with other Martyrs that were bound with Cords to Execution and he for his dignity was not bound he cryed give me my Chain too let me be a Knight of the same order Disgrace it self is honourable when 't is endured for the Lord of glory And surely there is as one phraseth it a little Paradise a young Heaven in sufferings for Christ. If there were nothing else in it but that they are endured on his account it would richly reward all we can endure for him but if we consider how exceeding kind Christ is to them that count it their glory to be abased for him that though he be alwaies kind to his people yet if we may so speak he overcometh himself in kindness when they suffer for him it should make men in Love with his reproaches Inference 5. If Christ sate not down to rest in Heaven till he had finished his work on earth then 't is in vain for us to think of rest till we have finished our work as Christ also did his How willing are we to find rest here To dream of that which Christ never found in this world nor any ever found before us O think not of resting till you have done working and done sinning Your life and your labours must end together Write saith the Spirit blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 Here you must have the Sweat and there the Sweet 'T is too much to have two Heavens Here you must be content to dwell in the Tents of Keder hereafter you shall be within the curtains of Solomon Heaven is the place of which it may be truly said That there the weary be at rest O think not of sitting down on this side Heaven There are four things will keep the Saints from sitting down on earth to rest viz. Grace Corruptions Devils and wicked men First Grace will not suffer you to rest here Its tendencies are beyond this world It will be looking and longing for the blessed hope A gratious person takes himself for a Pilgrim seeking a better Country and is alwaies suspicious of danger in every place and state It 's still beating up the sluggish heart with such language as that Mica 2.10 Arise depart this is not thy rest for it is polluted It s farther tendencies and continual Jealousies will keep you from sitting long still in this world Secondly Your Corruptions will keep you from rest here They will continually exercise your Spirits and keep you upon your watch Saints have their hands filled with work by their own hearts every day Sometimes to prevent sin and sometimes to lament it And allwaies to watch and fear to mortifie and kill it Sin will not long suffer you to be quiet Rom. 7.21 22 23 24. And if a bad heart will not break your rest here then Thirdly There is a busie Devil will do it He will find you work enough with his Temptations and suggestions and except you can sleep quietly in his arms as the wicked do there 's no rest to be expected Your adversary the Devil goeth about as a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour whom resist 1 Pet. 5.8 Fourthly Nor will his Servants and instruments let you be quiet on this side Heaven Their very name speaks their turbulent disposition My Soul saith the holy man is among Lyons and I lye even among them that are set on fire even the Sons of men whose teeth are Spears and Arrows Psal. 57.4 Well then be content to enter into your rest as Christ did into his He sweat then sate and so must you The FORTY SECOND SERMON ACT. X. XLII And he commanded us to Preach unto the people and to testifie that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Iudge of quick and dead CHrist enthroned in the highest glory in Heaven is there to abide for the effectual and successful government both of the World and of the Church untill the number given him by the Father before the World was and purchased by the blood of the Cross be gathered in and then cometh the Judgement of the great day which will perfectly separate the pretious from the vile put the redeemed in full possession of the purchase of his blood in Heaven and then shall he deliver up the Kingdom to his Father that God may be all in all This last act of Christ namely his Judging the world is a special part of his Exaltation and honour bestowed upon him because he is the Son of man Joh. 5.27 In that day shall his glory as King and absolute Lord shine forth as the Sun when it shineth in its strength O what an honour will it be to the man Christ Jesus who stood arraigned and condemned at Pilates bar to sit upon the great white Throne surrounded with thousands and ten thousands of Angels Men and Devils waiting upon him to receive their final Sentence from his mouth In this will the glory of Christs Soveraignty and power be eminently and illustriously displayed before Angels and men And this is that great truth which He commanded to be Preached and testified to the people namely that it is he which is ordained of God to be the Iudge of quick and dead Wherein we have four things to be distinctly considered viz. The Subject Object Fountain and Truth of this supream judiciary authority First The Subject of it Christ. It is he that iâ— ordained to be Iudge Judgement is the act of the whole undivided Trinity The Father and Spirit Judge as well as Christ in respect of authority and consent but it 's the act of Christ in respect of visible management and execution and so it 's his per proprietatem by propriety the Father having conferred it upon him as the Son of man but not his per appropriationem so as to exclude either the Father or Spirit from their authority for they Judge by him Secondly The Object of Christs Judiciary authority The quick and dead i. e. all that at his coming do live or ever had lived This is the Object personal All the men and women that ever sprang from Adam all the Apostate Spirits that fell from Heaven and are reserved in chains to the Judgement of this great day And in this personal object is included the real object viz. all the actions both secret and open that ever they did 2 Cor. 5.5 Rom. 2.16 Thirdly The Fountain of this delegated authority which is God the Father for he hath ordained Christ to be the Judge He is appointed sc. as the Son of man to this honourable office and work The word notes a firm establishment of Christ in that office by his Father He is now by right of redemption Lord and King He enacts Laws for government then he comes to Judge of mens obedience and disobedience to his Laws Fourthly And lastly here is the infallible Truth or unquestionable certainty of all this He
sweetly suitably First Powerfully whether he restrains from sin or impels to duty he doth it with a soul determining efficacy For his Kingdom is not in word but in power 1 Cor. 4.20 And those whom his Spirit leads go bound in the spirit to the fulfilling and discharge of their duties Acts 20.22 And yet Secondly He rules not by compulsion but most sweetly His Law is a Law of Love written upon their hearts The Church is the Lambs wife Rev. 19.7 A bruised reed he shall not break and smoaking flax he shall not quench Isa. 42.2 3. I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ saith â—he Apostle 2 Cor. 10.1 for he delighteth in free not in forced obedience He rules children not slaves And so his Kingly power is mixed with Fatherly love His yoak is not made of Iron but Gold Thirdly He rules them suitably to their natures in a rational way Hos. 11.4 I drew them with the cords of a man with bands of Love i. e. in a way proper to convince their reason and work upon their ingenuity And thus his internal Kingdom is administred by his Spirit who is his prorex or vicegerent in our hearts Thirdly And Lastly we will open the priviledges pertaining to all the Subjects of this Spiritual Kingdom And they are such as follow First Those souls ever whom Christ raigns are certainly and fully set free from the curse of the Law If the Son make you free then are you free indeed Joh. 8.36 I say not they are free from the Law as a rule of life such a freedom were no priviledge to them at all but free from the rigorous exactions and terrible maledictions of it to hear our liberty proclaimed from this bondage is the joyful sound indeed The blessedst voice that ever our ears heard And this all that are in Christ shall hear if we be led by the Spirit we are not under the Law Gal. 5.18 Blessed are the people that hear this joyful sound Psal. 89.15 Secondly Another priviledge of Christs Subjects is freedom from the dominion of sin Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not raign over them for they are not under the Law but under grace One Heaven cannot bear two Suns Nor one soul two Kings When Christ takes the throne sin quits it It 's true the being of sin is there still It 's defiling and troubling power remains still but its dominion is abolished O joyful tydings O welcome day Thirdly Another priviledge of Christs Subjects is protection in all troubles and dangers to which their souls or bodies are exposed This man shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our Land and when he shall tread in our Palaces Mica 5.5 Kings owe protection to their Subjects None so able so faithful in that work as Christ. All thou gavest me I have kept and none is Lost. Joh. 17.12 Fourthly Another priviledge of Christs Subjects is a merciful and tender bearing of their burdens and infirmities They have a meek and patient King Tell the daughter of Syon thy King cometh meek and lowly Matth. 21.5 Matth. 11.29 Take my yoak and learn of me for I am meek and lowly The meek Moses could not bear the provocations of the people Numb 11.12 but Christ bears them all He carries the Lambs in his arms and gently leads them that be with young Esa. 42.11 He is one that can have compassion upon the ignorant and them that are out of the way Fifthly Again Sweet peace and tranquility of soul is the priviledge of the Subjects of this Kingdom For this Kingdom consisteth in Peace and Ioy in the Holy-Ghost Rom. 14.17 And till souls come under his Scepter they shall never find peace Come unto me ye that are weary I will give you rest Yet do not mistake I say not they have all actual peace at all times No they often break that peace by sin but they have the root of peace the ground-work and cause of peace If they have not peace yet they have that which is convertible into peace at any time They also are in a state of peace Rom. 5.11 being justified by faith we have peace with God This is feast every day A mercy which they only can duly value that are in the depths of trouble for sin Sixthly Lastly Everlasting Salvation is the priviledge of all over whom Christ raigns Prince and Saviour are joyned together Acts 5.31 He that can say thou shalt guide me with thy counsels may add what follows and afterwards bring me to glory Psal. 73.24 Indeed the Kingdom of grace doth but breed up children for the Kingdom of glory And to speak as the thing is it 's the Kingdom of Heaven here begun The difference betwixt them is not specifical but only gradual and therefore this as well as that bears the name of the Kingdom of Heaven The King is the same and the Subjects the same The Subjects of this are shortly to be translated to that Kingdom Thus I have named and indeed but named some few of those inestimable priviledges of Christs Subjects We next apply it Inference 1. How great is their sin and misery who continue in bondage to sin and Satan and refuse the Government of Christ Who had rather sit under the shadow of that bramble than under the sweet and powerful government of Christ. Satan writes his Laws in the blood of his Subjects grinds them with cruel oppression Wears them out with bondage to divers Lusts and rewards their service with everlasting misery And yet how few are weary of it and willing to come over to Christ Behold said one of Christs Heralds Christ is in the field sent of God to recover his right and your liberty His Royal Standard is pitcht in the Gospel and proclamation made that if any poor sinners weary of the Devils Government and laden with the miserable chains of his Spiritual bondage so as these Irons of his sins enter into his very soul to afflict it with the sense of them shall thus come and repair to Christ he shall have protection from Gods Justice the Devils wrath and sins dominion in a word he shall have rest and that glorious Isai. 11.10 And yet how few stir a foot towards Christ but are willing to have their ears boared and be perpetual slaves to that cruel Tyrant O when will sinners be weary of their bondage and sigh after deliverance If any such poor soul shall read these lines let him know and I do proclaim it in the name of my Royal Master and give him the word of a King for it he shall not be rejected by Christ. Ioh. 6.37 Come poor sinners come the Lord Jesus is a merciful King and never did nor will hang up that poor penitent that puts the rope about his own neck and submits to mercy Inference 2. How much doth it concern us to enquire and know whose government we are under and who is King over our Souls Whether Christ
that sent Jesus Christ and upon Christ that sent them So that it is a rebellion that how ever it seems to begin low in some small piques against their persons or some little quarrels at their parts and Utterance Tones Methods or gestures yet it â—â—ns high even to the Fountain head of the most supream Authority You that set your selves against a Minister of Christ set your selves against God the Father and God the Son Luk. 10.16 He that heareth you heareth meâ— and he that despiseth you despised me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me God expects that yon behave your selves under the word spoken by us as if he himself spake it Yea he expects submission to his word in the mouths of his Ministers from the greatest on earth And therefore it was that God so severely punished Zedekiah because he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord 2 Câ—on 36.12 God was angry with a great King for not humbling himself before a poor Prophet Yet here you must distinguish both of Persons and of Acts. This reverence and submission is not due to them as men but as men in Office As Christs Embassadours and must involve that respect still in it Again we owe it not to them commanding or forbiding in their own names but in Christs Not in venting their own Spleen but the terrors of the Lord. And then to resist is an high rebellion and affront to the Soveraign Authority of Heaven And by the way this may instruct Ministers that the way to maintain that veneration and respect that is due to them in the consciences of their hearers is by keeping close to their Commission Inference 3. Hence also we infer How great an evil it is to intrude into the Office of the Ministry without a due call It 's more than Christ himself would do He glorified not himself The honours and advantages attending that Office have invited many to run before they were Sent. But surely this is an insufferable violation of Christs order Our Age hath abounded with as many Church-Levellers as state-Levellers I wish the Ministers of Christ might at last see and consider what they were once warned of by a faithful watch-man I believe saith he God hath permitted so many to intrude into the Ministers calling because Ministers have too much medled with and intruded into other mens callings Inference 4. Hence be convinced of the great efficacy that is in all Gospel-ordinances duly administred For Christ having received full Commission from his Father and by vertue thereof having instituted and appointed those ordinances in the Church all the power in heaven is engaged to make them good to back and second them to confirm and ratifie them Hence in the censures of the Church you have that great expression Matth. 18.18 Whatsoever ye bind or loose on earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven And so for the Word and Sacraments Matth. 28.18 19 20. All power in heaven and in earth is given to me God therefore c. They are not the appointments of men your Faith stands not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God That very power God the Father committed to Christ is the Fountain whence all Gospel institutions flow And he hath promised to be with his Offices not only the extraordinary Offices of that Age but with his Ministers in succeeding Ages to the end of the world O therefore when ye come to an odinance come not wiâ—h slight thoughts but with great reverence and great expectations remembring Christ is there to make all good Inference 5. Again here you have another call to admire the grace and love both of the Father and Son to your Souls It is not lawful to compare them but it 's duty to admire them Was it not wonderful grace in the Father to Seal a Commission for the death of his Son for the humbling of him as low as Hell and in that Method to save you when you might rather have expected he should have Sealed your Mittimus for Hell rather than a Commission for your Salvation He might rather have set his irreversible Seal to the sentence of your Damnation than to a Commission for his Sons humiliation for you And no less is the love of Christ to be wondred at that would accept such a Commission as this for us and receive this Seal understanding fully as he did what were the contents of that Commission that the Father delivered him thus Sealed And knowing that there could be no reversing of it afterwards Oh then love the Lord Jesus all ye his Saints for still you see more and more of his love breaking out upon you I commend to you a Sealed Saviour this day O that every one that reads these lines might in a pang of Love cry out with the enamored Spouse Cant. 8.6 Set me as a Seal upon thy heart as a Seal upon thy arm for Love is strong as Death Iealousie is cruel as the Grave the coals thereof are coals of fire which have a vehement flame Inference 6. Once more hath God Sealed Christ for you then draw forth the comfort of his Sealing for you and be restless till ye also be Sealed by him First Draw out the comfort of Christs Sealing for you Remember that hereby God stands ingaged even by his own Seal to allow and confirm what ever Christ hath done in the business of your Salvation And on this ground you may thus plead with God Lord thou hast Sealed Christ to this Office and therefore I depend upon it that thou allowest all that he hath done and all that he hath suffered for me and wilt make good all that he hath promised me If men will not deny their own Seals much less wilt thou Secondly Get your interest in Christ Sealed to you by the Spirit else you cannot have the comfort of Christs being Sealed for you Now the Spirit Seals two ways Objectively and Effectually the first is by working those graces in us which are the conditions of the promises The latter is by shining upon his own Work and helping the Soul to discern it Which follows the other both in order of nature and of time And these Sealings of the Spirit are to be distinguisht both ex parti Subjecti by their Subject or the quality of the Person Sealed which always is a Believer Eph. 1.13 For there can be no reflex till there have been a Direct Act of Faith Ex parte materiae By the matter of which that comfort is made Which if it be of the Spirit is ever consonant to the written Word Isa. 8.20 And partly ab effectis by its effects for it commonly produces in the Sealed Soul great care and caution to avoid Sin Eph. 4.30 Great Love to God Ioh. 14.22 Readiness to suffer any thing for Christ Rom. 5.3 4 5. Confidence in addresses to God 1 Ioh. 5.13 14. And great
revealed in us than to us This Divines call praecipuum illud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 muneris Prophetici The principal perfective effect of the Prophetical office The special blessing promised in the new Covenant Heb. 8.10 I will put my Laws in their mind and write them in their hearts For Explication of this part of Christs Prophetical office I shall as in the former shew what is included in the opening of the understanding And by what acts Christ performs it Now to give you a brief account of what is included in this Act of Christ take it in the following particulars First It implys the transcendent nature of Spiritual things far exceeding the highest flight and reach of natural reason Jesus Christ must by his Spirit open the understandings of men or they can never comprehend such mysteries Some men have strong natural parts and by improvement of them are become Eagle-eyed in the mysteries of nature Who more acute than the Heathen sages yet to them the Gospel seemed foolishness 1 Cor. 1.20 Austin confesses that before his conversion he often felt his Spirit swell with offence and contempt of the Gospel and he despising it said dedignabar esse parvulus He scorned to become a child again Bradwardine that profound Doctor learned usque ad stuporem even to a wonder professes that when he read Pauls Epistles he contemned them because in them he found not a metaphysical wit Surely it 's possible a man may with Berengarius be able to dispute de omni scibili Of every point of knowledge To unravel nature from the Cedar in Lebanon to the Hysop on the wall and yet be as blind as a Bat in the knowledge of Christ. Yea it 's possible a mans understanding may be improved by the Gospel to a great ability in the literal knowledge of it so as to able to expound the Scriptures orthodoxly and enlighten others by them as it is Matt. 7.22 The Scribes and Pharisees were well acquainted with the Scriptures of the old Testament yea such were their abilities and esteem among the people for them that the Apostle stiles them the Princes of this world 1 Cor. 2.8 And yet notwithstanding Christ truly calls them blind guides Matt. 23. Till Christ open the heart we can know nothing of him or of his will as we ought to know it So experimentally true is that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.14 15. The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned But he that is spiritual Iudgeth all things yet he himself is Iudged of no man The spiritual man can Judge and discern the carnal man but the carnal man wants a faculty to Judge of the spiritual man As a man that carries a dark Lanthorn can see another by its light but the other cannot discern him Such is the difference betwixt persons whose hearts Christ hath or hath not opened Secondly Christ opening the understanding implys the insufficiency of all external means how excellent so ever they are in themselves to operate savingly upon men till Christ by his power open the soul and so makes them effectual What excellent Preachers were Isaiah and Ieremiah to the Jews the former spake of Christ more like an Evangelist of the new than a Prophet of the old Testament The later was a most convictive and pathetical Preacher yet the one complains Isai. 53.1 Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed the other laments the successlesness of his Ministry Ier. 6.28 The bellows are burnt the lead is consumed of the fire the founder melteth in vain Under the new Testament what people ever enjoyed such choice helps means as those that lived under the Ministry of Christ and the Apostles yet how many remained still in darkness Matt. 11.27 We have piped to you but ye have not danced we have mourned unto you but ye have not lamented Neither the delightful ayrs of mercy nor the doleful ditties of Judgment could affect or move their hearts And indeed if you search into the reason of it you will be satisfied that the choicest means can do nothing upon the heart till Christ by his spirit open it because ordinances work not as natural causes do for then the effect would always follow unless miraculously hindred and it would be equally wonderful that all that hear should not be converted as that the three Children should be in the fiery Furnace so long and yet not be burned no it works not as a natural but as amoral cause whose efficacy depends on the gracious and arbitrary concurrence of the spirit The wind bloweth where it listeth Joh. 3.8 The ordinances are like the pool of Bethesda Iohn 5.4 At a certain time an Angel came down and troubled the waters and then they had a healing vertue in them So the spirit comes down at certain times in the word and opens the heart and then it becomes the power of God to Salvation So that when you see souls daily sitting under excellent and choice means and remain dead still you may say as Martha did to Christ of her Brother Lazarus Lord if thou hadst been here they had not remained dead If thou hadst been in this Sermon it had not been so in effectual to them Thirdly it implys the utter impotency of man to open his own heart and thereby make the word effectual to his own conversion and Salvation He that at first said let there be light and it was so must shine into our hearts or they will never be savingly enlightned 2 Cor. 4.6 A double misery lies upon a great part of mankind viz. impotency and pride They have not only lost the true liberty and freedom of their wills but with it have so far lost their understanding and humility as not to own it But alas man is become a most impotent Creature by the fall So far from being able to open his own heart that he cannot know the things of the spirit 1 Cor. 2.14 Cannot believe Iohn 6.44 Cannot obey Rom. 8.7 Cannot speak one good word Matt. 12.34 Cannot thing one good thought 2 Cor. 3.5 Cannot do one good act Iohn 15.5 O what a helpless shiftless thing is a poor sinner suitably to this state of impotence conversion is in Scripture cal'd regeneration Iohn 3.3 A resurrection from the dead Eph. 2.5 A creation Eph. 2.10 A victory 2 Cor. 10.5 Which doth not only imply man to be purely passive in his conversion to God but a renitency and opposition made to that power which goes forth from God to recover him Lastly Christ opening the understanding imports his Divine power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Who but God knows the heart who but a God can unlock and open it at pleasure no meer Creature no not the Angels themselves who for their large understanding are Intelligencies
consider the nature of his intercession which is Just and reasonable for the matter urgent and continual for the manner of it the matter of his request is most equal What he desires is not desired gratis or upon terms unbecoming the holiness and righteousness of God to grant He desires no more but what he hath deserved and given a valuable consideration to the Father for And so the Justice of God doth not only oppose but furthers and pleads for the granting and fulfilling his requests Here you must remember that the Father is under a covenant-tye and bond to do what he asks for Christ having fully performed the work on his part the mercies he intercedes for are as due as the hire of the labourer is when the work is faithfully done And as the matter is just so the manner of his intercession is urgent and continual How importunate a suiter he is may be easily gathered from that specimen or handsel given of it in Ioh. 17. and for the constancy of it my text tells us he ever lives to make Intercession 'T is his great business in Heaven and he follows it close And to close all Fourthly Consider who they are for whom he makes Intercession The friends of God The children of God Those that the Father himself loves and his heart is propense and ready enough to grant the best and greatest of mercies to which is the meaning of Ioh. 16.26 27. the Father himself loveth you And it must needs be so for the first corner stone of all these mercies was laid by the Father himself in his most free election He also delivered his Son for us and how shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 So then there can remain no doubt upon a considering heart but Christ is a prevalent and successful Intercessor in Heaven There only remains one thing more to be satisfied and that is Fourthly In what sense he is said to live for ever to make intercession Shall he then be always at his work Imployed in begging new favours for us to eternity How then shall the people of God be perfect in Heaven if there be need of Christs Intercession to eternity for them I answer by distinguishing the essence and substance of Christs offices from the way and manner of Administration In the first sense it is eternal for his mediatory Kingdom as to the essence of it is to abide for ever Christ shall never cease to be a Mediator The Church shall never want an Head For of his Kingdom there shall be no end Luk. 1.33 However Christ as Mediator being employed in a kind of subordinate way 1 Cor. 3.23 when he shall have accomplished that design for which he became a Mediator then shall he deliver up the Kingdom in the sence we spake before to the Father and so God shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15.24 Then shall the divinity of Christ which was so empty and obscured in his undertaking this temporary dispensatory Kingdom be more gloriously manifested by the full possession use and enjoyment of that natural divine eternal Kingdom which belongs to all three co-essential and co-equal persons reigning with the same Power Majesty and glory in the unity of the divine essence and common Acts in all and over all infinitely and immutably for ever And so Christ continues to be our Mediator and yet that affords no argument that our happiness shall be incompleat but rather argues the perfection of the Church which thenceforth shall be governed no more as now it is nor have any further use of Ordinances but shall be ruled more immediately gloriously triumphantly and ineffably in the world to come The substance of his mediatorship is not changed but the manner of the administration only Vse 1. Doth Christ live for ever in Heaven to present his blood to God in the way of intercession for believers How sad then is their case that have no interest in Christs blood but instead of its pleading for them cries to God against them as the despisers and abusers of it Every unbeliever despises it The Apostate treads it underfoot He that is an intercessor for some will be an accuser of others To be guilty of a mans blood is sad but to have the blood of Jesus accusing and crying to God against a soul is unspeakably terrible Surely when he shall make inquisition for blood when the day of his vengeance is come he will make it appear by the Judgements he will execute that this is a sin never to be expiated but vengeance shall pursue the sinner to the bottom of Hell Ah what do men and women do in rejecting the gratious offers of Christ What tread upon a Saviour and cast contempt by unbelief and hardness of heart upon their only remedy I remember I have read of an harlot that kill'd her child and said that it smiled upon her when she went to stab it Sinner doth not Christ smile upon thee yearn upon thee in the Gospel and wilt thou as it were stab him to the heart by thine infideliâ—y Wo and alas for that man against whom this blood cries in Heaveâ— Vse 2. Doth Christ live for ever to make intercession Hence let believers fâ—tch relief and draw encouragement against all the causes and grounds of their fears and troubles For surely this answers them all First Hence let them be encouraged against all their sinful infirmities and lamented weaknesses 'T is confessed these are sad things they grieve the spirit of God sadden your own hearts cloud your evidences but having such an High-Priest in Heaven can never be your ruine 1 Joh. 2.1 2. My little children these things write I unto you that you sin not And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous My little children children especially little children when first beginning to take the foot are apt to stumble at every straw So are raw young and unexperienced Christians but what if they do Why though it must be far from them to take incouragement so to do from Christ and his intercession yet if by surprizal they so sin let them not be utterly discouraged for we have an Advocate He stops whatever plea may be brought in against us by the Devil or the Law and answers all by his satisfaction He gets out fresh pardons for new sins And this Advocate is with the Father he doth not say with his Father though that had been a singular support in it self nor yet with our Father which is a sweet encouragement singly considered but with the Father which takes in both to make the encouragement full Remember ye that are cast down under the sense of sin that Jesus your friend in the Court above is able to save to the uttermost Which is as one calls it a reaching word and extends it self so far that thou canst not look beyond it Let thy soul be set on the highest mount
the Empyrean Heaven the City of God wihther Christ ascended Where the great assembly are met Paradise and Canaan were but the Types of it More excelling and trascending the Royal Palaces of earthly Princes than they do a â—idgeon hold The company also with whom he is enjoyed adds to the glory A blissful society indeed Store of good neighbours in that City There we shall have familiar converse with Angels whose appearances now are insupportable by poor mortals There will be sweet and full closings also betwixt the Saints Luther and Zuinglius are there agreed here they could not fully close with one another And no wonder for they could not fully close with themselves But there is perfect harmony and unity All meeting and closing in God as lines in the Center This is a blessed glimpse of your inheritance Thirdly All this is purchased for Believers hence it 's call'd the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1.12 All is yours for ye are Christs that is the tenure 1 Cor. 3.23 So Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Only those that are Sons are Heirs Rom. 8.17 The unrighteous shall not inherit 1 Cor. 6.9 It 's the Fathers good pleasure to give the Kingdom to the little flock Luk. 12.32 Inference 1. Hath Christ not only redeemed you from wrath but purchased such an eternal inheritance also by the overplus of his merit for you Oh how well content should Believers then be with their lot of providence in this life be it what it will Content did I say I speak too low overcome ravisht filled with praises and thanksgivings how low how poor how afflicted soever for present they are O let not such a thing as grumbling repining freting at providence be found or once named among the expectants of this Inheritance Suppose you had taken a beggar from your door and adopted him to be your Son and made him Heir of a large inheritance and after this he should contest and quarrel with you for a trifle could you bear it how to work the Spirit of a Saint into contentment with a Low condition here I have laid down several rules in another discourse to which for present I refer the Reader Inference 2. With what weaned affections should the people of God walk up and down this world content to live and willing to die For things present are theirs if they live and things to come are theirs if they die Paul expresses himself in a frame of holy indifferencie Phil. 1.23 Which to choose I know not Many of them that are now in fruition of their inheritance above had vitam in patientia mortem in desiderio life in patience and death in desire while they tabernacled with us Oh cried one what would I give to have a bed made to my wearied soul in Christs bosom I cannot tell you what sweet pain and delightful torments are in his love I often challenge time for holding us assunder I profess to you I have no rest till I be over head and ears in Loves Ocean If Christs Love that fountain of delights were laid open to me as I would wish O how drunken would this my soul be I half call his absence cruel and the mask and vail on his face a cruel covering that hideth such a fair fair face from a â—ick soul. I dare not challenge himself but his absence is a mountain of Iron upon my heavy heart O when shall we meet How long is it to the dawning of the marriage day O sweet Lord Jesus take wide steps O my Lord come over mountains at one stride O my beloved flee like a Roe or young Hart upon the mountains of seperation O if he would fold the Heavens together like an old cloak and shovel time and days out of the way and make ready in hast the Lambs wife for her husband Since he looked upon me my heart is not mine own Who can be blamed for desiring to see that fair inheritance which is purchased for him But truly should God hold up the soul by the power of faith from day to day to such sights as these who would be content to live a day more on earth How should we be ready to pull down the Prison walls and not having patience to wait till God open the door As the Heathen said Victurosque dii celant ut vivere durant And truly the wisdom of God is in this specially remarkable in giving the new creature such an admirable crasis and even temper as that Scripture 2 Thes. 3.5 expresses The Lord direct your hearts into the Love of God and patient waiting for of Christ. Love inflames with desire patience allays that fervor So that fervent desires as one happily expresses it are allaied with meek submission Mighty love with strong patience And had not God twisted together these two principles in the Christians constitution he had framed a creature to be a torment to it self to live upon a very rack Inference 3. Hence we infer the impossibility of their Salvation that know not Christ nor have interest in his blood Neither Heathens nor meerly nominal Christians can inherit I know some are very indulgent to the Heathen and many formal Christians are but too much so to themselves but union by faith with Jesus Christ is the only way revealed in Scripture by which we hope to come to the heavenly inheritance I know it seems hard that such brave men as some of the Heathens were should be damned but the Scripture knows no other way to glory but Christ put on and applied by faith And it is the common suffrage of modern sound Divines that no man by the sole conduct of nature without the knowledge of Christ can be saved There is but one way to glory for all the world Ioh. 14.6 No man cometh to the Father but by me Gal. 3.14 The blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles through faith Scripture asserts the impossibility of being or doing any thing that is truly evangelically good out of Christ. Joh. 15.5 Without me ye can do nothing and Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God Scripture every where connects and chains Salvation with vocation Rom. 8.30 and vocation with Gospel Rom. 10.14 To those that plead for the Salvation of Heathens and profane Christians we may apply that tart rebuke of Bernard that while some labour to make Plato a Christian he feared they therein did prove themselves to be Heathens Inference 4. How greatly are we all concerned to clear up our Title to the heavenly inheritance It 's horrible to see how industrious many are for an inheritance on earth and how careless for Heaven By which we may plainly see how vilely the noble soul is depressed by sin and sunk down into flesh minding only the concernments of the flesh Hear me ye that labour for
the world as if Heaven were in it What will ye do when at death you shall look back over your shoulder and see what you have spent your time and strength for shrinking and vanishing away from you When you shall look forward and see vast eternity opening its mouth to swallow you up O then what would you give for a well grounded assurance of an eternal inheritance O therefore if you have any concernment for your poor souls If it be not indifferent to you what becomes of them whether they be saved or whether they be damned give all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2.12 Remember it is Salvation you work for and that 's no trifle Remember it 's your own Salvation and not anothers It is for thy own poor soul that thou art striving and what hast thou more Remember now God offers you his helping hand now the Spirit waits upon you in the means but of the continuance thereof you have no assurance for it is of his own good pleasure and not at yours To your work souls to your work Ah strive as men that know what an Inheritance in Heaven is worth And that as for you that have sollid evidence that it is yours Oh that with hands and eyes lifted up to Heaven you would adore that free grace that hath entitled a child of wrath to a heavenly inheritance Walk as becomes heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Be often looking Heaven-ward when wants pinch here Oh look to that fair estate you have reserved in Heaven for you and say I am hastning home and when I come thither all my wants shall be supplied Consider what it cost Christ to purchase it for thee and with a deep sense of what he hath laid out for thee let thy soul say Blessed be God for Iesus Christ. The SIXTEENTH SERMON II COR. X.V. Casting down imaginations and every thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. WE now come to the Regal Office by which our glorious Mediator executes and dischargeth the undertaken design of our Redemption Had he not as our Prophet opened the way of Life and Salvation to the children of men they could never have known it and should they have clearly known it except as their Priest he had offered up himself to impetrate and obtain Redemption for them they could not have been Redeemed virtually by his blood and if they had been so Redeemed yet had he not lived in the capacity of a King to apply this purchase of his blood to them they could have had no actual personal benefit by his death For what he revealed as a Prophet he purchased as a Priest and what he so revealed and purchased as Prophet and Priest he applies as King First Subduing the souls of his elect to his spiritual government then ruling them as his subjects and ordering all things in the Kingdom of providence for their good So that Christ hath a twofold Kingdom the one spiritual and internal by which he subdues and rules the hearts of his people The other providential and external whereby he guides rules and orders all things in the world in a blessed subordination to their eternal Salvation I am to speak from this text of his Spiritual and internal Kingdom These words are considerable two ways either relatively or absolutely Considered relatively they are a vindication of the Apostle from the unjust censures of the Corinthians who very unworthily interpreted his gentleness condescention and winning affability to be no better than a fawning upon them for self ends and the authority he excercised no better than pride and imperiousness But hereby he lets them know that as Christ needs not so he never used such carnal Artifices The weapons of our warfare saith he are not carnal but mighty through God c. Absolutely considered they hold forth the efficacy of the Gospel in the plainness and simplicity of it for the subduing of rebellious sinners to Christ and in them we have these three things to consider First The oppositions made by sinners against the assaults of the Gospel viz. imaginations or reasonings as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be fitly rendred He means the subtilties slights excuses subterfuges and arguings of fleshly minded men in which they fortifie and entrench themselves against the convictions of the word Yea and there are not only such carnal reasonings but many proud high conceits with which poor creatures swel and scorn to submit to the abasing humble self-denying way of the Gospel These are the fortifications erected against Christ by the carnal mind Secondly We have here the conquest which the Gospel obtains over sinners thus fortified against it It casts down and overthrows and takes in those strong holds Thus Christ spoils Satan of his armour in which he trusted by shewing the sinner that all this can be no defence to his soul against the wrath of God But that 's not all in the next place Thirdly You have here the improvement of the victory Christ doth not only lead away these enemies spoiled but brings them into obedience to himself i. e. makes them after conversion Subjects of his own Kingdom obedient useful and serviceable to himself and so is more than a Conqueror They do not only lay down their arms and fight no more against Christ with them but repair to his Camp and fight for Christ with those reasons of theirs that were before imployed against him as it 's said of Ierome Origen and Tertullian that they came into Canaan laden with Aegyptian gold That is they come into the Church full of excellent learning and abilities with which they eminently served Jesus Christ. O blessed victory where the Conqueror and conquered both Triumph together And thus enemies and rebels are subdued and made subjects of the spiritual Kingdom of Christ. Hence the Doctrinal note is DOCT. That Iesus Christ exercises a Kingly power over the souls of all whom the Gospel subdues to his obedience No sooner were the Collossians delivered out of the power of darkness but they were immediately translated into the Kingdom of Christ the dear Son 1 Col. 13. This Kingdom of Christ which is our present subject is the internal spiritual Kingdom which is said to be within the Saints Luk. 17.20 21. The Kingdom of God is within you Christ sits as an enthroned King in the Hearts Consciences and affections of his willing people Psal. 110.3 And his Kingdom consists in Rightâ—ousness Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 And is properly Monarchical as appears in the Margent In the prosecution of this point I will speak Doctrinally to these three heads First How Christ obtains this throne
over them First He imposes a new Law upon them and enjoyns them to be severe and punctual in their obedience to it The soul was a Belialite before and could endure no restraint It 's Lusts gave it Law We our selves were sometimes foolish disobedient serving divers lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.3 What ever the flesh craved and the sensual appetite whined after it must have cost what it would cost if damnation were the price of it it would have it provided it should not be present pay Now it must not be any longer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without Law to God but under Law to Christ. Those are the articles of peace which the soul willingly signes in the day of its admission to mercy Matth. 11.29 Take my yoak upon you and learn of me This Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Iesus makes them free from the Law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 Here 's much strictness but no bondage For the Law is not only written in Christs Statute-book the Bible but coppied out by his spirit upon the hearts of his subjects in correspondent principles which makes obedience a pleasure and self-denial easie Christs yoak is lined with Love so that it never galls the necks of his people 1 Joh. 5.3 His commandments are not grievous The soul that comes under Christs government must receive Law from Christ and under Law every thought of the heart must come Secondly He rebukes and chastises souls for the violations and trangressions of his Law That 's another act of Christs Regal authority whom he loves he rebukes and chastens Heb. 12.6 7. These chastisements of Christ are either by the rod of providence upon their bodies and outward comforts or upon their spirits and inward comforts Sometimes his rebukes are smart upon the outward man 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause many among you are weakly and sick and many sleep They had not that due regard to his body that became them and he will make their bodies to smart for it And he had rather their flesh should smart than their souls should perish Sometimes he spares their outward and afflicts their inner man which is a much smarter rod. He withdraws peace and takes away joy from the spirits of his people The hidings of his face are sore rebukes However all is for emendation not for destruction And it is not the least priviledge of Christs Subjects to have a seasonable and sanctified rod to reduce them from the waies of sin Psal. 23.3 thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Others are suffered to go on stubbornly in the way of their own hearts Christ will not spend a rod upon them for their good Will not call them to account for any of their transgressions but will reckon with them for altogether in Hell Thirdly Another Regal Act of Christ is the restraining and keeping back his servants from iniquity and withholding them from those courses which their own hearts would incline and lead them to For even in them there is a spirit bent to backsliding but the Lord in tenderness over them keeps back their souls from iniquity and that when they are upon the very brink of sin my feet were almost gone my steps were well nigh slipt Psal. 73.2 Then doth the Lord prevent sin by removing the occasion providentially or by helping them to resist the temptation gratiouslyly assisting their spirits in the trial So that no temptation shall befall them but a way of escape shall be opened that they may be able to bear it 1 Cor. 10.13 And thus his people have frequent occasions to bless his name for his preventing goodness when they are almost in the midst of all evil And this I take to be the meaning of Gal. 5.16 This I say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Tempted by them ye may be but fulfil them ye shall not My spirit shall cause the temptation to die and wither away in the womb in the embrio of it so that it shall not come to a full birth Fourthly He protects them in his waies and suffers them not to relapse fom him into a state of sin and bondage to Satan any more Indeed he is restless in his endeavours to reduce them again to his obedience he never leaves tempting and soliciting for their return and where he finds a false professor he prevails but Christ keeps his that they depart not again Joh. 17.12 All that thou hast given me I have kept and none of them is lost but the son of perdition They are kept by the mighty power of God through faith to salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Kept as in a Garrison according to the importance of that word None more solicited none more safe than the people of God They are preserved in Christ Iesus Jude 1. It is not their own grace that secures them but Christs care and continual watchfulness Our own graces left to themselves would quickly prove but weights sinking us to our own ruine As one speaks this is his Covenant with them Jer. 32.4 I will put my fear in their inwards and they shall not depart from me Thus a King he preserves them Fifthly As a King he rewards their obedience and encourages their sincere services Though all they do for Christ be duty yet he hath united their comfort with their duty This I had because I kept thy precepts Psal. 119.56 They are engaged to take this encouragement with them to every duty that he whom they seek is a bountiful rewarder of such as diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 O what a good master do the Saints serve Hear how a King expostulates with his Subjects Jer. 2.31 Have I been a barren wilderness on a land of darkness to you q. d. Have I been such a hard master to you Have you any reason to complain of my service To whomsoever I have been straight-handed surely I have not been so to you You have not found the waies or wages of sin like mine Sixthly He pacifies all inward troubles and commands peace when their spirits are tumultuous This peace of god Rules in their hearts Col. 3.15 it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 act the part of an Umpire in appeasing strife within When the tumultuous affections are up and in a hurry when anger hatred and revenge begin to rise in the soul this hushes and stills all I will hearken saith the Church what God the Lord will speak for he will speak peace to his people and to his Saints Psal. 85.8 He that saith to the raging Sea be still and it obeys him he only can pacifie the disquieted spirit They say of Frogs that if they be croaking never so much in the night bring but a light among them and they are all quiet Such a light is the peace of God among our disordered affections These are Christs Regal acts And he puts them forth upon the souls of his people powerfully
a memorable passage that fell out in their way to the place of execution and that is the Lamentations and Wailings of some that followed him out of the City who expressed their pity and sorrow for him most tenderly and compassionately All hearts were not hard all eyes were not dry There followed him a great company of people and of women which also bewailed and lamented him c. In this Paragraph we have two parts viz. the Lamentation of the Daughters of Ierusalem for Christ and Christs reply to them First The Lamentation of the Daughters of Ierusalem for Christ. Concerning them we briefly enquire who they were and why they mourned First Who they were The text calls them Daughters i. e. Inhabitants of Ierusalem For it is an Hebraism as Daughters of Zion Daughters of Israel And it 's like the greatest part of them were women and they were many of them a troop of mourners that followed Christ out of the City towards the place of his execution with Lamentations and Wailings What the principle and ground of these their Lamentations was is not agreed upon by those that have pondred the story Some are of opinion their Tears and Lamentations were but the effects and fruits of their more tender and ingenious natures which were moved and melted with so tragical and sad a spectacle as was now before them It 's well observed by a judicious Author that the Tragical story of some great and noble personage full of hero'cal vertue and ingenuity yet inhumanely and ungratefully used will thus work upon ingenious spirits who read or hear of it which when it reaches no higher is so far from being faith that it is but a carnal and fleshly devotion springing from fancy which is pleased with such a story and the principles of ingenuity stirred towards one who is of a Noble Spirit and yet abused Such stories use to stir up a principle of humanity in men unto a compassionate love which Christ himself at his suffering found fault with as being not spiritual nor raised enough in those women that went weeping to see the Messiah so handled Weep not for me saith he that is weep not so much for this to see me so unworthily handled by those for whom I die This is the principle from which some conceive these tears to flow But Calvin attributes it to their faith looking upon these mourners as a remnant reserved by the Lord in that miserable dispersion and though their faith was but weak yet they judge it credible that there was a secret seed of godliness in them which afterwards grew to maturity and brought forth fruit And to the same sence others give their opinion also Secondly Let us consider Christs reply to them Weep not for me ye Daughters of Jerusalem c. Strange that Christ should forbid them to weep for him yea for him under such unparalell'd sufferings and miseries If ever there was a heart-melting object in the world it was here O who could hold whose heart was not petrified and more obdure than the senseless rocks This reply therefore of Christ undergoes a double sence and interpretation suitable to the different construction of their sorrows Those that look upon their sorrows as meerly natural take Christs reply in a negative sense prohibiting such tears as those They that expound their sorrows as the fruit of faith tell us though the form of Christs expression be negative yet the sense is comparative as Matth. 9.13 I will have mercy and not sacrifice i. e. mercy rather than sacrifice So here weep rather upon your own account than mine Reserve your sorrows for the calamities coming upon your selves and your children You are greatly affected I see with the misery that is upon me but mine will be quickly over yours will lie long In which he shews his merciful and compassionate disposition who was still more mindful of others troubles and burdens than of his own And indeed the days of calamity coming upon them and their children were doleful days What direful and unpresidented miseries befel them at the breaking up and devastation of the City who hath not read or heard And who can refrain from tears that hears or reads it Now if we take the words in the first sense as a prohibition of their meerly natural and carnal affections expressed in Tears and Lamentations for him no otherwise than they would have been upon any other like Tragical story then the observation from it will be this Doct. 1. That melting affections and sorrows even from the sense and consideration of the sufferings of Christ are no infallible signs of grace If you take it in the latter sense as the fruit of their faith as tears flowing from a gratious principle then the observation will be this Doct. 2. That the believing meditation of what Christ suffered for us is of great force and efficacy to melt and break the heart I shall rather choose to prosecute both these branches than to decide the controversie Especially since the notes gathered from either are so useful to us And therefore I shall begin with the first viz. DOCT. 1. That melting affections and sorrows even from the sence of Christs sufferings are no infallible marks of grace In this point I have two things to do to prepare it for use First To shew what the melting of the affections by way of grief and sorrow is Secondly That they may be so melted even upon the account of Christ and yet the heart remain unrenewed First What the melting of the affections by way of grief and sorrow is Tears are nothing else but the juice of a mind oppressed and squeesed with grief Grief compresses the heart the heart so compressed and squeez'd vents it self sometimes in tears sighs groans c. and this is two fold gratious and wholly supernatural or common and altogether natural The gratious melting or sorrow of the soul is likewise two fold habitual or actual Habitual godly sorrow is that gratious disposition inclination or tendency of the renewed heart to mourn and melt when any just occasion is presented to the soul that calls for such sorrow It is expressed Ezek. 36.26 By taking away the heart of stone and giving an heart of flesh That is an heart impressive and yielding to such arguments and considerations as move it to mourning Actual sorrow is the expression and manifestation of that its inclination upon just occasions and it 's expressed two ways either by the internal effects of it which are the heaviness shame loathing resolution and holy revenge begotten in the soul upon the account of sin or also by more external and visible effects as sighs groans tears c. The former is essential to godly sorrow the latter contingent and accidental Much depending upon the natural temperature and constitution of the body Natural and common meltings are nothing else but the effects of a better temper the fruit of a more ingenious
in the world at that time The Greek tongue was then known in most parts of the world The Hebrew was the Jews native Language And the Latine the Language of the Gentiles So that it being written both in Hebrew Greek and Latine it was easie to be understood both by Jews and Gentiles And indeed unto this the providence of God had a special eye to make it notorious and evident to all the world For even so all things design'd for publick view and knowledge were written Iosephus tells us of certain Pillars on which was Engraven in Letters of Greek and Latine It is a wickedness for strangers to enter into the holy place So the Souldiers of Gordian the third Emperour when he was slain upon the borders of Persia they raised a Monument for him and engraved his memorial upon it in Greek Latine Persick Iudaick and Egyptick Letters that all people might read the same And as it was written in three Learned Languages so it was exposed to view in a publick place and at that time when multitudes of strangers as well as Iews were at Ierusalem it was at the time of the Passover So that all things concurred to spread and divulge the innocency of Christ vindicated in this Title Thirdly As it was a publick so it was an honourable Title Such was the nature of it saith Bucer that in the midst of death Christ began to Triumph by it And by reason thereof the Cross began to change its own nature and instead of a rack or Engine of torture it became a Throne of Majesty Yea it might be called now as the Church it self is the Pillar and ground of Truth for it held out much of the Gospel much of the glory of Christ as that Pillar doth to which a Royal Proclamation is affixed Fourthly It was a vindicating Title It clear'd up the honour dignity and innocency of Christ against all the false imputations calumnies and blasphemies which were cast upon him before by the wicked tongues both of Iews and Gentiles They had called him a deceiver a usurper a blasphemer they rent their cloaths in token of their detestation of his blasphemy because he made himself the Son of God and King of Israel But now in this they acknowledged him to be both Lord and Saviour Not a mock King as they had made him before So that herein the honour of Christ was fully vindicated Fifthly Moreover it was a predicting and presaging Title Evidently foreshewing the propagation of Christs Kingdom and the spreading of his name and glory among all kindreds Nations Tongues and Languages As Christ hath a right to enter into all the Kingdoms of the earth by his Gospel and set up his Throne in every Nation so it was presaged by this Title that he should do so And that both Hebrews Greeks and Latines should be called to the knowledge of him Nor is it a wonder that this should be predicted by wicked Pilate when Caiaphas himself a man every way as wicked as he had Prophesied to the same purpose Ioh. 11.51 52. For being High Priest that year he Prophâ—sied that Iesus should dye for that Nation and not for that Nation only but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad Yea many have Prophesied in Christs name who for all that shall never be owned by him Matth. 7.22 Sixthly And Lastly it was an immutable Title The Jews endeavoured but could not perswade Pilate to alter it To all their importunities he returns this resolue answer What I have written I have written as if he should say urge me no more I have written his Title I cannot I will not alter a Letter a Point thereof Surely the constancy of Pilate at this time can be attributed to nothing but divine special Providence Most wonderful that he who before was as unconstant as a reed shaken by the wind is now as fixed as a Pillar of Brass And yet more wonderful that he should write down that very particular in the Title of Christ This is the King of the Iews which was the very thing that so scared him but a little before and was the very consideration that moved him to give Sentence What was now become of the fear of Caesar that Pilate dares to be Christs Herald and publickly to proclaim him The King of the Iews This was the Title Secondly We shall next enquire what hand the divine providence had in this business And indeed the providence of God in this hour acted gloriously and wonderfully these five ways First In over ruling the heart and hand of Pilate in that draught and stile of it and the contrary to his own inclination I doubt not but Pilate himself was ignorant of and far enough from designing that which the wisdom of Providence aimed at in this matter He was a wicked man he had no love to Christ. He had given Sentence of death against him Yet this is he that proclaimed him to be Iesus King of the Iews It so over ruled his Pen that he could not write what was in his own heart and intention but the quite contrary even a fair and publick Testimony to the Kingly office of the Son of God This is the King of the Iews Secondly Herein the wisdom of providence was gloriously displaied in applying a present proper publick remedy to the reproaches and blasphemies which Christ had then newly received in his name and honour The superstitious Iews wound him and Heathen Pilate prepares a plaister to heal him They reproach he vindicates They throw the dirt he washes it off O the profound and inscrutable wisdom of providence Thirdly Morever providence eminently appear'd at this time in keeping so timerous a person a man of so base a spirit that would not stick at any thing to please the people from receding or giving ground in the least to their importunities Is Pilate become a man of such resolution and constancy Whence is this But from the God of the Spirits of all flesh Who now flowed in so powerfully upon his Spirit that he could not chuse but write and when he had written had no more power to alter what he had written that he had to refuse to write it Fourthly Herein also much of the wisdom of providence appear'd in casting the ignominy of the death of Christ upon those very men who ought to bear it Pilate was moved by divine instinct at once to clear Christ and accuse them For it is as if he had said you have moved me to Crucifie your King I have Crucified him and now let the ignominy of his death rest upon your heads who have extorted this from me He is righteous the crime is not his but yours Fifthly And lastly the providence of God wonderfully discover'd it self as before was noted in fixing this Title to the Cross of Christ when there was so great a confluence of all sorts of people to take
Her beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone but was she content to part with him so No such thing By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not I will arise now and go about the City c. Thirdly Though God forsook Christ yet he returned to him again It was but for a time not for ever In this also doth his desertion parallel yours God may for several wise and holy reasons hide his face from you but not so as it 's hid from the damned who shall never see it again This cloud will pass away This night shall have a bright morning For saith thy God I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth for the spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made As if he should say I may contend with him for a time to humble him but not for ever left instead of a sad child I should have a dead child Oh the tenderness even of a displeased Father Fourthly Though God forsook Christ yet at that time he could justifie God So you read Psal. 22.2 3. O my God saith he I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent but thou art holy Is not thy spirit according to thy measure framed like Christs in this Canst thou not say even when he writes bitter things against thee he is a holy faithful and good God for all this I am deserted but not wronged There is not one drop of injustice in all the Sea of my sorrows Though he condemn me I must and will Justifie him This also is Christ-like Fifthly Though God took from Christ all visible and sensible comforts inward as well as outward yet Christ subsisted by faith in the absence of them all His desertion put him upon the acting of his faith My God my God are words of faith The words of one that rolls upon his God And is it not so with you too Sence of love is gone sweet sights of God shut up in a dark cloud well what then Must thy hands presently hang down and thy soul give up all its hopes What! is there no faith to relieve in this case Yes yes and blessed be God for faith Who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servants that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God Isai. 50.10 To conclude Sixthly Christ was deserted a little before the glorious morning of light and joy dawned upon him It was a little a very little while after this sad cry before he triumphed gloriously And so it may be with you Heaviness may endure for a night but joy and gladness will come in the morning You know how Mr. Glover was trasported with joy and cryed out as a man in a Rapture O Austin he is come he is come he is come meaning the Comforter who for some time had been absent from his soul. But I fear I am absolutely and finally forsaken Why so Do you find the characters of such a desertion upon your soul Be righteous Judges and tell me whether you find an heart willing to forsake God Is it indifferent now to you whether God ever return again or no Are there no mournings meltings hankerings after the Lord Indeed if you forsake him he will cast you off for ever But can you do so Oh no let him do what he will I am resolved to wait for him cleave to him mourn after him though I have no present comfort from him no assurance of my interest in him yet will I not exchange my poor weak hopes for all the good in this world Again You say God hath forsaken you but hath he let loose the bridle before you To allude to Iob. 30.11 Hath he taken away from your souls all conscientious tenderness of sin so that now you can sin freely and without any regret If so it 's a sad token indeed Tell me soul if thou judgest indeed God will never return in loving kindness to thee any more why dost thou not then give thy self over to the pleasures of sin and fetch thy comforts that way from the creatures since thou canst have no comfort from thy God Oh no I cannot do so If I die in darkness and sorrow I will never do so My soul is as full of fear and hatred of sin as ever though empty of joy and comfort Surely there are no tokens of a soul finally abandoned by its God Inference 4. Did God forsake his own Son upon the Cross then the dearest of Gods people may for a time be forsaken of their God Think it not strange when you that are the children of light meet with darkness yea and walk it â— Neither charge God foolishly Say not he deals hardly with you You see what befel Jesus Christ whom his soul delighted in It 's doubtless your concernment to expect and prepare for days of darkness You have heard the doleful cry of Christ my God my God why hast thou forsaken me You know how it was with Job David Hâ—man Asaph and many others the dear servants of God What heart-melting lamentations they have made upon this account And are you better than they Oh prepare for spiritual troubles I am sure you do enough every day to involve you in darkness Now if at any time this trial befall you mind these two seasonable Admonitions and lay them up for such a time Admonition 1. First Exercise the faith of adherence when you have lost the faith of evidence When God takes away that he leaves this That is necessary to the comfort this to the life of his people It 's sweet to live in views of your interest but if they be gone believe and roll on God for an interest Stay your selves on your God when you hâ—ve no light Isai. 50.10 Drop this anchor in the dark and do not reckon all gone when evidence is gone Never reckon your selves undone whilst you can adhere to your God Direct acts are noble acts of faith as well as reflexive ones Yea and in some respects to be preferred to them For First As your comfort depends on the evidencing acts of faith so your salvation upon the adhering act of faith Evidence comforts but affiance saves you And sure salvation is more than comfort Secondly Your faith of evidence hath more sensible sweetness but your faith of adherence is of more constancy and continuance The former is as a flower in its mouth the latter sticks by you all the year Thirdly Faith of evidence brings more joy to you but faith of adherence brings more glory to God For thereby you trust him when you cannot see him Yea you beleive not only without but against sence and feeling And doubtless that which brings glory to God is better than that which brings comfort to you
in its worth and dignity Since then there is not a whole world no not half but the far less part of the world redeemed by the blood of Christ which was sufficient for so many how great must be the surplusage and redundancy of merit Here our Divines rightly distinguish betwixt the substance and accidents of Christs death and obedience Consider that Christs suffering as to the substance of it it was no more than what the Law required For neither the justice nor love of the Father would permit that Christ should suffer more than what was necessary for him to bear as our surety but as to the circumstances the person of the sufferer the cause and efficacy of his sufferings c. it was much more than sufficient A super legale meritum a merit above and beyond what the Law required For though the Law required the death of the sinner who is but a poor contemptible creature it did not require that one perfectly innocent should die It did not require that God should shed his blood It did not require blood of such value and worth as this was I say none of this the Law required though God was pleased for the advancement and manifestation of his Justice and Mercy in the highest to admit and order this by way of commutation admitting him to be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or ransomer by dying for us And indeed it was a most gratious relaxation of the Law that admitted of such a commutation as this for hereby it comes to pass that Justice is fully satisfied and yet we live and are saved which before was a thing that could not be imagined Yea now we are not only redeemed from wrath by the adequate compensation made for our sins by Christs blood and sufferings substantially considered but to a most glorious inheritance purchased by his blood considered as the blood of an Innocent as the blood of God and therefore as most excellent and efficatious blood above what the Law demanded And this is the meaning of Athanasius when he saith that Christ recompensed or made amends for small things with great He means not that sin considered absolutely and in it self is small O no but compared with Christs blood and the infinite excellency and worth of it it is so And Chrysostom to the same purpose Christ paid much more saith he than we owed and so much more as the immense Ocean is more than a small drop So that it was rightly determined by holy Anselme no man saith he can pay to God what he owes him Christ only paid more than he owed him And by this you see how rich a treasure there lies by Christ to bestow in a purchase for us beyond and above what he paid to redeem us even as much as his soul and body was more worth than ours for whom it was sacrificed and that is so great a sum that all the Angels in Heaven and men on earth can never compute and sum up so as to shew us the total of it And this was that inexhaustible treasure that Christ expended to procure and purchase the fairest inheritance for Believers Having seen the treasure that purchased let us next enquire into the inheritance purchased by it Secondly This inheritance is so large that it cannot be surveyed by creatures nor can the boundaries and limits thereof be described for it comprehends all things 1 Cor. 3.22 All is yours ye are Christs and Christ is Gods Revel 21.7 He that overcomes shall inherit all things And yet I do not think or say that Dominium fundatur in gratia that Temporal Dominion in founded in grace No that 's at the cast and dispose of providence but Christ by his death hath restored a right to all things to his people But to be more particular I shall distribute the Saints inheritance purchased by Christ into three heads All Temporal good things all Spiritual good things and all Eternal good things are theirs First All Temporal good things 1 Tim. 6.7 He hath given us all things richly to enjoy Not that they have the possession but the comfort and benefit of all things Others have the sting gall wormwood bayts and snares of the creature Saints only have the blessing and comfort of it So that this little which a Righteous man hath is in this among other respects better than the treasures of many wicked Which is the true key to open that dark saying of the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.10 as having nothing and yet possessing all things They only possess others are possessed by the world The Saints do uti mundo frui Deo use the world and enjoy God in the use of it Others are deceived defiled and destroyed by the world but these are refresht and furthered by it Secondly All Spiritual good things are purchased by the blood of Christ for them As justification which comprizes remission of sins and acceptation of our persons by God Rom. 3.24 Being Iustified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ. Sanctification is also purchased for them Yea both initial and progressive sanctification For of God he is made unto us not only wisdom and righteousness but sanctification also 1 Cor. 1.30 These two viz. our Justification and Sanctification are two of the most rich and shining robes in the wardrobe of free-grace How glorious and lovely do they render the soul that wears them These are like the Bracelets and Jewels Isaack sent to Rebecca Adoption into the family of God is purchased for us by this blood For ye are all the children of God by faith in Iesus Christ Gal 3.26 Christ as he is the Son is haeres natus the heir by nature as he is Mediator he is haeres constitutus the heir by appointment appointed heir of all things as it is Heb. 1.2 By this Sonship of Christ we being united to him by faith become Sons and if Sons then heirs O what a manner of love is this that we should be called the Sons of God 1 Joh. 3.1 That a poor beggar should be made an heir yea an heir of God and a joynt heir with Christ. Yea that very faith which is the bond of union and consequently the ground of all our communion with Christ is the purchase of his blood also 2 Pet. 1.1 To them that have obtained like pretious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. This most pretious grace is the dear purchase of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yea all that peace joy and spiritual comfort which are sweet fruits of faith are with it purchased for us by this blood So speaks the Apostle in Rom. 5.1 2 3. Being Iustified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ c. moreover the Spirit himself who is the Author Fountain and Spring of all these graces and comforts is procured for us by his death and resurrection Gal. 3.13 14. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Iesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith That spirit that at first sanctified and since hath so often sealed comforted directed resolved guided and quickned your souls had not come to perform any of these blessed Offices upon your hearts if Christ had not died Thirdly All Eternal good things are the purchase of his blood Heaven and all the glory thereof is purchased for you that are Believers with this price Hence that glory whatever it be is called an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you to the lively hope whereof ye are begotten again by the resurrection of Christ from the dead 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Not only present mercys are purchased for us but things to come also As it is 1 Cor. 3.22 Man is a prudent and prospecting creature and is not satisfied that it 's well with him for present unless he have some assurance it shall be well with him for time to come His mind is taken up about what shall be hereafter and from the good or evil things to come he raiseth up to himself vast hopes or fears Therefore to compleat our happiness and fill up the uttermost capacity of our souls all the good of eternity is put into the account and Inventory of the Saints Estate and Inheritance This happiness is ineffable It 's usually distinguisht into what is essential and what is accessory to it The essentials of it as we in our embodied state can conceive is either the Objective Subjective or Formal happiness to be enjoyed in Heaven The Objective happiness is God himself Psal. 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee If it could be supposed saith one that God should withdraw from the Saints in Heaven and say take Heaven and divide it among you but as for me I will withdraw from you the Saints would fall a weeping in Heaven and say Lord take Heaven and give it to whom thou wilt it 's no Heaven to us except thou be there Heaven would be a very Bokim to the Saints without God In this our glory in Heaven consists to be ever with the Lord. 1 Thes. 4.17 God himself is the chief part of a Saints inheritance in which sence as some will understand Rom. 8.17 they are called heirs of God The Subjective glory and happiness is the attemperation and suiting of the soul and body to God This is begun in sanctification perfected in glorification It consists in removing from both all that is indecent and inconsistent with a state of such compleat glory and happiness and in super-induceing and cloathing it with all Heavenly qualities The immunities of the body are its freedom from all natural infirmities which as they come in so they go out with sin Thenceforth there shall be no diseases deformities pains flaws monstrosities their good physitian death hath cured all this And their vile bodies shall be made like unto Christs glorious body Phil. 3.21 And be made a spiritual body 1 Cor. 15.44 For agility like the Chariots of Aminadab For Beauty as the top of Lebanon for incorruptibility as if they were pure Spirits The Soul also is discharged and freed from all darkness and ignorance of mind being now able to discern all truths in God that Chrystal Ocean of truth The leaks of the memory stopt for ever The roving of its fancy perfectly cured The stubbornness and reluctancy of the will for ever subdued and retained in due and full subjection to God So that the Saints in glory shall be free from all that now troubles them They shall never sin more nor be once tempted so to do for no serpent hisses in that paradise They shall never grieve or groan more for God shall wipe all tears from their eyes They shall never be troubled more for God will then recompense tribulation to their troubles and to them that are troubled rest They shall never doubt more for fruition excludes doubting The Formal happiness is the fulness of satisfaction resulting from the blessed sight and enjoyment of God by a soul so attemper'd to him Psal. 17.15 When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness This sight of God in glory called the beatifical vision must needs yield ineffable satisfaction to the beholding soul in as much as it will be an intuitive vision The intellectual or mental eye shall see God 1 Ioh. 3.2 The corporeal glorified eye shall see Christ. Iob 19.26 27. What a ravishing vision will this be And how much will it exceed all reports and apprehensions we had here of it Surely the one half was not told us It will be a transformative vision it will change the beholder into its own image and likeness We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 As Iron put into the fire becomes all fiery so the soul by conversing with God is changed into his very similitude It will be an Appropriative vision whom I shall see for my self Job 19.26 27. In Heaven interest is clear and undoubted fear is cast out No need of marks and signs there for what a man sees and enjoys how can he doubt of It will be a ravishing vision these we have by faith are so how much more those in glory How was Paul transported when he was in a visional way wrapt up into the third Heaven and heard the unutterable things though he was not admitted into the blessed society but was with them as the Angels are in our assemblies a stander by a looker on If a spark do so inflame what is it to lie down like a Phoenix in her bed of Spices Like a Salamander to live and move in the fire of love It will also be an eternal vision vacabimus videbimus as Augustin said we shall then be at leisure for this imployment and have no diversions from it for ever No evening is mentioned to the seaventh days sabbath no night in the new Ierusalem And therefore Lastly It will be a fully satisfying vision God will then be all in all Etiam ipsa curiositas satietur curiosity it self will be satisfied The blessed soul will feel it self blessed filled satisfied in every part Ah what an happiness is here to look and love to drink and sing and drink again at the fountain head of the highest glory And if at any time its eye be turned from a direct to a reflex sight upon what it once was how it was wrought on how fitted for this glory how wonderfully distinguished by special grace from them that are howling in flames whilst himself is shouting aloud upon its bed of everlasting rest all this will enhaunce the glory And so also will the Accessories of this blessedness The place where God is enjoyed