Blood in the same place where he shed the Blood of Naboth 3. The Place to which the Third Heaven The Tabernacle figured the Church the Temple Heaven In the Temple were three Partitions the Court where was the Altar of Burnt-Offerings the Holy Place where was the Table Candlestick Shew-bread and the Altar of Burnt-Incense then the Holy of Holies where the High Priest came once a Year So in that vast space which the Scriptures call Heaven there are as it were three Stories the Etherial Heaven the Starry Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens into this Christ as our High Priest is entred There was not only a change of his Presence but a translation of his Body into the High and Holy Place 4. The Witnesses the Eleven Apostles these were his choice Witnesses not the whole Company of Believers 5. Another Circumstance was his last Action a little before his Ascension Luke 24.50 He blessed his Disciples nay it is added again to put the greater Emphasis upon it Vers. 51. And while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven It is the fashion of good Men to die blessing Jacob and Moses when they were to take their leaves of the World they blessed the Tribes Christ before he would go would first leave his Blessing nay the last Act with which he would close up his Life was an Act of Blessing to shew that now the Curse was removed and he was going to Heaven to convey the Blessing to all the Heirs of Salvation Acts 3.26 Vnto you first God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities as God blessed Adam and Eve when his Work was done 6. The Manner Acts 1.9 When he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a Cloud received him out of their sight The Cloud answered to God's appearance in the Tabernacle When we look on the Clouds this was Christ's Chariot he will come again in like manner 7. In his Ascension he went to Heaven as a Conqueror he triumphed over his Enemies and gave Gifts to his Friends Ephes. 4.8 When â—e ascended up on high he led Captivity Captive and gave Gifts unto Men As glorious Conquerors lead their chief Enemies fettered in Iron Chains So Col. 2.15 Having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non Sudore Sanguine aliorum ut quondam Imperatores solebant There is some Difficulty about the Exposition of that place those seem too literally to interpret it that think there was some open Pomp and Shew The Papists say he went to the Limbus Patrum and took Abraham Isaac Jacob and other holy Men of the Old Testament along with him in Triumph to Heaven but then he should have taken the Devils Zanchy thinks there was some real visible Triumph visible not to all but to God Angels and Men leading the Devils through the Air. Still it seemeth too gross and to be asserted without Warrant But this must be interpreted suitably to the other Acts of his Office this Triumph must be referred to his Ascension Christ fought for Heaven and struck the last Stroke on the Cross seized on the Spoil at his Resurrection led them in Triumph at his Ascension and by his quiet sitting on the Throne his Subjects enjoy the Benefit 8. Christ's Entertainment by the Angels Some were left to comfort the Apostles Acts 1.10 While they looked stedfastly towards Heaven two Men stood by in white Apparel These two Men were two Angels in the shape of Men. When the Husband is to go a long Journey he writeth to the Wife from the next Stage whilst her Grief is fresh and running and giveth an account of his Welfare Christ dispatcheth two Messengers out of his glorious Train which Message being done they accompany him with other Angels into Heaven Dan. 7.13 I saw one like the Son of Man with the Clouds of Heaven and they brought him near before him They that is the Angels the Son of Man that is Christ as appeareth by the next Verse they wait upon him and guard him into the Presence of God Certainly if the Angels came so chearfully to proclaim his Incarnation when born What Triumph is there by that blessed Company in Heaven at his Ascension Still the Angels are in Christ's Company when he cometh to Judgment the Angels shall come with him Christ coming into the Presence of the Father is royally attended his Entrance into Heaven is glorious with glorious Applauses and Acclamations Psal. 24.11 Lift up your Heads O ye Gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in viz. at the coming of his Humanity so Justin Martyr Basil Euthimius But clearly there is an Allusion to the bringing the Ark into the place prepared by David for it a Figure of Christ's entrance into Heaven They applaud him as mighty in Battel as newly returned from the Spoils of his Enemies The Entrance of a victorious and triumphant Captain is there described and so it is proper to Christ. Once more the blessed Saints have the like Applause Isaiah describes it Isa. 63.1 2 3. Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed Garments from Bozrah this that is glorious in his Apparel travelling in the greatness of his Strength I that speak Righteousness mighty to save Wherefore art thou red in thine Apparel and thy Garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-fat I have troden the Wine-press alone and of the People there was none with me c. There is a Dialogue as before to express the Saint's Acclamations to Christ The Church is brought in there wondring at Christ's glorious Triumph over all his Enemies as returning victorious from some bloody Fight like a great Commander in goodly rich Robes besprinkled with the Blood of his Enemies 9. The last thing is his Welcome from God Psal. 2.8 I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance c. Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my Right-hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool compared with Mat. 22.44 In the day of his Inauguration God will say Welcome Son Sit at my Right-hand all the Kingdoms of the Earth are thine Christ doth not only enter as a Conqueror but as a Favourite Son thy Work is well done sit at my Right-hand that is God's first Word to him and then Ask what thou wilt it is thine It is a fashion among great Princes when they would shew great Affection or extraordinary liking to any they bid them ask what they would as Herod to Herodias's Daughter Mat. 14.6 7. When Herod 's Birth-day was kept the Daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod Whereupon he promised with an Oath to give her whatsoever she would ask And Ahasuerus to Esther Esth. 5.3 What wilt thou Queen Esther and what is thy Request
words to the High Priest the Son of Man shall come in his Glory Now saith Christ I will not defer thy Desires so long Heavenly Joys attend thy Soul And others seek to evade it by the word Paradise it is a Persick word but used by the Hebrews for Gardens and Orchards and by allusion for Heavenly Joys the Allusion is not only to the delights of an ordinary Garden but Eden or that Garden in which Adam was placed in Innocency The Fathers fancied secreta animarum receptacula beatas sedes But it is put for Heaven it self in other places 2 Cor. 12.2 He was caught up into the third Heaven which he presently calls Paradise Vers. 4. So that presently Souls upon their departure out of the Body are immediatly with Christ. Thus it is said Luke 16.22 The Beggar died and was carried by the Angels into Abraham 's Bosom presently in the twinkling of an Eye or the forming of a Thought Which is a great Comfort to us when we come to die in a moment Angels will bring you to Christ and Christ to God The Agonies of Death are terrible but there are Joys just ready and as soon as the Soul is loosed from the Prison of the Body you enter into your Eternal Rest it flieth hence to Christ to be there where he is To be short certainly Men enter upon their final State presently as soon as they die 2 Pet. 3.19 He went and preached to the Spirits in Prison compare it with Heb. 12.24 To the Spirits of Just Men made perfect How can Souls be perfect if they lie only in a dull Sleep without any Light Life Joy or Delight or Act of Love to God We see the very present refreshments of Sleep are a burden to the Saints because they rob us of so much Time cheat us of half our Lives 2. Compleatly at the Resurrection Believers consist of Body as well as Soul Now it is said that they may be there that is their whole Self shall be there where Christ is And so it proveth the Resurrection and the Translation of our glorified Bodies into Heaven So our Lord sheweth that our being there where he is shall compleatly be after his second coming John 14.3 And if I go and prepare a Place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also Christ and we that are one cannot always live asunder if he have any Glory we must have part of it and therefore he will come again and take us to himself that as Coheirs we may live upon the same Happiness Rom. 8.17 And if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together As Joseph brought his Brethren to Pharaoh he bringeth us to God As he took part with us in Nature so he will have us take part with him in Glory Now the Happiness of it will appear 1. By the Place the third Heaven or Paradise as there was the Outward Court the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies The spangled Firmament is but the Outside and Pavement of that House where Christ and the Saints met When we look upon the aspectable Heavens we may cry out as David in his Night-Meditation Psal. 8.4 Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him The Church is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Portal as one saith and entrance into Heaven If the visible Heavens so affect us how glorious is it within 2. The Manner of bringing us thither I will come again and receive you to my self John 14.3 Christ will not send for us but come in Person to fetch us in state which will make our access to Heaven the more glorious Christ will come to lead his Flock into their Everlasting Fold to present his Bride to God decked and apparalled with Glory How glorious a sight will it be to see Christ and all his Troops following him with their Crowns upon their Heads to see the triumphant entrance into those Everlasting Habitations and to hear the Applauses of the Angels Psal. 24.7 8. Lift up your Heads O ye Gates and be ye lift up you Everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in Who is this King of Glory the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in Battel That was a private and a personal entry at his Ascension but now it shall be publick and glorious now Death the last Enemy is destroyed then he is the Lord mighty in Battel indeed 3. Our perpetual Fellowship with Christ in the Presence and Glory of his Kingdom Pray mark there is a Presence and that is much that we are called to Heaven as Witnesses of Christ's Glory The Queen of Sheba said of Solomon 1 Kings 10.8 Happy are thy Men happy are these thy Servants which stand continually before thee and that hear thy Wisdom They that stand before the Lord and see his Glory are much more happy Zacheus pressed to see him the Wise Men came from the East to see him It is our burden in the World that the Clouds interpose between us and Christ that there is a great Gulph between us and him which cannot be passed but by Death that God is at a distance that our Enemies often ask us Where is your God Now we shall be happy when we shall be in his Arms when we can say Here he is when our Redeemer is ever before our Eyes Job 19.26 to remember us of the Grace purchased for us and we are as near as we can desire Now we dwell in his Family David envied the Swallows that had their residence in the Temple One day spent in thy Courts is better than a thousand spent elsewhere Psal. 84.10 Then we shall always be about his Throne and we shall for ever feed our Eyes with this Glorious Spectacle Jesus Christ his Body shall be in a certain Place where all shall behold it The three Children walked comfortably in the fiery Furnace because there was a fourth there the Son of God Dan. 3.25 Lo I see four Men loose walking in the midst of the Fire and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God Again this Presence maketh way for Enjoiment It is not a naked sight and speculation we are in the same state and condition with Christ Rom. 8.17 Heirs of God and joint-Heirs with Jesus Christ. We shall be like him Servants may stand in the presence of Princes but they do not make their Followers Fellows and Consorts with them in the same Glory Solomon could only shew his Glory to the Queen of Sheba but Christ giveth it us to be enjoyed And all this is perpetual and without change and interruption 1 Thess. 4.17 We shall be for ever with the Lord. We are then above Fears no more Eclipses of God's Face no more trouble because of God's absence Here we complain
out that is exactly knowing not only of Laws but of all Persons and Causes That all things shall be naked and open to him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.12 13. and 1 Joh. 3.20 Again exceeding Just without the least spot and blemish of wrong Dealing Gen. 18.25 Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right And Rom. 3.5 6. Is God unrighteous that taketh Vengeance God forbid For then how shall God judge the World It cannot be that the universal and final Judgment of all the World should be committed to him that hath or can do any thing wrongful and amiss And then that Power is necessary both to summon Offenders and make them appear and stand to the Judgment which he shall award without any hope of escaping or resisting will as easily appear Because the Offenders are many and they would fain hide their guilty Heads and shun this Tribunal if it were possible Rev. 6.16 Say to the Mountains and Rocks fall on us and hide us from the Face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb But that must not cannot be Psal. 90.11 Who knoweth the Power of thine Anger According to thy Fear so is thy Wrath. Authority is necessary also or a Right to Govern and to dispose of the Persons judged into their Everlasting Estate which being all the World belongeth only to the Universal King who hath made all things and preserveth all things and governeth and disposeth all things for his own Glory Legislation and Execution both belong to the same Power Judgment is a part of Government Laws are but Shadows if no Execution follow Now let us particularly see how all this belongeth to Christ. 1. For Wisdom and Vnderstanding 'T is in Christ two-fold Divine and Humane for each Nature hath its particular and proper Wisdom belonging to it As God 't is Infinite Psal. 147.15 His Vnderstanding is Infinite And so by one Infinite View or by one Act of Understanding he knoweth all things that are have been or shall be yea or may be by his Divine Power and All-sufficiency They are all before his Eyes as if naked and cut down by the Chine-bone We know things successively as a Man readeth a Book line after line and Page after Page but God at one View Now his Humane Wisdom cannot be equal to this A Finite Nature cannot be capable of an Infinite Understanding but yet it is such as it doth far exceed the Knowledge of all Men and all Angels When Christ was upon Earth though the Forms of things could not but successively come into his Mind or Understanding because of the limited Nature of that Mind and Understanding yet then he could know whatever he would and to whatsoever thing he would apply his Mind he did presently understand it and in a moment by the Light of the Divinity all things were presented to him so that he accurately knew the Nature of whatever he had a mind to know And therefore then he was not ignorant of those things that were in the Hearts of Men and were done so secretly as they were thought only to be known to God himself Thus he knew the secret Touch of the Woman when the Multitude thronged upon him Luk. 8.45 46. So Matth. 9.3 4. When certain of the Scribes said within themselves This Man blasphemeth Jesus knowing their Thoughts said Why think ye evil in your Hearts He discerneth the inward Thoughts and turneth out the Inside of the Scribes minds So Matth. 12.24 25. Jesus knew their Thoughts when they imagined that by Beelzebub the Prince of the Devils he cast out Devils But most fully see Joh. 2.24 25. He committed not himself to them because he knew all Men and needed not that any should testifie of Man for he knew what was in Man It may be they knew not themselves but he knew what kind of Belief it was such as would not hold out in time of Temptation We cannot infallibly discern Professors before they discover themselves Yet all Hypocrites are seen and known of him even long before they shew their Hypocrisie not by a conjectural but a certain Knowledge as being from and by himself as God He doth infallibly know what is most secret and hidden in Man Now if he were endowed with such an admirable Understanding even in the Dayes of his Flesh while he grew in Wisdom and Stature Luk. 2. and his Humane Capacity enlarged by Degrees what shall we think of him in that State in which he is now Glorious in Heaven Therefore to exercise this Judgment he shall bring incomparable Knowledge so far exceeding the manner and measure of all Creatures even as he is Man but his Infinite Knowledge as God shall chiefly shine forth in this Work Therefore he is a fit Judge able to bring forth the secret things of Darkness and Counsels of the Heart into open and manifest Light 1 Cor. 4.5 and disprove Sinners in their Pretences and Excuses and pluck off their Disguises from them 2. For Justice and Righteousness An incorrupt Judge that neither doth nor can erre in Judgment must be our Judge As there is a double Knowledge in Christ so there is a double Righteousness one that belongeth to him as God the other as Man and both are exact and immutably perfect His Divine Nature is Holiness its self In him is Light and no Darkness at all The least Shadow of Injustice cannot be imagined there All Vertues in God are his Being not superadded Qualities God's Holiness may be resembled to a Vessel of pure Gold where the Substance and Lustre is the same But ours is like a Vessel of Wood or Earth gilded where the Substance and Gilding is not the same Our Holiness is superadded Quality We cannot call a wise Man Wisdom or a righteous Man Righteousness We use the Concrete of Man but the Abstract of God He is Love He is Light He is Holiness its self which noteth the Inseparability of the Attribute from God 'T is Himself God cannot deny Himself His Act is his Rule Take Peter Martyr's Similitude A Carpenter chopping a piece of Wood by a Line or Square may sometimes chop right and sometimes wrong he cannot carry his Hand so evenly But if we could suppose that a Carpenter's Hand were his Rule he could not chop amiss Christ's Humane Nature was so sanctified that upon Earth he could not sin much more now Glorified in Heaven And there will be use of both Righteousnesses in the last Judgment but chiefly of the Righteousness that belongeth to the Divine Nature For all the Operations of Christ are Theandrical neither Nature ceaseth to work in them As in all the Works of Men the Body and the Soul do both conspire and concur in that way which is proper to either Only as in the Works of his Humiliation his Humane Nature did more appear so in the Works that belong to his Exaltation and glorified Estate his Divine Nature appeareth
our Bridegroom to come into his presence with our filthy Rags therefore we come to present his Bride with Glory 3. Then there is an open Manifestation of his Dearest Love before the last day the Match is concluded between the Parties there is love expressed but 't is secret and hidden Our Life is hid with Christ in God But then he will own Believers man by man Luk. 12.8 invite them into his bosom in the sight of the World Mat. 25.34 pronounce their Pardon on the Throne Acts 3.19 set them at his Right-hand as Judging the World together with himself 2 Cor. 6.2 Alas now all is under a Vail the World sees us not 1 John 3.1 Now we our selves question whether he loves us or no question it often If the Lord be with us why are these things befallen us But then all is open and clear when the Clouds vanish about Christs Person so about us also 'T is called the day of the manifestation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 4. Then we are brought home to his House conducted in State to Heaven John 14.3 Then the day is come when you shall have all that you have hoped desired looked for Oh what an happy day will that be When the great Shepherd of the Sheep shall lead his Flock into their everlasting Fold and the Husband of the Church carry her with him into his Fathers House John 17.24 Father I will that those whom thou hast given me may be where I am and behold my Glory And his Will and Testament is made good now we are in the outer Court if one day in the House of God be better than a Thousand elsewhere Oh what is it to be brought home to God! In these blessed Mansions there we shall abide for ever and never to part more 5. Everlasting Cohabitation and living with him We shall be ever with the Lord 1 Thes. 4.17 not get a Glimpse and away but for ever to enjoy his presence Christs Presence for a time upon Earth was very sweet to his Disciples 't was bitter to them to think of his going from them though it were Expedient for them but now remain in an everlasting State of Intimacy and Familiarity with him Now we have a taste of Christ but then our Communion shall be without Intermission or Interruption we shall be out of the Croud and press of Troubles and Temptations and Sins and study Divinity in the Lambs Face and he will communicate himself to us according to the vastest Extent of our Capacity VSE Oh then be Espoused to Christ Otherwise he will not come as a Bridegroom but as a Judge For Motives 1. Consider your Necessity there is a deep necessity lyeth upon you you are undone for ever if you are not married to Christ The Apostle saith 1 Cor. 7. if a Woman can live without an Husband she doth well if she marryeth not But now you are undone for ever if you have him not you are liable to the Wrath of the Eternal God The Apostle saith Rom. 7.4 That all those are dead to the Law who are marryed to Christ that must be done necessarily First now What is it to be dead to the Law but to see our selves miserable and undone for ever and Impotent and no way able to help our selves The Law which is written upon every mans Conscience is there represented as an hard and cruel Husband that requireth an hard task to do but affordeth no strength at all to do it Therefore it bindeth us over to Death and the Curse The Sense of the Law being in-bred in the Conscience and Natural to us cannot be extinguished but will return with the more Violence Well then the Law suggesteth what we should do threatneth us if we do it not and Conscience telling us we have not done it this is a continual Grief and Vexation to us and a man is kept under fear of Death and Hell all his days 2. Consider the Excellency of Christ who is altogether Lovely as to his Person and Offices and every way suited to your necessities As to his Person he is God-man able and willing to do you good for what cannot God do and surely he will not be strange to his own flesh You are condemned by the Law he is a Priest to make Atonement for you You are ignorant of the way to true Happiness he is a Prophet to teach and guide you you have many Enemies and Difficulties to overcome in that way he points it out to you and your own flesh is weak but he is a King to vanquish your Enemies and to assist you with the Powerful Succours of his Spirit he will help you to perform your Duty in the midst of all Temptations to the contrary For we are to serve him in Newness of Spirit Rom. 7.5 6. 3. Consider the Vtility and Profit of it 1 Cor. 3.22 23. All things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods If you could as heartily devote your selves to the Service of Christ as Christ as Mediatour did to the work of Redemption nothing would be wanting to you to promote your present Holiness and future Happiness 4. 'T is no Presumption to aspire to this Marriage for God maketh the first Motion God hath made Love to you and Wooed you by all manner of ingaging Expressions that he may win your Hearts and ingage your consent Oh do not refuse the Lords kindness or neglect to bestow your Hearts upon him or to give up your selves to him Christ hath imployed Spokes-men sends his tokens as presents of Love Mat. 23.37 I would but you would not All Marriages are brought about by earnest Suit on the one side and Consent on the other so it is here Oh therefore consider and say as Rebecka I can say no more nor no less the thing is the Lords 5. Consider how ill Christ will take it to be refused Prov. 1.29 30. They would none of my Counsel and despised all my Reproofs And Psal. 81.11 But my People would not hearken to my Voice Israel would none of me Despising of kindness is very provoking Oh then give Christ a free and a full and firm consent and all is ended First A free Consent not Extorted When men are a little frighted into a good Conscience Christ seemeth to be welcome to them but as their Trouble weareth off so doth their Resolution to take Christ for their Lord and Saviour Psal. 78.34 35. When he slew them then they sought him and returned and enquired early after God and they remembred that God was their Rock and the most High their Redeemer In such cases men put a force upon themselves and their Heart is not inclined but compelled as those that marry against their wills 'T is only in a pang and fit of Conscience that they like Christ when some great distress forceth them to resolve for him and their fears drive them to Christ rather than his excellencies draw them to him That
an Acquâ—efcency in Gods Providence though our Talents be not so large 2. Let it quicken those that have received greater Gifts than others to do so much the more good with them you are more bound and that which God will accept from others he will not from you If you have many Ordinances and means of Improvement you should get the more Grace Heb. 6.6 7. and Mat. 11.22 23 24. You are deeper in the State of Condemnation if you do not bring forth Fruit proportionable to the means of Salvation if greater Abilities you must give God the more Glory if a greater Estate you must be richer in good Works 1 Tim. 6.7 8. For you to shut up your Bowels 1 John 3.17 How dwelleth the Love of God in you Potentes potenter cruciabuntur Mighty shall be the Destruction of the Mighty if we have greater Mercies there is greater Duties and greater Duties greater Sins and greater Sins greater Judgments Surely if men had any Sense of their Accounts those that have much to answer for would have more Trouble Doct. III. Among those that have received Talents all are not alike Fruitful I shall handle the Point with respect to the Context we have in hand 1. Though but one be mentioned yet the Number of Vnfaithful ones is very great In Parables the Scope must be regarded Now the general Scope is to shew that as the Virgins are not all admitted so all the Servants of the House not accepted in the Parable Indeed two of the Servants are Faithful one unfaithful We cannot conclude thence that the Number of those that used their Talents well should be greater than of those that hid them or neglected the Improvement of them as in the former Parable that the Number of the Foolish shall be just equal with the Number of the Wise or in the Parable of the Wedding Garment that but one shall come to the Gospel-feast unprepared No the Ornament of that Scheme and Figure which Christ would make use of to signify his mind required it should be so expressed For since our Lord to avoid Perplexity and Confusion would mention but three Servants 't was fit that one should be an instance of eminent Faithfulness and Service another of Service in a lower degree that the meanest may not be discouraged and the other should represent the unfruitful ones Now Experience sheweth they are more than one to two yea more than ten to one much the far greater Number Oh how few are there even of those that hold much from God that return him ought of Love and Service The Idle and Unprofitable ones are found every where in all Ranks and Conditions of men 2. Observe He that had but one Talent is represented as the Vnfaithful One and that with good Advice If the Example of Reprobation and Punishment had been put in the Servant that had five Talents or two Talents we might have thought that men of eminent Gifts Rank Quality and Employment in the Church shall be called to an Account and punished for their Neglect No but as our Lord hath laid it it reacheth his full Scope and Purpose For in the instance of the Servant that had but one Talent those that had five and two may easily know how much sorer Punishment shall light upon them if he that had least be called to such a strict Reckoning for his Non-improvement However this we may observe That he that had the least Gift was Unfaithful to be sure those that have most Spiritual gifts do usually improve them and the rest are left without Excuse 3. Observe His Crime is he went and digged in the Earth and hid his Lords Money Men dig in the Earth to find Metals and Talents not to hide them there Mark 't is not said he did imbezzle his Talent as many waste their Substance in riotous Living quench brave parts in excess sin away many precious Advantages of Ordinances and Education and powerful Convictions No he did not imbezzle his Talent but hid it Mark again he did not Misimploy his Talent as some do their Wealth others their Wit to scoff at Religion or to put a Varnish on the Devils Cause their Power to Oppress and crush the good The precious Gifts that many have are like a Sword in a mad-mans hand they use them to hurt and mischief No no such thing is charged upon this evil and naughty Servant 'T is Fault enough to hide our Talents though we do not abuse them That you may conceive of this I shall shew you 1. His Sin in hiding his Lords Money 2. What may be the Cause of it in those that imitate him First 'T was a Sin Partly because 't was against the command of his Master In Luke 19.13 He gave them a Charge Occupy till I come Partly because 't was against the end of the Distribution of the Talents to keep Money unprofitably by us is a loss 't was made for Commerce so were Gifts given us to profit withall scattered into several hands to bring in some encrease to the Lord and Owner Partly because 't was against the Example of his Fellow-Servants who were industrious and careful to comply with their Charge 2 Cor. 9.2 Your Zeal hath provoked very many And partly as his Obedience and Account would have been easier as 't is more easie to give an Account of a small Sum than a greater as there is less Trouble less Danger so his Refusal is less excusable And partly as 't was an Abuse of his Masters Patience 't was long e'er he called him to a Reckoning God will bear long with us in Infancy Childhood and Youth but he will not bear alwayes if we do not bethink our selves at last our Account is hastened and God will suffer idle Servants no longer to have an Opportunity of Promoting his Glory the good of others and their own Salvation Secondly What may be the Causes of such like Unfaithfulness Men are taken off from Improving their Talents First Sometimes by a sloathful Laziness and should that hinder us especially us that are Servants to God what man can endure an idle Servant though he should not whore and steal yet if he do not his work you put him away Every thing in the World costs Diligence and shall not we be diligent in our Masters Work How will men labour for a small Reward in the World and is not Heaven worth our most industrious Care shall not we be hard at work 1 Cor. 15.58 The Reward is still propounded to the diligent 1 Cor. 3.8 Every man shall receive his Reward according to his own Labour 2 Cor. 9.6 He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly Idleness is its own Punishment An idle man is a Burden to himself like a man buryed alive When 't is Morning would God it were Evening He Contracts Distempers a Key seldom turned rusts in the Lock standing Pools are apt to putrify David when he was idle fell into those foul Faults An idle
Better lose all things than God Exod. 33.15 If thy Presence go not with us carry us not up hence Object But is it any grief to the Wicked to want God from whom they have such an extream Aversness and Hatred Answ. They are sensible of the Loss of Happiness their Judgment is changed though not renewed Fogs of Errour Atheism and Unbelief then vanish they are confuted by Experience There are no Atheists in Hell they know there is a God and that all Happiness consists in the full Enjoyment of him which Happiness they have lost by their own Folly as by their bitter Experience they can find being in a Place most remote from him Therefore as rational Creatures they cannot but be sensible of their Loss and that Sense must needs breed Sadness and Dejection of Spirit being they look not upon God as lovely in himself but as one that might be profitable to them Oculos quos occlusit culpa apertat poena It would lessen their Torments if their Understandings might be taken away They know what it is to want God though their Hatred of him still remaineth 2. The Sight of Christ They had a Glimpse before they went into Hell by the Glory of his Presence 2 Thess. 1.9 They shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord. That short Experience of Christ's Appearing will remain in their Minds to all Eternity 't will stick by them How are they thrust out Christ himself who hath the Keyes of Death and Hell shall bid them go as if he had said I cannot endure your Presence 3. From the Company of the Blessed Luk. 13.28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out Envy is a great part of their Punishment as well as Horror Luk. 16.27 And being in Torments he lift up his Eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his Bosom 'T is a torment to think that others of the same Nature Interests Instruction do enjoy what they have forfeited 4. From an Abode in the Palace of Heaven Revel 22.15 Without shall be Dogs and Sorcerers and Whoremongers and Murtherers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a Lie If the Pavement of Heaven is glorious what will the Place it self be And from this glorious Place they are banished Secondly This utter Darkness implyeth positively a State of Woe and Misery most remote from this Blessedness For as they are shut out of the Palace of Heaven so they are cast into the Prison of Hell where all is dark without hope of ever comin out more 2 Pet. 2.17 To whom the Mist of Darkness is reserved for ever Hell is a Region upon which the Sun shall never shine They know they shall never be reconciled to God nor their Punishment ended or lessened Their Worm shall never die their Fire shall never be quenched Mark 9.44 They can never hope to be admitted into God's Presence more There are many Ups and Downs in a Christians Experience God hideth his Face sometimes that he may shew it afterwards the more gloriously The Church prayeth Psal. 80.19 Turn again and cause the Light of thy Countenance to shine upon us and we shall be saved But this is an everlasting Darkness God doth as it were by Chains hold them under everlasting Torments 'T is a Curse that shall never be reversed a comfortless Life that shall never have an end Men might lose the Face of God if they were annihilated but the Souls of Men and Women do not go to nothing or die as their Bodies but subsist in a dolesom miserable State of Darkness and in the Place of everlasting Imprisonment where the Devils and damned Spirits torment one another All here are kept safe without any possibility of escaping here God holdeth them in everlasting Chains Now this is just they that rejected the Light are thrust into utter Darkness they reject the Light of the Gospel Joh. 3.19 Men love Darkness more than Light They despise the Light of Glory in comparison of worldly Things and present Satisfactions Psal. 106.24 They despised the good Land They forsake God and their own Happiness That which is now their Sin is then their Misery They first Excommunicated God Job 22.17 and that for a trifle They think his Presence a Torment Matth. 8.20 What have we to do with thee Art thou come to torment us before the time Rom. 1.28 They did not like to retain God in their Knowledge They could not endure to think of God and abhorred their own Thoughts of God that they were their Burden II. 'T is a doleful Place and State Here are two Notions the one expressing their Grief and Sorrow The other their Vexation and Indignation 1. Their Grief and Sorrow In Hell there is nothing but Sorrow and Fear overwhelming Sorrow and despairing Fear 't is an helpless and hopeless Grief Carnal Men are prejudiced against Godly Sorrow but that is useful and profitable 2 Cor. 7.10 These Sorrows would prevent those that the damned suffer in Hell The Sorrows of Repentance are Joyes in comparison of these Sorrows the Sorrows of Repentance are full of Hope God will afford Comforts to his Mourners but the Sorrows of the Damned are heightned by their own Desparations 't is for ever and ever These are small those swallow us up these are curing those tormenting Here 't is like pricking a Vein for Health hereafter wounds to the Heart These are mixed with Love Luk. 7. She that loved much wept much The Cup of Wrath is unmixed confounding and overwelming us with continual Amazement These are short those endless 2. Their Vexation and Indignation The grinding and the gnashing of the Teeth is usually in Pain or Rage in pain of Body and Soul But of that afterwards when I come to speak of Hell under the Notion of Everlasting Fire Now as 't is a Token and Effect of Rage Now the Damned are represented as full of Rage Blasphemy and Indignation against God against the Saints and against Themselves First Against God they have despised his Favour and now feel the Power of his Justice and Displeasure against them and have still an implacable Hatred against him We see in Revel Chap. 16.9 when they were scorched with great Heat they blasphemed the Name of God which had power over these Plagues and repented not to give Glory to God They blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their Pains and Sores and repented not of their Deeds I know that this Prophesie doth not concern the State of the Wicked in Hell but their Plagues and Disappointments in this World However the Fashion and Guise of the Reprobate is to be observed here when they will not repent so there when they cannot repent Like Men distracted and mad they gnaw their Tongues and gnash their Teeth like mad Dogs that bite their Chains or Wild Bulls in a
reward those that trust in him Psal. 2.12 He that hath so often pleaded with God for us he is to pass Sentence upon us Would a Man be afraid to be Judged by his dearest Friend or think his Sentence would be terrible If the Devil were our Judge or wicked Men we might be sad But 't is your dear Lord Jesus Therefore let us comfort our selves with the Thoughts of it David's Followers were afraid but when he came to be Crowned at Hebron then he dignified and rewarded them Christ's Followers are now despised but when he shall come in his Glory they shall be invited into his Kingdom Come ye Blessed of my Father SERMON XIX MATTH XXV v. 31. When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the Holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory I Come now to the Second Point Doct. 2. That Christ's Appearance for the Iudgment of the World shall be Glorious and full of Majesty I shall prove it by opening the Circumstances of the Text. Three things are offered here 1. His Personal Glory 2. His Royal Attendance 3. His Glorious Seat and Throne First His Personal Glory Let us see what it is and why he will come in such an Appearance First What it will be we cannot fully know till we see it but certain we are this Glory must be exceeding great If we consider 1. The Dignity of his Person he is God-Man And now that Mystery is to be discovered to the utmost therefore he must needs have such a Glory as never Creature was capable of nor can be but at that Day the Creatures are capable of great Glory For 't is said Matth. 13.43 The Righteous shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father And if it be thus with the Saints how shall it be with Christ The Saints are but Creatures they are not Deified when they are Glorified But He is God-Man in one Person The Saints are but Members of the Mystical Body but Christ is the Head and therefore he must needs far excell the Glory of all the Creatures Ours is but a derived Ray the Body of Light is in himself We read 2 Thess. 1.10 that he will be admired in the Saints That is in the Glory he puts upon them All the Spectators shall stand admiring at the Honour he puts upon them that are but newly crept out of Dust and Rottenness But how much more may He be admired for his own Personal Glory 2. The Quality of his Office He is the Judge of the World who now cometh to appear upon the Throne to be seen of all Therefore there must be a Glory suitable We read Acts 25.23 that Agrippa and Bernice came to the Judgment-Seat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a great deal of Pomp and State And we see in Earthly Judicatures when great Malefactors are to be tryed the whole Majesty and Glory of a Nation is brought forth The Judge in gorgeous Apparel accompanied with Nobles and Gentry and Officers and a great Conflux of People to make it more Magnificent and Terrible So here is a Conflux of the whole World Angels Devils Men from all Corners of the Earth all the Men that ever were and ever shall be And Christ cometh forth in his greatest Glory 3. Consider the Greatness of his Work and that will shew that his Glory must needs be discovered His Work is on the one side to gather together to convince to Judge and punish Creatures opposite and Rebellious and to honour and reward his Servants on the other There is not such an Union and Confederation of Miracles in any one Point and Article of Faith so much as there is in this of the general Judgment The mighty Power and Dominion of God is seen in dissolving the Elements in raising the dead Bodies and giving every Dust it s own Flesh and bringing them together that they may be Arraigned and Judged And then in separating them into their several Ranks in which his Omnisciency and Wisdom is seen that not one of the Reprobate shall lie hid among the Elect. In Judging them his Justice cannot be eluded he that seeth all things in the Light of the Godhead cannot want Evidence Then one of the Books that is opened is in the Parties Custody and yet they cannot deface it or blot it out And then for Execution the Majesty of his Person and Presence will be enough to confound a wicked Man How will the Wolves tremble at the sight of the pure and unspotted Lamb Revel 6.16 Oh! 't will be a piercing Sight to them to see him whom they have despised upon the Throne That Jesus whose Word they have scorned whose Ordinances they have neglected or corrupted whose Servants they have molested When Joseph who was so great and high in Egypt discovered himself to his Brethren I am Joseph they were abashed and confounded because of the Injury they had done him Much more shall Sinners be confounded when he shall tell them I am Jesus and that he is come on purpose to be Revenged on all the Abusers and Despisers of his Grace and the Troublers of his People How can they then look him in the Face We read that when they came to attacque Christ Joh. 18.6 as soon as he had told them I am he they went backward and fell to the ground He would convince his Enemies in the midst of his greatest Abasement how full of Majesty and Terror his Presence is if he should let out the Glory of it upon them If the Lamb's Voice be so terrible how dreadful will he be when he roareth as a Lyon And if then when he was taken and led to be Judged you may guess how glorious his Presence will be when he cometh in all his Glory to Judge others And by this you may understand the Apostles Expression 2 Thess. 1.9 That the Wicked shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power From there is as much as By it doth not signifie there the kind of the Punishment the poeni damni but the Cause The Majesty of Christ is the Cause of their Torments and his Look and Face will be Terror enough to Sinners And as he cometh in Glory to shame and punish those that despised him so to comfort and reward his People who have trusted in him and served him and suffered for him He shall come from Heaven in State to lead them into those blessed Mansions with Honour 1 Pet. 4.13 Rejoyce in as much as ye are Partakers of Christ's Sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding Joy They have seen him in his worst and now in his best also The Glory of Christ's Appearing is sometimes expressed by Fire and sometimes by Light To the Saints 't is as Light and as a comfortable Sun-shine but to the Wicked 't is a dreadful Fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
of the same Mould To bridle the Excesses of Power the Scripture often telleth us of the Day of Judgment how the great Men of the Earth shall tremble and the Hearts of the Powerful then be appalled Revel 6.15 16 17. They shall then understand the distance between God and the Creature when his Wrath and Terrour is in its Perfection Who can stand when he is angry Psal. 76.7 'T is a wonder Men will live in a way Controversie with him and are so little moved at it No Wrath so considerable as the Wrath of the Lamb When their Mediator is their Enemy none in Heaven or Earth can befriend them Those that in the Thoughts of Men are most secure Ring-leaders to others in Sin that swear and swagger and bear down all before them and persist in their Opposition to Christ with the greatest Confidence will be found the greatest and most desperate Cowards then Now these Gallants ruffle it as if they would bid defiance to Christ and his Wayes Oh! how pusillanimous and fearful then Appear they must though they cannot abide it What Torture do they endure between these two The necessity of Appearing and The impossibility of Enduring Oh! the Great Ones then would gladly change Power with the meanest Saint Then they know what an excellent thing it is to have the Favour of God and of what worth and value Godliness is and how much a good Conscience exceedeth all the Glory of the World and what an Advantage it is to have Peace made with God 6. Not only some of all sorts or of all Nations but every individual Person In one Place the Apostle saith All of us collectivè 2 Cor. 5.10 in another Place distributivè Every one of us Rom. 14.12 Not only all but every one Not all shuffled together in gross but every one severally and apart is to give an Account of his Wayes and Actions to God VSE If these things be so That all Places shall give up their Dead and all those Nations that differ so much one from another in Tongues Rights and Customs of Living and distance of Habitation shall be gathered together into one Place and not left scattered up and down the World there are many wayes to shift Mens Courts and Tribunals they may fly the Country or bribe the Judge but there is no shunning the Bar of Christ Oh then let the Thought of this make us more watchful and serious 1. In this Judgment there is no Exemption For all summoned small and great and whether they will or no they shall be gathered together The Faithful shall willingly come as to Absolution the Wicked shall be violently halled as to Condemnation 2. There is no Appearing by a Proctor or Attorney but every one in his own Person must give an account of himself to God 3. No Denying For the Books shall be opened Revel 20.12 4. No excusing or extenuating For Christ will judge the World in Righteousness Act. 17.31 according to terms of strict Justice 5. No Appealing For this is the last Judgment No suing out of Pardon or no Time of shewing Favour For this is too late the Day of Grace is past Sinners are in termino Their Work is over and now come to receive their Wages Oh then Now let us take care that this day may be comfortable to us God's Children have more cause to look and long for it than to dread it Secondly We now come to the Segregation and there First As to Company He shall separate them one from another as the Shepherd divideth between the Sheep and the Goats In these Words there is 1. A Point intimated and implyed That Christ is represented as a Shepherd and the Godly as Sheep but the Wicked as Goats 2. There is a second Point expressed That though there be a Confusion of the Godly and Wicked now yet at the Day of Judgment there will be a perfect Separation For the First of these That Christ is represented to us under the Notion of a Shepherd So he is called Zech. 13.7 Awake O Sword against my Shepherd I will smite the Shepherd and the Sheep shall be scattered And 1 Pet. 2.25 But are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your Souls First A Shepherd among Men is one that is not Lord of the Flock but a Servant to take care of them and charge of them This holdeth good of Christ as Mediator for he is God's Elect Servant the Servant of his Decrees The Flock are his not in point of Dominion Right and original Interest but in point of Trust and Charge So Christ is Lord of the Faithful as God but as Mediator he hath an Office and Service about them and is to give an Account of them to God when he bringeth them home and leadeth them into their Everlasting Fold Joh. 6.37 to 40. with 1 Cor. 15.24 25. Heb. 2.13 Behold I and the Children which God hath given me Jude 24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the Presence of his Glory And Col. 1.22 To present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight Secondly The Work of the Shepherd is to keep the Flock from straying to choose fit Pasture and good Laire for them yea not only to fodder the Sheep but to drive away the Wolf To defend the Flock is a part of his Office as David fought with the Lyon and the Bear and slew them for the Flock's sake All these concur in Christ as you may see Psal. 23.1 2 3 4. The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want He maketh me to lie down in green Pastures He leadeth me besides the still Waters Thy Rod and thy Staff they comfort me There is guarding and feeding and defending So Joh. 10. there is Leading Vers. 3 4. then there is Feeding them Vers. 9. and Defending them Vers. 12 27 28 29. Thirdly Christ is not an ordinary Shepherd He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The good Shepherd Joh. 10.11 And Heb. 13.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The great Shepherd of the Sheep And 1 Pet. 5.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The chief Shepherd When the chief Shepherd shall appear c. 1. He is the good Shepherd Other Shepherds are said to be good when they perform their Office well or quit themselves faithfully in the discharge of their Trust. But besides the resemblance in these Qualities there are certain Singularities in Christ's Office that denominate him the good Shepherd 1. A good Shepherd is known by his Care and Vigilancy If he know the State of his Flock Prov. 27.23 This Resemblance holdeth good in Christ He hath a particular Care and Inspection of every Soul that belongeth to his Flock Calleth his Sheep by Name Joh. 10.3 He hath a particular exact Knowledge of every one of them their Persons their State their Condition their Place their Countrey their Conflicts Temptations and Diseases 2 Tim. 2.19 The Lord knoweth who are his Joh.
Partakers of an Heavenly Calling 'T is unnatural for them to live alone They feed in Flocks Heb. 10.25 Man by Nature is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath a Nature that is apt to make him gather into a Community and Society We are social not only upon Interest as weak without others but upon natural Inclination We have a desire to dwell and live together Eccles. 4.10 The Voice of Nature saith 'T is not good to be alone So 't is true of the new Nature there is a Spirit of Communion that inclineth them to some other and to joyn with them 2. Sheep they are innocent and harmless Creatures They that belong to Christ are not Bears and Tygers and Wolves but Sheep that often receive Harm but do none Christ was holy and harmless Phil. 2.9 and so are they 3. Sheep and obedient to the Shepherd The meek and obedient Followers of Christ are like Sheep in this who are docile and sequacious Joh. 10.4 He goeth before them and they know his Voice And Vers. 16. Other Sheep must I bring in also and they shall hear my Voice And Vers. 27. My Sheep hear my Voice I know them and they follow me All Christ's Comforts in all Places and all Ages have the same Properties and the same Impression 4. They are poor dependant Creatures They are ever attendant on the Shepherd or the Shepherd on them 1. Because of their erring Property They are Creatures plient to stray but being straved do not easily return Swine will run about all Day and find their way home at Night Domine errare per me potui redire non potuissem saith Austin Christ bringeth home the stray Lamb upon his own Shoulders Luk. 15. And Psal. 119.176 All we like Sheep have gone astray If God leave us to our selves we still shall do so 2. Because of their Weakness They are weak and shiftless Creatures unable to make Resistance Other Creatures are armed with Policy Skill or Courage to safeguard themselves but Sheep are able to do little for themselves They are wholly kept in dependance upon their Shepherd for Protection and Provision All their Happiness lieth in the good Wisdom Care and Power of the Shepherd Wolves Lyons and Leopards need none to watch over them Briars and Thorns grow alone But the noble Vine is a tender thing and must be supported pruned and dressed The higher the Being the more necessitous and the more kept in dependance There needs more care to preserve a Plant than a Stone a Stone can easily aggregate and gather Moss to its self There needeth more Supplies for a Beast than a Plant and more Supplies to a Man than to a Beast Thirdly The Wicked are as Goats They are as Goats both for their Vnruliness and Vncleanness Unruliness thâ—â— have not the Meekness of Sheep are ready to break through all Fence and 〈◊〉 So a wicked Man is yokeless They are also wanton and loathsom 't is a 〈◊〉 sort of Animal than the Sheep Therefore chosen to set forth a wicked and ungâ—â—ly Man The Second Point expressed is this That though now there is a Confusion of Godly and Wicked as of Goats and 〈◊〉 in the same Field yet then there shall be a perfect Separation There will not then be one of one sort in company with the other Psal. 50 5. He will gather his Saints together And Ezek. 34.17 I will judge between 〈◊〉 and Cattel the Sheep and the Goats Psal. 1.5 The Vngodly shall not stand in the Judgment nor Sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous When the Saints meet in a general Assembly not one bad shall be found among them 〈…〉 together in the same Kingdom in the same Village in the same visible Church in 〈◊〉 same Family yet then a perfect Separation The Reasons are briefly these two 1. The Judges Wisdom and Perspecuity 2. His Justice They that will not endure them now shall not then abide with them in the same Fellowship 1. VSE Here is Comfort to them that mourn under the degenerate and corrupted State of Christianity The Good and the Bad are mixed together many times they live in the same Herd and Flock 'T is a trouble to the Godly that all are not as they are And we feel the Inconveniency for the Carnal Seed will malign the Spiritual Gal. 4.29 But God will distinguish between Cattel and Cattel Discipline indeed is required in the Church to keep the Sound from being infected and the Neglect of it is matter of Grief But the Work is never perfectly done till then Then there is a perfect Separation and a perpetual Separation never to mix more 2. VSE This may serve to alarum Hypocrites Many hide the Matter from the World and themselves but Christ shall perfectly discover them and bring them to Light and shew themselves to themselves and all the World All their shifts will not serve the turn Here are mixed together the Sheep and the Goats the Chaff and the solid Grain Tares and Wheat Thorns and Roses Vessels of Honour and Dishonour Many do halt between God and Baal A Man cannot say They are Sheep or Goats neither do they themselves know it Therefore it calleth upon us to make our Estate more explicite Yea many that seemed Sheep shall be found Goats Then 't will appear whether they are Regenerated to the Image of Christ or destitute of the Spirit of Sanctification yea or no Whether they loved God above all or continued serving the Flesh making it their End and Scope 3. VSE Are we Sheep or Goats There is no neutral or middle Estate Is there a sensible Distinction between us and others then we shall have the Fruit and Comfort of it at that Day 1 Pet. 2.25 Ye were as Sheep going astray but now are returned to the Bishop and Shepherd of your Souls We all should look back upon our former Courses betaking our selves to Jesus Christ seeking to enjoy his Favour and Fellowship submitting to him as our Ruler and Guide resigning up ourselves to be at his Disposal both for condition of Life and choice of Way and Course I say when by his powerful Grace we are thus brought back from our sinful Way and Course and made to follow him as our Lord we are his Flock and he will mind us Time was when you did run wild according to your former Fancies and the bent of your unruly Hearts and were wholly Strangers to God and could spend Dayes Nights and Weeks and Months and yet never mind Communion with him But now the Business of your Souls is to give up your selves to him to take the Way which he hath prescribed to Everlasting Glory Resolve no longer to live to your selves but to be under his Discipline Secondly As to Place He shall set the Sheep upon the Right Hand and the Goats upon the Left In the Right Hand there is greater Strength and Ability and fitness for all kind of Operations therefore that Place is counted more
the Righteous and the full Vengeance of the Wicked keep time and pace Christ cometh to fetch the Saints to Heaven in Sate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.19 The earnest Expectation of the Creature waiteth for the Manifestation of the Sons of God Then it shall be seen what God will do for his Children They are clad in their best Robes to set off Christ's Triumph So suitably the Wicked's Judgment is not yet full upon the last day it shall be increased Christ sets himself a-work to shew the power of his Wrath to cloath them with Shame and Contempt 2. Scripture 2 Thess. 1.6 7 8 9 10. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power Heb. 10.27 There remaineth nothing but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversary And in many other places 3. Reason The Body which hath so long Respite then hath its share of Misery upon the Re-union of the Body and Soul they shall drink the Dreggs of God's Wrath The Soul worketh on the Body and the Body on the Soul As an heavy sad Spirit weakens the Body and dryeth up the Marrow of the Bones and a sickly Body maketh the Soul sad and mopish so when the Soul is filled with Anguish and the Body with Pains their Torment must needs be greater because they have had a great sense of the Joyes of the glorified Saints as that Nobleman Thine Eyes shall see it but thou shalt not taste of it It worketh upon their Envy to see them glorified whom they have maligned and used despightfully and it worketh upon their Conscience this they have lost by their own folly As a Prodigal that cometh by the Houses and Fields which he hath sold and thinks This was mine 't is a grating thought to think This might have been mine Partly because of Judgment and Sentence Then the Books are opened and all their wayes are discussed They are ashamed but God is cleared and vindicated There is a Worm as well as a Fire The Fire signifieth God's Wrath the Worm the gnawing of their own Conscience 'T is hard to say which tormenteth them most the Terribleness or the Righteousness To consider that God is righteous in all that we feel and we our selves have been the Causes of our own Ruine this is a cutting thought to the Damned It maketh them gnash their Teeth and though they hate God they can discharge the anger upon none but themselves Besides their Companions are gathered together those that sinned by their Inticement or Example which are as Fuel to kindle the Flames bind them in Bundles and set Fire on one another Objects reviving Guilt are very displeasing here when Conscience flieth in the face as when Amnâ—n hated Tamar They cannot look upon the Devils but they think of Temptations upon the Damned but either they read their own Guilt by Reflection they are the same or else it bringeth to mind their former Example they brought them to this place Again Christ's final Sentence is past and therefore Wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such Wrath as they cannot have more for he will no more deal with them 1. VSE Observe how a Sinner hasteneth to his own Misery by steps and degrees In this life we are adding Sin to Sin and in the next God will be adding Torment to Torment Here God beginneth with us Joh. 3.18 He that believeth not is condemned already Do not say 't is a long time till the last Judgment the Halter is about thy Neck and there needeth nothing but turning over the Ladder Men are not sensible of it till they come to die then there is an Hell in the Conscience a Sip of the Cup of Wrath. The Honours of the dying Wicked are the Suburbs of Hell then Yellings and Howlings begin At Death the Bond of the old Covenant is put in Suit and at the Separation the Gaolâ—r carryeth us away to Prison there the Soul is detained in Chains of Daâ—kness in a fearful Expectation of more Judgment I am horribly tormented in this Flame But after Christ's coming to Judgment we are plunged into the depth of Hell the whole Man is overwhelmed with Misery Well then if you add Drunkenness to Thirst God will add to your Plagues till Wrath come upon you to the uttermost II. Observe the Patience of God he doth not take a full Revenge of his Creatures till the last day The most miserable Creatures are suffered to enjoy some degree of Happiness or rather do not feel the whole Misery at the first In the most dreadful Executions of God's Justice you may read Patience God is patient to the fal'n Angels though presently upon their Sin they were cast down into Hell 2 Pet. 2.5 but much more to sinning Man In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt 〈◊〉 was the Sentence yet the Sentence is prorogued till the day of Judgment To those whom he hath a mind to destroy he is patient The old World he bore with first an hundred and twenty Years and then the Rain was forty dayes in coming and Reprobates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 9.22 He endureth them with much long-suffering Intermission of Wrath in this life and Respite to the Body till the great Day How doth God bear with a company of Hell-hounds he suffereth them to stand by as a Dog while the Bread of Life is distributed to the Children To bear with his Children is much but to bear with his Enemies who seek not his favour and are the worse because forborn and do provoke him daily and do not relent and acknowledge their Offence is much more yet all this while God holdeth his hands Admire his Patience but do not abuse it We are apt so to do Eccles. 8.11 Because Sentence against an evil Doâ—r is not speedily executed therefore the Hearts of the Sons of Men are fully set in them to do evil Reprobates fare well for a time live in plenty and ease and therefore think Hell but a Dream and vain Scare-crow But take heed that which is kept off is not taken away And when you see wicked men endured and not presently â—ut off be not offended their day is coming 1 Pet. 2.9 they are but reserved Justice shall break forth though the Cloud of Mercy long overshadow it Their Doom was long since past God might strike them dead in an instant III. One Judgment maketh way for another Our Anger is rash and therefore cooleth by degrees 't is at the heighth at first but it is not so with God his heateth by degrees and is worst at last There is first Snares then Chains oâ— Darkness then a most active sense of the wrath and displeasure of God Let no man
ask Assurance is a ground of the more earnest Request When Daniel understood by Books the number of the Years then he was most earnest in Prayer and when Elijah heard the sound of the Rain he prayed Prayer is to help on Providences that are already in motion That thy Son also may glorify thee Here is another Argument It is usual in Prayer to speak of our selves in a third Person so doth Christ here That thy Son may glorify thee This may be understood many ways partly as the Glory of the Son is the Glory of the Father partly by accomplishing God's Work that I may destroy thy Enemies and save thy Elect partly by the preaching of the Gospel in Christ's Name to the Glory of God the Father He doth as it were say I desire it for no other end but that I may bring Honour to thee From this Clause 1. Observe That God's Glory is much advanced in Jesus Christ. In the Scriptures there is a Draught of God as Coin bears the Image of Caesar but Caesar's Son is his lively Resemblance Christ is the living Bible we may read much of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ. We shall study no other Book when we come to Heaven for the present it is an advantage to study God in Jesus Christ. The Apostle hath an expression 2 Cor. 4.4 Lest the Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them Christ is the Image of God and the Gospel is the Picture of Christ the Picture which Christ himself hath presented to his Bride There we see the Majesty and Excellency of his Person and in Christ of God And Vers. 6. the Apostle saith To give the Light of the Excellency of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ. In Christ we read God glorious in his Word Miracles personal Excellencies Transfiguration Resurrection we read much of God There we read his Justice that he would not forgive Sins without a plenary Satisfaction If Christ himself be the Redeemer Justice will not bate him one Farthing His Mercy he spared not his own Son What scanty low Thoughts should we have of the Divine Mercy if we had not this Instance of Christ His Truth in fulfilling of Prophecies Psal. 40.7 8. Then said I Lo I come in the volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy Will O my God yea thy Law is within my Heart This was most difficult for God to grant for us to believe yet rather then he would go back from his Word he would send his own Son to suffer Death for a sinful World All things were to be accomplished though it cost Christ his precious Life God had never a greater Gift yet Christ came when he was promised He will not stick at any thing that gave us his own Son His Wisdom in the wonderful contrivance of our Salvation When we look to God's Heaven we see his Wisdom but when we look on God's Son we see the manifold Wisdom of God Ephes. 3.10 The Angels wonder at these Dispensations to the Church His Power in delivering Christ from Death and the glorious Effects of his Grace His Majesty in the Transfiguration and Ascension of Christ. O then study Christ that you may know God There is the fairest Transcript of the Divine Perfections the Father was never published to the World by any thing so much as by the Son 2. Observe Our Respects to Christ must be so managed that the Father also may be glorified for upon these terms and no other will Christ be glorified 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the Promises in him are Yea and in him Amen to the Glory of God by us Phil. 2.10 11. That at the Name of Jesus every Knee shall bow and every Tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father John 14.13 Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son Look as the Father will not be honoured without the Son John 5.23 That all Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father that hath sent him so neither will the Son be honoured without the Father I condemneth them who out of a fond respect to Christ neglect the Father As the former Age carried all respect in the Name of God Almighty without any distinct reflection on God the Son So many of late carry all things in the Name of God the Son that the Adoration due to the other Persons is forgotten The Wind of Error doth not always blow in one Corner When the heat of such an Humour is spent Christ will be as much vilified and debased Our Hearts should not be frigidly and coldly affected to any of the Divine Persons 3. Observe It is the proper Duty of Sons to glorify their Father Mal. 1.6 If I be a Father where is mine Honour Mat. 5.16 Let your Light so shine before Men that others seeing your good Works may glorify your Father which is in Heaven How must this be done 1. By reverend Thoughts of his Excellency especially in Worship then we honour him when we behave our selves before him as before a great God this is to make him glorious in our own Hearts When we conceive of him as more excellent than all things Usually we have mean base thoughts by which we streighten or pollute the Divine Excellency 2. By serious Acknowledgments give him Glory Rev. 4.11 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy Pleasure they are and were created Now this is not in naked ascriptions of Praise to him pratling over words but when we confess all the Glory we have above other Men in Gifts or Dignity is given us of God this is to make him the Father of Glory Ephes. 1.17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him 3. When we make the advantage of his Kingdom the end of all our Actions 1 Cor. 10.31 Whether ye eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the Glory of God Phil. 1.20 Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by Death Christ had glorified him yet he seeks now to do it more Self will be mixing with our Ends but it must be beaten back We differ little from Beasts if we mind only our own Conveniences 4. By making this the aim of our Prayers We should desire Glory and Happiness upon no other terms Ephes. 1.6 To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved It is a mighty encouragement in Prayer when we are sure to be heard John 12.28 Father glorifie thy Name then came there a Voice from Heaven
Praise are the Revenues of the Crown of Heaven and all the Persons of the Godhead are Joynt-Possessors the Father will be glorified the Son and the Spirit will be glorified too Well then they that expect all Comfort and do not regard Duty they mistake the Tenor of the Covenant God must needs be angry when we deny him his Rent and Acknowledgment you forfeit your Lease and Charter and how will you do to pray with Confidence It is notable in the Covenant of Grace what God doth to us in a way of Mercy the Creatures return to God again in a way of Duty God justifieth sanctifieth glorifieth the Creature these are the great Blessings of the Covenant and in our way we are to do it again to God to justify sanctify and glorify God To justify God Luke 7.29 And all the People that heard him and the Publicans justified God being baptized with the Baptism of John To sanctify God Isa. 8.13 Sanctify the Lord of Hosts in your Hearts and here I am glorfied in them We are to justify God his Ways against the Cavils of the World the Riches of Grace against the Prejudices of our own Hearts to sanctify God to set him aloof in point of Fear and Trust above the Powers all Excellencies in the World as to sanctify is to set apart from common use And then we glorify him when we advance him in our Thoughts and Faith and Esteem Our best Thoughts are but a Disgrace to the Godhead he is advanced far above all Blessing and Praise yet God counteth he hath another Throne when he is exalted in thy Heart 3. Because we gratify the Aim of God God's great End in all his Dispensations is to glorify his Son and in his Son himself God seeketh his own Glory by glorifying Christ in our Nature We had neither had Word nor Gospel nor Christ nor Grace but for his Glory It is said Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself that is for the Manifestation of his Glory for God being so perfect as he is can no other ways be advanced it must be therefore to make himself known He made the World that he might be glorified and for the same Reason he made us in Christ Ephes. 1.12 That we should be to the Praise of his Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all that we are in Religion is for this end We had need respect God's Glory for we owe all that we have to it God is set upon it 1 Sam. 2.30 They that honour me I will honour Vse 1. Information We lose nothing by glorifying Christ It is a Pledg of our Interest in his Intercession We shall have this Honour and Comfort that Christ will be our Advocate In the World we are like those six hundred that were David's Companions in the Wilderness they had hard Service and little Wages but when David was crowned in Hebron they were all advanced to Offices and Places of Power and Trust. In the World if we glorify Christ indeed we shall meet with hard Entertainment but you will not repent of it when Christ appeareth in the day of his Royalty Nay for the present you will lose nothing Worldly Losses are made up in Spiritual Comforts and that is a good Exchange Do but observe Peter's Question and Christ's Answer Mat. 19.27 28. Peter said Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee what shall we have therefore In Peter's Question we may observe that albeit we suffer little for Christ we think much of it Peter's Case was poor and slender alas what did he leave a poor Cottage a Net a fishing Boat he had no Lands nor Heritage From a Fisher-man he was made a Disciple The Loss is little but we think it a great matter if we part with our Superfluities with the tenth part of a Child's Portion for Christ's Cause and owning Christ's Interest or the propagating of Religion Nay if we suffer but a disgraceful Word or Discountenance or a small Inconvenience in our Name or Estates we are apt to say with Peter What shall we have therefore Thoughts of Merit are natural and we put an high Price upon our petty Services what shall we be the better But observe Christ's Answer And Jesus said unto them Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the Regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of his Glory ye also shall sit upon Twelve Thrones judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel Pray mark Christ pardoneth the Infirmity of the Demand there was somewhat of Pride in it and somewhat of Fleshliness in having respect to a carnal Reward they dreamed of Earthly Honours that Christ would share and divide among them but Christ passeth it over and gives a gracious Answer Nay mark Christ promiseth a greater Reward than Peter could expect a Kingdom to each of them in the Regeneration I shall not examine that Expression that doth not so suit with my purpose But I observe that though the things we do and suffer for Christ be not worthy to be spoken of yet the least thing if done in Sincerity will be highly esteemed and richly rewarded Christ will intercede for thee and plead for thee with his Father and if once he openeth his Mouth thou canst never miscarry The Apostle saith Heb. 7.25 He is able to save to the utmost all that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Christ when he hath begun to intercede doth not give over till thou hast Honour enough for honouring him he will save thee to the utmost Oh why should we be prejudiced against the Service of Christ certainly we shall be no Losers in the End Christ will not be behind-hand with you he is making way for your Everlasting Glory by his constant Intercession Now therefore be not troubled you need not seek another Pay-master than Christ we have something in Hand there is present Comfort besides what we have in Hope Vse 2. Exhortation to press us to glorify Christ order your Lives so that Christ may plead Father I am glorified in them I do not press you now to glorify God in general but to glorify Christ as Mediator But what is it to glorify Christ I Answer 1. You will glorify him by Faith Christ is glorified when you acknowledg his Person and Office as revealed to you in the Word and accordingly build your Hopes and Comfort on him Now Faith hath a double Office it accepts Christ from God and presents Christ to God It accepts Christ in the Word and maketh use of him in Prayer Let us speak of both these 1. It accepts Christ. When Men slight the Offers of Christ which God maketh to them they dishonour him exceedingly it is a contempt cast upon the Son of God as if he were not worth the taking Acts 4.11 This is the Stone which was set at nought of you Builders which is become the Head of the Corner God made
if they were not accepted in and for Christ. Nothing can be acceptable to infinite Purity but what is pure Habbak 1.13 Thou art of purer Eyes than to behold Evil and canst not look on Iniquity We should not have one good look from God were it not for Christ. To salve this Attribute was Jesus Christ sent into the World We think that Christ was only sent to satisfy Justice God hateth Sin out of Holiness punisheth it out of Justice and executeth that Punishment by his Majesty and Power so that we dread God for his Wrath Power and Justice but all these are awakened by his Holiness there is the Root of all So that consideration of God's Holiness maketh us to prize Christ. Alas what should vile Creatures do before an Holy God out of Christ 3. It is God's principal Glory Exod. 15.11 Thou art glorious in Holiness God is mighty in Power rich in Grace glorious in Holiness It is good to mark the distinctness of Expression in all the Attributes God that he might shew us how much we should prize Grace would be glorious in nothing so much as in Holiness This is Seraphical Divinity the Angels would teach us no other Divinity and Notions of God but Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Isa. 6.3 this is most pleasing to God profitable to Men. Christ taught us to pray first of all Hallowed by thy Name This should be the chiefest thing that we should think of in our Addresses to God So when the Angel Gabriel came to give notice of Christ Luke 1.35 That Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Priùs sanctum quà m Dei Filium nominavit saith one of the Fathers You cannot call God nor Christ by a better Title it is his darling Attribute So the Saints in Heaven Rev. 4.8 They rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty it is nine times in Plantius's Edition as if they were delighted with the mention of it they take a sweet content in the Work Holy Father Holy Son Holy Spirit In Heaven they bless and praise God praise him for his Excellencies bless him for his Benefits We praise him for his Holiness we bless him for his Mercy in Christ this will be our Employment in Heaven Psal. 99.5 Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his Footstool for he is Holy God counteth it his chiefest Glory that he might teach the Creature that Moral Perfections are to be preferred before Natural it is better to be Wise than Strong to be Holy than Wise. III. Why especially must we thus look upon him when we deal with him for Grace and Sanctification 1. Because it is a Relief to Faith when we represent God to our selves as the Fountain of Holiness He is the Holy One of Israel and Christ calls him Holy Father Jude 1. To them that are sanctified by God the Father There is enough in God when we come for Pardon he is rich in Mercy when we come for Holiness he is glorious in Holiness he is the God of Grace you may have enough if you be not wanting to your selves Men are willing to spare out of their Fulness the Holy God is as able as willing to sanctify you it is a Work that he delighteth in Joab interceded for Absalom when he perceived the King's Heart was towards Absalom 2 Sam. 14.1 2. It may be a means to enlarge your Spiritual Desires You are to be holy as he is holy 1 Pet. 1.15 The Children if they be of the right Stock they should have some Resemblance of their Father Now you ask Holiness of God that you may be as God in some degree of Conformity tho not in exact Equality Assequi non possuâ—â—â— saltem nanquam sequi desinamus we cannot overtake God but we should never cease to follow him We have an high Patern that we might not be content with any low measures of Grace When you are asking it is good to be thinking of your Patern that you may inlarge your Spiritual Desires Lord wash me throughly Lord make me holy as thou art holy I forget the things that are behind it is nothing that I have already Vse 1. Information It informeth us 1. How greatly they sin that deride Men for their Holiness which is the express Image of the glorious God God is glorious in Holiness therefore they that despise Holiness they despise God himself Holy Brethren should no more be a Disgrace than Holy Father That is your Scorn which is the Divine Glory one of the chiefest Excellencies in the Godhead You hate God more than you do the Saints Holiness in them shineth with a faint Lustre 2. How much we should prize Holiness It is the Glory of God and the Glory of holy Angels the Devils also excel in Strength and the Glory of the Saints Ephes. 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without Blemish This is the Glory of the Church the Church that are are a distinct People from all the World should have a distinct Excellency Other Societies are made glorious by their Policy their Pomp their Trade the Church is a Society for Holiness and therefore it is called The fairest among Women the best of all Societies though it hath little of worldly Pomp and Splendor Psalm 93. ult Holiness becometh thy House O Lord for ever Some Ordinances became God's House for a time Ceremonies and Sprinklings and the Vail and the covering of Badgers Skins c. but Holiness is a standing Ordinance So private Christians are changed from Glory to Glory 2. Cor. 3.18 it is from Grace to Grace for the Apostle speaketh of our being changed into the Likeness of Christ. The World counteth Purity and Strictness a base thing Religio ignobilem facit but the Word is quit with the World and calls a wicked Man a vile Person Psal. 15.4 and the basest of Men Dan. 4.17 Vse 2. It presseth us to draw nigh to God as unto an Holy Father Worship must always be proportioned to the Object of it Conformity maketh way for Communion John 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth As he is a God of Peace he will not be worshipped with wrathful Affections 1 Tim. 2.8 I will that Men pray every where lifting up holy Hands without Wrath and Doubting A living God must have a lively Service so a holy God should have a holy Worship this doth make us fit to enjoy God in the way of a sweet and gracious Communion 1. We must be in an holy State If we be accepted by God we must be like him holy as he is holy Partakers of a Divine Nature The Majesty and Glory of God we are not capable of God would not have us to imitate his Power and Majesty but his Holiness We enjoy him
the Trial of all Doctrines God himself wrote the first Scripture that ever was written with his own Finger Exod. 24.12 And the Lord said to Moses Câ—me up to me into the Mount and be there and I will give thee Tables of Stone and a Law and Commandments which I have written that thou mayest teach them And then commanded Moses and the Prophets to do the same Exod. 17.14 And the Lord said unto Moses Write this for a Memorial in a Book And Exod. 34.27 And the Lord said unto Moses Write thou these Words for after the Tenor of these Words I have made a Covenant with thee and with Israel So he bids Jeremiah Chap. 36.2 Take thee a Roll of a Book and write therein all the Words that I have spoken thee And so God spake to all the Prophets tho it be not exprest and by inward Instinct bids them write their Prophecies that it might be a publick Record for the Church in all Ages Now this Way was always accompanied with Prophetical Revelations until Christ's time who as the great Doctor of the Church perfected the Rule of Faith and by the Apostles as so many Publick Notaries consigned it to the use of the Church And so when the Canon was compleat then John as the last of the Apostles and outliving the rest closed up all and therefore closeth up his Prophecy thus Rev. 22.18 19. For I testify unto every Man that heareth the Words of the Prophecy of this Book If any Man add unto these things God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book And if any Man shall take away from the Words of the Book of this Prophecy God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the holy City and from the Things that are written in this Book Which sealeth up the whole Canon and Rule of Faith as well as the Book of the Revelations And therefore 3. There is now Writing only without the Word without Visions and Revelations There needeth no more now because here is enough to make us wise unto Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 16 17. And that from a Child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works It is sufficient to make us wise to preach and you wise to practise It is now certain enough God hath left a publick Record that we might not spend our time in doubting and disputing And it is full enough you need nothing more either to satisfy the Desires of Nature or to repair the Defects of Nature to satiate the Soul with Knowledg For God hath given to the Church sufficient Instruction to decide all Controversies to assoil all Doubts and to give us sure Conduct and Direction to everlasting Glory III. The next Question is Of what Concernment it is to enquire of the Truth of the Scripture Many think that such a Discussion needs not because this is a principal matter to be believed not argued and Arguments at least beget but an humane Faith Yet certainly it is of great necessity if you consider four things 1. It is good to prepare and induce carnal Men to respect it and to wait for the Confirmation of the Spirit An Humane Faith maketh way for a Divine when Men hearken to the Word upon common grounds God may satisfy them as those John 4.42 Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Son of the Living God They first believed upon the Woman's Report and then upon their own Experience So it is good to establish sound Grounds that we may know the Truth of God first upon Hear-say and afterward upon Experience This way we induce and invite Men to make a Trial. 2. Because it giveth an additional Confirmation and greater Certainty to the People of God Foundation-Stones can never be laid with exactness and care enough For if you mark it you will find all doubting in your Belief all disproportion in your Practice ariseth from this because the supreme Truth is not setled in the Soul We ought to believe it more and more then it stirs up greater Reverence greater Admiration and makes way for your Delight and Joy to have your Charter cleared It is good to look upon this Argument that it might further Our Comfort and that this Fire may be blown up into a Flame and that Truth may have more Awe upon the Conscience 3. It awakeneth them that have received the Word upon slight grounds to be better setled Most Men look no further than humane Authority and publick Countenance they have no other grounds to believe the Scriptures than the Turks to believe the Alcoran because it is the Tradition of their Fathers Most Mens Belief is but an happy Mistake a thing at peradventure and they are Christians upon no other grounds than others are Turks God loveth a rational Worship he would have us to render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Reason of the Faith that is in us But they are Christians by Chance rather than Choice and solid Reason it is because they know no other Religion not because they know no better Well then that you may be able to justify your Religion For Wisdom is justified of her Children Mat. 11.19 that you may take up the Ways of God upon a rational Choice it is good to see what Grounds and Confirmations we have for that holy Faith we do profess 4. That we may know the distinct Excellency of our Profession above all other Professions in the World The Daughters of Jerusalem are brought in asking the Spouse Cant. 5.9 What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved O thou fairest among Women What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved that thou dost so charge us What can you say for your Christ and for your way of Salvation and for your Scriptures above what other Men can say for their Worship or their Superstition A Christian should know the distinct and special Excellency of his Profession Jer. 6.16 God bids us Stand in the way and see and ask for the old Paths Where is the good Way It is good to survey the Superstitions we have in the World and compare the Excellency of our holy Profession with other Professions In Scripture we are required not only to glorify God but to sanctify him Isa. 8.13 Sanctify the Lord of Hosts in your Hearts So 1 Pet. 3.15 Sanctify the Lord God in your Hearts and be ready always to give an Answer to every Man that asketh you a Reason of the Hope that is in you with meekness and fear Now what is it to sanctify It is to set apart any thing from common Uses This
meet Satisfaction But now God himself is pleased to find out the Remedy Christ saith to the Father Thou hast sent me his Act is Authoritative and above Contradiction If God had not given us a Mediator out of his own Bosom there could have been no Satisfaction and we had for ever lain under the Guilt and Burden of our Sins Gal. 4.4 God sent forth his Son made of a Woman c. he consecrated him for this great Purpose Therefore he is said to seal him John 6.37 Him hath God the Father sealed a Metaphor taken from them that give Commissions under Hand and Seal Christ is a Mediator confirmed and allowed under the Broad-Seal of Heaven by God the Father as the Supream Judg. God hath awarded Satisfaction to himself and sent his own Son to make it II. What is this Sending It implies three things 1. The Designation of the Person 2. His Qualification for the Work 3. His Authority and Commision 1. The Designation of the Person This was an Act of Divine and Voluntary Dispensation according to which the Second Person in the Trinity the Son of God not the Father nor the Holy Ghost was sent to take our Nature and the Office of a Redeemer upon himself In this chusing of Christ was the Original and first Rise of Elective Love Augustine hath observed in chusing Christ what was the Reason Christ was the Person designed Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him should all Fulness dwell What is the Reason we are Elected and Chosen above others that God reveals himself to Babes and the Things of his Grace are hidden from the Wise and Prudent Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Mat. 11.29 The same Reason is given for the Election and Choice of Jesus Christ to be the Redeemer that is given for our Election It pleased the Father that is all That Christ might be the first Patern of Free-Grace the Father chose the Son that he might be the Redeemer It was congruous and very fit that the Son and Heir of all Things should give us the adoption of Sons Gal. 4.4 5. God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons He sent his Son that we might have the same Relation to God by Grace which Christ had by Nature By Nature he is the only begotten Son of the Father and this is that which is purchased for us that we should become the Sons of God and the middle Person of the Trinity is the fittest to be the Mediator between Us and God 2. This Sending implies his Fitness and Qualification to do the Work for which he was sent 1. He had fit Natures 2. He had fit Endowments 1. Fit Natures He was God-Man God else how could he send Man else how could he be sent into the World This Sending implies he was a Person truly existing before he came into the World as a Man must be before he is sent and therefore he is said to be sent forth from God Gal. 4.4 God sent forth his Son made of a Woman Sent forth that shews his Being before he took Flesh Christ was somewhere from whence he was sent forth And then made of a Woman that implies his Incarnation This Sending doth suppose his Divine Nature and imply his Incarnation or God's bestowing upon him a Humane Nature God he was in the Bosom of the Father from whence he was sent forth into the World Such an Errand as Christ came about required a God no inferior Mediator would serve the turn Nothing but an Infinite Good can remedy an Infinite Evil Sin had bound us over to an Eternal Judgment and nothing can counterpoise Eternity but the Infiniteness and the Excellency of Christ's Person His Divine Nature was requisite in many Regards Partly to give Efficacy and Virtue and Value to his Sufferings and therefore it is said that we are purchased by the Blood of God Acts 20.28 the meaning is the Blood of that Person to whom the Divine Properties belonged God is a Spirit and hath not Flesh Blood and Bones as we have How then are we said to be redeemed with the Blood of God that is the Blood of him who was God which makes it to be of infinite Value and enough to counterpoise that Eternity of Torment which we should have endured Again the Dignity of his Person conduced to the acceptance of One for All. 2 Cor. 5.15 And that he died for all c. in the room and stead of all the Elect and therefore that there might be such a value in his Sufferings his Person must be thus worthy As they said to David Thou art worth ten thousand of us 2 Sam. 18.3 A General or Commander given in Ransom will redeem thousands of private Souldiers So the worth of Christ's Person made him equivalent in dignity to the Persons of all those whom he sustained yea much more God was more satisfied from Christ than if all the World had suffered and all Angels and Men had been made a Sacrifice Again God he must be because of the exuberancy of his Merit Christ's Suffering was not only a Ransom from Death but the Merit of Eternal Life By his Death he satisfied the Old Covenant and ratified the New The Scriptures do not only set forth the Death of Christ as a Ransom for Souls but as a Price given to purchase Everlasting Glory A Surety to an ordinary Creditor if he pay the Debt he only frees the Creditor from Bonds but doth not bring him into Grace and Favour But now Christ hath merited Happiness for us and not only freed us from Wrath to come and delivered us from Bondage there was a price paid to Divine Justice Again the Dignity of his Person was necessary by way of Compensation for those Circumstances of Punishment which did not beseem Christ. The Civility of Nations remits to Princes and Nobles some disgraceful Circumstances tho the Punishment is inflicted yet the kind of Death is changed because of the Dignity of their Birth and place in the Common-Wealth So here the Sentence which passed upon Men was Eternal Death the Sentence it self is not reversed that would lessen the Authority of the Law and the Glory of God's Justice The truth is there are some Circumstances abated which stood not with the worthiness of Christ's Person as for Instance The Eternity of the Punishment is abated Christ suffered but a few Hours because of the greatness of his Sufferings and the Dignity of his Person A paiment in Gold is as full and valid as a paiment in Silver tho it may take up less room because of the excellency of the Metal So here the Suffering and Death of Christ was of full value tho it was dispatched in a lesser Time the Eternity that is abated because of the Dignity and Worth of his Person Once more the Godhead of Christ was
same Image from Glory to Glory That Glory which we lost in Adam and want by Nature is restored to us in Christ. Some by Glory understand the Spirit who is called a Spirit of Glory and was given to Christ without measure and from him to us as a means of Union between us and Christ and between us and Believers Others understand it of the Honour of Filiation as Christ was a Son by Nature so are we by Grace John 1.14 We beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father And Vers. 12. As many as received him to them gave he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power to become the Sons of God It is an Honour It is a means of Union Adoption maketh way for Union with Christ and Christ left us the Relation of Brethren that we might love one another for we are Brethren But by Glory I suppose is meant rather the Happiness of the everlasting State which is usually called Glory in Scripture and so it is taken Vers. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me And there is the most perfect Union with Christ and we that expect one Heaven should not fall out by the way Ephes. 4.4 One of the Bonds is One Hope All the Difficulty is How was this given them The Disciples were upon the Earth and the greatest part of Believers were not then in being Answ. Christ acquired a Right and left us a Promise he would not go to Heaven till he had made it sure to us by Deed of Gift this then I conceive to be the meaning It is not good to streighten the Sense of Scripture yet some one is more proper Adoption Gift of the Spirit New Nature Eternal Life you may comprize all 1. Observe Christ's Care to make us every way like himself as far as our capacity will bear like but not equal The Reiteration sheweth his Care let them be as we are and the Glory which thou hast given me I have given them What Reseâ—â—lance is there between us and Christ 1. Between us and Christ as the Eternal Son of God 2. Between us and Christ as Mediator 1. Between us and Christ at the Eternal Son of God Christ is the Essential Image of the Father therefore called the Image of the Invisible God Col. 1.15 and the Character or express Image of his Person Heb. 1.3 and we are God's Image by Reflection If there be two or three Suns appear one or two are but a Reflection There are some strictures in us Christ is one with the Father and we with him a poor Christian tho never so mean is one with Christ. Christ is called God's Fellow Zech. 13.7 and every Saint is Christ's Fellow Psal. 45.7 God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oil of Gladness above thy Fellows The Father loveth him because he is the express Image of his Person and the Father delights in the Saints because they are the Image of Christ the Father himself loveth you John 16.28 A Man that loveth another he loveth Head and Members with the same Love Christ is the Son of God so are we it was his Eternal Right and Privilege our Title cometh by him John 20.17 I ascend unto my Father and your Father First He is Christ's Father and then Ours His by Nature Ours by Adoption otherwise we could not have it 2. But this likewise chiefly respects the Glory that was given to Christ as Mediator As God communicateth himself to Christ as Mediator so doth Christ communicate himself to his Members Christ as Man was begotten by the Holy Ghost and the same Spirit begetteth us to the Life of Faith The New Nature is formed in us by the Spirit as Christ was formed in the Virgin 's Womb. Gal. 4.19 My little Children of whom I travel in Birth again until Christ be formed in you All his Moral Excellencies are bestowed on the Saints 2 Cor. 3.18 We all beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. If a Picture be well taken it makes us know him whom it represents we see the Lineaments of his Face as if he were present So doth a Christian express and shew forth the Vertues of Christ. 1 Pet. 2.9 Ye are a Chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an Holy Nation that ye should shew forth the Praises of him who hath called you out of Darkness into his marvellous Light There is an answerable Impression to his Mediatory Actions and a Spiritual Conformity to them Rom. 6.4 Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised up from the Dead by the Glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of Life Phil. 3.10 That I may know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable unto his Death Ephes. 2.6 And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus a dying in his Death a living in his Life an ascending in his Ascension dying to Sin rising to Newness of Life our Ascension is by Thoughts Hopes and Resolutions We resemble him in his Afflictions it is a part of our Conformity 2 Cor. 4.10 Always bearing about in the Body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the Life also of Christ might be made manifest in our mortal Flesh. An afflicted Innocence and meek Patience is a Resemblance of Christ. And as in this Life we resemble Christ in his Actions and Passions so that a Christian is as it were a Spiritual Christ so in the Life to come we resemble him in Glory Christ after he died rose again and so do we the same Spirit raiseth us that raised Christ. He ascended into Heaven accompanied with Angels so are we carried by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom In Heaven he liveth blessedly and gloriously so do we Christ hath a Kingdom so have we Luke 12.32 Fear not little Flock it is your Father's Pleasure to give you the Kingdom At the last Day his Humane Nature shall be brought forth with a Majesty and Glory suitable to the Dignity of his Person So shall he be admired in his Saints 2 Thess. 1.10 Then the Mystery of his Person shall be disclosed so shall the Mystery of our Life Col. 3.3 4. For ye are dead and your Life is hid with Christ in God When Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in Glory Christ judgeth the World so do the Saints 1 Cor. 6.2 Know ye not that the Saints shall judg the World Mat. 19.28 Ye which have followed me in the Regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of his Glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel The second
time Christ shall appear without Sin unto Salvation Heb. 9.28 So we shall be then disburdened of all the Fruits and Effects of Sin which shall be blotted out when the Times of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3.19 We are like him in his Offices Kings Priests and Prophets but in a Spiritual Manner to rule ou◠Lusts to minister in Holy Things and to instruct our Hearts Thus you see there is a conformity in Grace and Glory Now Christ is thus earnest to make us like himself partly out of his own Love he cannot satisfy his Heart with giving us any inferior Privilege Whatever he had and was it was for our sakes as Man he received it for us Psal. 68.18 Thou hast received Gifts for Men compared with Ephes. 4.8 He gave Gifts unto Men His Life Righteousness and Glory is for our sakes Wherefore doth Christ make himself like unto us but that we might be like unto him Partly in obedience to God's Counsels and Decrees Rom. 8.29 For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the Image of his Son that he might be the First-Born among many Brethren There is Wisdom in it Primum in unoquoque genere est praestantissimum Christ is the Example and Patern set forth by God and that in our Nature he is the second Adam a new Root and it is meet that Head and Members should sute otherwise it is monstrous Vse 1. It sheweth who are Christ's they that are like him there is a conformity between them and Christ first in Grace and then in Glory Here we are like him in Soul in regard of Dispositions and Moral Excellencies and in Body in regard of Afflictions and Weaknesses Hereafter we shall be like him in Soul and Body in a glorious manner here in Holiness hereafter in Happiness He beginneth with the change of the Soul the Resurrection is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Regeneration Mat. 19.28 Then we shall be perfectly renewed our Carnality is done away by Grace our Corruption and Mortality by Glory All Things are there made new new Bodies new Souls Glory it is but the full Period of the present Change and Transformation into Christ's Image 2 Cor. 3.18 We are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory Glory is but the Consummation of Grace or our full Conformity to Christ or that final Estate which is suitable to the Dignity of the Children of God Therefore every one that looketh for Eternal Life in Christ must be like him in this Life they are partakers with him of Glory hereafter because followers of him here Therefore see Art thou like Christ Hast thou the Image of Christ that is our Title Alas many are not conformable but contrary to Christ Christ spent whole Nights in Prayer they in Gaming and filthy Excess it was Meat and Drink to him to do his Father's Will but it is your Burden Christ was Humble and Meek you are Proud and Disdainful Vain in Apparel and Behaviour Were you ever changed Till you resemble Christ here you shall never be like him hereafter Vse 2. It presseth us to look after this Conformity and Likeness unto Christ. It is the Ground of Hope you cannot otherwise think of Death and Judgment to come without Horror 1 John 4.17 Herein is Love made perfect that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment because as he is so are we in the World David was not ashamed to own his Followers when he was crowned at Hebron So neither will Christ be ashamed of us if we have followed him If you profess Christ and be not like him Christ will be ashamed of you Heb. 2.11 For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them Brethren He is not ashamed to own the Saints if one of your Name were stigmatized and branded with a Mark of Infamy you would be ashamed to own him To this end 1. Eye your Patern Christ's Life should be ever before your Eyes as the Copy is before the Scholars Heb. 12.2 looking unto Jesus c. He hath set forth himself in the Word to this end and purpose 2. Often shame thy self that thou comest so much short Phil. 3.12 I follow after if I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Jesus Christ. Alas we do but lag behind Christ is a great way before We have so excellent a Patern that we may never want Matter for Humiliation and Imitation It is a good sign to desire to come nearer the Copy every day 2. Observe Our Glory for Substance is the same that Christ's is In the Degree there is a Difference according to the Difference that is between Head and Members The Head weareth the Crown and Badg of Honour and the Eldest Son had a double Portion So doth Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excel in degrees of Everlasting Glory but the Substance is the same Therefore we are said to be Coheirs with Christ and to be glorified with Christ Rom. 8.17 Christ and we hold the same Heaven 2 Tim. 2.11 12. If we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him More particularly Our Bodies are like his Glorious Body Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our Vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his Glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself When the Sun ariseth the Stars vanish their Glory is obscured but it is not so here Christ's coming doth not eclipse but perfect our Glory the more near Christ is the more we shine And so for our Souls they see God and enjoy him tho not in that same Latitude and Degree which Christ doth yet in the same manner they solace themselves in God We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 John 3.2 When we behold him in the Glass of the Gospel we are transformed much more when we see him as he is As the Iron held in the Fire is all Fire so we being in God and with God are more like him have higher Measures of the Divine Nature So our Privileges are the same with Christ's Rev. 3.21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne We sit upon his Throne as he doth upon his Father's there are two Thrones mentioned for our distinct conceiving of the Matter as God is over all so is Christ and then we next Vse 1. It is a great Comfort 1. Against Abasement Will any one believe that these poor Creatures that are so slighted and so little esteemed in the World shall have the same Glory that Christ hath 1 John 3.2 Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be The World thinketh meanly and contemptibly
How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard We must know what Christ is before we can trust him with our Souls Would a Woman accept of a Man when she knows not what he is nor from whence he came Can the Soul rest it self with Christ and venture its Salvation upon him till it knows what he is 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that Day Faith is an advâ—sed Act it is a Child of Light Presumption is but a blind Adventure an Act that is done hand over-head without Advice and Care but Faith certainly presupposeth Knowledg The blind Man speaks Reason in this when Christ asked him Dost thou believe on the Son of God John 9.35 He answered Vers. 36. Who is he Lord that I may believe on him And then for Love No Knowledg no Love an unknown Object never affects us Love proceeds from Sight those that have a sight of the Excellencies of God by the Light of the Spirit accompanying the Word they love the Lord. And then where there is no Love there is no Knowledg 1 John 4.8 He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love And then for Worship and Obedience that is also the Fruit of Knowledg that Worship which is performed to the unknown God is never right As those Fruits that grow out of the Sun are crabbed and sowr so all such Acts of Worship as proceed not from Light and Knowledg are not right and genuine There cannot be a greater Preservative from Sin than Knowledg 3 Epist. John 11. He that doth Evil hath not seen God Certainly he that makes a trade and course of Sin was never acquainted with God 1 John 2.4 He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a Lyar and the Truth is not in him And there can be no enjoiment of God without Knowledg neither in a way of Grace nor in a way of Comfort Not in a way of Grace there can be no Grace without Knowledg if we be renewed and changed it is by Knowledg Col. 3.10 And have put on the New Man which is renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him that created him If we be strengthned in Affliction and enabled for the Duties of every Condition it is by Knowledg Phil. 4.12 I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need All Communications of Grace are conveyed by Light Nor can there be any enjoiment of God in a way of Comfort without Light and Knowledg Fears are in the dark till we have a distinct Knowledg of the Nature and Tenor of the Covenant we are full of Fears and Doubts which vanish as a Mist before the Sun when Knowledg is wrought 2. Proposition There is no Knowledg of the True God without the Knowledg of Christ as Mediator For two Reasons 1. Because God will accept no Honour from the Creature but in and through Jesus Christ. John 5.23 That all Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father that hath sent him God hath revealed himself in Christ and you make God an Idol if you think of him otherwise 2. Because God out of Christ is not comfortable but terrible The fallen Creature cannot converse with God without a Mediator As Waters which are salt in the Sea strained through the Earth are sweet in Rivers So are the Attributes of God in and through Christ sweet and comfortable to the Soul for we cannot draw nigh to God without a Screen Vse To press us to get Knowledg The more Knowledg the more a Man the more Ignorant the more Brutish Psal. 49.20 Man that is in Honour and void of Vnderstanding is like the Beasts that perish And again as Knowledg doth distinguish you from Beasts so the Knowledg of God doth distinguish you from other Men to know God is your excellency above other Men. Jer. 9.23 24. Let not the wise Man glory in his Wisdom neither let the mighty Man glory in his Might let not the rich Man glory in his Riches But let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord c. As if he had said If you will needs glory it is not who is most Wealthy nor most Mighty nor most Wise but who hath the greatest Knowledg of God in Christ. Above all know God in Christ that is most comfortable Horribile est de Deo extra Christum cogitare It is an horrible thing to think of God out of Christ. God in Christ is the greatest Mercy the World was ever acquainted with this is a Speculation fit for Angels 1 Pet. 1.12 Which things the Angels desire to look into Eph. 3.10 To the intent that now unto the Principalities and Powers in Heavenly Places might be known by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God And therefore much more should it be the study of Saints But do not rest in a naked Contemplation there is a Form of Knowledg Rom. 2.20 as well as a Form of Godliness 2 Tim. 3.5 which is nothing else but an Artificial Speculation a naked Model of Truth in the Brain which aâ— the Winter-Sun shines but warms not But what is true Knowledg How shall we discover it I Answer 1. It must be a serious prudent Knowledg c. See on Ver. 8. I now come to speak to the Illustration of this Qualification of Saving-Knowledg It is illustrated I. By its Opposite the affected and obstinate Ignorance of the World The World hath not known thee II. By its efficient and exemplary Cause But I have known thee I. The first Illustration is from the Opposite Ignorance and Obstinacy of the World The World hath not known thee Why is this alledged I Answer Partly to shew the Reason why they should be otherwise dealt withal than the blind World As if he had said By thy righteous and wise Constitution thou hast appointed different Recompences to Men of different States but now They have known thee but the World hath not known thee Partly in commend their acknowledgment of Christ the World neither knowing nor believing yea rather hating and persecuting thee In the Original there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho so that neither hindred by Fears nor Snares the Rulers and great Men were against the acknowledging of Christ the Multitude blind and obstinate yet the Disciples knew him and owned him as the Messiah or one sent of God 1. Observe That it is exceeding praise-worthy to own Christ when others disown him and reject him to own him in the midst of the World's blindness and madness against 〈◊〉 Now he is publickly received among the Nations it is no great matter to own his now as those
times because of our blockishness Col. 2.3 In him are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg Hidden not that they should not be found out but because they are seen by the Eye of Faith Hidden because deposited there to be dispensed to us God made Christ a Storehouse to furnish all our Necessities 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption Wisdom to give us Spiritual Illumination Be not discouraged it is not the Pregnancy of the Scholar that prevaileth here but the Excellency of the Teacher If Christ be the Teacher no matter how dull the Scholar be Pride in Parts hath been in hinderance but Simpleness hath never been an hinderance Psal. 19.7 The Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple Jer. 31.33 34. I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my People And they shall teach no more every Man his Neighbour and every Man his Brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord. Mat. 11.25 I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes God can give to shallow and weak People great understanding in Spiritual Things as he cured him that was born blind John 9. 2. With Earnestness cry for Knowledg and lift up thy Voice for Vnderstanding Prov. 2.3 Many times God withholdeth Knowledg that we may cry for it especially when the Case is doubtful and litigious John wept when the Book was sealed with seven Seals Rev. 5.4 We need to cry for all Grace but especially for Saving-Knowledg Let us groan and sigh when we are in the Dark 1. Consider the Necessity of Knowledg The blind Man cried after Christ because he knew what it was to want Eyes Luke 18.41 Lord that I may receive my Sight We are not sensible of our natural blindness as we ought to be There is Ignorance and Folly in all but Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg in Christ. If we are not ignorant yet we are indiscreet Men know not how to guide and order their Course Certainly if you were acquainted with your selves you would not hold your peace 2. Consider the Excellency of Knowledg All Knowledg is Excellent as all Light is Comfortable Knowledg is your Excellency above the Beasts that you have Receptive Faculties capable of knowing and understanding Things that you are intelligent Creatures this is your advantage above the Beasts But Saving-Knowledg is far more excellent even the Knowledg of God in Christ. This is the Glory of a Man Jer. 29.23 24. Let not the wise Man glory in his Wisdom neither let the mighty Man glory in his Might let not the rich Man glory in his Riches But let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord c. If Men should be able to dispute of every thing that might be known from the highest Star to the lowest Shrub this Knowledg is nothing to the Knowledg of God in Christ which is far better than all the Knowledg of the Questionists and Disputers of this World The Fear of God that is the best Excellency and that is it which Christ teacheth I observe the Providence of God in that one thing viz. Solomon had wrote many Books of Philosophy which are not extant when the Books of some Heathens as Aristotle's Book de Animalibus c. are extant but his Books of the Fear of God are preserved by a special Providence not one of them lost we may want the other without any loss of true Wisdom but we cannot want these And therefore you are more concerned in the getting of Saving-Knowledg than you are aware of Light was the first Creature that God made so it is the way by which all Grace is wrought in the Soul for in all Communications of Grace God beginneth with the Understanding Jer. 31.19 After I was instructed I smote upon my Thigh He makes the Creature to submit to his Providence to be contented in all Estates and Conditions Phil. 4.12 In all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need God draws you to Christ but his drawing is accompanied with a Teaching John 6.44 No Man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Ver. 45. And they shall be all taught of God Every Man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me God's drawing is not a blind Force but there is a teaching with it God loves rational Service not blind Obedience And therefore cry for Knowledg and run to Christ that he may teach you and lead you into the Paths of Righteousness SERMON XLIV JOHN XVII 26 And I have declared unto them thy Name and will declare it that the Love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them THIS is the second Reason taken from the Benefits Christ had bestowed upon them Here is his Gift and his Aim In the first what he had done what he will do Where 1. Quid the Manifestation of his Father's Name 2. Quibus to whom principally to the Apostles and from them to Believers 3. Quomodo I have that is by his Ministry upon Earth and I will in the pouring out the Spirit and his Discourses with them after the Resurrection All that needeth Explication is What is meant by God's Name Answ. The use of Names from the beginning was a distinction to separate Creature from Creature by their Appellations At first Adam gave Names to the Beasts that their Species and Kinds might be distinguished for Beasts are distinguished only by their Herds and Kinds But the Names which Men bear are individual and particular Man being an excellent Creature made for Rule and Commerce and therefore is to be known not by his Kind but Name But now what is God's Name Where there are many there is need of Names but where there is but one the singularity is distinction enough But yet God hath his Name by way of distinction from Creatures so we have a Negative Name removing the Imperfections of the Creature and to distinguish him from those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods that are so called and his Name is a Jealous God Exod. 34.14 For thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord whose Name is Jealous is a Jealous God And by way of Notification that we may conceive of him aright as Names are not only distinctive but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Damascen So all that by which he is known or distinguished that is his Name and so God hath many Names because one cannot enough express him his Works are a part of his Name but chiefly his Word the Doctrine
not only as death to sin implieth Corruption but Condemnation or the righteous Sentence of the Law dooming it to Death Rom. 8.1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh there is dying to sin but after the Spirit there is living to God 2. These are adopted into Gods Family and have the Priviledges and Right of Children For Adoption followeth Regeneration Joh. 1 12 13. But as many a◠received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his Name Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God 3. These have Communion with the Father by the Son through the Spirit 1 Joh. 1.7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another For Gods Children have the Spirit of Adoption Gal. 4.6 Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father 4. That Spirit dwelling in us worketh us to further Holiness and Joy for he is both a Sanctifier and a Comforter as a Sanctifier he doth further enable us to die to sin and Mortifie the deeds of the body Rom. 8.13 and to live to God Gal. 5.25 If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit and so the Duty is a reward in it self As a Comforter he doth assure us of our interest in Gods Love Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and it causeth us to live in the foresight of everlasting happiness 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit 5. Entrance and actual admission into Glory Joh. 3.3 Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God compared with vers 5. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Heb. 12.12 Without holiness no man shall see God 2. Owne the Grace of Christ without whom we can do nothing acceptable to God Lapsed man is unable not only to redeem himself but unable to live unto God without the Grace of the Redeemer he doth sanctifie us by his Spirit and change our hearts and is a Saviour to us not only by Merit but Efficacy To be a Sanctifier is his Office which he hath undertaken and it is his Glory to perform it we only work under him Which teacheth us 1. Humility whatever good things Believers have which concern spiritual and heavenly Life they are beholden only to Christ for it we can never die to Sin nor live to God but only through Christ and Christ not only inlightning but sanctifying A speculative Errour vanisheth assoon as Truth appeareth but Lust is a brutish inclination bare Reason cannot master it 2. Thankfulness and Love to Christ by whom we have all our Grace and look for all our Glory 3. Dependence he is ready to give us Grace Phil. 4.19 But my God shall supply all our need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus SERMON X. ROM VI. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof THE Apostle having undeniably proved that the justified are dead to sin he now beginneth his Exhortation that we should not obey sin by indulging bodily lusts The Exhortation is short but of great weight Let not sin therefore reign c. In the words take notice 1. Of the illative Particle therefore which leadeth us to the Principles from whence the Duty is inferred namely the Tenor of Christianity which is considered 1. as professed by them for they have submitted to Baptism and so are obliged to die unto sin and to live unto God 2. as having obtained its effect in them as in charity he presumeth them to be regenerated or real Believers and therefore chargeth them with this Duty for Christs Grace must not lie idle in the Soul 2. The Duty to which they are exhorted is to take care to prevent the reign of sin which is described and represented 1. By the Seat of it In your mortal body 2. The Nature of it That you should obey it in the lusts thereof To obey bodily lusts is the Reign of Sin Doctrine That Christians are strictly obliged to take care that Sin get not Dominion over them by the Desires and Interests of the mortal Body 1. Let me explain this Point 2. Give you the Reasons of it I. In explaining this Doctrine I shall handle three Questions 1. Why is Sin said to reign in our Bodies rather than our Souls 2. Why doth the Apostle call it our mortal body the use of this Term and 3. When is Sin said to reign First Why is Sin said to reign in our Bodies rather than in our Souls And again lusts thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as agreeing to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as relating to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Negatively it is not to be understood that sinful lusts are only in the body or have their Original only from the body and not from the Soul for that is repugnant to what Christ saith Mat. 15.18 19. Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies 2. But positively he saith In your body 1. Because these lusts mostly manifest themselves in the body and belong to the body and the flesh Therefore the Apostle saith Mortifie your members which are upon the earth Col. 3.5 and Rom. 7.23 I see a law in my members warring against the law of my mind Jam. 4.1 Lusts that war in your body When the Devil would set up a Kingdom in the hearts of men he doth it by the body for what is nearer and dearer to us than our bodies and things present and grateful to the bodily senses promote his designs these blind our minds and corrupt our hearts and entice our affections so that we follow after them earnestly with the neglect of God and our precious immortal Souls There are various desires according to the variety of objects which tend to please and gratifie the flesh by occasion of which sin doth insinuate it self into us 2. Because they are acted and executed by the Body or Outward man and therefore are called the deeds of the body Rom. 8.13 Now though some sins are seated in the mind as Heresies yet they are works of the flesh Gal. 5.19 20. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies because usually they begin
they shall live not only the Life of Grace for surely by their progress in Mortification Vivification is furthered and increased as we grow dead to sin we are more alive to righteousness but the Life of Glory is a greater Boon than we can deserve as much as we can desire more than we can make any part of requital for There is scarce any one Scripture by which a man may sooner come to a decision of his spiritual Estate than this for it puts it to a short issue prevent the reign of sin and your Title to everlasting Glory will not be so dark and litigious make conscience of subduing and suppressing the secret inclinations and desires of the flesh by the Spirit and you have by Warrant of Scripture a full and sufficient evidence all the deeds of the flesh must be mortified before we can see our interest though not universally and totally yet still we must go on with it Sin is mortal if it be not mortified so that a necessity is laid upon us of killing our Lusts or being killed by them The Apostle doth not say If the deeds of the flesh be mortified in you through the Spirit but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body We must not dream of a Mortification to be wrought in us without our consent or endeavours as well whilst we are asleep as whilst we are waking as if it were wrought in our Cradles whilst we are passing our time in childish play and pastime or should be done in our riper age without any careful watch over our works and thoughts or it may be by a sluggish wish or slight prayer as if this would master sin no all renewed ones must seriously address themselves to the work the flesh must be mortified and mortified it must be by us through the Spirit if we would cherish the hopes of eternal Life The Spirit alone giveth victory but we must be active in it for his Grace and powerful victorious work doth not license us to be idle but rather calleth for an assiduous diligent and faithful use of means The less earnest the conflict is between the Flesh and the Spirit the longer will the old man live in us and our peace and hope will be the more doubtful but the more serious our endeavours are the sooner shall we come to a determination in the great affairs and interests of our precious and immortal Souls SERMON XIV ROM VI. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace III. THE hopes of Victory and Success through the Grace of Jesus Christ. Now many things there are which give us hopeful incouragement in our conflicts with Sin 1. The undertaking of our Blessed Redeemer Freedom from sin was a part of that Salvation which he purchased for us Mat. 1.21 He shall save his people from their sins Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity It is not only an Evidence but a Part yea a principal part as those means which have a more immediate connexion with the end are more noble than others which are more remote the last End is the Glory of God now our conformity to God and the holiness and subjection of the Creature is a nearer means to it than our comfort and pardon Christs end was to fit us for Gods use and therefore his business was to sanctifie and free us from sin 1 Joh. 3.8 For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to dissolve unty unloose a knot This was the end of his Coming and will he come in vain and miss of his end The work of the Devil is to bring us into sin and misery and the Lord knoweth we are miserably intangled in the corruptions of our own hearts we know not how to loose these knots Christ came for this purpose to 〈◊〉 them for us and surely he cannot miss of his purpose If we consider the Merit of his Humiliation what a Price hath he paid for sanctifying Grace 1 Pet. 1.18 19. 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 So great a Price was given not only to heighten our esteem of the Priviledge but also to increase our confidence while we are endeavouring and striving against sin Christ wanted not any Merit to make the Purchace sufficient and effectual Or if we consider the Power of his Exaltation having paid our Ransom he is let out of the Prison of the Grave gone into Heaven and is fully commissioned and impowered to instate us in this Blessing of freedom from sin Eph. 3.20 Vnto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us Now what an encouragement is this to keep under that Enemy which Christ hath done so much to slay and destroy What is his business now in Heaven but to sit at the right hand of God and see the fruits of his Mediation accomplished Those indeed that cherish that that Christ came to dissolve as much as in them lyes they seek to frustrate the undertaking of Christ. But now whilst we are striving and warring upon sin and seek the destruction of it we are ingaged in the same design Christ is and therefore may have the more confidence of his help and receiving the fruits of his Purchace his great intent was to bring us back unto God and saving us from sin not in sin and your heart is upon the same thing 2. The new Nature put into us you have an opposite Principle to check it 1 Joh. 3.9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God Since Christ hath intrusted us with such a Talent as the new Nature and hath put Grace into our hearts to resist sin it is our duty not to suffer it to be idle and unfruitful Though there be in the Regenerate a seed of corruption yet that is or should be mortified there is also in them a seed of Grace and that is to be cherished Now surely where this is sin cannot carry a full sway and break out without stop and interruption for the new Nature will appear by way of check and dislike one that hath a new Nature cannot make sin his trade custom and delight why because his seed abideth in him which is the Principle of Grace wrought in him by the Spirit of God there is a setled fixed frame and bent of heart towards God and so by consequence against sin for it is irreconcileable with the motions and tendencies of the new Nature to live in sin and therefore it is as natural to
hath said Ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest ye die She speaketh too warmly and with an impatient resentment of the restraint and too coldly of the commination God had said In dying ye shall die A faint denial is a kind of a grant Our Lord rebuketh the Devil with indignation Mat. 4.10 Get thee behind me Satan Secondly It must be a thorow universal Resistance Take the little Foxes dash out the brains of Babylons Brats the Devil would frighten you by propounding great sins at first but he approacheth by degrees Therefore Eph. 4.27 we must not give place to the Devil You set open the door to Satan by yielding a little a temptation is better kept out than gotten out when he hath but the narrowest passage or least opportunity he seeketh to re-enter and seat himself in the heart and exercise his former Tyranny and doth excite the person to commit more sin When the stone at the top of the Hill beginneth to roll downward it is an hard thing to stay it I 'le yield but once saith the deceived heart But the Devil chargeth us further and further till he hath left no tenderness in our Conscience as some that thought to venture but a shilling or two by the secret witchery of gaming have played away all their Estates Thirdly It is not for a time but perpetual It concerneth us not only to stand out against the first assault but a long siege what Satan cannot gain by argument he seeketh to gain by importunity but resist him stedfast in the faith 1 Pet. 5.9 as Joseph's Mistress spake to him day by day Gen. 39.10 Deformed objects when we are accustomed to them seem less odious As you rate away an importunate Beggar that will not be answered To yield at last is to lose the Glory of the Conflict Now many resist not You may know it 1. When you cannot bring your hearts to let sin go though Conscience worry you and condemn you for it as many men sin while their hearts condemn them Rom. 1.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hold the truth in unrighteousness 2. When you slightly purpose hereafter to amend but do not presently resolve Acts 24.25 And as he reasoned of righteousness temperance and judgment to come Felix trembled and said Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee The contrary you may see in David Psal. 119.60 I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments 3. When you do not consent to the necessary effectual means of your recovery which if you were truly desirous to get rid of sin you would do They that will not use the means do not desire the thing Prov. 21.25 The desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labour 4. When in actual Temptations you interpose not a strong dissent or negative either by serious dislikes or rebukes deep groans hearty defiance or strong arguments which are the several ways of resistance Vse 2. Exhortation when God affordeth to poor captivated Sinners such help if they will but take it and make use of it in time surely then we should watch and strive And that I may deal the more effectually in this Use I shall distinctly unfold the Duty of watching and striving the means to curb and check sin First Watching 1. The spring and rise of it in the Soul are these three fundamental Graces of Faith Fear and Love otherwise it is but moral Prudence and Caution which will be too feeble a restraint to sin unless it be animated and inspired with these Graces First Faith puts upon watchfulness that Faith which looketh to things to come and maketh them in a manner present to the Soul it is a realizing sight Heb. 11.1 Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen The more lively sense we have of the concernments of another World and the more mindful we are of our eternal Enjoyments the more watchful In every sin it is our eternal Enjoyments are in danger and Heaven and Hell are not things to be sported with or ventured and put to hazard for a little carnal satisfaction Many expound that Eph. 6.12 We wrastle with spiritual wickednesses in high places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about heavenly things for the word Places is supplied it is in the Original only in or for the heavenlies the main quarrel between us and Satan is about high and heavenly things which tend to the honour of God and the eternal good of our Souls it is not our temporal and worldly so much as our spiritual and heavenly concernments which are struck at The Devil would fain cheat us of our Souls our God and our Happiness and by propounding some base and unworthy trifle deprive us of everlasting Glory Now a man that hath a sense of Eternity deeply impressed upon his heart and hath made eternal things his scope 2 Cor. 4.18 he hath his eyes in his head is careful not to lose his interest in and hope of these things who knows that the whole World will not countervail the loss of his Soul and that one glimpse of Heavens Glory and Happiness doth so much out-shine all the Pomp and gawdy Vanities of the present Life that he dareth not let his heart linger after these things lest he should forget or neglect those better things He is cautious of coming short of the heavenly rest which his eye and his heart is upon Heb. 4.1 But they whose Faith about these things is either weak or none at all are bold and venturous as if there were no such danger in sins and temptations they forgets God and their Souls and the great account they must give of all their actions to their impartial Judge and the eternal recompences of Heaven and Hell into which all the World shall at last issue themselves Secondly Fear or a reverend and awful regard of Gods Eye and Presence they are afraid to do any thing unseemly in his sight Gen. 39.9 How can I do this wickednes◠and sin against God How will God take it to be affronted to his Face As Esther 7.8 Will he force the Queen before me in the house So Shall we give vent to our sin when God seeth and heareth Void our excrements in his presence The Israelites were commanded to march with a paddle Deut. 23.12 13 14. Thou shalt have a place also without the camp whither thou shalt go forth abroad And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon and it shall be when thou wilt ease thy self abroad thou shalt dig therewith and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee therefore shall thy camp be holy that he see no unclean thing in thee and turn away from thee The Masters eye makes the Servant diligent the presence
after it had for a long time been possessed by another this Favour was granted to Captives when carried into a foreign Country but denied to Fugitives that ran away out of Treachery or for some Crime afterwards it was inlarged to those that were driven away by Famine or removed themselves whilst an inundation of Enemies whom they could not resist possessed their Country they had a Right of entring again upon their Houses and Lands though by reason of their long absence they were possessed by another This was the case of the Shunamite who having left her Country for seven years to avoid the Famine her House and Land was seized on 2 Kings 8 9.5 which upon intercession was restored This is not directly the case in hand only so far that other Lords have had Dominion over us which is not only by our departure from the Lord but by our Rebellion only in reason his Right should be owned by Repentance and Resignation of our selves to his use and service 1 Thess. 1.9 Ye turned to God from Idols to serve the living and true God So much for the third Consideration that morally speaking there are but two Masters Sin and Obedience 4. That by yielding our selves to obey either of these we become servants to the one or the other If we yield our selves to obey sin we are servants of sin and by yielding our selves to obey God we become servants of God 1. I shall speak of Sins Servants and two things I shall say of them First That they enter upon this Service voluntarily indeed and draw this woful slavery upon themselves but not by solemn Contract and Covenant the Servants are ashamed of their Master and will not owne themselves to be what they are for they are cheated into their slavery they are inticed and drawn away Jam. 1.14 Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and inticed They yield themselves to obey sin by voluntary inclination but not by express Covenant they are not forced but inticed and willingly put themselves into this bondage but they do not openly profess it but their course of life sheweth it their hearts are upon evil and so they are Rebels and Enemies to God and refuse his blessed Government Col. 1.21 You that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled Secondly The second thing which I observe is That they are not only Servants in legal Reputation or so accounted before God as Joh. 8.34 Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin but they are so by woful Captivity or a sad Necessity they have brought upon themselves for they are deprived of all liberty to help themselves 2 Pet. 2.19 While they promise them liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought into bondage Our service to God is a debt of Duty their serving sin is a debt of Fatal Necessity He is a Free-man that hath right and power to dispose of himself or his own actions or imployments but he is a servant that is at another mans beck and disposal and cannot do what he would be it de Jure or de Facto Now then the servants of sin though it is true de Jure of Right they should do it yet de Facto they are very slaves to their brutish affections and have no power to resist Temptations or come out of their wretched condition when they have some mind to it and are convinced of better 2. Of Gods Servants I observe two things First That they become so not only by voluntary Inclination but open Profession and express Covenant God will have no servants but who deliberately adhere to him and by choice bind themselves to walk in his ways 2 Cor. 8.5 They first gave up themselves to the Lord anâ— unto us by the will of God a voluntary surrender is necessary So Isa. 66.4 They chuse the things that please me and take hold of my Covenant and v. 6. They joyn themselves to the Lord to serve him This deliberate voluntary choice is expressed in a solemn Covenant-resignation God is not a Master to be ashamed of but may and must be publickly owned Secondly Our consent or yielding our selves to obey is not enough but it must be verified and made good by a continual course of actual obedience on our part for besides the yielding up of our selves to obey his servants ye are whom ye obey Many make Covenant with God but do not keep Covenant with God they will and purpose but do not perform It is known whose servants we are not only by our consent but our continual practice if we live in a constant careful obedience to God we are his servants though conscious of many failings The Tryal of our Case mainly runneth upon two things the Bent of our Hearts and the Drift of our Lives our Choice and our Course We read of some that said All that the Lord hath commandeth us we will do and God answered Deut. 5.29 O that there were such a heart within them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always They are now in a good mood promise fair Therefore it is not enough to yield up our selves to God unless we imploy our selves for God for besides the purpose and inclination there must be a constant practice and study to please him 5. Both sorts of Servants receive wages suitable and proportionable to the work they have done 1. Of Sin unto Death The Servants of Sin bring upon themselves eternal Death Sin and Death go hand in hand in all the Methods of his Justice God hath put them together Jam. 1.15 Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Now this should be thought of by us when Satan and your own corrupt Hearts shew you the Bait Faith should see the Hook this will be Death or I am going about that which in its Nature doth expose me to eternal Death The fear of temporal Death inflicted by the Magistrate restraineth much of the evil of the World and keepeth men from things forbidden by him and is not God more to be dreaded There is but one Law giver that is able to save or to destroy that hath potestatem vitae necis aeternae Jam. 4.12 and shall not we fear and reverence him Sinners that go on wilfully in their sins seem to make nothing of dying eternally 2. Of Obedience into Righteousness that is if we be the faithful Servants of God we shall have the reward of eternal Life not only non-condemnation or freedom from eternal Death but the everlasting possession of Glory and Blessedness There is none of us can say that God bids us serve him for nought or to his loss he propoundeth endless Rewards and Punishments to procure obedience to his Laws as he will punish the wicked with endless Miseries so he will
the contrary Eph. 4.24 And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness the Constitution of their Souls is for Holiness and against sin Therefore we must see what governeth us 3. The two Masters are Sin and Righteousness as vers 18. Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness Righteousness is the opposite Master to sin before sin was their Master now Righteousness governs them he doth not say Being now made free from sin ye became the Servants of God but Servants of Righteousness All will pretend they are Servants of God but if you be so you will be Servants of Righteousness that is do those things which Right and Reason calleth for at your hands Therefore if you be Servants of God you will not neglect his Precepts What do you for him 4. The difference between the two Services is very great the Service of Sin is a Captivity and Bondage but the Service of Righteousness is true Liberty In the general they agree That both are Service committing sin or living in sin is a servitude Job 8.34 Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin and living to Righteousness is a service also not a slavery but a voluntary service as we oblige our selves to God to live righteously ever after the time we enter into his Peace and Obedience Therefore both are expressed in the Text by terms that imply serving our Emancipation from sin implieth a slavery before and our giving up our selves to God an Obedience for the time to come Therefore we are said to be Servants of Righteousness it is service in regard of the strictness of the Bond but liberty in regard of the sweetness of the Work it is service because we live according to the Will of another but it is liberty because of our inclination and delight to do it In short though we are said to be the servants to Righteousness yet there is no work more pleasant more honourable more profitable 1. More pleasant because it implieth a Rectitude and Harmony in the Soul of man it is a Feast to the Mind to do those things that are good and holy The Heathens saw it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. it breeds serenity surely much of the happiness of a man is to injoy himself which a wicked man cannot do whilst his Soul is in a Mutiny and his Heart disalloweth himself in the things which he doth love and practise and his Convictions check his Affections and Inclinations The fruit of righteousness is peace Isa. 32.17 And all the paths of wisdom are pleasantness Prov. 3.17 In the Body the vigorous motion of the Spirits breedeth chearfulness and Health ariseth when all the humors of the Body keep their due temperament and proportion In the World when all things keep their place and the Confederacies of Nature are not disturbed the Seasons go on comfortably In a Kingdom Pax est tranquillitas ordinis when all persons keep their rank and place there is Peace So when all things are rightly governed and ordered in the Soul 2. No work more honourable Prov. 12.26 The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour Many think it to be a low spirited thing to be godly and on the contrary imagine it a sort of Excellency to be free from the restraints of Religion and to live a life of Pomp and Ease without any care of the World to come The sensual World esteemeth little of a good man but alas that carnal Life which maketh shew of ease delight honour and riches is nothing to the Life of Grace for if God be excellent they are excellent they are made partakers of his Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 admitted into the Communion of his Life which all others are deprived of Eph. 4.18 when others live as Beasts they live as God when others live as Beasts their life is imployed about the noblest Objects and Ends and is assisted by the immediate influence of Gods own Spirit Therefore if Honour be derived from the true Fountain of Honour those who are most God-like are the most noble and excellent 3. No work is more profitable for it giveth us the favour and fellowship of God for the present and makes way for an everlasting fruition of him in Glory 1. The Favour and Fellowship of God for the present What an unprofitable drudgery is the life of an unsanctified Worldling in comparison of the work of an holy Man who lives in Communion with God and attendance upon God and hath access to him when he pleaseth with assurance of welcome and audience He hath a surer interest in God than the greatest Favourite in the Love of Princes God never faileth him Psal. 118.8 9. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princes A poor Christian that liveth in obscurity in the World is never upbraided with the frequency of his Suits never denied Audience never hath cause to doubt of success The Princes of the Earth have uncertain minds love to day hate to morrow as in the instance of Haman their Being is uncertain Psal. 146.4 His breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day all his thoughts perish 1 Kings 1.21 Otherwise it shall come to pass when my Lord the King shall sleep with his fathers that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offendors Therefore attendance upon God is surely a noble work to be made Courtiers and Family-servants of the infinite Soveraign their Hearts are imployed in loving him Tongues in praising him Lives in serving him and are constantly maintaining converse with him through the Spirit surely these have the most profitable service Creatures can be imployed in 2. The everlasting Fruition of God in Glory hereafter Psal. 17.15 I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness 1 Joh. 3.2 Now we are the sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but this we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Then we shall be admitted into his immediate Presence to see his Face and shall be changed into and satisfied with his likeness we shall then live with God for ever and be in a larger capacity to know God and love him and then our work shall be our reward we shall be everlastingly loving and praising of God Well then though we are not altogether at liberty when freed from sin but enter into another Service yet this Service is no Bondage but a Blessedness and a beginning of our eternal Happiness and therefore to be preferred before Liberty it self 5. No man can be a Servant of Righteousness but he that is first by the Goodness and Mercy of God freed from the power and slavery of sin for the Apostle saith Being made free from sin ye became the
2 Cor. 6.1 We then as workers together with him beseech you that you receive not the grace of God in vain We frustrate the Method of God when we suffer the Gospel to be cast away upon us but to receive subjective Grace in vain is worse as this is a closer Application as a Power put into our hearts and we make the choicest gifts of the Spirit idle and unuseful Vse Is to perswade us to make our new Obedience more clear and explicite 1. By manifesting the Change 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new 2. By out Growth and Increase 1 Thess. 4.1 Furthermore then we beseech you Brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus Christ that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more 3. By exceeding in a course of Holiness as ye did before in Sin 1 Cor. 15.10 I laboured more abundantly than they all Reasons 1. It is not an indifferent thing whether ye be eminent in Obedience yea or no. God maketh a great matter of it as appeareth by his strict injunctions Psal. 119.4 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently By his ample Promises Deut. 11.26 27 28 29. Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse a blessing if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day By his Punishment of the Disobedient 2 Thess. 1.8 9. To take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power By the Example of Christ Heb. 5.8 9. Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him You have gained a great point when you are perswaded of this 2. That the Government of God is not for the Rulers benefit but the Subjects welfare It is as the Physicians Prescriptions the Pilots Steerage to direct us to our Happiness the Parents Education Deut. 5.29 O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children for ever 3. That after Grace received there is still the weakness of our flesh The Mind in part is blind and ignorant in the corrupt Will there is a back biass Passions are turbulent Temptations of Sense and Appetite are incessant and powerful therefore watchfulness and caution are not unnecessary the Heart is very treacherous 4. The Honour of Grace is much concerned in our activity and zeal for the new Creature is formed for somewhat Eph. 2.10 We are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them SERMON XX. ROM VI. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness IN this Verse the Apostle rendreth a Reason why they should add to Righteousness Holiness as they had before added Iniquity unto Iniquity because Righteousness had no whit of their service then therefore sin should not have any jot of their service now they had devoted themselves to God He layeth before them the wretchedness of their carnal Estate in two Notions 1. They were Slaves to Sin 2. Strangers to Righteousness This latter he expresseth by this Phrase Free from righteousness 1. What it signifieth 2. Why used here 1. What it signifieth A man may be said to be free from Righteousness two ways First De Jure so no man is or can be free from Righteousness for every Creature is under a Law and an Obligation of Duty to God Saul proclaimed That whosoever would encounter Goliah his house should be free in Israel 1 Sam. 15.25 meaning not a total exemption from Obedience but have certain Regalities bestowed on his Family a Subject remaining a Subject cannot be altogether freed from Duty to his Prince Now Man being Gods Creature is also his Subject and therefore of Right â—e neither is nor can be free from Righteousness Secondly De Facto they carried themselves as if they were free never busied themselves with thoughts of God nor regarded to walk holily before him 2. Why it is put here to shew we must not divide our Service but abstain as strictly from sin as we did before from all good you must serve Righteousness as before you served Sin When you were under Sins yoke Righteousness had no power over you and now you are under Christs yoke the power of sin must at least be considerately weakened Doctrine Those who become Servants of God should be as free from Sin as before they were from Righteousness 1. I suppose that there is a Liberty which is a Perfection of Humane Nature and a Liberty which is a Defection from God That Liberty which is a Perfection is to be willing and ready to perform our Duty to God Psal. 119.45 I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts that Liberty which is a Defection or a Revolt from God is properly Licentiousness rather than Liberty and that is a desire to live as we list to be free from the bonds of Duty Psal. 2.3 Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us 2. They that most labour for this carnal Liberty are the most wretched Servants of Sin because they are overcome and led Captive by it and wholly give up themselves to obey sin so 2 Pet. 2.19 Whilst they promise themselves liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption The flesh seeketh its peace and quietness which it cannot injoy but by giving it self over to its lusts and so they are pleased with this servile condition and remain in this Bondage though it be the worst of all 3. That the Servants of Sin or those who are under the yoke of sin carry it as if they were free from Righteousness that is to say either by way of Neglect or by way of Resistance First By way of Neglect they made no Conscience did not so much as think what was holy and pleasing to God as some go on carelesly not considering what they do nor whereunto it will tend These are said to despise their ways Prov. 19.16 He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul but he that despiseth his ways shall die Some care not how they live but are carried on by their own blind lusts Righteousness or a Conscience of their Duty hath no power over them they do not consider of their actions much less take care to mend their course Secondly By way of Opposition and Resistance for they are said to be free from Righteousness that are opposite and averse from it as the carnal mind is enmity to the
any man among you seem to be wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise he cometh to himself again and when sensible of his filthiness and loathsomness it is a sign he hath some love and liking to the pure and holy ways of God as there is more light and love infused into the heart so do men more loath themselves for their filthiness Ezek. 36.31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and abominations To be truly and really ashamed of sin is the effect of saving Grace Ezra 9.6 I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God There are two sorts of Shame the shame of a guilty stormy Conscience and the shame of a tender Conscience there is a confounding shame and a penitential shame the one breedeth trouble of Spirit and is the fruit of Sin the other an holy Self-loathing and is the fruit of Grace the first may be in carnal men the other is only in Gods Children The differences between these two sorts of shame may be these 1. The Penitential Shame continueth and increaseth under the greatest assurance of Forgiveness and dieth not when we think we are out of danger the other is presently after the commission of sin and while the guilt remaineth As David grew shy of God Psal. 32. after he got his discharge and his sins were pardoned Ezek. 16.63 That thou mayest remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hâ—st done saith the Lord God There is a dislike of sin when they are upon the surest Terms with God 2. The first sort of Shame considereth Sin as it damneth or destroyeth not as it defileth but the second as it is an act of Filthiness and Folly of Folly as David Psal. 73.22 So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee of Filthiness Ezra 9.6 O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God for our iniquities have increased over our head and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens They loath sin as sin because they love Holiness as Holiness Psal. 119.140 Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it Conscience keepeth its own Court medleth not but for moral evils is ashamed not of calamities and infelicities but crimes or sins which are hateful to God and therefore to the new Creature for it hateth and loveth on Gods grounds and reasons 3. The first sort of Shame is accompanied with slavish fear shunneth the presence of God as Adam did Gen. 3.10 I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid my self or David Psal. 32.3 4. When I kept silence my bones waxed old c. The other is accompanied with Love and causeth the Godly to come into Gods presence but with self-loathing and reverence Prov. 30.2 Surely I am more brutish than any man and have not the understanding of a man Luke 18.13 The Publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven but smote on his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner The one causeth us to hate God the other to loath our selves for our unkindness to him and unworthy dealing with him The one is our torment the other our cure 4. The trouble and shame of Hypocrites is because of the World the shame of the Godly is because of God Saul was not ashamed of his sin but ashamed that Samuel should reprove him before the people 1 Sam. 15.30 So the thief is ashamed when he is found Jer. 2.26 But a Child of God is ashamed before God and of sins which the world cannot see Psal. 69.5 6. O God thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee Let not them that wait on thee O Lord God of hosts be ashamed for my sake let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake O God of Israel As if he had said Sure I have just cause to be ashamed c. 5. The effect sheweth a difference the true shame quickeneth the Soul to more resolution vigilance earnest striving against sin so that our Life Trade and principal Business in the World is to avoid it Psal. 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments But in the other it prevaileth no further than that they may avoid the present trouble and get a little ease The Reasons and Causes of this Shame 1. A new and heavenly Light to see those things which others see not and which themselves saw not before Jer. 31.19 Surely after that I was turned I repented and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Rom. 7.9 I was alive without the commandment once but when the commandment came sin revived and I died They see more of sin and more evil in sin than ever they saw before as light discovers what lay hid before in the dark 2. A lively sense and taste of Gods Mercy and Goodness of his forbearing Mercy that he did not strike assoon as the offence was committed Rom. 2.4 The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Redeeming Mercy by Christ 1 Joh. 3.5 Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins Covenanting Mercy or the offers of Pardon and Life in the new Covenant Acts 17.30 The time of this ignorance God winked at but now he commandeth all men every where to repent His healing Mercy Tit. 3.5 According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost To offend so good a God or sin against the Lord of Love and Mercy is a great crime 3. The new Nature which is contrary to Sin Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil there is Odium offensionis odium inimicitiae a hatred of offence and a hatred of enmity 4. Their seriousness before the deluded Soul is so taken up with fleshly Pleasures and deluding Objects that they had no time nor room to consider of their ways what with business and sensual delights and the crowd of worldly cares and the noise of foolish sports and sensual passions their hearts were diverted from observing things of the greatest and everlasting consequence they did in effect forget they had Souls to save or lose or a God to serve or a Glory to look after but now they remember and loath themselves Vse 1. To shew how much they differ from the People of God that wallow in all manner of filthiness and know no shame Impudency is a great note of Obstinacy and Impenitency Zeph. 3.5 The unjust knoweth no shame By long custom in sinning they lose the sense of the filthiness and odiousness of it and
the other side the greater God is and the more glorious the greater obligation lyeth upon us to love him and serve him so that the good that we do for his sake being the more due God is not bound by any right of Justice from the merit of the action it self to reward it for here the greatness of the Object lesseneth the merit and value of the Action for whatever the Creature is it oweth it self wholly to God who gave us our Being and still preserveth it so that we cannot lay any obligation upon him Luke 17.10 When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say We are uprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do Punishment is naturally due to evil doers but God is not by natural Justice bound to reward us but only inclined to do so by his own goodness and bound to do so by his free Promise and Covenant Aristotle telleth us Children cannot merit of their Parents all the kindness and duty they perform to them is but a just recompence to them from whom they have received their Being and Education much less can we merit ought of God it is his meer grace and supereminent goodness that appointed such a reward to us that grace which first accepted us with all our faults doth still crown us and bestow glory and honour upon us Vse 1. See how God doth beset us on every side to fense and bound us within our duty there is a threatning of eternal Death to â—â—vite us to go on in our way the promise of eternal Life and Glory Surely both Motives should be effectual our whole life is a flight from wrath to come and a running for refuge to take hold of the blessed hope set before us in our pursuit after eternal Life Prov. 15.24 The way of life is above to the wise that he may depart from hell beneath We are still running further from Hell and approaching nearer to Heaven the more we hate and avoid sin the further we go from the pit of everlasting Destruction and the more we give our selves to Holiness the nearer Heaven every day our Right is more secured and our hearts more prepared More particularly we have by this conjoyned motive a great help against Temptations The World tempteth us either by the Delights of Sense or by the Terrors of Sense therefore God propoundeth this double Motive the Terrors of everlasting Death and the Joys of everlasting Life that we may counterbalance Terrors with Terrors and Delights with Delights as Luke 12.4 5 Be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you Fear him On the other side Jam. 5.5 Ye have lived in pleasure upon earth and been wanton ye have nourished your selves as in a day of slaughter Luke 16.25 Son remember that in this life thou receivest thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented they are excluded from the pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore Or else quite cross as the World tempts us by the hopes of some sensual contentment so we may resist the Temptation by the belief of everlasting Death Rom. 8.13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Surely this should make us abstain from all sinful pleasures how much soever we are addicted to them So as the World tempteth us with the fears of some temporal vexation the believing of everlasting Life should help us to bear the evils of our pilgrimage or sufferance for well-doing 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction that is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Thus are we environed on the right hand and on the left Vse 2. From this Conjunction let us learn that God is both a righteous Judge and a gracious Father 1 Pet. 1.17 If ye call on the Father who without respect of persons judgeth according to every mans work He hath his gifts for the godly and punishments for the wicked All our claim is Grace the punishment of the wicked is due debt the Sentence of Gods Law hath made it their due but yet our reward is not the less sure though it be more free 2. Let us consider these two Branches apart First The Wages of Sin is Death I. What is meant by Death II. How it is said to be the Wages of Sin 1. What is meant by Death There is a twofold Death First and Second Temporal and Eternal 1. Temporal Death that is also the fruit of Sin Rom. 5.12 By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all men have sinned Death is an Evil for Nature abhorreth it as appeareth by our unwillingness to dye Now if it be evil it must be either the Evil of Sin or of Punishment God threatened it as a punishment in case of disobedience Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die It is an Enemy The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death 1 Cor. 15.26 Would God give Mankind into the hand of an Enemy if he had not sinned against him Now this Evil remaineth partly that there might by some visible punishment and bitter effect of sin in this World unknown Torments are despised and many slight Hell as a vain Scarecrow therefore God hath appointed temporal death to put us in mind of the evil of sin partly for a passage into our everlasting condition that the righteous may enter into Glory and the wicked go to their own place It would make Religion too sensible if the righteous should have all their blessedness and the wicked all their punishment here therefore there must be a passage out into the other World 2. Eternal Death in opposition to everlasting Life which is the fruit of Holiness The opposite Clause sheweth what a kind of death it is This is called the second Death Rev. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power and ver 14. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death It is called Death because death in all Creatures that have sense is accompanied with pain Trees and other Vegetables dye without pain but so doth not Man and Beast and death to man is more bitter because he is more sensible of the sweetness of life than the beasts are and hath some forethought of what may follow after Again it is called Death because it is a misery from which there is no release as from the first death there is no recovery nor returning into the present life This second Death may be considered as to the Loss and Pain First As to the Loss it is an eternal separation from
the presence of God and so an exclusion from all Bliss and Glory 2 Thess. 1.9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power So Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire Secondly The Pain is set forth by two Notions Mark 9.44 The worm that never dyeth and the fire that shall never be quenched by which is meant the sting of Conscience and the wrath of God both which constitute the second Death and make the Sinner for ever miserable 1. The sting of Conscience or the fretting remembrance of their past folly and madness in following the pleasures of sin and neglecting the promises of Grace What a vexing reflection will this be to the Damned to all Eternity And besides this 2. There are pains inflicted upon them by the wrath of God and the Body and Soul are delivered over to eternal Torments Mat. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels There is no Member of the Body or Faculty of the Soul but feeleth the misery of the second Death for as no part is free from sin so none from punishment in the second Death the pain lyeth not in one place head or heart but all over and though in the first Death the more it prevaileth the more we are past feeling yet in this death there is a greater vivacity than ever the capacity of every sense is enlarged and made more receptive of pain While we are in the Body vehemens sensibile corrumpit sensum the sense is deadned the more vehemently and violently the object striketh upon it as the Inhabitants about the fall of Nilus are deaf with the continual noise too much light puts out the eyes and the taste is dulled by custom but here the capacity is not destroyed by feeling but improved As the Saints are fortified by their Blessedness and happily injoy those things the least glimpse of which would overwhelm them in the World so the wicked are inabled by that power that torments them to endure more and all this is eternal without hope of release or recovery II. This Death is Wages a Debt that will surely be paid for it is appointed by the Sentence of Gods righteous Law Now here we must consider 1. The Righteousness of it 2. The Certainty 1. The Justice and Righteousness of it for many make a question about it upon this ground because between the work and the wages there must be some proportion now how can an Act done in a short time be punished with eternal Death or everlasting Torments I answer 1. We must consider the Object against whom sin is committed it is an offence done against an infinite Majesty Now sinning wilfully against the infinite Majesty of Heaven deserveth more than any thing done against a man can do 1 Sam. 2.25 If one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him Sins against men are not so great as sins against God and the reconciliation and satisfaction is more easie 2. Consider the Nature of Impenitency in Sin 1. Their great unthankfulness for Redemption by Christ they forsook their own mercies and Gods healing grace to the last Joh. 3.19 This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation And then when they are in Termino there is no further Tryal their time and day of Grace is past 2. God offered them eternal Life and then their foolish choice is justly punished with eternal Death Every sin includeth a despising of eternal Life for rather than men will leave their brutish and sordid pleasures that they may live an holy life they will run this hazard the loss of that eternal Life which God offereth and the incurring these eternal pains which he threatneth This immortal happiness far exceedeth all those base pleasures for which they lose their Souls Well then man wilfully exchanging his everlasting Inheritance for momentany and transient pleasures becometh the Author of his own wo whilst he preferreth such low things before Gods eternal joyful presence 2. The Certainty This Debt will be paid if we consider 1. The Holiness of Gods Nature which inclineth him to hate sin and sinners Psal. 5.4 5. Thou art not a God that hast pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity They that take pleasure in sin God cannot take pleasure in them and if they will not part with sin God and they must part and therefore if they will do sins work all that sin bringeth to them by way of stipend is everlasting separation from the presence of God that is implacably adverse to all that is evil and though he hath prepared a place where the holy may dwell with him yet he cannot endure the wicked should be so near him 2. His Justice moveth him to punish it As Holiness belongeth to his Nature so his Justice to his Office his Holiness is the fundamental Reason of punishing the wicked his Justice is the next Cause His Holiness is indeed the fundamental Cause as appeareth by the fears of Sinners 1 Sam. 6.20 And the men of Bethshemesh said Who is able to stand before this holy God And by the security of Sinners Psal. 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self but the nearest Cause is his Justice as Rector of the World declared both in his Laws and Providence Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death c. Gen. 18.25 Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right 3. His unalterable Truth which is firmer than Heaven and Earth if he threaten will not he accomplish The truth of his Threatnings is as unchangeable as the truth of his Promises for in both God is one 1 Sam. 15.29 The strength of Israel will not lye nor repent for he is not as man that he should repent it is spoken in the case of deposing Saul for his disobedience to God The doubt is this Gods Threatnings do not always foretel the Event they shew the merit but not the event I answer The object is changed but God remaineth for ever the same if from impenitent we become penitent we are not liable to his Threatnings but objects of his Grace and capable of the benefit of his Promises a man walking in a room upward and downward hath sometimes the wall on his right hand sometimes on his left the wall is in the same place but he changeth posture 4. His irresistible Power God is able to inflict these punishments upon them Deut. 32.39 There is none that can deliver out
of my hand 2 Thess. 1.9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Rom. 9.22 What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known We cannot conceive what God is able to do in punishing Sinners but the event declares it Vse 1. Information 1. That Believers need to consider the Fruit of Sin that thereby they may be moved to fears of God and more careful avoiding of sin They are not to think of it in a slavish tormenting way as if God desired the Creatures misery no they are warned of it that they may escape it though Love must be the chief Spring and Principle of our Obedience yet Fear hath its use the Threatnings declare the Holiness of God as well as his Promises and we need to know his hatred to Sin as well as his love to Righteousness to breed an awe in us 2. It sheweth the folly of them that betwitch themselves into a groundless hope of impunity in their sinful courses Deut. 29.19 And it come to pass when he heareth the words of this Curse that he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst They take from God the honour of his Holiness Justice and Truth Gods glory is advanced in the World by Acts of Justice as well as Acts of Mercy and besides they open a gap to all impiety 3. That all sins are in their own nature mortal for the wages of sin is death In comparison some sins are greater than others and so more deserving punishment but simply and considered by themselves all are mortal if not in the issue and event yet in their own nature God pardoneth the Penitent their sins are not deadly in the event but they deserve damnation in their own nature There are sins of infirmity and wilful sins but nothing should be light and small to us that is committed against the great God Some are lighter some are heavier but all are in their nature damnable they are a breach of the Law of the eternal God Though the Gospel reacheth out mercy to penitents offering to them pardon of sins and eternal Life yet all deserve damnation and were it not for Christ and the new Covenant we should not be a moment out of Hell Vse 2. Direction 1. To the Impenitent that yet go on in their sins O repent of it speedily and cast out sin as we do fire out of our bosoms and sleep not in the bonds of iniquity Your damnation sleepeth not 1 Pet. 2.3 You are invited earnestly Ezek. 18.30 Why will ye dye O house of Israel O then pass from death to life if you refâ—â—e this Call you do in effect love death Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul all they that hate me love death By refusing Christ and nourishing sin you nourish a Serpent in your bosoms and embrace the flames of Hell-fire therefore betimes seek a Pardon 2. To the penitent Believers three things I have to press upon them First Consider what cause we have to admire and magnifie the riches of Gods Mercy in our Redemption by Christ by whom sin is taken away and the consequent of it eternal death and who also hath taken the punishment of it upon himself Isa. 53.4 5. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted But he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our sins the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes are we healed Secondly Never return to this slavery again for you see what a dangerous thing sin is when you indulge sin you lay hold on death it self therefore fly from it as from the gates of Hell and from all means instruments occasions and opportunities that lead to it and when Satan sheweth you the bait remember the hook and counterbalance the pleasures of sin to which we are vehemently addicted with eternal pains which are the fruit of it Now shall we run so great an hazard for poor vain and momentany delights It is sweet to a carnal heart to please the flesh but it will cost dear Now shall we sell the birthright for one morsel of meat Heb. 12.15 and hazard the loss of the Love of God for trifles Thirdly Take heed of small sins they are breaches of the eternal Law of God They that do not make great account of small sins will make but small account of the greatest for he that is not faithful in a little will be unfaithful in much There are many forcible Arguments to deter us from small sins partly because it is more difficult to avoid them they do not come with such frightning awakening assaults as the greater do partly because being neglected they taint the heart insensibly and men look not after their cure partly because they do prepare and dispose to greater offences as the little sticks set the great ones on fire partly because with their multitude and power they do as much hurt the Soul as great sins with their weight minuta sunt sed multa sunt lastly because they are in their own nature mortal Therefore dash Babylons Brats against the stones In short small sins are the Mother of great sins and the Grandmother of great punishments Lots Wife was turned into a Pillar of Salt the Angels were cast out of Heaven Adam thrust out of Paradise Second Branch But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Doctrine That eternal Life is Gods free and gracious Gift to the Sanctified What eternal Life is we shewed before it is the full fruition of eternal Joys without any possibility of losing them Here is 1. The Donor God 2. The meritorious and procuring Cause Jesus Christ our Lord. 3. The Parties qualified Those that have their fruit to Holiness 1. On Gods part a Gift not a Debt as Wages is to the Servant or Souldier but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gracious Gift Though we should serve God a thousand years we cannot merit to be one half day in Heaven there it is a Gift to those who do most exactly persevere in Holiness the best have no other Claim but the Mercy of the Donor 1. It is the freest Gift 2. It is the richest Gift 1. It is the freest Gift God payeth more than is our due To punish men beyond their desert is injustice but to reward men beyond their deserts is not contrary to Justice for it is an Act of Mercy First It is greater than any merit of ours because it is the eternal injoyment of the ever blessed God and so far beyond any thing that we can do Finite things carry no proportion to an infinite reward Secondly Our works are many ways imperfect and so we may expect punishment rather than reward Mercy is our best Plea when we
readily and comfortably will the spiritual life be carried on and the more hearty and serious you are in this the more peace you will have and such graces will be heaped upon you as will be the evident tokens of Gods Approbation and Acceptance Till you renounce Gods enemies and consent to be the Lords you are in the state of rebels rebels in heart tho Subjects in shew and what you perform is by constraint and not by a willing mind God hath right to our duties before we consent and therefore 't is a sin in carnal men to omit them but our consent and self-obligation is necessary to our voluntary Obedience and Acceptation with God Besides when this resignation willingness and consent is deep rooted it becometh as a nature to us and carrieth the force and authority of a principle in our hearts and puts the soul upon such sincere Obedience as God will take kindly at our hands it habituateth the mind to an obediential frame and then the particular acts will not be very difficult 2. To exhort us to please God This must be managed 1. Negatively Not to please the flesh flesh-pleasing is the fortress of sin for all sin tendeth to flesh-pleasing now Christians are to crucifie the flesh not to gratifie the flesh our Lord Jesus Christ pleased not himself Rom. 15.3 He sought not to gratifie that life he had assumed not that we should deny the body all delight in the mercies of God then the soul would soon be clogged which perfecteth its operations by the body we are to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul but not to abstain from worldly comforts which would produce the same effect hindering our cheerful service of God common mercies must be received as mercies else there would be no room for humiliation and thanksgiving Not of humiliation when God correcteth us for sin by depriving us of those mercies and so there would be no distinction between mercy and punishment nor for thankfulness for we cannot be thankful for what we do not esteem and relish in some subordinate degree It is a mercy or is it not If it be a mercy we may use it with thanksgiving if not then you cannot bless God for it but in the use of these things we must take heed that the soul be not drawn away from God and the interest of the flesh be not set up against him It becometh a Christian much more to mortifie the deeds of the body than to fulfil his lusts and he must be cautious that he do not displease God by pleasing the flesh that Satan who is ever laying his baits to catch unwary souls do not draw him to such an use of bodily pleasures as are immoderate and sinful 2. Not to please men who have power or many advantages over us That we please not them to the wrong of God the Apostle saith Gal. 1.10 If I yet pleased men I were not the servant of Christ. There is a twofold man-pleasing which is sinful the one respects the matter the other the scope First the matter When we seek to please them by something that is sinful or by dispensing with our duty to God to do this voluntarily and deliberately is to forsake our vowed duty in the Covenant and to renounce our happiness and therefore a damnable sin we forsake our duty when man must be pleased by some known sin no our absolute dependance is on God and therefore his will must be regarded in the first place Acts 5.29 We ought to obey God rather than man and therefore no man must be pleased by sin 't is a renouncing of our happiness as if their favour were to be preferred before the favour of God John 12.42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue and ch 5.44 how can you believe that seek honour one of another No God is enough to a gracious soul Psal. 63.3 Because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee His approbation should satisfie us the people of God have felt what it is to have displeased God and what it is to be reconciled to him by the death and Intercession of Christ that to them it is a small matter whether man be pleased or displeased if God be pleased 't is no matter who is displeased 2. As to their scope When the matter is pleasing both to God and men but you regard mans eye most Eph. 6.6 Not with eye-service as men-pleasers but as the servant of God doing the will of God from the heart and Col. 3.22 Not with eye-service as men-pleasers but with singleness of heart fearing God As your happiness lieth not in mans approbation so this is the only constant motive of pure and sincere Obedience 2. Positively Pleasing God is your great duty and business in the world this is uprightness and this will be your safety and happiness for if you study to please God then God is ever with you Christ hath given you an instance of that John 8.29 And he that sent me is with me the father hath not left me alone for I do always those things that please him And then 't is no matter who is displeased and angry with us Prov. 16.7 When a mans ways please the Lord he maketh his enemies to be at peace with him God will hear your Prayers 1 John 3.22 And whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments He will give you everlasting happiness and glory Heb. 4.5 and truly he is not hard to be pleased Mal. 3.17 Man-pleasing is a more difficult and unprofitable task God is pleased with nothing that hurts your selves or others 3. Let me exhort you to beg more of the spirit for whilst we are in the flesh we cannot please God and therefore you must beg more plentiful Grace to change your natures and to fix your intention right that you may please God in all things your natures are never changed till your love be altered nor till God direct your love 2 Thes. 3.5 And the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God SERMON XI ROM VIII 9 But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you IN these words the Apostle applieth the property of the justified unto the Romans In this Application you may observe both his Charity and his Prudence 1. His Charity but you are not in the flesh but in the spirit 2. His Prudence if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you 1. For that clause which expresseth his Charity The Phrases of being in the flesh or in the spirit are the same with being after the flesh and after the spirit v. 5. or walking or living after the flesh or after the spirit used in other Verses of this Chapter 2. In the other Clause which expresseth his Prudence
Government than reward we owe much of our safety to Prisons and Executions so in Gods Government tho love be the mighty Gospel Motive yet fear hath its use at least for those who will not serve God out of love slavish fear tieth rheir hands from mischief 3. For the converted they find all help in this part of the spirits discipline to guard their love When their minds are in danger of being inchanted by carnal delights or perverted by the terrors of sense when the flesh presents the bait Faith shews the hook Matth. 10.28 Or are apt to abuse our power because none in the world can call us to an account Job 3.23 Destruction from God was a terror to me He stood in awe of God who is a party against the oppressor and will right the weak against the powerful 2. Secondly Since 't is threatned we may conclude the certainty of its accomplishment The world will not easily believe that none shall be saved but the Regenerate and those that live not after the flesh but the spirit and love God in Christ above all the world even their own lives that besides these few all the rest shall be tormented in Hell for ever flesh and blood cannot easily down with this Doctrine but Gods threatnings are as sure as executions 1. Because of the holinese of his nature Psal. 11.6 7. Vpon the wicked he will rain snares fire and brimstone and horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness But men feign God as they would have him to be and judg of Gods holiness by their own interest Psal. 50.21 Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self As if God were less mindful because he is so holy and will not be so indulgent to their flesh and sin as they are themselves and would have him to be 2. His unalterable truth God cannot lie Tit. 1.2 Tho the threatning in the present judgment doth not always shew the event but merit yet it follows afterward for the Scripture must be fulfilled or else all Religion will fall to the ground he cannot endure any should question it 't is not a vain scare-crow Deut. 30.19.20 I call Heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore chuse life that thou and thy seed may live that thou mayest love the Lord thy God that thou mayest obey his voice and that thou mayest cleave unto him for he is thy life and the length of thy days 3. His all-sufficient Power 2 Thes. 1.9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power and Rom. 9.22 What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known indureth with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction If God will do so surely he can there is no let there Heb. 10.29 30. Vengeance belongeth to me and I will recompence saith the Lord and again the Lord shall judg his people He liveth for ever to see vengeance executed if it seem co be so terrible to you God knoweth 't is with a design of love to awaken those that are carnal What a case am I in then And to make the converted more cautious that they do not border on the carnal life God maketh no great difference here between the righteous and the wicked hereafter he will SERMON XVII ROM VIII 13 If ye live after the flesh ye shall die 1. USe is Information 1. To shew the lawful use of Threatnings 2. The folly of two sorts of people 1. Of those that will rather venture this death than leave their sinful pleasure 2. Those that would reconcile God and flesh God and the world c. 1. The lawful use of threatnings 1. Threatnings are necessary during the law of Grace Two Arguments I shall give for the proof thereof 1. If Threatnings were needful to Adam in the State of Innocency and Perfection much more are they useful now when there is such a corrupt Inclination within and so many Temptations without in the best there is a double principle and many inordinate lusts that we need the strongest bridle and curb to suppreis them 2. If Christ eame to verifie Gods threatnings surely God hath some use of them now But so it is the Devil would represent God as a lyer in his comminations Gen. 3.4 Ye shall not surely die Christ came to confute the Tempter and would die rather than the Devils reproach of Gods threatnings should be found true surely this is to check thoughts of iniquity 2. The folly of two sorts of people First Of those that will rather venture this death than leave their sinful pleasures and live an holy life carnal men think no life so happy as theirs being escaped out of fetters of Religion and bonds of Conscience in the Apostles Expression Free from righteousness Rom. 6.20 Whereas the truth is none are more miserable for they carry it so as if they were in love with their own death Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul and they that hate me love death You hazzard soul and body and all that is near and dear to you for a little carnal satisfaction for the present you get nothing but the guilt of conscience hardness of heart and the displeasure of the eternal God and for the future everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord when the body and soul shall be cast into Hell Fire Consider this before it be too late there is no man goeth to Hell or Heaven but with violence to conscience or lusts those that go to Hell offer violence to their conscience 2. Those that would reconcile God and flesh God and the world and secure their interest in both that hope to please the flesh and yet to be happy hereafter for all that would keep up a profession of Godliness while they live in secret league with their lusts God will not halve it with the world nor part stakes with the flesh you cannot please the flesh and enjoy God too for you have but one happiness if you place it in contenting the flesh you cannot have it in the fruition of God Their end is destruction whose God is their belly and who mind earthly things Phil 3.19 Wordly pleasures will end in eternal torments and so much delight so much more will your torments be for contraries are punished with contraries Rev. 8.11 How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much sorrow give her Therefore so much as you gratifie the flesh so much you endanger the soul Will you for a little temporal satisfaction run the hazzard of Gods eternal wrath 2. USE is to disswade you from this course To this End I shall lay down some Motives and some Means Motives are these 1. You think the flesh is your friend do all that you can to
cannot rationally expect the best and richest Fruits of this gift and to be inabled and inlarged by the spirit who do not give such ready entertainment and obedience to his motions as the more serious and fruitful Christian doth 4. But do all that have it know that they have it I Answer 1. The spirit of adoption is in some weak and therefore not so perceptible as it is in others for small and weak things are hardly discerned All Gods Children have the spirit of adoption in the effects though not in the sense and feeling of it They have the spirit of comfort though not the comfort of it for if any have not the spirit of Christ they are none of his Rom. 8.9 The Witness of his spirit is spoken of as distinct from receiving the spirit v. 16. There is a Child-like inclination and impression left upon them tho they know it not own it not There is a difference between the thing its self and the degree we cannot say we have not the spirit of adoption because we have not so much of this spirit calming our hearts rebuking our fears and filling us with joy and peace in believing The spirit was given to Christ without measure but to Christians in a different measure and proportion as they yield up themselves more or less to the conduct of his grace and overcome the enemies of their peace the Devil the World and the Flesh the impression is left upon some in a smaller upon some in a larger character all are not of a growth and size some are more real Christians others only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminent grace will more discover its self than a little grace under an heap of imperfections a fervent love will be felt and a lively hope of Heaven demonstrate its self and an exact obedience less liable to dispute as we increase in Love and Heavenly mindness so the spirit discovereth his presence in us 2. Where the spirit of adoption acteth at the lowest rate there is something to difference it from the spirit of bondage 1. They are carried on to wait upon God upon Gospel grounds though they cannot apply the comforts and enter themselves heirs to the priviledges thereof some know they are of the truth and can make out their title with clearness and satisfaction 1 John 3.14 And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him others depend on Gods general offer while their claim and sincerity is as yet questionable God offereth to be a Father in Christ to all penitent believers and so we are incouraged to come to him by Christ the Apostle telleth us Heb. 7.19 That the gospel brought in a better hope by vertue of which we draw nigh to God There is a Child-like inclination when there is not a Child-like familiarity and boldness the soul cannot keep away from God but will come to him that he may pardon our sins and heal our souls and save our persons now this is the spirit of adoption in the lower or more obscure way of addressing our selves to God as a Father 2. There are child-like groans as well as child-like comforts compare Rom. 8.26 The spirit it self maketh intercession for us with sights and groans which cannot be uttered with 1 Pet. 1.8 In whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory In some the spirit only discovereth himself by hungring and thirsting after righteousness in others he worketh peace which passeth all understanding and joy unspeakable and full of glory 3. There is a child-like reverence when there is not a child like confidence They are affraid to offend their Heavenly Father though they cannot challenge all the fruits and effects of his Fatherly love as belonging to them when they cannot own him as a Father with delightful confidence yet they dare not offend him for all Gods Children have a Child-like love to him when they have not a full sense and assurance of his paternal love to them for he hath a title to our dearest love before we can make out a title to his benefits now they that love God hate evil Psal. 97.10 are tender of omitting any duty or committing any offence where there is this Holy awe there is a spirit of adoption 't is an owning of God as a Father 1 Pet 1.17 If ye call on the Father c. And therefore this reverence we call filial fear 4. The heart is carryed out to heavenly things though we cannot call them ours All that are children do look after a childs Portion there is a twofold hope First an hope which is the effect of regeneration 1 Pet. 1.3 And an hope which is the effect of experience Rom. 5.4 Now this puts a difference between the spirit of Bondage and the servile mercenary spirit when the currant of thine affections is carried out after the eternal inheritance servants and mercenaries must have pay in hand they covenant with you from day to day or from quarter to quarter or from year to year a child in the Family tarryeth for a Childs Portion Math. 6.4 When thou dost thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as 〈◊〉 hypocrites do in the synogogue and in the street they have their reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 present wages they look for discharge God from other things if he wiâ—l give them the honour and pleasure of the world they are satisfied and look for no more 5. Why this is the fruit of the new covenant dispensation There are three things which must not be severed 1. The object 2. A powerful agent 3. The disposition of the subject thence resulting 1. There is an object and that is the Gospel offering pardon and life reconciliation with God and the everlasting fruition of him in Glory In the Gospel or new covenant we have the highest discovery of Gods Fatherly goodness that he might be more amiable and lovely to us and be loved by us the great end of reconciling and saving lost man by Christ his wonderful condescention in his incarnation life sufferings and death was to commend his love to us Rom. 5.8 Herein God commended his love to us in that when we were yet sinners Christ died for us To this end also tend his merciful covenant and promises that we might not look upon God as a condemning Judg but as a gracious and reconciled Father offering to be so to all that will accept Christ and submit to him God would not immediately beget this perswasion in our minds by his own secret power but use this objective means work upon our love by love because he will work on man agreeably to the nature of man his covenant shall speak him a Father that we may apprehend him as a Father 2. There is an internal powerful agent and that is the spirit Besides the external objective means there must be an internal effective cause for though Gods Fatherly love
doth shine resplendently without us in the person of the Mediator and the riches of the Gospel yet the dead and dark heart of man is not affected with it John 1.5 And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not till God shine into our Hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Unless this Doctrine of Gods Fatherly Love and Grace be accompanied with his illuminating Sanctifying Comforting Spirit who sheds abroad this Love in our Hearts which is revealed in the Gospel 3. The disposition thence resulting from the application of this object to us by the spirit such as the object is such are the affections stirred up in us as by Law-truths the spirit worketh conviction terrors of conscience legal contrition Acts 2.37 and thence Bondage ariseth so by the Gospel where God is represented as the Father of Mercies and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and in him our God and Father the Impression must be suitable this Spirit that worketh by the Gospel must needs be the Spirit of Adoption or such a Spirit as worketh a Child-like disposition in us for the Impression must always be according to the stamp 1. USE To perswade us to look after the spirit of adoption we never do seriously and closely christianize till we get it but either have a literal Christianity a form of knowledg in the Gospel without the Life and Power or a legal Old Testament Spirit To quicken you consider these Motives or Priviledges which you will have by it 1. Peace of conscience Or a rest from those troubled and unquiet thoughts which otherwise would perplex us Rom. 14.17 For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost and Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing This calm of mind differeth from the deadness and benummedness of a stupid conscience that 's a thing we never laboured for groweth upon us we know not how 't is maintained by idleness rather than by Watchfulness and Diligence and is inconsistent with serious thoughts of God and our eternal condition but this is the fruit of our reconciliation with God and those Blessed priviledges we injoy in his Family it stirreth up admiration and thankfulness 2. Liberty in Prayer For the great help we have in Prayer is from the Spirit of Adoption Zech. 12.10 I will pour out upon you the spirit of grace and supplication That Spirit which cometh from the Grace and free Favour of God stirring up Child like addresses to God Rom. 8.26 Jude 21. Building up your selves on your most holy faith Praying in the Holy Ghost Without this our Prayers are but a vain babling 3. Readiness in duty 2 Cor. 3.17 Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty They serve God with a free spirit the Holy Life is carried on with more sweetness and success not by compulsion but with ready mind Psal. 51.12 Vphold me with thy free spirit John 8.32 If the truth shall make you free then are you free indeed men are under shackles and Bondage if they have not the Spirit of Adoption they drive on heavily have not largeness of heart and love to God Heaven and holiness Psal. 119.32 I will run the ways of thy commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart When the heart is suited to the work there needs no other urgings but if we force a course of Religion upon our selves contrary to our own inclination all is harsh and ingrate and cannot hold long 4. Comfort in afflictions Their true consolation and support in afflictions is the Spirit of Adoption Heb. 12.5 Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children and therefore he pursueth it all along They that injoy the priviledges of the Family must submit to the discipline of the Family God will take his own course in bringing up his Children he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth Heb. 12.6 7 8. while we have flesh in us there is use of the rod if God should suffer us to go on in our sins we were not legitimate but degenerate Children Children take it patiently if beaten by their Parents for their faults Pro. 9.10 Parents may err through want of wisdom their chastisement is arbirtary and irregular there is more of compassion than passion in God Gods rod is regulated with perfect Wisdom ordered by the highest love and tends to the greatest end our Holiness here and Happiness for ever and we have Christs example John 18.11 The cup which my father hath given me shall I not drink it The bitterest Potions came not from God as a Judg but as a Father are tempered by a Fathers hand 5. Hope of the benefits of the new Couenant pardon and life 1. Pardon We often forget the duty of Children but God doth not forget the Bowels of a Father our Adoption giveth us hope that he will not deal severely with us Mal. 3.17 Psal. 103.13 The relation of a Child is more durable not so easily broken off as that of a servant a Child is a Child still and therefore allowed to remain in the family when a servant must be gone Secondly For life everlasting and Glory Rom. 8.17 And if children then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him 1 John 3.1 2. The Spirit of Adoption doth both incourage and incline us to wait for it Rom. 8.2 3. But what shall we do to get this Spirit of Adoption 1. 'T is certain that the gift of the spirit is the fruit of our reconciliation with God the general reconciliation with mankind was evidenced by pouring out the Spirit Personal and particular reconciliation with God is the ground of giving the Spirit of Adoption to us Rom. 5.11 We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received the Atonement Therefore do what God requireth in order to reconciliation enter into conditions of peace enter into Covenant with God abhor your former disobedience cast away the weapons of defiance and love God and delight in him 2. Steep your minds in frequent thoughts of Gods fatherly goodness 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of love is this that we should be called the sons of God! Consider it and admire it 2. USE Reflection Have we the Spirit of Adoption 'T is known 1. By a kind of naturalness to come to God and open our hearts to him in all our wants go and cry Abba Father The spirit of Adoption much worketh and discovereth its self in prayer to cry to our Father is an act becoming the Sons of God the manner is fervent affectionate this cry is not by the tongue but by the heart Exod.
doth of our coin and treasure so to wean us from our sensual delights the Scripture propoundeth to our consideration that eternal and solid joy which resulteth from the immediate fruition of God Psal. 16.11 So to wean us from vain glory and that we may be contented with the glory that comes from God only it telleth us of the honour and glory of the Saints John 5.44 All the sensual good things we dote upon are but a may-game or painted shew in comparison of what we shall enjoy there 2. Temporal bad things with eternal good things so to defeat the terrors of sense All the sufferings of the world are but as the scratch of a pin or a flea-biting to that Woe Wrath and Tribulation that abideth for every soul that doth evil no fire like the fire of hell nor pains like the pains of the worm that never dyeth Luke 12.4 5. Fear not them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do but I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell Men threaten prisons God threatneth hell they can mangle the body but when they have cut it all in pieces they cannot reach the soul if we sin to avoid trouble in the world we escape at a dear rate As a nail driveth out a nail so doth one fear drive out another temporal sufferings are nothing to eternal Heb 11.35 They accepted not deliverance looking for a better resurrection the general Resurrection is better than present remission of torments 3. Temporal good with eternal evil many succeed well in a way of sinning here live without any remarkable blast and stroke of Gods Judgment but how is it with them in the other world momentum est quod delectat eternum quod cruciat Heb. 11.25 The pleasures of sin are but for a season but the punishment of sin is for ever if we compare the pleasures of sin with the pains of Hell it may be a means to reclaim us from the sensual life This short pleasure is deerly bought 4. Temporal bad things with eternal good things This here and 2 Cor. 4.17 For our light afflictions which are but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory A due sight of eternity will soon shew us the smalness of all that we can suffer here and so our afflictions are not matters much to be stood upon or accounted of the comparison must be rightly stated and weighed and improved by proper considerations 3. In this last comparison these things are considerable 1. Our sufferings come from men but our glory cometh from God now as the Agent is so is the effect man afflicts as a finite creature but God rewardeth us as an infinite and eternal being man sheweth himself in his wrath and God in his love man in his anger Isa. 51.12 Who art thou that thou shouldest be affraid of a man that shall die and of the son of man who shall be as grass Men soon perish and are gone and the effects of their anger cease with them they can do no more than God pleaseth and their time is limited they can rage no longer than God pleaseth But as man sheweth himself as man God sheweth himself as God 't is intimated in the general expression of the Covenant I will be your God be such a Benefactor as a God should be do us good so as becometh an infinite eternal Power thence are those reasonings Matth. 22.32 I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living Heb. 11.16 But now they desire a better country that is an Heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a city He will give us somewhat like himself now what comparison between the wrath of man and the Bounty of God 2. Our Sufferings are Earthly but our Glory is Heavenly As the place is so is the estate here both the good and evil is partial but there both are compleat For here we are in the way there in termino in our final estate here a believers spiritual condition will counterballance all his outward troubles his consolation exceed his afflictions 2 Cor. 1.5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation doth abound by Christ much more his eternal estate For now we are but in part acquainted with God but there he is all in all 2 Cor. 15.28 Here we see him in a glass but there face to face 2 Cor. 13.2 Here we have the earnest there the whole bargain here a taste there a full feast here the beginning there the consummation 3. Our sufferings are but short but our Glory eternal 1 Pet. 1.6 For a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations the trouble is but of short continuance so 1 Pet. 5.10 He hath called you to eternal glory by Jesus Christ after you have suffered awhile 'T is but a little time that we suffer for God knoweth our spirits are soon apt to fail he considereth we are but dust Indeed the Lord useth a difference with his Children some have shorter Trials some longer but they are all but for a season If they should last for our whole Lives they are but momentary if compared with eternity But 't is not credible that our lives should be altogether calamitous there is no instance either in Scripture or the Records of Time there are intervals of rest and our Enemies cannot trouble us but when 't is permitted of God But if there were no intermission yet this life its self is but for a moment compared with eternity If you consider that which in these afflictions we most dread and beyond which the power of the most cruel adversaries cannot reach death its self 't is but for a moment in the twinkling of an Eye we are in eternity death cometh in a moment and 't is gone in a moment after that we injoy eternal rest and peace Therefore tho in our way to Heaven we should endure the most grievous calamities yet since they are but short and momentary we should submit to them that we may injoy so great a good as the vision and fruition of God Toleramus brevia expectamus eterna the Sufferings are Temporal the Glory is Eternal because it dependeth upon the will of an immutable God and the everlasting merit of a Glorious Redeemer when either of these Foundations fail your Blessedness will be at an end But these can never fail and therefore our Glory will be everlasting Well then the Pain and Suffering will be short within a little while you will feel it no more than if it had never been if the pain be remembred it will be but to increase your joy 4. As they are short so they are light Leves breves The Scripture often ioyneth them
things as many that do well here in the world fare ill in the world to come but now 't is otherwise with the godly John 16. 20. Your sorrow shall be turned into joy Our last and final portion is most to be ragarded the Christian by temporal trouble goeth to eternal joy the worldling by temporal glory to eternal shame a Christians end is better than his beginning he is best at last a man would not have evil after experience of good 4. The comparison tho it be rightly stated and weighed by us it will have no efficacy unless we have faith or a deep sense of the world to come For unless we believe these things they seem too uncertain and too far off to work upon us 'T is easie to reason down our bodily and worldly choice and to shew how much eternal things exceed temporal but this taketh no hold of the heart till there be a firm belief of the glry oreserved for Gods People Heb. 11.1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen and 2 Pet. 1.9 He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off To draw us from things that we see and feel we need a clear light about things we see not Men are sharp sighted enough in things that concern the present world but beyond it we can see nothing but by the perspective of faith and therefore reason as long as we will yet the consideration of the other world doth nothing prevail with us without a lively faith 5. This faith must be often exercised by serious meditations or deep and ponderous thoughts For the greatest truths work not if we do not think of them Faith sheweth us a truth but consideration is the means to improve it that we may make a good choice and our hearts may be fortified against all temptations we must often sit down and count the charges with our selves what it will cost us what we shall lose and what we shall get Luke 14.28 29 30. The Spirit of God will not help us without our thoughts for he dealeth not with us as birds do in feeding their young bringing meat to them and putting it into their mouths while they lie still in the nest and only gape to receive it but as God giveth Corn while we plow sow weed dress and with patience expect his blessing No here the Apostle was reasoning and weighing the case within himself 6. There is besides sound belief and serious consideration need of the influence and assistance of the holy spirit For besides his giving faith and exciting and blessing meditation to dispose and frame our hearts to bide by this conclusion the influence of the Holy Ghost is necessary for God is the chief disposer of hearts 't is not enough notionally to know this but we must be practically resolved and the heart inclined 't is a new inlightned mind and a renewed heart that is only capable of determining thus that we may live by it and that is by another spirit than the spirit of the world which naturally possesseth us even the spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.12 Which is promised to his children and inclineth us to place our happiness not in worldly things but in Christ and his benefits in short sense is too strong for reason without faith and faith cannot do its office without the spirit the flesh seeketh not reason but ease unless the heart be changed and otherwise biassed and bent all is lost USE Now I must shew you the use of this Doctrine 1. Certainly 't is useful for the afflicted in any sort whatever their troubles and afflictions be First for common evils 1. Are you pained with sickness a role to and fro in your bed like a door on the hinges for the weariness of your flesh in Heaven you shall have everlasting ease for that is a state of rest Heb 4.9 We are apprehensive of present pain but not of the greatness of the ease peace and glory that shall succeed tho the pains be acute the sickness lingring and hangeth long upon you yet present time is quickly past but eternity shall have no end 2. Must you dye and the guest be turned out of the old house You have a building with God eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 You do but leave a shed to live in a Palace and forsake an unquiet world for a place of everlasting repose 2. 'T is especially to be applied te those that suffer for righteousness sake Shall we shrink at sufferings for Christ when we shall be in glory with him for evermore How short is the suffering How long the reward For a greater good we should endure a lesser evil A Traveller endureth all the difficulties of the way for the sake of the place where he is going unto so should we What is the evil threatned Are you cast out by man as unworthy to live in any civil society You shall be received by the Lord into an everlasting abode with him 1 Thes. 5.17 And so shall we be ever with the Lord. Have you lost the love of all men for your sincerity and faithfulness You shall everlastingly enjoy the love of God Rom. 8.39 Are you reproached calumniated in the world Then you shall be justified by Christ and your faith found to honour praise and glory 2 Pet. 1.7 Are you cast into Prison you shall shortly be in your Fathers House where there are many mansions John 14.2 Are you reduced to forbid poverty You may read in the Scripture of the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints Eph. 1.18 In short are you tempted opposed persecuted consider much of your journey is past away you are nearer eternity than you were when you first believed Rom. 13. 11. They that both tempt and persecute cannot give so much to you or take so much from you as is worthy to be compared with your great hopes Immortal happiness is most desirable and endless misery most terrible therefore be you faithful to the death and you shall have the Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 Is life its self likely to be forced out by the violence of man the sword is but the key to open Heaven Door for you surely this hope will make the greatest sufferings to become light turn pain into pleasure yea and death its self into life 2. 'T is useful for all if only for the afflicted None is exempted and you must hear for the time to come but every good Christian should be of this temper and spirit and wholly fetch his solaces from the world to come else he is not possessed with a true spirit of Christianity which warneth us all to prepare for sufferings and calleth for self-denyal besides this is a great means to mortifie worldly affections which are the great impediment of the heavenly life when we once learn to despise the afflictions of the world our affections to the delights thereof die by consent both are
Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more 'T is fit Gods turn should be served before ours that we should be willing to return to our obedience before we have our discharge 3. The next step is and whom he justified them he also glorified But you will say Doth the Apostle in the several links of the Golden Chain omit Sanctification I Answer No 'T is included as to the beginning in vocation as to the continuance and further degree 't is included in glorification this therefore is the order God doth first regenerate that he may pardon and he pardoneth that he may further sanctifie and so make us everlastingly happy now Regeneration is included in vocation for his calling us is all one with his begetting us by the word of truth James 1.18 But his further sanctifying which is consequent to justification is implied in the word glorified as grace is glory begun so glorification is sanctification consummate and compleated 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath sealed us and given us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts which is centessima pars Here our happiness standeth in loving God and being beloved of him there in the most perfect act of love and reception of his benefits this love is here inkinddled by faith there by vision here so far like God that sin is mortified there nullified 4. Those that are sanctified are glorified in part There are fully glorified the Apostle speaketh of it as past he will certainly and infallibly glorifie them as if they were in Heaven already Hath eternal life John 5.24 Hath it in the promise hath it in the pledg the gift of the sanctifying spirit we have small beginnings and earnests and fore-tasts of everlasting blessedness in this life by faith we may foresee what God will be for ever to his Saints now by being sanctified we are put into a capacity of eternal life Without holiness we cannot see God Heb. 12.14 But holiness maketh us more fit and as it is increased in us so we are nearer to Glory and are more suited to it 1. VSE is information It informeth us of divers truths necessary to be observed by us 1. In all this order and chain of causes there is no mention of merits But all is ascribed to grace and Gods free favour chusing calling justifying sanctifying glorifying us from the first step to the last 't is all grace our best works are excluded from having any meritorious influence upon it Rom. 9.11 Before the children had done either good or evil it was said Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated that the purpose of God according to election might stand Mark there was a voluntas and voluntas miserendi 2 Tim. 1.9 Not according to works but according to his purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began Works are still excluded as they stand in opposition to Gods free mercy and goodness 't is a free act of his disposing to which only God was induced by his own love 2. That predestination is most free not depending upon foreseen works and faith We are chosen to faith and holiness but not for it the Scripture saith to Faith 2 Thes. 2.13 Because God hath from the beginning of the world chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth And to Holiness Eph. 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the world that we should be holy But we are not chosen because we believed and were holy or because God did foresee it but that we might believe and be holy Faith and Holiness are only fruits and effects of Gods Grace in us there was no foreseen cause in us to move God to bestow it upon us 3. That predestination to glory doth not exclude the means by which 't is brought about Such as Christs Gospel Ministry Faith Holiness the Cross No A conditional dispensation is subordinate to an absolute decree God hath predestinated will yet call before he will justifie God giveth the condition taketh away the heart of Stone worketh Faith and Holiness in us Gods purpose is that such and such shall be called and saved by faith in Christ now this maketh an absolute connection between faith and salvation now the elect till they are called and do believe know nothing of this but 't is their duty to fulfil the condition 4. The greatness of our obligation to God Here are the several steps and degrees whereby his eternal love descendeth to his chosen or the several acts and effects by which he bringeth them to their purposed blessedness and do all infer a new obligation that he was pleased to chuse us who were equally involved in misery with others and call us with an holy calling passing by thousands and ten thousands in outward respects much before us and justifie us freely by his grace forgiving us so many offences and bestowed upon us the gift of the sanctifying spirit by which we are regenerated and fitted for everlasting glory see here the great love of God Gods love in time cannot be valued enough but Gods love before all time should never be forgotten by you there you have the rise and fountain of all the benefits done unto us this was ancient love before we or the world had a being 't was the design God travelled with from all eternity and who are we that the thoughts of God should so long be taken up about us 'T is love managed with wisdom and counsel his heart is set upon it to do us good those benefits came not by chance but were fore-layed and fore-ordained by God if one do us a kindness that lyeth in his way and when opportunity doth fairly invite him he is friendly to us but when he studieth to do us good we know his heart is towards us God sets all his Wisdom and Grace awork this was a feast long in preparing that it might be the more full and ample and all things be ready if we be ready and our remedy at hand before our misery took effect this is a distinguishing love differencing us from others all along by chusing calling justifying glorifying that one should be taken and the other left 5. The blessedness of a Christian they are predestinated called justified and glorified all which are special grounds of comfort and patience under the cross what ever may befal a Christian in this world God hath predestinated and singled us to be objects of his grace and instruments of his glory in this world and to be conformed to the image of his Son v. 29. And we can fare no worse than Christ did and that the Lord should call us in due time out of the corrupt and miserable state of mankind to the Faith of Christ and shall not we suffer for it And then justifie us and free us from the
curse of the law and absolve us from the guilt and eternal punishment of all our sins and moderate the temporal punishment of them surely the cross may be the better born and then a life begun which shall not be quenched Blessed is that soul who hath these priviledges 6. See the way how we get assurance of Gods love and our own salvation We know the purposes of Gods grace by the effects by which he witnesseth his love to his elect ones by vocation our predestination is manifested by justification we feel the comfort of it so climb up to glory by degrees Those whom God hath predestinated from all eternity and will glorifie in the world to come he doth powerfully call The Scripture promiseth Salvation not to the named but described persons here then is your way of procedure Would you know your election of God Are you called sanctified brought home to God Begin to live in the spirit 2. USE Do not know these things in vain nor reflect upon them meerly to satisfie curiosity or to keep up a barren speculative dispute but to cherish the love of God Holiness Patience and become more serious in the work of salvation What effects have you of this Predestination 1. Love to God From everlasting to everlasting he is God Psal. 90.2 Psal. 103.17 And from everlasting to everlasting his mercy is to them that fear him We see his love in his purposes and performances the one before the world began the other when the world shall have an end and so two eternities meet together eternal glory arising from purposes of eternal Grace so that whether we look backward or forward you see the everlasting love of God Oh then Let God be yours first and last let the everlasting purposes of his Grace be your constant admiration and the everlasting fruition of God in glory be your fixed end which is always in your eye and let the sense of the one and the hope of the other quicken all your duties Gods mercy you see from all eternity it began and to eternity it continueth we adjourn and put off God as if we had not sinned enough and dishonoured his name enough hereafter will be time enough to return to our duty If we begin never so soon God hath been aforehand with us some make early work of Religion as Josiah Samuel Timothy some are called sooner some later but tho all are not called so soon as others they are loved as soon as others for these benefits were designed to us from all eternity 2. Holiness That we might hate sin more and prize holiness more holiness is inferred out of election as a special fruit of this predestination Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us to be holy 'T is inferred out of calling for he hath called us with an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 The calling is from misery to happiness from sin to holiness 't is inferred out of Justification Sanctification is the inseparable companion of it God freeth us a malo morali that freeth us a malo naturali impunity followeth uprightness our recovery were not else intire our case is like that of a condemned Malefactor sick of a deadly disease who needs not only the skill of the Physitian to heal him but the pardon of the Judg. And 't is inferred out of glorified none shall enjoy everlasting glory after this life but such as are holy here and if they be not sanctified and renewed by the spirit they shall never enter into the Kingdom of God for we cannot have one part of the covenant while we neglect another 't is not only the way but part of glory 3. Patience under afflictions The same notions are used of afflictions which are used of your priviledges by Christ 1 Thes. 3.3 Ye are appointed thereunto You should look to that in all that befalleth you he that appointed you to the Crown appointed you to the Cross also Called 1 Pet. 2.21 For even hereunto were ye called We are called to the fellowship of the Cross we consented to these terms Matth. 10.38 He that taketh not up his cross and followoth after me is not worthy of me Justified the comforts of it are most felt then Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God Glorified take it for degrees of holiness holiness is promoted by affliction Heb. 12.10 We are chastned that we might be partakers of his holiness Final blessedness 1 Pet. 4.13 Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad with exceeding joy Christs last day is a glad day to you 4. More seriousness in the work of salvation 2 Pet. 1.10 Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 3.14 Wherefore beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless SERMON XLI ROM VIII 31 What shall we then say to these things if God be for us who can be against us WE are now come to the Application of these blessed truths and the triumph of Believers over sin and the Cross yea over all the enemies of our Salvation 't is begun in the Text What shall we then say The Words contain two Questions 1. One by way of preface and excitation 2. The other by way of explication setting forth the ground of our confidence So that here is a question answered by another question 1. Let us begin with the exciting question What shall we then say to these things Doct. When we hear divine truths 't is good to put questions to our own hearts about things There are three ways by which a truth is received and improved By sound belief serious consideration and close application sound belief 1 Thes. 2.13 For this cause also we thank God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe Serious consideration Deut. 32.46 Set your hearts unto all the words I testifie among you this day Luke 9.44 Let these sayings sink down into your ears Close application Job 5.27 Lo this it is we have searched it out know thou it for thy good Now these three acts of the soul have each of them a distinct and proper ground sound belief worketh upon the clearness and certainty of the things asserted serious consideration on the greatness and importance of them close application on their pertinency and suitableness to us see all in one place 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief These are all necessary to make any truth operative we are not affected with what we believe not therefore to awaken diligence the truth of things is pleaded 2 Pet. 1.5 10 16. And besides this
for a Divine Nature he hath given us his Son and giveth us many outward blessings in his daily Providence which are in their kind beneficial to us and tokens of his goodness but they are not assurances of his special Love Eccles. 9.1 No man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before him I have Riches Honour Esteem Food Rayment I cannot therefore conclude God loveth me I am poor and afflicted therefore God hateth me these are weak and ill grounded conclusions he hath given me his Son and washed me in his Blood and pardoned my sins and healed my nature therefore he hath loved me this is the right arguing in short other benefits may be comprehended we know their worth nature benefit and use but this surpasseth knowledg we cannot express nor conceive sufficiently the value and greatness of it in other benefits we stand indebted to God for some outward gifts Corn and Wine and Oil great parts understanding Here Deum debemus we stand indebted for a person of the Godhead 3. 'T is a gift in order to other things and therefore he will compleat that gift Christ cometh not to us empty handed his person and benefits are not divided he came to purchase all manner of benefits and blessings for us not only to raise our wonder and astoniâ—hment by this great act of his condescending love but to pâ—ocure the favour of God the Image of God the everlasting fruition of the glory of God Now will God by an antecedent bounty lay the foundation so deep and withhold the consequent bounty which is the upper building for which this foundation was intended Shall so great a price be paid and we obtain nothing 'T is said of the foolish builder after he had laid the foundation This man began to build and was not able to finish Luke 14.29 30. Surely the wise God will finish what he hath begun if we be qualified and do not ponere obicem shut up the way by our incapacity 4. God may now do us good without any impeachment of honour His Justice and Holiness is sufficiently demonstrated Rom. 3 25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus The authority of his law is kept up Gal. 4.4 5. But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under his law that we might receive the adoption of Sons The truth of his threatning doth not altogether fall to the ground Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Therefore all is made easie and commodious to our thoughts and we can with the more confidence wait for what God hath promised 4. Because the giving of Christ sheweth how freely God will give all things to us He gave Christ unasked and unsought to in this instance we see not only his infinite and great love but his free and undeserved love Rom. 5.8 God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly And v. 10. When we were enemies non invocantibus sed provocantibus Deus sese offerte saith Bernard When the world had corrupted their way and cast off God then Christ died for us even for them that were neither loving nor lovely a consideration to support our confidence notwithstanding the sense of our unworthiness 4. Who have an interest in Christ and may reason thus within themselves something seemeth to be implied in that shall he not also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together with him give us all things They that have an actual interest in Christ others have but the offer upon condition they are invited but you may be assured 1. Those to whom God giveth Christ In the Scripture we read sometimes of Christ given for us and sometimes of Christ given to us his being given for us noteth the impetration and the purchase of the benefits his being given to us the application of them the one speaketh the love of God to lost man obnoxious to sin and misery the other Gods love to us in particular Gal. 1.10 It pleased God to reveal his Son in me Rev. 1.5 Loved us and washed us in his blood The first gift is Christ John 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life and Heb. 3.14 Partakers of Christ. 2 Cor. 13.5 Christ in you We receive his Person and with him his Spirit to work life iâ— us we do not live in the body till we be united to the head nor till we have Christ do we receive the saving effects of his grace clear that once and shall be not with him give us all things God offereth him to all but he giveth him to you when you believe 2. Those that give up themselves to Christ 1 Cor. 3.22 All things are yours because ye are Christs and Christ is Gods If you be to Christ what Christ was to God a dedicated servant ever to do the things that please him when you enter into covenant with him and devote your selves to his use and service that to you to live is Christ Phil. 1.21 As God giveth Christ to you you live in Christ as you give your selves to Christ you live to him God giveth us Christ and all things with him and we give up our selves and every interest and concernment of ours to Christ to be used for his glory If you be sincere and hearty in this you need not doubt of a plentiful allowance 1. USE is to press us to admire the love of God who spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all In that he spared not Christ the Lord telleth Abraham â—en 22.12 Now I know that thou lovest me since thou hast not withheld thy son thine only son from me So here is a full demonstration certainly God loved Christ better than Abraham loved Isaac and God was not bound by the command of a superior but did it voluntarily Oh get your hearts deeply possessed with this love Lord we see how much thy heart is set upon the recovery of lost man 2. That all this was done that he might spare us for that is the fruit of it Mal. 1.17 I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him The indulgence of God to us is set forth by two amplifications Propriety and towardliness or obedience propriety his own Son a faulty child is a child still and therefore not easily turned out of the family but 't is not a prodigal or a rebellious Son but a good child his son that serveth him Now if we consider what God is the purity of his nature the strictness of his law that sin is an act of disloyalty to God and what we are our manifold defects surely 't is love great love
his internal or external government and giveth us many blessings as the pledge of his love and above all the gift of the Holy Spirit whereby he sanctifieth us more thoroughly and worketh in us that which is pleasing in his sight This he giveth as the God of peace as reconciled to us in Christ Heb. 13.20 21. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. 1 Thes. 5.23 And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ faithful is he that calleth you who will do it but more fully at the last day when we enter into everlasting glory and the wicked are turned into hell with the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.46 And these shall go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal then is the full and final execution a perfect freedom from all misery and a possession of all happiness 3. How it can stand with the wisdom justice and holiness of God to justifie a sinner 'T is a great crime to take the unrighteous to be righteous and to pronounce the wicked justified seemeth to be against the word of God Prov. 24.24 He that saith unto the wicked Thou art righteous him shall the people curse Nations shall abhor him Prov. 17.15 He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are an abomination unto the Lord now what is an abomination unto the Lord is surely contrary to his nature Exod. 34.7 He will by no means clear the guilty Answer There is no abating the force of these objections if there were not good ground for Gods absolution or sentence of justification I shall mention three Christs ransom the Covenant of grace and our faith or conversion to God First Christs ransom maketh it reconcilable with Gods justice and the honour of his law and government Job 33.24 Then he is gracious unto him and saith deliver him from going down into the pit I have found a ransom Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins There is full satisfaction given to Gods wronged justice 2. His Covenant reconcileth it with his wisdom God is not mistaken in judging us righteous when we are not for we are constituted righteous and then deemed and pronounced so made righteous as the Apostle speaketh Rom. 5.19 Our right is founded in Christs obedience but resulteth from the promise The constitution is by Covenant God doth first put us into a state of favour and reconciliation and then treateth and dealeth with us as such constituteth us righteous by his Covenant and then in his judgment accepteth us as righteous he will not acquit them in judgment whom his Covenant doth not first pardon 3. Effectual calling or the conversion of man reconcileth it with his holiness for a sinner as a sinner is not justified but a penitent believer 't is true 't is said God justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 those that were once so but not those that continue so certainly he sanctifieth before he justifieth Acts 26.18 To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me And in many other places No man is freed from the guilt of sin which rendreth us obnoxious to Gods wrath who is not freed from the filth of sin which tainteth our faculties for Christ is made to us both righteousness and sanctification 1 Cor. 1.30 By losing Gods image we lost his favour and in the order wherein we lost it we recover it God regenerateth that he may pardon and justifie and restoreth first our holiness and then our happiness 't is not consistent with Gods holiness to give us pardon and let us alone in our sins A man would not put a Toad in his bosome But more fully to give you a prospect into this matter let us take notice of the several things which are mentioned in Scripture as belonging to our justification as for instance sometimes we are said to be justified by grace as Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his grace sometimes by the blood of Christ as Rom. 5.9 Being justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him sometimes by faith as Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ sometimes by works James 2.24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only All these things concur to our justification and do not contradict but imply one another The first moving cause of all is grace the meritorious cause is Christs blood the means of applying or the condition on our part upon which we are capable at first of receiving so great a priviledge is faith and the means of continuing in our justified estate is by good works or new obedience I say our first actual pardon justification and right to life is given upon condition of our first faith and repentance but this estate is continued to us both by faith Rom. 1.17 and new obedience these fairly accord The grace of God will do nothing without the intervention of Christs merits and Christs merits doth not profit us 'till it be applyed by faith and sound believers will live in a course of new obedience Let us consider them severally 1. The first moving cause that inclined God to shew us mercy in our undone and lost estate was meerly his grace God might have left us obnoxious to the curse without any offer of peace as he did the fallen Angels but such was his grace that he thought of the way of our recovery how we might be redeemed renewed and justified surely all this is of grace Titus 3.5 6 7. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life The rise of all is the love and good will of God 2. We are justified by the blood of Christ. Blood is not exclusive of the other parts of his obedience but doth imply them rather as the consummate act thereof Phil. 2.7 He became obedient unto death even the death of the cross 'T is by the merit of his sacrifice and obedience God took this course to exalt the glory of his justice as well as his grace and in the mystery of
our salvation there is such a temperament of both that they shine with an equal glory 3. We are justified by faith Acts 13.39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses certainly none are justified in a state of impenitency and unbelief 't is not enough to look to the first moving cause the grace of God or the impetration of it by the blood of Christ but how it is applied to our selves and what right we have For the righteousness of Christ is none of ours till we do repent and believe let us see how our title doth arise when we thankfully seriously and broken-heartedly accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour then we are found in him not having our own righteousness 4. We are justified by works and not by faith only by which are meant the fruits of sanctification for true faith and true holiness will shew its self by good works faith giveth us the first right but works continue it for otherwise a course of sin would put us into a state of damnation again therefore at the last judgment these are considered Revel 20.12 And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works Matth. 25.35 36. For I was an hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me Faith is our consent but obedience verifieth it or is our performance of what we consented unto the one as covenant making the other as covenant-keeping we are admitted by covenant-making but continued in our priviledges by covenant-keeping Psal. 25.10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his Covenant But yet a little more must be said to reconcile the two Apostles Paul saith A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law Rom. 3.28 and James saith Chapt. 2.24 Ye see then how by works a man is justified and not by faith only There is a two-fold charge commenced against us as sinners and breakers of the law as hypocrites and unsound believers To the first we have nothing but the merits of Christ to plead to the second a fruitful obedience or else Paul in the opposition between works and faith meaneth by works legal observances by faith true Christianity The Jews boasted of their legal observances to the rejection of the faith of Christ and James by faith a dead faith and by works Christian duties or acts of obedience to God not external observances of the law of man 4. Why no charge or accusation can lie against them whom God justifieth 1. Because God is the supream law-giver to appoint the terms and conditions upon which we shall be justified and when he hath stated them and declared his will who shall reverse it or revoke it Heb. 6.17 18. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation No cause of revocation can be imagined in God or out of God within God not want of wisdom for nothing can fall out but what he foresaw at first Psal. 110.4 The Lord hath sworn and will not repent Not inconstancy of will for he is not as man that he should repent 1 Sam. 15.29 Nor can his will be frustrated through any defect of power for he is Almighty Nothing without God neither Devils nor Angels nor Men have power to null and frustrate the force of his constitutions The New Covenant is his resolved will and purpose not to be altered surely in making it God determineth of his own and not another's right 't is in his power to absolve or condemn upon what terms he pleaseth therefore if out of his Soveraign will he hath put our justification in such a course who can reverse it 2. Because the promise of justification is built upon Christs everlasting merit and satisfaction and therefore it will hold good for ever Heb. 10.14 By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Christ procured these promises for us and that by his death therefore everlastingly they hold good 2 Cor 1.20 For all the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen and called the everlasting Covenant 'T is even become the interest of God to justifie us that he may not lose the glory of his grace and the merit and oblation of Christ Isa. 53.11 By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities He that hath born our sins all this cost would be in vain if he should not pardon and justifie There is such a value in the death and obedience of Christ that the Scripture puts a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon it compare it with the influence of Adam as a common root Rom. 5.17 18. For if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life And with the legal sacrifices Heb. 9.13 For if the blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ c. There is the same reason in both besides institution and appointment there is an intrinsick value 3. Because 't is conveyed by the solemnity of a Covenant now God by his Covenant hath made it our right his justice is ingaged 1 John 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge shall give me at that day By solemn promise you convey a right to another in the thing promised so doth God 4. When we believe God as the supream Judge actually determineth our right so that a believer is rectus incuria hath his quietus est Rom. 4.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then who can lay any thing to our charge to reverse Gods grant 5. The Lord as the soveraign disposer of mans felicity doth many times uncontroulably give us the comfort of it in our own consciences Job 34.29 When he giveth quietness who can trouble and when he hideth his face who then can behold him whether it be done against a nation or against a man only None can obstruct the peace which he giveth Gods dispensations whether for good or evil are effectual
and irresistible you may depend on the good he undertaketh to do though this peace be assaulted yet it will stand Gods manifesting or hiding his face is enough to make a creature happy or miserable 1. USE is Information to shew us 1. The misery of wicked men they are not justified by God and therefore the charge of Gods broken law lyeth heavy upon them and the weight of it will sink them to the nethermost Hell It may be the world may flatter and applaud them and they may absolve and acquit themselves at an easie rate but there is no peace saith my God to the wicked Isa. 57.20 'T is not our security delighting our selves to sing lullabies to our own souls for we are never upon sure terms till God justifieth us many absolve themselves upon easie terms either because they sit still and cry God mercy or upon the account of their superficial righteousness as the Pharisees justified themselves no we must judge our selves but 't is God must justifie us till we have our discharge from him we are never safe therefore it concerneth us to consider upon what terms we stand Are we troubled in mind or at peace if troubled in mind take Gods remedy if we be at peace whence cometh it Is it warranted by the Covenant of God that granteth no pardon no justification but to those that repent and believe 2. The happiness of the godly 'T is in vain to accuse those whom God acquitteth you need not fear an accuser not because innocent but becuse justified Though the world revileth you the Devil would stir up legal fears revive your old bondage when your hearts condemn you for many defects you must stick to this God justifieth for the reproaches of the world you need not be troubled at them when they accuse you falsly of pride hyprocrisie covetousness you may say as Job Job 16.19 My witness is in Heaven and my record is on high He that is the Judge of all men is a witness and observer of their ways and will acquit those whose hearts are upright with him from the censures of the world God will not ask their vote and sufferage when Satan would revive your bondage by the thoughts of death and the consequence of it consider wherefore did Christ come into the world and die for sinners but to free us from those tormenting fears Heb. 2.14 15. Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage But when our hearts condemn us especially for some wounding sin the case is otherwise God by conscience writeth bitter things against you Job 13.26 we must not smother our sin nor deny our guiltiness but appeal from Court to Court Psal. 130.3 4. If thou Lord shouldest mark our iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared and Psal. 43.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified If it be from the general view of sin or the remembrance of some special sin sue out your pardon in Christ your justification is not nullified you are still under a pardoning Covenant and the actual pardon on repentance is granted to you 2. USE Is to press us to get into this blessed condition that you may say 't is God that justifieth Consider the weight of the case it concerneth damnation or salvation whether you are under the curse or heirs of promise And all this is depending before God To justifie is Gods act but man must fulfil the condition Well then let us suppose a Judiciary Process there will be such at the last day certainly For we must all stand before the Tribunal seat of Christ Rom. 14.10 Our cause lieth before God now and our qualification must be tryed and judged now in order to our reconciliation with God as hereafter in order to our everlasting fruition of him in glory Well then The Judge is God Gen. 18.23 and Psal. 94.2 Lift up thy self O thou Judge of the earth The Judge accepteth the godly while they are in the body 2 Cor. 5.9 That whether we are present or absent we may be accepted with him but he is angry with the wicked every day Psal. 7.11 The Witnesses are Satan and Conscience the Plea in Traverse is about our guiltiness according to a double rule the Law of Works or Grace if according to the law of Works alas none of us can stand in the judgement there we plead not Innocent but Guilty Christ could say John 8.46 Which of you convinceth me of sin but here 't is otherwise Rom. 3.19 All the world is become guilty before God Here is no denial no extenuation all are become corrupt none doth good no not one Now Christ was made sin and underwent the curse for us To the second the Law of Grace there must be first an hearty acceptance of an offered Saviour and a consent both of subjection and dependance Secondly Sincere obedience Rom. 8.1 They walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit he liveth as one turned from the world and the flesh to God the more sensible we are of our own vileness the more we see the necessity of a Redeemer SERMON XLIV ROM VIII 34 Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again from the dead who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us IN the former verse Justification is considered as opposite to accusation now as opposite to condemnation There Who shall lay any thing to our charge Here Who is he that condemneth With respect to both we must look upon Christ as our Advocate and God as our Judge Somewhat in this verse concerneth our exemption from the danger of accusation namely all the acts of Christs Mediation here mentioned somewhat in that verse concerneth the question propounded here about condemnation namely the sentence of God as our Judge For the answer given there must be repeated Who is he that condemneth 'T is God that justifieth We need not fear an Accuser because we have an Advocate we need not fear to be cast in the judgment because we have a favourable Judge who will not justifie and condemn too Thence ariseth this part of the triumphant song which the Apostle puts into the mouth of a believer Who is he that condemneth 't is Christ that dyed c. In the words we have 1. A Triumphant challenge Who is he that condemneth 2. The ground of it 'T is Christs Mediation 'T is Christ that dyed c. 1. The challenge Who is he that condemneth 'T is meant with respect to Gods judgment in the world the Saints have been and often are condemned nor only to death James 5.6 Ye have
condemned and killed the just and he doth not resist you but some if they had their wills would adjudge them to the bottom of Hell John 16.2 They will put you out of the Synagogues as well as kill you That is curse and condemn you to Hell which is the second death but their rash censures are not ratified in Heaven their cursing hurts no more than their absolution benefiteth us therefore this is not the meaning the words relate to the supream Court What fear is there of condemnation by God when he declareth his mind concerning the justification of such as believe in Christ Now God hath expresly said That he that believeth shall not come into condemnation and who dareth to contradict his sentence False Teachers may deny this comfort to the penitent believers and make their hearts sad whom God would not have made sad but God will not retract his grant and the sentence of any judge on this side God needeth not to be stood upon 'T is on their part presumption and usurpation of the Throne of God and their act cannot do us harm we stand or fall to our own proper Lord and Master 2. The ground of the challenge We are acquitted from condemnation on Christs account this blessing runneth in the channel of his Mediation four branches of it are here mentioned 1. Christs Death 2. Resurrection with an yea rather 3. His Exaltation at the right hand of God 4. His intercession for us all which would be in vain and lose their effect if any condemnation were to be feared by us From the whole observe 1. That freedom from the fears of Condemnation is one great priviledg of true and sound believers 2. That our triumph over the fears of condemnation ariseth from the several acts of Christs Mediation For the first Point That freedom from the fears of condemnation is one great priviledg of true and sound believers What a great priviledg it is will appear 1. By the dreadfulness of the sentence 2. The difficulty to get rid of these fears 3. The sure and solid grounds of a believers peace 1. The dreadfulness of the sentence To condemn is to adjudg to punishment and for God to condemn is to adjudg us to everlasting punishment the final sentence is set down Matth. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels In the general they are pronounced cursed but in particular there is the poena damni the loss of Gods Favour and Presence and Glory they depart from God who made them at first after his Image from the Redeemer whose Grace was offered to them but slighted by them from the Holy Ghost who strove with them to sanctifie them and reduce them to God till they quenched all his motions and expelled him out of their hearts The Disciples wept when Paul said Ye shall see my face no more But what anguish will fill the hearts of the reprobate when God shall say to them Ye shall never see my face more you are now cut off from all hopes and possibility of salvation for ever Wicked men banish God out of their company now Job 21.14 Depart from us for we desire not the knowledg of thy ways God will then be even with them and banish them out of his presence not from his essential presence for that is with them to their everlasting misery but from his gracious presence which is the everlasting delight of the saints and from all possibility of acceptance with him 2. Poena sensus into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Into fire not purifying but tormenting for so hell is a place of torment and a state of torment Luke 16.24 I am horribly tormented in this flame And v. 25. He is comforted and thou art tormented v. 29. That they come not into this place of torment 2. It is for duration everlasting fire It had a beginning but will never have an end The Saints in all their troubles can see both banks and bottom they never met with any such hard condition but it had an end but here there still remaineth a fearful looking for more fiery indignation from the Lord The glory which they refused is everlasting glory and the torments which they incur are everlasting torments 3. 'T is said prepared for the devil and his angels This sheweth the greatness of the misery of the wicked The Devil and his Angels must be their everlasting companions they who entertained his suggestions in their hearts shall then remain for ever in his company and society as Christ with his blâ—ssed Angels and Saints make one Kingdom or family living together in perpetual blessedness so the Devil and his Angels and the wicked make one society living together in perpetual misery This is the sentence of condemnation in the Christian notion of it 2. The difficulty to get rid of these fears 1. We all deserve condemnation upon many accounts both upon the account of original sin Rom. 5.18 As by the offence of one judgment came upon all to condemnation so by the righteousnese of one the free gift came upon all to justification of life Our actual offences make it more our due for the wages of sin is death Rom. 6.23 The second death as well as the first 2. In our natural estate we were actually condemned by the sentence of the law which is confirmed by the Gospel if we refuse the offered remedy John 5.18 19. He that believeth not is condemed already And v. 12. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil 3. Our consciences own it that where there is guilt there will be condemnation and therefore our own hearts condemn us 1 John 3.20 And unless this condemnation be reversed and that upon good grounds we can have no firm and solid peace within our selves conscience speaketh aloud this truth and is the more to be regarded partly because the fears of the guilty creature are founded in the nature of God his Holiness and Justice his pure Holiness Hab. 1.13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity 'T is a natural truth that sin is displeasing to God and maketh the sinner hateful and loathsom to him and worthy to be cast off and punished by him Gods holiness is at the bottom of all our fears we fear his wrath because 't is armed with an Almighty Power we fear his Power because 't is set a work by his Justice we fear his Justice because 't is awakened by his Holiness which cannot endure sin and sinners 1 Sam. 6.20 And the men of Bethshemesh said who is able to stand before this Holy Lord God So also on the other hand all mens security ariseth from a misprision of Gods nature as if he were not so holy Psal. 59.21 Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy self Not much offended with sin Now for the
hope in us John 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have eternal life in his name All that is written in the Gospel is to establish Faith in Christ as the Messiah and that in order to eternal life The whole sum of the Christian Religion is That God hath chosen us to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth whereunto he hath called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess. 2.13 14. All the parts of Religion harmoniously concur to establish this hope The whole Covenant of God implyeth it A Covenant is a transaction of God as the Soveraign with his Subjects and consists of Precepts and Laws invested with the Sanction of Promises and Threatnings His Commands all of them imply such an estate Some express it All imply it For they are work propounded to us in order to wages or a reward to be given and 't is not fit we should have wages before our work be over Some express it as John 6.27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life c. and Mat. 6.19 20. we are commanded not to lay up Treasures upon Earth but in Heaven c. And Luke 13.24 Strive to enter in c. And if there were no such estate all these Laws were in vain and would the wise and faithful God give us Laws in vain his Threatnings would be but a vain Scare-crow if there were not a world to come his promises but flatter us with a lye All the Doctrines concerning Christ point out such an eternal condition to us whether they concern his Person or Estates His coming from Heaven the place of Souls his going thither again or sitting down on the right hand of God and then his coming to Judgment Wherefore was Christ apparelled with our flesh But that we might be cloathed with his glory if Christ were in the Womb why not we in Heaven 'T is more credible to believe a Creature in Heaven than a God in the Grave Therefore he came into the world to purchase a right for us and he went to Heaven again to plead prosecute and apply that right Rom. 5.10 He is gone thither with the names of the Tribes on his Breast and Shoulders Heb. 9.12 All the benefits of Christ tend to this Justification Our release from the curse that we may be capable of life Rom. 5.18 Sanctification to prepare fit us for it and to begin this life in us for he that hath the Son hath life 1 John 5.12 All ordinances The word Isa. 55.3 Hear and your Souls shall live The Supper Luke 22.20 all Graces Faith to see it 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your Faith even the Salvation of your Souls Love to desire it hope to wait for it The comforts of the Spirit to give us a tast of it So that this is the great object of Faith and to which all the rest tend 2dly The believing of this constituteth a main difference between the Animal and Spiritual life by which the world of mankind are distinguished The Animal life is that which is supported by the comforts and delights of the present world such as Lands Honours Pleasures Riches and when these are out of sight they are at loss and utterly dismayed But the Spiritual and Divine life is supported by the comforts and delights of the world to come by reflecting upon everlasting happiness and the glory and blessedness we shall injoy there as in the verses before the Text in the close of the former Chapter when we believe these things another kind of Spirit cometh upon a man and hath such a life and strength derived into his heart that he can bear up with joy and courage when the outward and Animal life is exposed to the greatest difficulties and decays because he is a man of another world And therefore we are said to live by Faith because we apprehend those great and glorious things which are kept for us in Heaven 2 Cor. 413 14. We having the same Spirit of Faith according as 't is written I believed and therefore have I spoken We also believe and therefore speak knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you Oh 't is a mighty thing to have a Spirit of Faith in the lowest condition such an one can hold up his head and avouch his hopes He can own Christ how dear soever it cost him None are of such a Noble and Divine Spirit as they Without it a man that wholly loveth the Animal life is but a wiser sort of Beast Not only the Sensualist or the Covetous but even the Ambitious who aspire after Crowns and Kingdoms and great Fame by their Gallantry and Noble Exploits are but poor base Spirits in comparison of those in whose Breasts the sparks of this Heavenly fire do ever burn and carry them out in the zealous pursuit of the world to come 3dly We need press this sound belief of the world to come Because whatever men pretend eternal life is little believed in the World The most part of those men who live in the common light of Christianity are purblind and cannot see afar of or look beyond the Grave Gods own Children have too cold and doubtful thoughts of this estate not such a lively clear and firm persuasion of things to come but that it needeth to be increased more and more The Apostle prayeth for the converted Ephesians That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightned that ye may know what is the hope of his Calling c. Eph. 1.17 18. That is more clearly see and more firmly believe those good things which they should injoy in Heaven Alas we are so taken up with trifles and childish toys that our Faith is very weak about these excellent Blessings The evidences that 't is little believed are these 1. Because we are far more swayed with the promises of small temporal advantages than we are with the promise of eternal life The Blessings we expect in the other world are far more excellent and more glorious in their nature and certain in their duration yet they have less influence upon us than poor paltry perishing vanities What should be the reason I Answ. When a thing of less weight weigheth down a greater we judge then the ballances are not equal The Soul doubteth of things to come but readily closeth with things present Who would prefer a Cottage before a Palace A Lease for an year before an Inheritance There is no comparison between the things themselves but we are not equally persuaded of things to come and things in hand and of a present
Tears and Snares Blessed be God that there are any hopes mingled with our Tears therefore they groan and desire earnestly Fevv and evil are the days of the years of my Pilgrimage said holy Jacob Gen. 47.7 Our days are evil and 't is well they are but few That in this Shipwrack of mans felicity we can see banks and shores and a landing place where we may be safe Here all our days are Sorrow and our Travel grief but there is our repose There are many things to wean a Christian from the present life Manifold temptations from Satan grievous Persecutions from the world and sharp afflictions from God himself All these may be ranked under the head of miseries 1. Manifold temptations from Satan who seeketh all advantages either to dissuade us from serving God or distract us in it 1 Pet. 5.8 9. All these things are accomplished in our Brethren which are in the flesh They are all acquainted with a busy Tempter who seeketh to insnare their Souls and this is one of a Christians burthens that in this world which is Satans walk and Circuit they meet with so many snares laid for them 2. Bitter and grievous Persecutions which sometimes make them weary of their lives hard Task masters that trouble them 2 Thes. 1.6 7. To you that are troubled rest with us but before the rest cometh they groan and long 3. Sharp afflictions from God himself God is jealous of our hearts because we are not watchful over them we are apt to take up with an earthly happiness and to root here and look no farther whil'st we have all our comforts about us our hearts say 't is best being here but God awakeneth us our of our drouzy fits Arise depart hence this is not your rest Micah 2.10 We are so pleased with our entertainment by the way that we forget home God is fain to imbitter our worldly portion that we may think of a remove to some better place and state where all Tears shall be wiped from our eyes We would sleep here and rest here if we did not sometimes meet with thorns in our Bed 2dly The next Reason of our groaning is our having had a tast of better things Rom. 8.23 We that have within our selves the first fruits of the Spirit groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption the Redemption of our Bodies A Christian here is unsatisfied he waiteth for a better and surer state of Bliss and Immortality The first fruits shew us what the Harvest will be and the tast what the Feast will prove 1. This Vnion and Communion with Christ is not perfect We are one Spirit by being joyned to the Lord but yet many things hinder this Union from being full we have but a glimpse of Christ as he sheweth himself through the lattis But there we shall see him with open Face Here sometimes he affords sometimes he withdraws his presence But there ever with the Lord and the Lord with us Here we get a little from him in an Ordinance and that little is as much as we can hold but there he is all in all and we are filled up with the fulness of God Christ in us now is the hope of glory but Christ in us then is the fruition of glory Col. 1.27 Here we enjoy him in part and by Faith there we shall enjoy him to the full This mighty Sea is pent up and floweth now by so narrow a Channel that it cannot diffuse its self but his interest is not crouded up there is full room for Christ in the Soul 2. Our Holiness is not perfect and therefore we groan and long for more There is much corruption left the new nature is called the Seed of God 1 John 1.9 and the immortal Seed 1 Pet. 1.23 look as a little Seed will work through the dry clods that it may grow up unto its perfect estate so doth this Seed of God work towards its final perfection A Christian is not satisfied with such imperfect degrees of conformity to God and slender tasts of his love he must have more Grace tendeth to the place whence it cometh as a spark of Fire tendeth to the Element of fire and they groan and long for the time of perfection 3. His comforts are not perfect The Joys of the Spirit are unspeakable things but at his right hand there is fulness pleasures for evermore Psal. 16.11 These the Soul longeth for therefore tho they are thankful for a refreshing by the way yet they groan as longing to be at home the Spirit now is a Well springing up but it wasteth its self in an Ocean of Glory John 4 14. Look what difference there is between the Springs head and the out-fall of a River into the Sea so between our comforts now and hereafter 3dly The excellency of this estate requireth it that we should groan after and earnestly desire it If it be not worth your desires it is little worth When happiness is provided for you will not you send a groan after it 'T is great ingratitude and folly That when Christ hath procured a state of Blessedness for us at a very dear rate we should value it no more He procured it by a life of labour and sorrow and the pangs of a bitter cursed Death and when all is done we little regard it Surely if we choose this for our happiness we shall be longing and looking for it No man would flie from his own happiness Where a mans Portion is there not only his mind will be but his heart will be Mat. 6.21 If you prize it you will sigh and groan after it our chief good is that we can least want you will be waiting as at Heaven Gates expecting when God will let you in Surely something else satisfieth you are contented to be here always if you do not send your desires thither before you can get thither The Apostle saith I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is much more better Phil. 1.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you count it better to be there than elsewhere your Souls will begroaning to be there and longing to be there For we are always longing for that which is better chiefly best of all There is the best estate the best work the best company all is better But if you do not think it so though it be best in itself yet if not best to you you will not long for it but if you count it best is it so difficult to bring you earnestly to desire it 4thly The three Theological Graces imply it Faith Hope and Love Therefore we must seek and earnestly desire it These Graces 1 Cor. 13.13 Faith Hope and Charity 1 Thes. 5.8 1. Faith They that believe that there is another sort of life infinitely more desirable than that which we now enjoy will find their affections stirred towards it for sound persuasion sheweth its self in answerable affections Heb. 11.13 If we did believe that when this
burdened and remaineth on it in the grave may be wholly taken away by the Blessed Immortality which Christ shall then bestow upon us when he shall raise us up at the last day our mortality must be gone for Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God nor corruption inherit incorruption 1 Cor. 15.50 That which is corruptible in our nature must perish but the Body must not perish Well then that which the Saints desire is that their Animal and Corporeal Life may be changed into an Heavenly and Everlasting And we do not groan that we may want the Body but that the mortality of it may be done away that it may be freed from that corruption and mortality to which it is now subject the substance still remaining I shall a little insist on these Propositions 1. That whilest we live in this Earthly and Mortal Body we are burdened with an Heavy Load of Sin and Afflictions 2dly That the Saints being burdened do in an Holy manner groan and long for a better estate 3dly That in that better estate Mortality is swallowed up of Life 4thly That in that Life we shall be clothed again with our Bodies in due time and our Bodies with Everlasting Glory 1. The first Proposition is liable to sense there needeth no Bible or Scripture to tell us that our present state is afflicted and filled with sorrows our flesh feeleth it and we know to our grief that here is little else but disquiet and vexation and daily sad experience informeth us of the indwelling of sin and the frequent outbreakings of it To prove this were to light a Candle to day light and to waste your time impertinently But I shall do two things 1. Shew you why afflictions and sins are such an Heavy Burden to the Children of God 2dly How foolish and stupid we are that we do so little mind and improve this 1. Why affliction is a burden 1. Afflictions are so partly because the Children of God have not yet divested themselves of the Interests and concernments of Flesh and Blood They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of like passions with others They love their natural comforts as others do and Humane Nature is the same thing in them that it is in others Job 6.12 Is my strength the strength of Stones or is my flesh Brass They are made of Flesh and Blood as well as others and feel pain as well as others Grace doth not destroy the feelings of Nature Jesus Christ as Man had his fears and tears and strong crys Heb. 5.7 He felt his Burden and said My Soul is heavy unto death Matth. 26.38 And therefore we cannot expect they should be in an utter Dedolency feel pain and trouble and forbear complaining partly too because Grace intendreth the heart and maketh them in some sort more sensible of afflictions than others are because they look upon them as coming from God and the fruit of sin and they dare not slight any of God's corrective Dispensations There are two Extreams slighting and fainting Heb. 12.5 Affliction cannot be improved if we have not a sense of it to shew so much reverence to God as to tremble at his Anger Numb 12.14 When he crosâ—eth and disappointeth us it must not be slightly passed over When the Windows of Heaven were opened from above and the Fountains of the Deep broken open from below then the Flood was increased Gen. 7.11 So when nature and grace concurreth to heighten the affliction the Children of God must needs have a greater and more tender sense of it than others have As a delicate Constitution is more capable of pain than a robustious and stubborn one And the tender flesh of a Child will sooner feel the lash than the thick skin of a Slave So the Children of God having a more serious apprehension of things and a more tender Spirit soonest feel the Burden of their Fathers Displeasure and do more lay it to heart than careless and stupid spirits who laugh at their Cross or drink away their Sorrows Partly too because they are more exercised with Afflictions The World hateth them because they are so good and God chasteneth them because they are no better Psal. 34.11 Many are the troubles of the Righteous There is more squaring and hewing and hacking used about a Stone that is to be set in a stately Palace than that which is placed in an ordinary Building and the Vine is pruned when the Bramble is not looked after but let alone to grow to its full length And the Child of the Family is put under Discipline whilst a Bastard or a Servant liveth more at large God meaneth to destroy those whom by a Just Judgment he permitteth to go on in their sins to their own eternal undoing Heb. 12.8 Blessed be God that he taketh more care of us and when we need it correcteth us seasonably as Children so that in this earthly and mortal body we are burthened with an heavy load of Afflictions 2dly Why sin is a burthen to the Children of God Psal. 38.4 Mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burthen they are too heavy for me Psal. 40.12 Mine iniquities have taken hold of me that I am not able to look up they are more than the hairs of my head my heart faileth me The Burden is heavy and the Creature weak and therefore they groan Now sins are not only a burthen to a wounded Conscience but to a tender Conscience even the relicks of corruption Go to a wounded Conscience and they will tell you that better a Milstone had faln upon them than one spark of God's wrath for sin should light upon the Conscience But we speak now of a tender Conscience and are to shew you why sin is such an heavy Burthen to the Children of God 1. Because they have more light than others and see more into the nature and evil of sin After I was instructed I smote upon the Thigh Jer. 31.18 Rom. 7.9 The Commandment came sin revived and I died As Conviction breaketh in upon the Soul so the more troubled with sin Ignorant men know not their danger nor the heinousness of their faults 2. Because they have more love to God than others have And they that love much will mourn most for sin as the Woman that had much forgiven loved much Luk. 7.47 and because she loved much she wept much Many times God's Children the more holy they are the more troubled about sin than ever before What 's the reason 'T is not from the increase of sin but the increase of light and love they see more sin and more into sin than they did before and are more affected with it As in a glass of pure Water the least Mote may be espied 3. They have more heartily renounced sin than others their hearts are set against it and therefore the Relicks of it are a greater Burthen to them Elementa non gravitant in suis locis as Water not in its
Crowned Now under his Tryal then he hath his recompence He seeth the vanity and emptiness of the things of this Life and also by the Eye of Faith the excellency and Glory of the Life to come 4thly From a just value and esteem of that better Life For here he compareth the one with the other and sheweth the preference of the one before the other to be the true reason of the Saints groaning comparing the emptiness of things below with the fulness of things above The baseness of Earthly things with the Glory of Heavenly things The miseries of this Life with the happiness of that Life make them willing of the exchange only they reserve the good pleasure of God If God hath no more work for them to do they are ready A Christian liveth and dyeth at the Lords will and pleasure For he hath resigned himself to him Lord if I have done my work if I may no longer be necessary to thy people I am willing and ready Well then you see how these desires and groans of the Saints are to be understood they do not simply desire Death but desire Glory not to be unclothed but clothed They submit to Death when the time is come and God hath no more work for them to do in the world yea they are glad of it as Jacobs Spirit revived when he saw the wagons which Joseph sent to carry him into Aegypt Death is the Chariot to carry you to Christ therefore it should not be unwelcome to us Christ was willing to come down to us though it were to meet with shame pain Why should we be so loth to return to him 3d. Point is That in the other world Mortality is swallowed up of Life 1. To open the meaning of this expression swallowed up 'T is not swallowed up as a gulf or fire swalloweth up that which is cast into it No But as Theodoret well expresseth it as darkness is swallowed up by light or as perfection swalloweth up imperfection or as the rude draught is swallowed up by the perfecting of the picture as child-hood by man-hood c. Such a perfective alteration is there of our state 2dly To shew you what kind of Life this is 1. 'T is an Eternal Life there you live and never dye You need not be perplexed with any thoughts and fears of change The Soul shall no more slit out of the Body and the Body its self shall remain in an Eternal spring of youth There was a way out of our Earthly Paradise but none that ever we could find in again But in our Eternal Paradise there is away in but no way out again Luc. 16.26 They that would pass from hence to you cannot Upon supposal they would they cannot Gods grant will never be reversed 2dly This Life is Life indeed for it is a Blessed Life always spent in the presence of God The Fountain of all Blessedness and we ever love him and are ever Beloved by him 1 Thes. 4.17 Not an hour nor a minute absent from God praising and lauding him for evermore 3dly This Life is a Glorious Life The sight is Glorious there we shall see God Face to Face 1 Cor 13.12 The place is Glorious 2 Cor. 12.4 The upper Paradise The company is Glorious all the Glorified Saints and Angels Heb. 12.22 23. Our Souls and Bodies Glorious Phil. 3.21 Our daily exercise shall be Glorious for we shall always praise God without any vain thoughts or distraction or worldly incumbrances or weariness of the Flesh. 4thly 'T is a joyful Life Enter into thy Masters Joy Matth. 25.21 And Psal. 16.11 Thou wilt shew me the path of Life in thy presence there is fulness of joy and at thy right hand pleasures for evermore the pleasures of the world are poor empty things suddenly pass away as a dream but these remain for ever and are full and unmixed There is continual matter of rejoicing none of sorrow 5thly 'T is a most-Holy pure and perfect Life The Body shall be united to a Soul fully sanctified from which it shall never again be separated and both together shall be the Eternal Temple of the Holy-Ghost And the whole man shall be firmly established in Righteousness and Holiness never to sin never to be in danger to sin again Well then we learn two things hence 1. That when a Christian dyeth he is not extinguished He is but unclothed and his mortality is swallowed up of Life That which we call Death 't is but a dissolution not a destruction A separating of the Soul from the Body for a while Neither Soul nor Body is Annihilated 'T is a Journey to a better world called also a sleep in Scripture The Death of the Beasts is not called a sleep Your flesh resteth in hope Psal. 16.10 While the Soul injoyeth God Christ is the guardian of your dust and must see it forth coming at the last day which is a comfort to us in a dying hour a Christian can see Life in Death when his friends about him are waiting for the last gaspe he is waiting for Eternity when they are crying out Oh he dyeth Yet he can say Yet I know that my Redeemer liveth and with these Eyes shall I see him at the last day 2dly It may quicken us to a contempt of this Life and a desire of that which is Eternal Mortality is the disgrace of all sublunary comforts and the present Life is of little value were it not for the reference it hath to God and Eternity Because we must soon lay it down But then we shall be for ever with our Saviour and behold his Glory injoy the clear vision of God and be ravished with his beauty and be filled with Eternal joy and delights and be secure of our Eternal Blessedness all Tears shall be wiped from our Faces and we shall never sorrow any more No evil that can be feared shall come near us all good shall abound there the light of Gods Eternal favour shall shine upon us in its full strength and the streams of Eternal goodness shall ever flow from God and the Lamb. These things we believe now but the injoyment will exceed all that man can conceive The Fourth Proposition is That in this life we shall be clothed again with our Bodies and our Bodies with Everlasting Glory For therefore the Saints would not be wholly unclothed but clothed upon And the expression of mortality being swallowed up of Life doth mainly concern the Body that is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soul is an immortal being Now the reasons are these 1. The man cannot be compleatly happy till the Body be raised again The Soul alone doth not constitute Humane Nature or that being which may be called man The Body doth essentially concur to the constitution of man as well as the Soul Therefore the Soul though it be a Spirit and can live apart yet it was not made to live apart for ever but to live in the
obtained there is everlasting glory and we shall have it Now God hath made and framed Believers to this Happiness So the second Argument by giving us the Earnest of the Spirit That 's also an Argument of the Certainty of the glory to come for if he hath given us Earnest he will also give us the whole Sum. An Earnest is lost when either the Bargain is repented of or 't is beyond the power of the party to make good the Bargain or else when 't is not much regarded being of small value but none of these things can take place here for God repenteth not of his Covenant Rom. 11.19 God is able to give what he hath promised Rom. 4.21 Being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able to perform And the Spirit is no mean gift next to Christ the greatest gift that can be bestowed upon mortal men God that giveth the Creatures by meer gift to carnal men loseth nothing but the creatures Corn and Wine and Oil it may be lost c. But God that giveth his Spirit to his People will not lose his earnest where this is given he will give more 2. The excellency and worth of these blessed things which are also a ground of this earnest desire Now this is represented both by Gods forming and also by the earnest of the Spirit 1. By Gods Forming If we must be formed wrought for this self same thing Surely this estate is an excellent blessed and glorious estate A natural man is counted fit for any thing this world hath but he must have a new fitness for what God will confer upon him in the other world therefore the preparation sheweth what the blessedness is God hath framed us with curious and costly Artifice and therefore for a noble end and purpose Ordinary Utensils are thrown about the House without any care the meanest place will serve for them But this Workmanship is too good to be left in this world therefore God hath designed it to a better place Surely so much ado would not be made about a thing of nought 2. The earnest sheweth the greatness as well as the certainty The things of the Spirit are very precious Compared to light life a pearl joy One dram of grace is more precious than all the world Yet these are but an earnest which is a small part of the whole sum The Argument runneth thus If Joy unspeakable and glorious if Peace that passeth all understanding be but the earnest then surely the whole purchase and possession is beyond all that can be thought of and imagined You would judge that to be no ordinary Bargain where a thousand Pound earnest is given The Scripture compareth all that we injoy of God here but to a tast to an earnest to the first fruits little in comparison of the full glory and happiness that shall ensue The Points are Two 1. That God frameth his people unto that happy estate which he hath appointed them 2dly That they may look and long for it with greater affection he giveth them the earnest of the Spirit 1. That God frameth and suiteth his people unto that happiness which he hath provided for them That truth you have in other Scriptures Rom. 9.23 Vessels of mercy aforehand prepared unto Glory Sometimes we read that Heaven is prepared for us at other times that we are prepared for Heaven Heaven for us Matth. 25.34 Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the world In the decree of God By the mediation of Christ Joh. 14.2 I go to prepare a place for you But that 's not enough we must also be prepared for Heaven fitted and suited to that estate So again Col. 1.12 He hath made us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in light God puts into his people an agreeableness unto that happiness which he hath appointed to them Heaven is a clean and Holy place and none but the purified and cleansed are meet to go thither A place of Spiritual delights not fit for the sensual but the mortified So Rev. 3.4 They shall walk with me in white For they are worthy There is a twofold worthiness the worth of exact Equality and the worth of suitableness conveniency and proportion 1. The worth of condignity or exact equality As a work man is said to be worthy of his wages so we are not worthy For there is such a distance between God and his Creatures that no Creature can make him his Debter But there is also the worth of meeetness suitableness c. Thus they that kept themselves clean when others were defiled these were worthy to walk with Christ in white when others are stained with the blot of everlasting shame they possess everlasting glory For in the days of their solemn Festivals they appeared in white Garments So we are bidden 1 Thes. 2.12 to walk worthy of God who hath called us to his Kingdom and his glory Meaning suitably and becoming the God whom we serve and the glory and blessedness which we expect But 1. What is the meetness This framing and preparing of us 1. It implyeth a remote fitness with is regeneration For in our natural estate we were wholly unfit partly being under Gods Curse Gal. 3.13 Eph. 2.3 and so uncapable to enjoy that Blessedness which God hath appointed us unto Partly being dead in Trespasses and Sins Eph. 2.1 and so unable to help our selves Therefore 't is God alone that maketh us to come out of that corrupt estate Surely we ought to be changed John 3.3 Except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15.50 That these impediments may be removed and we made fit God reneweth us by his Spirit worketh in us a new life of Grace a Divine Nature a Spiritual and new Being to make us capable of Spiritual and Divine Things Of our selves we are not fit to think a good thought There is a great unfitness of any Spiritual good to understand it to do it to receive it Well then since we ought to be changed and made new creatures before we can be partakers of Spiritual benefits God's powerful operation is necessary He must frame us for this very thing 2. It implieth an actual preparation and a farther degree of meetness After we are entred into the new estate though at first Conversion we have a right and so are remotely capable yet we are not meet and nextly capable of injoying this blessed estate a Child in the Cradle hath a right to the Inheritance yet he is not fit to manage it till he come to just years of maturity and discretion They distinguish of Jus Haereditarium and Jus Aptitudinale An Heir is not admitted to the management of his right 'T is true we are begotten to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 But we have not the possession of the
unto the day of Redemption When freed from all sin and misery All sin at Death and misery at the last day Converse and Communion with God here is the beginning of our Everlasting Communion and living with God hereafter For the throne of grace is the gate and porch of Heaven so that a Believer when he dyeth doth only change place not company 4. Earnest is given for the security of the Party that receiveth it not for him that giveth it Indeed he that giveth the Earnest is obliged to fulfil the Bargain but 't is most for the satisfaction of the receiver So this Earnest is given for our sakes there is no danger of breaking on God's part but God was willing more abundantly to shew to the Heirs of Promise the Immutability of his Counsel because of our frequent doubts and fears in the midst of our Troubles and Tryals we need this Confirmation 5. 'T is not taken away till all be consummated and therein an Earnest differeth from a Pawn or Pledge A Pledge is something left with us to be restored or taken away from us but an Earnest is filled up with the whole Sum So God giveth part to assure us of obtaining the whole in due season the beginning assureth the man of obtaining the full Possession Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ. The beginning assureth the Compâ—eat Consummation of their blessed estate in Soul and Body Spiritual comforts are joys of the Spirit which assure us that we shall receive the end of our Faith the Salvation of our Souls 1 Pet. 18. 3. The use and end of an Earnest is 1. To raise our confidence of the certainty of these things Believers are apt to doubt if ever the Covenanted Inheritance shall be bestowed and actually injoyed by them Now to assure them that God will be as good as his word and doth not weary us altogether with expectation he giveth us something in hand that we may be confident You see God offered you this Happiness when you had no thought of it and that with an incessant importunity till thy anxious Soul was troubled and made a business of it and by the secret drawings of his Spirit inclined thy heart to chuse him for thy portion pardoned thy failings visited thee in Ordinances supported thee in troubles helped thee in temptations his Spirit liveth dwelleth and worketh in thee therefore always confident ver 6. There is some place for doubts and fears till we be in full possession from weakness of Grace and greatness of Tryals 2. To quicken our earnest desires and industrious diligence The first fruits are to shew how good as well as earnest how sure this is but a little part and portion of those great things which God hath provided for us If the Earnest be so sweet what will the Possession be A glimpse of God in the heart how râ—â—ishing is it O how comfortable a more lively expectation 3. To bind us not to depart from these Hopes The Earnest of the Spirit convincing comforting changing the heart have you felt this in your selves and will you turn back from God after Experience SERMON VIII 2 Cor. 5.6 Therefore we are always Confident knowing that while we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. IN the words observe Two things 1. The Effect of God's giving the Earnest of the Spirit Therefore we are always confident 2. The State of a Believer in this World Knowing that while we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. In the first Branch take notice 1. Of the Effect its self We are confident 2. The constancy or continuance of this Confidence Always To be confident at times when not tempted or assaulted is easie but in all conditions to keep up an equal tenour of Confidence is the Christian heighth which we should aspire unto for the strength of this Confidence is discovered by manifold Tryals and Difficulties 3. The illative Particle Therefore Why Because God hath wrought us for this very thing and given us the Earnest of the Spirit For the Effect itself There is a twofold Confidence 1. Of the thing 2. Of the Person for both are requisite for the latter presupposeth the former there can be no certainty to a person of a thing which is not certain in itself An Immortal state of Bliss is to be had and enjoyed after this life we are Confident of that before we can be Confident of our Interest and actual injoyment of it We are Confident of the thing because God hath promised it and set it forth in the Gospel But because the promise requireth a Qualification and performance of duty in the person to whom the promise is made Therefore before twe can be certain of our own Interest and future injoyment we must not only perform he duty and have the Qualification but we must certainly know that we have done that which the promise requireth and are duly Qualified Now the Serious performance of our duty Evidenceth its self to the Conscience And as our diligence increaseth so doth our Confidence But so far as a man neglecteth his duty and abateth his Qualification so far his confidence may abate also The Illative Particle Therefore The earnest of the Spirit hath influence both upon the Confidence of the thing and of our own interest 1. Of the thing If God never meant to bestow Eternal life upon his people he would not give Earnest 2. Of our Interest and future injoyment For the Spirit of God convincing Comforting and changing the heart doth assure us that he hath appointed us to Everlasting glory Well then the full meaning of this clause is That we certainly know that we shall be Crowned in Glory and being assured by the Earnest of the Spirit that we shall not fail of it therefore we lift up the Head in the midst of pressures and afflictions knowing that if they should arise as high as death they will bring us the sooner to the Lord that we may live with him for ever Doct. They who have the Earnest of the Spirit are and may be Confident of their future and glorious Estate Let me shew you 1. What is this Confidence 2. What is the Earnest of the Spirit 3. How this Confidence ariseth from having the Earnest of the Spirit in our hearts 1. What is this Confidence 1. The Nature of it 2. The Opposites of it 3. The Effects of it 4. The Properties of it 1. The nature 'T is a Well grounded perswasion of our Eternal Happiness But I must distinguish again as before There is a twofold Confidence one which is proper to faith another which may be called assurance or a sense of our own interest 1. There is a Confidence included in the very nature of Faith usually called Affiance We have often considered Faith as it implyeth a firm assent and
again as it Implyeth a thankful acceptance of Christ. Now as it Implyeth Affiance or a resting relying and reposing our hearts with quietness and peace upon Gods Promises and so Confidence is Nothing but a firm and comfortable dependance upon God through Jesus Christ for the gift of Eternal life while we patiently Continue in well-doing Assent to the truth of the promise breedeth this Confidence but 't is not it for faith is not a bare Assent but a fiducial Assent or a trust and dependance upon the Lord in the Appointed way of obtaining the Effects of the promise Faith is often described by the Act of Trust both in the Old Testament and in the New That there can be no doubt of this no notion is more frequently insisted on in the Old Testament Psal. 112.7 He shall not be afraid of evil Tidings his Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His adherence to God and dependance upon him is the great preservative against worldly fears and apprehensions of danger and Misery So that he is fortifyed not only for a patient but cheerful entertainment of all that shall come or may come So Isa. 26.3 Thou keepest him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee A man securely rests upon the promise of God that all will end well while he keepeth to his duty The New Testament also useth the same notion 2 Cor. 13.4 Such trust we have through Christ to Godward Confidence 1 Tim. 4 10. For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God So Eph. 1.12 13. Who trusted first in Christ In whom also ye trusted When we are Confident that God will save his faithful Servants and are incouraged thereby to go on with our duty Our miscarriages fainting and Apostacy and discomforts are made to arise from the want of this Confidence The miscarriages of the people in the Wilderness a figure of our estate in the World came from hence Psal. 78.22 They believed not in God and trusted not in his Salvation They were not Confident of his conduct that he would bring them into the land of rest A man that doth not trust God cannot be long true to him they who do not depend upon God for Salvation and for whatever is necessary to them for Salvation and to bring them out of every streight in a way most conducing to their welfare and his own Honour have not that true believing or sound faith which God requireth of them Well then this trust or Confidence must be in all and this is more than Assent or a bare perswasion of the mind that the promises are true this noteth the repose of the Heart or the motion of the will towards them as good and Satisfactory 2. There is a confidence of our own good estate for the present and so by consequence of our future Blessedness Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he that hath begun a good work in you will perfect it to the day of Christ. When we make no doubt but that God who hath wrought faith and other Christian graces in us will also consummate all in everlasting Glory This dependeth upon a sight of our Qualification This Confidence is Comfortable the other absolutely necessary this Confidence is mainly built upon the Earnest of the Spirit in our hearts the other upon the promise of the Gospel by the one there is a Crown of Righteousness for the Faithful by the other 't is laid up for them The Spirit and life of Faith lyeth more in the former but the joy of Faith and our Comfort dependeth upon this A Christian that is Confident that God will be as good as his word is mightily incouraged to wait upon God till that word be accomplished and that breedeth Courage and Resolution and Boldness But a Christian that knoweth his own interest is more cheered and pleased with it By this latter Confidence a Christian hath a double ground of rejoycing The certainty of Gods promise And the evidence of his own Sincerity or the truth of grace in his own heart 1 Joh. 3.19 Hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him A Christian is said to be before God three ways either in his Ordinary conversation Gen. 17.1 So our hearts are assured before him when we walk in Holy peace Security 2dly We come before him in Prayer and other Duties Now a Christian may assure his heart before him our legal fears are revived by the presence of God but a Christian can look God in the face 3dly We come before him at the day of Judgment We stand before his Tribunal that we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming 1 John 4.17 That we may have boldness at the day of Judgment Death is your summons 2 Kings 21.3 Lord thou knowest that I have walked before thee with a true and perfect Heart 2. The opposites of it are disquieting doubts and fears 1. Doubts are often opposed to Faith not only as 't is a strong assent but as 't is a quiet dependance upon Gods Nature and word as Jam. 1.6 Let him ask in Faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a Wave of the Sea driven with every wind and tossed 1 Tim. 2.8 Lift up Holy hands without wrath and doubting Rom. 4.20 He staggered not at the promise through unbelief but hoped against hope Matth. 14.31 O thou of little Faith wherefore didst thou doubt Because he could not rest upon Christs word 2. So fears are opposite to this quiet and steady dependance Matth. 8.26 Why are ye so fearful O ye of little Faith In Luke 't is Where is your Faith In Mark 't is How is it that you have no Faith Luke 8.50 Fear not believe only Now the opposites of any grace do shew the Nature of it If doubts and fears be so directly opposite to Faith therefore Faith is a confidence as well as an assent Now these doubts and fainting fears are every where opposed to Faith Psa. 27.13 I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living Gods Children are very obnoxious to Temptations of fainting fears and diffidence when sharp troubles do assault them and therefore they ought to strengthen their confidence Strength of assent may remove Speculative doubts or errours of the mind but strength of confidence or quiet dependance doth only remove practical doubts which arise from the fears and terrours of sense which may sometimes sorely shake us 3. The immediate effects are such as are comprized in the very Nature of it as an Holy boldness and courage which is the very notion and the same importance of the Word in the Text We are confident or of good cheer and courage This is seen in four things 1. In our continuing faithful with Christ and professing his truth and waies notwithstanding opposition in a bold
absent from the Body and present with the Lord. IN this verse the Apostle repeateth what he had said verse the 6th with some amplification Here take notice of two things 1. His confidence of sight or of a Blessed Condition to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are confident I say 2. His preference or esteem of sight or of that Blessed Condition before the present estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. Where two things 1. What he was willing to quit the Body We are willing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Travel out of the Body 2. What he did choose and perfer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be at home with the Lord to dwell in the same House with the Lord Christ. This he preferred before remaining in the Body Let us a little explain these Circumstances 1. His Confidence of sight to be had at length We are confident I say There is a twofold Confidence 1. The Confidence of Faith 2. The Confidence of assurance or of our own Interest Both are of regard here 1. Faith in part produceth this willingness to go out of the Body and injoy the Heavenly life and comfortably to leave the time and means thereof to God Faith where it is in any vigour begets in those that live by it an holy boldness whereby we dare undertake any thing for God not fearing the power and greatness of any Creature No not death it self Secondly assurance of our own Interest doth much more heighten this confidence and holy boldness when we know assuredly that our end shall be Glorious and that when we depart out of the Body we shall be present with the Lord. The hope of our Salvation is not uncertain 2. His preferring and choosing the future estate before the present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we approve it we like it better Rom. 15.26 It hath pleased them of Macedonia and 27. Verse it hath pleased them verily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same word also Matth. 17.3 So here we make choice rather and are infinitely better pleased to leave this Body behind us here and to go out and die that by this means we may come to our home and Bliss in Heaven So that Faith doth not only shake off the fear of Death but inkindle in us an holy desire of it for what we render and willing is are more pleased or better pleased The points are Four 1. That our Happiness in the World to come lyeth in being present with the Lord. 2. That we are present with the Lord assoon as the Soul flitteth out of the Body 3. That this state is chosen by the Saints as more pleasing to them than to dwell in the Body 4. This will desire and choice cometh from a confidence of the reality of a better estate and our own Interest in it 1. That our Happiness in the World to come lyeth in being present with the Lord. This hath been in part touched on in the 6th verse I shall only add a few Considerations Surely it must needs be so Because this is the felicity denyed to wicked men but promised and granted to the Godly Denyed to wicked men John 7.34 Where I am thither ye cannot come That is so living and so dying they have no leave no grant to be there where Christ is Paradise is closed up against them But 't is opened to Gods faithful Servants by the promises of the Gospel Job 12.26 There where I am there shall my Servant be Christ will not be ever in Heaven without us As Joseph brought his Brethren to Pharaoh so Christ will bring us to God Wicked men desire not Christs company in this Life and therefore they are justly secluded from coming where he is but the Godly are trained up to look and long and wait for this when they shall come before God Reasons 1. Because then we shall have sight and Immediate communion with him And our Happiness floweth from him without the intervention of any means Acts. 3.19 Days of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Compare it with 2 Thes. 1.9 The wicked shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his power Eternal Happiness is granted to the Elect by the full revelation of Christs face Rev. 22.4 They shall see his face And the very look and face of Christ is the cause of vengeance on the wicked Rev. 6.16 They shall say unto the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and the wrath of the Lamb. Christs face produceth powerful Effects either in a way of grace or punishment In the days of his flesh we had a proof of it both ways The Lord looked upon Peter and that melted his heart Luke 22.61 And when the High Priests Servants came to attaque him John 18.6 He looked upon him and said I am he And they went backward and fell to the ground But surely in Heaven we shall need no more to make us happy than once to see the face of Christ. In thy presence or in thy face is fulness of joy and pleasure for evermore Psa. 16.11 The fruition of Gods Immediate presence is not like the joys of the World which can neither feed nor fill a man But in seeing him we shall have full content and compleat felicity The Children of God long to see God in his Ordinances Psa. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may a well in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and enquire in his Temple There is but one thing David was Sollicitous about and Importunate for in his Prayers what was this one thing Not that he might be setled in his regal throne which he seemeth not yet to be when that Psalm was penned for the Sept. in title add to what appeareth in our Bibles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before he was anointed But that he might injoy the sweet pleasures of daily and frequent converse with God that he might behold the beauty of the Lord. So Psa. 42 2. My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God David was Impatient of being debarred from the presence of God Now if there be so great and so longing a desire to see God in these Glasses wherein so little of his glory is seen with any comfort and Satisfaction how much more to see him immediately and face to face If that Glimpse which God now vouchsafeth be so glorious what will it be when he shall fully shew himself to his People face to face 2. Because then we shall converse with him without Impediment and distraction Here bodily necessities take up the far greatest part of our time Luke 10.41 Thou art cumbred about many things but one thing is necessary The
2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Christs benefits are Gods Favour and Image To have low thoughts of these is to have low thoughts of the Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 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 Heb. 10.29 Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace 4thly All that abuse his grace and turn it to wantonness Jude v. 4th For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this Condemnation ungodly men turning the grace of our God into Lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Those that grow less humble less holy less careful upon the account of grace 5thly All that break his Commandments John 15.10 If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love Others are reckoned for Enemies Col. 1.21 Enemies in your mind by wicked works And Psa. 68.21 God shall wound the Head of his Enemies and the Hairy Scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his Trespasses 6thly Those that question the truth of his promises 2 Pet. 3.3 4. verses Knowing this First that there shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own lusts And saying where is the promise of his coming And they shall know the truth of them to their bitter cost That Christ will come and come as Judge 7thly Those that have perverted his Ordinances Matth. 24.48 49 50 51. verses But and if that evil Servant shall say in his heart My Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to smile his fellow Servants and to eat and drink with the drunken The Lord of that Servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of And shall cut him asuâ—der and appoint him his portion with the Hypocrites There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth He that maligneth envyeth traduceth and injureth to his power his most painful faithful Followers and Servants That strengthneth the hands of the wicked and incourageth them against the most serious whom he seeketh to oppress shall be most severely punished Secondly What is it that is so terrible 1. He is such a Judge as the Power of the most powerful cannot daunt But they shall be all daunted by him Rev. 6.15 16. The Kings of the Earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief Captains and the mighty men and every Bond man and every Freeman bid themselves in the Dens and in the Rocks of the Mountains and said to the Mountains and Rocks Fall on us and hide us from the Face of him that sitteth on the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand 2ndly Such a Judge as the wealth of the wealthiest cannot bribe What compensation can they bring Christ for the breach of his Laws Matth. 16.26 What shall a man give in exchange for his Soul 3. He is such a Judge as the wit and subtility of the wisest and most subtle cannot delude 1 Cor. 4.5 Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the Counsels of the heart c. And Jude verse 15. To execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him And Psa. 50.21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self But I will reprove thee and set them in Order before thine Eyes 4thly Such a Judge that there is no appealing from his sentence or hope of repealing of it His doom shall stand for ever In the World there is liberty of appeal from one Court to another where there may be a violent perverting of Judgment As Eccl. 5.8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of Judgment and Justice in a Province marvel not at the matter For he that is higher then the highest regardeth and there be higher then they But this sentence is definitive 5thly He is a Judge whose wrath is very terrible Psal. 2.12 Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little Blessed are all they that put their trust in him Well then the wicked that oppose his Kingdom and all that stand by as unconcerned and do not enter into his Covenant They shall be judged by him in whom they have not believed By him whom they have flighted by him whose grace and mercy they have despised By him of whom they have said in their hearts we will not have this man to reign over us 2dly Here is comfort to the Godly Here I shall shew 1. Who may take comfort Or to whom this comfort belongeth 2dly What comfort there is First Who Believers That believe his doctrine John 11.25 He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall be live That receive his Person Joh. 1.12 As many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God Even to them that believe on his name That enter into Covenant with him and so become members of his Mystical Body Who feeling their misery under sin and Satan and the wrath of God and do believe that Christ hath done and suffered for Man's Restauration and Salvation Thankfully accept him as their only Saviour and Lord on the terms offered in the Gospel and to those ends even to justify sanctify and bring them to everlasting Glory These are owned and accepted by him 2dly As by their Faith so by their Love Eph. 6.24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity And 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maran-atha They love him above their lives He is the desire and delight of their Souls Psal. 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee And there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee They have longed for this day 2 Tim. 4.8 They love his appearing The thoughts of it was their solace in their afflictions 3dly Those that war against his Enemies The Devil the World and the Flesh Rev. 3.21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am sat down with my Father in his Throne 4thly Those that obey his Laws and imitate his example 1 Joh. 2.28 And
providence It ingageth my dependance to know there is a providence but it helpeth my dependance to know how 't is managed for the good of Gods Children They that know thy name will put their trust in thee Psa. 9.10 So the Doctrine of Justification by Christ. The thing is plain in all points 2. Firm assent John 17.8 They have known surely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed or in truth And Acts 2.36 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assuredly safely without danger of errour The certainty of faith mightily enlivens our apprehensions of any truth and makes them more forcible and operative But usually there is a defect in our assent hated truths are usually suspected Ministers speak of it coldly and in jest as if not perswaded of what they say And we hearers learn it by rote Yet this I must say God hath not only warned the World of wrath in the Old Testament and the New But also natural light doth so far evidence this truth that in their serious and sober moods men cannot get rid of the apprehensions of Immortality and punishment after Death Reason will tell us that God perfectly hateth sin will terribly punish it we cannot easily lay aside these fears nor stifle them in our Bosoms nor sport them away nor jest them away when we are alone or when we are serious or when we come to dye they will revive and haunt us But oh that we were oftner alone and would resuscitate and blow up these sentiments which lye hid in the heart and revive our Faith about them 3. It implyeth serious consideration knowing that is considering acting our thoughts upon it for next to sound belief to make truths active there is required serious consideration Thoughts of Hell may keep many out of Hell 'T is a moral means which God may bless 't will be no loss to Christians to think of their danger before they incur it They that cannot endure to think of it or hear of it discover their guilt and the security of their own hearts presumption is a coward and a run-away but Faith meeteth its enemy in open field Psa. 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil for thou art with me It supposeth the worst suppose God should reject me consider with thy self aforehand as the unjust steward Luke 16. what to do when turned out of doors how shall I make my defence when God shall rise up what shall I answer him Job 31.14 What shall I then do 4. Here is perswasion as to the effect and fruit of all which implyeth three things 1. The thing to which they were perswaded That is not mentioned but the matter in hand sheweth it to be such things as would bear weight in the Judgment and exempt them from wrath to come Such as Faith Repentance and new Obedience Faith in the Redeemer 2 Thes. 1.10 Heb. 6.18 Repentance Matth. 3.19 And Acts 3.19 New obedience Heb. 5.9 2 Thes. 1.8 or a serious coming to Christ and hearty subjection to him is the only way to escape that wrath To these we exhort and perswade you again and again without these you are obnoxious to the severity of his revenging Justice 2. Earnest zeal and endeavours on the part of Paul and his colleagues and all that are like minded with them they must not only teach and instruct but perswade Col. 1.28 Warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus He addeth verse 29. Whereunto I also labour striveing according to his working The understanding is dark and blind in the things of God and needeth teaching The will and affections are perverse and backward and they need warning And therefore we must warn and teach Warn and that not in a cold or slaunting manner as if we were in jest and did not believe the things we speak of But with such vigour and labour and striving as becometh those who would present them to Christ as the travail of our Souls at the last day and as those who are sensible of the terrour of the Lord our selves 3. It implyeth a being perswaded on the peoples part For all that mind their own welfare will take this warning and since we must shortly appear before the bar of the dreadful God to give an account what use we have made of these perswasions When God giveth warning and God giveth time our condemnation is the more aggravated Revel 2.21 I gave her space to repent and she repented not Warning and perswasion as Reuben did not I warn you 2 Cor. 6.1 We beseech you receive not this grace in vain God keepeth an account of these warnings Luke 13.7 And the importunity of these pressing convictions which we have had very request and exhortation made for God will be as a fiery dart in your Souls how fresh will every Sermon come into your minds The melting words of exhortation which you were wont to hear will be as so many hot burning coals in your hearts to torment you It will be easier for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah then for you Matth. 10.15 VSE is to teach us all to apply this truth What Paul had spoken in general concerning the last Judgment he applyeth to himself 'T is not enough to have a general knowledge of truth but we must improve and apply them to our own use Men of all ranks must do so 1. It presseth Preachers to perswade men Oh how diligently should we study how earnestly should we perswade with what love and tender compassion should we beseech men to escape this wrath to come How unweariedly should we bear all opposition and mocks and scorns and unthankful returns How plainly should we rip up mens soars and open their very hearts to them How carefully should we watch over every particular Soul How importunate should we be with all sinners for their conversion considering that shortly they must be judged Cry aloud spare not Isa. 58.1 'T is a notable help against a sleepy Ministry to consider that those Souls to whom we speak must within a while receive their everlasting doom When you find a deadness rowse up your selves by these thoughts this will put a life into your exhortations a sense of what we speak zeal for the Glory of God and compassion over Souls will not suffer us to do the work of the Lord negligently 2. To all Christians 1. Perswade your selves commune with your own Souls Do I know the terrour of the Lord What have I done to escape it If you would not fall into the hands of a living God cast your selves into the arms of a dying Saviour Hide your selves before the storm cometh if his anger be but kindled a little blessed are all those that put their trust in him Psa. 2.12 Seek conditions of peace while a great way off Luke 14. A powerful enemy marcheth against us especially when you begin to grow negligent dead hearted and
Christ hath suffered those punishments which are due to us That which is equivalent to what we should have suffered He hath suffered all kinds of punishment In his body 1. Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being dead to sins should live unto Righteouâ—â—â—â—â— whose stripes ye were healed In his Soul in his agonies His Soul was heavy to 〈◊〉 Matth. 26.38 As a little before the shower falls there is a gloominess and blackness so in Christs spirit he suffered privative evils or poena damni in his desertion positive evils or poena sensus when he sent forth tears and strong cryes unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered Heb. 5.7 8. He hath suffered from all by whom evil could be inflicted Men Jews and Gentiles strangers and his own disciples The powers of darkness who were the Authors of all those evils which Christ suffered from their Instruments Luke 22.53 He suffered from God himself the full cup of whose wrath he drunk off Such a broad foundation hath God laid for our peace He suffered in every part sorrows being poured in upon him by the conduit of every sense hunger thirst nakedness spittings stripes they pierced his hands and feet 2. Propound it to your Love 1. How much we are bound to acknowledge the unspeakable mercy of God who knowing our sad condition pitied us and resolved to save us and to reconcile us to himself by such a Priest and Sacrifice as was convenient for us But we unworthy wretches being ignorant and sensless of our sin guilt and misery do not understand what need we have of Christ nor praise God for his great love in providing him for us Our condition was sinful and so miserable We are guilty polluted with sin and liable to death can have no access to God nor Eternal Life And which is worst of all are sensless of this sad condition and if we once know it we are hopeless helpless and so should have perished utterly if the Lord had not found out a Remedy and a Ransom for us Rom. 8.32 2. How miserable would it have been if every man should bear his own burden how light soever any sins seem when they are committed yet they will not be found light when they come to reckon with God for them Sin to a waking Conscience is one of the heaviest burdens that ever was felt If God had laid sins upon us as he laid them all upon Christ they would have sunk us all to hell The little finger of sin is heavier than the loins of any other sorrow if God give but a touch of it Psal. 39.11 When thou with Rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth The Rod if it be dipt in guilt smarts sorely If a spark of his wrath light into your Consciences what a combustion doth it make there Psal. 38.4 My iniquities are gone over my head they are a burden too heavy for me Assoon as we do but taft of this Cup we cry out presently my heart faileth You may know what it is Partly by what Christ felt He lost his wonted comforts he was put into strange agonies and a bloody sweat Now if this be done in the Green Tree what shall be done in the dry If his Soul were exceeding sad how soon shall we be dismayed Partly In the Saints when they feel the weight of Gods little Finger all life and power is gone if God set home but one sin upon the conscience Psa. 40.12 Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me therefore my heart faileth Job saith The arrows of the Lord like porson did drink up his Spirits Job 6.4 Partly by your own experience When the conscience of sin is a little revived in you what horrours and disquiets do you feel in your selves Prov. 18.14 The Spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can â—ear Then thousands of Rams and Rivers of Oil any thing for the sin of the Soul Partly By the state of the Reprobate in the World to come and what the threatnings of the word say concerning those who dye in their sins Heb. 10.31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God And Mark 9.44 Where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched This is the portion of them that bear their own burden and their own transgression 3. The happiness which redoundeth to us by Christs bearing it for us It is not a thing inconsiderable or a matter of lesser moment to be made the Righteousness of God in him Our whole welfare and happiness dependeth upon it our freedom from the curse our Title to Glory 1. Freedom from the curse For this is such a Righteousness as giveth us exemption from the penalty threatned in the Law We have the comfort of it for the present a freedom from the sentence of condemnation Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus c. So that we may go chearfully about our Service But much more shall we have the comfort of it when the great God of recompenses cometh to execute the Threatning In the general Judgment there is no appearing before God in that great day with safety and comfort without some Righteousness of one sort or another our own or our Sureties Now no Righteousness of ours can secure us from the dint of Gods anger and the just stroaks ' of the Law-covenant Blessed they that are found in Christ not having their own Righteouness 2dly Our title to glory As it qualifieth us for the reward There is no getting the Blessing but in the garments of our elder Brother We have holiness given us upon the account of this Righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 We are sanctified made personally holy and Righteous We have faith given us by virtue of this Righteousness 2 Pet. 1.1 All progress in grace is given us by virtue of the everlasting covenant Heb. 13.20 21. And at length glory Eph. 5.27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish 3dly Let us prize it and desire it Phil. 3.8 9. Every man is prone to set up a Righteousness of his own Luke 18.9 Partly Because naturally the Law is written upon our hearts And therefore Moral strains are more welcom then Evangelical Doctrine Every manis born under a covenant of works Partly out of Pride Every man would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all for personal Merit A Russet Coat of our own is valued more then a silken one that is borrowed Rom. 10.3 For they being ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness have not submitted themselves to the Righteousness of God But
on things above and not on things on earth Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ Col. 3.2 3. It is the Divine and heavenly life which they seek to live Well then here is a brief and plain description of those who are dead with Christ in four things 1. They make Conscience of their solemn Vow in Baptism wherein they promised to put off their former lusts of their ignorance and the corrupt conversation that flowed from them 2. They are busily at work in it and it is their daily endeavour 3. They prevail so far that sin is a dying and Grace groweth in strength and power 4 They continue faithful in that purpose and their savour of earthly things is deadned and their hearts are still working towards God and Heaven 2. It is a Condition absolutely necessary to obtain subsequent Grace For 1. The Graces of the Spirit cannot thrive in an unmortified Soul therefore then we set about our duty in the right order when we begin with Mortification in the first place and thence proceed to the positive duties of the new Life Faith will not thrive in a proud unhumbled impenitent heart Joh. 5.44 How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Nor will the love of God ever bear sway where sensual and worldly love is in such strength and prevalency 1 Joh. 2.15 If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Vain pleasures divert us from our great Hopes or the Pleasures that are at Gods right hand for evermore 1 Pet. 1.13 Be sober and hope to the end Sobriety is an holy moderation or sparing use of worldly delights they behave themselves as in their journey Well then we must dye before we can live in purity and holiness and seek that Glory which Christ now enjoyeth with God in Heaven We must put off our old rags before we can put on the garments of Righteousness 2. The longer corruption is spared it groweth the worse for the more it venteth it self by inordinate and sinful desires the more it acquireth strength and secures its interest more firmly in the Soul Every Act strengtheneth the Habit and then it groweth into an inveterate Custom Jer. 9.3 They bend their tongues for lyes but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth for they proceed from evil to evil and they know not me saith the Lord. Therefore the Apostle 1 Pet. 4.2 3. That he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in licentiousness lusts excess of wine revellings banquettings and abominable idolatries Alas sin is too deeply rooted and ingrained in our Natures already and that hindreth the coming on of the Divine Life either we never receive the Grace of Regeneration being so stiffned and hardned in our sins or else it hath more corruption to grapple with so that all our days there is more to do to keep it alive in our Souls 3. Till sin be mortified the good we pretend to is but a covering and hiding of our loathsom lusts Jam. 4.8 Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded Many being taxed for their evil and inordinate life will say they hope their hearts are good if the heart were good the life would be better the sinner must cleanse his hands Others are plausible in their carriage but their fleshly and worldly lusts were never soundly mortified therefore Hypocrites must cleanse their hearts Here the operation of the Spirit beginneth Our Lord saith Mat. 23.25 26. Cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter that the outside may be clean also Many external Acts may be counterfeited or over-ruled and influenced by bye ends the purity of the outside is loathsom to God without the purity of the heart Pharisees are compared to whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead mens bones and all uncleanness so ye outwardly appear righteous unto men but within are full of hypocrisie and iniquity Mat. 23.27 28. So Luke 11.44 Ye are â—s graves which appear not and the men that walk over them are not aware of them not as a grave when new but a grave when over-grown with grass The Jews buried out of the City in the fields they thought themselves defiled by coming too near the dead Men may be fair in outward guise and shew but in heart the most noisom and polluted that can be So that no Mortification is necessarily requisite to Vivification we must dye before we can live II. Let me open the Benefit We shall also live with him Here 1. Observe how Grace is followed with Grace one part with another God loveth to crown his own gifts and we are indeared to him by his own mercies So it is in the general Zech. 3.2 Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire But some mercies draw on other mercies and are given in order to them as Mortification in order to Vivification Grace in order to Glory God giveth the one that he may give the other he maketh one degree of Grace a step to the other 2. Observe how Grace is followed with Glory We shall also live with him One and the same word expresseth both Life spiritual and eternal is but one Life It is good to observe how many ways the Scripture sets forth the connexion between the Life of Grace and the Life of Glory sometimes by that of the Seed and Crop Gal. 6.8 He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting No seed no crop now is our seed-time sometimes the first-fruits and the harvest for the offering of the first-fruits dedicated to the whole harvest Rom. 8.23 We our selves who have the first-fruits of the Spirit c. sometimes to the Fountain and the Stream or the River losing it self in the Ocean Joh. 4.14 He that shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life sometimes of the Pledge and Earnest with respect to full and actual Possession 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts Sometimes to the beginning and accomplishment or the degree with the top and height life is begun by the Spirit and perfected in Heaven There is a mighty suitableness between Life spiritual and eternal Joh. 17.3 This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent The Life of Grace consisteth in knowing and loving God and the Life of Glory is the everlasting Vision and perfect Love of God now we are changed by the sight of Faith 2 Cor. 3.18
We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord then we shall be changed by the beatifical Vision 1 Joh. 3.2 When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is our life here and life there is but one life begun here and perfected there here are manifold imperfections but there is compleat blessedness sometimes as the morning to high noon or light of the perfect day Prov. 4.18 The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more to the perfect day here the day breaks but it is but a little sometimes to a man and a child 1 Cor. 13.10 11 12. But when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away When I was a child I spake as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things For now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known as it is in the change of Ages so is it between this and the other Life Now all these things shew both the sameness of the life and also the necessity of one degree of Grace to another 3. Observe how fitly this is mentioned as an help to Mortification we should sweeten the tediousness and trouble of the work by thinking of the life that will ensue 1. The Life of Grace Conscience calleth upon you for your duty to your Creator and Lust hindereth it now is it not a great advantage to have a vital Principle to incline us to God By the life of Grace we are enabled in some measure to do what is pleasing in his sight Heb. 12.28 Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Set about Mortification and you shall have this Grace This should be a great consolation to us who are so often vexed with guilty fears because of the neglect of our duty 2. The Life of Glory Pleasures Honours and Profits seem great matters to a carnal heart and can do much till you put Heaven in the balance against them as Moses did Heb. 11.26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of reward he looked off from one object to another Alas when we think of this life all that we enjoy here is nothing and should do nothing upon us to gain us from God and our duty to him we should have such thoughts within our selves Shall I take these pleasures instead of my birth-right For this preferment shall I â—ell my part in Heaven Shall I cast away my Soul for this sensual delight The Devil usually prevaileth over men when Heaven is forgotten and out of sight Sure the Baptismal Vow and Engagement hath little hold upon us 2 Pet. 1.9 He is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins These things are fitly coupled 4. Observe how we have all with Christ we dye with him and we live with him as we mortifie sin by virtue of that Grace which he purchased for us by his Death so we hold Heaven by his gift or the Grant of that Covenant which he hath confirmed by his Blood his Dying is the Pattern of our Mortification and his Life of our Happiness and Glory if by his Example we first learn to dye unto sin according to his Pattern and Example we shall have a joyful Resurrection to eternal Life for still we fare as Christ fared he would not be a Pattern to us only in his worst estate but in his best also we shall be partakers of the same glory which Christ hath at the right hand of the Father and as we shall live eternally so we shall eternally praise our Redeemer who deriveth influence to us all along both in dying and rising III. The certain Apprehension we have of this we believe Here I shall handle 1. The necessity of this Faith 2. The grounds of it 3. The profit of believing this 1. The necessity of believing 1. This life is not matter of Sense but of Faith whether you take it for the life of Grace or the life of Glory 1. The Life of Grace If you consider the nature of it which is of the order of things spiritual and men that judge according to things of sense see no glory in it 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Alas the rich preparations of Grace which God hath made us in the Gospel a carnal heart hath no savour for them nor value and esteem of them is nothing moved with the tender and offer we must have a higher light to see these things Besides the new Nature is hidden under manifold infirmities and afflictions Col. 3.3 Your life is hid with Christ in God and 1 Joh. 3.2 It doth not yet appear what we shall be Once more it is Gods gift and a matter full of difficulty for them to apprehend that are sensible of their own vileness and are daily conflicting with so many lusts that they should be quickened and inabled to live to God is a matter which they cannot easily believe Shall these dead bones live O Lord thou knowest Ezek. 37.3 It is an hard matter to perswade them that have a great sense of the power of their bewitching lusts they shall ever overcome 2. For the Life of Glory that is also a matter of Faith because it is a thing future unseen and to be enjoyed in another World Now faith is the substance of things not seen and the evidence of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 2. The Person Office and Power of our Redeemer are all mystical Truths Joh. 11.25 26. I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye believest thou this That Christ is able to raise the dead to life again now or hereafter 3. The matter is difficult to be believed that after worms have consumed this flesh it shall be raised again in Glory and at length reign with Christ for ever Therefore Abrahams Faith is so often propounded to the Faithful Who considered not his own body now dead nor yet the deadness of Sarahs womb Rom. 4.19 and the Apostle sheweth us That such a kind of faith shall be imputed to us for righteousness vers 24. who believe Christs Resurrection and then ours All this sheweth the necessity of Faith in this case 2. The grounds of believing this blessed Estate which is reserved for the mortified 1. The infinite Love of God which prepared these Mercies