have a false uncleane nature whereby I am ready to commit a thousand such if God should let mee alone I have the spawne of all sinne as farre as the Spirit hath not subdued it It is a defect of judgement to be more humbled for particular sinnes nature is more tainted then any action that sowing breeding sinne as the Apostle saith it is worse then the action it breeds the rest So much for that they confesse here Wee are all as an uncleane thing in our selves But what comes from us That that aggravates to the utmost a sinnefull state All our righteousnesse is as filthy rags He doth not say we have filthy actions but our best actions are stained and not one but all Marke how strong the place is We all the people of God he includes all as Daniel saith I confesse my sinnes and the sinnes of my people and there is no man in the Church but he might have this confession in his mouth We the people of God and all We in all our actions All our righteousnesse c. so all the actions of all the righteous the best actions of the best men and all the best actions of the best men are defiled and stained it is as great an aggravation as may bee Some would have it to intend the Legall righteousnesse yet notwithstanding it is true of all and when we now humble our selves it is good to thinke of all so we may say all our righteousnesse whatsoever comes from us it is stained and defiled As for their Legall performances there is no question of them for alas they trusted too much to them in Isaiah 1. and Isaiah last they thought God was beholding to them for them Away with them away with your new Moones c. they were abhominable to God as the cutting off a dogs neck as it is Isaiah the last so all their righteousnesse their ceremoniall performances were abhominable But I say we may raise it high â—â— it is not onely true of them but in greater matters in our best morrall performances they are all as tainted rags How can this be It is strange it should be so the Papists crie out here that we discourage men from good works if all our righteousnesse be as filthy rags why should we performe good workes Put case a man be sick all the meate he eates it strengthens his sicknesse shall he therefore not eate at all Yes he must eate somewhat there is nature in him to strengthen as well as his disease Thy best performances are stained wilt thou doe none therefore yes though they be stained yet there is some goodnesse in them thou maist honour God and doe good to others besides the ill there is good there is gold in the Ore there is some good in every good action nay there is so much good as that God pardons the ill and accepts the good So though our good actions be ill yet for their kinde and matter and stuffe they are good they are commanded of God For their originall and spring they are wrought by the Spirit of God for the person the worke-man it is one in the state of grace and for acceptance God rewards them But it is another thing when we come before God to humble our selves then we must see what staines and sinnes are in them There is no good action so good but there are wants and weakenesses and staines and blemishes in it as it comes from us The Spirit of God indeed is effectuall to stirre us up to good actions but we hinder the worke of the Holy Ghost and doe not doe them so throughly as we should therefore besides our wants and weakenesses there is a tainture of them either we have false aimes they are not so direct or our resolutions are not so strong false aimes creepe in for a while though we doe not allow them and then there are some coolers of our devotion our love is cold our hatred of sinne is not so strong our prayers are not so fervent our actions are not so carried without interruption but are hindred with many bie thoughts who cannot complaine of these things Who is not brought upon his knees for the weakenesse of his best actions Nay I say more a Christian is more humbled for the imperfections and staines of his best actions then a civill carnall person is for his outward enormities for he turnes over all his outward delinquences and makes the matter but a tricke of youth when a poore Christian is abased for his dullnesse and deadnesse and coldnesse for false aimes that creepe into his actions for interruptions in his duties that his thoughts will not suffer him to serve God with that intention that he would but puts him off with motions and suggestions and temptations in his best performances this abaseth him more then outward grosse sinnes doth a carnall person When wee deale with God Our righteousnesse it is as menstruous cloathes Know this for a ground that there is a double principle in a Christian in all things that he doth there is flesh and Spirit and these two issue out in whatsoever comes from him In his good words there is flesh as well as Spirit in his thoughts and desires in his prayer his prayer it selfe stands in contraries So every thing that comes from him it is tainted with that that is contrary the flesh opposeth and hinders the worke of the Spirit and so it staines our good works Therefore contraries are true of a Christian which seeme strange to another man A Christian at the same time is deformed and well-favoured He is blacke and comely I am blacke but yet well-favoured saith the Spouse blacke in regard of sinne but well-favoured in regard of the Spirit of God and the acceptation of Christ. He is a Saint and a Sinner a Sinner in respect that sinne hath spread over all parts and a Saint in respect of Christs acceptance My Love and my Dove Christ makes love to his Church as if she had no defilement but he looks on her better part he lookes on her as she is in his love and as he meanes to bring her after But the Church looking upon her selfe as she is in her selfe she is much abased the ground of it is the imperfection of sanctification in this world The best of our works are as menstruous cloathes when we thinke of the corruption of the best things as they come from us when we come to humble our selves before God we must downe with proud stiles and Pharisaicall thoughts although there be somewhat that is good yet let us thinke of all the ill that may abase us There is a season for every thing when we are tempted to be overcome by Satan then thinke of the good as Iob when he was tempted I have done this and this you cannot take away mine innocency In false temptations from the world and Satan then stand upon our innocency But when
it is confidence and trust that drawes us neare to God Faith it is wrought in the whole inward man in the understanding in the mind in chusing and cleaving but especially it is in the will for faith is described to bee a going to God a comming to him which is a promotion or going forth which is an act of the will so by faith and trust specially we draw neare and cleave to God Even as at the first we fell from God by distrusting of his word saith the Divell yee shall not die at all we beleeved a lier more than God himselfe Now we are recovered by a way contrary to that we fell wee must recover and draw neare to God againe by trusting and relying upon God You see what is meant by the words It is good for me to draw neare to God To come to observe some things from them first this that Spirituall conviction of the judgement it is the ground of practise It is good and good for me For we know in nature that the will followes the last designe of the understanding that which the understanding saith is to be done here and now all circumstances considered it is best that the Will chuseth and that a man doth for the Will rules and leads the outward man Now where there is a heavenly conviction of the understanding of any particular thing this at this time is good all things considered and weighed in the ballance on the one side and on the other where this is there comes in practise and drawing near to God alway Conviction is when a man is set down so that he cannot gainsay nor will not but fals to practice presently then a man is convinced of a thing That which is immediatly before practise and leads to practise it is conviction Now there are these foure things in conviction There is first truth a man must know that such a thing is true Then it must not only be a truth but a good truth as the Gospell is said to be the good word of God and it is a true and a faithfull saying It is a true saying that Christ came to save sinners and it is a faithfull a good saying If it bee not good as well as true truth doth not draw to practice as it is truth but as it is good As it must be truth and a good truth so it must be good for me as the holy man saith here It is good for me c. A thing may bee good for another man the Divell knowes what is good and that makes him envy poore Christians so wicked men know that which is good when they sinne against the holy Hhost but for them it is better to keep in the contrary so that we must know it is a truth and a good truth and good for us in particular that it is best for us to do so The fourth is this though it be true and good and good for us yet before we can come to practise it must be a good that is comparative better than other things that are presented or else no action will follow A man must be able to say this is better than that A weak man that is led with passions and lusts he oft-times sees the truth of things and sees they are good and good for me and wishes that he could take such a course but such is the strength of his passions at this time that it is better to do thus it is better to yeeld to his lusts and he trusts that God will be mercifull and he shall recover it afterwards These foure things therefore must bee in conviction before wee can take the best course and these are all here in this holy man for he saw it was a truth a duty and likewise that it was a good truth for to bee neare to God the fountaine of good it must needs be good And then it was good for him to be so nay it was good all things considered for it is a Conclusion as it were brought out of the fire out of a conflict Nay say the flesh and say all the world what it can to the contrary It is good for me to draw neare to God he brings it in as a triumphant Conclusion Put drawing neare to God in one ballance and lay in that ballance all the inconveniences that may fallow drawing neare to God the displeasure of great ones the losse of any earthly advantage and lay in the other ballance all the advantages that keep men from drawing neare to God as if a man do not keep a good conscience he may please this or that man hee may get riches and advance himselfe and better his estate consider all that can bee yet notwithstanding it is better to draw neare to God with all the disadvantages that follow that course than to take the contrary Thus you see the truth cleare that conviction is the way and foundation of practice Therefore we should labour by all meanes to be convinced of the best things It is not sufficient to have a generall notion and slightly to heare of good things no wee must beg the spirit of God that hee would seale and set them upon our soules and so strongly set and seale them there that when other things are presented to the contrary with all the advantages and colours and glosses that flesh and blood can set upon them yet out of the strength of spirtuall judgement wee may bee able to judge of the best things out of a spirituall conviction and to say it is best to cleave to God So said the blessed man of God Moses there was in the one end of the ballance the pleasures of sinne the honours of a Court there was all that earth could afford for if it bee not to bee had in a Princes Court where is it to bee had his place was more than ordinary hee was accounted the sonne of Pharoh's daughter yet lay all that in the ballance and in the other part of the ballance to draw neare to Gods people though the people of God were a base fore-lorne despised afflicted people at that time yet notwithstanding to draw neare to the cause of Religion the disgraced cause of Religion to draw neare to God when hee is disgraced in the world it is easie to draw neare to God when there is no opposition but to draw neare to Gods part and side when it is disgraced in the world Moses saw it the best end of the ballance put in the afflictions and disgrace of Gods people or what you will So it was with Abraham when hee followed God as it were blind-fold and left all his fathers house and the contentments he had there So it was with our Saviours Disciples they left all to follow Christ they were convinced of this surely we shall get more good by the company of Christ than by those things that we leave for him Let us labour therefore to be convinced
humane nature it was an advancement for mans nature to bee grafted into God by conception and incarnation bâ—t if wee regard his God-head for him to conceale himselfe and lay aside the beames and rayes of Majesty and cloath himselfe with mans flesh this was the first degree of humiliation it was an advancement to his flesh but it was a concealing and hiding to his God-head for God to become a servant this was an abasement but then consider the excellencie of the service how God delighted in it and how usefull it was to us and wee shall see that he was a servant by way of excellencie There was first in Christ humane flesh abased flesh and then glorious flesh abasement was first necessary for Christ for hee could not have performed the office of a servant unlesse hee had undertaken the condition of a servant he must first bee abased and then glorious our ill must be his before his good could be ours and how could hee undergoe our ill our sin and misery and the curse due to us but he must bee abased our sins must be imputed to him and then his righteousnesse and whatsoever is good is ours so here is both the abasement of his condition and the excellencie of his office to be a King Priest and Prophet to his Church as wee shall see afterward Is the Lord Christ a servant this should teach us not to stand upon any tearmes if Christ had stood upon tearmes if he had refused to take upon him the shape of a servant alas where had we and our salvation beene And yet wretched creatures we thinke our selves too good to doe God and our Brethren any service Christ stood not upon his greatnesse but being equall with God he became a servant Oh we should dismount from the tower of our conceited excellency The heart of man is a proud creature a proud peice of flesh men stand upon their distance what shall I stoupe to him J am thus and thus we should descend from the heaven of our conceit and take upon us the forme of servants and abase our selves to doe good to others even to any and account it an honour to doe any good to others in the places wee are in Christ did not thinke himselfe too good to leave Heaven to conceale and vaile his Majesty under the vaile of our flesh to worke our redemption to bring us out of the cursed estate we were in shall we thinke our selves too good for any service Who for shame can be proud when he thinks of this that God was abased shall God bee abased and man proud shall God become a servant and shall wee that are servants thinke much to serve our fellow-servants Let us learne this lesson to abase our selves we cannot have a better patterne to looke unto then our blessed Saviour A Christian is the greatest freeman in the world hee is free from the wrath of God free from hell and damnation from the curse of the Law but then though he bee free in these respects yet in regard of love he is the greatest servant love abaseth him to doe all the good hee can and the more the Spirit of Christ is in us the more it will abase us to any thing wherin we can be serviceable Then againe here is comfort for us that Christ in whatsoever he did in our redemption is Gods servant he is appointed by God to the worke so both God and Christ meete together in the worke Christ is a voluntary in it for he emptied himselfe he tooke upon him the forme of a servant he came from Heaven voluntary And then withall the Father joynes with him the Father appointed him and sent him the Father layed him as the corner stone the Father sealed him as it is Iohn 6. The Father set him out as it is Romans 3. hee hath set him out as the propitiatory Therefore when wee thinke of reconciliation and redemption and salvation wrought by Christ let us comfort our selves in the soliditie of the worke that it is a service perfectly done it was done by Christ God Man it is a service accepted of God therefore God cannot refuse the service of our salvation wrought by Christ Christ was his servant in the working of it we may present it to God it is the obedience of thy servant it is the satisfaction of thy servant here is that will give full content and satisfaction to conscience in this that whatsoever Christ did he was Gods servant in it but wee shall better understand the intent of the Holy Ghost when we have gâ—ne over the rest of the words Behold my sâ—rvant Whom I have chosen Christ was chosen before all worlds to bee the head of the elect hee was predestinate and ordained by God As wee are ordained to salvation so Christ is ordained to be the head of all that shall be saved hee was chosen eternally and chosen in time he was singled out to the work by God and all others that are chosen are chosen in him there had beene no choosing of men but in him for God saw us so defiled lying in our filth that hee could not looke upon us but in his Sonne he chose him and us in him Here is meant not onely choosing by eternall election to happinesse but a choosing to office there is a choosing to grace and glory and a choosing to office Here it is as well meant a choosing to office as to grace and glory God as he chose Christ to grace and glory so he chose him to the office of Mediatorship Christ did not choose himselfe he was no usurper No man cals himself to the office as it is in Hebrews but Christ was called and appointed of God he was willing indeed to the worke hee tooke it voluntary upon him but as Mediator God chose him God the Father and he joyning together If we respect eternall salvation or grace or office Christ was chosen in respect of his Man-hood For as it is well observed by Divines Christ is the Head of al that are predestinate and the humane Nature of Christ could not merit its choise it could not merit its incarnation it could not merit union with the God-head it was meerely from grace How could Christs Man-hood deserve any thing of God before it was Things must have a subsistence before they can worke Our blessed Saviour is the patterne of all election and his Man-hood could not merit to bee knit to the second person as how could it being a creature Therefore the knitting of the humane nature of Christ to his divine it is called the grace of Vnion the choosing of the humane Nature of Christ to be so gratious and glorious it was of grace Christ he was both a chosen servant and a choise servant in calling him a chosen servant it implies his excellency as a chosen vessell a chosen arrow in Gods quiver so a chosen servant every way excellent This
accomplished when Christ at his Baptisme entred upon his office God put his Spirit upon him to set him apart to ordaine him and to qualifie him with abundance of grace for the worke for there are these three things especially meant by putting the Spirit upon him separation or setting apart and ordaining and inriching with the gifts of the Spirit When any one is called to great place there is a setting apart from others and an ordaining to that particular and a qualifying if it be a calling of God he qualifies where he ordaines alwaies But Christ had the Spirit before what doth he meane then when hee saith hee will put the Spirit upon him now I answer he had the Spirit before answerable to that condition he was in now hee received the Spirit answerable to that condition hee was to undertake he was perfect then for that condition now he was to be made perfect for that office he was to set upon he was alway perfect hee had abundance of Spirit for that estate hee was in but now he was to enter upon another condition to preach the Gospell to be a Prophet and after to be a Priest therefore he saith now especially I will put my Spirit upon him Now this putting of the Spirit it is expressed in Isaiah 61. and other places by Annointing There were three sorts of persons that were annointed before Christ Prophets Priests and Kings now Christ was to bee a Prophet a Priest and a King therefore hee was to be annointed with the Spirit to enable him to these three offices I might here take occasion to enlarge my selfe in the offices of Christ but I will onely speake of them as the Text ministreth just occasion There are three maine defects in man since the fall There is ignorance and blindnesse There is rebellion in the will and affections And in regard of his condition by reason of the sinnes of nature and life a subjection to a cursed estate to the wrath of God and eternall damnation Now answerable to these three grand ills whosoever shall bee ordained a Saviour must provide proportionable remedies for these hereupon comes a threefold office in Christ that is ordained to save man to cure this threefold mischiefe and maladie As we are ignorant and blind he is a Prophet to instruct us to convince us of the ill state we are in and then to convince us of the good hee intends us and hath wrought for us to instruct us in all things concerning our everlasting comfort he is such a Prophet as teacheth not onely the outward but the inward man hee openeth the heart he teacheth to doe the things he teacheth men teach what we should doe but they teach not the doing of them he is such a Prophet as teacheth us the very things hee teacheth us to love and to obey c. And answerable to the rebellion and sinfulnesse of our dispositions he is a King to subdue whatsoever is ill in us and likewise to subdue all opposite power without us by little and little hee will trample all enemies under his feete and under our feete too ere long Now as we are cursed by reason of our sinfull condition so hee is a Priest to satisfie the wrath of God for us he was made a curse for us he became a servant that being so hee might die and undergoe the cursed death of the crosse not onely death but a cursed death and so his blood might be an attonement as a Priest So answerable to the three fold ill in us you see here is a threefold office in Christ. Now Christ performes these three offices in this order First of all he is a Prophet when he was baptised the Spirit was put upon him as in Isaiah 61. To preach deliverance to the captives First he preached wherefore he came into the world why God sent him and discovered to the world the state they were in and when he had preached as a Prophet then as a Preist he dyed and offered himselfe a Sacrifice After death his Kingly office was most apparent For then he rose againe as a triumphant King over death and all our enemies and ascended in his triumphant chariot to Heaven and there he sits gloriously as a King in his throne at the right hand of God so that how ever at his Baptisme and before when he was sanctified in his mothers wombe he was both King Priest and Prophet yet in regard of the order of manifestation he manifested himselfe first to be a Prophet secondly a Priest and thirdly to be a King For his Kingly office brake foorth but seldome in the time of his abasement sometimes it did to shew that he was ruler and commander of Earth and Sea and Divels and all he wrought miracles but the glorious manifestation of his kingly office it was after his resurrection Now the fundamentall the chiefe office to which he was annoynted by the Spirit upon which the rest depends it was his Priestly office for wherefore was his teaching but to instruct us what he must doe and suffer for us and what benefit we have by his Sacrifice reconciliation with God and freedome from the wrath of God and right unto life everlasting by his obedience to the cursed death of the crosse And how comes he to be a King to rule over us by his holy Spirit and to have a right unto us But because as a Priest hee dyed for us first He washed us with his blood he purged us with his blood and then he made us Kings and Priests Rev 1. All other benefits came from this he washed our soules in his blood first whatsoever wee have from God is especially from the great worke of Christ as a Priest abasing himselfe and dying for us and thereupon hee comes to bee a Prophet and a King thus we see the order of Christs offices how they come to be fruitfull to us the rest especially by vertue of his priestly office Note this by the way Christs priestly office includes two branches his sacrificing himselfe for us a Priest was to offer Sacrifice and to pray for the people our Saviour Christ did both in the daies of his humiliation in his prayer in Ioh. 17. there as a Priest he commends his sacrifice to God before he died and now he is in Heaven making intercession for us to the end of the world he appeares for us there We see then to what purpose God put the Spirit upon Christ to enable him to be a Prophet a Priest and a King and thereupon to take away those mischiefes and evills that wee were subject and inthralled too so that we have a supply for all that may any way abase us and cast us downe in the all sufficiency that is in Christ Jesus who was annoyntâ—d with the Spirit for this end It may be objected Christ was God himselfe hee had the Spirit and gives the Spirit therefore how could the
but they either resist them or quench them and wrong and grieve the Spirit as Saint Paul saith Greive not the Spirit of God whereby you are sealed to the day of redemption Ephes. 5. Men speake or doe somewhat that grieves the Spirit of God in them their conscience being enlightned by the Spirit tels them that they have done that which is naught yet notwithstanding for this or that advantage to please this or that company they will speake or doe that which is ill and then the Spirit that was given in some measure before is grieved at this carnall and sinnefull liberty Therefore if yee would be guided by the Spirit of Christ take heed of all these and of such like courses Another meanes whereby we may come to obtaine the Spirit is Prayer to bee guided by the Spirit of Christ next to Christ himselfe our Saviour is the most excellent thing in the world therefore it is worth the begging and getting Luke 11.13 How much more shall your heavenly Father give his holy Spirit to them that aske him Insinuating that wee can aske nothing greater then the Spirit A man that hath a sanctified judgement next the forgivenesse of his sins through Christ hee begs nothing more then the Spirit to witnesse the favour of God in Christ and to fit him for other favours especially to fit us for the world to come God can give nothing greater nor we can beg nothing greater if wee have sanctified judgements then the Spirit of God therefore let us have a high esteeme of the holy Spirit of the motions of it and out of an high esteeme in our hearts beg of God the guidance of the Spirit that he would leade us by his Spirit and subdue our corruptions that wee may not bee lead by our owne lusts and so consequently by Satan that leads us by our owne lusts in the way that leads to perdition So much for that I will put my Spirit c. And he shall shew judgement to the Gentiles After Christ was fully furnished as he was furnished with the Spirit of God and with a commission from Heaven from Father Sonne and Holy Ghost having this high commission and gifts for it by the Spirit he fals upon his office presently we are never fit for any thing till wee have the Spirit and when we have the Spirit it is active and vigorous and working He shall shew judgement to the Gentiles What is meant by judgement here By judgement is meant lawes hee shall declare his lawes his truth and together with declaring the truth of the Gospell which is his Evangelicall law hee shall declare it in the soule and bow the neck of the inward man to the obedience of this his judgement Christ then by himselfe and his Apostles and Ministers shall declare his truth which is the scepter of his governement to the Gentiles and not onely declare it as Princes doe their lawes by Proclamations and Statutes c. but hee shall declare it to the heart by his Spirit Now in the hebrew language ordinarily wise governement is called judgement hee shall declare judgement that is his manner of governement he shall declare it by his Spirit and cause our Spirits to submit to it And indeed grace is called judgement in the phrase of Scripture the grace of sanctification because it is agreeable to judgement to Gods law it is agreeable to it and wrought by it in the soule and it is the best judgement for grace whereby the soule is subject to the judgement and law and rule of God it must needs be the best judgement because it is agreeable to Gods judgement grace judgeth aright of things and subdues all things the affections and inward man to it selfe But why is the word of God called judgement It is called so frequently in the Psalmes and in other places of Scripture because the truth of God shewes what God doth judge Judgement is originally in God who is the first truth and the first good the first truth judgeth best of truthes what is light and what is darkenesse what is truth and what is error what is good and what is ill what is safe and what is dangerous all will grant that God is the first light and the firâ—t truth therefore hee doth originally judge of the difference of things for even as in the creation he put an eternall difference betweene light and darkenesse and severed things that were in the confuseâ— Chaos and established an orderly world that Heaven should be above and earth below that one thing should be above another and all in judgement So in the governing of man-kinde he shewes his judgement by his word and that word shewes how God judgeth of things Lawes shew judgement what is to be done and what is not to be done The Gospell shewes Gods judgement what he will have us beleeve and hope for and how wee must carry our selves in way of thankefullnesses if we doe this then the Gospell the word of God judgeth what shall become of us wee shall be saved if we doe the contrary the word againe judgeth what our state shall be wee shall be damned so it is called judgement because it judgeth what is good and what is ill and because it determineth what shall become of us if we obey or disobey Hereupon it is that the word of God is a glasse wherein we may see our owne condition infallibly what will become of us the Word of God judgeth thus he that lives in such and such sinnes shall come to this end God will inflict these and these judgements upon him Iudgement in the first place is you shall doe this and this because it is good Iudgement in the second place is because you have not done this this shall befall you so the Evangelicall judgement of the Gospell is this He that repents and beleeves shall not perish but have everlasting life but he that armes and furnisheth his heart to rebellion he shall perish in his sinnes He that believeth not is condemned allready the wrath of God hangs over his head So from this that Gods truth is called judgement we may know how to judge of our selves even as God judgeth in his Word wee may see our owne faces and conditions there hee that is a man of death may see it in the Word and he that is appointed for happinesse may there see his condition Againe not onely the Word of God the Gospell which is out of us in the booke of God is called judgement but the worke of God in the soule Sanctification is called judgement hence we may observe what is the most judicious course in the world the most judicious frame of soule when it is framed to the judgement and truth of God being the first truth When a man is sanctified and set in a holy frame it is from a sanctified judgement the flesh is subject to the Spirit heere is all in a gratious
sinnes he quickned us but they are put in in the translation because they must be understood to make the full sence In the words consider these things First of all heere the Apostle puts them in mind of their former condition And then he sets downe in particular what it was They were dead in trespasses and sins Then he tells them wherein they were dead what was the cause of their death and the element wherein they were dead in trespasses and sins Lastly not in one trespasse and in one sin but in trespasses and sins And then to speake a little of quickning to take it out of the 5. verse You hath he quickned There is the benefit with the condition That which Jaime at is especially to shew our estate by nature and how we are raised out of that I shall touch the points briefly as I have propounded them Saint Paul here first minds them of their former condition you were dead in trespasses and sinnes For contraries give lustre one to another and it magnifies grace mervailously to consider the opposite condition Hee that never knew the height and bredth and depth of his naturall corruption will never be able to conceive the height and breadth and depth of Gods infinite love in Iesus Christ. Saint Paul had deepe thoughts of both as ever man had therefore he could never enter into the argument of abasing man and extolling the love of God in Christ that he could satisfie himselfe but his spirit carries him from one thing to another till he set it out to the full And every one of us should be skilfull in this double mystery the mystery of the corruption of nature that is unsearchable there is corruption in the heart that none knows but God only and we must plow with his heifer that carries a light into the hidden parts of the soule and discovers corruption there is a mystery of that as well as of the Gospell of our deliverance out of that cursed estate from the guilt and thraldome of it I doe but touch it onely to shew the scope of the Apostle Now besides the consideration of it for this end to magnifie the grace of God and to understand what our former estate was the better there are many other ends As to stirre up our thankefullnesse when we consider from what we are delivered to glorifie God the more There is no soule so enlarged to glorifie God as that soule that hath large thoughts of its estate by nature and that estate by nature made worse by custome our second ill nature and bondage voluntary considering Gods mercy in delivering and freeing us from all sinnes and trespasses this will make us thankefull indeed And it is a spring of love to God when we consider what great sinnes we have forgiven usâ— it will make us humble all the daies of our lives and pitifull to others but this may be handled fitter from another portion of Scripture To come therefore to the words Who were dead in trespasses and sins Their condition is they were dead the specification of their death in sinnes and trespasses and not in one but in sinnes and trespasses Here I might digresse and tell you a discourse of life and death at large every man knowes by experience what they are In a word death is a privation of life What is life and whence ariseth it Not to speake of the life of God God is life and Christ is life but of lâ—fe in us It ariseth from the soule first there is a soule and then a life from the union with that soule and then there is a secret kindled motion and operation outward wheresoever life is Life in man I say springâ— from the soule The soule hâ—th a double life a life in it selfe and a life it communicates to the body The life in it selfe it liveth when it is out of the body it hath an essentiall life of its owne but the life of the body is derived from its union with the soule and from that union comes lively motion and operation The spirituall life of the soule is by the Spirit of Christ when our soule hath union with the quickning Spirit of Christ and by Christs Spirit is joyned to Christ and by Christ to God who is life it selfe and the first fountaine of all life then we have a spirituall life The Spirit is the soule of our soules and this spiritual soule this Spirit in us is not idle wherever life is there is motion and operation inward and outward suteable and proportionable to the fountaine of life the Spirit of God himselfe So on the contrary it is with death what is death Death is nothing else but a seperation from the cause of life from that from whence life springs The body having a communicated life from the soule when the soule is departed it must needs be dead Now death take it in a spirituall sence it is either the death of law our sentence as we say of a man when he is condemned he is a dead man Or death in regard of disposition and then the execution of that death of sentence in bodily death and in eternall death afterward Now naturally we are dead in all these sences First by the sin of Adam in whose loynes we were we were all damned there was a sentence of death upon all Adams rotten race as we say damnati antequam nati we were damned before we were borne as soone as we had a being in our mothers wombe by reason of our communion with Adam in that first sinne And then there is corruption of nature as a punishment of that first sinne that is a death as we shall see afterward a death of al the powers we cannot act and moove according to that life that we had at the first we cannot thinke we cannot will we cannot affect we cannot doe any thing that savours of spirituall life Hereupon comes a death of sentence upon us being damned both in Adams loynes and in originall sinne and likewise adding actuall sinnes of our owne if we had no actuall sinne it were enough for the sentence of death to passe upon us but this aggravates the sentence We are dead in law as well as in disposition This death in law is called guilt a binding over to eternall death it breeds horrour and terrours in the soule for the present which are the flashes of Hell-fire and expectation of worse even of the second death for the time to come which is an eternall seperation from God for ever an eternall lying under the wrath and curse of God in body and soule after they are united at the resurrection because wee would sinne eternally if we did live eternally here and no satisfaction being made for man after death there must be an eternall sentence and punishment upon him a terrible condition if we were not afraid of the first death we should be afraid of the
these things which I say are true both for the necessity and excellency of this foode they will be effectuall to stirre you up to labour more after this foode that endures to everlasting life So much for that Which the Sonne of man shall give you for him hath God the Father Sealed To come now to the possibility of attaining this food which is the third argument our blessed Saviour useth to enforce upon us this injunction to labour for the food that endures to everlasting life Hope stirreth up endeavour as we see in marchandizing though when wee venter beyond the seas we commit all to winde and water as they say and it is doubtfull what the issue may be yet we hope and that sets us on worke So the poore Husbandman but that he hopes to have a comfortable issue to have a harvest he would never set himselfe to worke Now heere is hope and hope on a better ground a great deale for hee that makes other things successefull he hath given Christ for this purpose and Christ you see heere hee gives himselfe which the Sonne of man shall give you Heere is all that we may ground and found our hope upon heere is will heere is power and here is authority to give it Heere is will Christ will give it why because he is the Sonne of man What use is there of these words in this place why doth he not say which the Sonne of God shall give you O the Sonne of God without the Sonne of man is indeed a Fountaine of good things but he is a sealed Fountaine alas of no comfort our comfort is in Emanuell God-Man all our comfort is to be brought back to God from whom we fell in Paradise and we must bee brought backe againe to God by God but unlesse God had become man man had never come backe againe to God therefore all the union and communion we have with God it depends on this first union of Christ with our nature that the Sonne of God became the Sonne of man as Saint Austine saith for now the next union that we become the Sons of God it comes from this that God became man and therefore he saith heere the Sonne of man shall give it you you need not climbe up to Heaven to fetch this food that endures to everlasting life for the Sonne of God is come downe from Heaven to Earth to take the nature of man and in that to die in that to satisfie Gods wrath and so to become this blessed and everlasting food The Sonne of man the second Adam as by one man we all come to misery so by the second Adam by man wee are restored to a blessed condition againe therefore he saith heere the Sonne of man because in the humane nature all our salvation was wrought indeed the worth and efficacie of our salvation comes from the divine nature but it was wrought in mans nature the divine nature could not worke it alone But I will not dwell on this The Sonne of man shall give it you you neede not feare it God is become man on purpose to give it you we may now boldly go to a Mediator which is made bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh wee should have feared and trembled if hee had onely beene God but now all grace and comfort is hid in this nature of ours in Christ if Christ had not tooke this poore wretched nature of ours upon him it had beene a hatefull nature to God God hated the nature of man but now because the Sonne of God is become the Sonne of man our nature is become lovely in the eyes of God and not onely lovely but it is filled in him with all grace and of his fullnesse wee receive grace for grace Hee will give it therefore because he is the Sonne of man Heere is will I but what power and strength hath he to give it He is so the Sonne of man as that hee is also the Sonne of God therefore we are said Acts 20. to bee redeemed with the blood of God Christ by his eternall Spirit by his God-head offered himselfe a Sacrifice for sinne so that he can give it because he is God But what authority hath he He is Sealed to doe it that 's the third that is he hath authority for authority is here expressed by Sealing Now Christ is said to be Sealed first because there is the impression of God upon him even as the seale imprints in the wax the likenesse of that which is in it so God hath imprinted in Christ his owne likenesse he is the Image of God for Christ as he is God is the character of his Father and his humane nature is likewise as like God as nature can expresse we saw saith the Apostle his glory the glory as of the onely begotten Sonne of God we saw a kinde of divinity in him as much as humane nature could receive the likenesse of God sparkeled in him therefore hee is said to be Sealed but that is not all nor the principall here meant Againe secondly the use of a seale is to appropriate and distinguish from other things so Christ is Sealed that is God hath appropriated him to be his owne Sonne and to be a Mediator of his owne appointing and hath distinguished him from all others by a blessed annointing and qualification of him above all he is as Saul amongst the rest higher then all he is as Aaron annointed with the oyle of gladnesse but above his fellowes and yet for his fellowes from him distills the blessed ointment of grace it is powred on his head first and descends from him downe to all the skirts of his garment to all his members So heere is in this Sealing likenesse distinction and appropriation But especially by Sealing heere is meant authority for a thing sealed is not onely to distinguish and appropriate to a mans use but to authorize also as a Magistrate that hath the Kings broad Seale he is authorized so Christ he hath Gods Seale God hath authorized him to be a Mediator and as hee was fore-ordained before all worlds as the Apostle Peter saith to be the head of them that should be saved and to be their Mediator so when the fullnesse of time was come when he came in the flesh hee was authorized by the greatest testimony that ever was by the blessed Trinity God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost at his Baptisme This is my beloved Sonne heare him saith a voice from Heaven there was the Father the Sonne in the voice the Holy Ghost in the Dove there was the whole Trinity so he was authorized from Heaven And then he was authorized by his miracles God gave him power to worke those workes which none could doe but a Mediator therefore he saith if you beleeve not me yet beleeve me for my workes sake He was authorized also by his Resurrection as the Apostle saith in Rom. 1.4 He mightily declared himselfe to be
the Sonne of God by the resurrection from the dead the Angells from Heaven brought witnesse of him he was witnessed by all kinde of persons on earth yea by the divels themselves so hee is Sealed and authorized every way by all kinde of witnesses to be a Mediator This is set out in other phrases in the Scripture In Psal. 2. This my Son have I set upon my holy hill of Sion and Rom. 3. toward the latter end Whom God hath set forth to bee a propitiation God hath set him forth as the Shew-bread was set out under the Law And then againe in another place Whom hee hath sent and in 1. Cor. 1.30 Hee is made of God unto us Wisedome c. Hee is made of God that is he is Sealed appointed authorized by God for that purpose So you see why Christ is said to be Sealed especially because hee is authorized by God the Father made sent set forth whom the Father hath Sealed that is the party offended by our sinnes he hath Sealed and authorized Christ to be a Mediator If this be so let us learne this use of it to blesse God the Father as well as Christ Blessed bee the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ and Blessed bee Christ for him hath the Father Sealed by the Spirit The blessed Trinity have all a hand in our salvation And then againe consider if wee despise Christ whom we despise we despise the Father that hath Sealed him it is a weighty matter Reade the second Psalme and you shall see there what it is to despise Christ not to kisse the Sonne that is when God hath annointed and set forth a Saviour and Sealed him and authorized him by all the testimonies that can be to be a Mediator not to receive him for our King for our Priest and Prophet it is a rebellion not against Christ onely but against the Father who hath Sealed him And likewise it serveth wonderfully to strengthen our faith when we goe to God for forgivenesse of sinnes offer him his owne broad Seale offer to him Christ a Mediator authorized by himselfe Lord I am thus and thus a sinner but notwithstanding thou hast sent thy blessed Sonne and set him forth to be a Saviour for mee and him I offer to thee thou canst not deny or refuse thy owne Sealed Mediator and Redeemer if hee had beene a Mediator of my owne appointing and of my owne sealing it were another matter but I offer thy owne Mediator looke on the death of him whom thou hast Sealed to bee my intercessour It is a wondrous prevailing argument with God hee cannot denie that which he hath devised himselfe him whom hee chose before all worlds for this great office But how shall I know whether hee be Sealed for my good or no saith the soule that heares this we heare much of an authorized Saviour of an authorized Mediator to be All-sufficient but what is that to mee Why for whom is he Sealed is he Sealed for Angels or for men and amongst men is he Sealed for holy men or sinners I come not to seeke or to save whole men or men that never were lost no he came to seeke and to save men but they are lost men sick men and it is a faithfull saying and worthy of all meanes to be imbraced that Christ came into the world to save sinners saith blessed Paul therefore he is Sealed to save thee if thou art a sinner to save thee if thou wilt receive him and thou art bound to receive him under paine of the punishment of rebellion Is it not rebellion not to receive a Magistrate whom the Prince hath authorized under his broad Seale it is another manner of matter not to receive Christ it is a greater sinne then to sinne against the Law for if a man sinne against the Law there is the Gospell to helpe him but if a man sinne against the Gospell there is not another Gospell to helpe him now to refuse Christ offered in the Gospell is a sinne against the Gospell where then can there bee hope of salvation salvation it selfe cannot save him that will not bee saved that refuses the remedy Sealed by God the Father the party offended who can heale him that casts downe the Potion that is brought to heale him that refuseth the Physitian that comes to cure him I say hee is Sealed to save thee if thou wilt be saved if thou wilt receive him receive him not onely to be thy Saviour but to be thy King to rule thee and thy Prophet to teach and instruct thee as we shall see afterwards But to cleare this a little better we must know that there are three distinct sealings There is God sealing of Christ which I have unfolded to you And there is our sealing of God that is our sealing of Gods truth And then againe there is Gods sealing of us by his Spirit And these follow one the other Why hath God sealed Christ but that wee hereupon should be stirred up to believe and to receive Christ and so by consequence to seale that God is true in sending such a blessed Mediator as St. Iohn saith He that believes in the Sonne hath set to his seale that God is true God hath sealed him that we by receiving him should seale Gods truth Beloved God comes to us for our testimonialls for our hands and seals Oh how wondrously doth God condescend to weake man He hath sealed Christ for the office of a Mediator and he offers him unto us and he comes to us likewise that we would set to our seales too that Christ is the Sonne of God he counts it not sufficient that he hath sealed him himselfe but he will have us seale too and we seale him when we receive him he that receives him hath set to his seale that God is true he that doth not receive him he makes God a lyar saith Saint Iohn And what comes of this when wee receive Christ and set to our seale that God in the promise of salvation by Christ is true Then we having honoured him he honours us by sealing us by his Spirit as the Apostle saith Ephes 1. In whom after ye beleeved yee were sealed So when we beleeve and set to our seale that God is true God seales us by his Spirit after yee beleeved you were sealed But what is this seale of the Spirit whereby God seals us after we beleeve I answer God seales us when hee sets the stampe of his Spirit upon us when the worke and witnesse of his Spirit is wrought in us For as in a seale the wax hath all in it â—he whole likenesse of the Jmage that is in the seale So the soule that is sealed by the Spirit hath the likenesse of the Spirit of Christ stamped on it God imprints in their spirits the likenesse of his Sonne that is to say he makes â—hem loving soules humble soules obedient as Christ was in all things patient meeke c. you may see
in the spirit of a beleeving man an expression of the Spirit of Christ so that if you would see Christ in his excellencies looke on the spirit of a true Christian there you shall see a resemblance of Christ Jesus not perfectly but in some comfortable measure you shall see the very Image of Christ you shall see how full of love he is how patient in crosses how humble how meeke how obedient to God in all things both in a passive and active obedience This is the stampe of the Spirit when a man beleeves God honours him by setting his Image on him And yet this is not all besides this wee are sealed with the witnesse and comfort of the Spirit as well as with the worke of the Spirit the Spirit of God sweetly witnessing that we are the sons of God and this sweet witnesse of the Spirit especially comes after wee have honoured God by beleeving in temptation when we are able to hold out and say as Iob said Though he kill me yet wil I trust in him so when we can after conflicts of doubting and dispaire say though he kill me yet will I trust in him I will set to my seale that he is true well will you so God to honour such a soule seales him to the day of redemption that is he gives to the soule of such a one a sweet evidence and testimony that hee is the Son of God And this seale of the Spirit is double not only done by the witnesse and worke of the Spirit inwardly which I have shewed but likewise the Spirit doth seale them outwardly inabling them to make an outward confession of Christ and his Truth and therefore in Reve. 14. Christians are said to be Sealed in the forehead that is as they are marked and singled out in ill times to be such as God hath set his speciall favour upon so they are Sealed with a spirit of boldnesse willingly and with forwardnesse to confesse the truth of Christ in ill times Now to apply it to our purpose wouldest thou know whether thou be such a one for the present as for whom Christ is Sealed a Mediator Examine first of all whether thou hast put to thy Seale that God is true by receiving and beleeving Christ and the promise of Salvation through him if thou hast done so then thou wilt finde another Seale from God even the worke of the Spirit in sanctifying of thee and conforming of thee to the Image and likenesse of Christ and thou wilt finde the witnesse and comfortable testimony of the Spirit in telling thee that thou art the Sonne of God and withall thou wilt have a spirit of boldnesse and readinesse and forwardnesse to confesse Christ thou wilt not care for al that the world saith but wilt if neede be stand to the profession of Religion to the death If thou canst finde this in thy selfe undoubtedly thou art not onely such a one as Christ came to Seale but for the present thou mayest be assured that thou hast interest in this Mediator Sealed by God for that purpose Thus you see that here is food that endures to everlasting life which is Christ and the benefits wee have by him you see that that blessed meate is attaineable because he is willing to give it for he is become Man for that purpose he is able to give it for he is God as well as Man and he hath aurhority to give it for God the Father hath Sealed him and fitted him for that office If we receive him he will Seale us with his blessed Spirit that is the same Spirit that furnished Christ with grace that sanctified him in the wombe will sanctifie all those that are his members will worke a likenesse and conformity in them to his blessed Image for the same Spirit that was in the naturall Sonne is in all the adopted Sonnes of God And he will likewise give us the comfortable evidence and assurance that we are the Sons of God furnish us with boldnesse and resolution to professe Christ in all times Let me then I beseech you come againe to re-enforce this exhortation Take heed you refuse not Christ consider with what authority he comes he is Sealed it is no presumption therefore to receive him though you be never such sinners to receive him I meane not onely to be a Priest to reconcile you to God but to be a King to rule you and a Prophet to instruct you by his Spirit to receive him on this manner is no presumption to receive him indeed as a Saviour but to neglect him as King to refuse to come under his government is great presumption but to receive whole Christ is obedience and faith and no presumption nay if you doe not receive him you sinne damnably you commit the greatest sinne that can be He came to save all that will come under his blessed government that will kisse the Sonne Whosoever will let him come and drinke of the waters of lâ—fe all the good promised by Christ is promised upon our receiving of him upon the obedience of our Faith there is nothing required but a will to imbrace him and to be under his government there is no exception made of sinnes or persons or times At what time soever a sinner repents whatsoever sinner whatsoever time or whatsoever the sinnes bee if he repents Christ is ready to receive him If you pretend your unworthinesse and want of excellencies hee takes away that objection Come unto me all that are weary and heavy laden Come buy without money and here in the text the Sonne of man shall give it and what so free as guift If you pretend you have sinned since your calling and that you have sinned against conscience and knowledge and therefore now you have no further hope of Christ remember that Paul 2. Cor. 5. speakes to the Corinthians that were in the state of grace I beseech you to be reconciled to God and in Ieremy 3. Returne againe you Backesliding Israel and I will heale your Backeslidings and againe will a man receive a wife that hath played the harlot and broken the band of marriage Yet returne O house of Israel and I will receive you Therefore runne not away from God though thou hast sinned after thou art in the state of grace come againe J beseech you still Christ is to be received the doore of grace is alwayes held open and the golden scepter continually held out as long as we live in this world But yet it is not good to neglect the time of grace receive Christ presently deferre not to come under his governement and receive him wholy or else there is no receiving of him at all And to presse this a little further I beseech you consider that if you leave not your sinfull courses and come under the blessed governement of Christ if you receive not this Sealed King this Sealed Priest and Prophet this Sealed Mediator whom God hath Sealed and sent unto you
for salvation there is not any thing in the world that will one day more torment you then your refusall of him O that we should ever live to heare of salvation so freely offered and of a Saviour so authorized yet notwithstanding that we should respect our sinnes more then our soules and because we could not have him to bee our Saviour except wee came under his governement and bee ruled by him as a King we refused him wholy altogether Indeed if we might have had salvation by him and the forgivenesse of sinnes and withall have remained under the rule and sway of our owne lusts and beene led by them we would have beeene contented to have had him but rather then we would leave our blasphemous our uncleane inujurious and covetous courses of life wee were content to let Christ goe if hee would O that we should reject this Sealed Saviour O that we should refuse salvation offered on such loving termes when God was so loving as to Seale and authorize his Sonne when the Sonne was so loving as to give himselfe when he was Sealed to refuse this and that for such base respects will certainely one day when the conscience is wakened proove the greatest torment that can be See how the Apostle notably enforceth this in the second of the Hebrewes if so be they did not escape that despised Moses Law How shall we escape if wee neglect so great salvation hee doth not say how shall we escape if we oppose Christ if we raile on him if wee despise his Image in his children as many cursed wretches doe but how shall we escape if we doe but neglect so great salvation so witnessed and authorized with all the signes so offered and tendered with all the termes of love that may be And therfore if there be any heere that have lived in sinfull courses and have a purpose to breake them off that are weary of the governement of their lusts and of Satan that rules them by their lusts for all are under one governement or other either under the Sealed governement of Christ or under the base governement of Satan that tends to damnation O leave it and come under this Governour Sealed by God the Father authorized from Heaven by the blessed Trinity by miracles and by all the arguments that can be come under his blessed governement and you shall doe well God the Father the partie offended with your sinnes he hath Sealed him and he cannot refuse a Mediator of his owne Sealing And doe not say your sinnes have beene thus and thus for consider what were these parties that he offers himselfe to heere that he saith to Labour for the meate that endures to everlasting life were they not cursed Hypocrites that followed him for the loaves and yet he saith to them Labour for the meate that endures c. I am Sealed even for your salvation if you will come out of your hypocrisie and be ruled by me therefore let none stand out from comming under the governement of Christ for hee offers mercy you see heere to the worst of men even to cursed hypocrites And to conclude with a word of comfort if there be any poore distressed soule frighted in conscience with the sight of his sinnes and Satans temptations O let such consider the love of God in Christ Satan pictures out God as a terrible Judge and so he is indeed to men that goe on in their sinnes a consuming fire but art thou weary of thy courses art thou willing to come under a better covenant let not Satan abuse thee by setting God before thee as a terrible Judge and Christ as one that would not save thee no come in kisse the Son for him hath the Father Sealed Sealed for thee if thou bee weary of thy sinnes inforce not upon thy soule any unwillingnesse to be in God wherefore doth God stoope so low and labour by all these arguments heere as that Christ is the Sonne of man and that hee shall give it you and that the Father hath Sealed him for that end wherefore is all this but to shew his willingnesse to receive thee wherefore hath the Father Sealed Christ but in love to thee Come in therefore and then if you will seale to this truth if you will beleeve and cast your selves on Gods gratious promise even against doubting and distrust you shall finde God sealing you by his Spirit you shall finde his Spirit witnessing to your spirits that you are the sonnes of God Heere then you see is sure footing for poore doubting soules to fasten upon God the Father the party offended hath Sealed his Sonne hath authorized him to save thee if thou repent and come in what are all thy sins and unworthinesse to Christ God-man Sealed and authorized by the Father who is the partie offended if thou art willing to come in bring all thy sins and oppose them to Christ God-man Sealed by the Father and they will vanish as a cloud But as I said before if thou wilt not come in and accept of this Saviour if thou wilt not submit thy selfe to his governement thou sealest thy damnation Thus you see I have unfolded this blessed portion of Scripture Christ Jesus and all the prerogatives and benefits that come by him is the food that endureth to everlasting life you see the arguments our blessed Saviour useth to enforce us to Labour after this food it is food it is food that endures it is food that endures to everlasting life and he will give it for him the Father hath Sealed and authorized so to do he is both the gift and the giver both the food and the inviter to the food both the Priest and the Sacrifice Labour therefore after this food There is an objection which I will briefely answer and so end Labour after it why Christ will give it if he will give it why must wee labour after it and if we must labour for it how doth he give it how can these two guift and labour stand together I answer very well Christ will give himselfe and forgivenesse of sinnes and life everlasting and yet we must labour too But wee must know for what we must labour we must not labour for any merit to the title unto Heaven and happinesse Christ indeed gives that But labour in the use of all good meanes to get knowledge and faith to receive this gift to get the knowledge of Christ what he is in his natures and offices what he hath promised what he hath done and what he hath suffered what the intent of the Gospell is what the Giver is and what the authority is that his Father hath given him this requires labour it is a labour to crack the shell to understand the letter of the Scripture to know what the gift and what the giver is And it is likewise a labour to get faith to receive this gift to get the soule emptied of all selfe-confidence of all worth in it selfe and
leave it shortly here he found it and here he must leave it in spight of his heart ere long and all is but vanity in the censure of him that knew all things the best of any man even Salomon that had gone thorow the variety of all things And oft times they misse of that they labour for They doe not rest that they get in hunting they hunt after preferment and after riches but oft times they doe not enjoy them and if they doe they get the curse of God with them and ere long they are stripped of all but here is that that may strengthen our indeavours The Kingdome of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it it is not an indeavour that is lost Then againe this shewes that the state of true Christians is different from the state of persons that are carried to good things but not violently The violent take it he surprizeth the city at the last he laies his siege and will not remoove till death he will not give over till he have it he will have it or he will dye in the businesse and so at last he obtaines his desire The sluggish carelesse man he goes a little way As Agrippa said to Paul he was almost perswaded to be a Christian so it is with such men in some things they will be Christians but there they are at a stand they will go no farther and so all they have done is to no purpose The sluggard desireth and wisheth but his soule hath nothing A sluggish cold lazie Christian he looseth all his paines If a man be to goe ten miles and goe but nine and there sit downe he shall never come to his journies end If a man will give but 7 or 8. shillings for that which is worth 10. he shall goe without it Grace and Glory are set at this price there is required such strength of labour and indeavour and violence therefore without this a man shall never attaine it unlesse he stretch himselfe to such a pitch He shall never come to the end of his Faith the salvation of his soule to the high calling of God in Christ Iesus The sluggard wisheth and gets nothing the reason is because he is a sluggard because he will not strive but the striver gets the fort and hath all in it and is a man made for ever The sluggard thinkes himselfe wiser then many men that can give a reason The sluggish discreete Christian I warrant you he hath reasons for what he doth It is not good to be too earnest it will incurre the disfavour of such a man or such a man J shall bee accounted so and so for my paines But a wise man he seeth the excellency of the things and he knowes that his courses and his conscience will justifie him at the last and therefore he goes on what ever comes of it God is not so weary of these precious things these precious jewels of grace and glory as to force them upon us Is the Kingdome of Heaven such a sleight thing that it should be obtruded to us whether we will or no Shall we thinke to have it when our hearts tell us wee esteeme other things betâ—er No there are none ever come to Heaven but their hearts are wrought to such an admiration of grace and glory that they undervalue all things to it therefore there is no hope for any to obtaine it but he that takes it by violence We see Moses esteemed the basest thing in the Church better then the greatest excellencies in the world that men are so violent after he esteemed the very afflictions of Gods people better then the treasures and pleasures of sinne for a season nay then the pleasures of a Court. When men shall esteeme the base things of the world above all the treasures of Heaven above the state of Christianity they have no hope of comming there they may pretend God is mercifull and Christ dyed c. I but whosoever he brings to salvation he workes such a sence of misery in them and such an apprehension of grace and of the meanes of grace that there is an undervaluing of all other things God will not bring them to Heaven that shall not glorifie him when they come there and how shall they glorifie him here or there when they value the world and these base things that they must leave behind them more then the things of Heaven This is the reason that few are saved because they content themselves with easie dull and drowsie performances and never consider with what proportion they are carried to things when they had rather loose the advantage of that which will bring everlasting good to their soules then loose the petty commodities of this world and yet think themselves good Christians what a delusion is this It is the violent only that are successefull they take it by force I but what if the opposition grow more and more Then the grace of God and courage will grow and increase more and more As Luther said well the more violent the adversaries were the more free and bold was he So the more the enemies rage the more the spirit of grace growes in Gods people it inceraseth by opposition As Noahs Arke the higher the waters were the nearer still it was carried to Heaven So we are nearer to God and nearer to the Kingdome of Heaven the more opposition swells and rages True courage growes with opposition As the Palme-tree riseth up against the burden that presseth it downe so the divine spirit being a heavenly thing and all opposition below of the Divell and divellish minded men being but earthly what are they to the divine Spirit which sets us on and encourageth us They cannot quell it but the Spirit growes more and more in opposition The Apostles they ran all from Christ when he was to be crucified they had but a little measure of the Spirit but when the Holy Ghost was shed more plentifully on them they beganne to stand couragiously for the cause of Christ when there was more opposition the Spirit grew more and more till they sealed the Truth with their blood Therefore though opposition of enemies and their fury and rage grow let us know whose cause we mannage and with what assurance of successe the violent at length shall take it by force Let us meditate upon this that successe is tyed to violence therefore when you pray to God if he seeme to deny your request offer violence wrastle with him let him not goe without a blessing when he seemes to be an enemy as sometimes he doth to try our strength we must use an holy violence when we are dull and not fit to pray nor fit for holy things Let us stirre up the Spirit of God in us and labour to get our of that estate let us use violence and violence will overcome at the last A man that hath the Spirit of
calls his body broken the bread of life Why because it was the body of the Sonne of God who is life Iob 6. All life comes from God Now Christ taking our nature upon him his death is a quickning death and by reason of the union with the divine nature now it is the body of God broken and the blood of God shed for us there is our comfort and hee was declared to be so by his Resurrection that declared that he was God and that hee was freed from our sinnes Powerfull must that Saviour needs be that was so strong in his very death when his very body was broken and his blood let out then hee did worke the foundation of all comfort for then hee satisfied the wrath of God Christ was strongest when hee was weakest The Resurrection was but a declaration of the worth of that hee had done Now in the Sacrament wee have Communion with Christ dying especially as his body is broken and his blood shed for that is the foundation of all comfort by his Resurrection And because the Spirit of life was in Christ and did quicken his body while hee was alive and was a Spirit of life even when hee dyed and gave worth and excellency to his death therefore when wee take the Communion wee ought not to meditate meerely of the death of Christ as his blood was shed and his body broken but of the death of such a person as had the Spirit of life in him as was God and man and so set the excellency of his person against all temptations whatsoever Set the excellency of Christ so abased his body broken and his blood shed against all temptations if it be the greatest the wrath of God upon the conscience yet when conscience thinkes this God the party offended gave his owne Sonne to be Incarnate and the Spirit of life in him did quicken mans nature and in that nature did die for satisfaction now God will be satisfied by the death of such a Surety as his owne Sonne so that the excellency of the Person having the Seale of God upon him For him hath God the Father sealed doth wondrously satisfie conscience in all temptations whatsoever What need a man feare death and damnation and the miseries of this life and Satan what are all if God be appeased and reconciled in Christ then a man hath comfort and may thinke of all other enemies as conquered enemies Now we cannot thinke of the death of Christ who was a quickening Spirit but wee must thinke of the death of an excellent person that gave worth to his death to be a satisfactory death for us Therefore let us receive the Communion with comfort that as verily as Christ is mine so his quickening Spirit is communicated to me and whatsoever he hath is mine If I have the field I have the Pearle in it his obedience his victory over death his Sonship is mine his sitting in heaven is for me he sits there to rule me while I am on earth and to take me up to himselfe when I am dead all is for me when wee have Communion with Christ wee have communion with all Therefore the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus when I am one with him it quickens mâ— and frees me from the law of sinne and death FINIS SAINT PAULS CHALLENGE In one Sermon By The late learned and reverend Divine RICH. SIBBS Doctor in Divinitie Mr of Katherine Hall in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher at GRAYES-INNE PSAL. 27.3 Though an Host should encampe against me my heart shall not feare though warre should rise against me In this will I be confident LONDON Printed by E. P. for Nicholas Bourne and Rapha Harford 1638. SAINT PAVLS CHALLENGE ROM 8.30 What shall wee then say to these things If God be for us who can be against us THE words are a glorious conclusion and triumph of faith the conclusion upon all the former particulars in the Chapter and the foundation of all the comforts that follow after to the end of the Chapter They are as the center of the Chapter all the beames of heavenly comfort in this divine Chapter they meete as it were in one in this short clause What shall we say then to these things c. In the words briefly there is first a question What shall we say to these things And then a triumph If God be with us who can be against us It is a question answered with another question What shall wee say to these things He answers it with another question If God be with us who can be against us What shall we say to these things To these things before mentioned If wâ—e be in Christ there is no condemnation to us if wee be led by the Spirit if we be heires of heaven and fellow heires with Christ if we suffer with him if we have the spirit of prayer to helpe our infirmities in the worst conditions if all creatures groane with us and if all worke for our good if God from all eternity hath written our names in heaven by election and separated us from the rest of the world in vocation and hath sanctified and justified us and will after glorifie us what shall wee say to these things The heart of man is full of doubtings and misgiving full of thoughts According to the multitude of my thoughts thy comforts refreshed my soule a multitude of thoughts and a multitude of comforts there is comfort after comfort because there are thoughts after thoughts and surmises after surmises There is no wast comfort set down in this Chapter and when he hath set down all he comes and concludes in a triumphant manner What shall wee say to these things He propounds the quaere to himselfe he catechiseth his own heart and others if these things be so what can be sayd against them Surely the unbeleeving doubting darke rebellious heart of man hath many things to say against divine truths for though divine truths be lighter then the Sunne and there is no greater evidence of any thing in the world yet they find no place in the unbeleeving heart Let God say what he will the doubting heart is ready to gain-say it but these truths are so pregnant and cleare that it is a wonder that any thing should be said against them What shall we say to thâ—se things Againe he meanes what comfort can you have more what can you desire more what can be said more what use will you make of all that hath beene said what will you sucke out of it If all this be true that hath beene spoken before that a Christian is so elevated above the common condition if God love him from everlasting in election and to everlasting in glorification if in the middle time all shall worke for the best what comfort can the heart of man desire more and what use can you make of this for courage and for comfort for the time to come these things are implyed in this