are the Devils Bayliffs and Agents shall cast some of them into Prison and then bids them be faithful unto death verse 10. which implies that it might reach even to life it self To encourage them to faithfulness in all he gives this sweet promise in the Text as if he had said get Victory here and if it comes to the worst men can do which is to kill the body I give you my faithful word they shall do no more they shall go no further I will secure you from that which is a thousand times more to be feared viz. the second death which is the sting and emphasis of the first that shall not touch or hurt you So then the observation lies plain before us viz Doct. That Overcomers shall not be hurt of the second Death Sin Satan and the World are the Enemies true Believers are the Overcomers as was declared in the former Sermon To these is this promise made hence it is said They shall never perish John 10.27 And he that believeth on the Son shall not see Death John 8.51 viz. the second Death for as to bodily death the Psalmist saith What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Psal 89.48 We shall now enquire 1. What is meant by the second death 2. What is the great hurt thereof 3. Why Overcomers shall not be hurt by it Quest 1. What is the second death Answ Death sometimes signifies great afflictions and distresses Intreat the Lord your God says Pharaoh to Moses and Aaron that he may take away from me this death only Exod. 10.17 that is the judgment of the Locusts then upon him for being such Locusts as never was before nor should be after they might be a deadly annoyance to them as well as devour the fruits of the Earth So St. Paul speaks of Gods delivering him from a great death 2 Cor. 1.10 meaning an imminent danger which he calls a death because it was past means help and hope of delivery Such deaths he was in often 2 Cor. 11.23 which were either such sicknesses and persecutions in which there appeared no hope of escaping with life or such pains as were equivalent to the pangs of death But more particularly 1. Death is taken for the dissolution of nature dissolutio compositi so some define it the dissolving the earthly house of this Tabernacle 2. Cor. 5.1 A Tent or Tabernacle is destroyed not by consuming of the parts but by taking them asunder the death of the body is no annihilation but a dissolution of the parts of which man is compounded a cutting a-sunder the soul and the body This is the first death which the Apostle Paul desired I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 The soul sleeps not when a man dies for then his wish had been vain upon his dissolution he could not have been with Christ but the union between the body and soul is cut a-sunder and the soul which wilst in the body was absent from the Lord is then absent from the body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 This is that death all must pass under or something equivalent to it It is appointed for all men once to dye Heb. 9.27 Statutum est It is enacted in the Court of Heaven by a Statute-Law more sure than the Laws of the Medes and Persians which cannot be altered A sentence gone forth out of the mouth of God concerning all men never to be reversed Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 2. Death is taken for Hell and destruction even the wrath of God inflicted upon them that are finally overcome by the enemies of their Souls Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death says the Apostle John Rev. 20.14 Men dead and buried before were now sent body and soul to Hell Rev. 21.8 Qu. 2. Wherein lies the great evil and hurt of the second death Answ It is altogether unexpressible and inconceivable Who knows the power of thine anger says David Psal 90.11 Let none be offended or affrighted at the opening of it A Sermon of Hell if rightly emproved may keep us from Hell The hurt and evil of the second death lies in Two things 1. There is paena damni the punishment of loss This is great and grievous for they who fall under it lose all good at once they lose Heaven that holy habitation that sedes beatorum the mansion and dwelling-place of all that are blessed When Tully was banished from Italy and Demosthenes from Athens they were so troubled that as oft as they looked towards those places they wept What is Italy and Athens and a thousand such places more if compared with Heaven Though here unsound Professors may have room in Gods sanctuary yet there will be no place for them in his Palace hereafter To be excluded hence will trouble and perplex them They lose the best dainties there seems to be eating and drinking in Heaven Christ will gird himself and make his Servants sit down to meat and will come forth and serve them Luke 12.37 They shall have flagons of Wine to comfort them and Christ will say to them eat O Friends and drink abundantly O beloved I take it spiritually in a far better way than can be here O the misery of them that shall never taste of the Supper of the Lamb of these refreshments in Heaven Poor men grieve when they are sent away empty from a rich mans Table much more sorrowful will they be who shall never eat of Christ's dainties In this also they lose the best inheritance Ahab was sick with grief when he could not enjoy Naboths inheritance as we read 1 Kings 21. It will make them head-sick and heart-sick also who shall be deprived of that incorruptible undefiled and never-fading inheritance reserved in Heaven for Overcomers for the Promise is He that overcometh shall inherit all things Rev. 21.7 Yea they lose the best company the society of Angels and Saints Here they despise their company then they would be glad of it but shall not have it How desirous was the rich man that Lazarus might be sent to him Luke 16. On Earth he despised him and in Hell desired his company but it could not be granted him a great gulph being fixed between them which would not permit it And which is yet worse they lose the company of God and Christ When Orpah was to part with Naomi her Mother-in-Law she lifted up her voice and wept Ruth 1.14 O how will they who shall be separated from God drench and even drown themselves in tears His gracious presence is the chief good of his creatures yet this is the first word of that dreadful sentence Christ at last pronounceth Depart from me Mat. 25.41 To go from him who hath the words of Eternal Life is the most bitter part of the second Death If Cain when banished from the Society of Saints where God was worshipped
he was a poor man Eccl. 9.15 yet an inheritance without wisdom is not good to the owner of it but a temptation fuel of lust pride vanity and so is harmful for want of this wisdom to order and keep it in its right place out of the heart Moreover there is hostility to be used against the world even in our passing through the world lest it cause us to lose our sight of God by interposing between him and us A man may hide the Sun from his eye with his hand A little of the world if we be not careful may be like a cloud which will keep us from the sight of God But to be curnbred with a multiplicity of cares about these things is to set great mountains between him and us to cause an eclipse of his countenance that we cannot behold him The Moon eclipseth the Sun from our sight earthly things hide the gracious sace of God from us if we be not very watchful against them Yet further we are to fight against this enemy as it doth oppose grace and hinder us in our faith hope and charity In our Faith he that sees a fair estate had need pray and say Lord draw the curtain and let me by faith see thee and thy beauty and glory The God of glory Acts 7. or God in his glory appeared unto Abraham and this so darkned the glory of this world that by Faith he left all at the call of God So much as we fix our eye upon the creature so much the less we see of God and so much the more our faith is hindered When Jacob had least of this world he saw most of God and so it is with many So for hope the world often hurts that the soul is ready to say How shall I travel over the fords and deeps of the world how shall I be able to resign up my all This is hard and difficult to sell all to part with all the hope of better things will carry us through it but if we fix here hope is lost so love and charity they are defiled there is spiritual whoredom between the Soul and the Creature by the love of the world Ye adulterers and adulteresses says St. James Jam. 4.4 know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God Some take it for that spiritual adultrey wherein a man gives his love away from God to the Creature where love to the world prevails the best things are slighted and undervalued we ought to hate Father and Mother Brother and Sister Houses and Lands yea and our own Life also for Christ's sake Luke 14.26 when they stand between us and God then away with them had we not need watch and war against the world to subdue it and get the upper hand of it 1 Cor. 6.12 All things are lawful but I will not he brought under the power of any saith St. Paul He would stand upon the liberty and priviledg Christ gave him he would have the upper hand of these things nothing should command his love his fear or his joy and it is sweet walking with God when in this frame of Spirit That man who stands in right terms with the things of the world is content in every condition instructed in all things and can be in want or abound as it pleaseth God to order for him and this we should account better then the greatest estate in the Countrey these will come on faster in all grace that can cast off this weight and will run the race set before them and none shall hinder them this is the generation of Travellers when Jacob went from his Fathers House he had but a staff and a stone a staff to walk with in the day and a stone to rest his head upon in the night yet he returned two bands and glorious visions of God were given him Gen. 31. Gen. 32. though he met with hardship yet these made him pluck up his feet and go on chearfully This will put resolution into the heart of a Christian Acts 20.23 24. None of these things move me saith St. Paul neither do I count my life dear so I may finish my course with joy This is that which is implied That we have Enemies to war and combate with and we hear what they are 2. That which is expressed is that Overcomers all that get Victory of these Enemies shall eat of the Tree of Life in God's Paradise Some Questions follow for a brief explication of this proposition Quest Who may be said to be Overcomers Answ This Apostle doth best of all resolve the Question which he first propounds and then answers 1 Jo. 5.5 Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God Though the world is only named yet all the Enemies are included for he that gets victory over one overcomes them all some will say who doth not believe this that Jesus is the Son of God There will soon be an end of the war if this be all the Victory will be easy let such know that though there be no great difficulty in giving our assent to this proposition yet the Deity of Christ hath been denied and opposed by none of the meanest for learning not onely by the Pharisees whilst he himself lived but in the times when this Apostle wrote his Epistle and afterwards by the Arrians and Socinians of late How few imbrace it with a Divine Faith which is the only Faith that overcomes in the day of tryal Some take this up upon reasons of antiquity Authority and Consent of the Church in which they live but this Faith will not give us Victory if great trials arise upon this Fundamental Article in the Creed when the Apostle wrote this it was the critical point the Shibboleth as I may say by which one was distinguished from another the discriminating Doctrine the word of Christ's patience Persecution rose so high upon the defenders of this great truth as their Liberties and Lives were in danger to be taken from them for maintaining it at such a day not to be afraid to confess Christ to be the Eternal Son of God gave a comfortable ground to conclude them true Believers such Faith might charitably be judged right by which they thus overcame the world 'T is an easy thing when a Protestant Prince reigns to declare we believe that Transubstantiation is an error contrary to Scripture reason and our very senses but if Popery should come in like a flood and be the prevailing Interest and condemn them to be burnt for Hereticks who deny it as was the case of the Martyrs in the Marian days then to be stedfast even to the death in this perswasion would be a very hopeful evidence of the truth of our belief and of our Victory over the World So in the case this Text mentions O how few would find Faith and Patience to help them to seal to this That Christ is the Son of
ready to march at the beat of the Drum or sound of the Trumpet but when in the Field he must wholly attend the war we may use the world but as if we used it not in our employments and enjoyments of it and in it we must be abstracted from it or we shall never come off well in the day of Battel if we be entangled and ensnared by it in our affections and not in a constant readiness at the call of God to engage the Enemy we shall come of with dishonour and damage dishonour to him that calls us to fight and damage to our own Souls There are many things to encourage Christians to look about them and quit themselves like men and be strong as 1. The paucity of those who conquer To him that overcometh says the Text Not to them but to him to note they are but few Christ prophesied that many will be offended Matth. 24.9 10. The love of many shall wax cold and it is but a He that endureth to the end Oh how great a mercy will it he to be found in that remnant David had many Soldiers few Worthies many make a scuffle and seem to fight few are in good earnest and fight valiantly 2. There are some advantages Believers have which if well improved may give them the upper hand of their Enemies 1. They have the armour of God that belongs to every Christian when David was to fight against Goliah 1 Sam. 17.38 39. he was presented with the best Armour even by the King himself which was no small encouragement Believers are presented with a whole coat of excellent Armour every piece of it is Armour of proof and this by the King of Kings Saul's Armour was too heavy for David he attempted to go in it but could not God hath made every piece of the Spiritual Armour fit and suitable to every true Believer 2. They have Christ for their Standard-bearer whose heart fainted not nor melted away as the Prophet Esay mentions Esay 10.18 The Standard-bearer fainteth when he sees the Army routed he casts away his Colours and flecth so did not Christ hence that of St. Paul Gal. 6.14 God forbid I should glory in any thing save in the Cross of Christ viz. in the death and sufferings of Christ I will not leave my Colours I find the world and my worldly affections dead and doubt not but to have compleat Victory in due time 3. They have the ministry of Angels and the special conduct of God with them All things come alike to all in the Court of Nature but things come in special to some in the Court of Grace they have more for them than against them 2 Kings 6.16.17 which if their eyes were open they might see And if God be for them who can be against them Rom. 8.31 The success must needs be on their side because having such a conduct they can march on preventing and avoiding the stratagems of the Enemy The Apostle Paul took it for a singular priviledge 1 Cor. 9.26 27. that he could so run and so fight as to obtain and keep under his Enemy and not be a cast-away yea by this they do not only spy out the drift of the Enemy but can fetch in Recruit and fresh Auxiliaries in time of need Heb. 4.16 When their own strength fails God gives in assisting Grace fresh anointings surmounting the Grace they had before as he sees the matter requireth David could encourage himself in the Lord his God hence could say Psal 18.1 I will love thee O Lord my strength and he had good reason 1 Sam. 30.6 7. for when the Amalekites had carried away all God strengthened him to pursue after them and to recover all again Yea more they have the advantage of undergoing things patiently and quietly when the Lord makes them poor they make many rich when corrected yet not killed always bearing about them the dying of the Lord Jesus Sick and yet quiet poor and yet quiet prosecuted and buffetted yet quiet In a word they have that interest above and Influence from above that they can set themselves against the world and do more by Faith and Prayer than others can do by Wit and Policy for they can lead captivity captive and by their spiritual strength tread down strength I mean in a spiritual sense for Christians should be peaceable subjects to their King and peaceable neighbours with their neighbours but to war against spiritual Enemies here they can say 1 Cor. 15. Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory I have fought with beasts at Ephesus saith the Apostle Paul a great Victory whether you understand it as some do of savage beastly men or litterally as others they say he was condemned by the sentence of the Heathen to be committed to the wild Beasts to be devoured by them unless he were able to rescue himself which he did he lived and acted by the Faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him so that he had Victory over the World and could say O my worldly Enemies where is your Venom your Gall where is now your Enmity your Victory To conclude Believers have many excellent promises to encourage them to fight and overcome Seven in this and the next Chapter of which the Text is the first O let us fear lest we should so much as seem to fall short of them Heb. 4.1 meditate much upon this in the Text 'T is sweet in the very reading of it How pleasant will it then be in its accomplishment I end with that Parallel Scripture Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life and may enter in through the Gates into the City SERMON II. REV. II. 11. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death THESE words are the conclusion of the Epistle to the Church in Smyrna and so the eighth verse of this Chapter sheweth To the angel of the Church in Smyrna write c. Some say this Church was more faulty then the former but Christ covers and conceals them lest the sight of her former sins and the apprehension of her future sufferings both at once should too much discourage her Others think that she was though the poorest yet the purest of all the Churches I know thy poverty says Christ to her but thou art rich verse 9. poor in temporals but rich in spiritual outward poverty joyned with inward purity discommends none to Christ Her name was answerable to her nature I mean her new nature Smyrna signifies a sweet smell and her Graces were like beaten Spices very fragrant and odoriferous they cast a sweet savour even throughout all the Churches It seems a terrible storm of persecution was ready to come down upon them wherein some of them might be called to resist not unto bonds only and imprisonment but even unto blood and Martyrdom for he tells them The Devil that is wicked men who
Christ saith I will ransome them from the power of the Grave I will redeem them from Death Hos 13.14 It cannot deliver them over to wrath or carry a good man in Chains to the Prison of Hell This is to be killed with Death A Believer may say O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15.56 57. Once past the first Death you are for ever free from all fear of Death This Life is on this account miserable that it is in fear of Death hanging over it every moment What is your Life saith St. James it is a Vapour that now is and quickly vanishes away Jam. 4.13 14. But after this no more fear of Death to a true Christian And to make the Joy of such full there is a Meiosis in this Text when it is said they shall not be hurt of the second Death it implies that they shall be called to a blessed and immortal Life Not only not ashamed but have boldness and confidence before Christ at his coming not only sorrow and sighing will flee away but everlasting Joy shall be upon their heads not only free from the Curse but shall hear a Come ye blessed not only no Despair but no doubting yea a perpetual Plerophory and full Assurance of their happy state not only no Worm of an accusing Conscience but the testimony of an absolving Conscience which will be a continual Feast not only no Torments of Hell but the Pleasures of Heaven not only no Canaanites in that Land no Devil no wicked men but the Society of holy Angels and Saints and God's glorious Presence to all Eternity Why should not all sincere Believers comfort themselves and one another with these things and that in the worst of times A Martyr being offered Life if he would renounce the Truth answered Can you give me Eternal Life And being threatned with Death for refusal he said You cannot bring me under the second Death you cannot put me to Eternal Death You can kill my Body but that 's all you can do I must fear to offend him that can destroy Body and Soul in Hell Better it is saies he that I have a little Wormwood in my Mouth a while than to have my Bowels filled with it for ever Oh! how would the Improvement of this Text and Truth support and comfort a Christian in the saddest conditions he may be called to pass through in this world Vse 2. Is it thus that Overcomers shall not be hurt of the second Death Then let us all make out for true Faith in Jesus Christ for this is the Victory whereby we overcome the World and all that is in the World even our Faith 1 John 5.4 This is the first Resurrection which whosoever hath a part in is blessed If you ask wherein are such blessed The Text tells you Rev. 20.6 On such the second death hath no power Some understand this of Romish Idolatries and Superstitions for it is said If any man worship the Beast and his Image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb And they have no rest night nor day who worship the Beast and his Image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name which implies say they that those who live and dye under the dominion of those Antichristian abominations in Doctrine Worship and Practice and rise not by true Faith in Christ and Repentance towards God will fall under the power of the second death 'T is said every living soul died in the Sea for it became as the Blood of a dead man when the Vial was poured out upon it Revel 16.3 Whence some have concluded that those under the Romish Jurisdiction who live and dye under the full Dominion and Practice of their Idolatrous wicked Doctrines and Worship cannot be saved But others take this first Resurrection to be meant of a Spiritual quickning to a Divine Life the Dead hear the Voice of the Son of God in the Gospel and live this is when Faith is first wrought which is the beginning of the Soul's life and strength the first born of graces the bond of Union between Christ and Believers and so brings all the strength and Grace of Christ into their hearts for Christ and all his Fulness dwelleth there by Faith and by that is derived to the Soul to enable it to overcome all its Enemies Where this is not wrought Sin and Satan do conquer and utterly destroy the Soul If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins saies Christ to the Jews Joh. 8.21 24. Should any one come and tell us You shall die in a Ditch or in a Goal it would sound harshly in our ears but for Christ to say Ye shall dye in your sins is yet more dreadful For a man may die in a Ditch or in a Prison and yet go to Heaven but if any one die under the full power of Sin and Satan a dead Dog is better than he it had been good for that man he had never been born for he drops presently into Hell and the Second Death hath an irrecoverable Power over him he can never get from under it because all his Sins will be laid upon him If a Debtor be Arrested and cast into Prison no sooner do his Creditors understand it but they come and bring in their several Actions that a man must lye there all his days Thus if the first Death Arrest us and we under the full Dominion of sin Satan comes in Conscience comes in the Law comes in yea God himself comes in all come in and lay Action upon Action against us and there we must lye till the last Mite be paid which because we can never do we must lye there to all Eternity We live in very dying Times and none can tell how soon the thred of his Life may be cut If we look not diligently to it we shall dye in our sins and so be undone for ever O let us look and get true Faith for it is he that believes that overcomes and he that overcomes shall not be hurt of the Second Death SERMON III. REV. II. 17. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it WE have here another of those excellent Promises made to Overcomers It is the concluding words of that Epistle to the Church in Pergamos as in the 12th Verse is evident Some say this was a great City distant from Jerusalem Two hundred and twenty eight miles very populous but very wicked Hence we
a Power to distribute Rewards and Punishments This some call a Judiciary Power a Power of judging all Nations giving Eternal Live to Believers and Eternal Death to all the world besides The Father judgeth no man but hath cammitted all Judgment to the Son Joh. 5.22 Before him shall be gathered all Nations and he shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divides his Sheep from the Goats Mat. 24. As many Divisions as now there are all will then come under that one Division either Sheep or Goats and will have their Judgment passed by Christ to whom the Father hath given that Power Such a Power over the Nations is here promised to Overcomers Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the world saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.2 Not Authoritatively and principally not by pronouncing Sentence this is peculiar to Christ but they shall joyn with him in judging them at the Last Day giving their consent unto and applauding his righteous Sentence This seems here chiefly intended for it is such a Power as whereby the Nations are broken as the vessels of a Potter are broken to shivers so the Text expresseth Now earthen Vessels are easily and irrecoverably broken especially by an Iron Rod. Other Scriptures speak the same This honour have all his Saints saies David To execute the Judgment written Psal 149.8 What Judgment and where written Some refer it to Enoch's Prophecy mentioned by St. Jude v. 14 15. Behold the Lord cometh with ten Thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all c. To adjudge the wicked of the Nations to eternal Misery This dominion over the Nations shall the upright have in the Morning of the resurrection Psal 49.14 Quest 3. What is that eminent Glory Christ here promiseth to him that Overcometh Answ I will give him the Morning-star saies Christ A sweet and full promise the sum of it take in the following particulars 1. Some understand it of Christ himself who is stiled The bright and Morning-star Rev. 22.16 Thus he calls himself The sense then is I will communicate my self wholly to him and make him conformable to me in glory Always the proportion of the head and members observed The Morning-star is the most bright and shining of all the stars of Heaven and communicates its light to the world Christ excels all men and Angels as far as the Morning-star all the Stars of Heaven and he communicates all Light of Grace and Glory to the world of Believers He is stiled The Star of Jacob Numb 24.17 this notes his two Natures A Star in its Original is from Heaven which points at his Divine Nature who is the Lord from Heaven 1 Cor. 15. yet a Star of Jacob as a man of the Posterity of Jacob so we must conceive him both God and Man And thus considered He is full of Grace and of his fulness do all Believers receive even Grace for Grace The Morning-star dispels the Nights darkness When this Day-star arises fully in our hearts all mists of Ignorance and Errour are dispelled wherein we were wrapped in our night of sin and imperfect condition here 2. It may intimate that Christ will give him that overcomes a glorious Resurrection at the Last-Day The Prophet Daniel hints at this They that turn many to Righteousness shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament even as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 There will not be the same measure and degree of this For as one Star differs from another in Glory so it shall be in the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.41 yet all will be adorned with resplendent Lustre and Brightness far exceeding the beauty of the Stars For then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 Those that have here lien among the pots smutched and sullied shall then outshine the Sun in his strength Shine they shall in their Bodies which shall be conformed to the most glorious body of Christ Phil. 3.21 And in their Souls those Spirits of just men made perfect and in their whole persons as the Spouse of Christ Vxor fulget radiis Mariti she shall shine with the Beams of his Beauty A glimpse of this Glory was seen in Moses's Face in Christ's Transfiguration in Stephen's Countenance But the full manifestation thereof is reserved to the day of the Resurrection 3. It may imply That the Overcomer shall have the next degree of Glory to Christ as the Morning-Star is next the Sun and is called as some think The Son of the Morning Isa .. 14.12 Because it usually appears in the Morning a little before the Sun-rising as if it were by the Morning produced Victorious Souls shall be very near to Christ in Place and Glory When one requested her two Sons might sit the one at Christ's right hand the other at his left in his Kingdom He answers It shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of his Father Among others those that have encountred great Troubles and come off Conquerors shall share in this Honour For upon this request of the woman Christ said Are ye able to drink of the Cup I am to drink of and to be baptized with the Baptism I am to be Baptized with Mat. 20.20 c. Implying they must come under a Baptism of Blood and Suffering that would come to this Honour to be so near to me as you desire This honour hath he reserved to give to him that Overcometh All the Saints shall be with him but these so near to him as the Morning-Star to the Sun 4. This Phrase may also intimate that Christ will give the First-fruits of Glory Foretastes of Heaven even whiles in this world to assure of the full enjoyment in another The Morning-star is Anteambulo Solis the Suns Harbinger and Fore-runner of a perfect Day Christ will give such as overcome Prelibations and Pledges of future Happiness assuring them That their path shall be as the Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 This Morning they will not exchange for the brightest Noon-day of worldly Glory which ends in a Midnight of Trouble and Misery but their Morning-Light is in a full Sunshine of Happiness Hence the Saints are said to have received the first-fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8.23 Though in regard of quantity the First-fruits under the Law were but an handful in comparison of the whole yet in their signification they were an evidence to them that they should receive a good crop of the rest So the Graces and Comforts of the Spirit of God Believers have here are not only sweet to their apprehension for the present but also in their reflection as to what is future they are a pledg of the full Harvest Christ is said to be The first-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15.20 Because his Resurrection was a forerunner of the Resurrection of all his Members so are the first fruits of the Spirit here an assurance of a
be given If a man hath Faith in the Habit only though it were as strong as Abraham's yet it will do little towards a Victory but Faith though but as a grain of Mustard-seed yet in lively exercise will do wonders Hence it is a strong Believer that suffers sloth and security to grow upon him will fall before the Enemy when the weak Christian improving his little Strength shall be victorious and get the better of him If any object we find the Enemy too strong for us as the Sons of Zeruiah were too strong for David so may some say The evil Heart within Satan and the World without are too hard for me I shall never overcome I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul by the Policy and Power of my Adversaries Let such look to their Captain for fresh Auxiliaries and fear not God gave St. Paul and will thee Victory not for or by thine own Endeavours though they must be used but through Jesus Christ Particularly 1. Through the Strength of Christ I can do all things and suffer all things too saith the Apostle through Christ that strengthneth me Phil. 4.13 A Christian in Christ walks up and down the world like a Conquerour but without him they can do nothing John 15.5 2. Through the Blood and Cross of Christ 'T is said that when Constantine was going to fight against his Enemies the Sign of the Cross appeared to him with these words written upon it By this shalt thou Overcome I know no Vertue to be in the Sign of the Cross but I read the Saints overcame the Dragon by the Blood of the Cross that Blood of the Lamb shed upon the Cross Christ's Blood is Sin-conquering Satan-subduing and World-overcoming Blood 3. Through the Word of Christ The Apostle saith That Young men having the Word of God abiding in them overcome the wicked One 1 Joh. 2.14 Young Saints by this applied and improved overcome old Adam yea that old Serpent the Devil 4. By the Love of Christ Believers are said to be more than Conquerours through him that loved them Rom. 8.37 Many waters cannot quench the flame of this Love nor the floods drown the sense of it Love is strong as Death and Death overcomes all none can stand before it 5. By the Victory of Christ Hence he doth cheer up the hearts of his troubled Disciples ready to faint at the consideration of his Departure from them and the Hatred of the world against them Be of good comfort I have overcome the world This he did as a publick Person for himself and for his Church and every Member of it When Satan conquered the first Adam he overcame all Mankind all being in him their Head and Representative So all in Christ the second Adam do and shall Overcome by his victory Therefore be of good cheer I have overcome the world As if he had said My Victory is yours and for you else if they had no Interest in it what support could this give to them Well then Let all that are of a fearful heart be perswaded to fight as if they had no Captain no Christ yet to rely on the Strength Blood Word Love and Victory of Christ as if they had not struck a stroke so shall they certainly Overcome their Enemies and enjoy the good of these Promises SERMON VII REV. III. 21. To him that Overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne even as I also Overcame and am set down with my Father in his Throne THis is the last though not the least of those Seven Promises made to Overcomers in this and the former Chapter It is directed to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea vers 14. This Angel some think was Archippus who had declined from his first life and activity in the work of the Ministry Hence the Apostle Paul bad some say to Archippus Take heed to thy self and to thy ministry that thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfil it Col. 4.17 Laodicea was a City nigh to the Collosians and the Church planted there seems more corrupt than any of the other In some there is much commended and something reprehended In others nothing reproved but much commended Here much reproved nothing of commendation The sum of the Epistle is to discover her Sins and perswade to repentance The sins were two 1. A detestable neutrality in their Christian profession at the 15 verse Thou art neither cold nor hot as if he had said thou art indifferently affected neither eager for the truth nor an open Enemy to it Neither a zealous professor nor a professed Enemy to Religion but a neuter halting betwen two as they 1 Kings 18.21 2. Pride and self-conceit in the 17 verse Thou sayest I am rich and encreased with goods and have need of nothing c. as if he had said Thou dost boast as if thou wert rich in all manner of spiritual Grace that nothing need be added to that perfection thou hast attained when thou vauntest thus being ignorant of thine own lamentable state not knowing that thou art poor and beggarly yet poor and proud like a beggar boasting of wealth so true of her was that of Solomon There is that maketh himself rich and yet hath nothing Prov. 13.7 And some think that the reason why no fault was mentioned in some Churches was not because there was no imperfection in them but to shew how much the Lord favoureth humble modesty and nothing commended in Laodicea not because there was nothing good among them but to shew how much the Lord disliketh a luke-warm temper and a proud vain-glorious disposition These were her sins Now Christ perswades to repentance by many arguments 1. From his own Omniscience verse 15. I know thy works that thou art neither hot nor cold as if he had said though thou beest careless yet I care though thou takest no notice yet I do I observe what temper thou art of and how doubly thou dealest by me 2. By an argument drawn from the loathsomness of this sin verse 16. Because thou art neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth Though they might think it were nothing to deal thus deceitfully with God they might account it a piece of wisdom to be thus moderate as some call it But I have other thoughts of it it is a filthy abominable sin I will spue thee out of my mouth for it if thou beest not zealous and repent a plain expression intimating the loathsomness of it as we spit at that which is loathsom to our Stomach so does the Lord by this declare how much he abhors this sin in our Religion 3. From the present inconvenience it brought upon her verse 17. It brings them into a miserable condition They had a seeming shew to be rich and wife and happy and full when they were poor and blind and wretched and naked A shew of Religion makes men think they are in a good estate and want