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NICHOL'S SERIES OF STANDARD DIVINES.
PURITAN PERIOD.
(Btmtisd 'Btdnct
BY JOHN C. MILLER, D.D., /
LINCOLN college; HONORAKY CAJiON OF WORCESTER; RECTOR OF 3T MARTIN's, BIRMINGHAM.
THE
WORKS OF THOMAS BROOKS.
VOL. V.
COUNCIL OF PUBLICATION.
W. LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D., Professor of Theology, Congregational
Union, Edinburgh.
JAMES BEGG, D.D., Minister of Newington Free Church, Edinburgh.
THOMAS J. CRAWFOED, D.D., S.T.P., Professor of Divinity, University,
Edinburgh.
D. T. K. DRUMMOND, M.A., Minister of St Thomas's Episcopal Church,
Edinburgh.
WILLIAM H. GOOLD, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Church
History, Reformed Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh.
ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., Minister of Broughton Place United Presby-
terian Church, Edinburgh.
45eneral 4SDitor.
REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D., Edinbubgh.
THE COMPLETE WORKS
or
THOMAS BROOKS.
BY THE KEV. ALEXANDER BALLOCH GROSART,
LIVEKPOOL.
VOL. V.
CONTAININO :
THE GOLDEN KEY TO OPEK HIDDEN TREASURES;
PAE4D1SE OPENEiJj,^ \
/ AND '• V ' '■
,1
A TIfOflJ) IN SEASON. \ \
EDINBURGH : JAMES NICHOL.
LONDON : JAMES NISBET AND CO. DUBLIN : G. HERBERT.
M.DCCC.LXVII.
[■]
CONTENTS.
I. The Golden Key to Open Hidden Treasures,
The Epistle Dedicatory, ..... 3-15
Serious and Weighty Questions Clearly and Satisfactorily
Answered, . ... . . . 16-61
1. What are the special remedies, means, or helps against
cherishing or keeping up of any special or peculiar sin,
either in heart or life, against the Lord, or against the
light and conviction of a man's own conscience ? . 16
2. What is that faith that gives a man an interest in Christ,
and in all those blessed benefits and favours that come
by Christ ? or whether that person that experiences the
following particulars, may not safely, groundedly, and
comfortably conclude that his faith is a true, justifying,
saving faith, the faith of God's elect, and such a faith
as clearly evidences a gracious estate, and will certainly
bring the soul to heaven ? . . . . 49
3. Whether in the great day of the Lord, the day of general
judgment, or in the particular judgment that will pass
2ipon every soul immediately after deaih, which is the
stating of the soul in an eteimal estate or condition,
either of happiness or misery ; whether the sins of the
saints, the follies and vanities of believers, the infirmities
and enormities of sincere Christians, sliall be brought into
the judgment of discussion and discovery, or no ?
Whether the Lord will either in the great day of account,
or in a marHs particular day of account or judgment,
publicly manifest, proclaim, and make mention of the
sins of his people, or no ? . . . . 52
Pleas in answer to the third question, . . .61-261
II. Paradise Opened.
The Epistle Dedicatory, ..... 265-285
Pleas continued from ' The Golden Key,' . . . 286-414
III. A Word in Season.
A general Epistle to all suffering saints, . . . 416-448
Some words of counsel to a dear friend, . . . 449-455
The signal presence of God with his people, . . . 456-597
Z/r 30^3^7.'
THE
GOLDEN KEY
OPEN HIDDEN TREASURES.
VOL. V.
NOTE.
The 'Golden Key' forms Part I, of, spiritually, the richest and most nurturing of
Brooks's larger treatises. Part II. follows in this volume. The title-page of the former
will be found below.* It is interesting to compare Brooks's * Golden Key' with the
earlier work of Francis Dillingham, entitled 'A Golden Keye opening the Locke to
eternall Happiness : containing seven most sweete and comfortable directions to a
Christian life,' 1609, 12mo.--G,
* G0LDEI7 KEY
TOOPEN
Hidden Treasures,
Several great Points, that refer to the Saints present blessedness, and their
future happiness, with the resolution of several important questions.
Here you have also
The Active and Passive Obedience of Christ vindicated and improved
against men of corrupt minds, d-c. Who boldly, in Pulpit and Press, contend
against those glorious Truths of the Gospel.
You have farther
Eleven serious singular Pleas, that all sincere Christians may safely and
groundedly make, to those ten Scriptures in the Old and New Testament, that
speak of the general Judgment, and of that particular Judgment, that must cer-
tainly pass upon them all immediately after death, s. ,
"^l^n^^/c '^^ f "u ^^.^"^"^'i ?f Christ, is here largely proved, and im-
E./°Tv ^" Gamsayers, by what names and titles soever they are distin-
mpS. on^ni^T"" ^^«"g ««• Sevejal things concerning Hell, and hellish tor-
mente, opened cleared and improved against all Atheists, and all others that
boldly assert, that there is no Hell, but what is in us. Som^ other points^f im-
Z^hlTe.^Z^lT^"''^ opened, which other Authors (so fJr as he 1^.
rn^Hnn nf fll^ "^^^f ''''''' ^^"'^ '"^ ^''^^^ ^^l^^^^' ^11 tending to the confir-
mation of the strong, and support, peace, comfort, settlement and satisfaction
of poor, weak, doubting, trembling, staggering Christians. sa"8taction
By Tho. Brooks late Preacher of the Gospel, at Margarets-New-Fish-street.
LONDON,
^J'^^t S!-^°'*^°a" ^«'^«»' at the King's-Arms in the Poultrey:
and at the Ship and Anchor, at the Bridg-foot, on Southwark ^I^il5.
[4to.— G.]
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
To his much honoured and worthily esteemed friend, Sir Nathaniel
Herne, Knight, Sheriff of London, and Governor of the East
India Company, i
Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you and yours.
Sir —Much might be said, were it necessary, for the dedication of
books unto persons of worth, interest, service, and honour, this having
been the constant practice of the best and wisest of men in aU the
ages of the world ; and therefore I need not make any farther apology
for my present practice. . ^ o j j
What is written is permanent, litera scripia manet,^ and spreads
itself farther by far, for time, place, and persons than the voice can
reach. Augustine, writing to Volusian, saith, ' That which is writ-
ten is always at hand to be read when the reader is at leisure.
There are those that think— and, as they conceive, from bcripture
grounds too— that the glory of the saints in heaven receives additions
and increases daily, as their holy walk and faithful service when here on
earth doth, after they are gone, bring forth fruit to the praise ot (xod
amongst those that are left behind them. If this be so what greater
encouragement can there be to write, print, preach, and to walk holily
in this world ? , , . .i. i. r
I must also confess that that general acceptation that my lormer
labours have found, both in the nation and in foreign parts, and that
singular blessing that has attended them from on High, hath been
none of the least encouragements to me once more to cast m my mite
into the common treasury.^ Besides, I am not unsensible of your
candid esteem of some former endeavours of mine m this kind neither
do I know any way wherein I am more capacitated to serve the glory
of God, the interest of Christ, the public good, reproached truths, and
the interest of the churches, in my generation, than this, as my case
and condition is circumstanced; and I am very well satisfied that
there is nothing in this treatise but what tends to the advantage, com-
1 Cf. Herbert, as before.— G.
2 Supposed to be a portion of a mediseval pentameter hymn.— u.
* U^-LYiykVTmi.s, concerning his first portraiture, If it be liked, I .ill
draw more besides this, if loathed, none but this.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY,
fort, support, settlement, and encouragement of those whose concern-
ment lies in peace and truth, in holiness and righteousness, through-
out the nations.
Sir, the points here insisted on are of the greatest use, worth, weight,
necessity, excellency, and utility imaginable ; they are such wherein
our present blessedness and our future happiness, yea, wherein our
very all, both as to this and that other world, is wrapped up. It will
be your life, honour, and happiness to read them, digest them, expe-
rience them, and to exemplify them in a suitable conversation, Deut.
XXX, 15, 19, and xxxii, 47, wliich, that you may, let your immortal
soul lie always open to the warm, powerful, and hourly influences of
heaven.
Let it be the top of your ambition, and the height 'of all your de-
signs, to glorify God,i to secure your interest in Christ, to serve your
generation, to provide for eternity, to walk with God, to be tender
of all that have aliquid Christi, anything of Christ, shining in them,
and so to steer your course in this world as that you may give up your
account at last with joy, Mat. xxv, 21, seq. All other ambition is
base and^ low. Ambition, saith one, [Bernard,] is a gilded misery, a
secret poison, a hidden plague, the engineer of deceit, the mother of
hypocrisy, the parent of envy, the original of vices, the moth of holi-
ness, the blinder of hearts, turning medicines into maladies, and reme-
dies into diseases. 2 In the enthronisation of the pope, before he is set
in his^ chair and puts on his triple crown, a piece of tow or wad of
straw is set on fire before him, and one appointed to say Sic transit
gloria mundi, The glory of this world is but a blaze.3 St Luke calls
Agrippa s pomp ^era 7roXX^9 (fiavraaia^, a fantasy or vain show
Acts XXV, 23,; and indeed all worldly pomp and state is but a fan-
tasy or vam show, St Matthew calls all the world's glory J6^av an
opinion, Mat iv, 8 ; and St Paul calls it ^xvf^"-^ a mathematical figure
rT1^^^*■^Jl, ' ™^.i8 a mere notion, and nothing in substance.
1 he word here used mtimateth that there is nothing of any firmness
or sohd consistency in the creature ; it is but a surface, outside, empty
thing; all the beauty of it is but skin deep. Mollerus,* upon that
Ps. Ixxiii 20, concludeth, ' that men's earthly dignities are but as idle
dreams, their splendid braveries but lucid fantasies.'S High seats are
never but uneasy,_and crowns are always stufi^ed with thorns, which
made one say of his crown, '0 crown, more noble than happy.^ Shall
the Spirit of God, the grace of God, the power of God, the presence of
vou 'pvAl? ""^Tt ^^1 °i^r '^^'' ^^^«' «^^^^«' ^^d temptations, as
Peo^DlVTsaHv^r ^^^^^ *^^* f.^^' 'H«^°^^ ^^ t,efore the
people, 1 bam. xv. 30; and he was a Jehu that said, ' Come, see my
an?glS^;-b;t?ce7St/Sod'^' --^itiously labour, we count it our highest honour
Aci?nf si^Toftr^^^^^^^^^ r '"^ "^"^ '^^ '^^ p^^ ^^ p^'-^^^^- f^°-]
wa; l^t^:tZu'tLl^'':i^Z'AlZ^S^ *^°^P^^ <^^- *«^«^^-> ^ «t- that the
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
7Pal for the Lord of Hosts,' 2 Kings x. 16 ; and tliey were^ three Irish
Stfthat reMled in Henry the Second's days, being derided for
thefr rude habits and fashions; and they were some of the worst
of cLdTnalsTat when they were like to die, would give great sums
mon Tfo^^^^^^ hat, that they might be so styled upon then-
?ombs ' and they were the Komans and other barbarous nations that
we^e most ambitious of worldly honour and gW; and he .^s a
Tulius tear whose excessive desire of honour made him to be mor-
faHvLted by t^^s and all others. God grants no man a
patent for honour "durante vita, but durante henefacito, as the
d^ers speak, during his life, but during his o- good pl^^^^^^^^^^
worldly honour and glory is subject to mutability. Honours, ricties,
Ind X ures are the" three deiti'es that in these days a world of men
adore and to whom they sacrifice, morning and evemng their best
tWMs and tS, for their unparalleled vanity, may we 1 be called
the viidt; of van^tie;, Eccles. i. % Worldly honours are but a mere
conce" a'shadow, a Vapour, a feather in the cap without sub ance
or subsistence, and yet the most powerfiU f f ^,^^^?^f ^^'^^^^^^
he lulls men to sleep in the paradise of fools; to cast them, wnen
they a e awake into the bottomless pit of eternal woe. For had not
SatL hdd them to be the strongest of all temptations he had not
™d e^f^^ his last battery against the constency of our blessed
Saw, as S did, Mat. iv. 8, 9. And although this roaring cannon
TZ^ouX^ not p;evail against Christ, the ^^^^ o^ges. Mat -v^^
vpf bnw TTianv thousands in these days are captivated and deluaea oy
the XriX^^lisS- of worldly honours ! Men of great honour and
trldly g^^^^^^^^^^ in 4pery place^ Adonibezek, a mighty
DrTnce was made fellow-commoner with the dogs Judges i. 7; and
EdX^zar, a mighty conqueror, ^^ turned a-g^^^^^^^^^^^
the oxen Dan. iv. 28 ; and Herod was reduced from a conceitea goa
to tWost loathsome of men, a living carr on, arrested by the vi st
creatures, upon the suit of his affronted Creator, Ac s xi. 23. The lice
did fully confute his auditory, and triumph over his thione. A g^^^^
Haman is feasted with the king one day, and made a feast for crows
+V.P TiPvf Esth vii 10. In all the ages of the world (rod nam
l^ken a iSs'toli^^ pride of all the glory of this lower world,
Tea Yviii See it in a few instances : —
'"vSn''the EciJiau emperor, fell from being - emp^-or te be a
footstool to Sapor, king of Persia as often as he took ho^^^^
Bibulus the consul, riding m his ^rmmpliant chariot by the^
a tile-stone from a house was made a ^a^^^^, ^ff f^ A^d ^^^^^^
the canitol to offer up there the bulls and garlands he had prepared
%uSnus, L Ro^an empeiw, brought .Tetncus hisjPO^^^^^^^^^^
the brave Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, m triumph to Eome m golden
chains.^
SeTanus that prodigious favourite, on the same day that he was at-
tended by the senate,%n the same day he was torn m pieces by the
1 On ' there were «'-G. ' Erasmus writes that he knew some such cardinals.
1 Qu. there were. u. p ^ j, yi^. Valerian; Eckhel, vu. 307.-G.
1 ieS cTd";- Boze in EoL de I'Academie de Sciences et Belles Lettres, vol.
xxiii.: Zenobia, as before.— G.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
people. , Seneca, speaking of him, saith, that he who in the morning
was swollen with titles, ere night there remained not so much as a
mammock i of flesh for the hangman to fasten his hook in. 2
Belisarius, a most famous general under Justinian the emperor,
after all the great and famous services that he had done, he had his
eyes put out in his old age by the Empress Theodora ; and at the
temple of St Sophia forced to beg: Date partem Belisario, &c., Give
a crust to old blind Belisarius, whom virtue advanced, but envy hath
brought into this great misery. 3
Henry the Fourth, emperor, in sixty-two battles, for the most part,
he became victorious ; yet he was deposed, and driven to that misery
that he desired only a clerk's place in a house at Spires, of his own
building, which the bishop of that place denied him: whereupon he
brake forth into that speech of Job : ' Miseremini mei, amid; quia
manus Dei tetigit me, Have pity upon me, oh my friends, for the hand
of God hath touched me,' Job xix. 21. He died of grief and want.^
Bajazet, a proud emperor of the Turks, whom Tamerlane a Tar-
tarian took prisoner, and bound him in chains of gold, and used him
for a footstool when he took horse ; when he was at table he made
him gather crumbs and scraps under his table, and eat them for his
food.5
Dionysius, king of Sicily, was such a cruel tyrant that his people
banished him. After his banishment he went to Corinth, where he
lived a base and contemptible life. At last he became a schoolmaster ;
so that, when he could not tyrannise any longer over men he miffht
over boys.^ °
Pythias was pined to death for want of bread, who once was able
to entertain and maintain Xerxes his mighty army 7
Great Pompey had not so much as room to be buried in; and
William the Conqueror 8 corpse lay three days unburied, his interment
being hindered by one that claimed the ground to be his
Caesar having bathed his sword in the blood of the senate and his
own countrymen is after a while, miserably murdered in the senate
by his own friends, Cassius and Brutus
««'!^'°^.^''Fl!w*'-^ S^^""* MT^^ ^^^ ^^^^^1«' ^as brought so low
as to entreat his friend to send him a sponge, a loaf of bread, and a
harp; a sponge to dry up his tears, a loaf of bread to maintain his
life, and a harp to solace himself in liis misery 8
A Duke of Exeter, who, though he had married Edward the Fourth's
sister, yet was seen begging barefoot in the Low Comitries 9
Ihe Emperor Nero promoted Tigelenus to the greatest dignities of
the Roman empire, but it was because he had been the privfte aSnt
to his base and lascivious delights, for which he was justly Svefof
his honours and hfe by Otho the emperor.io ^ ^ aeprived ot
^ 'Morsel/ a Shakeeperian word: Coriolanus, i. 3 -G
' Seneca, De Tranquillitate, cap. 11.— G
^ Ci Lord Mahon's ' Belisarius.'— G ' 4 a „ u *
" As before.— G * As before.— G.
^ Turk. History, p. 220. [Knolles 1 8 4^"^— .^•
» Philip de Comines saw him thus beg. Procopms reports this of him.
'" See Tacitus in Otho's Life, f Annals tv ^7 ia „ j ^i
But, L 72, and PluUrch am.. 2,'lS,"lt 19 "sS^'-oTh", 1 stTd'i'd.j"' ''"'""
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
By all these instances, and many more that might be produced it
is most evident that worldly glory is but a breath, a vapour, a froth a
Sasm a shadow, a reflection, an apparition, a very nothing Like
the incurs or nightmare in a dream, you imagine it a substance, a
weigSt you grasp at it and awaJ.e, and it is nothing Pljasurejid
ifl iJii o^iflp n ^pnse or two— the one a touch or taste, the other a
r^M^thl ts ; butto of glory can neither be felt seen, or under-
s^Sod The phi osophers are at strife among themselves where to fix
r'n any being or existence, whether in honorante, or m honorato
the giver or thf taker. The inconstancy and shppermess of it is dis-
cerrlble in the instances last cited. It hath raised some, bu hah
ruined more ; and those commonly whom it hath most raised it hath
^st ridned Sir, if there be anything glorious in the world, it is a
S?nd that divinely contemns that glory ; and such a mind I judge and
W God haTgiven you. I have hinted a little at the vamty of
Sdly glory, because happily this tr^tise, passing up and down the
wor d may fall into the hands of such as may l^^troubled with that
S anf if so, who can tell but that that little that I have said may
prove a sovereign salve to cure that Egyptian botch: and if so, I have
"^^A nothing lie so near your heart in all the ^orld^« «Jf «^. ^^^^^
things- 1 Your sins, to humble you and abase you at the foot of God.
2 Free and rich and sovereign grace, to soften and melt you down
into the wUl of God. 3. The Lord Jesus Christ,to assist, help, strengthen
andXence you to all the duties and services that are incumbent
upon yo^^^^^^ The blessed Scriptures, to guide you and lead you,
'and to be a lamp unto your feet, and a hght unto your paths, i 5.
T^ JSicU^ns of'joseph! to draw out your « X^^'/^]^^^^^^^
pathy and compassion to men in misery. 6. The glory and naj^pi
ness of another world, to arm you and steel you aginst all the ems,
snares Tnd temptations that your high places, offices, and circuni-
stenci may lay you open to. 7. The grand points in this treatise
wS S h^d upo^your heart by the warm hand of the Spirit,
^'t'tl^nZlZ%r2gnsly^ as to tell the world how many
several score pounds of your money hath passed through my hands
t^arisXre'^ief, refreshment, support and preservation of such who
fortheh- piety and extreme poverty and necessity, were proper objects
of your charity; but shall take this opportumty to te you, and all
otC into who e hands this treatise may fall that of al the duties of
reSn there are none, 1. More commanded than his of chanty
pi V compassion, and mercy to men in misery <=f P'^<='''»y *? «;7 °*
f the household of faith;' 2. There is no one duty more highly com-
' Col. i. 10-13 ; PM. ■'"■ 12-"; G-l- "• 2« i 1 C»r. xv. 10 ; 2 Cor. xil. 10 ; P.. oxix. 105;
Amos vi. 3-6; Nek i. 1-5.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATOKY.
mended and extolled than this ; 3. There is no one duty that hath
more choice and precious promises annexed to it than this ; 4. There
is no one duty that hath greater rewards attending it than this.l
Evagrius, a rich man, being importuned by Synesius, a bishop, to give
somethmg to charitable uses, he yielded at last to give three hundred
pounds ; but first took bond of the bishop that it should be repaid
him m another world, according to the promise of our Saviour with
a hundredfold advantage. Mat. xix. 29. Before he had been one day
dead, he is said to have appeared to the bishop, deliverino- in the
bond cancelled, as thereby acknowledging that what was pronnsed was
m^ie good. It is certain, that one day's being in heaven will make a
sufficient recompense for whatsoever a man has given on earth
Neither shall I acquaint the world with those particular favours and
respects which you have shewed to myself, but treasure them up in
an awakened breast, and be your remembrancer at the throne of grace
Only I must let the world know that I owe you more than an epistle-
and If you please to accept of this mite in part of payment, and im-
prove it for your soul's advantage, you will put a farther Obligation
Let the lustre of your prudence, wisdom, charity, fidelity eenerositv
and humi ity of spirit shine gloriously through all your plkfesoS'
abih les, riches employments, and enjoyments; for^thTs Cthe Wht
the! sTf Sof^r];- • ^/ ''1 '' .4^> -' --^-ber for everX
ot bad, are always fixed upon you. God is all ear to hear aU hind fo
punish, all power to protect, all wisdom to direct, all goodness To rdieve
ter I' Pfd°^'/nd he is totus oc^dusMl ?ye to obse^^^^^^^^
stvirVYrn r^^fcrofThri '^.n^ ^^ "^' ^^^^^ -^
affirmeth, that God beh M e^en thf^er^fLJrAf' ""' ^?.^°'
^SoTttl^&^t^^^^^^^^
Plai'n path,beci of t eneX^'k^^^^^^^^ '''^ ''' '^ ^
Hebrew, 'because of our obseW ^n T^l^ ^^ ' ^''. °f^'^^ *^^
there have been Sauls and ^nptJ it' J ^}^ J^^ ^^^^ «f ^^^ ^o^d
with an evil eye^nd tlLf^e^^^^^^ ^'^'^ ^^^^«
are multitudes that will be stV e,W nn^^^ '^'■\^^\ 1^' ^^^^^
offices, carriages, and Lversation n? ^"^^.P/^f ^ ^^to the practices,
more it conct-ns themTw. T . "^^f'^'^}^' ^^d ministers, the
earthly angels in the mid. f Z ' P"f^' ^^t, and walk like so many
ration; PhriL?5 ""^ ^ ''''^'^' P^^^^^^^' ^^d froward gene-
or^^rntStthT^^^^^^^^^ to a kingdom
i, wnicn Jethro well understood when he gave Moses
^ Prov. iii. 9, 10; Eccles xi 1 2 • f l • i
'-JMPOJ^der upon it;] Mat. xxV. 34-41.^'" ' ^ ^''''- '''"' ^-^' ^"^ i^- 1.2; Isa. Iviii.
of th/sc-hooiiie; ^ic^'eSin ^Del^st ?>i/i';i""- ^^ ' ^'^- ^^- ^'- I* i« a saying
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 9
that good counsel, to make choice out of the people of grave and able
men, ' such as feared God, men of truth, hating covetousness ; and to
make them rulers over thousands, and rulers over hundreds, over
fifties, and over tens/ i But in the nations round, how rare is it to
find magistrates qualified, suitable to Jethro's counsel ! Alphonsus,
king of Spain, coming very young to the crown, some advised that
seven counsellors might be joined to govern with him, who should be
men fearing God, lovers of justice, free from filthy lusts, and such as
would not take bribes ; to which Alphonsus replied, If you can find
seven such men, nay, bring me but one so qualified, and I will not
only admit him to govern with me, but shall willingly resign the
kingdom itself to him. Wicked policies are ever destructive to their
authors; as you may see in Pharaoh, in Ahithophel, in Haman, &c.,
Exod. i. 10, 22 ; 2 Sam. xvi. and xxiii. 23 ; Esth. vii. 10. As long as
the Roman civil magistrates, senators, and commanders of armies were
chosen into places of honour and trust for their noble descent, their
prudence and valour, their state did flourish, and did enlarge its
dominions more in one century of years than it did in three after
these places of honour came to be venal, and purchased by concession.^
For then men of no parts were for money promoted to highest digni-
ties ; whereupon civil contentions were fomented, factions increased,
and continual bloody intestine wars maintained; by which the ancient
liberties of that state were suppressed, and the last government of it
changed into an imperial monarchy. As long as the chief offices of
the crown of France, and the places of judicature of the realm, were
given by Charles the Fifth, surnamed the Wise, to men of learning, of
wisdom, and valour in recompense of their loyalty, virtue, and merits,
that kingdom did flourish, with peace, honour, and prosperity ; 3 and
the courts of parliaments of France had the honour, for their justice
and equity, to be the arbitrators and umpires of all the differences
that happened in those days between the greatest princes of Christen-
dom. But when these places of honour and trust were made venal,
in the reigns of Francis the Second, Charles the Ninth, and Henry the
Third, and sold for ready money to such as gave most for them, then
was justice and equity banished, and that flourishing kingdom reduced
to the brim of ruin and desolation by variety of factions and a bloody
civil war. The wicked counsel given by the Cardinal de Lorraine, and
the Duke of Guise his brother, to Charles the Ninth, king of France,
to allure all the Protestants to Paris, under colour of the marriage of
Henry de Bourbon with Margaret de Valois, the king's sister, to have
them all as in a trap, for to cut their throats in their beds, as they did
for the greatest part, proved fatal to the king, to the cardinal, and the
duke ; for the king, by the just judgment of God, died shortly after by
an issue of blood, which came out of his mouth, ears, and nostrils, and
could never be stopped; and the cardinal and the duke were both slain
by the commandment of Henry the Third in the castle of Blois.^ The
barbarous policy of Philip the Second, king of Spain, to banish two or
three hundred thousand Moors, with their wives and children, under
* Exod. xviii. 21, 22. Magistratus virum indicat, is a maxim as true as old.
« See Livius, Decades. ^ See the History of France.
•» See the Massacre of Paris in the Inventorj- of France.
10 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
colour of religion, on purpose to confiscate all their land, and to appro-
priate the same to his demesnes, was fatal to him and to all the Spanish
nation ; for by the just judgment* of God he was eaten up of lice, and
the Spanish nation never thrived since, &cA Were it not for exceed-
ing the bounds of an epistle, I might shew, in all the ages of the world
how destructive the wicked policies of rulers and governors have been
to themselves and the states and nations under them, &c. ; but from
such pohcies God has, and I hope will for ever, deliver your soul.
Sir, the best poHcy in the world is to know God savingly, to serve
him sincerely, to do the work of your generation throughly, and to
secure your future happiness and blessedness effectually, &c.
Sir, I do not offer you that which cost me nothing, or little, Mai. i.
13, 14 God best knows the pains, the prayers, and the study that the
travailmg of this treatise into the world hath cost me, in the midst
of trials, troubles, temptations, afilictions, and my frequent labours in
the ministry. The truths that I oflfer for your serious consideration
m this treatise are not such as I have formerly preached, in one place
or another, at one time or another, but such as, at several times the
Lord has brought to hand; and, I hope, in order to the service'and
savmg of many, many souls.2 And should you redeem time from your
many and weighty occasions, and live to read it as often over as there
be leaves in it, I am apt to think you would never repent of your pains
when you come to die and make up your account with God Sir I
must and shall say because I love and honour you, and would have
you happy to eternity, that it is your greatest wisdom, and should be
your greatest care, to redeem time from your worldly business to
acquaint yourself more and more with the great and main points of
rehgion to serve your God, to be useful in yo^ dav, an^tomS sure
and safe work or your soul to escape hell and to get heaven Eph
V. 15 16; Col IV. 5; Eccles. ix. 10. Sir Thomas More one of the
great wits of that day, would commonlv say, There is a devil r.l Pd
^ot^uM, business, that carries more souls [o helTthrn aU th devils
m hell beside. Many men have so many irons in the fire ^d Ire
cumbered about so many things, Luke x. 40-42, that uponThe matter
they wholly neglect the one thing necessary, thoughT hope X ter
things of you.3 The stars which have the least circ,§t are nearest the
po e, and men that are least perplexed with a crowd of worX busi-
ness are commonly nearest to God. Sir, as you love God as vou W
your sou , as you love eternity, as you would be found at Chris^riVht
hand at last, and as you would meet me with joy in the S d^v of
the Lord, make much conscience of redeemino- fimo Inf ? ^
secular affairs, to be with God in your cW ?n IT t ^^.^"T ^^"?
^ See the Spanish History in Philip the Second's life
ing hoTltSro^thX^^aTb: o';fn Ue^^f .If. '^^^ P-t > ^"t -t know.
" When one presented Antip^atert^ng ^k^SnirUti' 'TT^'' '''' ^''''^■
ne^, h.8 answer was ou scholazo, I am n!t at Sre ThZ n i ^^'^ ^"'^""^ «^ ^^PP'"
to do on earth, that he had no time to look up toTeavcn ^^^^ ^^^ '° "^"^l'
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 11
morning dew. There is nothing puts a more serious frame into a
man's spirit than to know the worth and preciousness of time. Time,
saith one [Bernard], were a good commodity in hell, and the traffic
of it most gainful ; where, for one day, a man would give ten thousand
worlds if he had them. One called his friends thieves, because they
stole time from him. And certainly there are no worse thieves than
those that rob us of our praying seasons, our hearing seasons, our
mourning seasons, &c. There was an eminent minister who would
often say, that he could eat the flesh off his arm in indignation against
himself for his lost hours, i
It was good counsel that an ancient Christian, that is now trmmph-
ing in glory, gave to another, who is still alive. Be either like Christ
or Mary : the first was always doing good, the latter was still a-receiv-
ing good. This is the way to be strong in grace, and to be soon ripe
for glory. Certainly time is infinitely precious in regard of what
depends upon it. What more necessary than repentance ? yet that
depends upon time: Kev. ii. 21, ' I gave her space to repent of her
fornications.' What more desirable than the favour of God ? This
depends upon time, and is therefore called ' the acceptable time,' Isa.
xlix. 8. What more excellent than salvation ? this likewise depends
upon time : 2 Cor. vi. 4, ' Now is the accepted time, now is the day of
salvation.' Pythagoras saith that time is anima coeli, the soul of
heaven. But to draw to a close, what can there be of more worth,
and weight, and moment, than eternity ? it is the heaven of heaven,
and the very hell of hell ; without which neither would heaven be so
desirable nor hell so formidable. Now this depends upon tune. Time
is the prologue to eternity. The great weight of eternity hangs upon
the small wire of time.2 Whether our time here be longer or shorter,
upon the spending of this depends either the bliss or the bane of body
and soul to all eternity. This is our seed-time, eternity is the harvest.
Whatsoever seed we sow, whether of sin or grace, it cometh up in
eternity ; ' Whatsoever a man soweth, the same shall he reap,' Gal. yi.
7, 8 ; 2 Cor. ix. 6. This is our market-time, in which, if we be wise
merchants, we may make a happy exchange of earth for heaven, of a
valley of tears for a paradise of delights. This is our workmg time :
'I must work the works of him that sent me; the night cometh, when
no man can work,' John ix. 4. According as the work is we do now,
such will be our wages in eternity. Though time itself lasts not, yet
whatsoever is everlasting, dependeth upon it ; and therefore should be
carefully improved to the best advantage for our souls, and for the
making sure of such things as will go with us beyond the grave. _
Shall your lady live to be an honour to God, to be wise for eternity,
to be a pattern of piety, humility, modesty, &c., to others, to be a joy-
ful mother of many children, and to bring them up m the nurture and
admonition of the Lord ? Shall you both live to see Christ formed up
1 Blessed Hooper was spare of diet, sparer of words, and sparest of time. And Brad-
ford counted that hour lost wherein he did not some good by his tongue, pen, or purse.
A heathen could say he lived no day without a line-that is, he did something remark-
able every day Cato was wont to say that there were three things which he abhorred :
1. To commit secrets to a woman; 2. To go by water when he might go by land ; 3. To
spend one day idle. — Plutarch.
^ A favourite emblem : as before. — Q.
12 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
in your offspring, and to see their souls floiu-ish in grace and holiness,
and God bestowing himself as a portion upon them ? Shall you all
round be blessed with ' all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ,' and shall you all round be crowned with the highest glory,
happiness, and blessedness in the world to come ? Shall you all live
in the sense of divine love and die in the sense of divine favour ? l
Now, to the everlasting arms of divine protection, and to the constant
influences of free, rich, and sovereign grace and mercy, he commends
you all, Gal. v. 22, 23 ; who is,
• Sir,
Your much obliged friend and soul's servant,
Thomas Brooks.
^ 1 Pet. iii. 3-5; 1 Tim. ii. 9, 10; Eph. vi. 4; Prov. ixxi. 1-3 ; Gal. ir. 19; 1 Tim. i
5, 6; Isa. xliv. 3, 4, and iix. 21 ; Ps. cxii. 1, 2 ; Eph. i. 3.
TO THE READER
Christian Keader! — Some preachers in our days are like Herac-
litus, who was called the dark doctor,^ hecause he affected dark
speeches ; so they affect sublime notions, obscure expressions, uncouth
phrases: making plain truths difficult, and easy truths hard, &c.
They * darken counsel by words without knowledge,' Job xxxviii. 2.
Men of abstract conceits and wise speculations are but wise fools:
like the lark that soareth up on high, peering and peering, but at last
falleth into the net of the fowler. Such persons commonly are as
censorious as they are curious, and do Christ and his church but very,
very little service in this world.
The heathenish priests had their mythologies and strange canting
expressions, of their imaginary unaccessible deities, to amaze and
amuse 2 their blind superstitious followers ; and thereby to hold up
their Popish and apish idolatries in greater veneration. The prudent
reader can tell how to make application.
If thou affectest high strains of wit, or larded, pompous, and high-
flown expressions, or eloquent trappings, or fine new notions, or such
things that thou mayst rather wonder at than understand, I shall not
encourage thee to the perusal of this treatise. But,
First, If thou wouldst be furnished with sovereign antidotes against
the most dangerous errors that are rampant in these days, then seri-
ously peruse this treatise : 2 Pet. iii. 16 ; 1 John iv. 1-3 ; 2 John
7-11.
Secondly, If thou wouldst be established, strengthened, settled, and
confirmed in the grand points of the gospel, then seriously peruse this
treatise : 1 Pet. v. 10. But,
Thirdly, If thou wouldst know what that faith is that gives thee
an interest in Christ and in all that fundamental good that comes by
Christ, then seriously peruse this treatise: John i. 12, iii. 16, and v.
24. But,
Fourthly, If thou wouldst have thy judgment rightly informed in
some great truths, about which several men of note have been mis-
taken, then seriously peruse this treatise: 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7; Ps. cxix. 18.
But,
1 Heraclitus was a philosopher of Ephesus ; he was surnamed I^KOTeivhs, Obscurus,
because he affected dark speeches. * As before : see Glossary, s. v. — G.
14 TO THE EEADER.
FifMy, If thou wouldst know what safe and excellent pleas to
make to those ten scriptures that refer to the general judgment, and
to thy particular day of judgment, then seriously peruse this treatise:
2 Cor. V. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27. But, ^ , . .
Sixthly, If thou wouldst have thy heart brought and kept m a
humble, broken, bleeding, melting, tender frame, then seriously peruse
this treatise : Ps. xxxiv. 18 ; Isa. Ivii. 15 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 27. But,
Seventhly, If thou wouldst always come to the Lord's table with
such a frame of spirit, as Christ may take a delight to meet thee, to
bless thee, to bid thee welcome, and to seal up his love and thy pardon
to thee, then seriously peruse this treatise, especially that part of it
where the dreadful and amazing sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ,
both in body and soul, are at large set forth : Mat. xxvi. 26-28 ; Luke
xxii. 19, 20 ; 1 Cor. xi. 23-30. But,
Eighthly, If thou wouldst have a clear sight of the length, and
breadth, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, then seriously
peruse this treatise : Eph. iii. 18 ; Ps. cxlvi. 8. But,
Ninthly, If thou wouldst have thy love to Christ tried, raised,
acted, inflamed, discovered, and augmented, &c., then seriously peruse
this treatise : Cant. i. 7, and viii. 5-7. But,
Tenthly, If thou art a strong man in Christ Jesus, and wouldst
have thy head and heart exercised in the great things of God, and in
the deep things of God, and in the mysterious things of God, then
seriously peruse this treatise : 2 Tim. ii. 1 ; Heb. v. 14 ; 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7 ;
1 John ii. 14. But,
Eleventhly, If thou art but a weak Christian, a babe, a little child,
a shrub, a dwarf in grace, holiness, and communion with God, and in
thy spiritual attainments, enjoyments, and experiences, then seriously
peruse this treatise, especially the first part of it : 1 Cor. iii. 1 ; Heb.
V. 13; 1 Pet. ii. 2; 1 John ii. 1, 12, 13. But,
Twelfthly, If thou wouldst know whether thou art an indulger of
sin, and if thou wouldst be stocked with singular remedies against
thy special sins, then seriously peruse the former part of this treatise :
Job XX. 11-14; Micah vi. 6, 7; Kom. xiii. 14; James iv. 3. But,
Thirteenthly , If thou wouldst be rooted, grounded, strengthened,
and settled in those two grand points of the gospel, viz., the active and
passive obedience of Christ, and be daily refreshed with those pleasant
streams, with those waters of life that flow from thence, then seriously
peruse this treatise: 1 Pet. v. 10; Isa. liii. ; Heb. x. 10, 12, 14; Gal.
iv. 4, 5; Kom. viii. 3, 4; 2 Cor. v. 21. But,
Fourteenthly, If thou wouldst be throughly acquainted with the
sufferings of Christ, in liis body and soul, with their greatness and
grievousness, &c., and if thou wouldst understand the mighty advan-
tages we have by his sufferings, then seriously peruse this treatise :
Isa. liii. and Ixiii. 2; 1 Pet. ii. 21-24; John x. 11, 15, 17, 18. But,
Fifteenthly, If thou wouldst be able strongly to prove, against the
Socmians and the high atheists of the day, and such as make so great
a noise about a light within them, that there is a hell, a place of tor-
ment, provided and prepared for all wicked and ungodly persons, then
seriously peruse this treatise: Mat. xxv. 41; Ps. ix. 17- Prov v 5
But,
TO THE READER. 15
Sixteenthhj, If thou wouldst, in a scripture-glass, see the torments
of hell, and know how to avoid them, and what divine improvements
to make of them, and be resolved in several questions concerning hell
and hellish torments, then seriously peruse this treatise. But,
Seventeenthly , If thou wouldst be able strenuously to maintain and
defend Christ's eternal deity and manhood against all corrupt teachers
and gainsayers, then seriously peruse this treatise : 1 John i. 2, 14 ;
1 Tim. ii. 5. But,
Eighteenthly, If thou wouldst be rooted and grounded in that great
doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Christ, and be warmed, re-
freshed, cheered, comforted, and delighted with those choice and sin-
gular consolations that flow from thence, then seriously peruse this
treatise: Jer. xxiii. 6; Isa. xlv. 24, and Ixi. 10; 1 Cor. i. 30. But,
Nineteenthly , If thou wouldst be set at liberty from many fears
and doubts and disputes that often arise in thy soul about thy internal
and eternal estate, then seriously peruse this treatise: Ps. xlii. 5, 11,
and Iv. 5; 2 Cor. vii. 5. But,
Twentiethly, If thou wouldst have all grace to flourish and abound
in thy soul, if thou wouldst be eminently serviceable in thy genera-
tion, if thou wouldst be ripe for sufierings, for death, for heaven, if
thou wouldst be temptation-proof, if thou wouldst be weaned from
this world and triumph in Christ Jesus when the world triumphs over
thee, then seriously peruse this treatise: Ps. xcii. 12-14; Kom. xv.
13; Acts xiii. 36; 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10; Rev. xii. 1; 2 Cor. ii. 14.
Reader, if thou wouldst make any earnings of thy reading this
treatise, then thou must — 1. Read, and believe what thou readest.
2. Thou must read, and meditate on what thou readest. 3. Thou
must read, and pray over what thou readest. 4, Thou must read, and
try what thou readest. by the touchstone of the word. 5. Thou must
read, and apply what thou readest ; that plaster will never heal that
is not applied, &c. 6. Thou must read, and make conscience of living
up to what thou readest, and of living out what thou readest.i This
is the way to honour thy God, to gain profit by this treatise, to credit
religion, to stop foul mouths, to strengthen weak hands, to better a
bad head, to mend a bad heart, to rectify a disorderly life, and to make
sure work for thy soul, for heaven, for eternity.
Reader, in a fountain sealed and treasures hid, there is little profit
or comfort. No fountain to that which flows for common good, no
treasures to those that lie open for public service. If thou gettest any
good by reading this treatise, give God alone the glory ; and remem-
ber the author when thou art in the mount with God. His prayers
for thee are, that thou mayest be a knowing Christian, a sincere
Christian, a growing Christian, a rooted Christian, a resolute Christian,
an untainted Christian, an exemplary Christian, a humble Christian,
and then he knows thou wilt be a saved Christian in the day of Christ ;
so he rests, who is thy cordial friend and soul's servant,
Thomas Brooks.
^ Acts xviii. 8, and xxiv. 14 ; Ps. i. 2, and cxix. 5, 18; Acts xvii. 11; Ps. cxix. 9;
John xiii. 17 ; Ps. cxix. 105, 106.
SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS CLEARLY
AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED.
The first question or case is this : —
1st Quest. What are the special remedies, means, or helps against
cherishing or keeping up of any special or peculiar sin, either in
heart or life, against the Lord, or agaijist the light and conviction of a
mans own conscience f
Before I come to the resolution of this question, I shall premise a
few things that may clear my way.
1. First, When men's hearts are sincere ivith God; when they
don't indulge, cherish, or keep up any known transgression in their
hearts or lives against the Lord, they may on very good grounds plead
an interest in God, in Christ, and in the covenant of grace, though
their corruptions prevail against them, and too frequently worst them
and lead them captive, as is most evident in these special scriptures,
2 Sam. xxiii. 5 ; Ps. Ixv. 3 ; Kom. vii. 23, 25 ; Isa. Ixiii. 16, 17, 19 ;
Jer. xiv. 7-9 ; Hosea xiv. 1-4, 8.
But now, when any man's heart doth condemn him for dealing
deceitfully and guilefully with God in this or that or the other par-
ticular, or for connivings or winking at any known transgression that
is kept up, either in his heart or life against the Lord, and against the
light of his own conscience, which he will not let go, nor in good earnest
use the means whereby it should be subdued and mortified ; it is not
to be expected that such a person can come to any clearness or satis-
faction about their interest in Christ and the covenant of grace and
their right to the great things of that other world. When a person
will dally with sin, and will be playing with snares and baits, and
allow a secret liberty in his heart to sin, conniving at many workings
of it, and not setting upon mortification with earnest endeavours ; though
they are convinced, yet they are not persuaded to arise with all their
might against the Lord's enemies, but do his work negligently, which
is an accursed thing ; and for this, God casts such a person into sore
straits, and lets him wander in the dark, without any sight, sense, or
assurance of their gracious estate or interest in Christ, &c. The
Israelites should perfectly have rooted out the Canaanites, but because
they did it but by halves, and did not engage all their power and
SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 17
strength against them, therefore God left them to be as * thorns in
their eyes, and as goads in their sides.' So when men have taken
Christ's press-money and are engaged to fight with all their might
against those rebels that war against him in their hearts, ways, and
walkings, and to pursue the victory to the utmost, till their spiritual
enemies lie dead at their feet, and yet they do but trifle and make
slender opposition against their sins ; this provokes God to stand afar
off, and to hide his reconciled face from them.
It is true, when men are really in Christ, they ought not to question
their state in him, but yet a guilty conscience will be clamorous and
full of objections, and God will not speak peace unto it tiU it be
humbled at his foot. God will make his dearest children know that
it is a bitter thing to be bold with sin. Now, before I lay down the
remedies, give me leave to shew you what it is to indulge sin, or when
a man may be said to indulge or cherish, or keep up any known trans-
gression in his soul against the Lord. Now, for a clear understanding
of me in this particular, take me thus : —
[1.] First, To hidulge sin or to cherish it, it is to make daily
provision for it, Kom. xiii. 14. It is to give the breast to it, and to
feed it and nourish it, as fond parents do feed and humour the sick
child, the darling child ; it must have what it will, and do what
it will, it must not be crossed. Now, when men ordinarily, habitually,
commonly, are studious and laborious to make provision for ^n, then
sin is indulged by them. But,
[2.] Secondly, When sin is commonly, hxihitually, sweet and pleasant
to the soul, when a man takes a daily pleasure and delight in sin, then
sin is indulged. 2 Thes. ii. 12 you read of them that had ' plea-
sure in unrighteousness ; ' Isa. Ixvi. 3, ' And their soul delighteth in
their abominations ; ' Prov. ii. 14, ' Who rejoice to do evil,' &,c.
[3.] Thirdly, When meti commonly, habitually, side with sin, and
take up arms in the defence of sin, and in defiance of the commands of
God, the motions of the Spirit, the checks of conscience, and the re-
proofs of others, then sin is indulged. But,
[4.] Fourthly, When men ordinarily, habitually, do yield a quiet,
free, willing, and total subjection to the authority and commands of sin,
then sin is indulged. That man that is wholly addicted and devoted
to the service of sin, that man indulges sin. Now in none of these
senses does any godly man indulge any one sin in his soul. Though
sin lives in him, yet he doth not live in sin. Every man that hath
drink in him is not in drink. A child of God may slip into a sin, as
a sheep may slip into the mire, but he does not, nor cannot wallow in
sin as the swine does in the mire, nor yet keep on in a road of sin, as
sinners do : Ps. cxxxix. 24, ' See if there be any way of wickedness in
me.' A course, a trade of sin is not consistent with the truth or state
of grace : Job x. 7, ' Thou knowest that I am not wicked.' He doth
not say, Thou knowest that I am not a sinner, or thou knowest that I
have not sinned. No ! for the best of saints are sinners, though the
worst and weakest of saints are not wicked. Every real Christian is
a renewed Christian, and every renewed Christian takes his denomina-
tion from his renovation, and not from the remainders of corruptions
in him ; and therefore such a one may well look God in the face and
VOL. V. B
18 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
say, ' Lord thou knowest that I am not wicked ; ' weaknesses are
chargeable upon me, but wickednesses are not chargeable upon me.
And certainly that man gives a strong demonstration of his own up-
rightness, who dares appeal to God himself that he is not wicked.
That no godly man does, or can indulge himself in any course or
way or trade of sin, may be thus made evident.
[1.] First, He sins not with allowance. When he does evil, he
disallows of the evil he does : Kom. vii. 15, ' For that which I do, I
allow not.' A Christian is sometimes wherried ^ and whuled away by
sin before he is aware, or hath time to consider of it. See Ps. cxix.
1, 3 ; 1 John iii. 9 ; Prov. xvi. 12.
[2.] Secondly, A godly man hates all known sin: Ps. cxix. 128,
* I hate every false way.' True hatred is tt/jo? ra jevrj, against the
whole kind. That contrariety to sin which is in a real Christian,
springs from an inward gracious nature or principle, and so is to the
whole species or kind of sin, and is irreconcileable to any sin what-
soever. As contrarieties of nature are to the whole kind, as light is
contrary to all darkness, and fire to all water ; so this contrariety to all
sin arising from the inward man, is universal to all sin. He who
hates a toad because it is a toad, hates every toad ; and he who hates
a godly man because he is godly, he hates every godly man ; and so
he who hates sin because it is sin, he hates every sin : Kom. vii. 15,
' What I hate, that do I.'
[3.] Thirdly, Every godly man would fain Jmve his sins not only
pardoned hut destroyed. His heart is alienated from his sius, and
therefore nothing will serve him or satisfy him but the blood and
death of his sins, Isa. ii. 20, and xxx, 22 ; Hosea xiv. 8 ; Eom. viii. 24.
Saul hated David, and sought his life ; and Haman hated Mordecai,
and sought his destruction ; and Absalom hated Amnon, and killed
him ; Julian the apostate hated the Christians, and put many thou-
sands of them to death. The great thing that a Christian has in his
eye, in all the duties he performs, and in all the ordinances that he
attends, is the blood and death and ruin of his sins.
[4.] Fourthly, Every godly man groans under the hurden of sin :
2 Cor. V. 4, ' For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being
burdened.' Never did any porter groan more to be delivered from his
heavy burden, than a Christian groans to be delivered from the burden
of sin. The burden of afiliction, the burden of temptation, the burden
of desertion, the burden of opposition, the burden of persecution, the
burden of scorn and contempt, is nothing to the burden of sin. Ponder
upon that Ps. xxxviii. 4, and xl. 12 ; Eom. vii. 24.
_ [5.] Fifthly, Every godly man combats and conflicts ivith all known
sin. In every gracious soul there is a constant and perpetual conflict.
' The flesh will be still a-lusting against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh,' Gal. v. 17 ; Eom. vii. 22, 23 ; 1 Kings xiv. 30, 31.
Though sin and g^-ace were not born together, and though sin and
grace shall never die together, yet whiles a believer lives in this
world, they must ive together; and whilst sin and grace do co-
habit together, they wiU still be opposing and conflicting one with
another.
^ ' Tos83d • as in a ' wherrv.'— G.
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 19
[6.] Sixthly, Every gracious heart is still a-crying out against his
sins. He cries out to God to subdue them ; he cries out to Christ to
crucify them ; he cries out to the Spirit to mortify them ; he cries out
to faithful ministers to arm him against them ; and he cries out to
sincere Christians, that they would pray hard that he may be made
victorious over them. Now certainly it is a most sure sign that sin
has not gained a man's heart, a man's love, nor his consent, but com-
mitted a rape upon his soul, when he cries out bitterly against his sin.
It is observable, that if the ravished virgin, under the law, cried out,
she was guiltless, Deut. xxii. 25-27. Certainly such as cry out of
their sins, and that would not for all the world indulge themselves in
a way of sin, such are guiltless before the Lord. That which a
Christian does not indulge himself in, that he does not do in divine
account. But,
[7.] Seventhly, Tlie fixed purposes and designs of a godly man, is
not to sin : Ps. xvii. 3, ' I am purposed that my mouth shall not trans-
gress,' that is, I have laid my design so as not to sin. Though I may
have many particular failings, yet my general purpose is not to sin :
Ps. xxxix. 1, ' I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not
with my tongue ; I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the
wicked is before me.' Whenever a godly man sins, he sins against
the general purpose of his soul. David laid a law upon his tongue.
He uses three words in the first and second verses to the same purpose,
which is as if he should say in plain English, ' I was silent, I was
silent, I was silent ; ' and all this to express how he kept in his passion,
that he might not offend with his tongue. Though a godly man sins,
yet he doth not purpose to sin, for his purposes are fixed against sin.
Holiness is his highway; and as sin is itseK a byway, so it is besides
his way. The honest traveller purposes to keep straight on his way ;
so that if at any time he miss his way, he misses his purpose.
Though Peter denied Christ, yet he did not purpose to deny Christ ;
yea, the settled purpose of his soul was rather to die with Christ than
to deny Christ : Mat. xxvi. 35, ' Peter said unto him, Though I should
die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.' Interpreters agree that Peter
meant as he speaks. But,
[8.] Eighthly, The settled resolutions of a gracious heart is not to
sin : Ps. cxix. 106, ' I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will
keep thy righteous judgments ;' Neh. x. 28-31, dwell on it ; Job xxxi.
1, &c. ; Micah iv. 5, ' For all people will walk, every one in the name
of his god, and we walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever
and ever.' So Daniel and the three children.
Blessed Hooper resolves rather to be discharged of his bishopric
than yield to certain ceremonies.
Jerome writes of a brave^ woman, who, being upon the rack, bid
her persecutors do their worst, for she was resolved that she would
rather die than lie.
The Prince of Conde being taken prisoner by Charles the Ninth of
France, and put to his choice — first, whether he would go to mass ; or
second, be put to death ; or thirdly, suffer perpetual imprisonment, an-
swered, ' As for the first, I will never do, by the assistance of God's
grace ; and as for the other two, let the king do with me what he
20 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
pleaseth, for I am very well assured that God will turn all to the
best.'
' The heavens shall as soon fall,' said William Flower to the bishop
that persuaded him to save his life by retracting,^ ' as I will forsake
the opinion and faith I am in, God assisting of me.'
So Marcus Arethusius chose rather to suffer a most cruel death
than to give one halfpenny towards the building of an idol temple. ^
So Cyprian, when the emperor, in the way to his execution, said,
* Now I give thee space to consider whether thou wilt obey me in cast-
ing a grain of frankincense into the fire, or be thus miserably slain.'
' Nay,' saith he, ' there needs no deliberation in the case.' There
are many thousands of such instances scattered up and down in
history.
[9.] Ninthly, There is a real luillingness in every gracious soul to
he rid of all sin, Kom. vii. 24 ; Hosea xiv. 2, 8 ; Job vii. 21. Saving
grace makes a Christian as willing to leave his sin as a slave is will-
ing to leave his galley, or a prisoner his dungeon, or a thief his bolts,
or a beggar his rags. ' Many a day have I sought death with tears,'
saith blessed Cooper, ' not out of impatience, distrust, or perturbation,
but because I am weary of sin, and fearful of falling into it.' Look,
as the daughters of Heth even made Eebekah weary of her life, (Gen.
xxvii. 46 ;) so corruptions within makes a gracious soul even weary
of his life. A gracious soul looks upon sin with as evil and as envious
an eye as Saul looked on David when the evil spirit was upon him.
' Oh,' saith Saul, ' that I was but once well rid of this David ;' and oh,
saith a gracious soul, that I was but once well rid of * this proud
heart, this hard heart, this unbelieving heart, this unclean heart, this
earthly heart, this froward heart of mine.'
[10.] Tenthly, Every godly man complains of his knoivn sins, and
mourns over his known sins, and would be fain rid of his known sins,
as might be made evident out of many scores of scripture, Job vii.
21; Ps. li. 14; Hosea ii.
[11.] Eleventhly, Every gracious soulse^s himself mostli/, resolutely,
valiantly, and habitually against his special sins, his constitution sins,
his most prevalent sins : Ps. xviii. 23, ' I was also upright before him,
and I kept myself from mine iniquity.' Certainly that which is the
special sin of a godly man, is his special burden ; it is not delighted
in, but lamented. ^ There is no sin which costs him so much sorrow
as that to which either the temper of his body or the occasions of his
life leads him. That sin which he finds his heart most set upon, he
sets his heart, his whole soul, most against. The Scripture gives
much evidence that David, though a man after God's own heart, was
very apt to fall into the sin of lying ; he used many unlawful shifts.
We read of his often faltering in that kind, when he was in straits and
hard put to it, 1 Sam. xxi. 2, 8, and xxvii. 8, 10, &c., but it is as clear
in Scripture that his heart was set against lying, and that it was the
grief and daily burden of his soul. Certainly that sin is a man's
greatest burden and grief which he prays most to be delivered from.
Oh, how earnestly did David pray to be delivered from the sin of
lymg : Ps, cxix. 29, ' Keep me from the way of lying.' And as he
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 21
prayed earnestly against lying, so he as earnestly detested it : ver. 163,
' I hate and abhor lying.' Though lying was David's special sin, yet
he hated and abhorred it as he did hell itself. And he tells us how
he was affected, or afflicted rather, with that sin, whatsoever it was,
which was his iniquity : Ps. xxxi. 10, ' My life is spent with grief, and
my years with sighings ; my strength faileth, and my bones are con-
sumed,' or moth-eaten, as the Hebrew has it. Here are deep ex-
pressions of a troubled spirit ; and why all this ? Mark, he gives
you the reason of it in the same verse, ' because of mine iniquity : ' as
if he had said, there is a base corruption which so haunts and dogs
me, that my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing. He
found, it seems, his heart running out to some sin or other, which yet
was so far from being a beloved sin, a bosom sin, a darling sin, that it
was the breaking of his heart and the consumption of his bones. So
Ps. xxxviii. 18, ' I will declare mine iniquity, I will be sorry for my
sin.' There is no sin that a gracious heart is more perfectly set against
than against his special sin ; for by this sin God first has been most
dishonoured; and secondly, Christ most crucified; and thirdly, the
Spirit most grieved ; and fourthly, conscience most wounded ; and
fifthly, Satan most advantaged; and sixthly, mercies most embit-
tered ; and seventhly, duties most hindered ; and eighthly, fears and
doubts most raised and increased ; and ninthly, afflictions most mul-
tiplied ; and tenthly, death made most formidable and terrible ; and
therefore he breaks out against this sin with the greatest detestation
and abhorrency. Ephraim's special sin was idolatry, Hosea iv. 17 ;
he thought the choicest gold and silver in the world hardly good
enough to frame his idols of. But when it was the day of the Lord's
gracious power upon Ephraim, then he thought no place bad enough
to cast his choicest idols into, as you may see by comparing of these
scriptures together, Hosea xiv. 8; Isa. ii. 20, and xxx. 22. True
grace will make a man stand stoutly and steadfastly on Grod's side, and
work the heart to take part with him against a man's special sins,
though they be as right hands or right eyes. True grace wiU lay
hands upon a man's special sins, and cry out to heaven, ' Lord, crucify
them, crucify them ; down with them, down with them, even to the
ground : Lord, do justice, do speedy justice, do signal justice, do
exemplary justice upon these special sins of mine : Lord, hew down
root and branch ; let the very stumps of this Dagon be broken all in
pieces : Lord, curse this wild fig-tree, that never more fruit may grow
thereon.' But,
[12.] Twelfthly, There is no time loherein a gracious soul cannot
sincerely say ivith the apostle in that Heb. xiii. 18, ' Pray for us, for
we trust loe have a good conscience, in all things ivillingly to live
honestly.' Gracious hearts affect that which they cannot effect. So
Acts xxiv. 16, ' And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a
conscience void of offence towards God, and towards men ; ' in all
cases, in all places, by all means, and at all times. A sincere Chris-
tian labom-s to have a good conscience, void of offence towards God
and towards men: Pro v. xvi. 17, ' The highway of the upright is- to
depart from evil,' that is, it is the ordinary, usual, constant course of
22 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
an upright man to depart from evil. An honest traveller may step
out of the king's highway into a house, a wood, a close ; but his work,
his business, is to go on in the king s highway ; so the business, the
work, of an upright man is to depart from evil. It is possible for an
upright man to step into a sinful path, or to touch upon sinful facts ;
but his main way, his principal work and business, is to depart from
iniquity ; as a bee may light upon a thistle, but her work is to be
gathering at flowers ; or as a sheep may slip into the dirt, but its
work is to be grazing upon the mountains or in the meadows.
But,
[13.] Thirteenthly and lastly, Jems Christ is the real Christians
only beloved ; he is the saint's only darling : Cant. ii. 3, ' As the apple-
tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved' among the sons ; '
ver. 8, ' The voice of my beloved, behold, he cometh leaping upon the
mountains, and skipping upon the hills ; ' ver. 9, ' My beloved is like
a roe, or a young hart ; ' ver. 10, ' My beloved spake, and said unto
me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away ; ' ver. 17, ' Turn,
my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the moun-
tains of Bother ; ' Cant. iv. 16, ' Let my beloved come into his garden,
and eat his pleasant fruits.' Seven times Christ is called * the beloved
of his spouse ' in the fifth of Canticles, and twice in the sixth chapter,
and four times in the seventh chapter, and once in the eighth chapter.
In this book of Solomon's Song, Christ is called the church's beloved
just twenty times. I might turn you to many other scriptures, but
in the mouth of twenty witnesses you may be very clearly and fully
satisfied that Jesus Christ is the saints' beloved.
1. When the Dutch martyr was asked whether he did not love his
wife and children, he answered, ' Were all the world a lump of gold,
and in my hand to dispose of, I would give it to live with my wife and
children in a prison, but Christ is dearer to me than all.' 2. Saith
Jerome, ' If my father should stand before me, and if my mother
should hang upon me, and my brethren should press about me, I would
break through my brethren, throw down my mother, and tread under
foot my father, that I might cleave the faster and closer unto Jesus
Christ.' 3. That blessed virgin in Basil, being condemned for Chris-
tianity to the fire, and having her estate and life offered her if she
would worship idols, cried out, ' Let money perish and life vanish,
Christ is better than all.' 4. Love made Jerome to say, ' Oh, my
Saviour, didst thou die for love of me, a love more dolorous than
death, but to me a death more lovely than love itself. I cannot live,
love thee, and be longer from thee.' 5. Henry Voes said, ' If I had
ten heads, they should all off for Christ.' 6. John Ardley, martyr,
said, 'If every hair of my head were a man, they should all suffer for
the faith of Christ.' 7. Ignatius said, ' Let fire, racks, pulleys, yea,
and all the torments of hell, come on me, so I may win Christ' 8. George
Carpenter, being asked whether he loved not his wife and children,
when they all wept before them, answered, ' My wife and children are
dearer to me than all Bavaria, yet for the love of Christ I know them
not.' 9. ' Lord Jesus,' said Bernard, ' I love thee more than all my
goods, and I love thee more than all my friends, yea, I love thee more
I
I
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 23
than Day very self.' 10. Austin saith he would willingly go through
hell to Christ. 11. Another saith, ' He had rather be in his chimney-
corner with Christ than in heaven without him.' 12. Another cries
out, ' I had rather have one Christ than a thousand worlds ;' by all
which it is most evident that Jesus Christ is the saint's best beloved,
and not this or that sin.
Now by these thirteen arguments it is most clear that no gracious
Christian does or can indulge himself in any trade, course, or way of
sin.
Yea, by these thirteen arguments it is most evident that no godly
man has, or can have, any one beloved sin, any one bosom, darling sin,
though many worthy ministers, both in their preaching and writings,
make a great noise about the saints' beloved sins, about their bosom,
darling sins. I readily grant that all unregenerate persons have their
beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins ; but that no such
sins are chargeable upon the regenerate is sufficiently demonstrated
by the thirteen arguments last cited ; and oh that this were wisely
and seriously considered of, both by ministers and Christians ! There
is no known sin that a godly man is not troubled at, and that he
would not be rid of. There is as much difference between sin in a
regenerate person and in an unregenerate person, as there is between
poison in a man and poison in a serpent. Poison in a man's body is
most offensive and burdensome, and he readily uses all arts and anti-
dotes to expel it and get rid ; but poison in a serpent, is in its natm-al
place, and is most pleasing and delightful: so sin in a regenerate man
is most offensive and burdensome, and he readily uses all holy means
and antidotes to expel it and to get rid of it. But sin in an unre-
generate man is most pleasing and delightful, it being in its natural
place. A godly man still enters his protest against sin. A gracious
soul, while he commits sin, hates the sin he commits.
sirs ! there is a vast difference between a special and a beloved
sin, a darling sin, a bosom sin. Noah had a sin, and Lot had a sin,
and Jacob had a sin, and Job had a sin, and David had a sin, which
was his special sin ; but neither of these had any sin which was their
beloved sin, their bosom sin, their darling sin. That passage in Job
xxxi. 33 is observable, ' If I covered my transgression as Adam, by
hiding mine iniquity in my bosom.' Mark, in this text, while Job
calleth some sin or other his iniquity, he denieth that he had any
beloved sin ; for saith he, ' Did I hide it in my bosom ? did I shew it
any favour ? did I cherish it or nourish it, or keep it warm in my
bosom? Oh, no; I did not.' A godly man may have many sins,
yet he hath not one beloved sin, one bosom sin, one darling sin ; he
may have some particular sin, to which the unregenerate part of his
will may strongly incline, and to which his unmortified affections may
run out with violence to ; yet he hath no sin he bears any good-wiii
to, or doth really or cordially affect. Mark, that may be called a
man's particular way of sinning, which yet we cannot, we may not
call his beloved sin, his bosom sin, his darling sin ; for it may be his
greatest grief and torment, and may cost him more sorrow and tears
than all the rest of his sins ; it may be a tyrant usurping power over
24 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
him, when it is not the delight and pleasure_ of his soul. A godly
man may be more prone to fall into some one sin rather than another ;
it may be passion, or pride, or slavish fear, or worldlineps, or hypocrisy,
or this, or that, or t'other vanity ; yet are not these his beloved sins,
his bosom sins, his darling sins ; for these are the enemies he hates
and abhors ; these are the grand enemies that he prays against, and
complains of, and mourns over ; these are the potent rebels that his
soul cries out most against, and by which his soul suffers the greatest
violence. Mark, no sm, but Christ, is the dearly beloved of a Chris-
tian's soul ; Christ, and not this sin or that, is ' the chiefest of ten
thousand ' to a gracious soul ; and yet some particular corruption or
other may more frequently worst a believer and lead him captive; but
then the believer cries out most against that particular sin. Oh, saith
he, this is mine iniquity ; this is the Saul, the Pharaoh that is always
a-pursuing after the blood of my soul. Lord ! let this Saul fall by
the sword of thy Spirit ; let this Pharaoh be drowned in the Ked Sea
of thy son's blood. sirs, it is a point of very great importance
for gracious souls to understand the vast difference that there is be-
tween a beloved sin and this or that particular sin, violently tyran-
nising over them ; for this is most certain, whosoever giveth up himself
freely, willingly, cheerfully, habitually, to the service of any one par-
ticular lust or sin, he is in the state of nature, imder wrath, and in
the way to eternal ruin.
Now a little to shew the vanity, folly, and falsehood of that opinion
that is received and commonly avowed by ministers and Christians —
viz., that every godly person hath his beloved sin, his bosom sin, his
darling sin — seriously and frequently consider with me of these follow-
ing particulars : —
[1.] First, That this opinion is not bottomed or founded upon any
clear scripture or scriptures, either in the Old or Neio Testament.
\ [2,] Secondly, This opinion that is now under consideration runs
counter-cross to all those thirteen arguments but now alleged, and
to all those scores of plain scriptures by which those arguments are
confirmed,
[3.] Thirdly, This opinion that is now under consideration has a
great tendency to harden and strengthen wicked men in their sins ; for
when they shall hear and read that the saints, the dearly beloved of
God, have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins,
what inferences will they not be ready to make ! What are these
they call saints ? wherein are they better than us ? Have we our
beloved sins ? so have they. Have we our bosom sins ? so have they.
Have we our darling sins ? so have they. They have their beloved
sins, and yet are beloved of God ; and why not we — why not we ?
Saints have their beloved sins, and yet God is kind to them ; and why
then not to us, why not to us also ? Saints have their beloved sins,
and yet God will save them ; and why then should we believe that
God will damn us ? Saints have their beloved sins, their bosom sins,
their darling sins, and therefore certainly they are not to be so dearly
loved, and highly prized, and greatly honoured as ministers would
make us believe. Saints have their beloved sins, their bosom sins,
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 25
their darling sins, and therefore what iniquity is it to account and call
them hypocrites, deceivers, dissemblers, that pretend they have a great
deal of love to Grod, and love to Christ, and love to his word, and love
to his ways ? and yet for all this they have their beloved sins, their
bosom sins, their darling sins. Surely these men's hearts are not right
with God : with much more to the same purpose.
[4.] Fourthly, If Christ he really the saints' beloved, then sin is not
their beloved. But Christ is the saints' beloved, as I have formerly
clearly proved ; and therefore sin is not the beloved. A man may
as well serve two masters, as have two beloveds — viz., a beloved Christ
and a beloved lust.
[5.] Fifthly, Those supernatural graces or those divine qualities
that are in/used into the soul at first conversion, are contrary to all
sin, and opposite to all sin, and engages the heart against all sin ; and
therefore a converted person can have no beloved sin, no bosom sin,
no darling sin. Seriously weigh this argument.
[6.] Sixthly, This opinion may fill many weak Christians with
many needless fears, doubts, and jealousies about their spiritual and
eternal conditions. Weak Christians are very apt to reason thus :
Surely my conversion is not sound ; my spiritual estate is not good ;
my heart is not right with God ; a saving work has never yet passed
upon me in jx)wer ; I fear I have not the root of the matter in me ; I
fear I have never had a thorough change ; I fear I have never yet
been effectually called out of darkness into his marvellous light ; I
fear I have never yet been espoused to Christ ; I fear the Spirit of
God hath never taken up my heart for his habitation ; I fear that
after all my high profession I shall at last be found a hypocrite ; I
fear the execution of that dreadful sentence. Mat. xxv. 41, 'Go ye
cursed,' &c. And why all this ? poor soul answer [not] i because
I carry about with me my beloved sins, my bosom sins, my darling
sins. Ministers had need be very wary in their preaching and writing,
that they don't bring forth fuel to feed the fears and doubts of weak
Christians, it being a great part of their work to arm weak Christians
against their fears and faintings. But,
[7.] Seventhly, This opinion that is now under consideration, is an
opinion that is very repugnant to sound and sincere repentance ; for
sound, sincere repentance includes and takes in a divorce, an aliena-
tion, a detestatijon, a separation, and a turning from all sin, without
exception or reservation. One of the first works of the Spirit upon
the soul, is the dividing between all known sin and the soul ; it is a
making an utter breach betwixt all sin and the soul ; it is a dissolving
of that old league that has been between a sinner and his sins, yea,
between a sinner and his beloved lusts. One of the first works of the
Spirit is to make a man to look upon all his sins as enemies, yea, as
his greatest enemies, and to deal with his sins as enemies, and to hate
and loathe them as enemies, and to fear them as enemies, and to arm
against them as enemies. Seriously ponder upon these scriptures,
Ezek. xviii. 28, 30, 31 ; Ezek. vi. ; 2 Cor. vii. 1 ; Ps. cxix. 101, 104,
^ The ' uot,' which I place in parenthesis, seems to have been dropped out, inasmuch
as Brooks is arguing against any such answer.— G.
26 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
128. _ True repentance is a turning from all sin, without any re-
servation or exception. He never truly repented of any sin, whose
heart is not turned against every sin. The true penitent casts' off all
the rags of old Adam ; he is for throwing down every stone of the
old building ; he will not leave a horn nor a hoof behind. The rea-
sons of turning from sin are universally binding to a penitent soul.
There are the same reasons and grounds for a penitent man s turnino^
from every sin, as there is for his turning from any one sin. Do you
turn from this or that sin because the Lord has forbid it ? Why ! upon
the same ground you must turn from every sin ; for God has forbid
every sin as well as this or that particular sin. There is the same
authority forbidding or commanding in all ; and if the authority ot
God awes a man from one sin, it will awe him from all. He that
turns from any one sin, because it is a transgression of the holy and
righteous law of God, he will turn from every sin upon the same ac-
count. He that turns from any one sin because it is a dishonour to
God, a reproach to Christ, a grief to the Spirit, a wound to religion
&c., will upon the same grounds turn from every sin. '
Quest. But luherein does a true penitential turning from all sin
consist? Ans. In these six things; —
First, In the alienation and inivard aversation and dratvinq off of
the soul from the love and liking of all sin, and from all free and
voluntarij subjection unto sin, the heart being filled with a loathino-
and detestation of all sin, [Ps. cxix. 104, 128,] as that which is most
contrary to all goodness and happiness.
Secondly, In the zmll's detestation and hatred of all sin When
the very bent and inclination of the will is set against all sin, and op-
poses and crosses all sin, and is set upon the ruin and destruction of
ail sm, then the penitent is turned from all sin Rom vii 15 19 21
23; Isa XXX. 22; Hosea xiv. 8, When the will stands upon such
terms o defiance with all sin, as that it will never enter into a league
of friendship with any sm, then is the soul turned from every sin
Ihirdly In the judgments turning away from all sin, by disap-
proving, disallowing, and condemnirig all sin Rom vii 15 Oh !
saith the judgment of a Christian, sin is the greatest evil' in all the
world ; it is the only thing God abhors, and that brought Jesus Christ
to the cross, that damns souls, that shuts heaven, and that has laid
the foundations of hell ! Oh ! it is the pricking thorn in my eye, the
deadly arrow m my side, the two-edged sword that hath wounded mv
conscience and slain my comforts, and separated between God and my
soul. Oh ! sin is that which hath hindered my prayers, and imbittered
my mercies, and put a sting into all my crosses ; and therefore I can't
but disapprove of it, and disallow of it, and condemn it to death yea
to hell, from whence it came. " w >
Fourthly, In the purpose and resolution of the soul; the soul sin-
cerely purposing and resolving never willingly, wilfully or wickedlv
fll^iTif? T"T'/f ""^- '• ^^^ S-^'^1 purpose and res^
tion of my heart is not to transgress. Though particular failings may
attend me, yet my resolutions and purposes are firmly set Sgainst
.3 fT ' ?'lf ^""'V; ^^' true penitent holds up his purposes and
resolutions to keep off from sm, and to keep close with God, though he
CLEARLt AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 27
be not able in everything and at all times to make good his purposes
and resolutions, &c. But,
Fifthly^ In the earnest and unfeigned desires, and careful endea-
vours of the soul to abandon all sin, to forsake all sin, and to he rid of
all sin, Rom. vii. 22, 23. You know when a prudent, tender, indul-
gent father sees his child to fail and come short in that which he en-
joins him to do ; yet knowing that his desires and endeavours is to
please him, and serve him, he will not be harsh, rigid, sour, or severe
towards him, but will spare him, and exercise much tenderness and
indulgence towards him ; and will God, will God whose mercies reach
above the heavens, and whose compassions are infinite, and whose love
is like himself, carry it worse towards his children than men do carry
it towards theirs ? Surely no. God's fatherly indulgence accepts of
the will for the work, Heb. xiii. 18 ; 2 Cor. viii. 12. Certainly, a sick
man is not more desirous to be rid of all his diseases, nor a prisoner to
be freed from all his bolts and chains, than the true penitent is desirous
to be rid of all his sins.
Sixthly and lastly. In the common and ordinary declining, shun-
ning, and avoiding of all knoivn occasions of sin, yea, and all tempta-
tions, provocations, inducements, and enticements to sin, &c. That
royal law, 1 Thes. v. 22, * Abstain from all appearance of evil,' is a
law that is very precious in a penitent man's eye, and commonly lies
warm upon a penitent man's heart ; so that take him in his ordinary
course, and you shall find him very ready to shun and be shy of the
very appearance of sin, of the very shows and shadows of sin. Job
made ' a covenant with his eyes,' Job xxxi. 1 ; and Joseph would
not hearken to his bold tempting mistress, * to lie by her, or to be
with her,' Gen. xxxix. 10 ; and David when himself, would not ' sit
with vain persons,' Ps. xxvi, 3-5. Now a true penitential turning from
all sins lies in these six things: and therefore you had need look
about you ; for if there be any one way of wickedness wherein you
walk, and which you are resolved you will not forsake, you are no true
penitents, and you will certainly lose your souls, and be miserable
for ever.
[8.] This opinion that is now under consideration, is an opinion that
loill exceedingly deject many precious Christians, and cause them
greatly to hang doion their heads, especially in four days. 1. In the
day of common calamity ; 2. In the day of personal affliction ; 3. In
the day of death ; 4. In the great day of account.
First, In a day of common calamity, when the sword is drunk
with the blood of the slain, or when the raging pestilence lays thou-
sands in heap upon heap, or when fevers, agues, gripes, and other
diseases carry hundreds every week to their long homes. Oh, now the
remembrance of a man's beloved sins, his bosom sins, his darling sins —
if a saint had any such sins— will be very apt to fill his soul with fears,
dreads, and perplexities. Surely now God will meet with me, now
God will avenge himself on me for my beloved sins, my bosom sins,
my darling sins ! Oh, how righteous a thing is it with God, because
of my beloved lusts, to sweep me away by these sweeping judgments
that are abroad in the earth 1 On the contrary, how sweet and com-
fortable a thing is it, when in a day of common calamity a Christian
28 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
can appeal to God, and appeal to conscience, that though he has many
weaknesses and infirmities that hang upon him, that yet he has no
beloved sin, no bosom sin, no darling sin, that either God or conscience
can charge upon him. Oh, such a consideration as this may be as
life from the dead to a gracious Christian, in the midst of all the com-
mon calamities that does surround him and that hourly threaten him.
Secondly, In the day of personal affiictions, when the smarting rod
is upon him, and God writes bitter things against him ; when the
hand of the Almighty has touched him in his name, estate, relations,
&c. Oh, now the remembrance of a man's beloved sins, his bosom
sins, his darling sins — if a saint had any such sins — will be as ' the
handwriting upon the wall,' Dan v. 5, 6, ' that will make his coun-
tenance to be changed, his thoughts to be troubled, his joints to be
loosed, and his knees to be dashed one against another.' Oh, now a
Christian will be ready to conclude. Oh, it is my beloved sins, my
bosom sins, my darling sins that has caused God to put this bitter cup
into my hand, and that has provoked him to ' give me gall and worm-
wood to drink,' Lam. iii. 19. Whereas on the contrary, when a man
under all his personal trials, though they are many and great, yet can
lift up his head and appeal to God and conscience, that though he has
many sinful weaknesses and infirmities hanging upon him, yet neither
God nor conscience can charge upon him any beloved sins, any bosom
sins, any darling sins. Oh, such a consideration as this will help a
man to bear up bravely, sweetly, cheerfully, patiently, and contentedly,
under the heaviest hand of God, as is evident in that great instance
of Job. Who so sorely afilicted as Job ? and yet no beloved sin, no
bosom sin, no darling sin being chargeable upon him by God or con-
science, [Job X. 7, and xxxi. 33,] how bravely, sweetly,*and Christianly
does Job bear up under those sad changes and dreadful providences
that would have broke a thousand of such men's hearts, upon whom
God and conscience could charge beloved sins, bosom sins, darling
sins 1 But,
Thirdly, In the day of death ; Death is the king of terrors, as Job
speaks ; and the * terror of kings,' as the philosopher speaks. ^ Oh how
terrible will this king of terrors be to that man upon whom God and
conscience can charge beloved sins, bosom sins, darling sins. This is
certain, when a wicked man comes to die, all the sins that ever he
committed don't so grieve him and terrify him, so sad him and sink
him, and raise such horrors and terrors in him, and put him into such
a hell on this side hell, as his beloved sins, his bosom sins, his darling
sins ; and had saints their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling
sins, ah, what a hell of horror and terror would these sins raise in
their souls, when they come to lie upon a dying bed ! But now when
a child of God shall lie upon a dying bed, and shall be able to say,
' Lord, thou knowest, and conscience thou knowest, that though I have
had many and great failings, yet there are no beloved sins, no bosom
sins, no darling sins, that are chargeable upon me! Lord, thou
knowest, and conscience thou knowest: 1. That there is no known sin
that I don't hate and abhor. 2. That there is no known sin that I
' Aristotle : cf. Sibbcs, vol. iv. note e, p. 78, and vii. 603, where the original is given
\
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 29
don't combat and conflict with. 3. That there is no known sin that I
don't grieve and mourn over. 4. That there is no known sin that I
would not presently, freely, willingly, and heartily be rid of. 5. That
there is no known sin that I don't in some weak measure endeavour
in the use of holy means to be delivered from. 6. That there is no
known sin, the effectual subduing and mortifying of which would not
administer matter of the greatest joy and comfort to me!' Now,
when God and conscience shall acquit a man upon a dying bed of
beloved sins, of bosom sins, of darling sins, who can express the joy,
the comfort, the peace, the support that such an acquittance will fill a
man with ?
Fourthly/, In the day of account, the very thoughts of which day,
to many, is more terrible than death itself. Such Christians as are
captivated under the power of this opinion, viz., that the saints have
their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins, such cannot but
greatly fear and tremble to appear before the tribunal of God. Oh,
saith such poor hearts, how shall we be able to answer for our beloved
sins, our bosom sins, our darling sins. As for infirmities, weaknesses,
and follies that has attended us, we can plead with God, and tell him.
Lord ! when grace has been weak, corruptions strong, temptations
great, and thy Spirit withdrawn, and we off from our watch, we have
been worsted and captivated ! But what shall we say as to our
beloved sins, our bosom sins, our darling sins ? Oh, these fill us with
terror and horror, and how shall we be able to hold up our heads
before the Lord, when he shall reckon with us for these sins ! But
now when a poor child of God thinks of the day of account, and is
able, through grace, to say, ' Lord, though we cannot clear ourselves
of infirmities, and many sinful weaknesses, yet we can comfortably
appeal to thee and our consciences that we have no beloved sins, no
bosom sins, no darling sins ! ' Oh, with what comfort, confidence, and
boldness will such poor hearts hold up their heads in the day of
account, when a Christian can plead those six things before a judg-
ment-seat, that he pleaded in the third particular, when he lay upon a
dying bed! how will his fears vanish, and how will his hopes and
heart revive, and how comfortably and boldly will he stand before a
judgment-seat ! But,
[9.] Ninthly, This opinion that is now under consideration, has a
very great tendency to discourage and deaden the hearts of Christians
to the most noble and spiritual duties of religion — viz., 1. Praising of
God ; 2. Delighting in God ; 3. Eejoicing in God ; 4. Admiring of
God ; 5. Taking full content and satisfaction in God ; 6. Witnessing
for God, his truth, his ordinances, and ways ; 7. To self-trial and
self-examination ; 8. To the making of their calling and election
sure. I cannot see with what comfort, confidence, or courage such
souls can apply themselves to the eight duties last mentioned, who lie
under the power of this opinion, viz., that saints have their beloved
sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins. But now when a Christian
is clear, and he can clear himself, as every sincere Christian can, of
beloved sins, of bosom sins, of darling sins, how is he upon the advan-
tage ground to fall in roundly with all the eight duties last mentioned I
But,
30 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
[10.] Tenthly and lastly, This opinion that is now under considera-
tion, has a very great tendency to discourage multitudes of Christians
from coming to the Lord's table. I would willingly know with what
comfort, with what confidence, with what hope, with what expectation
of good from God, or of good from the ordinance, can such souls draw
near to the Lord's table, who lie under the power of this opinion or
persuasion, that they carry about with them their bosom sins, their
beloved sins, their darling sins. How can such souls expect that God
should meet with them in the ordinance, and bless the ordinance to
them ? How can such souls expect that God should make that great
ordinance to be strengthening, comforting, refreshing, establishing,
and enriching unto them ? How can such souls expect, that in that
ordinance God should seal up to them his eternal loves, their interest
in Christ, their right to the covenant, their title to heaven, and the
remission of their sins, who bring to his table their beloved sins, their
bosom sins, their darling sins? But now when the people of God
draw near to the table of the Lord, and can appeal to God, that
though they have many sinful failings and infirmities hanging upon
them, yet they have no beloved sins, no bosom sins, no darling sins
that they carry about with them ; how comfortably and confidently
may they expect that God will make that great ordinance a blessing
to them, and that in time all those glorious ends for which that ordi-
nance was appointed shall be accomplished in them, and upon them !
Now, by these ten arguments, you may see the weakness and false-
ness, yea, the dangerous nature of that opinion that many worthy men
have so long preached, maintained, and printed to the world, viz.,
That the saints have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling
sins ; neither do I wonder that they should be so sadly out in this
particular, when I consider how apt men are to receive things by tra-
dition, without bringing of things to a strict examination ; and when
I consider what strange definitions of faith many famous, worthy men
have given, both in their writings and preachings ; and when I con-
sider what a mighty noise many famous men have made about legal
preparations, before men presume to close with Christ, or to give up
themselves in a marriage covenant to Christ, most of them requiring
men to be better Christians before they come to Christ, than com-
monly they prove after they are implanted into Christ, &c.
Now, though I have said enough, I suppose, to lay that opinion
asleep that has been last under consideration, viz.. That the saints
have their beloved sins, their bosom sins, their darling sins, yet for a
close of this discourse, premise with me these five things :
[1.] First, That all unconverted persons have their beloved sins,
their bosom sins, their darling sins. The beloved, the bosom, the dar-
ling sin of the Jews was idolatry. The beloved, the bosom, the dar-
ling sin of the Corinthians was uncleanness, wantonness, 1 Cor, vi.
15, 20. The beloved, the bosom, the darling sin of the Cretans was
lying, Titus ii. 12. Jeroboam's beloved sin was idolatry, and Cain's
beloved sin was envy, and Korah's beloved sin was gainsaying, and
Esau's beloved sin was profaneness, and Ishmael's beloved sin was
scoffing, and Balaam's beloved sin was ambition ; Simeon and Levi's
beloved sin was treachery, Manasseh's beloved sin was cruelty, and
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 31
Nebuchadnezzar's beloved sin was pride, and Herod's beloved sin was
uncleanness, and Judas his beloved sin was covetousness, and the
young man's beloved sin in that 19th of Matthew was worldly-minded-
ness, &c.
[2.] Secondly, Premise this with me, that the elect of God, before
their conversion, had their beloved &ins. Manasseh's beloved sin was
cruelty ; and Ephraim's beloved sin, before conversion, was idolatry,
Hosea iv. 17 ; and Zaccheus his beloved sin before conversion was
worldly-mindedness and defrauding of others ; and Paul's beloved sin,
before conversion, was persecution ; and the jailer s beloved sin, before
conversion, was cruelty; and Mary Magdalene's beloved sin, before
conversion, was wantonness and uncleanness, &c.
[3.] Thirdly, Premise this with me, viz., that after conversion there
is no sin thai the heart of a Christian is more seriously, more fre-
quently, more resolutely, and more perfectly set against than that
which was once his beloved lust. The hatred, detestation, and indig-
nation of a converted person breaks out and discovers itself most against
that sin which was once a beloved sin, a bosom sin, a darling sin ; his
care, his fear, his jealousy, his watchfulness is most exercised against
that sin which was once the darling of his soul. The converted per-
son eyes this sin as an old enemy ; he looks upon this sin as the sin
by which God has been most dishonoured, and his own conscience
most enslaved, and his immortal soul most endangered, and Satan
most advantaged, and accordingly his spirit rises against it, Hosea xiv.
8 ; Isa. ii. 20, and xxx. 22. And all Christians' experience confirms
this truth ; but of this more before.
[4.] Fourthly, After conversion, a Christian endeavours to be most
eminent in that particular grace which is most contrary and opposite
to that sin ivhich was once his beloved sin, his bosom sin, his darling
sin, Zaccheus his beloved sin was worldliness and defrauding, but,
being converted, he labours to excel in restitution and liberality ; the
jailer's beloved sin was severity and cruelty, but, being converted, he
labours to excel in pity, and courtesy ; Paul's beloved sin was persecu-
tion, but, being converted, how mightily does he bestir himself to
convert souls, and to edify souls, and to build up souls, and to strengthen
souls, and to establish souls, and to encourage souls in the ways of the
Lord — he gives it you under his own hand, ' That he laboured more
abundantly than they all,' 2 Cor, xi. 23 ; Austin's beloved sin, his
bosom sin, his darling sin, before his conversion, was wantonness and
uncleanness ; but, when he was converted, he was most careful and
watchful to arm against that sin, and to avoid all temptations and
occasions that might lead him to it afterwards. If a man's beloved
sin, before conversion, has been worldliness, then after conversion he
will labour above all to excel in heavenly-mindedness ; or if his sin,
his beloved sin, has been pride, then he will labour above all to excel
in humility ; or if his beloved sin has been intemperance, then he will
labour above all to excel in temperance and sobriety ; or if his beloved
sin has been wantonness and uncleanness, then he will labour above
all to excel in all chastity and purity ; or if his beloved sin has been
oppressing of others, then he will labour above all to excel in piety
and compassion towards others; or if his beloved sin ha^ been
32 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
hypocrisy, then he will labour above all to excel in sincerity, &c.
But,
[5.] Fifthly, Though no godly man, though no sincere gracious
Christian hath any beloved sin, and bosom, darling sin, yet there is no
godly man, there is no sincere gracious soul, hut has some sin or other
to which they are more prone than to others. Every real Christian
hath his inclination to one kind of sin rather than another, which may
be called his special sin, his peculiar sin, or his own iniquity, as David
speaks in Ps. xviii. 23. Now the main power of grace and of upright-
ness is mainly seen and exercised in a man's keeping of himself from
his iniquity. Now that special, that peculiar sin, to which a gracious
soul may be most prone and addicted to may arise — 1. From the
temperament and constitution of his body. The complexion and con-
stitution of a man's body may be a more prepared instrument for one
vice rather than another ; or, 2. It may arise from his particular call-
ing. Christians have distinct and particular callings that incline them
to particular sins. For instance, the soldier's calling puts him upon
rapine and violence : Luke iii. 14, 'Do violence to no man, neither
accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages.' And the trades-
man's calling puts him upon lying, deceiving, defrauding, and over-
reaching his brother. And the minister's calling puts him upon flatter-
ing of the gallants and great ones of his parish, and upon pleasing the
rest by speaking of smooth things, Isa. xxx. 10, ' and by sewing of
pillows under their elbows,' Ezek. xiii. 18, 20. And the magistrates',
judges', and justices' employments lays them open to oppression,
bribery, injustice, &c. If Christians are not very much upon their
watch, their very callings and offices may prove a very great snare to
their souls ; or, 3. It may arise from his outward state and condition
in this world, whether his state be a state of prosperity or a state of
adversity, or whether he be in a marriage state or in a single state.
Many times a man's outward state and condition in this world hath a
strong influence upon him to incline him to this or that particular sin
as best suiting with his condition ; or, 4. It may arise from distinct
and peculiar ages ; for it is certain that distinct and peculiar ages do
strongly inchne persons to distinct and pecuhar sins. Youth inclines
to wantonness and prodigality ; and manhood to pride and ambition ;
and old age to covetousness and frowardness. Common experience teUs
us that many times wantonness is the sinner's darling in the time of his
youth, and worldliness his darling in the time of his age ; and without
controversy. Christians' distinct and peculiar ages may more strongly
incline them to this or that sin rather than any other ; or, 5. It may
arise from that distinct and particular way of breeding and education
which he has had. Now to arm such Christians against their special
sins, their peculiar sins — whose sins are advantaged against them,
either by their constitutions and complexion, or else by their particu-
lar calling, or else by their outward state and condition, or else by
their distinct and peculiar ages, or else by their particular way of
breeding and education— is my present work and business ; for though
the reigning power of this or that special peculiar sin be broken in a
man's conversion, yet the remaining life and strength that is still left
in those corruptions, will by Satan be improved against the growth,
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 33
peace, comfort, and assurance of the soul. Satan will strive to enter
in at the same door ; and by the same Delilah, by which he hath be-
trayed and wounded the soul, he will do all he can to do the soul a
further mischief. Satan will be still a-reminding of the soul of those
former sweets, pleasures, profits, delights, and contents that have come
in upon the old score, so that it wiU be a hard thing, even for a godly
man, to keep himself from his iniquity, from his special or peculiar
sin, which the fathers commonly call, though not truly, peccatum in
deliciis, a man's special darling and beloved sin. Well, Christians,
remember this once for all, viz., that sound conversion includes a
noble and serious revenge upon that sin which was once a man's be-
loved, bosom, darling sin: 2 Cor. vii. 11, ' Yea, what clearing of your-
selves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement
desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge.' You see this in Cranmer,
who when he had subscribed with his right hand to that which was
against his conscience, he afterwards, as a holy revenge, put that right
hand into the flames ; so Mary Magdalene takes that hair of hers. Of
all sins, saith the sound convert, I am resolved to be avenged on my
once beloved, bosom, darling sins, by which I have most dishonoured
God, and wronged my own precious and immortal soul, and by which
I have most endangered my everlasting estate.
Having thus cleared up my way, I shall now endeavour to lay before
you some special remedies, means, or helps against cherishing or keep-
ing up of any special or peculiar sin, either in heart or life, against
the Lord, or against the light and conviction of a man's own con-
science.
1. First, Cherishing or keeping up of any special or peculiar sin, either
in heart or life, against the Lord, or against the light and conviction of
a man's own conscience, will hinder assurance these several ways : —
[1.] First, It tvill abate the degrees of our graces, and so make them
more undiscemible. Now grace rather in its degrees than in its
sincerity, or simple being only, is that which gives the clearest evi-
dence of a gracious estate, or of a man's interest in Christ. Sin, lived
in, is like a vermin to the tree, which destroys the fruit. Grace can-
not thrive in a sinful heart. In some soil, plants will not grow. The
cherishing of sin is the withering of grace. The casting of a favour-
able eye on any one special sin hinders the growth of grace. If a man
has a choice plant or flower in his garden, and it withers and shrivels
and is dying, he opens the ground and looks at the root, and there
finds a worm gnawing the root ; and this is the cause of the flower's
fading : the application is easy.
[2.] Secondly, The cherishing of any special peculiar sin, or the
keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord, and against
the light of a man's own conscience, ivill hinder the lively actings and
exercise of grace; it will keep grace at an under, so that it wiU
hardly be seen to stir or act • yea, it will keep grace so down that it
will hardly be heard to speak. When a special or peculiar sin is
entertained, it will exceedingly mar the vigorous exercises of those
graces which are the evidences of a lively faith, and of a gracious state»
and of a man's interest in Christ. Grace is never apparent and
sensible to the soul, but while it is in action ; therefore want of action
VOL. V. c
34 SEKIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
must needs cause want of assurance. Habits are not felt immediately
but by the freeness and facility of their acts ; of the very being of the
goul itself, nothing is felt or perceived, but only its acts. The tire that
lieth still in the flint, is neither seen nor felt ; but when you smite it
and force it into act, it is easily discernible. For the most part, so
long as a Christian hath his graces in lively action, so long he is
assured of them. He that would be assured that this sacred fire of
grace is in his heart, he must blow it up and get it into a flame. But,
[3.] Thirdly, The cherishing of any special sin, or the keeping up
of any known transgression in heart or life against the Lord and against
the light of a man's own conscience, so blears, dims, and darkeTis the
eye of the soul, that it cannot see its own condition, nor have any clear
knowledge of its gracious state, or of its intey^est in 'Christ, &c. Some-
times men in riding raise such a dust that they can neither see them-
selves nor their dearest friends, so as to distinguish one from another :
the application is easy. The room sometimes is so full of smoke that
a man cannot see the jewels, the treasures that lie before him ; so it is
here. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Cherishing of any special or peculiar sin, or the keep-
ing up of any known transgression against the Lord or against the
light of a man's own conscience, provokes the Lord to ivithdraiv him-
self, his comforts, and the gracious presence and assistance of his
blessed Spirit; without which presence and assistance the soul may
search and seek long enough for assurance, comfort, and a sight of a
man's interest in Christ, before it will enjoy the one or see the other.
If by keeping up of any known transgression against the Lord, you
set the Holy Spirit a-mourning, which alone can comfort you, and
assure you of your interest in Christ, you may walk long enough with-
out comfort and assurance, Lam i. 16. ' The Comforter that should
relieve my soul, is far from me ;' so in that 1 John iii. 21, it is sup-
posed that a self-condemning heart makes void a man's confidence
before God. The precious jewel of faith can be holden in no other
place, but in a pure conscience ; that is the only royal palace wherein
it must and will dwell : 1 Tim. i. 19, ' Holding faith and a good con-
science:' BBh. X. 22, 'Let us draw near with a true heart, in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.'
He_ that comes to God with a true, honest, upright heart, being
sprinkled from an evil conscience, may draw near to God in full
assurance of faith ; whereas guilt clouds, clogs, and distracts the soul,
that it can never be with God, either as it would or as it should.
Conscientia pura semper secura, a good conscience hath sure confi-
dence. Conscience is mille testes, a thousand witnesses for or against
a man. Conscience is God's preacher in the bosom. It is better, with
Eyagrius, to lie secure on a bed of straw, than to have a turbulent con-
science on a bed of down. It was a divine saying of Seneca, a
heathen, viz., ' That if there were no God to punish him, no devil to
toi-ment him, no hell to burn him, no man to see him ; yet would he
not sin, for the ugliness of sin, and the grief of his own conscience.'
But,
[5.] Fifthly, Cherishing of any special or peculiar sin, or the keep-
ing up of any known transgression, in heart or life, against the Lord,
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 35
and against the light of a man's own conscience, will greatly hinder
his high esteem and reputation of Jesus Christ, and so it ivill keep him
from comfort, assurance, and sight of his interest in him, so that some-
times his dearest children are constrained to ciy out, ' God is departed
from me, and he answereth me not, neither by dream nor vision, nei-
ther this way nor that,' 1 Sam. xxviii. 15. But,
[6.] Sixthly, The greatest and most common cause of the want of
assurance, comfort, and peace, is some unmortified lust, some secret^
special, peculiar sin, unto which men give entertainment, or at least,
which they do not so vigorously oppose, and heartily renounce as they
should and might. Hinc illce lachrymce, and this is that which casts
them on sore straits and difficulties. And how should it be other-
wise, seeing God, who is infinitely wise, holy, and righteous, either
cannot or will not reveal the secrets of his love to those who harbour
his known enemies in their bosoms ? The great God either cannot or
will not regard the whinings and complainings of those who play or
dally with that very sin which galls their consciences, and connive and
wink at the stirrings and workings of that very lust for which he hides
his face from them, and writes ' bitter things against them.' Mark,
all fears and doubts and scruples are begotten upon sin, either real or
imaginary. Now, if the sin be but imaginary, an enlightened recti-
fied judgment may easily and quickly scatter such fears, doubts, and
scruples, as the sun doth mists and clouds, when it shines in its bright-
ness ; but if the sin be real, then there is no possibility of curing those
fears, doubts, and scruples arising from thence, but by an unfeigned
repentance and returning from that sin. Now, if I should produce
all the scriptures and instances that stand ready pressed to prove this,
I must transcribe a good part of the Bible ; but this would be labour
in vain, seeing it seemeth to have been a notion engraven even on
natural conscience, viz., that sin so defiles persons, that till they be
washed from it, neither they nor their services can be accepted ; from
whence arose that custom of setting water-pots at their entrance into
their temples or places of worship. Let him that wants assurance,
comfort, peace, and a sight of his interest in Christ, cast out every
known sin, and set upon a universal course of reformation ; for God
will not give his cordials to those that have a foul stomach. Those
that, against light and checks of conscience, dally and tamper with
this sin or that, those God will have no commerce, no communion
with ; on such God will not lift up the light of his countenance : Kev.
ii. 17, 'To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna,
and I will give him a white stone, and in that stone, a new name
written.' These are all metaphorical expressions, which, being put to-
gether, do amount to as much as assurance ; but mark, these are pro-
mised, T&j vLKwvTL, ' to him that overcometh,' to him that rides on
conquering and to conquer. Oh that Christians would seriously re-
member this ! The dearer it cost any one to part with his sins, the
more sweet and comfortable will it be to call to mind the victory that
through the Spirit of grace he has got over his sins. There is no
comfort, joy, or peace to that which arises from the conquests of sin,
especially of special sins. When Goliath was slain, what joy and
triumph was there in the camp ! So here.
36 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
[7.] Seventhly, Cherishing of any special or peculiar sin, or the
keeping up of any known transgression, either in heart or life, against
the Lord, and against the light of a man's own conscience, will hinder
the soul from that warm^ lively, fervent, frequent, seasonable, sincere,
and constant way of duty, as contributes most to the increase of grace,
peace, comfort, and assurance, &c.
[8.] Eighthly, Seriously consider of the several assertions and con-
current judgments of our best and most famous divines in the present
case. I shall give you a taste of some of their sayings, i
First, ' A man,' saith one, ' can have no peace in his conscience that
favoureth and retaineth any one sin in himself against his conscience.'
Secondly, Another saith, ' A man is in a damnable state, whatso-
ever good deeds seem to be in him, if he yield not to the work of the
Holy Ghost for the leaving but of any one known sin which fighteth
against peace of conscience.' But,
Thirdly, ' So long,' saith another, ' as the power of mortification
destroyeth thy sinful affections, and so long as thou art unfeignedly
displeased with all sin, and dost mortify the deeds of the body by
the Spirit, thy case is the case of salvation.' But,
Fourthly, Another saith, ' A good conscience stands not with a pur-
pose of sinning, no, not with irresolution against sin.' This must be
understood of habitual purposes, and of a constant irresolution against
sin.
Fifthly, ' The rich and precious box of a good conscience,' saith
another, ' is polluted and made impure, if but one dead fly be suffered
in it. One sin being quietly permitted, and suffered to live in the
soul without being disturbed, resisted, resolved against, or lamented
over, will certainly mar the peace of a good conscience.'
Sixthly, ' Where there is but any one sin,' saith another, ' nourished
and fostered, all other our graces are not only blemished, but abolished;
they are no graces. 2
Seventhly, Most true is that saying of Aquinas, ' That all sins are
coupled together, though not in regard of conversion to temporal good,
for some look to the good of gain, some of glory, some of pleasure, yet
in regard of aversion from eternal good, that is God ; so that he that
looks but towards one sin is as much averted and turned back from
God as if he looked to all ; in which respect St James says, " He that
offendeth in one is guilty of all,'" James ii. 10. Now, that ye may
not mistake Aquinas, nor the scripture he cites, you must remember
that the whole law is but one copulative, Exod. xvi. 18 ; Ezek. xviii.
10-13. Mark, he that breaketh one command habitually, breaketh
all ;^ not so actually. Such as are truly godly in respect of the habitual
desires, purposes, bents, biases, inclinations, resolutions, and endea-
vours of their souls, do keep those very commands that actually they
daily break. But a dispensatory conscience keeps not any one com-
mandment of God. He that wilUngly and wilfully and habitually
gives himself liberty to break any one commandment, is guilty of all ;
that is, 1. Either he breaks the chain of duties, and so breaks all the
, t ^^^* °^ ^^^^ quotations, with many more of like sort, will be found in Spencer's fine
folic of Things New and Old,' (1658.) Cf. under ' conscience' and ' sin.'— G.
" Dyke, ' Of the deceitfulness of the heart,' c. 16
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 37
law, being copulative ; or, 2. With the same disposition of heart, that
he willingly, wilfully, habitually breaks one, with the same disposi-
tion of heart he is ready pressed to break all. The apostle's meaning
in that James ii. 10, is certainly this, viz., that suppose a man should
keep the whole law for substance, except in some one particular, yet
fey allowing of himself in this particular, thereby he manifests that he
kept no precept of the law in obedience and conscience unto God ; for
if he did, then he would be careful to keep every precept. Thus much
the words following import, and hereby he manifests that he is guilty
of all. Some others conceive that therefore such a one may be said to
be guilty of all, because by allowing of himself in any ope sin, thereby
he lies under that curse which is threatened against the transgi*essors
of the law, Deut. xxvii. 26.
Eighthly, ' Every Christian should carry in his heart,' saith an-
other, ' a constant and resolute purpose not to sin in anything ; for
faith and the purpose of sinning can never stand together.' This
must be understood of a habitual, not actual; of a constant, not
transient purpose. But,
Ninthly, ' One flaw in a diamond/ saith another, * takes away the
lustre and the price.' One puddle, if we wallow in it, will defile us.
One man, in law, may keep possession. One piece of ward-land
makes the heir liable to the king. So one sin lived in, and allowed,
may make a man miserable for ever. But,
Tenthly, One turn may bring a man quite out of the way. One
act of treason makes a traitor. Gideon had seventy sons, but one
bastard, and yet that one bastard destroyed all the rest, Judg. viii. 31.
' One sin,' as well as one sinner, ' lived in and allowed, may destroy
much good,' saith another.
Eleventhly, ' He that favoureth one sin, though he forego many,
does but as Benhadad, recover of one disease and die of another ; yea,
he doth but take pains to go to hell,' saith another.
Twelfthly, ' Satan, by one lie to our first parents, made fruitless
what God himself had preached to them immediately before,' saith
another.
Thirteenthly , A man may, by one short act of sin, bring a long
curse upon himself and his posterity, as Ham did when he saw his
father Noah drunk : Gen. ix, 24, 25, ' And Noah awoke from his
wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him, and he
said. Cursed is Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his
brethren.' Canaan was Ham's son. Noah, as God's mouth, pro-
phesied a curse upon the son for his father's sin. Here Ham is
cursed in his son Canaan, and the curse entailed not only to Canaan,
but to his posterity. Noah prophesies a long series and chain of
curses upon Canaan and his children. He makes the curse hereditary
to the name and nation of the Canaanites : ' A servant of servants
shall he be unto his brethren,' that is, the vilest and basest servant ;
for the Hebrews express the superlative degree by such a duplication
as ' vanity of vanities ;' that is, most vain : ' a song of songs ;' that is,
a most excellent song. So here, ' a servant of servants ;' that is, the
vilest, the basest servant. Ah, heavy and prodigious curse, upon the
account of one sin ! But,
3d SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
Fourteenthly, Satan can be content that men should yield to God
in many things, provided that they will be but true to him in some
one thing ; for he knows very well, that as one dram of poison may
poison a man, and one stab at the heart may kill a man ; so one sin
unrepented of, one sin allowed, retained, cherished, and practised,
will certainly damn a man. But,
Fifteenthly^ Though all the parts of a man's body be sound, save
only one, that one diseased and ulcerous part may be deadly to
thee ; for all the sound members cannot preserve thy life, but that
one diseased and ulcerous member will hasten thy death ; so one sin
allowed, indulged, and lived in, will prove killing and damning to
thee.
Sixteentlily , 'Observe,' saith another, 'that an unmortified sin allowed
and wilfully retained will eat out all appearance of virtue and piety.
Herod's high esteem of John and his ministry, and his reverencing of
him and observing of him, and his forward performance of many
good things, are all given over and laid aside at the instance and
command of his master-sin, his reigning sin. John's head must go
for it, if he won't let Herod enjoy his Herodias quietly.' But,
Seventeenthly, Some will leave all their sins but one ; Jacob would
let all his sons go but Benjamin. Satan can hold a man fast enough
by one sin that he allows and lives in, as the fowler can hold the bird
fast enough by one wing or by one claw.
Eighteenthly, Holy Polycarp, in the time of the fourth persecution,
when he was commanded but to swear one oath, he made this answer :
" Four-score and six years have I endeavoured to do God service, and
all this while he never hurt me ; how then can I speak evil of so good
a Lord and Master who hath thus long preserved me ! I am a Chris-
tian, and cannot swear ; let heathens and infidels swear if they will, I
cannot do it, were it to the saving of my life.'
Ninteenthly, A wilKng and a wilful keeping up, either in heart or
life, any known transgression against the Lord, is a breach of the holy
law of God ; it is a fighting against the honour and glory of God, and
is a reproach to the eye of God, the omnipresence of God.
Tiventietlily, The keeping up of any known transgression against
the Lord may endanger the souls of others, and may be found a fight-
ing against all the cries, prayers, tears, promises, vows, and covenants
that thou hast made to God, when thou hast been upon a sick-bed, or
in eminent dangers, or near death ; or else when thou hast been in
solemn seeking of the Lord, either alone or with others. These
things should be frequently and seriously thought of by such poor
fools as are entangled by any lust.
Twenty -firstly, The keeping up of any known transgression against
the Lord, either in heart or life, is a high tempting of Satan to tempt
the soul ; it will also greatly unfit the soul for all sorts of duties and
services that he either owes to God, to himself, or others; it will also
put a sting into all a man's troubles, afilictions, and distresses ; it will
also lay a foundation for despair ; and it will make death, which is
the kmg of terrors, and the terror of kmgs, to be very terrible to the
soul.
Twenty-secondly, The keeping up of any known transgression against
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 39
the Lord, either in heart or life, will fight against all those patterns
and examples in Holy Writ, that in duty and honour we are bound
to imitate and follow. Pray, where do you find in any of the blessed
Scriptures, that any of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, or saints are
ever charged with a willing or a wilful keeping up, either in their
hearts or lives, any known transgression against the Lord ?
Twenty-thirdly , The keeping up of any known transgression against
the Lord will highly make against all clear, sweet, and standing com-
munion with God. Parents use not to smile, nor be familiar with
their children, nor to keep up any intimate communion with them, in
their neglects and disobedience. It is so here.
Twenty-fourthly , The keeping up, either in heart or life, of any
known transgi-ession against the Lord, will fight against the standing
joy, peace, comfort, and assurance of the soul. Joy in the Holy Ghost
will make its nest nowhere but in a holy soul. So far as the Spirit is
grieved he will suspend his consolations, Lam. i. 16. A man will
have no more comfort from God than he makes conscience of sinning
against God. A conscience good in point of integrity will be good
also in point of tranquillity. If our hearts condemn us not, ' then have
we confidence towards God' — and I may say also towards men. Acts
xxiv. 16 — oh, what comfort and solace hath a clear conscience ! he
hath something within to answer accusations without. I shall con-
clude this particular with a notable saying of one of the ancients.
The joys of a good conscience are the paradise of souls, the
delight of angels, the garden of delights, the field of blessing, the
temple of Solomon, the court of God, the habitation of the Spirit.
[Bernard.]
Twenty-fiftlily , The keeping up of any known transgression, either in
heart or life, against the Lord, is a high contempt of the all-seeing eye
of God, of the omnipresence of God. It is well known what Ahasuerus,
that great monarch, said concerning Haman, when coming in, he found
liim cast upon the queen's bed on which she sat ; ' What,' saith he,
' will he force the queen before me, in the house ? ' Esther vii, 8. There
was the killing emphasis in the words, ' before me ;' ' will he force the
queen before me ? ' What ! will he dare to commit such a villany,
and I stand and look on ? sirs ! to do wickedly in the sight of God
is a thing that he looks upon as the greatest affront and indignity that
can possibly be done unto him. What, saith he, wilt thou be drunk
before me, and swear and blaspheme before me, and be wanton and
unclean before me, and break my laws before my eyes ! This, then,
is the killing aggravation of all sin that is done before the face of God,
in the presence of God ; whereas, the very consideration of God's omni-
presence, that he stands and looks on, should be as a bar, a remora,
to stop the proceedings of all wicked intendments, a dissausive rather
from sin than the least encouragement thereunto. It was an excellent
saying of Ambrose, ' If thou canst not hide thyself from the sun,
which is God's minister of light, how impossible will it be to hide
thyself from him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the
sun,' 1 God's eye is the best marshal to keep the soul in a comely order.
Let thine eye be ever on him whose eye is ever on thee. ' The eyes of
1 Offic. 1. i., c. 14.
40 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good/ Prov.
XV. 9. There is no drawing of a curtain between God and thee. God
is totv^ oculus, all eye ; he seeth all things, in all places, and at all
times. When thou art in secret, consider conscience is present, which
is more than a thousand witnesses ; and God is present, which is more
than a thousand consciences. It was a pretty fancy of one that would
have his chamber painted full of eyes, that which way soever he looked
he might still have some eyes upon him ; and he fancying* according
to the moralist's advice, always under the €ye of a keeper, might be the
more careful of his carriage. sirs 1 if the eyes of men make even the
vilest to forbear their beloved lusts for a while, that the adulterer
watcheth for the twilight, and ' they that are drunken are drunken in
the night/ how powerful will the eye and presence of God be with
those that fear his a^iger and know the sweetness of his favour ! The
thought of this omnipresence of God will affrighten thee from sin.
Gehazi durst not ask or receive any part of Naaman's presents in his
master's presence, but when he had got out of Elisha's sight, then he
tells his lie, and gives way to his lusts. Men never sin more freely than
when they presume upon secrecy ; ' They break in pieces thy people,
Lord, and afflict thy heritage. They slay the widow and stranger,
and murder the fatherless/ yet they say, ' The Lord doth not see,
neither shall the God of Jacob regard it,' Ps. xciv. 5-7. They who
abounded in abominations said, ' The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath
forsaken the earth,' Ezek. viii. 9, 12. The wise man dissuadeth from
wickedness upon the consideration of God's eye and omniscience.
* And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and
embrace the bosom of a stranger ; for the ways of man are before the
eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings,' Prov. v. 20, 21.
Joseph saw God in the room, and therefore durst not yield ; but his
mistress saw none but Joseph, and so was impudently alluring and
tempting him to folly. 1 have read of two religious men that took
contrary courses with two lewd women whom they were desirous to
reclaim from their vicious course of hfe. One of the men told one of
the women that he was desirous to enjoy her company, so it might be
with secrecy, and when she had brought him into a close room, that
none could pry into, he told her, ' All the bars and bolts here cannot
keep God out.' The other desired the other woman to company with
him, openly in the streets, which when she rejected as a mad request,
he told her, ' It was better to do it in the eyes of a multitude, than in
the eyes of God.' Oh, why shall not the presence of that God who
hates sin, and who is resolved to punish it with hell-flames, make us
ashamed or afraid to sin, and dare him to his face !
Twenty-sixilily , There have been many a prodigal, who, by one cast of
the dice, have lost a fair inheritance. A man may be killed with one
stab of a pen-knife, and one hole in a ship may sink it, and one thief
may rob a man of kU he has in the world. A man may escape many
gross sins, and yet, by living in the allowance of some one sin, be
deprived of the glory of heaven for ever. Moses came within the sight
of Canaan, but for one sin — not sanctifying God's name — he was shut
out. And no less will it be to any man that, for living in any one
sin, shall be for ever shut out of the kingdom of heaven ; not but that
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 41
there may be some remainders of sin, and yet the heart taken oiF from
every sin ; but if there be any secret closing with any one way of sin,
all the profession of godliness and leaving all other sins will be to no
purpose, nor ever bring a man to happiness.
Twenty-seventhly , As the philosopher saith, a cup or some such thing
that hath a hole in it is no cup ; it will hold nothing, and therefore
cannot perform the use of a cup, though it have but one hole in it. So
if the heart have but one hole in it, if it retain the devil but in one
thing, if it make choice but of any one sin to lie and wallow in, and
tumble in, it doth evacuate all the other good, by the entertain-
ment of that one sin. The whole box of ointment will be spoiled by
the dropping of that one fly into it. By the laws of our kingdom, a
man can never have a true possession till he have voided all. And in
the state of grace, no man can have a full interest in Christ till all
sin, that is, all reigning, domineering sin be rooted out.
Thus you see the concurrent judgments of our most famous divines,
against men's allowing, indulging, or retaining any one known sin
against their light and consciences ; but that these sayings of theirs
may lie in more weight and power upon every poor soul that is
entangled with any base lusts, be pleased seriously and frequently to
consider of these following particulars : —
[1.] First, It is to no purpose for a man to turn from some sins, if
he does not turn from all his sins, James i. 26. ' If any man among you
seem to be religious, and bridle not his tongne, but deceiveth his own
heart, this man's religion is in vain.' This, at first sight, may seem to
be a hard saying, that for one fault, for one fault in the tongue, all a
man's religion should be counted vain ; and yet this, you see, the Holy
Ghost does peremptorily conclude. Let a man make never so glori-
ous a profession of religion, yet, if he gives himself liberty to live in
the practice of any known sin, yea, though it be but in a sin of the
tongue, his religion is in vain, and that one sin will separate him from
God for ever. If a wife be never so officious i to her husband in many
things, yet if she entertains any other lover into his bed besides him-
self, it will for ever alienate his affections from her, and make an
everlasting separation between them. The application is easy. To
turn from one sin to another is but to be tossed from one hand of the
devil to another, it is but, with Benhadad, to recover of one disease and
die of another ; it is but to take pains to go to hell. If a ship spring
three leaks, and only two be stopped, the third will sink the ship ; or if
a man have two grievous wounds in his body, and takes order only to
cure one, that which is neglected will certainly kill him. It is so here.
Herod, Judas, and Saul, with the scribes and Pharisees, have for many
hundred years experienced this truth. But,
[2.] Secondly, Partial obedience is indeed no obedience ; it is only
universal obedience that is true obedience: Exod. xxiv. 7, 'All that the
Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.' They only are indeed
obedient who have a care to do all that is commanded ; for to obey is
to do that which is commanded because it is commanded. Though the
thing done be commanded, yet if it be not therefore done because it is
commanded, it is no obedience. Now if this be the nature of obedience,
' As before : see Glossary. — G.
42 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
tlien where obedience is indeed, it is not partial, but universal ; for lie
that doth any one thing that is commanded because it is commanded,
he will be careful to do everythmg that is commanded, there being the
same reason for all. They that are only for a partial obedience, they
do break asunder the bond and reason of all obedience; for all obedience
is to be founded upon the authority and will of God, because God, who
hath authority over all his creatures, doth will and command us to
obey his voice, to walk in his statutes. For this very reason do we
stand bound to obey him ; and if we do obey him upon tliis reason,
then must we walk in all his statutes, for so hath he commanded us.
And if we will not come up to this, but will walk in what statutes of
his we please, then do we renounce his will as the obliging reason of
our obedience, and do set up our own liking and plea;sure as the reason
thereof. God has so connexed the duties of his law one to another,
that if there be not a conscientious care to walk according to all that
the law requires, a man becomes a transgressor of the whole law ;
according to that of St James, chap. ii. 10, ' Whosoever shall keep the
whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all.' The bond of
all is broken, the authority of all is slighted, and that evil disposition,
that sinful frame of heart, that works a man to venture upon the breach
of one command, would make him venture upon the breach of any
command, were it not for some infirmity of nature, or because his purse
will not hold out to maintain it, or for shame, or loss, or because of the
eyes of friends, or the sword of the magistrate, or for some other sinister
respects. He that gives himself liberty to live in the breach of any
one command of God, is qualified with a disposition of heart to break
them all. Every single sin contains virtually all sin in it. He that
allows liimself a liberty to live in the breach of any one particular law
of God, he casts contempt and scorn upon the authority that made the
whole law, and upon this account breaks it all. And the apostle gives
the reason of it in verse 11 ; for he that said, ' Do not commit adultery,'
said also, ' Do not kill.' Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou
kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law ; not that he is guilty
of all distributively, but collectively ; for the law is copulative, there
is a chain of duties, and these are all so linked one to another, that you
cannot break one link of the chain, but you break the whole chain. No
man can live in the breach of any known command of God, but he
wrongs every command of God. He hath no real regard to any of the
commandments of God, that hath not a regard to all the command-
ments of God. There is one and the same lawgiver in respect of all
the commandments ; he that gave one command gave also another.
Therefore he that observes one commandment in obedience unto God,
whose commandment it is, he will observe all, because all are his com-
mandments ; and he that slights one commandment is guilty of all,
because he doth contemn the authority of him that gave them all.
Even in those commandments which he doth observe, he hath no
respect to the will and authority of him that gave them ; therefore,
as Calvin doth well observe upon James ii. 10, 11, ' That there is no
obedience towards God, where there is not a uniform endeavour to
please God, as well in one thing as in another.'
[3.] Thirdly, Partial obedience tends to plain atheism ; for by the
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 43
same reason that you slight the will of God in any commandment, by
the same reason you may despise his will in every commandment ; for
every commandment of God is his will, and it is ' holy, spiritual, just,
and good,' Rom. vii. 12, 14, and contrary to our sinful lusts. And if
this be the reason why such and such commandments of God won't
down with you, then by the same reason none of them must be of
authority with you.
[4.] Fourthly, God requires universal obedience: Deut. v. 33, &,c.,
and X. 12, and xi. 21, 22, &c. ; and Jer. vii. 23, 'Walk ye in all the
ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you;'
Mat. xxviii. 20, ' Teaching them to observe all things that I have
commanded you,' &c.
[5.] Fifthly, Partial obedience is an audacious charge against God
himself, as to his wisdom, or potver, or goodness; for those statutes of
God wliich you will not come up unto, either they are as righteous as
the rest, and as holy as the rest, and as spiritual as the rest, and as
good as the rest, or they are not. If they be as holy, spiritual, just,
righteous, and good as the rest, why should you not walk in them as
well as in the rest ? To say they are not as holy, spiritual, righteous,
&c., as the rest. Oh what a blasphemous charge is this against God
himself, in prescribing unto him anything that is not righteous and
good, (fee, and likewise in making his will, which is the rule of all
righteousness and goodness, to be partly righteous and partly unrigh-
teous, to be partly good and partly bad.
[6.] Sixthly, God delights in universal obedience, and in those that
perform it: Deut. v. 29, '0 that there were such a heart in them, that
they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always.' Upon this
account Abraham is called the friend of God in Scripture three times,
Isa. xli. 8 ; 2 Chron. xx. 7 ; James ii. 3. And upon the very same
account God called David ' a man after his own heart : ' Acts xiii. 22,
* I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart,
which shall fulfil all my will,' — iravra ra OeX^fiara, all my wills, to
note the universality and sincerity of his obedience.
[7.] Seventhly, There is not any one statute of God but it is good
and for our good; ergo, we should walk in all his statutes : Deut. v. 25,
' Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath com-
manded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you.'
What one path hath the Lord commanded us to walk in, but as it con-
cerns his own glory, so likewise it concerns our good ?
Is it not good for us to love the Lord, and to set him up as the object
of our fear, and to act faith on him, and to worship him in spirit and
in truth, and to be' tender of his glory, and to sanctify his day, and to
keep off from sin, and to keep close to his ways ? But,
[8.] Eighthly, Universal obedience is the condition upon ivhich the
promise of mercy and salvation runs: Ezek. xviii. 21, 'If the wicked
will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all his
statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he
shall not die.'
[9.] Ninthly, Our hearts must be perfect tvitli the Lord our God:
Deut. xviii. 1 3, ' Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God ; ' and
Gen, xvii. 1, ' Walk before me, and be thou perfect.' Now, how can
^ SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
our hearts be said to be perfect with God if we do prevaricate with
nim ; It m some things we obey him and in other things we will not
obey him if we walk in some of his statutes but will not walk in all
nis statutes, it in some part we will be his servants and in other mrt
of our lives we will be the servants of sin. But, ^
[lO.JTenthly I/the heart be sound and upright, it ivill yield entire
and universal obedience: Ps. cxix. 80, ' Let my heart be sound in thy
statutes, that 1 may not be ashamed ;' and verse 6, ' Then shall I not
be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments/ Bv these
verses, compared together, it appears that then the heart is sound and
sincere, when a man has respect unto all God's commandments With
out a umversal obedience, a man can never have that 'hope which
maketh not ashamed. But, ^ vvmou
. t/|-J Eleventhly, ^iVAer ive must endeavour to loalh in all the
tlT^ f f ''^' "^ '^'' T must find some dispensation or toleration
Jrom God to free us and excuse us and hold us indemnified, though
we do not walk znall of them, Now, what one commandment is thTre
from obedience whereunto, God excuseth any man, or will not punish
him for the neglect of obedience unto it? The apostle sai?h ?That
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point he is
gmlty of al ,' James n. 10. If he prevaricates with Godfas to anv
one particular commandment of his, his heart is naught lei
gudty of all, he hath really no regard of any of the rest of God's laws
[12.] Twelfthly, The precious saints and servants of God whose
examples are recorded, and set forth for our imitation, they have been
very careful to perform universal obedience. Will you see it in IS
ten'^rnH™ ''"^^ ^'.'T^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^11 ^i« Vl commands ?
When God commanded him to leave his country, and his father's
house, he did It, Gen. xii. When God commanded him to be circum-
cised, though it were both shameful and painful, he submitted unoTt
Gen. xvn When God commanded him to send away his son Ishmael
though when Sarah spake to him about it, the thing seemed v^y
grievous unto hnn yet as soon as he saw it to be the will of God he was
obedient unto it, Gen. xxi. When God commanded him to sacrifice
his son Isaac, his only son, the son of his old age, the son of the pro!
mise the son of his delight ; yea, that son from whom was to proc^e^^^^
that Jesus in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed
and though a this might seem to cross both nature and grace both
reason and religion, yet Abraham was willing to obey God inS also
and to do what he commanded. Gen. xxii.° So David was 'a man
t^Lu ^^22 ''TS^'^''''fff f ^^^"^"«'- *^^ original r?ns
walked fn «n\. '* '' f'^ ""^ Zacharias and Elizabeth, that they
walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord &c
Lukei. 6 ; 1 Thes. ii 10, ' Ye are witnesses, and God also how holilv
lli^f^^ '"' ""^'^"^^^^ "^ ^^-^d ^-r^elves among you that
oi foil^rlw^/^^^^'^ '^'^'''''' '^'^^' o^t *^' 'irengt^ of
vv 14 ' S ^'^^^''^' "f^ ^^/ rf ^^^^ of our friendship with Christ J ohi
n^i}\ ^'^ ?I ^''^''^'' '^ y^ ^o whatsoever I command you ' That
child shews most love to his father, that observes all his percepts ; and
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 45
that servant shews most love to his master, that observes all his mas-
ter's commands, and that wife shews most love to her husband, that
observes all he requires in the Lord. So here, &c.
[14.] Fourteenthly, Universal obedience will give most peace, rest,
quiet, and comfort to the conscience. Such a Christian will be as an
eye that hath no mote to trouble it ; as a kingdom that hath no rebel
to annoy it ; as a ship that hath no leak to disturb it : Ps. cxix. 165,
* Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shaU offend
them.' But,
[15.] Fifteenthlyj Mans holiness must he conformnhle to God's
holiness: Eph. v. 1, 2, 'Be ye followers of God as dear children ;' Mat.
V. 48, ' Be ye perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.' Now * God
is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works,' and so ought
all to desire and endeavour to be, that would be saved : 1 Pet. i. 15,
' As he who hath called you is holy, so be ye also holy in all manner
of conversation; ver. 16, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am
holy.' But,
[16.] Sixteenthly, The holiness of a Christian must he conformahle
to the holiness of Christ, * Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ,' 1
Cor. xi. 1. Now Christ was holy in all things. * It behoveth us,' said
he, ' to fulfil all righteousness.' And this should be the care of every
one that professeth himself to be Christ's, to endeavour ' to be holy as
Christ was holy : ' 1 John ii. 6, ' He that saith he abideth in him, ought
himself to walk even as he walked.' But,
[17.] Seventeenthly, Servants must ohey their earthly masters, not
in Sonne things only, hut in all things, to wit, that are just and lawful :
Titus ii. 9, ' Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, and
to please them well in all things.' What master wiU be content that
his servant should choose how far forth he will observe and do those
things which he doth require of him ? much less may we think that
such arbitrary and partial performances will please that God who is
our heavenly Master.
[18.] Eighteenthly, The promises of mercy, hoth spiritual and tem-
poral, are made over to universal obedience, 1 Kings vi. 12, 13; Deut.
xxviii. 1-3; Ezek. xviii. 21, 22, 27, 28. Turn to all these promises
and dilate on them, &c.
[19.] Nineteenthly, One sin never goes alone, as yoti may see in the
falls of Adam and Eve, Lot, Ahraham, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Job,
David, Solomon, Peter, Ahab, Juda^, Jeroboam. One sin will make
way for more ; as one little thief can open the door to let in many
great ones. Satan will be sure to nest himself, to lodge himself in the
least sins, as birds nest and lodge themselves in the smallest branches
of the tree, and there he will do all he can to hatch all manner of
wickedness. A little wedge makes way for a greater ; and. so do
little sins make way for greater.
[20.] Twentiethly, The reasons of turning from sin are universally
binding to a gracious soul. There are the same reasons and grounds
for a penitent man's turning from every sin as there is for his turning
from any one sin. Do you turn froiri this or that sin because the
Lord hath forbid it? why! upon the same ground you must turn
from every sin ; for God has forbid every sin as well as this or that
46 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
particular sin. There is the same authority forbidding or command-
ing in all ; and if the authority of God awes a man from one sin, it
will awe him from all, &c. But,
[21.] Twenty-firstly, One sin allowed and lived in will keep Christ
and the soul asunder. As one rebel, one traitor, hid and kept in the
house, will keep a prince and his subjects asunder ; or as one stone in
the pipe will keep the water and the cistern asunder ; so here. But,
[22.] Twenty-secondly, One sin alloived and lived in will unfit a
person for suffering ; as one cut or shot in the shoulder may hinder a
man from bearing a burden. Will he ever lay down his life for Christ,
that can't, that won't lay down a lust for Christ? But,
[23.] Twenty-thirdly, One sin alloived and lived in is sufficient to de-
prive a man for ever of the greatest good. One sin allowed and wal-
lowed in will as certainly deprive a man of the blessed vision of God, and
of all the treasures, pleasures, and delights that be at Gods right hand,
as a thousand. One sin stripped the fallen angels of all their glory ;
and one sin stripped our first parents of all their dignity and excellency,
Gen. iii. 4, 5. One fly in the box of precious ointment spoils the whole
box ; one thief may rob a man of all his treasure ; one disease may
deprive a man of all his health ; and one drop of poison will spoil the
whole glass of wine : and so one sin allowed and lived in will make a
man miserable for ever. One millstone will sink a man to the bottom
of the sea, as well as a hundred. It is so here. But,
[24.] Twenty-fourthly, One sin allowed and lived in ivill eat out all
peace of conscience. As one string that jars will spoil the sweetest
music ; so one sin countenanced and lived in will spoil the music of
conscience. One pirate may rob a man of all he has in this world.
But,
[25.] Twenty-fifthly and lastly, The sinner loould have God to for-
give him, not only some of his sins, but all his sins ; and therefore it
is hut just andeqtcal that he should turn from all his sins. If God be
so faithful and just to forgive us all our sins, we must be so faithful
and just as to turn from all our sins. The plaster must be as broad
as the sore, and the tent i as long and as deep as the wound. It argues
horrid hypocrisy, damnable folly, and wonderful impudency for a man
to beg the pardon of those very sins that he is resolved never to for-
sake, &c.
Objection. But it is impossible for any man on earth to walk in all
God's statutes, to obey all his commands, to do his ivill in all things,
to loalk according to thefidl breadth of God's royal laiv.
Solution. I answer, there is a twofold walking in all the statutes
of God ; there is a twofold obedience to all the royal commands of
God.
(1.) First, One is legal, when all is done that God requireth ; and
all is done as God requireth, when there is not one path of duty, but
we do walk in it perfectly and continually. Thus no man on earth
doth or can walk in all God's statutes, or fully do what he command-
eth. ' For in many things we offend all,' James iii. 2. So Eccles. vii.
20, ' There is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good, and
sinneth not.' 1 Kings viii 46, ' For there is no man that sinneth not.'
^ 'A roll of lint used in searching or cleansing a deep wound.' — G.
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 47
Prov. XX. 9, ' Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure
from my sin ? ' Job xiv. 4, ' Who can bring a clean thing out of an
unclean ? not one.' 1 John i. 8, ' If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.'
(2.) Secondly, Another is evangelical, which is such a walking in
all the statutes of God, and such a keeping of all the commands of
God, as is in Christ accepted of, and accounted ofas if we did keep
them all. This walking in all God's statutes, and keeping of all his
commandments, and doing of them all, is not only possible, but it is
also actual in every believer, in every sincere Christian, and it consists
in these particulars : —
[1.] First, In the approbation of all the statutes and coramxindments
of God. Kom. vii. 12, ' The commandment is holy, and just, and
good.' Ver. 16, ' I consent unto the law that it is good.' There is
both assent and consent. Ps. cxix. 128, ' I esteem all thy precepts
concerning all things to be right.' A sincere Christian approves of
all divine commands, though he cannot perfectly keep all divine com-
mands. But,
[2.] Secondly, It consists in a conscientious submission unto the
authority of all the statutes of God. Every command of God hath an
authority within his heart, and over his heart. Ps. cxix. 161, * My
heart standeth in awe of thy word.' A sincere Christian stands in
awe of every known command of God, and hath a spiritual regard unto
them all. Ps. cxix. 6, ' I have respect unto all thy commandments.'
But,
[3.] Thirdly, It consists in a cordial willingness and a cordial
desire to walk in all the statutes of God, and to obey all the commands
of God. Rom. vii. 18, ' For to will is present with me.' Ps. cxix. 5,
'0 that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes !' Ver. 8, ' I will
keep thy statutes.' But,
[4.] Fourthly, It consists in a sweet complacency in all God's com-
mands. Ps. cxix. 47, ' I will delight myself in thy commandment
jA'hich I have loved.' Rom. vii. 22, ' I delight in the law of God after
the inward man.' But,
[5.] Fifthly, He who obeys sincerely obeys universally. Though
not in regard of practice, which is impossible, yet in regard of affec-
tion, he loves all the commands of God, yea, he dearly loves those
very commands of God that he cannot obey, by reason of the infirmity
of the flesh, by reason of that body of sin and death that he bears
about with him. Ponder upon that : Ps. cxix. 97, ' how I love thy
law!' Such a pang of love he felt, as could not otherwise be vented,
but by this pathetical exclamation, ' how I love thy law,' vers. 113,
163, 127, 159, 167. Ponder upon all these verses. But,
[6.] Sixthly, A sincere Christian obeys all the commands of God ;
he is universal in his obedience, in respect of valuation or esteem. He
highly values all the commands of God ; he highly prizes all the com-
mands of God ; as you may clearly see by comparing these scrip-
tures together, Ps. cxix. 72, 127, 128, xix. 8-11 ; Job xxiii. 12. But,
[7.] Seventhly, A sincere Christian is universal in his obedience,
in respect of his purpose and resolution ; he purposes and resolves, by
divine assistance, to obey all, to keep all. Ps. cxix. 106, * I have
48 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
sworn, and will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments,'
Ps. xvii. 3, * I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. But,
[8.] Eighthly, A sincere Christian is universal in his obedience, in
respect of his indiTiation ; he has an habitual inclination in him to
keep all the commands of God, 1 Kings viii. 57, 58 ; 2 Chron. xxx.
17-20 ; Ps. cxix. 112, 'I have inclined my heart to perform thy sta-
tutes always, even to the end.' But,
[9.] Ninthly and lastly, Their evangelical keeping of all the com-
mands of God consists in their sincere endeavour to keep them all ;
they put out themselves in all the ways and parts of obedience ; they
do not willingly and wittingly slight or neglect any commandment,
but are striving to conform themselves thereunto. As a dutiful son
doth all his father's commands, at least in point of endeavour, so your
sincere Christians make conscience of keeping all the commands of
God in respect of endeavours. Ps. cxix. 59, ' I turned my feet unto
thy testimonies.' God esteems of evangelical obedience as perfect
obedience. Zacharias had his failings, he did hesitate through unbe-
lief, for which he was struck dumb ; yet the text tells you, ' That he
walked in all the commandments of the Lord blameless,' Luke i. 6,
because he did cordially desire and endeavour to obey God in all
things. Evangelical obedience is true for the essence, though not
perfect for the degree. A child of God obeys all the commands of
God, in respect of all his sincere desires, purposes, resolutions, and
endeavours ; and this God accepts in Christ for perfect and complete
obedience. This is the glory of the covenant of grace, that God
accepts and esteems of sincere obedience as perfect obedience. Such
who sincerely endeavour to keep the whole law of God, they do keep
the whole law of God in an evangelical sense, though not in a legal
sense, A sincere Christian is for the first table as well as the second,
and the second as weU as the first ; he doth not adhere to the first and
neglect the second, as hypocrites do ; neither doth he adhere to the
second and contemn the first, as profane men do. Christians, for
your support and comfort, know that when your desires and endea-
vours are to do the will of God entirely, as well in one thing as an-
other, God will graciously pardon your failings, and pass by your
imperfections. ' He will spare you as a man spareth his son that
serveth him,' Mai. iii. 17. Though a father see his son to fail, and
come short in many things which he enjoins him to do, yet knowing
that his desires and endeavours are to serve him, and please him to
the full, he will not be rigid and severe with him, but will be indulgent
to him, and will spare him, and pity him, and shew all love and kind-
ness to him. The application is easy, &c.
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 49
The second question or case is this, viz., What is that faith that
gives a man an interest in Christ, and in all those blessed benefits and
favours that come by Christ ? or lohether that person that experiences
tliefolloioing particulars, may not safely, groundedly, and comfortably
conclude tlmt his faith is a true, justifying, saving faith, the faith of
God's elect, and such a faith as clearly evidences a gracious estate, and
will certainly bring the soid to heaven ? Now, in answer to this im-
portant question, we may suppose the poor believer is ready to express
himself thus : —
[1.] First, Upon search and sad experience, I find myself a poor,
lost, miserable, and undone creature, as the Scriptures everywhere
do evidence, Eph. ii. 1, 2, 5, 12 ; Col. ii. 13 ; Rom. viii. 7 ; Luke
xix. 10.
[2.] Secondly, I am convinced tlmt it is not in myself to deliver
myself out of this lost, miserable, and forlorn estate. Could I make
as many prayers as might be piled up between heaven and earth, and
weep as much blood as there is water in the sea, yet all this could not
procure the pardon of one sin, nor one smile from God, &c.
[3.] Thirdly, I am convinced that it is not in angels or men to de-
liver me out of my lost, miserable, and undone condition. I know
provoked justice must be satisfied, divine wrath pacified, my sins par-
doned, my heart renewed, my state changed, &c., or my soul can never
be saved ; and I know it is not in angels or men to do any of these
things for me.
[4.] Fourthly, I find that I stand in absolute need of a Saviour to
save me from ivrath to come, 1 Thes. i. 10, ' to save me from the curse
of the law,' Gal. iii, 10, 13, * and to save me from infernal flames,'
Isa. xxxiii. 14 \ so that I inay well cry out with those in Acts ii. 37,
' Men and brethren, what shall we do ? ' and with the jailer, Acts xvi.
36, ' Sirs, what shall I do to be saved ? '
[5.] Fifthly, / see and knoiu, th7'ough grace, that there is an utter
impossibility of obtaining salvation by anything, or by any person, but
by Christ alone, according to that of the apostle : Acts iv. 12, 'Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name ' that is,
no other person, ' under heaven, given among men, by which we must
be saved.' I know there is no saviour that can deliver me from eternal
death, and bring me to eternal life and glory, but that Jesus, of whom
it is said, 'that he shall save his people from their sins,' Luke i. 21 ;
and therefore I must conclude that there is an utter impossibility of
obtaining salvation by any other person or things, &c. But,
[6.] Sixthly, I see and knoiu, through grace, that Jesus Christ is an
all-sufficient Saviour, that he is a mighty, yea, an almighty Saviour,
a Saviour thai is able to save to the utmost all them that come to him,,
as the Scripture speaks, Ps. Ixxxix. 19, ' I have laid help upon one
that is mighty;' Isa. Ixiii. 1, ' I that speak in righteousness, mighty
to save ; ' Heb. vii. 25, ' Wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost, that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them.' I know that the Lord Jesus is mighty to save
me from that wrath, and from that curse, and from that hell, and
from that damnation that is due to me, by reason of my sins ; and
that he is mighty to justify me, and mighty to pardon me, and mighty
VOL. V. D
60 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
to reconcile me to Grocl the Father, and mighty to bring me to glory,
as the Scripture does everywhere testify. But,
[7.] Seventhly, I know, through grace, that Jesus Christ is the only
person anointed, appointed, fitted, and furnished hy the Father, for
that great and blessed work or office, of saving sinners ^ souls; as these
scriptures, amongst others, do clearly testify, Isa. Ixi. 1-4 ; Luke iv.
18-21 ; Mat. i. 20, 21 ; John vi. 27. Certainly were Jesus Christ
never so able and mighty to save, yet if he were not anointed, appointed,
fitted, and furnished by the Father for that great office of saving poor
lost sinners, I know no reason why I should expect salvation by him.
But,
[8.] Eighthly, I know through grace that the Lord Jesus Christ
hath sufficiently satisfied, as mediator, the justice of God, and paAiified
his wrath, and fulfilled all righteousness, and procured the favour of
God and the pardon of sin, &c.,for all them that close loith him, that
accept of him, as he is offered in the gospel of grace. Gal. iii. 19, 20 ;
1 Tim. ii. 5; Heb. viii. 6; Heb. ix. 14, 15, and xii. 24; Heb. x. 12, 14;
Mat. iii. 15 ; Kom. viii. 1-4, 33, 34, and v. 8-10 ; • Acts xiii. 39.
[9.] Ninthly, I find that Jesus Christ is freely offered in the gospel
to poor, lost, undone sinners, such as I am. I find that the ministers
of the gospel are commanded by Christ to proclaim in his name a
general pardon, and to make a general offer of him to all to whom
they preach the everlasting gospel, without excluding any : Mark xvi.
15, ' And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel unto every creature.' And what is it to preach the gospel unto
every creature, but to say unto them, as the angels did to the shep-
herds, Luke x. 11, 'I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people ; for unto you is bom this day, in the city of
David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord' ? &c.
[10.] Tentlily, I know, through graxie, that all sorts of sinners are
invited to come to Christ, to receive Christ, to accept of Christ, and
to close ivith Christ, Isa. Iv. 1, 2 ; Mat. xi. 28, 29 ; Jolm vii. 37 ;
Kev. iii. 20, and xxii. 17, &c. But,
[11.] Eleventhly, Through grace, I do in my understanding really
assent to that blessed record and report that God the Father, in the
blessed Scriptures, has given concerning Christ, 1 John v. 10-12. The
report that God the Father has made concerning the person of Christ,
and concerning the offices of Christ, and concerning the work of re-
demption by Christ, I do really and cordially assent unto, as most
true and certain, upon the authority of God's testimony, who is truth
itself, and cannot lie. Now, though this assent alone is not enough
to make a saving reception of Christ, yet it is in saving faith, and
that without which it is impossible that there should be any saving
faith. But,
[12.] Twelfthly, lean say, throitgh grace, that in my judgment I do
approve of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only as a good, but as the greatest
good, as a universal good, as a matchless good, as an incomparable
good, as an infinite good, as an eternal good, and as the most suitable
good in heaven and earth to my poor soul ; as these scriptures do evi-
dence, Ps. Ixxiii. 25, 26 ; Cant. v. 10, 45 ; Ps. i. 2 ; Phil. iii. 7-10 ;
1 Tim. i. 15. I know there is everything in Christ that may suit the
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 51
state, case, necessities, and wants of my poor soul. There is mercy
in him to pardon me, and power in him to save me, and wisdom in
him to counsel me, and grace in him to enrich me, and righteousness
in him to clothe me, &c., and therefore I cannot but approve of the
Lord Jesus, as such a good as exceeds all the good that is to be found
in angels and men. The good that I see in Christ doth not only
counterpoise, but also excel all that real or imaginary good that ever
I have met with in anything below Christ. Christ must come into
the will, he must be received there, else he is never savingly received.
Now before the will will receive him, the will must be certainly in-
formed that he is good, yea, the best and greatest good, or else he
shall never be admitted there. Let the understanding assent never
so much to all propositions concerning Christ as true, if the judgment
doth not approve of them as good, yea, as the best good, Christ will
never be truly received. God in his working maintains the faculties
of the soul in their actings, as he made them.
[13.] Thirteenthly, So far as I know my oiun heart, I am sincerely
willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in a matrimonial covenant ;
according to these scriptures, Hos. ii. 19, 20 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2; Isa. liv. 5;
Isa. Ixi. 10 ; Isa. Ixii. 5 ; Cant. iii. 11, &c. Through grace I am,
First, Sincerely willing to take the Lord Jesus Christ for my Saviour
and sovereign Lord. So far as I know my own heart, I do through
mercy give my hearty consent, that Christ, and Christ alone, shall be
my saviour and Kedeemer. It is true, I do duties, but the desire of
my soul is to do them out of love to Christ, and in obedience to his
royal law and pleasure. I know my best righteousnesses are but ' as
filthy rags,' Isa. Ixiv. 6. And woe would be to me, had I no other
shelter, or saviour, or resting-place for my poor soul, than rags, than
filthy rags. And so far as I know my own heart, I am sincerely
willing to give up myself to the guidance and government of Jesus
Christ, as my sovereign Lord and king, desiring nothing more in this
world, than to live and die under the guidance and government of his
Spirit, word, and grace. But,
Secondly, I am willing, through grace, to give a bill of divorce to all
other lovers, without exception or reservation. So far as I know my
own heart, I desire nothing more in this world, than that God would
pull out right-eye sins, and cut off right-hand sins. I am very desirous,
through grace, to have all sins brought under by the power, Spirit, and
grace of Christ ; but especially my special sins, my head corruptions.
I would have Christ alone to rule and reign in the haven i of my heart,
without any competitor. But,
Thirdly, I am sincerely ivilling, through grace, to take the Lord
Jesus Christ for better, for ivorse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness
and in health, and in his strength I tvould go tvith him through fix
and water, resolving, through his grace, that nothing shall divide betwixt
Christ and my soul. So far as I know my own heart, I would have
Christ, though I beg with him, though I go to prison with him, though
in agonies in the garden with him, though to the cross with him.
But,
Fourthly, So far as I knoio my own heart, I am sincerely willing,
1 Qu. ' heaven ' ?— G.
52 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
First, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ presently , John i. 12. Secondly,
to receive him in all his offices, as king, prophet, and priest. Col. ii. 6 ;
Acts V. 31. Thirdly, To receive him into every room of my soul;
to receive him into my understanding, mind, will, affections, &c.
Fom-thly, To receive him upon his oion terms, of denying myself,
taking up his cross and following of him wherever he goes, Mat. xvi.
21 ; Kev. xiv. 4, &c.
Fifthly and lastly. So far as I know my own heart, I do freely
consent, 1. To he really Christ's; 2. To be presently Christ's; 3.
To be wholly Christ's; 4. To be only Christ's ; 5. To be eminently
Christ's; 6. To be for ever Christ's, &c.
Certainly that Christian that has and does experience the particulars
last mentioned under the second question, that Christian may safely,
groundedly, boldly, and comfortably conclude that his faith is a true,
justifying, saving faith, the faith of God's elect, and such a faith as
clearly evidences a gracious estate, and will never leave his soul short
of heaven.
Now how many thousand Christians are there, that have this faith
that is here described, which is doubtless a true, justifying, saving
faith, that gives a man an interest in the person of Christ, and in all
the blessings and benefits that comes by Christ, who yet question whe-
ther they have true faith or no, partly from weakness, partly from
temptations, and partly from the various definitions that are given of
faith by Protestants, both in their preachings and writings ; and it is
and must be for a lamentation, that in a point of so great moment the
trumpet should give such an uncertain sound.
The third question, or case is this, viz.. Whether in the great day
of the Lord, the day of general judgment, or in the particidar judgment
that will pass upon every soul immediately after death, ivhich is the
stating of th& soul in an eternal estate or condition, either of happiness
or misery ; luhether the sins of the saints, the follies and vanities of
believers, the infirmities and enormities of sincere Christians shall be
brought into the judgment of discussion and discovery, or no ? Whe-
ther the Lord loill either in the great day of account, or in a man's
particular day of account or judgment, publicly manifest, proclaim,
and mnke mention of the sins of his people, or no ? This question is
bottomed upon the ten scriptures in the margin,i which I desire the
Christian reader to consult ; and upon the sad and daily complaints of
many dear sincere Christians, who frequently cry out, ' Oh, we can
never answer for one evil thought of ten thousand, nor we can never
answer for one idle word of twenty thousand ; nor we can never answer
for one evil action of a hundred thousand ; and how then shall we
stand in judgment ? how shall we look the judge in the face ? how
shall we be ever able to answer for all our omissions, and for all our
commissions ; for all our sins of ignorance, and sins against light and
knowledge ; for all our sins against the law, and for all our sins against
^ Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14 ; Mat. xii. 36, and xviii. 23 ; Luke xvi. 2; Rom. xiv. 10,
12 ; 2 Cor. v. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17 ; 1 Peter iv. 5.
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 53
the gospel, and for all our sins against sovereign grace, and for all our
sins against the remedy, against the Lord Jesus, and for all the sins
of our infancy, of our youth, and of old age ? Job. ix. 3 ; Ps. xix. 12,
and clxiii. 2 ; Ezra xix. 6, &c. What account shall we be able to
give up, when we come to our particular day of judgment, immediately
after our death, or in the great and general day of account, when
angels, devils, and men shall stand before the Lord Jesus, Heb. ix.
27, whom God the Father hath ordained to be the judge of quick and
dead. Acts xvii. 31 ?
Now to this great question I answer, that the sins of ilie saints, the
infirmities and enormities of believers, shall never he brought into the
judgment of discussion and discovery ; they shall never he objected
against them, either in their particular day of judgment, or in the
great day of their account. Now this truth I shall make good by an
induction of particulars ; thus, —
[1.] First, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in his judicial proceedings in
the last day, which is set down clearly and largely in Mat. xxv.
34-42, doth only enumerate the good ivorJcs they have done, hut takes
not the least notice of the spots and blemishes, of the infirmities or
enormities, of the weaknesses or ivickednesses, of his people. God has
sealed up the sins of his people, never to be remembered or looked
upon more, Deut. xxxii. 4-6 ; Dan. ix. 24. In the great day the
book of God's remembrance shall be opened and publicly read, that all
the good things that the saints have done for God, for Christ, for
saints, for their own souls, for sinners ; and that all the great things
that they have suffered for Christ's sake, and the gospel's sake, may be
mentioned to their everlasting praise, to their eternal honour. And
though the choicest and chiefest saints on earth have, 1. Sin dwelling
in them ; 2. Operating and working in them ; 3. Vexing and molest-
ing of them, being as so many goads in their sides and thorns in their
eyes ; 4. Captivating and prevailing over them, Kom. vii. 23, 24 ; Gal.
V. 17 ; yet in that large recital which shall then be read of the saints'
lives. Mat. xxv., there is not the least mention made either of sins
of omission or commission ; nor the least mention made either of great
sins or of small sins ; nor the least mention made either of sins before
conversion or after conversion. Here in this world the best of saints
have had their bids, their spots, their blots, their specks, as the fairest
day hath its clouds, the finest linen its spots, and the richest jewels
their specks ; but now in the judicial process of this last and universal
assizes there is not found in all the books that shall then be opened,
so much as one unsavoury ' but ' to blemish the fair characters of the
saints. Surely he that sees no iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness
in Israel, Num. xxiii. 21, to impute it to them whilst they live, he
will never charge iniquity or perverseness upon them in the great day,
Eev. XX. 12 ; Dan. vii. 10. Surely he who has fully satisfied his
Father's justice for his people's sins, and who hath by his own blood
balanced and made up all reckonings and accounts between God and
their souls, he will never charge upon them their faults and follies
in the great day. Surely he who hath spoken so much for his saints
whilst he was on earth, and who hath continually interceded for them
since he went to heaven, John xvii. ; Heb. vii. 2.5 ; he won't, though
54 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
he hath cause to blame them for many things, speak anything against
them in the great day. Surely Jesus Christ, the saints' paymaster,
who hath discharged their whole debt at once, who hath paid down
upon the nail the ten thousand talents which we owed, and took in the
bond and nailed it to the cross, Heb. x. 10, 12, 14 ; Mat. xviii. 24 ;
Col. ii. 14 ; leaving no back reckonings unpaid, to bring his poor chil-
dren, which are the travail of his soul, Isa. liii. 11, afterward into any
danger from the hands of divine justice; he will never mention
the sins of his people, he wiU never charge the sins of his people
upon them in the great day. Our dear Lord Jesus, who is the
righteous judge of heaven and earth in the great day of account,
he will bring in omnia hene in his presentment, all fair and well, and
accordingly will make proclamation in that higli court of justice,
before God, angels, devils, saints, and sinners, &c. Christ will not
charge his children with the least unkindness, he will not charge his
spouse with the least unfaithfulness in the great day ; yea, he will
represent them before God, angels, and men, as complete in him, as
all fair and spotless, as without spot or wrinkle, as without fault before
the throne of God, as holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his
sight, as immaculate as the angels themselves who kept their first
estate. Col. ii. 10; Cant. iv. 7; Eph. v. 27; Eev. xiv. 5. This
honour shall have all the saints, and thus shall Christ be glorified in
his saints, and admired in all them that believe, 1 Thes. ii. 10. The
greatest part of the saints by far will have passed their particular
judgment long before the general judgment, Heb. ix. 27, and being
therein acquitted and discharged from all their sins by God the Judge
of the quick and dead, 2 Tim. iv. 1, and admitted into heaven upon
the credit of Christ's blood, righteous satisfaction, and their free and
full justification, it cannot be imagined that Jesus Christ, in the
great day, will bring in any new charge against his children when
they have been cleared and absolved already. Certainly when once
the saints are freely and fully absolved from all their sins by a divine
sentence, then their sins shall never be remembered, they shall never
be objected against them any more ; for one divine sentence cannot
cross and rescind another. The Judge of all the world had long since
cast all their sins behind his back, Isa. xxxviii. 17 ; and will he now
set them before his face, and before the faces of all the world ? Surely
no. He has long since cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,
Micah vii. 19, — bottomless depths of everlasting oblivion — that they
might never be buoyed up amy more ! He has not only forgiven their
sins, but he has also forgotten their sins, Jer. xxxi. 34 ; and will
he remember them and declare them in the great day ? Surely no.
God has long since blotted out the transgressions of his people,
Isa. xliii. 2.5. This metaphor is taken from creditors, who, when they
purpose never to exact a debt, will blot it out of their books. Now
after that a debt is struck out of a bill, bond, or book, it cannot
be exacted, the evidence cannot be pleaded. Christ having crossed
the debt-book with the red lines of his blood, Col. ii. 14 ; if now
he should call the sins of his people to remembrance, and charge them
upon them, he should cross the great design of his cross. Upon this
foundation stands the absolute impossibility that any sin, that the
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 55-
least sin, yea, that the least circumstance of sin, or the least aggrava-
tion of sin, should be so much as mentioned by the righteous Judge of
heaven and earth in the process of that judicial trial in the great day,
except it be in a way of absolution in order to the magnifying of their
pardon. God has long since blotted out as a thick cloud the trans-
gressions of his people, and as a cloud their sins, Isa. xliv. 22. Now
we know that the clouds which are driven away by the winds appear
no more ; nor the mist which is dried by the sun appears no more ;
other clouds and other mists may arise, but not they which are driven
away and dried up. Thus the sins of the saints being forgiven, they
shall no more return upon them, they shall never more be objected
against them.
[2.] Further, The Lord saiih, ' Though your sins he as scarlet, they
shall be lohite as snotu ; though they he red like crimson, they shall he
as ivool,' Isa. i. 18. Pardon makes such a clear riddance of sin, that
it is as if it had never been. The scarlet sinner is as white as snow,
snow newly fallen from the sky, which was never sullied. The
crimson sinner is as wool, wool which never received the least tincture
in the dye-fat. You know scarlet and crimson are double and deep
dyes, dyes in grain ; yet if the cloth dyed therewith be as the wool
before it was dyed, and if it be as white as snow, what is become of
those dyes ? Are they any more ? Is not the cloth as if it had not
been dyed at all ? Even so ; though our sins, by reiterating them,
by long lying in them, have made deep impressions upon us, yet,
by God's discharge of them, we are as if we had never commited
them.
[3.] Again, TJie psalmist pronounceth him * hlessed whose sin is
covered^ Ps. xxxii. 1. A thing covered is not seen ; so sin forgiven
is before God as not seen. The same psalmist pronounceth him
' blessed to whom the Lord imputeth not sin,' Ps. xxxii. 2.
Now a sin not imputed is as not committed. The prophet Jere-
miah tells us that ' the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and
there shall be none ; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be
found,' Jer. 1. 20. Now is not that fully discharged which shall
never be found, never appear, never be remembered, never be men-
tioned ?
Thus, by the many metaphors used in Scripture to set out forgive-
ness of sin, pardon of sin, you plainly and evidently see that God's
discharge is free and full, and therefore he will never charge their sins
upon them in the great day, Jer. xxxi. 34 ; Ezek. xviii. 22. But
Some may object and say. That the Scripture saith, that ' God
shall bring every loork into Judgment, ivith every secret thing, whether
it be good, or ivhether it be evil,' Eccles. xii. 14. How then can this
be, that the sins of the saints shall not be mentioned, nor charged
upon them in the great day ?
I answer. This scripture is to be understood respective, &c., with a
just respect to the two great parties which are to be judged, Mat. xxv.
32, 33. Sheep and goats, saints and sinners, sons and slaves, elect
and reprobate, holy and profane, pious and impious, faithful and un-
faithful ; that is to say, all the grace, the holiness, the godliness, the
good of those that are good, shall be brought into the judgment of
56 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
mercy, that it may be freely, graciously, and nobly rewarded, and all
the wickedness of the wicked shall be brought into the judgment of
condemnation, that it may be righteously and everlastingly punished
in this great day of the Lord All sincerity shall be discovered and
rewarded; and all hypocrisy shall be disclosed and revenged. In
this great day all the works of the saints shall follow them into
heaven ; and in this great day all the evil works of the wicked shall
hunt and pursue them into hell.i In this great day all the hearts,
thoughts, secrets, words, ways, works, and walkings of wicked men
shall be discovered and laid open before all the world, to their ever-
lasting shame and sorrow, to their eternal amazement and astonish-
ment. And in this great day the Lord will make mention, in the
ears of all the world, of every prayer that the saihts have made, and
of every sermon that they have heard, and of every tear that they
have shed, and of every fast that they have kept, and of every sigh
and groan that ever they have fetched, and of all the good words that
ever they have spoke, and of all the good works that ever they have
done, and of all the great things that ever they have suffered ; yea,
in this great day they shall reap the fruit of many good services
which themselves had forgot. ' Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and
fed thee; or thirsty, and gave thee drink; or naked, and clothed
thee ; or sick or in prison, and visited thee ? ' Mat. xxv. 34-41 .
They had done many good works, and forgot them ; but Christ
records them, remembers them, and rewards them before all the
world. In this great day a bit of bread, a cup of cold water shall
not pass without a reward, Eccles. xi. 1, 6. In this great day the
saints shall reap a plentiful and glorious crop, as the fruit of that good
seed, that for a time hath seemed to be buried and lost. In this
great day of the Lord the saints shall find that bread which long
before was cast upon the waters. But my
Second reason is taken from Christ's vehement protestations, that
they shall not come into judgment : John v. 24, ' Verily, verily, I
say unto you, he that heareth my word, and belie veth on him that
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life.' 2 Those words, ' shall not come
into condemnation,' are not rightly translated. The original is et?
Kpiaiv, ' shall not come into judgment,' not into damnation, as you
read it in all your English books. I wiU not say what should put
men upon this exposition rather than a true translation of the original
word. Further, it is very observable that no evangelist useth this
double asseveration but St John, and he never useth it but in matters
of greatest weight and importance, and to show the earnestness of his
spirit, and to stir us up to better attention, and to put the thing
asserted out of all question and beyond all contradiction ; as when we
would put a thing for ever out of all question, we do it by a double
asseveration— verily, verily, it is so, &c., John i. 51, iii. 3, 11, and
vi, 26, 32, 47, 53, &c.
Thirdly, Because his not bringing their sins into judgment doth
most and best agree tuith many precious and glorious expressions
I See Wisdom, c. ii. throughout, and chap, v., from the first verse to the tenth.
Vide Aquin, 87 ; Suppl. est. in 1. 4; Ser. dist., 47.
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 57
that we find scattered, as so many shining, sparkling pearls, up and
down in Scripture ; as,
First, With those of God's blotting out the sins of his people: 'I,
even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake,
and will not remember thy sins. I have blotted out, as a thick
cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins,' Isa. xliii. 25, and
xliv. 22.
Who is this that blots out transgressions ? He that hath the keys
of heaven and hell at his girdle ; that opens, and no man shuts ; that
shuts, and no man opens ; he that hath the power of life and death,
of condemning and absolving, of killing and making alive ; he it is
that blotteth out transgressions. If an under officer should blot out
an indictment, that perhaps might do a man no good ; a man might,
for all that, be at last cast by the judge ; but when the judge or king
shall blot out the indictment with their own hand, then the indict-
ment cannot return. Now this is every believer's case and happiness.
Secondly, To those glorious expressions of Gods not remembering
of their sins any more, Jer. xxxi. 34 ; Isa. xliii. 25. ' And I will not
remember thy sins : and they shall teach no more every man his
neighbour, and every man his brother, saying. Know ye the Lord, for
they shall all know me, from the least of them to the gi-eatest of them,
eaith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember
their sin no more.' So the apostle, ' For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more,' Heb. viii. 12.
And again, the same apostle saith, * This is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws
into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more,' Heb. x. 17. ^
The meaning is, their iniquities shall be quite forgotten: I will never
mention them more, I will never take notice of them more, they shall
never hear more of them from me. Though God hath an iron
memory to remember the sins of the wicked, yet he hath no memory
to remember the sins of the righteous.
Thirdly, His not bringing their sins into judgment doth most and
best agree with those blessed expressions of his casting their sins into
the depth of the sea, and of his casting them behindhis back. ' He will
turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniqui-
ties, and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,' Mic.
A-ii. 19. Where sin is once pardoned, the remission stands never to be
repealed.- Pardoned sin shall never come in account against the par-
doned man before God any more ; for so much doth this borrowed
speech import. If a thing were cast into a river, it might be brought
up again ; or if it were cast upon the sea, it might be discerned and
taken up again ; but when it is cast into the depths, the bottom of
the sea, it can never be buoyed up again.
By the metaphor in the text, the Lord would have us to know
that sins pardoned shall rise no more, they shall never be seen
^ That which Cicero said flatteringly of Caesar, is truly affirmed of God, Nihil ob-
livisci solet prater injurias, ho forgetteth nothing but the wrongs that daily are done
him by his.
5^ SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS"
more, they shall never come on the account more. ^ He will so
drown their sins that they shall never come up before him the second
time.
And so much that other scripture imports, ' Behold, for peace I had
great bitterness ; but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from
the pit of corruption ; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back,'
Isa. xxxviii. 17. These last words are a borrowed speech, taken from
the manner of men, who are wont to cast behind their backs such
things as they have no mind to see, regard, or remember. A gracious
soul hath always his sins before his face, ' I acknowledge my transgres-
sions, and my sin is ever before me,' Ps. li. 3, and therefore no wonder
if the Lord cast them behind his back. The father soon forgets, and
casts behind his back those faults that the child remembers, and hath
always in his eyes ; so doth the Father of spirits.
Fourthly, His not bringing their sins into judgment doth best agree
with that sioeet and choice expression of Gods pardoning the sins of
his people.
' And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have
sinned against me ; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby
they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me,'
Jer. xxxiii. 8. So in Micah, ' Who is a God like unto thee, that
pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of
his heritage ? ' — as though he would not see it, but wink at it — * he
retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy,' Mic.
vii. 18. The Hebrew word — nose from nasa — that is here rendered
pardoneth, signifies a taking away. When God pardons sin, he takes
it sheer away ; that if it should be sought for, yet it could not be
found, as the prophet speaks, Jer. 1. 20, ' In those days, and in that
time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and
there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be
found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve ; ' and these words,
' and passeth by,' in the afore-cited seventh of Micah and the ISth
verse, according to the Hebrew Vignoher Gnal is, ' and passeth over,'
' God passeth over the transgression of his heritage,' that is, he takes
no notice of it ; as a man in a deep muse, or as one that hath haste of
business, seeth not things before him, his mind being busied about
other matters, he neglects all to mind his business.
As David, when he saw in Mephibosheth the feature of his friend
Jonathan, took no notice of his lameness, or any other defect or
deformity ; so God, beholding in his people the glorious image of his
Son, winks at all their faults and deformities, Isa. xl. 1, 2, which
made Luther say, ' Do with me what thou wilt, since thou hast
pardoned my sin;' and what is it to pardon sin, but not to mention
sin?
Fifthhj, His not bringing their sins into the judgment of discussion
and discovery doth best agree to those expressions of forgiving and
covering, ' Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered,' Ps. xxxii. 1. In the original, it is in the plural, blessednesses ;
so here is a plurality of blessings, a chain of pearls.
The like expression you have in the 85th Psahn and the 2d
verse, ' Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 5^
covered all their sin, Selah.' For the understanding of these scrip-
tures aright, take notice that to cover is a metaphorical expression.
Covering is such an action which is opposed to disclosure ; to be
covered, it is to be so hid and closed as not to appear. i Some make
the metaphor from filthy loathsome objects which are covered from
our eyes as dead carcasses are buried under the ground ; some from
garments, that are put upon us to cover our nakedness ; others from
the Egyptians that were drowned in the Ked Sea, and so covered with
water ; others from . a great gulf in the earth, that is filled up and
covered with earth injected into it ; and others make it, in the last
place, an allusive expression to the mercy-seat, over which was a
covering.
Now all these metaphors in the general tend to shew this, that the
Lord will not look, he will not see, he will not take notice of the sins
he hath pardoned, to call them any more to a judicial account.
As when a prince reads over many treasons and rebellions, and
meets with such and such which he hath pardoned, he reads on, he
passeth by, he taketh no notice of them, the pardoned person shall
never hear more of them, he will never call him to account for those
sins more ; so here, &c. When Caesar was painted, he puts his finger
upon his scar, his wart. God puts his fingers upon all his people's scars
and warts, upon all their weaknesses and infirmities, that nothing can
be seen but what is fair and lovely : ' Thou art all fair, my love, and
there is no spot in thee,' Cant. iv. 7.
Sixthly, It best agrees to that] expression of not imputing of
sin. ' Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no guile,' Ps. xxxii. 2. So the apostle in
that Kom. iv. 6-8. Now not to impute iniquity, is not to charge
iniquity, not to set iniquity upon his score who is blessed and par-
doned, &c.
Seventhly, and lastly. It best agrees with that exp'ession that you
have in the l\?>th Psalm and the l\th and 12th verses, ' For as the
heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them
that fear him ; as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he re-
moved our transgressions from us.' What a vast distance is there
betwixt the east and west ! of all visible latitudes, this is the greatest ;
and thus much for the third argument. The
[4.] Fourth argument that prevails with me to judge that Jesus
Christ will not bring the sins of the saints into the judgment of discus-
sion and discovery in the great day is, because it seems unsuitable to
three considerable things for Jesus Christ to proclaim the infirmities
and miscarriages of Ms people to all the ivorld.
First, It seems to be unsuitable to the glory and solemnity of
that day, which to the saints will be a day of refreshing, a day of
restitution, a day of redemption, a day of coronation, as hath been
already proved. Now how suitable to this great day of solemnity
the proclamation of the saints' sins will be, I leave the reader to
judge.
Secondly, It seems unsuitable to all those near and dear relations
that Jesus Christ stands in towards his. He stands in the relation of
' Sic velantur, ut in judicio non revelentur.
60 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
a Father, a Brother, a Head, a Husband, a Friend, an Advocate, l
Now, are not all these by the law of relation, bound rather to hide,
and keep secret, at least from the world, the weaknesses, and infirmi-
ties of their near and dear relations ; and is not Christ, is not Christ
much more, by how much he is more a Father, a Brother, a Head,
a Husband, &c., in a spiritual way, than any others can be in a natural
way? &c.
Thirdly, It seems very unsuitable to what the Lord Jesus requires
of his in this world. The Lord requires that his people should cast a
mantle of love, of wisdom, of silence, and secrecy over one another's
weaknesses and infirmities, &c.
Hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins — love's mantle
is very large. Love will find a hand, a plaster to clp,p upon every sore,
Prov. X. 12, and 1 Pet. iv. 8. Flavins Vespasianus, the emperor, was
very ready to conceal his friends' vices, and as ready to reveal their
virtues. So is divine love in the hearts of the saints, ' If thy brother
offend thee, go and tell him his fault between him and thee alone ; if
he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother,' Mat. xviii. 15. As
the pills of reprehension are to be gilded and sugared over with much
gentleness and softness, so they are to be given in secret. Tell him
between him and thee alone. Tale-bearers and tale-hearers are alike
abominable. Heaven is too hot, and too holy a place for them, Ps.
XV. 3. Now will Jesus Christ have us carry it thus towards offending
Christians, and wiU he himself act otherwise ? Nay, is it an evil in
us to lay open the weaknesses and infirmities of the saints to the
world ? and will it be an excellency, a glory, a virtue in Christ, to do
it in the great day ? &c.
[5.] A. fifth argument is this. It is the glory of a man to pass over a
transgression. ' The discretion of a man defer reth his anger, and it is
his glory to pass over a transgression,' Prov. xix. 11. Or to pass by
it, as we do by persons or things we know not, or would take no notice
of. Now, ' Is it the glory of a man to pass over a transgression ?' and
will it not much more be the glory of Christ, silently to pass over the
transgressions of his people in that great day ? 2 The greater the
treasons and rebellions are that a prince passes over, and takes no
notice of, the more is his honour and glory ; and so doubtless it will
be Christ's in that great day, to pass over all the treasons and rebel-
lions of his people, to take no notice of them, to forget them as well as
to forgive them.
The heathens have long since observed, that in nothing man came
nearer to the glory and perfection of God himself than in goodness
and clemency. Surely, if it be such an honour to man, ' to pass over
a transgression/ it cannot be a dishonour to Christ, to pass over the
transgressions of his people, he having already buried them in the sea
of his blood. Again, saith Solomon, ' It is the glory of God to conceal
a thing,' Prov. xxv. 2. And why it should not make for the glory of
divine love, to conceal the sins of the saints in that great day, I know
not. And whether the concealing the sins of the saints in the great
day, will not make most for their joy and wicked men's sorrows, for
1 Isa. ix. 6 ; Heb. ii. 11, 12 ; Eph. i. 21, 22 ; Rev, lii. 7 ; John xv. 1 ; ii, 1, 2.
* Non amo quinquam nini offendam, said a heathen.
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 61
their comfort and wicked men's terror and torment, I will leave you
to judge, and time and experience to decide ; and thus much for the
resolution of that ^reat question.
I. Now, from what has been said, in answer to this third question,
a sincere Christian may form up this first plea as to the ten scriptures
in the margin,i that refer either to the general judgment, or to the
particular judgment that will pass upon every Christian immediately
after death. blessed God, Jesus Christ has by his own blood bal-
anced and made up all reckonings and accounts that tvere between
thee and me ; and thou hast vehemently protested, that thou wilt not
bring me into judgment; that thou wilt blot out my transgressions as
a thick cloud, and that thou wilt remember my sins no more ; and that
thou luilt cast them behind thy back, and hurl them into the depth of
the sea; and that thou wilt forgive them, and cover them, arid not
impute them to me, &c. This is my plea, Lord, and by this plea I
shall stand. Well, saith the Judge of quick and dead, ' I own this
plea, I accept of this plea, I have nothing to say against this plea ; the
plea is just, safe, honourable, and righteous, enter thou into the joy of
thy Lord.'
Secondly, Every sinner at his first believing and closing with Christ,
'isjustijied in the court of glory from all his sins, both guilt and pun-
ishment. Acts xiii. 39. Justification doth not increase or decrease,
but all sin is pardoned at the first act of believing. All who are jus-
tified are justified alike. There is no difference amongst believers, as
to their justification ; one is not more justified than another, for every
justified person hath a plenary remission of his sins, and the same
righteousness of Christ imputed ; but in sanctification there is differ-
ence amongst believers. Every one is not sanctified alike, for some
are stronger and higher, and others are weaker and lower in grace.
As soon as any are made believers in Christ, all the sins which they
have committed in time past, and all the sins which they are guilty of,
as to the time present, they are actually pardoned unto them in general,
and in particular, 1 Cor. xii. 12-14 ; 1 John ii. 1, 12-14. Now, that
all the sins of a believer are pardoned at once, and actually unto
them, may be thus demonstrated.
[1.] First, All phrases in Scripture imply thus much. Isa. xHii. 25,
' I, even I, am he which blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own
sake, and will not remember thy sins.' Jer. xxxi. 34, ' I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.' Jer. xxxiii. 8,
' And I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned, and
whereby they have transgressed against me.' Ezek. xviii. 22, 'AH
his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned
unto him.' Heb. viii. 12, ' I will be merciful unto their unrighteous-
ness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more ;'
ergo, all is pardoned at once. But,
[2.] Secondly, That remission of sins that leaves no condemnation to
the party offending, is the remission of all sins ; for if there were any
sin remaining, a man is still in the state of condemnation ; but justifi-
cation leaves no condemnation. Kom. viii. 1, ' There is no condemna-
^ Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14 ; Mat. xii. 36, and xviii. 23 ; Luke xvi. 2; Kom. xiv. 10,
12; 2 Cor. v. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17 ; 1 Pet. iv. 5.
62 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
tion to them that are in Christ Jesus,' and ver. 33, ' Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth ;' and
ver. 38, 39, ' Nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord ;'
and John v. 24, ' He that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemna-
tion, but is passed from death to life ;' ergo, all sins are pardoned at
once, or else they were in a state of condemnation, &c. i Thus you
see it evident that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus. Therefore there is full remission of all sins to the soul at the
first act of believing. But,
[3.] Thirdly, A believer, even lohen he sinneth, is still united
to Christ, John xv. 1, 6, xvii. 21-23; 1 Cor. vi. 17, 'And he is
still clothed with the righteousness of Christ which covers all his
sins, and dischargeth him from them, so that no guile can redound
to him,' Isa. Ixi. 10; Jer. xxiii. 6; 1 Cor. i. 30; Phil. iii. 9, &c.
But,
[4.] Fourthly, A believer is not to fear curse or hell at all, which
yet he might do if all his sins were not pardoned at once ; but some of
his new sins were for a while impardoned, &c. But,
[5.] Fifthly, Our Lord Jesus Christ, by once suffering, suffered for all
the sins of the elect, past, present, and to come. The infinite wrath of
God the Father fell on him for all the sins of the chosen of God, Isa.
liii. 9 ; Heb. xii. 14, and x. 9, 10, 12, 14. If Christ had sufi'ered for
ten thousand worlds, he could have suffered no more than he did ; for
he suffered the whole infinite wrath of God the Father. The wrath
of God was infinite wrath, and the sufferings of Christ were infinite
sufferings ; ergo. Look, as Adam's sin was enough to infect a thousand
worlds, so our Saviour's merits are sufficient to save a thousand worlds.
Those sufferings that he suffered for sins past, are sufficient to satisfy
for sins present and to come. That all the sins of God's people, in
their absolute number, from first to last, were laid upon Christ, who
in the days of his sufferings did meritoriously purchase perfect remis-
sion of all their sins, to be applied in future times to them, and by
them, is most certain, Isa. liv. 5, 6. But,
[6.] Sixthly, Repentance is not at all required for our justifi-
cation — tuhere our pardon is only to be found — but only faith;
therefore pardon of sin is not suspended until we repent of our sins.
But,
[7.] Seventhly, If the remission of all sins be not at once, it is
either because my faith cannot lay hold on it, or because there is
some hindrances in tJie loay : but a man by the hand of faith may lay
hold on all the merits of Chrnst, and the icord reveals the pardon of
all; and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper seals and confirms the
pardon of all ; and there is no danger nor inconvenience that attends
this assertion, for it puts the highest obligation imaginable upon the
soul, as to fear and obedience : Ps. cxxx. 3, ' If thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, Lord, who shall stand ?' ver. 4, ' But there is
^ At a sinner's first conver8ioi\ his sins are truly and perfectly pardoned. 1. All as to
sin already past ; 2. All as to the state of remission. They had a perfect right to the
pardon of all their sins, past, present, and to come, though not an equal investure.
CI.EARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 63
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.' Forgiveness
makes not a Christian bold with sin, but fearful of sin, and careful to
obey, as Christians find in their daily experience.^ By this argument it
appears clear, that the forgiveness of all sins is made to the soul at
once, at the first act of believing. But,
[8.] Eighthly, If neiu sins loe^-e not pardoned until you do repent,
then we should be left to an uncertainty whiles our sins he pardoned,
or when they icill he pardoned; for it may be long ere we repent, as
you see in David, who lay long under the guilt of murder and adultery
before he repented, and you know Solomon lay long under many high
sins before he repented, &c., audit may be more long ere we do, or
can know that we do truly repent of our sins. But,
[9.] Ninthly, If all sins were not forgiven at once, then justification
is not perfect at once, hut is more and more increased and perfected as
more and more sins are pardoned, which cannot consist with the true
doctrine of Justification. Certainly as to the state of justification,
there is a fuU and perfect remission of all sins — considered under the
differences of time past, present, and to come. As in the state of
condemnation there is not any one sin pardoned, so in the estate of
justification, there is not any one sin but is pardoned ; for the state
of justification is opposite to all condemnation and curse and wrath.
But,
[10.] Tenthly, All agree that as to God's eternal decree or purpose
of forgiveness, all the sins of his people are forgiven. God did not
intend to forgive some of their sins and not the rest, but a universal
and full and complete forgiveness was fixedly purposed and resolved
on by God. Forgiveness of sins is a gracious act, or work of God
for Christ's sake, discharging and absolving believing and repenting
persons from the guilt and punishment of all their sins, so that God
is no longer displeased with them, nor will he ever remember them
any more, nor call tbem to an account for them, nor condemn them
for their sins, but will look on them, and deal with them as if they had
never sinned, never offended him.
Thirdly, Consider, that at the very moment of a helievers dissolu-
tion, all his sins are perfectly and fully forgiven. All their sins are
so fully and finally forgiven them, that at the very moment of their
souls going out from the body, there is not one sin of omission or
commission, nor any aggravation or least circumstance left stand-
ing in the book of God's remembrance ; and this is the true reason
why there shall not be the least mention made of their sins in their
trial at Christ's tribunal, because they were all pardoned fully
and finally at the hour of their death. All debts were then dis-
charged, all scores were then crossed, so that in the great day, when
the books shall be opened and perused, there shall not one sin be
found, but all blotted out, and all reckonings made even in the blood
of Christ.
Indeed, if God should pardon some sins, and not others, he would
at the same time be a friend and an enemy, and we should be at
once both happy and miserable, which are manifest contradictions.
Besides, God doth nothing in vain ; but it would be in vain for
God to pardon some sins but not all, for as one leak in a ship un-
64 SEKIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
stopped will sink the ship, and as one sore or one disease, not healed
nor cured, will kill the body, so one sin unpardoned will destroy the
soul.
Fourthly, God looks not upon those as sinners, whose sins are
pardoned : Luke vii. 37, ' And behold a woman in the city which was
a sinner.' A notorious sinner, a branded sinner. Mark, it is not said,
behold a woman which is a sinner, but * behold a woman which ivas
a sinner ;' to note that sinners converted and pardoned are no longer
reputed sinners, ' Behold a woman which was a sinner.' Look, as a
man, when he is cleansed from filth, is as if he had never been defiled ;
so when a sinner is pardoned, he is in God's account as if he had never
sinned. Hence those phrases in Cant. 4. 7, ' Thou art all fair, my
love, and there is no spot in thee : ' Col. ii. 10, ' And ye are complete
in liim, who is the head of all principality and power,' as though he had
said, because in himself he hath the well-head of glory and majesty,
the which becometh ours ; in that he is also the head of his church :
Col. i. 21, ' And you that were sometime alienated, and enemies in
your mind, by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled ;' ver. 22, * In
the body of his flesh, through death, to present you holy and unblam-
able, and unreprovable in his sight ; ' that is, by his righteousness
imputed and imparted : Eph. v. 27, ' that he might present it to him-
self a glorious church, not having spot or vsrinkle, or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish.' The word ' present '
is taken from the custom of solemnizing a marriage ; first the spouse
was wooed, and then set before her husband adorned with his jewels, as
Kebekah was with Isaac's : Rev. xiv. 5, ' And in their mouth was found
no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God.' 1.
They are without fault by imputation. 2. By inchoation. Hence
Job is said to be a perfect man. Job ii., and David to be 'a man after
God's own heart,' Acts xiii. 22. The forgiven party is now looked
upon and received with that love and favour, as if he had never offended
God, and as if God had never been offended by him, Hosea xiv. 1,
2, 4 ; Isa. liv. 7-10 ; Jer. xxxi. 33, 34, 36, 37 ; Luke xv. 19-23.
Here the sins of the prodigal are pardoned, and his father receives
him with such expressions of love and familiarity as if he had never
sinned against him ; his father never so much as objects any one of all
his high sinnings against him. Hence it is that you read of such
sweet, kind, tender, loving, comfortable expressions of God towards
those whose sins he had pardoned : Jer. xxxi. 16, ' Refrain thy voice
from weeping, and thine eyes from tears ;' ver. 20, ' Is Ephraim my
dear son, is he a pleasant child ? ' Mat. ix. 2, ' Son, be of good cheer,
thy sins are forgiven thee.' The schools say that the remission of sins
is not only ahlaiiva mali, but collativa boni, a remotion of guilt, but a
coUation of good. Look, as he that is legally acquitted of theft or
murder, is no more reputed a thief or murderer, so here, Jer. 1. 20,
' In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for, and there shall be none ; and the sins of Judah,
and they shall not be found ; for I will pardon them whom I reserve.'
Pardoned sin is in God's account no sin, and the pardoned sinner in
God's account is no sinner, as the pardoned debtor is no debtor.
Where God hath pardoned a man, there he never looks upon that man
CLEAKLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 65
as a sinner, but as a just man. Pardon of sin is an utter abolition of
it, as it doth reflect upon the person, making him guilty, and obliging
him actually to condemnation ; in this respect the pardoned man is as
free as if he had never sinned. Therefore the believer, the penitent
person, hath infinite cause of rejoicing, that God hath perfectly pardoned
his sins, and that he looks upon him no more [as] a sinner, but as a just
and righteous person. sirs ! what can the great God do more for
your comfort and consolation ? and therefore, never entertain any hard
thoughts of God, as if he were like those men who say they forgive
with all their hearts, and yet retain their secret hate and inward malice
as much as ever ; but for ever live in the faith of this truth, viz., that
when God doth pardon sin, he takes it so away, as that the party
acquitted is no more looked upon as a sinner. Now upon this con-
sideration, what a glorious plea hath every sincere Christian to make
in the day of account ! But,
Fifthly, Forgiveness takes off our obligation to suffer eternal pun-
ishment; so that, look, as a forgiven debtor is freed from whatsoever
penalty his debt did render him liable to, so is the forgiven sinner from
the punishment itself. In this respect Aristotle saith, ' To forgive sin
is not to punish it.' And Austin saith, ' To forgive sin is not to in-
flict the punishment due unto it.' And the schools say, ' To remit the
sin is not to impute the punishment.' When a king pardons a thief,
his theft now shall not prejudice him. The guilt obliging is that
whereby the sinner is actually bound to undergo the punishment due
to him by the law, and passed on him by the judge for the breach of
it ; this is that which by the schools is called the extrinsecal guilt of
sin, to distinguish it from the intrinsecal, which is included in the
deordination 1 of the act, and which is inseparable from the sin. And
if you would know wherein the nature of forgiveness immediately and
primarily consists, it is in the taking off this obligation, and discharg-
ing the sinner from it. Hence it is that the pardoned sinner is said
not to be under the law : Rom. vi. 14, and not to be under the
curse ; Gal. iii. 13, and not to be under the sentence of condemna-
tion. And according to this notion, all Scripture phrases are to be
construed by which forgiveness is expressed, Rom. viii. 1. God, when
he forgives sin, he is said to cover them, Ps. xxxii. 1, Ixxxv. 2 ; Rom.
iv. 7 ; ' to remember them no more,' Isa. xliii. 25 ; Jer. xxxi. 34; Heb.
viii. 12 ; 'to cast them behind his back,' Isa. xxxviii. 17 ; 'to throw
them into the depth of the sea,' Micah vii. 19 ; 'to blot them out as a
cloud,' Isa. xliv. 22 ; ' and to turn away his face from them,' Ps. li. 9.
By all which expressions we are not to think that God doth not know
sin, or that God doth not see sin, or that God is not displeased with
sin, or that God is not displeased with believers for their sins ; but
that he will not so take notice of them as to enter into judgment with
the persons for them.. So that the forgiven sinner is free from obliga-
tion of the punishment, as truly, as surely, as fully, and as perfectly
as if he had never committed the sin, but were altogether innocent.
In every sin there are two things considerable : first, the offence which
is done to God, whereby he is displeased ; secondly, the obligation of
the man so ofiending him to eternal condemnation. Now, remission
^ ' Disorder,' = unlawfulness. — G.
VOL. V. E
66 SERIOUS A^^) weighty questions
of sin dotli wholly lie in the removing of these two ; so that when God
doth will neither to punish or to be offended with the person, then he
is said to forgive. It is true there remains paternal and medicinal
chastisements after sin is forgiven, hut no offence or punishment
strictly so taken. And is not this a noble plea for a believer to make
in the day of account ? But,
Sixthly, Consider that all the sins of believers were laid upon Christ
their surety, Heb. vii. 21, 22. What is that ? That Ls, he became
bound to God, he became responsible to him for all their sins, for all
that God in justice could charge upon them, and demand for satisfac-
tion: Isa. liii, 5, 6, ' Our salvation was laid upon one that is mighty;'
Ps. Ixxxix. 19 ; Isa. Ixiii. 1. As Judah became a surety to Jacob for
Benjamin, he engaged himself to his father : ' 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 for ever,' Gen. xliii. 9 ;
herein he was a type of Christ, that came of him, who is both our
surety to God for the discharge of our debt and duty, and Gt)d's surety
to us for the performance of his promises. ' Father,' saith Christ, ' I
wUl take upon me all the sins of thy i people ; I will be bound to answer
for them ; I will sacrifice myself for them ; at my hands do thou require
satisfaction for their sins, and a fuU compensation unto thy justice ; I
wiU die, I will lay down my life, I will make my soul an offering for
sins ; I will become a curse, I will endure thy wrath.' Oh, what un-
speakable comfort is this, that there is a Christ to answer for that
which we could never answer ! Christ is a surety in way of satisfac-
tion, undertaking for the debts, the trespasses, the sins of his elect.
In this respect it is that Christ is most properly called a surety, in
regard of his taking upon him the sins of his elect, and undertaHng
to answer and make satisfaction unto the justice of God for them.
Christ interposeth himself betwixt the wrath of God and his people,
undertaking to satisfy their debts, and so to reconcile them unto Grod
Christ had nothing of his own to be condemned for, nothing of his own
to be acquitted from. He was condemned to pay your debt, as your
surety, and therefore you cannot be condemned too. He was acquitted
from it, being paid, as your surety, and therefore you cannot but be
acquitted too. He appeared the first time with your sin to his con-
demnation, he shall appear the second time without vour sin unto your
salvation, Heb. ix. 28. God the Father says to Christ, 'Son, if' you
would have poor sinners pardoned, you must take their debts upon
yourself, you must be their surety, and you must enter into bonds
to pay every farthing of that debt poor sinners owe ; you must pay all
if you will undertake for them, for I will never come upon them for it,
but on you.' Certainly these were some of those transactions that
were between God the Father and G^ the Son from all eternity about
the pardoning of poor sinners. If ever thv sins be pardoned, Christ
must take thy debts upon himself, and be 'thy surety; 2 Cor. v. 21,
'He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.' Christ was made
sm for us— 1, by way of imputation, ' for our sins were made to meet
upon him,' as that evangelical prophet hath it, Isa. liii. 6 ; and,
secondly, by reputation, 'for he was reckoned among malefactors,'
* Qu. 'mv'?— G.
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 67
ver. 12. The way of pardon is by a translation of all our sins upon
Christ, it is by charging them all upon Christ's score. That is a great
expression of Nathan to David, * The Lord hath put away thy sin ;'
but the original runs thus, ' The Lord hath made thy sins to pass
over ;' that is, to pass over from thee to his Son ; he hath laid them
to his charge.
Now Christ hath discharged all his people's debts and bonds. There
is a twofold debt which lay upon us. One was the debt of obedience
unto the law, and this Christ did pay by ' fulfilling all righteousness,'
Mat. iii. 15. The other was the debt of punishment for our trans-
gressions, and this debt Christ discharged by his death on the cross,
Isa. liii. 4, 10, 12 ; ' And by being made a curse for us, to redeem us
from the curse,' Gal. iii. 13. Hence it is that we are said to be
' bought with a price,' 1 Cor. vi. 20, and vii. 23 ; and that Christ is
called our ' Ransom,' Xvrpov, Mat. xx. 28, and dvrlXvrpov, 1 Tim.
ii. 6. The words do signify a valuable price laid down for another's
ransom. The blood of Christ, the Son of God, was a valuable price,
a suflficient price ; it was as much as would take off all enmities, and
take away all sin, and to satisfy divine justice, and indeed so it did ;
and therefore you read that ' in his blood we have redemption, even
the forgiveness of our sins,' Eph. i. 7 ; Col. i. 14, 20 ; and his death
was such a full compensation to divine justice, that the apostle makes
a challenge to all : Rom. viii. 33, ' Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect ?' and ver. 34, ' Who is he that condemneth ? it
is Christ that died.' As if he had said, Christ hath satisfied and dis-
charged all. The Greek word avriXxrrpov is of special emphasis. The
Vulgar Latin renders it redemptionem, redemption; Beza, redempHonis
2yretium, a price of redemption ; but neither of them fully expressing
the force of the word, which properly signifieth a counter-price, when
one doth undergo in the room of another that which he should have
undergone in his own person, as when one yields himself a captive for
the redeeming of another out of captivity, or giveth his own life for
the saving of another's. There were such sureties among the Greeks
as gave life for life, body for body ; and in this sense the apostle is to
be understood, when he saith that Christ gave himself dvriXvrpov, a
ransom, a counter-price, pa}'ing a price for his people. Christ hath
laid down a price for all believers, they are his ' dear bought ones,'
they are his ' choice redeemed ones,' Isa. li. 11. Christ gave himself
dvTiXvTpov, a counter-price, a i-ansom, submitting himself to the like
punishrnent that his redeemed ones should have undergone. Christ,
to deliver his elect from the curse of the law, did subject himself to
that same curse of the law under which all mankind lay. Jesus Christ
was a true surety, one that gave his life for the life of others. As the
apostle saith of Castor and Pollux, that the one redeemed the other's
life with his own death, i so did the Lord Jesus ; he became such a
•surety for his elect, giving himself an dvriXvTpov, a ransom for them,
John vi. 51; Tit. ii. 14; 1 Pet. i. 18; Rev. i. 51, and v. 9. Oh,
^ The only reference in the New Testament to Castor and Pollux is found in Acts
xxviii. 11, so that for 'apostle,' we must here read ' the poet,' or the like. For the old
Greek myth of Castor and Pollux, see any of the classical dictionaries, under Dioscori
or Polydeuces. — G.
68 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS
what comfort is this unto us to have such a Jesus, who himself bare
our sins, even all our sins, left not one unsatisfied for, laid down a full
ransom, a full price, such an expiatory sacrifice as that now we are
out of the hands of justice, and wrath, and death, and curse, and hell,
and are reconciled and made near by the blood of the everlasting cove-
nant ! The blood of Christ, as the Scripture speaks, is ' the blood of
God,' Acts XX. 28, so that there is not only satisfaction, but merit in his
blood. There is more in Christ's blood than mere payment or satis-
faction. There was merit also in it, to acquire and procure and pur-
chase all spiritual good, and all eternal good for the people of God ; not
only immunities from sin, death, wrath, curse, hell, &c., but privileges
and dignities of sons and heirs ; yea, all grace, and all love, and all
peace, and all glory, even that glorious inheritance purchased by his
blood, Eph, i. 14.
Kemember this once for all, that in justification our debts are
charged upon Christ, they go upon his accounts. You know that in
sin there is the vicious and staining quality of it, and there is the
resulting guilt of it, which is the obligation of a sinner over to the
judgment-seat of God to answer for it. Now this guilt, in which lies
our debt, this is charged upon Christ. Therefore, saith the apostle,
' God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them,' 2 Cor. v, 19 ; ' And hath made him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin,' ver. 21. You know in law the
wife's debts are charged upon the husband ; and if the debtor be dis-
abled, then the creditor sues the surety. Fide-jussor, or surety and
debtor, in law are reputed as one person. Now Christ is our fide-
jussor. ' He is made sin for us,' saith the apostle ; ' for us' — that is,
in our stead — a surety for us, one who puts our scores on his accounts,
our burden on his shoulders. So saith that princely prophet Isaiah :
Isa. liii. 4, 5, ' He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.'
How so ? 'He was wounded for our transgressions ; he was bruised
for our iniquities ; ' that is, he stood in our stead, be took upon him
the answering of our sins, the satisfpng of our debts, the clearing of
our guilt ; and therefore was it that he was so bruised, &c.
You remember the scape-goat ; upon his head all the iniquities of
the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins were
confessed and put : ' And the goat did bear upon him all their iniqui-
ties,' Lev. xvi. 21, 22. What is the meaning of this? Surely Jesus
Christ, upon whom our sins were laid, and who alone died for the
ungodly, Eom. v. 6, ' and bore our burdens away.' Therefore the be-
liever in the sense of guilt should run unto Christ, and ofier up his
blood unto the Father, and say, ' Lord, it is true, I owe thee so much ;
yet. Father, forgive me ; remember that thine own Son was my ran-
som, his blood was the price ; he was my surety, and undertook to
answer for my sins. I beseech thee, accept of his atonement, for he
is my surety, my redemption. Thou must be satisfied ! but Christ
hath satisfied thee, not for himself — what sins had he of his own ?— but
for me. They were my debts which he satisfied for ; and look over
thy book, and thou shalt find it so ; for thou hast said, " He was made
sin for us, and that he was wounded for our transgressions." ' Now,
what a singular support, what an admirable comfort is this, that we
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 69
ourselves are not to make up our accounts and reckonings ; but that
Christ hath cleared all accounts and reckonings between God and us.
Therefore it is said that ' in his blood we have redemption, even the
forgiveness of sins,' Eph. i. 7.
Quest. Whether it were not against the justice of God that Christ,
who was in himself innocent, — loithout all sin, a Lamb without a
spot, — should bear and endure all these punishments for us ivho were
the offending and guilty and obnoxious persons only ? Or if you please
thus,
Whether Ood ivas not unjust to give his Son Jesus Christ to be our
surety and mediator and redeemer and saviour, forasmuch as Christ
could not be any one of these for and unto ws but by a willing suscep-
Hon of our sins upon himself, to be for them responsible unto the justice
of God, in suffering those punishments which were due for our sinsf
I shall speak a few words to this main question. I say, then, that
it is not always and in all cases unjust, but it is sometimes and in
some cases very just, to punish one who is himself innocent, for him
or those who are the nocent and guilty. Grotius in his book, De
Satisfactione, gives divers instances ; but I shall mention only two.
First, In the case of conjunction, where the innocent party and the
nocent party do become legally one party ; and therefore if a man
marries a woman indebted, he thereupon becomes obnoxious to pay
her debts, although, absolutely considered, he was not obnoxious there-
unto. But,
Secondly, In case of suretyship, where a person, knowing the weak
and insufficient condition of another, doth yet voluntarily put forth
himself, and will be bound to the creditor for him as his surety to
answer for him, by reason of which suretyship the creditor may come
upon him, and deal with him as he might have dealt with the princi-
pal debtor himself ; and this course we do ordinarily take with sureties
for the recovery of our right, without any violation of justice. Now,
both these are exactly applicable to the business in hand ; for Jesus
Christ was pleased to marry our nature unto himself; he did partake
of our flesh and blood, and became man, and one with us. And be-
sides that, he did, both by the will of his Father and his own free con-
sent, become our surety, and was content to stand in our stead or room,
so as to be made sin and curse for us — that is, to have all our debts
and sorrows, all our sins and punishments laid upon him, and did engage
himself to satisfy God by bearing and suffering what we should have
borne and suffered. And therefore although Jesus Christ, absolutely
considered in himself, was innocent and had no sin inherent in himself,
which therefore might make him liable to death and wrath and curse,
yet by becoming one with us, and sustaining the office of our surety,
our sins were laid on liim, and our sins being laid upon him, he made
himself therefore obnoxious, and that justly, to all those punishments
which he did suffer for our sins. I do confess, that had Christ been
unwilHng and forced into this suretyship, or had any detriment or
prejudice risen to any party concerned in this transaction, then some
complaint might have been made concerning the justice of God.
But,
70 SERIOUS AND WEIGHTY QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
[1.] First, There loas a ivilUngness on all sides for the passive work
of Christ. First, God the Father, who was the offended party, he was
willing, which Christ assures us of when he said, ' Thy will be done,'
Mat. xxvi. 42 ; Acts iv. 25-28. Secondly, We poor sinners, who are
the offending party, are willing. We accept of this gracious and
wonderful redemption, and bless the Lord who ' so loved us as to give
his Son for us.' And, thirdly, Jesus Christ was willing to suffer for
us : ' Behold I come,' Ps. xl. 7 : ' And shall I not drink of the cup
which my Father hath given me to drink ? ' John xviii. 11 : ' I have
a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be ac-
complished ? ' Luke xii. 50. He calls the death of his cross a baptism,
partly because it was a certain immersion into extreme calamities into
which he was cast, and partly because in the cross he was so to be
sprinkled in his own blood as if he had been drowned and baptized in
it. The Greek word, o-uye^o/^at, that is here rendered straitened, signi-
fies to be pained, pressed, or pent up, not with such a grief as made him
unwilling to come to it, but with such as made him desire that it were
once over. ' There seems,' saith Grotius, ' to be a similitude implied
in the original word, taken from a woman with child, which is so
afraid of her bringing forth that yet she would fain be eased of her
burden.' John x. 11, 'I am the good Shepherd. The good Shep-
herd giveth his life for the sheep,' Christ is that good Shepherd by an
excellency, that held not his life dear for his sheep's safety : ver 15,
' I lay down my life for the sheep ' : ver. 17, ' Therefore doth my
Father love me, because I lay down my life : ' ver. 18, ' No man
taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.' A necessity there
was of our Saviour's death, but it was a necessity of immutability —
because God had decreed it, Acts ii. 23 — not of coaction. He laid
down his life freely, he died willingly. But,
[2.] Secondly, No parties ivhatsoever ivere prejudiced, or lost by it.
We lost nothing by it, for we are saved by his death, and reconciled
by his death ; and Christ lost nothing by it : ' Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things, and enter into his glory ? ' Luke xxiv. 26.
' The Captain of our salvation is made perfect through sufferings,'
Heb. ii. 10. You may see Christ's glorious rewards for his sufferings
in that Isa. liii. 10-12. And God the Father lost nothing by it, for
he is glorified by it : 'I have glorified thee on earth, I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do,' John xvii. 4. Yea, he is fully
satisfied and repaired again in all the honour which he lost by our
sinning — I say he is now fully repaired again by the sufferings of
Christ, in which he found a price sufficient, and a ransom, and enough
to make peace for ever. In the day of account, a Christian's great
plea is, that Christ has been his surety, and paid his debts, and made
up his accounts for him.
II. Now, from what has been said last, a Christian may form up
this second plea to the ten scriptures in the margin, i that refer either to
the general judgment or to the particular judgment that wiU pass upon
every Christian immediately after death. blessed Lord! upon my first
believing and closing with Jesus Christ, thou didst Justify me in the
1 Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14; Mat. xii. 36, and xviiL 23 ; Luke xvi. 2 ; Eom. xiv. 10,
12 ; 2 Cor. v. 10; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii, 17; 1 Pet, iv. 5.
OF THE ACTIVE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST. 71
court of glory from all my sins, both as to guilt and punishment.
Upon my first act of believing, thou didst pardon all my siiis, thou
didst forgive all my iniquities, thou didst blot out all my transgressions;
and as icpon my first believing thou didst give me the remission of all
my sins, so upon my first believing thou didst free me from a state of
condemnation, and interest me in the great salvation. Upon my first
believing, I luas united to Jesus Christ, and I tvas clothed with the
righteousness of Christ, lohich covered all my sins and discharged me
from all my transgressions, Kom, viii. 10 ; Heb. ii. 3 ; and remember,
Lord, that at the very moment of my dissolution thou didst really,
perfectly, universally, and finally forgive all my sins. Every debt
that moment was disclmrged, and every score that moment tvas crossed,
and every bill and bond that moment ivas cancelled, so tJmt there luas
not left in the book of thy remembrance one sin, no, not the least sin,
standing upon record against my soul ; and besides all this, thou
knowest, Lord, that all my sins were laid upon Christ my surety,
IJeb. vii. 21, 22, and that he became responsible for them all. He did
die, he did lay down his life, he did muke his soul an offering for my
sins, he did become a curse, he did endure thy infinite ivrath, he did
give complete satisfaction, and a full compensation unto thy justice for
all my sins, debts, trespasses. This is my plea, Lord ! and by this
plea I shall stand. * Well,' saith the Lord, ' I allow of this plea, I
accept of this plea as just, honourable, and righteous. Enter thou into
the joy of thy Lord.' But,
Seventhly, Consider, that ivJiatever we are bound to do, or to suffer
by the law of God, all that did Christ do and suffer for us, as being
our surety and mediator. Now the law of God hath a double chal-
lenge or demand upon us ; one is of active obedience, in fulfilling what
it requires ; the other is of passive obedience, in sufiering that punish-
ment which lies upon us, for the transgression of it, in doing what it
forbids. For as we are created by God, we did owe unto him all
obedience which he required ; and as we sinned against God, we did
owe unto liim a suffering of all that punishment which he threatened,
and we being fallen by transgression, can neither pay the one debt,
nor yet the other ; we cannot do all that the law requires, nay of our-
selves we can do nothing ; neither can we so suffer as to satisfy God
in his justice wronged by us, or to recover ourselves into life and favour
again ; and therefore Jesus Christ, who was God, made man, did be-
come our surety, and stood in our stead or room ; and he did perform
what we should but could not perform ; and he did bear our sins and
our sorrows. He did suffer and bear for us what we ourselves should
have borne and suffered, whereby he did fully satisfy the justice of
God, and made our peace, and purchased life and happiness for us.
Let me a little more clearly and fully open this great truth in these
few particulars.
(1.) First, Jesus Christ did perform that active obedience unto the
laio of God, which ive should, but, by 7'eason of sin, coidd not perform;
in which respect he is said. Gal. iv. 4, ' to be made under the law,
that he might redeem them that were under the law.' So far was
Christ under the law, as to redeem them that were under the law. But
redeem them that were under the law he could not, unless by dis-
72 OF THE ACTIVE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST.
charging the bonds of the law in force upon us ; and all those bonds
could not be, and were not discharged, unless a perfect righteousness
had been presented on our behalf, who were under the law, to fulfil
the law. Now there is a twofold righteousness necessary to the actual
fulfilling of the law : one is an internal righteousness of the nature of
man ; the other is an external righteousness of the life or works of
man : both of these do the law require. The former, ' Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,' &c., which is the sum of
the first table ; ' And thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself/ which
is the sum of the second table : the latter, * Do this and live,' Lev.
xviii. 5, * He that continueth not in all things, which are written in
the book of the law, to do them, is cursed,' Gal. iii. 10. Now both
these righteousnesses were found in Christ. First,' the internal : Heb.
vii. 26, * He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners ;
Heb. ix. 14, ' And offered himself without spot to God ;' 2 Cor. v. 21,
' He knew no sin.' Secondly, external : 1 Peter ii. 22, ' He did no
sin, neither was guile found in his mouth ;' John xvii. 4, ' I have
finished the work which thou gavest me to do ;' Mat. iii. 15, ' He
must fulfil all righteousness,' Kom. x. 4; ' Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to every one that belieVeth.' Now concerning
Christ's active obedience to tLe law of God, these things are consider-
able in it.
[1.] First, The universality of it : he did whatsoever his Father
required, and left nothing of his Father's will undone. He kept the
whole law, and offended not in one point. Whatever was required of
us, by virtue of any law, that he did, and fulfilled. Hence he is said
to be made under the law, Gal. iv. 4, subject or obnoxious to it, to all
the precepts or commands of it. Christ was so made under the law,
as those were under the law whom he was to redeem. Now we were
under the law, not only as obnoxious to its penalties, but as bound to
all the duties of it. That this is our being under the law, is evident
by that of the apostle : Gal. iv. 21, ' Tell me, ye that desire to be under
the law.' Surely it was not the penalty of the law they desired to be
under, but to be under it in respect of obedience. So Mat. iii. 15.
Here Christ tells you, that ' it became him to fulfil all righteousness,'
iraaav BiKaioavvrjv, all manner of righteousness whatsoever ; that is,
everything that God required, as is evident from the appHcation of
that general axiom to the baptism of John. But,
[2.] Secondly, The exactness and perfection of it. He kept the
whole law exactly. As he was not wanting in matter, so he did not
fail in the nianner of performing his Father's will. There was no
defects, nothing lacking in his obedience ; he did all things well.
"What we are pressing towards, and reaching forth unto, he attained ;
he was perfect in every good work, and stood complete in the whole
will of his Father. And hence it is, that it is recorded of him, that
he was without sin, knew no sin, did no sin, which could not be if he
had failed in anything. But,
[3.] Thirdly, The constancy of it. Christ did not obey by fits, but
constantly. Though we cannot, yet he ' continued in all things which
are written in the book of the law, to do them.' This righteous one
held on his way, he did not fail, nor was he discouraged ; yea, when
OF THE ACTIVE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST. 73
persecution and tribulation did arise against him, because of his doing
the will of his Father, he was not offended, but did always do the
things which pleased his Father, as he told the Jews, John viii. 29.
[4.] Fourthly, The delight that he took ' in doing the will of his
Father;' Ps. xl. 8, ' I delight to do thy will, my God ; yea, thy law is
within my heart,' or in the midst of my bowels, as the Hebrew runs.
By the law of God we are to understand all the commandments of
God. There is not one command which Christ did not delight to do.
Christ's obedience was without murmuring or grudging ; his Father's
commandments were not grievous to him ; he tells his disciples, that
it was his ' meat to do the will of him that sent him, and to finish his
work,' John iv. 34. But,
[5.] Fifthly, The virtue and efficacy of it; for his obedience, his
righteousness never returns to him void, but it always ' accomplishes
that which he pleases, and prospers in the thing whereto he ordains
it,' and that is the making others righteous, according to that of the
apostle: Kom. v. 19, ' For as by one man's disobedience many were
made sinners, so by the disobedience of one shall many be made
righteous;' 2 Cor. v. 21, ' God made him to be sin for us, who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him ; ' and
accordingly we are, ' for of God he is made unto us righteousness/
1 Cor. i. 30.
The perfect complete obedience of Christ to the law is certainly
reckoned to us. That is an everlasting truth, * If thou wilt enter into
life, keep the commandments,' Mat. xix. 17. The commandments
must be kept either by ourselves, or by our surety, or there is no enter-
ing into life ; Christ did obey the law, not for himself but for us, and
in our stead: Kom. v. 18, 19, * By the righteousness of one, the free
gift came upon all men unto justification of life ; by the obedience of
one, many shall be made righteous.' By his obedience to the law, we
are made righteous. Christ's obedience is reckoned to us for righte-
ousness. Christ, by his obedience to the royal law, is made righteous-
ness to us, 1 Cor. i. 30. We are saved by that perfect obedience,
which Christ, when he was in this world, yielded to the blessed law
of God. Mark, whatever Christ did as mediator, he did it for those
whose mediator he was, or in whose stead and for whose good he
executed the office of a mediator before God. This the Holy Ghost
witnesseth : Eom. viii. 3, 4, ' What the law could not do, in that it
was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righte-
ousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.' The word ' likeness,' is
not simply to be referred to flesh, but to sinful flesh, as Basil well
observes ; for Christ was like unto us in all things, sin only excepted.
If with our justification from sin, there be joined that active obedience
of Christ, which is imputed to us, we are just before God, according
to that perfect form which the law requireth. Because we could not,
in this condition of weakness whereinto we are cast by sin, come to
God, and be freed from condemnation by the law, God sent Christ as
a mediator to do and suffer whatever the law required at our hands
for that end and purpose, that we might not be condemned, but ac-
cepted of God. It was all to this end, that the righteousness of the law
74 OF THE ACTIVE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST.
might be fulfilled in us ; that is, which the law required of us, consist-
ing in duties of obedience. This Christ performed for us. This
expression of the apostle, ' God sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh,' if you will add to
it that of Gal. iv. 4 — * that he was so sent forth, as that he was yevo/xevov
virb vofiov, ' made under the law ;' that is, obnoxious to it, to yield all
the obedience that it doth require,— compares! the whole of what Christ
did or suffered ; and all this, the Holy Ghost tells us was for us, ver.
5, He that made the law as God, was made under the law as God-
man, whereby both the obligations of the law fell upon him : 1. Penal ;
2. Preceptive. First, The penal obligation to undergo the curse,
and so to satisfy divine justice. Secondly, The preceptive obligation,
to fulfil all righteousness. Mat. iii. 15. This obligation he fulfilled by
doing, the other by d}dng. Mark, this double obligation could not
have befallen the Lord Jesus Christ upon any natural account of his
own, but upon his mediatory account only, as he voluntarily became
the surety of this new and better covenant, Heb. vii. 22 ; so that the
fruit and benefit of Christ's voluntary subjection to the law, redoundeth
not at all to himself, ' but unto the persons which were given him of
the Father,' John xvii., whose sponsor he became. For their sakes he
underwent the penal obligation of the law, that it might do them no
harm, ' He being made a curse for us," Gal, iii, 13 ; and for their
sakes he fulfilled the preceptive obligation of the law, ' do this,' that
so the law might do them good. This the evangelical apostle clearly
asserts, ' Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, to every one
that believeth,' Rom. x. 4, ' Christ is the end of the law,' t€\o9. What
end? why Jinis perfectivus, the perfection and accomplishment of the
law ; he is the end of the law for righteousness, that is, to the end
that by Christ his active obedience, God might have his perfect law
perfectly kept, that so there might be a righteousness extant in the
human nature, every way adequate to the perfection of the law. And
who must wear this garment of righteousness, when Christ hath
finished it ? Surely the believer who wanted a righteousness of his
own ; for so it follows, ' for righteousness to every one that believeth,'
that is, that every poor naked sinner, believing in Jesus Christ, might
have a righteousness, wherein being found, he might appear at God's
tribunal, but his nakedness not appear, but as Jacob in the garment of
his elder brother Esau, so the believer in the garment of his elder brother
Jesus, might inherit the blessing, even the great blessing of justification.
The only matter of man's righteousness, since the fall of Adam,
wherein he can appear with comfort before the justice of God, and
consequently, whereby alone he can be justified in his sight, is the
obedience and sufi'erings of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of the
mediator. There is not any other way imaginable, how the justice of
God may be satisfied, and we may have our sins pardoned in a way of
justice, but by the righteousness of the Son of God, and therefore is
his name Jehovah, l^lpliJ, ' The Lord our righteousness,' Jer. xxiii. 6.
This is his name ; that is, this is the prerogative of the Lord Jesus, a
matter that appertains to him alone, to be able to bring in ' an everlast-
ing righteousness, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,' Dan. ix. 24,
^ Qu. ' comprises ' ? — G.
OF THE ACTIVE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST. 75
It is by Christ alone, that they who ' beheve are justified from all
things, from which they cannot be justified by the law of Moses,'
Acts xiii. 39,
III. Now from the active obedience of Christ, a sincere Christian
may form up this third plea as to the ten scriptures in the margin,i
that refer either to the general judgment, or to the particular judg-
ment that will pass upon every Christian immediately after death.
blessed God, thou knowest that Jesus Christ, as my surety, did per-
form all that active obedience unto thy holy and righteous law that I
should have performed, but by reason of the indwelling poiver of sin,
and of the vexing and molesting power of sin, and of the captivating
poiver of sin, could not. There was in Christ an habitual righteous-
ness, a conformity of his nature to the holiness of the law : 1 Pet. i.
19, ' For he is a lamb without spot and blemish.' The law could never
have required so much righteousness as is to be found in him ; and as
for practical righteousness, there was never any aberration in his
thoughts, words, or deeds, Heb. vii. 25 ; ' The prince of this world
Cometh, and hath nothing in me,' John xiv, 30. The apostle tells us,
that ' we are made the righteousness of God in him,' 2 Cor. v. 21.
He doth emphatically add that clause, iv avra, in him, that he may
take away all conceit of inherence in us, and establish the doctrine of
imputation. As Christ is made sin in us by imputation, so we are
made righteousness in him by the same way. Augustine's place which
Beza cites is a most full commentary, ' God the Father,' saith he,
* made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we -might be the righte-
ousness of God, not our own ; and in him, that is in Christ, not in our-
selves ; and being thus justified, we are so righteous, as if we were
righteousness itself.' Oh, holy God, Christ my surety hath universally
kept thy royal law, he hath not ofiended in any one point ; yea, he hath
exactly and perfectly kept tlie whole law of God, he stood complete in
the whole will of the Father ; his active obedience was so full, so per-
fect, and so adequate to all the law's demands, that the law could not
but say, ' I have enough, I am fully satisfied ; I have found a ransom,
1 can ask no more.' Neither was the obedience of Christ fickle or
transient, but permanent and constant ; it was his delight, his meat and
drink, yea, his heaven, to be still a-doing the will of his Father, John
iv. 33, 34. Assuredly, wliilstour Lord Jesus Christ was in this world,
he did in his own person fully obey the law ; he did in his own person
perfectly conform to all the holy, just, and righteous commands of the
law. Now this his most perfect and complete obedience to the law
is made over to all his members, to all believers, to all sincere Chris-
tians ; it is reckoned to them, it is imputed to them, as if they them-
selves, in their own persons, had performed it. All sound believers
being in Christ, as their head and surety, the law's righteousness is ful-
filled in them legally and imputively, though it be not fulfilled in them
formally, subjectively, inherently, or personally; suitable to that of the
apostle, that 'the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,' Kom.
viii. 4. Mark, not by us, but in us ; for Christ in our nature hath fulfilled
the right of the law, and therefore in us, because of our communion
^ Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14 ; Mat. xii. 36, and xviii. 23 ; Luke xvi. 2 ; Rom. xiv. 10,
12 ; 2 Cor. v. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17 ; 1 Pet. iv. 5.
76 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.
with, him, and our ingrafting into him.'l God hath condemned sin in
the flesh of his Son, that all that which the law by right could require
of us might be performed by him for us, so as if we ourselves had in
our own persons performed the same. The law must have its right
before a sinner can be saved ; we cannot of ourselves fulfil the right of
it. But here is the comfort, Christ our surety hath fulfilled it in us,
and we have fulfilled it in him. Certainly, whatsoever Christ did
concerning the law is ours by imputation so fully, as if ourselves had
done it. Does the law require obedience ? saith Christ, * I will give
it,' Mat. iii. 15. Does the law threaten curses ? says Christ, ' They
shall be borne,' Mat. v. 17, 18. The precept of the law, saith Christ,
shall be kept, and the promises received, and the punishments endured,
that poor sinners may be saved. Our righteousness' and title to eternal
life do indispensably depend upon the imputation of Christ's active
obedience to us. There must be a perfect obeying of the law, as the
condition of life, either by the sinner himself or by his surety, or else
no life ; which doth sufficiently evince the absolute necessity of the im-
putation of Christ's active obedience to us. The sinner himself being
altogether unable to fulfil the law, that he may stand righteous before
the great and glorious God, Christ's fulfilling of it must necessarily
be imputed to him in order to righteousness. There are two great
things which Jesus Christ did undertake for his redeemed ones ; the
one was to make full satisfaction to divine justice for all their sins.
Now this he did by his blood and death. The other was to yield most
absolute conformity to the law of God, both in nature and life. By
the one he has freed all his redeemed ones from hell, and by the other
he has qualified all the redeemed ones for heaven. This is my plea,
Lord, and by this plea I shall stand. ' Well,' saith the Lord, ' I
accept of this plea as honourable, just, and righteous; Enter thou into
the joy of thy Lord.'
(2.) Secondly, As Jesus Christ did for us perform all that active
obedience which the law of God required ; so he did also suffer all
those punishments which we had deserved by the transgression of the
law of God, in which respect he is said, 2 Cor. ii. 22, ' To be made sin
for us ; ' 1 Pet. ii. 24, ' Himself to bear our sins in his own body on the
tree ;' 1 Pet. iii. 18, ' For Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God ; ' Phil. ii. 8, ' To
humble himself and to become obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross;' Gal. iii. 13, 'To be made a curse, an execration for us;'
Eph. V. 2, ' To give himself for us an offering and sacrifice unto God ;'
Heb. ix. 15, ' And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testa-
ment, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgres-
sions that were under the first testament, they which were called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.' Now concerning
the passive obedience, or suff'ering of Christ, I would present imto
you these conclusions.
[1.] First, That the sufferings of Jesus Christ were free and
voluntary, and not constrained or forced. Austin saith, that Christ
' did suffer quia voluit, et quando voluit, et quomodo voluit : John x. 17,
'•' ^ SiKaM/jM, which Beza well renders, Ut jut legis, that the right of the law might be
fulfilled in us.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 77
' I lay down my life ;' ver. 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 again ;' Gal. ii. 20, ' Who gave himself for me.' Christ's suf-
ferings did rise out of obedience to his Father : John x. 18, ' This
commandment have I received of my Father;' and John xviii. 11,
' The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ? '
And Christ's sufferings did spring and rise out of his love to us, ' who
loved me, and gave himself for me,' Gal. ii. 20 ; so Eph. v. 25, ' As
Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it.' And indeed, had
Christ's sufferings been involuntary, they could not have been a part
of his obedience, much less could they have mounted to anything of
merit for us. Christ was very free and willing to undertake the work of
man's redemption. When he cometh into the world, he saith, ' Sacri-
fice and offerings thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me ; then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, God,' Heb. x. 5. It is
the expression of one overjoyed to do the will of God. So Luke xii.
60, ' I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened
till it be accomplished.' There was no power, no force to compel
Christ to lay down his life, therefore it is called the offering of the
body of Jesus, Heb. x. 10. Nothing could fasten Christ to the cross,
but the golden link of his free love. Christ was big of love, and
therefore he freely opens all the pores of his body, that his blood may
flow out from every part, as a precious balsam to cure our wounds.
The heart of Christ was so full of love that it could not hold, but must
needs burst out through every part and member of his body into a
bloody sweat, Luke xxii. 44. At this time it is most certain that
there was no manner of violence offered to the body of Christ ; no
man touched him, or came near him with whips, or thorns, or spears,
or lances. Though the night was cold, and the air cold, and the earth
on which he kneeled cold, yet such a burning love he had in his breasts
to his people as cast him into a bloody sweat. It is certain that Christ
never repented of his sufferings: Isa. liii. 11, 'He shall see of the
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied,' It is a metaphor that
alludes to a mother, who though she hath had hard labour, yet doth
not repent of it, when she sees a child brought forth. So though
Christ had hard travail upon the cross, yet he doth not repent of it, but
thinks all his sweat and blood well bestowed, because he sees the man-
child of redemption is brought forth into the world. He shall be
satisfied : the Hebrew word, y2U}^, signifies such a satiating as a man
hath at some sweet repast or banquet. And what does this speak out,
but his freeness in suffering ?
Obj. But here some may object, and say, ihat the Lord Jesus, when
the hour of his sufferings drew nigh, did repent of his suretyship ; and
in a deep passion prayed to his Father to be released from his suffer-
ings : ' Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ;' and that
three times over. Mat. xxvi. 39, 42, 44.
Ans. Now to this objection I shall answer, first more generally,
and secondly more particularly.
[1.] First, in the general, I say that this earnest prayer of his doth
not denote absolutely his unwillingness, but rather sets out the great-
ness of his willingness ; for although Christ as a man was of the same
78 OF THE SUFFEEINGS OF CHRIST.
natural affections with us, and desires, and abhorrences of what was
destructive to nature, and therefore did fear and deprecate that bitter
cup which he was ready to drink ; yet as our mediator and surety, and
knowing it would be a cup of salvation to us, though of exceeding
bitterness to himself, he did yield and lay aside his natural reluc-
tances as man, and willingly obeyed his Father's will to drink it, as
our loving mediator, as if he should say, ' Father, whatsoever be-
coraeth of me, of my natural fear or desire, I am content to submit to
the drinking of this cup ; thy will be done.' But,
[2.] Secondly, and more particularly, I answer, that in these words of
our Lord there is a twofold voice. 1. There is vox naturae, the voice
of nature ; ' Let this cup pass from me.' 2. There is vox officii, the voice
of his mediatory office ; 'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.'
The first voice, ' Let this cup pass,' intimates the velleity of the
inferior part of his soul, the sensitive part, proceeding from unnaturaU
abhorrency of death as he was a creature. The latter voice, ' Never-
theless, not as I will, but as thou wilt,' expresseth the full and free
consent of his will, complying with the will of his Father in that grand
everlasting design of ' bringing many sons unto glory, by making the
captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings,' Heb. ii. 10.
It was an argument of the truth of Christ his human nature, that
he naturally dreaded a dissolution. He owed it to himself as a crea-
ture to desire the conservation of his being, and he could not become
unnatural to himself, ' For no man ever yet hated his own flesh/ Eph.
V. 29 : Phil, ii. 8, ' But being a son, he learned submission, and be-
came obedient to the death, even the death of the cross ;' that shame-
ful, cruel, cursed death of the cross, the suffering whereof he owed to
that solemn astipulation, which from everlasting passed between his
Father and himself, the third person in the blessed Trinity, the Holy
Ghost being witness. And therefore, though the cup was the bitterest
cup that ever was given man to drink, as wherein there was not death
only, but wrath and curse : yet seeing there was no other way left of
satisfying the justice of his Father, and of saving sinners, most willingly
he took the cup, and having given thanks, as it were, in those words,
* The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?' never
did bridegroom go with more cheerfulness to be married to his bride,
than our Lord Jesus went to his cross, Luke xii, 20.
Though the cup that God the Father put into Christ's hand was
bitter, very bitter, yea, the bitterest that ever was put into any hand,
yet he found it sweetened with three ingredients. 1. It was but a cup,
it was not a sea ; 2. It was his Father, and not Satan, that mingled
it, and that put in all the bitter ingredients that were in it ; 3. It was
a gift, not a curse, as to himself : ' The cup which my Father giveth
me.' He drank it, I say, and drank it up every drop, leaving nothing
behind for his redeemed but large draughts of love and salvation, in
the sacramental cup of his own institution, saying, ' This cup is the
new testament in my blood, for the remission of sins ; this do ye in
remembrance of me,' 1 Cor. xi. 25 ; Mat. xxvi. 28. Thus, my friends,
look upon Christ as mediator, in which capacity only he covenanted
with his Father for the salvation of mankind ; and there was not so
1 'Qu. ' a natural' ?—Eu.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 79
much as a shadow ,of any receding from or repenting of what he had
imdertaken. But,
Ans. 2. Secondly, As the sufferings of Jesus Christ were very free
and voluntary, so they were very great and heinous. What agony,
what torment was our Saviour racked with! how deep were Ms
wounds! how weighty his burden! how full of trembling his cup,
when he lay under the mountains of the guilt of all the elect 1 How
bitter were his tears ! how painful his sweat ! how sharp his encoun-
ters! how dreadful his death! who can compute i how many vials of
God's inexpressible, insupportable wrath Christ drank off ? In that
53d of Isaiah you may read of despising, rejected, stripes, smitings,
wounds, sorrows, bruising, chastisement, oppression, affliction, cutting
off, putting to grief, and pouring out of his soul to death ; all these
put together speaks out Christ to be a very great sufferer. He was a
man of sorrows, as if he were a man made up of sorrows : as the man
of sin, as if he were made up of sin, as if he were nothing else. He
knew more sorrows than any man, yea, than all men ever did ; for the
iniquity, and consequently the sorrows, of all men met in him as if he
had been their centre ; and he was acquainted with griefs ; he had
little acquaintance else, grief was his familiar acquaintance, he had
no acquaintance with laughter. We read not that he laughed at all,
when he was in the world. His other acquaintance stood afar off, but
grief followed him to the cross. From his birth to his death, from his
cradle to the cross, from the womb to the tomb, he was a man of sor-
rows, and never were sorrows like his ; he might say. Never grief or
sorrow Hke mine. It is indeed impossible to express the sufferings and
sorrows of Christ ; and the Greek Christians used to beg of God, h'
dyvcoa-rmv kottcov, that for the unknown sufferings of Christ he would
have mercy upon them ! Though Christ's sufferings are abundantly
made known, yet they are but httle known ; eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, nor hath it or can it enter into the heart of man to conceive
what Christ suffered ; ' who hath known the power of God's wrath ? '
Christ Jesus knew it, for he underwent it ; his whole life was made
up of suffering. He was no sooner born, but sufferings came troop-
ing in upon him. He was born in an inn, yea, in a stable, and had
but a manger for his cradle. As soon as his birth was noised abroad,
Herod, under a pretence of worshipping of him, had a design to mur-
der him, so that his supposed father was fain to fly into Egypt to
secure his life. He was persecuted before he could, after the manner
of men, be sensible of persecution ; and as he grew up in years, so his
sufferings grew up with him. Hunger and thirst, travel and weari-
ness, scorns and reproaches, false accusations and contradictions still
waited on him, and he had not where to lay his head : 1 Pet. iii. 18,
* For Christ also hath once suffered for sins.' This is the wonderment
of angels, the happiness of fallen man, and the torment of devils, &c.,
that Christ hath suffered. The apostle's words look like a riddle,
' Christ hath suffered ;' as if he should say, read thou if thou canst
what he hath suffered ; as for my part they are so many, that in this
short epistle I have no mind to record them ; and they are so griev-
ous, that my passionate love won't suffer me to repeat them, and
^ Misprinted ' impute.' — G.
80 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.
therefore I content myself thus abruptly to deliver them, ' Christ
hath suffered.' Christ's sufferings were unspeakable, his sufferings
were unutterable ; and therefore the apostle satisfies himself with this
imperfect, broken speech, ' Christ hath sufi'ered.' Oh, what woes and
lamentations, what cries and exclamations, what complaints and sor-
rows, what wringing of hands, what knocking of breasts, what weep-
ing of eyes, what wailing of tongues belong to the speaking and hear-
ing of this doleful tragedy ! Even in the prologue I tremble, and at
the first entrance I am as at a non-plus, that I know not with what
woeful gesture to act it, with what moanful voice to pronounce it, with
what mournful words, with what pathetical speeches, with what em-
phatical phrases, with what interrupted accents, with what passionate
compassionate plaints to express it. The multiplicity of the plot, and
the variety of the acts and scenes is so intricate, that my memory fails
to comprise it ; the matter so important, and the story so excellent,
that my tongue fails to declare it ; the cruelty so savage, and the mas-
sacre so barbarous, that my heart even fails to consider it. Where-
fore I must needs content myself, with the apostle here, to speak but
imperfectly of it, and thinks this enough to say, * Christ hath suf-
fered ; ' and well may I think this enough, for behold what perfection
there is in this seeming imperfect speech. For,
First, To say indefinitely, he * suffered ' without any limitation of
time, what is it but to say that he always suffered without exception
of time ? And so indeed the prophet speaks of him, namely, ' That
he was a man of sorrows,' Isa. liii. 3. His whole life was filled up
with sufferings. But,
Secondly, To say only he ' suffered,' and nothing else, what is it but
to say that he patiently suffered ; he never resisted, never rebelled,
never opposed ? ' He was led as g, sheep to the slaughter ; and as a
lamb dumb before the shearer, so opened he not his mouth,' Acts viii.
32 ; Isa. liii. 7. ' And when he was reviled, he reviled not again ;
when he suffered, he threatened not,' 1 Pet. ii. 23. But,
Thirdly, To say precisely he ' suffered,' and no more, what is it but
to say that he freely suffered, that he voluntarily suffered ? Christ
was under no force, no compulsion, but freely suffered himself to suffer,
and voluntarily suffered the Jews to m^ke him suffer, having power to
quit himself from suffering if he had pleased. ' I lay down my Hfe,
no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself : I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again,' John x. 17. But
of this before.
Fourthly, To say plainly he ' suffered,' what is it but to say that he
innocently suffered, that he wrongfully suffered ? For had he been a
malefactor, or an offender, it should have been said that he was pun
ished, or that he was executed ; but he was full of innocency, he was
holy and harmless ; and so it follows in that 1 Pet. iii. 18, ' The just
for the unjust.' But,
Fifthly, To say peremptorily he ' suffered,' what is it but to say that
he principally suffered, that he excessively suffered ? To say he ' suf-
fered, what is it but to say he was the chief sufferer, the arch-sufferer ?
and that not only in respect of the manner of his sufferings, that he
suffered absolutely so as never did any, but also in respect of the mea-
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY. 81
sure of his sufferings, that he suffered excessively beyond what ever any
did. And thus we may well understand and take those words, ' He
suffered.' That lamentation of the prophet, Lam. i. 12, is very appli-
cable to Christ, ' Behold, and see if there be any sorrows like unto my
sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me
in the day of his fierce anger.' Now, is it not enough for the apostle
to say that ' Christ has suffered ; ' but will you yet ask what ? But
pray, friends, be satisfied, and rather of the two ask what not ? For
what sufferings can you think of that Christ did not suffer ? Christ
suffered in his birth, and he suffered in his life, and he suffered in his
death ; he suffered in his body, for he was diversely tormented ; he suf-
fered in his soul, for his soul was heavy unto death ; he suffered in his
estate, they parted his raiment, and he had not where to rest his head ;
he suffered in his good name, for he was counted a Samaritan, a
devilish sorcerer, a wine-bibber, an enemy to Caesar, &c. He suffered
from heaven, when he cried out, ' My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me ?' He suffered from the earth, when, being hungry, the
fig-tree proved fruitless to him. He suffered from hell, Satan assault-
ing and encountering of him with his most black and horrid tempta-
tions. He began his life meanly and basely, and was sharply perse-
cuted. He continued his life poorly and distressedly, and was cruelly
hated. He ended his life woefully and miserably, and was most
grievously tormented with whips, thorns, nails, and, above all, with
the terrors of his Father's wrath and horrors of hellish agonies.
Ego sum qui peccavi : ' I am the man that have sinned ; but these
sheep, what have they done ?' said David, when he saw the angel de-
stroying his people, 2 Sam. xxiv. 17. And the same speech may every
one of us take up for ourselves and apply to Christ, and say, ' I have
sinned, I have done wickedly ; but this sheep, what hath he done ? '
Yea, much more cause have we than David had to take up this com-
plaint. For,
First, David saw them die, whom he knew to be sinners ; but we
see him die, who, we know, ' knew no sin,' 2 Cor. v. 21. But,
Secondly, David saw them die a quick, speedy death ; we see him
die with lingering torments. He was a-dying from six to nine, Mat.
xxvii. 45, 46. Now in this three hours' darkness, he was set upon by
all the powers of darkness with utmost might and malice ; but he
foiled and spoiled them all, and made an open show of them, as the
Koman conquerors used to do, triumphing over them on his cross as
on his chariot of state. Col, ii. 15, attended by his vanquished enemies,
with their hands bound behind them, Eph. iv. 8. But,
Thirdly, David saw them die, who, by their own confession, was
worth ten thousand of them ; we see him die for us, whose worth ad-
mitteth no comparison. But,
Fourthly, David saw the Lord of glory destroying mortal men, and
we see mortal men destroying the Lord of glory, 1 Cor. ii. 8. Oh, how
much more cause have we then to say as David, ' I have sinned, I have
done wickedly ; but this innocent Lamb, the Lord Jesus, what hath
he done ? what hath he deserved that he should be thus greatly tor-
mented ? ' Tully, though a great orator, yet when he comes to speak
of the death of the cross, he wants words to express it, — Quid
VOL V F
82 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY.
dicam, in'Ctmcem toUere? What shall I say of this death? saith he.
But,
Ans. 3, Thirdly, As the sufferings of Christ were very great, so ilie
punishments loliich Christ did suffer for our sins, these were in their
kinds and parts and degrees and proportion all those p>unishments
which luere due unto us by reason of our sins, and which we ourselves
should otherivise have suffered. Whatsoever we should have suffered
as sinners, all that did Christ suffer as our surety and mediator, always
excepting those punishments which could not be endured without a
pollution and guUt of sin : ' The chastisement of our peace was upon
him,' Isa. liii. 5 ; and including the punishments common to the
nature of man, not the personal, arising out of imperfection and defect
and distemper. Now, the punishments due to us for sin were corporal
and spiritual. And again, they were the punishments of loss and of
sense ; and all these did Christ suffer for us, which I shall evidence by
an induction of particulars.
I. First, That Christ suffered corporal punishments is most clear in
Scripture. You read of the injuries to his person, of the crown of
thorns on his head, of the smiting of his cheeks, of spitting on his face,
of the scourging of his body, of the cross on his back, of the vinegar in
his mouth, of the nails in his hands and feet, of the spear in his side,
and of his crucifying and dying on the cross : 1 Pet. ii. 24, ' Who
himself in his own body on the tree bare our sins ; ' 1 Cor. xv. 3,
* Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures ; ' Kev. i. 5, ' And
washed us from our sins in his own blood ; ' Col. i. 14, ' In whom we
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins ; '
Mat. xxvi. 28, * For this is my blood of the 'New Testament, which is
shed for many for the remission of sins.' Christ suffered derision in
every one of his offices.
First, In his kingly office. They put a sceptre in his hand, a crown
on his head, and bowed their knees, saying, * Hail, king of the Jews ! '
Mat. xxvii. 29.
Secondly, In his priestly office. ' They put upon him a gorgeous
white robe/ such as the priests wore, Luke xxiii. ll.l
Thirdly, In his prophetical office. ' When they had blindfolded
him. Prophesy, say they, who it is that smiteth thee,' Luke xxii, 64.
Sometimes they said, ' Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil,' John
viii. 48 ; and sometimes they said, ' He is beside himself, why hear ye
him?' Markiii. 21.
And as Christ suffered in every one of his offices, so he suffered in
every member of his body : in his hearing, by their reproaches, and
crying, * Crucify him, crucify him ; ' in his sight, by their scoffings
and scornful gestures ; in his smell, in his being in that noisome place
Golgotha, Mat. xxvii. 33 ; in his taste, by his tasting of vinegar
mingled with gall, which they gave him to drink. Mat. xxvii. 33 ; in
his feeling, by the thorns on his head, blows on his cheeks, spittle on
his face, the spear in his side,^ and the nails in his hands. He suffered
in all parts and members of his body from head to foot. His head,
which deserved a better crown than the best in the world, was crowned
^ Cf. Sibbes, vol. vii., p. 603, on note s, vol. ii., p. 195. — G.
* An oversight, as the Saviour was dead before his side was pierce 1, John xix. o4.— G.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY. 83
with thorns, and they smote him on the head. Osorius, writing of
the sufferings of Christ, saith, ' That the crown of thorns bored his
head with seventy-two wounds.' To see that head, before which
angels cast down themselves and worshipped, as I may say, crowned
with thorns, might well amaze us ; to see those eyes, that were purer
than the sun, put out by the darkness of death ; to see those ears
which hear nothing to speak to capacity, but halleluiahs of saints and
angels, to hear the blasphemies of the multitude ; to see that face
which was fairer than the sons of men, — for being born and conceived
without sin, he was freed from the contagious effects of it, deformity,
and was most perfectly beautiful, Ps. xlv. 2 ; Cant. v. 10 — to be spit
on by those beastly, wretched Jews ; to see that mouth and tongue,
that ' spake as never man spake,' accused for false doctrines, nay blas-
phemy ; to see those hands, which freely swayed the sceptre of heaven,
nailed to the cross ; to see those feet, ' like unto fine brass,' Kev. i. .15,
nailed to the cross for man's sins ; who can behold Christ thus suffer-
ing in all the members of his body, and not be struck with astonish-
ment ? Who can sum up the horrible abuses that were put upon
Christ by his base attendants ? The evangelist tells us that they spit
in his face and buffeted him, and that others smote him with the
palms of their hands, saying, ' Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is
he that smote thee ? ' Mat. xxvi. 67, 68 ; and, as Luke adds, ' many
other things blasphemously spake they against him,' Luke xxii. 65.
What those many other things were is not discovered ; only some
ancient writers say, ' That Christ in that night suffered so many and
such hideous things, that the whole knowledge of them is reserved only
for the last day of judgment,' Mallonius i writes thus, ' After Caiaphas
and the priests had sentenced Christ worthy of death, they committed
him to their ministers, warily to keep till day, and they immediately
threw him into the dungeon in Caiaphas' s house ; there they bound him
to a stony pillar, Avith his hands bound on his back, and then they fell
upon him with their palms and fists.' Others add that the soldiers,
not yet content, they threw him into a filthy, dirty puddle, where he
abode for the remainder of that night ; of which the psalmist seems to
speak, ' Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, and in the
deeps, and I sink in the deep mire, where there is no standing,' Ps.
Ixxxviii. 6, and Ixix. 2. But that you may clearly see what horrible
abuses were put upon Christ by his attendants, consider seriously of
these particulars : —
[1.] First, ' They spit in his face,' Mat. xxvi. 67. Now, this was
accounted among the Jews a matter of great infamy and reproach :
Num. xii. 14, ' And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had spit in
her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?' Spitting in the
face among the Jews was a sign of anger, shame, and contempt : Job
XXX. 10, ' They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit
in my face.' The face is the table of beauty or comeliness, and when
it is spit upon, it is made the seat of shame. Spitting in the face was
a sign of the greatest disgrace that could be put upon a person ; and
therefore it could not but be very bitter to Job to see base beggars spit in
that face that was wont to be honoured by princes. But this we are not
' Query, Maldonatus ?— G.
84 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY.
to wonder at, for there is no indignity so base and ignominious but the
choicest saints may meet with it in and from this evil world. Afflicted
persons are sacred things, and by the laws of nature and nations should
not be misused and trampled upon, but rather pitied and lamented
over ; but barbarous miscreants, when they have an opportunity, they
will not spare to exercise any kind of cruelty, as^ you see by their spit-
ting in the very face of Christ himself : ' I hid not my face,' saith
Christ, 'from shame and spitting,' Isa. 1. 6, 2. Though ' I was fairer
than the children of men,' Ps. xlv. 2, yet I used no mask to keep me
fair ; though ' I was white and ruddy/ ' the chiefest among ten thou-
sand,' Cant. V. 10, yet I preserved not my beauty from their nasty
spittle. Oh, that that sweet and blessed face of Jesus Christ, that is so
much honoured and adored in heaven, should ever be spit upon by
beastly wretches in this world !
[2.] Secondly, 'They struck him:' John xviii. 22, 'One of the
officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying,
Answerest thou the high priest so ? ' Because our Saviour gave not
the high priest his usual titles, but dealt freely with him, this impious
apparitor, or sergeant, to curry favour with his master, strikes him
with his hand, with his rod, say some, with his stick, say others : like
master like man. Oh, that that holy face which was designed to be the
object of heaven, in the beholding of which much of the celestial glory
doth consist — that that face which the angels stare upon with wonder,
like infants at a bright sunbeam — should ever be smitten by a base
varlet in the presence of a judge ! Among all the sufferings of Christ,
one would think that there was no great matter in this, that a vain
officer did strike him with the palm of his hand ; and yet if the Scrip-
tures are consulted, you will find that the Holy Grhost lays a great
stress upon it. Thus Jeremiah : ' He giveth his cheek to him that
smiteth him ; he is filled full with reproach,' Lam. iii. 30. Christ
did patiently and willingly take the stripes that vain men did in-
juriously lay upon him ; he sustained all kinds of vexations from the
hands of all kinds of ungodly ones. Thus Micah, speaking of Christ,
saith, ' They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the
cheek,' Micah v. 1. Hugo, by this Judge of Israel, understandeth our
Lord Jesus Christ, who was indeed at his passion contumeliously
' buffeted and smitten with rods upon the cheek,' Mat. xxvi. 67. By
smiting the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek, they express
their scorn and contempt of Christ. Smiting upon the face the apostle
makes a sign of great reproach : 2 Cor. xi. 20, ' If a man smite you
on the face.' ' There is nothing more disgraceful,' saith Chrysostom,
'than to be smitten on the cheek. 'i And the diverse reading of the
original word does fully evidence it : 'He struck him with a rod,' or
' he struck him with the palm of his hand,' iScoKe paTria/xa. Now, the
word paTTiafia, say some, refers to his being struck with a rod, or club,
or shoe, or plantofle ; 2 others say it refers to his being struck with
the palm of men's hands. Now, of the two, it is generally judged
more disgraceful to be struck with the palm of the hand than to be
struck with either a rod or a shoe ; and therefore we read the text
1 Homil. 82 in John c. 18.
' ' Plant,' = foot : plantofle = covering of foot, or a slipper.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY. 85
thus, ' He struck Jesus with the palm of his hand," that is, with open
hand, or with his hand stretched out.
Some of the ancients, commenting on this cufF, say, Let the heavens
be afraid, and let the earth tremble, at Christ's patience and his ser-
vant's impudence ! ye angels ! how were ye silent ? how could you
contain your hands when you saw his hand striking at God ? i ' If we
consider him,' saith another,^ ' who took the blow, was not he that
struck him worthy to be consumed of fire, or to be swallowed up of
earth, or to be given up to Satan, and thrown down into hell.'
Bernard saith, ' That his hand that struck Christ was armed with an
iron glove.' 3 And Vincentius affirms, * That by the blow Christ was
felled to the earth.'* And Ludovicus adds, * That blood gushed out
of his mouth ; and that the impression of the varlet's fingers remained
on Christ's cheek with a tumour and wan colour.' 5 If a subject should
but lift up his hand against a sovereign, would he not be severely
punished ? But should he strike hira, would it not be present death?
Oh, what desperate madness and wickedness was it then to strike the
King of kings and Lord of lords, whom not only men, but the cheru-
bims and seraphims, and all the celestial powers above, adore and
worship ? Rev. xvii. 16 ; Heb. i. 6. Those monsters in that Mat.
xxvi. 67 did not only strike Christ with the palm of their hands,
but they bufieted him also. Now, some of the learned observe this
difference betwixt pdiriafia and Ko\a(f)09 ; the one is given with the
open hand, the other with the fist shut up ; and thus they used him
at this time. They struck him with their fists, and so the stroke was
greater and more offensive ; for by this means they made his face to
swell, and to become full of bunches all over. One gives it in thus : By
these blows of their fists his whole head was swollen, his face became
black and blue, and his teeth ready to fall out of his jaws. Very pro-
bable it is that, with the violence of their strokes, they made him reel
and stagger, they made his mouth, and nose, and face to bleed, and
his eyes to startle in his head.
Now, concerning Christ's sufferings on the cross, I shall only hint
-a few things, and so close up this particular concerning Christ's cor-
poreal sufferings. Take me thus,
1. First, The death of Christ on the cross, it was a bitter death, a
sorrowful death, a bloody death. The bitter thoughts of his suffer-
ings put him into a most dreadful agony : Luke xxii. 44, * Being in
an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as great drops
of blood falling to the ground.' The Greek word that is here used,
'Aycovia, signifies a striving or wrestling against, as two combatants
or wrestlers do strive each against other. The things which our
Saviour strove against was not only the terror of death, as other men are
wont to do — for then many Christians and martyrs might have seemed
more constant and courageous than he — but with the terrible justice
of God, pouring out his high anger and indignation upon him on the
account of all the sins of his chosen that were laid upon him, than
which nothing could be more dreadful, Isa, liii. 4-6. Christ was
^ Chrysostom, Horn. 81 in John c. 18. ' Augustine in Trail. 13.
^ Bernard, Ser. de Pas. Vine. Serm. de Pas.
* Comment, in Ep. ad Ebrceos. 1634, folio. — G. ' Ludov. de Vila Christi.
86 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY.
in a vehement conflict in his soul, through the deepest sense of his
Father's wrath against sinners, for whom he now stood as a surety
and Kedeemer, 2 Cor. v. 21. And for a close of this particular, let
me say that God's justice which we have provoked, being fully satis-
fied by the inestimable merit of Christ's passion, is the surest and
highest ground of consolation that we have in this world ; but for the
more full opening i of this blessed scripture, let us take notice of these
following particulars : —
(1.) First, ' Eis siveat ivas as it ivere blood.' Some of the ancients
look upon these words only as a similitude or figurative hyperbole, it
being a usual kind of speech to call a vehement sweat a bloody sweat,
as he that weeps bitterly is said to weep tears of blood ; but the most
and best of the ancients understand the words in ^ literal sense, and
believe it was truly and properly a bloody sweat, and with them I
close. But some will object, and say it was sicut guttce sanguinis, as
it were drops of blood. Now to this I answer, first-, if the Holy
Ghost had only intended that sicut for a similitude or hyperbole, he
would rather have expressed it as it were drops of water,2 than ' as it
were drops of blood ; ' for we all know that sweat is more like to water
than to blood. But, secondly, I answer that sicut, as in Scripture
phrase, doth not always denote a similitude, but sometimes the very
thing itself, according to the verity of it. Take an instance or two
instead of many : ' We beheld his glory, as the glory of the only be-
gotten of the Father;' and ' their words seemed to them as it were
idle tales, and they beheved them not;' the words in the original,
ft)9, (Mo-efc, are the same. Certainly Christ's sweat in the garden
was a wonderful sweat, not a sweat of water, but of red gore-blood.
But,
(2.) Secondly, He sweat great drops of blood, clotty blood, issuing
through flesh and skin in great abundance, Opofi/Soi aLfiaTo<;, clotted
or congealed blood. There is a thin faint sweat, and there is a thick
clotted sweat. In this sweat of Christ blood came not from him in
small dews, but in great drops, they were drops, and great drops of
blood, crassyS and thick drops. Some read it droppings down of
blood ; that is, blood distilling in greater and grosser drops ; and
hence it is concluded as preternatural ; for though much may be said
for sweating blood in a course of nature, according to what Aristotle
affirms, and Austin saitli that he knew a man that could sweat blood,
even when he pleased ; and it is granted on all hands that in faint
bodies a subtle thin blood like sweat may pass through the pores of
the skin ; but that through the same pores crassy, thick, and great
drops of blood should issue out, — it was not, it could not be without a
miracle.4 Certainly the drops of blood that fell from Christ's body
were great, very great ; yea, so great as if they had started thi'ough his
skin to outrun the streams and rivers of his cross. But,
(3.) Thirdly, These great drops of blood did not only distillare,^ drop
out, but decurrere, run down like a stream, so fast, as if they had issued
out of most deadly wounds. They were ' great drops of blood falling
down to the ground' ! Here is magnitude and multitude ; great drops,
1 Misprinted ' opinion.'— G. * Misprinted ' nature.'— G. ' ' Thick,' ' fat.'— G.
* Aritit. lib. iii., do Hist. Animal, c. 29 ; August, lib. 14, de Civit. Dei., c. 24.
' Misprinted ' dillare.' — G.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY. 87
and those so many, so plenteous, as that they went through his ap-
parel, and all streamed down to the ground ; and now was the time that
his garments were dyed with crimson red. That of the prophet, though
spoken in another sense, yet in some respect may be applied to this,
' Wherefore art thou red in thy apparel, and thy garments like him that
treadeth the wine-fat ? ' Isa. Ixiii. 2. Oh, what a sight was here 1 His
head and members are all on a bloody sweat, and this sweat trickles
down, and bedecks his garments, which stood like a new firmament,
studded with stars, portending an approaching storm; nor stays it
there, but it falls down to the ground. Oh, happy garden that was
watered with such tears of blood ! Oh, how much better are these
rivers than Abana and Pharpar,^ rivers of Damascus, yea, than all
the waters of Israel ; yea, than all those rivers that water the garden
of Eden ! i So great was Scanderbeg's ardour in battle,2 that the
blood burst out of his lips ; but from our champion's, not lips only,
but whole body, burst out a bloody sweat. Not his eyes only were
fountains of tears, or his head waters, as Jeremiah wished, Jer. ix. 1,
but his whole body was turned, as it were, into rivers of blood. A
sweet comfort to such as are cast down for that that their sorrow for
sin is not so deep and soaking as they could desire.
Christ's blood is put in Scripture by a synecdoche of the part, for all
the sufferings which he underwent for all the sins of the elect, especially
his bloody death with all its concomitants, so called. First, because
death, especially when it is violent, is joined with the effusion of blood :
' If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been
partakers with them in the blood of the prophets,' Mat. xxiii. 30.
And so again, Pilate said, ' I am innocent of the blood of this just
person,' that is, of his death, Mat. xxvii. 24. Secondly, Herein respect
is had to all the sacrifices of the law, whose blood was poured out
when they were offered up. ' Almost all things are by the law purged
with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission,'
Heb. ix. 22 ; so that the blood of Christ is the antitype aimed at in
the blood of those sacrifices that were slain for sinners' sins. But,
2. Secondly, as the death of Christ on the cross, was a bitter death, a
bloody death, so the death of Christ on the cross was a lingering death.
It was more for Christ to suffer one hour than for us to have suffered
for ever ; but his death was lengthened out, he hung three hours on
the cross, he died many deaths before he could die one : ' from the
sixth till the ninth hour ' — that is, from twelve till three in the after-
noon — ' there was^ darkness over all the land,' Mat. xxvii. 45. About
twelve, when the sun is usually brightest, it began now to darken, and
this darkness was so great that it spread over all the land of Jewry ;
yea, some think over all the world. So we translate it in Luke, ' And
there was darkness over all the earth,' Luke xxiii. 44, to show God's
dislike of their horrid cruelty. He would not have the sun give light
to so horrid an act. The sun as it were, hid his face that he might
not see the Sun of righteousness so unworthily, so wickedly handled.
It was dark : 1. To show the blindness, darkness, and ignorance of the
Jews in crucifying the Lord of glory ; 2. To show the detestation of
the fact ; 3. To show the vileness of our sins. This darkness was not
a natural eclipse of the sun ; for, first, it cannot be so total, so general ;
^ Bernard, * Bucholcer.
88 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY.
nor secondly, it could not be so long, for the interposed moon goetK
swiftly away. Certainly this was no ordinary eclipse of the sun, seeing
the passover was kept at the full moon, when the moon stands right
opposite to the sun on the other side of the heaven, and for this cause
cannot hinder the. light of the sun, but a supernatural work of God
coming to pass by miracle, ' like as the darkness in Egypt,' Exod. x.
22. The moon being now in the full, it being in the midst of the
lunar month when the passover was killed, and so of necessity the
body of the moon — which useth to eclipse the sun by its interposition,
and being between us and the sun — must be opposite to and distant
from the sun the diametrical breadth of the hemisphere, the full moon
ever rising at the sun's setting, and therefore this eclipse could never
be a natural eclipse. Many Gentiles besides Jews observed this dark-
ness as a great miracle. Dionysius the Areopagite, as Suidas relates,
could say at first sight of it, ' Either the world is ending, or the God
of nature is suffering of this darkness.! Amos long before had prophe-
sied : * And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will cause the sun
to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day,' Amos
viii. 9. The opinion of authors concerning the cause of this darkness are
various. Some think that the sun by divine power, withdrew and held
back its beams ; others say that the obscurity was caused by some thick
clouds which were miraculously produced in the air, and spread them-
selves over all the earth ; others say that this darkness was by a won-
derful interposition of the moon, which at that time was at full, but by
a miracle interposed itself betwixt the earth and sun. Whatsoever was
the cause of this darkness, it is certain that it continued for the space
of three hours as dark as the darkest winter nights.
About three, which the Jews call the ninth hour. Mat. xxvii. 46, the
sun now beginning to receive his light, Jesus cried with a loud voice,
' Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me ? ' And then, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said ' I thirst ; '
and when he had received the vinegar, he said, ' It is finished,' John xix.
28, 30 ; and at last, crying with a loud voice, he said, ' Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit ; ' and having said thus, ' he gave up the
ghost,' Luke xxiii. 46. Christ's words were ever gracious, but never more
gracious than at this time. You cannot find in all the books and writ-
ings of men, in all the annals and records of time, either such suffer-
ings or such sayings as were these last words and wounds, sayings and
sufferings of Jesus Christ. ' And having said thus, he gave up the
ghost ; ' or as John relates it, ' He bowed his head and gave up the
ghost,' John xix. 30. Christ would not off the cro*ss till all was done
that was here to be done. 2 Christ bowed not because he was dead,
but first he bowed and then died ; that is, he died freely and willingly
without constraint, and he died cheerfully and comfortably without mur-
muring or repining. Oh, what a wonder of love is this, that Jesus Christ,
who is the author of life, the fountain of life, the lord of life, that he
should so freely, so readily, so cheerfully lay down his life for us ! &c.
About four in the afternoon he was pierced with a spear, and there
issued out of his side both blood and water : ' and one of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there-out blood and
^ Suidas in vita Dion. i Emisit, non amisit.— Ambrose.
OP THE SUFFERINGS OP CHEIST IN HIS BODY. 89
water,' John xix. 34. Out of the side of Christ, being now dead,
there issues water and blood, signifying that he is both our justification
and sanctification.
Thus was fulfilled that which was long before foretold : ' They shall
look upon me whom they have pierced,' Zech. xii. 10 ; thus ' came
Jesus by water and by blood,' 1 John v. 6 ; thus was there * a foun-
tain opened to the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,'
even to all the elect, ' for sin and for uncleanness,' Zech. xiii. 1. The
soldier's malice lived when Christ was dead. The water and blood
forthwith issuing out as soon as it was pierced with a spear, did evi-
dently show that he was truly dead. The Syriac paraphrase saith he
pierced his rib, that is, the fifth rib, where the pericardium lay. It is
very likely that the very pericardium was pierced. Now the peri-
cardium is a film or skin, like unto a purse, wherein is contained
clear water to cool the heat of the heart, i The blood, saith one,^
signifies the perfect expiation of the sins of the Church, and the
water, the daily washing and purging of it from the remainder of
her corruption. ' Water and blood issued out of Christ's side,' saith
another, ' to teach us that Christ justifieth none by his merit, but such
whom he sanctifieth by his Spirit.' Christ was pierced with a spear,
and water and blood presently issued out of his side, that his enemies
might not object that he rose again because he was but half dead on
the cross, and being so taken down he revived. To testify the con-
trary truth, John so seriously afl&rmeth the certainty of his death, he
being an eye-witness of the streaming out of Christ's blood as he stood
by Christ's cross. gates of heaven ! windows of paradise !
palace of refuge ! tower of strength ! sanctuary of the just ! O
flourishing bed of the spouse of Solomon ! Methinks I see water and
blood running out of his side more freshly than these golden streams
which ran out of the garden of Eden and watered the whole world.
But here I may not dwell, &c.
But to shut up this particular, about five, which the Jews call the
eleventh and the last hour of the day, Christ was taken down and
buried by Joseph and Nicodemus. But,
3. Thirdly, As the death of Christ on the cross was a lingering death,
so the death of Christ was a painful death. This appears several ways.
[1.] First, His legs and hands were violently racked and pulled out to
the places fitted for his fastenings, and then pierced through with nails.
His hands and feet were nailed, which parts being full of sinews, and
therefore very tender, his pains could not but be very acute and sharp.
[2.] Secondly, By this means he wanted the use both of his hands
and feet, and so he was forced to hang immovable upon the cross, as
being unable to turn any way for his ease, and therefore he could not
but be under very dolorous pains.
[3.] Thirdly, The longer he lived, the more he endured ; for by the
weight of his body his wounds were opened and enlarged, his nerves
and veins were rent and torn asunder, and his blood gushed out more
^ The whole subject is conclusively discussed by Dr Stroud in his ' Physical Cause of
Christ's Death,' 1 vol. 8vo. 1847. And cf. the interesting correspondence of eminent
medical men in Appendix to Dr Hanna's ' Last Day of our Lord's Passion.' 18G2. — G.
' Ambro«e on Luke.
90 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS BODY.
and more abundantly still. Now the envenomed arrows of God's
wrath shot to his heart. This was the direful catastrophe, and caused
that vociferation and outcry upon the cross, ' My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me ? ' The justice of God was now inflamed and
heightened to its full aKf^rj : Eom. viii. 32, ' God spared not his Son ; '
God would not abate one farthing of the debt. But,
[4.] Fourtlily, He died by piece-meals, he died by little and little,
he died not all at once. He that died on the cross was long a-dying.
Christ was kept a great while upon the rack ; it was full three hours
betwixt his affixion and expiration ; and certainly it would have been
longer if he had not freely and willingly given up the ghost. I have
read that Andrew the apostle was two whole days on the cross before
he died ; and so long might Christ have been a-dying, if God had not
supernaturally heightened the degrees of his torment. Doubtless
when Christ was on the cross he felt the very pains of hell, though
not locally, yet equivalently. But,
4. Fourthly, As the death of Christ on the cross was a painful death,
so the death of Christ on the cross was a shameful death. Christ was
in medio positus, he hung between two thieves, as if he had been the
principal malefactor, Mark xxvii. 38. Here they placed him to make
the world believe that he was the great ringleader of such men. Christ
was crucified in the midst as the chief of sinners that we might have
place in the midst of heavenly angels ; the one of these thieves went
railing to hell, the other went repenting forth right to heaven, living
long in a little time, Zech. iii. 7.
If you ask me the names of these two thieves who were crucified
with Christ, I must answer, that although the Scripture nominates
them not, yet some writers give them these names, Dismas and
Gesmas ; Dismas the happy, and Gesmas the miserable thief, accord-
ing to the poet —
Gesmas damnatur, Dismas ad astra levatur :
that is,
When Gesmas died, to Dives he was sent ;
When Dismas died, to Abraham up he went.^
Well might the lamp of heaven withdraw its light and mask itself
with darkness, as blushing to behold the Sun of righteousness hanging
between two thieves ! He shall be an Apollo to me that can tell me
which was the greater, the blood of the cross, or the shame of the
cross, Heb. xii. 2. It was a mighty shame that Saul's sons were
hanged on a tree, 2 Sam. xxi. 6. Oh, what a shameful death was it
for Christ to hang on a tree between two notorious thieves ! But,
5. Fifthly and lastly. As the death of Christ was a shameful
death, so the death of Christ was a cursed death ; ' Cursed is every
one that hangeth on a tree,' Deut. xxi. 23. The death on the tree
was accursed above all kinds of death ; ' as the serpent was accursed
above all beasts of the field,' Gen. iii. 14, both for the first transgres-
sion, whereof the serpent was the instrument, the tree the occasion.
Since the death of any malefactor might be a monument of God's
curse for sin, it may be questioned, why this brand is peculiarly set
^ Rather Dcmas, and Gestas, not Gesmas. Evangel. Nicod. i. 10: Narrat. Joseph,
0. 3.-0.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL. 91
upon tliis kind of punishment ; that he that is hanged is accursed of
God. To which I answer, that the reason of this was, because this
was esteemed the most shameful, the most dishonourable and infamous
of all kinds of death, and was usually therefore the punishment of those
that had by some notorious wickedness provoked God to pour out his
wrath upon the whole land, and so were hanged up to appease his
wrath, as we may see in the hanging of those princes that were guilty
of committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab, Num.^ xxv. 4 ;
and in the hanging of those sons of Saul in the days of David, when
there was a famine in the land, because of Saul's perfidious oppressing
of the Gibeonites, 2 Sam. xxi. 6. Nor was it without cause that this
kind of death was both by the Israelites and other nations esteemed
the most shameful and accursed ; because the very manner of the
death did intimate that such men as were thus executed were such
execrable and accursed wretches, that they did defile the earth with
treading upon it, and would pollute the earth if they should die upon
it ; and therefore were so trussed up in the air as not fit to live
amongst men ; and that others might look upon them as men made
spectacles of God's indignation and curse, because of the wickedness
they had committed, which was not done in other kinds of death.
And hence it was that the Lord God would have his Son, the Lord
Christ, to suffer this kind of death, that even hence it might be the more
evident, that in his death he bare the curse due to our sins, according
to that of the apostle : ' Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law, being made a curse for us ; for it is written. Cursed is every one
that hangeth on a tree/ Gal. iii. 13. The Chaldee translateth, 'For
because he sinned before the Lord he is hanged.' The tree whereon a
man was hanged, the stone wherewith he was stoned, the sword where-
with he was beheaded, and the napkin wherewith he was strangled,
they were all buried, that there might be no evil memorial of such a
one, to say, This was the tree, sword, stone, napkin, wherewith such a
one was executed. This kind of death was so execrable that Constan-
tine made a law that no Christian should die upon the cross; he
abolished this kind of death out of his empire. When this kind of
death was in use among the Jews, it was chiefly inflicted upon slaves,
that either falsely accused, or treacherously conspired their master's
death. But on whomsoever it was inflicted, this death in all ages
among the Jews had been branded with a special kind of ignominy ;
and so much the apostle signifies when he saith, ' He abased himself
to the death, even to the death of the cross,' Phil. ii. 2. I know
Moses' law speaks nothing in particular of crucifying, yet he doth in-
clude the same under the general of hanging on a tree ; and some con-
ceive that Moses, in speaking of that curse, foresaw what manner of
death the Lord Jesus should die. And let thus much suffice concerning
Christ's sufferings on the cross, or concerning his corporeal sufferings.
II. I shall now, in the second place, speak concerning Christ's spirit-
iial sufferings, his sufierings in his soul, which were exceeding high
and great. Now here I shall endeavour to do two things : First, To
prove that Christ suffered in his soul, and so much the rather because
that the papists say and write, that Christ did not truly and properly
and immediately suffer in his soul, but only by way of sympathy and
92 or THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL.
compassion with his body to the mystical body ; and that his bare
bodily sufferings were sufficient for man's redemption. Second, That
the sufferings of Christ in his soul were exceeding high and great.
For the first, that Christ suffered in his soul, I shall thus demonstrate.
(1.) First, Express Scriptures do evidence this : Isa. liii. 10, ' When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,' &c. ;
John xii. 27, ' Now is my soul troubled ; and what shall I say ?
Father, save me from this hour : but for this cause came I unto this
hour ;' 'Mat. xxvi. 37, 38, ' He began to be sorrowful and very heavy.'
These were but the beginnings of sorrow : he began, &c. Sorrow is
a thing that drinks up our spirits, and he was heavy, as feeling a
heavy load upon him ; ver. 38, ' My soul is exceedipg sorrowful, even
unto death.' Christ was as full of sorrow as his heart could hold.
Every word is emphatical, ' My soul ; ' his sorrow pierced his heaven-
born soul. As the soul was the first agent in transgression, so it
is here the first patient in affliction. The sufferings of his body were
but the body of his sufferings ; the soul of his sufferings were the
sufferings of his soul, which was now beset with sorrows, and heavy as
heart could hold.i Christ was sorrowful, his soul was sorrowful, his
soul was exceeding sorrowful, his soul was exceeding sorrowful unto
death. Christ's soul was in such extremity of sorrow, that it made
him cry out, ' Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass ;' and this
was with ' strong cryings and tears,' Heb. v. 7. To cry, and to cry
with a loud voice, argues great extremity of sufferings : Mark xiv. 33,
Mark saith, 'And he began to be amazed, and to be very heavy;'
or we may more fully express it thus, according to the original, km rjp^-
aro cKdafji^eiaOaL, Kai aBrjfjiovelv, ' He begun to be gastred 2 with
wonderful astonishment, and to be satiated, filled brimful with
heaviness : a very sad condition ! All the sins of the elect, like a huge
army, meeting upon Christ, made a dreadful onset on his soul : Luke
xxii. 43, 44, it is said ' He was in an agony.' That is a conflict in
which a poor creature wrestles with deadly pangs, with all his might,
mustering up all his faculties and force to grapple with them and
withstand them. Thus did Christ struggle with the indignation
of the Lord, praying once and again with more intense fervency, ' Oh,
that this cup may pass away ; if it be possible, let this cup pass away ! '
Luke xxii. 42, 43 ; while yet an angel strengthened his outward man
from utter sinking in the conflict. Now, if this weight that Christ did
bear had been laid on the shoulders of all the angels in heaven, it
would have sunk them down to the lowest hell ; it would have cracked
the axle-tree of heaven and earth. It made his blood startle out
of his body in congealed doddered ^ heaps. The heat of God's fiery
indignation made his blood to boil up till it ran over ; yea, divine
wrath affrighted it out of its wonted channel. The creation of the
world cost him but a word ; he spake and the world was made ; but
the redemption of souls cost him bloody sweats and soul-distraction.
What conflicts, what strugglings with the wrath of God ! the powers
of darkness 1 what weights I what burdens ! what wrath did he
undergo when his soul was heavy unto death ! * beset with terrors,' as
^ Christ's soul was beleaguered, or compassed round, round with sorrow, as that word
TtptXiTos sounds. ' ' Terrified.' — G. » ' Coagulated.' — Q.
OF THE SUFFERINGS CF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL. 93
the word implies, when he drank that bitter cup, that cup of bitter-
ness, that cup mingled with curses, which made him sweat drops
of blood ! which, if men or angels had but sipped of, it would have
made them reel, stagger, and tumble into hell. The soul of Christ
was overcast with a cloud of God's displeasure. The Greek Church,
speaking of the sufferings of Christ, calls them cuyvo3(na iradrjiiara,
' unknown sufferings.' Ah Christians ! who can speak out this sorrow ?
' The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit
who can bear ?' Prov. xviii. 14. Christ's soul is sorrowful ; but give
me that word again, his soul is exceeding sorrowful ; but if that word
be yet too low, then I must tell you that ' his soul was exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death : ' not only extensively, such as must con-
tinue for the space of seventeen or eighteen hours, even until death
itself should finish it, but also intensively such, and so great as that
which is used to be at the very point of death, and such as were able
to bring death itself, had not Christ been reserved to a greater and
heavier punishment. Of this sorrow is that especially spoken, ' Behold
and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto
me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce
anger,' Lam. i. 12. Many a ^ad and sorrowful soul hath, no question,
been in the world ; but the like sorrow to this was never since the
creation. The very terms or phrases used by the evangelists speak
no less. He was ' sorrowful and heavy,' saith one ; ' amazed, and very
heavy,' saith another ; ' in an agony,' saith a third ; 'in a soul-
trouble,' saith a fourth. Certainly, the bodily torments of the cross
were much inferior to the agony of his soul. The pain of the body is
the body of pain. Oh, but the very soul of sorrow is the soul's sorrow,
and the very soul of pain is the soul's pain.
(2.) Secondly, That lohich Christ assumed or took of our nature,
he Ojssumed to this end, to suffer in it; and hy suffering, to save and
redeem it. But he took the whole nature of man, both body and soul ;
ergo, he suffered in both. First, the assumption is evident, and needs
no proof ; that Christ took upon him both our soul and body, the
apostle assures us, where he saith, ' That in all things it became him
to be like unto us,' Heb. ii. 17 ; therefore he had both body and soul
as we have. Secondly, concerning the proposition, viz., That what
Christ took of our nature, he took it by suffering in it properly and
immediately to redeem us. Now this is evident by that blessed word,
where the apostle saith, ' Christ took part with them that he might
destroy, through death, him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil,' ver. 14, 15 ; ' and deliver them, who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage.' Hence I reason thus, that
wherein Christ delivered us, he took part with us in ; but he delivered
us from fear of death ; ergo, he did therein communicate with us.
Now mark, this fear was the proper and inmiediate passion of the
soul, namely, the fear of death and God's anger. And the text giveth
this sense. Because the fear of this death kept them in bondage, but
the fear only of the bodily death doth not bring us into such bondage ;
witness that Song of Zacharias ; * That we, being delivered from the
hands of our enemies, should serve him without fear,' Luke i. 74.
This then is a spiritual fear, from the which Christ did deliver us ;
94 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL.
ergo. He did communicate wdth us in this fear ; for the apostle saith,
' In 'that wherein he suffered, and was tempted, he is able to succour
them that are tempted,' Heb. ii. 18. Certainly that fear which fell on
Christ was a real fear, and it was in his soul, and did not arise from
the mere contemplation of bodily torments only, for the very martyrs
in the encountering with them have feared little. Assuredly there was
some great matter that lay upon the very soul oi Christ, which made
him so heavy, and sorrowful, and so afraid, and in such an agony.
But if you please, take this second argument in another form of
words, thus : ivhat Christ lock of ours, that he in suffering offered up
for us, for his assuming of our nature, was for this end, to suffer for
us in our nature ; but he took our nature in body and in soul, and he
delivered our souls as well as our bodies ; and the sins of our souls did
need his sacrifice as well as the sins of our bodies; and our souls
were crucified with Christ as well as our bodies. Mens mea in Christo
crucifixa est, saith Ambrose. Surely if our whole man was lost, then
our whole man did need the benefit and help of a whole Saviour ; and
if Christ had assumed only our flesh, our body, then our souls adjudged,
adjudged to punishment, had remained under transgression without
hope of pardon. Several sayings of the ancients doth further strengthen
this argument. Take a taste of some. Si iotus homo periit, iotus
heneficio salvatoris indiguit, &c. If the whole man perished, the whole
man needed a Saviour.^ Christ therefore took the whole man, body
and soul. If he had taken only flesh, the soul should remain addict to
punishment of the first transgression, without hope of pardon. By the
same reason, Christ must also suffer properly in soul, because not by
taking oiu' soul, but by satisfying in his soul, our soul is delivered.
' Suscepit animam meam, suscepit corpus meum,' [saith] Ambrose,
* He took all our passions, or affections, to sanctify them all in him-
self; but Christ was sanctified and consecrated by his death, and so
doth he consecrate us,' [saith] Damascene. ' For by one offering, he
hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified, Heb. x. 14 ; ergo, by
his offering of our soul, and suffering in our soul, hath he consecrated
our soul and affections.
Suscepit affectum meum, ut emendaret, He took my affection to
amend it, &c. Now he hath amended it, in that he consecrated it by
his offering, Heb. x. 14 ; Illud pro nobis suscepit, quod in nobis amplius
periclitabatur. He hath taken that for us,, which was most in danger
for us, &c., that is, our soul as he expoundeth it: [Damascene] de
Incamatio7ie, c. 7. But Christ hath not otherwise delivered us from
the danger, but by entering into the danger for us ; this danger of the
soul is the fear and feeling of God's wrath.
(3.) Thirdly, Christ bore our sorrows, Isa. liii. 4. Now what sor-
rows should we bear, but the sorrows due unto us for our sins ; and
surely these were not corporal only, but spiritual also, and those did
Christ bear in his soul. The same prophet saith, ver. 10, ' He shall
make his soul an offering for sin;' ergo, Christ offered his soul as
well as his body. Again, our Saviour himself saith, ' My soul is very
heavy unto death,' Mat. xxvi. 38. Certainly it was not the bodily
death which Christ feared, for then he should have been weaker than
^ Augustine Conf. : Felician., c. 13.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL. 95
many martyrs, yea, than many of the Komans, who made no more of
dying, than of dining ; therefore Christ's soul was verily and properly
stricken with heaviness, and not with the beholding of bodily torments
only, as some dream. But,
(4.) Fourtlily, That whereby Adam and we ever since, do most pro-
perly commit sin, by the same hath Christ, the second Adam, made
satis/action properly for our sin ; but Adam did, and we all do pro-
perly commit sin in our souls, our bodies being but the instruments ;
ergo, Christ by, and in his soul, hath properly made satisfaction.
[1.] First, The truth of the proposition is confirmed by the apostle,
* As by one man's disobedience we are made sinners, so by th6 obe-
dience of one many shall be made righteous,' Kom. v. 19. Christ then
satisfied for us by the same wherein Adam disobeyed. Now Adam's
soul was in the transgression as well as his body, and accordingly was
Christ's very soul in liis sufferings and satisfaction, and Christ obeyed,
that is, in his soul; for obedience belongeth to the soul, as one ob-
serveth upon those words of the apostle : Phil. ii. 8, ' He became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross : who doth not under-
stand,' saith the same author, ' that obedience doth belong to the
human will ? ' i
That there is a kind of dying in the soul when it is pierced with
grief, besides the death of the soul, either by sin or damnation, is not
disagreeing to the Scripture. Simeon saith to Mary, ' A sword shall
pierce through thy soul,' Luke ii. 35. Look as then the body dieth,
being pierced with a sword, so the soul may be said to die or languish,
when it is pierced with grief. What else is crucifying but dying ?
Now, the soul is said to be crucified, as is evident by that passage of
the apostle, ' I am crucified to the world,' Gal. vi. 14, when as yet his
body was alive. So Ambrose doubts not to say, Men^ mea in (Jhristo
crucifixa est, My soul was crucified in Clii'ist, that is, Christ in his
soul was crucified, which he calleth our soul, because he did assume
our soul and body ;^ or else where he saith, Mea est voluntas, quam
suam dixit, &c. It is my will, which he calleth his ; it is my heavi-
'ness, which he took with my affections ; yet was it properly and per-
sonally Christ's soul and will, but ours by community of nature.^
[2.] Secondly, For the assumption. 1. Howsoever it be admitted
that the body is the instrument of the soul, both in sinning and
sufiering, yet the conclusion is this, that because sin is committed in
the soul principally and properly, therefore the satisfaction must be
made in the soul principally and properly. If tliis conclusion be
granted, we have that we would ; for the bodily pains affecting the soul
are not the proper passions of the soul, neither is the soul said to suffer
properly, when the body suffereth, but by way of compassion and con-
sent. 2. We grant that in the proper and immediate sufferings of
the soul the body also is affected : as when Christ was in his agony in
the garden, his whole body was therewith stirred and moved, and that
it did sweat drops of blood. But it is one thing when the grief be-
ginneth immediately in the soul and so affecteth the body, and when
the pain is first inflicted upon the body and so worketh upon the soul,
^ Agatlio Epist. ad Constantin. upon Phil. ii. S.
* Ambrose, lib. v. iu Luc. ^ Ambrose, lib. ii., dc sid. c. 3.
96 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL.
there the soul suffereth properly and principally ; of ^yhich sufFerin^rs
we speak here neither properly nor principally, which is not the thing
in question. 3. It is not the reasonable soul that is affected with
the body, for it is a ground in philosophy that the soul suffereth not,
but only the sensitive part. But the grief that we speak of, that is
satisfactory for sin, must be in the very reasonable soul where sin took
the beginning, and so Ambrose saith i upon those words of Christ,
* My soul is heavy to death,' Ad rationabilis assumpiionem animoe,
&c.,naturce humancere/ertur affectum, It is referred to the assumption
of the reasonable soul, and human affection. ^
Pride, ambition, infidelity began in Adam's soul, and had their de-
termination there. In the committing of those sins the body had no
part. Indeed with the ear they heard the suggestion of Satan ; but it
was no sin till in their minds they had consented unto it. Wherefore
seeing the first sin committed was properly and wholly in the soul, for
the same the soul must properly and wholly satisfy.
Because sin took beginning from Adam's soul, the satisfaction also
must begin in Christ's soul, -as Ambrose saith, 2 Incipio in Christo vin-
cere, unde in Adam victus sum, I begin there to win in Christ, where
in Adam I was overcome. Then it followeth that the sufferings of
Christ's soul took beginning there, and were not derived by sympathy
from the stripes and pain of the body. We infer, then, that therefore
Christ's soul had proper and immediate sufferings, besides those which
proceeded from sympathy with his body, and all Christ's sufferings
were satisfactory : ergo, Christ did satisfy for our sins properly and
immediately in his soul.
But if you please, take this fourth argument in another form of
words, thus, The punishment lohich was pronounced against the first
Adam, onr first surety, and in him against us, that same did Christ,
the second Adam, our next and best surety, hear for us, or else it must
still lie upon us to suffer it. But the punishment threatened and de-
nounced against Adam for transgression, ivas not only corporal, re-
specting our bodies, hut spiritual also, respecting our souls. There
was a spiritual malediction due unto our souls, as well as a corporal,
&c. V -
ytjook, as God put a sanction on the law and covenant of works made
with all of us in Adam, that he and his should be liable to death, both
of body and soul, which covenant being broken by sin, all sinners be-
came obnoxious to the death both of body and soul, so it was necessary
that the redeemed should be delivered from the death of both by the
Kedeemer's tasting of death in both kinds, as much as should be suffi-
cient for their Redemption. sirs, as sin infected the whole man, soul
and body, and the curse following on sin left no part nor power of the
man's soul free ; so justice required that the Kedeemer, coming in the
room of the persons redeemed, should feel the force of the cm'se both
in body and soul. But,
(5.) Fiftlily, 'He shall see of the travail of his soid,' Isa. liii. 11.
Here the soul is taken properly, and the travail of Christ's soul is his
sufferings ; for it follows, ' and he shall bear their iniquities.' But,
(6.) Sixthly, Christ gave himself for his people's sins: '^Vho gave
^ Ambrose dc Incarnat., cap. 7. * Ambrose, lib. iv. in Luc.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL. 97
himself for our sins,' Tit, ii. 14 ; ' Who gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquities,' &c., Eph. v. 25; 1 Tim. ii. 6.
But the body only is not himself ; ergo, the apostle saith, Phil. ii. 7,
Christus eKevwae, exmanivit, Christ did empty or evacuate himself ;
or, as Tertullian expounds it,^ exhausit; he drew out himself, or was
exhaust, which agrees with the prophecy of Daniel, chap. ix. 26,
* Messias shall have nothing, being brought to nothing by his death,
without life, strength, esteem, honour,' &c. Hence we conclude that
if Christ were exhaust upon the cross, if nothing was left him, that he
suffered in body and soul, that there was no part within or without
free from the cross, but all was emptied and poured out for our
redemption.
Again, we read that Christ, ' through the eternal Spiritj offered him-
self to God,' Heb. ix. 14. Whatsoever was in Christ did either offer
or was offered; his eternal Spirit only did offer; ergo, his whole human
nature, both body and soul, was offered. Thus Origen witnesseth in
these words. Vide quomodo verus pontifex Jesus Christus^ adsumpto
hatillo carnis humance, &C.2 — See how our true priest, Jesus Christ,
taking the censer of his human flesh, putting to the fire of the altar —
that is, his magnificent soul, wherewith he was born in the flesh — and
adding incense — that is, an immaculate spirit — stood in the midst be-
tween the living and the dead. Thus you see that he makes Christ's
soul a part in the sacrifice.
(7.) Seventhly and lastly, Christ's love unto man, in suffering for
him, was in the highest degree and greatest measure that could be; as
the Lord saith, ' What could I have done any more for my vineyard
that I have not done unto it ? ' But if Christ had given his body only,
and not his soul for us, he had not done for us all he could, and so
his love should have been greatly impaired and diminished ; ergo, he
gave his soul also, together with his body, to be the full price of our
redemption. And certainly the travail and labour of Christ's soul
was most acceptable unto God : ' Therefore I will give him a portion
with the great, because he hath poured out his soul unto death,' &c.,
' and bare the sins of many/ Isa. liii. 12. Doubtless the sufferings of
Christ in his soul, together with his body, doth most fully and amply
commend and set forth God's great love to poor sinners. Before I
close up this particular, take a few testimonies of the fathers, which do
witness with us for the sufferings of Christ, both in soul and body.
Christ hath taken off3 us that which he should offer as proper for us,
to redeem us ; and whatsoever Christ took off 3 us, he offered ; ergo, he
offered body and soul, for he took both.*
Another upon these words, 'My soul is heavy,' saith, 'Animapas-
sionibus obnoxia, divinitas libera,' His soul was subject to passions,
his divinity was free, &c,^ If nothing were free but his divine
nature, then his soul was subject to the proper and immediate passions
thereof.
Ferspicmcm est, sicut corpus Jlagellatum,ita animam vere doluisse,
&C.6 — It is evident that as his body was whipped, so his soul was verily
^ Tertullian, Contra Marcian., lib. v. ' Origen, Horn. 9 in Levit.
* Qu. ' of ?— Ed. *■ Ambrose de Incarnat., c. 6.
" Concil. Hispalens., ii. c. 13. ^ Jerome in 53d cap. Isaiah.
VOL. V. G
98 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL.
and truly grieved, lest some part of Christ's suffering should be true,
some part false ; ergo, Christ's soul as properly and truly suffered as
his body. The soul had her proper grief, as the body had whipping ;
the whipping, then, of the body was not the proper grief of the soul.
Whole Christ gave himself, and whole Christ offered himself ; ergo,
he offered his soul, not only to suffer by way of compassion with his
body, as it may be answered, but he offered it as a sacrifice, and suffered
all passions whatsoever incident to the soul. The same author ex-
pounds himself further thus: 'Because this God took whole man,
therefore he shewed in truth in himself the passions of whole man ;
and having a reasonable soul, what infirmities soever of the soul with-
out sin he took and bare.^ If Christ, then, did take and bear all the
passions of the soul without sin, then the proper and immediate grief
and anguish thereof, and not the compassion only with the body. To
these let me add the consent of the Keformed churches : 2 * Christ did
suffer both in body and soul, and was made like unto us in all things,
sin only excepted.'
Thomas [Aquinas] granteth that Christ, secundum genus, passus
est omnem passionem humanam, in general, suffered all human suf-
ferings, as in his soul heaviness, fear, &c.^
Now the testimonies of the fathers, and the consent of the Eeformed
churches, affirming the same, that Christ was crucified in his soul,
and that he gave his soul a price of redemption for our souls
Who can then doubt of this, but that Christ verily, properly, imme-
diately suffered in his soul, in all the proper passions thereof, as he
endured pains and torments in his flesh ; and if you please, this may
go for an eighth argument to prove that Christ suffered in his soul.
2. Secondly, That the sufferings of Christ in his soul were verp
high, and great, and wonderful, both as to the punishment of loss, and
as to the punishment of sense; all which I shall make evident in these
four particulars :
[1.] First, That Jesus Christ did suffer dereliction of God really;
that he was indeed deserted and forsaken of God is most evident:
Mat. xxvii. 46, ' My God,Jmy God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' But
to prevent mistakes in this high point, seriously consider, 1. That I
do not mean that there was any such desertion of Christ by God as
did dissolve the union of the natures in the person of Christ.^ For
Christ in all his sufferings still remained God and man. Nor, 2, do
I mean an absolute desertion in respect of the presence of God. For
God was still present with Christ in all his sufferings, and the God-
head did support his humanity in and under his sufferings. But that
which I mean is this — that as to the sensible and comforting mani-
festations of God's presence, thus he was for a time left and forsaken
of God. God for a time had taken away all sensible consolation and
felt joy from Christ's human soul, that so divine justice might in
his sufferings be the more fully satisfied. In this desertion, Christ is
not to be looked upon simply as he is in his own person, the Son of
^ Fulgentius ad Thrasimund., lib. iii. 2 French Confess. Harm., p. 99, § 6.
' 3 par., qu. 46, artic. 5.
* Forsaken, 1. By denying of protection ; 2. Bv withdrawing of solace : Non solvit
unionem, sed suhiraxit visionem, The union was'not dissolved, but the beams, the in-
fluence was restrained. — Leo.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL. 99
the Father, Mat. iii. 17, in whom he is always well pleased, Mark i.
11, but as he standeth in the room of sinners, surety and cautioner,
paying their debt ; in which respect it concerned Christ to be dealt
with as one standing in our stead, as one guilty, and paying the debt
of being forsaken of God, which we were bound to suffer fully and for
ever, if he had not interposed for us. There is between Christ and
God, 1. An eternal union natural of the person ; 2. Of the Godhead
and manhood ; 3. Of grace and protection. In this last sense, he
means forsaken according to his feeling. Hence he said not. My
Father, my, Father, but. My God, my God; which words are not
words of complaining, but words expressing his grief and sorrow.
Our Lord Christ was forsaken, not only of all creature comforts, but
that which was worse than all, of his Father's favour, to his present
apprehension, left forlorn and destitute for a time, that we might be
received for ever. Christ was for a time left and forsaken of God, as
David, who in this particular was a type of Christ's suffering, cried
out, Ps. xxii. 1, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? why
art thou so far from my help ? ' He was indeed really forsaken of
God ; God did indeed leave him in respect of his sense and feeling. "^
So was Christ truly and really forsaken of God, and not in colour or
show, as some affirm. Athanasius, speaking of God's forsaking of
Christ, saith, ' All things were done naturally and in truth, not in
opinion or show.' ^ Though God did still continue a God to David,
yet in David's apprehension and feeling he was forsaken of God.
Though God was still a God to Christ, yet as to his feeling he was
left of God, to wrestle with God, and to bear the wrath of God, due
unto us. Look, as Christ was scourged, that we might not be scourged,
so Christ was forsaken, that we might not be forsaken. Christ was
forsaken for a time, that we might not be forsaken for ever [Ambrose].
Fevardentius absolutely denies that Christ did truly complain upon
the cross that he was forsaken of God ; and therefore he thus object-
eth and reasoneth: ' If Christ were truly forsaken of God, it would
follow that the hypostatical union was dissolved, and that Christ was
personally separated from God, for otherwise he could not be forsaken.' 3
To what he objects we thus reply, first, If Christ had been totally
and eternally forsaken, the personal union must have been dissolved ;
but upon this temporal and partial rejection or dereliction there fol-
loweth not a personal dissolution, or general dereliction. But secondly,
As the body of Christ, being without life, was still hypostatically united
to the Godhead, so was the soul of Christ, though for a time without
feeling of his favour. The dereliction of the one doth no more dissolve
the hypostatical union than the death of the other. If life went from
the body, and yet the deity was not separated in the personal conse-
cration, but only suspended in operation, so the feeling of God's favour,
which is the life of the soul, might be intermitted in Christ, and yet
the divine union not dissolved. Thirdly, Augustine doth well shew
^ ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.' Christ spake these words that
thereby he might draw the Jews to a serious consideration and animadversion of his
death and passion, which he underwent, not for his own but for our sins. — Pet. Gal., lib.
viii. c. 18, p. 343. [Pet. Galesinus.— G.]
^ Eelinquit Deus dum non relinquit, saith TertuUian.
^ Fevarden., p. 473, confut 1. [Franciscus Fevardentius. — G.]
100 OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL.
how this may be when he saith, Passio Christi dulcis fuit divinitatis
somnMS,!— That the passion of Christ was the sweet sleep of his divi-
nity; Uke as when in sleep the soul is not departed, though the opera-
tion thereof be deferred ; so in Christ's sleep upon the cross the God-
head was not separated, though the working power thereof were for a
time sequestered. Look, as the elect members of Christ may be for-
saken, though not totally or finally, but ex parte, in part and for a
time, and yet their election remain firm still ; the same may be the
case of our head, that he was ex parte derelictus, only in part forsaken,
and for a time, always beloved for his own innocency, but for us and
in our person, as our pledge and surety, deserted.
There are two kinds of dereliction or forsaking ; one is for a time
and in part ; so the elect may be, and so Christ was forsaken upon the
cross : another which is total, final, and general ; and so neither Christ
nor his members never was nor never shall be forsaken. Christ, in
the deepest anguish of his soul, is upheld and sustained by his faith,
* My God, my God,' whereby he sheweth his singular confidence and
trust in God, notwithstanding the present sense of his wrath.
Quest. But how can Christ be forsaken of God, himself being God ;
for the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are all three but one and the
same God ? Yea, how can he be forsaken of God, seeing he is the
Son of God ? and if the Lord leave not his children, which hope and
trust in him, how can he forsake Christ, his only-begotten Son, who
depended upon him and his mighty power ?
Ans.l. First, By God here we are to understand God the Father,
the first person of the blessed Trinity. According to the vulgar and
common rule, when God is compared with the Son or Holy Ghost,
then the Father is meant by this title God ; not that the Father is
more God than the Son — for in dignity all the three persons are equal
— but they are distinguished in order only ; and thus the Father is the
first person, the Son the second, and the Holy Ghost the third.
Arhs. 2. Secondly, Our Saviour's complaint, that he was forsaken,
must be understood in regard of his human nature, and not of his
Godhead ; although the Godhead and manhood were never severed
from the first time of his incarnation ; but the Godhead'of Christ, and
so the Godhead of the Father, did not shew forth his power in his
manhood, but did as it were lie asleep for a time, that the manhood
might suffer.
Ans. 3. Thirdly, Christ was not indeed utterly forsaken of God in
regard of his human nature, but only as it were forsaken — that is,
although there were some few minutes and moments in which he re-
ceived no sensible consolations from the Deity, yet that he was not
utterly forsaken is most clear from this place, where he flees unto the
Lord as unto his God, ' My God, my God,' as also from his resun-ec-
tion the third day.
_ Ans. 4. Fourthly, Di'tdnes say that there are six kinds of derelic-
tion or forsakings :— 1. By disunion of person; and 2. By loss of
grace ; and 3. By diminution and weakenings of grace ; and 4. By
want of assurance of future deliverance and present support ; and 5.
By denial of protection ; and 6. By withdrawing of all solace and
* August., lib de essen. divin.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST IN HIS SOUL. 101
comfort. Now it is foolish and impious to think that Christ was for-
saken any of the first four ways, for the unity of his person was never
dissolved, his graces were never either taken away or diminished,
neither was it possible that he should want assurance of future deliver-
ance and present support that was eternal God and Lord of life ; but
the two last ways he may rightly be said to have been forsaken, in that
his Father denied to protect and keep him out of the hands of his
cruel, bloody, and merciless enemies, no ways restraining them, but
suffering them to do the uttermost that their wicked hearts could
imagine, and left him to endure the extremity of their fury and malice ;
and, that nothing might be wanting to make his sorrows beyond mea-
sure sorrowful, withdrew from him that solace and comfort that he
was wont to find in God, and removed far from him all things for a
little time that might any way lessen and assuage the extremity of his
pain.
[2.] Secondly, That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the wrath of
God lohich was dice unto us for our sins. The prophet Isaiah, chap,
liii. 4, saith, ' That he was plagued and smitten of God ' ; and ver. 5,
' The chastisement of our peace was upon him.' To be plagued and
smitten of God is to feel and suffer the stroke of his wrath ; and so to
be chastised of God, as to make peace with God or to appease him, is
so to suffer the wrath of God as to satisfy God and to remove it. And
truly how Christ should possibly escape the feeling of the wrath of
God incensed against our sins, he standing as a surety for us with our
sins laid upon him, and for them fully to satisfy the justice of God, is
not Christianly or rationally imaginable.
And whereas some do object that Christ was always the beloved of
his Father, and therefore could never be the object of God's wrath :
I answer. By distinguishing of the person of Christ, whom his
Father always loved, and as sustaining our sins, and in our room
standing to satisfy the justice of God ; and as so the wrath of God
fell upon him and he bore it, and so satisfied the justice of God, that
we thereby are now delivered from wrath through him. So the apostle,
Eom. V. 9, ' Much more, being justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath by him;' 1 Thes. i. 10, 'And to wait for his Son from
heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us
from the wrath to come.'
It is a groundless conceit of some learned heads, wh.o^dd!iy"the cause
of Christ's agony to be the drinking of that cup of wrath that was
given to him by his Father, John xviii. 11, sajn^ng that the sight of it
only, and of the peril he saw we were in, was the cause of hb agony ;
for the cup was not only shewed unto him,; and the great Wrath due
to our sins set before him, that he should -eee it and tremble at the
apprehension of the danger we were in, but it was poured not only on.
him, but into him, that he for the sins of his redeemed ont^s should
suft'er it sensibly, and drink it, that the bitterness thereof might affect
all the powers of his soul and body • for the Scripture does sufficiently
testify that not only upon the sight and apprehension of this wrath and
curse coming on him the holy human nature did holily abhor it, but
also that he submitted to receive it upon the consideration of the divine
decree and agreement made upon the price to be paid by him, and
102 THAT JESUS CHRIST DID SUFFER TORMENT,
that upon the feeling of this wrath, this agony in his soul, the bloody-
sweat of his body was brought on.i
Quest. But how could the pourings forth of the Father's wrath
upon his innocent and dear Son consist with his Fatherly love to
him ? &c.
Ans. Even as the innocency and holiness of Christ could well con-
sist with his taking upon him the punishment of our sins ; for even
the wrath of a just man, inflicting capital punishment on a condemned
person, put case it be his own child, can well consist with fatherly
affection towards his child suffering punishment. Did you never see
a father weep over such a son that he has corrected most severely ?
Did you never see a judge shed tears for those very persons that he
has condemned? There is no doubt but wrath and love can well
consist in God, in whom affections do not war one with another, nor
fight with reason, as it often falls among men ; for the affections
ascribed unto God are effects rather of his holy will towards us, than
properly called afiections in him ; and these effects of God's will about
us do always tend to our happiness and blessedness at last, however
they are diverse one from another in themselves.
[3.] Thirdly, That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer tJie very torments of
hell, though not after a hellish manner. I readily grant that Jesus Christ
did not locally descend into hell, to suffer there amongst the damned,
neither did he suffer hellish darkness, nor the flames of hell, nor the
worm that never dies, nor final despair, nor guilt of conscience, nor
gnashing of teeth, nor impatient indignation, nor eternal separation
from God. These things were absolutely inconsistent with the holi-
ness, purity, and dignity of his person, and with the office of a mediator
and redeemer. But yet I say that our Lord Jesus Christ did suffer in
his soul for our sins such pain, horror, terror, agony, and consternation,
as amounted unto cruciatus infernales, and are in Scripture called
' The sorrows of hell' ' The sorrows of hell did compass me about,'
Ps. xviii. 5, or the cords of hell did compass me about, such as where-
with they bind malefactors when they are led forth to execution.
Now these sorrows, these cords of hell, were the things that extorted
from him th^t passionate expostulation, ' My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me ?' Mat. xxvii. 46. Christ's sufferings were unspeak-
able, and somewhat answerable to the pains of hell. Hence the Greek
Litany, ' By thine unknown sufferings, good Lord deliver us,' A I
a/yvcbarcov <tov Tradrjfjbarcov. Funinus, an Italian martyr, being asked by
one why he was so merry at his death, sith Christ himself was so sor-
rowful ; ' Christ,' said he, ' sustained in his soul all the sorrows and
conflicts with hell and death due to us ;' by whose sufferings we are
delivered from sorrow and the fear of them all. 2 It was a great saying
of a very learned man, that setting iniquity and eternity of punishment
aside, which Christ might not sustain, Christ did more vehemently
and sharply f;3el the wrath of God than ever any man did or shall, no
not any person reprobated and damned excepted ; and certainly the
reason annexed to prove this expression is very weighty, because all
the wrath that was due for all the sins of the elect, all whose sins
t Heb. V. 7; Mat. xxvl 38, 39, 42, 44; 1 Cor. vi. 20, and vii. 23.
' [Foxe] Acta and Mon., fol. 853.
THOUGH NOT AFTER A HELLISH MANNER. ' 103
were laid on Christ, Isa. liii. 6, was greater than the wrath which
belonged to any one sinner, though damned for his personal sinning :
and besides this, if you do seriously consider those sufferings of Christ
in his agony in the garden, you may by them conjecture what hellish
torments Christ did suffer for us. In that agony of his, he was afraid
and amazed, and fell flat on the ground, Mat. xiv. 33, 34. He began
to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy ; and saith unto them, ' My
soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death,' Luke xxii. 44 ; and his sweat
was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. He
did sweat clotted blood to such abundance, that it streamed through
his apparel, and did wet the ground ; which dreadful agony of Christ,
how it could arise from any other cause than the sense of the wrath of
God, parallel to that in hell, I know not.
Orthodox divines do generally take Christ's sufferings in his soul,
and the detaining his body in the grave, put in as the close and last
part of Christ's sufferings, as the true meaning of that expression, ' He
descended into hell,' not only because these pains which Christ suffered
both in body and soul were due to us in full measure, but also because
that which Christ in point of torment and vexation suffered was in
some respect of the same kind with the torment of the damned. For
the clearing of this, consider, that in the punishment of the damned
there are these three things : 1. The perverse disposition of the mind
of the damned in their sufferings ; 2. The duration and perpetuity of
their punishment ; and 3. The punishment itself, tormenting soul and
body. Of these three, the first two could have no place in Christ : not
the first, because he willingly offered himself a sacrifice for our sins,
and upon agreement paid the ransom fully, Heb. ix. 14, and x. 5-8 ;
not the second, because he could no longer be held under sorrows and
sufferings than he had satisfied divine justice, and paid the price that
he was to lay down, Acts ii, 24. And his infinite excellency and glory
made his short sufferings to be of infinite worth, and equivalent to our
everlasting sufferings, 1 Pet. ii. 24 ; 1 Cor, vi. 20, The third, then,
only remaineth, which was the real and sensible torments of his soul
and body, wliich he did really feel and experience when he was upon
the cross, sirs! what need you question Christ's undergoing of
hellish pains, when all the pains, torments, curse, and wrath which
was due to the elect did fall on Christ, and lie on Christ till divine
justice was fully satisfied. Though Christ did not suffer eternal death
for sinners, yet he suffered that which was equivalent, and therefore the
justice of God is by his death wholly appeased.
It is good seriously to ponder upon these scriptures : Ps. xviii. 51, ■
'The sorrows of hell did compass me about;' Ps. Ixxxviii. 31, 'My
soul is filled with evil, and my life draweth near to hell ;' Ps, Ixxxvi.
13, ' Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell.' In these
places the prophet speaks in the person of Christ, and the Papists
themselves do confess that the Hebrew word sheol, that is here used, is
taken for hell properly, and not for the grave ; therefore these places
do strongly conclude for the hellish sorrows or sufferings of Christ. So
Acts ii. 27, ' Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.' If Christ's soul be
not left or forsaken in hell, yet it follows it was in hell ; not that
Christ did feel the sorrows of hell after death, but that he did feel the
104 THAT JESUS CHRIST DID SUFFER TORMENT,
very sorrows of hell in his soul while he lived. Certainly the whole
punishment of body and soul which was due unto us, Christ our
Kedeemer was in general to suffer and satisfy for in his own person ;
but the torments and terrors of hell, and the vehement sense of God's
wrath, are that punishment which did belong to the soul ; ergo, Christ
did suffer the torments and terrors of hell. By the whole punishment
you are to understand the whole kind or substance of the punishment,
not all the circumstances, and the very same manner. The whole
punishment then is the whole kind of punishment — that is, in body
and soul — which Christ ought to have suffered, though not in the same
manner and circumstance. 1. Neither for the place of hell locally ;
nor 2. For the time eternally; nor 3. For the manner sinfully.
"When we say Christ was to suffer our whole punishment, all such
punishments as cannot be suffered without sin, as desperation [and]
final reprobation, are manifestly excepted. Christ did bear all our
punishment, though not as we should have borne it ; that is, 1. Sin-
fully ; 2. Eternally ; 3. Hellishly. But he did so bear all our punish-
ment as to finish all upon the cross ; and in such sort as God's justice
was satisfied, his person not disgraced, nor his holiness defiled, and yet
man's salvation fully perfected. Col. ii. 14, 15 ; Heb. ix. 14, and x.
15. We constantly affirm that Christ did suffer the pains of hell in
his soul, with these three restrictions: — 1. That there be neither in-
iignity offered to his royal person ; 2. Nor injury to his holy nature ;
3. Nor impossibility to his glorious work. All such pains of hell then
as Christ might have suffered : — 1. His person not dishonoured ; 2.
His nature with sin not defiled ; 3. His work of our redemption not
hindered, we do steadfastly believe were sustained by our blessed
Saviour. Consider a few things.
First, Consider the adjuncts of hell, which are these four : 1. The
place, which is infernal ; 2. The time, which is perpetual ; 3. The
darkness, which is unspeakable ; 4. The ministers and tormentors —
the spirits and devils, which are irreconcilable. Now these adjuncts of
hell Christ is freed from. For the dignity of his person, it was not fit
that the Son of God, the heir of heaven, should be shut up in hell, or
that he should for ever be tormented, who is never from God's presence
sequestered, or that the light of the world should be closed up in dark-
ness, or that he who bindeth the evil spirits should be bound by them, &c.
Secondly, Consider the effects, or rather the defects, of hell, which
are chiefiy these two : First, The deprivation of all virtue, grace, holi-
ness ; Secondly, The real possession of all vice, impiety, blasphemy,
. &c. Now the necessity of the work of Christ doth exempt him from
these effects ; for if he had been either void of grace, or possessed with
vice, he could not have been the Eedeemer of poor lost souls ; for the
want of virtue he could not have redeemed others ; for the presence of
sin he should have been redeemed himself ; and from fretting indigna-
tion and fearful desperation, the piety and sanctity of his nature doth
preserve him, who, being without sin, could neither by indignation
displease his Father, nor by desperation destroy himself. So that,
if you consider either the adjuncts of hell or the effects, then I say we
do remove all them as far off from the holy soul of Christ as heaven
is from hell, or the east from the west, or darkness from light, &c
I
THOUGH NOT AFTER A HELLISH MANNER. 105
Thirdly, Consider the punishment itself. Now, concerning this, we
Bay that our blessed Saviour, as in himself he bare all the sins of the
elect: so he also suffered the whole punishment of body and soul in
general that was due unto us, for the same which we should have
endured if he had not satisfied for it ; and so consequently we affirm
that he felt the anguish of soul and horror of God's wrath, and so
in soul entered into the torments of hell for us, sustained them
and vanquished them. One speaking in honour of Christ's passion,
saith. Cum iram Dei sihi propositum, videret, When he saw the wrath
of God set before him, presenting himself before God's tribunal loaden
with the sins of the whole world, it was necessary for him to fear the
deep bottomless pit of death. i Again saith the same author, 2 Cum
species Christo ohjecta est, &c., Such an object being ofi'ered to Christ's
view, as though God being, set against him, he were appointed to
destruction ; he was with horror afirighted, which was able a hun-
dred times to have swallowed up all mortal creatures, but he, by the
wonderful power of his Spirit, escaped with victory. ' What dishonour
was it to our Saviour Christ,' saith aiiother,3 ' to suffer that which was
necessary for our redemption,' — namely, that torment of hell which we
had deserved, and which the justice of God required that he should
endure for our redemption ; or rather, what is more to the honour
of Christ, than that he vouchsafed to descend into hell for us, and
to abide that bitter pain which we had deserved to suffer eternally;
and what may rather be called hell than the anguish of soul which he
suffered, when, he being yet God, complained that he was forsaken
of God ? sirs, this we need not fear to confess, that Christ, bearing
our sins in himself upon the cross, did feel himself during that combat
as rejected and forsaken of God and accursed for us, and the flames of
his Father's wrath burning within him ; so that to the honour of
Christ's passion we confess that our blessed Kedeemer refused no part
of our punishment, but endured the very pains of hell, so far as they
tended not neither to the derogation of his person, deprivation of his
nature, destruction of his office, &c.
Here it may be queried whether the Lord Jesus Christ underwent the
idem, the very self-same punishment that we should have undergone,
or only the tantundem, that which did amount and was equivalent
thereunto ? To which I answer, that in different respects both may be
affirmed. The punishment which Christ endured, if it be considered
in its substance, kind, or nature, so it was the same with that the
sinner himself should have undergone ; but if it be considered with
respect to certain circumstances, adjuncts, or accidents which attend
that punishment, as inflicted upon the sinner, so it was but equiva-
lent, and not the same. The punishment due to the sinner was death,
the curse of the law, upon the breach of the first covenant. Now this
Christ underwent, for ' he was made a curse for us,' Gal. iii. 13. The
adjuncts attending this death were the eternity of it, desperation going
along with it, &c. These Christ was freed from, the dignity of his
person supplying the former, the sanctity of his person securing him
against the latter; therefore in reference unto these, and to some
1 Calvin, in Mat. iivi. 39. * Calvin, in Mat. iivii. 46.
' Fulk. in Act ii. sec. 11. [Fulke or Fulkius or Fulcones. — G.]
106 THAT JESUS CHRIST DID SUFFER TORMENT,
other things already mentioned, it was but the tantundem, not the
idem; but suppose there had been nothing of sameness, nothing be-
yond equivalency in what Christ suffered, yet that was enough, for it
was not required that Christ should suffer every kind of curse which
is the effect of sin, but in the general accursed death. Look, as in
his fulfilling of the law for us, it was not necessary that he should
perform every holy duty that the law requireth ; for he could not per-
form that obedience which magistrates or married persons are bound
to do — it is enough that there was a fulfilling of it in the general for
us : so here it was not necessary that Jesus Christ should undergo
in every respect the same punishment which the offender himself was
liable unto ; but if he shall undergo so much as may satisfy the law's
threatenings, and vindicate the lawgiver in his truth, justice, and
rio-hteous government, that was enough. Now that was unquestion-
ably done by Christ.
Object. 1. But some may object and say, How could Christ suffer the
pains of the second death without disunion of the Godhead from the
manhood ? For the Godhead could not die. Or what interest had
Christ's Godhead in his human sufferings, to make them both so short
and so precious and satisfactory to divine justice for the sins of so
many sinners, especially when we consider that God cannot suffer ?
Ans. 1. I answer. It followeth not that because Christ is united
into one person with God, that therefore he did not suffer the pains of
hell ; for by the same reason he should not have suffered in his body,
for the union of his person could have preserved him from sufferings
in the one as well as in the other, and neither God, angels, nor men
compelled him to undertake this difficult and bloody work, but his
own free and unspeakable love to mankind, as himself declares, John
X. 17, ' Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life;'
ver. 18, ' No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.' If
Christ had been constrained to suffer, then both men and angels might
fear and tremble ; but as one [Bernard] saith well, Voluntas sponte
morientis placuit Deo, The willingness of him that died pleased God,
who offered himself to be the Redeemer of fallen man, Isa. liii. 12 ;
Ps. xl. 7, 8 ; Heb. x. 9, 10.
Ans. 2. But secondly, I answer from 1 John iii. 16, * Hereby per-
ceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.' The
person dying was God, else his person could have done us no good.
The person suffering must be God as well as man, but the Godhead
suffered not. As if you shoot off a cannon in the bright air, the air
suffers, but the light of it suffers not. Actions and passions belong
to persons. Nothing less than that person who is' God-man could
bear the brunt of the day, satisfy divine justice, pacify divine wrath,
bring in an everlasting righteousness, and make us happy for ever.
But,
Ans. 3. Thirdly, I answer thus, Albeit the passion of the human
nature could not so far reach the Godhead of Christ, that it should in
a physical sense suffer, which, indeed, is impossible, yet these suffer-
ings did so affect the person, that it may truly be said that God suf-
fered, and by his blood bought his people to himself ; for albeit the
proper and formal subject of physical sufferings be only the human
THOUGH NOT AFTER A HELLISH MANNER. 107
nature, yet the principal subject of suiferings, both in a phj^sical and
moral sense, is Christ's person, God and man, from the dignity whereof
the worth and excellency of all sorts of sufferings, the merit and the
satisfactory sufficiency of the price did flow, Acts xx. 28 ; 1 Pet. i.
18-20 ; 1 Cor. vi. 20, and vii. 23.
sirs ! you must seriously consider, that though Christ as God in
his Godhead could not suffer in a physical sense, yet in a moral sense
he might suffer and did suffer. For he being * in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made
in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross,' Phil, ii. 6-8. Oh, who can sum up the contradictions, the
railings, the revilings, the contempts, the despisings and calumnies
that Christ met with from sinners, yea, from the worst of sinners !
Object. 2. But how could so low a debasing of the Son of man, or of
the human nature assumed by Christ, consist with the majesty of the
person of the Son of God ?
Ans. We must distinguish those things in Christ, which are
proper to either of the two natures, from those things which are as-
cribed to his person in respect of either of the natures or both the
natures ; for infirmity, physical suffering, or mortality are proper to
the human nature. The glory of power, and grace, and mercy, and
super-excellent majesty, and such like, are proper to the Deity ; but
the sufferings of the human nature are so far from diminishing the
glory of the divine nature, that they do manifest the same, and make
it appear more clearly and gloriously; for by how much the human
nature was weakened, depressed, and despised for our sins, for our
sakes, by so much the more the love of Christ, God and man in one
person toward man, and his mercy, and power, and grace to man, do
shine in the eyes of all that judiciously do look upon him.
Object. 3. How could Christ endure hell fire without grievous sins,
as blasphemy and despair, &c. ?
Ans. 1. 1 answer, That we may walk safely and without offence,
these things must be premised: First, That the sorrows and suffer-
ings of hell be no otherwise attributed to Christ, than as they may
Btand with the dignity and worthiness of his person, the holiness of his
nature, and the performance of the office and work of our redemption.
[1.] First, then. For the soul of Christ to suffer in the local place of
hell, to remain in the darkness thereof, and to be tormented with the
material flames there, and eternally to be damned, was not for the
dignity of his person, to whom for his excellency and worthiness both
the place, manner, and time of those torments were dispensed with.
[2.] Secondly, Final rejection and desperation, blasphemy, and the
worm of conscience, agreeth not with the holiness of his nature, ' Who
was a lamb without a spot,' Heb. ix. 14 ; 1 Pet. i. 19, and therefore
we do not, we dare not ascribe them to him. But,
[3.] Thirdly, Destruction of body and soul, which is the second
death, could not fall upon Christ ; for this were to have destroyed the
work of our redemption, if he had been subject to destruction. But
[4.] Fourthly and lastly. Blasphemy and despair are no parts of the
108 THAT JESUS CHRIST DID SUFFER TORMENT,
pains of the damned, but the consequents, and follow the sense of
God's wrath in a sinful creature that is overcome by it. But Christ
had no sin of his own, neither was he overcome of wrath, and there-
fore he always held fast his integrity and innocency, Rev. xvi. 9, 11.
Despair is an unavoidable companion, attending the pains of the second
death, as all reprobates do experience. Desperation is an utter hope-
lessness of any good, and a certain expectation and waiting on the
worst that can befall ; and this is the lot and portion of the damned
in hell. The wretched sinner in hell, seeing the sentence passed
against him, God's purpose fulfilled, never to be reversed, the gates of
hell made fast upon him, and a great gulf fixed betwixt hell and
heaven, which renders his escape impossible; he now gives up all,
and reckons on nothing but uttermost misery, Luke xvi. 26. Now
mark, this despair is not an essential part of the second death, but
only a consequent, or, at the most, an effect occasioned by the sinner's
view of his irremediless, woeful condition. But this neither did nor
could possibly befall the Lord Jesus. He was able, by the power of
his Godhead, both to suffer and to satisfy and to overcome ; therefore
he expected a good issue, and knew that the end should be happy, and
that he should not be ashamed, Isa. 1. 6, 7, &c. ; Ps. xvi. 9, 10 ; Acts
ii. 26, 28, 31. Though a very shallow stream would easily drown a
little child, there being no hope of escape for it unless one or another
should step in seasonably to prevent it, yet a man that is grown up
may groundedly hope to escape out of a far more deep and dangerous
place, because by reason of his stature, strength, and skill he could
wade or swim out. Surely the wrath of the Almighty, manifested in
hell, is like the vast ocean, or some broad, deep river ; and therefore
when the sinful sons and daughters of Adam, which are without
strength, Rom. v. 6, are hurled into the midst of it, they must needs
lie down in their confusion, as altogether hopeless of deliverance or
escaping. But this despair could not seize upon Jesus Christ, because,
although his Father took him and cast him into the sea of his wrath,
so that all the billows of it went over him, Isa. Ixiii. 1-3, seq., yet
being the mighty God, with whom nothing is impossible, he was very
able to pass through that sea of wrath and sorrow, which would have
drowned all the world, and come safe to shore.
Object. 4. But when did Christ suffer hellish torments ? They are
inflicted after death, not usually before it ; but Christ's soul went straight
after death into paradise. How else could he say to the penitent thief,
* This day shalt thou be with me in paradise' ? Now, to this objection
I shall give these following answers :
Ans. 1. First, That Christ's soul, after Ms passion upon the cross,
did not really and locally descend into the place of the damned, may
he thus made evident :
[1.] First, All the evangelists, and so Luke among the rest, intend-
ing to make an exact narrative of the life and death of Christ, hath
set down at large his passion, death, burial, resurrection, and ascen-
sion ; and besides, they make rehearsal of very small circumstances ;
therefore we may safely conclude, that they would never have omitted
Christ's local descent into the place of the damned, if there had been
any such thing. Besides, the great end why they penned this history
THOUGH NOT AFTER A HELLISH MANNER. 109
was, that we might believe that * Jesus Christ is the Son of God; and
that thus believing we might have life everlasting,' John xx. 31.
Now there could not have been a greater matter for the confirmation
of our faith than this, that Jesus, the son of Mary, who went down to
the place of the damned, returned thence to live in all happiness and
blessedness for ever. But,
[2.] Secondly, If Christ did go into the place of the damned, then
he went either in soul, or in body, or in his Godhead. Not in his
Godhead, for that could not descend, because it is everywhere, and his
body was in the grave ; and as for his soul, it went not to hell, but
immediately after his death it went to paradise — that is, the third
heaven, a place of joy and happiness : ' This day shalt thou be with
me in paradise,' Luke xxiii. 43 ; which words of Christ must be under-
stood of his manhood or soul, and not of his Godhead ; for they are an
answer to a demand, and therefore unto it they must be suitable. The
thief makes his request, ' Lord, remember me when thou comest into
thy kingdom/ ver. 42 ; to which Christ answers^ ' Verily I say unto
thee. To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.' ' I shall,' saith
Christ, ' this day enter into paradise, and there shalt thou be with
me.' Now, there is no entrance but in regard of his soul or man-
hood, for the Godhead, which is at all times in all places, cannot be
properly said to enter into a place, Ps. cxxxix. 7, 13; Jer. xxiii.
23, 24. But,
[3.] Thirdly, When Christ saith, ' To-day shalt thou be with me in
paradise,' he doth intimate, as some observe, a resemblance which is
between the first and second Adam. The first Adam quickly sinned
against God, and was as quickly cast out of paradise by God. Christ,
the second Adam^ having made a perfect and complete satisfaction to
the justice of God, and the law of God, for man's sin, must imme-
diately enter into paradise, Heb. ix. 26, 28, and x. 14. Now to say
that Christ, in soul, descended locally into hell, is to abolish this analogy
between the first and second Adam. Butj
Atis. 2. Secondly, It is not impossible that the pains of the second
death should he suffered in this life. Time and place are but circum-
stances. The main substance of the second death is the bearing of
God's fierce wrath and indignation. Divine favour shining upon a
man in hell, would turn hell into a heaven. All sober, seeing, serious
Christians will grant, that the true, though not the full joys of heaven
may be felt and experienced in this life : 1 Pet. i. 8, ' Whom having
not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory,' or glorious ; either
because this their rejoicing was a taste of their future glory, or because
it made them glorious in the eyes of men. The original word, SeBo-
^a/jLevrj, is glorified already ; a piece of God's kingdom and heaven's
happiness aforehand. Ah, how many precious saints, both living and
dying, have cried out, Oh the joy ! the joy ! the inexpressible joy that
I find in my soul ! Eph. ii* 6, ' He hath made us sit together in
heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.' What is this else, but even while
we live, by faith to possess the very joys of heaven on this side heaven !
Now look, as the true joys of heaven may be felt on this side heaven,
so the true, though not the full pains of hell, may be felt on this side
110 THAT JESUS CHRIST DID SUFFER TORMENT,
hell ; and doubtless Cain, Judas, Julian, Spira, and others have found
it so. That father hit the mark, who said, Judicis^ in mente tua sedes;
ibi Deus adest, accusator conscientia, tortor timor, The judge's
tribunal-seat is in thy soul, God sitteth there as judge, thy conscience
is the accuser, and fear is the tormentor, i Now if there be in the soul
a judge, an accuser, and a tormentor, then certainly there is a true
taste of the torments of hell on this side hell.
Ans. 3. Thirdly, The place hell is no pari of the payment. The
laying down of the price makes the satisfaction. This is all that is
spoken and threatened to Adam, ' Thou shalt die the death,' Gen. .ii.
17; and this may be suffered here. The wicked go to hell as their
prison, because they can never pay their debts, otherwise the debt
may as well be paid in the market as the jail. 2 Npw Christ did dis-
charge all his people's debts in the days of his flesh, when he offered
up strong cries and tears, Heb. v. 7, and not after death. Look, as a
king entering into prison to loose the prisoners' chains, and to pay
their debts, is said to have been in prison ; so our Lord Jesus Christ,
by his soul's sufferings, which is the hell he entered into, hath released
us of our pains and chains, and paid our debts, and in this sense he
may be said to have entered into hell, though he never actually entered
into the local place of the damned, which is properly^called hell ; for in
that place there is neither virtue nor goodness, holiness nor happiness,
and therefore the holiness of Christ's person would never suffer him
to descend into such a place. In the local place of heaven and hell,
it is not possible for any neither to be at once, nor yet at sundry times
successively, for there is no passing from heaven to hell, or from hell
to heaven, Luke xvi. 26. The place of suffering is but a circumstance
in the business. Hell, the place of the damned, is no part of the debt,
therefore neither is suffering there locally any part of the payment of
it, no more than a prison is any part of an earthly debt, or of the pay-
ment of it. The surety may satisfy the creditor in the place appointed
for payment, or in the open court, which being done, the debtor and
surety both are acquitted, that they need not go to prison. If either
of them go to prison, it is because they do not or cannot pay the debt ;
for aU that justice requires is to satisfy the debt, to the which the
prison is merely extrinsecal. Even so the justice of God cannot be
satisfied for the transgression of the law, but by the death of the
sinner ; but it doth not require that this should be done in the place
of the damned. The wicked go to prison because they do not, they
cannot, make satisfaction ; otherwise Christ, having fully discharged
the debt, needed not go to prison.
Object. 5. But the pains and torments that are due to man's sins
are to be everlasting, and how then can Christ's short sufferings
countervail them ?
Ans.l. That Christ's sufferings in his soul and body were equiva-
lent to it ; although, to speak properly, eternity is not of the essence
^ Augustine in Ps. Ivii.
» Peter saith, the devils are cast down to hell, and kept in chains of darkness. 2 Pet.
ii. 4. And Paul calls the devil the prince that ruleth in the air, Eph. ii. 2. The air
then is the devil's hell. "Well, then, seeing this air is the devil's present hell, vre may
safely conclude that hell may be in this present world ; and therefore it is neither im-
possible nor improbable that the cross was Christ's hell.
THOUGH NOT AFTER A HELLISH MANNER. Ill
of death, which is the reward of sin and threatened by God ; but it is
accidental, because man thus dying is never able to satisfy God, there-
fore, seeing he cannot pay the last farthing, he is for ever kept in
prison, Mat. xviii. 28, 35. Look, as eternal death hath in it eternity
and despair necessarily in all those that so die, so Christ could not
suffer, but what was wanting in duration was supplied — 1. By the
immensity of his sorrows conflicting with the sense of God's wrath,
because of our sins imputed to him, so that he suffered more grief
than if the sorrows of all men were put together. Christ's hell-sor-
rows on the cross were meritorious and fully satisfactory for our ever-
lasting punishment, and therefore in greatness were to exceed all other
men s sorrows, as being answerable to God's justice. 2. By the dignity
and worth of him that did suffer. Therefore the Scripture calls it the
blood of God. The damned must bear the wrath of God to all eternity,
because they can never satisfy the justice of God for sin. Therefore
they must lie by it world without end. But Christ hath made an
infinite satisfaction in a finite time, by undergoing that fierce battle
with the wrath of God, and getting the victory in a few hours, which
is equivalent to the creatures bearing it and grappling with it ever-
lastingly. This length or shortness of durance is but a circumstance,
not of any necessary consideration in this case. Suppose a man in-
debted £100, and likely to lie in prison till he shall pay it, yet utterly
unable, if another man comes and lays down the money on two hours'
warning, is not this as well or better done ? that which may be done
to as good or better purpose in a short time, what need is there to
draw it out at length ? The justice of the law did not require that
either the sinner or his surety should suffer the eternity of hell's tor-
ments, but only their extremity. It doth abundantly counterpoise the
eternity of the punishment, that the person which suffered was the
eternal God. Besides, it was impossible that he should be detained
under the sorrows of death. Acts ii. 24. And if he had been so de-
tained, then he had not ' spoiled principalities and powers, nor
triumphed over them,' Col. ii. 15, but had been overcome, and so had
not attained his end. But,
Ans. 2. Secondly, The pains of hell which Christ suffered, though
they were not infinite in time, yet were they of an infinite price and
value for the dignity of the person that suffered them. Clirist's tem-
poral enduring of hellish sorrows was as effectual and meritorious as
if they had been perpetual. The dignity of Christ's person did bear
him out in that which was not meet for him to suffer, nor fit in respect
of our redemption ; for if he should have suffered eternally, our re-
demption could never have been accomplished. But for him to suffer
in soul as he did in body, was neither derogatory to his person nor
prejudicial to his work. Infinitely in time Christ was not to suffer.
As one well observes,! Christ died secundum tempus, in time, or ac-
cording to time. Tempora in mundo sunt, &c., Times are in the
world where the sun riseth and setteth. Unto this time he died.
But where there is no time, there he was found, not only living, but
conquering. Christ, God-man, suffered punishment in measure in-
finite, and therefore there is no ground why he should endure it
^ Ambrose in 5 ad Rom. vi.
112 THAT JESUS CHRIST DID SUFFER TORMENT,
eternally ; and indeed it was impossible that Christ should be holden
of death, Acts ii. 24, because he was both the Lord of life and the
Lord's Holy One, 1 Cor. ii. 8; Acts ii. 27. But,
Am. 3. Thirdly, If the measure of a man's punishment were in-
finite, the duration needs not be infinite. Sinful man's measure of
punishment is finite, and therefore the duration of his punishment
must be infinite, because the punishment must be answerable to the
infinite evil of sin committed against an infinite God. sirs, con-
tinual imprisonment in hell arises from man's not being able to pay
the price ; for could he pay the debt in one year, he needs not lie two
years in prison. Now the debt is the first and second death ; and be-
cause sinful man cannot pay it in any time, he must endure it eter-
nally. But now Christ has laid down ready pay upon the nail to the
full for all his chosen ones, and therefore it is not required of him that
he should sufier for ever, neither can it stand with the holiness or
justice of God to hold him under the second death, he having paid the
debt to the utmost farthing. Now that he hath fully paid the debt
himself, witnesseth John, chap. xix. 30, saying ' when he had received
the vinegar, It is finished ; ' so ver. 28, ' After this, Jesus knowing
that all things were accomplished.' Though there are many interpre-
tations given of this place by Augustine, Chrysostom, Jansenius, and
others, yet doubtless this alone will hold water — viz, , that the heavy
wrath of the Lord which did pursue Christ, and the second death
which filled him with grievous terrors, is now over and past, and man's
redemption finished. He speaketh here of that which presently should
be, and in the yielding up his ghost was accomplished.
And thus you see that Jesus Christ did feel and sufifer the very tor-
ments of hell, though not after a hellish manner ; and you see also
that Christ did not locally descend into hell. Shall we make a few
inferences from hence :
1. Firsts then, Oh, how should these sad sufierings of Christ for
us endear Christ to us! Oh, what precious thoughts should we
have of him ! Ps. cxxxvi. 17^ 18. Oh, hoW should we prize him !
how should we honour him ! how should we love him ! and how
should we be swallowed up in the admiration of him! As his
love to us has been matchless, so his sufferings for us has been
matchless. I have read of Nero, that he had a shirt made of a sala-
mander's skin, so that if he did walk through the fire in it, it would
keep him from burning. So Christ is the true salamander s skin that
will keep the soul from everlasting burnings, Isa. xxxiii. 14 ; and
therefore well may Christians cry out with that martyr, [Lambert],
* None but Christ, none but Christ.' Tigranes, in Xenophon, coming
to redeem his father and friends, with his wife, that were taken prisoners
by Cyrus, was asked among other things, what ransom he would give
for his wife. He answered, ' He would redeem her liberty with his
own life ;' but having prevailed, as they returned together, every one
commended Cyrus for a goodly man ; and Tigranes would needs know
of his wife, ' What she thought of him.' ' Truly,' said she, ' I cannot
tell, for I did not so much as look on him, or see him.' ' Whom then,'
said he, wondering, ' did you look upon ? ' ' Whom should I look
upon,' replied she, ' but him that would have redeemed my liberty
THOUGH NOT AFTER A HELLISH MANNER. 113
with his own life ? ' So every believer should esteem nothing worth
a looking on, but that Jesus who hath redeemed him with his own
blood, 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; Acts xx. 28 ; 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. Plutarch tells
us,i ' That when Titus Flaminius had freed the poor Grecians from
the bondage with which they had been long ground by their oppres-
sions, and the herald was to proclaim in their audience the articles of
peace he had concluded for them, they so pressed upon him, not being
half of them able to hear, that he was in great danger to have lost his
life in the press ; at last, reading them a second time, when they came
to understand distinctly how that their case stood, they so shouted for
joy, crying crcorrjp, a-MTr^p, a saviour, a saviour, that they made the
very heavens ring again with their acclamations, and the very birds fall
down astonished.' And all that night the poor Grecians, with instru-
ments of music, and songs of praise, danced and sang about his tent,
extolling him as a god that had delivered them. But oh, then, what
infinite cause have we to exalt and cry up our dear Lord Jesus, who
by the hellish sorrows that he suffered for us, hath freed us from that
more dreadful bondage of sin, Satan, and wrath that we lay under !
Oh, prize that Jesus ! Oh, exalt that Christ ! Oh, extol that Saviour,
who has saved you from that eternal wrath that all the angels in
heaven, and all the men on earth could never have saved you from !
The name of Jesus, saith one, [Chrysostom,] hath a thousand treasures
of joy and comfort in it, and is therefore used by Paul five hundred
times, as some have observed. The name of a Saviour, saith another,
[Bernard,] ' is honey in the mouth, and music in the ears, and a jubilee
in the heart,' Dulce nomen Christi. Were Christ in your bosom as a
flower of delight, for he is a whole paradise of delight, saith one, [Justin
Martyr.] ' I had rather,' saith another, [Luther,] * be in hell with
Christ, than in heaven without him, for Christ is the crown of crowns,
the glory of glories, and the heaven of heaven.' One saith, [Austin,]
' that he would willingly go through hell to Christ.' Another saith,
[Bernard,] * he had rather be in his chimney-corner with Christ, than
in heaven without him.' One cried out, ' I had rather have one Christ
than a thousand worlds.' Jesus, in the China tongue, signifies the
rising sun, and such a rising sun was he to Julius Palmer, that when
all concluded that he was dead, being turned as black as a coal in the
fire, at last he moved his scorched lips, and was heard to say, ' Sweet
Jesus,' Mai, iv. 2. It was an excellent answer of one of the martyrs,
when he was offered riches and honours if he would recant : ' Do but,'
said he, ' offer me somewhat that is better than my Lord Jesus Christ,
and you shall see what I will say to you.' Now, oh that the hellish
sorrows and sufferings of Christ for us, might raise in all our hearts
such a high estimation, and such a deep admiration, as hath been
raised in those worthies last mentioned ! It was a sweet prayer of him
who thus prayed, ' Lord, make thy Son dear, very dear, exceeding
dear, and only dear and precious to me.' Whenever we seriously
think of the great and sore sufferings of Christ, it will be good to pray
as he prayed. But,
2. Secondly, If Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of
hell, though not after a hellish manner, then let me infer that certainly
1 Plutarch in vita Tit. Flam.
VOL. V. H
114 ' THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL.
there is a hell, a place of torment provided and prepared for all wicked
and ungodly persons.^ Danseus reckons up no less than nineteen
several sorts of heretics that denied it ; and are there not many erro-
neous and deluded persons that stoutly and daily assert that there is
no hell but what men feel in their own consciences ? Ah, how many
are there that rejoice to do evil, and delight in their abominations, and
take pleasure in imrighteousness ! 2 But could men do thus, durst men
do thus, did they really believe that hell was prepared and fitted for
them, and that the fiery lake was but a little before them ? Heaven
is a place where all is joyful, and hell is a place where all is doleful.
In heaven there is nothing but happiness, and in hell there is nothing
but heaviness, nothing but endless, easeless, and remediless torments.
Did men believe this, how could they go so merrily on in the way to hell?
Cato once said to Ccesar, Credo qmx, de inferis dicuntur falsa esse exis-
timas, I believe that thou thinkest all that is said of hell to be false
and fabulous. So I may say to many in this day. Surely you think that
all that is spoken and written of hell is but a story. Don't you look
upon the people of God to be of all men the most miserable, and your-
selves of all men the most happy ? Yes ! Oh, but how can this be,
did you really believe that there was a heaven for the righteous and a
heU for the wicked ? It is an Italian proverb. Qui Venetias non vidit,
ncm credit, &c,, He who hath not seen Venice will not believe ; and
he who hath not lived some time there doth not understand what a city
it is. This in a sense is true of hell. But now for the Quod sit, that
there is a hell, that there is such a place of misery prepared and ap-
pointed for the wicked, I shall briefly demonstrate against the high
atheists and Socinians of this day, and therefore thus,
[1.] First, God created angels and men after his ovm image. Man
must be so much honoured as to be made like God ; and no creature
must be so much honoured as to be made like man. The pattern
after which man was made is sometimes called image alone. So ' God
created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him,'
Gen. i. 27. Sometimes likeness alone: Gen. v. 1, 'In the day that
God created man, in the likeness of God made he him.' Sometimes
both : Gen. i. 26, ' Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ;'
which makes a prudent interpreter think that when they are joined it
is by hendiadys, and that the Holy Ghost meaneth an image most hke
his own. 3 It is exceeding much for man's honour that he is an epit-
ome of the world, an abridgment of other creatures, partaking with
the stones in being, with the stars in motion, with the plants in grow-
ing, with the beasts in sense, and with angels in science. But his
being made after God's image is far more. You know, when great
men erect a stately building, they cause their own picture to be hung
upon it, that spectators may know who was the chief founder of
it. So when God had created the fabric of this world, the last tiling
^ All the hell Socinians grant is annihilation, by reason it is said, they shall be
destroyed, vide Socinus, Racov[ian] Cat[echism], Crellius, Biddle, liichardson, &c.
^ Jer. xi. 15 ; Prov. ii. 14 ; Isa. Ixv. 3 ; 2 Thes. ii. 11 ; Mat. xxv. 41 ; Isa. xxx. 33.
Andr. Rivet, in Gen. Exercit. 4. Nihil est in mcecrocosmo magnum prater micro-
cosmum, There is nothing in the vast world of creatures truly great, except the little
world of ma.n.—Favorinus. [It takes another form— There is nothing great on earth but
man, and there is nothing great in man but mind.— G.]
THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL. 115
he did was the setting up his own picture in it, creating man after his
own image. When the great Creator went about that noble work, that
prime piece of maldng of man, he doth, as it were, call a solemn council
of the sacred persons in the Trinity : ' And God said, Let us make man
in our image,' &c.. Gen. i. 26. Man before his fall was the best of
creatures, but since his fall he is become the worst of creatures, i He
that was once the image of God, the glory of Paradise, the world's
lord, and the Lord's darling, is now become an abomination to God, a
burden to heaven, a plague to the world, and a slave to Satan. When
man first came out of God's mint he did shine most gloriously, as being
bespangled with holiness and clad with the royal robe of righteousness ;
his understanding' was filled with knowledge ; his will with upright-
ness ; his afiections with holiness, &c. But yet, being a mutable crea-
ture, and subject to temptations, Satan quickly stripped him of his
happiness, and cheated and cozened him of his imperial crown — as
we use to do children — with an apple. If God had created angels and
men immutable, he had created them gods and not creatures; but
being made mutable we know they did fall from their primitive purity
and glory ; and we know that out of the whole host of angels he kept
some from falling ; and when all mankind was fallen he redeemed
some by his Son. Now mark, as he shews mercy upon some in their
salvation, so it is meet that he should glorify his justice upon others
in their condemnation, Rom. vii. 21-23. And because there must be
distinct places for the exercise of the one and for the execution of the
other, which are in God equally infinite by an irrecoverable 2 decree
from the foundation of the world, a glorious habitation was prepared
for the one, and a most hideous dungeon for the other. ' These shall
go into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal,'
Mat. XXV. 46 ; yea, so certain are both these places that they were of
old prepared for that very purpose. ' Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world ; ' and so, ' Depart, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels,' ver. 41.
Look, as God foresaw the different estates and conditions of men and
angels, so he provided for them distinct and different places. Doubt-
less, hell was constituted before angels or men fell. Hell was framed
before sin was hatched, as heaven was formed and fitted before any of
the inhabitants were produced. But,
[2.] Secondly, That there is a hell, both the Old and New Testament
doth clearly and fully testify. Take some instances : Ps. ix. 17, ' The
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.'
In the Hebrew there are two 'intos,' 'into, into' hell; that is, 'The
wicked shall certainly be turned into the nethermost hell;' yea, they
shall forcibly be turned into the lowest and darkest place in hell.^
God will, as it were, with both hands thrust him into hell. If Sheol
here signify the grave only, what punishment is here threatened to
the wicked, which the righteous is not equally liable to? Doubtless,
Sheol here is to be taken for that prison or place of torment where
^ Man, saith one, in his creation is angelic; in his corruption diabolical ; in his reno-
vation theological ; in his translation majcstical; an angel in Eden, a devil in the world,
a saint in tiie church, a king in heaven.
' = irreversible. — G.
^ Sheol is often put for the grave, Ps. xvi. 10, but not always.
116 THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL.
divine justice detains all those in hold that have all their days rebelled
against him, scorned his Son, despised the means of grace, and died
in open rebellion against him.i The psalmist, saith my author,
[MoUerus,] declares the miserable condition of all those who live and
die in their sins: 'jEtemis punientur pmiis,' They shall be everlast-
ingly punished. And Musculus reads the place thus: 'Animi im-
piorum cruciatihus debitis apud inferos piinientur,' The souls of the
ungodly shall be punished in hell with deserved torments. Certainly,
the very place in which the wicked shall lodge and be tormented to
all eternity — viz., hell, the bottomless pit, a dungeon of darkness, a
lake of fire and brimstone, a fiery furnace, — will extremely aggravate
the dolefulness of their condition. 2 sirs, were all the water in the
sea ink, and every pile of grass a pen, and every l^air on all the men's
heads in the world the hand of a ready writer, all would be too short
graphically to delineate the nature of this dungeon, where all lost
souls must lodge for ever. Where is the man who, to gain a world,
would lodge one night in a room that is haunted with devils ; and is
it nothing to dwell in hell with them for ever ? So Solomon, Prov, v.
5, saith of the harlot, ' that her feet go down to death, her steps take
hol3 on hell.' Here Sheol is translated hell, and in the judgment of
Lavater is well translated too : Foveam vel infernum passus ejus
tenebunt; which, saith he, is spoken not so much of natural death as
of spiritual, and that eternal destruction which followeth thereupon ;
and he gives this for a reason why we should understand the place so,
because whoredom being an abominable sin, defiling the members of
the body of Christ, dissolving and making void the covenant between
God and man, must needs be accompanied with an equivalent judg-
ment, even excluding those that are guilty thereof, without repent-
ance, the kingdom of heaven, into which pure and undefiled place no
unclean thing can enter.3 And mark those words of the apostle,
' Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.' If men will not
judge them, God himself will, and give them a portion of misery an-
swerable to their transgression. * Though the magistrate be negligent
in punishing them, yet God will judge them. Sometimes he judges
them in this life, by pouring forth of his wrath upon their bodies,
, souls, consciences, names, and estates ; but if he do not thus judge
1 them in this life, yet he will be sure to judge them in the life to come ;
which Bishop Latimer well understood when he presented to Henry
the Eighth, for a New-year's gift, a New Testament, with a napkin,
having this posie about it, ' Whoremongers and adulterers God will
judge; '5 yea, he has already adjudged them 'to the lake that burn-
eth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death,' Eev. xxi. 8.
' Nothing,' saith one, ' hath so much enriched hell as beautiful faces.'
The Germans have a proverb that ' the pavement of hell is made of
the skulls of shaved priests and the glorious crests of gallants.'
^ In tenebras ex tenebris; infeliciter exclusi, irifelicius excludendi.— -4w£rMs<me.
* Vide Bellarmine de Eter. Fselic.
" By death and hell is in this place meant not only temporal death and the visible
grave, but also eternal death and hell itself, even the place of the damned.— T'/ic Dutch
Annotations.
♦ 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10 ; Gal. v. 19-21; T^ev. xxi. 27; Heb. xiii. 4.
» [Foxe] .\ct. and Mon., 1594.
THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL. 117
Their meaning is, that these sorts of persons being most given up to
fleshly lusts and pleasures, they shall be sure to have the lowest place
in hell. The harlot's feet go down to death, and her steps take hold
on hell.^ Wantonness brings men to hell. ' Whoremongers shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone/
Kev. xxi. 8. ' For fornication and uncleanness the wrath of God
Cometh on the children of disobedience,' Col. iii. 5, 6. The adulterer
herself goes thither; and is it not fit that her companions in sin should
be her companions in misery ? * I will cast her into a bed, and them
that commit adultery with her into gi*eat tribulation,' Kev. ii. 22.
She hastens with sails and oars to hell, and draws her lovers with
her. All her courses tend towards hell. Strumpets are the founda-
tions and upholders of hell ; they are the devil's best customers. Oh,
the thousands of men and women that are sent to hell for wantonness !
Hell would be very thin and empty were it not for these. Other sins
are toilsome and troublesome, but wantonness is pleasant, and sends
men and women merrily to hell. I have read a story, that one asking
the devil which were the greatest sins ? he answered, ' Covetousness
and lust.' The other asking again, whether perjury and blasphemy
were not greater sins? the devil replied, that in the schools of
divinity they were the greater sins, but for the increase of his
revenues the other were the greater. Bede,2 therefore, styleth
lust, Filiam diaboli, ' the daughter of the devil, which bringeth
forth many children to him.' Oh that all wantons would take that
counsel of Bernard, ^ ' Ardor gehennce extinguat in te ardorem luxuricB,
major ardor minorem superet;' let the fire of hell extinguish the fire
of lust in thee ; let the greater burning overcome the lesser, 1 Tim. v. 6.
Ponder upon that Prov. ix. 18, ' But he knoweth not that the dead
are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.' To wit, those
that are spiritually dead, and that are in the high way to be cut off,
either by filthy diseases, or by the rage of the jealous husband, or by
the sword of the magistrate, or by some quarrels arising amongst those
that are rivals in the harlot's love, and are as sure to be damned as if
they were in hell already. A metaphor from a dungeon. He knoweth
not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of
hell. Aben Ezra will have the original word D^ ibi, ' there,' to be
referred to hell ; * and the meaning of the whole verse to be more
plainly thus, He knoweth not that her guests being dead are in the
depth of hell. But the Hebrew word here used and translated dead,
is Bephaim, which word, Rephaim, properly signifies giants, and to
that sense is always rendered by the seventy <ylyavT€<;. The meaning
of this place seems to be no other, but that the strange woman will
bring them who are her guests to hell, to keep the apostate giants com-
pany, — those mighty men of renown of the old world, whose wicked-
ness was so great in the earth, that it repented and grieved God that
he had made man. Gen. vi. 4, 5 ; and to take vengeance on whom he
brought the general deluge upon the earth, and destroyed both man
^ This is a catachrestical metaphor : they are sure to bring her thither, as a man hath
that in possession on which with much delight he takes fast hold.
^ Bede, in Prov. xxx. ^ Bern. Serm. 23, ad soror.
* Aben Ezra, in hunc vers.
118 THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL.
and beast from the face thereof. These giants are called in Hebrew
Nephilhn, such as, being fallen from God, fell upon men, and by force
and violence made others fall before them, even as the beasts of the
field do fall before the roaring lions. These great oppressors were first
drowned, and then damned, and sent to that accursed place which was
appointed for them. Now to that place and condition, in which they
are, the harlot will bring all her wanton lovers. Take one scripture
more : Pro v. xv. 11, ' HeU. and destruction are before the Lord ; how
much more then the hearts of the children of men.'i Some think the
latter is exegetical of the former ; some by Sheol understand the grave,
and by Abaddon hell. There is nothing so deep, or secret, that can
be hid from the eyes of God. He knows the souls in hell, and the
bodies in the grave, and much more men's thoughts here in this place,
Prov. XV. 11. The Jews take the word Ahaddon, which we render
destruction, for Gehenna, that is, elliptically for Beth-Abaddon, the
house of destruction. Though we know not where hell is, nor what is
done there — though we know not what is become of those that are
destroyed, nor what they suffer, yet God doth ; and if the secrets of
hell and devils are known to him, then much more the secrets of the
hearts of the children of men. The devil, who is the great executioner
of the wrath of God, is expressed by this word ; as hell is called
destruction in the abstract, so the devil is called a destroyer in the
concrete. ' And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the
bottomless pit, or hell, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon,
but in the Greek tongue hath his name ApoUyon,' Kev. ix. 11. Both
the one and the other, the Hebrew and the Greek, signify the same
thing — ^a destroyer. The devil, who is the jailer of hell, is called a
destroyer, as hell itself is called destruction. Oh, sirs ! hell is destruc-
tion ; they that are once there are lost, yea, lost for ever, Kev. xiv. 11.
The reason why hell is called destruction, is because they that are cast
to hell are undone to all eternity. * If hell,' said one, ' were to be
endured a thousand years, methinks I could bear it, but for ever, that
amazeth me.' . Bellarmine, out of Barocius,^ tells us of a learned man,
who after his death appeared to his friend, complaining that he was
adjudged to hell-torments, which, saith he, were they to last but a
thousand thousand years, I should think it tolerable, but alas ! they
are eternal. The fire in hell is like that stone in Ai'cadia I have read
of, which being once kindled, could not be quenched.^ There is no
estate on earth so miserable, but a man may be delivered out of it ;
but out of hell there is no deliverance. It is not the prayer, no, not of
a Gregory, though never so great, whatever they fable, that can rescue
any that is once become hell's prisoner. I might add other scriptures
out of the Old Testament, but let these suffice.
That there is such a place as hell is, prepared for the torment of the
bodies and souls of wicked and impenitent sinners, is most clear and
evident in the New Testament as well as in the Old. Amongst the
many that might be produced, take these for a taste : Mat. v. 22,
' But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without
a cause' — rashly, vainly, and unreasonably — ' shall be in danger of the
^ Destruction is put as an adjunct or epithet of hell.
^ i)e arte bene moriendi. [Qu., 'Baronius' ? — G.] ^ As before, * asbestos.'- G.
THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL. 119
judgment ; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Kaca, shall be in
danger of the council ; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in
danger of hell fire,' — G7\, to, or in the Gehenna of fire.
In this scripture our Lord Jesus doth allude to the custom of pun-
ishing offenders used among the Jews. Now there were three degrees
of punishments that were used among the Jews.
First, In every town where there were a hundred and twenty
inhabitants, there was a little council of three, which judged smaller
matters, for which whipping or some pecuniary mulct was imposed.
Secondly, There was a council consisting of three-and-twenty ; seven
of these were judges, fourteen assessors, who were mostly of the Levites;
and to these were added two supernumeraries, which made the twenty-
three, which the Hebrews generally say was the number that made up
the second council. Now this council sat in the gates of the city,
and did judge of civU matters, having also power of life and death,
[Josephus,]
Thirdly, There was the great synedrion, or high court of judicatory,
which consisted of seventy-and-two, six chosen of every tribe. Now
this council sat in the court of the temple, and had aU matters of
greatest moment brought before them, as heresy, idolatry, apostasy.
Sometimes they convented before them the high priest, and sometimes
false prophets, yea, sometimes a whole tribe, as my reverend author
thinks, [Beza.] Now look, as there is a gradation of sin, so there is a
gradation of punishment pointed at in this scripture ; for the opening
of which, consider you have here three degrees of secret murder, or of
inward heart murder. And,
[1,] The first is rash anger. Now this brings a man in danger of
the judgment. By the judgment he means not the judgment of the
three, who judged of money matters, but by judgment he means the
council of the tliree-and-twenty men. Now they are called ' the judg-
ment,' because they judged of murders, and inflicted death, &c. Now
he that shall rashly, vainly, causelessly, unseasonably be angry with
his brother, he shall be liable to the punishments that are to be inflicted
by the j udges. Look, what punishments they in the Sanhedrim inflicted
upon actual and apparent murderers, the same were they liable to, and
did deserve at the hands of God, who were guilty of this secret kind of
murder, viz., rash anger. From the different degrees of punishments
among the Jews, Christ would shew the degrees of punisment in an-
other world, according to the greatness of men's sins. As if he should
say : Look, as among you Jews there are dififerent offences — some are
judged in your little council of three, and others are judged in your
council of three-and-twenty, and others in your great Sanhedrim — so
in the high court of heaven, some sins, as rash anger, are less punished,
and others are more sorely punished, as when your rash anger shall
break forth into railings, &c. In these words, ' Whosoever is angry
with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of judgment,' you
may see that Christ gives as much to rash anger as the Jews did to
murder ; as if he should have said, * You Pharisees exceed all measure
and bounds in your anger, and, with a malicious heart, you rail upon
the most innocent persons, upon me and my disciples ; but I would
have you take heed of rash anger, for you shall have greater torments
120 THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL.
in hell for your rash anger than those that murderers sufifer by your
council of three-and-twenty/ But these words, ' he shall be in danger
of judgment/ do contain the reward and punishment of unlawful anger;
as if our Saviour had said, ' Kash anger shall not escape just punish-
ment, but shall be arraigned and summoned before God's tribunal at
the dreadful day of judgment, when the angry man shall not be able
to answer one word of a thousand/
[2.] The second kind of secret murder is to say to our brother, Kaca,
that is, say some, ' vain man ' ! Others say, it signifies a brainless
fellow ; and the learned Tremellius saith, it signifies one void of judg-
ment, reason, and brains. Some will have this word Kaca come of
the Greek paKto^, Bacos, cloth, as though one should call a man a base
patch, or piece of cloth, or beggarly. i Kaca signifies an idle head, a
light brain; for so Bik in the Hebrew, to which the Syriac word
Bacha agreeth both in sound and sense, signifieth light or vain, Kacha
is a Syriac word, and signifies, say some, these three things: — 1.
Empty, as empty of wealth, or poor ; or as some, empty of brains or
wit; or, as others, a light-head or cock-brain, wide 2 and empty of
wisdom or understanding. 2. It signifies spittle or spit upon ; to
signify that they esteemed one another no better than the spittle they
spat out of their mouths. 3. It signifies contemned, vile, despised,
abject, and in this signification one, in his proem of the Syriac Gram-
mar, [Michael Maronita,] thinks it to be taken. The Ethiopian ex-
pounds Bacha thus, ' He that shall say to his brother. Be poor by con-
tempt, and of torn garments, shall be guilty of the council ; ' such a
one, saith our Saviour, ' shall be in danger of the council,' that is,
contract as great guilt unto himself, and is subject to as severe a
judgment in the court of heaven, as any capital crime that is censured
in the Sanhedrim or high-court of the Jews. But,
[3.] The third kind of secret murder is an open reviling and
reproaching of a brother in these words, ' But whosoever shall say,
Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire.' ' Thou fool,' this is a word
of greater disgrace than the former, ficope signifies unsavoury, or with-
out relish ; a fool here is, by a metaphor, called insipid, Hebrew r\^w
Sote, which we call Sot, ' shall be in danger of hell-fire,' or to be cast
into Gehenna. Gehenna comes from the Hebrew word Getttnnom,
that is, the valley of Hinnom, lying near the city of Jerusalem ; in
which valley, in former timeSj the idolatrous Jews caused their children
to be burned alive between the glowing arms of the brazen image of
Moloch, imitating the abominations of the heathen. Josh. xv. 8. And
hence the Scripture often makes use of that word to signify the place
of eternal punishment, where the damned must abide under the wrath
of God for ever, 2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jer. vii. 31, xxxii. 35, and xix.
4, 5, 6. There were four kinds of punishments exercised among the
Jews,— 1. Stranglings ; 2. The sword ; 3. Stoning ; 4. The fire. Now
this last they always judged the worst, as Beza afiirms upon this very
place. In these words, ' shall be in danger of hell-fire,' Christ alludes
^ Whether the word Raca be Hebre-w, or as some say Syriac, or as others say Chaldee,
it matters not; for all agree in this, that it is a word that notes scorn and contempt,
&c.— Vide Lapide, Weemes, &c., on the Judicial Law of Moses, and Dr Field, 'Of the
Church. ' 2 Query, ' void ' ?— Ed.
THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL. 121
to the great Sanhedrim, and the highest degree of punishment that
was inflicted by them, namely, to be bm*ned in the valley of Hinnom,
which, by a known metaphor, is transferred to hell itself, and the
inexpressible torments thereof. For as those poor wretches being
inclosed in a brazen idol, heat with fire, were miserably tormented in
this valley of Hinnom ; so the wicked being cast into hell, the prison
of the damned, shall be eternally tormented in unquenchable fire.
This valley of Hinnom, by reason of the pollution of it with slaughter,
blood, and stench of carcasses, did become so execrable, that hell itself
did afterwards inherit the same name, and was called Gehenna of this
very place. And that, 1. In respect of the hollowness and depth
thereof, being a low and deep valley. 2. This valley of Hinnom
was a place of misery, in regard of those many slaughters that were
committed in it through their barbarous idolatry ; so hell is a place
of misery and infelicity, wherein there is nothing but sorrow. 3.
Thirdly, by the bitter and lamentable cries of poor infants in this
valley, is shadowed out the cries and lamentable torments of the
damned in hell. 4. In this valley of Hinnom was another fire which
was kept continually burning for the consuming of dead carcasses, and
filth, and the garbage ^ that came out of the city. Now our Saviour, by
the fire of Gehenna, in this Mat. v. 22, hath reference principally to this
fire, signifying hereby the perpetuity and everlastingness of hellish pains.
To this last judgment of the Sanhedrim, viz., burning, doth Christ
appropriate that kind of murder, which is by open reviling of a
brother, that he might notify the heinousness of that sin. Mark, in
this scripture, judgment, council, and hell-fire do but signify three
degrees of the same punishment, &c.
See also Mat. v. 29, 30, ' And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it
out, and cast it from thee ; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy
members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast
into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it
from thee ; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell-fire. ' Julian ,
taking these commands literally, mocked at [the] Christian religion, as
foolish, cruel, and vain, because they require men to maim their mem-
bers. He mocked at Christians because no man did it ; and he
mocked at Christ because no man obeyed him. But this apostate
might have seen from the scope that these words were not to be taken
literally, but figuratively. Some of the ancients, by the right hand,
and the right eye, do understand relations, friends, or any other dear
enjoyments which draws the heart from God. Others of them, by the
right eye, and the right hand, do understand such darhng sins that
are as dear to men as their right eyes or right hands. That this hell
here spoken of is not meant of the grave, into which the body shall be
laid, is most evident, because those Christians who do pull out their
right eyes, and cut off their right hands — that is, mortify those special
sins wliich are as dear and near to them as the very members of their
bodies — shall be secured and delivered from this hell, whereas none
shall be exempt from the grave, though they are the choicest persons
on earth for grace and holiness. Death, like the Duke of Parma's
^ Spelled ' garbid-e.'— G.
122 THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL.
sword, knows no difference betwixt robes and rags, betwixt prince and
peasant. ' All flesh is grass,' Isa. xl. 6. The flesh of princes, nobles,
counsellors, generals, &c., is grass, as well as the flesh of the meanest
beggar that walks the streets. ' The mortal scythe,' saith one, ' is
master of the royal sceptre, it mows down the lilies of the crown, as
well as the grass of the field.i Never was there orator so eloquent,
nor monarch so potent, that could either persuade or withstand the
stroke of death when it came. Death's motto is, NuUi cedo. It is
one of Solomon's sacred aphorisms, ' The rich and the poor meet to-
gether,' Prov. xxii. 2, sometimes in the same bed, sometimes at the
same board, and sometimes in the same grave. Death is the com-
mon inn of all mankind. ' There is no defence against the stroke of
death, nor no discharge in that war,' Heb. ix. 27; Eccles. viii. 8.
Death is that only king against whom there is no rising up, Prov.
XXX. 31. If your houses be fired, by good help they may be quenched ;
if the sea break out, by art and industry it may be repaired ; if princes
invade by power and policy, they may be repulsed ; if devils from hell
shall tempt, by assistance from heaven they may be resisted. But
death comes into royal palaces, and into the meanest cottages, and
there is not a man to be found that can make resistance against this
king of terrors and terror of kings. Death's motto is, Nemini parco,
I spare none. Thus you see that by hell in Mat. v. 29, 30, you may
not, you cannot, understand the grave ; and therefore by it you must
understand the place of the damned. But if you please you may cast
your eye upon another scripture, viz., Mat. x. 28, ' Fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.' The word
' rather' is not a comparative, but an adversative. We should not
fear man at all when he stands in competition with God. So Victo-
rian, the proconsul of Carthage, being solicited to Arianism by the
ambassadors of King Hunnerick, answered thus, 2 ' Being assured of
God and my Lord Christ, I tell you, what you may tell the king. Let
him burn me, let him drive me to the beasts, let him torment me with
all kinds of torments, I shall never consent to be an Arian;' and
though the tyrant afterwards did torture him with very great tortures,
yet he could never work him over to Arianism. The best remedy
against the slavish fear of tyrants, is to set that great God up as the
object of our fear, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Mark, he doth not say to destroy soul and body simply or absolutely,
so that they should be no more — for that many that love their lusts,
and prize the world above a Saviour, would be contented withal,
rather than to run the hazard of a fierce, hot persecution — but to
punish them eternally in hell, where the worm never dieth, nor the
fire never goeth out. Now by hell in this Mat. x. 28, the grave can-
not be meant, because the soul is not destroyed with the body in the
grave, as they both shall be, if the person be wicked, after the morn-
ing of the resurrection, in hell, Eccles. xii. 7, and Phil, i, 3. From
the immortality of the soul, we may infer the eternity of man's future
condition. The soul being immortal, it must be immortally happy or
1 Horat. 1. 1, Ode 28. [Qu. rather 1. 1, Ode 4 ?-G.]
' Victor. Uticens. 1. 3. Wandal. Persecut. [Clarke, as before. — G.]
THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL. 123
immortally miserable. It was Luther's complaint of old, ' We more
fear the pope, with his purgatory, than God, with his hell ; and we
trust more in the absolution of the pope from purgatory, than in the
true absolution of God from hell.' And is it not so with many this
day, who bear their heads high in the land, and who look and long
for nothing more than to see Eome^ flourishing in the midst of us ?
Take one scripture more, viz., 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20, ' By which also he
went and preached unto the spirits in prison ; which sometimes were
disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah.' 2 That is, Christ by his Spirit, in the ministry of Noah, did
preach to the men of the old world who are now in hell. In Noah's
time they were on earth, but in Peter's time they were in hell. Mark,
Christ did not preach by his Spirit, in his ministry, or any other way,
to spirits who were in prison or in hell while he preached to them.
There are no sermons in hell, nor any salvation there. The loving-
kindness of God is abundantly declared on earth, but it shall never be
declared in hell. Look, as there is nothing felt in hell but destruction,
so there is nothing found in hell of the offers of salvation. One offer
of Christ in hell would turn hell into a heaven. One of the ancients
hath reported the opinion of some in his time who thought, that
though there be destruction in hell, yet not eternal destruction, but
that sinners should be punished, some a lesser, others a longer time,
and that, at last, all shaU be freed. ' And yet,' saith he, ' Origen was
more merciful in that point than these men, for he held that the
devil himself should be saved at last.' Of this opinion I shall say no
more in this place, than this one thing which he there said. These
men will be found to err by so much the more foully, and against the
right words of God so much the more perversely, by how much they
seem to themselves to judge more mercifully ; for indeed the justice of
God in punishing of sinners is as much above the reach of man's
thoughts as his mercies in pardoning them are, Isa. Iv. 7-9. Oh, let «
not such who have neglected the great salvation when they were
on earth, Heb. ii. 3, ever expect to have an offer of salvation made to
them when they are in hell ! Consult these scriptures. Mat. xxv. 30,
xiii. 41, 42 ; Eev. ix. 2, xiv. 19, 20, xx. 1-3, 7. I must make haste,
and therefore may not stand upon the opening of these scriptures, hav-
ing said enough already to prove both out of the Old and New Testa-
ment that there is a hell, a place of torment, provided and prepared
for all wicked and ungodly men. But the third argument to prove
that there is a hell, is this, —
[3.] The beams of natural light in some of the heathens have made
such impressions on the heart of natural coTiscietice, that several of
them have had confused notions of a hell, as ivell as of a judgment to
come. Though the poor blind heathens were ignorant of Christ
^ Spelled ' Room,' and thereby showing the pronunciation of the day ; on which, as
illustrated by this word, see various communications in 'Notes and Queries' for 1866. — G.
^ Spirits, that is, the souls departed, not men, but spirits, to keep an analogy to the
18th ver., ' Christ suffered, being made dead in the flesh, and made alive by the Spirit ;
in which Spirit he had gone and preached to them that are now spirits in prison, because
they disobeyed, when the time was, when the patience of God once waited in the days of
'Soa.h.—Broughton, in his Epistle to the Nobility of England. Augustine, lib. i. d« civ.
del. cap. 17.
124 THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL.
and the gospel, and the great work of redemption, &c., yet by the
light of nature, and reasonings from thence, they did attain to the
understanding of a deity, who was both just and good ; as also, that
the soul was immortal, and that both rewards and punishments
were prepared for the souls of men after this life, according as they
were found either virtuous or vicious. Profound Bradwardine, and
several others, have produced many proofs concerning their appre-
hensions of this truth. 1 What made the heathen Emperor Adrian
when he lay a-dying, cry out, '0 animula vagula hlandula,' &g.
my little wretched wandering soul, whither art thou now hastening ? &c.
Oh, what will become of me ! live I cannot, die I dare not ! but some
discoveries of hell, of wrath to come ? Look, as these poor heathens did
feign such a place as the Elysian fields, where iihe virtuous should
spend an eternity in pleasures ; so also they did feign a place called
Tartarum, or hell, where the vicious should be eternally tormented.
Tertullian, and after him Chrysostom, affirmeth that poets and philo-
sophers, and all sorts of men, speaking of a future retribution, have
said that many are punished in hell. Plato is very plain, that whoever
are not expiated, but profane, shall go into hell to be tormented for
their wickednesses, with the greatest, most bitter and terrible punish-
ments, for ever in that prison in hell. And Jupiter, speaking to the
other gods concerning the Grecians and Trojans, saith, —
If any shall so hardy be,
To aid each part in spite of me ;
Him will I tumble down to hell,
In that infernal place to dwell.'''
So Horace, speaking concerning Jove's thunderbolts, says, —
Quo bruta tellus et vaga flumina,
Quo Styx, et invisi horrida Taenari sedes, &c.
With which earth, seas, the Stygian lake,
J And hell with all her furies quake.'
And Trismegistus affirms concerning the soul's going out of the
body defiled, that it is tossed to and fro with eternal punishments. ^
Nor was Virgil ignorant thereof when he said, —
Dent ocyus omnes,
Quas meniere pati — sic stat sententia — pcenas.
They all shall pack,
Sentence once past, to their deserved rack.*
The horror of which place he acknowledgeth he could not express,
Non mihi si linguae centum sint, oraque centum, ....
Omnia psenarum percurrere nomina possim.
No heart of man can think, no tongue can tell,
The direful pains ordained and felt in hell.^
It was the common opinion among the poor heathen that the wicked
were held in chains by Pluto — so they called the prince of devils— in
^ Bradw. de causa del, i. 1, cap. 1, &c. " Iliad, viii. 10-13 G
=* Odes 1, 34, 10.— G.
* One of the many opinions ascribed to Trismegistus, who, like Socrates, left no
writings. — G.
* Not Virgil, but Ovid, Met. Tiii. 3.— G. e Virgil— ^Eneid, vi. 625.— G.
THAT THERE IS MOST CERTAINLY A HELL. 125
chains which cannot be loosed. To conclude, the very Turks speak of
the house of perdition, and affirm that they who have turned the grace
of God into impiety, shall abide eternally in the fire of hell, and there
be eternally tormented, i I might have spent much more time upon
this head, but that I do not judge it expedient, considering the persons
for whose sakes and satisfaction I have sent this piece into the world.
But,
[4.] Fourthly, The secret checTcs, gripes, stings, and the amazing
horrors and terrors of conscience, that do sometimes astonish, affright,
and even distract sinful luretches, do clearly and abundantly evidence
that there is a hell, that there is a place of torment prepared and ap-
pointed for ungodly sinners.- Doubtless, it was not merely the dissolu-
tion of nature, but the sad consequent, that so startled and terrified
Belshazzar wben he saw the handwriting on the wall, Dan. v. 5, 6.
Guilty man, when conscience is awakened, fears an after-reckoning,
when he shall be paid the wages of his crying sins proportionable to
his demerits.
Wolfius 3 tells you of one John Hufmeister that fell sick in his inn
as he was travelling towards Augsburg in Germany, and grew to that
horror that they were fain to bind him in his bed with chains, where
he cried out that ' he was for ever cast ofi" from before the face of God,
and should perish for ever, he having greatly wounded his conscience
by sin,' &c.
James Abyes, who suffered martyrdom for Christ's sake and the
gospel's, as he was going along to execution he gave all his money and
his clothes away to one and another to his shirt, upon which one of
the sheriff's attendants scoffingly said that ' he was a madman and a
heretic ; ' but as soon as the good man was executed this wretch was
struck mad, and threw away his clothes, and cried out that ' James
Abyes was a good man, and gone to heaven, but he was a wicked
man, and was damned ; ' and thus he continued crying out until his
death. 4
Dionysius was so troubled with fear and horror of conscience, that,
not daring to trust his best friends with a razor, he used to singe his
beard with burning coals, [Cicero.]
Bessus having slain his father, and being afterwards banqueting
with several nobles, arose from the table and beat down a swallow's
nest which was in the chimney, saying they lied ' to say that he slew
his father,' for his guilty conscience made him think that the swallows,
when they chattered, proclaimed his parricide to the world. ^
Theodoricus the king having slain Boetius and Symmachus, and
being afterwards at dinner, began to change countenance, his guilty
conscience so blinding his eyes that he thought the head of a fish
which stood before him to have been the head of his cousin Symmachus,
who bit his lip at him and threatened him, the horror whereof did so
amaze him that he presently died.^
» Alcoran, Mahom. c. 14, p. 160, and c. 20, p. 198.
* Stia quemque exagitant furice, Ever}' man is tormented with his own fury, that is
his conscience, saith the philosopher.
* AVolf. Lectiones, Memor. tom. 2, &c. ■* Foxe, as before. — G.
" Plut. de sera {numinW] vindicata. [Misprinted 'Bossus,' cf. Plutarch, Alexander,
42, 43, &c. — G.] * Sigonius de occid. Imper.
126 THAT THE TORMENTS OF HELL ARE
Nero, that monster of nature, having once slain his mother, had
never more any peace within, but was astonished with horrors, fears,
visions, and clamours which his guilty conscience set before him and
suggested unto him. Imo latens in prcedio, famiUares suspectos
habuit, vocem humanam horruit, ad catuli latratum, galli cantum,
rami ex vento motum, terrehatur ; loqui non ausus, ne audiretur : He
suspected his nearest and dearest friends and favourites, he trembled
at the barking of a puppy, and the crowing of a cock, yea, the wagging
of a leaf, and neither durst speak unto others nor could endure others
to speak to him, when he was retired into a private house, lest the
noise should be heard by some who lay in wait for his life.i-
Now were there not a hell, were there not a place of torment where
God will certainly inflict unspeakable miseries and intolerable torments
upon wicked and ungodly men, why should their consciences thus
amaze, torture, and torment them ? Yea, the very heathen had so
much light in their natural consciences, as made such a discovery of
that place of darkness, that some of them have been terrified with
their own inventions concerning it, and distracted with the very sense
of those very torments which their own persons have described. As
Pygmalion doted on his own picture, so were they amazed with their
own comments. The very flashes of hell-fire which sinners do daily
experience in their own consciences in this world, may be an argument
sufficient to satisfy them that there is a hell, a place of torment pro-
vided for them in another world.
[5.] Fifthly, Those matchless, careless, and endless torments that
God ivill certainly inflict upon the bodies and souls of all ivicked and
ungodly men, after the resurrection, does sufficiently evidence that there
is a hell, that there is a place of torment pi^ovided, prepared, and fitted
by God, wherein he will, ' pour forth all the vials of his wrath upon
wicked and ungodly men : ' Isa. xxx. 33, ' For Tophet is ordained of
old, yea, for the king it is prepared ; he hath made it deep and large,
the 2)ile thereof is fire and much wood, the breath of the Lord like a
stream of brimstone doth kindle it.' This place that was so famous
for judgment and vengeance is used to express the torments of hell,
the place of the damned. Tophet was a place in the valley of Hin-
nom ; it was the place where the angel of the Lord destroyed the host
of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, Isa. xxx. 31, 33 ; and this was the
place where the idolatrous Jews were slain and massacred by the
Babylonian armies, when their city was taken and their carcasses left,
for want of room for bm-ial, for meat to the fowls of heaven and beasts
of the field, according to the word of the Lord by the prophet Jere-
miah, Jer. vii. 31-33, and xix. 4-6. And this was the place where
the children of Israel committed that abominable idolatry in making
their cliildren pass through the fire to Moloch ; that is, burnt them to
the devil, 2 Kings xxiii. 10 ; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6 ; for an eternal de-
struction whereof king Josiah polluted it, and made it a place exe-
crable, ordaining it to be the place whither dead carcasses, garbage, and
other unclean things should be cast out. For consuming whereof, to
prevent annoyance, a continual fire was there burning, 2 Kings xxxiii.
8. Now this jjlace, being so many ways execrable for what had been
^ Xiphil. in Nerone, &c. [Xipilinus of Trapezus, abridgment of Dion. Cassias.— G.]
MATCHLESS, EASELESS, AND ENDLESS. 127
done therein, especially having been as it were the gate to eternal de-
struction, by so remarkable judgments and vengeance of God there
executed for sin, it came to be translated to signify the place of the
damned, as the most accursed, execrable, and abominable place of all
places. The Spirit of God, in Scripture, by metaphors of all sorts of
things that are dreadful unto sense, sets forth the condition of the
damned, and the torments that he has reserved for them in the life to
come. Hell's punishments do infinitely exceed all other punishments ;
no pain so extreme as that of the damned. Look, as there are no joys
to the joys of heaven, so there are no pains to the pains of hell, Ps.
cxvi. 3. All the cruelties in the world cannot possibly make up any
horror comparable to the horrors of hell. The brick-kilns of Egypt,
the furnace of Babel, ^ are but as the glowing sparkle, or as the blaze
of a brush-faggot, to this tormenting Tophet that has been prepared of
old to punish the bodies and souls of sinners with. Hanging, racking,
burning, scourging, stoning, sawing asunder, flaying of the skin, &c.,
are not to be named in the day wherein the tortures of hell are spoken
of. If all the pains, sorrows, miseries, and calamities that have been
inflicted upon all the sons of men, since Adam fell in Paradise, should
meet together and centre in one man, they would not so much as
amount to one of the least of the pains of hell. Who can sum up the
diversity of torments that are in hell 1 In hell there is, 1. Darkness ;
hell is a dark region. 2. In hell there are sorrows. 3. In hell there
are bonds and chains. 4. In hell there is pains and pangs. 5. In hell
there is the worm that never dies. 6. In hell there is a lake of fire.
7. In hell there is a furnace of fire. 8. In hell there is the devil and
his angels ; and oh, how dreadful must it be to be shut up for ever with
those roaring lions ! 9. In hell there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. 2
Certainly, did men believe the torments of hell, that weeping for ex-
tremity of heat, and that gnashing of teeth that is there for extremity
of cold, they would never ofier to fetch profits or pleasures out of those
flames.3 10. In heU there is unquenchable fire, Mat. iii. 12, ' He will
burn the chafi" with unquenchable fire ;' in hell there is ' everlasting
burnings,' Isa. xxxiii. 14. ' The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness
hath surprised the hypocrites ; who among us shall dwell with the de-
vouring fire ? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ? '
Wicked men, who are now the only jolly fellows of the time, shall one
day go from i3urning to burning ; from burning in sin to burning in
hell ; from burning in flames of lusts to burning in flames of torment,
except there be found true repentance on their sides, and pardoning
grace on God's. ^ sirs ! in this devouring fire, in these everlasting
burnings, Cain shall find no cities to build, nor his posterity shall have
no instruments of music to invent there ; none shall take up the
timbrel or harp, or rejoice at the sound of the organ. There Belshazzar
1 Babylon.— G.
'i Jude 13; Ps. cxvi. 3; 2 Pet. ii. 4; Jude 6; Mark ix. 44; Rev. xx. 15; Mat. xiii.
41, 42, XXV. 41, xxiv. 51, xxv. 30, xiii. 42.
^ Who would give, saith Bernard, to my eyes a fountain of tears, that by my weeping
here I may prevent weeping and gnashing of teeth hereafter. Some devout personages
have caused this scripture to be writ in letters of gold upon their chimney-pieces. —
Bishop of Belly in France in his ' Draught of Eternity.' [Camus, as before. — G.]
* Gen. iv. 17 ; Amos vi. 7 ; Job xxi. 12 ; Dan. v. 21 ; Amos vi. 4.
128 THAT THE TORMENTS OF HELL ARE
cannot drink wines in bowls, nor eat the lambs out of the flocks, nor
the calves out of the midst of the stall. In everlasting burnings there
will be no merry company to pass time away, nor no dice nor cards to
pass care away ; nor no cellars of wine wherein to drown the sinner's
grief. By fire in the scriptures last cited, is meant, as I conceive, all
the positive part of the torments of hell ; and because they are not
only upon the soul but also upon the body. As in heaven there shall
be all bodily perfection, so there shall be also in hell all bodily miseries.
Whatsoever may make a man perfectly miserable shall be in hell ;
therefore the wrath of God and all the positive effects of this wrath is
here meant by fire.
I have read of Pope Clement the Fifth, that when a nephew of his,
whom he had loved sensually and sinfully, died, he sent his chaplain
to a necromancer to learn how it fared with him in the other world.
The conjuror shewed him the chaplain lying in a fiery bed in hell ;
which when it was told the Pope, he never joyed more after it, but,
within a short time after, died also.i Out of this fiery bed there is
no deliverance. When a sinner is in hell, shall another Christ be
found to die for him, or will the same Clmst be crucified again?
Oh, no!
sirs, the torments of hell will be exceeding great and terrible,
such as will make the stoutest sinners to quake and tremble ! If the
handwriting upon the wall, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, made Bel-
shazzar's ' countenance to change, his thoughts to be troubled, and his
joints to be loosed, and his knees to be dashed one against another,'
Dan. V. 5, vi. 25; oh, how terrible will the torments of hell be to
the damned ! The torments of hell will be universal torments. All
torments meet together in that place of torment. Hell is the centre
of all punishments, of all sorrows, of all pains, of all wrath, and of all
vengeance, &c. One of the ancients saith, [Bernard,] that the least
punishment in hell is more grievous than if a child-bearing woman
should continue in the most violent pangs and throes a thousand
years together, without the least ease or intermission.
An ancient writer mentioned by Discipulus, de tempore, goeth much
further, affirming that if all the men which have been from Adam's
time till this day, and which shall be to the end of the world ; and all
the piles of grass in the world were turned into so many men to
augment the number; and that punishment inflicted in hell upon
any one, were to be divided amongst all these, so as to every one
might befall an equal part of that punishment ; yet that which would
be the portion of one man would be far more grievous than all the
cruel deaths and exquisite tortures which have been inflicted upon
men ever since the world began. 2 A heathen poet, speaking of the
multitude of the pains and torments of the wicked in hell, affirmed,
^ Jac. Reu. Hist. Pontif, Rom. 199 [tiic: but Query, * Platina Historia de Vitis Pon-
tificum Romanorum. Colon : 1626, 4o ' ? — G.]
* Tytius his vulture, though feeding on his liver, is but a flea-biting to the gnawing
worm that is in hell [Qu. 'Prometheus the Titan' '^ — G.] — Ixion his wheel is a place
of rest, if compared with those billows of wrath, and that wheel of justice which is in
hell brought over the ungodly [Cf. Schol. ad Horn.; Od. xxi. 303; Serv. ad Virgil, ^En.
vi. 601; Georg. iii. 38, iv. 484. — G.] — The lash of Danaiis his daughters is but a sport
compared to the torture of the damned in hell [Pindar. Xem. x. 7 ; Ovid : Met. iv. 462 ;
Horat. Carm. iii. 11, &c. — G.]
MATCHLESS, BASELESS, AND ENDLESS.
129
* that although he had a hundred mouths, and as many tongues, with
a voice as strong as iron, yet were they not able to express the names
of them.' But this poet spoke more like a prophet than a poet. The
poets tell you of a place called Tartarum, or hell, where the impious
shall be eternally tormented. This Tartarum the poets did set forth
with many fictions to affright people from vicious practices, sufch as
of the four lakes of Acheron, Styx, Phlegethon^ and Cocytus ; i over
which Charon, in his boat, did waft over the departed souls ; of the
three judges, ^acus, Minos, and Khadamanthus,2 who were to call
the souls to an account, and judge them to their state ; of the three
furies, Tisophone, Megsera, and Alecto, who lashed guilty souls to
extort confession from them ;^ of Cerberus, the dog of hell, with three
heads, which would let none come out when once they were in ; and
of several sorts of punishments inflicted, as iron chains, horrid stripes,
gnawing of vultures, wheels, rolling great stones, and the like. In the
chapel of Ticam, the China Pluto, the pains of hell were so deciphered
that could not but strike terror into the beholders, — some roasted in
iron beds, some fried in scalding oil, some cut in pieces, or divided in
the middle, or torn of dogs, &c. In another part of the chapel were
painted the dungeons of hell, with horrible serpents, flames, devils,
&c.*
' In hell,' saith Mahomet, [Alcoran,'&c.,] ' there is the floor of brim-
stone, smoky, pitchy, with stinking flames, deep pits of scalding pitch,
and sulphurous flames wherein the damned are punished daily.' There
the wicked shall be fed with the tree Ezecum, which shall burn in their
bellies like fire ; there they shall drink fire, and be holden in chains of
seventy cubits. In the midst of hell, they say, is a tree full of fruit,
every apple being like to the head of a devil, which groweth green in
the midst of all those flames, called Zoaccum Aga£ci, or the tree of
bitterness ; and the souls that shall eat thereof, thinking to refresh
themselves, shall so find them, and by them and their pains in hell,
they shall grow mad, and the devils shall bind them with chains of
fire, and shall drag them up and down in hell ; with much more which
I am not free to transcribe. Now, although most of those things which
you may -find among many poets, heathens, and Turks, concerning the
torments of hell, are fictions of their own brains ; yet that there is such
a place as hell, and that there are diversity of torments there, the very
light of nature doth witness, and hath forced many to confess, &c.
And as there are diversity of torments in hell, so the torments of
heU are everlasting. Mark, everything that is conducible to the tor-
ments of the damned is eternal. 1. God himself that damns them is
eternal, Deut. xxxiii. 27; 1 Tim. i. 17. 2. The fire that torments them
is eternal, Isa. xxx. 33, and Ixvi. 24 ; Jude 7. 3. The prison and
chains that hold them are eternal, Jude 6, 7, 13 ; 2 Pet. ii. 17. 4.
^ Homer : Od. x. 513 ; cf. Paus. i. 17, sec. 5. Rather Pyriphlegeton. — G.
- jEacus; Ovid, Met. xiii. 25; Horat, Carm. ii. 13, 22; Plato, Gorg. and Apolog. —
Minos: Homer, H. xiii. 450, xiv. 322; Od. xi. 321, 567, xvii. 523, xix. 178.— Bhada-
tnanthus: ApoUod. ill. 1, sec. 2, ii. 4, sec. 11; Horn. Od. iv. 564, vii. 323; Piniar.
ol. ii. 137.— G.
* Eather Tisiphone : Orph. Arg. 966. Megsera and Alecto ; Orph. Hymn 68 ; Virg..
Mn. xii. 845 ; Cerberus : Horn. 11. viii. 368 ; Od. xi. 623.— G.
* Purchas his Pilgrims, 3d vol., pp. 407, 408.
VOL. V. I
130 THAT THE TORMENTS OF HELL ARE
The worm that gnaws them is eternal, Mark ix. 44. 5. The sentence
that shall be passed upon them shall be eternal, Mat. xxv. 41, ' De-
part from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.' You know that fire is
the most tormenting element. l Oh, the most dreadful impression that
it makes upon the flesh, everlasting fire !_ There is the vengeance and
continuance of it. You shall go into fire, into everlasting fire, that shall
never consume itself, nor consume you. Eternity of eternity is the
hell of hell. The fire in hell is like that stone in Arcadia, which being
once kindled could never be quenched. If all the fires that ever were,
or shall be in the world, were contracted into one fire, how terrible
would it be ! Yet such a fire would be but as a painted fire upon the
wall, to the fire of hell. For to be tormented without end, this is that
which goes beyond all the bounds of desperation,. Grievous is the
torment of the damned, for the bitterness of the punishments, but it is
more grievous for the diversity of the punishments, but most grievous
for the eternity of the punishments.^ If, after so many millions of
years as there be drops in the ocean, there might be a deliverance out
of hell, this would yield a little ease, a little comfort to the damned.
Oh, but this word eternity, eternity, eternity ; this word everlasting,
everlasting, everlasting; this word /or ever, for ever, for ever, will even
break the hearts of the damned in ten thousand pieces ! Oh, that
word never, said a poor despairing creature on his death-bed, breaks
my heart. ' The reprobate shall have punishment without pity ;
misery without mercy, sorrow without succour, crying without com-
passion, mischief without measure, and torment without end,' [Drexe-
lius.] Plato could say, ' That whoever are not expiated, but profane,
shall go into hell, to be tormented for their wickedness, with the greatest,
the most bitter and terrible punishments for ever in that prison of hell.'
And Trismegistus could say, ' That souls going out of the body defiled,
were tossed to and fro with eternal punishments.' Yea, the very Turks,
speaking of the house of perdition, do affirm, ' That they who have
turned God's grace into wantonness, shall abide eternally in the fire
of hell, and there be eternally tormented.' 3 A certain religious man
going to visit Olympius, who lived cloistered up in a dark cell, which
he thought uninhabitable, by reason of heat, and swarms of gnats and
flies, and asking him how he could endure to live in such a place, he
answered, ' All this is but a light matter, that I may escape eternal
torments : I can endure the stinging of gnats, that I might not endure
the stinging of conscience, and the gnawing of that worm that never
dies ; this heat thou thinkest grievous, I can easily endure, when I
think of the eternal fire of hell ; these sufi'erings are. but short, but the
sufierings of hell are eternal.' 4 Certainly, infernal fire is neither toler-
able nor terminable. Impenitent sinners in hell shall have end with-
out end, death without death, night without day, mourning without
mirth, sorrow without solace, and bondage without liberty. The
damned shall live as long in hell as God himself shall live in heaven.
^ Melanchthon calls it a hellish fury. Of this fire, see more in my ' London's Lamen-
tation on the late Eiery Dispensation,' part ii. pag« 105-131. [Vol. vi. — Q.j
' Dionys. in 18. Apocalyps. fol. 301.
* Alcoran Mahom. c. liv. p. 160, &c. ; c. xx. p. 198, &c.
* There is no Christian which doth not believe the fire of hell to be ererlasting. Dr
Jackson on the Creed, lib. xi. c. 23.
MATCHLESS, BASELESS, AND ENDLESS. 131
Their imprisonment in that land of darkness, in that bottomless pit, is
not an imprisonment during the king's pleasure, but an imprisonment
during the everlasting displeasure of the King of kings. Suppose, say
some, that the whole world were turned to a mountain of sand, and
that a little wren should come every thousand year and carry away
from that heap one grain of sand, what an infinite number of years,
not to be numbered by all finite beings, would be spent and expired,
before this supposed mountain could be fetched away ! Now if a man
should lie in everlasting burnings so long a time, and then have an
end of his woe, it would administer some ease, refreshment, and com-
fort to him ; but when that immortal bird shall have carried away
this supposed mountain, a thousand times over and over, alas, alas,
sinful man shall be as far from the end of his anguish and torment as
ever he was ; he shall be no nearer a-coming out of hell, than he was
the very first moment that he entered into hell, l If the fire of hell
were terminable, it might be tolerable ; but being endless, it must
needs be easeless, and remediless. We may well say of it, as one doth,
Oh, killing life ! oh, immortal death ! 2
Suppose, say others, that a man were to endure the torments of hell
as many years, and no more, as there be sands on the sea-shore, drops
of water in the sea, stars in heaven, leaves on trees, piles of grass on
the ground, hairs on his head, yea, upon the heads of all the sons of
Adam that ever were or are, or shall be in the world, from the be-
ginning of it to the end of it, yet he would comfort himself with this
poor thought. Well, there will come a day when my misery and tor-
ment shall certainly have an end. But woe and alas, this word,
' never, never, never,' will fill the hearts of the damned with the greatest
horror and terror, wrath and rage, amazement, and astonishment.
Suppose, say others, that the torments of hell were to end, after a
little bird should have emptied the sea, and only carry out her bill- full
once in a thousand years. Suppose, say others, that the whole world,
from the lowest earth to the. highest heavens, were filled with grains
of sand, and once in a thousand years an angel should fetch away one
grain, and so continue till the whole heap were spent. Suppose, say
others, if one of the damned in hell, should weep after this manner,
viz., that he should only let fall one tear in a thousand years, and
these should be kept together, tiU such time as they should equal the
drops of water in the sea ; how many millions of ages would pass,
before they could make up one river, much more a whole ; and when
that were done, should he weep again after the same manner, tUl he
had filled a second, a third, and a fourth sea. If then there should be
an end of their miseries, there would be some hope, some comfort, that
they would end at last ; but that they shall never, never, never end,
this is that which sinks them under the most tormenting terrors and
horrors.
You know that the extremity and eternity of hellish torments is set
forth by the worm that never dies ; and it is observable that Christ, at
the close of his sermon, makes a threefold repetition of this worm :
^ An often recorring illustration with the Medieeval preachers ; as are also those that
follow.— G.
^ Bellar. de arte moriendi, lib. ii. c. 3.
132 THAT THE TOBMENTS OF HELL ARE
Mark ix. 44, * where their worm dieth not ;' and again, ver. 46, ' where
their worm dieth not ;' and again, ver, 48, ' where their worm dieth not,
and their fire goeth not out.' Certainly, those punishments are beyond
all conception and expression, which our Lord Jesus doth so often in-
culcate within so small a space.
Now if there be such a diversity, extremity, and eternity of hellish
pains and torments, which the great God will certainly inflict upon the
bodies and souls of all impenitent persons, after the day of judgment ;
then there must certainly be some hell, some place of torment, wherein
the wrath of God shall be executed upon wicked and ungodly men.
But,
[6] Sixthly, The greatest part of wicked and ungodly men escape
unpunished in this world. The greatest number of men do spend
their days in pride, ease, pleasures, and delights, in lust and luxury,
in voluptuousness and wantonness : ' They take the timbrel and harp,
and rejoice to the sound of the organ ;' ' They chant to the sound of the
viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music;' ' They di-ink wine
in bowls ; ' ' They lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon
their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of
the midst of the stall ;' and therefore there will be a time when these
shall be punished in another world, Ps. Ixxiii. 3-13 ; Job xxi. 12 ;
Amos V. C.
God doth not punish all here, that he may make way for the dis-
playing of his mercy and goodness, his patience and forbearance. Nor
doth he forbear all here, that he may manifest his justice and right-
eousness, lest the world should turn atheist, and deny his providence,
Eom. ii. 4, 5 ; 2 Pet. iii. 9-15. He spares that he may punish, and
he punisheth that he may spare. God smites some sinners in the very
acting of their sins, as he did Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and others,
Num. xvi. ; not till they have filled up the measure of their sins, as
you see in the men of the old world. Gen. vi. 5-7. But the greatest
number of sinners God reserves for the great day of his wrath. Mat.
vii. 13. There is a sure punishment, though not always a present
punishment, for every sinner, Eccles. viii. 12, 13. Those wicked
persons which God suflFers to go uncorrected here, he reserves to be
punished for ever hereafter, 2 Thes. i. 7-10. Sinners, know your
doom, — you must either smart for your sins in this world, or in the
world to come. That ancient hit the mark that said, ' Many sins are
punished in this world, that the providence of God might be more
apparent ; and many, yea, most, reserved to be punished in the world
to come, that we might know that there is yet judgment behind.' 1
Sir James Hamilton, having been murdered by the Scottish king's
means, he appeared to the king in a vision, with a naked sword drawn,
and strikes off both his arms, with these words, ' Take this, before thou
receivest a final payment for all thy impieties ;' and within twenty-
four hours two of the king's sons died. 2 If the glutton in that historical
parable being in hell, Luke xvi. 22-24, only in part, to wit, in soul,
yet cried out that he ' was horribly tormented in that flame,' what
think ye shall that torment be when body and sonl come to.be united
^ AugtBtine, Epist. 54.
' Mr tnox in his History of Scotland. [See Laing'a ' Works ' of Knox, i. n.— Q.]
MATCHLESS, BASELESS, AND ENDLESS. 133
for torture! It being just with God, that as they have been, like
Simeon and Levi, brethren in iniquity, and have sinned together des-
perately and impenitently, so they should suffer together jointly,
eternally, Gen. xlix. 5. The Hebrew doctors have a pretty parable to
this purpose : A man planted an orchard, and going from home, was
careful to leave such watchmen as both might keep it from strangers
and not deceive him themselves; therefore he appointed one blind,
but strong of his limbs, and the other seeing, but a cripple. These
two, in their master's absence, conspired together ; and the blind took
the lame on his shoulders, and so gathered the fruit. Their master
returning, and finding out this subtlety, punished them both together.
So shall it be with those two sinful yoke-fellows, the soul and the body,
in the great day ; they have sinned together, and they shall suffer at
last together, 2 Cor. v. 10, 11. But now in this world the greatest
number of transgressors do commonly escape all sorts of punishments ;
and therefore we may safely conclude that there is another world,
wherein the righteous God will revenge upon the bodies and souls of
sinners the high dishonours that have been done to his name by them.
But,
[7.] Seventhly, In all things natural, and supernatural, there is an
opposition and contrariety. There is good, and there is evil ; there
is light and darkness, joy and sorrow. Now as there are two several
ways, so there are two distinct ends : Heaven, a place of admirable
and inexpressible happiness, whither the good angels convoy the souls of
the saints who have, by a holy conversation, glorified God, and adorned
their profession, Luke xvi. 22 ; and hell, a place of horror and con-
fusion, whither the evil angels do hurry the souls of wicked, incor-
rigible, and impenitent wretches, when they are once separated from
their bodies. ' The rich man also died and was buried ; and in hell he
lifted up his eyes, being in torments,' ver. 22, 23 ; ' and these shall
go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life
eternal,' Mat. xxv, 46. In these words we have described the differ-
ent estate of the wicked and the righteous after judgment, * They
shall go away into everlasting punishment, but these into life eternal.'
After the sentence is past, the wicked go into everlasting punishment,
and the righteous into life eternal. Everlasting punishment, the end
thereof is not known, its duration is undetermined. Hell is a bottom-
less pit, and therefore shall never be fathomed. It is an unquenchable
fire, and therefore the smoke of their torments doth ascend for
ever and ever, Kev. xiv. 11. Hell is a prison from whence is no
freedom, because there is no ransom to be paid. No price will be
accepted for one in that estate. And as there is no end of the punish-
ments of hell, into which the wicked must enter, so there is no end of
the joys of heaven, into which the saints must enter. ' In thy presence
is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore,'
Ps. xvi. 11. Here is as much said as can be said, for quality, there
is in heaven joy and pleasures ; for quantity, a fulness, a torrent ; for
constancy, it is at God's right hand; and for perpetuity, it is for
evermore. The joys of heaven are without measure, mixture, or end.
Thus you see that there are two distinct ends, two distinct places, to
which the wicked and the righteous go. And, indeed, if this were not
134 THAT THE TORMENTS OF HELL ARE
80, then Nero would be as good a man as Paul, and Esau as happy a
man as Jacob, and Cain as blessed a man as Abel. Then as believers
say, ' If in this Hfe only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men
most miserable,' 1 Cor. xv. 19 ; because none out of hell ever suffered
more, if so much, as the saints have done ; so might the wicked say,
' If in this life only we were miserable, we were then of all men most
happy.' But,
[8.] Eighthly, and lastly, You kjiow that all the princes of the world,
for their greater grandeur and state, as they have their royal palaces for
themselves, their nobles and attendants, so they have their jails, prisons,
and dark dungeons for rogues and rohhers,for malefactors and traitors.
And shaU not he who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, Eev,
xix. 16 ; he who is the Prince of the kings of the earth, Eev. i. 5 ;
he who removeth kings and setteth up kings, Dan. ii. 21 ; shall not
he have his royal palace, a glorious heaven, where he and all his noble
attendants, angels, and saints shall live for ever ? Shall not the
great king have his royal and magnificent court in that upper world,
as poor petty princes have theirs in this lower world? Surely he
shall, as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin
together. 1 And shall not the same great King have his hell, his
prison, his dungeon, to secure and punish impenitent sinners in?
Surely yes. And doubtless, the least glimpse of this hell, of this place
of torment, would strike the proudest, and the stoutest sinners dead
with horror. sirs ! they that have seen the flames, and heard the
roarings of ^tna, the flashing of Vesuvius, the thundering and burning
flakes evaporating from those marine rocks, have not yet seen, no, not
so much as the very glimmering of hell. A painted fire is a better
shadow of these, than these can be of hell torments, and the miseries
of the damned therein. Now these eight arguments are sufficient to
demonstrate that there is a hell, a place of torment, to which the
wicked shall be sent at last. Now certainly, Socinians, atheists, and
all others that are men of corrupt minds, and that believe that there
is no hell, but what they carry about with them in their own con-
sciences ; these are worse than those poor Indians that hold that there
are thirteen hells,2 according to the differing demerits of men's sins ;
yea, they are worse than devils, for they believe and tremble, James ii.
19. <f>pi<7(Tovcrt ; this Greek word signifies to roar as the sea ; from
thence, saithEustatius, it is translated to the hideous clashing of armour
in the battle. The original word seemeth to imply an extreme fear,
which causeth not only tremblings, but also a roaring and shrieking
out. Their hearts ache and quake within them, they quiver and shake
as men do when their teeth chatter in their heads in extreme cold
weather, Mark vi. 49, and Acts xvi. 29. The devils acknowledge four
articles of our faith : Mat. viii. 29, ' And behold, they cried out,
saying. What have we do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God ? Art thou
come hither to torment us before the time.' 1. They acknowledge
God ; 2. Christ ; 3. The day of judgment ; 4. That they shall be tor-
mented then. They who scorn the day of judgment are worse than
devils ; and they who deny the deity of Christ are worse than devils,
* Eph, ii. 3 John xiv. 1-4 Luke xii. 32; Ken. ix. 6; 1 Kings viii. 27 ; Heb. viii. 1 ;
Eev. iii. 21, ^ Purchas his Pilarrima.so.
MATCHLESS, EASELESS, AND ENDLESS. 135
[Piscator.] The devils are, as it were, for a time respited and re-
prieved, in respect of full torment, and they are suffered as free
prisoners to flutter in the air, and to course about the earth till the
great day of the Lord, which they tremble to think on ; and which
they that mock at, or make light of, are worse than devils. The devils
knew that torments were prepared for them, and a time when these
torments should be fully and fatally inflicted on them, and loath they
were to suffer before that time. Ah, sirs, shall not men tremble to
deny what the devils are forced to confess ! Shall I now make a few
short inferences from what has been said, and so conclude this head ?
1. First, then. Oh labour to set up God as the great object of your
fear. This grand lesson Christ commands us to take out, ' Fear not
them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather
fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell ; yea, I
say unto you, fear him,' Mat. x. 28. Christ doubles the precept, that
it might stick with more life and power upon us, Luke xii. 5. As
one fire, so one fear, drives out another. Both the punishment of loss
and the punishment of sense may be the objects of a filial fear, the
fear of a son, of a saint, of a soul that is espoused and married to
Christ. The fear of God, and the fear of sin, will drive out the fear
of death, and the fear of hell, 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; Hos. ii. 19, 20. sirs,
will you not fear that God that hath the keys of hell and death in his
own hand, that can speak you into hell at pleasure, that can by a
word of command bring you to dwell with a devouring fire, yea, to
dwell with everlasting burnings ? Rev. i. 18.
Ah, friends, will you fear a burning fever, and will you not fear a
burning in hell ? Will you fear when the house you live in is on fire,
and when the bed you lie on is on fire, though it may be quenched, and
will you not fear that fire that is unquenchable ? Isa. xxxiii. 14. When
men run through the streets and cry, Fire, fire, fire ! how do your
hearts quake and tremble in you'; and will you not fear the fire of hell ?
will you not fear everlasting fire ? Mat. iii. 12, xxv. 41. Sir Francis
Bacon, in his history of Henry the Seventh,! relates how it was a by-
word of the Lord Cordes, who was a profane, popish, atheistical French
lord, that he could be content to lie seven years in hell, so he might
win Calais from the English ; but had this popish lord lain but seven
minutes under unsupportable torments, he would quickly have re-
pented of his mad bargain. It was good counsel that one of the
ancients gave, Descendamus in infernum viventes, ne descendamus
morientes, Let us go into hell while we are. alive, by a serious medita-
tion and holy consideration, that we may not go into it when we be
dead, by real miseries, [Bernard.] God can kill, and more than that,
he can cast into hell. Here is both temporal and eternal destruction,
both rods and scorpions. He can kill the body, and then damn both
body and soul, and cast them into hell ; and therefore it becomes every
one to set up God as the great object of their fear. Yea, I say unto
you, fear him ; yea, I say unto you, fear him. This redoubling of the
speech adds a greater enforcement to the admonition. It is like the
last stroke of the hammer, that rivets and drives up all to the head.
Thus David uses this ingemination, ' Thou, even thou, art to be feared,
^ As before. See Index sub nomine. — G. >
136 THAT THE TORMENTS OF HELL ARE MATCHLESS, ETC.
and who may stand in thy sight ; when thou art angry, thou canst
look them to death, yea, to hell,' Ps. Ixxyi. 7. And it is worth the
observing, that this ingemination and reinforcement liere annexed is
to the affirmative clause, not to the negative. Oar Saviour saith not,
' Yea, I say unto you, fear not them ; ' but he places the reduplication
upon the affirmative precept, ' I say unto you, fear him.' sirs, tem-
poral judgments are but the smoke of his anger, but in hell there are
the flames of his anger. That fire burns fiercely, and there is no
quenching of it Excuse me, saith the father, thou breakest i bonds
and imprisonments, emperor, but God's threatenings are much more
terrible. He threatens hell torments and everlasting damnation ; and
certainly, where there is the greatest danger, there it is fit that there
should be the greatest dread. But,
2. Secondly, Then /?ee/rom ^7ie4f;ra^^ ^0 CO we. Mat. iii. 7.^ sirs,
that you would seriously and frequently dwell upon those short hints !
[1.] Wrath to come is the greatest lorath, it is the greatest evil that
can befall a soul. ' Who knows the power of thy wrath ?' Ps. xix. 11.
Wrath to come is such wrath as no man can either avoid or abide,
and yet such is most men's stupidity, that they will not believe it till
they feel it. As God is a great God, so his wrath is a great wrath.
I may allude to that which Zebah and Zalmunna said to Gideon, ' As
the man is, so is his strength,' Judges viii. 21. So may I say, as the
Lord is, so is his wrath. The wrath of an earthly king is compared
to the roaring of a lion, Prov. xix. 12 ; Heh., of a young lion, which,
being in his prime, roars most terribly. He roars with such a force
that he amazes the creatures whom he hunts, so as that they have no
power to fly from him. Now if the wrath of a king be so terrible, oh
how dreadful must the wrath of the King of kings then be ! The
greater the evil is, the more cause we have to flee from it. Now
wrath to come is the greatest evil, and therefore the more it concerns
us to flee from it, Kev. xvii. 14. But,
[2.] Secondly, Wrath to come is treasured-up lorath. Sinners are
still ' a-treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath,' Kom. ii. 5. In
treasuring there is, 1. Laying in; 2. Lying hid; 3. Bringing out again
as there is occasion.
Whilst wicked men are following their own lusts, they think that
they are still adding to their own happiness ; but alas, they do but
add wrath to wrath, they do but heap up judgment upon judgment,
punishment upon punishment. Look, as men are daily adding to
their treasure more and more, so impenitent sinners are daily increas-
ing the treasures of wrath against their own souls. Now, who would
not flee from treasures of wrath ? But,
[3.] Thirdly, Wrath to come is pure wrath. It is ' judgment with-
out mercy,' James ii. 13. The cup of wrath which God will put into
sinners' hands at last will be a cup of pure wrath, all wrath, nothing
but wrath, Eev. xiv. 10, ' The same shall drink of the wine of the
wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of
his indignation ; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
^ Query, ' threatenest ' ? — Ed.
* Though destruction by the Romans is not here excluded, yet the principal thing
that he means by wrath to come is hell-fire, Mat. xxiii. 33.
A FIVEFOLD IMPROVEMENT OF HELLISH TORMENTS. 137
in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the lamb.'l
Look, as there is nothing but the pure glory of God that can make a
man perfectly and fully happy, so there is nothing but the pure wrath
of God that can make a man fully and perfectly miserable. Eepro-
bates shall not only sip of the top of God's cup, but they shall drink
the dregs of his cup. They shall not have at last one drop of mercy,
nor one crumb of comfort. They have filled up their lifetime with
sin, and God will fill up their eternity with torments. But,
[4.] Fourthly and lastly. As wrath to come is pure wrath, so wrath
to come is everlasting wratli : Rev, xiv, 11, ' And the smoke of their
torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.' ' Would to God,' saith one,
[Chrysostom,] ' men would everywhere think and talk more of hell,
and of that eternity of extremity, that they shall never else be able to
avoid, or to abide.' See the scriptures in the margin.2 ' The damned,'
saith Gregory, ' shall suffer an end without end, a death without
death, a decay without decay ; for their death ever liveth, their end
ever beginneth, their decay never ceaseth, they are ever healed to be
new wounded, and always repaired to be new devoured ; they are ever
dying and never dead, eternally broiling and never burnt up, ever
roaring in the pangs of death, and never rid of those pangs ; for they
shall have punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow
without succour, crying without comfort, mischief without measure,
and torment without ease, " where the worm dieth not, and the fire is
never quenched.'" The torments of the damned shall continue as
many worlds as there be stars in the firmament, as there be grains
of sand on the sea-shore, and as there be drops of water found in the
sea ; and when these worlds are ended, the pains and torments of hell
shall not cease, but begin afresh, and thus this wheel shall turn round
without end.
Oh the folly and vanity, the madness and baseness of poor wretched
sinners who expose themselves to everlasting torments for a few fleshly
momentary pleasures ! sirs ! who can stand before his indignation,
and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger .? ' His fury is poured
out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him,' Nahum i. 6.
Now how should these things work poor sinners to flee from wrath to
come by fleeing to Christ, ' who alone is able to save them from
wrath to come,' 1 Thes. i. 10. Themistocles, understanding that King
Admetus was highly displeased with him, he took up the king's young
son in his arms, and so treated with the father, holding his darling in
his bosom, and by that means pacified his wrath.^ Ah sinners, sinners,
the King of kings is highly ofi"ended with you, and there is no way to
appease his wrath, but by taking up Christ in your arms, and so pre-
sent your suits to him. But,
3. Thirdly, If there be a hell, tlien don't let fly so fiercely against
those faithful ministers who seriously and conscientiously do all they
can to prevent your dropping into hell, 2 Cor. v, 20, xii. 15. Don't
call them legal preachers who tell you that there is a hell, and that
^ This drinking of the wine of the wrath of God, without mixture, notes summam
pcsncE severitatem.
* 2 Thes. i. 8 ; Jude 6, 7 ; Mat. xxv. 46 ; Tsa. xxxiii. 14, &c.
* Plutarch in vita.
138 A FIVEFOLD IMPROVEMENT OF HELLISH TORMENTS.
there is no torments to hellish torments, if either you consider their
extremity or eternity. Be not so hot nor so angry with those ambas-
sadors of Christ who are willing to spend and be spent that they may
keep you from running headlong to hell. ' To think of hell,' saith
one,i ' preserves a man from falling into it ; ' and, saith the same
author, Utirvam ubique de geJienna dissereretur, I could wish men would
discourse much and oft of hell. It was a saying of Gregory Nyssen,
who lived about thirteen hundred years ago, ' He that does but hear of
hell is, without any further labour or study, taken off from sinful plea-
sures.' But what minister can say so now ? Surely men's hearts are
grown worse since, for how do most men run headlong to hell, and
take a pleasure to dance hoodwinked into everlasting burnings ! 2 Oh,
had but the desperate sinners of this day who swear and curse, drink
and drab, and drown themselves in fleshly pleasures, but one sight of
this hell, how would it charm their mouths, appal their spirits, and
strike fear and astonishment into their hearts !
I cannot think that the high transgressors of this day durst be
80 highly wicked as they are, did they but either see or foresee what
they shall one day certainly feel, except there be sound and serious
repentance on their sides, and pardoning grace on God's. Bellarmine
was of opinion that one glimpse of hell were enough to make a man,
not only turn Christian and sober, but monk too : to live after the
strictest rule that may be. And yet, he tells us of a certain advocate
of the court of Eome, who being, at the point of death, stirred up by
them that were about him to repent and call upon God for mercy, he,
with a constant countenance, and without sign of any fear, turned his
speech to God, and said, Lord, I have longed much to speak to thee,
not for myself, but for my wife and children ; for I am hasting to hell,
I am now a-going to dwell with devils, neither is there anything that
I would have thee to do for me ; and this he spoke, saith Bellarmine,
who was then present and heard it, Animo tarn tranqtdllo ac si de
itinere ad villam loqueretur, with as placate, serene and tranquil a
mind, as if he had been speaking of going to the next town or village.
Ah, who can read or write such a relation without horror and terror ! 3
But,
4. Fourthly, If there be a hell, then do not /ret, do not envy the
prosperity and flourishing estate and condition of wicked and ungodly
men; for God has given it under his hand, that they shall be turned
into hell : ' The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations
that forget God,' Ps. xxxvii. 1, 2, Ixxiii. 21; Prov, iii, 31; Ps. ix. 17.
It was a wise saying of Marius to those that envy great men their honour,
Let them, saith he, envy them their burdens. I have read a story
of a Koman, who was by a court-martial condemned to die for break-
ing his rank to steal a bunch of grapes ; and as he was going to exe-
cution, some of the soldiers envied him, that he had grapes, and they
had none. Saith he, Do you envy me my grapes, I must pay dear for
^ ChrysoBtom, hom. xli7. in Mat.
' Look, as he said that nothing but the eloquence of Tully could sufficiently set forth
Tully's eloquence, so none can express these ererlasting torments but he that is from
everlasting to everlasting. Millions of years multiplied by millions, make not up one
minute to this eternity ; but who considers it, who believes it ? &c.
' Bellar. de arte moriendi, lib. ii. cap. 10.
A FIVEFOLD IMPROVEMENT OF HELLISH TORMENTS. 139
them ! Ah sirs ! do not envy wicked men's grapes, do not envy their
riches, their honom-s, their greatness, their offices, their dignities ; for
they shall one day pay dear for their things. High seats to many are
uneasy, and the downfall terrible : ' How art thou fallen from heaven,
Lucifer, son of the morning ! ' Isa. xiv. 12. It is spoken of the
Chaldean monarch, who, though high, yet had a sudden change befell
him. It is not a matter of so great joy to have been high and honour-
able, as it is of grief, anguish, and vexation to be afterwards despicable
and contemptible: 'Come down, and sit in the dust,' Isa. xlvii. 1.
Babylon was the lady of kingdoms ; but, saith God, ' sit in the dust ;
take the mill-stones, and grind,' ver. 2 ; ' The Lord of hosts hath pur-
posed to stain {Heb., to pollute) the pride of all glory, and to bring
into contempt all the honourable of the earth,' Isa. xxiii. 9 ; ' He shall
bring down their pride together,' Isa. xxv. 11 ; ' Woe to the crown of
pride : the crown of pride shall be trodden under feet,' Isa. xxviii. 1, 3.
God will bring down the crown of pride to the dust, to ashes, yea, to
hell ; and, therefore, do not envy the crown of pride. Croesus was so
puffed up with his crown of pride, with his great riches and worldly
glory, that he boasted himself to be the happiest man that lived ; but
Solon told him that no man was to be accounted happy before death.
Croesus little regarded what Solon had said unto him, until he came,
by miserable experience, to find the uncertainty of his riches, and all
worldly glory, which before he would not believe. For when he was
taken by King Cyrus, and condemned to be burned, and saw the fire
preparing for him, then he cried out, Solon, Solon ! Cyrus asking
him the cause of the outcry, he answered, that now he remembered
what Solon had told him in his prosperity — nemo ante ohtfum felix —
that no man was to be accounted happy before death. Who can sum
up those crowns of pride that in Scripture and history God has brought
down to the dust, yea, to the dunghill ! Have not some wished, when
they have been breathing out their last, that they had never been kings,
nor queens, nor lords, nor ladies .? &c. Where is there one of ten thou-
sand who is advanced, and thereby anything bettered ? Solus impera-
torum Vespasianus in melius mutatus. Few men believe what vexations
lie under the pillows of princes. You look upon my crown and my
purple robes, saith Artaxerxes ; but did you know how they were lined
with thorns, you would not stoop to take them up. Damocles highly
extolled Dionysius his condition. Dionysius, to convince him of his
mistake, provides a royal feast, invites him to it, commands his ser-
vants to attend him. No meat, no mirth, no music is wanting ; but
withal caused a sharp sword to be hung overhead by a horse hair,
which made Damocles tremble, and to forbear both meat and mirth.
Such, even such, saith Dionysius the Sicilian tyrant, is my life, which
thou deemest so pleasant and happy. sirs ! there is a sword of
wrath which hangs over every sinner's head, even when he is sur-
rounded with all the gay and gallant things of this world.
Outward prosperity is commonly given in wrath, as you may see by
comparing the scriptures in the margin together, i Prosperity kills
and damns more than adversity. The Germans have this proverb,
* Hos. liii. 11 ; Ps. Ixxiii. and Ixxviii. 30, 31; Prov. i. 32 ; Luke xii. 16-22; Eccles.
V. 12, 13.
140 A FIVEFOLD IMPROVEMENT OF HELLISH TORMENTS.
That the pavemsnt of liell is made of the glorious crests of gallants.
It had been infinitely better for the great men of this world that they
had never *been so great, for their horrid abuse of God's mercy and
bounty will but increase their misery and damnation at last. That
ancient hit it, [Augustine,] who said, Because they have tasted so
liberally of God's kindness, and have employed it only against God's
glory, their felicity shall be short, but their misery shall be endless ;
and therefore to see the wicked prosper and flourish in this world is
matter rather of pity than envy, it is all the heaven they must have.i
These are as terrible texts as any in the whole Book of God : Mat. vi.
2, ' Verily I say unto you, they have their reward ; ' Luke vi. 24, ' Woe
to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation ; ' James
V. 1-3, * Go to, now, ye rich men, weep and howl for ,your miseries that
shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments
are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered : and the rust of
them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were
fire.' Gregory, being advanced to places of great preferment, professed
that there was no scripture that went so near his heart, and that struck
such a trembling into his spirit, as that speech of Abraham to Dives,
Luke xvi. 2.5, ' Son, remember thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good
things.' They that have their heaven here, are in danger to miss it
hereafter. It is not God's usual way, saith one, [Jerome,] to remove
a deliciis ad delicias, from delights to delights — to bestow two heavens,
one here and another hereafter ; and doubtless hence it was that David
made it his solemn prayer, ' Deliver me from the wicked, from men of
the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou
fiUest with thy hid treasure,' Ps. xvii. 14. It is a very hard thing to
have earth and heaven too. God did not turn man out of one paradise
that he should here provide himself of another. Many men with the
prodigal cry out, ' Give me the portion that belongs to me,' Luke xv.
12 — give me riches, and give me honour, and give me preferment, &c, ,
and God gives them their desires, but it is with a vengeance ; as the
Israelites had quails to choke them, and afterwards a king to vex
them, and a table to be a snare unto them, Ps. Ixxviii, 24-32, When
the Israelites had eaten of their dainty dishes, justice sent in a sad
reckoning which spoiled all. Ah friends, there is no reason why we
should envy the prosperity of wicked men. Suppose, saith one,
[Chrysostom,] that a man one night should have a pleasant dream
that for the time might much delight him, and for the pleasure of
such a dream should be tormented a thousand years together with
exquisite torments, would any man desire to have such a dream upon
such conditions ? All the contentments of this life are not so much to
eternity as a dream is to a thousand years. And, oh, how little is that
man's condition to be envied, who for these short pleasures of sin must
endure an eternity of torments ! sirs ! do wicked men purchase their
present pleasures at so dear a rate as eternal torments ? and do we envy
their enjoyment of them so short a time ? Would any envy a man
going to execution, because he saw him in prison nobly feasted and
^ The whole Turkish empire is nothing else but a crust cast by our Father to his dogs,
and it is all they are likely to have, let them make them merry with it, said Luther. ^
OF THE PLACE WHERE HELL IS. 141
nobly attended and bravely courted ? or because he saw him go up the
ladder with a gold chain about his neck and a scarlet gown upon his
back? or because he saw him walk to execution through pleasant
fields or delightsome gardens? or because there went before him
drums beating, colours flying, and trumpets sounding, &c.? Surely
no. Oh, no more should we envy the grandeur of the men of the
day, for every step they take is but a step to an eternal execution !
The sinner is cursed, and all his blessings are cursed ; and who in their
wits would envy a man under a curse ? Oh, how much more worthy
of our pity than envy is that man's condition who hath all his hap-
piness confined to the narrow compass of this life, . but his misery
extended to the uttermost bounds of an everlasting duration ! Mai.
ii. 2. But,
5. Fifthly, If there be a hell, then, Christians, spend your days in
admiring and in being greatly affected with the transcendent love of
Christ, in undergoing hellish punishments in our steads. Oh pray, pray
hard that you ' may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the
breadth, and length, and depth, and height of that love of Christ which
passeth knowledge,' Eph. iii, 18, 19, — of that love of Christ that put
him upon these corporeal and spiritual sufferings which were so ex-
ceeding great, acute, extreme, universal and continual, and all to save
us from wrath to come, 1 Thes. i. 10. Christ's outward and inward
miseries, sorrows, and sufferings are not to be paralleled, and therefore
Christians have the more cause to lose themselves in the contemplation
of his matchless love. Oh, bless Christ ! oh, kiss Christ ! oh, embrace
Christ! oh, welcome Christ ! oh, cleave to Christ ! oh, follow Christ!
oh, walk with Christ ! oh, long for Christ ! who for your sakes hath
undergone insupportable wrath and most hellish torments, as I have
evidenced at large before, and therefore a touch here may suffice. ^
Oh, look up to dear Jesus, and say, blessed Jesus, thou wast accursed
that I might be blessed, Gal. iii. 13 ; thou wast condemned that I
might be justified, Isa. liii. ; thou didst for a time undergo the very
torments of hell, that I might for ever enjoy the pleasures of heaven,
Eom. viii. 30, 34 ; Ps. xvi. 11 ; and therefore I cannot but dearly love
thee, and highly esteem thee, and greatly honour thee, and earnestly
long after thee ; and this is all I shall say by way of inference.
But, for a close, you will say, ubi sit? where is hell ? where is this
place of torment? where is that very place that is so frequently
called hell in the Scripture? That there is a hell, you have suffi-
ciently proved ; but, pray, where is it ? where is it ? Now, to this I
answer,
[1.] First, That it becomes all sober, serious Christians to rest satis-
fied and contented with those scriptural arguments that do undeniably
prove that there is a hell, a place appointed where the wicked, the
damned, shall be tormented for ever and ever, though they do not
know, nor for the present cannot understand, where this hell is.
But,
^ Ps. ciii. 1, 2, and ii. 12; Cant. iii. 4; Eev. xiv. i, 5; Isa. Ixiii. 8; Gen. vi. 9 ; Cant.
Tiii. 14.
142 OF THE PLACE WHERE HELL IS.
[2.] Secondly, I answer, Curiosity is one of the most dangerous
engines that the devil uses to undo souls withal. When Satan
observes that men do in good earnest set themselves to the obtaining
of knowledge, then he strives to turn them to vain inquiries and
curious speculations ; that so, if they will be knowing, he may keep
them busied about unprofitable curiosities, l The way to make us
mere fools is to affect to know more than God would have us. Adam's
tree of knowledge made him and his posterity fools, Gen. iii. 5, 6.
Curiosity was the bait whereby the devil caught our first parents,
and undid us all. Curiosity is the spiritual adultery of the soul.^
Curiosity is spiritual drunkenness. So that, look, as the drunkard,
be the cup never so deep, he is not satisfied unless he see the bottom
of it ; so the curious searcher into the depths of God, he is unsatisfied
till he comes to the bottom of them, and by this means they come to
be mere fools, as the apostle saith, Kom. i. 22. Adam had a mind to
know as much of God as God himself ; and by this means he came
to know nothing. Curiosity is that green-sickness of the soul, whereby
it longs for novelties, and loathes sound and wholesome truths ; it is
the epidemical distemper of this age. Ah ! how many are there who
spend their precious time in nice and curious questions ! ^ As, what
did Christ dispute of among the doctors ? Where did Paradise stand ?
In what part of the world is local hell ? What fruit was it that Adam
ate, and ruined us all ? What became of Moses his body ? How
many orders and degrees of elect angels are there? &c. Oh that
we could learn contentedly to be ignorant- where God would not
have us knowing, and let us not account it any disparagement to
acknowledge some depths in Gt)d's counsels, purposes, decrees, and
judgments, which our shallow reason cannot fathom, Rom. xi. 33.
It is sad when men will be wise above what is written, and love to
pry into God's secrets, and scan the mysteries of religion by carnal
reason, Rom. xii. 3, and 1 Cor. iv. 6. God often plagues such pride
and curiosity by leaving that sort of men to strange and fearful
falls. When a curious inquisitor asked Austin what God did
before he created the world, Austin told him he was making hell
for such busy questionists, for such curious inquirers into God's
secrets. Such handsome jerks are the best answers to men of curious
minds. But,
[3.] Thirdly, I answer. It concerns us but little to know whether
hell be in the air, or in the concave of the earth, or of what longitude,
latitude, or profundity it is.* Let hell be where it hath pleased God
in his secret counsel to place it, to men unknown, whether in the
north or in the south, under the frozen zone, or under the burning
zone, or in a pit or a gulf. Our great care should be to avoid it, to
escape it, and not to be curiously inquisitive about that place, which
1 Curious inquirers haye always lain under the lash of Christ, as you may sec by com-
paring these scriptures together : Job xxi. 22 ; Acts i. 6, 7 ; Luke xiii. 22, 24.
* August. Epist. 77.
' Basil saith divers questions may be made about a very fly, which no philo-
sopher is ever able to answer ; how much rather about heaveu, hell, or the work of
grace ?
* Let us not be inquisitive where hell is, but rather let our care be to escape it, saith
Chrysoatom.
OF THE PLACE WHERE HELL IS. 143
the Lord in his infinite wisdom hath not thought fit clearly to reveal
or make known to the sons of men.
In hell there 's nothing heard but yells and cries ;
In hell the fire never slacks, nor worm never dies.
But where is this hell placed ? ' My muse, stop there :
Lord, shew me what it is, but never where !
To worm and fire, to torments there,
No term he gave, they cannot wear.^
Look, as there are many that please themselves with discourses of
the degrees of glory, whilst others make sure their interest in glory ;
so many please themselves with discourses of the degrees of the tor-
ments of hell, whilst others make sure their escaping those torments ;
and look, as many take pleasure to be discoursing about the place
where hell is, so some take pleasure to make sure their escaping of
that place ; and certainly they are the best and wisest of men who
spend most thoughts, and time, and pains how to keep out of it, than
to exercise themselves with disputes about it.^ But,
[4.] Fourthly, I answer, That it has been the common opinion of
the fathers, that hell is in the bowels of the earth ; yea, Christ and
the blessed Scriptures, which are the highest authority, do strongly
seem to favour this opinion, by speaking of a descent unto hell, in
opposition unto heaven ; and, therefore, we may as well doubt whether
heaven be above us, as doubt of hell being beneath us.^ Among other
•scriptures ponder upon these : Ps. cxl. 10, ' Let them be cast into the
deep pits, that they rise not up again. Bring them down into the pit
of destruction ;' Prov. ix. 18, ' Her guests are in the depths of hell ;'
Prov. XV. 24, * The way of life is above to the wise, that he may
depart from hell beneath.' Sheol is sometimes taken for a pit, some-
times for the grave, and sometimes, and that significantly too, for
hell, all downwards. One saith^ that Sheol generally signifies all
places under the earth; whence some conclude that hell is in the
heart of the earth, or under the earth. Without doubt it is below,
■ because it is everywhere opposed to heaven, which is above. It is
therefore called A byssus, a deep pit, a vast gulf ; such a pit as, by
reason of the depth thereof, may be said to have no bottom. The
devils entreated Christ that he would not send them to this place,
Luke viii. 31, in Abyssum, which is, saith one, Immensce profundit-
afis vorago, quasi absque /undo : A gulf of immeasurable depth, &c.5
The apostle, 2 Pet. ii. 4, speaking of the angels that sinned, saith,
' God cast them down into hell.' So Beza, in his Annotations, telleth
us the Greeks called that place which was ordained for the prison
and torment of the damned. And reason itself doth teach us that it
must needs be opposite and contrary to that place in which the spirits
of just men made perfect, Heb. xii. 23, do reside, which, on all hands,
is granted to be above ; and hell therefore must needs be below, in
^ A Pentelogia, dolor inferni. — Prudentius the poet.
' As in heaven one is more glorious than another, so in hell one shall be more miser-
able than another. — Augustine.
* Infernum est locus subterraneus, Tertul. lib. 3. de Anim.
* Mercerus upon Gen. xxxvii. [Comment, on Genesis, 1598, folio. — G.]
' Beza upon Mat.
144 OF THE PLACE WHERE HELL IS.
the centre of tlie earth, say some, which is from the superficies three
thousand five hundred miles, as some judge. Hesiod saith, hell is as
far under the earth as heaven is above it. Some have been of opinion
that the pit spoken of, into which Korah, Dathan, and Abiram went
down alive, when the earth clave asunder and swallowed them up,
was the pit of hell, into which both their souls and bodies were im-
mediately conveyed, Num. xvi. 33. As we know little in respect of
the height of heaven, so we know as little in respect of the lowness of
hell. Some of the upper part of the earth is to us yet terra incognita,
an unknown land ; but all of the lowest parts of hell is to us an un-
known land. Many thousands have travelled thither, but none have
returned thence, to make reports or write books of their travels.
That piece of geography is very imperfect. Heaveiji and hell are the
greatest opposites, or remotest extremes : ' Thou, Capernaum, which
art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell !' Mat. xi. 23.
Heaven and hell are at farthest natural distance, and are therefore
the everlasting receptacles of those who are at the farthest moral dis-
tance — believers and unbelievers, saints and impenitents. And it is
observable, that as the height of heaven, so the depth of hell, is
ascribed to wisdom, to shew the unsearchableness of it. ' Oh the
depth,' as well as ' Oh the height,' ' of the wisdom of God ! how un-
searchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out !' Kom. xi.
33. Certainly God's depths, and Satan's depths, and hell's depths,
lie far out of our view, and are hard to be found out, 1 Cor. ii. 10,
and Kev. ii. 24. Though I ought religiously to reverence the won-
derful wisdom of God, and to wonder at his unsearchable judgments,
yet I ought not curiously and profanely to search beyond the com-
pass of that which God hath revealed to us in his word. The
Romans had a certain lake, the depth whereof they knew not ; this
lake they dedicated to victory. Doubtless hell is such a lake, the
depth whereof no man knows; it is such a bottomless pit that no
mortal can sound. But,
[5.] Fifthly and lastly, I answer. Some of the learned are of opinion,
that hell is without this visible world, which will pass away at the
last day, 2 Pet. iii. 10-13, and removed at the greatest distance from
the sedes beatorum, the place where the righteous shall for ever inhabit :
Mat. viii. 12, ' But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into
outer darkness.' Mat xxii. 30, ' Then said the king to his servants,
Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer
darkness.' Mat. xxv. 30, ' And cast ye the unprofitable servant into
outer darkness.' Into a darkness beyond a darkness, into a dungeon
beyond and beneath the prison. i The darkness of hell is compared to
the darkness of those prisons, which were oftentimes out of the city ,2 2
Pet.ii.4; JudeG; Actsxii.lO. By outer darkness, the Holy Ghost would
signify to us that the wicked should be in a state most remote from
^ In tenebras ex tenebris, infeliciter exclusi, infeliciua excludendi. — Augustine.
* This prison was without the gate, near mount Calvary, and it was the loathsomest
and vilest prison of all, for in it the thieves who were carried to Calvary to be
executed were kept; and Christ alludeth to this prison in that Mat. viii. 12, and
that Mat. xxii. 13, and that Mat. xxv. 30, ' Cast him into utter darkness;' which al-
lusion could not be understood, unless there had been a dark prison without the city,
where was utter darkness.
THREE IMPROVEMENTS MORE TO BE MADJE, ETC. 145
all heavenly happiness and blessedness ; and that they should be ex-
pulsed out of the blessed presence of" God, who is mentium lumen. It is
usual among the Greeks by a comparative to set forth the superlative
degree. By outer darkness we are to understand the greatest darkness
that is, as in a place most remote from all light. They shaU be cast into
outer darkness, that is, they shall be cast into the corporal and palpable
darkness of the infernal prison ; immediately after death sinners' souls
shall be cast into the infernal prison, and in the day of judgment both
their souls and their bodies shall be cast into outer darkness. Dark-
ness is no other thing than a privation of light.
Now light is twofold, viz. — 1. Spiritual, as wisdom, grace, truth.
Now the privation of this light is internal darkness, and ignorance in
the spirit and inward man. 2. There is a sensible and corporal light,
whose privation is outer darkness ; and this is the darkness spoken of
in the three scriptures last cited. For although there be fire in hell,
yet it is a dark and smoky fire, and not clear, except only so as the
damned may see one another, for the greater increase of their misery,
as some write. Now I shall leave the ingenuous reader to conclude as
he pleases concerning the place where hell is, desiring and hoping
that he will make it the greatest business of his life to escape hell, and
to get to heaven, &c.
6. Sixthly, If Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of hell,
though not after a hellish manner, then let me infer that certainly the
papists are greatly out, they are greatly mistaken, and do greatly err,
loho boldly and confidently assert that Christ's soul in substance loent
really and locally into hell. Bellarmine takes a great deal of pains to
make good this assertion,! but this great champion of the Komish
church may easily be confuted. First, Because that limbus patrum,
and Christ's fetching the fathers from the skirts of hell, about which
he makes so great a noise, is a mere fable, and not bottomed upon any
solid grounds of Scripture. Secondly, Because upon Christ's dying, and
satisfying for our sins, his soul went that very day into paradise — as
Adam sinning was that very day cast out of paradise — and his soul could
not be in two places at once. Thirdly, Because this descent of Christ's
soul into hell was altogether needless, and to no end. What need
was there of it, or to what end did he descend ? Not to suffer in hell,
for that was finished on the cross ; not to redeem or rescue the fathers
out of hell, for the elect were never there, and redemption from hell
was wrought by Chi'ist's death, as the Scriptures do clearly evidence ; not
to triumph there over the devils, &c.,2 for Christ triumphed over them
when he was on the cross.^ Christ, in the day of his solemn inaugura-
tion into his heavenly kingdom, triumphed over sin, death, devils, and
hell. When Christ was on the cross, he made the devils a public
spectacle of scorn and derision ; as Tamerlane did Bajazet the great
Turk, whom he shut up in an iron cage made like a grate, in such
^ Bellar. de Christ, anima. lib. iv. cap. 10-16, torn. 1 . Vide Calvin in Institut. lib.
'ii. cap. 16, sect. 9.
=* Luke xxiii. 43; Gen. iii. 23, 24 ; John xviii. 30 ; Heb. ix. 12 ; 1 Tbes. i. 10; Eph.
: iv. 8 ; Heb. ii. 14, 15 ; Col. ii. 14, 15.
' It is a plain allusion to the Roman triumphs, where the victor ascended to the
Capitol in a chariot of state, the prisoaers following on foot with their hands bound be-
hind them, &c.
VOL. V. K
146 THREE IMPROVEMENTS MORE TO BE MADE
sort as that he might on every side be seen, and so carried him up
and down all Asia, to be scorned and derided by his own people, i By
these few hints you may see the vanity and folly of the papists, who
tell you that Christ's soul and substance went really and locally into
hell. I might make other inferences, but let these suffice at this
time.
7. Seventhly, As Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very torments of
hell, though not after a hellish manner, so Jesus Christ was really,
certainly made a curse for us. Jesus Christ did in his soul and body
bear that curse of the law, which by reason of transgression was due
to us. ' Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us ; for it is written. Cursed is every one that hangeth
on a tree,' Gral iii. 13, He saith not Christ was cmsed, but a curse,
which is more : it shows that thfi curse of all did lie upon him. The
death on the tree was accursed above all kinds of deaths, as the serpent
was accursed above all the beasts of the field, Gen. iii. 14. This scripture
refers to Deut. xxi. 33, ' His body shall not remain all night upon the
tree ; but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day, for he that is
hanged is accursed of God.'^ The holy and wise God appointed this
kind of punishment, as being the most cruel and reproachful, for a
type of the punishment which his Son must suffer to deliver us from
the curse. Hanging on a tree was accounted the most shameful, the
most dishonourable, the most odious and infamous, and accursed, of
all kinds of death, both by the Israelites and other nations, because
the very manner of the death did intimate that such men as were thus
executed were such execrable, base, vile, and accursed wretches, that
they did defile the earth with treading on it, and would pollute the
earth if they should die upon it, and therefore were hanged up in
the air, as persons not fit to converse amongst men, or touch the sur-
face of the ground any more. But what should be the reason why the
ceremonial law affixed the curse to this death rather than any other
death ? I answer, first, because this was reckoned the most shameful
and dishonourable of all deaths, and was usually therefore the punish-
ment of those that had by some notorious wickedness provoked God
to pour out his wrath upon the whole land, and so were hanged up to
appease his wrath ; as you may see in the hanging of those princes
that were guilty of committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab,
Num. XXV. 4 ; and in the hanging of Saul's seven sons in the days of
David, when there was a famine in the land because of Saul's perfidi-
ous oppressing of the Gibeonites, 2 Sam. xxi, 6-9 ; and in Joshua's
hanging of the five kings of the Amorites, Josh, xvi. 26. But, secondly
and mainly, it was with respect to the death Christ was to die. God
would have his Son, the Lord Jesus, to suffer this kind of death, that
hence it might be the more evident that in his death he bare the curse
due to our sins, according to that of the apostle, Gal. iii. 13. Christ
was certainly made that curse which he redeemed us from, otherwise
the apostle does not reason either soundly or fairly, when he tells us we
^ [KnoUes,] Turk Hist. 220.
* Not that all that are hanged should be damned, for the contrary appears in that
Luke xiiii. 43. Neither is hanging in itself, or by the law of nature, or by civil law,
more execrable than any other death.
OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 147
are redeemed from the curse because Christ was made a curse for us ;
he remitteth that curse to us which he received in himself. That
father hit the mark who saith^i Chrisius suppUcium nostrum sine
reatu suscepit, ut solveret reatum, et Jiniret siipplicium, Christ hath
taken our punishment without guilt, to loose the guilt and end the
punishment. We were subject to the curse, because we had trans-
gressed the law ; Christ was not subject, because he had fulfilled it.
Earn ergo execroiionem suscepit, cui obnoxius nan erat, quum suspenr
susfuit in ligno, ut eocecrationem solveret, quce adversus nos erat, He
therefore took that curse, to the which he was not subject, when he
hanged upon the tree, to loase the curse which was against us. 2
Such a curse or execration was Christ made for us, as was that from
which he redeemed us ; and that curse from which he redeemed us
was no other than the cm-se of the law, and that the curse of the law
included all the punishment which sinners were to bear or suffer for
transgression of the law, of which his hanging on the cross was a sign
and symbol ; and this curse was Christ made for us, that is, he did
bear and suffer it to redeem us from it. Christ was verily made a
curse for us, and did bear both in his body and soul that curse, which
by reason of the transgression of the law was due to us ; and therefore
I may well conclude this head with that saying of Jerome, Injuria
Domini, nostra gloria, The Lord's injury is our glory. ^ The more we
ascribe to Christ's suffering, the less remaineth of ours ; the more pain-
fully that he suffered, the more fully are we redeemed ; the greater his
sorrow was, the greater our solace ; his dissolution is our consolation,
his cross our comfort ; his annoy our endless joy ; his distress in soul
our release, his calamity our comfort ; his misery our mercy, his ad
versity our felicity, his hell our heaven. Christ is not only accursed,
but a curse ; and this expression is used both for more significancy and
usefulness, to note out the truth and realness of the thing, and also to
shew the order and way he took for bringing us back unto that
blessedness which we had lost. The law was our righteousness in our
innocent condition, and so it was our blessedness ; but the first Adam,
falling away from God by his first transgression, plunged himself into
all unrighteousness, and so inwrapped himself in the curse, James i.
24. Now Christ the second Adam, that he may restore the lost man
into an estate of blessedness, he becomes that for them which the law
is unto them, namely, a curse ; beginning where the law ends, and so
going backward to satisfy the demands of the law to the uttermost, he
becomes first a curse for them and then their righteousness, and so their
blessedness, Rom. x. 24. Now Christ's becoming a curse for us stands in
this, that whereas we are all accursed by the sentence of the law because
of sin, he now comes in our room, and stands under the stroke of that
curse which of right belongs to us ; so that it lies not now any longer
on the backs of poor sinners, but on him for them and in their stead ;
therefore he is called a surety, Heb. vii, 22. The surety stands in the
room of a debtor, malefactor, or him that is any way obnoxious to the
law. Such is Adam and all his posterity. We are by the doom of
the law evil-doers, transgressors, and upon that score we stand indebted
to the justice of God, and lie under the stroke of his wrath. Now the
^ Bede in Gal. iii. ' CEcumenius in Gal. iii. ' Jerome in Gal. iii.
148 THREE IMPROVEMENTS MORE TO BE MADE, ETC.
Lord Jesus, seeing us in this condition, he steps in and stands between
us and the blow ; yea, he takes this wrath and curse off from us unto
himself. He stands not only or merely after the manner of a surety
among men, in the case of debt ; for here the surety indeed enters bond
with the principal for the payment of the debt ; but yet he ^ expects
that the debtor should not put him to it, but that he should discharge
the debt himself : he only stands as a good security. No, Christ Jesus
doth not expect that we should pay the debt ourselves, but he takes it
wholly to himself. As a surety for a murderer or traitor, or some other
notorious malefactor, that hath broken prison and is run away, he lies by
it body for body, state for state, and imdergoes whatsoever the male-
factor is chargeable withal for satisfying the law ; even so, the Lord
Jesus Christ stands surety for us runagate malefactors, making him-
self liable to all that curse which belongs to us, that he might both
answer the law fully and bring us back again to God. As the first
Adam stood in the room of all mankind fallen ; so Christ the second
Adam stands in the room of all mankind which is to be restored ; he
sustains the person of all those which do spiritually descend from him,
and unto whom he bears the relation of a head, Eph. i. 22, 23. Christ
did actually undergo and suffer the wrath of God, and the fearful effects
thereof, in the punishments threatened in the law. As he became a
debtor, and was so accounted, even so he became payment thereof ; he
was made a sacrifice for sin, and bare to the full all that ever divine
justice did or could require, even the uttermost extent of the curse of
the law of God. He must thus undergo the curse, because he had
taken upon him our sin. The justice of the most high God, revealed
in the law, looks upon the Lord Jesus as a sinner, because he hath un-
dertaken for us, and seizeth upon him accordingly, pouring do\\Ti on his
head the whole curse, and all those dreadful punishments which are
threatened in it against sin ; for the curse folio weth sin as the shadow
the body, whether it be sin inherent or sin imputed ; even as the bless-
ing follows righteousness, whether it be righteousness inherent or
righteousness imputed. But, '
8. Eighthly, He that did feel and suffer the very torments of hell,
though not after a hellish manner, was God man. Christ participates
of both natures, being @edv6p(07ro<i, God and man, God-man. Such a
mediator sinners needed. No mediator but such a one who hath in-
terest in both parties, could serve their turns or save their souls, and
such a one is the Lord Jesus ; he hath an interest in both parties, and
he has an interest in both natures, the Godhead and the manhood.
The blessed Scriptures are so express and clear in these points, that
they must shut their eyes with a witness against the light, that cannot
see Christ to be God-man, to be God and man. I shall first speak
something of Christ, as he is God. Now here are fathomless depths
and bottomless bottoms, if I may so speak ; here are stupendous and
amazing mysteries, astonishing and confounding excellencies, such as
the holy angels themselves desire to pry into.i God is ^w? oUcbv
cLTrpoaiTov, dwelling in inaccessible light: 1 Tim. vi. 16. Here are
such beauties and perfections that had I, as the poet speaks, a hundred
^ 1 Pet. i. 12, irapa.K'ufai.. The word signifies to look wishly and intently, as the
cherubims of old looked into the mercy-seat, Exod. xxv. 18, 19. It signifies prying into
CHRIST S ETERNAL DEITY PROVED. 149
tongues, a liimdred mouths, and a voice of steel, yet I could not suffi-
ciently describe them. Nevertheless give me leave to say something
concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, who is one eternal God with the
Father, and with the Holy Grhost. I might produce a cloud of wit-
nesses in the case, but it is enough that we have the authority of the
sacred Scriptures, both in the Old and New Testament, confirming of
it ; and therefore I shall lay down some proofs or demonstrations of
the eternal godhead of Christ, which I shall draw out of the blessed
Scripture. This is a point of high concernment, that Christ is God ;
so high as whosoever buildeth not upon this buildeth upon the sands.
This is the rock of our salvation, ' The Word was God,' John i. 1.
Concerning this important point, consider —
1. First, That the godhead of Christ is clearly asserted, and mani-
fested both in the Old and Neio Testament. Take a taste of some of
those many scriptures which may be cited : Isa. xliii. 10-12, ' That
ye may know and believe, and understand that I am he, I, even I am
Jehovah, and besides me there is no Saviour:' and Isa. xli. 21-25,
' There is no God else besides me : a just God and Saviour, there is none-
besides me. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,
for I am God, and there is none else. To me every knee shall bow.
.... In Jehovah have I righteousness. ... In Jehovah shall the seed
of Israel be justified.' i Compare this with Kom. xiv. 10, 11. And the
Socinians may as safely conclude, that there is no other God but Jesus
Christ, as they may conclude that there is no God but God the Father,
from the 17th of John. But they and we ought to conclude from,
these scriptures, that Jesus Christ is not a different God from the-
Father, but is one and the same God with him. So he is called ' The
mighty God, the everlasting Father,' Isa. ix. 6. Take a few clear
places out of the New Testament, as that in Rom. ix. 5, ' Of whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever-
more.' Christ is here himself called God blessed for ever. So Titus
ii. 13, ' Looking for that hope, and the glorious appearance of the
great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' Who is it that shall ap-
pear at the last day in the clouds, but Christ ? who is called the great
God and our Saviour ? ' God blessed for ever,' saith Paul to the
Eomans ; ' The great God,' saith Paul to Titus : 1 John v. 20, ' And
we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an under-
standuig, that we may know him that is true ; and we are in him that
is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and
eternal life: ' Phil. ii. 6, ' He was in the form of God, and thought it
no robbery to be equal with God:' and Col. ii. 9, ' In him dwelleth
the fulness of the Godhead bodily : ' John xx. 28, ' My Lord, and my
God:' 1 Tim. iii. 16, ' God manifested in the flesh :' ' To which of
the saints or angels did God say at anytime. Thou art my Son ?' Heb.
i. 1. ' The heir of all things, the illustrious brightness of my glory,
and lively character of my person.' ' Thy throne, God, is for ever
and ever, and all the angels of God shall worship thee.' Certainly he
a thing overveiled and hidden from sight, to look, as we say, wishly, [' wistfully' — G.]
at it, as if we would look even through it.
^ Compare these scriptures of the Old Testament with these in the New. Heb. i.
2, 3 ; 1 John i. 7 ; Acts iv. 12 ; Eph. iv. 8 ; Rom. ix. 30 ; [and also] Jer. xxxiii. 23 ;
Ps. vi., Ixviii. 18-20.
150 CHRIST'S ETERNAL DEITY PROVED.
who is Grod's own proper, natural, consubstantial, co-essential, only-
begotten Son, he is Grod ; wherever this sonship is, there is the deity or
the divine essence. Now Christ is thus God's Son, therefore he is
God. What the Father is as to his nature, that the Son must also
be ; now the first person, the Father of Christ, is God ; whereupon he
too who is the Son must be God also. A son always participates of
his father's essence, there is betwixt them evermore an identity and
oneness of nature. If therefore Christ be God's Son, as is most evi-
dent throughout the Scripture he is, then he must needs have that
very nature and essence which God the Father hath, insomuch that if
the second person be not really a God, the first person is but equivocally
a Father. These scriptures out of the Old and New Testament are so
evident and pregnant to prove the godhead of Christ, that they need
no illustration ; yea, they speak so fully for the divinity of Christ, that
all the Arians and Socinians in the world do but in vain go about to
elude them. But,
2. Secondly, Let us ponder seriously upon these scriptures: John
iii. 13, ' And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came
down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven ;' ver. 31,
' He that cometh from above is above all : he that cometh from heaven
is above all ;' John viii, 23, ' Ye are from beneath, I am from above;'
John xvi. 28, * I came forth from the Father, and am come into the
world ; and again I leave the world, and go to the Father.' Now
from these blessed scriptures we may thus argue : he who was in heaven
before he was on the earth, and who was also in heaven whilst he was
on the earth, is certainly the eternal God; but all this doth Jesus Christ
strongly assert concerning himself, as is evident in the scriptures last
cited -, therefore he is the eternal God, blessed for ever. But,
3. Thirdly, Christ's eternal deity, co-equality, and consubstantiality
with the Father, may be demonstrated from his divine names and titles.
As,
(1.) First, Jehovah is one of the incommunicable names of God,
which signifies his eternal essence.
The Jews observe that in God's name Jehovah, the Trinity is implied.
Je signifies the present tense, ho the preterperfect tense, vah the future.
The Jews also observe that in his name Jehovah all the Hebrew letters
are literoi quiescentes, that denote rest, implying that in God and from
God is all our rest. Every gracious soul is like Noah's dove, he can
find no rest nor satisfaction but in God. God alone is the godly man's
ark of rest and safety. Jehovah is the incommunicable name of God,
and is never attributed to any but God : Ps. Ixxxiii. 19, ' Thou whose
name alone is Jehovah.' Jehovah is a name so full of divine mysteries,
that the Jews hold it unlawful to pronounce iti Jehovah signifies
three things : —
1.] That Gt)d is an eternal, independent being of himself.
2. 1 That he gives being to all creatures, Acts xvii. 28.
3.] That he doth, and will give, being to his promises. God tells
* Eiod. IV. 3 ; Gen. ii. 4. The Jews called it nomen Dei ineffabile. But this nama
Jehovah is not unspeakable in regard of the name, but in regard of the essence of God,
aet forth by it, as Zanchy [Zanchius] noteth. This name was alwavs thrice repeated when
the priest blessed the people, Num. vi. 24-26.
Christ's eternal deity proved. 151
Moses, Exod. vi. 3, that he ' appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and
unto Jacob by the name of El Shaddai, God Almighty, but by my
name Jehovah was I not known to them/ The name Jehovah waa
known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but not mysterium nominis, the
mystery of the name.i This was revealed to Moses from God, and from'
Moses to the people. It is meant of the performances of his great pro-
mises made to Abraham. God did promise to give the land of Canaan
to Abraham's seed for an inheritance, which promise was not performed
to him^ but to his seed after him ; so that this is the meaning, God
appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, El Shaddai, God Almighty,
in protecting, delivering, and rewarding of them, but by his name
Jehovah he was not known to them. God did not perform his promise
made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but unto their seed and posterity
after them. This name Jehovah is the proper and peculiar name of
tlie one, only true God, a name as far significant of his nature and
being as possibly we are enabled to understand ; so that this is taken
for granted on all hands, that he whose name is Jehovah is the only
true God. Whenever that name is used properly, without a trope or
figure, it is used of God only.
Now this glorious name Jehovah, that is so full of mysteries, is
frequently ascribed to Christ : Isa. vi. 1, he is called Jehovah, for there
Isaiah is said to see ' Jehovah sitting upon a throne,' &c. And, John,
xii. 41, this is expressly by the holy evangelist applied to Christ, o£
whom he saith, that ' Isaiah saw his glory, and spake of him.' Exod.
xvii. 1, the people are said to ' tempt Jehovah ;' and the apostle saith,,
1 Cor. X. 9, ' Let us not tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted,;
and were destroyed of serpents.' It is said of Jehovah, ' Of old hast-
thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works^
of thy hands ; they shall perish, but thou shalt endure,' &c., Ps. cii.
25, 26 ; and the apostle clearly testifies, Heb. i. 10, that these words
are spoken of Christ. So Jehovah rained fire and brimstone from
Jehovah out of heaven, Gen. xix. 24 ; that is, Jehovah, the Son of
God, that stayed with Abraham, Gen, xviii., rained fire and brimstone
from Jehovah the Father; and Christ is called Jehovah-Tsidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness ; and in that Zech. xiii. 7, Christ is called
the Father's fellow. The Lord Christ is that Jehovah, to whom every
knee must bow, as appears by comparing Isa. xlv. 21-25 with Kom.
xiv. 9-12 and Phil. ii. 6, 9--11. I might further insist upon this argu-
ment, and shew that the title of Lord, so often given to Christ in the
New Testament, doth answer to the title of Jehovah in the Old Tes-
tament. And, as some learned men conceive, the apostles did purposely
use the title of Lord, that they might not offend the Jews with fre-
quent pronouncing of the word Jehovah : ' Thou shalt fear Jehovah
thy God.' Deut. vi. 13 and x. 20 is rendered by the apostle, ' Thou
shalt worship the Lord thy God ;' and so Deut. vi. 5, ' Thou shalt love
Jehovah thy God,' is rendered. Mat. xxii. 37, ' Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God.' Thus you see that in several precious scriptures
* Gen. XX. 14, 'Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will
Bee, or provide.' Besides, the fathers of old are said not to have known God by his
name Jehovah, in comparison of that which their posterity knew afterwards ; for to
them God made himself more clearly and plenarily known.
152 Christ's eternal deity proved.
Jesus Christ is called Jehovah ; and therefore we may very safely and
confidently conclude that Jesus Christ is very God, God blessed for
ever. But,
(2.) The second name or title which denotes the essence of God is
Ehieh, ' I am that I am,' or, I will be what I will be, Exod. iii. 14.i
It hath the same root with Jehovah, and signifies that God is an eter-
nal, unchangeable being. Some make this name to be Gods extra-
ordinary name. Damascene saith this name containeth all things in
it, like a vast and infinite ocean without bounds. This glorious name
of God, I AM THAT I AM, impHcs these six things. [1.] God's incom-
prehensibleness : as we use to say of anything we would not have
others pry into, it is what it is, so God saith here to Moses, I am
WHAT I AM. [2.] It implies God's immensity, that his being is with-
out any limits. Angels and men have their beings, but then they are
bounded and limited within such a compass ; but God is an immense
being that cannot be included within any bounds. [3.] It implies
that God is of himself, and hath not a being dependent upon any
other. ' I am,' that is, by and from and of myself. [4,] It implies
God's eternal and uncJiangeahle being in himself. It implies God's
everlastingness. ' I am before anything was, and shall for ever be.'
There never was nor shall be time wherein God could not say of him-
self, ' I am.' [5.] It implies that there is no succession of time with
God. And, [6.] It implies that he is a God that gives being to all
things.'^ In short, the reason why God nameth himself, ' I am that I
AM,' or will be that I will be, is because he is the Being of beings,
subsisting by himself ; as if he should say, I am my being, I am my
essence ; my existence differeth not from my essence, because I am
that I am, and as I am, so will I be to all eternity,' ' the same yester-
day, to-day, and for ever.' ' There is no shadow of change, no vari-
ableness at all in me.'
Now this glorious name is given to Jesus Christ : Kev. i. 8, ' I am
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.' 3 This
kind of speaking is taken from the Greek alphabet, in which language
John wrote this book. A, called Alpha by them, being their first
letter, and 11, which they call Omega, the last. The sense is, I was
before all creatures, and shall abide for ever, though all creatures
should perish ; or I am he from whom all creatures had their begin-
ning, and to whom they are referred, as their uttermost end. Christ,
in calling of himself Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and
that absolutely, doth therein assume unto himself absolute perfection,
power, dominion, eternity, and divinity, which is, and which was, and
which is to come. Christ assumeth all those epithets here to himself
by which John, ver. 4, described God ; and what wonder is it if Christ,
who is God, doth take to himself whatever is due to God ? The
Almighty : this is another epithet proper to God, which Christ also
* The Hebrew Ehieh, after Ehieh, properly signifies, ' I will be that I will be.' The
Septuagint renders it 'Eyui et/it 6 wi>, I am he that is ; and in that Rev. xvi. 5, God is
called, He that is, and that was, and that will be.
■■' Every creature is temporary and mutable. Ko creature can say, Ero qui ero, I will
be that 1 will be.
" In this verse you have a clear and pregnant proof of Christ's deity.
Christ's eternal deity proved. 153
-taketh to himself, shewing that he is the true, eternal, and omnipo-
tent God, in all things equal and co-essential with the Father and the
Holy Ghost. This being the seventh argument which John makes
use of to prove the deity of Christ, is three times repeated. He is
the first and the last, which is, was, and is to come, and the Almighty,
and therefore he is, without a peradventure, God eternal ; for so Jeho-
vah saith of himself, ' I the Lord, the first and the last, I am he ; I
am the first, and 1 am the last, and besides me there is no God ; I
am God Almighty. i But Christ doth challenge, as due to himself, all
these divine attributes ; therefore he is Jehovah, that one, eternal, and
omnipotent God with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Oh, the stateli-
ness and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ ! What an excellent and
stately person is he, there being not a property attributed to God but
is agreeable to Christ ! Every word in this Rev. i. 8, is a proper
attribute of God. He is infinite in power, sovereign in dominion, and
not bounded as creatures are. And that this is clearly spoken of
Christ is most evident, not only from the scope, John being to set out
Christ, from whom he had this revelation, but also from the 11th and
17th verses following, where he gives him the same titles over again,
or rather, if you please, Christ, speaking of himself, taketh and re-
peateth the same titles.2 Heb. xiii. 8, ' Jesus Christ, the same yester-
day, and to-day, and for ever.' ' Yesterday,' that is, the time past,
before his coming in the flesh ; ' to-day,' while in the flesh ; ' and for
ever,' that is, after. The same afore time, in time, and after time.
'Jesus Christ the same,' that is, unchangeable in his essence, pro-
mises, and doctrine. Jesus Christ was always the same, and is still
the same, and will abide for ever the same, as being one selfsame
God, and one selfsame Mediator, as well in the Old as in the New
Testament. John viii. 58, ' Jesus said unto them. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.' According to my divine
nature, which is from everlasting, before Abraham was, I am. I who,
according to my humanity, am not above fifty years old, according to
my divine nature am eternal, and so before Abraham and all the crea-
tures, Micah V. 1, 2. I have a being from all eternity, and so before
Abraham was born ; and therefore, as young as you take me to be in
respect of my age here, I may well have seen and known Abraham,
though he died above two thousand years since. But,
(3.) The third name or title which denotes the essence of God
is Elohim, which signifies the persons in the essence. It is a name of
the plural number, expressing the trinity of persons in the unity of
essence ; and, therefore, it is observed by the learned that the Holy
Ghost beginneth the story of the creation with this plural name of
God, joined with a verb of the singular number, as Elohim Bara, Dii
creavit, the mighty Gods, or all the three persons in the godhead,
created, Gen. i. 1,2. So Gen. iii. 22, ' And Jehovah Elohim said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us.' It is a holy irrision of
man's vain aff'ectation of the deity. God upbraids our first parents for
their vain aff'ectation of being like unto him in that ironical expres-
sion, ' Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil ;'
^ Isa. xli. 4, xliv. 6, and Gen. xvii. 1.
* See Rev. xxi. 6, and xxii 13.
154 Christ's eternal deity proved.
meaning, that by his sin he was become most unlike him. This name
Elohim, by which God expresseth his nature, denotes the power and
strength of God ; to shew us that God is strong and powerful, and that
he can do great things for his people, and bring great desolations and
destructions upon his and his people's enemies. sirs, God is too
strong for his strongest enemies, and too powerful for all the powers of
hell ! Though Jacob, a worm in his own eyes, and in his enemies'
eyes, yet Jacob need never fear ; for Elohim, the strong and powerful
God, will stand by him, and help him, Isa. xli. 10, 13, 14.
Now this name is also attributed unto Christ : Ps. xlv. 6, ' Thy
throne, God, is for ever and ever : the sceptre of thy kingdom is a
right sceptre.' ' Thy throne, God,' Hebrew QTl'^'i* gods — ' Thy
throne, Gods,' Elohim. It signifies the trinity pf persons in the
unity of essence, as I have before noted. The prophet directs his
speech, not to Solomon but to Christ, as is most evident by the clear
and unquestionable testimony of the Holy Ghost : Heb. i. 8, ' But
unto the Son he saith. Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever : a
sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.' Christ is
called God, not by an excellency only as the angels are, nor by office
and title only as magistrates are called gods, nor catachrestically and
ironically as the heathen gods are called, nor a diminutive God, in-
ferior to the Father, as Arius held, but God by nature every way,
co-essential, co-eternal, and co-equal with the Father and the Holy
Ghost.i Hold fast all truth, but, above all, hold fast this glorious
truth, that Jesus Christ is God blessed for ever.
(4.) The fourth name or title which denotes the essence of God
is El Gibbor, the strong and mighty God. God is not only strong in
his own essence, but he is also strong in the defence of his pec^le, and
it is he that giveth all strength and power to all other creatures,
2 Chron. xvi. 9. There are no men, no powers, that are a match for
the strong God.
Now this title is also attributed to Christ : Isa. ix. 6, ' El Gibbor,
the strong God, the mighty God.' The word ^^, signifying God, doth
also signify strong. He is so strong that he is almighty, he is on'e to
whom nothing is impossible. Christ's name is God, for he is the same
essence with God the Father. This title, ' the mighty God,' fitteth
well to Christ, who hath all the names of the deity given to him
in Scripture ; and who, by the strength and power of his godhead, did
satisfy the justice of God, and pacify the wrath of God, and make
peace, and purchase pardon and eternal life for all his elect.
(5.) The fifth name or title which denotes the essence of God is El
Shaddai, God omnipotent or all-sufiicient. Gen. xvii. 1. He wanteth
nothing, but is infinitely blessed with the infinite perfection of his
glorious being. By this name God makes himself known to be self-
sufficient, all-sufiicient, absolutely perfect. Certainly that man can
want nothing who hath an all-sufiicient God for his God. He that
loseth his all for God, shall find all in an all-sufficient God, Mat. xix.
29. Esau had much, but Jacob had all, because he had the God
of all, G^n. xxxiii. 9-11. Habet omnia, qui habet habentem omnia.
What are riches, honours, pleasures, profits, lands, friends, yea, millions
^ Ps. viii. 5, compared with Heb. ii. 6-8, and Ps. Ixxxii. 16.
Christ's eternal deity proved. 155
of worlds, to one Sliaddai,,God Almighty, God All-sufficient ? [Augus-
tine.] 1 This glorious name Shaddai, was a noble bottom for Abraham
to act his faith upon, though in things above nature or against it, &c.
He that is El Shaddai is perfectly able to defend his servants from all
evil, and to bless them with all spiritual and temporal blessings, and
to perform all his promises which concern both this life and that which
is to come.
Now this name, this title Shaddai, is attributed to Christ, as you
may clearly see by comparing Gen. xxxv. 6, 9-11, and xxxii. 24-30,
with Hosea xii. 3-5.* That angel that appeared to Jacob was Christ,
the angel of the covenant. Mark, you shall never find either God the
Father or the Holy Ghost called an angel in Scripture ; nor was this
a created angel, for then Jacob would never have made supplication to
him ; but he was an uncreated angel, even the Lord of hosts, the
Almighty God, who spake with Jacob in Bethel. He that in this divine
story is said to be a man, was the Son of God in human shape,
as is most evident by the whole narration. The angel in the text is
the same angel that conducted the Israelites in the wilderness, and
fought their battles for them, Exod, iii. 2 ; Acts vii. 30 ; 1 Cor.
X. 4, 5, 9, even Jesus Christ, who is styled once and again the
Almighty, Bev. i. 8, and iv. 8. In this last scripture is acknowledged
Christ's holiness, power, and godhead. Ah Christians ! when will you
once learn to set one Almighty Christ against all the mighty ones
of the world, that you may bear up bravely and stoutly against their
rage and wrath, and go on cheerfully and resolutely in the way of your
duty.
(6.) The sixth name or title is Adonai, my Lord. Though this
name Adonai be given sometimes analogically to creatures, yet pro-
perly it belongs to God above.^ This name is often used in the
Old Testament ; and, in Mai. i. 6, it is used in the plural number to
note the mystery of the holy Trinity, ' If I be Adonim, Lords, where is
my fear ? ' Some derive the word Adonai from a word in the Hebrew
[]1N] that signifies ywdtcare, to judge, because God is the Judge of the
world ; others derive it from a word which signifies basis, a founda-
tion, intimating that God is the upholder of all things, as the founda-
tion of a house is the support of the whole building.
Now this name is given to Christ : Dan. ix. 17, * Cause thy face to
shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for Adonai, the Lord Christ,
sake.' Daniel pleads here no merits of their own, but the merits and
mediation of the Messias, whom God hath made both Lord and Christ.
So Ps. ex. 1, ' The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool.'* Christ applies these words
to himself, as you may see in that Mat. xxii. 24, ' Jehovah said,' that
is, God the Father said, >y\'iih La-adoni, ' unto my Lord,' that is, to
Christ ; ' sit thou at my right hand,' sit thou with me in my throne.
It notes the advancement of Christ, as he was both God and man in
^ This name Shaddai belongeth only to the godhead, and to no creature ; no, not to the
humanity of Christ.
' See my treatise on closet-prayer, opening that Gen. xxxii., and that Hosea xii., pp.
48-61, where you have four arguments to prove that Jesus Christ is the angel, the
man, that is there spoken of, &c. [Vol. ii., pp. 139, seq. ' The Privy Key of Heaven.' — G.]
'<> Query, 'alone'?— G. * Acts ii. ; Luke i. 43, and ii. 11, 12 ; Heb. i. 13.
156 Christ's eternal deity proved.
one person, to the supremest place of power and authority, of honour
and heavenly glory. Mat. xxviii, 18 ; John iii. 35. God's right hand
notes a place of equal power and authority with God, even that he
should be advanced far above all principality, and power, and might,
and dominion, Eph. i. 21 ; Heb. i. 3 ; Luke xxii. 69. Christ's reign
over the whole world is sometimes called ' the right hand of the
majesty,' and sometimes the 'right hand of the power of God/ ' Until I
make thine enemies thy footstool.' This implies, [1.] That Jesus
Christ hath ever had, and will have enemies, even to the end of the
world. [2.] Victory, a perfect conquest over them. Conquerors used
to make their enemies their footstool. Those proud enemies of Christ,
who now set up their crests, face the heavens, and strut it out against
him, even those shall be brought under his feet. [3.] It implies
ignominy, the lowest subjection. Sapores, King of Persia, overcoming
the Emperor Valerian in battle, used his back for a stirrup when he
got upon his horse ; and so Tamerlane served Bajazet. [4.] The foot-
stool is a piece of state, and both raiseth and easeth him that sits on
the throne ; so Christ will both raise himself and ease himself by that
vengeance that he will take on his enemies, &c.
Now from these divine names and titles which are given to Jesus
Christ, we may thus argue. He to whom the incommunicable titles of
the most high God are attributed, he is the most high God ; but the
incommunicable titles of the most high God are attributed unto Christ,
e7yo, he is the tnost high God. But,
4. Fourthly, Christ's eternal deity, co-equality, and consubstantiality
with the Father may be demonstrated from his divine properties and
attributes. I shall shew you for the opening of this that the glorious
attributes of God are ascribed to the Lord Jesus. I shall begin, —
(1.) First, with the eternity of God. God is an eternal God. 'From
everlasting to everlasting thou art God,' Ps. xc. 2 ; ' The eternal God
is thy refuge,' Deut. xxxiii. 27 ; 'He inhabits eternity,' Isa. Ivii. 15.
He is called ' the ancient of days,' Dan. vii. 9 ; and he is said to be
' everlasting,' and to be ' king of old,' Ps. Ixxiv. 12. This sheweth
he had no beginning. In respect of his eternit}'', after time, he is called
* the everlasting God,' Eom. xvi. 26 ; ' An everlasting king,' 1 Tim.
i. 17. That there is no succession or priority or posteri[ori]ty in God,
but that he is from everlasting to everlasting the same, we may see Ps.
cii. 26, 27, ' The heavens shall perish, but thou shalt endure ; yea, all
of them shall wax old like a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou
change them, and they shall be changed ; but thou art the same, and
thy years shall have no end.' There is no succession or variation in
God, but he is eternally the same. Eternity is an interminable being
and duration before any time, and beyond all time ; it is a fixed dura-
tion, without beginning or ending, i The eternity of God is beyond
all possible conception of measure or time. God ever was, ever is, and
ever shall be. Though the manifestations of himself unto the crea-
^ Eternity ia taken three ways. [1.] Proprie, properly, so it notetli to be without
beginning and end, so God only is eternal ; [2.] Improprie, imjiroperly, so it noteth to
have a beginning but no ending; so angels, so the souls of men are eternal ; [3.] Abusive,
so some things are said to be eternal which have had a beginning, and shall also have
an end. They are called eternal in respect of their long continuance and duration ; so
circumcision and other Mosaical ceremonies were called eternal or everlasting.
Christ's eternal deity proved. 157
tures are in time, yet his essence or being never did nor shall be bound
up by time. Look backward or forward, God from eternity to eternity,
is a most self-sufficient, infinite, perfect, blessed being, the first cause
of our being, and without any cause of his own being ; an eternal
infinite fulness, and possession to himself and of himself. What
God is, he was from eternity, and what God is, he will be so to
eternity. Oh, this glorious attribute drops mirth ^ and mercy, oil and
honey !
Now this attribute of eternity is ascribed to Jesus Christ : John i.
1, ' In the beginning was the Word ;' ' was ' notes some former dura-
tion, and therefore we conclude that he was before the beginning, before
any creation or creatures, for it is said he was God in the beginning,
and his divine nature whereby he works is eternal, Heb. ix. 14. He
is ' the first and last,' Kev. i. 17. Hence it is that he is called ' the
firstborn of every creature,' because he who created all, and upholds
all, hath power to command and dispose of all, as the firstborn had
power to command the family or kingdom, Col. i. 15-17 ; compare
Isa. Ixvi. 6, with Kev. xxii. 13. John xvii. 5, ' Father glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory I had with thee before the world
was.' Such glory had the Lord Christ with his Father, viz., in the
heavens, and that before the world was. This he had not only in
regard of destination, being predestinated to it by God his Father, as
Grotius would evade it, but in regard of actual possession. ' The Lord
possessed me in the beginning of his way,' saith Christ the Son of God,
Prov. viii. 22. And as his Father possessed him, so he was possessed
of the selfsame glory with his Father before the world was, from
eternity. ' His goings forth have been from Of old, from everlasting,'
from the days of eternity, saith the prophet Micah, speaking of the
Messiah, Micah v. 2. See the eternity of Christ further confirmed by
the scriptures in the margin. ^ But,
(2.) Secondly, As the attribute of eternity is ascribed to Christ, so
the attribute of omniscience is ascribed to Christ ; and this speaks out
the godhead of Christ. He knows all things : John xxi. 17, ' Lord,
thou knowest all things,' ra irapovTa koX ra fjueWovra, all things pre-
sent and future ; what I now am, and what I shall be, saith one,
[Chrysostom] on the words : John ii. 25, ' He needed not that any
should testify of man, for he knew what was in man.' Shall artificers
know the nature and properties of their works, and shall not Christ
know the hearts of men, which are the work of his own hands ? Eev. ii.
23, ' And all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth
the reins and hearts.' Now of all a man's inwards, the heart and the
reins are the most inward. Christ is nearer to us than we are to our-
selves. The Greek word epevvwv, that is here rendered searcheth,
signifies to search with the greatest seriousness, exactness, and dili-
gence that can be ; the word is metaphorically taken from such as use
to search in mines for silver and gold. He is also frequently said to
know the thoughts of men, and that before they bewrayed themselves
1 Spelled 'myrth': query, 'myrrh'?— G.
2 John viii. 58, and xvii. 24 ; Rev. i. 8, 17 ; Heb. i. 10-12, and vii. 3 ; Isa. ix. 6, &c.
Christ is without beginning of days or end of time, and without all bounds of precession
or succession.
158 Christ's eternal deity proved.
by any ontward expressions, l Now this is confessedly God's peculiar,
* God which knoweth the hearts.' He is the wisdom of the Father,
1 Cor. i. 24. He knows the Father, and doth, according to his will,
reveal the secrets of his Father's bosom. The bosom is the seat of
love and secrecy, John i. 18. Men admit those into their bosoms,
with whom they impart all their secrets ; the breast is the place of
counsels ; that is, Christ revealeth the secret and mysterious counsels,
and the tender and compassionate affections of the Father to the world.
Being in the bosom implieth communication of secrets : the bosom is a
place for them. It is a speech of Tully to a friend that had betrusted
him with a secret, crede mihi, &c., Believe me, saith he, what thou
hast committed to me, it is in my bosom still, I am not ungirt to let
it slip out. But Scripture addeth this hint too, where it speaketh of
the bosom as the place of secrets : Pro v. xvii. 23, ' A wicked man
taketh a gift out of the bosom, to pervert the ways of judgment,' speak-
ing of a bribe : Prov. xxi. 14, ' A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and
a reward in the bosom expiateth wrath.' Here is ' secret' and ' bosom'
all one, as gift and reward are one. So Christ lieth in the Father's
bosom ; this intimateth his being conscious to all the Father's secrets.
But,
(3.) Thirdly, As the attribute of God's omniscience is ascribed to
Christ, so the attribute of God's mnnipresence is ascribed to Christ ;
Mat. xviii. 20, ' Where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them ;' and chap, xxviu. 29, 'I am
with you alway, even to the end of the world.' He is not contained
in any place, who was before there was any place, Prov. viii. 22, and
John i. 1, 3, and did create all places by his own power. Whilst
Christ was on earth in respect of his bodily presence, he was in the
bosom of his Father, which must be understood of his divine nature
and person. He did come down from heaven, and yet remained
in heaven, 2 Christ is universally present, he is present at all times
and all places, and among all persons ; he is repletively everywhere,
inclusively nowhere. Diana's temple was burnt down when she was
busy at Alexander's birth, and could not be at two places together ;
but Christ is present both in paradise and in the wilderness at the
same time, uhi non est per gratiam, adest per vindtctam, where he is
not by his gracious influence, there he is by his vindictive power.3
Empedocles could say that God is a circle, whose centre is everywhere,
whose circumference is nowhere. The poor blind heathens could say
that God is the soul of the world ; and thus, as the soul is Ma in toto,
and tota in qualihet parte, so is he, that his eye is in every corner, &c.
To which purpose they so portrayed their goddess Minerva, that which
way soever one cast his eye, she always beheld him. But,
(4.) Fourthly, As the attribute of God's omnipresence is ascribed
to Christ, so the attribute of God's omnipotency is ascribed to Christ,
and this speaks out the Godhead of Christ, ' All power is given unto
^ Mat. ix. 24, and xii. 25; Luke v. 22, vi. 18, xi. 17, and xxiv. 38, &c.
' John i. 18, iii. 13 ; Ps. cxxxix. 7-11.
" Greg, in Ezek. Horn. 8, Aug. medit. c. 29, where two are sitting together, and con-
versing about the law, there is Shechinah, the divine majesty, among them, Grotius on
Mat. xviii. 20.
cheist's eternal deity proved. 159
me, in heaven and in earth,' Mat. xxviii. 18 ; John v. 19. ' What
things soever the Father doth, these also doth the Son,' Phil. iii. 21.
He is called by a metonymy ' the power of God,' 1 Cor. i. 24. * He
is the Almighty,' Eev. i. 8, ' He made all things,' John i. 3. ' He
upholds all things,' Heb, i. 3. ' He shall change our vile body,'
saith the apostle, ' that it may be like unto his glorious body, accord-
ing to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things
to himself,' Phil. iii. 21. Now from what has been said we may thus
argue, He to whom the incommunicable properties of the most high
God are attributed, he is the most high God ; but the incommunicable
properties of the most high God are attributed to Christ, ergo, Christ
is the most high God.i But,
5. Fifthly, Christ's eternal deity, co-equality, and consubstan-
tiality with the Father, may be demonstrated from his divine ivorks.
The same works which are peculiar to God are ascribed to Christ.
Such proper and peculiar, such divine and supernatural works as none
but God can perform, Christ did perform. As, [1.] Election. The elect
are called his elect, Mat. xxiv. 31 ; John xiii. 18. ' I know whom I
have chosen,' John xv. 16. 'I have chosen you, and ordained you,
that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain;' ver. 19, ' But I have chosen you out of the world, therefore
the world hateth you.' [2.] Redemption. sirs, none but the great
God could save us from wrath to come, none but God blessed for ever
could deliver us from the curse of the law, the dominion of sin, the
damnatory power of sin, the rule of Satan, and the flames of heU.2
Ah, friends, these enemies were too potent, strong, and mighty for any
mere creature, yea, for all mere creatures, to conquer and overcome.
None but the most high God could everlastingly secure us against
such high enemies. [3.] Remission of sins. Mat. ix. 6, ' The Son of
man hath power to forgive sins.' Christ here positively proves that
he had power on earth to forgive sins, because miraculously, by a
word of his mouth, he causes the palsy man to walk, so that he arose
and departed to his house immediately. Christ he forgives sin autho-
ritatively. Preachers forgive only declaratively, John xx. 23, as Nathan
to David, ' The Lord hath put away thine iniquity,' 2 Sam. xii. 7. I
have read of a man that could remove mountains, but none but the
man Christ Jesus could ever remit sin. AU the persons in the Trinity
forgive sins, yet not in the same manner. The Father bestows for-
giveness, the Son merits forgiveness, and the Holy Ghost seals up
forgiveness, and applies forgiveness. [4.] The bestowing of eternal life.
John X. 28, ' My sheep hear my voice, and I give unto them eternal life.'
Christ is the prince and principle of life, and therefore all out of him
are dead whilst they live. Col. iii. 3, 4. Eternal life is too great a gift
for any to give but a God. [5.] Creation. John i. 3, ' All things are
made by him;' and ver. 10, 'The world was made by him.' Col. i. 16,
' By him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in
the earth, visible and invisible.' Now the apostle telleth you ' he that
built all things is God ; ' Christ built all things, ergo, Christ is God.3
^ See Col. i. 16, 17, Ps. cii. 26, compared with Heb. i. 8, 10, John i. 10.
* 1 Thes. i. 10; Gal. iii. 13; Kom. vi. 14, and viii. 1 ; Luke i. 68-80.
• Justin Martyr quoteth two Greek verses out of Pythagoras to prove there is but one
160 Christ's eternal deity proved.
The argument lieth fair and undeniable. The all things that were
created by Christ, Paul reduceth to two heads, visible and invisible ;
but Zanchius addeth a third branch to this distinction, and maketh it
more plain by saying that all things that were made are either visible
or invisible, or mixed — visible, as the stars and fowls and clouds of
heaven, the fish in the sea, and beasts upon the earth ; invisible things,
as the angels, they also were made; then there is a third sort of
creatures which are of a mixed nature, partly visible in regard of their
bodies, and partly invisible in regard of their souls, and those are men :
Eph. ii. 9, ' Who created all things by Jesus Chiist ; ' Heb. i. 2, ' He
hath, in these last days, spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath ap-
pointed heir of all things ; by whom also he made the worlds.' This
may seem somewhat difficult, because he speaketh of worlds, whereas
we acknowledge but one ; but this seeming difficulty you may easily
get over if you please but to consider the persons to whom he writes,
which were Hebrews, whose custom it was to style God Rabboni,
dominus mundorum, the Lord of the worlds. They were wont to speak
of three worlds— the lower world, the higher world, and the middle
world ; the lower world containeth the elements, earth and water and
air and fire ; the higher world that containeth the heaven of the
blessed ; and the middle world that containeth the starry heaven.
They now being acquainted with this language, and the apostle writ-
ing to them, he saith that God by Christ made the worlds — those
worlds which they were wont to speak so frequently of. And whereas
one scruple might arise from that expression in the Ephesians, ' God
created all things "6y" Jesus Christ,' and this to the Hebrews, ^by
wliom he made the worlds,' as if Christ were only an instrument in
the creation and not the principal efficient ; therefore another place in
this chapter will clear it, which speaketh of Christ as the principal
efficient of all things: Heb. i., compare the 8th and 10th verses to-
gether, ' To the Son he saith, Thy throne, God, is for ever and
ever ; ' then Christ is God. Then, ' And, Thou, Lord,' ver. 10, ' hast
laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of
thy hands.' Namely ' thine,' that is, the Son, which he spake of be-
fore. Christ is the principal efficient of the creation ; and in this sense
it is said, ' By him were all things made,' not as by an instrument, but
as by the chief efficient. [6.] The preservation and sustenfation of all
things: Col. i. 17, ' By him all things consist.' They would soon fall
asunder had not Christ undertaken to uphold the shattered condition
thereof by the word of his power. All creatures that are made are
preserved by him in being, life, and motion : Heb. i. 3, ' He upholdeth
all things by the word of his power.' Both in respect of being, excel-
lencies, and operations, sin had hurled confusion over the world, which
would have fallen about Adam's ears had not Christ undertaken
the shattered condition thereof, to uphold it. He keeps the world
together, saith one, as the hoops do the barrel. Christ bears up all
God : et Ii/jli 6eb%, &c., saith Pythagoras, If any will assume to himself and say, I am God,
except only one, let him lay such a world as this is to stake, and say, This world is mine ;
then I'will believe him, not otherwise, Heb. i. 2, Ai Zv, not propter qnem, as Grotius would
evade the text ' for ' whom he made the worlds, hut per quem, by whom ; so the apostle,
to put it out of all doubt, putteth them together : Col. i. 16, ' All things were created
by him and for him,' dl airrdv /cat eU avrbv.
chkist's eteknal deity proved. 161
things, continuing to the several creatures their being, ordering and
governing them, and this he doth by the word of his power. By this
word he made the world, ' He spake, and it was done.' And by this
word he governeth the world, by his own mighty word, the word of his
power. Both these are divine actions, and being ascribed unto Christ,
evidence him to be no less than God. Now from what has been said
we may thus argue, he to whom those actions are ascribed, which are
proper to the most high God, he is the most high God ; but such
actions or works are ascribed to Christ, ergo, he is the most high God.
But,
6. Sixthly, Christ's eternal deity may be demonstrated from that
divine honour and loorship that is due to him, and hy angels and
saints given unto him. The apostle sheweth, Gal. iv. 8, that religious
worship ought to be performed to none but to him that is God by
nature ; and that they are ignorant of the true God who religiously
worship them that are no gods by nature ; and therefore, if Christ
were not God by nature, and consubstantial with the Father, we ought
not to perform religious worship to him.i Divine worship is due to
the second person of this co essential Trinity, to Jesus Christ our Lord
and God. There is but one immediate, formal, proper, adequate, and
fundamental reason of divine worship or adorability, as the schools
speak, and that is the sovereign, supreme, singular majesty, indepen-
dent and infinite excellency of the eternal Godhead ; for by divine
worship we do acknowledge and declare the infinite majesty, truth,
wisdom, goodness, and glory of our blessed God. We do not esteem
anything worthy of divine honour and worship which hath but a finite
and created glory, because divine honour is proper and peculiar to the
only true God, who will not give his glory to any other who is not
God. God alone is the adequate object of divine faith, hope, love, and
worship, because these graces are all exercised, and this worship per-
formed, in acknowledgment of his infinite perfection and independent
excellency ; and therefore no such worship can be due to any creature
or thing below God. There is not one kind of divine honour due to
the Father and another to the Son, nor one degree of honour due to the
Father and another to the Son ; for there can be no degrees imaginable
in one and the same excellency, which is single because infinite ; and
what is infinite doth excel and transcend all degrees and bounds. And
if there be no degrees in the ground and adequate reason of divine
worshij), there can be no reason or ground of a difterence of degrees in
the worship itself. The Father and the Son are one, John x. 30, — one
in power, excellency, nature, — one God, and therefore to be honoured
with the same worship, ' that all men should honour the Son even as
they honour the Father,' John v. 23. Every tongue must confess that
Jesus Christ, who is man, is God also, and therefore equal to his
Father, Phil. ii. 6, 11, 12 ; and it can be no robbery, no derogation to
the Father's honour, for us to give equal honour to him and his co-equal
Son, who subsists in the form of God, in the natm-e of God. Thus
^ This is a clear and full evidence that Jesus Christ is, and must be more than ^tXos
AvOpuwos, mere man, or j'et a divine man, as Dr Liishington styles him in Heb. vii. 22.
[In his anonvmous ' Expiation of a Sinner, in a Commentary upon the Epistle to the
Hebrews.' 1646. Folio.— G.]
VOL. V. L
162 Christ's eternal deity proved.
you see the divine nature, the infinite excellency of Jesus Christ, is an
undeniable gi-ound of this co-equal honour ; and therefore the worship
due to Christ as God, the same God with his Father, is the very same
worship, both for kind and degree, which is due to the Father. But,
for the further and clearer opening of this, consider,
(1.) First, that all inward worship is due to Christ. As,
[1.] Believiiig on him. Faith is a worship which belongs only to
God, enjoined in the first commandment, and against trusting in man
there is a curse denounced, Jer. xvii. 5, 6. But Christ commands us
to believe in him, John i. xii. John xiv. 1, * Ye believe in God, be-
lieve also in me.' John iii. 16, ' For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.' Ver. 36, ' He that believeth in
the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son, shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.' John vi. 47,
' Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlast-
ing life.' The same respect that Christians give unto God the Father,
they must also give unto the Son, believing on him ; which is an
honour due only to God. Other creatures, men and angels, may be
believed, but not believed on, rested on. This were to make them
gods ; this were no less than idolatry.
[2.] Secondly, Loving of Jesus Uirist loitli all the heart, com-
manded above the love, nay, even to the hatred, of father, mother,
wife, children, yea, and our own lives, Luke xiv. 26. He who is not
disposed, where these loves are incompatible, to hate father and all
other relations, for the love of Christ, can be none of his. I ought
dearly and tenderly to love father and mother — the law of God and
nature requiring it of me, — but to prefer dear Jesus, who is God blessed
for ever, before all, and above all, as Paul and the primitive Chris-
tians and martyrs have done before me. Your house, home, and
goods, your life, and all that ever you have, saith that martyr,^ God
hath given you as love-tokens, to admonish you of his love, to win
your love to him again. Now will he try your love, whether you set
more by him or by his tokens, &c. When relations or life stand in
competition with Christ and his gospel, they are to be abandoned,
hated, &c. But,
(2.) Secondly, All ouiiuard worship is due to Christ. As,
[1.] First, Dedication in baptism is in his name. Mat. xxviii. 19,
' Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost :' ek to ovofia, into the name, by that rite initiating
them, and receiving of them into the profession of the service of one
God in three persons, and of depending on Christ alone for salvation.
Baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost, is the consecrating of them unto the sincere service of
the sacred Trinity.
[2.] Secondly, Divine invocation is given to Jesus Christ. Acts
vii. 59, ' Stephen calls upon the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit.'
1 Cor. i. 2, ' All that in every place call upon the name of Jesus
Christ our Lord.' 1 Thes. iii. 11, ' God himself and our Father, and
our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.' Eph. i. 2, ' Grace
1 Master Brad[ford], Acts and Mon., fol. 1492. Phil. iii. 7, 8.
Christ's eternal deity proved. 163
be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus
Christ.' It is the saints' character that they are such as call on the
Lord Jesus, Acts ii. 21 ; Acts ix. 14.1 But,
[3.] Thirdly, Praises are offered to our Lord Jesus Christ: Rev.
V. 9, ' And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take
the book, and to open the seals thereof ; for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation.' Ver. 11, 'And I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the
elders ; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thou-
sand, and thousands of thousands.' 2 Ver. 12, ' Saying with a loud
voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.' Ver.
13, ' And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them,
heard I saying. Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and
ever.' Here you have a catholic confession of Christ's divine nature
and power. All the creatures, both reasonable and unreasonable, do
in some sort set forth the praises of Christ, because in some sort they
serve to illustrate and set forth his glory. Here you see that Christ
is adored with religious worship by all creatures, which doth evidently
prove that he is God. Since all the creatures worship him with reli-
gious worship, we may safely and boldly conclude upon his deity.
Here are three parties that bear a part in this new song: 1. The
redeemed of the Lord ; and they sing in the last part of the 8th verse,
and in the 9th and 10th verses. Then, 2, the angels follow, verses
11th and 12th. In the third place, all creatures are brought in, join-
ing in this new song, ver. 13. That noble company of the church
triumphant and church militant, sounding out the praises of the
Lamb, may sufficiently satisfy us concerning the divinity of the Lamb.
But,
[4.] Fourthly, Divine adoration is also given to him : Mat. viii. 2,
* A leper worshipped him.' Mark saith he kneeled down, and Luke
saith he fell upon his face, Mark i. 40 ; Luke v. 12. He shewed re-
verence in his gesture. ' Lord, if thou wilt thou canst make me clean.' ^
He acknowledged a divine power in Christ, in that he saith he could
make him clean if he would. This poor leper lay at Christ's feet, im-
ploring and beseeching him, as a dog at his master's feet, as Zanchy
[de jRed.] renders the word, which shews that this leper looked upon
Christ as more than a prophet or a holy man ; and that believing he
was God, and so able to heal him if he would, he gave him religious
worship. He doth not say to Christ, Lord, if thou wilt pray to God,
or to thy Father for me, I shall be whole ; but ' Lord, if thou wilt I
^ Ponder upon these scriptures : 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9 j 1 Thes. i. 1 ; 2 Thes. i. 1, 2 ;
2 Cor. i. 2.
'■^ This is taken out of Daniel, chap. vii. 10, whereby the glory and power of God and
Christ is held forth, they being attended with innumerable millions of angels, which
stood before the fiery throne of God, &c.
^ So tliat he touched Christ his feet, as the word'yowirerw;' signifies; not kneeled, as
the word is translated, Mark i. 40. This leper came to know Christ was God, 1. By in-
spiration ; 2. By the miracles which Christ did.
164 Christ's eternal deity proved.
shall be whole.' He acknowledges the leprosy curable by Christ,
which he and all men knew was incurable by others, which was a plain
argument of his faith ; for though the psm^a or scabbedness may be
cured, yet that which is called lepra physicians acknowledge incurable ;
for if a particular cancer cannot be cured, much less can a universal
cancer. As Avicenna^ observes: Mat. ii. 11, ' Though the wise men
of the east, who saw Herod in all his royalty and glory, worshipped
him not, yet they fell down before Christ.' No doubt but that by
divine instinct they knew the divinity of Christ, hence they worshipped
him, not only with civil worship, as one born king of the Jews, but
with divine worship ; which was, it is like, the outward gestui'e of
reverence, and kneeling, and falling down, for so the Greek words
signify. Is it probable that they would worship a young babe, that
by reason of his infancy understands nothing, except they did believe
some divine thing to be in him ? and therefore not the childhood, but
the divinity in the child, was worshipped by them, [Chrysostom.]
Certainly if Christ had been no more than a natural child, they would
never have undertaken so long, so tedious, and so perilous a journey
to have found him out ; principally, considering, as some conceive, they
themselves were little inferior to the kings of the Jews. It is uncer-
tain what these wise men, who were Gentiles, knew particularly con-
cerning the mystery of the Messiah ; but certainly they knew that he
was something more than a man, by the internal revelation of the
Spirit of God, who by faith taught them to believe that he was a
king though in a cottage, and a God though in a cradle ; and there-
fore as unto a God they fell down and worshipped him, &c. But,
[5.] Fiftlily, When Jesus Christ luas declared to the world, God did
command even the most glorious angels to worship him, as his natural
and co-essential Son, ivhowas begotten from the days of eternity, in the
unity of the Godhead; for, when he brought in his first-begotten and
only-begotten Son into the world, he said, ' And let all the angels of God
worship him,' Heb. i. 6, — the glorious angels who refuse divine honour
to be given to themselves : ' See thou do it not,' saith the angel to John,
when John fell at his feet to worship him, ' I am thy fellow-servant,' &c.,
Rev. xix. 10, and xxii. 9 ; yet they give, and must give, divine hon-
our unto Christ, Phil. ii. 9. The manhood of itself could not be thus
adored, because it is a creature, but as it is received into unity of person
with the Deity, and hath a partner agency therewith, according to its
measure in the work of redemption and mediation. All the honour
due to Christ, according to his divine nature, was due from all eternity ;
and there is no divine honour due to him from and by reason of his
human nature, or any perfection which doth truly and properly be-
long to Christ as man. He who was born of Mary is to be. adored
with divine worship ; but not for that reason, because he was born of
Mary, but because he is God, the co-essential and eternal Son of God.
From what has been said we may thus ai'gue, He to whom religious
worship is truly exliibited, is the most higli God. But religious wor-
ship is truly exhibited unto Christ, ergo, Christ is the most high God.
But,
7. Seventhly, Christ's eternal deity may be demonstrated from Christ's
^ Or Ibn-Sina.— G.
Christ's eternal deity proved. 165
oneness luWi the Father, and from that claim that Jesus Christ doth lay
to all that belongs to the Father, as God A Now, certainly, if Jesus
Christ were not very God, he would never have laid claim to all that
is the Father's, as God. The ancients insist much upon that : John xvi.
15, ' All things that the Father hath,' as God, ' are mine.' The
Father hath an eternal godhead, and that is mine ; the Father hath
infinite power and wisdom, and that is mine ; the Father hath infinite
majesty and glory, and that is mine ; the Father hath infinite happi-
ness and blessedness in himself, and that is mine, saith Christ. The
words are very emphatical, having in them a double universality.
[1.] ' All things : ' there is one note of universality ; [2.] ' Whatsoever : '
there is another note of universality. Well, saith Christ, there is
nothing in the Father, as God, but is mine, ' All that the Father hath
is mine ; ' the Father is God, and I am God ; the Father is life,
and I am life ; for whatsoever the Father hath is mine : John x. 30,
' I and my Father are one ;' Ave are one eternal God, we are one
in consent, will, essence, nature, power, dominion, glory, &c., ' I and
my Father are one ; ' two persons, but one God. He speaketh this as
he is God, one in substance, being, and deity, &c. As God, he saith,
* I and my Father are one ;' but, secundum formam servi, in respect
of the form of a servant, his assumed humanity, he saith, John xiv.
28, ' My Father is greater than I :' John x. 37, ' If I do not the works
of my Father, believe me not:' ver. 38, 'But if I do, though ye
believe not me, believe the works,' &c. The argument of itself is
plain. No man can of himself, and by his own power, do divine
works, unless he be truly God ; I do divine works by my own power,
yea, ' I do the works of my Father ;' not only the like and equal, but
the same with the Father. Therefore I am truly God ; neither deserve
I to be called a blasphemer, because I said I was one with the Father ;
1 John V. 7, ' And these three are one,' one in nature and essence, one
in power and will, and one in the act of producing all such actions, as
without themselves any of them is said to perform. Look, as three
lamps are lighted in one chamber, albeit the lamps be divers, yet the
lights cannot be severed ; so in the godhead, as there is a distinction
of persons, so a simplicity of nature. From the scriptures last cited
we may safely and confidently conclude that Clirist hath the same
divine nature and godhead with the Father, that they both have the
same divine and essential titles and attributes, and perform the same
inward operations in reference to all creatures whatsoever. To make
it yet more plain, compare John xvii. 10 with John xvi. 15. ' All
things that the Father hath are mine,' John xvi. 15 ; ' Father, all
mine are thine, and thine are mine,' John xvii. 10. That is, whatso-
ever doth belong to the Father, as God, doth belong to Christ ; for we
speak not of personal but essential properties. Christ doth lay claim
to all that is natural, to all that belongs to the Father, as God, not to
anything which belongs to him as the Father, as the first person of the
•^ Never did any mere creature challenge to himself the honour due to God, but
miscarried and were confounded. Witness tlie angels that God cast out of heaven, 2 Pet.
ii. 4; and Adam tliat he cast out of paradise, Gen. iii. 22-24 ; and Herod, whom the
angel smote with a fatal blow, Acts xii. 23 ; and those several Popes that we read of in
ecclesiastical stories ; and therefore had Jesus Christ been but a mere creature, divine
justice would have confounded him for making himself a God.
166 THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST PROVED.
blessed Trinity. ' All things that the Father hath are mine,' This he
speaketh in the person of the mediator, ' Because of his fulness we all
receive grace for grace,' John i. 16 ; and herein sheweth the unity of
essence in the holy Trinity, and community of power, wisdom, sanctity,
truth, eternity, glory, majesty. Such is the strict union of the persons
of the blessed Trinity, that there is among them a perfect communion
in all things, for ' all things that the Father hath are mine.' And let
thus much suffice for the proof of the godhead of Christ.
Concerning the manhood of Christ, let me say, that as he is very
God, so he is very man : 1 Tim. ii. 5, ' the man Christ Jesus,' Christ
is true man, but not mere man ; verus, sed non merus. The word is
not to be taken exclusively, as denying the divine nature. Christ is
0edv9po)iTo<;, both God and man ; sometimes denominated from the
one nature, and sometimes from the other ; sometimes called God, and
sometimes man ; yet so as he is truly both, and in that respect fitly
said to be a mediator betwixt God and men, having an interest in and
participating of both natures. This title, ' the Son of man,' is given
to Christ in the New Testament four score and eight times, the design
being not only to express a man, according to the Syrian dialect then
used, i^^2 12, bar nosho; nor only to express Christ's humanity, who
was truly man, in all things like unto us, sin only excepted ; nor only
to intimate his humility, by calling himself so often by this humble
name ; but also to tell us to what a high honour God hath raised our
nature in him, and to confute their imaginations who denied him to
be very man, flesh, blood, and bones, as we truly are ; and who held,
that whatever he was, and whatever he did, and whatever he suffered,
was only seeming and in appearance, and not real ; and to lead us to
that original promise, the first that was made to mankind, ' The seed
of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head,' Gen. iii. 15, that so he
might intimate, saith Epiphanius, that himself was the party meant,
intended, and foretold of by all the prophets, who was to come into
the world, to all nations in the world, Jews and Gentiles originally
alike descended of the woman, who both had a like interest in the
woman and her seed, though the Jew^s did and might challenge greater
propriety in the seed of Abraham than the Gentiles could, Rom. iii.
1,2; but they having been a long time, as it were, God's favourites,
a selected people, a chosen nation, did wholly appropriate the Messias
to themselves, and would endure no co-partners, Exod. xix. 6 ; 1 Pet.
ii. 9 ; nor that any should have any right, title, or interest in him but
themselves ; and therefore they would never talk otherwise than of the
Messias, the King of Israel, the son of David, never naming him once
the light of the Gentiles, the expectation of the Gentiles, the hope and
desire of the eternal hills, the hope of all the ends of the earth, the
seed of the woman, the Son of man, as descending from Eve, extracted
from Adam, and allied unto all mankind. i And it is observable that
the evangelist Luke, at the story of Christ's baptism, when he was to
be installed into his ministry, and had that glorious testimony from
heaven, deriveth his pedigree up to the first Adam, the better to draw
all men's eyes to that first promise concerning the seed of the woman,
and to cause them to own him for that seed there promised, and for that
^ Isa. xlii. 6; Hab. iii. 6 ; Vs. Ixv. 5 ; Gen. iii. 15; Luke iii. 23, to the end.
THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST PROVED. 167
effect that is there mentioned of dissolving the works of Satan, And
as that evangelist giveth that hint when he is now entering this quarrel
with Satan, even in the entrance of his ministry, so doth he very fre-
quently and commonly by this very phrase give the same intimation for
the same purpose. No sooner had Nathanael proclaimed him the Son of
God : John i. 49, * Nathanael answered, and said unto him, Kabbi,
thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel :' but he instantly
titles himself the Son of man, ver. 51 ; not only to shew his humanity,
for that Nathanael was assured of by the words of Philip, who calls
him Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, ver. 45 ; but also to draw
the thoughts of the hearers to the first promise, and to work them to
look for a full recovery of all that by the second Adam which was lost
in the first. Though the gates of heaven were shut against the first
Adam by reason of his fall, yet were they open to the second Adam :
ver. 51, 'And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you' — this
double aisseveration, ' Verily, verily,' puts the matter beyond all doubt
and controversy — ' hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels
of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man,' — the Jacob's
ladder, the bridge that joineth heaven and earth together, as Gregory
hath it.^ This 51st verse doth greatly illustrate Christ's glory, and
further confirm believers' faith, that Christ is Lord of angels even in
his state of humiliation, and hath them ready at his call, as he or his
people shall need their service, to move from earth to heaven, and from
heaven to earth. This title, ' the Son of man,' shews that the Son
of God was also the Son of man ; and that he delighted to be so,
and therefore doth so often take this title to himself, ' the Son of
man.'
Now concerning the manhood of Christ, the prophet plainly speaks :
Isa. ix. 6, ' Unto us a child is born, and unto us a son was given.'
Parvulus, a child, that noteth his humanity ; Filius, a Son, that noteth
his deity. Parvulus, a child, even man of the substance of his mother,
born in the world. Mat. i. 25 ; Filius, a Son, even God of the substance
of his Father, begotten before the world, Prov. viii. 22 to the end. Par-
vulus, a child : behold his humility, ' she brought forth her first-born
son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger,'
Luke ii. 7 ; Filius, sl Son: behold his dignity ; ' when he bringeth his first-
begotten Son into the world, he saith. And let all the angels of God
worship him,' Heb. i. 6 ; to prove that he was man, it is enough to say,
that he was born, he lived, he died. God became man by a wonder-
ful, unspeakable, and inconceivable union. Behold God is offended
by man's affecting and coveting his wisdom and his glory — for that
was the devil's temptation to our first parents, ' Ye shall be as gods,'
Gen. iii. 5 ; and man is redeemed by God's assuming and taking his
frailty and his infirmity. Man would be as God, and so offended him ;
and therefore God becomes man, and so redeemeth him. Christ, as
man, came of the race of kings ; as man he shall judge the world. Acts
xvii. 31 ; as man, he was wonderfully born of a virgin. Mat. i. 23 ; Isa.
vii. 14 ; called therefore by a peculiar name, Shiloh, which signifies a
secundine or after-birth. Gen. xlix. 19, The word comes of r\biD,
which signifies tranquillum esse, intimating that Christ is he who has
^ He alludes to Jacob's ladder, Gen. xxviii. 12.
168 THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST PROVED.
brought US peace and tranquillity ; and that he might be our peace-
maker, it was necessary that he should be Shiloh, born of the sanctified
seed of a woman without the seed of man. The apostle expounds the
name where he saith of Christ that he was ' made of a woman/ not of a
man and woman both, but of a woman alone without a man, Gal. iv.
4. Christ as man was foretold of by the prophets, and by sundry
types. Christ as man was attended upon at his birth by holy angels,
and a peculiar star was created for him, Luke ii. 13, 14; Mat. ii. 1,
2. Christ as man was our sacrifice and expiation ; he was our
avTikurpov, a counterprice, such as we could never have paid, but
must have remained, and even rotted in the prison of hell for ever.
Christ as man was conceived of the Holy Ghost, Mat. i. 18. Christ as
man is ascended into heaven. Acts i. 9, 10. Christmas man sits at the
right hand of God, Col. iii. 1. Now what do all these things import,
but that Jesus Christ is a very precious and most excellent person,
and that even according to his manhood ? Christ had the true pro-
perties, affections, and actions of man. He was conceived, born, cir-
cumcised ; he did hunger, thirst ; he was clothed ; he did eat, drink,
sleep, hear, see, touch, speak, sigh, groan, weep, and grow in wisdom
and stature, &c., as all the four evangelists do abundantly testify.
But because this is a point of grand importance, especially in these
days, wherein there are risen up so many deceivers in the midst of us,
it may not be amiss to consider of these following particulars, —
(1.) First, Of these special scriptures that speak out the certainty and
verity of Christ's body : John i. 14, ' And the Word was made flesli ; ' 1
Tim. iii. 16, ' Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness,
God manifested in the flesh.' Christ is one and the same, begotten of
the Father without time, the Son of God without mother ; and born of
the Virgin in time, the Son of man without father ; the natural and
consubstantial son of both ; and, oh ! Avhat a great mystery is this !
Heb. ii. 14, 16, ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
de\dl : for verily he took not on him the nature of angels : but he
took on him the seed of Abraham : ' according to the Greek iirlXa/u,-
^dverat, He assumed, caught, laid hold on, as the angels did on Lot,
Gen. xix. 16 ; or as Christ did on Peter, Mat. xiv. 31 ; or as men use
to do upon a thing they are glad they have got, and are loath to let go
again. sirs ! this is a main pillar of our comfort, that Christ took
our flesh, for if he had not taken our flesh, we could never have been
saved by him : Kom. i. 3, ' Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh : ' Kom, ix.
5, ' Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh,
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.' This is a
greater honour to all mankind, than if the greatest king in the world
should marry into some poor family of his subjects. Christ saith, ' My
flesh is meat indeed,' and I say his flesh was flesh indeed ; as true,
real, proper, very flesh as that which any of us carry about with us :
Col. i. 22, ' In the body of his flesh through death;' Heb. x. 5,
' Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith. Sacrifice and offer-
ing thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me.' KarijpTiaco :
i
THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST PROVED. 169
It is a metaphor taken from mechanics, who do artificial!}',! fit one
part of their work to another, and so finish the whole ;, God fitted liis
Son s body to be joined with the deity, and to be an expiatory sacri-
fice for sin : 1 Pet, ii. 24, * Who his own self bare our sins in his
own body on the tree,' &c. The word avro^, himself, hath a great
emphasis, and therefore that evangelical prophet Isaiah mentions it no
less than five times in that Isa. liii. 4, 5, 7, 11, 12. Christ had none
to help or uphold him under the heavy burden of our sins and his
Father's wrath, Isa. Ixiii. 3. It is most certain, that in the work of
man's redemption Christ had no coadjutor. He who did bear our
sins, that is, the punishments that were due to our sins, in his own
body on the tree ; he did assume flesh, cast into the very mould and
form of our bodies, having the same several parts, members, linea-
ments, the same proportion which they have. Christ's body was no
spectrum or phantasm, no putative body, as if it had no being but what
was in appearance and from imagination — as the Marcionites, Mani-
chees, and other heretics of old affirmed, and as some men of corrupt
minds do assert in our days — but as real, as solid a body as ever any
was. And therefore the apostle calls it a body of flesh. Col. i. 22 — a
body, to shew the organisation of it, and a body of flesh, to shew the
reality of it, in opposition to all aerial and imaginary bodies. Christ's
body had all the essential properties of a true body ; such as are
organicalness, extension, local presence, confinement, circumscription,
penetrability, visibility, palpability, &c., as all the evangelists do
abundantly witness. Take a few instances for all : Luke xxiv. 39,
' Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself, handle me and
see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.' Christ
here admits of -tlie testimony of their own senses to assure them that
it was no vision or spirit, but a true and real body risen from the dead,
which they now saw. Certainly whatever is essential to a true glori-
fied body, that is yet in Christ's body. Those stamps of dishonour
that the Jews had set upon Christ by wicked hands, those he retained
after his resurrection, partly for the confirmation of his apostles, and
partly to work us to a willingness and resoluteness to suffer for him
when we are called to it : 1 John i. 1, ' That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our
eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of
the word of life.' He alludes to the sermons which he and the other
apostles heard from Christ's own mouth, and also to the glorious
testimony which the Father gave once and again from heaven to
Christ. He alludes also to the miracles that were wrought by Christ,
and to that sight that they had of his glory in the mount, and
to his resurrection and visible ascension into the highest heaven,
Mat. xvii., Acts i. He alludes to the familiar conversation which
the apostles had with Christ for about three years, and also to that
touching, when after the resurrection Christ offered himself to the
apostles that believed not in him to touch him, Luke xxiv. The
truth of these things were confirmed to them by three senses — hear-
ing, seeing, handling, the latter still surer than the former ; and this
proves Christ to be a true man, as his being from the beginning sets
1 Artfully = skilfully.— G.
170 THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST PROVED.
out his deity. Christ had also those natural affections, passions, in-
firmities, which are proper to a body, as hunger : Mat. iv. 2, ' When
he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterwards an hun-
gered.' All Christ's actions are for our instruction, not all for our
imitation. Matthew expressly makes mention of nights, lest it should
be thought to be such a fast as that of the Jews, who fasted in the day,
and did eat at the evening and in the night, [Chemnitius.] He would
not extend his fast above the term of Moses and Elias, lest he should
have seemed to have appeared only, and not to have been, a true man.
He was hungry, not because his fasting wrought upon him, but be-
cause God left man to his own nature, [Hilary.] It seems Christ felt
no hunger till the forty days and forty nights were expired, but was
kept by the power of the Deity, as the three children^ or rather cham-
pions, from feeling the heat of the fire, Dan. iii. 27. Christ fasted
forty days and forty nights, and not longer, lest he might be thought
not to have a true human body ; for Moses and Elias had fasted thus
long before, but never did any man fast longer. When Christ began
to be hungry the tempter came to him, not when he was fasting. The
devil is cunning, and will take all the advantage he can upon us.
During the forty days and forty nights the devil stood doubtful, and
durst not assault the Lord Jesus, partly because of that voice he heard
from heaven, ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,'
Mat. iii. 17, and partly because his forty days and forty nights' fast did
portend some great thing : but now, seeing Christ to be hungry, he
impudently assaults him. Christ was not hungry all the forty days ;
but after, he was hungry, to shew he was man. Some think that
Christ by his hunger did objectively allure Satan to tempt him, that
so he might overcome him, as soldiers sometimes feign a running
away, that they may the better allure their enemies closely to pursue
them, that so they may cut them off, either by an ambush or by an
orderly facing about : so the devil tempted Christ as man, not knowing
him to be God ; or if he did know him to be God, Christ did as it
were encourage his cowardly enemy, that durst not set upon him as
God, shewing himself to be man. And as Christ was hungry, so
Christ was thirsty : John iv. 7, ' There came a woman of Samaria to
draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me drink.' Here you see that
he that is rich and Lord of all became poor for us, that he might make
us rich, 2 Cor. viii. 9 ; and he that gives to all the creatures their
meat in due season, Ps. civ. 27, he begs water of a poor tankard-bearer
to refresh himself in his weariness and thirst : John xix. 28, ' Jesus
saith, I thirst.' Bleeding breeds thirsting. Sleeping : Mat. viii. 24,
he was asleep, to shew the truth of the human nature, and the weak-
ness of his disciples' faith. Christ was in a fast and dead sleep, for so
much the Greek word, eKcidevSe, signifies : his senses were well and
fast bound, as if he had no operation of life, and therefore the disciples
are said to raise him, as it were from the dead. The same Greek word
is used in many places where mention is made of the resurrection, as
you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin together, i He
was asleep, [1.] By reason of his labour in preaching and journey he
slept ; [2.] To shew forth the truth of his human nature. Some think
^ John ii. 19 ; Mat. xxvii. 52; 1 Cor. xv. 12.
t
THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST PROVED. 171
the devil stirred up the storm, hoping thereby to drown Christ and his
disciples, as he had destroyed Job's children in a tempest before, Job
i. 18, 19 ; but though Satan had malice and will enough to do it, yet
he had not power ; yea, though Christ slept in his human nature, yet
was he awake in his deity, that the disciples being in danger might
cry unto him more fervently, and be saved more remarkably. And as
Jesus slept, so he was also weary: John iv. 6, ' Now Jacob's well was
there ; Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the
well : and it was about the sixth hour,' about noon. In the heat of
the day Christ was weary. Christ took on him not only our nature,
but the common infirmities thereof, and he is to be as seriously eyed
in his humanity as in the glory of his godhead. Therefore it is re-
corded that he was weary with his journey ere half the day was spent ;
and that through weariness ' he sat thus on the well ;' that is, even as
the seat offered, or as weary men use to sit, &c. But, in a word, he was
conceived, retained so long in the virgin's womb, born, circumcised,
lived about thirty years on earth, conversed all that time with men,
suffered, died, and was crucified, buried, rose again, ascended, and sat
down with his body at the right hand of God, and with it will come
again to judge the world. Now what do all these things speak out,
but that Christ hath a true body ? and who in their wits will assert
that all this could be done in, and upon, and by, an imaginary body ?
But,
(2.) Secondly, The several denominations that are given to Jesus
Christ in Scripture do clearly evidence the verity and reality of his
human nature. He is called (1.) The son of the virgin, Isa. vii. 14:
(2.) Her first-born son, Luke ii. 7 : (3.) The branch, Zech. iii. 8, and
vi. 12: (4.) The branch of righteousness, Jer. xxxiii. 15, and xxiii. 5 :
(5.) A rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots,
Isa. xi. 1 : (6.) The seed of the woman. Gen, iii. 15: (7.) The seed
of Abraham, Gen. xxii. 18 : (8.) Tlie fruit of David's loins, Ps. Ixxx.
36, and cxxxii. 11 ; Acts ii. 30: (9.) Of the seed of David according
to the flesh, Eom. i. 3 ; 2 Sam. vii. 2 : (10.) The lion of the tribe of
Judah, Rev. v. 5: (11.) The seed of Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 14: (12.)
The seed of Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 4 : (13.) A son born to us, a child
given to us, Isa. ix. 6 : (14.) The son of man. Mat. viii. 20, andxvii, 13;
Rev, i. 13 ; Dan, vii. 13 ; John iii. 13 : (15.) He is called the man
Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. ii, 5 ; 1 Cor. xv. 21, ' Since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead.' God's justice would
be satisfied in the same nature that had sinned: (16.) God's Son
made of a woman. Gal. iv. 4 : (17.) Man, 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; the man
Christ Jesus : (18.) The son of David, Mat. i, 1 ; Mark xii. 35. ' How
say the scribes, that Christ is the son of David ?' In that the scribes
and Pharisees knew and acknowledged, according to the Scripture,
that Christ should be the son of David — that is, should be born and
descend of the stock and posterity of David according to the flesh,
— hence we may easily gather the truth of Christ's human nature,
that he was ordained of God to be true man as well as God, in one
and the same person; for else he could not be the son of David.
Now, that he must be . the son of David, even the scribes and the
Pharisees knew and acknowledged, as we see here ; and this was a
172 THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST PROVED.
truth which they had learned out of the Scriptures ; and not only
they, but even the common sort of Jews in our Saviour's time : John
vii. 42, some of the common people spake thus, ' Hath not the Scrip-
ture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David?' And the Mes-
siah was then commonly called the son of David, Eom. i. 3. So then,
Christ being of the seed of David after the flesh, he must needs be
true man as well as God ; for which cause he was incarnate in the
due time appointed of God ; that is to say, he being the Son of God
from everlasting, did in time become man, taking our nature upon
him, together with the infirmities of our nature, sin only excepted,
John i. 14. Now thus you see that the eighteen denominations that
are given to Christ in the blessed Scriptures do abundantly demon-
strate the certainty of Christ's human nature. But, ,
(3.) Thirdly, Christ took the lohole human nature. He was truly
and completely man, consisting of flesh and spirit, body and soul ;
yea, that he assumed the entire human nature, with whatever is
proper to it. Christ took to himself the whole human nature, in both
the essential parts of man, soul and body. The two essential and con-
stitutive parts of man are soul and body ; where these two are, there
is the true man. Now Christ had both, and therefore he was true
man.
[1.] First, Christ had a true human and reasonable soul. The
reasonable soul is the highest and noblest part of man. This is that
which principally makes the man, and hath the greatest influence
into his being and essence. If, therefore, Jesus Christ had only a
human body without a human soul, he had wanted that part which
is most essential to man, and so he could not have been looked upon
as true and perfect man. sirs ! Christ redeemed and saved nothing
but what he assumed. The redemption and salvation reach no
further than the assumption. Our soul then would have been never
the better for Christ, had he not taken that as well as our body.
Hence said Augustine,^ Therefore he took the whole man without sin,
that he might heal the whole of which man consists, of the plague of
sin. And Fulgentius, to the same purpose : 2 As the devil smote by
deceiving the whole man, so God saves by assuming the whole man.
If he will save the whole man from sin, he will assume the whole
man without sin, saith Nazianzen. The Scriptures do clearly evi-
dence that Christ had a real human soul : Mat. xxvi. 38, ' My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.' Every word is emphatical :
' My soul; his sorrows pierced his soul, and 'sorrowful round about,'even
to death, irepikviro'i — that is, ' heavy round about,' Ps. xxii. 16. Look,
as the soul was the first agent in transgression, so it is here the first
])atient in affliction. * To death;' that is, this sorrow will never be
finished or intermitted but by death. ' My soul is exceeding sorrow-
ful.' Then Christ had a true human soul ; neither was his deity to
him for a soul, as, of old, men of corrupt minds have fancied ; for
then our bodies only had been redeemed by him, and not our souls,
if he had not suffered in soul as well as in body. The sufferings of
his body were but the body of his sufferings ; the soul of his suffer-
^ Aug. de civ. Dei, lib. x. c. 27, p. 586.
* Fulgent, ad Thrasymund, lib. i. p. 251.
THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST PROVED. 173
ings were the sufferings of his soul, which was now beset with sor-
rows, and lieavy as heart could hold : John xii. 27, ' Now is my soul
troubled, and what shall I say ?' The Greek word signifies a vehe-
ment commotion and perturbation ; as Herod's mind was troubled
when he heard that a new king was born. Mat. ii. 3 ; or as the dis-
ciples were troubled when they thought they saw a spirit walking
on the sea, and cried out for fear. Mat. xiv. 26 ; or as Zacharias,
Luke i. 12, was troubled at the sudden sight of the angel. The rise
and cause of Christ's soul-trouble was this : the Godhead hiding itself
from the humanity's sense ; and the Father letting out, not only an
apprehension of his sufferings to come, but a present taste of the
horror of his wrath, due to man for sin. He is amazed, overwhelmed,
and perplexed with it in his humanity ; and no wonder, since he had
the sins of all the elect, laid upon him by imputation, to suffer for.
And so this wrath is not let out against his person, but against their
sins which were laid on him. Now though Christ was here troubled,
or jumbled and puzzled, as the word imports, yet we are not to con-
ceive that there was any sin in this exercise of his, for he was like
clean water in a clean vessel, which, being never so often stirred and
shaken, yet still keeps clean and clear. Neither are we to think it
strange that the Son of God should be put to such perplexities in this
trouble as not to know what to say ; for considering him as man,
encompassed with our sinless infirmities, and that this heavy weight
of wi-ath did light upon him on a sudden, it is no wonder that it did
confound all his thoughts as man. sirs ! look, that as sin has in-
fected both the souls and bodies of the elect, and chiefly their souls,
where it hath its chief seat, so Christ, to expiate this sin, did suffer
unspeakable sorrows and trouble in his soul, as well as torture in his
body ; ' for my soul is troubled,' saith he. Though some sufferings
of the body be very exquisite and painful, and Christ's in particular
were such, yet sad trouble of mind is fai' more grievous than any
bodily distress, as Christ also found, who silently bare all his outward
troubles, but yet could not but cry out of his inward trouble, ' Now
is my soul troubled.' Isa. liii. 10, ' Thou shalt make his soul an
ottering for sin,' Isa. liii. 7 ; 1 Pet. ii. 24. When Christ suffered
for us, our sins were laid upon him, ver. 5, 6, as by the law of sacri-
ficing of old, the sinner was to lay his hands upon the head of the
beast, confessing his sins, and then the beast was slain, and offered for
expiation. Lev. viii. 14, 18, 22 ; thus having the man's sins as it were
taken and put upon it, and hereby the sinner is made righteous.
The sinner could never be pardoned, nor the guilt of sin removed,
but by Christ's making his soul an offering for sin. What did Christ
in special recommend to God, when he was breathing out his last gasp,
but his soul ? Luke xxiii. 46, ' When Jesus had cried out with a loud
voice, he said. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit ; and hav-
ing said thus, he gave up the ghost ;' that is. To thy safe custody and
blessed tuition I commend my soul, as a special treasure or jewel, most
charily and tenderly to be preserved and kept : Luke ii. 52, ' He in-
creased in wisdom and stature ;' here is stature for his body, and
wisdom for his soul. His growth in that speaks the truth of the
former, and his growth in this the truth of the latter : liis body pro-
174 THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST PROVED,
perly could not grow in wisdom, nor his soul in stature, therefore he
must have both. There are two essential parts which make up one
of his natures, his manhood, viz., soul and body, but both of these
two of old have been denied. Marcion divests Christ of a body, and
Apollinaris of a soul; and the Arians held that Christ had no soul,
but that the deity was to him instead of a soul, and supplied the office
thereof, that what the soul is to us, and doth in our bodies, all that
the divine nature was to Christ, and did in his body ; and are there
not some among us, that make a great noise about a light in them, that
dash upon the same rock ? But the choice scriptures last cited may
serve sufficiently to confute all such brain-sick men. But,
[2.] Secondly, As Christ had a true human and reasonable soul, so
Christ had a perfect, entire, complete hody, and everything ivliich is
proper to a hody ; for instance, (1.) He had blood : Heb. ii. 14, ' He
also took part of the same,' that is, of flesh and blood. Christ had in
him the blood of a man. Shedding of blood there must be, for with-
out it there is no remission of sin, Heb. ix. 22. The blood of brute
creatures could not wash away the blots of reasonable creatures, Heb.
X. 4, 5, 10 ; wherefore Christ took our nature, that he might have our
blood to shed for our sins. There is an emphasis put upon Christ
as man, in the great business of man's salvation, * The man Christ
Jesus,' 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; the remedy carrying in it a suitableness to the
malady, the sufferings of a man to expiate the sin of man. (2.) He
had bones as well as flesh : Luke xxiv. 39, ' A spirit hath not flesh
and bones, as ye see me have.' (3.) Christ had in him the bowels of
a man, Phil. ii. 8, which bowels he fully expressed when he was on
earth, Mat. xii. 18-20 ; nay, he retaineth those bowels now he is in
heaven ; in glory he hath a fellow-feeling of his people's miseries : Acts
ix. 4, * Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? ' See Mat. xxv. 35, to
the end of that chapter. Though Christ in his glorified state be freed
from that state of frailty, passibility, mortality, yet he still retains his
wonted pity. (4.) He had in him the familiarity of a man; how
familiarly did Christ converse with all sorts of persons in this world,
all the evangelists do sufiiciently testify. Man is a sociable and familiar
creature ; Christ became man that he might be a merciful high priest,
Heb. ii. 17 ; not that his becoming man made him more merciful, as
though the mercies of a man were more than the mercies of God, but
because by this means mercy is conveyed more suitably and familiarly
to man. But,
(4.) Fourthly and lastly. Our Lord Jesus Christ took our infirmi-
ties upon him. When Christ was in this world he submitted to the
common accidents, adjuncts, infirmities, miseries, calamities, which are
incident to human nature. For the opening of this, remember there
are three sorts of infirmities ; (1.) There are sinful infirmities : James
V. 7 ; Ps. Ixxvii. 10. The best of men are but men at the best. Wit-
ness Abraham's unbelief, David's security. Job's cursing, Jonah his
passion. Thomas his unbelief, Peter's lying, &c. Now these infirmities
Jesus Christ took not upon him ; for though he was made like unto
us in all things, yet without sin, Heb. iv. 15. (2.) There are personal
infirmities, which from some particular causes befall this or that per-
son ; as leprosy, blindness, dumbness, palsy, dropsy, epilepsy, stone,
REASONS WHY CHRIST DID PARTAKE ^F BOTH NATURES. 175
gout, sickness. Christ was never sick. Sickness arises from the unfit
or unequal temperature of the humours, or from intemperance of labour,
study, &c., but none of these were in Christ. He had no sin, and
therefore no sickness. Christ took not the passions or infirmities
which were proper to this or that man. (3.) There are natural in-
firmities which belong to all mankind since the fall ; as hunger, thirst,
wearisomeness, sorrowfulness, sweating, bleeding, wounds, death,
burial. Now these natural infirmities that are common to the whole
nature, these Jesus Christ took upon him, as all the evangelists do
abundantly testify. Our dear Lord Jesus he lay so many weeks and
months in the Virgin's womb ; he received nourishment and growth in
the ordinary way ; he was brought forth and bred up just as common
infants are ; he had his life sustained by common food, as ours is ; he
was poor, afflicted, reproached, persecuted, tempted, deserted, falsely
accused, &c. ; he lived an afflicted life, and died an accursed death ;
his whole Hfe, from the cradle to the cross, was made up of nothing
but sorrows and sufferings ; and thus you see that Jesus Christ did
put himself under those infirmities which properly belong to the com-
mon nature of man, though he did not take upon him the particular
infirmities of individuals.! Now what do all these things speak out,
but the certainty and reality of Christ's manhood ?
Quest. But ivhy must Christ 'partake of both natures? was it
absolutely necessary that he should so do ? Ans. Yea, it was absolutely
necessary that Christ should partake of both natures ; and that both
in respect of God, and in respect of us : (1.) First, in respect of us :
and that, *
[1.] First, Because man had sinned, and therefore man must he
punished. By man came death, therefore by man must come the
resurrection of the dead, 1 Cor. xv. 21. Man was the offender, there-
fore man must be the satisfier ; man had been the sinner, and there-
fore man must be the sufferer. It is but justice to punish sin in that
nature, in which it had been committed. By man we fell from God,
and by man we must be brought back to God. By the first Adam we
were ruined, by the second Adam we must be repaired, Rom. v. 12.
The human nature was to be redeemed, therefore it was necessary that
the human nature should be assumed. The law was given to man, and
the law was broken by man, and therefore it was necessary that the
law should be fulfilled by man. But,
[2.] Secondly, That by this means the justice of God might be
satisfied in the same nature ivhich had sinned, tuhich was the nature of
man. Angels could not satisfy divine justice, because they had no
bodies to suffer. The brutish sensible creatures could not satisfy the
justice of God, because they had no souls to suffer. The sensible
creatures could not satisfy divine justice, because they had no sense to
suffer. Therefore man, having body, soul, and sense, must do it ; for
he had sinned in all, and he could suffer in all.
(2.) Secondly, There are reasons both m respect of God and in
respect of ourselves, why Jesus Christ should be God, and God-man
also ; and they are these five : —
[1.] First, That he might be a meet mediator between God and
^ Printed curiously * indiriduums,' the Latinised and transition form. — G.
176 REASOXS WHY CHRIST DID
man. Christ's office, as mediator, was to deal with God for man, and
to deal for God with man. Now that he might be fit for both these
transactions, for both i)arts of this office, he must partake of both
natures. That he might effectually deal with God for man, he must
be God, ' If a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him ?'
saith Eli to his sons, 1 Sam. ii. 25. And that he might deal for God
with man, he must be man. He must be God, that he may be fit to
transact, treat, and negotiate with God ; and he must be man, that he
may be fit to transact, treat, and negotiate with man. AVhen God
spake unto Israel at Mount Sinai at the giving of the law, the people
were not able to abide that voice or presence, and therefore they
desired an Intei^uncius, a man like themselves, who might be as
a mediator to go betwixt God and them, Exod. x;x. 18, 19. Now
upon this very ground, besides many others that might be mentioned,
it was very requisite that Jesus Christ should be both God and man,
that he might be a meet mediator to deal betwixt God and man, Heb.
xii. 18. Jesus Christ was the fittest person, either in that upper or in
this lower world, to mediate between God and us. There was none
lit to umpire the business between God and man, but he that was God-
man. Job hit the nail when he said, ' Neither is there any days-man
betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both,' Job ix. 33. There
was a double use of the days-man, and his laying his hand upon them :
(1.) To keep the dissenting parties asunder, lest they should fall
out and strike one another ; (2.) To keep them together, and compose
all differences, that they might not depart from each other. The
application is easy. Man is not fit to mediate, because man is the per-
son offending ; angels are not fit to mediate, for they cannot satisfy
divine justice, nor pacify divine wrath, nor procure our pardon, nor
make our peace, nor bring in an everlasting righteousness upon us. God,
the Father, was not fit for this work, for he was the person offended ;
and he was as much too high to deal with man, as man was too low to
deal with God. The Holy Ghost was not fit for this work, for it is his
work to apply this mediation, and to clear up the believer's interest in
this mediation. So then there is no other person fit for this office but
Jesus Christ, who was a middle person, betwixt both, that he might
deal with both. Christ could never have been fit to be the mediator
in respect of his office, if he had not first been a middle person
in respect of his natures ; for, saith the apostle, Gal. iii. 20, ' Now a
mediator is not a mediator of one ; but God is one.' ' A mediator is not
a mediator of one,' that is, of one party, but is always of two differing
parties to unite them ; ' not of one ;' that is, (1.) Not of one person,
because mediation implies more persons than one ; it necessarily
supposes different parties betwixt whom he doth mediate. Christ,
to speak after the manner of men, lays his hand upon God, the Father,
and saith, blessed Father, wilt thou be at peace with these poor
sinners ? wilt thou pardon them ? and wilt thou lift up the light
of thy countenance upon them ? If thou wilt, then I will undertake
to satisfy thy justice, and to pacify thy wrath, and to fulfil thy royal
law, and to make good all the wrong they have done against thee.
And then he layeth his hand upon the poor sinner, and saith, Sinner,
art thou willing to be changed and renewed ? art thou willing to come
PARTAKE OF BOTH NATUEES. 177
under the bond of the covenant ? art thou willing to give up thy heart
and life to the guidance and government of the Spirit ? Then be not
discouraged, for thou shalt certainly be justified and saved. (2.) Not
of one nature — the mediator must necessarily have more natures than
one — he must have the divine and human nature united in his single
person, or else he could never suffer what he was to suffer, nor never
satisfy what he was to satisfy, nor never bring poor sinners into a state
of reconciliation with Grod ; and it is further observable that the
text last cited saith, ' God is one,' 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; viz., as he is
essentially considered, and therefore as so he cannot be the mediator ;
but Christ, as personally considered, he * is not of one,' that is, not of
one nature, for he is God and man too, and therefore he is the
only person that is fitted and qualified to be the mediator ; and it
is observable that, when Christ is spoken of as mediator, his manhood
is brought in, that nature being so necessary to that office : 1 Tim, ii.
5, ' For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the
man Christ Jesus.' Jesus Christ was God and man ; as man he
ought to satisfy, but could not ; as God he could satisfy, but ought not.
But consider him as God and man, and so he both could satisfy
and ought to satisfy, and accordingly he did satisfy, according to what
was prophesied of him : Dan, ix. 24, ' He did make reconciliation for
iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness.' He did not begin
to do something and then faint and leave his work imperfect, but
he finished it, and that to the glory of his Father : John xvii. 4,
* I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do.' And it is good to observe the singularity and
oneness of the person mediating ; not many, not a few, not two,
but one mediator between God and man. There was none with
him in his difficult work of mediatorship, but he carried it on alone.
Though there are many mediators among men, yet there is but
el? fx€aLT7)<}, one only mediator betwixt God and men: and it is as
high folly and madness to make more mediators than one, as it
is to make more Gods than one, Isa. Ixiii. 3. ' There is one God,
and one mediator betwixt God and men ;' for look, as one husband
satisfies the wife, as one father satisfies the child, as one lord satisfies
the servant, and one sun satisfies the world, so one mediator is enough
to satisfy all the world, that desire a mediator, or that have an interest
in a mediator.! The true sense and import of this word fieatrr}^, a
mediator, is a middle person, or one that interposes betwixt two
parties at variance, to make peace betwixt them. Though /ieo-iVi;?, a
mediator, be rendered variously, sometimes an umpire or arbitrator,
sometimes a messenger betwixt two persons, sometimes an interpreter
imparting the mind of one to another, sometimes a reconciler or
peace-maker ; yet this word, /j,eaiT7]<i, doth most properly signify a
mediator or a middler, because Jesus Christ is both a middle person,
and a middle officer betwixt God and man, to reconcile and reunite
God and man. This of all others is the most proper and genuine
^ I confess the word fiecxirrjs is given to Moses, in that Gal. iii. 19, but Moses was but
a typical mediator, and you never find that Moses is called a mediator in a way of re-
demption, or satisfaction, or paying a ransom ; for so dear Jesus is the only mediator :
so the word fjLecirrjs is used in that 1 Tim. ii. 5; Heb. yiii. 6-8, ix. 14, 15, and xiL
22-24.
VOL. V. M
178 REASONS WHY CHRIST DID
signification of this name fi€aiTrj<;, Jesus Christ is the middle, that is,
the second person in the Trinity, betwixt the Father and the Holy
Ghost. He is the only middle person betwixt God and man, being in
one person God-man ; and his being a middle person fits and capaci-
tates him to stand in the midst between God and us. And as he is
the middle person, so he is the middle officer, intervening or interpos-
ing or coming between God and man by office, satisfying God's justice
to the full for man's sins by his sufferings and death, and maintaining
our constant peace in heaven by his meritorious intercession. Hence,
as one observes, [Gerhard,] Jesus Christ is a true mediator, is still
found in medio, in the middle. He was born, as some think, from
Wisd. xviii. 14, about the middle of the night ; he suffered, Heb.
xiii. 12, in the middle of the world, that is, at Jerusalem, seated in
the middle of the earth : he was crucified in the midst, between the
two thieves, John xix. 18 : he died in the air on the cross, in the
midst between heaven and earth : he stood after his resurrection in
the midst of his disciples, John xx. 19 ; and he has promised, that
where two or three are gathered together in his name, he will be in
the midst of them. Mat. xviii. 20 : and he walks in the midst of the
seven golden candlesticks, Eev. ii. 1, that is, the churches: and he
as the heart in the midst of the body, distributes spirits and virtue to
all the parts of his mystical body, Eph. iv. 15, 16. Thus Jesus Christ
is the mediator betwixt God and man ; middle in person and middle
in office. And thus you have seen at large what a meet mediator
Jesus Christ is, considered in both his natures, considered as God-man.
But,
[2.] Secondly, If Jesus Christ he not God, then there is no spiritual
nor eternal good to be expected or enjoyed. If Christ be not God, our
preaching is in vain, and your hearing is in vain, and your praying is
in vain, and your believing is in vain, and your hope of pardon and
forgiveness by Jesus Christ is in vain ; for none can forgive sins but a
God. Christ hath promised that ' believers shall never perish ; ' he
hath promised them ' eternal life,' and that he will ' raise them up at
the last day,' he has promised ' a crown of righteousness,' he has pro-
mised ' a crown of life,' he has promised ' a crown of glory,' he has
promised that conquering Christians shall ' sit down with him in his
throne, as he is set down with his Father in his throne :' he has pro-
mised that they shall not be hurt of ' the second death.' i And a thou-
sand other good things Jesus Christ has promised ; but if Jesus
Christ be not God, how shall these promises be made good ? If a man
that hath never a foot of land in England, nor yet worth one groat in
all the world, shall make his will, and bequeath to thee such and such
houses, and lands, and lordships in such a county or such a county ;
and shall by will, give thee so much in plate, and so much in jewels,
and so much in ready money ; whereas he is not, upon any account,
worth one penny in all the world ; certainly such legacies will never
make a man the richer nor the happier. None of those great and
precious promises, which are hinted at above, will signify anything, if
Christ be not God ; for they can neither refresh us, nor cheer us in
1 Mark ii. 7; John iii. 10; John x. 28; 2 Tim. iv. 8; James i. 12; 1 Tct. v. 4; Rev.
iii. 21, and ii. 11.
PARTAKE OF BOTH NATURES. 179
this world, nor make us happy in that other world. If Christ be not
God, how can he purchase our pardon, procure our peace, pacify divine
wrath, and satisfy infinite justice ? A man may satisfy the justice of
man, but who but a God can satisfy the justice of God ? ' Will God
accept of thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil, or the
firstborn of thy body for the sin of thy soul ?' Micah vi. 7. Oh, no !
he will not, he cannot. That scripture is worthy to be written in
letters of gold : Acts xx. 28, ' Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers ; to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with
his own blood/ This must needs relate to Christ, and Christ is here
called God, and Christ's blood is called the blood of God ; and with-
out a peradventure Christ could never have gone through with the
purchase of the church, if the blood he shed had not been the blood
of God. This blood is called God's own blood, because the Son of
God, being and remaining true God, assumed human flesh and blood
in unity of person. By this phrase, that which appertaineth to the
humanity of Christ is attributed to his divinity, because of the union
of the two natures in one person, and communion of properties. The
church is to Christ a bloody spouse, an Aceldama or field of blood :
for she could not be redeemed with silver and gold, but with the
blood of God, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19 : so it is called by a communication of
properties, to set forth the incomparable value and virtue thereof.
But,
[3.] Thirdly, If Christ he not God, yea, God-man, then we shall
never he able to ansiver all the challenges that either divine justice or
Satan can make upon us. Whatsoever the justice of God can exact,
that the blood of God can discharge. Now the blood of Christ is the
blood of God, as I have evidenced in the second reason. By reason of
the hypostatical union, the human nature being united to the divine,
the human nature did suffer, the divine did satisfy. Christ's godhead
did give both majesty and efficacy to his sufferings. Christ was sacri-
fice, priest, and altar. He was sacrifice as he was man, priest as he
was God and man, and altar as he was God. It is the property of the
altar to sanctify the tiling offered on it, Mat. xxiii. 19 ; so the altar of
Christ's divine nature sanctified the sacrifice of his death, and made it
meritorious. Man sinned, and therefore man must satisfy. Therefore
the human nature must be assumed by a surety, for man cannot do it.
If an angel should have assumed human nature, it would have polluted
him. Human nature was so defiled by sin that it could not be assumed
by any but God. Now Christ being God, the divine nature purified
the human nature which he took, and so it was a sufiicient sacrifice,
the person offered in sacrifice being God as well as man. This is a
most noble ground upon which a believer may challenge Satan to say
iKs worst and to do his worst. Let him present God as terrible, yea,
as a consuming fire, Heb. xii. 29 ; let him present me as odious and
abominable in the sight of God, as once he did Joshua, Zech. iii. 2, 3 ;
let him present me before]the Lord as vile and mercenary, as once he did
Job, chap. i. 9-11 ; let him aggravate the height of God's displeasure,
and the height and depth and length and breadth of my sins, I shall
readily grant all, and agamst all this I will set the infinite satisfaction
180 REASONS WHY CHRIST DID
of dear Jesus. This I know, tliat though the justice of God cannot be
avoided nor bribed, yet it may be satisfied. Here is a proportionable
satisfaction, here is God answering God. It is a very noble plea of
the apostle, ' Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died,'
Eom. viii. 34. Let Satan urge the justice of God as much as he can,
I am sure that the justice of God makes me sure of salvation ; and the
reason is evident, because his justice obligeth him to accept of an
adequate satisfaction of his own appointing, 1 John i. 7-9. The
justice of God maketh me sure of mine own happiness, because if God
be just, that satisfaction should be had, when that satisfaction is made,
justice requireth that the person for whom it is made shall be received
into favour. I confess that unless God had obliged himself by promise,
there were no pressing his justice thus far, because noxa sequitur
caput. There was mercy in the promise of sending Christ, out of
mercy to undertake for us, otherwise we cannot say that God was
bound in justice to accept of satisfaction, unless he had first in mercy
been pleased to appoint the way of a surety, Gen. ii. 15.i Justice indeed
required satisfaction, but it required it of the person that sinneth : Gen.
ii. 17, ' But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it ; for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die' — or
dying thou shalt die ; or, as others read the words, thou shalt surely
and shortly or suddenly die ; and, without controversy, every man
should die the same day he is born. ' The wages of sin is death,' Rom.
vi. 23 ; and this wages should be presently paid, did not Christ, as a
boon, beg poor sinners' lives for a season : for which cause he is called
the Saviour of all men, 1 Tim. iv. 10 — not of eternal preservation, but
of temporal reservation. It was free and noble mercy to all mankind,
that dear Jesus was promised and provided, sealed and sent into the
world, John vi. 27, that some might be eternally saved, and the rest
preserved from wrath for a time. Here cometh in mercy, that a surety
shall be accepted ; and what he doth is as if the person that offended
should have done it himself. Here is mercy and salvation surely
bottomed upon both. Ah, what sweet and transcendent comfort flows
from this very consideration, that Christ is God ! But,
[4.] Fourthly, The great and glorious majesty of God required it,
that Christ should he God. God the Father being a God of infinite
holiness, purity, justice, and righteousness, none but he who was very
God, who was essentially one with the Father, could or durst inter-
pose between God and fallen man, John x. 30, and xiv. 9-11, &c. The
angels, though they are glorious creatures, yet they are but creatures ;
and could these satisfy divine justice, and bear infinite wrath, and
purchase divine favour, and reconcile us to God, and procure our par-
don, and change our hearts, and renew our natures, and adorn our
souls with grace ? and yet all these things must be done, or we undone,
and that for ever ! Now if this were a work too high for angels, then
we may safely conclude that it was a work too hard for fallen man.
Man was once the mirror of all understanding, the hieroglyphic of
wisdom, but now quantum mutatus ah illo, there is a great alteration ;
for poor sorry man is now sent to school to learn wisdom and instruc-
^ Had net Christ stepped in between man's sin and God's wrath, the world had fallen
about Adam's ears.
PARTAKE OF BOTH NATURES. 181
tion of the beasts, birds, and creeping things, he is sent to the pismire
to learn providence, Prov. vi. 6, to the stork and to the swallow to
learn to make a right use of time, Jer. viii. 7, to the ox and the ass to
learn knowledge, Isa. i. 3, and to the fowls of the air to learn con-
fidence, Mat. vi. Man that was once a master of knowledge, a
wonder of understanding, perfect in the science of all things, is
now grown blockish, sottish, and senseless, and therefore altogether
unfit and unable to make his peace with God, to reconcile himself to
God, &c. But,
[5.] Fifthly and lastly, TJiat Christ's sufferings and merits might he
sufficient, it ivas absolutely necessary that he should be God. The sin
of man was infinite, I mean infinitely punishable ; if not infinite in
number, yet infinite in nature, every offence being infinite, it being
committed against an infinite God. No creature could therefore satisfy
for it, but the sufferer must be God, that so his infiniteness might be
answerable to the infiniteness of men's offences. There was an abso-
lute necessity of Christ's sufferings, partly because he was pleased to
substitute himself in the sinner's stead, and partly because his suffer-
ings only could be satisfactory. Now, unless he had been man, how
could he suffer ? and unless he had been God, how could he satisfy
offended justice ? Look, as he must be more than man, that he may
be able to suffer, that his sufferings may be meritorious, so he must be
man, that he may be in a capacity to suffer, die, and obey ; for these
are no work for one who is only God. A God only cannot suffer, a
man only cannot merit ; God cannot obey, man is bound to obey ;
wherefore Christ, that he might obey and suffer, he was man ; and
that he might merit by his obedience and suffering, he was God-man ;
just such a person did the work of redemption call for. That Christ's
merits might be sufficient, he must be God ; for sufficient merit for man-
kind could not be in the person of any mere man, no, not in Christ him-
self, considered only as man ; for so all the grace he had he did receive
it, and all the good he did he was bound to do it ; for he ' was made of
a woman, and made under the law,' Gal. iv. 4 — not only under the cere-
monial law as he was a Jew, but under the moral as a man, for it is
under that law under which we were, and from which we are redeemed,
Gal. iii. 1 3 — therefore in fulfilling it he did no more than that which
was his duty to do ; he could not merit by it, no, not for himself, much
less for others, considered only as man ; therefore he must also be God,
that the dignity of his person might add dignity, and virtue, and value
to his works. In a word, Deus potuif, sed non debuit; homo debuit,
sed non potuit — God could, but he should not ; man should, but he
could not make satisfaction ; therefore he that would do it must be
both God and man. Toi'ris erutus ab igne? as the prophet speaketh;
' Is not this a firebrand taken out of the fire ?' Zech. iii. 2. You know
that in a firebrand taken out of the fire, there is fire and wood insepa-
rably mixed, and in Christ there is God and man wonderfully united.
He was God, else neither his sufferings nor his merits could have been
sufficient ; and if his could not, much less any man's else ; for all other
men are both conceived and born in original sin, and also much and
often defiled with actual sin, and therefore we ought for ever to abhor
all such Popish doctrines, prayers, and masses for the dead, which
182 ELEVEN INFERENCES DRAWN FROM
exalt man's merits, man's satisfaction : * For no man can by any
means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him ; for the
redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever,' Ps. xlix.
7, 8. And therefore all the money that hath been given for masses,
dirges, trentals,! &c., hath been cast away; for Jesus Christ, who is
God-man, is the only Redeemer, and in the other world money beareth
no mastery. Let me make a few inferences from what has been said ;
and therefore,
1. First, Is it so, that Christ is God-man, that he is God and man ?
Then let this raise our faith, and strengthen our faith, in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Faith is built on God; 1 Pet. i. 21. Now, Jesus Christ
is very God, and therefore the fittest foundation in the world for us to
build our faith upon. ' God manifest in the flesh' is a firm basis for
faith and comfort. ' He is able to save to the uttermost,' Heb. vii. 25.
Christ is a thorough Saviour, he saves perfectly, and he saves perpe-
tually ; he never carries on redemption work by halves. 2 Christ being
God as well as man, is able, by the power of his godhead, to vanquish
death, devils, hell, and all the enemies of our salvation ; and by the
power of his godhead is able to merit pardon of sin, the favour of God,
the heavenly inheritance, and all the glory of the other world ; for this
dignity of his person addeth virtue and efficacy to his death and suff'er-
ings, in that he that suffered and died was very God ; therefore God
is said to have ' purchased the church with his own blood/ Acts xx, 28.
Christ having suffered in our nature, which he took upon him, that is,
in his human soul and body, the wrath of God, the curse, and all the
punishments which were due to our sins, hath paid the price of our
redemption, pacified divine wrath, and satisfied divine justice, in the
very same nature in which we have sinned and provoked the Holy One
of Israel, so that now all believers may triumphingly say, ' There is
no condemnation to us that are in Christ Jesus,' Bom. viii. 1, Christ
having, in our nature, suffered the whole curse and punishment due
to our sins, God cannot in justice but accept of his sufferings as a full
and complete satisfaction for all our sins, 1 John i. 7, 9 ; so that now
there remaineth no more curse or punishment properly so called for us
to suffer, either in our souls or bodies, either in this life or in the life
to come, but we are certainly and fully delivered from all ; not only
from the eternal curse, and all the punishments and torments of hell,
but also from the curse and sting of bodily death, and from all afflic-
tions as they are curses and punishments of sin, 1 Cor. xv. 55, 56.
That Jesus, who is God-man, hath changed the nature of them to us,
so that of bitter curses and heavy punishments, they are become
fatherly cliastisements, the fruits of divine love, and the promoters of
the internal and eternal good of our souls, Heb. xii. 5-7, and Eev.
iii. 19. Oh, how should these things strengthen our faith in dear
Jesus, and work us to lean and stay our weary souls wholly and only
upon him who is God-man, ' and who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,' 1 Cor. i. 30. Among
the evangehsts we find that Christ had a threefold entertainment
among the sons of men : some received him into house, not into heart,
as Simon the Pharisee, who gave him no kiss nor water to his feet,
^ * Thirty masses.' — G. * Ad lilenum, saith Erasmus; ad perfecium, say others.
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHKIST. 183
Luke vll. 44 ; some neither into heart nor house, as the graceless,
swinish Gergesites, Mat. viii. 34, who had neither civility nor honesty ;
some both into house and heart, as Lazarus, Mary, Martha, &c., John
xi. 16. Certainly that Jesus who is God- man deserves the best room
in all our souls, and the uppermost seat in all our hearts. But,
2. Secondly, If Jesus Christ be God-man, very God and very man,
then lohat high cause have we to observe, admire, loonder, and even
stand amazed at the transcendent love of Christ in becoming man !
Oh ! the firstness, the freeness, the unchangeableness, the greatness,
the matchlessness of Christ's love to fallen man in becoming man I
Men many times shew their love to one another, by hanging up one
another's pictures in their families ; but, ah, what love did Christ shew
when he took our nature upon him ! Heb. ii. 16, ' For verily he took
not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abra-
ham;' 'ETTiXa/jb^dverat, he assumed, apprehended, caught, laid hold on
the seed of Abraham, as the angel did on Lot, Gen. xix. 16, as Christ
did on Peter, Mat. xiv. 31, or as men do upon a thing they are glad
they have got and are loath to let go again. sirs ! it is a main
ground and pillar of our comfort and confidence, that Jesus Christ took
our flesh ; for if he had not took our flesh upon him, we could never
have been saved by him. Christ took not a part, but the whole nature
of man, that is, a true human soul and body, together with all the essen-
tial properties and faculties of both ; that in man's nature he might die,
and suffer the wrath of God, and whole curse due to our sins, which
otherwise, being God only, he could never have done ; and that he might
satisfy divine justice for sin, in the same nature that had sinned, and
indeed it was most meet and fit, that the mediator, who was to recon-
cile God and man, should partake in the natures of both parties to be
reconciled, Heb. ii. 14. Oh, what matchless love was this, that made
our dear Lord Jesus to lay by for a time all that ' glory that he had
with the Father before the world was,' John xvii. 5, and to assume our
nature, and to be ' found in fashion as a man,' Phil. ii. 8. To see the
great God in the form of a servant, or hanging upon the cross, how
wonderful and astonishing was it to all that believed him to be God-
man ! God ' manifested in our flesh ' is an amazing mystery, 1 Tim.
iii. 16, a mystery fit for the speculation of angels, 1 Pet. i. 11, that the
eternal God should become the man Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; that a
most glorious creator should become a poor creature ; that the ancient
of days, Dan. vii. 9, 13, 22, should become an infant of days. Mat. ii.
11 ; that the most high should stoop so low as to dwell in a body of
flesh — is a glorious mystery, that transcends all human understanding.
It would have seemecl a high blasphemy for us to have thought of such
a thing, or to have desired such a thing, or to have spoken of such a
thing, if God, in his everlasting gospel, had not revealed such a thing
to us. Among the Eomisli priests, friars, Jesuits, they count it a
great demonstration of love, a high honour that is done to any of
their orders, when any nobleman or great prince, who is weary of the
world, and the world weary of him, comes among them, and takes any
of their habits upon him, and lives and dies in their habits. Oh, what
a demonstration of Christ's love is it ! and what a mighty honour
Lath Jesus Christ put upon mankind, in that he took our nature
\
184 ELEVEN INFERENCES DRAWN FROM
upon him, in that he lived in our nature and died in our nature, and
rose in our nature, and ascended in our nature, and now sits at his
Father's right hand in our nature ! Acts i. 10, 11. Though Jacob's
love to Kachel, and Jonathan's love to David, and David's love to
Absalom, and the primitive Chiistians' love to one another was strong,
very strong ; yet Christ's love in taking our human nature upon him
does infinitely transcend all their loves, I think, saith one speaking
of Christji he * cannot despise me, who is bone of my bone, and flesh of
my flesh ; for if he neglect me as a brother, yet he wiU love me as a hus-
band ; that is my comfort.' ' my Saviour,' saith one, [Jerome,] ' didst
thou die for love for me ? a love more dolorous than death, but to me
a death more lovely than love itself ; I cannot live, love, and be longer
from thee,' I read in Josephus,2 that when Herod Antipater was ac-
cused to Julius (?) Csesar as no good friend of his, he made no other
apology, but stripping himself stark naked, shewed Caesar his wounds
and said, let me hold my tongue, these wounds will speak for me how
I have loved Cassar. Ah, my friends, Christ's wounds in our nature
speak out the admirable love of Jesus Christ to us ; and oh, how
should this love of his draw out our love to Christ, and inflame our
love to that Jesus who is God-man blessed for ever, Mr Welch, a
Suifolkshire minister, weeping at table, being asked the reason, said, it
was because he could love Christ no more,^ Ah, what reason have we
to weep, and weep again and again, that we can love that Jesus no
more, who hath shewed such imparalleled love to us in assuming of
the human nature ! Et ipsam animam odio haberem, si non diligeret
meum Jesum, I must hate my very soul, if it should not love my
Jesus, saith Bernard. Ah, what cause have we even to hate ourselves,
because we love that .dear Jesus no more, who is very God and very
man. But,
3. Thirdly, Is Jesus Christ God-man ? is he very God and very
man ? Then ive may very safely and roundly assert that the ivork of
redemption was a very great iv.orkA The redemption of souls is a
mighty work, a costly work. To redeem poor souls from sin, from
wrath, from the power of Satan, from the curse, from hell, from the
condemnation^ was a mighty work. Wherefore was Christ born,
wherefore did he live, sweat, groan, bleed, die, rise, ascend ? Was it
not to bring ' deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound' ? Was it not to ' make an end of sin,
to finish transgression, and to bring in everlasting righteousness/ and
' to destroy the works of the devil,' and to ' abolish death/ and to
* bring life and immortality to hght,' and to ' redeem us from all ini-
quity, and to purify us to himself, and to make us a peculiar people,
zealous of good works' ? Certainly the work of redemption was no
ordinary or common thing; God-man must engage in it, or poor
fallen man is undone for ever. The greater the person is that is
engaged in any work, the greater is that work. The great monarchs
of the world do not use to engage their sons in poor, low, mean, and
^ Bernard sup. Cant. ser. 20. * Jos. Bel. Jud. 1. 1, c. 8. * As before, ' Welsh.'— O,
* Consult these scriptures, Isa. Ixi. 1; Dan. ix. 24; 1 John iii. 8; Luke i. 74, 75;
Tit. ii. 14; 1 Pet. i. 4.
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHRIST. 185
petty services, but in sucli services as are high and honourable, noble
and weighty ; and will you imagine that ever the great and glorious
God would have sent his Son, his own Son, his only-begotten Son, his
bosom Son, his Son in whom his soul delighted before the foundations
of the earth was laid, to redeem poor sinners' souls, if this had not
been a great work, a high work, and a most glorious work in his eye ?
John i. 18, and Pro v. viii. 22-33. The creation of the world did
but cost God a word of his mouth, ' Let there be light, and there was
light,' Gen. i. 3 ; but the redemption of souls cost him his dearest Son.
There is a divine greatness stamped upon the works of providence,
but what are the works of providence to the work of redemption ?
What are all providential works to Christ's coming from heaven, to
his being incarnate, to his doings, sufferings, and dying ; and all this
to ransom poor souls from the curse, hell, wrath, and eternal death ?
Souls are dear and costly things, and of great price in the sight of
God. Amongst the Komans, those their proper goods and estates
which men had gotten in the wars with hazard of their lives, were
called Peculium Castrense, of a field purchase. Oh, how much more
may the precious and immortal souls of men be called Christ's Pecu-
lium Casirense, liis purchase, gotten, not only by the jeopardy of his
life, but with the loss of his life and blood ! ' Ye know,' saith the
apostle, ' that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as with
silver and gold, from your vain conversation, received by tradition,
but with the precious blood of the Son of God, as of a lamb without a
spot,' 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. Christ, that only went to the price of souls,
hath told us that one soul is more worth than all the world. Mat.
xvi. 26. Christ left his Father's bosom, and all the glory of heaven,
for the good of souls ; he assumed the nature of man for the happiness
of the soul of man ; he trod the wine-press of his Father's wrath for
souls ; he wept for souls, he sweat for souls, he prayed for souls, he
paid for souls, and he bled out his heart blood for the redemption of
souls. The soul is the breath of God, the beauty of man, the wonder
of angels, and the envy of devils. It is of an angelical nature, it is a
heavenly spark, a celestial plant, and of a divine offspring. It is cap-
able of the knowledge of God, of union with God, of communion
with God, and of an eternal fruition of God, John xiv. 8, and Ps.
xvii. 15. There Is nothing that can suit the soul below God, there is
nothing that can satisfy the soul without God. The soul is so high
and so noble a piece that it scorns . all the world. What are all the
riches of the East or West Indies, what are rocks of diamonds,
or mountains of gold, or the price of Cleopatra's draught, to the price
that Christ laid down for souls ? It is only the blood of him that is
God-man that is an equivalent price for the redemption of souls.
Silver and gold hath redeemed many thousands out of Turkish bond-
age, but all the silver and gold in the world could never redeem one
poor soul from hellish bondage, from hellish torments. Souls are a
dear commodity. He that bought them found them so ; and yet at
how cheap a rate do some sinners sell their immortal souls ! Callenu-
ceus tells us of a nobleman of Naplas that was wont profanely to say
that he had two souls in his body, one for God, and another for who-
186 ELEVEN INFERENCES DRAWN FROM
soever would buy it ;l but if lie hath one soul in hell, I believe he will
never find another for heaven. A person of quality, who is still alive,
told me a few years since, that in discourse with one of his servants
he asked him what he thought would become of his soul if he lived
and died in his igno^-ance and emnity against God, &c. He most pro-
fanely and atheistically answered that when he died, he would hang
his soul on a hedge, and say. Run God, run devil, and he that can run
fastest let him take my soul. 2 I have read^ of a most blasphemous
wretch that, on a time being with his companions in a common inn,
carousing and making merry, asked them if they thought a man had
a soul or no ; whereunto when they replied that the souls of men are
immortal, and that some of them after death lived in hell and others
in heaven — for so the writings of the prophets and apostles instructed
them — he answered and swore that he thought it nothing so, but
rather that there was no soul in man to survive the body, but that
heaven and hell were mere fables and inventions of priests to get
gain ; and for himself, he was ready to sell his soul to any that would
buy it. Then one of his companions took up a cup of wine, and said,
sell me thy soul for this cup of wine ; which he receiving, bade him
take his soul, and drank up the wine. Now Satan himself being there
in man's shape, bought it again of the other at the same price, and by
and by bade him give him his soul, the whole company affirming it
was meet he should have it, since he had bought it, not perceiving the
devil ; but presently, he laying hold of this soul-seller, carried him
into the air before them all, to the great astonishment and amazement
of the beholders ; and from that day to this he was never heard of, but
hath now found hj experience that men have souls, and that hell is no
fable ! ^ Ah, for what a thing of nought do many thousands sell their
souls to Satan every day ! How many thousands are there who swear,
curse, lie, cheat, deceive, &c., for a little gain every day ! I have
read that there was a time when the Romans did wear jewels on their
shoes. Oh that in these days men did not worse ! Oh that they
did not trample under feet that matchless jewel, their precious and
immortal souls ! sirs, there is nothing below heaven so precious
and noble as your souls, and therefore do not play the courtiers with
your poor souls. Now the courtier does all things late. He rises
late, and dines late, and sups late, and goes to bed late, and repents
late. Christ made himself an offering for sin, that souls might not
be undone by sin ; the Lord died that slaves might live ; the Son dies
that servants might live ; the natural Son dies that adopted sons may
live ; the only-begotten Son dies that bastards might live ; yea, the
judge dies that malefactors may live. Ah, friends, as there was never
sorrow like Christ's, so there was never love like Christ s love ; and of
all his love, none to that of soul love. Christ, who is God-man, did
^ As before.— G. * This pioua gentleman was with me in May 1673, at my house,
' Discipulus de temp. Serm., 132.
* We laugh at little children to see them part with rich jewels for silly trifles, and yet
daily experience tells us that multitudes are so childish as to part with such rich and
precious jewels as their immortal souls for a lust, or for base and unworthy trifles ; of
whom it may be truly said, as Augustus Caesar said in another case, they are like a man
that fishes with a golden hook ; the gain can never recompense the loss that may be sus-
tained.
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHRIST. 187
take upon him thy nature, and bare thy sins, and suffered death, and
encountered the cross, and was made a sacrifice and a curse, and all
to bring about thy redemption ; and therefore thou mayest safely con-
chide that the work of redemption is a great work. But,
4. Fourthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man ? is he very God and very
man ? Then let this encourage poor sinners to come to Christ, to
close with Christ, to accept of Christ, to match with Christ, and to
enter into a marriage union and communion with Christ. The great
work of gospel ministers is like that of Eliezer, Abraham's servant,
to seek a match for our Master's Son. Now our way to win you to
him, is not only to tell you what he has, but what he is. Now he is
' God-man in one person.' He is man, that you may not be afraid of
him ; and he is God, that he may be able to save you to the utter-
most ; he is ' the Prince of the kings of the earth ;' he is ' Lord of
lords and King of kings ; ' he is the ' Heir of all things ; ' he is ' fairer
than the children of men ;' he is ' the chief est of ten thousand ;' he is
' altogether lovely.' i There is everything in Jesus, who is God-man,
to encourage you to come to him. If you look upon his names, if
you look upon his natures, if you look upon his offices, if you look
upon his dignities, if you look upon his personal excellencies, if you
look upon his mighty conquests, if you look upon his royal attend-
ance, — all these things call aloud upon you to come to Christ, to
close with Christ. If you look upon the great things that he has
done for sinners, and the hard things that he has suffered for sinners,
and the glorious things that he has prepared and laid up for sinners,
how can you but readily accept of him, and sweetly embrace him ?
Though thou hast no loveliness nor comeliness, no beauty nor glory,
Ezek. xvi, 4, 5, and Isa. Iv. 1, 2 ; though thou hast not one penny in
thy purse, nor a rag to hang on thy back, yet if thou art but really
and heartily willing to be divorced from all thy sinful lovers, and
accept of Christ for thy sovereign Lord, he is willing that the match
should be made up between thee and him, Hos. iii, 3, and Rev. xxii.
17. Now shall Clu-ist woo you himself, shall he declare his will-
ingness to take you with nothing, shall he engage himself to pro-
tect you, to maintain you, and at last, as a dowry, to bestow heaven
upon you, and will you refuse him, will you turn your backs upon
him ? sirs ! what could Christ have done that he has not done to
do you good, and to make you happy for ever ? Lo ! he has laid
aside his glorious robes, and he has put on your rags ; he has clothed
himself with your flesh ; he came off from his royal throne, he hum-
bled himself to the death of the cross, and has brought life, immor-
tality, and glory to your very doors; and will you yet stand out
against him ? Oh, ' how shall such escape who neglect so great sal-
vation,' Heb. il 3 ; who say, ' This man shall not rule over us,' Luke
xix. 14 ; who ' tread under foot the Son of God' ? Heb. x. 28. Oh,
what wrath, what great wrath, what pure wrath, what infinite wrath, ^
what everlasting wrath, is leserved for such persons ! John iii. 36.
Doubtless, Turks, Jews, and Pagans will have a cooler and a lighter
hell than the despisers and rejecters of Christ, John v. 40, and Mat.
xxiii. 13, 14. The great damnation is for those that might have
1 Heb. vii. 25 ; Eev. i. 5, and xvii. 14 ; Heb. i. 3 ; Ps. xlv. 1 ; Cant. v. 10, 16.
188 ELEVEN INFERENCES DRAWN FROM
Christ, _ but would not. And no wonder ! for the sin of rejecting
Christ is not chargeable upon the devils. Ah sinners, sinners ! that
you would labour to understand more, and dwell more upon, the pre-
eminent excellencies of Christ ! for till the soul can discern a better,
a greater excellency in Christ than in any other thing, it will never
yield to match with Christ. Oh, labour every day more and more to
take the height and depth and breadth of the excellency of Christ.
He is the chief est and the choicest of all, both in that upper and in
this lower world. The godhead dwells bodily in him ; he is full of
grace ; he is the heir of glory ; the holy one of God ; the brightness
of his Father's image ; the fountain of Hfe, the well of salvation, and
the wonder of heaven. Oh, when will you so understand the super-
lative excellency of Christ as to fall in love with him, as to cry out
with the martyr, ' Oh, none but Christ ; oh, none to Christ ! ' i It is
your wisdom, it is your duty, it is your safety, it is your glory, it is
your salvatiqn, it is your all to accept of Christ, to close with Christ,
and to bestow yourselves, your souls, your all on Christ. If you
embrace him, you are made for ever; but if you reject him, you perish
for ever. Bernard calls Christ, Sponsus sangumum, the IBridegroom
of Bloods, because he espoused his church to himself upon the bed of
his cross, his head begirt with a pillow of thorns, his body drenched
in a bath of his own blood. To turn your backs upon this bridegroom
of bloods will certainly cost you the blood of your souls ; and there-
fore look to it. But,
5. Fifthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man ? is he very God and very
man ? Oh, then, honour him above all. Oh, let him have the pre-
eminence, exalt him as high as God the Father hath exalted him. It
is the absolute will of the Father that ' all should honour his Son,
even as they honour himself:' 2 for he having the same nature and
essence with the Father, the Father will have him have the same
honour which he himself hath ; which whosoever denies to him reflects
dishonour upon the Father, who will not bear anything derogatory to
the glory of his Son. Certainly there is due to Christ, as he is God-
man, the highest respect, reverence, and veneration, which angels and
men can possibly give unto him. Oh, look upon the Lord Jesus
as God ; and according to that honour that is due to him as God,
so must you honour him. The apostle speaks of some who, ' when
they knew God, they did not glorify him as God,' Kom. i. 21 ; so
several pretend to give some glory to Christ, but they do not glorify
him as God. sirs, this is that which you must come up to, viz., to
honour Christ in such a manner as may be suitable to his natures, and
as he is the infinite, blessed, and eternal God ; and ah ! what honour
can be high enough for such a person ? Christ's honour was very dear
to liim, who said, Lord, use me for thy shield to keep off those wounds
of dishonour, which else would fall on thee, [Bernard.] Luther, in an
epistle to Spalatinus, saith, ' They call me a devil, but be it so, so long
as Christ is magnified, I am well a-payed.' The inanimate creatures
are so compliant with his pleasure, that they will thwart their own
^ Lambert, as before. — G.
*_CoI. i. 18 ; Phil. ii. 6-10 ; John v. 23. This text looks sourly on Je^rs, Turks, Papists,
Socinians, and others.
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHRIST. 189
nature to serve his honour ; fire will descend, as on Sodom and
Gomorrah, Gen. xix. ; and water, though a fluid body, stand up like a
solid wall, as in the Ked Sea, Exod. xiv. 22 ; if he do but speak the
word. Oh, let not the inanimate creatures one day rise in judgment
against us for not giving Christ his due honour. If we honour Christ
we shall have honour, that is a bargain of Christ's own making ; but
if we dishonour him, he will put dishonour upon us, as Scripture
and history in all ages do sufficiently evidence, 1 Sam. ii. 30. In his-
tory we read of an impostor that gave it out that he was that star
which Balaam prophesied of, which was a prophecy of Christ, Num.
xxiv. 17 ; this fellow called himself Ben-chomar, the son of a star.
This man professed himself to be Christ, but he was slain with thunder
and lightning from heaven, and then the Jews called him Ben-cosmar,
which signifieth the son of a lie.i Learned Buxtorf tells us that the
Jews call Christ Bar-chozabh, the son of a lie, a bastard ; and his
gospel Aven-gelaion, the volume of lies, or the volume of iniquity ; and
hath not God been a-revenging this upon them for above this sixteen
hundred years ? Kabbi Samuel, who long since writ a tract in form
of an epistle to Kabbi Isaac, master of the synagogue of the Jews ;
wherein he doth excellently discuss the cause of their long captivity and
extreme raisery, and after that he had proved it was inflicted for some
grievous sin, he sheweth that sin to be the same which Amos speaks
of ' For three trangressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn
away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for
silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes,' Amos ii. 6. The selling
of Joseph he makes the first sin, the worshipping the calf in Horeb the
second sin, the abusing and killing God's prophets the third sin, and
the selling of Jesus Christ the fourth sin. For the first they served
four hundred years in Egypt, for the second they wandered forty years
in the wilderness, for the third they were captives seventy years in
Babylon, and for the fourth they are held in pitiful captivity, even
to this very day. Oh, how severely has God i-evenged the wrongs and
indignities done to Christ the Lord, by this miserable people, to
this very hour ! and yet, oh, the several ways, wherein this poor people
do every day express their malice and hatred against the Lord Jesus !
Oh, pray, pray hard, that the veil may be taken away that has been so
lopg before their eyes. Herod imprisons Peter, and killeth James
with the sword, Acts xii. 1-4 ; this God puts up, but when he comes
to usurp the honour due to Christ, he must die for it, ver. 23. Herod
might more safely take away the liberty of one, and the life of another
than the glory due to Christ. Long before his death, being in chains
he met with a strange omen ; for, as he stood bound before the palace,
leaning dejectedly upon a tree, among many others that were prisoners
with him, an owl came and sat down in that tree to which he leaned •
which a German seeing, being one of those that stood there bound, he
asked who he was that was in the purple, and leaned there ; and
understanding who he was, he told him of his enlargement, promotion
to honoiu-, and prosperity ;_ and that when he should see that bird
again he should die within five days after.2 Now when Herod
^ Synag. Jndaica, cap. 5 and 36.
* Joscphus of the Autiquitiea of the Jews, lib. iviii. pp. 475, 4/6, and 510, 511. [More
190 ELEVEN INFERENCES DRAWN FROM
had imprisoned Peter, and slain James with the sword, he went down
to Caesarea, and there he made sports and shows in honour of Csesar ;
and, on the second day, being most gorgeously apparelled, and the sun
shining very bright upon his robe of silver, his flatterers saluted
him for a god, and cried out to him, ' Be merciful unto us ! hitherto
have we feared thee as a man, but, henceforward, we will acknowledge
thee to be of a nature more excellent than mortal frailty can attain to/
The wretched king reproved not this abominable flattery, but was
well pleased with it ; and, not long after, he espied the owl which the
Grerman had foretold to be the omen of his death. And suddenly he
was seized with miserable gripings in his belly, which came upon him
with vehement extremity ; whereupon, turning himself towards his
friends, saith, Lo, he whom you esteem for a god is doomed to die, and
destiny shall evidently confute you, in those flattering and false
speeches which you lately used concerning me ; for I, who have been
adored by you as one immortal, am now under the hands of death ;
and his griefs and torments increasing, his death drew on apace ;
whereupon he was removed into the palace, and all the people put on
sackcloth, and lay on the ground, praying for him ; which he, behold-
ing, could not refrain from tears ; and so after five days he gave
up the ghost.i Thus you see how dearly they have paid for it
that have not given Christ his due glory; and let these instances
of his wrath alarm all your hearts so, that we may make more con-
science than ever, of setting the crown of honour only upon Christ's
head, ' for he only is worthy of all honour, glory, and praise,' Kev.
xiv. 10, 11. But,
6. Sixthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and very
man ? Then from hence as in a glass you may see the true reasons why
the death and sufferings of Christ, though short, very short, yet have a
sufficient poioer and virtue in them to satisfy God' s justice, to pacify
his lorath, to procure our pardon, and to save our immortal souls —
viz., because of the dignity of his person that died and suffered for us,
the Son of God, yea, God himself There was an infinite virtue and
value in all his sufferings ; hence his blood is called ' precious blood,'
yea, ' the blood of God.' ^ Did man transgress the royal law of God ?
behold God himself is become a man to make up that breach, and to
satisfy divine justice to the uttermost farthing, Rom. viii. 2-4. For
the man Christ Jesus to stand before the bar of the law, and to make
full and complete reparation to it, was the highest honour that ever
was done to the law of God. This is infinitely more pleasing and de-
lightful to divine justice than if all the curses of the law had been
poured out upon fallen man, and than if the law had built up its
honour upon the destruction of the whole creation. To see one sun
clouded is much more than to see the moon and all the stars in heaven
overcast. Christ considered as God-man was great, very great ; and
the greater his person was, the greater were his sorrows, his sufferings,
his humiliation, his compassion, his satisfaction to divine justice. Had
accurately xix. 8, 2 : cf . 2 Mac. ix. 9, and Jortin, Eccles. Hist. ii. 320, with a note
of Gibbon, c. xiv. : TertuUian ad Soap. c. iii., §. 20. Michselis i. 65. — G.J
^ All as quaintly told by Clarke in his ' Life' of Herod.— G.
» Heb. ix. 14; 1 Pet. i. 19; Acts xx. 28; Gal. iv. 4-6.
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHRIST. 191
not Christ been God-man, he could never have been an able surety,
Heb. vii. 25 — he could never have paid our debts, he could never have
satisfied divine justice, he could never have brought in an everlasting
righteousness, Dan. ix. 24, he could never have ' spoiled principalities
and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them
on the cross,' Col. ii. 15 — a plain allusion to the Koman triumphs,
where the victor ascending up to the capitol in a chariot of state, all
the prisoners following him on foot with their hands bound behind
them, and the victor commonly threw certain pieces of coin abroad to
be picked up by the common people. So Christ, in the day of his
solemn inauguration into his heavenly kingdom, triumphed over sin,
death, devils, and hell, * and gave gifts to men.' And had he not been
God-man, he could never have merited for us a glorious reward. If
we consider Christ himself as a mere man, setting aside his godhead,
Eph. iv. 8, he could not merit by his sufferings ; for, 1. Christ as he
was man only, was a creature. Now a mere creature can merit nothing
from the Creator. 2. Christ's sufferings, as he was man only, were
finite, and therefore could not merit infinite glory. Indeed, as he was
God, his sufferings were meritorious ; but, consider him purely as man,
they were not. This is wisely to be observed against the papists, who
make so great a noise of men's merits ; for if Christ's sufferings, as he
was mere man, could not merit the Igast favour from God, then what
mortal man is able to merit, at the hand of God, the least of mercies
by his greatest sufferings ? But,
7. Seventhly, Is Jesus Christ God-man ? is he very God and very
man ? Then from hence ive may see the greatest pattern of humility and
self-denial that ever loas or will he in this world. That he who was
the Lord of glory, that he who was equal with God, that he should
leave the bosom of his Father, Phil. ii. 6 ; John i. 18, which was a
bosom of the sweetest loves and the most ineffable delights, that he
should put off all that glory that he had with the Father before the
foundation of the world was laid, John xvii. 5, that he should so far
abase himself as to become man, by taking on him our base, \dle
nature, so that in this our nature he might die, suffer, satisfy, and
bring many sons to glory, Heb. ii. 10, — oh, here is the greatest
humility and abasement that ever was ! And oh that all sincere Chris-
tians would endeavour to imitate this matchless example of humility
and self-denial ! Oh the admirable condescensions of dear Jesus, that
he should take our nature, and make us partakers of his divine nature !
2 Pet. i. 4, that he should put on our rags, and put upon us his royal
robes ! Rev. xix. 7, 8, that he should make himself poor that we might
be rich ! 2 Cor. viii. 9, low that we might be high ! accursed that we
might be blessed! Gal. iii. 10, 13. Oh wonderful love ! oh grace un-
searchable ! Ah, Christians, did Christ stoop low, and will you be
stout, proud, and high ? Was he content to be accounted a worm, a
wine-bibber, an enemy to Caesar, a friend of publicans and sinners,
a devil, and must you be all in a flame when vain men make little
account of you? Was he willing to be a curse, a reproach for
you, and wdll you shrug, and shrink, and faint, and fret when
you are reproached for his name ? Did Jesus Christ stoop so low
as to wash his disciples' feet, John xiii. 14, and are you so stout
192 ELEVEN INFERENCES DRAWN FROM
and sturdy that you cannot hear together, nor pray together, nor
sit at the table of the Lord together, though you all hope at
last to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom
of heaven? Mat. viii. 11. Shall one heaven hold you at last; and
shall not one house, one bed, one table, one church, hold you" here ?
Oh, that ever worms should swell with such intolerable pride and
stoutness ! He who was God-man, was lowly, meek, self-denying, and
of a most condescending spirit ; and oh that all you, who hope for
salvation by him, would labour to write after so fair a copy. Bernard
calls humility a self-annihilation. The same author saith that humility
is conservatrix virtutum. ' Thou wilt save the humble,' saith Job,
chap. xxii. 29 ; in the Hebrew it is, ' him that is of low eyes,' Q'^y^ n^l-
A humble Christian hath lower thoughts of himself than others can
have of him. Abraham is ' dust and ashes' in his own eyes. Gen. xviii.,
Jacob is ' less than the least of all mercies,' Gen. xxxii. 10 ; David,
though a great king, yet looks upon himself as a worm ; ' I am a worm,
and no man,' Ps. xxii. 6. The word in the original, Tolugnath, signi-
fieth a very little worm, which breedeth in scarlet ; a worm that is so
little, that a man can hardly see it or perceive it. Oh, how little, how
very little was David in his own eyes ; and Paul, who was the greatest
among the apostles, yet, in his own eyes, he was ' less than the least
of all saints.'^ Non sum dignus did minimus, saith Ignatius, ' I am
not worthy to be called the least.' ' Lord 1 I am hell, but thou art
heaven,' said blessed Cooper : ' I am a most hypocritical wretch, not
worthy that the earth should bear me,' said holy Bradford : Luther,
in humility, speaks thus of himself ; ' I have no other name than
sinner ; sinner is my name, sinner is my surname ; this is the name by
which I shall be always known ; I have sinned, I do sin, I shall sin,
in infinitum.' Ah, how can proud, stout spirits read these instances
and not blush ! Certainly the sincere humble Christian is like the
violet, which grows low, hangs the head down, and hides itself with
its own leaves ; and were it not that the frequent smell of his many
virtues discovers him to the world, he would choose to live and die in
his self-contenting secrecy. But,
8. Eighthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man ? is he very God and very
man ? Then hence we may see how to have access to God; namely, hy
means of Christ's human nature, which he hath taken upon him, to
that very end, that he might in it die and suffer for our sins, and so
reconcile us to God, and give ^^s access to him, Kom. v. 1, 2; Eph.
iii. 12, and ii. 18. ' By him we have access to the Father.' The
word is 7rpoaaycoy7)v, ' a leading by the hand,' an introduction, an
adduction : it is an allusion, saith Estius, to the customs of princes,
to whom there is no passage, unless we are brought in by one of their
favourites, Esth. i. Though the Persian kings held it a piece of
their silly glory to hold off theu- best friends, who might not come
near them, but upon special licence ; yet the great King of heaven and
earth counts it his glory to give us free access at all times, in all
places, and upon all occasions, by the man Christ Jesus : 1 Tim. ii. 5,
' There is one mediator between God and us, even the man Christ
^ Eph. iii. 8. See my ' Unsearchable Riches of Christ' uuon that text. [Vol. iii. pp.
1-232.— G.]
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHRIST. 193
Jesus.' Christ was made true man, that in our nature he might
reconcile us to God, and give us access to God, which he could never
have done, had he not been very God and very man. Without the
human nature of Christ, we could never have had access to God, or
fellowship with God ; being by nature enemies to God, and estranged
from God, and dead in trespasses and sins, Kom. v. 10, it is only by
the mediation of Christ incarnate that we come to be reconciled to
God, Eph. ii. 1, 12-14, to have access to him, and acceptance with
him. In Christ's human nature God and we meet together, and have
fellowship together, 1 John i. 1-3. It could never stand with the un-
spotted holiness and justice of God, who is ' a consuming fire,' Heb.
xii. 29, to honour us with one cast of his countenance, or one hour's
communion with himself, were it not upon the account of the man
Christ Jesus. The least serious thought of God out of Christ will
breed nothing in the soul but horror and amazement ; which made
Luther say, Nolo Deum ahsohitum, let me have nothing to do with an
absolute God. Believers have free and blessed access to God, but still
it is upon the credit of the man Christ Jesus, Heb. iv. 15, 16. ' Let
us come boldly to the throne of grace,' saith the apostle, speaking of
Christ, ' that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
need.' The apostle's phrase is fiera irapprja-ia';, a word which signifies
liberty of speech, and boldness of face ; as when a man with a bold
and undaunted spirit, utters his mind before the great ones of the
world without blushing, without weakness of heart, without shaking
of his voice, without imperfection and faltering in speech, when
neither majesty nor authority can take off his courage, so as to stop
his mouth, and make him afraid to speak. With such heroic and un-
daunted spirits would the apostle have us to come to the throne of
grace ; and all upon the credit of Christ our high priest, who is God-
man. But,
9. Ninthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man ? is he very God and very
man? Then you may be very confident of his sympathising loith you in
all your affiiction^, Ezek. xxxv. 10-13; Isa. xxxvii. 23, 24; then this
Tnay serve as a foundation to support you under all your troubles, and
as a cordial to comfort you under all your ajffiictions, in that Christ
partaking of the same nature, and having had experience of the in-
firmities of it, he is the more able and ivilling to help and succour us
Heb. ii. 17, ' Wherefore in all things it behoveth him to be like his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people : '
so Heb. iv. 15. If one come to visit a man that is sick of a grievous
disease, who hath himself been formerly troubled with the same
disease, he will sympathise more, and shew more compassion than
twenty others, who have not felt the likeil so here, from Christ's
sufferings in his human nature we may safely gather that he will shew
himself a merciful high priest to us in our sufferings, and one that wiU
be ready to help and succour us in all our afilictions and miseries,
which we suffer in this life, inasmuch as himself had experience of
suffering the like in our nature ; ' for in that he himself hath suffered,
being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted : ' and this
^ As the brazen serpent was like the fiery serpent, but had no sting.
VOL. V, N
194 ELEVEN INFERENCES DRAWN FROM
should be a staflf to support us, and a cordial to comfort us in all our
sorrows and miseries. It is between Christ and his church as it is
between two lute strings that are tuned one to another ; no sooner is
one struck but the other trembles :i Isa. Ixiii. 9, 'In all their afflic-
tions he was afflicted.' These words may be read interrogatively
thus : was he in all their afflictions afflicted ? Christ took to heart the
afflictions of his church, he was himself grieved for them and with
them. The Lord, the better to allure and draw his people to himself,
speaks after the manner of men, attributing to himself aU the affec-
tion, love, and fatherly compassion that can possibly be in them to
men in misery. Christ did so sympathise with his people in all their
afflictions and sufferings, as if he himself had felt the weight, the
smart, the pain of them all. ' He was in all things made like unto
his brethren,' not only in nature, but also in infirmities and sufferings,
and by all manner of temptations, that thereby ' he might be able,' ex-
perimentally, ' to succour them that are tempted.' He that toucheth
them toucheth not only his eye but the apple of his eye, which is the
tenderest piece of the tenderest part, 2 to express the inexpressible
tenderness of Christ's compassion towards them. Let persecutors take
heed how they meddle with God's eyes, for he will retaliate eye for
eye, Exod. xxi. 24 : he is wise in heart and mighty in strength, and
sinners shall one day pay dear for touching the apple of his eye.
Christ counts himself persecuted when his church is persecuted ;
* Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ?' Acts ix. 4. And he looks
upon himself as hungry, thirsty, naked, and in prison, when his
members are so. Mat. xxv. 35, 36 ; so greatly does he sympathise
with them. Hence the afflictions of Christians are called varepi]-
fiara, ' the remainders of the afflictions of Christ,' Col. i. 24 : such as
Christ, by his fellow-feeling, suffereth in his members, and as they by
correspondency are to fill up, as exercises and trials of their faith and
patience. Christ gave many evidences of his sympathy or fellow-feeling
of our infirmities when he was on earth, as he groaned in his spirit
and was troubled, John xi. 33 ; when he saw those that wept for
Lazarus he wept also, ver. 35 ; as he did over Jerusalem also, Luke
xix. 41. It is often observed in the Gospel that Christ was moved
with compassion ; and that he frequently put forth acts of pity, mercy,
and succour to those that were in any distress, either in body or soul.
Christ retaineth this sympathy and fellow-feeling with us now he is in
heaven ; and does so far commiserate our distresses as may stand with
a glorified condition. Jesus Christ grieves for the afflictions of his
people ; ' the angel of the Lord answered and said, Lord of hosts,
how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem,' Zech. i. 12. The
angel here is that Jesus who is our advocate with the Father, 1 John
ii. 1, 2. He speaks as one intimately afi'ected with the state and con-
dition of poor Jerusalem. Christ plays the advocate for his suffering
people, and feelingly pleads for them ; he being afflicted in all their
afflictions, it moved him to observe that God's enemies were in a
better case than his people ; and this put him upon that passionate
^ Tf we perish, Christ perisheth with us. — Luther.
' Zech. ii. 8, Ishon of /sh, it is here called Bath, the daughter of the eye, because it
is as dear to a man as his only daughter.
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHRIST. 195
expostulation, ' Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy
on Jerusalem ! ' Alexander the Great applied his crown to the soldier's
forehead that had received a wound for him; and Constantine the
Great kissed the hollow of Paphnutius's eye that he had lost for Christ.
What an honour was it to the soldier and to Paphnutius that these great
men should have fellow-feeling of their sufferings, and sympathise with
them in their sorrows ! but, oh then ! wiiat an honour is it to such
poor worms as we are, that Jesus Christ, who is God-man, who is the
Prince of the kings of the earth, that he should have a fellow-feeling
of all our miseries, and sympathise with us in all our troubles ! Kev. i,
5. But,
10. Tenthly, Is Jesus Christ God-man ? is he very God and very
man ? Then from hence you may see the excellency of Christ above
man, above all other men, yea, above Adam in innocency. Christ, as
man, was perfect in all graces: Isa. xi. 1, 2, 'And there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his
roots ; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit
of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord.' God gave the Spirit of
wisdom to him not oy measure ; and therefore, at twelve years of age,
you find him in the Sanhedrim disputing with the doctors, and asking
them questions, John iii. 34 ; Luke ii. 46, 47 ; John i. 16, ' And of his
fulness have all we received grace for grace ;' Col. i. 19, ' For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fulness dwell ;' ii. 3, ' In whom are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' The state of inno-
cency was an excellent estate, it was an estate of perfect holiness and
righteousness, Gen. i. 27. By his holiness he was carried out to know
the Lord, to love the Lord, to delight in the Lord, to fear the Lord,
and to take him as his chief est good, Eph. iv. 22-24. A legal holi-
ness consists in an exact, perfect, and complete conformity in heart
and life to the whole revealed will of God ; and this was the holiness
that Adam had in his innocency, and this holiness was immediately
derived from God, and was perfect. Adam's holiness was as co-
natural to him as unholiness is now to us. Adam's holiness was as
natural, and as pleasing, and as delightful to him as any way of un-
hoHness can be natural, pleasing, and delightful to us. The estate of
innocency was an estate of perfect wisdom, knowledge, and under-
standing. Witness the names that Adam gave to all the creatures,
suitable and apposite to their natures, Gen. ii. 20. The estate of
innocency was an estate of great honour and dignity. David brings
in Adam in his innocent estate with a crown upon his head, and that
crown was a crown of glory and honour : ' Thou hast crowned him with
glory and honour,' his place was ' a little lower than the angels,' but far
above all other creatures, Ps. viii. 5. The estate of innocency, it was
an estate of great dominion and authority, man being made the sove-
reign lord of the whole creation, Ps. viii. 6-8. We need not stand
to enlarge upon one parcel of his demesnes, namely, that which they
call paradise, sith the whole both of sea and land, and all the creatures
in both, were his possession, his paradise. Certainly man's first estate
was a state of perfect and complete happiness, there being nothing
within him but what was desirable, nothing without liim but what was
196 ELEVEN INFERENCES DRAWN FROM
amiable, and nothing about him but what was serviceable and com-
fortable ; and yet Jesus Christ, who is God-man, is infinitely more
glorious and excellent than ever Adam was ; for Adam was set in a
mutable condition, but Christ is the Rock of ages. He is steadfast and
abiding for ever ; he is ' yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever/
Heb. xiii. 8. He is the same afore time, in time, and after time ; he
is the same, that is unchangeable, in his essence, promises, and doc-
trine. Christ is the same in respect of virtue, and the faith of believers ;
even his manhood, before it was in being, was clothed with perfection
of grace, and so continueth for ever. And again, Adam was a mere
man, and alone by himself; but in Christ the human nature was
hypostatically united unto the divine ; and hence it comes to pass that
Christ, even as man, had a greater measure of knowledge and revela-
tion of grace and heavenly gifts than ever Adam had. The apostle
tells us that in ' Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead,' <j(ofia-
TiKm, bodily, that is, essentially ; that is, not by a naked and bare
communicating of virtue, as God is said to dwell in his saints, but
by a substantial union of the two natures, divine and human, the
eternal Word and the man, consisting of soul and body, whereby
they become one, v(l>iardfievov, one person, one subsistence.. Now
from this admirable and wonderful union of the two natures in
Christ, there flows to the manhood of Christ a plenitude and fulness
of all spiritual wisdom and grace, such as was never found in any
mere man, no, not in Adam whilst he stood in his integrity and
uprightness. But,
11. Eleventhly, Is Jesus Christ God-man? is he very God and
very man? Then this truth looks very sourly and froiuningly upon all
such as deny the godhead of Christ; as Arians, Turks, Jews. How
many be there in this city, in this nation, who stiffly deny the divinity
of Christ, and dispute against it, and write against it, and blaspheme
that gi'eat truth, without which, I think, a man may safely say, there
is no possibility of salvation. In ancient times, near unto the age of
the apostles, this doctrine of Christ's godhead, and eternal genera-
tion from the Father, was greatly opposed by sundry wicked and
blasphemous heretics, as Ebion, Cerinthus, Arius, &c. , who stirred up
great troubles, and bloody persecutions against the church, for main-
taining this great truth of Christ's godhead. They asserted that
Christ had no true flesh ; it was only the likeness of flesh which he
appeared in, and that his body was only a fantastic imaginary body ;
but had the body of Christ been only such a body, then his conception,
nativity, death, resurrection, are all too but imaginary things ; and
then his sufferings and crucifixion are but mere fancies too ; and if
so, then what would become of us, what would become of our salva-
tion ? then our faith would be in vain, and our hope would be in vain,
and our hearing, preaching, praying, and recei%ang, would all be in
vain ; yea, then all our religion would vanish into a mere fancy also.
When a man's conscience is awakened to see his sin and misery, and
he shall find guilt to lay like a load upon his soul, and when he shall
see that divine justice is to be satisfied, and divine wrath to be pacified,
and the curse to be borne, and the law to be fulfilled, and his nature to
be renewed, his heart to be changed, and his sins to be pardoned, or
1
THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHRIST. 197
else his soul can never be saved : how can such a person venture his
soul, his all, upon one that is but a mere creature ? Certainly, a mere
man is no rock, no city of refuge, and no sure foundation for a man to
build his faith and hope upon. Woe to that man, that ever he was
born, that has no Jesus, but a Socinian's Jesus to rest upon ! Oh, it
is sad trusting to one, who is man, but not Grod ; flesh, but not spirit.
As you love the eternal safety of your precious souls, and would be
happy for ever ; as you would escape hell, and get to heaven, lean on
none, rest on none, but that Jesus who is God-man, who is very God
and very man. Apollinaris held that Christ took not the whole nature
of man, but a human body only, without a soul, and that the Godhead
was instead of a soul to the manhood. Also Eutyches, who confounded
the two natures of Christ, and their properties, &c. Also Apelles and
the Manichees, who denied the true human body, and held him to have
an aerial or imaginary body. Though the popular sort deified Alex-
ander the Great ; i yet, having got a clap with an arrow, he said, ye
style me Jupiter's son, as if immortal ; sed hoc vulnus clamat esse
liominem ; this blood that issues from the wound proves me in the
issue a man : this is ai^ia tov avOpwirov, the blood of man, not of God,
and snielling the stench of his own flesh, he asked his flatterers if the
gods yielded such a scent. So may it be said of Jesus Christ our
Saviour, though myriads of angels and saints acclaim he is a God,
ergo, immortal ; and a crew of heretics disclaim him to be man, as the
Marcionites averred that he had a fantastical body, and Apelles who
conceived that he had a sidereal substance, yet the streams of blood
following the arrow of death that struck him, makes it good that he
was perfect man ; of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
And as this truth looks sourly upon the above-mentioned persons, so
it looks sourly upon the papists, who, by their doctrine of the real pre-
sence of Christ's body in the sacrament, do overthrow one of the pro-
perties of his human nature, which is to be but in one place present at
once. This truth also looks sourly upon the Lutherans or Ubiqiii-
taries, who teach that Christ's human nature is in all places by virtue
of their personal union, &c. I wonder that of all the old errors, swept
down into this latter age, as into a sink of time, this of the Socinians
and Arians should be held forth among the rest. sirs, beware of
their doctrines, shun their meetings, and persons that come to you with
the denial of the divinity of Christ in their mouths. This was John's
doctrine and practice. Irenfeus saith, that after he was returned from
his banishment, and came to Ephesus, he came to bathe himself, and
in the bath he found Cerinthus, that said, Christ had no being till he
received it from the Virgin Mary ; upon the sight of whom, John
skipped out of the bath, and called his companions from thence ; say-
ing, let us go from this place, lest the bath should fall down upon us,
because Cerinthus is in it, that is so great an enemy to God.^ Ye see
his doctrine, see his words too : 2 John 10, 11, 'If any come to you,
having not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid
him God speed : for he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of his
evil deeds.' What that doctrine was, if you cast your eye upon the
scripture, you shall find it to be the doctrine of the divinity of Christ.
^ Plutarch, in vita. * As before. — G.
198 ELEVEN INFERENCES DEAWN FROM
Shew no love where you owe nothing but hatred : ' I hate every false
way,' saith David, Ps. cxix. 118. And I shall look upon Auxentius as
upon a devil, so long as he is an Arian, said Hilarius. We must shew
no countenance, nor give no encouragement to such as deny either the
divinity or humanity of Christ.
I have been the longer upon the divinity and humanity of Christ,
1. Because the times we live in require it. 2. That poor, weak, stag-
gering Christians may be strengthened, established, and settled in the
truth, as it is in Jesus. 3. That I may give in my testimony and
witness against all those who are poisoned and corrupted with Socinian
and Arian principles, which destroy the souls of men. 4. That those
in whose hands this book may fall may be the better furnished to
make head against men of corrupt minds ; who, ' by sleight-of-hand
and cunning craftiness, lie in wait to deceive,' Eph. iv. 14.
[6.] Sixthly, As he that did feel and suffer the very torments of hell,
though not after a hellish manner, was God-man, so the punishments
that Christ did sustain for us must he referred only to the substance,
and not unto the circumstances of punishment. The punishment
which Christ endured, if it be considered in its substance, kind, or
nature, so it was the same with what the sinner himself should have
undergone. Now the punishment due to the sinner was death, the
curse of the law, &c. Now this Christ underwent, for ' he was made
a curse for us,' Gal. iii. 13. But if you consider the punishment
which Christ endured, with respect to certain circumstances, adjuncts,
and accidents, as the eternity of it, desperation going along with
it, &c., then, I say, it was not the same, but equivalent.! And the
reason is, because, though the enduring of the punishments, as to the
substance of them, could, and did agree with him as a surety, yet the
circumstances of those punishments could not have befallen him unless
he had been a sinner ; and therefore every inordination in suffering
was far from Christ, and a perpetual duration of suffering could not
befall him, for the first of these had been contrary to the holiness and
dignity of his person, and the other had made void the end of his
suretyship and mediatorship, which was so to suffer, as yet to conquer
and to deliver, and therefore, though he did suffer death for us in the
substance of it, yet he neither did nor could suffer death in the circum-
stances of it, so as for ever to be held by death ; for then, in suffering death ,
he should not have conquered death, nor delivered us from death. Nei-
ther was it necessary to Christ's substitution that he should undergo in
every respect the same punishment which the offender himself was liable
unto ; but if he underwent so much punishment as did satisfy the law,
and vindicate the lawgiver in his holiness, truth, justice, and righteous-
ness, that was enough. ' Now that was unquestionably done by Christ,
as the Scriptures do abundantly testify. It must be readily granted
that Christ was to suffer the whole punishment due unto sin, so far as
it became the dignity of his person and the necessity of the work ; but
if he had suffered eternally, the work of redemption could never have
been accomplished ; and besides, he should have suffered that which
^ "Whether the work of man's redemption could have been wrought without the suffer-
ings and humiliation of Christ is not determinable by men; but that it was the most
admirable way which wisdom, justice, and mercy could require, cannot be denied.
- THE DIVINITY AND HUMANITY OF CHRIST. 199
could noways beseem him. And therefore the apostle saith, Heb. ii.
10, • It became him to be consecrated through sufferings/ Christ was
only to pass through such sufferings as became him who was ordained
to be the prince and captain of our salvation. It became him to be
man, and it became him in our human nature to suffer death, and it
became him to sustain for us the substance of those punishments that
we should have undergone ; and accordingly he did. What our sins
did deserve, and what justice might lay upon us for those sins, all that
did Christ certainly suffer or bear. Jesus Christ did so suffer for our
sins, as that his sufferings were fully answerable to the demerit of our
sins. And I think I may safely say that Grod, in justice, could not
require any more, or lay on any one more punishment than Jesus
Christ did suffer for our sins ; and my reason is this, because Christ
bare all our sins, and all our sorrows, and was obedient unto the
death, and made a curse for us, Isa. liii., and Gal. iii. 13 ; and more
than this the law of God could not require. And if Christ did suffer all
that the law of God required, then certainly he suffered so much as did
satisfy the justice of God, viz., as much punishment as was commen-
Burated with sin. But,
[7.] Seventhly and lastly. The meritorious cause, the main end, and
the special occasion of all the sufferings of Christ were the sins of his
peopled Christ was our surety, and he could not satisfy for our sins,
nor reconcile us to God without suffering : Isa. liii. 5, ' But he was
wounded for our transgressions.' The Hebrew word for wounded,
bbr\i2i liath a double emphasis : either it may signify that he was
pierced through as with a dart, or that he was tormented or pained,
as women or other creatures are wont to be that bring forth with pain
and torment, at the time of their travail ; for the word in the text last
cited comes regularly from a root that signifies properly to be in pain,
as women are when they bring forth. It was our transgressions that
gave Christ his deadly wounds ; it was our sins that smote him, and
bruised him. Look, as Zipporah said to Moses, Exod. iv. 25, ' Surely
a bloody husband art thou to me,' so may Christ say to his church.
Surely a bloody spouse hast thou been to me. Christ's spouse may look
upon him and say. It was I that have been that Judas that have be-
trayed -thee ! It was I that was the soldiers that murdered thee ! It
was my sins that brought aU sorrows and sufferings, all mischiefs and
evils upon thee 1 I have sinned, and thou hast suffered ! I have eaten
the sour grapes, and thy teeth were set on edge ! I have sinned, and
thou hast died 1 I have wounded thee, and thou hast healed me !
It is the wisdom, and oh that it might be more and more the work
of every believer to look upon a humble Christ with a humble heart,
a broken Christ with a broken heart, a bleeding Christ with a bleeding
heart, a wounded Christ with a wounded heart ; according to that,
Zech. xii. 10, Christ was wounded, bruised, and cut off for sinners' sins.
When Christ was taken by the soldiers, he said, ' If ye seek me, let
these go their way:' Christ was willing that the hurt which sinners
^ Isa. liii. i, 5. There were other subordinate ends of his sufferings ; as, (1.) To sanctify
sufferings to ua. (2.) To sweeten sufferings to us. (3.) To succour us experimentally
under all our sufferings, Heb. ii. 17, 18. (4.) That he might be prepared to enter into
his glory, Luke xiiv. 26. (5.) That he might be a conqueror over sufferings, which
was one piece of his greatest glory, &c.
200 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION
had done to God, and the debt which they owed to him, should be set
upon his score, and put upon his account ; and the apostle mentions it
as a remarkable thing, ' that Christ died for the ungodly,' Rom. v. 8 ;
* the just for the unjust,' 1 Pet. iii. 18. Our sins were the meritorious
cause of Christ's sufferings, Heb. iv. 15, and vii. 26. Christ did not
suffer for himself, ' for he was without sin, neither was guile found in
his mouth.' The grand design, errand, and business about which
Christ came into the world, was to save sinners, 1 Tim. i. 15. He
had his name Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins.
Mat. i. 21. He died for our sins ; not only for our good, as the final
cause, but for our sins, as the procuring cause of his death. ' He was
delivered for our offences,' ' Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures,' Rom. iv. 25, and 1 Cor. xv. 3 ; that is, according to what
was typified, prophesied, and promised in the blessed Scriptures: Gal.
i. 4, ' He gave himself for our sins ;' 1 Pet. ii. 24, 'Who his own self
bare our sins in his own body|[upon the tree ; . . . by whose stripes ye
were healed, ov rw iMOikcoin avTov Iddrjre. The whole Testament hath
not the like two relatives at once in the original, as if I should say, by
whose stripes of his we are healed. Peter, saith Estius, alludes to the
stripes that servants receive from their cruel masters ; therefore he re-
turns to the second person, ' ye are healed.' Here you see that the
physician's blood became the sick man's salve. We can hardly be-
lieve the power of sword salve ! But here is a mystery, that only the
gospel can assure us of, that the wounding of one should be the cure
of another. Oh, what an odious thing is sin to God, that he will
pardon none without blood, yea, without the blood of his dearest Son !
Heb. ix. 22, and 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. Oh, what a hell of wickedness
must there be in sin, that nothing can expiate it but the best, the
purest, the noblest blood that ever run in veins ! Oh, what a tran-
scendent evil must sin be, that nothing can purge it away but death,
but the death of the cross, no death but an accursed death ! Oh, what
a leprosy is sin, that it must have blood, yea, the blood of God, to take
it away !
Now thus you have seen, (1.) That the sufferings of Christ have
been free and voluntary, and not constrained or forced. (2.) That
they have been very great and heinous. (3.) That the punishments
which Christ did suffer for our sins, were, in their parts, and kinds,
and degrees, and proportion, all those punishments which were due
unto us by reason of our sins ; and which we ourselves would otherwise
have suffered. (4.) That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very tor-
ments of hell, though not after a hellish manner. (5.) That he that did
feel and suffer the torments of hell, though not aftera hellish manner, was
God-man. (6.) That the punishments that Christ did sustain for us,
must be referred only to the substance, and not to the circumstances
of punishment. (7.) That the meritorious cause of all the sufferings
of Christ, were the sins of his people.
IV. Now to that great question of giving up your account at last,
according to the import of those ten scriptures in the margin, i you
may, in the fourth place, make this safe, noble, and happy plea. '
^ Eccles. xi. 12, 14; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23; Luke xvi. 3 ; Eom. xiv. 10 ; 2 Cor.
V. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17; 1 Pet. iv. 7.
OF THE GKEAT SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 201
blessed God, Jesus Christ liath suffered all those things that were due
unto me for my sin; he hath suffered even to the worst and uttermost;
for all that the law threatened wa^ a curse, and Christ was m/xde a curse
for me. Gal. iii. 13 ; he hieio no sin, hut ivas made sin for me, 2 Cor.
V. 21 ; and what Christ suffered he siffey'ed as my surety, and in my
stead; and therefore, what he suffeixd for me, is as if Ilmd suffered
all that myself ; and his sufferings hath appeased thy ivrath, and
satisfied thy justice, and reconciled thee to myself For, 2 Cor. v. 19,
' God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them.' ' And he hath reconciled both Jeius and
Gentiles unto God, in one body, on the cross ; having slain enmity
thereby.' Jesus Christ took upon him all my sins, they were all of them
laid upon him, and he bare or suffered all the wrath and punishment
due for them, and he suffered all as my surety, in my stead, and for my
good; and thou didst design him for all this, and accepted of it as suffi-
cient and effectual on my behalf Oh, with what comfort, courage, and
confidence, may a believer, upon these considerations, hold up his head
in the great day of his account. Let me now make a few inferences from
the consideration of all the great and grievous sufferings of our Lord
Jesus Christ : and therefore,
1. First, Let us stand still, and admire and wonder at the love of
Jesus Christ to poor siniiers; that Christ should rather die for us, than
the angels. They were creatures of a more noble extract, and in all
probability might have brought greater revenues of glory to God :
yet that Christ should pass by those golden vessels, and make us
vessels of glory, — oh, what amazing and astonishing love is this ! ^
The angels were more honourable and excellent creatures than we.
They were celestial spirits ; we earthly bodies, dust and ashes : they
were immediate attendants upon God, they were, as I may say, of his
privy chamber ; we servants of his in the lower house of this world,
farther remote from his glorious presence: their office was to sing
hallelujahs, songs of praise to God in the heavenly paradise ; ours to
dress the garden of Eden, which was but an earthly paradise : they
sinned but once, and but in thought, as is commonly thought; but
Adam sinned in thought by lusting, in deed by tasting, and in word
by excusing. Why did not Christ suffer for their sins, as well as for
ours ? or if for any, why not for theirs rather than ours ? ' Even so,
O Father, for so it pleased thee,' Mat. xi. 26. We move this ques-
tion, not as being curious to search thy secret counsels, Lord, but
that we may be the more swallowed up in the admiration of the
' breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge.' The apostle, being in a holy admiration
of Christ's love, affirms it to pass knowledge, Eph. iii. 18, 19 ; that
God, who is the eternal Being, should love man when he had scarce a
being. Pro v. viii. 30, 31, that he should be enamoured with deformity,
that he should love us when in our blood, Ezek. xvi., that he should pity
us when no eye pitied us, no, not our own. Oh, such was Christ's
transcendent love, that man's extreme misery could not abate it. The
deploredness of man's condition did but heighten the holy flame of
Christ's love. It is as high as heaven, who can reach it ? It is as
^ This is the envy of devils, and the admiration of angels and saints.
202 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION
low as hell, wbo can understand it ? Heaven, through its glory, could
not contain him, man being miserable, nor hell's torments make him
refrain, such was his perfect matchless love to fallen man. That
Christ's love should extend to the ungodly, to sinners, to enemies that
were in arms of rebellion against him, Kom. v. 6, 8, 10 ; yea, not only
so, but that he should hug them in his arms, lodge them in his bosom,
dandle them upon his knees, and lay them to his breasts, that they
may suck and be satisfied, is the highest improvement of love, Isa.
Ixvi. 11-13. That Christ should come from the eternal bosom of his
Father, to a region of sorrow and death, John i. 18 ; that God should
be manifested in the flesh, the Creator made a creature, Isa. liii. 4 ;
that he that was clothed with glory, should be wrapped with rags of
flesh, 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; that he that filled heaven, should be cradled in a
manger, John xvii. 5 ; that the God of Israel should fly into Egypt,
Mat. ii. 14 ; that the God of strength should be weary ; that the judge
of all flesh should be condemned ; that the God of life should be put
to death, John xix. 41 ; that he that is one with his Father, should
cry out of misery, ' my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me ! ' Mat. xxvi. 39 : that he that had the keys of hell and death,
Kev. i. 18, should lie imprisoned in the sepulchre of another, having,
in his lifetime, nowhere to lay his head ; nor after death, to lay his
body, John xix. 41, 42; and all this for man, for fallen man, for
miserable man, for worthless man, is beyond the thoughts of created
natures. The sharp, the universal and continual sufferings of our
Lord Jesus Christ, from the cradle to the cross, does above all other
things speak out the transcendent love of Jesus Christ to poor sinners.
That wrath, that great wrath, that fierce wrath, that pure wi-ath, that
infinite wrath, that matchless wrath of an angry God, that was so
terribly impressed upon the soul of Christ, quickly spent his natural
strength, and turned his moisture into the drought of summer, Ps.
xxxii. 4 ; and yet all this wrath he patiently underwent, that sinners
might be saved, and that * he might bring many sons unto glory,'
Heb. ii. 10. Oh wonder of love 1 Love is passive, it enables to suffer.
The Curtii laid down their lives for the Komans, because they loved
them ; so it was love that made our dear Lord Jesus lay down his
life, to save us from hell and to bring us to heaven. As the pelican,
out of her love to her young ones, when they are bitten with serpents,
feeds them with her own blood to recover them again ; so when we
were bitten by the old serpent, and our wound incurable, and we in
danger of eternal death, then did our dear Lord Jesus, that he might
recover us and heal us, feed us with his own blood. Gen. iii. 15 ; John
vi. 53-56. Oh love unspeakable ! This made one cry out, ' Lord, thou
hast loved me more than thyself ; for thou hast laid down thy life for
me.' 1 It was only the golden link of love that fastened Christ to the
cross, John x. 17, and that made him die freely for us, and that made
him willing ' to be numbered among transgressors,' Isa. liii. 12, that
we might be numbered among [the] ' general assembly and church of
the firstborn, which are written in heaven,' Heb. xii. 23. If Jona-
than's love to David was wonderful, 2 Sam. i. 26, how wonderful must
the love of Christ be to us, which led him by the hand to make him-
^ Dilexisti me Domine magis quhm teipsum. — Bernard.
OF THE GREAT SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 203
self an offering for us, Heb. x. 10, whicli Jonathan never did for
David : for though Jonathan loved David's life and safety well, yet he
loved his own better ; for when his father cast a javelin at him to
smite him, he flies for it, and would not abide his father's fury, being
very willing to sleep in a whole skin, notwithstanding his wonderful
love to David, 1 Sam. xx. 33-35; making good the philosopher's
notion, that man is a life-lover. Christ's love is like his name, and
that is Wonderful, Isa. ix. 6 ; yea, it is so wonderful, that it is supra
omnem creaturam, ultra omnem mensuram, contra omnem naturam,
above all creatures, beyond all measure, contrary to all nature. It is
above all creatures, for it is above the angels, and therefore above all
others. It is beyond all measure, for time did not begin it, and time
shall never end it ; place doth not bound it, sin doth not exceed it, no
estate, no age, no sex is denied it, tongues cannot express it, under-
standings cannot conceive it : and it is contrary to all nature ; for what
nature can love where it is hated ? what nature can forgive where it is
provoked? what nature can offer reconcilement where it receiveth
wrong ? what nature can heap up kindness upon contempt, favour
upon ingratitude, mercy upon sin ? and yet Christ's love hath led him
to all this ; so that well may we spend all our days in admiring and ador-
ing of this wonderful love, and be always ravished with the thoughts
of it. But,
2. Secondly, Then look that ye love the Lord Jesus Christ with a
superlative love, with an overtopping love. There are none have suf-
fered so much for you as Christ ; there are none that can suffer so
muck for you as Christ. The least measure of that wrath that Christ
hath sustained for you, would have broke the hearts, necks, and backs
of all created beings. my friends ! there is no love but a superla-
tive love that is any ways suitable to the transcendent sufferings of
dear Jesus. Oh, love him above your lusts, love him above your
relations, love him above the world, love him above all your outward
contentments and enjoyments ; yea, love him above your very lives ;
for thus the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, primitive Christians,
and the martyrs of old, have loved our Lord Jesus Christ with an
overtopping love: Eev. xii. 11, * They loved not their lives unto the
death;' that is, they slighted, contemned, yea, despised their lives,
exposing them to hazard and loss, out of love to the Lamb, ' who had
washed them in his blood.' i I have read of one Kilian, a Dutch
schoolmaster, who being asked whether he did not love his wife and
children, answered. Were all the world a lump of gold, and in my
hands to dispose of, I would leave it at my enemies' feet to live with
them in a prison ; but my soul and my Saviour are dearer to me than
all. If my father, saith Jerome, 2 should stand before me, and my
mother hang upon, and my brethren should press about me, I would
break through my brethren, throw down my father, and tread under-
foot my mother, to cleave to Jesus Christ. Had I ten heads, said
Henry Voes, they should all off for Christ. If every hair of my head,
said John Ardley, martyr, were a man, they should all suffer for the
faith of Christ. Let fire, racks, pulleys, said Ignatius, and all the
1 Acts XX. 24, and xxi. 12, 13; 2 Cor. i, 8-10, iv. 11, and xi. 23 ; Heb. xi. 36-39.
* Jerome ad Hcliodor, epist. 1.
204 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION
torments of hell come upon me, so I may win Christ. Love made
Jerome to say, my Saviour, didst thou die for love of me ? — a love
more dolorous than death ; but to me a death more lovely than love
itself. I cannot live, love thee, and be longer from thee.i George
Carpenter, being asked whether he did not love his wife and children,
which stood weeping before him, answered, My wife and children ! —
my wife and chUdren ! are dearer to me than all Bavaria ; yet, for
the love of Christ, I know them not. That blessed virgin in Basil,
being condemned for Christianity to the fire, and having her estate
and life offered her if she would worship idols, cried out, ' Let money
perish, and life vanish, Christ is better than all.' Sufferings for Christ
are the saints' greatest glory ; they are those things wherein they have
most gloried: Crudelitas vestra, gloria nostra, your cruelty is our
glory, saith TertuUian. It is reported of Babylas, that when he was
to die for Christ, he desired this favour, that his chains might be
buried with him, as the ensigns of his honour. 2 Thus you see with
what a superlative love, with what an overtopping love, former saints
have loved our Lord Jesus ; and can you, Christians, who are cold
and low in your love to Christ, read over these instances, and not
blush ? Certainly the more Christ hath suffered for us, the more
dear Christ should be unto us ; the more bitter his sufferings have
been for us, the more sweet his love should be to us, and the more
eminent should be our love to him. Oh, let a suffering Christ lie
nearest your hearts ; let him be your manna, your tree of life, your
morning star. It is better to part with all than with this pearl of
price. Christ is that golden pipe through which the golden oil of
salvation runs ; and oh. how should this inflame our love to Christ !
Oh that our hearts were more affected with the sufferings of Christ !
Who can tread upon these hot coals, and his heart not burn in love
to Christ, and cry out with Ignatius, Christ my love is crucified?
Cant. viii. 7, 8. If a friend should die for us, how would our hearts
be affected Avith his kindness ! and shall the God of glory lay down
his life for us, and shall we not be affected with his goodness ? John
X. 17, 18. Shall Saul be affected with David's kindness in sparing
his life, 1 Sam. xxiv. 16, and shall not we be affected with Christ's
kindness, who, to save our life, lost his own ? Oh, the infinite love of
Christ, that he should leave his Father's bosom, John i. 18, and come
down from heaven, that he might carry you up to heaven, John xiv.
1-4 ; that he that was a Son should take upon him the form of a
servant, Phil. ii. 5-8 ; that you of slaves should be made sons, of
enemies should be made friends, of heirs of wrath should be made
heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, Kom. viii. 17 ; that to save
us from everlasting ruin, Christ should stick at nothing, but be will-
ing to be made flesh, to lie in a manger, to be tempted, deserted, per-
secuted, and to die upon a cross ! Oh what flames of love should
these things kindle in all our hearts to Christ ! Love is compared to
1 Certe non aviant illi Christum, qui allqidd plus quam Christum amant : They do
not love Christ, who love anything more than Christ. — Augustine de Resurrect. — The
more Christ hath suffered for us, the dearer Christ should be unto us ; the greater and
the bitterer Christ's sufferings have been for us, the greater and the sweeter should our
love be to him.
' For all above names, sec Foxe and Clarke, as before.— G.
OP THE GREAT SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 205
fire ; in heaping love upon our enemy, we heap coals of fire upon his
head, Kom. xii. 19, 20 ; Prov. xxvi. 21. Now the property of fire is to
turn all it meets with into its own nature : fire maketh all things fire ;
the coal maketh burning coals ; and is it not a wonder then that Christ,
having heaped abundance of the fiery coals of his love upon our heads,
we should yet be but key-cold in our love to him. Ah ! what sad
metal are we made of, that Christ's fiery love cannot inflame om' love
to Christ ! Moses wondered why the bush consumed not, when he
sees it all on fire, Exod. iii. 3 ; but if you please but to look into your
own hearts, you shall see a greater wonder ; for you shall see that,
though you walk like those three children in the fiery furnace, Dan.
iii., even in the midst of Christ's fiery love flaming round about you ;
yet there is but little, very little, true smell of that sweet fire of love
to be felt or found upon you or in you. Oh, when shall the sufferings
of a dear and tender-hearted Saviour kindle such a flame of love in all
our hearts, as shall still be a-breaking forth in our lips and lives, in
oiu" words and ways, to the praise and glory of free grace ? Oh that
the sufi'erings of a loving Jesus might at last make us all sick of love 1
Cant. ii. v. Oh let him for ever lie betwixt our breasts, Cant. i. 13,
who hath left his Father's bosom for a time, that he might be em-
bosomed by us for ever. But,
3. Thirdly, Then in the sufferings of Christ, as in a gospel-glass,
you may see the odious nature of sin, and accordingly learn to hate it,
arm against it, turn from it, and subdue it. Sin never appears so
odious as when we behold it in the red glass of Christ's sufi'erings, Ps.
cxix,, civ., cxiii., cxxviii., and Eom. vii, 15, and xii. 9. Can we look
upon sin as the occasion of all Christ's sufferings, can we look upon
sin as that which made Christ a curse, and that made him forsaken of
his Father, and that made him live such a miserable life, and that
brought him to die such a shameful, painful, and cruel death, and our
hearts not rise against it ? Shall our sins be grievous unto Christ,
and shall they not be odious unto us ? shall he die for our sins, and
shall not we die to our sins ? did not he therefore suffer for sin, that
we might cease from sin ? did not he ' bear our sins in his own body
on the tree, that we being dead to sin, should live to righteousness ' ?
1 Pet. iv. 1, and ii. 24. If one should kill our father, would we hug
and embrace him as our father ? no, we would be revenged on him.
Sin hath killed our Saviour, and shall we not be revenged on it. Can
a man look upon that snake that hath stung his dearly-beloved spouse
to death, and preserve it alive, warm it at the fire, and hug it in his
bosom, and not rather stab it with a thousand wounds ? It is sin that
hath stung our dear Jesus to death, that has crucified our Lord,
clouded his glory, and shed his precious blood, and oh, how should
this stir up our indignation against it. Ah, how can a Christian make
much of those sins that killed his dearest Lord ! how can he cherish
those sins that betrayed Christ, and apprehended Christ, and bound
Christ, and condemned Christ, and scourged Christ, and that violently
drew him to the cross, and there murdered him ! It was neither
Judas, nor Pilate, nor the Jews, nor the soldiers that could have done
our Lord Jesus the least hurt, had not our sins, like so many butchers
and hangmen, come in to their assistance. After Julius Caesar was
206 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION
treacherously murdered in the senate-house, Antonius brought forth
his coat, all bloody, cut and mangled, and laying it open to the view
of the people, said, Look, here is your emperor's coat ; and as the
bloody conspirators have dealt by it, so have they dealt with Caesar's
body ; whereupon the people were all in an uproar, and nothing would
satisfy them but the death of the murderers, and they ran to the
houses of the conspirators and burnt them down to the ground. But
what was Cassar's coat and Caesar's body to the body of our dear Lord
Jesus, which was all bloody, rent, and torn for our sins ? Ah, how-
should this provoke us to be revenged on our sins 1 how should we for
ever loathe and abhor them 1 how should our fury be whetted against
them ! how should we labour with all our might to be the death of
those sins that have been the death of so great a Lord, and will, if not
prevented, be the death of our souls to all eternity 1 To see God thrust
the sword of his pure, infinite, and incensed wrath through the very
heart of his dearest Son, notwithstanding all his supplications, prayers,
tears, and strong cries, Heb. v. 7, is the highest discovery of the Lord's
hatred and indignation of sin that ever was or will be. It is true God
discovered his great hatred against sin by turning Adam out of para-
dise, and by casting the angels down to hell, by dro^vning the old
world, and by raining hell out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah,
and by the various and dreadful judgments that he has been a-pouring
forth upon the world in all ages ; but all this hatred is but the picture
of hatred, to that hatred which God manifested against sin in causing
the whole curse to meet upon our crucified Lord, as all streams meet
in the sea. It is true God discovers his hatred of sin by those endless,
Baseless, and remediless torments that he inflicts upon devils and
damned spirits ; but this is no hatred to that hatred against sin which
God discovered when he opened all the floodgates of his envenomed
wrath upon his Son, his own Son, his only Son, his Son that always
pleased him, his Son that never offended him, Isa. liii. 5, 6, and Prov.
viii. 30, 31, and Mat. iii. 17. Should you see a father that had but
one son, and he such a son in whom he always delighted, and by whom
he had never been provoked ; a son that always made it his business,
his work, his heaven to promote the honour and glory of his father,
John viii. 49, 50, and ix. 4 ; a son who was always most at ease when
most engaged in his father's service ; a son who counted it his meat
and drink to do his father's will, John iv. 34 : now should you see the
father of such a son inflicting the most exquisite pains and punish-
ments, tortures and torments, calamities and miseries upon this his
dearest son, you would readily conclude that certainly the sins, the
offences that have put the father upon exercising such amazing, such
matchless severity, fury and cruelty upon his only son, are in^nitely
hateful, odious, and abominable to him.i Now, if you please but to cast
your eye upon the actings of God the Father towards Jesus Christ,
you will find that he hath inflicted more torments and greater tor-
ments upon the Son of his dearest love, than all mortals ever have or
could iriflict upon their only sons : Isa. liii. 6, ' The Lord hath laid
^ Jer. xliv. 4, and Zech. viii. 17. The Rabbins, to scare their scholars from sin, used
to tell them that sin made God's head ache ; but I may say sin hath made Christ's head
ache, and his heart ache too.
OF THE GREAT SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 207
upon him the iniquity of us all,' Heb., hath made the iniquities of us
all to meet on him, or to light or fall on him rather. God made all
the penalties and sufferings that were due to us to fall upon Jesus
Christ, as a man is wont to fall with all his might, in a hostile manner,
upon his enemy. God himself inflicted upon dear Jesus whatsoever
was requisite to the satisfying of his justice, to the obtaining of pardon,
and to the saving of all his elect : ver. 10, 'It pleased the Lord to
bruise him, he hath put him to grief.' All the devils in hell, nor all
the men upon earth, could never have bruised or put to grief our Lord
Jesus. If it had not pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to
grief, he had never been bruised or put to grief. Oh, how should this
work us to look upon sin with indignation !
Suppose a man should come to a table, and there should be a knife
laid at his trencher, and it should be told him, This is the very knife
that cut the throat of your child or father ; if this person should use
this knife as any other knife, would not every one say. Surely this man
had but very Httle love to his father or his child, who can use this
bloody knife as any other knife. So when you meet with any tempta-
tion to sin, oh, then say, This is the very knife that cut the throat of
Jesus Christ, and pierced his sides, that was the cause of his sufferings,
and that made Christ to be a curse ; and accordingly let your hearts
rise against it. Ah, how well doth it become Christians to look upon
sin as that accursed thing that made Christ a curse, and accordingly
to abhor it ! Oh, with what detestation should a man fling away such
a knife ! and with the like detestation should every Christian fling away
.his sins, as Ephraim did his idols : ' Get you hence ; what have I any
more to do with you ?' Hosea xiv. 8. Sin, thou hast slain my Lord ;
thou hast been the only cause of the death of my Saviour, Isa, ii, 20,
and XXX. 22. Let us say as David, ' Is not this the blood of the men
that went in jeopardy of their lives ?' 2 Sam. xxiii. 17. So is not this
the sin that poured out Christ's blood ? Oh, how should this enrage
our hearts against sin, because it cost the Captain of our salvation,
Heb. ii. 10, not the hazard, but the very loss of his life ! God shewed
Moses a tree wherewith he might make the bitter waters sweet, Exod.
XV. 25 ; but, lo ! here is a tree wherewith ye may make the sweet
waters of sin to become bitter. Look upon the tree on which Christ
was crucified, remember his cross, and the pains he suffered thereon,
and the seeming sweetness that is in sin will quickly vanish. When
you are solicited to sin, cast your eye upon Christ's cross, remember his
astonishing sufferings for sin, and it will soon grow distasteful to your
souls ; for how can that choose but be hateful to us, if we seriously con-
sider how hurtful it was to Jesus Christ ? Who can look upon the cross
of Christ and excuse his sin, as Adam did, saying, ' The woman which
thou gavest me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat' ? Gen. iii, 12.
Who can look upon the cross of Christ and colour his sin, as Judas
did, saying, ' Hail, Master' ? Mat. xxvi. 49. Who can look upon the
cross of Christ and deny his sin, as Gehazi did, saying, ' Thy servant
went no whither' ? 2 Kings v. 25. Who can look upon the cross of
Christ and defend his sin, as Jonah did, saying, * I do well to be
angry' ? Jonah iv. 9. sirs ! where is that hatred of sin that used to
be in the saints of old ? David could say, ' I hate vain thoughts and
208 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION
I hate every false way,' Ps. cxix, 104, 113, 128. And Paul could say,
' What I hate that do I,' Rom. vii. 15. It is better, saith one, to be
in hell with Christ, than to be in heaven with sin. Oh, how odious was
sin in the saints' eye ! The primitive Ckristians chose rather to be
cast to lions without than to be left to lusts within, so great was their
hatred of sin.i ' I had rather,' saith Anselm, ' go to hell pure from
sin, than to heaven polluted with that guilt.' ' I will rather,' saith
another, ' leap into a bonfire, than wilfully to sin against God.' Under
the law, if an ox gored a man that he died, the ox was to be killed,
Exod. xxi. 28 ; sin hath gored and pierced our dear Lord Jesus, oh,
let it die for it ! oh, avenge yourselves upon it, as Samson did avenge
himself upon the Philistines for his two eyes ! Judg. xvi. 28. Plutarch
reports of Marcus Cato, that he never declared his opinion in any
matter in the senate, but he would close it with this passage, ' Methinks
still Carthage should be destroyed ;' so a Christian should never cast
bis eye upon the cross of Christ, the sufferings of Christ, nor upon his
sins, but his heart should say, Methinks pride should be destroyed, and
unbelief should be destroyed, and hypocrisy should be destroyed, and
earthly-mindedness should be destroyed, and self-love should be de-
stroyed, and vain-glory should be destroyed, &c. The Jews would not
have the pieces of silver which Judas cast down in the temple put in
the treasury, because they were the price of blood. Mat. xxvii. 5, 6.
Oh, lodge not any one sin in the treasury of your hearts, for they are
aU the price of blood. But,
4. Fourthly, Let the sufferings of our Lord Jesus raise in all our
hearts a high estimation of Christ. Oh, let us prize a suffering Christ
above all our duties, and above all our graces, and above all our privi-
leges, and above all our outward contentments, and above all our
spiritual enjoyments ! Mat. x. 37 ; Luke xiv. 26. A suffering Christ
is a commodity of greater value than all the riches of the Indies,
yea, than all the wealth of the whole world. ' He is better than
rubies,' saith Solomon, ' and all the things thou canst desire are not to
be compared to him,' Prov. viii, 11. He is that pearl of price which
the wise merchant purchased with all that ever he had. Mat xiii. 46 ;
no man can buy such gold too dear. Joseph, — a type of the Lord
Jesus, — then a precious jewel of the world, was far more precious, had
the Ishmaelitish merchants known so much, than all the balms and
myrrhs that they transported. Gen. xxvii. 37 ; and so is a suffering
Christ, as all will grant that really know him, and that have experienced
the sweet of union and communion with him. Christ went through
heaven and hell, life and death, sorrow and suffering, misery and
cruelty, and all to bring us to glory, and shall we not prize him?
When in a storm the nobles of Xerxes were to lighten the ship to pre-
serve their king's life, they did their obeisance, and leaped into the sea ;
but our Lord Jesus Christ, to preserve our lives, our souls, he leaps
into a sea of wrath. Col, i. 18. Oh, how should this work us to set up
Christ above all ! What a deal ado has there been in the world about
Alexander the Great, and Constantino the Great, and Pompey the
Great, because of their civil power and authority ; but what was all
their greatness and grandeur to that greatness and grandeur that God
* Ad leonem magis qudm lenonem, saith TertuUian.
II
I
OF THE GREAT SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 209
the Father put upon our Lord Jesus Christ when he gave all power in
heaven and in earth unto him, and set him down at his own right
hand? Mat. xxviii. 13; Heb. i. 13; Eph. i. 20. sirs! will you
value men according to their titles, and will you not highly value our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has the most magnificent titles given him ?
He is called King of kings and Lord of lords, Rev. xvii. 14, and xix.
16. It is observed by learned Drusius, that those titles were usually
given to the great kings of Persia, than which there was none assumed
more to themselves than they did ; yet the Holy Ghost attributes these
great titles to Christ, to let us know that, as Grod hath exalted Christ
above all earthly powers, so we should magnify and exalt him accord-
ingly. Paul, casting his eye upon a suffering Christ, tells us that he
esteems of ra iravra^ ' all things/ Phil. iii. 8, as nothing in comparison
of Christ. ' All things ' is the greatest account that can be cast up,
for it includeth all prizes, all sums ; it taketh in heaven^ it taketh in
the vast and huge globe and circle of the capacious world,, and aU ex-
cellencies, within its bosom, 'All things' includes all nations, all
angels, all gold, all jewels, all honours, all delights, and ever3rthing
else besides ; and yet the apostle looks upon all these things but as
a-Kv/3aXa, ' dung,' dogs' dung, as some interpret the word, or dogs'
meat, coarse and contemptible, in comparison of dear Jesus, i Gale-
acius, [Carraciolus.] that noble Italian marquis, was of the same mind
and metal with Paul, for when he was strongly tempted, and solicited
with great sums of money and preferments, to return to the Eomish
church, he gave this heroic answer, Cursed be he that prefers all the
wealth of the world to one day's communion with Christ. What if a
man had large domains, stately buildings, and ten thousand rivers of
oil ! What if all the mountains of the world were pearl, the mighty
rocks rubies, and the whole globe a shining chrysolite ! yet all this
were not to be named in the same day wherein there is mention made
of a suffering Christ. Look, as one ocean hath more waters than all
the rivers in the world, and as one sun hath more light than all the
luminaries in heaven, so one suffering Christ is more 'all' to a poor
soul than if it had the all of the whole world a thousand times over
and over. sirs ! if you cast but your eye upon a suffering Christ, a
crucified Jesus,, there you shall find righteousness in him to cover all
your sins, and plenty enough in liim to supply all your wants, and
grace enough in him to subdue all your lusts, and wisdom enough in
him to resolve all your doubts, and power enough in him to vanquish,
all your enemies, and virtue enough in him to heal all your diseases,
and fulness enough in him both to satisfy you and save you, and that
to the utmost,'-^ Heb. vii. 25. All the good things that can be reckoned
up here below have only a finite and limited benignity. Some can
clothe but cannot feed, others can nourish but they cannot heal, others
^ ffKi^aXa, quasi KVffL^aXa, micai quce canibus. — Vide a-Lapide : vide Bezam. The
original word notes the filth that comes out of the entrails of beasts, or oiFal cast to dogs.
* I have read of a Roman servant, who knowing his master was sought for by officers
to be put to death, he put himself into his master's clothes, that he might be taken for
him ; and so he was, and was put to death for him ; whereupon his master, in memory
of his thankfulness to him and honour of him, erected a brazen statue ; but what a
statue of gold should we set up in our hearts to the eternal honour and exaltation of
that Jesus, who not in our clothes but in our very nature, hath laid down his life for us i
VOL. v. O
210 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION
can enrich but they cannot secure, others can adorn but cannot ad-
vance, all do serve but none do satisfy. They are like a beggar's coat,
made up of many pieces, not all enough either to beautify, defend, or
satisfy ; but there is enough in a suffering Christ to fill us and satisfy
us to the full. Christ has the greatest worth and wealth in him.
Look, as the worth and value of many pieces of silver is to be found in
one piece of gold, so all the petty excellencies that are scattered abroad
in the creatures are to be found in a bleeding, dying Christ ; yea, all
the whole volume of perfections which is spread through heaven and
earth is epitomised in him that suffered on the cross — Nee Christus,
nee ecelum patiiur hyperholen, A man cannot hyperbolise in speaking
of Christ and heaven, but must entreat his hearers, as Tully doth his
readers concerning the worth of L. Crassus — Ut majus quiddam de Us
quam quce, scripta sunt smpiearentur, That they woiild conceive much
more than he was able to express.1 Certainly it is as easy to compass
the heavens with a span, and contain the sea in a nut-shell, as to re-
late fully a suffering Christ's excellencies, or heaven s happiness.
sirs ! there is in a crucified Jesus something proportionable to all the
straits, wants, riecessities, and desires of his poor people. 2 He is bread
to nourish them, and a garment to cover and adorn them, a physician
to heal them, a counseller to advise them, a captain to defend them, a
prince to rule, a prophet to teach, and a priest to make atonement for
them ; a husband to protect, a father to provide, a brother to relieve,
a foundation to support, a root to quicken, a head to guide, a treasure
to enrich, a sun to enlighten, and a fountain to cleanse. Now what
can any Christian desire more to satisfy him and save him, to make
him holy and happy in both worlds ? Shall the Komans and other
nations highly value those that have but ventured to lay down their
lives for their country, and shall not we highly value the Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath actually laid down his life for his sheep ? John x. 11,
15, 17. I have read of one who, walking in the fields by himself, of a
sudden fell into loud cries and weeping, and being asked by one that
passed by and overheard him the cause of his lamentation, — I weep,
saith he, to think that the Lord Jesus Christ should do so much for
us men, and yet not one man of a thousand so much as mind him or
think of him. Oh what a bitter lamentation have we cause to take
up, that the Lord Jesus Christ has suffered so many great and grievous
things for poor sinners, and that there are so few that sincerely love
him, or that highly value him ; most men preferring their lusts, or else
the toys and trifles of this world, above him. But,
5. Fifthly, Let the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ wo7'k us all into
a gracious luillingness to embrace sufferings for his sake, and clieer-
fully and resolutely to take up his cross and follow him, Mat. xvi. 24.
Did Christ suffer, who knew no sin ; and shall wq think it strange to
suffer, who know nothing but sin ? Shall he lie sweltering under his
Father's wrath, and shall we cry out of men s anger ? Was he crowned
with thorns, and must we be crowned with rose-buds ? ^ Was his whole
^ De Oratore, 3.
5 John vi. 5, 6, 37; Rev. xiii. 14; Mat. ix. 12; Isa. ix. 6; Heb. ii. 10; Acts v. 31,
and vii. 37, 38; Heb. ii. 17, 18, and iv. 15, 16 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2; Isa- ix. 6, 7; John xx. 17 ;
Isa. xxviii. 16; Rev. xxii. 16; Eph. i. 22, 2-3.
^ Godfrey of Bouillon, first king of Jerusalem, refused to be cro^vned with a crown of
OF THE GKEAT SUFFERINGS OF CHEIST. 211
life, from the cradle to the cross, made up of nothing but sorrows and
sufferings ; and must our lives, from the cradle to the grave, be filled
up with nothing but pleasures and delights ? Was he despised, and
must we be admired ? Was he debased, and must we be exalted ? Was
he poor, and must we be rich ? Was he low, and must we be high ? Did
he drink of a bitter cup, a bloody cup ; and will no cups serve our turns
but cups of consolation ? Let us not think anything too much to do
for Christ, nor anything too great to suffer for Christ, nor anything
too dear to part with for such a Christ, such a Saviour, that thought
nothing too much to do, or too grievous to suffer, that so he might
accomplish the work of our redemption. He left heaven for us ; and
shall not we let go this world for him ? He left his Father's bosom for
us, John i. 18 ; and shall not we leave the bosoms of our dearest rela-
tions for him? Ps. xlv. 10, 11 ; Mat. x. 37. He underwent all sorts
of sufferings for us, let us as readily encounter with all sorts of suffer-
ings for him. Paul was so inured to sufferings for Christ, that he
could rejoice in his sufferings, he gloried most in his chains, and he
looked upon his scars, buffetings, scourgings, stonings for Christ, as
his greatest triumphs, 2 Cor. xii. 10, and xi. 23-28. And how ambi-
tious were the primitive Christians of martyrdom in the cause of Christ :
and of late, in the times of the Marian persecution, how many hundreds
cheerfully and willingly laid down their lives — mounting Elijah-like to
heaven in fiery chariots ! And oh, how will Christ own and honour
such Christians at last, as have not set on others, but exposed them-
selves to hazards, losses, and sufferings for his sake ! Eev. iii. 21, as
those brave souls, who loved not their lives unto the death, Eev. xii.
11 ; that is, they despised their lives in comparison of Christ ; they
exposed their bodies to horrible and painful deaths, their temporal
estates to the spoil, and their persons to all manner of shame and con-
tempt, for the cause of Christ, Heb. xi. 33-39, and x. 34. In the
days of that bloody persecutor Dioclesian, the Christians shewed as
glorious power in the faith of martyrdom as in the faith of miracles,
the valour of the patients, and the savageness of the persecutors, striv-
ing together ; till both, exceeding nature and belief, bred wonder and
astonishment in beholders and readers,! In all ages and generations,
they that have been born after the flesh have persecuted them that
have been born after the Spirit, Gal. iv. 29 ; and the seed of the ser-
pent have been still a-multiplying of troubles upon the seed of the
woman. Would any man take the church's picture, saith Luther,
then let him paint a poor silly maid, sitting in a wilderness, compassed
about with hungry lions, Avolves, boars, and bears, and with all man-
ner of other cruel hurtful beasts ; and in the midst of a great many
furious men, assaulting her every moment and minute. And why
should we wonder at this, when we consider that the whole life of
Christ was filled up with all sorts and kinds of sufferings ? Oh, where
is that brave spirit that has been upon the saints of old ? Blessed
Bradford looked upon his sufferings for Christ as an evidence to him
that he was in the right way. ' It is better for me to be a martyr
gold, saying that it became not a Christian to wear a crown of gold, where Christ, for
our salvation, had worn a crown of thorns.
^ Certatim gloriosa in certamina rucbatur, &c. — Sidpicius.
212 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION
than a monarch; said Ignatius when he was to suffer, i Happy is
that soul and to be equalled with angels, who is willing to suffer if t
were possible, as great things for Christ, as Christ hathmffered for it
saith Jerome ^Suffermgs are the ensigns of heavenly nobility saith
Calvin Modestus, lieutenant to Julian the emperor, said to Julkn
While they suffer they deride us, saith he, and the to;meiits are more
fearful to them that stand by than to the tormented. Lu her rerrts
of Vmcentms that he laughed at those that slew him, say ng thaUo
Christians tor ures and death were but sports, and he gloried when he
went upon hot burning coals, as if he trod upon roses.^ It was a not!
able saying of a French martyr, when the rope was about his fellow
£nl Snlf /'^1f " '^T' ^l^ ?^^ ^^ ^ ^^^^ «f that noble o deT.'
TfT/ri t ' fu' ""^''^^^ ^"'" ^^^ '^' g^^Pel' a^d was as proud
of it as a woman of her ornaments, saith Chrysostoi: Do your worst
do your worst, said Justin Martyr to his perLutors ; but th s Tw U
teU you, that you may put all that you are like to gain by the barl n
into your eye and weep it out again! Basil will tell you that tSost
cruel martyrdom is but a trick to escape death, to paSom lif e toT^^^
Z^^Ti^rt''"" '':,.'':'' ' day's^-ourneybeLeen tlcro^sa^d
paradise. Their names that are written in red letters of blood in the
churchs calendar, are written in golden letters in Christ's raster in
s but'shor '^'ATJi^ ^r'^"'^"^- ^""'^^^ *^^ ^-« beVtter '^et ft
an eterna^^^^^^ f^ ' '^'"^^/^V^T '^^^ "^ ^^^^^^'^ persecution! and
an eternal calm follows. Methmks, said one, I tread upon pearls
Itv inVd ofT ^'' ^T'^^^'f'' ^^^ I ''^' - -°- P-' than if
an 'rV^saiKtW °' ^"^f/f ^' It^ ^^ ^^°^^« ^^ ^''- ' ^^^ heartily
angry, saith Luther, with those that speak of my sufferin-s which
If compared to that which Christ suffered for me are not once to be
fTcS ZTIC2 '% .^^^ ^'^''y rejoiceri' hisTffeling:
lor ^.nrist , and therefore oftentimea sings it out : 'I Paul a nriwnpr '
as you may me by the scriptures in the margin 2 not ' I Pauf ai
ove to Christ in S'ff?-™, "Pk!" ^^'^^^-^ '^^'^™° ; ""d ^^ ^hews his
love to Mirist m suffermg for him. During the cruel nersecutions nf
riacil'o r "^^""l' *•"= ^^^^^^ &ith°was spreaTtWugh aU
fculltn ^hTP"'' ^''"'" *" °ft«°^' ^-^y ^^^"^ ^"'^ed down^saith
lertuUian the more they grew. • I am in prison tiU I am in prison"
smd one of the martyrs. ■ I am the mimeetest man Z thfs S
office of suffering for Christ that ever was appointed t^it ' lid ble Id
ChrSnsnuttod:»rh'7''' "^f *«»?.•; '"L we,, miny thouini
fewer fo bdnt Itf V'''" •P"''''*'^^"?? C">rist, yet they were never the
thL time 3 Z;y .^yP"^°./P<^kn?g of the Christians and martyrs
t"em Cth^l^f-^^'""'' f'^''™'''«°»y<''«'-«»<. They may kill
by Se swo&T°' °T'""^t ^^'"°' ' "^^^ """^ «"= ^r-' out down
By the sword of persecution, the more we increase,' saith Terhillian.
no^^JT: Con;.\V. K i '■ '" "■''" '"'"'■ '• ' ■■ f'"- I. » ^ 2 Cor. ,,, 23;
OF THE GREAT SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 213
Eusebius tells us of one that writ to his friend from a stinking dun-
geon, and dates his letter from ' My delicate orchard/ ' Burn my
foot if you will/ said that noble martyr in Basil, * that it may dance
everlastingly with the blessed angels in heaven/ The young child in
Josephus, who, when his flesh was pulled in pieces with pincers, by
the command of Antiochus, said with a smiling countenance, ' Tyrant,
thou losest time ; where are those smarting pains with which thou
threatenest me ? Make me to shrink and cry out if thou canst : ' and
Bainam, an English martyr, when the fire was flaming about him,
said. You Papists talk of miracles, behold here a miracle, I feel no more
pain than if I were in a bed of down ; it is as sweet to me as a bed of
roses. Lawrence, when his body was roasted upon a burning gridiron,
cried out, ' This side is roasted enough, turn the other side.' Marcus
of Arethusa, when his body was cut and mangled, and anointed with
honey, and hung up aloft in a basket, to be stung to death by wasps
and bees, looked down, saying, ' I am advanced, despising you that
are below.' Henry Voes kissed the stake. Hawks clapped his hands
in the flames when they were half consumed, John Noys blessed God
that ever he was born to see that day ; and Bishop Ridley called his
execution day his wedding day. Thus you see a ' cloud of witnesses'
to raise and inflame your hearts into a free, ready, willing, cheerful,
and resolute sufi'ering for that Jesus who has suffered so much for
you. sirs, when we see all sorts and sexes of Christians, divinely
to defy and scorn their torments and tormentors, when we see them
conquering in the midst of hideous sufferings, when we hear them
expressing their greatest joy in the midst of their greatest sufferings,
we cannot but conclude that there was something more than ordinary
that did thus raise, cheer, and encourage their spirits in their suffer-
ings ; and doubtless this was it, ' the recompense of reward ' on the
one hand, and the matchless sufferings of Jesus Christ for them on the
other hand, Heb. xi. 24-26, and xii, 2. The cordial wherewith Peter
is said, by Clemens, to comfort his wife when he saw her led to martyr-
dom, was this, * Remember the Lord, whose disciples if we be, we
must not think to speed better than our master.'
It is said of Antiochus that, being to flght with Judas, captain
of the host of the Jews, he showed unto his elephants the blood
of the grapes and mulberries, to provoke them the better to fight,
1 Mac. vi. 3, 4 : so the Holy Ghost hath set before us the wounds,
the blood, the sufferings, the dying of our dear Lord Jesus, to encour-
age us to suffer, with all readiness and resoluteness, whatsoever cala-
mities or miseries may attend us for Christ's sake, or the gospel's
sake. Ah, what a shame would it be if we should not be always
ready to suffer anything for his sake, who hath suffered so much for
our sins as is beyond all conception, all expression ! Never was Jacob
more gracious and acceptable to his father Isaac, than when he stood
before him clothed in the garments of his rough brother Esau. Then
the father, smelling the savour of the elder brother's garments, said,
' Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord
hath blessed,' Gen. xxvii. 27. And never are we more gracious and
acceptable to our heavenly Father, than when we stand before him
214 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION
clothed in the rough garments of Christ's afflictions and sufferings.
O Christians, all your sufferings for Christ, they are hut inlets to your
glorious reigning with Christ. Justin Martyr saith that when the
Komans did immortalise their emperors, as they called it, they brought
one to swear that he saw him go to heaven out of the fire ; but we
may see, by an eye of faith, the blessed souls of martyrs fly to heaven,
like Elias in his fiery chariot, or like the angel that appeared to Ma-
noah, in the flames. By the consent of the schoolmen, all martyrs
shall appear in the church triumphant, bearing the signs of their
Christian wounds about them, as so many speaking testimonies of
their holy courage, that what here they endured in the behalf of their
Saviour may be there an addition to their glory. But,
6. Sixthly, Hath Jesus Christ suflfered such great and grievous
things for you? Oh then, m all your fears, doubts, and conflicts
with enemies, within or without, Jiy to the sufferings of Christ as
your city of refuge. Did Christ endure a most ignominious death for
thee ? Did he take on him thy sinful person, and bear thy sin and
death and cross, and was made a sacrifice and curse for thee ? Oh
then, in all thy inward and outward distresses, shelter thyself under
the wings of a suffering Christ, Ps. xc. 1, and xci. 1, 4, 9. I have
read of Nero, that he had a shirt made of a salamander s skin, so that
if he went through the fire in it, it would keep him from burning.
sirs, a suffering Christ is this salamander's skin, that will keep the
saints from burning in the midst of burning, from suffering in the
midst of sufferings, from drowning in the midst of drowning, Dan. iii.
24, 29, and Isa. xliii. 2. In all the storms that beat upon your in-
ward or your outward man, eye the sufferings of Christ, lean upon the
sufferings of Christ, plead the sufferings of Christ, and triumph in the
sufferings of Clirist, Zech. xii. 10 ; Cant. viii. 5 ; 2 Cor. ii. 14 ; Eph.
vi. 14. It is storied of a martyr,i that, writing to his wife, where
she might find him when he was fled from home, * Oh, my dear,' said
he, ' if thou desirest to see me, seek me in the side of Christ, in the
cleft of the rock, in the hollow of his wounds ; for there I have made
my nest, there will I dwell, there shalt thou find me, and nowhere
else but there.' In every temptation let us look up to a crucified
Christ, who is fitted and qualified to succour tempted souls, Heb. ii.
17, 18, and iv. 15, 16. Oh my soul, whenever thou art assaulted,
let the wounds of Christ be thy city of refuge whither thou mayest fly
and live ! Let us learn in every tentation which presseth us, whether
it be sin, or death, or curse, or any other evil, to translate it from our-
selves to Christ ; and all the good in Christ, let us learn to translate
it from Christ to ourselves. Look, as the burgess of a town or corpo-
ration, sitting in the Parliament-house, beareth the persons of that
whole town or place, and what he saith the whole town saith, and
what is done to him is done to the whole town ; even so Christ upon
the cross stood in our place, and bare our sins, Isa. liii. 4-6 ; and
whatsoever he suffered we suffered ; and when he died all the faithful
died with him and in him. I have read of a gracious woman who,
being by Satan strongly tempted, replied, Satan, if thou hast anything
to say to me, say it to my Christ, say it to my surety, who has under-
^ Suriup, in vita sancti Elzearii.
OF THE GKEAT SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 215
taken all for me, who hatli paid all my debts, and satisfied divine
justice, and set all reckonings even between God and my soul.i Do
your sins terrify you ? Oh then, look up to a crucified Saviour, who
bare your sins in his own body on the tree, 1 Pet. ii. 24. When sin
stares you in the face, oh then turn your face to a dying Jesus, and
behold him with a spear in his side, with thorns in his head, with
nails in his feet, and a pardon in his hands.^ Hast thou wounded thy
conscience by any great fall or falls ? Oh then, remember that there
is nothing in heaven or earth more efficacious to cure the wounds of
conscience than a frequent and serious meditation on the wounds of
Christ.3 Doth death, that rides upon the pale horse, Eev. vi. 8, look
gashly^ and deadly upon thee ? Oh then, remember that Christ died
for you, Kom. v. 6, 8, and that by his death he hath swallowed up
death in victory, 1 Cor. xv. 55-57. Oh, remember that a crucified
Christ hath stripped death of his sting, and disarmed it of all its
destroying power. Death may buzz about our ears, but it can never
sting our souls. Look, as a crucified Christ hath taken away the guilt
of sin, though he hath not taken away sin itself, so he hath taken
away the sting of death, though he hath not taken away death itself.
He spake excellently that said, ' That is not death, but life, which
joins the dying man to Christ ; and that is not life, but death, which
separates the living man from Christ,' ^ Austin longed to die, that he
might see that head that was crowned with thorns. ' Did Christ die
for me,' saith one, ' that I might live with him ? I will not, therefore,
desire to live long from him.' All men go willingly to see him whom
they love, and shall I be unwilling to die that I may see him whom
my soul loves ? Bernard would have us never to let go out of our
minds the thoughts of a crucified Christ. Let these, says he, be meat
and drink unto you, let them be your sweetness and consolation, your
honey and your desire, your reading and your meditation, your con-
templation, your life, death, and resurrection. Certainly he that shall
live up to this counsel wUl look upon the king of terrors as the king of
desires. Are you apt to tremble when you eye the curse threatened in
the law ? Oh then, look up to a crucified Christ, and remember that
' he hath redeemed you from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for you,' Gal. iii. 1 3. Doth the wrath of God amaze you ? Oh then, look
up to a crucified Christ, and remember that Christ hath trod the
winepress of his Father's wrath alone, Isa. Ixiii. 3, that he might
deliver you from wrath to come, 1 Thes. i. 10. Is the face of God
clouded ? — doth he that should comfort you stand afar off" ? oh then,
look up to a crucified Christ, and remember that he was forsaken for a
time, that you might not be forsaken for ever. Are you sometimes
afraid of condemnation ? Oh then, look upon a crucified Christ, who
was condemned that you might be justified. Lam. i. 16. ' 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. ' Kom. viii. 33, 34.
Ah, Christians, that you would at last, under all your temptations,
^ As before.— G.
' The strongest antidote against sin is to look upon sin in the red glass of Christ's
blood. — Amtin. * Bern. Ser. 61, in Cant. * 'Ghastly.' — G.
* Ambrose, in 1 Tim. v. 6. Death will blow the bud of grace into the flower of glory.
216 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION
afflictions, fears, doubts, conflicts, and disputes, be persuaded to keep a
fixed eye upon crucified Jesus ; and remember that all he did he did
for you, and that all he sufifered he suffered for you ; and this will be
a strong cordial to keep you from fainting under all your inward
and outward distresses, according to that saying of one of the ancients,
Turbabor, sed non perturbabor, quia vulnerum Christi recordabor, I
may be troubled, but I shall not be overwhelmed, because I remember
the print of the nails and of the spear in the hands and side of Jesus
Christ, [Augustine.] Oh that Christians would labour, under all their
soul-troubles, to keep a fixed eye upon a bleeding Christ ; for there
is nothing that will ease them, quiet them, settle them, and satisfy
them like this. Many, may I not say most, Christians are more apt
to eye their sins, their sorrows, their prayers, their tears, their resolves,
their complaints, than they are to eye a suffering Christ ; and from
hence springs their greatest woes, wounds, miseries, and dejection
of spirit. Oh that a crucified Christ might be for ever in your eye,
and always upon your hearts I But,
7. Seventhly and lastly. Hath Jesus Christ suffered such great and
grievous things ? Then this truth holes sadly and sourly upon the
papists. In this red glass of Christ's blood, you may see how vain
and wicked, how ridiculous and superstitious the devices of the papists
are, who for pacifying of God's wrath, and for the allaying of his
anger, and for satisfying his justice, and for the obtaining of pardon,
&c., have appointed penances and pilgrimages, and self-scourgings and
soul-masses, and purgatory, and several other suchlike abominations,
which the Scripture nowhere commands, but everywhere forbids ;
which inventions and abominations of theirs tend only to derogate
from the dignity and sufficiency of Christ's sufferings, and to reflect
dishonour and disgrace upon that full and perfect price that Christ
hath paid for our ransom, and to set up other saviours in the room of
our blessed Redeemer.! Certainly all Popish pardons, penances,
pilgrimages, masses, whippings, scourgings, &c., they unavoidably fall
before the sufierings of our Lord Jesus Christ, as Dagon fell before the
ark, Goliath before David, Haman before Mordecai, and as the darkness
falls before the morning light ; and as for their purgatory, they do not
know certainly where it is, nor how long it will last, nor what sort
of fire is there ; neither can they shew us how corporeal fire should
work upon the souls in purgatory, they being spiritual and incorporeal ;
they cannot tell us whether the pains of purgatory be at all times
alike, neither can they tell us whether the good or evil angels are the
tormentors of the souls in purgatory ; and as for the whipping, scald-
ing, freezing of souls in purgatory, they are but * old wives' fables,' and
the brain-sick fancies of some deceitful persons, to cheat poor ignorant
people of their money, under a blind pretence of praying their souls
out of purgatory. Christ off'ered himself * once for all,' Heb. x. 10,
but the Eomish priests offer him up daily in the mass, an unbloody
sacrifice ; and so they do what lies in them to ' tread under foot the
* Surely that religion that loves to lap blood, and that ia propagated and maintained by
blood, and that prefers their own inventions and abominations before the blood and
Bufferings of Christ, that religion ia not of God but such is the Komish religion — o-go
their reUgion ia not of God.
OF THE GREAT SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 217
blood of God, the blood of the covenant,' Acts xx. 28 ; Heb. x. 29. To
be short, Popery in eftect is nothing else but an underhand, close
witness-bearing against Christ in all his offices, and against all that
he hath done and suffered for the redemption and salvation of sinners,
as might be made abundantly evident, but that I may not now launch
out into that ocean. I only give this brief touch by the way, that
I might raise up in all your hearts a greater detestation of Popery, in
this day wherein many are so warm for it, as if it were their only
Diana. And let thus much suffice concerning the sufferings of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and' the improvement that we should make of
them.
Thus you may clearly see, by what I have said concerning the active
and passive obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, that whatsoever we are
bound to do or suffer by the law of God, all that did Christ do and suffer
for us, as being our surety and mediator, ^ Now the law of God hath a
double challenge or demand upon us ; one is of active obedience, in ful-
filling what it requires ; the other is of passive obedience, in suffering
that punishment which is due to us for the transgression of it, in doing
what it forbids : for as we were created by God, we did owe unto him
all obedience which he required ; and as we sinned against God, we
did owe unto him a suffering of all that punishment which he
threatened ; and we being fallen by transgression, can neither pay the
one debt, nor yet the other. Of ourselves we can do nothing that the
law requires; neither can we so suffer as to satisfy God in his justice
wronged by us, or to recover ourselves into life and favour again.
And therefore Jesus Christ, who was God-man, did become our surety,
and stood in our stead or room, and he did perform what we should
but could not perform, and he did bear our sins and our sorrows, he
did suffer and bear for us what we ourselves should have borne and
suffered, whereby he did fully satisfy the justice of God, and made our
peace, and purchased pardon and life for us. Christ did fully answer
to all the demands of the law, he did come up to perfect and universal
conformity to it. He did whatever the law enjoins, and he suffered
whatever the law threatens. Christ, by his active and passive obedi-
ence, hath fulfilled the law most exactly and completely. Gal. iii. 13.
As he was perfectly holy, he did what the law commanded, and as he
was made a curse, he underwent what the law threatened ; and all this
he did and suffered in our steads and as our surety. Whatever Christ
did as our surety, he made it good to the full ; so that neither the
righteous God, nor yet the righteous law, could ever tax him with the
least defect. And this must be our great plea, our choice, our sweet,
our safe, our comfortable, our acceptable plea, both in the day of our
particular accounts when we die, and in the great day of our account,
when a crucified Saviour shall judge the world. Although sin, as an
act, be transient, yet in the guilt of it, it lies in the Lord's high court
of justice, filed upon record against the sinner, and calling aloud for
deserved punishment, saying, Man hath sinned, and man must suffer
for sin ! But now Christ has suffered, that plea is taken off. Lo
here, saith the Lord, the same nature that sinned, suffereth ; mine own
^ A Christian's plea from the passive obedience of Christ. God did insist on it, that
our surety should pay down the whole debt at once, and accordingly he did, Heb. x. 10, 12.
218 OF THE IMPUTED EIGHTEOfSSESS OF CHRIST.
Son, being made flesh, hath suffered death for sin in the flesh • th^
aSout'of ff' ^'^ '' '""^'^^'•' ""•* ^ nonsuits toeaotn' and
Tmnp^ /<^^\Tll "' ""J"'**- Thus Whereas sin would have con-
fix? /f',^''"'* ^^^^ •condemned sin ; he liath weakened yi nuS
fied and taken away sin, in the guilt and condemning power rf ?t W
Wsao^;t >'*'"■"'"??•'"' ^' ^^'^ S'™" t° the/us"^ cTof God ll
ttehaTateTcLtlS^^^^^
mediator outeries the clamour of sin and this must be « Oh • r *"
joy and triumph and plea in the greatday of Z Lo d J^sus T
Christ was ' made sin for us,' 2 Co? v 21 so thp T orri ^i^ft • .
the sufferings of Christ to ns^that is, he ac^ts of them'on o„r Zat
S: t iT- bS nra s^frth^^s ^rt £?
?{Srbi:ofL-h:sfri-^^^^^
m<.e^to say to you but this. ■ EntL into th^jo; oTyouTiord/MaT
. y The fiftli plea that you are to make in order to the ten scririfnrpc
rigihteous person, and receiving him into iavouTao-ZT^lflT^
..ver offended. This is most^clear and evidrt^nTh^'l^sfedlcrf^
\[1.] First TJiere is an act of absolution and acquittal from the auilf
ofs^.n^ andSreedomfrom the condemnation deserved hy sin^t^^Z^
of siii IS an mseparabe accident or concomitant of it that can never
be removed. It may be truly said of the sins of a justified person that
they deserve everlasting destruction; but justification is thffSn^^^^^
a sinner from the guilt of his iniquity, whereby he was actua % Snd
over to condemnation.2 As soon as any man doth sin, there is a S
^ Eccles. xi. 9\andxii. 14; Mat xii 14 nnrl yv,-;; oq t i • ,, ^
2 Cor. y.lO; Hdb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17 • I'pet iy 5 ^^ ' ^"^' ^"^•^' Rom.xiv.lO;
m:nt"i.dr'court^UTiSu;e I LnSt Ttl' [,t*^"f '' ^^^* ^« '^ "^ --^«*
mulct or penalty to te inflicted upon ?he gdUy person ^^^^^ '^'"''^"^ *
OF THE IMPUTED KIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHKIST. 219
upon him, by which he is bound over to the wrath and curse of God ;
and this guilt or obligation is inseparable from sin; the sin doth deserve
no less than everlasting damnation. Now, forgiveness of sin hath a
peculiar respect to the guilt of sin, and removal of that. When the Lord
forgives a man, he doth discharge him of that obligation by which he was
bound over to wrath and condemnation: Kom, viii. 1, 'There is no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus ;' ver. 33, ' Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth ;'
ver. 34, ' Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died.' Beloved,
the Lord is a holy and just God ; and he ' reveals his wrath from heaven
against all unrighteousness,' Kom. i. 18 ; and there is a curse threat-
ened to every transgression of the law. Gal. iii. 10 ; and when any man
sinneth, he is obnoxious unto the curse, and God may inflict the same
upon him, Rom. i. 32 ; but when God forgives sins, he therein doth
interpose, as it were, between the sin and the curse, and between the
obligation and the condemnation, Eom. vi. 23. When the sinner sins,
God might say unto him, Sinner, by your sinning you are now fallen
into my hands of justice ; and for your sins I may, according to my
righteous law, condemn and curse you for ever ; but such is my free,
my rich, my sovereign grace, that for Christ's sake 1 will spare you
and pardon you, and that curse and condemnation which you have
deserved shall never fall upon you. Oh, my bowels, my bowels, are
yearning towards you, Jer, xxxi. 20 ; and therefore I will have mercy,
mercy upon you, and will deliver your souls from going down into the
pit, Job xxxiii. 13, 24, 28, 30. When the poor sinner is indicted and
arraigned at God's bar, and process is made against him, and he found
guilty of the violation of God's holy law, and accordingly judged guilty
by God, and adjudged to everlasting death, then mercy steps in and
pleads, I have found a ransom, Job xxxiii. 24 ; the sinner shall not
die, but live. When the law saith, Ah, sinner, sinner ! thus and thus
hast thou transgressed, all sorts of duties thou hast omitted, and all
sorts of sins thou hast committed, and all sorts of mercies thou hast
abused, and all sorts of means thou hast neglected, and all sorts of
offers thou hast slighted ; then God steps in and saith. Ah, sinner,
sinner ! what dost thou say, what canst thou say, to this heavy charge ?
Is it true or false ? — wilt thou grant it or deny it ? — what defence or
plea canst thou make for thyself ? Alas ! the poor sinner is speech-
less : Mat. xxii. 12, i^i^ioiOrj, he was muzzled or haltered up, that is,
he held his peace as though he had a bridle or a halter in his mouth.
This is the import of the Greek word here used : he hath not one word
to say for himself ; he can neither deny, nor excuse, or extenuate what
is charged upon him. Why now, saith God, I must and do pronounce
thee to be guilty ; and as I am a just and righteous God, I cannot but
adjudge thee to die eternally. But such is the riches of my mercy,
that I will freely justify thee through the righteousness of my Son; I
will forgive thy sins, and discharge thee of that obligation by which
thou wast bound over to wrath, and curse, and condemnation ; so that
the justified person may triumphingly say, ' Who is he that con-
demneth?' He may read over the most dreadful passages of the law
without being terrified or amazed, as knowing that the curse is removed,
and that all his sins, that brought him under the curse, are pardoned,
220 OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.
and are, in point of condemnation, as if they had never been. This is
to be justified, to have the sin pardoned and the penalty remitted:
Kom. iv. 5-8, ' But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly^ his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as
David also describeth the blessedness of the man, to whom God im-
puteth righteousness without works ; saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin.' It is observable that what
David calleth forgiveness of sin, and not imputing of iniquity, St Paul
styles a being justified. But,
[2.] Secondly, As the first part of justification consists in the pardon
of sin, so the second part of justification consists in the acceptation of
the sinners person as perfectly righteous in God's sight, pronouncing
him such, and dealing with him as such, and by bringing of him under
the shadow of that divine favour which he had formerly lost by his
transgressions : Cant. iv. 7, ' Thou art all fair, my love, and there is
no spot in thee ;' that is, none in my account, nor no such spots as the
wicked are full of, Deut. xxxii. 5. Look, as David saw nothing in lame
Mephibosheth but what was lovely, because he saw in him the features
of his friend Jonathan, 2 Sam. ix. 3, 4, 13, 14, so God, beholding his
people in the face of his Son, sees nothing amiss in them. They are
all ' glorious within and without,' Ps. xlv. 13. Look, as Absalom had
no blemish from head to foot, so they are irreprehensible and ' without
blemish before the throne of God,' Kev. xiv. 5. The pardoned sinner,
in respect of divine acceptation, is ' without spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing,' Eph. v. 26, 27. God accepts the pardoned sinner as com-
plete in him who is the head of all principality and power. Col. ii. 10.
Christ makes us comely through his beauty ; he gives us white raiment
to stand before the Lord. Christ is all in all in regard of divine
acceptance: Eph. i. 6, 'He hath made us accepted in the beloved;'
e-xaplroyaev rifid<;, ' he hath made us favourites,' so Chrysostom and
Theophylact render it ; ' God hath ingratiated us,' he hath made us
gracious in the Son of his love. Through the blood of Christ we look
of a sanguine complexion, ruddy and beautiful in God's eyes : Isa.
Ixii. 4, ' Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, but thou shalt be
called Hephzibah ; for the Lord delighteth in thee.' i The accepta-
tion of our persons with God takes in six things : (1.) God's honour-
ing of us ; (2.) His delight in us ; (3.) His being well pleased with us ;
(4.) His extending love and favour to us ; (5.) His high estimation of
us ; (6.) His giving us free access to himself. It is the observation of
Ambrose, that though Jacob was not by birth the first-born, yet, hiding
himself under his brother's clothes, and having put on his coat, which
smelled most fragrantly, he came into his father's presence, and got
away the blessing from his elder brother. Gen. xxvii. 36 ; so it is very
necessary, in order to our acceptation with God, that we lie hid under
the precious robe of Christ, our elder brother ; that, having the sweet
savour of his garments upon us, our sins may be covered with his per-
fections, and our unrighteousness with the robes of his righteousness,
^ All persons out of Christ are cursed enemies, objects of God's wrath and justice, dis-
pleasing, offending, and provoking creatures ; and therefore God cannot but loathe them
and abhor them.
4
OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 221
2 Cor. ii. 15 ; that so we may offer up ourselves unto God 'a living
and acceptable sacrifice,' Kom. xii. 1 ; ' not having our own right-
eousness, which are but as filthy rags,' Isa. Ixiv. 6 ; but that which is
' through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith,' Phil. iii. 9.
Thus you see that justification, for the nature of it, lies in the
gracious pardon of the sinner's transgressions, and in the acceptation
of his person as righteous in God's sight. But,
2. Secondly, In order to the partaking of this grace, of thie forgive-
ness of our sins and the acceptation of our persons, ive must he able to
produce a perfect righteousness before the Lord, and to present it and
tender it unto him ; and the reason is evident from the very nature of
God, who is ' of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,' Hab. i. 13, that
is, with patience or pleasure, or without punishing it.i There are four
things that God cannot do : (1.) He cannot lie ; (2.) He cannot die ;
(3.) He cannot deny himself ; (4.) He cannot behold iniquity with
approbation and delight: Josh. xxiv. 19, 'And Joshua said unto the
people. Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God, he is a jealous
God, he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins:' such is
the holiness of God's nature that he cannot behold sin, that he cannot
but punish sin wherever he finds it, Ps. v, 4-6. God is infinitely,
immutably, and inexorably just, as well as he is incomprehensibly
gracious. Now, in the justification of a sinner God doth act as a God
of justice, as well as a God of compassion. God is infinite in all his
attributes, in his justice as well as in his mercy : these two cannot in-
terfere. As justice cannot intrench upon mercy, so neither may mercy
encroach upon justice ; the glory of both must be maintained. Now,
by the breach of the law the justice of God is wronged; so that
although mercy be apt to pardon, yet justice requires satisfaction, and
calls for vengeance on sinners. ' Every transgression must receive just
recompense,' Heb. ii. 2, and God will not in any case absolve the
guilty, Exod. xxxiv. 7 : till this be done, the hands of mercy are tied
that she cannot act. And seeing satisfaction could not be made to an
infinite Majesty, but by an equal person and price ; therefore the Son
of God must become a curse for us, by taking our nature and pouring
out his soul to the death ; and by this means justice and mercy are
reconciled and kiss each other, and mercy now being set at liberty,
hath her free course to save poor sinners. God will have his justice
satisfied to the full, and therefore Christ must bear all the punishment
due to our sins ; or else God cannot set us free, for he cannot go against
his own just will. Observe the force of that phrase, ' Christ ought to
suffer,' and ' thus it behoved Christ to suffer,' Luke xxiv. 26 ; Mat.
xxvi. 54, 'Thus it must be.' Why must? but because it was, (1.)
So decreed by God ; (2.) Foretold by the prophets. Every particular
of Christ's sufferings were foretold by the prophets, even to their very
spitting in his face. (3.) Prefigured in the daily morning and even-
ing sacrifice ; this Lamb of God was sacrificed from the beginning ot
the world. A necessity then there was of our Saviour's sufferings ;
not a necessity of co-action, for he died freely and voluntarily, but of
immutability and infallibility, for the former reasons mentioned, John
* Htb., ' And to look on iniquity thou canst not do it'
222 OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.
X. 11, 14, 17, 18. An earthly prince that is just, holds himself bound
to iniiict punishment impartially upon the malefactor or his surety.
It stands upon his honour ; he saith. It must be so, I cannot do other-
wise. This is true much more of God, who is justice itself. God,
' who is great in counsel and excellent in working,' had store of means
at hand whereby to set free and recover lost mankind ; yet he was
pleased, in his infinite wisdom, to pitch upon this way of satisfaction,
as being most agreeable to his holy nature, and most suitable to his
high and sovereign ends — viz., man's salvation and his own glory: and
that God doth stand upon full satisfaction, and will not forgive one
sin without it, may be thus made evident.
[1.] First, From the nature of sin, which is that * abominable thing
which God hates,' Jer. xliv. 4.1 The sinner deserves to die for his
sins : Eom. vi. 23, ' The wages of sin is death.' Svery sinner is
worthy of death ; ' they which commit such things are worthy of death,'
Eom. i. 32. Now God is just and righteous. ' It is a righteous thing
with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you,' 2 Thes.
i. 6 ; yea, and God did, therefore, ' set forth Christ to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood,' Kom. iii. 25 ; 'to declare his righteousness,
that he might be just,' ver. 26. Now, if God be a just and righteous
God, then sin cannot absolutely escape unpunished ; for it is just with
God to punish the sinner who is worthy of punishment ; and certainly
God must deny himself if he will not be just, 2 Tim. ii. 13 ; but
this he can never do. Sin is of an infinite guilt, and hath an infinite
evil in the nature of it ; and therefore no person in heaven or earth,
but that person our Lord Jesus, who is God-man, and who had an
infinite dignity, could either procure the pardon of it, or make
satisfaction for it. No prayers, no cries, no tears, no humblings, no
repentings, no resolutions, no reformations, &c., can stop the course of
justice, or procure the guilty sinner's pardon. It is Christ alone that
can dissolve all obligations to punishment, and break all bonds and
chains of guilt, and hand a pardon to us through his own blood,
Eph. i. 7. We are set free by the blood of Christ. ' By the blood of
thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit,' Zech. ix.
11 : it is by his blood that we are justified and saved from wrath :
Rom. v. 9, 'Much more being justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath by him.' Pray tell me what is it to be justified but to be
pardoned ; and what is it to be saved from %vrath but to be delivered
from all punishment ? and both these depend upon the blood of Christ,
Eph. ii. 13 ; Col. i. 20. But,
[2.] The veracity of God requires it. Look, as God cannot but be
just, so he cannot but be true ; and if he cannot but be true, then he
will make good the threatenings that are gone out his mouth: Gen. ii.
17, 'In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die : ' Heb.
' In dying, thou shalt die.' Death is a fall that came in by a fall, and
without all peradventure every man should die the same day he was
born, for ' the wages of sin is death,' and this wages should be
presently paid, did not Christ reprieve poor sinners' lives for a season,^
' God could not, salvo jure, pass over the sin of man, so as absolutely to let it go un-
punished.
* Under the name of death are comprehended all other calamities, miseries, and sorrows.
OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 223
upon which account he is said to be the Saviour of all men, 1 Tim. iv.
10 ; not of eternal preservation, but of a temporal reservation. ' He will
by no means clear the guilty,' Exod. xxxiv. 7. ' The soul that sinneth,
it shall die ; ' ' The wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him,' Ezek.
xviii. 20. ' He will render to every man according to his deeds,' Kom.
ii. 6. sirs, God can never so far yield as to abrogate his own law,
and quietly to sit down with injury and loss to his own justice, himself
having established a law, &c. The law pronounces him cursed that
' continues not in all things that are written therein, to do them,' Gal.
iii. 10. Now, though the threatenings of men are frequently vain and
frivolous, yet the threatenings of the great God shall certainly take
place and have their accomplishment; though many ten thousand
millions of sinners perish, not one tittle of the dreadful threatenings of
God shall fail till all be fulfilled, Mat. v. 18. Josephus saith that
from that very time that old Eli heard those terrible threatenings, that
made their ears tingle and hearts tremble that heard them, Eli never
ceased weeping, 1 Sam. iii. 11-14. Ah, who can look upon the dread-
ful threatenings that are pointed against sinners all over the book of
God, and not tremble and weep ! God cannot but in justice punish
sinners ; neither is it in his choice or freedom whether he will damn
the obstinate impenitent sinner or no. Look, as God cannot but love
holiness wherever he sees it, so he cannot but loathe and punish
wickedness wherever he beholds it ; neither wiU it stand with the in-
finite wisdom of God to admit of a dispensation or relaxation of the
threatenings without satisfaction. God had passed a peremptory
doom, and made a solemn declaration of it in his word, that ' he that
sinneth, shall die the death ; ' and he will not, he cannot break his
word. You know he had foreordained Jesus Christ, and set him
forth to take upon himself this burden, to become a propitiation
for sin through his blood, Eom. iii. 25 ; 1 Pet. i. 20, and made known
his mind concerning it in his written word plainly, Isa. liii. 7. If we
read the words, ' it is exacted or strictly required,' meaning the ini-
quity or punishment of us all, ver. 6.1 It is required at his hands, he
must answer it in our stead, and so he is afflicted, and this affliction
reacheth even to the cutting him off", ver. 8. Therefore when Christ
puts this work upon an ought and must he, he lays the weight of all
on the Scriptm-es, ' Thus it is written,' as you may see in the texts
lately cited ; as if he should say, God hath spoken it, and his truth
engageth him to see it done ; so God hath threatened to punish sin,
and his truth engageth him to see it done. sirs, there is no stand-
ing before that God that is ' a consuming fire,' a just judge, a holy
God, except I have one to ' undertake for me,' Heb. xii. 29, that is
' mighty to save,' Isa. Ixiii. 1, and mighty to satisfy divine justice,
and mighty to pacify divine wrath, and mighty to bear the threaten-
ings, and mighty to forgive sin. When God forgives sin, he does it
in a way of righteousness, Isa. xix. 20. 1 John i. 9, 'He is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unright-
eousness.' He doth not say he is merciful, but 'just, to forgive us our
sins ;' because they are satisfied for, and God's justice will not let him
demand the same debt twice, of the surety and of the debtor too. It
^ Exigitur, as Junius and some others read it.
224 OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.
will never stand with the unspotted justice and righteousness of God
to require such debts of us, which Christ, by shedding his most pre-
cious blood, hath discharged for us, Rom, iii. 25. Mark, the male-
dictory sentence of death, denounced by the law against sinners, was
inflicted by God upon Christ. This is that which the prophet Isaiah
positively asserts, where he saith, * The chastisement,' that is, the
punishment (called a chastisement, because inflicted by a father, and
only for a time,) ' of our peace was upon him.' And again, ' He was
oppressed, and he was afflicted,' Isa. liii. 5, 7 ; which, according to
the genuine sense of the original, is better rendered, ' It was exacted' —
to wit, the punishment of our sin ; and he was afflicted, or he an-
swered — to wit, to the demand of the penalty. The curse to which we
are subject, saith Theodoras,! he assumed upon himself of his own
accord. ' The death that was not due to him he underwent, that we
might not undergo that death which was due to us,' saith Gregory.*
' He made himself a debtor for us, who were debtors ; and therefore
the creditor exacts it from him,' saith Arnoldus.^ Now God's justice
being satisfied for our offences, it cannot but remit those ofi'ences to
us. As the creditor cannot demand that of the debtor which the
surety hath already paid, so neither can God exact the punishment of
us which Christ hath suffered ; and therefore ' it is just with God to
forgive us our sins.' It will be altogether needless to inquire whether
it had been injustice in God to forgive without satisfaction. St
Austin's determination is very solid : There wanted not to God an-
other possible way, and if it were unjust, it were impossible ; but this
of satisfaction was most agreeable to divine wisdom.-* Before God
did decree this way, it might be free to have used it or not ; but in
decreeing, this seemed most convenient, and after, it became necessary,
so that there can be no remission without it ; and however it might
not have been unjust with God to have forgiven without it, yet we are
sure it is most just with him to forgive upon satisfaction.^ Indeed,
the debt being paid by Christ, God's very justice, as I may say with
reverence, would trouble him if he should not give in the bond, and
give out an acquittance. The believing penitent sinner may, in a
humble confidence, sue out his pardon, not only at the throne of grace,
but at the bar of justice, in these or the like expressions : Lord, thou
hast punished my sins in thy Son, wilt thou punish them in me ?
Thou hast accepted that suff'ering of thy Son as the punishment of
my sin, therefore thou canst not in justice exact it of me, for this
were to punish twice for one offence, which thy justice cannot but
abhor. sirs ! God doth not pronounce men righteous when they
are not ; but first he makes them so, and then he pronounces them to
be such ; so that if a man will be justified, he must be able to pro-
duce such a complete righteousness wherewith he may stand before
the justice of God. Ah sinners ! the Lord is infinitely just, as well
^ Theod. disp., 1. xv. c. 5. ' Gregory Moral., 1. iii. c. 13.
^ Arnold, de sep. verb, Tr. i. * Aug. de Trinit., 1. xiii. c. 10.
* When you are forgiven, you are then released, and for ever acquitted from any
after-reckonings with the justice of God. Divine justice hath no more to say or do
against you, for remissa culpa, remittitur pctna, If the fault be forgiven, then also is the
punishment forgiven ; nay, let me speak with a holy and humble reverence, God can-
not in his justice punish when he hath pardoned.
OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 225
as merciful ; and if ever your sins be pardoned, it must be by an
admirable contemperament, or mixture of mercy and justice together.
It was one of the great ends of the gospel dispensation that God
might exalt his justice in the justification of a sinner : Eom. iii. 26,
' To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be
just, and the justiner of him that believeth in Jesus.' But,
3, Thirdly, The only matter of man's righteousness, since the fall
of Adam, wherein he can appear with comfort before the justice of
God, and consequently whereby alone he can be justified in his sight,
is the obedience and suffering of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of the
mediator. There is not any other way imaginable, how the justice of
God may be satisfied, and we may have our sins pardoned in a way of
justice, but by the righteousness of the Son of God ; and therefore this
is his name, ' Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our Kighteousness,' Jer.
xxiii. 6, ' This is his name,' that is, this is the prerogative of the
Lord Jesus, a matter that appertaineth to him alone, to be able to
* bring in everlasting righteousness, and to make reconciliation for
iniquity,' Dan, ix. 24. The costly cloak of Alcisthenes, which
Dionysius sold to the Carthaginians for an hundred talents, was in-
deed a mean and beggarly rag to that embroidered mantle of Christ's
righteousness that he puts upon us : Isa. Ixi. 10, ' I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed
me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and
a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.' i Christ's righteousness is
that garment of wrought gold, that we all need, to cover all our imper-
fections, and to render us perfectly beautiful and glorious in the sight
of God.2 In this robe of righteousness we are complete, we are with-
out spot or wrinkle, we are without fault before the throne of God.
Through the imputation of Christ's righteousness, we are made right-
eous in the sight of God. God looking upon us, as invested with the
righteousness of his Son, accounts us righteous. All believers have a
righteousness in Christ as full and comi^lete as if they had fulfilled the
law. ' Christ being the end of the law for righteousness to believers,'
Rom. viii. 3, 4, invests believers with a righteousness every way as
complete, as the personal obedience of the law would have invested
them withal. When men had violated God's holy law, God in justice
resolved that his law should be satisfied before man should be saved.
Now this was done by Christ, who was the end of the law ; he fulfilled
it actively and passively, and so the injury offered to the law is recom-
pensed. God had rather that all men should be destroyed, than that
his law should not be satisfied. No man can perfectly be justified in
the sight of God without a perfect righteousness, every way commen-
surable to God's holy law, which is the rule of righteousness, ' Do this
and live : ' neither can any person have any choice, spiritual, lively com-
munion with a righteous God, till he be clothed with the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. All Christ's active and passive obedience was either
for himself, or in our stead and behalf ; but it was not for himself, but
^ It is a sign of great favour from the Great Turk, when a rich garment is cast upon
any that come into his presence. — Knolles Hist. The application is easy.
* Ps. xlv. 13 ; Rom. v. 19 ; Col. ii. 10 ; Eph. v. 27 ; Rev. xiv. 5 ; Eom . iii. 21, 22, 25, 26.
VOL. V. P
226 OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.
for US, that he suffered and obeyed. Whatsoever Christ did or suf-
fered in the whole course of his life, he did it and suffered it as our
surety, and in our steads : for as God would not dispense with the
penalty of the law without satisfaction, so he would not dispense with
the commands of the law without perfect obedience. Kemember, once
for all, that the actions and sufferings of Christ make but up one
entire and perfect obedience to the whole law ; nor had Christ been a
perfect and complete Saviour, if he had not performed what the law
required, as well as suffered the penalty which the law inflicted. The
imputation of Christ's righteousness to us is a gracious act of God the
Father, according to his good will and pleasure, whereby as a judge
he accounts believers' sins unto the surety, as if he had committed the
same ; and the righteousness of Christ unto the believer, as if he had
performed the same, the same obedience that Christ did in his own
person : so that Christ's imputed righteousness is as effectual to the
full, for the acceptance of the believing sinner, as if he had yielded
such obedience to the Lord himself. Hence his righteousness is called
'our righteousness,' Jer. xxiii. 6. Now without this righteousness
there is no standing before the justice of God. But,
4. Fourthly, As this great design of Christ's redeeming sinners by
his blood and sufferings, and by his being made a curse for them, doth
sound aloud the glory of divine justice, and the glory of God's veracity,
so it sounds forth the glory of his wisdom; for hereby he maintains
the authority of his righteous laiaA When a law is solemnly enacted,
with a penalty in case of transgression, all those whom it concerns may
conclude for certain, that the lawgiver will proceed accordingly ; and
it is a rule in policy, that laws once established and published, should
be vigorously preserved. If the Lord should have wholly waived the
execution of the law upon sinners or their surety, it might have tended
greatly to the weakening of its authority, and the diminishing of the
reverence of his sovereignty in the hearts of the sons of men. How
often does God use that oath, ' As I live,' for the fulfilling of his
threatenings as well as of his promises, Jer. xxii. 24, and Ezek. v.
9-11, The Lord Jehovah is as true, faithful, and constant in his
threatenings as in his promises. What he hath threatened shall
undoubtedly come to pass; he will be made known by his name
Jehovah in the full execution of all his threatenings. The old world
found it so, and Jerusalem found it so ; yea, the whole nation of the
Jews have found it so to this very day, see Ezek. v. 13, 15. Look, as
all the saints in heaven will readily put to their seals, that God is true
and faithful in all his promises ; so all the damned in hell will readily
put to their seals, that God is faithful in all his threatenings. Men
frequently deride the laws and threatenings of great men, when they
are not put into execution. It is the execution of laws that is the very
life and soul of good laws, Eccles. viii. 11. Should God pardon sin,
without exacting the penalty of the law, how would sinners be hardened,
and emboldened to say, with those men, or rather monsters, in Malachi,
'Where is the God of judgment?' chap. ii. 17, i.e., nowhere; either
^ Solon, that wise lawmaker, could never find out a law to put all other good laws in
execution ; but such as are living laws, will make the laws to live : and will not the wise
and living God make his laws and threatenings to live ? Surely he will.
OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 227
there is no God, or at least not a God of that exact, precise, and im-
partial judgment, as some men say and as others teach. i But now
when God lets sinners see that he will not pardon sin without exact-
ing the penalty of the law, either of the sinner or of his surety, then
the sinner cries out, ' the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God ! ' Rom. xi. 33. God stood so much upon the
complete satisfaction and accomplishment of his law, that he was
willing that Christ should be a sacrifice, that the law might be satisfied
in its penalty, and that Christ in his own person should fulfil the
righteousness of the law, that it might be satisfied in its commands,
Rom. viii. 3-5. Now in this plenary satisfaction made to the law,
the wisdom of God does gloriously shine. The heart of God was so
set upon a full satisfaction to his law, that rather than it should not
be done, his own Son must come from heaven and put on flesh, and be
himself made under the law, Gal. iv. 4,5; he must live a holy life, and
die a cursed death, and all to satisfy the law, and to keep up the
authority of it. But,
5. Fifthly, God doth stand upon full satisfaction, and will not for-
give one sin without it, that he might hereby cut off all occasions^
which the devil, his arch-enemy, might take to calumniate and tra-
duce him ; for if God did not stand upon full satisfaction, the devil
might accuse him (1.) of inconstancy and changeableness, that having
threatened death to transgressors, he did quite forget himself, in waiv-
ing the threatening, and dispensing wholly with his law, by granting
them free remission ; yea, (2.) of partiality and respect of persons, that
he should be so easy and forbearing, as to let them pass without any
punishment at all ; having been formerly so severe and rigid against
himself, in casting him and his angels down to hell, and keeping them
in everlasting flames and chains of darkness, without the least hope of
recovery, 2 Pet. ii. 4 ; Jude 6. Satan might say. Lord, thou mightest
have spared me as well as man. But the Lord can now answer, Man
hath made satisfaction, he hath borne the curse, and thereby fully dis-
charged all the demands of the law ; if he had not, I would no more
have spared him than thee. Ambrose brings in the devil boasting
against Christ, and challenging Judas as his own ; he is not thine,
Lord Jesus, he is mine, his thoughts beat for me ; he eats with thee,
but is fed by me ; he takes bread from thee, but money from me ; he
drinks with thee, but sells thy blood to me. Had God pardoned sin
without satisfaction, ah how would Satan have boasted and triumphed
over God himself ! But,
6. Sixthly, God's standing upon full satisfaction, and his not for-
giving one sin without it, bears a visible character of his goodness and
loving-kindness, as well as it sounds out aloud the glory of divine jus-
tice. ' The great and the holy God, whose name is holy,' Exod. xv.
1, 11, might have rigorously exacte.d the penalty of the law on the
persons of sinners themselves ; but he hath so far dispensed with his
own law, as to admit of a surety, by whom the end of the law, that is,
the manifestation of his justice and hatred of sin, might })e fulfilled,
and yet a considerable part of mankind might be preserved from the
jaws of the second death, which otherwise must unavoidably have
^ Such an emphasis there is in the HebreTv, as Corn. Ji Lapide observes.
"228 OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST,
perished to all eternity, Eev. xx. 6. God seems to speak at such a
rate as this ; I may not, I will not, suffer this high affront of Adam
and his posterity against my ' holy and righteous law,' Kom. vii. 12,
14, whereby the honour both of my justice and truth. is in danger to
be trampled underfoot ; and yet if I should let out all my wrath
upon them, they were never able to stand under it, but ' their spirits
would fail before me, and the souls that I have made,' Ps. Ixxviii. 38 ;
Isa. Ivii. 16. I will therefore let out all my wrath upon their surety,
and he shall bear it for them, that they may be delivered ; and thus
the Lord ' in wrath remembers mercy,' Hab. iii. 2. But,
7. Seventhly, We can receive no benefit by the righteousness of
Christ for justification in the sight of Grod, nor can we be pardoned
and accepted thereupon, until that righteousness become ours, and he
made over unto us. How can we plead this righteoushess before God,
except we have an interest in this righteousness ? Isa. xlv. 24, 25.
How can we rejoice and triumph in this righteousness, if this right-
eousness be not made ours ? How can we have peace with God, and
boldness at the throne of grace, through this righteousness, except we
can lay claim to this righteousness ? How can we conclude that we
are happy and blessed upon the account of this righteousness, except
it be made over to us ? i There is none of us that have such an in-
herent righteousness in ourselves that we dare plead before the bar of
God ; and though God hath provided such a glorious robe of right-
eousness for poor sinners, as is the wonder and amazement of angels,
yet what would all this avail the poor sinner, if this righteousness be
not made over to him ? sirs ! remember this, Christ's righteous-
ness must be yours, it must be made over to you, or else it will never
stand you in stead: Kom. v. 17, ' For if by one man's offence, death
reigned by one ; much more they which receive abundance of grace,
and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in glory by one, Jesus
Christ.' Except they receive the righteousness of Christ, it is nothing
to them. Christ's righteousness is in itself white raiment, and beauti-
ful and glorious apparel ; but it will never cover our nakedness, except
it be put on, and we are clothed with it. It must be made over to us,
or we can never be justified by it : 1 Cor. i. SO, ' He of God is made
to us righteousness;' if he be not made to us righteousness, we shall
never be righteous. Though man hath lost a righteousness to be justi-
fied by, yet there is an absolute necessity of having one. God cannot
love nor delight in anything but righteousness. God is a holy God, a
righteous God, and therefore can only love and take pleasure in those
that are' righteous, both by a righteousness imputed, and a righteous-
ness imparted : Isa. xlv. 24, ' Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have
I righteousness and strength ;' ver. 25, * In the Lord shall all the
seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory :' Isa. liv. 17, ' Their right-
eousness is of me, saith the Lord;' Ps. Ixxi. 16, ' I will make mention
of thy righteousness, even of thine only.' Look, as no man can be made
rich by another man's riches, except they are made his ; so no man
^ 2 Cor. ii. 14 ; Gal. vi. 14; Eom. v. 1 ; Heh, iv. 15, 16; Ps. xxxii. 1, 2 ; Eom. iv.
7-11 ; Rom. iv. 3. If Christ's obedience be imputed to us, it must be so imputed as to
be our righteousness before God ; no imputation below this will serve our turns, cheer
our hearts, and save our souls. Rev. xiv. 8 ; Isa. Ixiii. 1 ; Rev. iii. 18.
OF THE IMPUTED KIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 229
can be made righteous by the righteousness of Christ, except his
righteousness bo made over to him ; hence he is called, ' The Lord
our Righteousness,' Jer. xxiii. 6 ; and hence we are said to be * the
righteousness of God in him,' 2 Cor. v. 21 ; hence we are said ' by his
obedience to be made righteous,' 2 Cor. v. 21.
8. Eighthly and lastly. The way whereby this righteousness of God's
providing is conveyed and made over to us, that we may receive the
benefit thereof, and be justified thereby, it is hy luay of imputation.
The meaning is this : God doth reckon the righteousness of Christ unto
his people, as if it were their own ; he doth count unto them Christ's
sufierings and satisfaction, and makes them partakers of the virtue
thereof, as if themselves had suffered and satisfied. This is the genuine
and proper import of the word imputation, when that which is person-
ally done by one, is accounted and reckoned to another, and laid upon
his score, as if he had done it.i Thus it is in this very case ; we sinned
and fell short of the glory of God, and became obnoxious to the vin-
dictive justice of God ; and the Lord Jesus Christ, by his obedience
and death, hath given full content and satisfaction to divine justice on
our behalf. Now when God doth pardon and accept us hereupon, he
doth put it upon our account, he doth reckon or impute it unto us as
fully, in respect of the benefit thereof, as if we ourselves had performed
it in our own persons ; and this is the way wherein the Holy Ghost
frequently expresseth it : Eom. iv. 6, ' Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works ; ' and ver. 11, ' That righteousness might be imputed
to them also ; ' and therefore it highly concerns us to mind this scrip-
ture rule, that in order to the satisfaction of the justice of God, the
sins of God's people were imputed and reckoned unto Christ ; and in
order to our partaking of the benefit of that satisfaction, or deliverance
thereby, Christ's righteousness must be imputed and reckoned unto _
us. The first branch of this rule you have, Isa. liii. 5, 6, ' He was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities/ &c.,
and ' the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all ; ' and for the
other branch of the rule, see Eom. v. 19, ' As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous ; ' ver. 17, 'As by one man's offence death reigned by
one, much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift
of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ' From the
comparison between the first and second Adam, it is evident that as
Adam's transgression of the law of God is imputed to all his posterity,
and that in respect thereof they are reputed sinners, and accursed and
liable to eternal death ; so also Christ's obedience, whereby he fulfilled
the law, is so imputed to the members of his mystical body, that in
regard of God, they stand as innocent, justified and accepted to eternal
life. Look, as Adam was the common root of all mankind, and so
his sin is imputed to all his posterity, so Jesus Christ is the common
root of all the faithful, and his obedience is imputed to them all ; for
^ Eom. iii. 21, and Isa. liii. Imputed righteousness seems to be prefigured by the skins
wherewith the Ijord, after the fall, clothed our first parents. The bodies of the beasts
were for sacrifice, and the skins, to put them in mind that their own righteousness was
like the fig leaves, imperfect, and that therefore they must be justified another way.
230 OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.
it were ridiculous to say that Adam's sin had more power to condemn,
than Christ's righteousness hath to save ; and who but fools in folio
will say that God doth not impute Christ's righteousness, as well as
Adam's sin ? The apostle's parallel between the two Adams does
clearly e\ddence that as the guilt of Adam's disobedience is really
imputed to us, insomuch that in his sinning we all sin ; so the
obedience of Christ is as really imputed unto us, insomuch that
in his obeying, reputatively and legally we obey also. How did
Adam's sin become ours ? Why, by way of imputation. He trans-
gressed the covenant, and did eat the forbidden fruit, and it was
justly reckoned unto us. It was personally the sinful act of our
first parent, but it is imputed to all of us who come out of his loins ;
for we were in him not only naturally, as he was the root of mankind,
but also legally, as he was the great representative of mankind.^ In
the covenant of works, and the transactions thereof, Adam stood in
the stead, and acted in the behalf, not only of himself, but of all
his posterity, and therefore his sin is reckoned unto them ; even so,
saith the apostle, after the same manner, the obedience and righteous-
ness of Christ is made over to many for justification. I cannot under-
stand the analogy betwixt the two Adams, wherein the apostle is so
clear and full, unless this imputation, as here stated, be granted.
Look, as Christ was made sin for us only by imputation, so we are
made righteous only by the imputation of his righteousness to us, as
the Scripture everywhere evidences, 1 Pet. ii. 22 ; 2 Cor. v. 21 , ' He
hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him.' How was Christ made sin for
us ? Not sin inherent, for he had no sin in him ; he was ' holy, harm-'
less, and undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the
heavens,' Heb. vii. 26 ; but by imputation. Christ's righteousness is
imputed to us in that way wherein our sin was imputed to him. Now
our sin was imputed to Christ, not only in the Ipitter efi'ects of it, but he
took the guilt of them upon himself, as I have in this treatise already
evidenced ; so, then, his righteousness or active obedience itself must be
proportionably imputed to us, and not only in the effects thereof. The
mediatory righteousness of Christ can no way become the believer's, but
as the first Adam's disobedience became his posterity's, who never had
the least actual share in his transgression ; that is, by an act of impu-
tation from God as a judge. The Lord Jesus having fulfilled the law
as a second Adam, God the Father imputeth it to the believing soul,
as if he had done it in his own person. I do not say that God the
Father doth account the sinner to have done it, but I say that God
the Father doth impute it to the believing sinner, as if he had done
it, unto all saving intents and purposes. Hence Christ is called
' the Lord our Kighteousness,' Jer. xxiii. 6. An awakened soul,
that is truly sensible of his own baseness and unrighteousness,
would not have this golden sentence, ' The Lord our Kighteousness,'
blotted out by a hand of heaven out of the Bible, for as many worlds
as there are men in the world. So is that text to a believer, living and
dying, a strong cordial, viz., 1 Cor. i. 30, * Clirist Jesus is made unto
• ^ Gen. iii. 6, 11, 12. As imitation of Adam onlj' made us not sinners, so imitation of
Christ only makes us not righteous, but the imputation, — Down[ame] — of Justification.
OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 231
US of God wisdom, righteousness,' &cA And pray how is Christ made
righteousness to the believer ? Not by infusion, but imputation ; not
by putting righteousness into him, but by putting a righteousness upon
him, even his own righteousness, by the imputing his merits, his satis-
faction, his obedience unto them, through which they are accepted as
righteous unto eternal life, Eom. v. 19. Christ's righteousness is
his in respect of inhesion, but it is ours in respect of imputation ;
his righteousness is his personally, but ours meritoriously ; we are
justified by another's righteousness, and that only, and therefore by
imputed righteousness ; for another's righteousness can no other way
be made ours, but only by imputation : Kom. v. 18, ' By the righteous-
ness of one the free gift came upon all men to justification,' Were it
any other than imputed righteousness, it would be as manifold a
righteousness as there are persons justified ; but it is said to be ' the
righteousness of one, that comes upon all men for justification of life.'
That is a choice word that you have in Rev. xix, 8, ' And to her,' that
is, Christ's spouse, ' was granted that she should be arrayed in fine
linen, clean and white ; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the
saints.' The Greek word here is 8iKatco/iaTa, 'righteousnesses' or
'justifications.' This, say some, signifieth a double righteousness
given to us — (1.) The righteousness of justification, whereby we are
justified before God ; (2.) The righteousness of sanctification, by which
we evidence our justification to men. But others say it is a Hebrew-
ism rather, by the plural righteousnesses noting the most absolute,
complete, and perfect righteousness which we have in Christ.^ Now
though I would not exclude inherent righteousness, yet I judge that
imputed righteousness is the righteousness here meant ; and that,
(1.) Because this clothing is that which is the righteousness of all
saints, by which they stand recti in curia before God. Now there is
no standing before God in our inherent righteousness ; for though,
next to Christ, our graces are our best jewels, yet they are but weak
and imperfect, they have their specks and spots, they are like the
moon, which, when it shines brightest, yet has her black spots.^
(2.) Christ's righteousness is the only pure, clean, white, spotless
righteousness. There is no speck or spot to be found upon Christ's
righteousness ; but ' we are all as an unclean thing, and all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags,' as that evangelical prophet speaks,
Isa. Ixiv. 6, 3. The word here is plural, SiKaido/xara, ' righteousnesses.'
Christ hath many righteousnesses — ^first, He hath his essential and
personal righteousness as God. Now this essential personal righteous-
ness of Christ cannot be imputed to us. Osiander was of opinion that
men were justified by the essential righteousness of Christ as God,
which was a most dangerous opinion, and learnedly and largely con-
futed by Calvin in his Institutions,* and by others since ; secondly y
^ In this 1 Cor. i. 30, the apostle (1.) distinguisheth righteousness from sanctification,
imputed righteousness from inherent righteousness ; (2.) he saith that Christ's righteous-
ness is made ours of God. See Rom. iv. 6 ; Ps. Ixxi. 16.
'^ So the Hebrew word is used, Isa. xlv. 24.
3 Ps. Ixxvi. 7, and cxliii. 2; Job ix. 15, xxii. 2-4, and xxxv. 7. The saints are said
(Rer. vii. 15) to be clothed in white robes, not because they had merited, or adorned them-
selves with good works, but because they had washed and made white their robes in the
blood of the Lamb. ■* i. 15, 3, 5. ii. 12, 5-7. iii. 11, 5.— G.
232 OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.
There is the mediatory righteousness of Christ. Now this is that
righteousness which he wrought for us as mediator, whereby he did
subject himself to the precepts, to the penalties, commands and curses,
answering both God's vindictive and rewarding justice. There is
Christ's active righteousness, and there is Christ's passive righteous-
ness, &c. Of these I have spoken already in this treatise, and therefore
a hint here is enough ; but, thirdly, There are some expressions in the
text that is under consideration that do best agree with the righteous-
ness of Christ ; as first that, that * she is arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white.' 1 This clearly points at imputed righteousness, which
Christ puts upon his bride as a royal robe. That which makes
Christ's bride beautiful, yea, whiter than the snow, and more glorious
than the sun in his eyes, is not any beauty of her own, nor any inherent
righteousness in herself, but the white robe of Christ's own righteousness
that he puts upon her ; second, that expression in the text, ' to her it
was granted, that she should be arrayed in fine linen,' &c. ' It was
granted to her,' to shew that this fine linen was none of her own
spinning, it was a free gift of Christ unto her. Saints have no other
righteousness, to make them comely and lovely in the eyes of God, but
the robe of Christ's righteousness, which is that fine white linen that
Christ gives them, and that he puts upon them ; lastly, observe the
confirmation and ratification that is given to these words in the 9th
verse, ' Write, these are the true sayings of God.' These are not my
sayings, nor the sayings of angels, but they are the sayings of that God
that is truth itself, that cannot die, nor lie, nor deny himself, nor de-
ceive the sons of God ; and therefore you may safely rest upon these
sayings of God, both in the 8th and 9th verses, as most sure and cer-
tain. Surely the righteousness the believer hath is imputed ; it is an
accounted or reckoned righteousness to him ; it is not that which he
hath inherently in himself, but God through Christ doth esteem of
him as if he had it, and so deals with him as wholly righteous —
(1.) It stands with reason that that satisfaction should be imputed to
me, which my surety hath made for my debt. Now Christ was our
surety, as the apostle calls him, Heb. vii. 22. (2.) Adam's sin was
justly imputed by God to all his posterity, though it was not their own
inherently and actually, as the apostle tells us, Kom. v. 14 ; and the
sins of all the elect were imputed unto Christ, though they were not
his own inherently and actually. ' He made him to be sin for us, who
knew no sin,' saith the apostle, 2 Cor. v, 21 ; and ' upon him was laid
the iniquity of us all,' ^ Isa. liii. 6. All the sins of all the believers in
the world, from the first creation to the last judgment, were laid on
him. How laid on him but by imputation ? Surely there was in
Christ no fundamental guilt ! No, no ; but he was made sin by im-
putation and law-account ; he was our surety, and so our sins were
laid on him in order to punishment. And to prefigure this, all the
* How can it stand with reason that the Papists by the Pope's indulgences should be
made partakers of the merits and good works one of another, and yet be against reason
that we by the ordinance of God should be made partakers of the merits and righteous-
ness of Jesus Christ ?
" This must be Luther's meaning when he saith, Christ was the greatest sinner ; he
was Manasseh that idolater, David that adulterer, Peter that denier of his Master, &c.,
to wit, by imputation only, he being made sin for them, as the apostle speaks.
OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST. 233
iniquities of God's people were imputed to their sacrifice, though they
were not inherently his own, as we read. Lev. xvi. 21, 22, ' Aaron shall
put all the iniquities of all the children of Israel, and all their trans-
gressions, and all their sins, upon the head of the goat ; and the goat
shall bear upon him all their iniquities.' And why then should it
seem strange that the perfect righteousness of our sacrifice and surety,
though it be not our own inherently, should be imputed to us by the
Lord and made ours ? ^
Fi-equently and seriously consider that the word answering this im-
puting is in the Hebrew Chashah, and in the Greek Xoyi^eadat, of
wliicli the sum, as the learned say, comes to this, that though the
words in the general signify to think, to reason, to imagine, &c., yet
very frequently they are used to signify to account or reckon, by way
of computation, as arithmeticians use to do, so that it is, as it were,
a judgment passed upon a thing when all reasons and arguments are
cast together. And from this it is applied to signify any kind of
accounting or reckoning ; and in this sense imputation is taken here
for God's esteeming and accounting of us righteous ; ^ti^FT, signifies to
reckon or account. It is taken by a borrowed speech from merchants'
reckonings and accounts, who have their debt-books, wherein they set
down how their reckonings stand in the particulars they deal in.
Now, in such debt-books merchants use to set down whatever pay-
ments are only made, either by the debtors themselves, or by others
in the behalf of them ; an example whereof we have in the Epistle of
Philemon, ver. 18, where Paul undertakes to Philemon for Onesimus,
' If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee anything, put that on my
account ; ' that is, account Onesimus his debt to Paul, and Paul's
satisfaction or payment to Onesimus, which answers the double im-
putation in point of justification ; that is, of our sins to Christ, and of
Christ's satisfaction to us, Ps. xxxii. 1,2; both which are implied,
2 Cor. V. 21 , * He made him to be sin for us ; ' that is, our sins were
imputed to him, ' that we might be the righteousness of God in him ;'
that is, that his righteousness might be imputed to us. The language
of Jesus Christ to his Father seems to be this, holy Father, I have
freely and willingly taken all the-debts and all the sins of all the be-
lievers in the world upon me ; I have undertaken to be their pay-
master, to satisfy thy justice, to pacify thy wrath, to fulfil thy law, &c.,
and therefore, lo, here I am, ready to do whatever thou commandest,
and ready to suffer whatsoever thou pleasest; I am willing to be
reckoned a sinner, that they may be reckoned righteous ; I am willing
to be accounted cursed, that they may be for ever blessed ; I am will-
ing to pay all their debts, that they may be set at liberty ; I am will-
ing to lay down my life, that they may escape the second death ; I
am Avilling that my soul should be exercised with the most hideous
agonies, that their souls may be possessed of heaven's happinesses, Ps.
xl. 6-8 ; Heb. x. 4-9 ; John x. 11, 15, 17, 18 ; Kev. xx. 6. Oh, what
wonderful wisdom, grace, and love is here manifested ! that when we
were neither able to satisfy the penalty of the law, or to bring a con-
^ To impute in the general, is to acknowledge that to be another's which is not indeed
his ; and it is used either in a good or bad sense, so that it is no more than to account or
reckon. It is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and accepted for us, by which
we are judged righteous.
234 NINE STBONG CONSOLATIONS THAT FLOW FROM
formity to it, that then Christ should interpose, and become both
redemption and righteousness for us !
„ '^,?7'lu? ^1^^ i^^Puted righteousness of Christ, a believer may form
up this fifth plea, as to all the ten scriptures in the margin, that refer
to the great day of account :i blessed God, thou hast given me to
r ?t?'^,^h^. ^^'^ '^^diatory righteousness of Christ includes first
the habitual holiness of his person, in the absence of all sin, and 'in the
rich and plentiful presence of all holy andrequisite qualities; secondly
the actual holiness of his life and death by obedience. By his active
obedience he perfectly fulfilled the commands of the laiu,and by his
passive obedience his voluntary mfferings, he satisfied the penalty and
commiTuition of the Uw for transgressions, that perfect satisfaction to
divine justice, in ivhatsoever it requires, either in wayofpuni^hina
forsm, or obedience to the law, mxxde by the Lord J^Ls Christ, God
^^ir''\)i ^^^^«^^f/^i^ ^/^ covenant, as a common head, repre-
n /f «^^,f 7.7/'^^ he Father hath given to him, and made Zer
Zwlr/f. 7?'^''''' '^/'^^^: ^^"^ '' ^^'^^ righteousness that is im-
^^if'.fif^T' '''i}^'^J^'t^Mtion, andthis imputed righteous-
ness of thy dear Son and my dear Saviour is now my plea before.thy
fhTttCTi; /^P^t^d "ghteo^sness is the same materially S
that which the law reqmreth. It is obedience to the law of God
exactly and punctually performed, to the very utmost iota and tittle
thereof. Witnout the least abatement, Christ hath paid the utter-
Thatf fuSd ?if i ^h^.f-lf 1-g of the law for rigLousness! and
mic^M t ?n?fi IV^' ^r '^ ^^' ^."^^'^ °^^"^^' *^ ^^^^ intent that it
might be fulfilled in the same nature to which it was at first given •
Tl f }l^}l Y^ ^^^l^^^^^ ^^°' ^^ ^1^ their names, and on all thei;
Kfillp^ ^'^'' P ^^^' ^-H^ '^^ righteousness of the law might
be fulfilled in them, Kom. vui. 3, 4.2 It is as if our dear Lord Jesus
had said blessed Father, this I suffer, and this I do, to the use
upi' m^tf r ^ "''\'^ ^^ '^T '^^^ ^^'^ ^^^^^-^ theirsoui:
IT,^-' J may have a righteousness which they may truly
call their own, and on which they may safely rest, and in which they
may for ever glory, Isa. xlv. 24, 25. Now it Wl never stand with
the unspotted holiness, justice, and- righteousness of God to reiect
this righteousness of his Son, or that plea that is bottomed upon-'Tt
Oh the matchless happmess of believers, who have so fair so full
and so noble a plea to make in the great day of our Lord Jesus » '
gt^e^^. But some may say, Wliat blessed fruU grows upmi this
glorious tree ofparadise-yiz., the righteousness of Jesus Chfist tS
IS imputed to all believers ? What strong consolations fiozvs frZth^
fountain the imputed righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ ? I
answer, there are these nine choice consolations, that flow in UDon all
believers, through the righteousness of Christ imputed to them^--
1. ±irst Let all believers know for their comfort, that in this im-
puted righteousness of Christ there is enough to satisfy thejmtirof
" The righteousness which the law reauirpth nnnn t^o,-,, ^f j „ i-
with that which the law requireth. ^ nghteousuess is the same materially
THE IMPUTATION OF CHRIST's RIGHTEOUSNESS. 235
God to the uttermost fartliing^ and to take off all his judicial anger
and fury. The mediatory righteousness of Christ is so perfect, so
full, so exact, so complete, and so fully satisfactory to the justice of
God, as that divine justice cries out, I have enough, and I require no
more ; I have found a ransom, and I am fully pacified towards you,
Ezek. xvi. 61-63 ; Heb. x. 10-12, 14 ; Isa. liii. 4-6. It is certain
that Christ was truly and properly a sacrifice for sin ; and it is as
certain that our sins were the meritorious cause of his sufferings. He
did put himself into poor sinners' stead, he took their guilt upon him,
and did undergo that punishment which they should have undergone ;
he did die, and shed his blood, that he might thereby atone God and
expiate sin, Kom. v. 6-12 ; and therefore we may safely and boldly
conclude, that Jesus Christ hath satisfied the justice of God to the
uttermost ; so that now the believing sinner may rejoice and triumph
in the justice as well as in the mercy of God, Heb. vii. 25 ; for doubt-
less the mediatory righteousness of Christ was infinitely more satis-
factory and pleasing to God, than all the sins of believers could be
displeasing to him. God took more pleasure and delight in the bruis-
ing- of his Son, in the humiliation of his Son, and he smelt a sweeter
savour in his sacrifice, than all our sins could possibly offend him or
provoke him, Isa. liii. 10. When a believer casts his eyes upon his
many thousand sinful commissions and omissions, no wonder if he
fears and trembles ; but then, when he looks upon Christ's satisfac-
tion, he may see himself acquitted, and rejoice ; for if there be no
charge, no accusation against the Lord Jesus, there can be none
against the believer, _ Rom. viii. 33-37. Christ's expiatory sacrifice
hath fully satisfied divine justice ; and upon that very ground every
believer hath cause to triumph in Christ Jesus, and in that righteous-
ness of his by which he stands justified before the throne of God,
2 Cor. ii. 14 ; Rev. xiv. 4, 5. Christ is a person of infinite, transcen-
dent worth and excellency, and it makes highly for his honour to
justify believers, in the most ample and glorious way imaginable, &c. ;
and what way is that, but by working out for [them], and then investing
them with, a righteousness adequate to the law of God ; a righteousness
that should be every way commensurate to the miserable estate of
fallen man, and to the holy design of the glorious God. It is the
high honour of the second Adam that he hath restored to fallen man
a more glorious righteousness than that he lost in the first Adam ;
and it would be high blasphemy, in the eyes of angels and men, for
any mortal to assert that the second Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ
was less powerful to save, than the first Adam was to destroy. The
second Adam is ' able to save to the uttermost all such as come to
God through him,' Heb. vii. 25. The second Adam is able to save to
all ends and purposes perfectly, saith Beza ; perpetually, or for ever
saith Tremellius; in oeternum, saith Syrus ; in 'peri^etuum, saith
the Vulg. ; ad 'plenum, saith Erasmus ; ad perfectum, saith Stapul-
ensis.i He is able to save to the uttermost obligation of the law
preceptive, as well as penal ; and to bring in perfect righteousness, as
well as perfect mnocency. He is able to save to the uttermost demand
of divine justice, by that perfect satisfaction that he has given to
* fi'y t6 TTo^'TcXes, ' to the uttermost' of time, at all times, and for ever &c.
236 NINE STRONG CONSOLATIONS THAT FLOW FROM
divine justice. ' Christ is mighty to save,' Isa. Ixiii. 1; and as he is
mighty to save, so he loves to save poor sinners, in such a way wherein
he may most magnify his own might ; and therefore he will purchase
their pardon with his blood, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, and make reparation to
divine justice for all the wrongs and injuries which fallen man had
done to his Creator and his royal law ; and bestow upon him a better
righteousness than that which Adam lost ; and bring him into a more
safe, high, honourable, and durable estate than that which Adam fell
from when he was in his created perfection. All the attributes of
God do acquiesce in the imputed righteousness of Christ, so that a
believer may look upon the holiness, justice, and righteousness of God,
and rejoice, and lay himself down in peace, Ps. iv. 8. I have read in
story, that Pilate being called to Rome, to give an account unto the
emperor for some misgovernment and mal-administration, he put on
the seamless coat of Christ ; and all the time that he had that coat
upon his back, Caesar's fury was abated. Christ has put his coat, his
robe of righteousness, upon every believer, Isa. Ixi. 10 ; upon which
account all the judicial anger, wrath, and fury of God towards believers
ceaseth : Isa. liv. 9, ' For this is as the waters of Noah unto me : for
as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the
earth ; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor
rebuke thee.' Ver. 10, ' For the mountains shall depart, and the hills
be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath
mercy on thee.' But,
2. Secondly, Know for your comfort, that this imputed, this media-
tory righteousness of Christ takes away all your unrighteousness.
It cancels every bond ; it takes away all iniquity, and answers for all
your sins, Isa. liii. 5-7 ; Col. ii. 12-15. Lord, here are my sins of
omission, and here are my sins of commission ; but the righteousness
of Christ hath answered for them all. Here are my sins against the
law, and here are my sins against the gospel, and here are my sins
against the offers of grace, the tenders of grace, the strivings of
grace, the bowels of grace; but the righteousness of Christ hath
answered for them all. I have read that when a cordial was offered
to a godly man that was sick, Oh, said he, the cordial of cordials which
I daily take is, ' that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all
our sins,' 1 John i. 7. sirs ! it would be high blasphemy for any
to imagine that there should be more demerit in any sin, yea, in all
sin, to condemn a believer, than there is merit in Christ's righteous-
ness to absolve him, to justify him, Eom, viii. 1, 33-35. The right-
eousness of Christ was shadowed out by the glorious robes and apparel
of the high priest, Exod. xxx. That attire in which the high priest
appeared before God, what was it else but a type of Christ's righteous-
ness ? The filthy garments of Joshua, who represented the church,
were not only taken off from him, thereby signifying the removal of
our sins, Zech. iii. 4, 5 ; but also a new, fair garment was put upon
him, to signify our being clothed with the wedding-garment of Christ's
righteousness. If any shall say. How is it possible that a soul that is
defiled with the worst of sins should be whiter than the snow, yea,
beautiful and glorious in the eyes of God ? Ps. li. 7. The answer is
THE IMPUTATION OF CHEIST's RIGHTEOUSNESS. 237
at hand, because to whomsoever the Lord doth give the pardon of his
sins, which is the first part of our justification, to them he doth also
impute' the righteousness of Christ, which is the second part of our
justification before God. Thus David describeth, saith the apostle,
' the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness
without works ; saying. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered,' Kom. iv, 6, 7. Now to that man whose
sins the Lord forgives, to him he doth impute righteousness also:
' Take away the filthy garments from him/ saith the Lord of Joshua ;
* and he said unto him. Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass
from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment,' Zech. iii. 4.
And what was that change of raiment ? Surely the perfect obedience
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus, which God doth impute unto us ;
in which respect also we are said, by justifying faith, to put on the
Lord Jesus, Rom. xiii. 14 ; and to be clothed with him as with a
garment, Gal. iii. 27. And no marvel if, being so apparelled, we
appear beautiful and glorious in the sight of God : ' To her,' that is,
Christ's bride, ' was granted that she should be arryed in fine linen,
clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,' Rev.
xix. 8. This perfect righteousness of Christ, which the Lord imputeth
to us, and wherewith, as with a garment, he clotheth us, is the only
righteousness which the saints have to stand before God with ; and
having that robe of righteousness on, they may stand with great bold-
ness and comfort before the judgment-seat of God. But,
3, Thirdly, Know for your comfort, that this righteousness of Christ
presents us perfectly righteous in the sight of God. ' He is made to us
righteousness,' 1 Cor. i. 30. The robe of innocency, like the veil of
the temple, is rent asunder ; our righteousness is a ragged righteous-
ness, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, Isa. Ixiv. 4. Look, as
under rags the naked body is seen, so under the rags of our righteous-
nesses the body of death is seen. Christ is all in all in regard of
righteousness : Christ is ' the end of the law for righteousness to them
that believe,' i Rom. x. 4.
That is, through Christ we are as righteous as if we had satisfied
the law in our own persons. The end of the law is to justify and
save those which fulfil it. Christ subjected himself thereto ; he per-
fectly fulfilled it for us, and his perfect righteousness is imputed to us.
Christ fulfilled the moral law, not for himself , but for us; therefore
Christ doing it for believers, they fulfil the law in Christ. And so
Christ by doing, and they believing in him that doth it, do fulfil the
law ; or Christ may be said to be the end of the law, because the end
of the law is perfect righteousness, that a man may be justified thereby,
which end we cannot attain . of ourselves, through the frailty of our
flesh ; but by Christ we attain it, who hath fulfilled the law for us.
Christ hath perfectly fulfilled the decalogue for us, and that three
ways : (1.) In his pure conception ; (2.) In his godly life ; (3.) in his
holy and obedient sufferings ; and all for us. For whatsoever the law
required that we should be, do, or suff'er, he hath performed in our
behalf. Therefore one wittily saith, (Aretius,) that Christ is T€ko(i,
the end or tribute ; and we by his payment areXei9, tribute-free. We
^ Finis perficiens, non interficiens. — Augustine.
238 NINE STRONG CONSOLATIONS THAT FLOW FROM
are discharged by him before God. Christ, in respect of the integrity
and purity of his nature, being conceived without sin. Mat. i. 18 ; and
in respect of his life and actions, being wholly conformed to the abso-
lute righteousness of the law, Luke i. 35 ; and in respect of the pun-
ishment which he suffered, to make satisfaction unto God's justice for
the breach of the law, 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Col. i. 20, — in these respects
Christ is the perfection of the law, and * the end of the law for right-
eousness to them that beUeve.' Jacob got the blessing in the garment
of his elder brother ; so in the garment of Christ's righteousness, who
is our elder brother, we obtain the blessing ; yea, ' all spiritual bless-
ings in heavenly places,' Eph. i. 4. We are made ' the righteousness
of God in him,' 2 Cor. v. 21. The church, saith Marorate, which puts
on Christ, and his righteousness, is more illustrious than the air is by
the sun. The infinite wisdom and power of dear Jesus in reconciling
the law and the gospel, in this great mystery of justification, is greatly
to be magnified. In the blessed Scriptures we find the righteousness
of justification to take its various denominations. In respect of the
material cause, it is called the righteousness of the law, Kom. v. 17;
in respect of the efficient cause, it is called the righteousness of Christ,
1 Cor. i. 30 ; in respect of the formal, it is called the righteousness of
God, he imputing of it, Kom. iii. 22 ; in respect of the instrumental
cause, it is called the righteousness of faith, Phil. iii. 9 ; and in respect
of the moving and final cause, we are said to be justified freely by
grace, Rom. iii. 24 ; Titus iii. 7. The law, as it was a covenant of
works, required exact and perfect obedience, in men's proper persons ;
this was legal justification. But in the new covenant, God is contented
'to accept this righteousness in the hand of a surety, and this is evan-
gelical justification. This righteousness presents us in the sight of
God as ' all fair,' Cant. iv. 7 ; as ' complete,' Col. ii. 10 ; as ' without
spot or wrinkle,' Eph. v. 27 ; as ' without fault before the throne of
God,' Rev. xiv. 5 ; as ' holy, and unblamable, and unreprovable in
his sight,' Col. i. 22. Oh, the happiness and blessedness, the safety
and glory, of those precious souls, who, in the righteousness of Jesus
Christ, stand perfectly righteous in the sight of God ! But,
4. Fourthly, Know for your comfort, that this imputed righteous-
ness of Christ ivill ansioer to all the fears, doubts, and objections of
your souls. How shall I look up to God ? The answer is, in the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. How shall I have any communion with
a holy God in this world ? The answer is, in the righteousness of
Christ. How shall I find acceptance with God ? The answer is, in
the righteousness of Clirist. How shall I die ? The answer is, in the
righteousness of Christ. How shall I stand before the judgment-seat ?
The answer is, in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Your sure and
only way, under all temptations, fears, conflicts, doubts, and disputes,
is, by faith, to remember Christ, and the sufferings of Christ, as your
mediator and surety ; and say, Christ, thou art my sin, in being
made sin for me, 2 Cor. v. 21 ; and thou art my curse, being made a
curse for me. Gal. iii. 13 ; or rather, I am thy sin, and thou art my
righteousness ; I am thy curse, and thou art my blessing ; I am thy
death, and thou art my life ; I am the wrath of God to thee, and thou
art the love of God to me ; I am thy hell, and thou art my heaven.
THE IMPUTATION OF CHRIST's RIGHTEOUSNESS. 239
sirs ! if you think of your sins, and of God's wrath ; if you think
of your guiltiness, and of God's justice, your hearts will faint and fail,
they will fear and tremble and sink into despair, if you do not think
of Christ, if you do not stay and rest your souls upon the mediatory
righteousness of Christ, the imputed righteousness of Christ. The
imputed righteousness of Christ answers all cavils and objections,
though there were millions of them, that can be made against the good
estate of a believer. This is a precious truth, more worth than a world,
that all our sins are pardoned, not only in a way of truth and mercy,
but in a way of justice. Satan and our own consciences will object
many things against our souls, if we plead only the mercy and the
truth of God ; and will be ready to say. Oh, but where is then the
justice of God ? can mercy pardon without the consent of his justice ?
But now, whilst we rest upon the satisfaction of Christ, 'justice and
mercy kiss each other,' Ps. Ixxxv. 10 ; yea, justice saith, I am pleased.
In a day of temptation, many things will be cast in our dish, about
the multitude of our sins, and the greatness of our sins, and the
grievousness of our sins, and about the circumstances and aggravations
of our sins ; but that good word, ' Christ hath redeemed us from all
iniquities,' he hath paid the full price that justice could exact or
require; and that good word, 'Mercy rejoiceth against judgment,'
James ii. 13, may support, comfort, and bear us up under all. The
infinite worth of Christ's obedience, did arise from the dignity of his
person, who was God-man ; so that all the obedience of angels and
men, if put together, could not amount to the excellency of Christ's
satisfaction. The righteousness of Christ, is often called the righteous-
ness of God, because it is a righteousness of God's providing, and a right-
eousness that God is fully satisfied with ; and therefore, no fears, no
doubts, no cavils, no objections, no disputes, can stand before this blessed
and glorious righteousness of Jesus Christ, that is imputed to us. But,
5. Fifthly, Know for your comfort, that the imputed righteousness
of Christ is the best title that you have to sheiu for ' a kingdom that
shakes not, for riches' that corrupt not, for an inheritance that fadeth
not away, and for an house not made with hands, but one eternal in
the heavens,' Heb. xii. 28 ; 1 Pet. i. 3-5 ; 2 Cor. v. 1-4. It is the
fairest certificate that you have to shew for all that happiness and
blessedness that you look for in that other world. The righteousness
of Christ is your life, your joy, your comfort, your crown, your confi-
dence, your heaven, your all. Oh that you were still so wise as to
keep a fixed eye and an awakened heart upon the mediatory right-
eousness of Christ ; for that is the righteousness by which you may
safely and comfortably live, and by which you may happily and quietly
die. It was a very sweet and golden confession, which Bernard made,
when he thought himself to be at the point of death.i I confess, said
he, I am not worthy, I have no merits of mine own to obtain heaven
by, but my Lord had a double right thereunto ; an hereditary right
as a Son, and a meritorious right as a sacrifice ; he was contented with
the one right himself, the other right he hath given unto me ; by the
virtue of which gift I do rightly lay claim unto it, and am not con-
founded. Ah, that believers would dwell much upon this, that they
Guliel. Abbas, in vita Bern., lib. i. cap. 12.
240 NINE STRONG CONSOLATIONS THAT FLOW FROM
have a righteousness in Christ, that is as full, perfect, and complete,
as if they had fulfilled the law. * Christ beiug the end of the law for
righteousness to believers,' invests believers with a righteousness, every-
way as complete as the personal obedience of the law would have
invested them withal, Kom. viii. 3, 4 ; yea, the righteousness that
believers have by Christ is, in some respect, better than that they
should have had by Adam: (1.) Because of the dignity of Christ's
person, he being the Son of God, his righteousness is more glorious
than Adam's was ; his righteousness is called ' The righteousness of
God ;' and we are made the * righteousness of God in him,' 2 Cor. v.
21. The first Adam was a mere man, the second Adam is God and
man. (2.) Because the righteousness is perpetual. Adam was a
mutable person, he lost his righteousness in one day, say some, and all
that glory which his posterity should have possessed, had he stood fast
in innocency ; but the righteousness of Christ cannot be lost. His
righteousness is like himself, from everlasting to everlasting. It is an
everlasting righteousness, Dan. ix. 24. When once this white rai-
ment is put upon a believer, it can never fall off", it can never be taken
ofi". This splendid glorious righteousness of Jesus Christ's, is as really
a believer's, as if he had wrought it himself, Rev. xix. 8. A believer
is no loser, but a gainer, by Adam's fall. By the loss of Adam's
righteousness is brought to light a more glorious and durable right-
eousness than ever Adam's was ; and upon the account of an interest
in this righteousness a believer may challenge all the glory of that
upper world. But,
6. Sixthly, Know for your comfort, that this imputed righteousness
of Christ is the only true basis, bottom, and ground, for a believer to
build his happiness upon, his joy and comfort upon, and the truepeaxie
and quiet of his conscience upon. What though Satan, or thy own heart,
or the world, condemns thee ; yet in this thou mayest rejoice, that God
justifies thee. You see what a bold challenge Paul makes, Rom. viii.
33, ' Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? it is God
that justifieth ; ' some read it question-wise, thus, ' Shall God that
justifieth ? ' no such matter.^ And if the judge acquit the prisoner at
the bar, he cares not though the jailer or his fellow-prisoners condemn
him ; so here there are no accusers that a believer needs to fear, seeing
that it is God himself, who is the supreme judge, that absolves him as
just. God absolves, and therefore it is to no purpose for Satan to ac-
cuse us. Rev. xii. 10 ; nor for the law of Moses to accuse us, John v.
45 ; nor for our own consciences to accuse us, Rom. ii. 25 ; nor for
the world to accuse us. God is the highest judge, and his tribunal-
seat is the supreme judgment-seat ; therefore from thence there is no
appealing. As amongst men, persons accused or condemned, may
appeal, till they come to the highest court ; but if in the highest, they
are absolved and discharged, then they are free, and safe and well :
so the believer being absolved before God's tribunal-seat, there is no
further accusations to be feared, all appeals from thence being void
^ Rom. viii. 33. lyKoKiaei, signifies in jus vocare, or call unto the law. It is a law-
custom to clear men by proclamation. If one hath been indicted at the Assizes, and no
bill brought in against him, there is an ' Oh yes' made, if any have anything to say
against the prisoner at the bar, let him come forth, since he stands upon his freedom.
The application is easy.
THE IMPUTATION OF CHKIST's RIGHTEOUSNESS. 241
and of no force. The consideration of which should arm us and com-
fort us and strengthen us against all terrors of conscience, guilt of sin,
accusation of the law, and cruelty of Satan ; inasmuch as these either
dare not appear before God to accuse us or charge us ; or if they do,
it is but lost labour. Ambrose gives the sense thus. None can or dare
retract the judgment of God ; for he confidently provoketh all adver-
saries, if they dare come forth to accuse ; not that there is no cause,
but because God hath justified. ' It is God that justifieth,' therefore
it is in vain to accuse them ; and ' it is God that justifieth them : ' if God
doth it none can reverse it, for there are none that are equal with God.
Let all the accusations, which shall come in against thee, from one
hand or another, be true or false, they shall never hurt thee ; for he
from whom there is no appeal, hath fully acquitted thee, and there-
fore no accusation can endanger thy peace. Ah ! what a strong
cordial would this be to aU the people of God, if they would but live
in the power of this glorious truth, that it is ' God that justifies them,'
and that there lies no accusations in the court of heaven against them !
The great reason why many poor Christians are under so many dejec-
tions, despondencies, and perplexities, is because they drink no more of
this water of life, ' It is God that justifieth.' Did Christians live more
upon this breast, ' It is God that justifieth,' they would be no more
like Pharaoh's lean kine, but would be fat and flourishing, Gen. xli.
1-3. Did they but draw more out of this well of salvation, ' It is God
that justifieth,' how would their spirits revive, and a new life rise up
in them, as did in the dead child, by the prophet Elisha's applying
himself to it, 2 Kings iv. 34-37. The imputed righteousness of
Christ is a real, sure, and solid foundation, upon which a believer
may safely build his peace, joy, and everlasting rest ; yea, it will help
him to glory in tribulations, and to triumph over all adversities ; Rom.
V. 1-3 ; Isa. xlv. 24, ' Surely, shall one say, in the Lord I have
righteousness and strength.' That which is the greatest terror in the
world to unbelievers, is the strongest ground of comfort to believers ;
that is the justice and wrath of God against sin. Look how it was
when the angel appeared at the resurrection of our Saviour Jesus
Christ, ' The keepers were afi'righted, and became as dead men ;' but
it was said to the women, * Fear not ye, for ye seek Jesus of Nazareth,
that was crucified,' Mat. xxviii. 4, 5 : so it is much more in this case.
When God's justice is powerfully manifested, the sinners of Sion and
the world are afraid and terrified, Isa. xxxiii. 14. But yet, poor be-
lievers, seek for Christ who was crucified ; ye need not fear anything ;
yea, you may be wonderfully cheered at this, and it is your greatest
comfort that you have to deal with this just God, who hath already
received satisfaction for your sins. It is observable that the saints
triumph in the justice and judgments of God, that are most ter-
rible to the enemies of God, in that which is the substance of
the song of Moses and the Lamb, Rev. xv. 3-5 : so in that, Luke
xxi. 28, where the day of judgment is described, say some, and
that in it, ' there shall be distress of nations, and men's hearts failing
them for fear ' — viz., of the justice and wrath of God. Why so ? It
is for ' looking after those things that are to come upon the earth ; for
the powers of the earth shall be shaken,' &c. ' But when these things
VOL. V. Q
242
NINE STRONG CONSOLATIONS THAT FLOW FROM
begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads ; for
your redemption draweth near/ This day is the most dreadful day
that ever was in the world to all the ungodly ; but the just and
faithful then shall be able to lift up their heads, to see all the
world on a-light fire about them, and all the elements in terrible
confusion. But how dare a poor creature lift up his head in
such a case as this ? * They shall see the Son of man, coming
in a cloud, with power and great glory/ Here is enough to
comfort the poor members of Christ, — to see Christ, on whom
they have believed, and who hath satisfied God's justice for them,
and imputed his own righteousness to them : to see him set upon
his judgment-seat, cannot but be matter of joy and rejoicing
to them. Now they shall find the power of that word upon their
souls: Isa. xl. 1, 'Comfort ye, comfort ye my' people, saith the
Lord ; speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and say unto her that her
warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned ; for she hath
received at the Lord's hand double for her sins;' i.e., their conflict
with the wrath of God is at an end, the punishment of their iniquity
is accepted, they have received in their head and surety, Christ Jesus,
double for their sins ; i.e., justice hath passed upon them, in their
head, Christ Jesus ; and they are sure that the judge of all the earth
will do right, and will not punish their sins twice. The exactness of
God's justice cannot do this : Job xxxiv. 10, ' Far be it from God
that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should
commit iniquity ; ' ver. 12, ' Yea, surely God will not do wickedly,
neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.' It would be high in-
justice in a magistrate to punish the same offence twice ; and it would
be high blasphemy for any to assert that ever God should be guilty of
such injustice. Whilst Christians set up a righteousness of their own,
and build not upon the righteousness of Christ, how unsettled are they !
Kom. X. 3 ; how miserably are they tossed up and down, sometimes
fearing and sometimes hoping, sometimes supposing themselves in a
good condition, and anon seeing themselves upon the very brink of
hell ! but now all is quiet and serene with that soul that builds upon
the righteousness of Christ; for, he being 'justified by faith, hath
pace with God,' Kom. v. 1. Observe that noble description of Christ
in that Isa. xxxii. 2, ' And a man,' that is, the man Christ Jesus,
* shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tem-
pest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land.' When a man is clothed with the righteousness of
Christ, who is God-man, it is neither wind nor tempest, it is neither
drought nor weariness, that can disturb the peace of his soul ; for
Christ and his righteousness will be a hiding-place, a covert, and rivers
of water, and the shadow of a great rock unto him ; for, being at per-
fect peace with God, he may well say with the psalmist, ' I will lay
me down in peace,' Ps. iv. 6-8. The peace and comfort of an
awakened sinner can never stand firm and stable, but upon the basis
of a positive righteousness. When a sensible sinner casts his eye
upon his own righteousness, holiness, fastings, prayers, tears, hum-
bhngs, meltings, he can find no place for the sole of his foot to rest
firmly upon, by reason of the spots, and blots, and blemishes, tliat
THE IMPUTATION OF CHRIST's RIGHTEOUSNESS. 243
cleaves both to his graces and duties. He knows that his prayers
need pardon, and that his tears need washing in the blood of the Lamb,
and that his very righteousness needs another's righteousness to secure
him from condemnation. ' If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, O
Lord, who shall stand ? ' Ps. cxxx. 3, and i. 5 ; that is, rectus in
curia, ' stand,' that is, in judgment. Extremity of justice he de-
precateth ; he would not be dealt with in rigour and rage. The best
man's life is fuller of sins than the firmament is of stars, or the fur-
nace of sparks ; and therefore who can stand in judgment, and not fall
under the weight of thy just wrath, which burneth as low as hell itself ?
i.e., none can stand. Were the faults of the best man alive but
written in his forehead, he was never able to stand in judgment.
When a man comes to the law for justification, it convinceth him of
sin ; when he pleads his innocence, that he is not so great a sinner as
others are, when he pleads his righteousness, his duties, his good mean-
ings, and his good desires, the law tells him that they are all weighed
in the balance of the sanctuary, and found too light, Dan. v. 27 ; the
law tells him that the best of his duties will not save him, and that
the least of his sins will damn him ; the law tells him that his own
righteousnesses are as filthy rags, do but defile him, and that his best
services do but witness against him ; the law looks for perfect and
personal obedience, and because the sinner cannot come up to it, it
pronounceth him accursed. Gal. iii. 10 ; and though the sinner sues
hard for mercy, yet the law will shew him none, no, though he seeks
it carefully with tears, Heb. xii. 17. But now, when the believing
sinner casts his eye upon the righteousness of Christ, he sees that
righteousness to be a perfect and exact righteousness, as perfect and
exact as that of the law ; yea, it is the very righteousness of the law,
though not performed by him, yet by his surety, ' The Lord his
righteousness ; ' and upon this foundation he stands firm, and 'rejoices
with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.' The saints of old have
always placed their happiness, peace, and comfort, in their perfect and
complete justification, rather than in their imperfect and incomplete
sanctification, as you may see by the scriptures in the margin, with
many others that are scattered up and down in the blessed book of
God.i That text is worthy to be written in letters of gold : Isa.
Ixi. 10, ' I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,' saith the sound believer,
' my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the
garments of salvation.' He hath imputed and given unto me the per-
fect holiness and obedience of my blessed Saviour, and made it mine.
* He hath covered me (all over, from top to toe) with the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and
as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.' Though a Christian's
inherent righteousness be weak and imperfect, maimed and stained,
blotted and blurred, as it is, yet it affords much comfort, peace, joy,
and rejoicing, as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the mar-
gin together.^ Job was much taken with his inherent righteousness :
1 Jer. xxiii. 6 ; 1 Peter i. 8 ; Luke vii. 48, 50 ; Rom. iv. 6, 8, and v. 1, 3 ; Isa. xxxviii.
16, 17, and xlv. 24, 25 ; Phil. iv. 7.
* 1 Ciiron. xxix. 9 ; Job xxvii. 4-6 ; Neh. xiii, 14, 22, 3 ; Isa. xxxviii. 31 ; Prov. ixi.
14 ; 2 Cor. i. 12 ; 1 Pet. iii. 3, 4, and v. 4.
244 NINE STRONG CONSOLATIONS THAT FLOW FROM
Job xxix. 14, ' I put on righteousness, and it clothed me ; my judg-
ment was as a robe and a diadem unto me.' Look, as sober, modest,
comely apparel doth much set forth and adorn the body in the eyes of
men, so doth inherent grace, inherent holiness, inherent righteousness,
when it sparkles in the faces, lips, lives, and good works of the saints,
much more beautify and adorn them in- the eyes both of God and
man. Now if this garment of inherent righteousness, that hath so
many spots and rents in it, will adorn us, and joy us so much, what a
beauty and glory is that which the Lord our God hath put upon us,
in clothing us with the robe of his Son's righteousness ; for by this
means we shall recover more by Christ than we lost by Adam. The
robe of righteousness which we have gotten by Christ, the second
Adam, is far more glorious than that which we wqre deprived of by
the first Adam. But,
7. Seventhly, Then know for your comfort, that you have the highest
reason in the world to rejoice and triumph in Christ Jesus, Gal. vi.
14 : Phil. iii. 3, * For we are the circumcision, which worship God in
the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus.' We rejoice in the person of
Christ, and we rejoice in the righteousness of Christ: 2 Cor. ii. 14,
' Now thanks be to God, which always causeth us to triumph in.
Christ' Deo gratia^ was ever in Paul's mouth, and ever in Austin's
mouth, and should be ever in a Christian's mouth, when his eye is fixed
upon the righteousness of Christ. Every believer is in a more blessed
and happy estate, by means of the righteousness of Christ, than Adam
was in innocency. And that upon a threefold account ; all which are
just and noble grounds for every Christian to rejoice and triumph in
Christ Jesus.
(1.) That righteousness which Adam had was uncertain, and such
as it tods possible for him to lose, Gen. iii. ; yea, he did lose it, and
that in a very short time, Ps. viii. 5. God gave him power and free-
dom of will either to hold it or lose it ; and we know soon after, upon
choice, he proved a bankrupt ; but the righteousness that we have by
Jesus Christ is made more firm and sure to us. It is that good part, that
noble portion, that shall never be taken froip us, as Christ said to
Mary, Luke x. 42. Adam sinned away his righteousness, but a be-
liever cannot sin away the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is not
possible for the elect of God so to sin as to lose Christ, or to strip
themselves of that robe of righteousness which Christ hath put upon
them, 1 John iii. 9 ; Kom. viii. 35, 39. The gates of hell shall never
be able to prevail against that soul that is interested in Christ, that is
clothed with the righteousness of Christ, Mat. xvi. 18. Now what
higher grouad of joy and triumph in Christ Jesus can there be than
this? But, •
(2.) The righteousness that Adam had was in his oiun keeping; the
spring and root of it was founded in himself, and that was the cause
why he lost it so soon. Adam, like the prodigal son, Luke xv. 12, 13,
had all his portion, his happiness, his holiness, his blessedness, his
righteousness, in his own hands, in his own keeping ; and so quickly
lost stock and block, as some speak. Oh but now, that blessed right-
eousness that we have by Jesus Christ, is not in our own keeping, but
in our Father's keeping. Look, as our persons, graces, and inherent
THE IMPUTATION OF CHRIST's RIGHTEOUSNESS. 245
righteousness are kept, as in a garrison,^ by the power of God unto
salvation, 1 Pet. i. 5 ; so that righteousness that we have by Jesus
Christ is kept for us by the mighty power of God unto salvation. God
the Father is the Lord Keeper, not only of our inherent righteousness,
but also of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ unto us. ' My
sheep shall never perish,' saith our Saviour, John x. 28, 29, * neither
shall any pluck them out of my hand ; my Father that gave them me
is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father s
hands.' Though the saints may meet with many shakings and tossings
in their various conditions in this world, yet their final perseverance,
till they come to full possession of eternal life, is certain. God is so
unchangeable in his purposes of love, and so invincible in his power,
that neither Satan, nor the world, nor their own flesh, shall ever be able
to separate them from ' a crown of righteousness,' 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8 ;
' a crown of hfe,' Kev. ii, 1 ; 'a crown of glory,' 1 Pet. v. 4. The
power of God is so far above all created opposition, that it will cer-
tainly maintain the saints in a state of grace. Now what a bottom
and ground for rejoicing and triumphing in Christ Jesus is here !
But,
(3.) Admit, that the righteousness that Adam had in his creation
had been unchangeable, and that he could never have lost it; yet,. it
had been but the righteousness of a man, of a mere creature ; and what
a poor, low righteousness would that have been, to that high and glori-
ous righteousness that we have by Jesus Christ, which is the righteous-
ness of such a person as was God as well as man ; yea, that right-
eousness that we have by Jesus Christ is a higher righteousness, and
a more excellent, transcendent righteousness than that of the angels.
Though the righteousness of the angels be perfect and complete in its
kind, yet it is but the righteousness of mere creatures ; but the right-
eousness of the saints, in which they stand clothed before the throne
of God, is the righteousness of that person which is both God and man.
Look, as the second Adam was a far more excellent person than the first
Adam was : ' The first man was of the earth, earthy,' as the apostle
speaks ; ' the second was the Lord from heaven,' 1 Cor. xv. 47 ; not for
the matter of his body, for he was made of a woman, but for the
original and dignity of his person ; whereof you may see a lively and
lofty description in Heb. i. 2, 3 -,2 so his righteousness also must needs
be far more excellent, absolute, glorious, and every way all-sufficient
to satisfy the infinite justice of God, and the exact perfection of his
holy law, than ever Adam's righteousness could possibly have done.
Kemember, sirs, that that righteousness that we have by Jesus Christ
is called the righteousness of God : ' He made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him,' saith the apostle in 2 Cor. v. 21. Now that righteousness that
we have by Jesus Christ, is called the righteousness of God : (1.) Be-
cause it is such a righteousness as God requires ; (2.) As he approves
of and accepts ; (3.) As he takes infinite pleasure and delight and
^ (ppovpovfM^vovs. The original is a military word, and signifies safe keeping ; kept as
with a guard, or in a garrison, that is, well fenced with walls and works, and so is made
impregnable.
^ Look, as Adam conveys his guilt to all his cliildron, so Christ conveys his righteous-
ness to all his : he was caput cum foedere, as well as the first Adam.
246 NINE STRONG CONSOLATIONS THAT FLOW FROM
Batisfaction in. The rigliteousness the apostle speaks of in that
scripture last mentioned, is not to be understood of the essential
righteousness of Christ, which is infinite, and no ways communicable
to the creature, unless we will make a creature a god ; but we are
to understand it, of that righteousness of Clirist that is imputed to
believers, as their sin is imputed to him. Now what a well of salva-
tion is here 1 What three noble grounds and what matchless bottoms
are here for a Christian's joy and triumph in Christ Jesus, who hath
put so glorious a robe as his own righteousness upon them ! Ah,
Christians, let not the consolations of God be small in your eyes, Job
XV. 11 ; why take you no more comfort and delight in Clirist Jesus ?
why rejoice you no more in him ? Not to rejoice in Christ Jesus is a
plain breach of that gospel command, ' Rejoice ii^ the Lord alway,'
that is, rejoice in Christ, ' and again I say, rejoice,' saith the apostle,
Phil. iv. 4. He doubleth the mandate, to shew the necessity and ex-
cellency of the duty: so Phil. iii. 1, 'Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord.' Now, in some respects, the breach of the commands of
the gospel are greater than the breach of the commands of the moral
law ; for the breach of the commands of the gospel carrieth in it a
contempt and light esteem of Jesus Christ, see Heb. ii. 2, 3, viii. 6,
and X. 28, 29. Men's not rejoicing in Christ Jesus must flow from
some dangerous humour, and base corruption or other, that highly dis-
tempers their precious souls. If all created excellencies, if all the
privileges of God's people, if all the kingdoms of the earth, and the
glory of them, were to be presented at one view, they would all appear
as nothing and emptiness, in comparison of the excellency and fulness
that is to be found in Christ Jesus : and therefore the greater is their
sin, who rejoice not in Christ Jesus. Do you ask me where be my
jewels ? my jewels are my husband and his triumjDhs, said Phocion's
wife.^ Do you ask me where be my ornaments? my ornaments are
my two sons brought up in virtue and learning, said the mother of the
Gracchi. Do you ask me where be my treasures ? my treasures are
my friends, said Constantius, the father of Constantine. But now, if
you ask a child of God, when he is not clouded, tempted, deserted,
dejected, where be his jewels, his treasures, his ornaments, his comfort,
his joy, his delight ; he will answer with that martyr, none but Christ,
none but Christ. Oh ! none to Christ, none to Christ ! ' Christ is all
in all unto me,' Col. iii. 11. Sterna erit exultatio, quce bono loetatur
CBterno : That joy lasts for ever, whose object remains for ever. Such
an object is our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the joy of the saints
should still be exercised upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Shall the
worldling rejoice in his barns, the rich man in his bags, the ambitious
man in his honours, the voluptuous man in his pleasures, and the
Avanton in his Delilahs ; and shall not a Christian rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and in that robe of righteousness, and in those garments of
salvation, with which Christ hath covered him? Isa. Ixi. 10. The
joy of that Christian that keeps a fixed eye upon Christ and his
righteousness cannot be expressed, it cannot be painted. No man
can paint the sweetness of the honeycomb, nor the sweetness of a cluster
of Canaan, nor the fragrancy of the rose of Sharon. As the being of
' Plutarch in Phocione.
THE IMPUTATION OF CHRIST's RIGHTEOUSNESS. 247
things cannot be painted, so the sweetness of things cannot be painted.
The joy of the Holy Ghost cannot be painted, nor that joy that arises
in a Christian's heart, who keeps up a daily converse with Christ and
his righteousness, cannot be painted, it cannot be expressed. Who
can look upon the glorious body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
seriously consider, that even every vein of that blessed body did bleed
to bring him to heaven, and not rejoice in Christ Jesus ? who can
look upon the glorious righteousness of Christ, imputed to him, and
not be filled with an exuberancy of spiritual joy in God his Saviour?
There is not the pardon of the least sin, nor the least degree of grace,
nor the least drop of mercy, but cost Christ dear, for he must die, and
he must be made a sacrifice, and he must be accursed, that pardon may
be thine, and grace thine, and mercy thine : and oh, how should this
draw out thy heart to rejoice and triumph in Christ Jesus 1 The work
of redemption sets both angels and saints a-rejoicing and triumphing
in Christ Jesus, Rev. v. 11-14 ; and why not we, why not we also,
who have received infinite more benefit by the work of redemption,
than ever the angels have ? Rev. i. 5, 6, and v. 8-10. A beautiful
face is at all times pleasing to the eye ; but then especially, when there
is joy manifested in the countenance. Joy in the face puts a new
beauty upon a person, and makes that which before was beautiful, to
be exceeding beautiful, it puts a lustre upon beauty ; so does holy joy
and rejoicing in Christ Jesus, put, as it were, a new beauty and lustre
upon Christ. Though the Romans punished one that feasted, and
looked out at a window with a garland on his head, in the second
Punic war ;i yet, you may be sure, that God will never punish you
for rejoicing and triumphing in Christ Jesus, let the times be never
so sad or bad, in respect of war, blood, or misery. But,
8. Eighthly, The imputed righteousness of Christ may serve to com-
fort, support, and hear up the hearts of the people of God, from faint-
ing and sinking under the seruse of the weakness and imperfection of
their inherent righteousness. The church of old have lamentingly
said, ' We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as
filthy rags,' Isa. Ixiv. 6. When a Christian keeps a serious eye upon
the spots, blots, blemishes, infirmities, and follies, that cleaves to his
inherent righteousness, fears and tremblings arise, to the saddening and
sinking of his soul ; but when he casts a fixed eye upon the righteous-
ness of Christ imputed to him, then his comforts revive, and his heart
bears up ; for, though he hath no righteousness of liis own, by which
his soul may stand accepted before God, yet he hath God's righteous-
ness, which infinitely transcends his OAvn, and such as, in God's account,
goes for his, as if he had exactly fulfilled the righteousness which the
law requires ; according to that of the apostle, Rom. ix. 30, ' What
shall we say then ? the Gentiles which followed not after righteous-
ness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is
of faith.' Faith wraps itself in the righteousness of Christ, and so
justifieth us. The Gentiles sought righteousness, not in themselves
but in Christ, which they apprehending by faith, were by it justified
in the sight of God; and the Jews, seeking it in themselves, and think-
ing, by the goodness of their own works, to attain to the righteousness
1 riiny, i. c. 7.
248 NINE STRONG CONSOLATIONS THAT FLOW FROM
of the law, missed of it ; it being in no man's power perfectly to
fulfil the same, only Christ hath exactly fulfilled it for all that by
faith close savingly with him, sirs ! none can be justified in the
sight of God, by a righteousness of their own making : but whosoever
will be justified, must be justified by the righteousness of Christ
through faith, Rom. iii. 20, 28, and x. 3 ; Gal. ii. 16 ; Tit. iii. 5. The
Gentiles by faith attain the righteousness of the law, therefore the
righteousness of the law and of faith are all one; viz., in respect of
matter and form ; the difi'erence is only in the worker. The law re-
quires it to be done by ourselves ; the gospel mitigates the rigour of
the law, and offers the righteousness of Christ, who performed the law,
even to a hair's-breadtL The right way to righteousness for justifica-
tion is by Christ, who is the way, the door, the truth, and the life.
Because we want a righteousness of our own, God ' hath assigned us
the righteousness of Christ, which is infinitely better than our own,
yea, better than our very lives — may I not say, yea, better than our
very souls ? ' The branch,' Christ Jesus is called, ' Jehovah Tsid-
kenu, the Lord our righteousness: ' Jer. xxiii. 6, ' And this is his name
whereby he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness.' Where
note, first, to be called by this name is to be so really, for Christ is
never called what he is not ; and so he is to the same purpose else-
where called ' Immanuel, God with us,' Mat. i. 23 ; that is, he shall
be so indeed, * God with us,' so here he shall be called, ' the Lord our
righteousness ;' that is, he shall be so indeed. Secondly^ observe this
is one of his glorious names ; that is, one of his attributes, which he
accounts his excellency and his glory. Now all the attributes of
Christ are unchangeable, so that he can as easily change his nature as
his name. Now rememljer that this imputed righteousness of Christ
procures acceptance for our inherent righteousness. When a sincere
Christian casts his eye upon the weaknesses, infirmities, and imper-
fections that daily attend his best services, he sighs and mourns ; but
if he looks upward to the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, that
shall bring forth his infirm, weak, and sinful performances perfect,
spotless, and sinless, and approved according to the tenor of the gospel,
so that they become spiritual sacrifices, he cannot but rejoice, 1 Pet.
ii. 5. For as there is an imputation of righteousness to the persons of
believers, so there is also an imputation to their services and actions.
As the fact of Phinehas was imputed to him for righteousness, Ps.
cvi. 31, so the imperfect good works that are done by believers are
accounted righteousness, or, as Calvin speaks, ' are accounted for right-
eousness, they being dipped in the blood of Christ,' tincta sanguine
Christi, i.e., they are accounted righteous actions; and so sincere
Christians shall be judged according to their good works, though not
saved for them, Eev. xi. 18, and xx. 12 ; Mat xxv. 34—37. And it is
observable, in that famous process of the last judgment, that the su-
preme judge makes mention of the bounty and liberality of the saints,
and so bestows the crown of life and the eternal inheritance upon
them ; so that, though the Lord's faithful ones have eminent cause to
be humbled and afilicted for the many weaknesses that cleaves to their
best duties, yet, on the other hand, they have wonderful cause to
rejoice and triumph that they are made perfect through Jesus Christ,
THE IMPUTATION OF CHRIST's RIGHTEOUSNESS. 249
and that the Lord looks at them, through the righteousness of Christ,
as fruits of his own Spirit, Heb. xiii. 20, 21 ; 1 Cor. vi. 11. The Sun
of Kighteousness hath healing enough in his wings for all our spiritual
maladies, Mai. iv. 2. The saints' prayers, being perfumed with
Christ's odours, are highly accepted in heaven. Rev. viii. 3, 4. Upon
this bottom of imputed righteousness believers may have exceeding
strong consolation, and good hope through grace, that both their per-
sons and services do find singular acceptation with God, as having no
spot or blemish at all in thenu Surely righteousness imputed must
be the top of our happiness and blessedness, Rom. iv. 5, 6. But,
9. Ninthly and lastly. Know for your comfort, that imputed right-
eousness will give you the greatest boldness be/ore God's judgment-seat.
There is an absolute and indispensable necessity of a perfect righteous-
ness wherewith to appear before God. The holiness of God's nature,
the righteousness of his government, the severity of his law, and the
terror of wrath, calls aloud upon the sinner for a complete righteous-
ness, without which there is no standing in judgment, Ps. i. 5. That
righteousness only is able to justify us before God which is perfect,
and that hath no defect nor blemish in it, such as may abide the trial
before his judgment-seat, such as may fitly satisfy his justice, and make
our peace with him ; and consequently, such as whereby the law of God
is fulfilled. Therefore it is called the righteousness of God ; such a right-
eousness as he requires, as will stand before him, and satisfy his justice,
Rom. X. 3. So the apostle saith, ' The righteousness of the law must be
fulfilled in us,' Rom. viil 4. Now there is no other righteousness under
heaven whereby the law of God was ever perfectly fulfilled, but by
the righteousness of Christ alone. No righteousness below the right-
eousness of Christ was ever able to abide the trial at God's judgment-
seat, and fully to satisfy his justice, and pacify his wrath. A gracious
soul triumphs more in the righteousness of Christ imputed, than he
would have done if he could have stood in the righteousness in which
he was created. This is the crowning comfort to a sensible and un-
derstanding soul, that he stands righteous before a judgment-seat, in
that full, exact, perfect, complete, matchless, spotless, peerless, and
most acceptable righteousness of Christ imputed to him. The right-
eousness of Christ is therefore called the righteousness of God, because
it is it wliich God hath assigned, and which God doth accej)t for us
in our justification, and for and in which he doth acquit and pro-
nounce us righteous before his seat of justice, Rom. iii. 21, 22, and
x. 3 ; Phil. iii. 9. There is an indispensable necessity that lies upon
the sinner to have such a righteousness to his justification as
may render his appearance safe and comfortable in the day of judg-
ment. Now there is no righteousness that can abide that day of fiery
trial, but the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. Paul, that great
apostle, had as fair and as full a certificate to shew for a legal justifica-
tion as any person under heaven had, Phil. iii. 4-6 ; Acts xxiii. 6 ; 2 Cor.
xi. 22 ; but yet he durst not stand by that righteousness, he durst not
plead that righteousness, he durst not appear in that righteousness be-
fore the dreadful judgment-seat. But oh, how earnest, how importu-
nate is he, that he may be found, in that great day of the Lord, in the
mediatory righteousness of Christ, and not in his own personal righteous-
250 NINE STRONG CONSOLATIONS THAT FLOW FROM
ness, which he looked upon as filthy rags, as dross, dung, dogs' meat, Phil,
iii. 9, 10. The great thing that he most strongly insists upon is, that he
might be clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness ; for then he
knew that the law could not say black was his eye, and that the judge
upon the bench would pronounce him righteous, and bid him enter
into the joy of his Lord, Mat. xxv. 21, 23, 24 ; a joy too great to
enter into him, and therefore he must enter into that. When the
match is made up between Christ and the soul, that soul bears her
sovereign's name. The spouse of the first Adam and her husband
had both one name, ' God called their name Adam, in the day that he
made them,' Gen. v. 2 ; so the spouse of the second Adam, in the
change of her condition, from a single to a married estate with Christ
the Lamb, had a change of her name. The head is called, ' the
Lord our righteousness,' Jer. xxiii. 6 ; and so is the church : Jer.
xxxiii. 16, 'In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall
dwell safely : and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, the
Lord our righteousness.' Here is a sameness of name.^ As Christ is
called, ' the Lord our righteousness,' so his spouse is called, ' the
Lord our righteousness.' Oh, happy transnomination ! Christ's bride
being one with himself, and having his righteousness imputed to her,
is called, ' the Lord our righteousness ; ' and therefore they may,
with the greatest cheerfulness and boldness, bear up, in the great day
of account, who have the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to
them, especially if you consider, (1.) That this righteousness is of
infinite value and worth ; (2.) That it is an everlasting righteousness,
a righteousness that can never be lost, Dan. ix. 24 ; (3.) That it is
an unchangeable righteousness. Though times change, and men
change, and friends change, and providences change, and the moon
change, yet the Sun of Righteousness never changes, ' in him is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning,' Mai. iv. 2; James i. 17; (4.)
That it is a complete and unspotted righteousness, an unblamable
righteousness, and unblemished righteousness ; and therefore God can
neither in justice except or object against it. In this righteousness
the believer lives, in this righteousness the believer dies, and in this
righteousness believers shall arise, and appear before the judgment-
seat of Christ, to the deep admiration of all the elect angels, and to the
transcendent terror and horror of all reprobates, and to the match-
less joy and triumph of all on Christ's right hand, who shall then shout
and sing, Isa. Ixi. 10, ' I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul
shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the garments
of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a
bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth
herself with jewels.' Oh, how will Christ, in this great day, be
admired and glorified in all his saints, 2 Thes. i. 10, when every
saint, wrapped up in this fine linen, in this white robe of Christ's
lighteousness, shall shine more gloriously than ten thousand suns !
In the great day of the Lord, when the saints shall stand bofore the
^ Christ and Christians are namesakes. Caput et corpuff, units est Chrlstus. — Aug.
The head is called Christ, and the members are called Christ, 1 Cor. xii. 12. Christ is
called .Solomon, Cant. i. 1, and iii. 11, in Hebrew, Shelomnh of peace, and the church
is called Shulamite, by her bridegroom's name, Cant. vi. 13.
THE IMPUTATION OF CHRIST's RIGHTEOUSNESS. 251
tribunal of God, clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ,
they shall then stand, rectus in curia ; they shall then be pronounced
righteous, even in the court of divine justice, which sentence will fill
their souls with comfort, and the souls of sinners with astonishment,
Kev. XX. 12, and xii. 10. Suppose we saw the believing sinner, hold-
ing up his hand at God's bar ; the books opened, the accuser of the
brethren present, the witnesses ready, and the judge on the bench
tlius bespeaking the sinner at the bar, Kom. vii. 12, 14, 16, and Gal.
iii. 10. sinner, sinner, thou standest here indicted before me, for
many millions of sins of commission, and for many millions of sins
of omission; thou hast broken my holy, just, and righteous laws
beyond all human conception or expression, and hereof thou art
proved guilty; what hast thou now to say for thyself why thou
shouldst not be eternally cast ? Upon this, the sinner pleads guilty ;
but withal he earnestly desires that he may have time and liberty to
plead for himself, and to offer his reasons why that dreadful sentence,
Go, you cursed, &c., Mat. xxv. 41, should not be passed upon him.
The liberty desired being granted by the judge, the sinner pleads
that his surety, Jesus Christ, hath, by his blood and sufferings, given
full and complete satisfaction to divine justice, and that he hath paid
down upon the nail the whole debt at once, and that it can never
stand with the holiness and unspotted justice of God to demand
satisfaction twice, Heb. x. 10, 14. If the judge shall further object.
Ay, but sinner, sinner, the law requireth an exact and perfect right-
eousness in the personal fulfilling of it ; now, sinner, where is thy
exact and perfect righteousness? Gal. iii. 10; Isa. xlv. 24. Upon
which the believing sinner very readily, cheerfully, humbly, and
boldly replies. My righteousness is upon the bench, ' in the Lord have
1 righteousness.' Christ, my surety, hath fulfilled the law on my
behalf. The law's righteousness consists in two things, (1.) In its
requiring perfect conformity to its commands ; (2.) In its demanding
satisfaction, or the undergoing of its penalty, upon the violation of it.
Now Christ, by his active and passive obedience, hath fulfilled the law
for righteousness, and this active and passive obedience of Jesus
Christ is imputed to me. His obeying the law to the full, his perfect con-
forming to its commands, his doing, as well as his dying obedience, is
by grace made over and reckoned to me, in order to my justification and
salvation ; and this is my plea, by which I will stand before the judge
of all the world. Upon this the sinner's plea is accepted as good in
law, and accordingly he is pronounced righteous ; and goes away,
glorying and rejoicing, triumphing and shouting it out, Eighteous,
righteous, righteous, righteous ; ' In the Lord shall all the seed of
Israel be justified, and shall glory,' Isa. xlv, 25. And thus you see
that there are nine springs of strong consolation that flow into your
souls, through the imputation of Christ's righteousness unto you.
But,
VI. The sixth plea that a believer may form up as to the ten
scriptures in the margin i that refer to the great day of account, or
to a man's particular account, may be drawn from the consideration
^ Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14 ; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23; Luke xvi. 3; Rom. liv. 10;
2 Cor. V. 10; Heb. ix. 27, and xii. 17 ; 1 Pet. iv. 5.
252 CHRIST CONSIDERED AS A COMMON HEAD.
of Christ as a common person, a representative head one that rpnrp
sents another man's person, and acts the part of another accoX^^^
to the appomtment of the law, the acceptation of the jud^ so tha^
what IS done by him, the person is said to do whose persSn 'he doth
represent. And so was Adam a common person, andS by L f
of Gods sovereignty appomtmg him, in making a covenant with him
so to be, and he did represent all mankind, Eom v 15 19 An^
hence it comes to pass that his sin is imputed unto' us and nmde
ours ;i so in our law an attorney appears in the behalf of' Ms cHent
and so Christ is said to be gone to heaven as our attorney to appear
m he presence of God for us, Heb. ix. 24. if^cpaucad^uaT'To appear
as a lawyer appears for his client, opens the cLse, plads the cTse
and carries it. The word appear is verbum forense, TexpreS
borrowed from the custom of human courts • for ^i. kJL ^^^J^^^}^^
naif so 1 John ii. 1. You know fbnf fha T o,r;+f i • :
to appear b^ore God in the ^tte^'^oTh^^^^^^^^
m Christ IS the solid truth, and full effect of the figurj Or as tS
possession, livery, and seizng 2 by an attorney is all one as if doSe bv
the person himself who is represented, and is valid so the Lord
Jesus, he IS a common person by an act of God's sovereLtv repre
sentmg the persons of all the elect of God bein^desS «n7.
pointed by God to be a second Adam. And as The filt Ad?m Ti
represent all in him, so the second Adam doerr„t a^^ ^^ht^
also; and therefore as judgment came upon all in theTrst Adam .^
righteousness comes upon all in the second Adam We ^1 tmns
gressed the royal law in Adam, we were all in Adam'Tloins wW
he was, we were ; what he did, we did. Although wHid not 'in o^r
own persons either talk with the serpent, or pu^t forth our hands to
take the rmt yet we did eat the forbidden fruit as weU as he and
so broke the holy aw, and turned aside in him; for he wL not a
single person, standing for himself alone, but a pub ic person s?.md
ing m the room of all mankind ; therefore his sin, bei^ S'mtrefv"
the sin of his person but of the whole nature of man fsTust?vim
puted to us all.^ If Adam had stood fast in hiruV'itne.s Tn"
his primitive purity, glory and excellency, we should aTKe shar d
m his happmess and blessedness, Eccles. vii. 29 ; but he lillin^ and
forfeiting all, we must all share with him in his loss «nd 3cf
Ponder upon Rom. v. 12, ' In whom aU have sinned ' Is thTmuT
ram infects the whole flock, so sin and the curse seizeth upon alUhe"
whole wor d, as well as upon Adam and Eve. And ver 19 'Bv one
man s disobedience many are made sinners.' ' Many' is' he/e mft Tor
all, as 'aU' elsewhere is put for 'many' 1 Tim ii -^ AliS
are tainted with Adam's gui?t and filth. Mm wa\he hfad TSs
posterity the members. If the head plot and practise treason atinf
he state IS not ths judged the act of the whole boJy P He She
t"''wL'nVV"f.'''."^^"J^^ '''' ^^"«' ^" thebJanchfs f^Uw^k
It. When Christ died on the cross, he did stand in our room,Tnd
altho;r,\Te^,l^l1f;.S'G:d"d^..::^t :r''' ^^^--^^^ ^^ -^^ ^ parlian.ent-n.an'. and
Liverj ^delivery ; 'scizius' = taking possession. Law terms in use still._G.
CHRIST CONSIDERED AS A COMMON HEAD. 253
place, and stead; for he did lay down his life for us as a ransom.
Now when one dies for another in way of ransom he does not only
die for the benefit and profit of the ransomed but m the place,
and room, and stead of the ransomed; and thus Christ died for us,
as himself testifies : ' The son of man came to givehmaself a ransom
for many,' Mark x. 45. Xvrpov avrc 'rroXKcbv. Christ rose as a com-
mon person, representing all his elect ; and Christ was sanctified as a
common person, representing all his elect ; and Christ was justified as
a common person, representing all his elect. Look, as we were con-
demned in Adam, as he was a common person, so we are justified by
Christ, as in a common person also ; so that every beUever may well
look upon himself as acquitted, in his justification, from the guilt ot
his sins, they being laid upon the head of his surety, Heb.ix 28.
It is a very great part of a Christian's wisdom to be often looking
upon Christ as a representative-head, as one m whom he died in
whom he rose, in whom he is sanctified, and in whom he is justified,
Eph. ii 6. How would such a daily eyeing of Christ scatter a C^is-
tian's fears, arm him against temptations, support him under afllic-
tions, weaken his sins, strengthen his graces, cheer his soul, and mend
^\t^8 verv observable, that in the Levitical expiatory sacrifices there
was the substitution of them in the place and stead of the offenders
themselves. The people's sin, and the punishment due to them thei^-
upon was laid upon the poor beasts that died for them. 1 might
multiply scriptures to evidence this, but I shall only hint at one or two
plain, pregnant texts to clear it. Take that. Lev. xvii. 11, lor the
life of the flesh is in the blood ; and I have given it to JOii "pon the
altar to make an atonement for your souls : for it is the blood that
maketh atonement for the soul.'i Mark here, the blood is to make
atonement for the souls of the people of Israel— that is, m the room
and stead of their souls, and accordingly it did make atonement tor
their souls ; so that in the blood sacrificed, which was a type ot the
blood of Christ, there was soul for soul, life for life ; the soul and liie
of the sacrifice for the precious soul and life of the sinner. Now here
you see substitution of the one in the room of the other. The trans-
ferring of the guilt and punishment of the people's sins over to their
sacrifices in those days, was the reason why the sacrifices were said to
bear the iniquities of the people, Lev. xvi. 22, and x. 17, &c. And it
is observable that at the great expiation Aaron was to lay both his
hands upon the head of the live goat, and to confess over him all the
sins of the children of Israel, &c.. Lev. xvi. 21. By this ceremony of
imposition of hands, is signified the transferring of their sms upon the
ffoat herein to type out Christ, upon whom God ' did lay the imquity
of us all,' Isa. liii. 6. Certainly the main thing that is held forth by
this rite— viz., Aaron's laying both his hands upon the head of the
live goat is the translation of the sinner's guilt to the sacrifice, and
the substitution of it in his stead. Typically, the very sms of the
people were imposed upon the goat, who herein was a type ot Christ
which did himself bear our sins. Yea, the Hebrews [MaimomdesJ
1 Justin Martyr observes the great mercy of God to mankind in that, loco hominis,
instead of man, he caused beasts to be sacrificed.
264' CHRIST CONSIDERED AS A COMMON HEAD.
themselves hold that the scapegoat made atonement for all their sins,
lighter and greater, presumptuously and ignorantly committed. Cer-
tainly the scapegoat was a most lively type of our blessed Saviour —
(1.) In that ' the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all,' as the
sins of Israel were laid upon the head of the goat. (2.) As the goat
was carried away, so Christ was ' cut off from the land of the living,
his life was taken from off the earth,' Isa. iv. 3, and liii. 8. (3.) As
this goat was not killed, so ' Christ through the eternal Spirit offered
up himself,' whereby he was made alive after death, Acts ix. 33 ; Heb.
ix. 14; 1 Pet. iii. 18. Though Christ Jesus died for our sins accord-
ing to his humanity, yet death could not detain him nor overcome him,
nor keep him prisoner, Hosea xiii. 14, but, by virtue of his impassible
deity, he rises again and triumphs over death and the grave, and over
principalities and powers. Col. ii. 15. (4.) As this goat went into an
inhabitable place,^ so Christ went into heaven — ' whither I go ye can-
not come,' tfohn xiii. 33. Christ speaks this not to exclude his dis-
ciples out of heaven, but only to shew that their entrance was put off
for a time, ver. 36. Saints must not expect to go to heaven and rest
with Christ till they have ' fought the good fight of faith, finished
their course, run their race,' and ' served their generation.' 2 Christ's
own children, by all their studies, prayers, tears, and endeavours, can-
not get to heaven unless Christ come and fetches them thither.
Christ's own servants cannot get to heaven presently nor of themselves,
no more than the Jews could do. Now if you please to cast your eye
upon the Lord Jesus, you will find an exact correspondency between
the type and the antitype, the one fully answering to the other. Did
they carry substitution in them ? that eminently was in Christ. He
indeed substituted himself in the sinner's room ; he took our guilt
upon him, and put himself in our place, and died in our stead ; he died
that we might not die. Whatever we should have undergone, that he
underwent in his body and soul ; he did bear as our avrl -\|rL»^09 aU the
punishments and torments that were due to us. Christ's suffering,
dying, satisfying in our stead, is the great article of a Christian's faith,
and the main prop and foundation of the believer's hope. It is
bottomed, as an eternal and unmovable truth, upon the sure basis of
the blessed word. Substitution, in the case of the old sacrifices, is not
so evidently held forth in the law, but substitution with respect to
Christ and his sacrifice is more evidently set forth in the gospel.
Ponder seriously upon these texts : Eom. v. 6, ' For when we were
yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly ; '
ver. 8, ' For God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we
were yet sinners Christ died for us.' Herein God lays naked to us the
tenderest bowels of his Fatherly compassions, as in an anatomy.^
There was an absolute necessity of Christ's dying for sinners, for,
(1.) God's justice had decreed it ; (2.) His word had foretold it ;
^ The Elizabethan writers used inhahitaUe as the opposite of habitable.— d.
«2 Tim. iv. 7, 8; Heb. x\\. 1 ; 1 Cor. ix. 24; Acts xiii. 36; John xiv. 1-3.
' This shews us the greatness of man's sin and of Clirist's love, of Satan's malice and
of God's justice; and it shews us the madness and blindness of the popish relisjioii,
which tells us that some sins are so light and venial as that the Bprinkling ot holy water
and ashes will purge them away.
CHRIST CONSIDERED AS A COMMON HEAD. 255'
(3.) The sacrifices iu the law had prefigured it ; (4.) The foulness of
man's sin had deserved it ; (5.) The redemption of man called for it ;
(6.) The glory of God was greatly exalted by it. So 1 Pet. iii. 18,
' For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust.'
To see Christ the just suffer in the stead of the unjust, is the wonder-
ment of angels and the torment of devils : 1 Pet. iv. 1 , ' Forasmuch
then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh,' &c,, that is, in the
human nature, for the expiation and taking away of our sins ; 1 Pet.
ii. 21, * Because Christ also suffered for us ; ' John x. 11, * I lay down
my life for the sheep,' This good shepherd lays down life for life, his
own dear life for the life of his sheep : John xi. 50, ' Nor consider that
it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that
the whole nation perish not,' that is, rather than the whole nation
should perish. Caiaphas took it for granted, that either Christ or
their nation must perish, and, as he foolishly thought, that of two evils
he designed the least to be chosen, that is, that Christ should rather
perish than their nation ; but God so guided his tongue that he un-
wittingly, by the powerful instinct of the Spirit, prophesied of the fruit
of Christ's death for the reconciliation and salvation of the elect of God.
Heb. ii. 9, ' That he by the grace of God should taste death for every
man,' inrep Trai^ro?, or for every creature. Who all these be, the con-
text sheweth — (1.) Sons that must be led unto glory, ver. 10;
(2.) Christ's brethren, ver. 11 ; (3.) Such children as are given by
God unto Christ, ver. 13. In all which scriptures the preposition
vTrep is used, which most commonly notes substitution, the doing or
suffering of something by one in the stead and place of others, and so
it is all along here to be taken. But there is another preposition,
dvTL, that proves the thing I am upon undeniably: Mat. xx. 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,' Xvrpov dvrl ttoX-
Xcop. AvTpov signifies a redemptory price, a valuable rate ; for it
was the blood of God wherewith the church was purchased. Acts
XX. 28 : 1 Tim. ii, 6, ' Who gave himself a ransom,' dvriXvrpov,
' for all.' The Greet: word signifies a counterprice, such as we could
never have paid, but must have remained everlasting prisoners to the
wrath and justice of God. sirs ! Christ did not barely deliver poor
captive souls, but he delivered them in the way of a ransom, which
ransom he paid down upon the nail. When their ransom was ten
thousand talents, and they had not one farthing to lay down, Christ
stands up in their room and pays the whole ransom, Mat, xviii. 24,
Every one knows that avrl, in composition, signifies but two things,
either opposition and contrariety, or substitution and commutation,
Mat. V. 38 ; so that the matter will thus issue, that either we must
carry it thus, that Christ ' gave himself a ransom against sinners,' than
which nothing can be more absurd and false, or else thus, that he
' gave himself a ransom in the room and stead of sinners,' which is as
true as truth itself, John ii. 28, 29. Certainly no head can invent, no
heart can conceive, nor no tongue can express more clear, plain, preg-
nant, and apposite words and phrases for the setting forth of Christ's
substitution, than is to be found in that golden chapter of Isaiah liii.
256 CHRIST CONSIDERED AS A COMMON HEAD.
In this chapter, as in a holy armoury, we may find, had I time to go
through it, many pointed daggers, and two-edged swords, and shields
of brass, to arm us against the corrupt notions and opinions of the
blinded and deluded Socinians, who fight with all their might against
the doctrine of Christ's substitution. Ver. 4, ' Surely he hath borne
our griefs, and carried our sorrows,' &c. ; ver. 5, ' The chastisement of
our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed ;' ver. 6,
' The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all ; ' or, ' the Lord
hath made the iniquity of us all to meet on him ; ' ver. 7, ' He was
oppressed and he was afilicted,' &c. ; or, as the words are rendered by
some, ' It was exacted and he answered;' ver. 8, ' For the transgres-
sion of my people he was stricken ;' ver. 11, ' For he shall bear their
iniquities ;' ver. 12, * And he bare the sin of many.' All men of
worth and weight conclude that all this is spoken of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now what more clear and evident proofs can there be of
Christ's susception, of the sinner's guilt, and of his bearing the punish-
ment due for it ? The priests of old, you know, are said to bear the
iniquity of the people : Lev. x. 17, ' God hath given it you to bear the
iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the
Lord.' The sinner bears his iniquity subjectively, the priest typically,
and the Lord Christ really : Exod. xxviii. 38, ' That Aaron may bear
the iniquity of the holy things.' Herein the high priest was a type of
Christ ; answerable to which the prophet Isaiah tells us that Christ, our
high priest, had the iniquities of all believers laid upon him, and that
he bare them in his own person, Heb. iv. 14, 15 ; so the apostle, Heb. ix.
28, ' So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,' &c., avevey-
Kelv d/iapTia<i. It is an allusion to the priests who carried up the
sacrifice, and with it the sins of the people, to the altar. Christ our
priest did cany up the sins of his people upon the cross, and there
made satisfaction for them, in their room or stead, by the sacrifice of
himself ; and that scripture is more worth than the Indies — viz., 1
Pet. ii. 24, ' Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the
tree,' avijvejKev, 'he bare them aloft' — viz., whe^ he climbed up his
cross, and nailed them thereunto, Col. ii. 13-15. Christ in the human
nature, when he was upon the cross, did suffer all the punishments and
torments that were due to our sins ; he cancelled all bonds, annihilated
the curse ; in which respects he is said ' to bear our sins in his own
body on the tree.' But to prevent prolixity I shall produce no more
scriptures, though many more might have been produced, to prove
Christ a common person, a representative head of all his elect ; and
that he did really substitute himself in their room, and took upon
himself their guilt, and put himself in their place, and did undergo
whatever they should have undergone.
Now from all these considerations, a child of God may form up this
sixth plea as to the ten scriptures in the margin, i that refer to the
great day of account, or to a man's particular account. blessed God,
Jesus Christ ivas a common person, a representative head : I am to
he considered in him, loho is my surety, and therefore he is hound to
pay all my debts : and as he is a common person and stood in my
1 Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14 ; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23 ; Luke xvi. 3; Rom. iv. 10 j 2
Cor. V. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17, and 1 Pet. iv. 5.
THE SURETYSHIP OF CHRIST CONSIDERED OF. 257
stead, 80 the satisfaction that is made unto tliy justice hy him, is m
law to be accounted mine, as really as if my attorney should pay a
debt for me: and therefore, I must rest satisfied that the debt is paid,
and in law shall never be exacted of me ; though it loas not paid by
myself in person, but by another ivho did personate me in tJiat act, and
did it for me and in my behalf Christ was a common person, per-
sonating as a second Adam, the first Adam and all his posterity ;
offering the same nature for sin, which fell by sin from the pattern of
perfection, God himself. ' By man came death, and by man came the
resurrection from the dead,' 1 Cor. xv. 21 ; man for man, person for per-
son, nature for nature, and name for name. There are two roots out of
which life and death springs. (1.) As all that die receive their death-
wounds by the disobedience of the first Adam; so all that live receive life
from the obedience of the second Adam. (2.) As all die who are the sons
of the first Adam by natural generation ; so all live, who are the sons of
the second Adam through spiritual regeneration. holy and blessed
God, thou hast set up Jesus Christ as a common person, as the repre-
sentative head of all thy elect, and I am to be considered in that com-
mon head ; and all that he has done as my head, and in my stead and
room, is to be reckoned to me, as if I had done it in my own person,
and by this plea I will stand, rejoice, and triumph. Upon this God
accepts of the plea, as sound and good, and saith to him that pleads
it, ' enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,' Mat. xxv. 21.
VII. The seventh plea that a believer may form up, as to the ten
scriptures formerly cited, that refer to the great day of account, or to
a man's particular account, may be drawn from the consideration of
Christ's suretyship. Christ is called a surety : Heb. vii. 22, ' By so
much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.' The Greek word
''E<y'yvo<i, sponsor, fidejussor, prces, a surety, a pledger, is very signi-
ficative, being derived, as some think, from yvibv, an hand, as it were
iv 'yvLol<f, in hands, because the security or pledge is given in hand.l A
surety is properly one that willingly promiseth and undertakes to pay
and discharge the debt, if the debtor fail, and be not able to make
satisfaction himself. Thus Paul willingly and spontaneously, from
the love he had to his new convert Onesimus, promised and undertook
to make satisfaction to Philemon, for any wrong that Onesimus had
done him : Philem. 18, 19, ' If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee
aught, put it upon mine account ; I Paul have written it with mine
own hand, I will repay it,' i.e., account Onesimus his debt to Paul,
and Paul's satisfaction or payment to Onesimus ; which answers the
double imputation in point of justification, that is, of our sins or debts
to Christ, and of Christ's satisfaction to us. Consider Christ as a
surety, and so he hath fully paid all our debts, and set us perfectly
free for ever. A surety is one that enters into bond, and engages him-
self for the debt of another ; and so Christ is become our surety.
Therefore he was bound by our bond, and engageth himself for the
^ Our English translation hath it, ' Of a better testament,' but not so fitly, because,
properly, a testament, neither useth nor needeth to have a surety, as a covenant doth.,
Beza therefore justly blameth both Erasmus and the Vulgar translation, for rendering it
* testament;' for that a surety is not added in testaments ; and it should be added, howj
can the same be both a testator and a surety ? So that this word * surety,' hath refer-
ence properly to a covenant, and.not to a testament
VOL. V. S
258 THE SURETYSHIP OF CHRIST COXSIDERED OF.
debt of another. For our debt he was made uuder the law, and so as
a sacrifice, he stood in the stead of a sinner, and the sacrifice was to
be offered for the man ; and so some exponnd that place, ' He was
made sin for us,' 2 Cor. v. 21, that is, a sin-offering ; therefore he doth
take our sins upon him as his own, Isa. liii. ; and so the Lord doth im-
pute them and lay them upon him as his own : ver. 6, ' He did make
to meet upon him the iniquities of us all.' The original word here
used comes from J^JE) pagang, which word in its native propriety in-
tends a kind of force or violence, impetum fecit, they met with all their
violence upon him, and therefore ' he was made sin for us,' that is, as a
surety in our stead, ' he did bear our sins in his body upon the tree ; he
was delivered for our transgressions.' Our surety hath paid all our
debts. ' The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and it pleased
the Father to bruise him,' Isa. liii. 5, 10. The original word signifies to
break him to pieces as in a mortar. By the great things that our
surety has done for us, and the great things that he hath suff'ered for
us, he hath given most perfect and complete satisfaction both to his
Father's law, and to his Father's justice ; and this pleased the Father.
Weigh well that. Col. ii, 14, ' He blotted out the handwriting of
ordinances that was against us, that was contrary unto us, and took it
out of the way, nailing it to his cross.' ^ Christ hath crossed out the
black lines of our sin with the red lines of his own blood. The Greek
word 'xeLp6'ypa<j>ov, i.e., the handwriting, some do take here for a
writing written with God's own hand in tables of stone, as the law of
the ten commandments were, Exod. xxxiv. 1 ; and this is by them
understood of the moral law, or of the ten commandments, which are
said to be against us, in respect of their strict requiring of perfect
obedience, or in default thereof, by reason of its curse, which Christ as
our surety hath borne for us on the cross, and delivered us from it. Gal.
iii. 10, 13. But others by this handwriting do understand the law of
the ceremonies of the Old Testament. In the general, it was some-
thing that God had against us ; to shew or convince, or prove, that we
had sinned against him, and were his debtoi's. I suppose that this
handwriting was principally the moral law, obliging us unto perfect
obedience, and condemning us for the defect of the same, and likewise
those ceremonial rites, which, as Beza observes, were a kind of public
confession of our debts. Now these were against, and contrary unto
us, inasmuch as they did argue us guilty of sin and condemnation,
which the moral law threatened and sentenced, &c., but saith the
apostle, ' Christ hath blotted out the handwriting, and hath taken it
out of the way and nailed it to his cross,' that is, Jesus Christ hath not
only abrogated the ceremonial law, but also the damnatory power of
the moral law, as our surety, by performing an act of obedience which
the law did require, and by undergoing the punishment which the law
did exact from the transgressors of it ; and so Christ doing and suffer-
ing, what we were bound to do and to suffer, he did thereby blot out
the handwriting, and cancelled it ; and therefore we may safely con-
' Some by the handwriting do understand the covenant of God with Adam. Beza
and Calvin do understand it of the ceremonial law. But, saith Chrysostom, ' It is meant
not onlj' of the ceremonial law, but also of the moral law, as a covenant of works.'
CEcumenius, Jerome, and otliers, are of the same opinion. But, eaith Zanchy, ' This is
spoken to comfort the Colossiaiis, who were never under the ceremonial law.'
THE SURETYSHIP OF CHRIST CONSIDERED OF. 259
elude, tliat tlie creditor is fully satisfied, when he gives in his bond to
be cancelled. There are two ways of cancelling a bond, laceratione
et liturd. Here it is blotted out, and can be read no more than if it
had never been ; the obligatory power of the law as a covenant is taken
away. God delivered his people from Pharaoh by force, and from
Babylon by favour ; but that deliverance that Christ, as our surety,
hands out to us, from sin, from wrath, from hell, from the curse, and
from the moral law as it is a covenant of works, is obtained jws/'o pretio
soluto, by paying a full price ; by which one becomes satisfied, and
another thereupon delivered : Heb. ix. 26, ' He hath appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself ;' to put away sin, Dan. ix. 24, is
to abolish or make void the guilt or obUgation of sin, whereby it binds
over unbelievers to condemnation ; to put away sin is to abrogate it,
it is to bind it up in a bundle, to seal it up in a bag, to cast it behind
him, as cancelled obligations, Isa. xxxviii. 17; Micah vii. 19 ; it is to blot
out the black handwriting with the red lines of his blood drawn over it ;
so that sin has no force, no power to accuse or condemn, or shut such
poor souls out of heaven, who have that Jesus for their surety, that
made himself a sacrifice to put away sin. Christ as our surety laid
down a satisfactory price, not only for our good, but also in our stead
or room : 1 Pet. iii. 18, ' Christ also hath suffered for sin, the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God.' What the unjust sinner
should have suff'ered, that the just Christ suffered for him : 1 Cor. v. 21 ,
' He was made sin for us ;' that is, an ofi'ering, a sacrifice in our stead,
for the expiation of our sins: ' Christ was made a curse for us,' Gal. iii. 13.
Now Christ's becoming a curse for us stands in this, that whereas we
are all accursed by the sentence of the law because of sin, he now comes
into our room, and stands under the stroke of that curse which of right
belongs to us ; so that it lies not now any longer on the backs of poor
sinners, but on him for them and in their stead ; therefore he is called
a surety, Heb. vii. 22. The surety stands in the room of a debtor,
malefactor, or him that is any way obnoxious to the law. Such is
Adam and all his posterity. We are, by the doom of the law, evil-
doers, transgressors ; and upon that score we stand indebted to the
justice of God, and lie under the stroke of his wrath. Now the Lord
Jesus Christ seeing us in this condition, he steps in and stands between
us and the blow ; yea, he takes this wrath and curse off from us unto
himself; he stands not only or merely after the manner of a surety
among men in the case of debt, for here the surety enters bond with
the principal for the payment of the debt, but yet expects that the
debtor should not put him to it, but that he should discharge the debt
himself, he only stands as a good security for the debtor : no, Christ
Jesus doth not expect that we should pay the debt ourselves, but he
takes it wholly upon himself. As a surety for a murderer or traitor,
or some other notorious malefactor that hath broken prison and is run
away, he lies by it body for body, state for state, and undergoes what-
soever the malefactor is chargeable withal for satisfying the law ; even
so the Lord Jesus stands surety for us runagate malefactors, making
himself liable to all that curse that belongs to us, that he might both
answer the law fully, and bring us back again to God. As the first
Adam stood in the room of all mankind fallen, so Christ, the second
260 THE SURETYSHIP OF CHRIST CONSIDERKD OF.
Adam, stands in the room of all mankind that are to be restored ; he
sustains the person of all those which do spiritually descend from him,
and unto whom he bears the relation of a head. When God appointed
his dearest Son to be a surety for us, and charged all our debts upon
liim, and required an exact satisfaction to his law and justice, inso-
much that he would not abate the Son of his love one farthing-token
of the debt, he did demonstrate a greater love to justice than if he
had damned as many worlds as there are men in the world. Oh, let
us never cast an eye upon Christ's suretyship, but let us stand and
wonder, yea, let us be swallowed up in a deep admiration of Christ's
love, and of his Father's impartial justice ! Ah, what transcendent
wisdom also does here appear in reconciling the riches of mercy and
infinite justice both in one by the means of a surety !, If all the angels
in heaven, and all the men on earth, had been put to^answer these ques-
tions. How shall sin be pardoned ? How shall the sinner be reconciled
and saved ? How shall the wrath of God be pacified ? How shall the
justice of God be satisfied ? How shall the redemption of man be
brought about, in such a way whereby God may be most eminently
glorified ? they could never have answered the questions. But God,
in his infinite wisdom, hath found out a way to save sinners, not only
in a way of mercy and grace, but in a way of justice and righteous-
ness ; and all this by the means of Christ's suretyship, as hath been
already declared.
Now, from the consideration of Christ's suretyship, a believer may
form up this seventh, safe, comfortable, and blessed plea as to the ten
scriptures formerly cited, that refer to the great day of account, or to
a man's particular account: blessed Father, remember that thine
oivn Son was my ransom, Ms blood was the price; he ivas my surety,
and undertook to ansiver for my sins. I knoio, blessed God, that
thou must be satisfied, but remember my surety hath satisfied thee; not
for himself for he was holy and harmless, a lamb tvithout a spot ; but
for me. They loere my debts he satisfied for; and look over thy books,
and thou shall find that he hath cleared all accounts and reckonings
between thee and me.^ The guilt of all my sins have been imputed to
my surety, loho did present himself in my stead, to make full payment
and satisfaction to thy justice. As Paul said to Philemon, ver. 18,
concerning his servant Onesimus, * If he hath wronged thee, or oweth
thee anything, put it upon my account,' so saith Christ to the penitent
and believing soul, If thou hast any guilt, any debt to be answered for
unto God. put them all upon my account. If thou hast wronged my
Father, I*will make satisfaction to the uttermost : for I was made sin
for thee, Isa. liii. 12 ; 2 Cor. v. 21. I poured out my soul for thy
transgressions. It cost me my heart's blood to reconcile thee to my
Father, and to slay all enmity, Acts xx. 28. And as Kebekah said
to Jacob in another case, ' Upon me, my son, be the curse,' Gen.
xxvii. 13, so saith Christ to the believing soul, Why, thy sins did ex-
pose thee unto the curse of the law, but I was made a curse for thee,
Gal. iii. 13. I did bear that burden myself upon the cross, and upon
my shoulders were all thy griefs and sorrows borne ; I was wounded
^ When a man marries a woman, with her person he takes her debts and Batiafaction
too ; BO does Christ when he takes ua to bo his, he takes our sins also to be his.
THE SURETYSHIP OF CHRIST CONSIDERED OF. 261
for thy transgressions, and I was bruised for thy iniquities, Isa, liii.
4-8, 10 ; and therefore we are said to have ' redemption and remission
of sins in his blood,' Eph. i. 7. blessed God ! thou knowest that a
surety doth not pay the debt only for the debtor's good, but as stand-
ing in the debtor's stead, and so his payment is reckoned to the debtor.
And thus the case stands between Christ and my soul ; for, as my
surety, he hath paid all my debts, and that very payment that he hath
made, in honour and justice, thou art obliged to accept of as made in
my stead. dearest Father ! that Jesus, who is God-man, as my
surety, he hath done all that the law requireth of me, and thereby he
hath freed me from wrath to come, and from the curse that was due to
me for my sins, 1 Thes. i. 10. This is my plea, holy God, and by
this plea I shall stand. Hereupon God declares, This plea I accept
as just and good, and therefore ' enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'
Christian reader, I have gone as far in the opening and clearing up
of those grand points of the gospel that have fallen under our con-
sideration as I judge meet at this time. By the title-page thou
mayest safely conclude, that I have promised much more than in this
treatise I have performed ; but be but a little patient, and by divine
assistance, I shall make sure and full payment. The covenant of
grace, and the covenant of redemption, with some other points of high
importance, I shall present to thee in the second part, which will be the
last part. In this first part I don't offer thee that which cost me nothing.
I desire that all the interest thou hast in heaven may be so fully and
duly improved, that this first part may be so blest from on high, as
that saints and sinners may have cause to bless God to all eternity,
for what is brought to hand ; and beg hard, that the other part,
which is drawn up and fitted for the press, may also be crowned with
many blessings. Hereby thou wilt put a high obligation upon the
author, to do all he can, to be yet a little further serviceable to thy
soul and others', to thy salvation and others', before he goes hence and
shall be seen no more.i
^ Appended here is a list of Errata, all of which have been carefully attended to — The
note may be given : — ' There are sundry other mistakes in pointings, changes, and trans-
positions of letters, misfiguring of pages, &c., besides. Some are omitted, because they
do not much disturb the sense, others because they will not easily escape thy notice.
Share the faults between the author's absence and the printer's negligence : and then
correct before thou readest.' — We have endeavoured to make all the ' corrections ' thus
generally indicated. — G.
PARADISE OPENED.
NOTE.
Though 'Paradise Opened' makes a ' Second Part' to the 'Golden Key,' {ante,) it
forms two separate treatises : one, * Paradise Opened,' having a lengthy ' Epistle Dedi-
catory,' and occupying pp. 1-194; the other, 'A Word in Season,' having its own title-
page and a long ' Epistle,' and occupying pp.' 3-223. The title-page of the former will
be found below,* that of the latter in its own place. — G.
* Paradice opened,
OR THE
SECREETS, MYSTERIES,
AND
RARITIES
Of Divine Love, of Infinite Wisdom, and of
Wonderful Counsel, laid open to Publick View.
The Covenant of Grace, and the high and glorious Transactions of
the Father and the Son in the Covenant of Redemption opened and improved
at large, with the Resolution of divers important Questions and Cases concern-
ing both Covenants.
TOU HAVE FUETHEB,
Several singular Pleas, that all sincere Christians may safely and
groundedly make to those Ten Scriptures in the Old and New Testament, that
speak of the general Judgment, and of that particular Judgment, that must
certainly pass upon them all after Death.
With some other Points of high Importance, that tend to the Peace,
Comfort, Settlement and Satisfaction of all serious sincere Christians.
To which is added a sober and serious Discourse, about the Favoura-
ble, Signal and Eminent Presence of the Lord with his People in their greatest
Troubles, deepest Distresses, and most deadly Dangers.
Being the Second and Last Part of the Golden Key.
By Thomas Brooks, late Preacher of the Gospel, at
Margarets New Fishstreet.
LONDON,
Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms in the Poultry
and at the Ship and Anchor at the Bridgfoot on
S outhioar k-sido, 1675.
[Ito.-G.]
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
To his honoured friends, Sir John More, Knight and Alderman of
the City of London ; and to his good Lady, Mary More, his most
affectionate Consort. i
The Father of all mercies, and the God of all blessings, bless you
both with grace and peace here, and glory hereafter.
Honoured Friends, — Christian friendship makes such a knot, that
great Alexander cannot cut. It was well observed by Sir Francis
Bacon,^ ' That old wood is best to burn, and old books best to read,
and old friends best to trust. It was a witty saying of the Duke of
Buckingham to Bishop Morton,3in Richard the III. his time, ' Faith-
ful friends,' saith he, ' are in this age for the most part gone all in
pilgrimage, and their return is uncertain.' ' They seem to take away
the sun out of the world,' said the heathen orator,^ ' who take away
friendship from the life of men, and we do not more need fire and
water than true friendship.^ In this epistle I shall endeavour so to
acquit myself as becomes a real friend, a cordial friend, a faithful
friend, and a soul-friend, as to your great and everlasting concern-
ments, that it may go well with you for ever and ever.
Sir, The points that are handled in this following treatise, and in
the first part, are of as high, choice, necessary, noble, useful, and com-
fortable a nature, as any that can be treated on by mortal man. The
^ More, or Moore, was elected Alderman of Walbiook ia 1671 ; served the office of
Sheriff in 1672, and that of Lord Mayor in 1682. See Northoack's ' History of London,'
(1773.) He was of the Grocers' Company. Buried in St Dunstan's-in-the-East, Thames
Street. — Herbert's ' History of the Twelve Companies of London,' i. 330. — G.
' Bacon's Works, by Spedding, vii. 139. Apophthegms, No. 97 of edition of 1625, and
75 of those printed in the liesuscitatio. Brooks quotes evidently from memory. The
following is the passage : — •' Alonso of Arragon was wont to say in commendation of
age, that age appeared to be best in four tilings : old wood best to burn ; old wine
to drink ; old friends to trust ; and old authors to read.' — G.
•^ Misprinted ' Monton.' A full account of Morton is to be found in Godwin dc
PrcESulibus,' (ed. : Kichardson, p. 130.) He was John Morton, then Bishop of Ely, but
afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury : and the above saying was probably uttered while
the bishop was under Buckingham's wardship at Brecon, by command of Richard III.
See Foss'a 'Judges of England,' v. 59. — G. * Cicero : de Amicitia. — G.
* It is the saying of Euripides, ' That a faithful friend is better than a calm sea to a
weather-beaten mariner.' [Orestes 717 chorus, ed. Porson ; cf. also two passages of the
Andromache, 748, 749, and in 891.— G.]
266 ' THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
four things which God minds most and loves most are, (1.) His
honour. (2.) His worship. (3.) His people. (4.) His truth.
Surely their souls must needs be of a very sad complexion who can
read the great truths that are here opened and a])plied, and not (1.)
dearly love them, (2.) highly prize them, (3.) cordially bless God for
them, (4.) seriously ponder and meditate upon them, (5.) and not fre-
quently and diligently study them, and make a gracious and daily
improvement of them.
The covenant of grace, and the covenant of redemption, are a rich
armoury, out of which you may furnish yourselves with all sorts of
spiritual weapons, wherewith 3'ou may encounter Satan's tempta-
tions, wiles, devices, methods, depths, stratagems. Nothing of
Satan's can stand before the covenant of grace and the covenant of
redemption, well understood and well aj)plied, Eph.' vi. 11 ; 2 Cor. ii.
11 ; Rev. ii. 24.
In the covenant of grace and the covenant of redemption that is
passed betwixt God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, i you will
find many rich and rare cordials, which have a strong tendency to
preserve all gracious souls from desponding and fainting: (I.) in
times of afflictions ; (2.) in times of temptations ; (3.) in times of
desertion ; (4.) in times of sufferings for Christ's sake and the gos-
pel's sake ; (5.) in times of opposition ; (6.) and at the time of death
and dissolution. There are no comforts nor cordials that can reach
the souls of Christians in their deep distresses, but such as flow from
these two covenants. The more it concerns nil such Christians to
study these two covenants, and to be well acquainted with them, that
so they may the more readily have recourse to such cordials as their
present estate and condition calls for.
In these two covenants you will find much matter which has a
strong tendency (1.) to inflame your love to God and Christ, and all
in the covenant of grace ; (2.) to strengthen your faith ; (3.) to raise
your hopes ; (4.) to cheer your souls ; (5.) to quiet and satisfy your
consciences ; (6.) to engage you to a close and holy walking with God ;
(7.) to provoke you to triumph in free grace, and in the Lord Jesus
Christ ; (8.) to sit loose from this world.2 The riches and treasures
that are wrapt up in both these covenants are so great, so sure, so
durable, and so suitable to all believers, as may well deaden their
hearts to all the riches and glories of this lower world, Rev. xii. 1.
In these two covenants every sincere Christian will find (1.) a spe-
cial salve for every spiritual sore ; (2.) a special remedy against every
spiritual malady ; (3.) a special plaster against every spiritual wound ;
(4.) a spiritual magazine to supply all their spiritual wants ; and (5.) a
spiritual shelter under every spiritual storm. In these two covenants you
will find food to nourish you, a staff to support you, a guide to lead
you, a fire to warm you, and springs of life to cheer and refresh you.
In this covenant of grace and the covenant of redemption, you may
clearly see the wisdom, counsel, love, and transactions between the
Father and the Son sparkling and shining, there being nothing under
' 2 Sam. xxiii. 5 ; Isa. liv. 9, 10 ; Jer. xxxii. 38-41 ; Zech. ix. 11 ; Heb. xiii. 20.
' Ps. cxvi. 1-9, 16, and iii. ; 2 Sam. xxiii 5 ; Ps. ciii. 17, 18, and cxi. 5, 9, 17 ; 2 Cor.
ii. 14; Gal. vi. 14.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 267
heaven that contributes more to the peace, ; jmfort, assurance, settle-
ment, and satisfaction of sincere Christians than such a sight, i The
main reason why so many gracious souls are so full of fears, doubts,
darkness, and disputes about their internal and eternal estates, is
because they have no more clear and full understanding of these two
covenants ; and if such Christians would but more seriously buckle to
the study of those two covenants, as they are opened and applied in
the following treatise, their fears and doubts, &c., would quickly
vanish ; and they would have their triumphant* songs : their mourning
would soon be turned into rejoicing, and their complaints into halle-
lujahs. Neither do I know anything in all this world that would
contribute more to seriousness, spiritualness, heavenliness, humbleness,
holiness, and fruitfulness, than a right understanding of these two cove-
nants, and a divine improvement of them. There are many choice
Christians who have always either tears in their eyes, complaints in
their mouths, or sighs in their breasts ; and oh that these, above all
all others, would make these two covenants their daily companions !
Let these few hints^ suffice concerning the following treatise.
Now, Sir John, I shall crave leave to put you and your lady a little
in mind of your deceased and glorified father. 3 ' He is a true friend,'
saith the Smyrnean poet of old, ' who continueth the memory of his
deceased friend.' ^ When a friend of Austin's died, he professed ho
was put into a great strait, whether he himself should be willing to
live or willing to die : he was unwilling to live, because one half of
himself was dead ; yet he was not willing to die, because his friend did
partly live in him, though he was dead. Let you and I make the
application as we see cause : your glorified father s name and memory
remains to this day as fresh and fragrant as the Rose of Sharon — ■
Cant. ii. 1 — among all those that fear the Lord, and had the happi-
ness of inward acquaintance with him. ' The memory of the just is
blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot,' Pro v. x. 7. In the
original it is, ' The memory of the just njlll'? ^''^ benedictionem, shall
be for a blessing ;' the very remembering of them shall bring a bless-
ing to such as do remember them. ^ The moralists say of fame, or of
a man's good name —
Omnia si perdas famam servare memento,
Quh semcl amissa postea nullus eris;®
i.e, Whatsoever commodity you lose, be sure yet to preserve that jewel
of a good name. 7 This jewel, among others, your honoured father
' It was the saying of an eminent saint, on his death-bed, that he had much peace and
quietness, not so much from a greater measure of grace than other Christians had, or
from any immediate witness of the Spirit, but because he had a more clear understand-
ing of the covenant of grace than many others, having studied it and preached it so
many years as he had done. [Qu. William Strong? — G.]
' Misprinted ' kinds,' — G.
3 Ponder upon that Deut. xiii. 6 : Thy friend which is as thine own soul.
* Qu. Homer ? Smyrna was one of the seven cities which claimed him. Strabo, I. c.
Cicero, Arch. 8. — G.
^ Memoriajwsti erit Celebris, ^o Batti. [Qu. Bernard ?—G.] Ego si bon am famam
xenassj, sat dive.") ero. If I may but keep a good name, I have wealth enough, saith the
hmthen— Plautus. * Claudian, De. Cons. Mall. Theod. v. 3.— G.
' Ileb. xi. 13, 39. A good renown is better than a golden girdle, saith the French
proverb.
268
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
carried with him to the grave — yea, to heaven. There is nothing
raises a man's name and fame in the world like holiness. The seven
deacons that the church chose were ' holy men,' Acts vi. 5 ; and they
were men of ' good report/ ver. 3. They were men well witnessed unto,
well testified of, as the Greek word imports, ^ Cornelius was a 'holy
man,' Acts x. 1-4 ; and he was a man of * good report' among all
the nation of the Jews, ver. 22. Ananias was a ' holy man,' Acts
ix. 10, 20 ; and he was a man of a ' good report,' Acts xxii. 12. ' Caius
and Demetrius were both ' holy men,' and of a ' good report ;' witness
that Third Epistle of John. The patriarchs and prophets were * holy
men,' and they were men of a ' good report,' Heb. xi. 1, 2 — * For by
it the elders obtained a good report;' their holiness did eternalise
their names. The apostles were ' holy men,' 1 Thes. ii. 10 ; and they
were men of ' good report,' 2 Cor. vi. 8. Now certainly it is none of
the least of mercies to be well reputed and reported of. Next to a
good G-od and a good conscience, a good report, a good name, is the
noblest blessing. _ It is no great matter, if a man be great and rich in
the world, to obtain a great report ; but without holiness you can never
obtain a good report. Holiness, uprightness, righteousness, will em-
balm your names ; it will make them immortal : Ps. cxii. 6, ' The
righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance/ Wicked men many
times outlive their names, but the names of the righteous outlive them.
Holy Abel hath been dead above this five thousand years, and yet his
name is as fresh and fragrant as it was the first day he was made a
martyr, 1 John iii. 12. When a sincere Christian dies, he leaves his '
name as a sweet and as a lasting scent behind him ; his fame shall
live when he is dead. This is verified in your precious father, who is
now ' asleep in Jesus,' 1 Thes. iv. 14.
Now you both very well know that there was no Christian friend
that had so great a room in his heart, in his affections, as I had, and
you can easily guess at the reasons of it. Neither can you forget how
frequently, both in his health, sickness, and before his death, he
would be pressing of me to be a soul-friend to you, and to improve
all the interest I had in heaven for your internal and eternal good,
that he might meet you both in that upper world, Mat. xxv. 33, and
that you might both be found with him at the right hand of Christ
in the great day of the Lord. I know that your glorified father,
whilst he was on earth, did lay up many a prayer for you in heaven!
My desire and prayer is, that those prayers of his may return in
mighty power upon both your hearts ; and having a fair opportunity
now before me, I shall endeavour to improve it for the everiast-
ing advantage of both yoUr souls; and therefore let my following
counsel be not only accepted, but carefully, faithfully, and diligently
followed by you, that so you may be happv here and blessed here-
after.
1. The first word of counsel is this : Let it be the principal care of
both of you to look after the welfare of your precious and immortal
souls. If your souls are safe, all is safe ; if they are well, all is well •
*i ' Tv'jj ^'^^^'^J^s seldom write their king's name but in characters of gold. Throughout
the Old and ^ew lestamente God haa written the names of just n^ftn in golden charac-
ters, as I may speak.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 269
but if they are lost, all is lost, and you lost and undone in both worlds.^
Christ, that only went to the price of souls, hath told us that one soul
is more worth than all the world. Chrysostom well observeth, ' that
whereas God hath given us many other things double — viz., two eyes
to see with, two ears to hear with, two hands to work with, and two
feet to walk with, to the intent that the failing of the one might be
supplied with the other — he hath given us but one soul ; if that be
lost, hast thou,' saith he, 'another soul to give in recompense for it?' Ah,
friends ! Christ left his Father's bosom and all the glory of heaven for
the good of souls ; he assumed the nature of men for the happiness of
the soul of man ; he trod the wine-press of his Father's wrath for souls ;
he prayed for souls ; he paid for souls, and he bled out his heart-blood
for souls.2 The soul is the breath of God, the beauty of man, the
wonder of angels, and the envy of devils. It is of an angelical nature ;
it is a heavenly spark, a celestial plant, and of a divine offspring,
1 Pet. V. 8. Again, weigh well to Xvrpov, 'the incomparable price,'
which Christ paid for the redemption of the soul, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19.
What are the riches of the East or West Indies, the spoil of the
richest nations, rocks of diamonds, mountains of gold, or the price of
Cleopatra's draught, to the price that Christ laid down for souls I
1 John i. 4, 12, and Heb. xxii. 23. The soul is a spiritual substance,
capable of the knowledge of God, of union with God, of communion
with God, "and of an eternal fruition of God. There is nothing can
suit the soul below God, nor nothing that can satisfy the soul without
God, nor nothing that can save the soul but God. The soul is so
choice, so high, and so noble a piece, that it divinely scorns all the
world in point of acceptation, justification, satisfaction, delectation, and
salvation. Christ made himself an offering for sin, that souls might
not be undone by sin. The Lord died that slaves might live ; the Son
died that servants might live ; the natural Son died that adopted sons
might live ; the only-begotten Son died that bastards might live ; yea,
the judge died that malefactors might live, Heb. ix. 11-14, and x. 10, 14 ;
Gal. iv, 4-6 ; Heb. ii. 8. Ah, friends ! as there was never sorrow like
Christ's sorrow, so there was never love like Clirist's love, and of all
his love none to that of soul-love, Isa. liii. 3, and Gal. ii. 20. To
say much in a little room, the spiritual enemies which daily war
against the soul, the glorious angels which hourly guard the soul, and
the precious ordinances which God hath appointed as means both to
convert and nourish the soul, [shew forth that love,] Eph. vi. 11, 12 ;
1 Pet. ii. 11 ; Kom. x. 17 ; 1 Cor. xi. 23-27. The soul is capable of
' a crown of life,' Rev. ii. 10 ; of ' a crown of glory,' 1 Pet. v. 4 ; of ' a
crown of righteousness,' 2 Tim. iv. 8; of 'an incorruptible crown,'
1 Coi'. ix. 25. The crowns of earthly princes stand as a sophister's-^
cap, on one side of the head. Many may say of their crowns as that
king said of his, crown, more noble than happy 1^ In the time of
Galienus the emperor. Anno Christo 260, there were thirty competi-
^ Mat. xvi. 26. The soul is a greater miracle in man than all the miracles wrought
amongst men, saith Augustine.
* Isa. Ixiii. 3 ; John ivii. ; Luke xxiii. 34; Mat. xivi. 28.
* ' Sophieter,' a 'pretender to wisdom,' but here probably a University term for an
undergraduate of a given (early) standing. — Q.
* Queen Elizabeth was said to «wim to her crown through a Eea of sorrow.
270 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
tors on foot for the Koman crown and throne, who confounded and
destroyed one another. A princely crown is oftentimes the mark for
envy and ambition to shoot at. Henry the Sixth was honoured with
the crowns of two kingdoms, France and England ; the first was lost
through the faction of his nobles, the other was twice plucked from
his head. Earthly crowns have so many cares, fears, vexations, and
dangers that daily attend 'them, that oftentimes they make the heads
and hearts of monarchs ache, which made Cyrus say, ' You look upon
my crown and my purple robes, but did you but know how they were
lined with thorns, you would not stoop to take them up.' ^ But the
crowns that immortal souls are capable of are crowns without crosses ;
they are not attended with care of keeping or fear of losing ; there are
no evil persons nor evil spirits that haunt those crowns. Darius, that
great monarch, fleeing from his enemies, he threw away the crown of
gold from his head that he might run the faster ; but a sincere Chris-
tian is in no danger of losing his crown, 2 Tim. iv. 8. His crown is
laid up in a safe hand, in an omnipotent hand, 1 Pet. i. 5. Now what
do all these things speak out but the preciousness and excellency of
the soul ? Once more, the excellency of the case or cabinet — viz., the
body — intimates a more than ordinary excellency of this jewel. The
body is of all materials the most excellent. How does David admire
the rare texture and workmanship of his body ! ' I am wonderfully
made ; I was curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth,' Ps.
cxxxix. 13, 15. When curious workmen have some choice piece in
hand, they perfect it in private, and then bring it forth to the light
for men to gaze at. So here, the greatest miracle in the world is
man, in whose very body — how much more in his soul ! — are miracles
enough, betwixt head and feet, to fill a volume. One complains that
men much wonder at the high mountains of the earth, the huge
waves of the sea, the deep falls of rivers, the vastness of the ocean,
and at the motions of the stars, &c., but wonder not at all at their
wonderful selves.^ G-alen, a profane physician and a great atheist,
writing of the excellent parts of man's body, he could not choose but
sing an hymn to that God, whosoever he were, that was the author of so
excellent and admirable a piece of work ; he could not but cry out, 'Now
I adore the God of nature.' 3 Now if the cabinet be so curiously wrought,
what is the jewel that is contained in it ! Oh, how richly and gloriously
is the soul embroidered ! How divinely inlaid and enamelled is that !
Princes impress their images or effigies upon the choicest metals, viz.,
"•old and silver. God hath engraven his own image with his own
hand upon angels and men, Gen. i. 26, [Damascene.] The soul is
the glory of the creation, a beam of God, a spark of celestial bright-
ness, a vessel of honour, a bird of paradise, a habitation for God.
The soul is spiritual in its essence ; God breathed it in ; God hath
invested it with many noble endowments ; he hath made it a mirror
~ beauty, and printed upon it a surpassing excellency. The soul is
'rov. xxvii. 4, ' Doth the crown endure to all generations' — Heb., to generation and
^^"ition ?•
. ^ Mstin. The Stoic thought it was better to be a fool in the form of a man than
^^se i/the shape of a beast.
' C/.idbbes, vol. v. 144, and note hb, 154. Correct the reference in index of Sibbea
"** 'er Ga.en from 54 to 154.— G.
1
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 271
spiritual in its oLject ; it contemplates God and heaven. God is the
orb and centre where the soul doth fix.i God is the terminus ad quern,
the soul moves to him as to his rest, ' Keturn to thy rest, my soul'
This dove can find no rest hut in this heavenly ark.2 Nothing can
till the soul but God, nothing can quiet the soul but God, nothing
can satisfy the soul but God, nothing can secure the soul but God,
nothing can save the soul but God. The soul being spiritual, God
only can be the adequate object of it. The soul is spiritual in its
operations. It l)eing immaterial, doth not depend upon the body in
its working. The rich and rare endowments, and the noble o])era-
tions of the soul, speak out the excellency of the soul. The soul,
saith one, [Aristotle.] hath a nature distinct from the body ; it moves
and operates of itself, though the body be dead, and hath no depend-
ence upon, or co-existence with, the body. The soul hath an intrinse-
cal principle of life and motion, though it be separate from the body.
And doth not the immortality of the soul speak out the excellency of
the soul, against that dangerous notion of the soul's mortality?
Consult the scriptures in the margin,-^ and seriously and frequently
think of this one argument, among a multitude of arguments that
might be produced to prove the immortality of the soul. That which
is not capable of killing is not capable of dying ; but the soul is not
capable of killing, ergo. Our Lord Jesus proves the minor proposition,
that it is not capable of killing : Luke xii. 4, ' Fear not them that kill
the body, and after that have no more that they can do.' Therefore
the soul, not being capable of killing, is not in a ])0^sibiIity of dying.
The essence of the soul is metaphysical : it hath a beginning, but no
end; it is eternal a parte post; it runs parallel with eternity. The
soul doth not wax old ; it lives for ever, which we cannot affirm of
any sublunary created glory. To conclude this first word of counsel,
what Job saith of wisdom, I may fitly apply to the soul, * Man knows
not the price thereof ; it cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with
the precious onyx, or the sapphire, the gold and crystal cannot equal it,
and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold,' Job xxviii.
13, 16, 17. O my friends, it is the greatest wisdom, policy, equity,
and justice, to provide for your precious souls, to secure your precious
souls ; for they are jewels of more worth than ten thousand worlds.
All the honours, riches, greatness, and glory of this world are but
chips, toys, and pebbles to these glorious pearls. But,
2. The second word of counsel is this, as you would be safe here,
and saved in the great day of the Lord, as you would be happy here,
and blessed hereafter, take up in nothing heloiv a gracious acquaint-
ance ivith Christ, a choice acceptation of Christ, a holy reliance upon
Christ, a full resignation of yourselves to Christ, and a real and glori-
ous union with Christ, Acts ii. 20 ; Job xxii. 21 ; 1 Tim. i. 15 ; Job
xiii. 15; 2 Cor. ii. 11. If you do, you are lost and undone in both
W(Hlds.
[1.] First, Some take up in a name to live when they are dead, Rev.
1 Gen. ii. 7; Heb. lii. 9; ilccles. xii. 7; Zech. lii. 1; Ps. cxvi. 7; John xiv. 8; Ps.
xvii. It).
* ' Lord,' saith Austin, ' thou hast made us for thyself, and our heart is unquiet till it
comes unto tliyself.' [Confessions, as before. — G.]
•» Luke xxiii. 43; 1 Thes. iv. 17, 18; Phil. i. 23; Aft? vii. 59.
272 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
iii. 1, dead in trespasses and sins, Eph. ii. 1, dead Grodwards, and dead
Christwards, and dead heavenwards, and dead holinesswards. The
Sadducees derive their name from Zeduchim or Zadducjeus, a just
man. But the worst men, saith the historian, got the best names.
The Alcoran of the Turks hath its name from brightness, Al,^ in the
Arabic, being as much as Kazan in the Hebrew, ' to shine' or * cast
forth in brightness,' when it is full of darkness, and fraught with false-
hoods. It will be but a poor comfort to any for the world to com-
mend them as gracious, if God condemn them as graceless ; for the
world to commend them as pious, if Grod condemn them as impious ;
for the world to commend them as sincere, if God condemn them as
hypocrites. But,
[2.] Secondly, Some take up in a form of godliness when they are
strangers to the power, 2 Tim. iii. 5 ; when they deny, yea, when
they oppose and persecute, the power. Such monsters this age hath
abounded with ; but their seeming goodness is but a religious cheat,
Acts xiii. 45, 50.
[3.] Thirdly, There are some that take up in their religious duties and
services ; in their praying, fasting, prophesying, hearing, receiving ;
they make a God, a Christ, a Saviour of their own duties and services.
This was the undoing and damning sin of the Scribes and Pharisees,
and is the undoing and damning sin of many thousands in our days.
Mat. vii. 22; Luke xviii. 12, xiii. 26, and xvi. 15; Ezek. xxxiii. 31, 32.
[4.] Fourthly, There are many that take up in their common gifts
and parts ; in a gift of knowledge, and in a gift of teaching, and in a
gift of utterance, and in a gift of memory, and in a gift of prayer, and
this proves ruinous and destructive to them, Mat. vii. 22 ; Kom. ii.
17-24 ; 1 Cor. xii. ; Heb. vi. 4, 5.
[5.] Fifthly, There are many that take up in their riches, pro-
sperity, and ivorldly grandeur and glory: Prov. xviii, 11, 'The
rich man's wealth is his strong city.' It is hard to have wealth, and
not trust to it, Mat. xix. 24. Wealth was never true to those that
trusted it. There is an utter uncertainty in riches, 1 Tim. vi. 17 ; a
nonentity, Prov. xxiii. 5, 6 ; an impotency to help in an evil day,
Zeph. i. 18 ; an impossibility to stretch to eternity, unless it be to
destroy the owner for ever,2 Prov. x. 15 ; Ps. Ixxiii. 19 ; Mat. xx. 26.
There is nothing more clear in Scripture and historyjthan that riches,
prosperity, and worldly glory hath been commonly their portion who
never have had a God for their portion, Luke xvi. 25. It was an
excellent saying of Lewis of Bavaria, emperor of Germany : Hujus-
modi comparandce sunt opes, qiice cum naufragio simul enatent, Such
goods are worth getting and owning as will not sink or wash away if
a shipwreck happen. 3 Solus sapiens dives, Only the wise man is the
rich man, saith the philosopher. Another saith, [Augustine,] Divitioi
corporales paupertatis plence sunt, That earthly riches are full of
poverty, they cannot enrich the soul; for oftentimes under silken
apparel there is a threadbare soul.
. ^ Query, * Koran ' ? Alis simply the definite article, the. — Ed,
* DivitibiLS ideo pietas deest, quia nihil dtest, Rich men's wealth proves an hin-
drance to their happiness, Eccles. v. 13 ; James v. 1, 2.
* Riches are called thick clay, Hab. ii. C, which will sooner break the back than
lighten the heart.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 273
He that is rich in conscience sleeps more soundly than he that is
richly clothed in purple.
No man is rich which cannot carry hence that which he hath ; that
which we must leave liehind us is not ours but some other's, [Am-
brose, lib. 8, ep. 10.]
The shortest cut to riches is by their contempt. It is great riches
not to desire riches, and he hath most that covets least. If there were
any happiness in riches, the gods would not want them, saith the same
author, [Seneca.]
When one was a-commending the riches and wealth of merchants :
I do not love that wealth, said a poor heathen, which hangs upon
ropes ; for if they break, the ship miscarrieth, and then where is the
merchant's riches ?
If I had an enemy, saith one, whom it was lawful to wish evil unto,
I would chiefly wish him great store of riches, for then he should
never enjoy quiet, [Latimer.]
The historian [Tacitus] observes, that the riches of Cyprus invited
the Romans to hazard many dangerous fights for the conquering
of it.
Earthly riches, saith one, [Augustine,] are an evil master, a
treacherous servant, fathers of flattery, sons of grief, a cause of fear
to those that have them, and a cause of sorrow to those that w^ant
them.
I have read a famous storv of Zelimus, emperor of Constantinople,
that after he had taken Egypt, he found a great deal of treasure there ;
and the soldiers coming to him, and asking of him what they should
do with the citizens of Egypt, for that they had found great treasure
among them, and had taken their riches ? Oh, saith the emperor,
hang them all up, for they are too rich to be made slaves ; and this
was all the thanks they had for the riches they were spoiled of i
What more contemptible than a rich fool, a golden beast, as Caligula
called his father-in-law Syllanius ? ^ Not but that some are great and
gracious, rich and righteous, as Abraham, Lot, Job, David, Heze-
kiah, &c.
It is said of Shusa in Persia, saith Cassiodorus, that it was so rich
that the stones were joined together with gold ; and that in it Alex-
ander found seventy thousand talents of gold. If you can take this
city, saith Aristagorus^ to his soldiers, you may vie with Jove himself
for riches. The riches of Shusa did but make the soldiers the more
desperate in their attempt to take it.
By these short hints you may see the folly and vanity of those men
who take up in their riches. But,
[6.] Sixthly, Many there are that take up in their own righteous-
ness, which at best is hut as filthy rags, Isa. Ixiv. 6. This was the
damning sin of the Jews, and of the scribes and Pharisees ; and is
the undoing sin of many of the professors of this age, Rom. x. 2, 3 ;
Mat. V. 20.
' [Knolles] The Turkish History. The poets feigned Pluto to be the god of riches
and hell, as if they were inseparable. — Homer.
* Eather ' Silanus :' Dion Cass, Iviii. 25. — G.
^ Eather ' Aristagoras' Herod :' iv. 138, v. 37, 38 : for Shusa rather ' Susa.' — Q.
VOL. 8
274 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
[7.] Seventhly, Many there are that take up in their external
church privileges^ crying out, ' The temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord,' Jer. vii, 4, 8-11, when they have no union nor com-
munion with the Lord of the temple. These forget that there will
come a day, when the ' children of the kingdom shall be cast out,'
Mat. viii. 12. It would be very good for such persons to make these
five scriptures their daily companions. Mat. xxii. 10, 12-14; Luke
xiii. 25-28 ; Kom. ii. 28, 29 ; Gal. vi. 15 ; Jer. ix. 25, 26. That they
may never dare to take up in their outward church privileges, which
can neither secure them from hell, nor secure them of heaven. But,
[8.] Eighthly, Many there be that take up in common convictions.
Judas had mighty convictions of his sin, but they issued in despera-
tion, Mat. xxvii. 4, 5. Balaam was mightily enlightened and con-
vinced, insomuch that he desired to die the deatli of the righteous ;
but under all his convictions he died Christless and graceless, Num.
xxiii. and xxiv. Nebuchadnezzar had great convictions, Dan. iv.
31, 32, yet we do not read that ever he was converted before he was
driven from the society of men, to be a companion with the beasts of
the field, Dan. iv. 31, 32. He had strong convictions, (1.) by Daniel's
interpreting of his dream, Dan. ii. 47. (2.) He told Daniel, that ' his
God was the God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of
secrets;' and yet presently he fell into gross idolatry, Dan. iii., and
strictly commanded to worship the golden image that he had set up ;
and as if he had lost all his former conyictions, he was so swelled up
with pride and impudence, as to say to the three children, when they
divinely scorned to worship the image he had set up, ' What God is
there that can deliver you out of my hand ?' ver. 15. Saul had great
convictions, * I have sinned, return, my son David, I will no more do
thee harm,' &c. And Saul lifted up his voice and wept ; and he said
unto David, ' Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded
me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil,' 1 Sam. xxvi. 21, 25, and
xxiv. 16-19. But these convictions issued in no saving change, for
after these he lived and died in the height of his sins. Pharaoh had
great convictions : ' And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and
Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is
righteous, and I and my people are wicked.' And again, ' Then Pha-
raoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste ; and he said, I have sinned
against the Lord your God, and against you,' Exod. ix. 27, and x. 1 6.
But these convictions issued in no reformation, in no sound conversion,
and therefore drowning and damning followed. Cain was under convic-
tions, but went and built a city, and lost his convictions in a crowd of
worldly business, Gen. iv. Herod and Felix were under convictions,
but they went off, and never issued in any saving work upon their
souls, Mark vi. 20 ; Acts xxiv. 25. Oh, how many men and women
have fallen under such deep convictions, that they have day and night
cried out of their sins, and of their lost and undone estates, and that
they should certainly go to hell and be damned for ever, so that many
good people have hoped that these were the pangs of the new birth ;
and yet either merry company, or carnal pleasures and delights, or
much worldly business, or else length of time, have wrought off all
their convictions, and they have grown more profane and wicked than
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 275
ever they were before. As water heated, if taken off the fire, will soon
return to its natural coldness, yea, becomes colder after heating than
before, [Aristotle,] this hath been the case of many under convictions.
1 shall forbear giving of particular instances. But,
[9.] Ninthly, Many take up in an outwa7'd change and reformation;
they have left some old courses and sinful practices which formerly
they walked in, &c., and therefore they conclude and hope that their
condition is good, and that all is well, and shall be for ever well with
them. They were wont to swear, whore, be drunk, profane Sabbaths,
reproach saints, &c. ; but now they have left all these practices, and
therefore the main work is done, and they are made for ever. I con-
fess sin is that abominable thing which God hates, Jer. xliv. 4, and
therefore it is a very great mercy to turn from it. To leave one sin is
a greater mercy than to win the whole world, Mat. xvi. 26 ; and it is
certain that he that doth not outwardly reform shall never go to heaven,
Job xxii. 23, 26. He that doth not leave his sins, he can never be
happy here nor blessed hereafter ; and yet it is possible for a man, with
Herod, to reform many things, and yet be a lost and undone man for
ever, as he was, Mark vi. 20. Judas was a very reformed man, but he
was never inwardly changed nor throughout sanctified, Mat. xxvi.
20-22 ; 1 Thes. v. 23. The scribes and Pharisees were outwardly
reformed, but they were not inwardly renewed. A man may be an-
other man than what once he was, and yet not be a new man, a new
creature. When a sinner is sermon-sick, oh, then he will leave his
sins ; but when that sickness is off, he returns with the dog to his
vomit, and with the sow to her wallowing in the mire, 2 Cor. v. 17 ;
2 Pet. ii. 20, 22. Sometimes conscience is like the handwriting upon
the wall, Dan. v. 5-8: it makes the sinner's countenance to change, and
his thoughts to be troubled, and the joints of his loins to be loosed, and
his knees to smite one against another. And now the sinner is all for
reforming, and turning over a new leaf ; but when these agonies of con-
science are over, the sinner returns to his old courses again, and often-
times is twofold more a child of hell than before. Mat. xxiii. 15. There
was a man in this city who was given up to the highest wickednesses;
on his ,sick-bed conscience made an arrest of him, and he was filled
with such wonderful horror and terror, that he cried out day and night
that he was damned, he was damned, he was damned ; and when he
had some small intervals, oh, what large promises did he make ! what
a new man, a reformed man, he would be ! but when in time his
terrors and sickness wrought off, he was sevenfold worse than before.
Sometimes the awakened sinner parts with some sins to make room for
others, and sometimes the sinner seems to give a bill of divorce to this
sin and that, but it is only because his bodily strength fails him, or
because he wants an opportunity, or because there is a more strict eye
and watch upon him, or because the sword of the magistrate is more
sharpened against him, or because 'he wants fuel, James iv. 3; he
wants a purse to bear it out, or because some company, or some rela-
tions, or some friends lie between him and his sins, so that he must
either tread over them, or else keep from his sins ; or because he has
deeply smarted for this sin, and that his name has been blotted, his
credit and reputation stained, his trade decayed, his health impaired.
276 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
his body wasted, &c., Prov. vi. 32-35. By these short hints it is evi-
dent that men may attain to some outward reformation, whose states
and hearts were never changed, and who were never taken into mar-
riage union with Christ. But,
[10.] Tenthly and lastly, Many take up in a party. As of old some
cried up Paul as the only deep preacher, and others cried up Apollos
as the only eloquent preacher, and many cried up Cephas as the most
zealous preacher, 1 Cor. i. 10-13. We are for the Church of England,
say some ; we are for the Baptized people, say others ; we are for the
Presbyterian government, cry some ; we are for the Congregational
way, cry others. I have so much ingenuity and charity, as to judge
that some of all these several parties and persuasions are really holy
and will be eternally happy, are gracious and will be glorious, are
sanctified and will be saved, are now governed b;^ Christ and will be
hereafter glorified with Christ. Judas was one of Christ's party, if I
may so speak, and yet he had no part nor portion in Christ, Mat. xxvi.
20-26. Demas was one of Paul's party, and yet he played the apos-
tate, and turned an idolatrous priest at Thessalonica, as Dorotheus
saith, 2 Tim, iv. 10.^ And Phygellus and Hermogenes were of Paul's
party, but were only famous for their recidivation^ and apostasy,
2 Tim. i. 15. Hymeneus and Alexander were of Paul's party, but
they made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, 1 Tim, i. 19, 20.
The five foolish virgins were in society with the wise, and were
accounted as members of their association, and yet the door of heaven
was shut against them. Mat, xxv. 1, 2, 12. Many light, slight, and
vdin persons went with the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt,
even a mixed multitude that embarked in the same bottom with them,
and yet never arrived at the land of promise, Exod, xii, 38 ; Num.
xi. 4. my friends, it is not a man's being of this party or that, this
•church or that, this way or that, this society or that, that will bring
him to heaven, without a spiritual conjunction with Christ, 1 Pet. i, 4;
Heb. i. 2. He that would enjoy the heavenly inheritance must be
espoused to Christ, the heir of all things : ' For he that hath the Son
hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life,' 1 John v, 12.
This marriage-union between Christ and the soul is set forth to the
life throughout the book of Solomon's Song, Cant. ii. 16, Though
the marriage-union between Christ and the soul be imperceptible to
the eye of reason, yet it is real, 1 Cor. vi, 17. Things in nature often
work insensibly, yet really. We do not see the hand move on the dial,
yet it moves. The sun exhales and draws up the vapours of the earth
■insensibly, yet really, Eccles, xi, 6. Now this marriage-union between
Christ and the soul includes and takes in these following particulars : —
First, This marriage-union between Christ and the soul does in-
clude and take in the souVs giving a present hill of divorce to all other
lovers ; sin, the world, and Satan. 3 Are you seriously and sincerely
willing for ever to renounce these, and be divorced from these ? There
is no compounding betwixt Christ and them. Sin and your souls
^ As before, see foot-note and Index sub nomine. — G.
" ' Relapse' = backsliding. — G,
^ Consult these scriptures : Hosea xiv. 8 ; Isa. ii. 20, and xxx, 22 ; Ps. xlv. 10 ; Exod.
,xii. 33 ; Isa. lix. 20.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 277
must part, or Christ and your souls can never meet ; sin and your
souls must be two, or Christ and your souls can never he one ; you
must in good earnest fall out with sins, or else you can never in good
earnest fall in with a Saviour ; the heart must be separated from all
other lovers, before Christ will take the soul into his bed of loves.
Christ takes none into marriage-union with himself, but such as are
cordially willing that all old former leagues with sin and the world
shall be for ever broken and dissolved. Your cordial willingness to
part with sin, is your parting with sin in divine account. You may
as soon bring east and west together, light and darkness together,
heaven and hell together, as bring Christ to espouse himself to such a
soul, as has no mind, no will, no heart to be divorced from his former
lovers. It is a foolish thing for any to think of keeping both Christ
and their lusts too. It is a vain thing for any to think of saving the
life of his sins, and the life of his soul too. If sin escape, your soul
cannot escape ; if thou art not the death of thy sins, they will be the
death and ruin of thy soul. Marriage is a knot or tie, wherein per-
sons are mutually limited and bound each to other, in a way of con-
jugal separation from all others, and this in Scripture is called a
covenant, Pro v. ii. 7. So when any one marries Christ, he doth
therein discharge himself in affection and subjection from all that is
contrary unto Christ, and solemnly covenants and binds himself to
Christ alone ; he will have no Saviour and no Lord but Christ, and to
him will he cleave for ever, Ps. Ixiii. 8 ; Acts xi. 23. But,
Secondly, This marriage-union with Christ doth include and take
in a hearty ivilUngness, to take, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ for
your Saviour and sovereign.'^ Are you willing to consent to the
match. It is not enough that Christ is willing to enter into a mar-
riage-union with us, but we must be willing also to enter into a
marriage-union with him. 2 God will never force a Christ, nor force
salvation upon us, whether we will or no. Many approve of Christ,
and cry up Christ, who yet are not willing to give their consent, that
he, and he alone shall be their Prince and Saviour. Though know-
ledge of persons be necessary and fit, yet it is not sufficient to marriage,
without consent, for marriage ought to be a voluntary transaction of
persons. In marriage we do in a sort give away ourselves, and elect
and make choice for ourselves, and therefore consent is a necessary
concurrence to marriage. Now this consent is nothing else but a free
and plain act of the will, accepting of Jesus Christ before all others to
be its head and Lord, and in the soul's choice of him to be its Saviour
and sovereign. Then a man is married to Christ, when he doth freely
and absolutely and presently receive the Lord Jesus ; not, I would
have Christ if it did not prejudice my worldly estate, ease, friends,
relations, &c., or hereafter, I will accept of him when I come to die,
and be in distress, but now when salvation is offered, now while Christ
tenders himself, I now yield up my heart and life unto him. But,
Thirdly, This marriage-union with Christ includes and takes in
' John i. 12 ; Acts v. 31 ; Col. ii. 6 : weigh well these scriptures : Ps. cxii. 3, and xxv.
5 ; Hosea ii. 7.
' Many can choose Christ as a refuge to hide them from danger, and as a friend to
help them in their need, who yet refuse him as a husband.
278 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
a universal and perpetual consent for all time and in all states and
conditions. There is, you know, a great difference between a wife
and a strumpet ; a wife takes her husband upon all terms, to have and
to hold, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness
and in health, whereas a strumpet is only for hire and lust. When
the purse is emptied, or the body wasted and strength consumed, the
harlot's love is at an end : so here. That acceptance and consent which
ties the marriage-knot between Christ and the soul, must be an un-
limited and indefinite acceptance and consent, when we take the Lord
Jesus Christ wholly and entirely, without any secret reservations or
exceptions. That soul that will have Christ, must have all Christ or
no Christ, * for Christ is not divided,' 1 Cor. i. 13. That soul must
entertain him to all purposes and intents, he must follow the Lamb
wheresoever he goeth, Rev. xiv. 4, though it should be through fire
and water, over mountains and hills. He must take him with his cup
of affliction as well as his cup of consolation, Ps. Ixvi. 12, with his
shameful cross as well as his glorious crown, with his great sufferings
as well as his great salvation, Heb. ii. 3, with his grace as well as his
mercy, with his Spirit to lead and govern them, as well as his blood to
redeem and justify them, to suffer for him as well as to reign with
him, to die for him as well as to live to him, 2 Tim. ii. 12; Acts xxi.
13; Rom. xiv. 7, 8. Christianity, like the wind Ccecias, doth ever
draw clouds and afflictions after it.^ ' All that will live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,' 2 Tim. iii. 12. A man may have
many faint wishes and cold desires after godliness, and yet escape per-
secution, yea, he may make some essays and attempts, as if he would
be godly, and yet escape persecution ; but when a man is thoroughly
resolved to be godly, and sets himself in good earnest upon pursuing
after holiness, and living a life of godliness, then he must expect to
meet with afflictions and persecutions. Whoever escapes, the godly
man shall not escape persecution in one kind or another, in one degree
or another. 2 He that is peremptorily resolved to live up to holy rules,
and to live out holy principles, must prepare for sufferings. All the
roses of holiness are surrounded with pricking briars. The history of
the Ten Persecutions, and that little Book of Martyrs, the 11th of the
Hebrews, and Mr Foxe his Acts and Monuments, with many other
treatises that are extant, do abundantly evidence that from age to age,
and from one generation to another, they that have been born after the
flesh have persecuted them that hath been born after the spirit, and
that the seed of the serpent have been still a-multiplying of troubles
upon the seed of the woman. Gal. iv. 29 ; but a believer's future glory
and pleasure will abundantly recompense him for his present pain and
ignominy. But such as will have Christ for their Saviour and sovereign,
but still with some proviso or other — viz. , that they may keep such
a beloved lust, or enjoy such carnal pleasures and delights, or raise
such an estate ifor them and theirs, or comply with the times, and such
and such great men's humours, or that they may follow the Lamb only
^ The north-east wind, (/cantos,) PI. 2, 46, 47; Vitr. 1, 6 ; Sen. Q. N. 5, 16.— G.
* The common cry of persecutors have been, Chrintianos ad Ltona : within the first
three hundred years after Christ, upon the matter all that made a profession of the
apostle's doctrine, were cruelly murdered.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 279
in sunshine weather, &c., these are still Satan's bond-slaves, and such as
Christ can take no pleasure nor delight to espouse himself unto. But,
3. The third word of advice and counsel is this, viz. — 'Put off the
old man, and put on the neiv,' Col. iii. 9, 10. Consult the scriptures
in the margin, i You must be new creatures, or else it had been
better you had been any creatures than what you are : 2 Cor. v. 17,
' If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed
away, behold all things are become new.' The new creature includes
a new light, a new sight, a new understanding. Now the soul sees
sin to be the greatest evil, and Christ and holiness to be the chiefest
good, Ps. xxxviii. 4, and Cant. v. 10. When a man is a new creature
he has a new judgment and opinion, he looks upon God as his only
happiness, and Christ as his all in all. Col. iii. 11, and upon the ways
of God as ways of pleasantness, Prov. iii. 17. The new man has new
cares, new requests, new desires. Oh that my soul may be saved ! Acts
ii. 37, and xvi. 30 ; Oh that my interest in Christ may be cleared ! Oh
that my heart may be adorned with grace ! Oh that my whole man may
be secured from wrath to come ! 1 Thes. i. 10. The new man is a
man of new principles. If you make a serious inspection into his soul,
you shall find a principle of faith, of repentance, of holiness, of love, of
contentment, of patience, &c.2 There is not any one spiritual and
heavenly principle respecting salvation, but may be found in the new
creature. The new man experiences a new combat and conflict in his
soul. ' The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit lusteth
against the flesh.' ' I see another law in my members warring against
the law of my mind,' Gal. v. 17, and Kom. vii. 23. The new man ex-
periences a combat in every faculty. Here is the judgment against
the judgment, and the will against the will, and the afiections against
the affections. And the reason is this ; because there is flesh and spirit,
sin and grace co-existent and cohabiting in every faculty of the soul ;
renevidng grace is in every faculty, and remaining corruption is also in
every faculty, like Jacob and Esau struggling in the same womb, or
like heat and cold in the same water, and in every part of it. The
new man also combats with all sorts of known sins, whether they be
great or small, inward or outward, whether they be the sins of the
heart or the sins of the life ; and besides, the conflict in the new man is
a daily conflict, a constant conflict. The new creature can never, the
new creature will never, be at peace with sin ; sin and the new creature
will fight it out to the death. The new creature will never be brought
into a league of friendship with sin. The new man is a man of a new
life and conversation. Always a new life attends a new heart. You
see it in Paul, Mary Magdalene, Zaccheus, the jailor, and all the others
that are upon Scripture record.^ The new man has new society, new
company : Ps. cxix. 63, ' I am a companion of all them that fear thee,
and of them that keep thy precepts.' Ps. xvi. 3, - My goodness extends
not to thee, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent,
in whom is all my delight.' Holy society is the only society for persons
of holy hearts, and in that society can no man delight until God renew
1 Eph. iv. 22-24 ; Gal. vi. 15 ; 1 Pet. ii. 2.
* Pliil. i. 29; Acts xi. 18; 1 Thes. iv. 9; Phil. iv. 11 ; 1 Cor. iv. 12.
^ See 1 John iii. 14 ; 2 Cor. vi. 14 ; Ps. cxx. 5, cxixix. 21, and xlii. 4.
280 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
his heart by grace. Many men be as the planet Mercury, good in con-
junction with those that are good, and bad with those that are bad ;
these are they that do Viriutis stragulam pude/acere, Put honesty to
an open shame, i Clothes and company do oftentimes tell tales in a
mute but significant language. Tell me with whom thou goest, and
I will tell thee what thou art, saith the Spanish proverb. Algerius,
an Italian martyr, had rather be in prison with Cato than with
Caesar in the senate-house. 2 But to conclude this word of counsel, the
new man wallvs by a new rule. As soon as ever God has made a man
a new creature, he presently sets up a new rule of life to walk by, and
that is no other but that which God himself sets up for his people to
walk by, and that is his written word : Isa. viii. 20, * To the law and
to the testimony;' Ps. cxix. 105, ' Thy word is a, lamp unto my feet,
and a light unto my path ;' ver. 133, ' Order my steps in thy word ;'
Gal. vi. 16, ' And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on
them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.' This rule he sets up
for all matters of faith, and for all matters of fact. The word is like
the stone Garamantides, that hath drops of gold within itself, enrich-
ing of every soul that makes it his rule to walk by. Alexander kept
Homer's Iliads in a cabinet, embroidered with gold and pearls ; ^ and
shall not we keep the word in the cabinet of our hearts, that it may
be always ready at hand as a rule for us to walk by ? Well, friends,
whatever you do forget, be sure that for ever you remember this — viz.j
that none can or shall be glorious creatures, but such as by grace are
made new creatures. But,
4. The fourth word of advice and counsel is this. Labour to he Tnore
inwardly sincere than outwardly glorious. ' The king's daughter is
all glorious within,' Ps. xlv. 13. Oh labour rather to be good than to
be thought to be good, to live than to have a name to live, Kev. iii. 1,
15-17- Whatever you let go, be sure you hold fast your integrity.
A man were better to let friends go, relations go, estate go, liberty go,
and all go, than let his integrity go. ' God forbid that I should justify
you ; till I die I will not remove my integrity from me ; my righteous-
ness I will hold fast, and I will not let it go : my heart shall not re-
proach me so long as I live,' Job xxvii. 5, 6. Job is highly and fully
resolved to keep his integrity close against all assaults of enemies or
suspicions of friends. Job's integrity was the best jewel he had in all
the world, and this jewel he was resolved to keep to his dying day. It
was neither good men, nor bad men, nor devils that should baffle Job
out of his integrity ; and though they all pulled, and pulled hard, at
his integrity, yet he would not let it go, he would hold fast this pearl
of price whatever it cost him. The sincere Christian, like John Bap-
tist, will hold his integrity though he lose his head for it, Mark vi.
The very heathens loved a candid and sincere spirit, as he that wished
that there was a glass in his breast, that all the world might see what
was in his heart. Integrity will be a sword to defend you, a staff to
support you, a star to guide you, and a cordial to cheer you ; and there-
fore, above all gettings get sincerity, and above all keepings keep sin-
cerity, as your crown, your comfort, your life. But,
1 Cicero had rather have no companion than a bad one.
* Clarke, as before, p. 187.— G. =* As before. — G.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATOKY. 281
5. The fifth word of comfort and counsel is this, Be true to the light
of your consciences, and maintain and keep up a constant tenderness in
your consciences. A tender conscience is a mercy more worth than a
world. Conscience is God's spy in om' bosoms : keep this clear and
tender, and then all is well, Acts xxiv. 16 ; 2 Cor. i. 12. Act nothing
against the dictates of conscience, rebel not against the light of con-
science. You were better that all the world should upbraid you and
reproach you, than that your consciences should upbraid you and re-
proach you. Job xxvii. 5, 6. Beware of stifling conscience, and of
suppressing the warnings of conscience, lest a warning conscience
prove a gnawing conscience, a tormenting conscience. The blind man
in the Gospel, Mark viii., newly recovering his sight, imagined trees
to be men: and the Burgundians, as Comines reports, expecting a
battle, supposed long thistles to be lances. Thus men under guilt are
apt to conceit every thistle a tree, and every tree a man, and every
man a devU. Take heed of tongue-tied consciences ; for when God
shall untie these strings, and unmuzzle your consciences, conscience
will then be heard, and ten concerts of music shall not drown her
clamorous cries. Hearken to the voice of conscience, obey the voice
of conscience, and when conscience shall whisper you in the ear, and
tell you there is this and that amiss in the house, in the habit, in the
heart, in the life, in the closet ; don't say to conscience, Conscience be
quiet, be still, make no noise now, I will hear thee in a more con-
venient season. Acts xxiv. 24, 25. The heathen orator could say, A
recta conscientia ne latum quidem unguem discedendum, A man may
not depart a hair's-breadth all his life long from the dictates of a good
conscience.! Will not this heathen one day rise in judgment against
those who daily crucify the light of their own consciences ? But,
6. The sixth word of advice and counsel is this, 3Iake it the great
business of your lives to make sure such things as will go with you be-
yond the grave} Eiches and honours and offices, and all worldly
grandeur, won't go with us beyond the grave. Saladin, a Turkish em-
peror — he was the first of that nation that conquered Jerusalem —
lying at the point of death, after many glorious victories, commanded
that a white sheet should be borne before him to his grave, upon the
point of a spear, with this proclamation : ' These are the rich spoils
which Saladin carrieth away with him, of all his triumphs and vic-
tories, of all his riches and realms that he had ; now nothing at all is
left for him to carry with him but this sheet.' It is with us in this
world as it was in the Jewish fields and vineyards, pluck and eat they
might what they would while they were there, but they might not
pocket nor put up aught to carry with them, Deut. xxiii. 24, 25. Death,
as a porter, stands at the gate, and strips men of all their worldly
wealth and glory. Atheneeus speaks of one that, at the hour of death^
devoured many pieces of gold, and sewed the rest in his coat, com-
manding that they should be buried with him. Hermocrates, being
loath that any man should enjoy his goods after him, made himself
by will heir of his own goods. These muck-worms would fain live
^ Cicero : in Offic.
* See my Treatise on Assurance, and there you will find how you may secure something
that will go with you beyond the grave.— [Vol. ii., p. 301, se^. — G.]
282 THE EPISTLE DEDICATOKY.
still on this side Jordan; having made their gold their god, they
cannot think of parting with it. They would, if possible, carry the
world out of the world. But what saith the apostle ? ' We brought
nothing with us into this world, and it is certain'' — see how he asse-
vereth and assureth it, as if some rich wretches made question of it —
' we can carry nothing out,' nothing but a winding-sheet, 1 Tim. vi. 7.
Oh, how should this alarm us to make sure our calling and election,^ to
make sure our interest in Christ, to make sure our covenant-relation, to
make sure a work of grace in power upon our souls, to make sure the
testimony of a good conscience. Gal. iv. 5-7, to make sure our son-
ship, our saintship, our heirship, &c., Kom. viii. 15, 16 ; for these are
the only things that will go with us into another world. In the
Marian persecution there was a woman who, being convened before
Bonner, then Bishop of London,^ upon the trial of religion, he threatened
her that he would take away her husband from her. Saith she, Christ
is my husband. I will take away thy child. Christ, saith she, is
better to me than ten sons. I will strip thee, saith he, of all thy out-
ward comfort. Yea, but Christ is mine, saith she, and you cannot
strip me of him. Assurance that Christ was hers, and that he would
go with her beyond the grave, bore her heart up above the threats of
being spoiled of all, Heb. x. 34. When a great lord had shewed a
sober, serious, knowing Christian his riches, his stately habitation, his
pleasant gardens, his delightful walks, his rich grounds, and his
various sorts of pleasure, the serious Christian, turning himself to this
great lord, said: My lord, you had need to make sure Christ and
heaven, you had need make sure something that will go with you
beyond the grave, for else when you die you will be a very great loser.
my friends, I must tell you, it highly concerns you to make
sure something that will go with you beyond the grave, or else you
will be very great losers when you come to die, God having given
you an abundance of the good things and of the great things of this
world, beyond what he has given to many thousands of others. But,
7. The seventh word of advice and counsel is this. Look upon all
the things of this luorld, and value all the things of this luorld noio,
as you luill certainly look upon them and value them luhen you come
to lie upon a sick-bed, a dying-bed, 1 Cor. vii. 29-31. When a
man is sick in good earnest, and when death knocks at the door in
good earnest, oh, with what a disdainful eye, with what a weaned eye,
with what a scornful eye does a man then look upon the honours,
riches, dignities, and glories of this world ! If men could but thus
look upon them now, it would keep them from being fond of them,
from trusting in them, from doting upon them, from being proud of
them, and from venturing a damning either in getting or in keeping
of them. But,
8. The eighth word of advice and counsel is this, In all places and
companies carry your soul-preservatives still about you — viz., a holy
care, a holy fear, a holy jealousy, a holy watchfulness over your own
thoughts, hearts, words, and ways. Pro v. iv. 23, and xxviii. 14 ; Gen.
vi. 9, andxxxix. 9, 10 ; Ps. xvii. 4, xviii. 23, and xxxix. 1, &c. You
1 2 Pet. i. 10 ; 2 Cor. v. 17; 2 Sam. xxiii. 5; 1 Thes. v. 23; 2 Cor. i. 12.
' Foxe's Acts and Monuments.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATOKY. 283
know that in infectious times men and women carry their several pre-
servatives about them, that they may be kept from the infection of
the times. Never were there more infectious times than now. Oh
the snares, the baits, the infections that attend us at all times, in all
places, in all companies, in all employments, and in all enjoyments,
so that if we do not carry our soul-preservatives about us, we shall
be in imminent danger of being infected with the pride, ill customs,
and vanities of the times wherein we live. But,
9. The ninth word of advice and counsel is this. Live not at uncer-
tainties as to your spiritual and eternal estates^ There are none so
miserable as those that are strangers to the state of their own souls.
It is good for a man to know the state of his flock, the state of his
family, the state of the nation, the state of his body ; but above all to
know the state and condition of his own soul. How many thousands
are there that can give a better account of their lands, their lordships,
their riches, their crops, their shops, their trades, their merchandise,
yea, of their hawks, their hounds, their misses, than they can of the
estate of their own souls ! my friends, your souls are more worth
than ten thousand worlds. Mat. xvi. 26, and therefore it must be the
greatest prudence, and the choicest policy in the world, to secure their
everlasting welfare, and to know how things stands between Grod and
your souls, what you are worth for eternity, and how it is like to go
with you in that other world. Whilst a Christian lives at uncer-
tainties as to his spiritual and everlasting estate, as whether he has
grace or no grace, or whether his grace be true or counterfeit, whether
he has an interest in Christ or not, a work in power upon his soul or
not, or whether God loves him or loathes him, whether he will bring
him to heaven or throw him to hell — how can any Christian who
lives at so great an uncertainty delight in God, rejoice evermore,
triumph in Christ Jesus, be ready to suffer, and desirous to die ? Job
xxvii. 10 ; Phil. iv. 4 ; 2 Cor. ii. 14 ; Phil, i, 23, All men love to be
at a certainty in all their outward concernments ; and yet how many
thousands are there that are at a marvellous uncertainty as to the
present and future state of their precious and immortal souls ! But,
10. The tenth word of advice and counsel is this. Set the highest
Scripture examples and patterns before you, of grace and holiness, for
your imitation, 1 Cor. iv, 16. In the point of faith and obedience set
an Abraham before you. Gen. xii. and xxii. ; in the point of meek-
ness set a Moses before you, Num. xii. 3 ; in the point of courage set
a Joshua before you. Josh. i. ; in the point of uprightness set a David
before you, Ps. xviii. 23 ; in the point of zeal set a Phinehas before
you ; and in the point of patience set a Job before you. Make Christ
your main pattern, ' Be ye followers of me, as I am of Christ,' James
V. 11, 12, and 1 Cor. xi. 1. And next to him set the patterns of the
choicest saints before you for your imitation.2 The nearer you come
to those blessed copies that they have set before you, the more will be
your joy and comfort, and the more God will be honoured, Christ
^ See my ' Box of Precious Ointment.' In that glass you may read the state of your
souls. — [Vol. iii. p. 233, seq. — G.]
' Prmcepta docent, exempla movent, Precepts may instruct, but examples do per-
suade. — [As before. — G.]
284 " THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.
exalted, the Spirit pleased, religion adorned, the mouths of sinners
stopped, and the hearts of saints rejoiced. He that shooteth at the
sun, though he shoot far short, yet will shoot higher than he that
aimeth at a shrub. It is safest, it is best, to eye the highest and
worthiest examples. Examples are, (1.) More awakening than pre-
cepts; (2.) More convincing than precepts ; (3.) More encouraging
than precepts, Heb. xi. 8 ; and that because in them we see that the
exercise of godliness, though difficult, yet is possible ; when we see men
subject to like passions \^th ourselves to be so and so mortified, self-
denying, humble, holy, &c. ; what should hinder but that it may be so
with us also ? Such as begin to work with the needle, look much on
their sampler and pattern : it is so in learning to write, and indeed in
learning to live also. Observe the gracious conversations and carriages
of the choicest saints, keep a fixed eye upon the wise, prudent, humble,
holy, and heavenly deportment ; write after the fairest copy you can
find, labour to imitate those Christians that are most eminent in grace.
I shall conclude this head with that of the heathen : Optimum est
majorum sequi vestigia, si recte prcBcesserint, It is best to tread in the
steps of those who are gone in a safe and good way before us, [Seneca.]
But,
11. The eleventh word of advice and counsel is this, Be much in
the most spiritual exercises of religion. There are external exercises,
such as hearing, praying, singing, receiving, holy conference, &c.,
Isa. i. 11-14, and 1 Tim. iv. 8, and Mat. vi. Now custom, con-
viction, education, and a hundred other external considerations, may
lead persons to these external exercises : but then there are the more
spiritual exercises of religion, such as loving of God, delighting in God,
prizing of Christ, compliance with the motions, counsels, and dictates
of the Spirit, living in an exercise of grace, triumphing in Christ Jesus,
setting our affections upon things above, meditation, self-examination,
self-judging, &c. Now the more you live in the exercise of these more
spiritual duties of religion, the more you glorify God — the more you
evidence the power of grace, and the in-dwelUngs of the Spirit — and
the more you difference and distinguish yourselves from hypocrites
and all unsound professors, and the better foundation you lay for a
bright, strong, and growing assurance. But,
12. The twelfth and last word of advice and counsel I shall give
you is, To make a ivise, a seasonable, a sincere, a daily, and a thorough
improvement of all the talents that God has intrusted you loith. There
is a talent of time, of power, of riches, of honour, of greatness, that
some are more intrusted with than others are. The improvement of
these is your great wisdom, and should be your daily works, 1 Cor iv.
1, 2. You know you are but stewards, and that you must shortly give
an account of your stewardship, Luke xvi. 1-4. And oh that you
may make such a faithful and full improvement of all the great talents
that God has intrusted you with, that you may give up your account
at last with joy, and not with grief ! Some princes have wished upon
their beds that they had never reigned, because they have not improved
their power for God and his people, but against God and his people ;
and some rich men have wished that they had never been rich, because
they have not improved their riches for the glory of God, nor for the
THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 285
succour and relief of his suffering saints. A beggar upon the way
asked something of an honourable lady : she gave him sixpence, saying,
This is more than ever God gave me. Oh ! says the beggar, Madam,
you have abundance, and God hath given you all that you have ; say
not so, good madam. Well, says she, I speak the truth, for God hath
not given but lent unto me what I have, that I may bestow it upon
such as thou art. And it is very true, indeed, that poor Christians are
Christ's alms-men, and the rich are but his stewards, into whose hands
God hath put his moneys, to distribute to them as their necessities
require. It is credibly reported of Mr Thomas Sutton, the sole founder
of that eminent hospital commonly known by his name, that he used
often to repair into a private garden, where he poured forth his prayers
unto God, and, amongst other passages, was frequently overheard to use
this expression : Lord, thou hast given me a liberal and large estate,
give me also a heart to make good use of it ; which was granted to
him accordingly.! Kiches are a great blessing, but a heart to use them
aright is a far greater blessing. Every rich man is not so much a
treasurer as a steward, whose praise is more how to lay out well than
to have received much. I know I have transgressed the bounds of an
epistle, but love to your souls, and theirs into whose hands this treatise
may fall, must be my apology.
Sir, if you and your lady were both my own children, and my only
children, I could not give you better nor more faithful counsel than
what I have given you in this epistle ; and all out of a sincere, serious,
and cordial desire and design, that both of you may be happy here,
and found at Christ's right hand in the great day of account, Mat.
XXV. 33, 34.
Now the God of all grace fill both your hearts with all the fruits
of righteousness and holiness, and greatly bless you both with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and make you meet-helps to each
other heaven- ward, and at last crown you both with ineffable glory in
the life to come. 1 Pet. v. 1 ; Gal. v. 22, 23 ; Eph. i. 3.
So I take leave, and rest your assured friend, and soul's servant,
Thomas Brooks.
^ Fuller's Church History of Britain. [The founder of the Charter-house, London. — G.]
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED
AND OPENED.
Beloved in our Lord, — In the first part of my Golden Key, I have
shewed you seven several pleas, that all sincere Christians may form
up, as to those several scriptures in the Old and New Testament, that
refer either to the great day of account, or to their particular days of
accoujit. In this second part, I shall go on where I left, and shew
you several other choice pleas, that all believers may make in the
present case.
VIII. The eighth plea that a believer may form up as to the ten
scriptures in the margin, i that refer to the great day of account, or to
a man s particular account, may be drawn up from the consideration
of the covenant of grace, or the new covenant that all believers are
under. It is of high concernment to understand the tenure of the
covenant of grace, or the new covenant, which is the law you must
judge of your estates by, for if you mistake in that you will err in the
conclusion. That person is very unfit to make a judge, who is ignorant
of the law, by which himself and others must be tried. For the clear-
ing of my way, let me premise these six things : —
1. First, Premise this with me, that God hath commonly dealt with
man in the luay of a covenant ; that being a way that is most suitable
to man, and most honourable for man, and the most amicable and
friendly way of dealing w^th man. No sooner was man made, but
God entered into covenant with him, ' In the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt die the death,' Gen. ii. 17 ; and after this, he made a
covenant with the world, by Noah, Gen. ix. 11-15, and vi. 18 ; and
after this, he made a covenant with Abraham, Gen. xvii. 1,2; and
after this, he made a covenant with the Jews at Mount Sinai, Exod. xix.
Thus you see that God has commonly dealt with man in the way of a
covenant. But,
2. Secondly, Premise this with me, A II men are under some cove-
nant or other ; they are either under a covenant of works, or they are
under a covenant of grace. All persons that live and die without an
interest in Christ, they live and die under a covenant of works ; such
as live and die with an interest in Christ, they live and die under a
^ Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14 ; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23; Luke xvi. 2; Rom. xiv. 10;
2 Cor. V. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17 ; 1 Pet. iv. f>.
THE COVENANT OF GKACE PEOVED AND OPENED. 287
covenant of grace. There is but a twofold standing taken notice of
in the blessed Scriptures ; the one is under the law, the other is under
grace. Now he that is not under grace, is under the law, Rom vi. 14.
It is true, in the Scripture you do not read, in totidem syllabis, of the
covenant of works and the covenant of grace ; but that of the apostle
comes near it : Rom, iii. 27, ' Where is boasting then ? It is excluded.
By what law ? of works ? Nay, but by the law of faith.' i Here you
have the law of works, opposed to the law of faith ; which holds out
as much as the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. The
apostle sets forth this twofold condition of men, by a very pertinent
resemblance, namely, by that of marriage, Rom. vii. 1-3. All Adam's
seed are married to one of these two husbands ; either to the law, or
to Christ. He that is not spiritually married to Christ, and so brought
under his covenant, is still under the law as a covenant of works ; even
as a wife is under the law of her husband while he is yet alive. Cer-
tainly there were never any but two covenants made with man, the
one legal, the other evangelical ; the one of works, the other of grace ;
the first in innocency, the other after the fall : ponder upon Rom. iv,
13. But,
3. Thirdly, Let me premise this, that the covenant of grace was so
legally dispensed to the Jews, that it seems to he nothing else hut the
repetition of the covetiant of works ; in respect of which legal dispensa-
tions of it, the same covenant, under the law, is called a covenant of
works ; under the gospel, in regard of the clearer manifestation of
it, it is called a covenant of grace : but these were not two distinct
covenants, but one and the same covenant diversely dispensed. The
covenant of grace is the same for substance now tb us since Christ was
exhibited, as it was to the Jews before he was exhibited ; but the
manner of administration of it is different, because it is : — (1.) Now
clearer : things were declared then in types and shadows, heaven was
then typed out by the land of Canaan, but now we have things more
plainly manifested, 2 Cor. iii. 12 ; Heb. vii. 22. In this respect it is
called ' a better testament or covenant,' Heb. viii. 6 ; not in substance,
but in the manner of revealing it ; and the promises are said to be
' better promises' upon the same account. Acts x. 35. (2.) The cove-
nant of grace, is now more largely extended ; then it extended only to
the Jews, but now to all that know the Lord, and that choose him,
fear him, love him, and serve him in all nations, Col. iii. 11 ; Neh.
vii. 2; Job i. 1,8 ; Acts xiii. 22, seq. ; Rom. iv. 18-20. (3.) There
is more abundance of the Spirit, of grace, of light, of knowledge, of
holiness, poured out generally upon the people of God now, than there
was in those times. Though then some few^ eminent saints had much
of the Spirit, and much of grace and holiness, both in their hearts
and lives ; but now the generality of the saints have more of the
Spirit, and more grace and holiness, than the generality of the saints
had in those times. But,
4. Fourthly, Premise this with me, that a right notion of the cove-
nant, according to the originals of the Old and New Testament, ivill
' I am not of Cameron's mind, that there were three covenants ; but of the apostle's
mind, who expressly tells us that there are two testaments, and no more, in that Gal.
iv. 24.
288 THE COVENAXT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
conduce much to a right understanding of God's covenant.^ The de-
rivation of the Hebrew word, and of the Greek, may give us great light,
and is of special use to shew the nature of the covenant which they
principally signify, and what special things are therein required. (1.)
The Hebrew word. Jinn, Berith, a covenant, is by learned men de-
rived from several roots :
[1.] First, Some derive it from "112, Barar, to purify, make clear,
and to purge out dross, chaff, and all uncleanness; and to select,
and choose out, and separate the pure from the impure, the gold
and silver from the dross, and the pure wheat from the chaff.
The reasons of this derivation are these two : — (1.) Because by cove-
nants open and clear amity is confirmed, and faithfulness is plainly
and clearly declared and ratified, without deceit or sophistication,
betwixt covenanters ; and things are made plain . and clear betwixt
them in every point and article. (2.) Because God, in the cove-
nant of works, did choose out man especially, with whom he made
the covenant; and because in the covenant of grace he chooseth
out of the multitude his elect, even his church and faithful people,
whom he did separate by predestination and election from all eternity,
to be a holy people to himself in Christ, Eph. i. 4. (3.) Some derive
it from r\12, and verily, the Lord, when he makes a covenant with
any, he doth separate them from others, he looks on them, and takes
them, and owns them for his ' peculiar people,' 1 Pet. ii. 9, for his
' peculiar treasure,' Exod. xix. 5, and agrees with them as the chosen
and choicest of all others. The first staff in Zech. xi. 10, is called
* Beauty,' and this was the covenant ; and certainly it must be a high
honour for a people to be in covenant with God ; for by this means
God becomes ours, and we are made nigh unto him, Jer xxxi. 38,40, 41.
He is ours, and we are his, in a very peculiar way of relation ; and by
this means God opens his love and all his treasures of grace unto us.
In his covenant he tells us of his special care, love, kindness, and great
intentions of good to us ; and by this means his faithfulness comes to
be obliged to make good all his covenant relations and engagements
to us, Deut. vii. 9. Now in all this God puts a great favour and
honour upon his people. Hence, when the Lord told Abraham that
he would make a covenant with him, Abraham fell upon his face ; he
was amazed at so great a love ai;id honour. Gen. xvii, 2, 3.
[2.] Secondly, Some derive the word from »"T)3, Barah, comedit, to
eat, because usually they had a feast at the making of covenants. In
the Eastern countries they commonly established their covenants by
eating and drinking together. Herodotus tells us that the Persians
were wont to contract leagues and friendship, inter vinum et epulas,
in a full feast, whereat their wives, children, and friends, were present.
The like, Tacitus reports of the Germans. Amongst the Greeks and
other nations, the covenanters ate bread and salt together. The
Emperor of Eussia, at this day, when he would shew extraordinary
^ The word covenant in our English tongue, signifies, as we all know, a mutual promise,
bargain, and obligation, between two persons ; and so likewise doth the Hebrew Berith,
and the Greek 5i.a0r]KT]. A covenant is a solemn compact or agreement between two
chosen parties, or more ; whereby, with mutual, free, and full consent, they bind and
oblige themselves one to another. A covenant ia Amicus status inter fwderatos : so Martin
[Luther?] ' A friendly state between allies.'
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 289
grace and favour unto any, sends him bread and salt from his
table ; and when he invited Baron Sigismund, the Emperor Ferdin-
and's ambassador, he did it in this form : Sigismunde, comedes sal
et panem nostrum nohiscum: Sigismund, you shall eat our bread
and salt with us. Hence that symbol of Pythagoras, "Aprov jxrj
KaTo/yvveiv, ' break no bread,' is interpreted by Erasmus and others to
mean, ' break no friendship.' ^ Moreover, the Egyptians, Thracians,
and Lybians in special, are said to have used to make leagues, and
contract friendship, by presenting a cup of wine one to another ; which
custom we find still in use amongst our western nations. It has been
the universal custom of mankind, and still remains in use, to contract
covenants, and make leagues and friendship, by eating and drinking
together. When Isaac made a covenant with Abimelech, the king of
Gerar, the text saith, ' He made him, and those that were with him,
a feast ; and they did eat and drink, and rose up betimes in the morn-
ing, and sware one to another,' Gen. xxvi. 30, 31. When Jacob
made a covenant with Laban, after they had sworn together, he
made him a feast, * and called his brethren to eat bread,' saith tiie
text. Gen. xxxi. 54. When David made a league with Abner, upon
his promise of bringing all Israel unto him, David made ' Abner and
the men that were with him a feast,' saith the text, 2 Sam. iii. 20.
Hence, in the Hebrew tongue a covenant is called /in^, Berith, of
m2, Barak, to eat, as if they should say an eating ; which derivation
is so natural, that it deserves, say some, to be preferred before that,
from the other signification of the same verb, which is to choose ; of
which before. Now they that derive Berith from Barah, which sig-
nifies to eat and refresh one's self with meat, they give this reason for
that derivation, viz., because the old covenant of God, made with man
in the creation, was a covenant wherein the condition or law was about
eating ; that man should eat of all the trees and fruits, except of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil. Gen. ii. 16, 17 ; and in the solemn
making and sealing of the covenant of grace in Christ, the blessed
seed, the public ceremony was slaying and sacrificing of beasts, and
eating some part of them, after the fat and the choice parts were
offered up and burned on the altar. For God, by virtue of that cove-
nant, gave man leave to eat the flesh of beasts, Deut. xii. 27, which
he might not do in the state of innocency, Gen. i. 29, being limited to
fruits of trees, and herbs bearing seed, for his meat. So, also, in
solemn covenants between men, the parties were wont to eat together,
Gen. xxxi. 46.
[3.] Thirdly, Others derive the word Berith from K12, Bara, or
ni2, Barah, to smite, strike, cut, or divide, as both these words signify.
The word also signifies to elect or choose ; and the reasons they give
for this derivation, are these two: — First, Because covenants are not
made, but by choice persons, chosen out one by another, and about
choice matters, and upon choice conditions, chosen out, and agreed
upon by both parties. Secondly, Because, in making of covenants,
commonly sacrifices were stricken and slain, for confirmation and
solemnity. Of old, God sealed his covenants by sacrifices of beasts
slain, divided, and cut asunder, and the choice fat, and other parts,
^ Vide Turcium ritum opud Busbequium, epist. i. 11.
VOL. v. T
290 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
offered upon the altar. And in making of great and solemn cove-
nants, men, in old time, were wont to kill and cut asunder sacrificed
beasts ; and to pass between the parts divided, for a solemn testimony,
or for the confirmation of the covenants that they had made, Gen. xv.
9, 10, 17.1 And as learned men have long since observed, that the
very heathen, in their covenanting, used sacrifices, and divided them,
passing between the parts ; and this they did, as some conjecture, in
imitation of God's people. This third is the common opinion, about
the original of this name ; and therefore preferred before all other.
So this word /in2, Berith, covenant, seems to sound as much as
nnD, Kerith, a smiting or striking, because of sacrifices slain in cove-
nanting. Hence the word covenant is often joined with JllD, Karath,
which signifies striking of covenant. An example of this beyond all
exception, saith my author,^ is in that sacrifice, wherein God by
Moses, made a covenant with all the people of Israel, and bound them
to obey his law : the description of it is in Exod. xxiv. 4-8, ' And
Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morn-
ing and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to
the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children
of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace-offerings
of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it
in basins ; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he
took the book of the covenant and read it in the audience of the
people ; and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be
obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people,
and said. Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made
with you concerning all these words.'^ I shall not trouble my reader
with that mystical and too curious a sense, that some of the ancients
put upon these words : ^ the historical sense is here more fit : for in this
ceremony of dividing the blood in two parts, and so besprinkling the
altar with the one half, which represented God ; and the people with
the other, between whom the covenant was confirmed, the old use
in striking of covenants is observed. For the ancient custom was,
that they which made a league or covenant, divided some beasts, and
put the parts asunder, walking in the midst ; signifying that as the
beast was divided, so they should be which brake the covenant. So
when Saul went against the Ammonites, coming out of the field, he
hewed two oxen, and sent them into all the coasts of Israel, 1 Sam.
xi. 7 ; expressing the like signification, that so should his oxen be served
that came not forth after Saul and Samuel. After the same manner,
when God made a covenant with Abraham, Gen. xv. 12-19, and he had
divided certain beasts, as God had commanded him, and laid one part
against another, a smoking firebrand went between, representing
God, signifying, that so he should be divided, which violated the cove-
nant. So in this place, not much unlike ; the blood is parted in twain,
shewing that so should his blood be shed, which kept not the covenant.
^ Jer. xxxiv. 18-20, and Lev. xxvi. 25. Weigh well these two scriptures. Cove-
nant breakers may well look upon them as flaming swords, as terrible thunderbolts.
2 And. Rivetus in Gen. xxxi ; Exercitat 135. [Misprinted ' lliven.' — G.]
' Anciently covenants were made with blood, to betoken constancy in the covenant,
even to the shedding of blood, and loss of life.
* Rupertus, Ambrose, Cajetan, &c.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 291
[4.] Fourthly, Some derive the word Berith from ^<■^2, Bara, to
create ; and the reason they give for this derivation is this, because the
first state of creation was confirmed by the covenant which God made
with man, and all creatures were to be upheld by means of observing of
the law and condition of the covenant ; and that covenant being broken
by man, the world, made subject to ruin, is upheld, yea, and as it
were created anew, by the covenant of grace in Christ.
[5.] Fifthly, Some derive the word Berith from Pr\2, BeratJi, which
signfies firmness, sureness, because covenants are firm and sure,
and all things agreed on are confirmed and made sure by them.
God's covenant is a sure covenant : Deut. vii. 9, 'The Lord thy God,
he is the faithful God,' or the God of Amen, ' which keepeth covenant
with them that love him : ' Ps. Ixxxix. 34, ' My covenant will I not
break ' — Hebrew, ' I will not profane,' ' nor alter the thing that is
gone out of my lips.'i All God's precepts, all God's predictions, all
God's menaces, and all God's promises, are the issue of a most just,
faithful, and righteous will. There are three things that God can-
not do: — (1.) He cannot die. (2.) He cannot lie: Titus i. 2, ' In hope
of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world
began.' (3.) He cannot deny himself. Now the derivation of Berith,
from the several roots specified, and not from one only, doth give
much light to the point under consideration ; and doth reconcile in
one, all the several opinions of the learned, and justifies their several
derivations, without rejecting or offering any wrong or disgrace to any.
(2.) Secondly, The Greek name AiadrjKT), Diatheke, a covenant or
a testament. By this Greek word the Septuagint, in their Greek
translation, do commonly express the Hebrew word Berith ; and it is
observable that this is the only word by which the Hebrew word
Berith is rendered in the New Testament. This Greek word, AiadrJKo],
is translated covenant in the New Testament about twenty times ; and
the same word is translated testament in the New Testament about
twelve times. 2 Wherever you find the word covenant in the New
Testament, there you shall find Diatheke ; and wherever you find the
word testament in the New Testament, there you shall find Diatheke ;
so that it is of importance for us to understand this word aright.
Now this Greek word, AtadrjKT], is derived from AiaTidrjfzi, JDiati-
themi, which hath divers of the significations of the Hebrew words
of which Berith is derived ; for it signifies to set things in order and
frame, to appoint orders, and make laws, to pacify and make satis-
faction, and to dispose things by one's last will and testament. Now
to compose and set things in order is to uphold the creation ; to walk
by orders and laws made and appointed is to walk by rule, and to
live, to deal plainly and faithfully without deceit. To^ pacify and
make satisfaction includes sacrifices and sin-offerings. To dispose by
will and testament implies choice of persons and gifts ; for men do
commonly by Avill give their best and most choice things to their most
dear and most choice friends. Thus the Greek which the apostles use
in the New Testament to signify a covenant, to express the Hebrew
1 Jer. xxxi. 31, 33, 35-37; Ps. xix. 7; Rev. iii. 14 ; Isa. liv. 10.
" Heb. viii. 6-10, and i. 4 j Luke i. 72 ; Rom. ix. 4, &c. ; Mat. xxvi. 28 ; Luke xxii.
20, &c.
292 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED,
word Berith, whieli is used in the law and the prophets, doth confirm
our derivation of it from all the words before named. And this
derivation of the Hebrew and Greek names of a covenant being thus
laid down, and confirmed by the reasons formerly cited, is of great
use. The various acceptation and use of these two names in the Old
and New Testament is very considerable for the opening of the cove-
nant : First, To shew unto us the full signification of the word
covenant, and what the nature of a covenant is in general. Second,
To justify the divers acceptations of the word, and to shew the nature
of every word in particular, and so to make way for the knowledge of
the agreement and difference between the old and new covenant.
Here, as in a crystal glass, you may see that this word Berith, and
this word Diatheke, signify all covenants in general, whether they are
religious or civil ; for there is nothing in any true covenant which is
not comprised in the signification of these words, being expounded
according to the former derivations. Here also we may see what is
the nature of a covenant in general, and what things are thereunto
required; as, first, every true covenant presupposeth a division or
separation ; secondly, it comprehends in it a mutual promising and
binding between two distinct parties ; thirdly, there must be faithful
dealing, without fraud, or dissembling on both sides ; fourthly, this
must be between choice persons ; fifthly, it must be about choice
matters and upon choice conditions, agreed upon by both; sixthly
and lastly, it must tend to the well-ordering and composing of things
between them. Now all these are manifest by the several significa-
tions of the words from which Berith and Diatheke are derived. And
thus much for the word covenant according to the originals of the
Old and New Testament.
5, Fifthly, Premise this with me, that there was a covenant ofioorks,
or a reciprocal covenant, hetwixt God and Adam, together with all
his 'posterity. Before Adam fell from his primitive holiness, beauty,
glory, and excellency, God made a covenant with Adam as a public
person, which represented all mankind. The covenant of works was
made with all men in Adam, who was made and stood as a public
person, head and root, in a common and comprehensive capacity. I
say, it was made with him as such, and we all in him ; he and all
etood and fell together. (1.) Witness the imputation of Adam's sin
to all mankind : Eom. v. 12, ' In whom,' or forasmuch as, ' all have
sinned ;' they sinned not all in themselves, therefore in Adam ; see
ver. 14, ' In him all died.' (2.) Witness the curse of the covenant that
all mankind are directly under ; consult the scriptures in the margin. i
Those on whom the curse of the covenant comes, those are under the
bond and precept of the covenant. But all mankind are under the
curse of the covenant, and therefore all mankind are under the bond
and precept of the covenant. Adam did understand the terms of the
covenant, and did consent to the terms of the covenant ; for God dealt
with him in a rational way, and expected from him a reasonable
service, , The end of this covenant was the upholding of the creation,
and of all the creatures in their pure natural estate, for the comfort of
man continually, and for the special manifestation of God's free grace ;
1 lCor.xv.47; Deut.xxix.21; Rom. viii. 20,21 ; Gal. iii. 10, 13.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 293
and that he might put the greater obligation upon Adam to obey his
Creator and to sweeten his authority to man ; and that he might draw
out Adam to an exercise of his faith, love, and hope in his Creator ;
and that he might leave Adam the more inexcusable in case he should
sin ; and that so a clear way might be made for God's justification
and man's conviction. Upon these grounds God dealt with Adam,
not only in a way of sovereignty, but in a way of covenant.
Quest. But how may it be evidenced that God entered into a cove-
nant of works with the first Adam before his fall, there being no men-
tion of such a covenant in the Scripture that we read of ?
Ans. Though the name be not in the Scripture, yet the thing is in
the Scripture, as will evidently ajipear by comparing scripture with
scripture. 1 Though it be not positively and plainly said in the
blessed Scripture that God made a covenant of works with Adam
before his fall, yet, upon sundry scripture grounds and considerations,
it may be sufficiently evidenced that God did make such a covenant
with Adam before his fall; and therefore it is a nice cavil, and a foolish
vanity, for any to make such a noise about the word covenant, and for
want of the word covenant, boldly to conclude that there was no such
covenant made with Adam, when the thing is lively set down in other
words, though the word covenant be not expressed ; and this I shall
make evident by an induction of particulars, thus : —
[1.] First, God, to declare his sovereignty and man's subjection,
gave Adam, though innocent, a laiv. God's express prescription of a
positive law unto Adam in his innocent state, is clearly and fully laid
down in that Gen. ii. 16, 17, 'And the Lord God commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat ; but
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it :
for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die ;' Hebrew,
' dying thou shalt die.' Mark how God bounds man's obedience with
a double fence : first, He fenced him with a free indulgence to eat of
every tree in the garden but one, the less cause he had to be liquorish
after forbidden fruit ; but ' stolen waters are sweet.' Secondly, By an
exploratory 2 prohibition, upon pain of death. By the first, the Lord
woos him by love ; by the second, he frights him by the terror of his
justice, and bids him touch and taste if he durst. The fcederati were
God and Adam ; God the Creator, and man, the creature, made ' after
God's image and likeness ;' and so not contrary to God, nor at enmity
with him, but like unto God, though far diflferent and inferior to God
in nature and substance. Here are also terms agreed on, and matters
covenanted reciprocally, by these parties. Adam, on his part, was to
be obedient to God, in forbearing to eat of the tree of knowledge only.
God's charge to our first parents was only negative, not to eat of the
tree of knowledge ; the other, to eat of tlae trees, was left unto their
1 Socinians call for the word ' Satisfaction,' others call for the word ' Sacrament/ others
call for the word ' Trinity,' and others call for the word ' Sabbath,' for Lord's day, &c. ;
and thence conclude against Satisfaction, Sacraments, Trinity, Sabbath, for want of ex-
press words, when the things themselves are plainly and lively set down, in other words,
in the blessed Scriptures; so it is in this case of God's covenant with Adam. The vanity
and folly of such ways of reasoning is sufficiently demonstrated by all writers upon thos©
subjects that are sound in the faith, &c.
' Qu. * explanatory ' ? — G.
294 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
choice. Eve confessetli that God spake unto them both, and said, ' Ye
shall not eat of it,' Gen. iii. 2 ; and God speaks unto both of them to-
gether in these words, ' Behold, I have given unto you every herb, and
every tree,' &c., Gen. i. 19. At which time also it is very like that he
gave them the other prohibition of not eating of that one tree ; for if
God had made that exception before, he would not have given a
general permission after ; or if this general grant had gone before, the
exception coming should seem to abrogate the former grant. The
Septuagint seem to be of this mind, that this precept was given both
to Adam and Eve, reading thus in the plural number, ' In what day
ye shall eat thereof ye shall die.' ^ And though, in the original, the
precept be given in the name of Adam only, that is only (1.) Because
Adam was the more principal, and he had the charge of the woman ;
and (2.) Because that the greatest danger was in his transgression,
which was the cause of the ruin of his posterity ; (3.) Because, as
Mercerus well observes, Adam was the common name both of the man
and woman, Gen. v. 2, and so is taken, ver. 15. And God, on his part,
for the present, permits Adam to eat of all other trees of the garden ;
and for the future, in his explicit threatening of death in case of dis-
obedience, implicitly promiseth life in case of obedience herein.
[2.] Secondly, The promises of this covenant on God's part were
very glorious — First, That heaven, and earth, and all creatures should
continue in their natural course and order wherein God had created
and placed them, serving always for man's use, and that man
should have the benefit and lordship of them all. Secondly, As for
natural life, in respect of the body, Adam should have had perfection
without defect, beauty without deformity, labour without weariness.
Thirdly, As for spiritual life, Adam should never have known what it
was to be under terrors and horrors of conscience, nor what a wounded
spirit means, Prov. xviii. 14 ; he should never have found ' the arrows
of the Almighty sticking fast in him, nor the poison thereof drinking
up his spirits, nor the terrors of God to set themselves in array against
him,' Job vi. 4 ; nor he should never have tasted of death. Death is
a fall that came in by a faU. Had Adam never sinned, Adam had
never died ; had Adam stood fast in innocency, he should have been
translated to glory without dissolution. Death came in by sin, and
sin goeth out by death. As the worm kills the worm that bred it, so
death kills sin that bred it. Now where there are parties covenant-
ing, promising, and agreeing upon terms, and terms mutually agreed
upon by those parties, as here, there is the substance of an express
covenant, though it be not formally and in express words called a
covenant. This was the first covenant which God made with man,
and this is called by the name Berith, Jer. xxxiii. 20, where God saith,
* If you can break my covenant of the day and night, and that there
shall not be day and night in their season,' ver. 21, ' then may also
my covenant with David be broken.' In these words he speaks plainly
of the promise in the creation, that day and night should keep their
course, and the sun, moon, and stars, and all creatures, should serve
for man's use. Gen. i. 14-16. Now though man did break the cove-
nant on his part, yet God, being immutable, could not break covenant
^ So doth Gregory read as the Septuagint does.— (?re^. Moral, lib. xxxv. cap. 10.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 295
on his part, neither did he suffer his promise to fail ; but, by virtue of
Christ promised to man in the new covenant, he will keep touch with
man so long as mankind hath a being on the earth. In this first
covenant, God promised unto man life and happiness, lordship over all
the creatures, liberty to use them, and all other blessings which his
heart could desire, to keep him in that happy estate wherein he was
created. And man was bound to God to walk in perfect righteous-
ness, to observe and keep God's commandments, and to obey his will
in all things which were within the reach of his nature, and so far as
was revealed to him. In the first covenant, God revealed himself to
man as one God, Creator, and Governor of all things, infinite in power,
wisdom, goodness, nature, and substance. God was man's good Lord,
and man was God's good servant ; God dearly loved man, and man
greatly loved God with all his heart. There was not the least shadow
or occasion of hatred or enmity between them ; there was nothing but
mutual love, mutual delight, mutual content, and mutual satisfaction
between God and man. Man, in his primitive glory, needed no
mediator to come between God and him. Man was perfect, pure, up-
right, and good, created after God's own image ; and the nearer he
came to God, the greater was his joy and comfort. God's presence
now was man's great dehght, and it was man's heaven on earth to
walk with God. But,
[3.] Thirdly, Consider the intention and use of the two eminent trees
in the garden, that are mentioned in a more peculiar manner — viz., the
tree of life and the tree of knowledge. The intended use of these two
trees in paradise was sacramental. Hence they are called symbolical
trees, and sacramental trees, by learned writers, both ancient and
modern. By these the Lord did signify and seal to our first parents
that they should always enjoy that happy state of life in which they
were made, upon condition of obedience to his commandments; i.e.^
in eating of the tree of life, and not eating of the tree of knowledge.^
The tree of life is so called, not because of any native property and
peculiar virtue it had in itself to convey life, but symbolically, morally,
and sacramentally. It was a sign and obligation to them of life,
natural and spiritual, to be continued to them as long as they continued
in obedience to God. The seal of the first covenant was the tree of
life, which if Adam had received by taking and eating of it, whilst he
stood in the state of innocency before his fall, he had certainly been
estabhshed in that estate for ever ; and the covenant being sealed and
confirmed between God and him on both parts, he could not have been
seduced and supplanted by Satan, as some learned men do think, and
as God's own words seem to imply, Gen. iii. 22, ' And now, lest he put
forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for
ever.' ' The tree of knowledge of good and evil ' was spoken from the
sad event and experience they had of it, as Samson had of God's de-
parting from him when he lost his Nazaritish hair by Delilah. ' The
tree of life ' was a sacrament of life ; ' the tree of knowledge ' a sacra-
ment of death. ' The tree of life ' was for confirmation of man's obe-
'' The tree of life was the sign and seal which God gave to man for confirmation of
this first covenant ; and it was to man a sacrament and pledge of eternal life on earth
and of all blessings needful to keep man in life.
296 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
dience, and 'the tree of knowledge' was for caution against dis-
obedience Now If those two trees were two sacraments the one
assuring of hfe in case of obedience, the other assuring of death in case
of disobedience, then hence we may collect that God'not onrentered
into a covenant of works with the first Adam, but also gave hSi this
covenant under sacramental signs and seals. But « ^"n mis
^ [4 ] Fourthly, Seriously consider that a covenant ofioorhs lav clear
^ntkat commandrnent Gen. ii 16, 17 which may tL be inTde ev[:
dent .—(1.) Because that was the condition of man's standing and life
as it was expressly declared; (2.) Because, in the breach of that com-
mandment given him, he lost all, and we in him. God made the
covenant of works primarily with Adam, and with us m him as ou?
head, inclusively; so that when he did fall we did fall when 'he lost
all we lost all. There are five things we lost in our fair--(l ) Our
Blaves'^rfi of r- ^Tr' ^'^r^ ^V ^^^ ^^^«^^P' --d so b car^e
slaves, (d) Our friendship, and so became enemies; (4.) Our com-
munion with God, and so became strangers; (5.) Our glory and To
became miserable. _ Sin and death came into the world by Adam's
fall In Adam's sinnmg we aU sinned, and in Adam's dying we d
te{}.:?^'Z7l'''\\ comparing the scriptures in t'he^margTn
together. ^ In Adam s first sin, we all became sinners by imputation •
Adam being a universal person, and all mankind one in him ^by God's
covenant of works with him. Omnes ille unus homofuerZi, All were
wT' .J^^",';^"g"«tme,] viz., by federal consociaLn. God cive!
nanted with Adam, and in him with all his posterity; and therefore
«y Xt, '""'"' ^''' "'' °°^^ "P^' ^^"' ^^' upon In S:
Eom^ix^4^-^ri°^ ^9? \'^'-^'?^ "^ ^ '^^ond covenant, Heb. x. 9;
Jer x2d 31 ' LL/^^S^' "• ^^' ^^^ ^^ ^^^d «f ^ ' ^^^ covenant : '
.Jer. xxxi. dl, Behold the days come, saith the Lord that I will make
LTeHrS "l wt 'T '' '"^^^' ^^^ -^^ *b^' hoi oTjuXh '
too neb. viii. 8, I will make a new covenant,' &c. : ver 13 ' In that
he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first o d^ &c chan xil
^;. t'^ ^' ^''T *^^ ^^^^^^^ «f the newcovSnt' &c Tow i
'firs •' and?fZ "b™"'' '''" "^ "^^ ^^^^^^ conclude there was. a
+W +1 . \^^ "^^^ covenant,' then we may boldlv conclude
that there was an ; old covenant.' A covenant of grace awSssun!
renmres works and promiseth no life to those Tha "w 11 be iustified bv
Feet perSnIl '?"'"™'^t\°°V° ,«" t^ngs;' the precept required per!
lect, personal and perpetual obedience; (2.) The nromise 'live-'
fn%^\°l ttrVfrT?''" '""■' ''™ 4pn;,Ce'd1y,ct;-
1 Cor. ly. 22 ; Rom. y. 12 to the end, &c.
THE COVENANT OF GBACE PROVED AND OPENED. 297
Jude 6. So the same apostle to the Komans further tells us, that
* Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man
that doth those things shall live by them,' Eom. x. 5. Thus it was
with Adam, principally and properly, therefore he was under a covenant
of works, when God gave him that command, Gen. ii, 16, 17. This first
covenant is called a covenant of works, because this covenant required
working on our part as the condition of it, for justification and happiness,
' The man that doth these things shall live.' Under this covenant God
left man to stand upon his own bottom, and to live upon his own stock,
and by his own industry, God made him perfect and upright, and gave
him power and abihty to stand, and laid no necessity at all upon him
to fall. In this first covenant of works, man had no need of a mediator,
God did then stipulate with Adam immediately ; for seeing he had
not made God his enemy by sin, he needed no daysman to make
friendly intercession for him. Job ix. 33.
Adam was invested and endowed with righteousness and holiness in
his first glorious estate ; with righteousness, that he might carry it
fairly, justly, evenly, and righteously towards man ; and with holiness,
that he might carry it wisely, lovingly, reverentially, and holily to-
wards God, and that he might take up in God as his chiefest good, as
in his great all.l I shall not now stand upon the discovery of Adam's
beauty, authority, dominion, dignity, honour, and glory, with which he
was adorned, invested, and crowned in innocency. Let this satisfy,
that Adam's first estate was a state of perfect knowledge, wisdom, and
understanding ; it was a perfect state of holiness, righteousness, and
happiness. There was nothing within him but what was desirable
and delectable ; there was nothing without him but what was amiable
and commendable ; nor nothing about him but what was serviceable and
comfortable. Adam, in his innocent estate, was the wonder of all under-
standing, the mirror of wisdom and knowledge, the image of God, the de-
light of heaven, the glory of the creation, the world's great lord, and the
Lord's great darling. Upon all these accounts, he had no need of a
mediator. And let thus much suffice to have spoken concerning the first
covenant of works, that was between God and Adam in innocency. But,
6. Sixthly, Premise this with me — viz., that there is a new cove-
nant, a second covenant, or a covenant of grace hetwixt God and his
•people, Heb. viii. 6-13. Express scriptures prove this : Deut. vii. 9,
' Know therefore, that the Lord thy God, he is God ; the faithful God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him, and
keep his commandments, to a thousand generations ;' 2 Sam. xxiii. 5,
' Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure : for this is all
my salvation, and all my desire ; although he make it not to grow ;' 2
Neh. i. 5, ' I beseech thee, Lord God of heaven, the great and
terrible God ; that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love
him, and keep his commandments ;' Isa. liv. 10, ' For the mountains
shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not
^ Eph. ir. 22-24. In this scripture, the apostle speaks plainly of the renovation of
that knowledge, holiness, and righteousness that Adam sometimes had, but lost it by his
fall, Ps. viii. 4-6 ; Gen. ii. 20.
' See this, 2 Sam. xiiii. 6, opened in my ' Box of Precious Ointments,' pp. 369-374.
[Vol. iii. p. 491, seq.—G.]
298 THE C0VENA]^7T OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee ;' Jer. xxxii. 40, ' And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away
from them, to do them good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts,
that they shall not depart from me ; ' Ezek. xx. 37, ' And I will cause
you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the
covenant ;' Deut. xxix.^12, ' That thou shouldest enter into covenant
with the Lord thy God ; and into his oath, which the Lord thy Grod
maketh with thee to-day.' Consult the scriptures in the margin also,
for they cannot be applied to Christ, but to us.i But for the further
evidencing of that covenant that is between the Lord and his people
— now that there is a covenant betwixt God and his people may be
further evinced by unanswerable arguments — let me point at some
among many.
[1.] First, Christ is said to he ' the mediator of this covenant:'
Heb. ix. 15, ' And for this cause he is the mediator of the new
testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the trans-
gressions that were under the first testament, they which are called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.' Certainly that
covenant, of which Christ is the testator, must needs be a covenant
made with us ; for else, if the covenant were made only with Christ,
as some would have it, then it will roundly follow that Jesus Christ
is both testator and the party to whom the testaments and legacies are
bequeathed ; which sounds harsh, yea, which to assert is very absurd.
Since the creation of the world, was it ever known that ever any man
did bequeath a testament and legacies to himself ? Surely no. Christ
is the testator of the new covenant, and therefore we may safely con-
clude that the new covenant is made with us. The office of mediator,
you know, is to stand betwixt two at variance. The two at variance
were God and man. Man had offended and incensed God against
him. God's wrath was an insupportable burden, and a consuming
fire ;. no creature was able to stand under it, or before it. Therefore
Christ, to rescue and redeem man, becomes a mediator. Christ,
undertaking to be a mediator, both procured a covenant to pass
betwixt God and man, and also engaged himself for the performance
thereof on both parts ; and to assure man of partaking of the benefit
of God's covenant, Christ turns the covenant into a testament, that the
conditions of the covenant, on God's part, might be as so many legacies,
which, being confirmed by the death of the testator, none might dis-
annul : Heb. viii. 6, * He is the mediator of a better covenant, which
was established upon better promises.' The promises of the new
covenant are said to be better in these six respects : — (1.) All the pro-
mises of the law were conditional ; ' Do this, and thou shalt live.' The
promises of the new covenant are absolute, of grace, as well as to
grace. (2.) In this better covenant God promiseth higher things.
Here God promiseth Himself, his Son, his Spirit, a higher righteous-
ness and a higher sonship. (3.) Because of their stability ; those of
the old covenant were ' swallowed up in the curse.' These are the
' sure mercies of David.' (4.) They are all bottomed upon faith, they
^ Deut. iv. 23; Isa. Iv. 1-3; Jer. xxiv. 7, xxx. 22, xxxi. 31, 33, and xxxii. 38 ; Heb.
Tiii. 8-10.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 299
all depend upon faith. i (5.) They are all promised upon our interest
in Christ. This makes the promises sweet, because they lead us to
Christ, the fountain of them, whose mouth is most sweet, and in whose
person all the sweets of all created l)eings do centre. (6.) Because God
hath promised to pour out a greater measure of his Spirit, under the
new covenant, than he did under the old covenant : Heb. xii. 24, 'And
to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.' Thus you see that Christ
is called ' the mediator of the covenant' three several times. Now he
could not be the mediator of that covenant that is betwixt God and
himself, of which more shortly, but of that covenant that is betwixt
God and his people. But,
[2.] Secondly, The people of God have pleaded the covenant that
is hetiuixt God and them: 'Remember thy covenant.' Now how
could they plead the covenant betwixt God and them if there were no
such covenant ? See the scriptures in the margin. 2 But,
[3.] Thirdly, God is often said to remember his covenant:^ Gen.
ix. 15, ' I will remember my covenant, which is between you and me ;'
Exod. vi. 5, ' I have remembered my covenant ; ' Lev. xxvi. 42, ' I
remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac,
and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember ; ' Ezek. xvi. 60,
* I will remember my covenant with thee, and I will establish unto thee
an everlasting covenant.' Now how can God be said to remember
his covenant with his people, if there were no covenant betwixt God and
them ? But,
[4.] Fourthly, Tlie temporal and spiritual deliverances that you
have by the covenant do clearly evidence that there is a covenant
betwixt God and you: Zech. ix. 11, 'As for thee also, by the blood of
thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein
there was no water. '4 These words include both temporal and spiritual
deliverances. So that now, if there be not a covenant betwixt God and
you, what deliverances can you expect, seeing they all flow in upon the
creature by virtue of the covenant, and according to the covenant ?
By the blood of the covenant believers are delivered from the infernal
pit, where there is not so much water as might cool Dives his tongue,
Luke xvi. 24, 25 ; and by the blood of the covenant they are delivered
from those deaths and dangers that do surround them, 2 Cor. i. 8-10.
When sincere Christians fall into desperate distresses and most deadly
dangers, yet they are prisoners of hope, and may look for deliverance
by the blood of the covenant. This does sufficiently evince a covenant
betwixt God and liis people. But,
[5.] Fifthly, God has threatened severely to avenge and punish the
quaiTcl of his covenant : Lev. xxvi. 25, ' And I wall bring a sword
upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant;' or which
shall avenge the vengeance of the covenant, &c. Consult the scriptures
in the margin. ^ Breach of covenant betwixt God and man, breaks
1 Eom. iv. 15, 16 ; Gal. iii. 16, 17 ; 2 Cor. i. 20; Cant. v. 16 ; Col. i. 19, and ii. 3 ;
Isa. iliv. 3 ; Joel ii. 28 ; Acts ii. 16, 17 ; Gal. iii. 2.
* Jer. xiv. 21; Luke i. 72 ; Ps. xxv. 6.
' Ponder upon these scriptures, Ps. cv. 8, cvi. 45, and cxi. 5.
* Gen. ix. 11; Isa. liv. 91; Ps. cxi. 9; Isa. lix. 21.
« Deut. xxix. 20, 21, 24, 25, and xxxi. 20, 21 ; Josh. vii. 11, 12, 15, and xxiii. 15; 16
Judges ii. 20 ; 2 Kings xviii. 9-12.
300 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
the peace, and breeds a quarrel betwixt them ; in which he will take
vengeance of man's revolt, except there be repentance on man's side,
and pardoning grace on his. For breach of covenant, Jerusalem is
long since laid waste, and the seven golden candlesticks broken in
pieces ; and many others, this day, lie a-bleeding in the nations who
have made no more of breaking covenant with the great God than if
therein they had to do with poor mortals, with dust and ashes like
themselves. Now how can there be such a sin as breach of covenant,
for which God will be avenged, if there were no covenant betwixt God
and his people ? But,
[6.] Sixthly, The seals of the covenant are given to God's people.
Now to those to whom the seals of the covenant are given, with them
is the covenant made ; for the seals of the covenant, and the covenant,
go to the same persons: but the seals of the covenant are given to
believers. 'Abraham receives the sign of circumcision, a seal of the
righteousness of faith,' Kom. iv. 11, ergo, the covenant is made with
believers. Circumcision is a sign, in regard of the thing signified,
and a seal, in regard of the covenant made betwixt God and man.
Seal is a borrowed word, taken from kings and princes, who add their
broad seal, or privy-seal, to ratify and confirm the leagues, edicts,
grants, covenants, charters, that are made with their subjects or con-
federates. God had made a covenant with Abraham, and by circum-
cision signs and seals up that covenant.! But,
[7.] Seventhly, The people of God are said sometimes to keep
covenant with God : Ps. xxv. 10, ' All the paths of the Lord are
mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.'
Mercies flowing in upon us, through the covenant, are of all mercies
the most soul-satisfying, soul-refreshing, soul-cheering mercies ; yea,
they are the very cream of mercy. Oh, how well is it with that saint
that can look upon every mercy as a present sent him from heaven by
virtue of the covenant ! Oh, this sweetens every drop, and sip, and
crust, and crumb of mercy that a Christian enjoys, that all flows in
upon him through the covenant ! The promise last cited is a very
sweet, choice, precious promise, a promise more worth than all the
riches of the Indies. Mark, ' all the paths of the Lord' to his people,
they are not only ' mercy,' but they are ' mercy and truth;' that is,
they are sure mercies that stream in upon them, through the covenant.
Solomon's dinner of green herbs, Pro v. xv. 17 ; Daniel's pulse, Dan.
i. 12 ; barley loaves and a few fishes, John vi. 9 ; swimming in upon
a Christian, through the new covenant, are far better, greater and
sweeter mercies, than all those great things are that flow in upon the
great men of the world, through that general providence that feeds
the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field : Ps. xliv. 17, ' Yet
have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy cove-
nant;' that is, we have kept covenant with thee, by endeavouring to
the uttermost of our power to keep off from the breach of thy covenant,
and to live up to the duties of thy covenant, suitable to that of the
prophet Micah, ' We will walk in the name of the Lord our God for
^ In reason, the covenant and the seals must go together. Were it not a fond and
foolish thing in any man to make a covenant with one, and to give the seals to another ?
In equity and justice, the covenant and the seals must go to the same persons.
SPHE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 301
ever and ever,' Micah iv. 5. Persons in covenant with God will not
only take a turn or two in his ways, as temporaries and hypocrites
do, who are hot at hand, but soon tire and give in, but they will hold
on in a course of holiness, and not fail to follow the Lamb, whitherso-
ever he goes : Kev. xiv. 4, and xvii. 14 ; Ps. ciii. 17, ' The mercy of
the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting : ' ver. 18, * To such as
keep his covenant,' &c. All sincere Christians they keep covenant
with God: — (L) In respect of their cordial desires to keep covenant
with God ; (2.) In respect of their habitual purposes and resolutions
to keep covenant with God ; (3.) In respect of their habitual and con-
stant endeavours to keep covenant with God, Neh. i. 11 ; Ps. cxix.
133, and xxxix. 1, 2. This is an evangelical and incomplete keeping
covenant with God, which in Christ God owns and accepts, and is as
well pleased with it as he was with Adam's keeping of covenant with
him before his fall. From what has been said, we may thus argue :
Those that keep covenant with God, those are in covenant with God,
those have made a covenant with God ; but all sincere Christians they
do keep covenant with God, ergo. But,
[8.] Eighthly and lastly. The Lord hath, by many choice, precious,
and pathetical promises, engaged himself to make good that blessed
covenant that he has made loith his people, yea, ivith his choice and
chosen ones, 2 Pet. i. 4. Take a few instances, * If ye hearken to
these judgments,'! saith God to Israel, ' and keep and do them, the
Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which
he sware unto thy fathers,' Deut. vii. 12. This blessed covenant
is grounded upon God's free grace ; and therefore in recompensing
their obedience God hath a respect to his own mercy, and not to
their merits. So Judges ii. 1 , 'I made you to go up out of Egypt, and
have brought you into the land which I sware unto your fathers ; and
I said, I will never break my covenant with you.' God is a God
of mercy, and his covenant with his people is a covenant of mercy ;
and therefore he will be sure to keep touch with them. So Ps.
Ixxxix. 34, ' My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is
gone out of my mouth ;' as if he should have said. Though they break
my statutes, yet will I not break my covenant ; for this seems to have
reference to the 31st verse, * If they break my statutes,' &c. Though
they had profaned God's statutes, yet God would not profane his
covenant, as the Hebrew runs, * My covenant will I not break ;' that
is, I will stand steadfastly to the performance of it, and to every part
and branch of it, I will never be inconstant, I will never be off and on
with my people, I will never change my purpose, nor eat my words,
nor unsay what I have said. So Jer. xxxiii. 20, ' Thus saith the Lord,
If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the
night,2 and that there shall not be day and night in their season ;' ver.
21, ' Then may also my covenant be broken with my servant David,'
&c. It is impossible for any created power to break off the intercourse
of night and day, so it is impossible for me to break the covenant that
1 Under the name judgments, the commandments and statutes of God are con-
tained.
* That is, the order that I have set upon the courses and the revolutions of day and
night.
302 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
I have made with David, my servant ; the day and night shall as soon
fail as my covenant shall fail. So Isa. liv. 10, ' The mountains shall
depart, and the hills be removed ; hut my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith
the Lord that hath mercy on thee.' Though great and huge mountains
should remove, yea, though heaven and earth should meet, Ps. xlvi. 2,
yet the covenant of God with his people shall stand unmovable.
The covenant of God, the mercy of God, and the loving-kindness
of God to his people, shall last for ever, and remain constant and im-
mutable, though all things in the world should be turned upside
down. So Ps. cxi. 4, ' The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion ;'
ver. 5, ' He will ever be mindful of his covenant.' God looks not
at his people's sins, but at his own promise ; he, will pass by their
infirmities, and supply all their necessities. God will never break his
covenant, he will never alter his covenant, he will still keep it, he will
for ever be mindful of it. The covenant of God with his people shall
be as inviolable as the course and revolution of day and night, and
more immovable than the very hills and mountains. From what has
been said, we may thus argue : If God hath, by many choice, precious,
and pathetical promises, engaged himself to make good that blessed
covenant that he has made with his people, then certainly there is a
covenant between God and his people ; but God hath, by many choice,
precious, and pathetical promises, engaged himself to make good his
covenant to his people. Ergo. . . .
I might have laid down several other unanswerable arguments to
have evinced this blessed truth, that there is a covenant betwixt God
and his people ; but let these eight suffice for the present.
7. Seventhly and lastly, Premise this with me — viz., that it is a
matter of high importance and of great concernment, for all mortals to
have a clear and a right understanding of that covenant under which
they are, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, 4. God deals with all men according to
the covenant under which they stand. We shall never come to under-
stand our spiritual estate and condition, till we come to know under
what covenant we are, Ps. cv. 8, cxi. 5 ; 1 Cor. xi. 28 ; Gal. iv. 23-25.
If we are under a covenant of works, our state is miserable ; if we are
under a covenant of grace, our state is happy; if we die under a
covenant of works, we shall be certainly damned ; if we die under a
covenant of grace, we shall be certainly saved. Until we come to
understand under what covenant we are, we shall never be able to put
a right construction, a right interpretation, upon any of God's actions,
dealings, or dispensations towards us. When we come to understand
that we are under the covenant of grace, then we shall be able to put
a sweet, a loving, and a favourable construction upon the most sharp,
smart, severe, and terrible dispensations of God, knowing that all
flows from love, and shall work for our external, internal, and eternal
good, and for the advancement of God's honour and glory in the
world. 1 When we come to understand that we are under a covenant
of works, then we shall know that there is wrath, and curses, and
woes wrapped up in the most favourable dispensations, and in the
1 Rev. iii. 19; Job i. 21 ; Jer. xxiv, 4, 5; Rom. viii. 28 j Heb. xii. 10, 11 ; 2 Cor.
iv. 15-18.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 303
greatest outward mercies and blessings that Christ confers upon us.^
If a man be under a covenant of grace, and doth not know it, how
can he rejoice in the Lord ? How can he sing out the high praises of
God ? How can he delight himself in the Almighty ? How can he
triumph in Christ Jesus ? How can he cheerfully run the race that
is before him ? How can he bear up bravely and resolutely in his
sufferings for the cause of Christ ? How can he besiege the throne of
grace with boldness ? How can he be temptation-proof ? How can
he be dead to this world ? How can he long to be with Christ in that
other world ? And if a man be under a covenant of works, and doth
not know it, how can he lament and bewail his sad condition ? How
can he be earnest with God to bring him under the bond of the new
covenant ? How can he make out after Christ ? How can he choose
the things that please God ? How can he cease from doing evil, and
learn to do well ? How can he lay hold on eternal life ? How can
he be saved from wrath to come ? &c. If we are under a covenant of
grace, and do not know it, how can we manage our duties and services
with that life, love, seriousness, holiness, spiritualness, and upright-
ness, as becomes us ? ^ &c. If we are under a covenant of works,^ and
do not know it, how rare shall we be in religious duties ! How weary
shall we be of religious duties, and how ready shall we be to cast off
religious duties! By these few things I have been hinting at, you
may easily discern how greatly it concerns all sorts of persons to know
what covenant they are under ; whether they are under the first or
second covenant ; whether they are under a covenant of works or a
covenant of grace. Now having premised these seven things, my way
is clear to that I would be at, which is this — viz., 1. Tliat there are hut
two famous covenants that ive must abide by. In one of them, all men
and women in the world must of necessity be found — either in the
covenant of grace or in the covenant of works. The covenant of
works is a witness of God's holiness and perfection ; the covenant of
grace is a witness of God's goodness and commiseration. The cove-
nant of works is a standing evidence of man's guiltiness ; the covenant
of grace is the standing evidence of God's righteousness. The cove-
nant of works is the lasting monument of man's impotency and
changeableness ; the covenant of grace is the everlasting monument of
God's omnipotency and immutability. Now no man can be under
both these covenants at once. If he be under a covenant of works, he
is not under a covenant of grace ; and if he be under a covenant of
grace, he cannot be under a covenant of works. Such as are under a
covenant of works, they have the breach of that covenant to count for,
they being the serpentine brood of a transgressing stock ; but such as
are under a covenant of grace shall never be tried by the law of works,
because Christ, their surety, hath fulfilled it for them. Acts xiii. 38,39 ;
Eom. viii. 2-4 ; Gal. iv. 4-6. But let me open myself more fully thus : —
That all unbelievers, all Christless, graceless persons, are under a
covenant of loorks, lohich they are never able safely to live under.
1 Prov. i. 32; ilal. ii. 2; Dcut. xxviii. 15-20; Lev. xxvi. 14-24; 2 Oor. ii. 14;
Heb. xii. 1.
- Ps. xvi. 4 ; Amos viii. 5; Mai. i. 13 ; Hosea vi. 4, and iv. 10; Ps. xxxvi. 3.
^ Query, 'grace?' — Ed.
304 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED,
Should they live and die under a covenant of works, they were surely
lost and destroyed for ever ; for the covenant of works condemns and
curses the sinner : Gal. iii. 10, ' Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.'
Neither hath the sinner any way to escape that curse of the law, nor
the wrath of God revealed against all unrighteousness and ungodli-
ness, but in the covenant of grace, Rom. i. 18. This covenant of works
the apostle calls ' the law of works,' Rom. iii. 27. This is the covenant
which God made with man in the state of innocency before the fall,
Gen. ii. 16, 17. In this covenant God promised to Adam, for himself
and his posterity, life and happiness, upon the condition of perfect,
personal, and perpetual obedience; and it is summed up by the apostle,
' Do this and live,' Gal. iii. 12. God having created man upright, after
his own image, Eccles. vii. 29 ; Gen. i. 26, 27, and 'so having furnished
him with all abilities sufficient for obedience, thereupon he made a
covenant with him for life upon the condition of obedience ; I say, he
made such a covenant with Adam, as a public person, as the head of
the covenant ; and as he promised life to him and his posterity in case
of obedience, so he threatened death and a curse unto him and his pos-
terity in case of disobedience : ' In the day thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die;' or, 'dying thou shalt die,' Gen. ii. 17.-^ God, in
this covenant of works, did deal with Adam and his posterity in a way
of supremacy and righteousness, and therefore there is mention made
only of the threatenings : ' In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt
die the death.' And it is further observable, that in this covenant
that God made with Adam and his posterity, he did promise unto
them eternal life and happiness in heaven, and not eternal life in this
world only, as some would have it ; for hell was threatened in these
words, ' In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death ;' and
therefore heaven and happiness, salvation and glory, was promised on
the contrary. We must necessarily conclude that the promise was as
ample, large, and full as the threatening was ; yet this ' must be
remembered, that when God did at first enter into covenant with us,
and did promise us heaven and salvation, it was upon condition of our
personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience, and therefore called a cove-
nant of works. 'Do this and live' was not only a command, but a
covenant, with a promise of eternal happiness upon perfect and per-
petual obedience. All that are under a covenant of works, are under
the curse of the covenant, and they are all bound over unto eternal
wrath ; but the Lord Christ has put an end to this covenant, and
abolished it unto all that are in him, being himself made under it ;
and satisfying the precept and the curse of it, and so he did cancel it,
' as a handwriting against us, nailing it unto his cross,' Col. ii. 14.
So that all they that are in Christ are freed from the law as a cove-
nant ; but unto all other men it remains a covenant still, and they
remain under the curse of it for ever, and the wrath of God abides
upon them, John iii. 36. Though the covenant of works, as it is a
^ Gal. iii. 10. Not only the covenant of grace, but the covenant of works also, is an
eternal covenant; and therefore the curse of the covenant remains upon men unto
eternity. There is an eternal obligation upon the creature, he being bound to God by
an eternal law ; and the transgression of that law carries with it an eternal guilt, which
eternal guilt brings sinners under an eternal curse.
II
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 305
covenant for life, ceaseth unto believers, yet it stands in force against
all unbelievers.
Now, oh how sad is it for a man to be under a covenant of works !
For,^
First, The covenant of works, in the nature of it, requires perfect,
personal, and perpetual obedience, under pain of the curse and death,
according to that of the apostle, ' As many as are of the works of the
law, are under the curse,' Gal. iii. 10 — presupposing man's fall, and,
consequently, his inability to keep it — ' For it is written. Cursed is
every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the
book of the law to do them,' Deut. xxvii. 26. The covenant of works,
therefore, affords no mercy to the transgressors of it, but inflicts death
and curse for the least delinquency : ' For whosoever shall keep the
whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all,' James ii. 10.
The whole law is but one copulative ; he that breaketh one command-
ment habitually, breaketh all. A dispensatory conscience keeps not
any commandment. When the disposition of the heart is qualified to
break every command, then a man breaks every command in the
account of God. Every one sin contains virtually all sin in it. He
that dares contemn the lawgiver in any one command, he dares con-
temn the lawgiver in every command. He that allows himself in
any one known sin, in any course, way, or trade of sin, he lays him-
self under that curse which is threatened against the transgressors of
the law.
They that are under this covenant of works must of necessity perish.
The case stands thus : Adam did break this covenant, and so brought
the curse of it both upon himself and all his seed to the end of the
world ; in his sin all men sinned, Eom. v. 12. Now if we consider all
men as involved in the first transgression of the covenant, they must
all needs perish without a Saviour. This is the miserable condition
that all mortals are in that are under a covenant of works. But,
Secondly, Such as are under a covenant of works, their best and
choicest duties are rejected and abhorred, for the least miscarriages or
blemishes that do attend them or cleave to them. Observe the dreadful
language of that covenant- of works, ' Cursed is he that continueth not
in all things that are written in the law of God to do them,' Gal. iii.
10. Hence it is that the best duties of all unregenerate persons are
loathed and abhorred by God ; as you may clearly see by comparing
the scriptures in the margin together.i The most glorious duties and
the most splendid performances of those that are under a covenant of
works, are loathsome to God, for the least mistake that doth accompany
them. The covenant of works deals with men according to the exactest
terms of strict justice. It doth not make nor allow any favourable or
gracious interpretation as the. covenant of grace doth ; the very least
failure exposes the soul to wrath, to great wrath, to everlasting
wrath. This covenant is not a covenant of mercy, but of pure justice.
But,
Thirdly, This covenant admits of no mediator. There was no
daysman betwixt God and man, none to stand between them, neither
was there any need of a mediator ; for God and man were at no dis-
^ Isa. i. 11-15 ; Jer. vi. 20; Isa, Ixvi. 3; Amos v. 21; Micah vi. 6; Mai. i. 10.
VOL. V. U
306 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
tance, at no variance, l Man was then righteous, perfectly righteous
Now the proper work of a mediator is to make peace and reconcilia-
tion between God and us. At the first, in the state of innocency there
was peace and friendship between God and man, there was no enmity
m God's heart towards man, nor no enmity in man's heart towards
God : but upon the fall a breach and separation was made between
God and man ; so that man flies from God, and hides from God and
trembles at the voice of God, Gen. iii. 8-10. Fallen man is' now
turned rebel, and is become a desperate enemy to God ; j-ea his heart
18 full of enmity against God. ' The wisdom of the flesh 'is enmity
against God,' Kom. viii. 7 ; not an ' enemy,' as the Vulgar Latin read-
eth.it, but 'enmity,' m the abstract; noting an excess of enmity as
when we see a proud man, we say, There goes pride, so here is enmity 2
i^othingcan be said more; for an 'enemy' may be reconciled but
enmity can never; a vicious man may become virtuous, but 'vice
cannot. Ihere are natural antipathies between some creatures as
between the hon and the cock, the elephant and the boar, the ca'mel
and the horse, the eagle and the dragon, &c. But what are all these
antipathies to that antipathy and enmity that is in the hearts of all
carnal men agamst God ? Now whilst men stand under a covenant
of works, there is none to interpose by way of mediation, but fallen
man lies open to the wrath of God, and to all the curses that are
written in this book. When breaches are made between God and
man, under the covenant of grace, there is a mediator to interpose and
to make up all such breaches ; but under the covenant of works there
IS no mediator to interpose between God and fiillen man. These three
things 1 have hinted a little at, on purpose to work my reader if under
a covenant of works, to be restless till he be got from under that cove-
nant, into the covenant of grace, where alone lies man's safety felicitv
happiness, and comfort. Now this consideration leads me by the
hand to tell you, "^
2. Secondly, That there is a covenant of grace, that all believers,
alt sincere Christians, all real saints are under; for under these two
covenants all mankind fall. The apostle calls this covenant of grace
the aw of faith ' Rom. iii. 17. Now, first, this covenant of grace is
sometimes styled an 'everlasting covenant:' Isa. Iv. 3 'And I will
make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
JJavid You need not question my security, in respect of the great
tilings that 1 have propounded and promised in my word for the en-
couragement of your faith and hope ; for I will give you my bond for
all 1 have spoken, which shall be as surely made good to you as the
mercies that I have performed to my servant David, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.
Ihe word everlasting hath two acceptations; it doth denote (1)
Sometimes a long duration ; in which respect the old covenant clothed
with figures and ceremonies, is called everlasting, because it was to
endure, and did endure, a long time, Ps. cv 9, 10 ; (2.) Sometimes it
denotes a perpetual duration, a duration which shall last for ever, Heb.
xiii. 20, &c. In this respect the covenant of grace is everlasting ; it
^ 5'he wotH''2°rfrj'il!' "^Vl"^' «°^«' ^«<^«""» amicitice, a covenant of friendship,
couraeir ^^^SSeutrth:^wy^^' °^^°'' --P-""^o- t^-o^-^t, desire, d'is-
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 307
shall never cease, never be broken, nor never be altered. Now the
covenant of grace is an everlasting covenant in a twofold respect.
First, Ex parte foederantis, in respect of God, who will never break
covenant with his people ; but is their God, and will be their God, for
ever and ever, Titus i. 2 ; Ps. xc. 2, and xlviii. 14, ' For this God i^
our God, for ever and ever; he will be our God even unto death;'
ay, and after death too : for this is not to be taken exclusively ; oh
no ! for ' he will never, never leave them, nor forsake them/ Heb. xiii.
5. There are five negatives in the Greek, to assure God's people that
he will never forsake them. According to the Greek it may be ren-
dered thus, ' I will not, not leave thee, neither will I not, not forsake
thee.'i Leave us ! God may, to our thinking, leave us; but forsake
us he will not. So Ps. Ixxxix. 34, ' My covenant will I not break' —
Heb., I will not profane my covenant — ' nor alter the thing that is gone
out of my mouth' — Heb.,i\\Q issue of my lips I will not alter. Though
God's people should profane his statutes, ver. 31, yet God will not pro-
fane his covenant ; though his people often break with him, yet he will
never break with them ; though they may be inconstant, yet God will
be constant to his covenant : Isa. liv. 10, ' For the mountains shall de-
part, and the hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from
thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the
Lord that hath mercy on thee.' Though huge mountains should re-'
move, which is not probable, or though heaven and earth should meet,
which is not likely, yet his covenant shall stand immovable ; and his
mercy and kindness to his people shall be immutable. This new
covenant of grace is like the new heavens and new earth, which will
never wax old or vanish away, Isa. Ixvi. 22. But,
Secondly, The covenant of grace is called an everlasting covenant :
Ex parte confcederatorum ; in respect of the people of God, who are
brought into covenant, and shall continue in covenant for ever and
ever, Mai. iii. 6 ; Hosea ii. 19 ; Gen. xvii. 7. You have both these
expressed in that excellent scripture, Jer. xxxii. 40, ' I will make
an everlasting covenant with them ' — Heb., I will cut out with them
a covenant of perpetuity — ' that I will not turn away from them, to
do them good; but' — Heb., and — 'I will put my fear into their
hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' Seriously dwell upon
the place ; it shews that the covenant is everlasting on God's part,
and also on our part.^ On God's part, ' I will never turn away from
them to do them good ;' and on our part, ' they shall never depart
from me.' How so ? 'I will put my fear into their hearts, that they
shall not depart from me.' That they may continue constant with
me, and not constrain me, by their apostasy, to break again with
them : I will so deeply rivet a reverent dread of myself in their souls,
as shall cause them to cling, and cleave, and keep close to me for
ever. In the covenant of grace, God undertakes for both parts ; for
his own, that he ' will be their God' — i.e., that all he is, and all he
has, shall be employed for their external, internal, and eternal good ;
1 Five times in Scripture is this precious promise renewed : Josh. i. 5; Deut. xxxi. 8 ;
1 Kings viii. 57 ; Gen. xxviii. 15, that we may be still a-pressing of it till we have i^ressed
all the sweetness out of it, Isa. Ixvi. 11.
. * God will never surcease to pursue and follow his covenant-people with favours and
blessings incessantly.
308 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
and for ours, that we ' shall be his people' — i.e., that we shall believe,
love, fear, repent, obey, serve him, and walk with him, as he requires,
Jer. xxxii. 38 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27 ; and thus the covenant of grace
becomes an ' everlasting covenant ; ' yea, such a covenant as hath the
sure or unfailable mercies of David wrapped up in it. The covenant
of grace is a new compact or agreement, which God hath made with
sinful man, out of his mere mercy and grace, wherein he undertakes,
both for himself and for fallen man, and wherein he engages himself
to make fallen man everlastingly happy. In the covenant of grace
there are two things considerable : first, the covenant that God makes
for himself to us, which consists mainly of these branches : (1.) That
he will be our God ; that is as if he said, You shall have as true an
interest in all my attributes for your good, as they are mine for my
own glory, Jer. xxxi. 38 ; Ps. cxliv. 15 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16-18. My grace,
saith God, shall be yours to pardon you, and my power shall be
yours to protect you, and my wisdom shall be yours to direct you,
and my goodness shall be yom-s to relieve you, and my mercy shall
be yours to supply you, and my glory shall be yours to crown you.
This is a comprehensive promise, for God to be our God : it includes
all, Deus mens et omnia, said Luther. (2.) That he 'will give us
his Spirit.' Hence the Spirit is called ' the Holy Spirit of promise.'
The giving of the Holy Ghost is the great promise which Christ,
from the Father, hath made unto us. It is the Spirit that reveals
the promises, that applies the promises, and that helps the soul to
live upon the promises, and to draw marrow and fatness out of the
promises. The great promise of the Old Testament was the promise
of Christ, Gen. iii. 16, and the great promise of the New Testament
is the promise of the Spirit, as you may see by the scriptures in the
margin. 1 That in this last age of the world there may be a more
clear and full discovery of Christ, of the great things of the gospel,
of Antichrist, and of the glorious conquests that are in the last days
to be made upon him, the giving of the Spirit is promised as the
most excellent gift. (3.) That he ' will take away the heart of stone,
and give a heart of flesh,' i.e., a soft and tender heart, Ezek. xxxvi.
26. (4.) That he ' will not turn away his face from us, from doing
of us good ;' and that ' he will put his fear into our hearts,' Jer.
xxxii. 40. (5.) That he ' will cleanse us from all our filthiness, and
from all our idols,' Ezek. xxxvi. 25. (6.) That he ' will rejoice over
us, to do us good,' Jer, xxxiii. 9, 10, and xxxii. 41. The second thing
considerable in the covenant of grace is the covenant which God doth
make for us to himself, which consists mainly in these things : (1.)
That we * shall be his people.' (2.) That we ' shall fear him for
ever.' (3.) That we ' shaU walk in his statutes, keep his judgments,
and do them.' (4.) That we ' shall never depart from him.' (5.)
That we ' shall persevere, and hold out to the end.' (6.) That we
* shall grow, and flourish in grace.' (7.) A true right to the crea-
tures. (8.) That all providences, changes, and conditions shall work
for our good. (9.) Union and communion with Christ. (10.) That
we shall have a kingdom, a crown, and glory at last. And what
^ Isa. xliv. 3 ; Jer. xxxi. 33; Joel ii. 28; John xiv. 16, 20; Acts ii. 23; Luke ixiv.
49 ; John xv. 26, and xvi. 7.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 309
would we have more ? l By these short hints it is most evident that
the covenant of grace is an entire covenant, an everlasting covenant,
made by God both for himself and for us. sirs ! this is the glory
of the covenant of grace, that whatsoever God requires of us, that he
stands engaged to give unto us. Whatever in the covenant of grace
God requires on man's part, that he undertakes to perform for man.
That this covenant of grace is an 'everlasting covenant' may be made
further clear,
[1.] First, From GocUs denomination, who hath often styled it an
^everlasting covenant.' In the Old Testament he frequently calls
it, in Heh., 0*7^ Jin^, Bereth Gnolam, a covenant of eternity. In
the New Testament he calls it, in Greek, JiaO^Kr} atcovio<i, the eternal
covenant, or the everlasting covenant. And those whom God has taken
into covenant with himself, they have frequently acknowledged it to
be an everlasting covenant, as is evident up and down the Scripture.
The covenant of works was not everlasting, it was soon overthrown by
Adam's sin ; but the covenant of grace is everlasting. The joy that
is wrapped up in the covenant is an everlasting joy, Isa. xxxv. 10 ;
and the righteousness that is wrapped up in the covenant is an ever-
lasting righteousness, Dan. ix. 24 ; and the life that is wrapped up in
the covenant is an everlasting life, John iii. 16 ; and all the happiness,
and glory, and salvation that is wrapped up in the covenant is ever-
lasting, John xii. 2 ; Mat. xix. 29 ; 1 Pet. v. 4 ; Isa. xlv. 17. The
covenant-relation that is betwixt God and his people is everlasting ;
and the mediator of the covenant is everlasting — viz., * Jesus Christ,
yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever,' Heb. xiii. 8. Though the
covenant, in respect of our own personal entering into it, is made
with us now in time, and hath a beginning ; yet for continuance it
is everlasting and without end ; it shall remain for ever and ever.
But,
[2.] Secondly, This covenant of grace, under which the saints stand,
is sometimes styled a covenant of life : Mai. ii. 5, ' My covenant was
with him of life and peace.' Life is restored, and life is promised, and
life is settled by the covenant. There is no safe life, no comfortable
life, no easy life, no happy life, no honourable life, no glorious life, for
any sinner that is not under the bond of this covenant.^ All mankind
had been eternally lost, and God had lost all the glory of his mercy
for ever, had he not, of his own free grace and mercy, made a covenant
of life with poor sinners. A man, in the covenant of grace, hath three
degrees of life : the first in this life, when Christ lives in him ; the
second, when his ' body returns to the earth, and his soul to God that
gave it ; ' the third, at the end of the world, when body and soul re-
united shall enjoy heaven.
[3.] Thirdly, This covenant of grace, under which the saints or
faithful people of Christ stand, is sometimes styled a holy covenant.
Daniel, describing the wickedness of Antiochus Epiphanes, saith, ' His
^ Jer. xxxii. 38, 40; Ezek. xxxvi. 27 ; Job xvii. 9 ; Prov. iv. 18 ; Ps. i. 3; Hosea xiv.
6-7 ; Zech. xii. 18; Mai. iv. 2; Jer. xxiv. 5; Eom. viii. 28; Luke xii. 32; Rev. ii. 10;
Ps. Ixxxiv. 11 ; John x. 28. See the truth of this fully evidenced in twelve particulars,
in my ' Box of Precious Ointment,' pp. 364-367. — [Vol. iii., p. 487, seq. — G.]
' Omnis vita est propter delectationem. Philosophers say that a fly is more excellent
than the heavens, because the fly has life, which the heavens have not.
310 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED,
heart shall be against the holy covenant,' Dan. xi. 28, 30 ; he shall
have indignation against the holy covenant, and have intelligence with
them that forsake the holy covenant. So the psalmist, ' For he remem-
bered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant,' Ps. cv. 42, 43 ; i
promise here being put for covenant by a synecdoche ; Luke i. 72, ' To
perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy
covenant.' The parties interested in this covenant are holy. Here you
have a holy God and a holy people in covenant together. Holiness is
one of the principal things that is promised in the covenant. The
covenant commands holiness, and encourages to holiness, and works
souls up to a higher degree of holiness, and fences and arms gracious
souls against all external and internal unholiness.2 The author of
this covenant is holy ; the mediator of this covenant is holy ; the great
blessings contained in this covenant are holy blessings ; and the people
taken into this covenant are sometimes styled holy brethren, holy men,
holy women. ' An holy temple, an holy priesthood, an holy nation,
an holy people,' as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the
margin together. 3 Whenever God brings a poor soul under the bond
of the covenant, he makes him holy, and he makes him love holiness,
and prize holiness, and delight in holiness, and press and follow hard
after holiness. A holy God will not take an unholy person by the
hand, as Job speaks, chap, viii. ; neither will he allow of such to take
his covenant into their mouths, as the psalmist speaks, Ps. xx. 6.
[4.] Fourthly, This covenant of grace, under which the saints stand,
is sometimes styled a covenant of peace : Num. xxv, 12, ' Behold, I
give unto him my covenant of peace.' Peace is the comprehension of
all blessings and prosperity, AH sorts of peace, viz., peace with God,
and peace with conscience, and peace with the creatures, flows from the
covenant of grace, Mai. ii. 5, There is (1,) An external peace, and
that is with men ; (2.) There is a supernatural peace, and that is
with God ; (3.) There is an internal peace, and that is with conscience ;
(4.) There is an eternal peace, and that is in heaven. Now all these
sorts of peace flow in upon us through the covenant of grace. The
Hebrew word for peace comes from a root which denotes perfection.
The end of the upright man is perfection of happiness, Ps. xxxvii. 37.^
Hence the Rabbins say, that ' the holy blessed God finds not any
vessel that will contain enough of blessings for Israel, but the vessel of
peace.' Peace is a very comprehensive word. It carries in the womb
of it all outward blessings. It was the common greeting of the Jews,
' Peace be unto you : ' and thus David, by his proxy, salutes Nabal,
* Peace be to thee, and thy house.' The ancients were wont to paint
peace in the form of a woman, with a horn of plenty in her hand.
The covenant of grace is that hand, by which God gives out all sorts
of peace unto us : Isa. liv. 10, ' Neither shall the covenant of my peace
^ Heb., The word of his holiness, that is, his sacred and gracious covenant that he had
made with Abraham and his posterity.
* See my Treatise of Holiness. [Vol. iv. — G.]
=* Ps. 1. 5 ; Heb. iii. 1 ; 1 Thes. v. 27 ; 2 Peter i. 21 ; 1 Peter iii. 5 ; 1 Cor. iii. 17 ; 1
Peter ii. 9, &c.
* This covenant is styled a covenant of peace, because it breeds, settles, quiets, and
establisheth our hearts in perfect peace, it stills all fears and doubts and thoughts of
heart.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 311
be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.' The covenant
is here called the covenant of peace, because the Lord therein offers us
all those things that may make us completely happy ; for under this
word peace the Hebrews comprehend all happiness and felicity : Ezek.
xxxiv. 25, ' And I will make with them a covenant of peace \ the
Hebrew is, ' I will cut with them a covenant of peace.' This expres-
sion of cutting a covenant is taken from the custom of the Jews in
their making of covenants. The manner of this ceremony or solemnity,
Jeremiah declares, saying, ' I will give the men that have transgressed
my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant
which they had struck before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and
passed between the parts thereof,' Jer. xxxiv. 18. Their manner was
to kill sacrifices, to cut these sacrifices in twain, to lay the two parts
thus divided in the midst, piece against piece, exactly one over against
another, to answer each other : then the parties covenanting passed
betwixt the parts of the sacrifices so slit in twain, and laid answerably
to one another : the meaning of which ceremonies and solemnities is
conceived to be this — viz., as part answered to part, so there was a
harmonious correspondency and answerableness of their minds and
hearts that struck covenant : and as part was severed from part, so the
covenanters implied, if not expressed, an imprecation or curse ; wish-
ing the like dissection and destruction to the parties covenanting, as
most deserved, if they should break the covenant, or deal falsely therein.^
To this custom God alludes, when he saith, ' 1 will cut with them a
covenant of peace,' Isa. xlii. 6 ; and this he did by making Christ a
sacrifice, by shedding his blood, and dividing his soul and body, who
is said to be given for a covenant of the people, that is, to be the
mediator of the covenant between God and his people. So Ezek.
xxxvii. 26, ' Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them ;
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them,' &c. The word fdr
peace is Shalom, by which the Hebrews understand not only outward
quietness, but all kind of outward happiness. Others, by the covenant
of peace here, do understand the gospel, wherein we see Christ hath
pacified all things by the blood of his cross. And Lavater saith, it is
called a covenant of peace. Quia Christi merito, pax inter Deum et
nos constituta est. Not only outward, but inward peace, between
God and us, is merited by our Lord Jesus Christ, Col. i. 20. But,
[5.] Fifthly, This covenant of grace, under which the saints stand,
is sometimes styled a neio covenant : Jer. xxxi. 31, ' Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel, and with the house of Judah :' Heb. xii. 24, ' And to Jesus,
the mediator of the new covenant,' &c., Heb. viii. 8, 13, and ix. 15. Now
the covenant of grace is styled a new covenant in several respects.
(1.) In opposition to the former covenant, that was old, and being
old, vanished away, Heb. viii. 13. It is called a new covenant in
opposition to the covenant that was made with Adam in the state of
innocency, and in opposition to the covenant that was made with the
Jews in the time of the Old Testament. (2.) To shew the excellency
of the covenant of grace. New things are rare and excellent things.
^ This ceremony or solemnity of covenanting, the Romans and other nations used.
Some judge the heathens borrowed this custom from the Jews. But of this before.
312 TDE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
In the blessed Scriptures excellent things are frequently called ' new ;'
as a ' new testament,' a ' new Jerusalem,' ' new heavens,' and ' new
earth;' ' a new name,' that is, an excellent name ; a ' new command-
ment,' that is, an excellent commandment ; a ' new way,' that is,
an excellent way ; a ' new heart,' is an excellent heart ; a ' new spirit,'
is an excellent spirit; and a ' new song,' is an excellent song.'^ (3.)
In regard of the succession of it in the room of the former. (4.) In
regard of the dilation and enlargement of it, it being in the days of
old confined to the Jewish nation and state, and some few proselytes that
adjoined themselves thereunto ; whereas now it is propounded and
extended, without respect of persons or places, unto all indifferently,
of all people and nations that shall embrace the faith of Christ. (5.)
Sometimes that is styled new, which is diverse from what it was before :
2 Cor. V. 17, ' If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,' that is,
he is not such a man as he was before ; a man must be either a new
man or no man in Christ. ^ The substance of the soul is not changed,
but the qualities and operations of it are altered ; in regeneration our
natures are changed, not destroyed. This word ' new,' in Scripture,
signifieth as much as ' another ; ' not that it is essentially new, but new
only in regard of qualities. A new creature is a changed creature : 2
Cor. iii. 18, ' But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory
to glory,' that is, from grace to grace. In this respect also, is the
covenant styled new, not only because it is diverse from the covenant of
works, but also because it is diverse from itself in respect of the admin-
istration of it, after that Christ was manifested in the flesh, and died
and rose again. From the different administration it is called old and
new. This new covenant hath not those seals of circumcision and the
passover ; nor those manifold sacrifices, ceremonies, types, and shadows,
<fec., to the observation whereof the Jews were strictly obliged; but
now all these things are taken away upon the coming of Christ, and a
service of God, much more spiritual, substituted in the room of them ;
upon which accounts the covenant of grace is called a ' new covenant.'
(6.) It is styled new, because it is fresh, and green, and flourishing, it
is like unto Aaron's rod, which continued new, fresh, and flourishing,
Num. xvii. 8.3 All the choice blessings, all the great blessings, all
the internal and all the eternal blessings of the new covenant, are
as new, fresh, and flourishing, as they were when God brought your
souls first under the bond of the new covenant. But, (7.) Such things
are sometimes styled new which are strange, rare, wonderful, mar-
vellous, and unusual, the like not heard of before. So Jer. xxxi. 22,
' The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall com-
pass a man ;' as the nut encloseth the kernel, not receiving aught
from without, but concei\dng and breeding of herself, by the power of
1 Mat. xxvi. 28 ; Rer. xxi. 2 ; 2 Pet. iii. 13 ; Eev. ii. 17 ; John xiii. 34 : Ezek. xxxvi.
26, 27 ; Ps. xl. 3.
* A new creature has a new light, a new judgment, a new will, new affections, new
thoughts, new company, new choice, new Lord, new law, new way, new work, &c. A new
creature is a changed creature throughout, 1 Thes. v. 23.
^ Austin, and others, think that the commandment of love is called a new command-
ment, because it is alwaj-s fresh, and green, and flourishing ; and why may not the
covenant of grace be called a new covenant upon the same account ?
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 313
the Almighty, from within. That a virgin should conceive and bring
forth a man-child, this was indeed a new thing, a strange thing, a-
wonderful thing, a thing that was never thought of, never heard of,
never read of, from the creation of the world to that very day. So
Isa. xliii. 19, ' Behold, I will do a new thing, I will make a way in the
wilderness, and rivers in the desert.'^ This was a new work, that is,
a wonderful and unusual work ; for God to make a plain or free
way in the wilderness, where the ways are wont to be uneven, with
hills and dales, and obstructed with thickets, and overgrown with
brambles and briars, is a strange and marvellous work indeed. In
this respect also, the covenant of grace is styled new, that is, it is
a wonderful covenant. sirs ! what a wonder is this, that the great
God, who was so transcendently dishonoured, despised, provoked,
incensed, and injured by poor base sinners, should yet so freely, so
readily, so graciously, condescend to vile forlorn sinners, as to treat
with them, as to own them, as to love them, and as to enter into
a covenant of grace and mercy with them ! This may well be the
wonder of angels, and the astonishment of men. (8.) and lastly. It is
called a new covenant, because it is never to be antiquated, as the
apostle explains himself, Heb. viii. 13. But,
[6.] Sixthly, This covenant of grace, under which the saints stand,
is sometimes styled a covenant of salt: Lev. ii. 13, ' Neither shaltthou
suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from the meat-
offering,' &C.2 The salt of the covenant signifies that covenant that
God hath made with us in Christ, who seasoneth us, and makes all our
services savoury. The meaning of the words, say some, is this. The
salt shall put thee in mind of my covenant, whereby thou standest en-
gaged to endeavour always for an untainted and uncorrupted life and
conversation. By this salting, say others, was signified the covenant
of grace in Christ, which we by faith apprehend unto incorruption,
wherefore our unregenerate estate is likened to a child new born and
not salted, Ezek. xvi. 4. Others say it signifies the eternal and per- .
petual holiness of the covenant between God and man ; and some there
be that say that this salt of the covenant signifies the grace of God,
whereby they are guided and sanctified that belong unto the covenant
of grace. So Num. xviii. 19, ' It is a covenant of salt for ever before
the Lord, unto thee, and to thy seed with thee.' A covenant of salt is
used for an inviolable, incorruptible, and perpetual covenant. This
covenant which the Lord made with the priests is called a covenant of
salt, because, as salt keepeth from corruption, so that covenant was
perpetual, authentical, and inviolable ^ — as anciently the most solemn
ceremony that was used in covenants was to take and eat of the
same salt, and it was esteemed more sacred and firm than to eat at
the same table and drink of the same cup. This covenant, in regard
of its perpetuity, is here called a ' covenant of salt,' that is, a sure and
^ The word ' new ' doth intimate some more excellent mercies than God had formerly
conferred upon his people.
^ Salt they were bound as by a covenant to use in all sacrifices, or it meaneth a sure
and pure covenant. Some, by the salt of the covenant, do mystically understand the
grace of the New Testament.
^ Of old, amity and friendship was symbolised by salt, for its consolidating and con-
serving property, saith Pierius.
314 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
stable, a firm and incorruptible covenant. So 2 Cbron. xiii. 5, ' Ought
•you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over
Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of
salt?' — i.e., perpetual and inviolable, solemn and sure. By this
metaphor of salt, a perpetuity is set forth, for salt makes things last.l
The covenant therefore here intended is by this metaphor declared to
be a perpetual covenant, that was not to be abrogated or nulled. In
this respect these two phrases, ' a covenant of salt,' and ' for ever,' are
joined together. Some take this metaphor of salt to be used in rela-
tion to their manner of making their covenant with a sacrifice, on which
salt was always sprinkled, and thereby is implied that it was a most
solemn covenant not to be violated.'^ But,
[7.] Seventhly, The covenant of grace, under which the saints stand,
is sometimes styled a sure covenant, a firm covenant, a covenant that
God loill punctually and accurately perform. In this regard, the cove-
nant of grace is in the Old Testament styled THO^, Shemurah, that is,
kept, observed, performed. The word imports care, diligence, and
solicitude lest anything be let go, let slip, &c. God is ever mindful of
his covenant, and will have that singular care and that constant and
due regard to it, that not the least branch of it shall ever fail, as you
may clearly see by consulting the special scriptures in the margin. 3
Hence it is called the mercy and the truth : Mic. vii. 20, ' Thou wilt
perform the truth to Jacob' — Heh., ' thou wilt give,' for all is of free
gift — ' and the mercy to Abraham.' The covenant is called mercy,
because mercy only drew this covenant ; it was free mercy, it was
mere mercy, it was only mercy which moved God to enter into cove-
nant with us. And it is called truth, because the great God who has
made this covenant will assuredly make good all that mercy and aU
that grace and all that favour that is wrapped up in it. God having
made himself a voluntary debtor to his people, he will come off fairly
with them, and not be worse than his word. Hence Christ is said to
have a rainbow upon liis head, to shew that he is faithful and constant
in his covenant, Kev. x. 1. God hath hitherto kept promise with
nights and days, that one shall succeed the other, Isa. liv. 9, 10 ; there-
fore much more will he keep promise with his people, Jer. xxxiii. 20,
25.4 Hence also the covenaiit is called the oath : Luke i. 73, ' The
oath which he sware unto our father Abraham.' You never read of
God's oath in a covenant of works. In that first covenant you read
not of a mediator nor of an oath ; but in the covenant of grace you
read both of a mediator and of an oath, the more effectually to confirm
us as touching the immutability of his will and purpose, for the accom-
plishment of all the good and the great things that are mentioned in the
covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is incomparably more firm,
sure, immutable, and irrevocable than all other covenants in^the world.
^ Zanchy's [Zanchius] exposition of the place is strange and farfetched.
' Num. xviii. 19, but now opened. Lev. ii. 13.
* 2 Sam. xxiii. 5; Deut. vii. 9; 2 Chron. vi. 14; Ps. xix. 7, and Ixxxix. 28 ; Titus i.
2; Ps. cxxxii. 11 ; Isa. liv. 10. See my 'Box of Precious Ointment,' pp. 367, 368,
371-373. [Vol. iii., as before.— G.]
* The stability of God's covenant is compared to the unvariable coui-se of the day and
the night, and to the firmness and unmovableness of the mighty mountains, Isa. liv.
9, 10.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 315
Therefore it is said, Heb. vi. 17, 18, ' God willing more abundantly to
shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, con-
firmed it by an oath ; that by two immutable things, in which it was
impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation,'! tV^vpay
TrapaKXrjcnv, that is, a valiant, strong, prevailing consolation, such
as swalloweth up all worldly griefs, as Moses his serpent did the sor-
cerers' serpents, or as the fire doth the fuel. God's word, his promise,
his covenant, is sufficient to assure us of all the good that he has
engaged to bestow upon us ; yet God, considering of our infirmity,
hath bound his word with an oath. His word cannot be made more
true, but yet it may be made more credible. Now two things make
a thing more credible: (1.) The quality of the person speaking;
(2.) The manner of the speech. If God doth not simply speak,
but solemnly swear, we have the highest cause imaginable to rest
assured and abundantly satisfied in the word and oath of God. An
oath amongst men is the strongest, surest, most sacred, and inviolable
bond ; ' For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confir-
mation is to them an end of all strife,' Heb. vi. 16. The end of an
oath among men is to help the truth in necessity, and to clear men's
innocency, Exod. xxii, 11. sirs ! God doth not only make his
covenant, but swears his covenant ; ' My covenant,' saith the psalmist,
' will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips ; once
have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David,' Ps. Ixxxix.
34, 35. This is as great and deep an oath as God could take ; for his
holiness is himself, who is most holy, and the foundation of all holi-
ness. 2 God is essentially holy, unmixedly holy, universally holy,
transcendently holy, originally holy, independently holy, constantly
holy, and exemplarily holy. Now for so holy a God to swear once
for all by his holiness that he will keep covenant, that he will keep
touch with his people, how abundantly should it settle and satisfy
them ! Ah ! my friends, hath God said it, and will he not do it ?
Yea, hath he sworn it, and will he not bring it to pass ? Dare we
trust an honest man upon his bare word, much more upon his oath ;
and shall we not much more trust a holy, wise, and faithful God upon
his word, upon his covenant, when confinned by an oath ? The cove-
nant of grace is sure in itself ; it is a firm covenant, an unalterable
covenant, an everlasting covenant, a ratified covenant ; so that heaven
and earth may sooner pass away, than the least branch or word of his
covenant should pass away unfulfilled. Mat. v. 18.
(1.) Let us but cast our eyes upon the several springs from tvhence
the covenant of grace flows ^ and then we cannot but strongly conclude
that the covenant of grace is a sure covenant. Now if you cast your
eye aright, you shall see that the covenant of grace flows from these
three springs.
First, From the free grace and favour of God. There was nothing
in fallen man to invite God to enter into covenant with him ; yea, there
was everything in fallen man that might justly provoke God to aban-
don man, to abhor man, to revenge himself upon man. It was mere
* Who shall doubt when God doth swear, who cannot possibly deny himself or forswear
himself ?
" See my Treatise of Holiness, p. 585 to p. 595. [Vol. iv., as before — G.]
316
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
grace that made the covenant, and it is mere grace that makes good
the covenant. Now that which springs from mere grace must needs
be nnexceptionably sure. The love of God is unchangeable ; ' whom
he loves he loves to the end,' John xiii. 3 ; whom God loves once he
loves for ever. He is not as man, soon in and soon off again, Mai. iii.
6 ; James i. 17 ; soon in, and as soon out, as Joab's dagger was ! Oh
no ! his love is like himself, lasting, yea, everlasting : ' I have loved
thee with an everlasting love,' Jer. xxxi. 3. Though we break off
with him, yet he abides faithful, 2 Tim. ii. 13. Now what can be
more sure than that which springs from free love, from everlasting
love ? Eom. iv. 16. Hence the covenant must be sure. The former
covenant was not sure, because it was of works ; but this covenant is
sure, because it is of grace, and rests not on any sufficiency in us, but
only on grace.
Secondly, The covenant of grace springs from the immutable counsel
of God: Heb. vi. 17, ' God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the
heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an
oath.' Times are mutable, and all sorts of men are mutable, and the
love and favour of the creature is mutable ; but the counsel of God,
from which the covenant of grace flows, is immutable, and there-
fore it must needs be sure, Isa. xl, 6 ; Ps. cxlvi, 3, 4 ; Jer. xxxiii. 14.
The manifestation of the immutability of Gods counsel is here brought
in, as one end of God's oath. God swears, that it might evidently
appear that what he had purposed, counselled, determined, and pro-
mised to Abraham and his seed should assuredly be accomplished ;
there should be, there could be, no alteration thereof. His counsel
was more firm than the laws of the Medes and Persians, which
altereth not, Dan. vi, 13. Certainly God's counsel is inviolable : ' My
counsel shall stand,' Isa. xlvi. 10; Ps. xxxiii. 11, ' The counsel of the
Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations ;'
Prov. xix. 21, ' Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall
stand.' The immutability of God's counsel springs from the un-
changeableness of his essence, the perfection of his wisdom, the
infiniteness of his goodness, the absoluteness of his sovereignty, the
omnipotency of his power. God in his essence being unchangeable,
his counsel also must needs be so. Can darkness flow out of light,
or fulness out of emptiness, or heaven out of hell ? No ! no more
can changeable counsels flow from an immutable nature. Now the
covenant of grace flows from the immutable counsel of God, which is
most firm and inviolable, and therefore it must needs be a sure cove-
nant. But,
Thirdly, The covenant of grace springs from the purpose of God,
resolving and intending everlasting good unto us. Now this purpose
of God is sure; so the apostle, 2 Tim. ii. 19, ' The foundation of
God standeth sure.' i That foundation of God is his election, which
is compared to a foundation ; because it is that upon which all our
good and happiness is built, and because as a foundation it abides firm
and sure. The gracious purpose of God is the fountain-head of all
our spiritual blessings. It is the impulsive cause of our vocation,
1 Our graces are imperfect, our comforts ebb and flow ; but God's foundation stands
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 317
justification, glorification; it is the highest link in the golden chain of
salvation. What is the reason that God has entered into a covenant
with fallen man ? it is from his eternal purpose. What is the reason
that one man is brought under the bond of the covenant and not
another ? it is from the eternal purpose of God, Ezek. xx. 37. In all
the great concerns of the covenant of grace, the purpose of God gives
the casting voice. The purpose of God is the sovereign cause of all
that good that is in man, and of all that external, internal, and eternal
good that comes to man. Not works past, for men are chosen from
everlasting ; not works present, for Jacob was loved and chosen before
he was born ; nor works foreseen, for men were all corrupt in Adam.
All a believer's present happiness, and all his future happiness, springs
from the eternal purpose of God ; as you may see, by comparing the
scriptures in the margin together.^ This purpose of God speaks our
stability and certainty of salvation by Christ, God's eternal purpose
never changes, never alters ; ' Surely, as I have thought, so shall it
come to pass, and as I have purposed,' saith God, * so shall it stand.'
God's purposes are immutable, so is his covenant. God's purposes
are sure, very sure, so is his covenant. The covenant of grace that
flows from the eternal purpose of God, is as sure as God is sure ; for
God can neither deceive nor be deceived. That covenant that is
built upon this rock of God's eternal purpose, must needs be sure ;
and therefore all that are in covenant with God need never fear
falling away. There is no man, no power, no devil, no violent
temptation, that shall ever be able to overturn those that God has
brought under the bond of the covenant, John x. 28-31 ; 1 Pet. i. 5.
But,
(2.) Secondly, Consider that the covenant of grace is confirmed and
made sure by the blood of Jesus Christ, which is called ' the blood of
the everlasting covenant,' Heb. xiii. 20. Christ, by his irrevocable
death, hath made sure the covenant to us, Heh. ix. 16, 17. The
covenant of grace is to be considered under the notion of a testament ;
and Christ, as the testator of this will and testament. 2 Now look, as
a man's will and testament is irrevocably confirmed by the testator's
death; — ' For where a testament is, there must also, of necessity, be
the death of the testator ; for a testament is of force, after men are
dead ; otherwise, it is of no strength at all whilst the testator liveth ;' —
these two verses are added as a proof of the necessity of Christ's
manner of confirming the new testament as he did, namely, by his
death. The argument is taken from the common use and equity of
confirming testaments, which is by the death of the testator. A testa-
ment is only and wholly at his pleasure that maketh it, so that he
may alter it, or disannul it while he liveth, as he seeth good ; but
when he is dead, he not remaining to alter it, none else can do it. In
the seventeenth verse, the apostle declareth the inviolableness of a
man's last will, being ratified as before by the testator's death. This
he sheweth two ways: (1.) Affirmatively; in these words, ' A testa-
» Rom. viii. 28, and ix. 11 ; Eph. i. 11, and iii. 11 ; 2 Tim. i. 9.
^ The main point which the apostle intended, by setting down the inviolableness of
men's last wills after their death, is to prove that Christ's death was very requisite for
ratifying of the New Testament : consult the scriptures. Mat. ivi. 21 ; Luke ixiv. 26 ;
Heb. ii, 10, 17.
318 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
ment is of force after men are dead.' (2.) Negatively, in these words,
* Otherwise it is of no strength.' Now from the affirmative and the
negative, it plainly appears that a testament is made inviolable by the
testator's death ; so Jesiis Christ hath unalterably confirmed this will
and testament — viz., the new covenant, by his blood and death, ' that
by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the first testament, they which are called might receive the
promise of eternal inheritance,' Heb. ix. 15. Christ died to purchase
an eternal inheritance ; and on this ground eternal life is called an
eternal inheritance ; for we come to it as heirs, through the good-
will, grace, and favour of this purchaser thereof, manifested by the
last will and testament. Hence you read, ' This is my blood of the
new testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins,' Mat.
xxvi. 28. Again, ' This cup is the new testament in my blood, which
is shed for you,' Luke xxii. 20 ; 1 Cor. xi. 25. The covenant is called
both a covenant and a testament, because his covenant and testament
is founded, established, ratified, and immutably sealed up, in and by
his blood. Christ is the faithful and true witness, yea, truth itself ;
his word shall not pass away, Eev. iii. 14 ; John xiv. 6 ; Mark xiii.
31. If the word of Christ be sure, if his promise be sure, if his cove-
nant be sure, then surely his last will and testament, which is ratified
and confirmed by his death, must needs be very sure. Christ's blood
is too precious a thing to be spilt in vain ; but in vain is it spilt if
his testament, his covenant, ratified thereby, be altered. If the
covenant of grace be not a sure covenant, 1 Cor. xv. 14, then
Christ died in vain, and our preaching is in vain, and your hearing,
and receiving, and believing is all in vain. Christ's death is a decla-
ration and evidence of the eternal counsel of his Father, which is most
stable and immutable in itself. But how much more it is so when it is
ratified by the death of his dearest Son, ' In whom all the promises are
yea and amen,' 2 Cor. i. 20 ; that is, in Christ they are made, per-
formed, and ratified. By all this we may safely conclude that the
covenant of grace is a most sure covenant. There can be no addition
to it, detraction from it, or alteration of it, unless the death of Jesus
Christ, whereby it is confirmed, be frustrated and overthrown. Cer-
tainly the covenant is as sure as Christ's death is sure. The sureness
and certainty of the covenant is the ground and bottom of bottoms for
our faith, hope, joy, patience, peace, &c. Take this corner, this foun-
dation-stone away, and all will tumble. Were the covenant uncertain,
a Christian could never have a good day all his days, his whole life
would be filled up with tears, doubts, disputes, distractions, &c. ; and
he would be still a-crying out. Oh, I can never be sure that God will
be mine, or that Christ will be mine, or that mercy will be mine, or that
pardon of sin will be mine, or that heaven will be mine ! Oh, I can
never be sure that I shall escape ' the great damnation, the worm that
never dies, the fire that never goes out, or an eternal separation from
the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power,' 2 Thes. i. 9.
The great glory of the covenant is the certainty of the covenant ; and
this is the top of God's glory, and of a Christian's comfort, that all the
mercies that are in the covenant of grace are ' the sure mercies of
David,' and that all the grace that is in the covenant is sure grace.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PBOVED AND OPENED. 319
and that all the glory that is in the covenant is sure glory, and that all
the external, internal, and eternal blessings of the covenant are sure
blessings.
I might further argue the sureness of the covenant of grace from all
the attributes of God, which are deeply engaged to make it good, as
his wisdom, love, power, justice, holiness, faithfulness, righteousness,
&c. ; and I might further argue the certainty of the covenant of grace
from the seals which God hath annexed to it. You know what was
sealed by the king's ring could not be altered, Esth. viii. 8. God hath
set his seals to this covenant : his broad seal in the sacraments, and
his privy seal in the witness of his Spirit ; and therefore the covenant
of grace is sure, and can never be reversed. But upon several accounts
I may not now insist on these things. And therefore,
[8.] Eighthly and lastly, The covenant of grace is styled a well-
ordered covenant : 2 Sam. xxiii. 5, ' He hath made with me an ever-
lasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure.' Oh, the admirable
counsel, wisdom, love, care, and tenderness of the blessed God, that
sparkles and shines in the well- ordering of the covenant of grace ! l
Oh, how comely and beautiful, with what symmetry and proportion,
are all things in this covenant ordered and prepared ! Oh, what head
can conceive, or what tongue can express, that infinite understanding
that God has manifested in ordering the covenant of grace, so as it
may most and best suit to all the wants, and straits, and necessities,
and miseries, and desires, and longings of poor sinners' souls ! Here
are fit and full supplies for all our spiritual wants, so excellently
and orderly hath God composed and constituted the covenant of
grace. In the covenant of grace every poor sinner may find a suit-
able help, a suitable remedy, a suitable succour, a suitable support,
a suitable supply, Jer. xxxiii. 8 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ; Ps. xciv. 19.
The covenant of grace is so well ordered by the unsearchable
wisdom of God, that you may find in it remedies to cure all your
spiritual diseases, and cordials to comfort you under all your soul-
faintings, and a spiritual armoury to arm you against all sorts of
sins, and all sorts of snares, and all sorts of temptations, and all sorts
of oppositions, and all sorts of enemies, whether inward or outward,
open or secret, subtle or silly, Eph. vi. 10-18. Dost thou, distressed
sinner, want a loving God, a compassionate God, a reconciled God, a
sin-pardoning God, a tender-hearted God ? Here thou mayest find
him in the covenant of grace, Exod. xxxiv. 5-7. Dost thou, sinner,
want a Christ, to counsel thee by his wisdom, and to clothe thee with
his righteousness, and to enrich thee with his grace, and to enlighten
thee with his eyesalve, and to justify thee from thy sins, and to recon-
cile thee to God, and to secure thee from wrath to come, and after all,
to bring thee to heaven? Kev. iii. 17, 18; Acts xiii. 39; 1 Thes.
i. 10 ; John x. 28-31. Here thou mayest find him in a covenant of
grace. Dost thou, O sinner ! want the Holy Spirit to awaken thee,
and to convince thee of sin, of righteousness, and of jiidgment ? or to
enlighten thee, and teach thee, and lead thee, and guide thee in the
way everlasting ? or to cleanse thee, or comfort thee, or to seal thee
1 Eom. xi. 33-36 ; 1 Cor. ii. 7 ; Eph. i. 8, and iii. 10 ; Ps. cxlvii. 5 ; lea. xl. 28 ;
Rev. vii. 12.
320 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
up to the day of redemption? Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27; Luke xi, 13;
Eph. i. 13. Here thou mayest find him in the covenant of grace.
Dost thou, sinner ! want grace, all grace, great grace, abundance of
grace, multiplied grace ? Here thou mayest find it in the covenant
of grace ? Dost thou, sinner ! want peace, or ease, or rest, or quiet
in thy conscience ? Here thou mayest find it in the covenant of grace.
Dost thou want, sinner ! joy, or comfort, or content, or satisfac-
tion ? Here thou mayest have it in a covenant of grace. sinner,
sinner ! whatever thy bodily wants are, or whatever thy soul wants
are, they may all be supplied out of the covenant of grace. God, in
his infinite wisdom and love, has laid into the covenant of grace, as
into a common store, all those good things, and all those great things,
and all those suitable things, that either sinners or saints can either
beg or need. Now the adequate suitableness of the covenant of grace
to all a sinner's wants, straits, necessities, miseries, and desires, does
sufficiently demonstrate the covenant of grace to be a well-ordered
covenant. Look, as that is a well-ordered commonwealth, where there
are no wholesome laws wanting to govern a people, and where there
are no wholesome remedies wanting to relieve a people, and where
there are no defences wanting to secure a people ; so that must needs
be a well-ordered covenant, where there is nothing wanting to govern
poor souls, or to secure poor souls, or to save poor souls ; and such a
covenant is the covenant of grace. I might easily lay down other
arguments to evince the covenant of grace to be a well-ordered cove-
nant. As for the right placing of all persons and things in the cove-
nant of grace, and from the outward dispensation of it, God revealed
it but gradually. First, he discovered it more darkly, remotely, and
imperfectly, as we see things a great way off; but afterwards the Lord
did more clearly, fully, immediately, frequently, and completely dis-
cover it, as we discern things at hand. God did not at once open all
the riches and rarities of the covenant to his people, but in the open-
ing of those treasures that were there laid up, God had a respect to
the non-age and full-age of his people ; and from God's dispensing
and giving out all the good and all the great things of the covenant
in their fittest time, in a right and proper season, when his people
most need them, and when they can live no longer without them.
But I must hasten to a closing up of this particular. Thus you see
in these eight particulars how gloriously the covenant of grace, under
which the saints stand, is set out in the blessed Scriptures.
Concerning the covenant of grace, or the new covenant, that all
sincere Christians are under, and by which at last they shall be
judged, let me further say, besides what I have already said, All man-
kind had been eternally lost, and God had lost all the glory of his
mercy for ever, had he not, of his oion free grace and mercy, made a
new covenant with sinful man. The fountain from whence this new
covenant flows is the grace of God : Gen. xvii. 22, ' I will make'
{Heb., ' I will') ' my covenant.' This covenant is called a covenant of
grace, because it flows from the mere grace and mercy of God. There
was nothing out of God, nor nothing in God, but his mere mercy and
grace, that moved him to enter into covenant with poor sinners,
who were miserable, who were loathsome, and polluted in their
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 321
blood, and who had broken the covenant of their God, and
were actually in arms against him.i This must needs be of mere
favour and love, for God to enter into covenant with man, when he
lay wallowing in his blood, and no eye pitied him, no, not his own.
As there was nothing in fallen man to draw God's favour or affection
towards him, so there was everything in fallen man that might justly
provoke God's wrath and indignation against him ; and therefore it
must be a very high act of favour and grace, for the great, the
glorious, the holy, the wise, and the all-sufficient God, to enter into
covenant with such a forlorn creature as fallen man was. Nothing
but free grace was the foundation of the covenant of grace with poor
sinners. Now let us seriously mind how this covenant of grace, or
this new covenant, runs both in the Old and in the New Testament : 2
Jer. xxxi. 31, ' Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of
Judah;' ver. 32, ' Not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt ; which my covenant they brake, although I
was an husband unto them, saith the Lord ;' ver. 33, ' But this shall
be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel ; After those
days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my
people ;' ver, 34, ' And they shall teach no more every man his neigh-
bour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord ; for they
shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,
saith the Lord : for I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember
their sin no more.' Now let us see how Paul doth exegetically ex-
plain this new covenant in that Heb, viii. 6, ' But now hath he ob-
tained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises ; '
ver; 7, ' For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no
place have been sought for the second ; but finding fault with them,
he saith,' ver. 8, ' Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and the house of
Judah': ver. 9, ' Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers, in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of
the land of Egypt ; because they continued not in my covenant, and I
regarded them not, saith the Lord ;' ver. 10, ' But this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the
Lord ; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their
hearts : and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a
people ;' ver. 11, ' And they shall not teach every man his neighbour,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord : for all shall know
me, from the least to the greatest ;' ver. 12, ' For I will be merciful
1 Isa. xli. 1, 2 ; Eph. i. 5-7, and ii. 5, 7, 8 ; 2 Sam. vii. 21; Eom. ix. 18, 23; Jer.
xxxii. 38-41 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27, and xvi. 1-10. Surely if a woman commit adultery,
it is a mere act of favour if her husband accept of her again, Jer. iii. 7. The applica-
tion is easy.
* Though the covenant of redemption made to the fathers, and this which was given
after, seem diverse, yet they are all one, and grounded on Jesus Christ, save that this ia
called ' new ; ' because of the manifestations of Christ, and the abundant graces of the
Holy Ghost, given to his church under the gospel, 2 Cor. iii. 1-3.
VOL. V. X
322 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
to their unrigliteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I re-
member no more ;' ver. 13, 'In that he saith, A new covenant, he
hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is
ready to vanish away.' This is the substance of the new covenant ;
and thus the Lord did fore-promise it by Jeremiah, and afterwards
expounded it by Paul. Some small difference there is in their words,
but the sense is one and the same. Now this covenant is styled the
new covenant, because it is to continue new, and never to wax old or
wear away, so long as this world shall continue. Neither doth the
Holy Scriptures anywhere reveal another covenant, which shall suc-
ceed this covenant. 1 If any covenant should succeed this, it must be
either a covenant of works, or a covenant of grace ; not a covenant of
works, for that would bring us all under a curse, and make our condi-
tion utterly desperate ; not a covenant of grace, because more grace
cannot be shewn in any other covenant than in this ; here is all grace
and all mercy, here is Jesus Christ with all his righteousness, mediator-
ship, merits, purchase. This covenant is so full, so ample, so large,
so perfect, so complete, and is every way so accommodated to the
condition of lost sinners, that nothing can be altered, nor added, nor
mended : and therefore it must needs be the last covenant, that ever
God will make with man. So Heb. x. 16, ' This is the covenant that
1 will make with them, after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put
my laws into their hearts, and; in their minds will I write them ; '
ver. 17, ' And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.'
Kom. xi. 26, ' There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall
turn away ungodliness from Jacob.' The person delivering is Christ,
described here by his office and by his original ; his office, the deliverer ;
the original word pvofxevo^, which Paul useth, signifies delivering by
a strong hand, to rescue by force, as David delivered the lamb out of
the lion's paw ; ver. 27, ' For this is my covenant unto them, when I
shall take away their sin.' This covenant concerning the pardoil of
believers' sins, and their deliverance by Christ, God will certainly
make good to his people.
Now from the covenant of grace, or the new covenant that God
has made with sincere Christians, a believer may form up this eighth
plea to the ten scriptures cited in the margin,2 that refer to the great
day of account, or to a man's particular account, viz., blessed God,
thou hast, in the covenant of grace, hy which I must he tried, freely
and fully engaged thyself that thou loilt pardon mine iniquities, and
remember my sins no more ; so runs the new covenant : Jer. xxxi.
34, * I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no
more ; ' so again, Heb. viii. 12, ' I will be merciful to their unright-
eousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more ; '
so Heb. X. 17, ' Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more ; '
Isa. xliii. 25, ' I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
^ Where then is the fire of purgatory, and that popish distinction of the fault and the
punishment ? As for the fiction of purgatorj-, it deserves rather to be hissed at, than by
arguments refuted. And to punish sin in purgatory, as popish doctors teach, what is
this, but to call sin to mind and memory, to view and sight, to reckoning and account ?
which is contrary to the doctrine of the new covenant.
* Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23 ; Luke xvi. 2 ; Rom. xiv. 10
2 Cor. v. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17 ; 1 Pet. iv. 5.
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 323
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins ; ' Ezek. xviii. 22,
' All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be
mentioned unto him ; ' Jer. 1. 20, * In those days, saith the Lord, the
iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none ; and the
sins of Judah, and they shall not be found ; for I will pardon them
whom I reserve/ Now, holy God, I cannot hut observe that in
the new covenant thou hast made such necessary, choice, absolute,
and blessed provision for thy poor people, that no sin can disannul the
covenant, or make a Jindl separation between thee and thy covenxint-
peopleA Breaches made in the first covenant were irreparable, but
breaches made in the new covenant are not so, because this new cove-
nant is estabhshed in Christ. Christ lies at the bottom of the cove-
nant. The new covenant is an everlasting covenant; and all the
breaches that we make upon that covenant are repaired and made up
by the blood and intercession of dear Jesus. Every jar doth not
break the marriage covenant between husband and wife; no more
doth every sin break the new covenant that is between God and our
souls. Every breach of peace with God is not a breach of covenant
with God. That free, that rich, that infinite, that sovereign, and that
glorious grace of God that shines in that covenant of grace, tells us
that our eternal estates shall never be judged by a covenant of works ;
and that the want of an absolute perfection shall never damn a beheving
soul ; and that the obedience that God requires at our hands is not a
legal, but an evangelical obedience. So long as a Christian doth not
renounce his covenant with God, so long as he doth not wilfully,
wickedly, and habitually break the bond of the covenant, the main,
the substance, of the covenant is not yet broken, though some articles
of the covenant may be violated ; as among men, there be some tres-
passes against some particular clauses in covenants, which, though
they be violated, yet the whole covenant is not forfeited ; it is so here
between God and his people.
And, blessed God, I cannot but observe that in the new covenant
thou hast engaged thyself to pardon all my sins : ' I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I re-
member no more,' Heb. viii. 12 ; Jer. xxxi. 34. ^ Here are two things
worthy of our notice : (1.) The reconciliation of God with his people,
' I will be merciful to their unrighteousness ; ' he will be merciful or
propitious, appeased and pacified towards them ; which hath respect to
the ransom and satisfaction of Christ. (2.) That God will pardon the
sins of his people fully, completely, perfectly. Here are three words,
' unrighteousness,' ' sins,' and ' iniquities,' to shew that he will for-
give all sorts, kinds, and degrees of sins. The three original words
here expressed are all in the plural number; 1. ABiKiai,<;, unrighteous-
nesses. This word is by some appropriated to the wrongs and injuries
that are done against men ; 2. AfjuapriSiv, sins, is a general word, and
according to the notation of the Greek, may imply a not following of
that which is set before us ; for he sinneth that followeth not the rule
^ The new covenant can never be broken. 2 Chron. xiii. 5 ; Ps. Izxxiz. 34 ; Isa. 1. 7
2 Sam. xxiii. 5 ; Heb. vii. 25 ; 1 John ii. 1, 2 ; Isa. liv. 10.
* He is a forgiving God, Neh. ix. 31. None like him for that, Micah vii. 18. He
forgives naturally, Exod. ii. 2 ; abundantly, Isa. Iv. 7, 3 ; constantly, Ps. cxxx. 4 ; Mai.
iii. 6.
324 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
that is set before him by God. The third word, Avofjuiwv, iniquities,
according to the notation of the Greek, signifies in general, transgres-
sions of the law. This word is by some appropriated to sins against
God. The Greek word 'Avo/xla, that is frequently translated ' iniquity/
is a general word, which signifieth a transgression of the law, and so
it 18 translated, 1 John iii. 4. The word iniquity is of as large an ex-
tent as the word unrighteousness, and implieth an unequal dealing,
which is contrary to the rule or law of God. And all this heap of
words is to intimate to us that it is neither the several sorts of sins,
nor degrees of sin, nor aggravations of sin, nor yet the multitude of
sins, that shall ever prejudice those souls that are in covenant with
God. God hath mercy enough, and pardons enough, for all his cove-
nant-people's sins, whether original or actual, whether against the law
or against the gospel, whether against the light of nature or the rule
of grace, whether against mercies or judgments, whether against great
means of grace or small means of grace. The covenant remedy against
all sorts and degrees of sin, doth infinitely transcend and surpass all
our infirmities and enormities, our weaknesses and wickednesses, our
follies and unworthinesses, &c. What is our unrighteousness to Christ's
righteousness, our debts to Christ's pardons, our unholiness to Christ's
holiness, our emptiness to Christ's fulness, our weakness to Christ's
strength, our poverty to Christ's riches, our wounds to that healing
that is under the wings of the Sun of Righteousness ! 1 Cor. i. 30 ;
Ps. i. 3, 9, 10 ; Mai. iv. 2. Parallel to this, Heb. viii. 12, is that noble
description that Moses gives of God in that Book of Exodus : chap,
iii. 4, 6, 7, 'The Lord, the Lord merciful and gracious ; forgiving ini-
quity, transgression, and sin.' Some, by these three words, do under-
stand such sins as are committed against our neighbour, against God,
or against ourselves. A merciful God, a gracious God will pardon all
sorts of sinners, and all sorts and degrees of sin, by what names or
titles soever they may be styled or distinguished. Some by iniquity
do understand sins of infirmity ; and by transgression they understand
sins of malice ; and by sin they understand sins of ignorance. God is
said to keep merdy, and to forgive all sorts of sins, as if his mercy were
kept on purpose for pardoning all sorts of sinners and all sorts of sins.
The Hebrew word ]1^, Gnavon, that is here translated iniquity, signi-
fies that which is unright, unequal, crooked or perverse ; it notes the
vitiosity or crookedness of nature ; it notes crooked oflfences, such as
flow from malice, hatred, and are committed on purpose. Secondly,
the Hebrew word yit^SI, from V^^, Pashang, that is here translated
transgression, signifies to deal unfaithfully ; it notes such sins as are
treacherously committed against God, such sins as flow from pride
and contempt of God. Thirdly, the Hebrew word HNtDm, Cliataah,
generally signifieth sin, but is more especially here taken for sins of
ignorance and infirmit3^ Oh, what singular mercy, what rich grace
is here : that God will not only pardon our light, our small off'ences,
but our great and mighty sins ! &c.
And I cannot, dear Father, but further observe that in the new
covenant thou hast frequently and deeply engaged thyself, that thou
wilt remember the sins of thy people no more ! my God, thou
hast told me six several times in thy word, that thou wilt remember
THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED. 325
my sins no more. In the new covenant thou hast engaged thyself not
only to forgive but also to forget, and that thou wilt cross thy debt-
book, and never question or call me to an account for my sins ; that
thou wilt pass an eternal act of oblivion upon them, and utterly bury
them in the grave of oblivion, as if they had never been. The sins
that are forgiven by God are forgotten by God, the sins that God
remits he removes from his remembrance, Heb. x. 13-19, and 1-15.
Christ hath so fully satisfied the justice of God for the sins of all his
seed, by the price of his own blood and death, that there needs no
more expiatory sacrifices to be offered for their sins for ever. Christ
hath, by the sacrifice of himself, blotted out the remembrance of his
people's sins with God for ever. The new covenant runs thus, ' And
their sinful error,' *7Ti^~lDTl< iO,Lo escar guhod, ' I will not remember
any more,' Jer. xxxi. 34 ; but the Greek runs thus, ' And their sinful
errors and their unrighteousnesses, I wiU not remember again, or any
more,' Heb. viii. 12; ov fjurj fivrjado) in. Here are two negatives, which
do more vehemently deny, according to the propriety of the Greek
language ; that is, I will never remember them again, I will in no
case remember them any more, I will so forgive as to forget : not
that in propriety of phrase, God either remembers or forgets, for
all things are present to him ; he knows all things, he beholds, he
sees, he observes all things, by one eternal and simple act of his know-
ledge, which is no way capable of change, as now knowing and anon
forgetting ; but it is an allusion to the manner of men, who, when they
forgive injuries fully and heartily, do also forget them, blot them out
of mind ; or rather, as some think, it is an allusion to the manner
of the old covenant's administration in the sacrifices, where there was a
remembrance again of sins every year, there was a fresh indictment
and arraignment of the people for sin continually, Heb. x. 1-3, &c. ;
but under this new covenant our Lord Jesus Christ hath, 'by one
offering, perfected for ever them that are sanctified,' [see fromwer.
5 to ver. 20 ;] Christ hath, for ever, taken away the sins of the elect ;
there needs no more expiatory sacrifice for them ; they that are
sprinkled with the blood of this sacrifice shall never have their sins
remembered any more against them. God's not remembering or
forgetting a thing is not simply to be taken of his essential knowledge,
but respectively of his judicial knowledge, to bring the same into
judgment. Not to remember a thing that was once known, and was
in mind and memory, is to forget it ; but this properly is not incident
to God, it is an infirmity. To him all things past and future are
as present. What he once knoweth he always knoweth. His memory
is his very essence, neither can an3^thing that hath once been in it slip
out of it. For God to remit sin is not to remember it ; and not
to remember it is to remit it. These are two reciprocal propositions,
therefore they are thus joined together. ' I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more : I, even I, am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remem-
ber thy sins,' Jer. xxxi. 34 ; Isa. xliii. 25. To remember implieth a
fourfold act ; (1.) To lay up in the mind what is conceived thereby ;
(2.) To hold it fast ; (3.) To call it to mind again ; (4.) Oft to think
of it. Now in that God saith, ' I will remember their iniquities
326 THE COVENANT OF GRACE PROVED AND OPENED.
no more ;' he implieth that he will neither lay them up in his mind,
nor there hold them, nor call them again to mind, nor think on them,
but that they shall be to him as if they had never been committed.
God's discharge of their sins shall be a full discharge. Such sinners shall
never be called to account for them. Both the guilt and the punish-
ment of them shall be fully and everlastingly removed. Let the sins
of a believer be what they will for nature, and never so many for num-
ber, they shall all be blotted out, they shall never be mentioned
more ; i (1.) God will never remember, he will never mention their
eins, so as to impute them or charge them upon his people ; (2.) God
will never remember, he will never mention their sins any more, so as
to upbraid his people with their follies or miscarriages. He will never
hit them in the teeth with their sins, he will never cast their weak-
nesses into their dish. When persons are justified, their sins shall be
as if they had not been ; God will bid them welcome into his presence,
and embrace them in his arms, and will never object to them their
former unkindness, unfruitfulness, unthankfulness, vileness, stubborn-
ness, wickedness, as you may plainly see in the return of the pro-
digal, and his father's deportment towards him: Luke xv. 20-23,
* When he was a great way off.' The prodigal was but conceiving
a purpose to return, and God met him. The very intention,
and [secret motions, and close purposes of our hearts, are known to
God. The old father sees a great way off. Dim eyes can see a
great way when the son is the object ; ' his father saw him, and had
compassion.' His bowels roU within him. The father not only
sees, but commiserates and compassionates the returning prodigal, as
he did Ephraim of old, ' My bowels are troubled for him, I will surely
have mercy on him ; ' or, as the Hebrew runs, ' I will, having mercy,
have mercy, have mercy on him, or I will abundantly have mercy on
him,' Jer. xxxi. 20. Look, saith God, here is a poor prodigal return-
ing to me, the poor child is come back, he hath smarted enough, he
hath suffered enough. I will bid him welcome, I will forgive him all
his high offences, and will never hit him in the teeth with his former
vanities. ' And ran.' The feet of mercy are swift to meet a return-
ing sinner. It had been sufficient for him to have stood, being old,
and a father ; but the father runs to the son. ' And fell on his neck.'
He cannot stay and embrace him, or take him by the hand ; but he
falls upon him, and incorporates himself into him. How open are
the arms of mercy to embrace the returning sinner, and lay him in
the bosom of love ! ' And kissed him.' Free, rich, and sovereign
mercy hath not only feet to meet us, and arms to clasp us, but also
lips to kiss us. One would have thought that he should rather have
kicked him or killed him, than have kissed him. But God is Pater
miserationum, he is all bowels. All this while the father speaks not
one word. His joy was too great to be uttered. He ran, he fell on
his neck, and kissed him, and so sealed up to him mercy and peace,
love and reconciliation, with the kisses of his lips. And the son said
^ Mat. xii. 31 ; Isa. Iv. 7 ; Jer. xxxi. 12 ; Ezek. xviii. 22 ; Ps. xxxii. 2 ; Eom. iv. 8.
Now if God will not remember nor mention his people's sins, then we may safely and
roundly infer that either there is no purgatory, or else that God severely punishes those
Bins in purgatory which he remembers not.
EVANGELICAL OBEDIENCE HINTED AT. 327
unto him, ' Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight/
Sincerely confess, and the mends i- is made ; acknowledge but the debt,
and he will cross the book. ' And am no more worthy to be called
thy son.' In/emus sum, Domine, said that blessed martyr,^ ' Lord, I
am hell, but thou art heaven ; I am soil and a sink of sin, but thou
art a gracious Grod,' &c. But the father said to his servants, ' Bring
forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hands,
and shoes on his feet. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it,
and let us eat and be merry.' Here you have, (1.) The best robe ;
(2.) The precious ring \^ (3.) The comely shoes ; and (4.) The fatted
calf. The returning prodigal hath garments, and ornaments, and
necessaries, and comfortables. Some understand by the robe the
royalty which Adam lost ; and by the ring they understand the seal
of God's Holy Spirit ; and by the shoes the preparation of the gospel
of peace ; and by the fatted calf they understand Christ, who was
slain from the beginning. Christ is that fatted calf, saith Mr Tyn-
dale the martyr, slain to make penitent sinners good cheer withal, and
his righteousness is the goodly raiment to cover the naked deformi-
ties of their sins.* The great things intended in this parable is to set
forth the riches of grace, and God's infinite goodness, and the returning
sinner's happiness. When once the sinner returns in good earnest
to God, God will supply all his wants, and bestow upon him more than
ever he lost, and set him in a safer and happier estate than that from
which he did fall in Adam ; and will never hit him in the teeth with
his former enormities, nor never cast in his dish his old wickednesses.
You see plainly in this parable that the father of the prodigal does
not so much as mention or object the former pleasures, lusts, or vani-
ties wherein his prodigal son had formerly lived. All old scores are
quit, and the returning prodigal embraced and welcomed, as if he had
never offended. And now, Lord, I must humbly take leave to tell
thee further that thou hast confirmed the new covenant by thy word,
and by thy oath, and by the seals that thou hast annexed to it, and
by the death of thy Son, and therefore thou canst not but make good
every tittle, word, branch, and article of it. Now this new covenant
is my plea. holy God, and by this plea I shall stand. Hereupon
God declares, this plea, I accept as holy, just, and good. I have no-
thing to say against thee ; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
IX. The ninth plea that a believer may form up as to the ten scrip-
tures that are in the margin,^ that refer to the great day of account,
or to a man's particular account, may be drawn up from the consi-
deration of that evangelical obedience that God requires, and that the
believer yields to Ood. There is a legal, and there is an evangelical
account. Now the saints, in the great day, shall not be put to give
up a legal account ; the account they shall be put to give up is an
evangelical account. In the covenant of works, God required perfect
obedience in our own persons ; but in the covenant of grace God
^ ' Amends.'— G. ^ Mr Hooper, at his death. — [Foxe,] Act. and Mon., 1374.
^ Among the Romans the ring was an ensign of virtue, honour, and especially nobility,
whereby thev were distinguished from the common people.
•• [Foie,] Act. and Mon., fol. 986.
^ Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23; Luke xvi. 2; Rom. xiv. 10
2 Cor. V. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17; 1 Pet. iv. 5.
328 EVANGELICAL OBEDIENCE HINTED AT.
will be content if there be but uprightness in us, if there be but
sincere desires to obey, if there be faithful endeavours to obey, if
there be a hearty willingness to obey. Well, saith God, though I
stood upon perfect obedience in the covenant of works, 2 Cor. viii.
12 ; yet now I will be satisfied with the will for the deed ; if there
be but uprightness of hearty though that be attended with many
weaknesses and infirmities, yet I will be satisfied and contented
with that. God, under the covenant of grace, will for Christ's sake
accept of less than he requires in the covenant of works. He re-
quires perfection of degrees, but he will accept of perfection of parts ;
he requires us to live without sin, but he will accept of our sincere
endeavours to do it Though a believer, in his own person, cannot
perform all that God commands, yet Jesus Christ, as his surety
and in his stead, hath fulfilled the law for him. So that Christ's
perfect righteousness is a complete cover for a believer's imperfect
righteousness. Hence the believer flies from the covenant of works
to the covenant of grace ; from his own unrighteousness to the
righteousness of Christ.i If we consider the law in a liigh and rigid
notion, so no believer can fulfil it ; but if we consider the law in a
soft and mild notion, so every believer does fulfil it : Acts xiii. 22, ' I
have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which
shall fulfil all my will ;' rrrdvTa to, OeXtjfiara, ' All my wills,' to note
the universality and sincerity of his obedience. David had many slips
and falls, he often transgressed the royal law ; but being sincere in the
main bent and frame of his heart, and in the course of his life, God
looked upon his sincere obedience as perfect obedience. A sincere
Christian's obedience is an entire obedience to all the commands of
God, though not in respect of practice, which is impossible, but in
disposition and afiection.2 A sincere obedience is a universal obedi-
ence. It is universal in respect of the subject, the whole man ; it is
universal in respect of the object, the whole law ; and it is universal
in respect of durance, the whole life ; he who obeys sincerely obeys
universally. There is no man that serves God truly that doth not
endeavour to serve God fully: sincerity turns upon the hinges of
universality ; he who obeys sincerely endeavours to obey thoroughly,
Num. xiv. 24. A sincere Christian does not only love the law, and
like the law, and approve of the law, and delight in the law, and con-
sent to the law, that it is holy, just, and good, but he obeys it in part,
Kom. vii. 12, 16, 22 ; which, though it be but in part, yet he being
sincere therein, pressing towards the mark, and desiring and endea-
vouring to arrive at what is perfect, Phil. iii. 13, 14, God 'accepts of
such a soul, and is as well pleased with such a soul, as if he had per-
fectly fulfilled the law. Where the heart is sincerely resolved to obey,
there it does obey. A heart to obey, is our obeying ; a heart to do, is
our doing ; a heart to believe, is our believing ; a heart to repent, is
our repenting ; a heart to wait, is our waiting ; a heart to suffer, is
our suffering ; a heart to pray, is our praying ; a heart to hear, is our
hearing ; a heart to give, feed, clothe, visit, is our giving, feeding,
1 Luke i. 5, 6 ; Mat. xxviii. 20 ; Acts xxiv. 16 ; 1 Pet. i. 14, 15; Heb. xiii. 18. Lex
data est id gratia qucereretur ; gratia data est ut lex mpZere^wr.— Augustine.
' Ps. cxix. 6. Heb., When my eye is to all tliy commandments.
THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION CLEARLY OPENED. 329
clothing, visiting ; a heart to walk circumspeetlj, is our walking cir-
cumspectly ; a heart to work righteousness, is our working righteous-
ness ; a heart to shew mercy, is our shewing mercy ; a heart to
sympathise with others, is our sympathising with others. He that
sincerely desires and resolves to keep the commandments of God, he
does keep the commandments of God, and he that truly desires and
resolves to walk in the statutes of God, he does walk in the statutes of
God. In God's account and God's acceptation, every believer, every
sincere Christian, is as wise, holy, humble, heavenly, spiritual, watchful,
faithful, fruitful, useful, thankful, joyful, &c., as he desires to be, as
he resolves to be, and as he endeavours to be ; and this is the glory of
the new covenant, and the happiness that we gain by dear Jesus.
And, my friends, it is remarkable that our inchoate, partial and very
imperfect obedience is frequently set forth in the blessed Scriptures by
our fulfilling of the law, Luke x. 25-27. Take a few places for a
taste : Kom. ii. 27, ' And shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature,
if it fulfil the law, judge thee?' &c. ; Kom. xiii. 8, 'He that loveth
another, hath fulfilled the law ;' ver. 10, ' Love is the fulfilling of the
law.' Not to love is to do ill and to break the law, but love is the
fulfilling of it ; Non potest peccari per illam, quce legis est perfectio ;
we cannot do ill by that which is the perfection and the fulfilling of
the law.i Love is the sum of the law, love is the perfection of the
law ; and were love perfect in us, it would make us perfect keepers of
the law. Love works the saints to keep the law in desires and endea-
vours, with care and study to observe it in perfection of parts, though
not in perfection of degrees : GaL v. 14, ' All the law is fulfilled in one
word, even in this. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ;' Gal. vi.
2, ' Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.'
Now in this sense that is under consideration, the saints in themselves,
even in this life, do keep the royal law. Now, from what has been
said, a believer may form up this plea : —
blessed God, in Christ my head I have perfectly and completely
kept thy royal laio ; and in my own person I liave evangelically kept
thy royal law, in respect of my sincere desires, purposes, resolutions,
and endeavours to keep it : and this evangelical keeping in Christ, and
in the new covenant, thou art pleased to accept of, and art well satis-
fed with it. I knoio that breaches made in the first covenant ivere
irreparable, but breaches made in the covenant of grace are not so ;
because this covenant is established in Christ; ivho is still a-making
up all breaches. Now this is my plea, holy God, and by this plea
1 shall stand. Well, saith God, I cannot in honour or justice but
accept of this plea, and therefore enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
X. The tenth plea that a believer may form up, as to the ten scrip-
tures that are in the margin,2 that refer to the great day of account,
or to a man's particular account, may be drawn up from the considera-
tion of that compact, covenant, and agreement, that was solemnly made
between God and Christ, touching the whole business of mxin's salvation
^ Ambrose, in loco.
' Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14 ; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23j; Luke xvi. 2; Rom. liv. 10;
2 Cor. V. 10; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17; 1 Pet. iv. 5.
330 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
or redemption. We may present it to our understanding in this form :
God the Father saith to Christ the mediator, I look upon Adam and
his posterity as a degenerate seed, ' a generation of vipers,' of apostates
andbacksHders, yea, traitors and rebels ; liable to all temporal, spiritual,
and eternal judgments ; yet I cannot find in my heart to damn them
all ; ' Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled to-
gether ; I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger : for I am God,
and not man,' Hosea xi. 8, 9: and therefore I have determined to
shew mercy upon many millions of them, and save them from wrath
to come, and to bring them to glory, Kev. vii. 9, 10 ; but this I must
do with a salvo to my law, justice, and honour. If, therefore, thou wilt
undertake for them, and become a curse for their sakes. Gal. iii. 10,
13, and so make satisfaction to my justice for their sins ; I will give
them unto thee, John xvii. 2, 6, 11, to take care of them, and to bring
them up to my kingdom, for the manifestation of the glory of my
grace. Well, saith Christ, I am content, I will do all thou requirest
with all my heart, and so the agreement is made between thee and
me. This may be gathered from the scriptures in the margin.^ Christ
the Son speaks in both places. In the first he publisheth the decree
or ordinance of heaven, touching himself, and bringeth in the Father,
installing him into the priesthood or ofiice of mediator ; for so the
apostle applieth that text, Heb. v. 5, ' Thou art my son,' &c., and
also avoucheth this covenant and agreement in the two main parts
of it.
1. First, The condition lohich he will have performed on Christ's
part, as mediator ; or ivhat Christ must do, as mediator, ' He must
ask of God ;' that is, not only verbally, by prayers and supplications,
beg mercy, pardon, righteousness, and salvation for poor lost sinners ;
but also really, by fulfilling the righteousness of the law, both in doing
and sufiering ; and so by satisfaction and merit, purchasing accepta-
tion for them at his hands.^ The Father engaged so and so to Christ,
and Christ reciprocally engaged so and so to the Father ; a consider-
able part of the terms and matter of which covenant is set down: Isa.
liii. 10, ' When thou shalt make his soul an ofiering for sin, he shall
see his seed,' &c. The Father covenants to do thus and thus for fallen
man ; but first in order thereunto the Son must covenant to take
man's nature, therein to satisfy ofi'ended justice, to repair and vindicate
his Father's honour, &c. Well, he submits, assents to these demands,
indents and covenants to make all good ; and this was the substance
of the covenant of redemption. But,
2. Secondly, Let us consider the promise ivhich the Father en-
gageth to perform on his part ; the Son must ask, and the Father will
give: ' He will give him the heathen for his inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for his possession,' Ps. ii. 8. An allusion
to great princes, when they would shew great affection to their
favourites, they bid them ask what they will, as Ahasuerus did, and
as Herod did ; that is, he shall both be the Lord's salvation to the ends
of the earth, and ' have aU power given him in heaven and earth ;
1 Ps. ii. 7-9, and xl. 6-8.
' Consider Christ in the capacity of a mediator, for so only he covenanted with the
Father, for the salvation of mankind.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 331
80 that all knees shall bow to him, and every tongue shall confess
him to be Lord/^ In the other text before mentioned, Ps. xl., Christ
declares his compliance to the agreement, and his subscribing the
covenant on his part, when he came into the world, as the apostle ex-
plains it, Heb. X. 5, &c. ; ' Mine ears,' saith he, ' hast thou digged or
pierced : Lo, I come to do thy will ;' as if he had said, Father, thou
dost engage me to be thy servant in this great work of saving sinners.
Lo, I come to do the work, I here covenant and agree to yield up my-
self to thy disposing, and to serve thee for ever. It seems to be an
allusion to the master's ' boring through the servant's ear,' Exod. xxi.
6. Among the Jews only one ear was bored, but in this Ps, xl. 6,
here are ears in the plural number, a token of that perfect and desir-
able subjection, which Christ, as mediator, was in to his Father. But
for a more clear, distinct, and full opening of the covenant of redemp-
tion, or that blessed compact between God the Father and Jesus
Christ, which is a matter of grand importance to all our souls ; and
considering that it is a point that I have never yet treated of in pulpit
or press, I shall therefore take the liberty at this time to open my-
self as clearly and as fully as I can. And therefore thus : —
Quest. If you ask me. What this covenant of redemption is ?
Ans. 1. I answer, in the general, that a covenant is a mutual agree-
ment between parties, upon articles or propositions on both sides, so
that each party is tied and bound to perform his own conditions.
This description holds the general nature of a covenant, and is common
to all covenants, public and private, divine or human. But,
Ans. 2. Secondly, and more particularly, I answer, the covenant of
redemption is that federal transaction or mutual stipulation that was
betwixt God and Christ from everlasting, for the accomplishment of
the work of our redemption, by the mediation of Jesus Christ, to the
eternal honour, and unspeakable praise, of the glorious grace of God.
Or, if you please, take it in another form of words, thus : —
It is a compact, bargain, and agreement between God the Father
and God the Son, designed mediator, concerning the conversion, sanc-
tification, and salvation of the elect, through the death, satisfaction,
and obedience of Jesus Christ, which in due time was to be given to
the Father. But for the making good the definition I have laid down,
I must take leave to tell you that there are many choice scriptures
which give clear intimation of such a federal transaction between God
the Father and Jesus Christ, in order to the recovery, and everlasting
happiness, and salvation of his elect. I shall instance in the most con-
siderable of them : —
(1.) The first is this. Gen. iii. 15, 'And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.' Here begins the book of the
Lord's wars, God's battles.^ This is spoken of that holy enmity that
is between Christ and the devil, and of Christ's destroying the kingdom
and power of Satan : ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ; that
through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
^ Esth. V. 3 ; Mark vi. 23 ; Isa. xlix. 6 ; Mat. xxviii. 18 ; Phil. ii. 10, 11 ; Ps. xl. 6-8.
* The Scriptures are called the Book of the Battles of the Lord, Num. xxi.—Riqjertus.
332 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
is, the devil,' Heb. ii. 14. God, by way of threatening, told Satan that
the seed of the deceived woman should overmatch him at last, and
should break in pieces his power and crafty plots. He gives Satan leave
to do his worst, and proclaims an open and an utter enmity between
Christ and him. From this scripture some conclude that Christ cove-
nanted from eternity to take upon him the seed of the woman, and the
sinless infirmities of our true human nature ; and under those infirmi-
ties to enter the lists with Satan, and to continue obedient through all
his afflictions, temptations, and trials, to the death, even to the death
of the cross, Phil. ii. 8, 9. And that God the Father had covenanted
with Christ, that in case Christ did continue obedient through all his
sufferings, temptations, and trials, that then his obedience to the death
should be accounted as full satisfaction to divine justice for all those
wrongs and injuries that were done to God by the 'sins of man. Christ
must die, or else he could not have been the mediator of the new cove-
nant through death, Heb. ix. 15, 16. But,
(2.) The second scripture is that, Isa. xlii. 6, ' The Lord hath called
thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee,
and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.'
Thus God speaks of Christ. In this chapter we have a glorious pro-
phecy of Christ our Eedeemer. Here are four things prophesied of
him : (1.) The divine call, whereby he was appointed to the work of
our redemption: ver. 1, 'Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine
elect in whom my soul delighteth ; I have put my Spirit upon him :
he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.' Jesus Christ would
not. yea, he could not, he durst not, thrust himself upon this great
work, or engage in this great work, till he had a clear call from
heaven. (2.) Here you have the gracious carriage and deportment
of Christ, in the work to which he was called ; this is fully set down,
vers. 2-4, ' He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard
in the street.' He shall come clothed with majesty and glory, and yet
full of meekness : ' a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking
flax shall he not quench ; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.'
In the words there is a meiosis,^ ' he will not break,' that is, he will
bind up the bruised reed, he will comfort the bruised reed, he will
strengthen the bruised reed. Christ will acknowledge and encourage the
least degrees of grace ; he will turn a spark of grace into a flame, a drop
into a sea, &c. : ' He shall not fail, nor be discouraged.' These words
shew his kingly courage and magnanimity. Though he should meet
with opposition from all hands, yet nothing should daunt him, nothing
should dismay him ; no afflictions, no temptations, no sufferings should
in the least abate his courage and valour. (3.) The divine assistance
he should have from him that called him. This is set down in two
expressions : ver. 6, ' I will hold thy hand, I will keep thee.' Divine
assistance doth usually concur with a divine call. When God sets his
servants on work, he uses to defend and uphold them in the work.
(4.) The work itself to which Christ was called. This is expressed
under divers phrases : ver. 6, 7, ' To be a light to the Gentiles, to open
the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and to be a
covenant to the people.' In these last words you have two things
^ Same as litotes, as before. — G.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 333
observable ; the first is one special part of Christ's oflfice : ' He was
given for a covenant/ Second, The persons in reference to whom this
office was designed : ' a covenant of the people.' One end why God the
Father gave Christ out of his bosom, was, that he might be a covenant
to his people. Christ is given for a covenant both to the believing
Jews and Gentiles. As he is ' the glory of the people of Israel,' so he
is ' a light to lighten the Gentiles.' In this scripture last cited, you
have the Father's designation and sealing of Christ to the mediatorial
employment, promising him much upon his undertaking it, and his
acceptation of this office, and voluntary submission to the will of the
Father in it : ' Lo, I come to do thy will,' Heb. v. 4, 5 ; Ps. xl. 7, 8 ;
John X. 17, 18. And these together amount to the making up of a
covenant between God the Father and his Son ; for what more can
be necessary to the making up of a covenant than is here expressed ?
But,
(3.) The third scripture is that, Isa. xlix. 1, ' Listen, isles, unto me ;
and hearken, ye people, from far ; The Lord God hath called me from
the womb ; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of
my name.' ^ These words are spoken in the person of Christ ; he tells
us how he is called by his Father to be a mediator and Saviour of his
people. Jesus Christ would not take one step in the work of our
redemption till he was called and commissionated by his Father to that
work. God the Father, who from eternity had fore-assigned Christ to
thisjoffice of a mediator, a Kedeemer, did, both while he was in the
womb, and as soon as he was come out of it, manifest and make known
this his purpose concerning Christ both to men and angels. Christ
did not thrust himself, he did not intrude himself at random into the
office of a Redeemer : ' No man takes this honour to himself, but he
that is called of God, as was Aaron,' Heb. v. 4, 5. So Christ took not
upon himself the office of a mediator, a Saviour, but upon a call and
a commission from God. The sum is, that Christ took up the office
of a Redeemer by the ordinance of his Father, that he might fulfil the
work of our redemption unto which he was destinated. Ver. 2, ' And
he made my mouth like a sharp sword ; in the shadow of his hand
hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft ; in his quiver hath
he hid me.' Christ having avouched his Father's calling of him to
the work of man's redemption, he gives you a relation in this verse of
God's fitting and furnishing of him with abilities sufficient for so
important a work, together with his sustaining and supporting of him
in the performance of the same. Here are two similitudes or com-
parisons : (1.) That of a ' sharp sword ;' that of a bright and ' sharp
arrow,' to shew the efficacy of Christ's doctrine.^ The word of Christ
is a sword of great power and efficacy for the subduing of the souls of
men to the obedience of it, and for the cutting off of whomsoever or
whatsoever shall oppose or withstand it. Christ was not sent of the
Father to conquer by force of arms, as earthly princes do ; but he
conquers all sorts of sinners, even the proudest and stoutest of them,
^ This prophecy is applied to Christ, Luke ii. 32 ; Acts xiii. 47; Gal. iii. 16; Heb. v.
4, 5. And many of the Jews do confess that this place is to be understood of Christ
only, Mat. i. 21, 22 ; Luke ii. 10, 11 ; Heb. i. 6.
" See Eph. vi. 17; Heb. iv. 12 ; Rev. i. 16, and yi. 2.
334 THE COVENANT OF KEDEMPTION
by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, as you may see
by comparing the scriptures in the margin together, i Having spoken
of the efficacy of Christ's doctrine, he tells us that he will take care
of the security of his person : ' In the shadow of his hand hath he hid
me, and in his quiver hath he hid me.' God the Father undertakes
to protect the Lord Jesus Christ against all sorts of adversaries that
should band themselves against him, and to maintain his doctrine
against all enemies that should conspire to suppress it.^ God so pro-
tected his dear Son against all the might and malice of his most
capital enemies that they neither could lay hold on him, or do aught,
before the time by God fore-designed was come. Christ was sheltered
under the wing of God's protection till that voluntarily he went to
his passion ; neither could they keep him under when that time was
once over, though they endeavoured with all their might to do it.
Now in the third verse, God the Father tells Jesus Christ what a
glorious reward he should have for undertaking the great work of
redemption : ' And said unto me. Thou art my servant, Israel, in
whom I will be glorified.' 3 God having called Christ, set him apart,
sanctified him, and sent him into the world for the execution of
the office of a Redeemer, he doth in this third verse encourage him
to set upon it, and to go on cheerfully, resolutely, and constantly in it,
with assurance of good and comfortable success, notwithstanding all
the plots, designs, and oppositions that Satan and his imps might
make against him. Ver. 4, ' Then I said, I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain ; yet surely my
judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.' In these
words Jesus Christ complains to his Father of the incredulity, wicked-
ness, and obstinate rebellion of the greatest part of the Jews against
that blessed word which he had clearly and faithfully made known
to them. When Christ looked upon the paucity and small number of
those that his ministry had any saving and powerful work upon, he
pours out his complaints before the Father : not that Christ's pains in
his ministry among the Jews were wholly in vain, either in regard of
God that sent him, or in regard of the persons unto whom he was
sent, as if not any at all were converted. Oh no ! for some were
called, converted, and sanctified, as you may see by the scriptures in
the margin. 4 Or in regard of himself, as if any loss or prejudice
should thereby redound unto him. Oh no ! but in regard of the small,
the slender effect, that his great labours had hitherto found. ' Yet
surely my judgment is with the Lord.' Christ, for the better support
and re-encouraging of himself to persist in his employment, opposeth
unto the want of the chiefly desired success of his labours with men,
the gracious acceptance of them with God. It is as if Christ had said,
Although my labour hath not produced such fruits and effects as I
1 Acts ii. 37, 41, iv. 1-4, and xvi. 29-35; 2 Cor. x. 4, 6.
" John vii. 30, 44 ; Luke xxii. 53 ; Mat. xxvii. 62-66, and 2-6 ; Acts ii. 23, 24.
^ Or, as some render the yrords, Thou art my servant to Israel, or for Israel ; that is,
for Israel's good, for my people's behoof. — Few, saith Sasbont, to this day do consider
Christ's labour in preaching, prayer, fasting, and suffering a cruel death for us ; for if
they did, they would be more afiected with love towards him that loved them so dearly.
[By ' Sasbont' is probably intended Adam Sasbouth, or Sasbouthius. See his Com-
mentarius in Isaiam. 1563 : 8vo. — G.]
^ Isa. vi. 13, and viii. 18, &c.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 335
indeed desired, yet I do comfort and bear up my heart with this, that
my heavenly Father knows that in the office and place wherein he
hath set me, I have faithfully done all that could be done for the •
salvation of poor sinners' souls, and for the securing of them from
wrath to come : ' And my work,' or reward, ' with my God;' that is, the
reward of my work, or my wages for my work, which God will render
unto me, not according to the issue or success of my labours, but ac-
cording to my pains therein taken, and the faithful discharge of my
office and duty therein. What, saith Christ, though the Jews believe not,
repent not, return not to the Most High, yet my labour is not lost, for
my God will really, he wUl signally reward me. Upon this, God the
Father comes (y& more freely and roundly, and opens his heart more
abundantly to Jesus Christ, and tells him in the fifth and sixth verses
following, that he will give him full, complete, and honourable satis-
faction for all his pains and labours in preaching, in doing, in suffer-
ing, in dying, that he might bring many sons to glory. Ver. 5, ' And
now, saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob again to him. Though Israel is not gathered, yet shall
I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.'
In this verse you have a further encouragement to our Lord Jesus
Christ, God the Father engaging himself not only to support him and
protect him in the work of his ministry, but of making him glorious
in it and by it also ; and that though his work should not prove so
successful among his own people as he desired, yet his ministry should
become very glorious and efficacious upon the Gentiles, far and near,
throughout the whole world, i Jesus Christ is very confident of his
being high in the esteem of his Father for the faithful discharge of his
duty ; and that, notwithstanding all the hard measure that he met
with from the body of the Jews, that yet his Father would crown him
with honour and glory, and that he would enable him to go through
the work that is incumbent upon him, and that he would protect him
and defend him in his work, against all might and malice, all power
and policy, that should make head against him. Ver. 6, ' And he
said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up
the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel ; I will also
give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation
to the ends of the earth.' Thus you see that God the Father still goes
on to shew that the labours of Christ should be very glorious, not only
in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of all the world. You know else-
where Christ is called ' the way, the truth, and the life,' John xiv. 6 ;
and here he is called the light and salvation of the Gentiles. God the
Father, speaking to Jesus Christ, tells him that it was but a small
matter, a mean thing — Heb., it is too light — for him to have such
happy and ample success as to i-educe and win the Jews, in compari-
son of that further work that he intended to effect by him, even the
salvation of the Gentiles unto the ends of the earth. God the Father
seems to say thus to Jesus Christ, The dignity and worthiness of thy
person, thou being the eternal and only Son of God, as also the high
office whereunto I have called thee, requireth more excellent things
than that thou shouldest only raise up and restore the people of Israel
1 John V. 20, 23, x. 15, 17, and xvii. 1, 5 ; Phil. ii. 9.
336 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
to their right ; I have also appoiDted and ordained thee for a Saviour
to the G-entiles, even to the ends of the earth ; therefore though the
greatest part among the Jews will not receive thee nor submit unto
thee, yet the Gentiles they shall own thee and honour thee, they shall
embrace thee and give themselves up unto thee. I shall be briber
in the remaining proofs ; and therefore,
(4,) The fourth scripture is that, Isa. lii. 13, 14, ' Behold, my ser-
vant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be
very high.' i The three last verses of this chapter, with the next
chapter, do jointly make up an entire prophecy concerning Christ his
person, parentage, condition, manner of life, sufferings, humiliation,
exaltation, &c., with the noble benefits that redound to us, and the
great honour that redounds to himself. In these two verses you
have — (1.) The two parties contracting, viz., G6d the Father, and
Jesus Christ : ' Behold my servant,' saith God the Father. This title
is several times given by the Father to Jesus Christ, because he did
the Father great service in the work of man's redemption, freeing
fallen man from the thraldom of sin and Satan. (2.) Both parties are
very sure and confident of the event of the paction, and of the accom-
plishment of the whole work of redemption : ' Behold, my servant
shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very
high.' Here are divers terms heaped up to express in part the trans-
cendent and unexpressible advancement of Jesus Christ. When men
are raised from a mean and low estate to some honourable condition,
when men are furnished with such parts and endowments of prudence,
wisdom, and understanding as makes them admirable in the eyes of
others, and when they are enabled to do and suffer great things
whereby they become famous and renowned far and near, then we say
they are highly exalted. Now in all these respects our Lord Jesus
Christ was most eminently exalted above all creatures in heaven and
earth, as is most evident throughout the Scriptures. (3.) He tells
you of the price which Jesus Christ should pay for the redemption of
his people, agreed upon by paction, viz., the humbling of himself to
the death of the cross, as you may see in ver. 14 : ' As many were
astonished at thee ; his visage was so marred, more than any man's,
and his form more than the sons of men.' This is the speech of the
Father to Jesus Christ ; his visage was so marred that the Jews were
ashamed to own him for their King and Messiah. The astonishment
here spoken of is such an astonishment as ariseth from the contempla-
tion of some strange, uncouth, and rueful spectacle of desolation, de-
formity, and misery. And no wonder if many were astonished at the
sight of our Saviour's condition, in regard of those base, disgraceful,
and despiteful usages that were offered and done to him in the time of
his humiliation here on earth, when his own followers were so amazed
at the relation of them when they were foretold of them. Mat. x.
32-34. sirs ! the words last cited are not so to be understood as if
our blessed Saviour had, in regard of his bodily person or presence,
been some strange, deformed, or misshapen creature, Isa. liii. 3, but
in regard of his outward estate, coming of mean and obscure parents,
^ The Chaldee paraphrast, and some of [the] Jewish doctors, expound this place of the
Messiah, Isa. ilii. 1, and liii. 11, &c.
VEllY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 337
living in a low, despicable condition, exposed to scorn and contempt,
and to much affliction, through the whole course of his life, and more
especially yet in regard of what he was also in his personal appearance,
through the base and scornful usages that he sustained at the hands
of his malicious and mischievous adversaries, when they had gotten
him into their power ; besides his watchings, draggings to and fro
from place to place, buffetings, ' scourgings, carrying his cross, and
other base usages, could not but much alter the state of his body, and
impair, yea, deface all the sightliness of it. And yet all this he suffered,
to make good the 'compact and agreement that he had made with his
Father about the redemption of his elect. But,
(5.) The fifth scripture is that 53d of Isaiah. This scripture,
among many others, gives us very clear intimations of a federal trans-
action between God the Father and Jesus Christ, in order to the re-
covery and everlasting happiness of poor sinners. The glorious gospel
seems to be epitomized in this chapter. The subject-matter of it is
the grievous sufferings and dolorous death of Christ, and the happy
and glorious issue thereof. Of all the prophets, this prophet Isaiah
was the most evangelical prophet, and of all the prophecies of this
prophet, that which you have in this chapter is the most 'evangelical
prophecy. 1 In this chapter you have a most plain, lively, and full
description and representation of the humiliation, death, and passion
of Jesus Christ ; which indeed is so exact, and so consonant to what
hath fallen out since, that Isaiah seems here rather to pen a history
than a prophecy.^ The matter contained in this chapter is so convic-
tive, from that clear light that goes along with it, that several of the
Jews, in reading of this chapter, have been converted, as not being
able to stand any longer out against the shining light and evidence of
it. Out of this chapter, which is more worth than all the gold of
Opliir, yea, than ten thousand worlds, observe with me these eight
things :
[1.] First, Observe that God and Christ are siveetly agreed, and in-
finitely pleased in tlie conversion of the elect: ver. 10, 'He shall see
his seed,' that is, he shall see them called, converted, changed, and
sanctified : ' he shall see his seed,' that is, an innumerable company
shall be converted to him by his word and Spirit, in all countries and
nations, through the mighty workings of the Spirit, and the incorrupt-
ible seed of the word, Ps. ex. 3 ; 1 Pet. i. 23 ; infinite numbers of
poor souls should be brought in to Jesus Christ, which he should see
to his full content and infinite satisfaction. Rev. vii. 9 ; Heb. ii. 10,
13. ' He shall see his seed,' that is, he shall see them increase and
multiply ; he shall see believers brought in to him from all corners
and quarters, and he shall see them greatly increase and grow by the
preaching of the everlasting gospel, especially after his ascension into
heaven, and a more glorious pouring forth of the Holy Ghost upon his
apostles and others. Acts ii. 37, 41, iv. 1-4, and viii. No accountants
on earth can count or reckon up Christ's spiritual seed and issue.
But,
■• Jerome calls him Isaiah the evangelist.
- In this chapter you have the compact and agreement between God tlie Fatlier and
Jesus Christ plainly asserted and proved.
VOL. V. Y
338 THE COVENANT OF liEDEMPTlON
[2.] Secondly, Observe with me, that in the persons redeemed by
Jesus Christ there ivas neither weight nor wm^th, neither portion nor
proportion, neither inward nor outivard excellencies or beauties, for
which the punishment due to them should be trans/erred upon dear
Jesus, Ezek. xvi. 1-10 ; for if you look upon them in their sins, in
their guilt, you shall find them despisers and rejecters of Christ : ver.
4, ' Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows ; yet we
did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and aflSicted/ Christ took
upon him not our nature alone, but the infirmities also of it, and be-
came liable to such sorrows, and afflictions, and pains, and griefs, as
man's sinful nature is exposed and subject unto. They are called om-s
because they were procured to him by our sins, and sustained by him
for the discharge of our sins ; unto the guilt whereof, out of love to us
undertaken by him, they were deservedly due, Kom. viii. 3 ; Heb. iv.
15. Christ, for our sakes, hath taken all our spiritual maladies, that
is, all our sins, upon him, to make satisfaction for them ; and as our
surety, to pay the debt that we had run into. Christ, in the quality
of a pledge for his elect, hath given full satisfaction for all their sins,
bearing all the punishments due for them, in torments and extreme
griefs, both of body and soul.i The reason why they so much dis-
esteemed of Christ was, because they made no other account, but that
all those afflictions that befell him were by God inflicted upon him for
his own evil deserts. They accounted him to be one out of grace and
favour with God, yea, to be one pursued by him with all those evils,
for his sins. When the Jews saw what grievous things Christ suf-
fered, they wickedly and impiously judged that he was thus handled
by God, in way of vengeance for his sins. By all which, you may see,
that in the persons redeemed by Christ, there was nothing of worth or
honour to be found, for which the punishment, due to them, should be
transferred upon our Lord Jesus Christ. But,
[3.] Thirdly, Observe with me, that no sin, nor meritorious cause
of punishment, is found in Jesus Christ, our blessed Redeemer, for
which he shoidd be sti'icken, smitten, and afflicted by God:- ver. 5, 9,
' He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his
stripes we are healed. He had done no violence, neither was any
deceit in his mouth.' Sin had cast God and us at infinite distance.
Now Christ is punished that our sins may be pardoned ; he is chas-
tised that God and we may be reconciled. Guilt stuck close upon
us, but Christ, by the price of his blood, hath discharged that guilt,
pacified divine wrath, and made God and us friends. 2 God the
Father laid upon dear Jesus all the punishinents that were due to the
elect, for whom he was a pledge ; and by this means they come to be
acquitted, and to obtain peace with God. ' Christ was holy, harm-
less, and undefiled.' No man could convince him of sin ; yea, the
devil himself could find nothing amiss in him, either as to word or
deed. Christ was without original blemish or actual blot. 3 All
' You know they traduced him as a notorious deceiver, a drunkard, a friend of iiubli-
cans and sinners, and one that wrought by the devil.
» 1 Pet. i. 18, 19 ; Kom. iii. 25, and v. i, 10 ; 2 Cor. v. 19, 21 ; Col. i. 19, 20.
' Heb. vii. 26; John viii. 46, and xiv. 30; 1 John iii. 5.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 339
Christ's words and works were upright, just, and sincere. Christ's
innocency is sufficiently vindicated, ver. 9. It is true, Christ suffered
great and grievous things, but not for his own sins ; ' For he had done
no violence, neither was any deceit found in his mouth ;' but for ours.
Christ had now put himself in the sinner's stead, and was become his
surety, and so obnoxious to whatever the sinner had deserved in his
own person ; and upon this account, and no other, was he wounded,
bruised, and chastised. The Lord Jesus had no sin in him by inhesion^
but he had a great deal of sin upon him by imputation : ' He was
made sin that knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him,' 2 Cor. v. 21. It pleased our Lord Jesus Christ to
put himself under our guilt, and therefore it pleased the Fatlier to
wound him, bruise liim, and chastise him. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Observe with me, that ^eace a7id reconciliation luith
God, and the healing of all our sinful maladies, and our deliverance
from ivrath to come, are all such noble favours as are purchased for us
by the blood of Christ :'^ ver. 5, ' The chastisement of our peace was
upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.' Christ was chastised
to procure our peace, by removal of our sins, that set God and us
asunder ; the guilt thereof being discharged with the price of his
blood, and we reconciled to God by the same price. Christ was pun-
ished that we by him might obtain perfect peace with God, who was
at enmity with us by reason of our sins. By Christ's stripes we are
freed both from sin and punishment. Now because some produce
this scripture to justify that corrupt doctrine of universal redemption,
give me leave to argue thus from it. That chastisement for sin that
was laid upon the person of Jesus Christ procured peace for them for
whom he was so chastised, Isa. Ivii. 21 ; Eph. ii. 14 ; but there was
no peace procured for the reprobates, or those who should never
believe, ergo. . . . Further, ' By his stripes we are healed.' Whence
I reason thus : the stripes inflicted upon Christ are intended, and
do become healing medicines for them for whom they are inflicted ;
but they never become healing medicines for reprobates or unbe-
lievers : Nahum iii. 9, ' There is no healing of their bruise.' Ergo. . .
But,
[5.] Fifthly, Observe with me, that the great and the grievous
sufferings that were inflicted upon Jesus Christ he did endure freely,
willingly, meekly, patiently, according to the covetiant and agreement
that was made between the Father and himself: ver. 7, ' He was
oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth : he is
brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.' This is a very pregnant place
to prove the satisfaction made by Christ's sufferings for our sins ; if
we look upon the words as they run in the original, for thus they run ;
' It was exacted, and he answered ;' that is, the penalty due to God's
justice for our sins was exacted of Christ, and he sustained the same
for us. The prophet doth not speak of one and the same party or
parties, both sinning and suffering or sustaining penalties for their
own defaults ; but as one suffering, for the sins of another, and sus-
taining grievous penalties for faults made and faults committed by
1 1 Thes. i. 10; 1 Pet. i. 18, 19 ; Eom. iii. 25, and v. 1, 16 ; 2 Uor. v. 19, 21.
340 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
other persons The words, rightly read and understood, do sufficiently
confirm the doctrine of satisfaction, made to God's justice by Christ's
sufferings, for our sins. The penalty due to us was, in rigour of jus-
tice, exacted of him, and he became a sponsor or surety for us, by
undertaking in our behalf the discharge of it. Christ did voluntarily
undertake and engage himself unto God his Father in our behalf, as
a surety for the payment of all our debts. They were exacted of him,
and he answered for them all ; that is, he not only undertook them,
but he also discharged us of them. So we use the word commonly in
our English tongue ; to answer a debt, for to discharge it ; and this is
most true of our dear Lord Jesus, for he answered our debt, and
caused our bond to be cancelled, that it might never come to be put
in suit against us, either in this or that other world, John xix. 30 ;
Kom. iv. 25 ; Col. ii. 14. ' Yet he opened not his mouth : ' this has
respect to his patience ; for the oppressions and afflictions that he
sustained for others, and that in regard of those by whom he suffered
them unjustly, yet was he silent. He neither murmured or repined
at God's disposal of things in that manner, nor used any railing or
reviling speeches against those that dealt so despitefully with him,
but carried himself calmly and quietly under them ; Christ having an
eye to his voluntary obedience and submission to the will of his Father,
and agreement thereunto, Mat. xxvi. 39, 42 ; Mark xiv. 36 ; John xviii.
23 ; 1 Pet. ii. 23. He undertook willingly what his Father required
of him, and as willingly, when the time came, underwent it ; neither
hanging back or opposing aught in way of contradiction thereunto,
when it was by his Father propounded to him at first ; nor afterward
seeking to shift it off", v/hen he was to perfoim what he had engaged
himself unto, by pleading aught for himself, and the releasement of
him from their most unjust proceedings in whose hands he then was.
' He opened not his mouth' to confute the slanders and false accusa-
tions of his enemies ; neither did he utter anything to the prejudice of
them that put him to death, but prayed for them that crucified him ,
Luke xxiii. 34 ; Mat. xxvi. 63, and xxvii. 12, 14. ' He was led as a
lamb to the slaughter,' — properly, as a ewe-lamb, or she-lamb ; the
ewe is mentioned as the quieter of that kind, because the rams are
sometimes more unruly, — ' and as a sheep that is dumb before tlic
face of her shearers.' A lamb doth not bite nor push him that is
going about to kill it, but goeth as quietly to the shambles or the
slaughter-house as if it w^ere going to the fold wherein it is usually
lodged, or the field where it is wont to feed. But,
[6.] Sixthly, Observe with me, that the original cause of this com-
pact or covenant between the Father and the Son, hy vii^tue of which
God the Father demands a price, and Je&iis Christ pays the price ac-
cording to God's demands, is only from the free grace and favour of
God: rer. 10, * It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him
to grief God the Father looks upon Jesus Christ as sustaining our
person and cause ; he looks upon all our sins as laid u])on him, and
to be punished in him. Sin could not be abolished, the justice of
God could not be satisfied, the wrath of God could not be appeased,
the terrible curse could not be removed, but by the death of Christ ;
and therefore God the Father took a pleasure to bruiftc him, and to
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 341
put him to grief, according to the agreement between him and his
Son. It must be readily granted that God did not incite or instigate
the wicked Jews to those vile and cruel courses and carriages of
theirs to Jesus Christ. But yet that his sufferings were by God pre-
determined for the salvation of mankind is most evident by the scrip-
tures in the margin ; i and, accordingly, it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, and to put him to grief The singular pleasure that God the
Father takes in the work of our redemption is a wonderful demonstra-
tion of his love and affection to us.
[7.] Seventhly, Observe with me, that it is agreed between the
Father and the Son that our sins should he imputed unto him, and
that his righteousness should be imputed unto us, and that all the re-
deemed should believe in him, and so be justified: ver. 11, ' He shall
see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied : by his knowledge .
(or faith in him) shall my righteous servant justify many; for he
shall bear their iniquities ;' or, as some render it, ' He shall see the
fruit of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied' — that is, Jesus
Christ shall receive and enjoy that, as the effect and issue of all the
great pains that he hath taken, and of all the grievous things that he
hath suffered, as shall give him full content and satisfaction. When
Christ hath accomplished the work of redemption, he shall receive a
full reward for all his sufferings. Christ takes a singular pleasure in
the work of our redemption, and doth herein, as it were, refresh him-
self, as with the fruits, "of his own labours. God the Father engages
to Jesus Christ that he should not travail in vain, but that he should
survive to see with great joy a numerous issue of faithful souls be-
gotten unto God. You know when women, after sore, sharp, hard
labour, are delivered, they are so greatly refreshed, delighted, gladded,
and satisfied, that they forget their former pains and sorrow, ' for joy
that a man-child is born into the world,' John xvi. 21. God the Father
undertakes that Jesus Christ should have such a holy seed, such a
blessed issue, as the main fruit and effect of his passion, as should joy
him, please liim, and as he should rest satisfied in. Certainly there
could be no such joy and satisfaction to Christ as for him to see poor
souls reconciled, justified, and saved by liis sufferings and satisfaction ;
as it is the highest joy of a faithful minister to see souls won over to
Chi'ist, and to see souls built up in Christ, 1 Thes. ii. 19, 20 ; Gal.
iv 19. Chi'ist did bear the guilt of his people's sins, and thereby he
made full satisfaction ; and therefore he is said here ' to justify
many ;' not all promiscuously, but those only whose sins he under-
took to discharge, and for whom he laid down his life.^ Christ's justi-
fying of many is his discharging of many from the guilt of sin, by
making satisfaction to God for the same. But,
[8.] Eighthly, Observe with me, that it is agreed betiveen the
Father and the Son, that for those persons for lohom Jesus Christ
shoidd lay down his life, he should stand intercessor for them also,
that so they may be brought to the possessioti of all those noble favours
and blessings that he has purchased ivith his dearest blood: ver. 12,
' He bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the trans-
1 Acts ii. 23, and iv. 28.
* Besides the elect, he intercedes for none, John xvii. 9, 10.
342 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
gressors,' saying, ' Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they
do,' Luke xxui. 34. For those very transgressors, by whom he
suffered, he does intercede ; for the article here is emphatical, and
seems to poiat unto that special act, and those particular persons.
Not but that these words have relation also to Christ's intercession
for all those sinners that belong to him, and that have an interest in
him ; which intercession continues still, and shall do to the end of
the world, Heb. vii. 25. But,
(6.) The sixth scripture is that, Isa. lix. 20, 21, 'And the Ee-
deemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgres-
sion in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with
them, saith the Lord ; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words
which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth,
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's
seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth, and for ever.' Out of this
blessed scripture you may observe these following things : First, The
parties covenanting and agreeing, and they are God the Father and
Jesus Christ: God the Father in those words, ' Saith the Lord ;' and
Jesus Christ in those words, ' The Redeemer shall come to Zion.'
Secondly, You have God the Father, first covenanting with Jesus
Chi-ist, and then with his seed, as is evident in the 21st verse.
Thirdly, You have the pei-sons described, that shall be sharers in re-
demption mercies, and they are the Zionites, the people of Gt)d, the
citizens of Zion. But lest any should think that all Zion should be
saved, it is added by way of explication, that only such of Zion ' as turn
from transgression in Jacob,' shall have benefit by the Redeemer. The
true citizens of Zion, the right Jacobs, the sincere Israelites, in whom
there is no guile, Eom. xi. 26, are they and only they that turn from
their sins. None have interest in Christ, none have redemption by
Christ, but converts, but such as cast away their transgressions, as
Ephraim did his idols, saying, ' What have I any more to do with you?'
Hosea xiv. 8. Fourthly, You have the way and manner of the elect's
delivery, and that is, not only by paying down upon the nail, the price
agreed on, but also by a strong and powerful hand, as the original
imports in the scriptures cited in the margin.! The Greek word that
is used by Paul, and the Hebrew word that is used by Isaiah, do both
signify delivering ' by strong hand,' to rescue by force, as David de-
livered the lamb out of the lion's paw. Fifthly, You have the special
blessings that are to be conferred upon the elect — viz., redemption,
conversion, faith, repentance, reconciliation, turning from their ini-
quity ; all comprehended under that term ' the redeemed.' Sixthly,
You have the Lord Jesus Christ considered as the head of the church,
from whom all spiritual gifts — sanctification, salvation, and perseverance
do flow and run, as a precious balsam, upon the members of his body :
' My Spirit that is in me,' saith GiDd the Father, to Christ the Redeemer,
' and my word which I have put into thy mouth, shall not depart out of
thy mouth ; nor out of the mouth of thy seed,' <fec. In these words, God
the Father engages, that his Spirit and word should continue with his
church to direct and instruct it, and the children of it, in all necessaries,
throughout all ages successively, even unto the world's end. But,
^ Rom. xi. 26; Isa. lix. 20.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 343
(7.) The seventh scripture is that, Zech. vi. 12, 13, ' And speak unto
him, saying. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying. Behold the man
whose name is the Branch ; and he shall grow up out of his place,
and he shall build the temple of the Lord : even he shall build the
temple of the Lord ; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule
upon his throne ; and he shall be a priest upon his throne : and the
counsel of peace shall be between them both.' Now that the business
of man's redemption was transacted betwixt the Father and the Son,
is very clear from this text, * And the counsel of peace shall be between
them both,' that is, the two persons spoken of — viz., the Lord Jehovah,
who speaks, and the man, whose name is the Branch, Jesus Christ.
This counsel was primarily about the reconciliation of the riches of
God's grace, and the glory of his justice. The design and counsel,
both of the Father and the Son, was our peace.i The counsel of recon-
ciliation, how man, that is now an enemy to Grod, may be reconciled
to God, and God to him ; this counsel or consultation shall be ' betwixt
them both,' that is Jehovah and the Branch. There were blessed
transactions between the Father and the Son, in order to the making
of peace between an angry God and sinful men. I know several
learned men interpret it of Christ's offices — viz., of his kingly and
priestly office ; for both conspire to make peace betwixt God and man.
Now if you will thus understand the text, yet it will roundly follow,
that there was a consultation at the council-board in heaven, con-
cerning the reconciliation of fallen man to God ; which reconciliation
Christ, as king and priest, was to bring about. Look, as there was a
counsel taken, touching the creation of mankind, between the persons
in the blesspd Trinity, ' Let us make man after our image,' Gen. i.
26 ; Col. iii. 19 ; Eph. iv. 24 ; so there was a consultation held con-
cerning the restoration of mankind out of their lapsed condition:
' The counsel of peace shall be between them both.' Certainly there
was a covenant of redemption made with Christ; upon the terms
whereof he is constituted to be a reconciler and a redeemer, to say to
the prisoners, ' Go forth, to bring deliverance to the captives, and to
proclaim the year of release or jubilee, the acceptable year of the
Lord,' as it is, Isa. Ixi. 1 , 2. But,
(8.) The eighth scripture is that, Ps. xl. 6-8, ' Sacrifice and offer-
ing thou didst not desire ; mine ears hast thou opened : burnt-oflFering
and sin-ofiering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come : in
the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will,
my God ; yea, thy law is within my heart' — Heb., ' in the midst of
my bowels/ Compared with that, Heb. x. 5-7, ' Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared for me : in burnt-offerings and
sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure : then said I, Lo, I come,
in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, God.'
In these two scriptures, two things are concluded : — (1.) The impo-
tency of legal sacrifices, ver. .5, 6 ; (2.) The all-sufficiency of Christ's
sacrifice, ver. 7. There is some difference in words and phrases be-
twixt the apostle and the prophet, but both agree in sense, as we shall
^ Whatever Socinians say, it is most certain that reconciliation is not only on the sin-
ner's part, but on God's also.
344 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
endeavour to demonstrate. Penmen of the New Testament were not
translators of the Old, but only quoted them for proof of the point in
hand, so as they were not tied to syllables and letters, but to the sense.
That which the prophet speaketh of himself, the apostle applieth to
Christ, say some. This may be readily granted ; for David being a
special type of Christ, that may in history and type be spoken of
l3avid, which, in mystery and truth, is understood of Christ. But
that which David uttered in the aforesaid text, is questionless, uttered
by the way of prophecy, concerniug Christ, as is evident by these
reasons.*'
First, In David's time, God required sacrifices and burnt-oiferings,
and took delight therein, 1 Chron. xxi. 26 ; 1 Sam. xxvi. 19 ; for God
answered David from heaven by fire, upon the altar of burnt-offering ;
and David himself advised Saul to offer a burnt-offering that God
might accept of it.
Secondly, David was not able so ' to do the will of God,' as by
doing it, to make all sacrifices void ; therefore this must be taken as a
prophecy of Christ.
Thirdly, In the verse before, namely, Ps. xl. 5, such an admiration
of God's goodness is premised, as cannot fitly be applied to any other
evidence, than of his goodness in giving Christ ; in reference to whom,
it may be truly said, ' That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre-
pared for them that love him,' 1 Cor. ii. 9.
Fourtldy, These words used by the apostle, ' when he cometli into
the world, he saith,' are meant of Christ ; which argue that that which
followeth was an express prophecy of Christ. These tilings being
premised, out of the texts last cited we may observe these following
particulars that make to our purpose,
[1.] First, That the Holy Spirit opens and expounds the covenant
of redemption, bringing in the Father and the Son, as conferring and
agreeing together about the terms of it; and the first thing agreed on
between them is the price ; and the price that God the Father stands
upon is * blood ;' and that not ' the blood of bulls and goats, but the
blood of his Son ;' which was the best, the purest, and the noblest
blood, that ever ran in veins. ^ Now Christ, to bring about the
redemption of fallen man, is willing to come up to the demands of
his Father, and to lay down his blood. The scripture calls the blood of
Christ, rlfiLov alfia, precious blood. Oh, the virtue in it, the value of
it ! Through this red sea we must pass to heaven ; Sanguis Christi
clavis cceli, Christ's blood is heaven's key. ' Precious in the sight of
the Lord is the blood of the saints,' Ps. cxvi. 15, and truly ' precious
in the sight of the saints is the blood of Christ.' Una guttula plus
valet quam ccehim et terra, One little drop is more worth than heaven
and earth, [Luther.] Christ's blood is ' precious blood,' in regard of
the dignity of his person. It is ' the blood of God himself,' Acts xx.
28, it is the blood of that person, who is very God as well as very man.
Christ's blood was noble blood, and therefore precious. He came of
the race of kings, as touching his manhood ; but being withal the Son
of God, This renders his nobility matchless and peerless. It was
1 Hel.. X. 4, and ix. 22 ; John x. 11, 15, 17, 18, and i. 29; 1 Pet. i. 18, 19.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 345
Pharaoh's brag that he was the son of ancient kings, Isa. xix. 11.
Who can lay claim to this more than Christ ? Who can challenge
this honour before him ? He is the Son of the ancientest king in the
world, he was begot a king from all eternity, Dan. vii. 9, 13, 27 ; and
the blood of good kings is precious ; ' Thou are worth ten thousand of
us,' said David's subjects to him, 2 Sam. xviii. 3 ; and therefore they
would not suffer him to hazard himself in the battle. The nobleness
of his person did set a high rate upon his blood. And whom doth
this argument more commend unto us than Christ ? And the blood of
Christ is precious blood in regard of the virtues of it. By this blood,
God and man are reconciled ; by this blood, the chosen of God are
redeemed. It was an excellent saying of Leo, ' The effusion of Christ's
blood is so rich and available, that if the whole multitude of captive
sinners would believe in their Redeemer, not one of them should be
detained in the tyrant's chains.' i This precious blood justifies our
persons in the sight of God, it frees us from the guilt of sin, and it
frees us from the reign and dominion of sin, and it frees us from the
punishments that are due to sin, it saves us, airb rrj<i 6pyr]<; t^?
epxo/JievTj'i, ' from that wrath that is to come,' Acts xiii. 38, 39 ; Rom.
iii. 24, 25 ; 1 John i. 7 ; 1 Thes. i. 10. Now were not Christ's blood
of infinite value and virtue, it could never have produced such
glorious effects. The blood of Christ is precious, beyond all account ;
and yet our Lord Jesus did not think it too dear a price to pay down
for his saints. God the Father would be satisfied with no other price ;
and therefore God the Son comes up to his Father's price, that our
redemption might be sure. But,
[2.] Secondly, Observe that God rejects all luays of satisfaction hy
men. Could men make as many prayers as there be stars in heaven
and drops in the sea, and could they weep as much blood as there is
water in the ocean, and should they ' give all their goods to the poor,
and their bodies to be burned,' 1 Cor. xiii. 3, as some have done, yet
all this would not satisfy for the least sin, not for an idle word, not
for a vain thought : Heb. x. 5, ' Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not ;' that is, thou wilt not accept of them for an expiation and satis-
faction for sin, as the Jews imagined. The apostle shews the im-
potency and insufficiency of legal sacrifices by God's rejecting of them.
The things here set down not to be regarded by God — as sacrifices,
ofierings, burnt-offerings, and sacrifices for sin, together with other
legal ordinances comprised under them — do evidently demonstrate
tliat God regards none of those things in a way of satisfaction ; they
are no current price, they are no such pay that will be accepted of in
the court of heaven. Remission of sin could never be obtained by
sacrifices and offerings, nor by prayers, tears, humblings, meltings,
watchings, fastings, penances, pilgrimages, &c. Remission of sins
cost Christ dear, though it cost us nothing. Remission of sins drops
down from God to us through Christ's wounds, and swims to us in
Christ's blood. It was well said by one of the ancients : ' I have not
whence I may glory in my own works, I have not whence I may boast
myself, and therefore I will glory in Christ ; I will not glory that I
am righteous, but I will glory that I am redeemed ; I will glory, not
^ Leo de pas., serm. xii. c. 4.
346 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
because I am without sin, but because my sins are forgiven ; I will not
glory because I have profited, or because any hath profited me, but
because Christ is an advocate with the Father for me, but because the
blood of Christ is shed for me.'i Certainly the popish doctrine of man's
own satisfaction in part for his sins is most derogatory to the blood,
and to the plenary and complete satisfaction, of Jesus Christ. But,
[3.] Thirdly, Observe that nothing heloiu the obedience and suffer-
ings of Christ, our mediator, could satisfy divine justice : Heb. x. 5,
' But a body hast thou prepared me/ The Hebrew text, Ps. xl. 7,
saith, ' Thou hast bored through mine ears ;' but the apostle follows
the Greek translation, seeing the same sense is contained in both.
Christ having declared what his Father delighteth not in, he further
sheweth affirmatively what it was wherein he rested well pleased, in
these words, ' But a body hast thou prepared me.' In this phrase,
' A body hast thou prepared me,' Christ is brought in, speaking to his
Father. By body is meant the human nature of Christ. Body is
synecdochically put for the whole human nature, consisting of body
and soul ; the body was the visible part of Christ's human nature. A
body is fit for a sacrifice, fit to be slain, fit to have blood shed out of
it, fit to be offered up, fit to be made a price, and a ransom for our
sins, and fit to answer the types under the law. Pertinently there-
fore, to this purpose, is it said of Christ, ' He himself bare our sins in
his own body,' 1 Pet. ii. 24 ; and those infirmities wherein he was
'made like unto us,' Heb. ii. 9, 14, 17, were most conspicuously evi-
denced in his body ; and hereby Christ was manifested to be a true
man : he had a body like ours, a body subject to manifold infirmities,
yea, to death itself. That body which Christ had is said to be ' pre-
pared by God;' the Greek word, KaTTjpTlaoo, which is translated ^re-
pared, is a metaphor from meclianics, who do artificially fit one part
of their work to another, and so finish the whole. God fitted his Son's
body to be joined with the deity, and to be an expiatory sacrifice for
sin. The word 'prepared' implies that God the Father ordained,
formed, and made fit and able, Christ's human nature to undergo,
suffer, and fulfil that for which he was sent into the world. God the
Father is here said to have prepared Christ a body ; because Christ
having received of his Father the human nature out of the flesh and
blood of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Ghost, Mat. i. 20 ;
Luke i. 31, 35, here gives up the same unto the service of his Father,
to do, to suffer, to die, that he might be a sacrifice of expiation for
our sins. As for the words of the psalmist, Ps. xl. 6, 'Mine ear hast
thou opened,' — Heb. , ' digged open,' it is a proverbial manner of speech,
whereby there is implied the qualifying or fitting a man unto obedience
in service — the ear, or the opening of the ear, being an emblem, or
symbol, or a metaphorical sign of obedience, Isa. Iv. 5 ; Job xxxiii. 16.
Now St Paul, following the translation of the Septuagint, and being
directed by the Spirit of God, expounds this of God's sanctifying and
fitting a body unto Christ, wherein he was obedient, even unto the shame-
ful death of the cross. These words, ' Thou hast bored through mine
ears,' do import that Christ, now becoming man, gives up himself to
^ Ambrose de Jacob, et Vita beat. lib. i. cap. vi. pp. 290, 291.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 347
be a willing servant of his Father, to obey him unto the death of the
cross. And it is a similitude taken from the servants of the Hebrews,
who, after that they had served their masters six years, would not depart
out of their masters' service the seventh year, but abide in it continually
until death ; for a testimony whereof their ear was bored through on the
posts of the door, as may be seen, Exod. xxi. 6. It is therefore as
much as if he should say, Thou hast given me a body that is willing
and ready in thy service, even unto death. But to conclude this head,
the apostle speaking of disannulling the sacrifice of the law, he uses
this word body to set out a sacrifice which should come instead of
the legal sacrifices, to effect that which the legal sacrifices could not
effect. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Observe that Christ, our mediator, freely and readily
offers himself to he our pledge and surety. ' Then said I, Lo, I come,'
to wit, as surety, to pay the ransom, and to do thy will, God.
Every word carrieth a special emphasis as, (1.) The time, ' then,'
even so soon as he perceived that his Father had prepared his body for
such an end, then, without delay. This speed implieth forwardness
and readiness ; he would lose no opportunity. (2.) His profession in
this word, * said I ;' he did not closely, secretly, timorously, as being
ashamed thereof, but he maketh profession beforehand. (3.) This
note of observation, ' Lo ;' this is a kind of calling angels and men to
witness, and a desire that all might know his inward intention, and
the disposition of his heart ; wherein was as great a willingness as any
could have to anything. (4.) An offering of himself without any
enforcement or compulsion ; this he manifesteth in this word, ' I
come.' (5.) That very instant set out in the present tense, ' I come ;'
he puts it not off to a future and uncertain time, but even in that
moment, he saith, ' I come.' (6.) The first person twice expressed,
thus, ' I said,' ' I come.' He sendeth not another person, nor sub-
stituteth any in his room ; but he, even he himself in his own person,
Cometh. AH which do abundantly evidence Christ's singular readiness
and willingness, as our surety, to do his Father's will, though it were
by suffering, and by being made a sacrifice for our sins. God's will was
the rule of Christ's active and passive obedience. Jesus Christ, our
only mediator and surety, by free and ready obedience and death, did
make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice for the sins
of all the elect. Christ hath, by his death and blood, as an invaluable
price of our redemption, made sure the favour of God, the pardon
of our sins, and the salvation of our souls. Christ hath freed his
chosen from all temporal, spiritual, and eternal punishments, properly
so called ; so that now the mercy of God may embrace the sinner with-
out the least of wrong to his truth or justice. But,
[5.] Fifthly, Observe that Jesus Christ, our surety, does not only
agree ivith his Father about the price that he was to lay doivn for our
redemption, hut also axjrees with his Father ahout the persons that
ivere to he redeemed, and their sanctification : Heb. x, 10, ' By the
which will ' — that is, by the execution of which will, by the obedience
of Christ to his heavenly Father — ' we are sanctified, through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all.' Jesus Christ agrees
348 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
with the Father that all those shall be sanctified for whom he has
suffered and satisfied. The virtue, efficacy, and benefit of that which
ariseth from the aforesaid will of the Father and of the Son is
expressed under this word, ' sanctified.' To pass by the notation and
divers acceptations of this word ' sanctified,' let it suffice to tell you
it is not here to be taken, as distinguished from justification or glori-
fication, as it is elsewhere taken, 1 Cor. i. 30, and vi. 11 ; but so
as comprising under it all the benefits of Christ's sacrifice, Heb. x. 14,
and ii. 11 ; Acts xxvi, 18. In this general and large extent it is
sometimes taken ; only this word, sanctified, here gives us to under-
stand that perfection consisteth especially in holiness ; for he expresseth
the perfection of Christ's sacrifice under the word ' sanctified,' which
implieth ' a making holy.' This was that special part of perfection
wherein man was made at first, Eccles. vii. 31 ; and whereunto the
apostle alludeth, where he exhorteth, ' To put on that new man, which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness,' Eph. iv. 24 ;
for this end, Christ gave himself even unto death, for his church, ' that he
might sanctifiy it,' Eph. v. 25. The principal thing under this word
' sanctified ' in this place is, that Christ's sacrifice maketh perfect. In
this respect, Christ's sacrifice is here opposed to the legal sacrifices,
which could not make perfect ; so that Christ's sacrifice was ofiered up
to do that which they could not do ; for this end was Christ's sacrifice
surrogated in the room of the legal sacrifices. Now this surrogation
had been in vain, if Christ's sacrifice had not made us perfect. If the
dignity of his person that was offered up, and his almighty power, and
unsearchable wisdom, and other divine excellencies of his, be duly
weio-hed, we cannot but acknowledge, that as his sacrifice is perfect in
itself, so it is sufficient to make us perfect also. Christ's body was
given up as a price and ransom, and offered up as a sacrifice for our
sins ; and that we might be sanctified and made holy, Christ, by
the ofi'ering of his body once for all, has purchased of his Father grace
and holiness for all his redeemed ones. Christ agrees with his Father
that he will lay down an incomparable price for his chosen ones ; and
then he further agrees with his Father that all those shall be sancti-
fied for whom he has laid down an invaluable price. The will of God
the Father was, that Jesus Christ should have a body, and that that
body of his should be offered up, that his elect might be sanctified and
saved. Now to this Christ readily answers, ' Lo, I come to do thy
will' From what hath been said from Ps. xl., compared with Heb. x.,
we may very safely and roundly conclude that it is most clear and
evident that there was a covenant, compact, or agreement, between God
the Father and Jesus Christ, concerning the redemption of fallen man.
This I shall more abundantly clear up before I have said all I have to
say about the covenant of redemption that is under our present con-
sideration. But,
(9.) The ninth scripture is that, Ps. Ixxxix. 28, 'My mercy will
I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast
with him.' With whom ? why, with our dear Lord Jesus, of whom
David was a singular type. There are many passages in this psalm
which do clearly evidence that it is to be interpreted of Christ ; yea,
VEllY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. * 349
there are many things in this psalm that can never be clenrly, perti-
nently, and appositely applied to any but Jesus Christ. For a taste,
see ver. 19, ' I have laid help upon one that is mighty,' mighty to par-
don, to reconcile, to justify, to save, to bring to glory; suitable to that
of the apostle, Heb. vii. 25, ' He is able to save unto the uttermost' —
that is, to all ends and purposes, perfectly, completely, fully, continu-
ally, perpetually.! Christ is a thorough Saviour, a mighty Saviour :
Isa. Ixiii. 1, ' Mighty to save.' There needs none to come after him to
finish the work which he hath begun : ver. 19, ' I have exalted one, chosen
out of the people,' which is the very title given to our Lord Jesus :
Isa. xlii. 1, ' Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect,' or chosen
one, ' in whom my soul delighteth : ver. 20, ' I have found David my
servant.' Christ is very frequently called by that name, as being
most dearly beloved of God, and most highly esteemed and valued by
God, and as being typified by him both as king and prophet of his
church: ver. 10, 'With my holy oil have I anointed him ;' suitalDle to
that of Christ: Luke iv. 18, ' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, be-
cause he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ;' and
therefore we need not doubt of the excellency, authority, certainty,
and sufficiency of the gospel : ver. 27, ' I will make him my firstborn,
higher than the kings of the earth.' 2 Christ is the firstborn of every
creature, and in all things hath the pre-eminence : ver. 29, ' His seed
also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of
heaven.' 3 This is chiefly spoken of Christ and his kingdom. The
aspectable heaven is corruptible, but the kingdom of heaven is
eternal ; and such shall be Christ's seed, throne and kingdom : ver.
36, ' His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before
me.' ' Christ shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands,' Isa. liii. 10. * And
his throne as the sun before me ;' that is, perpetual and glorious, as
the Chaldee explaineth it, ' shall shine as the sun.' Other kingdoms
and thrones have their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin.s,
but so hath not the kingdom and throne of Jesus Christ. Christ's
dominion is 'an everlasting dominion,' which shall not pass away; 'and
his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed,' Dan. vii. 13, 14. I
might give further instances out of tlds Psalm, but enough is as good
as a feast. Now saith God, ' I have made a covenant with him ;' so
then there is a covenant that God the Father hath made with Christ
the mediator ; which covenant, the Father engages to the Son, shall
stand fast, there shall be no cancelling or disannulling of it. God the
Father hath not only made a covenant of grace with the saints in
Christ, of which before ; but he has also made a covenant of redemp-
tion, as we call it for distinction sake, with Jesus Christ himself, ' My
covenant shall stand fast with him ;' that is, with Christ, as we have
fully and clearly demonstrated. But,
(10.) The tenth scripture is that, Zech. ix. 11, 'As for thee also,
by the blood of thy covenant,' or whose covenant is by blood, ' I have
' Ad plenum, Erasmus ; ad perfectum, [Falier] Stapulensi-i.
- Sec Jer. xxx. 9 ; Hosea iii. 5; Ezek. xxxiv. T6.
cannot be understood of David's seed, for Solomon's throne was ovcrthrowii.
350 • THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.' i Here
God the Father speaks to Christ, with relation to some covenant be-
tween them both ; and what covenant can that be but the covenant of
redemption ? All the temporal, spiritual, and eternal deliverances
which we enjoy, they swim to us through the blood of that covenant
that is passed between the Father and the Son. By virtue of the
same blood of the covenant, wherewith we are reconciled, justified,
and saved, were the Jews delivered from their Babylonish captivity.
The Babylonish captivity, thraldom, and dispersion, was that waterless
pit, that dirty dungeon, that uncomfortable and forlorn condition, out
of which they were delivered by virtue of the blood of the covenant ;
that is, by virtue of the blood of Christ, figured by the blood that was
sprinkled upon the people, and by virtue of the covenant confirmed
thereby, Exod. xxiv. 8 ; Ps. Ixxiv. 20 ; Heb. xiii. 20. Look, as all
the choice mercies, the high favours, the noble blessings that the
saints enjoy, are purchased by the blood of Christ ; so they are made
sure to the saints by the same blood ; by the blood of thy covenant ' I
have sent forth thy prisoners.' Whatever desperate distresses, and
deadly dangers, the people of God may fall into, yet they are ' prisoners
of hope,' and may look for deliverance by the blood of the covenant.
By these ten scriptures it is most clear and evident that there was
a covenant, a compact, and agreement between God the Father and
our Lord Jesus Christ, concerning the work of our redemption.
Christ's being called 'the surety of the better covenant,' Heb. vii. 21,
shews that there was a covenant between God the Father and him,
as there is between a creditor and a surety. Christ gave bonds, as it
were, to God the Father, and paid down the debt upon the nail, that
breaches might be made up between God and us, and we restored to
divine favour for ever. But for the further clearing up of the cove-
nant of redemption, I shall, in the second place, lay down these pro-
positions. And,
(1.) The first is this, Tlmt the covenant of redemption differs from
the covenant of gnxce. It is true, the covenant of redemption is a
covenant of grace, but it is not properly that covenant of grace which
the Scripture holds out in opposition to the covenant of works ; which
I shall thus evidence : —
[1.] The covenant of redemption differs from the covenant of grace
in regard of the federates. In the covenant of redemption, it is God
the Father and Jesus Christ that mutually covenant ; but in the
covenant of grace the confederates are God and believers.
[2.] In the covenant of redemption, God the Father requires of
Jesus Christ that he should suffer, shed his blood, die, and make him-
self an offering for our sins. In the covenant of grace, God requires
of us that we should believe and embrace the Lord Jesus.
[3.] In the covenant of redemption, God the Father has made many
great, precious, and glorious promises to Jesus Christ. As, ' Sit on my
right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool,' Heb. i. 13 ; and,
' He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hands,' Isa. liii. 10 ; and, ' Ask of me, and I
1 And thou also died with the blood of thy covenant, when I have sent out thy prisoners
out of the cistern in which there are no waters. — Tremellius.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 351
will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for thy possession,' Ps. ii. 8 ; and, ' I will be to
him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son,' Heb. i. 5. But in the
covenant of grace, God promises to us grace and glory, holiness and
happiness, both the upper and the lower springs, Ps. Ixxxiv. 11 ; Ezek.
xxxvi. 26, 27.
[4.] The covenant of redemption betwixt God and Christ secures
the covenant of grace betwixt God and believers ; for what God pro-
mises to us, he did, before the foundation of the world, promise to
Jesus Christ, Titus i. 2 ; and therefore, if God the Father should not
make good his promises to his saints, he would not make good his
promises to his dearest Son, which for any to imagine would be high
blasphemy. God will be sure to keep touch with Jesus Christ ; and
therefore we may rest fully assured that he will not fail to keep touch
with us.
[5.] The covenant of redemption is the very basis or bottom of the
covenant of grace. God made a covenant with Christ, the spiritual
David, that he might make a covenant with all his elect in him, Ps.
Ixxxix. 3, 4 ; Eom. xi. 26, 27. He made this agreement with Christ,
as the head, and on this is reared up the whole frame of precious pro-
mises comprised in the covenant of grace, as a goodly building upon a
sui'e foundation. But,
(2.) The second proposition is this, God (lie F,ather, in order to
mans redemption and salvation, stands stiffly and peremptorily upon
complete satisfaxition. Without full satisfaction, no remission, no sal-
vation. Satisfaction God will have to the utmost, though it cost
Christ his life and blood. Man is fallen from his primitive purity,
glory, and excellency, and by his fall he hath provoked divine justice,
transgressed God's righteous law, and cast a deep dishonour upon his
name, Rom. viii. 32. The case standing thus, God is resolved to have
ample satisfaction in the reparation of his honour, in the manifesta-
tion of his truth, and in the vindication of his holiness and justice.
All the attributes of God are alike dear to him, and he stands as much
upon the advance of his justice as he does upon the glory of his grace ;
and therefore he will not remit one sin, yea, not the least sin, without
entire satisfaction. In this God the Father is fixed, that he will have
' an offering for sin,' in an expiatory and propitiatory way ; ' a price
and a ransom' he will have paid down upon the nail, or else the captive
sinner shall never be released, pardoned, saved, Isa. liii. 10; 1 Tim. ii. 6.
Now lost man being wholly incapable of giving such a satisfaction to
divine justice, Christ must give it, or fallen man must perish for ever.
Sin and sorrow, iniquity and misery, always go hand in hand. ' The
wages of sin is death,' Eom. vi. 23. Every sinner is worthy of death.
' They w^hich commit such things are worthy of death,' Rom. i. 32.
If God be a just and righteous God, then sin cannot absolutely escape
unpunished ; for it is but ' a just and righteous thing with God' to
punish the sinner, who is worthy of punishment. ' It is a righteous
thing with God,' saith the apostle, ' to recompense tribulation to them
that trouble you,' 2 Tlies. i. 6. And as God cannot but be just, so he
cannot but be true ; and if he cannot but be true, then he cannot but
make good his threatenings against sin and sinners. The word is
352 ' THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
gone out of his moutli, ' In the day that tliou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die ; ajid the soul which sins shall die/ Gen. ii. 17. Look, as
there is not a promise of God but shall take place in time, so there is
not a threatening of God but shall take place in time, Ezek. xviii. 4.
The faithfulness of God, and the honour of God, is as much concerned
in making good of terrible threatenings, as they are concerned in mak-
ing good of precious promises, 2 Pet. i. 4. God has given it under
his-own hand, that ' he will by no means clear the guilty ;' and that
' the soul that sinneth shall surely die ;' and that ' the wickedness ot
the wicked shall be upon him ;' and that * he will render to every man
according to his deeds,' Exod. xxxiv, 7 ; Ezek. xviii. 20 ; Rom. ii. 6.
And will God abrogate his own laws, or will he dare men to sport and
play with his threatenings ? Will not every wise and prudent prince
look to the execution of their own laws ? and shall not that God, who is
wonderful in wisdom, and whose understanding is infinite, see all his
laws put in execution against ofi'enders ? Isa. xl. 28 ; Ps. cxlvii. o.
Surely yes. Thus you see that God stands upon full satisfaction, and
will admit of no treaty of peace with fallen man without it. Now
sorry man is never able, either by doing or suffering, to compensate
and make God amends for the wrong and injury that he has done to
God by his sin ; and therefore one that is able, by doing and suffering,
to give complete satisfaction, must undertake it, or else we are lost,
cast, and undone in both worlds. Concerning that full and complete
satisfaction that Jesus Christ has given to God's enraged justice, I
have in part discovered already, and shall say no more to it before I
close up the covenant of redemption. But,
(3.) The third proposition is this. The bminess transacted hetiveen
those two great and glorious parsons, God the Father, ' ivhose greatness
is misearcJiahle,' Ps. cxlv. 3, and Jesus Christ, ' tvho is the prince of
tJie kings of the earth,' Eev. i. 5, tvas the redemption and salvation of
the elect. Our everlasting blessedness was now fresh in their eyes, and
warm upon their hearts. How lost man might be found, and how fallen
man might be restored, and how miserable man might be made happy,
how slaves might be made sons, and how enemies might be made
friends, Luke xv. 30, and how those that ' were afar off might be
made nigh,' Eph. ii. 12-17, without the least prejudice to the honour,
holiness, justice, wisdom, and truth of God, was the grand business,
the thing of things, that lay before them. Upon the account of the
covenant, compact, and agreement that was between the Father and the
Son, it is that Christ is called ' the second Adam,' 1 Cor. xv. 25 ; for
as with the first Adam God plighted a covenant concerning him and
his posterity, so also he did indent with Jesus Christ, concerning that
eternal redemption, that he was to obtain and secure for his seed, Heb.
ix. 12. For the clearing of this, let us a little consider of the excel-
lent properties of that redemption that we have by Jesus Christ.
[1.] First, It is a great redemption. The work of redemption was
a great work. The greatness of the person emplo3'ed in this work
^^peaks out the work to be a great work. This was a work too high,
too hard, too great for all the angels in heaven, and all the men on
earth to undertake. None but that Jesus who is ' mighty to save,'
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 353
Isa. Ixiii. 1, was ever able to bring about the redemption of man.
Hence Christ is called the Deliverer, Rom. xi. 26 : ' And their redeemer
is mighty,' Pro v. xxiii. 11 ; Isa. xliv. 6, ' And his redeemer, the
Lord of hosts ; ' Isa. xlvii. 4, ' As for our redeemer, the Lord of hosts
is his name ; ' Isa. xlix. 26, ' And thy redeemer, the mighty one of
Jacob ; ' Jer. 1. 34, ' Their redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is
his name.' Again, the great and invaluable price that was paid down
for our redemption speaks it out to be a great redemption. The price
that we are bought with is a price beyond all compute. 1 Pet. i. 18,
19, ' Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corrupt-
ible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation ; but with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot,' 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, and vii. 23. Christ was a lamb (1.) for
harmlessness ; (2.) for patience and silence in afflictions ; (3.) for
meekness and humility ; (4.) for sacrifice. This lamb was ' without
blemish,' Isa. liii. 7, that is, free from actual sin, and ' without spot,' that
is, free from original sin, Jer. xi. 19, [Aquinas] That the most ab-
solute and perfect purity of Christ — prefigured in the lambs of the Old
Testament, that were to be sacrificed — might be better expressed, the
apostle calls him ' a lamb without blemish, and without spot,' Eph. v.
27. The price that this lamb without a spot has laid down is suffi-
cient to pay all our debts ; it is a price beyond all compute. All the
silver, gold, pearls, jewels in the world, are of no value, in respect of
this price ; a price in itself infinite, and of infinite value. Among
the Romans, the goods and estates which men had gotten in the wars,
with hazard of their lives, were called peculium castrense, or a field-
purchase, i Oh how well then may the elect be called Christ's pecM-
lium castrense, his purchase, gotten not only by the jeopardy of his life,
but with the loss of his life and blood, Johnx. 11, 15, 17, 18, and Acts
XX. 28. Again, if you compare the work of redemption with other great
works, you must necessarily conclude that the work of redemption is a
great work. The making of the world was a great work of God, but yet
that did but cost him a word of his mouth, a ' let it be ;• ' he spake the
word, and it was done ; ' He said, Let there be light, and there was
light,' &c.. Gen. i. 3-6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24 ; but the work of redemption
cost Christ's dearest blood. Much matter of admiration doth the
work of redemption afibrd us. The work of creation is many ways
admirable, yet not to be compared with the work of redemption,
wherein the power, wisdom, justice, mercy, and other divine attributes
of God do much more shine forth ; and wherein the redeemed reap
much more good than Adam did by his creation, which will evidently
appear by observing these particular differences :
First, In the creation God brought something out of nothing ; but
in the work of redemption, out of one contrary he brought another ;
out of death he brought life. This was a work of far greater power,
wisdom, mercy. Death must first be destroyed, and then life brought
forth.
Secondly, In creation there was but a word ; and thereupon the
^ Neither God nor Christ could lay down a c:reater price. All things in heaven and
earth are not to be compared to this blood, to this price.
VOL. V. Z
354 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
work followed ; in redemption there was doing and dying. The
work of redemption could be brought about by none but God. God
must come down from heaven, God must be made man, God must be
made sin, God must be made a curse, 2 Oor. v. 21 ; Gal. iii. 13.
Thirdly, In the creation God arrayed himself with majesty, power,
and other like properties, fit for a great work ; in the work of redemp-
tion he put on weakness, he assumed a nature subject to infirmities,
and the infirmities of that nature. He did as David did when he
fought against Goliah, he ' put off all armour, and took his staff in
his hand, and drew near to the Philistine,' 1 Sam. xvii. 39, 40.
Fourthly, In the work of creation there was nothing to witlifitand
God, to make opposition against God ; but in the work of redemption
there was justice against mercy, wrath against pity; death, and he
that had the power of death, was vanquished, Heb. ii. 14, 15 ; Col. ii.
14, 15.
Fifthly, By creation man was made after God's image, like him,
Gen. i. 26, 27 ; by redemption man was made a member of the same
mystical body ' whereof Christ is the head,' Eph. i. 22, 23.
Sixthly, By creation man received a natural being, by redemption a
spiritual.
Seventhly, By creation man received a possibility to stand, by re-
demption a certainty of standing and impossibility of falling, John x.
28-31 ; 1 Pet. i. 5 ; Jer. xxxii. 40, 41.
Eighthly, By creation man was placed in an earthly paradise, but
by redemption he is advanced to an heavenly paradise.
Thus you see how the work of redemption transcends the work of
creation. Again, the works of providence are great, very great, in the
eye of God, of angels, of men ; but what are the works of providence
to the works of redemption ? For in order to the accomplishment of
that great work, Christ must put off his royal robes, take a journey
from heaven to earth, assume our nature, do and die, &c. Again, the
work of redemption by Christ will be found a great work, if you will
but compare it with those redemptions that were but types of this.
Israel's redemption from their Egyptian bondage, and from their
Babylonish bondage, were very great redemptions, that were brought
about by a strong hand, a mighty hand, and an out-stretched arm, as
the Scripture speaks ; but, alas I what were those redemptions to our
being redeemed from the love of sin, the guilt of sin, the dominion of
sin, the damnatory power of sin, and to our being redeemed from the
power of Satan, the curse of the law, hell and wrath to come? 1 Thes.
i. 10. Lastly, the great things that are wrapped up in the womb, in
the belly, of redemption, speak out our redemption by Christ to be a
very great redemption. In the womb of this redemption you shall find
reconciliation, justification, adoption, eternal salvation, &c. ; and are
not these great, very great, things ? Surely yes. But,
[2.] A second excellent property of that redemption that we have
by Christ is this, that it is a free and gracious redemption. All the
rounds in this ladder of redemption are made up of free, rich, and
sovereign grace. Though our redemption cost Christ dear, as has
been before hinted, yet as to us it is most free : Eph. i. 7, ' In whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, accord-
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 355
ing to the riches of his grace ; ' that is, according to his exceeding
great and abundant grace: 'Being justified freely by his grace,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,' i Our redemption is
from the free love and favour of God. It was free grace that put God
the Father upon finding out a waj for the redemption of lost sinners.
It was free grace that put God upon providing of such a surety, as
should undertake the work of redemption, as should carry on the
work of redemption, and as should accomplish and complete the work
of redemption ; and it was free grace that moved God the Father to
accept of what Christ did and suffered, in order to the bringing about
of our redemption ; and it is free grace tliat moves God to make an
application of this redemption to the souls of his people. Ah, poor
souls ! the Lord looks not, neither for money nor money's worth from
you, towards the purchase of your redemption, and therefore always
look upon your redemption as the mere fruit of rich grace, Isa. lii. 3.
But,
[3.] The third excellent property of that redemption that we have
by Jesus Christ is this, it is a full and plenteous redemption : Ps.
cxxx. 7, ' Let Israel hope in the Lord ; for with the Lord there is
mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.' Christ redeems us
from all sin, and from all the consequences of sin. He redeems from
death, and from the power of the grave ; he redeems us from the law,
and from the malediction of the law. Christ took that off"; he was
made a curse for all that believe on him. 2 He did not only stand in
the room of eminent believers, but he stood in the room of all believers,
and endured the wrath of God to the uttermost for evei y one that
belie veth on him. Every believer is freed from a cursed estate by the
Jeast faith. Every degree of true faith makes the condition to be a
state of life, and passeth us from death and condemnation : * There is
no condemnation to them that are in Clirist Jesus.' And Christ
.redeems us from this present evil world, and from the earth, and from
among men, and from wrath to come, and from ' the hands of all our
enemies.'^ Jesus Christ hath gone thorough-stitch^ with the work of
our redemption. Christ does not his work by halves ; all his works
are perfect ; there is no defect or flaw in them at all. Christ does not
redeem us from some of our sins, and leave us to grapple with the rest ;
he doth not work out some part of our redemption, and leave us to
work out the rest ; he doth not bear the heat and burden of divine
wrath in part, and leave us to wrestle with other parts of divine wrath.
Oh, no ; Christ makes most complete work of it. He redeems us from
' all our iniquities ; he delivers us out of the hands of all our enemies,'
Heb. vii. 25. He pays all debts, he cuts all scores, he delivers from
all wrath, he takes off the whole curse, he saves to the uttermost, and
will settle us in a state of full and perfect freedom, when grace shall
be turned into glory. In heaven our redemption shall be entire and
perfect.
[4.] The fourth excellent property of that redemption that we have
^ airoKvTpuKTLv. This word properly signifies a deliverance, -which is brought to pass
by paying of a ransom and price. See Mat. xx. 28; 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; 1 Pet. i. 18.
'■■' Hosea xiii. 14 ; Titus ii. 14 ; Eom. vii. 6 ; Gal. iv. 5, and iii. 13.
3 Rom. viii. 1 ; Gal. i. 4 ; Kev. xiv. 3, 4 ; 1 Thes. i. 10 ; Luke i. 71, 74.
* ' Completely.'— G,
356 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
by Jesus Christ, is this, it is an eternal, a permanent, a lasting, yea,
an everlasting redemption: Heb. ix. 12, 'Neither by the blood of
goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the
holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.' Kedemption
is in general a freeing one out of thraldom, Exod. vi. 6. Now this is
done three ways — (1.) By interceding and pacifying wrath. Thus
the prophet Oded, 2 Chron. xxviii. 9, &c., procured redemption for the
captives of Judah by his intercession. (2.) By force and might.
Thus Abraham redeemed his brother Lot, and the people that were
captives with him, by overcoming their enemies, Gen. xiv. 16. (3.)
By ransom, or paying a price. Thus a Hebrew that was sold a slave
to a stranger might be redeemed by one of his brethren. Lev. xxv. 48,
49. The last of these is most agreeable to the notation of the several
words, which in the three learned languages do signify to redeem,
though the last be especially intended. In that, mention is made of
a price, namely, Christ's blood ; yet the other two are not altogether
exempted, for Christ hath all those three ways redeemed his people.
This will more clearly appear if we duly weigh the distinct kinds of
bondage in wliich we were by reason of sin — (1.) We were debtors to
divine justice. Mat. vi. 12 ; (2.) We were children of wrath, Eph. ii.
3 ; (3.) We were slaves to Satan, Heb. ii. 14, 15. (1.) As debtors,
Christ hath paid a ransom for us; (2.) As children of wrath, Christ
makes intercession for us; (3.) But though divine justice be satisfied
and divine wrath pacified, yet the devil will not let his captives go ;
therefore Christ by a strong hand wrests us out of Satan's power, ' and
destroys him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,' Heb. ii.
14, 15. The ransom which Christ paid was the ground of man's full
and eternal redemption, for by satisfaction of justice way was made to
pacify wrath ; both which being accompHshed, the devil lost his right
and power over such as he held in bondage. This redemption is a full
freedom from all misery, and compriseth under it reconciliation, justi-
fication, sanctification, and salvation. By this redemption divine
justice is satisfied, wrath pacified, grace procured, and all spiritual
enemies vanquished. The perfection of this redemption is hinted in
this word eternal. The eternity here meant hath a special respect to
the continual duration thereof without end, yet also it respecteth the
time past, so as it looks backward and forward. It implieth a virtue
and efficacy from the beginning of the world, for Christ was ' a lamb
slain from the foundation of the world,' Rev, xiii. 8. Christ himself
is, Rev. i. 8, ' Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which
is, and which was, and which is to come.' Now that which is spoken
of the person of Christ may very well be applied to our redemption by
Christ. This epithet eternal is here added to redemption, in opposi-
tion to the legal purifications, which were momentary and temporary.
They had a day, and endured no longer than the ' time of reforma-
tion.' On this ground, by just and necessary consequence, it followeth
that the redemption wrought by Christ is absolutely perfect, and that
there is no need of any other. This being eternal, all that have been,
all that shall be redeemed, have been and shall be redeemed by it ;
and they who are redeemed by it need no other means. The liberty
whereinto Christ Jesus brings the elect is permanent and lasting, it
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 357
abides irremoveable and unchangeable to all eternity. The Jews
which had sold themselves to be servants were to be set free at the
jubilee, yet the jubilee lasted but for one year ; therefore the same
persons might afterwards become bondmen ■ again, Lev. xxv. But
this 'acceptable year of the Lord's redeemed,' Isa. Ixi. 2, and Ixiii.
4, is an everlasting year, it shall never end ; therefore they shall never
be subject to bondage any more. It is observable that when the Lord
would comfort the Jews with hopes of a return from Babylon, he
usually annexed evangelical promises respecting the deliverance of
poor sinners from the slavery of Satan, whereof that captivity was a
type, some of which promises do plainly express the perpetuity of that
spiritual freedom which they shall enjoy. Take a taste : i Isa. xxxv.
10, ' And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads : they shall obtain
joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.' Isa. li. 6,
' Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath ;
for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax
old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like man-
ner : but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall
not be abolished.' Isa. Ix. 19, 20, ' The sun shall be no more thy
light by day ; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto
thee : but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy
God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down ; neither shall thy
moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light,
and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.' Jer. xxxi. 11, 12,
' For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the
hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come
and sing in the height of Zion, and their soul shall be as a watered
garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all.' But,
[5.] The fifth excellent property of that redemption that we have
by Jesus' Christ is this — viz. , it is an enriching redemption ; it is a
redemption that makes men rich in ' spiritual blessings in heavenly
places,' Eph. i. 3. There are many choice and rare spiritual benefits
that wait and attend on redemption, that go hand in hand with re-
demption : as reconciliation, remission of our sins, justification of our
persons, adoption, sanctification, full glorification, Kom. v. 1, and iii.
24, 25. We have some foretastes of it in this life. Here we have the
' first-fruits of the Spirit,' Kom. viii. 23, 30 ; but in the morning of
the resurrection we shall reap the whole harvest of glory. It is
called, by way of eminency, ' the salvation of our souls,' 1 Pet. i. 9.
Redemption, and the noble benefits attending on it, are salvation
begun; but in heaven this shall be salvation consummate. Re-
demption is a rich mine, containing a mass of treasure that cannot be
valued. Could we dig into it, could we pry into it, we might find
variety of the choicest jewels and pearls, in comparison whereof all
the riches of the Indies, all the gold of Ophir, and all the precious
jewels and most orient pearls that are in the world, are no better than
dross. I have read of Tiberius the emperor, that passing by a place
where he saw a cross lying in the ground upon a marble stone, and
causing the stone to be digged up, he found a great treasure under
^ See also Jer. xixii. 39; Ezek. xxxvii, 25-28, and xxxix. 29.
358 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
the cross: but what was this treasure but a great nothing to that
treasure that is wrapped up in our redemption by Christ ! What the
Lord said once to his anointed Cyrus, a temporal deliverer of his
people, the same he hath spoken, and much more, to his anointed
Jesus, the greater Saviour and Kedeemer of his cliurch : ' I will give
thee the treasures of darkness, the hidden' riches of secret places,' Isa.
xliii. 3. There are ' unsearchable riches' in Jesus Christ. i^ In him
are riches of grace, of all grace ; in him are riches of justification, and
riches of sanctification, and riches of consolation, and riches of glori-
fication. Would you share in the best of riches, would you share in
the most durable riches, would you share in soul riches, would you
share in heavenly riches ? Oh, then, secure your interest in the re-
demption that is by Jesus Christ. But,
[6.] The sixth, and last, excellent property of that redemption that
we have by Jesus Christ is this — viz., it is a redemption-siveetening
redemption; it is such a redemption as sweetens all other redemptions.
It is redemption by Christ that sweetens our redemption out of this
trouble and that, out of this affliction and that, out of this danger and
that, out of this sickness and that, out of this bondage and that. Re-
demption by Christ is like that tree which Moses cast into the bitter
waters of Marah, that made them sweet, Exod. xv. 23. This water
became sweet for the use and service of the Israelites for a time only,
and remained not always sweet after, as appears by Pliny's Natural
History, who makes mention of those bitter waters in his time,2 But
the redemption that we have by Jesus Christ does for ever sweeten
all the bitter trials and afflictions that we meet with in this world.
The Jewish doctors say that this tree was bitter, and they give us this
note upon it, ' that it is the manner of the blessed God to sweeten that
which is bitter by that which is bitter.' I shall not dispute about the
truth of their notion ; but this I may safely say, that it is the manner
of the blessed Grod to sweeten our greatest troubles, and our sharpest
trials, by that redemption that we have by Jesus Christ. And thus
you see the excellent properties of that redemption that Jesus Christ,
by covenant or compact with his Father, was engaged to work for us.
But,
(4.) The fourth proposition is this — viz.. That the blessed and glo-
rious titles that are given to Jesus Christ, in the Holy Scriptures, do
clearly and strongly evidence that there was a covenant of redemption
passed between God the Father and Jesus Christ. He is called a
' mediator of the covenant ' of reconciliation, interceding for and pro-
curing of it ; and that not by a simple entreaty, but by giving him-
self over to the Father, calling for satisfaction to justice, that recon-
ciliation might go on, for paying a compensatory price sufficient to
satisfy divine justice for the elect. * There is one God, and one me-
diator between God and men' — to wit, God incarnate — 'the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all ' — to wit, his elect
children — ' to be testified in due time,' 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. Let me
glance a little upon the words, ' one mediator between God and
men.' In the Greek, it is one mediator of God and men ; which may
^ See my treatise called 'The Unsearchable Riches of Christ.' — [Vol. iii. p. 1,
aeq. — G.J * Plin. Natural History, lib. vi., cap. 29.
VERT CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 359
refer either to the two parties betwixt which he deals, pleading for
God to men and for men to God, or to the two natures, mediator of
God, having the divine nature, and of men, having the human nature
upon him ; one mediator, not of redemption only, as the papists grant,
hut of intercession too. We need no other master of requests in
heaven, but the man Christ Jesus, who being so near us, in the
matter of his incarnation, will never be strange to us in the business
of intercession. ' A ransom,' the Greek avriXvrpov, is a counter-price
such as we could never have paid, but must have remained and even
rotted in prison, but for our all-sufficient surety and Saviour. The
ransom that Christ paid was a real testimony of his mediatorship
betwixt God and men, whereby he reconciled both. ' The man Christ
Jesus.' Paul speaks not this to exclude his divinity from this office
of mediatorship, for he is ' God manifested in the flesh,' 1 Tim. iii. 16,
and ' God hath purchased his church by his own blood,' Acts xx. 28 ;
but to shew that, in his human nature, he paid the ransom for us,
and that, as man, he is like unto us, Heb. ii. 10; and therefore
all sorts and ranks of men have a free access by faith unto him,
and to his sacrifice. He is also called a Kedeemer, ' I know that
my Eedeemer liveth,' Job xix. 25. The word redeemer in the
Hebrew is very emphatical, Goel; for it signifieth a kinsman, near
allied unto him ; one that was bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, i
Christ is of our kindi*ed by incarnation, and redeems us by his passion.
The words are an allusion to the ceremonial law, where the nearest kins-
man was to take the wife and buy the land, Ruth iii. 9, 12, 13, and iv.
4, 5. We were Satan's by nature, but Christ our brother, our kinsman,
hath redeemed us by the price of his own blood, and will deliver us from
hell, and bring us ' to the inheritance of the saints in light,' John xx.
17 ; and therefore deserves the name of a redeemer, 1 Pet. i. 3, 4 ;
Col. i. 12. Jesus Christ is near, very near, yea, nearest of kin to us,
Eph. v. 30 ; he is flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, and blood
of our blood : ' Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself took part of the same,' Heb. ii. 14. Now it is
evident, by the old law of redemption, that the nearest kinsman was
under a special obligation to redeem ; as you may see by comparing
Ruth iii, 12, 13 with iv. 4, 5. Boaz was a kinsman, and had right
to redeem ; yet because there was a nearer kinsman, he would not en-
gage himself, but upon his refusal : ' If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it ;
but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know ; for
there is none to redeem it besides thee, and I am after thee,' Now
Jesus Christ is nearest of kin to us, and therefore, upon the strictest
terms and laws of redemption, he is Goel, our Redeemer. If we con-
sider Jesus Christ as a kinsman, a brother, we must say, that he had
not only a right to redeem us ; but that he was also under the highest '
obligation to redeem us. There is a double way of redeeming per-
sons : — (1.) By force and power : thus when Lot was taken prisoner
by those four kings that came against Sodom, ' Abraham armed his
servants,' and by force and power redeemed them, Gen. xiv. 14, 16.
We were all Satan's prisoners, Satan's captives, but Christ our nearest
1 Some read the words thus, ' 1 know that my kinsman, or he that is near to me,
liveth.'
360 THE COVENANT OF KEDEMPTION
kinsman, our brother, ' by spoiling principalities and powers,' Col. ii. 15,
rescues us out of that tyrant's hand. (2.) There is a redemption by
price or ransom ; to redeem is to buy again, 1 Cor. vi. 20, ' Ye are
bought with a price ;' vii. 23, ' Ye are bought with a price.' The word
price is added, not by a pleonasmics, but kut e^o^w, to intimate the
excellency and dignity of the price wherewith they were bought, which
was not 'silver or gold; but the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish, and without spot,' 1 Pet. ^. 18, 19. ' Ye are
bought with a price;' that is, ye are dearly bought, by a price of
inestimable value ; but of this before. Again, sometimes Christ is
called ' the surety of a better covenant.' Heb. vii. 22, ' By so much
was Jesus made a surety of a better testament,' so called from the
manner of the confirmation of it — viz., by the death of Christ. Look,
as Christ was our surety to God, for the discharge of our debt — the
surety and debtor, in law, are reputed as one person — so he is God's
surety to us, for the performance of his promises. The office of a
surety being applied to Christ sheweth that he hath so far engaged
himself for us, as that he neither can nor will start from his engage-
ment. You shall as soon remove the earth, stop the sun in his course,
empty the sea with a cockle-shell, make a world, and unmake your-
selves, as any power on earth, or in hell, shall ever be able to hinder
Christ from the performance of the office of a surety. A perfect
fulfilling of all righteousness, according to the tenor of the law, is
required of man. Now Christ our surety, by a voluntary subjection
of himself to the law, and by being made under the law, he hath ful-
filled all righteousness, Gal. iv. 4 ; Mat. iii. 15 ; and that he did this
for us is evident by that phrase of the apostle, Eom. v. 19, ' By the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous.' The contents of the
law must be accomplished by our surety, or else we can never escape
the curse of the law, Gal. iii. 10, 13 ; there must be a translation of
the law from us in our persons, unto the person of our surety, or we
are undone, and that for ever. Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness, and hath made us just by his obedience ; ' We are made
the righteousness of God in him,' Kom. x. 4. Our surety became
subject to the law, that he might redeem us that were obnoxious to
the law, 2 Cor. v. 21. Again, full satisfaction for every transgression
is required of man. Now Christ our surety hath made satisfaction
for all our sins, he was made a curse for us,' Gal. iii. 13 ; and by that
means he hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. To exact a
debt which is fully satisfied, is a point of injustice. Now Christ our
surety having made full satisfaction for all our sins, we need not fear
to stand before the face of God's justice. A debtor that hath a surety
that is able and willing to pay jfiis debt, yea, who hath fully paid it,
need fear no colours. This title, ' a surety of a better covenant,' does
necessarily import a blessed covenant between Jesus Christ and his dear
Father, to whom he freely and readily becomes surety for us ; for what
is suretyship but a voluntary transferring of another's debt upon the
surety, he obliging to pay the debt for which he engageth as surety ?
Thus you_ see, by the blessed and glorious titles that are given to
Jesus Christ in the Scriptures, that there was a covenant of redemp-
tion passed between God the Father and Jesus Christ. But,
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 361
(5.) Tlie fifth proposition is this, Tlmt the ivorJc of our redemption
and salvation, was transacted between God the Father and Jesus
Christ, be/ore the foundation of the world. This federal transaction
between the Father and the Son was from eternity. Upon this ac-
count the Lord Jesus is said to be ' the Lamb slain from the founda-
tion of the world,' Rev. xiii, 8, because that it was agreed and cove-
nanted between God the Father and Jesus Christ, that he should, in
the fulness of time, be made flesh and die for sinners ; and therefore
it was said to be done from the foundation of the world.^ Though
Christ was not actually slain, but when he suffered for us upon the
cross, yet he was slain from the beginning in God's purpose, in God's
decrees, in God's promises, in the sacrifices, in the faith of the elect,
and in the martyrs ; for Abel, the first that ever died, died a martyr,
he died for religion. This compact betwixt the Father and the Son
bears date from eternity. This the apostle asserts : 2 Tim. i. 9, ' Who
hath saved us and called us with an holy calling ; not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given
us in Christ Jesus, before the world began. '2 Here is grace given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. But what grace was that
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began ? Doubt-
less it was the grace of redemption, which God, in his purpose and
decree, had given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began. The
scripture last cited does clearly shew that God the Father and Jesus
Christ dealt together about the redemption of souls before the world
began ; and that all our everlasting concernments were agreed on and
made sure between them : so that Titus i. 2 gives the same sound,
' In hope of eternal life ; which God, that cannot lie, promised before
the world began.' How was this life promised before the world began,
but in this covenant of redemption, wherein God the Father promised
and engaged to Jesus Christ that he would give eternal life to all his
seed ? So the apostle tells us, ' He hath chosen us in him,' that is, in
Christ, ' before the foundation of the world.' There was an eternal
contrivance, compact, covenant, or agreement between God the Father
and Jesus Christ, concerning the sanctification, holiness, and salvation
of the elect. God agrees with Christ about the everlasting happiness
of his chosen before the world began.^ So John x. 16, ' And other
sheep I have, which are not of this fold ; them also I must bring.'
Why must he bring them home ? how was he bound, how was he
engaged to bring home his other sheep, that he puts a must upon it ?
' Them also I must bring,' Doubtless it was from this covenant and
agreement which he had made with God the Father, wherein he had
engaged himself to bring home all his elect. Christ takes a great deal
of pains to bring home his sheep ; being bound in the covenant of
redemption, to present all that are given him by charter blameless
^ God loved his people and provided for them, and contrived all their happiness before
they were, yea, before the world was.
* The grace here spoken of cannot be understood of infused grace, unless we will say
that it could be infused into us before either the world was. or we were in it.
3 The whole business of our salvation was first transacted between the Father and Christ
before it was revealed to us, John vi. 27. The Apostle Peter, speaking of our redemp-
tion by the precious blood of Christ, saith that ' Christ was foreordained, thereunto, be-
fore the foundation of the world,' 1 Pet. i. 20.
362 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
before the Father ; therefore, saith he, I bring them, and ' I must brino*
them ;' the matter not being left arbitrary, even in respect of liis
obligation to .God the Father, Col. i. 22. Certainly the decree, cove-
nant, and agreement between God the Father and Jesus Christ about
the whole way of redemjjtion, about all things belonging to the salva-
tion of the elect, to be brought about in due time, was fixed and
settled before the world began, i Ponder seriously on this, it may be
a loadstone to draw out your hearts more than ever, to love the
Father and the Son, and to delight in the Father and the Son,
and to act faith upon the Father and the Son, and to long to be
with the Father and the Son, and all your days to admire at the
love of the Father and the Son, who have from eternity, by compact
and agreement, secured your souls and your everlasting concern-
ments. But,
(6.) The sixth proposition is this. That God the Father had the
first and chief hand in this great ivork of saving sinners, hy virtue of
this covenant of redemption, wherein he and his Son had agreed to
bring ' many sons to glory,' Heb. ii. 10. Weak Christians many times
have their thoughts and apprehensions more busied and taken up with
the love of the Son, than with the love of the Father ; but they must
remember, that in the great and glorious work of redemption, God the
Father had a great hand, an eminent hand, yea, the first and chief
hand. God the Father first laid the foundation-stone of all our happi-
ness and blessedness. His head and heart was first taken up about
that heaven-born project, the salvation of sinners : Isa. xxviii. 16,
' Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure
foundation ;' Heb., * 1 am he that foundeth a stone in Zion.' It is
God the Father that hath long since laid Christ as a sure foundation,
for all his people to build their hopes of happiness upon ; it is he that
first laid Christ, the true corner-stone, whereby Zion is for ever secured
against death, hell, and wrath. Hence it is said, ' The pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hand,' that is, God's eternal decree about the
work of our redemption and salvation, shall be powerfully, faithfully,
and completely executed by Jesus Christ ; who, by his word and
Spirit, shall communicate unto all his elect the fruit of his death, to
life and salvation, Eom. ix. 33 ; 1 Pet. ii. 6 ; Isa. liii. 10. Again :
Job xxxiii. 24,2 ' Deliver him from going down into the pit, for I have
found a ransom.' The Hebrew word signifies a price 'paid to redeem
a man's life or liberty, ' I have found a ransom,' or an atonement, a
cover for man's sin. Angels and men could never have found a ran-
som, but by my deep, infinite, and unsearchable wisdom, saith God
the Father, ' I have ft)und a ransom,' I have found out a way, a means
for the redeeming of mankind, from going down to the infernal pit,
viz., the death and passion of my dearest Son. But where, blessed
God, didst thou find a ransom ? Not in angels, not in men, not in
1 Ps. ii. 7 ; Acts xv. 18, and ii. 23 ; Eph. i. 9 ; Prov. viii. 22-32.
' This is a full place against all Socinians, who lioldly assert that God removes the
curse of the law, by a free and absolute pardon, without satisfaction. Grotius's exposi-
tion on the place is but flat and dull. When God saith, ' I have found a ransom,' we are
to understand it of a real ransom, of full pay or satisfaction, and not of a ransom by
favour and acceptation.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 363
legal sacrifices, not in gold or silver, not in tears, Immblings, and melt-
ings of my people ; but in my own bosom. That Jesus, that Son of
my love, who has lain in my bosom from all eternity, John i. 18, he is
that ransom, that by my own matchless wisdom and singular goodness,
* I have found.' I have not called a council to inquire where to find
a ransom, that fallen man might be preserved from falling into the
fatal pit of destruction ; but I have ' found a ransom ' in my own
heart, my own breasts, my own bosom ; without advising or consulting
with others, I have found out a way how to save sinners with a salvo
to my honour, justice, holiness, and truth. Had all the angels in
heaven, from the first day of their creation, to this very day, sat in
serious council, to invent, contrive, or find out a way, a means, where-
by lost man might be secured against the curse of the law, hell, con-
demnation, and wrath to come, and whereby he might have been made
happy, and blessed for ever ; and all this without the least wrong or
prejudice to the justice and righteousness of God, they could never
have found out any way or means to have effected those great things.
Our redemption, by a ransom, is God's own invention, and God's only
invention. The blessed ransom which the Lord has found out for
poor sinners, is the blood of his own dearest Son — a ransom which
never entered into the thoughts or hearts of angels and men, till God
had revealed it — which is called ' the blood of the covenant,' Heb. x.
29, because thereby the covenant is confirmed, and all covenant-
mercies assured to us. Again, — ' God so loved the world, that he gave
his only-begotten Son,' John iii. 16 ; Hosea xiv. 4. Here is a sic,
without a sictit, that sic, so, signifies tlie firstness of the Father's love,
and the freeness of the Father's love, and the vehemency of the Father's
love, and the admirableness of the Father's love, and the matchless-
ness of the Father's love. Oh ! what manner of love is this, for God to
give his Son, not his servant; his begotten Son, not his adopted Son,
his only Son, and not one son of many ; his only Son by eternal gene-
ration, and communication of the same essence ; to be a ransom and
mediator for sinners ! God the Father loving lost man, sent his Son
to suffer and to do the office of a mediator, that through his mediation,
he might communicate the effects of his love, in a way agreeable to
his justice ! for God loved the world, and that antecedently to his
giving Christ, and as a cause of it. The design, the project of
saving sinners, was first contrived and laid by God the Father ; there-
fore Christ says, ' The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees
the Father do.' God the Father sent his Son, and God the Father
sealed his Son a commission to give life to lost sinners. ' Him hath
God the Father sealed ;' that is, made his commission authentical, as
men do their deeds by their seals. It is a metaphor taken from them
who ratify their authority whom they send ; that is, approve of them,
as it were, by setting to their seal. Christ is to be acknowledged to
be he whom the Father hath authorised and furnished to be the
Saviour and Kedeemer of lost sinners, and the storehouse from whence
they are to expect all spiritual supplies. Look, as kings give sealed
warrants and commissions to their ministers of state, who are sent
out or employed in great affairs, 1 Kings xxi. 8 ; Eph. iii. 12, and
viii. 8, so Christ is the Father's great ambassador, authorised and sent
364 THE COVENANT OF BEDEMPTION
out by him to bring about the redemption and salvation of lost man.
And look, as a seal represents in wax that which is engraven on it, so
the Father hath communicated to him his divine essence and proper-
ties, and stamped upon him all divine perfection, for carrying on the
work of redemption. And look, as a seal annexed to a commission
is a public evidence of the person's authority, so Christ's endowments
are visible marks whereby to know him, and clear evidences that he
was the true Messiah, and of the Father's installing him into that office
of a Kedeemer. So John vi. 38, ' I came down from heaven, not to
do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.' i In this verse
Christ declares in the general that his errand into the world is to do
his Father's will who sent him, and not his own ; which is not to be
understood that, as God, he hath a different and ■ contrary will to the
Father's, though, as man, he hath a distinct and subordinate wiU to
his ; but the meaning is, he came not to do his own will only, as
the Jews alleged against him, but the Father's also ; and that in this
work he was the Father's commissioner, sent to do what he had
intrusted him with, and not, as the Jews gave out, that he was one
who did that for which he had no warrant. Christ, in entertaining
them that come to him, as in ver. 37, is not only led thereunto by his
own mercy, and bounty, and love towards them, as the reward of all
his sufferings, but doth also stand obliged thereunto by virtue of a
commission and trust laid upon him by the Father, and accepted and
undertaken by him ; therefore he doth mention ' the will of him that
sent him' as a reason of his fidelity in this matter. By what has been
said, it is most evident that God the Father had the first and chief
hand in the great work of our redemption. It is good to look upon
God the Father as the first projector of our happiness and blessedness,
that we may honour the Father as we honour the Son, and love the
Father as we love the Son, and value the Father as we value the Son,
and admire the Father as we admire the Son, and exalt the Father as
we exalt the Son, and cleave to the Father as w^e cleave to the Son,
&c. I have a little the longer insisted on this proposition, because
commonly we are more apprehensive of the love of the Son than we
are of the love of the Father, and that I may the more heighten your
apprehensions of the Father's love in the great work of redemption.
Ah ! what amazing love is this, that the thoughts of the Father, that
the eye of the Father, that the heart of the Father, should be first fixed
upon us, that he should begin the treaty with his Son, that he should
make the first motion of love, that he should first propose the covenant
of redemption, and thereby lay such a sure foundation for man's
recovery out of his slavery and misery. To speak after the manner of
men, the business from eternity lay thus : Here is man, saith God the
Father to his Son, fallen from his primitive purity, glory, and excel-
lency, into a most woeful gulf of sin and misery ; he that was once a
son is now become a slave ; he that was once a friend is now become
an enemy, Eph. ii. 12, 13 ; he that was once near us is now afar off;
he that was once in favour is now cast off ; he that was once made in
our image has now the image of Satan stamped upon him. Gen. i. 26,
27 ; he who had once sweet communion with us has now fellowship
^ See John x. 17, aud xvi. 27.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 365
with the devil and his angels. Now out of this forlorn estate he can
never deliver himself, neither can all the angels in heaven deliver him.
Now this being his present case and state, I make this offer to thee,
my Son : If, in the fulness of time, Phil, ii, 7, 8, thou wilt assume
the nature of man, ' tread the winepress of my wrath alone,' Isa. Ixiii.
3, bear the curse. Gal. iii. 13, shed thy blood, die, suffer, satisfy my
justice, fulfil my royal law, then I can, upon the most honourable
terms imaginable, save fallen man, and put him into a safer and
happier condition than ever that was from whence Adam fell, and
give thee a noble reward for all thy sufferings. Upon this Jesus
Christ replies: my Father! I am very ready and willing to do, to
suffer, to die, to satisfy thy justice, to comply with thee in all thy
noble motions, and in all thy gracious and favourable inclinations,
that poor sinners may be sanctified and saved, made gracious and
glorious, holy and happy; that poor sinners may never perish, that
poor sinners may be secured from wrath to come, and be brought into
a state of light, life, and love, 1 Thes. i. 10 ; Heb. x. 10, 14 ; I am
willing to make myself an offering ; and, ' Lo, I am come to do thy
will, Grod,' Ps. xl. 6, 7. Thus you see how firstly, and greatly, and
graciously, the thoughts of God have been set at work, that poor sin-
ners may be for ever secured and saved. But,
(7.) The seventh proposition is this, It was agreed between the
Father and the Son that Jesics Christ should be incarnate, thai he
should take on Mm the nature of those whom he ivas to save, and for
whom he loas to satisfy, and to bring to glory. ^ Christ's incarnation
was very necessary in respect of that work of redemption, that he, by
agreement with the Father, had undertaken. He had engaged him-
self to his Father that he would redeem lost sinners, and, as their surety,
make full satisfaction. By the fall of Adam, God and man was fallen
out, they were at variance, at enmity, at open hostility, Kom. viii. 7 ;
so that by this means all intercourse between heaven and earth was
stopped, and all trading between God and us ceased. Now to redress
all this, and to make an atonement, a mediator was necessary ; now
this office belonged unto Jesus Christ, both by his Father s ordination
and his own voluntary susception, Heb. x. 5-7 ; and for discharge of
it a human nature was very requisite. There was an absolute neces-
sity that Christ should suffer, partly because he was pleased to sub-
stitute himself in the sinner's stead, and partly because his sufferings
only could be satisfactory. But now, unless Christ be incarnate, how
can he suffer ? The whole lies thus : without satisfaction no redemp-
tion, without suffering no satisfaction, without flesh no suffering ; ergo^
Christ must be incarnate. The Word must be made flesh, John i. 14 :
and so Heb. ii. 14, 16, ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ; that
through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil ; for verily he took not on him the nature of angels ; but
he took on him the seed of Abraham :' 1 Tim. iii. 16, * Without con-
troversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was manifested in the
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
^ Gen. iii. 15 ; 1 John iii. 8 ; Acts ii. 30, and iii. 22 ; Isa. vii 14, and ix. 6 ; Deut.
iviii. 15-18 ; Gal. iv. 4; Rom. viii. 3.
366 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
believed on in the world, received up into glory.' This is only applic-
able to the person of Christ. He that by his office is to be Emmanuel,
God with us, he must, in regard of his person, be Emmanuel also, that
is, God-man in one person. He that by office is to make peace
between God and man, he must be God-man ; he that by office is to
stand and minister between God and men, he must be God and man,
that so he might not be only zealously faithful towards God's justice,
but also tenderly merciful towards men's errors, Heb. ii. 17, 18, and
iv. 15, 16. Look, as he must be more than man that he may be able
so to suffer, that his sufferings may be nieritorious, that he may go
through-stitch with the work of redemption, and triumph over death,
devils, difficulties, discouragements, curse, hell, wrath, &c., all which
Christ could never have done had he been but a mere man, so it
was requisite that he should be man, that he might be in a capacity
to suffer, die, and obey ; for these are not works for one who is only
God. A God only cannot suffer, a man only cannot merit. God
cannot obey, man is bound to obey. Wherefore Christ, that he might
obey and suffer, he was man ; and that he might merit by his
obedience and suffering, he was God-man. Now such a person, and
only such a person, did the work of redemption call for. That is
a mighty scripture, Phil. ii. 6, 7, ' Who being in the form of God
thought it no robbery to be equal with God' — here's Christ's pre-
existing in the nature of the Godhead, and then after comes his man-
hood — 'but made himself of no reputation:' Greek, he 'emptied
himself,' as it were, of his divine dignity and majesty ; he did disrobe
himself of his glory, and became a sinner, both by imputation and
reputation, for our sakes, for our salvation — ' and took upon him the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,' Isa. liii. 6, 9. All
this Christ did upon his Father's prescription, and in pursuit of the
great work of redemption. The blessed Spirit fitted the man Christ
Jesus to be a meet mediator and redeemer for poor sinners. The
Spirit formed the nature of man, of the substance of the virgin, after
an extraordinary manner for the service of the Lord Christ, Luke
i. 35 ; he sanctified the human nature which Christ assumed, after
such a perfect manner, that it was free from all sin, Gal. iv. 4 ; Luke
i. 35 ; in the very moment of conception he united this pure human
nature with the divine in the same person, the person of the Son
of God, that he might be a fit head, mediator, and redeemer for us,
Heb. X. 5. But,
(8.) The eighth proposition is this, — viz., That there loere command-
ments from the Father to the Son ichich he must obey and submit to.
God the Father did put forth his paternal authority, and lay his com-
mands upon his Son, to engage in this great work of redeeming and
saving poor sinners' souls. He had a command from the Father wh it
to teach his people, as the prophet of the church : ' For I liave not
spoken of myself,' saith Christ ; ' but the Father which sent me, he
gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should si)eak,'
John xii. 49. Christ declares that he had received a commission from
the Father, who sent him, concerning his doctrine, and what to say
and speak ; and that he was persuaded that this doctrine delivered to
him by the Father points out the true way to eternal life ; and that he
had exactly followed this commission in preaching, both for matter
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 367
and manner. The two words of saying and speaking may be taken
comprehensively, pointing out all the ways of delivering his commis-
sion, by set and solemn preaching, or occasional conferences, and the
whole subject-matter of his preaching, in precepts, promises, and threat-
enings ; and so it will import that his commission from the Father was
full, both for matter and manner, and his discharge thereof answer-
able.! Christ is a true prophet, who speaks neither more or less in
the doctrine of the gospel than what was the Father's will should be
delivered to us : ' For whatsoever I speak, even as the Father said unto
me, so I speak.' Christ keeps close to his commissipn, without adding
or diminishing ; and herein Christ's practice should be every faithful
minister's pattern. Again, Christ had a command to lay down his
life for those that were given him : ' No man taketh it from me, but I
lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power
to take it again ; this commandment have I received of my Father,'
John X. 18. The Father is so well pleased with the reconciliation of
lost sinners, that he loveth Christ for the undertaking thereof, and is
fully satisfied with his suffering for attaining that end. In both these
respects it holds good : ' Therefore doth my Father love me, because I
lay down my life,' ver. 17. The Father is pleased with him that he un-
dertook this service, and is content with his death as a sufficient ransom.
Christ having laid down his life for the redemption of lost man, did
take it again, as a testimony that the Father was satisfied with his
sufferings. Now the way of the accomplishment of our redemption
was agreed on betwixt the Father and the Son before the accomplish-
ment thereof ; therefore saith he, ' This commandment have I received
of my Father,' which makes it clear that he came into the world fully
instructed about carrying on the work of redemption, [Ps. xl. 6, 7 with
Heb. X. 6-8.] It pleased Christ to suifer death, not only voluntarily,
but in a way of subjection to his Father's command, that so the merit
thereof might every way be full and acceptable to the Father : ' For
tliis commandment have I received! He was content to be a servant by
paction, that so his sufferings might be accepted for his people. And
so when Christ was going to die, he saith, ' That the world may know
that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even
so I do : arise, let us go hence,' Joli^ xiv. 31. As if he had said. Power
is permitted to Satan and his accomplices to persecute me to death,
that dying for man's redemption, the world may see the obedience and
love I bear to the Father, who hath thus determined. All that Christ
suffered for the redemption of sinners was by the order, and at the
command, of the Father, who did covenant with him concerning this
work : ' For as the Father gave me a commandment, even so do I.'
In this scripture, as in a crystal glass, you may see that Christ did
enter the lists in his sufferings with much willingness and alacrity,
with much courage and resolution, that so he might commend his love
to us, and encourage us to do the like through him. Therefore, saith
he, ' Arise, and let us go hence.' I am very free and ready, by my
death and sufferings, to complete the work of man's redemption,
according to the covenant and agreement that long since was made
1 Between saj-ing and speaking there is this difference, saith k Lapide : that to say, is
to teach and publish a thing gravely; to speak, is familiarly to utter a thing.
368 THE COVEITANT OF REDEMPTION
between the Father and myself. If Christ should fail in complying
with his Father's commands about suffering and dying for us, then
not only the breach of articles, but high disobedience too, might be
justly charged upon him ; but from all such charges Christ has bravely
quitted himself. There was a special law laid upon Christ as he was
our mediator, which law he was willing and ready to obey, in order to
our redemption. That Christ should die was no part of the moral
law, but it was a positive special law laid upon Christ Well, this
law he obeys, he complies with : ' I lay down my life for my sheep ;
this commandment have I received of my Father,' John x. 11, 15,
17, 18. Christ, as mediator, had a command from his Father to die,
and he observes it ; hence God calls him his servant : ' Behold my
servant whom I uphold,' Isa. xlii. 1. And in pursuance of God's royal
law, will, and pleasure, he takes upon him the form of a servant; and
frequently proclaims before all the world, that he ' came to do the will
of him that sent him,' Phil. ii. 6, 7. Again, God the Father lays a
special command upon Jesus Christ, to preserve and bring to glory all
those that come unto him. Jesus Christ has not only leave to save
the elect, but a charge to save the elect : ' All that the Father giveth
me, shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out' — where the doubled negatives, in the original, serve to make
the assertion strong, and to carry their faith over all their doubts and
fears — ' for I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but
the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose no-
thing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the
will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on him, may have everlasting life ; and I will raise him up
at the last day.' i Christ is to be answerable for all those that are
given to him, at the last day, and therefore we need not doubt but that
he will certainly employ all the power of his Godhead to secure and
save all those that he must be accountable for. In this blessed scrip-
ture there are several special things that we may take notice of, that
are pat to our present purpose : —
[1.] Ae first, that it is the great dignity and happiness of the elect,
that they are, from eternity, given to Christ in the covenant of redemp-
tion, as the reward of his sufferings, to come to him in due time ; and
that they are given to him in trust, and that he must be accountable
for them, as being given by the Father to him, Ps. xxiv. 1. They
were the Father's first, not only by the right of creation, but by parti-
cular election also ; and being thus the Father's, they are given to
Christ from eternity, to be redeemed by him, and as the reward of his
sufferings. Again, such as are elected and given to Christ, will cer-
tainly, in due time, come to him. Their being given from eternity,
produceth their being given and coming in time ; for God is faithful,
who will not frustrate Christ of what he hath purchased ; and the
power that draweth them is invincible and irresistible ; therefore, saith
he, ' All that the Father giveth me, shall come to me.' Again, Christ
in entertaining them that come to him is not only led thereunto by
his own mercy, and bounty, and love towards them as the reward of
^ John vi. 37-40. Here you have Christ's commission to save the elect, &c.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 369
his sufferings, but doth also stand obliged thereunto by virtue of a
commission and trust laid upon him by the Father, and accepted and
undertaken by him ; therefore doth he mention ' the will of him that
sent me/ as a reason of his fidelity in this matter. Fm-ther, from ver.
39, we may observe that the gospel contains an extract of the deep
counsels of God, and of the eternal transactions betwixt the Father
and the Son concerning lost man, so far as is for our good ; for he
brings out and reads in the gospel his very commission, and some
articles of the covenant, passed betwixt the Father and him. Again,
the first fountain and rise of the salvation of any of lost mankind, is in
the absolute and sovereign will and pleasure of God; for here he
mentions the will of him that sent him, as the first original of all ;
from whence their giving to Christ, their coming and safety, do flow.
Again, these, whose salvation the Father willeth, are given over to
Christ in his eternal purpose, to be brought to him in due time ; for
so it is here held out. Again, such as are given to Christ by the
Father, and do in time come to him, are put in his keeping, and he
hath a care of them, not to lose the least of them, ' For this is the will
of him that sent me, that of all he hath given me, I should lose no-
thing,' John X. 28, 29 ; wherein the Father doth so commit the trust
to him, as that he still keeps them in his own hand also. Again,
Christ's charge and care of these that are given to him, extends even
to the very day of their resurrection, that there he may make a good
account of them, when all perils and hazards are now over, and that
he may not so much as lose their dust, but gather it together again,
and raise it up in glory, to be a proof of his fidelity ; for, saith he, ' I
should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day;' and so
death and dissolution proves no loss.
[2.] Again, from ver. 40, we may observe, that such as are given to
Christ, to be under his charge, and to participate of his henejits, are
draivn to believe on him : and it is the Father's will, and a part of the
transaction betioixt him and his Son, that faith be the way to partake
of these benefits, and not the fulfilling of the impossible condition of the
ivoi-ks of the law ; for they who are given to Christ, are expounded to
be they who believe on him ; and it is the Father's will that such
partake of these benefits here mentioned, as of the rest of his purchase.
Albeit mortification, holiness, &c., do prepare for the possession of
these benefits, and do evidence a right thereunto, and the begun pos-
session thereof ; yet it is only faith in Christ that giveth the right and
title, that so it may be of grace, Eph. ii. 6-8. Again, it is covenanted
betwixt the Father and the Son, that believers shall be made partakers
of everlasting life ; for it is explained, that not to lose them, ver. 39,
is ' that they may have everlasting life.' For the further assurance of
believers of their eternal happiness, it is also covenanted that they shall
have this life in present possession, in the earnest, and firstfruits
thereof ; for they have everlasting life even here, and before their
raising up. They have everlasting life — (1.) In promisso ; (2.) In
pretio ; (3.) In primitiis. He stands already on the battlements of
heaven, he hath one foot in the porch of paradise. Again, Christ
having given an earnest-penny of salvation, will not suffer it to be lost,
VOL. V. 2 A
370 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
by any difficulty or impediment in the way, but will carry believers
through all difficulties, till he destroy death and the grave, and raise
up their very dust, that in body and soul they may partake of that
bliss ; and that he may make it manifest, that death and rotting in the
grave doth not make void his interest, nor cause his affection to cease.
Therefore it is added, 'And I will raise him up at the last day.'
Thus you see that God the Father did lay his commands upon his Son,
to engage in this great work of redeeming and saving poor sinners'
souls, &c.
[3.] In the third place, I shall shew you that the manner or quality
of tJie transaction between God the Father and Jesus Christ, ivas hy
mutual engagements and stipulations; each person undertaking to
perform his part in order to our recovery and eternal felicity. We
find each person undertaking for himself by solemn promise. The
Father promiseth that he will hold Christ's hand and keep him, Isa.
xlii. 6. God the Father engages himself to direct and assist Christ,
and to keep him from miscarrying ; and that he will give him all
necessary strength and ability for the execution of his mediatory office,
and work wonders by him and with him, according to that word, ' My
Father hitherto worketh, and I work,' John v. 17. And the Son engages
himself that he will obey the Father's call, and not be rebellious : Isa.
1. 5, ' I was not rebellious, neither turned away back ; ' that is, I did
not hang back, as Moses once and again did, Exod. iii. 11, 13, and iv.
1, 10, 13 ; nor refuse to go when God sent me, as once Jonah did, chap.
i. 3 ; but I offered myself freely and readily to my Father's call.
There was no affliction, no opposition, no persecution, no evil usage
that I met with in carrying on the work of redemption that did ever
startle me or discourage me, or make me flinch or shrink back from
that great and blessed work that I had undertaken. I was dutiful and
obedient to the calls and commands of my Father, in all things that
he required of me or set me about. Now the Father and the Son
being thus mutually engaged by promise one to another in honour
and faithfulness, it highly concerned them to keep one another close
to the terms of the covenant that was made between them, and ac-
cordingly they did; for God the Father peremptorily stands upon
that complete and full satisfaction that Christ had promised to give
to his justice ; and therefore, when the day of payment came, he would
not abate Jesus Christ one penny, one farthing of the many ten thou-
sand talents that he was to pay down upon the nail for us. Mat. xviii.
24: Kom. viii. 32, ' God spared not his own Son ;' that is, he abated
nothing of that full price that, by agreement with his Father, he was
to lay down for us. Other fathers give their all to spare and redeem
their childi-en ; but the heart of God the Father is so fully and strongly
set upon satisfaction that he will not spare his Son, his own Son, his
only Son, but give him up to death, yea, to an accursed death, that
we might be spared and saved for ever. I have read of a Roman
emperor — Mauritius, who died most miserably i — who chose rather to
spare his money than to redeem his soldiers being taken prisoners.
But to redeem us God would not spare, no, not his own Son ; because
^ Rather Mauricius, [Maw/jiKtoy.] He 'vras murdered in the church of St Autonomus,
Chalcedon, a.d. 602 — a commonphice of history. — G.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 371
no money nor treasure would serve the turn, but only the blood, yea,
the heart-blood of his dear Son, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19.
And as God the Father keeps Christ close to the terms of the cove-
nant, so Jesus Christ keeps his Father close to the terms of the
covenant also : John xvii. 4, 5, ' I have glorified thee on the earth,'
saith Christ to his Father, ' I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do. And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine
own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.'
my Father, I have finished the work of redemption ; but where is
the wages, where is the glory, where is the reward that thou hast pro-
mised me ? There was nothing committed to Christ by the Father,
to be done on earth for the purchasing of our redemption, but he did
finish it ; so that the debt is paid, justice satisfied, and sin, Satan, and
death spoiled ; so that nothing remains but that Christ be glorified,
according to the promise of the Father to him. The sum of Christ's
petition is this, that since he had finished the work of redemption,
that therefore the Father, according to his engagement, would advance
him to the possession of that glory that he enjoyed from all eternity.
Now for the clearing of this we must consider, that as Christ was from
eternity the glorious God, so we are not to conceive of any real change
in this glory of his godhead ; as if by his estate of humiliation he had
suffered any diminution ; or by his state of exaltation any real acces-
sion were made to his glory as God. But the true meaning is this, that
Christ having, according to the paction passed betwixt the Father and
him, obscured the glory of his godhead for a time, under the veil of
the form of a servant, and our sinless infirmities, Phil. ii. 5-8, doth
now expect, according to the tenor of the same paction, after he had
done his work, to be exalted and glorified, and ' openly declared to be
the Son of God,' Rom. i. 4 ; the veil of his estate of humiliation,
though not of our nature, being taken away. It is further to be con-
sidered that however this eternal glory be proj)er to him as God, yet
he prays to be glorified in his whole person, ' Glorify me,' because
not only his human nature was to be exalted to what glory finite
nature was capable of, but the glory of his godhead was to shine in
the person of Christ, God-man, and in the man Christ, though with-
out confusion of his natures and properties. Christ did so faithfully
discharge his trust, and perfect the work of redemption, as that the
Father was engaged by paction to glorify him ; and accordingly Christ,
God incarnate, is exalted with the Father in glory and majesty ; so
that believers may be as sure that all things necessary for their re-
demption are done, as it is sure that Christ is glorified. But,
[4.] In the fourth place, let us seriously consider of the articles
agreed on between the Father and the Son, — let us weigh well the pro-
mises that God the Father makes to Jesus Christ, and the promises
that Jesus Christ makes to the Father, for the bringing about our re-
conciliation and redemption, that so we may the more cleai'ly see how
greatly both the heart of the Father and the heart of the Son is
engaged in the salvation of poor sinners' souls. Now there are seven
things which God the Father promiseth to do for Jesus Christ, upon
his undertaking the work of our redemption.
First, That he luill give him the Spirit in an abundant measure
372 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
' The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge
and of the fear of the Lord,' Isa. xi. 2. God the Father fits Jesus
Christ for the work of redemption by a large effusion of the graces
and gifts of the Spirit upon him. The Spirit of the Lord shall not
only come upon Christ, but rest and abide with him. The Holy
Spirit shall take up in a more special, yea, singular, manner its per-
petual and never-interrupted or eclipsed residence with him and in
him. God the Father promises that Christ shall, in his human
nature, be filled with all the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, that
he may be as an everlasting treasure, and as an overflowing fountain,
to all his people. So Isa. xlii. 1, ' Behold my servant, whom I up-
hold ; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth : I have put my Spirit
upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles,' So Isa. Ixi.
1, ' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.' So John iii. 34, ' God giveth
not the Spirit by measure unto him.' Christ, as mediator, is endued
with the Spirit for the discharge of that ofiice ; and though Christ as
man hath not an infinite measure of the Spirit, though indeed in that
person the fulness of the Godhead dwells, as being God also, for that
were to be no more man, but God, yet the gifts and graces of the
Spirit are poured out upon the man Christ in a measure far above all
creatures. Col. ii. 10 ; for though every believer be complete in him,
yet, for what is inherent in him, they have but some gifts of the
Spirit, 1 Cor. xii. 4 ; Eph. iv. 7 ; but Jesus Christ had all sorts of
gifts. They had gifts for some particular uses, but he had gifts for all
uses ; they have a measure of gifts which are capable of increase, he
above measure, so much as the human nature is capable of, which,
though it be finite in itself, yet it cannot be measured nor compre-
hended by us. So much is imported in that, ' God giveth not the
Spirit by measure to him,' being understood of his manhood ; though,
as we said, if we speak of his person, he hath the Spirit infinitely and
without measure. Col. i. 19, and ii. 3, 9. This fulness became Christ as
man, that he might be a fit temple for the Godhead, and as a mediator,
that he might be the universal head of his church and storehouse of
his people, that from him, as from a common person, spiritual root
or principle, the Holy Ghost with his gifts and graces might be com-
municated to us. ' He received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious
also, that the Lord God might dwell among them,' Ps. Ixviii. 18 ; 'Of
his fulness we receive grace for grace,' John i. 16 ; ' The first Adam was
a living soul, but the second Adam is a quickening spirit,' 1 Cor. xv.
4.5. In the man Christ Jesus there is a treasury and fulness of grace
and glory for us ; he is the lord-keeper of all our lives, of all our souls,
of all our comforts, and of all our graces ; and he is the lord-treasurer
of all our spiritual, durable, and eternal riches, 2 Tim. i. 12. We
lost our first stock by the fall of Adam, Prov. viii. 18. God put a
stock into our own hands, and we soon proved bankrupts and run out
of stock and block. Now since that fatal fall, God will trust us no
more ; but he hath out of his great love and noble bounty put a new
stock of grace and glory for us into the hands of Jesus Christ, who is
mighty, who is able to save to the uttermost, and in whom are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Isa. ix. 6 ; Heb. vii. 25 ; Col.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 373
ii. 3. Christ was more capable, by infinite degrees, of the fulness of
the Holy Ghost than mere men were or could be ; and his employment
being also infinitely beyond the employment of men, the measure of
the Holy Ghost's fulness in him must needs be accordingly beyond all
measure. Hence, by way of emphasis, Christ is called ' the anointed
one of God,' John xii. 15 ; Acts iii. 22, 23. The kings, priests, and
prophets among the Jews, who were anointed, were in their unction
but types of Christ, who is the great king, priest, and prophet of his
church, and anointed above them all, yea, and above all the apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, and believers under the new
testament ministration. In Christ there is all kind of grace, and it
is in him in the highest and utmost degree, that he might be able to
manage all his offices, and finish ' that work which God gave him to
do,' John xvii. 4 ; and God hath filled him with his Spirit, that he
might successfully bring about the redemption and salvation of sin-
ners. But,
Secondhj, God the Father promiseth to invest Jesus Christ with
a three/old office, and to anoint him and furnish him with ivhat-
ever loas requisite for the discharge of those three offices — viz., his
prophetical, priestly, and kingly offices, Isa. Ixi. 1-3, and xxxiii. 22.
Christ never forced himself into any of these offices, he never intruded
himself into any one office, he never run before he was sent, he never
assumed any office till his Father had signed and sealed his com-
mission, John vi. 17. Whatever Jesus Christ had acted without a
commission under his Father's hand had been invalid and lost, and
God would one day have said to him, * Who hath required this at thy
handP'i Isa. i. 12. 'In order to our spiritual and eternal recovery
out of sin and misery, it was absolutely necessary that whatever
Christ did act as a priest, prophet, or king, he should act by the
authority of his Father, by a commission under the broad seal of
heaven : Heb. v. 5, ' So also Christ glorified not himself to be made
an high-priest ; but he that said unto him. Thou art my Son.' These
two conjunctions, ovrw kol, ' so also,' being joined together, are notes
of a reddition, or later part of a comparison, which is the application
thereof. This application may have reference either to the general
proposition, thus, ' As no man taketh this honour unto himself,' so
also, nor Christ ; or to the particular instance of Aaron, thus, ' As
Aaron took not to himself that honour ; so, nor Christ.' Both tend to
the same end. The high-priesthood was an honour ; for Christ to
have taken that to himself, without a commission from his Father,
had been to glorify himself, by conferring glory and honour upon
himself This negative, that ' Christ glorified not himself,' is a clear
evidence that Christ arrogated no honour to himself. Christ would
not arrogate honour to himself, but rather wait upon his Father, that
he might confer upon him what honour he saw meet. Christ glori-
fied not himself to be made a high-priest ; but his Father glorified
him, in ordaining or commissionating him to be the high-priest.
In short, to be made a high-priest is to be deputed or appointed
' Melchizedek was a king and a priest ; Christ was more — a priest, a prophet, and a
king ; Samuel was a priest and a prophet ; David was a king and a prophet : but never
met all three in any but in Christ aloue.
374 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
and set apart to that function ; and thus was our Lord Jesus Christ
made a high-priest. He had never undertaken that office had he
not been ordained to it by his Father. But, that you may see
Christ's threefold commission to his threefold office, consider,
[1.] First, that God the Father promiseth to Jesus Christ an ex-
cellent, royal and eternal priesthood : Heb. vii. 21, ' For those priests
were made without an oath ; but this with an oath by him that said
unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for
ever after the order of Melchisedec ;' Heb. ii. 17, 18 ; Ps. ex. 4. Among
the Jews, in the times of the old testament, they had a high-priest,
that was in all things to stand between God and them ; and in case
any sinned, to make an atonement for them. Now look, as the Jews had
their high-priest, so the Lord Jesus Christ, he was to be, and he is, the
apostle and the high-priest of our Christian profession, as Aaron was
of the Jews' profession. The priestly office of Jesus Christ is erected
and set up, on purpose for the relief of poor distressed sinners.i The
work of the high-priest, is to make reconciliation for the sins of the
people. In the times of the old testament, the high-priest made an
atonement for the people. In case any man had sinned, he brought a
sacrifice, and his sins were laid upon the head of the sacrifice. Once
every year, the high-priest did enter into the Holy of holies, and with
the blood of the sacrifice, did sprinkle the mercy-seat, and laid the
sins of the people upon the head of the scape-goat, and so made an
atonement for the people, as is clear in that, Lev. xvi. 14, ' He shall
take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger, upon
the mercy-seat eastward : and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle
of the blood with his finger seven times ;' and at ver. 21, ' Aaron
shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess
over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their
transgressions, and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the
goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the
wilderness ; and so he shall make an atonement.' This was the work
of the high-priest, in case any had sinned, to make an atonement and
satisfaction, by the way of type, for the sins of the people The main
scope of the apostle in that, Heb. vii., is to advance Christ his priest-
hood above the Levitical priesthood, in order to which he premiseth
this, that those ' priests were made without an oath,' ver. 20. The
apostle's third argument to prove the excellency of Christ's priesthood
above the Levitical, is taken from the different manner of instituting
the one and the other. Christ's institution was more solemn than the
^ Heb. iii. 1. By the way, you may take notice that the whole body of Antichristianism
is but an invasion upon the priestly office of Christ. What is the popish mass, that
unbloody sacrifice, but a derogation from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, once upon the
cross ; and so a derogation from his priestly office ? What are all those popish penances
and satisfactions enjoined, but a derogation unto the satisfaction of Christ; and so unto
the priestly office of Christ ? What is all their praying to saints and angels, but a dero-
gation unto the intercession of Christ; and so unto the priestly office ? God deputes
Christ to his priestly office, as God and man ; yet papists say that Christ is a priest only
in his human nature. God saith to his Son, ' Thou art a priest;' yet they make many
priests. God makes his Son a priest for ever ; yet they substitute others in his room.
God gave Christ to oflfer up but one sacrifice, and that but once; but they every day
offer up many sacrifices in the mass. God gave Christ to offer up himself; but they
offer up bread and wine, upon pretence that it is the body and blood of Christ. Christ's
sacrifice was a bloody sacrifice; but they style theirs an unbloody sacrifice.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 375
Levites'; their institution was without an oath, Christ's institution was
with an oath. The argument may be thus framed : that priesthood
which is established by an oath, is more excellent than that which is
without an oath ; but Christ's priesthood is with an oath, and theirs
without, ergo. ... It is here taken for granted that Christ was most
solemnly instituted a priest, even by an oath ; yea, by the oath of God
himself, which is the greatest and most solemn manner of institution
that can be. Grod's oath imports two things: — (1.) An infallible
certainty of that which he sweareth ; (2.) A solemn authority and
dignity conferred upon that which he instituted by oath. Great and
weighty matters of much concernment use to be established by oath.
Hereby it appeareth that Christ's priesthood is a matter of great mo-
ment, and of much concernment. This will appear the more evident,
if we consider the person who was made priest, viz., our Lord Jesus
Christ, who was the greatest person that could be ; Heb. vii. 28 ;
therefore he is fitly called ' a great high-priest,' Heb. iv. 14. Or if
we consider the ends of Christ's priesthood, which were very weighty,
and that in reference both to God and man ; to God, for the mani-
festation of his perfect justice, infinite mercy, almighty power, un-
searchable wisdom, and other divine attributes, which never were, nor
ever can be so manifested, as in and by Christ's priesthood ; to man,
that God's wrath might be averted, his favour procured, man's sin
purged, and he freed from all evil, and brought to eternal happiness.
Or if we consider the benefits of Christ's priesthood, which are answer-
able to the foresaid ends. Jesus Christ was appointed and made by
the Father, ' The apostle and high-priest of the church's profession : '
Heb. iii. 1, 2, 'Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly
calling, consider the apostle and high-priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him.' Christ had a
divine call to the execution of all those offices, which he sustained as
our mediator, he did not run before he was sent, he did not act with-
out a commission and warrant, he was lawfully constituted by him
who had power to undertake that great charge he hath over the
church ; this we shall find asserted of all his three offices. As for
his priestly office, he was made a priest by an immediate call and
ordination from God, Heb. v. 4-6. The scope of the apostle is to set
out the excellency of Christ's priesthood, by comparing it with the
Levitical. His priesthood had a concurrence of all things necessary
to the Levitical ; and it had many excellencies above that. Now
among other things required in the priesthood of Aaron, this was one,
there must be a divine regular call. This was in the priesthood of
Christ; ' He was called of God, a high-priest, after the order of
Melchisedec.'i That Ps. ex. 4, is God's sure and irrevocable promise
to Christ, touching that excellent and eternal priesthood, whereby the
recovery of his seed was to be meritoriously obtained. This priestly
ofiice of Christ is sure, because it is confirmed by God's oath, of which
before as well as his promise. The promise makes it sure, the oath
doubly sure, irrevocable ; and certainly the Lord neither can nor will
^ Ps. CI. 4. The Hebrew is, ' Thou a priest,' &c., i.e., ' Thou shalt be a priest for
ever ;' it being the manner of the Hebrew tongue, sometimes for brevity sake, to leave
out a word, which is to be understood and supplied.
376 THE COVENANT OF RI DE MPT ION
ever repent himself of this promise and oath. The priesthood of
Christ is the most noble part of all his mediation. In the priesthood
of Christ, and in that especially, lies the latitude and longitude, the
profundity and sublimity of Grod's love towards us ; and in respect of
this especially, is the whole mystery of our redemption by Christ
called jJbeyaXela tov 6eov, the magnificent works of Grod. Christ as
man, and as mediator between God and man, was, by his Father,
deputed unto his priestly office. Concerning the dignity and excel-
lency of Christ's priestly office, above the Levitical priesthood, I have
spoken elsewhere. But,
[2.] Secondly, God the Father promises to Jesus Christ to make
him a prophet, a great prophet, yea, the prince of prophets. Christ
is a prophet, in way of eminency and excellency, above all other pro-
phets ; he was the chief, the head of them all. Christ was made a
prophet by an immediate call and ordination from God. Christ, in
respect of his prophetical office, can plead the authority of his Father ;
he can shew a commission for this office, under his Father's own
hand. Deut. xviii. 18, 'I will raise them a prophet from among their
brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth ; and he
shall speak unto them all that I shall command them.' i Christ does
not raise himself up to the prophetical office, but God the Father
raises him up to this great office. He was anointed of Gt)d to preach
glad tidings. Weigh that, Isa. xlii. 6, ' I will give thee for a light to
the Gentiles ; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from
their prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.'
' The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed
me, to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hath sent me to bind
up the broken-hearted,' &c., Luke iv. 18. Thus you see that this
prophetical dignity of Chiist, that he is the grand doctor of the church,
is built upon the authority of his Father, who hath authorised and
commissionated him to that great office : Isa. 1. 4, ' The Lord hath given
me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word
in season to him that is weary : he- wakeneth morning by morning ;
he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.'^ Thus you see that
God the Father promiseth to invest Christ with a prophetic office for
the opening the eyes of the blind, &c. This great prophet is richly
furnished with all kinds of knowledge ; ' In him are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' They are hid in him as gold
and silver are in suo loco, as the philosopher speaks, hid in the veins
of the earth. ' Treasures of knowledge,' that is, precious knowledge,
saving knowledge ; * Treasures of knowledge,' that is, plentiful know-
ledge, abundance of knowledge ; ' Treasures,' that is, hidden and stored
knowledge, was laid up in him. All the angels in heaven, and aU
the men on earth, do not know all that is in the heart of God ; but
now Jesus Christ, ' who lies in the bosom of the Father,' John i. 18,
he knows all that is in his Father's heart. All those secret mysteries,
that were laid up in the bosom of eternity, are fully known to this
great prophet of the church ; John v. 20, ' The Father loveth the Son,
^ See Acts iii. 22, and vii. 37; Deut. xviii. 15; Isa. Ixi. 1.
' Christ displaces all Rabbis, by assuming this title to himself, ' one is your doctor and
master, eren Christ,' Mat. xxiii. 8-10.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 377
and sheweth him all things that himself doth/ by a divine and un-
speakable communication. God the Father shews to Jesus Christ all
things that he doth. Grod's love is communicative, and will manifest
itself in effects, according to the capacity of the party beloved ; so
much appeareth in that unspeakable love of the Father to the Son,
* The Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things,' &c., or com-
municateth his nature, wisdom, and power, for operation with him ;
which is expressed in terms taken from among men, because of our
weakness : and ought to be spiritually, and not carnally conceived of.
And therefore these terms of the Father's ' shewing,' and the Son's
' seeing,' are made use of to prevent all carnal and gross conceptions
of this inexpressible communication from the Father, and participation
by the Son. In the blessed Scripture, Jesus Christ is sometimes called
* the ' prophet, and ' that ' prophet ; because he is one that came from
the bosom of the Father, and lives and lies in the bosom of the Father,
and understands the whole mind, will, heart, counsels, designs, ways,
and workings of the Father. Jesus Christ is anointed by God the
Father to be the great prophet and teacher of his elect ; and accord-
ingly Jesus Christ has taken that office upon himself. God the
Father has laid a charge upon Jesus Christ, to teach and instruct all
those that he has given him, in his whole mind and will, so far as is
necessary to their salvation, edification, consolation, &c. ' Moses was
faithful as a servant, but Christ as a Son,' Heb. iii. 2, 5, 6. Christ
cannot be unfaithful in his prophetical office. Those that God the
Father hath charged him to teach and instruct, he will teach and in-
struct, in the great things of their peace; and no wonder, for the
knowledge that is communicated to Jesus Christ, the great prophet of
his church, is not by dreams, or visions, or revelations of angels, as to
the prophets of old, but by a clear, full, intimate view, and beholding
of the Godhead, the fountain of all sacred knowledge ; Rev. v. 6,
' And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four
beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been
slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits
of God sent forth into all the earth." i The lamb slain opens the pro-
phecies, and foretells what shall befall the church, to the end of the
world. The discovery of the secrets of God in his word, are the fruit
of Christ slain, ascended, and anointed as the great prophet of the
church. The lamb wanted neither power nor wisdom to open the
seven seals, and therefore he is said to have ' seven horns and seven
eyes.' Seven is a number of perfection. Horns signify power, eyes
signify knowledge or wisdom ; ^ both joined together, argue a fulness •
and perfection of power and wisdom in Christ ; so that we have here
a lively representation of the threefold office of Christ : his sacerdotal
or priestly office in the lamb as slain, his royal or princely office in
the horns, and his prophetical office in the eyes. But,
[3.] Thirdly, God the Father promises to make him a king, yea,
a mighty king also. The kingly office speaks might and power.
Christ is a king above all other kings ; he is a king ' higher than the
^ The Lamb stands, because (1.) prepared to perfect the work of redemption; (2.) to
help ; (3.) to judge; (4.) to intercede.
* Dan. vii. 24 ; Isa. xxxv. 5 ; Mat. xxviii. 18 ; Col. ii. 3, 9.
378 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
kings of the earth ; he is the prince of the kings of the earth ; he is
Lord of lords, and King of kings,' Ps. Ixxxix. 27 ; Kev. i, 5, and xvii. 14,
I remember Theodosius the emperor and another emperor did use to
call themselves the vassals of Christ ; and it is most certain that all
the emperors, kings, and princes of the world are but the vassals of
this great king. Christ is not only ' King of saints,' but he is
also ' King of nations.' ' There was given him dominion and
glory, and a kingdom ; that all people, nations, and languages
should serve him,' Rev. xv. 3, 4, and xii. 5 ; Dan. vii. 17. God, by
promise, hath ' given him the heathen for his inheritance, and the
utmost parts of the earth for his possession,' Ps. ii. 8. The monarchs
of the world have stretched their empires far. Nebuchadnezzar's
kingdom in Strabo reached as far as Spain ; the Persians reached far-
ther, Alexander farther than they, and the Romans farther than them
all ; but none of all these has subdued the whole habitable world, as
Christ has and will. ' All power is given unto him both in heaven
and in earth. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things
into his hand, and the Father also hath put all things under his
feet,' Eom. x. 18 ; Rev. xi. 15 ; Mat. xxviii. 18 ; John iii. 35 ; 1 Cor.
XV. 27. The government of all the world is given to Jesus Christ as
God-man. All the nations of the earth are under the government of
Christ. He is to govern them, and rule them, and judge them, and
make what use he pleases of them, as may make most for his own
glory, and the good of his chosen. Now God the Father promiseth to
invest Jesus Christ with his kingly office : Ps. ii. 6, ' Yet have I set
my king upon my holy hill of Zion.' i These words are spoken by
God the Father, of his Son Jesus Christ. In a promissory way, God
the Father anoints Jesus Christ as Zion's king ; and therefore it can-
not but be the highest madness, folly, and vanity, for any sort or
number of men under heaven to seek or attempt to pull that king of
saints down, whom God the Father hath set up. Christ rules for his
Father, and from his Father, and will so rule in despite of all the rage
and wrath, malice and madness, of men and devils : ' yet have I set
my king' — Heb., ' I have anointed' — where the sign of Christ's inaugu-
ration, or entrance into his kingdom, is put for the possession and en-
joying thereof. Christ was anointed and appointed by his Father to
the office and work of a mediator, and is therefore here called his
king. There is an emphasis in the word ' I,' ' Yet have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zion : ' 'I,' before whom all the nations of the
earth are but as a drop of a bucket, and as the small dust of the bal-
•ance, Isa. xl. 15, 17; I, before whom all nations are as nothing,
yea, less than nothmg ; I, by whom princes rule, and nobles, even
all the judges of the earth, Prov. viii. 16 ; I, that rule the kingdoms
of men, and give them to whomsoever I will, and who set over them
the basest of men, Dan. iv. 17 ; I, that change times and seasons, and
that remove kings and set up kings, Dan. ii. 21 ; I, that can kill and
make alive, save and damn, bring to heaven and throw down to hell,
Deut. xxxii. 39 ; I am he that hath set up Christ as king, and there-
fore let me see the nation, the council, the princes, the nobles, the
judges, the family, the person, that dare oppose or run counter-cross
^ ' My king,' in a peculiar way, Decretum, Scriptnm, Promuhjatum.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 379
to what I have done. Again, the Lord, in a promissory way, approves
and establisheth this king by a firm decree : Ps. ii. 7, ' I will declare
the decree,' not the secret decree, but the decree manifested in the
word. I, the Son of God, will, by my everlasting gospel, proclaim my
Father's counsel, concerning the establishment of my kingdom. I
will declare that irrevocable decree of the Father, for the setting up of
his Son's sceptre, contra gentes, point-blank, opposite to that decree of
theirs, ver. 3. The decree of God, concerning the kingly office and
authority of Christ, is immutable, and in effect as irrevocable — so much
may be collected out of the propriety of the word pn — as those things
are that are most irrevocable in the course of nature. Again, the
Lord, in a promissory way, extends the dominion of Christ to the Gen-
tiles, and to the uttermost parts of the earth, ver. 8. So far should
the enemies of Christ be from ruining his kingdom, that God the
Father promiseth that aU the inhabitants of the earth should be his,
and brought into subjection to him, not only the Jews, but all the in-
habitants of the earth shall be subjected to Cluist's kingdom, the
elect he shall save, and the refractory he shall destroy, ' He shall
have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of
the earth.' Again, the Lord, in a promissory way, declares the power,
prevalency, and victory of Christ over all his enemies : ver. 9, ' Thou
shalt break them with a rod of iron : thou shaft dash them in pieces
like a potter's vessel.' This signifies their utter destruction, so that
there is no hope of recovery. A potter's vessel, when it is once
broken, cannot be made up again. This proverb also signifies facility
in destroying them. As for such that plot, bandy, and combine to-
gether against the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall as easily and as irre-
coverably by his almighty, eternal, and unresistible power, dash them
in pieces, as a potter breaks his vessels in pieces: Jer. xix. 11, ' I
will break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel,
that cannot be made whole again : ' so Isa. xxx. 14, ' And he shall
break it, as the breaking of the potter's vessel, that is broken in pieces,
he shall not spare ; so that there shall not be found in the burstings
of it, a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out
of the pit.' The Jews, you know, were Christ's obstinate enemies ;
and he hath so dashed them in pieces, that they are scattered abroad
all the world over. The Lord hath made another promise, that Christ
shall king it, Ps. ex. 1-6. And no wonder, when we consider that
God the Father hath called Christ to the kingly office. The sceptre
is given into his hand, and the crown is put upon his head, and the
key of government is laid upon his shoulder by God himself. Isa. xxii.
22, it is written thus of Eliakim, ' The key of the house of David
will I lay upon his shoulder ; so he shall open, and none shall shut ;
and he shall shut, and none shall open.' Now herein was this precious
soul a lively figure and type of Christ. The words of the prophecy
are applied to Christ, in his advertisement to Philadelphia, Kev. iii. 7 •,
and the sense is this, that look, as Eliakim was made steward or trea-
surer under Hezekiah, that is, the next under the king in government
all over the land, to command, to forbid, to permit, to reward, to
punish, to do justice, and to repress all disorder ; of which authority
the bearing of a key on the shoulder was a badge ; so Christ as
380 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
mediator under his Father, hath regal power and authority over his
Church, where he commands in chief, as I may say, and no man may
lift up his hand or foot without him ; he hath the key of the house of
David upon his shoulder, to prescribe, to inhibit, to call, to harden,
to save, and to destroy at his pleasure. Such a monarch and king is
Christ, neither hath any such rule and sovereignty beside him. And
if you look into Dan. vii, 13, 14, you may observe, that after the
abolishing of the four monarchies, Christ's monarchy is estabhshed by
the Ancient of days, giving to Jesus Christ dominion, and glory, and a
kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him ;
and his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass
away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Christ
did not thrust himself into the throne, as some have done ; neither
did he swim to his crown through a sea of blood, as others have done ;
nor yet swam he through a sea of sorrow to this crown, as Queen
Elizabeth is said to do ; no, he stayed till authority was given him by
his Father. But,
Thirdly, God the Father hath promised, that he will give to Jesus
Christ assistance, support, protection, help, and strength to carry on
the great work of redemption. God the Father promises and cove-
nants with Jesus Christ, to carry him through all dangers, difficulties,
perplexities, trials, and oppositions, &c., that he should meet with in
the accomplishing our redemption ; upon which accounts Jesus Christ
undertakes to go through a sea of trouble, a sea of sorrow, a sea of
blood, and a sea of wrath : Isa. xlii. 1, ' Behold my servant whom I
uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth ; ' ver. 4, ' He shall
not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth;
and the isles shall wait for his law ;' ver. 6, ' I, the Lord, have called
thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee." i
"What is that ? Why, I will support, strengthen, and preserve thee
with my glorious power ; I will so hold thy hand, that thou shalt not
be discouraged, but finish that great work of redemption, which, by
agreement with me, thou hast undertaken. God the Father agreed
with Jesus Christ about the power, strength, success, and assistance
that he should have to carry on the work of redemption, all which God
the Father made good to him till he had sent forth judgment unto
victory ; as Christ himself acknowledgeth, saying, ' Listen, isles,
unto me ; and hearken, ye people, from far ; the Lord hath called me
from the womb ; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention
of my name ; and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword ; in the
shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft ; in
his quiver hath he hid me ; and said unto me. Thou art my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified,' Isa. xlix. 1-3. The work of
redemption was so high, so hard, so great, so difficult a work, that it
would have broken the hearts, backs, and necks of all the glorious
angels in heaven, and mighty men on earth, had they engaged in it ;
and therefore God the Father engages himself to stand close to Jesus
Christ, and mightily to assist him, and to be singularly present with
him, and wonderfully to strengthen him in all his mediatory admin-
istrations, John xvii. 2 ; upon which accounts Jesus Christ despises his
^ Christ is our Lord, but in the work of redemption he was the Father's servant.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. S&l
enemies, bears up bravely under all his sore temptations and trials,
and ' triumphs over principalities and powers,' Mat. iv. 11 ; Luke
xxii. 43 ; Col. ii. 15. And certainly if Christ had not had singular
support, and an almighty strength from the Godhead, he could never
have been able to have bore up under that mighty wrath, and to have
drunk of that bloody cup that he did drink of. Now upon the account
of God the Father's engaging himself to own Christ, and stand by
him in the great work of our redemption, Jesus Christ acts faith
against all his deepest discouragements, which he should meet with in
the discharge of his mediatory office, as the prophet tells us : ' The
Lord God will help me ; therefore shall I not be confounded ; there-
fore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be
ashamed. He is near that j ustifieth me, who will contend with me ? '
Isa. 1. 7, 8. From the consideration of God's help, Jesus Christ
strengthens and encourages himself, in the execution of his office,
against all oppositions. God's presence and assistance made Jesus
Christ victorious over all wrongs and injuries. Jesus Christ knew
that God the Father would clear up his innocency and integrity, and
this made him patient and constant to the last. But,
Fourthly, God the Father promiseth to Jesus Christ that he shall
not labour in vain, and that the work of redemption shall prosper in
his hand, and that he loill give a blessed success to all his undertakings,
and croivn all his endeavours.^ * He shall see his seed, and he shall
see the travail of his soul.' Another promise of the Father to the Son
you have in that, Isa. Iv. 5, ' Nations that know thee not, shall run
unto thee.' The Gentiles, that never heard of Christ, nor ever were
acquainted with Christ, nor ever had any notice of Christ ; when Christ
calls, they shall readily and speedily repair unto him and submit unto
him. Christ shall one day see and reap the sweet and happy fruit of
his blood, sufferings, and undertakings ; ' The pleasure of the Lord
shall,' certainly, ' prosper in his hand.' Christ's sufferings were as a
woman's travail, sharp though short. Now though a woman suffers
many grievous pains and pangs, yet, when she sees a man-child
brought into the world, she joys and is satisfied. So when nations
shall run to Christ, he shall see his seed and be satisfied. God the
Father promiseth that Jesus Christ shall have a numerous spiritual
posterity, begetting and bringing many thousands to the obedience
of his Father; 'Nations shall run unto thee;' and this shall fill
the heart of Jesus Christ with abundance of joy and comfort, con-
tentment and satisfaction, when he shall see the fruit of his bitter
sufferings, when he shall see abundance of poor, filthy, guilty, con-
demned sinners pardoned, justified, and accepted with his Father,
' his soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,' Ps. Ixiii.
5. The numerous body of believers, past, present, and to come, that
God the Father had promised to Jesus Christ, was the life of his
life. That is a sweet promise, Ps. ex. 2, ' Kule thou in the midst
of thine enemies.' They that will not bend must break ; those that
will not stoop to his government shall feel his power. ' Thy people '
— ^the people of God are Christ's five ways: (1.) By donation; (2.)
By purchase; (3.) By conquest; (4.) By covenant; (5.) By com-
^ See Isa. liii. 10, and xlii. 6-12 ; Micah iv. 3.
382 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
munication — 'shall be willing in the day of thy power' — Heb.,
loillingnesses in the abstract and in the plural number, as if the Holy
Ghost could not sufficiently set forth their exceeding great willingness
to submit to all the royal commands of the Lord ; John xvii. 6 ; 1 Pet.
ii. 9 ; Luke i. 57 ; 1 Cor. iii. 23. All Christ's subjects are volunteers,
free-hearted, like those isles that wait for God's law, Isa. xlii. 4, and
Ivi. 6; Zech. viii. 21, 'And the inhabitants of one city shall go to
another, saying. Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to
seek the Lord of hosts : I will go also ; ' ' From the womb of the
morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth,' Ps. ex. 3. Here is the
success of Christ's office promised, both in the victorious subduing of
his enemies, and in the cheerful willingness of his subjects, and in the
wonderful numerousness of his people brought over to him, even like
the innumerable drops of the morning dew. Another promise of that
great and complete success that God the Father hath made for Jesus
Christ in his mediatory office, you have in that Isa. xlix. from the 6th
verse to the 14th verse : Christ shall have a people gathered to him,
and a seed to serve him, ' because he hath made his soul an offering
for their sins.' The multitude of sinners brought over to Jesus Christ,
is the product of the satisfaction which he hath made for them, and
the trophies of the victory that he hath got by dying the death of the
cross. Thus you see that God the Father hath not only engaged him-
self by compact to preserve Jesus Christ in his work, but he hath also
made to him several precious promises of preservation, protection, and
success, so that the work of redemption shall be sure to prosper in his
hand. And, to make these glorious promises the more valid and bind-
ing, God confirms them solemnly by an oath: Heb. vii. 21, ' This priest,'
Christ, ' was made with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord
sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever.' God the
Father foresaw from everlasting that Jesus Christ would so infinitely
satisfy him and please him by his incarnation, obedience, and death,
that thereupon he swears. But,
Fifthly, God the Father pi'omiseth to Jesus Christ rule, dominion,
and sovereignty, Ps. ii. 8, 9. This sovereignty and rule is promised to
Jesus Christ in Isa. xl. 10, ' His arm shall rule for him.' ' He shall
sit in judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law,' Isa.
xlii. 4- — not the Jews only, but the Gentiles also, the people of divers
countries and nations shall willingly and readily receive and embrace
his doctrine, and submit to his laws, and give up themselves to his
rule. Micah iv. 3, ' He shall judge among many nations,' that is,
rule, order, command, and direct as a judge and a ruler among many
nations. The conquests that Christ shall gain over the nations shall
not be by swords and arms, but he shall bring them to a voluntary
obedience and spiritual subjection by his Spirit and Gospel : John iii.
35, ' The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his
hand,' that is, God the Father hath given the rule and power over all
things in heaven and earth to Jesus Christ. In carrying on the re-
demption of sinners, as the matter is accorded betwixt the Father and
the Son, so the redeemed are not left to themselves, but are put under
Christ's charge and custody, who has ' purchased them Avitli his blood,'
God the Father having given him dominion over all that may contri-
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 383
bute to help or hinder his people's happiness, that he may order them
so as may be for their good. And this power he hath as God with
the Father, and as man and mediator by donation and gift from the
Father, Mat. xxviii. 18, and ii. 3 ; and thus every believer's happiness
is most firm and sure, all things being wisely and faithfully transacted
between the Father and the Son. As long as Jesus Christ has all
power to defend his people, and all wisdom and knowledge to guide
and govern his jDCople, and all dominion to curb the eneniies of his
people, and a commission and charge to be answerable for them, we
may roundly conclude of their eternal safety, security, and felicity,
Col. i. 19, and ii. 1. But,
Sixthly, God the Father promiseth to accept ofJesics Christ, in his
mediator!/ office, according to that of Isaiah, ' Though Israel be not
gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,' Isa. xlix. 5 ;
that is as if he had said, notwithstanding the infidelity, obstinacy, and
impenitency of the greatest part of the Jews, yet my faithful labour
and diligence in the execution of my mediatory office is, and shall be,
greatly accepted, and highly esteemed of by my heavenly Father.
Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, lovingly accepted of the poor man's
present of water, because his good will was in it, and put it into a
golden vessel, and gave him the vessel of gold, accounting it the part
of a truly noble and generous spirit to take in good part small presents
ofiered with a hearty aflection. Oh, how much more will God the
Father kindly accept of Jesus Christ in his mediatory office : ver. 7,
' Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to
him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a
servant of rulers. Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship,
because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and
he shall choose thee.' i God the Father, comforting of Christ, teUs
him that though he were contemptible to many, yea, to the nation of
the Jews, and used basely, like a servant, by their princes, Herod,
Annas, Caiaphas, and Pontius Pilate, yet other kings and princes
should see his dignity and glory, and submit to him, and honour
him as the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. God the Father
chose Jesus Christ to be his servant, and to be a mediator for his
elect ; he designed him to that office of being a Saviour, both to the
Jew and Gentile, and accordingly he accepted of him, ' Thus saith
the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of
salvation have I helped thee ; and I will preserve thee, and give thee
for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit
the desolate heritage.' Here you see that God the Father still goes
on to speak more and more comfortably and encouragingly to Jesus
Christ ; for he tells him that he will be at hand to hear, and help,
and assist him ; and he tells him that he will preserve him, both in
his person, and in the execution of his office ; and he tells him that
he will accept of his person, and of his services, and of his suits and
intercession for himself and his people. So Mat. iii. 17, ' And, lo, a
1 Jerome saith that the Jews cursed Christ in their synagogues three times a day. Tliey
so greatly abhorred the name Jesus that they would not pronounce it ; but if they did
unawares happen to pronounce it, then they would punish themselves with a blow on
their faces, &c.
384 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased/ The voice from heaven was doubtless the voice of his
Father, in that he saith, ' This is my beloved Son,' my natural Son,
by eternal and incomprehensible generation, and therefore dearest to
me, and most acceptable with me; my judgment is satisfied in
him, my love is settled upon him, and I have an inestimable value
for him; and therefore I cannot but declare my approbation and
acceptation both of him and his work. I am well pleased in him, I
am infinitely pleased in him, I am only pleased in him, I am at
all times pleased in him, I am for ever pleased in him ; I am so well
pleased in him, that, for his sake, I am fully appeased with all them
whom ' I have given him, and who come unto him,' John vi. 37-40.1
But,
Seventhly, God the Father promiseth highly to exalt Jesus Christ,
and nobly to rewat^d him, and everlastingly to glorify him. ' And
nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord
thy Grod, and for the Holy One of Israel ; for he hath glorified thee/
Isa, xlix. 4-6, and xl. 10. These are the words of God the Father to his
Son, promising of him to set such a crown of glory upon his head as
should make the nations of the world run unto him. God the Father
made Christ glorious in his birth, by the angels' doxology, ' Glory be
to God on high ;' in his baptism, by his speaking of him from heaven,
' as his beloved Son ;' in his transfiguration on the mount, in his
resurrection, and in his ascension into heaven. 2 So Isa. liii. 12,
' Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul
unto death ; and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.'
The meaning is this : I will impart, saith God the Father, to my Son,
such honour, glory, renown, and riches, after his sufferings, as con-
querors use to have ; and he shall have them as a glorious reward of
all his conflicts with my wrath, with temptations, with persecutions,
with reproach, with contempt, with death, yea, and with hell itself.
The words are a plain allusion to conquerors in war, who are com-
monly exalted and greatly rewarded by their princes for venturing of
their lives, and obtaining of conquests, as all histories will tell you.
And, indeed, should not God the Father reward Jesus Christ for all
his hard services, and his matchless sufferings, he would express less
kindness to him than he has done to heathen princes ; for he gave
Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as his hire, for his service at Tyre ; and to
Cyrus he gave hidden treasure, Ezek. xxix. 18, 19 ; Isa. xlv. 1-3.
But, alas, what were their services to Christ's services, or their suffer-
ings to Christ's sufferings? I have read of Cyrus, how that in a
great expedition against his enemies, the better to encourage his
soldiers to fight, in an oration that he made at the head of his army,
he promised, upon the victory, to make every foot soldier a horseman,
and every horseman a commander, and that no officer that did vali-
^ This Jerome applies to the time of Christ's hanging on the cross. He cried out,
'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' for God made it appear that he heard
him, and forsook him not, in that he raised him from the dead, &c. See Heb. v. 7.
2 Luke ii. 13, 14; Mat. iii. 17, and xvii. 1-5 ; Rom. 1. 4; Acts i. 9-11.
VERT CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 385
antly sliould be unrewarded. And will God the Father let the Son
of his dearest love, who has fought against all infernal powers, and
conquered them, go without his reward ? Surely no ! Col. ii. 14, 15."
So in Ps. ii. 7, ' I wdU declare the decree ; the Lord hath said unto
me. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.' David was
God's son by adoption and acceptation ; but Christ was his Son, Ps.
Ixxxix. 26, 27, Prov. viii., and Heb. i. 5, (1.) By eternal generation;
(2.) By hypostatical union ; and so God had one only Son, as Abra-
ham had one only Isaac, though otherwise he was the father of many
nations. Some by ' this day' do understand the day of eternity, where
there is no time past nor to come, no beginning nor ending, but always
one present day. Others by ' this day' do understand it of the day of
Christ's incarnation, and coming into the world. Some again do
understand it of the whole time of his manifestation in the world,
when he was sent forth as a prophet to teach them, and was declared
evidently to be the Son of God, both by his miracles and ministry,
John i. 14, and by that voice that was heard from heaven, ' This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' Others do understand
it of the day of Christ's resurrection, and with them I close, for this
seems to be chiefly intended ; partly because it seems to be spoken of
some solemn time of Christ's manifestation to be the Son of God, and
* he was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the
Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead,' Kom. i. 4 ; that is,
by the power and force of the Deity, sanctifying and quickening the
flesh, he was raised from the dead, and so declared mightily to be the
Son of God ; but mainly because the apostle doth clearly affirm that
this was in Christ's resurrection : ' He hath raised up Jesus again, as it
is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I be-
gotten thee,' Acts xiii. 33. In the day of Christ's resurrection he seems
to tell all the world, that though from the beginning he had been hid in
the bosom of his Father, John i. 18, and that though in the law he had
been but darkly shadowed out ; yet in the day of his resurrection they
might plainly see that he had fully satisfied divine justice, finished his
sufferings, and completed the redemption of his elect ; and that ac-
cordingly his Father had arrayed him with that glory that was suitable
to him. Before the resurrection the godhead was veiled under the
infirmity of the flesh ; but in the resurrection, and after the resurrec-
tion, the godhead did sparkle and shine forth very gloriously and
wonderfully, 2 Cor. xiii. 4. Lest the human nature of Christ, upon
its assumption, should shrink at the approach of sufferings, God the
Father engages himself to give Jesus Christ a full and ample reward,
* and to exalt him far above all principality and power, and to put all
things under his feet, and to make him head over all things to the
church : ' and to ' give him a name above' every name ; that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow ;' and all because, to give satis-
faction to his Father, he ' made himself of no reputation, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross ;' that is, to his dying
day, Eph. i. 21, 22; Phil. ii. 9.i He went through many a little
death, aU his life long, and at length underwent that cursed and pain-
^ Name is put for person, and bowing of the knee, a bodily ceremony, to express in-
ward subjection. — Estius, Beza.
VOL. V. 2 B
386 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
ful death of the cross ; upon which account the Father rewards him
highly by exalting him to singular glory and transcendent honour.
Look, that as the assumption of the human nature is the highest in-
stance of free mercy,, so is the rewarding thereof in its state of exalta-
tion the highest instance of remunerative justice. Oh, how highly is
the human nature of Christ honoured by being exalted to a personal
union with the Godhead ! Though vain men may dishonour Christ,
yet the Father hath conferred honour upon him as mediator, that it
may be a testimony to us that he is infinitely pleased with the re-
demption of lost man. Although Christ be, in himself, God all-suffi-
cient, ' God blessed for ever,' and so is not capable of any access of
glory ; yet it pleased him to condescend so far as to obscure his own
glory under the veil of his flesh, and state of humiliation, till he had
perfected the work of redemption ; and to accoiint of his office of
mediator, and the dignity accompanying it, as great honour conferred
upon him by the Father, John viii. 54: and it is observable that
Christ having finished our redemption on earth, he petitions his
Father to advance him to the possession of that glory that he enjoyed
from all eternity ; ' And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine
own self ; with the glory which I had with thee before the world was,'
John xvii. 5. Now for the clearing up of this text we are to consider,
that as Christ was from all eternity the glorious God, the God of glory ;
so we are not to conceive of any real change in this glory of his god-
head ; as if by his estate of humiliation he had sufiered any diminu-
tion, or by his state of exaltation any real accession were made to his
glory as God. But the meaning is this, that Christ having, according
to the paction passed betwixt the Father and him, obscured the glory of
his godhead for a time, under the veil of the form of a servant, and
our sinless infirmities, doth now expect, according to the tenor of the
same paction, that, after he hath done his work as mediator, he be
highly exalted and glorified in his whole person ; that his human
nature be exalted to what glory finite nature is capable of, and that
the glory of his godhead might shine in the person of Christ, God-
man, and in the man Christ Jesus. ^ Thus you see the promises, the
encouragements, and rewards that God the Father sets before Jesus
Christ. And let thus much suffice concerning the articles of the
covenant on God's part.
In the last place, Let us seriously consider of the articles of the
covenant on Christ's part; and let us weigh loell the promises that
Jesus Christ has made to the Father for the bringing about the great
loorh of our redemption, that so we may see what infinite cause we
have to love the Son as we love the Father, and to honour the Son as
we honour the Father, and' to trust in the Son as we trust in the
Father, and to glorify the Son as we glorify the Father, &c. Now
there are six observable things on Christ's part, on Christ's side, that
we are to take special notice of, &c.
[1.] First, Christ having consented and agreed with the Father
about our redemption, accordingly he applies himself to the discharge
^ Jesus Christ is true God, and was infinitely glorious from all eternity, for he had
glory with his Father before the world was; and therefore he was no upstart God, and
of a later standing, as the Arians and Mohammedans make of him.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 387
of tJmt great and glorious zvork by taking a body, by assuming our
nature : Heb. ii. 14, ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.' He
who was equal with God did so far abase himself as to take on him the
nature of man, and subjected himself to all manner of human frailties,
so far as they are freed from sin, even such as accompany flesh and
blood ; and this is one of the wonders of mercy and love, that Christ
our head should stoop so low, who was himself full of glory, as to take
part of flesh and blood, that he might sufier for flesh and blood :
ver. 16, ' For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he
took on him the seed of Abraham.' Christ assumed the common
nature of man, and not of any particular person. The apostle doth
here purposely use this word * seed,' to shew that Christ came out of
the loins of man, as Jacob's children and their children are said to
come out of his loins. Gen. xlvi. 26, and as all the Jews are said to
come out of the loins of Abraham, Exod. i. 5 ; Heb. vii. 5 ; and as
Solomon is said to come out of the loins of David, 1 Kings viii. 19. In
a man's loins his seed is, and it is a part of his substance. Thus it
. sheweth that Christ's human nature was of the very substance of
man, and that Christ was the very same that was promised to be the
Kedeemer of man ; for of old he was foretold under this word seed,
as ' the seed of the woman,' ' the seed of Abraham,' ' the seed of
Isaac,' 'the seed of David.' i This word, 'he took on him,' as it
setteth out the human nature of Christ, so it gives us a hint of his
divine nature ; for it presupposeth that Christ was before he took on
him the seed of Abraham. He that taketh anything on him must
needs be before he do so. Is it possible for him that is not, to take
anything on him ? Now Christ, in regard of his human nature, was
not before he assumed that nature ; therefore that former being must
needs be in regard of his divine nature. In that respect he ever was
even the eternal God. Being God, he took on him a human nature.
Christ's eternal deity shines in this 16th verse, and so does his true
humanity; in that he took upon him the seed of man, it is most
evident that he was a true man. Seed is the matter of man's nature,
and the very substance thereof The seed of man is the root, out of
which Christ assumed his human nature, Isa. xi. 1. The human
nature was not created of nothing, nor was it brought from heaven,
but assumed out of the seed of man, Luke i. 35. The human nature
of Christ never had a subsistence in itself. At or in the very first
framing or making it, it was united to the divine nature ; and at or
in the first uniting it, it was framed or made. Philosophers say of
the uniting of the soul to the body, in creating it it is infused, and in
infusing it it is created, Creando infunditur, et infundendo creatur.
Much more is this true, concerning the human nature of Christ,
united to his divine. Fitly therefore is it here said, that he ' took on
him the seed of Abraham.' So John i. 14, ' The Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us.' The evangelist having proved the
divinity of Jesus Christ, comes now to speak of his humanity, incar-
nation, and manifestation in the flesh, whereby he became God and
man in one person. ' Flesh ' here signifies the whole man in Scrip-
.' Gen. iii. 15; Kom. ix. 7; Heb. xi. 18; John viii. 58.
388 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
ture. Ye all know that man consisteth of two parts, wHch are some-
times called flesh and spirit, and sometimes called soul and body.
Now by a synecdoche, either of these parts may be put for the whole :
and so sometimes the soul is put for the whole man, and sometimes
the body is put for the whole man, as you may see by comparing the
scriptures in the margin together. i^ Christ did assume the whole
man, he did assume the soul as well as the body, and both under the
term flesh. And indeed, unless he had assumed the whole man, the
whole man could not have been saved. If Christ had not taken the
whole man, he could not have saved the whole man. Christ took the
nature of man that he might be a fit mediator. If he had not been
man, he could not have died ; and if he had not been Grod, he could
not have satisfied. So great was the difficulty of, restoring the image
of God in lost man, and of restoring him to God's favour, and the
dignity of sonship, that no less could do it than the natural Son of
God his becoming the Son of man, to suffer in our nature ; and so
great was the Father's love and the Son's love to fallen man, as to lay
a foundation of reconciliation betwixt God and man in the personal
union of the divine and human nature of Christ. So much is im-
ported in those words, ' the Word was made flesh.' 2 The person of the
godhead that was incarnate was neither the Father nor the Holy Ghost,
but the Son, the second person, for ' the Word was made flesh.' There
being a real distinction of the persons, that one of them is not another ;
and each of them having their proper manner of subsistence, the one
of them might be incarnate, and not the other ; and it is the Godhead,
not simply considered, but the person of the Son subsisting in that
Godhead, that was incarnate. And it was very convenient that the
second or middle person, in order of subsistence of the blessed Trinity,
should be the reconciler of God and man ; and that * he, by whom
aU things were made,' Col. i. 16, 17, should be the restorer and
maker of the new world ; and that he who was ' the express image of
his Father,' Heb. i. 2, 3, should be the repairer of the image of God in
us. Oh the admirable love and wisdom of God that shines in this,
that the second person in the Trinity is set on work to procure our
redemption ! Though reason could never have found out such a way,
yet when God hath revealed it, reason, though but shallow, can see a
fitness in it ; because there being a necessity that the Saviour of man
should be man, and an impossibility that any but God should save
him, and one person in the Trinity being to be incarnate, it agrees to
reason that the first person in the Trinity should not be the mediator ;
for who should send him ? he is of none, and therefore could not
be sent. There must be one sent to reconcile the enmity, and another
to give gifts to friends ; two proceeding persons, the Son from the
Father, and the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son. Accord-
ingly the second person, which is the Son, he is sent upon the first
errand, to reconcile man to God ; and the third person, the Holy
Ghost, he is sent to give gifts to men so reconciled ; so as to reason it
^ Acts xxvii, 37 ; Gen. xlvi. 27 ; Eom. xii. 1, and iii. 20.
* Christ put himself into a lousy, leprous suit of ours, to expiate our pride and robbery
in reaching after the Deit}% and to heal us of our spiritual leprosy ; for if he had not
assumed our flesh he had not saved us. — [Gregory] Nazianzen.
VEBY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 389
is suitable, and a very great congrnity, that God, having made all
things by his Son, should now repair all things by liis Son ; that
he that was the middle person in the Trinity should become the
mediator between God and man ; that he that was ' the express image
of the Father's person' should restore the image of God, defaced
in man by his sins. Ah, Christians, how well does it become you
to lose yourselves in the admiration of the wisdom of God in the con-
trivance of the work of our redemption ! For the Son of God to take
on him the nature of man, with all the essential properties thereof,
and all the sinless infirmities and frailties thereof, is a wonder that
may well take up our thoughts to all eternity. And Christ took the
infirmities of our nature as well as the nature itself. To shew the truth
of his humanity he had a nature that could hunger and thirst even as
ours do, and to sanctify them to us ; and that so he might sympathise
with us as ' a merciful and faithful high priest,' Heb. ii. 16-18, and
iv. 15, 16 ; and that we might confide the more in him, and have
access to him with boldness. By reason of the personal union of the
two natures in Christ, he is a fit mediator betwixt God and man. His
sufferings are of infinite value, being the sufferings of one who is God,
Acts XX. 28, and who is mighty to carry on the work of redemption,
and to apply his own purchase, and repair all our losses, Isa. Ixiii. 1 ;
Heb. vii. 25. Oh, what an honour has Jesus Christ put upon fallen
man by taking the nature of man on him ! What is so near and dear
to us as our own nature ? and lo, our nature is highly preferred,
by Jesus Christ to a union in the Godhead. Christ now sits in heaven
with our nature, and the same flesh that we have upon us, only glori-
fied. Acts i. 9-11. It is that which all the world cannot give a
sufiicient reason, why the same word in the Hebrew, Baslier, should
signify both ' flesh ' and ' good tidings.' Divinity will give you a
reason, though grammar cannot. Christ's taking of flesh upon him
was good tidings to all the whole world, therefore no wonder if one
word signify both. Abundance of comfort may be taken from hence
to poor souls, when they think God hath forgotten them, to consider, is
it likely that Christ, who is man, should forget man, now he is at
the right hand of the Father, clothed in that nature that we have ?
When we are troubled to think it is impossible God and man should
ever be reconciled, let us consider that God and man did meet in
Christ, therefore it is possible we may meet. What hath been may be
again. The two natures met in Christ, therefore God may be recon-
ciled to man ; yea, they therefore met, that God might be reconciled to
man. He was made Emmanuel, ' God with us,' that he might bring
God and us together. When a man is troubled to think of the
corruptions of his nature, that is so full of defilements, that it cannot
be sanctified perfectly, let him withal think that his nature is capable
of sanctification to the full. Christ received human nature which was
not polluted, his nature is the same, therefore that nature is capable of
sanctification to the uttermost. sirs ! if Christ, the second person in
the Trinity, did put on man, how careful should men be to put on
Christ ! ' Put you on the Lord Jesus,' saith the apostle, Eom. xiii. 14.
If Christ assumed our human nature, how should we wrestle with God
to be made partakers of the divine nature : 2 Pet. i. 4, ' Whereby are
390 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
given unto us exceeding great and precious promises ; that by these
we may be made partakers of the divine nature/ If Christ became
thus one flesh with us, how zealous should we be to become one spirit
with Christ, 1 Cor. vi. 17. Even as man and wife is one flesh, so ' he
that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.' Was the Word made flesh ?
did Christ take our nature ? yea, did he take our nature at the worst,
after the fall ? What high cause have we to bless his name for ever for
this condescension of his ! Should all the princes of the world have
come from their thrones, and have gone a-begging from door to door,
it would not amount to so much as for Christ to become man for
our sakes. Christ took our nature, not in the integrity of it, as in
Adam before his fall, but in the infirmities of it, which came to it by
the fall. What amazing love was this ! For Christ to have taken
our nature as it was in Adam, while he stood clothed in his integrity,
and stood right in the sight of God, had not been so much as when
Adam was fallen and proclaimed traitor ; as Bernard saith, Quo pro
me vilior, ed mihi carior, Domine, Lord, thou shalt be so much
the more dear to me, by how much the more thou hast been vile for
me. Here is condescension indeed, that Christ should stoop so low to
take flesh, and flesh with infirmities. But,
[2.] Secondly, Jesus Christ promiseth to God the Fiither that he
ivill freely, readily, and cheerfully accept, undertake, and faithfully
discharge his mediatory office, to which he was designed by him, in
order to the redemption and salvation of all his chosen ones. Consult
the scriptures in the margin,i they having been formerly opened, and in
them you will find that Christ did not take the office of mediatorship
upon himself, but first the Father calls him to it, and then the Son
accepts it : ' Christ glorified not himself, to be made a high-priest ;
but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee,' Heb. x. 12, 14, he called him, and then the Son answered
him, * Lo, I come.' God the Father promiseth that upon the payment
of such a price by his Son, such and such souls should be ransomed
and set free from the curse, from wrath, from hell, &c. Jesus Christ
readily consents to the price, and pays it down upon the nail at once,
and so makes good his mediatory office. It pleased the glorious Son
of God, in obedience to the Father, to humble himself and obscure the
glory of his godhead, that he might be like his brethren, and a fit
mediator for sympathy and sufiering, and that he might engage his
life and glory for the redeeming of the elect, and lay by his robes of
majesty, and not be reassumed till he gave a good account of that
work, till he was able to say, ' I have finished the work that thou
gavest me to do.' Christ very freely and cheerfully undertakes to do
and suffer wliatever was the will of his Father that he should do or
suffer, for the bringing about the redemption of mankind. Christ
willingly undertakes to be his Father's servant in this great work, and
accordingly he looks upon his Father as his Lord, ' Thou art my
Lord,' Isa. 1. 5-7 ; Ps. xvi. 2 — ^that is, thou art he to whom I have
engaged myself that I will satisfy all thy demands, I will fulfil thy
royal law, I will bear the curse, I will satisfy thy justice, I will
^ Compare Ps. il. 6-11 with Heb. x. 5-11, and Isa. Ixi. 1-3 ; Luke iv. 18-20 ; Acts
xiii. 23, and vii. 22.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 391
humble myself to the death of the cross, Phil. li. 8, I will ' tread the
wine-press of my Father's wrath/ Isa. Ixiii. 3, I will fully discharge
all the bonds, bills, and obligations that lie in open court against any
of those whom by compact thou hast given me, Col. ii. 13-15, let their
debts be never so many or never so great, or of never so long continu-
ance, I will pay them all. There is no work so high, nor no work so
hard, nor no work so hot, nor no work so bloody, nor no work so low,
in which I am not ready to engage upon the account of my chosen :
* Lo, I come, I delight to do thy will ; yea, thy law is in my heart.'
Christ freely submits, not only to the duty of the law, but also to the
penalty of the law, — not only to do what the law enjoins, but also to
suffer what the law threatens ; the former he makes good l3y his active
obedience, and the latter by his passive obedience, Gal. iv. 4, 5. This
was the way wherein the Father, by an eternal agreement with his
Son, would have the salvation of lost sinners brought about, and ac-
cordingly Jesus Christ very readily complies with his F-ather's will
and way, Titus i. 2. Christ, as mediator, had a command from his
Father to die, which command he readily closes with : John x. 11, ' I
am the good shepherd : the good shepherd layeth down his life for the
sheep ;' ver. 15, ' I lay down my life for the sheep ;' ver. 17, ' I lay
down my life, that I might take it again ;' ver. 18, 'No man taketh
it from me, but I lay it down of myself ; this commandment have I
received of my Father.' Christ was content to be a servant by paction,
that so his sufferings might be accepted for his people ; and certainly
whatever God the Father put Jesus Christ upon in his whole mediatory
work, that Jesus Christ did freely, fully, and heartily comply with :
' Lo, I come ; and I have finished the work that thou gavest me to
do,' John xvii. 4. And had not Christ been free and voluntary in his
active and passive obedience, his active and passive obedience would
never have been acceptable, satisfactory, or meritorious. To go
further to prove it, would be to light a candle to see the sun at noon.
But,
[3.] Thirdly, Jesus Christ promises and engages himself that he ivill
confide, depend, rely, and trust upon his Father for help and for assist-
ance to go through with his loork a-notwithstanding all the wrath and
rage, all the malice and oppositions, that he should meet with from
men and devils: Heb. ii. 13, ' And again, I will put my trust in. him.'
Christ's confidence in his Father was one great encouragement to him
to hold out in the execution of his office ; and his confidence in God
speaks him out to be a true man, in that, as other men, he stood in
need of God's aid and assistance ; and thereupon, as others of the sons
of men, his brethren, he puts his trust in God. The Greek phrase
used by the apostle carrieth emphasis ; it implieth trust on a good
persuasion that he shall not be disappointed. It is translated ' con-
fidence,' Phil. i. 6 ; word for word it may be here thus translated, ' I
will be confident in him.' i The relative ' him' hath apparent refer-
ence to God, so as Christ himself, being man, rested on God to be
supported in his works, and to be carried through all his undertakings,
till the top-stone was laid, and the work of redemption accomplished.
Christ had many great and potent enemies, and was brought to very
^ ^ffo/xai ireiroidus ^tt' avTCjj, Ps. xviii. 2 ; Isa. viii. 18.
S92 THE COVENANT OP KEDEMPTION
great straits ; yea, he and his were ' for signs and wonders in Israel ;'
yet he fainted not, but put his trust in the Lord ; yea, his greatest
enemies gave him this testimony, that ' he trusted in God ; ' and though
they spoke it in scorn and derision, yet it was a real truth, Ps. xviii.
3-5 ; Isa. viii. 18 ; Mat. xxvii. 43. Christ's confidence in his Father
was further manifested by the many prayers which, time after time, he
made to his Father, Heb. v, 7. Another proof of Christ's confidence
in Grod's assistance, even in his greatest plunges and his sharpest sufifer-
ings, the prophet Isaiah will furnish us with : * The Lord God hath
opened mine ear,' saith the prophet, ' and I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to
them that plucked ofi" the hair : I hid not my face from shame and
spitting. For the Lord God will help me ; therefore shall I not be
confounded : therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that
I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me ; who will con-
tend with me ? let us stand together ; who is mine adversary ? let
him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me ; who is
he that shall condemn me ? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment ;
the moth shall eat them up,' Isa. 1. 5-9. Christ, as mediator, trusted
God the Father to carry him through all difficulties and oppositions,
till he had completed the great work of his mediation. Christ
strengthens and encourages himself in the execution of his office
against all hardships and oppositions, from his confidence and assur-
ance of God's aid and assistance ; and by the same eye of faith, he
looks upon all his opposites as worn out and weathered by him.
Christ's faith, patience, and constancy gave him victory over all wrongs
and injuries; so Isa. xlix. 5, 'My God shall be my strength.' Christ
is very confident of his Father's assistance to carry him through that
work that he had assigned him to. Christ, in the want of comfort,
never wanted faith to hang upon God, and to call him his God : ' My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Mat. xxvii. 46. Christ
was never forsaken in regard of the hypostatical union ; the union was
not dissolved, but the beams, the influence, was restrained.! Nor in
regard of his faith ; for though now he was sweltering under the wrath
of God, as our surety, and left in the hands of his enemies, and deserted
by his disciples and dearest friends, and under the loss of the comfort-
ing and solacing presence of his Father, yet, in the midst of all, such
was the strength and power of his faith, that he could say, ' My God,
my God.' Christ, before the world began, having promised and en-
gaged to the Father that, in the fulness of time, he would come into
the world, assume our nature, be made under the law, tread the wine-
press of the Father s wrath, bear the curse, and give satisfaction to his
justice ;2 now upon the credit of this promise, upon this undertaking
of Christ, God the Father takes up the patriarchs and all the old
testament believers to glory. God the Father, resting upon the pro-
mise and engagement of his Son, admits many thousands into those
mansions above, before Christ took flesh upon him, John xiv. 2, 3.
^ As man he cries out, ' My God, my God,' &c., when as God he promiaeth paradise to
the penitent thief. — Hilary.
' Titus i. 2 ; Gal. iv. 4 ; Isa. liiii. 3 ; Gal. iii. 13; Rom. viii. 3, 4.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 393
Now as the Father of old hath rested and relied on the promise and
engagement of Christ, so Jesus Christ doth, to this very day, rest and
stay himself upon the promise of his Father, that he shall, in due time,
* see all his seed,' Isa. liii. 10, and reap the full benefit of that full ransom
that he has paid down upon the nail for all that have believed on him,
that do believe on him, and that shall believe on him. Christ knew
God's infinite love, his tender compassions, and his matchless bowels,
to all those for whom he died ; and he knew very well the covenant,
the compact, the agreement that passed between the Father and him-
self ; and so trusted the Father fully in the great business of their
everlasting happiness and blessedness, relying upon the love and faith- ,
fulness of God, his love to the elect, and his faithfulness to keep cove-
nant with him. As the elect are committed to Christ's charge, to give
an account of them, so also is the Father engaged for their conversion,
and for their preservation, being converted ; as being not only his own,
given to Christ out of his love to them, but as being engaged to Christ,
that he shall not be frustrate of the reward of his sufferings, but have
a seed to glorify him for ever, John vi. 37 ; Isa. liii. 11. Therefore
doth Christ not only constantly preserve them by his Spirit, but doth
leave also that burden on the Father : ' Father, keep those whom thou
hast given me,' John xvii. 11. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Jesus Christ promises and engages liimself to his
Father that he would hear all and suffer all that should he laid upon
him, and that he would ransom poor sinners, and fully satisfy divine
justice hy his Mood and death, as you may see by comparing the
scriptures in the margin together.^ The work of redemption could
never have been effected by ' silver or gold,' or by prayers or tears, or
by the ' blood of bulls or goats,' but by the second Adam's obedience,
even to the death of the cross. Eemission of sin, the favour of God,
the heavenly inheritance, could never have been obtained but by the
precious blood of the Son of God. The innocent Lamb of God was
slain in typical prefigurations from the beginning of the world, and
slain in real performance in the fulness of time, or else fallen man
had lain under guilt and wrath for ever. The heart of Jesus Christ
was strongly set upon all those that his Father had given him, and
he was fully resolved to secure them from hell and the curse, what-
ever it cost him ; and seeing no price would satisfy his Father's jus-
tice below his blood, he lays down his life at his Father's feet, according
to the covenant and agreement of old that had passed between his
Father and himself. But,
[5.] Fifthly, The Lord Jesus Christ was very free, ready, willing,
and careful to make good all the articles of the covenant on his side,
and to discharge all the works agreed on for the redemption and sal-
vation of the elect : John xvii. 4, ' I have finished the work that thou
gavest me to do,' John xii. 49, 50, and xvii. 6. There was nothing
committed to Christ by the Father to be done on earth, for the pur-
chasing of our redemption, but he did finish it ; so that the debt is
paid, justice satisfied, and sin, Satan, and death spoiled of all their
1 Isa. 1. 6, 6 ; John x. 17, 18, and xv. 10; Luke ixiv, 46; Heb. x. 5-7, 10. I hare
opened these scriptures already.
394 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
hurting and destroying power, Col. ii. 14, 15, and Heb. ii. 14, By
the covenant of redemption Christ was under an obligation to die, to
satisfy to divine justice, to pay our debts, to bring in an everlasting
righteousness, Dan. ix. 24, to purchase our pardon, and to obtain
eternal redemption for us, Heb. ix, 12 ; all which he completed and
finished before he ascended up to glory : and, without a peradventure,
had not Jesus Christ kept touch with his Father, had not he made
good the covenant, the compact, the agreement on his part, his Father
would never have given him such a welcome to heaven as he did, nor
he would never have admitted him to have ' sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high,' as he did,i Acts i. 9-11. The right
hand is a place of the greatest honour, dignity, and safety that any
can be advanced to. But had not Jesus Christ ' first purged away
our sins,' he had never ' sat down on the right hand of his Father.'
Christ's advancement is properly of his human nature. That nature
wherein Christ was crucified was exalted ; for God, being the Most
High, needs not be exalted; yet the human nature in this exalta-
tion, is not singly and simply considered in itself, but as united to
the deity ; so that it is the person, consisting of two natures, even
God-man, which is thus dignified, Mat. xxvi. 64 ; Acts vii. 56. For
as the human nature of Christ is inferior to God, and is capable of
advancement, so also is the person consisting of a divine and human
nature. Christ, as the Son of God, the second person of the sacred
Trinity, is, in regard of his deity, no whit inferior to his Father, but
every way equal ; yet he assumed our nature, and became a mediator
betwixt God and man ; he humbled himself, and made himself in-
ferior to his Father ; liis Father therefore hath highly exalted him,
and set him down on his right hand, Phil. ii. 8, 9 ; Eph, i. 20. If
Christ had not expiated our sins, and completed the work of our
redemption, he could never have sat down on the right hand of God :
Heb. x. 12, ' But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins,
for ever sat down on the right hand of God.' This verse is added in
opposition to the former, as is evident by the first particle, Si. But
in the former verse it was proved that the sacrifices which were
off'ered under the law could not take away sins. This verse proveth
that there is a sacrifice which hath done that that they could not do.
The argument is taken from that priest's ceasing to offer any more
sacrifices after he had offered one ; whereby is implied that there
needed no other, because that one had done it to the full. Sin was
taken away by Christ's sacrifice, for thereby a ransom was paid, and
satisfaction made to the justice of God for man's sin, and thereupon
sin taken away. Now sin being taken away, Chi'ist ' sits down on
the right hand of his Father.' Look, as the humiliation of Christ
was manifested in offering a sacrifice, so his exaltation, in sitting at
God's right hand, was manifested after that he had offered that
sacrifice. This phrase, ' set down,' is a note of dignity and authority ;
and this dignity and authority is amplified by the place where he is
said to sit down — viz., on ' the right hand of God ;' and this honour
and dignity is much illustrated by the continuance thereof, which
is without date, ' For ever sat down on the right hand of God.' It
1 Heb. i. 3; Rom. viii. 34; Col. iii. 1 ; Heb. viii. 1, and x. 12; 1 Pet. iii. 22.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 395
is an eclipse of the lustre of any glory to have a date and a period.
The very thought that such a glory shall one day cease, will cast a
damp upon the spirit of him that enjoys that glory. Christ's con-
stant sitting at the right hand of his Father is a clear evidence that
he has finished and completed the work of our redemption. Christ
could never have gone to his Father, nor never have sat down at the
right hand of his Father, if he had not first fulfilled all righteousness,
and fully acquitted us of all our iniquities : John xvi. 10, ' Of right-
eousness, because I go to my Father.' The strength of the argument
lies in this, Christ took upon him to be our surety, and he must
acquit us of all our sins, and satisfy his Father's justice, before he
can go to his Father, and be accepted of his Father, and sit down on
the right hand of his Father. If God had not been fully satisfied,
or, if any part of righteousness had been to be fulfilled, Christ should
have been still in the grave, and not gone to heaven ; his very going
to his Father argues all is done, all is finished and completed. But,
[6.] Sixthly, Christ having performed all the conditions of the cove-
nant on his part, he now peremptorily insists upon it, that his Father
should make good to him and his the conditions of the covenant on his
part. Christ having finished his work, looks for his reward : ' Father,'
says he, ' I have glorified thee on earth, 1 have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. And now, Father, glorify thou me
with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the
world was,' John xvii. 4, 5. There was a most blessed transaction
between God the Father and God the Son before the world began, for
the everlasting good of the elect ; and upon that transaction depends
all the good, and all the happiness, and all the salvation of God's
chosen ; ^ and upon this ground pleads with his Father, that all his
members may behold his glory : John xvii. 24, ' Father, I will that
they also which thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory ; ' ' Father, I will,' not only I pray, I beseech,
but ' I will ; ' I ask this as my right, by virtue of the covenant be-
twixt us ; I have done thus and thus, and I have suffered thus and
thus, and therefore I cannot but peremptorily insist upon it, that those
that J have undertaken for, ' be where I am, that they may behold my
glory ; ' for though glory be a gift to us, yet it is a debt due to Christ.
It is a part of Christ's joy that we should be where he is. Christ will
not be happy alone. As a tender father, he can enjoy nothing if his
children may not have part with him. The greatest part of our happi-
ness that we shall have in heaven lies in this, that then we shall be with
Christ, and have immediate communion with him. sirs ! the great
end of our being in heaven is to behold and enjoy the glory of Christ,
Christ is very desirous, and much taken up with his people's fellowship
and company, so that before he removes his bodily presence from them,
his heart is upon meeting and fellowship again, as here we see in his
prayer before his departure ; and this he makes evident from day to
day, in that until that time of meeting come, two or three are not
gathered in his name but he is in the midst of them, Mat. xviii. 20,
to eye their behaviour, to hear their suits, to guide their way, to pro-
^ This transaction between the Father and the Son is worthy of our most deep, serious,
and frequent meditation.
396 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
tect their persons, to cheer their spirits, and to delight in their pre-
sence. He delights to ' walk in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks,' Kev. ii. 1. The golden candlesticks are the churches,
which are ' the light of the world/ Mat. v. 14, 16, and excel all other
societies as much as gold doth other metals. And he desires to dwell
in the low and little hill of Zion, Ps. Ixviii. 16. Zion is his resting-
place, his chosen place, his dwelling-place : Ps. cxxxii. 13, ' For the
Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation ; ' ver. 14,
' This is my rest for ever : here will I dwell, for I have desired it.'
Christ chose Zion for his love, and loves it for his choice ; and accord-
ingly he delights to dwell there. The Lamb stands on mount Zion,
Kev. xiv. 1. Christ is ready prest for action ; and in the midst of all
antichrist's persecutions he hath always a watchful eye over mount
Zion, and will be a sure life-guard to mount Zion, Isa. iv. 5, 6 ; he stands
readily prepared to assist mount Zion, to fight for mount Zion, to com-
municate to mount Zion, and to be a refuge to mount Zion ; and no
wonder, for he ' dwells in mount Zion,' Isa. viii. 18. Now if Christ take
so much delight to have spiritual communion with his people in this
world, no wonder that he can never rest satisfied till their gracious com-
munion with him here issue in their perfect and glorious communion with
him in heaven.^ And certainly the glory and happiness of heaven to
the elect will consist much in being in Christ's company, in whom they
delight so much on earth. To follow the Lamb whithersoever he
goes, to enjoy him fully, and to be always in his presence, is the heaven
of heaven, the glory of glory ; it is the sparkling diamond in the ring
of glory. The day is coming wherein believers shall be completely
happy in a sight of Christ's glory, when he shall be conspicuously
glorified and admired in all his saints, and glorified by them ; and
when all veils being laid aside, and they fitted for a more full fruition,
shall visibly and immediately behold and enjoy him ; therefore is
their condition in heaven described, as consisting in this, that they
* may behold my glory which thou hast given me.' Thus I have
glanced at Christ's solemn demand on earth for the full accomplish-
ment of that blessed compact, covenant, agreement, and promises that
were made to him when he undertook the office of a mediator ; and
now in heaven he appears * in the presence of God for us,' Heb. ix.
25, as a lawyer appears in open court for his client, opens the case,
pleads the cause, and carries the day. The verb, i/j.(f>aviad7]vai, trans-
lated ' to appear,' signifieth conspicuously ' to manifest.' It is some-
times taken in a good sense, viz., to appear for one as a favourite
before a prince, or as an advocate or an attorney before a judge, or as
the high-priests appeared once a year in the holy of holies, to
make atonement for the people, Exod. xxx. 10. Christ is the
great favourite in the court of glory, and is always at God's right
hand, ready on all occasions to present our petitions to his Father, to
pacify his anger, and to obtain all noble and needful favours for us,
E,om. viii. 34. And Christ is our great advocate to plead our cause
effectually for us, 1 John ii. 1. Look, as in human courts there is the
^ 2 Cor, vi. 16, ' I will dwell in them.' The words are very significant in the original,
lvoiK-fi<Tw h dvToit, ' I will indwell in them.' So the words are. There are two ins in
the original, as if God could never have enough communion with them, 2 Thes. i. 10.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 397
guilty, the accuser, the court, the judge, and the advocate ; so it is
here. Heaven is the court, man is the guilty person,^Satan is the
accuser, God is the judge, and Christ is the advocate. •*5f Now look, as
the advocate appeareth in the court before the judge to plead for
the guilty against the accuser, so doth Christ appear before God in
heaven, to answer all Satan's objections and accusations that he may
make in the court of heaven against us. ' He ever lives to make
intercession for us,' Heb. vii. 25. The verb, ivTir/)(aveiv. translated
* intercession,' is a compound, and signifies ' to call upon one.' It is
a judicial word, and importeth a calling upon a judge to be heard in
this or that, against another or for another ; so here Christ maketh
intercession for them, Acts xxv. 24 ; Eom. xi. 2, and viii. 34. The
metaphor is taken from attorneys or advocates who appear for men in
courts of justice ; from counsellors, who plead their client's cause,
answer the adversary, supplicate the judge, and procure sentence to
pass on their client's side. This act of making intercession may also
be taken from kings' favourites, who are much in the king's presence,
and ever ready to make request for their friends. But remember,
though this be thus attributed to Christ, yet we may not think that
in heaven Christ prostrateth himself before him, or maketh actual
prayers ; that was a part of his humiliation which he did in the days
of his flesh ; but it implieth a presenting of himself a sacrifice, a
surety, and one that hath made satisfaction for all our sins, together
with manifesting of his will and desires, that such and such should
partake of the virtue and benefit of his sacrifice, Heb. v. 7, so as
Christ's intercession consisteth rather in the perpetual vigour of his
sacrifice and continual application thereof, than in any actuarsuppli-
cation. The intendment of this phrase applied to Christ, ' to make
intercession,' is to shew that Christ, being God's favourite, and our
advocate, continually appeareth before God, to make application of
that sacrifice which once he off'ered up for our sins. Christ appears
in the presence of God for us ; (1.) To present unto his Father him-
self, who is the price of our redemption ; (2.) To make application of
his sacrifice to his church time after time, according to the need of
the several members thereof ; (3.) To make our persons, prayers, ser-
vices, and all good things acceptable to God. But,
[7.] Seventhly and lastly, The ivhole compact and agreement between
God the Father and our Lord Jesus Chi'ist, about the redemption of
poor sinners souls, was really and solemnly transacted in open court;
or, as I may say, in the high court of justice above, in the presence of
the great public notary of heaven — viz., the Holy Ghost; who being a
third person of the glorious Trinity, of the same divine essence, and of
equal power and glory, makes up a third legal witness with the Father
and the Son. They being, after the manner of kings,i their own wit-
nesses also : 1 John v. 7, ' For there be three that bear record in
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three
are one.' Three, (1.) In the true and real distinction of their per-
^ So the king writes, Teste meipso. This, 1 John v. 7, is a very clear proof and testi-
mony of the Trinity of persons; in the unity of the divine essence ; they are all one in
essence and will. As if three lamps were lighted in one chamber, albeit the lamps be
divers, yet the lights cannot be severed ; so in the Godhead, as there is a distinction of
persons, so a simplicity of nature.
398 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION
sons ; (2.) In their inward properties, as to beget, to be begotten, and
to proceed ; (3.) In their several offices one to another, as to send and
to be sent : ' And these three are one,' one in nature and essence, one
in power and will, one in the act of producing all such actions as,
without themselves, any of them is said to act ; and one in their testi-
mony concerning the covenant of redemption that was agreed on be-
tween the Father and the Son. Consent of all parties, the allowance
of the judge, and public record, is as much as can be desired to make
all public contracts authentic in courts of justice ; and what can we
desire more, to settle, satisfy, and assure our own souls that all the
articles of the covenant of redemption shall, on all hands, be certainly
made good, than this, that these three heavenly witnesses, God the
Father, God the Son, and God the v Holy Ghost, do all agree to the
articles of the covenant, and are all witnesses to the same covenant ?
Thus you see that there. was a covenant of redemption made with
Christ ; upon the terms whereof he is constituted to be a Kedeemer ;
* to say to the prisoners, go forth, to bring deliverance to the captives,
and to proclaim the year of release (or jubilee) the acceptable year of
the Lord,' as it is, Isa. Ixi. 1, 2. I have been the longer in opening
the covenant of redemption, partly because of its grand importance to
all our souls, and partly because others have spoken so little to it, to the
best of my observation, and partly because I have never before handled
this subject, either in the pulpit or the press, &c.
Now from the serious consideration of this comjoact, covenant, and
agreement, that was solemnly made between God and Christ, touching
the whole business of man's salvation or redemption, I may form up
this tenth plea as to the ten scriptures that are in the margin, i^ that
refer to the great day of account, or to a man's particular day of ac-
count. blessed God ! I have read over the articles of the covenant
of redemption thatiuere agreed on between thyself and thy dearest Son;
and I find by those articles that dear Jesus has died, and satisfied thy
justice, and pacified thy lorath, and bore the curse, and purchased my
pardon, and procured thy everlasting favour : and I find by the same
articles that luhatever Jesus Christ acted or suffered, he did act or
suffer as my surety, and in my stead and room. Lord ! when I
look upon my manifold weaknesses and imperfections, though under a
covenant of grace, yet I am many times not only grieved, but also
stumbled and staggered ; but when I look up to the covenant of re-
demption, I am cheered, raised, and quieted; for I am abundantly
satisfied that both thyself and thy dear Son are infinitely ready, able,
willing, and faithful to perform whatever in that covenant is com-
prised, Isa, xxxviii. 16, 17; by these things men live, and in these is
the life of my spirit. Men may fail, and friends may fail, and rela-
tions may fail, and trade may fail, and natural strength may fail, and
my heart may fail, but the covenant of redemption can never fail,
nor the federates, who are mutually engaged in that covenant, can
never fail, Ps. Ixxiii. 24, 25 ; and therefore I am safe and happy for
ever. What though my sins have been great and heinous, yet
they are not greater than Christ's satisfaction ; he did bear the curse
^ Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23 ; Luke xvi. 2; Eom. xiv. 10; 2
Cor. V. 10; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17; 1 Pet. iv. 5; Isa. liii. 6; Kom. v. 6, 8; Gal. ii. 20.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 399
for great sins as well as small, for sins against the gospel as well as
for sins against the law, for omissions as well as for commissions.
Assuredly the covenant of redemption is a mighty thing, and there are
no mighty sins that can stand before that covenant. If we look upon
Manasseh, in those black and ugly colours that the Holy Ghost paints
him out in, we must needs conclude that he was a mighty sinner, a
monstrous sinner, 1 Kings xxi. 1-16 ; and yet his mighty sins, his
monstrous sins, could not stand before the covenant of redemption.
The greatest sins are finite, but the merit of Christ's redemption is
infinite. All the Egyptians were drowned in the Ked Sea. There
remained not so much as one of them ; there was not one of them left
alive to carry the news ; the high and the low, the great and the small,
the rich and the poor, the honourable and the base, were all drowned,
Exod. xiv. 28 ; Ps. cvi. 11. The red sea of Christ's blood drowns all
our sins, whether they are great or small, high or low, &c., ' Though
my sins be as scarlet, my Redeemer will make them as white as snow ;
though they be as red as crimson, they shall be as wool,' Isa. i. 18.
There is not one of my sins for which Jesus Christ hath not suffered
and satisfied, Eph. i. 7 ; Col. i. 14 ; nor there is not one of my sins
for which Jesus Christ hath not purchased a pardon, and for which
he hath not made my peace. Though my sins are innumerable,
though they are more than the hairs of my head, Ps. xl. 12, or the
sands on the sea-shore, yet they are not to be named in the day wherein
the merits of Christ, the satisfaction of Christ, and the covenant of
redemption, is mentioned and pleaded. Be my sins ever so many ;
yea, though they might fill a roll that might reach from east to west,
from north to south, from earth to heaven, yet they could but bring
me under the curse. Now Christ my surety, that he might redeem
me from the curse, hath taken upon him the whole curse. Gal. iii. 13.
I know there is no summing up of my debts, but Christ has paid them
all. Woe had been to me for ever, had Christ left but one penny upon
the score for me to pay. As I have multiplied my sins, so he has
multiplied his pardons, Isa. Iv. 7. Christ has cancelled all bonds, and
therefore it is but justice in God to give me a full acquittance, and to
throw down all bonds as cancelled, saying, ' Deliver him, I have found
a ransom,' Col. ii. 13-15 ; Job xxxiii. 24. God, though my sins
are very many, and very great, yet if thou dost not pardon them, the
innocent blood of thy dearest Son will lie upon thee, and cry out
against thee ; for he therefore died, that my sins might be pardoned ;
so that now, in honour and justice, thou art obliged to ' pardon all my
transgressions, and remember mine iniquities no more,' Isa. xliii. 25 ;
Dan. ix. 24. Now this is my plea, holy God, which I make to all
those scriptures that respect my last account, and by this plea I shall
stand. Well, saith God the Father, I accept of this plea, I am pleased
with this plea, thy sins shall not be mentioned, Ezek. xviii. 22 ; ' Enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord.'
I shall now make a little improvement of what has been said as to
the covenant of redemption, and so draw to a conclusion.
First, [1.] This covenant of redemption, as we have opened it,
looks sadly and sourly upon those that make so great a rioise about
the doctrine of universal redemption. The covenant of redemption
400 THE C0VENA1«T OF REDEMPTION
. extends itself, not to every man in the world, but only to those that
are ' given by God the Father to Jesus Christ.' l [2.] It looks sadly
and sourly upon those that make so great a noise about Gods choosing
or electing of men, upon the account of God's foreseeing their faith,
good works, obedience, holiness, when our election is merely of grace
and favour, and flows only from ' the good will of him that dwelt in
the bush ;' and faith, good works, holiness, sanctification, are the
fruits and effects of election, as the Scripture everywhere tells us,2
and as has been made evident in my opening the gracious terms of
the covenant of redemption. But because I have, in another place,
treated of these things more largely, a touch here may suffice. But,
(2.) Secondly, Hoio should this covenant of redemption spirit ani-
mate and encourage all the redeemed of God,, to do anything for
Christ, to suffer anything for Christ, to venture anything for Christ,
to part with anything for Christ, to give up anything to Christ, who,
according to the covenant of redemption, hath done and suffered such
great and grievous things, that he might bring us to glory, that are
above all apprehensions, and beyond all expressions, Mark viii. 34, 35,
38 ; Heb. x. 34, and xi. Who can tell me what is fully wrapped up
in that one expression — viz., ' That he poured out his soul unto death,'
Heb. ii. 10, 11. Let us not shrink, nor faint, nor grow weary under
our greatest sufferings for Christ. When suiferings multiply, when
they are sharp, when they are more bitter than gall or wormwood, yea,
more bitter than death itself, then remember the covenant of re-
demption, and how punctually Christ made good all the articles of it
on his side, and then faint and give out if you can. Well may I be
afraid, but 1 do not therefore despair, for I think upon and remember
the wounds of the Lord, saith one, [Austin.] Nolo vivere sine vulnere,
cum te video vulneratum ; my God, as long as I see thy wounds,
I will never live without wound, saith another, [Bonaventura.] Crux
Christi clavis paradisi ; The cross of Christ is the golden key that
opens paradise to us, saith one, [Damascene.] I had rather, with the
martyrs and confessors, have my Saviour's cross, than, with their per-
secutors, the world's crown. The harder we are put to it, the greater
shall be our reward in heaven, saith another, [Tertullian.] Gordius
the martyr hit the nail, when he said, it is to my loss if you abate rae
anything in my sufferings, [Chrysostom.] If you suffer not for religion,
you will suffer for a worse thing, saith one. Never did any m;iri
serve me better than you serve me, said another to his persecutors,
[Vincentius.] Adversus gentes, gratias agimus quod d molestis domi-
nis liberemur ; We thank you for delivering us from hard task-masters,
that we may enjoy more sweetly the bosom of our Lord Jesus, said
the martyr. It was a notable saying of Luther, Ecclesia totuin mun-
dum convertit sanguine et oratione ; The church converteth the whole
world by blood and prayers. They may kill me, said Socrates of his
enemies, but they cannot hurt me. So may the redeemed of the Lord
say, they may take away my head, but they cannot take away my
crown of life, of righteousness, of glory, of immortality, Kev. ii. 10 ; 2
^ Mat. xiiv. 16 ; Luke xii. 32 ; Rom. ix. 11, 12, and li. 5-8 ; Horn. viii. 39, 40.
* Deut. vii. 6-8, and ixxiii. 11 ; Rom. ix. 14 ; 2 Tim. i. 9 ; Eph. i. 4 ; Rom. viii. 29
30 ; 2 Thes. ii. 13 ; 1 Pet. i. 2.
VERY CLEARLY AND LARGELY OPENED. 401
Tim. iv. 8 ; 1 Pet. v. 4, 5. The Lacedemonians were wont to say, it is a
shame for any man to fly in time of danger ; but for a Lacedemonian,
it is a shame for him to dehberate. Oh, what a shame is it for
Christians, when they look upon the covenant of redemption, so much
as to deliberate whether they were best to suffer for Christ or no.
Petrus Blesensis has long since observed, that the courtiers of his time
suffered as great trouble, and as many vexations, for vanity, as good
Christians did for the truth. The courtiers suffered weariness and
painfulness, hunger and thirst, with all the catalogue of Paul's afflic-
tions ; and what can the best saints suffer more ? Now shall men
that are strangers to the covenant of redemption, suffer such hard and
great things for their lusts, for very vanity ; and will not you, who
are acquainted with the covenant of redemption, and who are inter-
ested in the covenant of redemption, be ready and willing to suffer
anything for that Jesus, who, according to the covenant of redemption,
has suffered such dreadful things for you, and merited such glorious
things for you ? But,
(3.) Thirdly, From this covenant of redemption, as we have opened it,
you may see what infinite cause loe Jiave to be sioallowed up in the ad-
miration of the Fathers love in entering into this covenant, and in mak-
ing good all the articles of this covenant on his side. When man was
fallen from his primitive purity and glory, from his holiness and happi-
ness, from his freedom and liberty, into a most woeful gulf of sin and
misery ; when angels and men were all at a loss, and knew no way or
means, whereby fallen man might be raised, restored and saved ; that
then God should firstly and freely propose this covenant, and enter
into this covenant, that miserable man might be saved from wrath to
come, and raised and settled in a more safe, high and happy estate
than that was from which he was fallen in Adam, — oh, what wonderful,
what amazing love is this ! ^ Abraham manifested a great deal of love
to God in offering up of his only Isaac, Gen. xxii. 12 ; but God has
shewed far greater love to poor sinners, in making his only Son an
offering for their sins: for [1.] God loved Clirist with a more tran-
scendent love than Abraham could love Isaac; [2.] God was not
bound by the commandment of a superior to do it, as Abraham was,
John X. 18 ; [3.] God freely and voluntarily did it, which Abraham
would never have done without a commandment, Heb. x. 10, 12 ; [4.]
Isaac was to be offered after the manner of holy sacrifices, but Christ
suffered an ignominious death, after the manner of thieves ; [5.] Isaac
was all along in the hands of a tender father, but Christ was all along
in the hands of barbarous enemies ; [6.] Isaac was offered but in show,
but Christ was offered indeed and in very good earnest. Is not this
an excess, yea, a miracle of love ? It is good to be always a-musing
upon this love, and delighting ourselves in this love. But,
(4.) Fourthly, From this covenant of redemption, as we have opened
it, you may see tvhat signal cause ive have to be deeply affected with
the love of Jesus Christ, ivho roundly and readily falls in with this cove-
nant, and ivho has faithfully 'performed all the articles of this covenant.
Had not Jesus Christ kept touch with his Father as to every article
' God 60 loved his Son, that he gave him all the world for his possession, Ps. ii. 8 ;
but he so loved the world tiiat he gave Son and all for its redemption. — Bernard.
VOL. V. 2 C
402 THE COVENANT OF REDEMPTION VERY CLEARLY OPENED.
of the covenant of redemption, he could never have saved us, nor have
satisfied divine justice, nor have been admitted into heaven. That
Jesus Christ might make full satisfaction for all our sins, ' he was
made a curse for us, whereby he hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law,' Gal. iii. 13. All his sufferings were for us. All that can
be desired of God by man is mercy and truth ; mercy in regard of our
misery, truth in reference to God's promises. That which moved
Christ to engage himself as a surety for us was his respect to God and
man : to God, for the honour of his name. Neither the mercy nor the
truth nor the justice of God had been so conspicuously manifested, if
Jesus Christ had not been our surety, to man, and that to help us in
our succourless and desperate estate. No creature either would or
could discharge that debt, wherein man stood obliged to the justice of
God. This is a mighty evidence of the endless love of Christ, this is
an evidence of the endless and matchless love of Christ. We count
it a great evidence of love for a friend to be surety for us when we
intend no damage to him thereupon ; but if a man be surety for that
which he knoweth the principal debtor is not able to pay, and there-
upon purposeth to pay it himself, this we look upon as an extraordi-
nary evidence of love. But what amazing love, what matchless love
is this, for a man to engage his person and life for his friend ! whenas
' skin for skin, and all that a man hath, will he give for his life,' Job
ii. 4 ; and yet, according to the covenant of redemption, Jesus Christ
has done all this and much more for us, as is evident, if you will but
cast your eye back upon the articles of the covenant, or consult the
scriptures in the margin. ^ If a friend, to free a captive, or one con-
demned to death, should put himself into the state and condition of him
whom he freeth, that would be an evidence of love beyond all com-
parison. But now, if the dignity of Christ's person and our unworthi-
ness, if the greatness of the debt and kind of payment, and if the
benefit which we reap thereby, be duly weighed, we shall find these
evidences of love to come as much behind the love of Christ, as the
light of a candle cometh short of the light of the sun. Christ's surety-
ship, according to the covenant of redemption, is and ought to be a
prop of props to our faith. It is as sure a ground of confidence that
all is well, and shall be for ever well between God and us, as any the
Scriptures does afford. By virtue hereof we have a right to appeal
to God's justice, for this surety hath made full satisfaction ; and to
exact a debt which is fully satisfied is a point of injustice. Christ
knew very well what the redemption of fallen man would cost him,
Solus amor nescit dijfficultates ; he knew that his life and blood must
go for it ; he knew that he must lay by his robes of majesty, and be
clothed with flesh ; he knew that he must encounter men and devils ;
he knew that he must tread the wine-press of his Father's wrath, bear
the curse, and make himself an offering for our sins, for our sakes, for
our salvation ; yet, for all this, he is very ready and willing to bind
himself by covenant, that he will redeem us, whatever it cost him.
Oh, what tongue can express, what heart can conceive, what soul can
comprehend, * the heights, depths, breadths, and lengths of this love' ?
1 John X. 11, 15, 17, 18, 28; Rom. v. 6, &c. ; Eph. i. 5-7, &c. ; Col. ii. 13-15; Heb.
ii. 13-15.
OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, ETC. 403
Eph. iii. 18, 19.^ blessed Jesus, what manner of love is this ! that
thou shouldst wash away my scarlet sins in thine own blood ! that
thou shouldst die that I may live ! that thou shouldst be cursed that
I might be blessed ! that thou shouldst undergo the pains of hell
that I might enjoy the joys of heaven ! that the face of God should
be clouded from thee, that his everlasting favour might rest upon me !
that thou shouldst be an everlasting screen betwixt the wrath of God
and my immortal soul ! that thou shouldst do for me beyond all
expression, and suffer for me beyond all conception, and gloriously
provide for me beyond all expectation ! and all this according to the
covenant of redemption ! What shall I say, what can I say to all
this, but fall down before thy grace, and spend my days in wonder-
ing at that matchless, bottomless love, that can never be fathomed by
angels or men ! Lord Jesus, saith one, plusquam mea, pliisquara
meos, plusquam me ; I love thee more than all my goods, and I love
thee more than all my friends, yea, I love thee more than my very
self, [Bernard.] It is good to write after this copy. But,
XI. The eleventh and last plea that a believer may form up as
to the ten scriptures that are in the margin,'-^ that refer to the great
day of account, or to a man's particular account, may be drawn up
from the consideration of the hook of life, out of which all the saints
slmll he judged in the great day of our Lord: Rev. xx. 11, 'And
I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away ; and there was found no place for
them :' ver. 12, ' And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before
God : and the books were opened ; and another book was opened,
which is the book of life : and the dead were judged out of those things
which were "written in the books, according to their works :' ver. 13,
' And the sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and death and hell
delivered up the dead which were in them : and they were judged
every man according to their works:' ver. 14, 'And death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire.' In the 11th verse John describes the judge with his pre-
paration ; in the 12th verse he describes the persons that should
be judged ; and then he describes the process and sentence ; and lastly,
he describes the execution of the sentence, viz., the casting of the
reprobates into the lake of fire, and the placing and fixing of the elect
in the heavenly Jerusalem, ver. 13-15.
In the five last verses cited you have a clear and full description of
the last general judgment, as is evident by the native ^ context and
series of this chapter, Rev. xx. 1-3. For having spoken of the devil's
last judgment, which, by Jude, is called ' The judgment of the great
day,' Jude 6 ; it is consentaneous, therefore, to understand this of
such a judgment whereby he is judged. And, indeed, the expressions
are so full, and the matter and circumstances so satisfying and convinc-
ing, that they leave no place for fears, doubts, or disputes. This
^ Look where thou wilt, thou art surrounded with flames of his love; and it were
strange if thou shouldst not be set on fire ; if not, sure thou must needs be a diabolical
salamander, says Cusanus.
^ Eccles. X. 9, and xii. 14 ; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23 ; Luke ivi. 2 ; Rom. xiv. 10 ; 2
Cor. V. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17 ; 1 Pet. iv. 5. ^ ' Neighbouring.'— G.
404 OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, OUT OF WHICH
scripture that is under our present consideration runs parallel with
that Dan, xii. 1-3, and several other places of Scripture where the day
of judgment is spoken of ; and let him that can, shew me at what
other judgment all the dead are raised and judged, and all reprobates
sent to hell, and all the elect brought to heaven, and death and
hell cast into the lake ; all which are plainly expressed here. ■ He
shall be an Apollo to me that can make these things that are here
spoken of to agree with any other judgment than the last judg-
ment. Let me give a little light into this scripture, before I improve
it to that purpose for which I have cited it.
' And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it : ' a lively
description of the last judgment, ' a great throne.' ' Great,' because it
is set up for the general judgment of all, for the universal judgment
of the whole world. Before this throne all the great ones of the world
must stand, — popes, emperors, kings, princes," nobles, judges, prelates,
without their mitres, crowns, sceptres, royal robes, gold chains, &c., —
and before this throne all other sorts and ranks of men must stand.
And he that sits upon this throne is a great King, and a great God
above all gods ; he is ' Prince of the kings of the earth, who is King
of kings, and Lord of lords,' i Eev. i. 5, xvii. 14, and xix. 16. Upon all
which accounts this throne may well be called a great throne ; and it is
called ' a white throne,' because of its celestial splendour and majesty,
and to shew the uprightness and glory of the judge. The white
colour in Scripture is used to represent purity and glory. Here it
signifies that Christ, the judge, shall give most just and righteous
judgment, free from all spot of partiality.
' From whose face the heaven and the earth fled away.' The
splendour and majesty of the judge is such, as neither heaven nor earth
is able to behold or abide the same ; how then shall the wicked be
able to stand before him ? Augustine understands it, for the future
renovation of heaven and earth ; and here he acknowledgeth an varepo-
o-t9,'^ for the heaven and the earth fled not before, but after the judg-
ment ; to wit, saith he, the judgment being finished, then shall this
heaven and earth cease to be, ' when the new heaven and earth shall
begin ; ' for this world shall pass away by a change of things, not by
an utter destruction. ' The heaven and the earth shall flee away ; ' that
is, this shape of heaven and earth shall pass away ; because they shall
be changed from vanity, through fire, that so they may be transformed
into a much better and more beautiful estate ; according to that which
the apostle Peter writeth, ' The heaven shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements melt with heat ; but we expect new heavens
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,' 1 Pet. iii. 12. How
this passing away, or perishing of heaven and earth, shall come to pass,
there are divers opinions of learned men. Some think that the sub-
stance or essence itself of the world shall wholly perish and be anni-
hilated. Others are of opinion, that only the corruptible qualities
thereof shall perish and be changed, and the substance or essence re-
^ All the thrones of the kings of the earth, with Solomon's golden throne, are but
petty thrones to this throne ; yea, they are but footstools to this throne ; and therefore
upon this single ground it may well be called a great throne.
' Hysterona is, when a thing is before put down, which should come after, or con-
trariwiee. Aug. lib. xx., de C. D., c. 14 ; 1 Pet. iii. 12.
ALL THE SAINTS SHALL BE JUDGED, ETC. 405
main. There shall be a renovation of all things, say most, and that
only the fashion of the world, that is, the outward form and corruptible
qualities, shall be destroyed ; and so the earth shall be found no more
as it was, but shall be made most beautiful and glorious, being to be
* delivered into the glorious liberty,' as far as it is capable, ' of the sons
of God,' Kom. viii. 19-22 ; being to be freed from corruption and
bondage ; and with these I close. The sum of the 21st verse is, that
the creature shall not be always subject to vanity, but shall have a
manumission from bondage ; of the which deliverance, three things
are declared ; First, Who the creature [is], that is, ' the world ;'
Secondly, From what, from ' corruption,' which is a bondage ; Thirdly,
Into what estate, into ' the glorious liberty of the sons of God.' Some
here note the time of the deliverance of the creature, namely, when
the children of God shall be wholly set free ; for though they have
here a freedom unto righteousness, from the bondage of sin, yet they
have not a freedom of glory, which is from the bondage of misery.
But others take it for the state itself which shall be glorious, not the
same with the children of God, but proportioned according to its kind
with them ; for it is most suitable to the liberty of the faithful, that
as they are renewed, so also should their habitation. And as when a
nobleman mourneth, his servants are all clad in black ; so it is for the
greater glory of man, that the creatures, his servants, should in their
kind partake of his glory. And whereas some say that it is deliver-
ance enough for the creature, if it cease to serve man, and have an
end of vanity, by annihilation, I affirm, it is not enough, because this
21st verse notes, not only such deliverance, but also a further estate
which it shall have after such deliverance — namely, to communicate
in some degree, with the children of God in glory. Certainly the
creatures, in their kind and manner, shall be made partakers of a far
better estate than they had while the world endured ; because that
God shall fully and wholly restore the world, being fallen into corrup-
tion through the transgression and sin of mankind. And this doth
more plainly appear by the apostle's opposing subsequent liberty
against former bondage ; which, that he might more enlarge, he
calleth it not simply freedom or liberty, but liberty of glory, as it is in
the Greek text,i meaning thereby, according to the phrase and pro-
priety of the Hebrew tongue, glorious liberty, or liberty that bringeth
glory with it ; under which term of glory, he compriseth the excellent
estate that they shall be in after their delivery from their former base-
ness and servitude. As for those words, of the ' sons of God,' to
which we must refer the glorious liberty before mentioned, they must
be understood by a certain proportion or similitude thus ; that as in
that great day, and not before, God's children shall be graciously freed
from all dangers and distresses of this life whatsoever, either in body
or soul, and on the other side, made perfect partakers of eternal blessed-
ness ; so the creatures then, and not before, shall be delivered from
the vanity of man, and their own corruption, and restored to a far
^ eXevOepiav t^s So^tjs. If any shall inquire what shall be the particular properties,
works, and uses of all and every creature after the last judgment, I answer, (1 .) That
as to these things the word is silent, and it is not safe to be wise above what is written ;
(2.) Here is place for that which Tertuliian calls a learned ignorance.
406 OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, OUT OF WHICH
better estate than at present they enjoy; which also may further
appear by the words the apostle useth, setting glorious liberty, deliver-
ance and freedom, against servile bondage and slavery. Chrysostom
reads Bt,a, for the glorious liberty of the sons of God : as if the end or
final cause of their deliverance were pointed at, namely, that as God
made the world for man, and for man's sin subdued it to vanity ; so
he would deliver it and restore it for men, even to illustrate and en-
large the glory of God's children. I could, by variety of arguments,
prove that this deliverance of the creature that our apostle speaks of,
shall not be by a reduction into nothing, but by an alteration into a
better estate. But I must hasten to a close.
Ver. 12, ' And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God.'
The judge, before whom all do appear, is our dear Lord Jesus, ' who
hath the keys of hell and death in his hands,' Kev. i. 18 ; Acts xvii,
30, 31, and who is designed and appointed by God the Father to be
the judge of quick and dead. He hath authority, and a commission
mider his Father's hand, to sit and act as judge. Here you see that
John calleth the judge absolutely God, but Christ is the judge;
therefore Christ is God absolutely ; and he will appear to be God in
our nature in that great day.
The parties judged, who stand before the throne, are, (1.) Generally
* the dead,' all who had died from Adam to the last day. He calls
them ' the dead,' after the common law of nature, but then raised
from death to life by the power of God, Eph. ii. 5 ; Col. ii. 13. He
speaks not of men dead in sins and trespasses, but of such as died
corporally, and now were raised up to judgment. But shall not the
living then be judged ? Oh, yes ! ' For we must all appear before
the judgment-seat of Christ: that he may be judge of the quick and
the dead, and be Lord both of the dead and the living,' 2 Oor. v. 10 ;
Kom. xiv. 9, 10. Under this phrase, ' the dead,' are comprehended
all those that then shall be found alive. By ' the dead ' we are to
understand the living also, by an argument from the lesser. If the
dead shall appear before the judgment-seat, how much more the
living ! But the dead alone are named, either because the number
of the dead, from Adam to the last day, shall be far greater than
those that shall be found alive on earth in that day, or because those
that remain alive shall be accounted as dead, because ' they shall be
changed in the twinkling of an eye,' 1 Cor. xv. 52. Secondly, He
describes them from their age and condition, for the words may be
understood of both ' great and small,' which takes in all sorts of men,
tyrants, emperors, kings, princes, dukes, lords, <fec., as well as sub-
jects, vassals, slaves, beggars ; rich and poor, strong and weak, bond
and free, old and young. All and every one, without exception, are
to be judged ; for the judgment shall be universal. No man shall be
so great as to escape tlie same, nor none so small as to be excluded ;
but every one shall have justice done him, without respect of persons,
as that great apostle Paul tells us, ' We must all appear before the
judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done
in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or
bad/ 2 Cor. v. 10. I am no admirer of the schoolmen's notion, who
suppose that all shall be raised about the age of thirty-three, which
ALL THE SAINTS SHALL BE JUDGED, ETC. 407
was Christ's age; but do judge that that perfection, which consisteth
in the conforming them to Christ's glorious body, is of another kind
than to respect either age, stature, or the like.!
' Stand before God,' that is, brought to judgment. The guilty-
standing ready to be condemned, and the saints standing ready in
Christ's presence to be absolved and pronounced blessed, John iii. 18.
' And the books were opened,' Christ the judge being set on his
throne, and having all the world before him, ' the books are opened.'
(1.) In the general the books are said to be open. (2.) Here is a
special book for the elect, ' The book of life was opened,' (3.) Here
you have sentence passed and pronounced, ' according to what was
written in these books, and according to their works : and the dead
were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works.' Here the judicial process is noted by
imitation of human courts, in which the whole process is wont to be
drawn up, and laid before the judge, from whence the judge deter-
mineth for or against the person, according to the acts and proofs that
lie open before him. The equity, justice, and righteousness of Christ
the judge, that sits on his white throne, is set forth by a metaphor
taken from human courts, where the judge pronounceth sentence
according to the written law, and the acts and proofs agreeing there-
unto. 'All things are naked and bare before him, whose eyes are as a
flame of fire,' Heb. iv. 13 ; Eev. i. 14, But to shew that the judg-
ment shall be as accurate and particular in the trial, and just and
righteous in the close, as if all were registered and put on record,
nothing shall escape or be mistaken in its circumstances, but all things
shall be so cleared and issued beyond all doubts and disputes, as
if an exact register of them had been kept and published ; in all
which there is a plain allusion unto the words of Daniel, speaking
thus of this judgment, ' The judgment was set, and the books were
opened,' Dan. vii, 10, We find six several books mentioned in the
Scripture.
[1.] The hook of nature, that is mentioned by David, ' Thine eyes
did see my substance, yet being unperfect ; and in thy book all my
members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as
yet there was none of them,' Ps. cxxxix. 16.2 It is a metaphor from
curious workmen, that do all by the book, or by a model set before
them, that nothing may be deficient or done amiss. Had God left
out an eye in his commonplace-book, saith one, thou hadst wanted it.
' The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth
his handiwork.' The psahnist looks upon that great volume of
heaven and earth, and there reads in capital letters the prints and
characters of God's glory. This book, saith one, was imprinted at
the New Jerusalem by the finger of Jehovah ; and is not to be sold,
but to be seen, at the sign of glory, of every one that lifts up his eyes
to heaven. In this book of nature, which is made up of three great
leaves, heaven, earth, and sea, God hath made himself visible, yea,
legible, ' even his eternal power and godhead,' Kom. i. 20. So that
^ See General Index, under ' Resurrection,' for more on this point. — G.
* The world, saith Clemens Alexandrinus, is, Dei IScriptura, the first Bihle that God
made for the instruction of man.
408 OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, OUT OF WHICH
all men are left without excuse. Out of this book the poor blind
Gentiles might have learned many choice lessons, as, first, that they
had a maker ; secondly, that tliis maker, being before the things
made, is eternal, without beginning or ending ; thirdly, that he must
needs be almighty, which made all things out of nothing, and sustained
such a mass of creatures ; fourthly, the order, variety, and distinction
of creatures declare his marvellous wisdom ; fifthly, in this book they
might run and read the great goodness, and the admirable kindness of
God to the sons of men, in making all the creatures for their good, for
their service, and benefit ; sixthly and lastly, in this book they might
run and read what a most excellent, what a most admirable, what a
most transcendent workman God was. What are the heavens, the
earth, the sea, but a sheet of royal paper, written all over with the
wisdom and power of God ? Now, in the great day of account, this
book shall be produced to witness against the heathen world, because
they did not live up to the light that was held forth to them in this
book, but crucified that light and knowledge by false ways of worship,
and by their wicked manners, whereof the apostle gives you a bead-
roll or catalogue, from verse 21st to the end of that 1st of the Romans.
But,
[2.] Secondly, There is the booh of providence, wherein all parti-
culars are registered, even such as atheists may count trivial and in-
considerable : Mat. X. 30, * But the very hairs of your head are all
numbered.' And where is their number summed up ? Even in the
book of provideuce. The three worthies were taken out of the fiery
furnace, with their hairs in full number, not one of them singed, Dan.
iii. 27. Paul, encouraging the passengers to eat, who were in fear
and danger of death, tells them that ' there should not a hair fall from
the head of any of them,' Acts xxvii. 34. And when Saul would have
put Jonathan to death, the people told him ' that there should not
a hair of his head fall to the ground,' 1 Sam. xiv. 45. Christ doth not
say that the hairs of your eyelids are numbered, but the hairs of your
head, where there is the greatest plenty, and the least use. Though
hair is but an excrement, and the most contemptible part of man, yet
every hair of an elect person is observed and registered down in God's
books, and not one of them shall be lost. Nor the Holy Ghost doth
not say the hairs of your heads shall he numbered, but the hairs of
your head are all numbered. God has already booked them all down,
and all to shew us that special, that singular care that God takes of
the smallest and least concernments of his chosen ones. This book of
providence God will produce in the great day, to confute and condemn
the atheists of the world, who have denied a divine providence, and
whose hearts have swelled against his government of the world, ' ac-
cording to the counsels of his own heart.' But,
[3.] Thirdly, There is the book of men's afflictions. This some
account an entire book of itself: Ps. Ivi. 8, ' Thou tellest my wander-
ings ; put thou my tears into thy bottle ; are they not in thy book ? ' ^
God told all those weary steps that David took in passing over those
^ The Septuagint, for my wanderings or Sittings, have Zwt^j', ' my life,' to teach us,
Siiith one. that our life is but a flitting.
ALL THE SAINTS SHALL BE JUDGED, ETC. 409
two great forests, when he fled from Saul, or thou cipherest up my
flittings, as the words may be read. Whilst David was hunted up and
down like a partridge, and hushed i out of every bush, and had no cer-
tain dwelling-place, but driven from post to pillar, from one country
to another, God was all this while a-noting down and a-numbering
of his flittings, and a-bottling up his tears, and a-booking down his
sighs: ' Put thou my tears into thy bottle ;' Heb., 'my tear,' that is,
every tear of mine ; let not one of them be lost, but kept safe with
thee, as so much sweet water. God is said in Scripture to have a bag
and a bottle : a bag for our sins, and a bottle for our tears. And oh
that we would all labour to fill liis bottle with our tears, as we have
filled his bag with our sins ; and certainly if the white tears of his
servants be bottled up, the red tears of their blood shall not be cast
away. If God keeps the tears of the saints in store, much more will
he remember their blood, to avenge it ; and though tyrants burn the
bones of the saints,^ yet they cannot blot out their tears and blood out
of God's register : ' Are they not in thy book ? ' are they not in thy
register, or book of accounts, where they cannot be blotted out by any
time or tyrants ? i.e., yes, certainly they are ; thou dost assuredly book
them down, and wilt never forget one of them, according to the usual
interrogatory that was used among the Hebrews when they aflSrmed a
thing past all doubt. Let the great Nimrods and oppressors of the
saints look to themselves, for God books down all the afflictions, suf-
ferings, and persecutions of his servants ; and in the great day he will
bring in this book, this register, to witness against them. Ah, sinners,
sinners ! look to yourselves. In the great day of account, the Lord
will reckon with you for every rod that he hath spent upon you ; he
will reckon with you, not only for all your mercies, but also for all
your crosses; not only for all your sweets, but also for all your bitters;
not only for all your cordials, but also for all your corrosives. In this
book of afflictions there is not only item for this mercy and that, but
item also for this affliction and that, this sickness and that, this cross
and that, this loss and that. And will not the opening of this book of
the saints' afflictions and sufferings, and of sinners' afflictions and suf-
ferings, be as the handwriting upon the wall, to all the wicked of the
earth, in the great day of account ? Dan. v. 5, 6. Surely yes ; for as
they cannot answer for one mercy of ten thousand that they have en-
joyed, so they cannot answer for one affliction of ten thousand that
they have been exercised with. But,
[4.] Fourthly, There is the hook of conscience. Conscience, saith
Philo, is the little consistory of the soul. Conscience is mille testes, a
thousand witnesses, for or against a man, Kom. ii. 14, 15. Conscience
is God's preacher in the bosom. Conscience hath a good memory,
saith one. The chief butler forgot the promise that he had made to
Joseph, but conscience told him of it. Gen. xli. 9. Fama propter
homines^ conscientia propter Deum, saith Augustine : a good name will
carry it amongst men, but it is a good conscience only that can acquit
' ' startled,' as birds by a cry or shout. — G.
" Cf. Sibbes, ii., 370, and note m, 434. — G.
^ The conscience is a domestic and true tribunal, saitli [Gregory] Xazianzen.
410 OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, OUT OF WHICH
US before God. In this great day the book of every man's conscience
shall be opened for their conviction, wherein they shall read their guilt
in legible characters ; for that is a book of record, wherein men's
actions are entered. And although now it be shut up close, and
sinners will by no means be brought to look into it, and though many
things that are written in this book seem to be so greatly obliterated
and blotted that they can hardly be read, yet in that great day of
accounts God will refresh and recover the lustre of those ancient
writings ; and sinners, in that day, shall find that conscience hath an
iron memory. In the last day God will bring the book of conscience
out of the rubbish, as they did the book of the law in Josiah's time ;
and the very laying open of this book before sinners will even put
them beside their wits, and fill them with unspeakable horror and
terror, and be a hell on this side hell unto them, ' In this book they
shall find an exact account of every vain thought they have had, and
of every idle word they have spoken, and of every evil action they have
done ; and oh, what amazement and astonishment will this fill them
with ! By the hoohs in this Rev. xx. 12, Origen does understand the
books of conscience, which now are hid, not from God, but from most
men ; for the hidden things of the heart are not now known, but then
they shall be opened, and manifested to the consciences of every sinner,
so as there shall be no place, no room left for any excuse or plea.i
Ambrose saith that the books that are here said to be opened are the
books of men's consciences and God's omniscience.^ Oh, what dread-
ful challenges and accusations will every sinner be forced to read out
of this book of conscience in the great day ! Oh, how in that great
day will all wicked men wish that they had followed the counsel of the
heathen orator when he said, A recta conscientia ne latum quidem
unguem discedendum ; A man may not depart an hair's-breadth all
his life long from the dictates of a good conscience,^ The book of
God's omniscience takes in all things past, present, and to come,
as if he had kept a diary of every man's thoughts, words, and actions.
But,
[5,] Fifthly, There is the hooh of Scripture ; and of aU books this
book is the most precious book. The book of the creature is but
as the inventory of the goods ; the book of the Scripture is the evidence,
and conveyance, and assurance of all good to us. The book of Scrip-
ture is the book of the statutes and ordinances of the King of heaven,
which must be opened and consulted, and by which all must be judged
in the great day : James ii. 12, ' So speak ye, and so do, as they that
shall be judged by the law of liberty ;' i.e., by the gospel of Jesus Christ,
by the whole word of God, registered in the blessed Scriptures, James
i. 23-25. Now the whole word of God is called the law of liberty ;
because thereby we are born again to a new spiritual life, and so freed
from the bondage and slavery of sin and Satan. ^ Our Lord Jesus
Christ, in his proceedings in the great day of account, will judge us by
^ Comm. ad Rom. xiv. * Ambrose in Ps. i. ' Cic. in OfBc.
* Let the word be president in all assemblies and judgments, saith Beza. In the
Nicene Council, Constantino caused the Bible to be set upon the desk as judge of all con-
troversies. The word shall be the judge of all men's estates at last; everj' man shall
stand or fall according as he holds weight in the balance of the sanctuary.
ALL THE SAINTS SHALL BE JUDGED, ETC. 411
the Scriptures, and pass everlasting sentence upon us according to the
tenor of the Scriptures. At the great and general assizes Christ will
try all causes by the word of God, and pass judgment upon all sorts of
persons according to the word : John xii. 48, ' He that rejecteth me,
and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him : the word
that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.' The
persons that are to be judged in the great day are not believers in
Christ, they are not receivers of Christ, but such as reject his person,
and receive not his doctrine. ' He that rejecteth me, and receiveth
not my words, hath one that judgeth him,' &c. However the rejecters
of Christ may escape judgment for a time, yet they shall never be able
to escape the judgment of the last day ; they shall assuredly, they
shall unavoidably, be judged in the last day. Though the rejecters of
Christ had none to witness against them, yet the word of the Lord
shall be more than a thousand witnesses against them in the great
day, ' The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the
last day.' The word of the Lord is so sure and infallible a word, that
Christ's sentence in the great day, when heaven and earth shall pass
away, 2 Pet. iii. 7, 10-12, shall proceed according to the verdict and
testimony thereof, ' For the word that I have spoken shall judge him
in the last day.' Christ will pronounce then according to what it
saith now ; and that as well in favour of believers as against unbelievers.
Look, as Christ himself is ' ordained to be the judge of quick and
dead,' Acts xvii. 31 ; so the word, the doctrines which he hath de-
livered, will be the rule of all his judicial proceedings, both in acquit-
ting the righteous, and condemning the wicked. By the books in this
Kev. XX. 12, Augustine understands the books of the Old and New
Testament, which shall then be opened ; because, according to them,
the judge will pronounce sentence : i Kom. ii. 16, ' When God shall
judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel,'
which promiseth heaven and happiness to all believers. The sentence
of the last day shall be but a more manifest declaration of that judg-
ment, that the Lord, in this life, most-an-end 2 hath passed upon men.
Heathens shall be judged by the law of nature ; profligate professors by
the written law, and the word preached ; iDelievers by the gospel,
which saith, ' He that believeth shall be saved ; he that believes shall
not perish, but have eternal life ; he that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life ; he that believeth shall not come into condemna-
tion, but is passed from death to life,' Mark xvi. 16 ; John iii. 15, 16, 36,
and V. 24. Christ shall, in the great day, give sentence according to
the doctrine of the gospel, which saith, ' If there be first a willing
mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according
to that he hath not.' The Jesuits report of a student at Paris who,
coming to confession, and not being able, for tears and sobbings, to
speak, was willed by his confessor to write down his sins, which he did ;
and when the confessor received it, the writing vanished, and there
remained nothing but the white and clean paper ; this, say they, was
by a miracle, because of his great contrition. Let the credit of this
^ Lib. XX. De C. Dei. c. 14; and Bede saith the same -with Austin.
*' Continually,' 'generally.' — G.
412 OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, OUT OF WHICH
story be upon the reporter ; but upon the credit of the word of God,
if we believe, really, savingly, and repent unfeignedly, all our sins
shall be blotted out ; and a book of clean paper, in respect of sin, shall
be presented to the judge. But,
[6.] Sixthly and jfastly. There is a book of life : Eev. xx. 12, ' And
another book was opened, which is the book of life.' The book of life
is the book of all those that were elected and redeemed to life through
Christ Jesus. 1 This book of life containeth a register of such par-
ticular persons in whose salvation God from all eternity determined
to have his mercy glorified, and for whom Christ merited faith, re-
pentance, and perseverance, that they should repent, believe, and be
finally saved. ' The book of life shall be opened ;' that is to say, the
decrees of God will be then published and made known, which now
are sealed up in his breast and locked up in his archives. Then it
will be seen who are appointed to life for the glorifying of God's free,
rich, and sovereign grace, and whom he purposed to leave in their
sins, and to perish for ever, for the exaltation of his justice. It is
called ' a book of life,' not that God hath need of a book, but to note
the certainty of predestination — viz., that God knows all and every of
the elect, even as men know a thing which, for memory's sake, they
set down in writing. This book of life shall be opened in the great
day, because then it shall appear who were elect, who reprobates ; who
truly believed in Christ, who not ; who worshipped God in spirit and
in truth, and who not ; who walked with God as Noah, and who not ;
who set uj) God as the object of their fear, who not ; who followed the
Lamb whither ever he went, and who not ; who were sincere, and who
not ; who preferred Christ above ten thousand worlds, and who pre-
ferred Barabbas before Jesus, and their farms, and their oxen, and
their swine, yea, their very lusts, before a Saviour, a Eedeemer ; who
'are sheep, and who are goats. Mat. xxv. 32 ; who are sons, and who
are slaves ; who have mourned for their own sins and the sins of the
time, and who they are that have made a sport of sin, Ezek. ix. 4, 6,
&c. Of this book of life you read often in Scripture : Phil. iv. 3, ' And
I entreat thee also, true yoke-fellow, help those women which laboured
with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow-
labourers, whose names are in the book of life.' Vorsitus thinks it a
speech taken from the custom of soldiers or cities, in which the chosen
soldiers or citizens are by name written in a certain book or roll.
This book or roll is called here ' the book of life,' because therein are
written all the elect who are ordained to eternal life : Eev. iii. 5, ' He
that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I
will not blot out his name out of the book of life.' In this book of life
all ' the just, that live by faith,' are written. The elect are certain
of eternal life, they shall never perish, nor none can ever pluck them
out of the Father's hand, nor out of Christ's hand, John x. 28-31.
God is said to have books metaphorically ; he needs no books to help
^ God neither needeth nor iisetli books to judge by, but this is spoken after the
manner of men. Mordecai's name was registered in the chronicles of Persia, Esth. vi.
1-3 ; and Tamerlane had always by him a catalogue of his best servants and their
good deserts, which he daily perused.
ALL THE SAINTS SHALL BE JUDGED, ETC. 413
his memory ; he does all things by his infinite wisdom, eternal fore-
knowledge, counsel, government, and judgment. But thus men can-
not do ; for whatsoever is done in their councils, cities, families, con-
tracts, &c., for memory's sake, is set down in writing, that so, as there
is occasion, they may look it over, and call to mind such things as
they desire.^ Mark, not to have our names blotted out of the book of
life is to have them always remain therein ; that is, to enjoy eternal
glory ; and what can the soul desire more ? The names of the elect
are written in the book of life. They do not obtain salvation by
chance, but were elected of God to life and happiness before the
foundation of the world. Now their names being once written in the
book of life, they shall never, never be blotted out of that book. In
the book of predestination there is not one blot to be found — the sal-
vation of the elect is most sure and certain : Eev. xiii. 8, ' And all
that dwell on the earth shall worship him, whose names are not
written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world.' The names of the elect are said to be written in the book
of life by a usual metaphor ; for we commonly write down the names
of such as are dear unto us, that we may continually remember them.
So God having in his eternal counsel elected some to salvation, hath
written their names in the book of life ; as our Saviour tells us, ' Ke-
joice, because your names are written in heaven,' Luke x, 20. Some
understand the metaphor of the sonship of the elect ; so that to be
written in the book of life shews that they are heirs of glory ; for we
know that such are to inherit whose names are written in the last
will and testament of men. Of this book of life you may further
read, Kev. xvii. 8, xx. 15, xxi. 27, and xxii. 19.
Now from this book of life, that shall be 0])ened in the great day,
when the other books shall be opened, as hath been shewed, every
sincere Christian may form up this eleventh plea as to the ten scrip-
tures that are in the margin,^ that refer to the great day of account,
or to a man's particular account. 31ost holy and blessed Lord, cast
thine eye upon the book of election, and there thou loiltjlnd my name
written. Now my name being written in that book, I am exempt
from all condemnation, and interested in the great salvation ; my name
being written in the book of life, I am secured from coming into
the judgment of reprobation or condemnation, John v. 14; Rev. xxi.
27. Jesus Christ, who hath written my name in the book of life,
hath made up my accounts for me ; he hath satisfied thy justice, and
pacified thy wrath, and borne the curse, and purchased my pardon, and
put upon me an everlasting righteousness, and given me my quietus
est ; he has crossed out the black lines of my sias with the red lines
of his blood ; he has cancelled all the bonds wherein I stood obliged
to divine justice. I further plead, O blessed Lord, that there is an
immutable connexion betwixt being written in this book of life and
the obtaining of eternal life ; and if the connexion betwixt being
^ The holy God, by an anihropopatheia, speaketh to our capacity; for he doth all
things without the help of books.
^ Eccles. xi. 9, and xii. 14; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23; Luke xvi. 2; Rom. xiv. 10
2 Cor. V. 10; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17; 1 Pet. iv. 5; Dan. ix. 24 ; Col. ii. 14.
414 OF THE BOOK OF LIFE, ETC.
written in this book of life and the obtaining of eternal life were not
peremptory, what reason could there be of opening this book in the
day of judgment? The book of life is a book of sovereign grace,
upon which lies the weight of my salvation, my happiness, my all ;
and therefore by that book I desire to stand or fall. Well, saith the
Lord, I cannot but accept of this plea as holy, honourable, just, and
righteous ; and therefore ' enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, inherit
the kingdom prepared for thee,' Mat. xxv. 21, 34. Thus, by divine
assistance, and by a special and a gracious hand of providence upon
me, I have finished those select and important cases of conscience
which I designed to speak to.
Soli 13 eo ®Ioria in ^cternum.
I
NOTE.
* By the general title page (See page 264, ante) it will be seen that the ' Word in
Season ' is included in the ' Golden Key ; ' but nevertheless it forms a separate treatise,
of which the title-page will be found below.* — G.
* A WORD IN SEASON
To this Present
GENERATION.
OB
A SOBER AND SERIOUS
DISCOURSE
About the favorable, Signal and eminent Presence
of the LORD with his PEOPLE, in their greatest
Troubles, deepest Distresses, and most deadly Dangers.
WITH THE
Resolution of several Questions, concerning the DIVINE
PRESENCE, as also the Reasons and improvements of this
great and glorious Truth.
All tending to encourage Christians in the way of their Duty, in the
face of all Afflictions, Oppositions, and Sufferings that they
may meet with for Righteousness sake from the Serpents seed,
or from Wolves in Sheeps-cloathing.
By THOMAS BROOKS, the Author of the Golden Key
to open hidden Treasures.
But will God indeed dwell on the Earth ? Behold the Heaven, and the
Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this House
that I have builded. 1 Kings 8. 27.
Deui unus est, <fc uhique totus diffusus. Cyprian.
Maximilian the Emperour was so delighted with that Sentence of
PAUL, Si Deus nobiscum. If God he ivith us, icho shall be against
us, that he caused it to be written upon the Walls in most rooms
of his Palace.
LONDON,
Printed for Dorman Newman, at the Sign of the Kings Arms
in the Foultrie. [1675. 4to.]
A GENERAL EPISTLE TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS.
To all afflicted and distressed Christians all the world over, espe-
cially to those that are in bonds for the testimony of Christ in Bristol ;
and to those that are sufferers there, or in any other city, town, country,
or kingdom whatsoever ; and to all that have been deep sufferers in
their names, persons, estates, or liberties, upon the account of their
faithfulness to God, to their light, to their consciences, to their prin-
ciples, to their profession, and to Christ the king and head of his
church ; and to all that have been long prisoners to their beds or
chambers by reason of age, and the common infirmities that do attend
it, or that are under any other afilictive dispensation : and more par-
ticularly to my ancient dear and honoured friend, Mrs Elizabeth Drink-
water, who has been many years the Lord's prisoner, and upon the
matter, kept wholly from public ordinances, by reason of her bodily
weaknesses and infirmities ; though in the want of a greater sanctuary,
God has been ' a little sanctuary' to her soul, Ezek. xi. 16, — Grace,
Mercy, and Peace be multiplied.
Dear and Honoured Friends, — The ensuing treatise about the
signal presence of God with his people, in their greatest troubles,
deepest distresses and most deadly dangers, I present to the service of
all your souls. There has not been any treatise on this subject, that
hath ever fallen under mine eye ; which hath been one great reason to
encourage me in this present undertaking. I know several holy and
learned men have written singularly well upon the gracious presence of
God with his people, in ordinances and in the worship of his house ;
but I know that none have made it their business, their work, to
handle this subject that I have been discoursing on : though a more
excellent, noble, spiritual, seasonable, and necessary subject can rarely
be treated on.
There are ten things that I am very well satisfied in, and to me
they are things of great importance in this present day. And the first
is this — viz.,
1. That there is no engagement from God upon any of Ms people^
to run themselves into suffey^ings luilfully, causelessly, groundlessly.
Christians must not be prodigal of their blood, for their blood is
Christ's. Their estates, their names, their liberties, their all, is his ;
A GENERAL EPISTLE TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 417
they are not their own, they are bought with a price, 1 Cor. vi. 20,
and vii. 23 ; and therefore to him they must be accountable for their
lives, liberties, &c., and therefore they had need be very wary how
they part with them. We must not step out of our way to take up a
cross. The three worthies were passive,! Dan. iii. 20, 21,28. They
did not rush into the fiery furnace, but yielded themselves to be cast
into the fiery furnace ; they did not stubbornly oppose nor struggle
against their enemies, but patiently and quietly yielded their bodies
to the flames : neither did the prophets or apostles step over God's
hedge, to make way to their own sufferings or martyrdom. No men
may, with the Donatists, destroy themselves, rather than they would
conform to this or that religion. No man may have a hand in his
own destruction, no man may cut his throat with his own hands to
avoid a prison, a dungeon, a den, a fiery furnace. Cyprian tells the
Christians in his time, that were ambitious of martyrdom, Non est in
tua potestate, sed in Dei dignatione, martyrium. We may not run
ourselves into prison without a mittimus from heaven. If righteous-
ness lead me into prison, a righteous God will stand by me in prison,
and in the issue, give me a gracious or a glorious deliverance out of
prison. But if I wilfully, causelessly run myself into prison, it will
be a righteous thing with God, to leave me to shift for myself in
prison. If God should meet a man in prison, and say to him — as he
did once to Elijah, 'What dost thou here, Elijah?'^ 1 King xix. 9 —
What dost thou here, man ? is this a fit place for truth's champion?
if a man cannot readily answer. Lord, I have not run myself into a
prison — but it is thyself, it is thy truth, it is thy interest, it is thy
honour, it is my conscience, it is duty that has brought me hither —
what confusion would attend him! Philustrius (?) and Theodoret speak
of some that would compel men to kill them out of an affectation of
martyrdom ; but this was a mad ambition, but no true zeal. It was
an error in Tertullian, to say that afflictions, that sufferings were to be
sought. No man is to make his own cross, nor scourges to whip him-
self ; nor to cast himself into a suffering state, so long as God hath left
him a plain open way to escape suffering without sinning : not but
that most men are more apt and prone to sin themselves out of smart
sufferings, than unwarrantably to run themselves into sufferings ; but
it is good for every Christian to be upon his guard, and not run till God
sends him. Acts ix. 23-25 ; John xx. 19, 26. As a Christian must
not shun sufferings, so he must not seek them.
(2.) Secondly, That afflictions, sufferings, persecutions, hath been
the common lot and portion of the people of God in all the ages of the
world.^ Witness the sufferings of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles,
the primitive Christians, and the martyrs of a later date. Abel was
persecuted by Cain, 1 John iii. 12 ; and Isaac by Ishmael, Gal. iv.
29 ; and Jacob by Esau. That seems to be a standing law, ' All
that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution,' 2 Tim.
^ What sad sufferings do many blind papists run themselves into, out of a superstitious
opinion of merit or satisfaction ; but under all their penances they cannot say, ' We bear
in our bodies the marks of our Lord Jesus Christ,' Gal. vi. 17.
' Here he is secretly taxed for leaving his station out of too much fear of Jezebel.
^ Mat. X. 22, and xvi. 24 ; Luke xxi. 12 ; John xv. 20 ; Heb. xi. The common cry
of persecutors hath been Cliristianos ad Leones.
VOL. V. 2d
418 A GENERAL EPISTLE
iii. 12. A man may have many faint wishes and cold desires after
godliness, and yet escape persecution ; yea, he may make some essays
and attempts as if he would be godly, and yet escape persecution ; but
when a man is thoroughly resolved to be godly, and sets himself in
good earnest upon pursuing after holiness, upon living a life of holi-
ness, upon growing up in holiness, then he must expect to meet with
afflictions and persecutions. The history of the ten persecutions, and
that little Book of Martyrs, the eleventh of the Hebrews, and Mr Foxe
his Acts and Monuments, with many other histories that are extant, do
abundantly evidence thaJt from age to age, and from one generation to
another, they that have been ' born after the flesh have persecuted
them that have been born after the Spirit,' Gal. iv. 29 ; and that ' the
seed of the serpent hath Jjeen still a-multiplying of troubles upon the
seed of the woman," Gen. iii. 15. As there was ' no way to paradise
but by a flaming sword, nor no way to Canaan but through a howling
wilderness, so there is no way to heaven but by the gates of hell ; there
is no way to a glorious exaltation but through a sea of tribulation, of
persecution, Acts xiv. 21, 22. The way to heaven is not strewed with
roses, but full of thorns and briars, as those ' of whom this world is
not worthy ' have always experienced, Heb. xi. The serpentine brood
takes a very great pleasure to be still a-representing the people of God
as foolish, hypocritical, precise, proud, schismatical, seditious, factious,
and as persons against order and government, against good laws and
customs, as disturbers and troublers of the peace. Thus Ahab accounts
Elijah ' the troubler of Israel,' 1 Kings xviii. 17 ; and Haman laid
it to the charge of the Jews, that * they were disobedient to the king's
laws,' Esth. iii. 8 ; and the adversaries of the Jews told Artaxerxes
the king that ' Jerusalem was a rebellious city, hurtful unto kings and
princes,' Ezra iv. 15 ; and the unbelieving Jews at Thessalonica did
as much for the apostles, they said they were the men ' that turned
the world upside down,' Acts xvii. 6. So Luther was called 'the
trumpet of rebellion ; ' and Tertullus calls Paul ' a pestilent fellow, and
a mover of sedition,' Acts xxiv. 5 ; Aocfiov, a pestilence, a botch.
Foolish Tertullus mistook the antidote for the poison, the remedy for
the disease. Now if so precious a man as Paul, than whom, saith
Chrysostom, the earth never bare a better since it bore Christ, were
accounted and called a pest, a botch, let us think i much if the choicest
saints in our days are accounted and esteemed as so many pests and
botches. This is the reward the ungrateful world gives the servants
of Christ for their zeal and faithfulness in the cause of Christ ; instead
of encouraging them, they load them with ignominious and hateful
terms of rebellion and turbulency, &c., labouring thereby to make them
odious, and to enrage the people against them, as the persecutors of old
used to wrap the Christians up in bears' skins, and lions' skins, &c., and
then to bait them with dogs. It is a very great vanity to think of pass-
ing to heaven without suffering. The saints in all ages have found
the way thither paved with troubles, and it would be a foolish, childish
thing for any of us to think of finding it otherwise now. Constantine
the Great, as piously as wittily, told Acesius the Novatian, that if he
would not take up with persecution, and such like dealing, he must
1 Query, 'not think'?— Ed.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 419
provide him a ladder and climb alone to heaven.i We must go to
heaven some other way than the saints have done of old, except we
resolve of going thither through much tribulation, Acts xiv, 22.
3. Thirdly, That no person 07' persons on earth inay sinfully shift off
sufferings, or avoid sufferings. There being infinitely more evil in the
least sin than there can be in the greatest sufferings that can )?efall
us in this world, it is best, it is safest to choose suffering rather than
sinning, as Moses did. So Daniel chose rather to be cast among lions
than that his conscience should be a lion within him, Dan. vi. ; and
the three children, or champions rather, who were holily wilful, chose
rather to burn in the fiery furnace than to bow to the image that the
king had set up, Dan. iii. He that values peace with God, and peace
with conscience, and the honour of God, and the credit of religion, the
silencing of sinners, and the rejoicing of the saints, must choose to suffer
rather than to sin. 2 When storms arise, and troubles and dangers
approach, many begin to consult, not how they may glorify God by
suffering, but how they may provide for their own safety by sinning.
Plato knew much of God, but, as Josephus shews, durst not set it
down for fear of the people ; and Lactantius charges the same upon
Tully : ' Thou darest not,' saith he, ' undertake the patronage of the
truth, for fear of the prison of Socrates ;' and Augustine doth as much
for Seneca ; he spends a whole chapter in shewing how he held the
truth in unrighteousness, telling us how he reverenced that which he
reproved, did that which he condemned, and worshipped that which
he found fault with.^ Though these wise men saw the vanity of the
heathenish deities, and the worship that was given to them, and looked
upon them as utterly unworthy of respect from wise and sober men,
nay, secretly scorned and derided them ; yet would they not openly
declare against them, and that for fear of the people who so much
doted upon them. But Daniel's three young worthies were men of
that heavenly gallantr}', that they peremptorily resolved upon this,
that though they should not be delivered by their God, yet they
would not sin against their God, nor so much as demur, deliberate,
or take time to consider whether they should suffer or sin ; it was
past dispute with them, brave and noble souls that tliey were. It
is observable that when Paul speaks of his afilictions, his suffer-
ings, he calls them 'light,' 2 Cor. iv. 17; but when he speaks of
his sin, he speaks of it as a burden that pressed him down, and made
him cry out, ' wretched man that I am ! ' and to cry out again,
' we groan, being burdened,' Rom. vii, 23 ; 2 Cor. v. 2, 4. Moses
his choice is famous, and celebrated all the world over ; for it was
not made when he was a child, but when he came to forty years of
age, Heb. xi. 25-27 ; then he preferred suffering, not only before
sinning, but before all the honours, riches, and pleasures of Egypt,
accounting the worst of Christ, viz., reproaches, better than the best of
the world. When Eleazar was promised to be saved from torments
and death if he would but make show of yielding, he courageously
answered, ' It becometh not our age in anywise to dissemble,' 2 Mac.
' Socrat. Hist. Eccl., lib. i. cap. 10.
' Judas and Spira will rather sin than suffer ; but who ever suffered more on this side
hell than they suffered ? ' De Civit., lib. vi. c. 10.
420 A GENERAL EPISTLE
vi. 24 ; whereby many young persons might think that Eleazar, being
fourscore and ten years old, were now gone to a strange religion.
Thus also one of the seven brethren, in the name of the rest, ' We are
ready to die, rather than transgress the laws of our fathers,' chap. vii.
2 ; meaning such laws as Grod of old had given to their fathers, to be
observed by them, and by their posterity age after age. Polycarpus,!
when the governor promised to let him go free if he would deny
Christ, answered, I have served him fourscore and six years, and he
never hurt me in anything ; how shall I curse him who hath saved
me ? And the governor adding one while promises, another while
threatenings, Polycarpus thus cuts off all, Why dost thou make delays ?
inflict what thou lists.^ So Galeacius, [Carraciolus,] a gentleman of
great estate, who suffered martyrdom at St Angelo in Italy, being
much pressed by his friends to recant, and save his life, he replied, that
death was much more sweet to him with the testimony of verity, than
life with the least denial of truth. Hooper desired rather to be dis-
charged of his bishopric, than yield to certain ceremonies. A man
were better displease all his friends, all his relations, yea, all the world,
than to displease his God, and displease his own conscience. So
Cyprian, — Augustine relates the story, — when the emperor, as he was
going to execution, told him that he would give him space to consider
whether he were not better cast in a grain into the fire,3 than be so
miserably slain ; to which he replied, In re tam sancta deliheratio non
Jmbet locum, There needs no deliberation in this case. The like we
read in the history of France, in the year 1572, presently after that
tragical and perfidious slaughter and massacre of so many thousands
of protestants by treacherous bloody papists, Charles the Ninth, king
of France, called the Prince of Conde, and proposed to him this
choice, either to go to mass, or to die presently, or to suffer perpetual im-
prisonment ; to which he returned this noble answer, That by God's
help he would never choose the first; and for either of the two latter, he
left it to the king's pleasure, and God's providence. Thus you see
that the people of God have, when put to it, chose rather to suffer
than to sin. But,
4. Fourthly, That they shall he sure to suffer with a witness, that
refuse to suffer, or are afraid to suffer, when Christ calls them to a
suffering state. No men can suffer so much for Christ, as they shall
be sure to suffer from Christ, if through weakness or wickedness
they either disdain or refuse to suffer for Christ : Mark viii. 35, ' For
whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose
his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.' There
is no loss, but gain, in losing for Christ. It is a very dangerous thing
for men to prefer the safety of their natural lives before the glory
of Christ, the cause of Christ, the gospel of Christ, and the profes-
sion of his name. It is certain that the glory of Christ ought to be
more dear and precious to us than our very lives. Christ, for our
redemption and salvation, freely and readily lays down his life, ' I
lay down my life for my sheep,' John x. 15 ; and shall we stand with
him for ours, when our call is clear, to lay them down for his sake and
\ Eccles. Hist., lib. iv. 15. [As before.— G.] ^ * Choosest.'— G.
^ A 'grain' of incense into the heathen altar-fire, a frequent demand and test. — G.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS.
421
the gospel's sake ? He that shall attempt to save his life by crossing
his light, by shifting of the truth, or by forsaking of Christ, shall
lose it. It is a gainful loss to suffer for the truth ; it is a lossful gain,
by time-serving and base complying with the times, the lusts, the
wills, the humours of the men of this age, in whom the spirit of Cain
and_Esau works so furiously, to provide for our present safety, security,
plenty, peace, and ease, &c., either by denying the truth, or by betray-
ing the truth, or by exchanging the truth, or by forsaking the truth :
Mat. X. 39, ' He that findeth his life shall lose it.' This is a strange
expression, a riddle to the world, a seeming contradiction, such as
natural reason can never reconcile. ' He that findeth his life;' that
is, redeemeth it with the forfeiture of his faith, with the shipwreck of
his conscience, 1 Tim. i. 19, 20, makes a loser's bargain ; he makes
more haste than good speed, whilst in running from death as far as
he can, he runs to it as fast as he can. See it in some great instances.
When Henry the Fourth of France had conquered his enemies, he
turned papist, and gave this reason of it, that he might settle himself
in peace and safety. Bavaillac, who slew him as he was riding abroad
in his coach to refresh himself, confessed that the reason why he
stabbed him was because he was of two religions ; and thus, by his
sinful endeavours to save his life, he lost it.i There was one Philbert
Hamlin in France, having converted a priest to the profession of the
truth, was, together with the priest, apprehended, and cast into prison
at Bourdeaux ; but after a while, the priest, being terrified with the
prison and fear of death, renounced Christ, and was set at liberty.
Whereupon Philbert said unto him, unhappy and more than miser-
able man ! is it possible that, to save your life for a few days, you
should so deny the truth ? Know, therefore, though you have avoided
the corporal fire, yet your life shall not be prolonged ; for you shall
die before me, and you shall not have the honour to die for the cause
of Christ ; but you shall be an example to apostates ; and accordingly,
as he went out of the prison, two gentlemen, that had a former quar-
rel with him, met him, and slew him ; and thus, also, he lost his life
by endeavouring sinfully to save it.^ The Angrognians that yielded
to the papists, and complied with them, that they might sleep quietly
in a whole skin, were more sadly and cruelly handled by the papists
than those that continued stout, courageous, and resolute for the truth.^
Under the fourth persecution there were some Christians who, for fear
of torments and death, denied their faith, and sacrificed to idols, yet
did not their bloody persecutors spare them ; and it was observed that,
being full of guilt, they went to their deaths with dejected and ill-
favoured countenances, so that the very Grentiles took notice of it, and
reproached them as base apostates, and as such who were worthy to
suffer as evil-doers. West, that was chaplain to Bishop Kidley, re-
fusing to die in Christ's cause with his master, said mass against his
conscience, and soon after pined away with sorrow and grief. A smith
in King Edward the Sixth's days, called Kichard Denton, was a for-
ward professor of religion, and, by his Christian instruction, the happy
^ French History. [As before. — G.]
^ Non potest, qui pati timet, ejus esse qui passus est. — Tertul.
* [Foxe] Acts and Mon., fol. 885.
422 A GENERAL EPISTLE
instrument of the conversion of a young man to the faith. After-
wards, in the reign of Queen Mary, this young man was cast in
prison for his religion ; who, remembering his old friend and spiritual
father, the smith, to whom he always carried a reverent respect for
the good he had received by him, sent to know whether he was im-
prisoned also, and finding that he was not, desired to speak with him ;
and when he came he asked his advice, whether he thought it best for
him to remain in prison, and whether he would encourage him to
burn at a stake for his religion. . To whom the smith answered, that
his cause was good, and that he might with comfort suffer for it ; but
for my part, said the smith, I cannot bum. But shortly after, he that
could not burn for religion, by God's just judgment was burned for
his apostasy ; for his shop and house being set on fire, and he over-
busy to save his goods, was burnt in the flames, i ' They that will not
burn for Christ when he calls them to it, shall burn whether they will
or no. He that will not suffer for Christ, shall be sure to suffer worse
things from Christ than ever he could have suffered for Christ. And
therefore Dr Taylor, the martyr, hit the nail when he said. If I shrink
from God's truth, said he, I am sure of another manner of death than
Judge Hales had, who being drawn, for fear of death, to do things
against his light and conscience, did afterwards drown himself.''
Cyprian, in his sermon, De Lapsis, makes mention of divers who, for-
saking the profession of their faith, were given over by God to be
possessed by evil spirits, and so died fearfully and miserably, making
good that word that is more worth than a world, John xii. 25, 'He
that loveth his life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal.' ^ A man that is sparing of his
life when Christ calls for it, doth take the ready way to lose it ; and
he that doth hazard it for him at his call, is sure to live eternally.
Christ approves of no followers who are not resolved on the loss of
what is dearest to them, yea, even of life, for his sake ; therefore doth
he mention our life to be hated, which is not to be understood abso-
lutely, as if it were a sin to love life, as it is the gift of God, or that
they should be weary of it, but comparatively, that they should not
love it more than Christ, his word, his worship, his ways. He that
resolves to save his temporal life upon any terms, he takes the shortest
cut to lose both temporal and eternal life also. ' He that loveth his
life shall lose it.' He that prefers the honour and service of Christ
above his own life, he takes the surest way to preserve both body and
Boul into eternal life ; for ' he that hates his life in this world shall
keep it unto life eternal.' Though life be sweet, and every creature
makes much of it, from the highest angel to the lowest worm, yet
woe, woe to him that is set upon saving of it when Christ calls
upon him to lay it down for his sake, or the gospel's sake. No fool
to him that thinks to avoid a less danger by running himself into a
greater danger, who thinks to save"his body by losing his soul, and to
save his temporal life by losing eternal life. There is no loser to him
1 [Foxe] Acts and Mon., vol. iii. p. 960. " Jbid., 1382.
3 ^iXeti/ is here used of excessive and preposterous love. He that so loveth his life,
that, out of a desire to save it, he denieth me and my gospel : so this Greek word is used,
Mat. X. 37.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 423
who, by sinful attempts to save his life, shall lose a better life than
ever he can save. But,
5. Fifthly, Consider, That of old there had been, a very great will-
ingness, readiness, forwardness, and resoluteness in the people of God,
cheerfully to suffer for Christ, his truth, his gospel, his worship, his
loays, his ordinances, his interest, his honour. Consult the scriptures
in the margin, and many others of the like import, which all know-
ing Christians can turn to at pleasure.^ To these I shall add a few
examples amongst a multitude of those blessed souls, who willingly,
readily, cheerfully, resolutely hazarded all for Christ while they were
on earth, and are now a-receiving their reward with him in heaven.
Oh, how my heart leapeth for joy, said Mr Philpot, the martyr, that I
am so near the apprehension of eternal life ! I with my fellows were
carried to the coal-house, where we do rouse together in the straw as
cheerfully, we thank God, as others do in their beds of down.2 Mr
Glover, the martyr, wept for joy of his imprisonment : and Mr Brad-
ford put off his cap and thanked the Lord when his keeper s wife
brought him word that he was to be burnt the next day: and Mr
Taylor fetched a pleasant delightful frisk when he was come near to
the place where he was to suffer. Mr Kogers, the first that was burnt
in Queen Mary's days, did sing in the flames: Vincentius, laugh-
ing at his torments, said that death and tortures were to Christians
jocularia et ludicra, matters of sport and pastime ; and he joyed and
gloried when he went upon hot burning coals, as if he had trod upon
roses. Fire, sword, death, prison, famine, are all pleasures, they are
all delightful to me, saith Basil ; and in his oration for Barlaam that
famous martyr, saith that he delighted in the close prison as in a
pleasant green meadow ; and he took pleasure in the several inven-
tions of tortures, as in several sweet flowers. William Tims, martyr,
in a letter to a friend of his a little before his death, writeth thus,
' Now I take my leave of you till we meet in heaven, and hie you
after. I have tarried a great while for you ; and seeing you are so
long in making ready, I will tarry no longer for you ! you shall find
me merrily singing. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbath, at my
journey's end,' &c. And when they kindled the fire at the feet of
James Bainham, Methinks, said he, you strew roses before me,^
When the prefect urged Basil to comply with the emperor, and
threatened him with death if he denied, he gave him this resolute^
and stout answer, ' Thou threatenest me with death,' saith he, ' and I
would that it would fall out so well on my side, that I might lay
down this carcase of mine in the quarrel of Christ, and in defence of
the truth, who is my head and captain :' and when the prefect pressed
him to remember himself, and obey the emperor ; he, rejecting all,
told him, What I am to-day the same thou shalt find me to-morrow.^
^ Dan. iii. 16, 17; Kom. viii. 36; Ps. xliv. ; Phil. ii. 17; Acts xx. 22-44, and xxi.
13, &c. ; Dan. vi. ; 1 Pet. iv. 16; Acts v. 41, and vii. 55, 56; 2 Cor. i. 3-5.
- Acts and Mon., fol. 867. Modestus, lieutenant to Julian the emperor, told him that
when the Christians suffered they did but deride them ; and the torments, said he, with
which Christians are tormented are more terrible to the tormentors than they are to
the tormented.
* Foxe and Clarke, as before, under the preceding names. — G.
< Socrat. Eccl. Hist., lib. iv. c. 26, Gr.
424 A GENERAL EPISTLE
When Clirysostom was greatly threatened by the cruel empress
and others, he made this answer, ' If they keep me poor, I know
Christ had not a house to put his head in : if they silence me, and put
me out of the synagogue ; so was that poor man that confessed Christ,
and the apostles enjoined not to speak in the name of Jesus : if they
cast me into prison, so was Jeremiah, St Peter, and St Paul, and
many more : if I am forced to flee my country, I have that beloved
John, and that Atlas-like Athanasius, for precedents of the like
nature : or whatsoever else should be done unto me, I have the holy
martyrs for my fellow-sufferers ; and I will never count my life dear
unto me, so I may finish my course with joy ; but I will, by God's
help be every ready, with all my heart, to suffer anything for the
name of Jesus Christ, and for the least jot of his truth/ John ix. 22,
24 ; Acts V. 40, &c., and xii. ; Eph. vi. 20 ; Kev. i.,
Neither were they only a few choice persons who willingly, readily,
cheerfully, and resolutely endured martyrdom in Christ's cause ; but
such multitudes, year after year, month after month, week after week,
and day after day, as that one of the ancients testifi.eth that there was
never a day in the year, except the first of January, whereunto the
number of five hundred martyrs at least might not be ascribed, i So
many, one after another, in one day suffered, as the executioner
blunted his sword, and, with the pains he took, fainted. 2 That which
many of them endured, though to flesh and blood it seemed intoler-
able, yet with much patience, excellent cheerfulness, and divine
courage, they endured it. They were not like bears hauled to the
stake ; but while persecutors were sitting on their judgment-seats, and
condemning some Christians, others leaped in and professed themselves
Christians, and suffered the uttermost that could be inflicted, with
joyfulness and a kind of pleasantness, singing psalms as long as their
breath lasted.^
Bucer, in an epistle to Calvin, tells him that there were some that
would willingly redeem to the commonwealth the ancient liberty of
worshipping Christ with their very lives. True grace makes a Chris-
tian of a very heroic nature. Holy zeal will make a Christian very
ready to endure anything, or to suffer anything for Christ, his worship,
his ways, his truth.
It is a high vanity for any man to think of getting to heaven with-
out suffering. In all the ages of the world the saints have found the
way to happiness paved with troubles, and we must not think of finding
it strewed with rosebuds.
When Paul and Silas were in prison, their hearts were so full
of joy that they could not hold ; but at midnight, when others were
sleeping, they must fall a-singing out the praises of the Most High,
Acts xvi. 25. They found more pleasure than pain, more joy than
sorrow, more comfort than torment in their bonds. 4 The consolations
of the Spirit rose so high in their souls that their prison was turned
into a palace, yea, into a paradise. Paul was a man that took a great
^ Jerome, ad Heliod. * Euseb. Eccl. Hist., lib. viii. c. 9.
* Euseb., loc citat.
* Paul rattles his chain which he did bear for the gospel's sake, and was as proud of it
as a womau of her ornaments, saith Chrj-sostom.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 425
deal of pleasure in his sufferings for Christ : 2 Cor. xii. 10, ' Therefore
I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecu-
tions, in distresses, for Christ's sake.' He did not only bear his
sufferings 'patiently, but cheerfully also ; he often sings it sweetly out,
* I Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,' Col. iv. 3, 10 ; Rom. xvi. 7 ; Eph.
vi. 20 ; 2 Tim. i. 16, &c. ; not I Paul an apostle, nor I Paul rapt up
into the third heaven, nor I Paul that have more gifts, parts, and
learning, than others ; but ' I Paul a prisoner,' to shew how much he-
rejoiced in his bonds and sufferings for Christ. Chrysostom did
not hold Paul so happy for his rapture into paradise as he did for his
imprisonment for Christ.
Oh, the sweet looks, the sweet words, the sweet hints, the sweet
in-comes, the sweet joggings, the sweet embraces, the sweet influences,
the sweet discoveries, the sweet love-letters, the sweet love-tokens, and
the sweet comforts that Christians experience in their sufferings for
Christ ! In all their troubles and persecutions they may truly say, We
have sweetmeats to eat, and waters of life to drink, and heavenly
lioneycombs to suck that the world knows not of ; and, indeed, when
should the torch be lighted but in a dark night ; and when should the
fire be made but when the weather is cold ; and when should the
cordial be given but when the patient is weak ; and when should the
God of comfort, the God of all kinds of comfort, and the God of
all degrees of comfort, comfort his people, but under their troubles and
persecutions ; for then comfort is most proper, necessary, seasonable,
and suitable, and then God will be sure to pour in the oil of joy into,
their hearts ? 2 Cor. i. 3-5. But,
6. Sixthly, Consider, That there is a great truth in that old maxim,
Nonpcena, sed causa facit martyrem ; It is not the punishment, hut the
cause, that makes a martyr. Let every man look that his cause be
good. It is not the blood, but the cause, that makes a martyr. It is
no ways meet that I should engage to suffer in every cause. Every
cause will no more bear a man out in suffering than every shoulder
will bear every burden, or than every little river will bear every ship
that is of the greatest burden. One man suffers as a murderer, another
suffers as a thief, another suffers as an evil-doer, and another suffers as
a busybody in other men's matters ; but all such sufferers are rather
malefactors than Christ's martyrs. ' Let none of you suffer as a mur-
derer, or as a thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men's
matters,' 1 Pet. iv. 15, It is but one word in the original, aXKorpioe-
7riaK07ro<;, as bishops in another's diocese, as pryers into other men's
matters, as pragmatical persons that meddle with other men's concern-
ments, without cause or call. It is not suffering for evil-doino-
but suffering for well-doing that carries the crown, 2 Tim. ii. 12. It
is not just, but unjust suffering that hath the recompense of reward
annexed to it, 1 Pet. iii. 14, and iv. 14. It is not sufferers for the evil
of sin, nor sufferers of the evil of sin ; but sufferers of the evil of
punishment, for the avoiding of the evil of sin, whose cause is good.
When I consider the cause of my condemnation, said Mr Bradford, I
cannot but lament that I do no more rejoice than I do ; for it is
for God's verity and truth.i So that the condemnation is not a con-
' Mr Bradford, to all that profess the gospel in Lancashire.
426 A GENERAL EPISTLE
demnation of Bradford simply, but rather a condemnation of Christ
and of his truth. Bradford is nothing but an instrument in which
Christ and his doctrine is condemned. Christ and the thieves were in
the same condemnation ; 8amson and the Philistines in the same
destruction by the downfall of the house. Similis poena, dissimilis
causa, saith Augustine. Martyrdom is a crown, as old age, if it be
found in a way of righteousness. Though life be a poor little thing
to lay down for that Christ that has done such great things for us, and
that has suffered such grievous things, and that has prepared such
glorious things for us ; yet, it is too precious to lay down in any cause
but what is honourable, just, and good, Isa. liii. ; John xiv. Luther
professed to Spalatiae that he rejoiced with all his heart, that God
called him to suffer for so good a cause, acknowledging himself
unworthy of such a favour. ^ It is the goodness of a man's cause that
makes Imn divinely merry with the martyrs, and to sing in a prison
with Paul and Silas, Col. ii. 24. When a man s cause is good he may
call his sufferings the sufferings of Christ, and his scars and marks,
o-Tt7/iaTa, brands and marks of the Lord Jesus, Gal. vi. 17. The Jews
have been hated and persecuted for many ages ; first by the Komans,
and since by all other nations, but not for any just or righteous cause,
but for their impiety, obstinacy, and contempt of Christ and his
gospel, and for kOling the prophets, and stoning them that were
sent amongst them. Mat. xxii. 2-8, and xxiii. 30, 34, 37, 38. But
gracious persons are endued, not only with reason, but also with
spiritual understanding and divine wisdom, which makes them weU
weigh what they do, and what they suffer. Sincere Christians
advisedly endure what they endure for the faith's sake, ' So fight I, not
as one that beateth the air,' 1 Cor. ix. 26 ; that is, not as a madman
that fighteth with a shadow, not weighing what he doth, but as a
man of understanding, that doth very well know that I have good
cause to do what I do. Persecutors commonly judge suffering saints
to be no better than sots, idiots, frantics, mad, &c., not knowing
the goodness of the cause for which they suffer, nor the noble ends
which they aim at in suffering, nor the blessed fruits that attend their
sufferings.
But when may a man safely and groundedly conclude that his
cause is good, or that he suffers for well-doing, or for a good cause,
and as a Cliristian ? Now to this question I shall give these follow-
ing answers : —
[1.] First, Wlie7i a man suffers for doing that tvhicJi Christ com-
mands, then he suffers for well-doing, then he suffers as a Christian,
and then his cause is good, 1 Pet. iv. 15, 16. You know there is no-
thing in all the Scripture that God stands more upon than purity of
religion, than piu-ity of worship, than purity of ordinances, in opposi-
tion to all mixtures and corruptions whatsoever, James i. 27 ; Phil,
iii. 3 ; John iv. 23, 24. sirs ! the great God stands upon nothing
more iu all the world than upon purity in his worship. There is no-
thing that does so provoke and exasperate God against a people as
mixtures in his worship and service. Mat. xxi. 12, 13; John ii. 15-17.
And no wonder, for mixtures in his worship are expressly cross to his
1 Ep. ad Spalat., fol. 287.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 427
commands, and pollutions in worship do sadly reflect upon the name
of God, the honour of God, the truth of God ; and therefore his heart
rises against them. Defilements in worship do sorely reflect upon the
wisdom of Christ and the faithfulness of Christ, as if he were not faith-
ful enough, nor wise enough, nor prudent, nor understanding enough,
to order, direct, and guide his people in the matters of his worship ;
but must be beholden to the wisdom, prudence, and care of man, of
vain man, of sinful man, of vile and unworthy man, to complete, per-
fect, and make up something that was wanting in his worship and
service, &c. , Heb. iii. 4-6. Now if a man sufi'ers for owning pure wor-
ship and ordinances, for standing for pure worship and ordinances, and
for being found in the practice of pure worship and ordinances, his cause
is good, and he suffers as a Christian. But,
[2.] Secondly, When a man suffers for refusing, or for not doing,
that which Christ comdemns in his word, then his cause is good, and
he suffers as a Christian for well-doing. Now in matters of divine
worship, God condemns all mixtures, all inventions and devices of
men. The very spirit, life, and soul of the second commandment lies
in these words, ' Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image.'
God abhors that men should mix their water with his wine, their dross
with his gold, their chaff with his wheat, &c. When men will venture
to be so hardy and bold with God as to defile his worship with their
mixtures, then God is fully resolved to be a swift and terrible witness
against them, as you may clearly see by comparing those notable
places of Scripture together in the margin. l There is no sin that does
80 greatly incense and provoke God to jealousy and wrath against a
people, as mixtures in his worship. God can bear with defilements
anywhere rather than in worship and service. God did bear much
and bear long with the Jews ; but when they had defiled and corrupted
his worship, then God gave them a bill of divorce, and scattered them
as dung among the nations. Now when a man suffers for refusing to
worship God with a mixed worship, or with an invented or devised
worship, which Christ in his word doth everywhere condemn, then his
cause is good, and he suffers as a Christian. But,
[3.] Thirdly, They that stoutly and resolutely assert that the blessed
Scriptures are a sufficient rule to order, guide, and direct them in all
matters ofivorship, they have a good cause, Luke x. 25, 26 ; and they
that suffer upon this account suffer as Christians for well-doing. Such
vain men greatly detract from the sufficiency of the Scripture, who
mingle their own or other men's inventions with divine institutions ;
and who set their posts by God's posts, and their thresholds by God's
thresholds, Ezek. xliii. 9. The precepts and traditions of men, with their
inventions and additions to the worship of God, are styled posts and
thresholds, because the authors of them do lean and stand so much
upon them, and set them in the way to hinder others from the enjoy-
ment of temple-privileges, unless they will own and comply with them
in their way and mode of worship ; but upon all such posts and thresh-
olds, that are of men's setting up in the worship of God, you may run
and read folly, weakness, rottenness, and madness. It is only God's
3 Lev. X. 1, 2 ; Ezek. v. 11, 12, and xiiii. 38, 39 ; Jer. vii. 29, 30 ; Ezek. viii. 17, 18 •
Rev. ii. 22, 23; Deut. iv. 2, and xii. 32, &c.
428 A GENERAL EPISTLE
posts, God's thresholds, God's institutions, God's appointments, that
have wisdom and holiness, beauty and glory, written upon them.i
For men to set up their posts by God's posts, and to give their posts
equal honour and authority with God's posts, this is a defiling of the
worship of God, and a profaning of the name of God, which he will
certainly avenge ; for he will admit no rival or proprietary in the
things of his worship. sirs ! the blessed Scriptures are sufficient to
direct us fully in everything that belongs to the worship and service
of God, so as that we need not depend upon the wisdom, prudence,
care, and authority of any man under heaven to direct us in matters
of worship: 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17, 'All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works.' The Scriptures are suffi-
cient to inform the ignorant, to confute the erroneous, to reform
the vicious, and to guide and direct, support and comfort, those that
are gracious. 2 Here a lamb may wade, and an elephant may swim ;
here is milk for babes, and meat for strong men ; here is comfort
for the afflicted, and succour fojr the tempted, and ease for the
troubled, and light for the clouded, and enlargement for the strait-
ened, &c. Oh, how full of light, how full of life, how full " of love,
how full of sweetness, how full of goodness, how full of righteousness
and holiness, &c., is every chapter, and every verse in every chapter,
yea, and every line in every verse ! The Eabbins say that a mountain
of matter hangs upon every word of Scripture, yea, upon every tittle
of Scripture. When the people of God have been in any outward or
inward distresses or troubles, God never sends them to the shop of
men's traditions and inventions, but he still sends them to the blessed
Scriptures : Isa. viii. 20, ' To the law, and to the testimony ; if they
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light'
(intt^, no morning) 'in them:' chap, xxxiv. 16, ' Seek ye out of the
book of the Lord, and read; no one of these shall fail, none shall want
her mate ; for my mouth it hath commanded, and my Spirit it hath
gathered them.'^ And in the New Testament, Christ sends his
hearers to the Scriptures: John v. 39, ' Search the Scriptures, for in
them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of
me.' The Greek word, ipewdre, that is here rendered ' search,' sig-
nifies a strict, narrow, curious, diligent search. We must search the
Scriptures as we would search for gold, or for some precious stones,
which we would fain find ; we must search the Scriptures as hunters
seek and search out their game. The Scripture is so perfect a rule
that the most specious observances, the most glorious performances,
the most exact worship, is no way acceptable unto God if not directed
in his word. They may have \6<yov ao(f)la<; iv iOeXoOprjaKeia, ' a show
of wisdom in will-worship,' to the pleasing of men, not to the honour
^ It is very remarkable that of old they were to be cut off that made anything like the
institutions and appointments of God, Exod. xxx. 32, 33, 37, 38 ; and if some were so
served, would not the world be in more love, peace, and quietness than now it is?
* Adoro plenitudinem Scripturarum, I adore the fulness of the Scriptures. — Tertullian.
' No histories are comparable to the histories of the Scripture — (1.) for antiquity;
(2.) rarity; (3.) variety; (4.) brevity; (5.) perspicuity; (6.) harmony; (7.) verity; all
which should greatly encourage Christians to a serious perusal of them.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 429
of God/ Col. ii. 23. God gave Moses a pattern for the making of the
tabernacle, Exod. xxv. 9, and David for the temple, Heb. viii. 5, and
all things were to be ordered and regulated according to this pattern,
God hath set us a perfect rule of worship in his word, and no service
pleaseth him but what is according to this rule. As our Saviour told
the woman of Samaria concerning the Samaritan worship at Mount
Gerizim, and the Jewish worship at Jerusalem, that the Samaritans
worshipped they knew not what, John iv. 20-22 ; the Jews knew what
they worshipped, for salvation was of the Jews. Why so ? Because
the Jews had (rod's special direction and appointment of God's word
for their worship and service, which the Samaritans had not. All
our worship must be regulated by God's will, not our own : Non ex
arhitrio Deo serviendum, sed ex imperio ; Not according to our own
fancy, but God's command and prescription. I say of all human-in-
vented will-worship of God, as Tertullian of the heathen worship, Ex
religione superstitio compingitur, et eo irreUgiosior, quanta Ethnicus
paratior ; Men in this are no better than laboriously superstitious,
taking pains to be irreligious. And so the apostle, 2 Pet. i. 19-21,
sends his hearers to the Scriptures, as to a surer word than that of the
revelation, all which speaks out the sufficiency of the Scripture, to direct
us in all matters of divine worship, and in whatever else may help on
the internal and eternal welfare of our precious and immortal souls.
That which bred the popish religion, superstition, idolatry, and
pompous worship, was men's departing from the word, and not cleav-
ing to the word as a sufficient rule to direct them in all- matters of
worship ; and what woeful mischiefs and miseries have been brought
upon the people of the Lord in this land and elsewhere by men that
make not the word the rule of their worship, but cry up an outward
pompous worship, I have no mind to enumerate at this time. But
how will these vain men, that accuse the holy Scriptures of insuffi-
ciency, blush, be ashamed, and confounded, when in the great day the
Lord shall plead the excellency and vindicate the sufficiency and
authority of his blessed book, in opposition to all the mixtures of
men's traditions with divine institutions ! Now they that suffer for
asserting the holy Scriptures to be a sufficient rule to order, guide,
and direct them in all matters of worship, they have a good cause,
and they suffer as Christians for well-doing. But,
[4,] They that are assertors of the true God, in opposition to the
idols of the nations, have a good cause ; and they that suffer upon this
account suffer as Christians for well-doing. Upon this foot the Chris-
tians under the heathen emperors in the primitive times suffered great
things ; and are there none that suffer this day upon this account by
the Romish powers ? But,
[5.] Fifthly, They who assert that God will not hear with mixtures
in his worship and service, hut revenge himself upon the corrupters of
his ivorship, they have a good cause ; and they that suffer upon that
account suffer as Christians for well-doing. All mixtures debase the
worship and service of God, and makes the worship a vain worship,
Isa. xxix. 13, 14 ; Mat. xv. 3, 6, 8, 9. As the mixing of water with
wine is the debasing of the wine, and the mixing of tin with silver, or
brass with gold, is debasing of the silver and gold, so for men to mix
430 A GENERAL EPISTLE
and mingle their traditions and inventions with God's institutions is
to debase the worship and service of God, and to detract from the
excellency and glory of it. You know that the kings and princes of
the world have most severely punished such who by their base mix-
tures have imbased their coin ; and assuredly there is a day a-
coming when the King of kings will most severely punish all
Buch who have imbased his worship and service, by mixing
human inventions and Eomish traditions with his holy institu-
tions: Kev. xxii. 18, 'For I testify unto every man that heareth
the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in
this book/1 And no wonder ; for what horrible pride, presumption,
stoutness, and baseness is it in foolish man to be so bold with the great
God, as to dare to mix anything of his own with his worship and ser-
vice, which, according to divine institution, is so perfect and complete.
God will never bear it to see men lay their dirt upon his gold, and to
put their rags upon his royal robes. Ah, Christians, it is best to stand
up for holy ordinances and pure worship, in opposition to all mixtures
whatsoever. Oh, do not touch a polluted worship, do not plead and
contend for a polluted worship, but let Baal plead for Baal, 1 Kings
xviii. 21 ; and though all the world should wonder^ after the beast, yet
do not you wonder ^ after the beast, Kev. xiii. 3, 4, 6, 17 ; and though
every forehead should have the mark of the beast upon it, yet do you
abhor his mark, and whatever else it be that does but smell and savour
of the beast, Kev. xiv. 9, 11. It is a very dangerous thing for any
mortals to be adding to God's worship and word ; there is a horrible
curse that hangs over the heads of all such that add or detract from
the blessed Scriptures. If falsifiers of coin are liable unto the civil
curse of the law, how much more shall the anathema of eternal dam-
nation be inflicted upon the corrupters of God's word and worship.
' To them that add thereto, God will add all the plagues of this book '
— to wit, the seven last plagues — * and cast them into the lake of fire
and brimstone, with the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet,' Kev.
xix. Now they that suffer for asserting that God will not bear with
mixtures in his worship and service, but revenge himself upon the
corrupters of his worship and service, they have a good cause, and
they suffer as Christians for well-doing. But,
[6.] Sixthly, They who are hated, scorned, despised, reproached,
opposed, persecuted, imprisoned^ ruined for their non-compliance luith
the times, and ivith the wills and lusts of men, and ivith the ivorship
of the toorld and the luays of the loorld, they have a good cause, and
they suffer as Christians for well-doing, 1 Pet. iv. 4, 5 ; Jude 15 ;
Kev. iii. 4 ; 1 Cor. vii. 23 ; Gal. i. 10. And is not this the very case
of the people of God this day ? for would they, or durst they, comply
with the times, and with the wills and lusts of men, and with the wor-
ship of the world and the ways of the world, they should be white-
boy8,3 and instead of prisons might stand in princes' palaces as well as
^ There will come a day when Jews, Turks, and Papists shall pay dear for adding to
the Scriptures. * Spelled ' wander.' — G.
• A term of endearment, e.g. Ford. ' I know, quoth I, I am his white-boy.' — Tts Pity,
&c., i. 3. Subsequently applied polemically. — G.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 431
others, and might eat the fat and drink the sweet, and live at ease, and
grow rich as well as others. But some do not love that we should
either harp hard or long upon this string ; and therefore,
[7.] Seventhly, They that are assertors of Christ, of the true
Messiah, and his glorious gospel and gospel ordinances, in opposition
to all such as either deny him or his gospel, or that make head against
him or gospel ordinances, gospel administrations, they have a good
cause, and if they suffer upon that account, they suffer as Christians
for well-doing. The sufferings of the people of God for the first three
hundred years, were clearly stated for Christ and the gospel in common.
It was the administration of the gospel in the whole and in every part
of it, and Grentilism advanced instead thereof, that brought on a warm
persecution. Seeing serious Christians are for pure ordinances and
pure administrations, and what they have suffered and "do daily suffer
upon that account, all that do not wilfully shut their eyes may easily
discern. It is sad when such men's mouths must be stopped who are
qualified, gifted, graced, and called, both by God and men, to preach
the glorious, the everlasting gospel, 2 Cor. iv. 4. But when the devil
and his factors have done their worst, the gospel will get ground by
all the opposition that is made against it, Kev. xiv. 6. Among many
other visions that John had, ' he saw an angel fly in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell
on the earth; and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and
people ; saying with a loud voice. Fear God, and give glory to him,'
&c., Kev. xiv. 7, 8. Now mark what next follows: 'Another angel,
saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen ; Babylon the Great is fallen.' Now
behold the efl&cacy and power of gospel-preaching. Let but the gospel
be sincerely preached, and Babylon must down. The devil and
Dagon must fall before the ark of God's presence; whatsoever the pur-
poses, projects, pretences, policies, conspiracies, combinations, and con-
federacies of lewd, superstitious, atheistical, wicked wretches be, yet
they shall never be able to stop the stream of God's word, dam up the
wells of salvation, or hinder the free passage of the gospel, no more
than they are able to bind up the wind in their fists, or stop the sun
from running its race, or hinder the clouds from watering the earth, i It
is true that the faithful ministers of the gospel may, by the instruments
of Satan, be stocked, stoned, sawn asunder, burned with fire, slain with
the sword, clapped up in prison, fettered in chains, plundered, &c., yet
the gospel may be, nay is, in lively operation, a light that cannot be put
out, a heat that cannot be smothered, a power that cannot be broken ;
for even then the courageous and constant sufferings of God's faithful
ministers, and their cheerful and patient bearing of the cross, doth, as
by a lively voice, publish and proclaim the truth of the gospel for which
they suffer, and serves to win many to the faith of Christ. Paul's bonds
fell out to the furtherance of the gospel, Phil, i, 7, 12-14, 17. Paul's
iron chain was more famous and glorious all the world over, than all
the golden chains in Nero's palace. Whatsoever persecuting popes
and persecuting emperors have attempted against the gospel, Christ
^ The more wicked men rage, the more the gospel spreads, as you may see, Acts v.
40-42, and viii. 1, 3-6, 12, and li. 19-21, 26, and xii, 1-4, 23, 24; Heb. li, 34-36;
Kev. ii. 10; Acts ivi. 23-25.
432 A GENEEAL EPISTLE
has turned it all to the furtherance of the gospel. l The pope's bulls,
and the emperor's thunderbolts, did not amaze and discourage men,
but did exceedingly animate and encourage them to own the gospel,
to embrace the gospel, and to stand up in the defence of the gospel.
Caesar sending the Protestants' confession abroad to other Christian
princes, as desiring their advice about it, dispersed and spread it more
in all parts than all the Lutheran preachers could have done ; for
which cause Luther laughs not a little at the foolish wisdom of the
papists, in a certain epistle of his to the elector of Saxony.'^ Julian,
observing that the more ministers and Christians were persecuted the
more they increased, he gave over persecution, and spared those whom
he could have wished out of the world. And would it not be the wis-
dom and the interest of the persecutors in our days to write after
Julian's copy ? and if they will not, then let them remember that it
is the most effectual way under heaven to propagate those truths,
opinions, ways, principles, and practices, which their hearts rise and
swell against, by laying them in bonds which stand up most eminently
in the defence of those truths, opinions, ways, principles, and practices.
The nature of man is very curious and inquisitive. Men, as men, are
led by common compassion to desire to understand the grounds of
men's sufferings. By this means the sufferings, especially the im-
prisonment of the apostles, carried the doctrine of the gospel to many
places where the apostles themselves never came, nor perhaps could
come ; no doubt but the fame of their suffering went faster and farther
too than they could go. But,
[8.] Eighthly, They that are assertors of any one fundamental truth,
in opposition to error and heresy truly so called, have a good cause ;
and if they suffer upon that account, they suffer as Christians for
well-doing. Acts xxiv. 14 ; 1 Cor. xi. 9 ; 2 Pet. ii. 1 ; Gal. v. 20.
Such were those Christians that suffered under the Arian emperors,
Constantius, Valens, and others, who suffered for maintaining that
Christ was co-essential, co-equal, and co-eternal with the Father ; and
such were Wickliffe, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague, &c. Are
there none this day among us that suffer in their names, in their
estates, in their persons, in their liberties, for asserting and maintaining
the great truths of the gospel, in opposition to Socinianism, Arianism,
Popery, will-worship, &c. ? Are there no Socinian atheists among us
who deny with open face the godhead of Christ, and of the Holy
Ghost, as if Christ were a constituted God, and not of the same sub-
stance with the Father from all eternity ; not a God by nature, but
by donation in time ? And though God hath raised up several cham-
pions in this his Israel, to disarm them of all their subtilties, and to
beat them out of all their trenches, though they were dug as low as
hell ; yet, how have they put on a brow of brass, and do all they can
to bring on a warm persecution upon their opposers ? Prov. xxvii. 22.
But,
[9.] Ninthly, They that plead for the reduction of all ordinances,
worship, church-government, and discipline, to the primitive pattern
and institution, in opposition to all human and antichristian inven-
tions, traditions, and innovations in the toorship of God, they have a
1 Scultet. Annal. » Scultet. Annal., 274,
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 433
good cause ; and they that suffer upon that account, suffer as Chris-
tians for well-doing. Surely this is a truth we must live and die by,
viz., That no ordinance, worship,' government, or discipline, is to be
held up or maintained in the church but what has the stamp of a
divine institution upon it. The worsliipping of God in spirit and in
truth is that worship which Grod commands, commends, accepts, and
rewards; and therefore let us make it our business, our work, our heaven,
to keep close to this kind of worship, John iv. 23, 24 ; Kom. i. 9 ;
Phil. iii. 3. Christ will shortly come in flames of fire, and vindicate
this kind of worship against all opposers, 2 Thes. i. 7-10. Hold out "
faith and patience a little, and Christ will call all the troublers of his
church and people into the valley of decision, Joel iii. 14 ; and there,
with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, he will plead with
them, and with all such as have muddied the waters of his sanctuary,
and polluted those silver streams ; and then it will appear whether
the outward ceremonious worshipping of God, or the worshipping him
in spirit and in truth, be the true worship, Isa. xl. 10 ; Jer. xxi. 5 ;
Ezek. xxxii. 2. Judicious Hooker determines, that in God's service
to do that which we are not to do is a greater fault than not to do
that which we are commanded. Amongst other reasons, he gives this
to our purpose, because in the one we seem to charge the law of God
with hardness only, and in the other, with foolishness and insuffi-
ciency, which God gave us as a perfect rule of his worship and service.^
But,
[10.] Tenthly and lastly. They that are assertors of those precioris
privileges that are the purchase of the blood of Christ, they have a
good cause ; and if they suffer upon that account, they suffer as Chris-
tians for weU-doing, Eph. i. 22, 23 ; Col. i. 18 ; Phil. ii. 6-10. As
for instance.
First, Christ as mediator hath purchased for himself a headship
and supremacy over his church. Now such as stand up for the head-
ship of the Lamb, against all those that would rob him of his head-
ship, either at Rome or elsewhere, they have a righteous cause ; and
if they suffer upon that account, they suffer as Christians for well-
doing.
Secondly, He has purchased for his people a liberty to serve and
worship him without fear, in holiness and righteousness all the days
of their life, Luke i. 69, 70, 74, 75. He has purchased for his people
a liberty from the ceremonies of Moses' law, which were originally
the commands of God himself; how much more then from all Paganish
and Antichristian ceremonies ! Gal. v. 1, The imposition of traditional
observances and ceremonies, is to reduce us under the Jewish yoke,
which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. Acts xv. 10 ; or
to impose them as equally obligatory to conscience, as divine com-
mands ; or to impose them as the immediate worship of God, or as
duties essentially necessary in order to salvation: Christians justly
abhor, as the tyranny of Rome, as the infringement of Christian liberty,
and as a violation and making void the commandment of God ; as our
Saviour told the Pharisees of old, that ' they made the commandment
^ Ecclesiastical Politj-, book ii. c. vi. [2.] : Works by Keble, vol. i. p. 311, 2d ed.,
18il.— G.
VOL. V. 2 E
434 A GENERAL EPISTLE
of God of none effect,' Mat. xv. 6. The Greek word '^Kvpcoaare, signi-
fies ' to deprive of all rule and authority.' They had such a superstitious
esteem of their traditions, ceremonies, &c., that they sought to shoulder
God out of his throne, to divest and spoil him of his rule and authority,
to ungod him, as it were, by making his commandment void and
invalid. Christ reprehends three things in the Jewish traditions ; (1.)
That they obtruded outward cleanness on God, instead of the purity
of the heart ; (2.) That by their human traditions, they made void
the worship of God ; (3.) That they preferred human traditions be-
fore the divine precepts ; and were so taken with their traditions, that
they neglected the divine precepts ; yea, made them altogether vain,
as the papists, and others that are popishly affected, do this day.i
They that are the most zealous for the introducing of useless cere-
monies in the church, are usually the most negligent to preach the
cautions in using them ; and simple people, like children in eating of
fish, swallow bones and all, to the danger of choking. Besides, what
is observed of horse-hairs, that lying nine days in water, they turn to
snakes ; so some ceremonies, though dead at first, in continuance of
time quicken, get stings, and may do much mischief ; especially in
such an age, wherein the meddling of some have justly awakened the
jealousy of all. 2 Now, whoever shall suffer for asserting of any of the
precious privileges, that are the purchase of Christ's blood, they suffer
in a righteous cause, they suffer as Christians, for well-doing. And
thus you see how a man may know when his cause is good, just, and
righteous, and when he suffers as a Christian for well-doing. But,
7. Seventhly, Consider, TJiat it is not enoiigJifor a man to have a
good cause, hut he must have a clear call ; else he may he a sufferer,
but no martyr. Some may have a good cause, and yet want a clear
call. Some may suffer for the cause of God, and yet sin in suffering,
for want of a call.^ Christ calls not all to suffer ; to some it is given,
to others it is not given. When a man's call is clear, his peace will
be sweet, his courage will be high, and his comforts will be strong,
though his sufferings be never so great, nor never so long. Though it
be a high honour to suffer for the gospel, yet ' no man ought to take
this honour upon himself, but he that is called of God.' Christians
must take as much heed how they espouse a suffering state, as how
they shun a suffering state. I am not to go to prison upon choice,
but upon a call, but upon a warrant under God's own hand ; though
it be an argument of a gracious spirit, to be always of a ready and
forward mind to suffer for Christ. And when he demands, Who will
go with me ? who will bear my cross ? cheerfully to answer, I will go.
Lord, let me bear it : yet should we take heed, that as we hang not
back when he says go ; so that we run not before he sends us, before
he calls us.
Quest. But how shall I know when I am called to suffer, when I
am called to lay down life, liberty, and all, for the profession of Christ
and the gospel ? To this I answer : —
^ Chemnitius.
* Dr [Thomas] Fuller, Serm. [and cf. Spencer, as before under 'ceremonies.' — G.]
^ Phil. i. 29. A priest might enter into a leper's house without danger, because he
had a calling from God so to do. And we may follow God dry-shod through the Red'
Sea when God gives a call.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 435
[1.] First, When the truth luill suffer, and the name of God suffer,
and the gospel will suffer, should ive decline suffering, then we are called
to suffer. It is our duty to suffer anything, to suffer the worst of
things that the worst of men can inflict, rather than that the truth
should suffer, or the name of God suffer, or the gospel suffer.
[2.] Secondly, When the case standi so with us, that we cannot keep
life, estate, liberty, dec, without denying of Christ or tJie gospel, or
luithout concealing this precious truth or that, or without turning our
hacks upon this ordinance or that, dec, then we are called to suffer.
When we cannot preserve our lives, our liberties, our estates, without
denying of Christ, or the concerns of Christ, in one degree or another,
in one kind or another, then we are called to lay down our lives, our
liberties, our estates, &c., at the feet of Christ, as the saints and
martyrs of old have done before us.
[3.] Thirdly, When our way is so liedged up with thorns, Hosea ii. 6,
that loe must either sin or suffer, when sin and sufferings surround us,
so that we cannot get out or come off, hut we must either sin or suffer^
then I must, with the three champions, choose rather to burn than to
bow ; and with Daniel to the lion's den, than to omit my duty, Dan.
iii. 17 ; and with Moses, choose to suffer afflictions with the people
of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season,
Heb. xi. 24-26. I may safely and groundedly conclude, that Christ
calls me to suffer, when I must either sin or suffer. When the case
stands thus, then I may be confident of the singular presence of God
with me, the special blessing of God upon me, and a gracious or a
glorious deliverance out of all my sufferings. But,
[4.] Fourthly and lastly, WJien a Christian, to the hest of his under-
standing, has seriously weighed all things and circumstances, and is
ivell satisfied in his mind and conscience tliat his sufferings tvill he the
exaltation of Christ, tlie furtlierance of the gospel, the stopping of the
moutlis of the ivicked, the confirmation of those that are strong, and
the strengthening and encouraging of those that are weak, then he
may safely conclude that Christ calls him to suffer. But,
8. Eighthly, Consider, That the sufferings of the saints in these days
are light and easy to the sufferings that ivere inflicted upon the Jews
in the days of Antiochus, and on Christians in the times of the ten
notorious persecutions under the Roman emperors, and to those that
have been inflicted upon the martyrs since} So cruel was the sight
of those tortures which persecutors inflicted, as exceeds all expression. 2
Constant Christians had their flesh torn from their backs with rods,
scourges, whips, and cords, so as their bones lay bare ; and the raw
parts of their bodies were washed with vinegar and salt. They were
stretched on racks, their legs were broken, and so left miserably to
perish ; they were gored with sharp pricks under the lowest parts of
their nails ; their bodies were scraped with shells to death ; their backs
were flayed ; their skins were pulled over their heads, from the brow
to the chin ; their noses, lips, ears, hands, and feet were cut off, and
^ Mac. vi. 9, 10, vii. 1-4. Euseb. Eccles. Hist., lib. viii. c. 6.
' Hym. 10, de Rom. Anno. Mart. Laddelacorda computeth forty-four several kinds
of torments wherewith the primitive Christians were tried. Adv. Sacr., cap. 128. [As
before. See Index, Maurice de la Corde.— G.]
436 A GENERAL EPISTLE
they, as sacrifices j cut in gobbets; their tongues were cut out by
the roots, and pulled out of their jaws ; their eyes were bored, and
digged out ; their bodies were rent and jDulled in pieces by strong
boughs forced together by instruments, and let loose when the limbs
of the bodies of martyrs were tied fast unto them ; their limbs were
also pulled to pieces with wild horses ; their brains were knocked out
with fuller's clubs ; their legs were broken in pieces ; they were burnt
with fire ; they were a long while together parched with hot burning
coals ; being hanged by the heels, and their heads downward over a
soft fire, they were choked with smoke ; they were roasted at the fire,
as flesh to be eaten used to be roasted ; they were leisurely broiled
on gridirons over the fire ; they were fried in red-hot iron chairs, as in
a frying-pan, which annoyed the standers-by with a stench ; hot boil-
ing lead was poured down their throats ; they clapped fiery plates of
brass upon the most tender parts of their bodies, i A persecuting
tyrant, considering the nature of the country, that it was terrible cold,
and the time of the year, that it was winter, and a night wherein the
cold extremely increased, and that the north wind then blew there,
commanded forty Christians to be set stark naked under the open air
in the midst of the city to freeze to death. Then, when they heard that
charge, with joy casting away even their innermost vestment, they went
on to their death by cold.2 They endured the violence of leopards,
bears, wild boars, and bulls. Attains and Alexander were twice baited
with wild beasts, to be torn in pieces by them, as Eusebius reports.^
Attalus, escaping the beasts, was reserved to other torments, to be
burnt to death in an iron chair, heated red fire hot. Macedonius,
Theodulus, and Tatianus were laid upon a gridiron, and broiled to
death. 4 There were many Christians together stopped up in lakes or
caves, artificially made close, which lakes or ditches were filled with a
company of dormice, kept hungry, to gnaw and feed upon the poor
Christians, they being all the while bound hand and foot, that they
could not keep off those hunger-starved creatures, which were kept
without meat also, purposely that they might fasten with the more
eagerness upon the bodies of those precious Christians. They were de-
stroyed with hunger, thirst, and cold.^ Such as were stifled in prisons,
they east to dogs, setting w^atchmen night and day, lest any of them
should be buried. And such remainders as were left both of beasts
and fire, in part torn, and in part burnt, together with the heads and
bodies of others, they cast out in like manner, unburied, and com-
mitted them some days to the custody of soldiers.^ Thus the barbar-
ous cruelty of persecutors extended itself as far as it could beyond the
temporal lives of the martyrs. Ecclesiastical histories tell us that all
the apostles died violent deaths.'' Peter was crucified with his heels
upwards. Christ was crucified with his head upwards, but Peter
thought this was too great an honour for him to be crucified as his
Lord, and therefore he chose to be crucified wdth his heels upward ;
' Brooks is enumerating the engravings of his favourite folio. Clarke, as before. — G.
* Basil in xl. Mart. Cone. Item Greg. Xyssen de iisdem, Orat. 2.
•' Eccles. Hist., lib. v. c. 1. ■* Socrat. Hist., lib. iii. c. 13.
* Mag. Cent. iv. c. 3, €i Tkeodoreto.
* Euseb. Eccles. Hist., lib. v. c. 1, lib. viii. c. 6, 7, &c. Niceph., lib. vii. c. 11, 12.
' See my ' Beauty of Holiness,' pp. 413-415. [Vol. iv. — G.]
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 437
and Andrew was crucified by Egeus, king of Edessa ; and James, the son
of Zebedee, was slain by Herod with the sword, Acts xii. 2 ; and Philip
was crucified at Hierapolis, in Asia; and while Bartholomew was preach-
ing the glad tiddings of salvation, multitudes fell upon him, and beat
him down with staves, and then crucified him ; and after all this, his
skin was flayed off, and he beheaded ; Thomas was slain with a dart at
Calumina, in India ; and Matthew was slain with a spear, say some ;
others say he was run through with a sword ; and James, the son of
Alpheus, who was called the Just, was thrown down from off a pinnacle
of the temple ; and yet having some life left in him, he was brained with
a fuller's club. Lebbeus was slain by Agbarus, king of Edessa, and
Paul was beheaded at Rome by Nero ; and Simon the Canaanite was
crucified in Egypt, say some ; others say that he and Jude were slain
in a tumult of the' people ; and Matthias was stoned to death, and
John was banished into Patmos, Rev. i. 9 ; and afterwards, as some
histories tell us, he was by that cruel tjrrant Domitian cast into a tub
of scalding oil, and yet delivered by a miracle. Thus all these wor-
thies, ' of whom this world was not worthy/ Heb. xi. 38, except John,
died violent deaths, and so, through sufferings, entered into glory.
To conclude, Lactantius saith, not only the men among the Chris-
tians, and those of stronger years and hearts, but even our women
and little children, saith he, have endured all torments, and been too
hard for their tormentors. No rack, no fire could fetch so much as a
groan from them, which the stoutest thieves and malefactors among
their persecutors could not undergo, but they would roar and cry out
through impatience and disability to endure them.^ I suppose that
more cruel torments cannot be invented than of old have been inflicted
on Christians. Persecutors have acknowledged that they were over-
come, and had no more to inflict.^ Such torture and torments so
courageously and manfully have sundry Christians in all ages suffered
as to them who only heard thereof they seemed incredible ; and to
many who were eye-witnesses thereof they seemed so strange, and
beyond admiration, as they thought the martyrs to be mad, witless,
and senseless: but the martyrs had peace and rest and quiet within,
and the favourable presence of God so shining upon their souls, that
they were encouraged and enabled with a holy and heavenly bravery
of spirit to bid defiance to their most cruel persecutors.
Now, Christians, if you compare your most cruel sufferings with the
sufferings of the saints of old, how easy and light will they be found
to be ! What are molehills to mountains, scratches upon the hand
to stabs at the heart ? No more are your greatest sufferings to those
that the saints have met with in former ages. And therefore, thougli
men frown upon you, and threaten you with censures, imprisonment,
banishment, confiscation, and all the evil human might and cruelty
can do unto you, yet be not moved, but account yourselves happy that
you have any opportunity to do or suffer anything whereby you may
testify that Christ and his concerns do lie near your hearts, and
whereby you may further his opposed interest, and bear witness to his
despised truth, 1 Pet. iv. 14, 1.5. But,
9. Ninthly, Consider, That the saints and martyrs of old have made
^ Lact., lib. V. c. 13. - Euseb. Eccl. Hist., lib. v. c. 1.
438 A GENEEAL EPISTLE
little reckoning or account of their lives, liberties, relations, or estates,
when they stood in competition loith Christ, or his truth, loorship, ivays,
ordinances, interest, or with their profession of the Christian faith.
Witness that glorious testimony that the apostle gives of them, ' They
would not* accept deliverance.'^ He means deliverance from death, or
preservation of life. This, though offered, they would not accept —
namely, on persecutors' terms or conditions, which was to deny the
truth of God, or renounce their faith in him. They scorned deliver-
ance upon base terms, and would rather die than deny Christ or his
truth. This phrase, ' Not accepting deliverance,' presupposeth that
deliverance was offered to them, otherwise they could not have re-
jected it, for their not accepting was a rejecting. Their persecutors
offered them deliverance upon their compliance with their wills, lusts,
ways, worship, &c. This is evident by that which Nebuchadnezzar
said to Daniel's three champions when they were accused for not
worshipping his idol, which was this, ' If ye be ready to fall down
and worship the image,' Dan. iii. 15. He hereby implies that they
should be spared ; for he addeth, ' If you worship not, you shall
be cast into a fiery furnace.' And this is further evident in those
to whom the apostle hath reference — viz., the Maccabees, 2 Mac. vi.
18-31. And this was the common practice of the persecuting em-
perors in the ten persecutions ; and after them, with the Antichristian
persecutors; and more particularly, with the high persecutors in
Queen Mary's days. But the Christians in those several ages had such
a mighty presence of God with them, that they chose rather to
suffer the worst of deaths than to preserve their lives by complying
with the wills, lusts, ways, and worship of their persecutors. For
ever remember this, that the envy and malice of persecutors is more
against the glorious truth the saints profess than it is against their
persons ; for let but Christians relinquish the truth, deny the truth,
reproach the truth, or oppose the truth, and presently they shall be
white-boys,2 great favourites, good sons of the church, and what
not. That the envy and malice of persecutors is more against the
truth than the professors of it, is most evident, in that they persecute
strangers whom they never knew before. It is said of Paul, that
' if he found any such, he brought them bound,' Acts ix. 2. All was
fish that was caught in his net. If father or mother, brother or sister,
child or cousin profess the truth, plead for the truth, stand up for
the truth, men of persecuting spirits will prosecute and persecute
them to the death : ' The brother shall deliver up the brother to death,
and the father the child ; and the children shall rise up against their
parents, and cause them to be put to death,' Mat. x. 21 ; Luke xxi.
16. Alphonsus Diarius delivered up his own brother John at Neu-
berg in Germany into his enemies' hands.^ So Dr London* made
Filmer the martyr's own brother witness against him, by supplying of
him with meat and money, and by telling of him he should never
want. So one Woodman was delivered by his own brother into his
enemies' hands.^ And in the civil wars of France, not to mention
that of England, the sons fought against their fathers, and brothers
^ HeK xi. 35, vide Estius. * As before. — G. ^ Sleidan, lib. i. 17.
« >bic.— G. « [Foxe,] Acts aud Mon., fol. lll:i and 1801.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 439
against brothers ; and even women took up arms on both sides for de-
fence of their religion.^ And Philip, king of Spain, could frequently
say that he had rather have no subjects than heretics, as he called the
Protestants ; and out of a blind, bloody zeal he suffered his eldest son
Charles to be murdered by the cruel Inquisition, because he seemed to
favour the Protestant side, [Jerome.] Truth is a glorious, shining
light, that discovers the ignorance* and darkness, the wickedness and
baseness, the unsoundness and hypocrisy, the superstition and vain
conversation, of persecutors ; and therefore they cannot endure this
light, they hate this light, and will do all they can to suppress this
light, and those that hold out this light to the world, John iii. 19.
The saints and martyrs of old were as willing to die as to dine. Pliny,
writing to Trajan the emperor, declares to him that such was their
zeal and courage in behalf of their God, that nothing could stir them
from it.2 Neither the imperious checks of the potent emperors, nor
the soft language of the eloquent orators, could draw them from the
faith ; but they steadfastly owned it, and constantly persevered in the
defence of it, and were ready and willing to lay down their lives for it.
When Ignatius was to suffer. It is better for me, saith he, to be a
martyr than to be a monarch. It was a notable saying of a French
martyr, when the rope was about his fellow, Give me, said he, that
golden chain, and dub me knight of that noble order. Let, saith
Ignatius, fire and cross, invasion of beasts, breaking of bones, pulling
asunder of members, grinding of my whole body, and what else the
devil can inflict, come, so I may hold Jesus Christ. ^ Lucius thanked
him that brought him forth to suffer, and said that he should be free
from those evil masters, and go to God, a good Father and King.-*
Germanicus, when he was brought forth to be torn in pieces and
devoured by wild beasts, the governor, persuading him to be mindful
of his youth, that he might be spared, of his own accord incited the
beasts against himself. Sanctus, being under tortures for professing
himself to be a Christian, unto every question propounded to him, he
answered, I am a Christian ; whereby he occasioned his torments to
be continued to death.5 Can we think that St Laurence would have
accepted of deliverance, who, lying on a red-hot gridiron, over burning
coals, with an invincible spirit thus said to the tyrants: Turn the
side broiled enough, and see what thy burning fire hath done ; and
being turned, and thoroughly broiled on the other side, saith thus
again : Eat that which is broiled, and try whether raw or broiled be
the sweeter. Hippolytus, when he was tied to wild horses to be pulled
asunder, thus prayed : Let them rend my limbs ; do thou, Christ,
wrap up my soul. To omit other particulars of the ancient martyrs
in the primitive times, with whose courageous speeches, manifesting a
contempt of death, of which volumes might be filled, it is indefinitely
recorded of many, who were famous for their wealth, nobility, glory,
eloquence, and learning, that nevertheless they preferred true piety
and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ before all those.^ And though
they were entreated by many of their kindred and friends otherwise,
1 Hist, of Council of Treut, fol. 647. ' Epist. lib. x. ep. 97, p. 316.
^ Euseb. Hist. Eccl, lib. iii. cap. 36. * Ibid., lib. iv. cap. 15.
* Ihid., lib. V. cap. 2. * Ibid., lib viii. cup. 9.
440 A GENERAL EPISTLE
yea, and by others in great place, and by the judge himself, that they
would take pity of themselves, their wives, and children ; yet would
they not be induced and entreated by so many, and great ones, so to
be affected with the love of this life as to forbear the confession of our
Saviour, and to set light by the denial of him. Thus you see what
little reckoning or account the Christians of old have made of their lives,
liberties, and estates, or whatever efcse was near or dear unto them, when
these things stood in competition with Christ, his truth, his worship,
his ways, his interest, or with their profession of the Christian faith.
Take a few instances of a later date. John Huss being at the stake,
a pardon was offered him if he would recant ; to which he answered,
I am here ready to suffer death. So Jerome of Prague : If I had
feared the fire, said he, I had not come hither. Francis Camba, a
martyr, in the diocese of Milan, being much assailed by his friends,
and terrified by his foes, by no means could be overcome ; but gave
thanks to God that he was accounted worthy to suffer a cruel death
for the testimony of his Son ; and such were his expressions of joy in
his sufferings, that his persecutors caused his tongue to be bored
through, that he might speak no more to the people. Another [Mrs
Anne Askew] being offered the king's pardon if she would recant, gave
this resolute answer : I came not here to deny my Lord and Master.
By that which she with admirable courage and constancy endured, she
verified that which of old Julitta spake concerning their sex, viz.. We
women ought to be as constant as men in Christ's cause. Another
[Walter Mill] who suffered martyrdom in Scotland, being solicited to
recant, made this reply : Ye shall know that I will not recant the
truth, for I am corn, I am no chaff; I will not be blown away with
the wind, nor burst with the flail ; but I will abide both. Another,
[Mr John Kogers,] being the first martyr in Queen Mary's days, being
solicited to recant, that so he might save his life, boldly replied, That
which I have preached I will seal with my blood. Another, [Hooper,
bishop of Gloucester,] when a pardon was set before him in a box,
cried out. If you love my soul, away with it ; if you love my soul,
away with it. Another [Mr Thos. Hawks, a gentleman in Essex]
on the like occasion, gave this resolute answer. If I had a hundred
bodies I would suffer them all to be torn in pieces, rather than abjure
or recant. So another [Bishop Kidley] spake to the like purpose.
So long, said he, as the breath is in my body, I will never deny
my Lord Christ and his known truth. Another [Father Latimer]
used such a speech to one that advised him to spare himself, as Christ
did to Peter on the like occasion, ' Get thee behind me, Satan.' There
are a world of other instances of the like nature, but enough is as good
as a feast. 1 By all these instances, you may see that blessed word
verified, ' They loved not their lives unto the death,' Kev. xii. 11.
They were willing to lay down their lives for the glory of Christ, and
for the truth of Christ ; so that ovk rf^ainidav , ' They loved not,'
is put for OL)\i'y6'ir7]aav, ' they neglected or contemned ' their life, as
Brightman hath well observed.^ They slighted, yea, despised their
lives, and rather exposed them to hazard and loss, than to deny Christ,
' Foxe and Clarke, as before. — G.
' Works, 1014; ' Eevelation of the Apocalypse.' — G.
\
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 441
or their holy profession. It is a paraphrase of the constancy of their
faith, even unto martyrdom for the name of Christ. But,
10. Tenthly, Consider, That God puts a great deal of honour upon
suffering saints. To suffer for Christ is honourable, Phil. i. 29. God
will not put this honour upon every one, he puts this honour only upon
those that are vessels of honour. By grace God makes men vessels of
silver and vessels of gold, and then casts them into the fire to melt and
suffer for his name, 2 Tim. ii. 20, 21 ; and a higher glory he cannot
put upon them on this side glory. The crown of martyrdom is a
crown that the blessed angels, those princes of glory, are not capable of
winning or wearing ; and oh, who art thou ? and what art thou,
man, that God should set this crown upon thy head ? Mark at
what a rate Peter speaks : 1 Pet. iv, 14, ' If ye be reproached for the
name of Christ, happy are ye ; for the Spirit of glory and of God
resteth upon you : on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part
he is glorified.' The very suffering condition of the people of God is
at the present a glorious condition, ' for the Spirit of glory rests
upon them ; ' and therefore they must needs be glorious, yea, very
glorious, upon whom the Spirit of glory falls, and in whom the Spirit
of glory dwells, Kom. viii. 9, 11. What a glorious mould and metal
were the three children made up of, that were cast into the fiery
furnace, Dan. iii. ; and what a deal of honour and glory did God put
upon them in the eyes of all the world ! The apostles all along
accounted their own sufferings, and the sufferings of the saints for
Christ, to be the highest honour and glory that God could put upon
them in this world, as will be evident by our comparing the scriptures
in the margin together.i To suffer for Christ is the greatest honour
and promotion that God gives in this world, said old Father Latimer ;
and, therefore, when sentence was pronounced against him, he cried
out, I thank God most heartily for this great honour. So Saunders,
' I am the unmeetest man for this high office that ever was appointed
to it.' So Careless, the martyr, ' This is such an honour,' said he,
' as the greatest angel in heaven is not permitted to have.' God forgive
me mine unthankfulness,^ &c. John Noyes took up a fagot at
the fire, and kissed it, saying, ' Blessed be the time that ever I was
born to come to this preferment.' So when they had fastened Alice
Driver with a chain to the stake to be burnt, ' Never,' said she, ' did
neckerchief becoiue me so well as this chain.' So Balilus,^ the
martyr, when he was to die, requested this favour of his persecutors,
viz., that he might have his chains buried with him as the ensigns
of his honour. ' What are we, poor worms, full of vanities and lies,'
said Calvin, ' that we should be called to be maintainers of the truth ;
for sufferings for Christ are the ensigns of heavenly nobility.' To
die for Christ is the greatest promotion that God can bring any in this
vale of misery unto, said Mr Philpot, the martyr. A French soldier,
for his zealous profession of the Eeformed religion, was condemned to
the fire with others, only he should have the favour of going to the
stake without a wyth ; but he desired that he might wear such a
1 Heb. xi. 36-38 ; 2 Cor. xi. 23-28 ; Heb. x. 23-26.
2 Acts arid Mon., 1361. Ibid., 1744.
^ Query, ' Babilas ' ? Bishop of Antioch : Clarke, 37. — G.
442 A GENERAL EPISTLE
chain as his fellows did, esteeming this rebuke of Christ more glorious
than the ensigns of St Michaers order, i It was an excellent saying of
Prudentius, ' Their names/ saith he, ' that are written in red letters of
blood in the church's calendar, are written in golden letters in Christ's
register, the book of life,' The passion-days of the martyrs were
anciently called the Natalitia salutis, the birthdays of salvation, the
daybreak of eternal brightness. We count it a great honour to have
princes to be our companions ; Christ, the Prince of peace, and the
angels, those princes of glory, are our companions in all our sufferings. ^
Such is the honour that God puts upon his suffering saints, that
nothing shall hinder him from being their companion in all their
sufferings, in all their afflictions, in all their temptations ; and this,
believe it, is no small honour. I have read 3 how that, in the primitive
times, when some good people came to comfort some of the martyrs
that were in prison and ready to suffer, they called them blessed
martyrs ; Oh no, said they, we are not worthy of the name of martyrs !
These holy humble hearts thought martyrdom too high an honour for
them. And Luther, writing to those which were condemned to death,
saith. The Lord will not do me that honour after all that bustle I have
made in the world. In the primitive times they were wont to call
martyrdom by the name of Corona Marty rii, the crown of martyrdom.
We read of a woman-martyr who, having her child in her hand, gave
it to another, and offered herself to martyrdom. Crowns, said she,
are to be dealt out this day, and I mean to have one. You see what
high and honourable thoughts the saints had of their sufferings in
those days ; and oh that all suffering saints would labour to write
after that noble copy that they have left upon record ! But,
11. Eleventhly, Consider, That suffering saints do put a great deal
of honour and glory upon God, Christ, religion, and upon God's truth,
tcorship, and ways. What a spreading fame and glory of God did
the sufferings of the three worthies scatter all the world over ! Dan. iii.
28, 29. God is acknowledged and adored by Nebuchadnezzar: a
decree is made that ' Every people, nation, and language, which
speak amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego,
shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill,' &c.
Here God's glory wonderfully shines out of their sufferings ; here
this poor, blind, idolatrous heathen prince is forced to confess that
there is no God like Israel's God. Basil and Tertullian do well
observe of the primitive martyrs, that divers of the heathen, seeing
their zeal, courage, and constancy, glorified God, and turned Chris-
tians. Religion is that phoenix which hath always revived and
flourished in the ashes of holy men ; and truth hath never been so
honoured and gloriously dispersed as when it hath been sealed by the
blood of the saints. This made Julian to forbear to persecute ; non
ex dementia, sed invidia, not out of piety, but envy ; because the
church grew so fast, and multiplied, as Nazianzen well observes. We
read that sometimes the sufferings of one saint have begot many to the
love of the truth. We read that Cecilia,* a poor captive virgin, by
1 Thnan. Hist., lib. xi. Anno 1553.
* Isa. ix. 6, 7 ; Dan. iii. 24, 25; Isa. xliii. 2, and Ixiii. 9.
' Euseb. Ecclcs. Hist., lib. v. * Clarke, as before— G.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 443
her gracious behaviour in her martyrdom, was the means of convert-
ing four hundred to Christ. Justin Martyr was also converted by
observing the cheerful and gracious carriage of the saints in their
sufferings. And so Adrianus, seeing the martyrs suffer readily and
joyfully such grievous torments, asked why they would endure such
misery, when they might, by retracting, free themselves. Upon which
one of them cited that text: 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him,' 1 Cor. ii. 9. Upon the
naming of this scripture, and seeing of them suffer so willingly,
cheerfully, and resolutely, such a divine power took hold of his heart,
that he was converted, and afterwards became a martyr. Now God,
and Christ, and truth, and religion are never more honoured than
when poor souls are soundly converted.^ Surely the crown of mar-
tyrdom is a glorious crown ; and every soul won over to God by a
dying martyr will be as an Orient pearl and precious diamond in his
crown, of far more value than that adamant found about Charles
Duke of Burgundy, slain by the Switzers at the battle of Nantz, sold
for twenty thousand ducats, and placed, as it is said, in the pope's
triple crown.2 Oh, what foretastes of glory, what ravishments of
soul have many of the blessed martyrs had in their sufferings for
Christ ! Holy Lord, stay thy hand, I can bear no more, said one of
the martyrs ; like weak eyes, that cannot bear too great a light. Is it
not a high honour to a king to have such captains and champions as
will not yield to their sovereign's enemies, but stand it out to the
uttermost till they get the victory, though it cost them their lives to
get it ? yet no mortal king can, as Christ doth, put spirit, courage,
and strength into a subject ; only we may well conceive and con-
clude that such valorous soldiers as are ready to hazard their lives for
their sovereign serve a good master. Thus do suffering Christians
and martyrs give persecutors to understand that they serve a good
Master, and that they highly prize him, who hath done more, and
suffered more for them, than their dearest blood is worth ; and who
enables them, with courage, constancy, and comfort, to endure what-
soever, for his name's sake, can be inflicted on them ; and therein to
be (yirepvtKcofiev) more than conquerors, or above conquerors, Rom.
viii. 37. How can that be ? Can a man get more than the victory ?
The meaning is, ' we do over-overcome,' supersuperamus — that is,
triumph or overcome before we fight We are famous and renowned
conquerors, we easily conquer, we conquer by those things which are
used to conquer us, we beat our enemies with their own swords, as
Julian sometime said, being confuted by heathen learning, 2 Cor. ii.
14. Martyr and Piscator expound it thus, We do more than over-
come—that is, we obtain a noble, a famous victory. And is not this
a great honour to Christ, the captain of our salvation ? The in-
vincible courage of suffering Christians puts life and spirit into others.
In an army valorous leaders much animate the rest of the soldiers,
and embolden them to follow their leaders, Heb. ii. 10. Now you
know the church is an army with banners. Cant. vi. 4, and suffering
' All the preceding names in Foxe and Clarke, as before. — G.
* [Foxe,] Acts and Mon., vii. 55-57.
444 A GENERAL EPISTLE
ministers and suffering saints are as leaders ; they courageously and
victoriously make the onset, and other Christians, by their pious
examples, are pricked on to follow them so far as they are followers of
the Lamb. But,
]2. Twelfthly, Consider, TJiat all the sufferings aiid persecutions that
you meet with on earth shall advance your glory in heaven. The
more saints are persecuted on earth, the greater shall be their reward
in heaven.i Look, as persecutions do increase a Christian's grace, so
they do advance a Christian's glory. In heaven the martyrs shall
have the highest degree of glory ; for though God doth not reward
men simply for their works, namely, for the merit of them, yet he re-
wards according to their works, and proportions the degree or measure
thereof according to the kind of work which on earth is done, and ac-
cording to the measure of grace whereby he enables men to do it.
Now martyrdom is the most difficult, the most honourable, and the most
acceptable work that on earth can be done, and therefore in heaven
martyrdom shall be crowned with the highest degree of glory. On this
ground, they who set down the different degrees of celestial glory by the
different fruits which the good ground brought forth, some thirty,
some sixty, and some a hundredfold. Mat, xiii. 8 ; apply the hundred-
fold, which is the highest and greatest degree of glory, to martjTdom.
Doubtless God's suffering servants, and amongst them especially his
martyrs, shall sit down in the chiefest mansions and in the highest
rooms in the kingdom of glory, 2 According to the degrees of our
sufferings for Christ will be the degrees of our glory. ' What shall
we have,' says Peter, that have suffered so many great and grievous
things for thy name, ' that have forsaken all, and followed thee ? '
' Verily,' says our Saviour, ' every one that hath forsaken houses, &c,,
shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life ; but ye
shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,' Mat.
xix, 27-29, A Christian will never repent of all the hard things that
he has suffered for Christ or his truth, whenas every one of his suffer-
ings shall be a sparkling jewel to give a lustre to his crown of glory.
Suffering for Christ and religion is the most gainful kind of merchan-
dise, Christ is so well pleased with the sufferings of his saints, that
he has engaged himself to make up whatever they lose upon his account,
yea, to repay all with interest upon interest to a hundred times over.
Oh, who would not then turn spiritual purchaser ! Christ is a noble,
a liberal paymaster, and no small things can fall from so great a hand
as his is : Mat, v. 10-12, ' Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness' sake : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are
ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Kejoice, and be ex-
^ QuU quisvolens detrahit famce meae, nolens addit mercedi mem, saith Augustine —
The more we suffer with and for Christ, the more glory we shall have with and from
Christ, Rom. ii. 6.
^ Keep j-our eye upon the recompense of reward, as Moses did, Heb. xi. 26, and as
Christ did, chap. xii. 2; as Paul did, Rom.viii. 18. This will work you— (].) To walk more
holily, humbly, thankfully ; (2.) To live more cheerfully and comfortably; (3.) To suffer
more patiently, freely, resolutely ; (4. ) To fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil
more stoutly and valiantly ; (5.) To withstand temptations more steadfastly and strongly ;
(6.) To be contented with a little; (7.) To leave the world, relations, and friends more
willingly ; (8.) And to embrace death more joyfully.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 445
ceeding glad ; for great is your reward in heaven : for so persecuted
they the prophets which were before you : ' Luke vi. 22, 23, ' Blessed
are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you
from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name
as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap
for joy ; for, behold, your reward is in heaven : for in the like manner
did their fathers unto the prophets,' They that are now excommuni-
cated and anathematised as notorious, shameful, and abominable
offenders, — they that are now opposed and persecuted by men, shall at
last be owned and crowned by God ; yea, and the more afflictions and
persecutions are multiplied upon them in this world, the greater shall
be their recompense in another world. The original words dyaXkiaa6e
in Matthew, and aKiprrjaare in Luke, signify 'exceeding great joy,' such
as men usually express by skipping and dancing. Let your hearts
leap, and let your bodies leap for joy, for great is your reward in
heaven. A Dutch martyr, seeing the flame to come to his beard, said
he, What a small pain is this, to be compared to the glory to come.
Helen Stirk,^ a Scotch woman, when her husband was at the place of
execution, she said to him. Husband, rejoice ; for we have lived to-
gether many joyful days ; but this day, in which we must die, ought
to be the most joyful to us both, because we must have joy for ever ;
therefore I will not bid you good-night, for we shall suddenly meet
within the kingdom of heaven. The subscription of Mrs Anne Askew
to her confession was this, Written by me, Anne Askew, that neither
wisheth for death nor feareth his might, and as merry as one that is
bound toward heaven. Oh, how my heart leapeth for joy, said Mr
Philpot, that I am so near the apprehension of eternal life ! God
forgive me mine unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great glory.
I have so much joy of the reward prepared for me most wretched
sinner, that though I be in a place of darkness and mourning, yet I
cannot lament, but both night and day am so joyful as though under
no' cross at all ; yea, in all the days of my life I was never so merry ;
the name of the Lord be praised therefore for ever and ever ! The
same author, in a letter to the congregation, saith. Though I tell you
that I am in hell in the judgment of this world, yet assuredly I feel
in the same the consolation of heaven ; and this loathsome and horrible
prison is as pleasant to me as the walks in the garden in the King's
Bench.2 Thus you see that suffering saints have had a heaven before-
hand, — they have had an exuberancy of joy such as no good could match
nor no evil overmatch, 1 Pet. i. 8. Bernard, speaking of persecutors,
saith. That they are but his Father's goldsmiths, who are working to add
pearls to the saint's crown. It is to my loss, saith Gordius the martyr,
if you abate me anything of my present sufferings. Sufferings for
Christ are the saints' greatest glory. Crudelitas vestra, gloria nostra,
your cruelty is our glory, say they in Tertullian, and the harder we
are put to it, the greater shall be our reward in heaven. Chrysostom
hit the nail when he said, If one man should suffer all the sorrows of
all the saints in the world, yet are they not worth one hour's glory in
heaven. By the consent of the schoolmen, all the martyrs shall ap-
pear in the church triumphant, bearing the signs of their Christian
i Query, ' Stark '?— G. ' [Foxe,] Acts aii'I Mon, fol. 613, 1154, 1130, 1G70, 1GC3.
446 A GENERAL EPISTLE
wounds about with them, as so many speaking testimonies of their
holy courage, that what here they endured in the behalf of their
Saviour, may be there an addition to their glory. Christians, all
your sufferings will certainly increase your future glory ; every afflic-
tion, every persecution, will be a grain put into the scale of your
heavenly glory, to make it more weighty in that day, wherein he will
richly reward you for every tear, for every sigh, for every groan, for
every hazard, and for every hardship that you have met in the way of
your duty, 2 Cor. iv. 16-18. For light afflictions you shall have a
weight of glory ; and for a few afflictions you shall have as many joys,
pleasures, delights, and contents, as there be stars in heaven, or sands
on the sea-shore ; and for momentary afflictions you shall have an
eternal crown of glory. If you have suffering for suffering with Christ
on earth, you shall have glory for glory with Christ in heaven. Ah,
Christians, your present sufferings are but the seeds of your future
glory ; and the more plentiful you sow in tears, the more abundant
will be your harvest of glory, Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6. Christ our general, the
captain of our salvation, promises a crown, Kev. ii. 10, and a throne,
chap. iii. 21, to all his afflicted and persecuted ones, which are the
greatest rewards that a God can give, or that man can crave. It
troubled one of the martyrs when he was at the stake that he was
going to a place where he should be for ever a-receiving of wages for a
little work. But,
13. Thirteentlily and lastly, Ajfflictions, sufferings, persecutions, will
discover what metal men are made of. All is not gold that glisters. i
Many there be that glister, and look like golden Christians ; but when
they come to the fire they prove but dross. He is a Christian more
worth than the gold of Ophir, who remains gold when under fiery
trials. The stony ground did glister and shine very gloriously, for it
received the word with joy for a season, Mat. xiii. 20, 21 ; but when
the sun of persecution arose upon it, it fell away. Men that in times
of liberty and prosperity embrace the word, will, in times of persecu-
tion, distrust the word, reject the word, and turn their backs upon the
word, if it be not rooted in their understandings, judgments, wills,
affections, and consciences. Men may court the word, and compliment
the word, and applaud the word, and seemingly rejoice in the word,
but they will never suffer persecution for the word, if it be only re-
ceived into their heads, and not fast rooted in their hearts. The house
built upon the sand. Mat. vii. 26, 27, was as lovely, as comely, as
goodly, and as glorious a house to look upon as that which was built
upon a rock ; but when the rain of affliction descended, and the floods
of tribulation came, and the winds of persecution blew and beat upon
the house, it fell, and great was the fall of it. No professors will be
able to stand it out in all winds and weathers, but such as are built
upon a rock ; all others will sink, shatter, and fall when the wind of
persecution blows upon them. As sure as the rain will fall, the floods
flow, and the winds blow, so sure will an unsound heart give out when
trials come. No heart but a sound heart will hold out bravely when
sufferings come ; no heart but a sincere heart will bear the brunt of
persecution. The three worthies, Dan. iii. 17, 18, Shadrach, Meshach,
1 Mat. xiii. ; 2 Tim. i. 15, 16; 1 Tim. i. 19, 20 ; 2 Tim. iv. 10, 14-16.
TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS. 447
and Abed-nego, would rather bum than bow, they would rather suffer
than sin, which was an evident proof of their sincerity and ingenuity ;
they would be Nonconformists, though court, city, and couatry cried
up conformity, which was a sm'e argument of their integrity. Hypo-
crites have heart enough for themselves, but none for God. If they
see their names, estates, or carnal interest any way touched, they are
all on fire, and ready to be burnt up with the flames of their own zeal ;
but they can see the name, truth, and interest of God, assaulted and
torn in pieces, and never stir. In their own concerns, they are as if
they were all heart ; but in the cause of God, they are as if, with
Ephraim, they had no heart at all, Hosea vii. 11. Oh, it is sad that
men should have a heart for themselves, and none for God ; that they
should have courage in their own cause, and none in his. As the soul
is the glory of the body, so integrity is the glory of the soul. A sin-
cere Cliristian, with Job, will rather let all go than let his integrity
go, Job xxvii. 5 ; he will sooner let the blood be pressed out of his
veins, and his soul out of his body, than his integrity out of his soul.
Oh, how bravely did the primitive Christians carry themselves as to
this matter. Pliny, writing to Trajan,^ declares to him that such was
their zeal and courage in the behalf of their God, that nothing could
stir them from it ; neither the imperious checks of the potent emperors,
nor the soft language of the eloquent orators, could draw them from the
faith ; but they steadfastly owned it, and constantly persevered in the de-
fence of it. But now base unsound hearts will exceedingly shuffle and
shift to shake off persecution. Witness those false teachers. Gal. vi.
12, * As many as desire to make a fair show,' or, as the Greek has it,
to set a good face on it, in the flesh, they constrain you to be circum-
cised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.'
Mark, at this time the Jews, out of zeal to their law, did sorely per-
secute those that did either preach or practise anything contrary to
their law. Now these false teachers set a good face on it, and make
a fair show, as if they were all for carnal rites and ceremonies ; and
they pressed circumcision upon the Galatians, but not out of any true
affection or zeal that they did bear to the law, but only to procure
favour on the one hand, and to avoid and escape the malice and per-
secution of the Jews on the other hand. They that were no Jews, to
avoid persecution, would comply with them that were ; they would
seem to be very earnest for Judaism, but not for Christianism, that
so they miglit escape the fury of the Jews. Unsound hearts will say
anything,|and do anything, and be anything, to avoid persecution, and
to ingratiate themselves with persecutors. The Samaritans, so long as
the Jewish religion flourished, and was in honour, caused a temple to
be built on Mount Gerizim, that therein they might not be inferior
to the Jews ; and they boasted themselves to be of the progeny of
Joseph, and worshippers of God with them. But when they perceived
that the Jews were cruelly afflicted and persecuted by Antiochus Epi-
phanes for worshipping of the true God, and fearing lest they should
be handled in the like manner, they changed both their coat and their
note, affirming that they were not Israelites, but Sidonians, and that
they had built their temple, not unto God, but unto Jupiter,^ Thus
1 Epist. xcvii. p. 316. ' Joseph. Hist., lib. xiii. [As before.— G.]
448 A GENERAL EPISTLE TO ALL SUFFERING SAINTS.
you see that times of affliction and persecution will distinguish the
precious from the vile, Jer. xv. 19. It will difference the counterfeit
professor 'from the true. Persecution is a Christian's touchstone;
it is a Lapis Lydius that will try what metal men are made of,
whether they be silver or tin, gold or dross, wheat or chaff, shadow
or substance, carnal or spiritual, sincere or hypocritical. Nothing
speaks out more soundness and uprightness than keeping close to
Christ, his worship, truth, and ways, in a day of warm persecution.
To stand close and fast to 'God and his interest in fiery trials, argues
much integrity within.
These thirteen particulars are so great truths, written with the
beams of the sun, that no man or devil can deny, and therefore I shall
make no apology to the persecutors of the day to excuse my writing
of this general epistle ; but shall beg hard of God t^hat it may be so
owned and crowned and blessed from on high, that it may really
and fully answer to all those holy and gracious aims and ends that
the author had in his eye and upon his heart when he writ it. And
thus much for this general epistle.
SOME WORDS OF COUNSEL TO A
DEAR FRIEND.
Dear Lady and Sister in the Lord,i — I shall now address my-
self to you in a few lines, and so conclude. I know you have for
many years been the Lord's prisoner. Great have been your trials,
and many have been your trials, and long have been your trials ; but
to all these I have spoken at large in my treatise called ' The Mute
Christian under the Smarting Rod,' which you have in your hand,
which you have read, and which God has greatly blessed to the sup-
port, comfort, quiet, and refreshment of your soul under all your
trials ; and therefore I shall say no more as to those particulars. But
knowing that the many weaknesses that hang upon you, and the
decays of nature that daily do attend you, seem to point out an ap-
proaching dissolution, I shall at this time give you this one word of
counsel, viz., that every day you would look upon death in a scripture
glass, in a scripture dress, or under a scripture notion ; that is,
^ 1. First, Look upon death as that which is best for a believer:
Phil. i. 23, ' For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to de-
part, and to be with Christ, which is far better.' The Greek is very
significant, ' far, far the better,' or far much better, or much more
better. It is a most transcendent expression. 2 Eccles. vii. 1, 'Better
is the day of death than the day of one's birth.' A saint's dying day
is the daybreak of eternal righteousness. In respect of pleasure,
peace, safety, company, glory, a believer's dying day is his best day.
I have read of one Trophonius, that when he had built and dedicated
that stately temple at Delphos, he asked of Apollo, for his recompense,
that thing which was best for man. The oracle wished him to go
home, and within three days he should have it ; and within that time
he died. It was an excellent saying of one of the ancients, ' That is
not a death, but life, wliich joins the dying man to Christ ; and that
is not a life, but death, which separates a living man from Christ/
But,
2. Secondly, Look upon death as a remedy, as a cure. Death will
perfectly cure you of all corporeal and spiritual diseases at once : the
^ This second Epistle is headed ' Some Words of Counsel to a Dear Friend,' viz., Mrs
Drinkwater, named on page 1. Cf. the General Epistle prefixed. — ti.
' rioXXtD /jLaWov Kpeiffaov. Nee Christus, nee coslum patitiir hyperholen, saith one ;
here it is hard to hyperbolize.
VOL. V. 2 F
450 SOME WORDS OF COUNSEL
crazy body and the defiled soul, the aching head and the unbelieving
heart : ultimus morborum medicus mors. Death will cure you of all
your ails, aches, diseases, and distempers. At Stratford-Bow, in Queen
Mary's days, there was burned a lame man and a blind man at one
stake. The lame man, after he was chained, casting away his crutch,
bade the blind man be of good comfort ; For death, saith he, will cure
us both ; thee of thy blindness, and me of my lameness. ^ And as death
will cure all your bodily diseases, so it will cure all your soul distem-
pers also. Death is not mors hominis, but mors peccati; not the death
of the man, but the death of his sin. Death will work such a cure as
all your duties, graces, experiences, ordinances, assurances, could never
do ; for it will at once free you fully, perfectly, and perpetually from
all sin ; yea, from all possibility of ever sinning more. Sin was the
midwife that brought death into the world, and death shall be the
grave to bury sinr^ And why, then, should a Christian be afraid to die,
unwilling to die, seeing death gives him a writ of ease from infirmities
and weaknesses, from all aches and pains, griefs and gripings, distempers
and diseases, both of body and soul ? When Samson died, the Philis-
tines also died together with him ; so when a saint dies, his sins die with
him. Death came in by sin, and sin goeth out by death ; as the worm
kills the woi'm that bred it, so death kills sin that bred it. But,
3. Thirdly, Looh upon death as a rest, a full rest. A believer's dying
day is his resting day. It is a resting day from sin, sorrow, afilictions,
temptations, desertions, dissensions, vexations, oppositions, and perse-
cutions.^ This world was never made to be the saints' rest. Arise,
for this is not your resting-place. They are like Noah's dove, they
can rest nowhere but in the ark and in the grave. ' In the grave,'
saith Job, ' the weary are at rest.' Upon this very ground some of
the most refined heathens have accounted mortality to be a mercy, for
they brought their friends into the world with mournful obsequies,
but carried them out of the world with all joyful sports and pastimes,
because then they conceived they were at rest, and out of gunshot.
Death brings the saints to a full rest, to a pleasant rest, to a match-
less rest, to an eternal rest. But,
4. Fourthly, Look 2ipon your dying day as a reaping day: 2 Cor.
ix. 2 ; Gal. vi. 7-9 ; Isa. xxxviii. 3 ; Mat. xxv. 31, 41. Now you
shall reap the fruit of all the prayers that ever you have made, and
of all the tears that ever you have shed, and of all the sighs and groans
that ever you have fetched, and of all the good words that ever you
have spoken, and of all the good works that ever you have done, and
of all the great things that ever y6u have suffered. When mortality
shall put on immortality, you shall then reap a plentiful crop, a glorious
crop, as the fruit of that good seed that for a time hath seemed to be
buried and lost, Eccles. xi. 1,6. As Christ hath a tender heart and a
soft hand, so he hath an iron memory ; he punctually remembers all
the sorrows, and all the services, and all the sufferings of his people,
to reward them and crown them, Kev, xxii. 12. But,
5. Fifthly, LooJc upon your dying day as a gainful day. There is
1 [Foxe,] Acts and Mon., fol. 1733.
^ Peccatum erat obstetrix mortis, et mors sepulchrum peccati. — Ambrose, De Bono
Mortis, cap. 4. ^ Rev. xiv. 13 ; Job iii. 13-17; 2 Thes. i. 7; Micah ii. 10; Jer. 1. 6.
TO A DEAR FRIEND. 451
no gain to that which comes in by death : Phil. i. 21, ' For me to live
is Christ, and to die is gain.' A Christian gets more by death than
he doth by life, Eccles. vii. 1 ; to be in Christ is very good, but to be
with Christ is best of all, Phil. i. 23. It was a mighty blessing for
Christ to be with Paul on earth, but it was the top of blessings for
Paul to be with Christ in heaven. Seriously consider of a few
things: —
[1.] First, That by death you shall gain incomparable croions.
(1.) A crown of life, Kev. ii. 10 ; James i. 12 ; (2.) A crown of right-
eousness, 2 Tim. iv. 8 ; (3.) An incorruptible crown, 1 Cor. ix. 24, 25 ;
(4.) A crown of glory, 1 Pet. v. 4. Now there are no crowns to these
crowns, as I have fully discovered in my discourse on ' The Divine
Presence,' to which I refer you.i But,
[2.] Secondly, You shall gain a glorious kingdom: Luke xii. 32,
* It is your Father's pleasure to give you a kingdom.' But death is the
young prophet that anointeth them to it, and giveth them actual pos-
session of it. They must put off their rags of mortality, that they may
put on their robes of glory. Israel must first die in Egypt before he
can be carried into Canaan. There is no entering into paradise but
under the flaming sword of this angel death, who standeth at the
gate. Death is the dirty lane through which the saint passeth to a
kingdom, to a great kingdom, to a glorious kingdom, to a quiet king-
dom, to an unshaken kingdom, to a durable kingdom, to a lasting
kingdom, yea, to an everlasting kingdom. Death is a dark, short way,
through which the saints pass to the marriage-supper of the Lamb,
Heb. xii. 28 ; Dan. ii. 44, and iv. 3 ; Kev. xix. 7. But,
[3.] Thirdly, You shall gain a safe and Jionourable convoy into that
other world, Luke xvi. 22. Oh, in what pomp and triumph did
Lazarus ride to heaven on the wings of angels 1 The angels conduct
the saints at death through the air, the devil's region ; every gracious
soul is carried into Christ's presence by these heavenly courtiers. Oh,
what a sudden change does death make ! behold, he that even now
was scorned by men, is all on a sudden, Carried by angels into Abra-
ham's bosom. But,
[4.] Fourthly, You shall gain a glorious welcome, ajo^jful luelcome,
a wonderful ivelcome into heaven. By general consent of all antiquity,
the holy angels and blessed Trinity rejoice at the sinner's conversion ;
but oh, what inexpressible, what transcendent joy is there, when a saint
is landed upon the shore of eternity, Kev. iv. 8-11; Luke xv. 7, 10;
Heb. xii. 23. God and Christ, angels and archangels, all stand ready
to welcome the believer as soon as his feet are upon the threshold of
glory. God the Father welcomes the saints as his elect and chosen
ones, Jesus Christ welcomes them as his redeemed and purchased ones,
and the Holy Spirit welcomes them as his sanctified and renewed ones,
and the blessed angels welcome them as those they have guarded and
attended on, Heb. i. 14. When the saints enter upon the suburbs of
glory, the glorious angels welcome them with harps in their hands,
and ditties in their mouths. But,
[5.] Fifthly, You shall gain full freedom and liberty from all your
enemies luithin and ivithout — viz., sin, Satan, and the world, Luke i.
^ Viz., the Treatise to which this Epistle is prefixed. —G.
452 SOME WORDS OF COUNSEL
70, 71, 74, 75. (1.) Death will free you from the indwelling power
of sin, Kom. vil 23. In heaven there is no complaints. As in hell
there is nothing but wickedness, so in heaven there is nothing but
holiness. (2.) Death will free you from the power and pre valency of
sin. Here sin plays the tyrant, but in heaven there is no tyranny, but
perfect felicity. (3.) Death will free you from all provocations, temp-
tations, and suggestions to sin. Now you shall be above all Satan's
batteries. Now God will make good the promise of treading Satan
under your feet, Eom. xvi. 20. Some say serpents will not live in
Ireland. The old serpent is cast out, and shall be for ever kept out
of the new Jerusalem above, Rev. xii. 8, 9, and xxi. 27. (4.) Death
will free you from all the effects and consequents of sin — viz. , losses,
crosses, sicknesses, diseases, disgraces, sufferings, &c. When the cause
is taken away, the effect ceases ; when the fountain of sin is dried up,
the streams of ajfflictions, of sufferings, must be dried up ; the fuel
being taken away, the fire will go out of itself. Sin and sorrow were
born together, do live together, and shall die together. To open this
fourth particular a little more fully to you, consider these four things :
First, That death will free you from all reproach and ignominy on
your names. Now Elijah is accounted the troubler of Israel, Nehemiah
a rebel against his king, and David the song of the drunkards, and
Jeremiah a man of contention, and Paul a pestilent fellow. i Heaven
wipes away all blots, as well as all tears ; as no sins, so no blots are
to be found in that upper world. The names of all the saints in a
state of glory are written, as I may say, in characters of gold. But,
Secondly, Death will free you from all bodily infirmities and
diseases. We carry about in our bodies the matter of a thousand
deaths, and may die a thousand several ways each several hour. As
many senses, as many members, nay, as many pores as there are in
the body, so many windows there are for death to enter at.^ Death
needs not spend all its arrows upon us ; a worm, a gnat, a fly, a hair,
the stone of a raisin, the kernel of a grape, the fall of a horse, the
stumbling of a foot, the prick of a pin, the paring of a nail, the cutting
of a corn ; all these have been to others, and any one of them may be
to us, the means of our death, within the space of a few days, nay, of
a few hours. Here Job had his blotches, and Hezekiah had his boil,
and David his wounds, and Lazarus his sores, and the poor widow her
issue of blood. Job ii. 6, 7 ; Isa. xxxvii. 21 ; Ps. xxxviii. 5 ; Luke
xvi. 20 ; Mat. ix. 20. Now the fever burns up some, and the dropsy
drowns others, and the vapours stifle others ; one dies of an apoplexy
in the head, another of a struma in the neck, a third of a squinancy 3
in the throat, and a fourth of a cough and consumption of the lungs ;
others of obstructions, inflammations, pleurisies, gouts, &c. We are
commonly full of complaints ; one complains of this distemper, and
another of that ; one of this disease, and another of that ; but death
will cure us of aU diseases and distempers at once. But,
Thirdly, Death will free you from all your sorroius, luheiher inward
or outward, whether for your own sins or the sins of others, wliether
^ 1 Kings xviii. 17 ; Neh. vi. 6 ; Ps. Ixix. 12 ; Jer. xv. 10 ; Acts xxiv. 10.
' Above all things, let us eery day think of our last day, saith Pachomius.
^ Squiuzy or quinsy. — G.
TO A DEAR FRIEND. 453
for your own sufferings or the sufferings of others, Ps. xxxviii. 18 ; 2
Cor. vii. 11 ; Ps. cxix. 136 ; Neh. i. 3, 4. Now, it may be, one shall
seldom find you but with tears in your eyes, or sorrow in your heart ;
Oh, but now death will be the funeral of all your sorrows, death will
wipe all tears from your eyes, * and sorrow and mourning shall flee
away,' Isa. li. 11. But,
Fourtlily, Death will free you from all those troubles, calamities,
miseries, mischiefs, and desolations, that are a-coming upon the earth,
or upon this place or that, Isa. Ivii. 1 ; Micah vii. 1-7. A year after
Methuselah's death, the flood came and carried away the old world.
Augustine died a little before the sacking of Hippo. Luther observes
that all the apostles died before the destruction of Jerusalem; and
Luther himself died a little before the wars brake forth in Germany.
Dear lady, death shall do that for you, which all your physicians could
never do for you, which all your relations could never do for you,
which all ordinances could never do for you, nor which all your faith-
ful ministers could never do for you. It shall both instantly and per-
fectly cure you of all sorts of maladies and weaknesses, both inward
and outward, or that respects either your body or your soul, or both.
my dear friend, is it not better to die, and be rid of all sin ; to
die, and be rid of all temptations and desertions ; to die, and be rid of
all sorts of miseries ; than to live, and still carry about with us our
sins, our burdens, and such constant ailments, as takes away all the
pleasure and comfort of life ? Here both our outward and inward
conditions are very various ; sometimes heaven is open, and sometimes
heaven is shut ; sometimes we see the face of God, and rejoice, and at
other times he hides his face, and we are troubled, Lam. iii. 8, 44,
54-57; Ps. XXX. 7 ; 1 Thes. iv. 17, 18 ; Isa. xxxv. 10. Oh, but now
death will bring us to an invariable eternity. It is always day in
heaven, and joy in heaven.
[6.] Sixthly and lastly, You shall gain a clear, distinct, and full
knowledge of all great and deep mysteries, 1 Cor. xiii. 10, 12. The
mystery of the Trinity, the mystery of Christ's incarnation, the mystery
of man's redemption, the mysteries of providences, the mysteries of
prophecies, and all those mysteries that relate to the nature, substances,
offices, orders, and excellencies of the angels. If you please to consult
my ' String of Pearls, or the Best Things Reserved till Last,' with my
sermon on Eccles. vii. 1, ' Better is the day of death than the day of one's
birth ;' which is at the end of my ' Treatise on Assurance' — both which
treatises you have by you — there you will find many more great and
glorious things laid open that we gain by death ; and to them I refer
you.l But,
6. Sixthly, Look upon death as a sleep. The Holy Ghost hath
phrased it so above twenty times in Scripture, to shew that this is the
true, proper, and genuine notion of death.2 When the saints die, they
do but sleep : Mat. ix. 24, ' The maid is not dead but sleepeth.' The
same phrase he also used to his disciples concerning Lazarus, * Our
friend Lazarus sleepeth,' John xi. 11. The death of the godly is as a
^ For the ' String of Pearls,' see Vol i. : for the other Sermon, Vol. vi.— G.
* 1 Cor. xi. 30, and xv. 51 ; John xi. 12 ; Mark v. 39. The Greeks call their church-
yards dormitories, sleeping-places; and the Hebrews Beth-chaiim, the house of the living.
454 SOME WORDS OF COUNSEL
sleep ; Stephen fell asleep, Acts vii. 60 ; and ' David fell asleep/ Acts
xiii. 36 ; and ' Christ is the firstfruits of them that sleep,' 1 Cor. xv,
20 ; ' Them that sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him,' 1 Thes, iv.
14. The saints of God do but sleep when they lie down in the grave.
That which we call death in such, is not death indeed ; it is but the
image of death, the shadow and metaphor of death, death's younger
brother, a mere sleep, and no more. I may not follow the analogy
that is between death and sleep in the latitude of it, the printer calling
upon me to conclude. Sleep is the nurse of nature, the sweet jparen-
thesis of all a man's griefs and cares. But,
7. Seventhly, Look upon death as a departure : 2 Tim. iv. 6, * For
I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at
hand.' He makes nothing of death. It was no more betwixt God
and Moses, but go up and die, Deut. xxxii. 49, 50 ; and so betwixt
Christ and Paul, but launch out, and land immediately at the fair
haven of heaven : Phil. i. 23, ' For I am in a strait betwixt two,
having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ ; which is far better.'
Paul longed for that hour wherein he should loose anchor, and sail to
Christ, as the Greek word avaXva-at imports. It is a metaphor from
a ship at anchor, importing a sailing from this present life to another
port. Paul had a desire to loose from the shore of life, and to launch
out into the main of immortality. The apostle, in this phrase, ava~
Xvaai, hath a reference both to his bonds and to his death ; and
his meaning is, I desire to be discharged and released, as out of a
common jail, so also out of the prison of my body, that I may pre-
sently be with Christ my Saviour in heaven, in rest and bliss.i After
Paul had been in the third heaven, his constant song was, ' I desire to
be with Christ.' Nature teacheth that death is the end of misery ;
but grace will teach us that death is the beginning of our felicity.
But,
8. Eighthly and lastly. Look upon death as a going to hed. The
grave is a bed wherein the body is laid to rest, with its curtains close
drawn about it, that it may not be disturbed in its repose: so the
Holy Ghost is pleased to phrase it, ' He shall enter into peace, they
shall rest in their beds, every one walking in theii* uprightness,^ Isa.
Ivii. 2. As the souls of the saints pass to a place of rest and bliss, so
their bodies are laid down to rest in the grave, as in a bed or bed-
chamber, there to sleep quietly until the morning of the resurrection.
Death is nothing else but a writ-of-ease to the weary saints ; it is a
total cessation from all their labour of nature, sin, and affliction,
' Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, that they may rest from
their labours,' Kev. xiv. 13, &c. Whilst the souls of the saints do
rest in Abraham's bosom, their bodies do sweetly sleep in their beds
of dust, as in a safe and consecrated dormitory. Every sincere Chris-
tian may, like the weary child, call and cry to be laid to bed, knowing
that death would send him to his everlasting rest. Now you should
always look upon death under scripture notions, and this will take off
the terror of death ; yea, it will make the king of terrors to be the
^ ' k.vaXiKTai, solvere anchoram. Or it may be rendered, to return home, or to change
rooms. It is a similitude taken from those that depart out of an inn to take their
journey towards their own country.
TO A DEAR FRIEND. 455
king of desires ; it will make you not only willing to die, but even
long to die, and to cry out, ' Oh that I had the wings of a dove, to fly
away, and be at rest ! ' At death you shall have an eternal jubilee,
and be freed from all incumbrances. Now sin shall be no more, nor
trouble shall be no more, nor pain nor ailments shall be no more.
Now you shall have your quietus est, now ' the wicked shall cease
from troubling, and no^y the weary shall be at rest,' Job iii. 17, now
' all tears shall be wiped from your eyes/ Eev. vii. 17, now death
shall be the way to bliss, the gate of life, and the portal to paradise.
It was well said of one, so far as we tremble at death, so far we want
love. It is sad, when the contract is made between Christ and a
Christian, to see a Christian afraid of the making up the marriage.
Lord, saith one, [Austin,] I will die that I may enjoy thee ; I will
not live, but I will die, I desire to die, that I may see Christ ; and
refuse to live, that I may live with Christ. The broken rings,l
contracts, and espousals contents not the true lover, but he longs for
the marriage day. It is no credit to your heavenly Father for you to
be loath to go home. The Turks tell us that surely Christians do not
believe heaven to be such a glorious place as they talk of ; for if they
did, they would not be so unwilling to go thither. The world may-
well think that the child hath but cold welcome at his father's
house, that he lingers so much by the way, and that he does not look
and long to be at home. Such children bring an ill report upon their
father's house, upon the holy land ; but I know you have not so
learned Christ, I know you long with Paul, ' to be dissolved, and to
be with Christ,' Phil, i, 23 ; and with old Simeon, to cry out, ' Lord, let
thy servant depart in peace,' Luke ii. 29, That God whom you have
long sought and served will make your passage into that other world
safe, sweet, and easy. Now to the everlasting arms of divine pro-
tection, and to the constant guidance and leadings of the Spirit, and
to the rich influences of Christ's sovereign grace, and to the lively
hopes of the inheritance of the saints in light, he commends you, who
is, dear sister, yours in the strongest bonds,
Tho, Brooks.
* An old English betrothal custom. — G,
THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
WITH HIS PEOPLE,
IN THEIE GREATEST TROUBLES, DEEPEST DISTRESSES, AND
MOST DEADLY DANGERS.
* Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me ; that
by me the preaching might he fully knoivn, and that all the
Gentiles might hear : and I was delivered out of the mouth of the
lion:— 2 Tim. iv. 17. i
In my text you have three things that are most remarkable : —
First, You have Paul's commemoration of that singular experience
that he had of the favourable presence of Christ with him, and of his
strengthening of him, ' Nothwithstanding the Lord stood with me,'
or Trapiarr), ' by me, and assisted me,' Acts xxiii. 11 ; though I was
deserted by men, yet I was aided and assisted by Christ, 2 Tim.
iv. 16 ; though all men left me to shift for myself, yet the Lord stood
by me, and strengthened me with wisdom, prudence, courage, and
constancy, in the want of all outward encouragements, and in the face
of all outward discouragements, 2 Tim. i. 15.
Secondly, Here is the end for which the Lord stood by him, assisted,
strengthened, and delivered him, viz., that he might preach the gospel
to the nations, Rom. xi. 13 ; Phil. iv. 22, that he might have more
time, and further opportunity, to spread abroad the everlasting gospel
among the Gentiles, whose apostle he was. Rome, at this time, was
the queen of the world, and in its most flourishing condition ; people
from all parts of the world flocked to Rome. Now when they should
hear and see Paul's prudence, courage, constancy, and boldness, in
professing of Christ, and in preaching and professing the gospel, even
before that grand tyrant, that monster of mankind, Nero, they could
not but be wrought upon, and the fame of the glorious gospel could
not but by this means be spread all the world over.
Thirdly, Here is the greatness of the danger from which he was
delivered, viz., ' from the mouth of the lion.' Some authors [Calvin,
Estius, &c.] do conceive these words, ' and I was delivered from the
mouth of the lion,' to be a proverbial speech, noting some eminent,
' Preached in March and April 167.5.
THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD WITH HIS PEOPLE. 457
present, devouring danger ; ' I was delivered from the extremest
hazard of death,' even as a man rescued out of a lion's mouth, and
pulled from between his teeth. Others i more genuinely and properly,
by ' the mouth of the lion,' do understand Nero's rage and cruelty,
who, for his potency in preying on the flock of Christ, is here fitly
compared to a lion, which devoured and destroyed the flock of Christ.
This cruel lion Nero put a world of Christians to death, and made
a bloody decree, that whosoever confessed himself a Christian, he
should, without any more ado, be put to death as a convicted enemy
of mankind. Tertullian calleth him the dedicator of the condemna-
tion of Christians. 2 This bloody monster, Nero, raised the first bloody
persecution. To pick a quarrel with the Christians he set the city of
Kome on fire, and then charged it upon the Christians, under which
pretence he exposed them to the fury of the people, who cruelly
tormented them as if they had been common burners and destroyers of
cities, and the deadly enemies of mankind ; yea, Nero himself caused
them to be apprehended and clad in wild beasts' skins and torn in
pieces with dogs ; others were crucified ; some he made bonfires of
to light him in his night-sports. To be short, such horrid cruelty he
used towards them as caused many of their enemies to pity them.
But God found out this bloody persecutor at last, for being adjudged
by the senate an enemy to mankind, he was condemned to be whipped
to death, for the prevention whereof he cut his own throat.
The words being thus briefly opened, the main point I shall insist
upon is this — viz.,
That when the people of God are in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, then the Lord will be most favour-
ably, most signally, and most eminenly present ivith them.
The schoolmen say that God is five ways present — (1.) In the
humanity of Christ, by hypostatical union ; (2.) In the saints, by
knowledge and love ; (3.) In the church, by his essence and direction;
(4.) In heaven, by his majesty and glory; (5.) In hell, by his vin-
dictive justice.
Hemingius saith, There is a fourfold presence of God : — (1.) There
is a presence of power in all men, even in the reprobates ; (2.) A
presence of grace, only in the elect; (3.) A presence of glory, in the
angels, and saints departed ; (4.) A hypostatical presence of the
Father with the Son. But, if you please, you may take notice that
there is a sixfold presence of the Lord : —
1. First, There is a general presence of God, and thus he is pre-
sent with all creatures: 'Whither shall I flee from thy presence?' 3
Ps. cxxxix. 7. Empedocles, the philosopher, said well. That God is
a circle, whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference is no-
where. God is included in no place, and excluded from no place,
saith another : Non est ubi, ubi non est Dens. They could tell us that
God is the soul of the world ; and that as the soul is Tota in toio, et
tola in qualibet parte, so is he ; his eye is in every corner, &c. To
which purpose they so pourtrayed their goddess Minerva, that which
' Beza and A-Lapide. Vide Euseb. Hist., lib. ii. cap. 22. [Cf. Sibbes i. 315, and
note h 334. — G] * Dedicator damnationis Christianorum. — Tertullian.
^ Nusquam est Deus, et ubique est.— Chrysost. in Col. ii. bom. v.
458 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
way soever one cast his eye, she always beheld him. Though heaven
be God's palace, yet it is not his prison. Diana's temple was burned
down when she was busy at Alexander's birth, and could not be at
two places together, but God is present both in paradise and in
the wilderness at the same time : 1 Kings viii. 27, ' But will God
indeed dwell on the earth ? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens
cannot contain thee ; how much less this house that I have builded ?'i
By the heaven of heavens is meant that which is by the learned called
the empyreal heaven, where the angels and the saints departed do
■enjoy the glorious and beatifical vision of God; and it is called the
heaven of heavens, both because it is the highest and doth contain the
other heavens within its orb, and also by way of excellency, as the
' most holy place' in the temple is called the ' holy of holies,' because
it far surpasseth all the rest in splendour and glory, Isa. Ixvi. 1 ;
Prov. V. 21; Heb. iv. 13; Job xxvi. 6. Jer. xxiii. 24, ' Can any hide
himself in secret places that I should not see him ? saith the Lord.
Do not I fill heaven and earth ? saith the Lord.' Prov. xv. 3, ' The
€yes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.'
God is '7Tav6(f)daXijLo<i, all eye. The poor heathen could say, Deus
intimior nobis intimo nostra : God is nearer to us than we are to
ourselves. Kepletively he is everywhere, though inclusively nowhere :
Job xxxiv. 21, ' For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth
all his goings ; ' ver, 22, ' There is no darkness, nor shadow of death
"where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.' Sinners shall
never be able to shroud themselves nor their actions from God's all-
seeing eye. The Kabbins put 3fakom, which signifies place, among
the names of God. By timer brings them in expounding that text in
Esther iv. 14, ' Deliverance shall arise from another place ;' that is,
from God. They called him Place, because he is in every place,
though in the assemblies of his saints more eminently and gloriously.
God is present with all his creatures — (1.) Via productionis, by rais-
ing them up ; (2.) Via sustentationis, by staying of them up ; they
are his family, and he feeds and clothes them. Mat. v. 45 ; Acts xvii.
27, 28 ; Ps. xxxiii. 13, 14 ; (3.) Via inclinationis, by giving unto
them power of motion ; man could neither live nor move unless the
Lord were with him ; (4.) Via ohservatioUis, by taking notice of them ;
he observeth and marks both their persons and their actions — he sees
who they are, and how they are employed ; (5.) Via ordinationis, by
governing and ruling of them and all their actions, to the service of
his glory and the good of his poor people. Acts iv. 25-29. But this
is not that presence that we are to discourse of.
2. Secondly, There is a miraculous presence of Christ, and this
some of the prophets of old had, and the apostles and others had in
Christ's time; and by virtue of this miraculous presence of Christ
with them, they cast out devils, healed diseases, and did many won-
derful things, Mat. vii. 22 ; Mark iii. 15. But this is not the pre-
sence that falls within the compass of that main point we purpose to
speak to.
3. Thirdly, There is a relative presence of Christ, and that is his
^ God is higher than the heaven, deeper than hell, broader than the earth, and more
diffuse than the sea..— Bernard.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 459
presence in his ordinances, and with his churches. ^ Of this presence
the Scripture speaks very largely : Exod. xx. 24, ' In all places where
I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee ; '
Exod. XXV. 8, ' And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell
amongst them ; ' Exod. xxix. 45, ' And I will dwell among the chil-
dren of Israel, and will be their God ; ' Lev. xxvi. 11, ' And I will set
my tabernacle amongst you, and my soul shall not abhor you ; ' ver.
12, ' And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall
be my people ; ' Ps. Ixxvi. 1, ' In Judah is God known : his name is
great in Israel ; ' ver. 2, ' In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his
dwelling-place in Zion ; ' Isa. viii. 18, ' From the Lord of hosts which
dwelleth in mount Zion ; ' Ps. ix. 11, ' Sing praises to the Lord which
dwelleth in Zion.' The churches are said to be the temples in which
Ihe Lord doth dwell, and the house of the living God, and the golden
candlesticks amongst which he doth walk.2 Oh, how much does it
concern all the churches to prize their church state, and to keep close
together, and to walk suitable to that gracious presence of God, that
shines in the midst of them ! But this is not that presence that falls
under our present consideration. But,
4. Fourthly, There is a majestical and glorious presence of Christ,
and thus he is said to be in heaven : Ps. ii. 4, ' He that sitteth in the
heavens will laugh ; the Lord shall have them in derision ; ' Heb. i. 13,
' But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit thou on my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool ? ' chap. ix. 24, ' For
Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which
are the figure of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God for us.' Not that heaven is circulus concludens, a place
wherein Christ is shut up, but, palatium resplendens, the court, as
it were, where his majesty, in acts of wisdom, and power, and mercy,
and conjunction of grace and glory, doth most of all appear.^ As
the soul of man, though it be in every part of man, yet it doth princi-
pally appear and manifest itself in the heart and brain; so here, &c.
Monica, Austin's mother, standing one day and seeing the sun shine,
raised this meditation, ' Oh, if the sun be so bright, what is the light
of Christ's presence in glory ! ' But this is not the presence we design
now to discourse of.
5. Fifthly, There is a judicial or wrathful 'presence of the Lord;
and thus he is present with wicked men, sometimes blinding of them,
sometimes hardening of them, sometimes leaving of them to their own
heart's lusts, sometimes giving them up to their own heart's lusts,
sometimes filling their faces with shame, and their consciences with
terrors.* He is judicially present with wicked men by a particular
observation of their persons and ways, Ps. xxxiii. 13, 14 ; Job xxxiv.
21, 22. He sees who they are, and how they are employed against
his honour, his interest, his saints, his ways, and by a special detesta-
tion of their persons and ways, &c. But this is not that presence that
at this time falls under our consideration ; and therefore,
1 See Ps. xlvi. 4, 5 ; Cant. vii. 5 ; Joel iii. 21 ; Zech. ii. 10, 11, and viii. 3 ; Ps. cxxxv. 21.
2 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16 ; Heb. iii. 6 ; 1 Pet. ii. 5 ; Rev. ii. 1.
' Job xvi. 19 ; 2 Thes. i. 9 ; Ps. xvi. 11; 1 Tim. vi. 14-16 ; Eev. iii. 21.
♦ See Exod. ix. 14 ; Isa. vi. 9, 10, and Ixiv. 1-4; Ps. Ixxxi. 12 ; 2 Thes. ii. 11, 12 ; Ps.
Ixviii. 2 ; Jer. iv. 26 ; Ezek. xxxviii. 20 ; Hab. i. 12.
460 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
6. Sixthly and lastly, There is a gracious^ a favourable, a signal, or
emine7if presence of the Lord ivith his faithful people in their greatest
troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, as the Scriptures
do everywhere evidence, i Take a taste of some : Gen. xxxix. 20,
' And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place
where the king's prisoners were bound, and he was there in the prison ; '
ver. 21, ' But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and
gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.' A prison
keeps not God from his. Witness the apostles and martyrs, whose
prisons, by God's presence, became palaces, and their stocks a music-
school. Acts xvi. 25. Bradford, after he was put in prison, had better
health than before, and found great favour with his keeper, who suf-
fered him to go whither he would upon his promise to return by such
an hour to his prison again. ^ If men knew by experience the sweet
that is in suffering for Christ, they would desire with Chrysostom, if
it were put to their choice, rather to be Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ
than Paul rapt up in the third heaven. Basil, in his oration for Bar-
laam,3 that famous martyr, saith, ' He delighted in the close prison
as in a pleasant green meadow, and he took pleasure in the several in-
ventions of tortures, as in several sweet flowers.' Luther reports of
that martyr, St Agatha, that as she went to prisons and tortures, she
said she went to banquets and nuptials. The sun enlightens the world,
saith Cyprian, but he that made the sun is a greater light to you in
prison, &c. Fire, sword, prisons, famines, are pleasure, they are all
delightful to me, saith Basil. Paul rattles his chain which he bears for
the gospel, and was as proud of it as a woman of her ornaments, saith
Chrysostom. 4 Paul and Silas in a prison found more pleasure than
pain, more joy than sorrow, and when they were whipped, it was with
rosemary branches, as I may say. Paul greatly rejoiced in his suffer-
ings for Christ, and therefore often sings out, ' I, Paul, a prisoner of
Jesus Christ,' not I, Paul, rapt up in the third heaven. Christ shewed
his great love to him in rapping him up in the third heaven, and he
shewed his great love to Christ in a cheerful suffering for him. Euse-
bius tells of one that writ to his friend from a stinking dungeon,
and dated his letter ' From my delicate orchard.' Mr Glover the
martyr wept for joy of his imprisonment ; and God forgive me, said
Mr Bradford when a prisoner, my unthankfulness for this exceeding
great mercy, that among so many thousands he chooseth me to be one
in whom he will suffer. I was carried to the coal-house, saith Mr Phil-
pot, the martyr, where I with my fellows do rouse together in the straw
as cheerfully, we thank God, as others do in their beds of down.^ Philip,
landgrave of Hesse, being along time prisoner under Charles the Fifth,
was asked what upheld him in his long imprisonment. He answered
that he felt the divine consolations of the martyrs: Gen. xlix. 23,
' The archers,' or, as the Hebrew here hath it, the arrow-masters, ' have
sorely gi'ieved him, and shot at him, and hated him.' These arrow-
masters were his barbarous brethren that sold him, his adulterous
' The compassionate parent is most with the sick child ; so here.
» [Foxe,] Acts and Mon., fol. 1489, and 1457.
' Clarke, as before, 66. — G.
•» Eph. vi. 20 ; 2 Tim. i. 16 ; Acts xv. 26, 29 ; Phil. i. 7, 13, 14, 16 ; Col. iv. 3, 18 ; 2
Tim. ii. 9, &c. * [Foxe,] Acts and Mon., fol. 1633.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 461
mistress that, harlot-like, ' hunted for his precious life,' his injurious
master that, without any desert of his, imprisoned him, the tumul-
tuating Egyptians, that pined with hunger, perhaps spake of ston-
ing of him, and the envious courtiers and enchanters that spake evil
of him before Pharaoh, to bring him out of favour ; but by divine
assistance, and God's favourable preference, 1 Sam. xxx. 6, he proved
too strong for them all. Yer. 24, ' But his bow abode in strength,
and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty
God of Jacob,' &c. Joseph is likened to a strong archer, that, as
his other enemies as archers shot at him, so his bow was steadfast,
and his arms strong by the signal presence of God with him. i Such
an eminent presence of God had Joseph with him, that he never
wanted courage, comfort, or counsel when he was at the worst. The
divine presence will make a man stand |ast and firm under the greatest
pressures. It made Joseph use his bow against his adversaries, as
David did his sling against Goliath. He slung, saith one, as if he had
wrapped up God in his sling. Ps. xxiii. 4, ' Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art with
me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me,' The presence of the
Lord with his people in the most deadly dangers fills their souls full
of courage, confidence, and comfort. That darkness which comes upon
a dying man, a little before he gives up the ghost, is the greatest dark-
ness ; and yet let a Christian then have but God by the hand, and he
will not fear the most hideous and horrid representations of death: Dan.
iii. 24, ' Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in
haste, and spake and said unto his counsellors. Did not we cast three men
bound into the midst of the fire ? They answered and said unto the
king. True, king ;' ver. 25, ' He answered and said, Lo, I see four
men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt ;
and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.' The presence of
the Son of God turned the fiery furnace into a garden of delights, a
gallery of pleasure. This divine presence in the midst of fire and
flame kept them from fainting, sinning, and shrinking, and filled their
souls with comfort, peace, ease, and heavenly refreshing. One of the
ancients [Augustine] rhetorically speaking to Nebuchadnezzar, who
said, ' he saw one like the Son of God,' ' Whence came this ?' saith he.
' Who told thee that this was the Son of God, what law, what pro-
phet ? He is not yet born into the world, and the similitude of him
that was to be born is known to thee. Whence came this ? Who
told thee this, but the divine fire enlightening thee within, that whilst
thou beholdest these three as thine enemies in the fire, thou mightest
give testimony to the Son of God ? ' This heathenish prince looked
upon the fourth person as one like a son of the gods, or like some
young god, most bright and glorious, exceeding fair, and excelling in
beauty, as if he were not of human, but of divine off'spring. But
whatever notions or apprehensions Nebuchadnezzar had, we may very
safely understand this fourth to be, as the words do literally bear, the
very true Son of God, our Lord and Saviour, who is signally present
with his people in their greatest extremities and most deadly dangers :
' Junius, Mercer. Not that his arms were adorned with bracelets and gold, as the
Chaldee saith, &c.
462 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
Zech. i. 8, 'I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red
horse, and he stood amongst the myrtle-trees that were in the bottom ;
and behind him were three red horses, speckled, and white.' The
man riding upon the red horse is the man Christ Jesus ; it is the
captain of the Lord's host, and the captain of our salvation/ Christ
is here represented in his kingly state, under the type of a man riding
on a red horse, and having his royal attendants ; for under the type
of red horses, speckled, and white5* behind him, is represented his
having angels for ministers, and all creatures ready for every dispen-
sation ; whether sad, represented by red ; or comfortable, represented
by white ; or mixed of mercy and judgment, represented by speckled
horses. Christ is here represented as a man on horseback, ready to
make out or sally forth for the good of his people when they are at
the lowest. The low, afflicted, and suffering state of the church is
fitly compared to myrtle-trees that grow in a shady grove, in valleys,
and bottoms, and by water-sides. Now, when his people are in a very
low condition, then Christ appears on horseback, for his people's pro-
tection, and their enemies' confusion. Christ will be sure to lodge
with his people when they are at lowest. When the church is in
danger Christ is not asleep ; he is always ready upon his red horse,
watching all opportunities and advantages, to shew his zeal and cour-
age for his people, and his severity and fury against their enemies.
The man that stood amongst the myrtle-trees, ver. 10, is that man
Christ Jesus, whose special residence is with his people when they are
in the most low, dangerous, and forlorn condition. No troubles, no
distresses, no dangers, Can banish Christ from his people, or make
him seek another lodging : Isa. xliii. 2, ' When thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be
burnt ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.' The Israelites went
through the Ked Sea, and were not drowned ; and the three children
walked up and down in the fiery furnace, and were not so much as
singed, Dan. iii. 27. By ' fire and water' we may well understand
the various troubles, distresses, and dangers that may attend the people
of God. Now in all these various troubles, &c. , the Lord will be sig-
nally present with them, to protect and defend, to secure and deliver
them out of all their various troubles, their deepest distresses, and most
deadly dangers. 2 Cor. iv. 9, ' Persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast
down, but not destroyed.' Persecuted by men, but not forsaken by
God. The saints may be shaken, not shivered ; persecuted, not con-
quered ; cast down, but not cast off. Luther, speaking of his enemies,
saith, They may thrust me, but not throw me ; shew their teeth, but
not devour me ; kill me, but not hurt me, &c., because of that favour-
able and signal presence of Christ that is with me. Now this is that
presence of the Lord that falls under our present consideration.
But for the further opening of this important point, let us a little
inquire how the Lord does manifest his favourable, his signal, his
eminent presence to his people in their greatest troubles, deepest dis-
^ 1 Tim. ii. 5; Josh. iv. 14; Heb. ii. 10. Among the Eomans the crown or garland
of those that did shout for victory, or ride in triumph, was made of myrtle, Plin., lib.
XV. c. 29.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 463
tresses, and most deadly dangers. Now to this question I shall give'
these twelve answers : —
(1.) First, The Lord does manifest his favourable, signal, and
eminent presence with his people in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, hy raising their faith to more
than an ordinary pitch at such a time : Exod. xiv. 10, ' And when
Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lift up their eyes, and,,
behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid:
and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord;' ver. 11, 'And
they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast
thou taken us away to die in the wilderness ? wherefore hast thou
dealt thus with us, to carry us forth of Egypt ?' ver, 12, ' Is not this
the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying. Let us alone, that we
may serve the Egyptians ? for it had been better for us to serve the
Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.' l Thus you
see their great troubles, deep distresses, and most deadly dangers, they
having a Red Sea before them, and a cruel, bloody, and enraged enemy
just at the heels of them. Now in this extremity, see to what a high
pitch Moses his faith rises : ver. 13, ' And Moses said unto the people.
Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he
will shew to you to-day : for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day,
ye shall see them again no more for ever. '2 He saith they shall never
see the Egyptians again, that is, in that manner as they saw them that
day insulting against them and pursuing after them, as the Septua-
gint do well interpret it, ov rpoirov kcapaKare, ' after what sort ye have
seen them,' for they saw them afterward, but drowned, and lying dead
upon the shore, Exod. xiv. 30 : ver. 14, ' The Lord shall fight for you,
and ye shall hold your peace.' A strong faith will help a Christian
at a dead lift. Though Moses had received no particular promise how
the Israelites should be delivered, yet he rested upon God's general
promise before, that he would get himself honour upon Pharaoh and
his host: ' The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall be still' As if
he had said. Ye shall be merely passive, and do nothing at all towards
the subduing of your enemies, neither in words nor deeds ; the Lord
shall fight against your enemies, and defeat them himself by a
strong hand and an outstretched arm ; compose yourselves, act faith
and hope in God, without doubting, murmuring, grudging, fainting,
or fretting ; for God deferreth his chiefest aid until man's greatest
need. When the enemy is highest, salvation is nearest ; when the
danger is greatest, the help of God is readiest, as at this time they
found it.
2 Chron. xiii. 3, ' Abijah set', the battle in array, with an army of
valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men : Jero-
boam also set the battle in array against him, with eight hundred
thousand chosen men, being mighty men of valour.' Jeroboam had
two to one : ver. 7, ' And there are gathered unto him vain men, the
children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Eeho-
boam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender-
1 The faithful cry unto God in their extremities, but the unbelievers become mad. —
Pelliran. [Qu., Pellicanus (Conrad) ?— G.]
^ Vide Josephus, lib. ii. cap. (5.
464 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
hearted, and could not withstand them.' Kehoboam was no warrior,
he was no expert prince in the use of arms ; he was but young, not in
age, but in experience, policy, and valour ; he was hen-hearted, he had
no courage, no mettle. i Jeroboam takes hold of these advantages, and
gathers eight hundred thousand Bacas, brainless fellows, light and empty,
yokeless and masterless persons ; men of no piety, civility, ingenuity,
or common honesty. Now see what a mighty spirit of faith God
raised in the children of Judah : ver. 17, ' And Abijah and his people
slew them with a great slaughter : so there fell down slain of Israel
five hundred thousand chosen men.' A monstrous and matchless
slaughter, the greatest number that ever we read slain in any battle ;
far beyond that of Tamerlane when he took Bajazet, or Atius the ';
Koman prefect, when he fought with Attila and his Huns in the I
fields of Catalonia, where were slain on both sides ohe hundred sixty-
five thousand: ver. 18, 'Thus the children of Israel were brought
under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed,' because they
relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. Faith at a dead lift never
miscarrieth. God never has, nor never wiU, fail those that place their
confidence upon him in their greatest dangers.
Esth. iv. 14, ' For if thou altogether hold thy peace at this time,
then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from
another place ; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed : and
who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time
as this ? ' Their great trouble, their deep distress, and their most deadly
danger you have in that, Esth. iii. 13, 'And the letters were sent by
the posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause
to parish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in
one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, (which is
the month Adar,) and to take the spoil of them for a prey.' 2 Haman,
that grand informer, with his wicked crew, would have spoiled them
of their lives and goods, but that they were prevented by a miraculous
providence, as you know. Now in this deep distress and most deadly
danger, at what rate doth Mordecai believe ? ' For if thou altogether
boldest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement' — [Heb.,
respiration] — 'and deliverance arise' — [Heb., stand up, as on its basis
or bottom, so as none shall be able to withstand it.] This Mordecai
speaketh not by a spirit of prophecy, but by the power and force of
his faith, grounded upon the precious promises of God's defending his
church, hearing the cries of his people, arising for their relief and suc-
cour, and grounded upon all the glorious attributes of God, viz., his
power, love, wisdom, goodness, and all-sufficiency, &c., all which are
engaged in the covenant of grace, to save, protect, and secure his
people in their greatest troubles and most deadly dangers. Mordecai's
faith in this black, dark, dismal day, was a notable faith indeed, and
worthy of highest commendation. Faith can look through the per-
spective of the promises, and see deliverance at a great distance, salva-
tion at the door. What though sense saith. Deliverance will not come ;
and what though reason saith, Deliverance cannot come ; yet a raised
^ 2 Chron. xii. 13. He was one-and-forty years old when he came to the crown.
* Here are great aggravations of his cruelty, in that neither sex nor age are spared ;
rage and malice knows no bounds.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 465
faith gets above all fears, and disputes, and says, Deliverance will cer-
tainly come, redemption is at hand.
Num. xiii. 30, ' And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said,
Let us go up at once, and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it ;'
chap. xiv. 9, ' Only rebel not ye. against the Lord, neither fear ye the
people of the land, for they are bread before us ; their defence is de-
parted from them, and the Lord is with us : fear them not.' The spies
by their lies did what they could to daunt and discourage the people,
by crying up the strength of the Anakims, and the impossibility of the
conquest, Num. xiii. 32, 33. These hollow-hearted hypocritical spies
blow hot and cold almost in a breath, Num. xiii. 23-28. First, they
make a narrative of the fruitfulness of the land, and presently they
conclude that it was a land that was not sufficient to nourish the
inhabitants, yea, a land that did devour the inhabitants, ver. 32.
Liars have no iron memories. But now behold to what a mighty
pitch Caleb's faith is raised. * Let us go up at once, and possess it,
for we are able to overcome it.' Or, nearer the Hebrew, ' Marching
up, march up, subduing, subdue.' Let us, saith believing Caleb,
march up to the land of Canaan courageously, resolutely, undauntedly,
for the day is our own, the land is our own, all is our own. ' They
are bread for us,' we shall make but a breakfast of them, we shall as
easily and as surely root them out, and cut them down with our swords,
as we cut the bread we eat. ' Their defence is departed from them.'
In the Hebrew it is, ' Their shadow is departed from them.' The
shadow you know guards a man from the scorching heat of the sun,
Ps. xci. 1, and cxxi, 5, 6. Caleb, by faith, saw God withdrawn from
them ; by the eye of his faith he looked upon them as a people without
a fence, a shadow, a guard, a covert, a protection ; and therefore, as a
people that might easily be subdued and destroyed. His faith told
him that it was not their strong cities, nor their high walls, nor their
sons of Anak, that could preserve, shelter, secure, or defend them,
seeing the Lord had forsaken them, and would be no longer as a
shadow or a shelter to them. * And the Lord is with us,' to make us
victorious, to tread down our enemies, and to give us a quiet posses-
sion of the good land.
So Dan. iii. 16, ' Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and
said to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer
thee in this matter.' Ver. 17, ' Tf it be so, our God, whom we serve, is
able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver
us out of thy hand, king.' In the fiery furnace they are protected
by a divine providence, they escape death beyond all men's expecta-
tions, for the fire touched them not, neither could it burn during their
abode in the furnace, for God so fortified their bodies that they could
not be consumed by fire,l which accident 2 made them in great estima-
tion with the king, for that he saw that they were virtuous, and be-
loved of God, and for that cause they were highly honoured by him.
Here is a fiery furnace before them, and a proud, boasting, tyrannical,
enraged prince domineering over them, for not obeying his idolatrous
will. Now to what a mighty pitch is their faith raised ! ' Our God,
whom we serve, is able to deliver us, and he will deliver us.' Their
1 Josephus, Antiq., pp. 259, 260. ' ' Occurrence.'— G.
VOL. V. , 2 G
466 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
faith was bottomed upon their propriety in God : * Our God ; ' and
upon the power, providence, and all-sufficiency of God : * Is able to
deliver us ; ' and upon the gracious readiness and willingness of God :
' And he will deliver us out of thy hand, king.' When dangers are
greatest, then God commonly raises the faith of his people highest ;
faith doth most and best for us, when we are at a dead lift. It
quenches the violence of fire, Heb. xi. 34 ; as the apostle speaks, point-
ing at the faith of these three children, or rather champions. Though
now the fiery furnace was heat[ed] seven times hotter than it used to
be at other times, yet such was the strength, and might, and power of
their faith, that it so quenched the flames, that they had not one hair
of their heads singed, nor their coats changed, nor the smell of fire
found upon them, Dan. iii. 27 ; and thus the blessed martyrs may be
said by their faith, patience, and constancy to quench the violence of
the fire, though their bodies were consumed to ashes in the fire. So
Dan. vi. 16. Daniel is cast into the den of hungry, enraged lions;
innocent Daniel is exposed to the cruel paws and hungry jaws of lions.
This kind of capital punishment was not unusual among the Baby-
lonians, the Medes and Persians, and among the Komans also, with
whom it was a common saying in Tertullian's time, Let the Christians
be cast to the lions. The faces of the lions are stern, and their voices
are terrible, Amos iii. 8 ; they are roaring and ravening, they are
greedy of their prey. They are vigilant and subtle. Lying in
wait to get their prey, they sleep little, and when they sleep, it
is apertis oculis, with open eyes. They mind their prey much, and
are cunning to catch it, Ps. xvii. 12, The lion hides himself, and
when the prey comes near he suddenly surprises it. They are proud
and stately, they go alone, they eat not with the lioness, much less
with other creatures, they will not stoop to any, or turn away from
any, they do what they list ; they are most cruel, bloody, devouring
creatures ; they have terrible claws, sharp teeth, and are strong and
mighty to crush and break the bones ; and it is very dangerous to
meddle with lions. i Num. xxiv. 9, ' He lieth down as a lion, as a
great Hon : who shall stir him up ?' Lions if offended and provoked
are very revengeful. In the hunting or taking of lions, the lion ob-
serves who wounds him, and on him if possible he will be revenged.
jElian tells of a bear that came into a lion's den, and bit the whelps
she found there. The lion returning, the bear to shift for herself got
up into a high tree. The lioness watched at the foot of the tree. The
lion ranged abroad in the woods, and meets with a man that had an
axe, and used to fell trees ; this man the lion brings to the den, shewed
him the wounded whelps, directs him to the tree where the bear was,
which he cut down ; the bear being torn in pieces, the man was safely
dismissed. By these hints we may guess at the deadly danger that
Daniel was in. Some writers tell us, that if a cloth be cast upon the
eyes of a lion to cover them, he will not hurt a man ;2 or if he be full.
— Josephus, to illustrate the history, saith, that these princes pleaded
before the king, saying that the lions were full and gorged, and there-
fore they would not touch Daniel ;^ which he hearing, being displeased
1 Prov. XXX. 3; Neh. ii. 12; 2 Kings xvii. 6 ; Prov. xiviii. 15; 1 Pet. v. 8.
' Aristot., Pliny, Pereriup. ^ Josephus, Antiq., pp. 262, 263.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 467
with their injurious malice, said, that the lions should now be fed, and
then they cast in to see when they were gorged, whether they could
likewise escape : but this being done, they were suddenly destroyed,
before they came to the bottom of the den, Dan. vi. 24. To what a
fatal end came these informers ! As to their wives and children that
were cast into the den of lions, it is most probable that they were ac-
cessary to that wicked conspiracy against Daniel, by stirring up and
provoking their husbands and fathers, to engage all their power,
interest, and policy against him, and never to suffer a poor captive to
be advanced in honour and dignity above them ; and how just and
righteous a thing was it with God, that they who had plotted together,
and contrived together, the ruin and destruction of a holy innocent
person, that these should suffer together, and go to the den together, and
be torn in pieces together. Sinners, look to yourselves ; if you will sin
with others, you must expect to suffer with others. — Or if a man hath
been beneficial to him ; or if a man lieth prostrate before him, in the
manner of a supplicant. But Daniel was not safe, he was not secured
by any of these means, but God secured him in the midst of these
dreadful dangers by the ministry of an angel. ' My God hath sent
his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt
me,' Dan. vi. 22. Others say, that God secured Daniel, by taking
away the lions' hunger from them at that time, and by causing in
them a satiety. 'And some tell us, that God secured him, by raising
such a fantasy in the lions that they looked upon Daniel, not as a
prey, but as on one that was a friend unto them. But now in the midst
of this dreadful danger, how doth Daniel's faith sparkle and shine :
ver. 23, ' Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded
that they should take Daniel up out of the den ; so Daniel was taken
up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, be-
cause he believed in his God.' Daniel in a fiery furnace looks upon
God as his God, in the midst of the flames he acts faith upon the
power of God, the promises of God, &c. Of all living creatures lions
are most fierce, cruel, and irresistible, and yet such was the strength
and force of Daniel's faith, that it stopped their mouths, see Heb. xi. 33 ;
Judges xiv. 6 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 34. Though Daniel was but one man,
yet such was the power of his faith, that it stopped the mouths of many
lions. As Luther says of prayer, so may I say of faith ; it hath a
kind of omnipotency in it ; it is able to do all things, est qnxEdam om-
nipotentia precum. Thus you see by these famous instances to what
a mighty pitch the Lord has raised the faith of his people, when they
have been in the greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly
dangers ; and this is the first way wherein the Lord doth manifest his
favourable, his signal, his eminent presence with his people, in their
greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers. But,
(2.) Secondly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable, his signal,
his eminent presence with his people in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, hy his teaching and instructing
of them ; Ps. xciv. 12, ' Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest,
Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.' i This divine presence turns
^ Feri Domine, feri, said Luther: Strike whili thou pleasest, Lord ! only to thy cor-
rection add instruction, ut quod ncceat, doceat.
468 THE SIGNAL PKESEXCE OF GOD
every lasli into a happy lesson. In this psalm the Holy Ghost useth
six arguments to prove that a man is blessed who is chastened. [1.]
Because he is instructed by being afflicted, as here. [2.] Because the
end why God lays affliction on his people is to give them rest from
the days of adversity, ver. 13. [3.] Until the pit be digged for the
wicked, in the same verse, until the cold grave hold his body, and hot
hell hold his soul. [4.] Because God will support them under all
their afflictions. When God casteth his people into the furnace of
afflictions, his everlasting arms shall be underneath them. Though
God may cast down his people, yet he will never cast off his people.
[5.] Because there shall be a glorious restoration : ver. 15, ' Judg-
ment shall return unto righteousness.' [6.] Because all the upright
in heart shall follow it, in the same verse — viz., in their affections
they are carried out after it, earnestly desiring that dear day when
God will unriddle his providences, and clear up his proceedings with
the sons of men. Jerome, writing to a sick friend, hath this expres-
sion : * I account it a part of unhappiness not to know adversity ; I
judge you to be miserable, because you have not been miserable.'
Demetrius saith. Nothing seems more unhappy to me than he to whom
no adversity hath happened. Impimitas, securitatis mater, virtutum
noverca, religionis virus, tinea sanctitatis : Freedom from punishment
is the mother of security, the stepmother of virtue, the poison of reli-
gion, the moth of holiness, [Bernard.] It was a speech of a German
divine, [Gaspar Olevianus,] in his sickness : In this disease, saith he,
I have learned how great God is, and what the evil of sin is. I never
knew to purpose what God was before, nor what sin meant before.
God's corrections are our instructions, his lashes our lessons, his
scourges our schoolmasters, his chastisements our advertisements. i
And to note this, the Hebrews and Greeks both express chastening
and teaching by one and the same word, "1D1Q, mitsar, iraihela; be-
cause the latter is the true end of the former, according to that in the
proverb, ' Smart makes wit, and vexation gives understanding.' Job
xxxvi. 8, ' And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of
affliction ; ' ver. 9, ' Then he sheweth them their work, and their
transgressions that they have exceeded ; ' ver. 10, ' He openeth also
their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from ini-
quity.' Sanctified afflictions open men's ears to discipline, and turn
them from iniquity, which is a piece of learning that a Christian can
never pay too dear for; Affliction is verus Scripturce commentarius :
An excellent comment upon the Scriptures. Afflictions make way
for the word of the Lord to come to the heart. Affliction sanctified
is Lex practica, a practical law. Bernard had a brother of his, who
was a riotous and profane soldier ; Bernard gives him many good
instructions and admonitions, &c.j but his brother slighted them, and
made nothing of them. Bernard comes to him, and puts his hand to
his side. One day, saith he, God will make way to this heart of yours
by some spear or lance. And so it fell out ; for, going into the wars,
he was wounded, and then he remembers his brother's instructions
and admonitions, and then they got to his heart, and lay upon it to
some purpose : Job xxxiii. 16, * Then he openeth the ears of men, and
^ Schola crucis, schola lucis, Isa. xxvi. 9; Prov. iii. 12, 13, and vi. 23.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 469
sealeth their instruction.' Oculos quos peccatum claudit, poena aperit:
The eye that sin shuts, afflictions open, [Gregory.] The cross opens
men's eyes, as the tasting of honey did Jonathan's. By correction
God seals up instruction ; God sets on the one by the other ; as when
a schoolmaster would have a lesson learned indeed, he sets it on with
a whipping. As Gideon taught the elders of the city and the men Of
Succoth with the thorns and briars of the wilderness, so God teaches
his people by affliction many a holy and happy lesson, Judges viii. 1 6.
By afflictions, troubles, distresses, and dangers, the Lord teaches his
people to look upon sin as the most loathsome thing in the world, and
to look upon holiness as the most lovely thing in the world. Sin is
never so bitter, and hohness is never so sweet, as when oUr troubles
are greatest and our dangers highest. By afflictions the Lord teaches
his people to sit loose from this world, and to make sure the great
things of that other world. By affliction God shews his people the
vanity, vexation, emptiness, weakness, and nothingness of the crea-
tures, and the choiceness, preciousness, and sweetness of communion
with himself, and of interest in himself. Christ, though he knew,
* yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered,' Heb. v. 8 ;
that is, he shewed obedience more than before ; not as if Christ were
to go to school to learn, or as if by certain acts he were to fit himself
for obedience ; he did not learn that which he knew not before, but
did that which he did not before. He that was put upon the trial of
his obedience, he came to know by experience what a hard matter it
was thus to obey God.i By God's favourable presence a man comes to
learn many lessons in a time of adversity which he never learned in a
day of prosperity ; for we are like idle boys and bad scholars, that
learn best when the rod is over us. Hezekiah was better upon his
sick-bed than when he was shewing of his treasures to the ambassa-
dors of the king of Babylon, Isa. xxxix. 1-5 ; -and David was a better
man when he was in his wilderness-condition than when he sat upon
his royal throne, Ps. xxx. 6, 7. The Jews ai-e ever best when in the
worst condition ; the Athenians would never mend till they were in
mourning. When Munster lay sick, and his friends asked him how
he did, and how he felt himself; he pointed to his sores and ulcers,
whereof he was full, and said. These are God's gems and jewels
wherewith he decketh his best friends, and to me they are more pre-
cious than all the gold and silver in the world. Here, as that martyr
phrased it, we are but learning our A b c, and our lesson is never
past Christ's cross, and our walking is still home by Weeping-Cross.
Usually men are worst in a prosperous condition. In a prosperous
condition God speaks to us, and we mind him not : ' I spoke to thee
in thy prosperity, but thou wouldest not hear : and this hath been
thy manner from thy youth upwards,' Jer. ii. 21. Pope Martin re-
ported of himself that, whilst he was a monk and lived in the cloister,
he had some evidences for heaven ; when he was a cardinal, he began
to fear and doubt ; but after he came to be pope, he utterly despaired.
The Lord never shews more of his favourable, signal, and eminent pre-
sence, than by teaching of his people many gracious and gospel lessons
by their great troubles, deep distresses, and most deadly dangers. But
1 iradrjiiaTa /xa^Tj/xara, Nocumenta documenta.
470 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
(3.) Thirdly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable, his signal, his
eminent presence with his people, in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, hy raising, str-engthening, and
acting,'^ their suffering graces — viz., their faith, hope, love, patience,
prudence, courage, boldness, zeal, constancy. Thus in the text, ' The
Lord stood by me, and strengthened me.' He put new life, and
strength, and vigour into all my graces. Although there are habits of
grace always resident in the hearts of the saints, yet those habits are
not always in exercise. The habits of grace cannot act of themselves,
there must be renewed strength imparted to set them on work. ' Make
me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight,'
Ps. cxix. 35. Though David had a spirit of new life within him, yet
he could not actually walk in the path of God's precepts, till by an
additional force he was set agoing: Cant. iv. 16, 'Awake, north
wind, and come thou south wind, blow upon my garden, that the
spices thereof may flow out.' 2 By the garden we may safely under-
stand a sanctified soul, and by the spices in this garden we may
understand the several graces planted in the soul. Now these spices
can never flow out, and send forth their fragrant smell, till the north
and south wind blows upon them. Habitual grace cannot operate, and
dilate, and put forth itself into exercise, till by the concurrent presence
and assistance of Christ it is educed into act. No saint can act that
grace he hath received, by his own strength, without the presence and
assistance of Christ: 1 Cor. xv. 16, 'But by the grace of God, I am
what I am ; and his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in
vain, but I labour more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the
grace of God, which was with me.' He does not say, the grace of God
which was in me, that habitual grace which I had ; but the grace of
God which was with me. So then it is not the strength of habitual
grace that will carry a man through doing or suffering work, but the
auxiliary, the assisting, the conquering grace of Jesus Christ. It is
his grace with us, more than his grace in us. So John xv. 5, ' With-
out me ye can do nothing.' Ye that are my disciples, ye that have the
Spirit of Jesus Christ, ' Without me ye can do nothing.'^ The habits
of grace, the actings of grace, and the perfecting of grace, are all from
Jesus Christ. It is more emphatical in the original, for there you have
two negatives, ' cannot do nothing.' He does not say, ' Without me ye
cannot do many things,' but, ' Without me ye can do nothing ; ' nor
he does not say, ' Without me ye can do no great thing,' but, ' With-
out me ye can do nothing;' nor he does not say, ' Without me ye can
do no difficult thing,' but, ' Without me ye can do nothing;' nor he
does not say, ' Without me ye can do no spiritual thing,' but, ' With-
out me ye can do nothing.' Whatever a saint may do by the power of
gifts, or habits of grace received, yet he can do nothing in a lively
spiritual acceptable way without the presence of Christ, without a con-
stant dependence upon Christ, without a sweet and special communion
and fellowship with Christ. If we cannot put forth a natural action
^ 'Causing to act,' as, on a little, 'actuated.' — G.
' Christ is tlie divers winds, both cold and hot, moist and dry, binding and opening,
. north and south ; and therefore what wind soever blows, it shall blow good to his people.
' X"^^* f/ioO, separate from me, or apart from me. Erasmus, sine me. Beza, seorsim a
• me. Members divided from the head cannot live ; so here.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 471
without him — for in him we live, move, and have our being, Acts xvii.
28 — how much less can we perform a spiritual action, in a spiritual
manner, without his presence and assistance ? Let the king sit but at
his table, and then our spikenard will send forth a sweet smell. Cant. i.
12 ; that is, let Jesus Christ be but present with us, and then our graces,
which are compared to spikenard, will send forth a sweet smeU. Sit-
ting at the table with King Jesus intimates the sweetest friendship and
fellowship with him. It was held a great honour and happiness to
stand before Solomon, 1 Kings x. 8 ; what is it then to sit with Christ
at his table? ' My spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof;' that
is, My faith is actuated, and all my other graces are exercised and in-
creased. Christ's presence puts life into all our graces : Isa. xli. 10 ;
Luke xxi. 14, 15, ' Fear thou not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed,
for I am thy God ; I wiU strengthen thee, yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness :' 2 Cor. xii. 10, 'When I am weak,
then am I strong.' When I am weak in myself, then am I strong in
Christ. If the sun shine upon the marigold, how soon does the mari-
gold open ; so when the Sun of righteousness does but shine upon a
Christian's graces, how do they open and act ! Mai. iv. 2. To shew
how the presence of Christ has acted the faith, love, courage, boldness,
and patience, &c., of the saints in the Old and New Testament, the
primitive Christians and the martyrs, in the latter ages of the world,
when they have been in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and
most deadly dangers, would take up more than a little time ; besides,
in my other writings I have opened these things more fully to you, and
to them I must refer you. And therefore,
(4.) Fourthly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable, signal, and
eminent presence with his people, in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, hy laying a law of restraint upon
every wicked man, and by bridling and checking their fury and inso-
lency, that they shall not add afflictions to the afflicted, as otherwise
they luould; as he did upon Laban: Gen. xxxi. 24, r', And God came
to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and saidiiunto him. Take
heed that thou speak not to Jacob, either good or bad.' Ver. 29, ' It
is in the power of my hand to do you hurt; but the God of your
fathers spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou
speak not to Jacob, either good or bad.' See what a law of restraint
God laid upon Esau, Gen, xxxiii. 1-4 ; and upon Abimelech, Gen. xx.
6-8, 17, 18 ; and upon Benhadad, 1 Kings xx. 1, 10, 29, 30; and upon
Haman, as you may see by comparing the 3d and 6th chapters of
Esther together; and upon Pharaoh, Exod.xv. 9, 10; and upon Senna-
cherib, Isa. xxxvii. 28, 29, 33-36 ; and upon Herod, Acts xii. Maxi-
minus set forth a proclamation engraven in brass for the utter abolishing
of Christ and religion : he was eaten up of lice. Valens being to sub-
scribe an order for the banishment of Basil, was smitten with a sudden
trembling of his hand that he could not subscribe the order ; afterwards
he was burned to death by the Goths, i
Domitian, the author of the second persecution against the Chris-
tians, having drawn a catalogue of the names of such as he was to kill,
in which was the name of his own wife and other friends ; upon which
^ History of the Couneil of Trent, page 417.
472 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
he was, by the consent of his wife, slain by his own household servants
with daggers in his privy-chamber. His body was buried without
honour, his memory cursed to posterity, and his arms and ensigns were
thrown down and defaced. Julian vowed to make a sacrifice of the
Christians upon his return from the wars ; but, in a battle against the
Persians, he was deadly wounded, and throwing his blood in the
air, in a high contempt of Christ, he died with that desperate blas-
phemous expression in his mouth, Vicisti tandem, Galilcee, ' Thou
Galilean hast overcome me.'
Felix, Earl of Wurtemberg, was a great persecutor of the saints, and
did swear that ere he died he would ride up to the spurs in the blood
of the Lutherans ; but the very same night, wherein he had thus
sworn and vowed, he was choked in his own blood.
The judgments of God were so famous and frequent upon the per-
secutors of the saints in Bohemia, that it was used as' a proverb among
the adversaries themselves, that if any man were weary of his life let
him but attempt against the Piccardines — so they called the Chris-
tians — and he should not live a year to an end. By these short hints
you may see that all along God has made good that word that is more
worth than a world, ' Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee ; and
the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain ' — Hebrew, ' Shalt thou
gird,' that is, curb, and keep within compass ; or as the Greek hath it,
' It shall keep holiday to thee,' that is, cease from working or acting
outwardly, how restless soever it be within, i ' The remainder of
wrath shalt thou restrain,' that is, those that are left alive of thy
wrathful enemies, that have still any malice against thy people, thou
wilt curb and restrain, and not suffer their wrath to be so great as
formerly ; or if they go about to recruit their forces, and to set again
upon thy people, thou wilt set such bounds to their wrath that they
shall not accomplish their desires, nor shall they proceed one step further
than shall make signally for thy glory and thy people's good ; so some
carry the words. The more eager and furious the enemies are against
God's people, the more honour and glory wUl God get in protecting
and securing his people, and in girding, binding, and tying up their
enemies. Were it not for this favourable, signal, and eminent pre-
sence of God with his people in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, wicked men would still be
a-multiplying of their sorrows, increasing their troubles, and adding
of burden to burden. It is this favourable presence of God that
binds wicked men over to their good behaviour, and that chains
them up from doing that mischief that they design and intend.
But,
(5.) Fifthly, The Lord does manifest his favourable, signal, and
eminent presence with his people, in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, hy guiding and leading them into
those paths and waves which make most for their oivn peace and quiet,
safety and security, contentation and satisfaction, happiness here, and
blessedness hereafter, ^xod. xii. 21,22; Isa. Ixiii. 12-14; Ps. v. 8.
Dent, xxxii. 10, ' He found me in a desert land, and in the waste
howling wilderness ; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him
^ Ps. Ixxvi. 10 — Hebrew, 'Gird,' that is, keep it within compass as with a girdle.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GKEATEST TROUBLES. 473
as the apple of his eye.' i A wilderness-condition is, you know, a con-
dition of straits, wants, deep distresses, and most deadly dangers.
Now when his people were in this condition he instructs them by his
words and works, and he takes them by the hand, as I may say, and
leads them with all care, tenderness, gentleness, and sweetness, as
a man would do a poor helpless infant, which he should find in a
desert, in a waste howling wilderness. God never left leading of his
people till he had brought them at last through the wilderness to the
land of Canaan. Ah ! this leading presence of God turns a wilderness
into a paradise, a desert into a Canaan. Let a Christian's troubles,
distresses, and dangers, be never so many or never so great, yet as long
as he has the guiding presence of God with him, he is safe from
dangers in the midst of dangers. ' The fire shall not burn him, nor
the waters overflow him,' Isa. xliii. 2 : Ps. cvii. 4, ' They wandered in
the wilderness in a solitary way ; they found no city to dwell in : ' ver.
5, ' Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them : ' ver. 6, * Then
they cried unto the Lord in their troubles, and he delivered them out
of their distresses.' Here you see their great troubles, deep distresses,
and most deadly dangers ; and now God gives them his hand, ver. 7,
' And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to
a city of habitation ;' that is, to a state of settlement, say some, to
Jerusalem, say others, or to that ' city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God,' saith another, Heb. xi. 10. In tliat
32d Psalm you may see David's great troubles, deep distresses, and
most deadly dangers : ver. 3, ' When I kept silence, my bones waxed
old, through my roaring all the day long : ' ver. 4, ' For day and night
thy hand was heavy upon me : my moisture is turned into the drought
of summer. Selah.' But will God be his guide now ? Oh yes, ver.
8, ' I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou shalt
go : I will guide thee with mine eye.' Let the hand of the Lord
be never so heavy upon a person, yet the presence of God guiding and
instructing of him will keep him from utter fainting and sinking under
that hand, Isa. xxx. 21 ; Ps. Ixxiii. 24. When the people of God are
in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers,
he leads and guides them, Ps. xxv. 9, 12, and v. 8. [1.] Into super-
natural ways : Prov. xv. 24, * The way of life is above to the wise.'
He hath his feet where other men's heads are, and, like a heavenly
eagle, delights himself in flying high. [2.] Into good ways, Jer. vi.
16. [3.] Into strait and strict ways. Mat. vii. 14. Hence they are
called right or straight paths which lie betwixt two extremes ; or,
if you will, which directly lead you to the view of heaven. They are
paths which lie level with the rule and with the end. A man may
see salvation and heaven at the end of them. [4.] Into pleasant
ways : Prov. iii. 17, ' Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her
paths are peace.' Such as were those of Adam before his fall, strewed
w'ith roses and paved with peace. Some degree of comfort, pleasant-
ness, and peace, follows every good action, as heat accompanies fire, as
^ The apple of the eye is the tenderest piece of tlie tenderest part. Hebrew, Ishon of
Ish, dspupilla of pupa, because therein appears the likeness of a little man, or because a
man is to be prized above all other creatures, as so God esteemeth his people above
all the world, Heb. xi. 38.
474 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
beams and influences issue from the sun, [5.] Into right paths :
Prov. iv. 11, 'I have taught thee in the way of wisdom ; 1 have led
thee in right paths :' Hosea i. 9, ' The ways of the Lord are right, and
the righteous shall walk in them.' The ways of his will, the ways of
his word, and the ways of his worship, are all right ways, they carry
us on in a straight line unto a right end. [6.] Into old and ancient
ways : Jer. vi, 16, ' Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and
walk therein, and ye shall find rest to your souls:' Jer. xviii. 15,
' They have caused them to stumble in their way from the ancient
paths.' The ways of holiness are of the greatest, highest, and ancientest
antiquity. The first ways of Adam were ways of holiness. The ways
of sin are of a later edition than the ways of holiness. God stamped
his image of holiness upon man before ever Satan assayed to tempt
him. Holiness is of the ancientest house, of the greatest antiquity. Sin
is but an upstart, holiness is the firstborn. The way of holiness
is the eldest way, the way of holiness is gray-headed and of ancientest
institution. All other ways are but of yesterday, they are but new
ways to the ways of holiness. The stamp of antiquity upon many
things is a praise and an honour to them, as old gold, old friends, old
manuscripts, old monuments, old scars, and old holiness. The stamp
of antiquity upon the ways of holiness is the praise and honour of the
ways of holiness. [7.] Into paths of righteousness : Ps. xxiii. 3,
' He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake ;' or in
plain, smooth, easy paths, or in sheep-tracks, wherein I may walk
unweariedly and unblamably. Herein he alludes to the shepherd's
care in leading his sheep gently in fair and plain ways, and not through
deep mire, brambles, and briars, or over craggy ways that must needs
be hard and troublesome for them to go in. The word here used is
metaphorical ; sometimes respecting the blind, who cannot walk with-
out a guide ; sometimes little or weak children, who cannot go without
a leader ; and here the weak and wandering sheep, which stand in
need of the shepherd to go in and out before them. [8.] Into paths
of salvation : Acts xvi. 17, * These men are the servants of the most
high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.' [9.] Into ways
of truth : 2 Pet. ii. 2, ' And many shall follow their pernicious ways,
by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.' ' The
way of truth,' that is, the true Christian religion revealed from
lieaven, which shews the way to true happiness, to eternal salvation.
[10.] Into ways of uprightness : Prov. ii. 13, ' Who leave the paths of
uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness.' Now when the people
of God are in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most
deadly dangers, the Lord by leading them [1.] into supernatural ways,
[2.] into good ways, [3.] into strict and straight ways, [4.] into plea-
sant ways, [5.] into right ways, [6.] into old and ancient ways,
[7.] into righteous ways, [8.] into ways of salvation, [9.] into ways of
truth, and [10.] into ways of uprightness, does gloriously manifest his
favourable, his signal, and his eminent presence with them. There is
nothing below a mighty presence of God that can enable a Christian —
especially when he is under great troubles, and in deep distresses, and
most deadly dangers — to do these five things : — [1.] To approve of
the ways of God ; [2.] To choose the ways of the Lord ; [3.] Higlily
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 475
to prize them ; [4.] To delight and take pleasure in them ; [5.] To
walk in them and to keep close to them ; and yet in all these five
things the Lord doth greatly and graciously help his poor people, when
they are, as it were, in the very mouth of the lion. But,
(6.) Sixthly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable presence, his
signal and eminent presence with his people, in their greatest troubles,
deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, hy encouraging, imhold-
ening, animating and heartening up his people in the midst of all their
troubles, distresses, and dangers, and hy putting neio life, spirit, and
mettle into them, luhen they are even in the very mouth of the lion :
Josh. i. 6, 'Be strong and of a good courage.' Ver. 7, ' Only be thou
strong and very courageous.' Ver. 9, 'Be strong and of a good
courage ; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed : for the Lord thy
God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.' 2 Chron. xiii. 12 ; Num.
xiii. 32, 33, compared with xiv. 9. Joshua was a sword-man as well
as a book-man ; he had his name changed from Oshea to Joshua, from
Let God save, to God shall save. Num. xiii. 16. Christ will never
want a champion to stand up for his church. If Moses dies, Joshua
shall stand up. There shall be a succession of sword-men and book-
men, of rulers and teachers, to carry on Christ's work in the world
till the top-stone be laid with grace unto it, Zech. iv. 7 ; Mai. ii.
15. The residue of the Spirit is with the Lord, and therefore he can
and will put such an anointing of his Spirit upon one and another as
shall fit them to carry on his works in the world. Joshua was very
valiant, and a man of singular good mettle, yet because he was sure
to meet with such troubles, deep distresses, and deadly dangers, as
would put him to it, therefore he is pressed so frequently to be
courageous : ver. 6, ' Be strong and of good courage.' Ver. 7, ' Only
be thou strong and very courageous.' Ver. 9, ' Be strong and of a
good courage.' Ver. 18, ' Only be strong and of a good courage.'
Deut. xxxi. 7, ' And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in
the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage,' (fec.l And
why all this ? Not because Joshua had discovered any fainthearted-
ness or cowardice, but because the work he was to undertake was so
weighty and perilous, in regard of those many and mighty nations
whom he was to destroy, and plant the Israelites in their room. The
work that Joshua was to undertake was attended with many great diffi-
culties and dangers, in respect of the enemies he was to encounter, as
being men of vast and giant-like statures and strength, and dwelling in
cities with high walls and strongly fortified. Now the main argument
to raise his courage and mettle is drawn from God's special presence
and assistance : Josh. i. 9, ' For the Lord thy God is with thee
whithersoever thou goest.' We are not to understand it of God's
general presence in all places, but of his special, favourable, signal,
and eminent presence, which God would manifest in his preserva-
tion, and protection, notwithstanding all the difficulties, enterprises,
dangers, and enemies that he was to encounter with. So 2 Chron.
xxxii. 7, ' Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for
the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him : for
* Moses had a special command from God to charge Joshua to be courageous, Deut.
i. 38, and iii. 28. God himself also lays the same command upon him, Deut. xxxi. 23.
476 THE SIGNAL PKESENCE OF GOD
there be more with us than with him.' Ver. 8, ' With him is an
arm of flesh ; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight
our battles,' &c. At this time the king of Assyria was the greatest
monarch in the world, and the most formidable enemy Israel had.
He had a mighty army, for there was a hundred fourscore and five
thousand of them slain in one night, ver. 21. Now the great thing
they were to mind and attend was to look narrowly to it, that the
favourable, signal, and eminent presence of God with them, did raise
all their hearts above all discouragements, fears, and dismayedness.
What is the chaff to the whirlwind ? what are thorns and briars to a
consuming fire ? what is an arm of flesh to the arm, strength, and
power of a God? what is weakness to strength, and the nothing-
creature to the Lord of hosts ? Now if the special signal presence of
God with his people in their greatest troubles ^nd most deadly
dangers won't put singular courage, life, and mettle into them, what
will ? Acts xxiii. 10, ' And when there arose a great dissension,
the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces
of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and take him by force
from among them, and to bring him into the castle.' Ver. 11, ' And
the night following the Lord stood by him, [namely, in a vision,
or in a dream, or in an ecstasy,] and said, Be of good cheer, Paul :
for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear
witness also at Kome.' The favourable, signal presence of the Lord
with him turned his prison into a palace. Mr Philpot, being a
prisoner for the . testimony of Jesus, writes thus to his friends : l
' Though I tell you that I am in hell in the judgment of this world,
yet assuredly I feel in the same the consolation of heaven, I praise
God ; and this loathsome and horrible prison is as pleasant to me as
the walks in the garden of the King's Bench.' When Paul was in
great danger the Lord stood by him, to cheer, comfort, and encourage
him, see Acts xxvii. 23, 24. Now God claps him on the back, and
puts new life and mettle into him.
When Dionysius was given up by the executioner to be beheaded,
he remained constant and courageous, saying, Come life, come death,
I will worship none but the God of heaven and earth.^
When Chrysostom had told Eudoxia the empress that for her covet-
ousness she would be called a second Jezebel, she thereupon sent him
a threatening message, to which he gave this stout and resolute answer,
' Go tell her, nil nisi peccatum timeo, I fear nothing but sin.'
When the executioner had kindled the fire behind Jerome of Prague,
he bade him kindle it before his face; For, said he, if I had been afraid
of it, I had not come to this place, having had so many opportunities
ofi'ered me to escape it. At the giving up of the ghost he said, Hanc
animam in flammis qffero, Christe, tihi, This soul of mine, inflames of
fire, Christ, I offer thee.
The emperor, coming into Germany, sent for Luther to Worms ;
but many of his friends, from the danger they apprehended hanging
over his head, dissuaded him from going ; to whom he gave this pru-
dent, courageous, and resolute answer, * That these discouragements
were cast in his way by Satan, who knew that by his profession of the
' [Foxe,] Acts and Mon., 1C63. * Clarke, as before. — G.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 477
truth in so illustrious a place, his kingdom would be shaken ; and that,
therefore, if he knew that there were as many devils in Worms as there
were tiles on the houses, yet he would go.'
The German knight, in his apologetical letter for Luther against the
pontifical clergy, saith, ' I will go through with what I have under-
taken against you, and will stir up men to seek their freedom. I
neither care nor fear what may befall me, being prepared for either
event, either to ruin you to the great benefit of my country, or myself
to fall with a good conscience,' &c.
William Flower the martyr said, ' That the heavens should as soon
fall as I will forsake my profession, or budge in the least degree
from it.'
Apollonius being asked, * If he did not tremble at the sight of the
tyrant,' made this answer, ' God, which gave him a terrible counte-
nance, hath given also unto me an undaunted heart.'
When Gardiner asked Kowland Taylor if he did not know him, &c.,
to whom he answered, * Yea, I know you, and all your greatness, yet
you are but a mortal man ; and if I should be afraid of your lordly
looks, why fear ye not God the Lord of us all ?'
Basil affirms of the primitive Christians, that they had so much
courage and magnanimity of spirit in their sufferings, that many
heathens, seeing their heroic zeal, resoluteness, and undauntedness,
turned Christians.
When one of the ancient martyrs was terrified with the threatenings
of his persecutors, he replied, ' There is nothing of things visible, nor
nothing of things invisible, that I fear ; I will stand to my profession
of the name of Christ, and contend earnestly for the faith once delivered
to the saints, come on it what will,' ^
By these instances, which may be of great use in this trying day,
you may clearly see how the Lord has manifested his favourable,
signal, and eminent presence to his people in their greatest troubles,
deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, by raising up in them a
spirit of courage, magnanimity, and holy gallantry. But,
(7.) Seventhly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable, signal, and
eminent presence to his people in their greatest troubles, deepest dis-
tresses, and most deadly dangers, by preserving them from troubles m
the midst of troubles, from dangers in the midst of dangers : Dan. iii.
25, ' He answered, and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the
midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is
like the Son of God.' The presence of the Son of God preserves these
three valiant champions from dangers in the midst of dangers. * They
fell down bound in the fiery furnace,' saith my author, [Polanus,] ' and
they walked loose in the midst of the fire without any hurt, for the
angel of the Lord descended together with them in the same moment,
who shook the flames of the fire forth out of the furnace, and pre-
served the servants of God safe without any trouble, being cooled, as
it were, with a dew coming upon them in a pleasant manner.' But
give me leave to say, that these words, ' One like the Son of God,' doth
not argue that in this vision there was not a representation of the Son
of God to come afterwards in the flesh, but rather that this great mys-
^ Foxe and Clarke for all these names, as before. — G. '
478 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
tery was here shewed for the greater comfort of the faithful, that they
might courageously bear all their sufferings, having the Prince and
Head both of angels and men present with them herein to mitigate
their pains, and carry them through with joy ; this being a greater
wonder of grace and love than to have the protection of a mere angel,
concerning whose power also, whether he can change the nature of
fire, that it shall not burn, is very doubtful and questionable, seeing
this argueth omnipotency, which is in God alone, and not communi-
cable to any creature. Where, by the way, you may observe a strong
and solid argument to prove that Jesus is the Son of God against all
gainsayers, thus : he whom Nebuchadnezzar saw in the fiery furnace
was the Son of God in a human shape ; but he was typically Jesus,
ergo, &c. The major is proved, because he did that which none but
God could do, viz., he qualified the most fierce and raging fire, which
burned up some coming but near it, and had no power, at the same
instant of time, so much as to singe a hair of the heads of others. The
minor is proved also, because God, appearing in a glorious human
shape at any time, was not God the Father or Holy Ghost, but God
the Son ; for ' no man hath seen God at any time,' John i. 18 ; 1 Tim.
vi. 16 ; 1 John iv. 12 ; but the Son hath revealed him, both when in
him appearing in a human shape under the law, and when, under the
Gospel, shewing himself in the man Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary,
and hypostatically united unto him : Exod. iii. 2, ' And the angel of
the Lord/ that is, Christ, the angel of the covenant, ' appeared unto
him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush ; and he looked,
and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not con-
sumed ;' ver. 3, ' And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this
great sight, why the bush is not burned.' ^ The Hebrew word Seneh
which is here used signifies a dry bush, a bramble bush, whence the
mount and wilderness is called Sinai, of the store of brambles that
grew there, or of this bush or vision. Now for a bush, a dry bush, a
bramble bush, to be all on fire and yet not consumed, this must be a
wonder of wonders ; but all this is from the good will * of him that
dwelt in the bush.' Out of these two verses we may briefly observe
these few things: —
[1.] First, 2Vie low, and weak, and brittle estate of the church, re-
presented by a bush, a dry bush, a bramble bush. What more brittle,
weak, base, low, and despicable than a dry bush, a bramble bush ?
What is such a bush good for but the fire, or to stop a gap, or some
such inferior use ? A bush is a black, deformed, and uncomely
thing. Corruption and affliction, sin and suffering, renders the saints
very uncomely. The church is compared not to a strong, sturdy oak,
but to a weak, brittle bush ; and elsewhere to a vine, a dove, a lamb,
a sheep, &c., all frail, weak creatures. It is good for all saints to have
low and mean thoughts of themselves, for here they are resembled to a
dry bush, a bramble bush. But,
[2.] Secondly, A dry bush, a bramble bush, pricks, wounds, and
vexes them that handle it roughly. This bush is in Hebrew called
Seneh, as I have hinted before, which the Hebrews describe to be a
shrub full of pricks, and without fruit, and so thick that a bird cannot
^ Christ is called the Messenger or Angel of the Covenant, Mai. iii. 1.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 479
enter without the ruffling and pulling oflf her feathers. Let the proud
enemies of the church look to themselves, for this bramble bush will
vex, prick, wound, tear, and put them to the worst, when they have
done their worst. In all the ages of the world this bramble bush, the
church, hath been a cup of trembling unto all the people round about,
and a burdensome stone ; so that all that burden themselves with it
shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered
together against it, Zech. xii. 2, 3. But,
[3.] Thirdly, Consider the cruelties of the church's enemies is signi-
fied and represented hy a fire. The bush burns with fire. In this
resemblance is shadowed out the oppressed, afflicted, and persecuted
estate of the Israelites in the Egyptian furnace ; and by fire here is
meant the most painful, terrifying, and tormenting afflictions and
miseries that should attend them. Great afflictions and persecutions
are in Scripture commonly set out by fire, as the fiery trial, the fire of
affliction, 1 Pet. iv. 12 ; Lam. ii. 3, 4; Hab. ii,13. Fire is very painful
and tormenting, in which respects hell torments are compared to fire ;
so are great afflictions, miseries, and sufierings ; they are very painful
and tormenting ; they put persons into sore pain and travail. Next to
the pangs of conscience, and the pains of hell, there are none to these
pains and pangs that are bred and fed by sore afflictions, by terrible
trials. It has been the lot and portion of God's dearest children, to
be exercised with very great and grievous afflictions, and that in order
to the discovery of sin, to the embittering of sin, to the preventing of
sin, and to the purging away of sin, and in order to the trial of grace,
the discovery of grace, the exercise of grace, and the increase of grace ;
and in order to the weaning of them from tliis world, and to the com-
pleting their conformity to Christ, the captain of their salvation, ' who
was made perfect through sufi'erings,' Heb. ii. 10 ; and to ripen them
for heaven, and to work in them more bowels of pity and compassion
to those that are in misery, and that sigh and groan under their
Egyptian taskmasters.
[4.] Fourthly, Consider the eminence of their preservation, though
in the fire, yet unconsumed. The church of God was hot, yea, all in
flames, and yet not consumed.^ Let the fire be never so hot, so fierce,
so furious, so spreading, the church shall have a being, and live and
bear up in the midst of the flames. If the church like the sea lose
in one place, it gets ground in another. When the worst of men, and
devils, and informers have done their worst, the Lord will have a
name among his people on earth. The church, with the lamp in the
story, laughs at all those winds, that would blow it out. Well may we
stand amazed and wonder, that so flaming and terrible a fire, falling
upon so contemptible a bush, and so dry and despicable a shrub,
should not presently turn it into ashes ; for why, is the fire too weak ?
Oh no ! Is the bush so strong, as to defend and secure itself against
devouring flames ? Oh no ! Or is the bush not apt to burn and con-
sume by so fierce a fire ? Oh no. It is not from the impotency of the
fire, nor from the strength or constitution of the bush; for a dry
1 This fire was a supernatural fire, (1.) It continued without fuel to feed upon. (2.) It
kept below and ascended not. (3.) It burned and consumed not. All which shews it to
be a supernatural work.
^^^ THE SIGNAL PKESEXCE OF GOD
bramble bush, m the matter of it is as combustible as any chaff anrl
as easily destroyed as any stubble; but because the natural force
thereof was restramed by the glorious power of God: for if God con
cur not with the nature of things, they cannot work nor shew th Jr
/o°. m T ""^ are two inseparable qualites of fire: (1.) To give li^ht
fn ■ f?"" ^""^ '• ^^d yet divine power divides and separates these two '
for this fire giveth hght, bu burneth not. Oh, what a mighty what
an astonishing preservation is here ! The afflictions and sufferings of
the church are not a consuming fire, but a trying fire, as the fire in a
furnace consumes the dross but tries the gold, and puts a new lustre
beauty, and glory upon it. Hesiod speaks of thirty thousand demigods'
that were keepers of men ; but what are so many thousand ffods to that
one God that neither slumbers nor sleeps, but day and St ke^^^^
his people as his jewels,_ as the apple of his eye, that kLl them
m his pavilion as a prince his favourite.?! There is a diaS
ft rv'^^.l! f ^'° ^^^^ f'^' ^^''' ^^' ^'^' ^^t"rned from cS-
wt ift.T' ^^"°\^b«f them being enemies unto them-t£^
anvtwvlf *^' "^'^^r ^' "°^ ^' countrymen could hope for
any safety, because, saith he, every one of you is as a silly sheen com-
passed about with fifty wolves. Ay, but, saith the Jew, we aTe ke^t
by such a shepherd, as can kill aU these wolves when he pleases, and
by that means preserve his sheep. But,
[5.] Fifthly, Consider how this eminent preservation of his people
from dangers in the midst of dangers is effected ami brought^abou!
and that ^s hy the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great a^elof
the covenant; for Moses saith expressly of this vision, that ' The Lord
appeared unto Moses and God calleth unto him out of the midst of
the bush, and said Moses Moses,' &c., ver. 4. This calling of Moses
by his name, and the doubling of his name, in such a familiar and
oving manner was a sign of God's singular favour to Moses. ChoTce
avourites God frequently called by name, as you may see in those
mstances of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, &o., and so our Lord Jesus
Christ called Peter by his name, and Nathanael by his name and
Mary by her name, &c.^ The same presence of the Son of Gbd that
preserved the three children, or rather champions, in that f uriou^ fu?-
. nace of Nebuchadnezzar from burning or singeing, preserved the bush
though not from burning, yet from consumin| by restraining the
natural force of the fire, and strengthening the bush against it. The
P^r dA- ri" '\t' ?'"' '^"^^ ^^^^^ «^ *h^ hottelt furnace that
ever was kindled not blacker nor worser, but brighter and better, and
more glorious than the sun m his strength; aSd all this from the
presence of the angel of the covenant that dwelt in the bush Divine
presence can preserve a flaming bush from being consumed ' Witness
our preservation to this day, though we have been as a burning bush
God IS in the midst of her, she shall not be moved, God shill help
her, and that right ear y,' Ps.^M. 5. Reb., ' Wh^n the mordn^
appeareth. that is in the mck of time, when help shall be most
seasonable and best welcome. The presence of the Lord in the midst
1 1^: ^.'^^j: ^ ; I«^ Y^"- 3 ; Mai. iii. 17; Zech. ii. 8 ; Ps. mi. 20
bcipio by way of favour called the citizens by their names and so Cvn,^ nnr>n ih»
same ground called his soldiers by their names. ^ ^ ""*
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 481
of his church, will secure her from being greatly moved in the midst
of all those great dreadful confusions that are abroad in the world.
Hence the church is called, Jehovah shammah, ' The Lord is there,'
Ezek. xlviii. 35. His presence in heaven, makes it heaven, and
his presence in the church, makes it happy and safe. Nothing
shall disturb or harm them that have the presence of God in the
midst of them.i The church is built upon a rock, she is invincible,
Mat. xvi. 18. Jer. i. 8, ' Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with
thee, to deliver thee, saith the Lord.' Ver. 17, ' Thou therefore
gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command
thee ; be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.'
Ver. 18, * For behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city,
and an iron pillar and brazen wall against the whole land ; against
the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests
thereof, and against the people of the land.' Ver. 19, ' And they shall
fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee ; for I am
with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.' God's presence with his
messengers is a guard, and a safeguard, all-sufficient against all op-
position whatsoever. Earthly princes and sovereigns are not wont to
go with those whom they send on embassage, but God always goes
along with those whom he sends, and will, by his powerful presence,
protect and defend them against opposers, at all times and in all
places, when all others fail and forsake us. Christ's presence is security
sufficient, for ' if he be with us, who can be against us ? ' They must
first prevail against him before they can prevail against them that
withstand and oppose those whom he standeth by to back and protect.
How comes this to pass, that Jeremiah, a man, a man alone, should
bear up so stoutly, and stand so strong against kings, princes,
priests, and people ? It is from the signal presence of God with him.
' I am with thee.' '^ And what can all the great ones of the world,
and all the wicked ones of the world, do against one messenger of the
Lord, that is armed with his glorious power ? The ambassadors of
the King of kings, and Lord of lords, must not be terrified with the
multitude of opposers, nor with the grandeur or greatness of opposers ;
but set the presence of the Lord against them all, and say as that
noble soldier, Paedarelus, in Erasmus, did to them that told him of
that numerous and mighty army which came against him, Tanto plus
glorice re/eremus, quoniam eo plures superahimus, The number of
opposers makes the Christian conquests the more illustrious. The
more the Pharisees of old, and their successors of late time, have op-
posed the truth, the more it hath prevailed ; and it is observable that
the reformation in Germany was much furthered by the papists' op-
position, yea, when two kings, amongst many others, wrote against
Luther, viz., Henry the Eighth of England, and Ludovicus of Hungary ;
this kingly title being entered into the controversy, making men more
curious to examine the matter, stirred up a general inclination to-
wards Luther's opinion. So Jer. xv. 20, ' And I will make thee
^ Opposition is, as Calvin writes to the French king, Evangelil genius, the blacli angel
that dogs the gospel at the heels.
- In some cases a man were better lose his life than be cowardly. Aristotle, eth. iii.
cap. 1.
VOL. V. 2 H
482 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
unto this people a fenced brazen wall ; and they shall fight against
thee, but they shall not prevail against thee : for I am with thee to
save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord,' When the messengers
of the Lord go on constantly and courageously in the faithful discharge
of their duties, not relenting, or yielding, or complying with their
greatest opposers, then they shall have such a signal presence of the
Lord with them, as shall sufficiently protect them against all their
enemies' might and malice, wrath and rage: ver. 21, 'And I will
deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out
of the hand of the terrible or violent ones.' Though thou shouldst
fall into the hand of the wicked, id est, power, and into the hand of the
terrible and violent ones, yet they shall not hurt thee, nor harm thee ;
they shall not have their wills upon thee. When thou art in their
hands, I will lay a law of restraint upon their hearts,, that they shall not
mischief thee, nor triumph over thee ; I will be sure to secure thee,
and rescue thee from dangers in the midst of dangers. A gracious mes-
senger of the Lord in the midst of all oppositions, as Chrysostom said
of Peter, is a man made all of fire walking in stubble, he overcomes
and consumes all opposition ; all difficulties are but whetstones to his
fortitude. The moon will run her course though the dogs bark at it ; so
does the traveller, and so will the faithful messengers of the Lord hold
on in their way and work, let men and devils bark and do their worst.
Moulin, speaking of the French Protestants, said, ' When papists
hurt us for reading the Scriptures, we burn with zeal to be reading of
them.' He is a fool, we say, that will be laughed out of his coat, but
he is a fool in folio that will be laughed out of his skin, out of his pro-
fession, out of his religion, out of his principles, out of the ways of
God, nay, out of his soul, out of his salvation, because he can't endure
to be opposed, derided, or laughed at by lewd and wicked men. The
divine presence will make a man set light by such paper-shot.
A gracious spirit is raised by opposition. The more opposition it
meets with in a way of duty, the more resolute he is for it. So far is
he from being afraid of the threatenings of men, of the frowns of men,
or of losing this man's favour, or of incurring such a man's displeasure,
that his spirit riseth far more for it. It is with such a man as it is
with the fire in winter. The fire burns the hotter because of the cold-
ness of the air ; so it is with all the messengers of the Lord, who are
inflamed in the way of their duty. Come to David, and tell him. Oh,
there is a Goliath, and he is come out with a spear like a weaver's
beam, and there is one that bears his target goes before him ! Where
is he ? saith David ; I will fight with him, saith he, [1 Sam. xvii. 4-
11, compared with ver. 26, 27.] Difficulties and dangers do but whet
and raise his spirit ; he is not afraid of any uncircumcised Philistine.
Ah, my friends, this is a true noble spirit ! Holy greatness of mind
lies in this, when a man's spirit is borne up upon the greatness of his
God, and the goodness of his cause ; and if that will not bear me out,
saith such a soul, let me sink in it, I am content to perish. That is
a good word, more worth than a world in a faithful minister's eye :
Ezek. iii. 8, ' Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces,
and thy forehead strong against their foreheads;' ver. 9, 'As an
adamant, harder than a flint, have I made thy forehead ; fear them
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 483
not, neitber be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious
house.' The adamant is the hardest of stones, it is lapis servahilis,
because it keeps itself by its hardness from all injuries ; no weather,
no violence of hammer or fire will break it or conquer it. God en-
gages himself to give the prophet such undaunted boldness, and invin-
cible courage and constancy, as neither shame nor fear should prevail
against. Divine presence, divine assistance, does always accompany a
divine call. Such whom God sends he seconds, such whom he calls he
encourages against all difficulties and discouragements ; such as are
called by Christ, and sent by Christ, shall never want the strengthening,
comforting, corroborating, animating, and preserving presence of Christ.
It is this divine presence that makes them stand it out, and shew them-
selves like men — like men of courage, like men of God, and that secures
them from dangers in the midst of dangers. In the greatest storms
the adamant shrinks not, it fears not, it changeth not its hue, no, not in
the least. Divine presence will keep gracious men from shrinking, fear-
ing, and changing their way, their work, their Lord, and Master, in the
worst of storms that can beat upon them. In all winds and weather
the adamant is still the same, and so will all the faithful messengers
of the Lord be, whatever wind may blow upon them. The signal
presence of God with them will keep them from fearing, fainting,
flying, and preserve them from dangers in the midst of dangers. But,
(8.) Eighthly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable, signal, and
eminent presence with his people in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, hy frv^trating and disappointing
the plots, designs, counsels, and contrivances of their powerful, subtle,
secret, and malicious adversaries, luho would fain he multiplying of
their trotibles, sorroivs, sufferings, and miseries upon them : Neh. iv.
8, ' And conspired all of them together to come and fight against
Jerusalem, and to hinder it.' Ver. 11, 'And our adversaries said,
They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst amongst
them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.' Ver. 15, ' And it
came to pass, when our enemies knew that it was known unto us, and
God had brought their counsels to nought,' &c.i The craft of the
church's enemies is never but accompanied with cruelty, and their
cruelty is seldom without craft. The devil lends them his seven
heads to plot, and his seven horns to push ; but in the things wherein
they deal proudly, God is above them, and by his presence with his
people he brings all their plots, counsels, and enterprises to nought.
The gunpowder traitors betrayed themselves, and all came to light,
though they had digged as low as hell to hide their counsels from the
Lord. The enemies of the Jews, in Nehemiah's time, made great
brags at first what they would do ; but when they saw their plots dis-
covered, and their purposes defeated, they are presently crestfallen,
and have no mind nor courage to advance at all ; so that to these
plotters may be fitly applied that which Guicciardini saith of Charles
the Eighth, king of France, in his expedition against Naples, ' That
he came into the field like thunder and lightning, but went out like a
^ The Thebans had a band of men they called sacra cohors, consisting of such only as
were joined in bonds of love, and resolved to live and die together. These Jews under
Nehemiah's command were such, and were therefore insuperable.
484 THE SIGNAL PEESENCE OF GOD
sniifF ; more than a man at first, and less than a woman at last.' In
all the ages of the world, the heads, the wits, the hands, the hearts,
and the tongues of the wicked have been engaged against the just ;
they have been still a-plotting and devising mischief against the
favourites of heaven, as if rebels could meddle with none but the chil-
dren of a king, and yet God's signal presence with his people, in point
of affection and protection, has blasted all their designs, and frustrated
all their counsels. As the rage of wicked men against the saints have
been endless, so it has been fruitless, because God has been in the
midst of them. Haman plots against the lives, liberties, and estates
of the Jews, Esth. iii, 8, seq., but his plot was timely discovered and
seasonably prevented, and the grand plotter and informer detected,
debased, condemned, and executed : Esth. vii. 10, ' So they hanged
Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was
the king's wrath pacified.' The kings of Persia had absolute and un-
questionable power to do whatsoever they listed. Quicquid libuit,
licuit: all their subjects, except their queens, were no better than
slaves, — ' whom they would they slew, and whom they would they
kept alive ; whom they would they set up, and whom they would they
put down,' Dan. v. 19; Esth. vii. 9. Haman is here without order
of law, more than the king's command, adjudged to be hanged. The
truth is, it was a clear case, and the malefactor was self-condemned.
' Hang him, therefore,' saith the king ; a short and a just sentence,
and soon executed. Ah, how soon is Haman fallen from the palace to
the gallows, from the highest stage of honour to the lowest stair of
disgrace ; from feasting with the king to be made a feast for crows,
and so lies wrapped up in the sheet of perpetual infamy. 'So let all
thine enemies perish, Lord.' It is a good observation of Josephus
upon Esth. vii. 10 : ' I cannot,' saith he, ' but admire the Lord's wis-
dom, and acknowledge his justice, in that he not only punished him
for his malice to the church, but, by turning his own mischief upon
himself, hath made him an example to all posterity ; hanging him up
in gibbets that others may take warning.' i Let all plotters and in-
formers beware of making a match with mischief, they may have
enough of it in the end. Haman was a main stickler for the devil,
who paid him his wages at last, with a witness, or, if you will, with a
halter. Let all the enemies of the saints tremble at such ends, and be
careful to avoid them by flying such like foul and flagitious practices.
The bloody plot being thus laid by Haman, the king's minion, behold
the footsteps of God's favourable, signal, and eminent presence for his
people and with his people in their deadly dangers, and that in raising
up in them a very great spirit of faith, prayer, and mourning, and by
raising an undaunted courage and resolution in Esther : ' And so I will
go in unto the king, and if I perish, I perish,' Esth. iv. 16. This she
speaks not rashly or desperately, as prodigal of her life, but as one willing
to sacrifice the same for the honour of God, his cause and people, say-
ing, as that martyr, ' Can I die but once for Christ?' Esther had rather
die than shrink from her duty. She thought it better to do worthily
and perish for a kingdom, than unworthily and perish with a kingdom.
^ Unde mihi contigit mirari nomen Dei, et sapientiam, et justitiam ejus agnoscere, &c.
— Joseph. Ant., lib. '. c. 6.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GKEATEST TROUBLES. 485
Here was a mighty preference of God in raising Esther's heroical
courage and resolution above all those visible dangers that did attend
her attempt of going in to the king against the known law of the
land. And the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre, chap. v. 2.
He did not kick her out of his presence, as some Cambyses would have
done ; neither did he command her to the block, as Henry the Eighth
did his Anne Boleyne, upon a mere misprision of disloyalty ; neither
yet did he cashier her, as he had Vashti for a less offence, but by
holding out his sceptre, shews his gracious respects unto her. This
was the Lord's own work, and a great demonstration of his signal
presence with her, in giving her favour in the eyes of the great king.
' So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre' with her
hand, saith the Chaldee, with her mouth, saith the Vulgar transla-
tion. This she did either in token of submission, or as a sign of
reverence and subjection, or for the avoiding of danger ; for, as Jose-
phus saith, ' He that touched the king's sceptre was out of the reach
of evil,' or, according to the custom of the times, God's favourable
presence is transparent, in the king's extended favour to her. ' On that
night could not the king sleep,' Heb. , ' the king's sleep fled away,' Esth,
vi. 1; and like a shadow it fled away so much the faster, as it was
more followed. Crowns have their cares, thistles in their arms, and
thorns in their sides. Lo ! he that commanded one hundred and
twenty-seven provinces cannot command one hour's sleep. The king's
head might perhaps be troubled with thinking what great request it
should be that Esther had to make, that was so hardly drawn from
her ; but herein appeared the signal presence of God in keeping the
king awake ; for Mordecai might have been hanged before Esther had
known anything of it — Haman being come early the next morning,
ver. 4, to beg this of the king — had not God kept him from sleep,
and directed him to read in that place of the Chronicles where Mor-
decai's service was recorded, and so made way to his advancement
and Haman's ruin. God's favourable presence shined upon his people
in keeping the king from sleep, for excellent ends, and in putting
small thoughts into his heart for great purposes. God will appear
for his poor people, ev rw Kalpo), in the nick and opportunity of time,
when there is but a step between them and death ; and further, the
power, providence, presence, and goodness of God was made evident, in
the behalf of his people, in directing the reader to that very place where
Mordecai's singular service, in discovering the barbarous and murder-
ous plot that was laid against the king's life and crown, was recorded,
Esth. vi. 2. That Mordecai should have no present reward, but that
it should be deferred till a fitter opportunity, when God might be
more glorified in the signal preservation of his people, and in the
famous overthrow of their enemies, was from that mighty hand of God,
that was stretched out for the good of his people. In this great story
we may, as in a mirror, see how the Lord, by his wisdom, provi-
dence, presence, and grace, brings about and overrules the wills of
men, the affairs of men, the counsels of men, the designs of men, the
words and speeches of men, to the fulfilling of his own will and decree,
and the promoting of his own honour and glory, and the good of his
people, when vain men think least of doing his will, or serving his
486 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
providence. Here you may see the wisdom, prudence, and courage
of Esther, striking whilst the iron was hot, charging the bloody de-
cree upon Haman to his face, and that before the king, that things
might the better stick and work, and painting him out in his own
pro{)er colours. ' The adversary,' Heb., * the man adversary,' the Ly-
canthropos, the man of might that distresseth us. ' And enemy,' that
is, the cruel enemy, the bloody enemy, the utter enemy, the worst enemy,
that sworn swordman of Satan, from whom Haman hath drawn his
ancient enmity, Gen. iii. 15. ' Is this wicked Haman,' that is, as
wicked a wretch as goes on two legs, a man of blood, a man made up
of mischief and malice, a sink of wickedness, a very mystery of ini-
quity, a breathing devil. Tiberius was rightly characterised by his
tutor Theodorus Gadareus,! dirt knead ^ with blood. Haman was such
another, if not worse. And now Queen Esther is; plain and round
with him, and calls a spade a spade. Though others styled him noble,
great, serene, magnificent, &c., Esther gives him his own with a wit-
ness. ' The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.' But what
a mighty courage had Esther to speak at this rate before the king, and
of his grand favourite, and before his face. Surely all this was frorti the
signal presence of God with her soul. This was a great work of faith,
and a singular fruit of prayer. ' And now Haman stood up to make
request for his life.' Oh, what a strange turn of things is here all
upon a sudden ! He that a little before was bowed unto by all men,
is now upon his knees before a woman ; he that was, the very day
before, a professed enemy of the Jews, is now suppliant to a Jewess ;
he that a few weeks before had contrived the death and ruin of the
Jews, is now begging hard for his own life ; he that had provided a
gallows for Mordecai, fears nothing more now than that himself should
be hanged on it. Yesterday, oh the caps, knees, and bows that Ha-
man had, and now the same man covers his face, in token of his irre-
coverable ruin, Esth. vii. 8. The Turks cast a black gown upon such
as they sit at supper with the great Turk, and presently strangle them.
Many of their viziers or greatest favourites die in this sort, which
makes them use this proverb, ' He that is greatest in office, is but a
statue of glass.' Plutarch wittily compareth great men to counters,
which now stand for a thousand pounds, and anon for a farthing.
This was Haman's case.3 And so Sejanus, the same senators who ac-
companied him to the senate, conducted him to prison ; they which sacri-
ficed to him as to their god, which kneeled down to adore him, scoffed
at him, seeing him dragged from the temple to the gaol, from supreme
honour to extreme ignominy. When once the emperor frowned upon
him, they shewed themselves most passionate against him, saying that
if CjBsar had clemency, he ought to reserve it for men, and not to use it
toward monsters. This is courtier's custom, to adore the rising sun, and
^ GeiSwpos Ta^apev% : on his connexion with Tiberius, see Quint: Instit. Orat.,lib. iii.
c- 1, §§ 17, 18. Seneca, Suasoria iii., sub fin. The particular saying quoted by Brooks
is found in Suetonius, (Tiber., c. 57,) and is as follows: infkhv cufiari Tre^vpfx^vov, 'clay
tempered with blood.'— G. « Spelled ' knod.'— G.
* Courtiers shift their sails to the fitting of every wind. A cubit was half a yard at
least. In those parts they had trees very small, or they might piece one to another ; but
why so high a gallows, but for the greater disgrace to Mordecai, and terror to all that
should slight the king's grand favourite.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 487
when great favourites fall into disgrace, all about princes will be ready
to pluck them up by the roots, if the season be fair to clear the court or
land of such noisome weeds. The king s indignation being up, the
courtiers point at the gallows fifty cubits high, that Haman had set
up for Mordecai. All are now for Mordecai, there is not a courtier
that has one good word for Haman. Ah, what a rare hand of God
was there in all these things, for the good of his people, and the utter
overthrow of their grand enemy ! To sum all up in a little room, the
breaking of the king's sleep, was the breaking of one of the most
bloody designs that ever was laid against the people of God, Well,
what though the king could not sleep, could he not lie still in his
bed ? No, he must have a book, and that book must be the Book of
Chronicles, and that book must be opened where accidentally — not
by turning to that place purposely — yet surely by God's providence
directing him that read, to that very story concerning Mordecai, where
was registered his faithfulness, in discovering and disappointing of a
murder intended against the king; whereupon God sets this act of
faithfulness so close upon the king's heart, that he could not rest till
Mordecai was nobly rewarded for it, and this reward must be Haman's
ruin ; his advancement, Haman's abatement ; and this was the rise of
Haman's disappointment. In this famous instance you may run and
read the favourable, signal, and eminent presence of the Lord, in the
miraculous preservation of his church from a total ruin and destruction,
and in the disappointing the plots, designs, and counsels of their greatest
enemies, and in taking of them in the very snares that they had laid
for others ; suitable to that of the psalmist, ' He made a pit and digged
it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made ; his mischief shall return
upon his own head, and his violent dealing upon his own pate,' Ps.
vii. 16, 17. Henry the Third of France was stabbed in the same
chamber where he had helped to contrive the French massacre ; and
his brother, Charles the Ninth, had blood given him to drink, for he
was worthy. There is no end of stories of this nature. So Ps. ix. 15,
' The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made : in the net
which they hid, is their own foot taken.' The wicked are compared
to hunters for their cruelty, and to fowlers for their craft ; but see their
success, they are sunk down in their own pit, caught in their own net.
Thus it befell Pharaoh, Jabin, and Sisera, Sennacherib, Antiochus
Epiphanes, Maxentius the tyrant, who fell into the Tiber, from his
own false bridge laid for Constantine ; the Spanish armada, and our
powder-plotters :i ver. 16, ' The wicked is snared in the work of his
own hands. Higgajon, Selah.' Goliath was killed with his own sword.
Christ's justice liath two acclamatory notes, ' Higgajon, Selah;' the
like is not found in all the Scripture, as worthy of present admira-
tion, and of deep and perpetual meditation. I have been the longer
a-glancing at this famous story of Esther, because of its seasonableness
and suitableness to the days and times wherein we live.
A further proof of this eighth particular, that is under our present
consideration, you have in Isa. viii. 9, ' Associate yourselves, ye
people, and ye shall be broken in pieces ; and give ear, all ye of far
countries : gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces ; gird
' Exod. ix. 15 ; Judges x. 4; 2 Chron. xxxii. ; Euseb., lib. ix. c. 9.
488 THE SIGNAL FKESENCE OF GOD
yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces' — Heb., ' And be broken
in pieces, And be broken in pieces : And be broken in pieces.' It is
thrice repeated, to work it the deeper into the minds and hearts of
those, that should either hear or read it ; and to give the stronger
assurance of the certainty of their being inevitably broken in
pieces, who were adversaries and conspirators against the people of
God. This speech is directed to the kings of Assyria, and other
nations that combined with him against the people of God ; but
especially against the city of Jerusalem. It is a holy irony, or
laughing to scorn the associating enemies of the church. Well
saith the prophet, Proceed as unanimously, as politicly, and as
powerfully in your combinations, consultations, and preparations as
you can, yet be assured that all your associations shall be dissolved,
and your counsels frustrated, and your attempts returned back
upon yourselves to your own ruin and confusion': ver. 10, ' Take
counsel together,' — [Hebreiv, ' Consult a consultation,' to wit, about
invading Judah, and surprising Jerusalem,] — ' and it shall come to
nought ; speak the word, and it shall not stand ; for God is with us :'
Isa. vii. 5, 6 ; Ps. xxxiii. 3. Consult, conclude, determine, resolve upon
what you please, i you shall never be able, by all your power and policy,
to prevail against the people of God ; for his favourable, signal, and
eminent presence is constantly with them, to assist, counsel, and pro-
tect them against aU oppositions and assaults. God bringeth to
nought the counsel of the nations, Ps. xxxiii. 10. Neither the devil
nor liis imps, nor any of their counsels, or enchantments, shall ever be
able to stand before the presence of the Lord with his people. Charles
the Fifth and the French king had, upon counsel, taken, covenanted,
and agreed utterly to extirpate the Lutheran faction out of all their
dominions ; but God found them other employment, and, by his signal
presence with his people, he gave them a happy halcyon. Let men
and devils conspire, let them plot, consult, and determine, all shall be
in vain, because there is no counsel against the Lord, there is no
possibility of carrying of it against the presence of the Lord with his
people. His signal presence will be their greatest safety and security
in the midst of all plots, designs, dangers, &c. The signal pre-
sence of God with his people mars and frustrates all the plots, coun-
sels, and curious contrivances of the world's wizards, as might be
shewed in those instances of Balaam, Pharaoh, Saul, Herod, with
many others. But I must hasten, and therefore,
(9.) Ninthly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable, signal, and
eminent presence with 'his people in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, by his sympathising with them in
all their troubles, trials, distresses, dangers, as you may clearly see hy
consulting the choice scrijytiires in the margin.'^ So Isa. Ixiii. 9, 'In
all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved
them : in his love and in his pity he redeemed them ; and he bare
them, and carried them all the days of old.' Christ is here in the
Hebrew called ' the angel of his face,' either because he doth exactly
' Counsel is the extract of reason, the result of serious and sad debates, saith Cicero.
^ Exod. ii. 23-25, and iii. 7-10 ; Isa. xxxvii. 28, 29 ; Ezek. xxxv. 7-10; Mat. ixv. 4,
seq.; i)cut. xxxii. 9-11; John xiv. 9, 10; Col. i. 15; Heb. ix. 2i ; Rom. viii. 34.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 489
resemble God his Father, or because he appeareth before the face or
in the presence of God for us. This angel took to heart their afflic-
tions, he was himself grieved for them and with them. This angel
secured and safeguarded them all the way through the wilderness,
from Egypt to Canaan. This angel did not only lead them, but he
also lifted them up and took them in his arms, as parents or nurses
are wont to do with such children that are young and weakly and in
danger. And this angel carried them, as the eagle doth her young
ones, that are not fully fledged, or that are unable yet to fly, on her
wings. Oh the pity, the clemency, the sympathy, and admirable com-
passion of Christ to his people in their suffering state ! Zech. ii. 8,
' He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye.' The eye is the
tenderest piece of the tenderest part. The eye is kept most diligently,
and strongly guarded by nature with five tunicles. A man can better
bear a thump on the back, the biting of his finger, the cutting of his
hand, the pricking of his leg, or a blow upon his arm, than a touch
on the eye. Oh that persecutors would be quiet, and let God's people
alone, and take heed how they meddle with God's eyes.i There is no
touching of them, to wrong or injure them, but you wrong and injure
the Holy One of Israel, who will certainly revenge himself upon you.
They that strike at God's eyes, do through them strike at God him-
self, which he will never put up. It is a dangerous thing to molest
and trouble, to afflict or annoy the people of God ; for God himself is
very sensible of it, and accordingly he will certainly requite it. Acts
ix. 4, ' Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? ' They that persecute
the servants of Christ, they persecute Christ himself, who liveth in
them, and is mystically united to them. Look, as there is by virtue
of the natural union a mutual sympathy betwixt the head and the
members, the husband and the wife, so it is here betwixt Christ and
his saints, for he is a most sympathising, compassionate, tender-hearted
Saviour, Heb. iv. 15, and v. 2; Col. i. 24; Heb. xiii. 13; Isa. liii. 4.
Those that shoot at the saints, hit Christ ; their sufferings are held
his, and their reproaches are counted his. He that bore the saints'
griefs when he was on earth, really and properly, he bears them still
now he is in heaven, in a way of sympathy. Christ in his glorified
state hath a very tender sense of all the evil that is done to his chil-
dren, his members, his spouse, and looks upon it as done to himself.
A great lord said to another great lord of the council, in king Henry
the Eighth's days, concerning Cranmer, ' Let him alone, for the king
will not suffer his finger to ache.' So say I to the persecutors of the
day. Let the people of God alone, for if you do but make their finger
ache, God will make your heads and hearts ache for it before he has
done with you. 2 But,
(10.) Tenthly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable, signal, and
eminent presence with his people in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, by pouring out upon them a
greater spirit of prayer and supplication in their greatest troubles^
^ Ishon of loh ; it is here called Bath, the daughter of the eye, because it is as dear to
a muu as an only daughter. Oculus tl favia non jiatiuntur jocos, The eye and the good
name will endure no jests.
* See the first part of my ' Golden Key,' pp. 277-279, more of this. [The present
volume, pp. 19;j-iy5. — G.j
490 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, than formerly they have
had. Isa. xxvi. 16, ' Lord, in trouble have they visited thee ; they
poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.' ' They
poured out their still prayer/ 1 The Hebrew word Laxihus signifieth
properly a soft or low kind of muttering which can hardly be heard.
The prophet hereby would intimate to us, that in their great troubles
and deepest distresses they sighed or groaned unto God, and prayed
in a still and silent manner. Saints never visit God more with their
prayers, than when he visits them most with his rod. Saints never
pray with that seriousness, that spiritualness, that heavenliness, that
humbleness, that brokenness, that fervency, that frequency, as they do
when they are under the mighty hand of God ; and all this is from
that signal presence of God, that it is with them in their greatest
troubles, deepest distresses, &c. When it was a day of great trouble,
of great distress, of great danger to the people of God in Germany,
God poured out a very great spirit of prayer upon Luther ; at length
he comes out of his closet triumphantly, saying to his fellow-labourers
and friends, ' Vicimus, vicimus, We have overcome, we have over-
come ; ' at which time it is observed that there came out a proclama-
tion from Charles the Fifth that none should be further molested for
the profession of the gospel. In days of troubles and distress Luther
was so warm, zealous, and powerful in prayer, that made one of his
best friends say, Iste vir potuit, quod voluit, That man could have of
God what he pleased. Being once very warm in prayer, he let fall
this transcendent rapture of a daring faith. Fiat mea voluntas, Let my
will be done ; and then falls off sweetly, Mea voluntas, Domine, quia
tua. My will, Lord, because thy will. It is reported in the life of
Luther, that when he prayed it was tantd reverentid ut si Deo, et
iantd fiducid ut si amico. It was with so much reverence as if he were
praying to God, and with so much boldness as if he had been speak-
ing to his friend. I have read of a fountain that at noonday is cold,
and at midnight it grows warm ; so many Christians are cold in pray-
ing, in hearing, &c., in the day of prosperity, but yet are warm and
lively in praying and wrestling with God in the day of adversity.^
Manasseh got more by prayer in his iron chains than ever he got by
his golden crown. Afflictions are like the prick at the nightingale's
breast that awakens her, and that puts her upon her sweet and de-
lightful singing. A sincere Christian never prays so sweetly as when
under the rod. One reports of Joachim, the father of the Virgin
Mary, that he would often say, Cibus et potus mihi erit oratio.
Prayer is my meat and drink. When a Christian is in trouble,
then prayer is his meat and drink. Oh, what a spirit of prayer was
upon Jonah when he was in the whale's belly; and upon Daniel
when he was among the lions ; and upon David in his wilderness-
state ; and upon the thief when he was on the cross ; and upon Je-
hoshaphat, when Moab and Ammon and others came against him to
battle ; and upon Hezekiah, when Sennacherib had invaded Judah ;
^ Before they would say a prayer, but now they poured out a prayer.
* 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11-13; Jonah ii. ; Dan. vi. ; Ps. viii. 4; Luke xxiii. 42; 2 Chron
XX. 1-13; Isa. xxxvii. 14-22 ; Gen. xxxii. 6-13, and ver. 24-31. Now he oils the key
of prayers with tears, Hosea xii. 4.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 491
and upon Jacob, when his brother Esau came to meet him with four
hundred bloody cut-throats at his heels ! As there be two kinds of
antidotes against poison — viz., hot and cold ; so there are two kinds of
antidotes against all the troubles of this life — viz., fervent prayer and
holy patience, the one hot, the other cold ; the one quenching, the
other quickening. When a Christian under great troubles, deep dis-
tresses, and most deadly dangers, prays more for the sanctification of
affliction than the removal of affliction ; when he prays more to get off
his sins than to get off his chains ; when he prays more to get good
by the rod than to get free from the rod ; when he prays more that
his afflictions may be a refining fire than a consuming fire, and that
his heart may be low and his graces high, and that all his troubles
may wean him more from this world, and ripen him the more for the
glory of that upper world, — it is a great demonstration of the signal
presence of God with him in all his troubles and deep distresses.
But,
(11.) ^Eleventhly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable, signal,
and eminent presence with his people in their greatest troubles, deep-
est distresses, and most deadly dangers, by drawing the hearts of his
people nearer and closer to himself, by all the afflictions, troubles, dis-
tresses, and dangers tliat do attend them in this world : Ps. cxix. 67,
* Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word.'
God brought David nearer to himself by Weeping-Cross, [Chrysostom.]
Affliction is a tire to purge out our dross, and to make virtue shine.
It is a potion to carry away ill humours, better than all the benedicta
medicamenta, as physicians call them. Master Ascham was a good
schoolmaster to Queen Elizabeth, but affliction was a better, &c. By
afflictions God humbles the hearts of his people, and betters the hearts
of his people, and draws the hearts of his people nearer and closer to
himself: ver, 71, ' It is good for me that I have been afflicted.' The
Lacedemonians of old grew rich by war, and were bettered by it, when
all other kingdoms were undone by it. The saints gain by their
crosses, troubles, and distresses. Their graces are more raised, their
experiences are more multiplied, and their comforts are more aug-
mented, and their communion with God is more heightened, Rom, v.
3, 4 ; 2 Cor. i. 3-5 ; Hosea ii. 14. The waves did but lift Noah's ark
nearer to heaven, and the higher the waters grew the more the ark
was lifted up to heaven. The troubles and distresses that the saints
meet with do but raise them in their fellowship with the Father, Son,
and Spirit, Ps, Ixxiii. 13, 14, 28. When Thibazus, a noble Persian,
was arrested, at first he drew out his sword to defend himself ; but
when they charged him in the king's name, and informed him that
they came from the king to carry him to the king, he yielded will-
ingly. So when afflictions arrest a noble Christian, he may murmur
and struggle at the first ; but when he considera it is sent from God,
to bring him to the sight of God, the King of glory, he willingly and
readily submits to the rod, and kisses the rod. All the stones that
came thick about Stephen's ears did but knock him the closer to
Christ the corner-stone, Acts vii. 55, 60. Tiburtius saw paradise
when he walked upon burning coals, l If there be any way to heaven
^ Clarke, as before, p. 35. — G.
4i)2 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
on horseback, it is by the cross, said Bradford. Hoseaii. 6, 'There-
fore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall,
that she shall not find her paths.' By afflictions, difficulties, and dis-
tresses God hedges up his people's way. Well, what then? Mark, ver.
7, ' I will go and return to my first husband ; ' that is, to God : I have
run away from him by my sins, and now I will return to him again
by repentance. The grand design of God in all the afflictions that
befall his people, is to bring them nearer and closer to himself. The
church could have no rest at home, nor no comfort abroad, till by
affliction she was brought into the presence and company of her first
husband : Hosea vi. 1, ' Come and let us return unto the Lord, for he
hath torn, and he will heal us ; he hath smitten, and he will bind us
up.' The great design of God in playing the lion's part with his
people, Hosea v. 14, is to bring them nearer and closer to himself.
And, behold, how sweetly this blessed design of God did take : ' Come
and let us return unto the Lord,' &c. The power of God, the presence
of God, and the grace of God, is most gloriously manifested by bring-
ing the hearts of his people nearer and closer to himself by all the
troubles, distresses, and dangers that do attend them. In the winter
season all the sap of the tree runs down to the root, and when a man
is sick all the blood goes to the heart ; so in the winter of affliction,
when the soul is running out more and more to God, and a-getting
closer and nearer to God, it is a most sure evidence of the signal
presence of God with that soul. But,
(12.) Twelfthly and lastly, The Lord doth manifest his favourable,
signal, and eminent presence with his people in their greatest troubles,
deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, hy rendering them invin-
cible and unconquerable under all their troubles, distresses, and dan-
gers: Kev. xii. 11, 'And they overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their
lives unto the death:' Kev. xiv. 1-4; 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8, 21, 22.
By virtue of Christ's blood the saints are made victorious both over
Satan and all his instruments ; they set little by their lives in respect
of Christ and his truth ; yea, they despised them in comparison of
God's glory and the great things of the gospel. They made so little
account of them that they exposed them to all hazards and dangers
for the cause of Christ. In the days of that bloody persecutor, Dio-
cletian, the Christians shewed as glorious power in the faith of mar-
tyrdom as in the faith of miracles. i^ The valour of the patients, and
the savageness of the persecutors, striving together, till both exceed-
ing nature and belief, bred wonder and astonishment in beholders
and readers. It was a good saying of Cyprian, speaking of the saints
and martyrs in those days, Occidi poterant sed vinci non poterant :
They may kill them, but they cannot overcome them. Rev. xvii. 14,
' These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome
them : for he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings ; and they that
are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.' The presence of
the Lamb has and will make the saints victorious in aU the ages of
^ Sulpicius. Rupertus saith that God did more gloriously triumph in St Lawrence
his patience and constancy, wlien he was broiled on the gridiron, than if he had saved
Lis body from burning by a miracle. His faith and patience made him invincible.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 493
the world. Modestus, lieutenant to Julian the emperor, said to Julian,
While they suffer they deride us, saith he ; and the torments are more
fearful to them that stand by than to the tormented. There is no
end in instances of this nature. There is nothing more clear in Scrip-
ture and in history than this, that the signal presence of the Lord
with his people, in all their great troubles, deep distresses, and most
deadly dangers, hath made them invincible and unconquerable. But
now others, that have been destitute of this favourable, signal, and emi-
nent presence of the Lord, in times of great troubles, deep distresses, and
most deadly dangers, how have they fled when none have pursued them !
Howfaint-hearted, how greatly daunted, and how sadly discouraged have
they been ! How have they turned their backs, and quitted the field,
and run from their colours, without striking one stroke ! Many in
Cyprian's time were overcome before the encounter, for they revolted
to idolatry before any persecution once assailed them. In the Pala-
tinate, when there was a warm persecution, scarce one professor of
twenty stood out, but fell to popery as fast as leaves fall from the
trees in autumn. And so in the persecution under Decius many
professors that were rich and great in the world, they soon shrunk
from Christ, and turned their backs upon his ways. It is God's
favourable, signal, and eminent presence with his people that makes
them stand to it in an evil day: Rom, viii. 31, 'If God be for us,
who can be against us?' that is, none; but this is a more forcible
denying, ' Who can ?' Dost thou Paul ask, ' Who can ?' I will tell
thee. The devil can, and tyrants can, and informers can, and perse-
cutors can, and the whole world can ; but ridendus est furor inanis :
They are as nothing, and can do nothing against us. Wicked men
may set themselves against the saints, but they shall not prevail
against the saints. What if all the world should strive to hinder the
sun from rising or shining, or the wind from blowing, or the rain
from falling; or, like those pigmies which went with their arrows
and bows to repress the flowing of the sea. Ludibrious acts, and
mere follies ! All that wicked men can do against the people of God
will be but as throwing stones against the wind. ' If God be with us,
who can be against us ?' Methinks these are words of great resolu-
tion ; as if he should say, We have many enemies, and powerful
enemies, and daring enemies, and malicious enemies, and designing
enemies, and enraged enemies, yet let the proudest of them shew their
faces, and lift up their banners, I fear them not, I regard them not :
'Who can?' who dare be against us? Let me give a little light
into this precious scripture, ' If God be for us, who can be against us ?'
That is, none.
[1.] First, None can be so against us os to hurt us or harm us; there-
fore Aquinas well expounds that Quis contra nos? i.e., Quis efficaciter?
and others, Quis Icesive et prevalenter? Who can be against us, so as to
hurt us ? Dan. iii. 25, 27, and vi. 22. Acts xviii. 9, ' Then spoke the
Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak, and hold
not thy peace;' ver, 10, ' For I am with thee, and no man shall set on
thee, to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city.' God had many
souls in this city to convert and to bring in to Christ, and therefore he
animates and encourages Paul to preach boldly, and to go on in his
494 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
work undauntedly.! Ay, but, Lord, there be many in the city, that will
set themselves against me. Ay, but I am with thee. Ay, but. Lord,
there be many in the city that will hate me. Ay, but there is no man
that shall set on thee to hurt thee. They may kill me, said Socrates of
his enemies, but they cannot hurt me. It was the speech of Anaxar-
chus, a heathen, whenas he by the tyrant was commanded to be put in
a mortar, and be beaten to pieces with an iron pestle, he cries out to the
persecutors, You do but beat the vessel of Anaxarchus ; you do not
beat me, nor hurt me ; you do but beat the case, the husk, the vessel
that contains another thing. His body was to him but as a case, a
husk ; he counted his soul himself, which his persecutors could not
reach nor hurt. Though there were many in the city of Corinth that
would be ready furiously to set on Paul, yet there should not be a man
that should be able to hurt Paul. God would be his lifeguard to pro-
tect him, and he would make void all the mischievous designs and
endeavours of his adversaries against him. When in a city the Lord
hath those that are ordained to salvation, he will bless the labours of
his faithful servants with happy success ; so that faithful ministers may
not, yea, must not, for fear of the invincible malice of some, neglect
the salvation of others. All the arrows that men of might and malice
should shoot at Paul in the city of Corinth, should never reach him,
they should never hurt him, nor harm him: 1 Pet. iii. 13, 'And who
is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good ? '
They may oppose you, but they cannot harm you ; they may hate you,
but they cannot harm you ; they may plot and devise mischief against
you, but they cannot harm you ; they may persecute you, but they
cannot harm you. I know Caesar told Metellus that he could as easily
take away his life as bid it be done ; but these were only bravadoes, for
that is a royalty which belongs to God only, ' to whom belong the issues
of death,' Ps. Ixviii. 20, or the goings out from death ; that is, deliver-
ances from death and deadly dangers. It is an allusion to one that
keepeth a passage or a door ; that is, God hath all the ways which
lead out from death in his own keeping, Christ hath the keys of
death, the sole dominion and disposal of it, Kev. i. 18 ; 2 Pet. ii. 9.
The Lord knows how to deliver his people from the most desperate and
deadly dangers ; he can deliver them out of the mouth of the lion, he
can pull them out of the jaws of death, and so secure them from all
harm or hurt. None can be so against the people of God as to harm
their souls, as to hurt their happiness. But,
' If God be with us, who can be against us ? ' I answer,
[2.] Secondly, None can be so against us as to prevail over us. The
gates of hell may fight against us, but the gates of hell cannot prevail
against us. Christ is the captain of your salvation, God hath made
him general of the field, and therefore you may be sure that he will
stand by you and bring you off with honour. Mat. xvi. 18 ; Heb. ii. 10;
Jer. i. 19, and xx. 11. You need never fear having the day, who have
Christ your captain for your second. Though your persecutors are as
so many roaring lions, yet Christ, who is the lion of the tribe of Judah,
will make you victorious over them all, Rev. v. 5. In all storms and
1 What said Justin Martyr to his murderers in the behalf of himself and his fellow-
martyrs ? You may kill us, but you can nerer hurt us.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 495
tempests the church will stand fast, because it stands upon a rock, Ps.
cxxix. 2. God is on Zion's side, and the enemies of Zion must first pre-
vail against Zion's God before they can prevail over Zion herself. Zion's
God will be a wall of fire about her, and therefore Zion's enemies shall
never prevail over her, Zech. ii. 5 ; Deut. xxxiii. 26-29, Were Zion's
shelter stones, these might be battered ; were it walls of lead, these
might be melted ; were it a defence of waters, these might be dried up ;
were it garrisons of mighty men, these might be scattered ; were it
engines of war, these might be defeated ; were it trenches, these might
be stopped ; were it bulwarks, these might be overthrown ; but Zion
is guarded with a wall of fire round about her, and therefore all her
opposers can never prevail over her. The enemies of Zion are weak
enemies, they are infatuated enemies, they are conquered enemies, they
are limited enemies, they are chained enemies, they are cursed enemies,
and they are naked enemies, and therefore they shall never be prevalent
enemies over Zion, 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8 ; Kom. viii. 37 ; Gen. iii. 12 ;
Num. xiv. 9. Pharaoh followed the Israelites, but he and his mighty
men were drowned, and Israel delivered, for God was with them, Exod.
xiv. Saul hunted David as a partridge in the mountains, 1 Sam.
xxvi. 20, but Saul perisheth, and David was crowned, for God was
with him. Haman hated Mordecai and plotted against Mordecai, but
Haman is hanged and Mordecai advanced, for God was with him,
Esth. vi. 7. The presidents and princes inform against Daniel and
plot against Daniel, but they are by the lions torn and devoured, and
Daniel is delivered and exalted, for God was with him, Dan. vi.
Herod kills James with the sword and imprisons Peter, but Herod is
devoured by worms, and Peter is delivered out of prison by an angel,
for God was with him, Acts xii. Let atheists, papists, and persecutors
cease from plotting against Zion, from persecuting of Zion, for it is
utterly impossible to prevail against Zion. Let all Zion's adversaries
remember once for all that if any policy, counsel, lying, cursing,
strength, or cruelty could have prevailed against Zion, Zion had been
rooted out of the world long ago. If Balaam was at our enemies'
elbows he would tell them roundly and plainly, that it is ' in vg,in to
curse those whom God blesseth,' Num. xxiii. 8. ' It is hard to kick
against the pricks,' Acts ix. 5. It is high madness for men to run
their naked bodies against a sword's point. Let Zion's enemies re-
member that God, who takes pleasure in Zion, sits upon the circle of
the earth, and all the inhabitants are as grasshoppers ; yea, all the
nations as a drop of a bucket, and less than the dust of the balance,
Isa. xl. 12, 15, 17, and therefore he can easily revenge all the wrongs
and injuries that is done to Zion by those that would fain prevail over
her, and triumph in her ruin.i But,
[3.] Thirdly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us?' I an-
swer. None can be so against us as to he able to separate us from the
love of God and the love of Christ : Kom. viii. 35, ' Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ ? shall tribulation, or distresses, or perse-
^ Some observe that Paul's style is so beautified with wonderful eloquence and rhetoric,
that not Tully nor Demosthenes could ever have so spoken. — Augustine, Erasmus.
Some report of Augustine that he wished for three things: (1.) To see Christ in the
flesh ; (2.) To see Rome in the pride of it ; (3.) To have heard Paul preach.
496 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
cution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?' Ver. 36, 'As it
is written, For thy sake are we killed all the day long : we are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter.' Ver. 37, ' Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us.' Ver. 38, ' For I
am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,' — ver. 39, — ' nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.' It is not the pleasures of life
nor the pains of death, it is not evils felt nor evils feared, it is not the
height of prosperity nor the depth of adversity, it is not bonds nor
banishment, it is not power nor policy, honour nor baseness, it is not
violent persecutions nor multiplied tribulations, it is not the scorns of
men, nor reproaches of men, nor revilings of men, nor designs of men,
nor anything else, that can separate us from the love of the Father or
the love of the Son. In the 35th ver. is a position that no crosses nor
creatures can deprive us of the love of God, which is set down in a
double interrogation, that he might add the more force and life to it and
ravish the readers : ' Who shall separate us ?' That is, none can. But
he speaks with contempt ; ' Who shall ? shall tribulation ? ' as if he
should say, I scorn it. As Goliath defied David, saying, ' Dost thou
come to me with a staff ?' so Paul with a better spirit defies all crosses,
sufferings, trials, &c., as things not able to deprive sincere Christians
of Christ's love ; ' shall tribulation,' &c. He had before spoken of
persons, now here he speaks of things, because Satan and his sworn
slaves think by such things to separate between God and his people.
Chrysostom observes Paul's wisdom in three things. (1.) That he
saith not. Shall the love of riches, pleasures, honours, &c., which have
a mighty force in them to bewitch us ; but ' shall tribulation, distress,'
&c. (2.) That he begins with the lighter, and so riseth to greater troubles,
placing them in this order, not casually, but by singular art. (3.) That
though these which he here rehearseth consist of a certain number, yet
every one as a general hath special troops under it : as when he saith
tribulation, he saith imprisonments, bonds, slanders, banishments, &c.
' Shall tribulation, distress, persecution,' &c.? No. They are ' blessed
which endure these things,' Mat. v. 10, 11. Shall famine ? He which
feeds on Christ shall never perish for hunger. Shall nakedness ?
Christ's righteousness is my clothing; I shall willingly follow him
even naked ; who when he was clothed with infinite glory as with a
garment was content to be born naked and to be stripped on the cross
for my sake. Shall peril ? I know the hardest. Shall the sword ?
Christ is to me in life and death advantage. But,
[4.] Fourthly, ' If God be for us, who can be against us ?' I an-
swer. None can be against us so, as to bring us to their how, their heck,
their luill, their humour, their lusts: 1 Kings xix. 18, ' Yet I have left
me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto
Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him;'i that is, I have
many thousands that have not worshipped Baal. Here a set num-
ber is put for an indefinite number ; he means a very great number.
^ Kissing was an outward token — (1.) Of great and entire affection ; (2.) Of submissire
reverence ; (3.) Of willing and ready subjection.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 497
Idolaters used not only to bow and kneel before their idols, but also to
kiss them, according to that Hosea xiii. 2, ' Let the men that sacrifice
kiss the calves.' Cicero saith that the chin of the image of Hercules
was much worn with the kisses of them that adored him. Now God
had several thousands of true Israelites indeed that had not in the
least kind polluted themselves with the idolatry of Baal. The denial
of bowing the knee and kissing with the mouth shews that God's
faithful servants were so far from setting their hearts upon Baal, as
that they would not make the least show of any affection or subjection
to him. These good souls had too great spirits to be conformable to
the idolatry of the times. Jeroboam with his eight hundred thousand
chosen men, his popish priests, and his golden calves, could not bring
Judah to his bow, 2 Chron. xiii. 3, 20. Nebuchadnezzar, nor his
princely informers, nor his fiery furnace, could never bring the three
children to his bow ; the three champions would be Nonconformists,
tliough court, city, and country were violent for conformity, Dan. iii.
Neither Darius, his presidents, nor princes, could ever bring Daniel to
their bow, Dan. vi. ; Daniel would keep off from idolatry, and keep
close to his God, and close to his duty, let all his enemies do their
worst. The rulers and elders of Israel charged the apostles, and
threatened the apostles, and beat the apostles, and commanded the
apostles, that they should not speak in the name of Jesus ; but they
could never bring them to their bow. Acts iii., iv., v. For 'they de-
parted from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for his name, and daily in the temple,
and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ,'
Acts v. 41, 42. Pharaoh by all his oppressions could never bring
Israel to his bow ; nor Saul by all his persecutions could never bring
David to his bow ; nor Haman by all his plots and designs could never
bring Mordecai to his bow ; and Paul will rather die upon the spot
than be brought to his enemies' bow, Acts xx. 21-24, and xxi. 13.
The ten persecuting emperors could never bring the primitive Chris-
tians to their bow ; nor the bloody, fierce, and fiery papists could never
bring the martyrs to their bow, as you may see throughout the books
of martyrs. Among the many hundred instances that are there, I
shall only refresh your memory with this one : There were endeavours
to bring Hawkes to their bow, but all in vain. At last some of his
Christian friends desired him, for their encouragement and confirma-
tion, to give some token when he was in the flames ; a strange time one
would think to attend upon signs by friends, whether the pains were
tolerable or no. He was bound to the stake, fire put to the wood, it
burns, it flames, it consumes his flesh, his eyes start out of his head,
his fingers are consumed with the fire ; and when every one thought
him dead, expecting the fall of his body : lo, suddenly he lifts up his
stumps, and thrice as a famous conqueror he claps them over his head.
In this he was more than conqueror.!
In former times the sense of the love of God made the martyrs
esteem tyrants as gnats and fleas, and torments as fleabitings. Ter-
tullian, speaking of his times, saith, That to be accused was the wish
^ [Foxe,] Acts and Mon., page 1447.
VOL. V. 2 I
498 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
of Christians, and punishment for Christ they counted felicity.! A
certain woman, running in all haste with her child in her arms, being
asked the cause. Oh, saith she, I hear a great sort of Christians are
appointed to be martyred, and I am afraid lest I and my little one
come too late. When the Emperor Valens banished Basil, and the
tribune threatened his death, I would, said Basil, I had anything of
worth, I would bestow it on him that should cut Basil's windpipe.
And when he had that night given him to deliberate, he answered,
That he would be the same man to-morrow, and wished that the
tribune should not be changed. Chrysostom, being in banishment by
the means of Eudoxia the empress, wrote to a bishop called Cyriacus,
and, upon occasion, tells of his resolution before he was banished : I
thought with myself, saith he, that if she will banish me, the earth is
the Lord's ; if she will saw me asunder, I remembered the prophet
Isaiah ; if drown me, Jonas came to my mind ; if stone me, I thought
of Stephen ; if behead me, of John Baptist ; if take away my goods,
' Naked came I out of my mother's womb.' By all which you may
clearly see, that let the wicked do their worst, they can never bring
the saints to their bow. But,
[5.] Fifthly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us?' I an-
swer, None, so as to hinder the operation of all things for our good.
When men and devils have done their worst, all the great troubles,
deep distresses, and most deadly dangers, that do attend the saints,
shall work for their good: Rom. viii. 28, 'And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them that
are called according to his purpose.' 2 In this verse there are two
things observable : First, A proposition, or a glorious privilege : * All
things work together for good.' This word, avvepyei ek, ' work to-
gether,' is a physical expression. Several poisonful ingredients put
together, being tempered by the skilful apothecary, make a sovereign
medicine, and work together for the good of the patient. They work
together, not invicem, between themselves, but together with God ;
not of their own nature, for so they do not co-operate, but contra-
operate, but being sanctified by God. And therefore one takes the
verb passively, are ' wrought ;' for, indeed, take away God, and afflic-
tions work for our hurt ; but all God's providences, being divinely
tempered and sanctified, do work together for the best to the people
of God. When the worst of men have done their worst against the
saints, all things shall sweetly concur, yea, conspire for their good.
Second, The proof, which is double. (1.) From the experience of all
saints, ' We know ; ' it is not a matter pendulous or doubtful. The
apostle doth not say, ' We think,' but ' We know.' Nor he doth not
say, * We hope,' but ' We know.' Nor he doth not say, ' We guess,'
' we conjecture,' but ' We know.' Nor he doth not say, ' We desire
that all things may work together for good, but ' We know all things
work together for good.' Nor he doth not say, ' We pray' that all
things may work together for good, but ' We know all things work
^ Accusatio votum est, et poena felicitas. — Tert. advers. Gent.
* 1 have read of a Jewish rabbin, who would still say it was good whatever befell
him. When he met with a cross, he would say it was good ; when he met with a loss,
he wjuld say it is good.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 499
together for good.' The wicked know not this secret, as the Philis-
tines understood not Samson's riddles, Judg. xiv. 12-14 ; but we know
that all the world sliall not hinder the cross from working for our
good. (2.) From a description of them that love God, they are ' called
according to God's purpose ; ' that is, God hath purposed the salva-
tion of his people, he hath chosen them to salvation, and called them
to it ; and therefore it must needs be that all these aflflictions that
befall his people must work together for their internal and eternal
good, otherwise he should do that which should cross his own purpose,
which wise men will not do ; and oh, how much less will the most
wise God act counter-cross to his own purpose ! So Jer. xxiv. 5,
' Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will
I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I
have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their
good.' To be carried captive to Babylon was doubtless a very sore
and matchless affliction : Dan. ix. 12, ' And he hath confirmed his
words which he spake against us, and against our judges that
judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil ; for under the whole
heaven hath not been done, as hath been done upon Jerusalem.' This
may be the abridgment of Jeremiah's Lamentations : Lam. i. 12, * Is
it nothing to you, all ye that pass by ? Behold, and see if there be
any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger ;' chap. iv.
16, ' For the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people
is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, that was over-
thrown as in a moment, and no hands stayed on her.' Sodom sus-
tained not any siege from foreign forces, they were not vexed and
plagued with the armies of the Chaldeans ; there was no hand of man
in the destruction of Sodom, but a hand of heaven only. Sodom was
not kept long in pains and misery as I and my people have been, but
was suddenly overwhelmed, and in an instant despatched ; all which
shews that their miseries and sufferings were incomparable and match-
less ; and that they were so indeed will evidently appear, if you please
but seriously to consider either the antecedents of it or the consequents
of it. The antecedents of it : what went before their captivity — viz.,
blood, and slaughter, and dreadful devastations. Or if you consider
the consequents of it : as, (1.) The enslaving of their persons under a
fierce and most cruel enemy ; (2.) The loss of their estates ; (3.) The
leaving of their country and the land of their nativity ; (4.) A depri-
vation of the ordinances and worship of God; (5.) The scorns and
reproaches, the exultations and triumphs of their adversaries, that
pleased and delighted themselves in their captivity and misery.^ These
were the woeful consequences of that captivity, and yet all the power
and malice of men in the world could not hinder these amazing and
astonishing trials from working together for the spiritual and ever-
lasting good of his captive people. That God will do his people good
by the most terrible dispensations that they are under, you may see
more and more evident by comparing the scriptures in the margin
together. 2 As the apothecary of poison makes treacle to drive out
' See Ps. cxxxvii. 7 ; Obad. xii. 13-16 ; Ezek. xxv. 6 ; Ps. xliv. 13, 14.
' Deut. viii, 15, 16 ; Ps. cxix. 71, 75; Heb. xii. 10.
500 THE SIGNAL PKESENCE OF GOD
poison, SO can God make the poison of afflictions, which in themselves
are the curse of the law, to drive out the poison of sin. All the world
can never hinder the affliction, troubles, and evils that befall the people
of God, from working for their good; for God does and will by
these means, (1.) Discover sin ; (2.) Prevent sin ; (3.) Imbitter sin ;
(4.) Mortify sin. And God will by afflictions, troubles, &c., (1.)
Kevive, quicken, and recover his children's decayed graces ; (2.) Exer-
cise his children's graces ; (3.) Increase his children's graces ; (4.)
Make a further trial and discovery of his children's graces, i Let the
enemies of Sion storm and rage, plot and combine, &c., yet they shall
never be able to hinder the greatest troubles, the deepest distresses,
and most deadly dangers, from working for the internal and eternal
good of all the sincere lovers of God. I have read a story of one
Pereus, who, running at another with a sword to kill him, by ac-
cident the sword only run into his imposthume an(i broke that ; and
so he was instrumental to save him whom he designed to have killed :
and so all the afflictions and troubles that the righteous meet with,
they do but serve to cure them of the imposthume of pride, or of the
imposthume of earthly-mindedness, or of the imposthume of self-love,
or of the imposthume of hypocrisy. Look upon the revolution of the
heavens, how every planet moves in its proper orb. Their motions are
not alike, but various, nay, opposite each unto the other. Hence
those different conjunctions, oppositions, and aspects of the planets,
yet by the wheeling round of the primum mobile, they are brought
about to one determinate point. The people of God have many
enemies in the world, vrhose course and scope, whose aims and ends
and actions are not the same, yea diverse, nay adverse, one thwarting
and crossing the other, yet the overruling providence so sways all
subordinate and inferior instruments and enemies, that in the midst
of their mutual jars they conspire in a sacred harmony, as if they were
entered into a holy league, or some sacred combination for the good of
his chosen. Wherever our enemies be in respect of their places, who-
soever they be in regard of their persons, and however they are dis-
joined in regard of their affections, yet all their projects and practices
shall tend and end in the good of those that love God. But,
[6] Sixthly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us ?' I an-
swer. None, so as to hinder our communion and felloioship loith the
Father, Son, and Spirit : 1 John i. 3, ' That which we have seen and
heard, declare we unto you, that ye may have fellowship with us : and
truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus
Christ.' Man's summum bonibm stands in his communion with God,
as Scripture and experience evidences. A man whose soul is con-
versant with God, shall find more pleasure in a desert, in a den, in a
dungeon, in a fiery furnace, yea, and in the valley of the shadow of
death, than in the palace of a prince.^ There is a sweet and intimate
communion which believers have with God; hence they are said to
' walk with God,' Gen. v. 24, and vi. 9 ; and to ' talk with God,' as
^ See my ' London's Lamentations,' pp. 34-.')3. See also my ' Mute Christian under
the Smarting Rod.' [Former in vol. vi. and the latter in vol. i. — G.]
* Nunquam minus solus, <jnam cum solus, never less alone than when alone, said the
heathen ; and may not a saint say so much more, that has communion with Father, Son,
aud Spirit ? My God and 1 are good company, said famous Dr Sibbes.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROITBLES. 501
Moses frequently did ; and to ' dwell in God,' 1 John iv. 15 ; and to
' sup with God,' Eev. iii, 20; and to ' lodge with God,' Cant. vii. 11.
The nearness of this fellowship which we have with the Father, is
represented by a gradation of allusions in Scripture, all which do
excellently illustrate this truth. There is some kind of participation
that a servant hath with his master ; yet greater is that which one
friend hath with another ; but yet greater is that which a son hath
with the father ; but greatest of all is that which the bride hath with
the bridegroom. Now in all these relations we stand to the Father ;
we are his servants and he is our Lord, Exod. xii. 7; we are his
friends, John xv. 14, 15 ; James ii. 23 ; and he is our friend. Cant.
V. 1 ; an able friend, a sure friend, a faithful friend, a close friend, a
constant friend. Plutarch's reasoning is good, ra tmv cficXcov Trdvra
Kotva, friends have all things in common. But God is our friend : ergo
we cannot want ; a most rare speech from a poor heathen ! He is our
Father, Isa. Ixiii. 16, and Ixiv. 8; and we are his children, Isa. Ixiii.
8. He is our bridegroom, and we are his bride, Isa. Ixi. 10 ; Hosea
ii. 19, 20 ; Isa. Ixii. 5. And therefore it is no pride nor presumption
for believers to say, ' Our fellowship is with the Father.' Our fellow-
ship with Jesus Christ is set forth by the parable of the wedding-feast,
and by the entertainment of the prodigal son, and by such relations or
various similitudes, as carry communion in their bosoms, as of the
head and the members, root and branches, foundation and building,
husband and wife. Mat. xxii. 1-3 ; Luke xv. The head hath com-
munion with the body by sense, influence, motion. The root with
the branches, by leaf, sap, and juice. The foundation with the build-
ing, by support and strength. The husband with the wife, by love
and consent. Thus it is betwixt Christ and the believers : 1 Cor. i. 9,
* God is faithful, by whom ye are called to the fellowship of his Son
Jesus Christ.' All believers have fellowship with Christ, whether they
be strong or weak, rich or poor, high or low, ripe and well grown, or
new-born babes, and very tender. Gal. iii, 28 ; 1 Pet. ii. 2 ; John xvii.
20-23, The head hath conjunction with all the members, and an
influence into all the members, even the little toes, as well as into
the strongest arms ; and the root, in the virtue of it, extends to the
weakest branches, as well as to the strongest limbs of the tree. Com-
munion is as large as union. All believers are united to Christ, and
all believers have communion with Christ. Though one star exceeds
another in magnitude, yet all are alike seated in the heavenly orb ;
and though one member be larger in the body than another, yet every
one hath an equal conjunction with the head : and as believers have
fellowship with the Father and the Son, so they have fellowship with
the Spirit also. Every believer's communion extends to all the persons
in the Trinity : 2 Cor. xiii. 14, ' The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with
you all. Amen.' Now no men, no devils, no wrath, no rage, no malice,
no enmity, no afflictions, no oppositions, no persecutions, no troubles,
no trials, no bonds, no banishment, can interrupt or hinder a believer's
communion with the three persons in Trinity. But,
[7.] Seventhly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us?' I
answer, None, so as to Jiinder' our private trade to heaven. All the
502 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
world can never hinder a sincere Christian from driving a secret trade
with heaven, as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the
margin together.! J^ Christian can as well hear without ears, and
live without food, and fight without hands, and walk without feet, as
he is able to live without secret prayer. Secret prayer is the life of
our lives, the soul, the sweet, the heaven of all our enjoyments. Of
all the duties of religion, secret prayer is the most soul-sweetening, soul-
strengthening, soul-nourishing, soul-fattening, soul-refreshing, soul-
satisfying, and soul-encouraging duty. In all the ages of the world,
the saints have kept the trade. In spite of all opposers and perse-
cutors, in prisons, in dungeons, in dens, in bonds, in banishments, on
racks, and in the very flames, the saints have still kept up this secret
trade ; as you may see at large in my treatise on closet prayer, called
' The Privy Key of Heaven,' to which I refer you. 2 But,
[8.] Eighthly, 'If God be with us, who can be against us?' I
answer. None, so as to deprive us of the sweet testimony of our renewed
consciences: 2 Cor. i. 12, 'For our rejoicing,' or boasting, ^ 'is this, 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 con-
versation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.' They
were in great and pressing troubles in Asia, ver. 8, and yet they
boasted in the testimony of their consciences ; they were under a sen-
tence of death in themselves, ver. 9, and yet gloried in the testimony
of their consciences. Joy of conscience is the greatest joy, as trouble
of conscience is the greatest trouble ; when conscience bears its testi-
mony with us, and for us, how full of joy is the soul, even in the midst
of the deepest sorrows and greatest sufi'erings ! Conscientia pura
semper secura, a good conscience hath sure confidence, and he that
hath it, sits Noah-like —
mediis tranquillus in undis —
quiet in the greatest combustions ; freed, if not from the common de-
struction, yet from the common distraction. A good conscience is an
impregnable fort. It fears no colours ; it will enable a man to stand
against the fiercest batteries of men and devils. A good conscience
will fill a man with courage and comfort in the midst of all his troubles
and distresses. Paul had enough to say for himself when standing
before the council ; he could say, ' Men and brethren, I have lived in
all good conscience before God until this day,' Acts xxiii. 1 , 2. And
though as soon as he had said so, Ananias commanded to smite him
on the mouth, yet he bears up bravely, because his conscience did not
smite him, but acquit him. That man can never want music, whose
conscience speaks in consort, and is harmonious, with himself A
good conscience is a paradise in a wilderness, it is riches in poverty,
and health in sickness, and strength in weakness, and liberty in bonds,
and life in death, Isa. xxxviii. 3. A good conscience will enable a
man to triumph over innumerable evils, yea, over death itself. Death
to such a person is not the king of terrors, but the king of desires,
Phil. i. 23. A good conscience will be a Christian's best friend in the
^ Vs. iii. 2-4 ; Ps. vi. 8-10 ; Ps. cxxxviii. 3 ; Lam. iii. 55-59.
* Vol. ii. pp. 137, seq. — G. * Kavxn'^^s, boasting or glorying.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 503
worst times ; it will be a sword to defend liim, a staff to support him,
a pillar of fire to lead him, a Joseph to nourish him, a Dorcas to clothe
him, a Canaan to refresh him, and a feast to delight him: ' He that
is of a merry heart hath a continual feast,' Prov. xv. 15. Now there
is nothing that can make a man divinely merry below a good con-
science. A good conscience, saith one,i is thalamus Dei, palatium
Christi, Jiabitaculum Spiritus Sancii, paradisus deliciarum, The bed
of God, the palace of Christ, the habitation of the Holy Ghost, the
paradise of delights, and wherein every tree yieldeth a feast. Tran-
quillitas conscientice, et securitas innocentice, qucecunque mundus bona
judical, excellunt. The tranquillity of conscience, and the security of
innocence, excel all the things which the world counteth good.^ He
that hath a good conscience enjoys a continual serenity, and sits con-
tinually at that blessed feast, whereat the blessed angels are cooks and
butlers, as Luther hath it, and the three persons in Trinity glad guests.
All other feasts to this of a good conscience are stark hunger. The
feast of a good conscience is a full feast, a noble feast, a lasting feast ;
not for a day, as that of Nabal's ; nor for seven days, as that of Sam-
son's ; nor of nine score days, as that of Ahasuerus ; but a durable,
continual feast, without intermission of solace, or interruption of
society. The best way in this world for a man to turn his whole life
into a merry festival, is to get and keep a good conscience. The
heathen philosopher could say, o aya6o<i alel ioprd^et, a good man
keeps holiday all the year about. It was the testimony of a good
conscience that made the apostles rejoice when they were beaten and
abused by the council. It was the testimony of a good conscience that
made Paul and Silas to sing in the prison. Acts v. 40-42, and xvi.
25, 26. It was the testimony of a good conscience that made Moses
prefer Christ's cross before Egypt's crown, and Christ's reproaches
before Egypt's treasures. It was the testimony of a good conscience
that made those worthies in that 11th of the Hebrews more willing to
die than to live, to die than to dine, Heb. xi. 35. It was the testimony
of a good conscience that made the martyrs to kiss the stake, to hug
their executioners, to clap their hands in the flames, and to tread upon
burning coals as upon beds of roses. Now it is not in the power or
policy of men or devils to deprive a Christian of the testimony of his
conscience ; and as long as that bird in the bosom sings, no troubles,
no trials, no oppositions, no persecutions, no dangers, no death can
make a Christian miserable. The testimony of a good conscience will
make a man triumph over the worst of men, and the worst of suffer-
ings. But,
[9.] Ninthly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us ?' I
answer. None, so as to hinder the help, assistance, and succour of God
at a dead lift. Heb. xiii. 5, ' Let your conversation be without
covetousness,' — or ' without the love of silver,' as the Greek word
signifies — ' and be content with such things as you have.' Contenti
prcesentibus, so Beza, ' Be content with present things.'^ The Hebrews
had been plundered of all they had ; though they had nothing they
must be content, Heb. x. 34. If men cannot bring their means to
1 Augustine, ser. x. ad Fratres in Erem. * Ambrose, OSc. lib. ii. cap. 1.
^ apKovfievoi roh Trapoviriv.
504 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
their minds, let them bring their minds to their means ; a little will
serve our turn till we get to heaven, till we come to our Father's
house : ' For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'
There are five negatives in the Greek ; i I read not the like throughout
the New Testament. In that this promise is set down negatively, ' I
will never leave thee,' this makes the promise to be of a larger
extent ; for it includes all times, all places, all estates, all dangers, all
needs, all distresses whatsoever ; as if he had more largely said, thou
shalt never stand in need of any of my help and protection, but thou
shalt be sure to find it. Affirmative promises are not of that extent
as negative promises are ; for if a man should promise to assist, help,
succour, or counsel me, if he do it now and then, or upon some special
occasions, he has kept his promise ; but negatively for a man to say, I
will not fail thee, I will never leave thee, though he should help,
assist, succour, or stand by me, a hundred, yea, a thousand times, and
yet fail me but once, that negative promise is not punctually kept, it is
not perfectly kept. It is further considerable that there is a great
emphasis in doubling and trebling a negative particle in Greek.
Doubling and trebling negatives in Greek makes them much the
stronger. The doubling of the negative particle doth in this place
carry the greater emphasis, because, in setting down the same thing,
it is not only twice doubled, but in the latter place it is trebled ;
so as there are in all five negatives, as I have already hinted.
These two phrases, ' Never leave nor forsake,' are so general as they
include all the wants, all dangers, all distresses, all necessities, all
calamities, all miseries, that can befall us in this world. 2 These
two phrases, God's not leaving, God's not forsaking, imply all needful
succours. It is more than if he had said, I will supply all thy wants,
I will heal all thy diseases, I will secure thee against all sorts of dan-
gers, I will ease thee of all thy pains, I will free thee of all thy
oppressors, I will break all thy bonds, I will bring thee out of prison,
I will vanquish all thine enemies, I will knock off all thy chains, and
I will make thee triumph over all thy sufferings ; for these generals
comprise all manner of particulars under them : Heb. xiii. 6, ' So that
we may boldly say. The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what
man shall do unto me.' In this verse there is an inference made upon
the former promise of God's not leaving nor forsaking his ; the con-
junction, ' so that,' implieth an inference, and such an inference in this
place as teacheth us to make a good use of the forenamed promise.
The use here set down is double : the first is confidence in God, ' The
Lord is my helper;' secondly, courage against man, 'I will not
fear what man shall do unto me.' Assurance of God's presence to help
at a dead lift should raise us up above all base and slavish fears of
the power of men, of the spoilings of men, of the designs of men, &c.
God being with us, and for us, and on our side, we may boldly, safely,
and confidently, rest upon it, that he will freely, readily, graciously,
afford all needful help, assistance, and succour, when we are in the
greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers. The
Greek word /Sot/^o?, ' helper,' according to the notation of it, signifies
one that is ready to run at the cry of another. This notation implies
^ ov n-fi ov8' oil /J.7J. * A general promise compriseth all particulars of that kind.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 505
a willing readiness, and a ready willingness in God, to help and
succour his people when they are at a dead lift. You know the tender
father, the indulgent mother, the careful nurse, they presently run
when any of them hears the child cry, or sees the child in any danger
or distress ; so when God sees his poor children in any danger or dis-
tress, when he hears them complain and cry out of their sufferings,
their bonds, their burdens, their oppressions, their dangers, &c., he
presently runs to their relief and succour, Exod. ii. 23-25, and iii.
7-10. Ps. xxxiii. 20, ' Our soul waiteth for the Lord : he is our help
and our shield:' Ps. xlix. 17, ' Thou art my deliverer: God is the
Lord of hosts, with him alone is strength and power to deliver Israel
out of all his troubles.' He may do it, he can do it, he wiU do it, he
is wise in heart and mighty in strength; besides him there is no
Saviour, no deliverer ; he is a shield to the righteous, strength to the
weak, a refuge to the oppressed ; he is Instar omnium, all in all.^
Who is like him in all the world to help his people at a dead lift ?
when friends cannot help, when power cannot help, when policy cannot
help, when riches cannot help, when princes cannot help, when parlia-
ments cannot help, yet then God can and will help his people when all
human help fails. ' For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent
himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power,' or hand,
' is gone, and there is none shut up, or left,' Deut. xxxii, 36. When
God's people are at the very brink of ruin, then God will come in
seasonably to their help ; their extremity shall be his opportunity,
to succour his people, and to judge their enemies. No men, no devils,
no power, no policy, can hinder God from helping, aiding, assisting,
and succouring of his people when they are at a dead lift. But,
[10.] Tenthly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us?' I
answer, None, so as to hinder the springs of joy and comfort from
rising and flowing in their souls : Ps. Ixxi. 20, ' Thou which hast
shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again, and shalt
bring me up again from the depths of the earth;' ver. 21, 'Thou,
shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.' The
psalmist was in those desperate dangers, that he seemed to be as a
man that was dead and buried, and yet he had faith enough to believe
that God would surround him with cordials, and supply him with
comforts from all sides. There is no true comfort to be drawn out of
the standing pools of outward sufficiencies, but out of the living
fountains of the all-sufficiencies of the Lord Almighty. ' Thou
shalt comfort me on every side.' Ps. xciv. 19, ' In the multitude
of my thoughts within me,' or of my careful, troubled, perplexed
thoughts, as the word properly signifies, ' thy comforts delight mv
soul.' As the psalmist always found God a present help, so he alwa} t:
found him a present comfort in the day of troubles. God never did,
nor never will want a cordial to revive and keep up the spirits of his
people from fainting and sinking in an evil day. When the psalmist
was under many griefs, cares, fears, and perplexities of spirit, God
came in with those comforts that did delight his soul, and cheer up
his spirits, Ps. cxix, 49, 50. The word of the Lord is never more a word
of comfort, nor the Spirit of the Lord is never more a Spirit of com-
^ Ps. ix. 7, 8 ; Isa. xliii. 11 ; Ps. v. 12, and xxii. 12 ; 2 Kings vi. 26, 27.
506 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
fort, than when the saints are in their deepest distresses and sorest per-
plexities: John xiv. 16, 'And I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another comforter, that he may abide with you for ever ;'
ver. 26, ' But the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Fa-
ther will send in my name.' Hudson, the martyr, being at the stake,
he went from under his chain, and having prayed earnestly, he was so
comforted and refreshed by the Holy Spirit that he suffered valiantly
and cheerfully. The Holy Ghost is called again and again the com-
forter, because his office is to work consolation in the hearts of God's
people in all their troubles and distresses. Spiritual comfort is there-
fore called 'joy in the Holy Ghost,' because the Holy Ghost doth
create it in the soul, Kom. xiv. 17. When a man suffers for right-
eousness' sake, God comes- with his cordials in the very nick of time,
1 Pet, iv. 13. When a man's suffering is upon the account of Christ,
God seldom fails to send the comforter for the refreshing and relieving
of his spirit. When a man is under bodily confinement for the cause
of Christ, God will never fail to be a spring of life, a well of salvation,
and breast of consolation to him, Isa. xii. 3, and Ixvi. 11. When a
Christian is brought to ' a piece of bread,' then is the season for God to
feed him with heavenly manna. I have told you of Mr Glover, who
found no comfort in the time of his imprisonment, but when he was
going to the stake, he cried out to his friend, ' He is come, he is come,'
meaning the comforter. Hab. iii. 17, 'Although the fig-tree shall not
blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the labour of the olive shall
fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from
the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls;' ver. 18, 'Yet I
will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.' In
these words you have these two parts: (1.) A sad supposition, 'Al-
though the fig-tree shall not blossom,' &c. ; (2.) A noble and com-
fortable resolution, ' Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the
God of my salvation.' Let me first hint a little at the sad supposition,
. ' Although the fig-tree should not blossom,' &c.
[1.] First, Though there should be a famine in that land, that of
all lands ivas the most plentiful and fruitful land, yet Habakkuk
would ' rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of his salvation.' The
land of Canaan, of all lands, was the fruitfuUest. It was as the garden
of God. It was a land that ' flowed with milk and honey,' a land of
vineyards, the best of all lands, as Moses describes it ; a land that
brought forth to Isaac no less than a hundredfold. It was so rich a
land that it was the granary of otlier neighbouring cities and countries.
It had not only plenty for itself, but bounty for others. Yet now,
when God shall turn a paradise into a wilderness, Habakkuk will
rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of his salvation, Deut. viii. 7-9,
and xxxii. 13, 14 ; Gen. xxvi. 12; 1 Kings v, 11 ; Acts xii. 20. But,
[2.] Secondly, When the anger and lorath of God shall cause a
dearth in those fruits that naturally are most yielding and pleasant,
yet then Habakkuk would rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of
his salvation. The fig-tree, of all trees, is most fruitful, bringing forth
of its own accord, with the least care and culture, fructifying in the
most barren and stony places, bearing twice a year, soonest ripening,
and rarely failing. So the vine, that is a fruitful plant, is made the
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 507
emblem of plenty and fruitfulness. Now when there shall be a dearth
upon these pleasant fruits, yet then Habakkuk will ' rejoice in the
Lord, and joy in the God of his salvation.' But,
[3.] Thirdly, Another print of divine displeasure in the scarcity
threatened is, that it is a national famine, a general famine, an over-
spreading famine. Usually, if one part of the land suffers scarcity,
other parts abound with plenty ; but when God calls for a famine, he
turns a whole land into a desert, into a barren wilderness. ' Bashan
languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth,'
Ps. cvii. 33, 34 ; Nah. i. 4. These were the richest soil of all the
country, yet these were parched up and fruitless by his displeasure,
and yet for all this Habakkuk will ' rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the
God of his salvation.' But,
[4.] Fourthly, Another print of divine displeasure is this, that the
Lord makes it a universal scarcity upon all kind of foods and sup-
ports of life. Here is the * staff of bread' broken, and ' the herds and
flocks fail,' and the refreshing of the wine-press, ' the seed and the
vine, and the fig-tree and the olive-tree,' all become fruitless. Such a
desolation is more than ordinary. Usually, when one commodity
fails, another abounds. If corn be dear, cattle will be cheap. That
weather ofttimes that hinders one kind of grain, helps another ; but
here God blasts all the helps of nature. Therefore God compares his
judgments to a fire that burns all before it : Joel ii. 3, ' The land is
as the garden of Eden before it, and behind it a desolate wilderness,'
and this the Lord points at as a wonder : Joel i. 2, ' Hear this, ye old
men' — who can talk of dear years — ' hath this been in your days, or
even in the days of your fathers ? that which the palmer-worm hath
left, hath the caterpiUers eaten.' When God begins in a way of
judgment, he makes an end, he makes the decays of nature excessive
and violent ; and yet Habakkuk will ' rejoice in the Lord, and joy in
the God of his salvation.' In his resolution you have the first particle,
' although,' ver. 17. Now this particle is an act of forecast ; these
miseries may befall us ; and in the 18th verse you have the particle
' yet,' and that is an act of preparation against these miseries. That
particle * although' forecasts the misery, and that particle ' yet' fore-
lays the remedy. He foresees sorrows in the first, and he provides
against them in the second, ' Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, and joy
in the God of my salvation.'
So Paul comes with a benedicius in his mouth — and surely it was
in his heart before it was in his mouth : 2 Cor. i. 3, ' Blessed be
God, even the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies,
and the God of all comfort : ' ver. 4, * Who comforteth us in all our
tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any
trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God :'
ver. 5, ' For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation
aboundeth by Christ.' i The apostle begins here with thanksgiving,
according to his accustomed manner in all his epistles ; but contrary
to his custom doth he apply this thanksgiving wholly to himself. The
reason was, saith Beza, because the Corinthians did begin to despise
' ivXbyrjTo^ ; that is, word for word, ' Let God be well spoken of.' God blesseth us
really, signally, greatly ; and we blesa him verbally, mentally, practically.
508 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
him for liis afflictions — it being the common com'se of the world to-
despise the people of God when they are under sufferings ; therefore
he answered confidently for himself, that though he had been much
afflicted, yet he had been much comforted ; and rejoiced the more in
his comforts, because God had comforted him for that very cause,
that he might be able and willing to comfort others. God is the God
of all sorts and degrees of comfort, who hath all comforts at his dis-
posal. This phrase, ' The God of all comforts,' intimates to us ; (1.)
That no comfort can be found anywhere else ; he hath the sole gift of
comfort. (2.) Not only some, but all comfort ; no imaginable com-
fort is wanting in him, nor to be found out of him. Look, as the air
lights not without the sun, and as fuel heats not without fire, so neither
can anything soundly comfort us without God. (3.) All degrees of
comfort are to be found in him^ in our greatest troubles, deepest dis-
tresses, and most deadly dangers. The lower the ebb, the higher the
tide ; the deeper the distress, the greater the comforts. Though the
apostle was greatly afflicted, yet his comforts did exceed his afflictions :
2 Cor. vii. 6, ' Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast
down, comforted us by the coming of Titus.' When the Corinthians
were in a very low condition, when they were even spent with grief
and swallowed up in sorrows, when they were destitute of all relief
and comfort, then the God of all comforts did comfort them.^ No
tribulations, no persecutions, no grievances, no prison doors, no bolts,
no bars, can keep out the consolations of God from flowing in upon
his people. God loves to comfort his people when all their outward
comforts fail them. God's comforts are not only sweet, but seasonable ;
he never comes too soon, nor never stays too long. If one drop of the joy
of the Holy Ghost should fall into hell, it would swallow up all the tor-
ments of hell, saith Austin. ' The joy of the Holy Ghost' will certainly
swallow up all the troubles and sufferings that we meet with in a way
of righteousness. None have been more divinely cheerful and merry
than the saints have been under their greatest sufferings, 1 Pet. iv.
12-14. John Noyes took up a faggot at the fire and kissed it, saying,
' Blessed be the time that ever I was born to come to this prefer-
ment.' When they fastened Alice Driver to the stake to be burnt,
' Never did neckerchief,' said she, with a cheerful countenance, ' become
me so well as this chain.' Mr Bradford put off his cap and thanked
God when the keeper's wife brought him word that he was to be burnt
on the morrow. Mr Taylor fetched a frisk when he was come near the
place where he was to suffer. Henry and John, two Augustine monks,
being the first that were burnt in Germany, and Mr Rogers, the first
that was burnt in Queen Mary's days, did all sing in the flames. Thus
you see that it is not the greatest troubles, nor the deepest distresses,
nor the most deadly dangers, that can hinder the joy of the Lord from
overflowing the soul. But,
[11.] Eleventhly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us ?' I
answer, None, so as to deprive us of our gy-aces, which next to Christ are
our choicest jeiuels. 1 Johniii. 9, ' Whosoever is born ofGod doth not
commit sin.' That is, doth not give himself over to a voluntary serving
of sin ; he does_not make a trade of sin ; he sins not totally, finally,
^ This is a most sweet attribute of God ; a breast that we should be still sucking at.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIK GREATEST TROUBLES. 509
maliciously, habitually, studiously, resolutely, wilfully, delightfully,
deadly, d/juapTiav ov Troiel^ 'He does not make it his work to sin,' he
cannot follow his lusts, as a workman follows his trade, ' for his seed
remaineth in him.' ' The seed of God,' the seed of grace, is an abiding
seed. Grace in itself is certain and unchangeable, though the feeling
thereof be uncertain. Grace hath an abiding excellency in it ; grace
hath eternity stamped upon it. It is durable riches. Other riches
* make themselves wings, and fly from us,' Prov. viii. 18, and xxvii.
24 ; but grace will keep us company till we get to heaven. Our last
step in holiness will be into happiness. Grace is a blossom of eternity.
It is an anointing that abides, 1 John ii. 27 ; John iv. 14, and vii. 38.
That is, the principle of grace infused into you, which was typified
by the unctions or anointings in the ceremonial law, which was
signified by the precious ointment poured upon the head of Aaron,
that ran down to the skirts of his garments —this principle will prove
durable and lasting. Grace is ' a well of water, springing up into ever-
lasting life.' Grace is a river of living water. Now this river can
never be dried up, because the Spirit of God is the constant spring
that feeds it and maintains it. Grace is not a stream or a pond that
may run dry, but a well, yea, a springing well of inexhaustible fulness,
sweetness, virtue, and refreshment. Grace wiU still be springing up
and flowing out in all the carriages and deportments of a Christian.
Grace will be flowing out in all a Christian's duties and services, in
his outward calling and employments, in his trials and sufferings.
Grace will break out at a Christian's eyes, ears, tongue, hands, feet.
Where grace is a well of water, a river of living water, there that
Christian will see for Christ, and hear for Christ, and talk for Christ,
and do for Christ, and walk with Christ. Grace is a well, a river, that
will be springing up to everlasting life. Grace and glory difier, non
specie sed gradu, in degree, not in kind. Grace differs very little from
glory. The one is the seed, the other the flower. Grace is glory mili-
tant, and glory is grace triumphant. Grace is a beginning of glory.
It may be compared to the golden chain in Homer, whose top was
fastened to the chair of Jupiter, l Grace and glory are individual, and
inseparable. The psalmist joins them together, ' The Lord will give
grace and glory,' Ps. Ixxxiv. 11. Grace is a living spring that never
faileth, a seed that never dieth, a jewel which never consumeth, a sun
that never setteth. All other gifts of whatsoever kind, worth, or
excellency, are but like a cloud soon dispelled, a vessel of clay soon
broken, a sandy foundation soon sunk. Grace is more excellent than
gold. Gold draws the heart from God, grace draws the heart to God ;
gold doth but enrich the mortal part, the ignoble part, but grace en-
riclies the angelical part, the noble part ; gold perishes, but grace per-
severes, 1 Peter i. 7. If grace were not permanent, it could not be
excellent ; if grace were not durable, it could not be pleasurable ; if
grace were not lasting, yea everlasting, it could not be a Christian's
comfort in life, his support in death, and his glorious crown in the
great day of account. Grace in itself is permanent, incorruptible ; it
fadeth not away ; it is a birth that shall never die ; it is a plant of re-
nown that shall never wither, but grow up more and more till grace be
^ Iliad, book viii. liue 18, seq. — G.
510 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
turned into glory : upon which account one of the ancients [Jerome]
had rather have St Paul's coat with his heavenly graces, than the
purple of kings with their kingdoms. No troubles, no distresses, no
dangers can deprive us of our graces, can rob us of our spiritual
treasure. But,
[12.] Twelfthly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us?' I
answer. None, so as to deprive us of our inward peace, rest, and quiet.
Though it thunder, and lighten, and rain, and blow abroad, yet a man
may be at peace and rest and quiet at home, A man may have much
trouble in the world, and yet rest and quiet in his own spirit : John xiv.
27, ' Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the
world giveth give I unto you,' [as bonum hcereditarium ;] 'let not
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' No men nor devils, no
troubles nor distresses, can deprive a Christian of that inward and
blessed peace that Christ hath purchased and paid so dear for. Peace
with God, and peace of conscience, are rare jewels, that none can strip
us of. The world may wish you peace, but it is only Christ can give
you peace, Rom. v. 1, and 2 Cor. i. 12. The world's peace is com-
monly a dear-bought peace ; but Christ's peace is a cheap peace, a
free peace. ' My peace I give unto you.' The world's peace is com-
monly a sinful peace, but Christ's peace is a holy peace ; the world's
peace is a cursed peace, but Christ's peace is a blessed peace ; the
world's peace is but an earthly peace, but Christ's peace is a heavenly
peace, Rom. xiv. 17 ; Heb. xii. 14, and Ps. xxix. 11. Some Chris-
tians thought that others could not come to heaven if they did not eat
such meats as they ; but Paul tells them that the kingdom of God
consists not in meat or drink, but ' in righteousness, and peace, and
joy of the Holy Ghost.' The world's peace is but an imaginary peace,
but Christ's peace is a real peace. The world's peace is but a super-
ficial peace, but Christ's peace is a solid and substantial peace. The
world's peace is but a transient peace, but Christ's peace is a perma-
nent peace. The world's peace is but a temporary peace, but Christ's
peace is an eternal peace. It is a peace that all the world can't give
to a Christian, and it is a peace that all the world can't take from a
Christian, 1 Thes. v. 3 ; 1 Pet. iii. 11 ; James iii. 21 ; Isa. ix. 6, 7 ;
Ps. xxxvii. ; Isa. xxvi. 3, and xxvii. 5. When the tyrant threatened
one of the ancients that he would ' take away his house,' he answered,
* Yet thou canst not take away my peace.' ' I will break up thy
school ; ' ' yet shall I keep whole my peace.' I will ' confiscate all
thy goods ; ' ' yet there is no premunire against my peace.' ' I will
banish thee thy country : ' ' yet I shall carry my peace with me.' All
above a believer is at peace ; the controversy betwixt God and him is
ended. Christ takes up the quarrel betwixt God and a believer.
' We have peace with God,' Rom. v. 1. All within a believer is at
peace. A peaceable God makes all at peace. When our peace is
made in the court of heaven, which is upon the first act of believing,
then follows peace in the court of conscience, ' peace which passeth all
understanding,' Phil. iv. 7. And all below a believer is at peace with
him. He has peace with all the creatures. When we are friends
with God, then all the creatures are our friends. ' The stones of the
field shall be at league with thee, the beasts of the field shall be at
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 511
peace with thee,' &c., Job v. 23. The peace that Christ gives is the
inheritance of saints only. It was all the legacy which the prince
of peace left to his subjects, and this legacy none can take from them.
Persecutors may take away my goods, but they cannot take away I
ray peace ; they may take away my estate, but they cannot take
away my peace ; they may take away my liberty, but they cannot
take away my peace ; they may take away my good name, but they
cannot take away my peace ; they may take away my relations, but
they cannot take away my peace ; they may take away my life,
but they cannot take away my peace. I grant that the best have
no perfection of peace, because they have no perfection of grace.
If there were a perfection of grace, then there might be a perfection
of peace; but the perfection of both is reserved for another world ;
and it must be granted that though sometimes a believer may want
the sense of peace, the sweet of peace, yet the grounds of his peace
are still fixed, certain, and constant ; they are ' like mount Zion,
that cannot be removed.' Now the grounds of a Christian's peace
are these — viz., interest in Christ, reconciliation with God, justi-
fication, remission of sin, adoption, the covenant of grace and peace,
&c. Now these are always sure and everlasting, though the sense of
peace may ebb and flow, rise and fall, in a believer's breast, especially
when he is a-combating with strong corruptions, or high temptations,
or under sad desertions, or when unbelief has got the throne, or when
their hearts are quarrelsome — for commonly a quarrelsome heart is
a troublesome heart, or when they have blotted their evidences for
heaven, or when they are fallen from their first love, or when they
have contracted eminent guilt upon their souls, or when they are de-
clined in their communion with God, &c. Now in these cases, though
a believer may lose the sense of peace, yet the grounds of his peace
remain firm and sure ; and though he may lose the sense of his peace,
yet in all these sad and dark conditions his soul is day and night in
the pursuit of peace, and he will never leave the chase till he has re-
covered his peace, knowing that God will first or last speak peace to
his soul ; yea, though he has lost the sense of peace, yet he has that
abiding seed of grace in his soul that will in time recover his peace,
Ps. Ixxxv. 8. Do your enemies threaten to take away this or that
from you, you may throw up your caps at them, and bid them do their
worst, for they can never take that peace from you that Christ has
given as a legacy to you, 1 John iii. 9. When there are never so
great storms within or without, yet then a believer may find peace
in the prince of peace, Isa. ix. 6. When his imperfections are many,
a perfect Saviour can keep him in perfect peace in the midst of them
all, Isa. xxvi. 3, 4. Though his sacrifices are imperfect, yet Christ a
perfect priest can speak peace to his soul, Heb. vii. Peace is that
never-fading garland which Christ will so set and settle upon the
heads of the upright, that none shall be able to take it ofi". A Chris-
tian can never lose his inward peace, either totally or finally. It is
true by sin, Satan, and the world, a Christian's peace may be some-
what interrupted, but it can never be finally lost. The greatest
storms in this world that beat upon a believer will in time blow over,
and the Sun of righteousness, the prince of peace, will shine as glori-
512 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
ously upon him as ever. Under this word Dl^li', Shalom, the Jews
comprehend all peace, prosperity, and happy success. When the
worst of men have done their worst against the people of God, yet the
issue shall be peace, prosperity, and happy success. ' My peace I give
unto you ; ' that is, that ' peace with God and peace with conscience
that I have purchased with my blood, I give unto you.' And what
power or policy is there that can deprive us of this legacy ? surely
none. The peace that Christ gives is bottomed upon his blood, upon
his righteousness, upon his satisfaction, upon his intercession, and
upon a covenant of peace, and therefore it must needs be a lasting
peace, an abiding peace. But,
[13.] Thirteenthly, 'If God be with us, who can be against us?'
I answer, None, so as to hinder us from being hid, secured, guarded, and
protected by God in an evil day, w in a day of greatest trouble, dis-
tress, or daii^er : Jer. xxxix. 11, 'Now Nebucliadrezzar king of
Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzar-adan the
captain of the guard, saying,' ver. 12, ' Take him, and look well to
him,' — Heb., ' set thine eyes upon him,' — ' and do him no harm ; but
do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.' Here you shall see the
admirable power, wisdom, and goodness of God inclining the heart of
this great monarch and conqueror to provide for the prophet's safety
and security. He that was a dreadful scourge to punish the wicked,
is made by God the deliverer and preserver of the prophet. In the
12th verse you have the king's royal commission to the captain of his
guard to be as kind to him, as tender of him, and to carry it as
courteously to him even as the prophet himself should desire : ' Look
well to him, do him no harm ; but do unto him even as he shall say
unto thee.' Let him have all the content, all the satisfaction, and all
the accommodation that himself shall require. Jer. xv. 11, ' The
Lord said. Verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the
time of evil, and in the time of affliction,' — Heb., ' If I do not cause,'
&c. A defective speech in the nature of an oath, as if God had said,
* Let me not be deemed a God of my word, let me not be accounted
true, let none reckon me faithful in my promise, if I don't turn his
.sufferings into his advantage, and save him from danger in the midst
of danger.' If in the time of the enemies' invasion I be not ' a wall of
fire about him,' Zech. ii. 5, if in the time of public calamity I don't
secure him, never trust me for a God more. If he don't find more
favour at the hand of his enemies than he hath formerly found among
his own people, never own me for a God more. Ver. 20, ' I am with
thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord;' ver. 21. 'And
I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem
thee out of the hand of the terrible,' Jer. xl. 1-5, xxvi. 23, 24, and
xlv. 4. God engages himself to protect him against all the might and
malice of his most terrible enemies ; and though he should fall into
their hands, yet he would deliver him out of their hands. Ps. xxxiii.
3, ' They have consulted against thy hidden ones.' The saints are
(1.) hid in God's decree, (2.) hid in Christ's wounds, (3.) hid in the
chambers of divine providence, (4.) hid in common dangers, as Noah
was hid in his ark, and as Lot was hid in Zoar, and as Daniel was hid
in the lions' den, and as the three children were hid in the fiery fur-
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 513
nace, and as Jonah was hid in the whale's belly, Isa. xxvi. 20 ; (5.) hid
' with Christ in God/ Col. iii. 3. In times of greatest trouble the saints
are hid under the hollow of God's hand, under the shadow of God's
wing, Ps. xci. 1, 4. Ps. xxvii. 5, ' For in the time of trouble he shall
hide me in his pavilion.' The Hebrew Succoh is written with a little
samech, to shew, say some, that a little pavilion or cottage where God
is shall be sufficient to safeguard the saints in the day of adversity.
' He shall hide me in his hut, as a shepherd doth his sheep in a stormy
day.' ' In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.' I shall be
as safe as if I were shut up in his holy ark, tabernacle, or temple, —
whither they use to flee for shelter to the horns of the altar, yea, as if
a man were hid in the most holy place, where none might enter but
only the high-priest once a year, which is therefore called ' God's
secret place.' A shepherd should not be more careful to shelter his
sheep in a tent or tabernacle from the heat of the sun, nor a king
should not be more ready to protect a favourite in his pavilion, whence
none durst venture to take him, than God would be careful and ready
to shroud and shelter his people from the rage, madness, and malice
of their enemies, Ezek. vii. 22, How did God hide his church in
Egypt ? the bush was still burning, and yet was not consumed, Exod.
iii. 2, 3 ; and how did he hide seven thousand in Elijah's time, that
had not bowed their knees to Baal ? 1 Kings xix. 18, Though ' the
woman,' the church, ' be driven to flee into the wilderness, yet there
she is hid, and there she had a place prepared of God, that they
should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days,'
Kev. xii. 6. Let our enemies do their worst, they shall not hinider us
of divine protection. No pOwer nor policy can hinder our being pre-
served and secured by God in the greatest troubles, deepest distresses,
and most deadly dangers that can attend us. But,
[14.] Fourteenthly, ' If God be with us, who can be against us ?'
I answer. None, so as to deprive us of our union with Christ, as to
dissolve that blessed union that is bettveen Christ and our souls, John
XV. 1-5. When men and devils have done their worst, our marriage-
union with Christ holds good. This union is indissoluble. This
union between Christ and believers is not capable of any separation.
They are so one, that all the ^'iolence of the world, nor all the power
of darkness, can never be able to make them two again. Hence the
apostle's triumphant challenge, ' Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ ?' Rom. viii. 35. If the question did not imply a strong
negation, the apostle himself doth give us a negation in words at
length, ' Neither death, nor Hfe, nor angels, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us,' &c., ver. 38, 39. Here you
have a long catalogue, consisting of a large induction of various par-
ticulars ; but none of all these can dissolve the union between Christ
and believers. None can untie that knot that is tied by the Spirit on
Christ's part, and by faith on oiks. Christ and believers are so firmly
joined together, that all the powers on earth, and all the united
strength of hell, shaU never be able to put them asunder, or to
separate them one from another. Look, as no distance of place can
hinder this union, so no force or violence from devils or men shall
VOL. V. 2 k
514 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
ever be able to dissolve tbis union ; and herein lies the peculiar tran-
scendent blessedness of this union above all other unions. They all
may cease, be broken, and come to nothing ; every one of them is
soluble: the head may be separated from the members, and the
members from the head ; the husband must be separated from the
wife, and the wife from the husband ; the parents must be separated
from the children, and the children from the parents, and bosom
friends must be separated one from another. The foundation and
the house may be separated, and the branches may be cut off from
the vine — yea, the soul and body may be disunited by death, but the
mystical union stands fast for ever. Christ and a gracious soul can
never be separated ; God hath joined them together, and no mortal
shall ever be able to put them asunder. Mat. xix. 6. There is not
only a continuation of it all our life, but also in death itself. Our
very bodies sleeping in the dust are even then in Union with Christ.
There are two abiding things in the saints, their unction and their
union. Their unction abides, ' But the anointing which ye have re-
ceived of him abideth in you,' 1 John ii. 27 ; and their union abides,
for it follows, ' and ye shall abide in him.' Christ earnestly prays
that we might be one, as he and his Father are one, John xvii. 20-23 ;
not essentially, nor personally, but spiritually, so as no other creature
is united to Christ. There can be no divorce between Christ and the
believing soul. Christ hates putting away, Mai. ii. 16. Sin may for
a time seemingly separate between Christ and the believer, but it can
never finally separate between Christ and the believer. Look, as it is
impossible for the leaven that is in the dough to be separated from
the dough after it is once mixed, for it turneth the nature of the
dough into itself ; so it is impossible for the saints ever to be separated
from Christ : for Christ is in the saints as nearly and as really as the
leaven is in the dough. Christ and believers are so incorporated as if
Christ and they were one lump, Kom. viii, 10 ; Col. i. 27 ; 1 John
iii. 21 ; John xvii. 23. Oar nature is now joined to God by the in-
dissoluble tie of the hypostatical union in the second person ; and we
in our persons are joined to God by the mystical indissoluble bond
of the Spirit, the third person. Our union with the Lord Jesus is so
near, so close, and so glorious, that it makes us one spirit with him.
In this blessed union the saints are not only joined to the graces and
benefits which flow from Christ, but to the person of Christ, to Christ
himself, 1 Cor. vi. 17. All the powers on earth, and all the powers in
hell, can never separate Christ from the believer, nor the believer from
Christ. When all other unions are dissolved, this union holds good,
John i. 16 ; Eom. viii. 32 ; 1 Cor. iii. 21-23.
I readily grant that the sense and apprehension of this union may
in this life be much interrupted, and many times greatly darkened,
but the substance of the union still remains. And I readily grant
that a believer may be much assaulted and tempted to doubt of his
union with Christ, and to question his union with Christ, and yet
nevertheless a believer's union with Christ continues and abides for
ever. And I readily grant that the influences of it for some time may
be suspended, but yet the union itself is not — nay, cannot be dissolved.
As it was in the hypostatical union ; for a time there was a suspend-
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 515
ing of the comforting influences of the divine nature in the human,
insomuch that our Saviour cried out, ' My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me ?' Mat. xxvii. 46 ; yet for all this the union between the
two natures was not in the least abolished. So here in the mystical
union the sensible effects, comforts, and benefits of our union with
Christ may sometimes be kept in and not appear, but yet the union
itself abides, and shall abide firm and inviolable for ever ; it is an
inseparable and insuperable union. Look, as no power on earth is
sufficient to overpower the Spirit of Christ, which on Christ's part
makes the union, so no power on earth shall be able to conquer faith,
which on our part also makes the union, John x. 27-31 ; 1 John iv. 4 ;
1 Pet. i. 5 ; Luke xxii. 31, 32. Satan and the world may make
attempts upon this union, but they wiU never be able to break this
union, to dissolve this union ; yea, though death be the bane of all
natural unions, yet death can never be the bane of this mystical union.
Though death puts a period to all other unions, yet death can never
put a period to this union. When the believer is in his grave his
union with Christ holds good. But,
[15.] Fifteenthly. ' If God be with us, who can be against us?' I
ajiswer, None, so as to deprive us of our crowns. There is no power
nor policy on earth or in hell that can deprive a Christian,
First, Of his crown of righteousness : 2 Tim. iv. 8, ' Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, shaU give me at that day ; and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearing.' It is a metaphor, say several,
[Estius, Scultetus, &c.,] from the custom in war, who used to crown
the conquerors with honour, &c. It is a similitude taken from fighters
or combatants, who for a prize received a crown when they had con-
tended lawfully. The reward of eternal life here is called ' a crown of
righteousness,' (1.) Because it is purchased for us by the righteousness
of Christ, By his perfect and complete righteousness and obedience,
dear Jesus hath merited this for us, and so in Christ it is due to us by
way of merit, though in respect of us it is of mere grace, of rich grace,
of sovereign grace, of infinite grace, of glorious grace. (2.) Because
he is righteous that hath promised this crown. Though every pro-
mise that God makes is of free and rich grace, yet when once they are
made, the truth and justice of God obligeth him to keep touch with
his people ; for as he cannot deny himself, so he cannot do anything
unworthy of himself, Kev. ii. 10, and iii. 21 ; 1 John ii. 25 ; 2 Thes.
i. 5-7, 10. Men say and unsay, they promise one thing and mean
another. Men many times eat their words as soon as they have spoken
them ; but thus God can never, thus God will never, do. God can
never repent of his promises ; he can never waver, he can never go
back from his word : ' God is not a man, that he should lie ; neither the
son of man, that he should repent : hath he said, and shall he not do
it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?' Num. xxiii.
19. All the promises that refer to this life and a better are sure, firm,
faithful, unchangeable, immutable. All the promises are the word of
a God, and given upon the honour of a God, that they shall be made
good. my friends, the all-sufficiency of God, the omniscience of
God, the omnipotency of God, the loving-kindness and faithfulness of
516 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
God, yea, and the oath of God, may fully, yea, abundantly, satisfy us,
and secure us, that God will certainly make good all his precious pro-
mises to us.^ We commonly say, when an honest man passeth his
word for a little money. Oh, it is as sure as if it were in our purse ;
but God's word of promise is abundantly more sure, for as his nature
is eternal, so his word of promise is unchangeable. The promises are
a firm foundation to build om* hopes and happiness upon ; they are
an anchor both sure and steadfast, Hal), ii. 3 ; Jer, xxxii. 41 ; Ps.
Ixxxix. 34. Memorable is that saying of David, Ps. cxxxviii. 2, ' For
thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name ;' which words are
to be understood, as David Kimchi saith, hysteron proteron, that thou
hast by thy wordj that is, by performing thy word and promises, mag-
nified thy name above all things. (3.) Because it is a just and right-
eous thing with God to crown them with glory at last, who have been
crowned with shame, reproach, and dishonour for his -name and interest
in this world ; so that eternal life is a crown of righteousness, ex parte
Dei, God hath promised it to such as overcome ; and, ex parte rei, it
is just with God to give unto his suffering servants rest and peace.
(4.) Because it is given only to righteous men. All that wear this
crown come to it in a way of righteousness. A righteous crown cannot
be had but in the use of righteous means. The Chaldean, the Persian,
the Grecian, and the Koman princes commonly gained their crowns by
fraud, flattery, policy, blood, &c. ; so that their crowns were bloody
crowns, and not righteous crowns. (6.) And lastly, the apostle calls
it ' a crown of righteousness, which the righteous judge shall give him,'
the more fitly to follow the metaphor taken from runners and wrestlers
for prizes at their solemn exercises or games in Greece, in which there
were certain judges appointed to observe those that proved masters,
and gave just sentence on the conqueror's side, if he strove lawfully,
and fairly won the prize. Now this crown is 'laid up;' the Greek
word aTTOKeirai imports two things: (1.) A designation of that which
is laid up to some peculiar person; (2.) A reservation and safe keep-
ing of it, to the use of those it is designed to. Earthly crowns have
been often pulled off from princes' heads, but this crown of righteous-
ness is so safely laid up, that none can reach it, none can touch it, none
can pull it from a believer's head. Xerxes crowned his steersman in
the morning, and beheaded him in the evening of the same day. And
Andronicus the Greek emperor crowned his admiral in the morning,
and then took off his head in the afternoon. Kofi'ensis had a cardinal's
hat sent him, but his head was cut off before it came to him. ' Doth the
crown,' saith Solomon, 'endure to every generation?' Prov. xxvii. 24.
It is a question which implieth a strong negation : oh, no ! there is
nothing more uncertain than earthly crowns. Henry the Sixth was
honoured with the crowns of two kingdoms, France and England ; the
first was lost by the faction of his nobles, the other was twice pulled
from his head. Princes' crowns are withering things. Earthly crowns
may be soon put on, and as soon be pulled off. Most princes' crowns
do but hang on one side of their heads. All the powers on earth, and
all the devils in hell, can never reach this croAvn of righteousness.
^ Promissa hscc tua sunt, Domine, saith Austin, et quis falli timet, cum promittit ipsa
Veritas ?
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIK GREATEST TROUBLES. 517
Though wicked men have long reaches, yet they can never reach a
believer 8 crown, which is his joy and comfort in the midst of all his
sorrows and sufferings. Thus Basil speaketh of some martyrs that
were cast out all night naked in a bitter cold frosty season, and were
to be burned the next day, how they comforted themselves in this
manner : ' The winter is sharp, but paradise is sweet ; here we shiver
for cold, but the bosom of Abraham will make amends for all.' i The
philosopher could say to the tyrant's face : You may kill me, but you
cannot hurt me ; you may take away my head, but you cannot take
away my crown. Christians ! let this be your joy and triumph,
that the crown of righteousness is laid up safe for you ; no tyrant's arm
is long enough to reach that crown. But,
Secondly, There is no power nor policy on earth or in hell that
can deprive a Christian of his crown of life : James i. 12, ' Blessed is
the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried he shall receive
the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love
him,' * The crown of life,' that is eternal life, whereby after the fight
and conquest he shall be glorified as with a crown ; as there was a
crown to him that overcame in their exercises among the Grecians,
[Piscator.] Blessedness is the general reward, the crown of life is the
particular reward. In these words, as Chrysostom observes, there is a
great emphasis, they are both emphatical ; for life is the best of all
natural things, and a crown is the best of all civil things. Here is
the best and the best. Words are too weak to express what a rare
blessing a crown of life is. The crown of life is in the other world,
saith Gregory. This life is the life of conflict ; that, of crowns and
wreaths. But you- will say. What doth this crown of life signify ? I
answer,
(1.) First, The crown of life signifies solid and substantial honour
and glory; as a crown is a solid and substantial thing. Heaven ad-
mits of no honour and glory but what is solid and substantial. The
crown of life is a massy crown, a ponderous crown, to shew that the
glory above is a massy glory, substantial glory. That you may see it
is massy and substantial, observe what a word the apostle useth:
* The weight of glory,' ' the exceeding eternal weight of glory,' 2 Cor.
iv. 17. Such a weight as infinitely over-poiseth all afflictions. The
apostle alludeth to the Hebrew and Chaldee words which signify both
weight and glory.^ The Arabic version renders it, ' Worketh for us a
weight of glory in the most eminent and largest degree and measure.' ^
The Syriac reads it, ' Infinitam gloriarn,' An infinite glory. Haymo
reads it, * Magnitudinem glorice supra omnem modum et mensuram,'
A greatness of glory, beyond all bounds and measure. Beza reads it,
' Excellenter excellens' Exceedingly excellent. Yet none of these reach
the height of the apostle's rhetoric, neither is any translation able to
express it. Glory is so great a weight that if the saints were not up-
held by the infinite power and strength of God, it were impossible they
should be able to bear it. To gold and precious things the weight
addeth to the value ; as the more massy and weighty a crown is, the
more it is worth. The glory of heaven is not only eternal glory, but it
i Basil, ad 40, Martyr, &c. - 1133, "Ip*"
3 Modo eminentissimo et largissimo.
518 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
is a weight of glory ; yea, such a weight as exceeds all expressions, all
comparisons. The honour and glory of this world is but like the
cracking of thorns under a pot ; it is but like a blaze, a shadow, a
dream, a vapour ; it is but like a fading flower, or the picture of a
prince drawn upon the ice, with his purple robes and his glorious
crown, &c. , which melts away as soon as the sun riseth ; the considera-
tion of which made one prince say of his crown : ' crown ! more
noble than happy ! ' A crown is the choicest and chiefest of all
human rewards. Amongst all terrene gifts none more honourable and
glorious than a crown. This is the height of human excellencies, and
for the attainment of which many have made most sad, desperate,
and dangerous adventures ; but, alas ! what are all earthly crowns, for
honour and dignity, to the crown of life ? No more than shadows to
substances, pebbles to pearls, or dross to gold. But,
(2.) Secondly, The crown of life signifies the greatest honour and
glory. There is nothing higher in the estimation and in the admira-
tion of men than a crown ; it is the highest appendant of majesty. A
crown is the emblem of majesty, and so it notes that imperial and
kingly dignity to which believers are advanced by Christ, Ps. viii. 7.
There is nothing that men esteem of above a crown, or admire than a
crown, or are ambitious of than a crown, Eph. i. 3. The crown is
the top of royalty. All earthly crowns have crosses hanging upon
them ; all earthly crowns are stuffed with thorns : which made a great
prince [Xerxes] say, ' You look upon my crown and my purple robes,
but did you but know how they are lined with thorns, you would
not stoop to take them up.' Queen Elizabeth is said to swim to her
crown through a sea of sorrow : and so many of the princes of this
world have swam to their crowns through a sea of sin, a sea of trouble,
a sea of sorrow, and a sea of blood. The crown of life is an honour-
able crown, and that is the reason why the heavenly glory is expressed
by a crown, Kev. iii. 21, The saints are heirs, not only of Christ's
cross, but also of his crown ; that is, of his honour and glory. The
honour and glory of all earthly crowns are greatly darkened and ob-
scured by the cares and troubles, the temptations and dangers that
are inseparably annexed to them ; but no cares, no troubles, attend the
crown of life, the crown of glory. Eternal life is a coronation day.
But,
(3.) Thirdly, The crown of life signifies the reiuard of victory. A
crown is the honour of those that strive ; crowns were always the re-
wards of conquerors : Kev. ii. 10, 'Be thou faithful to the death, and
I will give thee a crown of life.' A crown without cares, corrivals,
envy, end ; a crown not of gold, silver, pearls, laurels, or such like
fading, perishing, corruptible things, but a crown of life, an ever-living
crown, an everlasting crown, a never-fading crown. It is an allusion
to a custom that was amongst the Grecians, for such as got the mas-
tery in their games of wrestling, or running, or the like, were crowned
with a garland in token of victory. It is not he that fights, but he
that conquers, that carries the crown, i The crown of life is for that
man, and that man is for the crown of life, who holds on conquering
and to conquer, as Christ his head has done before him. The hea-
^ Dr Eainokls against Ilart, page 482.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 519
thens in their Olympics had their cups, and garments, and crowns
that were the rewards of the conquerors ; yea, if a horse did but run a
race and won, he had a cup or a crown ; and thereupon Theocritus
saith, ' See what poor things the world glories in, that brute beasts are
taken with ; their conquerors are crowned, and so are their horses'.i
But what were all their cups, garments, and crowns of ivy and laurel,
&c., to this crown of life that is promised to the overcoming Christian?
You must first be conquering Christians before you shall be crowned
Christians. Why do you require that in one place, saith one of the
ancients, [Ambrose,] which is due in another? why would you pre-
posterously have the crown before you overcome ? Whilst we are in our
warring state fighting against the world, the flesh and the devil, a
crown does not become us. I have read how that upon a triumph all
the Emperor Severus his soldiers, for the greater pomp, were to put
on crowns of bays, but there was one Christian among them that wore
it on his arm, and being asked the reason of it he boldly answered,
Non decet Christianum in hac vita coronari, It becomes not a Chris-
tian to wear his crown in this life. That crown that is made out of
the tree of life is a wreath of laurel that never withers, a crown that
never fades, a crown that will sit fast on no head but the conqueror's.
But,
(4.) Fourthly, The crown of life signifies a lasting crown, a living
crown. To say the crown of life, is to say a living crown ; and living
crowns are only to be found in heaven, Prov. xxvii. 24 ; Ezek. xxi.
25-27. The word crown notes the perpetuity of glory. A crown is
round, and hath neither beginning nor ending ; and therefore the
glory of the saints in heaven is called an immortal, an immarcessible,2
incorruptible, and never-fading crown, 2 Pet. i. 4 ; 1 Cor. ix. 24. The
crown of life signifies the lasting honour and glory of the saints in
heaven. I have read of an emperor that had three crowns, one on
his sword, another on his head, and then cries out, Tertiam in coelis,
* The third is in heaven, and my hope,' saith he, ' shall be in the ever-
lasting crown.' '^ The life to come is only the true life, the happy life,
the safe life, the honourable life, the lasting, yea, the everlasting life,
and therefore the crown is reserved for that life. King William the
Conqueror was crowned three times every year all his reign, at three
several places — viz., Gloucester, Winchester, and Westminster — but
death hath long since put a period to his crown. The crowns of the
greatest monarchs in the world, though they last long, yet are cor-
ruptible, subject to wearing, cracking, stealing : they will be taken
from them, or they from their crowns, suddenly. Witness that pile
of crowns, as the historian speaks, [Hakewill,] that was piled up, as it
were, at Alexander's gates, when he sat down and wept because there
were no more worlds to conquer. All scripture and histories do
abundantly tell us that there is nothing more fading than princes'
crowns. But,
(5.) Fifthly, The crown of life notes a well-entitled crown ; a crown
that comes by a true and noble title. A Christian has the best title
imaginable to the crown of life. (1.) He has a title by Christ's blood ;
^ Idyll, xvi , line 40, seq. — G. ' ' Unfading.' — G.
^ See my ' String of Pearls.' [Vol. i. p. 398, seq. — G.]
520 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
(2.) By the new birth ; (3.) By free and precious promises ; (4.) By
donation ; (5.) By marriage union and communion with Christ, who
is heir-apparent to all the glory of heaven ; (6.) By a sure and ever-
lasting covenant.^ King Henry the Seventh of England pretended a
sixfold title to the crown ; (1.) By conquest ; (2.) By the election of
the soldiers in the field ; (3.) By parliament ; (4.) By birth ; (5)
By donation ; (6.) By marriage, But what was his pretended title
to that real and full title that a believer has to the crown of life ?
But,
(6.) Sixthly, and lastly, The crown of life notes the perfection of
the glory of the saints in heaven. As the crown compasseth the head
on every side, so in heaven there is an aggregation of all internal and
eternal good. One of the ancients,^ speaking concerning what we can
say of the glory of heaven, saith, ' It is but a little drop of the sea, and
a little spark of the great furnace ; for those good things of eternal life
are so many that they exceed number, so great that they exceed measure,
so precious that they are above all estimation/ Nee Christus nee codum
patitur hyperbolem, Neither Christ nor heaven can be hyperbolised.
Nescio quid erit, quod ista vita non erit. And, saith one of the fathers,
' What will that life be, or rather, what will not that life be, since all
good either is not at all, or is in such a life ? Light which place cannot
comprehend, voices and music which time cannot ravish away, odours
which are never dissipated, a feast which is never consumed, a blessing
which eternity bestoweth, but eternity shall never see at an end ! ' Do
you ask me what heaven is? saith one: when I meet you there I will tell
you. The world to come, say the Kabbins, is the world where all is well.
I have read of one that would willingly swim through a sea of brim-
stone to get to heaven ; for there, and only there, is perfection of
happiness. What are the silks of Persia, the spices of Egypt, the
gold of Ophir, and the treasures of both Indies, to the glory of another
world ? Augustine tells us that one day, when he was about to write
something upon the eighth verse of the thirty-sixth Psalm, ' Thou
shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures;' and being
almost swallowed up with the contemplation of heavenly joys, one
called unto him very loud by his name ; and, inquiring who it was,
he answered, I am Jerome, with whom in my lifetime thou hadst so
much conference concerning doubts in Scripture, and am now best
experienced to resolve thee of any doubts concerning the joys of
heaven ; but only let me first ask thee this question. Art thou able to
put the whole earth, and all the waters of the sea, into a little pot ?
Canst thou measure the waters in thy fist, and mete out heaven with
thy span ? or weigh the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance ?
If not, no more is it possible that thy understanding should compre-
hend the least of the joys of heaven ; and certainly the least of the
joys of heaven are unconceivable and inexpressible. But,
Thirdly, There is no power nor policy on earth or in hell, that can
deprive a believer of an incorruptible crown : Ps. xxi. 3 ; 1 Cor. ix.
2.5, ' And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all
things ; now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an in-
^ Eph. i. 7 ; 1 Pet. i. 3, 4 ; 2 Pet. i. 4 ; Luke xii. 32 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; Heb. i. 2 ; 2 Sam.
xxiii. 5 Jer. xxxii. 40, 41. » August, de Triplic. Habitii, c. 4.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 521
corruptible.' He alludes to the Olympic exercises ; now running and
wrestling were two of the Olympic games. Now in these Olympic
games the reward was only a corruptible crown, a crown made up of
laurels, or olive-branches, or oaken-leaves, or of flowers and herbs, or
at the highest of silver and gold, which soon faded ; but we run for an
incorruptible crown of glory. A man, saith Chrysostom, would dwell
in this contemplation^of heaven, and be loath to come out of it. Nay,
saith Augustine, a man might age himself in it, and sooner grow old
than weary : 1 Pet. i. 4, ' To an inheritance incorruptible and unde-
filed, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.' Here are
superexcellent properties of the heavenly inheritance.
(1.) First, It is KkypovofiLav acf)dapTov, an ' incorruptible inherit-
ance.'! All earthly inheritances are liable to corruption ; they are true
gardens of Adonis, where we can gather nothing but trivial flowers,
surrounded with many briars, thorns, and thistles. Oh, the hands,
the hearts, the thoughts, the lives that have been corrupted by earthly
inheritances ! Oh, the impure love, the carnal confidence, the vain
boastings, the sensual joys, that have been the products of earthly in-
heritances. If a man's estates lies in money, that may rust, or the
thieves may break through and steal it ; if in cattle, they may die, or
fall into the hands of the Sabeans and Chaldeans ; if in houses, they
may be burnt. Witness the late dreadful fire that turned London
into a ruinous heap. If in lands, a foreign enemy may invade them
and conquer them. 2 All earthly inheritances are no better than the
cities which Solomon gave to Hiram, which he called Cahul, that is to
say, displeasing or dirty, 1 Kings ix. 13. Earthly inheritances they
do but dirt, daub, and dust the children of men ; it is only the
heavenly inheritance that is incorruptible.
(2.) Secondly, It is KXrjpovofjbia d/j,LavTo<}, an ' inheritance un de-
filed.' There are few earthly inheritances, but some defilement or
other sticks close to them. Many times they are got by fraud, oppres-
sion, violence, injustice, &g., and as they are often wickedly got, so
they are as often wickedly kept. They that will but go to West-
minster Hall may every term understand enough of these things. The
heavenly inheritance is the only undefiled inheritance. There is no
sin, no sinner, no devil, to defile or pollute the heavenly inheritance,
the incorruptible crown. The Greek word, afilavro'^, signifies a pre-
cious stone, which though it be never so much soiled, yet it cannot be
blemished nor defiled, yea the oftener you cast it into the fire and take
it out, the more clear, bright, and shining it is. The apostle may
probably allude to this stone : and it is as if he should say, ' The in-
corruptible crown that you shall receive shall be studded with the
stone amiantos, which cannot be defiled. No unclean thing shall
enter into heaven to defile this crown, this inheritance, Kev. xxi. 27.
The serpent got into the earthly paradise, and defiled Adam's crown,
yea he robbed him of his crown, but the subtle serpent can never enter
into the heavenly paradise. But,
(3.) Thirdly, It is Kkqpovofilav afidpavrov, an ' inheritance that
^ An incorruptible inheritance. Gen. iii. 18 ; Isa. xxiii. 9.
'^ James v. 2-5 ; Mat. vi. 19, 20 ; Job i. 14, 15, 17. See my ' London's Lamentation.'
[Vol. vi.-G.]
522 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
fadeth not away : ' a metaphor taken from flowers. The beauty of
flowers, and the sweetness of flowers, withers in a moment, and is
quickly gone, and then they are good for nothing but to be cast upon
the dunghill ; so it is with all earthly inheritances, they soon lose
their glory and fragrancy. Where is the glory of the Chaldean,
Persian, Grecian, and Koman kingdoms ? Dan. vii. 3-8. Sic transit
gloria mundi hath been long since written upon them all ; yea, all the
glory of the world is like the flower of the field that soon fadeth away,
Isa. xl. 6 ; 1 Pet. i. 24. How many great men and great kingdoms
have for a time shined in great glory, even like so many suns in the
firmament, but are now vanished away like so many blazing comets !
How hath the moon of great men's honours been eclipsed at the full,
and the sun of their pomp gone down at noon ! How soon is the
courtier's glory eclipsed if his prince do but frown upon him ! and
how soon does the prince become a peasant if Grod does but frown
upon him ! The Greek word amarantos, say some, is the proper
name of a flower which is still fresh and green after it hath hung up
in the house a long time. It is as if the apostle had said, ' Your in-
corruptible crown shall be garnished or adorned with the precious
flower amarantos, which is always fresh and green and flourishing.
And indeed this is the excellency of the heavenly inheritance, that it
fadeth not away, that it is a flower that never withereth. All the
glory of that upper world is like God himself, lasting, yea, everlasting.
This never-fading crown is like the flower we call Semper vivens, it
keeps always fresh and splendent. The glory of believers shall never
fade nor wither, it shall never grow old nor rusty. Thrice happy are
those souls that have a share in this incorruptible crown. When
Alexander heard the philosopher's discourse of another world in which
he had no part, he wept, to speak with the apostle, as ' one without
hope,' 1 Thes. iv. 13. None on earth have such cause to weep, as those
that have no interest in that inheritance that fadeth not away. But,
(4.) Fourthly and lastly. There is no power nor policy on earth or
in hell that can deprive a sincere Christian of a croion of glory.
1 Pet. V. 4, ' And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall re-
ceive a crown of glory which fadeth not away,' — as the garlands did
wherewith the conquerors at games, races, and combats were crowned,
which were made of herbs, leaves, and flowers. A crown imports
perpetuity, plenty, dignity. It is the height of human ambition.
The Greek word amarantinon cometh from amarantus, which is a
flower that fadeth not, of which garlands were made in former times,
and wherewith they crowned the images of the heathen gods. A be-
liever's crown, his inheritance, his glory, his happiness, his blessedness
shall be as fresh and flourishing after he hath been many millions of
3^ears in heaven as it was at his first entrance into it. Earthly crowns
are like tennis-balls, which are bandied up and down from one to
another, and in time wear out. When time shall be no more, when
earthly crowns and kingdoms shall be no more, yea, when the world
shall be no more, a Christian's crown of glory shall be fresh, flourish-
ing, and continuing. All the devils in hell shall never wrangle a
believer out of his heavenly inheritance, nor deprive him of his crown
of glory. The least thing in heaven is better than the greatest
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES, 523
things in this world. All things on earth are fading, but the crown
of glory never fadeth away. Thus you see why heaven and the glory
above is expressed by a crown. Sometimes it is called a crown of
righteousness, to note the grounds and rise of it ; sometimes it is
called a crown of life, because it is only to be enjoyed in everlasting
life ; sometimes it is called an incorruptible crown, to note the dura-
tion and continuance of it ; and sometimes it is called a crown of
glory, to note the honour, splendour, and eternity of it. Now let
devils, let oppressors, let persecutors do their worst, they shall never
be able to deprive the saints of their blessed and glorious crowns.
But,
[16.] Sixteenthly, * If God be with us, who can be against us ?' I
answer. None, so as to make void our covenant-relation, or our cove-
nant-interest ; as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the
margin together.! The covenant of grace is bottomed upon God's free
love, upon God's everlasting love, upon God's special and peculiar love,
upon God's unchangeable love, so that God can as soon cease to be, as
he can cease to love those whom he has taken into covenant with him-
self, or cease to keep covenant with them. Those whom free grace
hath brought into covenant shall continue in covenant for ever and
ever. Once in covenant and for ever in covenant. The covenant of
grace is bottomed upon God's immutable counsel and purpose. ' The
foundation of God standeth sure,' Heb. vi. 17; 2 Tim. ii. 19, that is,
the degree and purpose of God's election stands firm and sure. Now
the purpose of God's election is compared to a foundation, because it is
that upon which all our happiness and blessedness is built and bottomed,
and because as a foundation it abides firm and sure, John x. 28-32 ; 1
Pet. i.'5 ; Jude i. The covenant of grace is bottomed upon God's glori-
ous power, upon God's infinite power, upon God's supreme power, upon
God's invincible power, upon God's independent power, upon God's
incomparable power, and till you can find a power that can overmatch
this divine power, the saints' covenant-relation holds good. The covenant
of grace is bottomed upon the oath of God ; ' To perform the mercy
promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath
which he sware to our fathers,' Luke i. 72, 73. Now to think that
God will break his oath, or be perjured, is an intolerable blasphemy.
The covenant of grace is bottomed upon the precious blood of Christ.
The blood of Christ is called ' The blood of the everlasting covenant.'
' 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 ever-
lasting covenant,' Mat. xxvi. 28 ; Heb. ix. 15, and xiii. 20. Now by
these hints it is most evident that the saints' covenant-relation, their
covenant-interest, holds good at all times, in all cases, and in all con-
ditions. It is not the indwelling power of sin, nor spiritual desertions,
nor violent temptations, nor heavy afflictions, nor divine delays, that
can dissolve our covenant-relation. Though sin may work, and Satan
may tempt, and fears may be high, and God may hide his face from
his people, and stop his ears at the prayers of his people, Isa. viii. 17 ;
Lam. iii. 44, yet God will still maintain his interest in his people, and
his people's relation to himself. ' God hath not cast away his people,
^ Ps. Ixxxix. 30, 35; Jer. xxxi. 31, and xxxii. 38-41; Isa. liv. 10; Heb, viii. 8, 10.
524 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
whom he foreknew,' Eom. xi. 2 ; 'I am the Lord, I change not,' Mai.
iii. 6 ; ' I will betroth thee unto me for ever,' Hosea ii. 19 ; ' I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee/ Heb. xiii. 5. It is not all the powers of
hell, nor all the powers on earth, that can make null or void our
covenant-relation, our covenant-interest. But,
(17.) Seventeenthlj and lastly, ' If God be with us, who can be
against us ? ' I answer, None, so as to hinder our growth in grace, or
the thriving and flourishing estate of our precious and immortal souU.
The troubles, afflictions, persecutions, and sufferings that the saints
meet with in a way of holiness shall but further the increase and
growth of their graces. Grace never rises to so great a height as it
does in times of persecution. Suffering times are a Christian's harvest
times, Ps. Ix. 7-9, 12, Let me instance in that grace of zeal : I re-
member Moulin, speaking of the French Protestants, saith. When
papists hurt us, and persecute us for reading the Scripture, we burn
with zeal to be reading of them, but now persecution is over, our
Bibles are like old almanacks. Michal's scoffing at David did but in-
flame and raise his zeal ; ' If this be to be vile, I will be more vile,' 2
Sam. vi. 20-22. Look, as fire in the winter burns the hotter, by an
antiperistasis, because of the coldness of the air, so in the winter of
persecution, that divine fire, the zeal of a Christian, burns so much the
hotter, and flames forth so much the n^ore vehemently and strongly.
When one desired to know what kind of man Basil was, there was
presented to him in a dream, saith the historian, a pillar of fire, with
this motto, Talis est Basilius, Basil is such a one, he is all on a-light-
fire for God. Warm persecutions will but set Christians all on a-
light-fire for God, as you may see among the apostles, primitive
Christians, and the martyrs of a later date. Gr£|,ce usually is in the
greatest flourish when the saints are under the greatest trials. The
snuffing of the candle makes it burn the brighter. God suffers wicked
men to beat and bruise his links, to make them burn the brighter ;
and to pound and bruise his spices to make them send forth the
greater aromatical flavour. Fiery trials are like the teazle , which though
it be sharp and scratching, it is to make the cloth more pure
and fine. Stars shine brightest in the darkest nights, and so do
the graces of the saints shine brightest in the darkest nights of
affliction and tribulation. God does sometimes more carry on the
growth of grace by a cross than by an ordinance ; yea, the Lord will
first or last turn all fiery trials into ordinances, for the helping on
the growth of grace in his people's souls. Commonly the saints' spiritual
growth in grace is carried on by such divine methods, and in such ways
as might seem to deaden grace, and weaken it, rather than any ways
to augment and increase it. We know that winter is as necessary to
bring on harvest as the spring, and so fiery trials are as necessary
to bring on the harvest of grace as the spring of mercy is, Though
fiery trials are grievous, yet they shall make the saints more gracious.
God usually, by smart sufferings, turns his people's sparks of grace
into a mighty flame, their mites into millions, their drops into seas.
All the devils in hell, and all the sinners on earth, cannot hinder the
Lord from carrying on the growth of grace in his people's souls.
When men and devils have done their worst, God will, by all sorts of
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 525
ordinances, and by all sorts of providences, and all sorts of changes,
make his people more and more holy, and more and more humble, and
more and more meek and lowly, and more and more heavenly, wise,
faithful, fruitful, sincere, courageous, &c. Though the church of
Smyrna was outwardly poor, yet she was inwardly rich, rich in grace,
and rich towards God, Kev. ii. 9. I think he hit the mark who said.
It is far better to be a poor man and a rich Christian, than to be
a rich man and a poor Christian. Though the Corinthians were
under great trials and sufferings, yet they did abound in everything,
in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and diligence, and in their
love to gospel ministers, 2 Cort viii. 7. The storm beat hard upon the
Komans, and yet you see what a singular testimony the apostle gives
of them, * I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also
are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one
another,' Kom. xv, 14. The Thessalonians were under great persecu-
tions and troubles, and yet were strong in the grace that was in Christ
Jesus ; they were very growing and flourishing Christians. Singular
prophecies speak out the saints' growth and flourishing in grace.
' The Lord is exalted ; for he dwelleth on high : he hath filled Zion
with judgment and righteousness.' ' The Spirit shall be poured upon
us from on high, and the wilderness shall be a fruitful field.' l ' The
desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose : it shall blossom abun-
dantly : ' ' the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of
Carmel and Sharon ;' ' they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the
excellency of our God.' And as singular prophecies, so choice and
precious promiseSj speak out the saints' growth in grace. Take a
taste of some of them. ' But the path of the just is as the shin-
ing light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' ' The
righteous shall hold on his way ; and he that hath clean hands
shall be stronger and stronger.' ' They shall go from strength to
strength ; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.' ' The
righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree ; he shall grow like a cedar
in Lebanon.' * Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall
flourish in the courts of our God ; in old age they shall be fat
and flourishing,' Prov. iv. 18 ; Job xvii. 9 ; Ps. Ixxxiv. 7, and xcii.
12-14. I have read of an old man who, being asked whether he grew
in grace ? answered, I believe I do, for God hath promised that in old
age his children should be fat and flourishing. So Isa. xlvi. 3,
' Hearken unto me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house
of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from
the womb : ' ver. 4, ' And even to your old age I am he ; and even to
hoar hairs will I carry you : I have made, and I will bear ; even I
will carry, and will deliver you : ' Zech. xii. 8, ' And he that is feeble
among them at that day shall be as David ; and the house of David
shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them :' Hosea xiv. 5,
' I will be as the dew unto Israel : he shall grow as the lily, and cast
forth his roots as Lebanon : ' ver. 6, ' His branches shall spread,
and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon:'
ver. 7, ' They that dwell under his shadow shall return ; they shall
revive as the corn, and grow as the vine : the scent thereof shall be as
* 2 Thes. i. 3, 8 ; Isa. xxxiii. 5, xxxii. 15, xxiv. 1.
526 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
the wine of Lebanon : ' Mai. iv. 2, ' But unto you that fear my name
shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing under his wings ; and
ye shall go forth, and grow up as the calves of the stall : ' Ps. i. 3, ' He
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season : his leaf also shall not wither ; and whatsoever
he doeth shall prosper : ' John iv. 14, ' Whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to
eternal life.' The light and glory of the church rises by degrees ; (1.)
Looking forth as the morning ; with a little light ; (2.) Fair as the
moon ; more light; (3.) Clear as the sun ; that is, come up to a higher
degree of spiritual light, life, and glory, Cant. vi. 10. By all which it
is most evident that all the powers of hell, nor all the powers on earth,
cannot hinder the saints' growth in grace, nor the thriving and flourish-
ing estate of their precious and immortal souls.
But you will say. What are the reasons why God will be favour-
ably, signally, and eminently present with his people in their greatest
troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers? I answer
there are these ten great reasons for it : —
[1.] First, To aivaken and convince the enemies of his people, and
to render his suffering children glorious in the very eyes and con-
sciences both of sinners and saints : Dan. iii. 24, ' Then Nebuchad-
nezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake and
said unto his counsellors, Did we not cast three men into the fire ?
They answered and said unto the king, True, king.' Ver. 25, * He
answered and said, ' Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of
the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the
Son of God.'i Now see what a majesty there is in this presence of
Christ with his people in the fire, to convince Nebuchadnezzar, and
to render the three champions very glorious in his eyes. Ver. 28,
' Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said. Blessed be the God of Sha-
drach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered
his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word,
and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any
God except their own God.' Ver. 29, ' Therefore I make a decree,
that every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss
against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in
pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no
other God that can deliver after this sort.' Ver. 30, ' Then the king
promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of
Babylon.' The presence of the Lord with the three children com-
manded favour, respect, reverence, and honour from this great
monarch, Nebuchadnezzar. The presence of God with his people is
very majestical ; the greatest monarchs have fallen down before it ;
not only Nebuchadnezzar, but also Darius, falls down before the sig-
nal presence of God with Daniel when he was in the lions' den, Dan.
yi. 20 seq. And Herod falls down before the presence of God with
John, Mark vi. 20. And King Joash falls down before the presence
of God with Jehoiada, 2 Kings xi. 1, 2. And Saul falls down before
^ Ponder upon these scriptures: — Micah vii. 8-10, 16, 17; Ps. cxxvi. 1, 2; Exod.
viii. 19; Isa. Ix. 13, 14; Rev. iii. 8, P; Acts iv. 13, and vi. 15; Jolin vii. 44-46, &c.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 527
the presence of God with David : ' Thou art more righteous than 1/
1 Sam. xxiv. 17, &c. And Alexander the emperor falls down before
the presence of God in Jaddua, the high-priest.i In the signal
presence of God with his people in their affliction there is such a
sparkling lustre, that none can behold it but must admire it, and bow
before the graceful majesty of it. Such has been the signal presence
of God with the martyrs in their fiery trials, that many have been
convinced and converted. I have read of a citizen of Paris who was
burned for Protestantism, how the presence of God did so shine in
his courage and constancy, that many did curiously inquire into that
religion for which he so stoutly and resolutely suffered, so that the
number of sufferers was much increased thereby. 2 I read that Cecilia,
a poor virgin, by her gracious behaviour in her martyrdom, was the
means of converting four hundred to Christ. It was the observation
of Mr John Lindsay, that the very smoke of Mr [Patrick] Hamilton
converted as many as it blew upon.3 Alexandrinus cites Plato,
expressing himself thus : ' Although a righteous man be tormented,
although his eyes be digged out, yet he remains a blessed man '^ The
same Plato could say, ' That no gold or precious stone doth glister so
gloriously as the prudent spirit of a good man.' And the very
Hittites could say of Abraham, who had a very signal presence of
God with him, ' Thou art a prince of God among us,' Gen. xxiii. 6 ;
not that he was a king or had any authority over them, as the Sep-
tuagint reads, ' Thou art a king from God among us ;' but he is
called a prince of God, say some, [Lyra and Tostatus,] because he was
as God's oracle — the Lord speaking to him by visions and dreams —
unto whom they had recourse for counsel in difficult matters. Others
say, he is called Prince of God, because God prospered him, and
made him famous for his virtue and godliness. But the Hebrews
commonly speak so of all things that are notable and excellent,
because all excellency cometh from God ; as the angel of God, the
mount of God, the city of God, the wrestlings of God, Exod. iii. 2,
and iv. 37 ; Ps. xxvi. 4 ; Gen. xxx. 8, &c. ' Thou art a prince of
God;' that is. Thou art a most excellent person. Seneca saw so
much excellency that morality put upon a man, that he could say,
Ipse aspecius honi viri delectat: The very looks of a good man
delights one. And why then may not the sons of Heth call him a
prince of God, from that majesty and glory that they saw shine forth
in his graces, and in his gracious behaviour and conversation, and
because they did observe a signal presence of God with him in all he
did, it being no higher observation than what Abimelech had made
before them? Gen. xxi. 22. Chrysostom, speaking of Babilas the
martyr, saith, MagniLS atque admirabilis vir, &c. : He was an excel-
lent and admirable man, &c.^ Tertullian, writing to some of the
martyrs, who had a mighty presence of God with them, saith, ICon
ianius sum ut vos alloquar, &c. ; I am not good enough to speak unto
you. Oh that my life and a thousand more such wretches might
^ Misprinted Jaddus : Josephus, A. J. xi. 8, sec. 7, and cf. Prideaux, Coun. i. 5i5. — G.
2 History of the Council of Trent, p. 418, 2d edit.
■^ Clemens Alex. Strom, lib. iv. p. 495.
* As before. — G. * Clarke, as before.— G.
528 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
go for yours, &c. In Queen Mary's days,i not of blessed but of
abhorred memory, the people of God met — sometimes forty, some-
times a hundred, sometimes two hundred — together. The fiery per-
secutors of that day sent in one among them to spy out their practices
and to give information of their names, that they might be brought
to Smithfield shambles; but there was such a presence of God in
the assembly of his people, that this informer was convinced and con-
verted, and cried them all mercy : 1 Cor. xiv. 24, ' But if all prophesy,
and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is con-
vinced of all, he is judged of all ;' ver, 25, ' And thus are the secrets
of his heart made manifest, and so falling down on his face, he will
worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.' It may be
before they came to the assembly of the saints, they had hard thoughts
of the people of God : they thought that folly was in them, or that
disloyalty was in them, or that madness and rebellion was in them, or
that plots and designs against the government was in them, or that
the devil was in them. Oh, but now such a majestical presence of God
appears in the midst of his people, that the unbeliever is convinced, and
confesses ' that God is in them of a truth.' Blessed Bradford had
such a signal presence of God with him in his sufferings, as begot great
reverence and admiration, not only in the hearts of his friends, but in
the very hearts of very many papists also. Henry the Second, king of
France, being present at the martyrdom of a poor tailor, who was
burnt by him for his religion ; the poor man had such a signal pre-
sence of God with him in his sufieringSj that his courage and boldness,
his holy and gracious behaviour, did so amaze and terrify the king,
that he swore, at his going away, that he never would be present at
such a sight more.2 As the presence of God is the greatest ornament
of the church triumphant, so the presence of God is the greatest orna-
ment of the church militant. The redness of the rose, the whiteness
of the lily, and all the beauties of sun, moon, and stars, are but defor-
mities to that beauty and glory that the presence of God puts upon
his people, in all their troubles and trials. There is nothing in the
world that will render the saints so amiable and lovely, so eminent
and excellent in the eyes of their enemies, as the signal presence of
God with them in their greatest trials. Demetrius ^ was so passing
fair of face and countenance, that no painter was able to draw him.
The presence of God with his people in their greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers, puts so rare a beauty and glory
upon them, that no painter can ever be able to draw them. But,
[2.] A second reason why God will be signally present with his
people in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly
dangers, is drawn from the covenant of grace, and those 'precious pro-
mises that God has made to he loith his people. God's covenant is,
that he will be with his people for ever, and that he will never turn
away from them to do them good, Jer. xxxii. 40, 41. That is a btanch
of the covenant : ' I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,' Heb. xiii.
5. And that is a branch of the covenant : * I am thy shield, and thy
1 Foxe, Acts and Mon., 1881.
2 [Foxe,] Acts and Mon., p. 1458. Epist. Hist. Gal., 82.
2 Plutarch in the Life of Demetrius.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 529
exceeding great reward/ Gen. xv. 1 ; see Ps. cxv. 9-11. The shield
is between the body and the thrust. So saith God, I will put in
betwixt thee and harm. Though those kings whom thou hast even
now vanquished, may rant high and threaten revenge, yet I will shield
off all dangers that thou mayest be incident to. Though God's
people be in the waters and in the fires, yet his promise is to be with
them ; so the psalmist, ' I will be with him in trouble, I will dehver
him, and honour him,' Isa. xliii. 2 ; Ps. xci. 15, and 1. 15 ; Job v. 19 ;
Hosea ii. 14. God will not fail to keep his people company in all their
troubles. No storm, no danger, no distress, no fiery trial, can keep
God and his people asunder. God is immutable in his nature, in
his counsels, in his covenant, and in all his promises, Mai. iii. 6.
Though all creatures are subject to change, yet God is unchangeable ;
though angels and men, and all inferior creatures are dependent, yet
God is independent. He is as the schoolmen say, Omnind immutahilis,
altogether immutable, and therefore he will be sure to keep touch with
his people. Precious promises are Pabulum fidei, et animafidei, The
food of faith, and the very soul of faith. They are a mine of rich
treasures, a garden full of choice flowers, able to enrich a suffering
Christian with all celestial contentments, and to sweeten the deepest
distresses. God has deeply engaged himself, both by covenant and
promises, that he will be with his people in their greatest troubles,
deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ; and therefore he will
not fail them : Deut. vii. 9, ' Know therefore that the Lord thy God,
he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant,' &c., or 'the God
of amen.' God will never suffer his faithfulness to fail, nor alter the
thing that is gone out of his mouth, Ps. Ixxxix. 33. All his pre-
cepts, menaces, predictions, and promises are the issue of a most wise,
holy, faithful, and righteous will, and therefore they shall certainly be
made good to his people. But,
[3.] Thirdly, The Lord will be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers,
because it makes most eminently for the advancement of his own honour
and glory in the world. God never gets more honour than by helping
his people when they are at a dead lift. God's signal presence with
Israel at the Red Sea, makes Moses sing a song of praise, Exod. xv.
A great part of the revenue of divine glory arises from the special
presence of God with his people in their deepest distresses and most
deadly dangers, as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the
margin together, i It is the honour of a husband to be most present
with his wife in her greatest troubles, and the honour of a father to
be most present with his children in their deepest distresses, and the
honour of commanders to be present with their soldiers in the heat of
battle, when many fall on their right hand and on their left : Exod.
XV. 3, * The Lord is a man of war,' that is, an excellent warrior,
* the Lord is his name ;' according to the Septuagint, avvTplBwv
•Tro\efjbov<i, ' He breaketh battles, and subdueth war.' God, like a brave
commander, stands upon his honour, and therefore he will stand by
his soldiers in the greatest dangers. The word ish, here used for man,
signifies an eminent man, a mighty man, a famous warrior, or, as
^ Exod. XV. ; Jud-cs v. ; Ps. xxiii. 4, 6 ; Isa. xliii. 2, 5, 7.
VOL. V. 2 L
630 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
the Chaldee paraplirast hath it, Victor helloriim, an overcomer of
battles. Now eminent warriors, mighty warriors, famous warriors,
they always stick closest to their soldiers in their greatest dangers, as
all know that have read either Scripture or history. Now the Lord is
such a man of wars, such a famous warrior, as that he will be sure to
stick closest to his people in the greatest dangers. God is both in the
van and in the rear, Isa, lii. 12. And as there is nothing that more
raises the honour, fame, and renown of great warriors in the world
than their presence with their soldiers when the bullets fly thickest ;
so there is nothing by which God gets himself a greater name, fame,
and honour in the world, than by his signal presence with his people
in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers.
But,
[4.] Fourthly, The Lord will be signally present with his people
in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers,
because then his people stands in most need of his presence. A be-
liever needs the presence of God at all times, but never so much
as in great troubles, deep distresses, and most deadly dangers ; for
now Satan will be stirring. He loves to fish in troubled waters. Now
earthly friends and earthly comforts and earthly succours will com-
monly fail us ; now cares and fears will be multiplied upon us ; now
unbelief, which is virtually all evil, will be raising doubts and cavils
and objections in the soul,i so that if God does not stand by us now,
what can we say ? what can we do ? how can we bear up ? how can.
we stand fast? What was Samson, that man of strength, when
his hair was gone, but as weak as water ? Judges xvi. 19, 20 ; and
what is the strongest Christian when his God is gone, but as weak as
weakness itself ? All our doing strength, and all our suffering strength,
and all our bearing strength, and all our witnessing strength, lies in
the special presence of God with our souls. All our comforts, and all
our supports, and all our ease, and all our refreshments, flow from
the presence of God with our souls in our greatest troubles and deepest
distresses ; and therefore, if God should leave us in a day of trouble,
what would become of us ? and whither should we go ? and where
should we find rest ? When doth a man need a brother or friend,
but in a day of adversity ? ' A brother is born for adversity,' Prov.
xvii. 17. Though at other times brethren may jar and jangle and
quarrel, yet in a day of adversity, in a strait, in a stress, birth and
good blood and good nature will be working. Adversity breeds love
and unity. Kidley and Hooper differed very much about ceremonies
in the day of their liberty ; but when they were both prisoners in the
Tower, then they could agree well enough, and then they could be
mutual comforts one to another. And when does a Christian most
need the strength of God, the consolations of God, the supports of
God, the teachings and quickenings of God, and the signal singular
presence of God, but when they are in the greatest troubles, deepest
distresses, and most deadly dangers ? When the people of God are
in a low and afflicted condition, then the Lord knows that that is the
season of seasons for him to grace them with his gracious presence,
Isa. xxxiii. 9, 10. When calamities and dangers break in upon us,
^ Job ii. 9, andxix. 13-17; Ps. Ixxxviii. 18; Isa. xli. 17, 18.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 531
and when all heads and hands and hearts and counsels are set against
us, now is the time for God to help us, for God to succour us, for God
to stand by us. But,
[5.] Fifthly, The Lord will be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers,
because he dearly loves them. God entirely loves his people, and
therefore he will not leave his people. Persons whom we entirely
love we cannot leave, especially when they are in a distressed con-
dition. ' A friend loves at all times,' saith Solomon, and God is such
a friend, Prov. xvii. 17. God loves not by fits and starts, as many
do, but his love is like himself, sincere and steadfast. Because he
loves them, he won't forsake them when they are in the greatest
troubles and most terrible dangers, 1 Sam. xii. 22, ' For the Lord
will not forsake his people for his great name's sake : because it hath
pleased the Lord to make you his people.' He chose you for his love,
and he still loveth you for his choice, and therefore he won't forsake
you.i Chide you he may, but forsake you he won't ; for it will not
stand with the glory of God to leave a people, to forsake a people of
his love. Should I cast you off whom I love, the heathen nations
would say that I was mutable in my purposes, or unfaithful in my
promises. Though David's parents forsook him, yet God did not for-
sake him, but took him up into his care and keeping, Ps. xxvii. 10.
It is the deriding question w^hich the enemies of the saints put to
them in the time of their greatest troubles, deep distresses, and most
deadly dangers, Uhi Deus ? Where is now your God ? Ps. Ixxix. 10.
But they may safely and groundedly return this answer when they
are at lowest. Hie Deus, Our God is here ; he is nigh unto us, he
is round about us, and he is in the midst of us, Isa. lii. 12. Witness
that golden promise, that is more worth than a world, ' I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee,' Heb. xiii. 5, 11. God is a God of
bowels, a God of great pity, a God of tender compassion, and there-
fore he will not leave his people in a time of distress, Hosea viii. 9 ; Mic.
vii. 19 ; Jer. xxxi. 18-20. Parents' bowels do most yearn towards
their children when they are sick, and weak, and most in danger. It
goes to the very heart of a man to leave a friend in misery. But
what are the bowels of men to the bowels of God ! or the compassions
of men to the compassions of God ! There is an ocean of love in the
hearts of parents towards their children when they are in distress,
2 Sam. xix. 6 ; and this love makes them sit by their children, and
sit up with their children, and not stir from their children. God's
love does so link his heart to his people in their deep distresses, that
he cannot leave them, he cannot stir from them, Ps. xci. 15 : Isa.
xliii. 4, ' Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honour-
able, and I have loved thee.' Well, and what then ? This love so
endears and unites God to his people, that he cannot leave them, he
cannot stir one foot from them : ver. 2, ' When thou passest through
the waters,'I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be
burnt ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.' The Lord dearly
loves his people, and he highly prizes his people, and he greatly
1 Dcut. vii. 6-8. Amat quia amat. — Bernard.
532 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
delights in his people, and therefore he will be signally present with
his people, both in the fire and in the water, both in the fire of per-
secution, and in the waters of affliction. God loves the persons of his
people, and he loves the presence of his people, and he loves the
graces of his people, and he loves the services of his people, and he
loves the fellowship of his people ; and therefore he will never leave
his people, but stand by them, and be signally present with them, in
their greatest troubles and deepest distresses. Such is God's singular
love to his covenant-people, that he will neither forsake them nor
forget them in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most
deadly dangers. The Jews were low — ^yea, very low, in Babylon;
their distresses were great, and their dangers many; they looked
upon themselves as so many dead men, ' Our bones are dry, our hope
is lost, and we are cut off for our parts,' Ezek. xxxvii. 1-15. They
looked upon themselves both as forsaken and forgotten by God.
Behold, captive Zion lamentingly saith, ' The Lord hath forsaken me,
and my Lord hath forgotten me,' Isa. xlix. 13-18 ; Ps. Ixxxiv. 7 ;
Isa. i. 27 ; Heb. xii. 22. Zion is taken several ways in Scripture :
(1.) For the place properly so called, where they were wont to meet
to worship the Lord; but this place was long ago destroyed. (2.)
For the blessed angels, ' Ye are come to mount Zion, to the heavenly
Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.' (3.) For the
congregation of saints, of believers, of which it is said, ' The Lord
loves the gates of Zion more than all the habitations of Jacob,' Ps.
Ixxxvii. 2. The believing Jews being sorely oppressed and afflicted
by a long captivity, Dan. ix. 22 ; Lam. iv. 6, and by many great and
matchless miseries that did befall them in their captive state, they
look upon God as one that had quite forsaken them and forgotten
them ; but they were under a very high mistake, and very erroneous
in their complaint, as appears by God's answer to Zion : ver. 15, ' Can
a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have com-
passion on the son of her womb ? yea, they may forget, yet will I not
forget thee.' Ver. 16, * Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of
my hands, thy walls are continually before me.' In these words, as
in a crystal glass, you may see how pathetically, how sweetly, how
graciously, how readily, how resolutely God doth engage himself that
he will neither forsake Zion, nor yet forget Zion in her captive state.
Now let us a little observe how this singular promise is amplified,
and that, (1.) By an emphatical illustration ; God's compassionate
remembering of Zion far transcends the most compassionate remem-
brance of the tenderest mother to her dear sucking babe. Now this
is laid down —
First, Interrogatively, ' Can a woman,' the most affectionate sex,
'forget a sucking child, for having compassion on the son of her womb?'
Can a woman, can a mother so forget as not to compassionate a child,
which she naturally inclines to pity ? A sucking child that hangeth
on her breast, such as mothers are wont to be most chary of, and to
be most tenderly affected towards ? her sucking child, which, together
with the milk from the breast, draws love from her heart ? her suck-
ing child of her own womb, which her bowels do more yearn over
than they do over any sucking nurse-child in the world ? And tliis
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 533
is the ^son of lier womb,' wliich the mother usually embraceth with
more warm affections than the daughter of her womb. Can a woman,
yea, can a mother forget to exercise love, pity, and compassion to such
a poor babe ? Surely very rarely.
Second, Affirmatively, ' Yea, they may forget.' It is possible that a
woman may be so unwomanly, and that a mother may be so unmotherly
in some cases, and in some extremities, as to forget her sucking child,
yea, as to eat the fruit of her womb, as the pitiful women did boil and
eat their own children in the siege of Samaria and Jerusalem, 2 Kings
vi. 24-30 ; Lam. iv. 10. Extremity of hunger overmastered natural
affections, and made the pitiful mothers require of their children those
lives which not long before they had given them, laying children not
in their bosoms, but in their bowels.
Thirdly, Negatively, ' Yet will I not forget thee.' God will be more
constantly, unmovably, and unchangeably mindful of Zion, and ten-
der of Zion, and compassionate of Zion, and watchful over Zion, than
any mother could be over her youngling; yea, he would be more
motherly to his poor captives in Babylon than any mother could be to
her sucking babe. This precious promise is amplified by a convincing
argumentation, and that partly from his ' engraving of them upon the
palms of his hands.' This is an allusion, say some, to those that carry
about with them, engraven on some tablet, or on the stone of some
ring which they wear on their finger, the mark, name, or picture of
some person they entirely affect. Their portraiture, their memorial,
was like a signet graven upon his hand. God will as soon blot out
of mind, and forget his own hands, as his Zion ; and partly from his
placing their walls still in his sight. The ruined demolished walls
of Jerusalem were still before him as to their commiseration, and to
their reparation, God being fully resolved in the fittest season to raise
and re-edify them. Look, as the workman hath his model or pattern
constantly either before his eye, or in his thoughts, or in his brain,
that he is for to work by, so, saith God, Zion is continually in my eye,
Zion is still in my thoughts ; I shall never forsake her, I shall never
forget her. But,
[6.] Sixthly, The Lord will be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers,
because of his propriety and interest in them, and his near and dear
relation to them : Isa. xliii. 1, ' But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, Jacob, and he that formed thee, Israel, Fear not :
for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name ; thou
art mine.' Thou art mine, for I have made thee ; thou art mine, for I
have chosen thee ; thou art mine, for I have bought thee, I have pur-
chased thee ; thou art mine, for I have called thee ; thou art mine, for
I have redeemed thee ; thou art mine, for I have stamped mine image
upon thee ; thou art mine, for I have put my Spirit into thee, Isa.
XV. 16 ; 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; 1 Pet. i. 18 ; Phil. iv. 23, 24, xxxvi. 26, 27.
Now mark what follows : ver. 2, ' When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee ; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be
burnt ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.' God will certainly
keep Ins own people, his own childi'en, company, both in the fire and
534 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
in the water ; that is, in those various trials and troubles that they are
incident to in this world, Isa. liv. 5 ; Ps. ciii. 13, 14 ; Exod. xv. 3 ;
Mai. iv. 2 ; Mat. ix. 12 ; Ps. xxiii. 1. When should a husband be
with his wife, but when she is in greatest troubles ? and a father with
his child, but when he is in deep distresses ? and a general with his
army, but when they are in greatest dangers ? When should the
physician be most with his patient, but when he is most desperately
sick ? and when should the shepherd be nearest his sheep, but when
they are diseased, and the wolf is at hand ? Now God, you know,
stands in all these relations to his people, and therefore he will not fail
to be near them when troubles, distresses, and dangers are growing
upon them. But,
[7.] Seventhly, The Lord will be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers,
because such times are commonly times of great and 'sore temptations.
When God's hand is heaviest, then Satan will be busiest. Job ii. 7, 8 ;
Mat. ix. 4 ; Heb. ii. 18. The devil is never more violent in his
temptations than when the saints are under afflictions: James i. 2,
' My brethren, count it all joy, when ye fall into divers temptations,'
that is, ' afflictions ; ' ver. 12, ' Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation,' that is, affliction ; 2 Pet. ii. 9, ' The Lord knoweth how
to deliver the godly out of temptation,' that is, out of affliction. Now
affliction is called temptation, not in the vulgar sense, as temptation
is put for an occasion or inducement to sin, but in its proper and
native signification, as it is taken for probation and trial. Thus God
is said to tempt Abraham, Gen. xxii. 1, that is, he did try and prove
the faith, the fear, the love, the obedience of Abraham. Afflictions
are called temptations, partly because as afflictions will try what mettle
we are made off, so will temptations ; and partly because as afflictions
are burdensome and grievous to us, so are temptations. But mainly
afflictions are called temptations, because in time of affliction Satan
will be sifting and winnowing of the saints. Now he will make use of
all his devices, methods, depths, darts, yea, fiery darts, that he may
vex, afflict, trouble, grieve, wound, torture, and torment those dear
hearts that God would not have grieved and wounded ; and therefore
now the Lord steps in and stands by his people, and by his favourable,
signal, and refreshing presence, he bears up their heads above water,
and keeps their hearts from fainting and sinking under Satan's most
dangerous and desperate temptations, Luke xxii. 31; 2 Cor. xii. 7;
2 Cor._ ii. 11 ; Eph. vi. 11 ; Eev. ii. 24 ; Eph. vi. 16. When a city
is besieged, and the enemies have raised their batteries, and have
made breaches upon their walls, and their provisions grow low, oh,
then, if ever, there is need of succour and relief ! So here. But,
[8.] Eighthly, The Lord will be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers,
because he highly prizes them, and sets an honourable value and esteem
upon them : Isa. xliii. 4, ' Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou
hast been honourable, and I have loved thee, therefore will I give men
for thee,' \_Heb., ' In thy room, or in thy stead,] ' and people for thy
life,' that is, for thy preservation and protection. God s^s such a
mighty price upon his people, that to preserve them from ruin and
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 635
destruction, he makes nothing of giving up to the sword and destruc-
tion, the most rich, strong, populous, and warlike nations in the world.
Now the high price and value that he sets upon them, engages him
to be present with them : ver. 2, ' When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not over-
flow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be
burnt ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.' Them we highly
prize, we won t leave in a day of distress ; no more won't God. God
prizes his people as his peculiar treasure : Exod. xix. 5, as his
'portion ;' Deut. xxxii. 9, as his 'pleasant portion;' Jer. xii. 10, as
his 'jewels;' Mai. iii. 17, as his 'glory;' Isa. iv. 5, as bis ' crown
and royal diadem.' Yea, he prizes the poorest, the meanest, and the
weakest saint in the world above a multitude, yea, above a world of
sinners. Heb. xi. 37, 38, 'Of whom the world was not worthy.'
Though they did not rustle in silks and velvets, but were clad ' in
sheep-skins and goat-skins ;' yet they had that inward excellency, as
that the world was not worthy of their company : and though they
did not dwell in ceiled houses, nor in stately palaces, but ' in deserts
and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth ; ' yet the vile sinful
persecuting world was not worthy of their presence, or prayers, or of
their prudent counsels, or pious examples, &c. God sets a higher
value upon a Job, though on a dunghill, than upon an Ahab, though
on his royal throne, Job i. 1, and ii. 3. God values men by their in-
ward excellencies, and not by their outward dignities and worldly
glories. He sets a higher price upon a Lazarus in his tattered rags,
than upon a rich Dives in his purple robes. Sucb persons have most
of our company whom we prize most, Job ii. 11-13. Job's three
friends did highly value him, and therefore in his deepest distresses,
they own him, they pity him, they weep over him, they accompany
him, and they keep close unto him. Because God highly prizes his
people, he will be signally present with them in their greatest troubles
and deepest distresses. But,
[9.] Ninthly, The Lord will be signally present with his people
in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers,
because they loont leave him, hut stick close to him, and to his
interest, gospel, and glory ; and will cleave fast to his zvord, ivor-
ship, and ways, in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and
most deadly dange7^s, come ivhat ivill on it, Josh. xxiv. ; Jer. xiii.
11 ; Acts xi. 23. You may take away my life, said Basil, but you
cannot take away my comfort ; my head, but not my crown ; yea,
saith he, had I a thousand lives, I would lay them all down for my
Saviour's sake, who hath done abundantly more for me. John Ardley
professed to Bonner, when he told him of burning, and how ill he could
endure it, that if he had as many lives as he had hairs on his head, he
would lose them all in the fire before he would lose his Christ or part
with his Christ. It was a common thing among the martyrs to make all
haste to the fire, lest they should miss of that noble entertainment.
Gordius the martyr said, It is to my loss if ye bate me anything of my
sufferings. The sooner I die, said another, the sooner I shall be happy.
Ps. Ixiii, 1, ' God, thou art my God, early wiU I seek thee ; my soul
thirsteth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;' ver. 8,
536 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
' My soul followeth hard after tliee,' &c. This notes, (1.) The strength
of his intention; (2.) The strength of his affection; (3.) The constancy
of his pursuit ; and all this in a dry and barren wilderness, and in the
face of all discouragements, and in the want of all outward encourage-
ments, Dan. ix. 3 ; Ps. cxix. 20. Whatever the danger or distress be,
the psalmist is peremptorily resolved to cleave close to the Lord, and to
follow hard after the Lord : Ps. xliv. 17, 'All this is come upon us, yet have
we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant ; '
ver. 18, ' Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined
from thy way;' ver. 19, 'Though thou hast sore broken us in the
place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death ;' see 2 Tim.
i. 11, 12, and ii. 8-10; Eph. vi. 19, 20; Col. iv. 3, 18. In the face
of all dangers, deaths, distresses, miseries, &c., God's faithful servants
will own the Lord, and cleave to his ways, and keep close to his wor-
ship and service, let persecutors do their worst : ver. '22, ' Yea, for thy
sake are we killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter,' Kom. viii. 36. It is a question when, and upon what occa-
sion, this psalm was written. Some think that it was written upon
occasion of the seventy years' captivity in Babylon ; but this cannot
be, because that captivity was tlie fruit and product of their high
iniquities, as the Scriptures do everywhere evidence, Dan. ix. 11-14.
They could not say in Babylon, ' For thy sake we are killed all the day
long ;' but for sin's sake, for our wickedness' sake, we are killed all
the day long. It is more probable that this psalm was penned upon
the occasion of the horrible persecution of the church under Antiochus
Epiphanes, unto which I guess Paul hath reference towards the latter
end of that 11th to the Hebrews. In this 22d verse you have three
things observable, (1.) The greatness of their sufferings : 'they were
killed,' amplified by a similitude, ' as sheep to the slaughter.' (2.) The
cause : not for their sin, but ' for thy sake.' (3.) The continuance :
how long, even ' all the day long.' Their sufferings are great and long.
That tyrant Antiochus made no more reckoning of taking away of their
lives, than a butcher doth of cutting the throats of the poor sheep,
Dan. xi. ; and as butchers kill the sheep without making conscience of
the effusion of their blood, even so did that tyrant Antiochus destroy
the saints of the Most High, without making the least conscience of
shedding innocent blood. And as butchers think well of their work,
and are glad when they have butchered the poor sheep, so did this
tyrant Antiochus ; he thought he did God good service in butchering
of the holy people, and rejoiced in that bloody service ; and yet not-
withstanding all the dreadful things that these blessed souls suffered,
they still kept close to God, and close to his covenant, and close to his
ways, and close to his w^orship. And Austin observes,!^ that though
the heathen sought to suppress the growth of Christianity by binding,
butchering, racking, stoning, burning, &c., yet still they increased and
multiplied, Exod. i. 12, and still they kept close to God and his ways.
The church was at first founded in blood, and it has thriven best when
it has been moistened with blood. It was at first founded in the blood
of Christ, and ever since it has been moistened or watered, as it were,
^ Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. xxii. cap. 6.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 537
with the blood of the martyrs. The church of Christ in all ages hath
been like the oal^, which liveth by his own wounds ; and the more limbs
are cut off, the more new sprouts. Oh, how close to God, his ways and
worship, did the saints keep in the ten persecutions ! ' They have fol-
lowed the Lamb whithersoever he went,' Eev. xiv. 4, 5. If they would
have complied with the ways of the world, and the worship of the world,
and the customs of the world, they might have had ease, honour, riches,
preferments, &c., Heb. xi. 35; but nothing could work them off from
God or his ways ; and therefore he will certainly stand by them, and
cleave to them, and be signally present with them in their greatest
troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers. But,
[10.] Tenthly, The Lord will be signally present with his people- in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers,
that they may he joyful and cheerful under all their troubles, and that
they may glory in all their tribulations, Mat. v. 12; Luke vi. 23. It
is good to have a patient spirit, but it is better to have a joyful spirit
in all our sufferings, troubles, distresses, &c., that we meet with in a
way of well-doing, 2 Cor. xii. 10. Acts v. 40, ' And to him they
agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them,
they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus,
and let them go ; ' ver. 41, ' And they departed from the presence of
the council, rejoicing' [Gr., * rejoice and leap for joy,'] ' that they were
counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.' In the original, on
Karr)^id)6T]aav aTtfjLaadrjvat, ' that they were honoured to be dishonoured
for Christ.' They looked upon it as a liigh honour to be dishonoured
for Christ, and as a grace to be disgraced for Christ. It was the
divine presence that made Paul and Silas to sing when they were
accounted trouble -towns, and when they were beaten with many
stripes, and cast into prison, into the inner prison, and laid neck and
heels together, as the word to ^uXov notes, Acts xvi. 20, 22-24, [Beza.]
The divine presence made Paul and Silas to glory in all their stripes,
sores, and wounds, as old soldiers glory in their scars and wounds
which they receive in battle for their prince and country, Eph. vi. 17;
Kom. V. 3. The divine presence might well make Paul and Silas to
say of their stripes and sores, as Munster once said of his ulcers, Hce
sunt gemmce et pretiosa ornamenta Dei, These are the jewels and the
precious ornaments with which God adorns his dearest servants. It
was the divine presence that made Ignatius say in the midst of all
his sufferings, rd Beafia irepiipepco roy? TrvevfiaTiKov'i fiap<yapiTa<;, I
bear my bonds as so many spiritual pearls. So 2 Cor. vii. 4, ' I am
filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulations.'
Gr. v7rep7rep{.aaevofiat, ' I do overabound with joy.' Ver. 5, ' For,
when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we
were troubled on every side: without were fightings, within were
fears ; ' ver. 6, ' Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast
down, comforted us.' It was the divine presence that filled the
Corinthians with exceeding comfort and joy when their flesh had no
rest, and when they were troubled on every side. This signal pre-
sence of God with them in all their tribulations filled their souls with
such an exuberancy of joy, that no good could match it nor no evil over-
538 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
match it It was the divine presence that made the martyrs, both
ancient and modern, so comfortable and cheerful under all their
hideous sufferings. It was the divine presence that made Francisco
Soyit (?) say to his adversaries, ' You deprive me of this life and pro-
mote me to a better, which is as if you should rob me of counters and
furnish me with gold.' Oh, how my heart leapeth for joy, said one,
that I am so near the apprehension of eternal bliss ! God forgive me
mine unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great glory. In all the
days of my life I was never so merry as now I am in this dark dungeon.
Believe me, there is no such joy in the world as the people of Christ
have under the cross, said blessed Philpot, that went to heaven in
flames of fire.^ Let God but withdraw this signal presence from his
people in their sufferings, and you will quickly find their hearts to
droop, their spirits to fail, and they overwhelmed in a sea of sorrows,
as you see in Mr Glover the martyr, and many others. It was this
divine presence that made the primitive Christians to rejoice more
when they were condemned than absolved, 2 and to kiss the stake, and
to thank the executioner, and to sing in the flames, and to desire to
be with Christ. So Justin Martyr, Apol. i.. Adv. Gent, Gratias
agimus quod a molestis dominis liberemicr, We thank you for de-
livering us from hard taskmasters, that we may more sweetly en-
joy the bosom of Jesus Christ. The bee gathers the best honey of
the bitterest herbs, and Christ made the best wine of water. Cer-
tainly the best, the purest, the strongest, and the sweetest joys spring
from the signal presence of God with his people in their greatest
troubles and deepest distresses. Only remember this, that that joy
that flows from the divine presence in times of troubles and distress, it
is an inward joy, a spiritual joy, a joy that lies remote from a carnal
eye. ' The heart knoweth his own bitterness ; and a stranger doth not
intermeddle with his joy,' Prov. xiv. 10. The joy of the saints in
sufferings is a jewel that falls not under a stranger's eye. The joy of
a Christian lies deep, it cannot be expressed, it cannot be painted.
Look, as no man can paint the sweetness of the honeycomb, nor the
sweetness of a cluster of grapes, nor the fragrancy of the rose of
Sharon ; so no man can paint out the sweetness and spiritualness of
that joy that the divine presence raises in the soul when a Christian
is under the greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly
dangers. Holy joy is a treasure that lies deep ; and it is not every
man that has a golden key to search into this treasury. Look, as a
man standing on the sea-shore sees a great heap of waters, one wave
riding upon the back of another, and making a dreadful noise, but all
this while, though he sees the water rolling, and hears it raging and
roaring, yet he sees not the wealth, the gold, the silver, the jewels, and
incredible treasures that lie buried there : so wicked men they see
the wants of the saints, but not their wealth ; they see their poverty,
but not their riches ; their miseries, but not their mercies ; their con-
flicts, but not their comforts ; their sorrows, but not their joys. Oh,
this blind world cannot see the joys, the comforts, the consolations
that the divine presence raises in the souls of the saints when they
1 [Foxe,] Act. and Mon., fol. 1 668-1 C70.
* Magis damnati quam absoluti gaudemus.—
Tei-l. in Apol.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 539
are at worst ! Holy joy and cheerfulness under great troubles and
deep distresses is an honour to God, a glory to Christ, and a credit
to religion ; it stops the mouths of sinners, and it encourages and
strengthens weak saints ; and therefore the Lord will be signally pre-
sent with his people in their greatest troubles, &c., that they may
grace their suffering condition with joy and cheerfulness. And let
thus much suffice for the reasons of the point.
But before I come to the useful application, to prevent the objec-
tions, and to allay the fears and doubts and disputes that may arise in
the hearts of weak Christians concerning this signal presence of God,
1 shall briefly lay down these following propositions : —
1. First, That Clwist is many times really pi'esent when he is
seemingly absent: Gen. xxviii. 16, 'And Jacob said, Surely the Lord
is in this place, and I knew it not/ Choice Christians may have the
presence of Christ really with them when yet they may not be kindly
sensible of his presence, nor yet affected with it, Ps. cxxxix. God is
present everywhere, but especially with his saints ; and not only then
when they are apprehensive of him, but when they perceive no evi-
dence of his presence. Being awakened, he perceived that God had
very graciously and gloriously appeared to him ; and therefore he falls
admiring and extolling the singular goodness and the special kind-
ness of God towards him : as if he had said, I thought that such
strange and blessed apparitions were peculiar to the family of the
faithful ; I thought that God had only in this manner revealed him-
self in my father's house: I did not in the least think or imagine that
such an apparition, such a divine revelation should happen to me in
such a place ; but now I find that that God, who is everywhere in
respect of his general presence, he hath, by the special testimonies of
his presence, manifested himself to me also in this place. So Job,
' Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not : he passeth on also, but I
perceive him not,'i Job ix. 11. So Jonah, chap. ii. 4, ' Then I said,
I am cast out of thy sight ; yet I will look again toward thy holy
temple.' In times of sore afflictions God's children are very prone to
have hard conceits of God, and heavy conceits of themselves. Un-
belief raises fears, doubts, despondency, despair, and works a Chiistian
many times, when he is under deep distresses, to draw very sad con-
clusions against his own soul, ' I am cast out of thy sight.' But this
was but an hour of temptation, and therefore he soon recollects and
recovers himself again : ' yet I will look again toward thine holy
temple.' Here now faith has got the upper hand of unbelief. In the
former part of the verse you have Jonah doubting and despairing, ' I
am cast out of thy sight ; ' but in the latter part of the verse you have
Jonah conquering and triumphing, ' yet I will look again toward thine
holy temple.' When sense saith a thing will never be, and when rea-
son saith such a thing can never be, faith gets above sense and reason,
and saith, ay, but it shall be. What do you tell me of a roaring,
raging sea, of the belly of hell, of the weeds about my head, of the
billows and waves passing over my head ; for yet as low as I am, and
as forlorn as I am, ' I will yet look towards God's holy temple,' I will
1 Consult those scriptures, Luke xxiv. 32; John xx. 13-15 ; Ps. xxxi. 22; Cant. iii.
1-5, and v. 6-8.
540 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
eye God in the covenant of grace ; though I am in the sea, though I
am in the belly of hell, yet by faith ' I will look toward thy holy
temple,' — toward which they were to pray, 1 Kings viii. — and triumph
over all those difficulties which formerly I looked upon as insuperable ;
I will pray and look, and look and pray ; all which does clearly evi-
dence a singular presence of God with him, even then when he per-
emptorily concludes that he was cast out of God's presence, out of his
sight, out of his favour, out of his care, out of his heart. The Lord is
many times really present with his people when he is not sensibly pre-
sent with his people : Judges vi. 12, ' And the angel of the Lord ap-
peared to him, and said unto him. The Lord is with thee, thou mighty
man of valour.' Ver. 13, 'And Gideon said unto him, my Lord;
if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us ? and where be
all his miracles, which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the
Lord bring us up from Egypt ? but now the Lord hath forsaken us,
and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.'i God maybe
really present with his people, they may have his favourable presence
with their inward man, when it goes very ill with their outward man.
Certainly we must frame a new Bible ere we can find any colour out
of God's afflicting us to prove that he doth not love us, or that he hath
withdrawn his presence from us. Christ had never more of the real
presence of his Father than when he had least of his sensible presence,
of his comfortable presence : ' My God, my God, why hast thou for-
saken me ? ' Mat. xxvii. 46. Here is first a compellation or invocation
of God twice repeated : ' My God, my God.' Secondly, the complaint
itself, or matter complained of, touching God's forsaking of him.
Christ was forsaken of God in some sort, and he was very sensible of
his Father's withdrawing, though it was but in part and for a time,
' Why hast thou forsaken me ? ' This forsaking is not to be under-
stood of his whole person, but of his human nature only, according to
which and in the which he now sujBfered on the cross. Though the
person of Christ suffered, and was forsaken, yet he was not forsaken
in, or according to his whole person, but in respect of his human
nature only. The godhead of Christ could not be forsaken, for then
God should have forsaken himself, which is impossible. The personal
union of the godhead with the manhood of Christ continued all the
time of his passion and death, it was never dif^olved, nor ever shall
be : yea, the godhead did uphold the manhood all the time of Christ's
sufferings, so that he was not forsaken when he was forsaken ; he was
not forsaken wholly when he was forsaken in part. The love and
favour of God the Father towards Jesus Christ did not ebb and flow,
rise and fall ; for God never loved Jesus Christ more or better than at
the time of his passion, when he was most obedient to his Father's
will. ' Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my
life for my sheep,' John x. 17. Christ had never more of the support-
ing presence of his Father than when he had least of his comfortable
presence. When Christ was in his grievous agony and distress of
body and mind, the godhead did withdraw the comfortable presence
from the manhood ; and so far, and so far only, was Christ forsaken.
Though the union was not dissolved, yet there was a suspension of
' God may sometimes appear terribly to those whom he loves entirely, Job ix. 34.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIU GREATEST TROUBLES. 541
vision for the time, so as the human nature did neither see nor feel any
present comfort from God. Now so far as the godhead did withdraw
its comfortable presence, so far our Saviour was forsaken, and no
further ; that was but in part, and therefore he was but in part for-
saken. God was really present with Christ when in respect of his
comfortable presence he was withdrawn from him. So here. The
husband may be in the house and the wife not know it ; the sun
may shine and I not see it ; there may be fire in the room and I not
feel it ; so God may be really present with his people when he is not
sensibly present with his people. But,
2. The second proposition is this. That the favourable, signal, and
eminent presence of God ivith his people in their greatest troubles,
deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, is only to he extended
to his covenant-people, to tlwse tliat are his people by special grace :
Jer. xxxii. 38, ' And they shall be my people, and I will be their
God :' ver. 40, ' And I will make an everlasting covenant with them,
that I will not turn away from them, to do them good ; but I will put
my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me :' ver.
41, ' Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good.' There are many
precious promises of the divine presence, as I have already shewed ; but
they are all entailed upon God's covenant-people. We are all the
people of God by creation, both good and bad, sinners and saints, bond
and free, rich and poor, high and low ; and we are all the people
of God by outward profession. All that do make an outward profes-
sion of God, and perform external worship to God, they are all the
people of God in this sense. All the carnal Israelites are frequently
called the j)eople of God, as well as the spiritual seed. Thus Cain was
one of God's people as well as Abel, and Esau as well as Jacob. Now
such as are only the people of God by creation, or by profession, these
are strangers to God, these are enemies to God, Eph. ii. 12 ; and will
he be favourably present with these ? Such as are only the people of
God by creation and outward profession, they are dead in trespasses
and sins ; and can the living God take pleasure in being among the
dead ? Eph. ii. 1 ; Col, ii. 13. Such are under all the threatenings of
the law, and under all the curses of the law, Gal. iii. 10, even to the
uttermost extent of them ; such are not one moment secure ; the
threatenings of God and the curses of the law may light upon them,
when in the house, when in the field, when waking, when sleeping,
when alone, when in company, when rejoicing, when lamenting, when
sick, when well, when boasting, when despairing, when upon the
throne, when upon a sick-bed ; and will God grace these with his pre-
sence ? Lev. xxvi. ; Deut. xxviii. Surely no. Such say to God,
' Depart from us ; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him ? and what profit
should we have, if we pray unto him ?' Job xxi. 14, 15. Such query-
ings as this carry greatest contempt in them, and w^ould lay the
Almighty quite below the required duty as if Almighty were but an
empty title ; and will God ever honour such with his favourable
presence, who bid him be packing, who reject his acquaintance, and
are willing to be rid of his company ? Surely no. Such as are only
his people by creation, and an outward profession, such are under
542 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
the wrath and displeasure of God. ' God is angry with the wicked
every day,' Ps. vii. 11 ; not with a paternal, but with a judicial anger,
even to hatred and abhorment. ' The wicked is an abomination to
him, and he hates all workers of iniquity,' Pro v. iii. 32, and xv. 9.
And therefore to these he will never vouchsafe his signal presence.
Such may well expect that God will pour on them the fierceness
of that wrath and indignation, that they can neither decline nor with-
stand. Such wrath is like the tempest and whirlwind that breaks
down all before it. It is like burning fire, and devouring flames, that
consumes all. This wrath will break down all the sinner's arrogancies,
and strangle all his vain hopes, and mar all his sensual joys, and fill
him with amazing distractions, and make him drunk with the wine of
astonishment. And will God dwell with these ? will he keep house
with these ? Surely no. By these short hints it is most evident that
the special presence of God is entailed upon none out of covenant, John
xiv. 21, 23, God loves to keep house with none but his covenant-
people. He will grace none with his gracious presence, but those that
are his people by special grace, 1 Cor. i. 16-18, When wicked men
are in great troubles, deep distresses, and most deadly dangers, God
either leaves them, as he did Saul, 1 Sam, xxviii. 15, 16, &c. ; or else
pursues them to an utter overthrow, as he did Pharaoh, Exod. xiv. ;
or else cuts them off by an invisible hand, as he did Sennacherib's
mighty hosts, Isa, xxxvii, 36, and proud king Herod, Acts xii, 23 ; or
else he leaves them to be their own executioners, as he did Ahithophel
and Judas, &c. But,
3. The third proposition is this. That a sincere Christian may enjoy
the presence of the Lord in great troubles, deep distresses, and most
deadly dangers, supporting and upholding of him when he has not the
presence of God quickening, comforting, and joying of him, Ps. cxix,
117: Ps. xxxvii, 24, 'Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast
down; for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand,' n"* "[QID, ' uphold-
ing with his hand.' This is the upholding psalm. There is not one
moment wherein the Lord doth not uphold his people by the hand.
The root samach signifies to sustain and bear up, as the nurse or ten-
der mother does the little child, the weak child, the sick child, God's
hand is still under his, so that they can never fall below supporting
grace : Ps. Ixiii. 8, ' Thy right hand upholdeth me ; ' or, ' Thy riglit
hand underprops me,' God never did, nor never will, want a hand
to uphold, a hand to underprop his poor people in their greatest
troubles and deepest distresses. Though the saints have not always
the comforting presence of God in their afflictions, yet they have al-
ways the supporting presence of God in their afflictions, as Christ in
his bitter and bloody agony had much of the supporting presence of
his Father, when he had none of the comforting presence of his Father
with him- : Mat, xxvii. 46, ' My God, my God,' &c, ; so, the saints in
their deep distresses have many times much of the supporting presence
of God. His left hand is under their heads, and his right hand doth
embrace them. Cant, ii, 6, when, in respect of his comforting presence,
they may say with the weeping prophet, ' The comforter that should
relieve my soul is far from me,' Lam. i. 16,^ When the love-sick spouse
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 543
was ready to faint, Christ circleth her with amiable embracements ;
' His left hand is under her head, and his right hand doth embrace her.'
It is an allusion to their conjugal and mensal beds, on which the
guests are so bestowed, that the first laid his left hand under the head
of him that was next, and put him so in his bosom, that with his other
hand he might also, if he pleased, embrace him, which was a posture
and sign of the greatest love, which the sick fainting spouse here
glories in. Christ's two hands are testimonies and witnesses of his
great power and might, who is able to preserve his people, though
lame cripples, from falling, and also to lift them up again when they
are fallen never so low, and likewise to support and uphold them, that
they shall never finally and utterly be cast down. When the hearts of
the saints are ready to faint and sink, then the Lord will employ all his
power for their support, bearing them up as it were with both hands.
He hath put his left hand under my head, as a pillow to rest upon, and
with his right hand he hath embraced me, as a loving husband cherish-
eth his sick wife, and doth her all the help he can, Eph. v. 29. The
best of saints would fail and faint in a day of trouble, if Christ did not
put to both his hands to keep them up. In days of sorrow God's
people stands in need of a whole Christ to support them and uphold
them. My head sinks, my beloved, put thy left hand, softer than
pillows of roses, firmer than pillars of marble, under it ; my heart
faileth and dieth — oh let thy right hand embrace me. But,
4. The fourth proposition is this, That all saints have not a like
measure of tlie presence of Uie Lord in their troubles and trials, in
their sorrows and sufferings. Some have more, and others have less
of this presence of God in an evil day. (1.) All saints have not alike
work to do in an evil day. (2.) All saints have not alike temptations
to withstand in an evil day. (3.) All saints have not alike testimony
to give on an evil day. (4.) All saints have not alike burdens to bear
in an evil day. (5.) All saints have not alike things to suffer in an
evil day. There are greater and there are lesser troubles, distresses,
and dangers ; and there are ordinary troubles, distresses, and dangers ;
and there are extraordinary troubles, distresses, and dangers.! Now,
where the trouble, the distress, the danger, is ordinary, there an ordi-
nary presence of God may suffice ; but where the trouble, the distress,
the danger, is extraordinary, there the people of God shall have an
extraordinary presence of God with them, as you may see in the three
children, Daniel, the apostles, the primitive Christians, and the Book
of Martyrs. Some troubles, distresses, and dangers, are but of a short
continuance, as Athanasius said of his banishment. Nubecula est, citd
transibit. It is but a little cloud, and will quickly be gone. Others
are of a longer continuance, and accordingly God suits his presence.
All saints have not alike outward succours, supplies, reliefs, comforts,
&c., in their troubles, distresses, and dangers. Some have a shelter, a
friend at hand, others have not ; some have many friends, and others
may cry out with him, O my friends, I have never a friend ! some
are surrounded with outward comforts, and others have not one, not
1 Lam. L 12, and iv. 6 ; Dan, ix, 12, 13 ; 2 Cor, xL 21 to the end ; Heb. x;. 25 to the
end.
544 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
one penny, not one friend, not one day's work, &c. ; in a storm some
have good harbours at hand, others are near the rocks, and in danger
of being swallowed up in the sands. So here, and accordingly God
lets out more or less of his presence among his people ; some need
more of his presence than others do, and accordingly God dispenseth
it among his saints. But,
5. The fifth proposition is this. That none of the saints have
at all times, in all afflictions, distresses, and dangers, the same
measure and degree of the presence of the Lord ; hut in one
affliction they have more, in another less, of the divine presence.^
In one affliction a Christian may have more of the enlightening
presence of God than in another ; and in another affliction a Chi'istian
may have more of the comforting presence of God than in another.
In tliis trouble a Christian may have more of the awakening presence
of God than in another, and in that trouble a Christian may have
more of the sanctifying presence of God than in another ; and
in this distress a Christian may have more of the supporting presence
of God than in that. No one saint doth at all times, nor in all
troubles, need a like measure of the divine presence. The primitive
Christians and the martyrs had sometimes more and sometimes less
of the divine presence with them, as their condition did require.
God, who is infinitely wise, does always suit the measures and degrees
of his gracious, favourable, signal presence to the necessities of his
saints. This is so clear and great a truth, that there are many thout-
sands that can seal to it from their own experience ; and therefore I
need not enlarge upon it. But,
6. The sixth and the last proposition is this. That many precious
Christians, in their gy^eat troubles, deep distresses, and most deadly
dangers, may have this favourable, signal, and eminent presence of
God luith them, and yet fear and doubt, yea, peremptorily conclude
that they have not this presence of God luith them,'^ Ps. Ixxvii. 7-10.
These sad interrogatories argues much fear and diffidence; but let
me evidence the truth of this proposition by an induction of par-
ticulars. Thus, first : If Christ be not signally with you, why are
you in your troubles so fearful of offending of him, and so careful
and studious in pleasing of him ? Gen. xxxix. 9, 10 ; Ps. xvii. 3-5 ;
Dan. iii. 16, 17, and vi. 10-13. Secondly, If Christ be not signally
with you, how comes it to pass that under all your troubles, deep
distresses, and most deadly dangers, you are still a-justifying of God,
a-clearing of God, a-speaking well of God, a-giving a good report of
God? Ps. cxix. 75 ; Ezra ix. 13 ; Neh. ix. 32, 33 ; Dan. ix. 12, 14.
Thirdly, If God be not signally with you, how come you to bear up
so believingly, sweetly, stoutly, cheerfully, and patiently under your
troubles, deep distresses, and greatest dangers ? Gen. xlix. 23, 24 ;
1 Sam. XXX. 6 ; Hab. iii. 17, 18 ; Acts v. 40^2, xvi. 25, 26, and xxvii.
22-26; Heb. x. 34. Fourthly, If Christ be not signally present
with you, how comes it to pass that your thoughts, desires, hearts,
thirstings and longings of soul, are so earnestly, so seriously, so fre-
quently, and so constantly carried out after more and more of Christ,
^ Some scores of Psalms do evidence the truth of this proposition.
^ Jouah ii. 4 ; Cant. v. 6-10 ; Ps. Ixxxviii.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 545
and after more and more of the presence of Christ, and after more
and more communion with Christ? Ps. cxxxix. 17, 18, Ixiii. 1, 8,
xxvii. 4, and xlii. 1-3; Exod. xxxiii. 13-16 ; Cant. i. 2. Fifthly, If
Christ be not signally present with you, why are you so affected and
afflicted with the dishonours and indignities, wrongs and injuries,
that are done to the Lord by others? Ps. Ixix. 9, and cxix. 53, 136,
158 ; Jer. ix. 1, 2 ; Ezek. ix. 4, 6 ; 2 Pet. ii. 7, 8. None but such
that have the presence of the Lord signally with them can seriously
and sincerely lament over the high dishonours that are done to the
Lord by others. Sixthly, If the Lord be not signally present with
you under all your troubles and deep distresses, why do you not cast
off prayer, and neglect hearing, and forsake the assembling of your-
selves together, and turn your baoks upon the table of the Lord, and
take your leaves of closet duties ? Job xv, 4 ; Heb. x. 25. But,
seventhly. If the Lord be not signally present with you under your
great troubles and deep distresses, why don't you say with Pharaoh,
' Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice ?' And with the king of
Israel, ' Behold, this evil is of the Lord, and why should I wait for
the Lord any longer ?' Or with that noble pagan, ' If the Lord would
make windows in heaven, might this thing be ?' Or with Saul, Why
don't you run to a witch ? Or with Ahab, Why don't you sell your-
selves to work evil in the sight of the Lord ? Or with Ahaz, Tres-
pass most when you are distressed most ? i Why don't you fret, and
faint, and lie in the streets as a wild bull, full of the fury of the Lord ?
Why don't you grope for the wall, and stumble at noonday, and roar
all like bears ? But, eighthly, If the Lord be not signally present
with you in your greatest troubles and deepest distresses, why do you,
with Moses, prefer suflPering before sinning, and Christ's reproaches
before Egypt's treasures ? Heb. xi. 25, 26. Why do you scruple the
sinning of yourselves out of your sorrows ? Ps. xxxviii, 4 ; Gen. xxxix.
9, 10. Why do you look upon sin as your greatest burden ? Why
are you so tender in the point of transgression, and so stout in resist-
ance of the most pleasing temptation ? But, ninthly. If the Lord be
not signally with yon in your great troubles and deep distresses, why
do you set so high a price upon those that have much of the presence
of God with them in their troubles and trials ? Ps, xvi, 3, 4 ; Pro v.
xii. 26 ; Heb. xi. 38. Why do you look upon them as more excellent
than their neighbours ? yea, as such worthies of whom this world is
noways worthy ? But, tenthly and lastly. If the Lord be not sig-
nally present with you in your greatest troubles and deepest dis-
tresses, how comes it to pass that you are somewhat bettered, some-
what amended, somewhat reformed by the rod — by the afflictions that
have been, and still are, upon you ? Ps. cxix. 67, 71; Hosea v. 14, 15,
and vi. 1, 2; Hosea ii, 6, 7. When the heart is more awakened,
humbled, and softened by the rod, when the will is more compliant
with the will of God in doing or suffering, when the mind is more
raised and spiritualised, when the conscience is more quick and tender,
and when the life is more strict and circumspect, — then we may safely
and roundly conclude that such persons do undoubtedly enjoy the
1 Exod. V. 2; 2 Kings vi. 32, and vii. 2; 1 Sam. ixviii. 15, 16; 1 Kings xxi, 20;
2 Chron. xxviii. 22 ; Isa. Ii. 20, and lix. 10, 11.
VOL. V. 2 M
646 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OP GOD
signal and singular presence of God with them in their greatest
troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, Eph. v. 15. And
thus I have laid down these six propositions ; which, if well weighed
and improved, may many ways be of singular use to sincere Christians.
We shall now come to the application or useful improvement of this
great and seasonable truth. Explication is the drawing of the bow,
but application is the hitting of the mark, the white. Is it so, that
when the people of the Lord are in great troubles, deep distresses, and
most deadly dangers, that then the Lord will be favourably, signally,
and eminently present with them? Then let me briefly infer these ten
things.
[1.] First, That the saints are a people of Christ's special care :
2 Chron. xvi. 9, ' For the eyes of the Lord run to ^nd fro through the
whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them, whose heart
is perfect towards him.' The words contain, (1.) The universality of
God's providence. His eyes walk the rounds, they run to and fro
through the whole earth, to defend and secure the sincere in heart.
Diana's temple was burnt down when she was busied at Alexander's
birth, and could not be at two places together ; but God is present at
all times, in all places, and among all persons, and therefore his church,
which is his temple, can never suffer through his absence, 1 Cor. iii. 16,
and vi. 19. The Egyptians had an idol called Baal-Zephon, which is
by interpretation, Dominus speculce, Lord of the watch-tower, Exod.
xiv. 2 ; his office was to fright such fugitive Jews as should offer to
steal out of the country ; but when Moses and the people of Israel
passed that way, and pitched their camp there, this drowsy god was
surely fast asleep, for they all marched on their way without let or
molestation ; whereas he that keepeth Israel ' neither slumbereth
nor sleepeth ;' he kept his Israel then, and he hath kept his Israel ever
since : he made good his title then, and will make good his title still ;
he ever was, and he ever will be, watchful, over his people for their
good, Ps. cxxi. 3-5 ; Isa. xxvii. 3, 4. (2.) The efficacy of his provi-
dence, to shew himself strong, God fights with his eyes as well as his
hands ; he doth not only see his people's dangers, but saves them from
dangers in the midst of dangers, Zech. ii. 5. When the philosopher
in a starry night was in danger of drowning, he cried out, Surely I
shall not perish; there are so many eyes of providence over me.
King Philip said he could sleep safely because his friend Antipater
watched for him. Oh, how much more may the saints sleep safely,
who have always a God that keeps watch and ward about them!
Ps. iii. 5, 6. God is so strong a tower that no cannon can pierce it,
Prov. xviii. 10, and he is so high a tower that no ladder can scale
it, and he is so deep a tower that no pioneer can undermine it ;
and therefore they must needs be safe and secure who lodge within
a tower so impregnable, so inexpugnable. Now this is the case of
all the saints. The fatherly care and providence of God is still
exercised for the good of his people : Deut. xxxii. 10, ' He found him
in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness ; he led him about,
he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye:' ver. 11, 'As
an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 547
abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings : ' ver. 12,
' So the Lord alone did lead him,' &c.i The eagle carries her young
ones upon her wings, and not between her talons, as other birds do,
openly, safely, swiftly ; and so did God his Israel, being choice and
chary of them all the way, securing them also from their enemies, who
could do them as little hurt as any do the eagle's young, which cannot
be shot but through the body of the old one, Isa. Ixiii. 4-6, and lix.
15. See at what a rate Grod speaks in that, Isa. xl. 27, 28. Observe
how God comes on with his high interrogatories, ' Hast thou not
known ?' What an ignorant people ! ' Hast thou not heard ?' What
a deaf people ! What ! keep no intelligence with heaven ? 1 Pet. v.
7, ' Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.' I will
now with you sing away care, said John Careless, martyr, in his letter
to Mr Philpot,2 for now my soul is turned to her old rest again, and
hath taken a sweet nap in Christ's lap. I have cast my care upon the
Lord, which careth for me, and will be careless according to my name.
It was a strange speech of Socrates, a heathen. Since God is so careful
of you, saith he, what need you be careful for anything yourselves ?
God's providence extendeth to all his creatures ; it is like the sun, of
universal influence, but in a special manner it is operative for the
safety of his saints. In common dangers men take special care of
their jewels, and will not God ; will not God take special care of his
jewels? Mai. iii. 17; Heb. iii. 6; 1 Pet. ii. 5. Surely, yes. The church
of God is the house of God, and will not God take care of his house ?
Surely that shall be well guarded, whatsoever be neglected. His house
is every moment within the view of his favourable eye, and under the
guard of his almighty arm ; his thoughts and heart is much upon his
house. God hath a peculiar and paternal care over his saints. That
distich of Musculus cometh in fitly : —
Est Deus in caelis, qui providus omnia curat,
Credentes nunquam deseruisse potest.
A God there is, whose providence doth take
Care for his saints, whom he will not forsake.
* His eyes run,' implying the celerity and swiftness of God in hastening
relief to his people ; ' His eyes run through the whole earth,' implying
the universality of help. There is not a saint in any dark corner of the
world, under any straits or troubles, but God eyes him, and will take
singular care of him. God will always suit his care to his people's con-
ditions, to which his eminent appearances for them in days of distress
and trouble give signal testimony. It is our work to cast care ; it is
God's work to take care. Let not us, then, by soul-dividing thoughts,
take the Lord's work out of his hand. But,
[2.] Secondly, Will the Lord be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ?
Then here you may see the true reason why the saints are so comfort-
able, cheerful, and joyful in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses,
and most deadly dangers. It is because of that signal presence of
^ Isa. xlix. 16, xxxi. 5, and xxxii. 1, 2. See mj' ' Heavenly Cordial after a Wasting
Plague,' much of the special care of God. [Vol. vi. — G.]
=< LFoxe,] Acts and Mon., fol. 1743.
548 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
God with them.l It was this signal presence of God with the martyrs
that made them rejoice in the midst of their greatest sufferings, and
that made them endure great sufferings without any sensible feeling
of their sufferings : as that young child in Josephus, who, when his
liesh was pulled in pieces with pincers, by the command of Antiochus,
said, with a smiling countenance. Tyrant, thou losest time. Where
are those smarting pains with which thou threatenedst me ? make me
to shrink and cry out if thou canst ! And Bainham, an Enghsh
martyr, when the fire was flaming about him, said. You papists talk
of miracles ; behold here a miracle. I feel no more pain than if I
were in a bed of down; it is as sweet to me as a bed of roses.2
Surely their strength was not the strength of stones, nor their flesh
of brass, Job vi. 12, that they should not be sensible of so great
sufferings ; but this was only from that signal presence of God, that
made them endure grievous pains without pain, and most exquisite
torments without torment, and sore sufferings without feeling of their
sufferings, Heb. xi. 33-39. And other choice souls there were, who,
though they were sensible of their sufferings, yet by the divine pre-
sence they were filled with unspeakable courage, comfort, and alacrity.
Laurence, when his body was roasted upon a burning gridiron, cried
out, This side is roasted enough ; turn the other. Marcus of Arethusa,
a worthy minister, when his body was cut and lanced and anointed
with honey, and hung up aloft in a basket to be stung to death by
wasps and bees; he, looking down cheerfully upon the spectators,
said, I am advanced, despising you that are below. And when we
shall see poor, weak, feeble creatures like ourselves defying_ their tor-
mentors and their torments, conquering in the midst of their greatest
sufferings, and rejoicing and triumphing in the midst of their fiery
trials ; singing in prison, as Paul and Silas did ; kissing the stake, as
Henry Voes did ; clapping their hands when they were half consumed
in the flames, as John Noyes did ; calling their execution-day their
wedding-day, as Bishop Eidley did; we cannot but conclude that they
had a singular presence of God with them, that made all their suffer-
ings seem so easy and so light unto them. Caesar cheered up his
drooping mariners in a storm by minding them of his presence ; but,
alas I alas ! what was Ogesar'g presence to this divine, this signal pre-
sence that the saints have enjoyed in their greatest troubles and deepest
distresses ? But,
[3.] Thirdly, Will the Lord be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ?
Then from hence you may see the weakness, madness, sottisliness, and
folly of all such as make opposition against the saints; that offro7d,
injure, and make head against those that have the p)resence of the
great God in the midst of them, Isa. viii. 9, 10, and xxvii. 4 ; 1 Cor.
i. 25. sirs ! the weakness of God is stronger than men. What
then ie the strength of God ? 1 Cor. x. 22, ' Do we provoke the Lord
to jealousy ? are we stronger than he ?' Ah, who knows the power of
his anger ! Ps, xc. 11, Jt is such that none of the potentates of the
^ Acts V. 40, 41, and ivi. 25; Rom. y. 3 ; 2 Con vii. 4, and xij. 10 ; 1 Pet. iv. 12-14,
These scriptures are already opened and improved.
=> Clarke, as before, p. 397. See Clarke and Foxe for the names that follo^v.— G,
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 549
world, who set themselves against the saints, can avert or avoid, avoid
or abide. That God is a mighty God the Scriptures do abundantly
evidence, and it appears also in the epithet, that is added unto El-,
which is Gibbor, importing that he is a God of prevailing might. By
Daniel he is called El-Elim, ' the mighty of mighties.' Now what
folly and madness is it for dust and ashes, for crawling worms, to
make head against a mighty God ; yea, an Almighty God, who can
curse them, and crush them with a word of his mouth : 2 Chron.
xxxii. 7, ' Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for
the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him, for
there be more with us than with him ;' ver. 8, ' With him is an arm
of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us, and to fight our
battles ;' Gen, xlix. 25 ; Num. xxiv. 4, 16; Kuth i. 20, 21. The king
of Assyria was at that time the greatest monarch in the world, and the
most formidable enemy the church had, yet the divine presence was a
sovereign antidote to expel all base slavish fears that might arise in
any of their hearts concerning his greatness, power, or multitude.
What was that great multitude that was with the king of Assyria, to
that innumerable company of angels that was with Hezekiah ? i And
what was an arm of flesh to God's supreme sovereignty, that had this
proud prince in chains, and that put a hook in his nose, and a bridle
in his lips, and cut ofi" his great army by the hand of an angel in one
night, and left him to fall by the sword of his own sons ? The Lord
of hosts can crush the greatest armies in the world into atoms at
pleasure. When the emperor Heraclius sent ambassadors to Chosroes,
king of Persia, to desire peace of him, he received this threatening
answer : I will not spare you, till I have made you curse your crucified
God, and adore the sun. He was afterwards, like another Sennacherib,
deposed and murdered by his own siroes.^ When the divine presence
is armed against the great ones of the world they must certainly fall.
In Dioclesian's time, under whom was the last and worst of the ten
persecutions, though then Christian religion was more desperately op-
posed than ever, yet such was the presence of God with his people in
those times, that religion prospered and prevailed more than ever ; so
that Dioclesian himself, observing that the more he sought to blot out
the name of Christ it became the more legible, and to block up the
way of Christ it became the more passable ; and whatever d Christ he
thought to root out, it rooted the deeper and rose the higher,, thereupon
he resolved to engage himself no further, but retired to a private
life, [Ruffinus,] This is a good copy for the persecutors of the day to
write after, sirs ! what folly and madness is it for weakness to
engage against strength, the creature against the Creator, an arm of
flesh against the Eock of Ages ! What is the chaff to the whirlwind,
stubble and straw to the devouring flames ? No more are all the
enemies of Zion to the great and glorious G^d,. that is signally present
with his people in their greatest troubles and deepest distresses, &c.,
Acts V. 38-40 •, Ps. Ixxvi. 12, and ex. 5, 6 ; Rev. vi. 14-16. There
was not one of those persecuting emperors that carried on the ten
^ 2 Kings vi. 17 ;: Ps. xxxiv. 7, &c., and xci. II ; Heb.xii. 22, and i. 14 ; Isa. xxivii.
29, 36-38.
" Diac. Cedren. [Chosroes II. or Khosru, Qtrery, ' siroes' a misprint for ' sons'? — G,
550 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
bloody persecutions against the saints, but came to miserable ends ;
yea, histories tell us of three and forty persecuting emperors that fell
by the hand of revenging justice ; first or last the presence of God
with his people will undo all the persecutors in the world. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Will the Lord be signally present with his people
in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ?
Then from hence you may see the Lord's singular love and admirable
kindness to his people in gracing them with his presence in their greatest
troubles, Isa. xliii. 2, 4. That is a friend indeed that will stick close
to a man in the day of his troubles, as Job's friend did stick close to
him in the day of his troubles, and as Jonathan did stick close to
David in his greatest dangers, and as the primitive Christians did
stick close one to another, though with the hazard of their lives, and
to the amzement of their enemies. Job ii. 11-13; 1 Sam. xx. 30-33.
* Behold,' said they, ' how the Christians love one another,' and stand
by one another. The people of God, in their greatest troubles, are a
people of his special love. When they are in distress, he lays them in
his very bosom, and his ' banner over them is love,' Cant. ii. 4. The
love of God to his people is engraven upon the most afEictive dispen-
sation they are under. When he smartly rebukes them, even then
he dearly loves them, Eev. iii. 19. ' Hear ye the rod,' Mic. vi. 9.
Oh, the rod speaks love. Many of the saints have read much of the
Lord's love, written in letters of their own blood. They have read love
in prisons, and love in flames, and love in banishment, and love in
the cruellest torments their enemies could invent. When a Christian's
wounds are bleeding, then God comes in with a healing plaster, Mai.
iv. 2. When a Christian is in a storm, then the presence of the Lord
makes all calm and quiet within, Mat. viii. 26. The presence of the
Lord with his people in their troubles and distresses speaks out the
reality of his love, the cordialness of his love, the greatness of his love,
and the transcendency of his love. The truth and strength of rela-
tions' love one to another doth best appear by their presence one with
another, when either of them are in the iron furnace, or in bonds, or
in great straits or wants, or deep distresses. The parents shew most
of their love to their sick and weak children by their daily pre-
sence with them ; and the husband shews most of his dear and tender
love by keeping his wife company when she is in greatest straits and
dangers. So here. But,
[5.] Fifthly, Will the Lord be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ?
Then this may serve to justify the saints, and to encourage the saints to
ivrite after this fair copy that Christ has set them. Oh visit them ! oh
stand by them ! oh stick close to them in all their troubles, distresses,
and dangers. Let the same mind be in you, one towards another, as
is in Christ towards you all. Are there any Jobs upon the dunghill ?
visit them. Are there any Pauls in chains ? find them out, and be
not ashamed of their chains : 2 Tim. i. 16, ' The Lord give mercy to
the house of Onesiphorus ; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed
of my chain ;' ver. 17, ' But when he was in Rome, he sought me out
diligently, and found me;' ver. 18, ' The Lord grant unto him that
he may find mercy of the Lord in that day ; and in how many things
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 551
he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.' ' He oft
refreshed me.' Greek, [aviylrv^e,] ' Poured cold water upon me ; ' as that
angel did upon the racked limbs of Theodoras the martyr, mentioned
by Socrates and Ruffinus, in the days of Julian the apostate. It is
a metaphor taken from those who, being almost overcome with heat,
are refreshed by cooling. * And was not ashamed of my chain.'
Learned antiquaries observe that the apostle at this time was not in
prison with fetters, but in the custody of a soldier, with whom he might
go abroad, having a chain on his right arm, which was tied to the
soldier's left arm. Paul at this time was not in prison, much less a
close prisoner ; for then Onesiphorus needed not to have made any
great search to find him ; but was a prisoner at large, going up and
down with his keeper to despatch his affairs ; and therefore he speaks
not of chains in the plural number, but of a chain in the singular,
with which he was tied to the soldier that kept him. It noways be-
comes the saints to be ashamed of the bonds or chains that may be
found upon the ambassadors of Christ in an evil day. The primitive
Christians were not ashamed of the martyrs' chains, but owned them
in their chains, and stood by them in their chains, and frequently
visited them in their chains, and freely and nobly relieved them and
refreshed them in their chains : and will you, will you be ashamed to
visit the saints in bonds ? ' Oh let not this be told in Gath, nor pub-
lished in the streets of Askelon,' 2 Sam. i. 20, that the high-flown
professors and Christians of these times are ashamed to own, relieve,
and stand by the saints in bonds. So Mat. xxv. 36, ' I was sick, and
ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came imto me. ' i It is very
remarkable that the last definitive sentence shall pass upon men, ac-
cording to those acts of favour and kindness that have been shewed
to the saints in their suffering state ; and that the sentence of absolution
shall contain a manifestation of all their good works. In this great
day Christ sees no iniquity in his people, he objects nothing against
them, and he only makes honourable mention of the good that has
been done by them. sirs, all the visits you give to sick saints, and
all the visits you give to imprisoned saints, Christ takes as visits given
to himself : suffering saints and you are brethren ; and will you not
visit your own brethren ? suffering saints and Christ are brethren ;
and will you not visit Christ's brethren ? suffering saints and you are
companions ; and will you not visit your own companions ? suffering
saints and you are travelling heaven- wards ; and will you not visit
your fellow-travellers? suffering saints and you are fellow-citizens;
and will you not visit your fellow-citizens ? suffering saints and you
are fellow-soldiers ; and will you not visit your feUow-soldiers ? suffer-
ing saints and you are fellow-heirs ; and will you not visit your fellow-
heirs ? 2 Oh, never be ashamed of those that Christ is not ashamed of !
Oh, never fail to visit those whom Christ daily visits in their suffering
state ! Oh, never turn your backs upon those to whom Christ hath
given the right hand of fellowship ! Oh, be not shy of them, nor
1 See Exod. ii. 11, 12, compared with Acts vii. 23-29, only remember the case was ex-
traordinary, and his call was extraodinary.
« Mat. xxv. 40 ; John xx. 17 ; Ps. cxix. 63 ; 2 Cor. viii. 19 ; Eph. ii. 19 ; Phil. ii. 25;
Kom. viii, 17.
552 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
strange to them whom Christ lays daily in his bosom ! Oh, be not
unkind to them with whom one day you must live for ever ! But,
[6.] Sixthly, Will the Lord be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ?
Then never give way to hose slavish fears, Ps. li. 12, 13, and xlvi. 1-3;
Mat. X. 28, &c. There are as many /ear nots in Scripture as there
are fears. Take a taste of some of them : — Heb. xiii. 5, ' He hath
said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,' Ver. 6, * So that we
may boldly say. The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man
shall do unto me.' This text is taken out of Ps. cxviii. 6, ' The Lord
is on my side, I will not fear what man can do unto me.' Some read
it by way of interrogation, ' What can man do unto me?'l There is
some difference in the apostle's quoting the text betwixt the Hebrew
and the Greek. The Hebrew thus reads'it, ' The Lord is with me,' or
for me ; or as our English hath translated it, * The Lord is on my side.'
The Greek thus, ' The Lord is my helper.' But the sense being the
same with the Hebrew, the apostle would not alter that translation.
The alteration which is in the Greek serves for an exposition of the
mind and meaning of the psalmist ; for- God being with us, or for us,
or on our side, presupposeth that he is our helper. So as there is no
contradiction tjetwixt the psalmist and the apostle, but a clear interpre-
tation of the psalmist's mind ; and a choice instruction thence ariseth
■^viz., that God's signal presence with us, for us, or on our side, may
abundantly satisfy us, and assure us that he will afford all needful help
and succour to us. The consideration of which should abundantly
arm us against all base slavish fears. God is not present with his saints
in their troubles and distresses as a stranger, but as a father ; and there-
fore he cannot but take such special care of them, as to help them, as to
succour them, and as to secure them from dangers in the midst of dan-
gers, and therefore why should they be afraid ? Isa. xliii. 2. The Greek
word fio7)66<i, that is translated helper in that Heb. xiii. 6, according
to the notation of it, signifieth one that is ready to run at the cry of
another. Now this notation implieth a willing readiness and a ready
willingness in God to afford all succour and relief to his people in
their greatest troubles and deepest distresses. Herein God shews him-
self like a tender father, mother, or nurse, who presently runs when
any of them hear the cliild cry, or see danger near : Isa. viii. 10, * God
is with us.' Ver. 12, ' Fear ye not their fear, nor be afraid.' The
divine presence should arm us against all base slavish fears of men's
power, policy, wrath, or rage. Kings and princes, compared with
God, or with the signal presence of God, are but as so many grass-
hoppers, skipping and leaping up and down the field ; and does it
become Christians that enjoy this divine presence to be afraid of grass-
hoppers ? Isa. xl. 22 : Isa. xli. 10, ' Fear thou not ; for I am with thee :
be not dismayed ; for I am thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will
help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteous-
ness.' God expects that his signal presence with us should arm us
against all base fear and dismayedness : Ps. xxiii. 4, ' Yea, though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for
^ The Earl of Murray, speaking of Mr John Knox, said, Here lies the body of him who
in his lifetime never feared the face of any man.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 553
thou art with me.' The divine presence raised David above all his
fears : Ps. xxvii. 1 , ' The Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom
shall I fear ? the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be
afraid ?' Who is the enemy that I should be afraid of ? where is the
enemy that I should be afraid of ? by what name or title is the enemy
dignified or distinguished that I should be afraid of ? I look before
me and behind me, I look round about me and I look at a distance
from me, and I cannot see the man, the devil, the informer that I
should fear or be afraid of, for God is with me. Where God is, said
king Herod in a speech to his army,i there neither wants multitude
nor fortitude. We may safely, readily, and cheerfully set the divine
presence against all our enemies in the world. When Antigonus his
admiral told him that the enemies number far exceeded his : But how
many do ye set me against ? said the king. Look about you and see
who is with you. Ah, Christians, Christians, look about you, look
about you, and see who is signally present with you, and then be afraid
if you can. But,
[7.] Seventhly, Will the Lord be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ?
Then certainly there is no such great evil in troubles, distresses, suffer-
ings, &c. , as many conceive, fear, dream, think, judge. Many men
look upon troubles, afflictions, sufi'erings, in a multiplying glass, and
then they cry out, There is a lion in the way, a lion in the streets, Prov.
xxii. 13, and xxvi. 13. But, sirs, the lion is not always so fierce as he
is painted, nor afflictions are not always so grievous as men apprehend.
There are many who have been very fearful of prisons, and «have looked
upon a prison as a hell on this side hell, who when they have been
there for righteousness' sake, and the gospel's sake, have found prisons
to be palaces, and the imaginary hell to be a little heaven unto them.
Many fear afflictions, and flee from afflictions as from toads and ser-
pents, as from enemies and devils ; and yet certainly there is no such
great evil in affliction as they apprehend, for the Lord is signally pre-
sent with his people in their greatest troubles and deepest distresses.
Now what evil can there be in that condition wherein a man enjoys
the divine presence, that makes every bitter sweet, and every burden
light, and that turns winter nights into summer days, &c. ? yea, many
times the saints enjoy more of the singular presence of God in their
afflictions, in their day of adversity, than ever they did in the day of
prosperity, or in the day of their worldly glory. What bride is afraid
to meet her bridegroom in a dark entiy, or in a dirty lane, or in a nar-
row passage, or in a solitary wood ; and why then should a Christian be
afraid of this or that afflicted condition, who is sure to meet his blessed
bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, in every state, in every condition,
who is sure to enjoy the presence of Christ with him in every turn or
change that may pass upon him ? How many martyrs have ventured
into the very flames to meet with Christ, Heb. xi. 34, and that have
many other ways made a sacrifice of their dearest lives, and all to
meet with Christ ! Oh the cruel mockings, the scourgings, the bonds,
the imprisonments, the stoning, the sawing asunder that many of the
Lord's wortliies have ventured upon, and all to meet with the presence
^ Josephus, lib. xv.
554 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
of the Lord ; and why then should any of you be afraid to enter into
an afflicted condition, where you shall be sure to meet the singular
presence of the Lord, that will certainly turn your afflicted condition
into a comfortable condition to you? Kev. xii. 11, and Heb. xi. 36-38.
The great design of the Lord in afflicting his people is to meet with
them, and to draw them into a nearer communion with himself. It
is that they may see more of him than ever, and taste more of him
than ever, and enjoy more of him than ever ; in order to which he
subdues their corruptions by afflictions, and strengthens their graces,
and heightens their holiness by all their troubles and trials, Isa. i. 25,
xxvii. 8, 9 ; Heb. xii. 10, 11 ; Hosea ii. 14. Whenever he leads his
.spouse into a wilderness, it is that he may speak friendly and comfort-
ably to her, or that he may speak to her heart, as the Hebrew runs.
The great design of the Lord in bringing her into a wilderness was
that he might make such discoveries of himself, of his love, and of his
sovereign grace, as might cheer up her heart, yea, as might even make
her heart leap and dance within her. Or, as some sense it, ' I will
take her alone for the purpose, even into a solitary wilderness,
where I may more freely impart my mind to her,' that she having
her whole desiie she may come up from the wilderness leaning upon
her beloved. Cant. viii. 5, and so be brought into the bride-house with
all solemnity. By all which it is most evident that there is no such
evil in a wilderness estate, in an afflicted condition, as many imagine.
But,
[8.] Eighthly, Will the Lord be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ?
Then what a high encouragement should this he to poor sinners to
study Christ, to acquaint themselves ivith Christ, to embrace Christ,
to choose Christ, to close with Christ, to submit to Christ, and to make
a resignation of themselves to Christ, and to secure their interest in
Christ, that so they may enjoy his signal presence in their greatest
troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, John i. 12 ; Ps.
cxii. 2, 3, and ii. 12 ; 2 Cor. viii. 5. Oh, how many mercies are wrapt up
in this mercy of enjoying the singular presence of the Lord in all the
troubles and trials of this life ! Ps. xxiii. 4. It is a mercy to have the
presence of a friend, it is a greater to have the presence of a near and
dear relation with us in a day of distress, in a day of darkness ; but
what a mercy is it then to have the presence of the Lord with one in
a dark day ! That is excellent counsel that the wisest prince that ever
swayed a sceptre gives in that Eccles. xi. 8, ' Remember the days of
darkness, for they shall be many.' When light shall be turned into
darkness, pleasure into pain, delights into wearisomeness, calms into
storms, summer days into winter nights, and the lightsome days of
life into the dark days of old age and death ; oh, now the singular
presence of the Lord with a man in these days of darkness will be
a mercy more worth than ten thousand worlds ! To have a wise, a
loving, a powerful, a faithful friend to own us in the dark, to stand
by us in the dark, to uphold us in the dark, to refresh us in the
dark, to encourage us in the dark, &c., is a very choice and singular
mercy, Ps. Ixxi. 20, 21. Oh then, what is it to have the presence of
the Lord with us in all those dark days that are to pass over our
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 555
heads ! What David said of the sword of Goliath in another case,
' There is none like that/ 1 Sam. xxi. 8, 9, that I may say of the
divine presence with a man in the dark, ' There is none like that.'
The psalmist hit the mark, the white, when he said, ' My flesh and my
heart faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion
for ever.'i When his ' flesh,' that is his outward man, and when his
* heart,' his courage, that is his inward man, failed him, then God
was ' the strength of his heart,' or ' the rock of his heart,' as the Hebrew
runs. At the very last gasp God came in with his sovereign cordial,
and revived him and recovered him, and brought new life and strength
into him. When a saint is at worst, when he is at lowest, when he
is even overwhelmed with troubles and sorrows, and when the days of
darkness so multiply upon him that he seems past all hope of recovery,
then the divine presence does most gloriously manifest itself and dis-
play itself in supporting, strengthening, comforting, and encouraging
of him. In the Kev. iv. 6, you read that the world is like a sea of
glass, ' I saw before the throne a sea of glass.' The world is transi-
tory, very frail and brittle as glass, and it is unstable, tumultuous,
and troublesome as the sea. Here the world is shadowed out to us
by a sea of glass ; and how can we stand on this sea, how can we live
on this sea, how can we walk on this sea, if Christ don't take us by
the hand, and lead us and support us and secure us ? sirs, we can-
not uphold ourselves on this sea of glass, nor others cannot uphold us
on this sea of glass ; it is none but dear Jesus, it is no presence but
his singular presence that can make us to stand or go on this sea of
glass. And if this world be a sea of glass, oh what infinite cause have
we to secure our interest in Christ, who alone can pilot us safe over this
troublesome, dangerous, and tempestuous sea ! Oh that I could pre-
vail with poor sinners to take Christ into the ship of their souls, that
so he may pilot them safe into the heavenly harbour, the heavenly
Canaan. No pilot in heaven or earth can land you on the shore of a
happy eternity, from off this sea of glass, but Jesus. When on this
sea of glass the winds blow high, storms arise, and the bold waves
beat into the ship, oh then the sinner cries, ' A kingdom for a Christ,'
a world for a pilot to save us from eternal drowning ! Oh that before
eternal storms and tempests do beat upon poor sinners, they would be
prevailed with to close with Christ, to accept of Christ, and to enter
into a marriage-covenant, a marriage-union with Christ ; that so they
may enjoy his singular presence with them whilst they are on this sea
of glass, Ps. xi. 6, and ix. 17 ; Hosea ii. 19, 20 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2. There
is no presence so greatly desirable, so absolutely necessary, and so
exceeding sweet and comfortable, as the presence of Christ ; and there-
fore, before all and above all, secure this presence of Christ by match-
ing with the person of Christ, and then you will be safe and happy
on a sea of glass. But,
[9.] Ninthly, Will the Lord be signally present with his people in
their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ?
Then let me infer that unbelief, infidelity, and despondency of spirit in
an evil day, does very ill become the people of God. Is the Lord pre-
sent with you in your greatest troubles, and will you flag in your
1 Ps. Ixxiii. 26. The Greek saith, The God of my heart, &c.
556 THE SIGNAL PKESENCE OF GOD
faith, and be crestfallen in your courage, when the blast of the terrible
ones is as a storm against the wall ? Isa. xxv. 4 ; what is this but
to tell all the world that there is more power in your troubles to sink
and daunt you, than there is in the presence of the Lord to support and
encourage you ? When a Christian is upon the very banks of the Eed
Sea, yet then the divine presence should encourage him ' to stand
still, and see the salvation of the Lord,' Exod. xiv. 13. It would
be good for timorous Christians in an evil day to dwell much upon the
prophet's commission : Isa. xxxv. 3, ' Strengthen ye the weak hands,
and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart.
Be strong, fear not.' Ah, but how shall weak hands be strong, and a
timorous heart cease to fear and faint ? Why, ' Behold, your God
will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense ; he will come
and save you ;' he is on his way, he will be suddenly with you^yea, he
is already in the midst of you, and he will save you." If you cast but
your eye upon precious promises, if you cast but your eye upon the
new covenant, which is God's great storehouse, there you will find all
supports, all supplies, all helps, and all comforts, laid up, and laid
in for you ; and therefore never despond, never faint, never be dis-
couraged in an evil day, in a dark time.^ As Joseph had his store-
houses to give a full supply to the Egyptians in time of famine, so
dear Jesus, of whom Joseph was but a type, has his storehouses
of mercy, of goodness, of power, of plenty, of bounty, out of which in
the worst of times he is able to give his people a full supply according
to all their needs ; and therefore be not discouraged, do not despond
in a day of trouble, my friends, how often has the Lord hid you
in the secret of his presence from the pride of men, and kept you
secretly in his pavilion from the strife of tongues ! Ps. xxvii. 5,
and xxxi. 20. And therefore ' be strong, and lift up the hands that
hang down, and the feeble knees,' Heb. xii. 12. When David was in
a very great distress, he does not despond nor give way to unbelief,
but encourages himself in the Lord his God, 1 Sam. xxx. 6. The
Hebrew word is derived from Chazack, which notes a laying hold
on God with all his strength, as men do when they are in danger
of drowning, who will suffer anything rather than let go their hold.
When David was almost under water, when he was in danger of
drowning, then, by a hand of faith, he lays hold on the Eock of Ages,
and encourages himself in the Lord his God. What heavenly gallantry
of spirit did good Nehemiah shew from that divine presence that was
with him in that great day of trouble and distress, when ' the remnant
of the captivity were in great affliction and reproach : and the wall of
Jerusalem broken down, and the gates thereof burnt with fire ! ' Neh.
i. 3. You know Shemaiah advises him to take sanctuary in the
temple, because the enemy had designed to fall upon him by night
and slay him, and cause the work to cease ; but Nehemiah, having
a signal presence of God with him, gives this heroic and resolute
answer, ' Should such a man as I flee ? and who is there, being as
I am, would go into the temple to save his life ?' Neh. vi. 10, 11. I
will not go in. Should I flee into the temple like a malefactor to take
^Isa. xli. 10, and xliii. 2 ; Heb. xiii. 5; Jer. xxxii. 40, 41, xxxi. 31-38 ; Gen. xli.
85, 36, 48, 49 ; Cal. i. 19, and ii. 3.
"WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 557
sanctuary there, how would God be dishonoured, religion reproached,
the people discouraged, the weak scandalised, and the wicked em-
boldened to insult and triumph over me ! saying. Is this the man that
is called by God, and qualified by God, for this work and service ? Is
this the man that is countenanced and encouraged by the king to
build the walls, and gates, and city of Jerusalem ? Neh. ii. 5-10. Is
this the man that is the chief magistrate and governor of the city ? Is
this the man that is sent aad set for the defence of the people, and that
should encourage them in their work ? Oh what a mouth of blasphemy
would be opened, should I make a base retreat into the temple to save
my life ! This is a work that I will rather die than do. I have
found the face of God, the presence of God, in bowing the heart
of king Artaxerxes, to contribute his royal aid, and commission me to
the work ; and in the bending of the hearts of the elders of the Jews
to own my authority, and to rise up as one man to build ; and there-
fore I will rather die upon the spot than go into the temple to
save my life. my friends, it becomes not those that have the pre-
sence of God with them in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses,
and most deadly dangers, to sink so low in their faith and confidence,
as to cry out with the prophet's servant, ' Alas, master ! what shall we
do?' or, with the disciples when in a storm, 'We perish ;' or, with
the whole house of Israel, ' Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost :
we, are cut off for our parts ;' or, with weeping Jeremiah, * My strength
and my hope is perished from the Lord ;' or, with Zion, ' The Lord
hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me,' 2 Kings vi. 15 ;
Mat. viii. 25 ; Ezek. xxxvii. 11 ; Lam. iii. 18 ; Isa. xlix. 14. Oh, it
is for a lamentation when God's dearest children shall bewray their
infidelitv by a fainting, sinking, discouraged spirit in an evil day.
But,
[10.] Tenthly and lastly. Will the Lord be signally present with his
people in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly
dangers ? Then let the people of the Lord be very thankful for Ms
presence with them in their greatest troubles, &c., Exod. xxxiii. 13-16 ;
2 Tim. iv. 22 ; Ps. xvi. 11. sirs ! this divine presence is a great
mercy. It is a peculiar mercy, it is a distinguishing mercy, it is a
big-bellied mercy, it is a mercy that hath many mercies in the womb
of it. It is a mercy-greatening mercy ; it greatens all the mercies we
do enjoy. It is a mercy-sweetening mercy ; it sweetens health, strength,
riches, honours, trade, relations, liberty, &c. It is a soul-mercy, a
mercy that reaches the soul, that cheers the soUl, that lifts up the soul,
that quiets the soul, that satisfies the soul, and that will go to heaven
with the soul, Eph. i. 3. And will you not be thankful for such a
mercy ? Will you be thankful for temporal mercies, and will you not
be thankful for spiritual mercies? Will you be thankful for left-
handed mercies, and will you not be thankful for right-handed mercies?
Will you be thankful for the mercies of the footstool, and will you not
be thankful for the mercies of the throne ? Will you be thankful for
the mercies of this lower world, and will you not be thankful for the
mercies of the upper world? Ps. ciii. 1-4. To enjoy the presence of
God when we most need it, is a mercy that deserves perpetual praises.
Oh, it is infinite mercy not to be left alone in a day of trouble. It is
558 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
very uncomfortable to be left alone : * Woe to him that is alone,'
Eccles. iv. 10, 11. If a man fall, and be left alone, who shall help
him up ? If a man be in danger and alone, how miserable is his case !
But this is the support and comfort of a Christian in all his difficulties,
that he is never left alone ; but his God is with him when he is at the
lowest ebb, Heb. xiii. 5 ; Ps. xxxvii. 24, xxxi. 3, Ixxiii. 24 ; Exod.
xxxiii. 2, 14-16. For God to afford us the presence of our friends in
a day of trouble is a very great mercy ; but what is it, then, to enjoy
the presence of God in a day of trouble ? What is the presence of a
friend, a favourite, in a day of distress, to the presence of a prince ?
yea, what is the presence of an angel to the presence of God in an evil
day? To enjoy the presence of God in an afflicted condition is a
more transcendent mercy than to enjoy the presence of twelve legions
of angels in an afflicted condition. The divine presence is the greatest
good in the world. It is life eternal ; it is the bosoni of God, the gate
of glory, the beginning of heaven, the suburbs of happiness; and there-
fore be much in blessing of God, in admiring of God, for his presence
with you in a dark and trying day. There is no gall, no wormwood,
no affliction, no judgment to that of God's departing from a people.
Lam. iii. 19, 20 : Jer. vi. 8, ' Be thou instructed, Jerusalem, lest my
soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.'
When God departs, nothing followeth but desolation upon desolation ;
desolation of persons, desolation of peace, of prosperity, of trade, and
of all that is near and dear unto us : Hosea ix. 12, ' Though they
bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be
a man left ; yea, woe also to them when I depart from them.' All ter-
rible threatenings are summed up in this, ' Woe unto them when I
depart from them.' Surely even woe to them ; he put a sureness upon
this ' woe to them when I depart from them.' As if the Holy Ghost
should say. What, do I threaten this or the other evil ? the great evil
of all, the rise of all evils, is God's forsaking of them. Hell itself is
nothing else but a separation from God's presence, with the ill conse-
quents thereof. And were hell as full of tears as the sea is full of
water, yet all would not be sufficient to bewail the loss of that beatifical
vision. How miserable was Cain when cast off by God ! Gen. iv. ;
and Saul, when the Lord departed from him ! It was a most dreadful
speech of Saul, ' I am sore distressed, for the Philistines make war
against me, and God is departed from me,' 1 Sam. xxviii. 15, 16.^
When God left the Israelites, though for a little while, the Holy Ghost
saith they were naked, Exod. xxxii. 25. How naked? Non veste,
sed gratia et prcesidio Dei, Not for want of raiment, or weapons of
war, but for want of God's presence and protection. 2 When God
departs from a people, that people lies naked ; that is, they lie open
for all storms, tempests, and dangers. Now if it be the greatest evil
in the world to be shut out from the gracious presence of Christ, then
it must be the greatest mercy in this world to enjoy the gracious pre-
sence of God in our great troubles and desperate dangers. And there-
fore let all sincere Christians be much in thankfulness to the Lord, and
in blessing and praising the Lord, for his signal presence with them
in their low and afflicted estate. Oh, the light, the life, the love, the
' They that are out of God's care are under his curse. - Junius in loc.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 559
holiness, the peace, the grace, the comforts, the supports that always
attends the gracious presence of the Lord with his people in their
deep distresses, &c. Therefore let the high praises of God for ever
be in their mouths, who enjoy this signal presence of God. The
46th Psalm is called by some Luther's psalm ; that is a psalm that
Luther was wont to call to his friends to sing when any danger,
trouble, or distress was near. When the clouds began to gather,
Come, saith Luther, let us sing the 46th Psalm, and then let our
enemies do their worst. ^ Observe the confidence and triumph of
the church in the face of the greatest dangers : ver. 1, ' God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble :' ver, 2, ' There-
fore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the
mountains be carried into the midst of the sea ; ' ver. 3, * Though the
waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with
the swelling thereof. Selah.' Ver. 6, * Though the heathen rage, and
the kingdoms were moved,' to remove and root out the church with
great force and fuiy. Now mark, by the change of the earth and
removing of the mountains, are often meant the greatest alterations
and concussions of states and polities, Hag. ii. 22, 23 ; Jer. li. 25 ;
Eev. vi. 14. Now, saith the psalmist, all these dreadful turns,
changes, shakings, and concussions of states and kingdoms shall never
trouble us, nor daunt us ; they shall never make us fret, faint, or fear.
Why, what is the ground ? * The Lord of hosts is with us ; the God
of Jacob is our refuge,' ver. 7 ; and so, ver. 11, the same words
are repeated again, * God is not gone, God is not withdrawn, God is
not departed from us.' Oh no ! ' The Lord of hosts is with us, the
Lord of hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge, the God of
Jacob is our refuge ;' and therefore we are divinely fearless and
divinely careless. Though hell and earth should combine against us,
yet we will bear up, and be bold to believe that all shall go well with
us ; for God is in the midst of us, * The Lord of hosts is with us,'
even the Lord, who commandeth far other hosts and armies than the
enemy hath any. 'The God of Jacob is our refuge;' Heb., 'Our
high tower.' God is a tower, so high, so strong, so inaccessible, so
invincible, that all our enemies, yea, all the powers of darkness, can
never hurt, reach, storm, or take ; and therefore we that are sheltered
in this high tower may well cast the gauntlet to our proudest, strongest,
and subtlest enemies. And let thus much suffice for the inferences.
The next use is a use of exhortation, to exhort all the people of
God so to order and demean themselves as to keep the divine presence,
as to keep the signal, the singular presence of God, with them in their
greatest troubles, deepest distresses, a7id most deadly dangers. Now
that this may stick in power upon your souls, consider seriously of
these following motives : —
[1.] First, The signal presence of God with his people puts the
greatest honour, dignity, and glory upon a people imaginable ; vide
Isa. xliii. 2, 4 ; Jer. xiii. 11 ; Ezek. xlviii. 35. There are many titles
of honour amongst men ; but this, above all, is the truly honourable
1 We may translate it, * He is found ;' that is, God is present, at hand; as. Gen. xix.
15, ' God is a present help.' The Hebrew word, in a secondary sense, signifies ' to be
sufficient,' Num. xi. 22. A sufficient help : you need no other.
560 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
title, that we have God so near unto us : Deut. iv. 7, ' What nation is
there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God
is to us?' Whilst he vouchsafed his presence amongst them, how
honourable, how renowned were they all the world over ! But when
he departed from them they became the scorn and contempt of all
nations. It may be said of some men, they have large estates, but
not the presence of God with them ; they are highly honoured and
dignified in the world, but no presence of God with them ; they have
great trades and vast riches, but no presence of God with them ; they
are nobly related, but no presence of God with them ; they have
singular parts and natural accomplishments, but no presence of God
with them. The want of the divine jDresence gives a dash, casts a
blot upon all their grandeurs and worldly glory, and, like coprice,!
turns all their wine, be it never so rich, into ink and blackness.
What a deal of honour and glory did the presence of God cast upon
Joseph in prison, Gen. xxxix. 19, 20; and upon Daniel in the den ;
and upon the three children in the fiery furnace ; and upon David,
when a persecuting Saul could cry out, ' Thou art more righteous
than I,' 1 Sam. xxiv. 17 ; and upon John, when a bloody Herod
feared him and observed him, Mark vi. 20 ; and upon Paul, when a
tyrannical Felix trembled before him. Acts xxiv. 25 ; as if Paul had
been the judge, and Felix the prisoner at the bar. Some write of the
crystal, that what stone soever it toucheth, it puts a lustre and loveli-
ness upon it. The presence of God puts the greatest lustre, beauty,
glory, and loveliness that can be put upon a person. Now because
the witness of an adversary is a double testimony, let Balaam — who,
as some write of a toad, had a pearl in his head, though his heart
was naught, very naught, stark naught — give in his evidence. ' How
goodly are thy tents, Jacob, and thy tabernacles, Israel,' Num.
xxiv. 5. He speaks both by way of interrogation and admiration :
their tents are so comely, and their tabernacles so lovely, that their
grand enemy was affected and ravished with them. But whence is it
that Israel is so formidable and terrible in his eye ? How comes this
about, that he who came to fight against them thinks them beyond
all compare ; nay, doth himself admire their postures and order, their
great glory and brave gallantry ? Why, all is from the presence of
their Lord- General with them : * The Lord their God is with them ;
the shout of a king is amongst them,' Num. xxiii. 21. It is thti
highest honour, renown, and dignity of a people to have God in the
midst of them, to have God near unto them. Thus Moses sets out
the honour and dignity of the Jews : Deut. xxvi. 18, * The Lord hath
avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people :' ver. 19, ' To make
thee high, above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in
name, and in honour.' When God reckons up the dignities of his
people, this is the main, the top, of all : Ps, Ixxxvii. 5, ' And of Zion
it shall be said, Tliis and that man was born in her ; and the Highest
himself shall establish her.' If you would keep your honour and
dignity, keep the presence of God in the midst of you. When God is
departed from Israel, then you may write Ichabod upon Israel ; ' The
glory is departed from Israel,' 1 Sam. iv. 21, 22. But,
' 'Copperas.' — G.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 561
[2.] Secondly, To move you so to order, demean, and carry your-
selves as you may enjoy the gracious presence of God with you in your
greatest troubles and deepest distresses, consider that nothing can
make up the want of this signal presence of God. It is not the pre-
sence of friends, of relations, of ministers, of ordinances, of outward
comforts, that can make up the want of this presence. It is not candle-
light, or torchlight, or starlight, nor moonlight, that can make up the
light of the sun. When the sun is set in a cloud, all the world cannot
make it day ; and when the presence of God is withdrawn, nothing can
make up that dismal loss. ' Thou didst hide thy face and 1 was
troubled,' Ps. xxx. 6, 7, that is, thou didst suspend the actual influence
and communication of thy grace and favour. The Chaldee calleth it
' Shechinah, the divine presence:' and I was all-amort. i It was not
his crown, his kingdom, his riches, his dignities, his royal attendance,
&c., that could make up the loss of the face of God ; neither is it the
presence of an angel that can make up the want of the presence of
God : Exod. xxxiii. 2, ' And I will send an angel before thee.' God
here promiseth Moses that he would send an angel before them, but
withal adds that he would not go up himself in the midst of them :
ay, but such a guide, such a guardian, such a nurse, such a companion,
such a captain -general would not satisfy Moses, Exod. xxxiii. o.
Ver. 14, 'And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give
thee rest.' Ver. 15, ' And he said unto him. If thy presence go not
with me, carry us not up hence.' Nothing would satisfy Moses below
the presence of God, because he knew that they were as good never
move a foot farther, as to go on without God's favourable presence.
God engages himself that he will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite,
and Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite out of
the land. Oh, but * if thy presence go not with me, carry us up not
hence.' I will bring the necks of all thy proud, stout, strong, and
subtle enemies under thy feet. Oh, but ' if thy presence go not with
me, carry us not up hence.' Ay, but, Deut. xxxii. 13-16, ' I will bring
thee to a land flowing with milk and honey : I will make thee to ride
on the high places of the earth, and I will make thee to suck honey
out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock ; and thou shalt drink
the pure blood of the grape.' Oh, but ' if thy presence go not w^ith
me, carry us not up hence.' I will bring thee to the paradise of the
world, to a place of pleasure and delight, to Canaan, a type of heaven !
Oh, but ' if thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.'
Lord, if I might have my wish, my desire, my choice, I had infinitely
rather to live in a barren, howling wilderness with thy presence, than
in Canaan without it ! It is a mercy to have an angel to guard us, it
is a mercy to have our enemies sprawling under our feet, it is a mercy
to be brought into a pleasant land : oh, but ' if thy presence go not
with me, carry us not up hence.' Lord, nothing will please us,
nothing will profit us, nothing will secure us, nothing will satisfy
us, without thy presence; and therefore 'if thy presence go not
with us, carry us not up hence.' I have read of the Tyrians, that
they bound their gods \vith chains, that they might not in their
greatest need pass over to the enemy ; and among the rest they
1 'Dead:' also 'stunned,' 'confused.'— G.
VOL. V. 2 N
562 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
cliained and nailed their god Apollo to a post, that they might be sure
to keep their idol, because they thought their safety was in it. I am
sure our safety, our comfort, our all, lies in the signal presence of God
with us ; and therefore let us by faith and prayer chain God to us ; if
we let him go, a thousand worlds cannot make up his absence. I sup-
pose you have heard of the palladium of the heathens in Troy ; they
imagined that so long as that idol was kept safe, they were uncon-
querable ; all the strength and power of Greece were never able to
prevail against them. Wherefore the Grecians sought by all the
means they could to get it from them. my friends, so long as you
keep the presence of God with you, I am sure you are unconquerable !
but if God withdraw his presence, the weakest enemy will be too hard
for you, yea, wounded men will prevail over you : Jer. xxxvii. 10,
* For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that
fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them,
yet should they rise up and burn this city with fire.' The bush, which
was a type of the church, consumed not while it burned with fire,
because God was in the midst of it. Oh, do but keep God in the
midst of you, and nothing shall hurt you, nothing shall burn you ! but
if God depart, nothing can secure you, nor nothing can make up his
withdrawing from you. But,
[3.] Thirdly, To move you so to order, demean, and carry yourselves
as that you may enjoy the gracious presence of God with you in the
greatest troubles and deepest distresses, consider that if you do not
labour to demean, order, and carry yourselves so as that you may enjoy
the favourable, signal, and eminent presence of God with you in your
greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, you have
high reason to question whether ever you have orally enjoyed this
favou7'ahle, this signal presence of God ivith you or no; for there are
always four tilings to be found in him that has really tasted, and in
good earnest experienced, the sweet, the life, the power, the virtue, that
is in the favourable signal presence of God— (1.) Such a person sets the
highest price and value imaginable upon it, he prizes it above all the
honours, riches, dignities, delights, comforts, and contents of this world,
Ps. iv. 6, 7 ; yea, he prizes it above life itself : Ps. Ixiii. 3, ' Thy
loving-kindness is better than life.' The Hebrew is plural, Chajirn,
lives. The loving-kindness of God, the presence of God in a wilder-
ness, is better than lives, than many lives, than all lives with the ap-
purtenances. There is a greater excellency in the favour of God, in
the presence of God, than in all lives put together. There have been
many persons that have been weary of their lives, but there never was
any man that has been weary of the favour of God, of the presence of
God, 1 Kings xix. 4 ; Job vii. 15 ; Jonah iv. 8 ; Prov. xxviii. 14.
(2.) Such a person keeps up in his soul a humble fear of losing of it.
The divine presence is a jewel more worth than all the world, and he
that has experienced the sweetness of it had rather lose all he hath in
this world than lose it. I have read of a religious woman, that having
born nine children, professed that she had rather endure all the pains
of those nine travails at once, than endure the misery of the loss of
God's presence. (3.) Such a person keeps up in his soul a diligent
care to maintain this presence ; his head, his heart is stiU a-contriving
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 5G3
how he may keep his God with him : Jer. xiv. 9, ' Why shouldest
thou he as. a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet
thou, Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name ;
leave us not.' This person had rather that his dearest friends should
leave him, that liis nearest relations should leave him, yea, that all
the world should leave him, than that his God should leave him. The
daily, yea, the hourly language of the soul is. Lord, leave me not ;
though all the world should leave me, yet don't thou leave me !
(4.) Such a person will do all he can that all under his care and
charge may partake of this signal presence of God ; he will do his
utmost that children, yoke-fellow, kindred, servants, may taste the
sweetness of the divine presence, John i. 40 to the end, and iv. 28^3 ;
Acts X. 24-36. When Samson had found honey in the carcase of the
lion, he did not only eat himself, but he gave of the honey to his father
and mother, and they did eat also, Judg. xiv. 8, 9. Of all sweets the
presence of God is the greatest sweet ; and whenever a poor soul comes
to taste of this heavenly honey, he will do his best that all others,
especially those that are near and dear to him, may taste of the same
honey. But,
[4.] Fourthly, To move you so to order, demean, and carry yourselves
as that you may enjoy the gracious presence of God with you in your
greatest troubles and deepest distresses, consider the excellent properties
or qualities of this favourable, this signal presence of God with his people.
This I can but hint at, because I must hasten all I can to a close.
(1.) It is the best presence, Ps. Ixiii. 3. It is better than the pre-
sence of friends, of relations, of saints, of angels, &c. (2.) It is the
greatest presence, it is the presence of the great King, it is the pre-
sence of the King of kings and Lord of lords, it is the presence nf)t
only of a mighty but of an almighty God, 1 Kings viii. 27 ; Kev. xvii.
14, and xix. 16 ; Num. xxiv. 4, 16 ; Kuth i. 20, 24. (3.) It is the
happiest presence. It is a presence that makes a man really happy,
presently happy, totally happy, eminently happy, and eternally happy,
Ps. cxliv. 15 ; 1 Kings x. 8 ; Deut. xxxiii. 29 ; Prov. iii. 18. He can
never be truly happy that wants this presence ; he can never be truly
miserable that enjoys this presence. True happiness is too great a
thing to be found in anything below this favourable, this signal pre-
sence of God. He that enj oys this presence enj oys all ; he that wants this
presence enjoys nothing at all ; he that wants this presence may write
nothing or nought upon his honours, riches, pleasures, dignities, offices,
relations, friends, &c., Amos vi. 13. All a man has are but ciphers
without a figure if he be not blessed with this divine presence. This
divine presence was Jacob's 'enough,' yea, Jacob's 'all:' Gen. xxxiii.
11, ' I have all,' Esau had much, Li-zah,^ ' I have much, my brother ;'
ver. 9, ' But Jacob had all' Hahet omnia, qui hahet habentem omnia,
' He hath all who hath him that is all in all' Omne bonum in summo
bono, ' All good is in the chiefest good,' [Augustine.] Secure this
divine presence, and you secure all, Col. iii. 11. (4.) It is the most
desirable presence. Consult these scriptures in the margin, l Job
xxiii. 3, ' Oh that I knew where I might find him ! that I might
come even to his seat.' Exod. xxxiii. 15, ' If thy presence go not
1 Ps. xlii. 1, 2, Ixiii. I, 2, 8, and xxvii. 4 ; Gen. xxviii. 20 ; Ts. Ixxxiv.
564 THE SIGNAL PBESENCE OF GOD ,
with me, cany us not up hence;' ver. 16, ' For wherein shall it be
known here, that I and my people have found grace in thy sight, is it
not in that thou goest with us?' Cant.iii. 1, ' By night on my bed
I sought him whom my soul loveth, I sought him, but I found him
not/ The presence of bad men is never desirable ; the presence of
good men is not always desirable, for there are cases wherein their
presence may be a burden to us, as Job and others have experi-
enced, Jer. ix. 1, 2; Job xvi. 1-4, and xix. 3-5. Job xvi. 2, 'Miser-
able comforters are ye all ; ' chap. xix. 2, ' How long will you vex my
soul, and break me in pieces with words?' But the presence of the
Lord is very desirable, most desirable, and always desirable, and the
more any man has of this divine presence, the more his heart will be
inflamed after more and more of it. A sound sincere Christian can
never have enough power against sin, nor never enough strength
against temptation, nor never enough weanedness ' from this world,
nor never enough ripeness for heaven, nor never enough of the pre-
sence of the Lord. Enough of the divine presence he may have to
quiet him, and cheer him, and encourage him, but whilst he is out of
heaven he can never have enough of the divine presence to satisfy
him, so as not to cry out, Lord, more of thy presence ! oh, a little
more of thy presence ! Prov. xxx. 15, 16. (5.) It is the most joyful,
refreshing, and delightful presence, Ps. xvi. 11 ; Acts v. 40, 41, and
xvi. 25. This Yincentius and many thousand martyrs and suffering
Christians have experienced in all the ages of the world, but of this
before, Isa. Ix. 1, 2 ; Ps. xlvi. 7. (6.) It is a pecuUar and distinguish-
ing presence, Exod. xxxiii. 16. This favourable signal presence of
God is a choice jewel that he hangs on no breasts, a bracelet that he
puts upon no arms, a crown that he sets upon no heads, but such whom
he loves with a peculiar love, with an everlasting love. The general
presence of God extends and reaches to all sinners and saints, angels
and devils ; to all, both in that upper and this lower world ; but this
favourable signal presence of God is peculiar to those that are the
purchase of Christ's blood, and the travail of his soul, Jer. xxxi. 3 ;
John xiii. 1 ; Ps. cxxxix. 7-10; 1 Pet. i. 18, 19 ; Isa. liii. 11 ; Kuth
i. 4-18. (7.) It is an inflaming presence. Oh, how does it, [1.] In-
flame the heart to duty ! Ps. Ixiii. 1-3. [2.] How does it inflame
the heart against sin! Job xxxi. 4-7; Gen. xxxix. 9, 10; Eom.
viii. 10. [3.] To long for the majestical and glorious presence of God
in heaven, Cant. viii. 14 ; Luke ii. 28-30 ; 2 Cor. v. 8 ; Phil. i. 23 ;
Kev. xxii. 20. [4.] How does it inflame their love to the Lord, his ways,
his worship, his interest, his glory! Cant. i. 3, 4, ii. 3-6, and viii. 1-3,
5-7. [5.] It inflames against temptations, ver. 10, 11. It was this
divine presence that did steel and strengthen Basil, Luther, and a
world of others, against the worst of temptations, Heb. xi. [6.] It in-
flames the hearts of the saints into great freeness, readiness, and will-
ingness to suffer many things, to suffer great things, to suffer anything
for Christ, his gospel, his interest, &c. Oh, how did this divine
presence make many martyrs hasten to the flames ! &c. [8.] It
is a soul-quieting, a soul-silencing, and a soul-stilling presence, Ps.
iii. 5, iv. 8 ; Cant. ii. 3, iii. 4, 5. When friends can't quiet us, when
relations can't quiet us, when ministers can't quiet us, when duties
can't quiet us, when ordinances can't quiet us, when outward comforts
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 565
can't quiet us, yet then this divine presence will quiet us. When
babies i and rattles can't quiet the child, yet then the breasts can. So
here. [9.] This divine presence is a sweetening presence: (1.) It
sweetens all duties and services, public and private, ordinary and ex-
traordinary. (2.) It sweetens all personal afflictions and trials. (3.)
It sweetens all our suflferings for righteousness' sake. (4.) It sweetens
all gospel ordinances, Exod. xx. 24. (5.) It sweetens all a man's out-
ward mercies and blessings ; it sweetens health, strength, riches, trade,
&c. (6.) It sweetens all interchangeable providences. Here provi-
dence smiles, and there it frowns ; here it lifts up, and there it casts
down ; this providence is sweet, and that is bitter ; this providence
kills, and that providence makes alive. Oh, but this divine presence
sweetens every providence ! (7.) It sweetens all other presences ; it
sweetens the presence of friends, it sweetens the presence of relations,
it sweetens the presence of strangers, it sweetens all civil societies, it
sweetens all religious societies. (8.) It sweetens the thoughts of death,
the arrests of death ; it turns the king of terrors into the king of de-
sires. Job xiv. 5, 14, XXX. 23, and xvii. 13, 14. How does Job court
the worms, as if he were of a family with them, and near of kin to
them ! How does he look upon the grave as his bed, and makes no
more to die than to go to bed ! It was this divine presence that made
the martyrs as willing to die as to dine. But,
[5.] Fifthly, To move you so to order, demean, and carry your-
selves, as that you may enjoy the gracious presence of God with you
in your greatest troubles and deepest distresses, consider that in great
troubles, deep distresses, and most deadly dangers, you ivill most need
the favourable signal presence of God with you. We always stand in
need of the divine presence, but never so much as when we are under
great troubles and deep distresses. For, (1.) In days of trouble and
distress, men's affections are most apt to be greatly disordered, and their
hearts discomposed, as you see in Job and Jonah, Job iii. ; Jonah, iv.
(2.) Now their fears, doubts, and disputes are apt to rise highest.
When the wind rises high, and the sea roars, men are most apt to be
afraid, Jonah ii. 2-7. (3.) Now Satan commonly is busiest. Satan
loves to fish in troubled waters. When the hand of God is heaviest
upon us, then Satan will shoot his most deadly darts at us, Job ii. 9 ;
James i. 12. The sons of Jacob fell upon the Shechemites when they
were sore. Gen. xxxiv. 25 ; and Amalek fell upon God's Israel and
smote them, when they were weak, and feeble, and faint, and weary,
Deut. XXV. 17-19 ; and Satan falls foul upon Christ, when he was in
the wilderness, and when he had fasted forty days and forty nights,
and was a-hungry, Mat. iv. 1-11 ; and as he dealt with the head, so
he still deals with the members. (4.) Now unbelief is most turbulent,
strong, and mighty in operation, as you may see in the spies. Num.
xiii. 31-33, ' We be not able to go up against the people, for they are
stronger than we. The land through which we have gone to search
it, is aland that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people
that we saw in it are men of great stature ; and there we saw the
giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants ; and we were in
our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight:' so 2
Kings vi. 33, ' This evil is of the Lord ; what should I wait for the
1 'Dolls.'— G.
666 THE SIGNAL PEESEKCE OF GOD
Lord any longer ?' FVc?e2 Kings vii. 1, 2, 19, 20 : so David, Ps. cxvi.
11, ' I said in my haste, all men are liars.' The prophets have all
deceived me, and Samuel has deluded me, they have told me of a
kingdom, a crown, but I shall never wear the one, nor possess the
other: so 1 Sam. xxvii. 1, ' I shall now perish one day by the hand
of Saul.' Thus his fear is got above his faith, and his soul wherried
about with unbelief, to the scandal of the weak, and the scorn of the
wicked, besides his own particular disadvantage. (5.) Now fainting-
fits will be most strengthened, increased, and multiplied. Now faint-
ing-fits, like Job's messengers, or like the rolling waves, will come
thick one upon another, Prov. xxiv. 10 ; Job iv. 5 ; Lam. i. 12, 13.
(6.) Now conscience will be most startled and disquieted. Gen. xlii.
21, and 1. 15 ; 1 Kings xvii. 18. Great troubles and deep distresses
are many times like strong physic, which stirs the humours and makes
the patient sick, very sick, yea, heart-sick. Conscience commonly
never reads the soul such sad and serious lectures as when the rod lies
heaviest upon the back. By all which you see, what high cause the
people of God have so to order, demean, and carry themselves, as that
they may find the gracious presence of God w^ith them in their greatest
troubles, and deepest distresses, for then they will certainly need most
of the divine presence. But,
[6.] Sixthly, To move you so to order, demean, and carry your-
selves, as that you may enjoy the gracious presence of God with 'you
in your greatest troubles and deepest distresses, consider this divine
presence luill make you divinely fearless in the midst of your greatest
troubles and deepest distresses : Ps. xxiii. 4, ' Though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art with
me, thy rod and thy stafi" they comfort me :' Ps. xlvi. 2, ' We will not
fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea : ' ver. 3, ' Though the waters thereof roar,'
&c. Why ? ' God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved ;
God shall help her, and that right early,' ver. 5 ; ' The Lord of hosts
is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah,' ver. 7 : Num. xiv.
9, ' Neither fear ye the people, for they are bread for us, their defence
is departed from them, and the Lord is with us ; fear them not : ' Deut.
vii. 21, ' Thou shaft not be affrighted at them, for the Lord thy God
is among you, a mighty God and terrible : ' so Heb. xiii. 5, ' I will
never leave thee, nor forsake thee :' ver. 6, ' I will not fear what man
shall do unto me.' There is no such way to keep down all base slavish
fears of men, as to keep up the presence of God in the midst of you.
You will not fear the power of men, nor the policy of men, nor the
threats of men, nor the wrath of men, if you do but enjoy this gi'acious,
this signal presence of God that is under our present consideration.
Men's fears are never so rampant as when God withdraws his presence
from them, 1 Sam. xxviii. 15, 20. But,
[7.] Seventhly, To move you so to order, demean, and carry your-
selves, as that you may enjoy the gracious presence of God with you
in your greatest troubles and deepest distresses, consider that there is
in God a very great uniuillingness to witlidraio his presence from his
people ivhen they are in great troubles and deep distresses : Ezek. viii.
6, ' Son of man, seest thou what they do ? even the great abomina-
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 567
tions that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go
far off from my sanctuary?' Isa. i. 2-4, 16, 18 ; Ezek. xviii, 31, and
xxxiii. 11 ; Jer. iii. 13, 14. Of all sins, the sin of idolatry drives
God farthest off from his sanctuary. When God goes off from a
people, he goes not off rashly, he goes not off suddenly, but he goes
off gradually ; he removes not at once, but by degrees ; now a step,
and then a step, as Lot did when he lingered in Sodom, Gen. xix. 16.
Lot was not more loath to depart out of Sodom than God is loath to
leave his people.^ He goes first to the threshold: Ezek. ix. 3, ' And
the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub where-
upon he was to the threshold of the house.' Then over the threshold :
X. 4, ' Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood
over the threshold of the house.' Here is a second step. This is the
second time of resting before God departs. The Lord had his ordi-
nary dwelling-place in the holy of holies. Now God's first remove
was from the most holy place ; his second remove was from the holy
place; his third remove was higher towards heaven: ver. 19, 'And
the cherubims lift up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in
my sight, then to the door of tlie east gate,' or foremost gate, ' of the
Lord's house,' to note God's total remove from his house. Then to
the midst of the city ; Ezek. xi. 23, ' And the glory of the Lord went
up from the midst of the city, and then he stood upon the mountain
which is on the east side of the city.' This is God's last stop in his
departure, by which is signified that he was wilhng to make one trial
more, to see if the people would, in this present danger, call him back
by invitation and lively repentance. God is greatly troubled when it
comes to parting : Hosea xi. 8, ' How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ?
how shall I deliver thee, Israel ? how shall I make thee as Admah ?
how shall I set thee as Zeboim ? Mine heart is turned within me,
my repentings are kindled together.' This is spoken per anthropopa-
theian and not properly, because diverse thoughts and repentance are
not incident to God, ' who is without all variableness, or shadow of
change,' James i. 17. The Lord seemeth here to be at a stand, or at
strife with himself, about the destruction of this people. Howbeit
God, in the bowels of his mercy, yearning, and taking pity of his
elect amongst them, spareth to lay upon them the extremity of his
wrath, and is ready to save them for his mercy's sake. Observe how
fatherlike he melts and mourns over them, and how mercy inter-
poseth her four several ' hows ! ' Here are four such pathetical inter-
rogations as the like are not to be found in the whole book of God,
and not to be answered by any but God himself, as indeed he doth
to each particular in the following words : ' My heart is turned within
me;' that is the first answer. The second is, 'My repentings are
kindled together.' The third is, ' I will not execute the fierceness of
my wrath.' The fourth is, ' I will not destroy Ephraim.' And why ?
First, ' I am God, and not man ;' secondly, ' The Holy One in the
midst of thee.' God is mighty unwilling to break up house, and to
leave his people desolate. Now is God so unwilling to withdraw his
presence ; and shall not we do all w^hat we can to retain him in the
midst of us ? When dear friends are unwilling to leave us, we are
^ 1 Sam. iv. 4 ; Ps. viii. 20; Isa. xxxvii. 16.
568 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
tlie more earnest in pressing them to stay and abide witli us. God is
marvellously unwilling to go, and therefore let us, with the church,
cry out, ' Leave us not,' Jer. xiv. 9. But,
[8.] Eighthly, To move you so to order, demean, and carry your-
selves, as that you may enjoy the gracious presence of God with you
in your greatest troubles and deepest distresses, consider that troubles
will he no troubles, distresses ivill be no distresses, dangers will be no
dangers, if you can but secure the presence of God with you. Moun-
tains will be molehills, stabs at the heart will be but as scratches
upon the hand, if the divine presence be with you. God's signal
presence will turn storms into calms, winter nights into summer days,
prisons into palaces, banishments into enlargements. The favourable
presence of God will turn sickness into health, weakness into strength,
poverty into plenty, and death into life. It can never be night so
long as the sun shines. No aMctions, no trials, can make it night
with a Christian, so long as he enjoys the presence of God with his
spirit, 2 Tim. iv. 22. That courtier need not complain that this man
slights him, and that the other neglects him, who enjoys the delightful
presence of his prince. When Samson had the presence of God with
him, he made nothing of carrying the gates of the city, with the posts
and bars, to the top of a hill. Judges xvi. 3. So whilst a Christian
enjoys the singular presence of God with him, he will make nothing
of this affliction and that, of this trouble and that, of this loss and
that. This presence makes heavy afflictions light, and long afflictions
short, and bitter afflictions sweet, 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17. It was this
presence that made the martyrs set light by all the great and grievous
things that they suffered for Christ's sake and the gospel's sake, Heb.
xi. 33-39. God's gracious presence makes every condition to be a little
heaven to the believing soul. A man in misery, without this gracious
presence of God, is in a very hell on this side hell. There is nothing,
there can be nothing, but heaven, where God is signally present. But,
[9.] Ninthly, To move you so to order, demean, and carry yourselves,
as that you may enjoy the gracious presence of God with you in your
greatest troubles and deepest distresses, consider that the ivorst of men
cannot fasten a curse upon you whilst you keep the presence of God
loith you : Num. xxiii. 21, ' The Lord his God is with him, and the
shout of a king is among them.' There could be no enchantment
against them, for the Lord their God was with them,- and the shout of a
king was among them, that is, God reigneth as a king among them.
Hereby also is meant the faith, joy, boldness, courage, and confidence of
God's people in their king. As when a king comes amongst the armies
of his people, he is received with joyful shoutings and acclamations,
and when he goes forth to battle with them, he goes accompanied with
the sound of trumpets and shouts of the people, signs of their joy and
courage ; so it fared with the Israelites, because of that signal presence
of God that was amongst them, which was evident by his protecting
and defending of them : 1 Sam. iv. 5, ' And when the ark of the cove-
nant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great
shout, so that the earth rang again.' Here is a valorous shout of a
puissant people, encouraging each other to the battle, and a victorious
shout as having obtained the victory in the battle. So 2 Chron. xiii.
1
"WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 569
12, * And behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his
priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you, children
of Israel/ Num. xxiii. 23, * Surely there is no enchantment against
Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel ; ' that is, there is
none against Israel that shall be of fbrce, or that shall take any effect
to do the posterity of Jacob or Israel any hurt, any harm, any preju-
dice. But why ? Because the Lord his God is with him, and the
shout of a king is among them. The presence of God with his Israel
blasts all Balaam's enchantments, and makes null and void all his
divinations. God is with his people to counsel them in all doubtful and
difficult cases, and to defend them, and secure them against all their
enemies and opposers. Balaam had a month's mind to curse the people
of God, as his unwearied endeavours to that purpose do abundantly
evidence, Num. xxiii. 1, 13, 28, 29, and xxiv. 1 ; but the presence of
God with his people prevented all his mischievous designs. Shimei
curses David, but his curses could not hurt him, for God was with him,
2 Sam. xvi. 7, 9, 11, 12. The people generally cursed Jeremiah, chap.
XV. 10, and i. 17-19 ; but all their curses could not harm him, for
God was with him. The Jews in their prayers daily curse the Chris-
tian churches, but all their curses can't prejudice them, because God
is in the midst of them, Exod. xx. 24. And who will say that the
reformed churches are one pin the worse for all the pope's excom-
munications and execrations with bell, book, and candle ? The sig-
nal presence of God with his people is a most sovereign antidote
against all the curses and cursings of cursed men, and therefore what-
ever you part with, be sure you don't part with your God ; let him be
but in the midst of you, and then no curses shall be prevalent against
you. This age abounds with such monsters, whose mouths are full of
curses ; but if every curse should stick a visible blister on the curser's
tongue, as it doth insensible ones on the curser's soul, their tongues
would quickly be too big for their mouths, and they would soon grow
weary of cursing the people of God, the things of God, the ways of
God, the providences of God, and the faithful dispensers of the mysteries
of God, But the best of it is, when they have done their worst, and
spat out aU their curses, ' the curse causeless will not come,' Prov.
xxvi. 2, for the ever-blessed God is in his people, and with his people,
and among his people, and ' a wall of fire always about his people/
Zech. ii. 5, and therefore they are safe and secure enough when men
and devils have done their worst. But,
[10.] Tenthly and lastly. To move you so to order, demean, and
carry yourselves, as that you may enjoy the gracious presence of God
with you in your greatest troubles and deepest distresses, consider that
the divine presence luill make up the absence of all outward comforts.
This gracious presence will supply and fill up the place of a friend, a
child, a father, a husband. Some of the rabbis write that manna
had all sorts of tastes and all sorts of sweets in it. Sure I am that
the favourable presence of God has all sorts of sweets in it, Ps. iv. 6, 7;
Prov. iv. 23. It has the sweet of all ordinances in it, it has the sweet of
all duties in, it has the sweet of all church privileges in it, it has the
8weet of all relations in it, it has the sweet of all your outward com-
forts in it: and therefore, above all keeping, keep the presence of
570 THE SIGNAL PEESENCE OF GOD ■
God with you. Many in their distresses and miseries are full of
complaints. One cries out, he wants a faithful friend ; another cries
out, he wants an active relation ; a third cries out that he wants
necessaries both for back and belly ; a fourth cries out he wants the
means that others enjoy ; but he'^that enjoys the gracious presence of
God finds all these wants made up to him — yea, he finds the divine
presence to be infinitely better than the presence of all outward com-
forts. As Elkanah said to Hannah, ' Am not I better than ten sons ?'
1 Sam. i. 8, so assuredly the presence of the Lord is wonderfully
better than all other things to every soul that has tasted the sweetness
of it. You know that one sun is more glorious, delightful, useful,
and comfortable than ten thousand stars; so here. Seneca tells a
courtier that had lost his son. Fas tihi non est, salvo Ccesare, de for-
tuna tua queri, &c., That he had no cause to mourn, either for that or
aught else, so long as his sovereign was in safety, and he in favour
with his sovereign ; he had all things in him, and he should be un-
thankful to his good fortune if he were not cheerful both in heart and
look, so long as things stood so with him as they did. How much
more may we say to every sincere Christian that enjoys the gracious
presence of God with him, let thy wants and thy crosses be never so
great, thy afflictions never so pressing, thy necessities never so biting,
thou hast no just cause to be troubled or dejected, so long as thou art
in favour with God, and enjoyest the presence of God. All mercies,
all comforts, all contentments, all enjoyments, they meet and centre in
the gracious presence of God, as all lights meet in the sun, and as all
waters meet in the sea ; and therefore let not that soul mourn or
complain of the want of anything, who enjoys that gracious presence
of God that is better than every terrene thing. Thus much for the
motives.
But some may say, sir, what means should we use that we may
enjoy the gracious presence of the Lord with us in our greatest
troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ? I answer,
1. First, There a7'e some things that you m.ust carefully shun and
take heed of; as,
[1.] First, Take heed of high sinnings, take heed of scandalous sins.
High sinnings do greatly dishonour God, wound conscience, reproach
religion, stagger the weak, grieve the strong, open the mouths of the
wicked, and provoke God to withdraw his gracious presence, Ps. li.
11, 12 ; Exod. xxxii. 8, and xxxiii. 3 ; Isa. Ixiii. 10. Turn to these
scriptures, and seriously ponder upon them. Great transgressions do
eclipse the favour of God as well as the honour of God. In great
transgressions we turn our backs upon God, and God turns away his
face from us. Gross sins will provoke God to withdraw his presence,
both in respect of vigour and strength, as also in respect of peace and
comfort. But,
[2.] Secondly, Take heed ofimpenitency. Next to our being pre-
served from sin, it is the greatest mercy in the world, when we are
fallen by our transgi-essions, to make a quick and speedy return to
God. When by your sins you have made work for repentance, for
hell, or for the physician, souls, immediately make up the breach, take
up the controversy between God and your souls, humble yourselves,
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 571
judge yourselves, and speedily return to the Most High, Hosea vi. 1 ;
Exod. xxxii. 9-15. Thus Peter did, and recovered the favourable
presence of God presently. Mat. xxvi. 75 ; Mark xvi. 7. But if men
will commit sin and lie in it, if they will fall and have no mind to
rise, God will certainly withdraw his favourable presence from them,
as you see in David and Solomon, Ps. li. 11, 12 ; 1 Kings xi. 9 ; Josh,
vii. 1-5. This is further evident in that case of Achan, Josh, vii,,
* The Israelites they came to fight with the men of Ai, and fled before
them, for the Lord was not with them.' Why, what was the cause of
God's withdrawing himself? See ver. 11, ' Israel hath sinned.' And
ver. 12, ' Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their
enemies, but- turned their backs.' Their sins having betrayed them
into the hand of divine justice, and into their enemies' hands also ;
mark what follows, ' Neither will I be with you any more, except ye
destroy the accursed from amongst you.' If we will not stone our
Achans, our sins, by the lively exercise of faith and repentance ; if we
will keep up our lusts in despite of all that God does against us, we
must never expect to retain the gracious presence of God with us.
But,
[3.] Thirdly, Take heed either of neglecting gospel-worship, or of
corrupting gospel-ivorship. Omissions will damn as well as com-
missions, and omissions will provoke God to withdraw his presence, as
well as commissions. When persons are careless in their attendance
on gospel ordinances, no wonder if God withdraw his presence from
them in their distresses. Cant. v. 2, 3, 6, and iv. 1-3. Cain went
off from ordinances, and the Lord set a mark upon him, Gen. iv. 15,
16. Oh, the black and dismal marks of misery, that God has set
upon many that have neglected gospel-worship, and for profit's sake,
and for Diana's sake, are fallen roundly in with the worship of the
world 1 2 Tim. iv. 10 ; Acts xix. 24, 36. sirs, the great God
stands upon nothing more in all the world than upon purity in his
worship. There is notliing that doth so provoke and exasperate God
against a people as corrupt worship. Corrupt worship sadly reflects
upon the name of God, the honour of God, the truth of God, and the
wisdom of God ; and therefore his heart rises against such worship
and worshippers, and he will certainly withdraw from them, and be a
swift and terrible witness against them, as you may see by comparing
the scriptures in the margin together, i Corrupt worship is contrary
to the unity of God. Now deny his unity, and you deny his deity,
* For the Lord is one, and his name is one,' Zech. xiv. 9. It is con-
trary to the sovereignty of God, ' He is the only ruler, the only
potentate,' 1 Tim. vi. 15. It is contrary to the all-sufficiency of God.
The heathen worshipped several gods, as thinking that several gods
did bestow several blessings. They begged health of one god, wealth
of another god, and victory of a third god, thus imagining to themselves
several deities for several supplies. Their god was but a Jupiter, a
partial helper, an auxiliary god, but ' our God is Jehovah,' who is
abundantly able to supply all our wants, Eph. iii. 20. Now, if either
we neglect his true instituted worship, or fall in with a false worship,
^Ps. cvi. 39-43; Ps. Ixxviii. 58-64; 2 Chron. vii. 19-22, and xxxii. 16-21; Deut.
xxix. 22-29.
572 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
with a devised worskip, with a human worship, with a worldly wor-
ship, he will certainly withdraw his gracious presence from us. Will-
worship accuses and charges God with weakness and folly, as if God
were not careful enough, nor faithful enough, nor mindful enough, nor
wise enough, to order, direct, and guide his people in the matters of
his worship, but must be beholden to the wisdom, prudence, and care
of man, of vain man, of sinful man, of vile and unworthy man, of weak
and foolish man, to complete, perfect, and make up something that
was wanting in his worship ! Heb. iii. 4-6 ; John iv. 23, 24. Now
assuredly God will never keep house with them who give in such
severe accusations and charges against him. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Take heed of a willing, wilful, and presumptuous
running cross to divine commands, to divine warnings. The disobe-
dient child is turned out of doors ; the disobedient servant shall have
none of his master's smiles, the disobedient wife has little of her hus-
band's company. A willing, wilful, presumptuous running cross to
divine commands speaks out much pride, atheism, hardness, blind-
ness, and desperate security and contempt of the great God. It speaks
out the greatest disingenuity, stoutness, and stubbornness that is
imaginable ; and therefore no wonder if God turn his back upon such,
and if he disdains to be in the midst of such : Num. xiv. 42, ' Go not
up, for the Lord is not among you, that ye be not smitten before your
enemies/ Ver. 43, ' For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there
before you ' — that is, on the top of the hill, lying in readiness to set
upon you, and therefore are said, ' to come down,' ver. 45 — * and ye
shall fall by the sword ; because ye are turned away from the Lord,
therefore the Lord will not be with you,' ver. 43. See Deut. i. 42-46.
But they presumed to go up to the hill-top, though they had not the
presence of God with them, nor the signs of his grace and favour with
them, nor the company of Moses with them ; but mark, they paid dear
for their presumption. Ver. 45, ' Then the Amalekites came down,
and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and dis-
comfited them even unto Hormah.' When men are without God's
presence they are without God's precincts, and so out of his protection.
To act or run cross to God's express command, though under pretence
of revelation from God, is as much as a man's life is worth, as you
may see in that sad story, 1 Kings xiii. 24. We frequently deny our
presence unto disobedient persons, and so does God his. Disobedience
to divine commands shuts the door against the divine presence, and
will not suffer God to come in to succour us, comfort us, or support
us, under our greatest troubles and deepest distresses. But,
[5.] Fifthly, Take heed of carnal confidence, of resting upon an arm
offiesli : Ps. XXX, 6, ' And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be
moved ;' that is, when I was prosperously settled in the kingdom, I
began to conclude within myself that now there was an end of all my
troubles, I should now live all my days in a prosperous estate, l David
having taken the strong fort of Zion, and having vanquished his
enemies round about, and all the tribes having submitted themselves
to him, and having built a fair palace, and being quietly settled in his
throne, he began to be puffed up with carnal confidence. Oh the
^ Adam in paradise was overcome, when Job on the dunghill waa a conqueror.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 573
hazard of honour ! Oh the damage of dignity ! how soon are we
broken upon the soft pillow of ease ! Flies settle upon the sweetest
perfumes when cold ; and so does sin on the best hearts, when they are
dissolved and dispirited by prosperity. Oh how apt are the holiest of
men to be proud and secure, and promise themselves more than ever
God promised them — viz. , immunity from the cross. He thought that
his kingdom and all prosperity was tied unto him with cords of ada-
mant ; he sitting quietly at Jerusalem, and free from fear of all his
enemies, 2 Sam. xi. 1 ; but Gi-od quickly confutes his carnal confidence
by giving him to know that he could as easily blast the strongest oak
as he could trample the smallest worm under his feet. Ver. 7, ' Thou
didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.' God will quickly suspend
his favour and withdraw his presence when his children begin to be
proud and carnally confident. Look, as at the eclipse of the sun the
whole frame of nature droops ; so when God hides his face, when he
withdraws his presence, the best of saints cannot but di'oop and hang
down their heads. So Jer. xvii. 5, ' Cursed be the man that trusteth
in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from
the Lord.' Ver. 6, ' For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and
shall not see when good cometh.' But,
[6.] Sixthly, Take heed of barrenness and unfruitfulness under gospel
ordinances. Turn to these scriptures, Isa. v. 1-8; Mat. xxxi. 34-42;
2 Chron. xxxii. 16, to the last. Of all spiritual judgments, barren-
ness is the greatest ; and when men are given up to this judgment,
God withdraws ; he has no pleasure to dwell in a barren soil. What
are barren grounds and barren woinbs to barren hearts? He that
remains wholly barren under gospel ordinances, may well question his
marriage-union with Christ, Ezek. xlvii. 11 ; Mat. xiii. 19 ; Hosea ix.
14 ; John xv. 3 ; Heb. ii. 6-8 ; Jude 12 : for, Kom. vii. 4, We are
said to be ' married to Christ, that we may bring forth fruit to God.'
There is a double end of marriage — viz., cohabitation and propagation ;
and therefore there cannot be a greater and clearer evidence that thou
art not yet taken into a married union with Christ, than a total barren-
ness under gospel enjoyments. Christ's spouse is fruitful : Cant. i.
16, * Our bed is green;' chap. iv. 1, ' Behold, thou art fair, my love,
behold, jthou art fair : thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks : thy hair
is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead ;' ver. 2, ' Thy
teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which come up
from the washing : whereof every one bears twins, and none is barren
among them.' Christ hath no further delight in his people, nor will
no further grace his people with his special presence, than they make con-
science of weeping over their barrenness, and of bringing forth fruit to
him. Cant. vii. 11-13. * Now my husband will love me, now he will be
joined to me, now I have born him this son also,' Gen. xxix, 34, said
Leah. So may the fruit-bearing soul reason it out with Christ: Now I
know dear Jesus will love me, now I know he will delight in me, now I
know he will dwell with me, now I know he will honour me with his
presence, for now I bring forth fruit unto him. Barrenness under the
means of grace drives God from us, and the gospel from us, and trade,
and peace, and prosperity from us, and one Christian from another.
Ursinus observes, that the sins and barrenness of the Protestants under
674 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
the gospel in king Edward's days, brought in the persecution in queen
Mary's days ; and he tells us, that those who fled out of England in
queen Mary's days acknowledged that that calamity befell them for
their great unprofitableness under the means of grace in king Edward's
days. Among other prodigies, which were about the time that Julian
came to the empire, there were wild grapes appeared upon the vines,
with which many wise men in that day were much affected, looking
upon it as ominous. Ah, England ! England ! I look upon nothing to
be so ominous to thee as the barrenness of the professors of the day !
No wonder if God leave his house, when the trees that are planted in
it and about it are all barren. The nutmeg-tree makes barren all the
ground about it ; so doth the spice of worldly love make the hearts of
Christians barren under the means of grace. But I must hasten.
[7.] Seventhly, Take heed of pride and haughtiness of spirit:^
Hosea v. 5, ' And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face : there-
fore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity : Judah also shall
fall with them;' ver. 6, ' They shall go with their flocks, and with
their herds to seek the Lord, but they shall not find him, he hath
withdrawn himself from them.' Pride is the great master-pock of the
soul ; it will bud and blossom, it cannot be hid ; it is the leprosy of
the soul, that breaks forth in the very forehead, and so testifieth to
his face, Ezek. vii. 10 ; Isa. iii. 16-25. Some have called Kome,
Epitomen universi, An epitome, or abridgment of the whole world :
so it may be said of pride, that it is the sum of all naughtiness, a sea
of sin, a complicated sin, a mother sin, a breeding sin, a sin that has all
sorts of sin in the womb of it. Consult the scriptures in the margin.2
Aristotle, speaking of justice, saith. That in justice all virtues are
couched, avWtj^Srjv, summarily ; so it may be truly said of pride, that
in it all vices are as it were in a bundle lapped up together ; and
therefore no wonder if God withdraw his presence from proud persons,
'He hath withdrawn himself from them' — Heb., * Hath snatched away
himself ;' hath thrown himself out of their company, as Peter threw him-
self out from the rude soldiers into a by-corner to weep bitterly, Mark
xiv. 72. God will have nothing to do with proud persons, he will never
dwell with them, he will never keep house with them. He that dwells
in the highest heavens will never dwell in a haughty heart. ' The proud
he knoweth afar off,' Isa. Ivii. 15 ; Ps. cxxxviii. 6. He won't vouchsafe
to come so near such loathsome lepers ; he stands off from such as [are]
odious and abominable ; he cannot abide the sight of them, yea, his very
heart rises against them, Prov. xv. 25, and xvi, 5 : James iv. 6, ' God
resisteth the proud,' — avrLrdaaerai, ' He sets himself in battle array
against him,' as the Greek word emphatically signifies. Above all
sorts of sinners, God sets himself against proud persons, as invaders
of his territories and foragers or plunderers of his chief treasures.
God defieth such as deify themselves. God will arm himself against
them, he will never vouchsafe his gracious presence to them ; and
therefore as ever you would enjoy the divine presence, arm against
pride, w^atch against pride, and pray hard against pride. But,
[8.] Eighthly, Take heed of a slothful, lazy, trifling spirit in the
1 See my ' Unsearchable Eiches' of Christ, pp. 49-58. [Vol. iii. pp. 41-48. — G.j
' Hab. i. 16; lea. xlviii. 9, and xivi. 12 ; Hab. ii. 5, &c.J
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 575
tilings of God : Cant. v. 2, * I sleep, but my heart waketh ; it is the
voice of my beloved that knocketli, saying, Open to me, my sister, my
love, my dove, my undefiled ; for my head is filled with dew, and my
locks with the drops of the night ;' ver. 3, ' I have put off my coat,
how shall I put it on ? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile
them?' Christ's head is filled with dew; i.e., Christ came to his
spouse full of the dew of spiritual and heavenly blessings. Christ
always brings meat in his mouth, and a reward in his hand, Eph. i.
3, 4 ; Kev. xxii. 12. Christ never visits his people empty handed. He is
no beggarly or niggardly guest. When he comes, he brings everything
that heart can wish or need require. And now stand and wonder at the
silly excuse that the spouse makes for herself: ver. 3, Trouble me
not, for I am in bed ; my clothes are off, my feet are washed, and I
am composed to a settled rest ! But are you so indeed ? might Christ
have replied. Is this your kindness to your friend ? 2 Sam. xvi. 17.
Is this the part and posture of a vigilant Christian ? Would it not
liave been much better for you to have had your loins girt, your lamp
burning, and you waiting for your Lord's return ? Is it so great a
trouble ? Is it such a mighty business for you to rise out of your bed,
to put on your clothes, and to let in such a guest, as comes not to take
anything from you, but to enrich you with the best and noblest of
favours ? Now mark how severely Christ punishes his spouse's slug-
gishness, laziness, slothfulness, and delays to entertain him when he
knocked: ver. 6, * I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn
himself, and was gone : my soul failed when he spake: I sought him,
but I could not find him ; I called him, but he gave no answer ;' or
he was gone, he was gone, a most passionate complaint for his depar-
ture ; or my best-beloved was departed, he was gone away. By the
iteration or doubling of this sentence, wherein the spouse complains of
the departure of her bridegroom, is signified her great trouble, her
hearty sorrow, her inexpressible grief, that lay as a heavy load upon
her spirit ; because, by her unworthy usage of him, she had foolishly
occasioned him to withdraw his presence from her. Spiritual deser-
tions are of three sorts: (1.) Cautional, for preventing of sin, as
Paul's seems to be, 1 Cor. i. 2, 8, 9 ; (2.) Probational, for trial and
exercise of grace ; (3.) Penal, for chastisement of spiritual sloth and
sluggishness, as here in the spouse. Now this last is far the saddest
and heaviest ; and therefore as ever you would enjoy the gracious pre-
sence of the Lord, take heed of a lazy, slothful, sluggish spu-it in the
things of God, in the concernments of your souls. That man must
needs be miserable that is lazy and slothful, and had rather go sleep-
ing to hell than sweating to heaven. But,
[9.] Ninthly, Take heed of a covetous worldly spirit under the
smarting rod, under the severe rebukes of God : Isa. Ivii. 17, ' For the
iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth, and smote him : I hid
me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.'
Covetousness was the common sin of the Jews. This disease had
infected all sorts and ranks of men ; this leprosy did spread itself over
princes, prophets, and people, as you may see in comparing the scrip-
tures in the margin together. ^ Now ' covetousness being the root of
1 Isa. iTi. 11; Jer. vi. 13, and viii. 10; 1 Tim, vi. 10.
576 THE SIGNAL PEESENCE OF GOD
all evil/ as the apostle speaks, and the darling sin of the nation, God
is so provoked by it that he first smites, and then hides himself, as one
that in displeasure, having left one to the evil and harsh usage of
some other, withdraweth himself out of the way, and having shut him-
self up in his closet, will not be seen or spoken with. A worldly man
makes the world his god. Covetousness is flat idolatry : Col. iii. 5,
' Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth ; fornica-
tion, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetous-
ness, which is idolatry.' Now though it be true that w^hatever a man
loves most and best, that is his god, be it his belly or his back ;
yet, in a special manner, covetousness is idolatry, so as no other sin is,
Phil. iii. 19 ; Isa. iii. 16-25. Three things especially make a god ;
First, our judgment, when we esteem it in our serious thoughts to be
our chiefest good, and that in which we place our, happiness. Now
the covetous man looks upon the riches of the world as his heaven,
his happiness, his great all. Pope Sylvester placed so much happiness
in riches, that, to enjoy the popedom for seven years, he sold his soul
to the devil. The people of Constantinople placed so much of their
happiness in riches, and were so excessively covetous, that they were
buying and selling in their shops, even three days after the Turks
were within the walls of the city, and that was the reason that the
streets run down with the blood of them, their wives, and children.
Secondly, our confidence. That is a homage which makes a god,
when we place our trust in anything make it our rock, our fortress,
our all-sufficient good. This the covetous man doth, ' He saith to the
wedge of gold, thou art my confidence,' Job xxi. 34. The rich man's
heart dances about his golden calf, saying to his ' wedge of gold, thou
art my confidence ;' and yet his wedge of gold shall prove but as
Achan's wedge, a wedge to cleave his soul in sunder, and, as that
Babylonish garment, to be his winding-sheet. Josh. vii. 21 to end. ' The
rich man's wealth is his strong city,' Prov. x. 15 ; 1 Tim. vi. 27.
Covetous persons do really think themselves simply the better and the
safer for theii" hoards and heaps of riches ; but they may one day find
themselves greatly mistaken. Famous is that story of Croesus among
the heathens. 1 He was a great king, and tumbled up and down
in his gold and silver ; and Solon, that wise man of Greece, coming
into his country, he desired to speak with him, and when lie saw him,
after Solon had seen and viewed all his wealth and glory, he asked
him whom he thought to be the hal^piest man in the world, imagining
that Solon would have said Croesus. But Solon answered, I think
Tellus was the most happy man. Tellus, saith he ; why Tellus ?
Because, said Solon, though he was poor, yet he was a good man, and
content with that which he had ; and having governed the common-
wealth well, and brought up his child honestly and religiously, he
died honourably. Well, then, said Croesus, but who dost thou think
the second happy man in the world ? I think, said he, those two brothers
that, instead of horses, drew their mother in a chariot to the temple.
Whereupon, said Crcesus, what thinkest thou of me ? I think, says
he, thou art a very rich man ; but a man may be happy though he be
poor, and a man may be unhappy though he be rich, for he may lose
^ Herodot., lib. i.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 577
all bis liches before be die ; and tberefore, Aiite ohitum nemo, dc, I
tbink none truly bappy but be tbat lives well and dies well. Wbere-
upon tbat wise man Solon was dismissed tbe court witb neglect. But
afterward tbis Croesus, making war against Cyrus, be was overcome by
Cyrus ; and being taken captive, be was laid upon a pile of wood to be
burned to deatb, tben lying on tbe pile of wood be cried out and
said, Solon ! Solon ! Solon ! Cyrus inquiring wbat be meant, be
answered, Tbis Solon was a wise man of Greece, tbat told me tbat
bappiness did not consist in ricbes, for tbey migbt all be lost, and
a ricb man migbt die miserable ; wbose words, said be, I tben
neglected, but now I find true ; and tberefore now I cry out,
Solon, Solon, Solon ! Let us now tell tbe covetous man, tbe worldly
man, tbat bis bappiness lies not in ricbes, tbougb be looks upon bis
ricbes as bis strong city ; be won't mind us, be won't regard. Ob but
tbere is a time a-coming wberein tbe worldling will cry out, Solon,
Solon, Solon ! Thirdly, Our service. Mat. vi. 24. Tbat is a bomage
wbicb makes a god. Wben we devote all our pains, labour, and ser-
vice to it, be it tbis or tbat, tbat makes a god. Now tbe covetous
man, bis beart is most upon tbe world, bis tbougbts are most upon
tbe world, bis affections are most upon tbe world, and bis discourse is
most about tbe world. He tbat batb bis mind taken up witb tbe
world, and cbiefly deligbted witb tbe world's music, be batb also bis
tongue tuned to tbe same key, and taketb bis joy and comfort in
speaking of notbing else but tbe world and worldly tbings. If tbe
world be in tbe beart, it will break out at tbe lips. A worldly-minded
man speaketb of notbing but worldly tbings. ' Tbey are of tbe
world, tberefore tbey speak of tbe world,' Jobn iv. 5. Tbe water
risetb not above tbe fountain. Out of tbe warebouse tbe sbop is fur-
nisbed. Tbe love of tbis world makes men forget God, neglect Cbrist,
sligbt ordinances, refuse beaven, despise boliness, and oils tbe tongue
for worldly discourses, Mat. xix. 21, 22. Ab tbe time, tbe tbougbts,
the strength, tbe spirits, tbe words tbat are spent upon tbe world, and
tbe tbings of tbe world, whilst sinners' souls lie a-bleeding, and
eternity is posting on upon them 1 I have read of a griping usurer,
who was always best when be was most in talking of the world. Being
near his end, be was much pressed to make bis will. At last be was
overcome, and tben he dictates to tbe scrivener after this manner : —
First, I bequeath my own soul to the devil, for being so greedy of the
muck of this world ; item, next I give my wife's soul to the devil, for
persuading me to this course of life ; item, I give the parson of our
parish's soul to the devil, because he did not shew me the danger I
lived in, nor reprove me for it. Ob, tbe danger of making the world
our god, when we come to die and to make up our accounts witb God !
Now when men make tbe world their god, and set up their riches,
pleasures, and profits in the place of God, no wonder if God withdraws
his presence from them ; and therefore, as ever you would retain tbe
gracious presence of God with you, take heed of a covetous spirit, a
worldly spirit. But,
[10.] Tentbly and lastly. As ever you would enjoy the gracious pre-
sence of God witb you in your greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and
most deadly dangers, take heed of a cross, froward, and inflexible spirit
VOL. V. 2
578 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
under the rod.^ When the child is f reward under the rod, the father
withdraws ; so here, Isa. Ivii. 17, ' I was wroth, I smote him ; I hid
me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart ;'
Isa. xlvii. 6. Though I manifested my displeasure by giving them
up to their enemies, and by laying them under the tokens of my anger, '
they persisted in their own cross, crooked, and rebellious courses, re-
fusing to repent and turn to the Most High ; and therefore God changes
his countenance* hides his face, and withdraws his presence from them :
Deut. xxxii. 20, 'And he said, I will hide my face from them, for they
are a very fro ward generation.' Heb., A generation of perversenesses.
When the sick man is froward, friends withdraw and leave him alone :
Ps. xviii. 26, ' With the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward/
God will meet with froward persons in their own way, and make them
reap the fruits of their own doings. God will walk ,cross and contrary
to the froward, opposing and crossing them in all they do. God has
no ddight to grace froward persons with his presence. When men
begin to be froward under a divine hand, God commonly hides his
face, and turns his back upon them. Men sick of impatiency are no
fit company for the God of all patience. Men that are peevish and
pettish under the rod will always see a cloud upon the face of God ;
and thus you see that there are ten things that you must carefully take
heed of, as you would enjoy the gracious presence of God with you in
your greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers,
Eom. XV. 5 ; Prov. xi. 20. But,
2. Secondly, As there are many things to be avoided, so there are
several things to he put in practice, as you would enjoy the gracious
presence of God with you, in your greatest troubles, deepest distresses,
and most deadly dangers. Let me glance at a few : —
[1.] First, Be sure that you are brought under the bond of the cove-
nant. This gracious signal presence of God with his people, under
their greatest troubles, and deepest distresses, is peculiar to those that
are in covenant with God.^ Noah was in covenant with God, and
God was with him, providing an ark for him, and preserving of him
from drowning in the midst of drowning. Lot was in covenant with
God, and God was with him, and secures him in Zoar, when he rained
hell out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Joseph was in cove-
nant with God, and God was with Joseph in prison. Jeremiah was
in covenant with God, and God kept him company in the dungeon.
The three children, or rather champions, were in covenant with God,
and God was signally present with them in the fiery furnace. Daniel
was in covenant with God, and God was wonderfully with him in the
lions' den. Job was in covenant with God, and God was with him in
six troubles, and in seven, Job iii. 18, 19. David was in covenant
with God, and God was with him in the valley of the shadow of death,
Ps. Ixxxix. 33, 34, and xxiii. 4. Take not up in a name to live, nor
in a form of godliness, nor in common convictions, nor in an outwai'd
reformation ; take up in nothing below a covenant-relation, as you
would enjoy the precious i^resence of the Lord with you in your greatest
^ See my 'Mute Christian under the Smarting Rod.' [Vol. i. p. 285, seq. — G.]
« Ezek. XX. 37 ; Ps. xxv. U, and ]. 5 ; Jer. xxxii. 40, 41 ; Gen. vi. 8, 18, xix. 20-26
and xxxix. 20-22 ; Jer. i. 17-19, and xxxvii. 15, seq. ; Dan. iii. 23-25, and vi. 22, 23.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 579
troubles, and deepest distresses, Deut. xxvi. 17-19. If you choose him
for your Grod, you shall then assuredly find him to be your God ; if he
be the God of our love and fear, he will be the God of our comfort and
safety ; if God be your God in covenant, then in distress the cities of
refuge are open to you ; he will stick close to you, he will never leave
you nor forsake you, Heb. xiii. 5-7 ; you have a Father to go to, a
God to flee to, a God that will take care of you : ' Come my people,
enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, hide
thyself, as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over-
passed.' Here are chambers, with drawing-rooms provided, not open
chambers, but with doors, and doors shut round about, intimating
that guard of protection, which the people of God shall find from him,
even in a common inundation. But,
[2.] Secondly, If you would enjoy the gracious presence of God
with you, in your greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly
dangers, then look to the practical part oflioliness, keep up the power
of godliness in your hearts and lives : 2 Chron. xv. 2 ; John xiv. 21,
' He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that
loveth me ; and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I
will love him, and will manifest myself to him :' ver. 23, ' If a man
love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we
will come unto him, and make our abode with him.' He that frames
his heart and life according to Christ's rule, shall be sure of Christ's
presence. Ezekiel was a man that kept up the power of holiness and
godliness in his heart and life.i And oh ! the glorious visions, and deep
mysteries, and rare discoveries of God, and of his presence, and of the
great things that should be brought about in the latter days, that was
discovered to him ! Daniel kept up the power of holiness and godli-
ness in his heart and life ; and oh, what secrets and mysteries did
God reveal to him ! Many of those great and glorious things, which
concerns the destruction of the four last monarchies, and the growth,
increase, exaltation, flourishing, durable, invincible and unconquer-
able estate of his own kingdom, was discovered to him. Paul was
a person that kept up the power of holiness and godliness in his
heart and life ; and oh, what a mighty presence of God had he
with him, in all^ his doing, suffering, and witnessing work 1 And oh,
what glorious revelations and discoveries of God had he, when he was
caught up into the third heaven, into paradise, and heard unspeakable
words, or wordless words, such as words were too weak to utter, such
' as was not possible for man to utter,' and that either because they
transcended man s capacity in this life, or else because the apostle was
forbid to utter them, they being revealed to him not for the public use
of the church, but only for his particular encouragement, that he might
be the better able to encounter with all hardships, difficulties, dangers,
and deaths that did or might attend him in his ministerial work,
2 Cor. i. 7-10. Some of the ancients are of opinion that he saw God's
essence, for, say they, other things in heaven might have been uttered,
but the essence of God is so great and so glorious a thing that no man
or angel can utter it. But here I must crave leave to enter my dissent
from these learned men, for the scripture is express in this, ' that no
^ This is evident throughout the whole book of the prophet Ezekiel. See ii. 4, 7-12.
580 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
man hath thus ever seen the Lord at any time, and that 'no man can
thus see the Lord, and live,' John i. 18 ; 1 Tim. vi. 16; 1 John iv.
12 ; Exod. xxxiii. 20-23. And as great a favourite of Heaven as
Moses was, yet he could only see the back parts of God, he could only
behold some lower representations of God. Some say that he heard
the heavenly singing of angels and blessed spirits, which was so sweet,
so excellent and glorious, that no mortal man was able to utter it ;
and this of the two is most probable. But no man is bound to make
this opinion an article of his faith. This, I think, we may safely con-
clude, that in this rapture, besides the contemplation of celestial
mysteries, he felt such unspeakable delight and pleasure, that was
either like to that, or exceeded that, which Adam took in the terrestrial
paradise. Doubtless the apostle did see and hear such excellent
things as was impossible for the tongue of any mortal man to express
or utter. John was ' a burning and a shining light,' ^ John v. 35,
both in life and doctrine. He was a man that kept up in his heart
and life the power of holiness and godliness ; and Christ reveals to
him the general estate of his church and all that should befall his
people, and that from John's time unto his second coming. Christ
gives John a true representation of all the troubles, trials, changes,
mercies, and glories that in all times and in all ages and places should
attend his church until he came in all his glory. About sixty years
after Christ's ascension,^ Christ comes to John, and opens his heart,
and unbosoms his soul, and makes known to him all that care, that
love, that tenderness, that kindness, and that sweetness that he would
exercise towards his church from that very time to the end of the
world. Christ tells John, tliat though he had been absent, and seem-
ingly silent for about threescore years, that yet he was not so taken up
with the delights, contents, and glory of heaven, as that he did not
care what became of his church on earth. Oh no ! and therefore he
opens his choicest secrets, and makes known the most hidden and
glorious mysteries to John that ever was made known to any man.
As there was none that had so much of the heart of Christ as John,
so there was none had so much of the ear of Christ as John. Christ
singles out his servant John from all the men in the world, and makes
known to him all the happy providences and all the sad occurrences
that were to come upon the followers of the Lamb, that so they might
know what to fit for, and what to pray for, and what to wait for.
Also he declares to John all that wrath and vengeance, all that deso-
lation and destruction that should come upon the false prophet and
the beast, and upon all that wandered after them, and that were wor-
shippers of them, and that had received their marks either in their
foreheads or in their hands. Thus you see that they which keep up
the power of holiness in their hearts and lives, they shall be sure to
enjoy the choicest presence of God, and the clearest, fullest, and
sweetest discoveries of Grod, and of these great things that concern the
internal and eternal good of their souls. Nothing wins upon God like
' This is the second time wherein Brooks confounds John the Baptist with John the
Apostle. — G.
^ It is the general opinion of the learned that this Book of the Revelation was penned
about the latter end of the reign of Domitian the emperor, which was about sixt^' years
after Christ's ascension.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 581
holiness, nothing delights God like holiness, nothing engages the pre-
sence of Grod like holiness, Ps. 1. 23.1 He shews his salvation to him
that ordereth his conversation aright. He that puts every piece of
his conversation in the right order, he shall see and know that he shall
be saved. He that walks accurately and exactly, that walks as in a
frame, treading gingerly, stepping warily, he shall have a prospect of
heaven here, and a full fruition of heaven hereafter, ' Thou meetest
him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness, those that remember
thee in thy ways,' Isa. Ixiv. 5. He that works righteousness and
walks in righteousness shall be sure to meet with God, and to enjoy
the precious presence of God in his greatest troubles and deepest dis-
tresses. But,
[3.] Thirdly, If you would enjoy the gracious presence of God with
you in your greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly
dangers, then keep close to instituted worship, keep close to gospel
ordinances, keep close to your church state : Exod. xx. 24, ' In all
places where I record my name, I will come unto thee and bless thee,
Isa. Ixiv. 5 ; Rev. ii. i ; Cant. vii. 5 ; Ezek. xlviii. 35. Where God
fixeth his solemn worship for the memorial and honour of his name,
there he will vouchsafe his gracious presence : Mat. xviii, 20, ' For
vhere two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in
the midst of them.' The promise of God's gracious assistance, pre-
sence, and acceptance is annexed to his church, whether it be great
or small, numerous or few : Mat. xxviii. 20, ' Lo, I am with you
alway,' according to my godhead, majesty, grace, and Spirit. Lo, I
am with you, to own you ! Lo, I am with you, to counsel and direct
you ! Lo, I am with you, to cheer and comfort you ! Lo, I am with
you, to assist and strengthen you 1 Lo, I am with you, to shelter you
and protect you ! Lo, I am with you, to do all your works in you and
for you ! Lo, I am with you, to strengthen your graces and to weaken
your sins ! Lo, I am with you, to scatter your fears and answer your
doubts ! Lo, I am with you, to better your hearts and to mend your
lives ! Lo, I am with you, to bless you and crown you with immor-
tality and glory ! ^ And what can the soul desire more ? Such as
have low thoughts of gospel ordinances, such as slight gospel ordi-
nances, such as neglect gospel ordinances, such as vilify gospel ordi-
nances, such as decry gospel ordinances, such as oppose gospel
ordinances, — such may talk of the presence of Christ, and such may
boast of the presence of Christ, but all such are out of the way of
enjoying the presence of Christ. Christ is only to be met with in his
own worship, and in his own ways. Ah, how many m these days are
there that are like to old Barzillai, that had lost his taste and hear-
ing, and so cared not for David's feasts and music ! 2 Sam. xix. 35.
How many are there that formerly were very zealous for ordinances,
but now are as zealous against them ! How many formerly have
made many great, hard, and dangerous ventures to enjoy gospel
ordinances, who now won't venture a broken shin for an ordinance,
^ Vide, Muis in loc.
" Christ in his ordinances doth, as Mary, open a box of ointments, which diffusetU
a spiritual savour among the saints, and this makes the ordinances precious in their
eyes.
582 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
no, nor stir out of doors to enjoy an ordinance, &c. ! How many in
our days, upon neglecting and despising gospel ordinances, have grown
from naught to be very naught, and from very naught to be stark
naught. He shall be an Apollo to me that can shew me one man in
the world that ever grew better or holier by neglecting or slighting
gospel ordinances. Many come to the ordinances, too, like the Egyp-
tian dog, which laps a little as he runs by the side of Nylus,^ but
stays not to drink. How many in this great city run every Sabbath
to hear this man and that ; and here they lap a little and there a
little, but never stay to drink — never fix in this congregation or that,
this way or that. These persons are neither wise, serious, lovely, nor
lively in the ways of God. I think they are judicially blinded and
hardened, that are indifferent whether they enjoy ordinances or not,
or that can part with ordinances with dry eyes. Surely the child is
either very sullen or very sick that cries not for the breast, Zeph. iii. 18.
As ever you would enjoy the gracious presence of God with you in all
your troubles and distresses, make conscience of sticking close to
gospel ordinances. But,
[4.] Fourthly, If you would enjoy the gracious presence of God
with you in your greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly
dangers, then, ivhen you are not in troubles, distresses, dangers, dtc, he
sure you make much conscience of Jive things, (1.) Of prizing his
presence above all other things ; so Moses did, Exod. xxxiii. 13-17 ;
so Augustine would willingly go through hell to Christ ; and Luther
had rather be in hell with Christ than in heaven without Mm ; and
Bernard had rather have Christ in a chimney corner than be in
heaven without him. (2.) Of improving this gracious presence
against sin, the world, the flesh, oppositions and temptations, &c.
(3.) Of walking suitable to this gracious presence. (4.) Of lament-
ing and mourning over those that want this gracious presence. (5.)
Of holding any secret intelligence or correspondence with the protest
and known enemies of Christ. Princes will never vouchsafe their
favourable presence to such subjects as hold any secret intelligence
with their profest and known enemies, either at home or abroad ; so
here. But,
[5.] Fifthly, If you would enjoy the gracious presence of God with
you in your greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly
dangers, then, in all your troubles and distresses, &c., maintain up-
rightness and integrity of spirit with God, Ps. v. 12: 2 Chron. xvi. 9,
* For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect
towards him.' Ps. Ixxxiv. 11, ' For the Lord God is a sun and shield :
the Lord will give grace and glory ; no good thing will be withhold
from them that walk uprightly.' This is the largest promise we find
in the whole book of God. The creature stands in need of two things,
provision and protection ; for the first, the Lord is a sun, as full of
goodness as the sun is of light. He is a sun, in that he doth enlighten
and enliven his church, whenas all the world besides lie under dark-
ness and the shadow of death ; and in that he doth cheer, and warm,
and comfort the hearts of his people by his presence and lightsome
countenance, and is the fountain from whence all external, internal,
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 583
and eternal blessings are derived to them. For the second, a shield,
Ps. xviii. 2. Among all inanimate creatures the sun is the most
excellent, and among all artificial creatures a shield is chiefest, and
was of greatest use in those days. The sun notes all manner of ex-
cellency and prosperity, and the shield notes all manner of protection
whatsoever, Isa. Ixii. 20 ; Ps. iii. 4. Under the name of ' grace,' all
spiritual good things are to be understood ; and under the name of
' glory,' all eternal good things are to be understood ; and under that
phrase of ' No good thing will he withhold,' all temporal good things
are to be understood, so far as they make for his glory, and his people's
real good. Now this choice, this sweet, this full, this large promise,
is made over only to the upright, and therefore, as you would have
any share in it, maintain your uprightness : Ps. xi. 7, ' His coun-
tenance doth behold the upright;' Heh., His faces. Every gracious
discovery of God to the upright is his face. God will all manner of
ways make gracious discoveries of his love and delight to upright
ones. No father can so much delight to behold the countenance of
his child, as God delights to behold the countenance of the upright :
Ps. cxii. 4, ' Unto the upright there ariseth light in darkness.' Light
commonly signifies joy, comfort, peace, help, deliverance, Job xxx.
26 ; Esther viii. 16 ; 2 Cor. vi. 10. The upright man shall have joy
in tribulation, plenty in penury, liberty in bonds, life in death, as the
martyrs have frequently and gloriously experienced. Sometimes God
turns the upright man's adversity into prosperity, his sickness into
health, his weakness into strength, his night into day, his storms into
calms, his long winter nights into pleasant summer days. Sometimes
God hides his upright ones in the hollow of his hand, in his pavilion,
in his presence-chamber, Isa. xxvi. 9, 20 ; Mai. iii. 17. When his judg-
ments are abroad in the earth he takes special care of his jewels, and
many times, when the upright are in darkness and in great distress,
God cheers their hearts with the consolations of his Spirit and the
light of his countenance, Ps. xciv. 19, and Ixxi. 20, 21. By all which
it is most evident that ' Unto the upright there ariseth light in dark-
ness.' sirs, do but maintain your uprightness in all your troubles
and distresses, and then you will be sure of the gracious presence of
God with you in all your troubles and distresses. God values an
upright Job upon a dunghill before a deceitful Jehu upon his royal
throne. Job i. 8, and ii. 3, 7-9 ; he sets a higher price upon an upright
Lazarus in rags than upon a rich Dives in his purple robes, Luke xvi.
And therefore when an upright man is in troubles and distresses, God
will be sure to keep him company. The upright man's motto is
semper idem; he is like the philosopher's die, cast him which way
you will, and into what condition you will, he is still upright ; and
therefore, of all persons, God loves to grace the upright man with his
gracious presence. But,
[6.] Sixthly, If you would enjoy the gracious presence of God with
you in all your troubles, deep distresses, and naost deadly dangers, then
you must he very earnest and importunate with God not to leave you,
hut to stay ivith you, to abide with you, and to diuell in the midst of you,
Ps. cxlviii. 18, ' The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him ;' but,^
to prevent mistakes, I mean, ' to all that call upon him in truth.'
1
584 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
There are many that call upon God, but not in truth ; from these God
stands at a distance, Prov. i. 28 ; Isa. i. 11-17 ; Deut. iv. 4 ; 2 John 4.
There are others that call upon God in truth, in plainness and single-
ness of heart; and these God are^ near, not only in regard of his essence,
which is everywhere, but also in regard of the effects of his power,
and the readiness of his will in granting their requests. Abijah prays,
and finds an admirable presence of God with him, giving him a mighty
victory over his most powerful enemy, 2 Chron. xiii. 3, 10, 11, 17, 18.
Asa prays, and finds such a singular presence of God with him as
made him victorious over a host of a thousand thousand and three
hundred chariots, a huger host than that of Xerxes. Josephus saith
it consisted of nine hundred thousand foot, and one hundred thousand
horse, 2 Chron. xiv. 9 to the end. Jehoshaphat prays, and had such
a signal presence of God with him that those numerous forces that
were combined against him fall by their own swords, 2 Chron. xx.
1-11, with ver. 22-25. The wrath of God wrought their ruin, as by
an ambuscade, unexpectedly and irresistibly. Some understand this
ambushment of the holy angels sent suddenly in upon them to slay
them ; whereupon they, mistaking the matter, and supposing it had
been their own companions, flew upon them, and so sheathed their
swords in one another's bowels. 2 Others say that the Lord did sud-
denly and unexpectedly cut them off, as when men are cut off by
enemies that lie in ambush against them, and that by sending some
unexpected strife among those nations, whereupon they fell out among
themselves, and slew one another, and so accomplished that which
the Levdte had foretold, ver. 17, ' Ye shall not need to fight in this
battle : set yourselves, stand ye stiU, and see the salvation of the Lord
with you, Judah and Jerusalem : fear not, nor be dismayed ; to-
morrow go out against them : for the Lord will be with you.' It was
the presence of God with his people that was their preservation, and
their enemies' destruction. There is no power, no force, no strength,
no combinations that can stand before the powerful presence of God
with his people, and a spirit of prayer upon his people. Hezekiah
prays, and finds such a powerful presence of God with him as bears
up his heart, and as strengthens his faith, and as cuts off his enemies,
Isa. xxxvii. 14-21, with ver. 36. Oh, beg hard of the Lord that he
will stay with you, do as they did when Christ made as though he
would have gone from them: Luke xxiv. 29, ' But they constrained
him, saying. Abide with us, for it is towards evening, and the day is
far spent ; and he went in to tarry with them/^ By prayer and im-
portunity lay hold on Christ ; say. Lord, night is near, the night of
trouble, the night of distress, the night of danger, the night of death
is near ; stay with us, depart not from us. They over-entreated him
by their importunity, they compelled him by entreaty. ' Night is near,
and the day is far spent.' Some conjecture that Cleophas, observing
^ Query, 'and to these God is'? — Ed.
" They were carried by such a spirit of rage and fury that no man spared his neigh-
bour, but each one destroyed him that was next liim.
•* Luke ixiv. 28. Equivocators abuse this place greatly, but they must know that
Chri-st did not pretend one thing, and intend another, but as he made an offer to depart,
so without question he would have gone farther, if the importunity of the disciples had
not staid him.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 585
Christ to be very expert in the prophets, and to discourse so admirable
well of Christ's person, sufferings, and glory, his heart burning in him
with musing who this should be, he is marvellous importunate with
him to stay at his house, and at last prevails. Oh, lay a hand of holy
violence upon God, as Jacob did, and say, as he, ' I will not let thee
go.' Jacob, though lamed and hard laid at, yet will not let Christ
go. Jacob holds fast with both hands when his joints were out of
joint, being fully resolved that whatever he did let go, he would not
let go his Lord till he had blessed him. Gen. xxxii. 25, 26 ; Hosea iv. 12.
Oh, be often a-crying out with Jeremiah, ' Leave us not, Lord,' Jer.
xiv. 9. Though in our great troubles and deep distresses friends should
leave us, and relations leave us, and all the world leave us, yet don't thou
leave us. Oh, don't thou leave us, Lord ! Though all creatures
should desert us, yet, if thou wilt but stand by us, we shall do well
enough ; but woe, woe unto us if God depart from us. Oh, leave us
not ! But,
[7.] Seventhly, Keep humble, and lualk humbly loith your God,
Micah vi. 8 ; Ps. xxv. 9. The highest heavens and the lowest hearts,
are the habitation of God's glorious presence: Isa. Ivii. 15, ' For saith
the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, wliose name is Holy ;
I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the liumble, and to revive the
heart of the contrite ones.' He that would in good earnest enjoy the
gracious presence of God with him in his great troubles, deep distresses,
and most deadly dangers, he must keep humble, and walk humbly
with his God. God will keep house with none but humble souls.
There are none that feel so great a need of the divine presence as
humble souls, there are none that so prize the divine presence as
humble souls, there are none that so love the divine presence, and that
are so enamoured with the divine presence as humble souls, there are
none that so thirst and long for much of the divine presence as humble
souls, there are none that so lament and bewail the loss of the divine
presence as humble souls, there are none that make such a singular
and thorough improvement of the divine presence as humble souls;
and therefore no wonder that of all the men in the world God singles
out the humble Christian, to make his heart the habitation where his
honour delights to dwell. Abraham is but dust and ashes in his own
eyes, Gen. xviii. 27 ; and what man on earth had ever more of the
divine presence of God with him than he ? Gen xv. 12-19, xvii. 1-10,
and xviii. 17-19, &c. Jacob was less than the least of all mercies in his
own eyes. Gen. xxxii. 10 ; and he had a mighty presence of God with
him, Gen. xxxii. 24-31, &c. David in his own eyes was but a worm
and no man, Ps. xxii. 6. The word in the original, tolagnath, signifieth a
very little worm , which breedeth in scarlet. It is so little, that no man can
hardly see it or perceive it ; and yet what a mighty presence of God
had David with him in the many battles he fought, and in tlie many
dano-ers he was in, and in the many miraculous deliverances he had !
See them all summed up in that 18th Psalm. It is his triumphant
sono- after many victories won, deliverances vouchsafed, and mercies
obtained ; and therefore worthy of frequent perusal. Paul was the
least of all saints in his own eyes ; yea, he was less than the least of
586 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
all saints, Eph. iii. 8, iXu^x^Larorepo). This is a double diminutive, and
signifies ' lesser than the least/ if lesser might be. Here you have the
greatest apostle descending down to the lowest step of humility, 1 Cor.
XV, 8, iv. 9 ; 1 Tim. i. 15. Great Paul is least of saints, least of the
apostles, and greatest of sinners in his own eyes, and never had any
mortal more of the gi'acious presence of God with him in all his ser-
vices and in all his sufferings, in all his afflictions and in all liis temp-
tations, in all his trials and in all his troubles, which were many and
gi-eat. See Acts xvi. 23-25, xxiii. 10, 11, xxvii. 23-25 ; 2 Cor. i. 8-10,
iv. 8-11, vii. 4-7, xi. 21, seq., xii. 7-10. Is your condition low, then let
your hearts be low. He that is little in his own account, is great in
God's esteem, and shall be sure to enjoy most of his presence. God
can dwell, God will dwell with none but those that are lowly in heart ;
and therefore as ever you would enjoy the signal presence of God with
you in your greatest troubles and deepest distresses, be sure you walk
humbly with your God. Many may talk much of God, and many may
profess much of God, and many may boast much of God ; but he only
enjoys much of God who makes conscience of walking humbly with
God. But,
[8.] Eighthly, and lastly, If you would enjoy the signal presence of
God with you in your greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most
deadly dangers, then labour ever?/ day more and more after greater
measures of holiness. The more holiness you reach to, the more you
shall have of the presence of a holy God with you in all your straits
and trials. 1^ If the Scriptures be narrowly searched, you will find
that men of the greatest measures and degrees of holiness have always
enjoyed the greatest measures of the divine presence : witness Enoch,
Gen. V. 24 ; Noah, Gen. vi. 8, 9, 17, 18. So Abraham, Jacob, Joseph,
Job, David, Daniel, John, Paul, &c. They were all famous for holi-
ness ; and accordingly they had a famous presence of God with them,
as hath been shewed in part, and might more fully have been dis-
covered, but that the press calls upon me to hasten to a conclusion ;
and therefore I shall now but hint at things. Consider,
[1.] First, That the more holy any person is, the more excellent
that person is. All corruptions are diminutions of excellency. The
more mixed anything is, the more abased it is. The more you mix
your wine with water, the more you abase your wine ; and the more
you mix your gold with tin, the more you abase your gold : but the
purer your wine is, the richer and better your wine is ; and the purer
yoiu- gold is, the more glorious and excellent it is. So the purer and
holier any person is, the more excellent and glorious that person is.
Now the more divinely excellent and glorious any person is, the
more he is beloved of God, Dan. ix. 23 ; and the more he is the
delight of God, and the more he shall have of the presence of God.
Consider,
[2.] Secondly, The more holy any person is, the more that person
pleases the Lord. Fruitfulness in holiness fills heaven with joy.
The husbandman is not so much pleased with the fruitfulness of his
fields, nor the wife with the fruitfulness of her womb, as God is
^ Poader upon these scriptures, Isa. Iviii. S-11; 2 Cor. vi. 16-18, and vii. 1 ; Dcut.
xxiiL 13, IL
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 587
pleased with the fruitfulness of his people ia grace and holiness.
Now certainly, the more God is pleased with any person, the more
he will be present with that person. They coromonly have most of
our presence that most please us. Enoch had this testimony, before
his translation, that he pleased God, or gave God content, as the
original word, evTjpeaTrjKsvai, imports. Enoch eyed God at all times,
in all places, and in all companies ; and this pleased God. Where-
ever Enoch was, his eye was still upon God.i Enoch walked con-
stantly with God ; his whole life was but one continued day of
walking with God ; and this pleased God. Enoch kept himself from
the corruptions and pollutions of the times, which were very great ;
he was not carried away with the stream of the times ; he kept a
constant counter-motion to the corrupt courses of the times ; and this
pleased God. Enoch maintained and kept up a clear, choice, and
standing communion with God ; and this pleased Grod. Enoch made
it his business, his work, his heaven, to approve his heart to God, and
his ways to God ; and this pleased God. Enoch was very serious and
studious to avoid everything that might be a dishonour to God, or
displeasing to God ; and this pleased God. Enoch had great, and
high, and honourable thoughts of God ; and this pleased God. God
was so pleased and taken with Enoch that he translates him from
earth to heaven, from a gracious to a glorious presence.'^ It was a
singular mercy for God to be with Enoch on earth, but it was a far
more glorious mercy for Enoch to be with God in heaven. The
gracious presence of God is very desirable, but the glorious presence
of God is most comfortable. Enoch pleases God, and God translates
Enoch. We can never have those friends near enough to us who
take a pleasure and delight to please us : so here Enoch was a bright
morning star, a rising sun, for virtue and holiness ; and therefore God
could not satisfy himself, to speak after the manner of men, that he
should live at so great a distance from him, and therefore translates
him from earth to heaven. Well, my friends, the greater measures of
holiness you reach to, the more you will please God ; and the more
you please (lod, the more you shall be sure to enjoy of the presence of
God. Consider,
[3.] Thirdly, The more holy any person is, the more like to God he
is; and the nvore like to God he is, doubtless tlw ntvore he is beloved of
God. It is likeness both in nature and grace that always draws the
strongest love, 1 Pet i. 15, 16; Lev. xi. 44, and xix. 2, and xx. 7.
Though every child is the father multiplied, the father of a second
edition ; yet the father loves him best, and delights in him most who is
most like him, and who in feature, spirit, and action does most resemble
him to the life ; and so does the Father of spirits also ; he always loves
them best who in holiness resemble him most, Heb. xii. 9. There are
four remarkable things in the beloved disciple above all the rest, John
xiii. 23, and xviii. 16, and xix. 26, 27, and Mark xiv. 50: (1.) That
he lay nearest to Christ's bosom at the table ; (2.) That he followed
1 Heb. xi. 5 ; Gen. v. 24. The Hebrew word ■jbn/T'') from -J^n is in Hithpacl,
and notes a continual walkinc; with God without ceasing.
' God took him up in a whirlwind, say the Hebrew doctors, as Elias was. He changed
his place, but not his company, for he still walked with God ; as on earth, so in heaven.
588 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
Christ closest to the high-priest's palace ; (3.) That he stood close to
Christ when he was on the cross, though others had basely deserted
him and turned their backs upon him ; (4.) That Christ commended
the care of his virgin mother to him. Now why did Christ's desire,
love, and delight run out with a stronger and a fuller tide towards
John than to the rest of the disciples ? doubtless it was because John
did more resemble Christ than the rest, it was because John was a
more exact picture and lively representation than the others were of
Christ. Now the more any man in holiness is like to Christ, the more
any man in holiness resembles Christ, the more that man shall enjoy
of the presence of Christ, the more that man shall lie in the bosom of
Christ, The Father loves to be most with that child that is like him
most : so here, as ever you would enjoy the presence of God in your
greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, be sure
that you keep up holiness in your hearts and lives, be sure that you
grow in holiness, and flourish in holiness, and then you shall be sure
of the presence of God with you in all your troubles and deep dis-
tresses ; a holy God will never leave the holy Christian, And thus
much for this use of exhortation.
The last use of all is a use of comfort and consolation to all the
people of God, in their greatest troubles and deepest distresses. Now
here consider,
(1,) First of all. That God himself hands out this as a rare comfort
to his people in all their troubles, distresses, and dangers — viz.. That
he luill he graciously present with them in the midst of all their sor
TOios and sufferings : Gen. xxvi. 3, ' Sojourn in this land, and I will
be with thee, and will bless thee ;' xxviii. 15, ' And behold I am with
thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will
bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee,' &c., Isa.
xliii. 2 ; Ps. xci. 15 ; Josh. i. 5 ; Heb. xiii. 5 ; Exod. iii. 12. Don't
talk of thy loss of friends, for I will be with thee ; nor don't talk of thy
country, for I will give thee this land, which is the paradise of the
world ; nor don't talk of thy poverty, for thou shalt spread abroad to
the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, ver. 14.
Nor don't talk of thy solitariness and aloneness, ' for I will not leave
thee.' Isa, xli, 10, ' Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : be not dis-
mayed ; for I am thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help
thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness,'
Suppose a man was injuriously dealt with by this man or that, would
it not be a comfort to him that a just and righteous judge stood by
and was an eye-witness of all the violences that were offered to him ?
Suppose a man were in exile with David, or in prison with Joseph, or
in a dungeon with Jeremiah, or in the stocks with Paul and Silas, or
in banishment for the testimony of Jesus, with John, yet would it not
be a singular comfort to him to have the presence of a kind father, a
bosom friend, a wise counsellor, an able physician with him ?
Christian, be thou in what place thou wilt, and with what company
thou wilt, and in what condition thou wilt, yet thy loving God, thy
kind father, thy bosom friend, &c. , will be still with thee, he will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee ; and oh what a spring of comfort should
this be to thee ! But,
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 589
(2.) Secondly, Know for your comfort, that there is ahvays some
special favours and blessings annexed to tJds signal presence of God,
as ' I will be with thee, and bless thee :' Gen. xxvi. 3, ' I am with
thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest:' xxviii.
15, 'I will be with him in trouble, and honour him : ' Ps. xci. 15, 'I
will be with him, and strengthen him :' Isa. xli. 10, ' I will be with
thee, and the flames shall not kindle upon thee : ' xliii. '2, ' I will
be with thee, and there shall not a man be able to stand before thee :'
Josh. i. 5, ' I will be with thee, to deliver thee:' Jer. i. 19, ' I am
with thee, to save thee, and to deliver thee out of the hand of the
wicked, and out of the hand of the terrible,' xv. 20, 21. Hushai's
presence with David was a burden : Job's wife's presence was but a
vexation unto him, and Christ's presence among the Gergesenes was a
terror to them, and the presence of talkative friends is many times a
trouble to us, 2 Sam. xv. 33; Job ii. 9, 10; Mat. viii. 28, 34. Oh,
but this signal, this favourable presence of the Lord with his people,
in their greatest troubles and deepest distresses, is a sweet presence, a
comfortable presence, a delightful presence, a blessed presence, yea,
such a presence as has many singular blessings annexed to it. But,
(3.) Thirdly, Know for your comfort, that you shall have mercy and
kindness, and luhatever good you need in due season, at that very
instant, at that very nick of time luherein you most need mercy. God
will time your mercies, and your blessings for you ; he is nigh, and
will not fail you at a dead lift, Ps. cxlv. 18 ; Deut. iv. 7 ; Gen. xxii.
10-13. When Abraham had bound his son, and bent his sword,
and the knife was up, then comes a voice from heaven, ' Abraham,
Abraham, hold thy hand.' At that very nick of time, when the four
hundred and thirty years were expired, Israel was delivered out of
their captivity and slavery, Exod. xii. 41, 51 : Deut. xi. 14, ' I will
give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain, and the
latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and
thine oil.' God gives rain to all by a providence, but he gives rain to
his Israel by virtue of a promise. Acts xiv. 18 ; Job xxxviii. 26. God
engages himself not only to give rain, but to give it in due season ; he
will give the first rain after the sowing of the seed, that it might take
rooting in the earth ; and he will give the latter rain a little before
harvest, that the ears might be full. my friends ! it is wonderful
mercy, that God will time our mercies for us. When Jehoshaphat
was put to a hard pinch, at that very nick of time God owns him,
stands by him, and gives him a great victory, 2 Chron. xx. 12, 22-26.
When David was at a great plunge, Saul being at his very heels, at
that very nick of time, tidings were brought to Saul, that the Philis-
tines had invaded the land, and so David escapes, 1 Sam. xxiii. 26-
28. When all human help failed, God came in and helped at a dead-
lift, l So Julian was cut off by the Persian war, at that very nick of
time when he had vowed at his return, to make a sacrifice of the
Christians' lives. And so Charles the Fifth was diverted from perse-
cuting of the Protestants by the Turks breaking into Hungary, at
that very nick of time when his heart was set upon a warm persecution.
1 Let him, saith Augustine, choose his own opportunity, that so freely grants the
mercy.
590 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
And so Justice G-ilford,^ a violent papist in Queen Mary's days, going
up the stairs to Mrs Koberts her chamber, to compel her, will she or
will she not, to go to mass, at that very nick of time he was suddenly
taken with his old disease the gout, and so grievously tormented, that
he swore he would never trouble her more.2 When Faux was giving
fire to the match, that should have given fire to the powder that should
have blown up king, lords, and commons, at that very nick of time, he
that never slumbers nor sleeps prevented him ; and so turned our in-
tended funeral into a festival, Ps, cxxi. 3-5. Christian ! are thy
troubles many in number, strange in nature, heavy in measure, much
in burthen, and long in continuance, yet remember that thy God is
near, whose mercies are numerous, whose wisdom is wondrous, and
whose power is miraculous. The nearness or remoteness of a friend
is very material and considerable in our troubles, distresses, wants,
dangers, &c. I have such a friend, and he would help me, but he lives
so far off ; and I have another friend that has a great love for me, that
is able to counsel me, and to speak a word in season to me, and that
in my distress would stand close to me, but he is so remote. I have
a special friend, that did he know how things stand with me, would
make my burdens his, and my wants his, and my sorrows his ; but he
is in a far country, he is at the Indies, and I may be undone before I
can hear from him. But it is not thus with you, Christians ! who
have a God so nigh unto you, who have the signal presence of God in
the midst of you, yea who have a God always standing by you, ' The
Lord stood by me/ &c. my friends, how can you want comfort,
that have the God of all consolation present with you ? How can you
want counsel, that have the wonderful counseller so near unto you ?
How can you want grace, who have the God of all grace standing by
you ? How can you want peace, who have always the presence of the
prince of peace with you ? 2 Cor. i. 3 ; Isa. ix. 6 ; 1 Pet. v. 10 ; Isa.
ix, 6. But,
(4.) Fourthly, Know for your comfort, that if God he ivitli you, there
is nothing, there can he nothing hut iveakness against you.^ Isa. xxvii,
4, ' Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle, I would
go through them, I would burn them together?' What are briars
and thorns to a devouring fire, to the consuming flames ? no more are
all the enemies of the church to the presence of God with his people.
God will be a burning and destroying fire to all the enemies of Zion.
Wicked men are chaff" : Ps. i. 4, ' And what is that to the wind, to
the whirlwind ? they are stubble.' Job xxi. 18, ' They are as driven
stubble to his bow.' Isa. xli. 2, ' They are as stubble fully dry.'
Nah. i. 10. ' They are as stubble before the flame.' Joel ii. 5, ' They
are like dust.' 2 Kings xiii. 7, ' Yea, like small dust.' Isa. xxix. 5,
' They are like a morning cloud, an early dew, a little smoke.' Hosea
xiii. 3. The morning cloud is soon dispelled, the early dew is soon
dried up, the rolling smoke out of the chimney is presently scattered.'
Oh, the weakness of man! Oh, the power of God! No people on
1 Sic : query, Gifford ?— G. ^ [Foxe,] Acts and Mon., 1880.
'^ God holdeth the church's enemies in chains, having his hook in their nose, and
his bridle in their lips, Isa. xxxvii. 29 ; he can easily rule and over-rule his proudust
enemies.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 591
earth have such a power on their sides as the saints have. Consult
these scriptures, 2 Kings vi. 16; 2 Chron. xxxii. 6, 7; Isa. viii. 9,
10 ; Num. xiii. 28, 30-33, and xiv. 9. No Christian can look upon
the strong and mighty enemies of Zion in a scripture glass, but must
behold them as weak and impotent persons. Who could but smile to
see weak children to attempt to besiege a wall of brass, or a wall of
fire ? Zech. ii. 5 ; as great a folly and weakness it is for wicked men
to make attempts upon the saints, who have been to this day, and will
be to the end, a trembUng and a burdensome stone to all that gather
together against them, Zech. xii. 2, 3. Sense looks upon the powers
of the world as strong, mighty, and invincible ; but faith looks upon
them as poor, weak, contemptible, gasping, dying men. Thus heroi-
cal Luther looked upon them, Contemptus est a me Romanus et favor
et furor, I care neither for Kome's favour nor fury ; I am neither fond
of the one," nor afraid of the other. It is dangerous to look upon the
powers of the world in the devil's multiplying glass ; it is best and
safest to look upon them in a scripture glass, and then we shall never
fear them, nor sinfully shift them. But,
(5.) Fifthly, If God be signally present with his people, in their
greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, then
know for your comfort, that none can he against you hut they must he
against God himself Acts ix. 4-6 ; for God is with you in all your
troubles, as a father is with his child, a husband with his wife, a
general with his army, and as a confederate with his allies, who is
with them offensively and defensively. Hence they are said to rage
against God, Isa. xxxvii. 28, 29; and to blaspheme God, 2 Kings
xix. 3, 6; and to fight against God, Acts v. 38, 39, and xxiii. 9;
Prov. xxi. 30. To fight against God is labour in vain. Who ever fought
against God and prospered ? Some think that this phrase of fighting
against God is drawn from the fable of the giants, which were said to
make war with the gods. The church of Christ always flourisheth most,
and increaseth most, when the tyrants of the earth oppose it most, and
persecute it most. Diocletian laid down the empire in great discontent,
because he could not by any persecution suppress the true Christian
religion. The more violent he was against the people of God, the more
they increased and multiplied, and the more they were emboldened and
encouraged ; and therefore in a rage he throws up all. But,
[1.] First, It is the presence oi an Almighty GtoA: Gen. xvii. 1, 'I
am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and be thou perfect,' Gen.
xlix. 25, and Num. xxiv. 4. Some derive the word Shaddai, here
used from dai, that signifieth sufficiency. God is an all-sufiicient
good, and a self-sufficient good ; he is an independent good, an abso-
lute good, an original good, a universal good. Some derive the
word Shaddai from Shad, that signifieth a breast, a dug, because God
feedeth his children with sufficiency of all good things, as the loving
mother doth the child with the milk of her breasts. God is the only
satisfactory good, and proportionable good, and suitable good to our
souls ; as the breast, the dug is the most suitable good to the child's
stomach. And others derive the word Shaddai from Shaddad, which
signifieth to spoil, conquer, or overcome, and so they say that God did
here invert or overcome the order of nature, in causing the barren to
692 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
bear. But most authors do translate it omnipotent. God, then, is
called Shaddai, that is omnipotent and all-sufficient, for his omnipo-
tency includeth also all-sufficiency.
[2.] Secondly, You have the presence of a loving Godvf\\h you : Isa.
xliii. 4, ' Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honour-
able, and I have loved thee.' But that this may the better stick
and work, you must remember, First, That God loves you with a first
love, see Deut. vii. 7, 8 : 1 John iv. 19, ' We love him because he first
loved us.' Our love is but a reflex of his. God first cast an eye of
love upon us before we cast an eye of love on him, and therefore God
is no way indebted to us for our love. Mary answers not Kabboni till
Christ first said unto her Mary, John xx. IG. The pure nature of
love is more seen in God's first love to us than in ours to him. By
nature we were without God, and afar off from God ; we were
strangers to God, and enemies to God, yea, haters of God ; and
therefore if God had not loved us firstly, we had been done everlast-
ingly, Eph. ii. 12, 19 ; Eom. v. 10, and i. 30. Secondly, As God
loves you with a first love, so he loves you with a free love : Hosea
xiv. 4, ' I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.' 1 know
they are backslidden, but I will heal their backslidings. I know they
have broken their bones by their fall, but I will make those broken
bones to rejoice. I know there is nothing at all in them that is ex-
cellent or eminent, that is honourable or acceptable, that is laudable
or lovely, yet ' I will love them freely,' Ex mero motu, of mine own,
free, rich, absolute, sovereign, and independent grace. Thirdly, As
he loves you with a free love, so he loves you with an everlasting love :
Jer. xxxi. 3, ' I have loved thee with an everlasting love ; therefore,
with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.' Heb., I love thee with the
love of perpetuity, or mth the love of eternity. My love and my af-
fections continue still the same to thee, and shall do for ever ; or, as
others carry the words, I love thee with an ancient love, or with the
love of antiquity ; I love thee still with the same affection that in for-
mer ages I bare towards thee. Fourthly, As he loves you with an
everlasting love, so he loves you with an unchangeable love : Mai. iii,
6, ' I am the Lord, I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not
consumed.' Men change, and counsels change, and occurrences change,
and friends change, and relations change, and kingdoms change, and
commonwealths change, but God never changes, as Balaam confesses,
who was the devil's hackney, and who had a mind to dance with the
devil all day, and then sup with Christ at night, Num. xxiii. 10. God
is neither false nor fickle ; he cannot, like men, say and unsay ; he
cannot alter* his mind nor eat his words. ' The eternity of Israel
cannot lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent,' Ps.
Ixxxix. 34 ; 1 Sam. xv. 29. Men are so mutable and changeable,
that there is no hold to be taken of what they say ; but God is im-
mutable in his nature, in his essence, in his counsels, in his attributes,
in his decrees, in his promises, &c. He is, as the school-men say,
Oonnind immutabilis. Altogether immutable. Fifthly, As he loves
you with an unchangeable love, so he loves you with a special love,
with a peculiar love, with a distinguishing love, with a superlative
love, Ps. cxlvi. 7, 8. The Lord executes judgment for the oppressed;
f
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 593
he gives food to the hungry, he looseth the prisoners, he opens the eyes
of the bhnd, he raises them that are bowed down, he loveth the*
righteous, and this is more than all the rest. Sixthly and lastly,
As he loves his people with a special love, with a peculiar love, so he
loves them with the greatest love, with a matchless love. ' Daniel
greatly beloved: ' John iii. 16, ' God so loved the world,' &c. Here
is a sic without a sic^tt^ there being nothing in nature wherewith to par-
allel it. This sic without a sicut signifies the greatness of Grod's love,
the vehemency of his love, and the admirableness of his love. Now
what an unspeakable comfort must this be to his saints, to have the
presence of a loving God, to have the presence of such a loving
God with them in all their troubles and deep distresses ! If the
presence of a loving friend, a loving relation in our troubles and dis-
tresses, be such a mercv, oh, what then is the presence of a loving
God! "
[3.] Tliirdly, It is the presence of an CLctive God, who will be a
defence to you, a shield to you, a sword to you, a buckler to you, a
sun to you, a strong tower to you, a salvation to you. None can
withstand him, none can equal him, none can out-act him, Ps. xviii.
2 ; 2 Chron. xvi. 9 ; Prov. xviii. 10 ; Jer. xxxii, 40, 41 ; Isa. xxx. 18,
19, and xxvii. 3 ; Jer. xxxi. 28.
[4.] Fourthly, It is the presence of a ivakeful God, of a watchful
God, of a God that never, no never, slumbers or sleeps. God will be
so far from sleeping, that he will not so much as slumber, Ps. cxxi.
3-5. The phrase is taken from watchmen, who stand on the walls in
time of war to discover the approaches of enemies, and accordingly
give warning. Now watchmen have been treacherous and sleepy.
The capitol of Rome had been taken by the Gauls, if the geese had
not been more wakeful than the watchmen of the walls. Iphicrates,
the Athenian captain, visiting the guards on the walls of Corinth,
found one of the watch asleep, and presently thrust him through with
his sword, saying. Dead I found him, and dead I left him. Though
watchmen slumber and sleep, yet that God that is present with his
people doth neither ; his seven eyes are always open.
[5.] Fifthly, It is the presence of a wise God, of an omniscient God.
God fills all things, he encompasseth all things, and he sustaineth all
things, and therefore he must needs know all things, Ezek. iii. 9 ;
Ps. xxxiii. 10, 11 ; Isa. xlvi. 10, and xl. 28 ; Rom. xi. 33 ; 2 Pet. ii. 9 ;
Jonah i. 5 ; 2 Kings xiv. 6 ; Mat. xxvi. 24, 25. God can find Jonah
in the bottom of the ship ; and Jeroboam's wife in her disguises ; and
Judas in his treason ; and Demas in his apostasy ; and the scribes
and Pharisees in their hypocrisy, 2 Tim. iv. 10 ; Mat. xxiii. ; Eev. iv. 6.
The whole world is to him as a sea of glass : corpus diaphanum ; a
clear transparent body. There is nothing hid from his eyes ; so that
he that can but find out a place where God sees not, there let that
man sin and spare not : ' All things are naked and opened unto the
eyes of him with whom we have to do,' Heb. iv. 13 : <^vyLva, ' naked,'
as when the skin is pulled off, and Ter/aa^^TyXto-ziei/a, ' opened as the
entrails of a sacrifice,' cut down the back. The apostle, say some,
useth a metaphor taken from a sheep, whose skin is taken off, and he
hanged up by the neck, with his back towards the wall, and all his
VOL. V. 2 p
594 . THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
entrails laid bare and exposed to open view. He alludes, say others,
to the anatomising of a creature, wherein men are very cautious to
find out every little vein or muscle, though they be never so close.
They are naked, therefore God sees their outside ; and opened, dis-
sected, quartered, and cleft asunder through the backbone, so that he
sees their inside also. Opened is more than naked : naked is that
which is not clothed or covered ; opened is that whose inwards are
discovered and made conspicuous. Some make it a metaphor from
those that lie with their faces upwards, that all passengers may see
who they are. Is it such a comfort to have the presence of a wise
and knowing friend with us in our greatest troubles and deepest
distresses ? what a transcendent comfort must it be then to enjoy the
presence of an all-seeing and an all-knowing God in all our troubles
and distresses ! The eye of heaven sees all, and knows all, and writes
down all thy troubles and trials, thy sorrows and sufferings, thy losses
and crosses. Mat. vi. 32 ; and accordingly will an all-knowing God act
for his own glory and his people's good.
[6.] Sixthly and lastly. It is the presence of a God of mercy, a God
of bowels, a God of compassions, Exod. xxxiii. 7, 8 ; Jer. xxxi. 18-20 ;
Hosea xi. 8, 9 ; Lam. iii. 22. ' His compassions fail not.' Mercy
is as essential to God as light is to the sun, Micah vii. 18, 19, or as
heat is to the fire. He delights in mercy, as the senses and faculties
of the soul do in their several actions. Patience, and clemency, and
mercy, and compassion, and peace are the fruits of his bowels — the
offspring which the divine nature doth produce. God's compassions
are fatherly compassions, Ps. ciii. 13 ; they are motherly compassions,
Isa. xlix. 15 ; they are brotherly compassions, Heb. ii. 12 ; they are
friendly compassions. Cant. v. 1,2. Oh, how sweet must the pre-
sence of a God of mercy, a God of compassion, be to the saints in a
day of trouble ! The presence of a compassionate friend in a day of
distress is very desirable and comfortable ; what then is the presence
of a compassionate God ! Thus you see that there is no pre-
sence to the divine presence — no presence to the signal presence of
God with his people in their greatest troubles and deepest distresses.
But,
(7.) Seventhly and lastly. If God be signally present with his
people in their greatest troubles and deepest distresses, then let them
all know for their comfort, that this presence will make up the loant or
OSS of all outward comforts, this presence will make up the loss of a
hushand, a child, a friend, an estate, &c., 1 Sam, i. 8. Look, as all
light meets in the sun, and as all water meets in the sea, so all our
outward comforts meets in the God of all comfort, 2 Cor. i. 3. When
Alexander asked king Porus, being then his prisoner, how he would
be used ? He answered in one word, BaaiXiKm, i.e., like a king.
Alexander again replying. Do you desire nothing else ? No, saith
Porus, all things are in BaaiXiKm, in this one word, like a king ; so
all things, all comforts are to be found in this signal presence of God
with his people, in their greatest troubles and deepest distresses.
Certainly the gracious presence of the Lord is infinitely better than
the presence of all outward comforts, as you know one sun is more
glorious and comfortable than ten thousand stars.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 595
Question. But how may a person that has lost this gracious presence
of Grod, recover it again ?
JRespome 1. First, Observe how you lost this 'presence of God, and
labour to recover it by a contrary course. Did you lose it by sinful
omissions ? then be more active in a way of duty. Didst thou lose the
presence of God by neglecting thy watch, or by not walking with God,
or by an eager pursuit of the world, or by closing with this or that
temptation, or by letting fall thy communion with God ? take a con-
trary course. Now keep up thy watch, walk close with God, keep up
a daily converse with lively Christians, let thy heart and affections be
set upon things above, keep thy ground in the face ol all temptations,
maintain a standing communion with God, Ps. cxix. 63 ; Col. iii. 1, 2.
After Christ had stood knocking and calling to his spouse— 'Open to
me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled ; for my head is filled
with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night,' Cant. v. 2, 3, 6
— but found no entrance, he retired and withdrew himself, because she
would not arise and put on her coat ; but when she bestirs herself,
' she finds him whom her soul loved,' chap. iii. 1-4. Then Christ
comes into his garden again, and returns to his spouse again, and for-
gets all former unkindness, chap. vi. 1^ 2. But,
Besponse 2. Secondly , Inquire ivhere, ivhen, and why God has with-
drawn himself; as we do when dear friends absent themselves from
us. ' the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why
shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man
that turneth aside to tarry for a night?' Jer. xiv. 8. Ver. 9, ' Why
shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot
save ? Yet thou, Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called
by thy name ; leave us not.'
Response 8. Thirdly, Stand not with Christ for anything, not for a
right eye, or a right hand, ww for an Isaac or a Benjamin. Don't
say this work is too high, and that too hard, and the other too hot,
and the other too dangerous, in order to the recovery of God's
countenance and presence. Thou must not think anything in the
world too much to do for Christ, or to suffer for Christ. Thou wilt be
a happy man if thou canst recover Christ's lost presence ; though it
be upon the hardest terms imaginable. But,
Besponse 4. Fourthly, Let your hearts lie humble and low under
the loss of God's gracious presence, Ps. li. 8-12 ; 1 Pet. 5, 6. For,
(1.) It is the greatest loss. (2.) It is a loss-embittering loss ; it is a
loss that will greatly embitter all your worldly losses. I have lost my
health, I have lost a hopeful child, I have lost a gracious yoke-fellow,
which was the delight of mine eyes and the joy of my heart ; I have
lost a fair estate, I have lost an intimate friend, I have lost a brave
trade. Oh, but that which embitters all my losses, and puts a sting
into them, is this, that I have lost the gracious presence of God that
once I enjoyed. (3.) It is a loss that all outward comforts can never
make up. When the sun is down, nothing can make it day with us.
(4.) It is an invisible loss; and no losses to invisible losses. As there
are no mercies to invisible mercies, so there are no losses to invisible
losses. (5.) It is a loss that will cost a man dear before it will be
made up again. Oh the sighs, the groans, the strong cries, the earnest
596 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
prayers, tlie bottles of tears that the recovery of the divine presence
will cost a Christian ; upon all which accounts, how well does it
become a Christian to lie humble at the foot of God !
Response 5. Fifthly, Lift up a mighty cry to heaven. Thus the
saints of old have done. Consult these scriptures, Ps. li. 6-1 3 ; Lam.
iii. 56, 57 ; Ps. iv. 6, 7, xxvii. 9, xxxviii. 21, 22, cxxxviii. 3, and
cxix. 8, ' forsake me not utterly.' Christ was forsaken for a few
hours, David for a few months, and Job for a few years, for the trial
and exercise of his faith and patience ; but then they all sent up a
mighty cry to heaven. Leave them God did, to their thinking ; forsake
them he did in regard of vision, but not in regard of union, i The
promise is, that ' God will draw near to us if we draw near to him,'
James iv. 8. Draw nigh to God in duty, and he will draw nigh to
you in mercy : sanctify him, and he will satisfy you. Prayer is the
only means to supply all defects, it gets all, and makes up the loss of-
all ; as a gracious poor woman said in her distress, I have no friend,
but I have prayer ; that will get favour with my God ; so long as I
can find a praying heart, God will, I am sure of that, find a pitying
heart and a helping hand. It is not the length, but the strength of
prayer ; it is not the labour of the lip, but the travail of the heart
that prevails with God, Jer. xxix. 12-14. It is not the arithmetic of
our prayers, how many they are ; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how
eloquent they be ; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they be ;
nor the music of our prayers, how sweet they be ; nor the logic of our
prayers, how methodical they be, that will carry the day with God.
It is only fervency, importunity in prayer, that wiU make a man pre-
valent with God. Fervent prayer hits the mark, carries the day, and
pierceth the walls of heaven, though like those of Gaza, made of
brass and iron, James v. 16, 17 ; Luke xviii. ; Isa. xlv, 2. The
child has got many a kiss and many a hug by crying. If God has
withdrawn his presence, the best, the surest, and the readiest way to
recover it is to send up a mighty cry to heaven. But,
Response 6. Sixthly, Be sure you don't take up your rest in any
creature, in any comfort, in any contentment, in any loorldly enjoy-
ment, Jer. 1. 6. When the presence of God is withdrawn from you,
say as Absalom, ' What is all this to me, so long as I am banished my
father s presence, so long as I can't see the king's face ? ' 2 Sam. xiv,
24, 28, 32, 33. When the mother sees that the child is taken with
the baby, the rattle, the fiddle, she comes not in sight. If you take
up your rest in any of the babies, in any of the poor things of this
world, God will certainly keep out of sight. He will never honour
them with his countenance and presence, who take up in anything be-
low himself, below his favour, below his presence. I have read of a
devout pilgrim, who going up to Jerusalem was very kindly and nobly
entertained in several places, but still he cried out. Oh, but this is not
Jerusalem ! this is not Jerusalem ! So when you ca9!>'your eye upon
this creature or that, oh then cry out. This is not the presence of God,
this is not the presence of God ; and when you begin to be tickled
and taken with this and that enjoyment, with this or that content-
^ Suidas saith Job was clouded and to his sense and feeling forsaken seven years ; but
you are not bound to make this an article of your faith.
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 597
ment, oh then remember this is not the presence of God, this is not
the presence of God ! Here is a gracious yoke-fellow, here are hope-
ful children, here is a pleasant habitation, here is brave air, here is a
gainful trade, &c., but what are all these to me, so long as my sun is
set in a cloud, and God has withdrawn his presence from me ? Re-
member this once for all, that the whole world is but a barren wil-
derness without the countenance and presence of God, Ps. Ixiii. 1-3.
But,
Response 7. Seventhly and lastly, Patiently and quietly wait upon
him in the loay of his ordinances for the recovery of his presence.
Consult the scriptures in the margin. l Here God dwells, here he
walks, here he makes known his glory, here he gives forth his love,
here he vouchsafes his presence. When God is withdrawn, your
great business is to prize ordinances, and to keep close to ordinances,
till God shall be pleased to lift up the light of his countenance and
vouchsafe his presence to you. You will never recover the divine
presence by neglecting ordinances, nor by slighting ordinances, nor by
turning your back upon ordinances, nor by entertaining low thoughts
of ordinances. He that thinks ordinances to be needless things, con-
cludes — (1.) That the taking away of the kingdom of heaven from the
Jews was no great judgment. Mat. xxi. 43. (2.) That the bestowing
of it upon other people is no great mercy. If God be gone, it is good
to lie at the pool till he returns, John v. 2-10. There are many dear
Christians who have lost their God for a time, but after a time they
have found him again in the way of his ordinances ; and therefore let
no temptation draw thee off from ordinances ; say. Here I will live,
here I will lie, here I will wait at the pool of ordinances, till the Lord
shall return in mercy to my soul.
I shall follow this discourse of the divine presence with my earnest
prayers that it may from on high be so signally blest, as that it may
issue in the furtherance of the internal and eternal good, both of
Writer, Reader, and Hearer.'^
Soli ®w Gloria in ^Eternuni.
* Exod. XX. 24; Mat. xviii. 20; Tsa. Ixiv. 5; Ps. xxvii. 4, and Ixv. 4; Rev. ii, 1; Ps.
xl. 1-3; Isa. viii. 17 ; Mic. vii. 7-9 ; Isa. xxvi. 8, 9.
* Here follows this notice, ' Thus ends the second part of the Golden Key ; ' but see
Note prefixed to this second half of the volume. — G.
END OF VOL. V.
BALI.ANTYNE AND COMPANY, PRINTEKS EDlNJUUBOM.
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