as our Mediatour 1 Tim. 2.5 If he meanes that which they draw from his words he knew Christ after the flesh in all his Sermons and his Faith was a knowledge of Christ after the flesh And therefore that which they wrest from his words is not his meaning Secondly Pauls meaning is this that Christ is not to be knowne after the flesh As though any men should conceive that they should have any priviledge or prerogative above another in Christ because they are his kinsmen or Countrey-men according to the flesh or of the same stock with Christ being descended from Abraham or David according to the flesh Thus Christ is not to be knowne after the flesh It will availe men nothing that they are neere to Christ in the flesh by their naturall birth unlesse they be neare to Christ and one with Christ by their new birth So that the Apostle doth in this place take away the difference which some might apprehend to be between the Jew and the Gentile It is parallel to that place Gal. 3.28 There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for yee are all one in Christ Jesus And this is evident by the precedent verse where he saith that Christ died for all for Gentiles as well as for Jewes so that a Jew may as soone be saved by Christ as a Gentile if he rest upon the grace of the Father through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus his Sonne for Justification and Salvation It will likewise appeare to be the plain and naked meaning of the Apostle if we consider the subsequent words where he doth publish forth the same thing and explaineth his meaning telling us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe not imputing their trespasses unto them The sinfull Gentiles who are called the world in opposition to the Jewes that were Gods peculiar and selected people gathered out of the world from other Nations God is reconciled to this world to sinfull Gentiles as well as to Gods owne people the Jewes And therefore Christ is not to be knowne among Christians in any carnall or fleshly relations as though he were a Saviour more to the Jewes then to the Gentiles This were to know Christ after the flesh but we that know him spiritually know him so no more for in the Spirit we see the partition wall which was between Jewes and Gentiles pulled down and know Christ the common Saviour both to Jewes and Gentiles which shall believe in his name And thus I have given you an answer fully satisfactory to their second objection The third place from which they frame an objection is in Eccles 3.19 That which befalleth unto the Sonnes of men befalleth beasts even one thing befalleth them as the one dieth so dieth the other yea they have all one breath so that a man hath no preheminence above a beast To this I thus answer that Solomon here doth not propose this as his owne judgement but rather doth represent unto us the opinion of carnall men who have no greater light then the dimme eye of reason And doth acquaint us with their folly and ignorance by communicating his owne experience unto us I said in my heart ver 18. He spake this in his heart when the darknesse of his spirit did as a thick cloud hide the light of the Spirit of God from him He doth not speak this from his heart and spirit inlightned with the truth of God But from his heart under a mist of errour being surrounded with great temptations And this will appeare by many passages which he uttereth in this booke which doe wholly contradict that which they would gather from these words as the meaning of Solomon for the overthrowing of the Doctrine of the resurrection and the day of judgement For instance Ecc 11.9 How doth he labour to draw young men from the pursuit of the worlds pleasures and vanities by putting them in mind that God will bring them unto judgement And what a plaine place is that against Sadduces Familists and Libertines that deny a judgement day and a resurrection with which he doth put a period to this booke Ecc 12. and the last God shall bring every worke into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill I shall not trouble you with any more of their Arguments Because they are of the same nature with those which have been brought already And the same Answers which have been given unto these will give sufficient satisfaction to any other objections which may be brought against this truth 2. Vse from this errour Againe since the truth of God appeares so cleare in Scripture that there shall be a resurrection of body and of the same body let us abhorre and abandon the grosse fanaticall conceits of all that we meet with that professe themselves open enemies to the Doctrine of the resurrection Brethren I beseech you loath abhorre and detest this hellish diabolicall Doctrine For as Christians are to imbrace the truth of God with all zeale and affection of spirit so we are to detest and abhor all errours that oppose the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ with all zeale and fervency of spirit though these are much offended with the zeale and sharpnesse of the Saints supposing that such heat and holy anger is inconsistent with the spirit of meeknesse and therefore if a man though in the Spirit witnesse against these conceits and atheisticall opinions of theirs presently they say that though he pretend to be the servant of Christ and to have the Spirit of Christ yet he hath not the Spirit of Christ because he is so sharp in his speech But consider how our blessed Saviour oft in his preaching and discourses thunders and lightens in the faces of men that opposed the truth Did he not call the Scribes and Pharisees a Generation of Vipers and Adulterers to their faces and hath not Paul and Peter expressions to this purpose Peter tells Simon Magus he was in the very gall of bitternesse Did not Paul call Elymas the child of the Devill and enemy of all righteousnesse Act. 13.10 and our Saviour tells the Hypocrites that he preached to Joh. 8. Ye are of your father the Devill Therefore know that as Christ though he had the holy Spirit in him yet he made use of such sharp and bitter speeches so a man may have such speeches in his mouth and yet he may be in the spirit of God and speak to Gods glory when he thus speaks The Angel of the Church of Ephesus is commended that he could not beare with those that were evill And that he hated the workes of the Nicolaitans himselfe and our Saviour doth professe his hatred to the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans And why should a Christian be afraid to imitate his Saviour though these will censure him for it If this be to be vile and without love to speak bitterly
that the law killeth a man or cutteth off his legs Friends I am perswaded that some of you have experimentally found as I have done that the law killeth And when ye were slaine and killed by the law were you freed presently from the mandatory power of it I am perswaded that some of you can professe in truth with mee that ye were not The law then did command you to doe and walke What horridnesse is there more in this if I may make the comparison to affirme that the law cutteth off a mans legs and then biddeth him to walke then in this To affirme that the law killeth a man doth yet bid him to doe it and walke Object But some may say that Paul saith that the letter killeth because it giveth not strength to fulfill it Litera occidit nempe quia non consert vires ad praestandum Answ I spake it in this sense too and is it not lawfull for me to imitate Pauls expressions Unlesse the ignorant world must be made to believe that my speeches and exclamations are horrid and blasphemous I might multiply arguments from this Chapter if I should runne over all the expressions of the Apostle especially these where he calleth the law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A ministration of death a ministration of condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing to be abolished or abolished and done away And whatsoever is spoken by any of the godly for the making good of these expressions I might make use of the same for the justifying of mine seeing I spake them in the same manner as Paul did But that it may appeare that I speake not this for the reproaching of you but the vindicating of wronged abused truth and knowing that a word is sufficient to a wise man when a thousand stripes will not enter into a foole I shall not insult over your weakenesse but rather cover it as farre as I may without injury to the truth Let mee only leave this word to your consideration which in this place is very seasonable to wit That it is the mind of God that we should be as favourable in interpreting the expressions of spirituall men in their writings and speakings now as in interpreting the expressions of those spirituall men who are now with the Lord knowing that they both speak by the same spirit which spirit doth retain his liberty to speake in us as it did in them 2. Compare this speech with that of the Apostle Rom. 7.5 The motions of sinne which were by the law which will sound as harsh as to affirme that the law doth cut off the legs of sinners But if some say this is only occasionally and accidentally men running the more into sinne by how much the more they are forbidden to commit sinne According to that of the Poet. Tendimus in vetitum wee have a tendency in us to that which is forbidden I answer that the same exposition will sufficiently qualifie my speech to take away from it the least appearance of evill The law doth cut off a mans legs occasionally and accidentally A man by reason of the corruption which is in him findeth by experience that he is of lesse strength to run in the wayes of God the more he doth endeavour to get strength by the law of workes Musculus compareth it in this respect to a chaste Matron in a Brothel-house which by her good advice doth prove an occasion to some impudent whores to be more bold and shamelesse in their impiety Had the spirit of love without which wee are nothing taught you something concerning this speech you would have been favourable in interpreting it and not rigidly censorious in condemning it Oh that you who seeme to he zealous for the law would consider that this commandement to wit that we should love our neighhour as our selves is one of the great Commandements upon which all the Law and Prophets doe hang Mat. 22.40 And then how would you dare to be so rigid and uncharitable in your censuring of your Brethren If indeed you have received the law from Moses may I not say as my Saviour did to the Jewes John 7.19 Did not Moses give you the law and yet none of you keepeth it And then remember what the Apostle saith Rom. 2.13 That not the hearers or preachers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified Brethren I am not such an enemie to the law but I can with freedome of spirit make use of that pertinent portion of Scripture unto you Jam. 2.8 9. If yee fulfill the royall law according to the Scripture Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy selfe yee doe well But if ye have respect to persons in your censuring judging them And the same thing in effect delivered by one man shall be accounted sound by you and shall be a horrid error if delivered by another man ye commit since and are convinced of the law as transgressors 3 dly Looke seriously upon those words of Paul Rom. 5.20 The law was given that the offence might abound And then tell me whether there be not the same figure in my expression which is in Pauls And why may I not make use of a figurative expression as well as Paul expounding my meaning more plainly afterwards as he doth which I also did in my discourse Calvin saith that by these words Paul doth simply signifie the encreasing of the knowledge and pervicacy Designatur hic simpliciter incrementum notitiae et pervicaciae And another saith that it it said that it aboundeth by the law because it aboundeth in our knowledge of it ut abundare agnoscetur And will not this which is usually spoken upon this place by Expositors make our speech passeable too And as Paul saith that the Commandement which was to life he found to be unto death Rom. 7.10 So may not I say that the law which was for holy walking I found to cut off my legs because being under it I was no more able to walke in the way of it than a man is able to walke without legs I leave it to the spirituall man who judgeth all things 1 Cor. 2.15 to judge of this thing betweene us And that you may not any farther to the dishonour of God and your profession the prejudicing of the worke of the Lord in my Ministery vent forth slanders and reproachas against me I do professe that I am not conscious to my selfe of denying the use of the law in any way in which it is held forth in the new Testament But know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully Knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawlesse disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for the unholy and prophane for murtherers of fathers and for man-slayers for whoremongers for perjured persons and lyars and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound
that they were as willing to be devoured by the Lions as the people were desirous of their destruction by the Lyons Eusebius tells us that when as the Proconsul exhorted Germanicus to relent admonishing him of his tender yeares praying him to pitie his owne case being now in the flower of his youth he without intermission inticed the beast to devoure him Eusebius fourth book of the Eccl. Hist What steeled the spirits of these men and carried them above carnall reason and the weak principles of nature but a strong and powerfull perswasion in their spirits that they should have a glorious and joyfull resurrection at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ This is that that the Apostle proves to us Heb. 11.35 Some were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtaine a better resurrection He informeth us that when deliverance was offered they would not accept of it What was the reason they expected a resurrection Threatnings could not terrifie them from the truth nor promises draw them to errour because they were without wavering perswaded of a resurrection This was that that made Polycarpus the Martyr so willing todie for the Lord Jesus Christ which appeareth by his speech when he was tied at the stake I thanke thee that thou hast graciously vouchsafed this day to allot me a portion among the number of Martyrs among the people of Christ unto the resurrection of the everlasting life both of body and soule c. Euseb This was that likewise that made the Saints to be so merry and chearfull upon their death-beds When Hilarion lay sick and in his flesh did feele a little feare of death he presently reproves himselfe and breaketh forth into these words Egredere egredere anima goe forth goe forth my soule hast thou served Christ so many yeares and now art thou afraid to die What difference could there be between the death of Saints and of wicked prophane unbelieving men if there were no resurrection of the dead at all and therefore as you desire to live comfortably and to die happily in the bosome of Christ rejoycing upon your death-beds live constantly in the assurance of the truth of this Doctrine of the resurrection and while others that have seduced ignorant and poore people into Familisme with a brazen face all their dayes shall tremble upon their death-beds being afraid of death and dreading a judgement day which they have denyed like the Emperour Hadrian Animula vagula blandula Quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula rigida nudula Poore wandring pale quivering soule whither shalt thou goe Platina in the lives of the Popes You shall call for death and not looke on death as a way to the infernall prison but as a passage to immortality in Heaven ye shall see the Lyon death slaine and find nothing but honey in the carkasse you shall rejoyce in confidence that your bodies shall be raised while they shall tremble for feare of a resurrection For I would have you to take notice that God seldome suffers men that are growne to this height of unbeliefe and ungodlinesse to deny the resurrection and Christs coming in the flesh to die without galled and troubled consciences As it is observed by some of many that were professed Atheists who when they came to their death beds though they in their health and strength swimming in a world of pleasure and contentments asserted that there was no god yet when they came to lie on their death-beds none seemed to be more afraid of a God and to tremble so much at his power as these men so none are more afraid of death Hell and a resurrection then some of these that have denyed that there is any Hell or a resurrection I remember the speech of Zeno the Philosopher if I would perswade any man frō Atheisme said he I would lead him to the death-bed of an Atheist when he is gasping out his last breath So if I had not sufficiently perswaded you that there shall be a resurrectiō of the body by what I have brought out of the word of truth if I knew where any of these did lie sick I would carry you to their death-beds and you might see some of them troubled and galled in their conscience that have blasphemously professed that there is no Christ come in the flesh and that there shal be no resurrection of the body hereafter I shall not need at the present to adde many more words for I hope better things of you and such things which accompanie salvation I hope there are few such spirits as these in this Congregation yet I know the Devill is so subtle that where he thinks people are most spirituall and know God most and are acquainted with Christ he sends his imps his Sadduces to trouble and assault them he doth not set so much upon any people to draw them away as upon those that make profession of the Gospel of Christ The Devill knowes such whom he hath safe within his owne command and many of these are not assaulted by these imps but when men seeme to be heirs and boast of the Lord Jesus and professe themselves to be in the spirit of glory and adoption and to have their names written in Heaven and that none are able to separate them from the love of God the Devill sends his evill Angells to such men as these Therefore knowing that you should meet with such spirits I thought good to speake somewhat before that being forewarned you might be fore-armed praemoniti praemuniti that you may goe on in the power of God and the strength of his might though the Devill may buffet you for a time by these wicked instruments and cast his fiery darts into your hearts and spirits to perswade you that there is no resurrection and may certainly know that if there be any truth in the history of the Gospel this is a truth concerning the resurrection And it is the desire of my soule that ye may live continually and constantly in the confidence and assurance of the resurrection of your bodies which being joyned with a lively Faith in Christs death and resurrection will sweeten your lives and crowne your deaths with happinesse Death which came in upon men as a legall curse shall be turned into a blessing unto you it shall not be your feare but desire with Paul ye shall desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ But this Doctrine being layd aside as of no worth or value Christ will appeare unto you but a shadow fancy and forged Chymera of mans braine As the wicked Pope was perswaded who did thus glory in his riches What great riches have we gotten by this fable of Christ Wherefore as you desire to breath forth your soules with joy into the bosome of the Lord Jesus live in the comforts of the resurrection through Christ That will make you say in the midst of the pangs of death with Simeon Lord let thy servant now depart for mine eyes
next place another use may be this to make us willing to sacrifice our bodies for the maintaining of the truths of Christ if Christ be pleased to call us to suffer for him We doe not know but this point may be very seasonable we know not how soone Christ may call for our bodies to lie in prison for some truthes he hath discovered to us which he hath not made known to others why should we be unwilling that Christ should suffer in his owne body Consider that the body which shall lie in prison it is not thy body thou art not able to raise it it is the body of Christ Therefore if it be the mind of Christ that this body shall lie in prison say not My will but thy will be done and if Christ will lead thee further if he will not onely lead thee to be imprisoned in thy body for the profession of the truth but if he call thee to give up thy life to loose it for him that thou mayst find it again in him let this consideration make thee willing to be a martyr and sufferer for the Lord Christ why should not he doe what he will with his owne If he will lead thee to a pillorie to an hot Iron to receive a marke in thy body for him to an halter fire and faggot be contented And bâ— confident that if Christ ever call the to suffer he will give thee power and strength for to suffer in thy body because he cannot forget to be mindfull of his owne body We know how Christ threatneth those that are ashamed of him and his word in an adulterous and sinfull generation Mark 8.38 Of him saith he shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of the Father with power and great glory As Christ will no owne but be ashamed of wicked ungodly and unbelieving men that make profession of his name in words without his power in their hearts so Christ will owne the bodies of his Saints and such who truly believe in him and have laid downe their lives for him and they shall find their lives againe at the resurrection of the dead Therefore let this make us willing to suffer I am the more willing to presse this point because I see a spirit of basenesse and cowardinesse in Christians I find not that courage in the hearts and spirits of Christians that should be in them The complaint of Jereniah may justly be taken up in our times he saith Jer. 9.3 None were valiant for the truth There is scarce a man that appeares for truth in the height of zeale Men will rather sinne against Conscience to comply with the world then oppose themselves against the corruptions of the world they will rather wimme down with the tyde and streame â—f the world then oppose the wicked streame â—f worldly corruptions And it is to be feared that many profesâ—rs have their eye so much upon the Civill â—agistrate from this corruption and unâ—undnesse in their hearts they will be of â—e same Religion with the Civill Magistrate because they will not suffer any thing for â—e Lord. They looke on Christ in their apprehensions as precious but when they are told of a crucified Christ of a persecuted Christ of Christ hanging on a tree a Christ to be spit upon condemned and persecuted to suffer in the world with the young man in the Gospel they goe away sorrowfull from such a Sermon they would have Christ and the world together but if they cannot have Christ but they must leave the world they had rather part with Christ then with the world They are like Joseph of Arimathea that tooke Christ and left the Crosse behind him So delicate Professors in our time they will take Christ but they will be sure to leave the Crosse they will be wise in their way they will professe Religion no further then they may hold the world and Religion together One reason of this cowardise and basenesse of spirit is this because they doe not consider that the bodies of Saints are under the care and in the possession of Jesus And that wee cannot glorifie God more then by lying in prison in love to Christ or dying for him if it be his pleasure to call us to seale his truths with our bloud And if we did consider what a holy flame and Heavenly sparke was in the hearts and spirits of primitive Christians in believing this truth that they accounted it their greatest honour to be dishonoured for Christ their greatest credit to be discredited by the world for him their Liberty to be imprisoned their life to die at a stake for professing this glorious truth of Christ discovered to their soules Phil. 1.21 it would put fire and spirit into us and this lethargie that is upon us would speedily be cured Indeed we are a luke-warme people the discretion and prudence of politick professors in our times hath swallowed up zeale In the times of Popery there was zeale without knowledge in this Kingdome and now wee have knowledge without Zeale And the ground of this is this because either wee doe not meditate on this truth or else because we are rather cold and formall then truly spirituall in the meditation of it which should engage us as we tender the glory of Christ to be more frequent and serious in our contemplations concerning it for the future I find that Christians made much use of this point in former dayes though I doe not wholly justifie their practise for as it is our custome to salute one another when we meete so it was the custome of some Christians when they met one another to â—â—tter these words Christus resurrexit Christ â—â—risen They apprehended it sa a point that came with such power on their spirits to enable them to be willing to suffer for the Lord that this was their salutation in the time of persecution assuring themselves that he which was risen in his owne person as head would arise in all Saints as his members And this was that that made them so willing to jeopard their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus We read of Paul Act. 21.13 that when they exhorted him not to goe to Jerusalem because the Spirit in Agabus had made it knowne that he should be persecuted and bound when he came thither Why doe you weep and break my heart saith he I am not onely willing to be bound at Jerusalem but to did there for the name of the Lord Jesus It was a heart-breaking to Paul to tell him that he should not goe to suffer at Jerusalem â— if it were his greatest suffering not 〈◊〉 suffer for the Gospel But we have learned this point by roate and it is a thing few understand wee talke of it in a Parrat-liâ—â— way and we have mumbled it over in oâ— Creed I believe the resurrection of the body but few have dived into the bottome it or suckt the sweetnesse and spiritualiâ—â—
which lies in it or else we should not be 〈◊〉 luke-warme in the cause of Christ but 〈◊〉 the future let us looke up to God that may give us spirituall and Heavenly wisdome that so we may have a more Divine and spirituall knowledge of it He that is the resurrection and the life of Saints is the onely teacher of the Doctrine of the resurrection It is reported of the Pelican that her young being poysoned by the Serpent she doth give them life by her own death and bloud so Christ doth quicken us his members to a life of immortality by his owne death and bloud And doth give us the knowledge of life in the knowledge of his death bloudshedding and resurrection which doth inforce the necessity of our resurrection from his who is our head And this is the perswasion of true Saints And as it is reported of the Phenix that when she is to die she brings spices into her nest which being set on fire she her selfe is burned in the fire and turned to ashes and out of her ashes comes a new Phenix so a true Christian knoweth that though he may be burned and turned into ashes yet out of his owne ashes his body shall be raised againe to a new life of glory which doth arme him against the feare of death and persecution in the cause of Christ Again this doth discover what enemies they are to Christ his Spirit and members who by their wiles subtilty and hellish Logick would destroy the Doctrine of the Resurrection They would rob Christ of his members who doth here lay claime to the bodies of dead Saints They would make the Spirit a lier who doth seale up Saints unto the day of Redemption Eph. 5.30 And in whom they wait for the redemption of their bodies Rom. 8.23 They would rob Saints of their comfort which God doth give them in the beleeving of the resurrection of the same body which is committed unto the earth I am the more earnest against these men because I know these factors for Antichrist are both active and subtle as the Serpent did indeavour to beguile Eve 2 Cor. 11.3 so these indeavour to undermine men and to draw them from the simplicity of the Gospel One and a chiefe part of Christs simple Gospel is the Doctrine of the resurrection of our bodies by the power of Christ when Paul preached this at Athens the Stoicks and Epicures did look upon him as a babler And this piece of the Gospel was alwayes accounted foolishnesse to the learned Greeks And as the Apostle was jealous of them for feare they should be drawne from the simplicity of the Gospel so am I jealous over poore Christians knowing that you shall meet with men that pretend to be spirituall men of great light wisdome knowledge and deep understandings and when you have dived into the bottome of their spirits this is all you shall find in them which they will labour to draw you to assent unto to wit that there is no resurrection but in the spirit no corporall resurrection of the body at all These are like those of whom the Apostle speaketh in his time that corrupt or deale deceitfully with the word of God The metaphor is borrowed from cheating Vintners or cousening Merchants that adulterate their commodities to make them vendible as Beza doth well observe so these that their horrid opinions and blasphemies may be vendible they endeavour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sophisticate the word and adulterate it from the plaine and simple meaning of the Holy-Ghost Therefore let mee in love to your soules once more desire you that you would be watchfull that none of these draw you away from these truthes of God and the Lord Jesus which have been discovered to you and have been sealed upon your hearts and spirits by his owne blessed Spirit The Devill doth sow the tares of Familisme in mens hearts while they sleep But I am confident that you shall believe them though for a time you may be drawn to question them and the resurrection as those in the 1 Cor. 15. and may be deluded by Familisticall fancies and notions as some good Christians have been yet if God hath laid hold on you and drawne you to him in Christ he will not totally leave you to these damnable opinions If it were possible these Serpents would deceive even the Elect but Christ intimates that it is impossible that they should ever deceive the Elect. And the Apostle when he speakes of such men as these 2 Tim. 2.19 saith that the foundation of the Lord stands sure having this seale of his everlasting election the Lord knoweth who are his Therefore let not men deceive you but live in the light of the Gospel and in that Spirit that is given forth in the Gospel Take heed of these Impostors hug not the Devill in Samuels mantle suffer not the Devill to devoure you in a sheeps skin but walke in the plaine simple path of the Gospel of the Lord Christ And that you may doe this give me leave to give you some few directions for the preserving you in the truth and the securing of you from this infection of Familisme First I wish you to apply your selves to the reading of the Scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation through Faith which is in Christ 2 Tim. 5.15 When these men come unto you it may be they will present you with bookes written in a strange Language stuffed with swelling non-sense and affected phrases that none understand but those that are acquainted with their blasphemous horrid and damnable opinions And will indeavour to lead you from the Scriptures and if yous oppose the truth of Scripture against their delusion some of them will affirme that Peter and Paul when they wrote their Epistles had but a little light were but children they are enlightned men growne up unto the stature of perfection labouring to prove that the bright starre of truth doth shine no where so gloriously as in the old Popish Authors and new Familisticall scriblers which they will present unto you Therefore that you may not be drawne away by these keep to the Scriptures and know that there is no booke in which there is more light then in the Scripture or from which you may expect more light if you looke to God for his spirit to open the mind of God in the reading of it Dulcius ex ipso fonte bibuntur aquae Waters are sweetest at the well-head And truthes doe present themselves most sweetly unto us in the Scripture which is the Well and Fountaine from which other Writers doe fetch the truthes which we find in their writings He that addicts himselfe more to the reading of mens writings then the Scriptures is like one that leaving the Fountaine where the waters are pure had rather drink in the channell where they are impure and muddy Truly if you grow in grace you will grow in liking and approving the holy
on the Crosse was raised from thâ— dead and enemies to the Doctrine of the resurrection which is to be wrought by his power and that you may see how little I regard the speeches of these enemies of Christ and the glorious resurrection of Saints I would not seeme for their sakes to desert my discourse therefore I did resolve to goe on with it this day Then thirdly I apprehend it may much further the worke of the day for if we have remembred God aright in our prayses having made mention of his goodnesse to the Land and Nation we have done it spiritually and have more rejoyced in spirituall then temporall mercies And if our joy should end in rejoycing only for teporal mercies we should rejoyce rather carnally then spiritually Therefore having in the beginning of the day rejoyced for the mercies that God hath shewed to the Land I thinke I shall doe well if I raise you in your spirits by what I shall speake from these words and from the sight of Nationall mercies and temporall deliverances take occasion to draw your eyes to behold by Faith how you and all Saints shall rejoyce when you are delivered from all enemies at the resurrection that so I may sublimate your joy by carrying you higher in â—he spirit to rejoice in the spirituall things spoken of in the text Awake and sing Ye know we expresse our joy by singing as we may gather from that place Psal 126.1 when the Lord turned againe the captivitie â—â— Sion we were like them that dreame then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing Singing in Scripture is an expression of great joy If any be merrie let him sing saith James So my Evangelicall Prophet to shew what great joy there shall bâ— at the resurrection when the bodies of thâ— Saints shal be raised he bids us awake and sing So that this is the point there will be great joy at the resurrection For the amplifying oâ— which point I shall shew you what cause oâ— rejoycing there will be at the resurrection The spirits and the bodies of the Saints will then be reunited together again which were disunited for many yeares And as the Spirit doth with some regret griefe and unwillingnesse leave the bodie having a natural desire and appetite being planted into it by the hand of the Creator after union with the bodie so the spirit cannot but rejoyce when it is united againe to the bodie Therefore you shall find the spirits of Saints under the Altar in the Revelation 6.10 crying How long holy and true intimating their desire to be reunited to their bodies And iâ— 2 Cor. 5.4 The Apostle there shewes us that though the Saints be willing to live with thâ— Lord Jesus Christ yet there is an unwilling nesse in them to leave their bodies therefore they had rather have â—â— mortalitie swallowed up of life then to lay downe their bodies in the grave if it were the will of God We that are in this Tabernacle saith he groane being burthened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life There seemes in these words to be held forth an unwillingnes in the Saints to be uncloathed of their bodies to put off the cloathing of the flesh We observe in Philosophie that there is a naturall appetite in the soule or forme to be united to that bodie that it once informed and as it leaves the bodie with some unwillingnesse so there is a desire of reunion when they are parted so that re-union will be a cause of joy For as there is joy at the meeting of friends so the body and soule that were long together in this world shall rejoyce when they shall meet together againe This is one ground of joy from their meeting the bodie and the spirit shall meet together there shall be a reunion after there hath been a disunion between them But in the next place there will be a cause of great joy because there will be an absolute perfection both in the body and in the soule God shall be perfection in the Spirit in every facultie of it and God in his glory shall dwell likewise in the body The soule shall be full of God here we have but an imperfect knowledge of God there the soule shall be free from all ignorance having the full vision of God Here we see as in a glasse darkly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enigmatically as the Apostle speaks there we shall see face to face Here we do but as it were see the back parts of God with Moses As the Kings of Persia in State used to keep themselves from the sight of the people God doth as it were hide his face here in comparison of the full discovery which hee will make of himselfe hereafter We doe but sip of the cup of spirituall joy here but there wee shall be filled with the rivers of the pleasures of God Here we have as Austin saith guttulas but little drops of joy but there we shall be filled with joy Here we have a sight of God which doth not fully satisfie but still we desire to know more of God and more of the Lord Jesus Christ but there wee shall be satisfied with the likenesse of God as the Apostle saith Col. 3. v. 4. When Christ which is our life shall appeare then we also shall appeare with him iâ— glorie The Apostle saith 1 Joh. 3.2 Yet it doth not appeare what we shall be it is not evident to us what glorie there shall be in oâ—â— understandings how our affections shall be ravished and enamoured with the love of God and the Lord Jesus Christ it doth not appear what shal be in our spirits but we know that when he shall appeare wee shall be like him for wee shall see him as he is O what tongue of Rhetorick can expresse this what it is to be like the Lord Jesus Christ to see him as he is there is more in it then the Eloquence of Angels can set forth unto you As they shall have such unspeakable glory in their spirits so likewise there shall be a glory on their bodies Alas our bodies now are but vile bodies weake bodies but what saith the Apostle Phil. 3. ult God shall change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body or to his body of glory for so it is in the originall As the body of the Lord Jesus Christ at his transfiguration was changed and his face did shine and his whole body did shine with heavenly brightnesse and Celestiall glory so the bodies of the Saints shall be bodies of glory there shall be a heavenly brightnesse on them Therefore Daniel speaking of the Saints at the resurrection hee saith Dan. 12.3 that they that are wise shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and they that turne many to righteousnesse as the Stars of Heaven As the Starres are glorious creatures and the brightnesse of the
in his person we see that wee are conquerours over the Devill in him yet we meet with the Devill his fierie temptations darts and arrowes which he shooteth into our spirits so that he oft-times causeth us to walke something sadly occasioning troubles which Jerome calleth tempestates mentis the tempests of the mind As Paul tells us that he was buffeted by the messenger of Satan But then this wicked Fiend shall be so chained up that he shall never be let loose upon us again Then he shall be so under our feet that hee shall never have any liberty given him to tempt us any more The accuser of the Brethren is cast out of heaven Revelation 12.10 His accusations and complaints against them cannot be heard by the eare of God to prejudice their Justification but he doth persecute the woman upon the earth Rev. 12.13 He afflicts the Church and brings much trouble oft-times to the Saints but at the generall resurrection we shall be freed wholly from the Devill from all temptations from all troubles all enemies that can be thought upon so that then things shall be fully accomplished and compleated for our good The Apostle though he telleth us that Christ for the present hath abolished death and sinne to us 2 Tim. 1.10 and destroyed him who hath the power of death who is the Devill Heb. 2.14 yet he informeth us that the promises of God made to us in Christ are not fully accomplished compleated and perfected till the resurrection as wee may see by that place 1 Cor. 15.54 then shall be fulfilled that saying speaking of the resurrection day Death is swallowed up in victory then if shall be said O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then shall it be that is it shall be in the full accomplishment wee have now what is there promised in the promise of God by Faith then wee shall have what is in the promise in the actuall fruition of the thing promised So that in this respect there will be great joy because then every Saint shall ride in a Chariot of triumph as a Conquerour of all enemies in his own person And as Christ in his owne body and Spirit did ride to Heaven and triumph over the power of Hell Death sinne curse and condemnation and as the life that we live for the present is by beholding this victory of the Lord Jesus Christ with the eye of Faith so at the generall resurrection all the Saints shall imitate the Lord Jesus Christ and in their owne persons shall ride as Conquerours triumphing over all enemies and shall live the life of vision seeing the same thing done in their owne persons which now by Faith they see done for them in the person of Jesus So that all cause and occasion of trouble and sorrow being taken away there must needs be great joy at the resurrection of those who are raised by the Lord. In the next place as the occasions and causes of all sorrow shall be taken away so likewise all things all objects that may move spirituall joy shall be presented to the Saints to raise their spirits to a spirituall joy who shall be raised and made happy with the Lord Jesus whatsoever it be that can be thought upon that can make any one happy that the Saints shal enjoy they shal enjoy God in a full measure and the Lord Jesus Sweet streames of joy will flow into their spirits because God will make himselfe the Author and worker of their joy Sing O daughter os Sion saith the Prophet Zeph. 3.14 Be glad and rejoyce O daughter of Jerusalem But why must Zion sing and shout behold the reason in the 15. verse The Lord is in the midst of thee and in the 17. ver He will rejoyce over thee with singing There is the chiefe ground of their joy laid downe So the 12. of Neh. 43. it is said the people rejoyced for God made them rejoyce with great joy So at the resurrection God shall make them to rejoyce they shall be alway then at the Fountaine at the Well-head In thy presence is fulnesse of joy at thy right hand saith the Psalmist Psal 17.11 there are pleasures for evermore All the Saints shall then bee in the presence and at the right hand of God where there shall be pleasures for evermore they all shall be in the glory of the Lord Jesus God shall emptie himselfe and the rivers and streames of joy which are in himself into their hearts and spirits so that they shall be swallowed up into those streames and rivers of joy and pleasure which are in the enjoyment of a God Macarius speaketh of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ebriety of the Spirit They then shall be inebriated with the fulnesse of a spirituall joy If there be such rejoycing here in the spirit of a Saint when he hath a light from God to see something of God in the face of Christ what spirituall joy shall there be when our joy shall be at the full If there be such joy in the ebbing of the Spirit here what joy will there be when we shall enjoy the high-tyde of the Spirit in the vision of Gods grace and glory hereafter when wee shall eat of the tree of life when wee shall drinke our fill of those rivers of pleasures which runne in the Paradise of God And if there be so much sweetnesse in spirituall joy here what tongue can expresse or heart conceive what there shall be in that joy that shall be hereafter Great glorious and high are the expressions by which Saints doe set forth the joyes that they feele here but no Saint can tell what the joyes shall be hereafter at the resurrection Psal 94.19 In the multitude of my thoughts within mee thy comforts delight my soule the delight is such here that David had rather have the light of Gods countenance in a Spirit of joy upon him then to enjoy all the glory and great things in the world Thou hast put greater joy into my heart then when the corne and wine of wicked men is increased Psal 4. and in Psal 84. One day in thy house is worth a thousand If there be such joy in the presence of God here in the beholding of his grace in the kisses of his mouth in the imbraces of his Sonne when he doth now sprinkle us with his grace O what joy shall there be when God shall poure out the Spirit of grace and sweetnesse into our soules when he shall open all the treasures of his Spirit and love when hee shall more freely and fully shew us the things that neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what they are 1 Cor. 2. Wee have seene great things in the world Crownes Scepters riches worldly pomp and glory but what are all these things they doe not shadow forth the things that wee see here in the Spirit
not required but forbidden God doth not bid us to worke but he forbids us to worke for justification It is not he that worketh that is justified but he that worketh not but beleeveth in him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is accounted for righteousnesse Rom. 4.5 When the Apostle presseth men to beleeve and perswadeth them to entertaine the doctrine of grace that he preached in those Exhortations there is a vertuall forbidding of working for life When he bids them onely to beleeve Act. 16.3 it is as much as if he had bid them not to work Consonant to that speech of his A man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Christ Gal. 2.16 He excludeth works that he may establish men in the doctrine of faith and prohibiteth working for justification Lastly We are not to desire the presence of good works that we may be justified A man is not onely to goe thus farre to be convinced that he is not justified by works but he is to be convinced of this that the presence of good works are not needfull and necessary to him when he comes to God for justification I am not onely to professe that my works have no influence into my justification or are the cause of it but that good works in the presence of them are not needfull and necessary to justification Good works are inefficatious to justification and not needfull to be present in the person that is to be justified Here some flie off from the truth they acknowledge that we are not justified by works yet they require the presence of good works in the person who is to be justified But God when he efficatiously works upon us convinceth us that not onely our good works have no causalitie in justification but likewise convinceth us that there is no necessitie for the presence of good works in us before justification And this is cleare because when the Spirit comes he shews us that we are to come to the throne of grace not as men already made righteous and holy but as men unrighteous and unholy to be made holy by Jesus Christ So that good works are not necessary as a qualification or disposition in the person to be justified This is that glorious Gospel which carnall reason cannot apprehend mans learning cannot reach which the worlds wisdome accounteth foolishnesse and which the Devill and worldly men will alwayes oppose and persecute What saith the zealous Pharisee Will the God of love justifie him that hates him Will the God of justice sitting upon the throne pronounce the sinner guiltlesse Yea Pharisee he will What saith the Scripture He justifieth the ungodly What is an ungodly man but he that hates God that is an enemy to God that doth not for the present love God And when a man looks to his grace he must looke on himselfe as an unrighteous as an unholy ungodly man He is not bound to come as the Pharisee but as the Publicane He is not to come thus qualified I love God and the people of God I desire to obey God I am thus qualified therefore I shall be justified and no sinfull man that hath not these qualifications to fit him for justification God bids sinners while they are in their bloud to live Ezek. 16.6 Christ cometh to call sinners to repentance or changednesse of heart by the discoveries of grace For God doth not command us to come as men loving him or loving his people that we may be justified but when we see our selves sinners ungodly and the chiefe of sinners then he commands us to come to the throne of grace and offers justification and salvation to us freely without works as Paul saith This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe 1 Tim. 1.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the first of sinners so it is in the Greek Primus non tempore sed malignitate The first not in time but in sin and malignitie This is the truth which Paul preached and which he accounted not onely worthy of acceptation but all acceptation for the sweetnesse and excellency of it If other truths are worthy of acceptation this is worthy of all acceptation If a man seeth that he hath a heart that will not suffer him to love God that he hates the people of God yet heareth the Gospel preached that there is grace offered to sinners to the chiefe of sinners if this man beleeve if he come and trust the grace of God he hath as good an assurauce for heaven as heaven can give as God gives to any that he intends to save and make happy with himselfe to eternitie By this wee see that wee are not to bring good works because their presence is not necessarily required Though wee see all evill present with us and all good absent wee may rest upon the promises of grace for justification which is the plaine direct way to true and perfect holinesse Now in the next place I shall give you considerations to prove that wee are not justified by works that are done after conversion This will appeare as clearly as that which I have delivered concerning the needlesnesse of the works of the Law for our justification before our justification The first reason which I shall lay down is this Those things are not the cause of justification which follow justification and true faith but good works follow justification and true faith therefore good works are not the causes of justification The cause precedes the effect good works are the effect of justification right reason therefore will teach us that they cannot precede justification The worke of the justification of a sinner is done compleated before works are done and therefore works can have no hand in our justification That old rule is as old as the doctrine of justification and as true as it is old Bona operanon praecedunt justificandū sed sequuntur justificatū Good works doe not precede in the person who is to be justified but follow the person that is justified From which it will follow that a man is not justified for good works that follow faith because he is justified before he hath those good works good works in order of nature following true faith true faith working by love Gal. 5.6 I am not to love that I may beleeve but I must beleeve Gods love that I may love God Joh. 4.19 Wee love him because he first loved us Wee are first purged from dead works by beleeving and then wee serve the living God Heb. 9.14 God hath sworn that justification shall goe before sanctification Luk. 1.73 He first delivereth us from our sinnes our soules deadly enemies and then wee serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse as Zachariah being filled with the holy Spirit doth sweetly powre forth the holy water of this soule-refreshing truth Luk. 1.74 75. Redemption doth antecede
purification He hath redeemed us from all iniquitie to purifie us to himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good works Faith which looketh upon the grace of him who is invisible is the mother-grace Radix bonorum operum fides Faith is the roote good works are the fruit there must be the roote before the fruit But some man may say may wee not see the fruit before wee see the roote as wee see some fruit upon trees while the root lies hid and from the beholding of the fruit may wee not very rationally conclude that there is a root so from the beholding of our good works the fruit of true faith may wee not conclude that there is faith though it be not in it selfe visible unto us To this I answer That this similitude proves not the thing for though it be a truth that good works may appeare first to men yet faith is first visible to us in our own spirits and it is impossible that I should see the truth of good works except I first see the truth of faith Evident sanctification doth evidence unto us the truth of our justification but sanctification is not evident our justification being not evidenced to us in the first place If it be manifested in our spirits to us that our works are good it will presently be manifested unto us that we have true faith But this is not manifested in our spirits that our works are truly good works and such which cannot be done by an hypocrite untill the truth of our faith be manifested unto us I will make this evident by this reason A man must see his good works as done either under the Law or under the Gospel and look upon them either in the glasse of the Law or the glasse of the Gospel if a man look upon them in the glasse of the Law and doe rightly and spiritually understand the Law he shall be so farre from drawing an assurance of his justification from them that he shall behold himself cursed and damned with all his good works For the Law curseth every man that cōtinueth not in the doing of all things which are commanded by God It is indeed a divine looking-glasse in which things to be done or avoyded are discovered Lex est divinum speculū in quo facienda fugienda refulgent Aug. but it will sentence us to death for the least spot or wrinkle which it doth discover so that it is impossible that a man should see himselfe justified in the glasse of the Law But thou wilt say he may look upon his love sinceritie and works in the glasse of the Gospel And to this I answer that if he look upon them in the glasse of the Gospel which is Jesus Christ then he must put himselfe under the Gospel and look upon himselfe as a man in Christ that so he may see his works good by Jesus Christ which he will never be able to see without the eye of faith which seeth things invisible Heb. 11. and by which wee look upon Christ 1 Joh. 2.1 dwell in Christ Ephes 3.17 Live in Christ Gal. 2.19 And doe living works acceptable to God by the life of Christ in us Heb. 11.4 By faith with open face wee behold as in a glasse the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same Image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3.18 and see that our good works are the effects of Christs love discovered in himselfe and in his Gospel to our soules And therefore when John doth informe us that we shall know that wee know him if we keep his Commandement He doth propose beleeving as the first Commandement of God without which we cannot assure our selves that we are obedient to his other commands 1 Joh. 3.23 This is his commandement that we beleeve in him whom he hath sent Good works after a man hath faith are not the cause of justification but the consequent they follow a mans justification they doe not precede the act of justification they neither precede the act of Gods grace by which he justifieth a sinner neither doe they precede justification in the Court of Conscience But being justified by faith we have peace Rom. 5.1 in our Consciences This was the doctrine which was frequently preached by those heavenly Carpenters which did first strike at the hornes of the beast Vt dilectio oriatur necesse est praecedere fidem hoc est fiducia misericordiae It is necessary saith Melancthon that faith which is a confidence of Gods morcy doe precede love And in another place Non nititur fides nostra dilectione sed tantum misericordia promissa ut constat nec existere dilectio potest nisi sit apprehensa remissio Faith is not grounded upon our love but the promised mercy of God so that it is manifest that there cannot be true love unlesse remission of sinnes be first apprehended Another reason is from the imperfection of workes wrought by a man after he is justified If any man that is justified look on his works and doe not behold them in the glasse of the Gospel he shall reade his own condemnation for his works There is an imperfection in our works seeing wee doe not love God so perfectly as we should with all our heart all our minde and all our spirit but while the regenerate part through the power of the Spirit runs after God and loves God the fleshly part runneth after sinne and hates God Therefore seeing there is such imperfection in the works that we performe that the best of us are unprofitable servants and that the most holy amongst us doe that for which he may be damned every day if God should not deale with us in the Gospel but in the Law it will follow that a man cannot be justified by the works that he doth after he hath faith and is converted doth works which are wrought by the Spirit of grace It may here be objected that the good works of Saints are perfect For an answer to this I referre the Reader to what shall be delivered from those words That he which is borne of God sinneth not I come now to the next Consideration which is this That wee are not justified by the practise of any Gospel-Ordinances which are commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ There are some who it may be are convinced that they are not justified by works yet I know not what new kinde of Popery they have found out for they thinke to please God by submitting to Ordinances and finding out the true Discipline and government of Christs Church therefore you shall finde a kinde of spirit of bondage in them if they be not satisfied concerning the true discipline government Ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore I shall endeavour to demonstrate this and shew clearly that as we are not justified by works before or after conversion so we are not justified and saved by the submitting to any Ordinance of the Lord Jesus Christ Salvation is not in