is why should wee bee as children to looke on death as a Bugheare but looke upon death as being a passage unto thy fathers house as being a Trap-doore to let thee in where Jesus Christ is Gen. 45. 25 27. And they went up out of Egypt and came into the Land of Canaan unto Jacob their father and they told him all the words of Joseph which hee had said unto them and when hee saw the waggons which Joseph had sent to carry him the spirit of Jacob their father revived Did Jacob rejoyce to see a waggon or a chariot that would carry him into Aegypt to see his Son Ioseph and wilt not thou rejoyce to think that death is a chariot to carry thee to Jesus Christ to carry thee to heaven O therefore let not thy heart bee troubled to dye because death is but a chariot to carry thee to heaven Is Christ gone into heaven Then secondly labour thou whilest thou livest on the earth to ascend to Christ in divine and holy Ejaculations and Meditations Is Christ in heaven then why should not thy heart be where thy head is why shouldest thou bee grovelling on the earth seeing thy Christ is now in heaven It is a speech of Christ Canticles 3. 6. Who is this that cometh out of the wildernesse like Pillars of smoke perfumed with Myrrhe and Frankincense with all powders of the Merchant Thou shouldest ascend up to Christ though thou beest in trouble in the Wildernesse of this world O ascend up to Christ in Holy Meditations this use the Apostle makes of it Colos 3. 1. If yee then bee risen with Christ seeke those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right Hand of God The argument is where Christ sits at the right Hand of God set your affections there and so in Phil. 3. 20. For our conversation is in heaven from whence also wee look for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ Christ is in heaven thereâ—ore our conversation must bee where our head is It is a notable Text Mat. 24. 28. For wheresoever the Carkase is there will the Eagles be gathered together That Christ is in heaven it should make you ascend in your hearts heavenward It is true there are some that wrest these words and give this sense of them that they make the carkase to be the Jewes and the Eagles to be the Romans because the Romans did use the Eagle in their Banner and Ensigne of War therefore they say where the Jewes were the Romans should come though this was a truth yet not the scope of the Text it is generally overthrown by most Interpreters but Gerrard doth chiefly referre these words to the day of judgement where the carkase is thither will the Eagles resort that is where Jesus Christ is in heaven as the Eagles doe follow after the carkase to feed upon that so the people of God shall be gathered about Jesus Christ and this I doe confesse is the chiefe scope of the place and doe beleeve it is the chiefe intendment of the holy Ghost but Gerrard hee makes another use of it too and referres it to the power and efficacy of the Gospell in this life Christ is now in heaven saith Gerrard and the Gospel shal be so powerful on men in the world that it shal make men as eager to come after Christ into heaven as the Eagle is after the prey Thirdly I inferre hence that before you presume to apply the benefits and the comforts of Christs ascension into heaven labour to feele in your own hearts the efficacy of Christs Death and ascension every man applies the benefit of Christs Death and Resurrection and Christs ascension before they find the efficacy of his Death the efficacy of his resurrection It is the Apostles word saith he I labor to find the power of his resurrction so do you labor to find the power of his Death and the power of his ascension before you find the comfort of it It is to make thee lesse Earthly-minded more passionately eager and importunatly earnest after the Lord Iesus Christ dost thou feele the power of the ascension to make thee more heavenly minded and lesse earthly minded O labour to feele the efficacy and power of it else I might say to you as Iacob said to his mother in Genesis 28. 12. My father peradveuture will feele mee and I shall seeme to him as a deceiver and I shall bring a curse and not a blessing Nay without peradventure God will feele and try whether you are the men or no that have right to the blessing that shall have any reall advantage and benefit by Christs Death by Christs ascension God will try whether you doe not seek to deceive your Souls and deceive God himselfe if so you will rather have a curse then a blessing if you seeke to apply the comfort of Christs ascension before you feele the efficacy of it on your own hearts Ques How did Christ ascend Answ 1 First Christ went to heaven visibly in Act. 1. It was no transient glance of the Eye but they stedfastly beheld Jesus Christ they saw him when he went away Again Secondly Christ went to heaven bodily therefore those doe erre that hold that onely his soule did go to heaven and his body perished as other do Thirdly hee went to heaven locally hee ascended locally there are some men that hold that every place is heaven where God is that is a truth but heaven is a distinct place from the Earth and Hell Christ had a mutation of place from the Earth to the third Heaven therefore saith hee the earth shall hold me no more Fourthly hee did ascend into heaven powerfully Indeed other men went to heaven bodily not by their own strength but it was by a borrowed strength Elias had a fiery chariot to carry him to heaven but Christ had none for he went to heaven by his own strength Lastly Christ went to heaven eminently and singly There are three bodies in heaven there is the bodie of Enoch the body of Elias and the body of Christ all else in heaven are onely Saints and Angels Enoch went to heaven bodily as a type of Christs ascension before the Law and Elias unde the Law and Christ under the Gospell Divines say that this shewes there was salvation by Christ before the Law and salvation by Christ under the Law and salvation by Christ in the time of the Gospell but there is difference between their going to heaven First Enoch and Elias went to heaven but they did not die and rise from the dead and then ascend into heaven but first Christ dyed and then Christ was raised out of the Grave and then within forty daies hee did ascend into heaven there was one difference Again they did not ascend to heaven by their own strength but by the power of God they did ascend into heaven but we have got no good by their ascension no benefit nor merit accrues unto us by
sinnes in the light of thy countenance Psal 19. 12. Who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret faults David did not onely confesse his murder of Vriah his adultery with Bethsheba but he confest smaller sins Davids heart smote him for cutting off the lap of Sauls garment it was onely the appearance of revenge he had his knife neere his throte that which had the appearance of a sin Davids heart smote him for Conscientions men do not onely bewail and confesse open and grosser evils but the secret and the smallest corruptions of the heart they bewaile to God they confesse their secret pride their secret worldlinesse and secret murmurings against God they confesse their secret and smaller evils Indeed wicked men fall short of this wicked men confesse their Grosse and their open sins but do dot take notice of their lesser and secret evils there are two instances for this one is in Cain Cain confest his murder his was greater then it could be forgiven speaking of the murder of his brother Abel Gen. 4. 13. And Cain said unto unto the Lord My punishment is greater then I can bear He did not confesse his emnity that made him murder his brother he confest his grosse sin but did not confesse more slie and secret evils Thus you read likewise of Judas Judas confest his betraying of Christ a grosse sin but he never confest his covetousnesse a secret sin that made him betrry Jesus Christ saith he I have sinned in betraying innocent blood he that did bewaile and confesse his murder in betraying Christ did not confesse and bewail his covetousnesse and hypocrisie that were more lurking and secret evils That is a second Rule make conscience to confesse small and secret evils as well as open and grosser sins Rule 3 Third Rule touching confession of sin unto God is this When you confesse and acknowledge secretly your sins unto God labour to greaten your sins with all the heinous circumstances and heart-humbling aggravations you can imagin Thus the servants of God used to do when they confest sin unto God they would confesse sin with all the heinous circumstances 1 Kings 8. 47. Saying We have sinned and have done perversly we have committed wickedness Saith Lorinus Mark what a heap of words a heart-humbled soul will lay together in confessing of sin We have sinned there is one word We have done wickedly there is a second and we have done perversly there is a third A notable instance you have of Paul in Act. 26. 10 11. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem and many of the Saints did I shut up in prison having received authority from the chief Priests and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them And I punished them oft in every Synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad against them I persecuted them even unto strange Cities Here Paul comes to aggravate his sin there are eight aggravations that here Paul doth lay down of his sinne wherby he would greaten sin unto himself that he might be the more humble First of all they were not ordinary men that he cast into prison but they were Saints and to wrong them is a sacriledge the Saints have I cast into prison Secondly To cast a man into prison for debt is no injustice if the man be able to pay but many have I cast into prison why for professing the name of Jesus of Nazareth meerly for professing Christ Thirdly If it had been but one or two Saints it were not much but they were a greater number Many of the Saints did I cast into prison Fourthly he aggravates his sin further to cast them into prison and give them in prison liberty is not much but he shut them up in prison and kept them close prisoners Fifthly If he had rested there it had not been much but he gave his voyce against them to put them to death Nay Sixthly He goeth higher for he did wrong to their souls too for he compelled them to blaspheme God Seventhly To aggravate it further he was mad against them and I was exceedingly mad against them hee was mad with rage and with passion and with fury against the Saints of God Eighthly I did persecute them to strange Cities them I did not kill I made them leave their Wives and Children and made them run and shift for their lives into strange corners This is the nature of a true penitent not to confesse sin slightly and carelesly but in confession of sin to cloath his sins with all aggravations that can be In confession of sin we should aggravate it that we have sinned against mercies correction warnings resolutions checks of conscience motions of the Spirit c. and this is a good Rule if you will follow it You have the like instance in the book of Daniel chap. 9. v. 5. We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements Vers 6. vers 6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the Prophets which spake in thy name to our Kings our Princes and our Fathers and to all the people of the Land There are seven circumstances that Daniel useth in confessing of his sin to aggravate his sin how doth Daniel cloath his confession First We have sinned there is one Secondly We have committed iniquity Thirdly We have done wickedly Fourthly We have rebelled against thee Fifthly We have departed from thy precepts Sixthly We have not hearkned unto thy servants Seventhly Nor we nor our Princes nor all the people of the Land There are seven aggravations which Daniel reckoned up to his confession Thus David when he would beg pardon prayed for thy names sake pardon my iniquity for it is great that is a third Rule about confession Rule 4 A fourth Rule in confession of sin is this In your confessions look not discouragingly on God as an angry Judge but hopefully as on a displeased Father to confesse sin to God as an angry Judge is to make you but condemned Malefactors in your confessions therefore make confession to God only as a displeased Father converted men do confesse sin to God as a Father whilest you have an eye of sorrow upon sin you are to have an eye of hope upon pardon thus Gods people did in their confessions To confesse sin to God as a Judge is to howl like dogs because you shall be beaten but to confesse sin to God as an angry Father is child-like with a fiducial confidence of pardon Dan. 9. 9. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him And thus Shechaniah confesseth sin unto God Ezra 10. 2. And Shechaniah the Son of Jehiel one of the Sons of Ellam answered and said unto Ezra We have trespassed against our God c. And thus the Prodigall in Luke 18. 18. I will arise and goe to my Father
he hath confest but yet he retains a fear and awe upon his heart that it shall not prevail over him in his practice Wicked men confess sin they have committed yet they are bold and adventurous to commit the same sin again which they have confest And thus the Harlot did Prov. 7. 14. I have peace-offerings with me this day I have payed my vows Paying the vow is a confession that I am in debt to God for my sin and I owe God homage and service yet she made the confession of sin to be a means to provoke her to be more bold and adventurous in her wickednesse To confesse drunkennesse and afterwards to be drunk to confesse profaneness and afterwards to be profane this is the bold adventurousness of wicked men Thus Pharaoh in Exod. 9. confest his sin and afterwards when the plagues were over runs into the same sin he did confesse and this is the badge and portraiture of a wicked man And thus I have done with this fourth particular I now come to the use Vse First by way of reproof there are three sorts of persons in whose breasts the arrow and dart of reproof must justly stick If so be justified persons are bound to make confession of sin unto God then it reproves Sort 1 First The Antinomists who account it a legal and a servile work for believers to be bemoaning themselves unto God and confessing sin unto God And therefore in their prayers when you may be cast to hear them in publick all their expressions in prayer are either extolling the Majesty of God the excellency of Christ the glory of Heaven the riches of Grace but not a word of laying low the creature in prayer but raptures in prayer and the extolling of divine Majesty these are all the dials of expressions which they use in prayer Now to overthrow this vain conceit of the Antinomians consider First Confession of sin to God hath been practised by all the godly under the Old Testament and therefore why should it not be used under the New Dan. 9. He made a praher to God and it consisted of 16. verses and 14. of them verses were spent in confessing of sin And thus the godly in Nehemiah ' s daies made a prayer to God and the whole prayer consisted of 32. verses and 31. of them verses were spent in confession of sin Nehem 16. Let thine ear be attentive and thine eyes open that thou mayst hear the prayer of thy servant which I pray before thee day and night for the Children of Israel thy servants and confesse the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinued against thee both I and my Fathers house have sinned Thus David 2 Sam. 24. 10. And Davids heart smote him after that he had numbred the people and David said unto the Lord I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now I beseech thee O Lord take away the iniquity of thy servant for I have done very foolishly That is one thing to confute this practise Secondly Not onely Believers under the Old Testament but also Converts under the New Testament did make conscience of confessing of sins unto God John 3 6. And they were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins Acts 19. 18. And many that believed came and confessed and shewed their deeds Luke 15. 17. And when he said How many hired servants of my Father have bread euough and to spare and I perish with hunger Verse 18. I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee It is an Embleme of a Convert if so be it be a Parable In the instance of the Publican that Christ declares was uniustified rather then the Pharisee And the Publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes to Heaven but smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner Verse 14. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather then the other c. Now beloved when you have instances in the Old Testament and many examples in the New why then should we blot out so useful a part of Gods worship as this of confession to God in secret Thirdly God doth command confession of sin unto him Jer. 3. 12 13. Goe and proclame these words towards the North and say Return thou back-sliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep anger for ever Onely acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God c. Fourthly God both in the Old Testament and in the New hath annexed many gracious promises to a sincere confession of sin unto him in the Old Testament Lev. 26. 40. If they shall confesse their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers with their trespasse which they trespassed against me and that also they have walked contrary unto me Vers 41. And that I also have walked contrary unto them and have brought them into the land of their enemies if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity Then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob c. If they confesse their iniquity I will remember them And there are gracious promises made to such as confess their sins and it is certain that a man cannot have a promise to any thing which is a duty Prov. 22. 13. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Iob 33. 27. He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not c. And in the New Testament in 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all uurighteousness Now beloved put all these four together the godly have practised this under the Old Testament and converts under the New God hath commanded it and he hath recompenced it therefore those that account confession of sin to be but a legal and servile work deserve reproof A second reproof is to those of the Popish Religion who in stead of secret confession of sin to God in prayer doe presse vehemently Auricular confession in the ear of the Priest Touching this Auricular confession they spend many volumes to make good the divine right of it the Councel of Trent do lay an Anathema on any that shall not count Auricular confession to be necessary to salvation There are these several mistakes and errours in the Popish Doctrine of Auricular confession First They urge the necessity of it that you must not expect salvation without it Secondly Confession against whom and when you did it all the circumstances of your sins you must acknowledge to the Priest Thirdly That the Priest upon your confession hath power from Christ to give you pardon