of wondrous comfort likewise to us in all afflictions whatsoever especially such as concerne the state of the Church we are now in ill times if wee looke about us however God continues better to us then we deserve wee are as the three young men in the fiery furnace untouched when all is in a combustion round about us where is Christs ruling now his poore Church is thus used and trampled upon in France in the Palatinate in Bohemia and the Princes of Germany Beloved it is our faults perhaps wee waken not Christ as the Disciples they awaked Christ when there was a mighty storm and moved him to rebuke the winds and the waves and there followed a calme so should we Christ loves to bee awaked by our prayers and if the Church would joyne in forces one Church with another altogether they might worke wonders let us offer a holy violence to Christ by prayer and the use of holy meanes he is Lord still of the Church and take things at the worst as they are hee is but carrying things to his owne ends Beloved if we consider things aright it can hardly bee otherwise with the Church then it is if wee consider the former security and dullnesse and want of prizing the great things of Christ the ministery of the word and the Sacraments we live under the Gospell in such deadnesse and such sinnes as a Turke would scarce commit we are no more affected with it then a Iew or a Turke that hath not the meanes will Christ indure this that wee should come to bee carelesse whether wee have the Gospell the blessed truth of God or no and grow sinfull and have lesse conscience then a Turke or a Iew will Christ continue his blessed prerogatives and priviledges to such Therefore if we doe but looke to the ordinary dispositions of most men a man would thinke it impossible but that judgement should come will there be a reformation of these men without a Spirit of fire without some purging flame Then againe Christ is humbling his Church for the advancement of it and suffers the enemies to triumph for their further abasement hee is compassing a blessed worke there is a great wheele a going but wee doe not see the issue of things al this great wheele the Lord rules and governes and moves you shall see at length what it will drive to wee see in a clocke there are many wheeles one contrary to another but all helpes the clocke to strik all joyne in that so there is a stroke there is somewhat that will come out of all these troubles that seeme contrary one to another some up and some downe but all these wheeles will helpe to bring out some stroake some glorious thing that posterity perhaps may see that is now a working Therefore let none take scandall Christ rules now in the middest of his enemies We must not catch at peeces of Christs workmanship as in a poem we judge not by a peece but looke to the Catastrophe wee looke to the upshot and closure of all though all was in a combustion there wee see all things brought to an excellent and wise issue Therefore I beseech you suspend your judgements a while and then you shal see with a spirit of faith all the enemies overthrowne even as if we did see it with our eyes of sence and in the meane time perswade our selves that Christ is about a blessed worke as hee is King of his Church One question the Papists moove upon such Texts as this that I will assoyle briefely because it may trouble some though it bee of no great moment It is said here that Christ dyed and rose againe and revived that hee might be Lord of the dead and of the living Hence not onely Papists but some others moove this question which I will give a little light unto Whether Christ by his dying and abasement did merit any thing for himselfe because it is said here he did this that hee might bee Lord of the dead c. Hee abased himselfe to the death of the crosse Therefore God gave him a name above all names Phil. 2. The Papists they fall upon Calvin that saith he did not and that makes me the rather to touch it Calvin as hee was a very holy man so out of his holinesse hee avoyded curious questions as much as he might therefore gives an excellent answer saith he whether he did or no it is curious to search it is rash to define For satisfaction take these grounds and all is well First of all that Christ is perfectly glorious now in heaven both body and soule there is no question of that and that he came to this glory both of body and soule and the manifestation of it after his abasement by his humiliation first he must dye and suffer and then enter into glory Againe remember this for a ground that Christ as man merited not the grace of Vnion or unction for how could he merit before he was could Christ merit to be united to the second person that was the greatest grace that ever was No nor the grace of unction habituall grace in Christ whereby the humane nature was filled with all grace it was upon unction presently they follow one another there was no meriting of that thing because from the beginning of his incarnation it was by union of his nature these things being thought upon for other things they are not materiall onely it is best and safest to thinke that he did not for himself merit any thing for if so be all glory was due to him by vertue of union which he had by grace and by vertue of unction if he had dyed presently he might have gone to heaven presently indeed without dying if there had not beene a dispensation layd upon him to dye for us and therefore by vertue of union and unction that was free heaven was due to him presently and all that glory that hee had afterward Why was there a stop of that glory that his body being united to the divine nature was not presently glorified as now it is in heaven so that hee lived in abasement and dyed a most cursed death Beloved all this was for us and then after the dispensation was finished for us after Gods justice was satisfied for us there was no more stoppe or stay of his glory but then his divine nature did flow into his humane nature and then his humane nature became glorious so glorious as it was capable of what hee did was for us Therefore it is good to thinke of the love of Christ that he considered us and not himselfe in that his abasement as the Scripture runs in that straine To us a Sonne is given for us a childe is borne he dyed for us hee gave himselfe for us he rose for us hee ascended for us he sits at the right hand of God for us himselfe indeede hath glory but together with us and therefore when wee thinke of the
might be a publicke person If Christ had taken the person of any body there had beene two persons of Christ he had dyed in one person and not in another now having the nature that is common to all men and not the person of Peter or Iames c. when he dyed the person dyed in that nature wherein he might dye so when it is sayd Christ dyed wee must consider Christ as a publicke person not taking the particular person of any man but the generall nature of man into union with the second person Christ dyed as a publicke person Secondly Christ dyed as the second Adam the spring of all misery and death was from the first Adam but the second Adam was a quickning Spirit he dyed as a publicke person and the second Adam We must know moreover that he dyed as the great high Priest of the Church offering to God the Father a sacrifice that made him Lord over all as we shall see after hee dyed as a Priest as indeed he that was fore-signifyed by all the Sacrifices and Priests hee was both Priest and Sacrifice Heb. 9. 14. By the eternall Spirit the Godhead he offered himselfe to his Father Againe he dyed a voluntary death for else he had not dyed in obedience his death was violent in regard of them that forced it but it was voluntary in regard of them that he offered himselfe for as a sweete Sacrifice to his Father that voluntarinesse made his death a sweete sacrifice for whatsoever the Father did to him he joyned with the Father in it the Father gave him he gave himselfe the Father appointed him to bee so and so and he joyned with the Father in all things No man takes away my life from me saith hee himselfe It was a voluntary death in regard of his freedome nay hee thirsted after it as you have it in the Gospell he longed after it upon higher considerations howsoever in a lower consideration as it was a tormenting thing and a bitter cup hee had a desire that it might passe but it was upon lower respects upon hi her respects the will of his Father and the Salvation of mankinde hee thirsted to drinke of that cup. A man may will and nill the same thing upon presenting of different objects and respects and reasons that which a man may decline as wee say in this respect looking to a particular end that a man may desire looking to a higher end because man is framed so to yeeld to the stronger reason alway Thereupon that is no objection he seemed sometime a little unwilling It was looking upon something presented to him that made him in that respect unwilling but looking upon other respects he gave himselfe willingly the Father and he joyned together And therefore by the way when they talke of the active and passive obedience there was action in all his passion chiefly in his passion there was action for if it had beene meere suffering without voluntary obedience what obedience had that beene a beast may so suffer but against his will but his voluntary obedience was the chiefe in all his passion He humbled himselfe to the death of the Crosse as it is Phil. 2. Yet further as he dyed voluntarily so he dyed as our surety therefore hee dyed a cursed death due to us Hee was made a curse for us that hee might remove the curse from us these and such like conclusions must be observed in this that the Apostle saith to this end Christ dyed because wee shall have use of them afterwards Here we might stay and admire that life should dye that glory should become shame for us And that hee that is the Authour of all blessing should become a curse Indeed it is a great mystery that Christ being God should stoupe so low that hee could joyne together the infinite Majesty of God and that low degree of abasement that he did condescend unto Domine quo descendis c. Lord how farre goest thou he could not goe lower and be God God to shew his love to us shewed himselfe God in this that he could be God and goe so low as to dye and not onely to dye but to dye a shameful and cursed death for us but I passe to the particulars For this end Christ both dyed and rose c. He rose againe and indeed it was impossible but hee should rise againe because he is the Lord of life Now the Lord of life and life it selfe could not long dye it was but by dispensation that hee dyed viz. to worke our salvation but he could not be detained any longer by the sorrowes of death he dyed therefore and rose he rose even as he dyed he rose a publicke person and as a second Adam to give and infuse spirituall life into all his branches he rose as our surety in our roome he rose in spight of the Iewes that laboured to keepe him downe all they could By the way this shewes that he will rise in his Church and in his children in his Religion and in his cause let the world and all the devils in hell lay a stone upon Christ upon his cause and Church and children they will rise againe even as his blessed body did in spight of all the watchfullnesse of the Iewes Againe as he rose so he rose with many not alone to shew as I said before that he rose as a publicke person another man riseth as himselfe the rest rise not with him as caused by his rising But Christ rose as a publicke person Therefore many rose with him the graves were opened to shew that he rose as a publicke person as our surety as a spirituall head and as the second Adam who could infuse life into others What became of those bodyes that rose with him after the Scripture saith nothing of it nor what became of Moses body They rose to doe God a service and Christ an honour which when they had done they were content to be disposed of by God againe and it is likely to returne from whence they came for if the head of the Church himselfe was content to come from heaven into the Virgins wombe and from thence to the crosse and from thence to the grave and to be abased for us those that have the Spirit of Christ those blessed soules in heaven might well be content for a time to be abased to take bodies to doe a service for their Lord and master who was content to foregoe heaven thirty foure yeares and the glory due to him Therefore by the way if God will use us though we be never so great for a particular service to the Church shall wee stand upon it when the blessed Saints in heaven those blissefull soules were content to come and take bodies for a time to doe God service and then to sleepe againe Againe he rose on that day which was ever after and well may still be called the Lords day for a new world beganne with his
of this subject at large heretofore I only desire you to raise up your thoughts to consider whom you have to deale with with him that is Lord of the quicke and of the dead we have to deale with the mighty Monarch of heaven and earth Christ therefore come as with faith because he hath ordained these things to strengthen faith so come with reverence knowing with whom wee are to feast and to deale consider of these things and then I hope that God will vouchsafe a blessing answerable to the intendment of his ordinance THE SECOND SERMON ON ROM 14. 9. For to this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be the Lord both of the dead and of the living I Shewed the dependance in the forenoone a Christian by the Spirit of God in him hee hath a blessed aime at all times howsoever hee may faile in particulars yet his ayme is right This doubt rose from difference of aymes whether he should please God or man his doubt rose in pleasing of God what might please him most and because hee sees not alwaies what might please him therefore he carries this honesty that whatsoever he doth he will doe it to the Lord and whatsoever he doth not he will not doe it to the Lord his ayme is for good at all times Now this is proved from the generall disposition of Christians they live and dye to the Lord therefore their particular actions must be to the Lord if their whole life and death bee to the Lord their actions must bee to him Now hee proves their whole life and death are to the Lord because they are the Lords how doth he prove that they are the Lords that is Iesus Christs because the Text saith here For this end Christ both dyed and revived that he might bee Lord both of the dead and of the living And surely he is Lord he will not misse of his end God never misseth of his end because hee can remove all impediments betweene him and his end Now it being Christs end to be Lord of the quicke and of the dead hee is Lord if he be Lord then those that are under him and led by his Spirit aime both in life and death to glorifie him in all things This in a word be spoken for the inference of the words To this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived Here you have a ground and an inference An argument and a reasoning from it The argument or ground is Christ dyed and rose and revived That that riseth thence is that he might be Lord both of the dead of of the living In thē ground it selfe I told you how Christ dyed as a publicke person as the second Adam c. and now here you are to take notice likewise that hee rose againe as a publicke person as the second Adam c. And likewise hee rēvived not to dye againe as in his first life when hee beganne to live hee beganne to dye but when hee revived he did not dye againe he lives for ever to make intercession for us in heaven Christ never dyes againe Rom. 6. he rose to a life that shall never end for the divine nature doth flow into his humane nature and doth immediately inspire such a spirituall life into it as it lives for ever by vertue of the Spirit of Christ actuating and stirring and moving him as his naturall life did here when hee was upon the earth Christ dyed and rose and revived To what end is all this what is grounded hence that Christ therefore is Lord of quicke and dead this is inferred from all three Christ dyed that hee might reconcile us to God by his death satisfying justice and so justice being fully satisfyed hee might have his end in being Lord of his Church hee had a minde to marry us but he could not till hee had rescued us therefore to rescue us out of divine justice and from the tyranny of Sathan Gods gaoler he made satisfaction to divine justice As for Sathan hee brought us out of his kingdome by strong hand and so doth continually by the power of his Spirit Now hereupon it must needes bee that hee must be Lord of that hee paid so deare a price for And then he rose againe for this end that he might be Lord because howsoever hee had a title to be Lord of the Church by the union of the humane nature with the divine he was Lord alway yet in regard of the exercise of his Lordship it was deferred till his glorious resurrection and ascention then that that lay hid before Christs divine power majesty and Lordship that appeared and manifested it selfe as it is Rom. 1. He was mightily declared to be the Sonne of God by the resurrection from the dead he was the Sonne of God before but then it was a kinde of begetting because it was then manifest things are sayd in Scripture and Divinity to be when they are apparent to be so this day of the resurrection Christ was begotten because it was apparent then by raising himselfe from the dead that he was the onely begotten Sonne of God now that made way for his Lordship for after his resurrection God gave him power over all things in heaven and earth and then upon the resurrection he had the Spirit in more aboundance having conquered all enemies betweene God and us therefore he was fit to be Lord by that because he could give the Spirit to them over whom hee meant to rule But then in his owne person he rising triumphed over all opposite enemies whatsoever over death the last enemie and over Sathan sinne and the Law having cancelled all surely he hath over-ruled all for himselfe he will over-rule all for his Church and people and therefore hee rose againe to bee Lord of quicke and dead and he may well be because he is Lord of quicke and dead in his owne person hee is Lord over all in his owne person and therefore he is Lord over the Church and all the enemies of the Church so farre as the enemies seized upon his person so farre hee overcame them all he hath as much care of his misticall person the Church as he had on his owne body and more too for he gave that for the other And then he revived to be Lord over all that is he lives for ever to make good what hee hath gotten by his death hee will not lose the price of his owne blood he is in heaven to appeare before God and sits at the right hand of God and rules there till he have made all his enemies his footestoole till he draw his Church home to heaven to himselfe he lives for ever as the Apostle saith to make intercession hereupon it must needes bee that by living for ever he is fitly qualified to bee Lord over all the quicke now I proceede That he might be Lord both of quicke and dead Christ is Lord both of the dead and of the
glory of Christ thinke of us in him when we see him borne thinke he was borne for me when wee see him dye thinke wee dye with him when wee see him buried thinke our selves buried with him so in the state of exaltation when wee see him rise and sit at the right hand of God thinke he is there to prepare a place for me whatsoever hee hath or whatsoever he did he regards us in all therefore it somewhat obscures the glory and the love of Christ to us to conceive that he had a selfe-respect in these things when he saith in the text For this end Christ dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord of quicke and dead I beseech you consider whose good he respects in this Lordship is it not a profitable Lordship for us is it not for our good that he is our Lord in life and in death not only our Lord but the Lord of Sathan of death and of all our enemies he is Lord over all saith the Apostle God over all blessed for ever therfore he is Lord over sinne over death over hell over all that we neede to feare it is for us therefore our good is intended though there be a redundance of glory in Christ in all these things yet thinke hee respects our good the best meditation of Christ is to thinke all is for us Beloved is it not a great mercy that hee should stop the issue and the beames of glory that should otherwise have come upon his humane nature that he should be content to be in the shape of a servant and bee eclipsed in regard of manifestation and abase himselfe to the death of the crosse and all for our redemption when he might have gone to glory another way but as one of the ancients saith well if he had gone to heaven another way hee might have come thither himselfe but hee could not have helped us that way therefore he would goe to heaven by way of abasement and concealement and stopping that of his glory that he might helpe us and pay the price to God for us and reconcile us I beseech you let us see his love to us in all this enough for that question which I would not have mentioned but that it hath a speciall use and comfort and may be an incentive to kindle love to Christ regarding us in his birth and life and death in his resurrection in his ascention in his glory in all To draw to a conclusion therefore Christ is our Lord both in life and death it is for ever oh beloved therefore I beseech you let us project for his glory for ever as much as we can he is our Lord when we are dead he is the Lord of our soules of our happines we are nearer him then than we are now hee that is my Lord both living and dying and for ever shall not I labour that when I am dead there may be a Church here that when I am dead posterity may serve him and be subject to him shall he for ever be Lord for my good and shall not I as much as lyeth in me lay a foundation for ever in his service that when I can serve him no longer my selfe then posterity may serve him It was a cursed wish of a Pagan Emperour when I am dead let heaven and earth be mingled if they will but a Christian thinkes Christ is mine and for my good both living and dying nay I have more good by him when I am dead than alive therefore I will labour that he may have glory in his Church by me and mine and all my counsels and projects shall be that it may be for ever and ever world without end therefore they desire that God may be served and glorified in the Church for ever as he is their Lord living and dying And let it be our comfort in the houre of death that may bee nearer us then we are aware off that he is not onely Lord of the living but of those that are dead he hath the keyes both of hell and death that is he hath the government of death and therefore shall I be afraid to commit my soule to Christ what a ground is this comfortably to yeeld our soules to Christ Lord take the soule thatthou dyedst to purchase that thou didst rise againe-to justifie that thou dost live now in heaven to make intercession for that thou hast given thy holy Spirit in some measure to sanctifie take this soule to thee it is thy soule as much and more than mine I am not mine owne nor my soule is not my owne Into thy hands I commend even thy Spirit for thou hast redeemed me oh Lord of truth thou hast redeemed this soule of mine therefore now take this soule that thou by thy Spirit hast wrought in some poore measure to desire to please thee that soule that thou hast sprinkled with thy owne blood take that soule for thou art Lord both living and dying and what a comfort is it when death shall close up our eyes that we can looke forward and see then our selves nearer Christ for then we goe to Christ our husband as Paul saith I desire to be dissolved and to bee with Christ which is best of all when a Christian thinkes at death now I am changing for the better Christ will not leave me at the houre of death neither dying nor living butwill watch over my dust my dead body is a member of Christ death may separate body and soule but it cannot separate soule or body from him therefore take no thought for body or soule for my soule I know hee will receive it and my body as a good depositum is layd up in the dust hee watches over all the dust and ashes and every thing and will make the earth faithfull in giving up that depositum he is Lord of me dying as well as living shall I be afrayd to dye when in death I commend my soule to such a sweete Lord and goe to my husband and to my King And that is the end of the Sacrament for the Word and Sacrament are parts of the regiment of Christ whereby he rules his Church hee rules his Church outwardly by the Word and Sacraments and inwardly by his Spirit his holy Spirit makes good his owne good meanes and therefore as the subjects of Christ I beseech you let us come to the ordinance of Christ he is such a Lord as doth great things by despised meanes bread and wine poore meanes but consider what a mighty Lord useth them for our soules good and it is his glory to magnifie himselfe by base and weake meanes hee goes contrary to the course of the world that stands all upon outward excellency therefore let no man stumble at the meannesse of the meanes but consider what great things he workes by the foolishnesse of Preaching and the meannesse of his Ordinances the Sacraments he beates downe strong holds he builds us up in Christ to Salvation hee communicates himselfe and all his benefits to us therefore I beseech you come with faith come with this perswasion Christ will blesse his own Ordinance and come with comfort Christ communicates himselfe to us the nearer we come to the fountaine the more wee draw And come with preparation know with whom wee have to deale with him that is Lord of quicke and dead come with reverence but these things I have oft upon this occasion stood upon so much for this Text. FJNJS Quest. Ans. 2. Independantly 3. Lord in the whole man 4. An Eternall Lord. 5. An Excellent Lord. Why the dead are put before the living Vse 2. Answ. Simil. Object Answ. Object Answ.