A Funeral SERMON Preached upon The sad Occasion of the Death of that Eminent and Faithful Servant of Christ, Mr. THOMAS ROSEWELL, Who departed this Life February the 4th. AND Whose Remains were Interred February the 19th. 1691/2. By MATTHEW MEAD. LONDON: Printed for John Laurence at the Angel in the Poultry. 1692. To the Flock of Christ in Rotherhith, over which the Reverend Mr. Thomas Roswell was lately the Overseer. AS this Sermon had not been preached but to answer your Request, nor this Text chosen for my Subject, but in compliance with the desires of your now deceased Pastor, and his worthy Relict, so if repeated Denials could have silenced your repeated Importunities, it had not been made thus public: but if the Interest of our Lord may thereby be promoted, and the Salvation of Souls any way furthered by it, I shall have no cause to repent my Compliance with your Desires; but shall bless God who makes it useful to those ends, which I can truly say were mine in the preaching of it. It is some Satisfaction to me that I have hereby an Opportunity put into my hand of giving a public Testimony to that Honour and Respect I always had to that worthy Servant of Christ, for the Grace of God which was so manifest in him: As also of obviating those reproachful Censures which profane Scoffers passed upon him, because of the dark Dispensations which it seems good to the wise God, who gives no account of any of his matters, to exercise him with in his last sickness: This I have endeavoured in the following Discourse, which you have as it was preached; only I have added some few things which I could not, by reason of straits of time, then deliver. I am sensible (and so I hope are you) of the greatness of the loss you have sustained in him, who was (such a one as the Text mentions) a Messenger, an Interpreter, one among a thousand. A loss which can never be made up, but by that hand that made the breach. God often takes away his Ministers as a punishment for the unthankfulness and unprofitableness of their hearers; who never knew how to prise and improve the enjoyment of them: And it is just with God, when we play by that Light, which he sets up to guide us in our work, to put it out, and leave us in the dark. As some Ministers are guilty of the Blood of their Hearers, in not dealing faithfully with their Souls, so some Hearers are guilty of the Blood of their Ministers in provoking God, by their obstinate refusals of Gospel Grace, to call them home. And if any of you have had any hand in this guilt, how loudly doth God call you by the language of this Providence to a serious and speedy Repentance, and making peace with him, who therefore waits that he may be gracious: for though the Bucket be broken, yet the Fountain of Grace and Mercy is still open, ever full, and always flowing. God hath the residue of the Spirit; and he who hath provided for the World, notwithstanding the death of so many useful Persons thus long, can do it still: for his Arm is not shortened nor grown weary. Mercy runs as freely to this day, as at the first broaching of it. And therefore pray earnestly (and so shall I) that this great breach which the wise God hath made upon you by this sad stroke, may be mercifully healed by his own hand, in giving you a Pastor after his own heart, that may feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when God shall answer your Prayers, do you give all diligence to answer his kindness in improving all the means of Grace so, as that Christ may see of the travel of his Soul in you, and be satisfied, and that those Ministers of Christ which you have had, or shall have, may have cause to rejoice in the day of the Lord that they have not run in vain, nor laboured in vain. This is and shall he the Prayer of Your Servant for Jesus sake, MATTH. MEAD. JOB XXXIII. 23, 24. If there be a Messenger with him, an Interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his Uprightness. Then he is gracious to him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the Pit, I have found a Ransom. I Have not myself chosen this Text, nor should I have pitched upon it for this occasion. But he in his life time chose it, who was himself such a one as is described in it: namely, An Interpreter, one of a thousand. The words are a part of Elihu's Discourse with Job during that severe Trial he was under, both from God and Satan, and that both in his outward and inward man. Which Trial, though it was exceeding sharp and afflictive during his exercise under it, yet it was very comfortable and sweet in the issue and event of it. Job 42 1● For his latter end was better than his beginning. As you may read in the last Chapter of this Book. In this Chapter Elihu undertakes to assert the Sovereignty of God over Man; for though he is just and righteous in all his do, yet he is unaccountable in what he doth. He giveth no account of any of his matters, verse 13. It is enough for us to know, that though his Providences are sometimes dark, yet they are always just: though his Dispensations are very mysterious, yet they are never unrighteous. Tho Clouds and Darkness are round about him, yet Righteousness and Judgement are the Habitation of his Throne, Psal. 97.2. But though God be so great as to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not obliged to give any account of himself, yet he is so gracious, as to condescend to Man frequently, and to give such intimations of his will, and of the reason of his do, that Man is not so left in the dark, but that he may perceive the mind of God concerning him, and the reason of his dispensations towards him! For God speaks once, yea twice, verse 14. Tho he doth not speak as Man, yet he speaks so as to make his mind known to Man. Tho he doth not speak syllabically, yet he speaks intelligibly. Tho he doth not speak to the outward Organ, yet he speaks to the Mind and Understanding. And in this sense God hath various ways of speaking to Man. Of which Elihu here gives several Instances. 1. The first is his speaking by Dreams and Visions, vers. 15. In a Dream, in a Vision of the Night, when deep sleep falls upon Men. And what God's end is in this way of speaking he tells you in the following verses. It is to instruct, to humble, to save. 1. To instruct, verse 16. Then he opens the Ears of Men, and sealeth their Instruction. 2. To humble, verse 17. That he may withdraw Man from his purpose, and hid pride from Man. 3. To save, verse 18. He keepeth back his Soul from the pit. 2. Another way of God's speaking is by Pains and Diseases, vers. 19, 20, 21, 22. He is chastened with pain upon his Bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain. This is a sad way of speaking, and must necessarily make sorrowful hearers. When God speaks in punishing, Man must needs hear in pain. He sets down a threefold Effect of this Pain. The first is, loss of Appetite, and loathing the necessary supports of Life. His life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat, verse 20. A second Effect is, a total waste, and universal decay of Nature, verse 21. His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen, stick out. A third Effect is, a readiness to expire and give up the Ghost, verse 22. His Soul draws near to the Grave, and his Life to the Destroyer's. And this is a second way of God's speaking to Man. 3. A third way is, by a Messenger sent from God to teach Man. Which Messenger is described two ways. 1. By his Character. 2. By his Message. 1. By his Character. He is an Interpreter, one among a thousand. Which is meant of the faithful Ministers of Christ; for they are his Messengers. As the Father hath sent me, so send I you, John 10.21. And they are sent to be Interpreters of the mind and will of God to sinners. And that, as to Peace and Reconciliation, and as to Grace and Salvation, so also to Duty and Holiness of Conversation. And it is a rare skill to be a true Interpreter between God and Sinners. To be able to discover the mind of God aright; to bring the Soul to a firm closing with the great Truths and Promises of the Gospel. To know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary, (Isa. 50.4.) and so to ease the wounded Conscience by directing it to its true rest: Mat. 11.28. These are right words, and how forcible are right words, (Job 6.25.) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how powerful to sway the Judgement, Mah nimretsu. and carry the mind after it. One word rightly timed, and suited to the case, O what a relief it is to the troubled Conscience! He that can do this is an Interpreter indeed, not of Tongues and Languages, but of Secrets and Mysteries. He is taught of God, he hath given to him the Tongue of the Learned. And such an Interpreter is a rare thing, He is one among a thousand. O how should this teach you to prise faithful Messengers when the Lord sends them; and how readily should you receive the Grace of God which is tendered by them; and how deeply should you lay it to heart when the Lord doth at any time remove them; for it is a great Judgement. And so is the taking away this Messenger of God from you, unless the Lord help you to improve the Message he delivered to you. And that brings me to the second thing. 2. He is described by his Message, which shows what his work and business is. And that is in the next words, to show unto Man his uprightness; or his righteousness; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be understood either way. But whose Righteousness is this (called here His Righteousness) which the Messenger shows to Man? Some understand it of the sick person in the foregoing verses; who hath an uprightness of his own, and doth not know it. His heart, by renewing Grace, is right with God, and yet his Spirit is dark and clouded, so that he cannot see it. It is no new thing for the best of the Children of God to be in great darkness at some times about their spiritual state. They may have attained to great Grace by seeking, and yet may sometimes have all their Grace to seek. Sometimes Corruptions from within, and Temptations from without, and Descritions from above may so darken his Sky, as that there may not be the appearance of one Star to give him light. It is seldom that a Believer can read the Evidences of the goodness of his state by any other light than that of God's Countenance. But alas, that doth not shine always. Where is the Christian that hath always sat in this Sunshine, without any gloomy days, or winter storms? Who ever tasted of the waters of life, but they have drank less or more of those waters of Marak. There are few that ever found God, but may say that they have often lost him. And it is a distressing case for a Man to want communion with God, after he hath once enjoyed it. To be shut out of that Heaven which the light of God's Face makes in the Soul, must be to a Saint as Hell itself. So it was to Heman, Psal. 88 3d, to verse the 7th. My Soul is full of troubles, and my Life draweth nigh to the grave. I am counted with them that go down to the pit.— Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the Grave, whom thou remember'st no more.— Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy ways. What despairing Language is this out of the mouth of an eminent Saint and Servant of God, as if he were dropping into Hell, and past all hope. As the enjoyment of God is a good that puts lightness into all our Troubles, so the loss of him is an evil that clouds all our Comforts. The loss of another mercy is but a particular evil, it is but as the blowing out our Candle at noon, when we have light enough to see without it. But the loss of this is as the setting of the Sun, which leaves us dark and comfortless. No presence can make up his absence. Nothing looks so like Judgement as this. In other afflictions a Christian doth but conflict with Creatures, but in this there seems to be a contest between him and God. And as God is infinitely above him, so the sense of his Wrath is ready to sink him. And when God is thus hidden, it is no wonder though a Believer be hidden to himself. If the light of God's Face be clouded, his Evidences are very apt to be obscured; and then he questions his Right, because he can't see to read his Title. As the Comforts of a Believer are a secret to others, so the Graces of a Believer are many times a secret to himself. He is like a Tree in Winter, that seems dead, though there be life in the root. So when Temptations and Doubts prevail upon him, he gives all up for dead, Job 19.28. though the root of the matter is in him. There are two things very difficult; one is, to convince a presuming Hypocrite that his Confidence is groundless, and his case is full of danger; the other is to persuade the doubting Christian that his heart is right, and his state sure. As many are confident of the goodness of their condition whom yet the Lord abhors; so many condemn themselves for Hypocrites and Cast-a-ways, who are his Jewels, and and in whom he delights. And in this case there needs a Messenger, an Interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to (such a) Man his uprightness; Job 3.23. i. e. to convince him that his heart is right, though his way be dark. 2. Some understand the uprightness here, called his uprightness, of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, in and by which we are reconciled to, and made one with God. And this, says a late Expositor, is the uprightness chief intended here. And indeed there is no Righteousness like this, especially when a Man's case is such as Elihu here speaks of, when he is so chastened with pain upon his bed, Job 33.19, 22. that his soul draws near to the grave, and his life to the destroyers. Let a Messenger then show to him this Righteousness, and he will say of it, as David did when he asked Ahimeleck for a Sword, 1 Sam. 21.8, 9 and the Priest told him here is the Sword of Goliath, if thou wilt take that, take it. O, says David, there is none like that, give it me. No Righteousness like the Righteousness of Christ to such a one. Tell him of his own Duties, and Good Works; his Praying, Repenting, Fast, Alms-Deeds, etc. and he counts them all but Dung in compare with this Righteousness. Phil. 3.8. This is a Righteousness which satisfies offended Justice, appeases the Wrath of God, silences the Curse, and the Tumults of our own Consciences. This Righteousness affords a Remedy for the sting of sin, and the doubts and fears of our minds. It is a righteousness which covers our Nakedness, and beautifies our Souls; Thy beauty was perfect through my Comeliness which I put upon thee, Ezek. 16.14. It is a Righteousness that pleads for us in Heaven, that hath more strength than our sins, and more prevalency than our Accuser. It is a Righteousness that secures us against the Terrors of Death, and entitle us to the Glory of Heaven. And, therefore no Righteousness like this; for it is not the Righteousness of a mere Man, but of God blessed for ever. Wherever God sees this Righteousness he imputes no sin, he discharges the Person from Gild, and receives him into Grace and Favour. And that is the sense of the next words. Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going to the Pit, I have found a Ransom. As in the former words you had the Messenger described, in these you have the Message declared. And that is, a Deliverance from the Pit by a Ransom found out by God. In which you have The Inventor, I. The Invention, A ransom. The manner of Inventing, Found. The fruit of the Invention, Deleverance from the Pit. The Spring and Source of all, The Grace of God. Then he is gracious to him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the Pit. I have found a Ransom. I cannot speak to the words so distinctly as I would. I shall endeavour to open them a little in speaking to four Questions. 1. What Pit is it that is here intended? 2. What Deliverance is it that is here spoken of? 3. What Ransom is this that is said to be found? 4. Who finds this Ransom? and where doth he sinned it? Quest. 1. What Pit is it that is here intended? Answ. A Pit in general, is any Mischief or Evil that a Man falls into, either Temporal, Spiritual, or Eternal. Sometimes Temporal Evils, though outward, are called a Pit. So Psalm 7.15. He made a Pit, and digged it, and is fallen into it himself: i. e. He devised Mischief against others, and the Mischief is fallen upon his own Head. Sometimes the Grave is called a Pit; and that frequently. So Psalm 88.3, 4. My life draws nigh to the grave, I am counted with them that go down to the pit. So Job 17.16. They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. The Grave is a Pit with bars. The Decree of God is the Bar of the Grave, and his Purpose locks it up till the appointed time comes when all shall arise to Judgement, and then the sound of the last Trumpet shall break the bars of the Pit, and bring forth all (both good and bad) to make their Appearance at the Bar of God. Sometimes Spiritual Evils are called a Pit: either Sins, or Temptations, or Desertions; So Psalm 40.2. He brought me up out of an horrible Pit. It is meant of Soul Distresses. And Zech. 9.11. By the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy Prisoners cut of the Pit, wherein is no water. Tho this literally is spoken of their deliverance from Babylon, yet it points to the deliverance of the Soul from the misery of a natural state, and the bondage of Corruption. Sometimes Hell is called a Pit. So Rev. 9.1. you read of the bottomless pit, and of the smoke of the pit, and of the Angel of the bottomless pit. Verso 11. and of the Beast out of the bottomless pit, Rev. ●1. 7. In all these places the Pit is meant of Hell. You see there are many Pits in Scripture. The Pit of Mischief, the Pit of the Grave, the Pit of Temptation, the Pit of Desertion, and the Pit of Hell. And all these Pits sin digs to bury the Comforts of the Soul in. Now I take the Pit in the Text to be chiesly intended in the last sense. And so it is in the 18th and 28th verses; He will deliver his Soul from going into the pit. Now what Pit is that the Soul goes into? not into the Grave, but into Hell. And if we take it thus, the sense of the Text will be more plain and obvious, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. All for whom Christ is a ransom are not delivered from the Pit of the Grave, Job. 30.23. for that is the House appointed for all living. But they are all delivered from the Pit of Hell. The highest degree of Spiritual Life, as Man is constituted, cannot free him from Natural Death. Wherever sin hath but a being, Death will have a footing. And therefore as dieth the fool, so dieth the wise man, Eccles 2.16. that is, as to the first death, but not as to the second; for over such the second death hath no power, Rev. 20.6. And why? because the Grace of God hath signed a Warrant, sealed with the Redeemers Blood, for his Discharge; so ye have it in the Text, He is gracious to him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, for I have found a ransom. Quest. 2. What Deliverance is this that is here spoken of? Why such as the Pit is, such is the Deliverance. As the Pit is intended of Death and Damnation, so the Deliverance carries in it a complete Redemption. A Redemption from sin, the cause of Damnation; and a Redemption from Damnation, the fruit of sin. 1. It implies a redemption from sin. A state of sin is a state of bondage and thraldom. As while he is under the power of sin, he is enslaved to Satan; so while he is under the guilt of sin, he is bound over to damnation. When sin is pardoned, and the guilt removed, than the bonds that held his Soul are loosed; Thou hast loosed my bonds, says David, Psal. 116.16. And here our redemption gins; according to that of the Apostle, Eph. 1.7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. So that when God pardons sin, than he is gracious, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit. 2. This Redemption is completed in Salvation. There is a state to which he is redeemed, as well as from which. The state from which, is a state of Condemnation. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, Rom. 8.1. The state to which, is Salvation and Glory. It is not enough to be redeemed from Sin, and Death, and Hell, and Satan, unless we are redeemed to God. The Blood of Christ purchased positive Mercies as well as negative. He doth not see the travel of his soul to satisfaction in delivering us from Hell and Satan, till he hath lodged us safe in the bosom of God. And therefore this is that which completes the Song of the Beasts and Elders, Rev. 5.9. Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. And therefore Redemption is spoken of in Scripture as a thing to come, a privilege to be enjoyed in the next World, and therefore 'tis to be waited for at present, Rom. 8.23. We which have the first fruits of the Spirit groan within ourselves, waiting for the Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of our Body. And when is that, not till the general Resurrection. Therefore that is called the Day of Redemption, Ephes. 4.30. Ye are sealed to the Day of Redemption. We have Redemption now in the application, but not in full possession. It is bogun, but it is not perfected. We are redeemed from the guilt and power of sin, but not from the defilement, Gal. 1.13. and penal effects of sin. We are now redeemed from the curse of the Law, but we are not yet possessed of all the Comforts of the Gospel. The Privileges we now enjoy are the Fruits of Christ's purchase, but we do not enjoy all which he hath purchased. We have a right by Faith to the whole inheritance, but we cannot as yet inherit upon that right. Though Redemption be perfectly wrought by Christ, yet it is applied but in part in the present state. We must stay till the great Resurrection, before we can be put into full possession. This Body that is sown in dishonour, 1 Cor. 15.43. must first be raised in glory, and this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality; Vers. 54. and then (as Elihu says in the words following the Text,) his flesh shall be fresher than a Child's, Job 33 25, 26. he shall return to the days of his youth. And then God will be favourable to him, and he shall see his face with joy. All this is included in the Deliverance here mentioned. 1 Thess. 1.10. Eph. 1.14. It is not only a deliverance from wrath to come, but a redemption to the purchased possession. This Ransom reaches from Death to Life, from Satan to God, from the Pit to Paradise, from Hell to Heaven. It is such a Deliverance as carries a complete Salvation in it: and nothing short of this can be fully expressive of that Grace which found it out. For he is gracious, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a Ransom. And that brings me to a third Query. Quest. 3. What Ransom is this that God is said to find, and upon the account of which, Souls are delivered from the Pit? A Ransom properly is that which purchases Redemption. It is a Redemption by price. To be redeemed, and to be ransomed is the same thing. The redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with Songs, Isa. 35.9, 10. It is the Lord Jesus Christ that is the Ransom in the Text, his Merit and Righteousness, both in doing and suffering, is the price of our Redemption, and that from the Curse of the Law, from the Justice of God, from the Power of Satan, and from Death spiritual and eternal. There is a redemption by power, and a redemption by price. We are redeemed out of the Soul destroying hand of Satan by power, but we are redeemed out of the Sin revenging hand of God by price. And that price is no common price, it is no less than the Blood of Christ, 1 Pet. 1.18, 19 Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold,— but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish, and without spot. Therefore Christ is called the Redeemer, Isa. 59.7. The Redeemer shall come to Zion. And under this Title Job appropriates him to himself, Job 19.25. I know that my Redeemer lives. And he is said to obtain eternal redemption for us, Hebr. 9.12. And this is the Ransom in the Text: and it implies two things. 1. The Misery of the state sin had brought us into. A state of Bondage and Thraldom; a state of Death and Damnation. That is the case of every Son of Adam by the Fall: all Humane Nature was dropping into everlasting Destruction. 2. It implies the voluntariness of Christ in giving himself for a Ransom. Had not his undertaking been free and voluntary, it could not have been meritorious. For he who acts by constraint, cannot merit by his doing. He who parts with what he cannot keep, can merit nothing by parting with it. The Apostle tells us (Rom. 4.4.) what Merit is: It is such an adjunct of obedience as whereby the reward is reckoned not of grace, but of debt. God in the covenant of Redemption having proposed to Christ a Law of Obedience, with promises of such and such Rewards, upon condition of his fulfilling the Obedience required; and Christ having performed that Obedience, hence the reward is reckoned to him of debt. For whatever was promised to Christ upon a Condition, he performing that Condition, might righteously claim as the reward of his Merit. There are two things in the Death of Christ, payment and purchase; satisfaction and procuration. By the one we are ransomed from Misery, by the other we are entitled to Glory. The first fruit of his Death is Deliverance wrought, the next is an Inheritance purchased. Now the blood of Christ had been unavailable to both, had it not been laid down freely. Had he been compelled to die, he could not have merited aught for us by dying. What was the fruit of Force, could not have been meritorious. Therefore he says, No man takes my life from me, I lay down of myself, John 10.18. And from the voluntariness of his Death in pursuance of the eternal compact between the Father and the Son, and the infinite value of it, as being the blood of God; so it became a sufficient price, not only to ransom us, but to purchase all grace and glory for us. O how great is the Grace of Christ! how should the Meditation of it refresh, yea nourish our hearts. What Balaam says, by way of admiration, of the works of God for Israel, Numb. 23 23. What hath the Lord wrought? the same we may say of the undertaking of Christ for his People, What hath Christ purchased? what a ransom, what a salvation, what a deliverance, what an inheritance, what mercy for the present, what glory for the future? O how precious is the blood of Christ! there is an infinite value in the price of it. So that if there were as many worlds of men, as there are men in the world, it would be a ransom sufficient for them all. Quest. 4. But inasmuch as this Ransom is here said to be found. It will be queried, Who found it? Not Man. Man is found ransomed, but Man did not find the ransom. I am found of them that sought me not, Isa. 65.1. The Grace of God finds it. Then he is gracious, and says, Deliver him, I have found a ransom. But where did he sinned it? It was not to be found any where out of himself. It was found in his own bosom. Jesus Christ came out of the bosom of the Father, John 1.18. This is the Lord's doing, and therefore should be marvellous in our eyes, Psal. 118.23. I have found a ransom. The manner of Expression implies in it three things. 1. The weakness and utter impotency of the Creature to have found out a way for its own ransom. If all the Men on Earth had sat in counsel from the Fall to this day to have found out a way how sinning Man might be redeemed from the condemning Sentence of the Law, without damage to the Justice of God, all their Wisdom would have proved Foolishness in this matter. They could never have found it out. In Rev. 5.1. you read of a Book in the right hand of him that sat on the Throne; and in the next verse there is an Angel makes a challenge, who is worthy to open the Book, and to lose the seals thereof? and it is said, (v. 3.) no man in heaven or earth was able to open the Book, nor look thereon. Much less could they have found out a remedy against the damning mischief of sin. 2. This finding a ransom implies that God the Father was the first Author and Inventor of this blessed project of Redemption. Tho it was wrought out by Christ, yet it was contrived by the Father. For, 1. It was he who first summoned that great Counsel held by all the Persons in Elohim, when neither Men nor Angels existed. Then did God sit in Consultation with his Wisdom and Love, his Word and Spirit about the great business of redeeming Man. Isa 40.13, 14. God the Father was first in it. 2. It was he that first pitched upon the Son, and laid him as the foundation of the whole structure of Salvation. I have laid help upon one that is mighty, Psal. 89.19. Our help is in Christ, to him we must look; but it is God that made him a help. He is a ransom to redeem us, but it is God who found him for us. I have found a ransom. It is the Lord's do, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (meeths Jehovah) this is from the Lord, Psal. 118.23. The whole Model of Redemption from first to last is said to be proposed from Eternity in Jesus Christ, Eph. 3.11. because God chose him out to bottom all his Counsels and Purposes upon in the whole of the work. Christ's Merits had no hand in his being made a Redeemer though they are the price of redemption. He was a Redeemer by Election and choice, not by merit and price. Some things are the fruits of his Merit, as Justification, Adoption, Sanctification, etc. But some things were purely God's act without any merit of Christ. And such was Election, both Christ's and ours. Christ neither merited our Election, nor his own mission and incarnation. Election is the proper act of the Father, and all those means which were appointed for the accomplishing the ends of it, are of the Father's contrivance; and so was the Mediator himself. So says the Holy Ghost in 1 Pet. 1.20. Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the World. Fore-ordained for what? to be a ransom, so it is said in the two former Verses. So that Christ is the Elect of God, as well as you Behold mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth, Isa. 42.1. Our Redeemer came out of the Womb of the Virgin in the fullness of time, Gal 4.4. but he came out of the womb of the Decree long before that, even from Eternity. He is not elected to be a Son, but a ransom. He is a Son by eternal generation, but a Redeemer by election. And therefore though both are eternal acts of the Father, yet his being a Son is in order of nature before his being a Redeemer. For his being a Son is from God's nature, and therefore he is so necessarily; but his being made a Redeemer is from God's will and pleasure, and therefore that is arbitrary; he was a Son before he was a Redeemer, and he had been a Son though he had never been a Redeemer. For the one was necessary, the other was arbitrary. Begotten as a Son, but elect as a Saviour. Christ was first chosen as the Wellhead of Grace and Glory, and then God chose out such, on whom, by and through Christ, these blessings should be conferred. And therefore the Scripture speaks of the undertaking of Christ in such a manner as fully attests the priority of the Father in the work. I was set up from everlasting, Prov. 8.23. And Isa. 42.6. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will give thee for a Covenant of the People, for a Light of the Gentiles. To open the blind eyes, to bring out the Prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the Prisonhouse. This is the very same language which the Text speaks, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. All those Scriptures prove this, where Christ is said to be sent of God, and the gift of God, John 6.38. John 4.10. Isa. 43.1. John 14.31. John 10.7. and the servant of God, and to observe the commands of God, and coming to do the will of God. And so where he is said to be made of God to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 1 Cor. 1.30. He is our wisdom, but God made him so. He is our righteousness, but God made him so. He is sanctification to us, but God made him so. He is our redemption, but God made him so; i. e. he found the ransom. And therefore the Holy Ghost distinguishes the Father from the Son by this Character; The Father of whom are all things, and Jesus Christ by whom are all things, 1 Cor. 8.6. All things are of the Father in point of invention, and by the Son in point of execution. The Father is the first contriver, and Christ is the great undertaker. The whole model of mercies is of the Father's drawing, but the enjoyment of mercies is of Christ's purchasing. He pays the ransom, which is the price of our redemption, but the Father finds the ransom by choosing him to be a redeemer. I have found a ransom. 3. This finding a ransom implies the acquiescency of the heart of God in it. It is a ransom by such a price as is every way satisfactory to the Justice of God, and that was the blood of the Son of God. Nothing less could have been a sufficient Satisfaction. For pray mind this; Whence doth the satisfactoriness of Christ's undertaking result? It is not from the dignity of his person; no, that indeed makes it to be of infinite value and worth, but it doth not make it to be a Satisfaction. For God might have refused it, notwithstanding the dignity of the Person that offered it, had nothing else interposed. As Christ was under no necessity to give Satisfaction, so the Father was under no necessity to accept it. The same might be said of the greatness of his Sufferings; the Satisfaction of Justice doth not arise from them. No, but it arises from that Agreement that passed between the Father and the Son in the Covenant of Redemption. Such a Covenant the Scripture holds out, in which there are certain Articles and Conditions concerning the redemption of Man voluntarily consented to, and to be performed by each party. There was something to be performed by Christ to the Father, and something by the Father to Christ. Christ's part was to take up Humane Nature, Rom. 8 3. to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh, to become a Surety for Man to God, to be made sin, to bear the Curse due to it, to answer all the Demands of Justice, for the dishonour sin had done to injured Majesty; that so God and Sinners might be brought into a state of Reconciliation and Amity. The Father on his part engages to prepare him a Body, to accept him as a Surety, to fit him for the work, to strengthen him in it, and to accept his performance as a full Satisfaction to his Justice, and thereupon to pardon and save all, that lay hold of his Righteousness. And this expounds that dark place in Zech. 9.11. As for thee, by the Blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy Prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Most understand this of the redeeming the captived Jews out of Babylon. I do not deny this sense, but sure they have a farther sense than this. I take them as the words of the Father to the Son. The pit wherein is no water is the natural slate. The prisoners in the pit, are not sinners in general, for all are not sent forth. But such as the Father gave to Christ to redeem; therefore called, thy prisoners. Prisoners in regard of their bondage to sin; thy prisoners, as being given to Christ to ransom and redeem. The sending forth the Prisoners, being spoken of as the Father's act, I have sent them forth, is an evidence of his full satisfaction for sin. And that which satisfies him is the blood of Christ, as it is the blood of the Covenant, viz that Covenant of Redemption that passed in Eternity between the Father and the Son. By the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy Prisoners. So that this Scripture is of one sound and sense with the Text, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have sound a ransom. I should have spoken to one thing more mentioned in the Text, viz. the spring and source of this Ransom and Deliverance, and that is, the Grace of God. This had the first hand in the work. He is gracious to him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit. What a woeful Abyss of Misery was poor Man plunged into by the Fall! obnoxious to all the Severities of Divine Vengeance, so that his case was become desperate, and nothing to be looked for, but Wrath and Damnation. Now what shall prevent this? Where is there a Remedy to be found? It lies only in the Sovereign Grace of God. Man in his lapsed state cannot deserve a Ransom; much less such a Ransom as this in the Text, made up of such a price as the blood of God. Where nothing remains but deformity and desilement, there can be no desert; Innocency itself cannot merit of God, much less Pollution and Filth. Redemption is from mere Grace, a Favour not procured by the worth of Man who receives it, but excited by the Grace of God who dispenses it. Nothing can be an Obligation upon God to redeem Man, 'tis his own Grace obliges him. Man was so far from laying Obligations upon God by desert, that he never once attempted to engage his Compassion by request. Tho he was sunk into the depth of Misery, yet he had no desire of a better state. Supplications and Tears are prevailing Solicitors with melting Bowels, and such are the Bowels of God; but the sinner was so far from drawing them forth, that by his contemptuous Refusals he rather endeavoured to stop them up. And yet our misery and undoneness moved God, when there was nothing else to draw forth his Compassions. Grace runs through every part of this ransoming work from first to last. Grace pitched upon Christ to undertake it. And oh how early was God in it! for the Ransom was provided long before the Vassalage commenced. Sin was never thought on by the Creature, when a Redeemer was ordained of God. Nay, Man's redemption was contrived, before his being was bestowed; for it was laid from Eternity, whereas he began to be in time. God foresaw Man would sin and be miserable, and therefore provided him a Goel, 1 Pet. 1.10. a Redeemer, before the Foundation of the World. And as Grace ordained Christ to this work, so it was Grace that fitted him for it, and it was Grace that called him to it, and Grace that accepted him in it. Justice must have Satisfaction for sin, but it is Grace that spares the sinner, and takes the Surety, Gen 22.13 as Abraham spares Isaac, and offers the Ram in his stead. There can be no Deliverance out of the hands of Justice but by a full price, and therefore Grace finds out a Ransom. So that the whole of Redemption is Grace, and Riches of Grace; so the Apostle calls it Ephes. 1.7. In whom we have Redemption through his blood,— according to the Riches of his Grace. It is Grace to find out a Ransom, it is Grace to accept it, and to deliver and save sinners upon the account of it Thus is God gracious, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have sound a ransom. But I shall proceed no farther in Explication; I must make some improvement of these things by Application. Infer. 1. What a cursed thing is sin, how dreadful are the fruits of it; Rom. 6.21. the end of these things is death. It brings the Soul down to the pit, yea to such a pit from which nothing but the precious blood of the Son of God can be a Ransom. Infer. 2. How is the Wisdom of God to be admired in the contrivance of such a way for the ransoming and redeeming of lost sinners. His wisdom is to be adored in all his Works, in Creation, in Dominion, in all his works of Providence; but his wisdom in the work of Redemption transcends all. This is the chief of all the works and ways of God. Herein he is said to have abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, Ephes. 1.8. Wisdom referreth to the mystery of it, Prudence to the time and way of discovery. Wisdom in the eternal counsel, Prudence in ordering things to attain the end of his counsel. There is all Wisdom in the contrivance, and all Prudence in the accomplishment. Here is the Debtor discharged without being at any cost; and yet Satisfaction made without any abatement. Sin punished without showing mercy, Rom. 8.32. and yet the sinner acquitted without bearing the penalty. And so God at once infinitely righteous, and yet infinitely gracious. O how doth all wisdom and prudence abound herein! The Apostle (in Ephes. 3.10.) calls it the manifold wisdom of God. It is as various as it is mysterious. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A conjunction of excellent ends, and excellent means to bring them about. The ends are the glory of God, and the salvation of man. The means are, God made Man, the union of two infinitely distant Natures in one person, and so made fit to be a Redeemer. Ransoming us from Death by dying. Delivering us from the pit, by going down into the Grave; Redeeming us from the Curse by being made a Curse. O how should this Wisdom be admired by all who share in this Ransom! Infer. 3. How unspeakable great is the Love and Grace of God the Father in the work of Redemption. We are more apprehensive of Christ's Love, because he bled and died for us, than we are of the Love of the Father, because that lies more out of sight; it is not so visible in its effects. I would not speak one word that should look like a lessening the Love and Grace of Christ, God forbidden. It was great, it was wonderful. All his Transactions were nothing else but Love expounded and made manifest? What was his Incarnation? but Love in Swaddling Clothes. What were his Sufferings? but Love in travel. What was his Burial? but Love laid in the Grave. What was his Resurrection and Ascension? but love in its triumph. Nothing could have brought Christ to do what he did, and suffer what he suffered, but Love. He knew what the Redemption of Souls would cost, how dear it would be to him; and yet Love consents to be at all the charge. He loved us, and gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour, Ephes. 5.2. Let that new Song therefore be for ever sung to his praise, Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. But yet the Father had the first hand in it. Redemption had its first rise in the Eternal purpose of his Free Grace: he ordained, and anointed, and sent Christ to bring it about; so that the ransom was of his finding. And therefore let all the ransomed of the Lord for ever admire the riches of his Grace herein. Infer. 4. How willing and ready must God be to pardon and save the worst of sinners who come to him by Christ. What greater Argument can there be to prove it, then giving the Lord Christ for a Ransom to effect it? Who spared not his own Son, Rom. 8.32. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief, Isai. 53.10. What can be more abhorrent to the heart of a tender Father then to have a hand in the Death of his own Son, especially if he be an only Son, and a dutiful Son, a Son that never in the least displeased or offended him? Who can bear to part with such a Son? It goes to the heart of a Parent but to stand by and see the Death of a Child. And therefore Hagar, when her Son was in distress, lays him down, and sat at a distance; And why? Alas! she could not bear to see him die. Let me not see the death of the Child, said she, and she lift up her voice and wept, Gen. 21, 16. But to contrive a Son's death, to resolve it, to have a hand in it, to order all things about it, who can do this? and yet all this God did. And can there be a greater proof of his willingness to save sinners. Why then should any entertain such hard and unbecoming thoughts of God as many do? O what Jealousies and Fears arise in awakened sinners concerning God from a sense of the greatness of their sins, and unworthiness. They dare not come to God, they dare not pray, they dare not believe.— will God own such a vile sinner, such a polluted wretch as I am? They look on him as a God of Wrath, rather than as a God of Peace, rather with a Sword in his hand, then Love in his heart. Aggravate thy sins to the highest, in order to humbling, but let it not work to discouragement; for this Red Sea of Christ's blood is deep enough to drown all these Egyptian Lusts, though they are a mighty Host. Whatever thy Bondage and Vassalage is by reason of them, yet here is a sufficient ransom: For with him there is plenteous Redemption, Psal. 130.7. None shall ever be able to lay their Destruction at God's Door, nor to say, Lord, I was willing to come to thee, but thou wouldst not receive me. I would have renounced all my sins, and took thee upon thy own terms, and thou wouldst not. No; for God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Pet. 3.9. He makes a free tender of his Ransom to all in the Ministry of the Gospel. Act. 20.25. And therefore if the Apostle Paul could say, I am pure from the blood of all men, because he had preached Christ; surely God may say so much more, who hath freely given Christ, that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have everlasting life, John 3.16. How should the consideration of this scatter all our Doubts and Fears for ever. If God had not been infinitely willing to save the worst of sinners from going down to the pit, he would never have found out such a Ransom. Infer. 5. What precious Jewels are our immortal Souls! The Ransom found out and paid down for them, is a sufficient evidence of the value of them. Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,— but with the precious blood of Christ, 1 Pet. 1.18, 19 Gold and Silver may redeem Men from Algiers or Trepoly, but not from Hell and Eternal Misery. Only the blood of God is an equivalent price for the redemption of Souls from that state. And yet (which is sad to consider) at how cheap a rate do most Men sell their Souls: for a little gain, for a puff of honour, for a momentary pleasure, for a lust, for a strumpet, for any thing, for nothing. O what folly and madness is this! the Lord awaken Men to see it before it is too late. Infer. 6. Seeing God hath been so gracious to find a Ransom, it is our duty to labour to find it too. And that is, by a diligent seeking after Christ, who is the Ransom here intended. It is not enough that God hath found him, for notwithstanding this, we shall be utterly lost unless we find him. We are at present every one of us by the Fall in a lost estate. And as God hath sent Christ to seek and save them that are lost, Matth. 18.11. so he hath promised that they that are lost shall find him, if they seek him and search for him with all their heart, Jer. 29.13. And therefore let us give all diligence so to seek him, that we may find him, and be found in him, not having our own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the Faith of Christ, the Righteousness which is of God by Faith, Phil. 3.9. Infer. Last. What admirable Comfort results from this Truth to all that are made sharers in this Ransom, who are the redeemed of the Lord. 1. It is matter of Comfort, with respect to the Law. For you are for ever freed from all the rigid Exactions of it, as it is a binding Covenant. So that it hath no more to do with you in that sense; for ye are not under the Law, Rom. 6.14 A Believer is still under the Law for conduct, but not for judgement. He is under the Law for direction, Rom. 8.1. but not for condemnation: for the Son hath made him free. And if the Son make you free, then are ye free indeed, John 8.36. So that the Law shall never be able to hurt one Believer. Indeed it hath terrible Inditements against all that are under it but it shall never be able to produce any thing against such as are freed from it. Gal. 5 23. For against such there is no Law. And is not this Comfort? If the Law frowns, Christ smiles; and the frowns of the Law cannot extinguish the smiles of Christ. If the Law threatens, Christ promises; and the threats of the Law can't make void the promises of Christ. If the Law curses, Christ blesses; and the curses of the Law can't reach that Soul that is blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ. Eph. 1.3. 2. By this Ransom the Believer is for ever freed from sin. Tho he is not, as yet freed from the presence of it, yet he is freed from the power of it, both its condemning and its reigning power. 1. Sin hath no condemning power in a Believer. Tho he often condemns himself for sin, yet sin shall never condemn him. And why? Because it hath been itself condemned by Christ. Rom. 8.3. God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, (i.e. by being a Sacrifice for sin) condemned sin in the flesh. And if sin was condemned in the flesh of Christ, how can it condemn the Christian? That which hath been charged upon Christ, shall never be charged upon you. Hath God received a full Satisfaction of Christ, or hath he not? If not, why was he taken from Prison, and from Judgement? Isa. 53 8. 1 Tim. 3.16. Hebr. 8.1. How came he to be justified in the Spirit, and received up into Glory? Why is he set on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens? These are undeniable proofs that God is fully satisfied. And if so, then how can sin condemn any Soul in Christ? Therefore every Believer may triumphingly take up the Apostles challenge in his own right, Rom. 8.33, 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died. This is the Ransom which being once paid, can never be unpaid; having been once accepted, it can never be refused. God can no more condemn a Believer when he looks upon Christ, than he can drown the World against his promise, when he looks upon the Rainbow in the Clouds. And is not this Comfort? 2. Sin hath no reigning power in a Believer. Tho it hath still a being in him, yet it hath not dominion over him. I do not say he is perfectly redeemed from the power of sin at present. Rom. 7.18. Rom. 7.23. It hath not such a power as it hath in the Unregenerate, but yet a power it hath still, a molesting power, a warring power, a captivating power, a tyrannical power, but yet it hath not a reigning power. Sin cannot be said to reign in any Believer; God hath said it shall not, Rom. 6.14. It is still present, but it is not predominant. Corruption is still working, but it is not reigning. It may trouble us, but it shall not govern us. It is with sin in a Believer, as with the Beasts in Daniel's Vision, who, though their lives were prolonged for a season, yet their Dominion was taken away, Dan. 7.12. Austin speaks of Man in a State; Before the Law, under the Law, under Grace, and in Glory. Before the Law, we did neither fight nor strive against sin. Under the Law, we fight, but are overcome. Under Grace we fight and conquer. But in Glory there is all Conquest, and no more Combats to eternity. But that state is yet to come. In the mean time, wherever the virtue of Christ's Cross takes place, it is the ruin of sins throne. And is not this Comfort? For no Dominion so vile, so intolerable as that of sin, and no Service so base in the use, Rom. 6.21. and so destructive in the issue for the end of these things is death. But wherever sin is now put out of dominion, there it shall shortly be put out of being. Christ's first coming was to free you from sins power, his next coming shall be to free you from sins presence. His great design is to perfect Sanctification in you, that you may be without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Eph. 5.27. And therefore it will not be long before you shall be perfectly redeemed from all sin for ever. 3. Christ a Ransom affords great comfort against the temptation of Satan. There are two things in the Children of God which are the matter of his envy; their Graces and their Comforts. And his design is leveled against the one and the other, to extinguish both our Graces and our Comforts. But because he knows he can never succeed in the former, therefore he sets himself with the greater subtlety and malice against the latter: that if he cannot make us walk sinfully, yet he may cause us to walk dejectedly. And this greatly serves his design; for it dishonours God, it grieves the Comforter. It reproaches Religion, as if it were the troubler of all peace and comfort; it stops our own progress in grace, and frights and scares others from coming into the ways of God, which are attended with such consequences. And therefore he uses all Arts and Devices to obstruct the Christian's comfort. Sometimes he sills the Soul with Doubts and Despondencies about its spiritual state. Sometimes he tempts it to downright sinning against God. And when upon any fall into sin, the Spirit of God comes with new Convictions, and opens the sluice of godly sorrow, then doth Satan set in, and aggravates the guilt, till the Soul concludes it unpardonable; and thus he raises a flood, that the waters do even sink the Soul. And this was David's case, Psal. 69.1, 2. I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Some times he lays his Brats at the Believer's door; charging those sins to his account, which are properly his own. This is very common, especially in the case of thought-sins; unclean thoughts, murderous thoughts, blasphemous thoughts, etc. Satan doth inject them into the mind, and then the Believer, not discerning the cunning of Satan on the one hand, and knowing the filthiness of his own heart on the other, takes them to be his own, and charges himself with the guilt of them, as if he were the filthiest sinner, and vilest blasphemer in the World. And this must needs extinguish comfort. Some times he charges our Duties with sin, and then argues from the sinfulness, to the non-acceptance of them. Is not God a holy God? and can Duties that are done with such a dead frame, such a wandering mind, such distracted thoughts, and such carnal affections, ever sinned acceptance with such a God? Thus by discouraging the Christian in his work, he cuts off his comfort, which usually comes in this way. Some times he puzzles him, about his Election, and so sets him to the wrong end of his work, that he may have no comfort in working; whereas we are not to entangle ourselves with the intricacies of Election, but to look to our Calling. This being cleared, clears the other. Tho God's choosing be the first act, yet our believing is the first Evidence. The Husbandman knows it is Spring by the putting forth of the Earth, though he be altogether ignorant in the position of the Heavens. Some times he poses him about the time of his Conversion, and so robs him of the comfort of the thing, by puzzling him about the time; as if the work could not be wrought, unless I know the time of working it? Will a man question the water in the stream, because he knows not the head of the River? Shall I deny that the Sun shines, because I do not know what hour it rises? the truth of Grace is best known by the fruits of it; the fruit shows that the Tree lives, though we know not when it took root. Some times he makes a man question the truth of all his former evidences, though they have been many and great. He so far unravels the work within, as to persuade the Soul all was but delusion which he took for a well-grounded hope. Thou a Believer? what hast to show? thy deeds are all forged, thy evidences were never sealed in the Spirit's Office, but with the counterfeit Seal of a self-deluded heart. That which thou hast taken for assurance of the goodness of thy state, is nothing but groundless presumption. And thus by bringing a man to let go his evidences, he cuts off all his comfort at once. These are some of the many ways which Satan hath to rob a Christian of his comforts. But they that are the ransomed of the Lord may setch comfort and support from this truth under all the temptations of Satan: for neither principalities, nor powers shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Tho Satan be a potent enemy, yet he is a conquered enemy; his Temptations may vex and trouble Believers, and possibly may in this or that particular case draw them to sin, and defile them, but they shall never prevail so far as finally to overcome them. If he should finally conquer any one Saint, he would conquer Christ; for every Saint is a Member of Christ: Matth. 16.18. and he hath said it, That the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against them. He who hath delivered them from going down to the pit, will e'er long deliver them from all Satan's snares. Rom. 16.20. It is his promise to tread Satan under your feet shortly. Christ don't think it enough to have him under his feet, unless he hath him under yours too. John 16.33. In Christ we have peace now, but shortly we shall have Victory and a Crown. And is not this comfort? 4. Here is comfort against that which is so much the matter of our fear, and that is Death. Why should you be afraid to die? Would not every good man be willing to enjoy the utmost of what Christ hath purchased? Why then he must be willing to die, for the best lies beyond the Grave. When God calls you to die, it is only a call to come and inherit the full of what Christ purchased for you when he gave himself a ransom. O what comfort is this against the fear of Death! it may dissolve us, but it cannot hurt us, nor hold us. Deliver him from the pit, I have found a ransom. Lastly. It is comfort, in that this ransoming work will never be completed, till every Believer be brought to Heaven. He never reckons he hath a full return of the purchase made by his Blood, till all his Members are glorified. Christ took up our flesh, redeemed us from Hell in our flesh, purchased Heaven for us in our flesh; ascended thither in our flesh, and is glorified there in our flesh; and all this as our Head: and therefore every Member of his shall in his own flesh be e'er long glorified with him. It is his will it should be so; John 17.24. Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold (i. e. partake of) my glory. Therefore every true Believer may say with as much confidence as Job did, Job 19 26. Tho worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall Psee God. And this is the next great work which our Lord Christ hath to do here in this World: for though he is gone, yet he is to come again; there is a great deal of business yet lies upon his hand unfinished. He said of the work of his Satisfaction, Joh 19.30. It is finished. But he never said so of the work of Salvation; that will not be finished so long as one Believer is out of Heaven. And therefore this is the business of his next coming. He came before to finish transgression; Dan. 9.24. but when he comes again it is to finish Salvation: So says the Apostle, Hebr. 9.28. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto Salvation. 1 Thess. 4.18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. And thus I have done with this Subject. But there is another Subject which I would speak a little to. Tho it is not my custom to speak of the dead, yet it is pity so much learning and worth, so much humility and modesty, so much virtue and grace, so much service and usefulness, such persecutions and sufferings for Christ should be concealed, But I shall pass all this by, having no Authority to take the Commission out of the hand of his good works, Prov. 31.31. they are to praise him in the gates, and not I. And therefore, whereas the manner is to show the bright side of the deceased, I shall show his dark side; viz. the troubles of his mind in his last sickness; and which were (as one of his Physicians informs me) much occasioned by it. Nor should I speak of this, but that I understand there are some who have made it a matter of scoff and reproach: which argues great ignorance of the person, and great profaneness of Spirit. That he was for some days under great darkness about his state, and great troubles of mind by reason of the hidings of God, is true. But what of this? doth it make the goodness of his condition questionable? is it any new and unheard of thing? hath it not been so with the best of the Saints of God? Read but the 77th Psalm, and consider Asaph's case: I remembered God and was troubled, V 3. A 4. V 7. V 8. V 9 and my spirit was overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. Will the Lord cast off for ever? will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender Mercies? What desponding Language is this, which speaks great trouble of mind, and great darkness of spirit? and yet Asaph was an eminent Saint of God. And so was Heman; and yet what dreadful troubles and terrors was he under? read the 88th Psalm throughout, and you will see what a condition he was in, what doubts and fears, what clouds and darkness, what discouragements and despondencies he was under. V 14 V. 15. Lord, why castest thou off my Soul? why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted, and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me, V 16. thy terrors have cut me off. What amazing terrors did he lie under? And it seems to have been thus with him not for a few days, but all his days; I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. And hence some have thought that his Sun arose in a Cloud, and set in a Cloud; and yet a man of great grace. And this was David's case; and that not once, but often; and some times for a long while together. Psal. 13.1. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? how long wilt thou hid thy face from me? And Psalm 89.46. How long, Lord, wilt thou hid thyself? for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire? And yet who a man of greater holiness than David? Act 13.22. A man after God's own heart. And was it not thus with Job? See Chap. 13.24, 25, 26. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? for thou writest bitter things against me. And Chap. 19.6. Know now that God hath overthrown me. Verse 8. He hath set darkness in my paths. Verse 11. He hath kindled his wrath against me, and counteth me one of his enemies. And yet Job was the None-such of his day for holiness; God himself says so, Job 2.3. There is none like him in the Earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil. Therefore this is no new thing. How often have we known such things in our own experience, or at least known or heard of them who have. And that not among private Christians only, but among the Ministers of Christ, and such as have been (like him who was lately yours) persons of great grace, and great usefulness; such as Mr. Peacock, Mr. Perkins, and others which I could name, Men famous in the Church of God in their days, and yet full of darkness and distress of Conscience upon a sick and dying Bed. And as this is no new thing for the Children of God to be thus exercised, so it is no new thing when the hand of God is upon them, to have the mouths of profane ones open against them. It was so with David, Psal. 69.26. They persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. And it was Job's case too, though in his Prosperity he was honoured of all, even of them that were old, (Chap. 29.8.) yet in his Affliction he was the scoff even of them that were young. Chap. 30.1, 9, 10. They that are younger than I have me in derision. And now I an their Song, yea I am their byword. They abhor me— and spare not to spit in my face. Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let lose the bridle before me. And this is a practice not only impious and ungodly, but inhuman and unnatural. Not only grace, but good nature and common ingenuity teaches us to pity them that are in Misery. To sorrow at another's joys, or rejoice in another's sorrows, are affections more becoming Devils than Men, especially than Christians. And therefore I shall pass this by, as not worth the noticing. That which I judge more worthy to be considered, as being more for instruction and advantage, is the reason of this dispensation of God. Quest. Why doth God deal thus with his People? why doth he at any time hid himself, and leave them under such darkness and discomfort? Answ. That is Answer sufficient which Elihu gives to Job in the 12th and 13th Verses of this 33d Chapter, God is greater than Man, he giveth not account of any of his matters. Rom. 9.20. Shall the thing form say to him that form it, why hast thou made me thus? Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the Earth. But yet the Scripture holds forth several Reasons of these Dispensations of God. And therefore I shall not speak of that dusky honour and melancholy disposition which many times, by distempering the Body, disturbs the Soul too, which follows bodily temper, filling it with doubts and fears, and inclining it to suspect the worst in every case. But I shall rather speak of the spiritual Causes of such darkness and trouble of mind. 1. God may act herein to show his Prerogative and absolute Sovereignty over Man. None can deny him a liberty to glorify himself in his own way, and by what methods he pleaseth. God never wants a cause where sin is, but yet he doth not always make sin to be the cause; as he says of the young man that was born blind. John 92. Master, say the Disciples, who did sin, this Man, or his Parents, that he is born blind? Neither hath this man sinned, V 3. saith Christ, nor his Parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. They were not without sin, but yet this blindness was not for sin, but an act of God's prerogative. So in God's secret deal with Job, he doth not put it upon his sin, but upon his own Sovereignty. So much is implied in that of God to Satan, Thou movest me against him without a cause, Job 2.3. 2. God in his holy wisdom thus exerciseth his Children, to let us see that we hold not our graces and our comforts by the same tenure: our graces are held by the tenure of absolute promises, but our comforts are held by the tenure of conditional promises; and therefore grace may live and thrive, though our comfort withers and dies. God hath no where promised that we shall always enjoy the light of his Countenance, Jer. 32.40. but he hath promised to put his fear into our hearts, that we shall not departed from him. 1 Job. 3.9. And therefore the Seed of God remains, when the sight of God is lost. 3. It is to teach us to distinguish between the being and the well-being of a Christian, and what is necessary to one and the other. What is necessary to the being of a Christian he shall never want, but what is necessary to his well-being only he may want: Now comfort is not necessary to the being of a Christian; grace doth not depend upon comfort: A Man may be as eminent a Saint without the light of God's face as with it. Comfort is an arbitrary Mercy: one who hath less grace may have more comfort than another that hath much more: nay, the same Believer may have most comfort when he hath least grace. Many feel more comfort at their first conversion than ever after. 4. God doth this for cure. The Soul hath its Diseases and Sicknesses as well as the Body; and where he finds any spiritual malady to prevail, this is his healing Medicine. Some times dulness and deadness of heart grows upon us, and grace is less vigorous and active; now as Physicians use to cast a Man into a Fevor to cure a Lethargy, so God gives these strong Medicines to quicken our dull and sleepy Spirits. Some times the filial fear of God abates in us, and we grow careless and presuming. And then though God be a Father, yet he will show his anger, and that is terrible, especially when his love hath been much felt. Some times the vigorous mortification of sin is neglected, and we grow more ready to connive at it: and then it is with us as with Israel; the Canaamtes get head, and God leaves us in their hands to become Thorns and Goads to us. Some times Ordinances are not attended upon as they ought to be; we grow idle and remiss in Duties: and then no wonder though our comforts are cut off, when the means of our Communion with God are neglected. Dark Dispensations are designed for a cure of these, and such like Evils; He for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. Hebr. 12.10. 5. God doth it to take us off from living by sense, and to discipline us more to the life of faith, which is a life peculiar to Believers, and distinct from all other ways of living: for all else live by sense, all below them, and all above them. All in a state of nature live by sense, and all in a state of glory live by sense. These in a state of sense depraved, those in a state of sense glorified. These live by sense upon carnal comforts, they live by sense upon eternal enjoyments. The former live by sense for want of faith, the latter I've by sense, having gotten above saith: But the Believer lives partly by sense, and partly by faith. Now though God by the light of his Countenance doth some times minister to sense, Hab. 2.4. yet he would have his People live by faith, and not by sense; it being the most noble life, which far excels that of sense in the present state. For, 1. Faith hath a better Object to live upon then sense hath; Sense lives upon present Discoveries, but Faith lives upon Promises and Propriety: and therefore Faith is never at a loss, when Sense is. Faith hath always somewhat to live upon, when sense hath not. How often is the Believer's Sun shut in, and his beams cut off by interposing Clouds: no discoveries, no incomes, no comforting influences: and then you hear of sad complaints, and doleful conclusions, and all from mistaken sense: not because God is lost, but because he is not felt. 2. Faith secures things to us which sense cannot. Nothing that sense lives upon is sure. No present comforts are sure. The Light of God's Face is not sure; the emations of his love are not sure; the comforts of the Spirit are not sure: these things come and go, they are lost and found. A Christian often hath them, but he knows not how long he shall enjoy them, nor how soon he may be deprived of them, though he be careful and diligent to preserve them. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet, yet trouble came, Job 3.26. But that which Faith lives upon is sure. The Covenant is sure, the Promise is sure, and therefore Interest in God is sure. 3. Faith glorifies God more than sense can do. Sense can't take God's word without a pawn, Hab. 3.17. Faith can. Tho the Figtree shall not blossom, etc. Sense can't wait God's leisure, Faith can: Isa. 8.17. I will wait upon the Lord that hides his face from the House of Jacob, and I will look for him. Sense can't bear up under Discouragements, Job 13.15. Faith can: Tho he slay me, yet will I trust in him. Sense hath but one Light to work by, viz. the Light of God's Countenance, and when that light is hid, the working hand of sense is sealed up. But Faith hath another Light to work by, and that is, the Light of God's Command: and this is a surer and better Light to work by then the former: so that Faith hath Light when Sense hath none. For when God puts out one Light, Sense puts out the other; and so makes our case far worse when God intended it, by putting Darkness in our Paths, when God causes Darkness upon our Spirits. Therefore one design of God in these hidings is to draw forth Faith to more vigorous Acts, and to teach the Believer to live upon his Interest in God without Evidence, Isa. 50.10. and to say my God, when he cannot see God; as Christ did Matth. 27.26. These Earthquakes in the Soul, though they shake Sense, yet Faith is thereby made to stand the faster upon its true Basis. The more we come to live by Faith, the more secure and quiet will our lives be. What sad Complaints, and desponding Out-cries are often heard out of the Mouths of good men! enough to make such as judge according to outward appearance to take them for Reprobates and Castaways: whereas these (for the most part) are nothing but the pine of spiritual sense cut short of it, wont Meals, and so crying for lack of Bread. This was the reason of Job's complaining, Chap. 29. O that I were as in Months past, as in the days when God preserved me— when by his light I walked through darkness. A Soul that hath once enjoyed the comfort and sweetness of this light, cannot bear it to have his Spirit benighted by the hidings of God from him. But to be brief; 6. God doth some times deal thus with his own Children in Judgement to the Children of this World: that they that will not be convinced of the goodness and excellency of the ways of God, by the light of the word of God, may never be drawn by the comforts of the Children of God. As there are Mysteries in the Word of God, so there are also the Works of God: 2 Cor. 4 3. Psal. 83.3. As his Gospel is to some a hidden Gospel, so are his People a hidden People. Their Graces are hidden under many Infirmities; their Beauty is hidden under mean outward Appearances; their Comforts are hidden under much spiritual darkness, and this is in Judgement to the World. As Christ's coming in such a poor and low condition was; John 9.39. For Judgement I am come into this World. 7. These deal of God are suitable to their present state, which is a state of conflict. This Life is a season of manifold Temptations, 1 Pet. 1.6. and therefore we should be so far from wondering that any are tempted so much, that it should rather be matter of wonder that all are not tempted more, only the wise God knows what kind of temptation is needful, and how much, and how long, and debates in measure. Who wonders to see Storms and Tempests, Frosts and Snows, and lowering Heavens in Winter? Is it not the proper Season? Tho the day be more pleasant than the night, yet the night is as useful as the day. Books sold by John Laurence at the Angel in the Poultry. GEll's Remains, being sundry pious and learned Notes on the New Testament, opening and explaining it. In Folio. The Jesuits Catechism according to St. Ignatius Loyola, wherein the Impiety of their Principles, Perniciousness of their Doctrines, and Iniquity of their Practices are declared, 4ᵒ. Several excellent Discourses viz. 1. Of Purity and Charity 2. Of Repentance. 3. Of seeking first the Kingdom of God. By Hezekiah Burton D. D. Published by the most Reverend Father in God, John Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, 8ᵒ. Man's whole Duty, and God's wonderful Entreaty of him thereunto, set forth from 2 Cor. 5.20. By Daniel Burgess Minister of the Gospel. In 12ᵒ. Advice to Parents and Children. The sum of a few Sermons contracted and published at the request of many pious Hearers. By the same Author. In 12ᵒ. The Triumph of Grace, or the last Words and edifying Death of the Lady Margaret de la , a noble French Lady, who died in May 1681. Aged but sixteen years. In 12ᵒ. The Map of Man's Misery, or the Poor Man's Pocket Book, being a perpetual Almanac of Spiritual Meditations; or a Complete Directory for one endless Week. 12ᵒ. A Help to true Spelling or Reading: or a very easy Method for the teaching of Children or elder Persons rightly to spell, and exactly to read English. By William Scoffin Minister of the Gospel. In 8ᵒ. Institutio Grammaticae ad Juventutis Captum summo study & artificio concinnata. Inqua certi● Ratio, & genuina Noteo accurati disquiritur atque enucleatino enodatur. In 8ᵒ. Lately published. The Death and Rest, Resurrection and Portion of the Saints, in a Discourse on Dan. 12.13. on occasion of the Funeral of the Reverend Dr. Dan. Rolls. Together with the work of the Redeemer and work of the Redeemed By Dan. Burgess Minister of the Gospel, 12ᵒ. Miscellanca Sacra. Containing Scriptural Meditations, Divine Ineathing, Occasional Reflections, and Sacred Poems. In 12ᵒ.