be not reconciled to him Answ The Lord grants unto them a general protection in a time of outward troubles as a Judge guarding and protecting a condemned malefactor from the violence of private avengers of blood until the day he be brought forth to publick execution but he protects those with whom he is reconciled by a special protection of grace as a father doth his weak and sick children until they be confirmed in health and strength The Lord protects them sometimes from falling under the power of a temptation and at other times if they fall he restores them by repentance that they lye not and live not under the bondage of temptation 2. As thou wouldst have strength to sustain thee when ever God calls thee to a duty though hard to flesh and blood Go about it with all diligence decline it not out of fear of personal weaknesse if thou meet thy God in the way of obedience to his call thy God shall meet thee with strength at the time of thy greatest need Moses out of fear of weaknesse at first declined that charge to speak unto Pharaoh yet he no sooner went about it actively but God furnished him with strength in the discharge of it Stephen did not decline a dispute with men of contentious and violent spirits when God called him to it and the Lord filled him with such a strong measure of wisedom that they were not able to answer him Acts 6. according to that promise of our Lord Luke 12.11 12. When they bring you into Synagogues unto Magistrates and Princes take ye no thought how or what ye shall answer or what ye shall say Our Lord doth not prohibit all premeditation of what we should speak but only an anxious solicitude that perturbs the judgment and disables men in a day of trial when men will trust nothing to a divine assistance unlesse they be very strong in their studied preparations and defences It is our best course to wait on the Lord who in his own due time will give strength and comfort when our extremity is greatest some Martyrs have complained heavily to God against themselves for want of courage in the time of their imprisonment yet in the day they were taken out to the place of execution they no sooner saw the fire but incontinent they cried out with joy venit venit the spirit is come he is come Lastly Vse 5 It serveth for Direction how to carry thy self after that in the Lords strength thou hast stood and withstood a temptation Directions to conquerors in any temptations or after thou hast done any service acceptable to the Lord First Give all praise to the Lord and say with the Church Psal 44.3 They got not their land in possession by their own sword neither did their own arm save them but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance because thou hadst a favour unto them Hast thou at any time resisted a strong and violent temptation blesse God who girdeth thee with strength it may be in these sad times thou maist say of thy self as Jacob said of his sonne Joseph Gen. 48.23 The archers have sorely grieved thee and shot at thee and hated thee yet praise thy Lord who gave strength and courage to thy spirit that thou maist say also from the experience of Gods assisting and strengthening presence Thy bow abode in strength and the arms of thine hand were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob It may be thou hast stood when others by all appearance stronger then thou have fallen blesse thy God who by his strength only made thee to differ from others in an hour of temptation The weaknesse of God is stronger then men 1 Cor. 1.25 Gods strength in his weaknesse is farre above the strength of moral abilities in men that are counted the able men in this world It may be at one time thou hast resisted a mighty temptation when at another time thou hast fallen fouly under the power of a lesser blesse God in his strength who makes thee to differ from thy self who art by nature weak and ready at all times to be carried about with every wind of temptation 2. After God hath given thee some victory over any temptation be not secure but watch and pray that thou be not led into a new temptation Satan watches for a new opportunity from thy security or pride of thy former victory he departed from the Captain of our salvation but for a season Luk. 4. though he had no hope to prevail by his temptations thou maist be sure though he be repulsed by thee at one time and put from possession yet thou canst never put him from obsession and molesting thee with assaults for he thinks so long as his correspondent thy corruption is within thee possibly he may get entrance and prevail It was a good and seasonable counsel of the Prophet to the King of Israel after his late victory over the Assyrians 1 Kings 20.21 22. The Prophet came to the King of Israel and said unto him Go strengthen thy self and mark and see what thou dost for at the return of the year the King of Syria will come up against thee So say I Still strengthen thy self in the Lord mark and observe the approaches of temptation thy enemy will rally his forces again and come not only at the return of a new year but at the return of a day or a night yea of an hour Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultlesse before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy To the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty dominion and power now and for ever Amen Perseverance in GRACE through CHRIST PHIL. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ AS regeneration and the beginning of sanctifying grace so perseverance in grace received Perseverance a peculiar priviledge procured by the death of Christ to the Elect. and the continuance of a renewed and gratious disposition in believers is a special priviledge of the Covenant of grace procured to the Elect by the death of the mediatour Jesus Christ Luke 1.73 74. In which words the grace of Justification in our delivery from all our spiritual enemies The grace of new obedience to serve the Lord and the grace of perseverance to serve him all the days of our life are reckoned up together as priviledges and benefits promised in the Covenant of grace and confirmed by an oath of God to Abraham and to all believers his children according to the promise In the words we have two main points considerable 1. The Author of Perseverance In the words two points he which hath begun the good work in you will perform it 2. The certaintie of Perseverance in the grace received in these words being confident of this very thing The
for ever so his strength endures for ever Isa 40.28 Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary Though thou faint and weary oftentimes under thy burthen yet comfort thy self in this thy Lord faints not he wearieth not to bear thee up with arms of everlasting strength he can strengthen thee by his spirit in the inward man not only to patience for a time but also to all long-suffering with joyfulnesse Col. 1.11 2. Consider the stiles he takes to himself He is called the rock whereupon beleevers are built and established Mat. 16.18 A strong rock to defend a high rock to which neither the power nor subtlety of hell can reach a living rock furnished with all things necessary and comfortable to beleevers that in a day of trouble run to him and abide in him He is called the Captain of the Hosts of the Lord Josh 5.14 He hath a directing power over the good Angels to minister for thy good and he hath a restraining power over devils and wicked men He restraineth Satan from doing any thing against the life of his Servant Job 2.6 He puts a hook in the nostriss of Senacherib and forceth him to leave the pursuit of his people Isa 37.29 He restrained Laban from speaking an evil word to Jacob at the time he intended much mischief Gen. 31.24 He restrained Abimelech from wronging Sarah Gen. 20.3 The Lord Jesus Christ is called the Captain of our salvation Heb. 2.10 As Souldiers take courage and strength from looking to their Captains leading them on against the Enemy so a beleever in a day of temptation looks to Christ and gets strength Psa 34.5 They looked unto him and were lightned and their faces were not ashamed Heb. 12.3 Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your mindes The look of faith to Christ doth strengthen a Beleever with comfort from the merit of his sufferings that hath taken away the course and wrath which is the soul of suffering and also doth strengthen a beleever from his example with patience and submission to the will of God for when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2.23 It is a great comfort in all our fightings to consider we have such a Captain excellent in conduct He will not put his new and untrained Souldiers to hard duties at the first when he delivered his people out of Egypt Exod. 13.17 He led them not through the way of the Land of the Philistines lest the people should repent when they see the warre and this leader was Christ 1 Cor. 10.9 our skilfull and compassionate Captain puts not new converts lately come out of Egypt to hard trials at first but after he hath trained them up in some bickerings against lesse temptations he sets them out against the fierce assaults of Satan the world and the flesh and when the sore trials come Praise him in his wisedom that sent not the greater until he had trained thee up in lesser trials And when thou comest to the Shock thy Captain will send a new supply 2 Sam. 10.11 Joab could say to his Brother Abishai If the children of Ammon be too strong for thee then will I come and help thee Much more maist thou be confident that thy elder brother the Captain of thy salvation will help thee against thy spiritual enemies that are too strong for thee 3. Consider Thy Lord as he is able so is he willing to strengthen and help thee For his promise is the revelation of his will Isaiah 40.31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength in the Originall it is They shall change their strength Like Souldiers put on hard service and relieved by others having order from their Commander in chief So the Captain of our salvation Jesus Christ in time of a sore conflict sends forth his Spirit with a fresh supply of strength and comfort to the inner man Isaiah 41.10 Fear thou not for I am with thee I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee I will uphold thee with the right hand of my Righteousnesse Psal 37.24 Though a good man fall yet shall he not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand The Prophet speaketh of falling into temptations and tels us that it is the Lord that by his strength upholds up that we fall not under the power of temptation though the temptation make an assault upon them yet they fall not under it 4. Consider his practice in helping and strengthening his Servants in time of need 1 Samuel 30.6 David was greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning him but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God By faith he received courage from God who hath promised never to fail nor to forsake He strengthened his faithfull witnesse Stephen against the malice and persecution of all his Antagonists They were not able to resist the wisedom and the spirit by which he spake he strengthened Paul in a time when many enemies appeared but few or no Friends 2 Tim. 4.17 No man stood with me notwithstanding the Lord stood mith me and strengthened me To this purpose much is spoken in the Martyrologies and records of the strength and courage of blessed Martyrs wonderfully supported amidst cruell torments to the astonishment of tormentors and the admiration of all beholders In the third persecution under the Emperour Hadrian Faustinus and Jobita Citizens of the City of Biria suffered with so great patience and strength of spirit that one Celicerius at the sight thereof cried out with these words Verè magnus Deus Christianâ—rum Verily great is the God of the Christians In the eighth Persecution under Valerianus the blessed Martyr Lawrence being laid on a hot grate of Iron after he had lain for some space boyling in the fire supported by an extraordinary strength of spirit he cried out O Tyrant this side is rosted enough turn over the other At the sight of his patience and courage a Romane Souldier then present was converted to the Christian Faith and desired to be baptized of Lawrence for which he was called before the Judge was scourged and afterward beheaded Tertullian in his Apology for Christians saith Tertullian that their patience and courage in suffering which Heathens and Persecutors called obstinacy was a reall and magisterial instruction of many in the Christian faith It serveth for Instruction Vse 4 As we would have strength from Christ in a day of trial 1. Seek his face and his strength Psal 105.4 Seek ye the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore seek first the favour of God and reconciliation in the blood of the Mediator then maist thou be confident of strength and supply in an hour of temptation Ob. But doth not the Lord protect even wicked men many times though they
the body ye cannot read one syllable in all the heathen writers Such Doctrine was mocked at by the Philosophers of heathens Act. 17. they could not give an assent to it And therefore Paul saith Act. 26.8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead They measured Divine Mysteries by the short plummet of humane reason Likewise from this ground that of nothing there can be nothing produced they could not believe that Mysterie of the infinite power of God in the work of Creation in like manner having their understandings prejudiced with this received maxim that from a privation there cannot be any regress unto the habit they could not assent to the Doctrine of the resurrection of the body Humane reason cannot reach Divine Mysteries they are above its capacity 1 Cor. 2.14 the only ground whereon rests our assent to such a Divine Mysterie Augustine is the infallible testimony of God in holy Scripture Augustin saith well that a natural man requires a reason of evidence in the matter it self before he believe it intelligam saith such a man ut credam let me understand it that I may believe but the Disciple of Iesus Christ who hath captivated his thoughts unto the word of God saith credam ut intelligam let me once believe that God hath spoken it then shall I understand it to be true and evident from the testimony of God when we consider the goodness of our God in revealing to us this great Mysterie hid from many of the wise in the world let every one of us say with our blessed Lord Math. 11.25 26. I thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight It serveth also for comfort to three sorts of persons Vse 2 1. To such of the children of God as are under any trouble and pain in the body Comfort to Saints under bodily pain though it were a painful languishing disease yet here is a sure ground of hope and comfort It is most certain thy bodie will be raised and in the bodie thou shalt have a comfortable rest from all labour and pain This was Iobs comfort in the day of his sore trouble that in the same body he should rise and see God Iob. 19.25 26. It was the Apostles comfort 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable because they suffered more in the body then other men did yet the hope and comfort of the resurrection upheld them It is some ease and comfort to one that is Sea-sick to look a far to the Land but their comfort and joy of heart is much greater when they come safely to it so in all our troubles in the body which are as a Sea-sickness in our passage towards our Country above let us look by Faith to the certainty of the resurrection of the body and if there be some comfort and joy as undoubtedly there is from Faith into the Promise and from hope of the promised resurrection What then will be the measure of thy comfort and joy when in a glorified body thou shalt see the Son of God manifesting his glory and transcendent beauty in his body It serveth for a ground of comfort to them that are on their death-bed Vse 3 Comfort to Saints against the apprehensions of death and have received in themselves the sentence of death be of good comfort the day is coming when thy body shall be raised out of the dust Consider for thy comfort 1. The mystical union of the bodies of Believers with Jesus Christ their head and thou mayst be confident our Lord and glorious head will not want any part of his Mystical body 1 Cor. 15.20 Christ is the first fruits of them that sleep as the first fruits were a sure evidence that the harvest was coming on a pace so the resurrection of Christ is a sure ground of hope and comfort for assuring us of the resurrection of our bodies 1 Cor. 15.16 If the dead be not raised then is not Christ raised 2. Consider the end of Christs death and of his second coming 2 Thes 1.7 It is a righteous thing with God to render to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels It is true in the grave thy body will have a kind of a negative rest then no pain in the body but in the day of resurrection thou shalt have a positive and refreshing rest in God himself like a man awakened and resting on a bed of Roses 3. Consider the endurance of the Kingdom of the Mediator in respect of the manner of the administration of it in this world 1 Cor. 15.25 He must reign until he have put all his enemies under his feet One of those enemies is the grave which our Lord before subdued and will also put under our feet when our bodies shall be raised out of the grave and we shall be above the power of corruption Therefore thou that believest in Christ mayest dye with great comfort and exult with Paul 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day Commend thy Spirit into his hands and thy dying body to his Fatherly care to be kept in the grave by him he is a Faithful Creator and Conservator of both at the day of resurrection he will render both Thou mayst be assured the Lord who requires men to be faithful in rendering again the pledge intrusted to them Deut. 24.13 he will in the day of restoring all things render again to thee thy soul and body with increase of glory beauty and strength Thirdly Comfort to Saints mourning for the death of their friends It serveth for comfort to those who mourn for the death of their dear friends I grant it is not only lawful to mourn but it were unnatural not to do so Our Lord wept over Lazarus Joseph mourned many days for his old Father The death of dear friends is one of Gods visitations and it becomes us well to take notice of Gods visiting us we must neither slight and despise the chastisement of the Lord nor be faint-hearted when we are rebuked of the Lord Heb. 12.5 The first is a brutish stupidity and Heathenish Apathie the other is a sillyness and pusillanimity proceeding from unbelief and repining of Spirit but let thy mourning be qualified and moderated with the comfort and hope of the resurrection 1 Thes 4.13 Sorrow not even as others which have no hope That Heathen Moralist could say We have not lost our friends but sent them before us what then should Christians say who believe not only the immortality of the soul but also the resurrection of the body
daily experience the body is sown in dishonour a little before death the face becomes pale earthlike and the body of one dying doth smell of the earth like wine neer run out smelling of the dreg after the soul and breath is gone the body corrupteth and beginneth to stink like an empty earthen house without fire in it at such a time the body is loathsome even to the nearest friends Sarah had a fair and comely body yet after her death Abraham desired a place to bury her out of his sight But in the day of resurrection the bodies of the godly will be raised in honour in great comeliness and splendor though they be sown in dishonour and thrust into the dust yet like the root of a Lilly shut up under the ground in time of Winter they shall spring up again and be cloathed with beauty by the power of God who cloaths the Lilly 3. In respect of constitution and healthfull disposition the body is now sown in weakness saith the Apostle but will be raised in power Our constitution of body in this life at the best is weak though all bodies be not alike weak a fit of the burning Ague or of the Stone will lay the strongest man on his back and though the bodies of sonne be strong for bodily imployments yet through frequent labour and exercise they languish and become weary Sampson though of matchless strength yet did waste his spirits in the labour of the fight and became weary and thirsty the strongest bow will slug thorow too much bending and shooting and the strongest body will become weary with too much exercise on a death bed the strongest man is not able to hold the drink to his own head or to turn himself in his bed But in the day of resurrection the body will be raised in a strong constitution then will there be no weariness in the body nor faintness in the spirits This weakness of body now is one of the Symptoms of original corruption but death as a Catholicon will purge out that bitter peccant humour which maketh our bodies weak and after that purgation our bodies will be preserved and raised to a strong and confirmed health for ever in the heavens where the body will be kept from all corruption from within or alteration from without 4. In respect of exercise and operation it is sown a natural body saith the Apostle but it is raised a spiritual body not of a spiritual substance but with spiritual qualities for if it were raised an Aerial body as some erroneously have asserted then should not the same body which died be raised for it is sown an earthly body but it is called a spiritual body in respect of the exercise and use of the body after the resurrection it is here on earth a natural body having necessity of natural means and helps for preserving the species by procreation and for conserving the person by nutrition but after the resurrection the body will be abstract and retired from all such natural operations and employments the glorified Saints will be like angels neither giving nor taking in marriage Mat. 22.30 The number of the elect and triumphant Church wil be then compleat and their whole delights will be in an immediate communion with God which will drown both the remembrance and the desire of all creature-delights neither will the body then have need or use of meat and drink because the body will be of a fixed and durable constitution without any possibility of alteration or decay They will be filled with God and this will fully satisfie and delight both the soul and the body they will not hunger nor thirst because they will be ever full of the bread of life and of the water of life It will be a spiritual body in respect of Agility for Spirits are Agile The Angel Gabriel in a very short time came from the heaven to the earth Dan. 9. And the Angel Act. 8. carried Philips body in a very short time from one place to another so shall our spirits carry our bodies in a very short time through a large space and intervall Augustine Augustine in his book of the City of God lib. 22. ch 30. saith That certainly whereever the Spirit and soul would be straight wayes the body will follow the desire of the heart and be in that place Neither will the soul desire any thing which is unbeseeming for it self or the body as the helm turneth the Ship in a very short time wheresoever the Steersman will so our bodies will turn instantly at every motion of our Spirits our body will be caught up by our Spirits into the third heaven in a short time as Philips body was caught up and carried from one place to another Act. 8.39 where the same word is used which ye have 1 Thes 4.17 As for those members of our bodies which served to natural uses and employments in the time of our sojourning here they will remain in the body for ornament and integrity as the brests in women come to old age though they do not serve them for giving suck as sometime they did yet are they for the ornament of their bodies Augustine in the place above cited saith well Augustine all those members and bowels of the incorruptible body which in the time of mortality served for divers uses now they will serve for matter of praise to God This Doctrine serveth for admonition Vse 1 seeing there are different ends of the resurrections Be careful in this life to do well some will be raised to life and glory others to damnation Let it be thy desire and endeavour to be of their number in this life who do well because glory is appointed for such how earnest should we be to know that our resurrection will be unto life If many prisoners were shut up in one common prison and it were told to them all that some of them should be taken forth unto liberty and honour and others unto shame and pain in such a case how earnest would each of those prisoners be to enquire if himself were one of those appointed for liberty and honour It is certain death as a Jaylor will shut up all mankinde in the common prison of the grave and corruption how solicitous then should we be to know if we be appointed of God unto life and glory in this text our Lord giveth unto us a sure evidence of a glorious resurrection unto life to wit if thou hast done good in the body They that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life It is true good works have no place or interest in the work of our salvation by way of merit Christ our Mediator only hath Merited it by the work of his righteousness by him alone we have boldness to enter into the holiest Heb. 10.19 Neither have good Works any efficacy on our salvation It is the free gift of God Rom. 6.23 Yet it is