where els eyther to be sought or found but in lesus Christ onely Where I beseech you first to marke both how this doctrine ariseth from hence and then the tearmes in which I doe propound and deliuer the same It is gathered from this place because our Sauiour calleth vs vnto him yea vnto him alone which if it had not bin the will of his Father and verie truth indeede or if hee alone had not had aboundant yea infinite matter of strong and solide comfort in himselfe he would neuer haue done as we haue already heard in the beginning of this exercise And for the wordes I doe not say there is no comfort to bee founde for meate drinke sleepe friends recreation and such like are comforts I confesse but not true and sound comfort for a distressed spirit For the affliction of the mind is inward and these are but outward therefore are not fitte for a person or partie so affected and I would as soone thinke and say that bodily food were the proper and sound nourishment of the soule as suppose that these outward things were the true and sound comfort of a broken and contrite heart But that yet wee may bee the better perswaded of the trueth of this point let vs proceed vnto some further proofes of it This was not in my mind obscurely signified vnder all the sacrifices of the old law whether they were ordinarie or extraordinarie dayly or yearly generall or particular all and euery one of them in measure more or lesse tending still vnto him whom they did prefigure and signifie as the Apostle at large declareth in the Epistle to the Hebrewes And why him because he was he alone in whom God was pleased to reconcile the world vnto himselfe and to make the one and onely obiect of our faith And this is plainely propounded vnto vs and proued also by manifolde texts of Scripture both in the old and new testament I wil not trouble you with many for I like not much of that course Out of that great store let vs take two or three both playne and pregnant for this purpose In the 55. Chapter of the booke of the Prophet Isaiah a place cited before and is as we all know and confesse an euident prophecie concerning Christ and the graces that wee shall finde in him if with a liuely and stedfast fayth we labour to lay hold of him it is sayd Encline your eare and come vnto mee Oh marke how like this Euangelical Prophet our Sauiour himselfe speake let this phrase also I beseech you serue for a cōfirmation and exposition of these wordes of our text Heare and your soule shall liue and I will make an euerlasting couenant with you euen the sure mercies of Dauid Euery worde hath his waight he yea he alone will establish not a momentany but an euerlasting couenant with all his faithfull of which that wee might be the better certified hee telleth vs it shall be sure yea as sure as the mercies manifested vnto and bestowed vpon Dauid which as they were large and almost innumerable so were they irreuocable and could neuer fayle To the same purpose serueth a notable sentence of the Apostle 2. Cor. 1.5 As the sufferings of Christ abound in vs so our consolation aboundeth thorow Christ. By sufferinges of Christ he meaneth not onely those thinges that we indure at the hands of persecuters for Christes sake for Christ did not onely suffer that way but euen those anguishes also that we haue in our soules and in our spirits Christ being as much yea farre more throwne down and humbled that way than all flesh as appeareth by his conflict in the garden and by his outcries vpon the Crosse saying My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee And though these haue bin were and are very good indeed as those that haue felt and doe feele thē know and confesse yet to the ende that wee might assure our selues that our ioyes shoulde match them he sayth Our consolations abound thorow him For if there were not a proportion betwixt our heauines and our comfort nay I will say more a superaboundance of our ioyes aboue our griefes then sure what by reason of Satans malice against vs and the dulnesse and hardnesse of our owne heartes to beleeue and the greatnesse of our griefes sorrows besides it would goe hard with a distressed spirit And therefore as for the comforting of vs against the hugenes and height of our sinnes we say with the Apostle where sinne hath abounded there grace hath ouerabounded So in this case of inward afflictions particularly we say our sorrowes may be sore and our griefes great yet our light affliction which is but for a moment causeth vnto vs a farre most excellent and eternall waight as of glory in the life to come so of ioy in this life raysed vp in our hearts by the comfortable feeling thereof And he that knoweth soundly and feelingly beleeueth the names natures person and offices of our Sauiour Christ together with the effects that from him in them are communicated to vs cannot chuse but see feele and confesse the trueth of this point Hee is good in him there is not or cannot be any thing but that which is absolutely good as in whose face and presence also there is the fulnes of ioy for euermore and at his right hand pleasures for euer and euer He is likewise so good that yet notwithstanding he is man like vnto vs in euery respect sinne onely excepted and one that hath bin touched with the feeling of our infirmities by meanes whereof we may the more boldly come vnto the throne of grace so receiue mercy and finde grace to helpe in time of neede Yea these two natures are so ioyned knit as we may say inseparably in one person euen from the very time of his blessed cōception in the wombe of his mother for the accomplishment of the worke of our redemption and our full comfort thereby as that they cannot be deuided or sundred hee being man that so hee might suffer and God that so hee might ouercome the perfection and full accomplishment of our redemption standing vpon these two partes suffering for sinne this is the first and then ouercomming sinne and death him that had the power of death that is the deuill And why is he called Iesus but because as it is sayd Matth. 1. He should saue his people from their sinnes For sinne and that that insueth vpon sinne as shame and confusion of face horror of heart condemnation c. is it that most stingeth mens mindes and soules Now all these beeing taken away in Christ why should they not as well and comfortably sing that tryumphant song O death where is thy sting O graue or hell where is thy victory the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the law But thankes be vnto God which hath giuen vs victory thorow our Lord Iesus Christ as well
law and vnder the gospell all leading vs not onely vnto Christ but vnto all those sweete graces and heauenly comfortes that we receiue from him To omit to speake of the sacraments of the olde testament which yet notwithstanding were for substance and matter the same to the fathers that ours are to vs and to come to thē of the newe Testament yea and but to touch one of them onely namely the Lords supper What wonderfull and vnspeakeable comfort doth God in Christ offer vnto vs therein To say nothing of those that we receiue there the pledges of his death and bloud sheading and of all the graces that flow vnto vs therefrom as forgiuenesse of sinnes sanctified vse of the creatures reconciliation to God and sundry such like what a maruailous mercy is this that vnder those elements of bread and wine hee should seale vp in our hearts not onely the spirituall strength wee haue from him to die the death of sinne and to liue the life of righteousnesse thorow his power but also the heauenly comfort that he cōmunicateth vnto vs bread no more effectually or liuely strengthning our hearts nor wine more effectually making vs to be of cheerefull spirits than Christ partaken of by fayth filleth vs with all manner of heauenly and holy ioy And by arguments taken from priuation if I may so say wee may proue this point The comfort that we speake of is no where else to be sound therefore it must of necessitie be in him alone If we would looke to Angels and saints departed out of this life there is a double exception against them for first we are vncertaine of their good will and sounde affection towards vs as in this behalfe then we are sure they cannot afford vs that we desire as who neither haue that power in thēselues because it properly onely belongeth vnto the Lord and besides are sundred so farre from vs in respect of distance of place that they are not able to stretch out their ayd though they could helpe As for the rest of the creatures they are as farre vnable and weake for this worke as the other if not more The diuelles and damned spirits will rather do what they can to torment vs then yeeld any consolation Man and woman that liue with vs in the world are infirme and stand in neede as we our selues and not able in the greatnes of their distresse to comfort themselues much lesse vs vnreasonable creatures are tainted with our sinnes and sith the wicked enioy them in greater portion than we cannot yeelde consolation Our owne things that we haue in our owne power as our wiues our children and friendes either in hard heartednesse against vs will become miserable comforters vnto vs as Iobs wife and friendes were all the sort of them or else when we shal consider what iniuries and indignities we haue offered them will increase our sorrow And the like may wee say of our health wealth strength c. which beeing abused will cast downe rather then comfort But whither am I carried in confirmation of this point It is time as I take it to make vse of it and so to proceed to the handling and hearing of some other doctrines We may see by it as if it were in a cleare true looking glasse the miserable estate and wofull condition of all in the worlde that be without the knowledge and feeling of Christ I say both knowledge and feeling and I beseech you ioyne them both together for they cannot be sundred no more then the soule and the body because as all without the knowledge of him are vnder condemnation so many that know him yet feele him not in faith and obedience shall certainely perish For if that bee true which Christ himselfe sayth Ioh. 17. This is life eternall to know thee to bee the onely true God and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ then this by the contrary must needs be true also that those that knowe not God and him whom he hath sent Iesus Christ rest vnder eternall condemnation because Christ sayth hee that beleeueth in the name of the onely begotten Sonne of God shall not come into iudgement but hath passed out of death into life and againe he that beleeueth not is condemned already because he beleeueth not in the name of the onely Sonne of God By which we see what sentence to giue not only of the heathen and gentiles of whom the Apostle speaketh Ephes 2. that they were without God in the world neither yet of the Iewes Turks others who though they acknowledge God the Father yet obstinately deny and refuse the person of the sonne but also of many thousandes of Christians whereof some as hereticks deny his natures as the Anabaptistes who deny his humanitie and our popish aduersaries defacing his offices of Kingdome in erecting and exercising another gouernement thē he hath prescribed of priesthood in placing their dayly vnbloody sacrifice in stead of it of prophecie in bringing in new docirines and establishing traditions and other such trash and trumpery Other some againe knowing him but denying him thorow loose and lewd life of whom we may say as the Apostle saith of some other not much vnlike them that When they knew the power of godlines they denied it notwithstanding in their deeds and of whom also we may say though it bee to their terror as Christ sayth Luk. 12. He that knoweth the will of his master and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes And yet let no man thinke this a hard or hasty iudgement for heere wee speake not the wordes of our owne heart or mouth but of God and may in some measure in this behalfe say euen as Christ himselfe sayth Ioh. 12. I iudge no man but there is one that iudgeth such euen the word that he hath spoken it shall iudge them according to which when we iudge we cannot but iudge righteous iudgement because it being all and onely trueth it can giue no sentence saue according to the same But to drawe it more neere to our present purpose and occasion We may learn from hence what is the reason why so many distressed spirits ly as it were broiling in the flame fire of a troubled and disquieted he art Sure he either they know not Christ and the power of his grace and spirit and then no maruell though they boyle and broile indeed when they are touched with the sting of conscience for sinne and condemnation therfore For how can it be otherwise seeing there is neither forgiuenesse of sinnes nor ouercomming of condemnation nor any comfortable continuall feeling of any fauor but by him Or els they feele him not with his force and effect that way though they knowe their owne sinne the punishmentes due vnto them therefore with the manifold vnworthynesses they find in themselues hindring them from comfort and consolation As for the former sort I would wish them carefully painfully to labour
exceedingly merciful as sometimes to disgrace a base colour or to make a colour that is perfect indeed to appeare more beautifull and orient wee set by it another that is nothing so glorious and good But to our purpose I say howe comfortable is that of Isaiah 41. where the Lord commaundeth his ministers to comfort yea to comfort his people and to seeke out for them and to speake such things vnto them as may delight and affect their heattes and to proclame vnto them that the set time is accomplished that their iniquitie is pardoned and that they haue receiued double at the Lords hands for all their sinne And this is yet further made plain by this that though al the word generally be the obiect of our faith teaching vs indeed what wee should beleeue and do for Gods glory heer and our endlesse glorification els where yet the principal props and stayes of our consciences for comfort consolation indeed are no where els to befound but in the gracious and sweet promises contayned therein which also is manifest euen by the very practise of God himselfe euery where propounding them to an afflicted and distressed heart as the principall and peculiar remedie against the sicknes of our soules that way In the 103. Psalme he saith that look how much more high the heauens are ouer the the earth so much doth his goodnes preuaile vpon them that feare him Againe he remooueth our sinnes as farre fromvs as the East is from the West By two fit similitudes taken froÌ„ things that are subiect to our fight amplifying the grace and mercie of God opposing the same against our transgressions And in Isaiah 1. he saith thus Though your si nes were as skarlet they shall be as snow and though they were as crimosin yet they shall be whiter than wooll And fearing least men woulde not willinglie come how doth he there intereat vs saying Come now I pray you and let vs reason the caus together as though he should say let vs friendly conferre of the matter If you will but lend and bend your care and be touched with the true sense of my righteousnes and your owne sinnes I promise faithfully that I will for mine own mercies sake put away all your transgressions whatsoeuer though they be neuer so great or grieuous That shall not let my worke in you my mercy shall surmount all yea your misery if you soundlie turne shall magnifie the greatnes of the abundant riches of my mercy The newe couenant that God maketh with his people in the 31. chap. of Ieremie and to the end that we might know it indeed to be a promise of the new testament it is repeated by the Apostle Heb. 8. how comfortable and full of sweet promises is that After those dayes saith the Lord I will put my law in their inwarde partes and write it in their heartes and I will be their God and they shall bee my people and they shall teach no more euery man his neighbour and euery man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them vnto the greatest saith the Lord for J will forgiue their iniquity and will remember their sinnes no more And if the olde testament be so plentifull what shall we thinke of the new which doth as of purpose propound and handle this point or question Christ himself saith Mat. 7. Aske and it shall be giuen vnto you seeke and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened vnto you And in the 7. of Iohn in the last and great day of the feast he stood crying out said He that beleeueth in mee as saith the scripture out of his belly shall flow riuers of water of life and in the 12. of that Gospell He that beleeueth in me yea though he were dead yet shall he liue and whosoeuer liueth and beleeueth in me shall neuer die Is not that of the same nature which hee speaketh of in another Euangelisst The whole need not the Physition but they that are sicke I am not come to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance And what may we think of that which is alleaged in the 12. of the Gospell after Mathewe out of the prophet Isaiah A bruised reed shall he not breake and smoking flaxe shal he not quench till he bring foorth iudgement vnto victory Out of Paules epistles wee haue spoken somewhat before in the first point of doctrine that was gathered out of this text yet take one or two In the 2. to the Corinth chap. 6. he saith We are the temples of the liuing God as God hath said I will dwel amongst them and walk there and I will be their God and they shal be my people Yea I will be a Father vnto you and ye shall bee my sons and daughters saith the Lorde almighty And the same Apostle deliuereth a notable promise with a glorious comfortable preface prefixed before it also 1. Tim. 1. This is a true saying and worthy to be receined of all men that Christ Iesus came into the world to saue sinners of whom I am the chief May we not of these and thousandes such like say as the Apostle Peter doth that most great precious promises are giuen vnto vs that euen for that end which he expresseth there namely that by them wee shoulde bee partakers of the diuine nature whilest we fly the corruption that is in the world thorow lust Are not these great promises and may iustly bee so called because they proceed from the great God propounde vnto vs great and excellent matters May wee not esteeme them precious not only for the raritie and excellencie of them but also because they vnderprop our precious faith Are wee not made in a double respect by them partakers of the diuine nature 1. that as in regard God is ioyfull and chearefull we are also become comfortable and replenished with spiritual ioy 2. That as be ceaseth from sin and is continually occupied in well doing so we learne thereby in our measure and maner to die the death of sinne and to liue the lâ—fe of righteousnes What other men may think I know not but to me it seemeth that God thus in his worde setting promises against sin mindeth nothing els but to shew that as sin is it that most stingeth the conscience so the meane to heale that byting as if it were the brasen Serpent set vp to cure the bytinges of fierie Serpents to bring comfort against the same is the promises of God propounded vnto vs in the word and selt in our hearts by faith And this is so plaine and euident a truth that euen there where God seemeth most to terrifie I meane in denouncing the threats of his law or iudgments against sinne he yet thinketh vpon not only his mercy in himselfe but as it is manifested vnto men he euen there either plainly expressing promises of blessing grace and fauor or els
as mournefully vtter that sorrowfull voyce Wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from the body of this death His other name Christ and his stately offices of King Priest and Prophet contayned in it and vnder it set out vnto vs what doe they else but proue this point For why was he all in all but to giue vs to vnderstand that as all was in him so all must be fette from him or else it coulde no where be sound And though it bee true that diuers persons had as some one or other of those names for example Iehoshua so one or diuers of those offices vpon them at one the selfe same time as Melchisedech if you will yet neither had they all or if they had them they had them but as figures of him whose person and place they did for a while represent and those graces also they had in measure whereas in him they were in all fulnesse that so of his fulnes we might all receiue euen grace for grace that is aboundance of grace and yet when he hath giuen vs all that wee haue hee hauing neuer a whit the lesse in himselfe And this very thing haue all the godly in all ages felt in themselues and confessed before others that so if it were possible they might be made partakers with them of the selfe same comfort Abraham saith Christ in the Gospel after Iohn chap. 8. reioyced to see my day and indeed saw it and was glad Christ meaning thereby that the aboundant riches of Gods grace that was in him was made manifest in all former ages the fathers by the eye of fayth as the Apostle plainely sheweth it Hebr. 11. seeing in the promises that he shoulde come of whome also as they did very ioyfully lay hold on by fayth so in respect of him and the sweetnes of his promises they contemned all outward things And Dauid no doubt of it in many places fetteth out this grace and feeling to haue bin in himselfe and he to haue found fauour with the Lord as in regard of comfortable assurance of this matter How gloriously in many places of the Gospelles doth Peter the rest of the Apostles acknowledge it In the 16. Chapter of this Gospell in the great varietie of opinions that was amongst men concerning Christ some saying he was Elias some Ieremias or one of the Prophets Peter in his owne name and in the name of the rest being demaunded what they thought answered for them all Thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God Which what was it else but to acknowledge that in him alone and in none other was the fulnesse of all goodnesse trueth life comfort or whatsoeuer else we can thinke of or reckon vp And in the sixt of the Gospel after Iohn where it is shewed that euen for some points of doctrine which our Sauiour Christ did deliuer but were not rightly vnderstood many of his disciples went backe and walked no more with him Christ demaunding of the twelue whether they also woulde goe away Peter answered as he was alwayes a forward fellow Master to whom shall wee goe as if hee shoulde say certainly we cannot tell Thou hast the words of eternall life and we beleeue and know that thou art that Christ that Sonne of the liuing God But amongest all others yea aboue the rest as seemeth to me the Apostle Paul is most plaine and plentifull in this poynt whose seuerall sentences recorded in his holy Epistles concerning this matter would make almost a volume But let vs take one or two in steede of all the rest In his first Epistle to the Corinthians and first Chapter thereof towards the ende he saith concerning Christ and for the body of the faithfull that he is made of God vnto vs wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption meaning thereby that all euen the chiefest graces that we can wish or would haue as true and heauenly wisedome absolute righteousnesse euen before God houest and holy life in the sight of men and deliueraunce from all sinne and all miseries and calamities whatsoeuer are to be found onely in him and no where else And in the Epistle to the Colossians once or twice for fayling he saith that it pleased the Father that in him should all fulnes dwell chap. 1. And in the 2. chap. he saith that in him dwelleth the fulnes of the Godhead bodily meaning thereby that he was replenished not onely with most plentifull but with infinite aboundance of all things both diuine and humane he being not onely most perfect in himselfe and passing all other things but teaching his that whosoeuer hath him neede require nothing more Yea that we might see in him what wee our selues should striue vnto euen euery one of vs as in regard of our owne parte or feeling hee doth not onely tell vs comfortable things 1. Tim. 1. but setteth a worthy preface before it saying This is a true saying and worthy by all meanes to be receiued that Christ Iesus came into the world to saue sinners of whom I am the chiefe Neither neede wee to thinke this strange that godly men haue euery where acknowledged it for euen the diuelles and wicked men conuicted with the euidence and clearenesse of this trueth haue bin constrayned though it haue bin full sore against their willes but for the further increase of their condemnation to confesse it saying What haue we to doe with thee O Christ the Sonne of the liuing God And this is it also that S. Iames meaneth when he sayth of thē the deuilles beleeue tremble And surely God himselfe doth not obscurely but most plainely rather propound this point both in the giuing of his gracious promises concerning Christ and in the reiterating of them also because as the Apostle saith In Christ Iesus all the promises of God are yea and Amen As for example when to our first parents after the fall hee sayth the seede of the woman shall breake or bruise the serpents head And when to Abraham he sayth in thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed Which he doth repeat in Genesis twise or thrise at the least for sayling and the Apostle doth notably expound it in his Epistle to the Galathians saying in thy seed as of one which one is Christ That so in the particularizing of it wee might see still this to be most true that no where we can seeke for or find sound consolation but in him alone Which also may yet further appeare by this that God the Father hath not onely prouided for the continuance and conueyance of this trueth ouer or vnto men by the audible voice of preaching in the publicke ministery of the Gospell teaching them to sound and to publish it saying This is my welbeloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him but hath offered to seale it vp in the heartes and consciences of them by instituting ordayning certaine visible signes and Sacraments both in the