not then hate it to the uttermost If God doth hate sin even in his owne deare Son though assumed onely then let thy heart bee also carried with a hatred for evermore against it Thus much of the first question what the kindes of punishment were which our Saviour suffered and how far he suffered them Quest. 2 Secondly when did our Saviour begin these sufferings and when did be end them To this I answer thus Answer Our Saviour Christ begun the pains of the naturall death from his cradle to his grave I am not ignorant of the diversitie of the judgements of Divines in this point but that which I conceive to be most seasonable is this hee begun to die as soone as hee begun to live and that upon this ground looke to the curse that God hath threatned Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death so that Adam began to be a debter and must bee a sufferer from the very beginning of his sin and so all the sons of Adam they have no sooner an entrance into life but they are dying The meaning is this as thou eatest thereof thou shalt die that 's the meaning of the text as it is in the originall die die die even from the beginning of thy life Now when our Saviour becameâ— debter hee must also become a paymaster and he must keepe the 〈◊〉 of the payment justice requires this and they 〈◊〉 are faithfull doe and will keepe this now 〈◊〉 Saviour was a good paymaster therefore the day of his humiliation was the day of his dissolution hee had sorrowes and miseries even untill his departure out of this life nay not onely the curse required it but also daily experience makes it good looke upon our Saviour as soone as ever he wâ—â— borne there was no roome to bee had for him 〈◊〉 â—nne but bee was laid in a manger in the stable â—d not in a cradle neither but in a cratch and Herod he fought his life too and in his riper years he suffered hunger and cold and backbitings and all these were but as harbengers to make way for all that desolation and wrath which came upon him There is never a childe of Adam but so soone as hee is borne into the world hee falls to crying and so he continueth in sorrowes all the dayes of his life and all these are but dyings when the tyles begin to fall and the thatch to moulder from off the house wee use to say the house will fall shortly so all the sorrowes and the disgraces that were cast upon our Saviour so soone as he was persecuted they were all preparations to his death Againe looke to the end why our Saviour came into the world as in 1 Iohn 3.8 Christ came to destroy the workes of the devill that as Satan brought sinne into the world by Adam and so death and condemnation by sinne so Christ through his sufferings brought in life and sanctification so that the plaister should be applied to the place from whence the 〈◊〉 the disâ—e came As Satan brought sin into the world 〈◊〉 punishments by sin so the plaister must bee laid there that all may be fully cured Againe when did our Saviour suffer paines in his soule To this I answer our Saviour did suffer these paines partly in the garden and partly upon the crosse this will be plaine if you compare Matthew 26.37 with Iohn 19.30 in Saint Matthew he saith that Christ tooke with him Peter and the two sonnes of Zabedeus and hee began it 〈◊〉 sorrowfull and to be grievously troubled hee began to be sorrowfull this sorrow and heavinesse was the paines of his soule here he did begin it and in Iohn 19.30 when Iesus had received of the vinegar he said now it is finished what is that there are many interpretations upon it but I will follow that which I conceive to bee most seasonable as thus it is finished that is the cup is â—ver the heavie indignation of the Lord that did pursue wee and lie upon mee is now over and remember this bloâ—d finished doth argue that it had a beginning There was a time when our Saviour begun to crapple with this wrath of God and now it is finished this is the meaning of it for it could not bee meant of all the Prophesies that were of Christ all which were not fulfilled and though some were fulfilled yet some were not and therefore it could not be meant of them as namely of this Prophesie as Ionah was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly so shall the Sonne of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth therefore the text saith that he began to bee in an againe in the garden and when he cried now it is finished theâ—â— was ended that is now the fit is over and the indignation of the Lord is past this shall bee made good in the third question wherein it shall appeare that hee did suffer grievous paines in his soule But before I come to the third question give me leave to promise some cautions that so you may see how the way lies and the cautions are three First that whatsoever the Scripture doth speak concerning the sufferings of Christ it means them really they were not shewes nor semblances but in substance This I speake the rather to avoid a cavill of some which thinke that Christ did onely say so and did not suffer them really this is a meere doring delusion and for ever to be abhorred for unlesse we yeeld it that Christ did suffer these really wee shake off the truth of the whole story and so we can have no true foot-hold for our comfort Secondly I say that whatsoever is exprest in the Scripture wee must conceive of it without the least suspition of sinne in our Saviour therefore evermore maintaine a holy reverence and a holy regard of the actions and the nature of our Saviour Christ that you may not charge him with the least inclination to any distemper Thirdly our Saviour was not compeld properly to suffer either out of the necessitie of nature being weake and sinfull for indeed sorrowes doe come properly out of our corruptions and flow out from thence and as heat and fire goe together so sin and misery goe together but there was no such matter in the Lord Jesus Christ nay there was no outward cause in our Saviour that could compell him to suffer miseries whether he would or no but hee did most willingly submit himselfe to divine justice her tooke our place and became our suretie and promised the payment of the debt freely yet aside he had done thus it was necessary upon condition promised and hee did also willingly make it necessary that before he did suffer these punishments he should undertake them and then having thus undertaken and upon certaine conditions promised it was very fit and necessary that he should make good what he had promised and performe what hee
Alas I doe it not it was the Lord that wrought this heart in mee I have seene the day when I could have beene as well content to heare the Minister preach plainly as to have a knife run to my heart but the Lord wrought my heart to it therefore the Spirit puts that magnet stone of the mercie and grace of Christ upon my heart hee puts this temper upon my heart and makes it able to close with it selfe in the promise in 2 Corin. 5.5 when Paul there had disputed of his desire to lay downe his life for the Gospell and to put his body upon suffering for the Gospels sake he was even weary of the world and would faine have beene gone how gat he this temper why the text saith Now he that hath wrought us for the same thing if God who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit it is a great while before wee can bee brought to this temper when all the Ministers tongues are even worne to the stumps and the wicked will bee wicked still yet the Lord doth worke it so then you see that the Spirit of God by the promise works upon the soule and leaves a dint upon the heart and so brings the soule by the Spirit to close with it selfe in the promise and hence you may collect two things for your information in this kinde Colect 1 First that the beleever being moved by the stroke of the Spirit of the Father is made able to close with the Father and the Sonne because the Spirit of the Lord doth fasten fit and frame the heart hereunto in this manner and hence it is that the soule can close with the Father and the Sonne too why because the Spirit which proceeds and comes from the Father and the Sonne is able to frame the soule to close with both for the Spirit hath something of the Father and something of the Sonne and therefore is able to make the soule to close with both 1 Iohn 1.3 These things have I written unto you that you may have fellowship with us holy Iohn was a spirituall father unto them and hee writes to them that thereby they might have fellowship with the Saints and he saith Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Iesus Christ why doth he not say our fellowship is with the Father as well as to say our fellowship is with the Father and the Sonne because it is presumed before hand that a man must have fellowship with the Spirit before hee can have fellowship with the Father and the Sonne because it is the Spirit that hath fitted the heart and framed it to close with both Colect 2 Secondly hence it comes to passe that the person of the beleever may bee knit to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ the foot is knit to the head by the continuance of the order of the body and the members thereof as the foot is knit to the leg and the leg to the thigh and the thigh to the body and so to the head this is the meaning of that phrase Iohn 6.56 our Saviour presseth this hard upon the Disciples and saith My flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and in him then they begun to wonder at it and to say How can this be and yet Christ saith what if you see the the Sonne of man carrying the body of his flesh into heaven you will thinke it more hard to eat my flesh then yet you must eat my flesh then too how it is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak they are Spirit and life as if he had said my good Spirit is in the word and promise close you with my Spirit and then you draw my Spirit my flesh and my blood downe into your whole natures the words that I speake they are Spirit and Life that is my Spirit is in the Word of the promise though my body be gone up into heaven therefore close you with my Spirit in the promise and then you close with my flesh spiritually Thus much for the manner of the union Now for the order of this union how this is done and there the question will be this Whether the beleever is knit first to the humane nature of Christ or to the Divine nature Quest. 2 I am not greatly willing to meddle with this point in this popular congregation because there are many wise and orthodox Divines and godly too which are of contrary opinion they confesse both but they differ about the order but that I may bring no prejudice to the judgement of any I will shortly shew you the summe of those arguments Answ which either side hold and will shew to which I doe incline and so leave the point to the judgement of those that heare it to incline to which side they thinke best and thus I shall wrong none at all First some Divines wise holy and orthodox and many too doe goe that way all of them have it from that root they that hold that the soule is knit to the humane nature of Christ first have two reasons for it First say they as the Scripture reveales Christ to us so also our hearts embrace him and close with him but the Scripture reveales the Lord Christ more often and frequently in regard of his Manhood than in regard of his Godhead as in that place The seed of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and such like therefore the understanding first closeth with this and the heart first receives it the second reason why they hold this is thus much If say they all the great works of our redemption both sanctification and justification and redemption were wrought in the humane nature of Christ and as by a channell conveyed to us by his humane nature then it is reason that the soule should first close with the humane nature but it is so that all the great workes of justification sanctification c. were all accomplished in the humane nature of Christ for as the text saith He died for our sins and triumphed over sin and hell and death therefore say they it is fit that the soule should first close with the humane nature of Christ and this is the life and pith of all their arguments Againe other Divines and they are wise and orthodox they hold this and though all hold the maine substantiall truths of eternall life yet they differ in this they say the beleever is first knit to the Deity and they have also two arguments and the first is this That which is the maine and the proper object of faith to that the soule first lookes and to that the soule is first united for all union comes by operation in this kinde but the Godhead is the first object of faith in beleeving the Godhead and the third person of Trinity they are the first objects of
or the like the aime of him that takes him is not to take away his life but to make him deny his colours and commander and if hee can make him doe this then he conquers him but if hee dye under the hand of the tyrant if he be more able to stand for his commander and countrie than he is to drive him from it if he can beare misery better than hee can inflict it then hee is not conquered but conquers so it is here a Saint of God is never mastered before his patience bee mastered and his holinesse crushed but when a man is more able to beare misery than the enemy to lay misery upon him if his patience hold and his courage hold and his uprightnesse hold he is not conquered in this case but he is a conquerer therefore the place is excellent Esay 58.8 see how the Lord preserves his people hee is said to be the whole army of his servants however there bee many storms yet the rivers of water make glad the people of God the text saith Thy righteousnesse shall goe before thee and the glory of the Lord shall bee thy rearward when a man doth walke uprightly and sincerly wee must presume that a man is in a combat for why doth hee speake of the rearward else there are two parts in a battell first the vant-gard which is the former part of the battell Secondly the rear ward which is the hinder part of the battell now Christ is both these you shall have enemies before you in the vant-gard and you shall have enemies behinde you to smite you in the rear-ward now righteousnesse shall goe before thee that is the vant-gard and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rear-ward that is God is all about his servants the vant-gard before them to succour them and the rear-ward behinde them to releeve them so that he doth not onely give grace but he maintaines and preserves that grace he gives to the soules of his servants The fourth part of the tenure and conveyance of grace to the faithfull soule is this and I speake but only in the generall the Lord doth not onely preserve what grace hee gives but hee quickens that grace he maintains he drawes forth that ability hee bestowes hee puts life unto that strength and succour which hee vouchsafeth to worke in the hearts of his children hence all those places are marvellous pregnant God giveth the will and the deed so that it is not onely the having but the doing that wee have need of from God and Paul professeth that hee hath not onely grace from Christ but he lives not but Christ liveth in him if Christ did all in him and this is that wee shall observe Luke 1.74 That hee would grant us saith the text that being redeemed from the hand of our enemies we might serve him without feare take notice of two things here First that the Saints of God are redeemed and justified by Christ and now one would thinke a man that is justified and hath Christ â—ght trade for himselfe no but that he would grant us that being redeemed from the hand of our enemies wee might serve him without feare it is one grant to be redeemed and it is a new grant to serve him without feare as it is a mercie for God to bestow ability before wee have it so it is a mercy to quicken that abilitie which hee vouchsafes that wee may honour him by it and he may honour himselfe by us therefore it is a most pregnant place Colos 1. last verse when Paul was there labouring what hee could yet as though hee had nothing as though hee did nothing he gives all to God for marke the manner of the sense of the words Whereunto saith he I also labour and strive the word in the originall signifies I sweat at it and take great paines according to his working which worketh in me mightily Paul laboured and strived but how comes this about his striving is by the working of Christ and by his working he works as who should say It is grace I have any grace it is hee assisting it is he co-operating it is he accompanying I know not what to say it is his worke works and hee works mightily in them that worke and strive to advance the glory of God so then we have those foure particulars that in reason almost might satisfie any man what you want Christ hath what is fit Christ will bestow if you cannot keepe it hee will preserve it for you if you bee sluggish hee will quicken it in you what would you have more one would thinke this were enough but that nothing might be wanting take a passage or two more Fiftly therefore as he quickens what hee maintains so hee perfects what hee quickens hee doth not only inable us to doe what we should but he makes us make worke of it and he brings to perfection what he bestowes Heb. 12.23 there the text speaks of the spirits of just and perfect men hee begins the worke and never leaves till hee makes the worke perfect it is Christ that puts a mans weapons into his hands it is Christ that teacheth him to fight with those weapons and it is Christ that gives him the victory in that fight 1 Corin. 15.55 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victorie the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the law but blessed be God that hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ the weapons are Christs and the fight is Christs and the victory is Christs he will not onely bring you into the field and put weapons into your hands but give you the victory and all you Saints of God that sinke under the fiercenesse of temptations without and corruptions within hee will give you grace hee will give you weapons and you shall triumph over all your enemies therefore Ephes 4.13 it is said Hee will bring his body to a perfect stature all the Saints of God are compared to members now looke as it is in the body every member doth increase according to its measure till it come to its full bignesse so it is in the body of Christ all the members thereof shall increase till they come to be perfect hath God given thee a heart to looke towards Zion and hast thou any intimation of his love then though the word and meanes may faile he will provide help and meanes he will never leave thee till thou art a perfect man and woman till thou hast attained to bee a perfect member in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ there is no withered bow in this stock of the Lord Jesus Christ but as he gives grace so he will bring it to perfection in its measure God will never leave thee till hee hath brought thee to that perfection he hath appointed now a man would think here were enough but yet a little further and then I am as farre as I can goe
and let your soules rest upon him with all your strength and unburthen thy selfe of all thy sinnes and the guilt of them and put them upon the Lord Christ commit thy soule to him and then for ever expect grace and mercy from him and resolve of this that the Lord Jesus Christ which was made guilty for thee will make thee guiltlesse and hee that was condemned in thy roome hee will acquit thee in his mercy and goodnesse But some may here object and say is not this a ground of comfort and a ground of loosenesse for drunkards and carnall libertines for they may say why should wee not live in our sinnes seeing Christ hath takeâ— the guilt of them upon him and will deliver us from them they thinke they may be carelesse of whatsoever they doe and sing care away never to be troubled for nor affected with the burthen of their sinnes and rebellions any more because Christ stands charged with their sinnes therefore they may throw away the care of them Thus as I may say with holy reverence they make Christ a stale for all their sinnes therefore let mee shew all such loose libertines of this last age of the world what fond conceits they have I meane the Anabaptists but specially the Familists who thinke it is unprofitable for a beleever to trouble himselfe for his sinnes and to goe up and downe with his heart full of griefe and his eyes full of teares and they thinke it unwarrantable and unlawfull and therefore they grow carelesse of sinne and fearlesse when they have committed sinne hath Christ undertaken for sin say they then why should a beleever take sinne to himselfe This is the cursed opinion of the Familists There is an unspeakable and an unmeasurable measure of comfort in this Doctrine for all the people of God and the other sucke as much poyson from it I have borne a secret grudge against this doctrine of theirs many a day but I could not tell how to meet with it neither doe I love to meddle with it till I meet at in my dish therefore to prevent the cavils of the wicked that a carnall heart may not presume of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ and also that the poore sinner may not burthen himselfe with needlesse â—eaâ—es nor with his sinne more than God requires suffer me to cleare the Doctrines by laying open two things Quest. 1 First how farre a sinner may and ought to charge himselfe with his sinne and how farre hoe may goe Quest. 2 Secondly how farre a sinner should not lay his sinne upon himselfe nor charge his folly upon himselfe and this will touch and discover the bounds and limits of the free grace of God and will open the way that wee may walke therein with comfort For the former Quest. 1 The question here growes how farre a beleever that hath an interest an Christ may charge himselfe with his sinne Answer I answer for the manner of it it shall appeare in these particular rules or conclusions First every beleever under heaven both the weakest and the strongest even hee that hath the strongest measure of grace is bound to this to the uttermost of his power to see and examine the sinfull carriages of his soule whether distempers inwardly or ungodly practices outwardly he is bound to consider of them and to judge of these his sinnes and every of them knowing that even the least of them is sufficient to make him guiltie of eternall death and to bring condemnation upon him as hee must see what his sinne is so he must judge that it hath the power to make him guiltie and also to condemne him should not the Lord by the power of his grace prevent it Every sinne in his owne nature and power doth and will procure guilt and condemnation to the soule by the sinne committed unlesse the Lord in mercy doe prevent it and Christ by the power of his merits stop the power and condemnation of sinne as the Apostle saith Rom. 1.31 which men though they knew the Law of God how that they which doe these things are worthy of death that is that in the least sinne which a man commits there is a fitnesse in it to make a man guiltie and it hath a power to condemne him unlesse the Lord did marvellous gratiously stop the power of corruption as the Text saith the repenting Church shall judge themselves worthy to be condemned every sinner may say of every sinne he commits that there is enough in it to damne him if God should deale with him after his owne deservings If I should be left to the power of my pride and malice hatred dead heartednes it were enough to condemne me for ever The wife Physitian that sees his Patient is in a plurifie will say here is enough in this man to kill him if I should neglect him but a few dayes it would kill him but now if the Physitian lets him blood hee stops the power of it that so the corrupted blood cannot bring death upon him so every sinne that a man commits both the distempers of the heart inwardly and the abuse of the means of grace and the practice of sinne outwardly there is enough in that plurisie of sinne to take away a mans comfort and happinesse unlesse the Lord be pleased to hinder the condemning power of them that they cannot hurt us therefore the summe of all is this as every beleever must examine his owne heart and life so hee must judge the nature of sinne and judge himselfe worthy to be condemned 1 Cor. 11.31 If we would judge our selves we should not be judged that is if wee condemne our selves and judge our selves worthy to be condemned for them I say not that a man should say that the Lord will condemne him but that he is worthy to be condemned for them and he deserves condemnation Every fiery Serpent in the wildernesse had a killing nature in it and if it did not kill it was not for want of power in it but because the vertue and power of the brasen Serpent which was a Type of Christ tooke away all the killing power of the fiery Serpents this is the practice of the soule whom the Lord hath truly brought home to himselfe as Ezekiel 16.36 after they were justified in Gods sight then shall they remember their evill wayes saith the Text and be ashamed and never open their mouths more when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done Though God hath accepted of a poore beleever yet hee must see his sinnes and lay his mouth in the dust and never pranke up his heart more but walke humbly before the Lord and though hee is accepted and pardoned yet hee shall judge himselfe worthy to bee condemned This is the first conclusion Secondly every beleeving soule justified and having an interest in Christ ought thus farre to acknowledge his sinnes as that it were righteous with the Lord to execute his wrath
the soule with his indignation his heart would sinke but that a little leane starved hope supports him and he sees than Gods will is not yet fully revealed but that he may be saved and he saith this conscience may bee quieted and this soule may be saved and these sins may bee pardoned now despaire is the quite contrary when the soule hath no good in expectation and that which cuts the heart strings of a mans consolation and plucke a mans comforts up by the roots as hee hath nothing for the present so all means and wayes of getting any good are cut off and then he casts off hope and never lookes to God more because he never lookes for mercy from God and then hope goes out and saith Oh when will it once be cannot these sinnes bee pardoned c And at last hee sees there is no way of getting any good and therefore hee never lookes for mercy more but expects hell and damnation and cries out I am damned I am damned This is despaire and this is the nature of it Secondly this despaire is not any part or essentiall property appertaining to the pains of the second death whether we looke at the withdrawing of the sweetnesse of Gods love or whether wee looke at the inflicting of the wrath of God upon the soule this is no part of them for besides that which Divines will observe namely that all punishments are passions and they suffer them but despaire is a worke of the creature and it issues from himselfe and the creature doth it and therefore it cannot properly bee a punishment nor any part of the second death but besides all this which they observe this desperation so opened it is so farre from being any part of the second death as that it is not a consequent which nextly followes from the second death but from the weaknesse and sinfulnesse of the creature Desperation is not any effect flowing immediatly from the wrath of God upon the creature but it proceeds and comes directly and immediatly from the weaknesse and sinfulnes of the creature Imagine that yee saw the Lord Iesus Christ comming in the clouds with thousand thousands of his holy Angels and the thrones were set up and all flesh appeared the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left hand and the Lord Iesus Christ passeth the doome and the sentence against them saying Goe yee cursed into everlasting fire Now when a poore damned creature seeth that the sentence is gone and seeth the good wil of God pass'd upon him and the power of his wrath now to bee exprest to the full against him and he apprehends the will of God now fulfild never to be crost more and the decree of God is now exprest never to bee altered more and hee seeth the gates of hell now sealed upon him and that the Lord hath cast upon him the tombstone of his wrath and that he is buried under the power of the second death and now he seeth the time is gone and the justice of God can never bee satisfied more and this power of the Lords wrath can never be removed Oh the time was that I had the word and the power of into quicken me and to informe me and the Spirit of God to strive with me and then there was some hope but now the decree of God is maâ—e unrevokable and this wrath I shall never beare nor never remove There is now to word no praying no hearing no conference no mercy nor salvation to bee hoped for and so the soule lookes no more for any good because the Lord hath so peremptorily set downe his doâ—me thus the soule breaks under the wrath of God and is not able to satisfie and the wrath of God can never bee removed the fire will ever burne and the worme will ever gnaw and now the soule casts off all hope and this is the meaning of those phrases 2 Pet. 3.7 and in the 6. verse of the Epistle of Iude where speaking of the devils the text saith They are reserved in everlasting chains under darknes to the judgement of the great day the devill is hopelesse he hath no hope of good nor shall never receive any good but our Saviour Christ that was able by the power of his God-head to suffer this wrath of God and to satisfie justice and to support himselfe under this wrath and to come out from it he hath a certaine hope to please God the Father and to have everlasting blisse and happinesse with him there is hope with our Saviour because he can beare and satisfie and come from under this wrath Take a bason of water and cast it upon a few coales of fire and it will put them clean out but throw the same boson full upon a great fire and though it may damp it a little at first yet it cannot quench it but rather increaseth the flame and makes it burne the faster what 's the reason of this that it quenched the little fire and not the great fâ—re it was not firstly and nextly because of the coldnesse and crosnesse of the water to the fire for the same water was as cold upon the great fire and as crosseâ— the nature of the great fire but the little fire was rob weake of it selfe to beare the coldnesse of the water and therefore it was quenched but the great fire was able to beare the coldnesse of the water and therefore it was not quenched so it is here the wrath of God is like this water as David saith All thy waves and billowes have passed over me that is the waves of Gods indignation and the ocean sea of Gods wrath â—hen this fals upon a poore weake sinfull creature that cannot beare this but breakes under this wrath and cannot take off the vengeance of the Lord but sinkes under it this creature despaires of all helpe not because of the wrath of the Lord firstly but because of the weaknesse and the sinfulnesse of the creature that could not beare the wrath of the Lord and hence he despaires and the soule saith alas I am weake and a poore sinne creature and this wrath of the Lord is of an infinite vigour I shall never be able to beare it nor to get from under it therefore I despair and cast away all hope of helpe but the Lord Jesus Christ being perfect God and perfect man having a great flame of holy affections kindled in him by the spirit of the Father this did assist him hereby to beare the wrath of God in his soule and not onely was hee able to beare it but to overcome it and although hee were tossed up and downe in the sea of Gods wrath yet he was not drowned and though hee sipped of the poyson yet he was not poysoned therefore he bore the paines of the second death and overcame them and did not despaire he expected to receive good because he knew he should have good thus our Saviour Iohn 19.30 when