True Christianity, Sermon 2
A SERMON of the absolute Soveraignty of CHRIST.
Psal. 2. 10, 11, 12.
Be wise now therefore, O ye Kings: be instructed, ye Judges of the Earth.
Serve the Lord with feare, and rejoyce with trembling, &c.
TO waste this precious hour in an invective against injustice and its associates, is none of my purpose; they are sinnes so directly against the principles in Nature so well knowne, I beleeve to you all, and so commonly preached against upon these occasions, that upon the penaltie of forfeiting the credit of my discretion, I am bound to make choice of a more necessary subject. What? have we need to spend our time and studies to perswade Christians from Bribery, Perjury, and Oppression? and from licking up the vomit which Pagans have cast out? and that in an Age of blood and desolation, when God is taking the proudest Oppressors by the throat, and raising Monuments of Justice upon the ruines of the unjust. And I would faine believe that no corrupt Lawyers doe attend your Judicatures, & that Iezabels witnesses dwell not in our Country, nor yet a Jurie that feare not an Oath: I have therefore chosen another subject, which being of the greatest moment, can never be unseasonable, even to proclaime him who is constituted the King and Judge of All to acquaint you with his pleasure, and to demand your subjection.
The chiefe scope of the Psalme is, To foretell the extent and prevalency of the Kingdome of Christ, admonishing his enemies to submit to his Government, deriding the vanity of their opposing projects and furie, and forewarning them of their ruine if they come not in.
The verses which I have read, are the Application of the foregoing prediction by a serious admonition to the proudest offenders: They containe, 1. The Persons admonished; [Kings and Judges] 2. Their Dutie. 1. In generall to God [serve him] with the adjuncts annexed. 1. Rejoycing. 2. Feare and trembling. 2. More specially their Dutie to the Sonne, [Kiss him.] 3. The Motives to this Dutie. 1. Principally and directly expressed [lest hee be angry] which anger is set forth by the effect [and ye perish;] which perishing is aggravated, 1. From the suddenness and unexpectednesse [in the way.] 2. From the dreadfulnesse [kindled.] 1. It is fire, and will kindle and burne. 2. A little of it will produce this sad effect. 3. It will be Woe to those that doe not escape it; which Woe is set forth by the contrary happinesse of those that by submission do escape. 2. The motives subservient and implyed, are in the monitory words, [bee wise, bee learned] q. d. else you wil shew and prove your selves men of ignorance and madnesse, unlearned and unwise.
Some Questions here we should answer, for explication of the termes. As
1. Whether the Lord in verse 11. and the Sonne in verse 12. bee both meant of Christ the second person?
2. Whether the Anger here mentioned, be the anger of the Father or the Sonne, [lest he be angry.] I might spend much time here to little purpose, in shewing you the different judgement of Divines, of these, when in the issue there is no great difference which way ever we take them.
3. What is meant by [Kissing the Sonne?] I answer, According to it's threefold object, it hath a threefold duty contained in it.
1. We kiss the Feet in token of Subjection; so must wee kiss the Sonne.
2. We kiss the Hand in token of Dependance; so must wee kiss the hand of Christ; that is, Resigne our selves to him, and expect all our happinesse and receivings from him.
3. We kisse the mouth in token of love and friendship; and so also must we kiss the Sonne.
4. What is meant by [Perishing in the way] I answer, (omitting the varietie of interpretations) it is their sudden unexpected perishing in the heat of their rage, and in pursuit of their designs against the Kingdome of Christ.
I know no other termes of any great difficultie here.
Many Observations might bee hence raised: As
1. Serving the Lord is the great work and businesse that the World hath to do.
2. This service should be accompanied with rejoycing.
3. So should it also with fear and trembling.
4. There is no such opposition between spirituall Joy and Feare, but that they may and must consist together.
5. Scripture useth familiar expressions, concerning mans communion with Christ, (such as this; Kiss the Sonne.)
6. There is anger in God, or that which we cannot conceive better of then under the Notion of Anger.
7. There is a way to kindle this Anger; it is man that kindleth it.
8. The way to kindle it chiefly, is not kissing the Son.
9. The kindling of it will be the perishing of the sinner.
10. The Enemies of Christ shall perish suddenly and unexpectly.
11. A little of Gods anger will utterly undoe them.
12. They are blessed men that scape it, and miserable that must feel it.
13. It is therefore notorious folly to neglect Christ and stand out.
14. Kings, Judges, and Rulers of the earth, are the first men that Christ summons in, and the chiefe in the Calamitie if they stand out.
But I will draw the scope of the Text into this one Doctrine; in the handling whereof, I shall spend the time allotted me.
Doct. No Power or Priviledge can save that man from the fearefull sudden consuming wrath of God, that doth not unfe…gnedly love, depend upon, and subject himselfe unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
If they be the greatest Kings and Judges, yet if they doe not kiss the Mouth, the Hand, the Feet of Christ, his wrath will be kindled, and they will perish in the way of their rebellion and neglect.
In handling this point I shall observe this Order.
1. I will shew you what this love, dependance, and subjection are.
2. What wrath it is that will thus kindle and consume them.
3. Why this kissing the Sonne is the onelyonly way to escape it.
4. Why no Power or Priviledge else can procure their escape.
5. The Application.
For the first, I shall onelyonly give you a naked description, wishing that I had time for a fuller explication.
1. Subjection to Christ is, The acknowledging of his absolute soveraignty both as he is God, Creator, and as Redeemer over all the world, and particularly our selves; and a hearty consent to this his soveraignty, especially that he be our Lord, and his Lawes our Rule, and a delivering up our selves to him to be governed accordingly.
2. This dependance on Christ is, when acknowledging the sufficiencie of his satisfaction, and his power & willingnes to save all that receive him, manifested in his free universall offer in the Gospell, wee doe heartily accept him for our onelyonly Saviour, and accordingly (renouncing all other) do waite upon him believingly for the benefits of his sufferings and office, and the performance of his faithfull Covenant to us, in restoring us to all the blessings which wee lost, and advancing us to a farre greater everlasting Glorie.
3. This affection to Christ is, when in the knowledge & sence of his love to us, both common and especiall, and of his own excellency, and the blessedness of enjoying him, and the Father and life by him; our hearts doe chuse him, and the Father by him as our onelyonly happinesse, and accordingly love him above all things in the world.
As this three-fold Description containeth the summe of the Gospel, so hath it nothing but what is of necessity to sound Christianity. If any one of these three bee not found in thy heart, either I have little skill in Divinity, or thou hast no true Christianity, nor canst be saved in that condition.
Object. But doth not the Scripture make believing of the condition of the Covenant? but here is a great deale more then believing.
Answ. Sometime Fath is taken in a narrower sence, and then it is not made the sole condition of the New Covenant, but repentance and forgiving others, are joyned with it as conditions of our forgivenesse, and obedience, and perseverance, as conditions of our continued justification and salvation. But when Faith is made the sole condition of the Covenant, then it comprehendeth essentially (not only supposeth as precedent or concomitant) if not all three, yet at least the two first of the fore-described qualifications, viz. Dependance, and Subjection, which if it were well understood, would much free the common sort of Christians from their soul-destroying mistakes, and the Body of Divinity from a multitude of common errors, and our Religion from much of that reproach of Solifidianisme which is cast upon it by the Papists.
2. I must be as briefe in opening the second thing, viz. What wrath it is that will thus kindle and consume them? What wrath is in God, we need not here trouble our selves to enquire; But onelyonly what is intimated in the threats or curses of the Covenants. As there are two Covenants, so each hath his proper penalty for its violation.
1. Then till men doe come in and submit to Christ, they lye under the wrath of God for all their sinnes as they are against the Covenant of Works, or they are lyable to the curse of that Covenant: Christs death hath taken away the curse of that Covenant, not absolutely from any man, but conditionally, which becomes absolute when the condition is performed. The Elect themselves are not by nature under the Covenant of Grace, but remaine under the curse of the first Covenant, till they come into Christ.
2. Whosoever rejecteth or neglecteth this Grace, and so finally breaketh the New Covenant, must also bear the curse or penalty thereof, besides all the former, which will be a farre greater curse, even as the blessings of this Covenant are farre greater then those of the first. It was a heavy punishment to be cast out of Paradise, and from the presence and favour of God, and to be cursed by him, and subjected to eternall death, and all Creatures below cursed for our sakes, to beare all those curses and plagues threatned in Deut. 27. and 28. and to have the wrath of God smoake against us, &c. as Deut. 29. 20. But of how much sorer punishment shall hee bee thought worthy, that doth tread under foot the blood of this Covenant, and do despite to the spirit of Grace, Heb. 10. 28, 29. It is true, that for all other sinnes, the wrath of God commeth upon the Children of disobedience (or unperswadableness) that is, on them that will not be perswaded to obey the Lord Christ, Ephe. 5. 6. But it is on no other with us, for this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darknesse rather then light, Joh. 1. 19.
3. Why is this kissing the Sonne, (that is, loving, depending on, and submitting to him) the onelyonly way to escape these curses?
Answ. 1. The most proper and primary reason which can be given is, The will of the great Law-giver, who having absolute soveraignty over us, might dispose of us as he please, and make us such Laws and Conditions as seeme best to his wisdome, upon which our justification and salvation should depend: He hath resolved that this shall be the onelyonly condition and way, & that as no man shall be justified by a meere Christ, or his death abstracted from Faith, (that is of Age and use of Reason;) so this Faith shall be the condition upon which they shall be justified: or, as a Christ neglected shall save no man, so the accepting or receiving of him, shall justifie and save them, as the condition of the Covenant performed, under which Notion it is that Faith justifieth.
2. Yet other improper or subordinate Reasons (which receive their life from the former, and without it would be no Reasons) may be given; as 1. From the equity; and 2. From the sutablenesse and conveniency.
1. It is but equall that he who hath bought us, and that so dearly, and from a state so deplorable and desperate as we were in, should be acknowledged and accepted for our Saviour and our Lord; and that we who are not our owne, but are bought with a price, should glorifie him with our bodies and souls which are his, 1 Cor. 6. 20. & 7. 23. Especially when for that end he both dyed and rose againe, that hee might rule, or be Lord over both quick and dead, Rom. 14. 9. If one of you should buy a man from the Galleyes or Gallowes, with the price of your whole estate, or the life of your only Sonne; would you not expect that he should bee at your dispose? that he should love you, depend on you, and be subject to you:
2. And as salvation by free Grace through Christ, is a way most sutable to Gods honour, and to our own necessitous and low condition, so in subordination thereto, the way of believing is most rationally conducible to the same ends. As wee could not have had a fitter way to the Father then by Christ, so neither could there be a fitter way to Christ, or meanes to partake of him, then by Faith. For, though I cannot call it the instrumentall Cause of our justification, either Active or Passive; yet is this Faith (or Acceptation of Christ, for our Saviour and King, which is here called [Kissing the Sonne] the fairest condition that wee could reasonably expect, and the most apparently tending to the honour of our Redeemer; applying and appropriating to our selves the person, righteousnesse, and benefits procured and offered, but not the least of the honour of the Work. All wee doe, is but to accept what Christ hath procured, and that must be by the speciall assistance of his spirit too.
4. The fourth thing I promised, is to shew you, Why no other Priviledge or Power in the world, can save him that doth not kiss the Sonne? It may here suffice, that I have shewed you Gods determination to the contrary. But further consider, (if any should hope to scape by their Dignities, Titles, Friends, Strength, or any other endowments or vertuous qualifications) 1. What is their taske? 2. What is their power to perform it?
1. They must resist the unresistable will of God: They must doe that which Heaven or Earth, Men or Devils were never able yet to doe: They have resisted his Lawes and his love, but they could never resist his purpose or his power. The power that undertaketh to save an Enemie, or neglecter of Christ, must first overcome the power of the Almightie, and conquer him that doth command the World: And who hath the strength that is sufficient for this? Sinner, before thou venture thy soule upon such a mad conceit, or think to be saved whether God will or not, trie first thy skill and strength in some inferiour attempt; Bid the Sunne or Moon stand still in the Firmament, invert the severall seasons of the yeare: Bid the snow and frost to come in summer, and the flowers and fruits to spring in winter: command the streames to turn their course, or the Tide its times, or the winds their motion. If these will obey thee, and thy word can prevaile with them against the Law of their Creator, then maist thou proceed with the greater confidence and courage, and have some hope to save the neglecters of Christ: Or try first whether thou canst save thy present life against the course of nature and will of God; call back thine age and yeares that are past; command thy paines and sickness to be gone; chide back this bold approaching death: Will they not obey thee? Canst thou do none of these? How then canst thou expect the saving of thy soule against the determinate will and way of God? Where dwelleth that man, or what was his name, that did neglect Christ, and yet escape damnation? Who hath hardned himself against him, and hath prospered? Iob 9. 4. And dost thou think then to bee the first? Thou maist perhaps knock boldly at the Gate of Heaven, and plead thy Greatness, thy Vertues, thy Almesdeeds and formall devotion; but thou shalt receive a sadder answer then thou dost expect: Jesus we know, and obediential Faith in him we know; but who are ye?
2. He that will save the soul that loveth not, dependeth not on, and subjecteth not himselfe to Christ, must first make false the word of God, and make the true and faithfull God a lyer: this is another part of his taske; God hath given it under his hand for truth, That he that believeth not, is condemned already, Joh. 3. 18. That he shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him, Joh. 3. 36. That they who are invited to Christ, and make light of it, or make excuses, shall never tast of his Supper, Luk. 14. 24. Mat. 22. 5. 8. That it shall be easier for Sodome in the day of Judgement, then for that City which refuseth the offers of the Gospell, Mat. 10. 15. That whosoever would not have Christ to raigne over them, shall be brought forth at last, and destroyed before him as his Enemies, Luk. 19. 27. That they shall all bee damned that believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness, 2 Thes. 2. 12. &c. And hath the Almighty said that thus it shall be? Who then is he that dare say it shall not be? Is this the concluded Decree of Heaven? what power or policy is able to reverse it? hath God said it, and will he not do it?
Thus you see his taske, that will undertake to save one neglecter of Christ.
2. Let us now consider, what Power that is that must performe it: If it be done, it must be either, 1. By Wisdome: or 2. By Strength; whereas the chiefest of men, even the Kings and Judges of the Earth, are both Ignorant and Impotent.
1. Ignorant: Though Judges are learned in the repute of the World: Alas, poor crawling breathing dust! Doe you know the secrets of your Makers counsaile? and are you able to over-reach them, and frustrate his designes? Doth this Book know what is written in it? Can the Seat you fit on, over-top your councils? more likely then for y…u to over-top the Lord: silly worms! you know not what God is, nor know you any one of his unrevealed thoughts, no more then that Pillar doth know your thoughts: you know not what you are your selves, nor see any further then the superficies of your skin; what is thy soule? and when diddest thou receive it? Dost thou know its form? or didst thou feel it enter? which part didst thou feel it first possesse? Thou canst call it a Spirit, but knowst thou what a Spirit is? or rather onelyonly what it is not? Thou knowest not that whereby thou knowest: And how was thy body formed in the wombe? what was it an hundred years agoe? what is that vitall heat and moisture? what causeth that order and diversity of its parts? when will the most expert Anatomists and Physitians be agreed? Why, there are mysteries in the smallest worme which thou canst not reach; nor couldest thou resolve the doubts arising about an Ant or Atome, much lesse about the Sunne, or Fire, or Aire, or Wind, &c. and canst thou not know thy selfe, nor smallest part of thy self, nor the smallest Creature? and yet canst thou over-reach the everlasting Counsels.
2. And is thy Might and Power any greater then thy Policy? Why, what are the Kings & Rulers of the Earth, but lumps of Clay, that can speake and goe; moving shadows, the Flowers of a day, a corruptible seed, blowne up to that swelled consistence in which it appears, as Children blow their bubbles of Soape, somewhat invisible condensate; which that it may become visible, is become more grosse, and so more vile, and will shortly bee almost all turned into invisible again, and that little dust which corruption leaves by the force of fire, may be dissipated yet more, and then where is this specious part of the man? Surely now that body which is so much esteemed, is but a loathsome lump of corruptible flesh, covered with a smooth skin, and kept a little while from stinking by the presence of the soul, & must shortly be cast out of sight into a Grave, as unfit for the sight or smell of the living, and there be consumed with rottenness and worms; These are the Kings and Rulers of the Earth; this is the power that must conquer Heaven, and save them that rebell against Christ the Lord; They that cannot live a monethmonth without repairing their consuming bodies by food, one part whereof doth turne to their vitall blood and spirits, and the other to most loathsome unsufferable excrements; so neere is the kin betweene their Best and Worst. Judge all you that have common reason, whether hee that cannot keep himselfe alive an hour, and shortly will not be able to stirre a finger, to remove the worms that feed upon his heart, be able to resist the strength of Christ, and save the soule, that God hath said and sworn shall not be saved? Ah poor souls, that have no better Saviour! And well may Christ, his Truth, and Cause prevaile, that have no stronger enemies.
Use 1. You have here a Text that will fully informe you, how you are like to speed at the Barre of Christ; who shall dye, and who shall live: The great Assize is neare at hand, the feet of our Judge are even at the doore; goe thy way unbelieving sinner, when thou hast had all the pleasure that sinne will afford thee, lye downe in the dust and sleep awhile, the rousing voyce shall quickly awake thee, and thine eyes shall see that dreadfull day! O blessed! oh dolefull day! blessed to the Saints, dolefull to the wicked: O the rejoycing! oh the lamenting that there will be! the triumphant shoutings of joyfull Saints! the hideous roaring cryes of the ungodly! when each man hath newly received his Doom, and there is nothing but eternall Glory, and eternall Fire. Beloved hearers, every man of you shall shortly there appeare, and waite as the trembling prisoner at the Barre, to heare what doom must passe upon you; Doe you not believe this? I hope you do believe it. Why what would you give now to know for certaine, how it shall then go with you? why here is the Book by which you must be judged, and here is the summe of it in my Text, and the grounds upon which the Judge will then proceed. Will you but goe along with me, and answer the Questions which hence I shall put to you, and search and judge your selves by them as you goe, and you may know what doom you may then expect; onelyonly deal faithfully, and search throughly, for selfe-flattery will not prevent your sorrow.
And here you must know, that it is the kiss of the heart, and not of the lips, which we must here enquire after: The question will not be at the Great Day, Who hath spoke Christ faire? or who hath called themselves by the name of Christians? or who hath said the Creed or the Lords-Prayer oftnest? or cryed, Lord, Lord? or come to Church? or carryed a Bible? or who hath held this opinion? or who that? It would make a mans heart ake to thinke how zealously men will honour the shadow of Christ, and bow at his Name, and reverence the Image of the Crosse which he dyed on, and the names and reliques of the Saints that dyed for him; and yet doe utterly neglect the Lord himselfe, and cannot endure to be governed by him, and resist his spirit, and scorne his strict and holy waies, and despitefully hate them that most love and obey him, and yet believe themselves to be reall Christians: For Gods sake, Sirs, do not so delude your immortall soules, as to thinke your Baptisme, and your outward devotion, and your good meanings, (as you call them) and your righteous dealing with men, will serve the turne to prove you Christians: Alas, this is but with Judas, to kisse the mouth of Christ, and indeed to fetch your death from those blessed lips, from whence the Saints doe fetch their life: I will shew you some surer signes then these.
1. And first let me a little enquire into your subjection to Christ. Doe you remember the time when you were the servants of sinne? and when Sathan led you captive at his will? and the Prince of darkness ruled in your soules? and all within you was in a carnall peace? Doe you remember when the spirit in the word came powerfully upon your hearts, and bound Sathan, and cast him out, and answered all your reasonings, and conquered all your carnall wisdome, and brought you from darknesse to light, and from the power of Sathan to God, Act. 26. 18. Or at least are you sure, that now you live not under the same Lord and Lawes as the ungodly doe? Hath Christ now the onelyonly soveraignty in your souls? Is his word thy Law which thou darest not passe? doth it bound thy thoughts, and rule thy tongue? and command thy selfe and all thou hast? Hast thou layed all downe at the feet of Christ? and resigned thy selfe and all to his will? and devoted all to his dispose and service? If custome bid thee curse and swear, and Christ forbid thee, which dost thou obey? If thy Appetite bid thee take thy Cups, or fare deliciously every day; If thy company bid thee play the good-fellow, or scorn the Godly; If thy covetousnesse bid thee love the world, and Christ forbid thee, which dost thou obey? If Christ bid thee bee Holy, and walk precisely, and be violent for Heaven, and strive to enter in, and the world and the flesh be enemies to all this, and cry it downe as tedious folly; which dost thou obey? Dost thou daily and spiritually worship him in private, and in thy Family, and teach thy Children and Servants to fear the Lord? I intreat you Sirs, deale truly in answering these Questions; never man was saved by the bare title of a Christian: If you are not subject to Christ, you are not Christians, no more then a Picture or a Carkasse is a man, and your salvation will be such as your Christianity is: subjection is an essentiall part of thy Faith, and obedience is its fruit: In short then; dost thou make him thy feare? and tremble at his word? Darest thou runne upon fire or water, sword or cannon, rather then wilfully runne upon his displeasure? wouldst thou rather displease thy dearest friend, the greatest Prince, or thine own flesh, then wittingly provoke him? When Christ speaks against thy sweetest sinne, thy nature, or custome, or credit, or life, against thy rooted opinions, or thy corrupt traditions: Art thou willing to submit to all that hee revealeth? Dost thou say, Speake Lord, for thy Servant heareth? Lord what wouldst thou have me to do? I am ready to do thy will, O God.
Beloved hearers, This is the frame of every servant of Christ; and this is the acknowledging and accepting him for your Lord: I beseech you cozen not you souls with shewes and formalities; if ever you be saved without this subjection, it must be without Christs merits, or mercy; It must bee in a way that Scripture revealeth not; nay, it must be in despite of God, his truth must be falsified, and his power must bee mastered, before the disobedient can be saved from his wrath.
2. Examine also your Dependance on Christ, whether you kisse his Hand as well as his Feet. Doe you understand that you are all by nature condemned men, and lyable to the everlasting wrath of God? that Christ hath interposed and paid this debt, and bought us as his owne by the satisfaction of that justice: that all things are now delivered into his hands, (Joh. 13. 3. and he is made Head over all things to his Church, Ephe. 1. 21, 22. Dost thou take him for thy onelyonly Saviour? and believe the history of his life and passion, the truth of his divine and humane nature, his Resurrection, his Office, and his approaching judgement? Dost thou see that all thy supposed Righteousnesse is but vanity and sinne, and that thy selfe art unable to make the least satisfaction to the Law by thy works or sufferings; and if his blood doe not wash thee, and his righteousness justifie thee, thou must certainly be damned yet, and perish for ever? Dost thou therefore cast thy selfe into his armes, and venture thy everlasting state upon him, and trust him with thy soule, and fetch all thy helpe and healing from him? when sinne is remembred, and thy conscience troubled, and the fore-thoughts of judgement doe amaze thy soule; dost thou then fetch thy comfort from the viewes of his blood, and the thoughts of the Freeness and Fulness of his satisfaction, his love, and Gospell offers and promises? Dost thou so build upon his promise of a happiness hereafter, that thou canst let goe all thy happinesse here, and drink of his Cup, and be baptized with his Baptisme, and lose thy life upon his promise that thou shalt save it? Canst thou part with goods and friends, and all that thou h…st in hope of a promised Glory which thou never sawest? If thou canst thus drink with him of the Brook in the way, thou shalt also with him lift up the head, Psal. 110. v. last. Dost thou perceive a Mediator as well as a God, in all thy mercies both speciall and common, and tast his blood in all that thou receivest, and waite upon his hand for thy future supplies? Why, this is kissing the hand of Christ, and depending upon him. O how contrary is the case of the world! whose confidence is like the Samaritans worship, they trust God and their wits, and labours, Christ and their supposed merits; I would I might not say, Christ and deceit, and wicked contrivances. Oh blasphemous joyning of Heaven and Hell, to make up one foundation of their trust!
3. Examine a little also your love to Christ: Doe you thus kisse the Sonne? doe your soules cleave to him, and imbrace him with the strongest of your affections? Sirs, though there is nothing that the blind world is more confident in then this [that they love Christ with all their hearts,] yet is there nothing wherein they are more false and faulty: I beseech you therefore deal truly in answering here. Are your hearts set upon the Lord Jesus? doe you love him above all things in this world? doe you stick at your answer? doe you not know? sure then at best you love him but little, or else you could not choose but know it. Love is a stirring and sensible affection; you know what it is to love a friend: Feel by this Pulse, whether you live or dye: Doth it beat more strongly toward Christ, then to any thing else? Never question man, the necessity of this; he hath concluded, If thou love any thing more then him, thou art not worthy of him, nor canst bee his Disciple. Are thy thoughts of Christ thy free'st and thy sweetest thoughts? Are thy speeches of him thy sweetest speeches? when thou awakest, art thou still with him, and is hee next thy heart? when thou walkest abroad, dost thou take him in thy thoughts? canst thou say and lye not, that thou wast ever deeply in love with him, that thou dost love him but as heartily as thou dost thy friend, and art as loath to displease him, and as glad of his presence, and as much troubled at his strangenesse or absence? Hath thy Minister, or godly acquaintance, ever heard thee bemoaning thy soule for want of Christ, or enquiring what thou shouldest doe to attaine him; or thy Family heard thee commending his excellency, and labouring to kindle their affections towards him? why love will not bee hid; when it hath its desire, it will bee rejoycing, and when it wants it, it will bee complaining. Or, at least, Can thy Conscience witnesse thy longings, thy groanes, thy prayers for a Christ? Wilt thou stand to the Testimony of these witnesses? Doe you love his weak, his poore despised members? Doe you visit them, cloath them, feed them, to your power? not onelyonly in a common naturall compassion to them as they are your Neighbours: but do you love or relieve a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, or a Disciple in the name of a Disciple, Mat. 10. 40, 41, 42. Shall all these decide the Question?
Beloved Hearers, I professe to you all in the Name of our Lord, that it is not your bold and confident affirming that you love Christ, which will serve your turne when Christ shall judge; Hee will search deep, and judge according to the truth in the inward parts; how many thousand will then perish as his utter Enemies, that verily thought themselves his friends? how easily now might they find their mistake, if they would but be at the paines to examine themselves? Oh try, try, sirs, before God try you; judge your selves before Christ judge you: It would grieve a mans heart, that knows what it is to love Christ, to believe, to be subject to him, to see how rare these are in the world, and yet how confident and carelesse most men are! It may bee you may think much, that I so question your love; yet Christ that knew all things, question…d Peters love to him, and that three times, till it grieved Peter. I am a stranger to the most of you, and therefore know not your conditions or inclinations: yet judge me not censorious if I feare the worst, and if I measure you by the rest of the world; and then I may confidently and sadly conclude, that Christ hath few loving subjects among you. If we could heare your oathes and vaine speeches turned to heavenly soul-edifying discourse, and your covetousnesse to conscionablenesse, and see that the word of Christ were your law, and that you laid out your endeavours for heaven in good earnest; then we should say, These people are the loving subjects of Christ: But when men are enemies to Christs Doctrine, and waies, and worship, and had rather live after the flesh, and the world, and the traditions of their Fathers, and are notorious for prophanesse, superstition, and enmity to Reformation, who can chuse but condole your case? and if your obstinacy will not endure us to helpe you, yet you shall give us leave whether you will or no, to lament you.
Use. 2. But it's time that I turne my speech to exhortation: and oh that you would encourage me with your resolutions to obey!—My business here to day is, as his Herauld and Embassador, to proclaim the Lord Jesus your King and Saviour; and to know whether you will heartily acknowledge and take him so to be, or not? and to perswade you to take so faire an offer while you may have it, and to kiss the Sonne lest his wrath be kindled: This is my business here, in which if I had not some hope to speed, the Lord knows I would not have beene here to day. You will say, This is a common errand: doe you think we never heard of Christ before? I confesse it is common, blessed be God for it, (and long may it so continue and increase, and let it be as constant and durable to us, as the Sunne in the Firmament: and the Lord grant that Englands sinnes or enemies, may never bereave them of the blessing of the Gospell; and then it will be a happier Land then yet ever was any on the face of the Earth) But is it as common to receive Christ in love and obedience? I would it were: I know the name of Christ is common; the Swearer doth sweare by it, the Begger begs by it, the Charmer puts it into his Charmes, and the Jester into his jests, and every Papist and ignorant Protestant, doth mut…er it oft-times over in his Prayers: But who trembleth at it? or triumpheth in it? who maketh it his Fear and his Joy? and give up their soules and lives to be governed by Christ? I doe here solemnly proclaime to you, that the Lord Jesus will not be put off with your complements; He cares not for your meere name of Christianity, nor your Cap, nor your Knee: If thy heart be not set upon him, thou art none of his; His word must be your Law, and you must depend on him alone for soule and bodie, or never look for mercy at his hands; He is the Author of eternall salvation to them (onelyonly) that obey him, Heb. 5. 9.
What say you then, Sirs, in answer to my message? and what course doe you resolve upon? shall Christ be your love, and your Lord, or not? Will you kisse the Sonne, or will you sleight him still? methinks you should easily be resolved, and say, Away with pleasure, and credit, and worldly gaine; away with these bewitching delights and companions: Christ hath bought my heart, and he shall have it, he is my Lord, and I will be ruled by him. Hearers, I hope God hath kept you alive till now to shew you mercy, and brought some sinners hither to day to prevaile with their hearts: And my hope is somewhat strengthened by Gods disposall of my owne spirit: I was strongly tempted to have preached this Sermon in the enticing words of humane wisdome, tending to a proud ostentation of parts: But Christ hath assisted me to conquer the temptation, and commanded me to preach him in plainnesse and evidence of the spirit. I come not to perswade you to opinions or factions, to be for this side, or for that; but to be with all your hearts for Christ, as ever you look that Christ should be for you: to love him as he that hath bought you from eternall wrath, and dyed to save you from the everlasting burnings; to lay hold on him with most earnest affectionate apprehension, as a man that is ready to drown would doe upon a bough, or upon the hand of of his friend that would pull him to the shore: to waite for the Law of thy direction from him, and doe nothing till thou hast asked counsaile at his word, and know his mind, whether thou shouldest do it or no; till thou feel thy Conscience bound by his Law, that thou canst not stirre till hee give thee leave; that the commands of Parents and Princes may stoop to his, much more the commands of custome and company, of credit or pleasure, of the world or flesh: These are the things that I exhort you to; and I must tell you, that Christ doth flatly expect them at you hands.
I will here back these Exhortations with some perswading Considerations: Thinke of what I say, and weigh it as we goe. If I speake not truth and reason, then reject it with disdaine and spare not: but if it be, and thy Conscience tell thee so, take heed then how thou dost neglect or reject it, lest thou bee found a fighter against the spirit, and lest the curse of God doe seize upon that heart that would not yeeld to truth and reason.
And I will draw these Considerations onelyonly from my Texr.
1. Thou art else a Rebell against thy soveraigne Lord. This I gather from the command in my Text: and indeed the scope of the whole Psalme. God hath given thee into the hands of his Sonne, and made him Lord and King of all, and commanded all men to accept him, and submit unto him. Who can shew such title to the soveraignty? such right to rule thee as Christ can do? He is thy Maker, and so is not Satan; he dearly bought thee, and so did not the world: Thou wast not Redeemed with silver and Gold, and corruptible things, 1 Pet. 1. 18. I make this challenge here in the behalfe of Christ; let any thing in the world step forth and shew a better title to thee, to thy heart, and to thy life, then Christ doth shew; and let them take thy heart, and take the rule. But why doe I speake thus? I know thou wilt confesse it; and yet wilt thou not yeeld him thy chiefest love and obedience? out of thy own mouth then art thou condemned, and thou proclaimest thy selfe a knowing and wilfull Rebel.
2. To deny thy affections and subjection to Christ, is the most barbarous unkindnesse that a sinner can be guilty of. Did he pitty thee in thy lost estate, and take thee up when thou layest wounded in the way, and make thee a plaister of the blood of his heart? And is this thy requitall? Did he come down from heaven to earth, to seeke thee when thou wast lost, and take upon him all thy debt, & put himself into the prison of the world and flesh? hath hee paid for thy folly, and borne that wrath of God which thou must have suffered for ever? and doth he not now deserve to be entertained with most affectionate respect? but with a few cold thoughts in stead of hearty love, and with a few formall words in stead of worship? What hurt had it been to him if thou hadst perished? what would he have lost by it if thou hadst laine in Hell? would not Justice have beene glorified upon a disobedient wretch? Might not he have said to his Father, What are these worms and sinners to me? must I smart for their folly? must I suffer when they have sinned? must I debase my selfe to become man, because they would have exalted themselves to become as God? if they will needs undoe themselves, what is it to me? if they will cast themselves into the flames of Hell, must I goe thither to fetch them out?—Thus Christ might have put off the suffering and the shame, and let it fall and lye where it was due: but he did not, His compassion would not suffer him to see us suffer: Justice must be satisfied, the threat must be fulfilled; Christ seeth that we cannot overcome it, but he can, therefore hee comes down into flesh, he lives on earth, he fasteth, he weepeth, he is weary, he is tempted, he hath not a place to put his head, he is hated, he is spit upon, he is cloathed as a fool, and made a scorn, he sweateth blood, he is Crucified with Theeves, he beares the burden that would have sunk all us to Hell; and must he after all this be neglected and forgotten? and his Lawes that should rule us, be laid aside, and be accounted too strict and precise for us to live by? O let the Heavens blush, and the Earth be ashamed at this barbarous ingratitude! How can such a people shew their faces at his comming, or look him in the face when hee shall judge them for this! would you use a friend thus? No, nor an enemy. Methinks you should rather wonder with your selves, that ever Christ should give you leave to love him, and say, Will the Lord endure such a wretch to kisse him? will hee suffer himselfe to embraced by those armes, which have beene defiled so oft by the embracements of sinne? wil hee so highly honour me, as to be his subject and his servant, and to be guided by such a blessed and perfect Law? and doth he require no harder conditions then these for my salvation? take then my heart, Lord, it is onelyonly thine; and oh that it were better worth thy having, or take it and make it better: the Speare hath opened me a passage to thy heart, let the Spirit open thee a passage into mine: deservedly may those Gates bee fuel for Hell, that would not open to let in the King of Glory.
3. To deny thine affection and subjection to the Sonne, is the greatest folly and madnesse in the world. Why doth he require this so earnestly at thy hands? is it for thy hurt, or for thy good? would hee make a prey of thee for his owne advantage? is it for any need that he hath of thee, or of thy service, or because thou hast need of him for thy direction and salvation? would hee steale away thy heart as the world doth to delude it? would he draw thee as Satan doth to serve him, that he may torment thee? if so, it were no wonder that thou art so hardly drawne to him: but thou knowest sure that Christ hath none of these ends.
The truth is this: His dying on the Crosse, is but part of the work that is necessary to thy salvation; this was but the paying of the debt, he must give thee moreover a peculiar interest, and make that to bee absolutely thine, which was thine but conditionally; he must take off thy rags, and wash thy sores, and qualifie thy soule for the prepared Glory, and bring thee out of the prison of sinne and death, and present thee to his Father blamelesse and undefiled, and estate thee in greater dignity then thou fellest from: and all this must he doe by drawing thee to himselfe, and laying himselfe upon thee as the Prophet upon the Child, and closing thy heart with his heart, and thy will with his will, & thy thoughts and waies with the Rule of his word: And is this against thee or for thee? is there any hurt to thee in all this? I dare challenge Earth and Hell, and all the Enemies of Christ in both, to shew the least hurt that ever he caused to the soule of a beleever, or the least wrong to the soul of any.
And must he then have such a stir to doe thee good? must hee so beseech thee to bee happy, and follow thee with entreaties? and yet art thou like a stock that neither hear's nor feel's? Nay, dost thou not murmur and strive against him, as if he were about to doe thee a mischiefe, and would rather cut thy throat then cure thee, and were going to destroy thee, and not to save thee? I appeale to any that hath not renounced his Reason, whether this be not notorious bruitish unreasonablenesse; and whether thou be not liker a beast, that must be cast or held while you dress his sores; then to a man that should helpe on his owne recovery? Foolish sinner! it is thy sinne that hurts thee, and not thy Saviour: why dost thou not rather strive against that? It is the Devill that would destroy thee, and yet thou dost not grudge at thy obedience to him. Be judge thy self, whether this be wise or equall dealing.
Sinner, I beseech thee in the behalfe of thy poore soule, if th…u have such a mind to renounce thy Saviour, doe it not till thou hast found a better Master; say as Peter, Whither shall we goe? Lord, thou hast the words of eternall life: And when thou knowest once where to be better, then goe thy way, part with Christ and spare not: If thy merry company, or thy honour, or thy wealth, or all the friends and delights in the world will do that for thee which Christ hath done, and which at last he will doe if thou stick to him; then take them for thy Gods, and let Christ goe. In the meane time let me prevaile with thee, as thou art a man of reason, sell not thy Saviour till thou know for what, sell not thy soule till thou know why, sell not thy hopes of Heaven for nothing. God forbid that thy wilfull folly should bring thee to Hell, and there thou shouldst lie roaring and crying out for ever. This is the reward of my neglecting Christ, hee would have led me to Glory, and I would not follow him, I sold heaven for a few merry hours, for a little honour, and ease, and delight to my flesh: here I lie in torment, because I would not be ruled by Christ, but chose my lusts and pleasure before him—Sinner, doe not think I speak harshly or uncharitably to call this neglect of Christ thy folly: As true as thou livest and hearest me this day, except thy timely submission do prevent it (which God grant it may) thou wilt one of these dayes befoole thy selfe a thousand times more then I now befoole thee, and call thy self mad, & a thousand times mad, when thou thinkest how fair thou wast for heaven, and how ready Christ was to have been thy Saviour & thy Lord, and how light thou madest of all his offers: Either this will prove true to thy cost, or else am I a false Prophet, and a cursed deceiver. Be wise therefore, be learned, and kiss the Son.
The former Considerations were drawne from the Aggravations of the sinne; the following are drawn from the Aggravations of the punishment, and that from the words of the Text too.
1. God will be angry if you kiss not the Sonne. His wrath is as fire, and this neglect of Christ is the way to kindle it. If thou art not a Believer, thou art condemned already: but this will bring upon thee a double condemnation. Believe it for a truth, All thy sinnes as they are against the Covenant of Works, even the most hainous of them, are not so provoking and destroying as thy slighting of Christ. Oh what will the Father say to such an unworthy wretch! Must I send my Son from my bosome to suffer for thee? must he groan when thou shouldst groan? and bleed when thou shouldst bleed, and dye when thou shouldst dye? And canst thou not now be perswaded to embrace him and obey him? must the world be courted while he stands by? must he have the naked title of thy Lord and Saviour, while thy fleshly pleasures and profits have thy heart? what wrath can be too great, what hell to hot, for such an ungratefull, unworthy wretch! Must I prepare thee a portion of the blood of my Son, and wilt thou not be perswaded now to drink it? must I be at so much cost to save thee, and wilt thou not obey that thou maist be saved? Go seize upon him justice, let my wrath consume thee, let hell devour thee, let thy owne Conscience for ever torment thee: seeing thou hast chosen death, thou shalt have it, and as thou hast rejected Heaven, thou shalt never see it, but my wrath shall abide upon thee for ever Joh. 3. 36—Woe to thee sinner, if this be once thy sentence! thou wert better have all the world angry with thee, & bound in an oath against thee, as the Jewes against Paul, then that one drop of his anger should light upon thee: thou wert better have Heaven and Earth to fall upon thee, then one degree of Gods displeasure.
2. As this wrath is of Fire, so is it a consuming Fire, and causeth the sinner utterly to perish. All this is plain in the Text: not that the Being of the soule will cease, such a perishing the sinner would be glad of: A happy man would he thinke himselfe, if hee might dye as the bruits and be no more, but such wishes are vaine. It is but a glimpse of his owne condition, which hee shall see in the great combustion of the world; when he seeth the heaven and earth on fire, hee see's but the picture of his approaching woe. But alas, it is he that must feele the devouring fire. The world will bee but refined or consumed by its fire; but there must he burn, and burn for ever, & yet be neither consumed nor refined. The Earth will not feel the flames that burne it, but his soule and body must feel it with a witnesse: Little know his friends that are honourably interring his Corps, what his miserable soule is seeing and feeling: Here endeth the story of his prosperity and delights, and now begins the Tragedy that will never have end: Oh how his merry days are vanished as a dream! and his joviall life as a Tale that is told! His witty jests, his pleasant sports, his Cards and Dice, his merry company and wanton dalliance, his Cups and Queans, yea his hopes of heaven and confident conceits of escaping this wrath, are all perished with him in the way: As the wax melteth before the fire, as the chaffe is scattered before the wind, as the stubble consumeth before the flames, as the flowers doe wither before the scorching Sunne; so are all his sinfull pleasures withered, consumed, scattered, and melted. And is not the hearty embracing of Christ and subjection to him, a cheape prevention of all this? Oh who among you can dwell with the devouring fire? Who can dwell with the everlasting burnings, Isai. 33. 14. This God hath said he will surely do if you are able to gain-say and resist him, try your strength, read his challenge, Isai. 27. 4. Who would set the briers and thornes against me in battell? I would goe through them, I would burn them together.
3. This perishing will be sudden and unexpected, in the way of their sinne and resistance of Christ, in the way of their fleshly delights and hopes; They shall perish in the way, 1 Thes. 5. 3. Mat. 24. 37. As fire doth terribly break out in the night when men are sleeping, and consumeth the fruit of their long labours; so will this fire break forth upon their soules, and how neare may it be when you little think on it? A hundred to one but some of us present, shall within a few moneths be in another world, and what world it will bee, you may easily conceive, if you doe not embrace and obey the Son. How many have beene smitten with Herod in the mid'st of their vaine-glory? How many like Ahab have beene wounded in fight, and dunged the Earth with their flesh and blood, who left the Lords people to be fed with bread and water of affliction in confidence of their own return in peace? How many have beene swallowed up like Pharaoh and his Host, in their rash and malicious pursuit of the godly? Little thinks many an ignorant carelesse soul, what a change of his condition he shall shortly find: Those thousands of souls that are now in misery, did as little think of that dolefull state while they were merrily pleasing the flesh on earth, and forgetting Christ and their eternall state, as you doe now; they could as contemptuously jeere the Preacher as you, and verily believed that all this talke was but words and wind, and empty threats, and ventured their souls as boldly upon their carnall hopes: Little thought Sodome of the devouring fire, when they were furiously assaulting the doore of their righteous reprover: As little doe the raging enemies of godliness among us, think of the deplorable state which they are hasting to! They will cry out themselves then, Little did I thinke to see this day, or feele these torments!—Why, thou wouldest not think of it, or else thou mightest, God told thee in scripture, and Ministers in their preaching, but thou wouldest not believe till it was too late.
4. A little of Gods wrath will bring down all this upon those that embrace not and obey not the Son. If his wrath be kindled, yea but a little, &c. As his mercy being the mercy of an infinite God, a little of it will sweeten a world of crosses; so therefore will a little of his wrath consume a world of pleasures, one sparke fell among the Bethshemites and consumed fifty thousand & seventy men, but for looking into the Ark, till the people cry out, Who can stand before this Holy Lord God? 1 Sam. 6. 19. 20. How then will the neglecters of Christ stand before him? Sirs, me-thinks wee should not heare of this as strangers or unbelievers! There did but one spark fall upon England, and what a combustion hath it cast this Kingdome into? how many Houses and Townes hath it consumed? how many thousand of people hath it impoverished? how many Children hath it left fatherless? and how many thousand bodies hath it bereaved of their soules? And though there are as many hearty prayers and teares poured forth to quench it, as most Kingdomes on Earth have had; yet is the fire kindled afresh, and threatneth a more terrible desolation then before, as if it would turne us all to ashes. One spark fell upon Germany, another upon Ireland, and what it hath done there I need not tell you. If a little of this wrath do but seize upon thy body, what cryes and groans and lamentations doth it raise? If it be on one member, yea but a tooth, how dost thou roare with intolerable paine, and wouldst not take the world to live for ever in that condition? If it seize upon the Conscience, what torments doth it cause? as if the man were already in the suburbs of Hell: He thinketh every thing he seeth is against him; he feareth every bit he eateth should be his bane: If he sleep, he dreames of death and judgement, when he awaketh, his Conscience and horror awake with him: he is weary of living, and fearfull of dying, even the thoughts of heaven are terrible to him, because hee thinks it is not for him. Oh what a pittifull sight is it to see a man under the wrath of God! And are these little little sparks so intolerable hot? What then doe you think are the everlasting flames? Beloved Hearers, if God had not spoke this, I durst not have spoke it: the desire of my soule is, that you may never feel it, or else I should never have chosen so unpleasing a subject, but that I hope the foreknowing may help you to prevent it: But let me tell you from God, that as sure as the heaven is over your head, and the earth under your feet, except the Sonne of God bee nearer thy heart, and dearer to thy heart then friends, or goods, or pleasures, or life, or any thing in this world, this burning wrath will never be prevented, Mat. 10. 37. Luke 14. 26.
5. When this wrath of God is throughly kindled, the world will discern the blessed from the wretched; Then blessed are they that trust in him. It is the property of the wicked, to be wise too late: Those that now they esteeme but precise fooles, will then be acknowledged blessed men: Bear with their scorns Christians in the meane time, they will very shortly wish themselves in your stead, and would give all that ever they were masters of, that they had sought and loved Christ as earnestly as you, and had a little of your oyle when they finde their lamps are out, Mat. 25. 8.
And now Hearers, what is your resolution? perhaps you have been enemies to Christ under the name of Christians: Will you bee so still? Have you not loathed this busie diligent serving of him? and hated them that most carefully seeke him, more then the vilest drunkard or blasphemer? Have not his word, and service, and sabbaths, beene a burthen to you? Have not multitudes ventured their lives against his Ordinances and Government? Nay, is it not almost the common voice of the Nation in effect, Give us our sports and liberty of sinning, give us our Readers, and singing-men, and drunken Preachers, give us our Holy-dayes, and Ceremonies, and the Customes of our fore-fathers, Away with these precise fellowes, they are an eye-sore to us, these precise Preachers shall not controle us, this precise Scripture shall be no Law to us, and consequently this Christ shall not Rule over us.
How long hath England rebelled against his Government? Mr. Udall told them in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth, That if they would not set up the Discipline of Christ in the Church, Christ would set it up himself in a way that would make their hearts to ake. I thinke their hearts have aked by this time: and as they judged him to the Gallowes for his Prediction, so hath Christ executed them by thousands for their Rebellion against him; and yet they are as unwilling of his Government as ever. The Kings of the Earth are afraid lest Christs Government should un-king them. The Rulers are jealous lest it will depose them from their Dignities; even the Reformers that have adventured all to set it up, are jealous lest it will incroach upon their power and priviledges. Kings are afraid of it, and thinke themselves but halfe Kings, where Christ doth set up his Word and Discipline. Parliaments are afraid of it, lest it should usurpe their Authoritie. Lawyers are afraid of it, lest it should take away their gaines, and the laws of Christ should over-top the Laws of the Land. The People are afraid of it, lest it, will compel them to subjection to that law and way which their soules abhor: Indeed if men may bee their owne judges, then Christ hath no enemies in England at all, we are his friends, and all good Christians: It is precisians and Rebels that men hate, and not Christ: It is not the Government of Christ that we are afraid of, but the domineering of aspiring ambitious Presbyters (viz. That Generation of godly, learned, humble Ministers, who have done more then ever did any before them, to make themselves uncapable of preferment or domineering) & when men disobey and disregard our doctrine, it is not Christ, but the Preacher that they despise and disobey. And if the Jews might so have been their owne Judges, it was not the Sonne of God whom they crucified, but an enemy to Caesar, and a blasphemer that workes by the Devill. It was not Paul a Saint that they persecuted, but one that they found to be a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition amongst the people. But were there no seditious persons but Apostles and Christians? nor no troublers of Israel, but Elias? nor no enemies to Caesar, but Christ and his friends? Oh, God will shortly take off the vaile of hypocrisie from the actions of the world, and make them confesse that it was Christ they resisted, and that it was his holy waies and word that did kindle their fury; else would they as soon have fallen upon the ungodly rabble, as they did upon the most zealous and conscionable Christians: And however you mangle and deforme them with your false accusations & reproach, hee will then know and owne his people and his Cause, & will say to the world, In despising them you despised me; and in as much as you did it to one of these little ones, you did it unto me. As Dr. Stoughton saith, If you strike a Schismaticke, and God find a Saint lye a bleeding, and you to answer it, I would not be in your coate for more then you got by it. Hath the world ever gained by resisting Christ? Doth it make the Crowne sit faster on the heads of Kings? or must they not rather doe to Christ, as King John to his supposed Vicar, resigne their Crowns to him, and take them from him againe as his Tributaries, before they can hold them by a certaine tenure; read over but this Psalme and judge. Herod must kill the child Jesus to secure his Crown: The Jewes must kill him, least the Romanes should come and take away their place and Nation, Joh. 11. 48. And did this means secure them? or did it bring upon them the destruction which they thought to avoid?
Or have the people been greater gainers by this, then by their Kings? What hath England got by resisting his Gospell and Government, by hating his servants, and by scorning his holy wayes? What have you got by it in this City? what say you? have you yet done with your enmity and resistance? have you enough, or would you yet have more? If you have not done with Christ, he hath not done with you; you may try againe, and follow on as farre as Pharaoh if you will, but if you be not losers in the latter end, I have lost my judgement; and if you returne in peace, God hath not spoken by me, (1 King. 22. 28.
Sirs, I am loath to leave you till the bargaine be made: What say you, Do you heartily consent that Christ shall be your soveraigne, his Word, your Law; his people; your companions; his worship, your recreation; his merits, your refuge; his glory, your end; and himselfe the desire and delight of your soules: The Lord Jesus now waiteth upon you for your resolution and answer; thou wilt very shortly wait on him for thy doom: as ever thou wouldest then have him speake life to thy soule, doe thou now resolve upon the way of life. Remember thou art almost at death and judgement: what wouldst thou resolve if thou knewest that it were to morrow? If thou didst but see what others doe now suffer for neglecting him, that doth now offer thee his grace; what wouldst thou then resolve to doe? Sirs, it stirreth my heart to look upon you (as Xerxes upon his Army) and to think that it is not an hundred yeares till every soule of you shall be in Heaven or in Hell; & it may be not an 100 hours till some of your soules must take their leave of your bodies; when it comes to that, then you will cry, away wi…h the world, away with my pleasures, nothing can comfort me now but Christ; why then will you not be of the same mind now? When the world cryes, away with this holiness, and praying, and talking of heaven! give us our sports, and our profits, and the customes of our fore-fathers, i. e away with Christ, and give us Barrabbas: then doe you cry, away with all these, and give us Christ.
Oh if it might stand with the will of God, that I might chuse what effect this Sermon should have upon your hearts, verily it should be nothing that should hurt you in the le…st: but this it should be, It should now be to fasten upon your soules, and pierce into your Consciences, as an Arrow that is drawn out of the quiver of God; it should follow thee home to thy house, and bring thee down on thy knees in secret, and make thee there lament thy case, and cry out in the bitterness of thy spirit, Lord, I am the sinner that have neglected thee, I have tasted more sweetnesse in the world then in thy blood, and taken more pleasure in my earthly labours and delights, then I have done in praying to thee, or meditating on thee; I have complemented with thee by a cold profession, but my heart was never set upon thee:—And here should it make thee lye in teares and prayers; and follow Christ with thy cryes and complaints, till he should take thee up from the dust, and assure thee of his pardon, and change thy heart, and close it with his owne. If thou were the dearest friend that I have in the world, this is the successe that I would wish this Sermon with thy soul, That it might be as a voyce still sounding in thine eares, that when thou art next in thy sinfull company or delight, thou mightest as it were, heare this voyce in thy Conscience, Is this thine obediene… to him that bought thee? That when thou art next forgetting Christ, and neglecting his worship in secret or in thy family, or publique, thou mightest see this sentence, as it were written upon thy wall, Kiss the Sonne lest he bee angry, and thou perish: that thou mightest see it, as it were, written upon the Tester of thy Bed, as oft as thou lyest downe in an unregenerate state; and that it may keepe thine eyes waking, and thy soule disquieted, and give thee no rest, till thou hadst rest in Christ. In a word; If it were but as much in my hands as it is in yours, what should become of this Sermon? I hope it would be the best Sermon to thee that ever thou heardest: it should lay thee at the feet of Christ, and leave thee in his armes: Oh that I did but know what Arguments would perswade you, and what words would worke thy heart hereto: If I were sure it would prevaile, I would come downe from the Pulpit, and goe from man to man upon my knees, with this request and advice in my Text; O kiss the Sonne lest he be angry▪ and you perish.
But if thy heardned heart make light of all, and thou go on still in thy carelesse neglect of Christ, and yet wilt not believe but thou art his friend and servant, I doe here from the Word, and in the name of Christ, passe this sentence upon thy soule: Thou shalt goe hence, and perhaps linger out in thy security a few daies more, and then bee called by death to judgement, where thou shalt bee doomed to this everlasting fiery wrath. Make as light of it as thou wilt, feel it thou shalt, put it off and scape if thou canst: and when thou hast done, goe boast that thou hast conquered Christ: In the mean time, I require this Congregation to beare witness, that thou hadst warning.
This to all in generall: My Text yet directeth me to speak more particularly to the Rulers and Judges of the Earth.
Honourable & Reverend Judges, worshipful Magistrates, if you were all Kings and Emperors, all is one to Christ, you were but high and mighty dust and ashes; Christ sendeth his Summons first to you, hee knowes the leaders interest in the vulgar; you are the Commanders in the Host of God, and must do him more service then the common Souldiers: If one of you should neglect him, and stand out against him, he will begin with you in the sight of the rest, and make your greatnesse a stepping stone to the honour of his justice, that the lowest may understand what they have to doe, when they see the greatest cannot save themselves.
Shall I say you are wiser then the people, and therefore that this admonition is needless to you? No, then I should accuse the spirit in my Text: The Cedars of the Earth have alwaies hardly stoopt to Christ, which hath made so many of them rooted up. Your Honours are an impediment to that selfe-abasing which he expecteth: your Dignities will more tend to blind you then to illuminate: There's few of any sort, but fewest of the great and wise, and mighty, that are called: Yet a man would think, that among those that have held out in these trying times, there should be no need of these suspitions: But hath there not been alwaies a succession of sinners, even of those that have beheld the ruines of their Predecessors? Who would have thought, that a Generation that had seen the wonders in Egypt, and had passed through the Sea, and beene maintained in a wildernesse with constant Miracles; should yet be so vile Idolaters, or murmuring unbelievers, that onelyonly two of them should enter into Rest? The best of Saints have need of selfe-suspition and vigilancy: my advice therefore to you is this; Learne wisdome by the examples that your eyes have seen: Them that honour God, he will honour; and they that despise him, shall be lightly esteemed, 1 Sam. 2. 30.
More particularly, let me advise you as your duty to the Son. 1. That you take your commission and office as from him. I think it a doctrine more common then true, that Ministers onelyonly are under Christ the Mediator, and Magistrates are onelyonly under God as Creator: Christ is now Lord of All, and you are his servants; As there is no power but from God, so none from God, but by Christ. Look upon your selves as his Vicegerents; therefore doe not that which beseemeth not a Vicegerent of Christ. Remember, that as you see to the execution of the Lawes of the Land, so will Christ see that his Lawes be obeyed by you, or executed on you. Remember when you sit and judge offenders, that you represent him that will judge you and all the world: And oh how lively a resemblance have you to raise your apprehension! Think with your selves: Thus shall men tremble before his Barre; thus shall they waite to heare their doom; and be sure that your judgement be such, as may most lively represent the judgement of Christ, that the just may depart from your Barre with joy, & the unjust with sadness. Let your justice be most severe, where Christ is most severe; and so far as you can exercise your clemency, let it be about those offences which our laws are more rigorous against, then the lawes of God. Be sure yet that you understand the extent of your commission; that you are not the sole officers of Jesus Christ; you are under him as he is head over All; Ministers are under him as he is head to his Church, Eph. 1. 22. Ministers are as truly the Magistrates Teachers, as Magistrates are their Governors; yea, by as high and undoubted authority must they over-see, govern, and command (ministerially as their Lords Embassadors) both Kings and Parliaments, to do whatsoever is written in this Bible: as you may command them to obey the lawes of the Land; yea and as strict a bond lyeth on you to obey them so farre as they speake according to this word, and keepe within the bounds of their Calling, as doth on them to obey you in yours, Heb. 13. 7. 17. Deale not with them so dissemblingly, as to call them your Pastors, Teachers, Over-seers, and Rulers (as Scripture bids you) and yet to learne of them but what you list, or to deny them leave to teach or advise you, further then they receive particular warrant and direction from your selves: Should our assembly limit all their Ministeriall advice to the warrant and direction of Parliament, and not extend it to the warrant and directions of Christ; would they not become the servants and pleasers of men? If you do not your best to set up all the Government of Christ, even that in and proper to his Church, as well as that which is over them and for them; men may well think, it is your own seats and not Christs that you would advance. I would all the Magistrates in England did well consider, that Christ hath beene teaching them this seven yeares, that their owne peace or honours shall not be set up before his Gospel & Government, and that they doe but tire themselves in vaine in such attempts; then they would learn to read my Text with the vulgar, Apprehendite disciplinam: And if the Decisive power of the Ministry be doubtfull, yet at least they would set up their Nunciative in its vigor. Christ will rule England either as subjects, or as Rebells: and all that Kings and States doe gaine by opposing his Rule, will not adde one cubit to the stature of their greatness. Yet do I not understand by [the Government of Christ] a rigid conformity to the modell of this or that party or faction, with a violent extirpation of every dissenter. It is the ignorant part of Divines (alas! such there are) who with the simple fellow in Erasmus, doe expound Pauls Haereticum hominem devita, i. e. devitâ tolle. It is the Essentials, and not the Accidentalls of Discipline that I speake of: And if some disengaged standers-by bee not mistaken (who have the advantage by standing out of the dust of contention) each partie hath some of these essentials, & the worse is nearer the truth then his adversary is aware of: And were not the crowd and noise so great, that there is no hope of being heard, one would think it should be possible to reconcile them all: However, shall the work be undone, while each party striveth to have the doing of it? I was afraid when I read the beginning and end of this controversie in France. The learned Ramus pleadeth for popular Church-Government in the Synod; they reject it as an unwarrantable novelty, the contention grew sharpe, till the Parisian massacre silenced the difference. And must our differences have so sharp a cure? will nothing unite dis-joyned Christians, but their own blood? God forbid. But in the mean time while we quarrell, the worke standeth still: some would have all the workers of iniquity now taken out of the Kingdome of Christ, forgetting that the Angels must take them out at last, Mat. 13. Some Ministers think as Myconius did, when he was called to the Ministry by a Vision, leading him into a Cornefield & bidding him reap, he thought he must put in his sickle at the bottome, till he was told, Domino meo non opus est stramine, modo aristae in horrea colligantur: My Master needeth not straw, gather but the eares and it shall suffice.
Once more: I know I speak not to the Parliament that should remedy it; but yet that you may be helpfull in your places to advance this work of Christ, let me tell you what is the great thing in England that cryes for Reformation next our sins, even the fewness of Over-seers in great Congreations, which maketh the greatest part of Pastoral work to lie undone, and none to watch over the people in private, because they are scarce sufficient for the publique work. It is pitty that Musculus, that may be head of a society of students if he will continue a Papist, must weave and dig for his living, if hee will be a Protestant. It is pitty that even Luthers wife & Children must wander destitute of maintenance when he is dead: When Aesop the Stage-player can leave his Sonne 150000 li. and Roscius have 30 l. a day for the same trade; and Aristotle be allowed 800 Talents to further his search into the secrets of nature: But am I pleading that Ministers may have more maintenance? No, be it just or unjust, it is none of my errand. But oh that the Church had more Ministers, which though at the present they cannot have for want of men, yet hereafter they might have if it were not for want of maintenance: Alas then, what pitty is it that every Reformation should diminish the Churches Patrimony: If the men have offended, or if the office of Bishops or Deanes be unwarrantable; yet what have the Revenues done? Is it not pitty that one Troop of an hundred men, shall have seven commanding Officers allowed them, besides others; and 10000 or 40000 shall have but one or two Over-seers allowed them for their soules? When the ministerial work is more laborious and of greater concernment, then the work of those Commanders. I tell you again, The great thing that cries for Reformation in England next to sin, is the paucity of Ministers in great Congregations. I tell you this, that you may know which way to improve your severall interests for the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ in England.
To you Lawyers and Jurers, my advise is this; Kiss the Son. Remember the judgement is Christ's, every cause of Truth and Innocency doth he own, and will call it His Cause. Woe therefore to him that shall oppose it! Remember every time you take a Fee to plead against a Cause that you know to be just, you take a Fee against a Cause of Christ: Will you be of counsaile against him, that is your Counsellor and King? dare you plead against him, that you expect should plead for you? or desire judgement (as the Jews) against your Lord and Judge? Hath he not told you, that he will say, In as much as ye did it to one of these little ones, ye did it unto me? Remember therefore when a Fee is offered you against the Innocent, that it is a Fee against Christ: and Judas gain will be loss in the end, & will be too hot to hold long, you will be glad to bring it back, and glad if you could be well shut of it, and cry, I have sinned in betraying the Cause of the Innocent. Say not, It is our Calling that we must live upon: If any man of you dare upon such grounds plead a Cause against his Conscience, if his Conscience do not plead it again more sharply against him, say I am a false Prophet. If any therefore shall say of you, as the Cardinals of Luther, Cur homini os non obstruitis auro & argento, let the same answer serve turn, Hem pecuniam non curat, &c. If any Honourable or Worshipfull friend must be pleasured; enquire first whether he be a better friend then Christ: Tell him, the cause is Christs, and you cannot befriend him, except he can procure you a dispensation from him. When Pompey saw his soldiers ready to fly, he lay down in the passage, & told them, they should tread upon him then, which stopt their flight; so suppose every time you are drawne in to oppose a just Cause, that you saw Christ saying, Thou must trample upon me if thou do this. As Luther to Melanchton, Ne Causa fidei sit sine fide; so say I to you all, Ne Causa justitiae sit sine justitiâ. When you begin to bebold in a good Cause, suppose you saw Christ shewing you his scarrs; As the Souldier did to Caesar, when he desir'd him to plead his Cause: see here, I have done more then plead for you. We have had those that have had a tongue for a fee or a friend, but none for Christ, but God hath now therefore shut their mouthes; and we may say of them (as Granius by his bad Lawyer, when he heard him groan hoarse) If they had not lost their voyces, we had lost our Cause. To conclude, Remember all of you, that there is an appeal from these earthly judgements; these Causes must all be heard again, your witnesses reexamined, your oathes, pleadings, and sentence reviewed: and then (as Lampridius saith of Alexander Severus, That he would vomit choler if he saw a corrupt Judge) So will Christ vomit wrath, and vomit you out in wrath from his presence, if corrupt; Therefore kiss the Son lest he be angry, and you perish, &c. I am sensible how I have encroached on your great affairs: Melancthon was wont to tell of a Priest that begun his Sermon thus, scio quod vos non libenter auditis, & ego non libenter concionor, non diu igitur vos teneam. But I may say contrary: I am perswaded that you hear with a good will; and I am certain that I preach willingly, and therefore I was bold to hold you the longer.
FINIS.
End of the text · Richard Baxter, True Christianity (1655)