of Man bringeth a Sword The Pharisees not being able to get any thing out of his Parents calls for the Man that was blind and said unto him give God the Praise for me know that this Man is a Sinner Thus Ver. 24. far they spake well for the Man had great Cause to praise God by whose Power exerted by Christ his Son he had received his sight But the Design of these Wretches was to vilifie Christ in thro' and by whom God the Father is glorify'd They told the poor Man that Christ had cured that he which had opened his Eyes was a sinner here they maliciously defamed Christ affirming that he was not only a Sinner but a notorious scandalous Sinner Well says the poor Man whether he be a sinner or no Ver. 25. I know not but this I know that whereas I was blind now I see They could not by all their Skill cause the Man to deny the Miracle wrought he stood stoutly to affirm that he was born blind and that Christ whom they said was a Sinner had cured him Upon this they reviled him and said thâ—u art one of his Disciples but we are Moses's Ver. 27. 28. Disciples Here they oppose Christ and Moses whereas Moses was but the Type Christ the Antype they spoke honourably of Moses but revilingly of Christ who was above him calling him Fellow and said they knew not whence he was They might have Ver. 29. known that he was from God for he did those things which never Man did and could not be effected by any thing less than by a divine Power but their Eyes were blinded and their Hearts judiciously hardned as a just Judgement for their wilful shutting their Eyes and rejecting of Christ the Son of God They studied all they could to â—hut out the Light by which they should have seen and known from whence Christ was The poor Man marvelled at their Ignorance and blindness in not knowing from whence Christ was since he had done Ver. 30. such a great thing as to open the Eyes of one that was born blind He goes on to prove Ver. 31. that Christ came from Heaven and was sent of God As yet this poor Man did not apprehend Note that Christ had opened his eyes by an immediate divine Power but that he was a Prophet sent of God who by his Power and Authority had opened his eyes if this Man were not of God that is if he had not Ver. 32 33. some special Power and Authority from God and some special Presence of God with him he could do nothing that is nothing of this Nature to open the eyes of one born blind this is a work as if he had said that is beyond the Power of Man and beyond that Power that we read God did ever betrust any Man with therefore he must be from God upon this they excommunicated him casting him out of Communion with the Jewish Ver. 34. Church But 3 ldy Christ upon this their dealing thus with the Man Meets him and Reveals himself more fully to him from the 35 th to 39. Jesus heard that they had cast Him out and when he had found Him whether casually or Ver. 35. by diligent searching for Him is not said He said unto him dost thou Believe on the Son of God art thou ready truely to Embrace Me the Saviour of Lost Sinners who am not onely the Son of Man but the Son of Ver. 36. God The poor man as yet being ignorant of Christs God head said who is he Lord that I may Believe on him As if he had said Lord I am ready to Believe on him and give up my self in Obedience to him Ver. 37. may I but know who he is Jesus said unto him thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee As if Christ had said I am here thou hast not onely seen him with the Eyes of thy Body but thou hast had Experience of his Divine Power in opening thine Eyes who werâ— Blind Miracles do not work faith but Confirm it This poor blind man had experienc'd a Miracle wrought upon himself but yet he was unbelieving till Christ gave him the Revelation of his Word and so reveal'd himself more fully to him Upon this the man's Faith was Terminated and Confirm'd in Christ he said Lord I believe Now is the work of faith wrought with Power in his heart He said Lord I acknowledge and receive thee as the Son of God I am fully perswaded thou art more than a meer man I do give up my self to thee to be rul'd and govern'd by thee as my Lord And says the Text he Worshiped him He fell down Ver. 38. upon his face before him and as a Testimony of his Faith in Him as the Son of God he perform'd some external Act of Adoration to Him But lastly Christ upbraids the Jews for their blindness and unbelief from the 39 to the end The Pharisees being with Christ Ver. 39. when he said For Judgment I am come into this World that they which see not might Ver. 40. see c. Said unto him Are we blind also They began to be angry being proud and not patient to be thought or called blind They look'd upon themselves as the Greatest Lights in the Jewish Church Now says Christ in answer to the Inquiry Are we blind also If you were blind you should have no sin that is if your Ignorance of me or of my Gospel where simple and not affected which is the worst of Ignorance you should not have so much sin as you have upon you but now ye say we see your sin remaineth Since you are opinionated Ver. 41. Note that you see and boast of your Knowledge in the Law as if you were the only Persons that saw or knew any thing and upon this Presumption Reject me and the Doctrine of Salvation your sin remaineth and is not pardon'd to you Whence observe that without a true saving sight of sin which carrys the Soul Note out of its self to Christ for Pardon and Remedy There is no hope of Pardon from all the Mercy that is in God Thus I have brought you to the words of my Text which are big with Mercy and Judgement in which words you have these three parts viz. First the Person speaking and that is The parts of the Text. Jesus Christ And Jesus said These words dropt out of the Sweet Mouth and Lips of Christ who Taught not as the Scribes Matt. 7. ult 29. but as one having Authority 2dly The persons spoken to namely the Jews and Pharisees a Wise and Learned Rom. 2. 19 20. 21. People in the Law they boasted of their Wisdom and Goodness when indeed they were Blind and Ignorant and in a miserable condition Whence observe that peoples Note opinion of themselves may be better than their states are Solomon tells us of some that
Preach the Gospel of Christ and He strived to Preach where Christ had not been Named And all this was made efficacious by Mighty Signs and Wonders by the Power of the Spirit of God So that it was best for the Churches and more needful he should continue though to his loss Phil. 1. 21. In all this Notwithstanding He was most mindful to ascribe all to Grace 1 Cor. 15. 10. By the Grace of God be was All that He was and after all his Discourse of his Line and measure He concludes He that Glorieth Let him Glory in the Lord 2 Cor. 10. 17. The Apostle Finished this course under and by the High Priest and Apostle of our Profession whose the fupreme Glory in all is Inasmuch as He who Built the House hath more Honour then the House whose House with all Prophets Apostles and Saints Heb. 3. 1. The Apostle was For He who Built All Things in his Church is God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Head 3. I come now to the third Head or Character the Apostle gives of himself I have kept the Faith This Completes the whole Herein the Apostle speaks again as a mighty Champion that retain'd the Riches of Faith Much more precious then of Gold that Perisheth The Faith he retain'd with such a Might and would by no means suffer it to be forced out of his Hand 1. That Great Principal and most essential Faith the Apostle kept or held fast is Jesus Christ Himself and his Righteousness who is pleased because he himself is indeed the All of Faith to be styled Faith it self Gal. 3. 23. 2. It is the whole Truth of the Gospel as the Apostle Jude gives it the Honourable Title of the Faith once at once once for All Delivered to the Saints Jude 3. Comprizing the Righteousness of Faith by which the Just Live and receive even full assurance of understanding The Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith The Faith embracing the truth that is after Godliness which whoever walks contrary to denies the Faith The Faith that looks to the Eternal State and Condition which Hymeneus and Philetus denying by saying The Resurrection was past already overthrew the Faith of some This the Apostle held fast in all the senses of it now given and would by no means part with or betray to any Seducers or Adversaries of one sort or other as was before asserted under the first Character of Fighting a good Fight 3. The inward Grace of Faith in the Heart and Holy confession of which the Apostle saith Rom. 10. With the Heart Man believes unto Righteousness and with the Mouth confession is made to salvation The Life he liv'd by the Faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him The Faith even the Plerophory of it sprinckling the Heart from an Evil Conscience by the Blood of Jesus the Faith by which we have Peace with God the faith that embraces the Promises by which we cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit the sheild of faith The Apostle Exhorts above all to take to quench the fiery Darts of the Devil The faith by which the Elders obtained so Honourable a Testimony and Memory Heb. 11. In all those their grat Acts The faith that passes through all afflictions temptations and tryals till those Pillars are set up with this Inscription Rev. 13. Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints here are they who keep the Commandments of God and hold the Testimony of Jesus Lastly the faith the very presence of things hoped for raises to that Plerophory of hope that enters within the Veil All Saints with the Apostle who by faith have dyed and slept in and by Jesus and are entred into rest with him even as this servant of the Lord hath done by the same faith and whom God even our Lord Jesus will bring with him the Living remaining Saints shall not Anticipate The Lord my God will come and all his Saints with him But in all this faith our whole subsistence is in and by the Author and Finisher of Faith And so we are come to the second part of the Text Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness This is the Prize of the High Calling of God in Jesus Christ Eternal Glory the Eternal Inheritance Eternal Redemption the whole Excellency Glory and Blessedness of the Eternal State is the Inheritance of the Saints in Light which is alone by Jesus Christ in us the Hope of Glory reserved in Heaven This the Lord as a Righteous Judge gives and he gives as a Crown of Righteousness Because Jesus Christ hath purchased it with his own Blood and Obedience And in him it is that Saints are able to subsist in this Eternal Glory Being made like him by seeing him as he is but most Glorious herein is that State He in the Father the Father in Him and Saints hereby in Christ and in the Father and the Love wherewith the Father Loved Him even before the Foundation of the World is in them because He is in them and in all this the Son Intercedes with the Father as a Righteous Father John 17. 24 c. To open this part of the Text according to the Tenor of the present Discourse so far as we have proceeded 1. That expression of the Apostle Henceforth or as the word in the Greek signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which remaineth is there is laid up for me c. An expression suitable to this is that Heb. 4. 9. There remaineth a rest for the People of God This hath an Immutable certainty If the Judgment of wicked Men be laid up in store with God and Sealed among his treasures Deut. 32. 34. How much more the Salvation the Glory and Blessedness of his Saints It is as cerrain and much more certain then as in themselves the precedent Fighting the good Fight c. For their assurance is not in themselves They would fail and come behind as Combatants not obtaining the Prize If all the certainty were in themselves as the Angels not Elect and Adam fail'd or fell short But the Prize it self to be given to them who do Fight and Run is in the nature of the thing out of themselves and in God alone and is assur'd by his Righteousness and Veracity that cannot fail This remainder is so Connexed as not possible to be separated from what went before and more Impossible by far to fail then what went before as in us but as all is sure in the Great surety It is to be fulfilled in all his Even as the Debt He paid for them is set far above all doubts 2. In this assurance of the Prize the Apostle speaks so triumphingly of he says The Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me He Styles the Lord the Judge and the Righteous Judge in agreement with the custom of those Games In which there was a Person solemnly constituted who should adjudge the Prizes
received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved By Truth is meant Eph. 1. 13. Rom. 1. 18. the saving Truth of the Gospel which is called the Word of Truth There is a Truth natural which the Heathens had and detained in Unrighteousness which brought Gods Wrath down from Heaven upon them There is a supernatural Truth from divine Revelation This is here meant the Abuse of which Truth highly provokes God to give up men judicially to the Delusions of Sin and the Devil and at last as the just Event and Effect of their rejecting the truth and believing Lies are damned These Wretches that receive not the Love of the truth are first punished with spiritual Judgments and then with eternal ones they are first blinded here judicially and then as the just Reward of their rejecting Christ the truth as it is in Jesus they are damn'd Having divided and opened the Text I shall lay down this one general Proposition viz. Doct. That God by Christ in just Judgment gives over such as are enemies to his Gospel to the Delusions of the Devil and their own Hearts to be hardned and blinded while others in Mercy are enlightned and converted by it That Gospel which makes the way of Salvation by Christ clear and evident to many souls who are in darkness and sit as in the shadow of Death to others thro' their Ignorance Prejudice and Malice and the righteous Judgment of God for their Perverseness and Infidelity proves a means to blind and harden their Hearts That Word and Gospel which to some is a Savour of Life unto Life to others thro' their Pride and Unbelief is a Savour of Death 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. unto Death In this sense these words agree with what was prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah He shall be for a sanctuary Isaiah 8. 14 15. speaking of Christ but for a stone of stumbling and for a Rock of Offence to both the Houses of Israel For a Gin and for a Snare to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken snared Luke 2. 34. and taken And with the words of good old Simeon to Mary the Mother of our Lord This Child is set says he for the Fall and Rising again of many in Israel and for a sign to be spoken against By the Fall and Rising again is here meant undoubtedly the Salvation and Damnation of many Christ will be the occasion of many Peoples Damnation even of all that reject him and his precious Gospel and believe not in him As Christ is the Cause of many Peoples Salvation even of all that believe and shall be saved Acts 4. 12. for there is no other Name by which men can be saved but by his So he is the Cause of their Damnation eventually and accedentually who oppose his Gospel and believes not in him for he that believeth not shall be damned This is the thing which Mark 16. 16. Christ tells us of in my Text and is spoken of by Paul Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and rock of Offence whosoever believeth Rom. 9. 33. on him shall not be ashamed nor confounded For the opening of this weighty Point I shall first shew you what those sins are which provoke God and Christ to such a-degree as to blind and harden men by that means by which others are enlightened and softned Secondly Lay down some Conclusions for the better clearing up this great Truth Thirdly shew you how this stands with the Holiness and Goodness of God to give Men up to Blindness of Mind and Hardness of Heart to believe Lies that as Paul saith 2 Thes 2. 10 11. they may be damned Fourthly Then I shall sum up the whole with some practical Application O Lord God the Father of the Spirits of all Flesh help thy poor sinful Dust the meanest of all employed in thy Vineyard Give him thy holy Spirit and Wisdom from above to manage this great Point for thy Glory the good of Souls O! let him not darken Counsel by words without Knowledge but be led into all truth and cause it to shine transparently to the Convincing of the erroneous World the Conversion of sinners and the est ablishing thy Children in their most holy Faith c. for Jesus Christ's sake to whom with thy Self and eternal Spirit of Truth be Honour and Glory for ever Amen First I shall shew you what those sins are which provoke God to such a high degree as to give men over to Blindness under the Gospel Would you know what those sins are that provoke God to blind and harden many by the Word I 'll tell you in general They are sins against Knowledge and Light 1st Sins against the Light of Nature There are such sins which Paul speaks of that are of a provoking Nature and highly displeasing Rom. 1. 21 22. unto God When they knew God that is by the Light of Nature for the Light of the Word they had not as for his Judgements and his Statutes says the Psalmist they have not known them they glorified him Ps 147. 20. not as God but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish Hearts were darkened These Heathens had the Light of Nature which was sufficient to let ' em know that there was a God and that He was not like a Man or a Beast or a creeping thing as they foolishly imagined for that which might be known of God is manifest Ver. 29. Ver. 20. in them for God hath shewed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen What is seen Even his eternal Power and Godhead But how is this seen and understood Why by the things that are made So that they are without Excuse the Heavens declare Gods Psal 19. 1 2. Ver. 23. Glory and the Firmament shews his handy Work Now this Light they abused and misimproved they changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man and to Birds and four footed Beasts thus they became vain in their own Imaginations For which cause God gave Ver. 24. them up to uncleanness thro' the Lusts of their own Hearts yea he gave them up to vile Affections and to a reprobate Mind or Ver. 26. to a mind void of Judgment to do those things which are not convenient Now if sins against the Light of Nature be of such an aggravating Nature as to provoke God to give up Persons to blindness of Mind What will sins against the Light of the Gospel do the greater the Light is that persons sin against the greater must their Sin be and the more provoking in the Sight of God Which brings me to the Second thing Namely sins against the Light of the Gospel these are great sin and provoke God highly to Anger to reject Christ and his Gospel and not receive the
be not found at last Rejecters of Christ and his Gospel For remember that the Judgements inflicted others God means to you Who so despiseth the Word let him Prov. 13. 13. be who he will and as great as he will shall be destroyed it is not said they may but they shall be destroyed 3dly Because no ungodly Men in the Reas 3 World can be sure for the time to come that they shall not fall upon him What Assurance have you O Sinners who live in sin and despise the Word that you who think you see and boast of your Knowledge shall not be blinded and turned into Hell as Psalm 9. 17. Mat. 24. 48. to the end others for their Disobedience and Unbelief are Doth not the word of the holy God say that all the wicked shall be turned into Hell and are you sure this shall not be your Portion Were these wretches in my Text blinded for their Unbelief and despising dear Jesus and his precious word And are you sure Sinners that this Judgment will not fall upon you if you thus continue to sin and reject the Grace of the Gospel Have many for their sins as a just Judgement from God been blinded and damned by the Word which have been a means thro' Grace to save others Oh! Coâ—â—â—er this you that forget God lest he tear Psal 50. 21 22 Prov. 29. 1 2. you in Pieces and there be none to deliver you Remember what the word saith that he who is often reproved and yet hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy But 4dly It is thus because the Judgements Reas 4 in this Life are typical to wicked men Of what if they die in Unbelief and Rebellion against Christ and his word shall be their Portion in the next Despair to a wicked man is a typical Hell for Hell is a Place of eternal despair and so all other Punishments and Judgements here are but little Hells Let Sinners tremble at this who are Rejecters of Christ and take unjustly Offence at his word Oh! You wretches consider Mat. 13. 21. this that any fearful Judgements that fall upon others for their sins may fall up on you and that God is as well displeased with your sins as with those that he has plagued and sent to Hell this our blessed Lord Jesus tells you is a truth Think ye says Christ That they upon whom the Luke 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6. Tower of Siloam fell and slew them that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem Were there none in that City to be parallelled with them for their sins I tell you except ye repent you shall all likewise perish It is no matter what Sinners they were if you do not repent and leave your sins you shall all perish as well as they But so much for the fifth Proposition 6thly God by Christ is just and righteous Prop. 6. in this dispensation of his in causing some to see and others by the same means to be hardened and made blind None shall have ought to say against him at the Last day but all then shall be made to say Righteous art Jer. 12. 1. thou O Lord. Christ will have enough to lay to the Charge of wicked Men for their rejecting of Him and the tenders of his Grace to them in and by his Word But their Mouths shall then be all stopp'd muzzled for none shall enter into Judgment with God nor have Mat. 22. 12. any thing to say for themselves nor against God Some now say that God will not turn them that he has reprobated them to Hell and if they pine away in their Sins how con they help it Thus many quarrel with God here but no such complaints shall Ez. 33. 10 11. be heard against God at the Last day for then all sinners shall see that their Damnation is Just and so shall clear God and forever Condemn themselves One will say when in Hell God is Just in sending of me hither for by my sins I have deserved to come to this place of Torments Another will say my Pride hath brought me hither another my Swearing and Prodigality a third my Unbelief and rejecting of Christ and his Word has sunk me into this abyss of misery Oh! What complaints will sinners make against themselves How will they reiterate again and again those good Sermons and wholesome Instructions they have heard and misimprov'd here on earth each one will say How have I hated Instruction and my Heart despised reproof and have not Obey'd the ways of Prov. 4. 11 12 13 14. my Teachers nor Inclined my Ear to them that Instructed me The Lord will every one then say is Just and Righteous in sending me here to this place of endless and easless Misery For by my sins I have deserved it a Thousand times over Thus much for the Propositions I shall now 3dly shew you how this stands with the Holyness and Kindness of God to 3d. Head 2 Thes 2. 10 u. give Men up to Blindness of Mind and Hardness of Heart to believe Lyes that as the Apostle says they may be damned This I must confess sounds harsh at the first and seems to be Inconsistent with that goodness and kindness that God hath expressed in his Word to sinner But I hope anon you will see clearly that in these tremendous dispensations God is both Good and Just Before I speak directly to this case I shall premise two things that will give you great Light in this matter First that God in all his dispensations of Grace and Providence acts in a way of Soveraignty Prem 1. like himself as not being bound to his Creatures He hath Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and whom he will he hardneth Why doth God write some Names in Rom. 9. 18. the Book of Life and leave out others Why doth he save some and Condemn others at last Why are some Enlightned and others Blinded by the same Word Why doth not God Accompany it with the Efficacy of his Spirit in some as well as in others What beloved will you resolve these things into but the Soveraign Will and Pleasure of God Who giveth no Account of his matters Job 33. 13. unto any Why are some Rich and others Poor some Noble and others Ignoble some Strong and Healthy and others Sickly and Weakly c. Why it is the Will and Pleasures of God it should be so God giveth Grace when and to whom he pleases as well as other things Why doth not God mould the Heart to a Gospel frame when he fills the Ear with a Gospel sound Why are not all Converted by the Word as well as some Why doth God strike off the Chains from some and tear off the Veil from the Heart while he leaves others in Slavery and Egyptian darkness Why do some ly under the bands of Death while others are raised to spiritual
16. Rom. 2. 16 17. Mie 2. 12. Word Have you sound it to be a saviour of Life unto Life and the power of God to the saving of your Souls Doth not my word saith God do good to the upright O examine what good you have found by the Gospel You have been hearers of it many Years what Have you received no Soul-benefit by it Let me ask you two or three questions and do you ask them seriously your own Souls Have you been savingly enlightned by the Quest 1 Spirit in the Word Can you say with the blind man upon good grounds I was born blind but now I see Are your Eyes beloved opened and Illuminated to see the evil of sin and the good that is in Jesus Christ Every Eph. i. 18. 19. one that is brought to Christ Interested in him are Spiritually Illuminated their understandings which were darkned are enlightned by the Spirit Is it thus with you Have the Spirit by the Word set up a divine Light in your Souls Is the Veil taken from off your Eyes Are you that were darkness 2 Cor. 3. 16. Eph. 5. 8. Acts 26. 18 1 Cor 4. 5 6. in the abstract made Light in the Lord Are you turned from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to God In a Word Hath God commanded the Light to shine into your Souls and shewn you his Glory in the face of Jesus Christ God saith Paul that commandeth the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined into our hearts to give the Light of the Knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Christ Is it thus with you Have you found God dealing thus with your Souls Are your hard and frozen Hearts softned Quest 2 by the Word Have any of you in good earnest been made to cry out with them 3000 that were pricked at the Heart under Peters Sermon Men and Brethren what shall we do That beloved which neither can be bruised nor broken with any strokes nor softned with any Moisture is hard indeed By this you may know your Hearts Will no means and monitions of the Word break your Hearts Will no exhortations entreaties nor promises in it melt you Surely thy heart O sinner Must be hardned indeed that nothing will move nor melt it Oh! have the Word or rather the Spirit by the Word broken and melted any of your Hearts Have you found it a hammer and a fire A hammer to break your rocky Hearts Jer. 23. 29. and a fire to burn up your Lusts and melt down your hearts into Godly Sorrow Can you mourn for sin as sin And are you grieved that you can love Christ no better nor bring forth no more Fruit for his Glory are you concerned for his absence And do you greatly rejoyce in his presence If it be thus 't is a good sign your hearts are softned Are you transformed by the Gospel into the Image of Christ Is the Old man put off Quest 3 Eph. 4. 22 23. with is deeds and the New man put on Can you truly say with Paul from good experience we all with open face beholding as in 2 Cor 3. 18. a glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory Even by the Spirit of our God have you had transforming sights of Christ in the pure Glass of the Gospel Are you become new Creatures Can you remember it was not with you once as it is now Is sin Loth some and Christ Lovely to you Then you have received good by the Word and it is not a Judgment but a Mercy to you 3d. Use is by way of exhortation Oh! Use 3 Let me exhort you all in the Name and Fear of the dreadful God to these few following things and I shall soon have done First be exhorted and perswaded to abstain from all sin but especially from sins against Light and Knowledg A good Man thro' the violence of temptation or Infirmity may sin against knowledge as David and Peter did But have a care as one says of cold blood and continuing in known sins Remember that knowledg taketh away all excuse of sin If I had not come says Christ to the Jews and spoken to them they had not had John 12. 22. sin but now they have no Cloak or Excuse for their sin Ignorance if not affected may excuse a tanto but not a toto but Knowledg will not excuse any Dost thou know that drunkenness O Man is a sin And that Lying Whoredom and Sabboth-breaking are abominable sins and yet Live in them Alas what hope canst thou have A willing practise of known sins and true repentance cannot stand together Nay remember it 't is the ready way to a reprobate Mind and to Eternal Ruine Tho' while in this mortal State you cannot but sin yet beware of two things First of being willingly Ignorant of that which God gives you the means to know This O sinner Is the mark of a Reprobate Wretch Peter tells us of some that are willingly Ignorant of this that by the Word of the Lord the Heavens were of Old There 2 Pet. 3. 5 6. be many that do not know Christ savingly and this is their misery they do not desire to know him They say unto God depart from Job 21. 4. us we desire not the Knowledg of thy ways Oh! beware of this for to be Ignorant and not desire to know is a sad sign of a hardned Heart and a blinded Mind But 2dly beware of doing contrary to your knowledg For to him that knoweth to 2. James 4. 18 do good and doth it not to him it is a sin His knowledg aggravates his fault To sin against Light and Knowledg is a crimson sin a sin of a deep dye Every infirmity every thing that falls short of the Rule is sin but much more that which contradicts the Rule This Man's sin is a hainous sin a capital sin 't is a sin with a witness and will be punished with a vengance If he that sins Ignorantly will be damned surely then he that doth not what he knows but contrary shall be double Luk. 12. 47. damned He that knoweth his Master's Will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes But 2dly be exhorted to comply and fall in with the motions of the Blessed Spirit in the Word Do not the Spirit at no time move upon your Hearts and cause some convictions in your Consciences c. Oh! see that when the Spirit move you do not resist For his Spirit God hath said shall Gen. 3. 6. not always strive with Man Oh! quench not the Spirit turn not a deaf Ear to his Calls do not drown his convictions as some in a Cup of Ale or in merry Company But I must not inlarge Therefore in the Third and last Place Be exhorted and perswaded dayly to fear and dread being hardned by the Gospel a hardned Heart is a most
with the First Character I would consider the Apostles Expression of himself I have Fought I have Finished I have Kept Now it is certain the Apostle who acknowledges himself chief of Snners and least of Saints would not speak of himself as in or of or by himself but is to be interpreted by 1 Cor. 15. 10. c. By the Grace of God I am what I am and not I but the Grace of God that was with me And Gal. 2. 10. I Live yet not I but Christ Liveth in me Altho' therefore at the first view the Apostle may appear as a self-Subsisting a self-Confident Person in that three fold I Yet when we duly weigh what he says in those places Not I It shews when he speaks thus he considers himself as in Christ the Head and Saviour of the Body who represented his in all he Did and Suffered But further He is in all his united to him by Faith He doth all their Works in them and for them and thus in him by the Power they receive from him by being strong in the Grace that is in Jesus Christ They do all They do so that the Apostle when he saith I does not mean himself by I as single solitary divided from Christ but as in him by him as to the Strength Life Principle he acted from He did all in Christ and not only so but as the Power and the Action flowing from it was in Christ So the acceptance the making up the Imperfections the taking away the Guilt the Corruption The setting him free from the Law of Sin and Death In regard of condemnation falling upon Sin dwelling in him In all this he looks wholly to Christ and so his Fighting Finishing his Course keeping the Faith Are to be limited Not I but Christ alone did all in me and was accepted for me This is therefore the not only Encouragement but the very support nay more the subsistnce of Saints in all their holy Action and Motion All is in Christ And this is their consolation in the midst of so many Clouds of Guilt and Imperfection that they have a faithful and merciful high Priest who makes Reconciliation and perfumes their Persons and services with his much Incense And tho' many are ignorant of this great Gospel Doctrin this was the consolation of our Friend in her Dying Hours Now this Explication of the Apostles as it shuts out on one side all the Pharisaie Boasts in our selves all the Self-righteousness and Self-sufficiency of Legalists so it utterly condemns all the Licentious pretensions of Carnalists to live as they please or to be Slothful Negligent Careless Unactive in these great Transactions For though they live all in Christ depend wholly on Him for acceptance yet all His are under the Holy Constraints of Love and the Obligations of Filial Obedience and Christ in them is a Principle of Spiritual Life and Highest Activity So that they can neither be loose or plead Liberty as a Cloak of Wickedness nor be dull and stupid in the ways of Christ And herein our Deceased Friend had learned Christ In all things sensible of Duty but Living as to Justification and Acceptance with God above With those who are the Circumcision Worshipping God in the Spirit rejoicing in Christ Jesus and having no confidence in the Flesh and so she was able though so young a Person to sing the Song of Victory O Death Where is thy Sting Oh Grave Where is thy Victory I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord who hath given me the Victory This made Her earnestly desire a remove out of the Body and to be with Christ Thus I have given the True Evangelical sense of the Apostle placing so much upon himself I have Fought and Finished and Kept 'T is but as if he had said I have I can do all things through Christ strengthneing me and I can look look upon all with Joy and Triumph because all my Impurities and Imperfections are answered for and my Person is washed with the pure Water of his Sacrificing Blood Let us then consider the great sence of the Apostle I have faught a good Fight Wherein he comes forth in the strength of Jehovah Jesus Christ the Lord of Hosts As David the Warrior of the Lord under the Captain of Salvation Resolved and arm'd at all Points and that had with Courage and Fidelity almost now to the very last carried on so far as his Station reach'd the full Conquest and Victory of Jesus Christ he is now triumphing over all Enemies For the Explaining of this warfare in the warrs of the Lord as they are stil'd Numb 21. 14. We are to consider the Great Lord mighty in Battle who arms all his even the Lord Jesus who appoints them who are therefore stiled Good Soldiers of Jesus Christ who hath Redeemed them from being slaves of Justice of Wrath of Satan and they therefore are said to overcome by the Blood of the Lamb. So their very setting out is by his Blood They are Arm'd by him with Courage Spirit and Might within He teaches their hands to War and their Fingers to Fight by him they run through a Troop by him they leape over a Wall it is he that Girdeth them with strength to the Battel that they may help the Lord against the mighty and that all Enemies may be subdued to him and trherefore the Fight is called a good Fight with great Reason 1. The Apostle had to Fight with himself his carnal Reason to Throw down the strong holds of that to bring every thought into Captivity to Christ all those high Thoughts of self-Righteousuess to slight all conferences with Flesh and Blood and to repel them when tempted to such disloyal Treaties to bring under the Law of his Members that warred against the Law of his Mind and would bring him into Captivity to the Law of Sin and Death to bring under subjection that carnal Mind that is enmity to God not subject to the Law of God nither indeed can be that in dwelling Sin All those Willings and Lustings against the Spirit In regard of which the Apostle Expresses himself in the Language of a Combatant in those Games that deals the most subduing and mortifying Strokes and Blows so he upon all Bodily Inclinations and Lusts And this is one great Point of the good Fight the Apostle reviews with so much comfort But it is in Christ and through Christ by whom in whom as Crucified with him the Flesh with its Lusts and Affections are Crucified and not in or by himself 2. The Apostle had to Fight with the World in all both its inticements and blandishments and in regard of its Threats Rages and Persecutions In both regards saith He I am Crucified to the World and the World to me Gal. 6. 14. But it is in Christ and his Cross alone enabled Him 3. He had to Fight with all the Enemies of the Gospel of Christ in resistance to the Grace of Christ in
to the Last as to the First even as in the Parable Mat. 20. 2. In that all Saints Love the Appearance of Christ it is made certain They are those that have Fought Run hell fast the great Depositum Committed to them so as to obtain and not to be rejected the Faith which gives them the assurance and lifting up of the Head at the appearance of the great Judge and Arbitrator of the Prize and so they desire long for and Love his Appearance And thus I have given a breif View and Examination of the words of this Great Text. Applic. That which I would now infer from the whole discourse by way of Doctrinal conclusion by way of Practical enforcement by way of Consolation relating to the particular occasion shall be First That we would look to it To hold the Faith of Jesus Christ in its own Purity For the Gospel is so pure separate from all mixtures as Silver Purified in a Furnace of Earth Purified seven Times that we must not pervert it any way Every Word of God Prov. 30. 5 6. Much more the Great Gospel-Points Whoever add to it or diminish from it will be found Lyars unto it Blessed are they that trust in it It will be to them a Sheild of Salvation As to that Great Point Righteousness by Faith in Christ without works How suddenly do Men slide down to Another Gospel under the Apostles Anathema and yet It is not another but the clear pure streams of Gospel-Truth and Grace are hereby troubled and the satisfaction and comfort of Believers disturb'd and the Invitingness of it to strangers much obscur'd and defiled Now here in the subtility of the Enemies of the pure Doctrine of the Gospel is seen That they being afraid to take up the Insolent Anti-christian Word Merit or as the Apostle calls it Debt They would yet Privily bring in such a supposed presence of works after Grace as sincere obedience though not perfect into Justification as the condition of that Covenant upon which it justifies even as perfect obedience was the condition of the Covenant of Works and yet merit not once Named nor Allowed Because Adams strength to work by if he had rightly applyed it was indeed from the Bounty and Goodness of the Creator yet as in a way of Condecency of such a Creator to such a Creation as the Humane Nature that came pure and perfect out of His Hand But what Believers do is from Grace in Christ by and from His Spirit Vouchsafed to Sinners and so cannot Merit Now this hath indeed very great Truth in it Yet it doth not Answer the High Expression of the Gospel excluding all Created or Creature-Righteousness in the Court of Righteousness or Justification and placing all in the Righteousness of God by Faith in Jesus Christ In his obedience in his Expiation Filling up and so replenishing that Court That nothing else can enter but is kept out by the Flaming Sword of the Fiery Law Yea Angels that never sinn'd yet Cover their Faces Esa 6. and their Feet their Excellency and the Nakedness and Folly of all Created Being before Increated and consist in and by Christ Christ as the Head of Amity and Perseverance in their Glorious State and Adam not Flying to it upon those tenders of it signifid to Him as by that real evidence of it That he was and could be no more then the Figure of Him that was to come Rom. 5. 12. And that His and His Posteritys standing in Him was only their standing in Christ as this was also represented in those Sacramental Types the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil Gen. 2. Warning Him against subsisting in Himself as a God knowing or able to determine Good and Evil but to look to the Tree of Life so great a Type of Christ as we find in the Revelation Nothing therefore can enter into the Court of Justification but Poor empty single Faith Receiving Owning Acknowledging Grace Receiving Grace in Abundance excluding all else and the Gift of Righteousness by Jesus Christ alone And to this it is enabled by Grace and Accepted only for that Righteousness sake it does receive As to the enforcement by way of Action and Practice we see in this Great Portraicture the Apostle gives of a Man in Christ that Fights the Good Fight Finishes his Course keeps the Faith That a Believer in Christ is not a Loose or an Idle Slothful Unactive Person but shall appear in that Day as of the Overcomers in those so Famed Games or Exercises of all Prowess Courage Action so as to be judg'd worthy of those Crowns of which they were so Ambitious though but corruptible by the justest Judges or Arbitrators of them So the Saints shall be presented before the Father the Lord Jesus the Eternal Spirit of Holiness and before Saints and Angels to the Terror and Amazement of all the Lost as Persons of distinct Excellency and the Overcomers as in the Apocalyptic Expression is repeated and yet all in Christ and to the Glory and Praise of Grace in Him So that the Doctrine of Free Grace is indeed the most Powerful Effective Fruitful Doctrine of Holyness and so is most Discriminative of Persons in Christ and with greatest severity on those who are not and of those who shall be thought worthy of the Crown and who not and yet without the least Injury to Free Grace in Christ 3. Great Consolation have they who knew our Deceased Friend who had always Admiring Adoring thoughts of Free Grace and thereby a great sense of Perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God but all through Christ strengthning Her and in Fighting Running holding fast an Eye to the Crown but as purchased for her by Jesus Christ and that therefore she Loved the Appearance of Jesus When the Crown already received shall with Glory be set upon her at that Day That we may yet enter into the deeper enquiry into and consideration of all this Triumphant Declaration of the Apostle concerning Himself and all Saints in that supreme Point their receiving the Crown of Righteousness I will propose to give a breif resolution of these following Points 1. How in the lost undone State of the Children of Adam there can arise such a Generation of Servants of God both more eminent and smaller in this World 2. How or why they fall all under the Prohibition of serving God any longer here in the World then the Finishing such a Course of service on such a Measure of their Line Prescribed by God 3. Why this Prohibition is serv'd upon them by Death Two Persons only Enoch and Elias and why they only excepted Herein I shall with all the care and Caution according to the understanding given to me by and from the Word of God Discourse each of these Point 1. It is indeed the wonder of Divine Grace and Power That there should have been and are such a Generation of the Servants of God in the World in every Age
made like Him was under no Limitation of Service in the History we have of Him Jacobs Patriarchal Line reach'd even to Moses and there ceased Moses Faithful in All his House Run that whole and very Great Line of Service in the Wilderness but was so Limited He must by no means enter into Canaan but must Dye in the Borders And Joshuah must enter upon his Course and having settled the People of Israel in Canaan and after the Lord had given them rest round about He Finished his course Then came on the Days of the Judges and their course with Samuel reached with the Intervention of Saul unto David who served his Generation according to the Will of God And so the Line came down to John Baptist Fulfilfilling his course as a Forerunner and so to our Lord Jesus who walked as He said in his course here on Earth though as the Son an Eternal Priest this Day and to Morrow and the Third Day should be perfected Then the course of the Apostles and the Witnesses under a most Definitive Line as hath been said This therefore gives great satisfaction in the Term of Life Calls for Great self-Resignation and to have our Eye Fixed on the Great End of Life the Line of Faith and Service It is true There is a Line allowed to Evil Men in their Wickedness and in their Enjoyments of their Lusts and Pleasures of this World and they cannot exceed it But this is not of the present consideration But it is most necessary here to remember That the Lowest and Meanest even the Infant Servants of God have their Line and Service and the Just Times of it Fixed by God even as their Reward because it is wholly the Reward of Free Grace It is in the essence of the Reward equal as hath been argued 2. The Time of the Servants of God is therefore Defined and Limited That it may be seen God hath no need of this or that Servant or Generation of Servants but that He hath successive Servants or Generations of Servants and He is so Far off being in want of them That He can allow them no longer Time how Eminent how Excellent soever then He hath appointed and resolved with Himself and of Free Grace as their Honour and Priviledge chosen them unto 3. The Servants of God are many That they may reach through and unto the Time of his Kingdom And each must have His Time and each must therefore of those who go before give way to those who are to follow after and so every one is Limited to his own Time For though it may be thought They might be together The Wise God having appointed Times more Dark and more Glorious How many of his Servants are proportion'd to each He sees and knows and so Limits accordingly There was one Noah and no more in the Old World One Elijah only in view in that so Fowl Apostacy of the Ten Tribes And when the Light is clearest and most High It must not be clear Light till his Kingdom The General Assembly cannot be before so each Time hath such and such Numbers of Stars which He telleth the Number of and calleth them All by their Names and knoweth what Lustre of Rays and Beams each and together shall cast There is a Counterpoizing consideration of Wicked Men in the World and the Darkness and Fire of Hell they spread But that is not within the present purpose 4. There is a Gracious Pleasure of God There should such Numbers of his Servants be all along from Age to Age with Jesus Christ their Lord Philip. 1. Dissolved from Body and with Him in Spirit Absent from the Body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 1 c. And in their House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens And that our God may come and All His Saints with Him Zech. 14. He cometh with Ten Thousand of his Saints as the Armies of Heaven on white Horses Bodys of the Resurrection washed in the Blood of Jesus in fine Linnen clean and white Rev. 19. 14. To shew This hath been all along from the former Times of the World There is a Reception in Heaven Styled Abrahams Bosome A Jerusalem above the Mother of us All that shall come down from Heaven Gal. 4. With all its Children Rev. 21. There is the State of the Spirits of Just Men Heb. 12. Who shall be made perfect in Bodys made like to his Glorious Body Phil. 3. ult There must be therefore a Limitation of their Time of Service here below That they may be taken within the Veil and made acquainted with the Glory that is to be Revealed And the Apostle Intimates These Dead in Christ shall have some precedency For the Dead in Christ shall not be prevented by the Living Remaining as we Translate but shall not be so much as overtaken according to the true force of the Original we shall not attain or come equal with those asleep 1 Thes c. 4. v. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nullo Modo Assequemur Now in all such Particularities God is pleas'd to be at Liberty in dealing with His own Servants The essential Glory the Crown of Righteousness the Crown of Life the Crown of Glory being alike sure to all And so I have open'd the second Point propos'd The Limitation of the Time of the Servants of God continuing in His Service here on Earth I come to the Point 3d. 3. That the Limitation of their Time is made known to them in the manner of a severe and angry Process in the way of what we Call a Prohibition the proper sense of what we Translate not saffered Heb. 7. 23. And this is a Point worthy to be enquired into for the removing the fears of Death and for the Consolation of Saints in Death 1. It must then be Acknowledg'd that the outward Face and appearance of Death bears the Resemblance of a Judgment and of that Denunciation In the Day thou Eatest thou shalt Dye Dust thou Art and to Dust thou shalt return It comes as a King of Terrors Flesh and Blood is ready to be affrighted at it Life is naturally Dear even to the Servants of God who desire not to be uncloathed They desire to continue in the Service of God here but when they are raised by Higher Considerations of being present with the Lord Clothed upon with their House from Heaven they even desire to be Dissolved And it cannot be denyed That God doth in the Dying of his Servants bear a Regard to that Justice and Truth of His Word That when Sin came in Death came in and passed upon All because All have sinned Rom. 5. 12. Wheu the Servants of God therefore are warm and zealous and lively in His Service Often there comes a Prohibition Thou mayest no longer continue in my Service here like the command to Moses to anoint Eleazar and to strip Aaron of his Priestly Garments who was presently to Dye A Prohibition to Moses to carry
Israel over Jordan but to come up to Mount Nebo and to Dye Deut. 33. God plainly sent to Hezekiah to set His House in Order and to Dye against which Prohibition that it might be under as it were an Arrest of Judgment He so earnestly Prayed It is therefore to be duly considered That for the Display of the Judgment and Indignation of God against sin and because of the present State of the Saints under a Remaining Body of Sin and so of Death and in the present State of this World full of Sin and Evil and of so many of the Children of Adam Children of Death even of the Second Death In the Wisdom and Holiness of God It was by the Counsel of the Father and the Son that Death should continue and have the Face of a Judgment and of a Legal Prohibition to continue in the Service of God any longer on Earth Till the Kingdom of Christ the Kingdom of Redemption should bring in a State of the Living Saints then Remaining being chang'd and not to Dye 2. Jesus Christ our Lord Because the Children were Partakers of Flesh and Blood He took part of the same that through Death He might subdue Him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil and Deliver them who all their Life were subject to Bondage by reason of the Fear of Death and now therefore Death came upon Him with the Violence and Terror of a Judgment from which He was taken and from Prison Esa 53. 8. By the Mighty Power of his Resurrection It becomes all His to submit then to the Face of a Judgment in Dying that they may be conform'd to their Captain and from the First Born Heb. 2. 14. Obj. It may be Objected against this necessity of Dying How were those two Enoch and Elias exempted from that sentence of the Righteous and Holy Law that is stretched out so upon all seeing sin had extended it self on them as well as on others Answ The Death of Jesus Christ stood as a Full Ransom and Price of Redemption from the very first promise so that it is not indeed a Point of Justice or of the Truth of God That Believers in Jesus Christ are served as I may so speak with a Prohibition by Death but a Wise and Holy Dispensation of Government with Relation to the Servants of God in the present World where therefore in that wise Government God thinks fit there might be such an exemption from the General Statute of Dying or Prohibition by Death as of Enoch and Elijah and many more Examples of such Exemptions there might have been if He had seen Good having received such full satisfaction to his Law and to his Justice and He hath it in reserve an Universal Exemption at the Kingdom of Christ the Kingdom of Redemption when the Apostle says We shall not all dye but we shall all be changed and he prefaces before it Behold I shew you a mystery And I am much perswaded and even assured These two were Types of the Living Remaining caught up to meet the Lord in the Air 1 Cor. 15. He delivers up the Kingdom to God even the Father and hath put down all Rule Authority and the last Enemy and cast it into the Lake Rev. 20. ult When the Gentle Hand of Power shall Transpose the Saints as the Great Prophet Enoch of the Lord coming with Ten Thousand of his Saints and the Living Remaining changed and the Flames of Fire upon All Enemies shall convey them as in Elijahs Chariot to Heaven 3. The Judiciary part of Death is absolutely removed For the Sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. 12. So that Death is to Saints a sleeping in Jesus a Resting from Labours an entring into Rest a becoming present with the Lord A being with Christ a being in Paradise a being clothed upon with our House from Heaven And to shew It was not a Deadly stroke Before the Pronunciation of that Universal Prohibition of continuing here Dust thou Art and to Dust thou shalt Return Death was more gently express'd and with assurance of Victory The Womans Seed shall break the Serpents Head but the Serpent shall only Bruise the Heel of the Womans Seed Applic. I will now by way of Applicatory Review close the whole How fit this Context of the Apostle is to a Discourse with Relation to the Death of one or more of the Servants of God appears by the Apostles Preface to it I am even now as it were already as in Conformity to my Great Lord Offered and Sacrificed as a Martyr and the Time of my Dissolution is at Hand and so He goes on I have Fought c. As if He Preached his own Funeral Sermon while Living and a Great one it is but it hath its Principal sense in Christ and in God as appears in the following Part of the Chapter v. 17. wherein we have this Great acknowledgment that in his Fighting the Good Fight and Finishing his Course the Lord stood with Him strengthened Him that by Him the Preaching might be Fully known and the Gentiles hear and the Lord Delivered Him out of the Mouth of the Lyon the Lord would deliver Him from every Evil Work and preserve Him unto His Heavenly Kingdom and to Him he ascribes the Glory of All for Ever And He Includes all Saints Even all who Love the appearing of Jesus Christ this High Elogium or Speech of Praise else I must acknowledge I have no Opinion of the Large Encomiums or Praisings used in Funeral Sermons observing the Grand Exemplar of them Gods Gracious Remembrance of Moses John 1. Moses my Servant is Dead and no more and yet that Fixed so Dashing a Character of Honour upon Him that He is remembred by it to the Last Rev. 15. They Sang the Song of Moses the Servant of God and of the Lamb But this of the Apostle Joyned with that of Heb. 7. 23. Gives me such a History of the Life and Death of Saints That I cannot but Recommend it to all the Servants of Christ as the most excellent Rule of Life and as the Ground of the most Consolatory Hope in Death and that the very Discourse of it may be upon the Deceased Christian Friend a Memorial of Honour And so I most Humbly Recommend it to the Relations of all the Friends of the so many lately Removed Servants of God and of this Particular one the occasion of whose Death it is Published through Him who though the Eternal Liver as the Son of God without Beginning or End of Days yet in our Nature Became Dead for our sakes but behold He is Alive for Evermore Even so have all his Servants Reason to say Even so Amen And He hath the. Keys of Hell and Death Let Him Lay His Hand on his Servants of God in this Discourse and Bless it to Them and to his Servants of all States and Conditions saying unto them Fear not And to Him be Glory for Ever FINIS