Looking Unto Jesus
3. We find Pilate and the Jews yet debating the business; Pilate is loath to pronounce the sentence, and the chiefest of the Jews provoke him to it with a threefold argument. As—
1. They had a law, and by their law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God; thus the Doctors of the Law do accuse the Author and Publisher of the Law, but they consider not the rule concerning Laws, He may lawfully abolish, who hath power to establish; nor did they consider that this Law concerned not himself, who is indeed, and in truth the Son of God: the Text tells us, that Pilate hearing this argument, was the more afraid. Pilate (saith Cyril ) was an heathen idolater, and so worshipping many God's, he could not tell but that Christ might be one of them, and therefore in condemning Christ, he might justly provoke all the God's to be revenged of him. This was the meaning of Pilate 's question, Whence art thou? what is thy Off-spring? of what Progenitors art thou sprung? And from thence forth Pilate sought to release him.
2. The Jews come with another Argument, they threaten Pilate, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend; a forcible reason, as the case then stood; it was no small matter to be accused by so many audacious impudent men of high treason against Caesar, and therefore under this obligation Pilate seems to bend and bow; whom the fear of Christ's Divinity had restrained, him the fear of Caesar 's frown provoked to go on to sentence and condemnation. Oh he was more afraid of man, whose breath is in his nostrils, than of God himself, who made the heavens, and framed the world. And yet before he gives sentence, he takes water; and washeth his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it.
3. In reference to this they engage themselves for him, which was their last argument, His blood be upon us, and our children, q. d. act thou as Judge, let him be condemned to die, and if thou fearest anything, we will undergo for thee, let the vengeance of his blood be on us, and on our children forever. Thus far of the first general.
2. For the sentence itself, When Pilate heard that,—he sat down in the judgment seat, in a place that is called the pavement, because erected of stones; but in the Hebrew Gabbatha; —This word signifies an high place, and raised above; it was so on purpose, that the Judges might be seen of men when they pronounced sentence. And here Pilate sitting down, he gave the doom. What was the form, or manner of the sentence is a great question amongst Divines. Chrysostom is of mind, that he pronounced no form at all, but only delivered Jesus unto them to be crucified, Mark. 15.15. John 19.16. Others cannot yield to this, for to what end (say they) should he then sit down upon the judgment seat? and yet amongst themselves they cannot agree on a form; Anselm gives it thus, I adjudge Jesus of Nazareth to that ignominious and shameful Death of the Cross. Vincentius thus, I condemn Jesus, seducing the people, blaspheming God, and saying that he was Christ the King of the Jews, to be fastened to the Cross, and there to hang till he die. Many other forms are brought in by others, but that of Luke is I am sure most authentic. And Pilate gave sentence, that it should be as they required: and then he delivered Jesus to their will. Here's a sentence indeed, a delivery of Jesus not to his own, but to his enemies liberty; to the boundless bonds, and all the possible Tortures of their own wills, and wishes. O unjust sentence! Give me not over to the will of my adversaries, cries David; the will of malice is an endless wheel, it cares not how long it spins out pain, and therefore they cried, Crucify him, Crucify him, let him be crucified. Amen, (says Pilate) do what you please, Crucify him, and Crucify him as often as you will, it shall be as you require, Lo now I deliver him to your own will.
We cannot shake this tree without some fruit; from this sight of Christ, and sentence of Pilate, we may learn some good.—
1. From this sight of Christ, as he was presented by Pilate to the people, we may learn remorse: not any of us who have crucified Christ by our sins, but we are called on at this time, to behold the man; suppose we saw him with our bodily eyes; suppose we had the same view of Christ as the Jews had, where he was thus presented; suppose we saw him in the very midst of us, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe, and the cane or reed held in his right hand; suppose we heard the voice of Pilate speaking to us, as he did to the Jews, Behold the man; suppose we saw the purple robe lifted up, that we might see all under, how his body was torn; and that same voice from Heaven should come to us, saying, This same is he whom ye have buffeted, scourged, crowned, crucified by your sins: were not this enough to prick us in our hearts, and to make us cry, Men and brethren what shall we do? Oh we look at the instruments, and we cry, Fie on Pilate, fie on the Soldiers, fie on the Jews; but we look not on our sins, saying, fie on them. Could we but realize our sins as the principal of these sufferings of Christ, methinks our hearts should break in very pieces: consider, yesterday in the midst of our Markets so many lies were told, and so many oaths were sworn; and this day so soon as the day-light sprang, so many acts of profaning the Lord's day were committed by us; little did we think that all this while we had been stripping Christ naked, whipping Christ with rods, or little chains, clothing Christ with a Purple-Scarlet Robe, platting a Crown of Thorns, and putting it on his head, sceptring him with a reed, and saluting him in scorn, Hail King of the Jews. Men, Brethren, and Fathers, be not deceived, Christ is mocked, scorned, and thus abused by you when you sin; your sins thus dealt with Christ, and in God's acceptation your sins thus deal with Christ even to this very day. Never say, it was long since Christ was crucified, and he is now in Heaven, for by your sins you crucify again the Lord of glory, you put him again to open shame; you strip him, and whip him, and torment him afresh. Oh look on him whom you have pierced! Pilate thought that if the Jews would but see the man, Behold the man, their hearts would have molified, and shall not I think as well of you? it is a blessed means to make sin bitter, and to breed in our hearts remorse for sin, if we will but hearken to this voice of Pilate, Behold the man.
2. From the sentence of Pilate, that Christ should be crucified, as the Jews required, we may learn the deceitfulness of our hearts, in making self the end, and aim of our particular callings. Pilate as Judge should have glorified God in doing justice; but when he hears the Jews cry, If thou let him go, thou art not Caesar 's Friend, he then looks to himself, and his own interests. Judges can have their ends in the very place of judicature: nay, is not this the very common sin of Magistrates, Ministers, Tradesmen, of all sorts of callings; come, what is it you aim at in your several places? is it not to be great, and rich, and high, and honorable? say truly, is it in your hearts to say, that by this calling my chief aim is to glorify God, and to serve my generation with all faithfulness; and these two ends I prefer before all worldly advantages whatsoever? O then what a blessed reformation would be amongst us? if it be not thus, what are you but as so many Pilate 's, that if you were but threatened into a sentence, you would rather condemn Christ than yourselves of enmity against Caesar; such would be the cry, Let Christ be crucified, and self advanced.
SECT. VI. Of Christ 's crucifying, with its appendices.
ABout Eleven, they prepare with all speed for the execution: in the revolution of this hour we may observe these several passages. As 1 Their taking off the robe, and clothing him again with his own raiment. 2. Their leading him away from Gabbatha to Golgotha. 3. His bearing the Cross with Simon 's help to bear it after him. 4. His comforting the women who followed weeping after him as he went. 5. Their giving him Vinegar to drink mingled with gall. 6. Their crucifying, or fastening him on the Cross, whereon he died.
1. The Evangelist tells us, They took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him; Origen observes, They took off his robes, but they took not off his Crown of Thorns; what served their interest, they pursued still, but nothing of mitigation or mercy to the afflicted Son of Man. It is supposed this small business could not be done without great pain; after his sore whipping his blood congealed, and by that means stuck to his scarlet mantle; so that in pulling off the robe, and putting on his own raiment, there could not but be a renewing of his wounds.
2. They led him away. Some say they cast a Rope or Chain about his neck, by which they led him out of the City to Mount Calvary, and that all along the way, multitudes attended him, and a Cryer went before him, proclaiming to all hearers the cause of his death; namely, that Jesus Christ was a Seducer, Blasphemer, Negromancer, a Teacher of false Doctrines, saying of himself that he was the Messias, King of Israel, and the Son of God.
3. He bore his Cross. So John relates; before it bears him, he must bear it; and thus they make good their double cry, Crucify him, Crucify him; first Crucify him with it as a burden, and then crucify him with it as a Cross; those shoulders which had been unmercifully battered with whips before, are now again tormented with the weight of his Cross. As a true Isaac bears the wood for the sacrifice of himself; or Uriah -like, he carries with him the very Instrument of his own sad death. O the cruelty of this passage! they had scarce left him so much blood or strength as to carry himself, and must • e now bear his heavy Cross? yes, till he faint and sink, so long he must bear it, and longer too, did they not fear that he should die with less shame and smart than they intended him: which to prevent they constrained one Simon a Cyraenean to bear his Cross after him. How truly do they here again swallow the Cammel, and strain at a Gnat? the Cross was a Roman death, and so one of their abominations, hence they themselves would not touch the tree of infamy, lest they should have been defiled, but to touch the Lord's anointed, to Crucify the Lord of Glory, they make no scruple at all; but why must another bear the Cross, but to consign this duty unto man, that we must enter into a fellowship of Christ's sufferings? If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his Cross, and follow me.—And therefore Christ hath suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps.
4. He comforted the woman, who followed weeping after him as he went along. And there followed him a great company of people and of Women, which also bewailed and lamented him; but Jesus turning to them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your Children. In the midst of his misery he forgets not mercy; in the midst of all their tortures and loudest out-cries of contumely, of blasphemy, of scorn, he can hear his following friends weeping behind him, and neglect all his own sufferings to comfort them, Weep not for me. He hath more compassion on the Woman that follow him weeping, than of his own mangled self, that reels along, fainting and bleeding unto death: he feels more the tears that drop from their eyes, than all the blood that flows from his own veins: we heard before that sometimes he would not vouchsafe a word to Pilate that threatened him, nor to Herod that entreated him, and yet unaskt how graciously doth he turn about his blessed bleeding face to these weeping women, affording them looks, and words too, both of compassion and of consolation, Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me, but for yourselves. —and yet observe, he did not turn his face to them until he heard them weep; nor may we ever think to see his face in glory, unless we first bathe our eyes in sorrow. It is a wonder to me that any in our age should ever decry tears, remorse, contrition, compunction; how many Saints do we find both in the Old and New Testament, confuting by their practices these gross opinions? the Promise tells us, that They that sow in Tears shall reap in Joy; he that follows Christ, or goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
But what's the meaning of this, Weep not for me? may we not weep for the death of Christ? do we not find in Scripture that all the People wept at the death of Moses? that all the Church wept at the death of Stephen? that the Woman lamented the death of Dorcas? and if all Christ's actions be our instructions (I mean not his miraculous, or meritorious, but his moral ones) did not Christ himself weep for Lazarus, and for Jerusalem? nay, is he not here weeping showers of blood all along the way? and may not we drop a tear for all those purple streams of his? O what's the meaning of this, Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves?
I answer, the words are not absolute, but comparative. Christ doth not simply forbid us to weep for our friends, but rather to turn our worldly grief into godly sorrow for sin as sin. Christ herein pointed the women to the true cause and subject of all their sorrow, which was their sins; and thus we have cause to weep indeed. Oh! our sins were the cause of the sufferings of Christ, and in that respect, Oh that our heads were fountains, and our eyes rivers of tears! Oh that our tears were as our meat and drink! Oh that we could feed with David on the Bread of tears, and that the Lord would give us plenteousness of tears to drink! Oh that the Lord would strike (as he did at Rephidim ) these rocky hearts of ours, with the rod of true remorse, that water might gush out! Oh that we could thus mourn over Jesus whom we have pierced, and be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born!
5. No sooner he was come to the place of Execution, but they gave him Vinegar to drink mingled with Gall: in that they gave him drink it was an argument of their humanity; this was a custom amongst Jews and Romans, that to the condemned they ever gave wine to drink: Give strong wine unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy heart. But in that they gave him Vinegar mingled with Gall, it was an argument of their cruelty and envy. Theophylact speaks plainly, that the Vinegar mingled with Gall was poisonous and deadly, and therefore when Christ had tasted it, he would not drink, choosing rather the death of the Cross, to which he was destinated by his Father, than any poisonous death.
Ah brethren, are not we apt to think hardly of the Jews for giving Christ so bitter a potion at his time of death? and yet little do we think that when we sin we do as much. See but how God himself compares the sins of the wicked Jews to very poison; For their wine is of the wine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah, their Grapes are Grapes of Gall, their clusters ar • bitter, their Wine is the poison of Dragons, and the cruel venom of Asps. In this respect we may think as hardly of ourselves as of the Jews, because so oft as we sin against God we do as much as mingle rank poison, and bring it to Jesus Christ to drink.
6. They crucified him, (i.e.) they fastened him on the Cross; and then lift him up. A great question there is amongst the Learned, whether Christ was fastened on the cross after it was erected, or whiles it was lying on the ground? I would not rake too much into these niceties, only more probable it is that he was fastened to it whiles it lay flat on the ground, and then as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness, so was the Son of man lifted up. We may express the manner of their acting, and his sufferings now, as a learned Brother hath done before us; Now come the Barbarous inhumane hangmen, and begin to unloose his hands, but how? alas 'tis not to any liberty, but to worse bonds of nails: then stripped they off his gore-glued clothes, and with them questionless not a little of his mangled skin and flesh, as if it were not enough to crucify him as a thief, unless they flea him too as a beast; then stretch they him out as another Isaac on his own burden, the Cross; that so they might take measure of the holes, and though the print of his blood on it gave them his true length, yet how strictly do they take it longer, than the truth? thereby at once both to crucify and rack him? that he was thus stretched and racked upon his cross, David gives more than probable intimation, I may tell all my bones; and again, all my bones are out of joint; which otherwise how could it so well be as by such a violent stretching and distortion? whereby it seems they had made him a living anatomy; nor was it in the less sensible, fleshly parts of his body, that they drive these their larger tenters, whereon his whole weight must hang; but in the hands and feet, the most sinewy, and consequently the most sensible fleshly parts of all other; wherein how rudely and painfully they handle him, appears too by that of David, they digged my hands and my feet, they made wide holes like that of a spade, as if they had been digging in some ditch: the boisterous and unusual greatness of these nails we have from venerable antiquity; Constantine the great is said to have made of them both an Helmet and a Bridle—How should I write on, but that my tears should blot out what I write, when it is no other than he that is thus used who hath blotted out that hand-writing of ordinances that was against me?
But the hour goes on, and this is the great business of the worlds redemption, of which I would speak a little more; by this time we may imagine Christ nailed to the cross, and his cross fixed in the ground, which with its fall into the place of its station gave infinite torture by so violent a concussion of the body of our Lord. That I mean to observe of this crucifying of Christ, I shall reduce to these two heads. viz. the shame and pain.
1. For the shame, it was a cursed death, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. When it was in use, it was chiefly infflicted upon slaves that either falsely accused, or treacherously conspired their Masters death: but on whomsoever it was inflicted, this death in all Ages among the Jews hath been branded with a special kind of ignominy; and so the Apostle signifies when he saith, He abased himself to the death, even to the death of the cross. It was a mighty shame that Saul's sons were hanged on a tree, and the reason was more specially from the Law of God; For he that is hanged is accursed of God: I know Moses's Law speaks nothing in particular of crucifying, yet he doth include the same under the general of hanging on a tree; and some conceive that Moses in speaking that curse, foresaw what manner of death the Redeemer should die.
2. For the pain, it was a painful death; that appears several ways; As— 1. His legs and hands were violently racked, and pulled out to the places fitted for his fastening, and then pierced through with nails. 2. By this means he wanted the use both of his hands and feet, and so he was forced to hang immovable upon the cross, as being unable to turn any way for his case. 3. The longer he lived, the more he endured, for by the weight of his body his wounds were opened and enlarged, his nerves and veins were rent and torn asunder, and his blood gushed out more and more abundantly still. 4. He died by inch-meal (as I may say) and not at once, the cross was a death long in dying, it kept him a great while upon the rack, it was full three hours betwixt Christ's affixion and expiration, and it would have been longer if he had not freely and willingly given up the Ghost; it is reported that Andrew the Apostle was two whole days on the Cross before he died, and so long might Christ have been, if God had not heightened it to greater degrees of torment supernaturally.
I may add to this, as above all this, the pains of his soul whiles he hanged on the cross, for there also Christ had his agonies, and soul conflicts, these were those 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , those pains, or pangs of death, from which Peter tells us Christ was loosed. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 properly signifies the pains of a woman in travel; such were the pains of Jesus Christ in death; the Prophet calls it, The travel of his Soul: and the Psalmist calls it the pains of Hell, The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of Hell gate hold upon me. The sorrows, or cords of death compassed his body, and the pains of Hell gate hold upon his soul; And these were they that extorted from him that passionate expostulation, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? he complains of that which was more grievous to him, than ten thousand deaths, My God, my God, why hast thou withdrawn thy wonted presence, and left my soul (as it were) in pains of Hell?
And now reflect we on the shame and pain! O the curse and bitterness that our sins have brought on Jesus Christ! when I but think on these bleeding veins, bruised shoulders, scourged sides, furrowed back, harrowed temples, digged hands and feet, and then consider that my sins were the cause of all; methinks I should need no more arguments for self-abhorring! Christians! would not your hearts rise against him, that should kill your Father, Mother, Brother, Wife, Husband, dearest Relations in all the World? O then how should your hearts and souls rise against sin? surely your sin it was that murdered Christ, that killed him who is instead of all relations, who is a thousand, thousand times dearer to you than Father, Mother, Husband, Child, or whomsoever; one thought of this should methinks be enough to make you say, as Job did, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes; Oh what's that cross on the back of Christ? My sins; Oh what's that Crown on the head of Christ? My sins; Oh what's that nail in the right hand, and that other in the left hand of Christ? My sins; Oh what's that spear in the side of Christ? My sins; Oh what are those nails and wounds in the feet of Christ? My sins. With a spiritual eye I see no other engine tormenting Christ; no other Pilate, Herod, Annas, Caiaphas condemning Christ; no other Soldiers, Officers, Jews or Gentiles doing execution on Christ, but only sin: Oh my sins, my sins, my sins!
2. Comfort we ourselves in the end and aim of this death of Christ; As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. The end of Christ's crucifying is the material business: and therefore let the end be observed as well as the meritorious cause; without this consideration the contemplation of Christ's death, or the meditation of the story of Christ's sufferings would be altogether unprofitable; now what was the end? surely this? Christ lifted up, that he might draw all men unto him; Christ hanged on a Tree, that he might bear our sins on the Tree; this was the plot, which God by ancient design had aimed at in the crucifying of Christ, and thus our faith must take it up; indeed our comfort hangs on this; the intent, aim, and design of Christ in his sufferings is that welcome news, and the very Spirit of the Gospel: O remember this! Christ is crucified, and why so? that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have life everlasting.
SECT. VII. Of the consequents after Christ's crucifying.
THe particulars following I shall quickly dispatch. As thus.—
1. About twelve when the Sun is usually brightest, it began now to darken. This darkness was so great that it spread over all the Land of Jewry; some think, over all the World, so we translate it in Luke, And there was a darkness over all the Earth; and many Gentiles, besides Jews, observed the same as a great miracle. Dionisius the Areopagite (as Soudas relates) could say at first sight of it, Either the World is ending, or the God of Nature is suffering. This very darkness was the occasion of that Altar erected in Athens, and dedicated unto the unknown God. Of this prophesied Amos, And it shall come to pass in that day that I will cause the Sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the Earth in a clear day.
The cause of this darkness is diversely rendered by several Authors; some think that the Sun by Divine power with-drew, and held back its beams. Others say, that the obscurity was caused by s • me thick clouds which were miraculously produced in the air, and spread themselves over all the earth. Others say, that this darkness was by a wonderful interpoposition of the Moon, which at that time was at full, but by a miracle interposed itself betwixt the Earth and Sun. Whatsoever was the cause, it continued for the space of three hours as dark as the darkest winters night.
2. About three (which the Jews call the ninth hour) the Sun now beginning to receive his light, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, Lamasabachthani, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?—And then, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, he said I thirst.—And when he had received the vinegar, he said it is finished.— And at last crying with a loud voice, he said, Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit, and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. I cannot stay on these seven words of Christ which he uttered on the cross; his words were ever gracious, but never more gracious than at this time; we cannot find in all the Books and Writings of men, in all the Annals and Records of time, either such sufferings, or such sayings, as were these last words and wounds, sayings and sufferings of Jesus Christ. — And having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Or as John relates it, He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost: He bowed, not because he was dead, but first he bowed, and then died; the meaning is, he died willingly without constraint, cheerfully without murmur; what a wonder is this? life itself gives up his life, and death itself dies by his death; Jesus Christ who is the Author of life, the God of life, lays down his life for us; and death itself lies forever nailed to that bloody cross in the stead of Jesus Christ. And now we may suppose him at the gates of Paradise, calling with his last words to have them opened, that the King of glory might come in.
3. About four in the afternoon he was pierced with a spear, and there issued out of his side both blood and water. And one of the Soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. How truly may we say of the Soldiers, that after all his sufferings they have added wounds? they find him dead, and yet they will scarce believe it, until with a spear they have searched for life at the well-head itself, even at the heart of Christ: And forthwith there came out blood and water; this was the Fountain of both Sacraments, the Fountain of all our happiness, The Fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. There are three that bear-witness on earth (saith John) the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood. Out of the side of Christ being now dead; there issues water and blood; signifying that he is both our justification, and sanctification. Physicians tell us, that about the heart there is a film or skin like unto a purse, wherein is contained clear water to cool the heat of the heart, and therefore very probable it is, that, that very skin (or pericardium ) was pierced through with the heart, and thence came out those streams of blood and water.— O gates of Heaven! O windows of Paradise! O Palace of refuge! O Tower of strength! O Sanctuary of the Just! O flourishing bed of the Spouse of Solomon! methinks I see water and blood running out of his side more freshly, than those golden streams which ran out of the garden of Eden, and watered the whole world. Here if I could stay I might lengthen my Doctrine during my life; oh it were good to be here; it were a large field, and a blessed subject.
4. About five (which the Jews call the eleventh, and the last hour of the day) Christ was taken down, and buried by Joseph and Nicodemus. But enough, I must not wear out your patience altogether.
CHAP. III.
SECT. I. Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation in his death.
1. LEt us know Jesus, carrying on the great work of our Salvation during his sufferings and death. This is the high point which Paul was ever studying on, and preaching on, and pondering on; For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Christ crucified is the rarest piece of knowledge in the world; the person of Christ is a matter of high speculation, but Christ further considered, as clothed with his garments of blood, is that knowledge which especially Paul pursues; he esteems not, reckons not, determines not to make any profession of any other science or doctrine than the most necessary, and only saving knowledge of Christ crucified. O my soul, how many days, and months, and years, hast thou spent to attain some little measure of knowledge in the Arts, and Tongues, and Sciences? and yet what a poor skill hast thou attained in respect of the many thousands of them that knew nothing at all of Jesus Christ? and what if thou hadst reached out to a greater proficiency? couldst thou have dived into the secrets of Nature, couldst thou have excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country, and all the wisdom of Egypt, and the wisdom of Solomon, who spake of beasts, of fowls, of fishes, of all trees from the Cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, yet without the saving knowledge of Christ crucified (Christ suffering, bleeding, and dying) all this had been nothing, see Eccles. 1.18. only that knowledge is worth the having which refers to Christ; and above all that is the rarest piece of Christ's humiliation, which holds him forth suffering for us, and so freeing us from hell sufferings. Come then, and spend thy time for the future more fruitfully in reading, learning, knowing, this one necessary thing. Study Christ crucified in every piece and part; O the precious truths, and precious discoveries that a studying head and heart would hammer out here! much hath been said, but a thousand-thousand times more might yet be said; we have given but a little scantling of that which Christ endured; Volumes might be written till they were piled as high as heaven; and yet all would not serve to make out the full discoveries of Jesus's sufferings. Study therefore, and study more, but be sure thy study and thy knowledge be rather practical than speculative; do not merely beat thy brains to learn the history of Christ's death, but the efficacy, virtue, and merit of it; know what thou knowest in reference to thyself, as if Jesus had been all the while carrying on the business of thy souls salvation; as if thou hadst stood by, and Christ had spoke to thee, as sometimes to the women, Weep not for me, but for thyself; thy sins caused my sufferings, and my sufferings were for the abolition of thy sins.
SECT. II. Of considering Jesus in that respect.
2. LEt us consider Jesus, carrying on this great work of our salvation during his sufferings and death. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, saith the Prophet; (i.e.) they shall consider me: and accordingly is the Apostle, looking unto Jesus, or considering of Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy of our salvation set before him, endured the cross, and despised the shame. Then indeed, and in that act is the duty brought in, it is good in all respects, and under all considerations to look unto Jesus from first to last, but above all, this Text relates firstly to the time of his sufferings; and hence it is that Luke calls Christ's passion 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a theory or sight; And all the people that came together to that sight, — smote their breasts and returned. Not but that every passage of Christ is a theory or sight, worthy our looking on, or considering of; Christ in his Fathers purpose, and Christ in the promise, and Christ in performance, Christ in his birth, and Christ in his life, O how sweet? what blessed objects are these to look upon? but above all consider him (saith the Apostle) that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. — Consider him who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, and despised the shame; of all other parts, acts, or passages of Christ, the holy Ghost hath only honored Christ's passion (his sufferings and his death) with this name of theory, and sight. Why surely this is the theory ever most commended to our view, and consideration; O then let us look on this, consider of this. As in this manner.—
1. Consider him passing over the Brook Cedron; it signifies the wrath of God, and rage of men; the first step of his passion is sharp and sore; he cannot enter the door, but first he must wade through cold waters on bare feet, nor must he only wade through them, but drink of them; through many tribulations must he go that will purchase souls, and through many tribulations must they go that will follow after him to the Kingdom of Glory.—Consider him entering into the Garden of Gethsemane; in a garden Adam sinned, and in this garden Christ must suffer, that the same place which was the nest where sin was hatched, might now be the child-bed of grace and mercy; into this garden no sooner was he entered, but he began to be agonized; all his powers and passions within him were in conflict. Consider O my soul how suddenly he is struck into a strange fear; never was man so afraid of the torments of hell, as Christ (standing in our room) is of his Fathers wrath; fear is still suitable to apprehension, and never man could so perfectly apprehend the cause of fear as Jesus Christ; nor was he only afraid, but very heavy; My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. His sorrow was lethal and deadly, it melted his soul gradually as wax is melted with heat; it continued with him till his last gasp, his heart was like wax burning all the time of his passion, and at last it melted in the midst of his bowels. Nor was he only afraid and heavy, but he began to be sore amazed; this signifies an universal cessation of all the faculties of the soul from their several functions, we usually call it a consternation, it is like a Clock stopped for the while from going, by some hand or other laid upon it; or if it was not wholly a cessation, yet was it at least an expavefaction, such a motion of the mind as whereby for the present he was disenabled to mind anything else, but the dreadful sense of the wrath of God. O what an agony was this? O what a struggling passion of mixed grief was this? what afflicting and conflicting affections under the sight and sense of eminent peril was in this agony? And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; thrice had he prayed, but now in his agony he prayed more earnestly; O my Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. Though I feel the soul of pain in the pain of my soul, yet there is divinity in me, which tells me there is a wage for sin, and I will pay it all? O my Father since thou hast bent thy bow, lo here an open breast, fix herein all thy shafts of fury, better I suffer for a while than that all believers should be damned forever; thy will is mine, lo I will bear the burden of sin, come and shoot here thy arrows of revenge. And thus as he prayed he sweat, And is sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Oh what man or Angel can conceive the agony, the fear, the sorrow, the amazement of that heart, that without all outward violence, merely out of the extremity of his own passion, bled through the flesh and skin, not some faint dew, but solid drops of blood? now is he crucified without a cross, fear and sorrow are the nails, our s • ns the thorns, his Fathers wrath the spear, and all these together cause a bleeding shower to rain throughout all his pores; O my soul, consider of this, and if thou wilt bring this consideration home, say, thy sins were the cause of this bloody sweat; Jesus Christ is that true Adam, that is come out of Paradise for thy sins, and thus labored on earth with his bloody sweat to get the bread that thou must feed on.
2. Consider his apprehension; Judas is now at hand, with a troop following him to apprehend his Master, see how without all shame he set himself in the van, and coming to his Lord and Master, gives him a most Traiterous and deceitful kiss, What Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? hast thou sold the Lord of life to such cruel merchants as covet greedily his blood and life? O alas! at what price hast thou set the Lord of all the creatures? at thirty pence? what a vile and slender price is this for a Lord of such Glory and Majesty? God was sold for thirty pieces of silver, but man could not be bought without the dearest heart-blood of the Son of God. At that time said Christ, Ye be come as it were against a thief with swords and staves, I sat daily among you teaching in the Temple, and ye never laid hands on me, but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. Now the Prince of darkness exercised his power, now the hellish rout, and malicious rabble of ravenous wolves, assaulted the most innocent Lamb in the world; now they most furiously hailed him this way and that way; O how ungently did they handle him? how uncourteously spake they unto him? how many blows and buffets did they give him? what cries, and shouts, and clamours made they over him: now they lay hold on his holy hands, and bind them hard with rough and knotty cords, so that they gall the skin off his arms, and make the very blood spring out; now they bring him back again over Cedron, and they make him once again to drink of the brook in the way; now they lead him openly through the high streets of Jerusalem and carry him to the house of Annas in great triumph. O my soul consider these several passages, consider them leisurely, and with good attention, consider them till thou feelest some motions or alterations in thy affection; is not this he that is the infinite virtue, the pattern of innocence, the everlasting wisdom; the honor of earth, the glory of heaven, the very fountain of all beauty) whether of men or Angels! how is it then that this virtue or power is tied with bands, that innocence is apprehended, that wisdom is flouted and laughed to scorn, that honor is contemned, that glory is tormented, that he that is fairer than all the children of men, is besmeared with weeping, and troubled with sorrow of heart? surely there is something O my soul in thee, that caused all this: hadst not thou sinned, the Sun of Righteousness had never been eclisped.
3. Consider the hurryings of Jesus from Annas to Caiaphas; there a Council is called, and Caiaphas the high Priest adjures our Lord to tell him if he was Christ the Son of God: no sooner he affirms it, but he is doomed guilty of blasphemy, and so guilty of death. Now again they assault him like mad dogs, and disgorge upon him all their malice, fury, and revenge; each one to the utmost of his power gives him buffets, and strokes; there they spit upon that Divine face with their devilish mouths, there they hudwink his eyes, and strike him on the cheek, scoffing, and jesting, and saying, Read, who is it that smote thee? O beauty of Angels! was that a face to be spet upon? men usually when they are provoked to spit, turn away their faces towards the foulest corner of the house, and is there not in all that Palace a souler place to spit in than the face of Jesus? O my soul, why dost thou not humble thyself, at this so wonderful example? how is it that there should remain in the world any token of pride after this so great and marvelous an example of humility? surely I am at my wits end, and very much astonished to consider, how this so great patience overcomes not my anger, how this so great abasing asswageth not my pride, how these so violent buffets beat not down my presumption: Is it not marvelous that Jesus Christ by these means should overthrow the Kingdom of pride, and yet that there should remain in me the relics of pride? consider all those night-sufferings of Christ; O cruel night! O unquiet night! now was the season that all creatures should take their rest, that the senses, and members wearied with toils and labors, should be refreshed; but on the contrary Christ's members and senses were then tormented, they struck his body, they afflicted his soul, they bound his hands, they buffeted his cheeks, they spit in his face; O my soul thou sinnest in the dark, in covert, in secret, when no eye is upon thee, when the Sun, that eye of the world is set, or hid; and therefore all the night long is Christ thus tormented by thy sins; not one jot of rest hath Christ, not a wink of sleep must seize on him, whom thou by the alarm of thy sins disquieted, both at evening, at mid-night, and at the Cock-Crow, and at the dawning.
4. Consider the hurryings of Jesus from Caiaphas to Pilate; now he stands before Pilate, where he was accused of sedition, seduction, and usurpation. Not only Jews, but Gentiles have their hands imbrued in the blood of Christ; Pilate was delegated from Caesar, both of them Gentiles, yet not without a prophesy, Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished; for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles: at the Gentile-tribunal being questioned of his Kingdom, and he answers both the Jews and Gentiles that they need not fear his usurpation, My Kingdom is not of this world. He gives Kingdoms that are eternal, but he will take away none that are temporal; Christ came not into the world to be Caesar 's, or Pilate 's, or Herod 's successor, but if they had believed, to have been their Savior. Look through the Chronicles of his life, and we find him so far from a King, that he was the meanest servant of all men; where was he born but at Bethlehem a little City? where did the Shepherds find him but in a poor cottage? who were his Disciples but a deal of Fishermen? who his Companions but Publicans and sinners? is he hungry? where stands his table but on plain ground? what are his dainties but bread and a few Fishes? where is his lodging but at the stern of a Ship? Here's a King without either presence-chamber, or bed-chamber, The Foxes have holes, and the Birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not whereon to lay his head. Come, fear not Pilate the loss of thy diadem; it may be the people would sometimes have made him a King, but see how he flies from it, My Kingdom is not of this World, saith Jesus. Oh that I could but contemn the World as Christ did! O that first and above all I could seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness! Oh my soul, I feel it, I feel it, unless I can be free from the affection of all creatures, I cannot with freedom of mind aspire unto divine things; unless I be willing with Christ to tread on Crowns and Scepters, to be despised and forsaken of all, and to be esteemed nothing at all, I can have no inward peace, nor be spiritually enlightened, nor be wholly united to the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Consider the hurryings of Jesus from Pilate to Herod; there is he questioned of many things, but justly is the Lamb of God dumb, and opened not his mouth to him that not long before had taken away his voice; upon this he is mocked, and arrayed in a gorgeous robe; Wisdom is taken for Folly, Virtue for Vice, Truth for Blasphemy, Temperance for Gluttony, the Peace-maker of all the World for a seditious disturber of the World, the reformer of the Law for a breaker of the Law, and the justifier of sinners for a sinner, and the follower of sinners. See how he emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation that he might fill thee with goodness, and make thee spiritually wise unto salvation.
6. Consider the hurryings of Jesus from Herod back again to Pilate; O my Savior how art thou now abused! new accusations are forged; and when Pilate sees that nothing will do, but Christ must die, he delivers him to be stripped, whipped, clothed in Purple, crowned with Thorns, and Sceptred with a Reed. He that with spittle cured the eyes of the blind, is now blinded with their spittle; who can number those stripes wherewith they flea and tare his body, one wound eating into another, that there is no health in his bones by reason of my sins? O Jesus! was that frothy spittle the Ointment, those Thorns thy Crown, that Reed thy Scepter, that Purple-died and embroidered with blood, thy Royal Robes? or because Adam 's sin brought forth Thorns, must it therefore be thy penance to wear them? unthankful people thus watered with his blood, that bring forth nothing but Thorns to crown him. But Oh that the Lord of Heaven, the Creator of the World, the Glory of the Angels, the Wisdom of God, should, for my sake, be punished with whips and scourges? O my heart, how can I think on this without tears of blood? O joy of the Angels, and Glory of Saints, who hath thus disfigured thee? who hath thus defiled thee with so many bloody blows? certainly they were not thy sins, but mine; it was love and mercy that compassed thee about, and caused thee to take upon thee this so heavy a burden; love was the cause why thou didst bestow upon me all thy benefits, and mercy moved thee to take upon thee all my miseries.
7. Consider that sad spectacle of Jesus, when he came forth wearing the Crown of Thorns, and the Purple Robe, and Pilate saying unto them, behold the Man. O my soul fix thy eyes on the sad object! suppose thyself in the case of Jesus; what if in so sensible and tender a part as thy head is, men should fasten a number of Thorns, yea and those so sharp that they should pierce into thy scull? why alas, thou canst hardly abide the prick of a pin, much less the piercing in of so many Thorns; O but thy Jesus was crowned with Thorns, and Sceptred with a Reed, and that Reed was taken out of his hands, to beat the Crown of Thorns into his head; and besides, thy Jesus was whipped with cords, and rods, and little chains of iron, that from his shoulders to the soles of his feet there was no part free; and being now in this plight, thou art called on to behold the Man: dost thou see him? is thy imagination strong: canst thou consider him at present, as if thou hadst a view of this very man? methinks it should make thee break out, and say, O brightness of thy Fathers glory, who hath thus cruelly dealt with thee? O unspotted glass of the Majesty of God, who hath thus wholly disfigured thee? O river that flows out of the paradise of delights, who hath thus troubled thee? it is my sins O Lord that have so troubled thee; my sins were the Thorns that pricked thee, the lashes that whipped thee, the purple that clothed thee, it is I Lord that am thy tormentor, and the very cause of these thy pains.
8. Consider Pilate 's sentence, that Jesus should be Crucified as the Jews required. Now they had him in their will, and they did to him what seemed them good. Follow him from Gabbatha to Golgotha, see how they lay the heavy Cross upon his tender shoulders, that were so pitifully rent and torn with whips; accompany him all the way to the Execution, and help to carry his Cross to Mount Calvary; And there, as if thou hadst been frozen hitherto, thaw into tears; see him lifted up on that engine of torture, the bloody Cross; he hangs on nails, and as he hangs, his own weight becomes his own affliction; O see how his arms and legs were racked with voilent pulls, his hands and feet bored with nails, his whole body torn with stripes, and gored with blood; And now, O my soul, run with all thy might into his arms held out at their full length to receive thee; Oh weigh the matter! because sin entered by the senses, therefore the head, in which the senses flourish, is crowned with searching thorns; because the hands and feet are more especially the instruments of sin, therefore his hands and feet are nailed to the Cross for satisfaction. O marvelous! what King is he, or of what Country, that wears a Crown of Thorns? what man is he, or where lives he, whose hands and feet are not only bored, but digged into, as if they had been digging with Spades in a ditch? surely here's matter for a serious meditation, be enlarged O my thoughts, and dwell upon it! consider it, and consider it again!
9. Consider the darkness that spread over all the Earth; now was the Sun ashamed to show his brightness; considering that the Father of lights was darkened with such disgrace; the Heavens discoloured their beauty, and are in mourning robes; the Lamp of Heaven is immantled with a miraculous Eclipse; the Sun in the firmament, will sympathize with the Sun of Righteousness; it will not appear in glory, though it be midday, because the Lord of Glory is thus disgraced. And now hear the voice that comes from the Son of God, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Christ in the Garden tasted the bitter cup of God's fierce wrath, but now he drunk the dregs of it; he then sipped off the top, but now he drunk all off, top, and bottom, and all. O but what's the meaning of this; My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Surely, 1. This was not a total, but a partial dereliction, this was not a perpetual, but a temporary forsaking of him; the Godhead was not took away from the manhood, but the union remained still, even now when the Manhood was forsaken. 2. This was not a forsaking on Christ's part, but only on the Father's part; the Father forsook Christ, but Christ went after him; God took away the sense of his love, but the Son of God laid hold upon him, crying, and saying, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 3. This forsaking was not in respect of his being, but in respect of the feeling of God's favor, love, and mercy; certainly God loved him still, Oh but his sense of comfort was now quite gone, so as it never was before: In his agony there was some inklings of God's mercy, now and then at least there was some star-light, some little flash of lightning to cheer him up, but now all the sense and feeling of God's love was gone, and not so much as any little star-light of the same appeared. Christ now took the place of sinners, and God the Father shut him out (as it were) amongst the sinners; he drew his mercy out of sight, and out of hearing, and therefore he cried out in a kind of wonderment, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? After this he speaks but a few words more, and he gives up the Ghost. He dies that we might live, he is dissolved in himself, that we might be united to his Father; O my soul, see him now if thou canst for weeping, his eyes are dim, his cheeks are wan, his face is pale, his head is bowing, his heart is panting, himself is dying; come, come, and die with him by a most exact mortification; look pale like him with grief, and sorrow, and trouble for thy sins.
10. Consider the piercing of his side with a spear, whence came out a stream of blood and water; O Fountain of everlasting waters! methinks I see the blood running out of his side more freshly than those golden streams which ran out of the Garden of Eden, and watered the whole World. Consider the taking of his body down by Joseph; the burying of it by Joseph and Nicodemus; O here's excellent matter for our meditation! O my spirit, go with me a little! Christ being dead, it is pity but he should have a funeral; according to the letter let Joseph and Nicodemus bear his corps; let the blessed Virgin go after it sighing and weeping, and at every other place looking up to Heaven; let Mary Magdalene follow after with a box of precious Ointment in her hand, and with her hair hanging, ready (if need were) to wipe his feet again; or that in this meditation I may be more spiritual, let the Usurer come first with Judas's bag, and distribute to the poor as he goes along; let the Drunkard follow after with the spunge that was filled with gall, and vinegar, and check his wanton thirst; let the young Gallant or voluptuous man come like his Master with bare foot, and with the cown of thorns set also upon his head; let the wanton person bear the rods, and whips, and wiers wherewith Christ was scourged, and fright his own flesh; let the ambitious man be cladin the purple robe, the angry Person in the seamless coat; my meaning is, let every sinner according to the nature of his sin, draw something or other from the passion of Christ to the mortifying of his sin, yea let all turn mourners, let all bow their heads, and be ready to give up the Ghost for the Name of Christ, and let not Christ be buried without a Sermon neither, and let the Text be this, The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, and in the end of the Sermon (whether it be in use or no) let the Preacher take occasion to speak a word or two in the praise of Christ, let him say with the Spouse, that he was the chiefest among ten thousands, that he was altogether lovely; that being God above all God's, he became man beneath all men; that when he spake he began ordinarily with verily, verily, I say unto you: that he was an holy man, that he never sinned in all his life neither in thought, word, or deed; that being endowed with the Power of Miracles, he lovingly employed it in curing the lame, and blind, and deaf, and dumb, in casting out devils, in healing the sick, in restoring the dead to life; that as he lived, so he died, for being unjustly condemned, mocked, stripped, whipped, crucified, he took all patiently, praying for his persecutors, and leaving to them, when he had no temporal thing to give them, a legacy of love, of life, of mercy, of pardon, of Salvation: When the Sermon is done, and the Burial is finished, let every Mourner go home, and begin a new life in imitation of Jesus Christ. O my soul that thou wouldst thus meditate, and thus imitate, that so thy meditation might be fruitful, and thy imitation real; I mean that thy life and death might be conformable to the life and death of Jesus Christ. But of that hereafter.
SECT. III. Of desiring Jesus in that Respect.
3. LEt us desire after Jesus, carrying on the work of our salvation in his death; Jesus Christ to a fallen sinner is the chief object of desire, but Jesus Christ as crucified is the chief piece of that object. Humbled souls look after the remedy, and they find chiefly in Christ crucified; and hence are so many cries after bathings in Christ's blood, and hiding in Christ's righteousness, active, and passive. Indeed nothing doth so cool and refresh a parched, dry, and thirsty soul as the blood of Jesus; which made the poor woman cry out so earnestly, I have an husband, and Children, and many other comforts, but I would give them all, and all the good that ever I shall see in this world, or in the world to come, to have my poor thirsty soul refreshed with that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But what is there in Christ's blood or death that is so desirable? I answer,—
1. There is in it the person of Christ, he that is God-man, man-God, The brightness of his father's Glory, and the express Image of his Person, it is he that died; every drop of his blood was not only the blood of an innocent man, but of one that was God as well as man, God with his own blood purchased the Church; now surely everything of God is most desirable.
2. There is in it a worth, or price; Christ considered under the notion of a sacrifice is of infinite worth; now this sacrifice (saith the Apostle) he offered up, Heb. 9.28. He offered up, not in Heaven, as the Socinians would have it, in presenting himself before God his Father, but upon earth, viz. in his Passion upon the Cross. No wealth in heaven or earth besides this, could redeem one soul, and therefore the Apostle sets this against all corruptible things, as silver and gold, the things so much set by amongst the men of this world; Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver, and gold,—but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish, and without spot.
3. There is in it a merit and satisfaction; the Scripture indeed doth not expressly use these words, but it hath the sense and meaning of them; As in that text, He hath made us accepted in the beloved; to whom we have redemption through his blood. I know there is a different notion in these words; for merit doth properly respect the good that is to be procured, but satisfaction the evil that is repelled; but in Christ we stand not on these distinctions, because in his merit was satisfaction, and in his satisfaction was merit. A great controversy is of late risen up, Whether Christ's death be a satisfaction to Divine justice? But the very words redeeming and buying, do plainly demonstrate; that a satisfaction was given to God by the death of Jesus; He gave himself for us that he might redeem us, ye are bought with a price; and what price was that? why his own blood. Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood; (i.e.) by thy death and Passion. This was the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that ransom which Christ gave for his Elect; The Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many; or as the Apostle, He gave himself a ransom for all, the word is here 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which signifies an adequate price, or a counterprice; as when one doth, or undergoeth something in the room of another; as when one yields himself a Captive for the redeeming of another out of Captivity, or gives up his own life for the saving of another man's life; so Christ gave himself 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a ransom, or counterprice, submitting himself to the like punishment that his redeemed ones should have undergone.
The Socinians tell us that Christ's sufferings and death were not for satisfaction to God, but in reference to us, that we might believe the truth of his Doctrine confirmed and sealed (as they say) by his death, and that we might yield obedience to God according to the pattern that he hath set before us, and that so believing and obeying, we might obtain the remission of Sins and eternal Life.
But the Scripture goes higher; in that mutual compact and agreement betwixt God and Christ, we find God the Father imposing, and Christ submitting to this satisfaction. 1. The Father imposeth it by charging the sins of his Elect upon Jesus Christ. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all; not the sins themselves, not the evil in them, or fault of them, but the guilt and penalty belonging to them; this God laid upon his Son, and charged it upon him; he charged it as a Creditor chargeth the debt upon the Surety, requiring satisfaction. 2. Christ undertook it. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, or as some translate, It was exacted, and he answered; (i.e.) God the Father required satisfaction for sin, and Jesus Christ was our Surety answered in our behalf; He bear the Sins of many, he bear them as a porter that bears the burden for another which himself is not able to stand under; he bear them by undergoing the punishment which was due for them, he bear them as our Surety, submitting himself unto the penalty which we had deserved; and by that means he made satisfaction to the justice of God. Surely Christ's death was not only for confirmation of his Doctrine, but for satisfaction to God.
4. There is in it not only a true, but a copious, and full satisfaction; Christ's death and blood is superabundant to our sins; The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant 1. Tim. 1.14. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 it was over-full, redundant, more than enough. Many an humble soul is apt enough to complain, Oh if I had not been so great a sinner, if I had not committed such and such transgressions, there might have been hope; This is to undervalue Christ's redemption, this is to think there is more in sin to damn, than in Christ's sufferings to save; whereas all thy Sins to Christ are but as a little cloud to the glorious Sun; yea, all the Sins of all the men in the world, are but to Christ's merits as a drop to the Ocean. I speak not this to encourage the presumptuous sinner; for alas, he hath no part in this satisfaction; but to comfort the humble sinner, who is loaden with the sense of his Sins; what though they were a burden greater than he can bear? yet they are not a burden greater than Christ can bear; there is in Christ's blood an infinite treasure, able to sanctify thee, and all the World, there is in Christ's death a ransom, a counterprice sufficient to redeem all the sinners, that ever were, or ever shall be; the price is of that nature, that it is not diminished, though it be extended to never so many; as the Sun hath fullness of light to enlighten all the world; and if the blind do not see by it, it is no any scarcity of light in the Sun, but by reason of his own indisposition; so if all men are not acquitted by Christ's death, it's not because that was insufficient, as if it had not virtue enough to reach them as well as others, but because they by their unbelief do reject this remedy. Oh what large room hath saith to expatiate in! sit down, and dive, and dive, yet thou canst not come to the bottom of Christ's blood; but as the Prophet Ezekiel saw still more and greater abominations, so mayest thou in the sufferings of Christ observe more and more fullness. See what a notable opposition the Apostle makes, Rom. 5.15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. between the first and second Adam; proving at large that Christ doth super-abound in the fruits of his grace, above the first Adam in the fruits of his sin; he calls it grace, and the abundance of grace, and this abundance of grace reigneth to life; so that these Texts should be like so much oil poured into the wounds of every broken-hearted sinner. Oh is there anything that can be desired more than this?
5. There is in it remission of sins; so saith Christ, This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins, Remission of sins is attributed to Christ's death as a cause; it is not thy tears, or prayers, or rendings of heart that could pay the least farthing, Without shedding of blood (saith the Apostle) there is no remission. God will have tears and blood also, though not for the same purpose; for all thy tears thou must fly to Christ only as the cause; it is true, thou must mourn, and pray, and humble thyself, but it's Christ's blood only that can wash us clean; Oh remember this! God will not pardon without satisfaction by the blood of Christ. And surely this makes Christ's death so desirable; Oh my sins afflict me, (cries many a one) Oh I am loathsome in mine own eyes, much more in God's, surely God is offended with my dullness, slothfulness, and my thousand imperfections; I am all the day long entangled with this sin, and that sin, and the other sin; but let this contrite spirit look on Christ's death, and therein he may find all sin is pardoned: see here what an Argument is put into thy mouth from these sufferings of Christ, well mayest thou say, O Lord I am unworthy, but it is just and right that Christ obtain what he died for; O pardon my sins for his death's sake, and for his precious blood sake.
6. There is in it reconciliation and peace with God, In Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. — When we were enemies, we were reconciled unto God by the death of his Son—that he might reconcile both (viz. Jews and Gentiles) unto God in one body by the Cross.—And having made peace through the blood of his Cross, by him • o reconcile all things to himself. This certainly should admirably support the drooping soul; it may be thou criest, My sins have made a breach betwixt God and my soul; I have warred against heaven, and now God wars against me; and oh what odds? if the Lord be angry, yea, but a little; what will become of my poor soul? is a little stubble able to contend with the consuming fire? how then should I contend with God? but come now, and look on Christ's death as the means and meritorious cause of reconciliation, and thou canst not but say, O this death is desirable! When God the Father looks at a sinner in the bloody glass of Christ, then saith God, Oh now fury and wrath is not in me; I have no more quarrel or controversy with this soul: seeing Christ hath suffered, it is enough, I have as much as my justice can demand, my frowns are now turned into smiles, and my rod of iron into a Scepter of grace. Why this is it that makes Christ's death and blood so desirable to the soul; what shall Jacob so rejoice in seeing Esau 's face altered to him? shall he say to Esau, I have seen thy face, as the face of God? how much rather may the humble and believing sinner be filled with gladness, when through Christ's blood shall be thus appeased and reconciled with him?
7. There is in it immunity and safety from all the judgments and dangers threatened against our sins. Surely if there were such force in the blood of the type, that by the effusion of it the Israelites lay safe, and untouched of the revenging Angel, how much more in the blood of Christ? Satan himself is said to be overcome by the blood of the Lamb; and God's revenge due to our sins is said to be removed by the blood of Jesus, therefore it is called The blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than the blood of Abel; the blood of sprinkling was for safety, and Christ's blood is for safety; it cries not for revenge, as Abel 's blood cried, but for mercy and for deliverance from all misery.
8. There is in it a blessed virtue to open Heaven, and to make passage thither for our souls, Having boldness or liberty to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus: it is the blood of Christ that rents the Vail, and makes a way into the Holy of Holies, that is, into the Kingdom of Heaven; without this blood there is no access to God; it is only by the blood of Christ that heaven is open to our prayers, and that Heaven is open to our persons; this blood is the key that unlocks Heaven, and lets in the souls of his Redeemed ones: And I looked (saith John) and behold a door was open in Heaven, and the first voice I heard, was as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, come up hither; and no sooner was he in the Spirit, and entered in, but he heard the new song of the four beasts, and four and twenty Elders, saying to Christ, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.
Come now, and gather in all these several particulars, there is in Christ's blood inclusively the person of Christ, the price of souls, a merit and satisfaction, a copious and full satisfaction, remission of sins, reconciliation with God, immunity from dangers, a passage into glory; I might add all other privileges, benefits, dignities of the soul, for they all flow from the blood of Jesus, and they are all contained either expressly, or virtually in the blood of Jesus; and is not all this worth the looking after? O my soul, where is thy languor, and fainting towards this blessed object? Shall Ahab eagerly desire after Naboth 's vineyard, yea, so eagerly desire it, that his desire shall cast him upon his bed? and is not Christ's blood better than Naboth 's vineyard? how is it O my soul, that thou art not sick on thy bed in thy desires after Jesus? when David desired strongly after God's Law, he expressed his longings by the breaking and fainting of his soul, My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath to thy judgment at all times;—and my soul fainteth for thy Salvation: Oh where be these breakings and faintings? strength of desire is expressed by the Apostle by groaning, which is the language of sickness; Oh where be these groanings after Christ's death? when I call to mind that Christ's death is my ransom, that Christ's wounds are my salves, that Christ's stripes are my cures, that Christ's blood is my fountain to wash in, and to be clean; how should I but pray in this sense, His blood be upon us, and on our children? Oh I am undone except I have a share in this blood; why it is only this blood that can heal my soul, it is only this Fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that can quench my thirst; and now I have seen the Fountain opened, how should I but thirst, and cry out with the woman of Samaria, O give me this water that I thirst no more? But alas, I say it, I only say it. Oh that I could feel it! Oh my Jesus that thou wouldst breed in me ardent desires, vehement longings, unutterable groans, mighty gaspings; O that I were like the dry and thirsty ground, that gapes, and cleaves, and opens for drops of rain! when my spirit is in right frame I feel some desires after Christ's blood, but how short are these desires, how unworthy of the things desired? come Lord, kindle in me hot burning desires, and then give me the desirable Object.
SECT. IV. Of hoping in Jesus in that respect.
4. LEt us hope in Jesus, carrying on the great work of our Salvation in his sufferings and death. By this hope I intend only that which the Apostle calls full assurance of hope. The main question is, Whether I have any part in Christ's sufferings? they are of excellent use, and of great value to believers, but what am I the better for them, if I have no part in them? or if I say I hope well? Oh but what grounds of that hope? it is not every hope that is a well grounded hope; full assurance of hope is an high pitch of hope, and every Christian should strive and endeavor after it; now that we may do it, and that we may discern it, that our hope is not base, but right-born, that the grounds of our hope in Christ's death are not false, but of the right stamp; I shall lay down these signs.—
1. If Christ's death be mine, then is Christ's life mine; and converse, if Christ's death be mine, then is Christ's life mine. Christ's active and passive obedience cannot be severed; Christ is not divided: we must not seek one part of our righteousness in his birth, another in his habitual holiness, another in the integrity of his life, another in his obedience of death. They that endeavor to separate Christ's active and passive obedience, they do exceedingly derogate from Christ, and make him but half a Savior; was not Christ our Surety? Heb. 7.22. and thereupon was he not bound to fulfil all righteousness for us? (i.e.) as to suffer in our stead, so to obey in our stead? oh take heed of opposing or separating Christ's death, and Christ's life; either we have all Christ, or we have no part in Christ; now if these two be concomitants, well may the one be as the sign of the other; search then, and try, O my soul, hast thou any share in Christ's life? canst thou make out Christ's active obedience unto thy own soul? if herein thou art at a stand, peruse those Characters laid down in the life of Christ; the many glorious effects flowing out of Christ's life into a Believer's soul we have discovered before.
2. If Christ's death be mine, then is that great end of his death accomplished in me, viz. By the sacrifice of himself he hath put away sin, even my sin.—and, in him I have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. As on this account he suffered, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity; so if his death be mine, I may assuredly say, my sins are pardoned, and mine iniquities are done away. Come then, and try by this sign, canst thou assure thyself that thy sins are forgiven thee? hast thou heard the whispers of God's Spirit, Son, or Daughter, be of good comfort, thy sins are remitted? there is no question then, but thou art redeemed by his blood, thou hast part in his sufferings. Indeed this very Character may seem obscure, assurance of pardon is the hidden Manna, the white Stone which no man knoweth, saving he which receives it and feels it; and yet if thou diligently observest the Spirit's actings, even this may be known; remission of sin and repentance for sin are twins of a birth; those two God in Scripture hath joined together: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins. —And, repent and pray, if the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee. —And, Christ is a Prince and a Savior to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. —And, thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer.—That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his Name. In this way David assured himself; I said I will confess my Transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin, Selah. It is no more, than to ask thy Soul, what, are thy repentings kindled together? hast thou seriously and sincerely repented thee of sin as sin? hast thou turned from all sin unto God with constancy and delight? Surely this is peculiar and proper to the Child of God by virtue of Christ's Death.
3. If Christ's death be mine, then am I engraffed into the likeness of Christ's death; then am I made conformable to Christ in his death, that I may know him and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. The same that was done to Christ in a natural way, is done and performed in the Believer in a spiritual way; (i.e.) as Christ died, so the Believer dies; as Christ died for sin, so the Believer dies to sin; In that he died, he died unto sin,—likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Observe here the Analogy, and proportion, and resemblance betwixt Christ and us: both die unto sin, Christ by way of expiation, suffering, and satisfying for the sins of others; we by way of mortification, killing, and slaying, and crucifying our own sins. I look upon this sign as the very touchstone of a Christian, and therefore I shall insist upon it.
Two questions I suppose needful, to resolve the grounds of our Hope concerning our interest in the death of Christ.
- 1. Whether indeed and in truth our sins are mortified?
- 2. Whether we increase or grow in our mortification?
For the first; whether indeed and in truth our sins are mortified? It is a skill worth our learning, because of the many deceits that are within us; sin may seem to be mortified when the occasion is removed; or sin may seem to be mortified, when it is not violent, but quiet; or sin may seem to be mortified, when it is but removed from one sin unto another; or sin may seem to be mortified, when the sap and strength of sin is dead; as the Lamp goes out, when either the Oil is not supplied, or taken away. Now that in this scrutiny we may search to the bottoom, and know the truth and certainty of our mortification, it will appear by these Rules.
1. True mortification springs from a root of Faith. Every thing in the world proceeds from some cause or other; and if the cause be good, the effect must needs be good; but if the cause be evil, the effect must needs be evil: A good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit, and an evil Tree cannot bring forth good Fruit. In this case therefore let us examine the cause; if we can make out this truth, that we belive in Christ, that we roll ourselves on the Lord Jesus Christ for life and for salvation, and that now we begin to feel in us the decay of sin, we may conclude from the cause or rise, that this decay of sin is true mortification; surely it hath received the deadly wound: it is a blessed effect arising from a good, and right, and genuine cause.
2. True mortification is general; not only one sin, but all sins are mortified in a true Believer. As death is unto the Members of the body, so is mortification unto the members of sin; now death seized upon every member, it leaves not life in any one member of the body; so neither doth mortification leave life in any one member of sin; my meaning is, it takes away the commanding power of sin in every member: Mortify your members which are upon the earth (saith the Apostle) your members, not one member; and then he instanceth, Fornication, Uncleanness, Inordinate Affections, Evil Concupiscence, and Covetousness, which is Idolatry. Christians that have their interest in Christ's death, must not only leave Pride, but Lust; not only Uncleanness, but Covetousness; Sin must not only be slain in the understanding, but in the will and affections: mortification is general.
You will say this is an hard saying; doth any man, any Believer, leave all sin? yes, in respect of ruling power he leaves all sin; all gross sins, and all other sins: only with this difference, all gross sins in practice and actions, and all frailties and infirmities in allowance and affection. It is good to observe the degrees of mortification: the first is to forbear the practice of gross and scandalous sins in word and deed: If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man; and this perfection by the help of Grace, a godly man may reach to in this life. The second is to deny consent and will to all frailties and infirmities: The evil which I would not, that do I, Rom. 7.19. I may do evil, and yet I would not do evil; there is a denial of it in the will. The third is to be free from any settled liking of any evil motion: not only to deny consent and will, but also to deny the very thought or imagination settledly and deliberately to delight in sin. I know, to be void of all evil motions arising from the flesh, or of all sudden passions within, or of all suduen delights in sin, or of all deadness or backwardness to good things by reason of sin, it is an higher pitch than any man can touch in this present world: for whilst we live, the Law of the members will be working, and we shall find cause enough to complain of a body of death; only, if when these motions first arise, we presently endeavor to quench them, to reject them, to detest them, and to cast them away from us, therein is true mortification: and thus far we must look to it, to leave all sin.
3. True mortification is not without its present combats, though at last it conquer; many a time corruption may break out, and lust may be strong and violent; but th • s violent lust is only for the present, whereas a lust unmortified ever reigneth. It is with sin in a Believer, as it is with a man that hath received his deadly wound from his enemy; he will not presently fly away, but rather he will run more violently upon him that hath wounded him; yet, be he never so violent, in the middle of his action he sinks down, because he hath received his deadly wound; so it is with a Believer's sin, and with a mortified lust; it may rage in the heart, and seem to bear sway for a time; but the power and strength of sin is mortified, it sinks down, and wants ability to prevail; by this sign may we know whether the corruptions and stirrings of our hearts proceed from a mortified, or from an unmortified lust; a lust, though mortified, may rage for a time, but it cannot rule; it may strive, but it cannot totally prevail; it may be in the heart, as a thief in the house, not to reside or dwell, but to lodge for a night, and be gone: And (that which is ever to be observed) after its swinge and breaking out, the heart that lodged it, abhors its self in dust and ashes, cries mightily unto God for mercy and pardon, repairs the breach with stronger resolution, and more invincible watchfulness against future assaults; but a Lust unmortified possesseth itself, and rules and reigns in the heart and soul; it abides there, and will not away: I shall not deny, but there may be a cessation of its actings for a time; but that is not any want of good will, as they say, but only of matter, means, opportunity, enticement, company, provocation, or the like; and after such cessation or forbearance, the heart usually entertains it again with more greediness; it lies and delights in it as much as ever, it hardens itself most obstinately in it, as if it were impossible to leave it, or live without it with any kind of comfort.
4. True mortification is a painful work. The very word imports no less; to kill a man, or to mortify a member, will not be without pain; hence it is called a crucifying of the flesh, and a cutting off the right hand, a plucking out the right eye: they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh; if thy hand offend thee, cut it off; and if thy eye offend thee, pluck it out: in this respect this death unto sin carries with it a likeness to the death of Christ; it is attended with agonies, and soul-conflicts, both before, and after our conversion.
1. Before conversion, before the first wound be given it, why then ordinarily there is some compunction of Spirit, some pricking of heart; what a case do we find the Jews in, when after Peters Sermon, they were pricked at their hearts? and what an agony do we find the Jailor in, when he came trembling in, and falling down at the Apostles feet, and crying out, Sirs, What shall I do to be saved? With such agonies as these, is the beginning of mortification usually attended; I do not say that they are alike in all, whether for degree or continuance; but in ordinary, true and sound conversion is not without some of these soul-conflicts.
2. After conversion, after the first round there are some agonies still; for though a Believer be delivered of sin in respect of the guilt, and reigning power; yet he hath still some remainders of sinful Corruption left within him, which draw many a groan, and many a sign from his trembling heart; we also have the first-fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the Redemption of our bodies: such are the groans of mortifying Saints, Saints dying unto sin like the groans of dying men, whose souls being weary of their bodies, do earnestly desire a dissolution: and thus Paul groaned, when he said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body this death?
Oh what a Touchstone is this? how will ihis discover true mortification from that which was counterfeit? Some may think they are dead unto sin, when in deed and in truth they are not dead, but asleep unto sin; and it appears by this, because there were no pangs in their death, you know this is a difference betwixt death and sleep; there are pangs in the one, but not in the other: O my soul, examine, what pangs were there in thy death unto sin? what agonies, what soul-conflicts hast thou felt? what compunction of heart, what affliction of Spirit, hast thou endured for sin? what trouble hast thou had to find such a law in thy members rebelling against the law in thy mind, and bringing thee into captivity to the Law of sin? why surely thou art not so mortified, as to be freed wholly from the power of sin; it may be, it doth not rule in thee as a Prince, yet certainly it tyrannizeth over thee, it ofttimes carries thee contrary to the bent of thy regenerate mind, to the omittting of what thou wouldst do, and to the committing of what thou wouldst not do; and is not this an affliction of Spirit? doth not this cause frequent conflicts in thy spirit? if not, thou mayest well suspect that sin is not dead, but asleep; or if it be dead to thee, yet thou art not dead to it, I confess, death-pangs are not all alike in all; some have a more gentle, and others a more painful death; so it is in this Spiritual death unto sin; and that herein there may be no mistake, I shall propound this question: What is the least measure of these pangs, these soul-agonies, and conflicts, that are necessarily required to true mortification? I answer,—
1. There must be a sense of sin, and of God's wrath due unto sin; such a sense we find in Jesus Christ; he was very sensible of the weight and burden of those sins, and of the wrath of God that lay upon him; which made him cry out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? thus souls in the act of Mortification, sometimes cry out, O my sins! and Oh God's wrath!
2 There must be sorrow for Sin. Such an affection we find also in Jesus Christ: My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he was beset and surrounded with sorrows; so every mortified sinner, at one time or other, he feels an inward sorrow and grief; even that Godly sorrow which the Apostle speaks of, a sorrow according to God; (i. e,) coming from God, well-pleasing to God, and bringing to God back again.
3. There must be a desire of being freed and delivered from sin: such a desire we find also in Jesus Christ; I have a Baptism to be Baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be accomplished? A regenerate soul earnestly desires to be freed, not only from the guilt, but also from the power of sin, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me? &c,
4. There must be answerable endeavors in effectual strivings against sin; Ye have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin. How did our Savior wrestle in the Garden, offering up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears? so will a regenerate soul wrestle with God about t •• death of sin, praying, watching, going out in the strength of God, and engaging in a continual war, a deadly fewd against it, and these are the least of those soul-conflicts, wherewith this mortification, or death unto sin is attended.
Now try we the truth of our Mortification by these signs: Doth it spring from a right root of Faith? is it general and universal in respect of all sins? is it accompanied with combats? doth the flesh lust against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh? and in this combat, doth the spirit at last prevail, and triumph over the flesh? do we find it a painful work both before and after conversion? why, then may I say with the Apostle, now I know Christ, and the fellowship of his sufferings; now by the Grace of Christ I am made conformable to his death. As he died for sin, so I die to sin; and here is the ground of my hope, that Christ's death is mine.
For the second, whether we increase and grow in our mortification? this question is needful as the former, to satisfy our souls interest in the death of Christ. As true Grace is growing Grace, so true mortification is that which grows: Now that we may be resolved in this point also, the growth of our mortification will appear by these following signs.—
1. Growing Mortification hath its chiefest conflicts in spiritual lusts. At first we mortify grosser evils, such as Oaths, Drunkenness, Uncleanness, worldly-mindedness, or the like; but when we grow in this Blessed duty, we then set ourselves against spiritual wickednesses; as Pride, Presumption, Self-carnal confidence in a man's own graces, or the like: this Method the Apostle sets down; let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit: first from all filthiness of the flesh or body, and then from all filthiness of the spirit or soul; as the children of Israel in their entrance into the land of Promise, first they sat upon the frontiers and skirts of the Land, and then they sought it out, and prevailed in the heart of the Country; so Christians in their mortification they first set upon worldly lusts, gross evils, outward sins; and when they have encountered them at the frontiers, they then conflict with such corruptions as lie more inwardly, in the very heart, spiritual wickednesses that are within. Now if this be our case, here is one sign of our growth,
2. Growing mortification is more, even, constant, lasting, durable, when there is in the heart a sudden flowing and reflowing; it comes from those vast Seas of Corruptions that are within us; many souls have their Ague-fits, sometimes hot, and sometimes cold; it may be, now they are in a very good frame, and within an hour or two, a mighty Tide comes in and they are born down by sin and corruption, in this case mortification is very weak: But on the contrary, if we find our standing more firm and sure, if for the main, we walk evenly, and keep closely to the Lord, it carries with it an evidence that our mortification grows.
3. Growing mortification feels Lust more weak, and the Spirit more strong in its ordinary actings. If we would know the truth of growth, let us look to our usual fits of sinning; for then a man's strength or weakness is discerned most: as a man's weakness to good is discerned when he comes to act it, to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not: so a man's weakness to sin is best discerned, when he comes to act it: Mark then the ordinary fits (as we call them) of sinning; sometimes God is pleased to appoint some more frequent assaults, as if he would on purpose suffer the law of the members to war, and to muster up all their forces, that so we might the rather know what is in our hearts; at such a time, if we find that resistance against sin grows stronger, that sin cannot advance and carry on his Army so as formerly, that sin is encount • ed at first, or met withal at the frontiers, and there overthrown, this is a good sign that now our mortification grows; as, suppose it be a Lust of Fancy, it cannot boil up to such gross fancies as it was wont; or suppose it be a Lust of Pride, it boils not up to such a spirit of Pride as formerly; instead of bringing forth fruit, it now brings forth blossoms; or instead of bringing forth blossoms, it now brings forth nothing but Leaves; why this is a sure sign that this Lust is withering more and more; when the inordinate thirst is not so great in the time of the Fit, when the inward lusts pitch upon lower acts than they had wont, when the waters abate, and fall short, and lessen, and overflow less ground; we may conclude certainly, that mortification grows.
4. Growing mortification hath more ability to abstain from the very occasions and beginnings of lust. Thus Job (whom we look on as a man much mortified) made a Covenant with his eyes, that he would not think upon a Maid, and no question, as he made a covenant, so he kept his Covenant: Oh! when a man cannot endure to come where such a one is that he loves not, when he cannot endure the fight of him, or anything that puts him in mind of him, not so much as to parlie, or speak with him; this is a sign of a strong hatred; and so when a man hates the very garment spotted with the flesh, here's a good sign: I know this height is not easy to attain to, and therefore some in imitation of Job and David, have bound themselves with vows and promises, as much as might be, to abstain from the appearance of evil, to crush the Cockatrice Egg before the Serpent could creep out of it, to avoid sin in its first rise; but alas, how have they broken their vows from time to time? For all this, I dare not speak against vows, provided that, 1. They be of things lawful. 2. That we esteem them not as duties of absolute necessi • y. And, 3. Th • t we bind not ourselves perpetually, left our vows should become burdens unto us; but only for some short time, and so renew them as occasion requires; in this way our vows might much help us in our mortification: and if once, through the help of vows or prayer, or looking unto Jesus, or going to the Cross of Jesus Christ, or by any other means we feel ourselves more able to resist sin, to hate sin, in its first rise, first motions, first on-set, we may assuredly hope that now our mortification grows.
O my Soul, try now the growth of thy mortification by these signs; hast thou overcome grosser sins, and is now thy chiefest co • fl • t with spiritual wickednesses? is thy standing and walking with God more close, and even and constant than sometimes it hath been; is thy lusts more weak, and thy Grace more strong in ordinary actings? I say, in ordinary actings; for the estimate of thy growth must not be taken for a turn or two, but by a constanst course: hast thou now more ability to quench the flame of sin in the very spark, to dash Babylon's Brats against the stones, even whilst they are little, to abstain from sin in its first motion or beginning? why, then is the promise accomplished, he will subdue our iniquities: Surely thou art a growing Christian; thou hast fellowship with Christ in his sufferings; thy ground is solid, firm, and stable; thy hope hath a rock-foundation, and thou mayest build upon it, that Christ's death, and blood, and sufferings are thine, even thine; he loved thee, and gave himself for thee.
SECT. V. Of Believing in Jesus in that Respect.
5. LEt us believe in Jesus, carrying on the great work of our Salvation for us, during his Sufferings and Death. Everyone looks upon this as an easy duty; only the humble Soul, the scrupulous Conscience cries out, What! Is it possible that Christ should die, suffer, shed his blood for me? His incarnation was wonderful, his life on earth was to astonishment; but that the Son of God should become man, live amongst men, and die such a death, even the death of the Cross, for such a one as I am, I cannot believe it; it is an abys • past fadoming; the more I consider it, the more I am amazed at it: suppose I had an enemy in my power, man or Devil, one that provokes me every day, one that hunts my soul to take it away; should I not say with Saul, if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? It may be an ingenuous spirit (such as David) would do thus much; but would David, or any breathing soul, not only spare his enemy, but spill himself to save his enemy? would a man become a Devil, to save Devils? would a man endure hell pains to free all the Devils in hell from their eternal pains? and yet what were this in comparison of what Christ hath done or suffered for us? It is not so much for us to suffer for Devils (for we are fellow-creatures) as it is for Christ, God-man, man-God to suffer for us: Oh what an hard thing is it, considering my enmity against Christ, to believe that Christ died for me, that he gave himself to the death, even to the death of the Cross for my soul!
Trembling soul! throw not away thyself in a way of unbelief. It may thou wouldst not die for an enemy, an irreconcilable enemy; but are not the mercies of God above all the mercies of men? O believe! And that I may persuade effectually, I shall say down first some Directions; and secondly, some Encouragements of Faith.
1. For the Directions of Faith in reference to Christ's death, observe these particulars.
2. Faith must directly go to Christ; not first to the promise, and then to Christ; but first to Christ, and then to the promise; the Person ever goes before the Prerogative.
2. Faith must go to Christ as God in the flesh; this was the difference betwixt the New-Testament, and old-Testament-Believers; their Faith directs only to God, but our Faith looks more immediately to Jesus Christ; Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.
3. Faith must directly go to Christ, as God in the flesh, made under the Law. He continued in all things written in the book of the Law to do them; and so our Faith must look upon him. But of these before: I shall say nothing more to these particulars.
4. Faith must go to Christ not only as made under the directive part of the Law by his life, but under the penal part of the Law by his death; in both these respects Christ was made under the law. The one half of the Law he satisfied by the holiness of his life; he fulfilled the law in every jot and every tittle; the other half of the Law he satisfied by his enduring the death, even the death of the Cross; he paid both the Principal and the Forfeiture; and though men do not so, yet Christ did so, that the whole Law might be satisfied fully, by his being under both these parts of the Law, pay and penalty: Come then, and look upon Christ as dying; it was the Serpent, as lifted up, and so looked at, that healed the Israelites of their fiery stings. Alas! we are diseased, in a spiritual sense, as they were, and Christ Jesus was lifted up as a remedy to us, as the Serpent was unto them; it remains therefore that as they looked up to the Brazen Serpent, so we look up to Jesus, believe in Jesus, as lifted up for life, and for salvation: As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have eternal life. Indeed some difference there is betwixt the Serpent and Christ.—
As, 1. The Brazen Serpent had not power in if self to cure, as Christ hath. 2. The Serpent cured the Israelites but for a time, to die again; but whomsoever Jesus cures in a Spiritual sense, he cures forever; they shall never die. 3. The serpent also had its time of curing; it did not always retain its virtue, but during the time they were in the Wilderness; only Jesus Christ, our Brazen Serpent, doth ever retain his power and virtue to the end of the world; and hence it is, that in the Ministry, Christ is still held forth as lifted up, that all that will but look on him by faith, may live. 4. The Serpent, sometimes a remedy against poison, was after turned even to poison the Israelites, which made Hezekiah to crush it, and brake it, and stamp it to powder; but Jesus Christ ever remains the sovereign and healing God; he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is unchangeable in his goodness, as he is in holy and divine nature; he can never be defaced, nor destroyed, but he abideth the savior of sinners to all eternity; why then let us rather look unto Christ, and believe in Christ as lifted up, (i.e.) as he was crucified, and died on the Cross. In this respect he is made a fit object for a sinner's faith to trust upon, and rest upon, Christ as crucified, as made sin, and a curse for us, it the object of our pardon. O this is it that makes Christ's death so desirable; why therein is virtually and meritoriously pardon of sin, Justification, redemption, reconciliation, and what not? Oh! cries a sinner, where may I set my foot? how should I regain my God? my sin hath undone me, which way should I cast for pardon? why now remember that in seeking pardon, Christ was crucified; Christ as dying, is principally to be eyed and looked at: Who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died, Rom. 8.34. No Question Christ's active Obedience, during his Life, was most exact, and perfect, and meritorious; yet that was not the expiation of sin: only his passive obedience (Christ only in his sufferings) took away sin, the guilt of sin, and punishment for sin; We have redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins. If any humble soul would have recourse to that Christ, who is now in heaven, let him first in the actings of his Faith, consider him as crucified, as lifted up, as made sin for us, as through whom (under that consideration) he is to receive pardon of sin, Justification, redemption, reconciliation, sanctification, salvation.
5. Faith in going to Christ, as lifted up, it is principally and mainly to look unto the 〈◊〉 meaning, intent, and design of Christ in his sufferings, as he was lifted up; we are not barely to consider the History of Christ's death, but the aim of Christ in his death: Many read the History, and they are affected with it; there is a principle of humanity in men, which will stir up compassion, and love, and pity towards all in misery: whilst Christ was suffering, the women followed after him weeping; but this weeping, not being spiritual, or raised enough, he said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but for yourselves. The way of Faith drawing virtue out of Christ's death, it is especially to look to the scope and drift of Christ in his sufferings. As God looks principally to the meaning of the Spirit by Prayer, so doth faith look principally to the meaning of Christ in his sufferings: mistake not, my meaning is not that we should be ignorant of the History of Christ's death, or of the manner of Christ's sufferings; you see we have opened it largely, and followed it close from first to last; but we must not stick there; we should above all, look to the mind and heart of Christ in all this: some observe, that both in the Old, and New Testament we find this Method; first, the History, and then the Mystery; first, the Manner, and then the Meaning of Christ's sufferings; as in the Old Testament. We have first, the History, in Psal. 22. written by David; and then the Mystery, in Isa. 52. written by Isaiah. And in the New Testament we have first the manner of his sufferings written at large by all the Evangelists; and then the meaning, written by the Apostles in all their Epistles. Now accordingly are the acts of Faith; we must first look on Jesus as lifted up, and then look at the end and meaning; why was this Jesus thus lifted up? Well, but you may demand, what was the end, the plot, the great design of Christ in this respect?
I answer, some ends were remote, and others were more immediate: but omitting all those ends that are remote, his Glory, our Salvation, &c. I shall only answer in these Particulars.
1. One design of Christ's death was to redeem us from the slavery of Death and Hell: He hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law, being made a Curse for us; as it is written; Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a Tree: Hence it is, that we say, that by his sufferings Christ hath redeemed us from Hell, and by his doings Christ hath given us a right to heaven: he was made under the Law, that he might redeem them that were under the Law. Alas! we were carnal, sold under sin; whereupon the Law seized on us, locked us up, as it were, in a dungeon; yea, the sentence passed, and we but waited for execution; now to get us rid from this dismal, damnable estate, Christ himself is made under the Law, that he might redeem us. Redeem us! how? not by way of entreaty, to step in, and beg our pardon; that would not serve the turn: sold we were, and bought we must be; a price must be laid down for us, it was a matter of Redemption; but with what must we be redeemed? surely with no easy price: ah no, it cost him dear, and very dear: Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and Gold, but with the precious blood of Christ: his precious blood was the price we stood him in; which he paid when he gave his life a ransom for many: the case stood thus betwixt Christ and us in this point of Redemption; we all like a crew or company of Malefactors, were ready to suffer, and to be executed: now, what said Christ to this? Why, I will come under the Law, said Christ, I will suffer that which they should suffer; I will take upon me their execution, upon condition I may redeem them: now this he did at his death; and this was the end why he died, that by his death we might be redeemed from the slavery of Death and Hell.
2. Another Design of Christ's death, was to free us from sin: not only would he remove the effect, but he would take away the cause also: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation—for the remission of sin. — Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.—He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.—Once hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.—And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. This was the plot, which God by an ancient design aimed at in the suffering of Jesus Christ; that he would take away sin: And thus Faith must take it up, and look upon it. When Peter had set forth the heinousness of the Jews sin, in killing Christ, he tells them at last of that design of old; All this was done, said he, by the determinate counsel of God. His meaning was first to humble them, and then to raise them up; q. d. It was not so much they that wrought his death, as the Decree of God, and the agreement of God and Christ: there was an ancient contrivement that Jesus Christ should die for sin, and that all our sins should be laid on the back of Jesus Christ: and therefore he seems to speak comfort to them in this; that howsoever they designed it, yet God and Christ designed a further end in it than they imagined, even to remission of sins: Who was delivered to death for our sins, and rose again for our justification. The death of Christ (as one observes) was the greatest and strangest design that ever God undertook, and therefore sure he had an end proportionable to it; God that willeth not the death of a sinner, would not for any inferior end, will the death of his Son, whom he loved more than all the world besides; it must needs be some great matter for which God should contrive the death of his Son; and indeed it could be no less than to remove that which he most hated, and that was sin. Here then is another end of Christ's death, it was for the remission of sin one main part of our justification.
3. Another design of Christ's death was to mortify our members which are upon the earth. Not only would he remit sin, but he would destroy it, kill it, crucify it; he would not have it reign in our mortal bodies, that we should obey it in the lusts thereof. This Design the Apostle sets out in these words, he bare our sins in his own body upon the Tree, that we being dead unto sin, should live unto righteousness: Christ by his death had not only a design to deliver us from the guilt of sin, but also from the power of sin: God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Paul was a mortified man, dead to the world, and dead to sin: But how came he so to be? why this he attributes to the Cross of Christ, to the death of Christ; the death of Jesus was the cause of this death in Paul: How much more shall the blood of Christ—purge our Consciences from dead works to serve the living God? There is in the death of Christ first a value, and secondly, a virtue; the former is available to our justification, the latter to our sanctification; now sanctification hath two parts, mortification and vivification: Christ's death, or passive obedience is more properly conducible to the one; his life, or active obedience to the other. Hence Believers are said to be engraffed with Christ in the likeness of his death; there is a kind of likeness betwixt Christ and Christians: Christ died, and the Christian dies; Christ died a natural death, and a Christian dies a spiritual death; Christ died for sin, and the Christian dies for sin; this was another end of the death of Christ; there issues from his death a mortifying virtue, causing the death of sin in a Believer's soul, one main part of our sanctification.
O my soul look to this; herein lies the pith and marrow of the death of Christ; and if now thou wilt but act and exercise thy faith in this respect, how mightest thou draw the virtue and efficacy of his death into thy soul? But here is the question, how should I manage my Faith? or how should I act my faith, to draw down the virtue of Christ's death, and so to feel the virtue of Christ's death in my soul, mortifying, crucifying, and killing sin?
I answer, 1. In prayer, meditation, self-examination, receiving of the Lord's Supper, &c. I must propound to myself and soul the Lord Jesus Christ, as having undertaken and performed that bitter and painful work of suffering even unto death; yea, that of the Cross, as it is held out in the History and Narrative of the Gospel. 2. I must really and steadfastly believe, and firmly assent that those sufferings of Christ so revealed and discovered, were real and true, undoubted, and every way unquestionable as in themselves. 3. I must look upon those grievous, bitter, cruel, painful, and with all opprobrious, execrable, shameful sufferings of Christ, as very strange and wonderful; but especially considering the spiritual part of his sufferings, viz. the sense and apprehension of God's forsaking and afflicting him in the day of his fierce anger, I should even be astonished and amazed thereat: what! that the Son of God should lay his head on the block, under the blow of divine Justice? that he should put himself under the wrath of his heavenly Father? that he should enter into the combat of God's heavy displeasure, and be deprived of the sense and feeling of his love, and mercy, and wonted comfort? how should I but stand agast at these so wonderful sufferings of Jesus Christ? 4. I must weigh and consider what it was that occasioned and caused all this, viz. Sin, yea, my Sin, yea, this and that Sin particularly. This comes nearer home, and from this I must now gather in these several Conclusions: As,—
1. It was the Design of Christ by his sufferings to give satisfaction to the infinite Justice of God for sin. 2. It was intended and meant (at least in a second place) to give out to the world a most notable and eminent instance and demonstration of the horridness, odiousness, and execrableness of sin; since no less than all this, yea, nothing else but this would serve the turn to expiate it, and atone for it. 3. It holds forth again, as sin is horrid in its self, so it cannot but be exceeding grievous and offensive to Christ: Oh it cost him dear, it put him to all this pain and Torture; it made him cry out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? how then should it but offend him above all, above anything in the world? 4. If therefore there be in me any spark of love towards Christ, or any likeness to Christ; or if I would have Christ to bear any affection, love, regard, or respect unto me, it will absolutely behoove me by all means to loath sin, and cast it away from me; to root it up, to quit my hands, and to rid my heart of it. The truth is, I cannot possibly give forth a more pregnant proof of my sincere love, entire affection, respect, conformity, resemblance, sympathy to, and with Christ, than by offering all violence, usually all holy severity against sin for his very sake.
Now when the heart is thus exercised, God by his Spirit will not fail to meet us; our desire and endeavor of our soul to weaken and kill sin in the soul is not without its reward; but especially when sin hath in this way, and by this means, lost the affection of the soul, and is brought in hatred, and disesteem, it decays, and dies of itself; for it only liveth and flourisheth by the warm affections, good thoughts, and opinion that the soul hath of it. So that matters going thus in the heart, the influence that should nourish and maintain sin, is cut off, and it withers by degrees till it be finally, and fully destroyed.
Thus for directions; now for the encouragements of our faith to believe in Christ's death, consider—
1. The fullness of this object, Christ crucified; there is a transcendent all-sufficiency in the death of Christ: in a safe sense it contains in it universal redemption: it is sufficient for the redemption of every man in the world, yea, and effectual for all that have been, are, or shall be called into the state of grace, whether Jews, or Gentiles, bound or free. I know some hold, that Christ died for all, and every man with a purpose to save; only thus they explicate. 1. That Christ died for all men considered in the common lapse or fall, but not as obstinate, impenitent, or unbelievers; he died not for such, as such. 2. That Christ died for all men in respect of the request or impetration of salvation, but the application thereof is proper to believers. 3. That Christ died not to bring all or any man actually to salvation, but to purchase salvability, and reconciliation so far, as that God might and would (salva justitia) deal with them on terms of a better covenant. 4. That Christ hath purchased salvability for all men, but faith and regeneration he hath merited for none; because God is bound to give that which Christ hath merited of him, although it be not desired, or craved. I cannot assent to these positions: but thus far I grant, that Christ's death in itself is a sufficient price and satisfaction to God for all the world; and that also it is effectual in many particulars to all men respectively in all the world; every man in one way or other hath the fruit of Christ's death conferred upon him; but this fruit is not of one kind; for, 1. Some fruit is common to every man, as the earthly blessings which Infidels enjoy, may be termed the fruits of Christ's death. 2. Other fruit is common to all the members of the visible Church, as, to be called by the Word, to enjoy the Ordinances, to live under the Covenant, to partake of some graces that come from Christ. 2. Other fruit is indeed peculiar to the Saints of God, as, faith unfeigned, regeneration, pardon of sin, adoption, &c. And yet this fruit is universal to all the Saints, whether Jews or Gentiles: in which sense speaks the Apostle, He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. —And he gave himself a ransom for all,— and God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all, —And by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life;— He tasted of death for all men, or distributively for every man. All which texts are rightly interpreted by Caiaphas, He prophesied that Jesus should die for that Nation; and not for that Nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God, that were scattered abroad. And thus John brings in the four beasts, and four and twenty Elders, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and thus Paul rightly argues, Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not of the Gentiles also? yes, of the Gentiles also. O the fullness of Christ's death!— many are apt to complain, Would Christ die for me? why alas, I am an alien, I am not of the common-wealth of Israel, I am a dog, I am a sinner, a grievous sinner, a sinner of the Gentiles: And what then? Ye who sometimes were afar off, are now made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross. Oh what encouragement is this for thee to believe thy part in the death of Christ?
2. Consider the worth, the excellency of this glorious object, Christ crucified. There is an infinite of worth in the death of Christ; and this ariseth, first from the dignity of his person, he was God-man; the death of Angels and men if put together, could not have amounted to the excellency of Christ's death; stand amazed at thy happiness; O believer, thou hast gained by thy loss, thou hast lost the righteousness of a creature, but the righteousness of an infinite person is now made thine; hence it is many times called the Righteousness of God: both because Christ is God: and because it is such a righteousness as God is satisfied with; he looks for no better, yea, there can be no better. 2. This worth is not only in respect of the dignity of the person, but also in respect of the price offered; O it was the blood of Christ, one drop whereof is of more worth than thousands of gold and silver. It was this blood that purchased the whole Church of God, which a thousand worlds of wealth could never have done. 3. This worth is not only in respect of the person and price neither, but also in respect of the manner of the oblation; Christ must die on the Cross as it was determined; the price in itself, is not enough, unless it be ordered and proportioned according to the will of him, who is to be satisfied; if a man should give for a captive prisoner an infinite sum of money, sufficient in itself to redeem a thousand, yet if not according to such a way as the conqueror prescribeth, if not according to the condition, it could not be called a satisfaction; now this was the condition that Christ must die, and die that death of the Cross, and accordingly he undertook, and performed, which set a luster, and glory, and excellency, and worth upon his death. O the worth, O the excellency of this death of Christ!—many are apt to complain, O the filth of my sins! Oh the injuries and unkindness that have been in mine iniquities! it is not my misery, my destruction that so much troubles me, as that God is displeased. Sweet soul! turn thine eyes hither; surely this death of Christ is more satisfactory to God, than all thy sins possibly can be displeasing to God; there was more sweet savor in Christ's sacrifice, than there could be offense in all thy sins; the excellency of Christ's death in making righteous, doth super-abound the filthiness of sin in making a sinner. Come on then, and close with Christ upon this encouragement; there is a dignity, an excellency, in this object of faith, Christ crucified.
3. Consider the suitableness of this blessed object, The death of Christ. There is in it a suitableness to our sinful condition, whatsoever the sin is; it is the cry of some, They dare not believe, they dare not touch Christ crucified, they dare not approach to that precious blood, because of this sin, and that sin, and the other sin. Whereas in the death and blood of Christ (if they could but take a full view of it) they might find something suitable to their estate: As for instance, suppose thy sin the greatest sin imaginable, except that against the holy Ghost; art thou a murderer? hast thou had thy hands imbrued in the blood of Saints? why see now how Christ for thy sake was esteemed of the Jews, a murderer, and worse than a murderer; Barabbas is preferred before Jesus, Barabbas is released, and Jesus is murdered; yea, his blood is shed, to wash away thy blood-shed: art thou a Sorcerer, a Negromancer? is thy sin the sin of Manasseh, of whom it is said, that that he used enchantments, and witchcraft; and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards; why, see now how Jesus Christ for thy sake was esteemed of the Jews as an impostor, an enchanter; for so some say, that he got the Name of God, and sowed it in his thigh, and by virtue thereof he wrought all his miracles, and they commonly reported of him that he had a devil, and that he cast out devils through Belzebub Prince of devils. Art thou a blasphemer? hast thou joined with those in these sad times, who have opened their mouths against the God of Heaven, enough to make a Christian rend his heart, and weep in blood? why see now how Jesus for thy sake was judged of Caiaphas, and all the Sanhedrim, for a blasphemer of God, and that in the highest kind of blasphemy, as making himself equal with God; yea, see how the high Priest rends his clothes, saying, he hath spoken blasphemy; Surely all this he endured, that very blasphemers may find mercy, if they will but come in, and believe in Jesus. I might instance in other sins; art thou a Traitor, a glutton, a drunkard, a wine-bibber, a thief, a seducer, a companion of sinners? why, see now how Jesus Christ was for thy sake, thus called, reputed, accounted; whatever the sin is, there's something in Christ that answers that very sinfulness; thou art a sinner, and he is made sin, to satisfy the wrath of God even for thy sin; thou art such, and such a sinner, and he is accounted such and such a sinner for thy sake, that thou mightest find in him something suitable to thy condition, and so the rather be encouraged to believe, that in him, and through him all thy sins shall be done away. Away, away unbelief, distrust, despair! you see now the brazen serpent lifted up, you see what a blessed object is before you; O believe! O look up unto Jesus! O believe in him thus carrying on the work of thy salvation in his death.
SECT. VI. Of loving Jesus in that respect.
6. LEt us love Jesus as carrying on the great work of our Salvation for us during his sufferings and death. What! did he suffer and die? Greater love than this hath no man, that a man should give his life for his friends;—but God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Why here's an argument of love indeed, how should we but love him, who hath thus loved us? in prosecution of this I have no more to do, but first to show Christ's love to us, and then to exercise our love to him again.
1. For his love to us; had not God said it, and the Scriptures recorded it, who would have believed our reports? yet Christ hath done it, and it is worth our while to weigh it, and consider it in an holy meditation.—Indeed with what less than ravishment of Spirit can I behold the Lord Jesus who from everlasting was clothed with Glory and Majesty, now wrapped in rags, cradled in a manger, exposed to hunger, thirst, weariness, danger, contempt, poverty, revilings, scourgings, persecution? but to let them pass: into what ecstasies may I be cast to see the Judge of all the world accused, judged, condemned? to see the Lord of life dying upon the tree of shame and curse? to see the eternal Son of God struggling with his Fathers wrath? to see him who had said, I and my Father are one, sweating drops of blood in his agony, and crying out on his cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Oh whither hath his love to mankind carried him? had he only sent his creatures to serve us, had he only sent his Prophets to advise us in the way to Heaven, had he only sent his Angels from his chamber of presence to attend upon us, and to minister to us, it had been a great deal of mercy; or if it must be so, had Christ come down from Heaven hnmself, but only to visit us, or had he come only and wept over us, saying, Oh that you had known, even you in this your day the things belonging to your peace! Oh that you had more considered of my goodness! Oh that you had never sinned! this would have been such a mercy as that all the world would have wondered at it: but that Christ himself should come, and lay down his blood, and life, and all for his people; and yet I am not at the lowest, that he should not only part with life, but part with the sense, and sweetness of God's love, which is a thousand times better than life, Thy loving kindness is better than life; that he should be content to be accursed, that we might be blessed; that he should be content to be forsaken, that we might not be forsaken; that he should be content to be condemned that we might be acquitted; O what raptures of Spirit can be sufficient for the admiration of this so infinite mercy? be thou swallowed up O my soul in this depth of Divine love; and hate to spend thy thoughts anymore upon the base objects of this wretched world, when thou hast such a Savior to take them up.—Come look on thy Jesus, who died temporally, that thou mightest live eternally: who out of his singular tenderness would not suffer thee to burn in hell, for ten, twenty, thirty, forty, an hundred years, and then recover thee, by which notwithstanding he might better and deeper have imprinted in thee the blessed memory of a dear Redeemer; no, no, this was the Article betwixt him and his Father, That thou shouldst never come there; see but, observe but Christ's love in that mutual agreement betwixt God and Christ, Oh I am pressed (saith God) with the sins of the world as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves, come my Son, either thou must suffer, or I must damn the world: Accordingly I may imagine the Attributes of God to speak to God, Mercy cries, I am abused, and Patience cries, I am despised; and goodness cries, I am wronged; and Holyness cries, I am contradicted; and all these come to the Father for Justice, crying to him, that all the world were opposers of his Grace and Spirit, and if any be saved Christ must be punished. In this case we must imagine Christ stepped in, nay rather than so, (saith Christ) I will bear all, and undertake the satisfying of all. And now look upon him! he hangs on the cross all naked, all torn, all bloody; betwixt Heaven and Earth, as if he were cast out of Heaven, and also rejected by Earth; he hath a Crown indeed, but such a one as few men will touch, none will take from him; and if any rash man will have it, he must tear hair, skin, and all, or it will not come; his hair is all clodded with blood, his face all clouded with black and blew, he is all over so pitifully rent, outwards, inwards, body and soul.—I will think the rest; alas, when I have spoken all I can, I shall speak under it, had I the tongues of men and Angels, I could not express it; Oh love more deep than hell! Oh love more high than heaven! the brightest Seraphims that burn in love, are but as sparkles to that mighty flame of love in the heart of Jesus.
2. If this be Christ's love to us, what is that love we owe to Christ? Oh now for an heart that might be some ways answerable to these mercies! Oh for a soul sick of love, yea sick unto death! how should I be otherwise, or any less affected, this only sickness is our health, this death our life, and not to be thus sick is to be dead in sins and trespasses; why, surely I have heard enough, for which to love Christ forever. The depths of God's grace are bottomless, they pass our understandings, yet they recreate our hearts; they give matter of admiration, yet they are not devoid of consolation: O God raise up our souls to thee, and if our Spirits be too weak to know thee, make our affections ardent and sincere to love thee.
Surely the death of Christ requires this, and calls for this: many other motives we may draw from Christ, and many other motives are laid down in the Gospel, and indeed the whole Gospel is no other thing than a motive to draw man to God by the force of God's love to man; in this sense the holy Scriptures may be called the book of true love, seeing therein God both unfolds his love to us, and also binds our love to him; but of all the motives we may draw from Christ, and of all the arguments we may find in the Gospel of Christ, there is none to this, the death of Christ, the blood of Jesus: is not this such a love-letter, as never, never was the like? read the words, For his great love wherewith he loved us, Ephes. 2.4. or if you cannot read, observe the Hyeroglyphicks, every stripe is a letter, every nail is a capital letter, every bruise is a black letter, his bleeding wounds are as so many rubricks to show upon record: Oh consider it, is not this a great love? are not all mercies wrapped up in the blood of Christ? it may be thou hast riches, honors, friends, means, Oh but thank the blood of Christ for all thou hast; it may be thou hast grace, and that is better than corn, or wine, or oil? Oh but for this thank the blood of Jesus, surely it was the blood of Christ that did this for thee; thou wast a rebellious soul, thou hast an hard and filthy heart, but Christ's blood was the fountain opened, and it took away all sin, and all uncleanness; Christ in all, and Christ above all, and wilt thou not love him? Oh that all our words were words of love, and all our labor, labor of love, and all our thoughts, thoughts of love; that we might speak of love, and muse of love, and love this Christ, who hath first loved us, with all our heart, and soul, and might! what? wilt thou not love Jesus Christ? let me ask thee then, whom wilt thou love? or rather whom canst thou love, if thou lovest not him? if thou sayest, I love my Friends, Parents, Wife, Children; Oh but love Christ more than these; a friend would be an enemy, but that the blood of Christ doth frame his heart; a Wife would be a trouble, but that the blood of Christ doth frame her heart; all mercies are conveyed to us through this channel; Oh who would not love the Fountain?—consider of it again and again, our Jesus thought nothing too good for us, he parts with his life and blood, he parts with the sense and feeling of the love of God, and all this for us, and for our sakes; Ah my soul, how shouldst thou but love him in all things, and by all means?
It is reported of Ignatius, that he so continually meditated on the great things Christ suffered for him, that he was brought entirely to love him: and when he was demanded, why he would not forsake Christ, rather than suffer himself to be torn and devoured of wild beasts? he answered, that he could not forget him because of his sufferings; Oh his sufferings (said he) are not transcient words, or removable objects, but they are indelible characters, so engraven in my heart, that all the torments of earth can never raze them out. And being commanded by that bloody Tyrant Trajane to be ripped and unbowelled, they found Jesus Christ written upon his heart in Characters of Gold. Here was an heart worth Gold; Oh that it might be thus with us! If my hands were all of love, that I could work nothing but love; if my eyes were all of love, that I could see nothing but love; if my mind were all of love, that I could think of nothing but love; all were too little to love that Christ, who hath thus immeasurably loved me; if I had a thousand hearts to bestow on Christ, and they most enlarged and screwed up to the highest pitch of affection, all these were infinitely short of what I owe to my dread Lord, and dearest Savior. Come let's join hands, He loved us, and therefore let us love him: if we dispute the former, I argue from the Jews, when he shed but a few tears out of his eyes at Lazarus 's grave, then said the Jews, behold how he loved him, John 11.36. how much more truly may it be said of us for whom he shed both water and blood, and that from his heart, Behold how he loved us; why then, if our hearts be not Iron, yea if they be Iron, how should they choose but feel the magnetical force of this Loadstone of love; for to a Loadstone doth Christ resemble himself, when he saith of himself; And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
SECT. VII. Of joying in Jesus in that Respect.
7. LEt us joy in Jesus, as carrying on the great work of Salvation, in his sufferings and death: what? hath Christ suffered for us? hath he drunk off all the cup of God's wrath, and left none for us? how should we be but cheered? Precious souls! why are you afraid; there is no death, no hell, no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. There is no divine justice for them to undergo, that have their share in this death of Christ; Oh the Grace and Mercy that is purchased by this means of Christ! Oh the waters of comfort that flow from the sufferings, and obedience of Christ! Christ was amazed, that we might be cheered: Christ was imprisoned, that we might be delivered; Christ was accused, that we might be acquitted; Christ was condemned, that we might be redeemed; Christ suffered his Fathers wrath, and came under it, that the victory might be ours, and that in the end we might see him face to face in glory: is not here matter of Joy? It may be the Law, and sin, and justice, and conscience, and death, and hell, may appear as enemies, and disturb thy comforts; but is there not enough in the blood of Christ to chase them away? Give me Leave but to frame the objections of some doubting souls; and see whether Christ's death will not sufficiently answer, and solve them all.
1. One cries thus, Oh I know not what will become of me, my sins are ever before me; against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight. I have sinned against a most dear, and gracious, and merciful God and Father in our Lord Jesus; O the aggravations of my sins! are they not sins above measure sinful.
It may be so, but the blood of Christ is a fountain opened for sins and for uncleanness; in him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. — He by himself purged our sins.—And now once in the end of the world hath he appeared, put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.—And Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , to bear away the sins of many. As the Scape-coat under the Law had upon his head all the iniquities of the Children of Israel, and so was sent away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness; so the Lord Jesus (of whom that Goat was a type) had all the iniquities of his Elect laid upon him by God his Father, and bearing them, he took them away, Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world; he bore them, and bore them away; he went away with them into the wilderness, or into the land of forgetfulness. See what comfort is here.
2. Another cries thus, Oh I know not what will become of me, the Law is mine enemy, I have transgressed the Law, and it speaks terribly, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them: Oh I have offended the Law, and I am under the curse.
Say not so, for by the death of Christ, though the Law be broken, yet the curse is removed; the Apostle is clear, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us; he was made a curse for us, (i.e.) the fruits and effects of God's curse, the punishment due to sinners, the penal curse which justice required, was laid upon Christ, and by this means we are freed from the curse of the Law. It is true, that without Christ thou art under this Law, Do, or Die, end if thou offendest in the least kind thou shalt perish forever, the curse of the Law is upon thee to the uttermost; but on the other side, if thy claim be right to the blood of Christ, thou art freed from penalty; not but that we may be corrected and chastised, but what is that to the eternal curse which the Law pronounceth against every sin? we are freed from the curse, or damnatory sentence of the Law, There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus; the Law is satisfied, and the bond is cancelled by our Surety Christ. O what comfort is this?
3. Another cries thus? Oh I know not what will become of me, I have offended justice; and what shall appeal from the seat of justice, to the throne of grace? my sins are gone before, and they are knocking at heaven gates, and crying, justice Lord on this sinner; I know not what will be the issue, but either free Grace must save me, or I am gone.
Say not so, for by this death of Christ, free grace, and justice are both thy friends. How e're some do, yet certainly thou needs not to appeal from the court of justice to the Mercy-seat; in this mystery of Godliness there may be as much comfort in standing before the Bar of justice, as at the Mercy-seat, (i.e.) by standing therein, and through the Lord Jesus Christ, yea, this is the Gospel-way, to go to God the Father, and to tender up to him the active and passive righteousness of Christ his Son for an atonement, and satisfaction for our sins, in this way is the comfort of justification brought; if we go to God in any other way than this, it is but in a natural way, and not in a true Evangelical way. A man by nature may know thus much, that when he hath sinned, he must seek unto God for mercy, but to seek unto God for pardon with a price in our hands, to tender up the merits of Jesus Christ for a satisfaction to Divine justice, here is the mystery of Faith; and yet I speak not against relying on God's mercy for pardon, but what need we to appeal from justice to mercy, when by faith we may tender the death of Christ, and so find acceptance with the justice of God itself? come soul, and let me tell thee for thy comfort, if thou hast any share in the death of Christ, thou hast two tenures to hold thy pardon and salvation by, Mercy, and justice; free grace, and righteousness; mercy in respect of thee, and justice in respect of Christ; not only is free grace ready to acquit thee, but a full price is laid down to discharge thee of all thy sins: so that now when the Prince of this World comes against thee, thou mayest say in some sense as Christ did. He can find nothing in me, for how can he accuse me, seeing Christ is my Surety? seeing the bond hath been sued, and Christ Jesus would not leave one farthing unpaid? as Paul said to Philemon concerning Onesimus, if he have wronged thee, or owe thee anything, put it on my account; so doth Christ say to God, if these have wronged thy Majesty, or owe thee anything, put it on me. Paul indeed added, I Paul have written it with mine own hand, but Christ speaks thus, I Jesus have ratified and confirmed it with my own blood.
4. Another cries thus, Oh I know not what will become of me, the first threat that ever was (in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die) now sits on my spirit; methinks I see the grizly form of death standing before me; Oh this is he that is the King of fears, the chief of terrors, the inlet to all those Plagues in another world; and die I must, there is no remedy; Oh I startle, and am afraid of it.
And why so? it is Christ that died, and by his death he hath took away the sting of death, that now the drone may hiss, but cannot hurt: come, meditate much upon the death of Christ, and thou shalt find matter enough in his death, for the subduing of thy slavish fears of death, both in the merit of it, in the effect of it, and in the end of it. 1. In the merit of it; Christ's death is meritorious, and in that respect the writ of mortallity is but to the Saints a writ of ease, a passage into Glory. 2. In the effect of it, Christ's death is the conquest of death; Christ went down into the grave to make a back-door, that the grave which was before a prison, might now be a thorough-fare; so that all his Saints may with ease pass through, and sing, O death where is thy sting? Oh hell where is thy victory? 3. In the end of it, Chri'sts death amongst other ends aims at the ruin of him that had the Power of death; that is, the Devil; and to deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time in bondage. Christ pursued this end in dying, to deliver thee from the fear of death; and if now thou fearest, thy fearing is a kind of making Christ 's death of none effect. O come, and with joy draw water out of this well of Salvation!
5. Another cries thus, Oh I know not what will become of me; the very thoughts of hell seem to astonish my heart; methinks I see a little peep-hole down into hell and the devil roaring there, being reserved in chains under darkness, until the judgment of the great day; and methinks I see the damned flaming, and Judas, and all the wicked in the world, and they of Sodom, and Gomorrah there lying, and roaing, and gnashing their teeth: now, I have sinned, and why should not I be damned? Oh why should not the wrath of God be executed on me, yea even upon me?
I answer, the death of Christ acquits thee of all. Blessed is he that hath a part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power. Christ's death hath took away the pains of the second death, yea, pains and power too, for it shall never oppress such as belong to Christ. If Hell and Devils could speak a word of truth, they would say, Comfort yourselves ye believing souls, we have no power over you, for the Lord Jesus hath conquered us, and we have quite lost the cause. Paul was very confident of this, and therefore he throws down the Gauntlet, and challengeth a dispute with all comers, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's Elect? it is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died: let sin, and the law, and justice, and death, and hell, yea, and all the Devils in Hell unite their forces, this one argument of Christ's death (it is Christ that died) will be enough to confute and confound them all.
Come then, and comfort yourselves all believers in this death of Christ; what? do you believe? and are you confident that you do believe? why then do you sit drooping? What manner of communications are these that you have, as ye walk, and are sad? Away, away dumpishness, despair, disquietness of spirit? Christ is dead, that you might live, and be blessed, in this respect everything speaks comfort, if you could but see it; God and men, heaven and earth, Angels and devils; the very justice of God itself, is now your friend, and bids you go away comforted, for it is satisfied to the full; Heaven itself waits on you, and keeps the doors open that your souls may enter; We have boldness (saith the Apostle) to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. Christ's death hath set open all the golden gates and doors of glory; and therefore go away chearily, and get you to heaven, and when you come there, be discouraged, or discomforted if you can. O my soul, I see thou art pouring on sin, on thy crimson sins, and scarlet sins, but I would have thee dwell on that crimson scarlet blood of Christ; Oh it is the blood of sprinkling, it speaks better things than the blood of Abel, it cries for mercy, and pardon, and refreshing, and salvation; thy sins cry, Lord do me justice against such a soul; but the blood of Christ hath another cry, I am abased, and humbled, and I have answered all. Methinks this should make thy heart leap for joy; Oh the honey, the sweet that we may suck out of this blood of Christ! come lay to thy mouth, and drink an hearty draught, it is this spiritual wine that makes merry the heart of man; and it is the voice of Christ to all his guests, Eat O friends, drink, yea drink abundantly, O beloved.
SECT. VIII. Of calling on Jesus in that respect.
8. LEt us call on Jesus, or on God the Father in and through Jesus.
1. We must pray that all these Transactions of Christ in his sufferings and death may be ours; if we direct our prayers immediately to Jesus Christ, let us tell him what anguish and pains he hath suffered for our sakes; and let us complain against ourselves, Oh what shall we do, who by our sins have so tormented our dearest Lord? what contrition can be great enough, what tears sufficiently expressive, what hatred and detestation equal, and commensurate to those sad and heavy sufferings of our Jesus? And then let us pray, that he would pity us, and forgive us those sins wherewith we crucified him, that he would bestow on us the virtue of his sufferings and death, that his wounds might heal us, his death might quicken us, and his blood might cleanse us from all our spiritual filth of sin; and lastly, that he would assure us that his death is ours; that he would persuade us, That neither death, nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature should be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2. We must praise the Lord for all these sufferings of Christ. Hath he indeed suffered all these punishments for us? Oh then what shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits upon us? what shall we do for him, who hath done and suffered all these things? but especially, if we believe our part in the death of Christ; in all the virtues, benefits, victories, purchases, and privileges of his precious death, oh then what manifold cause of thankfulness and praise is here? be enlarged O my soul, sound forth the praises of thy Christ, tell all the world of that warmest love of Christ, which flowed with his blood out of all his wounds into thy spirit; tune thy heart-strings aright, and keep consort with all the Angels of Heaven, and all his Saints on earth; sing that Psalm of John the Divine, Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God, and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
SECT. IX. Of conforming to Jesus in that respect.
9. LEt us conform to Jesus in respect of his sufferings and death, looking unto Jesus is effective of this; objects have an attractive power, that do assimilate, or make like unto them. I have read of a woman, that by fixing the strength of her imagination upon a Blackamore on the wall, she brought forth a black and swarthy child. And no question but there is a kind of spiritual-imaginative of power in faith to be like to Christ by looking on Christ; come then, and let us look on Christ, and conform to Christ in this respect.
In this particular I shall examine these Queries: 1. Wherein we must conform? 2. What is the cause of this conformity? 3. What are the means of this conformity as on our parts?
For the first, wherein we must conform? I answer; we must conform to Christ in his graces, sufferings, death.
1. In the graces that most eminently shined in his bitter passion; his life indeed was a gracious life, he was full of grace, And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace, but his graces shined most clearly and brightly at his death; as a Lily amongst the Thorns seems most beautiful, so his graces in his sufferings show most excellent; I shall instance in some of them: As—
1. His humility was profound; what? that the most high God, that the only begotten, and eternal Son of God, should vouchsafe so far as to be contemned, and less esteemed than Barabbas a murderer? that Christ should be crucified upon a cross betwixt two thieves, as if he had been the ring-leader of all malefactors? O what humility was this?
2. His patience was wonderful; in respect of this, the Apostle Peter sets Christ as a blessed example before our eyes; If when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God, for even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps.— Who when he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. O the patience of Christ!
3. His love was fervent; Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. This love is an examplar of all love; it is the fire that should kindle all our sparks; Be ye followers of God (saith the Apostle) as dear children: and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. Some observe, that in the Temple there were two Altars, the brazen, and the golden; the brazen Altar was for bloody Sacrifices, the golden Altar was for the offering of Incense; now the former was a type of Christ's bloody offering upon the cross, the latter of Christ's sweet intercession for us in his glory; in regard of both, the Apostle tells that Christ gave himself both for an offering and sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor unto God. O what love was this!
4. His mercy was abundant; he took upon him all the miseries and debts of the world, and he made satisfaction for them all; he acted our redemption immediately in his own person, he would not intrust it to Angels, but he would come himself and suffer; nor would he give a low and base price for our souls, he saw the misery was great, and his mercy should be more great; he would buy us with so great a ransom, as that he might over-buy us, and none might out-bid him in the market of our souls; O we under-bid, and under-value the mercy of God, who over-valued us; we will not sell all to buy him, but he sold all he had, and himself too to buy us; indeed if he had not done it, we had been damned; and to save our souls, he cared not what he did or suffered. O the mercy of Christ!
5. His meekness was passing great; in all the process of his passion, he shown not the least passion of wrath or anger; he suffered himself gently and quietly to be carried like a sheep to the Butchery, and as a Lamb before shearer is dumb, so opened he not his mouth: a Lamb is a most meek and innocent creature, and therefore is Christ called the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. — And, he was a brought as a Lamb to the slaughter; why, a Lamb goes as quietly to the shambles, as if it were going to the fold, or to the pasture-field where its Dam seedeth; and so went Christ to his Cross. O the meekness of Christ!
6. His contempt of the world was to admiration; he tells them, his Kingdom was not of this world. When a Crown was offered him, and forced upon him, he refused it; but above all, behold the Bed where the Bridegroom lieth and sleepeth at noon-day; here's but an hard flock, and narrow room; O blessed head of a dear Redeemer! how is it that thou hast not a pillow where to rest thyself? He hangs on the Cross all naked; few Kings do so: he hath no Crown for his head, but one of thorns; he hath no delicates, but Gall and Vinegar; he is leaving the world, and he hath no other Legacies to give his friends, but spiritual things; Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. He had so contemned the world, that he had not a Legacy in all the world to give: Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
7. His obedience was constant: He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross—He sought not his own will, but the will of him that sent him. There was a command that the Father laid on Christ from all eternity: O my Son, my only begotten Son, thou must go down, and leave Heaven, and empty thyself, and die the death, even the death of the Cross, and go and bring up the fallen sons of Adam out of Hell. Mankind, like a precious Ring Glory, fell off the Finger of Almighty God, and was broken all in pieces; and thereupon was the command of God, that his Son must stoop down, though it pain his back; he must lift up again the broken Jewel, he must restore it, and mend it, and set it as a Seal on the heart of God; all which the Lord Jesus did in time; he was obedient till death, and obedient to death, even to the death of the Cross. Son, thou must die, said God; why Father, I will do it, said Christ: and accordingly he freely made his Soul an Offering for sin.
Now in all these Graces we must conform to Christ. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly. —And, walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us: It is as if Christ had said, mark the steps where I have trode, and follow me in humility, in patience, in love, in mercy, in meekness, in contempt of the world, in obedience unto death; in these, and the like Graces you must conform unto Christ.
2. We must conform to Christ in his sufferings, if he call us to them, this was the Apostle's Prayer, that I may know him, and the power of his Resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings; it was his desire that he might experimentally know what exceeding joy and comfort it was to suffer for Christ, and with Christ. Concerning this, the other Apostle speaks also, Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps. But the Text that seems so pertinent, and yet so difficult, is that of Paul, I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his bodies sake, which is the Church: One would wonder how Paul should fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ; were Christ's suffeings imperfect? and much Paul add to them? no surely? for by one offering Christ hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. I shall not insist on many Commentaries; I suppose this is the genuine sense and meaning of the Spirit. Now rejoice I in my sufferings for you, whereby I fulfil the measure of those tribulations which remain yet to be endured of Christ in his mystical body, which I do for the bodies sake, not to satisfy for it, but to confirm it, or strengthen it by my example in the Gospel of Christ. The sufferings of Christ are either personal or general; his personal sufferings were those he endured in his own body, as Mediator; which once forever he finished: his general sufferings are those which he endures in his mystical body, which is, the Church; as he is a Member with the rest; and these are the sufferings Paul speaks of, and which Paul fills up.
But wherein is the conformity betwixt our sufferings, and the sufferings of Christ? I answer, 1. Negatively, 2. Positively.
1. Negatively, our sufferings have no conformity with Christ in these two things: 1. Not in the Office of Christ's sufferings; for his were meritorious and satisfactory, ours only ministerial, and for edification. 2. Not in the weight and measure of Christ's sufferings; for his were bitter, heavy, and woeful, such as would have pressed any other Creature as low as Hell, and have swallowed him up forever; but ours are but in comparison light and tolerable: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; for God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able.
2. Positively, our sufferings must have conformity with Christ. 1. In the cause of them; Christ's sufferings were instrumentally from Satan and wicked men; we must look to suffer by the enemies of Christ, if we have any share in Christ; the enemy continues still; I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. This was primarily meant betwixt the Devil and Christ; but if we conform to Christ, we must expect the very same conditions. 2. In the manner of undergoing them; we must suffer with a proportion of that humility, and patience, and love, and meekness and obedience which Christ shown in his very sufferings. 3. In respect of the issue of them; we must look upon Christ's issue, and expect it to be ours: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so enter into Glory? —And, if so be that we suffer with Christ, we shall be glorified together with Christ.—If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.
By reason of this conformity, we have that communion and association with Christ in all these particulars; as, 1. We have Christ's strength to bear sufferings 2. His Victories to overcome sufferings. 3. His Intercession to preserve us from falling away in sufferings. 4. His Compassion to moderate and proportion our sufferings to the measure of strength which he hath given us. 5. His Spirit to draw in the same yoke with us, and to hold us under all sufferings, that we sink not. 6. His Graces to be more glorious by our sufferings, as a Torch, when it is shaken, shines the brighter. 7. His Crown to reward our sufferings when we shall have tasted our measure of them. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory.
O my Soul! study this conformity, and be content with thy portion; yea, comfort thyself in this condition of sufferings; must we not drink of our Savior's Cup? what, not of our Master's own Cup? We read of Godfrey of Bullein, that he would not be crowned in Jerusalem with a Crown of Gold, where Christ was crowned with a Crown of Thorns, because he would not have such a great disproportion betwixt him and Christ: and we read of Origin, that when Alexander Severus the Emperor sent for him to Rome, and that he might take his choice, whether he would ride thither on a Mule, or in a Chariot, that he refused them both, saying, he was less than his Master Christ, of whom he never read that he rode but once. O the sufferings Christ endured! he was called a Wine-bibber, a Samaritan, a Devil; he was pursued, entrapped, snared, slain: And surely they that will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer persecution. Never wonder that thou art hated of men, or persecuted of men; why, I tell thee, if Christ himself were now amongst us in the form and fashion of a servant, in that very condition that sometimes he was, and should convince men of their wickedness as searchingly as sometimes he did, I verily think he would be the most hated man in all the world. It's plain enough what carnal men would do, by these very doings of the carnal Jews.
3. We must conform to Christ in his death, carrying in us a resemblance and representation of his death. But what death is this? I answer in a word, a death unto sin; so the Apostle; in that he died, unto sin;—likewise reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. There is a likeness betwixt Christ's death, and our death, in this respect, we are planted together in the likeness of his death. True Mortification carries a similitude, a likeness, a resemblance of the death of Christ. As for instance.
1. Christ's death was a voluntary death. I lay down my life that I may take it again; no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; not all men on earth, nor all Devils in Hell could have enforced Christ's death, if he had not pleased; his death was a voluntary death, a spontaneous act; so is our mortification: Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power; many may leave their sins against their wills; but this is not true mortification; it bears not in it the likeness of Christ's death; for he died willingly: it may be thou hast a clamorous Conscience, which continually dogs thee, and therefore thou leavest thy sin; thus Judas came in with his thirty pieces of silver, and cast them down in the Temple at the High Priest's feet; but no thanks to Judas, for they were too hot for him to hold; or it may be there is some penalty of the Law, or some temporal judgment that hangs over thy head, like Democles s sword, and therefore thou leavest thy sin; thus Ahab for a time acts the part of a penitent, but no thanks to Ahab; for the Prophet had rung him such a peal for his fin, as made both his ears tingle; In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine; or it may be there is in thee a fear of Hell, in thy apprehension death is come, and is ready to carry thee before the dreadful Tribunal of a terrible God, and therefore thou leavest thy sin; thus Sea-men in a stress, part with their goods, not because they are out of love with them, but because they love their lives better; they see plainly that either they must part with them, or perish with them. Now in these cases, thy leaving off sin, bears no similitude with the death of Christ; for his death was voluntary, and true mortification is a voluntary action.
But may there not be some reluctancy in this work betwixt the flesh and the Spirit? and if so, is it then voluntary? I answer,—
Yes, such a reluctancy we find in the human nature of Christ concerning the Cup, that it might pass from him, and yet his death was a true voluntary death. An action is said to be voluntary, or involuntary according to the superior faculties of the Soul, and not according to the inferior; if the reasonable part be consenting, the action may be called voluntary, though there be some reluctancy in the sensitive appetite. Thus in the Christian, in whom there is nature and grace, flesh and spirit, an unregenerate, and a regenerate part, if the superior and better part be willing (I mean advisedly and deliberately willing, with full consent of the inward man) though perhaps there may be some reluctancy in the flesh, in the unregenerate part, yet this is said to be a true voluntary act. So then with the mind, I myself serve the Law of God, but with my flesh the Law of sin.—I delight in the Law of God after the inward man; but I see another Law in my members, warring against the Law of my mind. Paul was dead to sin according to the inward man, the regenerate part, though he found a reluctancy in his outwards members; and therefore his death to sin carried with it the resemblance of the death of Christ, it was a voluntary death.
2. Christ's death was a violent death; he died not naturally, but violently; he was put to death in the flesh, he was brought as a Lamb to the slaughter. So is our mortification, it is voluntary in respect of us, but violent in respect of sin; and herein is the life (as I may say) of this death: Oh when a man lays violent hands on his sins; when he cuts them off, being yet in their flower, and strength, and power, and vigor; when he pulls up those weeds before they whither in themselves, this is true mortification: many have left their sins, who never mortified them; so the aged Adulterer hath left his Lust, because his body is dead: and hence it is that late repentance in an aged sinner is seldom found true: alas, he dies not to sin, but his sin dies to him: I will not say but God may call at the eleventh hour, though it be very seldom; but in that case you had need to be jealous over yourselves with a godly jealousy: what, do you find some sins within you to be dead, that were sometimes alive? O be inquisitive, impannel a Jury, call a Coroners Inquest upon your own souls, inquire how they came by their deaths; whether they died a violent or natural death? search what wounds they have received, and whether they were deadly wounds, yea, or no? inquire what weapon it was that slew them, whether the Sword of the Spirit, that two-edged Sword, the Word of God? what purposes, what resolutions have been taken up, and levelled against them? what prayers and tears have been spent upon them? If you find not these signs, you may g •• e in your Verdict, that they died not a violent, but a natural death. And here's a good Caveat for others; Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Oh take heed of reprieving your Lusts! let them not live till tomorrow; now bring them forth in the sight and presence of God; arraign, condemn, crucify, mortify them whiles they might yet live. Surely this is true mortification, when the body of sin dieth, as Christ died, a violent death.
3. Christ's Death was a lingering death; he hung divers hours upon the Cross, From the first hour to the ninth hour, saith Matthew; (i.e.) from our twelve to three, before he gave up the Ghost. So is our mortification a lingering death; sin is not put to death all at once, but languisheth by little and little; this is looked upon as one main difference betwixt justification and sanctification; the former is a perfect work, admitting of no degrees, but so is not the latt • r; though a Believer is freed perfectly from the guilt of sin, yet not so from the power of it; sin dwelleth in us, though it hath not altogether a dominion over us; It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me; like a rebellious Tenant, it keeps possession in despite of the owner, till the house be pulled down over his head. True indeed, the body of sin in a regenerate soul hath received its death-wound, and in that respect it may be said to be dead, but it is not quite dead; still it stirreth and moveth, dying but by degrees: What the Apostle saith of the renewing of the new man we may say of the destroying of the old man the inward man is renewed day by day, • nd the old man is destroyed d • y by day; or as Paul said of himself, in respect of his afflictions, we may say of a Christian in respect of his sins, I die daily; there is not the most sanctified soul upon earth but has some remainders of corruption left in it, which God in his wise providence permits for the trying, exercising, and humbling of our souls, and for the making his own rich Graces, in renewing and multiplying pardons, so much the more glorious.
And here is a ground of consolation to a drooping and dejected soul; such an one cries out, alas I feel the stirring and vigorous actings of sin, and I am afraid my sin is not mortified; as Rebekah said, when she felt the Children struggling within her; if it b • so, why am I thus? so, if sin be mortified, saith the soul, why am I thus? —trembling soul let not this discourage; Jesus Christ was not dead so soon as he was fastened to the Cross: But hast thou taken the same course with the body of sin, that the Jews did with the body of sin? hast thou arraigned it, accused it, condemned it, and fastened it to the Cross? hast thou arraigned it at the Bar of God's judgment, accused it by way of humble and hearty confession, condemned it in passing the sentence of eternal condemnation upon thyself for it, and fastened it to the Cross, in beginning the execution of it, in setting upon the mortification of it with a serious and unfeigned resolution to use all means for its mortifying and killing? why then be not disheartened; it may be thou feelest it stirring, and struggling within thee, and so will a crucified man do, and yet in the eye of the Law, and in the account of all men that see him, he is a dead man; surely so is the body of sin, when it is thus crucified; though it still move and stir, yet upon a Gospel-account, and in God's estimation, it is no better than dead, and it shall certainly die, it shall decay and languish, and die more and more; is not the promise express? He that hath begun the good work, he will perfect it to the day of Jesus Christ. Of this Paul was confident in behalf of his Philippians; and of this let all true Believers rest confident in respect of themselves. Thus far we see wherein we must conform to Christ, viz. in his Graces, in his Sufferings, and in his Death.
For the Query, what is the cause of this conformity? I answer, The death of Christ is the cause of this conformity: And that a fourfold cause.—
1. It is a meritorious cause; Christ's death was of so great a price, that it deserved at God's hands our conformity to Christ. Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that by his death he might sanctify it, and cleanse it:—and present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
2. It is an exemplary cause: He suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps; he died for us, leaving us an example that we should die to sin, as he died for sin, we may observe in many particulars (besides those I have named) a proportion, analogy, and likeness betwixt Christ's death and ours; Christ died as a servant, to note that sin should not rule, or reign over us; Christ died as a curse, to note that we should look upon sin as a cursed thing; Christ was fast nailed on the Cross, to note that we should put sin out of case, yea, crucify the whole body of sin: Christ died not presently, yet there he hung till he died, to note that we should never give over subduing sin, while it hath any life or working in us.
3. It is an efficient cause, it works this conformity by a secret virtue issuing from it. Thus Christians are said to be engraffed with Christ in the likene • s of his death. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , is of a passive signification, importing not only a being like, but a being made like, and that by a power and virtue out of ourselves, so the Apostle elsewhere interprets, That I may know him—and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. Not conforming myself, but being made conformable, by a power out of myself.
But how then is the power of mortification attributed to men? as, Mortify ye your members which are upon the earth. —And, They which are Christ's have crucified the flesh.
I answer, there is a twofold mortification, the one habitual, the other practical; the former consists in a change of the heart, turning the bent and inclination of the heart from all manner of sin; now this is the only and immediate work of the Spirit of Grace, breathing and working where it will; the latter consists in the exercise of putting forth of that inward grace, in the acting of that principle, in resisting temptations, in suppressing inordinate Lusts, in watching against sinful and inordinate acts; now this is the work of a regenerate person, himself co-operating with the Spirit of God, as a rational instrument with the principal Agent, and therefore the Apostle joins both together; If ye through the Spirit do mortify the Deeds of the Body, ye shall live.
4. It is an impelling, or a moving cause, as all objects are; for objects have an attractive power. Achan saw the wedge of Gold, and then coveted it: David saw Bathsheba, and then desired her. As the brazen Serpent did heal those who were bitten by the fiery Serpent, tanquam objectum fidei, merely by being looked upon, so Christ crucified doth heal sin, beget grace, encourage to sufferings by being looked upon with the eyes of Faith. Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us; looking u • to Jesus the Author and finisher of our Faith. The Apostle was to encourage the Hebrews to hold on the well-begun profession of Faith in Christ; and to that purpose he sets before them two fights to keep them from fainting, 1. A cloud of witnesses, the Saints in heaven; on which cloud when he had staid their eyes a while, and made them fit for a clearer Object, he scatters the cloud, and presents the Sun of Righteousness, Christ himself, and he wills them 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , to turn their eyes from it, to him, looking unto Jesus, q. d. this sight is enough to make you run the race, and not to faint; why, Jesus is gone before you, and will you not follow him? O look unto Jesus, and the very sight of him will draw you after him: Christ crucified hath an attractive power; And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to me. —Thus of the causes of our conformity; we see how it is wrought.
3. For the last Query; what are the means of this conformity as on our part? I answer.
1. Go to the Cross of Jesus Christ. It is not all our purposes, resolutions, promises, vows, covenants endeavors, without this, that will effect our conformity to Christ in his sufferings and death; no, no, this conformity is a fruit and effect of the death of Christ; and therefore whosoever would have this work wrought in him, let him first have recourse to Christ's Cross: O go we more immediately to the Cross of Jesus.
2. Look up to him that hangs upon it, contemplate the death of Jesus Christ, consider seriously and sadly his bitter shameful, painful sufferings: Much hath been said, only here draw it into some Epitome: As, 1. Consider who he was. 2. What he suffered. 3. Why he suffered. 4. For whom he suffered. 5. For what end he suffered. 6. With what mind he suffered: Everyone of these will make some discoveries either of his Graces, or of his gracious actings in our behalf; and who can tell how far this very Look may work on us to change us, and transform us into the very image of Jesus Christ?
3. Let us humbly bewail our defect, exorbitancy, irregularity, and inconformity either to the graces, sufferings, or death of Christ. As thus; Lo here the profound humility, wonderful patience, fervent love, abundant mercy, admirable meekness, constant obedience of Jesus Christ! Lo here the tortures, torments, agonies, conflicts, extreme sufferings of Christ for the spiritual, immortal good of the preciou • souls of his redeemed ones: Lo here the death of Christ, see how he bowed the head, and gave up the Ghost! why these are the particulars to which I should conform: But Oh alas! what a wide, vast, utter distance, disproportion is there betwixt me and them? Christ in his sufferings shined with graces, his graces appeared in his sufferings, like so many stars in a bright winter's night; but how dim are the faint weak Graces in my Soul? Christ in his sufferings endured much for me, I know not how much; by thine unknown sorrows and sufferings felt by thee' but not distinctly known to us (said the ancient Fathers of the Greek Church, in their Liturgy) have mercy upon us, and save us; his sorrows and sufferings were so great, that some think it dangerous to define them; but how poor, how little are my sufferings for Jesus Christ? I have not yet resisted unto blood, and if I had, what were this in comparison of his extreme sufferings? Christ in his sufferings died; his passive obedience was unto death, even to the death of the Cross: he hung on the Cross till he bowed his head, and gave up the Ghost; he died unto sin once: But alas! how do I live in that for which he died? To this day my sin hath not given up the Ghost; to this day the death of Christ is not the death of my sin: O my sin is not yet crucified; the heart-blood of my sin is not yet let out: Oh woe is me, how unanswerable am I to Christ in all these respects?
4. Let us quicken, provoke, and rouse up our Souls to this conformity; let us set before them exciting Arguments, ex. gr. The greatest glory that a Christian can attain to in this world, is to have a resemblance, and likeness to Jesus Christ. Again, the more like we are to Christ, the more we are in the love of God, and the better he is pleased with us: It was his voice concerning his Son, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; and for his sake, if we are but like him, he is also well pleased with us. Again, a likeness or resemblance of Christ is that which keeps Christ alive in the world: As we say of a child that is like his Father, This man cannot die so long as his Son is alive: So we may say of Christians who resemble Christ, that so long as they are in the world, Christ cannot die; he lives in them, and he is no otherwise alive in this nether world, than in the hearts of Gracious Christians, that carry the picture and resemblance of him. Again, a likeness to Christ in his death, will cause a likeness to Christ in his Glory, If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection: As it is betwixt the Graft and the Stock, the Graft seeming dead with the Stock in the winter, it revives with it in the Spring; after the Winter's death, it partakes of the Spring's resurrection; so it is betwixt Christ and us; if with Christ we die to sin, we shall with Christ be raised to Glory; being conformed to him in his death, we shall be also in his resurrection. Thus let us quicken and provoke our souls to this conformity.
5. Let us pray to God that he will make us conformable to Jesus Christ. Is it Grace we want? let us beg of him, that of that fullness that is in Christ, we may in our measure receive grace for grace. Is it patience, or joy in sufferings that we want? let us beg of him, that as he hath promised, he will send us the comforter, that so we may follow Christ cheerfully from his cross to his crown, from earth to heaven. Is it mortification our souls pant after? this indeed makes us most like to Christ in his sufferings and death; why then pray we for this mortification.—
But, how should we pray? I answer, 1. Let us plainly acknowledge, and heartily bemoan ourselves in God's bosom for our sins, our abominable sins. 2. Let us confess our weakness, feebleness, and inability in ourselves to subdue our sins: we have no might (may we say) against this great company that come against us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. 3. Let us put up our request, begging help from heaven, let us cry to God that virtue may come out of Christ's death to mortify our Lusts, to heal our Natures, to stanch our bloody issues; and that the Spirit may come into helps us in these works: for by the Spirit do we mortify the deeds of the body.
4. Let us press God with the merits of Christ, and with his promises through Christ; for he hath said, Sin shall not have dominion over us; for we are not under the Law, but under Grace: and Paul experienced it, The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ hath freed me from the Law of sin and death. 5. Let us praise God, and thank God for the help already received, if we find that we have gotten some power against sin, that we have gotten more ability to oppose the lusts of the flesh, that we are seldom overtaken with any breaking forth of it, that we have been able to withstand some notable temptations to it, that the force of it in us is in any measure abated, that indeed and in truth virtue is gone out of the death of Christ: Oh then return we praises to God, let us triumph in God, let us lead our captivity captive, and sing new songs of praises unto God, and even ride in triumph over our corruptions, boasting ourselves in God, and setting up our Banners in the name of the most High, and offering up humble and hearty thanks to our Father for the death of Christ, and for the merit, virtue, and efficacy of it derived unto us, and bestowed upon us.
6. Let us frequently return to our looking up unto Jesus Christ, to our believing in Christ as he was lifted up. How we are to manage our Faith, to draw down the virtue of Christ's death into our souls, I have discovered before; and let us now be in the practice of those rules; certainly there is a conveyance of an healing, strengthening, quickening virtue flowing into the Soul in the time of its viewing, eying, contemplating, reflecting upon Christ crucified, Christ lifted up; and this comes from the secret presence of God, blessing this our looking upon Christ, as the Ordinance by which he hath appointed to make an effectual impression upon the heart. It is not for us curiously to inquire, how this should be: Principles (we say) are not to be proved; save only God hath said it, and experience hath found it out, that when Faith is occasioned to act on any suitable sacred object, God by his Spirit doth not fail to answer, in such a case he fills the Soul with comfort, blessing, virtue; he returns upon the Soul (by, from, and through the actings of Faith) whatsoever by it is looked for. Indeed none knoweth this, but he that feels it; and none feels this that knoweth how to express it; as there is somewhat in the fire (heat, warmth and light) which no Painter can express; and as there is somewhat in the face (heat, warmth and life) which no Limner can set forth; so there is somewhat flowing into the soul, while it is acting faith on the Death of Christ, which, for the rise, or way, or manner of its working, is beyond what tongue can speak, or pen can write, or pencil can delineate. Come then, if we would have grace, endure afflictions, die to sin, grow in our mortification: let us again and again return to our duty of looking unto Jesus, or believing in Jesus, as he was lifted up.
And yet when all is done, let us not think that sin will die or cease in us altogether; for that is an higher perfection than this life will bear; only in the use of the means, and through God's blessing, we may expect thus far, that sin shall not reign, it shall not wear a Crown, it shall not sit in the Throne, it shall hold no Parliaments, it shall give no laws within us; we shall not serve it, but we shall die to the dominion of it, by virtue of this Death of Jesus Christ. And this, He grant who died for us; Amen, Amen.
Thus far we have looked on Jesus as our Jesus; in his sufferings and death. Our next work is to look on Jesus carrying on the great work of our Salvation during the time of his Resurrection, and abode upon earth, until his Ascension, or taking up to Heaven.
LOOKING UNTO JESUS In his Resurrection. The Seventh Book. PART VII.
CHAP. I.
Matth. 28.6.
He is risen.—Come see the place where the Lord lay.
2 Tim. 2.8.
Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David, was raised from the dead.
SECT. 1. Of the Time of Christ 's Resurrection.
THe Sun that went down in a ruddy cloud, is risen again with glorious beams of light. In this piece, as in the former, we shall first lay down the Object, and then give directions how to look upon it.
The Object is Jesus, carrying on the work of man's salvation in his Resurrection, and during the time of his abode on earth after his Resurrection. Now in all the transactions of this time, I shall only take notice of these two things. 1. Of this Resurrection. 2. Of his Apparitions; for first, he rose; and secondly, he shows himself that he was risen: in the first is the Position, in the second is the Proof.
1. For the Position; the Scripture tells us that he rose again the third day. In this point I shall observe these particulars. 1. When he arose. 2. Why he arose. 3. How he arose.
1. When he arose; it was the third day after his crucifying. As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whales belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. This was the time he had appointed: and this was the time appropriated to Christ, and marked out for him in the Calendar of the Prophets; of all those whom God raised from death to life; there is not one that was raised on the third day, but Jesus Christ; some rose afore, and some rose after; the Son of the Shunamite, the son of the widow of Sarephtah, the daughter of Jairus, he of Naim, and some others rose afore; Lazarus, and the Saints that rose again from the dust when Christ rose, staid longer in the grave, but Christ takes the day, which discovers him to be the Messiah: Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. Had he rose sooner a doubt might have been of his dying; and had he lain longer, a doubt might have been of his rising; he would rise no sooner, because in some diseases, as in the Apoplexy, or such like examples are given of such, as seeming to be dead, have indeed revived; and he would lie no longer in his grave, because in all dead carcasses (and especially in a wounded body) putrefaction and corruption begins the third day: this may be gathered by the Story of Lazarus in the Gospel, where Jesus commanding the stone to be rolled from his grave, Martha his Sister answered, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. Now the body of Christ (as it was prophesied) must not corrupt; for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. Mark this Text: All men shall rise again, but their bodies must first see corruption; only the Messiah was to rise again before he saw corruption; and therefore he would not delay his resurrection after the third day. Some think this, and that of Hosea, after two days he will revive us, and in the third day he will raise us up, to be the main Texts to which Christ refers, when he said, Thus it is written. And to which the Apostle refers, when he said, that Christ rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
I dare not be too curious, in giving reasons for this set time; and the rather, because Christ is a free worker of his own affairs; he doth what he pleaseth, and when he pleaseth; times and actions are in his own power, and he needs not to give us any account of them; and yet so far as Scripture discovers; we may go along; and amongst many others, I shall lay down these following Reasons.—
1. Because the Types had so prefigured; we see it in Isaac, Jonah, and Hezekiah, a Patriarch, a Prophet, and a King. 1. For Isaac; from the time that God commanded Isaac to be offered for a burnt offering, Isaac was a dead man; but the third day he was released from death; this the Text tells us expressly, that it was the third day when Abraham came to Mount Moriah, and had his Son, as it were, restored to him again, Gen. 22.4. And Paul discovers that this was in a figure, Heb. 11.19. 2. For Jonah; from the time that Jonah was cast into the sea, and swallowed up of the Fish, Jonah was, in account as a dead man; but the third day the Lord spake unto the Fish, and it vomited up Jonah upon the dry land, Jonah 2.10. And that this was a figure of Christ, Christ himself discovers; for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whales belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 3. For Hezekiah; from the time that Isaiah said unto him, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die, and not live; Hezekiah was, in account, as a dead man; his bed was to him as a grave; but on the third day he was miraculously raised up again; and as the Prophet said, on the third day thou shalt go up to the house of the Lord. Surely this was a figure of Christ. And th • se Types prefiguring Christ, are as one Reason.
2. Because the Prophets and himself had so foretold: for the Prophets we have cited, Psal. 16.10. Hosea 6.2. And for himself, he told them very expressly, that he must suffer many things of the Elders, and chief Priests, and Scribes, and be raised again the third day; yea, said he, the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again; and after this, he tells them again, that the Son of man should be betrayed,—and crucified, and the third day he should rise again: so often had he prophesied thus, that the chief Priests and Pharisees came to Pilate after his death, saying, Sir, we remember that this deceiver said, while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again; command therefore that the Sepulcher be made sure until the third day. And no question his Disciples remembered these sayings; for so the two Disciples travelling towards Emmaus, after they had said many things concerning him, and that they trusted it had been he, which should have redeemed Israel, they added this as a most special observation above all the rest, that today is the third day since these things were done. Why, all these signify that his rising on the third day was the accomplishment of Prophesies, and a certain evidence that he was the Messiah indeed.
3. Because that time was most suable for comforting his friends, for confounding his enemies, for clearing the truth both of his Humanity and Divinity; he would stay no longer, lest his Disciples might have been swallowed up with grief; and he would come no sooner, lest his enemies should have urged that he had not died; the watchmen kept the Sepulcher till this very time; but then the Angels appearing, and the earth trembling, they became as dead men; and as soon as they could, they run away, and with their tidings confounded all Christ's enemies. And withal, as Christ consisted both of a divine and human nature, so in respect of his humanity, he must die; and to show his death, it was requisite that he should rise no sooner than the third day; and in respect of his divinity, it was impossible that he should be held of death any longer than three days; for as he must not see corruption, so God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
SECT. II. Of the Reasons of Christ's Resurrection.
2. WHy he rose, we have these Reasons.—
1. That he might powerfully convince, or confound his adversaries; they that crucified him were mightily afraid of his Resurrection; they could tell Pilate, Sir, we remember this deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again; and therefore they desire him of all loves to command the Sepulcher to be made sure until the third day; if ever he rise again whom they have killed, then they knew they were all shamed; then the last error (as they said) would be worse than the first: All the world would look on them as a cursed generation, to kill the Messiah, to crucify such a one as after his death and burial should rise again; now then, that he might either convince them, or confound them, notwithstanding their care, their watch, their Seal, their making all sure as possibly they could; at the very same time he told them before, he broke open the gates of death, and made the gates of Brass to fly asunder.
2. That he might confirm the faith of all his followers. If Christ be not risen, your Faith is vain, saith the Apostle. Christ's resurrection both confirms our faith, as to his person and to his office: for his person; this speaks him to be the eternal Son of God, by the resurrection from the dead: and for his office; this speaks him to be the promised Messiah, the great Prophet, the chief high Priest, the King and Savior of his Church. When the Jews saw Christ purging the Temple, and Messiah -like reforming what he saw amiss in the House of God, What sign (say they) showest thou unto us, seeing thou dost these things? And he said unto them, destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.—When therefore he was risen from the dead, his Disciples remembered that he had said this unto them, and they believed the Scripture, and the Word which Jesus had said: As the resurrection of Christ argues his Mediatorship, so it confirms their faith? as it is said, They believed the Scriptures, and they believed Jesus Christ. And thus John writing of his resurrection, tells us, These things are written that ye might believe, and that believing, &c.
3. That it might clearly appear, that he had fully satisfied the justice of God for sin: So it was, that God laid the forfeiture of the bond on Christ; he arrested him, brought him to the Goal, the Grave, and there he was till the Debt was paid to the utmost farthing; and then, that it might clearly appear that the bond was cancelled, the Prisoner discharged, God's justice satisfied, he rose again from the dead. Some make a question when his Bond was cancelled? and they say, as the debt was paid, so the Bond was cancelled ere he stirred off the Cross (only by the Cross, I suppose they mean the utmost degree of Christ's humiliation, viz. his being held in captivity and bondage under death) and so the hand-writing of the Law that was against us, was there delivered him; and there he blotted it out, cancelled it, took it out of the way, nailing it to his Cross. Others think, that as to the full discharge of a debt, and freeing the debtor, two things are requisite; first, the payment of the debt: secondly, the tearing, or cancelling of the bond; so the payment was wrought by Christ's death, and the cancelling of the Bond was at his resurrection; I shall not disprove either of these: I am sure, this is without all controversy, that Christ rose, that it might fully appear that now the Bond was cancelled, and God's Justice satisfied.
4. That he might overcome and conquer sin, death, and devil; and hence the Apostle cries victory upon the occasion of Christ's resurrection, O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? now was the day that he broke the prison, and carried the keys of death and hell at his own girdle; now was the day that he spoiled Principalities, and Powers, that he troad on the Serpents head; and all-to-bruised it, that he came upon him, took from him his armor wherein he trusted, and divided his spoils; now was the day that the Jew lost his rage, and death his sting, and the grave his corruption, and Hell his purchase; now was the day of his victory over all his enemies; now was the day that the Phoenix sprung up out of its own ashes, that Jonas came safe out of the belly of the whale, that the Tabernacle of David that was fallen, was raised again, that the Son of righteousness covered with a cloud appeared, and shone with greater luster than before; that Sampson took the gates of the City, and carried them away; He arose even upon that account.
5. That he might become the first-fruits of them that slept. Christ is called the first-fruits in a double respect, 1. In respect of the day whereon he rose; Paul was an excellent critic, the very feast carried him to the word; as the day of his passion was the day of the passover, and the Apostle thence could say, Christ is our passover; 1 Cor. 15.7. So the day of Christ's rising was the day of the first-fruits, and the Apostle thence could say, Christ is our first-fruits. Concerning this feast of the first fruits we read Lev. 22.10, 11. It was their first harvest of their basest grain Barley, but the full harvest of their best grain of Wheat, was not till pentecost. Now upon this day, the morrow after the Sabbath, the beginning of their first harvest, when the sheaf of their first-fruits was brought unto the Priest, and waved before the Lord, Christ arose from the dead, and in this respect Paul calls him the first fruits of them that sleep, of all the Saints. He arose first as on this day, for the full Harvest is not till dooms-day, the general Resurrection day. 2. he is called the first-fruits in respect of them whom he thereby sanctified: for as an handful of the first-fruits sanctified the whole Field of corn that was growing; so Jesus Christ the first-fruits of the dead, sanctifies all those who are lying in the grave to rise again by his Power, even when they are in the dust of death. If Christ be not risen, (saith the Apostle) ye are yet in your sins.—But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that sleep.
6. That being formerly abased as a servant, and crucified as a sinner, he might thus be declared to be the Son of God; and exalted to be a Prince and Savior of men; and so his name might be glorified of all the World. He was made of the Seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the resurrection from the dead. It was of necessary consequence, that he that was so humbled, must be thus exalted; therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, agreeable to which is that of Christ, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. When Peter was Preaching Christ to the high Priest and council that condemned him to death, he told them that the God of our Fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree, him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior; and suitable to this is that of Paul, he humbled himself, and became obedient to the death, even to the death of the Cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. It was for his own glory, and his Fathers glory that he should rise again from the dead, God raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; and he was therefore exalted, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Of all the reasons of Christ's resurrection, we must look upon this as the main; for as he hath made all things for himself, so he hath done all things for his own glory; Christ was raised up from the dead, (saith the Apostle) by the glory of the Father: By the glory, or to the glory, or for the glory of himself, and of his Father:
SECT. III. Of the manner of Christ's Resurrection.
3. HOw he rose; for the manner of his resurrection we may consider in it these particulars.—
1. That Christ rose again as a common Person, he stood in our stead, and therefore when he rose from death, we and all the Church of Christ rose together with him, and in him. We have formerly observed that Christ took upon him the Person of no man, he took only the nature of man into the union of the second Person, that so he might die and rise again, not as a Particular but a common Person; that he might be as a representative in our room and stead; that he might be as a Spiritual head, and as the second Adam, who could infuse life into all his members. In this respect the Apostle makes comparison betwixt Adam, and Christ; now Adam, we know, was reckoned before his fall as, a common public Person, not standing singly or alone for himself, but as representing all mankind to come of him; so Jesus Christ is reckoned to us, both before his death, and in his death and after his death, as a common public Person; not living, dying, or rising again, singly, or alone for himself, but as representing all the believers in the world; and hence it is that Adam is called the first man, and Jesus Christ is called the second man; as if there never had been, nor ever should be anymore men in the world, save only these two; and why? but because these two between them had all the rest of the Sons of men hanging at their girdles: Adam had all the Sons of men born into this world called earthly men, included in him; and Christ had all his elect, whose names are written in heaven, and therefore called Heavenly men, included in him; so that now whatsoever Christ did, it is reckoned by God as if done by us and for us. When Christ arose, he arose as our head, and as a common Person, and in God's account we arose with him, and in him. As among all the sheaves in the Field, there was someone sheaf, that in the name and room of all the rest was lift up, and waved before the Lord; so when all were dead, Christ as the first-fruits rose again from the dead, and by this act of his resurrection all the Elect from the beginning of the World to the end, are risen with him and in him. He is the first fruits of them that sleep, though the Saints are a sleep, yet are they virtually risen already with Christ, because he is their first-fruits. Let this ever be remembered, that Christ rose again as the first-fruits, as the second man, as an head, as a common Person.
2. That Christ rose again by his own Power, this he meant when he said, destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up. He saith not, destroy, you, and some other shall raise it up; no, no; but I, even I myself will do it; yea, and I will do it, by my own Power and virtue; here is a plain argument of the Divine nature of Christ, for none ever did, ever could do that but God himself; some were raised before Christ was incarnate, but not any by himself, or by his own proper Power; only a Power was imparted to some Prophet by God for that time and turn, and so they were raised: but Christ rose again not by a Power imparted to some, but by his own Power. The Widows son of Sarephtah was raised by Elias; and the Shunamites son was raised by Elisha; both these were raised by others, and those others that raised them, did it not by their own power, but by a power given them from above; and therefore though in their life-time they raised others, yet being dead they could not raise themselves; but Jesus Christ did not only in his life-time raise others, but also being dead, and laid in his grave, and pressed with stones, and watched by Soldiers, and sought to be detained by all the Power of darkness, yet he as a conqueror, by his own Power raised himself; he caused all things by the strength of his own arm to give way unto himself, I have Power to lay down my life, and I have Power to take it up again; an equal Power to take it up, as to lay it down.
But against this it may be objected, The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus, — whom God hath raised up; having loosed the pains of death. In many places the resurrection of Christ is ascribed to his Father, how then is he said to raise up himself by his own Power?
I answer, it is true, that the Father raised him, and yet this contradicts not but that he raised up himself; Whatsoever the Father doth, I do, saith Christ. Christ's resurrection is the indivisible work of the blessed Trinity; it is a work common to all the three persons; there is but one power of the Father, and of the Son; so that of both it is truly verified, the Father raised him, and the Son raised himself.
3. That Christ rose again with an Earthquake; and behold there was a great Earthquake, for the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven. The earth shook at his death, and now it trembles at his Resurrection; plainly speaking that it could neither endure his suffering, nor hinder his rising. As a Lion with a Roar is said to make the Bed wherein he lies to tremble; so this Lion of the tribe of Judah was able with his voice, or sight, to make his (Bed, the earth, wherein he lay) to tremble: no sooner he shakes himself, but he shakes the earth; at his first motion the earth moves; and now was fulfilled that prophesy, Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob. It is not for us, curiously to inquire into the cause of this earthquake; certainly the cause was above Natures reach; it was not any hollow wind got into the bowels of the earth; but either it was Christ's rising, or the Angels descending; the earth either danced for joy that Christ was risen, or it trembled for fear that men would no believe his resurrection. The Evangelist seems to lay it on the Angel; for the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven: sure the power of Angels is very great; they can move all corporeal things almost in an instant, they can stir up tempests, they can shake the earth, move the waters, only all their power is subjected to God's will. Bless the Lord all ye Angels that excel in strength, that do his Will: it was the Will of God that now an Angel should take hold on the pillars of the earth, and make it shake; no wonder if for fear of him the keepers shake, and become as dead men; and if one Angel be able to shake the earth, and to shake the Keepers, those armed Soldiers that were set to watch the Tomb; what then will Christ himself do, when he shall come to judgment the second time, with many thousand thousands of Angels? Oh now terrible and fearful will his coming be? As at Christ's Resurrection, so at the last Resurrection, there will be earthquakes in divers places: Christ hath shown, and he will show himself to be the absolute Lord of heaven and earth; see how the earth, trembling under his feet, doth (as it were) pay him homage; and behold there was a great Earthquake.
4. That Christ rose again Angels ministering to him. An Angel came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. Christ's Power was not included in the grave, or on the earth, but extended to Heaven, and to the Hosts therein; however the chief Priests and Pharisees conspired together to close him in the earth; they sealed the stone, and set a watch, they made all as sure as possibly they could; yet, the Angels of heaven are ready to wait on him as their Sovereign Lord. An Angel descended to role away the Stone; not that Christ was unable to do it himself: he shook the earth, and could he not lift up a stone? O yes! but thus he would manifest his Power, by declaring his Power over the mighty Angels; he needed but to say unto his Angel▪ do this, and he doth it. I find some difference amongst Authors, why an Angel should role away the Stone: some think it was only for the women's sake, that they might go into the Sepulcher, and take a view of the empty Tomb, and so be satisfied that Christ was not here, but risen; as they said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay: Others think it was to do their office of duty and service to Christ Jesus, to make way for his body to pass out of the grave without any penetration of other Bodies: for my part, I adhere to these; though we need not to exclude the former; for the stone might be removed, both that Christ might come forth, and that the women might be convinced that he was risen again. But as for the opinion of them, who think the stone was not removed till after the resurrection; & that the body of Christ went through the grave-stone when he rose again, it is without all warrant; the very order of nature will not permi • that one body should pass through another, without corruption or alteration of either: We say two bodies cannot be together, and at once, in one proper place; no more than one body can be together, and at once, in an hundred, or a thousand places; now that Angelical argument is full for this; he is not here, for he is risen; he is not in the grave, for he is risen out of the grave; he could not be in the grave, and out of the grave at one and the same time. But I mean not to dwell on controversial Points.
5. That Christ rose again accompanied with others; and the graves were opened, and many bodies of Saints w • ich slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy City, and appeared unto many. It may be the graves were opened when Christ was laid down in his grave; yet the spirits came not into the dead bodies till Christ's Resurrection; the Text i • plain, that they came not out of their graves till Christ was raised; Christ is the beginning (saith the Apostle) the first-born from the dead: how the first-born? I answer, both in time and efficacy. 1. In time; he rose to eternal life the first of all men. This was the sum of Paul 's preaching, that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead. It is true indeed, that Lazarus and fundry others rose before Christ, but they rose to live a mortal life, and to die again. Christ was the first of all that rose to eternal life; never any in the world rose, before Christ, in this manner. 2. In respect of efficacy, Christ rose first, that by his power all the rest might rise; there is in Christ's resurrection a reviving and a quickening virtue; and herein is a main difference betwixt the Resurrection of Christ, and the Resurrection of any other man; the Resurrection of Abraham avails nothing to the resurrection of Isa • c, or of Jacob; but the resurrection of Christ avails to the resurrection of all that have believed, or that shall believe in him: is not Christ called a quickening Spirit? how then should he but quicken all his members? when a man is cast into the Sea, and all his body is under water, there is nothing to be looked for but present death; but if he carry his head above the water, there is good hope then of a recovery: now Christ is the head unto his Church, and therefore he being raised, all his members must follow in their time; no sooner did Christ arise, but many of the bodies of the Saints arose; not all that were dead, but only some; to show the resurrection of all to come, the time for the whole Churches rising being not yet, till the great resurrection day. It is a question what became of those bodies which now arose: Some think they died again; but it is more probable, that seeing they rose to manifest the quickening virtue of Christ's resurrection, that they were also glorified with Christ; and as they rose with Christ arising, so they ascended up into heaven with Christ ascending.