more sincerely to love it to give it a place in our meditations and much more in our affections And indeed it doth challenge both nothing so fit to busie our contemplations as these words Into thine hand I commit my spirit nothing so powerful to work upon our affections as these words Thou hast Redeemed me O Lord God of truth But since good Meditations do produce good affections and good affections do increase good meditations it is manifest that God hath joyned them together and therefore we may not put them asunder And indeed the whose verse concerns one and the same thing considered in it self and in its cause Resignatio Resignationis causa The Resignation of the soul and the cause of that Resignation The Resignation of the soul Into thy hands I commit my spirit The cause of that Resignation Thou hast Redeemed me O Lord God of truth The Resignation of his soul is as ours should be remarkable for its seasonableness for its fulness for its willingness Resignatio Opportuna Plena Voluntaria It is first opportune or seasonable secondly full or plenary thirdly free or voluntary First it is an opportune or seasonable Resignation for he was now in great danger and in greater distress Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me v. 4. He was already partly ensnared and did fear lest he might in time be wholly entangled in the miseries and mischiefs of this sinful life if he should retain his soul too long and that makes him think of Resigning it He well understood his dangers and his distresses and that made him look towards his Deliverer and after his Deliverance T is not unseasonable at any time to resign our souls to God for he may call for them when he pleases and we ought to be ready at his call But it is most seasonable when we see our selves either in imminent danger or in irremediable distress then it is proper to follow the example of Eliah 1 Kings 19. 4. He requested for himself that he might die and said Satis est nunc Domine Accipe animam meam It is enough now O Lord take away my life It is enough for me in regard of this world saith R. David It is enough for this wicked world for I have lived too long to see so much wickedness and to be able to redress none and yet desirous to stay longer to help increase All Thus far in effect a Jew could go but let Christians go farther in their Gloss and say moreover It is enough for thy glory and enough for my salvation It is enough for thy glory for thou hast miraculously preserved me in my life it is enough for the good of mine own soul for thou hast made me sensible of and thankful for thy miraculous preservation And when can I better desire thee to take my soul then now it actually hath this sense of thine undeserved Mercies and this thankfulness for them Yet Tremelius seeking for the reason of this prayer out of the tenth verse thus pithily enlargeth his Gloss Abjectio Tui Foederis Cultus Tui Destructio Prophetarum tuorum coedes mei persecutio faciunt ut mortem expetam That the children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant thrown down thine Altars slain thy Prophets with the sword and seek my life to take it away These things that have hitherto made me weary of life do now make me even desirous of death Nor may we think so Religious a Prophet would have carried with him the guilt of Impatience much less of Uncharitableness to his grave For it was the indispensable necessity of Gods Truth and the unfeigned zeal of Gods glory that extorted from him this most grievous complaint And indeed when the true Religion and worship of God is in danger or in distress though we our selves be in neither yet is it not fit for us to admit of the comforts of this world then if any say Fear not for thou hast a Son thou needest not be troubled that the Philistims have gotten the conquest over Israel for thou art in a happy condition thou hast a goodly inheritance and a Son to inherit after thee yet must thou not answer neither regard it unless thou wouldest have a weak dying woman rise up against thee in Judgement 1 Sam. 4. 20. Then must Ichabod be all thy saying that is where is the glory not where am I what will become of me or of my Family But where is my God where is his glory For if the glory be departed from Israel how can a true Israelite desire to abide in it Thine eyes are not opened to see thine own and other mens wickedness thine heart is not opened to be sorry for it and to repent of it unless thou be ready in such a case as this to cry out and say Wo is me that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech and to have mine habitation among the Tents of Kedar Psal. 120. v. 4. This was the method of his prayer who questionless prayed with Gods Spirit Psal. 119. First Give me understanding according to thy Word v. 169. Then Deliver me according to thy Word v. 170. till he had a right understanding of his misery he knew not how to pray for his deliverance But as soon as he fully saw the one he could not choose but heartily pray for the other Resignatio opportuna This Resignation of his soul was opportune and seasonable that is the first And as his Resignation was opportune and seasonable so it was also full and plenary In manus tuas Into thy hands as if he had said I desire to reserve nothing in mine own hands but do resign all into thine The Common-Law is very careful that a Resignation be whole and entire without any reservation And Navarr tells us that he that hath anothers Resignation must be very cautelous in allowing him any thing out of his living for fear there may be a suspition of a Simonaical contract Potest quotannis Resignanti quid Donare si id faciat ob Amorem Dei principaliter coram Deo absque tamen ullo pacto And again Gratitudinem erga Resignantem Caute exercere debet ne praesumatur id facere ob Confidentiam Will not ehe Law be satisfied without a full Resignation and do we think God will be satisfied without it Or what were it for him to accept of part of thy soul but to allow himself to be but half a God Thou must therefore either Resign all to him or keep all to thy self For thou canst not divide the Sacrifice unless thou wilt divide the Deity And since thy All to him is nothing thou canst not give him less then All but thou must profess him worthy of less then nothing He hath required All thy soul and All thy might and All thy strength and it is a most abominable undutifulness and a more abominable unthankfulness not to give him what he requires since thou canst not
I would make supplication to my Judge And what is the supplication that I would make unto him Even that which his own holy Spirit hath taught me to make and will cause him to hear That he will not be extream to mark what is done amiss Psal. 130. 2. Lord hear the voice of my supplications for what even for this that thou shouldst not mark iniquities as it follows If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou maist be feared This is the favourable proceeding by which I hope to be acquitted for why hast thou taught me to believe the forgiveness of sins unless I may attain what I do believe And if I may attain forgiveness of my sins here how shall I be condemned or punished for them hereafter since that is no forgiveness which either holds guilty to condemn or holds as guilty to punish and torment I do then believè that God will proceed in Judging me not according to the Law which requires an absolute obedience without sin but according to the Gospel which admits of Repentance for the forgiveness of sins Thus hath the Doctor of the Gentiles long since determined Rom. 2. 16. In the day when God shall Judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel Not according to the Law which will condemn all that have been guilty of any sin but according to the Gospel which will condemn none but the unbelieving and impenitent sinners For the Gospel pronounceth sentence of Absolution to all that Believe So Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Where damnation is denounced not for breaking the Law but for rejecting the Gospel And again John 3. 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life The words speak four such truths as the Angels desire to look into and men can never enough look upon yet four Miracles rather then Truths 1. That God who was provoked to inflict Death should offer Life and that Everlasting Life 2. That he should offer it to the world which had so provoked him 3. That he should offer it by sending his only begotten Son away from himself into the world 4. That he should so send this Son as to give him giving his only Son the Son of his love to give life to those that hated him and more deserved his hatred That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Since then I know that I believe why should I fear that I shall perish Why should I think that I shall not have this everlasting life which the Father hath promised the Son hath purchased and the Holy-Spirit hath sealed for I can say with a thankful heart and a chearful voice In Te Domine speravi ne confundar in aeternum Psal. 71. 1. In thee O Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion deliver me in thy righteousness I pray not to be delivered in mine own righteousness but in thine Deliver me in thy Righteousness O God the Father of heaven for thou hast promised deliverance Deliver me in thy Righteousness O God the Son Redeemer of the world for thou hast purchased deliverance Deliver me in thy Righteousness O God the Holy-Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son for thou hast sealed both the Promise and the purchase of deliverance Deliver me in thy Righteousness O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity three Persons and one God for I trust on thy Promise on thy Purchase on thy Seal for deliverance For with thee is the Fountain of life in thy light shall we see light Psal. 36. 9. My soul desires nothing but Life and Light for as a Spirit she was made for Life as an Intellectual or Rational spirit she was made for Light And she must go to God for both She must go to him for Life for with thee is the Fountain of Life and she must go to him for Light for in thy Light shall we see Light And the Life is before the Light even as Living is before Seeing The soul cannot work before she sees and she cannot see before she lives so that Life is in truth given before the work and cannot possibly be given for it And will you know who gives both Life and Light Saint John will tell you John 1. 4. In him was Life and the Life was the Light of men Life and Light both proceed from the Eternal Son of God and Life before Light I had Life in him before I had Light from him He purchased the Life before he gave the Light and therefore sure he hath not given the Light to take away the Life I know it is said That we must all appear before the Judgement-seat of Christ that every one may bear the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5. 10. And I confess I have done very bad things in my body but since my Saviour hath already born them for me must I still fear to bear them for my self Christ is called The Mediator of the New-Testament Heb. 9. 15. It is not said The Mediator of the New-Covenant as in other places but of the New-Testament for a Covenant doth wholly depend upon mutual conditions which if either partie fail the Covenant is broken and made of none effect But a Testament is a thing meerly of Grace and Liberality without any condition and so may be fulfilled meerly out of the goodness of the Testator And this goodness is the support and comfort of my soul I am afraid of the Covenant and I flie to the Testament even to that Testament by which I am made a child an heir even an heir of God and joint heir with Christ Rom. 8. 17. Wherefore I cannot but hope that he will Judge to me the Inheritance which he hath already given me by his own Will and Testament For I look for him to appear the second time without sin unto salvation Heb. 9. 28. not only without sin in himself for he never had any but also without sin in me and all his members from whom he hath taken away all For the death of Christ is doubly beneficial to all true Believers First in respect of his Priest-hood that he hath expiated their sin Secondly in respect of his Testament That he hath given them an Inheritance I dare not deny the first the benefit of his Priest-hood for he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world And why should I doubt the second the benefit of his Testament since he did therefore take away the sin that he might give the Inheritance I confess that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 9. whether Fornicators or Idolaters or Adulterers or Thieves or
give him what he deserves Therefore it must be a full Resignation Resignatio Plena that is the second And indeed it will be full if it be free it will be Plenary if it be Voluntary which is the third condition Resignatio Voluntaria it must be a free and a voluntary Resignation I commit my spirit If I would reserve any thing to my self it should be my spirit the innermost part of my self but I also commit that and as I commit it into thy hands to dispose as thou pleasest so I freely commit and commend it to thy disposal A man may renounce his property upon Compulsion but he Resigns it properly upon Choice or Election And so do good men give up their souls to God freely and willingly whereas wicked and ungodly men do it against their wills Thou fool this night shall thy soul be required of thee Luke 12. 20. As if it were taken away by force not voluntarily Resigned which was a great sin in him that he did not willingly resign his soul to God who created it but a much greater sin in thee if thou do not willingly resign thy soul to the Son of God who Redeemed it and who alone can save it especially when he himself hath taught thee this form of a Resignation whence it was that in the Gospel on Palm-Sunday the Priest in the Latine-Church was to make a stop when he had read these words Jesus when he had cryed again with a loud voice yielded up the Ghost He was here to pause and to say his Pater Noster Ave-Marie and In manus tuas Domine Commendo spiritum meum before he proceeded to the next verse As if it were Unchristian-like in us not to Resign our souls to our Saviour Christ when we see him as it were Resigning his soul meerly to prepare a place for ours I ask then Darest thou trust thy soul in thine own hands Is it not already much the worse for thy keeping so long and will it not still be worse if thou keep it longer Canst thou resign it now as pure as thou didst first receive it and will it not contract the greater impurity the longer thou deferrest and delayest thy Resignation Consider that Saint Paul saith It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 11. 31. wherein every word hath its weight a weight too heavy to lay upon thy soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the most terrible of all terrours for it is spoken of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To fall None are properly said to fall into Gods hands at their death but they that would needs keep themselves out of his hands during their life They then fall into his hands because they did not before deliver their souls unto him whereas those that desire to live unto God do willingly give themselves into his hands and do still continue in his hands whiles they are here and so cannot be said to fall into his hands when they go from hence Those only that go out of his hands in their life are truly and properly said to fall into his hands at their death And they find how fearful a thing it is to fall into his hands because they find him a living God He seemed to them as it were asleep before and his own good Spirit complaining that he had so long born with such miscreants useth their own words in his complaint Psal. 44. 23. Awake why sleepest thou O Lord Nay he seemed to them little less then dead Psal. 14. 1. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God It is in the Hebrew there is no Judges if a God to see him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet not a Judge to punish him They either thought him as it were asleep in not regarding their wickedness or as it were dead in not revenging it But now they find him a waking and a living God That his eyes are open to see them and his hand stretched out to reach them and therefore they must needs be infinitely troubled that they are against their wills fallen into his hands For though King David chuseth rather to fall into the hands of God then of men 2 Sam. 24. 14. yet is it only in regard of this not of the next life In this life he would not willingly fall into the hands of men of ungodly unpeaceable unplacable men for their tender mercies are cruel Prov. 12. 10. But in the next life he would not fall into the hands of God And it is an admirable observation of Saint Chrysostom upon that plave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We that are under persecution fall into the hands of men but they that are our persecutors fall into the hands of God And this of the two is the more terrible fall O my God though thou let me fall into mine enemies hands yet let him never fall into thine Draw thou near to him in Grace and Mercy and draw him near to thee by Faith and Repentance Be thou reconciled unto him that he may be reconciled unto thee and willingly give himself into thy hands For it is so fearfull a thing to fall into thy hands that I cannot but pray against it even for my greatest persecutors I cannot hate mine enemy so far as to wish him that mischief O then let me not so far hate my self as to bring it upon mine own soul Let me willingly commit and commend my spirit to thee every day that being in thy hands all my life it may not fall into thy hands at my death Not fall into thy hands as a Malefactor that fled from thee to be Judged and Tormented But be received into thy hands as a child that flies to thee to be pardoned and protected For when we have said all and tried all that we can say this is the only way to be a good Christian and that according to the first and best patterns or presidents that have been given us of Christianity for so it s said of Barnabas and Paul Men that have hazarded their lives for the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ It is more in the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui tradiderunt animas suas Men that have given or delivered up their souls for the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ He that will be a good Christian must endeavour to be as ready to deliver up his soul to Christ as he desires Christ should be ready to receive it And we are very much encouraged so to do for we cannot be so ready to give our souls as he is ready to take them which puts me on the second general part of my text for I am willing to form my thoughts upon this argument into a farewell-Sermon for a Vale to the world Resignationis causa the cause of this Resignation for thou hast Redeemed me O Lord thou God of Truth Wherein we have indeed two causes First the fulness of the Redemption For thou hast Redeemed me