upon the Cross The loss of blood and the anguish and pain the nails in his feet and in his hands kill'd him he died there his soul separated from his body he cryed with a loud voice and gave up the Ghost so he was put to death in the Flesh that is as to his human Nature That is plain The following words have more difficulty in them But quickned by the Spirit What 's the meaning of quickned And what 's here meant by Spirit that we must enquire into because it will tend to open the difficulty that lies in the following words Quickned as the Greek hath it Vivificatus autem spiritu made alive which is of the same import with quickned he died as to his human Nature but he did not continue in a state of death but was made alive again Christ that died for sinners was made alive What was made alive That which was dead What was dead The man Christ so that that which died for our sins was made alive again that is raised from the dead that 's the meaning of it There 's nothing can be made alive but that which was dead The Apostle useth this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for to signifie the Resurrection of the body and therefore in reason it may signifie so in this place 1 Cor. 15.22 For as in Adam all died so in Christ shall all be made alive 'T is the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made alive that is they shall be raised from the Grave So here Christ died as to the flesh but he was made alive that is he was raised from the dead Raised How was he raised it follows In or by the Spirit What Spirit is here Why it is that Spirit that did efficiently raise him he was quickned in or by the Spirit Now by this Spirit say the Papists is meant the human Soul of Christ For this reason it cannot be meant of the Soul of Christ because that the Soul of Christ being a creature could never quicken could never raise the dead body of Christ For Christ was perfect God and perfect Man as he was Man he had a Soul and body his Soul and body were creatures and though the Spirit or Soul of Christ was an excellent pure holy Soul without sin yet it was not God and had not an Almighty power None but God could raise the dead therefore the soul of Christ could never raise the body of Christ What was it then It must then be the Holy Ghost it must be the Spirit of God which is God which is Almighty that can raise the dead and did raise the dead Christ For what reason do I think that by Spirit is here meant the Holy Ghost Why I will tell you Because all the Miracles that Christ or his Apostles did whether they healed the sick whether they raised the dead or cast out Devils were all attributed to the Spirit of God to the Holy Spirit of Christ And therefore no wonder if the very Resurrection of Christ be given unto the Spirit of God And if I mistake not that is the meaning or the import of the Apostle in Rom. 1.3 4 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness Holiness in the abstract that is by the Greeks commonly used for the concrete and you may read it thus According to the Holy Ghost he was declared to be the Son of God with power with the power of the Holy Ghost by the Resurrection from the dead he was raised by the Spirit of God by which all works of Miracles were wrought or done by Christ and his Apostles he was raised from the dead by this Spirit And now That which follows will be somewhat clear For if by being made alive is to be understood the Resurrection of Christs human Nature and by the Spirit that raised that human Nature is to be meant the Holy Ghost then proceeds by which or in which he went and preached He went Who went Christ went By which Spirit by which Holy Ghost he went and preached to the spirits in prison Why did Christ the Son of God preach to the old world before he came in the flesh Yes How By his Spirit What immediately No but by Noah for he was a preacher of righteousness Why all the Prophets they had their Prophetical gifts and they had them all from the Spirit of Christ 2 Pet. 2.5 And spared not the old world but saved Noah the eighth person a preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly You must know all the preachers under the Gospel have their gifts from the Spirit the Spirit is employed in sending them out the Spirit assisteth them the Spirit said Seperate me Barnabas and Saul It was the Spirit which sent all the Prophets out the Spirit of Christ sent out Noah made him his Preacher So then by this Spirit of Christ Noah preached or Christ preached in Noah To whom To the Spirits in prison that is to the souls of those wicked men that are now in prison that were in prison at the time when Peter did write When God drowned the world that was not all their bodies lay floating upon the great Sea but their souls went down into Hell Well but say you Did Christ by his Spirit preach to them after they went to Hell No. They were preached to when they were sometime disobedient in the times of Noah as in the verse following the Spirits in prison that were sometime disobedient Disobedient to whom To the Spirit When In the time of Noah for they disobeyed Noah regarded not his preaching nor the building of the Ark looked upon him as a mad-man they took not the warning and were swallowed up in the flood and are now in prison for their disobedience they were disobedient to the Spirit of Christ in Noah The Papists by the Spirits in prison they would perswade you is to be meant a Limbus Patrum as they call it a middle state between Heaven and Hell wherein the Patriarchs were held until the time that Jesus Christ died and that when Christ was dead and his body in the grave for that three days and nights that Christ in his soul did descend into this Limbus and there did preach himself unto the soul of Abraham of Isaac and Jacob and the rest of those good Spirits that were alive in former days and took them out of that state and carried them to Heaven Thus say the Papists this is their Interpretation First But this is not to be believed because the Apostle speaks of such Spirits that were disobedient not of the Spirits of the Fathers for the very Papists themselves speak of no Spirits in their Limbus but only good Spirits But the Apostle in this place speaks of none but disobedient Spirits Secondly 'T is a vain Interpretation
theirs who have made a covenant with hell and with death and cry a short life and a sweet who forget they have souls while they thus speak and resolve and will not believe there is a God till they wish for rocks and mountains to fall upon them to hide them from him nor believe there is a hell till they feel it O what a deep sense had the Apostle Paul of the misery and immergent ruins of his Country-men Rom. 10.1 His hearts desire unto God for them was that they might be saved he could wish himself accursed that they might escape I know no man more like-minded to him than this Servant of God who is with the Lord who delighted in nothing no work in the world like plucking brands out of the fire saving men from hell and sending men and women before him to heaven if he could I hope the impression upon my heart from the consideration of that incomparable transport of his Soul in the Preaching the last Sermon as if he had known his time was so short and that Sermon his last shall still remain fresh upon me After Sermon I told him of it and he told me His heart was carried out with zeal and pity that he could not keep to method but he could not help it All that knew him can bear him witness that he was able to write or speak for matter and form gratefully to any but he studied plainness and therefore purposely declined great Auditories to my knowledg a clear proof of his meek and self-denying spirit Gain-say it who can He sought not honour from men whilst alive and now he is dead let his own Works praise him in the gates If any should enquire why or who call'd me to interpose these few rude lines I only say It is pia fraus to steal an opportunity to testifie more publickly the great veneration I have for the name of this holy man who indeed was one of the Sons of Davids Worthies As also to signifie my longing after the Souls happiness of all that were his ordinary Hearers Whom again I beseech to read and afterwards to ponder who and what moved him to speak his heart in these last words unto them if peradventure God may give them repentance unto life by the Ministry of him who not only saved himself but shall then save also them that heard him A.P. 1 Peter III. the later part of the 18 the 19 and part of the 20 Verse Being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the Spirit By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison Which sometimes were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was a preparing IN the opening of this portion of Scripture we will First Consider its Scope and then we will consider the words themselves and give you a short Explication thereof and then we shall draw that Practical Observation from them which the Lord bless unto your Edification As for the Scope of them in the former part of the 18 Verse I have shewed you how the Apostle was acquainting us with the great benefit that sinners do receive from the death of Christ that I have already opened to you Christ hath once sufferd for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God Now in the following Verses the Apostle passeth on from the death of Christ unto the life of Christ and shews that we have not only benefit by a Christ dying but by a Christ living For Christ is our Saviour both ways We are saved by his death meritoriously we are saved by his life as he lives for to see the purchased-blessings of his death made good to us Now the Apostle in these words I have already read considereth the life of Christ two ways First With respect to the world before he came in the flesh with respect to the old World above Two thousand years before he came in the flesh Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God was alive then yea before the World was he was alive and was God blessed for ever by him the World was made To the old World even that world that was destroyed by the Flood to that world he was a Saviour by designation and he took care of them The care of mankind from the fall hath been deposited in the hands of Christ he hath taken care of sinners from the fall of man into sin Then Secondly The Apostle does speak of the advantages that the Church hath by a living-Christ upon his Resurrection from the dead as he speaks in the 21 v. The figure whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us then there comes in a Parenthesis How does Baptism save us Why by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ When he was on earth he preached the Gospel promised pardon and salvation to the penitent believing sinner and died for him when he had done preaching and arose from the dead and is gone to Heaven to make good every word We are now upon the consideration of the benefits that the old World had from Christ above two thousand years before Christ was born in the flesh Why what was the benefit that the old World had Why Christ by his Spirit did send Noah a Preacher of righteousness to preach repentance to the old Word the Spirit of Christ was in Noah by which Spirit Noah Prophesied of the destruction of the world By which Spirit he was directed to build the Ark to prepare for himself and those that should repent for that time that the Floold should come upon the world Christ by his Spirit preached then to that world of sinners that were drowned then and not only drowned but their spirits damn'd which was for disobeying Christ for disobeying the Spirit of Christ in Noah Having now given you the Scope of the place we shall proceed according to that light I have to give you the understanding of the words and phrases of this Scripture for it seemeth to be a Scripture that is not without its difficulties We will begin at the First First What it is to be put to death in the flesh that we must enquire into Secondly What is it to be quickned by the Spirit What does the Apostle understand hereby Thirdly What is this preaching What are Fourthly These Spirits that are in prison And what 's the prison And so we shall take in what follows in its order Being put to death in the flesh Who put to death Christ By whom By the unbelieving wicked Jews they were his accusers Put to death in the flesh by whom By Pontius Pilate as his Judg. Put to death in the flesh by whom Why by those Executioners that were employed by Pontius Pilate to see him Crucified The Jews Pontius Pilate and the Soldiers put him to death Put to death in the flesh What 's that That is after he was made flesh he was put to death as he was man he hung
have led them to repentance and at length the threatned Judgment came upon them and they were drowned all but eight persons This is not all God did not only destroy their bodies but likewise we read here in the Apostle Peter their Spirits were laid in prison in the infernal Prison of Hell for their disobedience to the voice of Christ Having already spoken to this The Doctrine that I raised from this was That those wicked men while they are in their bodies that will not obey the voice of Christ in his Ministers but live and die impenitently their souls by the righteous judgment of God shall be condemned unto the prison of Hell For what is said of this old world will be verified of every impenitent sinner here that dieth in his impenitent state Lord who is it that does believe thy report Few sinners the Lord knows do regard it God knows his word is little believed We do as little believe these things now as the old world did and as the flood came upon them before they were aware so the spirits of some here God knows as Jeremy said I do not desire to see that evil day may be in these Prisons before they believe them Death sinners is coming which will drag you to the Tribunal of Christ and assuredly Christ will do you justice I say he will do you justice He that will be faithful to his promises that he makes to believers that obey the Gospel he will be faithful to do justice to those that are disobedient He will give you all your Mittimus's he will lay you fast enough and when he hath laid the Chains on take them off if you can I know through your unbelief what I say seems to you but as a Fable So did the drowning of the world appear to be but they found it true and so will you if ye repent not It amazeth me my Brethren when my faith at any time is but raised to the close of these truths of God it amazeth me to look upon your faces to see how indifferently you look how carelesly you look you look up-and-down this place as if these things did not concern you but the reason of it is you do not believe your unbelief ruins you and will ruin you for ever What man that really was in his wits and did believe a Hell would venture upon those sins that will certainly bring him thither But you slatter your selves in your unbelief that there is no punishment to the wicked nor reward to the godly and so you go on in sin These things are true my Brethren your Consciences must bear me witness they are true No man or woman that are in their wits and did really believe an eternal Torment that is laid up for the disobedient to the Gospel but they would obey be-times they would not go on hardening their hearts against God but you do not believe We shall presently make some enquiry into the reasons of it We come now to the other part wherein you have an account of a few that are saved A few Lord What a few Eight persons out of a world of men and women I do not know but the world at that time was as full of men and women as it is now for the world was at that time about Fifteen hundred years old and they lived many years so that it is likely that there was a very numerous company of people and that there were great Cities and great Kingdoms upon the earth What a strange thing is it that of a world of people there should be found but eight persons that would believe a God! And yet 't is certainly so there was but eight persons saved all the rest were drowned for their disobedience to the voice of the Spirit of Christ in Noah Why were no more saved Because there did no more believe They did not believe that God was in good-earnest they did not believe that God would send the flood as Noah threatned they looked upon Noah as a mad-man to build an Ark they knew not for what Just so does the world now they look upon poor humble believing Christians as a company of melancholy distracted persons that look sadly and pray much and weep much and hear much and are afraid of sinning and all this while they are but busie about their Ark and they cry what a stir is here that these people make I will tell you what the meaning of it is why this world is to be burned and these poor souls are providing against the burning of the world The wicked must be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God and these poor praying humble Christians do believe fear and tremble and that is the reason that they live not as you live but take that care that they do to prepare against that great day of the Lord. And were not you desperately blind and foolish you would do so too There were eight persons saith Peter saved Which were they All of one Family Noah and his Wife there was the three Sons of Noah and their three Wives Gen. 7.7 eight persons in one family they were saved they were saved from the deluge they were saved from being drowned God knows whether all these were saved from hell too of these eight For of these Shem Ham and Japhet there was one of these Sons Ham that did laugh at his fathers nakedness and God afterwards cursed him so that whether he was eternally saved is not a thing certain unto us But this is sure all these eight persons did believe the deluge would come or else they would not have entred into the Ark for if any of them had looked upon it as a meer old doting fancy of their father they would have been ashamed to have gone into the Ark but at the set-time before it began to rain they all went therefore they all did believe the word of the Lord that the deluge would come It 's true they received an encouragement by the miraculous bringing of all creatures into the Ark to save them alive Wherein few eight persons were saved by water Saved by water there may be a double sense By water as an instrument for that very water that was the instrument of destruction to the enemies of God became a means of salvation to these eight persons for it bore up that Ark wherein the lives of these eight persons were It may be rendered Thus again But they were saved by or through water saved through the danger of water carried in the Ark through or upon the water The Observation that I raise from it is this That though many have the means of Salvation offered them yet there are but few that make use of these means and do obtain Salvation by them The old World had the means as those eight persons had the same means they were told of it they were a hundred years told of it God waited long enough there were many had the
his Calling and Election sure Sirs tell us as Christians or at least as men what faith and reason and humane love command us to do in such a case shall we forbear or speak to them in formality as on a stage as if we were Players and not Preachers and would perswade them not to believe what we say should we let them alone be damned and take it for our excuse that they or others were unwilling of our labours Shall we pretend charity and hope that they have already enough to save them while we see not so much as knowledg or any love to Holiness nor forsaking of mortal sin nor any serious care of their Salvation Is it the office of Charity to further mens delusion and damnation If we believed not another life our selves and that there is a God who will reward them and only them that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 we would quickly renounce this ungrateful Ministry and Work we would wish that all the Preachers in the world were silenced and that the people would better use their Tythes than to maintain such troublers of the world But God hath shined into our minds with the heavenly convincing light He hath given us the first fruits and pledg of Glory We believe a Heaven and a Hell and the absolute necessity of a holy and heavenly mind and life and we know why we do believe it Here we have upon our sober consideration laid up all our hopes and comforts and what should we perswade our neighbours to chuse but that which God hath taught us to chuse our selves And wo to him that ever he was born that maketh not this choice and taketh not the Heavenly Glory for his portion And now Reader I have told thee why such Ministers so live and labour as our Brother did and why I commend to thee his Example and these Sermons The Lord perswade you to use what is given thee Richard Baxter Decemb. 18. 1676. To those who were Hearers of these Two Sermons especially such of them who yet continue in their Security I Would hope if not the bare reading yet the due considering the Title prefixed to this little Book would cause at least this reflection It is high time now to awake out of sleep they are secure sinners indeed who after a Boanerges hath sounded his Trumpet as loud as Thunder till his breath was stopt especially considering his last breath was shrillest of all will not be awakened God forbid the Judgment threatned Isa 29.10 should be the sad fate of any that heard him I will pour out saith God the spirit of a deep sleep upon them Every word of which threatning is terrible Sleep deep sleep the spirit of a deep sleep and then the pouring out the spirit of a deep sleep It affected me to think that this holy man of God when he went up and took his Farwel in the Pulpit should as it were go to the top of lofty Nebo and though from thence as to his own particular he had as clear a view as â—ny ever within my forty years observation had of the Holy Land not that of Caanan which flowed with Milk and Honey but that which Stephen saw Acts 7 yet should be directed by his Text and assisted with such a mighty presence with so great authority to warn sinners as if he saw a flood coming upon them that would drown them else suddenly in perdition and when he had done that he should come down as Moses did and die as soon it may be as he did and without a may-be go to Heaven as Moses did My friends whom I love pity and pray for 't is true we have now no new Revelations no infallible predictions but Verba novissima the last words of so well qualified a Watchman a man so solid self-denying so holy and heavenly that it was even natural to him to be so I say the words of such a dying Minister methinks should be always sounding in your ears My friends get you into the Ark for the flood is a coming repent quickly else if you be not drowned you may be burnt you will be damned Read seriously these Sermons and give slumber to thine eyes before thou hast smote upon thy breast and cried God be merciful to thee a sinner if thou canst The great wonder-working God who of old smote the Rock to fetch water in abundance reward thee who ever thou art that wilt seriously read over and over this warm discourse with smiting thy rocky heart till thou canst read no longer for weeping bitterly I have called it a warm Discourse which is no impertinent or insignificant adjunct when people are in bed and the house the while a fire about their ears I think he speaketh best who speaks loudest to awaken them This servant of God now knows and feels whether speaking as he spake to reach hearts not tickle ears or humour fancies was not better than the rarest composure of any Tertullus in the World Sinners sinners it is more than two Months since this holy Saint who hath turn'd preaching to men into praising God with Angels and with the heavenly Inhabitants preached these Sermons Are you yet in your sins could you have thought you should live so long and not be cut down like dead trees for the fire of Tophet and do you presume still what curse and swear be drunk and debauched still What is the spirit of the old world in you will ye take no warning you do not take your selves to be bruits not to have immortal souls and yet you will not act like men Reason as well as the Word of God doth tell you you are the worst and dearest purchasers in all the world to give a soul for sin is the maddest bargain that ever was made the eternal happiness of the soul for the dirty pleasure of sin for a season O let not the Devil jear and reproach you in hell for this folly Is there not a merciful God that would forgive and forget all that is past if you would even now to day fully without any hesitation return to him would not his bosom be open to receive you should not you find a father that would fall upon your neck and kiss you as well as the prodigal did To you God crys upon you God waits that he may be gracious to you O ye simple ones how long will ye love simplicity Turn ye at my rebuke and I will pour out my spirit upon you though your sins were as scarlet I 'le make them as white as snow Turn ye turn ye why will you die Will you not be made clean when shall it once be What would you have God say more to encourage penitent sinners to perswade men to cease loving their lusts which will else damn their souls But if you will be deceived by the Devil and will gratifie your lusts for a moment though you die eternally for it I must tell you such a resolution is like
because if that their Limbus or middle state is only a receptacle of good Spirits Why they needed not to have preaching after their death to them because they believed while they were upon the earth and if they believed whilst upon the earth they were justified and if they were justified their sins were taken away and what then should keep them out of Heaven 'T is a very impertinent thing to think that Christ should go into their Limbus to preach faith to them that have believed already Thirdly Their Interpretation dependeth much upon the interpreting the Spirit by which he was quickned interpreting that to be meant of his soul But if that cannot be meant of his soul but of the Holy-Ghost then their notion falls to the ground for they read it thus Christ was dead in the body but kept alive in his soul by which he went and preached unto these Fathers in their Limbo Lastly The Scripture is plain that Christ did not go down into any such middle-state for he said to the Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise This can't be any middle-state where Paul said He saw and heard things that were unutterable Well then this is that the Apostle meaneth that those Spirits that are now in prison were sometime alive in the body as we and they heard the preaching of the Spirit of Christ in Noah but for their disobedience they were taken off by the flood and their souls were laid up in Hell as in a prison Now the Doctrine shall be this That the Spirits or souls of wicked men when they die they shall as prisoners of Gods justice be dragged out of their bodies and by the righteous sentence of God shall be laid up in the prison of Hell for their disobedience unto the Spirit of Christ that preacheth in his Ministers All this is contained in the words In the opening of it there are these things I shall speak to First What are these Prisoners Spirits Secondly How are these Prisoners carried away to their Prison By death as those of the old world were by a death caused by the flood Thirdly What 's this prison Hell Fourthly What 's the cause of their commitment Disobedience disobedience to the voice of the Spirit of Christ in his Ministers Lastly Here is the justness of the Sentence implied for inasmuch as they are Gods prisoners so they are prisoners that are justly imprisoned I pray God by what you and I hear of it this day it may never be any of our lots that you and I may never prove any of these dreadful Prisoners First What are these Prisoners Spirits Souls those immortal Souls that live and abide in you while you are in this world Your bodies they are like houses that are made up of clay of earth but a house is not without its Tenant God hath made no body but he hath made it for a Tenant Every human body hath his Tenant What 's that The Soul the Spirit It is that immortal Spirit that is in you by which you live move act reason by which you see hear walk all the motions that are seen or done by any part of you come from the Spirit from the Soul And as it is with an old house or any house if it be pull'd down the Tenant goes out of doors if it be fir'd down the Tenant steps out of doors and perhaps on the other side of the street looking upon his house burning down The house is burnt but the Tenant's alive So it is with you when these bodies of clay of yours fall are they drowned with these of the old world should they be burnt should they fall by a Fever or any other way your souls like Tenants they come out That living spirit in you comes out you give up the Ghost give up the Spirit The body returns saith Solomon to the earth your Spirit returns to God to be judged This is the Prisoner But O what a sad Prisoner is the soul of a wicked man when stript of his body He is a naked Prisoner and a friendless Prisoner which are two sad circumstances of a prisoner When God sendeth the Serjeant death and seizeth upon the spirit of a wicked man knocks at the door of his body the body is fast bolted locked no getting in What does death do breaks down the Body pulls it about his ears sometime death drowns him sometime death hangs him sometime stabs him sometimes he goes to Sea and is cast away sometimes a Cart goes over him and so the poor soul of the wicked man is arrested death lays hold of him and drags him away to the Tribunal of God and there is he in a naked condition naked of the world naked of his body A poor thing When a wicked mans spirit is in the world he hath a house a body and out of his body he hath the casements of his eyes to look through and hath some kind of enjoyment in his meats and drinks But when death comes he pulls down the house about his ears and the soul 's drag'd away and there is no more the light of the Sun no more eating and drinking no more the delights of the flesh He is like the malefactor that hath committed some great crime and the Prince sends the Officers and they surround the house and break it open and drag him away in his shirt and won't give him time to put on his cloaths This is a sad sight Just so will thy wicked soul O thou wicked man be dragged away without shirt or hose or shoe out of the house of thy body And when the poor prisoner the spirit of a wicked man is sent by death to the Tribunal of God he is in a friendless condition If a man is Arrested for debt there may be some composition some good neighbours may come and say Pray have pity he is a poor man he cannot pay you he will pay you when he can I will lay down somewhat for him you have such a thing as that is here that saves the poor man from prison But alas thou poor wicked soul that wouldest take no warning but hast been disobedient to the Gospel when death comes with a Commission from God from Christ the great Judg of quick and dead he seizeth upon thee draggeth thee away and perhaps when thou art dragging away thou lookest about what can I have no friend to intercede for me O for a little more time to repent in A little more time to pay my debts in What will none lay down a ransome for me No No. Thou wicked man while thou art in the body Jesus Christ comes often in his Ministers saying to thee Thou wicked sinner thou art ten thousand Talents in debt Come sinner believe in me repent of thy sins against me and I will pay all thy debts I will discharge them all but thou poor rebel wouldest not hearken to it but thou wouldest go on and run farther and farther