinfull condition many a day after the harlot met him againe and the man would not looke on her and shee began to seft kindnesse upon him and said I am she you know wee have had much sweet dalliance together Oh but saith he blessed be God I am not I that is I am not the man that I was before so should we though wee are nothing but sinne by nature and know nothing but corruption yet if the old sluggishnesse and stubbornnes of heart and haughtinesse that we have too too much received if they come and say we are the darlings that have had much sweet fellowship and communion with you make them answer and say I am not the man I will have no more to doe with you Let every heart be here incouraged not to regard the base respects of sinne or of the world they will say it is not good to bee too holy and too precise make answer and say I cannot bee too holy Jesus Christ knew no sinne the heart and life of Jesus Christ is that which wee ought to respect and imitate Now I come to the main proposition and that is this that the debt of the sinner is charged upon our Saviour so saith the description and so say the words of the Text conceive here thus much that our Saviour had the debt of a sinner charged upon him partly by imputation and partly by personall performance he did performe the payment personally the debt was by imputation but the payment was by reall and personall performance and as our sinnes and debts were made his by imputation so the payment was his really laid downe and suffered for us Two things I must lay downe before I can open the point First what is meant by sinne Secondly why Christ is said to be made sin First what is meant by sinne Answer
of the Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father by faith and this must bee done at the doore of the Tabernacle the meaning is he is a common Saviour to all beleevers that as it is in a common ground every one hath a share in it and every borderer though never so poore may come and put on and feed his cattle as well as the best so here every poore beleever may come and feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ therefore the Apostle in the 3. verse of Iude cals it the common salvation not common to all the wicked and unbeleevers but to all the faithfull that border upon the promises and doe beleeve in them it is common to them all and the man that offered the sacrifice was to lay his hand upon the head of the sacrifice and there to confesse all the sinnes of the children of Israel this was the unburthening himselfe of his sinne and laying it upon the head of the sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ that so what wee are not able to beare hee may beare for us and answer divine justice for us and so there was another ceremony Leviticus 16.21 Of the scape goat there were two sacrifices to bee offered the one was to bee a burnt offering and the other was to escape Aaron was to put his hand upon the head of the live goat and to confesse over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and their trespasses putting them upon the head of the live goat and shall send him away by the hand of a man appointed into the wildernesse so the goat shall beare upon him all the iniquities to a land not inhabited and the other was to be offered up for a burnt offering this was the type now the intendment of the ceremony was this the goat was the Lord Jesus Christ and when Aaron did put his hands upon the head of the goat and confesse over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and did put them upon the head of the goat it was thus much God the Father did charge all the sinnes of all the world upon the Lord Jesus Christ even of all from the beginning of the world to the end of it and did put them all upon the Lord Christ and howsoever he was a sacrifice for sinne yet hee was a scape goat and hath escaped out of the hands of hell and death and is now in Heaven and with him all beleevers shall escape from hell and death by the power of his merits Further ye see how the Prophet expounds the Law Esay 53.4 5. We thought him afflicted and buffetted for himselfe but he was wounded for our sins and broken for our iniquities hee was neglected amongst the wicked and they judged him as smitten for his owne sins but he was wounded for our sins imputed to him that wee through him might bee eased thereof and therefore the Text saith Hee bore our iniquities and me thinkes it hath reference to the scape goat and it is that which the Apostle doth peremptorily say Heb. 7.22 He was made a suretie of a better covenant Now the suretie hath not onely the payment to make but hee is accounted as the debtor the debt is laid to his charge as well as the payment is required thus the point is proved Now for the better discovery of this Doctrine let me doe two things First I will shew after what manner God did this and what is the behaviour of the Lord when hee chargeth the sinnes of the faithfull upon Christ Secondly I will shew the reasons of it why God the Father did so whereby it shall appeare that it is reasonable and it doth wonderfully magnifie the Justice and mercy of God Quest. 1 For the first if a man aske me what God the Father doth when hee chargeth the sinnes of the faithfull upon Christ Answer I answer this act carries three things in it or God brings about the worke by a threefold act First God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ made a mutuall decree and purpose that so many should beleeve they should bee saved And they did not only purpose this but they did make a mutuall agreement betweene themselves that the Lord Jesus Christ should take the care of those soules to make them beleeve and to save them by beleeving and the Lord Jesus Christ undertooke the worke according to their compact God the Father said I will have these children saved and Christ saith I will take the care of them Iohn 10.14 15 16. It s strange to see how our Saviour there speakes of his Office in the 14. verse he saith I am the good Shepheard and know mine and am knowne of mine that is I know those that are committed to my charge and knowledge even as the shepherd knowes his sheepe but how doth the Lord Christ know who God the Father will have to be saved looke verse 15. As the Father knoweth me so know I the Father and wee have agreed amongst our selves that so many shall bee saved The Father hath said I will have so many soules saved and Christ saith those soules shall bee my care and charge and in the 16. verse hee saith Other sheeâ— I have also which are not of this sold them also must I bring and they shall heare my voyce when the Father hath revealed that so many in such a place and so many in such a place shall bee saved then the Lord Christ undertakes the care of them and he calls at such a doore and saith I must have that poore drunken creature and he must be humbled and broken hearted and he must beleeve and he calls at such a doore and findes the adulterer in the armes of the harlot and hee saith I must have that unclean wretch I must humble him for his sinnes and I must make a separation betweene him and his sinnes A good shepheard will have a care of his sheep and will fetch them wheresoever they be as it was with David He did fetch his prey from the mouth of the Lion so though there were never so many baits to allure a man yet if the Lord Christ intend to save him hee will fetch him out of the mouth of the Lion and he saith that poore soule is mine I have taken the charge of him and therefore I must have him and he must heare my voice nay he shall heare my voyce Many times you have turned the deafe eare upon Christ and hee calls and knocks and yet that will not serve the turne untill hee breakes in upon the soule by horrour of heart therefore God the Father commits the care of all those wandring soules to the charge of Christ and hee will have them by one means or other As it is with a Husbandman that hath a great flocke of sheepe and he saith to his sonne loe I commit the care of them to thee loe here they are I would have thee to be carefull of them the number thou knowest and the
them yet they shall never be able to fasten any guilt upon thee to condemne thee Looke as it was with the three children the fire in its owne nature was able to burne them therefore they that put them in were consumed by the flame but the three children had no hurt the Lord stopped the power of the flames that it burnt onely their bonds but not one haire of their head was sienged nor there was no smell of fire upon them it was not because the fire would not or could not but the Lord stopt the acting of the fire So every sinne is able to fasten guilt upon thee and to condemne thee but upon thy repentance the Lord hinders it in the act and therefore though sinne doth send the wicked and impenitent downe to hell to frie in torments yet it shall never send thee downe nor fasten guilt upon thee Thus it was likewise with Daniel Chap. 6.22 23 24. when he was put into the Lions denne the Princes of the king Darius had a spleene against Daniel because he was a holy man and had gotten some interest in the kings favour and they could get no hold against him but in the matter of his God now hee that loved God better than himselfe He opens his window boldly towards Ierusalem professing Gods truth when hee was called to it therefore they went to the king to have him to be cast into the den of Lions according to the decree now he was cast into it and though the Lions were hungrie yet God shut the mouth of the Lions they had power and were able to hurt him if they had not beene restrained but God had shut up their mouthes that they could not hurt him but when the enemies of Daniel were cast into the denne the Lions did teare them all to peeces before they came at the bottome of the denne they rent them in peeces suddenly what 's the reason of it they had as much power before and were as able and as hungry before but the Lord stopt their mouths that they could not devour Daniel Just so it is with the sinnes of the penitent and the sinnes of the impenitent the sinnes of the one though they are of a killing and a Lion-like nature for the wages of every sinne is death and there is condemnation in it yet the Lord stops the mouth of the Lion hee takes off the guilt and condemning power of sinne that though it hath power in it selfe to condemne yet it cannot doe it but now when it meets with an impenitent unbeleever the malice of the malicious shall kill him and the pride of the ambitious shall one day rend his heart but it is not so with the sins of the penitent beleevers their sinnes have teeth indeed and power to make a man worthy of condemnation but they shall never fasten condemnation upon him this is the meaning of that place Romans 8.3 That which was impossible to the Law to doe in as much as it was weake because of the flesh God sending his onely Sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh It is an excellent place and hath much weight in it and howsoever there are many interpretations of the place yet I will follow that interpretation which I now expresse that it was impossible for the Law to acquit a man of sinne because he cannot keepe the Law and therefore he cannot bee justified by it but how comes it to passe then that the Saints of God are delivered The text saith Christ tooke flesh on him and it was sinfull flesh by similitude or imputation not actually by commission the nature of our Saviour had no evill inherent in him nor committed by him but hee was only a sinner by imputation and then he condemned sinne in the flesh what is that it is a law case and Master Calvin hath it excellently he damned sinne as a man will say when he loseth the suit hee fell from his cause and from his plea which he made he lost it utterly so Christ taking upon him our nature by imputation he made sinne lose its claime which it would make to the soule in this case hee that breaketh the Law of God is guiltie and shall be condemned by it but this man hath broken the Law of God and therefore is guiltie of condemnation thereby Now Christ takes off these and saith It is true hee is guiltie of sinne and worthy of condemnation unlesse another be contented to be guilty for him but I have undertaken the guilt for him and have paid the debt for him and therefore this soule is free from sinne thou hast nothing to doe with this soule neither shalt thou condemne him Observe it when all your sinnes shall muster in upon you and come from East to West saying thou art guiltie of pride guiltie of malice c. and shalt be condemned for them make answer and say it is true Lord I am so but Christ hath taken away the guilt and condemnation and I have repented of my sinnes therefore sinne thou hast nothing to doe with this soule of mine Christ hath taken it and redeemed it and therefore I leave it with him This is the first conclusion Vse 2 In the second place wee heare what the Doctrine saith that God the Father charged all our sinnes upon Christ and that they shall never condemne the penitent and faithfull then what will become of the faithlesse and unbeleevers thinke ye This truth is like a thunder-bolt and it is able to shake the hearts of all unbeleevers and to dash them all in peeces Hence it is evident that every obstinate unbeleever is destitute of all hope of succour and pardon of his sinne consider of this all you that are unbeleevers you must pay your owne debts and beare your owne burthens I know your hearts cannot but testifie that the condition of such poore soules is very miserable it is that which sometimes comforts a man that either hee hath good friends that will helpe him or else hee hath means of his owne by which he is able to relieve himselfe but he that hath no reliefe of himselfe nor cannot expect noâ— hope for any this man sinks downe in sorrow because hee knowes there is no way in the world to help him This is thy condition right thou that art an unbeleever what to be cast out of heaven and earth too this is miserable to be for saken of God and man too that no means in heaven nor earth will stand him in steed for his good whilest hee thus continues Consider of this you that make nothing of the sinne of unbeleefe though you have some care of other sinnes whither will you goe for succour in that great day of accounts will you goe to the Saint they dare not will you goe to the Creatures they cannot will you goe to the Lord Jesus Christ he will not succour you If you goe to any of the Saints to see
bee made a sacrifice for sinne and beare the punishment of sinne If Christ became a debtor for us then he must also lay downe the payment of the debt onely here remember this consider the bounds and limits of this mercy of the Lord it is limited onely to the faithfull they onely share therein and are partakers of that benefit that comes by the sufferings of Christ To prove this Doctrine looke Hebrewes 2.17 compare it with Hebrewes 4.15 In chap. 2.17 the text saith Wherefore it behoved him to bee made like unto his brethren in all things and in chap. 4.15 He was tempted in all things like unto us sinne onely excepted for there were no punishments excepted as appeareth in the former place therefore in Esay 53.5 6 7 8. the whole chapter is a full description of the punishments of our Saviour and you shall finde these three degrees of it in the afornamed verses Hee was stricken and so stricken that hee was wounded and so wounded that hee was bruised for our transgressions and then in the 6. verse it is very pithily laid downe All we like sheep have gone astray and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquitie of us all that is the punishments of us all they were laid that is God made all the sorrowes and all the punishments of all the faithfull to meet upon our Saviour It is a terme taken from warre when an army is levied out every towne and countie sets out so many men and they all meet at such a place such a day so every faithfull soule sets out miseries and mans out afflictions and they all levie out an army of sorrowes and they all meet upon our Saviour all those sinnes and miseries of the godly from one end of the world to the other from east to west from north to south they run amain upon our Saviour and besiege the soule and body of him and they lie heavie upon him the chastisement of our peace was upon him that is it overwhelmed him for the while and made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Another proofe of this point is Gal. 3.13 The text saith Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us as it is written cursed be every one that hangeth on a tree He that was made such a curse for us as the Law did require and such a curse as wherein the Law was satisfied even he was made a full curse for us and bore all the punishment due to us but hee was made such a curse as the Law prefigured and wherein the Law was satisfied and therefore he must needs beare whatsoever the Law required and therefore I may say to the faithfull soule as Paul said to Philemon concerning Onesimus If he hath hurt thee or oweth thee ought set that upon my score so saith our Saviour whatsoever punishments the faithfull have deserved by their sinnes I will beare it and answer it Now for the opening of the Doctrine give mee leave to open these three questions Quest. 1 First what were the kindes of punishment which Christ did suffer and how farre did he suffer them Quest. 2 Secondly when did those sufferings begin and when did they end Quest. 3 Thirdly whether did he suffer them in soule or in body or in both Quest. 1 First what were the punishments that our Saviour suffered of what kinds were they Answer For answer hereunto hee suffered the pains of the first death by the first death I mean the death naturall when the frame of the body and soule was taken downe and those two old familiar friends were parted this death our Saviour did suffer but if you aske mee how farre he did suffer the death naturall let me answer it in three conclusions First whatsoever appertaines to the substance and the essentials of the first death that is the desolation of soule and body that our Saviour Christ did suffer for that onely was threatned unto Adam by reason of his sin therefore Christ needed not to suffer any thing but that which was threatned in Genesis 2.17 The curse threatned was this In the day that thou dost eat thereof thou shalt die the death the curse doth not mention many deaths nor doth it punctually set forth any one death but whatsoever death it is it is left indifferently to the choyce of our Saviour this I speake to wipe away a carnall cavill that is cast upon this truth by some that would diminish the sufferings of Christ If Christ did suffer punishment for all then why was hee not stoned with stones as Steven was and why was hee not sawne in peeces or burnt or the like The force of the argument followes not our Saviour was not bound to suffer many deaths nay the curse doth not intimate any one death in particular but onely death in the generall Now say they if our Saviour suffered all the punishments of the faithfull then hee suffered so many particular deaths the argument is false for looke how Adam being in the root of all mankinde and committed sinne looke what death he deserved that death our Saviour was to suffer and it was required of him and this death our Saviour undertooke but when Adam had committed sinne there were not many deaths denounced nay nor any one particular death but onely death in the generall and therefore death in the generall being onely threatned death in the generall our Saviour was onely bound to suffer Secondly though the curse doth not require any one particular death and say thou shalt bee stoned or sawne in peeces or the like yet that the Lord might shew the hainousnesse of sinne which deserves the worst death of all and to expresse the greatnesse of the lâ—â—e of Christ that was contented to die in that manner and that God the Father might shew his justice in punishing of sinne for this end God the Father appointed it and Christ undertooke it to die the death of the crosse a most shamefull and base death onely appropriate to the basest malefactors now Christ did willingly submit himselfe to this and God the Father did lay this upon Christ that sinne might appeare to bee most hainous and that sinne might be hated and Christ might appeare most mercifull and gracious and holy in loathing sinne as Philippians 2.6 8. Our Saviour being equall with the Father and thought it no robbery so to be yet he humbled himselfe and tooke on him the forme of a servant and became obedient to the death even the death of the crosse Thirdly those dishonourable infirmities which befall men because of the infirmitie of the flesh because they cannot avoid them and those dishonourable cruelties which are laid upon some men as to bee torne in peeces with wilde horses our Saviour had no need to suffer these First those dishonorable infirmities as the rotting of the body in the grave and returning to its own proper elemeÌ„ts the body of Christ did not
the suit against the partie offending our Saviour steps into our roome and submits himselfe to the censure of the Father and as we were accounted so he was content to bee accounted and as we were to suffer so he was content to suffer for us God the Father loved him as he was God and holy and innocent yet he condemnes him and lets in his wrath upon him as he was to beare our sins for God the Father might love Jesus Christ and yet give his body to death naturall so God the Father might love the soule of our Saviour and yet give it over to paine supernaturall all the world confesseth that it was without anger that Christ died and yet the Father slew him this conclusion helps us to the interpretation of that place Matthew 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee He was a Father to our Saviour and our Saviour a Son to him Fourthly whatsoever punishment proceeded from the Father our Saviour tooke it upon himselfe yet so as neither his sins deserved it neither did he sinne in bearing of it nor yet was hee overwhelmed in bearing of it as the wicked are which are damned but hee wrestled with it and overcame it hee first tooke upon himselfe that should have come upon a beleever when the wrath of God comes out like a Lion to take the sinfull sons of men from off the earth and the sea of his indignation flowes in amain then the Lord Jesus Christ steps in between the wrath of the Father and the soule of a beleever and hee bears all Iohn 18.11 when Peter would have rescued our Saviour from the high Priests Our Saviour said suffer it to bee so put up thy sword into its place shall I not drinke of the cup which my Father giveth me to drinke of hee doth not say shall I not sip or taste of the cup but shall I not drinke of it that is he drinkes the cup of wrath which was prepared for poore sinners cleane off therefore Esay 63.3 hee is said to tread the wine-presse of the Fathers wrath alone he did squeese it all out observe these explications in this kinde and know thus much that the want of the sense and feeling and operation of Gods love and the feeling of the indignation of Gods wrath in it selfe considered it is not a sinne but so far as our sinnes deserve this wrath of God and deserve this separation and so far as we out of our infidelitie dash the sweetnesse of Gods love we sin in this kinde but none of all this befell our Saviour the bare want of the one and the sense of the other is not a sinne but we sin in bearing it It is a sweet observation of the Schoolmen that our Saviour cried my God my God even in the losse of the sweetnesse of Gods favour and when Christ complaines and sweat water and blood yea clods of blood so that his heart broke within him under the fierce indignation of the Lord this fierce indignation may be attended two wayes or there are two things in it I say in the separation of God from the soule there are these two things to be attended First a want of that grace and holinesse and confidence whereby the soule should close with God that howsoever God goes away yet the soule should follow him as Iacob did after the Lord when hee said I will not let thee goe unlesse thou blesse mee Now it is one thing when God goes away and it is another thing when we push him away therefore that want of grace and holinesse and confidence whereby the soule should cleave to and close with God this is one thing which causeth the separation of God from us this is on our part Secondly there is another worke on Gods part that howsoever the soule stands Godward and Christward and it cleaves to him as Iob did that would trust in him though he kild him yet God may withdraw the sweet refreshing operation and the sensible conveyance of his mercy and compassion from his soule and he frownes upon him and plucks away the hold and lets in his indignation upon him the first of these two can never bee without sinne and it is a hainous sinne when our soules sit loose from God and when we shall separate our selves from the mercy and goodnesse of God and are weary of Gods presence in his ordinances as many wicked men are and are weary of the promises and say as those in Iob did Depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes this is a cursed sinne and this never was nor could not be in our Saviour but now that the Lord may plucke away the sense of his love and favour and take away the operation and conveyance of his mercy this God may justly doe as he seeth good this was not a sinne in Iob that God did take away the sense of his love and mercy and seemed to be his enemy but if Iob had gone away from God as God did from him then he had sinned but hee held God still this was not a sinne in Iob that God did thus forsake him though haply it was through his sinne deserving it all this did befall our Saviour Christ and yet he was full of holinesse and hangs upon God and said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And God was angry with him because he had our sinnes upon him but the first of these was not in Christ hee did not depart from God the second was inflicted upon our Saviour and that might be justly this ads much light to those passages those two ardent petitions of those two worthy lights Moses and Saint Paul Exodus 32.32 Moses perceiving that the Lord was ready to destroy the Israelites for their sinne he saith Now if thou pardon this sinne thy mercy shall appeare but if thou will not then rase mee out of the booke of life which thou hast written and in Rom. 9.3 Saint Paul foreseeing the rejection of the Jewes and that God would throw them away for sixteen hundred yeeres together the good man seeing the dishonour that was like to come to God the utter destruction of the people of the Jewes he saith I could even desire to be separated from Christ to be cut off from the Nation of the Iewes that they might not be forsaken of God Now should a man pray to be removed out of Gods presence and to be separated from God for ever and to be cut off from God and to be separated from Christ Jesus no for this were sinfull either it signifies that Paul should have his heart loosened and sit loose in his affections to God and to Jesus Christ this Paul did not pray for for it is a horrible sinne and it is an argument he hated Christ and himselfe too Now so farre as it implies our want of love to God and our want of depending upon God it is a fearfull sinne and these holy
men did not desire it but this is the meaning they were willing to have suffered the want of the sense and feeling of Gods love and favour for the present though they would have loved and closed with God still yet they would have beene content to want the sense of Gods love that Gods glory might have beene advanced and the salvation of the Jewes furthered so it was here with our Saviour Christ for howsoever according to his humane nature hee did feare the death naturall and the wrath which hee saw comming upon his nature and therefore he said if it be possible let this cup passe from me he might doe it and God by reason required it that a man be sensible of misery yet according to the holinesse of the will of the Father hee did not pray against these but prayed for these and for the beaâ—ing of the punishment for he was sent for this end and it was a part of the Mediatourship this is the meaning of that place Iohn 12.27 What shall I say Father save me from this houre no but therefore came I unto this houre that is the houre of death He came into the world for this end and therefore he submits himselfe Thus much for the opening of the first part of this conclusion that whatsoever wrath should have come forth from the Father upon the faithfull Christ did beare it all Now the second part is this Christ so bears it that his owne sinne never deserved this wrath of God nor hee never sinned in bearing it neither was he overwhelmed in bearing it but he wrestled against it and overcame it it implies two things and it prevents another cavill First the paine of the soule comes either from a cause without or a cause within or from both If a man were to goe to hell it came either from his owne sinne deserving it or from Gods wrath inflicting it or from both now Christ did suffer punishments in his soule but not so farreâ— they came for his owne sinne the cause from within is sinfull and detestable but the cause from without is holy and righteous therefore all that which came from Gods wrath inflicting punishment all that Christ did suffer was so but the wicked have a cause of sinne within them and that Christ having not hee needed not to suffer and because he had no sinne in him he did not suffer all pains of hell hee suffered the displeasure of Gods wrath but yet so much of the punishment as came from sin committed that our Saviour did not suffer Secondly a poore creature bearing Gods anger he hath not onely Gods anger seâ—ing upon him but also it overwhelms him because hee is not able to beare it the plague prevails against him not onely the wrath of God lies upon a sinner in hell but it crusheth him there that he can never goe from it and this Divines call the absolute damnation such a damnation as overturnâ— a sinner in hell and crusheth him there for evermore The reason why a sinnes never comes out of hell is this because his sufferings are not infinitely satisfiable according as his sinnes have beene infinite to provoke God for as Adams sin was infinite and provoking because it was against his Godhead so the sufferings must bee infinite now the sufferings of Christ were of infinite value but Adams sufferings were not of an infinite nature Christ bore the wrath of God and wrestled with it and overcame it and came out from under the 〈◊〉 displeasure of God and why because theâ— were able to satisfie an infinite God who was thus infinitely wronged by the sinne of man therefore the sufferings must be of an infinite satisfying nature as you shall conceive thus a finite sinne of Adam committed against God was infinitely provoking but the sufferings of Christ were infinitely satisfying and so answerable in proportion to what divine justice required this was the meaning of that place iâ— Acts 2.24 Whom God raised up and loosed the sorrowes of death because it was not possible that hee should bee holden downe of death and it is the meaning of that place 1 Cor. â—5 54 Death is swallowed up in victorie Christ endures 〈◊〉 and overcomes it and Iohn 1â— 20 Christ will convince the world of sinne and of righteousnesse why of righteousnesse for I goe unto the Father and why doth hee goe to the Father because hee hath paid the debt to the uttermost hee did satisfie justice to the full for had he not satisfied justice he had beene kept in the graâ—e till this day and wee had beene condemned but now hee hath borne and satisfied all therefore hee must come forth to immortalitie and glory Remember these conclusions and think thus hath my Saviour done all this for me well I will remember it and thinke upon it and I will lay it by mee for ever The fift conclusion followes and that is this The desperation of a damned soule in hell and the eternitie of torments they are no essentials of the second death and therefore they could not nor ought not to be suffered by our Saviour this I say to stop the mouths of all Popish Jesuites and especially of Bellarmine who thinke to east a great scandall upon Calvin and others in this kinde let me open both he parts of it first the damned in hell despaire therefore saith Bellarmine if Christ suffered the pains of the second death he did despaire and did suffer the paines of hell for â—vermore Oh foolish creature who will be so wicked as to say thus Therefore that you may see this cursed opinion consider two particulars in this desperation First the nature of desperation what it is Secondly I will shew that this desperation is no part of the second death First of all for the nature of it what it is desperation as the word carries iâ— is to cast away all hope and expectation of any good this is properly to despaire For if there be any good things with us then we are said to have them in possession and fruition but if good things are absent from us then we are said to expect them and to hope and wait for them and hope saith it may be otherwise this is that which beares up the soules in the most heavie brunt But for hope the heart would breake saith the Proverb and it is true indeed in the greatest miseries that can befall â—â— and when we feele nothing nor finde nothing nor have nothing in sense yeâ— hope saith it may be otherwise and though now I am sinfull and miserable yet I may bee pardoned and though now in the gall of bitternesse yet I may be purged and sanctified and though now I am a damned creature yet I may bee succoured and delivered This is that which sometimes bears up the heart and it is that also which beares up the hearts of the wicked many times here upon the earth when the Lord lets in the horrour of heart and fils
not then hate it to the uttermost If God doth hate sin even in his owne deare Son though assumed onely then let thy heart bee also carried with a hatred for evermore against it Thus much of the first question what the kindes of punishment were which our Saviour suffered and how far he suffered them Quest. 2 Secondly when did our Saviour begin these sufferings and when did be end them To this I answer thus Answer Our Saviour Christ begun the pains of the naturall death from his cradle to his grave I am not ignorant of the diversitie of the judgements of Divines in this point but that which I conceive to be most seasonable is this hee begun to die as soone as hee begun to live and that upon this ground looke to the curse that God hath threatned Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death so that Adam began to be a debter and must bee a sufferer from the very beginning of his sin and so all the sons of Adam they have no sooner an entrance into life but they are dying The meaning is this as thou eatest thereof thou shalt die that 's the meaning of the text as it is in the originall die die die even from the beginning of thy life Now when our Saviour becameâ— debter hee must also become a paymaster and he must keepe the 〈◊〉 of the payment justice requires this and they 〈◊〉 are faithfull doe and will keepe this now 〈◊〉 Saviour was a good paymaster therefore the day of his humiliation was the day of his dissolution hee had sorrowes and miseries even untill his departure out of this life nay not onely the curse required it but also daily experience makes it good looke upon our Saviour as soone as ever he wâ—â— borne there was no roome to bee had for him 〈◊〉 â—nne but bee was laid in a manger in the stable â—d not in a cradle neither but in a cratch and Herod he fought his life too and in his riper years he suffered hunger and cold and backbitings and all these were but as harbengers to make way for all that desolation and wrath which came upon him There is never a childe of Adam but so soone as hee is borne into the world hee falls to crying and so he continueth in sorrowes all the dayes of his life and all these are but dyings when the tyles begin to fall and the thatch to moulder from off the house wee use to say the house will fall shortly so all the sorrowes and the disgraces that were cast upon our Saviour so soone as he was persecuted they were all preparations to his death Againe looke to the end why our Saviour came into the world as in 1 Iohn 3.8 Christ came to destroy the workes of the devill that as Satan brought sinne into the world by Adam and so death and condemnation by sinne so Christ through his sufferings brought in life and sanctification so that the plaister should be applied to the place from whence the 〈◊〉 the disâ—e came As Satan brought sin into the world 〈◊〉 punishments by sin so the plaister must bee laid there that all may be fully cured Againe when did our Saviour suffer paines in his soule To this I answer our Saviour did suffer these paines partly in the garden and partly upon the crosse this will be plaine if you compare Matthew 26.37 with Iohn 19.30 in Saint Matthew he saith that Christ tooke with him Peter and the two sonnes of Zabedeus and hee began it 〈◊〉 sorrowfull and to be grievously troubled hee began to be sorrowfull this sorrow and heavinesse was the paines of his soule here he did begin it and in Iohn 19.30 when Iesus had received of the vinegar he said now it is finished what is that there are many interpretations upon it but I will follow that which I conceive to bee most seasonable as thus it is finished that is the cup is â—ver the heavie indignation of the Lord that did pursue wee and lie upon mee is now over and remember this bloâ—d finished doth argue that it had a beginning There was a time when our Saviour begun to crapple with this wrath of God and now it is finished this is the meaning of it for it could not bee meant of all the Prophesies that were of Christ all which were not fulfilled and though some were fulfilled yet some were not and therefore it could not be meant of them as namely of this Prophesie as Ionah was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly so shall the Sonne of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth therefore the text saith that he began to bee in an againe in the garden and when he cried now it is finished theâ—â— was ended that is now the fit is over and the indignation of the Lord is past this shall bee made good in the third question wherein it shall appeare that hee did suffer grievous paines in his soule But before I come to the third question give me leave to promise some cautions that so you may see how the way lies and the cautions are three First that whatsoever the Scripture doth speak concerning the sufferings of Christ it means them really they were not shewes nor semblances but in substance This I speake the rather to avoid a cavill of some which thinke that Christ did onely say so and did not suffer them really this is a meere doring delusion and for ever to be abhorred for unlesse we yeeld it that Christ did suffer these really wee shake off the truth of the whole story and so we can have no true foot-hold for our comfort Secondly I say that whatsoever is exprest in the Scripture wee must conceive of it without the least suspition of sinne in our Saviour therefore evermore maintaine a holy reverence and a holy regard of the actions and the nature of our Saviour Christ that you may not charge him with the least inclination to any distemper Thirdly our Saviour was not compeld properly to suffer either out of the necessitie of nature being weake and sinfull for indeed sorrowes doe come properly out of our corruptions and flow out from thence and as heat and fire goe together so sin and misery goe together but there was no such matter in the Lord Jesus Christ nay there was no outward cause in our Saviour that could compell him to suffer miseries whether he would or no but hee did most willingly submit himselfe to divine justice her tooke our place and became our suretie and promised the payment of the debt freely yet aside he had done thus it was necessary upon condition promised and hee did also willingly make it necessary that before he did suffer these punishments he should undertake them and then having thus undertaken and upon certaine conditions promised it was very fit and necessary that he should make good what he had promised and performe what hee
times as when a man cannot well drinke a great potion at one draught he drinkes and breathes and then drinks againe and breathes and then drinkes the third time so Christ was resolved to beare all the wrath of God and because it was too grievous for the humane nature to drinke it all at once therefore hee drinkes and breaths againe and then drinkes the second time and breaths againe and so drinkes the third time and so our Saviour was able to suffer all and not to bee driven to any distemper or weaknesse for all those distempers of affections they arise from these three grounds 1 Either affections prevent judgement 2 Or else it will not yeeld to judgement 3 Or thirdly it disturbs judgement Now our Saviour tooke one draught and then breathed and then tooke another draught and 〈◊〉 had againe and so thinke it at the third time so that none of all the sorrowes of the agonie that he undertooke troubled him because hee undertooke it when he would and yet bore all and so gave full satisfaction Thus you see what our Saviour suffered in the garden in his soule and it was such a kinde of sorrow that he tooke onely Peter and Iames and Iohn with him and no more Now in the next place I come to fasten upon the proofe of the point to wit that this sorrow must needs bee more than can come from the paines of death and I shall make it good by force of argument that this sorrow cannot come barely from the naturall death I shall give you grounds from Scripture and from reason and I reason thus All the sorrowes that came upon our Saviour they came by reason in this cup that is from these sorrowes and miseries that he was to beare both in the agonie in the garden and upon the crosse Now that cup which brought astonishment in upon his soule and fild it full of anguish and drove him to an amaze and not only to weep bitterly but to trickle downe drops of clodded blood that cup must needs bee more than the pains of a naturall death but that cup which caused all this was that which brought them in and made him thus to be astonished and fild his soule with anguish and wrested clodded blood from his body therefore this was more than naturall death the latter part of the argument is undeniable namely that the agonie came from this cup therefore the cup was the cause of his sorrowes and griefes and teares but to thinke that naturall death should drive our Saviour to this astonishment it is unreasonable to thinke it that the Souldier should beare that which the Commander cannot beare and that many a poore Christian that hath but a little grace should beare the paine of a naturall death for a good cause and that comfortably and shall not Christ the Fountain of all grace beare much more it is unreasonable for any man to thinke so therefore there must be more than the paines of a naturall death in the sufferings of our Saviour Hee that gave his Saints grace to beare these paines of the naturall death he hath much more grace in himselfe to beare them and to come forth from under them Vse 1 Is it so that the Lord Jesus Christ was driven to this astonishment and to all this misery then what use will you make of the point shake the â—ee and gather the fruit Let every soule learne from hence what will bee the fruit of sinne and what he may expect from sinne if he doe rightly conceive of it wee use to judge of physicke by the working of it especially if it be some strange kinde of physicke then the working of it will discover the nature of it And as it is with some great personages as the Popes and such like they have their tasters to taste their meat for them for certainly if the meat doe poyson him that tastes it then it will doe him no good that eats iâ— so see what sinne hath done in Christ and the same it will doe in thee what he hath received from it doe thou looke to partake of the same if thou continue in sin He onely tasted of it by way of imputation and he had only the shadowes of sin as I have formerly shewed hee had onely the taste of sin by way of account and charge and imputation therefore if it made him sicke even to death then know thou shalt bee sure to feele the same it will worke upon thee much more that hast sin not by way of imputation but thou hast it by way of commission and thou canst sit at thy base pleasures and loose company and sinfull occasions and drawest on iniquitie as it were with cart-ropes it will bee thy death if the Lord be not mercifull unto thee to save thee and the Lord Christ gracious to pardon thee therefore let us not judge of our sinnes according to our conceits it is that which cozens and deceives thousands of poore creatures therefore let us not value our sinnes according to the sweetnesse that our owne corrupt heart findes in them nor according to the pleasure that wee expect from them they goe downe merrily now but they kill as certainly It is the great weaknesse of poore soules that wee see sinne a great way off through many glasse windowes many mediums and covers there are many profits and pleasures and dalliances that are betweene sinne and us and we see sinne through all these and therefore sin is welcomed and received because it seemes pleasant but now I would have you see sinne in the nature of it and therefore looke upon sinne in the Lord Jesus Christ and there see it in its colours and see what vexation it brought on our Saviour the same it will bring upon thee unlesse the Lord be the more mercifull Is is with sinners as it is with children little children that know not the nature of a Beare or a Lion if they lie sleeping they will bee ready to play with them but if the Beare begin to shake himselfe and the Lion begin to rore it makes not onely children afraid but even the stoutest to flie wee dally with the hole of the Aspe sinne hath devoured thousands at this day and children that wee are we play with sin and with the pride of our owne cursed hearts and our lusts and our ambition and uncleannesse and with the neglect of Gods ordinances and every other corruption The drunkard playes with his drunkennesse and the adulterer with his dalliances and the proud man with his ambitious thoughts and so every wretch with his wicked practices and this ambition is now asleep but if you could see these roring upon you and ready to devoure you then certainly you that now take delight in them would flie from them Proverbs 7.27 It is observable what sinne will doe the adulterous woman meets the poore deluded creature and she inticeth him with her base lusts and he dreams of nothing but Downe
whole heavens as I may say and did darken all the Sunne-shine of Gods favour as it is with the Sun in the firmament when a little cloud growes greater and greater untill it cover the whole heaven then we thinke it is almost night so all the sinnes of all the faithfull did overspread all the whole heavens that even the star-light of Gods compassion and the lightning of Gods love and favour appeared not Now I come to the reasons of our Saviours grievous sufferings in his soule and the reasons are these First from the cause Secondly from the place to which our Saviour was called Thirdly from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ which makes it most plaine of all Reason 1 First from the cause it cannot bee that it was the Jewes and Herod and Pilate that made him crie out in this manner but the justice of God the Father came against him and the devill entred the combate with the Lord Jesus Christ upon the crosse Luke 22.53 This is your houre and the power of darknesse hell gates were set open and the devils were all let loose upon our Saviour and therefore as Divines doe wisely and judiciously observe in Coloss 2.15 Hee led captivity captive and spoyled principalities and powers and tooke the hand writing of ordinances that was against us and fastned them to his crosse hee was now in the maine combat with all the powers of sinne hell and death These were they that did make the combat with the Lord of life Reason 2 The second reason is taken from the place which he underwent he was to be a Priest and he was to offer up himselfe for a sacrifice not his body alone but also his soule as Hebrewes 9.20.24 Christ offered up himselfe for a sacrifice Reason 3 Thirdly the love of the Lord Jesus was such that of necessitie it must bee so and those that thinke that the Lord Jesus suffered nothing else but onely the death of the body they wonderfully wrong the love of the Lord Jesus Christ the like love was never seene for had he suffered only the death naturall then some of Gods people had shewed greater love than ever Christ did as Paul Romans 9.3 I could bee content to want the sense of the love of Christ for the people of the Iewes c. Now if our Saviour had onely suffered the death naturall then Paul could have beene content to doe more than Christ did Thus you see the nature of this forsaking of Christ Secondly there was also a curse which befell our Saviour which here is intimated but is fully exprest Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law why because he was made a curse for us how doth he prove that because it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree He proves the truth by the Type the curse lay in this that Christ did suffer whatsoever was due unto us So the Apostle reasons that whatsoever curse was due unto us that our Saviour did suffer the curse was this the Father did not only withdraw the sense and sweetnesse of his love and favour from the Lord Jesus Christ but hee also let in his heavie indignation and wrath into his soule and that seized upon and fild the soule of our Saviour brim full and this was the curses The Scripture doth expresse it in two particulars or there are two degrees of it First the justice of God had a single combat with our Saviour in the garden and there it had three bouts with him the Lord dealt very roughly with him and the blowes were very heavie that hee laid upon our Saviour there for they went to the heart of him and yet that was but a little skirmish Esay 53.4 5. God smote him and bruised him insomuch that there was clodded blood seene to come dropping from him these heavie bouts that hee had wounded him and went to the very heart of him but now patience and forbearance and longsuffering and mercy and compassion they all come into rescue our Saviour and they afford him a little breathing and refreshing so that though the blowes were heavie and the thrusts were sore yet he did breathe and live and it was not the maine stroke of all and the reason was because patience mercy and goodnesse and bountie came in to rescue him but then the second part was this Not only Gods anger had a single combat with him but at last the justice of God gathered up all the powers of it and the wrath of God drew up all the forces together and they marched in furiously against Christ and whereas before the Father smote at him and did thrust at him now hee slew him When our Saviour came to the crosse and the heat of the battle lay upon him then all the sense and sweetnesse of Gods countenance and favour they all left our Saviour in the open field for in the garden hee had some refreshings and some breathing times and mercy and goodnesse did step in and say slay him not but let him have some refreshings but now the sense and the feeling of all these was gone Vse The use of this last branch it is a word of terrour and it is able to shake the hearts of the proudest wretches under heaven they that let themselves against God and Heaven and make nothing of the sinnes they have committed nor of the wrath of God threatned and when the Minister saith Oh the end of those sins will be bitternesse this contempt of God and grace and holy services and these oaths will be bitter in the latter end How can you beare the wrath of God and you cannot possibly avoid it tusâ— say they come let us talke of other matters and not busie our selves with these matters well saith the Minister but the word is true and the word saith it well then saith the soule and I will beare it as well as I can If I sinne I will beare it and if I come into hell I shall beare it as well as another and I shall make a shift for one Oh poore sinfull creature wilt thou beare it and make thy part good as well as another dost thou know what thou saist ler all those stouthearted men that sit in the feat of the scornfull and make nothing of God nor his wrath nor of hell nor of the sinnes that they have committed let them know that they shall never bee able to beare the indignation of the Lord see here and behold a little all you that make nothing of the withdrawing of Gods favour Psalme 97.4 5. and Revelation â— 14 15 16 17. The heavens departed away as a scrowle when it is rowled and every mountaine and Isle were removed out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe captaines and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and rocks and in the mountaines and said to
threatnings of God can take no hold upon them but though they are so rebellious here yet everlasting condemnation shall take hold of them and shall have power over them hereafter and will drag their soules and bodies downe to hell and there they shall suffer intolerably and incomprehensibly and then hell and condemnation shall tell them thus much seeing the commands of God could take no hold upon you therefore we will the mercies of God could not perswade with you but the judgements of God shall prevaile against you What becomes of all the great and mighty men of the world where is Pharaoh and Nimrod and the rest of them the wrath of God hath throwne them upon their backs in hell but you that are true beleevers the second death shall have no power over you though wrath and condemnation seeme to lay hold upon you yet there is no power in them to condemne you because if Christ hath taken away the paines of the second death then it shall never oppresse such as belong to the Lord Jesus Christ therefore goe your way comforted there is nothing that shall ever prevaile against you Object Oh but saith the soule could I see Heaven gates set open if the way were open and plaine that I might see the way and walke in it then I could be comforted but what I in heaven the Angels are all holy and God is a holy God and a pure redeemer and all things there are pure and undefiled can such a wretch as I am come to heaven certainly the Saints will goe out of heaven if I come there Answer No the blood of Christ will doe all this for you and it will make way for thee into heaven as Hebr. 10.19 20. Seeing therefore brethren that by the blood of Iesus we may most boldly enter into the holy places by the new and the living way which hee hath prepared for us through the vaile which is his flesh marke two things in that place you may have boldnesse you feare now that your sinnes will not bee pardoned and that God the Father will not accept of you well be not proud and sawcie but take the blood of Christ along with you and goe on boldly and chearfully All you that have an interest in the great worke of God either for brokennesse of heart or vocation to call you to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ bee thou a sinner If thou hast faith I speake not of the measure of faith but hast thou faith then why sittest thou here drooping Go you on cheerily and undauntedly and goe with comfort to everlasting happinesse every thing gives you comfort had you but eyes to see it God and men Heaven and earth sinne justice hell and condemnation gives you all comfort If you looke up to justice that saith you poore beleeving creatures goe your way comforted I am setisfied to the full If you looke to hell and death and condemnation they say be comforted you poore beleeving soules we have no power over you the Lord Iesus Christ hath conquered us and if you looke to your owne sinnes they tell you thus much and say be for ever comforted for wee have pleaded against you but wee have lost the cause If you looke up to heaven there you may see glory and happinesse and blessednesse ready to entertaine every beleeving soule and they all call after you and say Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you therefore goe away cheerily and get you to heaven and when you come there be discomforted if you can if Christ and God and Heaven and all call you and say come all hither you beleeving soules then lift up your heads with joy and draw the waters of comfort and consolation from this truth onely remember this here when you finde your sins roaring upon you and telling your Father that you have sinned and justice cries and hell threatens then take the blood of Christ and see before your eyes all that ever Christ hath suffered and see justice fully satisfied and heare the blood of Christ speaking as well as the clamours of sinne it is the misery that we are in that we can here the bawlings of Satan and of corruption crying and saying what you salvation and yet have these and these corruptions we heare these and we hearken not to the other the blood of Christ hath pardoned all and will cleanse all Oh heare that voyce and you shall see and heare that it speakes admirable things this is the second use Vse 3 Thirdly hath Christ done all this then stand amazed at that endlesse and boundlesse love of the Lord Jesus Christ but onely that the Scripture cannot lie and God hath said which is faithfull and true and cannot be deceived and is infinite in all his workes otherwise man that is sensible of his sins and wants could not beleeve it but yet Christ hath done it and it is worth the while to weigh it and to consider of it in a holy admiration although wee are not able to walke in any measure answerable thereto had our Saviour only sent his creatures to serve us and had we onely had some Prophets to advise us in the way to Heaven or had hee onely sent his holy Angels from his chamber of presence to attend upon us and minister to us it had beene a great deale of mercy or had Christ come downe from the heavens to visit us It had beene a peculiar favour that a King will not onely send to the Prison but goe himselfe to the lungeon and aske saying is such a man here a man would thinke himselfe strangely honoured and the world would wonder at it and say the King himselfe came to the prison to day to see such a man certainly he loves him dearly or had Christ himselfe come onely and wept over us and said Oh that you had never sinned and oh that you had more considered of my goodnesse and the excellency of happinesse oh that you had never sinned this had beene marvellous mercy but that Christ himselfe should come and strive with us in mercy and patience and we slight it and not onely to provide the comforts of this life but the means of a better life and to give us peculiar blessings nay that the Lord Jesus should be so fond of a company of rebels and hell-hounds that he thinkes nothing good enough for them hee hath prepared heaven for them and he gives them the comforts of the earth for their use too nay he hath given them his blood and his life and all and yet you are not at the highest what doe you talke of life hee was not onely content to part with life but hee was content to part with the sense and sweetnesse of Gods love which is a thousand times better than life it selfe as David saith The loving kindnesse of God is better than life it selfe He was content to be accused that we might be blessed he was content
agreeable to the exactnesse of the Law and for which a man may be condemned that cannot justifie a man but it is so here therefore they cannot be justified p. 119 Use 1. It is a ground of confutation of the Church of Rome that holds the formall cause of the justication of a sinner it is the frame of holinesse wrought in him not imputed to him p. 122 Use 2. It is a word of consolation and it is a Cordiall to cheere up a mans heart and to carry him through all troubles whatsoever can betide him or shall befall him ibid. Use 3. It is an use of exhortation will nothing doe the deed but a Christ why then above all labour for a Christ more than all labour to prize a Christ p. 127 A TABLE OF THE Soules Iustification out of these words 2 COR. 5.22 For hee hath made him to be sinne for us which knew no sinne that wee might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him OVt of these words two things are to bee opened First the discription of justification Secondly opening of the discription p. 132 Iustification it is an act of God the Father upon the beleever whereby the debt and sinnes of the beleever are charged upon the Lord Iesus Christ and by the merits and satisfaction of Christ imputed to the beleever hee is accounted just and so is acquitted before God as righteous ibid. Doctrine 1. Iustification is an act of God the Father upon the beleever p. 133 For the clearing of the doctrine 2. particulars are to be opened Particular 1. The first particular is this why is it called an act of God the Father Answ First because the Father was the party that was properly offended p. 135. Secondly because the Father is the Fountaine in the Deitie p. 137 Particular 2. Why it is an act of God the Father upon the beleever Answer Because it is a transient action that passeth from God upon the creature and so doth worke thereby a change and alteration upon the creature p. 139 The charge that is wrought upon the creatures is two wayes Particular 1. The Lord is said to passe a worke or an action upon the creature when hee puts some kinde of abilitie upon the creature either spirituall or naturall as when the Lord makes a wicked man a good man an adulterous man a chaste man and this wee call a naturall change because there is a gratious frame put into the heart p. 140 Secondly the Lord is said to make a change upon the creature when he takes off some relations and respects which the creature had and puts upon it other respects and this is called a morall change p. 140 Use 1. It is a ground of admirable comfort to beare up the heart of a poore sinner above all the accusations of sinne Satan or the envy of the world p. 143 Use 2. It is a word of direction to all the Saints to appeale to the Iudge of the Court in their judgement p. 148 Use 3. It is a groung of terrour to the wicked and to all unbeleevers that they have no share in this point of justification p. 154 Doctrine Christ Iesus never yeelded the least improvement of heart to sinne neither did he ever commit the least sinne in his life p. 159 Reason 1. Looke into the nature of our Saviour and it was pure p. 159 Reason 2. Looke into the Office of our Saviour and hee was without sinne p. 160 Use 1. It is a word of exhortation to the faithfull to conforme their hearts and conversations answerable to Christ p. 161 Doctrine God the Father did impute all the sinnes of all the world to the charge of our Saviour p. 166 When God the Father doth charge the sinnes of the faithfull upon Christ it doth appeare in these three particular acts Particular 1. God the Father and the Lord Iesus Christ made a mutuall decree and purpose that so many as should beleeve should be saved and this was left to the care of Christ that he should make them beleeve p. 170 Particular 2. Our Saviour having undertaken to keepe these he therefore put himselfe into the roome and place of all those lost sheepe p. 173 Particular 3. Our Saviour having put himselfe into the room of a sinner the Law now proceeds with full scope against him p. 175 Reason 1. That which the Lord Iesus Christ did willingly submit himselfe to without sinne that God the Father might justly charge upon him p. 176 Reason 2. Because the justice of God requireth this at the hands of Iesus Christ that hee should take the guilt of sinners upon himselfe p. 177 Reason 3. Because herein is abundantly magnified the love and mercy of Christ p. 179 Use 1. It is a word of instruction to the Saints if God the Father hath laid thy sinnes upon Christ then doe not thou take them from him to thy selfe p. 180 How farre a beleever may charge himselfe with his sinne doth appeare in these foure conclusions Conclusion 1. Every beleever is bound to see and examine the sinfull carriage of his soule and to judge that it hath power to make him guiltie and also to condemne him p. 182 Conclusion 2. Every beleeving soule justified ought to acknowledge that it were righteous with the Lord to let out his wrath against him though not to condemne him yet to distract him p. 185 Conclusion 3. Every beleever accepted and justified in and through Christ by the Father yet hee is thus farre bound to charge his sins upon himselfe as to maintain in his owne heart a sense of the need that he hath of Christ as well to continue his respect and acceptation with God as to bring him at first into the love and favour of God p. 187 Conclusion 4. Thus farre the Saints of God ought to goe in charging their owne soules with their sinnes so far to see them and to bee affected with them as to bring their hearts to be truly carried with hatred against them and with resolution to get power and strength against them p. 189 How farre a beleever may not charge himselfe with his sin may bee conceived in these two conclusions Conclusion 1. A beleever should not in his judgement conceive nor in his heart be perswaded that any sinne nor all his sinnes shall ever bee able to fasten the guilt of sinne upon him so as to cause revenging justice to proceed against him to his condemnation p. 192 Use 2. It is a word of terrour to all unbeleevers they are destitute of all hope of the pardon of their sinnes p. 197 Use 3. It is a word of exhortation to the Saints was Christ made sin for thee then be thou content to bee made shame for him p. 200 Use 4. It is a word of comfort to all the faithfull learne to cast all thy sins on the Lord Iesus Christ Doctrine 4. The Lord Iesus Christ suffered fully whatsoever punishments divine justice required or were deserved by the sinnes