A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL On March 22. 1667. Being EASTER-DAY By Edward Lord Bishop of Norwich Published by his Majesties Command LONDON Printed by Thomas Ratcliffe and are to be sold by Edward Thomas at the Adam and Eve in Little-Brittain 1668. A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL On March 22. 1667. being Easter-day Hebrews 13. v. 20 21. Now the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepheard of the Sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every Good Worke to do his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. THE efficacy of the Gospell dependeth not on the wisedome industry or ability of Man but on the Blessing and power of God who onely can open the Heart to attend unto the Word spoken And therefore the Apostle doth often begin and end his Epistles with Prayer as the best Key to open and the best Seal to close the Doctrine taught Now because the summe of our Happiness here standeth in two things That God is at peace with us and that we live in obedience to him and both these founded in the Covenant of Grace Sealed by the Blood of Christ the great Apostle High Priest and Shepheard of the Church and ratified by the power of his Resurrection therefore the Apostle hath so couched these things in this Prayer that it may be a Summary both of his Doctrine touching the person and offices of Christ in this Epistle and of the Exhortations unto stedfastness in Faith and Obedience frequently inferred therefrom The Words contain in them Two general parts A Prayer and Arguments to enforce it In the Prayer we observe 1. The Matter of it perfection in every good work 2. The Rule of our perfection in working God's will 3. The end of Doing his will to please him 4. The Principles of this Perfection 1. God's peaceable Affection towards us in Christ. 2. God's Gracious working in us Working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight The Arguments are drawn 1. from the Free Grace of God in an Everlasting Covenant 2. From the Love of Christ the great Shepheard of his Church in purchasing all the mercies of that Covenant with the price of his own Blood 3. From the power of God bearing witness to the Efficacy and prevalency of that Blood in Raising Christ from the Dead 4. From the Pastoral Office wherein Christ applyeth and dispenseth the Mercies of this Covenant as the great Shepheard of the Sheep I begin with the Prayer wherein we have a compleat Character of Christian perfection in these few particulars 1. An Internal work of God's grace in us working in you Good works begin not at the Hand but at the Heart we must be renewed in the spirit of our minde and strengthened by God's Spirit in the Inner-man as the Apostle speaks He in the Philosopher who could not make a Dead Body stand gave it over with this Conclusion Oportet ut sit aliquid Intus We may not judge of our selves by mere External conformities the Lip or Knee may be near when the Heart is farr off We must try how our Consciences is freed from the allowance and our Will from the love of Sin What life of Grace is in our Heart How our Soul stands in awe of God's Commandments The outward Act may be dissembled but no Man can love God in Hypocrisie Again the outward Act may be disabled but nothing can hinder the Heart from delighting in God's Law Every Man is that in God's Eye which he is in his Spiritual Capacity A Bodily service like a Body is Dead without a Soul to animate and enliven it 2. Life of Grace within will produce work without In vain do we please our selves in the opinion of a good Heart if there be an Evil Conversation Grace in the Heart like Leaven in the Lump or Sap in the Root wil work its way into the whole Man Where God gives one heart he gives one way Jer. 32. 39. The Wicked must forsake his way as well as his thoughts and so finde mercy Isaiah 55. 7. 3. Christian perfection disposeth unto Every Good Work causeth a Man to keep a good Conscience in All things Sinceritie makes Obedience universall He who out of the awe of God's Authority keeps one Commandment must needs on the same Reason keep all as Saint James argues Cap. 2. 10. they being All alike Holy and alike His. There is in Every good Christian a Concatenation of all Vertues and Grace As the Childe receives from the Parent Member for Member So when Christ is formed in a Believer he receiveth of his fullness Grace for Grace John 1. 16. And therefore as one dangerous Wound may kill a Man or one dangerous Leake sink a Vessell So one presumptuous Sinne may destroy a Soul We must not therefore content our selves with Herod's progress of whom it is said that he did many things Marc. 6. 20. But we must with David have respect unto all God's Commandments and hate every False way Psal. 119. 6. 128. This is our Commission to teach Men to observe All things whatsoever Christ hath commanded Matth. 28. 20. And this should be your Resolution to say with good Cornelius We are here present before God to hear All things that are commanded Thee of God Act. 10. 3. 4. Christian perfection is Constant holds out to a consummation and full growth to a perfect Man Eph. 4. 13. Keeps God's Statutes Alwayes to the end Psal. 119. 112. proceeds from an Heart throughly fitted and composed for good works as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth So the Apostle sayeth of himself that he followed after reached forth and pressed forward in the Race of Christianity Phil. 3. 12 13 14. as all true denominations are founded in habituall and permanent Qualities We call not him a Red man who is so onely with Blushing nor him a Pale man who is so onely with Passion So sincere Piety is not in fitts pangs or sudden flashes but is sober regular uniform constantly disposing the Soul unto Every good work 5. Christian Perfection hath for its Standard and Measure the good and perfect will of God inquireth what God the Lord will speak Psal. 85. 8. teacheth us to deny our own Reason and not dispute to deny our own will and not to rebell against the will of God to say as Christ to his Father Not as I will but as thou wilt or as Saint Paul in his Conversion Lord what wilt thou have me to do Great reason it is that the wisest Will should order and that the Soveraign Will should Rule Every other Will which is subordinate unto it And since we know that God requireth nothing of us but for our own benefit for our goodness extendeth not unto him we should Even out of Self-love obey his will 6. Christian Perfection
Saint Austin hath reduced to Two Heads Ignorantia Difficultas Ignorance in the Minde the Natural man cannot know the things of the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. Difficulty in the Will for want of Love in the Heart for want of Sense and Softness in all the other Faculties for want of Strength To the Removal of these Indispositions Grace is Necessary 1. Grace onely enlightneth the Eyes by the Spirit of Wisedom and Revelation Ephes. 1. 17 18. Christ onely giveth us an Understanding that we may know him that he is true 1 Joh. 5. 20. we have received the Spirit which is of God sayeth the Apostle that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God 1 Cor. 2. 12. 2. Grace onely Removeth Difficulty First from the Will by a sweet and effectual perswasion enclining us to love God by a secret and ineffable operation working in us veras Revelationes Bonas Voluntates as Saint Austin speaks 2. Grace onely removeth Difficulty from the Heart by Softening it with such an efficacy according to the Judgment of that excellent Father Quae à Nullo Duro Corde respuitur I will give them sayeth the Lord an Heart of Flesh Ezek. 36. 26. 3. Grace onely Removeth Difficulty from all other Faculties enabling them to do doe all things through the strength of Christ Phil. 4. 13. Not I sayeth the Apostle but the Grace of God which was with me 1 Cor. 15. 10. Thus Grace is Necessary ut Innotescat quod Latebat ut suave Fiat quod non Delectabat to make that known which was hidden from us to make that sweet which was Irksome to us as the same Father Excellently speaks 2. Grace is Necessary to put this Habitual Fitness into Excercise It is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. It is God that Works all our Works in us and for us Isaiah 26. 12. Certum est Nos facere quum facimus sed ille facit ut faciamus as Saint Austin speaks It is true we are the Workmen when we do work but it is he by his Grace who enableth us to Work 3. Grace is necessary to our perseverance in well-doing as the presence of the Sun is Necessary to the Continuance of Light in the House He is able to Keep us from falling as Saint Jude speaks verse 24. Non Mihi sufficit sayeth Saint Hierom quòd semel Donavit nisi semper Donaverit Peto ut accipiam cum accepero Rursus Peto It is not enough for me that God giveth me Grace once except he give it me alwayes I begg that I may receive it and when I have received it I begg it still We must thus by constancy in Faith and Prayer Attend upon all the means of Grace because Every Stepp of our Sufficiency depends upon it We now proceed unto the Arguments used by the Apostle for enforcing the matter of this Prayer Drawn from the Mercy of an Everlasting Covenant From the Blood of Christ whereby that Mercy was purchased for us From his Resurrection whereby it hath been ratified and secured unto us and Lastly from his Pastoral Office whereby it is Administred and Dispensed for the Sanctification and Salvation of hi Church 1. Then our God of Peace was Pleased to enter into a Covenant of Grace with Man when he had violated the former Covenant The Lord might have left us in our Lapsed Estate as he did the Fallen Angels Non Expectavit Angelos sed praecipitavit saith Saint Bernard But he was more Mercifull to sinfull Man who since he fell not but by hearkning to the voyce of a Tempter should not perish without having provided for him the Blood of a Redeemer 2. This Covenant is Founded and Established in the Blood of Christ. Sanction is essential to Contracts which among the Antients was done by Killing of a Sacrifice of which Custom we finde mention Jer. 34. 18 and it was Imitated by the Gentiles Stabant Caesâ firmabant faedera porcâ That then which the Scripture calls the Blood of the Covenant was that whereby the Covenant was ratified or had its Sanction as we read in Tacitus Suetonius Plutarch and others of Leagues sealed by Drinking of Blood So Servius the Gramarian will have Sanctio to come à Sanguine faedus à feriendo Now Christ by his Blood is the Mediator and Surety in this Covenant as our Apostle telleth us a Mediator to Reconcile a Surety to Undertake according to the several Articles whereby the Parties in Covenant stand Engaged each to other 1. In behalf of God there is due unto him from Man Satisfaction to his Justice and Obedience to his Law Christ as our Surety hath in his own Person fully satisfied the Justice of God and Rigor of the Law and as our Head doth derive upon his Members the Grace of his holy Spirit whereby they are enabled to perform such Evangelical Obedience as the Covenant of Grace doth require and accept 2. In behalf of Man there is necessary Remission of Sinne Reconciliation unto God Re estating in an Inheritance Grace to make him Holy Glory to make him Blessed These things God in this Covenant of Grace doth promise to give unto us in Christ who by the price of his Blood hath purchased them for us Thus Christ as our Surety hath paid our Debt unto God and as the Purchaser and Treasurer of his Father's Mercie doth procure and perform God's Promises unto us 3. This Covenant is an Everlasting Covenant so called by the Prophet Isaiah 55. 3. as by Saint John an Everlasting Gospell Rev. 14. 6. Though the manner of its Dispensation in several Ages of the Church hath been Divers yet the Substance is one and the same for ever Varta Sacramenta Fides eadem as Saint Austin speaks A Covenant founded in Everlasting Love the Gifts whereof are without Repentance Rom. 11. 29. A Covenant Ratified by the Oath of God to shew the Immutability of his Counsell therein Heb. 6. 17. A Covenant of the Sure Mercies of David Isai. 55. 3. of a Kingdom which cannot be moved Heb. 12. 28. Lastly a Covenant the Benefits whereof are for ever Everlasting Salvation Heb. 5. 9. An Eternal Weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. An Inheritance Incorruptible and that Fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1 4. Now if we consider Each of these Three Particulars we shall finde them Weighty Arguments unto that Holiness and Perfection which the Apostle here prayeth for 1. The whole substance of the Covenant is Frequently in the Scripture comprised and re-capitulated in these two words I will be their God and they shall be my People And if he be Our God we must be Holy for it is written Ye shall be Holy for I the Lord your God am Holy Levit. 19. 2. And if we be His People we must be Holy for he Saves his People from their Sinnes Matth. 1. 21. He purifies unto Himself
a Peculiar People zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. Yea Our Holiness is one Principal branch of those good things which in the Covenant of Grace are promised unto us I will put my Fear in their Hearts that they shall not depart from me Jer. 32. 40. I will give them an Heart of Flesh that they may walk in my Statutes Ezek. 11. 19 20. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my Statutes and ye shall Keep my Judgments and do them Ezek. 36. 27. The Law doth but Command but the Covenant supplyeth Grace to do in Sincerity though not in Perfection what the Law Requires Lex imperat Fides impetrat as Saint Austin speaks The Law was given by Moses But Grace to perform the Duties of the Moral Law and Truth to accomplish the Prefigurations of the Ceremonial Law came by Jesus Christ John 1. 17. 2. The Blood of Christ whereby the Covenant of Grace is established and the Sure Mercies of David purchased for us is an invincible Argument unto Holiness of Life For the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sinne 1 John 1. 7. The Blood of Christ purgeth our Conscience from Dead Works to serve the Living God Hebr. 9. 14. By the Blood of Christ we were redeemed from our vain Conversation 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. In Christ crucified Faith sees his Infinite Love in Giving Himself for us and this Love of Christ constraineth us to Live unto him who died for us 3 Cor. 5. 14 15. In Christ crucified Faith sees the Justice of God against Sinne who spared not his own Sonne but delivered him up for us all and this works in the Heart an Hatred against Sinne and an endeavour to avenge the Blood of Christ upon it And it works a Fear of Sinne for if Sinne brought a curse upon the Sacrifice it will much more bring it upon the Sinner if the Sacrifice be despised Where Sinne is found it will be punished Sinne forsaken and repented of hath been found on the Sacrifice and hath there been punished Sinne unforsaken and unrepented of remains yet upon the Sinner and so long he himself is under the Curse which is Due unto it For Christ did not Dye to Protect us in our Sinnes but to Deliver us from them He dyed to save the Sinner but withall to destroy the Sinne. He therefore who resolves to Hold fast his Sinne doth Interpretativè resolve to let go Salvation Again the Apostle teacheth us thus to Argue We are not our own for we are Bought with a Price Therefore we must Glorifie God in our Bodie and in our Spirit which are Gods 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. For Quod emitur transit in potestatem Ementis In the Imperial Law a Person redeemed became the Servant of him that Redeemed him per Modum Pignoris till he could pay back his Ransom Certainly Christ did not purchase us with so Precious a Price as his Own Blood that we should continue the Servants of Satan and Sinne still which he came to Destroy Yeare Bought with a price sayeth the Apostle be ye not the Servants of Men Much less of Sinne for to this End Christ both Dyed and Rose and Revived that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living Rom. 14. 9. The Apostle maketh mention of the Fellowship of Christ's Sufferings and our being made comformable to his Death Phil. 3. 10. wherein our Old Man is Crucified with him that the Bodie of Sinne might be destroyed that henceforth We should not serve Sinne as the same Apostle speaks For that is to be done to Sinne in us which was done to Christ when he was made Sinne for us The Death of Christ was a Violent Death Christ having no Sinne in himself could not have dyed otherwise than as a Sacrifice So Sinne in us would never dye of it self Omnis Peccator Peccat in Suo AEterno It must therefore be Judged condemned and destroyed as the Apostle speaks Rom. 6. 6. Rom. 8. 3. Again the Death of the Cross was Servile Supplicium as Historians Usually call it whereunto the Apostle seemeth to allude when he sayeth that Christ took upon him the form of a Servant and became Obedient unto Death Even the Death of the Cross Phil 2. 7 8. Thus should we treat Sinne as a Base Vile and Servile thing not suffering it to reign or have Dominion over us as the Apostle speaks Rom 6. 12. 14. Again the Death of the Cross was In same Supplicium Christ endured the Cross and despised the shame saith our Apostle Heb. 12. 2. So Sinne should be put to shame by us A Sinner in his Baptisme and Repentance doth as Gregory Nazianzen Flegantly Expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 put Sinne to open shame What Fruit had Ye in those Things whereof you are now ashamed sayeth the Apostle Romans 6. 21. Lastly the Death of the Cross is frequently called in Historians Summum Suppluium a Cruel and a Cursed Death We shouâ—d shew no Mercy to Sinne. Christ would not Drink the Vinegar and Gaâ—l which some Learned Men as I Remember think was a Cup of Astonishment to Dull his Senses against the Pain of Death Thereby teaching us if so to refuse any Anodynes or Stupesactives which might take away the sense of sinne from us Thus the Blood of Christ is to cure Sinne and not onely to Cover it One of the surest Comforts of the pardon of Sinne is its dying in us for the Life of a Christian should be a shewing forth of the Death of Christ. 3. The Everlastingness of the Covenant of Grace is an Impregnable Argument unto Holiness of Life There is no Real fruit in Sin the Promises thereof are all false and deceitfull Gehazi promised himself Gain but got a Leprosie Balaam pursued Honour but met with a Sword Achan found a Wedge of Gold but it cleaved asunder his Soul from his Body The onely fruits of Sinne are Shame if we repent and Death if we do not repent Rom. 6. 21. But whatever Fruit we can promise our selves from Sinne it is all but vanishing and Transitory The pleasures of Sinne are but for a Season Heb. 11. 25. the World passeth away and the Lusts thereof 1 John 2. 17. Our Sinne will Leave us nothing to keep Company with for ever but a polluted Soul and a Guilty Conscience Now what a Folly is it for Men that are themselves Immortal who must have a Being as long as there is power in God to preserve it as long as there is Truth in God to make good the promises of Eternal Life to them that Serve him and the threatnings of Eternal Death to them that Despise him not to provide an Happiness of equal duration with themselves to preferr the false and dying Comforts of the World before the Pleasures which are at God's Right-hand for evermore O let us learn by a sincere and serious Holiness of Life to secure unto our selves the Mercies of an