other so likewise there were two thieves crucified with e Luk. 1â— 34. Christ and he had compassion on the one but he rejected the other for he bestowes his grace upon whom he will and when he pleaseth There is no person so vile no condition so base and no time so late as to hinder Christ from shewing mercy to a poor sinner that is truly sensible of his misery and feels the burden of his sinâ— and doth humbly acknowledge his miserable condition and his unworthinesse to him and doth earnestly sue for his grace and favour with a broken and a contrite heart as this Malefactor did Also Christ will not refuse those that renounce themselves and their own merits and rest onely upon his righteousnesse by faith for their justification also upon the merite of his death for the pardon of their sins and for the salvation of their souls for his promises of grace and mercy are made to such as sigh and mourn for their transgressions Now examine thy condition with a faithfull heart art thou a malefactour and a grievous sinner against God Doth the guilt of thy sins presse heavy upon thee Dost desire from thy heart to be eased of that burden Is the remembrance of them bitter unto thee though it be when thou art weak and faint and ready to give up the ghost Then look up to Christ with the eye of Faith confesse thy sins unto him with a penitent heart and if thine ear be spiritually opened thou wilt then hear a gracious and mercifull answer from him to thy Petitions and if thou wilt diligently search the Scriptures thou wilt find some promises of grace which will sute with thy condition that Christ hath made to such as thou art which thou must apply to thy fainting soul by true faith and stedfast hope that it belongeth unto thee then rest upon it with a firm confidence to comfort thee in the assurance of thy reconciliation unto God which will take away the evill of all thy sorrowes and the terrour of death it self which to a naturall man is most uncomfortable and death is most fearfull and terrible to such as see the hand-writing of God against them for as they have lived in sin without repentance so they dye with the guilt of sin upon their souls without forgivenesse This Act of Christ in the conversion of this poor sinner was extraordinary and it was a speciall work of mercy to manifest his power and goodnesse to him even at the last hour when he had no hope and no meanes of his salvation and when he was upon the Crosse expecting death every moment and also it was to shew that he is no respecter of persons and that he is not limited to time or meanes when or how to work repentance in the heart of a dejected sinner or to save any that come unto him with an upright heart and sincere affections though it be immediatly before they go hence and shall be seen no more For it doth not appear that this man had ever any knowledge of Christ or any opportunity to come unto him or any means of grace before this time or that he did wittingly and wilfully defer the time of his salvation or neglect the means of grace to the last hour or desperately reserve the hope of his Redemption to the time of his death But though it were late before this Malefactor was converted or had any true saving grace wrought in him or before he did believe in Christ yet his faith was true f Luk. 23. 41. and he made a good confession of his sins and did justifie the innocency of Christ in that instant of time when none of his friends durst speak in his cause and his Apostles either doubted or seemed to stagger in their faith of his Divinity Also this mans conversion was at such a time as that he could neither be baptized nor have further time for the amendment of his sinfull life Here is much matter of Spirituall comfort if we duly consider how powerfull true faith is to prevail with Christ in all our troubles sorrowes and necessities for if we rest and depend upon him and if our hope and confidence be onely in him let our condition of life be what it will he will not deceive us in our hope nor leave us without support and comfort also if he findeth faith and truth in our hearts he will deny us no good thing that we crave of him be it never so great or begged never so late for this poor sinner begged heavenly happinesse at the very last hour of his life when he had no time to expresse any thankfulness for so great a blessing and yet he had his request granted But this particular Act of Christs mercy makes no generall rule for remission of sins to those that do wilfully defer their repentance and turning to God to the last and worst part of their lives not that Christ is not alwayes ready to receive the truly humbled and repenting sinner but because late repentance is seldome sound God will not bestow this heavenly grace at their pleasure who do willingly neglect the meanes of grace and lose the opportunity that God hath given them for it and do rather choose to continue still in their sins than to leave and forsake them and to turn to the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul We cannot but dayly see what meanes the Lord useth to bring us unto Christ and to make us get an holy assurance of the pardon of our sins through him by true repentance his Law doth shew us the deformity of our sins and what we have justly deserved thereby which is a forcible means to drive us unto Christ by him to have Redemption from the curse of the Law the sense of our sins and the anguish of our Spirits for them are strong motives to make us seek to our crucified Redeemer that they may be washt away in his blood which he shed upon the crosse Also the smart of his rod in our troubles sorrowes and afflictions are speciall means which God is pleased to use to bring us to repentance but specially if we finde by the manner of his visitation that it is for some particular sins which we have committed we ought then speedily to repent of them and to seek after the blood of Christ to apply it to our selves by faith that the guilt of such sins may not cleave to our souls and consciences but that those spiritual wounds which they have made in us may be quickly healed before they come to putrid sores and ulcers and we may have a true assurance hereof by our repentance If repentance be truly wrought in us there will be such an holy change in all the faculties of our souls in all the affections of our hearts and in all the parts of our bodies that the corruptions of our Nature and the sinfull lusts of our flesh will be mortified and
sentence of condemnation upon them within them is conscience gnawâ—ng like the worm that dieth not because it is full of the guilt of sin without them all damned souls are howling and yelling and on every side the whole world is burning What shall a wretched sinner now do that carrieth the guilt of his sins with him to this great day of judgement how can his heart bear these fearfull perplexities What way will he take to escape this dreadfull judgement to go back it is impossible to go forward is intollerable death will slee from him the grave cannot hold him the hills cannot cover him but there he must stand as a miserable forlorn and desperate wretch untill he receive this dolefull and irrecoverable sentence Go ye cursed into everlastingfire the thought of these things cannot be but most terrible Now it concerneth every one to set his heart in an holy frame of fear and reverence and to humble his soul greatly before God when he intendeth to ruminate upon the glorious Majesty of this great Judge or upon this great and terrible day when a most severe account shall be required of every one of whatsoever they have done in this life whether it be good or evill also when they meditate on the fearfull sentence which shall then be pronounced against all offenders and executed upon them to all eternity without any hope of ease or remedy This is not to deter or afright us from an holy pious Meditation of these things though they be every sad and dolefull to naturall men neither is it to drive us into despair as if there were no hope to stand before this Judge with comfort at that day or to avoid that dreadfull sentence of condemnation but it is to stir us up to use all care and diligence to make our peace with God in time and to get a modest and a sober assurance of the pardon of our sins by repentance and that by a true and lively faith we may be united unto Christ our blessed Saviour and Redeemer who shall be then our Judge This consideration must needs comfort us much if we have any clear evidence that we belong unto Christ To this end u Mark 13. Christ foretold his disciples the fearfull manner of his coming to judgement that they should watch and pray that so it might not come suddenly upon them to finde them sleeping in security or unprepared for it and what he said unto them he saith unto all that we should also watch and pray to escape the great danger of that terrible day and to stand with confidence before the throne of the Son of Man at that time When x 2 Pet. 3. 10 11 12. Peter had described with what terrour the Lord would come to judgement he exhorteth us to an holy conversation and to godlinesse looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God and therfore to be diligent that we may be found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse Thus we may meet the day of judgement with comfort if we can earnestly long after it and can heartily desire to meet our Lord Christ when he cometh in the clouds unto judgement which we cannot do untill we find by due examination that we are in the state of grace and that by faith we are invested into the new Covenant and have lived unto God and not unto our selves Wherefore thus saith the son of Sirach y Eccl. 18. 20. Before judgement examine thy self and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy And as Paul saith z 1 Cor. 11. 31. If we would judge our selves we should not be judged This trying and judging of our selves must be done in this life for after death there is no faith no repentance and no reformation of life if we die in our sins they will follow us unto judgement and accuse us before the great Judge of heaven and earth and they will cry in the ears of God for the sentence of condemnation to be passed against us which also will presently be put in execution to the utter destruction of our souls and bodies in everlasting burnings How to Meditate comfortably on God IF we desire to make our Meditations on God to be comfortable to our souls we must not look onely upon his greatnesse but also upon his goodnesse for our shallow Meditations cannot reach so far as to draw any true comfort to our selves from the consideration of of his greatnesse and power unlesse we do also look upon his goodnesse to us in Christ which doth open a fountain of true consolation to us not onely in our Meditations of him but also in our sufferings for him So likewise if we look onely upon the justice of God without any relation to his mercies in Christ we shall find little comfort in our Meditations of him for we cannot but quake and tremble at the severity of his justice because we have broken all his commandements and have transgressed his Law and therefore we lye under the curse and penalty of it Also if we look vpon our selves altogether as we are by nature polluted and stained with the guilt of sin both originall and actuall without any relation to the blood of Christ by faith it will make us ashamed to come into the presence of God and afraid to think upon him because he is a sin-revenging God and will not suffer sin to go unpunished But thus we shall have comfort in our Meditation of God if we look upon him in Christ by faith for then we shall see that Christ hath wrought our reconciliation with him by his death that he hath made an atonement for us that he hath satisfâ—ed his justice and the penalty of the Law by the merit of his blood and that he hath taken the guilt of our sins upon himself and hath nailed it to his own crosse a Rom. 3. 24 25 26. and therefore we are justified frâ—ly by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Wherefore as John saith b 1 John 2. 1 2. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the prepitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole world The same John doth expresse the wonderfull love of God to us in these words c 1 Joh. 4. 10. Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins Now we may receive plenty of spiritual comfort when we meditate on God either in his greatnesse or in his goodnesse in his justice or in his mercy for by this atonement which Christ hath made for us God doth not now look upon us as his enemies or
be washed away in the blood that flowed from thence and he will bid us put our finger by faith into the print of the nails and thrust our hand into his side that we may not be faithless but faithful to believe that all this was done to our beloved Redeemer for our deliverance out of the bondage of sinne and Satan and for our eternal salvation for Christ will not suffer any member of his mystical body to be hurt or wounded by the devill or wicked men to the anger of their souls It is a great honour to us if we are made conformable to our head Christ in his sufferings x Rom. 8. 17 2 Tim. 2. 12. if we suffer with him we shall also raign with him Let the devil rage what he will yet he can do nothing until his hour of permission be come and then he can do no more but what Christ will suffer him to do and that will be according to our strength of grace and not according to his malicious will and purpose Concerning the fidelity of Peter and the treachery of Judas NOw behold and see how the sorrows of our sweet Saviour comes upon him a Job 1. like Iobs messengers and like the throws of a woman in travel for no sooner was he out of his sharpe Agony and bloody sweat and a little refresht with the comfort of an Angel but presently b Luk. 22. a band of rude and cruel souldiers sent from the chief priest and rulers of the Jewes was ready at hand to apprehend him and Iudas one of his disciples who sold him for a prey to the blood thirsty Jews was their guide to conduct them to the place were Jesus was and he gave them a sign how they should know him and also a watch-word to hold him fast But when Peter saw that his dear Master was apprehended and ready to be carried away by that base multitude his love and zeal to him was so inflamed that he did hazzard his own life in his cause and he cut off the High-priests servants ear with his sword in his masters defence but Christ rebuked him for it saying c Mat. 26 52 53. Put up again thy sword into his place thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of Angels Yea he was able by his own divine power to defend himself from them all for by the power of his word his enemies were smitten to the ground But to shew how ready he was to obey his heavenly Fathers will and to finish the work of mans redemption for which cause he was sent into the world he did meekly as a Lamb submit to his Fathers will and suffer himself to be bound and led away to Annas the High-priest Now we may see that an holy and religious master may have a wicked or ungodly servant though the example of his own life and his discipline in his family be pious and godly d 2 King 5. Elisha the Prophet had a covetous Gehazi Philemon had an unfaithful and unprofitable Onesimus until Paul did work upon him and convert him to the faith So likewise a good servant doth sometimes dwell in the house of an irreligious and ungodly master e Gen. 39. Potiphar had a faithful and a chast Ioseph in his house Naaman had a vertuous maid in his 2 King 5. family and there were Saints in Cesars houshold f Phil. 4. 22. who sent their salutations to the Philippians Also a godly and religious father hath oft times a wicked and ungracious son Adam had a wicked Cain Noah had a cursed Cham. Abraham had a scoffing Ishmael Isaac had a profane Esau and David also had an incestuous Amnon and a rebellious Absalom for good education and holy instructions cannot make children to be vertuous and godly unless the holy Ghost doth season their hearts with grace If we settle and compose our thoughts to ruminate seriously upon these two disciples of Christ we shall see the damnable treason of wretched Iudas and the couragious boldness of blessed Peter Both of them did hear the heavenly doctrine that Christ preached yet they were not alike edified by it for it was as good seed sown in good ground to Peter which brought forth fruit unto holiness and righteousness but to Iudas that good seed was sown in barren ground for his heart was stony full of unbelief and void of all grace and goodness and could not receive it the preaching of Christ was but as a bare sound to his ear which did not profit him to salvation because the holy Ghost did not spiritually bore his ear and convey it to his heart They did also see the great miracles that Christ wrought but they were not alike instructed by them for Peter by the eye of his faith did thereby see his Deity and did believe and confesse that he was the Christ the Son of the ever-living God but Judas could see no more of Christ but his humane nature though he might conceive him to be a great Prophet These two Disciples were like g Gen. 25. 23 24. the twins in Rebeckahs womb h Rom. 9. 13. for God loved Jacob but he hated Esau so Christ loved Peter i Joh. 6. 70. but Judas was a devill For the devill entred into him and took possession of his heart and then he plotted and contrived how to betray his most gracious and loving Master whom he knew to be blamelesse and free from any offence and his treason was carried on in a most deceitful and malitious way against him k Mat. 26. 15. for he betrayed him to the Rulers of the Jewes for a small sum of money who were his deadly enemies and sought his life and to colour his devilish mischief he betrayed him to the Souldiers with a kisse Thus apt was Judas to learn any wickednesse in the devils school but he could learn no goodnesse in the school of Christ though Christ himself was the schoolmaster But such was the faithfulness of Peter to his dear Lord that he would not be danted at the band of Souldiers neither would he shrink from him when he was in this danger but did greatly jeopard his own life for his Masters safety If it be so that the devil teacheth wicked and ungodly men to hide their mischievous designes under some pretence of love and kindness we shall hardly escape their snares for we cannot tell what is intended under a fair shew of friendship and we cannot be free from danger when it lurketh so privily under plausible pretences Abner did not suspect that Joab intended to kill him l 2 Sam. 3. 27. when he took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly Joab also saluted Amasa with these kind words m 2 Sam. 20. 9 10. Art thou in health my brother and he took him by the beard with the right hand to kisse him and then
suppresse the violence of our passions though we be naturally inclined thereunto Lastly Faith will strengthen us against all doubtings and distrust when Gods corrections are upon us b Heb. 12. 6 7. for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth If we endure chastening God dealeth with us as with sons Thus saith Eliphaz to Job c Job 5. 17. Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty Why then should we mistrust the love and favour of God when we are under his visitation Why do we not put more confidence in his power to defend us more trust in his care to preserve us and more hope in his promises to save and deliver us from our enemies and out of troubles and dangers Wherefore if we do piously meditate upon these things it will be a great strengthening to our Faith and exceeding comfortable to our souls in all our temptations sorrows and sufferings Consider in the next place that as Christ appointed the crowing of the Cock to be Peters remembrancer of his sin so likewise God in much mercy hath many waies to put us also in minde of our sins and to call us to speedy repentance for them which we ought with all care and diligence to mark and observe If God doth forbear and suffer us to go long unpunished for our offences d Rom. 2. 4. his goodnesse herein should lead us to repentance But if he doth give us any check of conscience or layeth any affliction upon us they are as so many warnings to make us remember our sins with grief of heart and to bring us to repent of them that we may escape the evill which otherwise our sins would bring upon us But when the holy Ghost doth touch our hearts as he did Peters he will work with unresistible power to make us think upon our sins with godly sorrow with true contrition and compunction of spirit with hatred and detestation of them he will make us confesse and acknowledge them before God and earnestly to crave the forgivenesse of them by Faith in Christ and to have an holy assurance of it by our true and sound repentance But if we remember our former sins with delight and approbation we sin them over again and this remembrance is sinfull and it proceedeth from our corrupted nature and not from grace which will never bring us to forsake them or to repent of them When Peter came to himself and remembred his unthankfulnesse to his Lord and Master and did see from whence he was fallen he was wounded to the very soul and presently went out to seek a place where he might ease the grief of his heart with his bitter teares Consider now with all pious devotion how dangerous it is and what advantage we give the divell if we reiterate any sins as namely swearing lying uncleanness drunkennesse Sabbath-breaking or the like for it will fasten the guilt of that sin closer to our souls which will not be removed without bitter teares but will press us down to the pit of destruction Consider also that great and crying sins require loud cryes deep sighs and grones and many teares which we cannot pour forth untill we do abandone all our wicked and lewd companions and all former occasions that did intise or provoke us thereunto and untill Christ doth look upon us and touch our hearts with his Spirit to let us know that he doth take notice of them e 1 Cor. 16. 13. We should therefore watch and stand fast in the faith that we depart not from Christ but support our faith with stedfast hope and assurance that he will stablish us with his free Spirit never to fall away from him totally and finally But thou wilt say as sometimes Peter did that though thou shouldst dye with Christ yet thou wilt never deny him nor forsake him but do not trust too much to thine own strength though thou art in the State of grace for if Christ doth not uphold thy faith the power of Satans temptations will prevail against thee thine own heart will deceive thee and the devill will be too cunning for thee f Ezech. 33. 31. Thou maist honour Christ with thy lips and yet in heart thou maist deny him for if the power of a Christian life goeth not along with thy outward profession thou dost then dishonour his holy Name dost forsake Him in thy heart If there be such unfaithfulnesse in thee to Christ thy Saviour and if there be such hypocrisie hidden under a fair profession then every rumour of trouble or danger for Christ every alluring vanity and every delightfull sin will make thee turn aside from him g Psal 78. 57. like a deceitfull bow because thy heart is not well seasoned with grace to make thee stand firm and stedfast unto Christ and to his truth against all opposition If this be thy fidelity to thy Saviour and if thou dost repose so little confidence in him then surely he will not regard thee though thou dost howle and call unto him day and night when thou art in any distresse or misery The Lord complaineth of his own people h Hos 7. 14 that they had not cryed unto him with their heart when they howled upon their beds for they did still rebell against him Wherefore let there be truth and sincerity in thy heart that thy heart and thy tongue may go together in thy Prayers in thy vowes and in all thy services to God and man let thy heart and thy hand go together in thy almes to the poor and in all thy works of charity for if thy heart be not faithfull to God thy best services and duties cannot be accepted Also keep thy heart closely knit to Christ by faith and then he will cast an eye of mercy upon thee as he did upon Peter if at any time through humane weaknesse or upon the violence of any passion or strong temptation thou shalt fall away from him Thy heart is that which Christ requireth for thus he saith by Solomon My son give me thy heart i Prov. 23. 26. give not thy heart therefore to the pleasures and vanities of the world nor to carnall lusts and delights but onely unto God Now Meditate seriously upon all the circumstances of Peters fall and thou wilt find thy self likewise subject to the like provocations and to the like frailties and failings and learn instruction thereby not to be secure because dangers and temptations do every where attend thee and not to presume upon thine own strength for that will not preserve thee but labour to be well rooted in the truth and well grounded in the faith and love of Christ and then no spirituall enemy shall prevail against thee and the cunning stratagems of the divell shall not hurt thee no fear of perills and dangers shall make thy faith in Christ to fail and no afflictions or troubles shall
and the wombes that never bare and the paps which never gave suck x Luk. 19. 4â— And Christ himself wept for the misery that was to come upon Jerusalem Secondly Christ willeth them to reserve their teares to lament and bewail their sins and the sins of their children because the great and terrible day of the general judgement was coming when every one both high and low great and small young and old must give a particular account to God of what they have done in the flesh either in thought word or deed whether it be good or evill y Isa 2. 19. Hos 10. Luk. 23. 30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us Thus doth Christ direct us how to glorifie God with our teares how to comfort our soul by our mourning and how to be prepared for any common calamity and also how to meet the day of judgewent with comfort and that is by mourning for our sins in time and by making our peace with God by faith in Christ with the teares of true repentance Now take a view of thy teares and see from whence they flow from an humane principle or from a principle of grace if thou canst mourn for the evill of punishment which thou sufferest and canst not mourn for the evill of the sin which thou committest thy teares are not then spent upon the right object or if thou dost weep grieve for thy sins and hast no relation to Christ by faith in thy mourning thou wilt have but little assurance of pardon and thou wilt find but small comfort in thy weeping Also if thou dost lament and sorrow for thy sins and not fully purpose and dost endeavour to reform thy sinfull life thy repentance is not sound and thy sorrow is not unto salvation So likewise if nature can finde teares for the losse of some dear friend or for any other worldly losses and grace can find none to bewail thy self because the light of Gods countenance is clouded from thee or because the Church of God is under afflictions and troubles thou dost then waste thy teares to a wrong end z Ezra 10. 6. Ezra mourned for the transgression of the people a Neh. 1. 4. and Nehemiah mourned for the desolation of Jerusalem b Psal 119. 230. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes saith David because they keep not thy Law These teares proceeded from a Principle of grace wherewith God was well pleased And Christ doth here command us to reserve our teares for general calamities because then God doth call for fasting lamentation and mourning from those especially that are like to partake in such calamities If we can thus regulate our mourning and thus imploy our teares it will make much for the glory of God and for the comfort of our own souls But the consideration of the dreadfull day of judgement should most of all affect our hearts and soules with a godly sorrow for our sins and with an holy and earnest desire to be reconciled unto God by faith in Christ and to have a true assurance of the forgivenesse of them by our repentance that we may then appear before God without any guilt of sin upon our souls and without the clamours and accusations of an evill conscience and then it will be a day of rejoicing to us and not a day of terrour But if our souls are to appear with the pollutions and stains of sin and if our consciences are ready to accuse us and to prefer a bill of indictment against us that day will be most terrible and fearfull to us for when we shall look upon the Judge we shall see nothing in his countenance but terrour and fury and we can expect nothing from him but that dreadfull sentence of go ye cursed into everlasting torments on the contrary if the grace of God hath taught us to deny ungodliness and c Tit. 2. 12. 13. worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world we may then confidently look for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Wherefore it concerneth us no less than the salvation of our souls to make up our account while we live here which we must then give unto God even to an idle word because we shall be judged according to our works for after this life is ended there is no more faith to lay hold on Christ no more hope of salvation and no repentance for sin If our account be made up according to our own righteousnesse it will come farre short of that which God requireth and he will not accept it but if we can make it up in the righteousnesse of Christ by faith then whatsoever is wanting in us will be made perfect by his righteousness in the sight of God How pittifull then and miserable will the condition of unregenerate men be at that day Who can make perfect their account seeing they have no interest in Christ And how can they stand before that great and dreadfull Judge seeing he will not then know them Wherefore we should not neglect to make up our account thus with God every day because we know not how soon we are bereaved of time and grace for it and the losse of one day may indanger our salvation Lose no time then and no opportunity for this great work of thy salvation d 2 Pet 1. 10. but redeem the time which thou hast lost by doubling thy future diligence to mak thy calling and election sure What Christ suffered upon the Crosse OUr gracious Redeemer after many a weary step is now brought to Mount Calvary which was without the gates of the City where he must finish the great work of mans Redemption by his death and resurrection for to this end he came down from heaven and assumed our nature and all our iniquities were imputed to him because he was our surety and did undertake to satisfie the justice of God for them all not onely for the Jew but also for the Gentile a Joh 20. â— at 27. Now behold and see how his innocent hands and feet are nailed to his Crosse and how he is mocked and derided in his misery how the barbarous people insult over him how grievously he is tortured and what execrable blasphemies they belch out against him he did now endure the bitternesse of pain and the extremity of cold being naked upon the crosse but above all the anguish of his soul was so great because the fierce wrath and hot displeasure of Almighty God was heavy upon him that he cryed out My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me for then he had little or no sense of his heavenly Fathers love and the bright beames of his Deity were clouded for a time from his humanity If it be so that the eternall Son of God our blessed Redeemer suffered all kinde of shame and ignominy
Prophesies were then fulfilled that were spoken of him in his life e Luk. 23. 46. Then he commended his Spirit into the hands of his Father and gave up the Ghost As this Lamb of God lived in perfect innocency so he dyed in perfect meeknesse Then presently after f Joh. 19. 34 one of the souldiers pierced his side with a spear to his very heart and forthwith câ—me thereout bloud and water that the Scripture might be fulfilled g Zech. 12 10. They shal look on him whom they pierced This was also done that we might faithfully believe the truth of his death This is a speciall Article of our Faith which we must stedfastly believe if we will have comfort in the assurance of our redemption for if Christ had not truly dyed the justice of God had not been fully satisfied for our sins we could have had no power to dye unto sin or to mortifie our corruptions and sinfull lusts and death would be most bitter fearfull and terrible to us If Christ had not dyed and rose again how could death have been destroyed How could the sting of death be taken out Who should have sanctified death unto us And how could we be willing to imbrace it Wherefore if we do truly believe the death of Christ and that he dyed for us it will minister much matter of exceeding great consolation to our souls at the hour of our dissolution From the former considerations we may draw much comfortable matter for our hearts to meditate upon First it doth evidently appear that our Saviour Christ did assume to his Deity our whole nature soul and body which did still retain all the properties of humane nature unconfounded with his Deity h Heb. 2. 17 He was like unto us in all things i Heb 4. 25. sin onely excepted His soul was sensible of grief and sorrow his body did feel the smart of pain he was subject to all our naturall passions and infirmities which may be without sin he was sensible of hunger thirst wearinesse and the like he was also subject to mortality though not to corruption for k Psal 16. 10 God would not suffer his holy One to see corruption because he had no spot or stain of sin in him and there was a true dissolution of his soul from his body when he dyed If Christ had not assumed our whole nature he could not have perfectly saved and redeemed us soul and body and then the work which God sent him to do had not been finished but we had still remained in our sins Heb. 10. 10 But the whole work of our Redemption was fully wrought by that which he suffered both in his soul and in his body to give us an holy assurance that we are freed from the guilt of sin here and saved from the condemning power of sin hereafter Secondly we may learn from thence this instruction so to regulate our thirsty desires that they may be for the glory of God and not for own sinfull ends If we thirst after the things of this world for any other end than for the honour of God our thirst is sinful and it will be satisfied with vinegar or gal and if we thirst after blood rapine or revenge the end of these and the like thirsty desires will be the death of our souls But if our thirst be holy and heavenly we shall then have thirsty desires and holy endeavours m Isal 613. how to injoy God and to do his will how to preserve our neighbours safety and how to keep our selves undefiled and if we can say as David did n Psal 143. 6. My soul thirsteth after thee O Lord as a thirsty land then our thirst shall be quenched and our souls shall be refreshed with the sweet comforts of God Also if we thirst after Christ Jesus who is the chief honour of a Christian and after grace and godlinesse which are the true riches of the soul then Christ will be a fountain of living water to us which onely can quench our spirituall o Joh. 4. 10. thirst and refresh our panting souls and it shall spring up in us to everlasting life Christ calleth every one to drink of this water p John 7. 37 Is any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Thus saith the Prophet q Isa 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and ye that have no silver come buy and eat come I say buy wine and milk without silver and without money Here Christ offereth himself and his graces freely But to whom It is onely to such as have a spiritual thirst after him Wherefore if this be the thirst of our souls to injoy Christ and him crucified we shall see such a Fountain of water of life flow out of his blessed fide as will purifie our hearts from all sin and cleanse our consciences from all iniquity whereby our thirsty souls will be more comforted and refreshed than our bodies can be by any Fountain of Water in our naturall thirst r Psal 42. This holy thirst made Davids soul pant more after God than the Hart panteth after the water-brooks Thirdly from this consideration that Christ had vinegar given him in a spunge we may learn this profitable Doctrine that there is no content nor stability in any earthly thing for though we should injoy all the contentment that the world can give us yet it will not satisfie our desires something will be wanting and we shall still thirst after more and we shall finde soureness and bitternesse in the best of earthly things Also that which we do possesse we have it but in a spunge a sudden casualty by fire or water a word spoken against King or State will wring it out a little pain or sickness a little trouble or sorrow will soon blaste the comfort of of it and make it like vinegar to our taste If we should meet with nothing to imbitter or blast our earthly joyes yet in their own nature they are transitory and unstable Å¿ Eccl. 12. 1. and when old age cometh we shall take no pleasure in them and death will quite bereave us of them all Now then if we put our trust in these vain things they will deceive and will give us no solide comfort except we do injoy them in Christ for without him the best of all earthly blessings are but vanity and vexation of Spirit Wherefore let this be our greatest care our chiefest joy and the desire of our souls to injoy Christ to be joyned unto him with the bond of faith and love and then whatsoever our estate or condition be we shall finde comfort in it we shall injoy it with a good conscience we shall glorifie God with it and if we do casually lose it we shall lose nothing by it for we shall still injoy Christ who will abundantly recompense our earthly losses with spirituall comforts here and with an eternall
inheritance hereafter Fourthly when death comes near to us we have most need of the best comforts both for soul and body that we may the more strongly encounter with this terrible enemy in the dissolution of our souls from our bodies but Christ at this time had soure vinegar given him which could no way comfort him but rather aggravate his pains and sorrowes when he was every way in great extremity This doth fitly resemble the case of many of Gods dear servants for they are often troubled and perplexed with many fears doubtings temptations and evil sugestions of the devil when they are to enter into a single combate with death it self for then he will lay their sins before them with all the aggravations that may be and he will labour to hide the mercies of God in Christ from them that they might have no hope or comfort to support them in this great conflict which doth put them into trouble of minde grief of heart and anguish of spirit and it is more uncomfortable and unpleasing to their spirituall taste than any vinegar can be to the palate Then is the time when the Divell is most maliciously bent against them then doth he bestirre himself to trouble the Peace of their consciences to disquiet the tranquillity of their mindes and to keep them from the assurance of the love and favour of God to them in Christ that they should not comfortably resign up their souls unto God he will affright them with the fear of death with the greatnesse of their sins with the hypocrisie of their hearts with their infidelity and unbelief he will labour to keep the gracious promises of God from them or else to perswade them that they belong not unto them that so they should have no comfortable assurance of the pardon of their sins Also he will terrifie them with the fear of Gods justice and with the terrour of the dreadfull day of judgement if it were possible to drive them into despair But here is comfort for a poor sinner that it is thus assaulted by the Divel when he is near his departure out of this life or at any other time that Christ hath sanctified all these sorrowes and conflicts to him and he will confirm his faith and stablish his hope upon his true humiliation for his sins and then those fears and doubtings will vanish away for he knoweth that we are not able to resist such temptations and the weaknesse of our spirits and of body is such that we cannot withstand such strong assaults and therefore Christ will give most strength to our inward man when the outward man is most weak and he will most weaken the power of the Divell when his malice is strongest to do us hurt And though we may be dangerously foyled in these spirituall combates yet Christ will uphold our faith he will give us spirituall consolation and will speak peace to our souls and consciences when through weaknesse of body we cannot expresse the joy and comfort of it Fifthly before we can willingly leave this world we must be well perswaded that we shall injoy a better habitation in the world to come which holy perswasion that we may have we must seriously consider how we have done the works which God hath appointed us how we have improved the talent that he hath lent us how we have glorified God in our calling and what good we have done to our neighbour according to the means and ability that God hath given us for we must give an account of all these things before the Tribunall Seat of God and we shall be judged according to our works Wherefore if we can truly say that we have done Gods works to the best of our power with an upright heart and that we have well improved our time and our talent to the glory of God then we may say with Christ It is finished and with Paul t 2 Tim. 7. 8 I have finished my course and have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but unto all them also that love his appearing And though our work hath been very imperfectly done by us yet Christ our Saviour will make it perfect by that which he hath done for us in our nature and God will accept it for his sake then we shall cheerfully resign up our souls to God at the hour of our dissolution Sixthly Christ doth here teach us to commend our souls into the hands of God we received them immediatly from God and therefore we ought to resign them up again unto him he breathed into us the breath of life which is our chiefest and most precious Jewell and therefore we ought to keep it holy and undefiled for him that when he is pleased to call for it we may be sure to deliver it up to himself for the Divell will be ready watching for it as soon as it is separated from the body and none can keep it from him but onely God Wherefore we must keep our souls so pure and clean that God may accept them and take them into his charge for if we present unto him a filthy soul polluted with the guilt of sin we have no ground to believe that God will take care of it and keep it unto the general resurrection Wherefore we should study and labour to keep our souls clean from sin by washing them dayly in the blood of Christ by faith if they be stained with the sins of the day we should thus cleanse them at night before we sleep and if they are defiled with the pollutions of the night â— we must not forget to wash them with the teares sighes and groanes that flow from a sorrowfull and contrite heart in the morning before we set about our necessary occasions in our calling that we may comfortably believe that God will blesse and prosper our handy work If this be our dayly and constant practise the blessing of God will go along with us in all our actions sin cannot then cleave to our souls to make death fearfull to us death cannot then come suddenly upon us neither will the remembrance of it be terrible but we shall cheerfully commend our souls to God because we may confidently believe that he will keep them in his heavenly mansions untill they shall be again united to our bodies with an unseparable union and made glorious bodies fit to live and reign with Christ for ever But naturall men know not the worth of their souls nor the great price wherewith they are redeemed if they belong unto Christ they suppose that the soul cometh from a Principle of nature as the body doth whereas it is an immortall spirit which proceedeth not from any mortall principle but is breathed into us by the holy Ghost as soon as the body is framed in the wombe and made capable to receive this breath of
now broken down which was between the Jew and the Gentile and that Christ was as freely given to the one as the other and the merit of his blood was as effectuall for the salvation of the Gentile as it was for the Jew if he were truly received by faith The vail being now rent the Gentile hath free accesse to the Mercy-seat which did typifie the Throne of grace by Christ Long before this God did choose some to be the first fruits of the Gentiles as namely Eliezâ—r of Damascus in Abrahams family Rahab of Jericho Ruth the Moabitesse and Naaman the Syrian with many more Secondly God did hereby shew that now there was an end put to the sacrifices of the Ceremoniall Law because the true Paschall Lambe was slain of whom these sacrifices were but types and shadows and that the Ceremoniall Law was now abrogated c Joh. 4. 22 23. and the true worship and service of God was not confined to Jerusalem or to the Temple but now God might be worshipped in any other place so that it be in spirit and in truth Thirdly we may see the free mercy and goodnesse of God to the Jew and also to the Gentile d Acts 15. 10. for by the death of his Son he hath cased the Jew of the great burden of Ceremonies which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear by putting an end to the Ceremoniall Law and he hath brought the Gentile within the Covenant of grace and hath admitted him into the most holy place for the vail of the Temple which before kept him out is now rent asunder God hath also sanctified every place where he is truly worshipped and served with a pure and upright heart and hath given us as great Priviledges in Christ as he gave to his ancient people the Jews Fourthly by these miraculous signes and wonders God did convince his people of the hardnesse of their hearts and of their wilfull blindnesse who would not see the fulfilling of their ancient Prophesies in Christ nor believe that he was that Messiah which was promised though they could object nothing against it Wherefore their hearts did not relent for their great impiety but the earth and the stony rocks were more sensible than they If we are thus hardned in our sins and thus blinded in our understandings it is a fearfull sign that we are given up to a reprobate minde Fifthly we may hereby see how God made the senselesse creatures to honour his Son at his death though both Jew and Gentile did most spitefully dishonour him in his life Christ honoured his Father while he was living and his Father honoureth him now he is dead by these great wonders and by the Testimony of the Centurion and others who seeing what came to passe said e Mat. 27. 54. Truly this was the Son of God Thus will God honour those that honour him by a vertuous and godly life or by their sufferings in his cause for he will make their innocency to appear and will manifest the truth of their Profession to the honour of his own Name and he will give them immortall glory in the life to come Wherefore if thou art in place of authority honour God by executing judgement and justice without exception of persons if thou art rich honour him in the right use of them and with works of mercy to the poor and needy if thou art poor be content with thy condition If thou hast children honour God in their good education teach them the fear of the Lord and let thy verteous life and good conversation be an example of piety to them Also if thou hast a family command thy children and servants to keep the way of the Lord to walk in his Statutes and to do righteously that the Lord may bring a blessing upon thee and upon thy house If thou art under the crosse honour God with thy patience hope and confidence in him whatsoever thy condition be honour him with thy thankfulnesse Sixthly God doth give us to understand by the trembling of the earth and by the renting of the rocks how powerfully the holy Ghost doth sometimes work upon our hearts at our first conversion to bring us to repentance f Acts 9. as he did at the conversion of Paul g Acts 16. and at the conversion of the Jailor and of diverse others for though our hearts be naturally as stupid and dull to any thing that is spirituall and heavenly as a lump of earth yet when the holy Ghost works upon them with his Almighty power he will make them quake and tremble and he will put a new Principle of grace into them whereby they shall be changed into a gracious condition and their natural dull and stupid properties shall be made active and ready for every holy duty And though our hearts are by nature as hard as any stone and no way capable of any gracious and heavenly impression yet the Spitit of God will break them in pieces and will mollifie and soften every piece to make it tender and flexible to the will and pleasure of God Wherefore if thou dost find this dulnesse in thine understanding this earthly mindednesse and this stupidity in thine affections that thou hast no will to serve thy God also if there be such obduracy in thy heart that thou canst not lament and mourn for thy sins and thy heart cannot melt into sighing and tears for thy transgressions and if there be such unbelief in thee that thou canst not apply any promise of mercy to thy self and canst have no hope nor assurance of the pardon and forgivenesse of thy sins upon thy repentance and turning unto God then make thy condition known to thy Saviour Christ in all meeknesse of spirit and he will put an holy light into thy understanding by his Spirit he will sanctifie thine affections and season them with grace he will take away thy hard heart of unbelief and will make it more sensible of thy miserable condition and will fit and prepare it for a deeper impression of grace Lastly God doth shew by the opening of the graves that there shall be a generall resurrection of every mans body at the last day when they must appear before the judgement seat of God to give an account of whatsoever they have done in the flesh Though our bodies are lockt up in the grave for thousands of years and though their dust and ashes are scattered abroad with the winde to the utmost parts of the earth yet at the last every grave shall be opened and shall deliver up her dead and every grain of dust shall be gathered together that every man may have his own body to deliver up his account before the great and dreadfull Judge of heaven and earth to receive the just reward of their works the wicked to be thrust down with the devils into everlasting burnings for their evill deeds and for their unbelief but such as belong unto
up thy spirit thou fainting soul for Christ hath redeemed thy body from the grave and thy soul from death by his Resurrection he hath conquered all the enemies of thy salvation sin hath no condemning power over thee death is advantage to thee hell is lockt up from thee and the Devill himself cannot go beyond his commission for thy hurt Though the world doth frown upon thee h Joh. 16. 33 and thou findest tribulation here yet be of good chear and lift up thy head for Christ hath overcome the world and he will sanctifie all thy tribulations to thee Thou livest here subject to shame and reproach to diseases of body and sorrow of spirit and to all miseries and calamities but death will put an end to all thy labour and travell the grave will refine thy body from all imperfections and diseases and thy resurrection will bring thee to thy reward which is laid up for thee in heaven If the powers of darknesse set themselves in array against thee if the terrours of death assault thee fear not but keep close to the Resurrection of thy Saviour by faith he hath overcome them all and will also subdue them unto thee i Eph â— 30. If thou art a member of his body of his flesh and of his bones thou must be made conformable to him as to thy head as well in his glory as in his shame as well in his resurrection as in his death and buriall If the crosse must try thy strength he will not tire thee with a greater burden than thou art well able to bear If pain or sicknesse brings thee near unto death the faithfull hope of a joyful resurrection will greatly refresh and comfort thy soul for though thy soul must be parted from thy body yet neither thy soul nor thy body shall be parted fuom Christ but thou shalt rise again out of the dust with a spirituall and immortal body to be joyned unto Christ thy head for ever Now think on these things with holy affections and they will minister heavenly comfort to thy soul when thou art in any perplexity of minde or body Consider now to whom Christ appeared after his Resurrection it was first to holy Women who in their pious devotion and love to him came to imbalm his body with spices and sweet odours then he appeared to his Disciples at sundry times and also to many Brethren that they all might be well confirmed in the truth of his Resurrection and of his Deity to comfort them in their sorrowes to uphold them in their sufferings to strenthen their faith against all persecutions and bloody tryals and to be able to strengthen others in the Doctrine of the Resurrection Thus did the holy Apostles testfiie that they had seen the Lord Jesus after he was risen to confirm their Doctrine of his Resurrection But Christ did not appear to any wicked or ungodly men for they could neither believe it nor understand it nor receive any comfort or benefit by it because they have no spirituall eye to discern his glorified body but chiefly because they have no relation to him as their Saviour Christ doth appear to us at this day by his Spirit when he doth manifest to us the truth of his Resurrection by his Word and doth give us grace to apply it to our selves for the confirmation of our faith in the Resurrection of our bodies at the last day But chiefly Christ doth appear to us when by faith we draw vertue and power from his Resurrection to rise from the death of sin to the life of grace when we can raise up the affections of our hearts from earthly and worldly cares to heavenly contemplations and when we can with the wings of faith mount up above the sinfull delights and pleasures of this life and above all the calamities and tribulations that we shall meet with here upon earth to have our conversation in heaven and can draw comfort to our selves in all our sorrowes and miseries from the hope of our resurrection There will also be a day of resurrection to the wicked which will be most sad wofull and miserable to them for they shall not rise with purified and glorified bodies but with filthy ugly and unclean bodies all besmeared with the guilt of sin which will make them odious to look upon and they have no covering to hide their sins but onely the Divels liverey which is a guilty conscience that they may be known to whom they belong For there is no place and no inheritance in heaven for such unclean monsters but they shall be thrust down into the lowest hell to partake with the devil and his angels in their everlasting torments which is the reward of all wicked men for their evill works Of CHRISTS Ascension up into Heaven VVHen Christ had fully instructed his Apostles after his Resurrection in those things which concerned the Kingdom of Heaven and had taught them how to plant his Church here upon earth he was taken up in the sight and view of them all and ascended up into heaven where he sitteth at the right hand of God in fulnesse of Majesty and glory until he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead whereby Christ is now become our eternall Advocate with the Father to make intercession for us and he is also our eternall high Priest to present our Prayers and oblations to God At his Ascension he carried up our humane nature with him into heaven and hath advanced it above the Angels and above all Principalities and powers also Christ hath taken possession of that heavenly Inheritance which we shall hereafter injoy for he keeps it for us Wherefore now let the thoughts of our hearts be raised up in our holy Meditations to contemplate the transcendent glory of Christ now he is at the right hand of the Father that we may firmly confide in him and have a longing desire to be with him to injoy that place of true blessednesse a John 14. 2 which he hath prepared for us in his Fathers house Also let all our Prayers and sacrifices proceed from an upright and a believing heart that they may be such as Christ will present to his Father for us and then we may confidently believe that God will graciously receive them Here is also great comfort for us that though we sin dayly through humane frailty or through the corruption of our nature b 1 John 2. 1 2. that we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins who will intercede for us and will present the merit of his blood unto him in full satisfaction for all our sins whereof we may have an holy assurance by faith and true repentance If we do faithfully believe that we have such an high Priest and such an Advocate in heaven why do we give our selves liberty in sin to displease him Why do we cherish any darling sin
Adam and how rebelliously we have sinned against God in the whole course of our lives If this be our condition which is most true as we are in the Staâ—â— of nature what comfort can we then take in all worldly pomp and dignities what contentment is there in all earthly pleasures and delight they are all nothing else but vanity and vexation of spirit We may injoy more of this world than our hearts can desire and yet our soules may starve for want of spiritual food and comfort d Gen. 4. 12 Cain was heir apparent to the whole world and yet he was driven out from the presence of God and became a vagabond upon earth So we may injoy whatsoever the world can afford us and yet God will not look upon us with a gracious aspect and then our condition will be no better than that of Cain We may injoy health wealth peace liberty and all manner of prosperity and yet our souls may be sick they may languish with sadnesse of heart they may be much perplexed and shut up as it were in a dungeon because they are so restrained by the corruptions of our nature that they have no freedome to mount upwards towards heaven It is nothing so uncomfortable to live in perpetuall darknesse and never to see the light of the Sun as it is to have our understandings spiritually darkened and to live without the light of the e Mal. 4. 2 Sun of righteousnesse to have no appearance from him to open the eyes of our understandings to be a guide to our reason to season our hearts with grace and to shew us the way that will bring us to heavenly happinesse This is our condition by nature we are out of the favour of God our life is void of all true comfort and consolation we walk in darknesse f Isa 53. 6 we go astray like silly sheep and follow our own inventions and we have no ability in our selves to return again into the right way Wherefore let our hearts be throughly affected with this our sad condition let our Meditations hereupon draw us to a godly sorrow for our sins which may bring us to true repentance and newnesse of life let this be our chief care and the desire of our soules to regain the grace and favour of God and to be reconciled unto him Let our souls bewail our sins with hearty contrition and true compunction let our teares manifest the grief of our hearts and the truth of our repentance for our transgressions and let us cast our selves down at Gods footstool and humbly acknowledge our offences to him suing earnestly to God by prayer for the pardon and forgivenesse of them through Faith in Christ Also we ought to be humble petitioners to God for a supply of such graces as we want to strengthen â—s against the corruptions of our nature and against all the enemies of our salvation This should be our constant practise every night before we sleep to make our peace with God for the sins of the day past wherein we have failed of our duty and wherein we have dishonoured God that our souls may rest in peace as well as our bodies do rest in quiet So likewise every morning we should acknowledge our thankfulnesse to God for the comforts of the night past and to crave his blessing upon our labours the day following If we continually practise this duty it will keep us from grosse sins and great offences and it will make us take all occasions to renew our Repentance with God for our sins Every fit of pain or of sicknesse that we feel and every crosse or affliction that we suffer calls loud for repentance because it is a fruit of our sins also every blessing and every good thing that God is pleased to bestow upon us cryeth loud for our thankfulnesse because it is bestowed of his own free bounty and goodnesse and not for any merit or desert of ours Though we are miserable vile and wretched in our selves yet God is gracious and mercifull and doth dayly give us occasions to glorifie him and he doth use all means to bring us home again unto himself for he doth not delight in the death of a sinner but rather that he should repent and turn unto him neither doth he deal with us according to our sins nor reward us according to our deservings but hath paid a great prize for our redemption out of this miserable condition Concerning the Redemption of Man VVHen God saw man in this sad condition a lamentable spectacle of wofull misery then he took pity upon him a Ezek. 16. 8 and this time of his wretched estate was the time of Gods love to him for soon after his fall God made a gracious promise of Redemption to him b Gen. 3. 15 that the seed of the woman should break the serpents head This promise God did afterwards renew to the Patriarks which was concerning Christ the Lord that should come in his appointed time whom God did plainly reveal to some of the Prophets c Gal. 4 4 5 VVhen the fulnesse of the time was come God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that are under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons d 1 John 4 9 10 In this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his onely begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the Propitiation for our sins e John â— 18 The onely begotten son of God who is in the bosome of his Father came down from heaven and assumed our nature and took upon himself the guilt of our sins to Redeem us from the curse of the Law from the dominion of sin and Satan and from the power of death f 1 Cor. 7. 23 Christ hath also paid an infinite price for our Redemption even his own most precious blood and the full vialls of Gods wrath were poured out upon him because he did undertake to satisfie the justice of God for our sins for thus saith the Prophet g Isa 53. 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all h Acts 12. 7 8 Now let us gird up our loines with Peter and binde on our sandals i Eph. 6. 15 and let our feet be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace to be fitted and prepared for our deliverance out of prison for the chains of our sins are taken off and the prison doores are opened to set us at liberty and to redeem our souls from destruction This Work of our Redemption is so great a mystery that the blessed Angels do adore it with much admiration but they cannot comprehend it it was decreed in heaven before the world was and all the three Persons in the holy Trinity had their severall operations
Pharisees Who were greater hypocrites and did deceive more with their seeming sanctity than they And who were more cruelly and maliciously set against Christ Gods Annointed than they Wherefore we ought to be very careful to keep down that high mindedness which we are prone unto if we are in any eminent place of authority in Church or State or if we have any gifts or endowments of the Spirit above other men f 1 Pet. 5. 5. for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace unto the humble lest hereupon the divel draw us into his snares to dissemble with God in the profession of his Name and also with men in our dealings with them We ought therefore to look well to the integrity of our hearts g Psal 51. 6. for God will be well pleased if he findeth truth and sincerity in the inward parts though there may be weaknesses and failings in the performance of our duties to him Hence it was that Christ did commend Nathanael because there was no guil found in him Now look upon thy beloved Saviour for thy instruction and behold how meekly the Lamb of God standeth among those ravenous wolves who sought to devour him Doth not thy conscience tell thee that the guilt of thy sins was as fewell to kindle their rage and to maintain the fire of their fury against him wert not thou some part of the occasion that he suffered such disgrace such ignominy and such blasphemous reproaches as were cast upon him If thy sins had no relation to Christ in his sufferings thou canst have no benefit thereby if thou dost not firmly believe that the guilt of thy sins was imputed unto Christ and that he suffered for thy sake as well as for all the Elect of God his righteousnesse cannot be imputed to thee his sufferings will profit thee nothing and thou canst have no good assurance that thy sins are washt away in his blood i Ezech. 18. â— but thou hast eaten the sower grapes and his teeth were set on edge thou hast committed the trespasse and he hath suffered the punishment that by his stripes thou maist be healed Wherfore thou hast no means to be justified by the righteousnesse of Christ and to have the remission of thy sins by the merit of his blood but by faith in him if thou canst apply him to thy self also without faith in Christ the wrath of God cannot be turned away from thee and thou canst not comfortably rest upon his promises for thy salvation Christ doth here teach thee meeknesse of spirit when thou art unjustly accused spitefully reviled and shamefully used he doth also teach thee patience when thou art in trouble or in any necessity for he suffered farre more in thy nature to be an example to thee of meeknesse and of patience and to sanctifie all thy sorrows and sufferings to thee Wherefore let not thy love to him be abated because of his troubles but rather increase it the more because he suffered for thy sake and for thy good also let not thy confidence in him be weakened because he is now going to Golgotha which is an uncomfortable place to flesh and blood and be not thou disheartned if thou must go the same way and must follow him in the same steps and to the same place for Christ is gone before to sanctifie both the way and the place to thee and to take away the bitternesse of all thy troubles and crosses and therefore if thou wilt not go up after him to Mount Calvary thou art not worthy to ascend up into heaven to him Wherefor labour for Christian fortitude and an holy resolution that when troubles sorrowes or calamities do come upon thee thy minde may not be dismayed with fear nor thy heart faint with grief if thou must drink of these bitter waters of affliction for his sake Consider now k Mar. 14 62. that Jesus plainly told the high priest that he was the Christ the Son of God and that they should see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven whereupon the indignation of the high priest was such that he rent his clothhs he accused him of blasphemy and judged him to be worthy of death His proud spirit could not endure to hear such great things of so poor and silly a man as he conceived Christ to be but he was transported beyond the bounds of sound judgement with a kinde of blinde zeal or rather with furious hatred against Christ for he would not believe his report though he had declared himself so plainly to him according to this of the Prophet l Isa 53. 1. John 12. 38 Lord who hath believed our report and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed This Prophesie of Christ was at this very time fulfilled for now he was brought into such troubles and into such danger of his life that none believed what the Prophets had reported of him or what he did speak of himself his Divine Power was clouded from them he was as a man not able to help himself and his own Disciples staggered in their faith of him at this time This doth often shake the faith of the best of Gods servants when they see the rage of the wicked the perills and dangers that do round beset them and no power appearing to deliver them because God doth not reveal the strength of his arm for their help and succour May we not now justly admire at the incredulity that was in the high Priests heart and at the blindnesse of his understanding who would neither believe the words of Christ nor understand the ancient Prophesies which he knew were then to be fulfilâ—ed concerning the Messiah that was promised which did exactly agree with Christ and could agree with no other but the saying of the Prophet was fulfilled in him m Isa 6 9 10. Go and tell this peoplâ— Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their â—at 13. 14 15. eares heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes hear with their eares and understand with their hearts and convert and be healed n Zecha 11. 13. The Prophesie that he should be sold for thirty pieces of silver and that a potters field should be bought with that money was fulfilled before his eyes and yet he would not believe Also Isaiahs Prophesie of Christ was fulfilled at that very time o Isa 53. 3. for then he was despised and rejected of men they hid their faces from him and esteemed him not and yet he would not believe He could not be ignorant what great works Christ had wrought and how powerfull his Preaching was and yet he would not believe but rather this did increase his malice and fury against him The Priests and Elders expected a temporall king to deliver them out of their subjection to the Romanes
further to what height of impiety the spiteful and malicious Jews are brought u Mat. 27 24. Pilate washed his hands in water before he gave sentence against Christ in token as he thought that he was innocent of the guilt of his blood because he knew him to be a just person but the Jewes drowned themselves in the blood of that immaculate Lamb and said Let his blood be on us and on our children O what a burden is innocent blood to the conscience What fearful judgements did they pull down upon themselves and upon their posterity hereby David found this to be true when he did unjustly shed the innocent blood of Vriah â— 2 Sam. 11. for x Psal 51. this fact of his cost him many a tear before he coul get assurance of pardon for it How severe was the punishment that God laid upon Cain for killing his brother Abâ—l and yet these wretched Jewes did wish that the most precious blood of Christ the eternall Son of God might lye upon them and upon their children to which God in justice did say Amen That blood which was the blood of the New y Heb 9 20 Covenant and sealeth redemption to all that do apply it to themselves by faith is made a most heavy curse to the Jewes for their unbelief and it doth rest upon their posterity even to this day because they did despise it and most maliciously trampled it under their feet for they rejected him and would not believe in him for their salvation but preferred a murtherer before him which made their sin the more odious in Gods eye Wherefore let the thoughts and the Meditations of our hearts be how to moderate and suppresse our rash and raging passions that they break not out to wicked wishes or impious execrations to our own hurt or to the hurt of another but specially concerning blood lest God that heareth in heaven should say Amen to it for then the guilt of that sin will lye heavy upon us and the evill which we have unadvisedly wished will be grievous to them except we do speedily repent that God in mercy may forgive us We should therefore set a continuall watch before our lips that we speak nothing against themselves or to the hurt of another for God in his justice may bring the same evil upon us which we have wished either to our selves or to others but we ought to accustome our selves to blessing and not to cursing to wholesome speeches that may tend to edification and not to mischievous words that tend to destruction and then God in mercy will say Amen to it Now observe and mark what barbarous cruelly the Gentiles did use against our dear Saviour for as soon as he was condemed z Mar. 15. 15. they scourged him without limitation of stripes so that this of the Psalmists was verified in Christ a Psal 129. 3. The plowers plowed upon my back they made long their furrows whereas the Jews were limited by the Law of God to fourty stripes When Christ was thus b Deut. 25 3 cruelly scourged then Pilate delivered him to be crucified c Mat. 27. and then the savage Gentiles did mock and deride him they did spit upon him they crowned him with thornes and smote him on the head with a read and then they led him away to be crucified This was a dolefull spectacle and able to make a deep impression of tender compassion in any Christian heart to see a righteous man thus miserably tortured but much more to see the onely begotten Son of God thus dishonoured and thus shamefully used with as much disgrace and shame as they could devise But such inhumanity did reign in their murthering mindes and such cruell deeds were acted with their bloody hands that nothing could swage their malice and cruelty and nothing could mollifie their stony hearts or melt them into compassionate pitty because they were given up to a reprobate minde But let our hearts be touched with a true sense of our Saviours sufferings and with a godly sorrow and compunction for our sins when we ruminate and ponder in our thoughts how unjustly our blessed Redeemer was condemned and how cruelly he was used for our sakes for Gods controuersie was against us and not against his dear Son But because he of his tender love and compassion stept in between Gods fierce wrath and us which he knew was too heavy for us to bear and took upon himself the guilt of our sins and because the desire of his soul was to reconcile us to God his Father he was willing that so much of Gods severe wrath as in justice was due to us for our transgressions should light upon himself which he did meekly undergo to free us from it If we are thus affected when we do seriously think upon the passion of our Saviour Christ it will make us hate our sins with a perfect hatred it will pull down our proud and haughty spirits it will make us thankfully to acknowledge our unworthinesse of so great love from him and it will bind us in a firm bond of love and obedience to him then Christ will commiserate and pitty us in our sorrowes and will comfort us in our sad condition But alas we take no pleasure in such dolefull Meditations we are not feelingly affected with our Saviours tedious and bitter passion and therefore we cannot bring it home to our selves by faith neither can we raise up the affections of our hearts hereunto because we are not perswaded that he suffered more than his humane nature could have born if it had not been supported by his Deity neither do we faithfully believe that what he suffered was for our redemption as it was for all the elect of God and therefore we can draw no spirituall comfort from thence to our souls These sad contemplations are not sweet to our taste they are not delightfull to our corrupted nature nor pleasing to our carnall desires for we had rather go to the house of feasting than to the house of mourning our love to Christ is not so firm and our faith in him is not so strong as to make our mindes constant in these heavenly Meditations which are most profitable for the good of our souls If we find such obduracy in our hearts so little grace in our affections and that our unregenerate part is so prevailing in us that we can take no pleasure to Meditate on the bitter passion of Christ as if he were not to be pitied we may justly condemn our selves of too much ingratitude for his great love to us and we cannot then expect any compassion from him in our afflictions and miseries If we look upon a Kings onely Son and see him suffer all kind of rebuke and shame by rebells and traitors and all kinde of torturings and tormentings for no offence given shall we not pity his miserable condition And shall we not think upon his miseries with sad
the power of sin will be killed in us that by the sanctifying Grace of the holy Ghost we may be raised up to newnesse of life If we did seriously consider these things we should not keep at so farre a distance from Piety and vertue and we should not be such strangers to a Christian life and conversation but we would use all means to get into nearer society with Christ by true saving faith and by heavenly contemplation that the spirituall dew of his heavenly graces may distill into our hearts to sanctifie us throughout both in soul and in body that in Christ we may be made new creatures To this end we must endeavour to keep our faith still in action and continually to use it upon all occasions and in every condition of life for thereby we shall draw strength and power from Christ to carry us on through all temptations and tryalls and to support and comfort us in all sorrows and tribulations it will purifie our hearts from dead works and suffer no sin to continue with us without repentance to hinder the salvation of our souls This rare example of the goodnesse and mercy of Christ to this believing Thief may keep us from despair because g Ezech. 18 21 22. there is mercy for a sinfull soul if at any time he doth truly repent and turn to the Lord with a full intent and purpose of will to reform his evill it doth also teach us not to be secure or carelesse of our salvation for it is extreamly dangerous to loose any opportutunity of grace that God shall give us or to take so much liberty to sin as to forget to make our Peace with God in time for we must give an account at the last day of all that we have done in the flesh and our condition then wil be most miserable if our reckoning be not made perfect in the righteousnesse of Christ by faith while we live here upon earth and therefore it is the greatest punishment in this life to have no sense of our spirituall misery and not to fear or remember the dreadfull day of judgement Also this consideration should keep us from rash judgement and censuring of any mans condition though he be a notorious sinner for God can give him grace to repent when he pleaseth As this one example of the mercy of Christ to this penitent sinner may keep us from despair from security and from rash judging of others so let it keep us from presuming upon sin in hope of pardon we do wilfully delay our repentance from day unto day and so continue impenitent to the last part of our life because this man had all his sins forgiven even in a moment and was received to mercy at the last hour for God may justly deny us mercy if we refuse grace when the means is offered to us So likewise let it keep us from presuming upon repentance because it is not in our power to repent when we will This heavenly grace is the gift of God and it is the first fruits of faith which the holy Ghost will work in us if we are ready to yield obedience to his holy inspirations or to make the right use of such meanes as he is pleased to use to make us willing to seek unto him for it for if the Spirit of God doth not work it in us we can have no hope ever to obtain it Now consider the strength of faith that was in this poor sinner he gave the highest title of honour to Christ when he we was scornfully mocked and in a most contemptible condition to the eye of all men he did imbrace him and vindicate his honour when he was upon the crosse he did believe that heaven was his Kingdom though he were now reviled and despised of all men and that he had the disposing of all honours and preferments in that Kingdom which made him pray unto him Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdome also his heart was touched with a sensible feeling of his sins he made a pious confession of them and therefore he did pray for mercy out of a true sense of his misery If we can shew the faith of this penitent Thief though our life hath been as vicious as his was and though we turn to Christ late as he did yet we may have good hope of the pardon of our sins and we may comfortably expect his felicity for Christ will return the like gracious answer to our Prayers and the like promise of future happinesse But what faith can we shew if we still dishonour Christ with our words and works how can we trust in him if we do not believe that all regall power both in heaven and in earth is given unto him And how can we hope for future blessednesse from him if we are not confident that he is the disposer of all the glorious mansions that are in heaven what godly sorrow have we for our sins if we still go on in a presumptuous way of sinning And what hope is there of true repentance if we still cherish foster our sins in our bosome if our faith and repentance be no better then thus Christ will not hear our Prayers nor grant our requests Wherefore let not the devill delude thee with security or presumption lest he brings thee to perdition for many have perished with the shadow of this deceitful hope Look well to the truth of thy faith that it be well grounded upon the true knowledge of Christ and of those excellencies that are in him that thou maist firmly rest upon him in all troublesome and dangerous times but chiefly for the redemption of thy soul Neglect not the means of grace and defer not thy repentance for God hateth such as upon confidence of repentance in their old age do presume to sin the moâ—e freely as if God did not know the deceit and hypocrisie that is in their hearts h Deut. 29. 19 20 If thou dost flatter thy self in thy wickednesse and doest blesse thy self in thy heart saying I shal have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to ad drankenes to thirst then know that the Lord will not spare thee but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against thee and all the curses that are written in his book shal lye upon thee and the Lord shall blot out thy Name from under heaven Consider further how much this penitent sinner was humbled in the sense of his sins and of his unworthinesse and also how bountifull and good Christ was to him for he durst not presume to beg any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ but onely some remembrance of him when he came into his Kingdome but Christ did grant him a present possession of his Kingdome Verily I say unto thee To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise This Paradise was the place of blessednesse where all the Saints of God shall be untill the generall
do we hope for no greater felicity than what we now injoy We hâ—ve no abiding place here but we are subject to changes every moment and upon every small occasion o 1 Chro. 29 15. We are strangers and sojourners here our dayes on earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding our mansion house where we must dwell for ever is in heaven which Christ our Saviour hath prepared for us to draw our mindes from all earthly delights which are fading and transitory and alwayes mixed and imbittered with some sorrowes and vexations that our hearts and affections may be inflamed to injoy that celestial happinesse where we shall be stablished and confirmed in perfect holinesse for ever and where we shall injoy the perfection of all blessedness for evermore Wherefore p Heb. 12. 2. look unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God q 2 Tim. 2. i2 If we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him if we dye with him we shall also live with him if we are buried with him we shall rise with him and if we partake with him in his humiliation we shall also partake with him in his exaltation for the members must be made conformable to the Head Of the Resurrection of CHRIST VVE come now to the Exaltation of our blessed Redeemer for though he suffered his enemies to tyrannize over him at their pleasure and to put him to a most cruell and shamefull death upon the crosse because it was his heavenly Fathers will it should be so yet he rose again the third day by the Almighty Power of his Deity and cloathed himself with the glorious robes of immortality triumphing over all his enemies both spirituall and temporall The truth of his Resurrection a Luk. 24. did first appear by the testimony of two Angels to the Woman that came the third day to his Sepulchre to imbalm his body b John 20. then he appeard to Mary and to his Disciples at several times also to five hundred brethren at once and he conversed with his Disciples fourty dayes upon earth before he ascended up into heaven Many Saints that slept were raised out of their graves with him who also appeared to many in the holy City and probably ascended up with him into heaven so that we may safely build our faith upon the truth of his Resurrection which is an Article of faith that we must believe for the well grounding of our hope that our bodies shal also rise again from the dead with songs of rejoicing and triumph Here is matter of exceeding great comfort to our souls for our hearts to Meditate upon if we do stedfastly believe that Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour is risen from the dead First we may be truly perswaded hereby that he hath fully satisfied the justice of God for all our sins and that the guilt of sin is taken away from our souls and nailed to his Crosse so that if God looks upon our sins there he will also see the precious blood of his dear Son that was spilt for them Secondly we may firmly believe that Christ by his Resurrection hath gotten the victory and conquest over sin death hell and the Devill c John 10. 18 for as he had power to lay down his life so he had power to take it up again Christ hath likewise taken away the strength of sin and hath pulled out the sting of death in that he hath fulfilled all righteousnesse and fully satisfied the penalty of the Law d 1 Cor. 15. 56. for the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law Wherefore we may now draw vertue and grace from Christ to overpower all the corruptions of our nature e Eph. 2. 1. and though we are dead in trespasses and sins yet by the power of his Resurrection he will quicken us and raise us up out of the grave of sin and will give us a spirituall life to live the life of grace to him here that we may live the life of glory with him hereafter for ever Why then should we fear death that hath no sting to wound us Why should we not smile upon it seing Christ hath sanctified it to us Why should we fear the Devill with a servile fear seing Christ hath redeemed us out of his bondage His malice may molest and trouble us if we be not well armed with faith but Christ hath weakened his power below our strength When our bodieslye in the dust our souls will be out of the devils reach for Christ will take them up to himself into the Paradise of God where the devil cannot come for he is cast down into utter darknesse he may be permitted to tempt or afflict us while we are in the flesh but Christ whom we serve will not suffer him to prevail against us Thirdly seeing Christ our head is risen from the dead we also that are his members must rise again at the last day for the Head will draw all the members of the body with it Christ hath redeemed our bodies from the grave as well as our souls from death if therefore we be not raised again out of the grave our redemption is not perfectly wrought Also if there shall be no resurrection of our bodies and if death hath power to keep them still in the grave then our union with Christ is not firm and our faith is not able to keep us close unto him and our hope is not stedfast but death hath not this power the graves will open and deliver up their dead and our bodies shall rise again to injoy that unconceivable happinesse with our souls of the beatificall vision of God and to be for ever with Christ our Redeemer because Christ our Head is risen Lastly our chief comfort dependeth upon our resurrection to glory for in this life we finde nothing but labour and travell sorrow and trouble vexation and anguish of spirit our hope of future rest and peace of joy and comfort happinesse and glory doth sweeten all our afflictions here and makes us bear them contentedly and chearfully for as David saith f Psal 58. 11. Verily there is a reward for the righteous and this reward is in heaven Now if there be no resurrection from the dead our hope is vain our comfort will deceive us and our life is most miserable of all men according to this of Paul g 1 Cor. 15. 15. If in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable for we shall never injoy this reward which God hath promised but our faith is grounded upon the sure promises of God which cannot deceive us concerning the resurrection of our bodies unto glory which will yield us unspeakable consolation when we seriously Meditate upon it Wherefore now raise
true believer hath by Christ in this life above all other men that have no interest in him by faith and examine thy self hereby what thou hast gained by him If thou hast used the blessings of God and his good creatures soberly and temperately to his glory and not to pamper or cherish any sin to dishonour him thereby and doest return thanks unto God for them with a sincere heart because he is the sole giver of all things that thou injoyest then Christ hath taken away the curse that was upon them and hath made them blessings to thee which thou maist freely use to thy comfort otherwise thou canst finde little comfort in them Also if thou dost truly believe that thy sins were imputed unto Christ and hast an holy assurance hereof by the dayly renuing of thy repentance for thy dayly sins then thou maist be fully perswaded that the guilt of sin which was a burden to thy conscience and did cleave close to thy soul is taken away and that Christ hath nailed it to his crosse whereby thou art freed from the curse of the Law and from the condemnation of sin This consideration will much comfort thee when thou art under the crosse for the evill of punishment that was in thine afflictions is taken away it being part of the curse and thou art but chastised for thy good and not punished for thy hurt Examine thy self yet further what thou hast gained by Christ for if thou canst over-power thy corruptions by the strength of grace and canst leave thy sins before they leave thee and that the remembrance of them is bitter to thy soul and doest dayly strive with a true purpose of heart to newnesse of life then thou hast an evident sign that Christ hath taken away the dominion of sin in thee z Ezek. 36. 25. and hath poured clean water upon thy soul to purifie cleanse thee from all thy filthines Also if thou dost find the fruits of the Spirit of sanctification that thou hast an holy desire to the means of grace and a faithful endeavour to grow stronger in grace that thy heart may be stablished in the truth and thy Faith firm to uphold thee in thy sufferings and tryalls then thou hast gotten great gain and much Advantage by Christ But if thou art perswaded of thine Adoption by Faith in him thou canst not conceive how great thy gain will be for whatsoever a childe can desire of a loving Father thou mayest expect much more from God nothing shall be too dear for thee nothing shall be hurtfull to thee and nothing shall be concealed from thee that may be profitable and advantageous to the salvation of thy soul Let us consider now that our hearts may ruminate well upon it for our great comfort what honour we have by being made the sons of God a 1 Sam. 18. 23. When Sauls servants came to perswade David to be the Kings son in law he gave them this answer Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a Kings son in law seeing that I am a poor man and lightly esteemed How great then is the honour and how highly to be esteemed for a poor wretched captive to be made the Son of the eternall and everliving God to have such a Father to come to in all our necessities such a Refuge in all our distresses such a Protectour against all our enemies and to be heir to such an Inheritance as is incorruptible and eternal which Christ hath reserved for us in heaven Wherefore we should be holy and undefiled in our conversations as becometh the sons of such a Father we should not walk stubbornly before him but in filial fear and reverence obeying his holy will and commands with filial love and submitting to his rod and corrections as a childe ought to submit to his Father If our services are thus performed to God he will then be a tender and a gracious Father to us If we have this Gain by Christ in this life what is the gain of the whole world to it What is all earthly honour to the honour of a true Christian and yet most men covet and desire that gain and that honour and they neglect the true Gain and the true honour of a Christian which is chiefly to be desired b Mat. 16. 26 What is a man profited saith Christ if be shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul If we injoy Christ we have a rich Patrimony we can want no comfort whatsoever shall betide us in soul or in body in goods or good name he will repair all our losses in Adam with his abundant righteousnesse he will also repair all our losses in children servants or estate either in this life c Job 42 10 as he did unto Job or else in the life to come in a more plentifull manner Christ will likewise furnish us with all spiritual abilities to encounter with the enemies of our salvation to stand firmly for the truth and for a good conscience and to endure the tryall of our faith love hope and patience and he will make perfect whatsoever is wanting or imperfect in us d 2 Cor. 12. 9 for his grace is sufficient for us and his strength is made perfect in weaknesse his love and his care of us doth most shine forth when we do most a base and humble our selves and when we do acknowledge our unworthinesse of it In the last place we should Meditate with all thankfulnesse upon the great benefit that we have by the Covenant of grace which Christ hath sealed for us with his blood for we may faithfully believe and comfortably expect that God will perform his condition expressed therein to us though we cannot perfectly perform our conditions to him also that he will purifie and cleanse us from all our filthinesse e Jer. 32. 40. and will put his fear in our hearts that we shall not depart from him Wherefore let not the failings and frailties of the flesh discomfort us nor weaken our faith and confidence in the goodnesse of God to us in Christ for the flesh will rebell against the spirit and the corruptions of the unregenerate part will sometimes breake out upon us to dash and hinder our comfort in this gracious Covenant Therefore Christ hath ordained the two Sacraments to seal this Covenant to our souls for the better confirmation of our Faith f Gal. 3. 26 27. For if we are baptized into Christ by Faith we have put on Christ we are members of his Church and this Covenant is sealed to us g 1 John 1. 7 and the blood of Christ hath cleansed us from all sin If age or sicknesse or any thing else beside sanctifying grace doth keep us from sinning against God this is not the true purging away of sin nor the regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost because the evill concupisence of the flesh and the sinful desires of the minde will remain strong and
it might run down to every member of his mystical body which was typified by r Psal 133. 2. that pâ—ecious ointment which was poured upon Aarons head and ran down to the skirts of his garments so that we have a spiritual light to discern the things that belong to our peace then Christ hath wrought this life in us by his holy Spirit for in the state of nature we were dead to any thing that is heavenly f 1 Cor. 2. 14 and we could not receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned Secondly if our soules can feed upon heavenly food and if we can expresse all other actions of a spiritual life as to walk in the paths of holinesse to speak the pure Language of Canaan and to have our conversation in heaven while we live here upon earth we may then be fully perswaded that there is a spirituall life in us for so long as sin reigneth in our mortall bodies and untill there be a new creation wrought in us we are spiritually dead to every good work and we can expresse no actions of a sanctified life Thirdly if our souls are cleansed from the guilt of sin in the blood of Christ and if the filth and stains of our sins are washed away in the Laver of Regeneration by his sanctifying grace and covered under his righteousnesse that they appear not to the dishonour of God or to the hurt of our neighbour and that we delight not in any sin but do study and endeavour to serve and please God with a sincere heart and pure affections it is a sure evidence that Christ hath quickned and raised us up from the death of sin to the life of grace Lastly if our duties and services to God proceed from a clean and a purified heart which is sanctified and perfumed with the graces and merits of Christ then God will smell the perfume of them to accept of our persons and of our holy offerings because the Spirit of Christ is in us Thus we may know to our great comfort if we narrowly look into our condition what spirituall life we have and that we have it onely from Christ and by him Wherefore now if thou desirest to live spiritually by Christ thou must faithfully believe that he hath taken away that spiritual death which by nature was upon thee for thy sins and that he onely can give thee this spirituall life for as he hath vanquished and overcome the power of death both spiritual and temporal so he can give a spiritual life as well as a temporal to whom and when he pleaseth This spiritual life thou must have from him if thou canst make a particular application of him to thy self by faith that he is thy Saviour and thy Redeemer for he hath then breathed into thee the Spirit of grace which hath wrought this spiritual life in thee though at the first thou canst feel no power of it without this application of Christ to thy self thou canst draw no comfort from him and he will profit thee nothing It did much comfort Job in his greatest misery when he did thus apply Christ to himself t Job 19. 25 27. I know saith he that my Redeemer liveth whom I shall see for my self If thou canst bring thy heart to close thus with Christ he will give light to thine eyes food to thy soul balm for thy diseases and comfortable refreshing for thy languishing spirits But if thou art still dead in thy sins and hast no spiritual life in Christ thou canst then feel no comfort by him for what good can light do to a dead man What benefit can he have by the daintiest food What can the best medicine profite him And what sense hath he of the best perfume But if thou doest live in Christ and he in thee thou shalt partake with him in his fulnesse of all spiritual graces u Col. 1. 19 for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullnesse dwell u John 1. 16 And of his fulnesse have all we received and grace for grace Now consider further that Christ is the meritorious cause of this spiritual life x Tit. 2. 14 for he gave himself freely and voluntarily to be an oblation and a sacrifice for us to redeem us from all iniquity and from whatsoever we are lyable unto by reason of sin to wit from the guilt of sin from the dominion of sin from the curse of the Law from the bondage of Satan from the terrours of death and from eternall condemnation Also by the power of his resurrection he hath subdued and overcome death hell and the grave that we might be raised out of the grave of sin to live a spiritual life to God in Christ Christ hath wrought our redemption by his active and passive obedience to the will of God whereby we are justified in his sight for he hath taken our life out of the hand of Gods justice where we had no hope to injoy it and hath put it into the hand of his mercy where we are sure through Christ to have the comfort of it here and the happinesse of it hereafter Though we must passe by the gates of hell before we can injoy the sweet consolation of this spiritual life and though we must bring our selves so low in our humiliation and in mortifying of our sins and corruptions as if we were ready to be thrust down into hell yet God will then give us a spiritual life in Christ to support us he will then raise us up to newnesse of life by the sanctifying grace of his Spirit that our spiritual life may appear and that we may be made fit to injoy Christ for ever in the Kingdom of heaven This is the first main end of the passion of Christ that we may be redeemed by the merit of his blood Secondly Christ is the efficient cause of our spiritual life for as we have our justification by the merit of his blood so we have our sanctification by the same blood and these two cannot be separated but must go together for we have no sure evidence that we are justified in the sight of God but by the sanctification of our lives The Act of our justification is wrought at once as soon as we are ingrafted into Christ by Faith but our sanctification must be a continued Act so long as we live in the flesh for the best of Gods servants have so many spots and stains of sin in them that they have dayly need to pray to be every day purified and cleansed with the blood of Christ and to be dayly renewed with the graces of his Spirit This is the second main end why Christ gave himself to be an oblation for us that he might purifie us to be a peculiar people to himself according to this of Paul y Tit. 2. 14 Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself
t Acts 3. 8. If the creeple whom Peter and John cured leaped and praised God then we have much more cause to praise and glorifie God with joyfull hearts because Christ hath cured us of our spirituall lamenesse and of all other spiritual infirmities Also u Mat. 27. 54. if the Centurion when he saw the earth-quake and what was done at Christs death glorified God saying Truly this was the Son of God then ought we to glorifie God for our regeneration and for our Spirituall life and to say Truly this was the work of the Son of God We may dayly see the wonderfull works of God which he doth for his own glory to give us dayly occasions to honour and glorifie him and therefore this should be our continual practise to magnifie the Name of God according to this of Paul u Cor. 10. 31. Whether ye ear or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God It is the continual work of the Saints and Angels in heaven to sing Hosanna to the highest and it should be our constant care here upon earth to glorifie God and to magnifie him for all his benefits mercies and goodnesse to us Thus we may come to have an holy assurance that we have a spiritual life in Christ if we do truly believe that he hath redeemed us by the merit of his blood from all our iniquities and from all the issues of sin also that he hath sanctified us and made us an holy people to himself not to serve the world the flesh or the divel but to serve the living God with a clean heart and pure affections So likewise if we finde a new principle of grace planted in our hearts whereby we are able in some measure to walk in the paths of godlinesse and so to steer all our actions that they may tend to the honour and glory of God the Peace of our consciences and the eternal comfort of our souls How to injoy true Happinesse ALL men desire to be happy but few seek it where it is to be found some seek it in morall vertues and natural endowments some in morall vertues and natural endowments some in worldly pleasures and profits others think to finde it in riches and honours but all come far short of the glory of true happinesse though they do obtain their desire in all earthly things for all that this world doth afford cannot make a man truly happy so much as in this life much lesse can it procure his happinesse in the life to come for there will still be something wanting or else something to imbitter their contentment in these things here below If we have honour or authority to day we may be in ignominy and disgrace to morrow if we have riches and plenty to day we may be exposed to want and penury to morrow sicknesse or pain will blast all our earthly contentments but when death comes it will bereave us of them all It is in vain therefore to seek our happinesse in these vain things or to put our confidence in them for our felicity doth not consist in uncertain riches or in transitory honours and pleasures which in themselves are nothing else but vanity and vexation of spirit But true happinesse is from above and it consisteth in the sweet fruition of God this happinesse we had in the state of innocency but we lost it by the fall of our first Parents and we have no means to recover it but onely by Christ Jesus our blessed Redeemer Wherefore a Rom. 8. 32. God took pity on our miserable condition and of his infinite mercy and love hath not spared his own Son but delivered him up for us all to work our redemption by his death and passion and to bring us again into the favour of God And as John saith b Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life so that we cannot have this true blessednesse but onely by Christ which is every where set forth in this Treatise Thus doth the boundlesse mercy and unlimited goodnesse of God appear in offering his dear Son to all that will come and imbrace him but some cannot come because they live not where the Gospel of Christ is preached which doth reveal him and must instruct them in the right way how to finde him some will not come but make excuses c Lu. 14. 1â— 19. like those in the Gospel that were bidden to the great Supper for they are hindered by their worldly occasions others are wholly taken up with carnall delights and pleasures which keeps them from coming to Christ though they may injoy this true happinesse by him Consider now that riches honours and lawful pleasures are not in themselves simply evill for they are Gods good creatures and his blessings neither do they keep us from coming unto Christ but we may injoy Christ together with them if we do not immoderately covet them and use no unjust means to get them or put our trust and confidence in them to derogate from the honour of God If we injoy Christ with them he will sanctifie them to us for our comfort and will make them the first fruits of our happinesse whereby we may glorifie God and do much good to our neighbour otherwise they are but the shadow of happinesse and not the true substance of it which in the end will be bitternesse when we must give a strict account unto God how we have used them Many a poor man that injoyeth Christ is more happy in his poverty than they that abound in wealth and honour if they are without Christ for they injoy a contented minde peace of conscience and joy in the holy Ghost and they have an holy assurance that their joy and happinesse shall be made perfect in the life to come Wherefore he that hath Christ hath the Fountain of all true happiness and some streams thereof will flow to him even in this life But this is true which Christ saith d Joh. 6. 44 No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and we can have no part in Christ nor happinesse by him except we do truly believe in him This is the way that God himself hath taught us Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life Also this is the same way which Christ taught his Disciples e Joh. 14. 1 Yee believe in God believe also in me Our faith must be as firm as strong and as well grounded upon Christ as he is our Redeemer God and Man as it is upon God alone or else we cannot injoy him and all that happinesse which floweth from him Though we dare not approach neer unto God in regard of his divine justice yet through the mediation of Christ our gracious Redeemer we may have free accesse unto our God and we shall find him sitting
pleased to satisfie our desires for our faith will give us as certain assurance to obtain what we pray for as if we did already injoy it We have no hope of succour in our distresses but by prayer and no prayer is prevailing with God but that which comes from a believing heart The gift of prayer may move the affections for the present but it is the grace of prayer that is powerful with God the gift of prayer is but a common gift of the holy Ghost which may be without faith and consequently without any acceptance l Heb. 11. 6. For without faith it is impossible to please God but faith doth alwayes goe along with the grace of prayer and God will not deny such a prayer though it be made in weak expressions for the heart may sigh out a faithful prayer and grone out our desires which the tongue cannot utter nor expresse Now then look well to the purity of thine affections and to the faithfulnesse of thy heart when thou art in the presence of God to hear his word that thy mind be not then about thy worldly affaires or thy thoughts set upon vain things if thou desirest to receive good thereby For if thou doest hear it with an unbelieving heart or full of worldly cares then thy heart is like barren ground where bryars and thornes grow which cannot receive such spiritual seed to bring forth fruit unto salvation Also in thy holy meditations on spiritual things thy heart must be first purified by faith or else thy meditations will not be comfortable to thy soul because thou hast not faith which is the instrument to draw true consolation from Christ So likewise when thou comest to the Lords Table see there be faith in thine eyes to discern the Lords body in those outward elements that thou mayest spiritually feed on him to nourish thy soul to eternal life When thou makest thy supplications to God believe faithfully that thou shalt receive what thou beggest and then thy prayers will not return empty without a blessing In like manner if thy humiliation for thy sinnes be not a fruit of faith but onely in outward shew and not in the sincerity of thy heart with true contrition and godly sorrow for them thy humiliation is no better m 1 Kin. 21. 27. than that of Ahab which produced no reformation of life Also if thou doest confesse thy sinnes when any sore affliction is upon thee and doest not faithfully purpose to forsake them and turn to the Lord thou doest dissemble with God in thy heart and canst not believe that God will forgive them for thy confession is no better n Exod. 9. 27 28. then that of Pharaoh and thou canst have no comfort in such repentance because it is not a fruit of faith for it is onely faith that doth perfect all thy services to God in their righteousnesse of Christ Fourthly we have no defence against the temptations and wicked suggestions of the devill and against the rage of our spiritual enemies but the shield of faith his fiery darts will wound our soules even to the death o Eph. 6. 16. if we doe not quench them in the bloud of Christ by faith his temptations will pierce us to the heart if we doe not beat them back with this impenitrable shield Also he layeth his snares every where so cunningly in our way that we can hardly take a step but we shall step into a snare p Psal 26. 11 12. if we doe not walk in our integriy by faith that our feet may stand in an even place There is no place secure and no condition of life is free from the snares of the devill he layeth them in our calling upon our table in our chambers and closets and under our feet so that every step we take out of the way of godlinesse is an occasion to bring us into his snares and we have no meanes to escape them but to walk in the light of the Spirit of God which we cannot have but by faith in Christ If we walk thus by the direction of his Spirit then as the wise man saith q Prov. 28. 18 26. we walk uprightly and we shall be saved we walk wisely and we shall be delivered But if we have not this spiritual light to guide us we walk in darknesse r Job 18. 8 9 10. we are cast into a net by our own feet and we walk upon a snare The grin shall take us by the heel and the robber shall prevail against us The snare is laid for us in the ground and a trap for us in the way Now then Å¿ Isa 50. 11. if we walk in the light of our own fire and in the sparkes that we have kindled this we shall have of Gods hand we shall lye down in sorrow Thus do spirituall dangers continually attend us which of our selves we cannot escape but if we trust in the Name of the Lord and rest our selves upon God by faith t Psal 91. 3 he will deliver us from the snare of the fowler he will direct us in all our wayes and will guide our feet into the way of peace u Jer 10. 23 For the way of man is not in himself as saith the Prophet it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps If we are taken in any of these snares that the devil layeth for us we have no meanes of recovery but by faith and true repentance for faith in Christ will break the snare and repentance will draw us out of the pit which did threaten our destruction Consider again that the devil laboureth to insnare us with the alluring baits of pleasure and profit thereby to draw away our hearts and affections from God this is a cunning way to deceive us for we suspect no danger and no evill in those things unto which we are naturally inclined so that we may easily be deceived with these guilded baits for without a spiritual light we cannot see the hook that is in them which will pull us into the pit of perdition n 2 Cor. 11. 14. Thus the devil can transform himself into an Angel of light x Mat. 24. 24. to deceive if it were possible the very elect The devil hath so many wayes to intrap us that we cannot passe thorough this dangerous ocean without shipwrack except Christ be our Pilot by faith to steer our hearts and affections and all the faculties of our soules with his Spirit and then we shall escape all these rocks and quicksands which doe continually threaten the ruine and destruction of our poor soules We cannot mount above this black cloud of deadly snares and dangers without the wings of faith and we cannot break the cords of sin without the strength of faith in the death of Christ neither can we get out of the dominion of sin without the power of the same faith in Christ Such is the goodnesse of our
can they hate any thing that is wicked and sinfull because it is so agreeable to their nature and they have no grace to check their corrupted nature for loving that which God hateth and hath forbidden whereas a regenerate man will find that the Spirit of grace which is in him will give him a secret check if his unregenerate part doth take pleasure and delight in any thing that is sinfull for he must not conform himself to the fashion of the world The sense of faith may be lost BY faith in Christ we injoy the light of Gods countenance and his assisting Grace which is our greatest comfort in all misery and distresse and so long as we do injoy that we are sensible of our faith and we feel the comfort of it but when God doth hide his face from us and withdraw his assisting grace it is the greatest trouble that can betide us it takes away the comfort of faith from our soules and leaves us in a sad and sorrowfull condition in our apprehension because the support of our Faith is clouded from us God doth sometimes withdraw himself from his dear servants and doth suffer them to loose the sense of their Faith for a time to make them prize it the more and to be the more careful of it this God will also do by laying his rod of correction heavy upon us if he seeth that we watch not carefully over our Faith that we are carelesse in the use and exercise of it that we sleep in security or lye dead in our sins without repentance or if we abuse his love and goodnesse to us for then he will leave us to our selves to let us see our own weaknesse without his assisting grace Upon these and the like occasions the devill will be ready to take his advantage to assault us with his temptations to make us doubt of the love and favour of God when afflictions presse sore upon us also to aggravate our sins or else to hide them out of our sight as he did David's sin of adultery if by any means he can to keep us in unbelief or without repentance that we may not recover the sense and comfort of our Faith for his main drift is at last to drive us into despair It is a cunning policy of the devil and full of danger if he can keep us from the sight and sense of our sins that we should not confesse them and lay them open before God with a truly humbled penitent heart that so by ouâ— repentance we may have an holy assurance of the paâ—don of them For then wil our Faith break forth as thâ— Sun out of a cloud to warm and refresh our souls with spirituall consolation for we cannot lose the habit of Faith though the sense of it may be taken from us for a time Sometimes God himself will sift and winnow us as wheat to cleanse us from our chaffe to keep us from spiritual pride and to humble us for our sins Thus he sifted the house of Israel as he saith by his Prophet a Amâ—s 9 9 For lo I will command and I will sift the house of Israel among the nations like as corn is sifted in a five yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth Though God doth sometimes deal thus rigorously with us and doth leave us no hope to support our Faith yet not the least grain of his corn shall fall upon the earth but our Faith shall recover her strength again It is onely sin that makes a separation between God and us according to this of the Prophet b Isai 59. 2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear c Cant. 5. It was sin that caused Christ withdraw himself from his Spouse because she would not open to him when he knocked but when he was gone and past she was in a wofull and comfortlesse condition Nothing can so much afflict us as the losse of our heavenly Fathers love and nothing can shake our Faith so much as when our souls are perplexed because in our own apprehension God is either become our enemy or else he hath quite forsaken us How did Job complain in his great afflictions d Job 30. 27 28. My bowels boiled and rested not I went mourning without the Sun My skin is black upon me and my bones are burnt with heat my harp also is turned to mourning and my Organ into the voice of them that weep Holy Davids Faith was brought to so low a degree by the sense of the burden of his sin and by the apprehension of the displeasure of God for it that he cryed to the Lord saying e Psal 38. 4 6 21 23. Forsake me not O Lord O my God be not far from me make haste to help me O Lord my salvation And again he thus cryeth unto God in the bitternesse of his soul f Psal 143. Hear me speedily O Lord my spirit faileth hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit g Psal 13. â— 2. How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide thy face from me How long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart dayly How long shall mine enemies be exalted over me Surely David had at this time little or noâ— sense of Faith to trust and depend upon God These and the like are the dolefull complaints of Gods children when they are overwhelmed with sorrowes or feel any spiritual desertions in so much as they cannot receive comfort until the holy Ghost who is the true Comforter doth give them some assurance of the grace and favour of God Wherefore it is evident that our Faith may be so strongly assaulted with sorrows and grief of heart that we are not able to hold out but are ready to sink under the pressure of our misery because it will take away the sense of our faith which must uphold us but specially when the guilt of sin lyeth upon the conscience for that will bring us to such an apprehension of a spiritual desertion that we can feel no comfort in God for the time for it will stop the current of all true consolation to our afflicted spirits which we cannot have but by Faith in Christ and nothing will take impression in us to comfort us so long as we are under the guilt of sin but these or the like uncomfortable complaints will be ready to be uttered that God hath quite forsaken us that there is no hope for us in Christ and we cannot believe that there is any salvation for us because our sins are so many and so grievous If we are thus afflicted and perplexed in mind that feares and doubtings of salvation trouble us because our Faith is so weak that we cannot discern it this will give us great satisfaction and