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A47178
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A sermon preach'd at the parish-church of St. Helen's, London, May the 19th, 1700 by George Keith.
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Keith, George, 1639?-1716.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing K211; ESTC R18917
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16,538
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34
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most excellent Arguments and Reasons why we should so do the greatest of which are taken from these words which are contained in the Text Because God so Loved us that he gave his Son for us unto Death and Christ so Loved us that he gave himself to Die for us therefore we ought to Love him and Serve him and Live to him who Died for us and Rose again and also to God the Father through him and with him Christ's Dying for us is such an Argument why we should be wholly his and wholly Love him and Live to him That it is our Duty so to do not only in point of Gratitude but in point of Justice and this both St. Paul and St. Peter did argue with them to whom they writ 1 Cor. 6.20 For ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's And v. 19. Ye are not your own And 1 Pet. 1.18 For as much as ye know ye were not Redeemed with Corruptible things as Silver and Gold from your vain Conversation received by Tradition from your Fathers but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without Blemish and without Spot And 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bore our Sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being Dead to Sin should Live unto Righteousness by whose Strength ye are Healed The Love and Bounty of God in our Creation and Preservation and all the Blessings of this Life are arguments very convincing and perswading why we should Serve and Glorifie God and the consideration of his Glorious Greatness and Power in his Creating all things and Upholding them and of his most Wise and Just and Powerful Providence in the Government of the World obvious and apparent to the Eyes of all Mankind ought greatly to move all Men to Fear and Reverence him as well as to Love and Serve him to their utmost ability and knowledge But the Light of the Gospel wherewith God has been pleased to enlighten us Christians not only furnisheth to us all these Arguments taken from the Power Wisdom Goodness and Justice of God and other his Glorious Attributes that are clearly to be seen by his works of Creation and Providence obvious to Heathens both more clearly and abundantly out of the Holy Scriptures but with greater Arguments than these taken from the great work of our Redemption by Christ's Dying for us c. It moveth us to Love and Fear God and Live to him and to Christ who Died for us and is both his own and the Fathers Gift unto us most freely given for our Eternal Salvation But that the Argument taken from the Death of Christ may be the more effectual to perswade us to Live to him who Died for us let us Consider the excellent way of the Apostles Arguing here in the Text which he doth from the Extent of it Because said he we thus judge that if one Died for all then were all Dead There are some that say Christ Died not for all but for some to wit such only as shall be Converted from the beginning of the World to the end of it and by his Dying for all they say must be meant Genera Singulorum but not Singula Generum i. e. all kinds of Men Jews and Greeks Scythians and Barbarians Noble and Ignoble Bond and Free but not all individuals of Men. But this cannot be the meaning here otherwise the Apostles Argument would not be Convincing Because Christ Died for All therefore All were Dead The word All in the Proposition must have the same Signification with the word All in the Conclusion which is deduced from the Proposition otherwise St. Paul's Argument would not be Logical and sufficient Now the word All in the Conclusion signifies all Individuals of Mankind All are Dead in Adam Death both Spiritual and Temporal is come upon all Adam's Posterity by his Sin and Fall which the Apostle here proves from this That Christ Died for All for if All had not been Dead in Sin and Transgression as well as subject to Bodily Death Christ had not Died for All for it was not needful that he should Die for them who were not Dead It is a good Rule in Divinity That the words of Scripture ought to be understood in their proper and full Signification and Extent except some necessary Reason can be given to the contrary which cannot be given in this case But divers strong Reasons can be given why they should be understood as above mentioned By Christ's Dying for All an offer is made unto All to whom the Gospel is Preached to receive that high Dignity and Priviledge to which they are called and without this Universal Offer to All who have the Gospel Preach'd unto them a ground of Doubt would be laid whether this Love extends to us if it doth not extend to All as it is said in the 17th Article of the Church of England We must receive Gods Promises in such wise as they be generally set forth to us in Holy Scripture But to teach that Christ Died not for All is I think some hinderance for us to receive Gods Promises in such wise as they be generally set forth in Holy Scripture It is true all have not Salvation by Christs Death even to whom it is Preached but who have it not it is their own fault Nor are the Benefits of Christs Death equally extended to All. And tho' I believe according to the Holy Scripture That there is a Predestination to Life yet I no where find in Scripture that God by any absolute Decree hath made Salvation impossible to any part of Mankind for such an absolute Decree were utterly inconsistent with Christs Dying for all Men. The Decrees of God some are Absolute and some are Conditional I mean Conditional not Subjectively but Objectively i. e. Not that there are two Wills or Decrees in God the latter depending upon the former Conditionally but by one and the same Eternal Act of Gods Will and Purpose he hath Decreed such an order of Causes and Effects and of some things to follow after others Conditionally that will or will not come to pass as the Conditions do or do not goe before as Plowing and Sowing before Reaping Repentance and Faith before Remission of Sins and Eternal Salvation Thus having shown That the Death of Christ as having Died for All will be the more effectual to work upon us by the Grace of God to move us to Live to him who Died for us That we believe he Died for all and Consequently for us and that in Love to all Let me a little yet further set forth his Love to us that it may have its Influence upon us Greater Love hath no man than this said Christ that a man lay down his Life for his Friends John 15.13 But God commended his Love to us in giving his Son to Die for us who were Enemies Rom. 5.8 9 10. If you ask How
were we Enemies when Christ Died seeing we were not Born many Years after that Christ Died I Answer We were Enemies as in the Loins of our Forefathers Not only up to them who were then Living but up to our Forefather Adam as the Scripture testifieth That in Adam all are Dead and by the offence of One Condemnation is come upon All. The Love of Christ towards Men exceedeth all Examples as David said of Jonathan's Love It exceeded the Love of Women It may be said of Christs Love to us Men Sinners and Enemies it exceedeth all Examples either in Scripture or elsewhere as of that Grecian Zaleucus King of the Locretians who both to answer the Justice of the Law and shew his Love to his Son parted with one of his Eyes that his Son might not lose both his Eyes which was the Penalty that the Law required for his Sons Crime of committing Adultry As also that Example of Codrus King of Athens who being told by the Oracle That if he was Kill'd by the Peloponesians who had Besieg'd Athens with a mihgty Army the Athenians should Overcome and that by his Death they should Live Whereupon he put off his Royal Apparel and put on the Habit of a Common Souldier and rushed into the Battel where it was hottest and was Kill'd after which according to the Oracle the Athenians had the Victory and the Enemy was Routed This he did out of Love to his Subjects as what the other did was out of Love to his Son but what our Blessed Lord Did and Suffered was out of Love to his Enemies who being in the form of a God and counted it no Robbery to be Equal to God but made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant c. He did not properly speaking denude himself of his Glory that being impossible being Essential to him as God but he hid it within the Vail of his Flesh and gave up himself most willingly and freely to Suffer for us such was his Love to us that constrained him thus to Die for us and therefore his Love ought to constrain us to Live not to our selves henceforth after that his Love in Dying for us is made known to us but to him who Died and Rose again In the next place I intend as Briefly as I can to shew you First What it is not to Live to our Selves And Secondly What it is to Live to him who Died for us and Rose again according to the words of the Text which I shall deliver in the following Particulars 1. Not to Live to our selves is not to Live to any Beastly Lusts of Uncleanness or Sensuality 2. Not to gratifie our Outward and Bodily Senses in things that are materially Lawful so as to make that gratification the end of our Living which makes Men no better than some more tame and innocent sort of Beasts and yet how many do so As if they liv'd only to gratifie their outward Senses as their Sight in pleasing it with Visible Objects as fine Houses Orchards and Gardens their Hearing with delightful Musick their Taste with delicious Meats and Drinks their Smelling with odoriferous Perfumes and Smells their Feeling with Soft Raiment and soft Beds of Down which are commonly the Entertainment of some that are Rich in this World as if they were born and did live in the World only to gratifie the Sensual Life 3. Not to make the highest gratifications of our Reasons in the highest Knowledge of Natural things our End and Felicity 4. Not to make our highest Knowledge even in Spiritual Things and Mysteries our Objective Happiness and Felicity for that is to put our Knowledge in the Place of God himself and his Gifts in the room and place of the Giver which ought not to be for it is a sort of Spiritual Idolatry Our formal Happiness doth indeed partly consist in the knowledge of God begun here and perfected hereafter and in the fruition of him by Love and Joy but we must not make either of them the Object of our Happiness but God alone in and through and together with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit our supreme and highest Good 5. Not to make our own Will and Pleasure our End and Aim but wholly to submit our Wills to the Will of God in all things and wholly to trust in him Secondly To Live to him who Died for us is 1. To Live a Life of Love to God and Christ and from that Love to Serve and Obey him in all his Commandments with all sincere Resolutions and Endeavours to keep and observe them all our days by our continual endeavouring to attain more and more to a Conformity to him imitating his Vertues and Perfections daily more and more like a Schollar that every day Writing after his Copy Writeth better and better tho' still he comes not up to the perfection of his Copy 2. To Live to God and Christ is to live a life of Communion and Fellowship with God and Christ and in a true and real Enjoyment of them as St. John said The Life was manifested and we have seen it and declared it unto you which Life is Christ both God and Man that ye may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and the Son The which Fellowship and Enjoyment is actually begun here and tobe perfected hereafter in the World to come The Fellowship that the Faithful have with God and Christ here in the Mortal Body and the Enjoyment they have of God and Christ tho' it is not either in that immediate or clear and perfect manner as it shall be in the World to come yet it is a true and real Fellowship and Communion with God and Christ and also with the Holy Spirit and a real Divine Enjoyment affording an incomparable inward joy sweetness and satisfaction to such who really have it Nor ought the False and Counterfeit Pretences of too many who boast they have it and yet their Vile Errors and Unchristian Practices sufficiently prove they have it not make any to disbelieve such a thing that is so great a Blessing and Priviledge to the Faithful The which Divine Enjoyment and Communion with God and Christ and the Holy Spirit is by an Inhabitation of the Holy and Blessed Trinity in the Faithful as God hath Promised I will Dwell in them and Walk in them And by real inward operations and communications of Grace Vertue and quickening and refreshing Influences generally given and imparted to the Faithful in the frequent and diligent use of the ordinary means of Salvation as the Word and Sacraments Meditation Prayer and in the daily and continual course of our Obedience to all Gods Commands by these means as by Conduits and Pipes the Living Waters i. e. Life and Vertue flow into the Souls of the Faithful from Christ and from God in Christ in whom the Fulness dwells and of whose Fulness we all receive and Grace for