so Secondly some againe are maliciously massacred with dishonourable cruelties they are puld the flesh from the bones and burnt to ashes c. None of all these did fall to our Saviour these are personall things they belong not to the nature of man and therefore it was no way requisite that Christ should undergoe those kinds of death marke these two passages to open it a little Acts 2.27 quoted out of Psalme 16.10 Thou wilt not leave my soule in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Now the Saints of God doe see corruption but this was a dishonourable infirmitie for Christ though he suffered for us yet hee raised up himselfe from the vildnesse of the grave and saw no corruption and therefore it was no dishonour to him Iohn 19.33 36. When the souldiers found our Saviour dead they brake not his legs that the Scripture might be fulfilled which saith not a bone of him shall bee broken Whatsoever dishonour our Saviour Christ did submit himselfe unto he was willing to suffer but what was not by Law required and what was not fit for him to suffer that Christ would not suffer the Jewes to doe unto him for the Law did not require this in the curse that his legs should bee broken and therefore Christ would not undergoe it this is the third conclusion Vse 1 From the former truth that our Saviour Christ did die this naturall death I gather thus much it is a marvellous sweet cordiall to all the Saints of God upon their sicke beds it is a ground of strong consolation as the Apostle saith to beare up the hearts of Gods people in the day of death that they may lift up their heads with comfort and looke grizzeld death in the face with courage and boldnesse for the death of Christ hath taken away the evill of thy death therefore be not thou troubled with it nor dismaid by it there is no bitternesse in that pill nor no venome in that cup to thee for the poyson is gone therefore bee not you troubled with it whensoever God sends it upon you for the sharpest death of a Saint of God is like a humble Bee that hath no sting in it which a childe may play withall and not be hurt and thus Saint Paul plaid with death 1 Cor. 15.55 Oh death where is thy sting as if he should say the wicked feare death because the sting is in it to them but that sting is taken away from mee by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ when Christ went downe into the grave he sugered it and made it sweet and easie as a bed of Downe for beleevers to rest upon There are three privileges which every beleever may challenge upon his deathbed the first is this First every beleever may and should under the authoritie of mercy challenge mercy and in the vertue of the death of Christ he should boldly lay downe his life 1 Thes 4.16 The dead in Christ shall rise first that is the value of the phrase in the vertue of the death of Christ wee die also that as he died by his owne power rose againe so also wee die that wee may rise againe The Saints of God die that they may bee like to Christ and be raised againe and so bee for ever happy with Christ this is the particular good that the death of Christ communicates to the faithfull ones 1 Cor. 15.36 Thou foole that which thou somest it is not quickned unlesse it die it must first be corrupted that it may grow againe into an eare of corne the meaning is a man therefore dies that he may rise againe the body must lie downe in the dust 1 Cor. 15.53 This corruption must put on incorruption and this mortalitie must put on immortalitie Now corruption cannot put on incorruption nor mortalitie cannot put on immortalitie so long as wee are here the body of Adam could not be made immortall of it selfe the frame of it would not affoord so much for Adams body needed meat and had it but immortall bodies need no food but live by the power of Gods Spirit therefore Christ tooke downe the frame of this nature that hee might make it a more excellent frame It is therefore said that a Christian dies rather in the authoritie of mercy than justice that as Christ died and rose again so Christ will have all his servants die that hee may of a corrupt nature and a mortall body make an immortall body he will make it immortall which nature it selfe no not in its perfection could not doe this is the first privilege A second privilege which beleevers receive is this the death of the beleever puts an end to all his sinnes and miseries and sorrowes that when the soule and body shall part in sunder then sin shall depart from both and when they goe out of this life they shall goe from all the miseries of this life we shall never bee more pestered with lusts and corruptions we shall never bee drawne from the Lord more Satan is now busie but when the Saints of God die there is a separation from all sinnes from all sorrowes from all temptations never to be assaulted more this is the meaning of that place 2 Cor. 4.10 Everywhere we beare about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Iesus that the life also of Iesus may be made manifest in our mortall bodies the meaning is this Christ by his death did subdue sinne and now by the sorrowes and troubles he suffered and by the power of his death there is a totall separation made from sin in soule and body therefore when as in the power of Christs death we can lay downe these bodies then are we separated from sinne this is to beare about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus this is quite contrarie in every unbeleever for death naturall in an unbeleever is but the very beginning of all their other plagues they sip of Gods vengeance now but they shall have the full cup then sinne in them now is restrained but then their sinnes shall take full possession of them Satan now doth but tempt them but then â—e shall take possession of them as it is said of the rich foole in the Gospell This night shall they fetch away thy soule and then as they shall bee for ever plagued so they shall be for ever sinfull nothing but sinne shall be in them they shall be altogether proud and for ever proud they shall be altogether malicious and for ever malicious and the devils shall drag the soule of the wicked out of the body downe to hell for evermore and there shall tyranize over it for ever but on the contrary it is not so with the Saints the end of their life is but the beginning of another they goe from a vale of teares to a haven of happinesse Thirdly the death of the beleever is a mean to bring and estate them into the full possession of all
the suit against the partie offending our Saviour steps into our roome and submits himselfe to the censure of the Father and as we were accounted so he was content to bee accounted and as we were to suffer so he was content to suffer for us God the Father loved him as he was God and holy and innocent yet he condemnes him and lets in his wrath upon him as he was to beare our sins for God the Father might love Jesus Christ and yet give his body to death naturall so God the Father might love the soule of our Saviour and yet give it over to paine supernaturall all the world confesseth that it was without anger that Christ died and yet the Father slew him this conclusion helps us to the interpretation of that place Matthew 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee He was a Father to our Saviour and our Saviour a Son to him Fourthly whatsoever punishment proceeded from the Father our Saviour tooke it upon himselfe yet so as neither his sins deserved it neither did he sinne in bearing of it nor yet was hee overwhelmed in bearing of it as the wicked are which are damned but hee wrestled with it and overcame it hee first tooke upon himselfe that should have come upon a beleever when the wrath of God comes out like a Lion to take the sinfull sons of men from off the earth and the sea of his indignation flowes in amain then the Lord Jesus Christ steps in between the wrath of the Father and the soule of a beleever and hee bears all Iohn 18.11 when Peter would have rescued our Saviour from the high Priests Our Saviour said suffer it to bee so put up thy sword into its place shall I not drinke of the cup which my Father giveth me to drinke of hee doth not say shall I not sip or taste of the cup but shall I not drinke of it that is he drinkes the cup of wrath which was prepared for poore sinners cleane off therefore Esay 63.3 hee is said to tread the wine-presse of the Fathers wrath alone he did squeese it all out observe these explications in this kinde and know thus much that the want of the sense and feeling and operation of Gods love and the feeling of the indignation of Gods wrath in it selfe considered it is not a sinne but so far as our sinnes deserve this wrath of God and deserve this separation and so far as we out of our infidelitie dash the sweetnesse of Gods love we sin in this kinde but none of all this befell our Saviour the bare want of the one and the sense of the other is not a sinne but we sin in bearing it It is a sweet observation of the Schoolmen that our Saviour cried my God my God even in the losse of the sweetnesse of Gods favour and when Christ complaines and sweat water and blood yea clods of blood so that his heart broke within him under the fierce indignation of the Lord this fierce indignation may be attended two wayes or there are two things in it I say in the separation of God from the soule there are these two things to be attended First a want of that grace and holinesse and confidence whereby the soule should close with God that howsoever God goes away yet the soule should follow him as Iacob did after the Lord when hee said I will not let thee goe unlesse thou blesse mee Now it is one thing when God goes away and it is another thing when we push him away therefore that want of grace and holinesse and confidence whereby the soule should cleave to and close with God this is one thing which causeth the separation of God from us this is on our part Secondly there is another worke on Gods part that howsoever the soule stands Godward and Christward and it cleaves to him as Iob did that would trust in him though he kild him yet God may withdraw the sweet refreshing operation and the sensible conveyance of his mercy and compassion from his soule and he frownes upon him and plucks away the hold and lets in his indignation upon him the first of these two can never bee without sinne and it is a hainous sinne when our soules sit loose from God and when we shall separate our selves from the mercy and goodnesse of God and are weary of Gods presence in his ordinances as many wicked men are and are weary of the promises and say as those in Iob did Depart from us for wee desire not the knowledge of thy wayes this is a cursed sinne and this never was nor could not be in our Saviour but now that the Lord may plucke away the sense of his love and favour and take away the operation and conveyance of his mercy this God may justly doe as he seeth good this was not a sinne in Iob that God did take away the sense of his love and mercy and seemed to be his enemy but if Iob had gone away from God as God did from him then he had sinned but hee held God still this was not a sinne in Iob that God did thus forsake him though haply it was through his sinne deserving it all this did befall our Saviour Christ and yet he was full of holinesse and hangs upon God and said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And God was angry with him because he had our sinnes upon him but the first of these was not in Christ hee did not depart from God the second was inflicted upon our Saviour and that might be justly this ads much light to those passages those two ardent petitions of those two worthy lights Moses and Saint Paul Exodus 32.32 Moses perceiving that the Lord was ready to destroy the Israelites for their sinne he saith Now if thou pardon this sinne thy mercy shall appeare but if thou will not then rase mee out of the booke of life which thou hast written and in Rom. 9.3 Saint Paul foreseeing the rejection of the Jewes and that God would throw them away for sixteen hundred yeeres together the good man seeing the dishonour that was like to come to God the utter destruction of the people of the Jewes he saith I could even desire to be separated from Christ to be cut off from the Nation of the Iewes that they might not be forsaken of God Now should a man pray to be removed out of Gods presence and to be separated from God for ever and to be cut off from God and to be separated from Christ Jesus no for this were sinfull either it signifies that Paul should have his heart loosened and sit loose in his affections to God and to Jesus Christ this Paul did not pray for for it is a horrible sinne and it is an argument he hated Christ and himselfe too Now so farre as it implies our want of love to God and our want of depending upon God it is a fearfull sinne and these holy
of the faithfull p. 202 For the opening of the Doctrine three questions are to bee answered Question 1. What were the kindes of punishments which Christ did suffer and how farre did bee suffer them Answer First Christ did suffer death naturall that is the dissolution of soule and body p. 210 How far our Saviour did suffer death naturall appeareth in three conclusions Conclusion 1. Whatsoever did appertaine to the substance and essentials of the first death that Christ did suffer p. 210 Conclusion 2. Christ did undertake to die the death of the crosse a most shamefull and base death only appropriated to the basest malefactors that hee might thereby shew the hainousnesse of sinne which deserveth the worst death of all p. 211 Conclusion 3. Those dishonorable infirmities which befell men because of the infirmitie of the flesh as the having the body to rot in the grave to be torne in peeces our Saviour would not undergoe these because hee had no need to suffer these p. 206 Use 1. It is a sweet cordiall to all the Saints of God upon their death beds for the death of Christ hath taken away the evill of death p. 207 Secondly Christ did also suffer in his soule in that there was a reall withdrawing of the mercy and compassion of God p. 213 Secondly there was a reall inflicting of the indignation of the Lord and that fils the soule of a poore creature p. 214 Question 2. How farre our Saviour suffered these paines Answer This is to bee knowne in these five conclusions Conclusion 1. It is possile that some paines of hell may be suffered in this life therefore the living of our Saviour in this life is no hinderance but that he might undergoe them p. 215 Conclusion 2. Some paines of Hell were endured by Christ and yet the union of the Manhood with the Godhead might still be untouched p. 216 Conclusion 3. Our Saviour suffered paine in his soule as hee was our Mediatour in our roome and in our stead p. 218 Conclusion 4. Whatsoever punishment proceeded from the Father our Saviour tooke it upon himselfe yet so as that he neither had personal sin to deserve it neither did he sin in bearing of it as the wicked doe which are damned p. 220. Conclusion 5. The desperation of a damned soule in hell and the eternity of torments they are no essentials of the second death and therefore they could not nor ought not to be suffered by our Saviour p. 227 Use 1. It is a word of information labour from hence to see the hainousnesse of sinne and to hate it because it hath brought all this evill upon thy Saviour and would have brought the same upon thee had not the Lord Iesus stepped in between thee and the wrath of the Father p. 234 Use 2. Did our Saviour suffer these paines then see here the strictnesse of Gods justice p. 241 Question 3. When did our Saviour beginne these sufferings Answer Our Sauiour did beginne the paines of the naturall death from his cradle to his grave he began to die as soone as hee began to live p. 245 Secondly our Saviour did suffer these paines in his soule partly in the garden partly upon the crosse p. 247 Question 3. Whether our Saviour did suffer in body alone or in soule alone or in both Answer Christ did properly and immediately suffer the wrath of God in his soule as well as hee did the paines of death in his body p. 249 Use 1. Is it so was the Lord Iesus driven to this astonishment and to all this misery then let every soule learne from hence what will be the fruit of sinne and what hee may expect from sinne p. 260 Reason 1. Is taken from the divine justice of God which required this by way of satisfaction as being onely sutable and agreeable to the divine justice of God by reason of sinne p. 283 Reason 2. Is taken from the office of Christ because our Saviour was our suretie and so he was bound to it by faithfulnesse p. 287 Use 1. It is a word of confutation and it directly meets with Popish Purgatory p. 288 Use 2. It teacheth us that all the troubles miseries afflictions either inward or outward they cannot properly bee called punishments inflicted upon the faithfull but chastisements p. 289 Use 3. It is a word of comfort to all you that are beleevers you have heard the treasures of mercy and the death of our Lord Iesus Christ laid open view them and take them all for your comfort p. 293 FINIS Severall Treatises of this AUTHOUR 1 THE unbeleevers preparing for Christ out of Revelations 22.17 1 Corinth 2.14 Ezekiel 11.19 Luke 19.42 Matthew 20.3 4 5 6. Iohn 6.44 2 The soules preparation for Christ or a Treatise of Contrition on Acts 2.37 3 The Soules humiliation on Luke 15. verses 15 16 17 18. 4 The Soules vocation or effectuall calling to Christ on Iohn 6.45 5 The Soules union with Christ 1 Corin. 6.17 6 The Soules benefit from union with Christ on 1 Cor. 1.30 7 The Soules justification eleven Sermons on 2 Corin. 5.21 8 Sermons on Iudges 10.23 Sermons on Psalme 119.29 Sermons on Proverbs 1.28 29. Sermons on 2 Tim. 3.5 THE SOVLES union with CHRIST 1 CORIN 6.17 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit WE told you that the application of the merits of Christ consists especially in two things First the preparation of the soule for Christ Secondly the ingrafting or the knitting of the soule to the Lord Jesus Christ Of this preparation wee have heretofore largely treated partly in contrition where the soule is cut off from sinne partly in humiliation whereby the soule is cut off from it selfe whereby the Lord rases the foundation of all carnall confidence whereby a man rests upon his owne privileges and performances and makes his services his Saviour either the soule seeth no need to depart from sinne or else it thinke it can helpe it selfe out of sinne when both these are removed from the soule then it is fitted to receive the Lord Jesus Christ Secondly the soule comes to be ingrafted into Christ and that hath two parts First the calling of the sinner or the putting of the soule into Christ Secondly the growing of the soule with Christ these two take up the nature of ingrafting a sinner into the stock First it is put into the stock Secondly being put into the stock it growes together with the stock these two things are answerable in the soule The former of these two wee have largely treated of and fully finished in the great worke of vocation when the Lord brings the sinner to himselfe by the call of mercie and the voice of the Gospell we are now to proceed and we have made some entrance into the second and that is the growing of the soule together with Christ for though the graft be in the stock yet it cannot be fruitfull unlesse it grow together with the stock now this growing together
save me another clambring upon the trees all floting and crying and dying there there was no saving but for those only that were gotten into the arke Oh so it will be you poore foolish beleevers the world is like this sea wherein are many floods of water many troubles much persecution Oh get you into the arke the Lord Iesus and when one is roring and yelling Oh the devill the devill another is ready to hang himselfe or to cut his owne throat another sends for a Minister and hee crieth Oh there is no mercy for me I have opposed it get you into Christ I say and you shall bee safe enough I will warrant you your soules shall bee transported with consolation to the end of your hopes This was that which comforted Saint Paul and made him bid defiance to all the world Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect as who should say shall all the angels in Heaven shall all the devils in Hell shall all the men upon the earth shall sinne within shall actions without it is God onely that justifieth not for anything we have or doe but for Christs sake This is that I conclude withall this one doctrine affords supply in all wants and courage in all trials I know what troubleth you will this blinde minde never bee inlightned I thinke I shall never be able to conceive of the truths of God aright how can the Lord accept of mee when I condemne my selfe how can the Lord shew any favour to mee when I fall out with my selfe and wonder that I am not in the bottomlesse pit such a base heart I carry about with me and such a polluted conversation and yet live and not in hell I have thought sometimes God cannot be Iust if he doe not condemne me why I say art thou burthened with thy sinnes and dost thou goe out of thy selfe for the pardon of them why goe away comforted the Lord will justifie thee not for thy workes but for Christs merits thou hast committed all iniquitie Christ hath performed all righteousnesse thou hast nothing of thy selfe Christ hath enough for thee and thou art not justified for what thou hast or dost but for the Lord Iesus sake looke up to him therefore and bring him to Gods tribunall to answer for thee that when Satan shall bring in his bils of inditement against thee and say what doe you hope to goe to Heaven doe you not consider the sinnes which you have committed doe you not remember the base courses which heretofore you have taken up and practized doe you not know that every sinner must die why answer Satan again all this is true Ay but remember the Lord Iesus it is true I can doe nothing but Christ hath done all for me what canst thou say to the Lord Iesus though I have offended hee hath never offended though I have sinned yet Christ hath fully satisfied I have deserved the wrath of God why Christ hath bore the wrath of God My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee He was once forsaken of God that I might bee for ever accepted of God goe thy wayes therefore comforted and refreshed the place is admirable Isaiah 43.25 Thou hast made mee serve with thy sinnes and wearied mee with thy rebellions but I even I am hee that blotteth out all thine iniquities and will remember thy transgressions no more The Lord takes notice of this are there any wicked they are as bad are there any vile they are as sinnefull they tired God with their wickednesse All you poore drunkards you trie God with your drunkennesse you prophaners of the Lords day you tire God with your prophanations and you swearers you trie Christ Iesus with your oaths and hidious blasphemies that you belch forth against him upon all occasions you would wonder that God should save such as you and truly so you may well enough for it is a wonder it is a miracle indeed but if you can goe out of your selves and sinnes and goe unto Christ and rest upon him the Lord saith I will blot out all those abominations of yours and Ezekiel 33.32 compare both those places together I will forget all your sinnes even for mine owne names sake as who should say it is not for your sakes no no bee it knowne to those stout hearts of yours it is not for your parts or gifts or graces no nor it is not for all the services wee can discharge but it is onely for mine owne Names sake that I will pardon you and remember your sinnes no more remember thy pride and stubbornnesse no more remember thy prophanenesse no more remember thy vanitie and loosenesse no more remember thou to bee humbled and the Lord will never remember thy sinnes any more Satan it may bee will come in and accuse thee here is a Sabbath-breaker Lord condemne him no more of that Satan saith God Christ hath suffered and satisfied for him no more therefore of that let mee heare no more of those things I have forgotten them saith God this will cheere a mans heart at that great day This also is a ground of incouragement to us against all the trials that can befall us in the course of the world we see that innocencie goeth to the wals no man can stand against envie and hatred and backbiting why though you finde hard dealing here at the hands of wicked men though you be accused here with false surmises and false accusations and slanderous speeches yet set one against the other you shall never bee condemned hereafter There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ there may bee persecutions there may bee accusations there may be oppositions here upon earth raised against thee why yet goe on cheerily there is no condemnation in Heaven if God acquit let men condemne if God approve let men disallow nay lastly here is consolation even in death also what though your bodies bee deprived of your soules and you leave all when you returne again it is but onely thus Come yee blessed of my Father you that are beleevers you shall bee for ever blessed Vse 3 The third use is of exhortation will nothing doe the deed but a Christ why Oh then above all labour for a Christ more than all labour to prize a Christ never let thy heart bee quieted never let thy soule bee contented untill thou hast obtained Christ Take now a malefactor sentence is passed execution to bee administered upon him suggest any thing to him how to be rich or how to bee pardoned how to bee honoured or how to be pardoned Ay saith hee riches are good and honours are good but oh a pardon or nothing ay but then you must leave all for a pardon why take all saith he and give me a pardon that I may live thought in povertie that I may live though in misery though in beggary this is the nature of such a poore creature So it is with a poore beleeving
bee made a sacrifice for sinne and beare the punishment of sinne If Christ became a debtor for us then he must also lay downe the payment of the debt onely here remember this consider the bounds and limits of this mercy of the Lord it is limited onely to the faithfull they onely share therein and are partakers of that benefit that comes by the sufferings of Christ To prove this Doctrine looke Hebrewes 2.17 compare it with Hebrewes 4.15 In chap. 2.17 the text saith Wherefore it behoved him to bee made like unto his brethren in all things and in chap. 4.15 He was tempted in all things like unto us sinne onely excepted for there were no punishments excepted as appeareth in the former place therefore in Esay 53.5 6 7 8. the whole chapter is a full description of the punishments of our Saviour and you shall finde these three degrees of it in the afornamed verses Hee was stricken and so stricken that hee was wounded and so wounded that hee was bruised for our transgressions and then in the 6. verse it is very pithily laid downe All we like sheep have gone astray and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquitie of us all that is the punishments of us all they were laid that is God made all the sorrowes and all the punishments of all the faithfull to meet upon our Saviour It is a terme taken from warre when an army is levied out every towne and countie sets out so many men and they all meet at such a place such a day so every faithfull soule sets out miseries and mans out afflictions and they all levie out an army of sorrowes and they all meet upon our Saviour all those sinnes and miseries of the godly from one end of the world to the other from east to west from north to south they run amain upon our Saviour and besiege the soule and body of him and they lie heavie upon him the chastisement of our peace was upon him that is it overwhelmed him for the while and made him cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Another proofe of this point is Gal. 3.13 The text saith Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us as it is written cursed be every one that hangeth on a tree He that was made such a curse for us as the Law did require and such a curse as wherein the Law was satisfied even he was made a full curse for us and bore all the punishment due to us but hee was made such a curse as the Law prefigured and wherein the Law was satisfied and therefore he must needs beare whatsoever the Law required and therefore I may say to the faithfull soule as Paul said to Philemon concerning Onesimus If he hath hurt thee or oweth thee ought set that upon my score so saith our Saviour whatsoever punishments the faithfull have deserved by their sinnes I will beare it and answer it Now for the opening of the Doctrine give mee leave to open these three questions Quest. 1 First what were the kindes of punishment which Christ did suffer and how farre did he suffer them Quest. 2 Secondly when did those sufferings begin and when did they end Quest. 3 Thirdly whether did he suffer them in soule or in body or in both Quest. 1 First what were the punishments that our Saviour suffered of what kinds were they Answer For answer hereunto hee suffered the pains of the first death by the first death I mean the death naturall when the frame of the body and soule was taken downe and those two old familiar friends were parted this death our Saviour did suffer but if you aske mee how farre he did suffer the death naturall let me answer it in three conclusions First whatsoever appertaines to the substance and the essentials of the first death that is the desolation of soule and body that our Saviour Christ did suffer for that onely was threatned unto Adam by reason of his sin therefore Christ needed not to suffer any thing but that which was threatned in Genesis 2.17 The curse threatned was this In the day that thou dost eat thereof thou shalt die the death the curse doth not mention many deaths nor doth it punctually set forth any one death but whatsoever death it is it is left indifferently to the choyce of our Saviour this I speake to wipe away a carnall cavill that is cast upon this truth by some that would diminish the sufferings of Christ If Christ did suffer punishment for all then why was hee not stoned with stones as Steven was and why was hee not sawne in peeces or burnt or the like The force of the argument followes not our Saviour was not bound to suffer many deaths nay the curse doth not intimate any one death in particular but onely death in the generall Now say they if our Saviour suffered all the punishments of the faithfull then hee suffered so many particular deaths the argument is false for looke how Adam being in the root of all mankinde and committed sinne looke what death he deserved that death our Saviour was to suffer and it was required of him and this death our Saviour undertooke but when Adam had committed sinne there were not many deaths denounced nay nor any one particular death but onely death in the generall and therefore death in the generall being onely threatned death in the generall our Saviour was onely bound to suffer Secondly though the curse doth not require any one particular death and say thou shalt bee stoned or sawne in peeces or the like yet that the Lord might shew the hainousnesse of sinne which deserves the worst death of all and to expresse the greatnesse of the lâ—â—e of Christ that was contented to die in that manner and that God the Father might shew his justice in punishing of sinne for this end God the Father appointed it and Christ undertooke it to die the death of the crosse a most shamefull and base death onely appropriate to the basest malefactors now Christ did willingly submit himselfe to this and God the Father did lay this upon Christ that sinne might appeare to bee most hainous and that sinne might be hated and Christ might appeare most mercifull and gracious and holy in loathing sinne as Philippians 2.6 8. Our Saviour being equall with the Father and thought it no robbery so to be yet he humbled himselfe and tooke on him the forme of a servant and became obedient to the death even the death of the crosse Thirdly those dishonourable infirmities which befall men because of the infirmitie of the flesh because they cannot avoid them and those dishonourable cruelties which are laid upon some men as to bee torne in peeces with wilde horses our Saviour had no need to suffer these First those dishonorable infirmities as the rotting of the body in the grave and returning to its own proper elemeÌ„ts the body of Christ did not
that happinesse and glory which heretofore hath beene expected and Christ hath promised now it shall be attained the time now comes when the Saints of God shall have no more tears in their eyes nor sin in their soules not sorrow in their hearts when they die then their sins and sorrowes die too you shal never be dead harted more then you shal have holineâ— in ful possession which so long time you have longed for it is now only in expectation and you hope and looke for it when the Lord will put wisedome into your blinde mindes and holinesse into your corrupted hearts but when death comes it will bring you to the fruition of all that holinesse and happinesse and this is done by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Iohn 3.2 Wee are now the sonnes of God but it doth not appeare what we shall bee and we know that when he shall be made manifest we shall bee made like him that is like to him in all holinesse and happinesse as hee is altogether holy and altogether happy now you are children but onely in nonage now you are onely wives betrothed and you goe up and downe in your rags of sinne but when the solemnization of the marriage shall be in the great day of accounts then we shall be like him and hee will make us altogether holy and hee will fill our blinde mindes with knowledge and possesse our corrupt hearts withall puritie holinesse and grace so far as thy soule shall be capable of it and shall bee needfull for thee what are you unwilling to goe to your husband the wife sometimes receives letters from her espoused husband shee welcomes the messenger and accepts the tokens kindly and reads the letter gladly and will not part with his tokens above any thing but oh how she longs to injoy himselfe in his owne person this is her chiefest desire to be possessed of him and to have his company alwayes so the Lord Jesus Christ is your husband he died that ye might live he is ascended up into heaven and hath made passage for you you have many intimations of his mercy and many sweet smiles from heaven saying well goe thy way thy sins are pardoned and thy soule shall be saved these are his tokens and I hope you will lay them up by you make much of them but when will the time come that I may injoy my Saviour Now I have a little mercy and a little holinesse and a little pardon of sinne but oh that I might injoy my Saviour fully Now it is quite contrary with the wicked the death of the wicked is a means to shut them out of all the hope they had of receiving mercy for when death parts soule and body then there is no more cards and dice no more lusts the adulterer shall no more satisfie himselfe with his unclean lusts the drunkard shall not then bee drunke the blasphemer shall not then blaspheme so as hee was wont to doe for nothing but he shall be and blaspheme God for something and his soule shall bee full of Gods vengeance this is the death of the wicked the death of the Saints is like a ferriman to convey them over to eternall happinesse but the death of the wicked is as a hangman to bereave them of life and salvation too death to the saints is as a guide to convey them to happinesse but to the wicked death is as a Jailor to carry them away to the place of execution And thus much briefly of the former part of the answer namely that our Saviour suffered the death natural Now our Saviour did not onely suffer in his body but he suffered in his soule also you may conceive of it in two particulars First there is a reall withdrawing of the sense and feeling of the mercy and compassion of God a stoppage as I may say and a taking off the sweet operation of Gods love and favour from the soule when that sensible refreshing and conveyance of the mercy and kindnesse of Gods countenance is turned away from the soule this is a part of the second death and this is the paine of losse that is the poore sinner loseth that sweet influence of that abundant mercy and compassion and that sweetnesse that is in all those glorious attributes which should fill the soule with satisfactory sweetnesse and content as thus sometimes it pleases God to discover those pain of hell unto his servants here on earth and hee brings them by the suburbs of hell that they may know what it is to bee in heaven and also what it is to commit sinne so against a gracious God Psalme 31.22 I said in mine haste I am cast out of sight As if hee had said God hath taken away the sweet smiles of his countenance from the heart of David and 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 a part of the second death yet thou â—he art â—est the voyce of thy praier David was now in some distresse by reason of the withdrawing of the favour of God from his soule this is the first part of the second death Secondly when the fierce indignation of the Lord semeth upon the soule of a poore creature when the Lord sets open the floodgates of his anger and wrath and fils the soule unsupportably with his vengeance Psal 43. â— Why hast thou cast mee off and Psalme 51.11 Cast me not away out of thy presence c. The Lord seemed to cast him away and to send him packing and hee seemed to bee cast away in his owne apprehension both these you shall see concluded on in Iob 13.24 Thou râ—est bitter things against mee and hidest thy face away from me and takest mee for thy enemy The Lord not onely went away and hid him but he made Iob a But that so his arrowes might come against him pell mell and he let all his displeasure fall upon him with might and maine so then there is first a reall withdrawing of the sweetnesse of the mercy of God from the soule and secondly a reall inflicting of the indignation of the Lord and that fils the soule of a poore creature Quest. 2 Now the second question is this how far our Saviour suffered these paines To this I answer that so I may carry the cause with as much plainnesse and nakednesse as may be that each poore creature may get something give mee leave to answer the question in these conclusions one will make way for another onely here let mee tell you thus much that I mean onely to make declaration of the truth of the point and the argument shall be afterwards First it is possible that some paines of Hell may be suffered in this life and therefore the living and being of our Saviour in this life is no hindrance but that he might undergoe them This I say to prevent a weak plea of some that desire to tie and intail all the pains of Hell to another life and the place to be Hell and they thinke that
no man can suffer the pains of Hell except he bee in the very place of it against which cavill this truth doth profesly maâ—ch for the time and place are but common circumstances the main substance of it is not in regard of time or place but in regard of the fierce displeasure of God which seizeth upon a creature and the veine of vengeance which is let into his soule if God would be present with a man by his favour though hee were in the place of Hell yet he should bee as it were in Heaven as Esay 30.33 Tophet is prepared of old the burning thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord as a riâ—â—r of brimstone doth kindle it so that wheresoever the streame of the brimstone of Gods wrath seizeth there is Hell againe the place is no part of debt and therefore it is no part of the payment but the paiment of the mony that makes the satisfaction This is that which is spoken concerning Adam Thou shalt die the death hee doth not say thou shalt goe to Hell the wicked goe to Hell because they cannot pay as the debter goes to prison because he cannot pay the debt all that justice requires is this to have payment hee doth not say thou shalt goe to Hell but because the wicked cannot satisfie the justice of God and answer the Law therefore they are imprisoned and cooped up in hell and it may be more plain thus there are many reprobates in this life that have not onely hell in expectation but they have it so far in fruition when the Lord wounds the spirit and the terrours of the Almightie incampe a man and stab him to the very heart and they are in the very beginnings of hell Now because the wicked cannot beare the wrath of God but they would breake under it therefore they must die that they may â—e made immortall and be able to suffer all the wrath of God forever but our Saviour may as well pay the debt in mount Golgotha as in the prison of hell Secondly some paines of hell were endured and may be endured by our Saviour and yet the union of the manhood with the Godhead might still be untouched and no way in the world bee blemished though there were a separation and a withdrawing of the sense of the sweetnesse of the favour of God yet this was not the separation of the union but onely of the loving countenance of the Lord the humane nature saw not nor felt not those gracious smiles which formerly it did yet hee was ever united to the Godhead and ever supported by the Godhead and hee did ever rest upon God this doth cut in sunder the cavils of Bellarmine as it was with Iob he was able to grapple with a great deale of Gods wrath by faith and therefore he saith Though thou kill me yet will I trust in thee Gods killing anger and Iobs trusting stood both together in this in the measure of it Now if a poore saint of God can doe it and is able to beare the intimations of Gods wrath then much more Christ being God and Man might doe it and yet trust in him and never bee separated from him in regard of the union of the soule of our Saviour for as it is with the death naturall in the body of our Saviour as the body of our Saviour died and in dying suffered death naturall as an effect of Gods wrath God smote him howsoever the body died the death naturall yet the Godhead was still united to the body of our Saviour in the grave and brought soule and body together againe so that the union with the Godhead is still maintained so it is here the soule of our Saviour might be separated from the sense and sweetnesse of Gods favour and mercy and yet the union betweene the Godhead and the Manhood bee still maintained as God might leave the body to the death naturall so he might leave the soule to a kinde of supernaturall death and the soule might want the sense of the sweetnesse of the favour of God and yet the union not be broken off for why could not our Saviour beare this curse as well as any other part of it and not be blemished this brought punishment upon our Saviour but it puld not away any grace which hee was possest withall observe these three particulars herein First the Godhead in the death of our Saviour was fastned and united inseparably to the manhood and did sustaine and support the manhood Secondly the Godhead did preserve the manhood from corruption and did sustaine and support the Manhood Thirdly the sense and sweetnesse and the feeling operation of Gods mercy and favour unto the soule was restrained from both and the wrath of God seized upon both Thirdly our Saviour suffered paine in his soule as he was our Mediatour in our roome and in our stead and as he had our sinnes imputed to him The Manhood bore the sufferings and the Godhead supported him in the sufferings this conclusion I thought good to adde to meet with a strange dream of Bellarmine and that is this saith he if the Lord Jesus Christ did suffer the wrath of God the Father then the guiltlesse should have beene condemned and the innocent punished and how can God doe this or how can our Saviour suffer this Is not God the Father unjust to punish the just and Christ unwise to suffer as unjust being just I answer it is a silly weake cavill therefore take but these two respects with you and you shall see it will bee plaine for as Christ was in himselfe considered he was guiltlesse and therefore approved of and beloved of the Father but as hee tooke our sinnes and our guilt upon him hee was accounted as a sinner though he was not a sinner and he tooke our sins on him by imputation and therefore no reason but he should suffer them and the punishment of them not in regard of any sinne that hee had or did but because it was imputed to him therefore God the Father condemned him as guiltie so runs the phrase of Scripture Hee suffered for our sinnes and the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we were healed he suffered not for any sinnes that he had committed but for the condition of all sinfull nature imputed to him and these divers respects wee doe practise for ordinarily we are bound to love a creature as God made him and then to hate him as hee makes himselfe sinfull the Judge goes to the triall of a Nisi prius and his sonne comes before him in the person of the debter now though the Judge love him as a sonne yet he will condemne him as a suretie the Judge loves and pitties him in one regard but yet hee passeth sentence against him in another regard So it is here with the Lord Jesus Christ when God the Father stands upon the tribunall of justice and was pleased to follow
had undertaken these cautions I thought good to adde to stop the mouthed of all cavils that may arise in the hearts of those that are weake for the ground of Christs sufferings was freely and willingly according to the promise and agreement which was betweene the Father and himselfe Quest. 3 The third question followes and that is this whether our Saviour did suffer in body alone or in soule alone or in both Answer The answer apparantly and punctually is this Christ did properly and immediatly suffer the wrath of God in his soule as well as hee did the paines of death in his body hee did not onely suffer by communion and consent betweene the soule and the body as namely therefore the soule is pierced because the body is pierced no but he did properly and immediately receive and suffer the wrath of God in his soule as well as his body did death The Scripture doth expresse it this way and the Prophet foretold this in Esay 63.10 God shall make his soule an offering for sin you know every offering implies a full payment they did use to confesse their sinnes over the sacrifice and then to slay it intimating that the sacrifice was to undergoe whatsoever punishment was due unto their sinnes and so did Christ doe in bearing our sinnes nay Christ himselfe saith so Matthew 26.38 My soule is very heavie and sorrowfull even unto the death and that this must needs be the meaning of the text it shall appeare by further explication and therefore give mee leave to handle all the particulars of the sufferings of our Saviour and for our proceeding herein that I may be plaine and that this doctrine may drop as the dew and that every spire of grasse may receive some sap and sweetnesse and spirituall moisture there from let me doe two things wherein I will shew you that the sufferings of our Saviour were done partly in the garden and partly upon the crosse and for his agony in the garden let me doe two things First I will shew you what the Scripture saith of that agonie in the 14. of Saint Marke and in the 26. of Matthew Secondly I will make it good that those sufferings were most grievous sufferings which hee suffered in his soule For the first what our Saviour suffered when he was in that agony in the garden when he crieth out Father if it be possible let this cap passe from me The Scripture discovers the pith of all that anguish of soule and the whole compasse of it what it was that did thus fill the soule of our Saviour and that is in these two things and you shall finde them both in Marke 13.33 where the text saith when our Saviour was to enter into the combate he saith thus hee beganne to his amazed and to be very heavie let me expresse them thus hee beganne to bee driven to an astonishment and to have his soule fild with the indignation of the Lord. First our Saviour Christ foreseeing the wrath of God and the combate of God the Father comming against him hee began to be amazed the word in the originall is this That so you may see the depth of the distres and the bottome of the cup. The word amazement comes from a word that signifies to bee in a stand or to be astonished such a sorrow as men use to have for the losse of some deare friend nay the preposition in that which is added signifies a griefe beyond astonishment whatsoever griefe could befall a creature without sinne that all befell our Saviour this word carries two things with it First there comes an admiration from the suddennesse of the thing Secondly a stroke of errour which smiteth upon the soule with the admiration of it as when a sudden and an unwonted and an intolerable evil beginneth to seize upon a man and the stroke of some terrour and feâ—â— strikes in and drives the soule to an amaze and insomuch that the heart saith good Lord what will this come to if this befall mee what shall become of mee this is astonishment The second part is this and that goes further and our translation expresseth it to the full My soule beginnes to be very heavie that 's our translation but the word goes a degree further when this sorrow act onely strooke and shooke the heart of our Saviour with the suddennesse of it but it entred into his soule and fild it abundantly and rackt it to the uttermost of the abilities of nature to beare it shall I deale nakedly this word heavie carries two things with it First that the soule of our Saviour was surcharged and fild being full with the indignation of the Lord and that heavy vexation that lay upon him for so the word implies abundance of misery which doth beare downe the heart of a poore creature but this was not in the Lord Jesus Christ though his soule were filled brimme full of the indignation of the Lord yet hee was not overcharged with it Secondly hence it followes that all the faculties of the whole nature of the soule of our Saviour they gathered up themselves and they drew up all their forces to beare up themselves against the wrath of the Lord which was now comming upon them all the powers of his soule the minde and the memory and hope and feare they were all gathered up as in time of warre the souldiers come all forth from their garrisons to close in the maine battell so the Lord Jesus foresaw the wrath of the Father comming against him and hee drew forth all his abilities and left all other imployments wholly and brought them to fence and to fortifie themselves to beare this wrath of the Lord as if our Saviour had said Come yee all hither and help to beare up my soule against the unsupportable wrath of God this is the very skirt and selvedge of the word yet observe this by the way our Saviour was not deprived of this worke of any of his abilities but onely they were cald off from all other imployments and they wholly betooke themselves to beane the wrath of the Lord as the maine worke which now did lie upon them and this may be done and was done by our Saviour and yet without sinne As it is with a clocke a man may stoâ— the wheels upon force and make them stand still though there bee no distemper in the wheels causing it but onely the hand which stops it So it was with Christ there was no infirmitie in the minde or memorie of our Saviour but the hand of God was so heavie upon him and the wrath of God so seized upon him that all other actions ceased and hee attended to no other thing but to this how to beare the wrath of God the Evangelist in Matthew 26.38 shewes the explication of both these My soule is exceeding heavie tarrie yee here and watch with mee my soule is heavie even unto the death that is my soule is besieged and beset and
whole heavens as I may say and did darken all the Sunne-shine of Gods favour as it is with the Sun in the firmament when a little cloud growes greater and greater untill it cover the whole heaven then we thinke it is almost night so all the sinnes of all the faithfull did overspread all the whole heavens that even the star-light of Gods compassion and the lightning of Gods love and favour appeared not Now I come to the reasons of our Saviours grievous sufferings in his soule and the reasons are these First from the cause Secondly from the place to which our Saviour was called Thirdly from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ which makes it most plaine of all Reason 1 First from the cause it cannot bee that it was the Jewes and Herod and Pilate that made him crie out in this manner but the justice of God the Father came against him and the devill entred the combate with the Lord Jesus Christ upon the crosse Luke 22.53 This is your houre and the power of darknesse hell gates were set open and the devils were all let loose upon our Saviour and therefore as Divines doe wisely and judiciously observe in Coloss 2.15 Hee led captivity captive and spoyled principalities and powers and tooke the hand writing of ordinances that was against us and fastned them to his crosse hee was now in the maine combat with all the powers of sinne hell and death These were they that did make the combat with the Lord of life Reason 2 The second reason is taken from the place which he underwent he was to be a Priest and he was to offer up himselfe for a sacrifice not his body alone but also his soule as Hebrewes 9.20.24 Christ offered up himselfe for a sacrifice Reason 3 Thirdly the love of the Lord Jesus was such that of necessitie it must bee so and those that thinke that the Lord Jesus suffered nothing else but onely the death of the body they wonderfully wrong the love of the Lord Jesus Christ the like love was never seene for had he suffered only the death naturall then some of Gods people had shewed greater love than ever Christ did as Paul Romans 9.3 I could bee content to want the sense of the love of Christ for the people of the Iewes c. Now if our Saviour had onely suffered the death naturall then Paul could have beene content to doe more than Christ did Thus you see the nature of this forsaking of Christ Secondly there was also a curse which befell our Saviour which here is intimated but is fully exprest Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law why because he was made a curse for us how doth he prove that because it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree He proves the truth by the Type the curse lay in this that Christ did suffer whatsoever was due unto us So the Apostle reasons that whatsoever curse was due unto us that our Saviour did suffer the curse was this the Father did not only withdraw the sense and sweetnesse of his love and favour from the Lord Jesus Christ but hee also let in his heavie indignation and wrath into his soule and that seized upon and fild the soule of our Saviour brim full and this was the curses The Scripture doth expresse it in two particulars or there are two degrees of it First the justice of God had a single combat with our Saviour in the garden and there it had three bouts with him the Lord dealt very roughly with him and the blowes were very heavie that hee laid upon our Saviour there for they went to the heart of him and yet that was but a little skirmish Esay 53.4 5. God smote him and bruised him insomuch that there was clodded blood seene to come dropping from him these heavie bouts that hee had wounded him and went to the very heart of him but now patience and forbearance and longsuffering and mercy and compassion they all come into rescue our Saviour and they afford him a little breathing and refreshing so that though the blowes were heavie and the thrusts were sore yet he did breathe and live and it was not the maine stroke of all and the reason was because patience mercy and goodnesse and bountie came in to rescue him but then the second part was this Not only Gods anger had a single combat with him but at last the justice of God gathered up all the powers of it and the wrath of God drew up all the forces together and they marched in furiously against Christ and whereas before the Father smote at him and did thrust at him now hee slew him When our Saviour came to the crosse and the heat of the battle lay upon him then all the sense and sweetnesse of Gods countenance and favour they all left our Saviour in the open field for in the garden hee had some refreshings and some breathing times and mercy and goodnesse did step in and say slay him not but let him have some refreshings but now the sense and the feeling of all these was gone Vse The use of this last branch it is a word of terrour and it is able to shake the hearts of the proudest wretches under heaven they that let themselves against God and Heaven and make nothing of the sinnes they have committed nor of the wrath of God threatned and when the Minister saith Oh the end of those sins will be bitternesse this contempt of God and grace and holy services and these oaths will be bitter in the latter end How can you beare the wrath of God and you cannot possibly avoid it tusâ— say they come let us talke of other matters and not busie our selves with these matters well saith the Minister but the word is true and the word saith it well then saith the soule and I will beare it as well as I can If I sinne I will beare it and if I come into hell I shall beare it as well as another and I shall make a shift for one Oh poore sinfull creature wilt thou beare it and make thy part good as well as another dost thou know what thou saist ler all those stouthearted men that sit in the feat of the scornfull and make nothing of God nor his wrath nor of hell nor of the sinnes that they have committed let them know that they shall never bee able to beare the indignation of the Lord see here and behold a little all you that make nothing of the withdrawing of Gods favour Psalme 97.4 5. and Revelation â— 14 15 16 17. The heavens departed away as a scrowle when it is rowled and every mountaine and Isle were removed out of their places and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe captaines and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and rocks and in the mountaines and said to
hell and condemnation every beleeving soule of you Do not think that God will passe by poore little ones no he will not lose one of you but he will in his appointed time helpe and deliver you therfore be not troubled not dismaied but resolve of this and say I shall bee delivered therefore let my soule be for ever cheared what would you have and what doe you feare Is it your sinnes doe you think that they beare you an old grudge and they will bee clamouring up to heaven against you and complaining of you at the throne of grace doe you feare them so you may justly because of that secret sliding off from the truth Oh saist thou my errand is done in heaven before this time and my sins knocke at heaven gates and say Justice Lord I have taken them in their sinnes and therefore as thou art a God of justice execute justice upon a rebellious soule Now therefore remember that Jesus Christ hath suffered he hath taken thy sinnes upon him and hath suffered the punishments of them 1 Iohn 2.1 Little children sinne not at all It were to be wished that a man might be alwayes humble and poore in spirit and doe all good against the evill done to him and it were to be wished that a man could walke exactly before God but it is not possible so long as we have this body of death it will shew it selfe but if we doe sinne we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the just he is gone to heaven to tell the Father that all is fully answered and he saith Father save all those poore soules whom thou hast given mee I have paid all and answered all for them and therefore Father I will that all that thou hast given mee may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory thus he plead for he doth not plead as we doe but he saith Father I will now if there be any crie against the soule by reason of sinne Christ stops it sinne pleads and Christ pleads and who will prevaile thinke you therefore be not discouraged we have an Advocate with the Father the sinnes of your dreames this last night they have done your errands in heaven before you did awake but let them plead what they can wee have an Advocate with the Father in Heaven and he pleads our cause in heaven and he will prevail in whatsoever he pleads for he will be heard all the pleas of sin shal be fully answered Heb. 12.22 23 24. ye are not come to the mount that might not be touched nor unto burning fire c. But ye are come unto the mount Zion to the citie of the living God and to the Spirits of just and perfect men and to Iesus Christ the Mediatour of the new Testament and to the blood of sprinkling which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel what did the blood of Abel speake see that in Gen. 3.9 10. where is Abel thy brother said the Lord and he answered I cannot tell am I my brothers keeper Oh thou wretch saith the Lord the voyce of thy brothers blood crieth to me from the earth for vengeance against thee thus all our sinnes doe speake but there are some sinnes that crie and say Lord this soule is taken to bee a Christian and a Professer and one that hath some grace but Lord against knowledge and conscience and the directions of the Ministers hee hath sinned thus and this therefore good Lord execute judgement upon him but now here is your comfort you poore Saints I confesse these wretched corruptions of your hearts play the backe friends with you many times but we have the blood of Christ that cries for mercy and pardon and refreshing and forgivenesse sinne pleads and saith Lord doe me justice against such a soule but the blood of Christ saith I am abased and humbled and I have answered all Christ shall be heard and if he plead the cause the day is certainly yours and hee pleads without any fees and his blood speaketh on your behalfe and your sinnes shall never be heard against you but what sticks upon your stomackes Object Oh you have heard that the Lord is a just God hee is so hee is holy and blessed and of pure eyes that cannot endure to behold any polluted or uncleane thing and if God be strict to marke what is done amisse who can abide it Oh then say you you have these sinnes and corruptions and God is pure and you are polluted and you have many secret windings and turnings and devices and you say God knowes all the crevices of my heart and sees all the frame of my soule and if the Lord marke what is done amisse nay hee will marke what is done amisse Who then shall be able to stand How shall I be able to answer it especially considering that Satan saith I have sinned and why should I not be cast out as well as others have beene cast out that have sinned Lord execute justice upon them as they have deserved how shall wee helpe ourselves herein yes admirably for then the blood of Christ comes in and that satisfies all Gal. 5.22.23 The fruits of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentlenesse meeknesse temperance faith against such there is no law so it is here there is no law nor no condemnation to beleevers truly penitent for their sins there is no punishment to them nor no wrath to execute judgement upon them because the debt is paid and the Lord is just and cannot and righteous and will not doe it but saith the Devill thou hast sinned and why shalt thou not bee condemned for it but saith justice hold thy tongue Satan for there is no law against them that repent what troubles you now Answer Why the very truth is the thoughts of Hell astonish my heart me thinkes I see a little peep-hole downe into hell and the devils roaring there being reserved in chaines under darknesse untill the judgement of the great day and me thinkes I see the damned flaming and Iudas and all the wicked of the world and they of Sodome and Gomorah there they lie roaring and damnation takes hold upon them and the wrath of God finks them downe to hell Now I have sinned and therefore why should not I be damned and why should not the wrath of God bee executed against mee I answer the death of Christ acquits thee of all and although the wrath of God be of admirable power and force yet you shall bee acquitted by the death of the Lord Jesus Revelations 20. â—â— Blessed and holy is he that hath a part in the first resurrection for on such the second death shall have no power that is wicked men and the ruffians of the world that scorne all commands and despise all the ordinances of God and the lawes of men and neither of them can take place in their hearts they breake all bonds and cast away all commands and the
is accomplished by two meanes The first is the union which the soule hath with Christ The second is a conveyance of sap or sweetnesse or a communion with Christ and all the treasures of grace and happinesse that is in him then to make up the growing together of the graft and the stock First the graft is put into the stock Secondly there must bee a communicating of the moisture that is in the stock to the graft and so they grow together otherwayes it growes not at all but withers away now wee are first to describe the nature of the worke in generall and then we will descend to particulars and the severall parts of it now wee will define this union so farre as it concernes our purpose not intâ—enching into particulars It is such a joyning of the faithfull soule in such a meanes to Christ that it becomes one spirit these are not by way of collection to be gathered but they are plainly expressed in the text and two points of doctrine I meane to prosecute the first point is from the first part of the text Doctr. 1 Every true beleever is joyned unto Christs the word in the originall is glued he is glued he is waxed he is firmly and neerly combined and knit to the Lord Jesus Christ The second part of the description is the second point in hand Doctr. 2 He is so joyned unto the Lord that he becomes one spirit as the adulterer and the adulteresse is one flesh so he that beleeves in Christ is so neerly joyned to him that he becomes one spirit so we see the verse offers two doctrines First that a faithfull soule is firmly and neerly knit unto Christ Secondly hee is so knit that he becomes one spirit But first of the first doctrine What ever by way of comparison can be alleaged concerning the neere combination of one thing with another they are all tyed to this knitting of the soule to Christ looke what a friend is to a friend looke what a father is to a childe what a husband to a wife looke what a graft is to a tree and that is neerer than a husband to a wife nay goe yet farther Galat. 2.20 what the soule is to the body the soule is not only knit to the body as one member to another as the hand is knit to the arme and the arme to the shoulder but the soule doth communicate it selfe universally thorow the least part of the body so the Apostle saith Christ is the very soule of a beleever I live yet not I but the Lord Iesus liveth in mee so that looke as the body liveth by the soule the soule closing and communicating and quickning of the same so Christ is in a Christian and speaks in a Christian and enableth a Christian to the performance of that he doth hence the body of the faithfull is called Christ 1 Corin. 12.12 but we will open this a little further in two passages First the carriage of the soule in this closing Secondly the manner how it doth close The carriage wee shall desire to discover in three particulars which may bee expressed in a graft when it is put into the stock and I say therein observe three particulars First there is an exercise of the elements that are in the graft upon the stock and are so farre mingled one with another and doe so farre close one with another that they become one Secondly the graft joynes to the stock and none other Thirdly they doe not onely act thus but are bound one to another and this makes them act answerably to these three particulars There is also an expression of the knitting of the soule to Christ in three particulars First the soule gathers up it selfe and all its spirits its faculties that doth exercise in the worke thereof upon Christ and that makes the soule to grow unto the Lord when the soule turnes the promise into good bloud it doth not only chew the meat but disgest it and it becomes good bloud a true beleever gathers up all the faculties of his soule and imployes them upon Christ hope expects Christ and desire longs for Christ and love and joy imbrace Christ and the will closeth Christ thus the soule settles it selfe upon Christ hoping expecting longing desiring loving embracing looke as it is with a woman that kneads dowgh if there be two parts of it the moulding and the kneading knits them together and makes them one lump so there is the moulding of the soule to the promise hoping and desiring and longing and chusing faith kneads all these together and knits them unto God and drawes the soule to him Secondly the soule is satisfied with Christ and the riches of his grace the beleever doth repose his confidence wholly thereupon Prov. 5.19 that which makes the love of a husband increase towards his wife is this Hee is satisfied with her breasts at all times and then hee comes to bee ravished with her love if a husband hath a loose heart and will not content himselfe with the wife of his youth but hath his back doores and his goings out this makes a breach in matrimoniall affection but when he is satisfied with her brests he is ravished with her love so hope hath an expectation of mercy and is satisfied therewith desire longs for mercy and is satisfied therewith the will closeth Christ and it is fully satisfied with him and if it were to chuse againe it would chuse none but Christ thus suck thou up the consolations in the promise and be satisfied therewith and then thou wilt grow there upon but if you will bee resting here and staying upon the contentments of the world this is weake confidence and drawes the soule from God Thirdly the last thing is the binding of the heart upon both these viz. the keeping of the heart to the exercise of the promise and to bee satisfied with the promise 1 Coloss 23. If yee continue in the faith being grounded and setled so that a man doth stake downe his heart to the promise and holds hope and desire and love and joy and the will unto it it receives all Christ and none but Christ and stayes here and continues here for ever this same covenant that bindes the soule to Christ is that which makes the union betweene Christ and the soule thus we see how the soule carries it selfe in this union The second thing considerable is the manner how it is done and the qualitie of this union and this we will discover in three particulars First it is a reall union but it is spirituall you must not conceive it grosly as if my body were joyned to Christ but there is a reall union which is spirituall there is a union betweene the nature of Christ God and man and a true beleever that which I desire to declare is upon this ground to difference this union from that which Divines are deceived in viz. that it is an union more than it bare notion
and apprehension of the minde for what ever a man conceives his understanding closeth with it as whatever I apprehend I close with that there is a conveyance of the thing into my minde and I close with it now the union of a beleevers soule with Christ is more than this it is not a bare apprehension a wicked man will goe farre in the apprehension of Christ but this union is somewhat more and I call it a reall union because there is a knitting and a closing not onely of the apprehension with a Saviour but a closing of a soule with a Saviour Secondly I say this is a totall union the whole nature of a Saviour and the whole nature of a beleever are knit together first that it is a reall union all the places of Scripture doe intimate as much what the branch is to the vine the soule is to Christ now they are more than imagination so what the husband is to the wife the soule is to Christ Now they are more than in understanding for a man may conceive of another woman as well as of his wife but this is another union whereby the person of the one is knit unto another the bond of matrimony knits these two together This is the frame and guise of knitting the soule to Christ it is no bare apprehension but wee feed upon Christ and grow upon Christ and are married to Christ Hosea 2.20 I have married thee to my selfe in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse Secondly I say it is totall in so much that Christ is the head and a beleever a member in both these regards they are joyned Christ is the head of the Church not onely according as he is God but as hee is God and man and a beleever is a member not onely according to his body but according to his body and soule now whole Christ being the head and the whole beleever being a member therefore a whole Christ and a whole beleever must be joyned together The third is this this union is inseparable Ieremie 32.40 The Lord promiseth to make an everlasting covenant with the house of Israel and I will never part away from them to doe them good so Psalme 89.33.34 It is spoken there concerning Salomon as I conceive the Psalmist saith If he sinne against mee I will scourge him and I will visit him with stripes neverthelesse my loving kindnesse I will not take away from him nor suffer my faithfulnesse to faile my covenant I will not breake nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth marke that the Lord out of faithfulnesse doth establish thee to him in vocation the Lord hath made a covenant with the soule in vocation the hand of the Lord layes hold upon the soule and brings it home now though the Lord correct the soule sharply yet will be not leave it totally and finally it is inseparably knit to Christ what can it be what shall it be that can separate a poore sinner from Christ if Satan could have hindered him from comming to a Saviour hee would have then hindered him from comming to a Christ when he had his greatest dominion over him if sinne could have let him when a man had nothing else but sin he would not have forsaken that and have beene brought home to Christ If the world could have prevailed Christ should never have pluckt him from it but when Satan had his greatest power over him when a man was nothing else but sinne by nature when the world most prevailed yet then God by his good Spirit pluckt thy heart from sinne and selfe that soule is mine saith Christ Satan must give way and shall not hinder it that soule is mine saith Christ sinne shall not let it from comming to mee that soule is mine saith Christ and the world shall not stop the worke of a Saviour and if Satan in the height of his malice and the world in the top of its force could not prevaile to keepe the soule from Christ then much lesse shall these be able to pluck us from a Saviour the point then is undeniable that the soule is really totally and inseparably knit to the Lord Jesus Christ Vse 1 We may here take notice of the high and happy privilege of poore creatures how ever the poore Saints of God are despised and contemned of the world yet they are received into covenant with the Lord they are made one with Christ and are of the blood royall and this is the greatest privilege that can bee this should beare up the hearts of poore Christians yee are now in the very gate of Heaven nay let mee say as the Apostle speakes and I see no reason why a man may not say that hee is in Heaven in truth though not in that measure and largenesse of glory he shall be afterwards 1 Thess 1.17 The happinesse that a Christian shall have in Heaven is this Hee shall be ever with the Lord Iesus Heaven were not Heaven unlesse a man might bee with Christ there the place doth not make a man happy but the union with a Saviour that makes him happy and to be joyned to Father Sonne and holy Ghost that makes him happy and the beleever is now knit to them and therefore must needs be happy Deut. 33. the last verse as he said of the people of Israel so may I say of all faithfull soules Happy are thou oh Israel saith the text who is like unto thee saved by the Lord the shield of thy helpe and the sword of thy excellency so may I say Happy are ye oh beleeving soules who is like unto you yee are saved by God and are married to the Lord Jesus Christ and are the spouses of the Saviour of the world and he that is the Judge of the world is your Husband your beloved and you are his let nothing therefore dismay your hearts Vse 2 The second use is that of terrour and it is like a thunder-bolt able to breake the hearts of all those that are opposite to them that beleeve in Christ that which I would have all consider on is this that the persecution of the Saints is a sin of a high nature it is a most hainous abominable sinne in the sight of God how ever the world thinkes not so of it yet they shall bee sure one day to finde I know men thinke not then because haply the law of man provides not in this case to punish those that oppose the Lord Iesus Christ and the power of his grace because haply the Magistrate doth not or haply cannot smite those that set themselves against those that feare God and trample upon them therefore wicked men make the Saints of God the marke of their malice and the aime of their rage and all these indignation is bent that way they glory in what they have done and threaten what they will doe they will hang and draw and quarter within themselves this is that which the proud spirits of
to one of these yee did it not to mee Now Divines reason thus that all the doome that shall passe upon the wicked at the day of judgement shall goe in this tenure because ye have not done this and that and if those shall bee condemned that did not visit the Saints when they were in prison if those shall be damned that did not cover the naked what shall become of those that 〈…〉 hearts and rend the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 the Lord hath not onely torments for them here but he hath devils in hel to torment them for evermore Therefore let me speake a word of advice to those that are guilty of this great sinne of persecuting the Lord of life goe aside and reason with your soules and parley with your hearts and think with your selves Oh poore foole that I was it was not any poore Christian any poore Saint that I hated but it was the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of life and of glory that I persecuted that I would have pluckt out of his Throne I would have tore his flesh off his body and rent his members asunder and alas I never knew it it was not the Saints I opposed but the Lord Jesus Christ I speake not this to countenance faction my aime is at those that persecute religion and sanctity of life Vse 3 For examination and triall we may hence see who are those that cleave unto Christ as also those that are false and dissemble with Christ which pretend great love and professe great kindnesse unto our Saviour and how much they respect him and how neere Christ is to them From the former Doctrine you may discover whether this be true or false hee that is a true beleever and knit so to Christ as never more to bee separated and parted he takes up the whole strength of his soule and bottoms it upon a Saviour hee is sanctified with the freenesse of his grace and is resolved for ever to cleave unto him and bestow himselfe upon him he that truly beleeves is thus knit thus joyned to the Lord Iesus Christ looke as it is sometimes with a mightie branch of a tree â—r with the arme of a mans body however the bough of the tree may be rent sometimes and haled aside by the violence of the tempest or by the pulling of a mans hand yet it will hold by the body and when the hand is gone it will goe up againe so it is with a faithfull soule he so cleaves to Christ that he will never be parted from him he will never be separated what ever provocation or opposition comes to the contrarie the beleeving soule is sometimes rent and strained by the weight of persecution and temptation and with the violence of corruptions but as soone as the temptation and the weight is gone it clings to Christ againe and as the bough take away the hand and it will rise up againe so whatsoever temptations come or corruptions come or oppositions betide yet it will not be pluckt off from the Lord and though it may be swayed aside yet it growes to the Lord therefore the first of Samuel 10.26 it is said The hearts that God touched did cleave unto Saul so it is with a beleever those that are famous in the eyes of the world and have professed great kindnesse to him in the time of persecution they will flye off but those whose hearts God hath fully touched they will follow Christ notwithstanding all opposition as it is with the needle of a diall it may be stirred and moved but it will never râ—â— till it come to the right place againe so it is with the soule that is â—uit to Christ by faith though he may be 〈◊〉 â—ering and doubting yet he will never bee 〈…〉 till he come to be fastned the right way to Christ but others there are that cleave fainedly to Christ and herein it will appeare either they will off when occasion serves or else wither in the very worke of the profession of the Gospell though they continue therein some there be that fall away wholly from their profession of this sort are thousands of your common protestants that are only knit unto Christ by peace and prosperity there are millions if the day of trouble should come and fire and sword should come and make them make profession of their faith they would flie off from their profession and they would leave the Lord and the Gospell and all in the lurch because they are not knit unto Christ by saving faith In the second place there are others who though they doe not fall away totally yet notwithstanding they wither and die and come to nothing and these are your cunning and close hearted hypocrites those that are knit to Christ and grow to him by some helpe and succour and assistance which they have from him by which they flourish grow greene in the profession of the Lord there is a generation of cunning dissemblers and close false dealers with the Gospell that grow to Christ by some helpe they receive from him and that makes them make a glorious shew in the profession of the Gospel but yet if God take away his assistance they wither and die and fade and vanish looke as it is with the haires of a mans head or with the leaves of a tree the leaves grow to the tree and the haires to the head but they grow not so much upon the substance of the body nor the leaves upon the substance of the tree as the arme and the branch doth but they grow onely by the moisture that comes from the body and the moisture that comes from the root or looke as it is with a wen in a mans body it is no part of the body but it growes out of the superabundant humors of the body and that feeds the wen and increaseth it but if the body grow weake and feeble and that humour be taken away it withers and comes to a drie skin just so it is with these cursed close hearted hypocrites as the haires and leaves grow so they grow to the Lord Jesus namely the Lord vouchsafeth some sap and moisture and some assistance to the performance of some services but they never grow to the substance of a Saviour they never grew to the holinesse of Christ they never had the Spirit of Christ powerfully prevailing with them as it is with the wen so it is with these glorious hypocrites that can vent themselves very gloriously they are wens in the profession of the Gospell they looke full bigly and stare every man in the face and to the appearance of the world are men of great account but if once the Lord take away his assistance from heaven they are like leaves upon the tree if they fall not yet they wither away I have oserved sometimes you shall have drie leaves stay upon an oake tree till new ones come againe so these haughtie hearted hypocrites they will take up a kinde of a dying
course of profession in the way of life and salvation but they never come to bee opposers and resisters of God and his grace till there comes some to bee wiser and stricter in a Christian course than they and then hee fals away Vse 4 Is it so that the faithfull soule is thus neerly knitted to Christ as the member to the body or the branch to the vine then all you that beleeve in Christ observe from hence a ground of strong consolation against all the contempt of the world and the misery that can betide and against all the temptations that Sathan can lay against you to cause you to fall finally or totally First it is a ground of great comfort and consolation to carry up the soule and lift up the heart against all the contempt and disgrace against all the troubles and miseries and persecutions that can betide or befall you or can be cast upon you in this wandring pilgrimage of yours when a Christian begins to turne his face heaven-ward and goe home to the Lord then all his friends flie away and depart from him David complaines that his honours stood afarre off and hee was a mocking to the enemie and a contempt to those that were before neere unto him so it will bee with you nay it is so with most that live in the bosome of the Church how often can many of you speake of it when the Lord hath given you a heart to walke with him and depend upon him how often are you made the off-scouring of the world your carnall friends detest your persons and scorne your societies why raise up your hearts with the consideration of the former truth yee that doe endure it or may feare it comfort your selves doth man cast you off doth man cast you out Christ will receive you why then are you discouraged what though the servant frowne if the Master welcome what though we be not with the wicked if we be with Christ and Christ with us why are we then discontented it is that which comforts a party that matcheth against her parents minde when her parents frowne this comforts her heart though she hath not their love and society yet she hath the love and company of her husband and that contents her so it is with every beleeving soule you have matched against the minde of your carnall friends they would not have you take that course Oh then they tell you Woe and beggerie will befall you well though you have matched contrarie to the mindes of your carnall friends or master or husband yet comfort thy selfe though thou hast the ill will of an earthly husband yet now God will be a husband in heaven thou maist sing care away and bee for ever comforted and refreshed it was that which God himselfe gave for a cordiall to cheare up Iacob in that long and tedious journey of his when hee was going into a farre countrie Genes 28.14 15. when he was going from his owne countrie and had no friends to succour him the Lord met him and said I will goe with thee and keepe thee in all places whither thou goest and I will bring thee back into this land and I will never leave thee untill I have done that which I spake unto thee of this was that which lifted and bare up the heart of the good man though hee could not but expect hard dealing why yet saith the Lord I will goe with thee and never leave thee thinke of it and consider of it seriously what a ground of consolation may it be when we shall wander up and downe and goe into caves and holes and dens of the earth when wee shall goe into prison or banishment and friends may not nor will not goe with us yet Christ will goe Esay 43.2 When thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee a man cannot save his wife sometimes in the water though shee bee ready to be drowned a man cannot goe into the fire to helpe her though she be ready to be burnt but Christ will be with thee in the water and in the fire that is in the heaviest trials and forest troubles what can come to us if Christ be with us if miserie and sorrow and trouble bee with us if Christ our husband be with us what matter he is the husband of his spouse and the Saviour of his people why should wee then bee discouraged or disquieted Secondly as it is a ground of comfort against all opposition and troubles of the world so it is a ground of comfort to stay our soules against the fiercenesse of all temptations whereby Satan labours to plucke us from the Lord Iesus Christ and our hearts sinke within us and we shall wee say one day perish by the hands of Saul by the hand of the enemy attempting and corruptions prevailing cleare your hearts and know though temptations may outbid your weaknesses and corruptions may outbid your abilities and when you would doe good evill is present with you and sinne cleaves and sticks close to you why cheare your hearts with this consideration that you have Christ that sticks closer to you than your sinnes and this should cheere up weake and feeble ones I know what troubles you were I as strong as such a christian had I such parts and such strength of faith and shall such a poore little one as I am beare the brunt of persecution and indure in the time of perplexitie Why consider though thou canst not helpe thy selfe yet Christ can and know this that Christ will not lose the least member he is a perfect Saviour the Lord will not suffer Satan to take thee away from him nor suffer his love to bee taken from thee Rom. 8. the two last verses it was the triumph of the holy Apostle Paul I am perswaded saith he that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which it in Christ Iesus our Lord when health is separated from thy body and light from thy eyes and strength from thy feeble nature yet remember that when thy body is separated from thy soule the Lord will not separated his love from thee neither from thy body in the grave nor from thy 〈…〉 it is departed out of thy body he will love thy body in the grave he loves the dust of his Saints and he will take thy soule up into heaven therefore cheare up thy heart and comfort thy soule in the consideration of Gods goodnesse Vse 5 Lastly are the Saints knit to Christ thus firmly then it shews us our dutie we ought to take notice of the goodnesse of the Lord vouchsafed unto us hath the Lord advanced you thus highly then walke
how also it should bee implanted into him being called by the Spirit of God in vocation wee have heretofore fully and largely discussed and concluded that point then wee came to the second thing which is the second part of this implanting or ingrafting a sinner into the Lord Jesus Christ and it is the growing to of a sinner with our Saviour and that is accomplished and fully brought about by two workes there are two parts of it for it is not enough for the graft to be put into the stock but it must grow together with it if ever there be any conveyance of any sap or any helpe and strength which it may receive from the same so it is with the beleeving soule faith doth not onely bring us unto Christ but it makes us grow together with Christ and this growing is discovered in two particulars The first is a spirituall union of the soule with our Saviour when the soule comes to be united to and made one with the Lord of life that wee have also handled and concluded in the two last lectures Againe the second part that accomplisheth and makes up this growing together with Christ it is that heavenly communion that the soule doth get with our Saviour when the stock of the merits of our Saviour and the vertue of his grace is communicated to the soule for this we must remember that these two things make up the growing of the stock and the graft together First there must be an union of the graft with the stock Secondly there must be an intercourse or a communication of the sap in the stock to the graft so it is with Christ what ever he hath he hath for his Church and people and what ever he doth he doth for his Church and servants so that there is a kinde of conveyance of the vertue of his merits and power of his grace unto the soules of those that beleeve in him and are knit unto him by a true and a lively faith wee have done with the 〈◊〉 that the soule hath with Christ we are now to speake of the heavenly and spirituall communion the intercourse betweene the Lord and the soule when the soule is married unto him and this is that wee aime at this is that wee looke at at this time and this I must tell you by the way that our purpose is not to meddle with the particulars at this time but onely with the generall nature of the communion of the soule with Christ now for the discovery of this worke wee have chosen the words of the text now read unto you and the scope of the words it is mainly this to discover unto us the dowrie and feofment of all that spirituall grace that is conveyed and made sure to the beleeving soule being made one with the Lord Jesus that looke as it is with a man that hath a faire estate to himselfe it is only his owne but when the wife is wooed and brought home married he gives over the right of himselfe unto her and if hee make over his estate unto her shee hath title thereunto this now is the dowry of a Christian the Lord Jesus Christ is no bad match you must not thinke you could have done better it is a wonder that ever our Saviour would take us to himselfe or shew favour to us but the case is cleare if a beleever be called and brought home to Christ Christ is made to us wisdome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption Christ hath all and whatsoever Christ hath it is all yours you have title thereunto and shall receive sap and benefit therefrom if you have hearts to take that good God offers and you may receive wee will not now meddle with the severals in the verse but these two things must be specially attended to in the words that we may make way for our selves in the point we have to trade withall First take notice of the compasse of that happinesse and spirituall grace which God vouchsafeth unto his and it is ranged into foure heads the text saith Christ is made unto us wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption all that Christ hath or can communicate all that the beleeving soule can desire or want may be referred to these foure First Wisdome that is the declaration of the way of God and eternall happinesse in and through the Lord Jesus Christ which all the policie of all cunning men and all subtill pates in the world could never pry into that wisdome which revealed the secret things and the deepe things of God the Lord Jesus is made that wisdome to the beleeving soule Secondly Christ is made unto us righteousnesse that is whatsoever guilt lieth upon us whatsoever sinne hath beene committed by us what ever punishment wee have deserved Christ is made unto us righteousnesse to acquit us of all Thirdly Christ is made unto us sanctification the soule of a poore sinner is defiled with many corruptions and polluted with many distempers now Christ is made unto him sanctification to purge and purifie him from all those sinnes and distempers Lastly because while we wander up and downe this vale of teares and in this pilgrimage of ours wee shall bee oppressed with many evils that will lye upon us and death it selfe which is the last enemy will seize upon us and captivate our bodies in the grave therefore Christ is made unto us redemption he will take away all trouble and wipe all teares from our eyes nay hee will breake open the grave and deliver his Saints from thence The Heathen to make the Saints of God sure in time of persecution they first slew them and then they burnt their bodies to ashes and then threw them into the water and then they said Let us now see how they will rise againe alas poore creatures why the Lord loves the very dust the very ashes of his Saints in the grave and the Lord will redeeme our bodies from the grave and our names from dishonour and our lives from trouble and our soules from sinne and will set us free from all miseries and inconveniences at the great day of account these are the foure things wherein the dowry and feofment of a beleeving soule consists I will not now trade in the particulars but only in the generall and shew how that every beleeving soule that rests upon Christ by faith hath an interest in these The second thing considerable is this to whom all these things belong and the text tels us Christ is made all this to us and the truth is it is made over to all beleevers there is not one man exempted not one man excluded every beleeving creature hath a part and portion herein however the holy Apostle crowds in for a share and if wee looke into the 26 27 28. verses wee shall see to whom this belongs Ye know your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mightie not many noble are called but God
is not my basenesse that hinders mee but my corruptions that oppose the worke of grace in my soule and that will be my bane I know that God is able to doe what is needfull and Christ is willing to doe what he is able to those that beleeve in him and rest upon him but this proud heart opposeth the worke of his grace and the operation of his Spirit my minde is so blinde that nothing in the world takes place my heart is still polluted and my distempers still hang upon mee nay sometimes my soule is wearie of the good word of the Lord that would pluck them from me insomuch that I could almost bee content to pluck out my heart and will the Lord shew mercie to mee that oppose mercie and will the Lord make mee partaker of his redemption that resists the worke of his redemption I answer God hath appointed Christ for this purpose and Christ hath undertooke this worke therefore if God hath appointed it and Christ will worke it who can hinder it thy ignorance cannot hinder the Lord Jesus Christ if hee will teach thee hee will inlighten thy blinde minde and convince that stubborne heart of thine nay all the corruptions under heaven cannot oppose this worke of God hee hath appointed it and hee hath power to pull downe a stout stomack and bee hath power to sanctifie a polluted heart corruptions are many and temptations fierce but if he will redeeme who can destroy if he sanctifie who can pollute if he justifie who can condemne this is the worke of a Saviour if Christ will doe it none can hinder it if God hath appointed it nothing can let it but it is the worke of a Christ and God hath appointed it therefore cheare up thy heart in the consideration hereof you that are the Saints of God cast off all those cavils and pretences against the power of Christ and his grace and goe out of your selves and see the privileges that God vouchsafes unto you and reason thus with your selves It is true Lord my heart is naught and I have no power my minde is blinde and I have no wisdome but I know that Christ is made wisdome to mee and thou hast appointed the Lord Jesus Christ to be made wisdome and sanctification to the soule of thy servant though sin pollute me yet Christ can sanctifie mee though the guilt be great yet the pardon of a Christ is greater than the guilt and where sinne abounds grace abounds much more therefore lift up your selves and cheare up your hearts and goe away comfortably what is awanting God will give what hee gives he will maintaine what hee maintaines hee will quicken what hee quickens hee will perfect and he will crowne you and your grace and all in the kingdome of heaven for ever what would you have in this kinde nay let mee speak one thing more Hee is the redeemer of his servants what is that why the Scripture saith the last enemy of all is death and that is the aime of all the wicked that is the worst they can doe now in Saint Matthew Christ saith Thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it the gates of hell what 's that it was the fashion among the Jewes as our sessions and assises are kept in the market place so their place of meeting was at the gates so that when he saith The gates of hell shall not prevaile against it his meaning is this when Beelzebub and all the Devils in hell shall joyne together to destroy the Church all the policie of all the Devils in hell shall not prevaile the worst they can doe is to bring them unto death but Christ will bee redemption unto them art thou in captivity he will free thee art thou in persecution he will deliver theeâ— nay when thy body shall lye downe in the grave though the Heathen said when they had burnt the bodies of Gods Saints and throwne them into the water Let us now see how they will rise againe they were deceived thou must be contented for Christ will redeem that dust and say to the earth Give up and to the sea Give up thy dead deliver up the bodies of my servants let their sinews and bones come together and body and soule shall come together and enjoy happinesse in heaven together for evermore if then neither the guilt of sinne can condemne us nor the filth of sinne pollute us if neither misery nor persecution can hurt us then goe away not only comfortably but triumphantly into persecution and prison into holes and caves and dens of the earth Christ will bee all in all unto you in grace here and in glorie hereafter therefore let this comfort you Vse 3 In the third place it is the use the holy Ghost here makes Is it so that there is a conveyance of all grace from Christ to the beleever hee doth what he doth by him and hath what he hath from him then it is a word of instruction to teach us all to lye downe in the dust let no man glorie in man but let him that glories glorie in the Lord this is the maine collection the Apostle inferres God hath chosen the foolish and base things of the world that no man might glorie in flesh as who should say it is not my parts but Christ it is not my abilities but mercie it is not what I can doe but what Christ will performe therefore if Christ then bee Author of all wee have or can doe let him receive all the honour and praise of all we have or doe doth the Lord worke all our workes in us and for us then let him receive the tribute due to his Name and take nothing to your selves away with that proud heart that bars God of his honor and praise and of the due which indeed belongs unto him and ought to be performed by all his servants dost thou thinke the Lord will bestow all his favour upon thee and worke all for thee and thou in the meane time pranke up thy selfe and lift up thy crest no I charge you you Saints of God as to know your owne privileges to be thankfull for them so to know your owne unworthinesse and to lie downe in the dust and be abased for ever and to give God the honour due unto his Name Revel 4.8 The foure and twentie Elders fell downe and laid downe their crownes at the Lambes feet and said Thou onely art worthy to receive all honour and glory and praise If wee had a thousand crownes never so much honour and riches and credit and abilities fling away all at the foot of Christ let him have all the praise thou art worthy Lord we are unworthy thy assistance wee have received thy comfort thou hast continued and thou art worthy of all the honour in that thou hast beene pleased to worke any worke in us and by us to the praise of
and the Son have wrought Hence it is that actions are given especially to the Father though not excluding the Sonne nor the holy Ghost but yet howsoever they are all equall in their working in regard of time yet the Father is first in regard of order A malefactor is now arraigned and condemned and the pardon is to be begged and none but the Kings sonne the young Prince can have a pardon his abilities are onely able to carry him through the worke the Prince begs it the Favorite brings it but the King onely grants it so it is here the Lord Iesus Christ is the Sonne of the everlasting Father and the Prince of peace and hee it is that begs the pardon of his Father hee sends it to us by the hands of the holy Ghost but only the Father grants the pardon When the soule hath long beene humbled and selfe denying and said Lord forgive the trespasses of thy servant and yeelds and layes downe the weapons of deflance and falls at the footstoole of the Lord Iesus Christ and rowles it selfe upon his merits then the Spirit comes and saith thy sinnes are pardoned thy person is accepted I bring thee this newes from God the Father God is now reconciled to thee in and by the Lord Iesus Christ now the Father is the King that grants this pardon the Sonne is he that begs it and the Spirit is the messenger that brings it Now you see how it is an act of God the Father Quest. 2 Secondly I come to shew why it is an act of God the Father upon the beleever Answer The reasons of the question are these we must understand that the actions of God are of two sorts First there are some actions which doe remain in God which are confined within the compasse of his owne Councell and goe no further and they are immanent actions they stay in God and goe no further A man may conceive in his mind what heresolves to doe in his heart whether hee will doe such a thing or no and no man can tell what he intends to doe but himselfe but if a man will practise answerably according to his purpose then he doth expresse the worke outwardly which he intended inwardly and now hee workes upon the creature and makes it to receive some impression of that good which hee kept secretly in himselfe There are some actions which remaine in God as the decrees and purposes of God before the foundation of the world and they are confined within the high Councell table of Heaven Father Sonne and holy Ghost and these never appeared to the eye of the world Secondly there are actions also which passe from God upon the creature and doe worke a change and an alteration upon the creature and these wee call transient actions or actions that passe which are not onely in God but passe from God and doe frame and order and dispose of the creature as God sees fit and of this sort are all the actions that belong to a Christian except predestination for the Lord doth not reveale those secrets unto any by the worke of vocation which is wrought upon the creature for there the Lord quickens desire and stirres up hope and kindles love and joy and the Lord turnes the face of the soule God-ward and in adoption regeneration and all the workes of grace and salvation and of this kinde is justification and this is the reason why I call it a transient action because it passeth upon the creature but that must be warily understood with a graine of salt as the Proverbe is now what change is this I answer the Lord workes a change upon the creature two wayes First the Lord is said to passe a worke or an action upon the creature when he puts some kind of abilitie upon the creature either spirituall or naturall as when the Lord makes a wicked man a good man an adulterous man a chaste man and of an envious proud malicious man a patient meeke and holy man and this we call a naturall change because there is a gracious frame put into the heart and soule which overpowers the creature and all things are become new new affections new desires but this is not all for here is the difficultie Secondly the Lord is said to make a change upon the creature when he takes off some relations and respects which the creature had and puts upon it some other respects hee doth not put them into the soule but puts the soule into another roome and they are not naturally qualities but onely relations which are imprinted upon the soule of man and these are called morall and of this kinde is justification as thus Take a Prentice that is bound by covenant and Indenture for so many yeeres and he is now fallen into an ague or a burning fever hee hath two relations First he is an apprentice Secondly hee hath a weake sickly distempered body now there may bee a double change wrought in this man according to this double disposition first the master burnes the Indentures and gives him his time and sets him free from his service and hee that was an apprentice before is now a freeman this is a morall change for all this while he is as sicke as he was before but the former relation is quite gone and the master cannot now command him to his service now the fellow servants cannot dominere over him because he is not now a servant but now the wise Physitian he comes and he by good means helps the man of his disease and brings him to a faire sweet and wholsome temper of body and now there is a change in the very nature of this servant before he was distempered but now he is well ordered before hot but now finely coole here is something wrought in the nature of this man Just so it is in this change of the soule there is a morall change in justification a man is bound to the Law and liable to the penaltie of it and guiltie of the breach of it now God the Father in Jesus Christ acquits a man of this guilt and delivers him from this revenging power of the Law and that 's not all but withall hee puts holinesse into the heart and wisedome into the minde and puritie into the affections this is called a naturall change because there are new spiritual abilities put into the heart not because of the nature of it but because of the thing which it works as to take the example of Scripture 1 Iohn 3.14 Wee are translated from death to life As it is with a man taken prisoner in Turkie or some other place haply a Christian of England he is accounted a Traitor there and is condemned as a Traitor the man being weake of himselfe and not able to deliver himselfe he must bee dealt by as a Traitor but now if this man bee rescued and finde some way of escape and bee set upon some other shore whereby he may be conveyed
what they say hee knowes that they are not Judges but hee stayes till the Judge comes and he quakes and trembles till he heares what the sentence of the Judge will be Now therefore be as wise for your spirituall estates as you are for your temporall estates Psalme 85.8 I will hearken what the Lord will say disputing there of the miseries and troubles which were like to befall the Church of God and himselfe too he lookes up to Heaven and saith I will hearken what the Lord will say for hee speakes peace to his people looke not what sense and feeling and feare and suspition say for they will speake killing words and will tell you that your condition is naught and damnable what all this vildnesse and basenesse and stubbornesse and yet goe to heaven that cannot be Good brethren hearken not to these for they are not the Judges of the court the sentence must come from God and remember that God will speake peace and comfort unto his people hee will comfort your distressed consciences and therefore let not Satan nor your owne distempered hearts be hearkned unto for though they speake never so much terrour to your consciences yet God will justifie you it is the libertie which the law allowes and every man will take it to himselfe if hee know the law when a man is questioned for his life he will not cast himselfe upon every Jurie but hee will take the benefit of the law and if there comes in one that is an ignorant person or one that is an enemy of his he may justly except against them and put them out and hee will say Good my Lord doe not cast away a poore man for no cause at all I except against these men of the Jurie they are mine enemies they have sought my blood many yeeres and they have informed against me and seeke to take away my life and I can prove it and the rest are ignorant and cannot understand the matter good my Lord let me have a good Jurie this the court of justice allowes and every man will bee sure to take it to himselfe as occasion serves in Acts 28.19 Paul was constrained to appeal into Cesar and therefore hee saith Chap. 2â— 10.11 I stand aâ— Cesars judgement seat where I ought to be judged You see beloved how wise men are for the good and safetie of their bodies oh be much more carefull for the good of your soules and hazard not your soules upon every base Jurie stand not to the triall of temptation feare and suspition but appeale to the great God of Heaven and say Lord it is an unjust Jurie you â—eele not these abilities and you feel not this assurance of Gods love and when corruption beginnes to stirre in the heart then carnall reason saith if a man had grace could he have all these corruptions if I had any grace it would not nor it could not be thus with mee Oh complaine to the Lord that they are an unjust Jurie looke up to the Throne of mercy and have your cause heard there and say Lord these have beene my profest enemies the Devill and this carnall proud froward heart of mine have beene deadly enemies both to thee and to thy grace and to the good of my poore soule and as for feare and suspition they have betrayed my comforts and â—ut the throat of them and many a time have taken away the hope of eternall life from me and as for my weaknesses and infirmities they are too ignorant they cannot passe righteous judgement because they know not what belongs to grace here or happinesse hereafter therefore appeale to the Lord and say you stand at Gods mercy seat let mercy doe what it will with you and mercy will certainly save you and let mercy be for ever honoured and be sure to lie downe at the footstoole of mercy If thou art content to goe to God and depend upon mercy and let it doe what it will with thee then mercy shall certainly save thee if thou wilt come to beleeving thou art sure to bee acquitted let the Devill come in against thee and plead and say Lord wilt thou acquit such a man that hath been a despiser of thy grace and mercy and the world saith to my knowledge he hath closed with mee and hath forsaken thee and then saith conscience I have told him of many sinnes but hee would never reforme them therefore Lord give Justice against him then the Lord makes answer and saith It skils not what he hath beene If hee will come to me and beleeve in me and repent of his sinnes I will freely acquit him of all that he hath done amisse therefore avoid the court Satan take this as an everlasting rule and you shall finde it by experience If a man might have all the favour in the world shewed him and have his owne friends to passe sentence against him and have his best duties and services to plead for him if hee should commit his case to them to be tried by them he would be for ever condemned by them there is so much pride on the one side and deadheartednesse on the other side and so much wandring in your prayers that they would cry to God for wrath and condemnation upon you 1 Cor. 4.4 I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not thereby justified you must appeale to the Father of mercies or else you will never be acquitted by them therefore stand to that judgement of God whose judgement must and shall stand when the sentence of sinne and Satan and carnall reason shall be overthrowne The cause why many poore humbled broken selfe-denying hearts goe drooping and discouraged it is because they have a bad Jurie goes upon them and they dead their owne hearts because they appeale not to that God who is willing to acquit them through the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ Object But some may object and say how shall I know whether God will justifie me or no Answer For answer hereunto looke what the word saith if the word acquit thee it shall stand and if the word condemne thee though all the men in the world acquit thee yet thou shalt be condemned to all that beleeve not in my Gospell shall be confusion saith the Apostle and the words of Christ are He that beleeveth not is condemned already therefore looke what the word saith and cleave to that for ever Vse 3 In the third place from hence we have a ground of terrour to the wicked and it is like a thunder-bolt to breake the hearts of all unbeleevers and it is able to cut the sinewes of all their comforts and to sinke their soules to Hell to thinke that they are unbeleevers I speake not to those that have some doubtings and troubles arising in their hearts but to such as never yet beleeved in Christ howsoever a man may have parts and gifts and be advanced yet that which will be as gall and wormwood to the soule is
he had so deeply drunke of the cup of affliction he said now it is finished that is now the fierce indignation of the Lord is over Take a little childe or infant new borne and lay it in a little streame if no man come to succour it there can be no hope that it will live not properly because of the water but because the childe is weake and not able to keepe it selfe from being overpowred by the water and therefore there is no hope to have reliefe for it but let a strong man come and he will not be drowned by the streame for hee is of height and strength either to wade thorow it or else to save himselfe by swimming so there is the streame of the indignation of the Lord Now God will not help a poore sinfull creature and he cannot help himselfe therefore the streame will destroy him and there is no hope for he is never able to free himselfe because God will not and he himselfe cannot but the Lord Jesus Christ that hath skill and power because he is God as well as man therefore though he beare the wrath of God yet because hee is able to wade thorow it and to beare it therefore it is that he will deliver himselfe and all us with him Thus ye see that desperation is a consequent that followes from the sinfulnesse and weaknes of the creature and that it is no part of the second death The second part of this conclusion followes and I desire it may bee attended to by all you that are weake ones for this objection doth put many Divines themselves to a stand and yet the case is very cleere so farre as my light and line serves me Secondly the eternitie of the punishments say they for if Christ suffered the pains of the second death then hee must be in hell for ever It is a weake and a sinfull plea I say our Saviour might and did suffer the second death and yet not the eternitie of it I beseech you to take notice of two things herein First you must take notice of the difference betweene the death threatned and the death denounced and betweene the torments of hell also betweene the eternitie of time and the circumstances of time that may bee altered and changed as the debt or punishment is fully suffered or not suffered As for example the time of a mans lying in prison is no part of the payment but he doth lie in prison because hee cannot pay the debt as thus A man is in prison for a thousand pound he must lie in prison ten years because he can pay but a hundreth pound a year but now let a rich man come that can discharge the payment within ten moneths or ten dayes or ten houres it is as well if he doe it in ten houres as if he did it in ten years nay it is better done Just so it is here the debt is this In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death the punishment is death and every poore creature must die the first and second death Now because a poore creature cannot satisfie Gods justice 〈◊〉 this life for if God should but let in the power of his wrath in this life into the soule and fill the soule with his fierce indignation it would kill a man even in this life therefore the Lord by death takes away a poore creature and drags him downe to hell he doth arrest him by conscience here and saith Thou hast sinned and deserved wrath and thou canst not beare my wrath here therefore thou shalt die and be made immortall that thou maist beare it for evermore because a man cannot pay it now therefore he is paying of it to all eternitie for hee is never able to pay and satisfie for the whole summe but now the Lord Jesus Christ hath cash ready at hand and is able to lay downe the payment for all the faithfull to the full hee layes downe the life naturall and hee also suffers the paines of the second death therefore hee is able to deliver himselfe and all those that are his First of all Vse 1. hath our Saviour thus suffered and hath he stepped in betweene the wrath of God the Father and the faithfull Justice saith that foule hath sinned and must be damned and anger saith I must breake out against that poore soule then the Lord Jesus Christ steps in and saith I will beare all and undertake the satisfiing of all I will beare all those punishments due unto them you that are beleevers and have a share in Christ unto you I speake labour thou from hence to see the hainousnesse of sinne and to hate it because it hath brought all this evill upon thy Saviour and would have brought the same upon thee had not the Lord Jesus Christ stepped in betweene thee and the wrath of the Father Oh looke what thy sin hath done unto the Lord Jesus Christ and see if you can love it take contentment in the cōmission of it Let me teach you how to do it send your thoughts afar off and see our Saviour in the garden crying out and saying My soule is exceeding heavie unto the death my soule is even beset with sorrowes oh watch and pray And also when he was in that bitter agonie in the garden And he prayed yet more earnestly and hee stretched out his prayers that it broke his heart almost behold the teares in his eyes and the clodded blood that came from him and his soule was almost broken within him under the fierce indignation of the Lord and he fell upon the ground and yet all this would not doe the deed follow him to the crosse and seeing him attended with the souldiers and pierced thorow with a speare see then if thou canst love thy sinnes that have done all this and further when you have seene him thus nailed to the crosse and pierced thorow with a speare then if you have any hearts of men I doe not say of Christians listen a while and here those hideous cries My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Oh brethren it went very heavy with our Saviour Now imagine that you heard those heart breaking sighes which broke the heavens and let them breake thy heart too Oh goe your wayes home I charge you in the Name of Jesus Christ and answer your owne hearts or rather answer the petitions of our Saviour and say Lord why hast thou forsaken Oh Lord it was for my pride and my contempt of thy word and my despising of holy duties and for the rest of my sinnes I should have beene forsaken and thou wast contented to bee forsaken for me Oh can you consider of this and love your sinnes still which have brought all this misery upon a Saviour if you can love your sins now doe and if you can harbour that pride and stubbornnesse in your hearts which would have pluckt the heart out of Christs body and his soule from
his body then doe can it bee possible that men should harbour sinne in them if they did but know what it hath done to them can you see it and not haâ—e it Oh behold that sinne which hath caused God the Father to be angry with thy Saviour and doe thou hate it and let thy soule for ever loath thy sinne which hath caused Christ thus to doe to come downe from heaven and to bee tortured by wicked miscreants and to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and as sin hath caused God the Father to punish thy Saviour so goe thou and be revenged upon thy sin and say Oh my pride and my stubbornnesse and my loosenesse and uncleannesse and base drunkennesse these were the nailes that pierced his hands aâ—â— his feet they pierced his sacred body and 〈◊〉 the wrath of God the Father upon his soule therefore let mee bee for ever revenged of this proud stubborne and rebellious heart of mine and let mee for ever loath my sinne because it brought all this sorrow upon my Saviour To presse this use a little more I charge you brethren as ever you had any tender love unto Jesus Christ or any regard of your owne comfort goe your wayes and bee for ever cast downe and humbled for those evill waies of yours which have brought our Saviour to such a gulfe of misery and to be angry with those sinnes that have made God the Father angry with the Lord Jesus Christ and take thou revenge upon that proud stubborne heart that brought all this misery upon thy Saviour This is the course of humanitie amongst men if a man knew of any one which had murthered his father or his friend whom he highly regarded and honoured nature shewes us thus much that our hearts would rise against the man and you would not bee able to brooke the sight of him and you cannot endure to see him in your companies and if law and conscience did not forbid it you could be contented to give him his deaths wound and to bee his bane and you would cry out against him Oh he hath murthered my father or my deere friend and though you would not run upon him and kil him yet this every one would doe he would follow the Law to the uttermost and if all the law in the land will do it he will have him hanged and if he might have it put to his choyce what death hee should die hee would chuse him a death as bad as hee could devise and if he might be his Executioner how would he mangle him and say thou wast the death of my father and then hee would give him one blow for this and another blow for that and say thou wretch thou hast taken away the life of my father and I will have thy life Now is a man thus inraged and is the heart of a man carried with such violence unto him that hath murthered his father or his friend and that for the losse of the naturall life Oh then how should your hearts bee transported with infinite indignation not against the man but even against the sinne which is the cause of all this and which is wholly opposite against God and not onely because it hath taken away the life of the body of our Saviour but also made him undergoe the wrath of an everlasting father your sinnes are they that have thus slaine the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of life Therefore follow thou the law against these sins and raise hue and crie after them and bring them to the Sessions and set them before the tribunall of God and crie justice Lord justice against these sins of mine these slew my Saviour Lord slay them they have crucified my Saviour Lord crucifie them let me have life for life body for body and soule for soule these are the sins that have taken away the life from the body of our Saviour and tooke away all comfort from his soule Lord take away their life thus pursue thy sins and never leave them untill thou seest them bleed their last never thinke that thou hast power enough against corruption nor never thinke that thou dost enough against them but give thy corruptions one hacke more and confesse thy sinnes once more and say Lord his pride and this stubbornnesse Lord and this loosenesse of heart Lord these are they that kild my Saviour and I will be revenged of them and herein consider this when your hearts are inclining to any corruption or to any temptation of Satan and when thou findest thy soule drawne aside to any sin and when thou findest some temptings unto corruptions and stirrings of cursed lusts it is good then to have an actuall consideration of what sin hath done to the Lord Jesus Christ and reason thus with thy selfe and say these sins were the death of my Saviour and shall they be my delight these sins did pierce his hands and wounded his soule and shall they give contentment to my soule the Lord forbid did these sinnes plucke teares from his eyes and blood from his heart and shall I make them the delight of my heart the good Lord in mercy forbid it were it so that our hearts were fully and throughly perswaded that all the vanities of our mindes and all the lusts of our hearts and all the distempers of our affections were those that stabd the Lord Jesus Christ and wounded him to the heart it could not be that we should so delight in them and lavish out our soules and affections thereupon nay not onely Christianitie will doe it but nature and reason will even compell a man to doe the contrary could hee but reason thus with himselfe when corruptions tempt him and occasions call him and say thus with himselfe was it not enough and more than enough that the Son of God came downe from Heaven and suffered such grievous pains but shall I againe crucifie the Lord of life and shall I againe pierce those blessed hands of his and pierce that blessed side of his and all goare his sacred body with my uncleane sins and force him to crie out againe by reason of my sinnes which I have committed this is more than brutish and more than savage I beseech you in the bowels of the Lord to consider well of it you know what Christ said when Saul persecuted the poore Saints at Damascus Saul Saul why persecurest thou mee It pierced the Lord Christ when any of his members were pierced Acts 9.4 but now for such as beleeve in Christ and looke for mercy from Christ consider how neerly it will touch him and trouble him not onely to have his members pierced and persecuted but also to have his good Spirit grieved and himselfe to be wounded Imagine you heard the Lord speaking as the Church did in Lamentations 1.12 Is it nothing to you all oh yee that passe by is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow have you no compassion at all upon a Saviour
the mountaines fall on us and to the hils cover us from the presence of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand If any man could beare up himselfe then it were the great ones of the world now take a scantling of your owne strength if any were able to beare the wrath of the Lord it were the kings and the mightie men and the captaines and the rich men of the world but faith the text The day of the Lords wrath is come and who shall bee able to stand It is not the soveraigntie of the king nor the skill and courage of the captaine or the libertie of the freeman or the slavery of the bondman that can deliver them but they all crie to the rocks fall on us and cover us from the presence of the Lord nay that you may yet see the vildnesse and wretchednesse of your hearts and the miserablenesse of your condition when the presence of the Lord appeares see what the text saith Psalme 114.5 7. The sea fled and the earth trembled the hils melted at the presence of the Lord nay the devils themselves tremble as in the 6. and 8. verses of the epistle of Saint Iude The Angels which kept not their first love he hath reserved in everlasting chaines under darknesse to be kept for the judgement of the last day they have their portion for the while but there is a great deale of wrath to come and there are many plagues comming and they know Gods wrath and they shake and tremble in the apprehension of it now when you see this goe home to your owne soules and let every man that would heretofore as his owne conscience can tell him flout God to his face and make a scorn of hell and of judgement and condeÌ„nation go home I say lay this to your owne hearts and say is it so that the mountains shak and the sea shrinks and the devils tremble at the wrath of the Lord good Lord then how shall I be able to beare it that am not able to coÌ„ceive of it nay if any man think that hee is able to undergoe the wrath of God and to bear it off with head and shoulders look but here upon the Lord Jesus Christ that was perfect God and perfect man he that created heaven and earth and bote up the foundation of heaven and earth yet when hee came to beaâ—t the wrath of God it forced teares from his eyes and clodded blood from his body and made him crie out My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Doe but now compare your selves with Christ and say did my Saviour buckle under the wrath of God then certainly it will breake you therefore say thou if hee that was the Creator of heaven and earth could not beare it then how shall I be able to beare it when he comes against me for my siâ— and corruption committed by me therefore heart and feare all you stout hearted of the world rather now tremble while you may be comforted than hereafter when you shall never be eased thinke but with your selves how dreadfull that day will be when all the glorious attributes of God shall take their leaves of you he that before had a great deale of mercy and patience and the Lord hath wooed him saying Oh once at last heare and see the things that belong to thy peace there is not one of you all in this congregation but that you have beene compast about with mercies and the justice of God it would have broken out against you had not mercy stepped in to rescue you how easie were it for the Lord to dash us all into the bottomlesse pit every creature of us therefore thanke mercy and patience and forbearance that still you breathe and say blessed bee God that I have to deale with a gracious mercifull and compassionate God that hath kept mee from judgement that I have not ere now perished in it Now thinke with your selves what a day it wil be when mercy shal weep over you take his leave of you say remeÌ„ber thou poore creature how I met thee in thy walkes and kneeled downe before thee and besought thee to take mercy and to be saved and pardoned but thou wouldst not adem therefore this is the last time of asking I will never see thy face more and with that patience as it were buckles under the burthen and saith I have bond with their thus longe I have borne twenty years with some thirtie years with some fortie years with others and all this which I have borne with thee in thy pride and stubbornesse and loosenesse and uncleannesse but now adew never more patience to beare with you what no more mercy nor no more goodnesse saith the soule and they all say no and stake their hands and say adew thou rebellious heart for ever it will make thy heart shake within thee and thou wilt say I shall sinke downe suddenly there is nothing but wrath to bee expected they are all gone to heaven and you must be forever packing to hell Oh feare and feare all you whom it doth concerne this day if so bee Christ cannot beare it then you cannot suffer it but you will sinke under the same for ever Now I come to the reasons of the point in generall why our Saviour suffered paines both in body and in soule then the reasons of it are three and they are all of speciall use Reason 1 First it is taken from the divine justice of God which required this by way of satisfaction as being onely surable and agreeable to the divine justice of God by reason of sinne whereby Adam had intrenched upon the privilege of God the Father every breach of the Law of God intrencheth neerly upon God himselfe and therefore every sinne is of a provoking nature because it is committed against an infinite majestie therefore that divine justice may not be a loser there must be a punishment not onely corporall but also spirituall for justice abates not any thing of the satisfaction God is just and this is justice to give every one his due honour to whom honour belongs and punishment to whom punishment belongs therefore that justice may bee preserved she must inflict these punishments upon our Saviour being in our roome the Jesuites have devised a cavill against this reason say they it needed not that Christ should suffer these for the dignitie of the person of our Saviour may dispence with some part of the punishment and if he beare death it is sufficient he may bee freed from the other paines in his soule Now that this conceit of theirs is a thing marvellous injurious to the justice of God the Father and to the wisedome of the Lord Jesus Christ and to the death of Christ I prove it thus for by the same right that the dignitie of the person of our
Saviour might abate of the punishment by the same right the dignitie of his person might as well take it quite away if one drop of the blood of Christ would save all the world then what needed Christ to have suffered the pains of death for if the dignitie of the person might free him from the one it might free him from the other also but the Law and Justice of God required whatsoever Christ did in his wisedome suffer and the death of Christ was not superfluous and besides the dignitie of the person is to farre from freeing him from the punishment that it fits him to beare the punishment it exempts him not from the punishment but it furnisheth him with abilities to beare it as he must be man that hee may suffer finitely so he must be God that must satisfie infinitely the justice of God requires two things First such a kinde of punishment as may bee sutable to the wrong of the Law by the sinne of Adam that is an infinite punishment Secondly the person must bee such a one as may bee regarded therefore he must bee such a person as must be able to beare the punishment and to satisfie infinitely and to come forth from under it therefore the excellency of Christ as he was God doth not dispence with the punishment but enables him to suffer it as the infinite wrath of God was express and shewed upon man by reason of sinne in laying on this punishment both in body and soule so the infinite sufferings of Christ underwent them both therefore that which divine justice required and without which it is not satisfied that he must suffer but the justice of God did require it and without it the justice of God was not satisfied and therefore Christ did suffer both Object To this argument the Jesuites reply it needed not say they that that curse which Adam did deserve should bee suffered by the second Adam which is Christ for say they God might have pardoned all the sinne of Adam without any satisfaction or else by his infinite wisedome and power he could have provided another way and therfore if Christ suffer but in part it may suffices Answer To which I answer it is a foolish nice and silly curiositie to inquire of Gods absolute power what he might have done and what he had power to doe when we see what he hath done For as hee will save the humble mercifully so hee will preserve his justice in the salvation of man Esay 53.10 The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand and Psalme 40.8 I desire to doe thy will oh my God It is the will of God that Christ should come and should suffer for our sinnes he hath revealed what his will is and it is folly to inquire what God might doe when we see what he hath done and besides this I take to bee an everlasting truth that none of all the attributes of God can ever enterfeere or crosse one another it cannot be for then God should not procure nor maintaine his owne glory for when hee should procure the glory of his justice hee should wrong the glory of his mercy and when he should procure the glory of his mercy hee should wrong the glory of his justice and the glory of his justice must bee preserved as well as the glory of his mercy magnified the mercy of God cannot wrong justice nor the justice of God cannot overpower mercy therefore hence I infer thus much if there were no means in the world whereby the justice of God which had received wrong could be satisfied but only by the sufferings of him who was God and man then it was against the will of God and against the will of Christ which was both God and man and against their glory and dignitie to devise another way or means to pardon sinne without the satisfaction of divine justice it is against his glory power and wisedome to wrong either justice or mercy for he should either have wronged mercy in not pardoning or else wronged justice in not punishing of Christ therefore if there should be no way to doe it but only by the death of him who was both God and man then there was no other way of redemption but this way for an infinite justice being wronged there is no way else to satisfie an infinite justice but by the suffering of him who was infinite and that was onely the Lord Jesus Christ for there was no more infinites in the world I will winde it up thus that punishment which was included in the curse and which was deserved by the first Adam that was suffered by Christ the second Adam but the punishment both of soule and body were the punishments included in the curse and deserved by the sinne of Adam therefore it is borne by the second Adam as certainly as it was deserved by the first Adam Reason 3 The third reason is taken from the office of Christ and the place which he underwent because our Saviour Christ was our suretie and our sinnes were charged upon him and hee became paymaster so that the covenant which hee had made with God the Father bound him to it and his faithfulnesse and truth tied him to it nay he tooke all our sinnes upon him and therefore he must satisfie for thee If the Lord Christ were our suretie and tooke all our sinnes upon him by imputation and the debt was made his then the payment also must be discharged by the Lord Jesus Christ but certainly all your pride and stubbornnesse c. they were all charged upon our Saviour and set upon his soore and laid upon his backe therefore hee must suffer for all because hee was made sinne for all so the issue of the point is this unlesse the Lord Jesus Christ had suffered both in soule and body justice had not beene so fully satisfied but the justice of God required both and the curse included both and therefore Christ suffered both and hath fulfilled whatsoever was or could bee required by divine justice Now to come to the use something must bee said to justifie the riches of Gods free grace the first use shall be this Vse 1 It shall bee a word of confutation and it directly meets with Popish Purgatory a wicked errour that fals like Dagon before the Arke and like clouds dispersed by the Sunne so that sottish imagination is hence condemned by this doctrine it is a dreame devised to picke mens purses and to delude mens consciences and to fill the Popes coffers they thinke that Christ frees every faithfull man from the punishments of hell and from all that any sinne hath devised but onely there are some veniall sinnes and the punishments of those a man must suffer for himselfe and therefore when a man dies hee must goe downe to Purgatorie and there bee purged and cleansed from the evill of them this is that which they say if they can but perswade men that they shall be in Purgatorie