next place another use may be this to make us willing to sacrifice our bodies for the maintaining of the truths of Christ if Christ be pleased to call us to suffer for him We doe not know but this point may be very seasonable we know not how soone Christ may call for our bodies to lie in prison for some truthes he hath discovered to us which he hath not made known to others why should we be unwilling that Christ should suffer in his owne body Consider that the body which shall lie in prison it is not thy body thou art not able to raise it it is the body of Christ Therefore if it be the mind of Christ that this body shall lie in prison say not My will but thy will be done and if Christ will lead thee further if he will not onely lead thee to be imprisoned in thy body for the profession of the truth but if he call thee to give up thy life to loose it for him that thou mayst find it again in him let this consideration make thee willing to be a martyr and sufferer for the Lord Christ why should not he doe what he will with his owne If he will lead thee to a pillorie to an hot Iron to receive a marke in thy body for him to an halter fire and faggot be contented And bâ— confident that if Christ ever call the to suffer he will give thee power and strength for to suffer in thy body because he cannot forget to be mindfull of his owne body We know how Christ threatneth those that are ashamed of him and his word in an adulterous and sinfull generation Mark 8.38 Of him saith he shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of the Father with power and great glory As Christ will no owne but be ashamed of wicked ungodly and unbelieving men that make profession of his name in words without his power in their hearts so Christ will owne the bodies of his Saints and such who truly believe in him and have laid downe their lives for him and they shall find their lives againe at the resurrection of the dead Therefore let this make us willing to suffer I am the more willing to presse this point because I see a spirit of basenesse and cowardinesse in Christians I find not that courage in the hearts and spirits of Christians that should be in them The complaint of Jereniah may justly be taken up in our times he saith Jer. 9.3 None were valiant for the truth There is scarce a man that appeares for truth in the height of zeale Men will rather sinne against Conscience to comply with the world then oppose themselves against the corruptions of the world they will rather wimme down with the tyde and streame â—f the world then oppose the wicked streame â—f worldly corruptions And it is to be feared that many profesâ—rs have their eye so much upon the Civill â—agistrate from this corruption and unâ—undnesse in their hearts they will be of â—e same Religion with the Civill Magistrate because they will not suffer any thing for â—e Lord. They looke on Christ in their apprehensions as precious but when they are told of a crucified Christ of a persecuted Christ of Christ hanging on a tree a Christ to be spit upon condemned and persecuted to suffer in the world with the young man in the Gospel they goe away sorrowfull from such a Sermon they would have Christ and the world together but if they cannot have Christ but they must leave the world they had rather part with Christ then with the world They are like Joseph of Arimathea that tooke Christ and left the Crosse behind him So delicate Professors in our time they will take Christ but they will be sure to leave the Crosse they will be wise in their way they will professe Religion no further then they may hold the world and Religion together One reason of this cowardise and basenesse of spirit is this because they doe not consider that the bodies of Saints are under the care and in the possession of Jesus And that wee cannot glorifie God more then by lying in prison in love to Christ or dying for him if it be his pleasure to call us to seale his truths with our bloud And if we did consider what a holy flame and Heavenly sparke was in the hearts and spirits of primitive Christians in believing this truth that they accounted it their greatest honour to be dishonoured for Christ their greatest credit to be discredited by the world for him their Liberty to be imprisoned their life to die at a stake for professing this glorious truth of Christ discovered to their soules Phil. 1.21 it would put fire and spirit into us and this lethargie that is upon us would speedily be cured Indeed we are a luke-warme people the discretion and prudence of politick professors in our times hath swallowed up zeale In the times of Popery there was zeale without knowledge in this Kingdome and now wee have knowledge without Zeale And the ground of this is this because either wee doe not meditate on this truth or else because we are rather cold and formall then truly spirituall in the meditation of it which should engage us as we tender the glory of Christ to be more frequent and serious in our contemplations concerning it for the future I find that Christians made much use of this point in former dayes though I doe not wholly justifie their practise for as it is our custome to salute one another when we meete so it was the custome of some Christians when they met one another to â—â—tter these words Christus resurrexit Christ â—â—risen They apprehended it sa a point that came with such power on their spirits to enable them to be willing to suffer for the Lord that this was their salutation in the time of persecution assuring themselves that he which was risen in his owne person as head would arise in all Saints as his members And this was that that made them so willing to jeopard their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus We read of Paul Act. 21.13 that when they exhorted him not to goe to Jerusalem because the Spirit in Agabus had made it knowne that he should be persecuted and bound when he came thither Why doe you weep and break my heart saith he I am not onely willing to be bound at Jerusalem but to did there for the name of the Lord Jesus It was a heart-breaking to Paul to tell him that he should not goe to suffer at Jerusalem â— if it were his greatest suffering not 〈◊〉 suffer for the Gospel But we have learned this point by roate and it is a thing few understand wee talke of it in a Parrat-liâ—â— way and we have mumbled it over in oâ— Creed I believe the resurrection of the body but few have dived into the bottome it or suckt the sweetnesse and spiritualiâ—â—
curse But for believers Christ was made a curse and hath freed them from the curse of the law Gal. 3.13 And therefore they are not lyable unto any punishment as it is a curse Arg. 9. Sin the cause of legall punishments being taken away the effects of it are taken away But Christ hath taken away finne which is the cause of legall punishments And therfore he hath taken away the effects which are legall punishments and therefore one speaking of the afflictions of Saints saith that they are medicines not punishments Medicinae non paena naturam obtinent The truth of this argument is built upon the known axiome The cause being taken away the effect is taken away Sublatâ causâ tollitur effectus Arg. 10. That being taken away which doth binde over a man to legall punishment the legall punishment is taken away But guilt which bindeth a man over to legall punishment is taken away And therefore the legall punishment is taken away Arg. 11. God doth as fully forgive us our trespasses as he would have us to forgive the trespasses of men against us But when we do forgive their trespasses we are not afterward to inflict any vindicative punishment upon them And therefore God doth so fully forgive us our trespasses that hee doth not afterward inflict any vindicative punishment This is the argument of a learned writer Deus debita nostra non minus gratuito et plene nobis dimittit quam docuit nos debitoribus nostris dimittere God saith he doth no lesse freely and sully forgive us our debts than he would have us to forgive our debters I might multiply sentences of Writers who with one consent do under-write to this truth Polanus saith That they who are temporally punished for sin here are to be punished to eternity Qui temporaliter puniuntur in aeternum puniendi sunt And that chastisement is not so much for the purging of sins past as to teach to avoid sin for the future Non adhibetur pro purgandis praeteritis peccatis sed pro futuris vitandis Pol. synt l. 6. c. 4. Willet hath many speeches to this purpose in his Synopsis Davenant writing on this point against the Papists saith what is it to remit the sin or the fault then not to punish a man any more for it Quid aliud est peccatum sive culpam remittere quam illud ad poenam hand amplius imputare But I study brevity knowing how distastfull long controversies are to the pallats of men of these times And therefore in few words to put a period to what I intend to speak concerning the first branch of this Article I conceive that man may be considered two manner of wayes First as hee is in the first Adam and so all afflictions are properly punishments and curses of the law unto him 2 dly In the second Adam and thus the nature of afflictions and chastisements for sinne are changed unto him The sting is taken out of death and every affliction Afflictions are benedictions to him Afflictiones benedictiones Bern. Not curses but blessings unto him And therefore 2 ly God will chasten his justified people in his fatherly love to them and displeasure against sinne that they may be partakers of his holinesse Heb. 12.10 by the spirit of sanctification as they are partakers of Christs righteousnesse in their Justification which maketh true Saints not only to beare afflictions patiently but to glory in tribulation Rom. 5.3 And though in a sence they are afflicted neither for sin that it is not to satisfie Gods justice which is already satisfied by Jesus Christ nor from sin as some speak for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin Yet God doth afflict us that in the afflictions he may powre forth his Spirit upon us for the removing of sin out of our spirits which doth grieve his Spirit and out of our conversations which doth dishonour his name And for the preventing of sinne for the future the Prodigall will take heed how hee doth runne from his Fathers house when hee hath beene among the Swine And the soule beloved of Christ when she is forsaken of all lovers and in misery will resolve to returne unto her first love and say for then was it better with me than now Hos 2.7 And thus much briefly by way of answer to the first branch of this Article The second branch of this article is this That the Land is not punished for the sins of Gods people What hath been spoken concerning the precedent branch of this Article for the clearing of this As no legall punishment properly so called can be inflicted upon the person of a believer for his sinne so no punishment can be inflicted upon the Land in which he liveth for his sinnes Yet I doe not deny but that God who punisheth the unjustified persons of a land in his wrath for their rebellions and transgressions may chastise some of his people by a nationall calamity and affliction for their humiliation and reformation But though in a nationall visitation the same affliction if it be materially considered may be laid upon a believer which is laid upon unbelievers yet the affliction which is laid upon a Saint is formally distinguished from that which is inflicted upon unjustified persons the one flowing from the love of a Father the other from the wrath of an enemie The least of these is properly materially formally a legall punishment the other materially a judgment or punishment but formally a fatherly chastisement and a pledg of Gods love to a Saint Sect. 5. THere is yet one Article more which the Subscribers have taken out of Mr. Gataker page 16. That if a man by the Spirit know himselfe to be in the state of grace though hee be drunke or commit murther God sees no sinne in him If I should but name the man who brought in this Article against me it were enough to acquit me from the charge in the judgment of those who know him But I am resolved that the world shall see that I study not revenge but the clearing and vindication of truth in my answer When one in the Star-chamber demanded of me whether an Article something like unto this were my tenet and whether I had delivered it in such words I did reply that I might affime of it what Martiall did of his poem that it was his as made composed and delivered by him but it ceased to be his and became the repeaters when it was evilly repeated by another Sed male dum recitas incipit esse tuum So the truth contained in this Article to wit That God sees no sinne in his justified children in the sence in which I delivered it it is my tenet or rather Gods truth But while it is repeated with some words of the accuser to bring an odium upon the truth and that being not mentioned which was largely laid downe in my discourse to give light unto it I doe affirm that
or line of your hand if I had been infected with errour The Apostle commandeth us who are spirituall That if any man be overtaken with a fault to restore such a one in the spirit of meekenesse Gal. 6.1 When the cry of Sodome and Gomorrah was great and grievous the Lord went down to see whether they had done according to the cry of it And when this cry came unto you concerning me you might have done well according to the will of God to have imitated God and to have queried whether it were according to the cry and I could have sent you divers godly people at that time who should have taken an oath of it if it had been lawfully given them that I delivered things opposite and contrary to what you have presented to the world rather then what you affirme that I said I shall therefore crave leave to give a true report unto the world of that which I have delivered concerning this thing not seeking your discredit but endeavouring to free my selfe and the truth from the discredit which you have brought upon us by your false relation 1. I doe acknowledge that at Wapping I spake from these words of the Psalmist Psal 40.12 Innumerable evills have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to looke up they are more than the haires of my head therefore my heart faileth mee And in the opening of them I did affirme that if any should aske me as the Eunuch did Philip Acts 8.34 Of whom speaketh the Prophet this of himselfe or of some other man I should answer that it would be plain that he did prophetically speak of Jesus Christ if the Holy-Ghost might be heard as an Expositor and if wee did interpret Scripture by Scripture which is the best way of interpreting Scripture The place which I made use of for the proofe of this is in Heb. 10.5 where the Apostle doth apply the precedent words unto Jesus Christ And whereas you say that I did take my rise from Luthers application of them with some harsh expressions unto Christ I doe affirme that this is altogether false For it was then unknowne unto mee that Luther had ever expounded them so God hath taught me better then that I should make Luther my rule for interpreting of Scripture I have learned to call no man master but Jesus Christ Nullius astrictus jurare in verba Magistri Luther is not of greater authority with me than Master Gataker farther than I doe apprehend that he speaketh according to the truth of God and meaning of Scripture If I had had a desire to have perswaded the people that I preached the truth of God unto them from the authority of Expositors it had been an easie thing to have stuffed my discourse with quotations drawn from them and not to have made use of Luthers only Ancient and moderne Writers have usually expounded the words as I did Musculus saith that all the Ancients doe expound this of Christ not that our sins are properly his but by dispensation as hee was a Mediatour between us and the Father Hoc veteres omnes ita de Christo exponunt ut nostra peccata sint ipsius non proprie sed dispensatione quâ se mediatorem inter nos et patrem obtulit Pomeranus saith that iniquities take hold of Christ not which he himselfe had committed but which he had taken upon himselfe Christum comprehenderunt iniquitates suae non quas fecerat sed quas pro nobis susceperat diluendas And thus I then expounded the words according to that of Fulgentius Hee that had no sinne of his owne did beare ours Qui non habuit propria portavit aliena Christ did acknowledg that they were his sinnes not because they were inhesively in him but because they were imputed unto him Hee was contented that they should be charged upon him that wee might be discharged from them I am not the first who have asserted that Christ hath confessed that our sinnes are his 2 Cor. 5. Isa 53 c. But whereas you would make your Reader believe that upon this account I would wholly take away confession of sinne this I doe deny And I can prove that the maine use of this Sermon was to teach believers how they should in an Evangelicall way confesse sinne over the head of the Scape-goat Levit. 16.21 to wit in faith beholding them laid and charged upon Jesus Christ that being the best confession of our sinnes in which wee doe confesse and acknowledge to the glory of Gods grace and Christs goodnesse that our siâ—s are laid upon Jesus Christ But you are not the first who have endeavoured to perswade the world that I am against the confession of sin though about the same time I preached publiquely at Coleman-street upon these words 1 John 1.9 If we confesse our sins he is just and faithfull to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse And in Gracious-streete and at Algate upon the same Text which Sermons are not out of the memory of many who heard me who therefore will not believe you if you should get the whole Province to sweare that you have spoken truth And that I may declare my selfe to be no enemie to confession of sin I doe beseech you in the bowels of Christ to confesse your owne sinnes and faults in faith and sincerity to your owne shame and Gods glory Confesse them not only as Pharaoh Exod. 9.27 who confessed his owne sin and the sinne of his people And Saul 1 Sam. 27.17 And Judas who went from his confession to an halter and so to his owne place But confesse them with the beliefe of this truth in your heart That Christ with one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 Confesse them for your owne humiliation and for the elevation of free grace Ezek. 16. last Job 42.6 And as you doe professe your selfe a friend to confession of sinne in your judgment to shew your self to be a friend to confession and forsaking of sin by your practise Prov. 28.13 Or else you may lay a stumbling blocke in the way of the weake who may be apt to looke upon you as one of the Pharisees who say and doe not Section 4. SIr I am inforced to begin again with that exhortation with which I did shut up the former Section Beseeching you that in the confession of your sin you would not forget to confesse this great and horrid sin of yours in charging mee for exhorting people to sinne as fast as they will because there is a fountaine open for them to wash in I doe think that if the Devill himselfe should get up into a Pulpit to preach who doth often preach by his Vicars and Curates that he would not make use of any such exhortation Neither did ever any man but your selfe aver the same thing against mee I doe confesse that this Article was brought in against
grace of God could not keep that salvation which hee received how shall he be able without grace to regaine that salvation which he hath lost Cum igitur sine gratiâ dei salutem non posset Custodire quam accepit quomodo sine gratiâ dei potest reparare quam perdidit Aug. in Epist Secondly It may be for the convincing of men of their disability to will their own justification and salvation What God accounts wisdome that when man lookes on it by the eye of reason he acccounts it nothing but folly and madnesse How can a man be desirous of Christ who apprehends that the things of Christ are nothing but foolishnesse A prophane Pope sporting himselfe and rejoycing in the great riches he had gotten by professing the Gospell in a carnall way uttered these words What great riches have wee gotten to our selves by this fable of Iesus Christ Quantus divitias lucrati sumus ex hac fabulâ Christi So men that are not enlightned by the spirit of truth to behold the world of truth doe conalve the truths which men preach concerning Christ are meere fancies fables madnesse and that foolishnesse and that there is no truth at all in which is spoken in the word of truth I will instance but in one or two particulars to shew you how carnall reason opposeth grace Grace telleth us that God will have mercie on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Rom. 9.18 Consider how carnall reason opposeth this truth of God suppose saith carnall reason that a King would hate some of his Subjects because hee would hate them and love others because he would love them and should give no other reason of his actions but his owne will were not such a King more fit to live among beasts then to reigne over men And shall wee then thinke that the wise God doth love and elect some because he will love them and hate and reprobate others because he will hate them Thus carnall men measuring the actions of God by the rule of their own reason they see nothing but folly and madnesse in that by which God discovers his greatest wisdome to those that are enlightned to behold the riches of his grace Secondly God in Christ doth present himselfe as having a sufficiency of grace for the salvation of the greatest of sinners without workes but how doth carnall reason strongly and vigorously fight against Gods goodnesse concluding that if there were any truth in this Doctrine that the law and good workes would presenly be destroyed A natural man cannot believe that God is so gracious as Gospel-Ministers would perswade the world that he is As the unbelieving Lord when the Prophet told him of the great plenty in Samaria said If God should open windowes in Heaven could this this thing be 1 King 7. So a naturall man when Christ is offered to sinners without any works unlesse God give grace to believe hee is ready to say If the windowes of Heaven were opened and all the grace and mercie in Heaven should come downe upon us if God should let out all the bowells of his pitty and compassion to poore sinners it cannot be so as you say and speak concerning free grace to sinners and ungodly ones So that if a naturall man should do nothing but heare Sermons and although Angells or Christ himselfe should come downe from heaven to preach unto him hee would be as able of himselfe to keepe the whole Law for justification as to beleeve truly and savingly in the Lord Jesus But some will say that if it be thus that a man may as easily in his owne strength keepe the Law as beleeve the Gospell why doth not God then rather enable us to keepe the Law that wee may be saved then bid us to beleeve the Gospel To this I answer that God saves us by enabling us to beleeve the Gospel and not by enabling us to keepe the Law for Justification because God will have the glory of his grace in our Salvation God will not save us in a way of working but in a way of beleeving that all the glory may be given to him The Apostle gives this as a reason why it is by faith and not by workes that no man might boast ver 9. Not of workes lest any man should boast By which argument he proveth that the Father of the faithfull was not justified by workes Rom. 4.2 If Abraham were justified by workes saith hee he hath whereof to glory As we may observe it in some people who are built upon legal principles like the Pharisee Luke 18.11 They are boasting that they are not as other men as though their good workes had made the difference betweene them and others This frame of spirit doth rob God of the glory of his grace who will not that any flesh should glory in his presence but that he that glorieth should glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1.29.3 And therefore wee are saved by grace through faith in the word made flesh and not by the workes of the Law But secondly some will object why doth God take this paines with men in the Ministery of the Word if they are able to doe no more to their owne conversion then a dead man to his owne resurrection To this objection I have already given an answer yet give me leave to adde this to what hath been already spoken for the fuller satisfaction of those that are weak Though we are able to doe nothing of our selves yet God entreates exhorts and beseecheth us to be reconciled to him in Jesus Christ because in exhorting intreating and beseeching of us to beleeve he puts forth his power and his owne strength to enable us to beleeve while Paul exhorted the Gaoler to believe in the Lord Jesus that hee might be saved God enabled the Gaoler to beleeve Life and power is conveyed to the soule in Gospel commands and exhortations When Christ raised the sonne of the Widow of Naim to life Luke 7.14 he speakes to him Young man I say to thee arise No man who hath not lost his reason will conclude from hence that it was by the power of the young man that was dead by which hee was raised from the dead but by the power of the Lord Jesus who did bid him arise So though God speak in the Ministry of the word to those that are dead in sinnes and trespasses and bids them arise from the dead that hee may give them light yet we cannot conclude from thence that it is by the power of men by which they doe believe but it is by the power of the spirit conveyed in the preaching of the Word Christ commanded Lazarus to come forth but he came not forth in his owne strength but in the power and strength of him that commanded him out of the grave So wee command men to come forth out of the grave of sinne but they come not forth in their owne strength but in the power and
rise first verse 16. Here you see he holdeth forth this that Christ who is that mediator between God and man and true man now in Heaven this Jesus Christ shall descend from Heaven and that the Saints shall rise from the Earth to meet him in the aire So the Angels told the Apostles Act. 1.11 when they looked up to Christ when he ascended this same Jesus shal so come from Heaven as you now see him ascend into Heaven the same Christ shall descend from Heaven and the Apostles shall see him in the same manner with the very same eves with which they saw him ascend into Heaven with the same eyes they shall see him descend from Heaven the Scripture is so full that I need not take more paines to give you more places for the opening of it unlesse you will please to take one place more out of the Old Testament that you may know that they had a cleare knowledge of this in the dayes of the Law as well as wee have now in the dayes of the Gospel Dan. 12.12 And at that time shall Michael stand up the great Prince which standeth for the Children of thy people that is the Lord Jesus Christ who always stands for his people and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a Nation even to the same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the booke And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt And they that be wise shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and they that turne many to righteousnes as the Stars for ever and ever Here you see the same thing held forth Though I will not trouble you with many reasons to confirme this doctrine of the resurrection for the truth is it is a Doctrine above Reason I call here not so much for reason as for Faith to believe what is above Reason and what seemes contrary to carnall reason yet give me leave to give you a reason or two drawne from the sacred truth of Gods word The first is drawne from the truth of God God is true therefore there will be a resurrection he should deceive and delude his people were there not a resurrection of bodies Doth he not often tell us of a resurrection And doth not our Saviour tell us that hee will raise those at the last day who are drawn unto him by the Father Joh. 6.44 And therefore unlesse we will make the great God which is blasphemy to think a lyer and Christ his Sonne a Preacher of the resurrection the greatest impostor in the world and all his Ministers Servants and Messengers cheaters juglers and deceivers of the people we cannot but acknowledge a resurrection for God hath spoken of it and hath revealed this to them that there shall be such a resurrection and they preach it in his name therefore the God of truth should be found a lyer if there should not be a resurrection of bodies according to his word Secondly the justice and mercy of God seeme to call for a resurrection If wee looke upon wicked and ungodly men so God in Justice must send his Son Jesus Christ to raise the dead and to judge the world or else how should the justice of God shine cleare and bright before the eyes and saces of men This is the Argument that the Apostle laies downe 2 Thess 1.5 6. where he speakes of the sufferings of the Saints and of the wickednesse of their persecutors who wrong them for making profession of the truth of the Lord Christ which is saith he a manifest token of the righteous judgement of God it is a demonstration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an evident infallible signe that there will be a judgement day and a resurrection because else God should not be just it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you It is just with the God of justice to punish the vessells of wrath disobedient and wicked men who never did flee to his grace for life and salvation it is just with him to pay the persecutors of his people their wages after they have done their worke Now if there were not a judgement day if there were not a resurrection where should God give them their wages for persecuting and troubling them that make profession of his name How should God that is the Judge of the world appeare to be just Here is the first Argument that God is just to wicked and ungodly men and God could not appeare to be just if there were no judgement day no resnrrection therefore there shall be a resurrection Now the same things fall alike to the just and unjust we see wicked and ungodly men thrive and prosper in the world they live in pleasure there are no bands in their death as the Psalmist speakes they spend their dayes in mirth and die upon their beds without sorrow How should God appeare to be just unlesse there be another day when God will call these men to a reckning for all the sinnes and iniquities which they did commit against him when they lived upon the Earth Secondly if we looke to the mercy of God And this is the Argument that our blessed Saviour makes use of Matth. 22.31 When the Sadduces came to him who said there was no resurrection nor spirit nor Devill as our Sadduces doe who say there is no Devill but our owne evill thoughts nor good Angels but the good motions of our owne spirits nor any resurrection of the body See what Argument he useth to prove the resurrection as touching the resurrection have yee not read that which was spoken to you by God saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living God professeth himselfe the God of dead Saints in a speciall manner therefore these must live againe and be made happy by this God that professeth himselfe to be their God while their bodies lye rotting and putrifying in the earth God in his never failing faithfulnesse ownes them in the dust keepes their ashes in safety by which Christ doth ascertaine us that there will be a resurrection of bodies at the last day So that you see if this truth be denyed it will overthrow the Scriptures which acquaints us that some are vessels of honour some of dishonour that some are vessels of grace and some are vessels of Gods furie and indignation if there be no judgement day no resurrection there cannot be vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy If there be no resurrection we are of all men most miserable c. 1 Cor. 15. therefore a resurrection must be granted that Saints may appeare the vessels of Gods mercy 1. Vse Confut. That which hath been spoken consutes the blasphemous and Diabolicall
opinion of those that doe oppose this Doctrine of the resurrection There are two sorts of these First such who doe plainly deny the resurrection as Porphyrius and others whom we read of And secondly such who will not seeme to deny a resurrection but will pretend that they are risen already spiritually risen And they know no other resurrection The first of these are like those that are mentioned in the 2 Cor. 15. that say there is no resurrection The latter are like those 2 Tim. 2.18 Hymeneus and Philetus that said the resurrection was already past The latter of these are the more dangerous Come and ask them is there a resurrection Yes we are risen it is past you understand the Scripture carnally and not spiritually you looke on the history of the word whereas all the Scripture is mysticall and allegoricall Thus these in a more plausible way deny the truth of God and overthrow the Doctrine of the resurrection But these places of Scripture and sanctified reasons drawne from the word of truth sufficiently confute and overthrow this damnable cursed opinion of theirs that strikes at the very roote and raseth the foundation of all Religion This point of the resurrection is so cleerly held forth in Scripture that those that denie it either deny the Scripture to be the word of the Lord Jesus or else by their allegories and diabolicall interpretation of the word they pervert the truth of it Now the latter of these are the most dangerous for they seeme to carrie a great deale of glory spirituality and truth with them and make those that are not acquainted with their solecismes believe that they are very spirituall that they have some light and knowledge that men have not ordinarily attained to Whereas when you have studied well the depth of their notions you shall find this to be all if they acknowledge a God for I know that there are some of these that absolutely deny that there is a God that God was from all eternity and God shall indure to all eternitie and that being that they had in God from all eternitie that being they shall have in God to all eternitie but the body and the humane spirit shall die and be lost and come to nothing So all the happinesse they have is that eternall and everlasting being concludunt spiritum ad essentiam Dei redire eique jungi ita ut unicus spiritus maneat As Calvin reporteth of those Libertines which denyed the resurrection in his time They conclude saith he that the Spirit shall returne to the essence of God and shall be joyned to him so that one spirit shall onely remaine as if they should say there is a God that was for ever and shall indure for ever but all the creatures shall come to nothing when the body dies it shall returne to its dust never to be raysed and the spirit shall vanish away as the soft ayre as those miscreants in the booke of Wisdome speaks Wisd 2.3 which if it were a truth there should be no happinesse for the humane spirit of man or for the body after this life And I am confident that this is all their new Light affordeth to us and glorious spirituality or rather infernall spirituality as Calvin calleth it Infernalem spiritualitatem they boast of And this I gather by their owne discourses and words and likewise by searching their writings and reading their bookes that have formerly been written and that lately are brought into the world But me thinks there is one objection for the present comes to my mind which doth call for an answer before I proceede Object If there be such a generation of men as you speak of that denie the Doctrine of the resurrection and pervert the truth of God then we may see by this what inconvenience would follow if liberty should be granted to men to practise according to their owne judgements which are contrary to the judgements of the civill Magistrate in the worship of God Therefore it seemes there is a necessity laid upon Civill powers that men may be kept from these errours and damnable opinions to make strict Lawes and impose them upon all people And all sorts of professors to inforce them to come in and professe Christ in their way or else to confiscate their goods to banish them out of the Countrey or if need be to take away their lives Answ I answer this doth not follow there were such in the time of the Lord Jesus we find him oft disputing with the Sadduces yet we see the Lord Jesus Christ did not intend to overthrow the Sadduces that denyed the resurrection by such meanes but dealt with them onely by Scripture and reason as we see Matth. 22. And when James and John producing the example of Elias desired Christ to command fire to come from Heaven to destroy the discourteous Samaritans that refused to entertaine them He denyeth their request with a reproofe Luk. 9.55 He rebuked them and said Yee know not what manner of spirit ye are of and I thinke it is safe for us to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ But in the next place let me tell you that no Lawes Statutes constitutions or formes imposed by men or Directories or any thing you can think of Discipline or Government can extirpate this out of the hearts of these men For I assure you that few that are of this judgement will lose any thing for their Conscience Some of them if you bring in Popery before they will lose a haire of their head for that which they maintaine they will be professed Papists We may see the picture of these men in Quintinus who was the divells Embassadour in Calvins time to divulge Familisticall tenents of whom he thus speakes si hodiè Quintinus vinctus teneretur sive à Christianis sive à Papistis staretur ipsius confessioni non multum esset anxius Certus enim esset de suâ liberatione quod tum horum tum illorum voluntati assentiretur If Quintin were now imprisoned by Protestants or Papists and should be freed or condemned by his owne confession it would not much trouble him for he would be confident of his freedome Because he would assent to the will of either of them Calv. in his Instruc Adver Liber c. 8. If you threaten them that they shall suffer any thing they will presently tell you that they were overtaken with a fault and they will be of your mind if you have any power to punish them for what they professe Like him in the Comedian Ais aio negas nego Doe you assert it I assert it too doe you denie it I deny it too And why should a man be so foolish as to lose any thing for that which he professeth in his Conscience when he thinkes there shall be no resurrection He hath no reason he were mad that would part with Earth and earthly things that is not sure of Heaven he is a mad-man that will
as our Mediatour 1 Tim. 2.5 If he meanes that which they draw from his words he knew Christ after the flesh in all his Sermons and his Faith was a knowledge of Christ after the flesh And therefore that which they wrest from his words is not his meaning Secondly Pauls meaning is this that Christ is not to be knowne after the flesh As though any men should conceive that they should have any priviledge or prerogative above another in Christ because they are his kinsmen or Countrey-men according to the flesh or of the same stock with Christ being descended from Abraham or David according to the flesh Thus Christ is not to be knowne after the flesh It will availe men nothing that they are neere to Christ in the flesh by their naturall birth unlesse they be neare to Christ and one with Christ by their new birth So that the Apostle doth in this place take away the difference which some might apprehend to be between the Jew and the Gentile It is parallel to that place Gal. 3.28 There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female for yee are all one in Christ Jesus And this is evident by the precedent verse where he saith that Christ died for all for Gentiles as well as for Jewes so that a Jew may as soone be saved by Christ as a Gentile if he rest upon the grace of the Father through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus his Sonne for Justification and Salvation It will likewise appeare to be the plain and naked meaning of the Apostle if we consider the subsequent words where he doth publish forth the same thing and explaineth his meaning telling us that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe not imputing their trespasses unto them The sinfull Gentiles who are called the world in opposition to the Jewes that were Gods peculiar and selected people gathered out of the world from other Nations God is reconciled to this world to sinfull Gentiles as well as to Gods owne people the Jewes And therefore Christ is not to be knowne among Christians in any carnall or fleshly relations as though he were a Saviour more to the Jewes then to the Gentiles This were to know Christ after the flesh but we that know him spiritually know him so no more for in the Spirit we see the partition wall which was between Jewes and Gentiles pulled down and know Christ the common Saviour both to Jewes and Gentiles which shall believe in his name And thus I have given you an answer fully satisfactory to their second objection The third place from which they frame an objection is in Eccles 3.19 That which befalleth unto the Sonnes of men befalleth beasts even one thing befalleth them as the one dieth so dieth the other yea they have all one breath so that a man hath no preheminence above a beast To this I thus answer that Solomon here doth not propose this as his owne judgement but rather doth represent unto us the opinion of carnall men who have no greater light then the dimme eye of reason And doth acquaint us with their folly and ignorance by communicating his owne experience unto us I said in my heart ver 18. He spake this in his heart when the darknesse of his spirit did as a thick cloud hide the light of the Spirit of God from him He doth not speak this from his heart and spirit inlightned with the truth of God But from his heart under a mist of errour being surrounded with great temptations And this will appeare by many passages which he uttereth in this booke which doe wholly contradict that which they would gather from these words as the meaning of Solomon for the overthrowing of the Doctrine of the resurrection and the day of judgement For instance Ecc 11.9 How doth he labour to draw young men from the pursuit of the worlds pleasures and vanities by putting them in mind that God will bring them unto judgement And what a plaine place is that against Sadduces Familists and Libertines that deny a judgement day and a resurrection with which he doth put a period to this booke Ecc 12. and the last God shall bring every worke into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill I shall not trouble you with any more of their Arguments Because they are of the same nature with those which have been brought already And the same Answers which have been given unto these will give sufficient satisfaction to any other objections which may be brought against this truth 2. Vse from this errour Againe since the truth of God appeares so cleare in Scripture that there shall be a resurrection of body and of the same body let us abhorre and abandon the grosse fanaticall conceits of all that we meet with that professe themselves open enemies to the Doctrine of the resurrection Brethren I beseech you loath abhorre and detest this hellish diabolicall Doctrine For as Christians are to imbrace the truth of God with all zeale and affection of spirit so we are to detest and abhor all errours that oppose the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ with all zeale and fervency of spirit though these are much offended with the zeale and sharpnesse of the Saints supposing that such heat and holy anger is inconsistent with the spirit of meeknesse and therefore if a man though in the Spirit witnesse against these conceits and atheisticall opinions of theirs presently they say that though he pretend to be the servant of Christ and to have the Spirit of Christ yet he hath not the Spirit of Christ because he is so sharp in his speech But consider how our blessed Saviour oft in his preaching and discourses thunders and lightens in the faces of men that opposed the truth Did he not call the Scribes and Pharisees a Generation of Vipers and Adulterers to their faces and hath not Paul and Peter expressions to this purpose Peter tells Simon Magus he was in the very gall of bitternesse Did not Paul call Elymas the child of the Devill and enemy of all righteousnesse Act. 13.10 and our Saviour tells the Hypocrites that he preached to Joh. 8. Ye are of your father the Devill Therefore know that as Christ though he had the holy Spirit in him yet he made use of such sharp and bitter speeches so a man may have such speeches in his mouth and yet he may be in the spirit of God and speak to Gods glory when he thus speaks The Angel of the Church of Ephesus is commended that he could not beare with those that were evill And that he hated the workes of the Nicolaitans himselfe and our Saviour doth professe his hatred to the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans And why should a Christian be afraid to imitate his Saviour though these will censure him for it If this be to be vile and without love to speak bitterly
So doth this Doctrine of the resurrection for if wee consider seriously that the bodie shall be raised and we shall be happie at the resurrection in enjoying of God will not this raise up the spirit of a man to thankfulnesse and where there is true thankfulnesse will not that thankfulnesse be legible in obedience Therefore seeing God intends to glorifie thee with himselfe in bodie and in spirit since thou shalt be ever happie with him shouldest thou not glorifie this God while thou art here in thy life and conversation As the Apostle saith 2 Pet. 3.13 14. We according to his promise looke for new Heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse What is the use of this Wherefore beloved seeing ye looke for such things be diligent that â—e may be found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse A true assurance of salvation given by the Spirit of grace doth not make us negligent in the performance of good duties it doth not make us loose and licentious in our lives but that assurance that is a right assurance which is wrought in us by the Spirit of grace will as well teach us to be holy as assure our hearts that we shall be happy Lucian speaking scoffingly of the zeale of Christians and their readinesse to help one another doth give this as the reason of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These miserable men saith he believe that in bodie and soule they shall be immortall The scoffing Atheist did speake truth in this and found out the true â—ause of the zeale which was in primitive Christians There can be no holinesse without a perswasion of happinesse for men after this life If there be no resurrection saith Paul Let us eat and drinke 1 Cor. 15. But when a man is perswaded of this He wil purifie himselfe as Christ is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 Againe this shewes the different condition between a Saint and a sinner Looke upon Saints and sinners eye them onely with carnall eye in respect of the present condition and it may be you shall apprehend a sinner in a better condition then a Saint Gâ—â— oft-times gives temporall blessings to them which he denies to his owne people they aâ— the worlds happie creatures But looke oâ— Saints in this condition and then you shaâ— see a vast difference between the condition of a believer and of a man that is an enemâ— to Christ the one shall awake and sing 〈◊〉 shall awake at the resurrection to be fillâ— with joy to be crowned as a King with in mortall glorie The other shall awake an houle As Agag when he thought and wâ— perswaded that the bitternesse of death wâ— past was hewen in pieces so Epicures anâ— prophane men that sing away sorrow feaâ— of Hell and damnation spending their dayes mirth in a moment they goe downe to the gravâ— Job 21.13 and are raised from thence 〈◊〉 suffer torments to eternitie But the Sainâ— sleeping for a while in the grave are raised felicitie This is elegantly set forth in the book of Wisdome 5. Chap. We fooles thought their lives madnesse and their end without honour and behold they are become the children of God speaking of the Saints vers 6. And in the 8. v. speaking of themselves they doe thus complaine What hath our pride profited us what hath our pomp and riches brought unto us The time will come that wicked men shall wish that they had never been else that some mountaine would be so propitious as to fall on them that they might never come into the presence of God and his Sonne Jesus Christ that shall sit upon the Throne O what a dolefull noyse will it make in the eares of wicked and ungodly men when they shall be called forth to the resurrection of Damnation while the Saints shall be bid to awake to the resurrection of life Who would bee envious at wicked men that grow rich and prosper and flourish in the world that get great estates and leave their estates and houses to their heires if they did but consider that at the resurrection they shall be enforced to take hell as part of their purchase and shall be drawne and dragged as slaves to eternall torments I remember what the Heathen said It is a miserable thing for a man to have been happie Fuisse faelicem miserrimum est Boeth It grieves a man when he comes to povertie to remember that he was once rich when a man is in a disgracefull condition to thinke with himselfe I was honourable this is double misery Remember saith Abraham to the rich man that thou in thy life time didst enjoy riches and poore Lazarus lying at thy gate was denied the crummes falling from thy Table This was the aggravation of the rich mans misery to be put in minde that he had been happy and rich upon the earth Consider this and you shall plainly see that rich and great men without Christ though they live happily to the eye of the world yet they are in a miserable condition and the meanest Sainâ— is in a farre better condition then they Thâ—â— wicked rich men shall awake to howling and screeching to misery and torment eternall the poore Saint to joy rejoycing and happâ—nesse for evermore Wicked men are like the Persians slave whâ— for a day was feasted and had all things provided to delight him that they used to provide for the Emperour and at night he wâ— put to death So wicked men God feaâ— them as slaves here they have furnished tablâ— and servants children and musicke bâ— poore wretches night comes upon them aâ— death takes off their heads and they are miserable to eternitie Therefore James saith They are nourished as against the day of slaughter God doth but fat them as men use to fat beasts for sacrifice or slaughter so God suffers them to swim in pleasures to live in vanities to get riches to grow fat in the earth but it is to destroy them they are fatted for the day of damnation In this glasse or mirrour see the difference between Saints and sinners Then in the next place seeing it is thus that the people of God shall be made partakers of such happinesse at the resurrection let me exhort you to waite in expectation and desire of it A Ward that knows that when he shall live beyond the dayes of his wardship he shall have his Lands and possessions in his own hands he desires that the time may be expired that he may have all in his own hands that now is in the hands of his Guardian who it may be keepes him to a short allowance though he be an heire to great possessions Wee are Wards as yee heard even now and wee are under a guardian though wee are rich in reversion happinesse and heaven and all things being â—urs yet God keepes us low here Let us desire that the time of our wardship may be exâ—ired that wee may come to that happinesse which he hath promised that wee may
happinesse by Jesus Christ at the resurrection thou shalt be happie with God and with Jesus Christ at the resurrection in body and spirit Which God of his infinite mercy grant unto us all Amen A POST-SCRIPT TO THE READER WHen one made a motion that a Law might be made and some great punishment inflicted upon Paricides another objected against him and said that such a Law would be uselesse because there were no Paricides in the Common-wealth neither would there be any here after to be punished by his Law So some may suppose that some passages in these Discourses are needlesse which have their point directed against the faces of blaspheming Familists and licentious Libertines apprehending that there are none such amongst us for the present and that there will not be any such who may come up as from hell amongst us hereafter And none will be so ready to lay this charge upon mee as those that are of this number themselves and whose consciences doe inwardly tell them that they are the men who are here painted forth and presented to the world Wherefore that those who are unacquainted with them may not be insnared by them unawares conceiving that there are none such to deceive them And that I may decline the hatred and reproaches which these enemies of the Lord may hope to bring upon mee for writing against them I have collected and translated some few passages of Mr. Calvins booke against the furious sect of Libertines wherein their opinions and practices are largely discovered which may perswade all men that there are such and may be such against whom I speake though they know them not and may prevent the slanders of those who are such Chap. 1. In ancient Histories wee doe never reade of any heresie that was so dangerous as the heresie of the Libertines Chap. 2. He proveth that they are those of whom Peter speaketh in the 2 Pet. 2.12.17 18 19 who shall allure men to error by their great swelling words and those spoken of in the 10. verse of the Epistle of Jude And doth affirme that he had never understood the things there spoken of unlesse he had seene them in those men of his time Concerning their swelling kinde of speaking tumidum dicendi genus he hath these expressions When thou shalt begin to heare them thou wilt be ready to thinke that they are snatched up in an extasie above the clouds For besides this that they alwayes speake of the Spirit their speech is in such a strange idiome that men when they first heare them doe stand still astonished in admiration of them He doth parallel them with some ancient Heretiques and farther enlarging himselfe concerning them doth give us this account of their proceedings At the first they rejected the Scriptures and scoffed at all the Apostles calling Paul a broken vessell Peter the denier of God John a stupid young man Matthew an usurer But afterwards when they perceived that all men abhorred them they concluded that they were to act more cautiously and obscurely And then they pretended that they did not reject the Scripture but changed it all into allegories and wrested it by strange and unheard of interpretations transforming an horse into a man and as wee vulgarly speake feigning a cloud to be the horn of a Lantern Of their subtlety which they make use of to deceive the simple he afterwards thus speaketh They doe not declare to men what is their judgement but hold them in suspence a long while and lead them about by ambages whom they doe desire to bring to their sect not revealing their secrets unto them before they are so deluded and bewitched by them that they see they can perswade them to what they shall please c. Whatsoever Christians doe professe concerning eternall life and a surrection to theâ— s a fable Chap. 4. He sheweth the authors and giveth his reason why he writeth against them Should I be silent when I see these men sâ— abusing the name of Christ that pretending to be for Christ and in his Name bring worse abomination into the world then ever was brought into it before Shall I speake against Papists and spare these who are more pernicious enemies to God then they and doe more overthrow the truth of God Chap. 5. Where he discovereth the followers of these deluders Some addicted to foolish curiositie doe apply their minds to vaine and superfluous questions when they should rather follow things which are profitable and for edification and being not contented with the simplicitie of the Scripture doe run to and fro in vaine and frivolous speculations either for the satisfying of their mad and wicked lusts or for the perswading of others that they are more wittie then other men and doe follow more sublime matters Some are prophane who being weary of the yoke of Christ are willing that their consciences should be rocked into a sleepe that without any Religion they may serve the Devill Chap. 6. He wisheth men to take heed of pride Rom. 12.3 and to rest satisfied with the pure and simple truth of the Gospel in which are locked up the infinite treasures of God Chap. 7. Of their idiome and manner of speaking They use a peculiar manner of speaking which is not understood of any but those of their own faction and fraternitie c. I deny not but that they use common words but they doe so deprave their signification that it is difficult to finde out what they affirme or what they deny Chap. 8. They will sometimes deny what at another time they affirme and doe transforme themselves according to the will and pleasure of their hearts c. The art of dissembling is one of the chiefe Chapters in their Divinitie They will conforme to all the superstitions of the Papists pretending that a Christian man hath libertie in all outward things For the justifying of their lying and dissembling they make use of this place that they must be as wise as serpents Chap. 9. They account the Scriptures fables yet they make use of such places which they can wrest to their sense Not that they beleeve them but that they may trouble and unsettle ignorant people If any place of Scripture be brought against them they say that wee stumble at the letter whereas wee should follow the quickning spirit Although they are more pernicious then the Papists yet this principle is common to them both that the Scripture is to be transformed into allegories affecting a better and more perfect wisdome then is contained in it Chap. 10. They have the Spirit alwayes in their mouths and can scarce speak two little sentences without the repetition of it perswading men that they are spirituall and altogether divine By which meanes it is an easie thing for them to deceive the best of Saints untill they come to understand unto what their spirituality tendeth And in the same chapter he giveth a good direction for dealing with them When they use a long