England Faithfully Watched, Lecture 42
COLOS. 1.20. Made peace through the blood of his croſſe.
DIvine favour, according to its formality, we have handled, to wit, Reconciliation; according to its cauſality, we are now to purſue it, which is here mentioned Synecdochically; the blood of the croſſe, as including all other paſſions and actions prevening and conducing, to make this laſt act effectuall to ſo great an end, as mans deliverance from the wrath of God. Some perſons in a buſineſſe bear the name of the whole; ſo ſome actions in work, carry the denomination of the whole. The blood of the croſſe, was the finiſhing act of our redemption; and therefore here, and elſewhere mentioned, in ſtead of all other acts. Having made peace by the blood of his croſſe.
The blood of the croſſe, notes the very ſtrength of cruelty, malice heightened by art, contriving many deaths into one; a death for the head, a death for the foot, a death for the arms, a death for the ſides; an army of tortures divided into parties, to go their ſeverall wayes in the body, and to meet all at the heart, to make as many torments as members, and as many hels as drops of blood. A forlorn ſtate is here ſadly hinted; men of parts firſt rejected Chriſt, and then imploy'd all to cut his throat. Apoſtaſie generates tyrannie.
Doctr. The greateſt cruelty is among perſons hypocritically profeſſing Chriſtianity. The death of the croſſe was inflicted upon Chriſt, by them that ſate in Moſes chaire: Chriſt among his own loſeth all friends, honours, blood; betray'd and butcher'd in his own family, amongſt his own. He came to his own, but could not get off without the loſſe of his life.
Profeſſion is a thing of courſe, light drawes out this, where it makes no inward change; the heart abiding naught, action will be anſwerable firſt or laſt, what ever the tongue ſay. Some do worſe then they meant; a Chieverall heart ſtretches when reacht, further then thought of. Morality is too weak to reſiſt ſin, Divinity is too weak to reſiſt ſin, if it reach not the ſoul: A man is as the temptation that aſſaults him, that hath not the ſword of the Spirit in his ſpirit; if it be to kill, to kill cruelly, to crucifie Chriſt; if a mans heart be not crucified by his light, he will crucifie his Father, his Saviour, when temptation lies this way. Sin is ſo far from leſſening, that it heightens it ſelf by notionall light, accidentally, though not naturally. What light takes not hold of the heart, the heart can take hold of it, to make its own way the ſtronger by. Light is a crutch to help Satans criples to go well: Low perſons get a ſtoole and become high; light makes men otherwiſe weaponleſſe, armed, ſtrong and wiſe to do evill.
The juſtice of God alſo is in this point. Conviction makes converſion, or hardeneth. If Chriſt come neer a city, and cannot get open the gates, and get in, he throwes in granadoes, and ſets conſciences afire, when affection opens not. Inſtructed perſons have raging conſciences; mad men are bloody, they will kill any, rather then they will be whipt themſelves; this was the caſe in reference to the Jews. Chriſt was as John, a burning and ſhining light; the light he held forth to hypocrites, did burn their conſciences, and to quench this, they cared not what they did to Chriſt; open his own veins, and take his own blood, to quench his own Spirit. Hypocrites will take the blood of Chriſt, out of every member of Chriſt, to quench the Spirit of Chriſt, that burns within them.
Ʋſe. This point is very uſefull, and very ſeaſonable. Count not your externall felicity very ſecure, nor your perſons free from barbariſm, becauſe you live amongſt profeſſors of Chriſtianity. The Word of God is a draught-net, it brings up of all ſorts, whole Chriſtians, half Chriſtians; a man almoſt a Chriſtian, will quite condemn you, and all out torture you, and yet waſh his hands as innocent of your blood. Truth may do much upon the tongue, yea, much upon the heart of your neighbour, and yet not enough to ſecure your skin, the lives next to him. Felix trembled, Pilate ſuffered much in his ſpirit, yet did they make Chriſt ſuffer much in his fleſh and Spirit. The Word is of much power upon conſcience, when of none at all upon affection; affrights ſometimes, but not reforms: an affrighted heart recovers it ſelf, and becomes by ſo much the more reſolute and hardened to deſperate work. You that tremble under our miniſtry now, you will recover many ſuch pangs, and be hard-hearted to our death, to our crucifixion, when times turn another way. Let no man promiſe himſelf immunity from any miſery, becauſe he lives where profeſſion is rife. The beſt hearts are oftentimes ſooneſt deceived; much goodneſſe is ready to truſt it ſelf, where there is but little, and receives a wound. A Lark hath but a bad eye, to diſcern a true Sun from a falſe; ſhe ſees a Sun in a glaſſe, and comes down to delight in it, and is enſnared. Sweet ſpirits know this time, you have a double diſadvantage now: You think all are good, becauſe they ſpeak well; you will be taken with a Sun in a glaſſe, enſnared with ſomething like a Sun. Integrity goes with an open breaſt, Hypocriſie makes advantage of this, and ſtabs to the heart: There was never more need of this caution.
Some out of ſweetneſſe, others out of courage are over credulous; Gedeliah loſt his life this way. England hath almoſt loſt its life, through over-much credulouſneſſe, but from whence our credulity hath ſprung, I know not. We have had fair words, ſhews of goodneſſe, and would not heed reall badneſſe, and look to our ſelves. 'Twas told Gedeliah, again and again, that ſuch ſought his life; ſo 'thath been told us, again and again, that ſuch and ſuch have been falſe and baſe, and yet, becauſe they have been ſpecious for this and that, we have been incredulous, and ruiningly venturous. Courage degenerates into ſtupidity, when faith builds altogether upon fancy. Stupidity ſpeaks deſtruction decreed; all is deſtroy'd that ſhould prevent deſtruction. Underſtanding ſwallows fancies, judgement builds its welfare upon theſe; now the heart is aſleep amongſt Serpents: Write Lord have mercy upon this ſoule, he will certainly be ſtung to death, ere he awake. I have ſpoken Englands caſe ere I was aware: Stupidity is a common glague, our head is broke, our wounds are many, and we lay our bleeding ſtate in the boſome of ſuch as have ſerved the times, to fetch life in us again. Ah Lord! may it not make a tender heart ſhake, to ſee how much we lean upon many, that a little while ſince, bended any way? Where wealth and advantage abound, truſt may be venturous with leſſe perill, becauſe much will bear out a little loſſe, and do well; but when all is almoſt gone, then one muſt be double wary how one truſts in weighty matter. This is our caſe, we are at laſt caſt, upon the brink of death and ruine, making our will in order to all priviledge, civill and divine, and yet have not that mercy from the Lord, to take double heed and care, whom we make executors, to whom we leave the hope of poſterity: We look at parts, honours, more then at truth of grace, in thoſe that manage our affaires; ſo there be but profeſſion and ſpecious pretences, ſome court divinity to paint perſons over, to look fair in the eye of men, and ſomething like the Cauſe we manage, we venture all upon them.
Naked profeſſion is not to be truſted, the characters of this I will give you, that no man may deceive himſelf, nor others.
Meer profeſſion is vain-glorious light ſouls paint, words, actions; their faculty lies this way: They do all things to be ſeen of men. A meer profeſſor fails and flats in his nobleſt action, if men obſerve him not; his zeal dies, if the breath of men blow it not. Come, ſee my zeal, &c. A meer profeſſor is a Chameleon, he lives by the aire of mens mouths; he chriſtens his children himſelf, and calls all vertue that he doth. Come, ſee my [zeal] &c. And it was but vain-glory; a vice, and no vertue; a ſtinking weed, and no flower. They are ugly brats that Hypocrites bring forth, no body elſe can endure to lick them to any beauty, and therefore they lick them themſelves. Come, ſee my zeal: Rotten lungs uſe art to breath ſweet; they are not troubled when they ſmell it themſelves, they only bluſh when others ſmell it ſtinck, and therefore uſe skill, to make their breath ſmell ſweet: Come, ſee my zeal. Integrity hatches good, and runs away, can ſcarce own her own children, though they run after her; a good man cannot tell how to lay hands upon any good action, as his; but Hypocriſie calls evill good, and yet openly appropriates it: Come, ſee my zeal. If an upright man be any thing, or do any thing, 'tis not he, but Chriſt in him; he doth not ſay, come, ſee my zeal, or my wiſdome, but, come and ſee the Wiſdome and Life of Chriſt, in me.
Naked profeſſion is time-ſerving: 'tis a Chriſtian ſquaring his religion, to pleaſe all ſides. A meere profeſſor, would have all men ſpeake well of him, though Chriſt nor his own conſcience doe not, which is a wofull thing. Woe to your when all men ſpeake well of you, (i) when you ſo order your religion and courſe of life, as to pleaſe all ſides, though God be diſpleaſed. Religion is lovely ſometimes, but not for it ſelfe; ſome take it up to drive deſignes, and can taſte ſweetneſſe in it no longer, then it will conduce to ſome ſecular advantage. Chriſt is an abiding ſweet, where the heart is upright. Chriſt is deare upon the Croſſe; when torne to pieces deare; every limbe, every drop of his bloud, deare; ſo for ever. The way of Chriſt is more, then the ſtrewings of it, to a reall Chriſtian; all the wealth, and all the honour in the world, are not ſo pleaſant as one deſpiſed and perſecuted truth of Chriſt. They are joy'd in the way, they remember thee in thy wayes, Eſa. 64.5. They reſpect the way, not the ſtrewings of the way, no other ſtrewings but what Chriſt maketh by his going before them. They remember [thee] in thy wayes, (i.) Chriſt; For he maketh his own wayes ſweet, to them that ſimply walke in them. Times vary oft, and all preſent new temptations, yet one thing is conſtantly made at, in all where profeſſion is reall, (i) to injoy Chriſt: let my ſoule lie ſtill in the boſome of Chriſt, and move ſteadily in his wayes, and then let times and fortunes change as they will. Reall profeſſion purſues realitie in every condition; it hunts one hare, how many ſoever croſſe the way in which it goes. Diſtraction of times, naughtineſſe of men, make not Chriſt unpleaſant, but more precious. If the world will frowne, O that I could ſee Chriſt ſmile more. If truth be ſlighted, O that I could ſo walke, as to live ſome beautie into it: Integritie holds on her way, as Solomon ſaith. I tremble to thinke of this generation, wee are clouds without water, carried as the winde ſits, that's Judes deſcription of naked profeſſion. When the Parliament prevailes, then their wayes are honoured; when the King prevailes, then his wayes are honour'd; when mens perſons are honour'd and proſper'd, then their religion is honour'd; meere profeſſion is a bable, a humour, any thing, nothing; a double minde, unſtable, a double mouth; ſweet and bitter from the ſame fountaine, as the ciſterne will beſt receive that is powred into: and this may be the motto of the profeſſion of this time.
All that hath been formerly ſaid, to diſtinguiſh in this matter, is but one thing, and may be plainly rendered thus; Naked profeſſion, is without internall reformation. Spirits can transforme themſelves, they can ſpeake like Angels, and yet abide Devils; men can doe much this way. Put yee on the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, &c. The tongue can doe this, when the heart hath never a rag upon its backe. Their inward parts are very wickedneſſe. There is foreign & foreign, a turning and a turning inwardly. The Author to the Hebrewes uſeth the latter word; Wee have had fathers of our fleſh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence, Heb. 12.9.foreign, and wee were inwardly turned, the ſpirit recoiling as aſham'd: An internall turning (i) when the heart is turned as well as the outward man, according to that in Malachi, The heart of the children ſhall be turned to the fathers, which is reall profeſſion. The Temple was the ſame in the outſide in Chriſts time, that it was in the Prophets time before, yet he could not own it, becauſe the inſide was not the ſame, it had a den of theeves in it; My Temple hath a better inſide, ſaith he, and whips out theſe theeves, and overturnes their Tables: it ſhadowes out this, that where there is a reall Temple, a true Chriſtian, the power of all luſts, though never ſo many, is overturned in the ſoule by the power of Chriſt, which worketh in us.
I will ſpeake no more by way of diſcovery, but let the diſcovered lay to heart their condition. You which are but ſeeming profeſſors, you will be reall perſecutors. The puniſhment of one ſin, hardens to another. The proper plague of hypocriſie, is ſearing; burned ſpirits, are fit to burne others; ſo they doe in hell. 'Twas a generation of ſeared hypocrites, which contrived the bloud of Chriſt: are they not ſuch, many of them, which contrive Chriſts bloud and torment at this day, in the Chriſtian world? The croſſe wee beare is the wound of friends; the enemies which cut our throats, are of our owne houſe, of our owne Land, and pretend to be of our owne Religion. Would not that bloudy Army abroad, be accounted Proteſtants, and for Proteſtant Religion? I ſend you forth as lambes amongst wolves, and yet thoſe wolves wore ſheep-skins, they would be accounted of the ſeed of Abraham: 'tis our caſe, and it makes our triall the greater; our burthen is heavie, but God is lightning it, glory be to his name. The axe is to the roote of the tree which bare but leaves, and they are cut downe apace. If this ſide would but mend, as faſt as tother ſide end, wee ſhould be a very bleſſed people quickly. The ripeſt fall firſt, we ſhall not hang long after, if our profeſſion alſo be found hypocriticall.