releeve Yet for our selves we have cause to lament Yea sure the Judgement is of large extent And larger than to them that lay 't to heart Nor is' t the less because few feele the smart Yet still our cause of lamentation's more To ses the Children of the Spiritual Whore Against the Heavens themselves with sport rejoyce Not doubting to prevail with their strange voyce Reproaching now the poor that trusts in God Because afflicted with their Fathers Rod But in due time God will arise and then No place will be for these proud wicked men In the great Judgement then they shall not stand But shall be broken with a mighty hand A little while and then he will not stay But come with all his Saints O come away Is it not yet the time to judge thy Flock When as to outward means their powers do slack Is there yet any left shut up or hid Cause them t' appear thy flock to help and rid Make them more wise and strong to doe exploits Through thy good name to shew the deep deceits So manifold of him whose name is Legion That with us may remaine the pure Religion And haste the coming of that blessed day In which thou wilt wipe all our tears away In mean time teach us to account and mind Thy patience is Salvation to th' unkind A pleasure in their death thou now hast none While yet thy grace brings them Salvation Of thy mind make us more as reading well i th' greatness of thy love thy terror sell Thence instantly with meekness praying them Now to be reconciled unto him That was made Sin and Curse for 's all that we The righteousness of God in him might be T. M. Junior A Lamentation over the dead in Christ with Instruction Admonition and encouragement to the Survivers in some explication of the words of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 57. 1. as compared with other Scriptures Isaiah 57. 1. The Righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come THe words present us with a Two-fold matter of Lamentation or cause of grief doubled in the expression of each part to note the greatness of the Judgement and to awake us to the more diligence to learn righteousness by it 1 That the Righteous perisheth merciful men or men of kindness and godliness are taken away 2 That no man laies it to heart none considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil We read to come but those two words being added by the Translators as appears by their different Character may be left out in our reading and the text without them not only as fully takes in the truth expressed by but is more signified viz. That he is taken away from the evil as well that present as that to come The Instructions fully signified and set before us in the words of this Lamentation are 1 That the perishing of the righteous the taking away of men of kindness and godliness is a sad correction to the survivers which God would have so laid to heart and considered by them 2 That when God so strikes and yet none lay to heart or consider it it is an evidence of wilful blindness and great hardness in such a people and a sign and fore-runner of greater Judgements 3 That even in these sad Judgements there is special mercy and choyse blessedness to those so taken away and that to be considered also they are taken away from the evil Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yèa saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them I That the perishing of the Righteous is a sad correction to the survivers which God would have so laid to heart and considered by them for our understanding and usefulness of this wee shall propound to consideration 1. Who are the Righteous 2. In what sence they may be said to perish and when they so doe and then shall further demonstrate and explicate the Position I Who are the Righteous and merciful men or men of kindness or godliness truly if men be considered as they are by Nature and first birth as descended from Adam or as they are in and of themselves or in what they may attain to by the will of flesh or will-wisdome and strength of man in whatever exercised There is none righteous or doth good no not one of all the naturall Children of Adam they have all sinned and are come short of the glory of God they are become wholly sinful weak and corrupt they are dead in sins and trespasses and children of wrath as so considered one as well as another Psal 14. Rom. 3. 19-23 Ephes 2. 1 2. By the Law is the knowledge of sin in the best as well as in the worst works of men yea it discovers his whole nature over-spread with it and therefore by the deeds of it shall no man be justified in the sight of God Rom. 3. 20. Gal. 3. 11. Psal 143. 2. There is only one man of all the Nature even the man Christ Jesus that is in a proper and strict sence Good or Righteous in and of himself and for us and he is none of the natural Children nor naturally of man but of God Mark 12. 18. who also prepared for him a Body in our Nature and of a Woman by the secret and wonderful efficacy of his holy Spirit and did in that Body deliver him to Death for our Offences and raise him again for our Justification and gave him glory that our faith and hope might be in God And he is expresly called the Righteous 1 Joh. 2. 1. the Just Jam. 5. 6. even the righteous or just one and justly too for 1 He is perfectly so in and of himself being the Natural and only begotten Son of God so that he is of the Father the same that the Father is Righteousness Justice Truth Holiness and Goodness it self yea in that Body prepared for him in mans Nature though he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh subject to all our infirmities that came by sin yet without sin He knew no sin And this rendred him a meet and worthy Person to undertake for Sinners to prepare and give a Ransome to God and bee a Mediator for them for Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one therefore no meer man can redeeme his Brother or give to God a ransome for him for such a High Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled c. 2 He is perfectly so in what he hath undertaken and done for men in that Body prepared for him in mans Nature he hath perfectly and voluntarily fulfilled that will of the Father he came to doe as to the works to be finished in his own Body on the earth Psal 40. 6 9. Hebr. 10 5 12. Joh. 17. 4. He humbled himself and became obedient to death
righteousness which is of the Law that the man which doth these things shall live by them according to which rule there shal no man be justified in the sight of God for by the Law is the knowledge of sin yea it concludes under the Curse Every â—â—â— that continueth not in all that is written in the book of the Law to doe it Gal. 3. 10 11 12. so that whoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point Jam. 2. 10. and there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not Eccles 7. 20. yea la many things we offend all Jam. 3. 2. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wife Say not in thy heart who shall ascend into heaven that is to bring down from above or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead it sets not men a work to enquire how these things she ll bee wrought for them in Christ or to fancy or seek for an accomplishment of them over again in them But what saith it The Word is nigh thee even that preaching of peace by Jesus Christ declaring all this freely done and finished for us by God in the Person of Christ without any thought motion or desire of ours This word of Reconciliation is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart even this word of faith which wee preach declaring the ground of Faith prepared and true in him and thence instructing and perswading to beleeve it This is made nigh in those preachings of it vouchsafed that by its owne light and power it might bee acknowledged and beleeved that if according as in this nigh coming of the Word light and power comes with it instructing moving and strengthening the heart thou shalt confess with thy mouth and beleeve in thine heart that God hath raised Christ from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart man beleeveth unto righteousness c. Rom. 9. 30-33 10. 1-11 therefore also this Prophet Isaiah interprets the true followers after righteousness to bee they that seek the Lord for righteousness and strength that on the report of his righteousness being near in Christ in whom he hath caused his Judgement to rest for a light to the people doe beleeve that report and entertaine in their heart that his Law or Doctrine Isa 51. 1-7 45. 22-25 53. 1. Those that in the light and power of Gods testimony concerning Christ in the opening of it to them as therein it is made nigh them fall down in the sence and acknowledgement of their owne sinfulness and vileness and the unprofitableness of all their owne works to help them and seek righteousness in Christ even by faith in him in what hee hath done and is become for sinners that through the knowledge and faith of him they may bee found in him clothed with his Righteousness and not that of their own Phil. 3 8 9 10. 1 Job 5. 20. These are the righteous and so of the righteous Nation that learneth and keepeth the truth as it is in Jesus these are the righteous spoken of in this text and therefore truly so called 1 Because herein they doe Righteousness or Justice they are doers or workers of good Rom. 2. 10. Acts 10. 35. 43. 1 Joh. 2. 18 29. 3. 6. 2 Joh. 9. 3. Joh. 11. For 1 In this they doe nothing in any light wisdome or strength of theirs as of them in or by which no man can understand the things of the Spirit or come to Christ or doe good but as knowing their strength is to sit still in this respect letting their imaginations fall and every high thing that exalts it self against the obedience of Christ they by him do beleeve in God they through Grace beleeve and that not of themselves but of the gift of God they come in his drawings see light not in their own but in his light beleeve in the evidence and demonstration of his Spirit and by the power thereof coming along to them in his words and works so that their faith is of the operation of God who of the discovery of his owne good will in Christ through the word of truth begets them they are in this not their owne but his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus who of God is made to them Wisdome Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and so doe work the work of God not only which hee requires of them but which himself is working in them Joh. 6. 29. for they are born to this beleeving on his name not of bloud nor of the will of flesh nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1. 12 13. 1 Jâ—h 5. 1. Jam. 1. 18 19. 1 Cor. 1. 29 30. Eph. 2. 10. and yet this is graciously imputed or counted to them for righteousness though it is the powerful operation of the grace of God in them through his name As on the other hand that which is in Scripture called Vnbelief that is to reject when men hear is truly charged on men as their owne proper sin disobedience and unrighteousness even wilfully committed against the light and power of Gods grace bringing Salvation for though men have neither light of understanding nor freedome or inclination of will in themselves as of themselves yet while he is calling hee is certainly putting forth his hand drawing with the cords of love and the bands of a man the demonstrations of his love evidenced in the lifting up the Son of Man and lifting up the yoke of thraldome on the Jews setting meat before them so that his goodness not only hath tendency but sutable operation in it It doth lead men to repentance though they draw back and harden their hearts again so that he that despiseth despiseth not man only but God who hath also given them of his holy Spirit to instruct and reprove them they harden their hearts against the word spoken in his Spirit in the light and power of that by his Prophets Isa 65. 1 2. Hâ—s 11. 2-7 Rom. 2. 4 5. Nehem. 9. 20. 26. Zach. 9. 11 12. 1 Thess 4. 8. and so are fighters against God closing their eyes and stopping their ears and hardening their hearts when hee is opening and working upon them lest they should be converted and hee should heal them Mat. 13. 15. 2 They doe in this beleeving on his name doe nothing but what they have good reason and substantial ground for in what he hath done and is become for them as declared in his testi-Mony and what they are thence obliged to as their reasonable service there being a righteous ground and foundation of faith prepared and laid for us in Christ as declared in the Gospel whether men beleeve and so come and be built upon it or no for God hath made him that knew no sin to be sin for us that wee might hee made the righteousness of God in him Whence also the Holy Ghost reproves the world of
even the death of the Cross He laid down his life that he might take it again even as he received Commandement of his Father Phil. 2. 7 8. Joh. 10. 17 18. Heb. 12 2. 1 Pet. 2. 24. and because of this 3 He is made perfect for us the Righteous and just one or justified Person in our Nature and for us acquit off all our trespasses and sins that were imputed to him and so therein a Victorer over all Curse and Death laid upon him having by himself purged our sins he is accepted and set down on the right hand of God as a perfect Ransome and price of Redemption for men and standing propitiation for the sins of the whole world yea a Prince and Saviour for to give repentance and forgiveness of sins and the Judge of all Heb. 1. 3 4 12. 2. 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. 1 Job 2. 1 2. Acts 5. 31. 10. 36. 42. Yea 4 He is righteous and faithful in all appointed him A faithful Mediator and High Priest a faithful testimony of Gods goodness to men in due time that through him they might be saved and the Author of eternal Salvation to them that obey him and the righteous Judge of quick and dead by whom God shall judge the world in righteousness even by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead for to this end he dyed rose and revived that he might be Lord of dead and living so that hee is properly and absolutely the righteous One in and of himself and for us the Lord our righteousness in whom and in whom only weehave righteousness and strength yet is not he the righteous that are here spoken of For 1 This Text speaks in the plural number of righteous ones merciful men men of kindness or godliness nor is he included as one of the righteous ones here spoken of For 2 He was not nor could be holden of Death as David and others that sleep in Jesus are his flesh saw no corruption Psal 16. 10. with Acts 2. 25 31. so that he did not perish out of the earth by death as they Mich. 7. 1 2. He was raised again the third day and after seen of many witnesses Yea 3 Though he was taken from the earth in his Ascension yet that was no chastisement or correction and so no cause of grief or sorrow to us no nor to them that did enjoy his personal presence on the earth but cause of great joy for if hee had not so personally ascended to the Father The Comforter that coming forth of the Spirit of truth in the evidence and demonstration of the works finished in his Body accepted and for ever vertuous with the Father for us could not have come Joh. 7. 39. 14. 26 28. 16. 7 8. yea he went to prepare places for us that he might come again Personally and receive us to himself that we even all that by him beleeve in God might be ever with him in his glory Job 14. And so neither is he so perished from the earth or from among men in his being personally received up into glory as to be no more capable of conversing with them helping or doing them good but is thereby absolutely perfected in such capacity even in that body in mans nature through sufferings glorified for being ascended farre above all heavens even in Heaven it self there to appear in the presence of God for us even the same that descended into the lower parts of the earth he fills all things with his influences and operations and is in his gracious and Spiritual presence and vertues in the hearts and societies of his people that through grace beleeve in him Ephes 4. 7. 8 10. 11. Matth. 28. 20. Joh. 14. 17 18. By all which it appears he is none of the righteous spoken of in this text yet the consideration already propounded of him as the righteous one will help us to understand who are the righteous that are here spoken of and therefore is no digression from our business for from these two considerations viz. That of the Natural Race or Children of Adam there is none in â—â—r of themselves or in any thing they can doe righteous or that doth good nor that is so accepted owned and justified in the sight of God no not one and that he and he only in mans Nature is the righteous one and that for us also The Lord our Righteousness I say from these two considerations it appears That of all the Children of men they only are righteous that in the light and power of Gods testimony concerning Christ doe so beleeve and receive it that in belief and acknowledgement thereof they disowne and run out of themselves into Christ for righteousness and life 2 Cor. 1. 9. Phil. 3. 3 9. It is a good description or character of the righteous that on hearing of the Name of the Lord that it is a strong tower they as men therein made sensible of it acknowledge their own nakedness and the lyingness of other refuges and therefore the danger of abiding out of this they run into the Name of the Lord Prov. 18. 10. they fly for refuge even in the light and powerful drawing of the Name and Grace of God in Christ which bringeth Salvation to all men in due time unto the hope set before them in Christ that they may lay hold of that Heb. 6. 18. The righteous then are they whoever they be or whatever they have been that through his name beleeve in him Acts 10. 35. 43. for what saith the Scripture Abraham beleeved God and it was counted to him for righteousness now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of Grace but of Debt but to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness for that was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we beleeve on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered for our effences and raised againe for our justification Rom. 4. 3 4 5. 23 24 25. For with the heart man beleeveth unto righteousness chap. 10. 10. Therefore even the sinners of the Gentiles which before followed not after righteousness yet when the light of Gods testimony concerning Christ came to them they falling down in the acknowledgement of their own vileness as therein discovered and seeking righteousness by faith in Christ attained righteousness when Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness yet attained it not because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the Law for they being ignorant of Gods Righteousness and going about to establish their own have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God for Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that beleeveth for Moses describeth the