Alas I doe it not it was the Lord that wrought this heart in mee I have seene the day when I could have beene as well content to heare the Minister preach plainly as to have a knife run to my heart but the Lord wrought my heart to it therefore the Spirit puts that magnet stone of the mercie and grace of Christ upon my heart hee puts this temper upon my heart and makes it able to close with it selfe in the promise in 2 Corin. 5.5 when Paul there had disputed of his desire to lay downe his life for the Gospell and to put his body upon suffering for the Gospels sake he was even weary of the world and would faine have beene gone how gat he this temper why the text saith Now he that hath wrought us for the same thing if God who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit it is a great while before wee can bee brought to this temper when all the Ministers tongues are even worne to the stumps and the wicked will bee wicked still yet the Lord doth worke it so then you see that the Spirit of God by the promise works upon the soule and leaves a dint upon the heart and so brings the soule by the Spirit to close with it selfe in the promise and hence you may collect two things for your information in this kinde Colect 1 First that the beleever being moved by the stroke of the Spirit of the Father is made able to close with the Father and the Sonne because the Spirit of the Lord doth fasten fit and frame the heart hereunto in this manner and hence it is that the soule can close with the Father and the Sonne too why because the Spirit which proceeds and comes from the Father and the Sonne is able to frame the soule to close with both for the Spirit hath something of the Father and something of the Sonne and therefore is able to make the soule to close with both 1 Iohn 1.3 These things have I written unto you that you may have fellowship with us holy Iohn was a spirituall father unto them and hee writes to them that thereby they might have fellowship with the Saints and he saith Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Iesus Christ why doth he not say our fellowship is with the Father as well as to say our fellowship is with the Father and the Sonne because it is presumed before hand that a man must have fellowship with the Spirit before hee can have fellowship with the Father and the Sonne because it is the Spirit that hath fitted the heart and framed it to close with both Colect 2 Secondly hence it comes to passe that the person of the beleever may bee knit to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ the foot is knit to the head by the continuance of the order of the body and the members thereof as the foot is knit to the leg and the leg to the thigh and the thigh to the body and so to the head this is the meaning of that phrase Iohn 6.56 our Saviour presseth this hard upon the Disciples and saith My flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drinke indeed hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and in him then they begun to wonder at it and to say How can this be and yet Christ saith what if you see the the Sonne of man carrying the body of his flesh into heaven you will thinke it more hard to eat my flesh then yet you must eat my flesh then too how it is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak they are Spirit and life as if he had said my good Spirit is in the word and promise close you with my Spirit and then you draw my Spirit my flesh and my blood downe into your whole natures the words that I speake they are Spirit and Life that is my Spirit is in the Word of the promise though my body be gone up into heaven therefore close you with my Spirit in the promise and then you close with my flesh spiritually Thus much for the manner of the union Now for the order of this union how this is done and there the question will be this Whether the beleever is knit first to the humane nature of Christ or to the Divine nature Quest. 2 I am not greatly willing to meddle with this point in this popular congregation because there are many wise and orthodox Divines and godly too which are of contrary opinion they confesse both but they differ about the order but that I may bring no prejudice to the judgement of any I will shortly shew you the summe of those arguments Answ which either side hold and will shew to which I doe incline and so leave the point to the judgement of those that heare it to incline to which side they thinke best and thus I shall wrong none at all First some Divines wise holy and orthodox and many too doe goe that way all of them have it from that root they that hold that the soule is knit to the humane nature of Christ first have two reasons for it First say they as the Scripture reveales Christ to us so also our hearts embrace him and close with him but the Scripture reveales the Lord Christ more often and frequently in regard of his Manhood than in regard of his Godhead as in that place The seed of the Woman shall breake the Serpents head and such like therefore the understanding first closeth with this and the heart first receives it the second reason why they hold this is thus much If say they all the great works of our redemption both sanctification and justification and redemption were wrought in the humane nature of Christ and as by a channell conveyed to us by his humane nature then it is reason that the soule should first close with the humane nature but it is so that all the great workes of justification sanctification c. were all accomplished in the humane nature of Christ for as the text saith He died for our sins and triumphed over sin and hell and death therefore say they it is fit that the soule should first close with the humane nature of Christ and this is the life and pith of all their arguments Againe other Divines and they are wise and orthodox they hold this and though all hold the maine substantiall truths of eternall life yet they differ in this they say the beleever is first knit to the Deity and they have also two arguments and the first is this That which is the maine and the proper object of faith to that the soule first lookes and to that the soule is first united for all union comes by operation in this kinde but the Godhead is the first object of faith in beleeving the Godhead and the third person of Trinity they are the first objects of
thy Spirit is a good Spirit thy Spirit is a blessed Spirit by the vertue of that Spirit Lord teach me the way to thee and let it lead me into the land of uprightnesse We know a child that hath his hand to write if he will not be ruled by him that teacheth him but will take the pen into his owne hand and write after his owne scauching fashion he will never write well nor make a letter handsomly as he should do but let his hand write by the mans hand and that will guide him and that will teach him quickly to write well in a short time so wouldst thou have thy heart framed aright why then keep thy soule under the hand of the Spirit and thou shalt bee guided by the vertue of that Spirit of God and moved and inabled to accomplish the good pleasure of the Lord and receive what ever grace thou standest in need of I have observed it sometimes upon the Sea looke as it is with the mariner that is going downe the streame if the winde bee faire will any man pull downe his saile and set it up againe why no for he doth but trouble himselfe and turmoyle and wearieth himselfe and troubleth the boat too with keeping such a pudder and misseth the gale of winde and all therefore a wise mariner he will set up his saile and hold out his sail that it may take the gale of winde fully and so goe on speedily all that he hath to doe is to keep his sail spred and to catch the winde your only course is to set up the saile and attend the gale of the Spirit to comfort you attend the gale of the Spirit to assist you hold thy heart and spread to the Spirit that it may catch the gale of grace that it may blow upon thy soule and by the vertue and power thereof thou shalt bee transported comfortably and carried on cheerfully to walke in that way which God chalks out before thee as for examples sake Imagine thy heart begins to be pestered with vaine thoughts or with a proud haughtie spirit or some base lusts and privy haunts of heart how would you bee rid of these why you must not set up and pull downe and set up and pull downe quarrell and contend and bee discouraged no but eye the promise and hold fast thereupon and say Lord thou hast promised all grace unto thy servants why therefore take this heart and take this minde and take these affections and let thy Spirit frame them aright according to thine owne good will by that Spirit of wisedome Lord informe mee by that Spirit of sanctification Lord cleanse mee from all my corruptions by that Spirit of grace Lord quicken and enable me to the discharge of every holy service thus carry thy selfe and convey thy soule by the power of the Spirit of the Lord and thou shalt finde thy heart strengthned and succoured by the vertue thereof upon all occasions Rom. 8.26 the Text saith The Law of the Spirit of life hath freed mee from the law of sinne and death the meaning is this you must know that sinne is a tyrant now a tyrant when he wins a citie hee swears all to his lawes so sinne will swear thy soule to his lawes pride saith I will have thee proud I will have thy heart unchaste saith uncleannesse I will have thee intemperate saith drunkennesse now by the Law of the Spirit of life God will free us from the law of sinne the Spirit of Christ in the promise it takes away the power of the law of sinne the Law of the Spirit of meeknesse takes away the law of the spirit of pride the Law of the Spirit of puritie takes away the law of the spirit of uncleannesse the Law of the Spirit of holinesse takes away the law of the spirit of prophanenesse and so in all other distempers of this nature this onely shewes us how to run over all Gather up now and so conclude this passage Eye the promise daily yeeld thy soule to the Spirit of the Lord in the promise let that have his full sway resist not those good motions the holy Spirit puts into thee and that is the way to have all grace and help and assistance communicated unto thee and thus much may suffice to have beene spoken in the generall touching this conveiance of grace into the heart we come now to the scanning of the particulars This conveyance it is of two kindes both in the Text Christ conveyes his grace two wayes partly by imputing partly by imparting they are the termes of Divines and I know not how to expresse my selfe better but thus if you will partly by imputation partly by communication This is that I would have you to take notice of in the generall they are both reall but one is habituall both these both imputation and communication expresse a reall worke of God upon the soule but the last onely leaves a frame and a spirituall abilitie and qualitie in the soule the conveyance by imputation doth not it leaves a thing morall as we use to terme it These two imputation communication are both in the Text Christ is made righteousnesse or justice that is hee doth justifie a sinner by imputation and hee doth sanctifie and redeeme a sinner by communication hee conveyes and workes some Spirituall abilitie and leaves a Physicall change when the Apostle saith Christ is made Iustice that is hee doth justifie a sinner by imputation when hee saith Christ is made Sanctification and Redemption that is by way of communication hee delivers the soule from the pollution of sinne that is sanctification hee delivers the soule from the power and dominion of sinne that is redemption This communication it is a Spirituall habit or a spirituall power or a spirituall qualitie or abilitie take which you will left upon the soule We will begin with the former touching the imputation of Christs righteousnesse to a soule whereby the sinner comes to bee justified this is a point then which I take it none more necessary and yet none lesse understood none lesse studied none more mistaken than these two great workes of justification and sanctification I speake it by experience Christians aged and experienced yet here they faile in the very catecheticall points and it drives many of our best Divines to a stand we will open it a little this justification wee terme a conveyance of the merits of Christ by way of imputation but what is the meaning of this word by way of imputation Thus you must conceive it this is the main thing I would have you looke unto Imputation is this when that which another hath that which another doth is accounted mine is set upon my score as though I had it as though I had done it this is Imputation I have it not I doe it not another hath it another doth it and it is accounted mine and reckoned mine in course of justice Now in the point of communication
and let your soules rest upon him with all your strength and unburthen thy selfe of all thy sinnes and the guilt of them and put them upon the Lord Christ commit thy soule to him and then for ever expect grace and mercy from him and resolve of this that the Lord Jesus Christ which was made guilty for thee will make thee guiltlesse and hee that was condemned in thy roome hee will acquit thee in his mercy and goodnesse But some may here object and say is not this a ground of comfort and a ground of loosenesse for drunkards and carnall libertines for they may say why should wee not live in our sinnes seeing Christ hath takeâ— the guilt of them upon him and will deliver us from them they thinke they may be carelesse of whatsoever they doe and sing care away never to be troubled for nor affected with the burthen of their sinnes and rebellions any more because Christ stands charged with their sinnes therefore they may throw away the care of them Thus as I may say with holy reverence they make Christ a stale for all their sinnes therefore let mee shew all such loose libertines of this last age of the world what fond conceits they have I meane the Anabaptists but specially the Familists who thinke it is unprofitable for a beleever to trouble himselfe for his sinnes and to goe up and downe with his heart full of griefe and his eyes full of teares and they thinke it unwarrantable and unlawfull and therefore they grow carelesse of sinne and fearlesse when they have committed sinne hath Christ undertaken for sin say they then why should a beleever take sinne to himselfe This is the cursed opinion of the Familists There is an unspeakable and an unmeasurable measure of comfort in this Doctrine for all the people of God and the other sucke as much poyson from it I have borne a secret grudge against this doctrine of theirs many a day but I could not tell how to meet with it neither doe I love to meddle with it till I meet at in my dish therefore to prevent the cavils of the wicked that a carnall heart may not presume of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ and also that the poore sinner may not burthen himselfe with needlesse â—eaâ—es nor with his sinne more than God requires suffer me to cleare the Doctrines by laying open two things Quest. 1 First how farre a sinner may and ought to charge himselfe with his sinne and how farre hoe may goe Quest. 2 Secondly how farre a sinner should not lay his sinne upon himselfe nor charge his folly upon himselfe and this will touch and discover the bounds and limits of the free grace of God and will open the way that wee may walke therein with comfort For the former Quest. 1 The question here growes how farre a beleever that hath an interest an Christ may charge himselfe with his sinne Answer I answer for the manner of it it shall appeare in these particular rules or conclusions First every beleever under heaven both the weakest and the strongest even hee that hath the strongest measure of grace is bound to this to the uttermost of his power to see and examine the sinfull carriages of his soule whether distempers inwardly or ungodly practices outwardly he is bound to consider of them and to judge of these his sinnes and every of them knowing that even the least of them is sufficient to make him guiltie of eternall death and to bring condemnation upon him as hee must see what his sinne is so he must judge that it hath the power to make him guiltie and also to condemne him should not the Lord by the power of his grace prevent it Every sinne in his owne nature and power doth and will procure guilt and condemnation to the soule by the sinne committed unlesse the Lord in mercy doe prevent it and Christ by the power of his merits stop the power and condemnation of sinne as the Apostle saith Rom. 1.31 which men though they knew the Law of God how that they which doe these things are worthy of death that is that in the least sinne which a man commits there is a fitnesse in it to make a man guiltie and it hath a power to condemne him unlesse the Lord did marvellous gratiously stop the power of corruption as the Text saith the repenting Church shall judge themselves worthy to be condemned every sinner may say of every sinne he commits that there is enough in it to damne him if God should deale with him after his owne deservings If I should be left to the power of my pride and malice hatred dead heartednes it were enough to condemne me for ever The wife Physitian that sees his Patient is in a plurifie will say here is enough in this man to kill him if I should neglect him but a few dayes it would kill him but now if the Physitian lets him blood hee stops the power of it that so the corrupted blood cannot bring death upon him so every sinne that a man commits both the distempers of the heart inwardly and the abuse of the means of grace and the practice of sinne outwardly there is enough in that plurisie of sinne to take away a mans comfort and happinesse unlesse the Lord be pleased to hinder the condemning power of them that they cannot hurt us therefore the summe of all is this as every beleever must examine his owne heart and life so hee must judge the nature of sinne and judge himselfe worthy to be condemned 1 Cor. 11.31 If we would judge our selves we should not be judged that is if wee condemne our selves and judge our selves worthy to be condemned for them I say not that a man should say that the Lord will condemne him but that he is worthy to be condemned for them and he deserves condemnation Every fiery Serpent in the wildernesse had a killing nature in it and if it did not kill it was not for want of power in it but because the vertue and power of the brasen Serpent which was a Type of Christ tooke away all the killing power of the fiery Serpents this is the practice of the soule whom the Lord hath truly brought home to himselfe as Ezekiel 16.36 after they were justified in Gods sight then shall they remember their evill wayes saith the Text and be ashamed and never open their mouths more when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done Though God hath accepted of a poore beleever yet hee must see his sinnes and lay his mouth in the dust and never pranke up his heart more but walke humbly before the Lord and though hee is accepted and pardoned yet hee shall judge himselfe worthy to bee condemned This is the first conclusion Secondly every beleeving soule justified and having an interest in Christ ought thus farre to acknowledge his sinnes as that it were righteous with the Lord to execute his wrath
so Secondly some againe are maliciously massacred with dishonourable cruelties they are puld the flesh from the bones and burnt to ashes c. None of all these did fall to our Saviour these are personall things they belong not to the nature of man and therefore it was no way requisite that Christ should undergoe those kinds of death marke these two passages to open it a little Acts 2.27 quoted out of Psalme 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Now the Saints of God doe see corruption but this was a dishonourable infirmitie for Christ though he suffered for us yet hee raised up himselfe from the vildnesse of the grave and saw no corruption and therefore it was no dishonour to him Iohn 19.33 36. When the souldiers found our Saviour dead they brake not his legs that the Scripture might be fulfilled which saith not a bone of him shall bee broken Whatsoever dishonour our Saviour Christ did submit himselfe unto he was willing to suffer but what was not by Law required and what was not fit for him to suffer that Christ would not suffer the Jewes to doe unto him for the Law did not require this in the curse that his legs should bee broken and therefore Christ would not undergoe it this is the third conclusion Vse 1 From the former truth that our Saviour Christ did die this naturall death I gather thus much it is a marvellous sweet cordiall to all the Saints of God upon their sicke beds it is a ground of strong consolation as the Apostle saith to beare up the hearts of Gods people in the day of death that they may lift up their heads with comfort and looke grizzeld death in the face with courage and boldnesse for the death of Christ hath taken away the evill of thy death therefore be not thou troubled with it nor dismaid by it there is no bitternesse in that pill nor no venome in that cup to thee for the poyson is gone therefore bee not you troubled with it whensoever God sends it upon you for the sharpest death of a Saint of God is like a humble Bee that hath no sting in it which a childe may play withall and not be hurt and thus Saint Paul plaid with death 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh death where is thy sting as if he should say the wicked feare death because the sting is in it to them but that sting is taken away from mee by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ when Christ went downe into the grave he sugered it and made it sweet and easie as a bed of Downe for beleevers to rest upon There are three privileges which every beleever may challenge upon his deathbed the first is this First every beleever may and should under the authoritie of mercy challenge mercy and in the vertue of the death of Christ he should boldly lay downe his life 1 Thes 4.16 The dead in Christ shall rise first that is the value of the phrase in the vertue of the death of Christ wee die also that as he died by his owne power rose againe so also wee die that wee may rise againe The Saints of God die that they may bee like to Christ and be raised againe and so bee for ever happy with Christ this is the particular good that the death of Christ communicates to the faithfull ones 1 Cor. 15.36 Thou foole that which thou somest it is not quickned unlesse it die it must first be corrupted that it may grow againe into an eare of corne the meaning is a man therefore dies that he may rise againe the body must lie downe in the dust 1 Cor. 15.53 This corruption must put on incorruption and this mortalitie must put on immortalitie Now corruption cannot put on incorruption nor mortalitie cannot put on immortalitie so long as wee are here the body of Adam could not be made immortall of it selfe the frame of it would not affoord so much for Adams body needed meat and had it but immortall bodies need no food but live by the power of Gods Spirit therefore Christ tooke downe the frame of this nature that hee might make it a more excellent frame It is therefore said that a Christian dies rather in the authoritie of mercy than justice that as Christ died and rose again so Christ will have all his servants die that hee may of a corrupt nature and a mortall body make an immortall body he will make it immortall which nature it selfe no not in its perfection could not doe this is the first privilege A second privilege which beleevers receive is this the death of the beleever puts an end to all his sinnes and miseries and sorrowes that when the soule and body shall part in sunder then sin shall depart from both and when they goe out of this life they shall goe from all the miseries of this life we shall never bee more pestered with lusts and corruptions we shall never bee drawne from the Lord more Satan is now busie but when the Saints of God die there is a separation from all sinnes from all sorrowes from all temptations never to be assaulted more this is the meaning of that place 2 Cor. 4.10 Everywhere we beare about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life also of Iesus may be made manifest in our mortall bodies the meaning is this Christ by his death did subdue sinne and now by the sorrowes and troubles he suffered and by the power of his death there is a totall separation made from sin in soule and body therefore when as in the power of Christs death we can lay downe these bodies then are we separated from sinne this is to beare about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus this is quite contrarie in every unbeleever for death naturall in an unbeleever is but the very beginning of all their other plagues they sip of Gods vengeance now but they shall have the full cup then sinne in them now is restrained but then their sinnes shall take full possession of them Satan now doth but tempt them but then â—e shall take possession of them as it is said of the rich foole in the Gospell This night shall they fetch away thy soule and then as they shall bee for ever plagued so they shall be for ever sinfull nothing but sinne shall be in them they shall be altogether proud and for ever proud they shall be altogether malicious and for ever malicious and the devils shall drag the soule of the wicked out of the body downe to hell for evermore and there shall tyranize over it for ever but on the contrary it is not so with the Saints the end of their life is but the beginning of another they goe from a vale of teares to a haven of happinesse Thirdly the death of the beleever is a mean to bring and estate them into the full possession of all
he had so deeply drunke of the cup of affliction he said now it is finished that is now the fierce indignation of the Lord is over Take a little childe or infant new borne and lay it in a little streame if no man come to succour it there can be no hope that it will live not properly because of the water but because the childe is weake and not able to keepe it selfe from being overpowred by the water and therefore there is no hope to have reliefe for it but let a strong man come and he will not be drowned by the streame for hee is of height and strength either to wade thorow it or else to save himselfe by swimming so there is the streame of the indignation of the Lord Now God will not help a poore sinfull creature and he cannot help himselfe therefore the streame will destroy him and there is no hope for he is never able to free himselfe because God will not and he himselfe cannot but the Lord Jesus Christ that hath skill and power because he is God as well as man therefore though he beare the wrath of God yet because hee is able to wade thorow it and to beare it therefore it is that he will deliver himselfe and all us with him Thus ye see that desperation is a consequent that followes from the sinfulnesse and weaknes of the creature and that it is no part of the second death The second part of this conclusion followes and I desire it may bee attended to by all you that are weake ones for this objection doth put many Divines themselves to a stand and yet the case is very cleere so farre as my light and line serves me Secondly the eternitie of the punishments say they for if Christ suffered the pains of the second death then hee must be in hell for ever It is a weake and a sinfull plea I say our Saviour might and did suffer the second death and yet not the eternitie of it I beseech you to take notice of two things herein First you must take notice of the difference betweene the death threatned and the death denounced and betweene the torments of hell also betweene the eternitie of time and the circumstances of time that may bee altered and changed as the debt or punishment is fully suffered or not suffered As for example the time of a mans lying in prison is no part of the payment but he doth lie in prison because hee cannot pay the debt as thus A man is in prison for a thousand pound he must lie in prison ten years because he can pay but a hundreth pound a year but now let a rich man come that can discharge the payment within ten moneths or ten dayes or ten houres it is as well if he doe it in ten houres as if he did it in ten years nay it is better done Just so it is here the debt is this In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death the punishment is death and every poore creature must die the first and second death Now because a poore creature cannot satisfie Gods justice 〈◊〉 this life for if God should but let in the power of his wrath in this life into the soule and fill the soule with his fierce indignation it would kill a man even in this life therefore the Lord by death takes away a poore creature and drags him downe to hell he doth arrest him by conscience here and saith Thou hast sinned and deserved wrath and thou canst not beare my wrath here therefore thou shalt die and be made immortall that thou maist beare it for evermore because a man cannot pay it now therefore he is paying of it to all eternitie for hee is never able to pay and satisfie for the whole summe but now the Lord Jesus Christ hath cash ready at hand and is able to lay downe the payment for all the faithfull to the full hee layes downe the life naturall and hee also suffers the paines of the second death therefore hee is able to deliver himselfe and all those that are his First of all Vse 1. hath our Saviour thus suffered and hath he stepped in betweene the wrath of God the Father and the faithfull Justice saith that foule hath sinned and must be damned and anger saith I must breake out against that poore soule then the Lord Jesus Christ steps in and saith I will beare all and undertake the satisfiing of all I will beare all those punishments due unto them you that are beleevers and have a share in Christ unto you I speake labour thou from hence to see the hainousnesse of sinne and to hate it because it hath brought all this evill upon thy Saviour and would have brought the same upon thee had not the Lord Jesus Christ stepped in betweene thee and the wrath of the Father Oh looke what thy sin hath done unto the Lord Jesus Christ and see if you can love it take contentment in the cōmission of it Let me teach you how to do it send your thoughts afar off and see our Saviour in the garden crying out and saying My soule is exceeding heavie unto the death my soule is even beset with sorrowes oh watch and pray And also when he was in that bitter agonie in the garden And he prayed yet more earnestly and hee stretched out his prayers that it broke his heart almost behold the teares in his eyes and the clodded blood that came from him and his soule was almost broken within him under the fierce indignation of the Lord and he fell upon the ground and yet all this would not doe the deed follow him to the crosse and seeing him attended with the souldiers and pierced thorow with a speare see then if thou canst love thy sinnes that have done all this and further when you have seene him thus nailed to the crosse and pierced thorow with a speare then if you have any hearts of men I doe not say of Christians listen a while and here those hideous cries My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Oh brethren it went very heavy with our Saviour Now imagine that you heard those heart breaking sighes which broke the heavens and let them breake thy heart too Oh goe your wayes home I charge you in the Name of Jesus Christ and answer your owne hearts or rather answer the petitions of our Saviour and say Lord why hast thou forsaken Oh Lord it was for my pride and my contempt of thy word and my despising of holy duties and for the rest of my sinnes I should have beene forsaken and thou wast contented to bee forsaken for me Oh can you consider of this and love your sinnes still which have brought all this misery upon a Saviour if you can love your sins now doe and if you can harbour that pride and stubbornnesse in your hearts which would have pluckt the heart out of Christs body and his soule from
not then hate it to the uttermost If God doth hate sin even in his owne deare Son though assumed onely then let thy heart bee also carried with a hatred for evermore against it Thus much of the first question what the kindes of punishment were which our Saviour suffered and how far he suffered them Quest. 2 Secondly when did our Saviour begin these sufferings and when did be end them To this I answer thus Answer Our Saviour Christ begun the pains of the naturall death from his cradle to his grave I am not ignorant of the diversitie of the judgements of Divines in this point but that which I conceive to be most seasonable is this hee begun to die as soone as hee begun to live and that upon this ground looke to the curse that God hath threatned Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death so that Adam began to be a debter and must bee a sufferer from the very beginning of his sin and so all the sons of Adam they have no sooner an entrance into life but they are dying The meaning is this as thou eatest thereof thou shalt die that 's the meaning of the text as it is in the originall die die die even from the beginning of thy life Now when our Saviour becameâ— debter hee must also become a paymaster and he must keepe the 〈◊〉 of the payment justice requires this and they 〈◊〉 are faithfull doe and will keepe this now 〈◊〉 Saviour was a good paymaster therefore the day of his humiliation was the day of his dissolution hee had sorrowes and miseries even untill his departure out of this life nay not onely the curse required it but also daily experience makes it good looke upon our Saviour as soone as ever he wâ—â— borne there was no roome to bee had for him 〈◊〉 â—nne but bee was laid in a manger in the stable â—d not in a cradle neither but in a cratch and Herod he fought his life too and in his riper years he suffered hunger and cold and backbitings and all these were but as harbengers to make way for all that desolation and wrath which came upon him There is never a childe of Adam but so soone as hee is borne into the world hee falls to crying and so he continueth in sorrowes all the dayes of his life and all these are but dyings when the tyles begin to fall and the thatch to moulder from off the house wee use to say the house will fall shortly so all the sorrowes and the disgraces that were cast upon our Saviour so soone as he was persecuted they were all preparations to his death Againe looke to the end why our Saviour came into the world as in 1 Iohn 3.8 Christ came to destroy the workes of the devill that as Satan brought sinne into the world by Adam and so death and condemnation by sinne so Christ through his sufferings brought in life and sanctification so that the plaister should be applied to the place from whence the 〈◊〉 the disâ—e came As Satan brought sin into the world 〈◊〉 punishments by sin so the plaister must bee laid there that all may be fully cured Againe when did our Saviour suffer paines in his soule To this I answer our Saviour did suffer these paines partly in the garden and partly upon the crosse this will be plaine if you compare Matthew 26.37 with Iohn 19.30 in Saint Matthew he saith that Christ tooke with him Peter and the two sonnes of Zabedeus and hee began it 〈◊〉 sorrowfull and to be grievously troubled hee began to be sorrowfull this sorrow and heavinesse was the paines of his soule here he did begin it and in Iohn 19.30 when Iesus had received of the vinegar he said now it is finished what is that there are many interpretations upon it but I will follow that which I conceive to bee most seasonable as thus it is finished that is the cup is â—ver the heavie indignation of the Lord that did pursue wee and lie upon mee is now over and remember this bloâ—d finished doth argue that it had a beginning There was a time when our Saviour begun to crapple with this wrath of God and now it is finished this is the meaning of it for it could not bee meant of all the Prophesies that were of Christ all which were not fulfilled and though some were fulfilled yet some were not and therefore it could not be meant of them as namely of this Prophesie as Ionah was three dayes and three nights in the whales belly so shall the Sonne of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth therefore the text saith that he began to bee in an againe in the garden and when he cried now it is finished theâ—â— was ended that is now the fit is over and the indignation of the Lord is past this shall bee made good in the third question wherein it shall appeare that hee did suffer grievous paines in his soule But before I come to the third question give me leave to promise some cautions that so you may see how the way lies and the cautions are three First that whatsoever the Scripture doth speak concerning the sufferings of Christ it means them really they were not shewes nor semblances but in substance This I speake the rather to avoid a cavill of some which thinke that Christ did onely say so and did not suffer them really this is a meere doring delusion and for ever to be abhorred for unlesse we yeeld it that Christ did suffer these really wee shake off the truth of the whole story and so we can have no true foot-hold for our comfort Secondly I say that whatsoever is exprest in the Scripture wee must conceive of it without the least suspition of sinne in our Saviour therefore evermore maintaine a holy reverence and a holy regard of the actions and the nature of our Saviour Christ that you may not charge him with the least inclination to any distemper Thirdly our Saviour was not compeld properly to suffer either out of the necessitie of nature being weake and sinfull for indeed sorrowes doe come properly out of our corruptions and flow out from thence and as heat and fire goe together so sin and misery goe together but there was no such matter in the Lord Jesus Christ nay there was no outward cause in our Saviour that could compell him to suffer miseries whether he would or no but hee did most willingly submit himselfe to divine justice her tooke our place and became our suretie and promised the payment of the debt freely yet aside he had done thus it was necessary upon condition promised and hee did also willingly make it necessary that before he did suffer these punishments he should undertake them and then having thus undertaken and upon certaine conditions promised it was very fit and necessary that he should make good what he had promised and performe what hee
beleagered with sorrowes in every part and I would expresse it thus our Saviour Christ knowing Gods counsell and the hour approaching and the thrones of justice prepared and God as an angry Judge sitting thereon with all the bookes brought forth and all the sinnes of all the world there laid open and God the Father as a Judge saith these are the sinnes of those for whom thou hast undertaken to die and if thou answer not for them they must be damned and there he saw the sinnes of Manasses and David and Peter and Paul appeare before the Lord and withall he saw the glorious attributes of God all comming out against him and mercy pleads I have beene despised and patience pleads and saith I haue beene despised and justice pleads and saith I have beene wronged by these men in the time of their ignorance and therefore mercy and patience and goodnesse and holinesse and long suffering and all these that have beene wronged they all come to the Father for justice and say These have beene opposers of thy grace and spirit and they have wronged us if they be saved Christ must be punished and hee seeth the wrath of the Lord making a breach against him and seizing against him and not onely so but even all the Devils and all the Jewes and Gentiles God lets them all in upon our Saviour now see whether hee had good cause to complaine if hee looked up to God there were all his attributes crying for justice against him and death before his face and the Jewes and the Gentiles Herod and Pilate and all conspired against him to bring in sorrow upon our Saviour therefore hee cries Oh my soule it heavie even to the death my soule is beset with sorrowes the Jewes and the sinnes of all the world will have my life thus he began to be astonied and was faine to gather up all his abilities that hee might fortifie himselfe against those evills This is the sufferings of Christ in the garden and yet I speake under it and if I had the tongues of men and of Angels I could not expresse it for these words are never read of any mortall man but that there is weaknesse in the same onely Christ hath exprest thus much that howsoever misery and wrath was able to overcome a poore creature yet hee bore it and that without sinnes Let these two cavils of the Jesuites bee removed before wee goe any further and the explication before spoken of will answer both Object 1 First say they if Christ in his agonie suffered the wrath of God and if this made him to crie out Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from mee if this bee so then say they our Saviour must continue in the agonie from the garden till he came upon the crosse but that hee could not doe for hee checks Iudas and reproves Peter not as a man astonished but as a man in his right wits and hee answered Pilate calmly and hee prayed holily and commended himselfe to God the Father and he was not as a man astonished in all this therefore hee was not now in the agonie Answer To this I answer the objection growes upon a false ground for they conceive that because he was in the agonie therefore it must continue untill his being upon the crosse I say no that 's false for our Saviour entred into the agonie as into a combat and he that enters into a combat hath many bouts in it as there are many stormes and tempests but there are some beames of sun-shine betweene them so here there is some interims It is in this case as it is with a man in a burning fever a man hath many intermissions betweene the fits so although our Saviour bore all the whole wrath of God yet he had intermitting fits of it as in Matthew 26.39 42 44 in the 39. verse he prayed and said Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from mee and he went away againe the second time and prayed saying Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from mee and hee went againe the third time and prayed yet more earnestly saying Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me and as it is in Luke â—2 44 Hee entred into the agonie that is into the fit as we use to say of a sicke man now the fit is upon him he prayed once and came againe so one fit was over he prayed yet againe so two fits were over then he prayed yet more earnestly so the the third fit was over here are three bouts which hee had when hee wrestled with the indignation of the Lord. There were three stormes in this tempest and betweene every little storme he had a pleasant gale of ease and refreshing This is the answer to the first objection Object 2 Secondly if the wrath of God seized upon the soule of our Saviour then the cause being the same the effect must needs be the same therefore he must needs be still in the agonie when he was upon the crosse You must know that the sorrowes and sufferings of our Saviour issued onely from these two causes First from the wrath of God comming upon him for our sinnes Secondly our Saviour did willingly according to the agreement made betweene him and the Father put himselfe under the wrath of the Father he laid his head upon the blocke and upon the anvill under the blow of divine Justice Now it is not the wrath of God alone nor the willingnesse of Christ alone but from the wrath of God comming upon him and his willingnesse in submitting to the wrath of God for Justice saith if these bee saved thou must suffer and Christ saith I am contented I will yet so farre as I see fit and may be for my honour this shewes that he did it willingly Therefore hee was a cause by counsell and a voluntary disposer of his owne worke therefore he might either satisfie justice by bearing the whole wrath of God or else he might take a breathing while as he saw fit so that howsoever you frame the objection yet the answer is cleere for when a man hath taken worke to doe by the great hee may goe to his worke or he may leave his worke provided that he doe performe it according to bargaine or a man may speake if he will or else if he will he may keep silence so Christ undertooke to suffer for us but provided when hee would and as he would Matthew 26.37 He began to wax sorrowfull that is hee did it freely hee entred into the combat of Gods displeasure he undertooke it when he would and as much at once as he would provided that hee did pay and suffer all for the curse doth not require that Christ should suffer all at once but onely that he should satisfie the justice of God againe the humane nature of Christ could not so well beare all the wrath of God at once therefore he tooke it at three
whole heavens as I may say and did darken all the Sunne-shine of Gods favour as it is with the Sun in the firmament when a little cloud growes greater and greater untill it cover the whole heaven then we thinke it is almost night so all the sinnes of all the faithfull did overspread all the whole heavens that even the star-light of Gods compassion and the lightning of Gods love and favour appeared not Now I come to the reasons of our Saviours grievous sufferings in his soule and the reasons are these First from the cause Secondly from the place to which our Saviour was called Thirdly from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ which makes it most plaine of all Reason 1 First from the cause it cannot bee that it was the Jewes and Herod and Pilate that made him crie out in this manner but the justice of God the Father came against him and the devill entred the combate with the Lord Jesus Christ upon the crosse Luke 22.53 This is your houre and the power of darknesse hell gates were set open and the devils were all let loose upon our Saviour and therefore as Divines doe wisely and judiciously observe in Coloss 2.15 Hee led captivity captive and spoyled principalities and powers and tooke the hand writing of ordinances that was against us and fastned them to his crosse hee was now in the maine combat with all the powers of sinne hell and death These were they that did make the combat with the Lord of life Reason 2 The second reason is taken from the place which he underwent he was to be a Priest and he was to offer up himselfe for a sacrifice not his body alone but also his soule as Hebrewes 9.20.24 Christ offered up himselfe for a sacrifice Reason 3 Thirdly the love of the Lord Jesus was such that of necessitie it must bee so and those that thinke that the Lord Jesus suffered nothing else but onely the death of the body they wonderfully wrong the love of the Lord Jesus Christ the like love was never seene for had he suffered only the death naturall then some of Gods people had shewed greater love than ever Christ did as Paul Romans 9.3 I could bee content to want the sense of the love of Christ for the people of the Iewes c. Now if our Saviour had onely suffered the death naturall then Paul could have beene content to doe more than Christ did Thus you see the nature of this forsaking of Christ Secondly there was also a curse which befell our Saviour which here is intimated but is fully exprest Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law why because he was made a curse for us how doth he prove that because it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree He proves the truth by the Type the curse lay in this that Christ did suffer whatsoever was due unto us So the Apostle reasons that whatsoever curse was due unto us that our Saviour did suffer the curse was this the Father did not only withdraw the sense and sweetnesse of his love and favour from the Lord Jesus Christ but hee also let in his heavie indignation and wrath into his soule and that seized upon and fild the soule of our Saviour brim full and this was the curses The Scripture doth expresse it in two particulars or there are two degrees of it First the justice of God had a single combat with our Saviour in the garden and there it had three bouts with him the Lord dealt very roughly with him and the blowes were very heavie that hee laid upon our Saviour there for they went to the heart of him and yet that was but a little skirmish Esay 53.4 5. God smote him and bruised him insomuch that there was clodded blood seene to come dropping from him these heavie bouts that hee had wounded him and went to the very heart of him but now patience and forbearance and longsuffering and mercy and compassion they all come into rescue our Saviour and they afford him a little breathing and refreshing so that though the blowes were heavie and the thrusts were sore yet he did breathe and live and it was not the maine stroke of all and the reason was because patience mercy and goodnesse and bountie came in to rescue him but then the second part was this Not only Gods anger had a single combat with him but at last the justice of God gathered up all the powers of it and the wrath of God drew up all the forces together and they marched in furiously against Christ and whereas before the Father smote at him and did thrust at him now hee slew him When our Saviour came to the crosse and the heat of the battle lay upon him then all the sense and sweetnesse of Gods countenance and favour they all left our Saviour in the open field for in the garden hee had some refreshings and some breathing times and mercy and goodnesse did step in and say slay him not but let him have some refreshings but now the sense and the feeling of all these was gone Vse The use of this last branch it is a word of terrour and it is able to shake the hearts of the proudest wretches under heaven they that let themselves against God and Heaven and make nothing of the sinnes they have committed nor of the wrath of God threatned and when the Minister saith Oh the end of those sins will be bitternesse this contempt of God and grace and holy services and these oaths will be bitter in the latter end How can you beare the wrath of God and you cannot possibly avoid it tusâ— say they come let us talke of other matters and not busie our selves with these matters well saith the Minister but the word is true and the word saith it well then saith the soule and I will beare it as well as I can If I sinne I will beare it and if I come into hell I shall beare it as well as another and I shall make a shift for one Oh poore sinfull creature wilt thou beare it and make thy part good as well as another dost thou know what thou saist ler all those stouthearted men that sit in the feat of the scornfull and make nothing of God nor his wrath nor of hell nor of the sinnes that they have committed let them know that they shall never bee able to beare the indignation of the Lord see here and behold a little all you that make nothing of the withdrawing of Gods favour Psalme 97.4 5. and Revelation â— 14 15 16 17. The heavens departed away as a scrowle when it is rowled and every mountaine and Isle were removed out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe captaines and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and rocks and in the mountaines and said to
course of profession in the way of life and salvation but they never come to bee opposers and resisters of God and his grace till there comes some to bee wiser and stricter in a Christian course than they and then hee fals away Vse 4 Is it so that the faithfull soule is thus neerly knitted to Christ as the member to the body or the branch to the vine then all you that beleeve in Christ observe from hence a ground of strong consolation against all the contempt of the world and the misery that can betide and against all the temptations that Sathan can lay against you to cause you to fall finally or totally First it is a ground of great comfort and consolation to carry up the soule and lift up the heart against all the contempt and disgrace against all the troubles and miseries and persecutions that can betide or befall you or can be cast upon you in this wandring pilgrimage of yours when a Christian begins to turne his face heaven-ward and goe home to the Lord then all his friends flie away and depart from him David complaines that his honours stood afarre off and hee was a mocking to the enemie and a contempt to those that were before neere unto him so it will bee with you nay it is so with most that live in the bosome of the Church how often can many of you speake of it when the Lord hath given you a heart to walke with him and depend upon him how often are you made the off-scouring of the world your carnall friends detest your persons and scorne your societies why raise up your hearts with the consideration of the former truth yee that doe endure it or may feare it comfort your selves doth man cast you off doth man cast you out Christ will receive you why then are you discouraged what though the servant frowne if the Master welcome what though we be not with the wicked if we be with Christ and Christ with us why are we then discontented it is that which comforts a party that matcheth against her parents minde when her parents frowne this comforts her heart though she hath not their love and society yet she hath the love and company of her husband and that contents her so it is with every beleeving soule you have matched against the minde of your carnall friends they would not have you take that course Oh then they tell you Woe and beggerie will befall you well though you have matched contrarie to the mindes of your carnall friends or master or husband yet comfort thy selfe though thou hast the ill will of an earthly husband yet now God will be a husband in heaven thou maist sing care away and bee for ever comforted and refreshed it was that which God himselfe gave for a cordiall to cheare up Iacob in that long and tedious journey of his when hee was going into a farre countrie Genes 28.14 15. when he was going from his owne countrie and had no friends to succour him the Lord met him and said I will goe with thee and keepe thee in all places whither thou goest and I will bring thee back into this land and I will never leave thee untill I have done that which I spake unto thee of this was that which lifted and bare up the heart of the good man though hee could not but expect hard dealing why yet saith the Lord I will goe with thee and never leave thee thinke of it and consider of it seriously what a ground of consolation may it be when we shall wander up and downe and goe into caves and holes and dens of the earth when wee shall goe into prison or banishment and friends may not nor will not goe with us yet Christ will goe Esay 43.2 When thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee a man cannot save his wife sometimes in the water though shee bee ready to be drowned a man cannot goe into the fire to helpe her though she be ready to be burnt but Christ will be with thee in the water and in the fire that is in the heaviest trials and forest troubles what can come to us if Christ be with us if miserie and sorrow and trouble bee with us if Christ our husband be with us what matter he is the husband of his spouse and the Saviour of his people why should wee then bee discouraged or disquieted Secondly as it is a ground of comfort against all opposition and troubles of the world so it is a ground of comfort to stay our soules against the fiercenesse of all temptations whereby Satan labours to plucke us from the Lord Iesus Christ and our hearts sinke within us and we shall wee say one day perish by the hands of Saul by the hand of the enemy attempting and corruptions prevailing cleare your hearts and know though temptations may outbid your weaknesses and corruptions may outbid your abilities and when you would doe good evill is present with you and sinne cleaves and sticks close to you why cheare your hearts with this consideration that you have Christ that sticks closer to you than your sinnes and this should cheere up weake and feeble ones I know what troubles you were I as strong as such a christian had I such parts and such strength of faith and shall such a poore little one as I am beare the brunt of persecution and indure in the time of perplexitie Why consider though thou canst not helpe thy selfe yet Christ can and know this that Christ will not lose the least member he is a perfect Saviour the Lord will not suffer Satan to take thee away from him nor suffer his love to bee taken from thee Rom. 8. the two last verses it was the triumph of the holy Apostle Paul I am perswaded saith he that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which it in Christ Iesus our Lord when health is separated from thy body and light from thy eyes and strength from thy feeble nature yet remember that when thy body is separated from thy soule the Lord will not separated his love from thee neither from thy body in the grave nor from thy 〈…〉 it is departed out of thy body he will love thy body in the grave he loves the dust of his Saints and he will take thy soule up into heaven therefore cheare up thy heart and comfort thy soule in the consideration of Gods goodnesse Vse 5 Lastly are the Saints knit to Christ thus firmly then it shews us our dutie we ought to take notice of the goodnesse of the Lord vouchsafed unto us hath the Lord advanced you thus highly then walke
soule there is but one way every man hath committed sinne must suffer for his sinne the sentence is passed every man that beleeves not is condemned already what would you have now thou faint thorow couldest have a pardon but wouldest thou not have riches or friends the soule saith Alas what is that to me to bee rich and a reprobate honoured and damned let me bee pardoned though impoverished let mee bee justified though debased though I never see good day beside why then labour for a Christ for there is no other way under heaven get a broken heart get a beleeving heart but oh above all get a Christ to justifie thee get a Christ in all to save thee If I could pray like an angell could I heare and remember all the Sermon could I conferre as yet never man spake what is that to mee if I have not a Christ I may goe downe to hell for all that I have or doe looke into your soules and observe your lives and conversations when a man hath prayed and hee findes his minde dull his heart awke and untoward his thoughts wandring and roving why thinke with your selves doe wee condemne our selves for the duties wee doe performe and judge our selves for the services we have discharged and yet doe wee thinke to be acquitted by the Law of God Oh therefore above all intreat the Lord to give thee a Christ that hee may justifie thee here and save thee everlastingly hereafter Phil. 3.8 I count all things drosse and dung in comparison of a Christ Paul was a proud Pharisee learned Paul reverend Paul a man of admirable parts yet saith the Apostle That I thought to bee gaine was losse to mee yea dung and dog smeat in comparison of a Christ yea doubtlesse and I doe count all things losse that is not onely my parts and credit and privileges when I was a Pharisee but the best dutie that ever I did the best service that ever I performed I account all as dung and dogsmeat in the point of justification in respect of the Lord Iesus Christ grace therefore is good and duties are good seeke for all we should doe so performe all we ought to doe so but oh a Christ a Christ a Christ in all above all more than all Thus now I have shewed you the way to the Lord Iesus I have shewed you also how you may come to be implanted into the Lord Iesus and now I leave you in the hands of a Saviour in the bowels of a Redeemer and I think I cannot leave you better the worst is past now you are come hither Rom. 5.9 If you be justified by his death then much more shall you be saved through his righteousnes and merits You whose eyes God hath opened whose hearts God hath humbled and whose soules God hath called home to himselfe you are now in the hands of the Lord goe your way and when you see hell flaming and the devils roaring and the damned yelling and crying out looke backe I say and see this ditch out of which you are escaped looke upon the pit which you were going over you may blesse God and say wee are past that those dayes are gone wee are past from death to life Acts 20.32 when Saint Paul was to goe away from them and for ought hee knew should never see their faces more why yet marke what hee saith to them Brethren I commend you to God and the Word of his grace that is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among those that are sanctified as who should say God and his Word was the best Commandment he could put them over to as who should say Paul must depart and Paul must be imprisoned and Paul must die so that now he shall bee with you no longer to teach to informe to direct you but the good Word of the Lord endures to comfort for ever to cheere for ever to assist refresh for ever those that are weake and discouraged I put you over therefore to a good Word to an everlasting Word I commend you to a blessed and a living Saviour who will bee with you for ever by the immutable assistance of his blessed Spirit I leave you in the hands of your Saviour that when the head of your Minister haply shall lie full low or death overtake him why yet remember I have put you over to a Saviour Oh love this Word and love this Christ more than all prize this Christ above all and he will preserve you and this I will wish you that you would keep yourselves close to this good Word that will informe you and to this blessed Saviour that will support you from day to day THE SOVLES Iustification 2 COR. 5.22 For he hath made him to be sin for us which knew no sinne that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him FOr our more orderly proceeding herein you may remember that I shewed you before for what a man is not justified Now wee come to handle for what a man is and may bee justified and this I conceive so farre as my light serves mee to bee in the words of the Text for the Apostle having shewed that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe and not imputing their sins Now in this Text hee shewes the reason how this comes to passe namely God â—aid their sinnes to Christs charge and made him sinne for us that knew no sinne It s no wonder then though God did not justifie a poore sinner for what hee had and did and though hee did not expect perfect righteousnesse at their hands for Hee hath made him to hee sinne for 〈◊〉 which knew no sinne that wee might be made the righteousnesse of God in him For our more orderly proceeding I will doe two things First I will discover the Doctrine of Iustification in a description Secondly I will open the description Quest. 1 For the first If any man aske me what Iustification is it is this briefly Answer Iustification is an act of God the Father upon the beleever whereby the debt and sinnes of the beleever are charged upon the Lord Iesus Christ and by the merits and satisfaction of Christ imputed to the beleever hee is accounted just and so is acquitted before God as righteous There are foure particulars in the description First it is an act of God the Father upon the beleever Secondly the debt of the beleever is charged upon our Saviour God the Father followes as it were the suit upon the suretie and not upon the debtor both these are in these words of the Text Hee hath made him sinne for us which knew no sinne Thirdly the satisfaction of Christ is put over to the beleever and set upon his score as in these words That wee might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Fourthly by this means the debt on our sides being laid upon the Lord Iesus Christ and his righteousnesse being applied to us God the Father acquits
and the Son have wrought Hence it is that actions are given especially to the Father though not excluding the Sonne nor the holy Ghost but yet howsoever they are all equall in their working in regard of time yet the Father is first in regard of order A malefactor is now arraigned and condemned and the pardon is to be begged and none but the Kings sonne the young Prince can have a pardon his abilities are onely able to carry him through the worke the Prince begs it the Favorite brings it but the King onely grants it so it is here the Lord Iesus Christ is the Sonne of the everlasting Father and the Prince of peace and hee it is that begs the pardon of his Father hee sends it to us by the hands of the holy Ghost but only the Father grants the pardon When the soule hath long beene humbled and selfe denying and said Lord forgive the trespasses of thy servant and yeelds and layes downe the weapons of deflance and falls at the footstoole of the Lord Iesus Christ and rowles it selfe upon his merits then the Spirit comes and saith thy sinnes are pardoned thy person is accepted I bring thee this newes from God the Father God is now reconciled to thee in and by the Lord Iesus Christ now the Father is the King that grants this pardon the Sonne is he that begs it and the Spirit is the messenger that brings it Now you see how it is an act of God the Father Quest. 2 Secondly I come to shew why it is an act of God the Father upon the beleever Answer The reasons of the question are these we must understand that the actions of God are of two sorts First there are some actions which doe remain in God which are confined within the compasse of his owne Councell and goe no further and they are immanent actions they stay in God and goe no further A man may conceive in his mind what heresolves to doe in his heart whether hee will doe such a thing or no and no man can tell what he intends to doe but himselfe but if a man will practise answerably according to his purpose then he doth expresse the worke outwardly which he intended inwardly and now hee workes upon the creature and makes it to receive some impression of that good which hee kept secretly in himselfe There are some actions which remaine in God as the decrees and purposes of God before the foundation of the world and they are confined within the high Councell table of Heaven Father Sonne and holy Ghost and these never appeared to the eye of the world Secondly there are actions also which passe from God upon the creature and doe worke a change and an alteration upon the creature and these wee call transient actions or actions that passe which are not onely in God but passe from God and doe frame and order and dispose of the creature as God sees fit and of this sort are all the actions that belong to a Christian except predestination for the Lord doth not reveale those secrets unto any by the worke of vocation which is wrought upon the creature for there the Lord quickens desire and stirres up hope and kindles love and joy and the Lord turnes the face of the soule God-ward and in adoption regeneration and all the workes of grace and salvation and of this kinde is justification and this is the reason why I call it a transient action because it passeth upon the creature but that must be warily understood with a graine of salt as the Proverbe is now what change is this I answer the Lord workes a change upon the creature two wayes First the Lord is said to passe a worke or an action upon the creature when he puts some kind of abilitie upon the creature either spirituall or naturall as when the Lord makes a wicked man a good man an adulterous man a chaste man and of an envious proud malicious man a patient meeke and holy man and this we call a naturall change because there is a gracious frame put into the heart and soule which overpowers the creature and all things are become new new affections new desires but this is not all for here is the difficultie Secondly the Lord is said to make a change upon the creature when he takes off some relations and respects which the creature had and puts upon it some other respects hee doth not put them into the soule but puts the soule into another roome and they are not naturally qualities but onely relations which are imprinted upon the soule of man and these are called morall and of this kinde is justification as thus Take a Prentice that is bound by covenant and Indenture for so many yeeres and he is now fallen into an ague or a burning fever hee hath two relations First he is an apprentice Secondly hee hath a weake sickly distempered body now there may bee a double change wrought in this man according to this double disposition first the master burnes the Indentures and gives him his time and sets him free from his service and hee that was an apprentice before is now a freeman this is a morall change for all this while he is as sicke as he was before but the former relation is quite gone and the master cannot now command him to his service now the fellow servants cannot dominere over him because he is not now a servant but now the wise Physitian he comes and he by good means helps the man of his disease and brings him to a faire sweet and wholsome temper of body and now there is a change in the very nature of this servant before he was distempered but now he is well ordered before hot but now finely coole here is something wrought in the nature of this man Just so it is in this change of the soule there is a morall change in justification a man is bound to the Law and liable to the penaltie of it and guiltie of the breach of it now God the Father in Jesus Christ acquits a man of this guilt and delivers him from this revenging power of the Law and that 's not all but withall hee puts holinesse into the heart and wisedome into the minde and puritie into the affections this is called a naturall change because there are new spiritual abilities put into the heart not because of the nature of it but because of the thing which it works as to take the example of Scripture 1 Iohn 3.14 Wee are translated from death to life As it is with a man taken prisoner in Turkie or some other place haply a Christian of England he is accounted a Traitor there and is condemned as a Traitor the man being weake of himselfe and not able to deliver himselfe he must bee dealt by as a Traitor but now if this man bee rescued and finde some way of escape and bee set upon some other shore whereby he may be conveyed
that happinesse and glory which heretofore hath beene expected and Christ hath promised now it shall be attained the time now comes when the Saints of God shall have no more tears in their eyes nor sin in their soules not sorrow in their hearts when they die then their sins and sorrowes die too you shal never be dead harted more then you shal have holineâ— in ful possession which so long time you have longed for it is now only in expectation and you hope and looke for it when the Lord will put wisedome into your blinde mindes and holinesse into your corrupted hearts but when death comes it will bring you to the fruition of all that holinesse and happinesse and this is done by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Iohn 3.2 Wee are now the sonnes of God but it doth not appeare what we shall bee and we know that when he shall be made manifest we shall bee made like him that is like to him in all holinesse and happinesse as hee is altogether holy and altogether happy now you are children but onely in nonage now you are onely wives betrothed and you goe up and downe in your rags of sinne but when the solemnization of the marriage shall be in the great day of accounts then we shall be like him and hee will make us altogether holy and hee will fill our blinde mindes with knowledge and possesse our corrupt hearts withall puritie holinesse and grace so far as thy soule shall be capable of it and shall bee needfull for thee what are you unwilling to goe to your husband the wife sometimes receives letters from her espoused husband shee welcomes the messenger and accepts the tokens kindly and reads the letter gladly and will not part with his tokens above any thing but oh how she longs to injoy himselfe in his owne person this is her chiefest desire to be possessed of him and to have his company alwayes so the Lord Jesus Christ is your husband he died that ye might live he is ascended up into heaven and hath made passage for you you have many intimations of his mercy and many sweet smiles from heaven saying well goe thy way thy sins are pardoned and thy soule shall be saved these are his tokens and I hope you will lay them up by you make much of them but when will the time come that I may injoy my Saviour Now I have a little mercy and a little holinesse and a little pardon of sinne but oh that I might injoy my Saviour fully Now it is quite contrary with the wicked the death of the wicked is a means to shut them out of all the hope they had of receiving mercy for when death parts soule and body then there is no more cards and dice no more lusts the adulterer shall no more satisfie himselfe with his unclean lusts the drunkard shall not then bee drunke the blasphemer shall not then blaspheme so as hee was wont to doe for nothing but he shall be and blaspheme God for something and his soule shall bee full of Gods vengeance this is the death of the wicked the death of the Saints is like a ferriman to convey them over to eternall happinesse but the death of the wicked is as a hangman to bereave them of life and salvation too death to the saints is as a guide to convey them to happinesse but to the wicked death is as a Jailor to carry them away to the place of execution And thus much briefly of the former part of the answer namely that our Saviour suffered the death natural Now our Saviour did not onely suffer in his body but he suffered in his soule also you may conceive of it in two particulars First there is a reall withdrawing of the sense and feeling of the mercy and compassion of God a stoppage as I may say and a taking off the sweet operation of Gods love and favour from the soule when that sensible refreshing and conveyance of the mercy and kindnesse of Gods countenance is turned away from the soule this is a part of the second death and this is the paine of losse that is the poore sinner loseth that sweet influence of that abundant mercy and compassion and that sweetnesse that is in all those glorious attributes which should fill the soule with satisfactory sweetnesse and content as thus sometimes it pleases God to discover those pain of hell unto his servants here on earth and hee brings them by the suburbs of hell that they may know what it is to bee in heaven and also what it is to commit sinne so against a gracious God Psalme 31.22 I said in mine haste I am cast out of sight As if hee had said God hath taken away the sweet smiles of his countenance from the heart of David and 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 a part of the second death yet thou â—he art â—est the voyce of thy praier David was now in some distresse by reason of the withdrawing of the favour of God from his soule this is the first part of the second death Secondly when the fierce indignation of the Lord semeth upon the soule of a poore creature when the Lord sets open the floodgates of his anger and wrath and fils the soule unsupportably with his vengeance Psal 43. â— Why hast thou cast mee off and Psalme 51.11 Cast me not away out of thy presence c. The Lord seemed to cast him away and to send him packing and hee seemed to bee cast away in his owne apprehension both these you shall see concluded on in Iob 13.24 Thou râ—est bitter things against mee and hidest thy face away from me and takest mee for thy enemy The Lord not onely went away and hid him but he made Iob a But that so his arrowes might come against him pell mell and he let all his displeasure fall upon him with might and maine so then there is first a reall withdrawing of the sweetnesse of the mercy of God from the soule and secondly a reall inflicting of the indignation of the Lord and that fils the soule of a poore creature Quest. 2 Now the second question is this how far our Saviour suffered these paines To this I answer that so I may carry the cause with as much plainnesse and nakednesse as may be that each poore creature may get something give mee leave to answer the question in these conclusions one will make way for another onely here let mee tell you thus much that I mean onely to make declaration of the truth of the point and the argument shall be afterwards First it is possible that some paines of Hell may be suffered in this life and therefore the living and being of our Saviour in this life is no hindrance but that he might undergoe them This I say to prevent a weak plea of some that desire to tie and intail all the pains of Hell to another life and the place to be Hell and they thinke that
his body then doe can it bee possible that men should harbour sinne in them if they did but know what it hath done to them can you see it and not haâ—e it Oh behold that sinne which hath caused God the Father to be angry with thy Saviour and doe thou hate it and let thy soule for ever loath thy sinne which hath caused Christ thus to doe to come downe from heaven and to bee tortured by wicked miscreants and to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and as sin hath caused God the Father to punish thy Saviour so goe thou and be revenged upon thy sin and say Oh my pride and my stubbornnesse and my loosenesse and uncleannesse and base drunkennesse these were the nailes that pierced his hands aâ—â— his feet they pierced his sacred body and 〈◊〉 the wrath of God the Father upon his soule therefore let mee bee for ever revenged of this proud stubborne and rebellious heart of mine and let mee for ever loath my sinne because it brought all this sorrow upon my Saviour To presse this use a little more I charge you brethren as ever you had any tender love unto Jesus Christ or any regard of your owne comfort goe your wayes and bee for ever cast downe and humbled for those evill waies of yours which have brought our Saviour to such a gulfe of misery and to be angry with those sinnes that have made God the Father angry with the Lord Jesus Christ and take thou revenge upon that proud stubborne heart that brought all this misery upon thy Saviour This is the course of humanitie amongst men if a man knew of any one which had murthered his father or his friend whom he highly regarded and honoured nature shewes us thus much that our hearts would rise against the man and you would not bee able to brooke the sight of him and you cannot endure to see him in your companies and if law and conscience did not forbid it you could be contented to give him his deaths wound and to bee his bane and you would cry out against him Oh he hath murthered my father or my deere friend and though you would not run upon him and kil him yet this every one would doe he would follow the Law to the uttermost and if all the law in the land will do it he will have him hanged and if he might have it put to his choyce what death hee should die hee would chuse him a death as bad as hee could devise and if he might be his Executioner how would he mangle him and say thou wast the death of my father and then hee would give him one blow for this and another blow for that and say thou wretch thou hast taken away the life of my father and I will have thy life Now is a man thus inraged and is the heart of a man carried with such violence unto him that hath murthered his father or his friend and that for the losse of the naturall life Oh then how should your hearts bee transported with infinite indignation not against the man but even against the sinne which is the cause of all this and which is wholly opposite against God and not onely because it hath taken away the life of the body of our Saviour but also made him undergoe the wrath of an everlasting father your sinnes are they that have thus slaine the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of life Therefore follow thou the law against these sins and raise hue and crie after them and bring them to the Sessions and set them before the tribunall of God and crie justice Lord justice against these sins of mine these slew my Saviour Lord slay them they have crucified my Saviour Lord crucifie them let me have life for life body for body and soule for soule these are the sins that have taken away the life from the body of our Saviour and tooke away all comfort from his soule Lord take away their life thus pursue thy sins and never leave them untill thou seest them bleed their last never thinke that thou hast power enough against corruption nor never thinke that thou dost enough against them but give thy corruptions one hacke more and confesse thy sinnes once more and say Lord his pride and this stubbornnesse Lord and this loosenesse of heart Lord these are they that kild my Saviour and I will be revenged of them and herein consider this when your hearts are inclining to any corruption or to any temptation of Satan and when thou findest thy soule drawne aside to any sin and when thou findest some temptings unto corruptions and stirrings of cursed lusts it is good then to have an actuall consideration of what sin hath done to the Lord Jesus Christ and reason thus with thy selfe and say these sins were the death of my Saviour and shall they be my delight these sins did pierce his hands and wounded his soule and shall they give contentment to my soule the Lord forbid did these sinnes plucke teares from his eyes and blood from his heart and shall I make them the delight of my heart the good Lord in mercy forbid it were it so that our hearts were fully and throughly perswaded that all the vanities of our mindes and all the lusts of our hearts and all the distempers of our affections were those that stabd the Lord Jesus Christ and wounded him to the heart it could not be that we should so delight in them and lavish out our soules and affections thereupon nay not onely Christianitie will doe it but nature and reason will even compell a man to doe the contrary could hee but reason thus with himselfe when corruptions tempt him and occasions call him and say thus with himselfe was it not enough and more than enough that the Son of God came downe from Heaven and suffered such grievous pains but shall I againe crucifie the Lord of life and shall I againe pierce those blessed hands of his and pierce that blessed side of his and all goare his sacred body with my uncleane sins and force him to crie out againe by reason of my sinnes which I have committed this is more than brutish and more than savage I beseech you in the bowels of the Lord to consider well of it you know what Christ said when Saul persecuted the poore Saints at Damascus Saul Saul why persecurest thou mee It pierced the Lord Christ when any of his members were pierced Acts 9.4 but now for such as beleeve in Christ and looke for mercy from Christ consider how neerly it will touch him and trouble him not onely to have his members pierced and persecuted but also to have his good Spirit grieved and himselfe to be wounded Imagine you heard the Lord speaking as the Church did in Lamentations 1.12 Is it nothing to you all oh yee that passe by is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow have you no compassion at all upon a Saviour
what will ye spit in my face what you what and to a Saviour too and will ye pierce my soule by the corruptions of your hearts and by the actions of your hands thus the Lord Jesus Christ perswades you to see sin and to abhorre and 〈◊〉 it upon all occasions and therefore let us answâ—â— the requests of our Saviour and not shew our selves desperately wicked to pierce him againe and to renew his sufferings Vse 2 In the second place did our Saviour suffer these paines then see here the strictnesse of Gods justice Oh that exact precise severitie of Gods proceedings without exception of any mans person God puts no difference although hee were his Sonne but hee layes punishment upon him This is the reason of that exact dealing of God in Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish shall bee upon the soule of every one that sinned and why 〈◊〉 God is no respecter of persons as verse 11. that the ground of it and it is not onely exprest but it 〈◊〉 also proved undeniable Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the bountie and severitie of God towards them which have fallen severitie but towards that bountifulnesse remember Gods just proceeding against the Jewes and therefore it is that the Apostle citeth all the proceedings of Gods judgements not onely against the heathens that never knew him or his enemies that alwayes opposed him but even to his friends such as he had shewed much favour and mercy to if they sinne they shall be destroyed for their sinne But oh the just exactnesse of the justice of the Lord how severely just he is for this exactnesse is not onely upon the wicked and open profane but upon his owne deare children and they that have had his ordinances as in Amos the Prophet shewes what favours they had received in regard of the means but yet feel how severely the Lord punisheth them but he hold the miracle of justice in the Lord Jesus Christ his onely Sonne in whom his soule delighted our Saviour that had but the shadoâ—s of sinne had all punishments laid upon him in thick 〈◊〉 Now answer me whether God the Father bee not a strict God or no and a just and righteous God that would thus deale with his onely Sonne A man would have thought if any thing in the world could have stopped the hand of Divine justice that it should not proceed from God the Father then Christ he might have done it for her had all that ever any one in the world could have If the excellency of the person of our Saviour could have done it or the holinesse of the soule of our Saviour then he might have beene exempted from punishment yet all these were not able to doe it because hee was a suretie but yet a man would have thought that those teares of blood might in some measure moderate the matter could not those servent petitions of him have had so much as some abatement of the punishment when he cried out saying Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me and then againe the second time Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from mee nay the third time Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me The Son of God was now upon the racke with it if it be possible let this cup passe from mee let mee onely have a sip and away and so let it passe from mee Surely if any thing could have stopped the hand of divine justice then Christ might have done it but God would not nor did not abate our Saviour one drop of his indignation but God inflicts it all and Christ suffers â— all behold therefore if thus bee not a just God heare and feare all you that heare the good word of the Lord this day you that thinke that Christ is made all of mercy it is a God of your owne imagination and your owne devising it is not that God which is the Lord of heaven and earth it is not the God of hoâ—sts the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ Oh say poore ignorant people he is a very mercifull God and full of compassion it is true hee is mercifull indeed but know this also to thy terrour that God is strict and precisely righteous you thinke to put off God with a few good words and lazy wishes and with a Lord have mercy upon us and if you can have but an houres time before your death to cry God mercy oh their you thinke all shall be well and God will goe away with anything and because you suffer a little punishments and afflictions in this life therefore you thinke to bee freed from them altogether hereafter no no know thou shalt not carry it away so indeed thou hast troubles and afflictions here but thou shalt have eternitie of torments for ever in the life to come if thou still continuest to bee a sinfull wretch and an unbeleeve there is no way with thee but to beare thy owne plagues and miseries hereafter when thou seest the Sonne of God himselfe corrected dost thou thinke to goe free if God would not bare oils Saviour any thing of it dost thou thinke he will abate thee any thing againe our Saviour had our sins onely imputed to him but thy sins thou hast committed them thy selfe and canst thou thinke to escape that are proud and stubborne and malicious and liest and livest be thy sins and dost wallow in them and allow of thy selfe in the commission of them no surely God will not spare any blasphemer nor unclean wretch nor profane person under heaven if he did not spare his owne Son he will not spare thee but hee will inflict upon thee the sharpest punishments that can bee imagined therefore now if God bee so severe against sinne then let your affections be answerable thereunto doe you pitie none that are sinfull not onely slaves but in a childe a son a husband let us labour to get a hearefull of hatred against sin in any of these nay though shee were the wife of thy bosome or thy childe or thy deere friend if thou seest sin in them bee sure to punish it especially you that are in places of authoritie into whose hands God hath committed the sword of the Magistracie for the execution of justice You that are Gods vice-gerents upon earth doe you as God himselfe hath done and walke in his way and so bee blessed in whatsoever you doe I said ye are Gods saith David every Magistrate every Justice in the countrie and every Master of a family ye are Gods that is ye have the Image of God put into you and therefore say thou with thy selfe in this manner would God suffer a swearer or a blasphemer or a prophane person or a drunkard or an adulterer to goe unpunished and would God suffer a prophaner of his Sabbath and would not reforme him then whatsoever is amisse in thy owne soule or in thy wife or childe or servant if it be in thy place punish if