Sermons Volume 4

Was he heard in this? Yes; this Prayer converts the Centurion, and those, Acts 2.41. above three thousand ; and presently after five thousand more, Acts 4.4. In the compass of a few days above eight thousand of his Enemies were converted. Christ is good at Interceding, his Prayers are always heard, John 11.42. I knew that thou hearest me always. And therefore let us seek no other Mediator, God cannot deny his own Son. Jesus Christ the righteous intercedes for us, let us put all our Requests into his hands.

II. I come now to the Argument used, They know not what they do. But you will say, Christ elsewhere complaineth of his Enemies, that they know him, and refused him out of malice, John 15.24. Now they have both seen and hated both me and my father ; and therefore he saith, They had no Cloak for their Sin, but were utterly without Excuse, for they could not plead Ignorance.

Answ. 1. This is not spoken of all, but of some only. The greatest part were moved with the Command, Authority, and Perswasion of the Priests, or blinded with a false Zeal to preserve their old Religion, and so thought they did God service in crucifying Christ. Those that sinned out of malice, Christ had told them their Doom before, Mat. 12.32. Whosoever speaketh against the Holy-Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

2. They knew him to be a just Man, though they knew him not to be the Lord of Glory, and that he did many Signs which the Prophets foretold should be done by the M • ssias ; and therefore at least that he was a great Prophet, and as such they should have reverenced and received him, so that they had the less cloak for their Sin.

3. Christ excused not a toto, but a tan • o, not altogether, but only showeth that they were capable of Pardon, because of their Ignorance. Christ excuseth the Sin of his Enemies in that manner that he could excuse them; he could not altogether excuse the Injustice of Pilate, nor the Cruelty of the Soldiers, nor the Envy of the Chief Priests, nor the Folly and Unthankfulness of the People, nor the Perjury of the false Witnesses; all that he could plead, was some ignorance of the Dignity of his Person, 1 Cor. 2.8. Which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. The chief Men of the Jews did not understand the Mystery of Redemption, and many were ignorant, not only of the Divinity of Christ, but his Innocency also, They know not what they do.

Doctr. There is a difference between Sinners, and it is a more dangerous thing to sin against Knowledge, than out of Ignorance.

1. Some sin wittingly and willfully, as Cain, Saul, Judas, &c. who against the apparent Light of their Consciences venture upon the foulest Actions.

2. Others sin out of Ignorance, either they do not certainly know what they do to be Sin, or do not expressly consider it. So Paul in persecuting the Church of God, 1 Tim. 1.13. Who was before a persecutor, and a blasphemer, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

3. Some sin knowingly indeed, but out of Infirmity, either arising from some great fear of Danger, and present Death, as Peter denied his Master; it is done with a troubled Mind: These may be recovered to God but with difficulty. Or else they are hurried to Evil by the baits of the Flesh, and pleasing Temptations, James 1.12. Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Now their Case cannot easily be spoken to, for it needs much discussion. It may be by surprisal, and that for one Act, and none of the grossest, Gal. 6.1. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye that are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. The Devil many times leaveth no time for deliberation, and bringeth his tempting Baits not to the fore-door of Reason, but to the back-door of Sensual Appetite, which being in a rage, blindeth the Mind. But if they sin with a strong Will, their Case is more dangerous; especially if they live and lie in Sin after many Experiences of the Evil of it, their Condition is deplorable.

This Foundation being laid, let us see how far Ignorance excuseth from Sin.

1. Whatever Sin we commit, it is Sin, and of itself deserveth Damnation. Sin is not determined to be Sin by its being voluntary or involuntary, but by its contrariety to the Law of God, 1 John 3.4. Sin is the transgression of the Law. Therefore the causal Particle [ For ] in the Text doth not show the Reason of Pardon, but the capableness of Pardon. So Paul 's Ignorance was not the cause of God's Mercy, for Sin cannot be the cause of Mercy, but only the occasion of it. The Nature of Sin is not determined by the Voluntariness of it, but only the Degree of it.

2. Ignorance is either Antecedent, Concomitant, or Consequent.

1. Antecedent, going before the Act, as in the generality of the Jews: Acts 3.17. And now, brethren, I w • t, that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your Rulers. Out of Ignorance and blind Zeal they Crucified him, whom God did make both Lord and Christ.

2. Concomitant, a Man hath Knowledge, but useth it not for the present. It is one thing to sin with Knowledge, and another thing to sin against Knowledge; He that hath Knowledge, but for the present may be binded by his Lusts and Carnal Affections, sinneth not against Knowledge directly, but collaterally only, as he that stealeth or committeth Adultery doth not this for Sin's sake, (for none can will Evil as Evil,) but he only attendeth to the Profit and Pleasure that is in Adultery and Theft, but shutteth the Eyes of his Mind against the Filthiness or Injustice that is in it; and therefore he is like a Man that leapeth from an high place into the Water, who first shutteth his Eyes, and then casts himself into the Flood or Stream.

3. Consequent Ignorance is after the Sin or Act of the Will, either from the depraved Disposition of the Will, John 3.20. For everyone that doth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Or from the just Judgment of God, John 9.39. For judgment I am come into the world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. God inflicts a Judicial Blindness on Men that will not obey the Truth.

3. Ignorance is either Invincible, or Vincible.

1. Invincible Ignorance is when there is not sufficient Revelation, when it is a thing we should know, but God hath not brought Light among us. Thus the Heathens are punished for not glorifying God, whom they knew by the Light of Nature, Rom. 1.21. When they knew God, they glorified him not as God ; Not because they believed not in Christ, for he was not revealed unto them; But Christians shall be punished for not obeying the Gospel, 2 Thess. 1.8. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Vincible Ignorance, is when there are plentiful Means and gross Helps to overcome it, then is our Ignorance more culpable. This is seen when either Ignorance is Voluntary and Pertinacious, or when there is gross Negligence. When it is Voluntary, 2 Pet. 3.5. For this they are willingly ignorant of ; That they may Sin more freely and securely, they will not know what may disturb or trouble their Sleep in Sin, Job 21.14. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. The Psalmist says of them, Psal. 95.10. It is a people that do err in their hearts, they have not known my ways. They err in their Hearts, as well as in their Minds; when they do not desire to know what they should know, this Ignorance is voluntary. Or else it is bewrayed by gross Negligence, when a Man doth a thing, that if he were not grossly Negligent, he might know to be Sin, Eph. 3.15, 16, 17. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding, what the will of the Lord is. A Christian is bound to use all holy Means to know all things that belong to his Duty, and must bestow much time and diligence upon it. If he is grossly ignorant, it is a sign he hath a mind to put a cheat upon his Soul.

Use. Let us beware of Sin against Knowledge, these Sins of all others are the most dangerous, whether they be Sins of Omission, to omit Duties that we know to be Duties, this is very dangerous, James 4.17. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin. Or Sins of Commission, to commit Sins that we know to be Sins, Rom. 2.21, 22. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? To commit Sins that we know to be Sins, is to involve ourselves in Wrath and Vengeance. Have a care then of these Sins, if you are guilty of them, it cannot be pleaded for you, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.

A Sermon on JOHN xix. 30.

THIS is one of the seven Words which Christ uttered upon the Cross, the last save one, for before his bowing of the Head, and giving up the Ghost, those Words must come in, which are mentioned, Luke 23.46. Father! into thy hands I commend my spirit, and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

To make way for these Words, we need go no farther back than the 28th Verse; it is said there, After this Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst: Where we may observe,

1. The exact knowledge which Christ had of all his Sufferings; He knew that all things were accomplished, namely, all the preparative Sufferings which were to usher in his Death: All these bitter Sorrows were numbered out to him by the Divine Decrees, and praesignified in the Prophesies; Jesus knew all the exact Tale and account of them: A Circumstance that doth much commend his Love to us. Christ knew how dear the bargain of Souls would be to him, and yet he would show his Obedience to the Father, and his Love to Mankind. He long since sat down and counted the Charges, and yet he came to do his Father's Will. When a Business proveth hazardous and inconvenient, we are apt to say, If I had known it would have cost me so much, I should never have undertaken it. Christ went not to the Cross blindfold, he knew the Work of our Redemption would be troublesome and painful, that he was to give his Back to the Smiters, and his Cheeks to the Nippers; that he was to be hurried from the Garden to the Courts of Men, from the Courts of Men to the Cross, and there to endure acute Pains and Torments, Jesus knew that all these things were to be fulfilled.

2. Observe, It is said, he knew they were accomplished ; Christ had a lively feeling of every part of his Sorrows, and his Senses remained in full vigor to the last, and without any stupefaction. He knew what Hour the Clock of the Divine Decree would next strike, or what was the next Circumstance, whereby he was to discover himself to be the true Messiah. David saith, Died Abner as a fool dieth, 2 Sam. 3.32. We may say so, Died the Lord Jesus as a Fool dieth, in a stupid senseless way? Or as one merely passive? Extremity of Pain had now surprised the Thieves which were crucified with him, we hear no more of them, but Christ's Reason and Senses are still exercised, and his Sorrows made more active by his own apprehension.

3. Observe, That the Scriptures might be fulfilled, he said, I thirst. By fulfilling another Prophecy, God discovereth another Note whereby the Messiah might be known. All the Passages of Christ's Death were appointed with infinite Wisdom and Love, either they were such as were necessary parts of Redemption, or some Indications, whereby the Messiah fore-prophesied of might be discovered. Here is another Prophecy fulfilled in Christ's Thirst. The Prophesies alluded to are two; one is Psal. 22.15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, thou hast brought me to the dust of death. The other Prophesy hinteth the Act of the Jewish Malice, Psal. 69.21. They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Here was Light enough, or Conviction sufficient for any, but those who resolved to shut their Eyes.

4. He said, I thirst ; he had spent much time in watching, lost much Blood, his Body was tortured with extreme Pain, and his Soul scorched with a sense of God's Wrath; and therefore well might he cry out, I thirst. It is notable, that Christ would not declare his Thirst, till he knew that all Things were accomplished, that is, every sad Accident except his Death. Certainly if we consider the Agonies of the Garden, where he excerned Blood instead of Sweat, his Scourging, his being buffeted with the Soldiers, his bearing the Cross; all this might make him thirst before, but when Wine mingled with Myrrh, a stupefying Potion, was tendered to him before, he re • used it, Mark 15.23. And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not. But now when all was accomplished, he saith, I thirst. He would take no natural Refreshment till he had born all our Griefs and Sorrows, and every sad Passage, by which he might promote our Comfort, was accomplished. He was so mindful of us, that he forgot himself; he saith, that it was Meat to him to do his Father's Will, John 4.34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Though the Cross-work was sad Work, yet that was as Drink to Christ. After he had swelter'd under the Torment of so many hours drouth, he crieth out, I thirst. Christ would make his Sufferings as full of Merit as possible he could, and therefore would not receive the least draught of Comfort, till he had paid our whole Debt. We do evil with both hands earnestly, Micah 7.3. and fill our Actions with as much Disobedience and Rebellion as we can possibly put into them, Behold thou hast spoken, and done evil things as thou couldest, Ier. 3.5. Sin hath not been cheap to us, we have bought the Pleasure of it at a dear rate, with much Loss and Self-denial. And therefore Christ's Sufferings were made as high and extreme as possibly they could be.

Let us now see what they did to Christ, when he had declared the extremity of his Thirst▪ Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth, Vers 29. This Fact of theirs is diversely construed; some say, they did it out of kindness, and that it was usual to provide a Vessel of Vinegar, and to have it at hand under the Cross of those that were Executed; this is probable: Others think it an act of Spight and Malice, partly because it is made an Exaggeration of Calamity, Psal. 69.21▪ In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. And partly because their Courtesie to the Dying was to give Wine and Myrrh, and therefore it is said, Prov. • 1.6. It is not for Kings to drink wine, nor for Princes strong drink ; and Vers. 6. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine to those that be of an heavy heart. That is to say, it is not for the Judge, but the Condemned, and they mingled it with Myrrh and hot Spices, partly to attenuate the Blood, and so to dispatch them the sooner; and partly to cause Giddiness, that their Senses might be the sooner gone. But now instead of Wine and Myrrh, they gave Christ Vinegar and Gall to increase his Misery; and they prepared it in readiness, in case he called for the usual Refreshment. And the Conjecture of the Carth • sian is not amiss, who imputeth it to the Malice of the Soldiers to change the Wine, prepared by the charitable Women, into Vinegar, for the greater Spight and Mockage. And it is said, They filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon • yssop. The other Evangelists say, They put it upon a reed ; and it is hard to conceive then, how they could put it upon Hyssop. It is probable, that Hyssop in these Countries was tall, as Mustard-Seed is said to grow up into a Tree; and Pliny saith, they made Stayes of Mallows in Arabia, which with us is but a slender Herb, but Hyssop is put for a Shrub; Solomon wrote of all Herbs, from the Cedar to the Hyssop, but that is Wall-Hyssop, which is dwarfish, and tender, as ours is.

Observe, when Christ stood in our stead, no Comfort was granted to him, but what was devised to augment his Grief: When his Strength was dried up like a Potiheard, and his Tongue cleaved to his Jaws, They gave him Vinegar to drink, when he was providing for us a Cup of Blessings, a Torrent and a River of Pleasure, of which we might drink. Vers. 30. When he had received the Vinegar, he said, It is finished, and he bowed the head and gave up the ghost: When he had received it, that is, tasted it, for they put it into his Mouth with a Spunge on the top of a Reed, then he said, It is finished. That is, as much as was necessary for his Humiliation, God's Glory, and Man's Salvation; as much as was decreed, as much as was foretold. And he saith, It is finished, because he was now upon the last work, Death, which was coming upon him; and therefore foldeth it in the Expression with what is past, It is finished, because the last Act was at hand, Matth. 26.28. This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed ; that is, which is about to be shed. John 17.4. I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. All the Sufferings were now completed at Death, which he was to suffer for our Sins.

Doctr. Christ closed not his Sufferings, till all was finished which he had to do for us.

• 1. In what sense it is said, All things are finished.
• 2. The Evidences and Reasons thereof.
• 3. What Comfort this is to the Faithful.

I. In what sense it is said, It is finished.

1. All the Scripture Prophesies, which spake of Christ's Death and Sufferings, were now fulfilled and accomplished: As that he should make his entrance into Jerusalem upon an Ass in all humility; this was Prophesied of the Messiah, Zech. 9.9. Behold thy King cometh unto thee, he is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the fole of an ass. And fulfilled by Christ, Matth. 21.4, 5. All this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold the King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass. That he should be betrayed by one of his Familiars, his own Disciple, Psal. 55.12, 13. It was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it, neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me: But it was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, and my acquaintance. So Psal. 41.9. Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lift up his head against me ; Which was fulfilled, Matth. 26.23. He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, he shall betray me ; And accordingly Judas came to attack him, Mat. 26.47. That he should be sold for thirty Pieces of Silver, Zech. 11.12. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. Fulfilled, Mat. 26.15. That with these thirty Pieces of Silver there should be bought afterwards a Field of Potsheards, Zech. 11.13. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. Fulfilled, Mat. 27.7. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potters field, to bury strangers in. That being apprehended, he should be most barbarously entreated by the Jews, and be beaten and buffeted, and his Face defiled with spitting, according to that of Isaiah the Prophet, Isa. 50.6. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Fulfilled, Mat. 6.67. Then did they spit in his face, and buffet him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands. That they would wound, rend, and tear his Body with Scourges, before they put him to death, Isa. 53.5. He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed : Fulfilled, Mat. 27.26. When he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. And they did at length put him to death according to the Prophecy, The Messiah was to be cut off, but not for himself, Dan. 9.26. That the Death that he should die, was the Death of the Cross, unto which he was nailed Hand and Foot, according to that of David, Psal. 22.16. They pierced my hands and my feet. And that of Zech. 12.10. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced. Fulfilled, Luke 23.33. And when they were come to Mount Calvary, there they crucified him. That he was crucified between two Malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left, according to that of Isa. 53.12. He was numbered with the transgressors. Luke 22.37. For I say unto you, that this which is written must yet be accomplished in me: And he was reckoned among transgressors, for the things concerning me have an end. He was to pray for his Enemies and Persecutors, according to that of Isa. 53.12. He made intercession for the transgressors. And this was fulfilled in that Prayer, Luke 23.24. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. So Psal. 69.21. In my thirst they give me vinegar, to drink. Fulfilled as before. That they should divide his Apparel, and cast Lots for his upper Garment: Psal. 22.18. They part my garment among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. Fulfilled, Mat. 27.35. And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots. Well then, all these Particulars foretold of the Messiah were exactly fulfilled in our Savior, and so conduce to settle our Hearts in believing his Person and Office: Well then might he say now, It is finished.

2. That the substance of the Types were accomplished in him, as that of the Brazen Serpent, the Paschal Lamb, the Daily and Yearly Sacrifices, the Offering of Isaac ; all which praefigured, that Christ should die for the Sins of the World. As Abraham offered his only Son Isaac to God as a Proof and Demonstration of his Faith and Obedience: Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me, Gen. 22.12. So God gave his Son as a proof and demonstration of his Love, 1 John 4.10. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins. Isaac carried the Wood to the Sacrifice of himself, so did Christ his Cross. The lifting up of the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness, that whosoever looked upon it should be healed, Numb. 21.9. And Moses made a serpent, and put it upon a pole, and it come to pass that if any serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. This figured Christ lifted up upon the Cross, that all those bitten by the old Serpent might by looking be cured, John 3.14, 15. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal Life. The Paschal Lamb was slain just at the time when Christ died, and his Flesh eaten, not a Bone broken, John 19.33. His Blood sprinkled on the Door-Posts; all which were accomplished in Christ, who is the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world, John 1.29. The Daily Sacrifice was offered Morning and Evening, to show our daily Use of Christ, who was a Lamb without spot and blemish, 1 Pet. 1.19. The Anniversary Sacrifice of the two Goats on the day of Expiation, Numb. 16. when there was a live Goat to be sent into the Wilderness, and the other was slain, and Aaron was to put both his hands upon the Head of the Scape-Goat, confessing the Sins of the People, and that Scape Goat was to carry all their Sins into the Land of Forgetfulness; all which signified the Expiation of all our Sins by Christ dying for our Offences, and rising again for our Justification. For the Scape Goat was sent into the Wilderness, far from the Sanctuary, to show that all our Sins are put far away out of God's sight; the other Goat is said to be kept for the Lord, that it might be slain, and be offered to him for Sacrifice upon the Altar. Well now, these and all other Types were finished, that is, obtained their End and Accomplishment.

3. All was finished, that was necessary to make him a fit Pattern of Patience to us. For he had born the extremity of his Enemies Malice, all that Man or Devils could by the permission of God execute upon him; for he saith, Luke 22.53. This is your hour, and the power of darkness. Yea he had drunk up the Cup, which the Father had put into his hands, to the very Dreggs. One end of Christ's Death was to give us an Example, 1 Pet. 2.21. Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps. Now here is a full Copy and Pattern of the right way of Suffering for all his own to imitate.

1. From the Matter, Are you tempted and opposed by Satan and his Instruments? So was Christ. Have you discountenance from Men? Christ had much more. Doth God seem to forsake you? So he did by Christ. Are you sain to lie on your Knees crying for Mercy? Christ in the days of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications, with strong cries and tears, to him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, Heb. 5.7. Are you mocked, reviled, buffeted, contumeliously used? So was Christ. Are you scourged, put to Death by violence? So was Christ.

2. From the manner, with Meekness and Constancy; With Meekness, not as Swine, but as Sheep, Isa. 53.7. As a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 1 Pet. 2.23. Who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Though he had not in the least kind offended either God or Man, yet he was handled as a Sinner; and when foul Crimes were laid to his Charge, he did not repay his Slanderers in their own Coin, but resigned himself to God to deal with him, and his Persecutors, as he saw fitting; he vented no Carnal Passion. So for Constancy; he continued till all was finished, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, Phil. 2.8. When he was tempted to descend from the Cross, he would not, but stayed there as long as it was necessary; to show us, that we should not descend from our Cross, and free ourselves from Tribulation by Sin till all be finished. If God keepeth us long in an oppressed State without Relief or Deliverance, do not make hast, but tarry his leisure. If by Providence you are unequally yoked, bear your Cross as long as God seeth fit to continue it to you. If it be a long Imprisonment, a long tedious Sickness, or any other Affliction, do not descend from your Cross till God take it off, and help not yourselves by Sin out of Affliction.

3. From the End; the bitterest Trouble will at length have an end. Christ was a Man of Sorrows all his Days, Tempted, Despised, Persecuted, Censured, Scourged, Crucified, but at length the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , It is finished, cometh, and there is a kind of Triumph over all his Enemies and Calamities. To teach us to finish our Course with perseverance and patience, that at the last we may say, we are come to the end of our Sorrows. His laborious Pilgrimage was now over, and there will a time come when ours shall be over also. Christ's Life was a continual Cross and constant Affliction, but at length all was finished, and the Sorrows of thirty three Years recompensed with Glory and Honor, and great Fruit and Success in the Affairs of his Kingdom. What is a little momemtary Suffering to the rest of Eternity? For a little while he was the despising of Men, and the leaving off of the People; but afterwards God exalted him, and gave him a Name above all Names. The perfidious Jews rejoiced for a while, but a sad Reckoning came afterwards; Judas had a small time to enjoy his thirty Pieces; Pilate within a while rued his Facility, and yielding to the Importunity of the Jews : But as to Afflictions holily suffered, stay a little, and all the bitter part will be over.

4. All was fulfilled, which God determined to be done for the expiation of Sin: So that no more Ransom is to be paid; our Debt is satisfied; Divine Justice hath no more demand to us; Sin, Satan, and Death, are spoiled and disarmed, and way is made for our Salvation to be owned, as coming from Christ alone. This is the main Circumstance, and therefore I shall explain it a little.

• 1. Negatively.
• 2. Positively.

1. Negatively; And there, (1.) In regard of Christ himself: And, (2.) In respect of us.

1. In regard of Christ himself. Not as if all the necessary Acts of his Mediation were now past. Death was just at hand, and was comprised in the Expression • his lying in the Grave was but the continuation of his Abasement, till the time of his Exaltation should come. But in the way of satisfying Justice he had no more to do; whatever was done afterwards was by way of Reward, not to satisfy Justice, but to satisfy the World of the Dignity of his Person. He was to Rise from the Dead, and ascend into Glory, that's for our more abundant Comfort. His Resurrection was his solemn Acquittance, our Surety was let out of Prison, Rom. 4.25. Who was delivered for our offenses, and rose again for our justification. His Ascension was, that we might have a Friend at God's right hand to appear for us, Heb. 8.12. We have such an High-priest, who is sat on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens. Heb. 9.24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us : That being in a glorified and exalted condition, he might powerfully apply his Purchase, and by his Spirit communicate the Fruits thereof to Believers. And he is to come to Judgment, to bless and reward his People, and to punish his Enemies. But all the Sufferings are now completed, or about to be completed, which he was to suffer for our Sins.

2. In respect of us: It is not so finished, but that something is to be done by the Creature. Though the Satisfaction be never so perfect, yet there is a necessity of Application. The Sacrifice and Atonement is sufficient, but it must be applied in the way appointed by God. The means of Applying are partly Internal, which qualify the Subject, and make us capable of the benefit of this Atonement and Satisfaction, which are Faith and Repentance, and also new Obedience as the consequent of both, for Repentance is a returning to our Duty to God, and Faith a thankful owning of our Redeemer, by whom we return; and if we are serious and real, all will end in new Obedience and Holiness, or else we are liable to Wrath still. Faith is necessary, Rom. 3.25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Repentance is necessary, Acts 3.19. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. New Obedience is necessary, Heb. 5.9. He is become the author of eternal salvation to all that obey him. And partly External by the Word and Sacraments: The Word, John 17.19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth. The Word calleth upon us to accept of Christ, and that Life and Mercy which is offered to us in him. The Sacraments, which are Baptism, and the Lord's Supper: By Baptism, we profess, and are obliged to put on Christ, Gal. 3.27. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Or to apply him to ourselves as a Garment to the Body, that he may communicate to us his Righteousness, Life, and Spirit. And by the Lord's Supper we come more abundantly to take part in this Consolation, 1 Cor. 10.16. The cup of blessing which we bl • ss, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? That is, hereby we are solemnly made Partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ, and the Benefits purchased thereby.

2. Positively; that the Work of our Redemption, so far as related to Sufferings, was now about to be Consummate. Christ's Sacrifice, which he was about to offer for us, was no imperfect Sacrifice. This appeareth by his Message to Herod, Luke 13.32. I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. That is, the Work of his Office was then fully to be accomplished, Heb. 2.10. The captain of our salvation was made perfect through sufferings. Christ as Mediator seemed to lack something, till the full number of his Sorrows was accomplished, then he was perfectly fitted to do us good. So Heb. 10.14. By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified : As to an Offering, there needeth no more. A patched Salvation, of half of Christ, and of half of the Creature, will not do good; as if Christ must do a part, and we must merit the rest; This is inconsistent with God's Design; we must not part Stakes with God; this is neither for our Comfort, God's Glory, nor our Redeemer's Welcom to Heaven. No, Christ is a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, he could avouch his Work before the Tribunal of God, all is finished. Now he can plead his Right a • the Bar of Justice, Psal. 2.8. Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

II. The Evidences and Reasons of this complete Satisfaction.

1. From the Dignity of the Person satisfying. Two Things are required in our Mediator, that he might be a sufficient Undertaker for us. One is, That he should be perfectly Holy and Righteous; for how could he redeem us from Sin, who being defiled with Sin, had needed to be redeemed himself. The second was, that he should be a Divine and Infinite Person; for Sin being committed against an Infinite Majesty, therefore the Suffering, by which it must be expiated, must be of an infinite Value. Now both these do perfectly concur in Christ, for as Man He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, Heb. 7.26. And died, The just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, 1 Pet. 3.18. He was perfectly Holy, even Holiness itself, Luke 1.35. That holy thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. As he was God over all blessed forever, he was capable to give a Value to his Sufferings: To which purpose, God is said to purchase the Church with his own Blood, Acts 20.28. Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. In short, God was resolved to lose no Glory by the Fall, and therefore whosoever was the Redeemer, he was to restore what Adam took away by the Fall. God's Authority was violated by the Creatures Transgression, whose Command was just, and our Obedience reasonable: Now it was meet, that God should keep up the Authority of his Law. His Majesty also was despised, in slighting the Threatning, and his Holiness wronged, as if he did not hate Sin; and his Justice and Truth, as if he would not Punish it; his Power lessened, for Sin is an Act of Presumption, and implieth a Contest with God. Now in all these Respects it was necessary, that God should vindicate his Glory, and be no Loser, which was fully brought to pass by Christ, to whom there is in Scripture a double Fulness and Sufficiency attributed: A Fulness of Grace or Holiness, For it pleased the father, that in him should all fullness dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself, Col. 1.19, 20. And therefore he is said, To be full of grace and truth, that of his fullness we may all receive, and grace for grace, John 1.14, 16. Besides this, there is a fullness of the Godhead, that dwelt in him bodily, Col. 2.9. Not Mystically and Spiritually, as in Believers; not Symbolically, as in the Sacraments; not Typically, as in the Law: But Bodily, that is, Really and Personally, as Body is opposed to Shadow, or noteth a Person. Well then; the Argument is strong, if the Person satisfying were not only Holy and Undefiled, but also Infinite, the Satisfaction also must be Infinite, and therefore most Perfect and Sufficient; for what can be Greater and more Perfect than what is Infinite? And therefore all is finished; if such a Person will take a Body, and die for us, there needeth no other Satisfaction.

2. I Reason from the Unity of the Mediatory Office, and that Oblation or Sacrifice which was made by Christ, by Virtue of that Office, 2 Cor. 5.14. If one died for all, then were all dead. 1 Tim. 2.5. There is one Mediator between God and Man, the man Christ Jesus. And as these places prove, that there is but one Mediator; so there is but one Sacrifice: Heb. 10.10. By the which Will we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And Vers. 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Rom. 5.18. By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all to justification of life. Heb. 9.26. But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Vers. 28. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. The Scripture so emphatically insisting upon this Term, Once, certainly all is finished, there needeth no more to be done by us to satisfy God's Justice, that is sufficiently done already.

3. From the greatness of the Punishment imposed upon Christ. For if he suffered all the Punishments due to us, it cannot be that anything more should be done to pacify God; all is finished. Now Christ omitted none of those Things, which Divine Justice required: He fulfilled all Righteousness, Mat. 3.15. Was obedient to death, even the death of the cross, Phil. 2.8. Yea, and suffered all those Things, which the Law did put upon Sinners, either as to Loss, or Sense; as to Desertion, or as to the Curse: And therefore he is said, To bear our griefs, and carry our sorrows, and to be wounded for our transgressions, and to be bruised for our iniquities, Isa 53.4, 5. To be made a curse for us, Gal. 3.15. To be made sin for us, 2 Cor. 5.21. God spared him not, but put him to Grief, not out of Hatred to his Son, but Love to our Salvation. Hence those Agonies of Christ, and Prayers, and Tears, and strong Cries.

4. From God's Approbation of the Person and Sacrifice of Christ. If God did so far approve the Sacrifice of Christ, as willingly to accept it for our Redemption, that upon it he grounded a Covenant, and made Offers of Terms of Grace to us, and Reconciliation with us; there is no question, but that upon Christ's Death all was finished. No more was necessary for paying the Price, and Ransom, for God the most just Judge would not accept of an imperfect Satisfaction, or give Testimony that he was well pleased with it. But that Christ's Person and Sacrifice was approved of God is evident, not only as he appointed it, and surely he will Accept what he hath Appointed; not only also by the Miracles which he wrought when alive, which evidenced his Commission, Acts 2.22. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you ; but chiefly by the Resurrection of Christ, which was not only a Testimony of the Truth, and Dignity of his Person, Rom. 1.4. And declared to be the son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead ; but it was a clear Argument of the perfectness of his Satisfaction. For unless he had abundantly satisfied God, how could God, who as a just Judge had appointed him to die for our Sins, raise him up from the Dead? Would an upright Judge deliver a Debtor, or his Surety from Prison, unless first full Payment had been made? Would God show himself willing to be Reconciled to us, if yet there remained any Wrath to be appeased, any farther Ransom necessary to be paid for us? Now in the Scripture Christ is sometimes said to rise from the Dead to show his Divine Power; sometimes to be raised by God to show the Fulness of his Satisfaction, Acts 2.24. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of them. When Christ was raised, our Surety was let out of Prison: And the Scripture hath delivered it to us under that Notion, Isa. 53.8. He was taken from Prison, and from judgment, and who shall declare his Generation? For he was cut off from the land of the Living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. The Lord sent an Angel to remove his Grave-stone, not to supply any lack of Power in Christ, but to show he was fully Appeased, and Satisfied. Therefore it is said, Heb. 13.20. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. Mark, through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant he is become the God of Peace, through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant he brought Christ from the Dead. He doth not only do us good, but lets go our Surety through the Virtue of that Blood. The Phrase of Bringing again from the Dead, is Emphatical, Christ did not break Prison, but was brought forth as the Apostles, Acts 16.39. The Magistrates came to the Prison, and brought them out. Christ rose not only by his own Power, but by the Father's Authority: If our Surety had perished in Prison, we could have no Assurance; or if he had continued still under Death, the World could have no Discharge: But Christ rose again, and is not only taken out of Prison, but carried up to God in Glory and Honor. 1 Tim. 3.16. Received up into glory. It is not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Actively he Ascended, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Passively he was Raised up ; God hath Rewarded him: And therefore he hath perfectly done his Work; God hath not only taken him out of the Grave, but taken him up to Glory. Certainly God is well pleased, since he hath given him not only a Discharge, but a Reward. Christ undertaking for us, is somewhat like that of Reuben for Benjamin, Gen. 43.9. I will be surety for him, of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. Let me see thy Face no more. Christ undertook to carry it through, and failed not in the Enterprize.

III. What Comfort is this to poor Sinners, since though there be a full Satisfaction, Conditions are required, which we are not able to perform, e're we can have Benefit, and we find Sin remaining in us, so that it is finished, and unfinished as to us?

I answer, There is great Comfort in God's general Grace, before it be particularly applied, and exhibited to us in the Effects, and Sense thereof. A sufficient Sacrifice and Ransom given for you is the Foundation of all solid Peace, for it is the Foundation of the Gospel, or of the Covenant of Grace. I shall prove it by these Reasons.

1. Because this answereth the grand Scruple which haunteth the Creature, and is at the bottom of all our Fears; namely, how God's Justice shall be appeased? Micah 6.6, 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? The way of appeasing God's Anger hath been an old Controversy, that hath troubled all Nations, and till it be answered and fully determined, Man is not perfect as appertaining to the Conscience, Heb. 9.9. Though God be infinitely Merciful, yet he is infinitely Just; and we can expect no more from his Mercy, than we may fear from his Justice. Guilty Nature still presageth Evil to us, till there be something Penal endured, and something of Price and Value given to appease Justice.

2. That God now looketh for no Satisfaction at your hand, it is all done perfectly by Christ, all is finished; he satisfied for us, that we might not be obliged to satisfy in our own Persons, Heb. 1.3. When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Isa. 53.5. By his stripes we are healed. It was at his Cost that our Recovery was brought about.

3. In this Provision, we see the Will of God putting forth itself for our help in the most astonishing way that could be imagined, 1 Tim. 3.16. Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh. 1 John. 4.10. Herein was love, not that we loved God, but God loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. This is such an unusual expression of Love, such an engaging Instance, so much surpassing our Thoughts, that we cannot sufficiently admire it. When God laid such a broad Foundation, surely he intended some notable Grace to us.

4. Here is a full Answer to those usual Objections which are raised by broken Hearts, as the number, and greatness, and heinousness of our Sins; for as such they shall not be your Ruin: As great as they are, God can with honor pardon them, for barely to plead the number of Sins, or greatness of Sins, is to lessen the Price: The Messiah came, Dan. 9.24. To finish transgression; and to make an end of sin, and to bring in everlasting Righteousness. There is no Sin so great, but the Redeemer's Merit can countervail it. And no Man shall perish for the want of the Payment of his Ransom, or an Expiatory Sacrifice for his Sins. He may perish for his Impenitency and Unbelief, but not merely for the Greatness of his Sin; for what Sin is so great, that it is not, or cannot be expiated by the Blood of Christ? Christ's Satisfaction maketh the Salvation of the worst possible; you may have Peace with God if you will.

5. It bindeth our Duty the closer upon us. No Man shall perish but for want of a willing Heart to accept of the Redeemer, who hath paid our Ransom, and of the Grace which he hath brought to us, by which we may be interested, and instated, in the Benefits of this Ransom. All things are ready if we are ready, Luke 14.17. Come, for all things are now ready. God's Fatlings are killed, his Wines are mingled, if we will not come to the Feast, we perish through our own default. We need confer nothing, all is but to receive the Benefits propounded and offered; Victory over Death, Hell, Sin, Satan is ready, yea Heaven is ready: and all Spiritual Blessings are ready, if we are ready. For the Merit and Satisfaction of Christ, is the great cause of all that Blessedness which is offered to the Creature. God hath opened the way to all, if they will not enter into it they perish by their own default. He hath sent Preachers into all the World, Mark 16.15, 16. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. Tit. 2.11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Let not us refuse our Cure, though we must take a bitter Potion; though we must enter in by the strait Gate of Faith and Repentance, and walk in the narrow way of Self-denial, and all holy Conversation, and Godliness; yet because it is to Life, and the Legal Exclusion is taken off, let us enter and walk in it. Indeed if the Door were shut against us by the Sentence of thr Law, and there was no way to remove the Bars and Bolts, our Excuse were more just, because then our Condition would be hopeless. But now all is finished, Salvation rendered possible, now God hath taken away the Bars and Bolts by which his Law shut us out from all hope; Let us not set up Bars and Bolts by our own Unbelief, and by our own Cowardly Fears. If Man were not Man, but a Beast, a Fool, or a Mad-man, it might more excusably be allowed to them to be led by Sense and Appetite, and then it were an intolerable thing to Crucify the Flesh, with the Affections thereof: But Man having Reason, doth know, or may know, that this Command of God is equal; that God doth not only require, but help us to perform it, and prevent us by his Grace.

6. It doth not only bind our Duty upon us, but it doth encourage us to Repent, and Believe, and Obey; for Christ is able to save to the utmost all those that come to God by him, Heb. 7.25. And he is the author and finisher of our faith, Heb. 12.2. And doth give repentance, as well as remission of sins, Acts 5.31. For to you it is given on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake, Phil. 1.29. The first Grace is his Gift, and his resolved Gift to the Elect, but all are to take their Lot. If it were said to us alone, That we should strive to enter in at the straight Gate, or that we alone should deny ourselves, and take up our Cross and follow him, it were hard: But when the same Terms are propounded to all, and when many, young and old, rich and poor, have received them, and have tried God's Ways, and it hath succeeded well with them upon Trial, why should we fear it? If nobody had done it, or could do it, then we might stick at God's Terms. This Argument Austin used to himself in his Conflicts of Conscience, Lib. 8. Confess. Cap. 11. When he had long withstood offers of Grace, he would then propound to himself the Example of others, Cur non poteris quod isti, & istae? Isti & istae non in se pouterunt, sed in Domino Deo suo. Why may not I, as well as those holy Men, and those good Women? They did it not in themselves, but in the strength of their God, and the power • f his Grace. The Yoke of Christ will be more easy than we think of, especially when it is lined with Grace.

7. When we have once accepted the Condition, cleared up our Title, then we shall have cause to Glory in the Lord, and be sensible indeed, that all things are finished which are necessary to our Comfort and Peace, and that this was a full Merit. As Paul would Glory in the Cross of Christ, Gal. 6.14. God forbid, that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. 8.1. There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. Then we shall make the bold Challenge of Faith, Rom. 8.33, 34. 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, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. If Christ had not made a full Expiation of all our Sins, we were under Condemnation still. He doth not say, there is nothing worthy of Condemnation in Believers, for as long as Sin and the Flesh remaineth in us, (which doth, as long as we live in the World,) there is a Potential Guilt of Damnation, an intrinsic Merit in our Actions of Death and Condemnation; yet the Actual Guilt, or Obligation, is taken away, because Christ is made a Curse for us. Well then, our solid Rejoicing to the lasts is in this complete Satisfaction: Rom. 5.11. We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement ; It is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , We Glory in God.

Use. Let this raise in us, 1. An hearty Thankfulness, and Admiration of the Love of Christ, who would not give over Suffering, till he could say, It is Finished ; till he had done enough to Glorify God, and Save the Creature; enough for the Destruction of Sin, as well as the Abolition of the Curse. Christ did not Compound, but paid the utmost Farthing. Oh! let us raise our Thoughts in the Consideration of this Love. His Enemies interrupted him, and tempted him to give over: Save thyself, if thou be the son of God, come down from the cross, Mat. 27.40, 42. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the Cross, and we will believe him. But because he was the Son of God, and the King of Israel, he would not come down, till he was taken down; and all was done that was necessary: All God's Works are perfect, Deut. 32.4. The Father ceased not, till upon the Sixth Day he had perfected the Work of the Creation, and upon the Seventh Day he Rested: So Christ will not come down, till he had finished the Work of Redemption on the Sixth Day, and on the Seventh he Rested in the Grave, and Rose early in the Morning on the First Day of the Week, to show the Truth of his Satisfaction. And the Holy-Ghost his Work is perfect, all the time of his Life he continueth increasing our Graces, but in the everlasting Sabbatism, when Sin shall be no more, his Work is brought to an end; And then he shall present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, Jude 24.

But what were the Reasons why Christ would not give over till all was perfected?

1. Love to his Father, John 18.11. The Cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? Christ loved the Father with unspeakable Love, and was in like manner beloved by him. Therefore when this Cup was put into his hands by his Father, he would drink it off to the very bottom.

2. Love to the Church, Eph. 5.25, 26. Even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the Word, &c. And Rev. 1.5, 6. To him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. The Church was given for a Spouse to Christ, but we were polluted and defiled with Sin, he would not only cleanse it, but make it a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, Eph. 5.27. Christ loved the Church, and therefore it was not grievous to him to wash it with his Blood. Because Jacob loved Rachel, he served seven Years for her in Heats and Frosts by Night and Day, and they seemed to him but a few days for the love he had to her, Gen. 29.20. So the Son of God loved the Church, and therefore endured all these Indignities, and grievous Passions.

3. He had respect to that eminent Glory set before him, Heb. 12.2. Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our Faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Though the Way was rough, the Prize was excellent, and so he run through all the Pain and Shame, and attained the eternal Crown of Glory. He endured cruel Pains in his Body, and bitter Sorrows in his Soul, such as never any Man did suffer, never any Angel could have born as he did, so dear did it cost our Savior to make a Propitiation for our Sins. That which in all this did strengthen and encourage him, was the Joy set before him, namely, that happy and glorious Estate which followed upon his Sufferings, so that his Burden was made the lighter, and his Sorrows much abated. Oh let us think of this! 'It is not a lessening his Love to us, for he needed not to put himself into this condition. Herein he was our Example, to teach us how to sweeten the Cross, and as our Mediator he is gone to Heaven to prepare a Place for us, John 14.2, 3. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.

2. Let it raise in us a Confidence of the Benefits purchased. For Christ expresseth himself as a Conqueror, and in a kind of Triumph over the Devil, and all the Enemies of our Salvation. The Wrath of God is appeased, Rom. 5.9. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. The Law is satisfied, Gal. 4.4, 5. God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the Law; to redeem them that were under the Law. Satan is vanquished, John 12.31. Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the Prince of this world be cast out. Guilt is removed, Eph. 1.7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Sin is subdued, Rom. 6.6. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Death is unstinged, 1 Cor. 15.55, 56, 57. Oh Death! where is thy sting? Oh Grave! where is thy victory? The sting of Death is sin, and the strength of Sin is the Law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Curse is removed, Gal. 3.13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us. Surely where Christ beginneth, he will make an end. We cannot have too high Thoughts of the Blood of Christ, Heb. 9.13, 14. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the • lood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your consciences from dead works, to serve the living God. Let us stand still now, and behold the Salvation of God, and Echo to Christ's Cry, It is finished, it is finished. What can the Law crave more than the Blood of the Son of God? What will make us perfect as appertaining to the Conscience, if this will not? Being justified by his Blood, we shall be saved from Wrath through him. Christ hath so far obtained Pardon, and Acceptance for us, that he hath made an end of Sin for all that are willing to accept of his Grace upon God's Terms.

3. Let it quicken us to Perseverance in our Duty, notwithstanding Sufferings, till all be ended; that when we come to die, we may be able to say, John 17.4. I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. 2 Tim. 4.7, 8. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. If Christ out of Love to us would finish the Work of our Redemption, What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Rom. 8.39.

4. It teacheth us how to comfort ourselves in Death. It finisheth all our Labors and Sorrows, as Christ showeth when he was about to give up the Ghost, Isa. 57.2. He shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds. Believers have a Joy set before them, as well as Christ. The Wicked cannot say, It is finished ; their Evils are then begun.

5. Let us believe Things to come. The Event showeth, that all these Things were true, which the Prophets had so long before foretold: The Holy-Ghost cannot be deceived, nor can God lie. We are certain, that Things yet to come shall be fulfilled, as well as these which are past. Those who lived before Christ's time, had not such an Experiment of God's Truth as we have. We have seen the Coming of Christ, let us so fix our Minds on future Things, as to draw them off from Earthly.

I come to the later part of the Text. Some read it, that first he Died, and then bowed the Head, there being no Spirit left to support it; but Christ first bowed the Head, and then died, he did as it were beckon to Death to come, and do its Office. He yielded up the Ghost, his Soul was truly separated from his Body. The form of Resignation we have, Luke 23.46. Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. Wicked Men, because they die against their Wills, their Souls are said to be taken away, Luke 12.20. Thou fool! this night thy Soul shall be required of thee. Job 27.8. For what is the hope of the Hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his Soul. But Christ yieldeth it up; and for a Godly Man to give up the Ghost, noteth his Faith, Submission, and Willingness to depart out of the Body. As the Prophet saith of Christ, Isa. 53.12. He hath poured out his Soul unto death. Death did not surprise him.

Doctr: When all things were finished, Christ freely and willingly gave up the Ghost. His Life was not taken away, but resigned; there was much of Violence, but no Coaction. The Term, Giving up the Ghost, doth not imply the bare Death of Christ, but that he died willingly and freely. Nihil in hoc Christo est, nisi profusa liberalitas misericordiae, & remissionis peccatorum. I can see nothing in this Christ, but a prodigality of Love and Mercy. He had freely emptied his Veins in the Garden, every Pore became an Eye, and wept Blood for your sakes, and now he cometh to pour out his Soul.

Reasons why Christ was so willing to die.

1. Out of Obedience to his Father. The Divine Decrees had laid a necessity upon him, and where the Father saith Must, Christ saith, I will. Matth. 26.54, 55. Thinkest thou not, that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve Legions of Angels? (which was the just number of a Roman Army;) But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? Christ willingly took this Necessity upon him; it was but Necessitas ex Hypothesi, had it not been for his Eternal Consent, it would never have been said, Thus it must be. Luke 22.37. This that is written must be accomplished. Luke 24.46. Thus it is written, and thus it behooveth Christ to suffer. It was a Necessity of his own making; he was not compelled to Accept of the Conditions from God, nor forced by the Violence of Man • o yield up his Life. John 10.18. 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 up again. This commandment have I received of my father.

2. Out of Love to us. The Jews crucified him, but Love made him die, we had else perished forever. The Law laid it upon us, but Love made Christ take it upon himself; Isa. 53.4. Surely he hath born our griefs, and carried our Sorrows. Justice demanded it of us, but Christ said, I will be responsible, exact it of me; Mat. 20.28. Even as the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. He took Life to lay it down at the demand of Justice. Justice said, I must have a Ransom; Christ said, Take it of me, let these go. Job 33.24. Then he is gracious unto them, and saith; Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. The Father received it, and Christ paid it. As the Angel said to Abraham, Gen. 22.12. Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. Justice would have reached forth a deadly stroke to us, but Christ catched the blow.

3. This would finish his Labors. Death was Christ's last Enemy, of his Person, as well as of his Kingdom. He had been harassed, and worn out with Sorrows, the Grave was a place of Rest, it was finished as to him: Isa. 57.2. He •• all enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds. Death was the end of Christ's Journey, and all his Labors in the Flesh. The Grave was a dark dismal place, till Christ went into it; ever since it is but a Chamber of Rest, and Christ keepeth the Key of it: Isa. 26.20. Enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment.

4. This furthered his Triumph, and made it every way more complete. By dying, Christ carried the War into his Enemies Land, and foiled Death in its own Territory, and made Death itself Mortal by lying in the Grave. The Cross and the Grave were the means of Christ's Triumph; by these the Devil thought to foil him, and by these he triumphed: He conquered Satan and Sin, when they seemed to have most power upon him; like angry Bees, they stung him, and disarmed themselves. Heb. 2.14. That through death he might destroy him, that had the power of Death, that is, the Devil. Col. 2.15. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , i. e. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; On the Cross: Eph. 2.16. Having slain the enmity thereby ; that is, by his Cross formerly spoken of. When he was slain himself, then he slew Death, and the Law. Christ's crucifying was his Exaltation, and Preferment. It is twice expressed by lifting up, John 3.14. So shall the son of man be lifted up. John 12.32, 33. I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men after me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. The Grave was consecrated and sanctified by Christ's lying there. Duo in cruce affixi intelliguntur, (saith Origen ) Christus visibiliter sponte su • ad tempus, Diabolus invisibiliter invitus in perpetuum. There were two crucified at once, Christ visibly of his own accord, for a time only▪ the Devil invisibly against his will forever. Christ received a slight hurt in his Heel, but he bruised Satan's Head.

5. He was hastening to his own Glory. Heb. 12.2. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He was thinking of his Welcom to Heaven; Oh what sweet Embraces there would be between the Father and him! Psal. 110.1. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thy enemies thy footstool. Dan. 7.13, 14. I saw in the night-visions, and behold one like the son of man came with the clouds of Heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that, which shall not be destroyed. How the Angels should usher him into Glory, though there were two left with shining Garments to give satisfaction to his Disciples: Acts 1.10, 11. While they looked steadfastly towards Heaven as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel, which said, Ye men of Galilee! why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so return in like manner, as ye have seen him go into heaven. Christ was thinking how his Father would embrace him, put the Crown upon his Head, bid him sit down at his right hand, and how there he was to be Royally attended. And this doth not derogate from his Love to us, for he went to prepare a Place for us, and, as our fore-runner, is entered into Glory, and because he lives, we shall live also.

1 Use. To commend the Love of Christ to us.

1. That he should die; this was an incomparable condescension of his Love. Simeon suffered himself to be bound for his Brethren, Gen. 42.24. Lot proffers his Daughters to save his Guests, Gen. 19.8. But Christ would lay down his Life. If it were in our choice, who would die? Who would be tumbled into a Pit of Darkness, a cold Hole, where he should see the Sun no more? We would live forever: It is not put to our choice, but it is in our wishes▪ But Christ might have chosen whether he would die or no, and yet he died.

2. Christ had more reason to love his Life than we have; He had a delicate Body, and the Social Presence of the Godhead. The poorest Worm in the world desires to keep its Life, Job 2.4. Skin for skin, yea all that a man hath will he give for his life ; That is, a Man would part with all, for Skins were the Barter of those days. And the more excellent the Life is, the more desire Men have to keep it, as young Men, whose Marrow is in their Bones, to them Life is Life indeed. The Woman that was broken and spent with old Age, yet spent, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , all her living on Physicians, Luke 8.43. Christ had reason to love Life upon a Natural Respect; he was about 33 Years old; and upon a Spiritual Respect, his Human Nature enjoyed the near presence of the God-head, but when he was in his full vigor and strength, he willingly died.

3. That Death which he died was a sad bloody Death, the saddest Death that any Man could die. He was weakened with the Agonies in the Garden, They pierced his hands and his feet, Psal. 22.16. The Sinewy Parts of his Body were pierced with Nails, his Life dropping out by degrees, the Irons opened a passage for his Soul. And, which was more than all, he suffered under the wrath of God, Mat. 27.46. My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?

4. It was a shameful Death, he suffered as a Malefactor, Isa. 53.12. He was numbered with the transgressors. He was Crucified between two Thieves, In medio latronum tanquam latronum, maximus, as if he were the greatest of them. He was treated as a Sinner, we are made the Sons of God. Job was called Hypocrite by his Friends, but he would maintain his Righteousness till death: Job 27.6. My Righteousness will I hold fast, and will not let it go, my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. Eusebius Vercellensis. chose rather to starve in Prison, then that it should be said, he had eaten with the Arians. Christ takes it patiently to die as a Thief, an Impostor, a Traitor, John 18.30. If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. The High Priest charged him with Blasphemy, Mat. 26.65. Then the High-priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy, what further need have we of witnesses? Behold now ye have heard his blasphemy. The Disciples began to doubt of him, and to look on him as an Impostor, Luke 24.21. We trusted that it had been he, that should have redeemed Israel. By God himself, when he had taken our Sins upon him, he was dealt with as a Transgressor, 1 Pet. 4.1. He that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sin. He was as a Sinner before, Heb. 9.28. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many An ingenious Man • alueth his good Name above all Enjoyments: There was enough to clear Christ's Innocency, yet in the repute of the world he suffered as a Malefactor. Oh how unlike is Christ to the Men of the World! Christ is Innocent, and accounted a Transgressor; they are Transgressors, yet would fain be accounted Innocent, as Saul said to Samuel, 1 Sam. 15.30. I have sinned, yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel. We are more careful of Credit than Conscience, and would not be accounted Sinners, yet do not fear to be so. What a comfort is this to Believers, that Satan cannot lay more to your charge, than his Instruments did to Jesus Christ.

5. He submitted to this Death most willingly. He thirsted, and longed to pay the Ransom for us; here was not so much pain and shame as there was willingness, Gal. 1.4. Who gave himself for our sins. There was not only the Acts of the Father in giving Christ, but a peculiar Act of Christ, He gave himself. How freely did Christ empty his Veins, and let out his Soul! it was no more to Christ to pour out his Soul, than for the Minister to pour out the Wine. We pray, as if we were afraid to be heard; we hear, as if we were loath to be saved; we serve God, as if we were loath to please him; there is a grudging in our Acts of Duty, but Christ was free, and willing to die for us.

6. His Blood was spilled in Malice, it might have cried for Vengeance, yet it crieth for Pardon, it had the Perfume of an infinite Merit: Heb. 12.24. The blood of sprinkling speaketh better things than that of Abel. As to Abel 's Blood that crieth for Vengeance, Gen. 4.10. The voice of thy Brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground : Christ's Blood cries for Pardon. As to the Actors, his Blood would not have been a Curse to them, if they had hearken'd to the Voice of the Gospel. But to speak of ourselves; we by our Sins had made our Lord to serve and die, yet doth not his Blood speak against us, as Abel 's did against Cain, but it speaks to God, to pacify his Wrath, and to pardon us. Our Sins cry, Lord! forgive not: Isa. 2.9. The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself, therefore forgive them not. They speak in our Conscience, ye deserve Death. But Christ's Blood speaketh words of Peace and Comfort to cleanse it, and make it quiet; when Wrath is ready to break out from Justice, it still crieth, Father! it is finished: Christ's Blood yet speaketh. When the awakened Conscience lies in fear of the offended Judge, and is vexed with the restless Accusations of Satan, the Blood of Christ speaketh better things, viz. it is all forgiven, it is all expiated by my Merit.

2 Use. This affords much comfort to humbled Sinners; Take Christ as freely, as he freely offereth himself for you; he resigned up himself to Death, and will not you resign up yourselves by Faith? He poured out his Soul to Death, and will not you pour out your Souls into his Bosom? Consider, all the Persons of the Trinity are willing, and wi • l not you? The Father gave him, John 3.16. God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. Christ gave himself, Gal. 2.20. Who loved me, and gave himself for me. The Spirit is willing, he is grieved with your neglect and refusal, Mat. 23.37. How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not! Oh! pour out your Souls in Faith and Prayer, as Christ did his upon the Cross.

3 Use. Let us learn to imitate Christ; at the close of his Life, he said, It is finished, and so bowed the Head, and gave up the Ghost. Believers have a Joy set before them as well as Christ; it is not so with wicked Men, they cannot say, that with them it is begun, their Heaven endeth when they come to die; but God's People should take Death cheerfully, if they can say as Christ, John 17.4. Father, I have glorified thee on the earth▪ I have finished the work that thou gav • st me to do. Let the Death be violent or natural, it is a • l one, whether we are a Peace-Offering, or a Burnt-Offering, there is more of Man's Ma • ice in a vio • ent Death, but it cannot hurt us. But alas! Men generally do not live as if they did look to die, and therefore they do not die as if they did look to live; and so here they would not d • e, and there they would not live.

A SERMON UPON ECCLES. VII.29.

THERE are two things in this Scripture.

• 1. The Righteousness of God in his Work about Men, God made Man upright.
• 2. Man's perverse Subtilty in inventing Ways of Backsliding and Apostasy from God, But they sought out many Inventions.

From this latter part observe, Doct. That Man fell from the Integrity of his first Estate, and is ever since full of evil and fruitless Inventions.

• I. I shall speak to this Point as it is represented in the Text.
• II. Give some Considerations as to the general Case.

1. The Persons, [ they ]; the Expression was singular before, God made Adam upright, but now plural; not only to include both our first Parents, but all their Posterity: Adam had his Invention, and all his Posterity theirs. The Devil inspired Adam with a sad and doleful Invention, to go about to find out another Happiness than God had appointed. Adam could not content himself with this kind of Happiness, but fancied to himself an higher Perfection, and yielded to follow these new-devised Ways of Blessedness, which Satan and his own deceived Heart did suggest to him. And this Invention hath invented and found out all the Sin and Misery under which the World groaneth. As Adam had his Invention, so all his Posterity theirs: We are inventing still to make ourselves more miserable. The least Ebolitions of Sin are expressed in the Old Testament by Imaginations, in the New by Lusts. In the Old Testament by Imaginations ; Jer. 18.12. And they said, There is no Hope; but we will walk after our own Devices, and we will everyone do the Imagination of his evil Heart. Gen. 6.5. And God saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth, and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually. In the New by Lusts ; James 1.14. But every Man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own Lust, and enticed. Titus 3.3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers Lusts. Not only the desiring, but the understanding Faculty is corrupt: Therefore 'tis said, Prov. 1.31. They shall eat the Fruit of their own Way, and be filled with their own Devices. Jer. 6.19. Behold, I will bring upon this People even the Fruit of their Thoughts: Meaning the Evil which their own Devices and Practices had procured to themselves. Everyone of us have our Devices, Ways, and Haunts of Sin, whereby we make ourselves more wretched and sinful.

2. Their Act, They sought out ; that showeth the Voluntariness and Studiousness of Man's Defection; it is their own Act and Deed, and their Hearts are set upon it. It is said, Jonah 2.8. They that observe lying Vanities, forsake their own Mercies. They set their Minds a-work, prostitute their Reason to their Senses: All Men's Projects, what do they tend to, but the Satisfaction of their own Lusts, to cater for the Body, and gratify the Animal Life? Making Provision for the Flesh, to fulfil the Lusts thereof, Rom. 13.14. Taking thought what they shall eat, or what they shall drink, Mat. 6.25. Their Care is about the base and brutish Part, more than about the Soul; how to adorn the Body, and gratify the Body, and for this the Soul must be made a Slave. There is a perverse Diligence in Men to corrupt themselves.

3. The Object, with its Number, Many Inventions ▪ There is some difference in the Translations: Ludovic •• de Die • , because the Word for many ▪ signifieth also great and mighty, rendereth it, Ipsi autem▪ qu • siverunt cogitations magnatum ; meaning by the Mighty the Angels, who were not contented with their own Station, but forsook it, Jude, v. 6. Certain it is, the Devil's first Temptation was, Gen. 3.5. Ye shall be as God's ; that is, advance into a more honorable and noble Condition than now you are in. These Thoughts being suggested by Satan, they ambitiously entertained them. The Vulgar readeth it▪ Se infin • tis miscuit quaestionibus. Adam at first out of Curiosity would know Good and Evil; and ever since we have been sick of Questions, questioning this, and questioning that, and have no clear Light to guide us. The Septuagint render it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , they sought out many Ratiocinations: We grope in a maze of Uncertainties, and so entangle ourselves the more. Our Heavenly Wisdom is lost by our Sin and Rebellion, and instead thereof we have gotten a false Carnal Wisdom; which is Enmity to God, Rom. 8.7. and only inclineth us to a false Happiness, James 3.15. to the Pleasures, Honors and Profits of the present World; and so are given up to an injudicious Mind, and are left in the Hands of our own Counsel, which is the heaviest Plague that can light upon a reasonable Creature: Psal. 81.11, 12. But my People would not hearken to my Voice, and Israel would none of me; so I gave them up unto their own Hearts Lusts, and they walked in their own Counsels. For our own Wisdom is an ill Guide and Counselor, and will never guide us aright in the Way to true Happiness, but lead us into • ogs and Pits, and into many foolish and hurtful Lusts.

But keeping more closely to our own Translation, let me a little open this Expression, They sought out many Inventions.

1 st. Observe that Man is left to invent, and (since he left the straight Line of God's Directions) to shift for an Happiness for himself. Surely it was better for us, when we needed only to accept or submit; we never sped well since we would be our own Carvers, and would follow those new Ways to Blessedness, which Satan and our own Hearts suggest to us: As a Runagade Child or Servant, that is not consent with the Father's or Master's finding, is driven to a thousand Shifts. All our Inventions may be disproved by a double Reason.

1. They are insufficient to make us happy. We were made for God, and cannot be happy again till we return to God. Being fallen from God, in whose Favor alone true Happiness is to be found, we invent false Ways wherein we seek to attain Happiness; but after all our vain Pursuits, we can nowhere find Rest for our Souls. We have but a little vain Glory, for that Eternal Glory which we have lost; a little brutish Pleasure, for that Fulness of Joy which we might have in God's Presence; perishing Vanities for the true Riches. So that we do but go about; Ier. 31.22. How long wilt thou go about, O backsliding Daughter? We do but weary ourselves as long as we keep off from God; you meet with a broken Cistern instead of the Fountain: Jer. 2.13. My People have committed two Evils, they have forsaken me the Fountain of living Waters, and hewed them out Cisterns, broken Cisterns that can hold no Water. You may drink many a Puddle dry, and yet never quench your Thirst; labor your Hearts out, and yet not meet with that which satisfieth. Isa. 55.2. Wherefore do ye spend your Money for that which is not Bread? and your Labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your Soul delight itself in Fatness. True Rest and Peace will only be found in God reconciled to us in Christ.

2. They plunge us in farther Misery. It is true, both as to Opinions in Religion, and as to Practice.

(1.) As to Opinions in Religion. If Men apprehend some Misery, how vain are their Inventions about the Remedy! all their Devices show how desperate the Disease is. The Philosophers, when they had found out a God, yet were vain in their Imaginations, Rom. 1.21. When they sat abrood on a Religion, they hatched nothing but what was ridiculous. And professing themselves to be wise, they became Fools. The Egyptians, who vaunted themselves to be the Fathers of all Sciences, worshipped Onions and Leeks, and their God's grew in their Gardens; they were planted and cultivated by their Laborers before they were worshipped by their Princes. The Romans, who excelled all Nations for their Morality and Civility, made God's of all things, for War and Peace, Fears and Passions, Agues and Fevers. And still the Religion of Heathens, Turks and Pagans are so far from being the Remedy, that they are a part of the Disease, and remove Man further off from God. All Men's Inventions to pacify God's Wrath, do further provoke him▪ Micah 6.6, 7. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt Offerings, with Calves of a Year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams, or with ten thousand of Rivers of Oil? Shall I give my first-born for my Transgression, the Fruit of my Body for the Sin of my Soul? Go to false Christians, it was never well with the World, since Men were guided by Inventions rather than Institutions; while they hope by their own Penances and exterior Mortifications, to appease God, he is the more alienated from them.

(2.) So as to practice. Whilst instead of Dependance and down-right Simplicity, they fly to their own Shifts, and will help themselves, rather than trust God, they involve themselves the more. There is one Principle of Sincerity, to depend upon God's Alsufficiency; Gen. 17.1. I am the Almighty God, walk before me, and be thou perfect. But they that do not trust God, cannot be true to him. When Men will be inventing, and shift for their own Happiness, they never carve to themselves a good Portion, but have enough of their Devices at last. Besides, our false Happiness which we pursue after, and our Inventions about it, are not only vain, but pernicious and destructive; John 3.19. And this is the Condemnation, that Light is come into the World, and Men loved Darkness rather than Light, because their Deeds are evil. If we love our own dark Counsels, rather than God's Provision for us, and the Remedy offered to us, our Case is the more doleful.

2 dly. Observe, these Inventions are many. Here I shall inquire;

• First ; What are these Inventions?
• Secondly ; Why many?

First ; What are these Inventions? We must distinguish.

1 st. There are profitable Inventions for the Good of Society, and Benefit of Mankind, such as are Civil Arts and Disciplines, Manufacture and Occupations, which conduce much to the Good of the present World, and do repair those natural Defects which were introduced by the Fall. Now though these are not intended in this Place, yet two things I shall say upon this occasion.

(1.) The one is, that if Man would have heen contented to be at God's finding, many of these would not have needed such a deal of do, would not have been needful to Man in Innocency: It is Sin hath made so many Necessities, and Lust still multiplieth them.

(2.) The other is, that though since the Fall we can find some Remedy for out natural Defects, yet for the spiritual Distempers of the Heart we can find no Cure. By Art Man can melt the hardest Metals, and make them capable of any Form; but to soften the Heart, and make it capable of God's Image, that is past the Skill of Men or Angels. There is no Creature so fierce, but it is tamed and hath been tamed of Mankind, Jam. 3.7. But yet Man cannot tame his own Heart; 'tis God must turn us, or we are never turned. How many Inventions hath Man found out to repair the Ruines of the Fall, Grammar and Rhetoric, to polish our Speech, Logic to refine our Reason; Ethics to reform our Manners in Civil Converse; O • conomicks to govern Families; Politicks to module Kingdoms and Commonwealths; but nothing to tame and subdue the Heart to God? It is God that createth in us a clean Heart, and reneweth a right Spirit, Psal. 51.10. Even he that made it at first.

2 dly. There are sinful Inventions taken in a more limited Sense, for those exquisite studied ways of Sin, wherewith many please themselves; as we read of some that were Inventers of evil things, Rom. 1.30. who find out such Wickedness as the World was never acquainted with before; as new-fashioned Oaths, Lusts, Torments: this argueth the Height of Wickedness: And such are the more corrupt of the corrupt sort of Men. These are not principally intended in this Place, yet may be comprised here.

3 dly. The Inventions here intended are such, as by which we start away from God, and corrupt ourselves. This more general Sense of the Words compriseth two sorts of Inventions.

1. Those many crooked Counsels and Devices whereunto Men are carried by their own corrupt Hearts, when once they had forsaken God, and the straight Rule of his Law. We read, Ier. 17.9. That the Heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? There is a bottomless, unsearchable Depth of Wickedness in the Heart of Man, which none can discover but God; it is wily, fraudulent, prone to deceive, full of Windings and Turnings, Wiles and Sleights; no Creature in wicked Subtilty and Dissembling can go beyond him. The Scripture delighteth in this term, Inventions and Imaginations, Gen. 6.5. All the Imaginations of the Thoughts of his Heart were only evil continually. And Ier. 18.12. We will walk after our own Devices, and we will everyone do the Imaginations of his evil Heart: The Heart of Man is in continual Action, framing and moulding things within its self; and because there are many cunning Fetches, and secret Devices within the Heart, by which they seek to put out their own Eyes, that they may not apprehend themselves to be so vile and filty as indeed they are; and a deceitful Heart smoothes Evil, and presents it under another Notion, therefore they may be called, and are in Scripture called Devices and Inventions. There is so much Remainder of Light and Conscience since the Fall, that there needeth a great deal of Craft to varnish Sin, to insinuate it with any Satisfaction to the Conscience, a great deal of Diligence to compass it, and a great deal of Art to hide it from the World, that it may not make us hateful or obnoxious to Disgrace and Disrespect; and to hide it from ourselves, that we may live in it with greater Leave and Allowance from those Remainders of Reason which are yet left within us. True Wisdom is plain and simple, it needeth no Disguises to palliate it from the Judgment of Conscience, or the Notice of the World. Wisdom is justified of her Children, Matth. 11.19. This is our rejoicing, the Testimony of our Conscience, that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity, not with fleshly Wisdom, but by the Grace of God, we have had our Conversation in the World, 2 Cor. 1.12. But with Sin 'tis not so; there are many Inventions for the hiding, palliating, excusing and defending of Sin; it is the great Power of the Word to discover them; Heb. 4.12. For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged Sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit, and of the Ioints and Marrow, and is a Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart. These are the most secret Acts of the Soul; Intentions respect the End, Thoughts respect Consultations about the Means. There is an artificial dexterous Managery of Sin; Ephes. 2.3. Fulfilling the Desires of the Flesh and of the Mind ; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that is, Imaginations and Lusts. Now of these Inventions I shall say two things.

(1.) The more studiously and dexterously any Sin is carried on, it argueth the worse temper of Spirit, and the Sin is the more aggravated, to be wise to do Evil, Jer. 4.22. To devise Iniquity, and work Evil upon our Beds, Mich. 2.1. The Wicked plotteth against the Just, and gnaweth upon him with his Teeth, Psal. 37.12. The subtle Designer of Sin is worse than he that occasionally lapseth into it. The Good may be overtaken or over-born; but to dig deep to hide our Wickedness, and set abrood upon it, is the greatest Evil.

(2.) That sinful Inventions for the hiding and palliating of Sin, never succeed well, but involve us the more. I shall not instance in the worst of Men, how they are forced to add Sin to Sin, and help out one Wickedness with another, which at last bringeth upon them the feared Evil with the greater Violence; but even in the best of Men, that you may the more loath these sinful Inventions. David had many Inventions to cloak his Sin with Bathsheba, but how ill did they succeed at last? When Sin hath got a Tie upon a Man, and a Man hath done some Evil from which he cannot well acquit himself, but with some Loss and Shame, or other Inconvenience▪ then 'tis a mighty Snare, unless he cover it, or maintain it, or some other way help himself by adding some other Sin to it. Thus usually in this Case Men have their Inventions, shift off a Fault with a Lie, and Imagine it in a sort necessary for their Safety to be evil; and out of this seeming Necessity, heap and pile up Sin upon Sin, and Transgression upon Transgression. This, I say, was David 's Case in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah: Surely he had never proceeded to such black Thoughts, to plot the Murder of a Person so worthy and innocent, but to salve his Credit, and cover his dishonest Act, when other Arts and Shifts failed, and took no Effect. Admit one Sin, and the Devil taketh this Advantage, that he will force us for the Defense of that, to yield to more. Thus Sarah 's unbelieving Laughter brought forth a Lie, Gen. 18.12, 15. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not, for she was afraid. Peter when he had denied his Master with a plain single Denial, I know not the Man, Mat. 26.70. he proceeded after to a Denial with Oaths and Execrations; Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the Man, ver. 74. If he had prevented the first Sin with ordinary Courage and Boldness, he had not thus entangled himself: but one Sin must help out another, though still to our Loss and Trouble. Eudoxia, Wife to Theodosius junior, having received of the Emperor her Husband, an Apple of incredible Beauty and Bigness, gave it to one Paulinus, a learned Man, whom she prized; he not knowing whence the Empress had received it, presents it as a rare Gift to the Emperor, who thereupon sending for his Wife, asked her for the Apple; she fearing her Husband's Displeasure, if she should say she had given it away, answered, she had eaten it; upon this afterwards the Emperor produceth it, and in his Jealousy killeth innocent Paulinus, and hateth his Wife. If she had not told an Untruth at first, she had not fallen into the Sin of Lying; but giving way a little, she is drawn into a greater Sin, her innocent Friend lost his Life, and she her Husband's Favor ever afterwards. All this is spoken, that we may beware of evil Inventions, which never succeed well, nor to the Content of the Party that useth them.

2. These Inventions are put for our Pursuits after a false Happiness. True Happiness is only to be found in the Favor of God, and in the way appointed by God; but Man would be at his own Dispose, and would invent and find out an Happiness for himself, and be sufficient to himself for his own Blessedness, without any Dependance upon God. Now when Man was thus fall • off from God, God was disobliged from providing for him, and so Man is left to his own Shifts. But alas, how ill doth he provide for himself? This being the very thing intended in the Text, I shall a little more amply dilate upon it in several Propositions.

(1.) When Man fell from God, he fell from him, tanquam à principio & fine, from Dependance upon him as the first Cause, and respect to him as his chief Good and last End. His Dependance was loosened, because he distrusted God's Provision for him, and would be a God to himself, his own Principle, Rule and End; live from himself to himself, according to his own Will. So that Self-love came in the Place of Love to God; he that before sought nothing but God, began now to seek himself, and thought he should find in himself what he lost in God.

(2.) Man being once off from God, never of himself cometh on again, but rangeth infinitely, being guided by his own Will and Wit; Jonah 2.8. They that observe lying Vanities, forsake their own Mercies. Man being fastened to such Objects as he liketh, keepeth a-loof from God, whom he liketh not, and will not come at him, as long as he can make a shift without him; Ier. 2.31. We are Lord's, we will come no more unto thee. And though he wandreth hither and thither, he finds no Rest for his Soul, for he seeketh Happiness where it is not to be found, in the Riches, Honors and Pleasures of the present Life.

(3.) Though he meet with often Disappointments, yet he is unwilling to return even after God hath shown a Remedy, and brought Life and Immortality to Light in the Gospel, in which Way he may have Peace and Happiness, and so Rest for his Soul. God hath shown us the way to Rest; Ier. 6.16. Ask for the old Paths, where is the good Way, and walk therein, and ye shall find Rest for your Souls. Matth. 11.28. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you Rest. But yet Man is for his shifts still, till God changeth his Heart, and giveth him Counsel in his Reins, and disappoints him in his worldly Inventions and Pursuits, by blasting the Creature, or occasioning some Wound in his Conscience. God speaketh often in his Word, but it is disregarded till he speak by real Arguments, and speak to the Quick, so as to force an hearing; till he take away their Comforts, or take away their Use of them by some languishing Sickness or Anguish in their own Conscience, or both, by smiting them with a Rod dipped in Guilt. When thou with Rebukes dost correct Man for Iniquity, thou makest his Beauty to consume away like a Moth, Psal. 39.11. So that then they see the Fruitlesness of all their Inventions, their vain Pleasures, costly Buildings, great Honor and Riches, how little these can stead them against the Wrath of an angry God. So loath is Man to submit to God's Remedy; he laboreth all that he can to patch up his sorry Happiness, and is very unwilling to confess his Misery; he turneth and windeth every way, and seeketh Help from the Creature, before he will be brought to implore Aid from Grace; he will use all Means within his grasp and reach, till his Despair teach him to return from whence he fell, and that it is better to seek God's Favor, than continue his vain Pursuits: Hosea 2.7. I will return to my first Husband, for then it was better with me than now.

Secondly ; Why many Inventions?

1. In opposition to that one straight Line which leadeth to true Happiness. Christ telleth us, One thing is necessary, Luke 10.42. namely, to serve and please God, and enjoy him forever. To enjoy God, and please him, is that one thing which is enough. But Error is manifold; though there be but one Path to Heaven, yet there are many ways of sinning, and going to Hell. Every Man hath his several Course and Way of sinning; Isa. 53.6. All we like Sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own Way. According to the several Constitutions, and Business, and Affairs of Men. Velle suum cuique est, nec voto vivitur uno. As the Channel is cut, so corrupt Nature in every Man findeth an Issue and Passage. No Sin cometh amiss to a carnal Heart, yet some are more kindly and suitable; one is worldly, another sensual, another proud and ambitious. It is our Wisdom to observe our own Haunt, and the tender Parts of our Souls; Psal. 18.23. I was upright before him, and I kept myself from mine Iniquity. All Sin is but carnal Self-love disguised; or many, with respect to the successive entertainment of divers Sins: Titus 3.3. Serving divers Lusts and Pleasures. Sins take the Throne by turns; by Age and Experience Men grow weary of former Vanities, but others are adopted into their room, and so their Lusts are but exchanged, not abrogated. Now we are fallen from our primitive Happiness, we multiply Means and Laws; yea at the same time the Pleasures of the Flesh draw the Sinner several ways: James 4.1. Whence come Wars and Fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your Lusts, which war in your Members? Desire of Riches contradicts Idleness; and the toilsome Cares and Labors of this World, that Ease which the Flesh affecteth; disgraceful Lusts are contradicted by Ambition and Pride.

2. Many Inventions, in opposition to that Simplicity and Singleness of Heart, which Original Rectitude did include. The Heart of Man was originally of one constant, uniform Frame; but now instead of Simplicity, there is a Multiplicity. The Heart now is never right, till it be one with God. Therefore David prays, Psal. 86.11. Unite my Heart to fear thy Name. He begs a Heart entirely fixed upon God, which, as our great End, uniteth all our Affections in this one Scope, that we might please him, and enjoy him, as our chief Good, and last End. That fixeth Man's Mind, which otherwise will be tossed up and down in perpetual Uncertainties, and distracted by a Multiplicity of Ends and Objects, that it cannot continue in any composed and settled Frame: No one part of our Lives will agree with another: A divided Heart breedeth an uncertain Life. James 1.8. A double-minded Man is unstable in all his Ways. The whole not firmly knit together by the Power of the last End running through all. So that our Lives are a mere Lottery, the Fancies and Appetites we are governed by, being jumbled together by Chance. The Heart by natural Corruption is loosed from God, and distracted with variety of vain Objects, which offer themselves to our Senses. The Interest of the World and Flesh is taken into competition with God; and whilst the Heart rangeth abroad, it is such a variable and double Heart, as will never be true to God. And while Men are tossed from one Dependance to another, and do not firmly adhere to God, being weaned from the Vanities of the World, they are carried hither and thither by their perverse Affections, sometimes to one thing, sometimes to another.

3. With respect to that one Object, who alone was sufficient for us. They that have left God, and would find Happiness in the Creatures, need many Creatures before they can patch up any sorry tolerable Happiness to themselves. One broken Cistern can yield but little Refreshing, Ier. 2.13. So many Disappointments make them look more about. God made Man for himself, capable to enjoy him; now he is an infinite Eternal Good. We desire an infinite Eternal Good, still such as may quiet and satisfy us; therefore Man being made capable of enjoying God, who is infinite, and finding himself not satisfied with a few or many things, always seeketh after new things. Here is his Error, that he seeketh after that which is infinite, among those things which are finite, and so wandreth up and down groping for an Eternal Good: Acts 17.26, 27. And hath made of one Blood all Nations of Men, for to dwell on the Face of the Earth; and determined the Times before appointed, and the Bounds of their Habitations: That they should seek the Lord, if hap • y they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from everyone of us. As we depart from God, we are gone from Unity, and are left distracted and confounded in the Multitude of the Creatures. Quaerunt in varietate Creaturarum, quod amiserunt in unitate Creatoris ; They seek in the variety of the Creatures, what they have lost in the one God.

Use 1. Is to represent the Misery of fallen Man, that we may take up a Lamentation for him, and bewail our Departure from Life and Blessedness, and forsaking it for Sin and Misery: They have cast off God, and set at naught his Counsel, and given themselves over to many fruitless and hurtful Inventions. For alas! Man being left to the Counsel of his own desperately wicked and deceitful Heart, what doth he look after? What may be expected from him, but that all his Thoughts and Projects should be for the satisfaction of his Lusts, to serve his Pride, Avarice, Revenge, Pomp, Pleasure and Vanity? God is not in all his Thoughts; he cares not whether he be pleased or displeased, honored or dishonored.

Here consider the Disorder and Danger of this State.

1 st. The Disorder introduced hereby.

1. The Creature is preferred before God. For all their Projects are, how to live at ease in the World, not how to please and enjoy God: and so they forsake their own Mercies for observing lying Vanities, Jonah 2.8. They seek an Happiness apart from God, who is their own Mercy ; that is, they might have had from him all that which the Mercy of an Al-sufficient God can afford. And for what do they forsake him? for lying Vanities: in regard of their Emptiness, they are Vanities ; and in regard of their disappointing our Expectations, lying Vanities. They do deceive us with a vain Shew, and in the issue miserable Disappointments. And mark, these must be observed, followed after with a great Sollicitude and Care; whereas the other is freely offered to us: it is our own in the Offer, and it is our own Fault, if it be not our own in the Choice. So Ier. 2.13. My People have committed two Evils; they have forsaken me the Fountain of living Waters, and have hewed them out Cisterns, broken Cisterns that will hold no Water. God is the Well-spring of all manner of Good, a Fountain that runneth constantly, and never faileth; and such would he have been to us, if we had continued loyal and dutiful to him. Besides the leaving of the everliving, all-sufficient, and ever-flowing Fountain of all Good, they have betaken themselves to poor paltry Vanities, that will yield them no real and solid Refreshment.

2. The Body is preferred before the Soul. For all our Inventions run upon the Body, and the pleasing the Flesh: Rom. 13.14. And make not Provision for the Flesh, to fulfil the Lusts thereof. But the precious and immortal Soul is little thought of, and cared for. They sit down well appaid with carnal Contentments; Luke 12.19. Soul, take thine Ease, eat, drink, and be merry, thou hast much Goods laid up for many Years. They do not rise to any Thoughts of an higher Life, never think of that immortal Soul they carry about with them, but only use it to cater for the Body, that the Body may be well fed, and clothed, and adorned. Our business is to seek Rest for our Souls; if we would invent and consider, we should look after that: Ier. 6.16. Ask for the old Paths, where is the good Way, and walk therein, and ye shall find Rest for your Souls. We are never in our Wits again, till this be the Project and Design we travel with. But alas! this is not thought of, the neglected Soul may easily complain of hard Usage. What are our Thoughts, but what shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and how shall we make a fair Shew in the Flesh? If we look after the Soul, it is to adorn it with secular Learning and Wisdom, which is but to serve the Flesh in a more cleanly manner, and to gratify our worldly Ends, our Pride, or our Interests: We look after Flowers rather than Fruit; those Adornments of the Soul, which are for Pomp, rather than Life, and for present Use, rather than Eternal Benefit.

3. They prefer Earth before Heaven, and Time before Eternity. All their business is rather to make sure of the Prosperity of the Body, than the Salvation of the Soul. And though it is plain, and they do or may know and see, that this will not cure their Diseases, nor ease their Pain, nor save them from the Grave nor Hell; yet because Riches will help them to live in Pleasure and Reputation with the World, and in Plenty of all things, and to have their Will as long as they live, that's enough for them, for they care not for the Pleasures and Happiness which is to be enjoyed in the other World. Though Death and the Grave may put an end to all they have here much sooner than they imagined, yet their Minds and Hearts are set upon these things as their Happiness, and will not be diverted from them; they have their Portion in this World; Psal. 17.14. From Men which are thy Hand, O Lord; from Men of the World, which have their Portion in this Life, and whose Belly thou fillest with thy hid Treasure: they are full of Children, and leave the rest of their Substance to their Babes.

2 dly. The Danger. As it is a base thing to act so disproportionably to the Light of Reason, so within a little while it will be a bitter thing; Ier. 2.19. Thine own Wickedness shall correct thee, and thy Backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my Fear is not in thee. Sure it will be Bitterness in the end to forsake the Lord, and walk in the Inventions and Imaginations of thine own Heart. You are posting to your eternal Misery, where a Reflection upon your evil Choice will be the greatest part of your Misery: Isa. 50.11. Behold, all ye that kindle a Fire, that compass yourselves about with Sparks; walk in the Light of your Fire, and the Sparks which ye have kindled: this shall ye have of my Hand, ye shall lie down in Sorrow. The Allusion is not to such a Fire as burneth and consumeth, but such as doth warm and cherish: Those Stakes which wicked Worldlings rely upon for Succor, will in time prove their greatest Calamities; and those Tufts and Fuzes, which they promised the greatest Comfort to themselves from, will occasion the greatest Sorrow; the Brands which they heaped together, will afford them little Heat and Light, but Smoke to vex and choke them: He that will warm himself by his own Sparks, can expect no other Issue from his own rash Folly, and God's righteous Vengeance.

Use 2. To exhort us not only to lament it, but to come out of this Condition: And here to this End;

1. Renounce that crooked carnal Wisdom which is Man's undoing. Man at first seeking to be wise, became a Fool: Now he must be a Fool, that he may be wise, 1 Cor. 3.18. A Fool to the Flesh and the World, that he may be wise to God.

2. Give up yourselves to God in Covenant, as your Lord and Felicity. A Man is never in his Wits, till he cometh to this; Psal. 22.27. All the Ends of the Earth shall remember, and turn to the Lord. Our Misery is in departing from him; so our Happiness is in putting ourselves into his Hands again. Now you must give up yourselves to him as your supreme Lord, and chief Felicity or Happiness, depending upon him as your Happiness, obeying him as your Lord. Obey his Counsel, though against your own Reason; and stick to his Ways, though they seem to be against your present Happiness. Remember that Duty is Safety, that cleaving to God with Loss, is better than departing from him with seeming Gain: and God that out-wits the subtle Designer, doth take care of, and preserve the plain and simple Person, that avowedly adhereth to him, when all the Contrivances of foolish and worldly-minded Men prove vain and unprosperous. Your Obedience will be your Safety. Dependance and Obedience do mutually cherish one another; the more we depend, the more we obey; and the more we obey, the more we depend: and so they discover one another. Let us show our Dependance on God, that in all the Changes of this Life, by a firm, fast Adherence and Resolution, we stick fast to God, whatever comes on it, using no Means but what he allows, and counting his Favor our Happiness. They that depend not on him, are left to their own Inventions.

3. Your great Design must be to approve yourselves to God: 2 Cor. 5.9. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of the Lord.

Use 3. It showeth what need we have to give up ourselves to the Conduct of God's Word and Spirit. Man is so full of his own Inventions, that none can be safe but they that depend upon God for Direction; I am. 1.5. If any Man lack Wisdom, let him ask it of God. Such a fallible Creature as Man is in point of Truth, such an impotent Creature is he in point of Power, such an indigent Creature in point of Happiness and Self-sufficiencies; such a sinful corrupt Creature, so full of Imaginations and Lusts, so many crooked Dispositions in his Heart, so many Wiles to justify his irregular Choice, so many Temptations, and they represented with such Sophistry, that he should be willing to accept of Direction. Yea, the People of God themselves have need of the Direction of the Word, in regard of the Weakness of their Understandings, and the Perverseness of their Affections.

1. Our Understandings are so weak, that we are ignorant of many things necessary to be known; for we know but in part: If we know something in general, we fail in particular Application: both in general and in particular, if we know things habitually, we do not actually consider them, being hindered by Multitude of Business, or the Violence of Temptations, or lulled asleep by the Pleasures of the Flesh; Eccles. 5.1. They consider not that they do Evil.

2. Our Affections are perverse, and so addicted rather to be led by Sense than right Reason, that there is great Danger, lest seeing and approving that which is better, we follow what is worse, contrary to our Knowledge and Conscience; Rom. 2.18.— And knowest his Will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the Law. And therefore the best had need to pray with David, Psal. 143.10. Teach me to do thy Will, for thou art my God; thy Spirit is good, lead me into the Land of Uprightness.

A SERMON UPON ECCLES. XII.7.

IN the Beginning of this Chapter Solomon presseth us to remember our Creator while yet young: many have been too late acquainted with God, but never any too soon. His Arguments are;

1. From the wearisome Evils of old Age, very Rhetorically described in ver. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. While the Sun, or the Light, or the Moon, or the Stars be not darkened, nor the Clouds return after the Rain: In the Day when the Keepers of the House shall tremble, and the strong Men shall bow themselves, and the Grinders cease, because they are few, and those that look out of the Windows be darkened, and the Doors shall be shut in the Streets, when the Sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the Voice of the Bird, and all the Daughters of Music shall be brought low; also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and Fear shall be in the way, and the Almond-Tree shall flourish, and the Grasshopper shall be a Burden, and Desire shall fail: because Man goeth to his long home, and the Mourners go about the Streets: or ever the silver Cord be loosed, or the golden Bowl be broken, or the Pitcher be broken at the Fountain, or the Wheel broken at the Cistern. That is a time of Expense, and needeth Cordials rather than Work and Service. Therefore while the Prints of God's creating Bounty are fresh upon us, it is best to exercise ourselves to Godliness.

2. From the certain Approach of Death, as the final Issue of the present Life; therefore we should prepare for this Change, think of God betimes, and secure a better Life before this come to the last Period. This Argument is in the Text, Then shall the Dust return to the Earth, &c. Man consists of a Body and a Soul, the Text telleth you what shall become of both.

• 1. Here is represented the State of the Body after Death.
• 2. The State of the Soul.

1. The State of the Body, it shall be resolved into the Matter, out of which it was made; Dust it was in its Composition, and Dust it shall be in its Dissolution; Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was.

2. The State of the Soul in the other World; And the Spirit shall return to God that gave it. Where;

• 1 st. The Nature of it, or what kind of Substance the Soul is; it is a Spirit, or an immaterial Substance.
• 2 dly. The Author of it, who is God; he gave it; he gave us the Body too, but the Soul in a more especial manner.
• 3 dly. The Disposal of it, or in what State it remaineth after Death, it returneth to God: It is not extinguished when the Body is dissolved into Dust; nor doth it vanish into the Air, but returneth to God.

All true Wisdom consisteth in the Knowledge of God and ourselves: We cannot know ourselves, unless we know the Parts of which we do consist. This Text giveth you a right Notion of them both; for it telleth you what they are, and what shall become of them: They are conjoined, but distinct: And therefore when the Union betwixt them is dissolved, they go several ways. We are concerned in them both, but more in the Soul, which hath the Preeminence above the Body: The one is visible, and therefore its Changes are known; but the other is invisible, and therefore more unknown: but the State of both is equally certain; for as certainly as the Body returneth to the Dust, so doth the Soul return to God.

First ; For the first Branch, Then shall the Body return to the Earth as it was: I shall not stay upon it.

1. It giveth you the right Notion of the Body, it is but Dust, molded up into a comely Shape, which is an Effect of God's Wisdom and Power, to make such a curious Frame out of the Dust of the Ground. We read in the History of the Plagues of Egypt, that the Magicians were not able so much as bring forth Lice out of the Dust of the Ground, Exod. 8.18, 19. But God could raise such a beautiful Structure as Man's Body is. But though it speaketh God's Power, yet it showeth our Frailty: Our Body is here called Dust ; it is not Brass, or Iron, or Stone, or stiff Clay, but Dust, and shall return to the Earth as it was. Dust hath no Coherence or Consistence, but is easily scattered with every Puff of Wind; so is our earthly or dusty Tabernacle with every blast of God's Displeasure; Gen. 18.27. Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord, who am but Dust and Ashes. Isa. 40.15. Behold, the Nations are as a Drop of the Bucket, and they are counted as the small Dust of the Ballance.

2. What shall become of it, It shall return to the Earth as it was : Gen. 3.19. Dust thou art, and unto Dust shalt thou return. Psal. 104.29. Thou takest away their Breath, they die and return to their Dust. Psal. 146.4. He returneth to his Earth. Which should teach us to take Care for a better Estate; 2 Cor. 5.1. For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a Building of God, an House not made with Hands, eternal in the Heavens. The Soul dwelleth now in an earthly House, it should look out for a more glorious Mansion.

Secondly ; Of the Soul three things are spoken, which are so many Arguments to prove its Immortality, which is the Subject I mainly intend.

1. The kind of it, it is a Spirit. The Matter of which the Body is made, is the Earth, and so it is still maintained: He bringeth forth Food for them out of the Earth, Psal. 104.14. And so breedeth and casteth out Corruption every Day; but the Soul is a simple Substance, not compounded of corruptible Principles, and therefore cannot be resolved into any. The Body liveth by the Soul, and from the Soul, but the Soul dependeth upon nothing but God. The Argument is good, it is incorporeal and immaterial, therefore immortal; for Mortality hath Reference to some compounded Substance, which hath in itself some Principle and Cause of Motion, as well as a material and passive Part, that may be moved by that Principle, and signifieth no more but a Capacity of the material and passive Part to be deprived of the inward and active Principle of its Motion. In short, if the Soul die, it must be from the Violence of some external Power, or some Principles of Corruption within; not by Violence without; Matth. 10.28. And fear not them which kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul. And it hath no Principles of Corruption, whereby it should destroy itself, for it is a Spirit.

2. The Author, God gave it ; our Bodies are also his Workmanship, but the Soul is immediately framed by God, both in the first Creation, and the continual Propagation of Mankind. At the first Creation we read the Body was created out of the Earth, or the Dust of the Ground, but the Soul out of nothing, but immediately breathed into Adam by God; Gen. 2.7. And the Lord formed Man out of the Dust of the Ground, and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life, and Man became a living Soul. And still the Soul is immediately created by God; Zech. 12.1. He stretcheth forth the Heavens, and laid the Foundation of the Earth, and formeth the Spirit of Man within him. The creating of the Soul is reckoned among the Works of his Omnipotency; Heb. 12.9. Furthermore, we have had Fathers of our Flesh which corrected us, and we gave them Reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits? The Fathers of our Flesh are distinguished from the Father of Spirits: Our natural Parents under God are the Instruments of our natural and earthly Being, as they procured the Matter out of which our Bodies were derived: they are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Fathers of our Flesh ; but God is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Father of our Spirits. The Spirit of Man runneth not in the material Channel of fleshly Descent, it is not educed out of the Power of the Matter, but immediately made by God.

3. The Disposal of it. When it flitteth out of the Body, it returneth to God, that is to God as a Judge, to be disposed of by him into its everlasting Estate. God challengeth Souls as his, or belonging to his Government, as universal King and Judge of the World; Ezek. 18.4. All Souls are mine. He will give to everyone according to his Works, adjudging and sentencing them either to Heaven, the Mansion of the Blessed, or Spirits of just Men made perfect, Heb. 12.23. or to Hell, the Place where damned Spirits are kept in Prison; 1 Pet. 3.19. He went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison. The Body is not said to return to God, but to return to the Earth as it was; but the Soul is said to return to God: therefore the whole Man dieth not, and is not extinguished with the Body. All these Particulars import the Immortality of the Soul.

Doct. That the Soul of Man is immortal, and dieth not when the Body dieth, but remaineth in that Estate into which it is disposed by God.

First; There is a threefold Immortality.

• 1. An essential Immortality which importeth an absolute Necessity of Existence; so it is said, 1 Tim. 6.16. God only hath Immortality.
• 2. There is a natural Immortality which hath a Foundation in the Being of the Creatures; so the Angels and Spirits of Men are in their Nature immortal, so as they cannot be destroyed by any second Cause, and have no Principle of Corruption in themselves, though by the Power of God they might be annihilated.
• 3. A gratuitous Immortality, or by Gift and Courtesy; so the Body of Adam in Innocency, non conditione corporis, but beneficio conditoris ; not by the Condition of his Body, but the Bounty of his Maker: so the Bodies of the Faithful after the Resurrection shall be immortal.

Secondly; Let us prove this, that the Soul is immortal, and subsisteth after the Separation. The Point is necessary to be discussed; for till we are established in the Belief of this Truth, we shall fear no greater Judgments than what do befall us in this World, nor expect greater Mercies than what we enjoy here; and so never take Care to reconcile ourselves to God, or to deny the Profits of the World and the Pleasures of Sense, that we may attain a better Estate: An holy Life will never else be endeavored or produced to any good Increase. For such as Men's Belief is of an immortal or never-dying Condition in Heaven or Hell, such will the bent of their Hearts and Course of Life be: Therefore the Salvation of our Souls is said to be the End of our Faith; 1 Pet. 1.9. Receiving the End of your Faith, even the Salvation of your Souls. There the End signifieth either the Scope or the Event: If you take it for the Scope, the great End of Faith is to lead us from all worldly Happiness to an Estate after this Life; Heb. 10.39. But we are not of them that draw back unto Perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the Soul. Sense faith, Spare the Flesh; but Faith saith, Save the Soul: This is the Scope, and mark to which it tendeth. If you take it for the Event and Issue of things, all our believing, praying, enduring Suffering, rejoicing, pleasing and glorifying of God, endeth in this, the saving of our Souls. Therefore let us see how it may be proved, both by Scripture, and by the Light of Reason.

I. By Scripture, which is the proper means to beget Faith. Dives desired one to go from the dead to tell his Brethren of an everlasting Estate of Torment and Bliss; Luke 16.27, 28. I pray thee, Father, that thou wouldst send him to my Father's House, for I have five Brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this Place of Torment. Intimating thereby that the Cause of his own Sin and theirs was Unbelief, or a not being persuaded of a World to come. Alas we have but an obscure Prospect of an Estate after this Life, and therefore indulge sensual Delights. But what Cure and Remedy? Dives thought a Spectre or Apparition would be the best Cure of this Atheism: But Abraham or Christ thought otherwise; he referreth them to Moses and the Prophets, that is, the holy Scriptures, for all the Books then written and received in the Church are comprised in that Expression. Since we are sick of the same Disease, this will be our best Remedy. We are told, 2 Tim. 1.10. That Christ hath brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel. It is the Privilege of the Divine Revelation to represent this Truth with more Clearness and Certainty.

1. With more Clearness. There is a Mist upon Eternity, which is only dispelled by the Light of the Gospel. Reasons from Nature may in some measure acquaint us with an everlasting Estate, yet what kind of Happiness it is that attendeth the Godly, and what Misery shall befall the Wicked, it telleth us but little; but the Scripture sets down enough to invite our Hopes, and awaken our Fears. Heathens had some Conceits of Elysian Feilds, and Places of Blessedness, and some obscure Caverns appointed to be Places of Torment, fitted to work Men into a blind Superstition: but the Word of God hath given us such clear Discoveries of future Happiness and Misery, as that we may know what to hope for, and what to fear; and if well improved, will breed in us a true Spirit of Godliness.

2. In Regard of Certainty. Nature may give us some dark Guesses and uncertain Conjectures, so as the Heathens that had no other Light, were ready to say and unsay in a Breath what they had spoken concerning our Estate to come: but the Gospel is a sure Word, apt to beget Faith, not a wavering Opinion. Go to Sense which judgeth by the outside of things, Eccles. 3.21. Who knoweth the Spirit of a Man that goeth upward, and the Spirit of a Beast that goeth downward to the Earth? By Sense we see Mankind as the Beasts, to be conceived, formed in the Belly, brought forth, nourished, to grow in Strength and Stature, wax old, and die: by the Eye we can discern no external sensible Difference; so that if we consult with mere Sense, all Religion and Hope is gone. Go to Reason, and that will tell us indeed that there is a Difference between a Man and a Beast; that Man knoweth, and desireth things which the Beasts do not, and cannot. And that the reasonable Soul hath Operations independent on Matter, and on the Body, and therefore it is probable it can subsi • t without the Body; for the manner of working showeth the manner of being: but there is cold Comfort in a bare may be. The Gospel showeth it shall be: As a Glass it doth discover this State to us; as a Rule it guideth us to the Enjoyment of it; as a Motive it persuadeth us to seek after it; as a Charter and Grant it doth assure our Title to it; it is full fraught, and thick sown with this kind of Seed.

Therefore let us see what the Light of Scripture saith to this Point.

1 st. It discovereth to us every-where the Doctrine of the eternal Recompences, two Places, and two Estates, wherein Souls abide after Death, Heaven and Hell: Heaven, the Mansion of the Just; John 14.2. In my Father's House are many Mansions. And Hell, the Place of Torments; Mark 9.44. They are cast into Hell, where their Worm dieth not, and the Fire is not quenched. And as soon as the Soul passeth out of the Body, it is in one of these; Luke 16.22, 23. And it came to pass that the Beggar died, and was carried by the Angels into Abraham 's Bosom; the rich Man died also, and was buried: And in Hell he lifted up his Eyes, being in Torments. He had a pompous Funeral here upon Earth; for it is said, he died, and was buried ; which is not said of Lazarus. These are Truths not spoken of once or twice, but everywhere.

2 dly. The Covenant showeth it, which is God's solemn Transaction with his Subjects, and consists of Precepts or Laws, invested with the Sanction of Promises and Threatenings. Christ argues thus, Luke 20.37, 38. Now that the Dead are raised, even Moses shown at the Bush, when he calleth the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: For he is not the God of the Dead, but of the Living. He proves the Immortality of the Soul, and the Resurrection of the Body.

1. His Commands, all of them imply such an Estate, and some of them express it. All imply it, as Faith in Christ; we believe in his Name to obtain eternal Life; Joh. 20.31. But these things are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you might have Life through his Name. And Joh. 5.24. He that heareth my Word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting Life. Repentance, Acts 3.19. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your Sins may be blotted out, when the Times of Refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Therefore it is called Repentance unto Salvation, 2 Cor. 7.10. And Repentance to Life, Acts 11.18. Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted Repentance unto Life. So new Obedience; Heb. 5.9. He became the Author of eternal Salvation to all that obey him. Acts 26.7. Unto which Promise the twelve Tribes instantly serving God Day and Night, hope to come. And some express it: He hath commanded us not to labor for the Meat that perisheth, but for that Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life, John 6.27. Not to lay up Treasures upon Earth, where Moth and Rust doth corrupt, and Thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves Treasure in Heaven, Mat. 6.19, 20. And strive to enter in at the strait Gate, Luke 13.24. Now if there were no such thing, all these Commands would be in vain: Would God flatter us into a Fool's Paradise, and command us to look after a thing of naught?

2. The Sanction. And there, (1.) The Threatning, which is Damnation, or the second Death. Mark 16.16. He that believeth not, shall be damned. Is this a vain Scarcrow, and need God govern his Subjects by a Cheat or a Lie? (2.) The Promises; he promiseth Eternal Life to them that obey the Gospel, and seek after this Immortality; Rom. 2.7. To them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek for Glory, Honor and Immortality, Eternal Life. Rev. 2.10. Be thou faithful to Death, and I will give thee a Crown of Life. Be faithful in making good your Baptismal Vow, improving Talents, withstanding Temptations. So to comfort us against Fears, Losses and Sorrows; Luke 12.32. Fear not, little Flock, it is your Father's good Pleasure to give you a Kingdom. Now would God over-reach us, and lead us with Chimera's, and vain Hopes?

3 dly. The Mediator of the New Covenant showeth it; his coming from Heaven, the Place of Souls, the Region of Spirits, and his going thither again at his Ascension.

1. His coming from Heaven. Wherefore was Christ incarnate, and clothed with our Flesh, but that we might be apparrelled with his Glory? John 10.10. I am come, that they might have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly. To lay a Foundation for our eternal Happiness.

2. His going to Heaven, his entering into that Glory he spake of, and so giving a visible Demonstration to the World of the Reality of it: 1 Pet. 1.21. Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the Dead, and gave him Glory, that your Faith and Hope may be in God. There he remaineth at God's Right-Hand, to open Heaven to all Believers. Christ, when he died, recommended his Spirit to the Father; Luke 23.46. Father, into thy Hands I commend my Spirit. And so do Believers to Christ; Acts 7.59. Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit. If the Soul did perish with the Body, why should we commit it to Christ?

4 thly. The Holy Spirit is given to form and prepare us for this Estate, therefore by consequence to assure us of it: 2 Cor. 5.5. Now he that hath wrought us for this self-same thing is God, who hath also given unto us the Earnest of the Spirit. (1.) Look to the Graces of the Spirit; we are made Partakers of the Divine Nature, to draw us off from the World to Heaven: 2 Pet. 1.4. Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious Promises, that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the Corruption that is in the World through Lust. Now will God fit the Soul for such a blessed Estate, when this Life is ended; and shall we never enjoy it? If we consider the Soul not only as being an inward Principle of Life and Sense, but also of Reason, it proveth the Immortality of it, much more as sanctified and ennobled by Grace. Rom. 8.10. The Body is dead because of Sin, but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness. Believers have a Life wrought in them by the Spirit, which is the Pledg and Beginning of Eternal Life; for they are sanctified, and purified, and fit to be brought into the Sight and Presence of God. The Apostle doth not draw his Argument there from the Immortality of the Soul, for that is common to Good and Bad; the Wicked have a Soul that will survive the Body, but little to their Comfort; their Immortality is not an happy Immortality; but he taketh his Argument from the New Life wrought in us by the Spirit, which is the Beginning and Earnest of a blessed Immortality: the New Life is an eternal Principle of Happiness. (2.) Look to the Comforts of the Spirit, from the Love of God, and the Hopes of Glory: 1 Pet. 1.8. Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory. Rom. 5.2. And rejoice in hope of the Glory of God. Now is it a Fancy that holy Men rejoice in? Look as the Terrors of a wounded Conscience are the Foretastes of Hell-Torments, called somewhere the Pains of Hell; so the Comforts of the Spirit are the first-Fruits of Heavenly Joys, to set us a longing for more. Rom. 8.23. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-Fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of our Body. Now by all these things let us rouse up a drowsy Faith, and triumph over that Carnal Atheism and Unbelief that worketh in our Hearts. Is the whole Scripture false, and the Christian Religion a well-devised Fable, our Redeemer an Impostor, and the Covenant of God a Dream, and the Comforts of the Spirit Fanatical Illusions? And were they all deceived that embraced the Christian Religion, that took such Pains in subduing the Flesh, so freely hazarded their Interests, and Life itself on the Promises of Christ, and the Hopes of another World? Are the wisest Men the World ever saw, Fools? and the Ordinances of Christ a customary Superstition? and these Rejoicings and Foretastes of the Children of God a mere Deceit and Imposture? Surely it cannot be. Therefore this is true, that the Soul dieth not with the Body, but is in that Estate into which God disposeth it.

II. By the Light of Reason.

First ; I shall urge such Arguments as the Scripture directeth us to.

1. From the Nature of the Soul; it is a Spirit, and such a Principle of Life as hath Light in it. John 1.4. In him was Life, and the Life was the Light of Men. The Soul of Man differeth from the Soul of a Beast, for that hath only Life and Sense in it, but this hath Light, and therefore was designed to more noble and glorious Ends, than merely to quicken and enliven the Body. The Soul of the Beasts is mortal, because it is created only to serve the Body, and knoweth nothing, desireth nothing, delighteth in nothing but what belongeth to the Pleasure and Welfare of the Body. But now the Soul of Man apprehendeth things past, present, and to come, is capable of Tongues, Arts and Sciences, and things abstract from bodily Sense; it can discourse about God, Angels, and all kind of spiritual Beings, about Eternity and Immortality, and propound and debate Questions and Doubts concerning the World to come. The Beasts look only to their Food, and the Propagation of their Kind; they know nothing, and can conceive nothing of Man's Affairs: But now Man's Soul is not only capable of being ennobled and improved by Moral Virtues, and such things as fit us for Human Society, but is capable also of Conformity to God, by being made holy and upright, and of Communion with him in holy Duties, and Acts of Grace: 1 John 1.3. And truly our Fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. The Beasts desire not the Company of Men, as we do of God, and of the blessed Spirits. In short, there is a greater Affinity between the Souls of Men and Angels, than between the Souls of Beasts and Men: Psal. 8.9. Thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels. Well then, can it be imagined, the Souls of Men, furnished with such Capacities of Understanding, are nothing but a little Puff of Air, that is dissipated in dying; or a little vital Heat, that is extinguished with the Corporeal Matter, or only the Vigour of the Blood? That Soul that can so much soar aloft above the Interests and Concernments of the Body, and take such a marvelous Delight and Contentment in spiritual things, as the view of all manner of Truths, must that follow the State of the Body? Shall that Creature that cometh so near the Angels, die like the Beasts? or rather become like the Angels of God that always behold his Face? Yea, that Creature that draweth so near to God in the Majesty of his Person, and the Abilities of his Mind, that was created after God's own Image, and for the Worship and Service and Enjoyment of God, shall he die as the Beasts that perish? It cannot be imagined.

2. The Scripture mentions Words that imply its Independance upon the Body, or that it doth not so wholly depend on the Body, that it cannot subsist and act without it; they go several ways, as in the Text. 3 John, • . 2. I wish above all things, that thou mayest prosper and be in Health, as thy Soul prospe • eth. 2 Cor. 4.16. For which cause we faint not, but though our outward Man perish, yet the inward Man is renewed Day by Day. And Experience teacheth the Truth of these things, that the Body and Soul seem sometimes to have no Communion with one another, so different are their Functions and Offices. You shall often see Men decrepit in all the Members of the Body, who yet have the Motions of their Minds as strong and as nimble, as when in perfect Health; and when they are upon the Borders of Death without Vigour and Pulse, their Understandings are more sublime than before, and their Thoughts more refined. It is true, the Indispositions of the Body clog the Soul in things that are to be acted by the Body; but in what the Soul acteth apart, in the midst of Aches and Pains, their Strength of Mind is entire, and their Comforts never more raised than in bodily Weakness. Therefore it lives and acts apart from the Body.

3. The Scripture directs us to this Argument, that this is the general Perswasion of all Mankind, that there is a Life after Death; and it instanceth in that that is most sensible, and of every Day's Experience, our Desires and Fears.

(1.) Desires. The Soul hath a natural desire of Immortality, which if it should not enjoy, that Desire were in vain; but God doth nothing in vain. The Apostle intimateth this, how Men feel about for something eternal and infinite; Acts 17.27. That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him. Every Man would be happy, and eternally happy; for otherwise he would be tormented with a fear of losing that which he counteth his Happiness. See Psal. 4.6. Who will show us any Good? Lord, lift thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us. Mat. 13.45, • 6. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant-man seeking goodly Pearls, who when he had found one Pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it. John 6.34. Lord, evermore give us this Bread. Numb. 23.10. Let me die the Death of the Righteous. Other Creatures besides Man are satisfied with what they have here; but the Soul of Man is satisfied with nothing but the eternal Enjoyment of what is good, an immortal Estate, an infinite Good. Everyone that loveth himself would be happy, and, if he could, everlastingly happy. The Saints, and those that are taught of God, pitch upon the right Way: Psal. 17.15. As for me, I will behold thy Face in Righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy Likeness. But this is the universal Inclination of all Mankind. Whence cometh this Desire to be so universal, if there be nothing to satisfy it? Every natural Appetite was given us for some Purpose, and have things designed for their Satisfaction: and therefore there is that Immortality we all seek after, not in our Bodies, they must return to their Earth; not in Fancy, that is a S • adow; this is like the Pleasure which those take, that want Children, in playing with little Dogs: it lieth in the Soul, in the eternal Enjoyment of God.

(2.) Fears, which presage and foretell such an Estate to our great Disquiet. Conscience fears a Judgment after this Life; Rom. 1.32. Who knowing the Judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of Death. And a State of Misery to come; Heb. 2.15. Who through fear of Death, were all their Life-time subject to Bondage. At Death these Fears are more active and pungent, 1 Cor. 15.56. The Sting of Death is Sin ; and surprise the guilty Soul with greater Horror and Distraction; then they are summoned to their great Account. If the Soul were mortal, why should Men be afraid of Torments after Death? They anticipate the Miseries of the Life to come, not as it puts a Period unto their natural Comforts, but as it is an Entrance into everlasting Miseries.

4. The Scripture directs to this Argument, the Justice of God for the Comfort of the Faithful; 2 Thess. 1.5. Which is a manifest Token of the righteous Judgment of God. The Sufferings of the Faithful are a Demonstration of a future Estate, there is a God: If there be not a first and Fountain-Being, how did we come to be? for nothing can make itself: Or how did the World fall into this Order? This God is just, for all Perfections are in the first Being: If we deny him to be just, we deny him to be God, and the Governor of the World: Rom. 3.5, 6. Is God unrighteous who taketh Vengeance? God forbid; for then how shall God judge the World? Now it is agreeable to the Justice of his Government, that it should be well with them that do well, and ill with them that do evil; or that he should make a difference by Rewards and Punishments between the Wicked and Obedient. It seemeth uncomely when it is otherwise; Prov. 26.1. As Snow in Summer, and as Rain in Harvest; so Honor is not seemly for a Fool. When the Wicked are exalted, Men look on it as an uncouth thing. Now this Reward and Punishment is not fully dispensed in this World, even in the Judgment of them that have no great knowledge of the heinous Nature of Sin, and the Judgment competent thereunto. Yea rather, the best are exercised with Poverty, Disgrace, Scorn, and all manner of Troubles, their Persons molested, their Names cast out as odious, when the Wicked live in Pomp and Ease, and oppress them at their pleasure. Therefore since God's Justice doth not make such a difference here, there is another Life wherein he will do it; otherwise we must deny all Providence, and that God doth not concern himself in human Affairs, and that a Man may break his Laws, oppress his People, and no great Harm will come of it. Zeph. 1.12. The Lord will not do Good, neither will he do Evil. And God would seem indifferent to Good and Evil; yea, rather partial to the Evil, and to favor the Wicked more than the Righteous, which is Blasphemy, and a diminution of God's Goodness and Holiness. Psal. 11.6, 7. Upon the Wicked he shall rain Snares, Fire and Brimstone, and an horrible Tempest, this shall be the Portion of their Cup. But the righteous Lord loveth Righteousness, and his Countenance doth behold the Vpright. Obedience would be Man's Loss and Ruin, and so God would be the worst Master. 1 Cor. 15.19. If in this Life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all Men most miserable. They that forsake the sinful Pleasures of this Life, hazard all their natural Interests, row against the Stream of Flesh and Blood, would be ill provided for by their Religion. Therefore there is another Life wherein God will reward his People.

Secondly ; I shall urge other Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul.

1 st. The Capacity of the Soul argueth the Immortality of it. Now it is capable,

• 1. Of Civil Arts.
• 2. Of owning the distinction between Good and Evil.
• 3. Of knowing Immortality, and Matters of everlasting Consequence.
• 4. Of knowing God and his Attributes.
• 5. Of the Divine Nature, which consists in the Knowledge and Love of God.
• 6. Of a sweet familiar Communion with him. Let us see how all these Capacities will prove the Matter in hand.

1. The being capable of Civil Arts, will prove the Soul's spiritual Substance, far excelling the Beasts in Dignity: for it is capable of all kind of Learning and witty Inventions, as Grammar, and the knowledge of Tongues, and Rhetoric, to form and polish our Speech; Logic, to refine our Reason; Ethics, to order our Manners; Medicine, to cure the Distempers of our Bodies; by Physicks, or by natural Philosophy, it knoweth all kind of Things, all Ranks of Beings, from God and Angels to the smallest Worm; yea, it acquireth such Skill as to make use of all Creatures for its own benefit: James 3.7. For every kind of Beasts, and of Birds, and of Serpents, and things in the Sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of Mankind. The Power and Skill of Man is large, and reacheth through the whole Creation; by one Means or other Man mastereth them. Now what doth this signify, but that Man hath a Soul different from the Souls of the Beasts? Job 35.11. He teacheth us more than the Beasts of the Field, and maketh us wiser than the Fowls of Heaven. And that will contribute much to the matter in hand. Solomon puts the Question, Eccles. 3.21. Who knoweth the Spirit of Man that goeth upward, and the Spirit of a Beast that goeth downward to the Earth? Mark, there he asserts, that the Spirit of the Man goeth upward, and the Spirit of the Beast goeth downward; there is an Ascent ascribed to the one, and a Descent to the other; upward implieth Heaven and heavenly things; downward, the Earth and earthly things: The human Soul ascendeth to God, the universal Judge of all the World, whose Throne is in Heaven: but the Soul of the Beasts taketh its Lot among all earthly things, which are at length resolved into Earth, Water and Air. In the Creation God is said to breath into Man the Spirit of Life, not so of the Beast: So in the Dissolution, the one returneth to God, the other leaveth off to exist, and when they die they are no more.

2. It is capable of owning the Distinction between moral Good and Evil. He that doth not acknowledge it, is unworthy the Name of Man: for to love or hate God is not indifferent; nor to kill a Neighbor, or hunt an Hare in the Woods; to use lawful Matrimony, or for a Man to pollute himself either with promiscuous or incestuous Imbraces. Now if our Souls differed not from the Soul of a Beast, they could have no such Apprehension or Conception: The Beasts know Pain and Pleasure, but they have no Knowledge of Virtue and Vice, as is sensible to everyone that considereth them; but Man hath; Rom. 2.14, 15. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law, do by Nature the things contained in the Law, these having not the Law, are a Law unto themselves, which show the Work of the Law written in their Hearts. Well then, Man hath a Life beyond this, a further End of his Actions than a Beast, which is to approve himself to God, to whom he must give an Account, whether he hath done Good or Evil. For a Conscience supposeth a Law; and a Law supposeth a Sanction both of Reward and Punishment; and a Sanction a Judge, to whom a Man is accountable. And if Man were but an higher and wiser sort of Beast, he would but differ gradually from a Dog or a Swine. Now no Man would be used as a Beast, and made a Slave to any one that can master and tame him, and sold in the Market as a Beast; if this be his Lot by his Infelicity in the World, he would look upon it as an uncouth thing, and that it would be to sin before God to use him so. Therefore there is a Distinction between Men and Beasts; Men die not as the Beasts die.

3. They are capable of the Knowledge of Immortality, and can frame curious Disputes and accurate Debates thereof, which showeth they are not altogether uncapable of the thing itself: for the Beasts know no other Life beyond what they enjoy, and mind no other, and care for no other; and therefore the Estate of Man will be different from theirs.

4. Man is capable of knowing God and his Attributes, which the Beasts are not, because they were never made to enjoy him; He hath given us an Understanding, that we may know him that is true, 1 John 5.20. They are capable of knowing their Relation to God as his Creatures and Subjects, and so are obnoxious to his Judgment, and that nothing here can make them happy, and that God alone can do it; Psal. 4.6, 7. There be many that say, Who will show unto us any Good? Lord, lift thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us. Thou hast put Gladness in my Heart, more than in the time that their Corn and their Wine increased. That Happiness lieth not in what Men ordinarily seek it, Riches, Honors and Pleasures, but in the Favor of God. That here we do not enjoy him to the full, and that therefore we must seek after another Life; here we seek God, in the World to come we find him, and therefore cannot rest in this partial Enjoyment. Man is ever seeking after an immortal Blessedness; now this Capacity is not in vain, the Soul is restless till it find him.

5. Man is capable of a Divine Nature, which consists not only in the bare Knowledge, but Love of God; 2 Pet. 1.4. Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious Promises, that by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature. He is capable of the Image of God; Epes. 4.24. And that ye put on the new Man, which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness.

6. Man is capable of a sweet familiar Communion with God, and Friendship with him; 1 John 1.3. And truly our Fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. Therefore the State of Man dying, must needs be different from that of a Beast, who hath no Knowledge, no Desire, no Love to God, no Capacity of Communion with him, unless it be in respect of receiving the Effects and Bounty of his common Providence.

2 dly. The Dignity of Man, God made him a little lower than the Angels, and crowned him with Glory and Honor, Psal. 8.5. Now if he were not immortal, he would be of all Creatures most miserable, his Reason only would serve to make him capable and apprehensive of the greater Calamity and Trouble. Sure it is that Man is the Master-piece of this visible World, in respect of the Majesty of his Person, the Abilities of his Mind, and his Sovereignty over all the Works of God's Hands, all which are Marks of special Favor of the Creator to Man above other Creatures. Now if God hath given to Man the next Place in order of Dignity to the Angels above other his Creatures, what would his Love signify, if he be in a worse Condition than the Beasts, and liable to so many Cares, Incumbrances, Grief and Remorse of Conscience, which the Beasts are freed from? Alas! considering the Calamities of his Life, Infirmities of his Body, Perplexities of his Mind, his Reason is a sad Privilege to him, and his Torment rather than his Blessedness, whilst it only giveth him a doleful Remembrance of what is past, a Care about what is present, and awakens Fears of what is to come. The Beasts indeed have a Sense of what is present, but no Remorse for what is past, no Presage of what is to come; but Man hath all these, a bitter Remembrance of Sins past; and for present Evils they are more than those of the Beasts, such as Poverty, Banishment, Imprisonment, Slavery, Loss of Estate, sundry Sicknesses and Diseases, and Man hath a more bitter Sense and Apprehension of them. And for time to come, he hath a Fore-sight of the End, which the Beasts have not: So that we have twenty-fold more Cares and Labors than they have who live in Tranquillity and Liberty, and free from those Disquiets which vex Mankind, and have no Remorse to sour their Pleasures, either from the afflictive Remembrance of what is past, or Solicitude about what is to come. Therefore if our Happiness were here only, Man would be less happy than the Beasts, many of whose Lives are longer and sweeter, who have a more sincere Use of bodily Pleasures. But here is their Happiness; God had provided some better thing for them to be enjoyed in the other World. It cannot be imagined that he hath made his noblest Creature in the World with a Nature that should be a necessary Misery and Vexation to itself, above the Calamities incident to the rest of the Creatures. The very Apprehensions and Desires that a Man hath of an higher Good, would be a Torment and Burden to him, if there were no Calamity else, for he seeth a better Estate which he cannot enjoy; as an Horse tied up from the Provender which is near unto him, and cannot reach it. Our Nature inclineth us to know and love that we cannot obtain: We can think afore-hand of our Death and Abode in Darkness, which Beasts cannot, for they are not troubled with these Thoughts: Yea, we fear Miseries after Death, and know not how to be exempted from them. Now it is incredible that God should make his noblest Creature most miserable, by setting before his Eyes a certain Death, and possible Torments and Miseries after Death, and provide no Remedy against these things.

3 dly. God governeth Men by the Hopes and Fears of another Life, and therefore such a Life there is, and so the Souls of Men are immortal. The Reason is, because God needeth not to govern the World by Deceit and Lying: This would be against his Holiness and Benignity, and would destroy the very Government he would establish; for it would tempt us to Insincerity, and to cheating and deceiving others; for Men are no better than their Religion, it were well if they were as good. The Foolish, Bad, and Ignorant may use such Arts; but the Wise, Holy and Good would not. In ludicrous things we fright our Children with Bug-bears and Names; but in such a serious thing as the Government of the World, it cannot be imagined that God should use such an Artifice.

1. That God governeth the World by the Hopes and Fears of another Life, is evident, not only by the Tenour of the Christian Religion, where the Covenant between God and Men is established by such Threatenings and Promises, but by the Consent of all Nations where Government is secured and upheld by such a Perswasion. Now if the Soul be not immortal, and there be not firm Reasons to induce us to believe that it is so, why hath such a Conceit been rooted in the Minds of Men of all Nations and all Religions, not only Greeks and Romans, but Barbarians, and People least civilized: They all received this Opinion from Hand to Hand, from their Ancestors; and the nearer Men trace it to the Original of Mankind, the more clear and pressing hath been the Conceit thereof. Lapse of time, which ordinarily decayeth all things, hath not been able to deface it out of the Minds of Men; the Sense of an immortal Condition after this Life hath ever been accounted the great Bridle upon the World; and being spread throughout the Universe, hath with all Forwardness been received among all Nations, and hath born up against all Encounters of Sin, and hath maintained itself in the midst of those Revolutions of human Affairs, wherein other Truths are lost.

2. There is a Necessity of this Government, as suiting best with the Nature of Man, which is much moved by the Hopes and Fears of Good and Evil after Death. That Man is governed by Hopes and Fears, common Sense teacheth us: That the Hopes and Fears of the present Life are not sufficient to bridle carnal Nature, and withstand Temptations, and keep us in the true Obedience and Love to God to the End, Experience also showeth; because for the Satisfaction of our Lusts we can dispense with temporal Evils, as the Lecher in the Proverbs, chap. 5.11. And thou mourn at the last, when thy Flesh and thy Body are consumed. Besides, if it were so, that these Motives of temporal Good and Evil were sufficient, Man were more to be feared than God, which killeth and stabbeth all Religion at the Heart; for Man useth this Engine of temporal Punishments and Inconvenience; they do Execution on those that break their Laws. Now Christ teacheth us, Luke 12.4, 5. I say unto you my Friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the Body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed, hath Power to cast into Hell; yea, I say unto you; Fear him.

3. The Necessity of it appeareth to meet with secret Sins, such as Fornication, privy Atheism, Malice, Adultery, Murder, Perjury, Hypocrisy, Treachery, Theft, Deceit. He that believeth not a Life after this, may secretly carry on these Sins without Impunity. Man cannot see the Heart, or make Laws to govern it, therefore no Man can know or punish these secret Sins; therefore if Men can but hide their Sins, they are safe. So for the Sins of Men powerful in the World, for who can call them to an Account here for their Filthiness or Cruelty? Job 34.18. Is it fit to say to a King, Thou art wicked? and to Princes, Ye are ungodly? There is no Restraint to those who have none above them: and all secret Wickedness would be committed without Fear. So that to deny the Immortality of the Soul, or a Life after this, would take away all Honesty, and open the Flood-gates to all Villany and evil Practices. Who would make Conscience of entire Obedience to God, enter in by the straight Gate, walk in the narrow Way, row against the Stream of Flesh and Blood, work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling, and consecrate their time to God, if there were no other Life after this, nor Happiness to be there expected? Alas! we plainly see the contrary: Who are so lewd and hardened in their Sensualities, as they that are tainted with this Conceit? That not only the Denial, but the Forgetfulness of this Estate worketh this Effect. They make the best of the present Life; 1 Cor. 15.32. Let us eat and drink, for to Morrow we shall die. Such Atheistical Thoughts are very common. Ver. 33. Be not deceived, evil Communication corrupts good Manners. But a deep Sense of this immortal Estate is the Fountain of all Sobriety, Righteousness and Godliness; and all that is virtuous and Praise-worthy, hath been done in the World upon this Account. Therefore who are the better Men, those that believe the Immortality of the Soul, or those that believe it not? And who are likely to be in the right, wicked Wretches, or holy, serious and considering Men.

4. The Duties which God requireth of us show it. Man is obliged to divers Duties which are difficult and displeasing to the Flesh, and which we should never perform without a serious Belief of the Soul's Immortality; such as these, to forsake the sinful Pleasures of the World, to mortify and tame the Flesh, diligently to exercise ourselves to Godliness, to suffer the Loss of all outward Comforts, yea of Life itself. All these are commanded, the Mortification and keeping down the Body, Col. 3.5. Diligence in the Heavenly Life, Phil. 3.13, 14. For • itude and Patience under the greatest Trials, as Moses is propounded for an Example, Heb. 11.24, 25, 26. Not to faint in the greatest Tribulations, 2 Cor. 4.16, 17, 18. Yea to expose Life itself, Luke 14.26. Now would God, who is so loving to Mankind, bind us to displease the Flesh, and enjoin us so many Duties, which are harsh and troublesome, yea, some of them hurtful and detrimental to the Body, if he had not provided some better thing for us? Would he, all whose Precepts are for our good, and who hath made Self-love so great an help to our Duty, be so hard to us, but that he knoweth how to recompense this Diligence and Self-denial? He saith, Take no thought for your Life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your Body, what ye shall put on, Matth. 6.25. But he saith, Keep the Soul with all diligence, Deut. 4.9. Would he be so earnest in pressing us to look after the Soul, and strengthening and adorning the inward Man, if the Soul were to perish with the Body? Surely if all depended upon the Body, the Body should be more cared for; but it is quite otherwise, Scripture and Reason show the Body is only to be cared for in Subordination to the Soul, and that our chiefest Work should be to furnish our Souls with Knowledge and Grace: And they are the worthiest Men, who do most busy themselves about divine and heavenly things; whereas they are the basest, who care so much for the Body, and make a business of those things, which they should do only by the by. Certainly if there were an end of us, when the Body faileth, we should abhor nothing so much as Death, desire nothing so much as the good of the Body; nothing would be so dear to us, but we would part with it to keep off the Death of the Body, for then there would be an end of us: Death would be the chiefest Evil we could suffer, and that which would deprive us of all other good: nothing should be feared and abhorred like Death, and we should lie, forswear, or do anything to avoid it. But this Principle would not only destroy all generous Actions, but introduce all Dishonesty and Sin into the World; for as we should never venture our Lives upon any Reason and Inducement, though never so just, so we should stick at no Evil to preserve Life, and the Conveniencies which belong thereunto.

5. The Desires wrought in us, by the Spirit of God, to see and enjoy God, argue the Immortality of the Soul; Rom. 8.23. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the First-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of our Bodies. 2 Cor. 5.2. For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven. We prove another Life, not only by the Inclination, Instinct and Disposition of Nature towards Happiness in general; the universal Desire of all Mankind is to be everlastingly happy, this proveth it; for this Desire being universal and natural, is not frustrate; Nature doth nothing in vain: but the Desires and Groans of the Sanctified do much more prove it, for they do more forcibly direct and carry our Hearts to a certain Scope and End; and they are excited by the Holy Spirit, for he imprinteth a firm Perswasion of this Happiness, and stirreth up these Desires after it; and that in our sober and severest Moods, when we are solemnly conversing with God in his holy Worship, in the Word, Prayer, Meditation, and the Lord's Supper, and all other holy Duties, then he most raiseth these Affections towards heavenly Things; and also he leaveth this heavenly Relish upon our Hearts, at other times, as the Reward of our eminent Obedience to God: and the more serious and holy any are, the more do they feel of this. Now these Desires being of God's own infusing, they will not be disappointed; therefore those who make the Hopes of the World to come their Happiness, Desire and Joy, will one day be Partakers of the Blessedness of it: Their Groaning, Seeking and Longing, will not be in vain, for God will give the Satisfaction where he giveth the Desire.

Use 1. Is Terror to the Wicked and Ungodly. Your Souls die not with the Body, but must enter into endless Torments: the Body perisheth, but the immortal Substance will forever subsist in a State of Woe or Weal. Now how brutishly and much beneath a Man do they live, who wholly give up themselves to carnal Pleasures and worldly Pursuits; that live as if their Souls did die with their Bodies, and they should never hear of them more; they make no Provision for their everlasting Estate. Three Evils I charge upon these Men.

1. These Men do not believe that which Scripture and Reason showeth to be certainly true, and so do not show themselves either Christians or Men. The great Design of Scripture is to give them a Prospect of another World, and to assure them of a Life after Death; And will you not receive God's Testimony? Are God's Threatenings a vain Scarcrow? Are the Promises a golden Dream? Go and reason, if the Soul abideth not after it flitteth out of the Body, it is either because it cannot be, or act; or because God will not suffer it to be, or act; or hath not clearly declared it shall be so, so that no certainty can be had thereof; or hath declared or expressed himself to the contrary. Now none of these are true.

(1.) Not the first. The Nature of the Soul is such, that it showeth plainly that it can live without the Body; a Spirit can subsist by itself; that which God hath fitted to endure forever, he hath designed it to endure forever. Now the Soul as a Spirit is fitted to live forever, and it can live without the Body, for it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , it doth of itself, move itself. Is it the Body that supports the Soul, or the Soul that supports the Body? Heathens have thought so upon this Argument, and will not you? Cum venerit ill dies, qui mixtum hoc divini humani{que} secernat, corpus hîc ubi inveni relinquam, ipse me Diis redeam: When that Day shall come, when the divine Spirit shall be severed from the human Body, I shall leave the Body where I found it, and yield up my Spirit to the God's.

(2.) Is it because God will not permit it to be, or act without the Body? Whence doth that appear? To us Christians, he hath appointed a Mediator to receive our Souls.

(3.) Or is it because he hath doubtfully expressed his Mind? You are not sure there is no such Life; it is impossible you should know or prove the contrary. The Question between the Infidel and the Christian is not, Whether there be a a World to come? but whether he can prove there is none? You cannot prove the Falsity of the Christian Hope by any sound Argument, that there is no Heaven not Hell; for ought you can say or know, there are both, and it were best to take the surer side. In a Lottery, Men will venture some small matter. Some of the Heathens that disputed against it, or doubted of it, yet acknowledged it to be a Supposition conducing to Virtue and Goodness.

(4.) God hath not declared his Mind to the contrary, but plainly told us that it is so. It is easy to presume, that a thousand to one but it is so. Natural Reason, Consent of Nations, Fears of a guilty Conscience, or Presages of eternal Punishment, the whole Drift of the Christian Religion, the Example of Christ, all prove it. Those Wretches that out-face Religion, accuse Christ of a Lie, and the wisest Men of the World of Folly; their own Consciences of imposing a Cheat upon them to check their vain Pleasures; and in defiance of Light within and without, smother all Conceits of a World to come.

2. They do not consider these things, and weigh them, that they may come to understand what is their end and business here. Alas! are we so near everlasting Joy or Misery, and yet neglect it; yea, it may be, scorn and oppose those that make it their chiefest Care and Labor to prepare for it? How long have you lived in the World, and scarce ever asked the question, or thought seriously, What shall I do to be saved? you are desirous to give full and ample Satisfaction to your dying Part, yea, have pampered it, and over-clogged it; but your business is not to pamper the Body, but to save your Souls. Now you should show yourselves Men: Isa. 46.8. Remember this, and show yourselves Men; bring it again to mind, O ye Transgressors! Think aforehand, what would poor deluded Souls, that are in their everlasting Estate, give, if they might be trusted with a little time again, if God would but try them once more, that they might mend their past Folly? They have lost their Souls for poor Temporal Trifles! But, alas, now! though we are daily drawing near to our long home, yet we little think of it; we are almost come to our Journey's end, and we never consider whither we are going.

3. They do not improve these things, nor live answerably, which is a further degree of Fruitlesness: Psal. 49.12. Man being in Honor, abideth not; he is like the Beasts that perish. Jude 10. What they know naturally, as brute Beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. They are Strangers to the heavenly Mind, and wholly governed by carnal Sense; they live as if the Soul did serve for no other use but to keep the Body from stinking; their Principles have no influence upon their Practice; they talk of the Immortality of the Soul, yet spend all their Care upon the Body.

Use 2. Is Caution.

1. Do not hazard your Souls for things that perish. Let nothing entice us to forfeit, or hinder our endless Happiness. Heb. 10.39. We are not of them who draw back unto Perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the Soul. Matth. 16.26. What is a Man profited, if he shall gain the whole World, and lose his own Soul? or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul?

2. Do not betray the Souls of others for a little Pelf, as ignorant and careless Ministers do, so they have the Maintenance. Love to Souls is the great thing we learn of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself a Ransom for them, Mat. 20.28. Ministers should have the Bowels of Christ, Phil. 1.8. For God is my Record, how greatly I long after you all in the Bowels of Christ. Pity those that are going to Hell, and ready to perish everlastingly.

Use 3. Is Exhortation, to persuade you to make it your Mark and Scope to look after this immortal State of Blessedness. Let us leave things that perish to Men that perish; John 6.27. Labor not for the Meat that perisheth, but for that Meat which endureth to everlasting Life. Surely this Argument should persuade us to Heavenly-mindedness; earthly things are of short duration, and shall quickly leave us, and when they are gone, they are to us as if they had never been; a Shadow, a Dream, or something that is next to nothing; but the fruit of Godliness abideth forever, 1 John 2.17. The World passeth away, and the Lust thereof; but he that doeth the Will of God, abideth forever.

MOTIVES.

1. You know more of the Dignity of Man, who is created after the most perfect Pattern, the Image of God himself, Gen. 1.26. So God created Man in his own Image, in the Image of God created he him. Redeemed at the dearest rate, the Blood of the Son of God; 1 Pet. 1.18, 19. Forasmuch as ye are redeemed, not with corruptible things, as Silver and Gold, &c. but with the precious Blood of Christ. And designed and ordained to the highest End, the glorifying and enjoying of God; Rom. 11.36. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things. Surely they should be more sensible of their Immortality, and serve God more than the rest of his Creatures.

2. You profess that Religion which hath brought Life and Immortality to light, and the End of which, is the saving of the Soul. Now though you have the Profession of Christians, you have not the Spirit of Christians, if this be not your daily Business and Scope. What have you done for the saving of your Souls? If all your Business, Cares and Fears, are about the Body, and the Interests of the bodily Life, you have the Spirit of the World, not of God. Are not your Souls worth the looking after? That which is the Scope of your Religion, should be the Business of your Lives and Actions, that a Christian may correspond and answer to his Christianity, as the Impress doth to the Seal.

3. You are God's Witnesses; Isa. 43.10. Ye are my Witnesses, saith the Lord. What proof do we give of a reasonable immortal Soul? Heb. 11.7. By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with Fear, prepared an Ark to the saving of his House; by which he condemned the World▪ and became Heir of the Righteousness, which is by Faith. Do we propagate Carelessness and Atheism, or a Mindfulness of the World to come?

4. If we are satisfied with present things, we have no more to look for: Psal. 17.14. From Men of the World, which have their Portion in this Life. Matth. 6.2. They have their Reward. Luke 6.24. Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your Consolation. Luke 16.25. Son, remember that thou in thy Life-time receivedst thy good things. It is sad to be put off with these things, with Riches, Honors, Favor of Men, and a little temporal Greatness.

SERMONS UPON REVELATION I. 5, 6.