full Satisfaction First The Matter or Substance of the Promise made by Christ viz that he shall be with him in Praradise By Paradise he means Heaven it self which is here shadowed to us by a place of delight and pleasure This is the receptacle of gratious souls when separated from their bodies And that Paradise signifies Heaven it self and not a third place as some of the Fathers fondly imagined is evident from 2 Cor. 12.2 4. where the Apostle calls the same place by the names of the third Heaven and Paradise This is the place of blessedness designed for the people of God so you find Rev. 2.7 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God i. e. to have the fullest and most intimate communion with Jesus Christ in Heaven And this is the substance of Christs promise to the Thief Thou i. e. thou in spirit or thou in thy noblest part thy soul which here bears the name of the whole person thou shalt be with me in Paradise Secondly The Person to whom Christ makes this excellent and glorious promise It was to one that had lived lewdly and profanely a very vile and wretched man in all the former part of his time and for his wickedness now justly under condemnation Yea to one that had reviled Christ after that sentence was executed on him However now at last the Lord gave him a penitent believing heart Now almost at last gasp he is soundly in an extraordinary way converted and being converted he owns and professes Christ amidst all the shame and reproach of his death Vindicates his innocency and humbly supplicates for mercy Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom Thirdly The set time for the performance of this gratious Promise to him To day this very day shalt thou be with me in glory Not after the resurrection but immediately from the time of thy dissolution thou shalt enjoy blessedness And here I cannot but detect the cheat of those that deny an immediate state of glory to believers after death Who to the end this Scripture might not stand in full opposition to their as uncomfortable as unsound opinion loose the whole frame of it by drawing one pin yea by transposing but a comma putting it at the word day which should be at the word thee and so reading it thus verily I say unto thee to day referring the word day to the time that Christ made the promise and not to the time of its performance But if such a liberty as this be yielded what may not men make the Scriptures speak There can be no doubt but Christ in this expression fixes the time for his happiness To day shalt thou be with me Fourthly and Lastly You have here the Confirmation and Seal of this most comfortable Promise to him with Christs solemn asseveration verily I say unto thee Higher security cannot be given I that am able to perform what I promise and have not out promised my self for Heaven and the glory thereof are mine I that am faithful and true to my promises and never crackt or strained my credit with any I say it I solemnly confirm it verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou with me in Paradise Hence we have three plain obvious truths for our instruction and consolation Doct. 1. That there is a future eternal state into which souls pass at death Doct. 2. That all Believers are at their death immediatly received into a state of glory and eternal happiness Doct. 3. That God may though he seldom doth prepare men for this glory immediately before their dissolution by death These are the useful truths resulting from this remarkable word of Christ to the penitent Thief We will consider and inprove them in the order proposed DOCT. 1. That there is a future eternal state into which souls pass at death This is a principal foundation-stone to the hopes and happiness of souls And seeing our hopes must needs be as their foundation and ground work is I shall briefly establish this truth by these five Arguments The beeing of a God evinces it the Scriptures of truth plainly reveal it the Consciences of all men have resentments of it the incarnation and death of Christ is but a vanity without it And the immortality of humane souls plainly discovers it Arg. 1. The being of a God undeniably evinces a future state for humane souls after this life For if there be a God who rules the world which he hath made he must rule it by rewards and punishments equally and righteously distributed to good and bad Putting a difference betwixt the obedient and disobedient The Righteous and the wicked To make a species of creatures capable of moral government and not to rule them at all is to make them in vain and inconsistent with his glory who is the last end of all things To rule them but not suitably to their natures consists not with that infinite wisdom from which their beings proceeded and by which their workings are ruled and ordered To rule them in a way suitable to their natures viz. by rewards and punishments and not to perform or execute them at all is utterly incongruous with the veracity and truth of him that cannot lie This were to impose the greatest cheat in the world upon men and can never proceed from the holy and true God So then as he hath made a rational sort of creatures capable of moral government by rewards and punishments so he rules them in that way which is suitable to their natures promising it shall be well with the righteous and ill with wicked These promises and threatnings can be no cheat meerly intended to scare and fright where there is no danger or encourage where there is no real benefit but what he promises or threatens must be accomplished and every word of God take place and be fulfilled But it 's evident that no such distinction is made by the providence of God at least ordinarily and generally in this life but all things come alike to all and as with the righteous so with the wicked Yea here it goes ill with them that fear God they are oppressed They receive their evil things and wicked men their good Therefore we conclude the righteous Judge of the whole earth will in another world recompence to every one according as his work shall be Arg. 2. Secondly And as the very being of God evinces it so the Scriptures of truth plainly reveal it These Scriptures are the Pandect or System of the Laws for the goverment of men which the wise and holy Ruler of the world hath enacted and ordained for that purpose And in them we find promises made to the Righteous of a full reward for all their obedience patience and sufferings in the next life or coming world And threatnings made against the wicked of eternal wrath and anguish as the Just recompence of their sin
13 14. or more briefly The Priesthood of Christ is that whereby he expiated the sins of men and obtained the favour of God for them Col. 1.20 22. Rom. 5.10 But because I shall insist more largely upon the several parts and fruits of this office it shall here suffice to speak thus much as to its general nature which was the first thing proposed for explication The necessity of Christs Priesthood comes next to be opened Touching which I affirm according to the Scriptures It was necessary in order to our salvation that such a Priest should by such a Sacrifice appear before God for us The truth of this assertion will be cleared by these two principles which are evident in the Scripture viz. That God stood upon full satisfaction and would not remit one sin without it And that fallen man is totally uncapable of tendring him any such satisfaction Therefore Christ who only can must do it or we perish First God stood upon full satisfaction and would not remit one sin without it This will be cleared from the nature of sin And from the veracity and wisdom of God First From the nature of sin which deserves that the sinner should suffer for it Penal evil in a course of Justice follows moral evil Sin and sorrow ought to go together Betwixt these is a necessary connexion Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death Secondly The veracity of God requires it The word was gone out of his mouth Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye From that time he was instantly and certainly obnoxious and lyable to the death of soul and body The Law pronounces him cursed that continues not in all things that are written therein to do them Gal. 3.9 Now though mans threatnings are often vain and insignificant things yet Gods shall surely take place Not one tittle of the Law shall fail till all be fulfilled Matth. 5.18 God will be true in his threatnings though thousands and millions perish Thirdly The wisdom of God by which he governs the rational world admits not of a dispensation or relaxation of the threatnings without satisfaction For as good no King as no Laws for government As good no Law as no penalty And as good no penalty as no execution To this purpose one well observes It 's altogether undecent especially to the wisdom and and righteousness of God that that which provoketh the execution should procure the abrogation of his Law That that should supplant and undermine the Law for the alone preventing whereof the Law was before established How could it be expected that â—en should fear and tremble before God when they should find themselves more feared than hurt by his threats against sin So then God stood upon satisfaction and would admit no treaty of peace on any other ground Let none here object that reconciliation upon this only score of satisfaction is derogatory to the riches of grace or that we allow not God what we do men viz. to forgive an injury freely without satisfaction Free forgiveness to us and full satisfaction made to God by Jesus Christ for us are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things inconsistent with each other as in its proper place shall be fully cleared to you And for denying that to God which we allow to men you must know that man and man stands on even ground Man is not capable of being wronged and injured by man as God is by man There is no compare betwixt the nature of the offences To conclude man only can freely forgive man in a private capacity so far as the wrong concerns himself but ought not to do so in a publick capacity as he is a Judge and bound to execute justice impartially God is our Law-giver and Judge He will not dispense with violations of the Law but strictly stands on compleat satisfaction Secondly Man can tender to God no satisfaction of his own for the wrong done by his sin He finds no way to compensate and make God amends either by doing or by suffering his will First Not by doing This way is shut up to all the world None can satisfie God or reconcile himself to him this way For its evident our best works are sinful All our righteousness as filthy rags Isa. 64.6 And it 's strange any should imagine that one sin should make satisfaction for another if it be said not what is sinful in our duties but what is spiritual pure and good may ingratiate us with God It is at hand to reply that what is good in any of our duties is a debt we owe to God yea we owe him perfect obedience and it is not imaginable how we should pay one debt by another Quit a Farmer by contracting a new engagement if we do any thing that is good we are beholding to grace for it Ioh. 15.5 2 Cor. 3.5 1 Cor. 15.10 In a word those that have had as much to plead on that score as any now living have quitted and utterly given up all hopes of appeasing and satisfying the justice of God that way It 's like holy Iob feared God and eschued evil as much as any of you yet he saith Job 9.20 21. If I justifie my self mine own mouth shall condemn me if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse Though I were perfect yet would I not know my soul I would despise my life It may be David was a man as much after the heart of God as you yet he said Psal. 143.2 Enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified It 's like Paul lived as holy heavenly and fruitful a life as the best of you and far far beyond you yet he saith 1 Cor. 4.4 I know or am conscious to my self of nothing yet am I not thereby justified His sincerity might comfort him could not justifie him And what need I say more the Lord hath shut up this way to all the world And the Scriptures speak it roundly and plâ—â—â—ly Rom. 3.20 Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight Compare Gal. 3.21 Rom. 8.3 Secondly And as man can never reconcile himself to God by doing so neither by suffering That is equally impossible For no sufferings can satisfie God but such as are proportionable to the offence we suffer for And if so an infinite suffering must be born I say infinite for so sin is an infinite evil objectively considered as it wrongs an infinite God Now sufferings may be said to be infinite either in respect of their weight exceeding all bounds and limits The letting out the wrath and fury of an infinite God Or in respect of duration being endless and everlasting In the first sense no Creature can bear an infinite wrath It would swallow us up In the second it may be born as the damned do but then ever to be suffering is never to have satisfied
thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled They shall then depend no more upon the stream but drink from the ever flowing fountain it self Psal 36.8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures For with thee is the fountain of life and in thy light shall we see light There they shall drink and praise and praise and drink for evermore All their thirsty desires shall be filled with compleat satisfaction O how desirable a state is heaven upon this account And how should we be restless till we come thither as the thirsty traveller is until he meet that cool refreshing spring he wants and seeks for This present state is a state of thirsting that to come of refreshment and satisfaction Some drops indeed come from that fountain by faith but they quench not the believers thirst Rather like water sprinkled on fire they make it burn the more but there the thirsty soul hath enough O bless God that Jesus Christ thirsted under the heat of his wrath once that you might not be scorched with it for ever If he had not cryed I thirst you must have cryed out of thirst eternally and never be satisfied Inference 6. Lastly Did Christ in the extremity of his sufferings cry I thirst Then how great beyond all compare is the love of God to Sinners Who for their sakes exposed the Son of his love to such extream sufferings Three considerations marvelously heighten that love of the Father First His putting the Lord Jesus into such a condition There is none of us would endure to see a Child of our own lie panting and thirsting in the extremity of torments for the fairest inheritance on earth Much less to have the soul of a child conflicting with the wrath of God and making such heart-rending complaints as Christ made upon the Cross if we might have the largest Empire in the world for it yet such was the strength of the love of God to us that he willingly gave Jesus Christ to all this misery and torture for us What shall we call this love O the height length depth and bredth of that love which passeth knowledge The love of God to Jesus Christ was infinitly beyond all the love we have to our children as the Sea is more than a spoonful of water and yet as dearly as he loved him he was content to expose him to all this rather than we should perish eternally Secondly As God the Father was content to expose Christ to this extremity so in that extremity to hear his bitter cries and dolorous complaints and yet not relieve him with the least refreshment till he fainted and died under it He heard the cries of his Son That voice I thirst pierced heaven and reacht the Fathers ear but yet he will not refresh him in his agonies nor abate him any thing of the debt he was now paying and all this for the love he had to poor sinners Had Christ been relieved in his sufferings and spared then God could not have pitied or spared us The extremity of Christs sufferings was an act of Justice to him and the greatest mercy to us that ever could be manifested Nor indeed though Christ so bitterly complains of his thirst was he willing to be relieved till he had finished his work O love unspeakable He doth not complain that he might be relieved but to manifest how great that sorrow was which his soul now felt upon our account Thirdly And it should never be forgotten that Jesus Christ was exposed to these extremities of sorrow for sinners the greatest of sinners who deserved not one drop of mercy from God This commends the love of God singularly to us in that whilst we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Rom. 5.8 Thus the Love of God in Jesus Christ still rises higher and higher in every discovery of it Admire adore and be ravished with the thoughts of this Love Thanks be to God for his unspeakable Gift The THIRTY FIFTH SERMON JOH XIX XXX When Iesus therefore had received the Vinegar he said it is Finished and bowed his head and gave up the Ghost IT is finished This is the sixth remarkable word of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross uttered as a Triumphant shout when he saw the glorious issue of all his sufferings now at hand It is but one word in the original but in that one word is contained the sum of all Joy The very spirits of all divine consolation The ancient Greeks reckoned it their excellency to speak much in a little To give a Sea of matter in a drop of language What they only sought is here found I find some variety and indeed variety rather than contrariety among expositors about the relation of these words Some are of opinion that the antecedent is the legal Types and Ceremonies And so make this to be the meaning It is finished that is all the Types and Prefigurations that shadowed forth the Redemption of souls by the blood of Christ are now fulfilled and accomplished And doubtless as this is in it self a truth so it 's such a truth as may not be excluded as alien to the true scope and sense of this place And though it be objected that many Types and Prefigurations remained at this time unsatisfied even all that looked to the actual death of Christ his continuance in the state of the dead and his resurrection yet it 's easily removed by considering that they are said to be finished because they were just finishing or ready to be finished And it is as if Christ had said I am now putting the last hand to it A few moments of time more will compleat and finish it I have the sum now in my hand which will fully satisfie and pay God the whole debt It is now but bow the head and the work is done and all the Types therein fulfilled So that this cannot exclude the fulfilling of the Types in the death of Christ from their just claim to the sense of this place But yet though we cannot here exclude this sense we cannot allow it to be the whole or principal sense For loe a far greater truth is contained herein even the finishing or complement of the whole design and project of our Redemption and therein of all the Types that prefigured it Both these judicious Calvin conjoyns making the compleating of redemption the principal and the fulfilling of all the Types the Collateral and less principal sense of it Yet it must be observed when we say Christ finished Redemption-work by his death the meaning is not that his death alone did finish it for his abode in the grave resurrection and ascention had all of them their joynt influence into it but these being shortly to follow are all included in the scope of this place According then to the principal scope of the place we observe DOCT.
gave us Commandment to Preach and testifie it to the people We had it in charge from his own mouth and dare not hide it Hence the point of Doctrine is plainly this DOCT. That our Lord Iesus Christ is ordained by God the Father to be the Iudge of quick and Dead This truth stands upon the firm basis of Scripture authority You have it from his own hand Ioh. 5.22 The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all Iudgement to the Son viz. in the sense before given And so the Apostle Act. 17.31 He hath appointed a day in the which he will Iudge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance c. And again Rom. 2.16 In the day when God shall Iudge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ. Three things will be opened here First the certainty of a Judgement to come Secondly the quality and nature of it Thirdly that it 's a special part of Christs Exaltation to be appointed Judge in this day First The certainty of a Judgement This is a truth of firmer establishment than Heaven and Earth It 's no devised fable no cunning artifice to keep the world in awe but a thing as confessedly true as it is awfully solemn For First As the Scriptures fore-mentioned with these 2 Cor. 5.10 Eccles. 12.14 Matth. 12.36 and many other the true and faithful sayings of God do very plainly reveal it so the Iustice and righteousness of God require it should be so For the Judge of all the earth will do right Gen. 18.25 Now righteousness it self requires that a difference be made betwixt the righteous and the wicked Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him wo to the wicked it shall be ill with him Isa. 3.10 But no such distinction is generally and fully made betwixt one another in this world Yea rather the wicked prosper and the righteous perish There is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness Eccles. 7.15 Yea not only in but for his righteousness as it may be fairly rendred Here the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than himself Hab. 1.14 As the fishes of the Sea where the great and strong swallow up the small and weak And even in Courts of Judicature where the innocent might expect relief there they often meet with the worst oppressions How fairly and justly therefore doth the wise man infer a Judgement to come from this consideration Eccles. 3.16 17. I saw under the Sun the place of Iudgement that wickedness was there and the place of righteousness that iniquity was there I said in my heart God shall Iudge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work q. d. the Judgement to come is the only relief and support left to poor innocents to quiet and Comfort themselves withal To the same purpose also is that Iam. 5.6 7. Ye have condemned and killed the Iust and he doth not resist you be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord. It is confest that sometimes God vindicates his providence against the Atheism of the world by particular strokes upon the wicked but this is but rare And as the Father well observes if no sin were punished here no providence would be believed again if every sin were openly punished here no Judgement hereafter could be expected Besides Secondly Man is a reasonable being and every reasonable being is an accountable being He is a capable subject of moral government His actions have relation to a Law He is swayd by rewards and punishments He acts by counsel and therefore of his actions he must expect to give an account as it is Rom. 14.12 So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God Especially if we add that all the gifts of body mind estate time c. are so many Talents concredited and betrusted to him by God and every one hath one Talent at least therefore a time to render an account for all these Talents will come Matth. 25.14 15. We are but Stewards and Stewards must give an account in order whereto there must be a great audit day Thirdly And what need we seek evidence of this truth further than our own conscience Lo it is a truth engraven legibly upon every mans own breast Every one hath a kind of little Tribunal or privy Sessions in his own conscience which both accuses and excuses for good and evil which it could never do were there not a future Judgement of which it is now conscious to it self In this Court Records are now kept of all that we do even of our secret actions and thoughts which never yet took air but if no Judgement what need of Records Nor let any imagine that that this may be but the fruit of education and discourse We have heard of such things and so are scared by them For if so how comes it to obtain so universally Who could be the Author of such a common deception Reader bethink thy self a little if thou hadst a mind as one saith to impose a lie upon all the world what course wouldst thou take How wouldst thou lay the design or why dost thou in this case imagine what thou knowest not how to imagine 'T is evident that the very consciences of the Heathens have these offices of accusing and excusing Rom. 2.15 And it 's hard to imagine as an ingenious Author speaks that a general Cheat should bow down the backs of all mankind and induce so many doubts and fears and troubles amongst them and give an interruption to the whole course of their corrupt living and that there should be no account of it And therefore it 's undoubted that such a day will come But I shall rather chuse in the Second place to open the nature and manner of this Judgement than to spend more time in proving a truth that cannot be denyed without violence offered to a mans own light If then the question be what manner of Judgement will this be I answer First It will be a great and awful day It 's called the Iudgement of the great day Jud. 6. Three things will make it so the manner of Christs coming The work he comes about And the issues or events of that work The manner of Christs coming will be awfully solemn For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air c. 1 Thes. 4.16.17 Here Christ breaks out of Heaven with the shouts of Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies such a shout saith one as is to be heard among Seamen when after a long and dangerous voyage they first
Christ and beauties of holiness A King from Heaven makes suit for your love If he espouse your soul now he will fetch it home to himself at death in his Chariot of salvation and great shall be your joy when the Marriage of the Lamb is come Look often upon Christ in this glass he is fairer than the Children of men View him believingly and you cannot but like and love him For as one well saith Love when it seeth cannot but cast out its spirit and strength upon amiable objects and things love worthy And what fairer thing than Christ Oh fair Sun and fair Moon and fair Stars and fair flowers and fair Roses and fair Lilies and fair Creatures but oh ten thousand thousand times fairer Lord Jesus alas I wronged him in making the comparison this way O black Sun and Moon but oh fair Lord Jesus O black Flowers and black Lilies and Roses but O fair fair ever fair Lord Jesus O all fair things black deformed and without beauty when ye are set beside the fairest Lord Jesus O black Heavens but O fair Christ O black Angels but O surpassingly fair Lord Jesus I hope you both are agreed with Christ according to the Articles of peace propounded to you in the Gospel and that you are every day driving on Salvation work betwixt him and you in your family and in your Closets And now my Dear Friends if these discoveries of Christ which I humbly offer to your hands may be any way useful to your souls to assist them either in obtaining or in clearing their interest in him my heart shall rejoice even mine For none under Heaven can be more willing though many are more able to help you thither than is Your most affectionate and obliged Kinsman and Servant John Flavell From my Study in Dartmouth March the 14. 1671. To the Christian Readers Especially those in the Town and Corporation of Dartmouth and Parts adjacent who have either befriended or attended these Lectures Honoured and Worthy Friends KNowledge is mans excellency above the beasts that perish Psal. 32.9 the knowledge of Christ is the Christians excellency above the Heathen 1 Cor. 1.23 24. Practical and saving knowledge of Christ is the Sincere Christians excellency above the self-couzening hypocrite Heb. 6.4 6. but methodical and well digested knowledge of Christ is the strong Christians excellency above the weak Heb. 5.12 13 14. A saving though an immethodical knowledge of Christ will bring us to Heaven Ioh. 17.2 but a regular and methodical as well as saving knowledge of him will bring Heaven into us Col. 2.2 3. For such is the excellency thereof even above all other knowledge of Christ that it renders the Vnderstanding judicious the Memory tenacious and the Heart highly and fixedly joyous How it serves to confirm and perfect the understanding is excellently discovered by a worthy Divine of our own in these words A young ungrounded Christian when he seeth all the fundamental truths and seeth good evidence and reasons of them perhaps may be yet ignorant of the right order and place of every truth It 's a rare thing to have young Professours to understand the necessary truths methodically and this is a very great defect For a great part of the usefulness and excellency of particular truths consisteth in the respect they have to one another This therefore will be a considerable part of your confirmation and growth in your understandings to see the body of the Christian doctrine as it were at one view as the several parts of it are united in one perfect frame and to know what aspect one point hath upon another and which is their due places There is a great difference betwixt the sight of the several parts of a Clock or Watch as they are disjoynted and scattered abroad and the seeing of them conjoyned and in use and motion To see here a pin and there a wheel and not know how to set them all together nor ever see them in their due places will give but little satisfaction it is the frame and design of holy doctrine that must be known and every part should be discerned as it hath its particular use to that design and as it is connected with the other parts By this means only can the true nature of Theology together with the harmony and perfection of truth be clearly understood And every single truth also will be much better perceived by him that seeth its place and order than by any other for one truth exceedingly illustrates and leads in another into the understanding Study therefore to grow in the more methodical knowledge of the same truths which you have received and though you are not yet ripe enough to discern the whole body of Theology in due method yet see so much as you have attained to know in the right order and placing of every part As in Anatomy it 's hard for the wisest Physician to discern the course of every branch of Veins and Arteries but yet they may easily discern the place and order of the principal parts and greater vessels and surely in the body of Religion there runs not a branch of greater or more necessary truth than these so it is in Divinity where no man hath a perfect view of the whole till he come to the state of perfection with God but every true Christian hath the knowledge of all the essentials and may know the orders and places of them all And as it serves to render the mind more judicious so it causes the Memory to be more tenacious and retentive of truths The chain of truth is easily held in the memory when one truth links in another but the loosing of a link endangers the scattering of the whole chain We use to say order is the mother of memory I am sure it 's a singular friend to it Hence it 's observed those that write of the art of memory lay so great a stress upon place and number The memory would not so soon be overcharged with a multitude of truths if that multitude were but orderly disposed It 's the incoherence and confusion of truths rather than their number that distracts Let but the understanding receive them regularly and the memory well retain them with much more facillity A bad memory is a common complaint among Christians All the benefit that many of you have in hearing is from the present influence of truths upon your hearts There is but little that sticks by you to make a second and third impression upon them I know it may be said of some of you that if your affections were not better than your memories you would need a very large charity to pass for Christians I confess it 's better to have a well-ordered heart than a methodical head but surely both are better than either And for you that have constantly attended these exercises and followed us through the whole series and deduction of these truths from text to text
and from point to point who have begun one Sabbath where you left another it will be your inexcusable fault if these things be not fixed in your understandings and memories as nails fastened in a sure place especially since providence hath now brought to your eyes what hath been so often sounding in your ears which is no small help to fix these truths upon you and prevent that great hazard of them which commonnly attends bare hearing for now you may have recourse as often as you will to them view and review them till they become your own But though this be a great and singular advantage yet it is not all you may have by a methodical understanding of the doctrine of Christ it 's more than a judicious understanding them or faithful remembring them that you and I must design even the warm vital animating influences of these truths upon our Hearts without which we shall be never the better yea much the worse for knowing and remembring them Truth is the sanctifying instrument Ioh. 17.17 the mould into which our souls are cast Rom. 6.17 according therefore to the stamps and impressions it makes upon our understandings and the order in which truths lye there will be the depth and lastingness of their impressions and influences upon the heart As the more weight is laid upon the seal the more fair and lasting impress is made upon the wax He that sees the grounds and reasons of his peace and comfort most clearly is like to maintain it the more constantly Great therefore is the advantage Christians have by such methodical systems Surely they may be set down among the desiderata Christianorum the most desired things of Christians Divers worthy modern pens have indeed undertaken this noble subject before me some more succinctly others more Copiously These have done worthily and their praises are in the Churches of Christ yet such a breadth there is in the knowledge of Christ that not only those who have written on this subject before me but a thousand Authors more may imploy their pens after us and not one interfere with or straiten another And such is the deliciousness of this subject that were there ten thousand Volumes written upon it they would never cloy or become nauseous to a gracious heart We use to say one thing tires and it 's true that it doth so except that one thing be virtually and eminently all things as Christ is and then one thing can never tire For such is the variety of sweetness in Christ who is the deliciae humanigeneru the delights of the Children of men that every time he is opened to believers from Pulpit or Press it is as if Heaven had furnished them with a new Christ and yet he is the same Christ still The Synopsis praefixed to this Treatise will shew you that the method is wholly new and the Treatise it self will satisfie you that I have not boasted in another mans line of things made ready to my hand which I speak not in the least to win any praise to my self from the undertakement but to remove prejudices from it for I see more defects in it than most of my Readers will see and can forethink more faults to be found in it than I shall now stand to tell thee of or make answer for It was written in a time of great distractions and didst thou but know how oft this work hath dyed and revived under my hand thou wouldst wonder that ever it came to thine I am sensible it may fall under some censorious it may be envious eyes and that far different judgements will pass upon it for pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli and no wonder if a Treatise of Christ be when Christ himself was to some a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence I expect not to please every Reader especially the envious magna debet esse eloquentia quae invitis placet It is as hard for some to look upon other mens gifts without envy as it is to look upon their own without pride nor will I be any farther concerned with such Readers than to pity them well knowing that every proud contempt and envious censure is a Granado that breaks in the hand of him that casts it But to the ingenious and candid Reader I owe satisfaction for the obscurity of some parts of this discourse occasioned partly by the conciseness of the stile and partly by the mistakes of the Printer For the first I have this only to say that I was willing to crowd as much matter as I could into this number of sheets in thy hand that I might therein ease thee both in thy pains and purse I confess these Sermons were Preached in a more relaxed stile and most of these things were inlarged in the Pulpit which are designedly contracted in the Press that the Volume might not swell above the ability of common Readers And it was my purpose at first to have comprised the second part viz. the Application of the Redemption that is with Christ unto sinners in one Volume which occasioned the contraction of this but that making a just Volume it self must await another season to see the light If the Reader will be but a little the more intent and considerate in reading this conciseness will turn to his advantage And for the mistakes that have happened in the Press they are not for the most part very material and the principal ones are collected to your hand which being corrected before you read the obscurity which is objected will in great part be thereby removed This may suffice to shew the usefulness of such composures and to prevent offence but something yet remains with me to say to the Readers in general to those of this Town in special and to the Flock committed by Christ to my charge more especially To Readers in general according as their different states and conditions may be there are six things earnestly to be requested of them 1. If you be yet strangers to Christ let these things begin and beget your first acquaintance with him I assure thee Reader it was a principal part of the design thereof and here thou wilt find many directions helps and sweet incouragements to assist a poor stranger as thou art in that great work Say not I am an enemy to Christ and there is no hope of Reconciliation for here thou wilt see how God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself say not all this is nothing except God had told thee so and appointed some to treat with thee about it for he hath committed unto us the word of this reconciliation say not yea that may be from your own pity and compassions for us and not from any commission you have for it for we are Ambassadours for Christ 1 Cor. 5.19 Say not O but my sins my sins are greater than can be forgiven the difficulties of my salvation too great to be
learn hence what an horrid evil it is to use Christ or his Blood as a common and unsanctified thing Yet so some do as the Apostle speaks Heb. 10.29 The Apostate is said to tread upon the Son of God as if he were no better than the dirt under his Feet and to count his Blood an unholy or common thing But woe to them that so do they shall be counted worthy of something worse then dying without mercy As the Apostle there speaks And as this is the Sin of the Apostate so is it also the Sin of all those that without Faith approach and so prophane the Table of the Lord unbeleivingly and unworthily handling those awfull things Such eat and drink judgement to themselves not discerning the Lords Body 1 Cor. 11.29 Whereas the body of Christ was a thing of the deepest sanctification that ever God created Sanctified as the Text tells us to a far more excellent and glorious purpose than ever any Creature in Heaven or Earth was sanctified It was therefore the great sin of those Corinthians not to discern it and not to behave themselves towards it when they saw and handled the signs of it as so holy a thing And as it was their great Sin so God declared his just indignation against it in those sore strokes inflicted for it As they discerned not the Lords body so neither did the Lord discern their bodies from others in the judgements that were inflicted And as one well observes God drew the Model and Plat-form of their punishment from the structure and proportion of their sin And truly if the moral and spiritual Seeds and originals of many of our outward afflictions and sicknesses were but duly sifted out possibly we might find a great part of them in the Bowels of this sin The just and righteous God will build up the breaches we make upon the honour of his Son with the ruines of that beauty strength and honour which he hath given our Bodies O then when you draw nigh to God in that ordinance take heed to sanctifie his name by a spiritual discerning of this most holy and most deeply sanctified Body of the Lord. Sanctified beyond all Creatures Angels or Men not only in respect of the Spirit which fill'd him without measure with inherent holiness but also in respect of its dedication to such a service as this It being set apart by him to such holy solemn ends and uses as you have heard And let it for ever be a warning to such as have lifted up their hands to Christ in an holy profession that they never lift up their Heel against him afterwards by Apostacy The Apostate treads on Gods dear Son and God will tread upon him for it Thou hast troden down all that err from thy Statutes Psal. 119.118 Inference 3. What a choice pattern of love to the Saints have we here before us calling all that are in Christ to an imitation of him Even to give our selves up to their service as Christ did Not in the same kind so none can give himself for them but as we are capable You see here how his Heart was affected to them that he would sanctifie himself as a Sacrifice for them See to what a height of duty the Apostle improves this example of Christ 1 Ioh. 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought also to lay down our lives for the Brethren Some Christians came up fairly to this pattern in the Primitive times Priscila and Aquila laid down their Necks for Paul Rom. 16.4 i. e. eminently hazarded their lives for him and even he himself could rejoyce if he were offered up upon the Sacrifice and service of their Faith Phil. 2.17 And in the next times what more known even to the Enemies of Christianity than their fervent love one to another Ecce quam mutuò se deligunt mori volunt pro alterutris See how they love one another and are willing to dye one for another But alas that Primitive Spirit is almost lost in this degenerate Age. Instead of laying down life how few will lay down twelve pence for them I remember it 's the observation of a late Worthy upon Matth. 95.40 that he is perswaded there is hardly that man to be found this day alive that fully understands and fully believes that Scripture O did men think what they do for them is done for Christ himself it would produce other effects than are yet visible Inference 4. Lastly if Christ sanctified himself that we might be sâ—nctied by or in the truth then it will follow by found consequence that true sanctification is a good evidence that Christ set apart himself to dye for us In vain did he â—anctifie himself as to you unless you be sanctified Holy Souls only can claim the benefit of the great Sacrifice O try then whether true holiness and that is only to be judged by its conformity to its pattern 1 Pet. 1.15 As he that called you is holy so be ye holy whether such an holyness as is and acts according to its measure like Gods holiness in the following perticulars be â—ound in you First God is universally holy in all his ways so Psal. 145.17 His works are all holy what ever he doth it 's still done as becomes an holy God He is not only holy in all things but at all times unchangeably holy Be ye therefore holy in all things and at all times too if ever ye expect the benefit of Christs sanctifying himself to dye for you O Brethren let not the Feet of your conversation be as the Feet of a lame man which are unequal Prov. 20.7 be not sometimes hot and sometimes cold at one time carefull at another time careless One day in a spiritual rapture and the next in a fleshly frolick but be ye holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.15 in all manner of conversation in every creek and turning of your lives And let your holiness hold out to the end Let him that is holy be holy still Rev. 22.11 not like the Hypocrites paint but as a true natural complexion Secondly God is examplarily holy Jesus Christ is the great pattern of holiness Be ye examples of holiness too unto all that are about you Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works Matth. 5.16 as wicked men infect one another by their examples and diffuse their poison and malignity whereever they come so do ye diffeminate godliness in all places and companies and let those that frequently converse with you especially those of your own Families receive a deeper Dye and Tincture of heavenlyness every time they come nigh you as the cloth doth by every new dipping into the Fat. Thirdly God delights in nothing but holiness and holy ones he hath set all his pleasure in the Saints Be ye holy herein as God is holy Indeed there is this difference betwixt
heard him So that his very enemies were forced to acknowledge that never any man spake like him Joh. 7.46 Thirdly It implys Christ to be the Original and fountain of all that light which is ministerially diffused up and down the world by men Ministers are but Stars which shine with a borrowed light from the Sun So speaks the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.6 7. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. Those that teach men must be first taught by Christ. All the Prophets of the Old and all the Apostles Pastors and Teachers of the New Testament have lighted their Candles at his Torch 'T was Christ that gave them a mouth and wisdom Luk. 21.15 What Paul received from the Lord he delivered to the Church 1 Cor. 11.23 Jesus Christ is the chief Shepherd 1 Pet. 5.4 And all the under Shepherds receive their gifts and commissions from him These things are manifestly implyed in Christs Prophetical Office We shall next enquire how he executes and discharges this his Office Or how he enlightens and teacheth men the will of God And this he hath done variously gradually plainly powerfully sweetly purely and fully First Our great Prophet hath revealed to men the will of God variously Not holding one even and constant tenour in the manifestations of the Fathers will but as the Apostle speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at sundry times and in divers manners Heb. 1.1 Sometimes he taught the Church immediately and in his own person Ioh. 18.20 He declared Gods righteousness in the great congregation Psal. 22.22 And sometimes immediately by his Ministers and Officers deputed to that service by him So he dispensed the knowledge of God to the Church both before his incarnation It was Christ that in the time and by the Ministry of Noah went and Preached to the Spirits in prison as it is 1 Pet. 3.19 That is to men and women then alive but now separated from the body and imprisoned in Hell for their disobedience And it was Christ that was with the Church in the wilderness instructing and guiding them by the Ministry of Moses and Aaron Acts 7.37 38. And so he hath taught the Church since his ascension He cannot now be personally with us having other business to do for us in Heaven but however he will not be wanting to teach us by his Officers whom for that end he hath set and appointed in the Church Ephes. 4.11.12 Secondly He hath dispensed his blessed light to the Church gradually The discoveries of light have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in many parts or parcels sometimes more obscure and cloudy as it was to the Old Testament-believers by Visions Dreams Urim Thumim vocal Oracles Types Sacrifices c. Which though comparatively it were but a weak glimering light and had no glory set by that which now shines 2 Cor. 3.7 8 9 10 18. Yet it was sufficient for the instruction and Salvation of the Elect in those times But now is light sprung up gloriously in the Gospel dispensation And we all with open face behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord. It is to us not a twy-light but the light of a perfect day And still it is advancing in the several ages of the world I know more said Luther than blessed Austin knew and they that come after me will know more than I know Thirdly Jesus Christ our great Prophet hath manifested to us the will of God plainly and perspicuously When he was on earth himself he taught the People by Parables and without a Parable he spake nothing Matth. 13. 3 4. He cloathed Sublime and Spiritual mysteries in earthly Metaphors stooping them thereby to the low and dull capacities of men Speaking so familiarly to the People about them as if he had been speaking earthly things to them Ioh. 3.12 And so according to his own example would he have his Ministers Preach using great plainness of speech 2 Cor. 3.12 And by manifestation of the truth commending themselves to every mans conscience 2 Cor. 4.2 Yet not allowing them to be rude and careless in expression pouring out indigested crude immethodical words No an holy serious strict and grave expression befits the lips of his Embassadours And who ever spake more weightily more Logically or perswasively than that Apostle by whose Pen Christ hath admonished us to beware of vain affectation and swelling words of vanity But he would have us stoop to the understandings of the meanest And not give the People a Comment darker than the Text. He would have us rather pierce their consciences than tickle their phancies And break their heart than please their ears Christ was a very plain Preacher Fourthly Jesus Christ discovered truth powerfully Speaking as one having authority and not as the Pharisees Matth. 7.29 They were cold and dull Preachers Their words did even freeze betwixt their lips But Christ spake with power There was heat as well as light in his Doctrine And so there is still though it be in the mouth of poor contemptible men 2 Cor. 10.4 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the casting down of strong holds 'T is still quick and powerful sharper than a two edged Sword and piercing to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the jâ—ynts and marrow Heb. 4.12 The blessed Apostle imitated Christ. And being filled with his Spirit spake home and freely to the hearts of men So many words so many claps of Thunder as one said of him which made the hearts of sinners shake and tremble in their breasts All faithful and able Ministers are not alike gifted in this particular but surely there is an holy seriousness a Spiritual grace and Majesty in their Doctrine commanding reverence from the hearers Fifthly This Prophet Jesus Christ taught the people the mind of God in a sweet affectionate and taking manner His words made their hearts burn within them Luk. 24.32 It was Prophesied of him Isa. 42.2 He shall not cry nor life up nor cause his voice to be heard on high A bruised reed he shall not break and smoaking flax be shall not quench He knew how to speak a word in season to the weary Soul Esa. 61.1 He gathered the Lambs with his arms And gently led those with young Esa. 4.11 How sweetly did his words slide to the melting hearts about him He drew with cords of Love with the bands of a man He discouraged none Upbraided none that were willing to come to him His familiarity and free condescensions to the most vile and and despiseable sinners was often made the matter of his reproach Such is his gentle and sweet carriage to his people that the Church is called the Lambs Wife Rev. 19.7 Sixthly He revealed the mind of God purely to men His Doctrine had not the least dash of
errour to debase it His most enviously observant hearers could find nothing to charge him He is the faithful and true witness Rev. 1.5 And he hath commanded his Ministers to conserve the simplicity and purity of the Gospel and not to blend and sophisticate it 2 Cor. 4.2 Seventhly and lastly He revealed the will of God perfectly and fully keeping back nothing needful to Salvation So he tells the Disciples Iob. 15.15 All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you He was faithful as a Son over his own house Heb. 3.6 Thus you have a brief account of what is implyed in this part of Christs Prophetical office and how he performed it Inference 1. If Jesus Christ who is now passed into the heavens be the great Prophet and Teacher of the Church hence we Justly infer the continual necessity of a standing Ministry in the Church For by his Ministers he now teacheth us and to that intent hath fixed them in the Church by a firm constitution there to remain to the end of the world Matth. 28. ult He teacheth men no more personally but Ministerially His Ministers supply the want of his personal presence 2 Cor. 5.20 We pray you in Christs stead These offices he gave the Church at his Ascention i. e. when he ceased to teach them any longer with his own lips And so set them in the Church that their succession shall never totally fail For so that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath set 1 Cor. 12.28 Plainly implyes They are set by a sure establishment a firm and unalterable constitution even as the times and seasons which the Father hath put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his own power It 's the same word And it 's well they are so firmly set and fixed there for how many adversaries in all ages have endeavoured to shake the very office it self Pretending that it 's needless to be taught by men and wresting such Scriptures as these to countenance their errour Ioel. 2.28 29. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and Daughters shall Prophesie c. And Ier. 31.34 They shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them As to that of Ioel it is answered that if an Old Testament Prophesie may be understood according to a New Testament interpretation then that Prophesie doth no way oppose but confirm the Gospel Ministry How the Apostle understood the Prophet in that his Prophesie may be seen in Acts 2.16 When the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost upon the Apostles And surely he must be a confident person indeed that thinks not an Apostle to be as good an Expositer of the Prophet as himself And for that in Ier. 31. we say First that if it conclude against ministerial teachings it must equally conclude against Christian Conferences Secondly We say that cannot be the sence of one Scripture which contradicts the same sence of other Scriptures But so would this Eph. 4.11 12. 1 Cor. 12.28 And thirdly We say the sence of that Text is not negative but comparative Not that they shall have no need to be taught any truth but no such need to be taught the first truths That there is a God And who is this true God They shall no more teach every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me To conclude God hath given Ministers to the Church for conversion and edification work till we all come into the unity of the Faith to a perfect man Ephes. 4. 11 12. So that when all the Elect are converted and all those Converts become perfect men when there is no errour in Judgement or practice and no seducer to cause it then and not till then will a Gospel-Ministry be useless But as it 's well observed there is not a man that opposes a Gospel Ministry but the very being of that man is a sufficient argument for the continuance of it Inference 2. If Christ be the great Prophet of the Church and such a Prophet then it follows That the weakest Christians need not be discouraged at the dulness and incapacity they find in themselves For Christ is not only a patient and condescending Teacher but he can also as he often hath done reveal that to babes which is hid from the wise and learned Matth. 11.25 The testimonies of the Lord are sure making wise the simple Psal. 19.7 Yea and such as you are the Lord delights to chuse that his grace may be the more conspicuous in your weakness 1 Cor. 1.26 27. You will have nothing of your own to glory in You will not say as a proud wretch once said Ego Deus meus I and my God did this Jesus Christ affects not social glory He will not divide the praise with any Well then be not discouraged Others may know more in other things than you but you are not incapable of knowing so much as shall save your souls if Christ will be your Teacher In other knowledge they excell you but if ye knew Jesus Christ and the truths as it is in him one drop of your knowledge is worth a whole Sea of their gifts One truth suckt by Faith and Prayer from the breast of Christ is better than ten thousand dry notions beaten out by wracking the understanding It 's better in kind the one being but natural the other Supernatural from the saving Illuminations and inward teachings of the Spirit And so is one of those better things that accompany Salvation It 's better in respect of effects Other knowledge leaves the heart as dry barren and unaffected as if it had it's seat in another mans head but that little you have been taught of Christ sheds down its gracious influences upon your affections and slides sweetly to your melting hearts So that as one prefer'd the most despicable work of a plain ruâ—tick Christian before all the Triumphs of Alexander and Caesar much more ought ye to prefer one saving manifestation of the Spirit to all the powerless Illuminations of natural men Inference 3. If Christ be the great Prophet and Teacher of the Church it follows that Prayer is a proper means for the increase of knowledge Prayer is the Goden Key which unlocks that treasure When Daniel was to expound that secret which was contained in the Kings Dream about which the Chaldean Magicians had rackt their brains to no purpose what course doth Daniel take Why he went to his house saith the Text Dan. 2.17 18. And made the thing known to Hananiah Mishael and Azariah his companions that they would desire mercies of the God of Heaven concerning this secret And then was the secret revealed to Daniel Luther was wont to say three things make a Divine Meditation Temptation and Prayer Holy Mr. Bradford was wont to
unrighteousness And over these Caiphas a head fit for such a body at this time precided And though there was still some face of a Court among them yet their power was now abridged by the Romans that they could not hear and determine judge and condemn in Capital matters as formery For as Iosephus their own Historian informs us Herod in the beginning of his reign took away this power from them and that Scripture seems to confirm it Joh. 18.31 It is not lawful for us to put any man to death And therefore they bring him to Pilates Bar. He also understood him to be a Galilean and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee and at that time in Ierusalem he is sent to him and by him remitted to Pilate Thirdly As he was at first heard and judged by a Court that had no authority to Judge him so when he stood at Pilates bar he was accused of perverting the Nation and denying tribute to Caesar than which nothing was more notoriously false For as all his Doctrine was pure and heavenly and malice it self could not find a flaw in it so he was alwaies observant of the Laws under which he lived and scrupulous of giving the least just offence to the civil powers Yea he not only paid the Tribute himself though he might have pleaded exemption but charged it upon others as their duty so to do Matth. 22.24 give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and yet with such palpable untruths is Christ charged Fourthly Yea and what is most abominable and unparallel'd to compass their malitious designs they industriously labour to suborn false witnesses to take away his life not sticking at the grossest perjury and manifest injustice so they might destroy him So you read Matth. 25.59 Now the Chief-Priests and Elders and all the council sought salse witnesses against Iesus to put him to death Abominable wickedness For such men and so many to complot to shed the blood of the innocent by known and studied perjury What will not malice against Christ transport men to Fifthly Moreover the carriage of the Court was most insolent and base towards him during the trial For whilst he stood before them as a prisoner yet uncondemned sometimes they are angry at him for his silence and when he speaks and that pertinently to the point they smite him on the mouth for speaking and scoff at what he speaks To some of their light frivolous and ensnaring questions he is silent not for want of an answer but because he heard nothing worthy of an answer And to fulfil what the Prophet Isaiah had long before predicted of him he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth Isai. 53.7 as also to leave us a president when to speak and when to be silent when we for his name sake shall be brought before Governours for such reasons as these he sometimes answers not a word and then they are ready to condemn him for a mute Answerest thou nothing saith the High-Priest what is it that these witness against thee Matth. 26.62 hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee saith Pilate Matth. 27.13 And when he makes his defence in words of truth and soberness they smite him for speaking Joâ— 18.22 And when he had thus spoken one of the Officers which stood by stroke Iesus with the palm of his hand saying answerest thou the High-Priest so And what had he spoken to exasperate them Had he spoken impertinently Not at all What he said was but this when they would have had him insnare himself with his own lips Iesus answered I spake openly in the world I ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Iews alwaies resort and in secret have I said nothing Why askest thou me ask them that heard me behold they know what I said q. d. I am not obliged to accuse and ensnare my self but you ought to proceed secundum allegata probata according to what is alledged and proved Did he deserve a blow on his mouth for this O who but himself could have so patiently digested such abuses under all this he stands in perfect innocency and patience making no other return to that wretch that smote him but this if I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil but if well why smitest thou me Sixthly Lastly To instance in no more He is condemned to die by that very mouth which had once and again professed he found no fault in him He had heard all that could be alledged against him and saw it was a perfect piece of malice and envy When they urge Pilate to proceed to sentence him why faith he what evil hath he done Matth. 27.23 nay in the preface to the very sentence it self he acknowledges him to be a just person Matth. 27.24 When Pilate saw he could prevail nothing but that rather a tumult was made he took water and washed his hands before the multitude and said I am innocent of the blood of this just person see ye to it Here the innocency of Christ brake out like the Sun wading out of a cloud convincing the conscience of his Judge that he was just and yet he must give sentence on him for all that to please the people Inference 1. Was Christ thus used when he stood before the great Council the Scribes and Elders of Israel then surely great men are not alwaies wise neither do the aged understand Iudgement Job 32.9 Here were many great men many aged men many politick men in Council but not one wise or good man among them In this Council were men of parts and learning men of great abilities and by so much the more pernicious and able to do mischief Wickedness in a great man in a learned man is like poyson given in wine which is the more operative and deadly Christs greatest enemies were such as these Heathen Pilate had more pity for him than superstitious Caiphas Luther tells us that his greatest adversaries did not rise out of the Ale-houses or Brothel-houses but out of Monasteries Convents and Religious-houses Inference 2. Hence also we learn That though we are not obliged to answer every captious idle or ensnaring question yet we are bound faithfully to own and confess the truth when we are solemnly called thereunto It 's true Christ was sometimes silent and as a deaf man that heard not but when the question was solemnly put art thou the Christ The Son of the Blessed Iesus said I am Mark 14.61 62. He knew that answer would cost his life and yet he dare not deny it On this account the Apostle saith he witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate I Tim. 6.13 Herein Christ hath ruled out the way of our duty and by his own example as well as precept obliged us to a sincere confession of
in Hell for ever Rom. 2.5 6 7 8 9 10. Thou treasurest up to thy self wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Iudgement of God Who shall render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but unto them that are contentious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil c. So 2 Thes. 1.4 5 6 7. So that we our selves glory in you in the Churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure Which is a manifest token of the righteous Iudgement of God That ye may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which ye also suffer Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming fire c. To these plain testimonies multitudes more might be added if it were needful Heaven and Earth shall pass away but these words shall never pass away Arg. 3. Thirdly As the Scriptures reveal it so the Consciences of all men have some resentments of it Where is the man whose Conscience never felt any impressions of hope or fear from a future world If it be said these may be but the effects and force of discourse or education we have read such things in the Scriptures or have heard it by Preachers and so raise up to our selves hopes and fears about it I demand how the Consciences of the Heathens who have neither Scriptures nor Preachers came to be imprest with these things Doth not the Apostle tells us Rom. 2.15 That their Consciences in the mean while work upon these things Their thoughts with reference to a future state accuse or else excuse i. e. their hearts are cheared and encouraged by the good they do and terrified with fears about the evils they commit Whereas if there were no such things Conscience would neither accuse or excuse for good or evil done in this world Arg. 4. Fourthly The incarnation and death of Christ is but a vanity without it What did he propose to himself or what benefit have we by his coming if there be no such future state Did he take our nature and suffer such terrible things in it for nothing If you say Christians have much comfort from it in this Life I answer the comforts they have are raised by faith and expectation of the happiness to be enjoyed as the purchase of his blood in Heaven And if there be no such heaven to which they are appointed No Hell from which they are redeemed they do but comfort themselves with a Fable and bless themselves in a thing of nought Their comfort is no greater than the comfort of a Beggar that dreams he is a King and when he awakes finds himself a Beggar still Surely the ends of Christs death were to deliver us from the wrath to come 1 Thes. 1.10 Not from an imaginary but a real Hell to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3.18 To be the Author of eternal Salvation to them that obey him Heb. 5.9 Arg. 5. Fifthly and lastly The immortality of humane souls puts it beyond all doubt The soul of a man vastly differs from that of a Beast which is but a material form and so wholly depending on must needs perish with the matter But it is not so with us Ours are reasonable spirits that can live and act in a separated state from the body Eccles. 3.21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of a Beast that goeth downward to the earth So that look as if a man dispute whether man be rational that his very disputing it proves him to be so so our disputes hopes fears and apprehensions of eternity prove our souls immortal and capable of that state Inference 1. Is there an Eternal State into which souls pass after this Life How pretious then is present time upon the improvement whereof that State depends O what a huge weight hath God hanged upon a small wyer God hath set us here in a State of Tryal according as we improve these few hours so will it fare with us to all Eternity Every day every hour nay every moment of your present time hath an influence into your Eternity Do ye believe this What and yet squander away pretious time so carelesly so vainly How do these things consist When Seneca heard one promise to spend a week with a friend that invited him to recreate himself with him He told him he admired he should make such a rash promise what said he cast away so considerable a part of your Life How can you do it Surely our prodigallity in the expence of time argues we have but little sence of great Eternity Inference 2. How rational are all the difficulties and severities of Religion which serve to promote and secure a future Eternal Happiness So vast is the disproportion betwixt Time and Eternity things seen and not seen as yet the present vanishing and future permanent state that he can never be justly reputed a wise man that will not let go the best enjoyment he hath on earth if it stand in the way of his eternal happiness Nor can that man ever escape the just censure of notorious folly who for the gratifying of his appetite and present accommodation of his flesh le ts go an eternal glory in heaven Darius repented heartily that he lost a Kingdom for a draught of water O said he for how short a pleasure have I sold a Kingdom It was Moses choice and his choice argued his wisdom he chose rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin which are but for a season Heb. 11.25 Men do not account him a fool that will adventure a Penny upon a probability to gain ten thousand pounds But sure the disproportion betwixt Time and Eternity is much greater Inference 3. If there certainly be such an Eternal State into which souls pass immediately after Death How great a change then doth Death make upon every man and woman O what a serious thing is it to die It 's your passage out of the swift river of Time into the boundless and bottomless Ocean of Eternity You that now converse with sensible objects with men and women like your selves enter then into the world of Spirits You that now see the continual revolutions of daies and nights passing away one after another will then be fixed in a perpetual NOW O what a serious thing is Death You throw a cast for Eternity when you die If you were to cast a Dye for your natural life oh how would your hand shake with fear how it would fall but what is that to this The souls of
That Iesus Christ hath perfected and compleatly finished the great work of Redemption committed to him by God the Father To this great truth the Apostle gives a full testimony Heb. 10.14 By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified And to the same purpose speaks Joh. 17.4 I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the work thou gavest me to do Concerning this work and the finishing thereof by Jesus Christ upon the Cross we shall enquire what this work was how Christ finished it and what evidence can be produced for the finishing of it First What was the work which Christ finished by his death It was the fulfilling the whole Law of God in our room and for our Redemption as a Sponsor or surety for us The Law is a glorious thing The holiness of God that fiery attribute is engraven or stampt upon every part of it Deut. 33.2 From his right hand went a fiery Law The jealousie of the Lord watched over every point and tittle of it for his dreadful and glorious name was upon it It cursed every one that continued not in all things contained therein Gal. 3.10 Two things therefore were necessarily required in him that should perfectly fulfil it and both found in our surety and in him only viz. a subjective and effective perfection First A subjective perfection He that wanted this could never say it is finished Perfect working always follows a perfect being That he might therefore finiâ—h this great work of obedience and therein the glorious design of our Redemption loe in what shining and perfect holiness was he produced Luk. 1.35 That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God and indeed such an High-Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 So that the Law could have no exception against his person Nay it was never so honoured since its first promulgation as it was by having such a perfect and excellent person as Christ to stand at its Bar and give it due reparation Secondly There must be also an effective perfection or a perfection of working and obeying before it could be said it is finished This Christ had for he continued in all things written in the Law to do them He fulfilled all righteousness as it behoved him to do Matth. 3.15 He did all that was required to be done And suffered all that was requisite to be sufferâ—d He did and suffered all that was commanded or threatned in such perfection of obedience both active and passive that the pure eye of divine Justice could not find a flaw in it And so finished the work his Father gave him to do And this work finished by our Lord Jesus Christ was both a necessary difficult and pretious work First It was a necessary work which Christ finished upon the Cross. Necessary upon a threefold account It was necessary on the Fathers account I do not mean that God was under any necessity from his nature of redeeming us this or any other way For our Redemption is opus liberi consilii an effect of the free counsel of God but when God had once decreed and determined to redeem and save poor sinners by Jesus Christ then it became necessary that the counsel of God should be fulfilled Act. 4.28 To do whatsoever thy hand and counsel had before determined to be done Secondly It was necessary with respect to Christ. Upon the account of that previous compact that was betwixt the Father and him about it Therefore it 's said by Christ himself Luk. 22.22 Truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined i. e. as it was fore-agreed and covenanted under the necessity of fulfilling his engagement to the Father he came into the world and being come he still minds his engagement Joh. 9.3 I must work the works of him that sent me Thirdly Yea and it was no less necessary upon our account that this work should be finished For had not Christ finished this work sin had quickly finished all our lives comforts and hopes Without the finishing this work not a Son or Daughter of Adam could ever have seen the face of God Therefore it 's said Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life On all these accounts the finishing of this work was necessary Secondly As it was necessary this work should be finished so the finishing of it was exceeding difficult It cost many a cry many a groan many a tear many a hard tug before Christ could say it is finished All the Angels in Heaven were not able by their united strength to lift that burden one inch from the ground which Christ bare upon his shoulders yea and bare it away But how heavy a burden this was may in part appear by his propassion in the Garden and the bitter out-crys he made upon the Cross which in their proper places have been opened Thirdly and Lastly It was a most pretious work which Christ finished by his death That work was dispatched and finished in few hours which will be the matter of everlasting songs and triumphs to the Angels and Saints to all eternity O it was a pretious work The mercies that now flow out of this fountain viz. Justification Sanctification Adoption c. are not to be valued Besides the endless happiness and glory of the coming-world which cannot enter into the heart of man to conceive If the Angels sang when the foundation stone was laid what shouts what triumphs should there be among the Saints when this voice is heard It is finished Secondly Let us next inform our selves how and in what manner Jesus Christ finished this glorious work And if you search the Scriptures upon that account you will find that he finished it obedientially freely diligently and fully First This blessed work was finished by Jesus Christ most obediently Phil. 2.8 He became obedient to death even the death of the Cross. His obedience was the obedience of a servant though not servile obedience So it was foretold of him before he touched this work Isai. 50.5 The Lord God hath opened mine ear and I was not rebellious neither turned away back i. e. my Father told me the very worst of it He told me what hard and heavy things I must undergo if ever I finished this design of redemption and I was not rebellious i. e. I heartily submitted to and accepted all those difficulties For there is a Meiosis in the words I was content to stoop to the hardest and most ignominious part of it rather than not finish it Secondly As Christ finished it obediently so he finished it freely Freedom and obedience in acting are not at all opposite to or exclusive of each other Moses his Mother nursed him in obedience to the command of Pharaohs daughter yet most