Apostle himself who tells his Corinthians 2 Cor. 1.8 that by the trouble which hapned to him in Asia he was pressed out of measure beyond strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so falleth it out sometimes with other of the Saints There is a great disproportion betwixt their burden and their strength the one great the other small Now how shall a Christian be able to bear up in such a case so to fortifie and strengthen his spirit as that he may not faint in the day of Adversity A. A great and difficult work I confesse A. Some soveraign Cordials prescribed yet through the help of Grace attainable To help you therein let me prescribe unto you some Soveraign Cordials some spiritual Consolations which may be and being taken into the soul will be very usefull for this purpose for the supporting and bearing up the spirit under whatever affliction this poor life of ours upon earth is subject to These Consolations are many as also our Afflictions are I shall single out some of the choisest Which I shall desire you carefully to lay up Happily at the present you may have no great need of them but how soon you may you know not And therefore lay them up in the Closet of your hearts They are not like the Apothecaries Drugs some of which being long kept lose their vertue The day may come when some one of them may requite all your care and pains In the First place then look at Afflictions themselves Direct 1 Loâ—k at Afflictions themselves wherein consider The Israelites in the Wildernesse were cured of the stinging of the Serpents by looking upon the Serpent And so may a Christian by looking upon Afflictions strengthen his heart against them The Hony of the Bee is a medicine for the Sting Afflictions though never so bitter yet will afford somewhat that may serve to allay that bitternesse In them cast we an eye upon 4 or 5 particulars which may be usefull this way The Quality Quantity Continuance Commonnesse Issue of them 1. Consid 1 The Quality of them Here we shall finde that in themselves they are a Curse The Quality of them as qualified by Christ Such are all Afflictions all fruits and consequents of sin and punishments of it every one being an Appendix to that first Curse The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death surely die Gen. 2.17 that is be subject to manifold evils as in soul so in body tending to death to the destruction of both But by through Christ their nature is now altered the Curse is taken away That was one and the chief of those Ingredients which was put into this Cup which was given to Christ to drink and which he did drink upon the Crosse He being there made subject to that accursed death that he might free us from the Curse of death and of all its retinue Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 So that what the Apostle saith of Death it self 1 Cor. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting We may say the same of whatever afflictions and crosses can befall the children of God upon earth their Sting is gone Surely the bitternesse of death is past saith Agag having as he thought armed himself against the fear of it which is the greatest part of Deaths bitternesse 1 Sam. 15.32 And the like may all true Believers say concerning all their Afflictions and sufferings The bitternesse of them is past as to them the Curse being taken away from them by Christ which is indeed the chief part of their bitternesse Even as Moses altered the quality of those waters of Marah took away the bitternesse of them by casting into them that Tree which the Lord had shewed him so hath Christ taken away the bitternesse of all the waters of Affliction by the Tree of his Crosse to which he was designed by his Father The bitternesse of Afflictions as I said was the Curse going along with them they being in themselves all tokens of wrath But now that bitternesse that Curse is taken away So as to true Believers they are no longer tokens of wrath but rather Love-tokens Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth Prov. 3.12 chasteneth Heb. 12.6 Yea Pledges of Adoption So it there followeth Heb. 12.6 7. He scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth If ye endure chastenings God dealeth with you as with Sons Not to know what Chastisements mean it is no good sign If ye be without Chastisement whereof all all Gods children are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons so it there followeth v. 8. For God to exercise his Children with afflictions it is a sign that he owns them for his Children and a demonstration of his fatherly love to them and care of them Thus do these Cups which Gods people drink of they come from the hand of a Father not of a Judge being to them not satisfactory but castigatory punishments Not properly punishments but Chastisements Not tokens of wrath but Love-tokens A usefull and comfortable meditation for the soul of a Believer to feed upon in the midst of whatever distresse What is it that maketh these Cups so bitter unto the soul Why when it looketh upon them as they are in themselves as Cups of divine wrath and fury Now no wonder if it shake and tremble at the drinking of them So long as a man apprehends these Arrowes which he feeleth to stick fast in him to be poysoned Arrowes shot at him by the hand of a revenging God now no wonder if the soul have no peace no quiet But look upon them as they are changed and altered by Christ having the Curse taken away and as they are tokens and pledges of Adoption which being sanctified they certainly are the soul being perswaded of this this will be as a soveraign Cordial to it to keep it from fainting Q. Q. Yea but you will say how shall a man know this How Chastisements may be known from Punishments that they are so to him that they are only Chastisements and not Punishments and that they are tokens of love and pledges of Adoption When as they are tokens of wrath to some how shall I know that they are not so to me A. A. To this I have in part hinted an Answere already Take it a little more fully yet briefly 1. How do you drink this Cup how doe ye suffer these afflictions Doe you quietly patiently By the manner of suffering them contentedly submit to the hand of God in them If so now hear what the Apostle saith to you in that Text even now cited Heb. 12.7 If ye indure chastning God dealeth with you as with Sons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not if you suffer afflictions for so do the worst of men But if ye endure chastening receive Afflictions from the hands of God as Chastisements kissing the Rod humbling your selves under the hand of God as dutifull Children under
The Action which is The Giving of this Cup The Cup which my Father hath given me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So it was Doct. it was God the Father which gave this Cup to his Son Christ God the Father gave this Cup to his Sonne gave his Son to dye Mark it Here is the chief and principal Doctrine that this former part of the Text affords us God the Father gave this Cup to his Son Christ Which in effect and for substance speaketh one and the same thing with that of the Apostle Rom. 8.32 God spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all So was it in the Type Abraham offered up his Son By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up Isaac and he that received the Promises offered up his only begotten Son so the Apostle to the Hebrewes hath it Heb. 11.17 And St. James the like Was not Abraham our Father justified by works when be had offered up Isaac his Son upon the Altar Jam. 2.21 This did he intentionally in affection and resolution binding his Son and laying him upon the Altar stretching forth his hand with the sacrificing Knife to slay him as the story sets it forth Gen. 22.9 10. Which in Gods acceptation was all one as if he had done what he purposed and intended to doe And so was it in the truth of that Type God the Father offers up his Son his only begotten Son Jesus Christ offers him up upon the Altar of the Crosse Where as the Prophet Isai describeth his Passion Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin c. Thus did God the Father give this bitter Cup to his Son giving him to suffer and die that painfull shamefull accursed death of the Crosse Obj. Obj. But was this the Fathers act How is Christ said to give himself here to remove a stone which lyeth in my way to meet with an obvious Objection Did God the Father give this Cup to his Son give him to the death how then is Christ said to give and offer up himself So we finde it frequently elsewhere expressed He gave himself for us that he might redeem us Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for our sins that he might redeem us from this present evil world Gal. 1.4 Who through the eternal Spirit offered up himself Heb. 7.27 He poured out his soul unto death Isa 53.12 So runs the phrase of Scripture ordinarily speaking of the Death and Passion of Christ as his own voluntary act I lay down my life for my Sheep Joh. 10.15 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life vers 17. And again as it followeth No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down c. vers 18. How then is this here attributed to the Father that he should give this Cup to him A. Answ 1 To this the Answer is obvious 1. Christ as God co-working with his Father If we look at Christ as God the Son of God here that trite but true Maxim will be of use Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa All the external works and actions of the Trinity such acts as they do out of themselves for or upon the Creature they are common to all the three Persons so as they may be indifferently referred and attributed to all or any of them Such was the work of Creation the joynt work of all the three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost and so attributed sometimes to one sometimes to another And such was this work of â—edâ—mption however undertaken by one yet it was designed by all the three Persons being done by the mutual consent and agreement of all Father Son and Holy Ghost all concurring in the design though not in the execution of it What Christ as Mediator suffered he did it by the joynt consent of all the three Persons And therefore is it sometimes attributed to one sometimes to another Sometimes to the Father and sometimes to the Son who as they are one God so they have one will and one work The Son can do nothing of himself saith our Saviour but what he seeth the Father doe For what things soever the Father doth these also doth the Son likewise Joh. 5.19 Thus did Christ the Son not only imitate his Father doing works like unto his but Cooperate with him doing the same works And hence is it that the same Action is attributed sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other Thus we here finde the giving of Christ to the Death which yet was his own act attributed by him to God his Father he being the first worker in respect of Order and manner of working The Gup which my Father hath given me But secondly look upon Christ as Man A. 2 or rather as Mediator as God and Man As Mediator subservient to him so we shall finde him subservient to his Father readily doing his will Lo I come to do thy will O God Heb. 10.7 9. And as doing so suffering it Which he did in obedience unto him He humbled himself and became obedient to the death Phil. 2.8 And thus as his Father gave the Cup so he drank it so giving himself to the Death Even as it is not without ground conceived concerning the Type forementioned Abrahams offering of his Son Isaac This was Abrahams act and yet so as his Son concurred in it and that more then as a meer Patient being obedient to his Father at his command carrying of the Wood yielding himself to be bound and layd upon the Altar all which he did willingly So was it with our blessed Saviour Being acquainted with his Fathers will he yields himself to be bound which he was first in the Garden as we have it in the verse after the Text. and then by Caiaphas as we finde it Mar. 15.1 bears his Crosse submits unto the Death Thus the Father gave his Son and yet the Son gave himself But not to insist upon this Q. Explic. What God the Father did in and about the passion of his Son The way being thus cleared now come we by way of Explication to make enquiry what God the Father did in and about the Passion of his Son that he is here said to give the Cup to him The resolving of this Question will clear up this great and usetull truth A. This concurrence consisting in divers particulars The Action and concurrence of God the Father in and about the Death and Passion of his Son it consisteth in divers particulars Take we notice of five or six of them 1. He was privy to it he foresaw it he foreknew it He foresaw it This he did from Eternity So he doth all his Works Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the World Act. 15.18 Whatsoever God bringeth to passe in time it is
way and the Lord hath layed upon him the iniquity of us all vers 6. For the transgression of my people was he stricken vers 8. Thus did he suffer not for his own sake but ours Christ hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust 1 Pet. 3.18 Having taken upon him the sins of the World he was now made sin who knew no sin a sinner by Imputation And being so God giveth this Cup unto him as standing in the room of his Elect requiring satisfaction to his Justice from him Q. Q. 2 2. But why was this Cup given only to him why not to any other but him Why only to him A. A. For this take a threefold Reason 1. No other was able to drink it but he It is our Saviours speech to the Sons of Zebedee Matth. 20 2◠No other able to drink it Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of So it is others may taste of this Cup sip of it but none to drink it Not this Cup. Mihi hic calix datus est noa alteri nemo enim ad hoc sufficit praeter unum me Ferus in Text. As for the Cup of castigatory afflictions Gods own people may and often doe drink deep of it So did those two sons of Zebedee to whom he there speaketh James and John whom he tells in the next verse Ye shall indeed drink of my Cup vers 23. this accordingly they did the one of them James being Martyred Act. 12.1 the other John after many sufferings banished Rev. 1.9 But for the Cup of satisfactory punishment which properly was Christs Cup none could drink that without perishing by it but himself none but he who was more then Man God as well as Man 2. As none other was able to drink it None else needed to drink it so none else needed to drink it his sufferings being sufficient sufficient for all Men and all sins He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2.2 of all Believers in all Ages and Nations whether Jewes or Gentiles The bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin c. 1. v. 7. of that Epistle from Originall sin Actuall sin He gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 Now this one Cup which was given to Christ being such a Pan-pharmacon such an all-sufficient remedy there needed not a second of the same kinde to be given to any besides him 3. This Cup was given only to him that he might have all the honour of this great work That he might have all the honour of this work the work of Mans Redemption I have tiodden the Wine-presse alone and of the people there was none with me saith the Lord speaking of the destroying of his and his Churches enemies which he would do by himself alone Isa 63 3. And so did Christ in his Passion of which the greatest part of Expositors though not so rightly understand that Text he there trod the Wine-presse of his fathers wrath and he did it alone having no creature whether Man or Angel for his Coadjutor And this he did that all the glory of this great work the work of Redemption might redound unto him Which accordingly we finde acknowledged by that Quire of Angels and Elders in that Song of theirs Rev. 5. Thou art worthy c. for thou hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood v. 9. And again Worthy is the Lamb that was slayn to receive power and riches and wisedome and strength and honour and glory and blessing v. 12. Thus have I dispatched the Doctrinall part of this other important truth touching the subject of this Passion wherein I have showen you to whom it was that God the Father gave this Cup viz. to the Person of his Son Christ who suffered in and according to his Humane nature having the Godhead concurring with it And why he gave it to him and not to any other besides him That which now remains of this is Application Which let it be directed these four wayes Applic. By way of Information Terror Comfort Instruction 1. Vse 1 By way of Information Did God thus give this Cup to his Son Information give him to suffer in this manner Here again reflect we upon what was touched upon before the strictnesse of Gods Justice the greatnesse of his love both wonderfully appearing in this dispensation The strictnesse of Gods justice 1. The strictnesse of his justice in punishing of sin which he would not spare in his own Son Jesus Christ had not offended his Father in his own Person as I have shewen you he had no sin of his own whether Originall or Actuall yet taking upon him the sins of others and so become a sinner by way of Imputation God his Father will not spare him but causeth him to seel the smart of it If ever sinner might have hoped to have met with a favourable connivence surely he that was only made sin in such a way especially being a Person so nearly related to and dearly beloved of the Father might But we see how far God was from indulging of sin in him He prepareth a bitter Cup for him and giveth it to him causing him to drink it bruising him and putting him to grief powring out a full Viall of his wrath and indignation upon him The most exemplary and signall piece of Justice that ever was The drowning of the World with water the destroying of Sodome and Gomorrah by fire the plagueing of Egypt and the like they were remarkable demonstrations of divine justice But none like to this Gods not sparing his own Son but giving him to the death Such is his Justice so strict so impartiall that he will not spare sin in what subject soever he meeteth with it The reason whereof is because he hateth sin as sin Now à quatenus ad omnes c. say the Schools he who loveth or hateth a thing for it self loveth or hateth it wherever he findes it And thus God hateth sin It being contrary to his nature he hateth it for it self and therefore wherever he findes it he will not spare it Such is the strictnesse of his Justice 2. Behold the greatnesse of his love his love to his Elect people The greatness of his Love to his Elect. which he expressed in giving this Cup to his Son for their sakes This Cup was their due the desert of their sins The soul that sinneth it shall dye yet here God was pleased to finde out a Surety and to lay their iniquities upon him even upon his own Son not sparing him that he might spare them delivering him unto death that he might deliver them from death Never was there such a declaration of love as this When Abraham had layed his Son upon the Altar ready to sacrifice him in obedience to Gods command from hence the Lord concludes the truth and sincerity
Curse which in it own nature it is being the issue and wages of sin and the very Gate of Hell But look we upon it in the glasse of the Gospell that we shall find representing it unto the believer under another shape as being much changed and alterd by Christ Newe names put upon Death Whereupon it puts new names upon it Calling it sometimes a sleep Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Joh. 11.11 Them which sleep in Jesus 1 Thes 4.14 Such is the grave to the true believer Not a Prison but a Bed sor the Body to rest in for a time They shall rest in their beds Isai 57.2 Elsewhere we find it called a Departure Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace saith old Simeon Luke Vid-Leigh Critica Saâ—ra 2.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dimittiâ— thou loosest dismissâ—st me lettest me out of Prison So the Syriack there renders the word Now thou openest the Prison And so we find it properly used Act 5.40 Where it is said that the Councell let the Apostles goe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. out of prison Such is this life to the believer noe better then a Prison death is his dismission A like word is that which we find used by the Apostle Phil. 1.23 Where expressing his willingnesse to dye I desire saith he to be dissolved or to depart as the new translation hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to return home So the same word is used in his proper sense Luk 12.36 Where servants are said to wait for their Lord till he return to his home 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such is this World to gods people a strange Country where they live as strangers and pilgrims being from home Ad remigrationem Beza Now death is to them a Remigratio as Beza there renders the word a removing a returning to their own Country their home The Soul leaving the Body where it lodged for a time returns to God that gave it Eccles 12.7 Elsewhere the same Apostle calls it the dissolving of a Tabernacle If our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved 2 Cor. 5.1 Not destroyed So is a house when it is pulled down the materials of it being so broken as they can never be put together again But not so a Tabernacle or Tent where the parts are only taken asunder for a time but afterwards put together and set up in another place Such is death only a dissolution of the parts whereof man is composed a severing of the soul and Body for a time which shall afterwards be reunited And so St Peter making use of the same Allusion he calleth it a putting off or laying down of a Tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 depositio tabernaculi mei as the vulgar Latine renders it properly The laying down of my Tabernacle is at hand Such is the Body to the Soul like a Tent to him that carrieth it about with him a burden which being layed down he is eased And so is the Soul by the deposition the laying down of the Body in death Which in the next verse that Apostle there sets forth under another name calling it his Exodus after my decease v. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Exodus A word with the sound whereof you have been well acquainted it being the Title given to the second book of Moses which is so called from the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt which is there fully described Such an Exodus is death to the believer a Translation of him from an Egypt an house of bondage into the Celestial Canaan the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Thus hath death now new names put upon it The Gospell representing it after another manner with another face then the Law holdeth it forth And well may it have new names The nature of death changed by Christ when as the Nature of it is so changed and altered as by Christ it is Who hath taken away the maliguity of it that which was hurtfull in it Having pulled the sting out of this Serpent O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory so the Apostle triumpheth over this conquered Enemy 1 Cor. 15.55 Bot the sting and strength of it are now gone The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ so the Apostle there goeth on This hath Christ done for all that are in him having made satisfaction for sin and fulfilled the Law So as now though death may threaten as the Serpent having lost the sting may hiss yet it cannot hurt And why then should we fear a conquered enemy Which is not only disarmed but lyeth as it were dead before us lâ—ke that Philistine when his head was off In Christi morte mors obiit In Christs death Death died Being thereby abolished as the Apostle hath it 2 Tim. 1.10 Who hath abolished death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made it of none effect So is naturall death the fear and sting of it being taken away it is now as a shadow without a substance Thus is Death now qualified by Christ as to all true Believers Which being seriously considered will be of speciall use to free them from the inordinate fear of it and make them not unwilling to submit to God in the suffering of it To passe on In the Fourth place thus looking upon death Look beyond Death look beyond it Even as the timorous Passenger in ferrying over a River where the water is rough by fixing his eye on the bank of the other side settles his brain which otherwise might be troubled thus let the timorous Christian whose nature inclines him to fear death look beyond it look to the issues the fruits and consequents of it Here taking notice of two things The Evils which it freeth the Believer from and the Good which it bringeth him to Considering 1 1. The Evils which it freeth him from Which are of two sorts The Evils which it freeth the Believer from Temporall and Spirituall 1. Temporall which I have touched upon already Such are bodily Infirmities sicknesses Temporall some of them very dolorous and painfull and such are losses and Crosses in Estate with Reproaches and Ignominies and many Vexations and Disquietments with wearisome labours and Imployments All these is the life of a Christian here infested with this world being to him as I said a troublesome Sea But Death is the Havens mouth which letteth him into a quiet Harbour where he is at rest from all these Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord c. that they may rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest There the Prisoneâ—s rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor The small and great are there and there the servant
is free from his Master so Job describes the state of the dead Job 3.17 18 19. Thus doth God our heavenly Father make use of this as his Handkerchief to wipe away all tears from the eyes of his Children as we have it Rev. 7. last After death there shall be to them no more death nor crying neither shall there be any more pain as that other Text hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ae chylus Rev. 21.4 Death lets out the Christian as it doth all men from the sense and fear of all temporall Evils 2. Yea it freeth him from what is far worse from Spiritual Evils Spirituall giving a Quietus est as to the Body so to the Soul Freeing him 1. From Sin He that is dead is freed from sin Rom. From sin 6.7 So it is indeed with a mortified soul a regenerate person that is spiritually dead dead to sin which the Apostle there chiefly aymeth at he is freed from it viz. from the guilt and power of it But this is but a partiall freedome which is compleated and perfected in and by naturall death by which the Believer obtaineth a perfect freedome Being hereby so freed from sin as in this life he cannot be Freed from the committing of it From the inbeing of it From the beholding of it From the committing of it 1. From the committing of it which while he is here he is not cannot be However as the Apostle hath it in the verse there foregoing Rom. 6.6 the old man being crucified with Christ the Body of sin is so far destroyed that henceforth the regenerate person doth not serve sin he having thus suffered in the flesh ceaseth from sin as St. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 4.1 Corruption being in measure mortified he doth not now sin as before he did so as to make a custome and practise of it yet through weaknesse he doth commit some acts of sin and that daily There is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccl. 7.20 But Death giveth the Believer a perfect discharge so as thenceforth he sinneth no more He that hath entred into his rest saith the Apostle he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his Heb. 4.10 God upon the seventh day kept a Sabbath resting from his works of Creation such as he had wrought upon the six dayes before So doth the Believer in death he entereth into his rest that Eternall Sabbatisme where he ceaseth from his own works such works as he here wrought in the flesh specially from the works of the flesh sinfull works Opera nostra vocantur labores curas vocationis nostrae tùm opera carnis noturae vitiosae peccatae quae vere sunt nestra quia â nobis fiunt nec probantur Dec c. Pareus Com. ad loc which as Pareus there noteth upon it may most properly be called a mans own works inasmuch as he doth them of himself without any approbation or allowance from God From these works the Godly man after death wholly ceaseth Which the wicked man doth not who being in Hell ceaseth not to blaspheme God Like as the followers of the Beast are said to doe upon the powring out of the Vials They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains c. Rev. 16.9 11 21. so doe the damned in hell because of their torments they blaspheme God and commit other sins such as that their state is capable of Which whether they be formally and properly sins in them not lying under a Law as here they did I shall not dispute but Materially I am sure they are being the same sinfull acts which here they committed But from such acts shall the believer now cease so as never more to commit any sin Noe nor yet to be in any possibility of committing it Such a state doth death bring Gods Children to a state in this respect far more happy then that wherein our first Parents were in Paradise There they were free from sin but not from a possibility of sinning which the event shewed But Gods Saints by death are freed from this being hereby put into an impeccable state and so confirmed as that they shall never more have any will or inclination to that which is evill Thus are they freed from the acting the Committing of sin 2. From the inbeing of it And so Secondly from the Inbeing the Indwelling of it So it is that the best of Saints while they are here they have sin dwelling in them It is no more I that do it saith Paul but sin that dwelleth in me Rom. 7.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby meaning Innolita illa pridem peccandi consuetndo Grot. Annot. ad loc not that Habit and Custome of sin which is in an unregenerate person as Grotius expounds it but that Naturall Corruption which still cleaveth to the Regenerate This he found still dwelling in him And so it will in the most sanctyfied soul upon earth And there dwelling it will also be warring seeming sometimes to Conquer So also that Apostle there out of his own experience complaines v. 23. I find another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of sin which is in my members Such a conflict there is and will be in the best of Saints Corruption striving against Grace Yea and sometimes prevailing against it Even as a strong tide carrieth the ship against the stroke of the Rowers Which cannot but create a great deal of trouble to the Soul So it did to that blessed Apostle who upon this account looked upon himself as a miserable man crying out in the next verse verse 24. O wretched man that I am who shal deliver me from the Body of this death That Body of sin as he elswere calleth it Rom. 6.6 which he found living in him was to him a Body of death making his life miserable to him So would it be to a Child-bearing woman to have the Child lye dead within her rotting and putrifying in her womb whereof notwithstanding all indeavours used she cannot be delivered Or to a living man to be tyed to a dead karkesse Even so is it with a regenerate person whilest he is here the living and the dead are tyed together Grace and Gorruption And so tyed together as nothing can part them but death Like as it was with that fretting leprosie of which we read Lev. 14.45 which having eaten into the Wals there was no cure for it but by pulling down the house Even so is it with this Leprosie of sin having seized upon the soul and eaten into all the powers and faculties of Soul and Body there is no way to be freed from it but by death And this will do it The house being pulled down the Leprosie ceased And so doth sin in death The dissolution of the Body is the Absolution of the Soul freeing it from this
impetuous inmate which otherwise will not out whatever warnings are given it The death of nature is the death of sin making that true Filia devoravit matrem The daughter devours the Mother Sin which at the first brought forth death is destroyed by it And were there no other Argument Noe perfect freedome from sin but by death how should this work upon the soul of a Christian to make him not averse to the drinking of this Cup it being the only Remedy for the perfect cure of this Malady We see how it is in bodily diseases having been long and painful and all meanes having been tryed for cure but proving ineffectuall this continuall conflict maketh the sick man weary of his life so long for death and to be glad when he can find the grave as Job describeth his condition Job 3.21 22. And such is sin to the Soul an inveterate an uncurable malady being an hereditary disease which man brought into the world with him and use what meanes he may yet he cannot be freed from it a continuall Affliction And so it will be so long as life it self continueth How willing then should this make a Christian to imbrace death So did this Consideration work upon the Apostle who upon this account cryeth out as even now you heard O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me As if he had said O that I were out of this miserable mortall life during which doe what I can sin will still dwell in me and from the molestation whereof I cannot be freed but by death So long as a Christian carrieth this mortall Body about with him he shall never be freed from this Body of sin O how willing should this make us to lay down the one that we might be rid of the other Which the believe shall be by death Hereby he shall be freed as from the acting so from the indwelling of sin 3. From the beâ—â—lding of it Yea in the third place from the Beholding of it As he shall henceforth have no more experimenatll knowledge of it in himself so he shall be no longer a be holder of it in others Which is no small eye sore to a sanctyfied soul So it was to righteous Lot of whom St. Peter tels us 2 Pet. 2.7 That being a just person he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked viz. Of those wicked Sodomites among whom he lived So the next verse explaines it For that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his Soul from day to day with their unlawfull deeds To see God so highly dishoured his Lawes so shamefully violated as by all kinds of abhominations they were this was a continuall corrasive and heart-breaking unto him And so was it to David who was in like manner affected with the sins of the times wherein he lived as he sets it forth Psal 119. v. 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eys because they keep not thy Law And again verse 158. I beheld the transgressours and was grieved because they kept not thy word And it cannot be otherwise with a gratious spirit to see the Abhominations of the times and places wherein he liveth to hear the name of his God blasphemed to see his Ordinances profaned his worship sleighted his messengers scorned his truths affronted his waies evil spoken of c. this cannot but affect it This it was that made David crye out in his Banishment as he doth Psal 120.5 Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesheck that I dwell in the tents of Kedar that is amongst a savage and barbarous people who had no knowledge nor fear of God whose lives and conversations were wicked and abominable And truly such is this world in a great measure wherein a Christian shall meet with two many of this rank The consideration whereof should make him the more willing to leave it to embrace Death when it cometh which is Gods Fan whereby he severeth his Wheat from the Worlds Chaffe the precious from the vile his own people from others so as they shall no longer be in danger of being seduced by evill doers or yet be infested by them The Goats being separated from the Sheep they shall be no longer an annoyance to them as here by the stinch of their unclean and filthy conversation they were In that New Jerusalem into which Death letteth all true Believers there shall in no wise enter any thing that defileth neither whatever worketh abomination Rev. 21. last Thus doth Death free them from this worst of Evils sin both from the committing and inbeing and beholding of it To which may be added that it freeth them also from the Temptations and molestations of Satan Death freeth the Believer from Satanicall temptations Which in this life the best of Saints are subject to Paul complains of the buffetings of Satan which himself felt 2 Cor. 12.7 And who but hath experience of his assaults some way or other He being an unwearied Adversary making it his work to goe to and fro in the earth and to walk up and down in it as himself giveth account of it to God Job 1.7 As a roaring Lyon walking about seeking whom he may devour as St. Peter hath it 1 Pet. 5.8 So as none can be secure from his attempts He that spared not to set upon our Saviour as he did in the Wildernesse plying him with Temptations one after another will not spare to do the like to his Disciples Simon Simon saith our Saviour to Peter behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as Wheat Luk. 22.31 to shake him and the rest by tempting or troubling them seeking by all possible wayes and means to subvert and destroy them in their bodies or souls And the like he doth to the best of Saints having a speciall evill eye upon them being ambitious to cast them down whom he seeth standing He maketh it his work either to draw them into evill or to draw evill upon them either to turn them out of the wayes of God or to make them as rough and troublesome to them as he may But Death sets the Believer out of his reach The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly saith Paul to his Romans Rom. 16.20 This God doth partly in this life sometimes giving unto his people great victories over this their enemy but he will do it fully in Death By which they shall be carryed in their Souls where Satan cometh not This Old Serpent being once cast out of heaven shall never enter there again Thirdly as it freeth them from Satanicall Also from divine tentations so also from divine temptations such as God is pleased sometimes to exercise his people with those Soul-conflicts of which I spake before where God hiding his face from his people and letting in some apprehensions of wrath into their souls maketh their condition for the present very sad and uncomfortable Now from all these shall
Cups Metophoricall Cups so called by way of Allusion and Resemblance Of these we meet with two kindes in Scripture A sweet Cup and a Bitter Cup. 1. A sweet Cup a Cup of Prosperity an happy and prosperous state and condition in the world A sweet Cup. when men abound with temporall comforts and contentments Of this Cup speaks David Psal 23.5 My Cup runneth over God had given him a large portion as of spirituall so of temporall mercies so as he had not only for necessity and conveniency but even for superfluity But this is not the Cup which here we meet with in the Text. Surely had such a Cup been presented unto Christ Peter who was so ready to bid him favour himself and consult his own security which he doth Math. 16.22 and had so many thoughts about a Temporall Kingdome that his Master and his Followers should enjoy upon earth would not have been so forward in putting it from him 2. Besides this there is also a Bitter Cup. A Cup of Wormwood and Gall A Bitter Cup. a Cup of Affliction and Suffering This in phrase of Scripture we oft times finde set forth under the name of a Cup and that both in the Old Testament and New Of this speaketh the Psalmist Psal 75.8 In the hand of the Lord there is a Cup that is a Cup of wrath and vengeance Such was the Cup which the Prophet Jeremiah received at the hand of the Lord to carry it to all the Nations Jer. 25.15 viz. a Cup of fury as it is there expressed And such a Cup it is which the Spirit threatneth that all those who have received the mark of the Beast shall drink of Rev. 14.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cup of wrath The Cup of Gods indignation And such a Cup it is that our Saviour speaketh of once and again As Matth. 20. vers 22. where he puts this Question to the sons of Zebedee Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of So again Cap. 26. vers 39. If it be possible let this Cup passe from me And so here again in the Text The Cup which my Father hath given me meaning a Cup of suffering that Bitter Cup of his Passion the bitterest that ever was drunk upon earth Of this Cup our Saviour had already tasted in that bitter Agony of his in the Garden Hoc loce nihil est unde certe collâ—gas sudori huic sanguinem suisse pâ—rmistum Nom non dictum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vide Theophilac Euthym. ad loc Sudor vix solet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grot. ibid. where conflicting with the apprehension of what he was ere long to undergoe it put him into a strange bodily distemper an unheard of sweat insomuch as he sweat either drops of blood as it is generally received or rather as it were drops of blood so the Originall hath it Luk. 22.44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a thick sweat as it were clottered and congealed blood And made him to break forth into that thrice-repeated Deprecation Father if it be thy will let this Cup passe from me And this Cup he was now to drink to drink it off to wring out even the dregs thereof which he did in that painfull shameful accursed death upon the Cross And this bitter Passion it is which our Saviour here calleth a Cup 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cup. Q. And why so called A. Christs Passion why called a Cup. The expression as I told you is Metaphorical and borrowed Reasons and grounds of the Metaphor held forth by Expositors are divers Dicendo autem poculum insinuat mortem dulcem desidâ—rabilem in salutem hâ—minuâ— Theophyl ad loc To let passe that of Theophylact who conceives our Saviour here to call his Passion a Cup to intimate how acceptable and welcome the work of Mans Redemption was unto him and in order unto that his Passion even as gratefull as desireable as a cup of drink is to a thirsty man In which sense some understand that word of his upon the Cross Joh. 19.28 I thirst viz. after the Redemption and Salvation of lost Mankinde As also that other of a later Expositor Idâ—ò calicem nominat ut estendat â—â—am gâ—avissimas affuÌ„ctiones in hoc mundo nihil esse ut uà dicam â—isi unum hauslum statim â—â—im cessahunt Ferus in loc who conceives in and by this word to be insinuated the momentaninesse the short continuance of all afflictions and sufferings upon earth which be they never so bitter and grievous yet they are but as it were one draught a cup soon swallowed down soon put over according to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light Affliction which is but for a moment c. To let passe these with some other which I look upon as more witty then weighty With more probability the Metaphor may be conceived to be borrowed from one of these three Heads A threefold ground of the Metaphor all taken notice of by Aretius writing upon this Text. 1. Some fetch it from a custome among some of the Heathen From a deadly Cup given to Malefactors Formula petita â ritu Gentium quo noxios poticnibus missis in corcerem toâ—libant è medio Atet Com. in loc who were wont sometimes to put malefactors to death by giving them a deadly cup a Cup of Poyson to drink So Historians tell us of Socrates that famous Moralist that being condemned to dye a poysonous potion a Cup of the juice of Hemlock was sent him to drink which having done he ended his dayes To this custom some conceive that forenamed passage to allude Jer. 25.16 where the Prophet is sent to the Nations with a cup to cause them to drink it Vid. New Annot Engl. in Mat. 20. vers 22. And so they look upon the word here in the text And it must be acknowledged the allusion is very proper and fit Christ having taken upon him the sins of the World he was now by Imputation a grand Malefactor a great sinner the greatest that ever was having the sins of the World charged upon his account Hereupon God the Father as a just and impartial Judge for the satisfying of his Justice giveth him this deadly cup this poysonous potion of an accursed death to drink to undergoe But I shall not insist upon this though a truth and an usefull one Applic. Usefull as to other ends Sin continued in will be biternesse in the laâ—ter end so to deter all presumptuous sinners from daring to go on in any known evill which if they shall dare to do let them know that it will be bitterness in the latter end As Abner once said to Joab concerning his over-eagre pursuit of his Brethren 2 Sam. 2.26 Knowest thou not that it will be bitternesse in the latter end So may I say to all wicked and ungodly men who are so eager in the
known to him before time And so was this work the work of Redemption wrought by the sufferings of Christ it was foreseen foreknown by God from Eternity This none will question 2. Foreseeing of this before it was done he also permitted it to be done Foreseeing whatever should be done to his Son Christ by Satan and his Instruments he gave way to it permitâ—ing Satan to enter into Judas and Judas to betray his Master and the Officers to apprehend him and carry him away and Pilate and the rest to sit in judgement and passe sentence upon him and to execute that sentence All which he could have hindered if he had pleased Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more then twelve Legions of Angels saith our Saviour to Peter Math. 26.53 God the Father wanted no power to have hindered all that was done to his Son but he permitted it Thus far Bellarmine and the whole Church of Rome will go along with us But we must not stay here The phrase in the Text imports more Gods giving this Cup to his Son imports more then a bare provision or permission And therefore here leaving them passe we on 3. In the third place God as he foresaw and permitted this so he willed it He willed it Bradward contrà Pelagianos lib. 1. cap. 33. So he doth whatever he permits So Bradwardine rightly determins it Respectu cujuscunque est Dei permissio est ejus volitio actualis Whatever God permits to be done he also actually willeth that it should be done And so he did the Death and Passion of his Son So much we may learn from those words of our Saviour Math. 26.39 where praying that if it were possible this Cup might passe from him he subjoyns Neverthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt God did not only permit his Son to dye but he willed his death Upon which account it is that the Prophet Isai there saith It pleased the Lord to bruise him Isa 53.10 Dominus voluâ—t It was his will his pleasure that he should suffer what he did having in his secret Counsell decreed and determined it from eternity For this expresse is that known Text Idem est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et 1 Pet. 1 2. nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his libris Decretum soepe significat Grot. Annoâ— in loc Act. 2.23 which informs us that Christ was delivered by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God That is by his decree for so are we to understand the word knowledge there not barely of a simple prescience a foresight but of a determinate and absolute decree So we finde the word elsewhere used as 1 Pet. 1 2. where Believers are said to be elect according to the foreknowledge of God that is according to his Decree And so was Christ delivered according to the foreknowledge the determinate Counsel of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God in his eternal Counsell and Purpose had decreed that his Son should suffer and dye Upon which account among some other he is said to be the Lamb slayn from the foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 He was so in Gods Decree who had determined that he should dye The Circumstances of Christs death all determined by his Father And determining the thing he determined also all the circumstances concerning it As what kinde of death he should dye even that accursed death upon the Crosse So much our Saviour intimated to Nicodemus Joh. 3.14 where he tells him that As Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wildernesse even so must the Son of man be lifted up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oportet exaltari must be lifted up so Patris decreto as Grotius there rightly according to the Decree of God the Father lifted upon the tree of the Crosse And the like to the Jewes cap. 12. of the same Gospel vers 32. where speaking in the same language he tells them that If he were lift up from the earth he would draw all men unto him This he said saith the next verse signifying what death he should die viz. the death of the Crosse And so also the Time when he should dye which till it was come his enemies could not lay hands on him As yet no man layed hands on him saith that Text Joh. 8.20 for his hour was not yet come the time appointed by his Father for him to suffer in And as the time so the place So much he declared to his Disciples Math. 16 21. where he tells them that he must goe to Jerusalem Neque enim hic aut de praefinito Dei consilio aut de utilitate rei agitur sed res futura nudè praedicitur Grot. Annot. in loc and suffer many things of the Elders and be killed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where I know not any just ground why Grotius should refuse to expound the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he did in that former Text Oportet eum ire He must go thither It was not a thing left to his own liberty or choice but being determined by his Father it was now necessary necessitate decreti divini in regard of Gods Decree which was immutable as Pareus expounds it Haecerat aetrrni Patris voluntas immutabilis Pareus Com. in loc And the like we may say for the Persons who should be Actors in this Tragedy and what part every of them should act what they should do Never a circumstance but was predetermined by God So that one Text sets it forth most fully Act. 4.27 28. Of a truth saith Peter against thine holy Childe Jesus whom thou hast anoynted both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to doe whatsoever thy hand and thy Counsell had determined before to be done Thus did God the Father as I said appoint and order all the severall Ingredients every grain that was to be put into this Cup decreeing and determining whatever his Son was to suffer 4. He revealed his will concerning it And fourthly having thus in his secret Counsell decreed this his suffering he also revealed it making known his will concerning his Son that he should suffer and die This he had done by Types and Figures As that of Abrahams offering his Son his only Son in whom all the Nations of the earth should be blessed of which I spake before So also in and by all those bloody Sacrifices under the Law all which were shadowes of what was to come representing the death of Jesus Christ who was to be offered up a true Propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of the World But more clearly by Prophesies divers of which we meet with in the Old Testament Among which that of the Prophet Isai is most clear Isa 53. where he describeth the Death and Passion of Christ rather like an Evangelist then a Prophet as if he had been a Spectator of it And so other of the
Prophets they foretold what things Jesus was to suffer As St. Peter sets it forth Act. 3.18 These things saith he which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his Prophets that Christ should suffer he hath also fulfilled Thus God revealâ—d what before he had decreed Which our Saviour taking notice of he here speaks of his Passion after this manner Non loquitur dubitativè fortasse Pater â—â—c vult sed assertativè Calicem quem dedit Ferus Com. in Text. calling it the Cup which his Father had given him Being fully acquainted with his Fathers will he speaks of what he was to suffer non dubitativè sed assertivè as Ferus notes upon it not as a thing doubtfull but certain The Cup which my Father hath given me 5. Yet further God having thus decreed and made known his purpose concerning his Son He delivereth him up he also delivereth him into the hands of those who were to execute that his decree Who was delivered for our offences saith the Apostle speaking of Christ Rom. 4. vers last 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delivered unto death by God his Father as that other forecited Text explains it Rom. 8.32 He spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all This he did when by his all-disposing providence he brought him into the Garden where the Officers should come to apprehend him and so delivered him into their hands and into the hands of other his enemies 6. And lastly having delivered him into their hands he also impowred them for the doing of what they did to him So our Saviour upon his Arraignment tells Pilate Joh. 19.11 Thou couldest have no power against me at all except it were given thee from above That Authority which Pilate had to sit in Judgement and passe sentence upon him and so that power which others had to execute that sentence they had it from above from God In all these they were but Instruments made use of by him in the mean time it was he that had the main stroke in the work he being the chief and principal agent Thus you see how God did concur in the death and Passion of this his Son He not only was privy to it and permitted it but he decreed and determined it and every circumstance in it making known his will concerning it delivering him into the hands of his enemies and giving them power to execute what he had decreed So as putting all these together well may we conclude what our Saviour there asserts concerning this Cup that it was given him by his Father But was it so Quest From hence now arise two Queries two scruples Two questions of great importance calling for satisfaction before we proceed any further If God the Father did thus give this Cup to his Son Christ why then 1. How did the Jewes sin in putting him to death And secondly if they did sin How then is Ged free from being the Author of that sin or from partaking in it Two Questions of great importance I shall endeavour to give a full solution to both To begin with the first Q. 1 If God thus gave this Cup to his Son How the Jewes finned in executing of what God had thus decreed so concurred in this his Passion as we have heard how did the Jewes sin in putting him to death Quaeritur si Pater dedit Christo hunc calicem quid peâ—caverunt Judaei qui cum Christo dederunt intulerunt propinaverunt Carthus Enar. in Text. When as they were but Instruments onely reaching this Cup to him God himself being the principal Agent how were they culpable To this let me return a threefold Answer Answ 1 They were voluntary Instruments 1. Distinguishing of Instruments which are of two sorts Meerly Instrumentall or Ministerial Meer Instruments are such as have no activity nor efficacy in themselves for the doing of any thing further than as they are acted by another Such is the Axe in the hand of the Carpenter and the Sword in the hand of the Souldier But such were not the Jewes they were not meer but Ministerial Instruments voluntary Agents doing what herein they did not by any coaction or constraint but freely willingly Impii dum peccant non sunt proprâ—è Instrumenta Dei mota scâ— sine interno principio motus sed metaphoricè ita sc mota ut liberè moveant semetipsa D. Ames Bellarm. Enerv. t. 4. c. 2. Hominis voluntas est quodammodo Dei Instrumentum non purum merum sed liberum Alvartz Disput 68.5 Such an Instrument is man in the hands of God Being a reasonable creature indued with understanding and will what he doth he doth it freely there being no violence in any thing offered to his will True it is the will of man also is Gods Instrument but such an Instrument not a meer but a Ministerial a free and voluntary Instrument Being moved it moveth of it self not being subject to coaction or compulsion Voluntas si cogeretur desinit esse voluntas If the will could be compelled it should cease to be a will it ever acteth freely And so did the Jewes in putting the Lord of life to death they were not meer Instruments but voluntary Agents and so cannot be excusable in what they did 2. The Jewes were culpable in acting of that which God had decreed and determined Answ 2 inafmuch as they had no warrant They had no warrant for what they did no rule for what they did Nay they went against the rule What is the Rule by which all the actions of men ought to be squared Why Gods secret will no warrant for man it is the Revealed will of God As for his secret will that is his own rule not Mans. Secret things belong unto the Lord but revealed things to us and to our children Deut. 29.29 Obj. Why Obj. but was not this will of God revealed to them Whether this will of God was revealed to the Jewes that Christ should die Caiaphas the High-priest by a Prophetical Spirit tells it them that it was expedient for them that one man should die for the people Joh. 11.50 so prophesying that Jesus should die for that Nation and not for that Nation only but that he might gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad as it there followeth vers 51 52. A. Yet had they no word of command to put him to death But suppose they had understood this which yet Caiaphas himself did not This spake he not of himself saith that 51. vers God only made use of his Tongue to utter an Oracle which he knew not the true sense and mystery of yet could not this have been an excuse for them inasmuch as they had no direction no word of command from God to put their hands to this work This it is which is mans warrant for all his actions without which actions which in themselves seem to
not any think to charge their sins in whole or in part upon him Let not any man say saith St. James when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evill neither tempteth he any man Jam. 1.13 Sin is no wayes Gods work At the first his works were all good very good And God saw every thing which he had made and behold it was very goâ—d Gen. 1. last He did not then create Evil neither hath he done it since The evil of sin I mean As for the evill of Punishment that he challengeth to be his Creature I create evil Isa 45.7 the evil of Punishment Not so the evil of sin That was the Devils Creature having him for the Author of it Thence it is that our Saviour tells the malicious Jews Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father you will doe Joh. 8.44 And St. John layeth it down as an universall truth He that committeth sin is of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.8 So much of sin as there is in a man so much of Satan he being the proper Author of it When he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the Father of it saith our Saviour in the former of those Texts Joh. 8.44 And the like may be said of all other sins they have Satan for their Father their proper Author Whence it is that he is called by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The or that evil one the wicked one 1 Joh. 2.13 and elsewhere As for God he being absolutely good evil is inconsistent with him it cannot dwell with him as the Psalmist hath it Psal 5.4 Being holynesse it self he hateth sin cannot behold it without abhorrence Thou art of purer eyes then to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity saith the Prophet Hab. 1.13 Such an utter Antipathy there is betwixt the pure and holy nature of God and Sin that he cannot look upon it without detestation It is the only thing which he perfectly hates so hating it as that he hateth the Workers of it for its sake So it there followeth Psal 5.5 Thou hatest all workers of iniquity So hateth them as that he will not let their sins goe unpunished Fulgent l. â— ad Monym Now as Fulgentius rightly Deus non est ejus rei Auctor cujus est ultor God cannot be the Author of that whereof he is the Avenger This is the true Protestant Doctrine which as it hath been so let it ever be held and maintained that God neither is nor can be the Author of sin any sin or yet a partaker in it Q. But what say we then to the case in hand The case in hand cleared Was not he the Author of this sin the horridest sin that ever was committed the putting of the Lord of life to death which if he so concurred in as hath been declared how can he be free from it A. For answer hereunto The Evasion of some Romish Doctors Actum Judaeorum non voluit Deus passionem vero Christi voluit Et pâ—steà Voluit itaque tota Trinitas ut Christus pateretur nec taâ—en voluit ut Judaei occiderent quià voluit poenam Christi sed non voluit culpam Judaeorum P. Lumb Sent. l. 1. Dist ult Cap. 2. 〈◊〉 Non volebat Deus actionem Judaeorum quae mala erat sed volebat passionem â—â—nâ—m Idem cap. 3. ibid. if we will consult with some of the Romish Doctors they will here help us with an Evasion God the Father saith P. Lumbard did indeed will the death and suffering of his Son Christ but not the Act of the Jewes in putting him to death the one whereof was good the other eviâ— That Christ should suffer it was good but that they should lay hands upon him was evill In malis operibus saepe accidit ut actio sit mala passio bona Bellarm. lib. 2. De Amiss Grat. c. 11. And to the same purpose Bellarmine treading in his steps determines the case after the same manner God saith he did indeed will and determine that Joseph should be sold into Egypt and that Christ should be slayn but the wicked Acts of those who sold the one and crucified the other he neither decreed nor willed but only foresaw and permitted Thus would they here have it that God gave this Cup to his Son to drink Deus igitur voluit ac praedefinivit opera ista virtutum quae in passione consistunt cum voluit ac praedefinivit ut Jeseph venderetur Christus occideretur Opera autem mala vendentium Joseph occidentium Christum non voluit nec praedefinitiv sed praescivit permisit Idem ibid. but not to Judas and Pilate and the rest that they should hand and reach it unto him He willed that he should bear this punishment not that they should inflict it His passion being good their Action evil But as for this Retracted and rejected we finde it ingenuously retracted by some of their own Suarez a late learned Jesuite states and concludes the point generally and confidently Dicimus tà m esse certum Deum influere immediatè ac per se in omnem actionem creaturae â—t id negare erroneum sit in fide Suarez Metaph. tom 1. disp 22. Sec. 1. num 7. and that not as his own private opinion but as agreed upon by the most approved Schoolmen that God hath an immediate influence upon every action of the Creature and that to deny this is Eâ—roneum in fide an Error in the Faith Yea it is positively layd down by another of them as the common Tenent of the Schools though the Pope could never be brought to determine it one way or other that the very Act of sin as it is an act Thom Cajer Ferrar. Capreol Albert. Alexand. Greg. Scotus ibid. citati Actus peccati in quantum â—ctus est à Deo est tanquam à Causâ Alvarez Disp 24. is from God as the Cause of it And it must needs be so inasmuch as the Creature as it hath its being from God so also its motion Man living in him also moveth in him and from him according to that of the Apostle In him we live and move and have our being Act. 17.28 And therefore to leave them For the returning of a full satisfactory Answer Two things here cleared up I shall clear up unto you these two things which I shall do with as much plainnesse as I can 1. How God willed the death of his Son And 2. How he concurred with Judas and the rest in putting him to death and yet both without sin For the First God gave this Cup to his Son he willed that he should suffer and dye Gods willing that his Son should die which he might doe And this he might doe in as much as 1. He hath jus Supremi Dominii a right of Supreme and absolute Dominion and Soveraignty
of Approbation but Permission Ordination Alsted Posâ—m p. 465. Here we must distinguish There is a twofold will in God Voluntas approbationis complacentiae and Voluntas Decreti Permissionis Ordinationis A will of approbation whereby he willeth that a thing should be done as well-pleasing to himself And a will of Permission and Ordination whereby he willeth to permit a thing to be done and to order it in the doing and when it is done Now in this latter way did God will this wicked act of the Jewes not by way of approbation giving them any allowance for what they did but only by way of permission and and Ordination he willed to permit them to doe it and then to order what they did making use of it for those righteous and gracious ends which he had propounded to himself Fourthly and lastly He did conour in the very act it self as in delivering his Son into their hands Gods concurring in this Act not sinful so in powering them for the executing of what he had dâ—creed Quest But how could this be without sin Bellarmine left to his shifts To this Bellarmin and some of the later Jesuites return Answere Deus non efficit actionem illam quae homini est peccatum ut causa particularis sed ut causa universalis praebens vim influxum quendam indifferentem communem ad illam actionem ad contrariam qui à concursu secundae causae Innitaâ—ur Bellarm. â—ubi suprà That God doth concurre with the Creature in finfull actions not as a particular but as a generall an universal cause affording to it only a kinde of generall influence and assistance which in it self is indifferent to carry it this way or that way to the doing of this action or the contrary to it good or evill the determining whereof is left to the Creature it self to the liberty of mans own will But as for this new device of theirs Gods concurrence in humane Actions more then generall Vid. Alvarez Disp 21. we finde it justly rejected by others of their own who look upon it as well they may as not a little derogating from the wise Providence of God making it to be confused and imperfect and altogether uncertain which it must needs be whilest it dependeth wholly upon the Creature for the determining of the event of it Absit quod Deus quicquam velit in universali consuse illud nolit in particulari distincte Bradward l. 1. c. 34. For a man to spur and put on his Horse leaving him to choose his own way all would conclude it to be no wisdome in the Rider And for God thus to leave the Creature to it self for the determining of its own actions whilest he only affords such a generall concurrence A. it derogates not a little from his Wisdome In every sinful Action two things the Act it self and the Deficiency in it And therefore to leave them More soundly for the resolving hereos take we notice that in every sinfull Action there are two things the Materiale and the Formale as some call them there is the Act it self and the Inordination or Deficiency in that Act. A known Distinction usually explained and cleared up to vulgar capacities by those plainer and obvious similitudes In a horse that halteth there is his going and his halting the one is the act it self the other is the deficiency in that act So in a crackt Bell when it is struck there is the sound and the jarring Even so in every sinfull actien in sins of Commission for in sins of Omission there is nothing but deficiency there is the Act it self and the inordination in that act Instance in the case in hand the Jewes putting Christ to death there was the Act their crucifying of him and the inordination in that act the evilnesse of the action which was their doing it without a warrant and with such evil intents and purposes as they did Now to apply the distinction As for the Act it self God the Author of the one not of the other that action in the doing whereof the Creature sinneth God hath a hand in it and that not only in the ordering and disposing of it but concurring in it he being the principal Agent and the Creature only his Instrument in acting of it But for the deficiency the inordination wherein properly lyeth the evil of the Action and so the sin that is the Creatures own God is not the Author of that nor any cause of it at all This is a mans own work the fruit of his own Corruption which is properly the Mother of all sin as Satan is the Father of it How this may be those forenamed similitudes do very fitly illustrate A man that spurreth a lame horse or strikes a cracked Bell he is the cause of the motion of the one and of the sounding of the other but not of the halting or jarring that is from themselves So here the motion or action is from God without whom as I told you the Creature cannot move but the deficiency therein is from man himself Siene aer sole Iucente per vitrum coloratum lumen habet a sole colorem a vitro sic hominum actiones malae habent a Deo ut sint ab hominibus ut malae sint Alsted Theol. Polem p. 402. And so that other made use of by some later Divines expresseth it well The Sun shining through a coloured glasse it is the cause of the light but not of the colour that is from the glasse it self Thus doth God make use of man as his Instrument in doing of this or that action in acting whereof the man sinneth the action here is Gods the sin is the mans own So is it with all sinfull Actions they have their existence their being from God their evilnesse from man Now apply this generall to the particular case in hand Applyed to the present câ—se God did concur with Judas and the High-priests and the rest in all those acts which they did in putting Christ to death They were herein but his Instruments it was God that acted in them and by them Thus the Act was his but the sin was theirs So it is No action in it self is simply evill as it is an action To put a man to death is not evill in it self The Judge pronounceth sentence against a Malefactor and the Executioner exeutes it and it is evil in neither But to put a man to death without Authority or without cause to do it wrongfully or cruelly there is the evill That Christ was put to death by the Jewes it was Gods action and in him as I have shown you not unjust but that they did it without warrant without cause maliciously and cruelly that was their sin How Gods Providence reacheth to the evill of sinfull actions which God had no hand in Q. But what then doth the Providence of God reach only to
the Actions doth it not extend also to the evil of the action to the sin it self A. To this I have in part returned Answer already Take it again briefly It doth However God be not the Author of the sin that is acted yet his Providence is exercised about it And that as I said 1. In permitting it to be done Which he doth not simply for it self In permitting it but in order to those just and righteous ends which he propoundeth to himself 2. And secondly in Ordering it Gods permission is not a bare Negative permission In ordering it a not hindering of the evill which is done but an Operative an Effectual permission so Melancton Dicitur autem permissio efficax non quod Deus peccatum efficiat sed Ordinem illius Alsted ubi suprà and Beza and some other of our Divines call it Efficax permissio not that God effecteth the evil of sin but ordereth it Thus did his Providence extend to this sin of the Jewes in crucifying of Christ which he so permitted as that he ordered it making it subservient to his own designs in effecting that great and good work by him intended the redemption and salvation of his Elect people And thus have I endeavoured to clear up unto you this important truth Which if I have not done so clearly as you could have wished let it be imputed to the depth of the matter and not to any affectation of obscurity in my handling of it To close it up with a word of Application Applic. Three Attributes of God shining in this Glasse Did God the Father thus give this Cup to his Son here behold and admire Wonderfull wisdome Exemplary Justice Vnparallel'd Love all clearly shining in this Glasse manifested and declared in this one Act. 1. Wonderfull wisdome Such is the wisdome of God which he hath manifested Won derfull wisdcome as in the work of Creation so of Redemption in finding out a way and means of restauration and salvation for lost Mankinde Which is effected in a wonderfull way such a way as all the wisdome of Men and Angels could never have thought of viz. by giving this bitter this deadly Cup unto his Son which being drunk by him might be a Cup of salvation to all that believe on him Were it so that a Physician could finde out such a medicinable Cup as would cure all Diseases who but would therein admire his skill Of such vertue is this Cup which God the Father gave unto his Son a true Catholicon sufficient for the cure of all soul-diseases in them who shall apply it to themselves through faith Herein admire we the wisdome of God in finding it out in finding out such a means whereby satisfaction being made to his Justice there might be way made for the full exercise of his grace and mercy towards forlorn sinners Never was the wisdome of God more wonderfully manifested in any act then in this Thence is it that the Apostle speaking of Christ and Christ crucisyed he calleth him the wisdome of God 1 Cor 1.24 We preach Christ crucified unto the Jewes a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishnesse but unto them which are called Christ the Power of God and the wisdome of God A crucifyed Christ was and is to the Jewes a scandall a stumbling-block They having dreamed of a Temporall Messiah that should be outwardly pompous and glorious armed with power for their deliverance they could not indure to think of a crucified Saviour He who could not save himself was no Saviour for them He saved others himself he cannot save say some of them in a scoffing and deriding way when they saw him hanging upon the Crosse Math. 27.42 And in like manner he was to the Greeks foolishnesse who could not by all their supposed wisdome see any Reason why salvation should be expected in such a way from such a Saviour But to them that are called called out of darkness into light indued with a right understanding of this sacred mystery to them is Christ the Power of God and Wisdome of God so called in as much as the Power and Wisdome of God were wonderfully manifested in him and by him and that as in his Life so in his Death His Power in conquering his and his Churches Enemies Sin and Satan His wisdome in this way and by this means executing his most wise Counsell and Decree touching the Redemption and Salvation of his Elect people Here was wisdome We speak the wisdome of God in a mystery saith the same Apostle speaking of the Doctrine of the Gospell 1 Cor. 2.7 And hereof give we unto God the glory admiring and adoring it saying with that Apostle what he doth upon another account Rom. 11.33 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God 2. Aud thus beholding his Wisdome do we the like by his Justice Exemplary Justice which was also in this act wonderfully declared and manifested in God the Fathers thus giving this Cup to his Son His Son having undertaken for his Elect to make satisfaction for their sins he being thus become their Surety God his Father spareth not him but delivereth him unto the death So just so impartial is God in the punishing of sin not sparing it wherever he meeteth with it but requiring satisfaction to his Justice which because men of themselves are not able to make therefore he required it of this their Suretie 3. in the third place behold we here unparallelled Love Unparallelled Love Herein is love saith St. John that God sent his Son to be a Propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.10 Herein is love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that love God hath in many other passages manifested his love to his Elect people but in none like unto this his sending his Son into the world for their sakes and that not only to teach and instruct them by his Doctrine and Example but to be a Propitiation for their sins to redeem them by his blood to die for them Here was unparallelled Love as in God the Son in thus giving himself so in God the Father in thus giving his Son Herein did Abraham expresse his love to God in offering up his Son to him And herein did God the Father expresse his love to us in offering up his Son for us Give we unto him the glory of this grace Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost saith the Church in that ancient Hymne giving us to take notice that there is a peculiar glory which is due unto each of the Persons in the blessed Trinity And so there is from this work of Redemption Besides the glory which is due unto the whole Trinity whose joynt design this was there is as I may call it a Personal glory due unto each Person Glory to the Father for giving his Son Glory to the Son for giving himself and Glory to the Holy Ghost for
revealing this mystery to us and in us Now give we to each what is their due As to Christ the glory of his suffering his drinking of this Cup of which I shall God willing speak hereafter so unto God his Father the glory of this act of grace in him his thus giving his Son giving him this Cup to drink for us And thus have I done with this Second Particular in the former part of the Text. By whom it was that this Cup was thus presented viz. by God the Father The Cup which my Father hath given The third is yet behinde to which I now come To whom this Cup is here said to be given Partic. 3 To Whom To Me. God the Father gave this bitter Cup to his Sonne Christ This Bitter Cup given to Christ He was the Subject of this Passion Jesus Christ the Son of God So Scripture every where asserts it God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son Joh. 3.16 He spared not his own Son but delivered him up Rom. 8.32 To him was this bitter Cup given But how to him Explic. And wherefore to him The resolving of these two Questions will be sufficient for Explication and Illustration For the former Q. 1 How is this Cup said to be given to Christ Whether to Christ as God or as Man or both How was he the subject of this Passion whether as God or as Man or both To this take the Answer briefly This Cup was given to the Person of Christ A. Whole Christ was the subject of this Passion Whole Christ the subject of this Passion It was that Person who was both God and Man which suffered dyed It was not the humane nature alone as abstracted and separated from the Divine which thus suffered but whole Christ Christus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ God and Man It is a true Rule that all the Actions and Passions of Christ whatever he did or suffered as Mediator betwixt God and Man they are all to be attributed unto his whole Person as God and Man And such was this work which he did upon the Crosse the satisfaction which he there made it was Opus Personale a Personal work wherein both the Natures were interested Not the Manhood alone or the Godhead alone but both together in one Person The Cup which my Father hath given me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word is Personall It was not given to him as God or as Man but as both God and Man in one Person Q. Yet suffering only in his Humane nature August de Haeres c. 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deipassiarii Superiore etiam saeculo in Germania nostra quidam ausi sunt asserere Christum secundum utramque naturam passum esse Polan Syntag. l. 6. c. 18. The Divine nature impassible But what then did both Natures drink of this Cup Did Christ suffer in and according to both natures A. So indeed some Hereticks of old asserted it that Christ suffered not only in his humane nature as Man but also in his Divine nature as God From whence they were called by the name of Theopassians who have not wanted some to follow them in after-ages and some of late times But this is justly condemned as an Error a gross one asserting a plain impossibility True it is all things are possible with God viz. to doe them but himself not passible in any thing so as to suffer from his Creature Christ as God he could not suffer he could not dye the divine nature being impassible as well as immortall A Truth fitly illustrated by a familiar similitude Whilest the Axe heweth a piece of Timber upon which the Sun shineth the Wood is cut but the Sun-beams not touched they still remain impassible Even so was it in the Passion of Christ the humane nature suffered but not so the Divine Though united unto the humane whilest it suffered yet it remained impassible As it is with the soul and body in man though both be united together whilest the man suffereth some corporal punishment yet the Body properly feeleth the smart of it the soul not suffering save only by way of sympathie So was it here in the sufferings of Christ the Godhead and Manhood were both united in the Person suffering but the Godhead suffered not So as we must then conclude it that the whole Person of Christ suffered but properly in or according to his humane nature So Scripture explains it self Christ suffered for sins c. being put to death in the Flesh saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.18 And again in the Chapter following vers 1. Christ suffered for us in the Flesh It was Christ that suffered The Person of Christ he who was both God and Man but how What in his divine nature Not so but in his humane in the flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is according to his humane nature This is that which St. Paul meaneth 2 Cor. 13.4 where he saith that Christ was crucifyed through weaknesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is through the weaknesse of his Flesh his humane nature which was subject to all humane infirmities sin only excepted In this nature it was that Christ suffered in his humane nature and only in that As for his Godhead it suffered not Q. No How God is said to have suffered and dyed you may say what then means that of the same Apostle Act. 20.28 where he tells the Elders at Miletum that God purchased the Church with his own blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that other Text 1 Cor. 2.8 where he saith of the Jewes that they crucified the Lord of Glory And so St. Peter Ye have killed the Prince of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Author of it Act. 3.15 Texts made use of by those Hereticks of old for the maintaining of the suffering of the divine nature in Christ A. To this the answer is obvious and easie In Christ there are two natures which are so united as that they make but one Person And from this union floweth a communication of properties Passio Christi Divinae naturae tribuitur Dialecticâ tantum verbali ut aiunt praedicatione non autem Physicâ reali per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Danaeus de Haeresib c. 73. Vid. Engl. N. Annot. in Act. 20.28 as they call it whereby that which is proper to one nature is sometimes attributed to the other or rather as some of our Divines doe more warily and soundly explain it that which is proper to one nature is attributed to the Person denominated from the other nature In hoc utroque loco quod proprium est humanae naturae tribuitur Personae à divina natura denominata per communicationem Idiomatum Polan Syntag. ubi suprà And so look we upon it in those Texts To shed his blood to be crucifyed killed it was proper to the humane nature of Christ but it is there attributed to the whole Person being
fervice Never was there suffering in it self so dishonourable so ingiâ—rious Neither was there in it properly more Profit then Honour To us indeed it was profitable Nor profit as to our Holynesse and Happinesse but not so to him It is but a groundlesse conceit of the Church of Rome that by his sufferings he merited the glorifying of his Humane nature True indeed this was the way by which he passed to his Kingdome and glory so he tells his Disciples Luk. 24.26 Ought not Christ to suffer these things and so to enter into his glory But not the meritorious cause of it As our works are to us so were Christs sufferings to him Via ad regnum non causa regnandi the way to his Kingdome not the cause of his reigning He had no need to merit any thing for himself For as he was God so he was coequall with the Father infinitely blessed and happy from all eternity and so there could come no accession or addition of glory to him from his sufferings only a reassuming of that glory which for a time he had layd aside And as he was Man so by the Papists own confession he was comprehensor non viator even from the very first instant of his conception he was made blessed by the union of the divine nature with the humane from which union also flowed the glorifying of the Humane nature after it had suffered But I will not stand to dispute the Controversie with them This we are sure of the spirit of God in Scripture speaking of the Death and Passion of Christ it still refers the merit fruit and benefit of it unto us Hereby were we redeemed and reconciled unto God Hereby did he obtain for us deliverance from sin and death with righteousnesse and eternall life By his stripes we are healed through the merit of his death the gates of Heaven are set open to us which were shut before as Paradâ—se was against our first Parents For all these Scripture is expresse Thus all the profit is ours Yet did he undertake this dishonourable this unprofitable service for our sakes and this he did willingly resolvedly And shall not we be ready to do the like for him In our sufferings for him there are both these Both Honour And Profit 1. Sufferings for Christ honourable to the Christian What service so honourable as to suffer for Christ Wounds for his sake make honourable scars Reproaches revilings spittings upon such base aspersions as are cast upon us for his sake are honourable badges Which as Job saith he would doe by whatever charge his Adversaries should bring against him Job 31.36 we may take upon our shoulders and binde as a Crown to us It is a mistake if any shal think what we are ready to do that God and Christ are really honoured by their suffering for them Alas this honour reacheth not unto them no more then David saith of his goods or goodnesse Psal 16.2 It reflecteth wholly upon our selves The honour of whatever we doe or suffer for God and Christ is ours not theirs The Apostles when they had been beaten by the Jewes for preaching of Christ they departed from the presence of the Councell saith the Text rejoycing that they were accounted worthy to suffer for his Name Act. 5.41 This is an honourable service 2. And no lesse Profitable And no lesse profitable then honourable Profirable here making us like unto Christ conformable to his death which the Apostle maketh so much of Phil. 3.10 Profitable hereafter Not a wound not a stripe not a scoff not a taunt not a reproach which we have suffered for Christ but shall turn to a good account another day meeting us in heaven with an abundant recompense of reward If we suffer with him we shall be glorified with him Rom. 8.7 They who are here partakers of Christs sufferings when his glory shall be revealed they shall be glad with exceeding joy 1 Pet. 4.13 No service so profitable as this for which we have our Saviours own ensurance Matth. 19.29 Verily I say unto you every one that hath forsaken houses or lands c. for my Names sake shall receive an hundred fold viz. now in this life as St. Mark explains it Mar. 10.30 of secular goods if good for them or of spiritual riches which are better and shall inherit everlasting life And what a shame is it then for Christians to bear the Crosse of Christ so heavily To bear the Cross of Christ heavâ—ly a shame to Christians as for the most part they doe Alas every thing that we suffer for Christ we are ready to think it enough if not too much How willingly do we withdraw our necks from his yoke How willing are we to hearken to that counsel which Peter would have given to his Master to spare and favour our selves How ready to accept of all means for the taking of this Cup from our mouths Herein how unlike unto Christ How far from suffering for him as he did for us not only patiently but willingly Such spirits indeed there have been in some of the Lords worthies They have kissed this Cup they have readily embraced and rejoyced in their sufferings taking pleasure in them So did Peter and those other Apostles of whom I spake even now And the like did Paul who tells his Corinthians that he took pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persâ—cutions in distresses for Christs sake 2 Cor. 12.10 And so did those Primitive Martyrs who took joyfully the spoyling of their goods Heb. 10.34 And the like have many of the Martyrs in succeeding Ages done who have gone to the Stake as our Saviour here did to his Crosse not as to a place of torment but as to a Chariot of Triumph Oh that there were the same spirit in all the Lords people Beloved they are but trivial sufferings which God calleth any of us to at this day for the cause of Christ for the most part but Tongue-persecution And what shall we not bear this with patience nay with chearfulnesse Was Christ so willing to suffer so much for us and shall not we be willing to suffer a little for him And being willing to suffer for him Vse 3 Christians not to be unwilling to suffer for those that are Christs be we not unwilling to suffer for his Herein follow we his example We see how willingly he offers up himself for his Church Do we the like if ever God shall honour us so far as to call us to such a service An honourable service next to our suffering for Christ to suffer for his Spouse his Body his Church A service which we are tyed to by many bonds We professe our selves Members of that Body Now every Member should be ready to suffer for the whole He who was the head of his Church we see how free he was of his dearest blood for it And shall we to whom it is an honour if we may be but
strengthned him 2 Tim. 4.17 3. Turning them to good Like as the skill of the Physician turneth Poysons into Medicines Turning then to Good making a soveraign Treacle of the venomous Viper Thus doth God bring good out of evill Josephs Brethren thought and wrought evill against him but God turned it to good good to him and others Gen. 50.20 4. And lastly giving a seasonable issue and deliverance Working deliverance He will with the temptation make a way to escape saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will give an issue finde out an outlet for them one way or other When Gods people are beset on every side yet he can finde a dore or a window to let them out at As in a literall sense he did for David when his house was beset by Sauls Messengers 1 Sam. 19.12 and so for Paul when wait was laid for him at Damascus 2 Cor. 11. last they were both let down through a window and escaped So in a Metaphoricall sense be the strait never so great yet God hath a Window for his people at which he can and in his time will let them out working deliverance for them some way or other Such is the Providence of God which he exerciseth towards and upon his people in their sufferings Ordering of them he supplyeth strength for the bearing of them turneth them to good and giveth a seasonable Issue out of them All these besides many other Consolations may the true Believer fetch from the God of consolation for the bearing up of his spirit in the midst of whatever afflictions In the next place look we up unto Christ our Saviour In him considering what he hath done Look unto Christ our Saviour In whom Consider what he doth for us 1. What he hath done how among other things which he hath obtained for us by his death he hath overcome the World for us What he hath done for us overcomming the World That is the Consolation which he himself giveth unto his Disciples Joh. 16. last In the World ye shall have tribulation but be of good comfort I have overcome the World This hath Christ done for his Church and people he hath overcome whatever is in this world which might be hurtfull unto them Sin Satan his Temptations and Instruments Death with all its retinue whatever might hinder or endanger their salvation he hath conquered all which he did for those who believe on him that they may have the benefit thereof So that as Serpents which have lost their Stings they may now hisse but they cannot hurt Christ by drinking of this Cup as you have heard hath taken away the bitternesse of it the Curse belonging to afflictions he being made a Curse for us 2. What he doth How he sympathizeth with us and pleadeth for us 1. He sympathizeth and even suffereth with us being as the Head in the naturall Body is sonsible of all the aylments of his Members What he doth Sympathizing with us We have not an High-Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities Heb. 4.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot sympathize with us in our afflictions and sufferings which he taketh notice of and is affected with as before was shewn Pleading for us 2. And sympathizing with us he pleadeth for us Sitting in heaven at the right hand of his Father he maketh continuall intercession for us He ever liveth to make intercession for those who come unto God by him Heb. 7.25 By which means he maketh peace for them in Heaven whilest there is war upon earth reconciling God to them when he seemeth to be offended with them This was his work when he was upon earth He made peace through the bloud of his Cross Col. 1.20 impetrating that Reconciliation for his Elect people which upon their believing on him is actually applied to them as the next verse there hath it And this work he still carrieth on being in Heaven where he maketh peace by his Intercession A sweet and comfortable meditation as at all times so specially in time of Affliction when God seemeth to be angry with his people frownes upon them le ts flye the showres of his displeasure at them yet then let them with Stephen lift up their eyes to to heaven and there shall they see this their High Priest the Lord Jesus sitting at the right hand of his Father soliciting a peace for them which being concluded in Heaven let them not be inordinately troubled about whatever wars they meet with upon earth And in the third place look we at the Holy Ghost our Comforter Look 〈◊〉 the Holy Gâ—â—â—st our Saviour So we find him often styled in Scripture a comforter the comforter and this comforter Gods people have still with them That is the promise which our Saviour maketh to his Disciples when he was to withdraw his Corporall presence from them Joh. 14.16 I will pray the Father saith he and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever And this promise will he make good to all who truly believe on him When he withdrawes outward Comforts from them let them but wait patiently for him and he will send them another Comforter even his Spirit which shall make a supply to them inwardly of what they want outwardly that shall refresh and cheer up their hearts and spirits with inward Consolations in the midst of all their afflictions And never so fit a time for this Comforter to come as when all others Comforters have left a man And if this Comforter be with us to support our spirits and strengthen our hearts what is it that should so discourage us as to cause us to faint under our sufferings To these soveraign Consolations I might yet â—x abundanti add many more The Minstery of Angels As the Ministrie of Angels who are as Guardians to Gods Saints Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to Minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Heb. 1. Last So they were to our blessed Saviour in the Wildernesse he there wanting food and other accommodations The Angels came and ministred unto him Matth. 4.11 And so were they to Peter and other of the Apostles opening the Prison doors for them and setting them at liberty as we have the stories recorded Act. 5.19 and 12.7 And the like offices they are ready to doe to all Gods Saints many of which questionless they daily doe though in invisible waies so as they are not taken notice of being ever at hand ready to step in to them with timely succours in their greatest straits To which might be added what is not to be sleighted the Communion of Saints The Communion of Saints who as they bear a part with their brethren in their sufferings drawing with them in the same Yoke so they are ready to help them with the benefit of their prayers Which being a common stock every particular believer
peace Luk. 2.29 And the like do we in a spirituall sense receive we the Lord Jesus being held forth unto us in the promise of the Gospell and take hold upon him clasping and imbracing him in the armes of our faith receiving him as our Saviour and Lord. As our Saviour believing on him for the pardon and remission of all our sins As our Lord yielding up our selves to be guided and governed by him by his word and Spirit Which whilest we do now shall we have no just cause to fear this Enemy which is by this Captain of our Salvation conquered and disarmed so as now it cannot hurt any of those that are his O then let every of us make sure our interest in him Upon which depends all our hope and comfort both in life and death Christ being once ours now we may hear the Apostle telling us that all things are ours 1 Cor. 3.21 All things among which he reckons Life and Death with things present and things to come All ours so is Life even temporall life so as it shall be continued to us whilest it is expedient And so is Death which when it comes shall not be hurtful but advantagious and beneficial To me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Phil. 1.21 So are things present the concernments of this present life as Crosses so Comforts both serving for our good And things to come Eternal glory and happinesse Which whilest a Christian is assured of why should not he be as willing to dye as live 3. Only in the third place look out also for the seal of the Spirit Look out for the seal of the Spirit Thus are Assurances made among men by setting seals to writings to bonds and bils and other conveyances And such Assurance labour we for to get the promises sealed unto us and that by this seal the seal of the Spirit which the Apostle calleth the earnest of our inheritance Eph. 1.13 14. An earnest confirms the bargain and assures the payment of the whole summe And so doth the earnest of the Spirit as he elswhere calleth it 2 Cor. 1.22 the work of Regeneration and Sanctification begun in the soul this is as Gods seal which confirmeth his promises to his people and giveth them assurance of their heavenly inheritance Which being assured off what should make them unwilling to depart hence when God calleth for them Having now another house to receive them when they are turned out of this and that infinitely better as the Apostle telleth them 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building not made with hands eternal in the heavens Now what man would be unwilling to leave a poor ruinous Cottage which he holdeth only at the pleasure of the Land-lord being subject to be turned out of it every day when as he may have posession of a Royal palace whereof also he shal have the fee-simple estate And such is that heavenly house that celestial glory and happinesse which Christ having purchased for those that are his is gone before to take posession of and to prepare for them I go to prepare a place for you Joh. 14.2 it infinitely excelleth all earthly glory far more then the most princely palace doth the meanest cottage O labour we but to make sure this our Inheritance in that other world this will make us not unwilling to leave this Here is a first Direction Seek after Assurance that we have an interest in God and Jesus Christ and so a right to eternal life And being thus assured of Life Dir. 2 now Prepare for death Prepare for death by dying daily So did the blessed Apostle who tels his Corinthians that he dyed daily 1 Cor. 15.31 I protest by your rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord I dye daily Apprehending death continually hanging over his head he was daily preparing for it And the like do we that we may be willing to dye once when God calleth us to it dye daily Q. But how shall we do this A. Take the answer in three or four particulars 1. Dye daily to sin This the Apostle telleth us Christ once did for us To sin In that he dyed he dyed unto sin once Rom. 6.10 This he did not for himself for he knew no sin but for us for the expiating of our sins the taking away the guilt of them And what he did once doe we daily daily dye to sin for the taking away the power of it in our selves A work which will not be done at once as that of our Saviour was True the Apostle speaking of believers saith they are dead to sin Rom. 6.2.11 in as much as they are not now under the power of it as sometimes they were But this is but an imperfect work not done at once Though sin hath received its mortal wound in them yet it is stil alive Though they be dead to it yet it liveth in them And therefore they must make this their daily their continual work to be dying to it mortifying the body of sin that it may dye before them The life of sin is the life of death So long as a man liveth in any one sin he will never be willing to dye And therefore set we upon the mortification of all our sinful Lusts Specially our beloved Lusts those which have been most near and dear to us most strong and prevalent in us Never resting until we find our hearts brought to an utter abhorrence and detestation of them and of all other sinful waies and courses so as we can say with the Psalmist that we hate every false way Psa 119.104 Thus Sin being dead death will not be so terrible As we get ground of the one we shal get strength against the other Secondly Dye daily to the world To the world So did the Apostle who telleth us of himself that he was crucified to the world and the world to him Gal. 6.14 He had as little affection to the world as the world had to him he was dead to that and that to him And it is the counsel which he giveth to others 1 Cor. 7.31 that they should so use this world as not abusing it Not doting upon any thing here below whether riches oâ— pleasures or honours Not setting the heart upon them If riches increase set not your hearts upon them Psal 62.10 And so for the rest Not being inordinately affected with any contentments which this world can afford but looking overly upon them so using them as if they used them not So run those foregoing directions of the Apostle there 1 Cor. 7.29 30. This I say brethren the time is short It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not And this let every of us strive to