our life In our inclination In our declination In our death In our grave and sepulchre In all things wee are like our first parent Adam which is the father of our nature as Christ is the father of our state in grace Therefore as at the first wee are made by the hand of God as Adam was wee are made out of a base matter as he was the Lord made him out of the red earth Psal 119.73 so saith David thy hands have made me and fashioned me out of such a kind of substance are we made We are like him in our beginning Adam was left to a kind of free-will to goe this way of that way Which free-will hee had entire and might have kept it if he would In our infancie wee are partly left that way but custome and corruption lead us another way for wee are forestalled by inbred corruption by sinne and we are mis-led by the corrupt customes in the world so that children are corrupted before they be sensible Otherwise children have that in them above men that they may say This course I will take and this course I will not take For when a man takes a course to be vicious and to fall into sinne he cannot be so free as he that hath a pure mind which is like unto a white paper wherein there is nothing written For they that fall into evill they set such blots upon them that cannot be gotten out without the bloud of Christ And indeed in the fairest paper in the minds of children there is that corruption that the bloud of Christ must wash it out even that originall sinne though they be free from actuall Therefore in this wee are like unto Adam mutable and changeable Nay our condition is worse than his for he had a power not to sin and we have no power but to sinne as long as wee live in this flesh Thirdly in the inclination of our mind As Adam grew hee had an inclination to eate and to drink a necessity of increasing in the world of steep and work and the like so in these things wee grow and many men are so set upon these worldly things that they commonly faile God and their soules in other things And for our declining age we are like unto him Although hee lived in strength a long time yet at last hee failed of his strength and of his wit and at length came to be turned to dust to nothing So it is with us as is the earthly so are they that are earthly we must follow his condition wee cannot avoid it we must be like unto him Lastly as Adam died and went to his grave from which he was taken earth to earth dust to dust and rotted in the earth and there he lyeth now and hath lyen for the space of almost 5000. years in the dust so the Lord will bring our bodies by the common sentence which hee hath pronounced against our sins and the sin of Adam he will bring them to the same state For as is the earthly so are they that are earthly In their birth in their life in their inclination in their death in their grave and in all the parts and passages of this mortall race they are all alike each to other But the Lord who is to give a new life of grace which begins here and shall be completed in the life of glory which shall be manifested hereafter he shall conforme his members unto him more then Adam doth his For if we be miserable because of the first Adam much more shall we be glorious because of Christ the second Adam And if a weak cause be able to conforme his members unto him a stronger cause shall be much more able Therefore as the misery of man is derived from Adam to his posterity so the glory and majesty of God shall be derived and exhibited and set forth and fulfilled from Christ as from a root and fountaine to all those that follow For from his fulnesse we have all received even grace for grace Iohn 1 16. Therefore he saith those that are spirituall shall be such as he that is spirituall as Christ is now in his glorious body For this must be taken of the glorified body of Christ and not of his mortall body For he had a mortall body in which he died but when it was raised againe it was a glorified body And as it was in the Resurrection of Christ so in the common Resurrection we shall be like unto him by the power of Christ that worketh all in all And if Adam could convey unto us an inheritance of misery and weaknesse and declining much more shall the Lord convey a stronger inheritance of glory and beauty and of all that wee can desire and that can fill the heart of man all which the word of God hath made a promise and tender of Therefore as the Apostle saith comfort your selves in these words 1 Thes 4.18 even in observing the order that God would have and be content that your naturalls may passe away that your spirituals may succeed For we must of necessity be borne before we can be borne anew of water and of the holy Ghost We must be borne first of the will of flesh and bloud wee must be borne after againe by the sacred laver of regeneration not of the will of flesh and bloud Iohn 1.13 but of the spirit by the word of God and by faith in Christ Iesus And as St. Austin saith we could not die Aug. except wee had been the members of Adam nor wee could not rise againe except wee were the members of Christ But these things be so ordained by God that wee cannot looke for the one except we be content to taste of the other The Lord made not the Angels and us in one condition they were made in their full perfection at the first therefore some of them fell from that to be devils some of them continuing by the grace of God and are confirmed for ever But man was not so made but as a scholler to come by divers degrees to grow forward from rudiments and principles unto further perfection that the glory of God might be seen in his successe and course in his bringing on and production that he appointed for man Vse Therefore wee ought to be contented with the ordinance of God to rejoyce in it and to be willing to suffer the cup which God hath put into our hands even the cup of death when the Lord shall call for us And wee ought also to arme our selves with this exceeding comfort that this is the onely passage and way which God hath made for that glorious state hereafter For if there be naturall there shall be spirituall and if there be no nature there shall be no spirit Therefore this misery and weaknesse is as it were a doore and a way unto greatnesse and strength and ability This is that which the blessed Apostle saith 2 Cor. 11.
pitch of excellencie and perfection till the Apostles times Therefore to conclude this point We may learne here that the Apostle is not vain-glorious to take all the praise to himselfe but he communicates the glory with his brethren and saith and we also It is true that he boasts of his owne afflictions 2 Cor. 11.23 c. 2 Cor. 11. where he speakes of perils among false brethren of perils by sea of perils by land and of innumerable dangers greater than other men had because then he was driven to it his enemies forced him by their detraction But when he is left to himselfe he communicates the glory of his passion to his fellow Apostles and saith in the plurall number We also suffex This should teach all men humility to thinke when they conceit highest of themselves that there are other men as great as they As the Poet saith there are a kinde of men that will be Domine fac totum the chiefe in all matters such men that take to themselves the glory and praise of businesse the whole act must be theirs though there be no such matter As though they had trod the Wine-presse alone and not Christ as though they had borne the burden in the heate of the sunne by day and in the cold by night These the Apostle speakes of when he saith they measure themselves by themselves 2 Cor. 10. 2 Cor. 10.12 These kinde of Bragadocio's are confronted by the spirit of God in every place What art thou beside a member of Christ and What hast thou that thou hast not received and what canst thou doe more than another man and why is not another man as good as thou Let men be ashamed to take the glory of things to themselves but let them communicate it with the Church and say in the plurall number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And we also The Apostle although he best deserve to take the glory to himselfe single yet he will not exclude the other he takes in his Collegians all of that livery with him and saith We also are in danger Lastly for this point in that he saith and we also we must labour to prove this by our owne lives and examine how this comes to us The Saints before suffered for the profession of Christ we must looke to put our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to it to make our selves participants and to say and we also But how doe we participate with them we see they suffered afflictions for Christ but we are voluptuous riotous and wicked Here is a faire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we too They gave their lives from the world to God and for other things they cared not We care for nothing but this life present and the pampering of our bellies the very source of damnation Here is a goodly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a goodly imitation Yet we must imitate them if we will be saved our fore-elders were honest pure and sincere a man might trust them upon their word but we are false and fraudulent cozening creatures here is a goody 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we too Our forefathers were given to hospitality to doe good but the men of our times coop themselves up in corners and keepe all to themselves to spend upon their bellies and upon their backes Here is a faire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we too We imitate well this is a left-hand imitation Our fathers scorned to give any thing for Church-livings or Ecclesiasticall promotions they tooke it to be as it is a monstrous and mortall sinne But men now care not which way they come by any thing whether by God or the divell it is no matter so they have it Here is a goodly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we too Let us either labour to be sonnes of the faithfull in our sufferings and in the manner of our conversations or we shall never come to the happinesse of their condition It is to no purpose for men to dreame of a stately seate in heaven when they live damnable and base lives upon earth So much for that point the subject of the proposition 3 The Predicate Now for the predicate We are in danger The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke is very elegant to move sorrow and griefe For so certainly all danger and jeopardy doth as the Poet saith Death it selfe is not so terrible as the feare in the staying and long delaying of it The apprehension of danger moves continuall feare and continuall feare must needs make a continuall slavery As the Poet saith It is impossible for a man to live in freedome in liberty and in feare too for that is a part of servitude and of slavery Now therefore this jeopardy the Apostle speakes of it was the apprehension of danger from false brethren from persecutors from the tyrants of the time of perill from the sea of perill from the land Whatsoever could hold him in matter of feare this is the danger he speakes of that he was in ieopardy of c. For a man to have his life hang before him Deut. 28.66 as the Lord saith Deut. 28. If you will not obey my will and commandements I will make your lives hang in doubt before you that is you shall be in suspence you shall not know when you shall live and when you shall dye thus God threatneth the wicked but when the godly in a voluntary profession take this anxious life to hang alwaies in suspence we must imagine what a mighty perturbation it is There is no persecution in the world like that when a man is prolonged in the feare of another when he is held still in doubting and suspence A man were better to fall at once than alway to hang thus he had better be dispatched than to live still in trouble in misery and torment and there is no such hanging to the soule as feare still representing the evill and no end of the evill Behold the state of the primitive children of God The Church of God upon earth is still in jeopardie there is nothing safe and secure although they have indeed a security from God that is better than all the security of conscience the peace and quiet of heart and minde yet in respect of the world there is nothing secure but they are ever moving The children of darkenesse are alway working against the issue of light to make their lives nothing but a meere jeopardy What these perils were the Apostle in another place explaines I cannot now insist upon them but come to the extent which is the next part which followes They were without intermission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4 The Extent Every houre this is that which makes it more miserable In all the diseases and troubles of this life there be some lucida intervalla some kinde of good fits some tempers that doe comfort and make up some kinde of strength to nature for those breaches which the distemper afterwards
to extend this point as in all other things to come with modesty For if men will still be moving of questions and never make an end the Apostle calls it doting about questions 1 Tim. 6.4 He that is not content saith he with these things but will teach other things he is sicke about questions he labours of a great sicknesse the sicknesse of the soule which is the greatest sicknesse that can be And so about the matter of Baptisme that we are now to celebrate the devill doth plie doubting spirits with many questions As how is it possible that water should wash away sinne That a tincture and touch of water should do this what is the grace that God conferres in Baptisme whether it be an inherent thing in the soule whether it be a habite that can be removed or not removed whether it be necessarily effected by the collation of Baptisme or no Such things should not trouble us but we ought to follow the ordinance of God and to know that hee that hath promised is able to performe it hee that became a sacrifice for mankinde and was a sweet smelling savour unto God for the sinne of man he alone was able and had power and authoritie to ordaine a Sacrament and to blesse it with all those gracious appendices to make it a passage unto life the seale of glory And therefore he hath given us his Word and we cannot seeke further We know that a Prince can make a Knight of the Garter by sending his George though it bee a Prince in France or in another Countrey and he never saw the man nor came neare him yet by sending his Garter he is invested into that Order So much more the great God of heaven and earth when he sends us these badges and symbols even the two Sacraments Baptisme and the Lords Supper These are the seales and signes of our investing into this holy order and we cannot miscarrie in our faith in this we are sure these signes are never frustrate but they put us into that honour and they possesse us of that order which our Prince hath sent unto us And as a Prince that sends a pardon to a malefactour or that sends a letter of grace and honour and advancement we know that those letters are still efficacious and have their worke upon the person to whom they are sent Much more is the letter of Baptisme powerfull which is sent from God which is turned from a letter to a working instrument It is not idle and fruitlesse but is alwayes working to eternall life and it puts them into honour that he that was a meane man before is now advanced to high dignitie it follows upon him he is as sure of it in his person by meanes of that letter and conveyance as men are of any possessions in the world So that this honour that God gives to Christians by Baptisme it is true and permanent it is inherent it is really conferred upon him Therefore we are not to move doubts and questions upon it but in our holy faith to follow our holy God and to know that he is able to do whatsoever hee will Psal 135.6 both in heaven and earth and in the sea and in all deepe places And for the conferring of grace it is certaine that by the prayers of the people by the faith of the Church and the faith of the parents there is a measure of grace conferred in Baptisme too That is those three Cardinall vertues those three principall stems faith hope and charitie though they do not yet worke and appeare in the childe because it is weake and must come to age first yet as reason lyes hidde in the childe for divers moneths and perhaps for divers yeares before it shew it selfe by speech and conversing so these graces are actually and really in the childe although they do not worke till God give them their fulnesse and growth as the Lord hath appointed to every thing it s owne time and operation So much for the first question that is about the Resurrection in generall 2 The quaâ—ities of the resurrection The second is concerning the qualities of the bodies raised And herein the nature of man troubleth it selfe more then in all the rest So curious and so sickish to know what correspondence there sh ll be betweene man and man to know in what kinde of stature they shall rise in what colour they shall have what imployment they shall be ra sed for whether a childe shall rise as a childe whether an old man shall râ—se in his old age whether crooked and deformed men shall rise crooked and deformed whether a Prince shall rise in the qualitie of a Prince and a prâ—vate man as a private man S ch foolâ—sh things the weake minde of man doats upon The qualitie and manner being of all other things the most hard to be conceived It is an easier matter to perswade a man of the substance of the thing that there shall be a Resurrection then to perswade him of the difference and of the qualities of men at the Resurrection What sexes againe male and female and so as the Sadduces thought man and w fe and consequently a new love and concordance and generation of the world Thus the foolish heart of man conceives To this then let us give that answer to our selves and to all others that dare meddle with these hidden matters which the Apostle gives for wee can give no better Foole thou thinkest it is a great part of wit to devise these things but they are such as languish the soule they are fearfull decayes and defacings of the image of God Chrysost For saith Saint Chrysostome such a desire of questioning shall never be stayed any where it multiplies and rebounds still on a man and at last overwhelmes him Therefore the onely wisedome is for men to betake them to principles and fundamentall doctrines which are the â—nely things that God would have us to build on As for these curiosities they shall once appeare but not yet God hath kept them for another world We see the Lord is marvellous in concealing of his works in materiall corporall things What a while was it before America was found out and when Plato Plato said there was another world as bigge as Affrica the world laught at him And when other Philosophers affirmed it still they were laught at for their labour And Pope Vitellius deposed a Bishop because in his conference he said there were such a people as the Antipodes We see then how long the world was in grosse ignorance in things that are created in things that are obvious and common to sence We know by experience that it is but the other day since halfe the world was found out nay it is certaine that some part of the world lyes still hidde So secret doth God keepe his riches that when men have gotten all they can that they should know that there is
make them wither there shall be no griefe of heart no discontent of minde to make an alteration in the outward man there shall be nothing to make a change because God shall crowne them in heaven with incorruption And lastly the Lord shall give them another quality which shall be the rarest of all the rest And that is a strange agility and nimblenesse of body that they shall be able to move upward or downward as it shall please them While we are here in this life we have heavy bodies a man must walke upon his owne foundation hee must have the scaffold of the earth under him But if hee presume any further and offer to go any higher with Daedalus and with Icarus he shall be cast into the sea hee exposeth himselfe unto danger and his waxen wings will be fired by the beames of the Sunne But then at that day though our bodies in all things substantiall shall be like these and shall still bee true bodies yet the glory of them shall be so great and the strength and power that the spirit shall have over this flesh shall be so absolute as to command it which way it pleaseth When we move now either we go forward or backward or side-wayes or else downward but upward we cannot but then the Lord shall give us ability to move upward too And this is that the Apostle saith we shall be taken we shall bee snatched up to meete the Lord in the clouds 1. Thes 4.17 there shall bee such a mightie power and prevalencie in the spirit of man to rule and command the body The Lord hath given us instances of it in some things in the Gospell Mat. 14 26.29 Our Lord himselfe walked upon the water and not onely he himselfe but he gave Peter power to walke with him And this was a signe of that he meanes to do at the day of the Resurrection As their bodies then walked and were sustained by the power of God in the ayre and was able to make that which is fluent and soft and yeelding in it selfe to make it a sollid pavement like unto the stones to walke upon the same power shall also worke in our bodies that agilitie which is in the Eagle So the Prophet speaks yea our Lord compares us where he saith Where the body is Mat. 24.28 thither will the Eagles resort which is meant not onely of a spirituall flight by faith but also of the bodies assumption And this our Lord confirmed by the Ascention of his owne body Iob. 14.2 for he went before to prepare a place for us that beleeve in him Now we know that his body ascended to heaven it had the power to move upward as well as any other way We have examples of it also in Henoch and Elias which were both translated Elias carried in a fierie Car to heaven 2. King 2.11 And all this with eternitie and immortalitie that there shall not any thing of it passe away there shall be no expectation of death there shall be no feare of change This is the greatest thing of all when God shall give fulnesse of glory to have also full security For whatsoever glory men have in this world so long as they know that there is a worme â—hat can gnaw it or that it is possible for them to be outed this glory is nothing because it is glory that may be no glory Such is the state of these worldly things that there is nothing so great but it is subject to be brought from that greatnesse But the Lord shall give this glory for ever and ever as himselfe is he that is eternall in himselfe he is eternall to all those that he shall make his followers and companions in that blessed kingdome For they also shall receive that part of eternitie as farre as they are capable It is this safetie and securitie that makes this blessing amiable and for that the Lord hath given us an example for securitie in Scripture where for forty yeares together in the wildernesse the Lord so provided that there was no mans cloaths that were rent or worne not so much as the soale of his shoe impaired by that long and tedious travell We see also they had securitie of food continually it never ceased to follow them but in convenient time was still administred to them Therefore it follows that God that can do these things for garments for these ragges that we weare upon our bodies he meanes much more to do it to the bodies themselves As Christ saith Is not the body better then rayment Mat. 6.25 then garments Seeing therefore that he did it unto garments that are of farre lesse worth will hee not do it unto the bodies themselves He that kept their garments 40. yeares without wearing and yet what weares so soone as a garment he was able to have done it for eternity if it had pleased him But God gave them that for an instance to shew that these things belong in a higher nature and degree and measure to the setting forth of the lifâ—â—ternall and were to foreshew and to be an earnest of that infinite glory which God hath reposed for them that wait for the comming of his Sonne Which the Lord worke for us all c. 1 COR. 15.39 All flesh is not the same flesh but there is one flesh of man there is another flesh of beasts another of fishes and another of fowls THere is nothing more plain and easie then the sence of these words they are knowne to every man by experience And yet it is very hard to finde out the intent and reason why they were uttered Divers men have diversly commented upon them For some think as Tertullian Tertull. others that follow him that the Apostle speaks not as he seemeth to do of the flesh of beasts and of the flesh of men and of fishes and birds but by an allegorie comprehends some other thing concerning the diversitie and degrees of men And so he interprets The flesh of men that is of holy and just and good men There is one flesh of men that is of holy men for they are properly to be called men A man so farre forth as he is unholy so farre forth he comes short of a man and those are onely truly and really men that be good And then by the flesh of beasts he saith the Apostle meanes the flesh of beastly heathen men the flesh of Ethnicks of those that do not beleeve in God those that do not beleeve in Christ the Saviour of the world He saith such are beasts for they differ not world He saith such are beasts for they differ not from beasts neither in their sence nor in their conversation Then for the third there is another flesh of fishes he saith by fishes are meant those that are baptised and regenerate by water the fishes of our Lord Iesus Christ Mat. 4.19 whereof he said to his disciples I will make
though God could not open the kingdome of heaven to flesh and blood but not to flesh and blood corrupted with sinne As long as we are in this life our flesh is full of sinne and our blood in the veines of the body runne with sinne and as long as they bee so they bee meere matter of corruption and therefore they cannot enter into incorruption Howbeit Adam in his first creation was flesh and blood and yet had hee stood in the state of grace and innocencie he had entred into heaven with his body of flesh and blood So that the meaning is not as though God could not conferre so great a benefit upon flesh and blood but because it hath corrupted it selfe Flesh hath corrupted his owne way and blood is tainted with sinne it is tainted defiled and polluted blood it is not such as God made it but it hath received a tincture from the Divell In regard of this it must be dissolved and brought to rottennesse and corruption that God may raise it a new seed and so make it pure and perfect againe and make it capable of the heavenly and blessed inheritance So that the summe of the words is this As long as wee be flesh and blood as long as wee bee in this life sinfull flesh that we carry about with us wee must not looke to be translated into heaven Adam should have been translated into heaven if hee had lived and kept that state wherein hee was made Wee desire indeed to bee like him in that but our desires and our hopes must be grounded upon Gods will not on our own fancies and we must expect what the Lords will hath determined He hath determined that wee should come to death before we enter into life that we should beare the image of the earthly before we come to the image of the heavenly and wee cannot have incorruption and glory poured upon this body that wee carry about with us by reason of sinne because it is in sinne For sinfull flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdome of God And although when Christ shall come there shall bee alive many millions of men that shall not die as we doe yet they shall have a change and there change shall be unto them as death is unto us now For it is not possible that any corrupt body should enter into incorruption This I take to bee the summe and sense of the words read Now to proceed in order we are to consider First the persons that he saith as we have borne Then secondly the matter propounded of those persons First there is a sentence or proposall Division into 1. the Persons 2. the Matter propounded Secondly the explanation of that proposall The proposall that is made of these persons is by way of comparison as wee have borne the image of the earthly so also wee shall beare the image of the heavenly The explanation of it what hee meanes by this image The Corinthians might aske and say they doubted of his words these are obscure things that the Text saith The image of the earthly and the image of the heavenly My meaning saith hee is nothing but this that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Eingdome of God nor corruption cannot inherit incorruption So in the proposall or proposition in the 49. verse we are to consider these things First that God made man to an Image Secondly that that Image being defaced and deformed wee are made to another kinde of Image than we were first intended for we are made to the image of the earthly Thirdly we are to observe the reddition that as we beare the image of the earthly so we shall also beare the image of the heavenly Fourthly the certainty in the sicut so as according to that manner And this makes us assured of the thing that this is a ground experimentall that because wee have the image of the one therefore wee are assured of the image of the other For still we are made to an image that is for the proposall In the explanation in the words following brethren I say unto you or my meaning is this Wherein the holy Ghost teacheth us to speak plainly and not to wander away in new quaint words in obscure sentences but to make the doctrines cleare that wee take in hand And then for flesh and bloud that they are not capable of heavens kingdome and for what reason they are not capable And lastly the summe of all corruption which is flesh and bloud cannot enter into incorruption which is the Kingdome of heaven For that which he call flesh and bloud in one place hee renders it againe in another place by corruption and that which he called the kingdome of heaven in the former words he turnes it in the latter words incorruption So that the Apostles perspicuity and evidence is wondrously to be admired in this place hee labours to speak of a high matter a deep profound matter of dignity so plainly to flesh and bloud Hee saith flesh and bloud shall not enter into the Kingdome of God Not because it is flesh and bloud but because it is corrupted and there shall not enter any thing that is corrupt into incorruption because they are contraries and one contrarie cannot enter into another It is impossible for a man to be alive and dead to be sick and well at one time there is no difference in the world greater then the difference of corruption and incorruption and because flesh and bloud is corrupted for sinne it is full of misery and wretchednesse by sinne and the Kingdome of heaven is an uncorruptible crowne it is impossible that these should be coincident and meet and be mingled together Therefore corruption must be evacuated and rooted out before incorruption can be attained Of these things briefly and in order as God shall give assistance And first concerning the persons 1. Part. The persons of whom these things are propounded of whom these things are pronounced It is of Gods Saints For as I have often told you this whole Chapter is spoken of and endited concerning the Resurrection of the Saints onely There is indeed a resurrection of those that belong not to God which is a resurrection to punishment and shame but the Apostle meddles not with that in this whole Chapter but speaks only of the Saints resurrection and he saith We that have borne the image of the earthly wee shall also beare the image of the heavenly We that is those that are called of Christ and sanctified by his holy Spirit to these it is to whom this promise appertaines For every man beares the image of the earthly good and bad but every man shall not beare the image of the heavenly but onely those for whom it is ordained The nature of man is not capable of heaven for if mans nature were capable of heaven then all men should have it because all men have the nature of man indefinitely and equally but it is the
wee see in the picture that is rased sometime there will be an arme or a finger left plaine and all the rest of the picture defaced some part of it remaines but by that a man knowes not what it is So the Image of God that glorious picture of beauty was altogether soyled and over-rased put out and besmeared by mans sins and transgressions yet the Lord hath left some sparkes and some lineaments as a finger or an arme remaines This now is called the image of the earthly And though there be some Image of God which is heavenly yet it is so defaced that it is called the image of the earthly Now wherein stands this Image You know by experience wherein it is even in all the parts and passages of this miserable life So St. Austin saith Aug. Wee beare the image of the earthly in being borne into this earth in the miseries of the world in the corruptions of our life in the labouring for our meat and drink that wee have in our hungring and thirsting in the necessities of eating and drinking in being subject to sicknesse in our declining withering away and in our dying at length and our rotting after we are dead In these things wee beare the image of our Father and the fairest son and daughter of Adam must needs confesse thus much that either they are or shall be drowned in basenesse An ugly physiognomie and yet it is that which Adam hath engraven upon our sinfull nature But blessed be God that saith wee shall have another image For as he teacheth us to groane and to be wearie of this as being a reward and punishment of sinne so hee hath given us a lively faith and hope that we shall attaine unto another image that shall rectifie all this and shall bring upon us a face that shall never decay not as the face of Adam that goes and declines from age to age from sicknes to sicknesse but the face of Christ that shall continue one and the same for ever The Image therefore of the heavenly must be in a contrary quality For if the one were in a poore naturall birth the other is in regeneration if the one wer 〈…〉 weaknesse and infirmitie the other was in strength and power of miracles and high supernaturall abilities if the one was in sicknesse the other was in health if the one was in death the other was in eternall life if the one were in corruption and rottennesse the other was in sweetnesse and fragrancie This is the Image of the heavenly And these Images as I said are not vaine imaginarie pictures but reall impressions things that are truely seated in us and so seated as never after to be defaced and removed The Image of God it was once changeable for it was set upon Adam and it was removed the Lord began to set it againe and to imprint it on Iesus Christ and thence it was never removed nor never shall be from his followers on whom he shall set it As the Law that was written by Moses was written in two Tables twice over First the Lord gave one Table of stone which Moses when hee came from the Mount cast downe in his anger and broke them so the Lord tooke the second Table and wrote upon it the same words and those stood stedfast and were never altered nor broken and defaced So also it is with these two Adams For the first was made fraile and feeble and the image of God and the command that was written in his heart was broken in pieces upon the peoples idolatry upon his owne transgression But when the Lord renewed his image upon man againe which was done in the person of Christ Iesus that was the second writing of the Table and when he had written the second time then God would write no more For there the glory and vertue and power of the Commander stands for ever and the beauty and vigor of that face is subject to no fading but it brings it selfe and all that loue it to perfection 4. The certainty The next thing to be considered is the certainty of this for this indeed is improbable and to flesh and blood impossible even for a man to say because he hath been earthly therefore he shall be heavenly A man may rather say because I have beene earthly therefore I shall not bee heavenly Yes saith the Apostle sicut As wee have borne the one so we shall beare the other As we have borne the image of the earthly so also wee shall beare the image of the heavenly This is the wondrous arguing which the Spirit of God teacheth us even to hope against hope and to reason against reason For it utterly non-plusseth all reason to say an earthly thing shall become heavenly that it shall change the nature It is impossible to make gold of dirt yet God can doe it and hee gives us that assurance that as sure as wee are borne to the image of the earthly as sure experience as we have of that so sure we shall have the image of the heavenly the one is an argument and a signe and a previall disposition to the other That wee all beare the image of the earthly every man in his continuall groaning and clamour testifies to God to himselfe and to the world There is no man that lives without his burthen and God knowes our burthen how it is in continuall misery and perplexity and such kinde of defections that if God did not sustaine us a thousand deaths would overtake us instead of one And therefore this experience of misery which wee have by Adam is a sure signe and token that God will advance us to the glory of the second Adam For these two are dependent each upon other A man is borne into this world to be borne againe in a better world a man dies here that he may live hereafter a man is miserable here that he may be glorious hereafter hee is a sinner here that hee may be holy and righteous hereafter the things here are seales and tokens of a blessed and better inheritance Therefore the Apostle saith sicut as sure as we have the one so surely we shall have the other It is a semblance it is a true and certaine figure and assurance that as wee carry the badge of Adams mortall flesh so we shall carry the stamp and image of Christ in flesh mortall and uncorrupt This is the wondrous wisedome of God which passeth all the understanding of man to teach still by contraries As in that sweet example Iohn 11. Ioh. 11. of Lazarus God would not work but by a cleane contradiction Lazarus was sick they sent to Christ Lord he whom thou lovest is sick The Lord heard it Let him be sick let him die too he stayes the longer he comes not to him The next newes was brought Lazarus was dead The Lord prevents the newes and saith Lazarus our friend sleepeth He comes unto the house when
single combat and let us end the quarrell so and if hee overcome mee then we will be your servants and if I overcome him then you shall be our servants Behold here are but two men that fight the action of fighting belongs but to two persons but by the power of God David overcame and the effect of that victory redounded to thousands to Saul which was the King and to all his Courtiers and to all Israell to all the people of God the power of Davids victory belonged to them all and so the action of David it was not limited to his owne person because hee was a chosen man a chosen vessell set forth by the Spirit of God to this victory Therefore the power of the victory was beneficiall to all his Countrymen much more is the victory which Christ hath obtained against the powers of darknesse he fought alone and he overcame alone It is true the personall act belongs to him alone and hee deserves onely all the glory for it but the extent of the act he communicates to his friends to every true Christian It is that which is called our victory because the Iew overcame the Philistin Therefore all the Iewes overcame the Philistins because our flesh and nature hath overcome in Christ for hee was flesh of our flesh and bone therefore our nature is advanced and exalted by him that is the Victor and hee being the Conquerour wee that are his friends and kinsmen are Conquerours with him though we have not struck one stroake in the battaile Againe observe in the like Gen. 14.15 16 when Abraham came to destroy those 5. Kings and to rescue Lot and the four Kings that were defeated that Text saith that Abraham alone and his owne people got the victory but when hee had done the glory of the victory was given to all those that had lost in the battaile every man had his owne as far as might be restored and Abraham would not gain so much as the latchet of a shooe lest they should say they had made Abraham rich and so the power and glory of his victory was communicated to those that had any dealing in the warre Therefore I say if this were possible in humane things how shall we doubt of it in the Omnipotencie of the Almighty that the victory of Christ is made common to all that beleeve in him and they have part in that victory that can claime it that can intreat it of him they are made fellow conquerers although they had no hand in it nor made no appearance in the doing of it Againe wee see in 1 Sam. 30. 1 Sam 30. when the people were ready to stone David and he receives an answer from the Lord that if he would follow those robbers hee should rescue the prey and so by the mercy of God he did but there were two great rubs after hee had got the conquest The one was when the souldiers came to divide the spoile whether they that had fought in the warre should have all or no To which David saith no there were 200 men which were not able to follow them being faint and therefore were faine to stay by a brook they could goe no further in regard of their weaknesse and the souldiers that got the battaile after they had the victory they would have had them to have had no part of the spoile because they went not forth with them But David saith no 1 Sam. 30.24 Who will trust you in this thing who will beleeve you in this matter they that stay by the stuffe they shall have as good share as they that fought in the battell because although they went not with us yet their good will was with us therefore they shall have as great share as we Againe when the spoyle came to be divided he sent of it to severall Cities and Townes thereabout to them which never had any hope to have rescued their owne goods hee sent unto them saying Here is a blessing from the Lord to such a towne here is a blessing from the Lord to such a town Behold now how is it possible for us not to beleeve that we have part in the conquest of Christ We see David which was a figure of Christ hee doth thus they that were not able to follow they that could not march along with them they have part of the prey and they that never came out they that did not dare to rescue their goods they have the prey sent home to them Our Lord Iesus Christ is far more rich in mercy then any man can be imagined to be hee sent unto us the spoiles of hell the spoile of death and he made us partakers of his victory although wee were so faint and so fearfull that wee could not march in the battaile nor stand with him because he would have all the glory and praise alone yet hee takes not the victory alone but he gives us part and possession he gives us part of the spoiles of his enemies hee makes us Conquerers of all those that he hath conquered So then to conclude this point there are two wayes how Christ makes us partakers of this victory The one is by way of Application The other is by way of Corroboration The Application of faith is this 1. Application That Christ doth take unto himselfe all his followers to receive their life and nourishment and their being and glory from him and upon this promise faith doth worke and saith Christ is mine and all Christ belongs to me He was incarnate for mee hee was borne for me he lived for me he died for me he rose againe for me he overcame for mee and whatsoever he did it is mine that is the power of faith by way of application which God hath given as a duty or office to the holy Spirit that the holy Spirit must apply the Sonne of God and his merits unto us and by this meanes of application we are made Conquerers The second meanes is Corroboration 2. Corroboration When faith hath applied Christ it receives comfort and power and with that strength that God hath vouchsafed it it works its best against the powers of darknesse That it hates and detests evill wayes that it shuns iniquity it labours to avoid all meanes of apostacie and backsliding from God and seeks every thing that may please the Lord with an upright and perfect heart and though he cannot doe it yet he seeks to doe it and hee wishes perfection when he is in the lowest and basest degrees of imperfection Therefore out of this wee learne that if wee would have comfort to our selves of the victory of Christ to joyne these together application and corroboration Wee are too forward to apply to our selves all the merits of Christ every man saith Christ is mine but when it comes to the push and when temptation the enemy appeares wee are then so base and so cowardly as that we flee almost before we
to worke then the labour of love which is alway working like the soule in the bodie The soule and life it is in every part of the bodie and where any part is out of temper or sick there is heat and anguish there every member condoles with that member that is affected and out of place So it is with the labour of love among Gods children 2 Cor. 11.29 Who is offended and I burne not who is weak and I am not weak The passion of Gods Church is as combustible matter when it once takes hold it runs over all this labour of love is the work here spoken of Now he shewes the reason it is a comfortable and sweet speech It is not in vaine The word properly signifieth a thing where there is nothing where there is a vacuum They say in nature there is no vacuum or void place but still there is something every where and rather then there should not bee something things would forget their owne nature the aire will descend to fill up the roome If a man should dig to the Antipodes the aire which is a light thing will descend downe like a heavy body rather than it shall be empty and the water which is a heavy body will ascend up if a man draw with his breath in a conduit or pipe it will mount to the top of a house rather than there shall be a vacuum Now the Lord as hee fills all things with substance so he shall fill your labours also hee shall give it substance and being there is nothing vain in his creation much lesse shall there be any thing in vaine in the regeneration It is a great incouragement for a man to worke when hee is sure of his wages for it not like that foolish saying among foolish men that take up their money before hand and when they have drunke it out and spent it then they say they worke for nothing But hee that works for the Lord he never works for nothing but he is ever sure of his recompence Apoc. 22.12 Behold I come and my reward is in my hand and plentifull is your reward in heaven be glad and rejoyce for copious and great is your reward in heaven Because therefore your labour hath a reward it is a great incouragement to you to the worke The children of God work not for a blind day for a blind purpose but they are sure of the consequent they are sure of a copious reward in heaven But what is this to a Christian he should doe it for Gods cause although there were no reward a christian is bound to doe good although there were no heaven nor no hell It is true I cannot stand upon it at this time but onely to shew the principle of it when the Apostle saith Be abundant because you know your labour is not in vaine This is not a prime argument but a secondarie argument indeed it is a good incouragement It is true we should love the Lord it is due debt we are his creatures we depend upon him and hee may conclude of us as it pleaseth him to make us vessels of wrath or vessels of honour and wee should doe good workes for his sake without any reference to wages God must be loved without any cause and without any measure hee must be loved above all things with all our heart with all our soule and with all our strength Saith Saint Austin We worke not for God as a meane but as the end the maine and chiefe end of all things If wee should love God for some other thing then we should think some other thing better than God and then wee should make God inferiour to another we should make him inferiour to our owne desires which we must not doe Saith Saint Austin Aug. It is a foolish thing for a man to use that which hee should enjoy and to enjoy that which he should use for the things of this world are but the things that wee use and our owne salvation is a thing that wee use in comparison of God It is God that wee enjoy and nothing else there is nothing else that can be enjoyed and wee must not love our salvation it selfe in respect of God hee is the price of all things all things else are of no price but drosse and dung in comparison The blessed Apostles meaning therefore is not that hee would have us labour as hirelings to give a mercenarie love to God but to love God for his owne sake Hee disputes as a man because it is a fit argument to stir men up to labour because they shall have a recompence for it the greatest argument to encourage a man to worke to worke abundantly as the Apostle saith here is to set before him the copiousnesse of the reward it will make him worke plentifully not for the rewards sake but chiefly for the love of God and in the second place for the other Therefore it is unlawfull which the Popish Doctors say for a man to work simply upon the sight of divine wages but a man must worke first and chiefly for God and then in the second respect for the reward And that a man may thus doe for his incouragement it is plaine in the Scriptures The blessed man of God Moses Heb. 11.26 he rather desired to suffer affliction and persecution with the children of GOD than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season Why Because hee had respect to the recompence of reward So Christ incourageth us in this that hee saith Verily I say unto you the more troubles you have in this life the greater shall be your reward in heaven And Saint Matthew speaking of the great blessings that are laid up for the godly he saith Those that have borne part with Christ in the doctrine of his regeneration they shall sit upon twelve thrones and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel Aug. The reward saith Saint Austin is that that sets a man in spirit and if wee would sustaine our labours and troubles let us look to the recompence of reward as Moses did And as St. Paul saith These momentany afflictions they worke unto us an eternall weight of glorie And as Calvin Calvin saith well when the Apostle saith So run that ye may receive 1 Cor. 9.24 saith hee If you take away the hope of the reward all the hopefulnesse and alacrity in running the race it doth not onely waxe cold but it falls downe and failes for the hope of a reward from the Lord it sets us up to make us worke chearefully because wee serve not a churlish Laban but a chearefull God wee serve not as Iacob did a long time to little purpose for two wives and two maids and a little flock but wee serve the blessed God that gives an infinite reward for a cup of cold water hee gives a glorious Kingdome for ever and ever Your labour is not in vaine Why Because it is for the
friends to them that are inrolled to them especially is the benevolence of the Saints extended the Saints to the Saints fellow members to fellow members supplie the sap and nourishment one to another from their common head Christ Iesus And who be these Saints Surely the power of charitie is such by the sweetnesse of the Gospell that perswades it to this Who taken for Saints to thinke every man a Saint that we know not certainly to be a devill For there bee but two sorts of men in the world and if a man know not certainly that a neighbour or a man knowne to him is in the state of damnation he must be taken and judged to be in the state of sanctification and account him a Saint For there be Saints divers wayes There are Saints by birth 1. Cor. 7. Diversitie of Saints Now are they holy If it were not so then were your children unholy but now they are holy There is sanctification by the faith of the parents wherein all our children are borne and for which cause they are to be called Saints because they are borne of beleeving parents Secondly there are Saints by profession that is those that receive their baptisme and the Sacrament of the Lord Iesus Christ that make an open profession of his name those be Saints also And thirdly there bee Saints by calling when God hath brought a man to a change for he is a true Saint whom God hath changed and there is no man that can challenge to himselfe any hope or any comfort in the number of Saints but onely he that is changed from himselfe that doth leave and forgo his former vanities and betake himselfe to the obedience of God in Christ This is that wee call sanctitie of calling called Saints Saints by calling as it is in the first Chapter of this Epistle 1. Cor. 1.4 Fourthly and lastly there are Saints by Conversation and good works which are here principally spoken of Saints of God that suffer for Christ Saints of God that live according to the power of the Gospell Saints that professe Christ in the middest of persecuters these be chiefe chosen Saints of which the Lord makes that glorious army of Martyrs The noble armie of Martyrs praise thee Out of this number of those that are persecuted and suffer for Christ the Lord chooseth the most glorious number of Saints so these are the Saints that are spoken of that were at Ierusalem Concerning the collection for the Saints The Saints at Ierusalem were most troubled of all others in the world but because the name is not here mentioned I will but onely speake it to you in a word For there they had the high Priesthood there they had the Scribes and Pharisees that carried the wisedome of the world as they thought in their lippes The Priests lippes should preserve knowledge and the people should seeke it at their mouth They had the Law of God and his veritie the best law under heaven but they set themselves against the Gospell of Christ therefore the poore Saints had no such strong persecutors in any place as in that And besides Agabus in Act. 11. foretold that there should be a great famine which seemed now to be raised when the Apostle wrote these words it seemes the famine was then upon the land of Iudaea It is said that it came in the dayes of Claudius Cesar but it was spoken of in the dayes of Caligula the event of it was in the third or fourth yeare of Claudius Cesar Suetonius and Tacitus that write of that Emperour say that search was made by the Romans for all strangers and they were put forth of the Citie the famine was so great and Claudius Cesar made a haven which is now out of use but after that it was a famous haven which he made by digging a mouth out of the River Tiber by which meanes he brought provision into the Citie and made a passage for all the world at all times as Dio the Historian said This famine therefore which Agabus foretold was the cause why the Apostle wrote now to make provision for the Saints at Ierusalem for the Lord had sent an heavie hand of scarsitie among them Besides the persecution they indured and those two wofull events perplexed them wondrously therefore the Apostle desires that their charitie might abound to them as their misery had abounded So out of this we learne First that the Saints of God may want Saints may want and stand in need to be maintained The Apostle tels us that he was a petitioner for the Saints therefore the Saints be men that may be in want The Saints of God are very needfull here upon earth and it is a thing that I need not proove all experience confirmes it The Lord God is able to give them of the dew of heaven and of the abundance of the earth to make them lords of all the soyle the Lord of heaven hath promised them the blessings of this life and of another a better as the Apostle saith yet notwithstanding they want many times and stand in need of other men and haply of worse men then themselves are in the booke of God what is the reason of this Why the Saints are in want First because God would shew us that they be weaned from this world that they are greater then the world as Saint Chrysostome saith speaking to a Philosopher Thou knowest not how to master thy affections thou knowest not how to be in poverty and in disgrace but I will shew thee out of mine owne bringing up how we are able to beare these things and to contemne them So the Lord by this would shew that his children are of another spirit of an higher spirit which the world cannot comprehend but they can easily comprehend the world and cast it behinde them For they looke for a Citie whose builder and maker is God they expect the treasures of heaven which are reposed in the bosome of Christ therefore they scorne these things below they do not minde them but for the present necessitie Onely as Severus said of his souldiers that those were his best souldiers that were the poorest and when they began to grow rich then they began to be naught so in the schoole of Christ the Saints are trained up in povertie as the Poet saith if you will bring up a boy a yong man to be a souldier learne him first to endure povertie learne him to lye hard to fare hard to encounter all the hardages which nature it self can hardly beare and which these delicious fellows cannot endure to thinke of let them first master them and then they shall bee able to overcome their enemies And so in the field of Christ the Lord suffers his Saints to want not because he cannot provide for them nor because he doth not intend to help them for those that he will give heaven to will he not give them earth if it be for