Exposition of the Apostles Creed, Part 2 · Sermon 22
Of the ends of the Resurrection, and the Influence it ought to have upon our lives.
Rom. 4.25.
Who was delivered for our offences, but was raised again for our justification.
THe Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour …re so nearly conjoyned, that there is seldom mention of the one without the other. The Son of man shall be delivered to the Gentiles, &c. and they shall put him to death, but the third day he shall rise again. I slept and rose, It is Christ that dyed, Luc. 18.33. Psal. 4. Rom. 8.34. Joh. 10.17.yea rather which is risen. I lay down my life, that I might take it again; and in this place for his foreign, he was delivered, we have following, in all parts answering unto it, foreign, He was raised.
How truely doth the spouse in the Canticles all him fasciculus myrrhae, Cant. 1.13, 14.& botrus Cypri! My beloved is to me a bundle of Myrrh, and a cluster of Cypress? What more distasteful and bitter to the taste than Myrrh? The Jews when they would put our Saviour to all the pain they could,Mar. 15.23. they reached him wine so mingled. What's of a more fragrant smell then the clusters of Cypress? Veneri arbor est dicata. Such was the death, such was the rising of our Saviour; a bundle of Myrrh, and a handful of Cypress. His ignominious passion embittered with all scornes and pains that malice could invent, was like a bundle of Myrrh; but his resurrection falling at a season when every flower and tree puts forth, is as a handful of Cypress; an Act which sends forth a more pleasing sent then the most odoriferous sweet.
Of these two, Myrrh and Cypress, Saint Paul hath here made a Christian posie. That he was delivered; there's Myrrh for you; That he was raised, there's Cypress. You shall do very well to make use of both; For, for your sakes he underwent and took down the Myrrh, and for your sakes again it was that he shot up as a green Cypress; He dyed for us, he rose for us; He was delivered for our sins; he rose again for our justification.
1. For our sins: For our justification.
Benefits that concern another, little affect us; but when we once become interested in the profit, then we begin with a greedy ear to hearken after them. If then your attentions and hearts may be won; here's enough to make you attentive and affectionate. His was the pains, He dyed; your's are the gains, 'twas for your offences. His was the Resurrection, yours the benefit; 'twas for your justification. How kinde hath the God of heaven been to us poor men, that whatsoever his son did or suffered it must be done for us!
As the Prophet Isay had foretold, so it must be, To you a Son is given, and to you a child is born; he might have added, for you this child must dye,Isa. 9.6. for you this Son will arise; since it is certain, that he wholly laid himself out for our use.
For himself he was not born, he dyed not; for he that was born of his Father before all times,Mic. 5.2. could not add any thing to his honor by being born of a poor Virgin; And sure I am that such a death could not be to his reputation. And for the Angels who knew his Majesty and greatness, they had no desire to see him less; little he was for our sakes onelyonly, because we alone stood in need of him; for us then he was born, for us he lived; he went about all his life time to do good to such as were no better then we are:Act. 10.38. For our offences he dyed; for our sins he suffered, and for our justification he rose again; all was for our benefit and advantage.
For what could he by any of these Acts gain to himself more then he had? could he be greater then he was, who was the Son of God? could he be more honoured then he was,Mat. 16.16. Rev. 21.24. before whose footstool all Kings of the earth throw down their crowns? If a stable, if hunger and thirst, if ignominy, if contempt, the cross, death, and a grave could honor him, then from these he might receive access of glory, for these he underwent to the full. The good in all these was ours, not his; that we might be honoured, that we might be bettered, we saved, we discharged, he would undergo all these and Dye. After which the honour befell him to arise; and yet that neither he would appropriate to himself; content he was, that we also should have a share in the Benefit.
2. He was raised for our justification.
Now this benefit doth call for our thanks; and because the measure of thanks doth commonly arise out of the quantity of the benefit, let us see what it is that we reap by our Saviours resurrection, that so we may be truely thankfull.
Thom. part. 3. q. 53. Art. 1.Thomas Aquinas in his sums hath set down five reasons why it was necessary that Christ should arise from the grave. The
1. Ad commendationem divinae justitiae, To set forth and commend unto us Gods righteous dealing. For it is a peculiar of divine justice to raise those, who are unjustly depressed; with men it is too often otherwise; if any raised, it must not be of all other reasons for that he was oppressed or crushed; but with God it is otherwise;Psal. 113.7, 8. he raiseth the poor out of the dust, where and when every foot is apt to trample upon them; he that brings light out of darkness, exalts the humble, just, and innocent man, and sets him with the Princes, even with the Princes of his people; it was reasonable then, that he who was thus unjustly humbled, should be again exalted; that he who was causelesly brought so low, should again be raised and set on high. The master builders refused him,Act. 4.11. 1 Pet. 2.7. and cast him aside as an useless stone, and unfit for any place in the building, and God in justice called for him again, and made him the head of the corner.
2. Another reason why he rose, was, ad fidei nostrae instructionem, To build up our faith; for by the resurrection of our Saviour our Faith is much strengthned and confirmed; In that he arose from the grave, and delivered himself from the sorrows of death, assured we are of his divine power. Thus saith the Apostle, He was declared to be the Son of God, by his resurrection from the dead,Rom. 1.4. foreign. 'Twas a part of the definition by which he might be known to be so. All he had done else, some or other of the Prophets now and then had done the like; given signs even from heaven, yea even raised the dead. But raise himself being dead, get forth of the heart of the earth, when once he was in it, that exceeded a Prophets power; ne're a Patriarch or Prophet o… them all could do that; So then that by this power he overcame the tyranny of death, it declared him undoubtedly, and may settle us in our belief, that he is the Son of God.
While he lay in the grave, how weak was the faith even of his own disciples! They, when they saw him laid in, and sealed up in the monument, a stone rolled over him, and a watch set upon him, began to doubt, whether that were he who was to redeem Israel. To say nothing of their faith, their very hope was in a swoon; sperabamus say they,Luc. 24.21. we were in a good hope while he lived, but now we can hope very little from him. No better means than to revive their forlorn hope, and free them from despair than that he be up again. Upon it Mary calls him Rabboni; upon this Thomas acknowledgeth him,Joh. 20.16, 28. My Lord and my God; upon this they which were faithless, became faithful, professed him, confessed him, preached him, dyed for him; No better means then to confirm us in the faith, than that Christ is risen.
3. The third is, ad spei nostra sublevationem, That we should live in hope, dye in hope, and rest in hope; that as Christ rose again, so our bodies, though turned to dust, should again arise from those dusty beds;Zach. 9.11. so the resurrection of Christ speaks comfort to all the prisoners of Hope, that the members shall be in no worse condition than the head, because he rose in body, and is alive; therefore every part of him shall get up and live also. And of this medium Job serves himself, and strongly infers his conclusion, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; Job 19.25, 26.and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Scio quod …ll…, ergo quod ego. But of this more in a fit place.
4. Ad justificationem.
4. The fourth reason why our Saviour arose, is here assigned by Saint Paul; It is for our justification: In reading the Greek Copies vary; for some read it foreign, others foreign; the difference of the words is this; foreign, is that vertue which indeed comprehends in it all vertues, a habit of justice inherent in us, which we in Divinity call sanctification, or rather sanctity and holiness. If then the Apostles word were foreign, the sense is, that Christ rose, that he might be either the Efficient cause, or the type and example to us to rise from sin, as he rose from the grave; and to have his holiness, and purity inherent in us; which is certainly true, as in the close I shall make appear to you.
The other, and more usual word is foreign, which Beza conceives should be rendred rather justificamen, or justificamentum, and is opposed to foreign, or condemnation, or foreign, a cross plea; for foreign is a legal word, and signifies the pleading of a mans own cause before a Tribunal, when he puts in what may make for his defence. The meaning then of the Apostle may be this, that Christ being risen from the dead, hath put into every mans mouth that rose in him, what he shall be able to say in justification of himself, when he shall appear at the bar of God. Give me leave to prosecute the Metaphor, that from the proceeding in a Court, you may with comfort understand this necessary point. In every Session you know there are accusers, an Enditement, a Judge, whose office it is to absolve or condemne: It is so here.
1. Accusers here be, the Divel, who as by name,Rev. 12.10. so in nature is the accuser of the brethren; our own conscience, which is instead of a thousand witnesses. The Sun and Moon in whose presence we have committed our sins; the creatures which we have inordinately abused, his servants whose voice we have not heard, our brethren whom we have oppressed, and our companions with whom we have too wantonly lived.
2. The inditement will be laid for impiety, infidelity, irreligion, perjury, theft, adultery, oppression; in a word for all the enomities we have committed, and all acts of piety or charity omitted. To all which I know not any man can plead Not guilty; yet the just Judge will be content to hear foreign, that we put in our plea; which can be no other then this, Christ rose for our justification. This, no man can do with a good conscience, but he who is a penitent,Rom. 8.1. Mat. 5.6. believing sinner; he who lives not after the flesh, but after the spirit. He who hungers nor after righteousness, the righteousness of Christ to be imputed to him, by which he may be discharged and acquitted from condemnation; and after the righteousness of Christ inherent in him, by which he can say he is freed from the dominion of sin; so that though sin dwelt, yet it never reigned,Rom. 7.20. & 6.12. or if any time, yet very unwillingly in his mortal body.
3. That which remaines, is, we expect the sentence of the Judge; heavy this would be, if according to our merit, no other than the sentence of death; for we have deserved no less. But behold, stand amazed and wonder, in stead of condemning, he is pleased to admit of the plea of these poor penitent and believing sinners, justifie them, and declare them for his Sons sake innocent persons.
Neither doth he this by his absolute power, as a King by his royal prerogative pardons an offendor; but manifests to the world that he is satisfied for the wrong, and upon that satisfaction doth acquit them. So that justification is not a work of power, but a work of mercy and justice; of justice in that Almighty God will have an infinite punishment suffered either by us or our Surety, proportionable to the infinity of the offence; of mercy in that he did and doth receive the punishment of another to free us.
Two things then there are which concur in this work of our justification; one on Gods behalf, and the other on our part.
1. That which God doth, is called imputation of Christs justice to the justified person, which justice ariseth from the obedience of his Son, Active and Passive. For as it is in a marriage where some noble man espouseth a woman of low degree, the honors and wealth of the husband are so far imparted to the wife, that her means and poverty are no more regarded, but all her husbands riches and Titles are attributted to her: So in this case it falls out, that our faults and punishments being by God imputed to his Son, we are acquitted from them; and all his Sons righteousness being imputed to us, we for the merit thereof appear righteous in his sight; He that knew no sin, he was made sin for us, 2 Cor. 5.21.that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Now upon this imputation of Christs righteousness, there follow three admirable benefits to a Christian soul; redemption from sin, remission from punishment, Reconciliation to God.
1. Grace is given, whereby a man is freed from the domineering power of sin. He that is not within the compass of the Covenant, is a captive of sin; a slave and drudge to sin,2 Reg. 21.20. Rom. 13.14. he sells himself to work iniquity, and obeys it in the lusts thereof; held he is in such a bond of captivity, that he shall not return to good; and bound with such fetters of servitude, that he shall not cease from evil. Now when he becomes a justified person, he is freed from this captivity, slavery, and drudgery, For the Law of th… Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath freed me from the law of sin and death. Rom. 8.2.Christ erects his throne in his heart, and enables to mortifie and destroy every enormous and grievous sin.
2. A pardon is also given him, whereby he is absolved from punishment; sin and pain are Relatives, they answer one to another, as face to face in water;Prov. 27.19. he that is guilty of the breach of Gods law, is subject to the punishment threatned for the breach of that law, which is all kind of death. Now the Apostle told us in the former place, that the Law of the Spirit frees us from the Law, that is, the force and power of Death.Rom. 8.2. So then a justified person is acquitted from the power of both, à potestate dominandi, & damnandi. Rom. 8.1.Sin shall neither domineer over him, nor be able to condemn him; For there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
3. And the third mercy is, that God is pacified and reconciled to him; not only remits what is past, but becomes a friend. By the blood of Christ his peace is made. For the chastisement of our peace was upon him. Behold now the happy condition of those who are justified by the imputation of Christs righteousness! Freed they are from the tyranny of sin,Isa. 53.5. absolv'd from the rigour of punishment, and reconciled to the favor and love of God: Of which, that he might assure us, he rose from the grave. For had he lien there still, we could never have been confident, than he had procur'd grace or pardon for us, or wrought our peace.
2. What God in mercy does for us we see; and to whom it is done we behold. Sinners they are who are thus justified. But that you be not presumptuous, they are not all sinners pelimell, who are set at liberty, pardoned, and accepted to favour; somewhat also is required on our part, before we be admitted into the list and number of the justified. 'Twas a virulent and malicious aspersion that Celsus laid upon our Saviour, that he call'd all sinners to come unto him, Publicans, Harlots, to all he gave welcome and pardon: Which also is as maliciously by Zosymus objected to Constantine, as the cause of his conversion to Christianity. From which he was apt to conclude,Zosymus. lib. 2. that Christs Church was like the Asylum set up by Romulus, Plutarch. Romul.being a Sanctuary for all comers. To which Origen return'd this answer, that there is a double invitation; One of the Thief, the other of the Physician: The Thief invites to get companions; the Physician Patients; the Thief to debauch the innocent; the Physician to cure the diseased, to recover the relapsed: The former to continue and confirm them in their lewd courses: The latter to purge out, and reform their impurities. This, this is the design of Christ. For God justifies none as sinners, but as sinners that are fitted and prepar'd for justification, that is, penitent and believing sinners. So that these two are both necessary in justificato, in him who desires to be justified, Faith and Repentance.
First, The Gospel is the great power of God to salvation, Rom. 1.16. Mark 16.16.but with this limitation and caution, to every believer. For he that believeth only shall be saved. God is pleased to propose and offer to us his Son in the Gospel, upon which there must follow an acceptation and reception of this his free offer, without which this work cannot be perfect and consummate; The merit of Christ is of no more power than physick, though never so precious, not applied, or not taken down. Now Faith is the hand that applies it. It was so in Ahraham, who is therefore call'd the Father of the faithful. Rom. 4.3, 12. Act. 6.8. Act. 8.37. Act. 10.45. Joh. 1.12.Abraham believ'd, and that was counted to him for righteousnesse; so with Stephen, who was full of faith; so with the Eunuch; so with Cornelius; so, in a word, with all. For so many as received him, that is, by faith, to them he gave power to become the Sons of God.
Now this Faith how weak soever, if true, is said to justifie in a double sense; either in Relation, or Opposition.
1. In Relation, as it reflects upon Christ. For take it as a quality, a vertue, a habit infused into the heart by the holy Spirit, and so it justifies not; for that were to make our Faith our Christ. But reflect upon faith in another notion, as it hath for its object Christ Jesus, and layes hold on his whole ransome, and applies it; and so faith may be very properly said to justifie, because the object which it apprehends doth justifie.
2. Or again, in another sense faith is said to justifie, that is oppositè, as it is opposed to good works, because it excludes from Justification, the works of the Moral Law.Rom. 3.28. Which, though vertues of very high esteem, and commendable and requisite in the eyes of God and man (since without them our faith lives not) yet being polluted and defective,Jam. 2.17. they may not be pleaded in foro justitiae, in the High Court of Justice. In foro novae obedientiae, In the Chancery, set up for examination of works of new obedience, they may pass, and receive a candid Interpretation; but in the Upper Bench of strict Justice, where every mans life and actions must be tryed by the exact Letter of the Law, all works, whether done by the power of Nature, or help of Grace, will fall short of that the Law requires, and consequently, nor they shall be justified for exactly good, nor any man justified for them.
That which in this Court must justifie, must be the sole merit of Christ; of which he alone can be a partaker, who is a believer; so saith the Apostle, By him every one that believeth, Act. 13.39.shall be justified. Faith then is the first condition that is required in a justifiable person.
Secondly, The other condition required in the man, without which no pardon, no remission can be had, is repentance, and godly sorrow. For howsoever Repentance, non attingit effective remissionem, doth not effectually procure Remission,Psa. 22.14. yet is it removens prohibens, and takes away all impediments of pardon. It takes away stubbornness, and makes the heart like wax, fit to receive an impression.2 Reg. 22.19. 2 Chron. 32, 26 Psa. 73.1. Psa. 101.2. It removes pride, and makes the heart an humble heart: It takes away hardness, and makes the heart a soft and a tender heart: It washeth off pollution, and makes the heart clean: It removes hypocrisie, and makes the heart sincere and honest. So that by it the heart being put in a new frame, made dutyful, lowly, broken, tender, clean, sincere, and honest, the man may come with some boldness to the Throne of Grace, and humbly entreat that he may be found in the number of those who shall receive this pardon of Grace.
This is the Method that Christ hath taught us to preach, and you to learn by;Luk. 24.47. Go and preach Repentance and Remission of sinne: Observe, Repentance first, and Remission of sinne after. This is the Summe of that Text upon which our Saviour first preach'd. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the Gospel; but to whom? to the poore; he hath sent me to heale the broken-hearted, Luk. 4.18, 19.to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blinde, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Repentance is to be considered as an Act, or as a State. As an Act, and so it must in the nature of the thing go before justification.Dr. Hammond. pract. Catech. As a state, so it must follow; it being the leading a new, holy, and gracious life, the improving the grace which God gives, and persevering, and dying in it.
The order then which God hath taken to save a poor sinner, is this. First God gives his Son to die and satisfie for him: In that death he strikes up a Covenant with him: According to this Covenant he calls for Faith and Repentance: If he hear this call, repents, and believes, God justifies him. He gives him more grace upon the improvement of the Talent given to him: Lastly, upon his perseverance gives him, as to a faithful servant, a Crown of Glory.
But if this Covenant be striken with us in his death, and we justified by his Death and Passion, how is it here attributed to his Resurrection? He rose, saith our Apostle, for our justification; the Apostle rather should have said He dyed for our justification.
To this I answer, that in the Passion and Death of Christ was contain'd the Ransom and Merit: but in the Resurrection, the evidence and Declaration, that we were freed and justified. For whereas Christ died, he died for our sins; of which had there been the least unsatisfied, death would have kept him in his grave still; whereas therefore he rose from thence, it is more than manifest, that he made so full a satisfaction for them all, that death was able to hold him no longer in prison.
We willingly therefore divide the work of our Redemption betwixt the Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour. We attribute to his Death the discharge of the debt both of sinne and punishment: But the first means of the application of it to his Resurrection; for by it we are proclaimed to stand recti in curiâ, held for freed men, and innocent persons: As therefore the Superscription of his Cross might have been, O death, 1 Cor. 15.54, 55I will be thy death! so also the Epitaph on his Tomb might have been, Death is swallowed up in victory. For however virtualis Triumphus & meriti, the virtual and meritorious Triumph over Death, was upon the Cross, and in the death of our Saviour; yet this Triumph was acted, and the Solemnity thereof kept on the day of his Resurrection. Upon the Cross he did Triumph over death as in Campo Ʋictoriae, in the field where the battel was fought and won, as I said before; but on the day he rose, he celebrated it in Sella Curuli & Triumphali, in his Triumphal Chariot, when he return'd to life, and led Captivity Captive.
This one point of Christian Religion,Use. is the Anchor upon which our souls must rest in all the tempests of despaire.Gen. 8.9. As the Dove sent forth by Noah when the waters overran the earth, found no rest for the sole of her foot till she returned againe to the Ark: So the soul of man, when the deep waters of a guilty conscience shall encompass him, shall find nothing to rest on, nothing to secure him, till he come to this Ark of safety, to know how he may be justified.
Every man must come to his bed of death, from thence to his grave; farther yet, from his grave to judgement. Here or there he must look to be impleaded for his original, for his actual sinnes: where he shall have so many Articles preferr'd against him as he hath committed offences of infirmity, ignorance, negligence, malice, or omitted duties of piety or charity. It behoves him then to think, when God shall call, what he will answer;Job 31.14. Hab. 2.1. how he may be acquitted, how absolv'd at that Bar. Who is it that can justifie himself by the rigorous Rule of the Law? who is it that can cleanse his heart, or wash his hands from sin? That then which must assure our hearts before God, is not the righteousness of the Law, but the righteousness which is by faith. Hence must spring the fountain of all our comfort,Rom. 10.3. that it is Christ who justifies.
We may therefore boldly challenge all our enemies in St. Pauls words and confidence, foreign,Rom. 8.33. Who is it that shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifieth; Who is it that condemneth? it is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen againe. As if there durst not appear any Accuser or Judge against the Elect of God, after that Christ was risen to justifie them. Excellently Mr. Perkins; If Satan plead against us that we are sinners, and therefore obnoxious to eternal damnation, let us answer him, That the obedience of Christ hath freed us from that fearful sentence. For as by Adams disobedience came the foreign, the Crime, the Sentence; so by Christs obedience came the foreign, or foreign, the justification or plea which with a good conscience we might put in. We are now espoused to one Husband Christ Jesus, who is to answer for us. For as no suit of Law can take place against the Wife, so long as the Husband liveth; so neither can any action that Satan layes against us, proceed to our prejudice, so long as Christ who is our Head and Husband, is alive. If he plead farther, that we never fulfill'd the Law, and consequently we have no right to Eternal life, the reply is easie, by granting all that is objected, and that our hope of, and our Title to Eternal life depends not now upon our own performances, but upon the obedience of Christ, who hath fulfill'd the Law for us: In the duties of which, if we have faln short, our answer must be, That we have been overborne by Satans temptations, and that therefore our failings shall be surely imputed to him, and set upon his score at the day of judgement.
Be it that he dayly and hourly molest and vex the conscience with the exprobration of manifold corruptions and imperfections, yet if our heart can reply sincerely, that we have had God alwayes before us, that we have stood in aw, and fear'd to offend, that we dayly lament these wants and imperfections, fixing all our hope in the merits of Christ, all our defects will be cover'd by his obedience.
Lastly, If at the hour of death, the fear and apprehension of the just judgement, anger, and wrath of God shall affright, terrifie, and appale our poor, sinful, and guilty soul, Answer we may, that Christ hath undergone this wrath for us, he was in an agony, and brought to this furnace for our sakes; which suffe ing of his we may justly place betwixt the fierce wrath of God, and our dismay'd consciences; and quietly rest in the confidence of it, infold, and wrap up our souls in it, and so present them to our God.
Rom. 3.25. Exod. 25.21, 22Our Apostle before calls Christ foreign, a propitiation for our sinnes. For as the Propiatory cover'd the Ark, and the Law in the Ark, which is the hand-writing against us: so Christ covereth our sins, putting his own obedience between us and the indignation of God. O the happy condition then of a faithful and penitent Christian! for he alone is happy, whose sin is covered; Psal. 32.1, 2.that man blessed, to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity. For as it fareth with a Captive ransom'd out of bondage by the free liberality of his Prince, and advanced after to great dignity and riches: or with a poor miserable man arrested and imprisoned for a grand debt to his Soveraign, who beyond all hope is suddenly fetcht from his Dungeon, pardoned his debt, and enrich'd with a Mass of treasure: even so it befalleth him who is justified by the merits and mercies of Christ. By nature and guilt of sin he is a bondman to Satan, enthrall'd to his own lusts and Hell, most miserably poor, destitute of all righteousness; Indebted to the Lord of the whole world, for ever to be kept from Eternal life in Heaven for default of perfect holiness, and to be cast body and soul into the dungeon of Hell for his disobedience: Yet through the wonderful bounty of God freely giving his Son for the wiping away of all the guilt of sin and merit of punishment: And for the imputation of Christs holiness and innocence, man now once again of a bondman, and beggarly wretch, of an heir of hell, and an exile from heaven, is advanc'd, and become most free, rich, and glorious. For he is become an heir, yea fellow-heir with Christ, of no less than a Kingdom, even of a Kingdom in heaven.
The comfort which I take in this point, hath made me tedious; and glad I would be that you should receive comfort in it, when all worldly comforts faile you. For this must be the only Cordial that must revive your dying spirits, to know that Christ must justifie you. If you shall appear at Gods Bar (as all must appear) without this confidence, you shall appear to your condemnation. No Angel, no power, no man, no wealth, no gold can save you, or purchase your pardon. But if you take the righteousness of Christ by a true and lively faith along with you, you may boldly appear before the Throne of God; for ye are then justified, ye are sanctified, 1 Cor. 6.11.ye shall be glorified.
5. The last end for which our Saviour arose, according to Thomas, was ad informationem vitae fidelium, To inform men to lead a holy life; and if foreign was the Original word, the Text favours it; that word signifying a constellation of vertues which must meet, and be inherent in every justified person, of which this act of Christ was a pattern, or rather a type.Estius in loc. The place then they interprete to this sense; That as Christ dying for sin, left us a pattern to die to sin; so rising from the dead, he left us a type to rise from the death of sin to righteousness, or newness of life; to which he exhorts at large in the sixth Chapter.
It is an error certainly, that runs in most mens heads, that when they hear of the Resurrection, they conceive of it only as a thing to come; not to take place till the latter day; to concern the body, and not the soul: whereas the Scriptures speak otherwise.Rev. 20.6. In them we meet with a first Resurrection, as well as a second; and happiness assign'd to him who hath his part in the first. For to speak truly, this is but the Key of the other; and Christs resurge hath its proper efficacy and vertue upon us when we thus rise; and we never shall find true comfort in that, till we rise first by this. No glory is to be expected without grace. An unclean thing cannot enter heaven; Rev. 21.27.and such are all men, till they rise from sin. And that this work be well done, let us propose our Saviours example, as the perfectest type for us to rise by.Cap. 6.4. So doth our Apostle; As Christ was raised up from the dead, even so we also should walk in newnesse of life; And again, As in his death, so also you must conforme your selves to him in his Resurrection. Imitate him then
1. In the Speed. He lay no longer in the grave than needs must, but hastened his Resurrection: As he then rose the third day from the grave,Joh. 20.1. and in the dawning of that day, so we immediately and early rise to a new life. Well it were we would make it this mornings work, and not defer it an hour longer; for plus valet hora fervens, quam mensis tepens, one hours heat and fervency in this work, will do more than a whole months lukewarmness. Yet if you put it off for this hour, delay it not till another day. For then the day of Resurrection will be past, and God knows whether you shall ever see another Easter. Let this day then be your Passeover, I mean, your Transitus, or day of passage from sin; Behold now is the day, 2 Cor. 6.2.therefore take the time.
2. Next imitate him in the Act; he did it but once: So also do you this work so perfectly, that it be but once done. Resurrection of other Saints can be no true pattern for this. They rose, and went to their graves again, and therefore must have a second Resurrection. The Shunamites son, Jairus daughter, and Lazarus rose to life, but they dyed, and returned againe to that place whence they came: So did not Christ, he dyed no more, return'd to the earth no more, that he should need a second rising, and left also all the Ornaments of a dead man,Joh. 20.6, 2. the Napkins and linnen cloths in his grave behinde him. Thus we should do, dye to sinne, and live to God; dye and live once for all. Being once up, continue we should in a sanctified estate.
But alas, with us it is not so; we play fast and loose with God; we dye and live, and live and dye, as oft as sin commands; which shews that our Resurrection is rather like that of Lazarus (than Christs) who came from the grave fast bound hand and foot; and so we rise from our old sins,Joh. 11.44. with our bonds and grave-cloaths about us still.
Grace lifts up the eye, looks up a little, and giveth some signes of life against a good time, such as this. But after a day or two, if not before, comes sin and layes his command upon us, bids us go, and we go; come, and we come;Mat. 8.9. do this, and we do it; The Centurions servants were not more ready at his nod, than we are obedient when this great Commander speaks; for we follow him as a fool to the Stocks. Prov. 7.22.I appeal to your own consciences, whether this be not so; but I must tell you, it should not be so, but quite otherwise. Get you must out of this Tyrants clutches, and make an end of these scandalous recidivations. Dye you ought once to sin, as Christ died but once; and rise once to newness of life, and continue alive ever after, as Christ did.
Now whether you do this or no, you shall know by these evident signs; breath, warmth, and motion; for as these are evidences of a natural, so will they be of a spiritual life.
1. What is it then you breath after? with what is your mind warm'd? If you breath in nothing but the foggy vapours that arise from the earth, and nothing can warm your heart except a wedge of gold, you are in your grave still: whereas if you have a heavenly mind,Col. 3.1. and seek after and affect the things above, you are risen with Christ.
2. This will appear in our motion also, when we walk exemplarily before men; which the Apostle requires in all that are risen with Christ, commanding,Rom. 6.4. That they walk in newness of life. To walk is to move; and motion argues life; where there is walking, there must be living; and where there is living, there would be walking; for sitting still breeds bad and corrupt humours. Walking then there must be: But this walking must not be in the old way; that will not serve the turn, it must be in a new walk. In a word, that we walk according to God:Rom. 13.13. Gal. 5.16. Eph. 5.2. And then we walk to him, when we make his Will our Law, his Word our Rule, his Sons life our example, his Spirit rather than our own desires, the guid of our actions.
In all walking there is a motion of progression, a going forward till a man arrive at the end of his walk. So it should be in this walk, a going on by degrees and steps, till we arrive at perfection. Every thing that lives, moves by degrees. Corn begins in the seed, starts up into the leaf, ariseth into a blade, spires into a Reed, shoots into an ear, neither is it alway green there, but matures, and grows white against Harvest for the sickle. I come nearer, your selves were infants, you shot up to mans estate, strong men, old men; and you are now asham'd of the toys and follies of children. Your excuse is ready to any Objector of those misdemeanours, When I was a child, I spake as a child, 1 Cor. 13.11.I did as a child; why not thus in the state of grace? shall all natural bodies go on to perfection, and the man of God remain unperfect? In your seeds you were, when you were first engraffed in Baptism; ever since you make shew of shooting; shoot on you heavenly plants, till you bring forth fruit that may please God and man.Judg. 9.13. 1 Pet. 2.2. 2 Pet. 3.18. Eph. 4.13. Babes you were in Christ, when first fed with milk; but be not babes to day and to morrow, and children still, now and seven years hence, but grow in grace and knowledge, till you become perfect men in Christ Jesus.
Nothing can grow without nourishment. The want of that you cannot pretend. God hath provided for you sufficient sustenance. Milk for you, the sincere milk of the Word, when you were babes. His body and blood to feed on now you are men; approach therefore, and receive your food. And God grant you may so worthily receive, and digest it in your hearts purified by faith, wash'd by repentance, prepar'd and warm'd with charity, that ye may grow thereby from grace to grace, 2 Pet. 1.6. Psa. 84.7.from vertue to vertue, from strength to strength, untill every one of you appeare before the Lord in Zion.