Sacramental Meditations, Meditation 9
THE NINETH MEDITATION UPON
Zech. 22. part of ver. 10.
And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only Son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
THIS promise is confessed to have a special respect to the Jews Conversion to Christ. It was in part accomplished in the Apostles days, Acts 2. 37. yet that was but a specimen or handsel of what shall be, when the body of that Nation shall be called.
But yet it cannot be denied that all Christians find the same pierceing sorrows, and wounding sense of sin, when God awakens them by convictions, and brings them to see the evil of sin, and the grace of Christ, that is here exprest concerning them at their conversion.
The words present us with three very remarkable particulars in Evangelical repentance, viz.
First: The spring and principle of it.
Secondly: The effects and fruits of it.
Thirdly: The depth and measure of it.
First: The spring and principle of Repentance exprest in these words, 1.They shall look upon me whom they have pierced. This looking upon Christ, is an act of faith, for so it is described in Scripture, Joh. 6. 40. Isa. 45. 22. and it respects Christ crucified as its proper object; yea, and that by them, not only as their Progenitors involved them in that guilt, by entailing it on them, but as their own sins were the meritorious cause of his death and sufferings. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced.
Secondly: The effects and fruits of 2.such an aspect of faith upon Christ is here also noted. They shall mourn and be in bitterness, (i. e.) it shall melt and thaw them into Godly sorrow; it shall break their hard and stony hearts to pieces: The eye of faith shall affect their hearts; for indeed Evangelical sorrows, are hearty and undissembled, tears dropping out of the eye of faith.
Thirdly and lastly: The depth and measure of their sorrow is here likewise 3.noted. And it is compared with the greatest and most piercing sorrows men are acquainted with in this world, even the sorrow of a tender-hearted Father mourning over a dead Son, yea, an only Son, and his first born, than which no earthly sorrow is more penetrating and sharp, Jer. 6. 26.
Hence the Note will be,
Doct.
That the sufferings of Christ are exceeding prwerful, to melt Believers hearts into Doct.Godly sorrow.
The eye of faith is a precious eye, and according to its various Aspects upon Christ, it produceth various effects upon the hearts of men. Eying Christ as our compleat Righteousness, so it pacifies and quiets the heart; eying him as our pattern, so it directs and regulates our actions; eying him as our sacrifice, offer'd up to divine Justice for our sins, so it powerfully thaws the heart, and melts the affections.
By meltings, I do not only understand tears, as if they only were expressive of all spiritual sorrow; for it is possible the waters of sorrow may run deep in the heart, when the eye cannot yield a drop.
There be two things in Repentance, Trouble and Tears. The first is Essential, the last Contingent. The first flows from the influence of faith upon the soul; the last much depends upon the temper and constitution of the body. It is a mercy when our tears can flow from an heart fill'd with sorrow sor sin, and love to Christ; and yet it often falls out that there is an heavy heart, where the eyes are dry. But that there is efficacy in faith to melt the heart, by looklng upon the sufferings of Christ for sin, is undoubted; and how it becomes so powerful an instrument to this end, I will shew you in the following particulars.
First: Faith eyes the dignity of the Person of Christ, who was pierced for 1.us; how excellent and glorious a Person he is. In the Captivity, it was for a lamentation that Princes were hanged up by the hands, and the faces of Elders were not reverenced, Lam. 5. 12. We read also the Lamentation of David, 2 Sam. 3. 38. as he followed Abners Herse. A Prince and a great man is fallen in Israel to day.
But what was Abner, and what were the Princes of Israel to the Son of God? Loe here by faith the Believer sees the Prince of the Kings of the Earth, the only begotten of the Father, equal to God in nature and dignity, he whom all the Angels worship, hanging dead upon the cursed Tree. Faith sees Royal Blood, the Blood of God poured out by the Sword of Justice for satisfaction and reconciliation; and this cannot but deeply affect the believing soul.
Secondly: Faith represents the severity of Divine Justice to Jesus Christ, and the extremity of his sufferings; and this sight is a melting sight.
The Apostle tells us, Gal. 3. 13. he was made foreign, a Curse, and Execration for us: It relates to the kind and manner of his death upon the Cross, which was the death of a Slave, servile supplicium; a free man was priviledg'd from that punishment. It looks upon, and well considers the sad plight and condition Christ was in, in the days of his Humiliation for us. It's said of him, Matth. 26. 38. he was foreign undequaque tristis, surrounded with griefs, exactly answerable to his name, Isa. 53. 3. a man of sorrows. Let him look which way he would, outward or inward, upward or downward, to Friends or Enemies, he could behold nothing but sorrow, and what might increase his misery. Another Evangelist saith he was sore amazed, Mark. 14. 33. foreign It notes such a consternation as makes the hair of the head stand upright, horripilatio. A third tells us his s…ul was troubled, Joh. 12. 27. foreign, Unde Tartarus, a word from whence Hell is derived, and denoting the anguish and troubles of them that are in that place of torments.
And the fourth tells us he was in an Agony, Luk. 24. 44. all expressing in several emphatical notions and metaphors, the extremity of Christs anguish and torment. This cannot but greatly affect and break the Believers heart.
Thirdly: But then, that which most affects the heart, is Christs Undergoing all this, not only in love to us, but in our room and stead. He suffered not for any evil he had done, for there was no guile found in his mouth, Isa. 53. 4, 5. but the Just suffered for the Unjust, 1 Pet. 3. 18. It was for me, a vile wretched worthless Sinner. It was my Pride, my Earthliness, the hardness of my heart, the corruption of my nature, the innumerable evils of my life, that brought him down to the dust of death. He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, 2 Cor. 5. 21.
Who can believingly eye Christ, as suffering such pains, such wrath, such a curse in the room of such a Sinner, such a Rebel; so undeserving, and so ill-deserving a Creature, and not mourn as for an only Son, and be in bitterness as for a first-born?
Fourthly: Faith melts the heart by considering the effects and fruits of the sufferings of Christ, what great things he hath purchased by his Stripes and Blood for poor Sinners; a full and final pardon of sin, a well-settled peace with God, a sure title and right to the eternal Inheritance; and all this for thee, a Law-condemned, a Self-condemned Sinner. Lord, what am I, that such mercies as these should be purchased by such a price for me; for me, when thousands and ten thousands of sweeter dispositions must burn in Hell for ever! Oh, what manner of love is this!
Fifthly: Faith melts the heart by exerting a three-fold act upon Christ Crucified.
First: A realizing act, representing all this in the greatest certainty and evidence that can be. These are no devised fables, but the sure and infallireports of the Gospel.
Secondly: An appying act; he loved me, and gave himself for me, Gal. 2. 20. He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own Blood, Rev. 1. 5.
Thirdly and lastly: By an inferring or reasoning act. If Christ died for me, then I shall never die: If his Blood were paid down for me, then my sins which are many, are forgiven me. If he was Condemned in my room, I am acquitted, and shall be saved from wrath to come, through him. O how weighty do these thoughts prove to believing souls.
1. Use for information.
1. Then sure there is but little faith, 1. Use.because there is so much deadness and unaffectedness among Professors. A believing sight of Christ will work upon a gracious heart, as a dead Son, a beloved and only Son, uses to do upon a tender Fathers heart.
Reader, was it ever thy sad lot to look upon such an heart-rending object? Did'st thou ever feel the pangs and commotions in thy bowels, that some have felt upon such a sight? Why so will thy heart work towards Christ; if ever thou believingly lookest on him whom thou hast pierced.
2. Infer.
Then the acting and exercising of faith is the best expedient to get a tender heart, and raise the dead affections. We are generally full of complaints, how hard, how dead and stupid our hearts are; we are often putting such cases as these, How shall I get a broken heart for sin? How shall I raise my dead heart in duty? Why this is the way; no expedient in all the world like this. Look upon him whom thou hast pierced. 'Tis the melting Argument.
2. Use of Examination.
But that which I especially aim at in this point, is for the tryal and examination 2. Use.of thy heart, Reader, in the point of true Evangelical Repentance, which is thy proper business at this time: And I will go no further than the Text for rules to examine and try it by.
1. Rule.
All Evangelical Repentance hath a supernatural spring, I will pour out the 1. Rule.spirit of grace, and they shall mourn. Till the spirit be poured out upon us, it is as easie to press water out of a Rock, as to make our hearts relent and mourn. There are indeed natural meltings the effects of an ingenuous Temper, but these differ, in kind and nature, from Godly sorrow.
2. Rule.
Godly sorrows are real, sincere, and undissembled. They shall mourn as 2. Rule.for an only Son. Parents need not the help of an Onion to draw tears on such accounts: O! their very hearts are pierced; they could even die with them. Sighs, groans, and tears are not hang'd out as false signs of what is not to be found in their hearts.
3. Rule.
Evangelical sorrow is very deep; so 3. Rule.much the mourning for an only Son, a first-born, must import. These waters, how still soever they be, run deep, very deep, in the bottom channel of the soul. See Act. 2. 27. They were cut to the heart.
4. Rule.
Faith is the instrument employed in 4. Rule.breaking the heart. They shall look and mourn. This is the Burning glass that contracts the beams, and fires the affections.
5. Rule.
Lastly: The Wrong sin hath done to God, and the sufferings it hath brought 5. Rule.Christ under, are the piercing and heart-wounding considerations. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and mourn. The piercing of Christ by our sin, is that must pierce thy soul with sorrow.