whole matter and dispose us for Receiving the kindly Influences of all in such a way as may be most agreeable to the Solemn Occasion of our meeting together This Day Had you One in this Place that were able fully and clearly to lay before you the Subject that This Day calls upon us to Consider What warm Affections would it beget in you What Tears would it draw from your eyes What Esteem and value would you have for the Christian Religion the Foundation of which and of all our hopes and expectation is laid in what we this day commemorate All Vice and Sin might reasonably be presumed to remain for ever odious to your thoughts and all Virtue and Goodness to have that Charming Aspect as to command your rational Choice as well as your passionate Address Good men would be confirmed in their Faith Love Meekness Patience and all vertuous Resolutions And bad men would be ashamed that they had so long trifled away their precious Time and would condemn themselves of the greatest Folly for neglecting so great Salvation and not having vouchsafed to stretch out a hand to receive so signal and important a Deliverance tendered to them with such astonishing Condescension such compassionate and tender Regard to their most deplorable State and recommended to them from our Saviours ready undertaking of so many Hardships to persuade them to be Wise for Themselves and to Love Themselves and to espouse their own Interest For a good Man some would even dare to die Rom. 5.7 8. But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us And Can any Love be conceived to be like This of our Saviours which exceeds the highest expressions of Kindness and Pity that ever any one hath shew'd to his most dearly beloved Friend in the greatest need and Streight in which he can be imagined at any time to have been What strength would all this add to your Faith What amazing thoughts would you have of the Wisdom of God even the Wisdom which God hath ordained before the World unto our glory 1 Cor. 2.7 9. Such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor hath it ever entred into the heart of man How would you weep for our Saviours Sufferings and yet much of it proceed from Joy when you should have well considered how he contrived that he might be capable of Suffering for us and then readily received the bitter Cup from his Fathers hands Phil. 2.7 8. He First made himself of no neputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and Then he humbled himself yet farther and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross To Death which is so Dreadful that even upon a Natural account it hath been judged to be of all things most Terrible As being so contrary to Flesh and Blood so repugnant to Nature so destructive of all those Endearments which our nearest Relations Familiarities and Friendships and even that natural Propensity there is in man to Society have contracted Which puts a Period to all those Enjoyments which are agreeable to all those Capacities and Desires which our present Condition even without the loss of Virtue and Honour cannot chuse but acknowledge to be Grateful and which by long Custom and Usage do prescribe to that Claim which it is not easie for us to disown as wholly Unreasonable He became obedient to Death for our sake which if it had nothing else in it is yet a Privation of that which every mans Experience both of Himself and of what he may observe in Others will tell him to be sweet And That too the Death of the Cross a painful lingring ignominious and accursed Death How many farther Advantages might we receive from fixing a stedfast look upon Jesus the Author and finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him Heb. 12.2 endured the Cross despising the shame Could any thing hereafter discourage us from being Constant in our holy Profession from Persevering in all Christian Duties to the end Could it possibly be that we should be wearied and faint in our minds Ver. 3. if we did but seriously consider him that endured such contradiction of Sinners against himself Our Deliberate Thoughts of our Saviours Death and Passion would clear up to us many important Truths Could any man after he had well thought of it doubt of the Guilt that lies upon all Man-kind or of the Corruption and Depravation of our Nature seeing that the Salvation of Man did require thus much to be done Could he think himself sufficiently Secured from Danger by such Exercise of his natural Powers as may possibly be in many instances at his Command Would the acquiring of Political Vertues nay his Heroick courage in the Practice of them stand him in sufficient stead Could any man be ignorant of the Use of the Law to Shew us our Sin to Reprove us and Condemn us for it and so to make way for a firm lively Faith upon a Crucified Jesus that should stedfastly look on him whom our Sins have pierced Joh. 19.37 and should call to mind what St. Paul hath taught us That as Sin is the Sting of Death so the Law is the strength of Sin 1 Cor. 15.56 Gal. 3.10 And that as many as are of the works of the Law are under the Curse Could any such doubt of the need we have of the Consolations of the Gospel who should First have in his thoughts that Expression of the Psalmist Psal 143.2 with which we usually begin our Publick Devotions Enter not into judgment with thy Servant O Lord For in thy sight shall no man living be justified And Then should consider how St. Paul applies this general Truth to himself That he desired to be found in Christ Phil. 3.9 not having his own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith And that he tells us That however there were many in the World who valued themselves upon Wisdom by which for all that 1 Cor. 1.20 21. they were not able to know God Yet the main thing that he put a Value on was the knowledge of Christ Crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 Of so great Importance is it to us in all these respects and for the inciting of us to all Courage and Resolution in the doing of our Duty Such an abundant matter will it afford us of Praising and magnifying the Wisdom and Mercy of God and the Love and compassionate Kindness of our gracious Redeemer Such powerful Motives will it afford us to love fear and obey God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent So much are we concerned to have the Subject of This Day and of my Text firmly fixed and rooted in our Minds and in our Hearts Even This so great and necessary Truth of Christ's dying for us and thereby delivering
what his undertaking the Office of Mediator did teach us to expect might fully answer our Wants and our Expectation from it All the promises of God are in Christ Yea 2 Cor. 1.20 and in him Amen Every Declaration of the Favour and Love of God the Father to us is to have its Completion through Christ in whom as his beloved Son Mat. 3.17 he is well pleased and in whom alone he is Propitious to us Luk. 2.14 And this Declaration of Peace on Earth and Good will towards Men is so surely Founded and firmly Ratified in Christ that we are taught to ground our Expectation of it upon the Faithfulness of God In so much that in the general every Act of a truly Christian and lively Faith by which we receive the Testimony of Christ is a setting to our Seal that God is true Joh. 3.33 and in particular If we confess our sins which will contain our Acknowledgment of Guilt and Obnoxiousness to Divine Wrath and our looking upon Christ as the Propitiation for our Sins together with that true Repentance and sincere Affection of the Heart which this Confession as being made not to Man but to God doth require we are then taught to look upon God as one that is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 1 Joh. 1.9 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness But now As all this declares the Faithfulness of God and the Excellency of Faith which not only ascribes the greatest Honour to God but receives that Honour from God as to have no less Evidence of its Certainty than there is of the Unchangeableness of God himself seeing that it is impossible but that God should Accept what he hath freely declared that he will accept on our behalf from him whom he hath appointed the Mediator between himself and us So all this doth suppose that this Mediator doth faithfully perform what as such he undertakes to perform in order that it may be Accepted of by God And therefore seeing that the Holy Spirit of God in Scripture hath declared Rom. 3.25 26. That God hath set forth Christ to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of sins that are past through the Forbearance of God That he might be just and the justifier of him that Believeth in jesus It becomes necessary according to this wise Appointment of God and the agreement between Himself and the one Mediator between God and Men that this Mediator should be made like unto us and in this likeness that is in our nature suffer for our sins That he might be a faithful High Priest that he might in truth and reality and in the rigor of Justice perform all in things pertaining to God which was thus necessary to make reconciliation for the sins of the People Even all that as our High Priest he had undertaken to perform for our Perfect and Full Reconciliation and without which God was not obliged by any thing that he had freely Promised to Accept of his Offering in our stead For from what hath been said and from the farther evidence of that Place with which I will shut up this point It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Col. 1.19 20. and having made peace through the blood of his Cross by him to reconcile all things to himself it is put beyond all doubt that the Fathers Reconciling all things to Himself by the Son was no otherwise in the purpose and decree of God practicable but by the Peace which Christ made by the Blood of his Cross In all this we may discern much though we cannot reach to the whole of that astonishing Wisdom and Goodness which is in the Scripture set forth to us in that the eternal Son of God took upon him our nature that in that Nature he might by Death deliver us from that Bondage to which we were subject through Fear of Death from which we have the greater security because though it could be performed in his humane nature only yet the Dignity of his Person added an inestimable value to his sufferings It was the Eternal Son of God Bp. Pearson on the Creed p. 186. Gal. 4.4 Joh. 1.14 Act. 3.15 very God of very God who when the fulness of time was come was made of a Woman was made under the Law It was the Word which was made Flesh and dwelt among us It was the Prince of Life the Lord of Glory 1 Cor. 2.8 who suffered in humane nature which he Assumed into the Unity of his Person being put to death in that Flesh Rom. 1.3 4. according to which he was made of the Seed of David but as considered in an inseparable Conjunction with that Spirit of Holiness according to which he was declared to be the Son of God with Power by the Resurrection from the dead And now Psal 116.12 what shall we render unto the Lord for all his Benefits towards us What is Man O merciful God and gracious Redeemer that thou should'st thus magnifie him and that thou should'st set thine heart upon him Job 7.17 How should this give us such a deep sense of the great things of our Religion as may quicken and encrease in us all requisite Graces as may shew us our Misery by nature and lay more closely before us the Hope of Righteousness by Faith Gal. 5.5 which through the Spirit we wait for How should this encrease our Humility our hatred of Sin our Gratitude and an unfeigned Resolution of the most universal Obedience that we can possibly yield to the Faith and to the Truth and to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Who besides all the other Obligations he hath laid upon us to obey him doth now more especially call upon us not only to consider that Victory which through him we have over Death Sin and the condemning Power of the Law but also to consider him as the Captain of our Salvation giving us a signal instance by those sufferings he did voluntarily undergo of that Obedience in which we must always be ready to imitate him whatever the Tryals of it may be that our Heavenly Father may think good to call us to and that indispensably if we expect any benefit by what he hath done and suffered For so the Apostle tells us Heb. 5.8 9. That 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 unto all them that obey him Which Obedience that we may ever judge our selves infinitely obliged to pay and be heartily willing to pay it to the utmost let us ever have in our thoughts what he hath suffered for us and that our sins were the Cause of all the Meritorious cause of his Sufferings and that which gave the sharpness to them but especially let us be mindful of that incomparable Love which this proceeded from That so from the pleasing force of its constraint as by a compendious way and yet no less expressive of all those Bonds of duty which the Mercy we this day commemorate doth lay upon us not permitting any Circumstance of it to want its due moments of weight we may as from the joynt sense of all be prevailed with to live as those that expect that Deliverance which our most compassionate Saviour hath by his own Death obtained for us That we may live in all Holiness of life and die with comfort Looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Who gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and Purifie unto himself a peculiar People Zealous of good Works Tit. 2.13 14. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed as is most due All Praise Honour and Glory henceforth and for ever Amen FINIS
2.12 and of a better temper are fit Means under the Conduct and assistance of Gods Grace wholly to Suppress or Mitigate these Fears Yet our Deliverance from This fear of Death is not the thing I am in Particular to consider but only in General as there is a sufficient Foundation laid for this Deliverance if it be fully Assented to and duly Applied The Main thing therefore to be considered in our Deliverance from the Fear of Death through the Death of our ever blessed and most compassionate Redeemer and through the unexpressible Love of God to Man-kind is this That Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 Our being obnoxious to the eternal Wrath and Anger of God was the Only thing that was formidable in Death and This being taken away by the Death of Christ there is nothing remains in Death as it is a bare Separation of Soul and Body why we should be afraid of it All those that are truly Penitent and Regenerate by the grace of Gods Spirit have now abundant reason for a perpetual Security and calmness of mind either in Life or Death To all such To live is Christ and to die is gain Phil. 1.21 They can look chearfully upon Death and will not commit the least Sin to decline it It is only their Way to Happiness and all the Harshness that it seems to have is from some Natural Difficulties which the God of Nature seems to have implanted in Men that they might not be out of love with Life and unwilling to serve God here in their Generations till their Change come Gen. 6.9 Job 14.14 To which when a Good man doth understand that he is now made to approach by Providence and the good Hand of God all those natural Impressions being useless do then give place to the Exercise of Faith And he doth not only calmly resign his Spirit into the hands of God and trust the Salvation of his Soul with his gracious Redeemer but to Depart this Life and to enter upon a better becomes now his Wish and his Choice For he is so far now from fearing Everlasting Death that he hath a clear prospect of an happy Eternity Seeing that Christ hath not only abolished death 2 Tim. 1.10 but hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel Rom. 8.15 He hath no longer the Spirit of Bondage to fear but the Spirit of Adoption whereby he can cry Abba Father Being justified by Faith Rom. 5.1 2 3. he hath not only Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ but by him also he hath access by Faith into this Grace wherein he stands And doth rejoice in Hope of the Glory of God And can therefore glory in whatever Tribulations can befall him Nothing Before could ease him of his Bondage but he was subject to it all his Life-time And nothing Now can disturb the Serenity of his mind Our Spiritual Freedom is extended as far as the Bondage was from which we are freed even to the finishing of our whole course 2 Tim. 4.7 For being delivered out of the hands of all our Enemies we are enabled to serve God without fear of any of them Luke 1.47 75. in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our Life I must further add that the Doctrine of my Text thus explain'd is so far from giving encouragement to Sin that this Deliverance which we have from the fear of Eternal Death by the Death of Christ is in truth one of the most powerful Motives to Holiness of life Seeing that we are hereby assured that our pious Endeavours will be Accepted of in Christ and meet with their wish'd for Success which without the knowledge of our Peace being made with God no man could have any Assurance of If it were not for This All that we could do would be indeed worse than at a Peradventure and could have no better Grounds to warrant its Acceptance with God in order to the Saving of our Souls than only such seemingly fair Hopes and probable Conjectures as a Well-bred Heathen might have had to enforce the application of himself to the study and practice of such Political Virtues as might be beneficial to Man-kind and to keep up that Decorum which the very Manliness of the apprehensions and powers which he had might require from him in order to his supposing of his Condition to be less hazardous when he should leave this World Of whom it may yet be presumed That his Knowledge of that fatal Curse which lay upon all Man-kind was as slender as his Ability could be to direct all he did to the Glory of God which yet is in truth the very Soul and Life of Religion It is therefore to be well observed what St. Paul saith to the Colossians Col. 1.22 That Christ did reconcile them unto God in the Body of his flesh through Death that he might present them holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight Before they were Reconciled to God they could not be thus Unblameable and Unreprovable in any sense And After they were reconciled to God we must suppose that there were many Defects in them which if God had been extream to observe in the greatest Rigour they could not have been able to have defended themselves against his severe Scrutiny Yet they being Reconciled to God through the Blood of Christ those instances of New Obedience which by the Grace of God did truly proceed from the Honesty and Integrity of their Hearts were so favourably Accepted of that He that had before reconciled their Persons to God through his Death could consequently represent what they thus faithfully did as Holy Unblameable and Unreproveable in the sight of God that is Acceptable in his sight free from all Charge of Sin from the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12.10 Thus I have given you some account of the Notion of the Bondage mentioned in my Text and of the Nature of that Deliverance which we have through the Death of Christ from the Fear of Death Which in short is this That Christ did suffer Death upon the Cross in our stead that we might be freed from Eternal Death That our Guilt being taken away we might be Discharged from that Curse to which we were obnoxious by the breach of Gods Law And consequently That being dead with Christ we may believe that we shall also live with him having this undoubted Assurance to encourage us to lead such Lives as become Christians Rom. 6.5 8. That if we have been planted together in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection Having therefore by Gods Assistance dispatched the First thing I proposed to my self to treat of in this Discourse I now come 2dly To offer to your most serious Thoughts some of the most pertinent Considerations I can think of to quicken our Apprehensions of the