the Psalmist declaring their inward sentiments The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it Lastly The sinner slights the power of God This attribute renders God a dreadful Judge He has a right to punish and power to revenge every transgression of his Law His judicial power is supreme his executive is irresistible He can with one stroke dispatch the Body to the Grave and the Soul to Hell and make Men as miserable as they are sinful Yet sinners as boldly provoke him as if there were no danger We read of the infatuated Syrians that they thought that God the Protector of Israel had only power on the Hills and not in the Vallies and renewed the War to their destruction Thus sinners enter into the lists with God and range an Army of lusts against the Armies of Heaven and blindly bold run upon their own destruction They neither believe his all-seeing Eye nor all-mighty Hand They change the glory of the living God into a dead Idol that has Eyes and sees not and Hands and handles not and accordingly his threatnings make no impression upon them Thus I have presented a true view of the evil of sin consider'd in it self but as Job saith of God how little a portion of him is known May be said of the evil of sin how little of it is known For in proportion as our apprehensions are defective and below the greatness of God so are they of the evil of sin that contradicts his Sovereign will and dishonours his excellent perfections 2. Sin relatively to us is the most pernicious and destructive Evil. If we compare it with temporal Evils it preponderates all that Men are liable to in the present World Diseases in our Bodies disasters in our Estates disgrace in our Reputation are in just esteem far less evil than the evil of sin for that corrupts and destroys our more excellent and immortal part The vile Body is of no account in comparison of the precious Soul Therefore the Apostle enforces his exhortation Dearly beloved brethren abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the Soul The issue of this War is infinitely more woful than of the most cruel against our Bodies and Goods our Liberties and Lives for our Estates and Freedom if lost may be recover'd if the present Life be lost for the cause of God it shall be restor'd in greater lustre and perfection but if the Soul be lost 't is lost for ever All temporal Evils are consistent with the love of God Job on the dunghil roughcast with Ulcers was most precious in Gods sight Lazarus in the lowest poverty and wasted with loathsom Sores was dear to his affections a guard of Angels was sent to convey his departing Soul to the Divine Presence But sin separates between God and us who is the fountain of felicity and the center of rest to the Soul Other evils God who is our wise and compassionate Father and Physitian makes use of as Medicinal preparations for the cure of sin and certainly the Disease which would be the death of the Soul is worse than the Remedy tho' never so bitter and afflicting to sense Sin is an evil of that malignity that the least degree of it is fatal If it be conceiv'd in the Soul tho' not actually finisht 't is deadly One sin corrupted in an instant angelical excellencies and turn'd the glorious Spirits of Heaven into Devils 'T is a poison so strong that the first taste of it shed a deadly taint and malignity into the veins of all mankind Sin is such an exceeding Evil that 't is the severest punishment Divine Justice inflicts on sinners on this side Hell The giving Men over to the power of their lusts is the most fearful judgment not only with respect to the cause Gods unrelenting and unquenchable anger and the issue everlasting destruction but in the quality of the judgment Nay did sin appear as odious in our Eyes as it does in Gods we should account it the worst part of Hell it self the pollutions of the damned to be an evil exceeding the torments superadded to them Sin is pregnant with all kinds of Evils the seeds of it are big with Judgments The evils that are obvious to sense or that are Spiritual and Inward Temporal and Eternal Evils all proceed from sin often as the Natural cause and always as the Meritorious And many times the same punishment is produc'd by the efficiency of sin as well as inflicted for its guilt Thus uncleanness without the miraculous waters of Jealousie rots the Body and the pleasure of sin is revenged by a loathsom consuming Disease the natural consequence of it Thus intemperance and luxury shorten the lives of Men and accelerate damnation Fierce desires and wild rage are fewel for the everlasting fire in Hell The same evils considered Physically are from the efficiency of sin consider'd legally are from the guilt of sin and the justice of God This being a point of great usefulness that I may be more instructive I will consider the evils that are consequential to sin under these two Heads 1. Such as proceed immediately from it by Emanation 2. Those evils and all other as the effects of Gods justice and sentence 1. The evils that proceed immediately by emanation from it and tho' some of them are not resented with feeling apprehensions by sinners yet they are of a fearful nature Sin has deprived Man of the purity nobility and peace of his innocent state 1. It has stain'd and tainted him with an universal intimate and permanent pollution Man in his first Creation was holy and righteous a beam of beauty derived from Heaven was shed upon his Soul in comparison of which sensitive beauty is but as the clearness of Glass to the lustre of a Diamond His understanding was light in the Lord his will and affections were regular and pure the Divine Image was imprest upon all his faculties that attracted the love and complacency of God himself Sin has blotted out all his aimiable excellencies and superinduc'd the most foul deformity the original of which was fetcht from Hell Sinners are the natural Children of Satan of a near resemblance to him The Scripture borrows comparisons to represent the defiling quality of sin from pollutions that are most loathsom to our senses from pestilential Vlcers putrifying Sores filthy Vomit and defiling Mire This pollution is universal through the whole Man Spirit Soul and Body It darkens the mind our supreme faculty with a cloud of Corruption it depraves the will and vitiates the affections 'T is a pollution so deep and permanent that the Deluge that swept away a World of sinners did not wash away their sins and the fire at the last day that shall devour the dross of the visible World and renew the Heavens and the Earth shall not purge away the sins of the guilty Inhabitants This pollution hath so defil'd and disfigur'd Man who was a fair and lovely type wherein
like but worse than the Beasts for the fiercest Beasts of Africa or Hyrcania have a respect for their own likeness tho' they devour others yet they spare those of their own kind but Men are so degenerate as to be most cruel against their Brethren These are some of the Evils that proceed from sin as their natural Cause And from hence 't is evident that sin makes Men miserable were there no Hell of torment to receive them in the next State 2. I will consider the Evils consequent to sin as the penal effects of the sentence against sin of Divine Justice that decrees it and Divine Power that inflicts it and in these the sinner is often an active instrument of his own misery 1. The fall of the Angels is the first and most terrible punishment of sin God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to Hell reserved in chains of darkness to judgment How are they fall'n From what height of glory and felicity into bottomless perdition How are they continually rackt and tormented with the remembrance of their lost happiness If a thousand of the prime Nobility of a Nation were executed in a day by the sentence of a righteous King we should conclude their crimes to be atrocious innumerable Angels dignified with the titles of Dominions and Principalities were expell'd from Heaven their native seat and the sanctuary of life and are dead to all the joyful operations of the intellectual nature and only alive to everlasting pain One sin of pride or envy brought this terrible vengeance from whence we may infer how provoking sin is to the holy God We read of King Vzziah that upon his presumption to offer incense he was struck with a Leprosie and the Priests thrust him out and himself hasted to go out of the Temple a representation of the punishment of the Angels by presumption they were struck with a Leprosie and justly expelled from the Celestial Temple and not being able to sustain the terrors of the Divine Majesty they fled from his presence 'T is said God cast them down and they left their own habitation 2. Consider the penal effects of sin with respect to Man They are comprehended in the sentence of death the first and second death threaten'd to deter Adam from transgressing the Law In the first Creation Man while innocent was immortal for altho his Bâ—â—y was compounded of jarring Elements that had a natural tendency to dissolution yet the Soul was endowed with such vertue as to imbalm the Body alive and to preserve it from the least degree of putrefaction But when Man by his voluntary sin was separated from the fountain of life the Soul lost its derivative life from God and the active life infused by its union into the Body It cannot preserve the natural life beyond its limited term A righteous retaliation Thus the Apostle tells us Sin came into the World and death by sin Even infants who never committed sin die having been conceived in sin And death brought in its retinue evils so numerous and various that their kinds are more than words to name and distinguish them Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of trouble at his birth he enters into a labyrinth of Thorns this miserable World and his life is a continual turning in it he cannot escape being sometimes prick'd and torn and at going out of it his Soul is rent from the embraces of the Body 'T is as possible to tell the number of the waves in a tempestuous Sea as to recount all the tormenting passions of the Soul all the Diseases of the Body which far exceed in number all the unhappy parts wherein they are seated What an afflicting object would it be to hear all the mournful lamentations all the piercing complaints all the deep groans from the miserable in this present state What a prospect of Terror to see Death in its various shapes by Famine by Fire by Sword and by wasting or painful Diseases triumphant over all mankind What a sight of woe to have all the Graves and Charnel-houses open'd and so many loathsom Carcasses or heaps of dry naked Bones the trophies of Death expos'd to view Such are the afflicting and destructive effects of sin For wickedness burns as a fire it devours the Briars and Thorns Besides other miseries in this life sometimes the terrors of an accusing Conscience seise upon Men which of all evils are most heavy and overwhelming Solomon who understood the frame of humane Nature tells us The Spirit of a Man can bear his infirmity that is the mind fortified by Principles of moral Counsel and Constancy can endure the assault of external Evils but a wounded Spirit who can bear This is most insupportable when the sting and remorse of the mind is from the sense of guilt for then God appears an enemy righteous and severe and who can encounter with offended Omnipotence Such is the sharpness of his Sword and the weight of his Hand that every stroke is deadly inward Satan the cruel enemy of Souls exasperates the wound He discovers and charges sin upon the Conscience with all its killing aggravations and conceals the Divine mercy the only lenitive and healing Balm to the wounded Spirit What visions of horror what spectacles of fear what scenes of sorrow are presented to the distracted mind by the Prince of darkness And which heigthens the misery Man is a worse enemy to himself than Satan he falls upon his own Sword and destroys himself Whatever he sees or hears afflicts him whatever he thinks torments him The guilty Conscience turns the Sun into darkness and the Moon into blood the precious promises of the Gospel that assure favour and pardon to returning and relenting sinners are turn'd into arguments of despair by reflecting upon the abuse and provocation of mercy and that the advocate in Gods bosom is become the accuser Doleful state Beyond the conception of all but those who are plung'd into it How often do they run to the grave for sanctuary and seek for death as a deliverance Yet all these anxieties and terrors are but the beginning of sorrows for the full and terrible recompenses of sin shall follow the Eternal Judgment pronounc'd against the wicked at the last day 'T is true the sentence of the Law is past against the sinner in this present state and temporal evils are the effects of it but that sentence is revocable at death the sentence is ratified by the Judge upon every impenitent sinner 't is decicive of his state and involves him under punishment for ever But the full execution of judgment shall not be till the publick general sentence pronounc'd by the everlasting Judge before the whole World It exceeds the compass of created thoughts to understand fully the direful effects of sin in the Eternal State For who knows the power of Gods wrath The Scripture represents the punishment in expressions that may instruct the mind
Hell unspeakable Glory and Happiness for them that obey the Gospel and conform themselves to the Law and Rule of the new Creature an everlasting shame contempt and torment for those that are workers of iniquity Know such a life hath admirable delights to sweeten it in the way and inconceivable rewards to Crown it in the end I earnestly beseech you to propound such serious and weighty Questions as these to your selves when you do either feel the stirrings and motions of Sin or are assaulted by temptations to it from without Doth such an action become me whether will it contribute to or detract from my honour interest or comfort Is a life of Debauchery and Prophaness worthy of a man that hath an immortal Soul and do expect when I die and leave this World to launch into the Ocean of Eternity would I have my Lord when he cometh find me so doing Is not this that I am now inticed and inclined to contrary to the Law and end of my Creation to the Gospel-Law and to the dictates of right reason will this be for my advantage either now or hereafter if this be the Seed I sow what will be the Harvest that I shall reap will Sin ever pay me for the cost I am at upon it and for the pains that I take about it the Scripture tells us the wages it gives its Servants are Death and what Wise Man will do hard Work for no better Wages Suppose that it doth afford present pleasure that tickles a vain carnal mind will that pleasure last Is there not a Sting to follow that honey will it not be bitterness in the latter end Certainly it will issue in shame and sorrow And who will choose to walk in that way though it be a Carpet one that will go down to and lodge the Traveller at last in the Chambers of Death and the Bed of Flames As for those of you who have hitherto been vain and loose and wicked and God knows there are too many of you do not stop your Ears to the Voice of the Charmers do not oh do not hate to be reformed It is better for you to break off your Sins by a timely and speedy repentance than to go on because none of you can tell but the very next step that you take you may tumble into Hell since every step in Sins way takes hold of it What Daniel therefore said to that proud and haughty Monarch Nebuchadnezzar Daniel 4.27 I will say to you Let my counsel be acceptable to you break off your sins by righteousness and your iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor if it may be a lengthening of your tranquilliâ—y or as you have it in the Margin of your Bibles an healing of your errour If every one would mend one how soon should we see a lovely face and excellent beauty upon the whole nay if the generality or major part of the Inhabitants of England and London would be prevailed with to come over to a Sober and Religious Life if Princes Nobles and Gentlemen will be exemplary therein Sin and Debauchery would learn to abate something of its Impudence and grow more modest than it is In stead of walking up and down with a brazen face at Noon-day in our Streets as it hath done it would seek Corners and hide it self under the covert of darkness as in the Apâ—stles times when they that were drunk were drunk in the night 1 Thess 5.7 Now that I might promote in all Persons according to their several Spheres and Capacities a consciencious care and endeavour to suppress Prophaneness I shall close this Discourse with these few following Directions First Pray for some of Christ's Eye salve that your Eyes being thereby open'd you may see the ugliness and deformity of Prophaneness Do not give credit to that report which Sin makes of it self no nor to theirs neither who are its sworn Slaves and Vassals For what true Information can you expect to receive from them who are under the power of strong delusions who are self-deceived and have their minds blinded by the God of this World and run away with a lye in their right hand But do you sit down and take the Word of God for your guide and counsellor and from thence your measures and seriously consider what beauty can there be in that which hath defaced the whole creation that was at first a most exquisite and curious piece and every thing in it very good What excellency can there be after the most diligent enquiry found in that which is in itself contrary to the best and Supream good and makes every thing else so that is so What desirableness can there be in that from whence have come all those stings with which man is tormented and all the poisons by which he is indanger'd Oh! That you could look upon it with such an eye as the infinitely wise and holy God doth and then I am sure you would see it to be out of measure sinful and so hate it with a perfect hatred and flee from it more than from the Devil for it made him what he is and is worse than He who had it not been for sin would still have continued a glorious Angel Oh that you would take a view of it as it is represented to you in the Glass of Scripture precepts which do expresly forbid it and in the glass of Scripture-threatnings which are most dreadfully thundered out against it and in the Glass of those many tremendous and amazing Judgments which have been executed up and down in the world by which God hath reveal'd his wrath from Heaven against all the ungodliness unrighteousness and wickedness of men sparing neither People nor Princes but hanging up some of both sorts as it were in Chains that they might be for the admonition and warning of them that do survive Once more look upon it in the Glass of our Saviours blood which had never been shed no not a drop of it had it not been for sin but that caused the shedding of it all even his Heart Life Blood And it was absolutely necessary according to the divine determination in order to mans Salvation that it should be so for without the shedding of bloud there would have been no remission Heb. 9.22 Had not the blood of Jesus God-man been shed and made Satisfaction as a propitiatory Sacrifice to Divine justice infinitely provoked by the Sin of man the offence and displeasure caused by sin would have to all everlasting remained without any hope or as far as we know any possibility of a Reconciliation The least sin is such an anomy or transgression of the divine Law such an affront to the Divine Majesty gives such a blow at the Soveraignty and Government of God and carrieth in it so much of malignity and provocation that there needs no more than it to sink the guilty person into the bottomless pit of endless misery I leave it then to you to consider
sense of misery that a man would fain be rid of and can't 't is a Yoke whereby his Neck is gall'd but he can't put it off and if he should be released from it by any undue ways or means it would be to his farther detriment and danger in the end Now from this Fear of Death the Children are said to be delivered by Christ There are many evils from which he redeems and delivers them he delivers them from the bondage of sin and Satan from the rigour and Curse of the Law from everlasting Punishment and Wrath to come and he delivers them also from the Fear of Death This is imply'd if it be not express'd in the Text for upon the mentioning of their deliverance he gives this description of the Persons that are delivered that they wâ—â—e such as were afraid of Death and lyable to continual bondage by reason thereof Hence all Expositors both ancient and modern do rationally inferr That the Fear of Death is one of those evils from whence we are deliver'd by Jesus Christ The Text thus briefly open'd administers a fair occasion of resolving this Case or Question From what Fear of Death are the Children of God deliver'd by Jesus Christ and by what means doth he deliver them from it I shall break this Question in two and enquire 1. From what Fear of Death the Children of God are delivered from by Jesus Christ And then 2. By what Means or Methods he doth deliver them from it 1. From what Fear of Death are the Children of God deliver'd by Jesus Christ That I may resolve this Question aright I must distinguish of the Fear of Death 1. There is a natural Fear of Death This is common to all Men as Men and 't is more or less in them according to their different Constitutions and other accidental Occurrences This is nothing else but Natures aversation to it 's own dissolution and in it's self it is a sinless infirmity such as sickness weariness or the like To be loth or afraid to dye is humane and inseparable from the nature of man this fear of Death is found with the best of men Nature as one says hath a share in them as well as in others and will work as Nature or like it self The Apostle Paul tells us how good godly men are unwilling to be uncloath'd and to put off the body 2 Cor. 5.4 Our blessed Saviour who was a true though not a meer Man without the least impeachment of the Holiness and Perfection of his humane Nature express'd at some times an aversion to death John 12.27 Mark 14.35 This therefore is not the fear of Death of which the Text speaks and from which the Children of God are deliver'd by Jesus Christ 2. There is a slavish Fear of Death which hath Torment in it or which torments the Souls of men which fills their hearts with terrors and distractions which discomposeth their minds and unfits them for the duties of their general or particular callings and totally disables them from prosecuting the things that belong to their Peace and Welfare This is that fear of Death of which the Text speaks and from which the Children are deliver'd such as genders unto bondage and is servile or slavish a fear of Death as poenal and drawing after it everlasting punishment This fear of Death takes hold of carnal men they are not so much afraid of Death as of that which the Scripture calls the second Death Revel 2.11 20.6 Heb. 9.26 't is that which follows after death that makes it so formidable to them after Death as that Text speaks comes Judgment when they must receive according to the things which they have done in the Body When they dye they must launch out into an endless Ocean and go the way as Job says from whence they shall never return Job 16.22 And if Death overtakes them in their unregenerate state and condition then it will be an entrance or inlet into outer darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth These and such-like are the considerations that make Death so dreadfull to the Children of Men that give it the denomination of the King of Terrors and of terrible things the most terrible they are not as one said afraid to dye but they are afraid to be damn'd Hence it is that though Death be terrible to all men yet it is most terrible to those whose Consciences are awakened and whose understandings are enlightned who have been instructed in the Knowledge of God and of a future State of Retribution Death as one observes is not half so terrible to a Heathen as it is to an ungodly Christian Heathen men are in the dark and see but little of that which is the true terror of Death But enlightned Christians who have been acquainted with the Scripture who know that the Wrath of God is reveal'd from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men Rom. 1.18 1 Cor. 6.9 Psal 9.17 2 Thes 1.7 8 9. that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God that the wicked shall be turned into Hell and all Nations and people that forget God that Jesus Christ shall be reveal'd from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power That the greatest part by far of the wages of sin which is eternal damnation shall be paid in another World These are they that are surrounded with the slavish fears of Death 'T is true that many wicked Persons who live under the Gospel are under none of these terrors but then 't is because they look on Death at a great distance from them and the remoteness of any Object though in it's self never so terrible takes away the fear of it Or else it is because they are over-busied and taken up about the things of the World as the lust of the flesh or of the eyes or the pride of life and if any thoughts of Death and of the World to come arise in their minds they are presently smother'd and stifled by worldly objects and diversions Cain was a while afraid of Death he thought every one that met him would slay him but by and by he gets into the Land of Nod and there he falls a building of Cities and doth so immerse or drown himself in the affairs of the World that by little and little the slavish fear he had of Death did wear out of his mind Or else it is because of their Atheism or Infidelity there is a great deal of this amongst professed Christians All wicked men as the Apostle Paul says are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 2.12 without God in the World or as it may be rendred they are Atheists in the World They are all practical Atheists and too many are
Atheists in Opinion likewise they say in their Hearts though they don't speak it out with their Tongues that there is no God Psal 14.1 they have not a thorough belief of a Deity or of a future State of Rewards and Punishments Or else it is in the last place because of their great Security Multitudes of professed Christians are fast asleep in their sins they give up themselves sinfully and many of them are given up of God judicially to a spirit of slumber and of deep sleep And when this is the case with men no wonder they are without any dread of Death or Hell or any thing else You know when a Man is in a deep sleep he fears no danger whatsoever These and such-like are the reasons why many carnal persons do spend their days in mirth and sensuality without any actual fear of Death or of it's dreadfull consequents But then it must be remembred that these very persons are subject or liable thereunto and if God awaken their Consciences and rouze them out of their security Job 24.17 Psal 55.4 5. then they are as 't is in Job in the terrors of the shadow of death horror overwhelmes them as 't is in that Psalm and the terrors of death fall upon them Like Foelix they fall a trembling and like Belshazzar their knees are ready to smite one against another 'T is time now that I should come to the second branch of the Question which is By what Means and Methods are the Children of God deliver'd by Christ from the fear of Death To this I shall return an Answer First By shewing you what Christ hath already done and then Secondly What he continues still to do in order to this end 1. I shall shew you what Christ hath already done to deliver or free the Children of God from the fear of Death He himself in his own Person hath suffered or tasted death for them This is every where declar'd in the New Testament and 't is hinted to us in the Text. Christ by death that is by his own death hath delivered the Children from the fear of death The death of Christ hath made Death to look with another face than formerly it had As the Wood that Moses cast into the waters of Marah did alter their property so the Death of Christ hath alter'd the property of Death and taken away the bitterness and formidableness thereof hence 't is that the death of Believers in Scripture is call'd a Sleep It is said of Stephen when he dyed though it was by a violent death That he fell asleep Acts 7.60 And the Apostle Paul says 1 Thes 4.14 That as Jesus dyed and rose again even so them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him It is well observed by some that the Apostle doth seem purposely to vary the Phrase he says that Jesus dyed and that the Saints sleep in Him and the reason is because that he sustained Death with all its terrors that so it might become a calm and quiet sleep unto the Saints The Death of Christ must needs sweeten the fore-thoughts of death to the Children and Chosen of God because that he dy'd in their stead he did not only dye in their Nature but in their Room not only for rheir good but also in their stead You know how it was with the Sacrifices of old they were put to death in the room of the Sacrificers So it was with Christ the truth of those Sacrifices he was put to death in the room of Sinners and they dy'd in him as their Representative Now this serves to free them from an enthralling fear of Death why should they fear that which Christ hath undergone in their place and room There are two things more to be considered under this Head 1. Christ by his Death hath taken away the true Reason of the fear of Death that is the Curse and Condemnation of the Law of God The Apostle Paul says That the sting of death is sin 1 Cor. 15.56 and the strength of sin is the Law Death hath it's wounding power from sin and sin hath it's condemning power from the Law 't is the Law that discovers the nature of sin that enhanceth the guilt of sin that denounceth condemnation against him that commits it and 't is this condemnation of the Law that torments the Sinner with the fear of death Now Christ having in our stead subjected himself to death and so undergone the penalty of the Law he hath taken away the Curse and condemning power thereof He hath says the Apostle Paul redeemed us from the curse of the Law being himself made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 The death of Christ hath satisfi'd every demand of the broken Law The Law of God hath nothing now to lay to the charge of God's Elect it owns the Blood of Christ to be a sufficient compensation for their violations of it there are no petty satisfactions to be made by themselves since Christ hath made compleat satisfaction for them and in their behalf The Law now is ready to acquit the Believer it says Thou mayst live for all me and live eternally I require not thy death as being satisfied with the Death of Christ When thou dyest a natural death it is rather to comply with the appointment of God and in order to the raising up hereafter a better and more curious Fabrick of thy Body than to satisfie any demand of mine 2. Christ by his Death hath deprived the Devil of the power of death and by this means also he hath deliver'd the Children from a servile fear of Death The Devil as I said before hath a power to terrifie the Consciences of men with the apprehension of death and the dreadful consequents thereof you see into what bondage he brings men upon this account many times he brings the Children themselves into the suburbs of Hell and lays them under dreadful terrors and horrors the pains of Hell says one of them gat hold of me I found trouble and sorrow Psal 116.3 2 Sam. 22.6 and again at another time the sorrows of death compassed me about Now this power of Satan is taken away by the Death of Christ The Blood of Christ hath cancel'd or at least contracted and lessened his Commission So that when he assaults a Believer in this kind he is easily resisted the Devil gives ground if the Believer stands his ground he can't prevail against a Child of God unless God give him a special Commission or unless he yields to his Temptation being justified by Faith in the Death of Christ we have that peace which all the Devils in Hell are not able to disturb the weapons of his power and warfare in this way are wrested out of his hands by the Death of Christ Thus you see what Christ hath already done 2. Let me proceed to shew you what he
continues still to do in order to the freeing and delivering the Children of God from the fear of death and the bondage that ensues thereon 1. He worketh and increaseth those Graces of his Spirit in them which are destructive hereof and opposite hereunto you 'l say which are they 1. There is the Grace of Faith This is the Grace that conquers the World that conquers the Devil and that conquers also the slavish fear of Death This excellent Grace of Faith hath such an excellent hand in the conquering of all these that it is call'd the conquest and victory it's self This is the victory says the Apostle John 1 John 5.4 even your Faith Our Saviour tells Peter Luke 22.31 32. That Satan had desired to have him that he might sift him as Wheat And with what did he sift and shake him Why it was with the fear of Death he was afraid they would deal with him as they did with his Master It was his slavish fear of Death that made him deny Christ and to do it once and again but anon he recovered himself and got above this fear he was reâ—dy by and by boldly to confess Christ and that in the face of Death and danger How came this about Why it was by means of Faith Christ had pray'd for him that his Faith should not fail it may be said of those that are fearful of death that they are of little Faith 2. A second Grace is Love An ardent love of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ will banish all slavish fear of death out of the Soul 1 John 4.18 There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear Of what fear doth he speak The next words tell you he speaks of slavish tormenting fear of that fear which hath torment By perfect love he means a greater measure and degree of love I said but now of fearfull Christians that they have but little Faith I may add also that they have but little Love for perfect or great love expells all tormenting and servile fear 3. A third Grace is Hope The very nature of Hope is quite contrary to fear Where there is a Hope of eternal life there can be no prevailing fear of Death 'T is said of the righteous Prov. 14.32 that they have Hope in their death and those that have Hope in their death they are not afraid to dye Then Hope doth more especially free us from an inordinate fear of Death when it grows up to that which the Scripture calls The full assurance of Faith Heb. 6.11 this is a gracious Gift which the Father bestows upon many of his Children they know that they are in him that they are pass â—â— from death to life 1 John 2.5.3.14 2 Cor. 5.1 that when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolv'd they shall have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Ay this is that which steels and fortifies them against the fear and terror of Death This leads me to consider of a second way or means whereby Christ delivers the Children from a slavish fear of death 2. He delivers them from it by convincing and parswading them that they shall not be Losers but Gainers yea great gainers thereby It was this perswasion that made the Apostle Paul to desire death rather than to dread it I desire says he to depart or to be dissolv'd which is far better Philip. 1.23 And again v. 21. he saith For me to dye is gain It were easie here to expatiate and shew the advantage the exceeding great advantage that Believers have by Death It is commonly said to consist in these two things in a freedom from all Evil in the fruition of all Good 1. It consists in a freedom from all Evil which is sub-divided into the evil of Sorrow and the evil of Sin Believers are freed by Death from the evil of Sorrow 'T is one blessed Notion of the life to come that God will wipe off all tears from his peoples eyes and remove all sorrow and causes of Sorrow from their Hearts Believers also are freed by Death from the evil of sin which is indeed the greatest evil the evil of evils all the evils of sorrow are but the effects and fruits of the evil of sin By Death they are deliver'd from all actual sins not only from Fleshly but Spiritual filthiness Now they are deliver'd ordinarily from inordinate actions but then also from inordinate affections they shall never any more be troubled with Pride Passion Discontent Unbelief or the like By Death also they are discharg'd from Original sin and all remainders thereof when the Body dies Believers are rid of that body of death which dwelleth in them and is always present with them they no more complain of themselves as wretched creatures upon the account thereof 2. It consists in the fruition of all Good Believers when they dye they enjoy God Himself who is the chiefest Good He is bonum in quae omnia bona all other things that are good and desireable are comprized in him as the Sun-beams are in the Sun the Saints enjoyment of God in this life is a Heaven upon Earth but our enjoyment of God after death will be the Heaven of Heavens David says in one Place Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee There are Saints and Angels and Arch-Angels in Heaven says Musculus with whom David and such as he will have to do but what are these to God Believers won't barely enjoy God after death but they will enjoy him fully In this life they enjoy a little of God and oh how sweet and refreshing it is But in the life to come they shall have as much enjoyment of God as their hearts can wish or hold Now they enjoy God in the use of means in Prayer in hearing the Word and in receiving the Lords Supper but hereafter they shall have not only a full but an immediate fruition of God Now they see the Face of God in the Glass of his Word and Ordinances and 〈◊〉 what a lovely sight is it But then they shall see God face to face and what tongue can mention or heart imagine the loveliness of that sight If it were not too great a digression I could readily demonstrate the gain and advantage of Death from other Topicks Believers in the other life shall possess and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven which doth more transcend the Kingdoms of this World and all the glory of them than the light of the Sun doth excell the light of a Candle they shall be most gloriously perfected both in their Souls and in their Bodies their vile bodies at the Resurrection shall be changed and fashioned like unto the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ Phil. 3.21 Their gain and happiness will be greatly augmented in the other life by the work and employment that they shall do and by the Society and Company that they shall
your right eye you must pull it out The guilt of one known sin will put a sting into Death and make it very terrible to you especially in your near approaches unto it 7. You must look to it that your whole Conversation be order'd arigh◠and that it be as becomes the Gospel of Christ When all is done an upright and holy Life is one of the best Defences against the dread of Death We are told in two several Chapters of the Proverbs that Righteousness delivers from Death Prov. 10.2.11.14 Whatever other Interpretations those words will admit of I am sure this is a true one That it delivers from a slavish Fear of Death Hear how David speaks he bids you Mark the perfect man and behold the righteous or upright Psal 37.37 for the the end of that man is peace The Apostle Paul was above the Fear of Death he seem'd rather to desire than dread it as I said before and well it might be thus with him seeing he liv'd in all good Conscience and had this Testimony from his Conscience That in simplicity and godly sincerity Acts 23.1 2 Cor. 1.12 and not with fleshly wisdom but by the Grace of God he had his Conversation in the World Quest How is Gospel-Grace the best Motive to Holiness SERMON V. 2 TIM II. 19. And let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity 1 Tim. 1.2 2 Tim. 1.2 THis Epistle was wrote by St. Paul to his Son Timothy whom he had begot in the Faith as his fatherly Blessing a little before his death for he was at the writing of it in bonds Ch. 1. vers 8. and he had finished his course Ch. 4. v. 7. This very Paul whom God had so miraculously delivered at Damascus 2 Cor. 11.32 Acts 16.26 and at Philippi and where not for whosoever reads the Catalogue of his sufferings 1 Cor. 11.26 may wonder how so many evils could befall any one man but as they did abound deliverance did proportionably abound yet now when God had no further work for him to do he calls his Servant home to receive his wages and being so near the end of his Race Phil. 3.14 Paul stretches out his hand for the prize of his high calling in Christ Jesus And if we cannot but allow the Children of God to grow in Grace and in Knowledge 2 Pet. 3.18 and that the Lights of God's setting up in his Church are brightest a little before they are extinguished by death Timothy and all Believers had reason to mind especially the words of this dying Man This Epistle being his last Will and Testament in which every Member of Christ's Church hath a Legacy left unto him ' more precious if understood and improved than Gold that perish In the beginning of this Chapter the Apostle requires that those things he had taught Vers 2. might be continued still to be taught and to be practis'd He knew that there was no getting into Heaven per saltum that there was no coming to Glory but by taking the degrees at least arriving at the truth of Grace and therefore here as elsewhere in all his Epistles so many Exhortations and Dehortations are to be found so many Precepts about what we are to do and Cautions about what we are to avoid The Philosopher treating of Happiness observes Arist Rhet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Way is narrow and the Danger is great and they are the best Friends to us that bid us beware and are jealous lest we should mistake But withal the Apostle here meets with a great Obstacle a Stone or Rock of Offence which he endeavours to remove out of our way Hymenaeus and Philetus two considerable persons and probably highly accounted of in the Church for we find no such difficulty arose at the turning away of Phygellus and Hermogenes of whom mention is made Chap. 1. vers 15. Apostatiz'd from the Truth and whether they were by their Office Teachers or no is not certain but that their breath was infectious and that their words did eat as a canker is testified vers 17. That their error was in a fundamental Article denying the Resurrection is very obvious for as the Apostle says If there be no Resurrection then is our preaching vain and our believing vain 1 Cor. 15.13.14 yet such a darkness or perversness rather hath the Fall and our corruption betray'd us to that without God cause his Light to shine into us there is nothing so senceless irrational or unscriptural which we shall not embrace for truth Hence these wretches did not perish alone but overthrew the Faith of some vers 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or temporary Believers who assented to the Truths of the Gospel and were reckoned amongst the Faithfull nay and they shrewdly shak'd the Faith of others When men in a Field-battle see such fall who stood next them or were before them their hearts are apt to misgive them least the next Bullet should take them off also Especially true Believers knowing so much of the deceitfulness of their own hearts as to make them humble all their days and being so charitable towards others and apt to believe any better than themselves Their concern also being so great for their Souls Hinc lacrymae they cry we shall one day fall To such the Apostle accommodates these words Nevertheless as if he had said Granting all that any fearfull and weak but true Believers amongst you can Object that so many fall away and such as seem'd so resolute have Apostatiz'd Mat. 7.24.25 Yet the Foundation of God standeth sure Thô they who built upon the Sand with their statelyest and highest confidence fell yet every building upon the Rock should hold out all winds and weathers To prove which the Apostle offers a double security 1. From the Election and fore-knowledge of God The Lord knoweth them that are his Verba sensûs intellectus ponunt affectum effectum is a known Rule to understand Scripture by God does not only know his People as he does all other men and all other Creatures in the World but he hath a special eye upon every one of them and a special care for them as well as Love unto them and this is as it were the Privy Seal which every Child of God may take for his security 2. They have also a broad Seal their Sanctification which comparatively at least is evident for it is as a light set on a Candlestick and is visible more or less unto all at least they may have the Testimony of a good Conscience ◠Cor. 1.12 which is as a thousand Witnesses Some have thought that these words may relate to an ancient custom of putting words and sentences upon such stones as were laid for Foundations in buildings in which something of the Builder or Author or at least something thought worthy by him to be perpetuated Rom. 11.33 was inserted and what more
worthy than that which I have now mention'd of the depth of the Riches of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God which may be allowed to be on the top of this foundation-stone and round about the Stone that which follows Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity Which words I shall at present be confined to they may be understood as a seasonable Caution least any that heard of the Continuance and Assurance of Gods Care and Love should be puffed up for as the Apostle would not have the defection of others to cause any to despond so he would by no means have others security upon any pretensions whatsoever to cause them to presume but as a wise Physician having prescribed so great a Cordial against their fainting at the sight of others falling ◠Cor 3.9 by telling them that they who were of God's Building should stand he gives them direction how to use this Cordial least if unwarily taken it might strengthen their distemper in which Direction we may take notice 1. Upon whom this Injunction is laid viz. Every one that nameth the Name of Christ 2. The Injunction it's self viz. To depart from Iniquity which last words to depart from Iniquity I shall suppose to be so far understood as that I need not to stay in the Explication of them All Sin is an unequal and unjust thing against our Duty which we owe to God or Man 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the manner of the Apostles expression is equivalent to a Negative Form which is most comprehensive and therefore Eight of the Ten Commandments at least are Negative but they do all include the contrary positive As the forbidding us to have any other God commands us to take Jehovah for our God and to Love and Obey him accordingly And thus the departing from Iniquity includes not only the leaving of all Sin but the following after and practising of Holiness in all Duties that are required in every Relation and Condition So that there is no Duty to God or Man but he that names the Name of Christ is required to practise it nor no Sin against God or Man against the first or second Table but he is enjoyn'd to forsake it which will farther appear when we have considered 1. What is meant by naming the Name of Christ or who is understood by the Apostle to name this Name of Christ 2. That such an one as thus names the Name of Christ is especially concern'd and obliged to depart from Iniquity As to the first What is meant by naming the Name of Christ What is meant by naming the name of Christ it is evident that it cannot be understood of a bare speaking of the word Christ sounding the letters of which it is made which Pagans and Mahometans may do and the wicked Jews often did but by naming the Name of Christ is understood a making some special use of it or of him that is signified by it We must therefore consider That wheresoever there is any thing of Divine Revelation there mans Fall and Misery is manifested for tho by natural Light it could be perceiv'd that all was not well with Man hence the many complaints that Nature dealt very hardly with Man the noblest visible Creature that had rule and command over the rest of the Creation yet that he was so short-lived so full of misery and trouble Job 5.7 which seem'd as natural to him as for sparks to flie upward This was for a lamentation amongst the very Heathen But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence all this mischief came they knew not In Scripture only we find the Cause of our disease and the Remedy against it and here Vbi invenitur venenum juxta latus ejus nascitur Antidotus Where we may discover the Malady we may seek for and discover the Remedy In the Word of God we have Means prescribed Institutions appointed which being used and observed will help and recover us In the former Oeconomy and Dispensation they were vail'd under Shadows and Types The wages of Sin being Death Gen. 2.17 Rom. 6.23 every Transgressor of the Law forfeits his Life and his sin cannot be expiated but by Blood it might justly have been his own blood and no others But the Law-giver being graciously pleas'd to accept of Animam vicariam anothers blood or life such as he should appoint he did for a while accept of the sacrificing of Beasts in the stead of the Sinners till the fulness of time was come in which he sent his Son this Christ whom the Text mentions to make full satisfaction to his offended Justice and by his Death to expiate for all the sins of them that by Faith apply themselves unto him Hence it is said he was made sin for us and that he was bruised for our Iniquities 2 Cor. 5.21 Isa 53.5 and that the chastisement of our peace was upon him But as under the Law the Transgressor was to lay his hand upon the Beast to be sacrific'd thereby acknowledging that he was the Creature that had deserv'd to dye and desiring that the death of the Beast to be sacrificed might be accepted in his stead Lev. 3.2.4.4 so under the Gospel we must apply to Christ with a due sense of our sins and our deserving of death for them and be accordingly affected with them Yet more when all the outward Ceremonies were perform'd the sacrific'd Beast accepted and slain thô the Law according to the letter was satisfied and a legal Expiation did ensue and a legal Atonement was made yet if the Person that brought the Sacrifice did not mortifie his sin as well as the Priest kill the Sacrifice his Conscience inwardly remained defiled and God still provoked and incensed Nay if the Sinner had done one without the other killed his Beast and spared his sin alive God look'd upon it as a double Iniquity for so indeed it was to acknowledge he had offended God and to pretend that he desired to be reconciled unto him and yet to go on in provoking of him Hence God did forbid and reject their Sacrifices tho of his own appointment Psal 50.9 I will take no Bullock out of thy house nor he-goats out of thy fold Nay he declares that in such a case he that killeth an Oxe Isa 66.3 is as if he slew a Man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a dogs neck he that offereth an Oblation as if he offered swines blood he that burneth incense as if he blessed an Idol and elsewhere Bring no more vain oblations Isa 1.3 incense is an abomination unto me Now that all Sacrifices were Types of Christ thrô whom only they had their virtue and efficacy is confessed by all Christians Thus Christ was a Lamb slain from the foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 And the Christian when affected with his sin and desirous to be reconciled to God whom by his sin he
Nay 2. Reason From the requisites in the Gospel its self 2. All the Priviledges of the Gospel do include or presuppose departing from Iniquity An unholy Person whilst such Ipsa salus non potest salvare Salvation its self cannot preserve How did the Jews search every hole and corner of their houses to find out leaven and how earnestly did they cast it away or else the Paschal Lamb would not have availed them and the destroying Angel would not have pass'd from them 1 Cor. 10.6 And these things are our Examples and tell us that unless we industriously search out and cast away the leaven of sin and wickedness the very Death of Christ the Lamb of God will profit us nothing 'T is as the first Principle of the Christian Religion that the Unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God which the Apostle took for granted the Corinthians could not but know Vers 10. And what a Bead-roll is there of such as he declares shall not inherit the Kingdom of God! No less than ten abominations are there mentioned to exclude from Heaven and some of them valued in common account but as Peccadillo's Men are apt to say of any sin Is it not a little one and my Soul shall live But as the Apostle there cautions Be not deceived deceits of this nature are frequent but very dangerous And this is the Gospel to which we appeal when we are scared and frighted by the Law But in all the Gospel there is nothing that can take away or lessen our Obligation to God's Commandments but what does every way straighten and strengthen it Now we are bound with a double Cord which is harder to be broken and it shews that sin under the Gospel hath acquired greater strength when it snaps it asunder Let us take a view of the Priviledges of those that are saved by the Gospel and see how they are obliged to Holiness by them Eph. 1.4 1. Election is the first and if we are chosen in Christ Jesus the Apostle tells us that We are chosen in him that we should be holy and without blame before him 2 Pet. 1.10 and if we should make our Calling and Election sure it must be with fear and trembling The Book of Life is with God in Heaven thou canst not see thy Name there but it is transcribed for thy comfort in thy Heart when thou art sanctified and the more thou proceedest in Holiness the more legible it will be unto thee 2. Our Vocation is unto Holiness Does God call any of his to come from the World and Sin unto him As Christ called Saul and His Sheep do hear his voice they are called to be Saints Rom. 1.7 they are called to be made holy and to be sanctified whatsoever they were before when once they come to Christ 1 Cor. 6.11 but ye are washed but ye are sanctified Christ comes by Water and Blood and not by Water or Blood only and Christ is made of God unto us not only Righteousness but Sanctification 1 Cor. 1.30 3. Our Regeneration or being Born again which the Gospel insists so much upon is in being made like unto God 2 Pet. 1.4 partakers of the Divine Nature enabled to love what he loves and to hate what he hates and to be conformed unto him in all things So that God and regenerate Ones have but one Will Thus they are said to be created again unto good works 4. And what is Glory which we seek for and endeavour after Rom. 2.7 but only Holiness in perfection Grace is Glory in the Bud Glory is Grace in the Flower hence they are put together and we are said to be called to Glory and Vertue Wheresoever true Grace is 2 Pet. 1.3 there will be Glory and in whomsoever Glory is there hath been Grace God hath put these two together and let no Man put them asunder As Laban's two Daughters were disposed of the Elder thô less lovely must be first accepted by Jacob Gen. 29.26 so God deals with his two Grace and Glory Grace is the elder and thô not so desireable every one would covet Glory yet this is the Law of the Land the Younger must not be given before the Elder you must woo for and obtain Grace before you can be admitted to the enjoyment of Glory Nay we are only so far Christians as we are like Christ in Principle and Practice as we partake of the Spirit which he had and lead such a Life as he did Christian is not an empty name and being called so makes us not to be so Every one is not a Scholar or an Artist in any faculty who is called so Besides Christianity is a practical Science and thou hast no more of it than thou dost practise Oh how little have most men The Heathen painted their Deified Heroes with this sentence proceeding from them Si feceritis sicut nos eritis sicut nos We may imagine we hear our Saviour telling us from Heaven If ye do as I did ye shall be as I am And certainly thô Heaven and the Glory of it be freely promised and 't is no contradiction to say that it is fully purchas'd and sufficiently paid for Eph. 1.14 being the Apostle calls it a purchased possession yet there must be a meetness and suitableness to it in every one that shall be admitted to the fruition of it We must be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1.12 What should an unholy heart do in Heaven Heaven would not be Heaven unto it that is it could not be a place of Bliss and Joy unspeakable unto such There are no carnal delights not so much as the here lawfull because necessary ones of eating and drinking marrying and giving in mariage there is no Gold and Silver to fill the Bags of the covetous Earth-worms no Dalilah's for the Wantons no Company to debauch and carouze with If a Sermon or a Lord's day be so tedious when will it be gone How unhappy would an unchanged unsanctified Soul think its self to hear perpetual Hallelujah's and Praises to be confined amongst the Souls of just men and Holy Angels God certainly will not cast his Jewels before such Swine Heb. 12.23 14. Besides the Gospel does by no means take away the ground of that Discrimination which will be at the last between the Sheep and Goats between them that shall stand on the right hand and on the left of the Judge of the quick and dead In the final Sentence there must be a Truth in what shall be said to the Blessed I was an hungred and ye gave me meat Mat. 25.35 vers 42. as well as the final Condemnation of the Cursed I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat c. But I need not multiply Reasons to prove that every one must depart from Iniquity even such as hope to be saved For
God asserts his Power he declares himself to be an Almighty God So to Abraham Gen. 17.1 and in the new Testament he often asserts his Power that all thing are possible to him Omnipotency sticks at nothing knows no difficulties what cannot the exceeding greatness of his power do 2. God doth exert and put forth his Power in some visible exemplification of it that fully demonstrates his Omnipotency and can signifie nothing less such an instance we have in the Text in the Resurrection of Christ this overt act Speaks out his infinite power 't is matter of fact and cannot be deny'd 3. God gives the Saints some feeling and experience of the exceeding greatness of his power put forth in their own Souls by working faith in them they see 't is the Lords doing that nothing in Man would ever lead him out to it if God did not perswade him and bring over his heart to believe the Gospel Believers under the new Testament though they hear much of the power of God set forth in the letter of the word and though they experience the efficacy of this power in their own hearts yet that which puts the matter quite out of doubt with them is this undeniabl instance of divine power in the Resurrection of Christ Abraham wanted this though he saw much of the power of God towards him in calling him alone from his Fathers house and greatly increasing him afterwards when he became two bands Gen. 32.10 and in giving him a Son in his old age c. yet the greatest proof of Gods power to Abraham was the inward efficacy of it upon his own heart that he should be brought to believe a Resurrection when there was never any instance of such a thing in the world before 't is a sign he was satisfied in the almighty power of God accounted that God was able to raise him up Heb. 11.19 though he received him from the dead in a figure Isaac was not really slain therefore Abram's Faith was more remarkable that he should believe that God could raise his Son from the Dead and that he would do it rather than break his promise he resolved to obey God for the present and to trust him for the future All that we believe now is but the consequent of Christs Resurrection and follows upon it the Head being risen the Members will also rise every one in his own order not only by a bodily Resurrection at the last day but by a Spiritual Resurrection in their Souls here when the time of their Conversion and Regeneration comes That which convinces us of the Almighty Power of God to perform his Promises is the Resurrection of Christ but that which was the chiefest proof of God's Power to Abram was the inward impression of it upon his Heart when he was first called That he who as a Man had this Law written in his Heart That he should not kill should so readily yield to the killing of his Son and when he was resolved so do had the Knife in his hand ready stretched out was under the highest impulse of Faith to do what God commanded him that he should presently be taken off from it by a counter-command from Heaven How did God try Abram as if he had set himself to puzzle him turns him and winds him this way and that way backward and forward he must not kill and then he must kill and by and by he must not kill God was resolved his Faith should move as he would have it according to his Will and Abram was as ready to comply He is my God says Abram and I will obey him Isaac shall die and Isaac shall live what God will He sees further than I do I 'll follow him though I know not whether I go nor what I do God knows that 's enough for me I 'll trust him Lord what wilt thou have me do tell me and I 'll do it shall I kill my Son or shall I spare my Son it shall be as thou wilt Lord. Herein Abram excelled all Believers under the New Testament though they have some experience of God's Power put forth upon their Souls in believing yet they don't bear only upon this as Abram did they have the Resurrection of Christ to support their Faith which Abram had not and yet believes a Resurrection Power as firmly as they who saw Christ risen from the Grave God appeared to Abram and made such immediate Impressions of his Power upon his Heart that he needs no Sign no visible Instance to confirm his Faith he was satisfy'd without it he saw that in God himself that made him never to dispute his Power afterwards Saints now though they have experience of a Divine Power touching their Hearts and drawing them to Christ yet they cannot so clearly discern this conquering subduing Power of God in themselves as they may in Christ their Head because they are under many infirmities not yet removed they don't see Sin and Death and the Devil and the World quite overcome in themselves but they see all overcome in Christ his Resurrection proves all and they are fain often to reflect upon that to strengthen their Faith and Assurance of Victory in their own persons at last they know that Christ did not die for himself nor rise for himself but for them they see Christ crowned with Glory and Honour Heb. 2.9 he suffers no more in his Person though he still suffers in his Members but they shall e're long be as free from Suffering as the glorified Person of Christ now is in Heaven thus it will be when Christ mystical shall have all things put under his Feet then Christ and his Saints will reign gloriously to all eternity all tears shall be wiped from their eyes then and this will as surely come to pass as Christ himself is risen from the Dead Be of good cheer I have overcome the World I have and you shall overcome it in me you already are more than Conquerors and in your own Persons you shall be when I come again II. Because no natural Principle in Man can take in the objects of Faith Flesh and Blood can't reveal them to us Faith is an act above Reason how is it possible for a Man as a Man to act above his Reason 't is absurd and irrational to think so Gospel-truths are so deep and mysterious that they do transcend our humane capacities and cannot be discern'd but by the light of a Divine Faith What is humane we may undertake and count that easie to us but what is Divine is above us quite out of our reach therefore Faith is said to be the work of God fulfilled by his Power 2 Thess 1.11 The knowledge of Faith by which we are perswaded of that which we conceive not is higher than all rational understanding we acknowledge the truth of that as Christians which as Men we do not Scientifically know by any Logical Demonstration Faith gives us the certainty of those
standing principle of actual repentance and whereby it is both enabled and disposed to it Now this repentance being a grace of Gods Spirit and yet inherent in Man as to the habit and exercised by him as to its acts or which is the same being Gods work and yet Mans duty we are to consider what is Gods part in it and what is Mans. First Gods work is 1. To infuse the grace or principle repentance in the habit which constantly is ascribed to God in Scripture Acts 11.18 Granred repentance 2 Tim. 2.23 If God will give them repentance 2. To actuate and enliven that Principle when infused as he doth other Graces Phil. 2.13 not meerly in a moral way by suggesting such Reasons and Arguments as may excite and move the Will to the exercise of Repentance but by the powerful and efficacious Influence of his Grace drawing out the habit into that exercise or causing the Soul to act suitably to this Divine Principle infused into it Secondly Mans Duty is 1. To seek and labour after Repentance in the use of all means by which God is wont to work it in the hearts of Men such as diligent attendance on the Word Repentance no less than Faith comes by hearing Rom. 10.17 and what external means of Grace are appointed in it Intention of the Mind in that attendance on the means Mens applying the Truths delivered to themselves comparing their Cases with it examining themselves by it considering their ways c. which are but the actings of their reasonable Faculties and as much in their power as other moral Actions are and need not the Supernatural Influence of Divine Grace but only those common assistances God affords to Man in the ordinary actions of a rational Life and in a word these are but such kind of workings as shew them to be Men not to be Saints Isa 46.8 To these means in the use of which God is wont to work repentance I refer Prayer for it which though by an unregenerate Person it cannot be performed graciously and unto acceptance yet we may say it may be thus far performed successfully as that those Prayers may be heard and answered in relation to the Grace they seek and in the Elect of God they are heard tho' not with respect to the Persons which being graceless faithless cannot be accepted of God yet with respect to his own thoughts of Love towards them and his eternal purpose of conferring that Grace upon them 2. To excite and stir up in himself the Grace of Repentance when God hath wrought it in him for the putting forth Acts agreeable to the Principle he hath received and to which by that Principle he is both empowred and inclined unto the production of which Acts he is no more to question the concurrence of God's Special Grace than his common concurrence to the ordinary actings of his Reason and Will it being God's usual method to work with his Creatures according to their Natures and those Principles of Acting he hath put into them Though God quickens Grace as well as works it yet Man is to use those means for the quickning it in himself which God hath appointed and with which he is wont to work 2. The reasons of this Concession or which prove that a Death-bed Repentance may be sincere 1. It appears by the the instance of this Thief that a late Repentance and as late as one upon a Dying Bed hath been sincere and therefore the like may be again He did truly repent and therefore it is possible others may And that his Repentance was sincere we have sufficient Proof not only from Christs gracious acceptation of it manifested by the peremptory promise he gave him of admitting him into his Kingdom To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise But by the other Graces we here find him exercising in concurrence with his repentance I. Faith which is the Principle of Evangelical Repentance and which never fails to work it where it is it self sincere He owns Christ as a King when he mentions his Kingdom and prays him to remember him when he comes into it This likewise implies his belief of and confidence in the Grace and Love as well as Power of Christ when he commits his departing Soul into his hands expecting his Salvation from him And indeed his Faith was not only sincere but strong and vigorous God had put as much of the Spirit of Faith into a poor Novice in Religion at the very first as he doth into many an old Disciple at the last It is a good argument of a strong Faith when it bears up against great discouragements as we see in Abraham's Faith Rom. 4.19 20. and that of the Woman of Canaan Matth. 15. from v. 22. to 28. Two great discouragements the Thief had which yet could not hinder his Faith 1. The heinousness of his Sins aggravated by long impenitence and perseverance in them to the last hour in a manner of his Life Well might he fear that God was so provoked by the continual rebellion of his wicked Life as totally to reject him now at his Death 2. The low and despicable condition he saw Christ in condemned as well as himself and hanging upon a Cross as well as himself slighted and mocked at by so many he might look on as better and wiser than himself no less than the Governours of the Church v. 33. The Rulers derided him This might have made him think there was little hope of help from him What was there in a crucify'd dying Man that to an eye of reason could make him look like a Saviour Meer Nature would as soon have looked for Life in Death it self nay Heaven in Hell as eternal Salvation in one who not only had formerly been so mean but now seemed so miserable II. Several other Graces we find in him as the fruits at least the concomitants of his Repentance 1. A free ingenuous and open confession of his Sins in the face of the World and thereby giving glory to God v. 41. We indeed justly c. Nor can it be said that his Confession was extorted from him by the Torments he suffer'd when we see his Companion impenitent under the like 2. He owns the Justice that had brought him to that end We receive the due reward of our deeds He neither murmurs against God nor quarrels with Men. 3. He sharply taxeth the impiety and profaneness of his fellow Thief in reviling Christ as well as his still continuing obstinate and impenitent v. 40. Dost not thou fear God c. and hereby he shews his indignation against Sin when he so heinously resents it not only in himself but in another Like David he beholds a transgressor and is grieved Ps 119.158 4. He doth what he can to bring his Companion to repentance Dost not thou fear God The Reproof implies an Exhortation as well as Instruction Now the communicativeness of Grace is a good argument of the sincerity of it
common assistances of Gods Spirit they sometimes had being wholly withdrawn from them and it 1. Partly as a punishment for their former wilful impenitency It is one of the most dreadful Judgments God ever executes upon any on this side Hell when he punishes one sin with another one hardness with another which yet sometimes he doth Prov. 81.11 12. Israel would none of me c. so I gave them up c. 2. As a terror to others and a warning too that they that hear it may fear and not dare to live impenitently lest they should die impenitently God not being bound to give them the Grace he denies to others who perhaps were not greater Sinners than themselves Obj. The great encouragement Men have to embolden them in sin and yet to hope for repentance at last is the instance of this poor Thief which they stretch beyond the intention of the Holy Ghost in leaving it upon Record when they use it as a means to strengthen their presumption which was designed only to prevent despair The Thief on the Cross repented at last saith a Sinner and why may not I Answ Why should not the example of the other Thief 's impenitency affright them and drive them to repentance as well as the example of the good Thief encourage them to sin It is but setting one against the other and if they argue God gave repentance to one and therefore may give it them Why may they not as well argue God denied it to one and therefore may deny it to them too 2. It is but a single instance against thousands on the other side And though one instance is sufficient to evert the generality of a Rule and therefore we cannot certainly conclude from Gods not giving repentance to thousands at the hour of Death that he will give it to none because we have the example of this Thief to the contrary yet with what reason can men expect that God should give that to them which he gave to one rather than that he should deny that to them which he hath denied to thousands If general Rules are to be drawn from particulars it is much more rational to ground them on a multitude of particulars than on any single one The most therefore any Men can infer from this example is only that it is not impossible but God may give them repentance 3. Some things seem to be singular in the case of this Thief which are not to be found in the case of others who therefore cannot reasonably argue from it 1. He was one so far as we can judge that had never formerly rejected Christ never saw him before his Sufferings never heard his Doctrin never was a Witness of his Miracles which might convince him of the truth of it He was one that had otherwise employed himself than in attending on Christs Ministry and might more likely have been found robbing on the Road than worshiping in the Temple or breaking up Houses than hearing of Sermons and therefore though he had sin enough in him for which God might have denied him Repentance and nothing in him which might move the Lord to give it him yet it is very probable this was the first of his being brought to the knowledge of a Saviour and so he was not guilty of the great Gospel-sin of Unbelief and refusing the offer of Christ and Salvation by him which doth so often provoke the Lord to leave men to themselves and deny them his Grace If it be said the same was the case of the other Thief I grant it But God being a Sovereign Agent and his gifts most free he might make use of his Prerogative in dispensing them and so grant repentance to the one and deny it to the other admit their circumstances were every way the same And why then may he not deny repentance to those now that are in some respect worse than either in that they have so many times resisted his Spirit stood out against his Calls and slighted the offers of his Grace made to them and where is the Sinner that lives under the means without repentance but as he hath daily repeated calls from God so he daily rejects them and thereby abundantly justifies the Lords refusing him that Grace at the last which he did before not only never seriously seek but wilfully reject I should have more charitable thoughts and better hopes of the veriest Varlets upon earth that were never called till the last hour than of those that are otherwise guilty of much less sin but have abused and resisted greater Grace 2. The instance of this Thief seems particularly designed by God for the honour of his suffering Son God would have a Witness even upon the Cross one to adore him when so many despised him He would have his Sons Death honoured by his giving Life to a poor Wretch even at the point of Death and make him known to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins Acts 5.31 by his giving both to such a Sinner and at such a time 3. Another end may be to render them that Crucified Christ inexcusable when this Malefactor made so honourable a confession of him to expose and shame the unbelief and hardness of the Rulers and Pharisees by the faith and repentance of a most flagitious Offender and therewithal confirm the Word of Christ spoken formerly to them that the Publicans and Harlots entred into the Kingdom of Heaven before them Matth. 21.31 6. Suppose God do give them repentance at the last yet they may have very little it may be no comfort in it I. They may be ready to question the sincerity of it and then they can have little comfort in it Admit their condition be safe yet comfortable it cannot be so long as the truth of their repentance from which their comfort should proceed is so uncertain and questionable To say nothing of their ignorance of the nature of repentance and the methods of the Spirit in working it having never found the like in themselves before nor been acquainted with what others have felt many things there are which sometimes may make them call what they find in themselves in question 1. The experience they have already had of the deceitfulness of their own hearts and perhaps of others in the like condition It may be they have known others upon a sick bed look as like Penitents as they now do who yet upon their recovery from their Diseases have relapsed into sin and by returning to their former Lusts have confuted their Profession and evidenc'd their repentance to have been unsound and hypocritical And this may make them fear lest things may be no better with themselves and their repentings no more real than their Neighbours Or it may be they themselves formerly when under a Sentence of Death have had strong convictions of sin been filled with horror of Conscience and dismal apprehensions of approaching damnation It may be they
open but for a time and when that is past it will be shut Matth. 25.10 and all your calling and knocking will never prevail with God for the opening of it again And what then shall you be the better the nearer repentance or nearer pardon for all that Ocean of mercy that is in God if you seek it too late and when he will not let out one drop of it to you 2. Gods justice is as great as his mercy All his Attributes are alike infinite one doth not overtop the other And then if you delay and put off repenting to your latter end why may you not as reasonably fear lest he should in justice punish you for your long impenitency as in mercy give you repentance Quest How doth Practical Godliness better rectifie the Judgment than doubtful Disputations SERMON X. Rom. XIV 1. Him that is weak in the Faith receive but not to doubtful Disputations THIS Epistle to the Romans is an Epitomy or Body of Divinity containing Faith and Love in Christ Jesus from which Rome degenerating hath separated from her self and the Scriptures of Truth the only grand Charter of all Christianity In the beginning of the Epistle the Apostle discourseth about Original Sin 〈◊〉 having infected the whole Nature of Man with its guilt and filth 〈◊〉 Jews and Gentiles all become abominable fallen short of the glory and image of God Chap. 3.23 For by one Man Sin entred upon all Chap. 5.12 and Death by Sin Whence he inferreth there is no possibility of our Justification by the Works either of the Ceremonial or Moral Law so that he concludeth a necessity of our being Justified by Faith without the Works of the Law Chap. 3.28 Through the Redemption of Jesus Christ But though we are justified freely by his Grace yet we are not to live freely and licentiously in Sin because Grace abounds God forbid Chap. 6.1 for holiness is inseparably entailed on our most holy Faith Jude 20. Then he proceedeth to shew the Privileges of the adopted Children of God that there is no condemnation due to them Chap. 8.1 For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made them free from the Law of Sin and Death and that they are heirs of God vers 17. which is more than all the World Till he arriveth at the Head-spring of all Grace and that is Eternal Election Chap. 9. without any foresight of Faith or Works But as in time he chose first the Jews rejecting them he chose the Gentiles without any view of Merit or Eligibility in either of them before others for the Jews were the smallest and meanest of all Nations Deut. 7.7 and the Gentiles all over-run with Idolatry and Profaneness Yet this Conversion of the Gentiles was foreknown and therefore forewilled of God from the beginning Acts 15.18 After these sublimer Doctrins he descends Chap. 12. to Practical Duties and he who will understand the eleven first Chapters of the Epistle to the Romans must practise the five last be acquainted with the mysterious Duties of Love and then you will better understand the mysteries of Faith Chap. 13.8 He exhorteth them to owe no body any thing but Love be in no bodies debt yet owe every one Love a debt always to be paying and yet always owing yet still abiding our proper treasure This 14th Chapter is a branch of some particular Duties of Love and this Verse is the sum of this whole Chapter of Charity which words are said to have occasioned the Conversion or Confirmation of Alipius as the foregoing words were of Augustines Such is the Autority and Energy of the naked Word of God upon the Consciences of Men in the day of Christs Power And the naked Sword cuts better than when it is sheathed in a gaudy scabbard of the inticing words of Mans wisdom 1 Cor. 2.4 The Apostles were frequently exercised with difficulties how to compose the differences among Christians the Jewish Converts were eager to bring their Circumcision with their observation of times and meats along with them into Christianity Gal. 4.10 The Gentiles were not accustomed to these things and therefore opposed them yet were as ready to bring a Tang of their own old Errors with them also as their Doctrin of Demons 1 Tim. 4.1 and their worshipping of Angels Col. 2.18 and probably some of their Heathenish Festivals and Customs So that both parties were in an error and neither of them fully understood that liberty Christ had brought to them from these beggerly Elements Rudiments and Ordinances to which they were in bondage For if God saw good to free his Church from those Ceremonies which were instituted by himself he would never allow them to be in a slavish subjection to the Superstitions and Ceremonies of worldly Mens inventions tho' never so Dogmatically and Magisterially imposed For as Learned Davenant on that Col. 2.18 observes such injunctions are apt to grow upon Men forbidding first not to touch or eat such and such meats then not to taste after not so much as to handle them Now to compose these differences the Apostles met at Jerusalem Acts 15.20 where they made no positive injunctions for the Christians to practise any Ceremonies or Observations of either party against their Consciences but limited the exercise of their liberty which they truly had by the Gospel but that they should abstain from Fornication which to explain is too great a digression Blood things Strangled and what was offered to Idols These they would have them to avoid that they may not offend those weak Jews who could not suddenly concoct these practices till Judgment should be brought to Victory over these feeble fancies And they laid this also as a burthen on them for a time till they could be brought to better understanding and all this by way of advice from the Apostles Elders and the whole Church vers 22. their Letter also was read to the whole multitude vers 30. So here the Apostle adviseth the Romans how to do in the like case with these weak ones Him that is weak receive c. 1. Here is the description of the person who is to be considered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not him that is weak and sick to death erring in the foundation of Faith one who doth not hold the Head Col. 2.19 Who denieth the Lord who bought him these are destructive Heresies which bring on Men swift damnation 2 Pet. 2.1 we are not to say to such God speed you 2 Epistle John 10. their very breath is blasting to Mens minds 2. Nor is it one who is sick about questions 1 Tim. 1.4 2 Tim. 3.23 foolish endless unlearned unedifying questions which only ingender contention such are idle busie-bodies seekers and disputatious quarrellers about some minute things which hypocritical and vain minds Trade in to keep themselves buzzing about the borders of Religion that they may keep off from the more serious duties and substantial parts thereof 3. But he is one
to observe and require an account of all their Actions The radical cause of this Hatred is from the Opposition of the sinful polluted Wills of Men to the Holiness of God for that attribute excites his Justice and Power and Wrath to punish Sinners Therefore the Apostle saith They are enemies to God in their minds through wicked works The naked representing of this Impiety that a reasonable Creature should hate the blessed Creator for his most Divine Perfections cannot but strike with Horror O the Sinfulness of Sin 4. Sin is the Contempt and Abuse of his excellent Goodness This Argument is as vast as God's innumerable Mercies whereby he allures and obliges us to Obedience I shall restrain my Discourse of it to three things wherein the Divine Goodness is very Conspicuous and most ungratefully despised by Sinners 1. His Creating Goodness 'T is clear without the lea st shadow of Doubt that nothing can give the first being to it self for this were to be before it was which is a direct Contradiction and 't is evident that God is the sole Author of our Beings Our Parents afforded the gross matter of our compounded Nature but the Variety and Union the Beauty and Usefulness of the several Parts which is so Wonderful that the Body is composed of as many Miracles as Members was the Design of his Wisdom and the Work of his Hands The lively Idea and perfect Exemplar of that regular Fabrick was modell'd in the Divine Mind This affected the Psalmist with Admiration I am fearfully and wonderfully made Psal 139.14 15 16. marvellous are thy works and that my soul knows right well Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them And Job observes Thy hands have made me and fashioned me round about Job 10.8 The Soul our principal Part is of a celestial Original inspired from the father of Spirits The faculties of Understanding and Election are the indelible Characters of our Dignity above the Brutes and make us capable to please and glorifie and enjoy him This first and fundamental Benefit upon which all other Favours and Benefits are the Superstructure was the Effect from an eternal Cause his most free Decree that ordained our Birth in the spaces of time The Fountain was his pure Goodness there was no necessity determining his Will he did not want external declarative Glory being infinitely happy in himself and there could be no superior Power to constrain him And that which renders our Maker's Goodness more free and obliging is the consideration he might have created Millions of Men and left us in our Native Nothing and as I may so speak lost and buried in perpetual Darkness Now what was Gods end in Making us Certainly it was becoming his infinite Understanding that is to communicate of his own Divine Fullness and to be actively glorified by intelligent Creatures Accordingly 't is the solemn Acknowledgement of the Representative Church Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power For thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they were created Who is so void of rational Sentiments Rev. 4.11 as not to acknowledge 't is our indispensable Duty Our reasonable service to offer up our selves an intire living Sacrifice to his glory What is more natural according to the Laws of uncorrupt Natures I might say and of corrupt Nature for the Heathens practised it than that Love should correspond with Love as the one descends in Benefits the other should ascend in Thankfulness As a polish'd Looking-glass of Steel strongly reverberates the Beams of the Sun shining upon it without losing a spark of light thus the understanding Soul should reflect the Affection of Love upon our blessed Maker in Reverence and Praise and Thankfulness Now Sin breaks all those Sacred Bands of Grace and Gratitude that engage us to love and obey God He is the just Lord of all our Faculties Intellectual and Sensitive and the Sinner employs them as Weapons of Unrighteousness against him He preserves us by his powerful gracious Providence which is a renewed Creation every Moment and the Goodness he uses to us the Sinner abuses against him This is the most unworthy shameful and monstrous Ingratitude This makes forgetful and unthankful Men more brutish than the dull Ox and the stupid Ass who serve those that feed them nay sinks them below the insensible part of the Creation that invariably observes the Law and order prescribed by the Creator Astonishing Degeneracy Hear O Heavens give ear O earth I have nourished and brought up Childen and they have rebelled against me was the Complaint of God himself The considerate Review of this will melt us into Tears of Confusion 2. 'T was the unvaluable goodness of God to give his Law to Man for his rule both in respect of the matter of the Law and his end in giving it 1. The matter of the Law this as is forecited from the Apostle is holy just and good It contains all things that are honest and just and pure and lovely and of good report whatsoever are vertuous and praise-worthy In obedience to it the innocence and perfection of the reasonable creature consists This I do but glance upon having been consider'd before 2. The end of giving the Law God was pleas'd upon Mans creation by an illustrious revelation to shew him his duty to write his Law in his Heart that he might not take one step out of the circle of its precepts and immediately sin and perish His gracious design was to keep Man in his love that from the obedience of the reasonable creature the divine goodness might take its rise to reward him This unfeined and excellent goodness the sinner outragiously despises for what greater contempt can be exprest against a written Law than the tearing it in pieces and trampling it underfoot And this constructively the sinner does to the Law of God which contempt extends to the gracious giver of it Rom. 7.10 Thus the Commandment that was ordain'd unto Life by sin was found unto Death 3. Sin is an extreme vilifying of Gods goodness in preferring carnal pleasures to his favour and Communion with him wherein the life the felicity the heaven of the reasonable creature consists God is infinite in all possible perfections all-sufficient to make us compleatly and eternally happy he disdains to have any competitour and requires to be supreme in our esteem and affections the reason of this is so evident by Divine and Natural light that 't is needless to spend many words about it 'T is an observation of St. Austin * Omnes Deos colendos esse sapienti Cur ergo a numero caeterorum ille rejectus est nihil restat ut dicant cur hujus Dei sacra recipere noluerint nisi quia solum se coli voluerit Aug. de Consens Evang. c. 17. That
so doing though very ill requited for it this is high and noble indeed this is an honour not vouchsafed to the elect Angels who are not capable of suffering this is to be a Christian in truth and eminency and to resemble Christ himself who suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps In the words which I have read you may take notice 1. Of one end of Christ in Suffering and that is that he might leave us an example To say that this was the principal end of his passion to deny his satisfaction as if it were impossible or needless is heretical in a very high degree to deny the Blood of Christ to be the price of our redemption is to deny the Lord that bought us And truly the only propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin being rejected there is no other remaining but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries And yet though Christ bare our sins in his own body on the tree He is not only our Redeemer but our Example He hath bequeathed Blessings never enough to be valued in his Testament he has also left us an incomparable Example The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies Example is either taken from excellent Writing-Masters who set a fair Copy for their Scholars to write after or 't is taken from Painters who draw a curious Masterpiece for inferiour Artists their Admiration and Imitation 2. They were remarkable steps that Christ took when he was here in the days of his flesh and among them all he did not take one wrong one He was made of a Woman made under the Law and he did not in the least transgress the Law He came upon this Earth to do his Father's Will Heb. 10.7 Lo I come in the volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy will O God And never did he any thing that was in any degree contrary to it 3. The Steps of Christ are to be followed Good men in Scripture are our patterns whose Faith and Patience we are to follow Heb. 6.12 That ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise The Cloud of witnesses is to be minded and the bright side of it gives a good light unto our feet but there is a dark side of the Cloud which may make us cautious we must take heed of resembling the best of Men in that which is bad in their falls and infirmities Abraham is renowned for his faith yet not to be imitated in the carnal shifts he made for the saving of his life Barnabas was to be blamed for being carried away by Peter's dissimulation But Christ is such an example as to walk according to it and to walk by the strictest rule is all one for our Lord did whatsoever became him and exactly fulfill'd all righteousness 4. Here is a special intimation as appears by the context of a Christian's Duty patiently to bear injuries and to take up the cross Though the Gospel be the gladdest tidings yet Suffering is a word that sounds very harsh to flesh and blood But the Apostle bids us behold Christ in his Sufferings and not think mâ—ch of our afflictions which were but a drop compared with His which were a vast Ocean The Sufferings of Christ the Head were unconceivably greater than those which any of his Members at any time are called to undergo And indeed when he drank the Cup his Father gave him he drank out the Curse and bitterness of it so that it is both bless't and sweetned to the Lambs followers who are to drink after him 5. The Sufferings of Christ and his Example being joyned together in the Text here is a signification that by his Death he has purchased Grace to assist and enable us to follow his example Our Lord knows our natural impotency nay averseness to follow him or so much as to look to him His death is effectual therefore to kill our Sin and to heal our depraved Nature his power rests upon us that we may tread the Path in which he is gone before us I am able to do all things says the Apostle through Christ strengthning me I am desired this Morning to speak of Christ as our Example and to shew how Christians are to follow him This is a Theme that commends it self to you by its excellency usefulness and seasonableness in such an Age wherein there is such a sinful sad and almost universal degenerating from true and real Christianity Glorious Head had'st thou ever on earth a Body more unlike thee than at this day How few manifestly declare themselves the Epistles of Christ written by the Spirit of the living God! Few Professors have his Image who yet bear his superscription In the handling of this Subject I shall 1. Premise some things by way of Caution 2. Shew you in what respects Christ is an Example to be followed 3. Produce some Arguments to perswade you to the imitation of him 4. Close with some Directions how this duty may be done effectually In the first place I am to premise some things by way of Caution 1. Think not as long as you remain in this world to be altogether free from Sin as Christ was He indeed was from his Conception in the Womb to his Ascension far above all visible Heavens altogether immaculate and without blemish Some have fancied spots in the Sun but sure I am in the Sun of righteousness there is none The Sins of all that are saved were laid upon him but no Sin was ever found in him or done by him The Apostle tells us that he was holy harmless and undefiled Heb. 7.26 You are indeed to imitate Christ in Purity but perfect Holiness you cannot attain to while you carry such a body of Death about you and are in such a world as this It may comfort you to consider after the fall of the first Adam and the sad consequences of it how the second Adam stood and conquer'd and kept himself unspotted from the world all the while he conversed in it But as long as you remain on Earth some defilement will cleave to you to admonish you where you are and to make you long for the heavenly Jerusalem More and more holy you may and ought to be but to be compleatly holy is the happiness not of Earth but Heaven 2. Think not that Christ in all his actions is to be imitated There are Royalties belonging to our Lord Jesus which none must invade He alone is Judg and Lawgiver in Zion and that worship is vain which is taught by the Precepts of Men. Christ is all in all he fills all in all Eph. 1.23 When the Fathers of the last Lateran Council told Leo the Tenth That all Power was given to him in Heaven and Earth As it was blasphemous flattery in them to give so it was blasphemous pride and right Antichristian arrogancy in
Jesus You are espoused to Him and should you not consent to be like to him who has betrothed you unto himself in Loving-kindness Mercy and Faithfulness for ever Hos 2.19 20. Nay you are members of his body Therefore you should grow up into Him in all things which is the Head even Christ Eph. 4.15 You should discover such a mind as Christ had you should manifest the same Spirit and act as he acted when he was here in the World 3. Consider that God did fore-ordain you that are Believers to a conformity to the Lord Jesus Rom. 8.29 For whom he did fore-know he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the first-born among many Brethren If you would appear with Christ in Glory you must be now changed into his Image Holiness and patient suffering will make you like him and is the decreed way unto his Kingdom 4. Walking as Christ walked will make it evident that you are indeed in him 1 Joh. 2.6 He that saith he abideth in him ought to prove what he saith and himself so to walk even as he walked To be in Christ is to be a new creature And these new Creatures do all resemble him for he is formed in them Naming the name of Christ will never demonstrate your Christianity unless you depart from iniquity which makes you so unlike unto your Lord. But likeness to him will prove you His in Truth And an evidence of this what strong consolation will it afford If you are in Christ how safe are you you are secured from the curse of the Law the stroke of vindictive Justice the wrath of the Destroyer the bondage of Corruption and Sin the sting of the first Death and the power of the second If you are in Christ His God is your God his Father your Father Joh. 20.17 You are loved as He is loved Joh. 17.23 That the World may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me And v. 26. That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them You are joint-heirs with Christ unto the same incorruptible inheritance how firm and sure is your title how certain and soon will be your possession and after possession is taken you shall not be dispossess'd unto Eternity 5. Your following the Example of Christ very much honours Him and credits Christianity 't is a sign that Christs death has a mighty vertue in it when it makes you to die to Sin and to be unmoved by the biggest offers that Mammon makes to you 'T is an argument that He is truly Christ when you are truly Christians that He is indeed alive when he lives in you and makes you to live to him and like him 'T is a demonstration that our Lord is risen indeed when you rise with him and seek those things that are above Col. 3.1 Christ is very much unknown and being unknown is undesired and neglected because so little of him is seen in Christians conversation How few deserve digito monstrari to be pointed at and to have such a Character given them There go the persons who discover such a Spirit who talk and walk too after such a manner that 't is evident Christ dwells and speaks and walks and works in them Be all of you prevailed with to honour your Lord Jesus by shewing the world what he was when here upon Earth and how powerfully he works in you though now he is in Heaven Chrysostom with great reason does call good works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unanswerable Syllogisms and demonstrations to confute and convince Infidels The World would flock into the Church being struck with the Majesty and Glory shining forth in Her if She were but more like unto her glorious Head But when they who are called Christians are so like unto the World 't is no wonder if the men of the World continue still as they are 6. Christ frequently speaks to you to follow him and observes whether and how you do it His word is plain that you should learn his Doctrine and live after his example And his eyes which are as a flaming fire are upon Professours ways His Omniscience should be more firmly believed and seriously considered by the Church it self Rev. 2.23 All the Churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the Reins and Hearts and I will give to every one of you according to your works I shall here by a Prosopopeia bring in our Lord Jesus speaking to you and himself propounding his own Example that you may hear and heed and follow the Lamb of God To this effect Christ speaks to you Look unto me and be ye saved all ye ends of the Earth Look unto me and become like me all you that profess your selves to be my Members What Do you see in me that in any reason should turn away your faces or your hearts from me Blessed is He whosoever shall not be offended in Me. The Father is well pleased in Me and so should you as you value his favour and would consult your own interest I never took so much as one step in the ways of misery and destruction be you sure to avoid them I always trod in those paths which to you will prove pleasantness and peace though to satisfy for your deviations and going astray I was fain my self to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief Consider your Lord and Master you that call your selves my disciples Many look upon you that will not look into my word and will judge of Me by your practices Be not so injurious to Me by misrepresenting Me as if I allowed those evils which you allow your selves in Why should I be wounded in my honour in the house of my Friends Why should you crucify me afresh And put me to an open shame When you yield to Satans temptations are you like to me When you are eager after worldly wealth the applause of men and flesh-pleasing delights are you like to me When you are proud and haughty bitter envious and revengeful do you at all resemble Me When you seek your selves and please your selves and matter not how much God is forgotten and displeased Am I in this your example O all you upon whom my name is called content not your selves with an empty name Be my disciples in truth and let the same mind that was in me be in you also be my disciples indeed live as I did in the World to honour God and to do good to man let it be your business for I have left you an example that you should follow my steps 7. Follow Christs Example that you may enter into his glory For if we be dead with him says the Apostle we shall live with him if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. 2.11 12. Be of good courage and conflict but do it in his Strength with your Spiritual enemies and
apprehension of the approaching day Now seeing the Text is Hortatory Directive and Encouraging hereto and hath as such been treated on accordingly I will wave all further application and only give you the Directions and Prescriptions for the curing of a luke-warm temper 1. Love-quenching and abating principles Interests and Practices are to be exploded and avoided If once you entertain hard thoughts of God as if he were morose and captious a barren Wilderness or Land of darkness and only careful to ruine and distress his creatures upon the meer accounts of Soveraignty and the Prerogative of Dominion tho a poor penitent lye prostrate at his feet for mercy in tears and shame and self abhorrence or in a readiness to do so were there but any hopes of merciful acceptance If you shall represent him to your selves as if he were so tenacious of revengeful purposes and of advantages put into his hands for the full executions of such deserved revenges through former crimes provoking thereunto Alas how can you think upon him or address your selves to him with hope and pleasure We find grace represented to us as Gods Image in his creatures we find that holiness in creatures makes them the sweetest of all persons in their dispositions and deportments and readiest to be charitable and abundant in benign and alluring and obliging remissions constructions and dispensations Such are most backward to make rigid interpretations and constructions of mens miscarriages and neglects when they arise from rather infirmity than malignity and from ignorance and surprize than from contrivance or perverse resolution They hate above all men every thing that savours of stinginess and of a sordid Spirit and they like not to retain revengeful purposes to ruin or disturb those criminals who seriously and pathetically implore their pardon and beg admission to their now much valued favour And doth grace make such persons better than their maker and is that Gods Image in them which hath nothing in God correspondent herewith Or can we think that the Image can exceed its Grand Exemplar Such black and dismal thoughts of God can never kindle love in us to him Did I not know and think that God is love how could I seek to him in hope and love him For my part I verily believe God sent his Son into the world to convince us of his love and goodness and to invite us to himself under the power of this alluring principle of Truth That God loves us dearly and that he will reject no sinner whose heart is touched with such love to him as makes it restless and uneasie in it self till it obtain his pardon image fellowship and presence See Heb. xi 6. And as for Jesus Christ the liveliest Image and the truest and most glorious Mirrour of the Invisible God that ever any Eye beheld or can behold How sweet indulgent humble gracious and endearing was he unto all and how ready to receive all that come to God through him O! do not then mistake his grace design or temper Love cannot live and do its work where Christ is not duly represented in his lovely Excellencies And yet on the other hand represent not God below himself as fond in his respects partial in his dealings slack and easie in his proceedings apt to favour us tho' neglected by us as one ready to indulge us in our sins and to connive and wink at our miscarriages or one that we may trifle with and fondly think that we can at any time procure his favour and extinguish or evade his anger and displeasure by some trifling applications to him or flattering Elogies of his name upon the knee or a copious verbose declaiming against our sins and selves in our stated or occasional addressings of our selves to him when pangs of Death horrours of Conscience or the tasts and expectations of his Wrath make us uneasie to our selves as if by complements and petty observances of God in lower matters we could turn and toss a ductile nature into any aspect shape or posture that may serve our private turns and please our arrogant and presumptuous humours and court God to strip himself of all the glories of his Name and Throne and prostitute his Interest and Honour Laws and Majesty unto the fond conceits of fools and sinners for this is blasphemy and presumption to the height both fit and sure to be punisht by the Judge Could God be Love or lovely in the eyes of sober and discerning men were he thus facile so as to be infuenced by the conceits and humours of sinners in their dotages He that would not signifie one thought of mercy to our revolted Parents before he had represented himself most awful in his Judiciary Process and that so guarded both his Laws and Throne with awful Majesty and Sanctions and that exacted so severe a satisfaction from his Son he surely neither will nor can debase himself and tempt his creatures by unfit relaxations of his Laws and Courses to think him despicable even by such unfit deportments of himself towards them That fool which takes Gods mercies and indulgencies to be at his commands so as to sin and pray and that makes such easie pardons and redresses the continual encouragements of sinful practices and hopes that fool I say again that is of this perswasion and deportment is no way likely to be cured of his luke-warm temper Deut. xxix 19 20. For so easie pardons and redresses would evidently and effectually mortifie the Spirit and defeat the glorious designs of Divine Government amongst men See Heb. xii 25-28 29. x. 26-31 Rom. ii 6-10 Gal. vi 7-9 i Sam. ii 2 3-29 30 ii Chron. xv 2. And if you take your Christianity to be a state of drudgery and disconsolateness if you degenerate into worldliness luxury or voluptuousness as in John ii 15-17 James iv 4. If you grow so tender of your selves as to be swayed more by what affects the outward than the inward man If you give way to partiality to jealousies heats and ferments to a censorious jealous and detracting Spirit or to the Spirit of domination and division or if you form your principles interests and actions according to the measures and concerns of this vain transient world and of the animal life This malady will prove incurable 2. Heart-warming objects are to be contemplated Such as the glories of Gods name The Grandeurs of his Majesty and Throne the Accuracies of his Government in all its Constitutions and administrations The Stores and Treasures of his Goodness with all their provident and yet generous distributions unto all his creatures the riches of his grace in his kindness to us by Jesus Christ the exhibition of his Son and all the amiable excellencies and endearing aspects and addresses made to us by him the life that is in Christ the grace and promises that are given us by him so great and precious all the fellowship and intimacies that we are hereby called and admitted to Gospel Treasures
or less angry with Men holds up Satan in a longer or shorter Chain Being less Angry with you Young People he suffers him not to fall upon you with such strength of Fraud or Force as upon Old Transgressors So much reach at you God doth allow him as maketh needful your Watching and Prayer and Wariness of his Devices But God allows him so very much less at you than at others that he may be repelled more easily by you than others And you have less reason to doubt of Victory when you fight against him than others have And may be certain that if you abide Unconvert in your sins and go on to incense God more against you you shall then have a much more powerful Enemy of him than now you have Now Would any General of an Army delay to Fight with his Enemy till he himself were Weaker and his Enemies stronger O do not any of you say practically I will not yet fight for my Translation out of the Kingdom of Darkness I will have the Prince of Darkness get an Hundred times more forces against me and more advantagious ground before I will encounter him How kind to Satan are Delaying Children C. 3. Your Hearts which are your Rulers under God be not yet so bad within you as Old Peoples be and as they will themselves be sure to be if you now Convert not Your Hearts the Lord shew it you are they that do most under God for your Conquering or your being Conquered by Sin Death and Hell These Hearts of yours be blind and foolish proud and perverse enough they be sufficiently Unteachable Untractable Unfaithful The Lord humble you deeply in the deepest sense of it But still they be not near so bad as Old Sinners Hearts be Believe it there is a sense in which Nicodemus his words be smart How can a Man be born when he is Old God has in his Offence departed farther from Old Men than you Satan in his long stay in them has hammered them into a greater hardness than he has yet brought you into Actual Sins have put more strength into their Habitual than into Yours And they have more Milstones about the neck of their Souls than yet are about yours Insomuch that you have as much the better of them as those who have in War a less unqualified Commanded have of them whose Leader is most blind most Lame and most Lunatick it self Your Work is more easie and your Encouragement to expect Victory is more ample than Old Sinners And both such as they will not continue unto you unless you now Convert unto God Which if you do not you do like Soldiers that should say We will have no Battel with our Enemy as yet The Leader whose Conduct and Action are our Life or Death will shortly be Stone-blind and under the Dead Palsie And we will stay till he be so before we employ him O plotted Self-Destruction O Chosen Ruine If this Consideration go for nothing with you ye are Blind against Sun-shine and Deaf unto Thunder C. 4. Your Bodies the Instruments of your Souls Action be not yet so sorry as Old Peoples be and as yours will be most certainly if you Convert not presently Sirs An Unsanctified Body is a Souls Unknown Enemy A Trojan Horse a Pandora's Box a Forge of Mischiefs Your Young ones are such that almost proverbially the Blood of Youth is Satan's Tinder and Match 'T is seen you have warm Bosom for all Snakes Legions of Devils are a less formidable Army than your own five Senses unhallowed Beware of the Flesh But withal know ye an Unruly Horse is more desirable than a Dead one He may be Bridled and made serviceable 'T is better with you than Old Folk if you will but well use that whereof they want the use Health and Strength in general reading Eyes and hearing Ears and walking Feet in particular Old Age is it self say some a Disease a very Hospital of all Many are deprived of the means of Grace by Blindness and Deafness Most do use them with much pain and great disadvantage None have so few Clogs about them as you So that great is your advantage for working out your Salvation Your Labour is less to read or hear an Hundred Sermons than theirs to hear or read one And to go Twenty Miles for Advice than theirs to go Twenty Steps Being that Sin and so Death came in at the Eye and Ear and it is God's Will to drive them out at the same and to transmit the Wisdom that saves our Souls through those Bodily Senses these are not inconsiderable things O that you had heard but what I have done of poor Old Creatures Outcryes Cursing the Courses and Companies that devoured their strength Wailing with sighs and tears their disability to Read difficulty of hearing and utterly lost faculty of Remembring The Memory ought to cut my Heart may the Notice sway yours If you will yet put off your Conversion this is the Language which that Delay utters I have a work given me to do that is for my Life Eternal I have yet Eyes and Ears and Hands and Feet I have Ease and Strength But these all have Wings and will shortly fly and be gone as others be When gone I cannot work or if I do it must be in the Fire as it were Nevertheless I will not set to my Work till my Sun and Moon and Stars be darkned I will not stir one Foot for Heaven till my other Foot is in the Grave If my Peace be ever made with God it shall be even at the Graves brink When I am just come to the Mouth of Hell and can scarce open my own Mouth to deprecate it I will bestow a wish for Heaven if that may possess me of it Sensless Creature that wantest nothing of a Bruit but Hair and two Feet more C. 5. The World another back friend of yours hath not yet lain so many Loads on your backs as upon Old Peoples and as it will lay on yours if you live longer and live under its Power and Vnsubjected and Vnconvert unto God This I speak to you especially of the Younger sort Children and next to Children I hope you have heard what an Enemy the World and the things of it do make to Conversion and Sanctification Read the Texts in the Margent Read Ecclesiastes 1 Jo. 2.15 16. Jam. 4.4 Matth. 6.24 a whole Book of Sacred Scripture took up in warning us against this said Enemy More or less Woe is to every Dweller in it because of the Avocations the Distractions and Interruptions of this Old Adam's World But here also you have the better ordinarily of Old People For themselves or their more Beloved Selfs their Children they are swallowed up of Designs Bargains c. Gains and Losses make their Souls a Sea of tempestuous Cares knowing little calm or quietness You are yet free comparatively and Unladen You may Contemplate and Act for next World without the
have they shall associate with an innumerable company of Angels and with just men made perfect with many of their dearest Relations and Friends whom whilst alive they dearly lov'd and whose death and departure hence they greatly lamented Let me close this with one Text 't is in 1 John 3.2 There the Apostle tells us wherein the gain and glory of the godly consisteth after death he summs it up in two things They shall be like Christ and they shall see him as he is Ay that is the happiness of the Children when they dye it lyes in Conformity to Christ and in the Vision the beatifical Vision of him 3. Christ delivers Believers from the slavish fear of Death by giving them some real Foretastes of Heaven and of Eternal Life It is usual with God to give his People some Cluster of the Grapes of Canaan here in the Wilderness to give them some drops and sips of that new Wine which they shall drink full draughts of in the Kingdom of their Father he gives them to taste not only of the good Word of God and of the heavenly gift but of the powers of the world to come and this sets them a longing to have their fill thereof Even as the Gauls when they had tasted the Wines of Italy they were not satisfy'd to have those Wines brought to them but they would go and possess the Land where they grew This foretaste of Heaven is that which the Scripture calls The earnest of our Inheritance Eph. 1.14 't is both a pledge and a small part of that Happiness which the Saints shall hereafter inherit Rom. 8.23 We says the Apostle that have the first-fruits of the Spirit even we our selves do groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the redemption of our body By Redemption he means the Resurrection of the Body at the last day which the Scripture calls a Resurrection unto Life The Apostle knew there could be no Redemption of the Body without the dissolution thereof therefore in waiting for the one he must needs also wait for the other The Apostle and the Believers with him did groan for this they were so far from groaning under the fears of Death that they rather groan'd to be partakers of that which follows after Death nay In this they groan'd earnestly 2 Cor. 5.2 as he elsewhere speaks Now whence was this but from their having the first-fruits of the Spirit which are all one with the foretastes of Heaven and everlasting Happiness of which I have been speaking Those that whilst they live have these tastes of future Blessedness they are not afraid of Death the door by which they enter into the full enjoyment of them Having thus resolved this Question in both its Branches give me leave to make some short Application of what I have said and I 'le conclude I would Exhort you that are the Children of God and Oh that all that read these Lines were of the number of such I would earnestly beseech and exhort you to prize and improve this great Priviledge to wit a deliverance from the slavish Fear of Death 1. Be perswaded to Prize it it is a Priviledge that was purchas'd for you at a dear rate even with the precious Blood of Christ Oh what a blessed Priviledge is this not only to be delivered from the second Death but also from the servile and enthralling fear of the first Death This is the benefit and blessing that the Apostle Paul seems to be so much affected with Thanks be to God says he who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ What Victory doth he mean The foregoing words tell us 1 Cor. 15 5â— that he means a Victory over Death with all its fearful concomitants and consequents Death is become a Friend and not an Enemy 't is without any Sting or Curse attending of it Oh! this is owing to Jesus Christ he is the great Deliverer he hath so order'd the matter that though we must dye yet we shall not be in bondage all our dayes through a slavish Fear of Death 2. Be perswaded to Improve this Priviledge put in for a part and share therein See to it that you be Partakers of this benefit of Christ's Death to live without any tormenting fear of your own You 'l say how shall we help it can we contribute any thing towards our Deliverance from the Fear of Death I answer You may And therefore as I have shewn you what Christ hath done and doth to deliver you so now give me leave to shew you farther what you must do towards your own Deliverance I 'le give you some short hints of things which you may enlarge upon at your leisure in your own thoughts 1. You must be earnest with God that he would apply to you this benefit of his Sons Death by his blessed Spirit Oh! begg of God and that with all importunity that the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus may set you free from a tormenting Fear of Death This hath been done for others and who can tell but it may be done for you likewise Ezek. 36.37 only remember that God will be enquir'd of by you to do this for you 2. You must give all diligence to the attaining of a greater measure of Faith Love and Hope yea to the attaining of a full Assurance of Hope 't is by means hereof as you heard before that the Children are deliver'd in part from the Fear of Death 'T is Grace and the Assurance of Grace that is the Anchor of the Soul that keeps it safe from the fear of Shipwrack 3. You must resist the Devil and withstand his Temptations not only to other sins but to the sin of Despondency in particular You must not give place to Satan nor give way to enthralling Fear when he tempts you thereunto Remember as I told you before 't is the Law of the Combate betwixt the Devil and you that if you fight he shall fly if you stand your ground he must give ground 4. You must have frequent Meditation of Death and of the gain that is to be gotten thereby the frequent thoughts hereof will familiarize Death to you and if once Death and you be familiar together you won't be so much afraid of it 5. You must have frequent Contemplation also of the Resurrection You find that Job had conquer'd the Fear of Death and if you read the 9th Chapter of Job and Ver. 26 27. you will see that his thoughts of the Resurrection were very helpful to him herein He is a Conqueror over the Fear of Death that considers with the Apostle Paul that the Grave shall lose its Victory 1 Cor. 15.56 It was the saying of a worthy Minister of our Nation That nothing lifted him over the Fear of Death like the belief and Meditation of the Resurrection to Eternal Life 6. You must take heed of living or allowing your selves in any known Sin if it be as
hath provok'd layes the hand of his Faith upon Christ and humbly beggs that Christ's Death for him may be accepted instead of his own which he had deserved But now to give a further illustration of my Text and Subject if he pleads thô for Christ's sake for pardon of sin and yet retains a love and liking to his sin if he desires never so earnestly that he may not dye for sin and yet is willing that his sin may live these are vain Oblations vain Prayers but most real and dreadfull provocations There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Beast within us which we must kill I mean every corruption or no Sacrifice no not of the Lamb of God himself will be accepted for us Habes in te quod occidas Every Man hath some sin or other within him nay a whole body of sin which he must slay by at least a sincere continued endeavour or all Legal and Gospel sacrifices too in the World will not avail him we must mortifie the deeds of the flesh Rom. 8.13 or we cannot live And now we may easily understand who they are that name the Name of Christ And to what purpose For our Saviour is he who is so called the same with Messias from his being anointed by God to those Offices of King Priest and Prophet to his Church All Christians name the name of Christ Now those that apply themselves unto him for Life and Salvation are necessitated to name his Name And so they do 1. In their Profession 1. In their Profession Hence we are call'd Christians and we own the Name and rejoyce and glory in it as a name divinely imposed on the Disciples of the Blessed Jesus by God himself for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does import and in our Baptism we agree to be listed amongst his Souldiers Acts 11.26 and to fight under his Banner nay we name Christ's Name and 't is our ambition to be call'd by it 1. Owning him as our Father 1 Pet. 1.23 By whose Spirit we are born again thrô his Word and as Jacob would have his Name named on the Children of Joseph Gen. 48.16 thereby owning and respecting of them as if they were his own Children so does Christ look upon all Believers as his Children and condescends to have his Name named on them nay he names them his Children when he says Here am I Hebr. 2.13 Isa 8.18 and the Children which thou hast given me 2. Looking upon Christ as our Husband 2 Cor. 11.2 to whom this Apostle tells us that we are espoused It is as ancient as the Prophet Isaiah's time to have the Wife called by the name of her Husband Isa 4.1 which is the meaning of their desire Let us be called by thy name i. e. that being married they might change their names for that of their Husbands and this was the custom amongst many of the Romans as still amongst us Vbi tu Caius ibi ego Caia And thus all that look upon Christ as their Father and hope for the Inheritance he hath so dearly bought for them or whosoever beholds him as their Husband and esteem his Love and long for the enjoying of him are concerned in this Obligation to depart from Iniquity As also 2. In their Petition naming Christ 2. In their Petition In every Prayer to be sure they name the Name of Christ in that they ask all in his Name that is in his strength and for his sake So indeed runs the Promise John 14.13 14. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name and i' th next verse If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it especially after our Saviours Ascension when he had paid the price for his People and for all the Pardons and Graces Strength or Comfort they should want he bids them expresly to mention his Name relying on his Merit for the obtaining of them He told them a little before his going to suffer for them John 16.24 Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my Name thô doubtless they had prayed according as they were commanded Luke 11.2 the Lords Prayer day by day and implicitely at least desired all those mercies thro a Mediator They knew that the High Priest was to appear with the Names of God's Israel and to offer up Incense for them yet clearly and explicitely Christs own Apostles did not enjoy this great priviledge And doubtless some new advantages have accrewed to the Disciples of Christ since that Prayer was recommended or commanded by his Death and Resurrection Now the explicit naming of Christ is a very great encouragement in Prayer whether in those or any other words More particularly Pardon and Acceptance Justification and Peace with God must especially be desired in the Name of Christ and for his sake only for he was made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 and by being a Curse for us hath redeemed us from the Curse he was as accursed in our stead and did bear what the Curse did threaten to transgressors which being done and God's Justice and the Law satisfied it follows that in him God is well-pleased Mat. 3.17.17.5 which words are not only mention'd by the other Evangelists but repeated again in that extraordinary voice at his Transfiguration and are the more remarkable in that it is not said That Christ was God's beloved Son with whom God was pleas'd tho that was a truth from all Eternity but that God is pleased in him that is that God is well-pleased with all that are by Faith united to him and are as it were ingrafted in him Hence we are said to be justified freely by the Grace of God thro the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 3.24 So that all who are liable to condemnation have no other Remedy no hope or help but in Christ Jesus Acts 4.12 1 Cor. 6.11 and there is no other Name by which they can be saved but by the name of Christ for we are justified by Faith in his Name Justification properly speaking is not the making of any righteous or holy tho none are justified who are not also sanctified but it is the accepting of any person who duely comes in the Name of Christ as righteous and holy for so he is in God's sight Christ's Righteousness being imputed unto him and for Christ's sake he becomes one of those blessed ones unto whom the Lord does not impute sin Psal 32.2 as the Psalmist expresses it in those very words En Graecis bonis Latina fecere non bona Ter. Whatsoever the import of the Latin word from whence our English word Justification may seem to be the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by the Apostle are Juridical words and relate to a Court of Judicature where when the accused Party upon sufficient ground is acquitted he is said to be justified and Justification or Absolution is the proper Antitheton