well as very great which send us to the Throne of Grace so it is very evident from what hath been said that our supports and our supplies are derived to us from the Intercession of the Son of God Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins But that there may be no manner of doubt remaining of the truth of what hath been said before I shall from the Scriptures shew you the assurances which they give us of this truth from whence it will evidently appear that Christ now he is in Heaven is our Patron and our Advocate there I shall begin with those words of St. John My little Children 1 Joh. 2.1 2. these things write I unto you that ye sin not And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous And he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world Can any thing be more plain or more comfortable than these words are Nothing so much dejects the good man as his sins and his infirmities These things indeed sink him low and fill him with great fears And certain it is that no man can say he hath no sin Chap. 1.8 9. but he that deceives himself But is the good man left without a remedy No certainly If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness It is true indeed we ought not to sin out of the hopes of pardon and if we do so our condition is very sad indeed But so it is that the best man may be surprized and overtaken and if he be here is comfort for him in these words Behold here an Advocate with the Father and we shall not want an Accuser when we have done amiss for besides the Devil who is the Accuser of the Brethren our great Enemy Rev. 12.10 our own Conscience will quickly do that We shall need an Advocate to plead our Cause with God and to undertake for us And blessed be God we are provided for We have an Advocate with the Father We do not want an Intercessor with God But we might fear still if our Advocate were himself guilty we could have little comfort from his Intercession for us who is himself obnoxious But it follows Jesus Christ the righteous A most powerful and innocent person undertakes for us But yet for all this guilt makes men fearful and suspicious and they fear they shall not obtain pardon though their Advocate be innocent and powerful unless he have something more to plead in the behalf of them that are accused And therefore it follows He is the propitiation for our sins Our Advocate cannot only plead his own Innocence as he is Jesus Christ the righteous but he can plead his Merit too he having by his death made expiation for our sins Rom. 5.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud Our Advocate hath paid a price for our ransom and this price was accepted of God and the bloud that Jesus shed does now plead for us If after all this the dejected sinner fear that the bloud which Christ shed was not shed for him this needless fear is removed by the words which follow And not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world Let us next consider the words of the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews where he tells us that Christ entred into Heaven it self to appear in the presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 Just as the High Priest entred with the bloud of the Sacrifice into the Holy of Holies which he offered up there for himself Ver. 7. and for the errors of the People There it was that the High Priest made Attonement for all the Congregation of Israel Lev. 16.17 Our blessed Lord hath shed his bloud and now appears before God for us Neither by the bloud of Goats and Calves but by his own bloud he entred in once into the holy place Heb. 9.12 having obtained eternal redemption for us Heb. 10.12 Again This man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sin for ever sate down at the right hand of God It is observed by a very learned man that these two expressions viz. To appear in the presence of God for us And To offer himself up to God both which are said of Christ Heb. 9. do signifie one and the same thing diversely considered The latter expression implies the beginning the former the continuation of one and the same thing Our Saviour commends us to God and this is meant when it is said that he appears in the presence of God for us but he began to do this when after he had shed his bloud he offered himself to God in heaven Heb. 9.25 As the High Priest after the Sacrifice was slain carried the bloud into the Holy of Holies and there appeared with it before God So that this appearing of Christ for us and his offering himself to God imports his Intercession for us and does imply the merits of his bloud and the Atonement which our Lord hath made for us And this speaks great comfort to us Heb. 9.13 14. For if the bloud of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead workâ— to serve the living God The Author of this Epistle tell us Heb. 7.24 25. that Christ hath an unchangeable Priesthood He is not like one oâ— the Priests of Aaron who died and left one of his Brethren to succeed him Our Lord lives for ever Wherefore he is able also to saâ—â— them to the uttermost that come untâ— God by him seeing he ever liveth tâ— make Intercession for them Which words assure us at once of Christ power to save us and of his inclination and readiness to do it For as he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him so he is also prone to do it and concerns himself about it he ever liveth to make intercession for them To make intercession is to plead in the behalf of another that he may be relieved or released It is opposed to accusing or condemning Who is he that condemneth Rom. 8.34 It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us To what hath been said let me add the words of our Saviour Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Joh. 16.23 Here is great encouragement to us to pray to God We may now approach unto God with very
the Apostle in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings 1 Pet. 4.13 that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy I shall take the liberty to enlarge somewhat upon this Theme and consider 1. The greatness of the reward 2. The clearness of its revelation 3. And the fitness of it to work upon us 1. The greatness of the reward Here is enough to make us happy amidst all the evils of this world Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake Mat. 5.10 11. for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake Here is that which will enable us not to endure only with patience but to rejoice also if it be duly considered But it is certain that Eternal life is a vast and wide Ocean a boundless Theme that it will not be easie to speak of as we should who know but in part and see through a glass darkly Howbeit I shall say something and leave very much more to be understood It is called in the Scriptures a Rest Heb. 4.9 or Sabbatism and that expression does both tell us what Heaven and what this life is That this life is a life of toil and labour the burden and back part of the Week Just as of old the first days of the week were days of labour and work The other life is the everlasting Sabbath which does relieve and deliver us from our toil and refresh us after our pain and toil We are here sollicited by our fears bowed down with sorrow worn with labour pained with sickness affrighted with evil tidings and with the apprehensions of death We are much afflicted with the malice and power of evil men and not suffered to be at rest There the wicked cease from troubling there the weary be at rest There the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor This is a state of Change and great Vicissitude and when things go well with us we are not secure they will continue in that posture The Clouds of a sudden gather together after the clearest Shine And the most setled course of things in this world is yet full of change and variety When things are as we would have them they do not long continue so something or other arises that disturbs the order of things or at least ruffles the calme of our minds The dark night sends away the brightness of the day and casts a black Mantle over the gaiety that entertained us The delights of the Spring are removed by the heat of Summer and a keen and sharp Winter robs us again of the pleasure of a more open season Thus it is here below We are entertained with various things and we are soon stripped of that pleasure which we embraced with the greatest welcom In the first days of the Week in the Book of Genesis It is constantly said for six days together that the Evening and the Morning was such and such a day But when we come to the seventh day we read no such thing It is said Gen. 2.3 that God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it This gives us a fair representation of this and the other life This life is the burden of the Week it hath its Evening as well as its Morning The life to come is all alike There is no Evening there that shall remove the light from the place where God dwels Rev. 22.5 There shall be no night there and they need no Candle neither light of the Sun For the Lord giveth them light This one consideration does greatly recommend to us the happiness of a future state viz. that it is a state of rest To think that we shall be out of the reach of power and malice that all our labour our toil and care is at an end That we shall no more be harrassed and disturbed by the evils of life But this is not all that recommends to us a future state It is represented to us in the Holy Scriptures as a state of great joy and pleasure And it is consequently expressed by such terms as do import no less and such as do imply more than can be expressed or understood Thus it is sometimes expressed by a Kingdom or a Crown by a Feast and by Pleasures but then we are assured that it amounts to more than all these things speak and that it is beyond what eye hath seen or ear heard or what hath entered into the heart of man to conceive It is indeed a Crown a Kingdom a Feast and it is much more than all this It is the best of all this and more than this It is a Kingdom without Cares a Crown without a Cross a Feast without Satiety It is called by these little names because these are the greatest things which this lower world hath These words among us sound high they speak power and honour plenty and pleasure and what the world calls good and therefore Heaven is represented by such things which we understand and regard But then these are but low and short representations of the things themselves Such Images of heaven as the Tabernacle and Temple among the Jews were of this and the other World or of Earth and Heaven They were Images in little but came greatly short of what they represented For as Hell is represented in the Scripture-style by Fire and by Darkness and by the Valley of Hinnom which were things in themselves very sad and things that were easily understood but yet far short of what they represent So is Heaven represented to us by the best things below but these things come infinitely short of that which they represent At other times we find our future happiness otherwise expressed by being with the Lord by seeing of God by knowing as we are known and being like our Lord. These are expressions that are very big indeed but still they import more than we are able in this state fully to comprehend They imply the greatest perfection that our natures are capable of and that our imperfections shall be quite taken away We are mightily struck and affected with seeing what we had but heard of we are strangely pleased with apprehending a thing clearly which we knew not or knew but imperfectly before We are greatly taken with the company of our dearest friends and by our approving our selves to the vertuous and the good And therefore Heaven is represented to us in terms that speak the greatest and most rational satisfaction But then still we live in houses of clay we are dull of conceiving and clogg'd with our flesh And these things are spiritually discerned and to apprehend them to good purpose we bust be greatly abstracted from the body subdued to the world and weaned from our sensualities And when we are so in great measure we shall be mightily affected with these
yet I shall shew the reasonableness of it And to that purpose shall commend to your serious consideration the following particulars First Let us consider whose Law this is and we shall find that the Author of the Law does greatly recommend it to us How hard soever it may otherwise seem yet that it is the command of our Lord Jesus Christ that consideration is of great moment to reconcile us to it We ought not to think any thing unreasonable or hard which our Blessed Lord and dear Redeemer lays upon us For we are well assured of his great love and affection towards us He hath given us great proof that he loved us when he was content for our sakes not only to become a man but to die a shameful and painful death to bring us unto God Let us stay a while upon this consideration and meditate upon the unheard-of love of our Lord Jesus and we shall soon see great cause to think him a good Master even then when he does oblige us to die for his sake If our hearts be cold and chill if we find them dampt and sinking let us then meditate of our Lords love and that will be of great use to inflame them and give them spirit Does Jesus say that we must not fear them that kill the body that we must hate our own lives if we will be his Disciples Good is that word of our Dearest Lord will the pious Soul say Death shall be welcome when ever it comes and it will be not only our duty to die when our Lord would have us but our honour and great Priviledge to be thought worthy to die for him who was contented to die for us Alas this is but very little to what our Lord and Master hath done for us He was from everlasting the eternal Son of the Father He was happy and glorious and yet for our sakes he was content to stoop from Heaven to Earth from the happiness and glories above to the pain and contempt of this lower world He that was the brightness of his Fathers glory was willing to be eclipsed and obscured with our flesh and with our infirmities He that upheld all things by the word of his power was yet contented to be inclosed in the Womb of a Virgin to be wrapt up in swadling cloaths to lie in a Stable to be subject to his Creatures to be tempted by the Devil to be hungred and thirsty to be buffeted and hanged on a Tree that he might save lost Mankind He was at these pains for the helpless and for sinners for Caitiffs and Rebels for them who had dishonoured his Father and ruined themselves Here is a love without a Parallel a love that passeth knowledge a love that is stronger than death and that surpasseth the love of women Here are all the dimensions of love here is height and depth a length and breadth Jesus did that for his Enemies which rarely hath been done for the greatest Friends and Benefactors Greater love than this hath no man that he should lay down his life for his Friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but few examples of it Our Lords kindness rose higher by far He died for the ungodly for the weak and them that were without all hope Who can seriously think of this and not find himself constrained by the ove of Jesus to be willing to die for him It is an easie task that lies upon us to love him that hath first loved us and to die for him that died for us This is very reasonable and a most gentle command to lay down our life for him who first laid down his for us We see some Servants will hazard their lives for the sake of their Masters Loyal Subjects will not stick to shed their bloud in defence of their King and Country There are those would dare to die for a good man or for a faithful friend My Lord must needs be dearer to me than any of my Relatives or my fellow Creatures I must be very ungrateful if I forget his love But that which still does farther recommend this Law to us is this That our Saviour commands no more than what he himself did He would we should die in bearing witness to the truth It is fit we should do it and he led us the way He hath recommended this Precept to us not only by his Doctrine but by his Example also Indeed our Lord was silent when he was reproached and inconsistently accused but he was not so when he was adjured by the High Priest to tell him whether he were the Christ Mat. 26.63 64. the Son of God or not He witnessed a good Confession before Pontius Pilate and tells him To this end was I born Joh. 18.17 and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth Our Lord sealed the truth with his own bloud and does not put his Followers upon that which he declined himself This Example of our Lord does give great force to his Law And it is very reasonable we should do what the great Captain of our Salvation hath done Every where we judge this very reasonable The Souldier thinks himself obliged to shew courage when he sees his General expose himself to the thickest of the danger And the Servant thinks himself well dealt with when his Master commands no more of him than what he is willing to do himself The Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. That is not thought an hard Law which the Law-giver suffers himself to be concluded by 2. Let us consider the command it self and that is that we should rather part with this life than to deny our Lord and forfeit our hopes of a better life This may at first sight seem a very hard saying but when we draw near and consider it well we shall find it a very reasonable Law and that it is no objection against what our Lord hath said when he tells us that his yoke is easie and his burden light The truth is we disquiet our selves in vain and as our happiness is but phantastick and imaginary so is a great part of our misery also We make a false judgment of things and set a very unequal rate and price upon them And this we commonly do in the account we make of life and death For as we esteem of this life at a greater rate than we ought so we judge death to be a greater evil than indeed it is I desire that you would under this general head consider well the following particulars And 1. That barely to live is not in it self a thing of any vast moment It is no high Prerogative and unvaluable peculiar For the smallest Mite or Ante the vilest Worm or Serpent live as well as we When Marcellinus was sick all that were about him flattered him and said that which they thought would please him most Every man
and indifferent the loose and the profane Let us then be exhorted to ask and seek and knock Let us now fervently implore this Holy Comforter this Spirit of truth and power I need not tell you what great need we have of power from above We are weak Creatures full of our fears exposed to many evils and sufferings and need an help from above to confirm and strengthen us We know not how soon we may be called forth to suffer the extremest evils or may be stript and deprived of all our worldly Goods and Possessions We cannot tell how soon we may lie upon our dying beds when our Soul shall sit ready to take its flight from our trembling lips when our Flesh shall fail us and we shall be abandoned by our earthly comforts and supports Whither shall we go for comfort then What will support us under these trials but the sense of Gods love and the Joy of the Holy Ghost This Comfort will reconcile us to Prisons and to Poverty and to Death it self We shall then have hope even in Death it self Rom. 5.5 And such an hope as maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us CHAP. VI. I Shall in the next place consider the Example of Christ and of holy men who have suffered the greatest evils which this world could inflict upon them And for the better speaking to this I shall First Take notice that the Holy Scripture calls upon us to reflect upon these Examples under our afflictions Secondly I shall give you a very short account of their sufferings Thirdly I shall shew you the great usefulness of these great examples unto us 1. I shall take notice that the holy Scripture calls upon us to reflect upon these examples under our afflictions The Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews gives us a large account of the sufferings of holy men And then subjoyns Chap. 11. Heb. 12.1 2. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith Who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame c. He animates them by these great examples which they were therefore obliged to keep in their eye And they are at once put in mind to reflect upon the exemplary sufferings of holy men and of our blessed Saviour To the same purpose St. James exhorts those to whom he writes Jam. 5.10 11. Take my Brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience Ye have heard of the Patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord. i. e. as ye have read or heard of the Patience of Job who lived many Ages before and probably suffered before the Law of Moses was given so ye have many of you seen how patiently our Lord Jesus suffered It was one end of our Lords sufferings that we might learn patience from his example 1 Pet. 2.21 For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps And indeed the holy Scripture is very large and very particular in giving us an account of the sufferings and of the patience of Christ and of holy men that we might learn to write after so fair a Copy and imitate them in patience and resignation to the Will of God which in them was so exemplary For whatsoever things were written afore time Rom. 15.4 were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope 2. I shall give you a very short account of their sufferings And First Of the sufferings of Jesus the Author and the finisher of our faith His whole life was little else than a continual suffering And he was a most unparallel'd example of Innocence and of suffering and not only of sufferings but of the greatest meekness and exemplary patience under them He was born in a Stable and died upon a Cross Born among Beasts and died among Malefactors He was persecuted as soon as he was born and when he was capable of doing no evil he was hunted after as a Malefactor His Persecution began from Herod an Idumaean it was carried on by the Jews his Countrymen and compleated by Pilate the Roman And though he hurt no man yet he was pursued by all His great Poverty did not protect him from Envy His profound Meekness did not preserve him from the Contradictions of Sinners And his known Innocence did not save him from the Sentence of Death His body was like one of ours He was as sensible of pain as we are And certain it is that his Enemies loaded it greatly What part of him was exempt His Head was Crowned with Thorns his Hands and Feet were pierced with Nailes his Side was goared with a Spear his Shoulders loaded with a Cross He was spit upon buffeted and scourged And at last hanged on a Tree without regard and pity His Soul was afflicted greatly Mat. 26.37 38. Mar. 14.33 He was sorrowful and heavy and that even to death He was sore amazed Luk. 22.44 and very heavy He was in an Agony and sweat as it were drops of bloud Psal 22.14 His heart was like Wax melted in the midst of of his Bowels At length he is forced to bear his Cross on that he is hanged there he bleeds and there he cries out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But as he endured the Cross so he despised the shame For his death was ignominious as well as painful He died among Criminals and the death of the worst and vilest of men Thus did our Saviour suffer Thus entred he into his glory And all this he bore with invincible patience He did not want power to rescue himself and to punish his Enemies nor did he want the greatest provocation He was innocent and had lived an useful life But for all this he is not provoked against his Enemies nor does he complain against God For as he prays for his enemies so he resigns himself unto God Secondly For the sufferings of Holy men both before and since our Saviours death I must not undertake to give you an account It would fill some Volumes to be particular in this Argument We read of those before our Saviours sufferings of whom this world was not worthy that had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings Heb. 11.36 of bonds and imprisonments That were stoned and sawn asunder tempted and slain with the Sword that wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflictted tormented They wandred in Deserts and Mountains and were in Dens and Caves of the Earth And for the
great assurance of success having such a Mediator and Intercessor But our Saviour goes on Ver. 24. Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name i. e. ye have not as yet made a trial how powerful a name mine is But for for the future he directs and encourages them Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full And presently afterwards he gives them great assurance that their Prayers shall now be heard upon his account Joh. 16.26 27. At that day ye shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you For the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God III. I proceed now to shew you how what hath been said tends towards our support and comfort under the troubles of this life And that it does several ways 1. The exaltation of Christ to the right hand of God is much for our comfort as it gives us great hope that we shall also be received into heaven Our nature is advanced and this gives us hope that we shall also in due time be received into the same happy place For as Christs Resurrection is made an Argument which infers ours so our Lords being exalted into heaven speaks the great hopes that we have of coming thither And this Consideration does mightily tend to comfort us under the sorrows of this life Joh. 14.4 Let not your heart be troubled says our Lord. But then what follows tends greatly to support them I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Thanks be to God a door of hope is now opened by the Exaltation of our Saviour Heb. 6.19 20. Which hope we have as an anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the Vail Whither the forerunner is for us entred even Jesus made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec None under the Law of Moses Heb. 9.7 8. might enter into the Holy of Holies but the High Priest only and that but once a year and not without bloud The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing There was a vail or partition between the Holy of Holies and the other part of the Temple And when our Saviour suffered death this Vail of the Temple was rent in twain after a most miraculous manner For though indeed there be mention made of an Earthquake at the same time yet that the Vail was not rent by the Earthquake appears from hence that the Text says it was rent from the top to the bottom Mat. 27.51 not from the bottom to the top as it would have been if it been the effect of an Earthquake Now it is no hard matter to explain the meaning of this The Holy of Holies was a Type of Heaven The rest of the Temple and Tabernacle of the rest of the world There was a Vail that shut up the way to Heaven but when our Lord suffered he opened the way that was shut up before and a while after he went himself within the Vail and took our nature with him and by doing so and sending us the Holy Spirit thence he hath given us assurance that where he is we shall likewise be He hath taken a pledge I mean our flesh which he hath carried into heaven as a Pledge that we shall enter thither Pignus totius Summae Tert. de res Carn 2 Thes 4.17 18. and given us the earnest of his Holy Spirit in token that we belong to him and that we shall ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words 2. What hath been said tends to our comfort as it gives us assurance of a Divine Assistance at hand for our succour and support and for the enabling us to do as well as suffer the whole will of God We have not the least cause to doubt either of the Power or readiness and Proneness of our Lord to help us and support us under all our conflicts and especially then when we are persecuted for righteousnes sake Our Saviour is not a mere Spectator he does not only see us fight but he helps us to overcome Whatever it is that troubles us we are not left without a Prince and a Saviour and one that is able to save to the uttermost And this must needs tend very greatly to the quieting of our minds under all the troubles and sorrows that we meet withal 3. This tends very much to our support and comfort as it encourages our Prayers and assures us that we shall succeed when we make our addresses to God and implore his Divine aid and assistance We have a merciful High Priest that was made like unto us and hath about him a sense of our infirmities Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the Vail that is to say his Flesh and having an High Priest over the House of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure water CHAP. VIII ANother great comfort and support which the Christian is provided with under the sorrows of this life is that of the Holy Scripture The Psalmist expresses the great comfort he received from the Law of God in his affliction Psal 119.92 Vnless thy Law had been my delights I should then have perished in my affliction He doth elsewhere express his great esteem for and the great delight he had in the Law of God The Law of thy mouth is better unto me Ver. 72. than thousands of Gold and Silver He elsewhere tells us that the Statutes of the Lord are right Psal 19.8 rejoycing the heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes and speaking presently afterwards of the Judgments of the Lord he says of them Ver. 10. More to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than honey and the honey Comb. And now it is no wonder that we find him professing in these words Psal 119.127 128. I love thy Commandments above Gold yea above fine Gold I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right After this he adds Rivers of waters run down mine eyes Ver. 136. because they keep not thy Law Thus was the devout Psalmist affected towards the Law of God This was his comfort and his joy his riches and