of other Mens For he was no less than others subject to Hunger and Thirst Cold and Heat Fainting and Weariedness and all the other things which Nature or Providence has made us liable to As he espoused our Nature so he espoused it with all its Weakness and Infirmities and with all the Trouble which ordinarily attends it Nay which is more he not only submitted to all the unavoidable Infirmities of our Nature but also to all the Misery which attends the meanest Condition of Men which the Apostle points at by the Form of a Servant The form of a servant implies somewhat more than the Nature of Man simply for every Man is not a Servant Jesus Christ has carried his humane Nature to Heaven but he is not there in the Form of a Servant for he is exalted above all When therefore St. Paul saith he took upon him the Form of a Servant he remembers us of the low and contemptible Condition in which he appeared For he came not to the World in Pomp and Splendour in the Form of a King or some great Person Nor did he aspire after a State of Grandeur Power and Command over others but chose to be born of mean and poor Parents who were totally divested of the Glory which by their descent they might have pretended to He was lodged with a Carpenter brought up in his House learned his Trade and wrought with his own hands for his Bread And though it be lawful for Men to endeavour to better their Condition if they take honest means yet he never made a Fortune to himself the foxes had holes and the fowls of the air nests but the Son of Man had no place or possession of his own where to lay his head When he entered upon the Exercise of his Ministery his Retinue was a dozen of poor Fishermen instead of splendid Walls and Schools he taught in Desarts on the Tops of Mountains and from the sides of small Ships and Boats He was born under the Law and subject to it he wore the heavy Yoke of Moses and religiously observed all his Laws He was also subject to the Romans and obliged to pay them Tribute though he owed them none In a word while he was in the World his outward Condition was base ignoble and contemptible and in that Condition he was treated like a Slave forced to endure more Hardship and Misery than ever any Slave was put to He was mocked beaten and cruelly and unmercifully used he was loaded with Contempt Injuries Reproach and all the Evils which Men or Devils could invent And yet like a good and faithful Servant he never declined his Duty nor shifted the Commands which were laid upon him but humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross This is the last Point of the Text. But I cannot enter upon it now I must pass it till another time The two Points I have handled are sufficient for the present to add more would perhaps be too great a burthen to our weak Minds I have laid before you a Mystery which was hid from the Foundation of the World but is now revealed by the Gospel a Mystery which the longest and most profound Meditation can never exhaust A Mystery which may give to all Eternity matter of Admiration both to Angels and Men A Mystery which as our Apostle saith to all that are Perfect sheweth both the Wisdom and Power of God These Divine Attributes were never so admirably manifested The Power of God is clearly seen and evidently set forth in the Creation of the World the erecting such a vast Fabrick out of Nothing the conconjoining its Parts so that they neither interfere nor breed Confusion and the adorning those various Parts with an infinite Variety of Creatures to Inhabit them is a great instance of Divine and Almighty Power So is the Production of Man the Contrivance of his Body the Faculties of his Soul and the Union of two so different Species as Matter and Spirit into one Composition But yet it is more astonishing and more incomprehensible to see the Creature Deified the God-head Embodied and the Humane and Divine Nature united together in one Person And as the Power of God is hereby seen so his Wisdom in contriving this Way to confound Satan to destroy Sin to save Mankind to declare his own Justice and to keep up the Authority of his righteous Laws Lord what Admiration may this breed How ought the Contemplation of this to transport us But Admiration ought not to be the only Effect of this Contemplation it should also engender Love and indeed if our Hearts be not hard as an Adamant and as insensible as a Stone it will enflame them with ardent love to God who hath so highly regarded us as to dignifie us beyond the Angels and any Creature in Heaven or Earth He is infinitely above us and standeth not in need of us and yet he hath had a particular Concernment for us and hath honoured us beyond Expression And that too when we were Rebels and Apostates and guilty of a Thousand Indignities done to the Deity If he had cast some Pity upon us or shewed some Commiseration after we had crouched and humbled our selves and bewailed our Sins with weeping and sorrowful Hearts it had not a little shewed his Goodness even in this Case his Mercy would have been abundantly declared But what superabundant Mercy was it to seek us first nay to court and wooe us when we hated him and were running away from him and that too by no meaner Person than his own Son God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to the Fathers hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds Lord how little did Man deserve this And what Obligations doth this lay on Man to love fear and serve God! Again how should our Hearts cleave to Jesus Christ What a strong and passionate Affection should we have for him Who for us and for our sakes made himself of no Reputation Who to serve us and procure our good laid aside the Glory which he had before the Foundation of the World and being in the Form of God and in a State in which he thought it not Robbery to be equal to God did yet take upon him the Form of a Servant All this was his own proper deed and the meer effect of his free Love You see all is ascribed to himself and indeed there was no Force to constrain him wherefore so great and so free Love in him requires the greatest Measure of Love from us Do you think what he has done nothing Seems it little to you to exchange the Form of God for the Form of a Servant The Glory of Heaven for the Miseries of Earth Is it nothing think you for Omnipotency to be confined to the Weakness of a Child For
and Body of the same Nature Qualities Properties and Passions with others liable to the same things and standing in need of the same Support And in a word like to others in all things except Sin so that he may be justly and in strict propriety of Speech stiled the man Christ Iesus and well deserves that Epithet which is often given him in Scripture viz. the Son of man As also his Actions and Sufferings are to be considered as the Actions and Sufferings of a Man We must not with the Ancient Hereticks deny the Humanity of Jesus or Fancy that all his Actions and Sufferings were only in appearance and no wise real for he did partake of the Humane Nature as much as any of us and was of the like innocent Passions and Infirmities with our selves But then again least we think meanly of this man Christ Jesus least we reckon no more of him than of other ordinary Men we must remember all his Character and consider that he who was at this time found in the fashion as a Man was formerly in the form of God and thought it not Robbery to be equal with God This Son of Man was also the Son of God the God-head dwelt in him and both the Divine and Humane Nature were personally united in him and that too after such an intimate manner as we see Soul and Body for composing the Person of a Man Therefore as in respect of his God-head he is called the eternal Son of God the only begotten of God the Father over all God blessed for ever And as in respect of his Man-hood or Humane Nature he is called the Son of Man the Son of David the seed of Abraham and the seed of the Woman So because of the intimate Union and Conjunction of these two Natures into the one Person of Jesus Christ he is said to be God manifested in the flesh the word made flesh When the fulness of time was come saith our Apostle God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law Hence also it is that the Attributes and Works peculiar to the one true God are ascribed to Jesus thus he is said to have created the World to uphold all things by the Word of his Power to know the secret Thoughts c. And what was done by him is attributed to God tho' it was only proper to the Humane Nature Thus Act. XX. 28. St. Paul saith God purchased the Church with his own blood Upon this account all the Prophecies which went before pointed at both his Divinity and Humanity As for instance the very first calling him the seed of the woman shews his Humane Nature and his Divinity is declared by the other Clause which saith that he should bruise the serpents head Behold saith Isaiah a virgin shall conceive and bear a son that is a Man but it being added and shall call his name Immanuel which signifies God with us this imports that he was also to be God So his Humane Nature is set forth in these words Unto us a child is born unto us a Son is given But his God-head no less by what follows viz. His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace For this cause also the Divine Oeconomy towards him after his appearance in the World was so ordered as to attest both his Humanity and Divinity He was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin but by the Power of the Holy Ghost that this Holy One which was Born might be called the Son of God After his Birth he was swadled and laid in a Manger to hold forth the quality of a Man but at the same time Angels were sent from Heaven to declare his Birth who sung Divine Hymns for it that thereby might be represented his quality as God In his Baptism like a Man he is dipt into Water by Iohn the Baptist but to bear Witness of his Divinity the Heavens open and a voice crieth This is my beloved Son When he is in the Desart as a Man he suffers Hunger and Thirst but as a God the Angels minister unto him And as his Death shewed him to be Man so the darkening of the Sun the rending of the Veil the trembling of the Earth the opening of the Graves the rising of the Dead and his bestowing Paradise upon the Thief who died with him were Signs that he was God Moreover the Truth of his Divine and Human Nature is declared and set forth by most of his Actions especially his Miracles as the Blessing the five Loaves and two Fishes and by that making them to multiply to the feeding of Five Thousand The bidding the Sick take up his Bed and walk the weeping over Lazarus's Grave and yet raising him after he had been Four Days in it the sleeping in a Tempest and Storm and the making it Calm when he was awakened By these and many other instances it is evident that the Person our Text speaks of Jesus Christ is both God and Man that in him both the God-head and Humane Nature were personally united Which as St. Paul saith is without Controversy a great Mystery 1 Tim. iii. that is a wonderful and an ineffable thing which passeth the understanding of Man either to explain or fully to comprehend We shall never be able to comprehend this fully till we come to the other World where all Mysteries will end in clear Visions and where we shall not see as it were through a Glass darkly as at present But yet if at present we take a view of this Mystery with a reference to the end to which it was adapted we shall discover convincing Instances of the admirable and unsearchable Wisdom of God The Design was to save lost Mankind by the means of a Mediator who was to make an Atonement for their Sins and so to make up the breach betwixt God and Man as that Man might be saved and yet neither the Honour Justice or Authority of God or his Laws impaired so that it might be thought there was any force or necessity upon God to be reconciled to Man as the Kings of the Earth are obliged to make Peace with their Rebellious Subjects It were a little too bold to say that God had no other way to compass the Salvation of Men But sure this way is admirably contrived both for the Glory of God and the good of Mankind Man could not desire or devise a better a more equal a more easie Method and it is every way honourable for God it is made Effectual for Man and not only the Mercy and Goodness of God do hereby abundantly appear but also his Wisdom Power and Justice and all those Attributes which may excite Fear and Reverence or procure Love or oblige to Obedience Who so proper to ransom Mankind as one of the Race who did participate of the Humane Nature and who was descended from the same Parents Who but Man could
bear the Punishment inflicted by the Law or make that Satisfaction which the Honour and Justice of God required Angels could not for their Spiritual Nature makes them incapable And what Man could have made an Atonement for the rest Seeing every Man was guilty in the sight of God What Man was sufficient for or worthy of the office of Mediator Suppose one had all the Advantages and Excellencies which Nature could bestow and free of Sin too which must necessarily be supposed in this case yet it would have been too much Presumption even for such an one to take upon him to Mediate betwixt God and his Rebellious Creatures Mediators and Arbitrators ought to be either Superiour to both Parties or at least equal to the offended Party and independent in some manner from it for without this Qualification they have not sufficient Authority nor a powerful enough Influence to oblige the Parties to agree and accept of Peace And this requisite Qualification excluded not only all Men but Angels and all Creatures from being Mediator and Umpire betwixt God and Man As therefore it behoved our Mediator and Saviour to be Man that he might do and suffer what was proper and incumbent and have the Interest good Will and Concernment necessary to such a Person so it behoved him to be God that he might be worthy of so high and honourable a Function and to the end his Mediation might be meritorious and effectual And as it behoved our Mediator and Peace-maker to be thus and thus qualified so the Wisdom and Goodness of God has provided us of one with these Qualifications and so contrived it that he who thought it not Robbery to be equal with God should be made into the Likeness of Men. For this end the Eternal Son of God became Man who is this Jesus the Text speaks of by whose Name we are all called O! the Depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Iudgments and his Ways past finding out Rom. ii 33. The Socinians who reject this Mystery and deny the Divinity of our Saviour and the Union of the Divine and Humane Nature in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ which I have made most evident from Scripture now and at the last Occasion they make the Oeconomy of the Gospel to signifie little or nothing either for the Glory of God or the Comfort of Man And as they give God the Lye who has attested the Truth of this so clearly and fully so they rob him of the Praise which is due to the greatest Manifestation of his Goodness and to the most wonderful Contrivance of his Wisdom From which and such damnable Heresies good Lord deliver us Having considered who the Person is of whom our Text speaks and what is his Character it follows next according to the Method proposed that we take into Consideration what he did and suffered which is here represented in these Words he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. From which Words we may First observe That all which happened to Jesus Christ in this mysterious Oeconomy was his own Choice His Sufferings as well as Actions are the pure Effect of his own Will there was no force or necessity upon him to oblige his Obedience and Subjection to these things We must not think it was with Jesus Christ as with other Men. The Birth and Quality the State and Condition the Death and Exit of other Men fall not under their own Cognizance nor is the same any part of their Choice But all is unknown to them and imposed upon them by Nature or Providence or those to whom Nature and Providence have subjected them And the greatest Praise due to any Man is that he can bear his State and Circumstances thus imposed patiently and chearfully though he neither would have desired them nor yet made Choice of them if it had been in his own Power But as to Jesus Christ all was his free Choice his voluntary Act and proper Deed The meanness of his Birth the Contemptibleness of his State the Troubles of his Life and the Shame and Bitterness of his Death were all known before-hand to him and set before him and he freely and willingly submitted himself to them and therefore there is more Merit and Praise due to him than can be to any from meer Patience or Passive Obedience Therefore doth my father love me saith Christ because I lay down my life that I might take it again No man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again And again he said to Pilate thou couldst have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above Secondly It is to be considered that the Humiliation of Jesus Christ in this Verse referrs to some other thing than that which is made mention of in the former When before it is said he made himself of no Reputation that referrs to his Pre-existent State and God-head and thereby is set forth his Debasement by his Incarnation For by becoming Man his God-head was put under the Veil of Flesh and the Majesty and Glory which belonged to him were for so long time eclipsed which was certainly a stupendous Debasement and an astonishing and most wonderful Instance of his Love to those for whom he was thus debased But the Humiliation in the Text is posterior to the Incarnation and referrs to what he did after he was become Man therefore it is said being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself What is meant by humbling himself is explained by what follows viz. That he became Obedient unto Death that is he entirely subjected himself to the Will of God and all the Methods of his Counsel and all the Contrivances of his Wisdom for manifesting his Mercy and good Will to Mankind and for effectuating their Redemption and Salvation to which he was not otherwise obliged than by his own voluntary Undertaking Jesus Christ by his Divine Nature being equal to God was therefore free independent and subject to none And though as a Man he owed Obedience yet being altogether free from Sin he was not liable to the Curse of the Law nor obnoxious to those Evils Troubles and Calamities which for Sin are inflicted on other men Therefore it was a great Act of Humility in him to submit to those things who might have pleaded an Exemption from them It was great Humility in him to put himself into a State of Subjection and Obedience who by Nature was subject to none but as God himself supream Lord over all in Heaven and Earth What Humility would it be in a free-born Prince one whose Birth gave him Right to a Scepter Crown and Sovereign Command and whose State and Circumstances put him in a Condition of keeping the same against all Rebellion Encroachment and Usurpation
which shall be to all People Unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord Luke ii But to be more particular This was done to declare and demonstrate the infinite Love and Mercy of God who rather than that Mankind should perish would suffer his own Son and his only Son to be thus abased and humbled God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son unto it that the world through him might not perish but that those who believe might have eternal life John iii. 16. and Rom. v. 8. It is said That God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Mankind is but one part of the Creation And though he make a considerable Figure in this lower World yet if we knew all the other parts of the Creation and their Inhabitants perhaps we should find him contemptible and inconsiderable he is certainly inferiour to the Angels what a Demonstration therefore is it of the Mercy of God to his Creatures that he would not suffer such inconsiderable ones to perish But to prevent their eternal Ruin was pleased to give his Son to do and suffer so many things for us And how doth it heighten his Love to us the Sons of Men that he has shewed more Kindness to us than to the Angels who by Nature are so much better than we He passed by the Angels and has had pity on us he has left them to perish in their Apostacy and Disobedience but has sent his Son to save us Secondly Hereby God hath declared his Justice his uncontroulable Authority the Vigour of his Laws and the Certainty of his Threatnings By this it appears that God is just and will not clear the guilty that he will not suffer his Authority to be contemned nor his Laws to be broken and that what he peremptorily threatens to the breakers of them shall come to pass Heaven and Earth may pass away but one Jot or Title of the Law shall not fall and rather than the Transgression of it escape unpunished he will make his own Son an Example Like that King who having threatned the Loss of both Eyes to such as should be guilty of Adultery And his Son having committed that Crime he to keep his Royal Word to maintain the Vigour of his Laws and to strike Terrour into his Subjects but withal to shew some Mercy to his Son pulled out one of his Son's Eyes and gave another of his own God would not remit the Punishment of Sin but to save Sinners he laid the Weight of the Punishment on his own Son Thirdly Hereby is declared the heinous Nature of Sin how odious it is in the Sight of God how impossible it is to be reconciled to him or to expect his Favour unless it be expiated Let Fools now make a mock of Sin if they dare Let Men consider what the Son of God hath done and suffered to take away the Sins of the World let them call to mind what Obedience what Agony what Shame and Pain the Holy and Innocent Jesus hath been put to what it hath cost him to take away the Guilt of it and to free Men from the Punishment of it And when they have seriously considered all this let them say if they can whether Sin be to be sported with whether it may be safely cherished and indulged Fourthly This setteth forth the Dignity of the Humane Nature How highly is that to be esteemed which God has thought worthy of so strict an Alliance with himself and to save which the Eternal Son of God the Second Person of the blessed Trinity he who thought it not Robbery to be equal with God even he was pleased to make himself of no Reputation to take upon him the Form of a Servant to humble himself and to become obedient unto Death This is Immortal Honour unto Mankind which the Devils envy and which the highest Angels admire and therefore it is said that even they desire to look into it This is the Glory of Man and that which sets him farthest above all his Fellow Creatures in this World The Bodies of other Animals are not much inferiour to ours for they are all of almost the same Nature Composition and curious Contrivance and whatever be the inward Principle of their Life and Actions whatever it be that guides them their Actions are more regular than ours and certainly the Effects of greater Reason Knowledge and Wisdom than what we can by Speculation Study or Experience arrive at But neither Cherubim nor Seraphim nor any of the Celestial Order of Intelligent Beings can boast a Privilege above or even equal to what Man hath by the Incarnation of the Son of God and what followed upon it He took not on him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham God has espoused our Nature and thereby made us more honourable than other Creatures and as we have by this the highest Honour so all the Happiness that can be desired For what greater Happiness What can we desire more than what the Love and Friendship and Favour of God can bestow Fifthly As this shews the Dignity of the humane Nature so wherein the Perfection of it consists even in a perfect Obedience unto God such as we shewed that Jesus Christ did pay unto him Adam ruined the humane Nature by his Disobedience Jesus Christ has repaired it by being entirely obedient even unto Death and no Man can arrive at Perfection but by the Imitation of Jesus in a perfect Subjection to the Will of God To make Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof is never to aim higher than Beasts and inferiour Animals to walk by Sense will stifle our Reason to follow the Imaginations and Devices of our own Hearts or only what our own Reason suggests we shall never surmount a natural imperfect State nor have any other Perfection than what cometh from our selves But if we give our selves up to the Conduct of God if we will follow his Will and Providence and never dispute or cavil at his Pleasure we shall far out-grow our natural State our minds shall receive the Light of Divine Illumination our Spirits shall be fortified by the Almighty Spirit of God and we shall at last become Partakers of the Divine Nature which is as high as any can aspire Sixthly I will only give one Instance more which is that the Incarnation of Jesus Christ his Obedience and Sufferings were appointed to the end that he might merit the Glory Honour and sovereign Power which God had design'd for him before the Foundation of the World Wherefore as it follows our Text God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name that at the Name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus
forgive Sins This saith St. Paul is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief 1 Tim. And if the chief be saved others have no cause to fear The blood of Iesus Christ saith St. Iohn cleanseth from all sin 1 Joh. i. This is that Fountain which was opened to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of Ierusalem for Sin and Uncleanness The Reason why Jesus can ease us of the Burden of Sin and take away the Guilt and free us from the Punishment of it is because he hath in his own Person born our Sins and satisfied for them he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities and by his stripes we are healed and God laid on him the Chastisement of us all Isa. liii The Iust died for the Unjust and he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God through him In the next place as Jesus Christ taketh away the guilt and burden of our Sins so he freeth us from the fear and terrour of Death For asmuch saith the Apostle as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of Death were all their life time subject to bondage Heb. ii 14 15. Jesus Christ hath brought Life and Immortality to Light he hath discovered a Life far better than this a State in which there is fulness of Joy and Rivers of Pleasure for evermore a Life which admits neither Hunger Thirst Nakedness Cold nor Heat and where all Tears are wiped away And he hath made Death the necessary Passage to this blessed State so that instead of fearing Death Men desire to Depart And whereas before it was reckoned a loss to die now it is counted gain O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Cor. XV. 55 c. He hath purchased to himself the Keys as of Hell and Death so of Life and Immortality and has Power to admit whomsoever he pleaseth It is he that hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day saith Christ. And again I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me tho' he were dead yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die But Thirdly Jesus Christ not only giveth rest to the Soul and ease to our Minds by begetting in us a lively hope of future Bliss but also he greatly refresheth us at present by settling our Minds in Peace and giving them a secret Pleasure which cannot be uttered The Happiness of a Christian is not all in Reversion he has some in hand that the deferring of his hope may not make him faint he has a present Possession given him which yields abundant Satisfaction to stay the longing of the Soul and to prevent its languishing That Contentment which Men do in vain seek among the Creatures is only to be found in him therefore St. Paul counted all things but loss and dung to the knowledge of Iesus Christ He is a Fountain of living Waters and none but he can quench or satisfie the thirst of the Soul Whosoever shall drink of this water shall thirst again but whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to eternal life said he in his Conference with the Woman of Samaria Joh. iv 13. My flesh saith he is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed that is true Meat and Drink which both nourish and satisfie for it is proper and well suited to our Natures Every Creature has its proper Food nothing but that can satisfie it when that is wanting it languisheth So our Souls which are of a spiritual and heavenly Nature cannot feed upon earthly things nothing can be Food to them but that bread which came down from Heaven The Contemplation of Christ and his Doctrine can only cheer them up These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full which St. Peter saith is a joy unspeakable and full of glory Lastly Jesus Christ giveth his Disciples rest under Afflictions Indeed he doth not promise them an exemption from Trouble and Affliction nay on the contrary they are forewarned to look for this more than others but he makes them very light and supportable by the Strength and Instruction which he gives He doth not suffer them to be tempted above what they are able and with every temptation sends a way by which they may escape that they may be able to bear it 1 Cor. X. he abates the Grief and Molestation which Troubles and Afflictions were wont to procure by clearing the Divine Oeconomy in disspensing them by shewing the Nature and Use of them and by giving Rules how to improve them to our Perfection and Happiness So that what was wont to fright Men is now become matter of Joy and Gladness Count it all joy saith St. Iames when ye fall into divers temptations Thus you see what a blessed and desirable Rest may be expected by coming to Christ. O fortunatos nimium O happy we if we knew our own Happiness Here is the place where we may put off all that burden which lieth heavy upon us Here is an opportunity of being eased of all the Misery which we are born to Bodily or Spiritual Temporal or Eternal Here we may refresh our wearied Minds and get that perfect rest we would be at there is nothing to let or hinder us there is nothing to obstruct this Happiness but our own carelesness and contempt We are freely invited and shall we refuse Do we sit still unconcernedly Will we delay so great Happiness Shall we be so ungrateful to him who makes the offer as to slight it Shall we be so cruel to our selves as to neglect rest when it may be had Will ye thus requite the Lord O O foolish people and unwise O ye sons of men how long will ye love vanity and seek after leesing How long will ye spend your Labour for that which profiteth not How long will it be e're ye have pity on your own Souls Turn ye turn ye why will ye die Why will ye weary your selves in a vain and dangerous Chace The World where you have been all this while hunting is a dry and barren Wilderness in which you may perish before
forth It is the express Condition of all the Promises and without Faith it is declared That we cannot look for Mercy Pardon or eternal Life And this is not a new thing introduced by the Gospel But the Divine Oeconomy from the beginning of the World did require Faith which is a Second Proof of its being absolutely necessary now As it appears now to be the chief Condition required of Men under the Gospel so it was under the Law as St. Paul declares Heb. ii Nay before the Law as appears from Abraham and the other Patriarchs Of Abraham it is said That he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness Gen. xv 6. Moreover Faith was exacted of Man even before the Fall while he was in a State of Innocence For the two Trees of Knowledge and of Life which God set apart in Paradise and the Interdiction of the First by that severe Sanction in that day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die was to try and exercise Man's Faith Thus the Divine Oeconomy before the Fall and ever since before the Law under the Law and by the Gospel hath always required Faith as a necessary Condition to the obtaining God's Favour In respect to the certain and unalterable Order and Method of which Oeconomy it is that St. Paul saith without faith it is impossible to please God And tho' the Counsel of God be secret and his Methods for the most part unaccountable yet the Reasonableness of this doth appear from this that without Faith in this present State we neither can acknowledge all the Divine Attributes nor yet worship him with all our Faculties His Veracity Truth and Faithfulness cannot be owned otherwise than by Faith by believing his Word assenting to his Declarations relying on his Promises and trembling at his Threatnings And as all those Divine Attributes can only be acknowledged by Faith so it is only by Faith that we worship him with our Understandings It is reasonable that we worship God with the whole Man all our Faculties ought to pay him Homage But how can he have Homage from our Understandings unless we believe It is only by Acts of Faith that we declare the Submission of our Judgment to God for if we will admit or receive nothing but what is demonstrable and what we can clearly comprehend then we deny God's infinite Wisdom and Knowledge and refuse to own his Reason to be above our own which is intolerable Pride and Insolence For this Cause even to try our Faith and to give us occasion to pay him this due Homage of our Reason and Understanding it is that God proposeth to us Mysteries which are incomprehensible and hence it is also that he often absconds himself as it were he worketh not always in a God-like manner that is in a splendid glorious or such a visible Way as may force Acknowledgment from Men but often after a secret and covert manner under the Shadow of Means and Instruments of divers sorts that hereby it may be proved whether we believe him Almighty and the wise Disposer of all things and Author of all Events In the other World Faith shall cease there will be no place for it because there will be a present immediate Intuition of the Divine Nature and Attributes but now that we are absent from the Lord we walk by Faith Thus you see that as Faith is required here so it is necessary and why it is so I have also briefly laid before you And as the Text obliged us to speak of this so the times we live in make it necessary for Atheism and Infidelity are setting up their Heads and some have the Impudence in this licentious Age to dispute both the Reasonableness and Necessity of what God has clearly revealed As for you My beloved I beseech you build your selves up in your most holy Faith and let not the weak Efforts of insolent Wits shake your Faith Stand up and strive vigorously for the Faith of the Gospel which has been confirmed by so many Miracles and Prophecies by such evident Demonstrations of the Spirit and Power that if it be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not least the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them Take heed Brethren saith St. Paul lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God When we let go Faith and entertain an Heart of Unbelief we depart from God lose the Promises forfeit Heaven render our selves uncapable of Mercy and give our selves to a reprobate Mind here and to Damnation hereafter He that layeth aside Faith may also put off the Name of a Christian and all the Pretensions which that Name may give to Blessings earthly or heavenly bodily or spiritual temporal or eternal For Faith is necessarily implyed in that Name and as requisite to him that would deserve it as the Skill of Law or Physick to one that sets up for a Lawyer or Physician or Philosphy to a Philosopher Seeing therefore we own our selves to be Christians that we may be worthy of so sacred a Name let us evermore pray God with the Man in the Gospel Saying Lord encrease our Faith and help our Unbelief But now it may be very pertinently asked what this Faith is which is thus required In answer to this St. Paul hath told us the first and lowest Acts of Faith when he saith He that cometh to God must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him We must begin with the Belief and Perswasion of God's Existence Power Wisdom Providence and what else Reason and the Light of Nature teacheth of him But then that our Faith may be perfect we must add to it Knowledge and extend it to all the Manifestations which God hath made of himself from time to time we must embrace all the Divine Revelations and what they contain All the Declarations Laws Promises and Threatnings in God's Word are proposed as Objects of Faith and by Faith we ought to receive them that is we must own and acknowledge them to be of God and by a constant regard to them in all our Actions testifie the Firmness and Sincerity of this Belief and Perswasion More particularly our Faith must respect the Person Offices Doctrine and Actions of the Lord Jesus Christ we must receive him as the Person who was promised to Adam Abraham and the Patriarchs who was foretold by the Prophets prefigured by the Law expected by the Jews and even waited for by the Gentiles we must receive him and rely upon him as the Son of God and Saviour of the World we must embrace him as the Person whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation for Sin and the Mediator by whom and through whom only we have access unto
fitly joined together here a proud Man can never be meek and he who is lowly in Heart cannot be of another Temper So if we would learn Meekness we must study Humility And we may soon be perswaded into this if we but hearken unto Reason for that demonstrates that we have nothing to be proud of because we have no good but what we have received and therefore if we glory we should glory in the Lord. Humility is not to undervalue ones self but not to think above what we ought to think And if the Thoughts of our selves be just not higher than they ought they will not be high nor lofty nor will they shew others at the distance of Contempt and Scorn for we all stand upon the same Level have the same Original Nature Frame Constitution and End And as this makes the Condition of every Man much the same so it does not afford Matter of boasting to any our Extract and Original is from the Dust and to it we must return our Frame and Constitution is frail and easily disordered our Strength and Beauty like the Flower of the Field is withered before Noon We carry our Breath in our Nostrils and it goes out as a Vapour We are Children a Third part of our time and the other Two parts are consumed in Sin and Vanity all our Actions are either grossly Evil or to little Purpose our Righteousness is as the Morning Cloud and as the early Dew that passeth away not being able to endure the Heat of the Sun Men of low Degree are Vanity and Men of high Degree are a lye lay both the one and the other in the Balance and they will be found altogether lighter than Vanity Surely every Man even the best of Men in their best State is nothing but Vanity and Emptiness when set in the Sight of God Sin is indeed Matter of true Humiliation but the deepest and truest Humility arises from the Contemplation of the Infinite Nature and Perfections of God He who proposes himself as a Pattern of Humility and Lowliness here knew no Sin he had all the Weakness of Flesh and Blood he was surrounded with the Infirmities of our Nature but he was altogether free from the Corruption of it and never did any thing amiss and yet he was lowly in Heart because of his intimate Union with God and did bear about with him a full Idea of his glorious Attributes For as the Glory of the Sun extinguishes the Glory of the Stars so all created Excellencies must disappear upon a View of the uncreated Glory of God whose Perfections can never be found out When even the most perfect and upright Iob does see this with his Eye he abhorreth himself and doth repent in Dust and Ashes Iob xlii 5 6. If we have these two Vertues Meekness and Humility we will not murmur at the Commands of Christ as if any of them were grievous then we shall be sensible of the Reasonableness and Equity of them then we shall find his Yoke easy and his Burthen light For besides the new Strength and Vigour that we shall receive from above for the bearing of it we shall then clearly discern that it is most just and reasonable admirably adapted to our Nature and well accommodated to our Interest wisely contrived to give us all Peace and Satisfaction at present and to prepare us for perfect and Eternal Happiness hereafter Now the God of Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Iesus Christ that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well pleasing in his Sight through Iesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON III. ON Christmass-Day PHIL. II. 6 7 8. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. THERE are in our holy Religion two Sublime Mysteries which as they can never be fully comprehended so they can never be too much or too frequently thought upon For nothing can make more for the Glory of God nothing can be of more Comfort and Profit to our selves they enlighten the Understanding warm the Heart add vigour to all the rational Faculties and so cherish and strengthen the Spiritual Life that by these means we may become able to walk straight and to run with Patience without fainting the Race that is set before us By these I mean the Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God and that of his Passion and Death both which are jointly spoken of in the Text as the Day and the Action we intend to set about call us to consider both the Day being by the Appointment of the Catholick Church the Anniversary of our Lord Jesus his Birth therefore the Incarnation is a proper Subject for it But some of us intending at this time and others against the next day to make that solemn Address to God by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper this also makes it fit to think upon his Death Nor is it Unsuitable to commemorate his Death upon the Festival of his Nativity for the one was the End and Reason of the other His Birth was in order to his Death and if he had not died his Birth could not have profited us This Sacrament is a proper Christmass Feast to feast devoutly by Faith upon the Sacrifice which Christ offered upon the Cross is the best Entertainment we can give unto God or make for our selves This will put more Joy into our Hearts than either Wine or Oil or any of the Delicacies of richest Banquets By this it appears that the Text is suitable but before I enter upon the Explication of it it will be fit to shew you the scope of the Apostle in this place and upon what occasion he utters these words In this place the Apostle sets himself to perswade the Philippians to Humility and a generous Charity or such a mutual concernedness for each other as might make every Man ambitious to serve his Neighbour as himself and even to prefer others to himself This is an excellent temper of Mind and the very height of Vertue but withal the Practice of it is hard and the Attainment very difficult This gives a true resemblance and conformity to the Divine Nature and therefore is not easily arrived at seeing now by the corruption of our Natures we are removed to a great distance from God The things which St. Paul requires here are directly opposite to the Nature of Man in his present Natural or Corrupt state for in this state the Soul of Man hath no generous Expansion or Enlargement towards others but is almost altogether pent up
in it self and is become so peevishly selfish that it cannot move but by the narrow springs of Self-love Now all Persons and Things are only considered with a relation to one's self and a Concernment for them is more or less according as they are found more or less useful Consider Men in their present Natural state before the Grace of God and true Religion inspire and enable them all their Actions are performed only with a respect to themselves and their own particular Interest they look only to their own things and providing these things be well they are not concerned how it fare with others nay are so far from thinking themselves obliged to those Vertues the Apostle is recommending so far from looking upon this humble and charitable serviceableness as commendable or praise-worthy that they are ready to condemn it as a mean silly officiousness some think it far below them that it is a debasing of themselves and their Quality and Character to serve Inferiours to bestir themselves for their Advantage especially if their former Carriage and Behaviour has been a little provoking and not so obliging Wherefore St. Paul to take off Mens prejudice against these Vertues of humble Charity or charitable Humility to perswade them to the practice of them he shews they are Divine and God-like and for a proof of it he proposeth the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing readily will more convince enflame and animate than the Example of some great Person And if the Example of Men have a powerful Influence what ought the Example of God himself to have And if it be not below the Deity if it has not been thought unworthy of the Godhead to condescend to serve Man nay if the God-head has accepted the occasion for furthering its Glory and upon that account has been employed in very humble Offices how ambitious should Men be of this temper of Mind how ready and forward to embrace the occasions of shewing it Can Men act more honourably than to act like God Can any thing more become them than to imitate and resemble him Now that by humbling themselves to serve others to give them true Pleasure or Profit that this way they come to resemble God doth eminently appear from the Lord Jesus Christ who being in the form of God c. Thus you have a view of the Words with a reference to the Scope and Purpose of the Apostle in this place We proceed next to consider them abstractly and so they hold forth those Three very important Points of our Religion First The Pre-existence and Godhead of Jesus Christ ver 6. Secondly His Incarnation and Humanity ver 7. Thirdly His Humiliation and Ignominious Death ver 8. So that from the Text alone all the Ancient and Modern Enemies of our Blessed Lord and Saviour may be clearly baffled and all those damnable Heresies which either divest him of his God-head or deprive us of the comfort of his powerful Mediation and meritorious Death I say such damnable Heresies may from this Text be plainly refuted So pat is this Text against the Socinians that they are exceedingly gravelled with it and use a great many Subterfuges to shift the force of it by which they discover their own disingenuity and shew that their not embracing the Truth proceeds not from want of sufficient Conviction but because they bear not love and good will to the Truth Thus say they the word which is rendered Form in the 6. v. imports never any reality of substance but only a mere semblance and appearance and so Jesus being in the form of God is no more than that there appeared some Rays of Divinity in him and about him that he was vested with some shadow of Divine Power while in the mean time he was in himself and in his Nature only a weak Man as others Thus they play with the word Form as if it were exclusive of all reality And by this means what St. Paul saith here of Jesus might be with as great truth said of some of the Prophets and especially of Moses To this is replied by Dr. Hammond and other learned Criticks that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is never used for an external or accidental appearance but for such visible tokens as flow from and are the Effects of a real Essence and so according to the common acceptation of Authours the word which we have for Form is all one with Nature or it doth signifie the external or visible appearance of an inward and real or natural Essence I shall not trouble you with Instances to prove this But even the Unlearned may see this from the Text for as St. Paul speakketh of the form of God so of the form of a Servant and sets those two in opposition If therefore the one was real why not the other If by the one all acknowledge the Nature of Man why should not the Nature of God be understood by the other And seeing the Apostle doth not ascribe to Jesus Christ the form of a Servant more positively than the form of God therefore unless we turn the whole Gospel into a Sham and all its Mysteries into imaginary Dreams and Visions and make the Apostles who published them so many Visionaries we must say that Jesus Christ was as really in the form of God as in the form of Man that is was God as really as Man and did partake of the real Essence and Nature of the one no less than the other Again to give you a further instance of the Socinians Dis-ingenuity in this place As they dwindle the other words he thought it not robbery to be equal with God into just nothing and endeavour to put this gloss on them viz. That he would not boast himself equal to God nor retain those Rays and Appearances of Divinity communicated to him to the prejudice of the God-head which is to pervert the Apostles plain words and to put a contrary sence on them So they contend that all this 6th Verse is to be understood of Jesus Christ after he was Born and had made his appearance among Men that is he was Man before he was in the form of God or in that state in which it was no Robbery or no Presumption and Usurpation in him to pretend an Equality with God And if this be not to wrest the Apostles words to make him speak Nonsence and to give the Lye to his plain Assertions I know not what may be said to do it When I consider how the Socinians treat this and other Passages of Holy Scripture how they rack their Invention to do force and violence to the plainest Texts and rather than own or receive the Truth they will father Nonsence Absurdities and palpable Contradictions upon the Pen-men of Scripture I cannot but look upon them as willful Resisters of the Truth who are without all excuse If one search for the Truth but cannot find it he is to be pitied if he shew
good will and only holds off because he wants sufficient Instruction or that the Truth appears not to him with clearness and evidence there is place for Charity for in that case the defect is in the Judgment and not in the Will the Head and not the Heart is to blame But there is no place for Charity it self when one will not lay aside his Prejudices against the Truth when he employs his Wit to raise Objections and to find Shifts when the plainest Assertions will not prevail but rather than yield will do violence to his own reason and other Mens Such were the Scribes and Pharisees of old they would not receive Jesus as the Messias tho' he came at the time appointed and with all the Evidence that could be desired The Socinians now are rather more guilty they also wilfully resist the Truth and the holy Spirit of God who is the Author of it and therefore deserve to be abhorred they are among the Number of those false Teachers who privily bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and therefore bring upon themselves swift destruction as St. Peter speaks I wish what he subjoins there may not hold true of these times we live in especially amongst our selves viz. That many shall follow their pernicious ways There is a time of which it is said that every Man doth whatsoever is right in his own Eyes and there is a time not much unlike the other in which Men take liberty to speak what they please to teach and vent whatever Fancies come in their Head When the Order and Unity of the Church is broken when its Pastors and Governours cannot exert their Authority then the Enemy steps in and sowes his Tares then false Teachers arise and diffuse their Poisonous Doctrines We have not only reason to fear this but cause enough already to bewail and lament it for it is actually done This and other Damnable Errors came in with the late Troubles and they spread and grew up mightily under Cromwell his Usurpation which made Maresius utter these remarkable words O deplorandam conditionem Anglioe quoe post Reges exactos ipsi Christo Regi Regum mandat exilium nec videtur majorem libertatem magno cruore redemptam anhelasse quam ut Licentiam consequeretur faceret quidlibet audendi quidlibet scribendi quidlibet credendi O the deplorable Condition of England which having driven out their Kings now constrains the King of Kings to be Banished and it seems that they have panted after a Liberty even at the expence of much Blood only to obtain a Licence of Hearing Writing and Believing what they please I would not make this Remark if it was not necessary if these Errors were not Dangerous and Damnable if they did not strike at the root of our holy Religion and did not overturn all the hopes which the Catholick Church have been Building for near these Seventeen Hundred Years The Deity of Jesus Christ is not an idle Speculation which one may be safely ignorant of and which no body is obliged to know believe or profess as an insolent Unworthy Author in a late Blasphemous Pamphlet is pleased to talk No certainly it is a Truth of the highest Importance which shines in the Scriptures with all clearness and evident Splendor and where every one that reads may see the express Belief and Acknowledgment of it required as absolutely necessary to Salvation Wherefore let us take care to build our selves up in this Faith and to do it this Day is not improper nay it is very proper for we cannot commemorate his Birth with sufficient Admiration and Thankfulness if we do not believe the Dignity of his Person our Joy and Gladness will fall low and vanish into nothing if we be not perswaded that the Child which was this Day Born and given unto us was truly Immanuel or God with us And what small hopes can we raise to our selves from the Sacrament which is to be Administred if we be not assured that by it is communicated and applied unto us the Merits of one who is God as well as Man and so both able and willing to save to the uttermost such as come unto him For evincing of this Important Useful and Comfortable Truth I need not go beyond the Text for there it is plainly and fully asserted For 1. You see that here the Apostle declares Jesus Christ to have pre-existed or to have had a Being before he was Man for unless he had subsisted before it could not have been said that he took upon himself the form of a Servant and that in so doing he made himself of no reputation for what is not in being cannot assume to it self an Existence nor make choice of the manner and condition of its Existence 2. It is clear by what the Apostle saith that the state in which he pre-existed was preferable to and more glorious than that in which he was made or found in the likeness of Men otherwise it could not be true that he made himself of no reputation when he became Man By which expression also it appears that the Apostle evidently referrs to some pre-existent state for unless he debased himself by submitting to be Born he cannot be said to debase himself by any after Act for neither his Birth nor first Years were so glorious as his last in which he appeared as a Prophet at least and a very eminent one too full of Power and Authority 3. We see clearly here his Divinity and Godhead in that it is said expresly he was or subsisted in the form of God and in that state thought it not Robbery to be equal with God By subsisting in the form of God there must be understood 1. A real participation of the Divine Nature and all its essential Attributes as Wisdom Power Goodness Eternity c. for the form of a thing is its Essence and to partake of the form of any thing is to have the Essence of that thing 2. This comprehends the Majesty Glory Authority Splendor and Dignity which agrees to the infinite and incomprehensible Nature of God and all those Acts Signs and Tokens by which the great God manifests himself to the heavenly Inhabitants for the form of a King is not the Name or Simple Right to hold that Name but it comprehends the Marks Badges and Emblems of Royal Dignity as the Purple the Scepter and Diadem the Throne and Guards and what else the Laws of Nations or the particular Custom of Kingdoms make declarative of Majesty and Kingly Power This is the form of a King and he who doth not possess this cannot be said to be in the form of a King So the form of God is the Glory Dignity Majesty and Greatness which is due to so high a Name And by ascribing to Jesus Christ the form of God is declared that he not only in himself did partake of the Divine Nature but also that
the Lord of all things to toil like a Slave and to wander up and down as a Beggar For him whom the Angels worshipped to be reproached injured and ill treated by Men What stupendous Humility was here What wonderful Condescension was this Especially when the profit did not redound to himself but to others who little deserved it at his hands Has not Jesus by this shewed himself a kind and loving Lord Is not he that careful Shepherd who to get the strayed Sheep left the Ninety and Nine who never went astray Is it not time now to ask what shall we render to the Lord for all this Love and Kindness Alas We cannot requite him though we give our selves and endure the greatest Hardships for him it is but a small and a sorry Recompence Yet such is his Goodness that he will accept of any sincere Returns of Kindness from us And we cannot make a better Return to him than by preserving the Dignity of our Natures which he hath now consecrated by this Assumption of it unto the Divine Indeed this layeth indispensible Obligations on us to sanctifie our selves to put away all Filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit and to adorn our selves with all manner of Holiness To walk in sin to give way to Ungodliness and worldly Lust to pollute our selves with Excess Uncleanness and other Vices is not only to debase our selves but to dishonour Christ. These Sins are become now more sinful To let the Devil the World and the Flesh reign in us and as it were incorporate with us by the entire Possession of our Hearts is to rob Christ and to give away what is his Right For though the Son of God be only united personally to one yet he has thereby purchased a Right to all Mankind And will ye thus requite the Lord ye foolish people and unwise Finally The Incarnation of the Son of God may afford great Comfort to us both against Temptation to sin and all the Afflictions which in this Life we are liable to He who has taken our Nature upon him and by that means is become our Kinsman and Brother is the Almighty and all-sufficient Lord who can help us in the time of our need He knows by becoming Man our Weakness and will pity our Infirmities and will not suffer us either to be tempted or afflicted above what we are able but with both will send a way whereby we may escape that we may be able to bear it If we do not surrender our selves to Sin it can now never prove our Ruine if we do not yield basely no Temptation can prove over strong if we do not betray our selves into the hands of the Devil he cannot hurt us for Christ is stronger than he Ye who are afflicted consider That Jesus the Eternal Son of God knows by his own Experience what such a State is and cannot but have a fellow-feeling with all that are in it and therefore will not fail to afford suitable Comfort and seasonable Relief And if he suffer any who love him to fall under the hand of their Enemies and Persecutors let us not therefore conclude That he has deserted them it is only that they may have the greater Conformity with himself and be more capable of triumphing with him in the Kingdom of his Father He may suffer his Servants to die but he will not let them perish for he has Power to raise them up at the last Day Now unto him who was in the Form of God and who for us made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the Form of Man even to Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God with the Father and Holy Ghost be Eternal Praise and Glory Amen SERMON IV. On PHIL. II. 8. And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. WHEN Men reflect on their own Souls and seriously consider them they are sensible that they stand in need of some better Support and Comfort than these outward things of this World for the Nature of these things are not adapted to the Spiritual Nature of Man and are not sufficient to procure quiet and satisfaction to the Mind In reference to Man's inward Peace which is true Happiness Haman's Verdict holds certainly true of all that is in the World all these things avail me nothing But what the World cannot give the Scripture discovers and shews the way to therefore the Psalmist saith in the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts only delight my soul that is his Soul neither had nor could find true Delight but in that light and instruction those Divine Consolations and Promises wherewith his Word abounded and if the Word of God was so Useful and of such Advantage to the Psalmist it may be yet much more to us for its light is brighter it shines more fully and clearly abounds with greater Discoveries and reveals what was then kept hid The Divine Oeconomy of the World and the Redemption of Mankind are now clearly revealed from which only we have clear Instructions about our Nature and Happiness It is the Contemplation and Belief of these which only can ease the Conscience and pull out the sting of Sin it is this which can only disburden the Heart of Cares and Fears ballance the Soul and keep it equal and strengthen it to endure the toil labour and trouble of Life without fainting and wearying In a word who would have at present Peace of Mind and the Comfort of a good Hope against the other World should enlarge his Knowledge of these things and Confirm his Faith in them For this end I am resolved to entertain you at present both with a Discourse of what is so very profitable and necessary and also with sensible Signs and Tokens of it which alas now adays we have seldom occasion to receive And I pray God upon whom the success of all things depends to grant us his Blessing that the present Ministry of his Word and Sacraments may prove Effectual for our present Peace and future Salvation As the Text is suitable to the Design and Occasion of our present Meeting so that it may be handled more profitably I shall first shew you the Person of whom the Text speaks with the Character which is here given him Secondly I shall consider what is here said of him that is his Actions and Sufferings Thirdly I shall endeavour to set before you the End and Reason which moved him and the Good which we may draw from the Consideration of what he is here said to have done As to the First It is evident from the 5th and 9th Verses that the Person here spoken of is none other than Jesus Christ it is of him that it is here said he was found in fashion as a Man that is he was truly and really a Man by all the Evidence Proofs and Demonstrations that others appear to be Men having a Soul
I say what Humility would it be in such a Person for the good of his Subjects to divest himself of Majesty to lay aside the Pretensions to Royalty and Sovereignty and to put himself in the State of a Subject in which he should be obliged to obey the Laws and Orders which he had Right to give and which were in force only by Virtue of his own Authority How would men stand amazed at this And yet such and greater Humility has Christ shewed for us men for while he was Heir of all things he made himself empty and poor for us When he had a sovereign Authority over all in Heaven and Earth he became subject and obedient both to the Laws of God and men And it was for this very end that he became man therefore it is said of him Psal. 40. mine ears hast thou opened or bored alluding to that Custom of boring the Ears of those who resolved to be Servants for ever Which St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. X. 5. to render the thing clearer hath expressed thus a body hast thou prepared for me And in both it is added Lo I come in the volume of thy Book it is written of me to do thy will O God I take delight And as Obedience was the end why he became Man so from his Birth he payed a ready sincere and punctual Obedience to the Laws of Nature the Decrees of God the Acts of his Providence and the Statutes of Men. In his Infancy he was subject to his Parents when he was grown up he was obedient both to the Roman Governours and Jewish Magistrates he observed all the Law of Moses and was both in Civil and Religious Matters the greatest Example of a chearful and universal Obedience which ever the World saw He did all things without murmuring without Reluctancy he never disputed the Reasonableness of the divine Commands or the Justice of his Providence But knowing That God has an absolute Authority over Men and that he can command nothing that is not just therefore having put himself in the Condition of other Men that is in a State of Subjection to God he obeyed his absolute Authority without Reserve Nay rather than give Scandal or Occasion to any to refuse Obedience he would render it when it was not due and where it could not be without Rigour exacted nay when he could easily have avoided it Thus he would be baptized of Iohn the Baptist for fulfilling of all righteousness though Iohn refused it and that there was no need of it for him Therefore also after he had convinced Peter that he ought not to have payed Tribute notwithstanding said he to him lest we offend go thou to the sea and cast an hook and take up the fish that first cometh up and when thou hast opened its mouth thou shalt find a piece of Money that take and give unto them for me and thee Matth. xvii 27. It was his meat and drink to do the will of God Nor did he take Pleasure therein only when it was easie and about pleasant Matters but also when the Commands were severe heavy troublesome such as Nature struggled with and was averse to When his Soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto Death upon the sad Apprehensions of his Sufferings he went and prayed O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt And again O my Father if this Cup may not pass away from me unless I drink it thy will be done Sometimes free and independent Princes have subjected themselves to others but then it was for some noble Employment and general Command under them whereby they had a Prospect of getting to themselves Glory Praise and Renown in the Earth But behold Jesus submitted himself to the Condition of the meanest Servant to Misery Pain Shame Reproach Disgrace and all the evil vile and unjust Usage which the most barbarous and most wicked could invent and which an ingenuous and noble Soul would abhorr He yielded himself to be a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief to be smitten of God and afflicted by Men to be despised set at nought oppressed and killed And yet he never opened his Mouth he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth He was obedient to the death And that we may the more admire this Obedience of his the kind of Death to which he submitted is set before us even the death of the Cross. This was a Death well known in those times in which the Apostle lived and wrote this Epistle And it was known to be the very worst kind of Death that the Laws of Men could inflict on the greatest Malefactors It was a painful Death and the more painful because it was lingering It was so vile and shameful that by the Laws none could be put to it except Slaves not a free man or any of honest Birth whatever might be their Crime This was the Death to which Jesus surrendered himself and he yielded to this Death not only when there was no Mitigation of the usual Pain Shame and Bitterness but also when extraordinary Pain Shame Torment and Agony were superadded Let any take a View of our Lord his Death and Passion what went before and what accompanied his Cross what Treachery and Ingratitude he met with with what Malice and Cruelty he was pursued what base Calumnies he was loaded with what horrid Crimes of Blasphemy Sedition and Conspiracy against Church and State were falsly charged upon him how he was deserted by his Friends mocked by his Enemies and despitefully used by every Body it will be found that never any Sorrow was like unto his Sorrow nor any Cross so grievous as his He sustained the Wrath of God the Weight of Sin the Malice of Devils and the Spite of Men. His Death was both base and bitter sad and shameful beyond all Expression But withal it was voluntary Which leads me to the last thing proposed Which was to shew the End and Reason why Jesus who was the Son of God thus abased and humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross. In Prosecution of this it cannot be expected that either I can mention all or insist at large on any for the time allowed will not suffice for such a Task I shall propose briefly some few which may satisfie and leave the Prosecution of them to your private Meditations In general then all this was done for setting forth the Glory of God and for effectuating the Redemption of Mankind therefore it is called the Mystery of Redemption and the Gospel which declareth it is called the word of Salvation And for this cause that admirable Person of whom we have been speaking is called our Saviour and Redeemer Behold said the Angel to the Shepherds I bring to you tidings of great joy
times Father if it be thy will let this Cup pass from me and from these disconsolate Words which his inward Sorrow and Anguish extorted while he hanged upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The Sufferings of Jesus cannot be reckoned up no Man can describe no Tongue can express all the Particulars of his bitter Agony and bloody Passion and cruel Death The Words of the Prophet are applicable to him and as they were spoken prophetically of him so in him only they were fully accomplished Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger From above he hath sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them he hath spread a net for my feet he hath turned my back he hath made me desolate and faint all the day Who then that beheld this could Or who that hears and lays it to heart can refrain from weeping Tears indeed are due to the Memory of Christ's Death and Passion But yet our Lamentation and Weeping must not be as that in Rama spoken of by the Prophet Like Rachel weeping for her children who would not be comforted because they are not We may and should weep at the Remembrance of what Christ suffered but our Sorrow should not run to an Excess meerly on his Account Wherefore you see that our Lord turned about and checked the excessive Sorrowfulness of these Women saying Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me which was the Second thing I promised to speak to This is not a total Prohibition of weeping for Christ the Negative Particle Not is not always to be taken so peremptorily for frequently it imports only Rather or not so much as when it is said I will have mercy and not sacrifice the Meaning is Mercy rather than Sacrifice or not so much Sacrifice as Mercy So here weep not for me but for your selves is only as much as to say weep for your selves rather than for me or not so much for me as for your selves Thus all Weeping is not forbidden And as I have shewn it to be very just proper and suitable so we find it made both a necessary and an acceptable Duty Zach. xii 10. And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of Grace and of Supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only Son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first born However we should so bewail his Death as to keep within a certain Measure Not as those good Women in the Text who apprehended that all their Hope and all their Comfort would have perished in his Death The Death of Christ is not to be lamented like the Tragical end of Pompey Caesar and other Heroes of the World whether Ancient or Modern whose Deaths were sad and convincing Instances of the Changeableness of Fortune of the Vanity of the World and of the Uncertainty of humane Affairs When they died their vast Designs and Projects were defeated and the Expectation of their Friends frustrated in that very Day all their Thoughts perished they instantly ceased to be either the Hope of their Friends or the Dread and Terrour of their Enemies and left nothing behind them save a faint Memory and uncertain Conjectures But the Death of Jesus Christ is quite another thing As our Lord still liveth so he reigneth and it was by his Death that he advanced and secured his Kingdom His Death was glorious and the Issue of it was eternal Praise to God and himself and everlasting Advantage to all the World Never any Triumph was so illustrious as the Death of Christ The greatest triumph in the World was only over Beasts and weak Men and set forth with the Spoils of earthly Kingdoms But Jesus at his Death triumphed over Devils he conquered Hell and the Grave made Spoils of Principalities and all the Powers of Darkness By his Death he quenched the Fire of God's Wrath blunted the Edge of the Law weakned the Strength of Sin loosned the Bands of the Grave ransomed Sinners and opened the Kingdom of Heaven to Penitents and Believers His Death gave Life to the World and renewed Nature so that the Face of things is altered ever since Thus as upon one Account there is Reason to lament the Death of Jesus Christ so upon another there is no less Reason to rejoice for by it God is glorified Jesus exalted and Mankind saved But when we leave off to mourn for Christ we should continue to mourn for our selves So you see here that our Lord biddeth the Women moderate their Grief upon his Account but still requireth it for themselves which was the third thing proposed Weep not for me but for your selves And very good Reason alas There is more than sufficient Cause for this Mourning For tho' Jesus Christ has merited Salvation for us yet our natural Wretchedness our Original and Actual Guilt is no less than it was both which are deplorable and neither of them can ever be enough lamented And if we are not sensible of the heinous Nature of these let us look upon the persecuted reviled mocked buffetted scourged and crucified Jesus let us call to mind his bitter Death and Sufferings and these will instruct us For all these things befell him for our sake and upon our Account The Jews who crucified him and put him to so vile and shameful a Death were only the Instruments But otherwise every one of us as well as they were the Cause and Occasion of all that evil which befell him They are to be considered only as the common Executioner who executeth the Law and the Will of the Judge and consequently our Rage and Indignation should not be against them but against the Crimes which caused and required so heavy a Punishment Now they were not his own Crimes for which he suffered for he knew no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth he was a Lamb without Spot and Blemish But he was made Sin for us Surely as the Prophet speaks he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him and he received stripes that we might be healed Let us not go about to clear our selves of all Accession to the Death of this good and righteous Person because we are come to the World so long after it fell out and are not of the Race of those who laid wicked and violent hands on him For though Jesus died but once yet he did bear the Sins of all and was charged with the Sins of all that went before or shall come after From the time that he
which is above upon those who do not obey him so none but those who keep his Commandments are capable of them The Dignities and Enjoyments of this present World may be possessed by any Both good and bad we see can be invested with them but as for the Heavenly Glory none can enjoy it but such as are worthy thereof As the Eye is required to Seeing and the Ear to Hearing and the Palate to Tasting so the previous Dispositions of Holiness and Righteousness are requisite and absolutely necessary to the Enjoyment of Heaven and Eternal Life Without holiness saith the Apostle no man can see God Seeing it is certain that we keep in the other World the same Temper and Inclinations which we have in this therefore he who is not prepared and disposed before-hand by the Exercise of Vertue and the leading a Life according to the Commandments of God is no more capable of Heaven and the Pleasures thereof than a Beast is of the intellectual and rational Enjoyments of Men. Heaven is not to be considered so much under the Notion of some glorious Place as of a State which brings us near to God and makes us Partakers of his Divine Nature It is a Life of perfect Holiness and Purity Wherefore they who seek for Heaven without the Desires and Endeavours to be truly holy are wholly ignorant of and do quite mistake the thing and do not know what they would be at Let any Object or Enjoyment be in it self never so good or excellent yet if it be not agreeable to the Faculties and suitable to the Inclinations of him who hath it it affords no Satisfaction or Delight And if he hath any Aversion thereunto it disgusts and procures Trouble and Pain The covetous Worlding the lascivious and intemperate Person relish no Pleasure in the Church in the Exercises of Devotion and in the Company of pious and devout Souls who are wholly mortified to the World and the things thereof these are irksome painful and wearisome things unto them And we may be sure Heaven would be yet far more troublesome because it would be a greater Violence to their Inclinations Therefore could we suppose a wicked Man translated into Heaven he yet would find no Heaven of it I mean he would not look upon himself as happy there because he would find nothing agreeable to his mind or grateful to his Inclinations he would taste as little Pleasure in all that that place could afford him as a Swine would do to be wrapped in Odours and fine Linen and decked with all manner of precious Ornaments As that Beast would still count the Mire and Puddle more delicious so a wicked and ungodly Person would esteem the lowest the most brutish and sensual Pleasures here to be preferable to the Joys of Heaven it self Heaven certainly is as much the natural Consequence of a holy and good Life as it is the Reward obtained for our Obedience And Hell is no more the determined Punishment of Sin than it is the necessary result and effect of it As a Weight naturally presseth towards the Earth so Sin sinketh a Man necessarily into Hell that is the outmost Misery Whereas true Goodness and Righteousness put him without the Reach of it in that they elevate and raise him towards God who is the Fountain of all Happiness Holiness therefore and Obedience to Christ is the true and only way to Heaven he that treads not this Path shall never come there Thus we have considered the Text as it seems the Proposal of a Question or interrogatory asking the Reason and Cause why those who own and acknowledge Christ to be their Lord and Master do not sincerely obey Him and keep his Commandments From which Occasion hath been taken to shew the unreasonableness and Absurdity of disjoining these which should be conjoined together I mean the Profession and Practice of Christianity seeing that which moveth and exciteth to the one doth also call for the other Now before I leave this Point allow me to ask you a few Questions and to reason the matter a little with you What is it that perswadeth you to call Christ Lord Is it that you may please God by receiving him whom he hath so highly exalted If this be the reason do you not see that by the same reason you are obliged to serve and obey him For this also is the Will of God Is it Love to Christ which makes you adhere to him You see Love and Obedience are inseparable and that Love cannot be ingenuously professed if Obedience be denied Finally do you embrace Christ on the account of that rich Reward which he hath promised But do you not see that this cannot be expected without keeping his Commandments and performing that Work which he requireth and hath intrusted to you What Reason can be given for refusing an entire Subjection to the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. Is there any Motive or Inducement to believe which doth not equally perswade to obey It is evident then that if the matter be laid home to Men they can answer nothing but must stand speechless Out of thine own Mouth thou shalt be condemned O wicked and slothful Servant for thou oughtest to have obeyed him whom thou knowest and believest to be thy Lord Shouldest thou not study to please him whom thou professest so much to Love And oughtest thou not to have done thy Work if thou wouldest have had thy Wages What a shameful and unworthy a thing is it for Men to act so unlike Men To shew so little Reason nay to walk so contrary to all Reason in these matters of the greatest Moment and Concernment The Practice of Heathens and Infidels is not so absurd as this comes to they do not obey Christ because they do not believe in him or they will not profess him because they have no mind to obey him So one tells us of the Men of Congo That at first they were easily perswaded by the Portugueze to embrace Christianity and were baptized in great abundance But afterwards when they found it did require some Strictness which they had no mind to bear that they must leave their Heathen Practices particularly their Multitude of Women they came back to the Church renounc'd what they had done and return'd back to their indulgent Heathenism For they knew not how to reconcile the Christian Vow with living in the open Breach of it being too honest for such Practices And certainly it is far more reasonable to declare that we do not believe in Christ nor yet own him than to profess both and in the mean time continue disobedient to him if we lay aside our Obedience let us lay aside our Faith and Profession too for that but makes us the more guilty and liable to a greater Condemnation And thus we are brought from considering the Text Question-wise to consider it as an Expostulation or sharp Reproof made to all empty and barren Professors and such as rest
fighting the good fight and endeavouring to do all things commanded us through Christ that strengtheneth us More Reasons might be given but these are sufficient not only to clear the Divine Wisdom and Goodness of all Imputation but also to make them appear eminently in such Dispensations towards his best and most beloved Servants When I first entred on this Discourse I intended to have taken in the two following Verses not thinking that this one would have furnished matter enough for a Discourse but you see how far the handling of it hath carried us and how without digressing from the Purpose of the Text or doing Violence to the Words thereof several material and important Observations have been drawn From which we may see as St. Chrysostom observes the fullness of the Scripture and that an inexhaustible Treasure of Wisdom and Knowledge is contained in it when one single Verse and so barren at the first Appearance can afford so many and so useful Instructions If one Verse can do such what may the whole do Surely It is able to make us wise unto Salvation and beyond all Question is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works God grant that this Word of his may dwell in all Christians richly in all Wisdom but especially in the Ministers of the Gospel whose Office it is to instruct others therein Amen FINIS Snake in the Grass A General Call to all Persons Joh. 5. 40. Isai. 55. 1. Rev. 22. 17. Why all Men are said to Labour and to be heavy Laden I. Because of Afflictions II. The Emptiness and Vanity of Life Ezek. 24. 〈◊〉 2. Isa. 29. 8. Eccl. 1. 5. 9. 2. 17. 4. 2 3. III. The fear of Death IV. Sin Psal. 38. 2. Prov. 18. 14. How Christ giveth rest I. From Sin Matt. 9. II. From the fear of Death Rev. 3. 7. III. Under the Vanity of this Life IV. From Troubles and Afflictions The necessary Qualification to the rest Promised I. Coming to Christ is 1st To follow his Counsel 2d To believe in him Heb. 11. 6. 2 Cor. 4. 3. Heb. 3. 12. 3d. What Faith is 1 John 5. 9. Chap. 2. 22 23. II. Taking the Yoke Gal. 5. 1. Gal. 5. 13. 1 Pet. 2. 16. III. Learning of Christ. John 13. 15. Phil. 2. I. The Scope and Coherence of the Text. II. The Truths contain'd in the Text. III. The perverse disingenuity of the Socinians in their Explication of this Text. 2 Pet. 2. 1. Hydra Socinianismi Tom. 2. Praef. * Naked Gospel IV. Of Iesus Christ his Pre-existence and Deity V. Of his humane Nature and Humiliation VI. Inferences from the Nature and Quality of Iesus Christ. 1st Admiration 2d Love III. Comfort against Tentations and Afflictions I. Of Iesus Christ his Person Nature and Quality Gal. 4. 4. Isa. 7. 14. 9. 6. II. His Actions and Sufferings They were voluntary Joh. 10. 17 18. What his Humiliation referrs to His great Obedience His Death III. Why Iesus abased and humbled himself For the Glory of God and Man's Redemption To demonstrate God's Love and Mercy His Iustice and Authority The heinous Nature of Sin The Dignity of Humane Nature The Perfection of it The Exaltation of Iesus Christ. Eccles. 7. 2 3 4. I. The Womens Behaviour A Comfort to Women An Example in dangerous times The Greatness of the Womens Sorrow The Cause of it Lam. 1. 12. II. Our Lord's Check to the Womens Sorrow The Prohibition not absolute The glorious Effects of Christ's Death III. Why Iesus Christ requireth us to mourn rather for our selves than him Is. 5. 3 4 5. IV. The dreadful Effects of the death of Iesus Christ upon the Impenitent Iesus may be Crucified again V. The Application I. The Author of our Happiness God Jam. 1. 16 17. God and the Father * Qui 〈◊〉 udam Dei Majestatem extra Christum mente concipiunt Idolum habent Dei loco sicut Iudaei Turcae proinde quisquis verum Deum verè cognoscere cupit hoc patris Christi titulo ipsum vestiat nisi enim quoties mens nostrae Deum quaerit Christus occurrat vaga confusa errabit donec prorsus deficiat Calvinus in locum II. The Motive which induced God His abundant Mercy * Posset Apostolus saith Fulgentius vasa misericordiae potius vasa justitiae nuncupare Sed si vasa justitiae vocarentur forsitan ex seipsis habere justitiam putarent Nunc autem cum vasa misericordiae dicit proculdubio quid ipsi fuerint non tacuit quare quid eis à Deo collatum sit evidenter ostendit Lib. de Praedest p. 58. III. The Benefits conferred Begotten again A lively Hope An Inheritance Incorruptible Undefiled It fadeth not away In the Heavens IV. The ground of Assurance Iesus his Resurrection I. Iesus Christ is the Son of God Philip. 2. 9. 10 11. II. What is meant by Having the Son True Faith described Matth. 7. 22. Cor. 10. 5. Gal. 2. 20. Heb. 11. Rom. 10. 17. 2 Cor. 4. 3. III. Life explained 1 Tim. 4. 8. 1 Cor. 15. 19. Why Heaven and the future State of the righteous is called Life 1. Cor. 15. 31. Mad. Antonia Borignian and some others 1 Cor. 2. 9. Revel 21. 23. 22. 5. Rev. 7. 16. 1 Cor. 15. Philip 3. 21. 1 Cor. 13. 12. Luke 19. 36. Iesus Christ the Discoverer of this Life 2 Tim. 1. 10. John 1. 7. And the Author of it Rev. 3. 7. Rev. 2. 10. IV. Faith gives a right and title to Life Joh. 5. 24. 3. 18. Joh. 6. 56. John 17. V. Practical Inferences 1. 2. Heb. 12. 2. Rom. 8. 18. 3. Rev. 2. 10. 4. I. Misery and Trouble not peculiar to a state of Christianity Job 18. 20. Isai. 57. 20. II. They are Common to the state of Mankind in this World Eccl. 4. 23. III. Christians and Good men more liable to be miserable in this Life than others And the Reason why it is so Mat. 10. 37. Luke 14. 26 27. 2 Tim. 3. 12. 1 Thes. 3. 3. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Psal. 37. 16. IV. The Force of St. Paul's Argument for the Proof of another Life V. Inferences First Second Third 1 Cor. 4. 16. Rev. 7. 16 17. Fourth Joh. 3. 36. I. All Christians are concerned in this Advertisement II. Of Hearing It s Necessity The manner of doing it Whom we should hear III. Of Overcoming Christianity is a Warfare The Nature of the Christian Warfare What Christian Victory is No Victory so honourable Prov. 16. 32. IV. Of the hidden Manna It is an Allusion to the Custom of entertaining Conquerours and to what the Iews fed upon in the Wilderness The Nature and Quality of the Entertainment appointed for Christian Conquerours Joh. 4. 13. Iesus Christ is the hidden Manna V. Of the white Stone Ovid Metam Lib. xv Psal. 32. 1. Rom. 8. 1. VI. Of the New Name VII How these words No man knoweth but he