The MYSTICAL BRAZEN SERPENT: WITH The Magnetical Virtue thereof. OR, CHRIST exalted upon the CROSS, WITH The blessed End and Fruit of that his Exaltation, in drawing the Elect world to Himself, to believe on Him, and to be saved by Him. In two Treatises, from John 3.14, 15. John 12.32. Whereunto is added A TREATISE of the Saints JOINT-MEMBERSHIP each with other. As they were delivered to the Church of God at Great YARMOUTH, By JOHN BRINSLEY, Minister of the Gospel, and Preacher to that Incorporation. Imprimatur, Edm. Calamy. July 30. 1652. 1 COR. 2.2. I determined not to know any thing among you, saving Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 1 COR. 1.18. For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved, the power of God. LONDON, Printed by Thomas Maxey for Ralph Smith, at the Bible in Cornhill, near the Royal Exchange. 1653. To The truly Honourable, The LADY FRANCIS HOBART, Grace and Peace. Madam, I Plead no excuse for the homeliness of this present. Whatever the Workmanship be, sure I am the matter is such, as shall find acceptance at your Ladyship's hands. I question not but your Honour hath often read of what esteem the Typical Brazen Serpent was with the Israelites, 2 King. 18.4. even then when it was out of date, a bare Nehushtan, no more worth than what the metal weighed: And I presume you have as often heard what honour (at least) the ignoranter sort of the Romish persuasion are wont to give to the Crucifixes of their own making: Both of them superstitiously and idolatrously yielding that respect to the shadow, which is appropriate to the substance. This it is which I here present to your Honour's view; The Mystical Brazen Serpent; the Real Crucifix, Christ himself exalted upon the Cross. Of whose Magnetical Virtue, I doubt not but your precious soul hath already had so much experience, as that you earnestly desire to feel more of it. In this way, if these my poor labours may contribute aught either to yourself, or any other, I shall bless that God who hath made use of me as his Instrument in so honourable a service. In the hope and confidence hereof, I shall put them into your Ladyship's hand, and rest Great Yarmouth, June 24. 1642. Ready further to serve Your Honour in all Christian Offices, JOHN BRINSLEY. An Alphabetical Table. A. Adversary's not to be feared. 140. Affections towards Christ, evidencing man's drawing to him 183 Christ offered to All, how and why 146 Attractive virtue in Christ to be sought after 188 B. BEnefit of Christ's death extending to all Believers. 111 Believing on Christ, the only means to receive benefit from him 73 Discouragements in Believing answered 115 Blindness natural to all men 153 Brazen Serpent both a medicine, and a mystery 3 Brazen Serpent a lively and convincing Type of Jesus Christ 5 Brazen Serpent resembling Christ in five particulars 16 Brazen Serpent to be looked up unto 96 C. Carnal persons not drawn to Christ 181 Christ a mighty Saviour 17 Christ like unto men, and sinful men, yet without sin 18 Christ crucified the only Sole-Remedy 51 Christ a Saviour by his Father's Ordination 22 Christ to be looked up unto, and how 124 Motives to come unto Christ 71 Discouragements in coming unto Christ answered 115 Motives to look up unto Christ 97 Strength of Corruption no just discouragement in coming to Christ 122 Conversion to be ascribed unto Christ 161 Common work of the Spirit not to be rested in 191 Cross of Christ a memorial of man's sin and misery. 21 Cross of Christ the way to his Crown 27 The Cross an Exaltation to Christ 28 Christ crucified the only Saviour 62 Cure of the Soul to be locked after 48 D. Darkness man's natural estate 30 Death passed upon all 115 Death of Christ necessary in a threefold respect 45 Death of Christ not dubious 132 Drawing of men by Christ to Christ 143, 150 Drawing, a fruit of Christ's death 134 Men drawn to Christ as a Saviour, and Lord 169 God the Father draweth men to Christ, how 144 All men, and all things drawn to Christ, how 145 Drawing, what it importeth 152 Whence Christ draweth men 164 Men drawn out of themselves, how 168 Evidences of men not drawn to Christ 179 Evidences of men drawn to Christ 183 Drawing to Christ a ground of comfort 187 Outward Drawing not to be rested in 190 Drawing back to be taken heed of 163. 191 E. Elect ones drawn to Christ 149 Enemies still infesting Believers 53 Enemies of Christ disappointed 135, 136 Christ exalted upon the Cross 28 F. Faithfulness of Christ in his obedience 56 Faith justifying and saving, what 75 Faiths object and act in justifying 79 Faith how it healeth and saveth 80 Faith and Christ as the Ring and the Bloodstone 92 Faith the only Instrument in healing the soul 93. 101 Weakness of Faith, no just discouragement 123 H. Christ Healing his people, how 58 I Ignorant persons not drawn to Christ 179 Impediments in coming to Christ 119 Man's natural Impotency 154 Weak Instrument effecting great works 174 God blesseth all, and only his own Institutions 10 Intercession of Christ effectual 57 Inveterate sins not hindering benefit by Christ 119 Civil Justiciaries not drawn to Christ 182 L. Lameness natural to all men 155 Christ Lift up four ways 25 Lifting up of the Brazen Serpent shadowing the death of Christ in five particulars 29 Lifting up of Christ drawing men to him 173 Life eternal, what 109 Life, all men deprived of 44 M. Man's Misery the occasion of God's Mercy in sending his Son 20 Mans natural Misery described 33 Gods Mercy in providing a Remedy 38 Ministers of God to be enquired of for Soul-cures 49 N. Nature's power in the work of Conversion, decayed 160 O. God not tied to costly Ordinances 7 P. Penitent sinners only capable of benefit by Christ 113 The Estate of Nature, a Perishing Condition 43 Whether men Perish in death 105 No Perishing to Believers 107 Profane persons not drawn to Christ 180 R. Man Repenting God Reputes 9 Refusing of Christ a just Condemnation 71 Relapses dangerous, not desperate 120 Reluctancy against receiving of Christ with the grounds thereof 158, 159 S. Salvation to be sought only in Christ 63 Satan resembled by a Serpent, in three particulars 34 Satan hindering men from coming unto Christ, how 156 Men drawn from under the power of Satan, how 156 Christ a Saviour to lost mankind 152 How Christ cometh to be a Saviour 154 Christ the only Saviour 159 Ministers how called Saviour's 161 How men save themselves ibid. Christ a perfect Saviour 68 Sense of misery a preparative for mercy 46 The Serpent the Instrument of man's misery 45 Shadows made use of by God to work real effects 8 Great Sins great punishments 9 Discouragements from magnitude or multitude of Sins answered 116, 117 Son of man, the phrase opened: being given to Christ, what it imports 12, 14 Spirit of Christ drawing men to him 175 T. Type, why made use of by our Saviour 4 W. Liberty of Will in the work of conversion decried 160 Will, not forced in the work of Conversion 192 Men drawn out of the World, how 166 The Word Christ's Instrument in drawing men to himself 171 The Word being the Drawing Ordinance is to be submitted to 191 ERRATA. P. 2. l. 27. r. represented. p. 8. l. 9 r. Handkerchiefs. ibid. marg. r. Fernelius. p. 18. marg. r. per Serpentem. p. 21. l. ult. deal And. p. 23. l. 30. for where, r. whence. p. 29. marg. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, p. 30. l. 11. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 33. l. 8. for hear, r. here. p. 41. l. 9 for grace, r. cure. p. 70. l. 32. deal up. p. 7. 6. l. 7. r. quovis. p. 107. l. last. r. turned to dust. p. 145. marg. r. salvet. p. 149. marg. r. ex Gentibus. p. 160. marg. for decayed, r. decried, p. 162. l. 29. r. not all. THE MYSTICAL BRAZEN SERPENT. JOHN 3. Ver. 14.15. 14. And as Moses lift up the Serpent in the Wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15. That whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. THE former part of this Chapter spends itself in the report of a useful conference betwixt our Blessed Saviour and Nicodemus. Coherence. Wherein we may hear a gracious Master teaching and instructing an untoward and ignorant Scholar insome of the chiefest principles of Christian Religion; as viz. The Mystery and Necessity of Spiritual Regeneration; that he doth in the verses before the Text. The Meritorious and Instrumental cause of Man's salvation. The meritorious cause of it; his own Death and Passion. The Instrumental cause of it; Faith in himself. Both these you have in the words which I have now read unto you. [And as Moses, etc.] Division. In which two verses our Blessed Saviour informs this his Scholar, and us, of two things; 1. The manner of his own Death; 2. The end and use of it. The manner of his death, ver. 14. [As Moses, etc.] The end and use of it, ver. 15. [That whosoever believeth, etc.] The manner of Christ's death set forth by a Typical expression. Begin with the former of these; which our Saviour sets forth (as you see) not in plain and open terms, but under a covert expression: making use of one of the Types and figures of the old Testament for the confirming and illustrating of what he would have Nichodemus and us to know and believe concerning his own death, as, viz. That he should die; How he should die; To what end he should die: What benefit should redound from his death; and By what means it should be conveyed: all lively presented and held forth in this Type of the Brazen Serpent which Moses lift up in the Wilderness [Even as Moses, etc. So must the Son of Man be lift up.] Here two things considerable, the Type. Truth. Here then two things mainly considerable: the Type and the Truth: the Shadow and the Substance. The Type or Shadow; the Brazen Serpent lift up. The Truth or Substance of that Type, that shadow, The Son of Man lift up. These two I shall look upon first severally, then jointly. Severally; 1. The Type; the Brazen Serpent. Beginning with the former of them, the Type: For so I look upon this Brazen Serpent, as having in the first institution of it a double use to the Israelites; the one Corporal, the other Spiritual. A Corporal use, for the healing of their Bodies. A Spiritual use, directing them to Christ for the healing of their Souls. Of such double use was the Mannah to them; both Corporall and Spiritual food. Corporal food, given them for the present refreshing and nourishing of their bodies. Spiritual food, as being a Sacrament of the Body of Christ, and of the nourishment which they might receive from him. And of like use was the water which issued out of the Rock. Useful as water for the quenching of their bodily thirst; as a Sacrament, representing the Blood of Christ: and so was to them not only Corporall, but Spiritual drink; so saith the Apostle himself expressly concerning both these, 1 Cor. 10.3.4. Our fathers did all eat the same Spiritual meat: and did all drink of the same Spiritual drink, etc.] The same not only with themselves, but with us Christians, viz. the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, represented by those Sacraments. And the like we may say of this Brazen Serpent. The Brazen Serpent both a Medicine and a Mystery It was to the Israelites both a Medicine, and a Mystery. Having in it a Medicinal use for the curing of their Bodies; a Mystical use, for the representing of Christ to them, by whom their Souls might be cured saved. And of such use our Saviour here maketh it; bringing it in not barely by way of Similitude and resemblance; but as a Type and Figure, purposely destinated and appointed to point at himself. So taking it; here premise we these two inquiries concerning it; the one more General, the other more Particular. 1. Why did our Saviour here make use of a Type, a figure? 2. Why of this Type, this Figure? Quest. 1. Why our Saviour here maketh use of a Type? Quest. 1. For the former, Why did our Saviour here make use of a Type? Answer. Ferus ad loc. Answ. For this we shall need no other reason, but only to look upon the Scholar with whom he hath to deal, Nichodemus a Pharisee, ver. 1. A Master in Israel, ver. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Doctor, a Teacher of the Law, one well versed in the Law, one that stood much upon the Law, Joh. 9.28, one of Moses his Disciples. And hereupon our Saviour being to deal with him, deals with him in his own Element, fetching an Argument from the Old Testament, from Moses, to teach and convince him concerning that which should be accomplished under the New Testament in himself. Quest. 2. Why this Type. Quest. 2. But why doth he single out this Type, rather than any other? Many other Types and Figures there were in the Old Testament very lively representing and holding forth the Death and Passion of Christ. As, viz. the Paschall Lamb, and the daily Sacrifices; both which the Jews themselves do acknowledge to point at the Messiah. Why doth our Saviour here make choice of this? Answer 1. To this it may be answered: Answ. 1. No Type more lively representing the thing typifyed 1. Amongst all those Types there was not any more lively, more fully representing and setting forth the mystery of Christ then this of the Brazen Serpent. A Type which contains in it a Sermon of the whole sum, and Marrow of the Gospel. Little or nothing necessary to be known and believed concerning Jesus Christ, but we may read it in this one Type. 2. Besides (in the second place,) amongst all the Types in the Old Testament, 2. A convincing Type. as there was none more lively representing, so we shall find none more strongly convincing; convincing the unbelieving Jews: and not only convincing, but confounding them, and all others, who deride and make a mock of Christ crucified, as if it were a thing not possible, that a crucified Christ should be the Saviour of the world. How can he save others, (say they) that could not save himself? Mat. 27.42. How shall he save others from the wrath of God, that could not save himself from the rage of men? What power, what virtue can there be in his death? To them this Type returns answer. Why, how could the Brazen Serpent, being but the shape and Image of a Serpent, a liveless piece of Brass, Nehushtan (as Hezekiah in a vilifying way calls it) a Brazen piece; 2 King. 18.4. how could this cure and heal their forefathers in the wilderness? That which had no life, how could it save life? Yet this did that Serpent being lift up, to the bodies of all that beheld it. And why then may not the Son of Man being lift up, a crucified Christ, do as much for the souls of all that believe on him. It was not without good reason then, that our Saviour maketh choice of this Type, this Figure. Amongst all the Types of the Old Testament, none more demonstrative, none more clearly representing, more strongly convincing what here he layeth down concerning himself. To make this good, come we now to take a nearer view of this Type itself. Things considerable in the Type. The History whereof you have set forth briefly, and fully in those four verses of the 21. of Numbers, ver. 6, 7, 8, 9 which if you cast your eyes upon, you may at the first sight take notice of divers particulars very observable concerning this Brazen Serpent; as viz. 1. The Matter of it: 2. The Form and fashion of it: 3. Upon what occasion it was made: 4. At whose appointment: 5. How used: 6. To what end: 7. With what efficacy. All of them to be taken notice of by us, that we may see what a correspondence and agreement there is betwixt this Type and the Truth of it, which is Christ. To touch upon the particulars briefly. 1. For the matter of it; 1. The matter. it was Nehushtan, Brass; not Gold, but Brass. ver. 9 Observe. God toeth not himself to the costliness of Ordinances, Observe. God not tied to costly Ordinances. nor to the excellency of means. By weak and contemptible ways and means he oftentimes effects great matters. Reas. This he doth, that the work may be known and acknowledged to be His; and that all the glory of it may return clearly to himself, not sticking by the way in the Ordinance, or Means. God could have commanded Moses to have made this Serpent of Gold, as well as the Israelites required Aaron to make their Calf. But he would not have them to make an Idol of the one, as they had done of the other. He would not have them to look too much at the means, but through it to look at him who coveyed that cure and comfort to them through that means. But this by the way. 2. For the Form or Fashion of it: 2. The form. Serpens aeneus factus est, quo magis Presterem qui aeri concolor erat, referret. H. Grot. ad Text. ver. 8. ver. 6. it was a Serpent; not a true real Serpent; It had neither life nor venom in it, only an Effigies, the shape of a Serpent, resembling one of those Serpents wherewith the Israelites were stung, and that both in shape and colour. And thence called a Fiery or Burning Serpent: carrying the similitude of one of those Presteres, those Fiery Serpents (so called as from the colour, so from the inflammation which they caused in the bodies which were stung with them.) And this was Israel's Antidote against the biting of those real Serpents. Observe. Thus doth God sometimes make use of shadows for the working of real effects. Observe. God worketh real effects by Shadows. So we read of Peter's shadow working strange cures upon all that came within the verge of it: Act. 5.15. and of Paul's Handkerchief doing the like, and more, to those to whom they were applied, driving away Diseases and Evil spirits too. Act. 19 Act. 19.12. Not that there was any such inherent virtue in either of these, but that God was pleased to manifest his Power in weakness; 2 Cor. 12.9. which ofttimes he doth: working not only by unlikely, but even by contrary means; bringing good out of evil, making a Serpent to heal. Thus the skill of the Physicians turns Vipers into Treacles (which take the name from that ingredient) Poisons into Antidotes, Theriace, Medicamentum Theriacum. Fernetius Junius. repelling or driving out one poison with another. And thus doth the wisdom of our God make use sometimes not only of the enemies, & crosses, but of the sins of his people, turning them to their great good: making use sometimes of one sin for the curing of another; I, of many; I, of all; as here he maketh use of one Serpent for the curing of the stings of all other Serpents. Here is a second particular. 3. The third is, upon what occasion 3. The occasion. this Brazen Serpent was made. This the story layeth down clearly and briefly thus: Numb. 21.5. The Israelites beginning to laoth their Mannah, they murmur against God, and are ready to rise up against his servant Moses. Thus complaining without a cause, God giveth them a cause to complain: ver. 6. He sends Fiery Serpents amongst them; by the stinging whereof, many of them die, ver. 7. others of them come to Moses now complaining of their misery, who before were surfeited of God's mercy. Their earnest suit to him is, that he would be a Suitor for them, that God would take away the Serpents from them. This request of theirs Moses presents, ver. 8. and God hears and answers, Non ad voluntatem, sed ad Salutem; not removing the Serpents from them, but providing an Antidote, a remedy against them, which remedy was this Brazen Serpent. Observe. Observe. 1. Great sins, great punishments. 1 King. 12.11. Thus God often deals with the sons of Men, visiting their iniquities not only with Rods, but with Scorpions (as Rehoboam threatens the men of Israel) specially their ingratitude, their murmur and repine at his dispensations, their slighting his mercies, above all their loathing of Heavenly Mannah. For these sins God often sends sharp and stinging judgements. Despisers of the riches of God's goodness, treasure up wrath to themselves, Rom. 2. Rom. 2.4, 5. 2, But (in the second place) upon their repenting he reputes; Observe. 2. Upon man's repenting, God reputes. Deut. 32.39. 2 Cor. 12.9. upon their humbling and returning, he returns and heals: not always by removing the judgements. No, Paul's thorn sticks in his flesh, notwithstanding his frequent and earnest soliciting the Throne of Grace about it. But by reaching forth unto them something that shall be equivalent; as he did a sufficiency of Grace to Paul. I hasten. Ibid. 4. By whom appointed. 4. The fourth particular is, by whom was this remedy appointed. The Text tells us, that Moses set up this Brazen Serpent. (A precedent for the Ministers of the Gospel, who in their ministrations, aught to make it their work to advance and lift up Jesus Christ, as Moses did this Serpent.) But what, did he do it of his own head? Not so, but by a Divine direction. Numb. 21.8. It was God himself that found out this way and means of cure; it was he that directed Moses how to make it, and how to use it. Observe. God saves by his own means Observe. God will save only by his own means. He will bless all, and only his own Institutions. As for humane inventions, how specious, how plausible soever, yet they have no assurance of a blessing from God. Had Moses made and erected this Serpent of his own head, as Aaron and the people did their Golden Calf, it might have proved to them, as that did, a snare, but not a remedy; pernicious, but no ways profitable. What ever virtue this Brazen Serpent had, it had it from a Divine Institution. August. de Mirabil. Scripturae lib. 1. cap. 33. Non in Serpent, said in Domini imperio salus continebatur (saith Augustine upon it.) The healing virtue was not in the Serpent itself, but in the commanding power of God. It was not the Serpent, but the word; so saith the Psalmist, Psal. 107 Psal. 107.20. He sent forth his word and healed them.] His word; Verbum Jussionis, & Promissionis (saith Musculus Muscul. in Text. ) his word of Command, and his word of Promise. This Word it was that made this an effectual means for the healing of their Bodies. And the same word it is that maketh the Sacraments of the New Testament to be effectual means for the conveying of Spiritual good to the Souls of Believers. It is not in the outward Elements, nor yet in the hand that reacheth them forth. It is not in the Water in Baptism; It is not in the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist; which being in themselves but common water, and common Bread and Wine, what can they do to the washing, nourishing, refreshing of the Soul; or what virtue can the Minister infuse into them? No, it is the Word, the word of Divine Institution, the word of Command, the word of Promise that maketh these effectual to such ends and purposes, which otherwise have no more power and virtue in themselves, than the Brazen Serpent had, which Moses lift up in the wilderness. 5. There is the fifth particular. 5. The use of it. How this Brazen Serpent was used by Moses. It was only to be lifted up, set upon a Pole or Perch, lifted up on high. 6. And to what end must it so be lifted up? 6. The end of it. Why, that all Israel might see it; specially, that those who felt themselves stung with those fiery Serpents might look up unto it. 7. 7. Benefit by it And what benefit had they by thus looking upon it? why thereby they were healed, how mortally soever they were wounded. The mystical Brazen Serpent, Jesus Christ. Thus I have briefly touched upon the most material particulars observable in the Type. To follow this shadow no further; Come we now to look upon the truth of this Type, which is Jesus Christ: the truth of all those Types and Ceremonies under the Law; I am the truth, John 14. 1 Cor. 10.4. John 14.6. the substance of all those shadows. Among other, the true brazen Serpent. So it followeth, As Moses lift up the Serpent, etc. So must the Son of man be lifted up. The Son of man:] The Son of man; the phrase opened. A stile or appellation given in the Scriptures sometimes in common indefinitely, universally to all men; all sorts of men, all of those sorts; All which being men, descended from men by the way of natural generation, they are called the sons of men, and every one the son of man. Instances for both are obvious. O ye sons of men, (saith the Psalmist, Psal. 4. Psal. 4.2. ) God is not as man (saith Balaam) that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent, Numb. 23. Numb. 23.19. Blessed is the man that doth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it, (saith the Prophet Isai. cap. 56. Isai. 56.2. ) The son of man, that is every man of what quality or condition soever. Sometimes it is more peculiarly appropriated to some one particular person; So we find it given (as I remember) only to three; viz. to Ezekiel, Daniel, Christ. To Ezekiel it is given by God himself, speaking to him in the second Person, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, Ezek. 2.1. Ezek. 2. ver. 1.3, 6. etc. And so frequently in most Chapters of this Prophecy. In like manner it is given to Daniel by the Angel Gabriel, Dan. 8. Dan. 8.17. Understand, O son of man.] To Christ, it is given in the Old Testament by Daniel, who tells us how in his vision he beheld one like the son of man, Dan. 7. Dan. 7.13. ] And (as some conceive it) by Asaph, Psal. 80. Psal. 80.17. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, Chald. Paraph. Basil. Muscul. Ainsworth. Junius. and the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.] The Son of man, that is, the Messia, who is before called the Branch, ver. 16. even that Branch that grew out of the Stem of Jesse, Isai. 11.1. My servant the Branch, Zach. 3.8. Behold the man whose name is the Branch, Zach. 6.12. even he is there called the son of man. In the New Testament it is given to him only by himself, speaking of himself in the third Person. The son of man hath not where to lay his head, Mat. 8.20. The son of men is come to save that which was lost, Mat. 18.11. The son of man must be lifted up, (saith the Text.) Quest. Quest. Why given to Christ? But why is this appellation thus frequently given unto Christ? Ans. Answ. To import Many answers are returned; some of them more witty than weighty. I shall only single out three of them; The two former more general; the other more particularly appliable to the Text: Christ appropriates this stile to himself, to import principally these two things: 1. His Nature. 2. His condition: the truth of the one, the meanness of the other. 1. His Nature. 1. His Nature. The truth of his humane nature. To show that he was truly man, though not descended from man by that ordinary way of natural generation, yet a true man, having a true humane soul, a true humane body. The Son of God, made the Son of Man, by taking the nature of man into personal union with his Godhead. Heb. 2.16. He took not upon him the nature of Angels, (saith the Apostle) but the seed of Abraham,] And so was he made the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, the Son of Man. Here is the truth of his humane nature. 2. The Meanness of his condition. 2. The meanness of his condition. Thus the phrase is sometime used in Scripture, carrying a Tapeinôsis with it. The Son of Man, that is, mean man, miserable man. Man that is a worm, and the Son of man that is a worm, (saith Bildad in Job) chap. 25. Job. 25.6. Lord, what is man (saith the Psalmist) that thou art mindful of him, Psal. 8.4. Isa. 51.12. or the Son of Man, that thou regardest him?] Poor man, base man. So our Translation renders that of the Psalmist, Psal. 49.2. Both [Low] and high, rich and poor together.] And so again, Psal. 62, 9 Surely [men of low degree] are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie.] In both places the Original hath it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beni Adam, Filii Hominis, The Sons of man, that is, (as the Septuagint renders it) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Earthborn: As the Latins were wont to call ignoble persons, H. Grot. Annot. in Mat. 8.20. Terrae filios, Sons of the earth; so here, Filii Adam, Sons of earthy man, base man, opposed there to Beni Ish, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filii viri, The sons of noble man. The phrase there imports meanness of condition. And so it doth in those places forenamed, where this stile is given to Ezekiel and Daniel. The Angel calls them, Sons of Man, to humble them by putting them in mind of their frail condition. And in a like sense our Saviour applieth it to himself, importing his state of humiliation and abasement upon earth, wherein he subjected himself to a mean and vulgar condition. Being God blessed for ever, and the Lord of all, he emptied himself, (so the Original hath it, Phil. 2.7. Phil. 2.7. Descripsit hanc voce Christus suam illam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, de quae agitur Phil. 2.7 H. Grot. ibid. Quasi ex Omni Seipsum ad Nihil redegit. Bez. Annot. Gr. Mat. 8.20. Nec aliud est hic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, quàm apud Isaram, cap. 53.3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 H. Grot. Annot. in Matt. 8.20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, seize inanivit, he evacuated himself) made himself of no reputation (saith our Translation) divesting himself of his robes of Majesty and glory, he brought himself (as it were) from all things to nothing; And took upon him the form of a servant] subjected himself to a servile mean condition, so as not to be the owner of any thing; And in this regard he calls himself the Son of man. The Son of man hath not where to lay his head; the phrase sounding as much as that of the Prophet Isaiah, Isai. 53.3, Contemptus, & abjectissimus virorum (as Junius renders it) a man despised and rejected of men. 3. These reasons of the phrase are general. There is a third which is more peculiar to the Text; Christ here styleth himself the Son of Man, 3. The Nature which suffered. showing in what nature he was to be lifted up, to be crucified, viz. in his humane nature: Not as the Son of God, but as the son of Man. True indeed, by reason of the union of the two Natures in one Person, and by a communication of properties (as Divines call it,) the Death and Passion of Christ is attributed to the whole Person, which is denominated sometimes from one nature, sometimes from another. And thence it is the Apostle saith, That, Acts 20.28. God purchased the Church with his own blood: that is, that person who was truly God, as well as man, 1 Cor. 2.8. he shed his blood, which he did not as God, but as man. Whole Christ was lift up, suffered, died; but it was according to his humane Nature. So St. Peter explaineth it, 1 Pet. 3.18. Christ was put to death in the flesh. So again Chap. 4.1. Christ suffered in the flesh; that is, in, or according to his humane Nature. As for the Godhead, it was immortal, impassable, it could neither die, nor suffer. It was the Manhood that was the proper and immediate subject of this Passion. And therefore saith our Saviour, The Son of Man must be lift up. The Type resembling the Truth; the Brazen Serpent, Christ, in To dwell no longer upon the Phrase. Come we now to bring these two together, the Type and the Truth, the Serpent and the Son of Man, and see how the one resembles and answers to the other. These Resemblances are many. But I shall not take up every particular. I shall only reflect upon those few which I named already. Beginning with 1. The Matter. Isai. 45.2. 1. The Matter of the Serpent. It was Brass. Brass, a strong and durable metal, enduring both the Hammer and the Fire; a fit Emblem of strength. Whence it is that strong impediments are called Gates of Brass, Psal. 107.16. And an imprignable strength is called a Wall of Brass, Jer. 1.18. and Chap. 15.20. Dr. Taylour, Christ revealed. p. 308. Isai. 9.6. And herein some observe a fit resemblance of Christ, who was the Lord, strong and mighty, as he is called, Psal. 24.8. strong, to stand against all the powers of Hell, A brazen wall: mighty, to deliver his people; Mighty to subdue and destroy his enemies. And thence described by his feet of Brass, Revel. 2.15. Able to tread under foot all adverse power. Mighty to suffer and undergo what ever the Justice of God should inflict. The humame Nature of Christ in itself was weak, but being supported by the power of the Godhead dwelling in it, it was mightily enabled for the enduring of what ever sufferings: Hereby the flesh of Christ became as Brass. It was Jobs speech of himself: Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh of Brass? Job 6. Job 6.12. Truly, such was the flesh of Christ in his sufferings, made able to undergo that which all the men and Angels in the world must needs have sunk under. 2. For the form or fashion, 2. The Form. It was a Serpent; such in appearance, not in truth; having the shape of a Serpent, but neither the sting, nor poison. And herein again fitly representing this Son of man, Heb. 4.15. who was a man like unto us in all things, sin only excepted. Herein two particulars. 1. Christ was like unto us, To us Men: Christ like unto us men. He was made in the likeness of men, saith the Apostle, 2 Phil. Phil. 2.7. ) that is, of us mere men; I, of us sinful men: Rom. 8.3. God sending his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, Rom. 8. Even as that Brazen serpent carried the likeness of other poisonous and venomous Serpents, so did Christ carry the similitude of sinful flesh; being a sinner both by Reputation, and Imputation: In common repute a sinner, a great sinner: We know that this man is a sinner (say the Pharisees to the blind man) John 9 Joh. 9.24. that is, a great and notorious sinner: Mark 15.28. Isai. 53.12. He was numbered among the transgressors, (saith the Evangelist, citing that of the Prophet Esay;) Nay more, having as a surety taken upon him the sins of the world (the world of his Elect) he was now a sinner by imputation, and the greatest sinner in the world. 2 Cor. 5. last. He was made sin for us, (saith the Apostle) viz. by Imputation, having the iniquities of many, Isai. 53. ver. 6. and 12. of us all laid upon him: And herein fitly answering the Type; wherein we have a Serpent stinging, and a Serpent healing. Rom. 5.19. Ex serpente morbi; per serpente medicinae: Per hominem peccatum & mors, per hominem justificatio & resurrectio. H. G●oti. in Text. Even thus by a man came sin and death, and by a man cometh righteousness and life: The first Adam woundeth, being a man like unto us; the second Adam healeth, being a man like unto us also. God could have found out many other Antidotes, and remedies against the poisonous stingings of these Serpents, but he makes choice of this. A Serpent stings, and a Serpent must heal: Even so possibly he could have found out many other ways and means for the Redeeming and saving of his people, but his Wisdom puts it upon this way as most congruous and convenient; 1 Cor. 15.21. that as by a man came death, so by a man should come the Resurrection of the dead; that as in Adam all die, so in Christ should all be made alive, (as the Apostle goeth on,) 1 Cor. 15. 2. Christ was like unto us Men, Christ like unto us sinful men. Serpentem hunc aeneum in eo Christi gessisse imaginem, quòd alius erat quàm videbatur, rectè notavit adversus Tryphonem Justinus, de eo serpente sic loquens, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, H. Grot. ibid. us sinful men, but himself not sinful. Even as that Serpent was like unto other Serpents, but without the sting, and poison that was in them. Thus our blessed Saviour, how ever he carried the similitude of sinful flesh, yet he was no ways infected or tainted with sin, whether Original, or Actual. Free from the poison of Original sin, which had infected the nature of all other men: Being sanctified in his conception by the supernatural work of the Spirit, he was born holy. That holy thing which shall be born of thee, Luke 1. Luke 1.35. Free from Actual sin. He did no sin, neither was there guile found in his mouth, 1 Pet. 2. 1 Pet. 2.22. And here again behold the Truth answering to the Type. The stinging of those poisonous Serpents cured by a Serpent that had neither sting, nor poison. The sting and poison, guilt and power of sin, taken away by him that was free from both. Christ hath suffered for sins (saith St. Peter (the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, 1 Pet. 3. 1 Pet. 3.18. He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. 5. last. Here is a second resemblance, in the form of this Serpent. 3. 3. The occasion of making, and setting it up. Upon what occasion was this Serpent made, and set up? Why, upon the deadly biting and stinging of the Israelites by those fiery Serpents, whereof some were dead already, others in eminent danger of death. Behold here what it was that occasioned the making and lifting up of this true Brazen Serpent: what occasioned the Eternal Son of God to take our nature upon him, in that nature to suffer, to die: It was our Misery that called for this Mercy: we were all stung, and mortally stung by the old Serpent, who fastening upon our first Parents, through them transfused his poison unto all their posterity: Even as one of those fiery serpents fastening upon one member, the poison thereof ran through the whole body, inflaming, and infecting the blood and spirits in every part. Even thus that old serpent (the devil) fastening the sting of his Tentation in the heart of our first Parents, bringing them to transgress the Command, and so to break the Covenant of their God, he thereby not only wounded them to the death, but through them trasmitted that deadly poison to the whole mass of mankind, being then in their loins: Rom. 5.12. so Death passed upon all men (saith the Apostle) For that all have sinned. All the sons of men being in Adam, tanquàm in radice, as in the common stock and root, they sinned in him; and so death, which had seized upon him, passed upon them; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, pervasit; a Metaphor taken from poison (say some, Instar occulti veneni penetravit. Pareus Com. ad loc. ) which being received into the stomach, it passeth through the whole body, secretly dispersing itself through all the veins. Thus did the poison of the old Serpent, being taken in by our first Parents, it presently passed through the whole body of mankind, transfusing itself into our veins, so as we are all by nature no better then dead men; As Mephibosheth once said to David, All of my father's house were but dead men before my Lord the King: 2 Sam. 19.28. Such are all the posterity of Adam through his transgression, and rebellion against the God of heaven, Dead men, Anshei, Maveth, Men of death; not only subject to natural, but under the power of a spiritual, and bound over unto eternal death; And here is the occasion of bringing in this true Brazen Serpent, of sending a Saviour into the world: Had not the Israelites sinned, and upon their sin been punished after that manner, that Brazen Serpent had never been made: Had not Adam sinned, and sinning died, and all his posterity in him, we should not have needed a Saviour: The Son of God should not have needed to take our nature upon him, in that nature to suffer, to die. It was our sin and misery that occasioned this Mercy. And let the one ever put us in mind of the other. The Cross of Christ mindeth us of our sin and misery. The Brazen serpent standing in the midst of the Camp, it could not but be a memorial to the Israelites to put them in mind of what misery they had brought upon themselves by provoking the anger of God against them. The like use make we of the beholding of Christ crucified. When he is held forth unto us by the Ministers of the Gospel, in the Word and Sacraments, Gal. 3.1. there crucified before our eyes: when we consider what he hath done, what he hath suffered for us, and reflect upon ourselves, and there take notice of the occasion of this abasement. What was it that should draw the Son of God from heaven to earth, to become the son of man, to take our nature upon him; in that nature to do and suffer what he did? In us there was nothing but our misery, which we had brought upon ourselves by reason of sin. And this it was that invited and occasioned this transcendent act of mercy; that, next unto the freegrace, and mercy of God, (a motive within himself) moved him to send his Son into the world. 4. The Author and appointer of it. 4. Which is the fourth particular which the Type leadeth us to: viz. By whom was this means of cure devised and appointed? why, by God himself. He it was that directed and commanded Moses to do what he did about the making and setting up of the Brazen Serpent. And behold here, who it was that found out, and appointed this way and means of salvation for poor sinners by Jesus Christ; even God himself. Hence is it that Christ is sometimes called the Lords Christ, Luke 2. It was revealed unto Simeon that he should not departed hence before he had seen the Lords Christ: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Christum Domini: that Anointed of the Lord, Christ, who was designed and appointed by God his Father to the office of Mediatorship. He it was that found out this way of salvation: And who but he could have done it? not men, not Angels. As for men, they without a supernatural light cannot comprehend this mystery now it is revealed. The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not, John 1.5. The light, that is, Christ (as the verses following explain it; Rom. 1.21. Eph. 4 18. ) shineth in darkness, that is, in the mind of man, which since the fall, is full of darkness: but this darkness comprehendeth it not; 1 Cor. 2.14. the natural man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he receiveth not, (viz. into his understanding) the things which are of God; the Mysteries of the Gospel, specially this great mystery concerning the salvation of mankind by Jesus Christ: No, notwithstanding that it is now so clearly revealed; how much less could he ever have invented, and found it out. Had not God himself found out this way and means of cure for the Israelites by this Brazen Serpent, it was not Moses could have done it, the Israelites themselves would never have thought of it. Had not God in his infinite wisdom found out this way and means of salvation for poor sinners by Christ, man himself could never have thought of it, would never have dreamt of it. No nor yet the Angels: As for them, they now stand admiring, and adoring this sacred mystery, 1 Pet. 1.12. desiring more and more to pry and look into it (as Saint Peter tells us) though fully revealed: Impossible that ever they should have found it out: Here was the Wisdom of God himself, where the Apostle speaking of the Doctrine of Christ crucified, he calleth it the Wisdom of God, 1 Cor. 1.24. and the wisdom of God in a mystery, even hidden wisdom, 1 Cor. 2.7. Hidden from men and Angels; so it was, and so for ever it had been, had not God himself revealed it. Devised by God; and Ordained by him; so it there followeth. Hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world, for our glory,] This God having found out, he determined with himself before time; and what he determined before time, he excuted in time; giving, sending his Son; So God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, etc. in the verse after the Text: When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, etc. Gal. 4.4. What ever Christ did, or suffered in his whole course upon earth, it was all by his Father's appointment, by Commission from him: This is that which our Saviour saith of himself, Joh. 6.27. Him hath God the Father sealed. A Metaphor taken from men who give Commission to their Agents and Deputies, under their hand and seal. True it is, God made use of Instruments in bringing him to the Cross; as here he made use of Moses as his instrument in setting up the Brazen serpent: But what they therein did, it was not only by a Divine Permission, but Ordination. Even as Moses, what he did about the Brazen Serpent, it was by God's direction and appointment: So, what ever they did about the Crucifying of Christ, they did it (though not by Warrant and direction from God, as Moses did, yet) by his ordination, determination; so Saint Peter tells some of them, Act. 2.23. Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and crucified.] Act. 4.27. Of a truth, against thy holy child Jesus, Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles, etc. were assembled to do; what? whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.] Not a circumstance in all his passive obedience; but was ordered and determined by God himself. Here is a fourth particular. A fifth follows. 5. In the use. How was this Brazen Serpent used? It was lift up (saith the Text;) As Moses lift up the Serpent in the wilderness. And herein again behold a lively type of Christ the true Brazen Serpent, who was also lifted up, and so lifted up. [So must the Son of Man be lift up. Quest. For the opening of the phrase, Quest. How Christ is said to be lifted up. How is Christ said to be lifted up? Answ. Answ. 1. In his Passion. Christ may be said to be lifted up divers ways. 1. In his Passion, his Death: lifted up upon the Cross. 2 In his Resurrection; 2. Resurrection. lifted up from the Grave, from which he risen the third day. 3 In his Exaltation, his Ascension 3. Ascension. into Heaven, and Session at the right hand of God. Of these two later, the Apostle S. Peter speaks, Act. 2.32, 33. This Jesus God hath raised up: Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, lifted up: 4. And lastly, He may be said to be lifted up in the Preaching of the Gospel. 4. The preaching of the Gospel. And in this fourth and last sense, Mr. Calvin understands the phrase here in the Text; The Son of Man must be lifted up; Hoc factum est in Evangelii praedicatione. Calv. ad. loc. ] And so he is (saith he) in the preaching of the Gospel: There is Christ held forth and lift up even as the Brazen Serpent was lift up in the wilderness: How was the Brazen Serpent lift up? Why it was set up for a sign, an ensign, that all the people might take notice of, and look up to for their bodily cure: And even thus is Christ lift up in the preaching of the Gospel: Lift up for a sign and an ensign; so the Prophet Isaiah hath it, Isai. 11. In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people, ver. 10. He shall set up an ensign for the Nations, ver. 12. So again, Isai 49 22. Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to that people, etc. This Ensign, this Standard is Christ, who is lift up where ever the Gospel is preached. God's Ministers they are his Standard-bearers, and their work is to lift up Christ; for indeed, what is the Gospel but a Doctrine concerning Christ? concerning his one Person, two Natures, three Offices, his Obedience, Merits, Benefits; In all holding forth Christ, that the people might behold, look up to him, believe on him. Thus is Christ there lifted up: A truth, and a useful one, which I will not wholly exclude out of the Text. The first sense proper to the Text. But the stream of other Expositors, Ancient and Modern, and that (for aught I know) with one consent, carry the sense another way, understanding the phrase in the first sense, of the Death and Passion of Christ; There was the Son of Man lift up, and that in a literal sense; lift up upon the Cross; and of this I conceive our Saviour here to speak: In this sense we find this phrase used by himself in two other places of this Gospel, Joh. 8.28. and 12.32. in the former place he tells the Jews, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, than you shall know that I am he. Now how did they lift him up? Why, by crucifying him, lifting him up upon the Cross: The later Text is express and full; And I, (saith our Saviour) if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men after me. Lifted up, how? why, the next verse explains it; This spoke he (saith the Evangelist) signifying what death he should die; Thus the people there understood him: as appears by the 34. verse of that Chapter; and I see no reason why we should not so understand him here in the Text, as under this phrase notifying to Nichodemus and us, both his own death, and the Manner of his Death. Quest. But here the Question may be, why our Saviour should here make use of this dark and covert expression? Quest. Why our Saviour here maketh use of this expression. why doth he not rather in plain and simple terms say, So must the Son of Man be crucified? but he must be lifted up? Ans. Answ. Not to insist upon what some collect from it, though true and useful. 1. Our Saviour calleth his Death a lifting up, because (say they) it was the way to his Exaltation. 1. The Cross the way to his Exaltation. He shall drink of the Brook in the way (saith the Psalmist) therefore shall he lift up the head, Psal. 110. Psal. 110. last. which some understand of the bitter Cup of the Passion, making way to his glorious Exaltation; Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? Luk. 24. Luke 24.26. He humbled himself, etc. Therefore God highly exalted him, lifted him up, Phil. 2. Phil. 2.8, 9 His Humilintion was the way to his Exaltation. 2. Nay more: It was to him an Exaltation: 2. The Cross itself an Exaltation. Christ in his death, however he seemed to be depressed, humbled, yet he was even then exalted, in as much as therein he triumphed over his and his Church's enemies; overcoming even there, where he seemed to be overcome: Overcoming Death by dying; Sin, Satan, Hell, by suffering, yielding: Even there in his Passion upon the Cross, he spoiled Principalities and Powers, Colos. 2.15. triumphing over them (as the Apostle hath it.) In it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, viz. in his Passion upon the Cross, which was to him as a Chariot of Triumph: Never did Conqueror triumph so gloriously in his Chariot, as Christ upon his Cross. And in this regard the Death and Passion of Christ might here be called an Exaltation, a lifting up. 3 The phrase alluding to the Type, the Brazen Serpent; which was 3 But to let both these pass. It is enough our Saviour here maketh use of this phrase being led to it by the Type, which not only shadowed out his Death, but the manner or kind of his death; and that most clearly and lively, as I might show you in some particulars. 1 The Brazen Serpent was lift up above the Earth: 1 Lift up above the earth. so was Christ in his death, he was lift up from the earth, as himself phraseth it, Joh. 12.32. 2 The Brazen Serpent was set upon a Pole 2 Upon a pole. or perch; and thus was Jesus Christ lift up upon the Tree. He bore our sins (saith Saint Peter 1 Pet. 2.23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Just. Apol. 2. ) in his own body upon the Tree, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, super lignum illud, upon that wood, the wood of the Cross: The one typifying the other. 3 The Brazen Serpent was lift up in the wilderness, 3. In the Wilderness. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, In loco vasto, pleno veneni, in quo figura mundi Christi temporibus corruptissimi. H. Grot. ad loc. so saith the Text, in a waste and solitary place, full of venom and poison; and such, (saith Grotius) was the world (nay the Church) in the time of Christ, marvellously corrupted and empoisoned with all kind of Error and Superstition. 4 The Brazen Serpent was so lifted up as that all the Camp of Israel might see it; and to that end set up in the midst of the Camp, 4. In the midst of the Camp. that they might behold it from all quarters: Thus was Christ lift up as it were in the midst of the world, that the Elect of God in all ages, in all places of the world, might look up unto him. 5 And lastly. The Brazen Serpent was lift up, that whoever beheld it might be healed, 5. For a healing medicine. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.] Simili effectu. Grot. how mortally soever he was stung: And to the same end was Christ lift up, that whosoever looketh up to him by faith might be saved, as the verse following explains the resemblance betwixt these two. Thus was the Brazen Serpent lift up, Christ lift up after the like manner. and so was the Son of man lift up. The death of Christ necessary And it was requisite he should be so, so saith the Text, So must the son of man be lifted up.] Must.] So our Saviour often layeth it down, inculcating upon his Disciples, the necessity of his death, Matth. 16.21. From that time began Jesus to show unto his Disciples, how that he [must] go up to Jerusalem, and suffer many things, etc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Luke 24.26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. And so here, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Oportet exaltari, He [must] be lift up. The death of Christ was not a thing casual, accidental, much less needless; no, it was both needful and necessary. In a threefold respect. Necessary, How? What in respect of Christ himself? no. In him it was a free and voluntary act, Phil. 2. 8. He humbled himself, and became obedient to the death, even the death of the cross. How then? Why necessary in a threefold respect. 1 In respect of God. 2 In respect of the Scriptures: 3. In respect of us. In respect of God who had decreed it: In respect of the Scriptures which had foretold it; In respect of us, who needed it, had perished without it. 1. Of God. 1. In respect of God, who had decreed it. God in his eternal counsel had determined that his Son should suffer, should die. Thence he is said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Rev. 13.8. viz. (as in regard of the virtue and efficacy of his death; which extended to the first age of the world, as well as the last, so) in regard of God's Decree. Now Gods Decree being immutable, it imposeth a necessity upon that which in regard of secondary causes, is contingent and accidental. His Decree is irreversible; Isai. 46.10. My counsel shall stand. In this respect the son of man [must] die. Must] is for the King, for the King of Heaven; whose will is a law, imposing a necessity upon the creature, a necessity of obeying. 2. Necessary in respect of the Scriptures, 2. The Scriptures. which had foretold it. The Scriptures in the Old Testament they had foretold the death and passion of Christ, and that both by word, & by sign. By word fore-prophesied it, by signs fore-typified it. Before prophesied it; After sixty & two weeks the Messiah shall be cut off, (slain) but but not for himself, (saith Daniel,) Dan. 9.26. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, (saith the Prophet Esay) Isai. 53.7. Both foretelling the death and passion of Christ. Foretipified it; Isaak lifted up, and laid upon the Altar by his father; the Paschal Lamb, the daily sacrifices, all shadowed out the sacrifice of Christ, none more clearly than that in the Text. The lifting up of the brazen Serpent in the wilderness. Now that all these, these, prophecies, these tips might be fulfilled, therefore [must] the son of man be lift up, suffer, die. For (as our Saviour tells the Jews) The Scriptures cannot be broken, John 10.35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Non potest solvi, It cannot be frustrated, made void. Rather than the Scripture shall be broken, the son of man, I, the Son of God shall be broken. He was broken for our iniquities, Isai. 53.5. 3. Of mankind. 3. Necessary in respect of us who needed it. God needed not to have given his Son: Christ needed not to have given himself; but we needed it. It was not the Father's necessity, nor the Son's necessity, nor yet any advantage that could hereby accrue unto either, but our necessities, that brought the Son of God to the Cross. He must suffer and die, otherwise we must have suffered and died, and that eternally. No other way to redeem us, to save us; the justice of God requiring that the same nature which had sinned, should satisfy; such was the cure which God prescribed to the Israelites. They were stung by a serpent, and they must be healed by a serpent; and therefore the brazen serpent must be lift up; otherwise they were but dead men. And such was the way which the wisdom of God had found out for the redeeming of lost mankind: Man sinneth, and man must suffer; the same nature, though not the same person: Mercy dispensed with the one, but justice required the other And therefore the Son of man must be lift up, otherwise all mankind had perished, and that for ever, so much the verse following clearly imports. The Son of man must be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him, should not perish: Intimating, that had not the Son of man been thus lift up, had not Christ died, we had been in a hopeless condition: no way for us but we must needs have perished. In regard of us than it was expedient: It is expedient for us (saith Caiphas, speaking by a spirit of prophecy) That one man should die for the people, Joh. 11.50, 51 and that the whole nation perish not. And thus you see how, and in what respects it is here said, that The Son of man [must] be lift up. Applic. To make some Application of this useful truth. In the first place by way of Information. Applic. By way of Information. Behold we hear the depth of man's misery, the height of God's mercy. Man's misery which required such a remedy, God's mercy in providing and reaching it forth. Use 1. Take we notice here of the depth of our own misery, our natural misery Use 1. Man's natural misery. by reason of sin, fitly represented, and shadowed out in the condition of these Israelites, being stung or bitten by these serpents. Touching which, that the resemblance betwixt the one and the other, may more clearly appear, we may in the Type consider, and take notice of three particulars. Three particulars notified in the Type. 1. The Serpent itself. 2 The sting of this serpent. 3. The deadly effect of that sting where it fastened. The Serpent itself, a venomous and poisonful creature; such generally are all serpents, but this more than other; and thence called a fiery serpent, both from the colour, which through the abundance of poison, was shining and glistering like fire: and also from the nature and quality of its poison, which inflamed and burnt the body like unto fire. The sting, or teeth of this serpent, the instrument whereby it conveyed that poison, the effect of that stinging, which was not only painful and dangerous, but deadly. Now I suppose your thoughts run before my meditations in applying of every of these. All which read us a useful lecture touching our natural misery, shadowing out unto us how we are all stung by that old Serpent, whose sting is sin, and the fruit thereof death. Briefly of each. 1. The Serpent; Satan. Revel. 12.9.20.2. 1. Behold here the Serpent which hath stung us; Satan, that old Serpent, as he is sometimes called, and that not unfitly. 1. A Serpent, in as much as in that shape he seduced our first parents, 1. Seducing our first parents in that shape. coming to the woman in the shape of a serpent, speaking in, and by the serpent, making use of that creature as his instrument in conveying his suggestions; 2 Cor. 11.3. whence it is said, that the serpent bebeguiled Eve, that is, Satan in the Serpent. 2. Resembling the serpent, 2. Resembling the serpent. and that in two prime qualities and properties of that creature, viz. the subtlety, and poisonous nature of it. 1. In Subtlety; 1. In subtlety. Gen. 3 1. The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, Gen. 3. Satan more subtle than any of the sons of men; Crafty to deceive. 2 Cor. 11.3. [The Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety.] Having his wind and turn, 2 Cor. 2.11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Ephes 6.11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and subtle insinuations, his Devices, his Methods, as the Apostle calleth them, whereby he winds himself in and out: Even as that serpent was able to creep in and out of the Garden unespied; so doth Satan insinuate himself into the most sacred societies, Job 1.6. into the most holy duties; I, even into the bosoms of men, secretly, closely. 2. A Serpent for his poison. The Serpent is full of venom, and so is Satan of malicious wickedness. 2. In malicious wickedness. O thou full of all subtlety and mischief, thou child of the Devil, saith Paul to Elimas' the Sorcerer, Acts 13. Acts 13.10. Such was the child, and such is the father; Satan full of wickedness in himself; thence called sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that wicked one. Matth. 6.13. Ephes. 6.16. And full of poisonous malice against God, and his people, which upon all occasions he is ready to vent, and spit forth in mutual accusations, accusing God to man, and man to God, seeking to communicate his poison, to infect, and impoison, and destroy others. Here is the Serpent which stung our first parents, and in them all their posterity. But what is the sting of this Serpent? sin. 2. The sting of this Serpent, sin. Serpents have their stings or teeth, whereby they convey their poison, wounding where they fasten; so hath this old serpent, whose sting is sin. The sting of death is sin (saith the Apostle) and so of Satan, 1 Cor. 15.56. who hath the power of death. Had it not been for this, Heb. 2.14. Satan could never have hurt our first parents. A serpent may wind round about the body of man, yet unless it fasten the sting or teeth in him, it hurts him not. Had not Satan fastened the sting of his tentation in our first parents, drawing them to sin against their God, all his assaults had been to no purpose. Hence was it that our blessed Saviour came off safe from those encounters with this old serpent, both in the wilderness, and in the garden. The Prince of this world cometh (saith our Saviour;) but he hath nothing in me, John 14. John 14. He assaults him as he did our first parent in the Garden; but he could not hurt him, because he could not fasten the sting of his tentation in him, to draw him to sin. But in our first parents he did, wounding first the woman, than the man, drawing both into the transgression; and so by that means impoisoning the whole nature of man; inwrapping all their posterity both in the guilt, and slain, and dominion of sin. Hence is the sting of this serpent. 3. And what is the effect of this stinging? 3. The Effect of this stinging. why, behold that not only painful and dangerous, but deadly: Hereby whole mankind was poisoned, and the whole of man. Like as those serpents stinging the one part of the body, the poison spread itself through all the members: Thus the poison of sin entering by one man, it hath poisoned the whole Mass of mankind, and every part of man: so as every power, and faculty of the soul, and every member of the body, they are all poisoned, and that mortally. Such was the stinging of those serpents; it was mortal, deadly, Rom. 6. last. incurable by any natural means; and such is the effect of sin. The wages of sin is death. Death not only temporal, but spiritual and eternal. Of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter. Lo here then the condition of all the sons of men by nature. Man's natural condition very miserable. A condition how miserable? Who is there but so looketh upon the condition of a poor Israelite, being stung with those fiery serpents? what was his smart, his anguish? Thinking of them, learn to pity ourselves, or others, being yet in the state of nature: having the sting of sin sticking in our souls, O what horror, what torment will this procure to us, if not speedily cured? That we feel it not now, it is because we are asleep. An Israelite being asleep, possibly he might not feel the anguish of his stinging, but being awakened, he could not but be sensible of it. Hence it is that wicked men now feel not the smart, and anguish of their sins; Alas, they are asleep: but if ever God awaken them (as sooner or later he will, in this life, or in hell) what horrors, what torment will these procure unto them? See it in Judas, when the old Serpent had fastened the sting of his tentation in him, and brought him to betray his Lord and Master, at first he feels it not; but so soon as God had awakened his conscience, see now how in the anguish of his soul he runs to the Chief Priests, (even as these Israelites being stung did to Moses) bewailing his condition, complaining of his sin and misery; Matth. 27.4. I have sinned in betraying innocent blood: but all in vain, without either cure or ease. The poison being got to his heart, he swells, and bursts, and dies upon it. And here is the first thing which I propounded to be taken notice of: Man's misery by nature, represented and shadowed out by the condition of an Israelite stung with these fiery serpents. Use 2. God's mercy in providing a remedy. 2. In the second place, behold we also in the same glass the height of God's mercy, in providing a salve for this sore, a remedy for this misery. What a mercy do we account it in God, that he was pleased to provide a brusen serpent, to cure the stinging of those fiery serpents? And so indeed it was, specially if looked upon according to the circumstances of it: That he who was justly provoked to wrath against them for their sins, their ingratitude, their murmuring and repining against him, that he should provide a remedy for them; and that he should then do it, when all other means had left them desperate; that he should step into them in this their great necessity; what a mercy? Behold the like, a far greater mercy in the thing signified: That God should provide a way and means of deliverance for us when we were enemies to him; Rom. 5.8.10. and that he should then do it, when neither men nor Angels could do any thing for us, behold here as infinite wisdom, so infinite mercy. And who can behold it without a thankful admiration? That God should turn Physician to such a Patient; that he should devise for them, and prescribe to them, who spared not to devise, and speak, and act against him; then taking them in hand for cure, when all other means had given them over, how doth this commend the mercy and love of God both towards them and us? Behold here the truth of that prophetical protestation, Ezek. 33. Ezek. 33.11. As I live (saith the Lord God) I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. That God punished some of the Israelites with death for their rebellions, it was but justice: making them exemplary to the rest. Poena ad paucos, terror ad omnes; That he spared the rest, providing a cure for them, this was mercy; wherein God declared that he was not delighted in the misery and destruction of his creature. That God bindeth some wicked and ungodly men over unto just condemnation for sin, this he doth in justice; yet is he not delighted in the destruction of his creature; and thence is it that he hath provided a way and means of salvation for others. He that lift up this brazen serpent in the wilderness for those surviving Israelites, he hath also lift up a Saviour for us, delivering his own and only Son to the death for us; that he dying, we might not die; that believing on him, we might not perish, but have everlasting life. Use 3. And hath God done this for us? Use 3. Exhortation to make use of this remedy. O let not this grace and mercy of his bee in vain to any of us! When God had caused the brazen serpent to be set up in the wilderness, such as were stung with those fiery serpents, (I suppose) they should not need to have been pressed to go out of their Tents, to repair and look up unto it for cure. Such is our condition (as you have heard,) All stung, and that mortally by this old Serpent: And such hath God's mercy been, he hath provided a brazen serpent for us, caused his Son to be lift up for us: O let us not now neglect so great salvation, but come forth of our Tents, go we out of ourselves, and come unto Jesus Christ, looking up to him that we may be made partakers of the benefits of his death and passion. To this end was the brazen serpent lift up, that the people might look up to it. And to this end was the Lord Jesus Christ lift up upon the Cross, that poor sinners might look unto him. And this let us do. I mean, as many of us as feel the need we have of him: as feel the sting of sin sticking in our souls, and so desire to be freed not only from the guilt and terror, but also from the power of it. For such and only such they are that shall have benefit by Christ. The brazen serpent being lift up, all Israel might look upon it, but they only had benefit by it, who feeling themselves stung, looked up to it for cure. Thus is it with our Brazen Serpent, the Lord Jesus. Others may look upon him, and yet be never the better for him: So did the Jews, who saw him crucified, yet had no benefit by him: Ferus ad Text. Multi viderunt & oderunt, Many of them saw him, and hated him; and so had better never have seen him. Thus do many Christians behold Christ in the history of the Gospel, behold him crucified before their eyes in the preaching of the word, and yet not feeling the need they have of him, they shall never have any benefit by him. O then labour we first to be sensible of this, to feel ourselves stung, mortally stung. Be we sensible of our condition. So we are, whether we feel it or no? and the less we feel it, the greater is our danger, and the less hope of grace: only labour to be thus sensible hereof, that so we may feel the need we have of Jesus Christ, that we may see ourselves dead men without him. Now, and not till now, are we fit for him: Other qualifications or predispositions he requireth none; only that we be sensible of the need we have of him. Being such, now come we unto him, and come with boldness and confidence, being assured that we shall find a perfect cure in him, and from him, we shall not die, but live. So much the verse following will assure us of, wherein we shall meet with the two other particulars, which I took notice of in the Type, fully answered; viz. the end and efficacy of this our Brazen Serpent, To which I now come. Ver. 15. That whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have Eternal life.] IN which words we may see the Truth not only Answering, The Truth excelling the Type. but Excelling the Type, advanced above it, and that in two particulars: In the Effect of it, and in the Extent of that effect. For the Effect: The brazen serpent was the means of a bodily cure, of preserving a temporal life. But Christ is the means of a spiritual cure, of procuring an eternal life. For the Extent of that effect; The brazen serpent was erected for the use and benefit of the Jew; Christ crucified is a Saviour both of Jew and Gentile; the efficacy and virtue of his death extending to both alike. That whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.] Division. Shall we divide the words? we may take notice in them of two things; a Condition, and a Promise: A condition, the same with the condition of the new Covenant, the Covenant of Grace; viz. believing on Jesus Christ; Whosoever believeth on him. The Promise, importing the great benefit accrueing to them who shall rightly perform this condition. They shall not perish, etc. Wherein we may take notice, first of the benefit itself; then of the persons to whom it extends. The Benefit itself, which is partly Privative, partly Positive. Privative, deliverance from death, [They shall not perish.] Positive, fruition of life, and that eternal life; They shall not perish, but have eternal life.] The Extent of which benefit is indefinite, universal, to all those that shall perform the condition. [That whosoever believeth, etc.] It is not my purpose to insist precisely in the steps of this Division. I shall rather, for our better and more profitable proceeding, draw forth the words into four distinct and plain doctrinal Propositions, or Conclusions. The first whereof is necessarily employed, the rest plainly expressed. 1. Four Doctrinal Conclusions. All men by nature are in a perishing estate and condition. 2. The only way and means of deliverance out of that perishing state, is by Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3. The only way and means of receiving benefit by and from Jesus Christ, is, to believe on him. 4. Whosoever so believeth on him, shall have perfect salvation by him. Four main and useful Conclusions, each a Principle of Christian Religion, a Head of Catechism, necessary even for children to know and understand, and yet of sovereign use for the most grown Christian. I shall handle them distinctly, and plainly; still having an eye to the Type here set before us, wherein (as in a glass) we may read the truth of every of these particulars, and of the greatest part of what I shall say concerning them. Begin with the first: Conclusion 1. All men by nature in a perishing condition. A truth, though not directly expressed, yet necessarily employed: All men by nature are in a perishing condition. Mark it; Christ the true Brazen Serpent was lift up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, etc. A clear intimation that without Christ, and without faith in Christ, all men are but dead men, in a perishing state, a state of perdition, deprived of life, subjected unto death. 1 Deprived of life. 1. Deprived of life, that life which the Text speaketh of, viz. Eternal life, which is begun in Grace, perfected in Glory; of this life are all men naturally deprived. Being destitute of the Life of Grace, so saith S. Paul of the Gentiles before conversion, Eph. 4 18. They were alienated (estranged) from the life of God. That life whereby God liveth in his Saints, the life of grace; they were strangers to it, they knew not what it meant; destitute of this Spiritual life, and shut out from the life of glory; Rom. 3.23. All have sinned (saith S. Paul speaking of the universality of mankind) and are deprived of the glory of God;] They come short of it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Deficiuntur, they are cast behind; A Metaphor (saith Beza) taken from runners in a Race, Beza Gr. Ann. who through natural weakness, or by a fall, or some like impediment, are so far cast behind, as that it is not possible they should ever fetch it up again, so as to win the prize. So fareth it with all men naturally; through the fall of Adam, in whose loins then they were, and through their own natural weakness thereby contracted, they are so far cast behind, that do what they can, improve the power of nature to the uttermost, they can never of themselves come up to the goal, so as to win the prize, never attain eternal life. All deprived of life. And 2. All subjected unto death; 2. Subjected unto death. Gen. 3.17. and that by virtue of that first threatening, The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death, Gen. 3. All subjected to a threefold death, Temporal, Spiritual and Eternal. Temporal of the Body; Spiritual of the Soul; Eternal both of Soul and Body: Being all inevitably subject to the first, lying under the power of the second, and under the sentence of the third: Having their Bodies mortal, their Souls dead, Dead in trespasses and sins: Eph. 2.1. Souls and Bodies bound over unto Eternal death, which consisteth in an eternal separation from the presence of God, in whose presence is life: an eternal confinement to that place and state of torment, prepared for the devil and his angels; all which (if need were) might be made good in particulars. And herein is the forlorn perishing state and condition of all men by nature; that it is so, it cannot be denied. But how cometh it to be so? See the ground and cause of it in the Type: This hath the Serpent done; Reas. This hath the Serpent done. The Israelites being stung or bitten by those fiery serpents, though both strong and healthful before, they were now but dead men, carrying death in their bosoms; and so fareth it with the sons of men, however created in a blessed state and condition, in a healthful constitution (as I may say) with a posse non mori, a possibility of being immortal, yet upon the stinging of the serpent, the old serpent fastening his sting in Adam, through him transfusing his poison, the deadly poison of sin to all his posterity, hereby they are become so wretched, so miserable, all dead men, in a perishing condition; so the Apostle layeth it down clearly and plainly in that known Text, Rom. 5.12. As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all, for that all have sinned:] Mark it; Here is the head and spring of all that evil of sin and misery which hath broken in upon mankind. Adam sinned, and sinning died, being thereupon subjected to that threefold death. Now Adam thus dying and perishing, all his posterity perished in him, and with him; even as it is with a tree, the Root dying, all the Branches die in it, and with it: So standeth the case betwixt Adam and his posterity: Adam was the common Root of mankind, all others of the sons of men were in him Tanquam in radice, as Branches in the Root; and so consequently he dying, they all die in him, and with him. Thus briefly you see both the truth of this first Conclusion, and the ground of it. As briefly bring we it home by way of Application, and so pass to the other Conclusions which are here more expressly laid down in the Text. 1. By way of Conviction: Use 1. Conviction. See this to be our state. Is this the state of all men by nature? Be we then convinced that this is our estate in particular. An easy matter it is to believe, confess and acknowledge this truth in the gross, in the general, that all men by nature are in a perishing state, lost men and women, children of perdition. to bring it home to a man's self in particular, to be convinced and made sensible that this is my estate, thy estate, here is a difficulty; a thing which few do, or endeavour to do; and hence it is that men being in the state of nature, are so little or nothing affected with the dangerousness of that condition: They can lie and continue in that estate wherein they were born, and yet never be troubled at it, never affected with it: What is the reason hereof? Why, they look upon this truth only in the gross, in the general notion of it; Now Generalities do not affect; Genera nec agunt, nec patiuntur. Certainly, were men but once throughly convinced and persuaded that this is their estate in particular, they would not so quietly and contentedly sit down in it; they would never be at rest until they have got some evidence, some assurance unto their own souls, that they are gotten out of that estate, brought out of this state of nature into a state of grace. And therefore in the fear of God, as many of you as were never yet throughly convinced of the truth hereof, now let it into your souls, and do not suffer vain thoughts to lodge within you, as viz. that you shall do as well as others, (so you may, and yet be miserable enough;) or, that whatever become of others, yet it shall go well with you; what saith our Saviour to the Jews flattering themselves with the like thoughts? viz. That however the judgements of God might light upon others, yet they should escape. Not so (saith he) Except ye repent, Luke 13.3. ye shall all likewise perish: Let it be spoken to every secure sinner that stands before me this day, that lieth sleeping in his natural state and condition, flattering himself with a self conceited apprehension, that he is not as some others, (as the Pharisee said of himself) no Swearer, no Drunkard, no profane, no scandalous person, and hereupon speaks peace to his own soul, promising to himself immunity from that wrath of God which shall fall upon others, I tell you nay; but except ye repent, except ye be renewed, changed, brought out of that estate of nature, and brought home unto God by Christ, ye shall likewise perish; Your estate being for the present that estate wherein you were born, it is a perishing state, a state of perdition; so as living and dying in it, there is no hope but you must perish, and for ever perish. An Israelite being stung, was now but a dead man; and so art thou being under the guilt and power of sin. O that this apprehension were but let in, and throughly set on upon every soul here present, then should I not need to press, what at present I intent only to propound by way of Exhortation. Use 2. Look out for cure. That every one of us here present would look out for ourselves, our own safety, our own security, never giving rest unto our souls until we be upon good grounds ascertained that we are got out of this state. My Brethren, will any creature (man only excepted) rest in such a state as threatens destruction to it: Such is the state of nature, a state of perdition, threatening certain destruction to every soul that lieth and continueth in it. And therefore every of us (in the fear of God) be excited to a serious and earnest inquiry after some way and means of deliverance out of this estate; that having found it out, we may put our souls upon it, so as we may not perish with the rest of the world. The Israelites feeling themselves stung with these Fiery Serpents, they look out for cure: To that end, they repair unto Moses, making their moan unto him: the like will we do for our bodies; Do we find them distempered, wounded, we will look out to the Physician, Chirurgeon, for remedy and cure. O, be as wise for our souls! Do we feel them wounded, stung with this Old Serpent? Do not now lie and die in our sins; God hath provided a means of cure, seek we, inquire we after it, and make use of it. And to that end, come with these Israelites to Moses, come to the Ministers of God, Come to Moses, the Ministers of God. enquiring from them out of the word what course is to be taken; this will a wounded soul, a soul rightly humbled do, feeling the sting of sin sticking in it, and apprehending the deadly consequence of it, it will now have recourse to God, to his Word, to his Ministers, ask counsel of them. So did the Jews being pricked in their hearts, they come unto Peter and the rest (even as the Israelites here did unto Moses:) and what is their errand? Men and Brethren, Act. 2.37. what shall we do? The Jailor the like; being stung, and sensible of his pain, he cometh to Paul and Silas; and what is his Question? Act. 16.30. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? O that men would take the same course; feeling the sting of sin sticking in their souls and consciences, not let it alone festering and wrankling, and spreading the venom of it more and more, till it be past cure; nor yet seeking out after indirect and unprofitable ways and means of cure: As it is in the case of some, of many, when they feel the smart, the sting of sin galling their consciences, what course take they? Why (it may be) with Saul, send for a Musician to charm that evil and unquiet spirit; or with Cain, fall to building of Cities, plunge themselves into business and employment of the world; use some dangerous, it may be desperate Anodynes, some means or other to cast the soul into a dead sleep, to benumb the sense of it, which they ordinarily do by drowning and surcharging it with the pleasures or profits of the world; Alas, it is not this will do it. It was not all the Physicians and Magicians in the world that could have cured a stung Israelite. No, when they have done all, they must come to Moses: They are not all the carnal comforts and contentments in the world that can cure a wounded soul; possibly they may lull it asleep for a time, and stupefy it so as it shall not feel the pain; (as haply some stupifying medicines might have been found out for the Israelites) but it is only God and his Word that can prescribe means of comfort and cure: And therefore hither have we recourse, enquiring of God's Ministers what we shall do; by what means we may obtain deliverance and salvation. This being the question, now know we for our comfort, that God hath provided a way and means for this purpose; when neither Man nor Angel could do it, God himself in infinite wisdom and mercy hath found out a way and means for the curing, healing, saving of our souls: And what is that way, that means? Why, only Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And so I am fallen upon the second Conclusion. 2. The only way and means of deliverance and salvation for poor perishing sinners, is by Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Conclus. 2. Christ crucified the only remedy. A Truth clearly held forth in the Type: The Israelites being stung with these deadly Serpents, they had no means of cure but only this Brazen Serpent being lift up; this was to them the Sovereign and only Antidote, and remedy. Even thus mankind being mortally stung by that Old Serpent, brought into a perishing condition by sin, they have no other remedy, no other way or means of salvation but Christ, and Christ lifted up upon the Cross, Christ crucified; so the Text itself plainly expresseth and applieth it; So must the Son of Man be lift up, That whosoever believeth on him should not perish, etc. A Principle, I, the Principle of Christian Religion, The Cardinal Principle of Christian Religion. containing in it the sum and substance of the Gospel. For the better handling of it, I shall draw it forth into three distinct Branches. The Conclusion divided into three Propositions. 1. That Christ: 2. Only Christ: 3. Only Christ crucified is the means of man's deliverance and salvation. Open these three severally by way of Explication, Illustration; put them together in the Application. Prop. 1. Jesus Christ is the Saviour and deliverer of lost mankind. Prop. 1. Christ the Saviour of lost mankind. A Truth first preached in Paradise by God himself; where he tells the Serpent, that the Seed of the woman should bruise his head, Gen. 3.15. It shall bruise thy head.] It, viz. the Seed of the woman, Christ the Seed of the Virgin, the singular seed of the woman. Shall bruise thy head, i. e. Break the power of that old Serpent, Satan; And this hath Jesus Christ done, and daily doth. And hence is it that he is called sometimes by the name of a Redeemer, a Deliverer. I know that my Redeemer liveth (saith Job: Job. 19.25. ) The Redeemer shall come to Zion (saith the Prophet) Isai. 59 Isai. 59.20. There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer (saith the Apostle, relating to that of the Prophet) Rom. 11. Rom. 11.26. Elsewhere and often a Saviour, Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour (saith Peter) Act. 5. Act. 5.31. The Author of salvation, and that, Eternal salvation. Being made perfect (saith the Apostle) he became the Author of Eternal salvation to all them that obey him, Heb. 5. Heb. 5.9. A Saviour to his people, his Elect: So much his name imports, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people (saith the Angel to Joseph, Mat. 1. Mat, 1.21. Saving them from spiritual enemies, sin and Satan. Save them; from what? why from sin and Satan, their Spiritual enemies; He shall save his people from their sins: Sin is the sting of the Old Serpent (as I have shown you.) And from this Christ the true Brazen Serpent, saveth his people. Obj. Saveth them, you may say, How it is that Believers are infested with both? How then is it that they are daily so infested as they are? Infested by sin and Satan; assaulted by the one, and foiled by the other? Answ. To this let the Type make answer, which meets with it fully. The Israelites after the Brazen serpent was set up, they were still infested with those Fiery Serpents, still stung by them, and that stinging as painful to them, and in itself as dangerous and deadly as formerly it was; but it was not so mortal to them who looked up to that Brazen serpent. Here was the virtue of this sovereign Antidote. The brazen serpent saved them not from the stinging of the Serpents, but from the deadly consequence of that stinging. Thus doth Christ save his people from sin and satan in this life, not from being infested by them (though in part also he restrains the malice of Satan, and abates the power of sin in his people; the Truth herein again excelling the Type) but from perishing by them. Mark the Text, [That whosoever believeth on him, should not perish:] Thus doth Christ save his people, though not altogether from sin itself, yet from the consequence of sin, which is death, and condemnation: There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, Rom. 8.1. In the wilderness, the Serpents themselves were not taken away, nor yet the sting from these Serpents, nor yet the venom from that sting; only rendered not mortal to those who made use of this means of Cure. Thus in this life sin is not quite abolished, nor yet the guilt taken away from the sin: No, even in a justified person sin still remains, and that as sin, which the believer often feeleth the smart of, but the guilt, and punishment, and power of it is so taken away by Christ, as that it shall not be mortal to the person that looks up unto him: They shall not perish, but have eternal life. Thus is Christ a Saviour to his people. Quest. Quest. How Christ cometh to be a Saviour. But how cometh he to be so? Ans. He is so by his Father's appointing, his own undertaking, and discharging of this office. 1. By his Father's Ordination Answ. 1 By his Father's Ordination. and appointment. How came the Brazen Serpent to be an Antidote against the biting or stinging of those fiery serpents? why God had designed and appointed it to be made, and set up for that end and purpose. Even thus cometh the Son of man to be the Saviour of mankind. God his Father designed and appointed him to this office; Psal. 89.19. I have laid help upon one that is mighty, (saith the Psalmist.) It is spoken literally of David, mystically of Christ, upon whom God the Father laid the office of reconciliation, of propitiation. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, (saith the Apostle, speaking of Christ) Rom. 3. Rom. 3.25. A Propitiation, that is, a means of reconciliation and atonement. Hereunto God his Father appointed him; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, fore-appointed, fore-ordained him, viz. from eternity. This God did before time, and having designed him to this office, he fitted and furnished him for it. A Body hast thou prepared (or fitted) for me. Heb. 10.5. It is spoken in the Person of Christ: And having thus fitted him for it, he puts him upon it, sending him into the world upon this service, to be the Saviour of it. John 3.17. God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved, (saith the 17th verse of this Chapter. 1 John 4.14. ) We have seen, and do testify (saith this same Apostle) that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Thus he came by his office; His Father designed him to it, fitted him for it, put him upon it. 2. By his own undertaking. 2 By his own undertaking. Being thus put upon it, he undertook it, and that voluntarily, willingly: Lo I come to do thy will, O God, Heb. 10.7.9. (It is the speech of Christ himself to his Father) Heb. 10. And what was the will of his Father? why, that he should undertake this great work of Redemption, the saving of his Elect people, that none of them might perish. This is the Father's will which hath sent me, (saith our Saviour to the Jews) that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. John 6.39, 40. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seethe the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, etc. And this will of his he came to perform. Luke 19.10. The Son of man is come to seek, and to save that which was lost.] He is come, venit promptus & paratus, ready to do whatever his Father required from him, for the saving, and redeeming of his Elect. 3. What he undertook, he hath also discharged. 3. By his faithful discharging. As he undertook it willingly, so he hath discharged it faithfully. He was faithful to him that appointed him, Heb. 3.2. Faithful in discharging that office which God his Father had appointed to him for man's redemption. In that regard, called a faithful High Priest, Heb. 2.17. A faithful High Priest in things appertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Christ faithful in his obedience. 1. Active. Faithful. So he shown himself both in his Active and Passive Obedience. 1. In his Active Obedience, fulfilling the Law. It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness, (So he telleth John the Baptist.) Mat. 3.15. This he came to do, I am come not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it. Mat. 5.17. And this he did, He fulfilled the Law, not only the Ceremonial Law, which was fulfilled in him; but also the Moral Law, which was fulfilled by him; and that, as by instruction to others, so by observation in himself. 2. In his Passive 2. Passive. Obedience, he suffered the curse of the Law. Gal. 4.2. Being made under the Law, (as the Apostle hath it,) as under the Observation, so under the Malediction of it: Being a Surety for his Elect, he made a full and plenary satisfaction, (as by doing, so) by suffering what the justice of God required at their hands: Bearing the sins of the world, (the world of his Elect;) which were laid upon him by his Father: He bore the sins of many, (saith the Prophet) Isai. 53. Isai. 53. last. Of many, id est, of his Elect. He bore them as a Surety: They being charged upon him, he bore the penalty of them: He bore our sins in his Body upon the tree, 1 Pet. 2.24. And thus bearing them, he expiated them, took them away. Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, John 1.29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ferens, & auferens; Bearing them, and bearing them away, Even as that levitical Scape-goat, having the sins of the people put upon it by the Priest, it bore them, and bore them away, carried them into the wilderness out of sight. Even thus did the Lord Jesus; having the sins of his Elect laid upon him by God his Father, he bore them, and bore them away, taking them out of the sight of God. This he hath done, this he hath suffered for his people. 3. To which I might add what he yet continueth to do for them, viz. to make Intercession 3. His effectual Intercession. Isai. 53. last. for them: He bore the sins of many, and made Intercession for the Transgressors, (saith the Prophet in the place forenamed.) This he did upon the Cross: There he prayed for his Persecutors; Father, forgive them; And this he still doth being in Heaven: It is Christ who died, ye rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Rom. 8.34. By which means he becometh a complete and perfect Saviour to his people; daily applying to them, what by the once offering up of himself he impetrated and obtained for them; Wherefore (saith the Apostle) he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them, Heb. 7.25. And thus you see the first of these Branches opened unto you; viz. That Christ is a Saviour to lost mankind, and How he cometh to be so. I might here for further Illustration, show you yet more fully, Quest. Quest. What Christ hath done for the healing and saving of his people. What Christ hath done for his people in order to their salvation, for the healing and saving of them. Ans. Answ. 1. He was made the son of man. 1. For answer hereunto, I shall not need to go out of the Text; He was made the Son of Man, and being so, he was lift up for that purpose. Even as the Brazen serpent, it was first made in the form and fashion of other Serpents, and being so made, than it was lift up on high; even thus the Lord Jesus Christ, he was first made the Son of Man, a man like unto us, In shape and fashion as a man (as the Apostle hath it; Phil. 2.6. Vid Muscul. ad loc. ) Not that he was not a True man, as the Manichees, and some other Heretics would have it, who bring in the Type here in the Text for countenance of this their error. The Brazen serpent (say they) was not a true Serpent, only it had the shape and fashion of a Serpent: So Christ (say they) he was not a true man, only he was in shape and fashion as a man. Not so, Our Saviour himself here sufficiently refutes this error, calling himself the Son of Man: A phrase importing the verity of his humane nature: He took a true humane nature upon him, being made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted. 2. And being thus made the Son of Man, 2 He was lift up. he was then (in the second place) lift up: Lift up upon the Cross, suffering, dying for the sake of his people; Humbling himself and becoming obedient unto the death, even the death of the Cross. Of which more anon. Pass we to the second Branch of this main Conclusion. Prop. 2. Prop. 2. Christ the only Saviour. Christ is the only Saviour of lost mankind. Mark the Text; Like as Moses lift up the Serpent, etc. so must the Son of Man be lift up. The Israelites in the wilderness had no means of cure against the stinging of those Fiery Serpents, but the Brazen serpent; and that not many, but one Brazen Serpent. Christians have but one Jesus; To us (saith the Apostle) there is but one God, and one Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. 8.6. One Saviour: True, Temporal saviours we have read of many, whom God occasionally and successively raised up unto his people, as Moses, and Joshuah and Gideon, 2 King. 13.5. & last. Nehem. 9.27. etc. Instruments employed by God for the working of temporal salvation and deliverance, unto his people; and in that respect sometimes called Saviour's: But these were all but Types of this true Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who is the only Eternal Saviour to the sons of men. That of Saint Peter (as it is full, so it) is very Emphatical, specially as some, and most Greek Copies read it, Act. 4 12. Neither is there salvation in any other. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Non est in alic, in nemine: Salvation is not in another, in any other; For there is no other name under heaven given amongst men by which we must be saved: No other Name, i. e. no other power, or virtue by which salvation can be hoped, or looked for: By this Name were the Fathers before Christ saved, and by the same Name must we be saved; We believe (saith Peter) that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they, Act. 15.11. Even as it was in the Camp of Israel, there was but one Brazen serpent, which they looking upon from all quarters, were all cured by it; Thus but one Jesus, one Saviour in, and for the whole world; whom the Fathers looked upon forwards, we backwards, both alike saved by him. Christ the alone Saviour. Ministers how called saviours, and how men said to save themselves. Object. Here a trivial Objection meeteth us (which I should not have taken up, did not I find the Type in the Text so fully meeting with it.) How then are Ministers said to be Saviour's? How are men said to save themselves? It is Paul's charge to Timothy, 1 Tim. 4. 1 Tim. 4. last. that he should take heed to his Doctrine, etc. adding this for a reason, Because in so doing, he should save both himself and others. And it is Saint Peter's exhortation to the Jews, that they would save themselves from that untoward generation, Act. 2. Act. 2.40. viz. from partaking in their sin and punishment. Answ. For answer. Ministers save others, and private persons save themselves. How? Why, only as God's Instruments, in holding forth, and working out of this salvation. Thus do Ministers save others, even as Moses saved the Israelites, by lifting up the Brazen serpent amongst them. This is all we can do, to lift up the Brazen serpent, to lift up and hold forth Christ crucified; to crucify him before your eyes in the preaching of the Word; to set him before you, to offer him to you, to persuade and command you to look up unto him. On the other hand, Men save themselves, How? Why, even as the Israelites did by looking up to the Brazen serpent; this is all that we can do, and more than we can do of ourselves, but being enabled by the grace of God opening the eye of the soul, we look up unto Christ for cure; in the mean time the healing, saving virtue is not in the Minister, not in our selves, but in Christ; even as that healing virtue was not in Moses who lift up the Brazen Serpent, nor yet in the eye that looked up to it; but in the Brazen serpent being lift up, and looked upon. The saving virtue is not in the Minister that lifteth up and holdeth forth Christ in the Ministry of the word, though dispensed with never so much evidence and demonstration of the Spirit; Act. 3.12. Why look ye upon us (saith Peter to the people) as if we by our own power or virtue had made this man whole? There was no virtue in the Apostles themselves to do any outward cure upon the Bodies of men, much less to do any spiritual cure upon their souls; The virtue is Christ's, the merit is his, the efficacy his; who is the alone Saviour of his people. The third Branch is yet behind, of which but a word. Prop. 3. Prop. 3. Christ [crucified] the only Saviour. Only Christ [crucified] is the means of man's salvation. Mark the Text, So must the son of man he lift up, (viz. upon the Cross) That whosoever believeth on him (viz. so lift up) should not perish, etc. The Saviour of lost mankind is Christ crucified: Hence is it that Paul attributes such a saving virtue to the Cross of Christ, 1 Cor. 1.18. The preaching of the Cross is to them which are saved the power of God, 1 Cor. 1. that is, the preaching of Christ crucified, so the 23. verse of that Chapter explains it; We preach Christ crucified, ver. 23. etc. to them which are called, Christ the power of God. This was the subject of Paul's preaching, Christ, and Christ crucified: 1 Cor. 2.2. I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. He is the alone Saviour of the world; and how hath he wrought this salvation for it? Why, by his Cross: By this means he wrought that reconciliation betwixt God and man; He reconciled both (viz. Jews and Gentiles) unto God in one body by the Cross, Ephes. 2.16. having slain the enmity thereby. By the Cross, that is, by his sufferings upon the Cross, which is the meritorious cause of man's salvation. True it is, salvation is the fruit & result of the whole obedience of Christ, his Active, his Passive obedience; but the Spirit of God ordinarily attributes it to the later, his Passive obedience, and that to the last Act of it, his suffering upon the Cross; in as much as that was the chief part of his obedience: Phil. 2.8. He humbled himself and became obedient unto the death, even the death of the Cross. And thus you see this principle of Christian Religion opened and illustrated in the several branches of it. That which remains is the Application of it, which I shall direct only by way of a serious Exhortation. Exciting and persuading every one of us, that renouncing all other ways and means, Use. Seek salvation only by and through Christ we would put our souls only upon this, seeking salvation only by, and through Jesus Christ, and him crucified. The Motion consists of two Branches; the former taking off our eyes and hearts from all other things; the later directing and fixing them upon Jesus Christ. Touch upon them severally. 1. Away with all other ways and means of salvation but this. This is God's way, 1. Renouncing other ways. which in his infinite wisdom and mercy he hath found out, and laid out; All other ways are but byways, false ways. Such are the ways of our own devising; ways wherein we may, and certainly shall lose ourselves, but never find what we seek for. And therefore away with them, Take heed of setting up any thing. taking heed of setting up any thing in stead of Christ, or together with Christ. 1. In stead of Christ. 1. In stead of Christ. Had the Israelites any of them left the Brazen Serpent of Gods appointing, and trusted to Surgeons or Physicians, or made use of any salves or medicines of their own, how skilful soever the one, or sovereign the other, yet they had died for it. And so is it with the soul that seeketh for justification and salvation, in or by any thing but the Cross of Christ; so doing, he shall perish in his sins. Renounce we then all other means. In special, away with our own Righteousness, Renounce our own righteousness. the righteousness of the Law, that great Idol which not only blind Romanists, but even many ignorant and formal Protestants among ourselves, set up in stead of Christ. Ask them how they hope to be saved? Why, by their good do, their good meanings, their just and righteous dealing, their harmless, and blameless lives and conversations. Now alas, what is this, but as if the Israelites being stung, should have applied only plasters of their own making? in the mean time neglecting the Brazen Serpent, the means of Gods appointing. Away with this, knowing that it is not the Law that can cure, that can save us. It was not Moses could cure the Israelites when they came unto him: No, he sendeth them to the Brazen Serpent. It is not Moses, it is not the Law that can cure, that can justify and save us: Rom. 3.20. By the deeds of the Law, (saith the Apostle) there shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God. For by the Law is the knowledge of sin. This is all that the Law can do, to convince a man of his sin and misery; Help him it cannot. Wound the soul it may, thrusting that sting of sin deeper into the conscience, irritating the guilt, and by accident increasing the power of it; but heal it, it cannot: And therefore never look for cure in this way; A mistake that is common and ordinary. Men when they are a little awakened, and begin to feel the sting of sin sticking in their souls and consciences, being convinced of the dangerous condition they are in, what course take they? why, presently they run to Moses, they fly to the Law, they resolve upon a new course of life, thinking of doing this or that, setting upon a course of duty; but in the mean time never think of the Brazen Serpent, never think of Christ, in, and by whom alone salvation is to be expected: Alas, be not deceived; It is not Moses, it is not the Law can do it. True, a time there was when the Law might have done it. In state of innocency when man was able to have fulfilled the Righteousness of the Law, then might the Law have given life: But now it cannot do it, being grown weak and impotent through the flesh, Rom. 8.3. (as the Apostle tells us.) Weak through our weakness; Impotent through our impotency. As for the Law itself, it is in itself as strong now as ever; as able to give life as ever, were we but alike able to fulfil it. But this we cannot do. And therefore rest not here, lean not upon the Law; but renounce our own righteousness, what ever is ours. Learn we wholly to go out of ourselves. An Israelite that was stung, must go out of his Tent; whatever medicines or plasters were there, they could not cure him. A Christian is never in the way of cure, until he hath learned wholly to go out of himself, to renounce his own righteousness, whatever he hath done, or can do. Take we heed of setting up any thing in stead of Christ. 2. Or, Together with Christ. 2. Together with Christ. This is the thing which the more learned of the Papists plead so much for: They will by no means shut out Christ, so as to set up any thing in stead of him; but they will set up something together with him. This they do, and this they plead for; Why may they not do it? Set up the Brazen Serpent and Moses, Moses and Christ together. Trust in the merits of Christ, and yet in their own merits, and the merits of others: Abundans cautela. He that standeth upon two Branches of a Tree, (it is their own illustration,) he may be supposed to stand surer, than he that standeth only upon one. 1. Ans. Not so (say we) in case the one be sound, and the other rotten. Popish allegation refuted. And that is the case here: As for Christ, we know him to be a sound and firm Branch, that will bear all the weight which we can lay upon it: But so is not our own righteousness, which being imperfect, defective, is but like a rotten bough, Mans own righteousness a rotten bough, not to be trusted to. which being trusted to, will fail us. Whereupon Bellarmine himself, when he had pleaded all that he could, for a man's own merits, and confidence in them, yet he concludes ingenuously, Propter incertitudinem propriae justitiae, etc. In regard of the uncertainty of our own righteousness, etc. The safest way and course is to repose all a man's confidence wholly and alonely (totam in solâ) in the mercy of God, and in the merit of Jesus Christ. 2. Besides, in this supposition they suppose what is not to be supposed; viz. That a man may trust to, and rest upon both these together, Christ's righteousness, No resting upon Christ, and a man's own righteousness together. and his own righteousness; Christ's merits, and his own merits. Not so, (say we) In as much as resting upon the one, he falleth from the other: So much Saint Paul telleth his Galatians expressly, Gal. 5. Gal. 5.4. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the Law, ye are fallen from Grace. Mark it; the Galatians some of them were soured with this very leaven, they were of the self same opinion that the Papists at this day are, viz. that they might trust to Christ, and yet trust in Moses, that they might set up the Law together with Christ in the point of justification, and salvation: This the Apostle there tells them they could not do. Moses and Christ, the Law of Works, and the Law of Faith, they are two Masters, which in this case, it is impossible to serve: leaning to the one, a man falleth from the other. Putting confidence in our own righteousness, or what ever it be besides Christ, we fall from Christ: Christ will either be a whole Saviour, or no Saviour. Christ a perfect Saviour. And therefore as ever we desire to have any benefit by Christ, renounce all other things besides him. He is a perfect, an All-sufficient Saviour, (as God willing I shall show you hereafter.) And whither shall we look for salvation but unto him? John 6.68. Master, whither shall we go, thou hast the words of Eternal life? (saith Peter to our Saviour.) Whether shall an Israelite being stung, go, but to the Brazen Serpent? And whither shall a poor soul feeling the sting of sin in his conscience, whither shall he look but unto Jesus Christ? Him hath God his Father caused to be lift up; Him hath he designed and appointed to be the Saviour of the world: And who shall lift up any thing in stead of him, or together with him? There was but one Brazen Serpent in the whole Camp of Israel, neither were any so bold, as under whatever pretence, to set up another. There is but one Sun to enlighten the whole world; And but one Sun of Righteousness, one Son of Man, one Saviour, that bringeth light of comfort and deliverance to lost mankind. Be we therefore persuaded to turn our eyes from all other things. Away with those Romish Romish Rags to be cast to the dunghill Rags. which false Teachers hold forth, and their ignorant Disciples are ready to catch at to cover their nakedness with. Our own works, merits, satisfactions, indulgencies, pardons, the merits or Intercessions of others, Saints or Angels, the Church's Treasury, etc. such mock-stayes Satan hath cast into the world for despairing consciences to lean upon; knowing that drowning men will catch at any thing, though fit to sink them, then to save them: and such indeed are all things whatsoever a poor sinner shall lean upon in stead of, or besides Christ: They may, and will help to drown it, to sink it deeper into the pit of destruction; but save it they cannot. This is peculiar to Jesus Christ, whom God hath therefore caused to be lift up, that poor sinners coming and looking up unto him, might not perish. Away then with all other things, I mean all affiance and confidence in them. 2 And (secondly) having laid all other things aside as useless, 2. Come unto Jesus Christ. helpless in the matter of Justification and salvation, now be we persuaded to come unto Jesus Christ: It is that wherewith our Saviour upbraids the Jews, Joh. 5.40. Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life; And it is this which shall one day be cast in the teeth of all faithless unbelievers (I mean such as live within the pale of the Church, where Christ is lifted up before them preached and offered up unto them;) Ye will not come unto me, that you might have life: This is the great charge which shall be laid against them. As for others who are without the pale of the Church, such as never heard of Christ, it shall be enough to condemn them, that they would not come unto Moses; that they have rebelled and risen up against him (I mean) rebelled against the Law of God, the Law which was written in their hearts; this shall condemn them. But as for unbelievers, such as live under the sound of the Gospel, within the kenn of this Brazen serpent, under the offers of Grace, this shall be their condemnation, that they will not come unto Jesus Christ. And who but must needs acknowledge this a deserved condemnation? Refusing of Christ a just condemnation When God had provided a Brazen serpent, and caused it to be lift up in the Camp of Israel, for a remedy against those fiery Serpents, had there been any amongst them who feeling themselves stung, yet out of a contempt or neglect of the ordinance of God, had refused to repair unto it, who but would have adjudged him guilty of his own death, and have accounted him worthy to perish and die? This hath God done for us; we being all of us mortally stung by that Old serpent, God himself of his infinite wisdom and mercy hath found out, and laid out a means of cure for us. He hath given his Son for us, to be made like unto US, to take our nature upon him, in that nature to be lift up upon the Cross, to suffer, to die for us: Not only so, but he causeth him also to be lift up in the Ministry of his word, there to be held forth, to be crucified (as it were) before our eyes daily; nor yet only to be set before us, but to be offered to us with a Command and a Promise; The one requiring us to look up unto him, the other assuring us of a perfect cure upon our so doing; Now what, shall we slight and neglect so great salvation? Shall we so far abuse this grace and mercy of God, as not to make use of this means of salvation? What shall now be said for us! Our blood be upon our own heads; we must perish in our sins, and that deservedly. And therefore (to draw to a conclusion of this point) be we all of us persuaded to look out for ourselves; Come we; O come we unto Jesus Christ, that we may be made partakers of this healing, saving virtue which is to be found in, and from him. Motives Motives. (me thinks) I should need none, to set on such a motion, to persuade all of us to come unto Jesus Christ. 1. Do but consider our own misery 1. Our misery without Christ. without him, fitly (as I have showed you) represented and shadowed out in the condition of a poor Israelite being stung with some of these Serpents. We are by nature in a perishing state; and there is no Medicine can cure us but this; no name under Heaven, by which we can have any probable or possible hopes of salvation but this; Let our necessities then drive us unto Christ: Without him we perish, having no other means of cure but by him. Had there been any other Salve or Medicine in the world that could have cured a stung Israelite, he should not have needed to have made use of the Brazen serpent: Were there any other way or means whereby salvation might possibly be attained, there might be some plea for our not coming unto Christ. But we are here concluded and shut up; unless he save us, we perish. Let our necessities drive us. 2. attractiveness in Christ. 2. And (secondly) there is that in him which may draw us; viz: His willingness to receive us, and his Ability to help us. Of the former of these our Saviour himself assures us, Joh. 6.37. He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The later we may see in the Type in the Text: The Brazen serpent was a present cure to all that came, it matters not how mortally stung they were, in what part of the body; whether with one or more Serpents; of what continuance it was, here they found a present remedy; Even such virtue is there to be found in the Lord Jesus: It matters not what our sins be; what for number, what for nature, what for continuance, how many, how great, how inveterate soever, only come unto Jesus Christ, we shall find it true by experience, that he is an Alsufficient Saviour. Quest. The Question than will be, How shall a poor sinner come unto Jesus Christ, so as he may obtain salvation by him. Answ. To this the third Conclusion returns Conclus. 3. answer; Only by believing on him; So you have it in the Text; The Son of Man must be lift up, That whosoever believeth on him should not perish. Doct. Behold here the only way whereby a poor perishing sinner may come to be made partaker of that saving virtue which is in Jesus Christ, viz. By believing on him. Believing on Christ, the only means of receiving benefit by him. A Truth lively shadowed out in the Text (which still upon all occasions I shall have recourse unto.) What was the way and means whereby an Israelite being stung came to partake of healing virtue from the Brazen Serpent? Num. 21.8, 9 Why it was by looking up unto it; When he looketh up upon it he shall live: Even thus is the saving virtue derived from Christ unto sin-stung sinners; viz. By looking upon him. Looking upon him, not with a bodily eye, as Papists do upon their Crucifixes, or as the Jews did, who beheld him hanging upon the Cross, who had better never have seen what they did; but with a Spiritual eye, the eye of the Soul, the eye of Faith: by believing on him; This is the way and means which every where we are directed to. This was John the Baptist's Doctrine, he preached Faith, as well as Repentance; John Baptised with the Baptism of Repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Jesus Christ, Act. 19 Act. 19.4. This did our Saviour himself press, Ye believe on God, believe also on me, John 14. John 14.1. And the same did his Apostles after him. When the Jailor came to Paul and Silas, putting the question unto them, Acts 16.31. Sirs, what shall I do to be saved? They presently return him this brief answer, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved. Even as if a poor Israelite being stung, had come unto Moses, enquiring of him what he should do to be healed; Moses could have returned him no answer but this, Look up unto the Brazen Serpent, and thou shalt be healed. Thus, when a wounded soul, feeling the sting of sin sticking in the conscience, cometh unto the Ministers of Christ, and desireth direction from them what to do; their answer is, Go, look up unto Christ: Believe on the Lord Jesus, thou shalt be saved. Here is the way, the only way and means of obtaining benefit by Jesus Christ; Heb. 2.4. Faith. Justus ex fide, The just shall live by faith. Explic. For the opening and illustrating of this useful Truth; give me leave briefly to unfold unto you these three particulars. 1. What this faith is which healeth and saveth? 2. Three particulars unfolded. How this faith healeth and saveth? 3. Why this should be the only way and means to heal and save? Briefly of each, it being not my purpose now to insist largely upon the Doctrine of Faith, which I reserve to another occasion. Quest. Quest. What saving faith is? 1. What is this Faith by which we obtain salvation? by which we draw this healing, saving virtue from Christ? Ans. Answ. Illustrated from the Types. To this I cannot answer more aptly, and clearly, then by having recourse to the Type, which most excellently shadows out unto us the nature of that Faith whereby we are justified and saved, which is done by looking up unto Christ; so looking up unto him, as the Israelites did to the Brazen Serpent. Q. Now how did they look up to the Brazen Serpent? A. Therein we may take notice of two things: 1. Their Action. 2. Their Affection. There beholding it, and the Affection wherewith they beheld it. 1. They beheld it, looked upon it, saw it made, and saw it lifted up: withal taking notice for what end and purpose it was made and lift up. 2. As they thus saw it, so they looked unto it, viz. in an Affectionate way, with a twofold affection, 1 Of Desire. 2. Of Hope, or Trust: desiring to be cured; hoping and trusting to be cured by it. Thus did they look upon the Brazen Serpent; not only seeing it, Numb. 21.9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, aspicicbat, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intucri, quod majus est quàm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, videre) unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Expectatio. but looking upon it with desire and expectation of receiving benefit by it, (as the word in the Original there properly signifieth.) And thus doth the true Believer look up unto Jesus Christ; Beholding him, and believing on him. You have them both together in that one verse, John 6.40. This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seethe the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 1. Beholding Christ. 1. Faith, beholding Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: viz. with the eye of his soul, rightly apprehending, and seriously considering him. For that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Non de nihilo est quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic potius dixit, quàm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Vide 1 John 1.1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. H. Grotius. ad loc. Cicero. Tuscul. 5. Nec enim quis qui● videt. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Beza G●. Annot. Dr. Taylour's Brazen Serpent. properly signifieth (as Beza and Grotius note upon it, Non quavis modo, sed cum attentione videre; not a bare and simple Intuition, a casting a glance upon a thing, but a serious and advised observing, and viewing of it; Studiosè perspicere (as Tully renders it,) studiously to view and consider a thing. This is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. And thus doth the true believer behold Jesus Christ; considering him as made the Son of man, taking the nature of man upon him; then in that nature lift up: Lift up two ways: Ratione ligni, ratione regni, (as some distinguish.) First, In his Passion upon the Cross, there suffering: Then in his Session upon the Throne of his glory, there triumphing. Both these the Believer taketh notice of, looking upon Christ in his twofold state, of Humiliation, Exaltation. And here is the first act of this faith: it looketh upon Christ, as held forth in the word, apprehending and believing what is there revealed concerning him, touching his Incarnation, Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, Intercession: withal, taking notice to what end all this was done, viz. for the redeeming and saving of lost mankind: And here is the Vision of Faith. 2. The second thing is the Affection of it. 2. Faith an affectionate looking up unto Christ. The believer thus beholding Christ, he also looketh up unto him. Looking upon him, even as the lame man which lay in Solomon's Porch, looked upon the Apostles, Peter and John, Act. 3. Look on us (say they) ver. 4. And so he did, not only casting his eye upon them, as he did upon other passengers, but he looked upon them wistly, affectionately, with desire and hope: He gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them, ver. 5. Thus doth the believer look upon Christ, not only beholding him by a bare and simple intuition, taking notice of what he was, what he hath done, what he hath suffered, and to what end, etc. all which the very devils themselves know and believe; but he looketh up unto him in an affectionate way. So saith the Prophet of the converted Israelites, Isai. 17.7. At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the holy One of Israel. And the Prophet Zachary speaking of the Spirit of Grace, which God promised to pour out upon his people, saith, that then, They should look upon him whom they have pierced, Zach. 12.10. viz. in an affectionate way. And thus doth the true believer look upon Christ viz. with a double Affection, of Desire and Hope. 1. Desire. 1. With Desire. Earnestly desiring to partake of the merits, and benefits of Christ; desiring to to be healed, saved by him. Which desire ariseth from the sense and apprehension of his own misery: from the sense of sin, and the apprehension of God's Wrath due unto it. Even as an Israelite feeling himself stung, and apprehending the eminent danger he was in, out of that apprehension he looketh up to the Brazen Serpent with desire of cure. Thus the soul of a believing sinner feeling itself mortally stung by sin, apprehending itself in a lost state and condition, it looketh up unto Jesus Christ, earnestly desiring pardon of sin, and eternal salvation by and through him. 2. Confidence 2 And as it desireth it from him, so it hopeth for it by him, resting upon him for it, for the obtaining of what it desireth, and standeth in need of; thus doth the Believer look up unto Jesus Christ; even as the Psalmist saith, Psal. 123.2. the Eyes of servants look unto the hands of their Masters, and as the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her Mistress, viz. (as for direction, so) for Protection, and Provision, expecting to receive benefit by them: Even so doth the true believer look up unto Christ, waiting, resting, depending, and relying upon him for what he standeth in need of, viz. the pardon of sins and eternal salvation. And herein lieth the principal act of that faith whereby we are justified and saved; viz. in this soul-recumbencie, this resting, and relying upon Christ for Justification and Salvation. Believing [on] Christ importing, So much the phrase here in the Text imports; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Not, Qui credit in ipso (as the Vulgar Latin renders it) but in Eum; He that believeth on him: Wherein we have two things pointed out unto us: 1. The proper Object: 2. The proper Act of faith as it justifieth and saveth. 1 The proper Object of faith as it justifieth and saveth, is Christ. True it is, 1. The proper object of faith as it justifieth. that faith whereby we are justified and saved, it looketh at other things: It hath an eye at every truth revealed in the word, believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets (as Paul saith of himself; Act. 24. 14. ) assenting to every promise, every threatening; but as it justifieth and saveth, it looketh only at Christ. Even as the Israelites with the same eye wherewith they beheld the Brazen Serpent, they beheld other things also; but they were cured only by looking upon the Brazen Serpent. Thus that faith which justifyeth looketh at other things; but as it justifieth, it looketh only at Christ, at Christ lifted up, crucified. Here is the proper Object of faith as it justifieth. 2. And what is the proper Act of this faith? 2. The proper act of faith as it justifieth. Why, to believe in Christ, on Christ; that is, (as I have said) to look up unto him with hope, confidence, affiance, resting and relying upon him, and him alone for pardon of sins and eternal salvation; This is truly to believe on Christ; not only to believe Christ, that there is a Christ, that Jesus the son of Mary is that Christ, that he is an All-sufficient Saviour, that he hath done and suffered all things requisite for our salvation: but to look up unto him as our Saviour, applying the merit of his obedience unto ourselves, resting and relying upon him as our Jesus, the alone means of our Justification and Salvation. And this is that true Faith which draweth this healing saving virtue from Christ by which a poor sinner cometh to obtain these great benefits. Quest. How faith cometh to heal and save. A second Question followeth. How cometh this Faith thus to heal and save? To this I may answer, first Negatively, then Positively. Answ. 1. Negatively. 1. Showing you how it doth not Justify and save; viz. Not as it is a work done by us, not as it is a Habit or Quality, a Gift or Grace inherent in us: Thus faith justifieth not, saveth not, neither can it; being in itself imperfect and defective (as all other graces in regenerate persons are) it cannot justify itself, much less the person in whom it is: there is no such virtue in Faith itself; no more than there was healing virtue in the eye of an Israelite. It was not the eye that healed them; neither is it Faith as faith, either as an Act or Habit that helpeth us. 2. Affirmatively, viz. as, How then? Why, Faith healeth and saveth these two ways, 1. As a Condition; 2. As an Instrument. 1. A condition of the Covenant. 1. As it is a Condition of the New Covenant, the Covenant of Grace; a condition upon which God hath promised freely to justify and save us. Even as looking was the condition of the Israelites cure: not touching, but looking: So here the condition of the Covenant of Grace is, not Doing, but Believing: Not Fac hoc & vive, D this and live; but Crede & vive, Believe and live. Even as there it was, Vide & vive, See and live; so here Crede & vive, Believe and live: This is the condition of this New Covenant, that which God requireth at our hands in order to our Justification and Salvation. Even as the Apostles, Peter and John (in the place forenamed) bade that Cripple look upon them in order to his cure, Act. 3.5. not that there was any virtue in that act of his; but they required it as a condition, whereupon they would freely cure him. Thus are we cured and saved by looking up unto Christ, by believing on him; who upon our so doing, doth freely justify and save us. 2. Faith healeth and saveth Instrumentally, 2. An instrument. viz. as it apprehendeth and applieth Christ by whom we are healed and saved. Thus faith justifieth and saveth, not considered simply in itself, as having any virtue in itself more than other graces have. Other graces there are, which in their own nature are as excellent, and in some respects more excellent than faith: Now abideth Faith, Hope, and Charity (saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 13. last: ) but the chiefest of these is Charity. But it justifieth and saveth, as it is considered Relatively, with its Object: As it is an Instrument, an Eye, a Hand, to look up unto, and take hold of Jesus Christ, the meritorious cause of our Justification and Salvation. Thus did the Israelites looking heal them, not simply in or by itself, but as directed to, and fixed upon the Brazen Serpent; that sanative virtue was in the Object, not in the faculty: In the Serpent that was seen, not in the eye which looked upon it Thus that healing and saving virtue whereby we are justified and saved, it is properly in Christ, not in our faith that looketh up unto him. All that faith herein doth, is as an instrument to apply Christ, and so to convey that virtue from him unto the soul. Divines usually illustrate this by a familiar similitude of a Ring, Faith and Christ as the Ring and the Bloodstone. which hath in it a precious stone of some excellent quality, suppose a Bloodstone or the like: Such a Ring, we say, is good for such a purpose, of sovereign use in such and such cases, as to staunch bleeding, etc. Now to speak properly, it is not the Ring, but the Stone in the Ring which doth this; there lieth all the virtue: All that the Ring doth, is only to apply the stone to the body, or part affected. Thus standeth the case here, Faith is the Ring, Christ is the Precious Stone: All that faith doth, or can do, is to apply Christ, to bring him home with all his merits, and benefits to the soul; In the mean time all the virtue is in Christ; it is he that healeth, that justifieth, that saveth. Even as the Story tells us of the woman in the Gospel, who came and touched the hem of our Saviour's garment, Mark 5.25. (touched it as with her finger, so with her faith) thereupon she was presently cured of her bloody issue. But was the virtue in her finger, or in her Faith? No, the Text tells us expressly whence that healing virtue came; ver. 30. Luk. 8.46. I perceive that virtue is gone out of me (saith our Saviour to his Disciples.) Her Faith in the mean time was only the instrument in drawing that virtue from Christ: And in that respect, our Saviour tells her, ver. 48. that her Faith had made her whole. And even so are we to understand those Texts of Scripture where it is said, that we are justified by faith, and saved by faith; viz. not Meritoriously, but Instrumentally; By grace ye are saved (saith the Apostle) through faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Eph. 2.8. Not Propter fidem; but Per fidem; Not [for] faith as the Meritorious cause, (which is only Christ) but [by] or [through] faith, as the Instrument conveying virtue from Christ unto our Justification and Salvation. You see the second Question resolved, and therein a resolution prepared, and in part given to the third, which is, Quest. Why this should be the only way and means to convey this benefit from Christ, Quest. 3. Why faith the only means. viz. to believe on him? Answ. Answ. 1. So God hath appointed it. To this I might return a sudden and yet satisfactory answer. It is enough, God hath appointed it so to be; even as he appointed looking to be the means of conveying that sanative virtue to the Israelites from that Brazen Serpent; not but that he could (if he had pleased) have directed them to some other way, either to touch it, or to fall down before it, or the like: or else he could have made it effectual to them only by the bare presence of it in the Camp: But this is the way which he pitcheth upon, requiring them only to look up unto it. Thus God could (had he pleased) have appointed other ways and means of conveying life and salvation to us: but he hath been pleased in infinite wisdom and mercy to pitch upon this, requiring no more from us as the condition of the Covenant of Grace, but only this, Believe on the Lord Jesus. 2. Faith only applieth Christ. 2. But secondly, take a reason of this appointment. Faith is the Instrument of conveying this benefit from Christ, because Faith only applieth Christ, bringeth home Christ: This is the proper work of faith; Every grace hath its own proper work which is peculiar to it: Even as every member of the body hath its proper office and work; the Eye to see, the Ear to hear, the Hand to take or receive a thing; so hath every grace its proper work; Remembering your work of faith, 1 Thes. 1.3. and labour of love, and patience of hope (saith the Apostle to his Thessalonians.) Now what is the proper work of faith? Why, to Receive Christ, (To as many as received him, he gave power to become the Sons of God, even to as many as believe on his name, Joh. 1.12.) To apply Christ, to bring Christ home with his merits unto the soul: This doth faith; It bringeth home Christ, and bringing him home, it bringeth home his benefits, drawing from him that virtue that is in him; And this is proper unto faith. And therefore is it that God hath appointed this to be the only way to convey benefit from Christ unto poor sinners for their Justification and Salvation. You see this third Question resolved: and so you have this third Conclusion opened: That which now remains hereof is the Application. Which shall be only a word of Direction and Exhortation to all penitent sinners, such as feel the sting of sin, Applic. Seek cure in this way. and desire to be healed, cured; for for such only is this Brazen Serpent erected, this means of cure provided. Being such, now be you advised and excited to put your souls upon this way of cure to look up unto this Brazen Serpent, by faith to look up unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Let it not be enough, that you have heard tidings of a Saviour, to hear that God hath given his Son, that Christ hath given himself for lost mankind; or yet to know who, and what this Christ was, what he hath done, what he hath suffered, and the like. Alas, what would this have availed a poor Israelite, to have heard of the Brazen Serpent, that it was erected in the Camp, and that all that came to it were healed by it, whilst in the mean time himself lay close in his Tent, never looking out for any benefit by it? And what will this profit a poor sinner, to hear what God hath done for others, in giving a Christ a Saviour for them, and to them, whilst in the mean time himself lieth still sleeping in his sins, not looking out for cure, for justification, and salvation by and through him? Better such a one had never heard these Gospel's tidings: His contempt or neglect of so great a mercy will be no small aggravation to his sin and punishment. And therefore, as many of us as God hath in any measure made sensible of our miserable state and condition by reason of sin; as we desire deliverance out of that estate, apply we ourselves to the right use of this remedy. Look we up unto Jesus Christ. Looking up unto this Brazen Serpent. Look up (I say.) Not looking too much downwards upon ourselves, not poring too much upon our sins, the multitude, magnitude; number, nature; quantity, quality of them, how many, how great and grievous they are. But look upwards, look up unto Jesus Christ, who is able to heal us, to save us. The Israelites which were stung with those fiery Serpents, if they only looked upon their soars, and complained of their smart, and anguish, in the mean time neglecting or refusing to look up to the Brazen Serpent, they died for it. Such is the condition of a poor despairing soul, whose eye is all upon his sore, upon his sin and punishment, as Cain's and Judas' were; Gen. 4.13. My sin is greater than can be forgiven; or, my punishment is greater than I can bare; Mat. 27.3, 4. saith the one: I have sinned in betraying innocent blood, saith the other, complaining of the grievousness thereof: in the mean time never looking up to Christ for cure; by this means he perisheth, and dieth in his sins. To all such then, and all others; who desire to have any benefit by Jesus Christ, let it be spoken, Look up to this Brazen Serpent, look you up to the Lord Jesus, obeying and dying for your sakes; and look you up unto him as with desire, so with hope, with affiance and confidence of receiving benefit by him. To set on this Exhortation, what Arguments shall I take up? Strange, Motives. there should be need of any! I suppose it was argument enough to an Israelite being stung, and feeling himself so, to here that there was a Brazen Serpent lift up for a present remedy to all that should look up unto it; other motive he should need none to persuade him to fix his eye upon it. And certainly, so would it be with poor sinners, did they but feel themselves stung by sin, were they but throughly convinced and made sensible of their wretched state and condition by reason of sin, it would be motive sufficient to them to hear of a Saviour, whom God hath set forth with promise that upon their looking to him, believing on him, they shall be saved; they should need no other argument to persuade them to look up unto him. Yet to quicken our dull and dead hearts, do but consider these four or five particulars. 1. This is God's Ordinance, 1. This is God's Ordinance. the way and means which God himself in infinite wisdom and mercy hath appointed to bring his Elect to life and salvation by; viz. by faith in Christ; and therefore submit unto it. 2. His Commandment. 2. As God himself hath laid out this way; so he requireth and commandeth us to put ourselves upon this way. God having ordered the Brazen Serpent to be erected, he did not leave it as a thing arbitrary to the Israelites, whether they would make use of it or no, but he requires them to do it. So that passage may be read which we meet with, Num. 21.8. It shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. So our Translation readeth it; Ainsworth, Annot. ad loc. but the Original hath it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, videbit & vivet, He shall see, (or look upon it) and he shall live. So implying both a Commandment, and a Promise, (as Mr Ainsworth well notes upon it.) Thus God having given his Son to be crucified, he doth not leave it to our choice whether we will believe on him, or no; but this he requireth, this he commandeth. This is his Commandment, that we should believe on the Name of his Son, 1 John 3.23. The great Commandment, the Commandment of the Gospel. In obedience to this Command, put our souls upon this way. 3. This God commandeth, and that under a penalty, 3. A command under a penalty. no less a penalty, then of eternal condemnation. The Israelite not looking up to the Brazen Serpent, died for it. The soul that looketh not up unto Christ, shall perish for it. John 3.18. He that believeth not, saith our Saviour, is condemned already: viz. by virtue of that ancient sentence, Gen. 2.17. Under that sentence doth every unbeliever lie; being at the present in a state of death, and continuing in that state of unbelief, bound over unto eternal condemnation. 4. This God commandeth, and this is all he commandeth: 4. All that he commandeth. Only believe. Even as the Lord required no more from the Israelites, but only Vide & vive; See, and live; so he requireth no more from us but only Crede & vive, Believe and live. This is, as I said, the condition of the new Covenant, upon which the promise of life and salvation is made. And doth the Lord require no more but this? and shall we not herein hearken to his Command? we know what naaman's servants said to their Master; 2 King. 5.13. If the Prophet had commanded thee some great matter, wouldst thou not have done it? How much more when he saith, Only wash & be clean? Thus, had the Lord commanded us some great matter, had he required from us some hard or costly services, should we not have yielded to it for the saving of our souls? How much more then, when he saith unto us, as our Saviour did to the Ruler of the Synagogue, Mark. 5.36. Only believe. Should the Lord have prescribed the Israelites some chargeable receipts for the curing of their bodies, would they not have taken them? How much more, when he saith unto them, Only look up to the Brazen Serpent, and live? We see what idolatrous and superstitious persons will do in a way of Will-worship; They will refuse no labour, grudge no cost: And shall not we obey so easy a command, as this command of the Gospel, to believe on the Lord Jesus. To these I might add two more; viz: the Necessity of our believing on Christ, and the Utility of it. What need we have of it, what benefit we shall receive by it. 5. Nothing else can cure us 5. For the former; consider that nothing else can cure us, can save us. Nothing but Christ, and nothing but faith in Christ: both excellently shadowed out in the Type. 1. Nothing but Christ: 1. Nothing but Christ. The Israelites had many other things which were of great worth in themselves, and of great use to them; Not to speak of their earthly treasures, their silver and their gold, they had Mannah from Heaven, they had Water out of the Rock, two extraordinary Sacraments, supplying the present want of those which were ordinary; they had the Ark of the Covenant, wherein was the preciousest relic that ever the world was owner of, the Tables written with Gods own finger: But alas, none of these could cure them, help them! only the Brazen Serpent could do this. Thus Christians may have many other things, besides what they have common with Heathens (Riches and Honour. etc.) they may have the Word and Sacraments, with other Ordinances of God, in themselves precious, and to them useful: But alas, none of these can heal them, can save them: That which the Prophet saith concerning the first of these, Zeph. 1. last. Your silver and your gold shall not be able to deliver you in the day of the Lords fierce wrath; we may say of all the rest; It is not our hearing, receiving; hearing the word, receiving the Sacraments, nor yet our prayers or any other ordinance of God that can deliver us, save us; only the Brazen Serpent can do this; only Christ. 2. And secondly, Christ looked upon. As nothing but Christ 2. Nothing but faith in Christ can heal and save, so nothing but faith in Christ; The Brazen Serpent, how sufficient a remedy soever, yet not looked upon, it cured not, though never so near to the person that was stung, yet not beheld by him it was of no virtue to him, Christ is in himself an all-sufficient Saviour, yet none shall have benefit by him, but those who believe on him; It pleased God (saith the Apostle) by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, 1 Cor. 1. 1 Cor. 1.21. Foolishness of preaching, that is, the preaching of the Word; so called principally in regard of the subject matter of it, viz. Christ crucified, whom the Gospel holdeth forth as the means of our salvation, than which nothing can be more absurd and foolish to carnal wisdom; ver. 23. We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Grecians foolishness. Now by this means (saith the Apostle) it pleased God to save, whom? Them which believe. To them is Christ himself, and this Ordinance holding forth Christ, effectual. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ (saith the same Apostle) Rom. 1.16. for it is the power of God to salvation, What to all? No, only them that believe, To every on that believeth; This it is that maketh every Ordinance of God to be effectual to a man for good. The Brazen Serpent, an Ordinance of God of sovereign use; yet a Blind Israelite received no benefit by it; no more can a Faithless Heart from any Ordinance of God. The Word in itself an excellent Ordinance, yet meeting with such a heart, where it neither finds faith, nor worketh faith, it loseth the efficacy: So did it in the Israelites; To them was the Gospel preached (saith the Apostle) as well as to us, Heb. 4.2. the same Gospel, as truly, though not so clearly; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, it profited them not; Why? Because it was not mixed with faith in them which heard it. The same may we say of the Sacraments, God's Sealing Ordinances; so they are to the Believer, sealing up unto him his Interest in Christ and all his Benefits: but meeting with a Faithless heart, they are but like Seals to the Blank, assuring nothing, conveying nothing. And what we say of Word and Sacraments holding forth Christ, we may say it of Christ himself: Him hath God the Father set forth to be a Prince and a Saviour, enduring him with virtue enough to heal and save the world of mankind; yet without Faith this virtue cannot reach, cannot extend to us: The virtue of the Brazen Serpent extended only to those who having eyes, made use of them in looking upon it; as for those who either could not, or would not look upon it, they had no Benefit by it. There is in Jesus Christ an All-sufficiency of Merit and Virtue for the healing and saving of all poor lost sinners; but as for those who either cannot, or will not believe on him; that cannot as Pagans and Paynims, who never so much as heard of the name of Christ; Rom. 10. (How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard?) that will not, as profane and secure Christians, how should they have any benefit by him? How should that Virtue extend to them? this is the Office of Faith, to apply Christ. Now a Plaster, be it never so sovereign and sanative, yet if not applied to the sore, it will do a man no good. No more will the Blood of Jesus Christ, if not applied to the soul by faith. And therefore (to draw to a close of this Conclusion) whatever other graces we have or want, seek after Faith. Faith will do that to us which no other grace either will or can. Were it possible that all other Graces could be severed from Faith, yet could they not advantage us in the great business of Justification and Salvation: In this case a weak faith will be of more use to us then any, than all other Graces. Even as a dim weak eye was of more use to an Israelite being stung, than any, than all the other members of his body: It was not a quick ear, an eloquent tongue, a strong arm, an active hand, a nimble foot, that could stand him in any stead. It was his eye, (which next to the Brazen Serpent) healed him. It is not knowledge, though Angelical; it is not repentance, sorrow for sin, though never so deep; aversion from sin, though never so serious; it is not patience, humility, not any inward qualification, or outward performance, that can justify, can save us. Only Faith, Faith looking up unto Jesus Christ: Here is the necessity of our believing. 6. To this (in the last place.) Add the great utility, the great benefit accrueing from 6. The Benefit accrueing from it. this our believing on Christ. Faith, though in itself it may be weak, yet great matters depend upon it; even as great estates are sometimes held by small acknowledgements; hundreds a year by a pepper kernel. Upon this depends our eternal happiness and salvation. Believing, we shall not perish: Believing, we shall have eternal life. So runs the insurance in the Text. The Son of man must be lift up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. And so I am fallen upon the fourth and last Conclusion, which I shall dispatch with all convenient brevity. Whosoever believeth on Jesus Christ, shall have full and perfect salvation by him; Conclus. 4. Whoso believeth on Christ, shall have perfect salvation by him: where consider, he shall not perish, but have eternal life. For the opening and prosecuting of this Conclusion, two things here may be taken notice of. 1. The benefit insured. And 2. The Extent of that benefit. The benefit itself is partly Privative, partly Positive; Privative, deliverance from death; He shall not perish.] Positive, fruition of life, and that eternal life; He shall have eternal life.] The Extent of it, is Indefinite, Universal, to all that perform the condition. Whosoever believeth, etc.] Of each of these severally and briefly by way of Explication, Illustration, jointly by way of Application. The Benefit itself accrueing to the true believer, is, He shall not perish. 1. The Benefit itself: which is 1. Privative, They shall not perish. There is the privative part of it. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Non pereat, May not perish. The phrase alludeth to the Israelites, who being stung by the fiery Serpents in the wilderness, before the Brazen Serpent was set up, in an ordinary course, they perished. They were destroyed of the Serpents, 1 Cor. 10.9. (saith the Apostle) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The word is the same with that in the Text: They perished by those Serpents: that is, they died upon their stinging. So the story maketh it out, Numb. 21.6. Much people of Israel died.] Quest. But what? do men then perish in death? Whether men do perish in death. Ans. I answer, properly they do not. To perish, properly it imports a cessation of being; when a thing ceaseth to be what it was, so as never to return to that state again. Thus the bruit creature perisheth: Psal. 49.12.20. The bruit beast that perisheth, (saith the Psalmist.) Being resolved into its principles, it ceaseth to be what it was, so as never to live, never to be again. This is properly to perish; but thus men do not perish, no not wicked men; they die indeed, but they perish not, well were it for them that they might do so; that death might put an end as to their Life, so to their Being; but this it shall not do. Their souls being immortal, they cannot die, and their Bodies though they die, and be turned to the dust from whence they came, yet they shall be raised up again at the last day; Joh. 5.28, 29. All that are in the graves shall come forth. Properly men do not perish in death. I, but they seem so to do: though they do not perish as the bruit Beasts, yet they seem so to perish; Man is become like the beast that perisheth; Like it, as in other things, Psal. 49. so in his perishing: That which befalleth the sons of men (saith the Preacher) befalleth beasts: Eccl. 3.19. even one thing befalleth them, as the one dieth, so dyeth the other, Eccles. 3.19. In the outward appearance there is no difference between the one and the other; Ibid. They have all one breath, so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; much less a wicked man: as the bruit beast dieth, so dieth he; both dying without hope, without hope of a better life: Thus dyeth the bruit beast, and thus dyeth the Wicked man. As he lived without hope, so he dyeth without hope; Having no hope, Eph. 2.12. and so he perisheth, his Hopes perish; When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of unjust men perisheth, Pro. 11.7. I, and himself perisheth: He so dieth as never to live again. True indeed, his dead body shall be raised up again, but not to the Resurrection of Life. This is the portion of God's Saints; John. 5.29. They that have done good (saith our Saviour), shall come forth to the Resurrection of life; that is to a Resurrection that hath an eternal life following it; this is peculiar to them, Luke 14.14. thence called the Resurrection of the Just, Luk. 14. As for wicked men, they have no share in it; they shall also come forth of the Graves, But how? Why, even as condemned malefactors are brought out of their Prisons and Dungeons to the place of Execution: So shall they come forth of their graves, not to the Resurrection of life, but of Condemnation (as it there followeth) They shall be raised up, not unto that blessed life, but unto death, even to that eternal death, which shall be to them a dying life, and a living death: And here is their perishing. But thus shall not the Believer perish, The Believer shall not perish Die he may, and die he must, & that as other men die, so seeming to perish; whence even righteous men are said to perish; The righteous perisheth, & no man layeth it to heart, Isai. 57.1. that is, he dieth, and that seemingly as others do: How dieth the wise man? even as the fool (saith the Preacher) Eccl. 2.16. in the outward appearance no difference; as it is said of our Saviour, He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, Isai. 53.9. So fareth it with God's Saints, they make their graves, lie down in the dust with wicked men; dying as they die; their souls both separated from their bodies and their bodies to dust, and who shall distinguish betwixt their ashes? in the outward appearance no difference between the one and the other; yet a grand difference there is; the one perisheth, not so the other. The one dying, dieth to die, dyeth Temporally, to die Eternally; The other dying, dyeth to live, dyeth a Temporal death, that he may live an eternal life: so it followeth in the next words, He shall not perish, but have Eternal life. 2. Positive; Eternal life. Eternal life.] Here is the Positive part of the Benefit, wherein our Saviour explains what he meant by not perishing; viz. he shall not die, but live eternally. Behold here the Prerogative of God's Saints, even of all true Believers, wherein they differ from all others: Not only from the Bruit creature; the bruit Creature perisheth in death, so shall not they; But even from wicked men; Wicked men they do not properly perish in death, but they die to die, so as they shall never see life, this true life; They shall never see the face of God, never enjoy his presence, in whose presence is life: Being Separated from the presence of his grace here, they shall be separated from the presence of his glory hereafter; and to this punishment of loss shall be added the punishment of sense, They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, 2 Thes. 1.9. Being confined to that place of horror and darkness, they shall be subjected both in souls and bodies to endless and easeless, unsufferable, unspeakable, unconceivable torments; and so shall for ever be in a perishing condition. But as for God's Saints and faithful ones; even all true Believers, they shall not only not perish as the bruit Creature doth, but they shall be possessed of that life which all unbelevers shall be excluded from, even Eternal life. Eternal Life.] Eternal life, what. Under these two words the Spirit of God in Scripture frequently sets forth unto us the state and condition of God's Saints in Heaven; which being a most blessed state, full of Glory and Happiness, is therefore called by the name of Life, because of all things upon earth life is the most precious, most set by. And in as much as that state is immutable, unchangeable, therefore it is called Eternal Life, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: continuing the same to all ages, to all Eternity. This blessed life the Believer enters into upon earth when he first beginneth to believe on Christ, then is he translated from death to life; then is this blessed life estated upon him, and begun in him; thence saith our Saviour, This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ, Joh. 17.3. To know God and Christ, to know God in Christ, this is life eternal. It is so, as in regard of assurance, so in regard of Inchoation; being the beginning of that blessed life, which Gods Saints entering upon here in the kingdom of Grace, shall have the full fruition of hereafter in the kingdom of glory; He shall not perish, but have eternal life. The Type falling short of the Truth. Eternal life.] Behold here the Truth in the Text advanced above, and beyond the Type. Those whom the Brazen Serpent cured, they afterwards died. Not so they who are cured and healed by Christ: If a man keep my saying (saith our Saviour) he shall not see death, Joh. 8.51. Joh. 8. They shall live Eternally, never seeing, tasting of that second death; so layeth our Saviour expressly unto Martha, Joh. 11. He that believeth on me, John 11.25. though he were dead, yet he shall live; and he that liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Though he were dead: Dead Spiritually (saith Calvin) Dead in trespasses and sins (as all men naturally are) yet upon this believing he shall live; viz. live the life of grace here: and so living and believing, he shall never die, never die Eternally. Or if we take it (as Arctius and others expound it) of a Natural, Temporal death; [Whosoever believeth, though he be dead,] that is, dead as Lazarus was; yet dying in the faith, he shall [live] he shall be raised up again to life. [And he that liveth and believeth on me, that is (say some) such as shall be found alive at the coming of Christ, they shall never die, only be changed: Or, He that liveth and believeth shall never die, that is eternally, so the words in the Original may be construed, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Non morietur in aeternum; though he die Temporally, yet not eternally. And here is the Benefit itself which Believers have by believing on Christ. The Extent of this Benefit followeth: 2. The Exte. of the Benefit which is, (as I said) as large as may be, indefinite, universal, reaching to all those who perform the condition. So you have it in the first word, [Whosoever,] Of which but a word. The Benefit of Christ's death extends to all true believers. Doct. To all believers. As only to them, so to all, and every of them. Whether Christ died intentionally for all men, as Arminians would have it, I shall not stand now to discuss it. Sure we are, he died for all those that believe on him: and to them, all and every of them, shall his death be made effectual. Even as the Brazen Serpent was lift up for all those Israelites, which feeling themselves stung, looked up unto it; and to those who did so look upon it, it was effectual and available for their cure; and that to all of them: Even thus was the Lord Jesus, lift up upon the cross, for all those that shall believe on him: For them Christ prayed, I pray not for those alone, (saith our Saviour) that is, for his Apostles and Disciples only, but for them also which shall believe on me, John 17.20. And for them he died: I lay down my life for my sheep, John 10.15. Such as being elected before time, are in time called to believe on him. And to all, and every of these, shall his death be made effectual. Whosoever, etc.] Whosoever, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Omnis credens, Whosoever,] the term explained. all, and every one that believeth. Be they what they will, what for Nation; what for Sex; what for Condition, outward, or inward, etc. For Nation: whether Jew, or Gentile. Herein again, the Type falls short of the truth, The Type falling short of the Truth. and is outstripped by it. The Brazen Serpent was lift up for the benefit of the Israelites, one Nation only; but Christ the true Brazen Serpent is lift up as well for the Gentile as for the Jew, as well for all Nations, as for one Nation. In that day (saith the Prophet Esay) there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an Ensign of the people: to it shall the Gentiles seek, Isai. 11. Isai. 11.10. This Root of Jesse is Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Jesse. (So the Apostle himself expounds it, Rom. 15.12.) He being lift up upon the Cross, is made an Ensign, a Standard to the people, and that not only to Jews, but to Gentiles: In him shall the Gentiles trust, saith the Apostle. And so doing, both Jews and Gentiles, having a like interest in him, shall have a like benefit by him; So saith the same Apostle expressly, Rom. 1.16. where speaking of the Gospel, he tells us, that it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Grecian. To Jews and Gentiles, no difference betwixt Nation and Nation, no nor yet betwixt Condition and Condition, or Sex and Sex, Bond and free, rich and poor, noble, ignoble, male, female, all alike in Christ Jesus. Gal 3.28. So Paul tells his Galatians, There is neither Jew, nor Greek, neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Upon their coming to him, and believing on him, all alike justified, and saved by him. Even as the Israelites coming and looking to the Brazen Serpent, they were all a like cured. Young and old, Masters and servants, Princes and Peasants; no difference betwixt the one and the other. Even so is it with all that come unto Jesus Christ. Rom. 3.27. The righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ is unto all, and upon all that believe, saith the same Apostle, for there is no difference.] Whosoever believeth on him, shall have alike benefit by him. But I must not dwell upon illustration. That which now remains for the closing up of this point, and this Text, is a word of Application: which I shall direct only two ways. By way of Consolation, Exhortation. 1. By way of Comfort and Encouragement to Use 1. Comfort to penitent sinners. all poor penitent sinners, such as feeling the sting of sin in their souls, and being made sensible of the need they have of Jesus Christ, desire to come and look up unto him, to believe on him. Let them know, and know it to their everlasting comfort, that for their sakes was this Brazen Serpent lift up; for their sakes was the Lord Jesus by his Father's Ordination and appointment lift up upon the Cross, so as they coming unto him, shall not miss of benefit by him. It matters not what you have been, what you are; Only believe. God who required no more at the Israelites hands, but to look up to the Brazen Serpent, requires no more from penitent sinners, but to look up unto Jesus Christ by faith. So doing, whoever thou art, thou shalt not perish. And what a sweet encouragement is this? take it to yourselves, you to whom it belongeth. Are you in the number of those whose eyes God hath opened, and whose hearts he hath inclined thus to look up unto the Lord Jesus, thus to believe on him? To you be it spoken, to all, and every of you; you shall not perish, but have everlasting life: Whosoever.] Gaude, hic meum, & tuum, & omnìum credentium nomen scriptum est: Scultetus Now, rejoice and be glad, (saith one writing upon it) Here is my name, and thy name, and the name of every believer written. All written in this promise, and so in the Book of life. So saith Paul of his fellow-labourers, naming some of them by name; Whose names are in the book of life, Phil. 4.3. And who is there but would be glad to read his name written there; no such ground of rejoicing as this? Luke 10.20. In this rejoice not (saith our Saviour to his Disciples) that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Now this may all true believers do. Do but evidence to thine own soul the truth of thy faith, and then here read thy name written, whosoever!] what is this general, this universal, but as if God had said to every man and woman in particular, and by name, Believe thou, and thou shalt not perish; Believe thou, and thou shalt have everlasting life. Do we but see to the condition, he that hath made it, will make good the promise. Only believe. Let that be the word of Exhortation, Use 2. Exhortation: Only believe. which let me press upon every soul which is in measure prepared for the receiving of it; I mean such as do feel the sting of sin, and desire to be cured; let them look up, let them raise up their hearts to believe on the Lord Jesus: And let nothing discourage or dismay them from, or in so doing. I know, discouragements there are many, which poor doubting souls will be ready to take up, and make use of against themselves, Discouragements answered from the Type. either to keep them from believing on Christ, or at least from apprehending the comfort which belongeth to them upon their believing. Give me leave to meet with some of them, some of the most obvious: And therein I shall still have recourse to the Type, which (methinks) gives a very apt and full resolution to the most of the scruples and objections which a sin-stung soul can take up, and make use of against itself in this way. Object. 1. O (in the first place) I am a Object 1. Unworthiness of the person. sinner, a great sinner, one that lieth under a great deal of guilt; one that hath, provoked God to pour out the vials of his everlasting wrath upon me, to make me a spectacle of vengeance to Eternity. And is there any hope that God should exercise his grace and mercy upon so vile, Answ. None but sinners can receive benefit by Christ. so wretched and unworthy a creature? Answ. A sinner? a great sinner? Alas, were't thou not such a one, what shouldest thou do with a Christ? what should a hail Israelite do with the Brazen Serpent? Such might look upon it, but they could expect to receive no benefit by it: Only they which were stung, they were they for whom the Brazen Serpent was set up: Only sinners are such as shall be the better for Jesus Christ; This is a true saying, 1 Tim. 1.15. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Let not the apprehension of thine omn sinfulness discourage: Only art thou sensible of it? and dost thou desire to be freed from it, as from the guilt, so from the power and dominion of it? If so, now know, and know it to thy comfort, it is not this that can hinder thee from benefit by Christ. Nay, on the other hand, it is this that disposeth thee for Christ, and maketh thee capable of benefit by him. Matth. 9.12. The whole need not the Physician, but the sick. Only sick souls, such as are sick of sin, such as feel the distemper of sin in their souls, are fit patients for this heavenly Physician. Object. 2. Heinousness of sins. Object. 2. I, but my sins are sins of a heinous nature, not common or ordinary sins, but crying sins, bloody sins, such as I am ashamed to name, and afraid to look upon. The very thought of them strikes terror and horror into my soul. An. Answ. The chief of sinners saved by Christ. Yet despair not: Only believe. It mattered not how dangerously, how desperately, in what part of the body any of the Israelites were stung or bitten by those fiery Serpents, or how far their stings or teeth had pierced into their bodies, only looking up to the Brazen Serpent, they were cured as well as those who had received but a slighter touch. It matters not what thy sins are for the nature of them, how heinous, how horrid soever, only believe, and thou shalt find it by comfortable experience that there is virtue enough in Jesus Christ to work a perfect cure upon thy soul. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, whereof I am chief. Object. 3. Object. 3. Multitude of sins. I, but my sins are many as well as great; were it only some one sin that I had fallen into, there might be some hope; but the multitude of my sins maketh a dreadful addition to the magnitude of them: one sin being enough to sink my soul into the lowest hell, how shall I look up with any hopes of mercy from under the weight and burden of so many sins as lie upon me? Answ. Answ. Where sin aboundeth, grace superaboundeth. Rom. 5.20. Yet let not this discourage neither: as it is not the magnitude, so neither shall it be the multitude of sins that can stop the course and current of God's superabundant grace and mercy; Where sin abounded, there grace superabounded: Only believe on the Lord Jesus, by and through whom this grace is conveyed. To have recourse to the Type still; The Israelites in the wilderness they were infested with many Serpents, and that not only with one kind, but with divers, as viz. with Fiery Serpents, and with Scorpions (so you may read it Deut. 8.15.) some stinging, others biting: Yet see a true Catholicon, the Brazen Serpent was an effectual Antidote against all of them: It mattered not how many of those Serpents had seized upon any of the Israelites, or in how many parts of the body they were stung by them, only looking up to the Brazen Serpent, they found a present remedy against all. Even such a Catholicon is the Lord Jesus: Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. John 1.29. It matters not how many, nor or how many kinds thy sins be; Original, Actual, in thought, word, deed, of omission, of commission, of ignorance, of presumption, against the first or second Table, put them all together, yet here is a cure for all. Our Blessed Saviour when he was upon earth, Matth. 4.24. he cured all Diseases; being now in Heaven he cureth all sins, Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, Psal. 103. Psal. 103.3. Suppose it, that not only many, but all the Serpents in the Wilderness, had fastened their stings and teeth upon the body of one man; however his pain must needs have been great, and condition dangerous, yet looking up to the Brazen Serpent, he should have found cure as well as any other. Suppose it, that all the sins of the world were charged upon the head of one man (as all the sins of God's Elect were upon the man Christ) yet looking up to the Lord Jesus, he should find there were merit and virtue enough in him to heal and save him. Let neither magnitude nor multitude of sins discourage. Object. 4. Object. 4. Inveterate sins I, but my sins are grown inveterate, of long continuance. They are not of yesterday, but sins which I have lived in, lain in, gone on in, and that against light and checks of conscience; notwithstanding I have been clearly convinced out of the word of the sinfulness of these ways, yet I have walked in them; so as through continuance in sin and long custom, I fear my case is desperate and past cure. Answ. Answ. Not desperate. Not so neither: Only believe. The Israelites coming to the Brazen Serpent, it mattered not how long before they had been stung, though through continuance the venom had spread itself over the whole body, infecting the blood and spirits, though their case was never so desperate, yet if they could lift up their eyes to the Brazen Serpent, they were cured. It matters not of what standing, of what continuance thy sins are, though now through long custom grown habitual unto thee, yet come unto Jesus Christ, and look up to him, and thou shalt find it is not too late: Serò Medicina paratur, etc. saith the Physician; It is too late to look out for Medicines when the Disease through long continuance is grown inveterate: Not so, saith the Divine. In soul Diseases, be they never so inveterate, only come unto Jesus Christ, and believe on him. John 11.39. He that raised up Lazarus after he had lain four days in the grave putting life into that putrifying body is able to do as much for a dead putrified soul. The very touch of the hem of his grrment wrought a present cure upon that Haemorroisse, Mat. 9.20. the woman which had had a flux of blood for twelve years. Object. 5. Object. 5. Relapses. I, but my case is yet more dangerous, I am relapsed; I have fallen again and again into the same sin, and that not only after conviction, but after repentance, and after that my soul in my apprehension was cured and healed. Is there yet any hope for me? Answ. Answ. The cure more difficult, not desperate. This I confess maketh the case more dangerous, and the cure more difficult (I mean in our apprehensions) but yet not desperate. The Israelites, I suppose some of them, after they had been cured, might be stung again and again, yet coming to the Brazen Serpent, they still found the same virtue in it. It is possible (though not ordinary) that a Child of God after full conviction, after repentance, and after pardon sued out and obtained, may fall again and again into the same gross sin; the work of Mortification being here but imperfect and defective; yet in this case let none despair of mercy. He that caused the Brazen Serpent to be set up for a Toties Quoties, that as often as the Israelites repaired to it, they should be cured by it; he hath given his Son, that as often as poor sinners come unto him, they should be cured and healed by him; Caveat against presumptuous adventures. A comfortable Doctrine! But let none abuse it to their own perdition, taking advantage from hence to indulge themselves in adventuring upon, or continuing in any known evils. What shall we say then? Rom. 6.1.2. (saith the Apostle) shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, God forbidden. Shall we therefore dare to reiterate the same sin, that God's mercy may be renewed in the pardon of it? Far be it from any of us to draw so damnable a conclusion from such sweet and comfortable premises. True it was, the Israelites had a Brazen Serpent to cure them as oft as they were stung; but shall we therefore think that any of them were so mad as to run amongst the Serpents on purpose to be stung by them, because there was a present remedy at hand? True it is, we have an All-sufficient Saviour to look up unto upon all occasions, who is able to cure and heal all our relapses: But what, shall we therefore take liberty to run again and again into the same sin? Of all evidences of a man that shall never find any benefit by Christ, I do not know a more dangerous, a more dreadful one then this, when men shall thus make him, as it were, a pandar to their base lusts; so turning the grace of God into wantonness. Let not any dare to make such use of what I have said, which I intent only for the staying and comforting of drooping and dejected souls, such as languish under the sad apprehension of some renewed sins, which they have again fallen into through the weakness and infirmity of the flesh; not wittingly, not wilfully; If we sin wilfully (that is, with full consent of will) after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. But through weakness and infirmity; To them I say, not I, but the Lord: Let them renew their repentance and faith, looking up unto Jesus Christ, and they shall find there is yet cure for them. Return ye back-sliding children, Matth. 18.22. Luke 17.3, 4. and I will heal your back-slidings, Jer. 3.22. He that requireth us, if our brother offend us seventy seven times, yet upon his acknowledgement to forgive him; will not he do the like by his people upon their returning unto him? Have we relapsed then? yet return by renewed repentance and faith, looking up to this Brazen Serpent, we shall live and not die. Object. 6. Object. 6. Want of strength against corruption. I, but I cannot find strength against my corruption: Can I but feel that weakened in me, than I should have some hope. But alas, I find that still strong and prevalent; notwithstanding all my praying, and watching, and striving against it, yet I get little or no ground of it, or power against it. Answ. Answ. Virtue in Christ for subduing it. Yet despair not. Only come unto Jesus Christ. The Israelites looking upon the Brazen Serpent, they were thereby freed not only from the smart and anguish of their wounds, but also from the prevalency of the poison, so as it spread no further. The poor sinner looking up to Jesus Christ shall there find a sufficiency, as of merit, so of virtue, for the taking away not only the guilt and terror, but the power and dominion of sin; And therefore do not say, if I could find my corruption weakened, than I would go unto Christ; but therefore go unto him, that by faith thou mayest fetch virtue from him for the subduing of it. Object. 7. Object. 7. Weakness of faith. I, but in the last place, my faith is a weak faith: my wretched heart being full, (as of other lusts, so) of unbeliife. I cannot glorify God, as I desire to do, by resting upon his mercy in Christ with such a firm affiance, steadfast confidence, full persuasion, as some others do. Answ. Answ. Not the Degree, but the truth of faith, heals and saves. Let not this discourage neither; knowing that it is not the degree and measure, but the truth of faith which heals and saves. The reason whereof I have given you already, because faith doth not save by any virtue of it own; but only instrumentally, by looking up unto Jesus Christ. Now this a weak faith may do, and that as truly as a strong; and so doing, it shall heal. The Type illustrates it well, An Israelite looking up to the Brazen Serpent, it mattered not how weak, how dim, how tender his eye was, yet he was cured. Be thy faith never so weak, but as the grain of mustardseed; but as the smoking flax, rather a desire to believe, than any strength of faith? yet even this weak faith, being a true faith, shall save thee, shall heal thee. So saith the promise here in the Text; That whosoever believeth on him (though weakly, yet truly) should not perish, etc. And what is there now that shall stand betwixt Christ and a poor penitent sinner, to keep him from believing on him; or upon his believing, from receiving benefit by him? Not his sins, though great, though many, though of long continuance, though often repeated, and that after repentance; not the strength of corruption, or the weakness of faith. Only believe. Only believe. That is the sum of the Exhortation, which let me press again, and again; Upon this depends our eternal happiness and welfare. And therefore every of us be excited, above all graces to seek after this Mother-grace of Faith; Hab. 2 4. Gal. 2.20. And having it, set it a-work, exercise it, live by it: daily stirring up our dead souls thus to look up unto Jesus Christ. Heb. 12.2. Looking unto Christ as the Israelites unto the Brazen Serpent. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. So looking up unto him as the wounded Israelites did to their Brazen Serpent. And to that end, 1. Labour to feel the sting of sin; 1. Feel the sting of sin. to feel our souls wounded, and mortally wounded by reason of sin, that so we may be made sensible of the need we have of Jesus Christ. Till the soul be brought to some sense, and apprehension hereof, it will never have recourse unto Christ for cure. This being done, than 2. Get an eye rightly affected. 2. In the second place; Labour to get an eye rightly affected and disposed; as viz. 1. A discerning eye. 2. A mournful eye. 3. A longing eye. 4. A steadfast eye. 1. A Discerning Eye. 1. A Discerning eye. Such must the Israelites eye be, an eye that was able to behold and discern the Brazen Serpent. And such an eye must they have who would have any benefit by Christ; they must be able to behold Christ, to behold him as he is revealed in the word, they must have some degree and measure of distinct knowledge concerning Christ; as to know what he was, what he hath done, what he hath suffered, etc. withal taking notice both of his ability and readiness to cure all that come unto him. His ability, how mighty a Saviour, Heb. 7.25. how able perfectly (or for ever) to save those that come unto God by him. His willingness; how tender and compassionate a Saviour, being himself stung to death, that he might know how to have compassion on them that are stung: Heb. 4.15. We have not an high Priest (saith the Apostle) which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are. How ready he is to receive all that come to him for cure. Come unto me ye that labour, etc. Matth. 11.28. John 6.37. I will give you rest, Matth. 11. Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out, John 6. All these truths being clearly revealed in the word concerning Jesus Christ, they must be distinctly apprehended, known and believed. Here is the first requisite to the right disposing of the eye: It must be a discerning eye. 2. And (secondly) a mournful eye. 2. A mournful eye. With such eyes (I suppose) did many of the Israelites look up unto their Brazen Serpent, not without tears in them. And with such eyes look we up unto ours. They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, John 19.37. (saith the Prophet) and they shall mourn, Zach. 12.10. So did Mary Magdalene look upon her Saviour, Luke 7.38. looking, and weeping. And so look we upon him, mourning; And that both for ourselves, and him: In as much as by our sins we have pierced through both; pierced ourselves, as Paul saith of covetous persons, They pierce themselves through with many sorrows, 1 Tim. 6.10. So doth every sin more or less pierce the soul of the sinner. And piercing ourselves, we have also pierced Christ, crucifying him by our sins. It is that which the Apostle saith of Apostates, They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, Heb. 6.6. By them he is twice crucified, by others, once. None of us but have had hands in bringing him to the Cross, who died for our sins. Great cause to look up unto him with a mournful eye. 3. And (thirdly) with a longing eye: 3. A Longing Eye. With such eyes did the Israelites look up to their Brazen Serpent, earnestly desiring to receive benefit by it. And with such eyes look we up unto ours; longing after Jesus Christ, that we may be made partakers of his saving benefits. I have longed for thy salvation, (saith David) Psal. 119.174. And thus let the soul of every poor penitent sinner go out after Jesus Christ, in longing desires after him, after union and communion with him, desiring nothing so much as this. This is the height of Paul's desire, that he might know Jesus Christ, Phil. 3.10. and the virtue of his Resurrection; know him, not only Contemplatively, but Experimentally, and Practically, feeling the power of his Resurrection in raising him first from the Death of sin, to the Life of Grace; and after from the Death of Nature, to the Life of Glory: And let it be so with us; let there be nothing so dear and precious in our eye as Christ; desire we nothing so much as an Interest in him, and Communion with him. Look up unto him with a Longing eye. 4. And in the fourth place, 4. A steadfast eye. with a Steadfast eye; so did the Israelites look up to their Brazen Serpent, fixing their eyes upon it till they were cured. And so look we up unto ours, fixing our eyes upon the Lord Jesus, steadfastly looking upon him until we have obtained what we look for. Psal. 123.2. As the eyes of Servants look up unto the hands of their Masters, etc. So do our eyes wait upon the Lord until he have mercy upon us: So do we look up to our Lord and Saviour, by faith resting and waiting upon him until he have mercy upon us, until our souls, be cured, perfectly cured. Quest. But when will that be? Answ. Why not in this life, and therefore let us still be looking up unto him; Heb. 12.2. Let us run the Race set before us (saith the Apostle) looking unto Jesus, Heb. 12. Whilst a Christian is running his race, he must throughout his whole course fix his eye upon Christ. The Israelites, as long as they were in the Wilderness, being continually subject to the stinging of those fiery Serpents, they had a continued use of the Brazen Serpent; and therefore was it carried along with them, and still lift up amongst them, that upon all occasions they might look up unto it. Thus fareth it with us, as long as we are in this wilderness here upon earth, we are still subject to daily infirmities and sins, and consequently have still need of a Saviour, who by the daily application of his merit, and communication of his Spirit may work daily cures for us. And therefore in the sense of this continued need we have of Jesus Christ, let our eyes be still towards him, whom God in infinite goodness and mercy is pleased still to hold forth unto us in the Word and Sacraments, there to be represented to us, and lift up before our eyes. Thus fixing our eyes upon him, we shall find him to us a perfect Saviour, saving us from the guilt of sin, that it shall not be imputed to us; and delivering us from the power of sin, so as though it abide in us, yet it shall not rule and reign in us, but daily grow weaker and weaker, until we come in the end to have a perfect cure wrought in us and upon us, in a perfect deliverance from sin and death, with the full fruition of that blessed and glorious life, which shall be the portion of all those who thus look up unto this true Brazen Serpent, who thus believe on the Lord Jesus. So was the Son of Man lift up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but, have Everlasting Life. The Magnetical Virtue OF THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST. JOHN 12.32. And I, if I be lifted up from the Earth, will draw all men unto me. I Have already spent some time in opening unto you the manner and end of our Saviour's Death, both laid down in those two verses, ver. 14, 15 of the third Chapter of this Gospel, As Moses lift up the Brazen Serpent in the Wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lift up; That whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have Eternal Life. Now taking hold of that phrase there redoubled (viz. Lifting up) I have singled out this portion of Scripture, wherein our Saviour sets forth as the Manner, so the Fruit and Consequent of his Death. The former fore-prophesied, the later forepromised, both by our Saviour himself. The Manner of his death fore-prophesied [If I shall be lifted up] The Fruit of his Death forepromised, [I will draw all men unto me.] Upon the former of these I have insisted already, viz. the Manner The manner of Christ's death. of our Saviour's death, set forth here again (as you see) by the same Periphrasis, the same expression, If I be lifted up;] Lifted up? how? Why, in his Passion upon the Cross, where he was lifted up from the earth; So the Evangelist explains the phrase in the verse following; This spoke he, ver. 33. signifying what death he should die, viz. the death of the Cross, where he was to be lifted up, Quest. The d o'th' of Christ not dubious. as the Brazen Serpent was in the wilderness. If I be lift up.] If? What, doth our Saviour make a doubt, a question of his Death? was it a thing contingent and uncertain. Answ. Answ. Carthus. ad loc. Si exaltatus, etc. Hoc refertur ad illud quod superius ait; Si autem mortuum fuerit granum, etc. August ad loc. Not so: The Particle [If] here must be understood and taken, non dubitatiuè, sed assertiuè, & certitudinaliter (as Carthusian well notes upon it) not by way of doubting or questioning, but by way of asserting and supposing: even as in the 24 verse of this Chapter, our Saviour speaking of the grain of wheat, or other Corn being cast into the ground; ver. 24. If it die (saith he) it bringeth forth much fruit: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. If it die, that is, Dying: being cast into the ground it dieth (seemeth so to do) and so dying, it fructifieth. So here; If I be lift up, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, being lift up, or when I shall be lift up, or after that I am lift up: so the Evangelist St. John elsewhere useth the word, Epist. 3. v. 10. writing to Gaius concerning Diotrephes, he tells him, If I come, I will remember his deeds, that is, when I come: so here, If I be lift up (saith our Saviour) that is, when I shall be lift up; so the Syriack here renders it. Si exaltatus, h. e. Cum exaltatus fuero. Non enim dubitat futurum esse quod venit implere. August. As for our Saviour's death, it was not a thing contingent and uncertain, whether in itself, or to him; His Father had determined it, himself had submitted to it, the Prophets had foretold it, his people's necessities required it; in all which respects our Saviour himself layeth it down in the Text last insisted upon, as a thing necessary, So must the Son of Man be lifted up. Not may, but must: Joh. 3.14. And afterwards he inculcates the same upon his Disciples, Mat. 16.21. where he showeth them how he must go up to Jerusalem, and suffer many things, and be killed, etc. Neither his death, nor the manner of his death was a thing dubious and uncertain. The Son of Man must be lift up, and so lift up as the Brazen Serpent was in the Wilderness. That our Saviour saith here, If I be lifted up, he speaks it not as doubting, but supposing what ere long was to come to pass. That being cleared The fruit of Christ's death. Come we now to that which the Text chief looketh upon, viz. the Fruit of our Saviour's death. A Blessed Fruit; never did tree bear better, viz. the drawing of the world to himself: When I shall be lift up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.] Thus did the Brazen Serpent being lift up, it drew the eyes of the whole Camp to itself, specially such as felt themselves stung by those fiery Serpents. And thus saith our Saviour, being lift up upon the Cross, he would draw the world to himself, to look unto him, to believe on him Even as the Sun being risen above the earth, it attracteth and draweth up from it those foggy vapours, which before were in or upon it; draweth them up towards itself: Even thus doth Christ the Son of Righteousness, being lift up from the earth, he attracts and draws up the world of mankind, those terrae filios, sons of the earth, who being cleaved to the earth, minding nothing but earthly things, he draweth up their Eyes, and Hearts to himself: this he fore promised that he would do; And we shall see it accordingly accomplished. But before we come to close with the words themselves, looking upon them afar off, take we notice of one thing in the general, and that from the connexion of the parts of the Text, the Prophecy and the Promise; the putting them together. If I be lifted up, I will draw all men, etc. See here how wonderfully the Scribes and Pharisees, A General Observation. and other enemies of Christ who plotted his death, were disappointed and deceived in their intendments and expectations. Wherefore was it that they contrived this evil against him, to bring him to the Cross, The Enemies of Christ disappointed. that shameful and accursed death? Why, this they did that they might thereby not only take him out of the way, but withal render him odious and infamous unto the world; so as from thenceforth none should ever look after him any more. This it was which galled and vexed the Scribes and Pharisees, viz. the success of his Ministry, that so many were taken with him, believed on him, followed after him; and that notwithstanding whatever they could do to the contrary. So much we may learn from their own mouths in the 19th verse of this Chapter, The Pharisees said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? Behold the world is gone after him. Many there were who hearing of the great miracles which he had wrought, (specially that recorded in the fore going Chapter, the raising of Lazarus from the dead,) thereupon (as the 18th verse of this Chapter informs us) they flocked after him, and became his Disciples. Now this, to the Pharisees (who could not endure that any should be preferred before themselves) it was no small corrosive, it went to the heart of them, they could not brook it: and therefore they plot against him. And (as it is the nature of envy, where once it is grown to an height) nothing will now content them but his blood. They resolve never to leave till they had brought him to the Cross, taken him out of the way, hoping thereby to turn the stream of men's affections, either to deter, or discourage any for ever looking after him more. This was their design; but see how the success falls out clean contrary to their expectation. By this means Christ cometh to draw more than ever. Even as Samson slew more at his death, Judg. 16.30. then in his life. Thus the Son of man (of whom Samson was a Type) he draweth more by, and after his death, than ever he did in his life; more, being lift up from the earth, than ever he did being upon the earth. In his life he drew some, and many; which the Pharisees looking upon through the spectacle of envy, (a true multiplying or magnifying glass, making things seem more, or greater than they are,) take for a world: The world is gone after him.] But in, and after his death, he draweth not only some, and many, but all: If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.] Observe. The Counsels of the Enemies of Christ wonderfully frustrated. 2 Sam. 15.31. Even thus doth God often elude and frustrate the counsel of his, and his Church's enemies, turning them into folly, as he did the counsel of Achitophel. Oft-times bringing out of them clean contrary successes to what they intended. The Patriarches, moved with envy, sell their brother Joseph into Egypt. Acts 7.9. But God turns that foul fact of theirs into great good both to him and them; making it the means of his preferment, and their preservation: All the ways and means they could have used, could not have procured so great advancement unto him; but no thanks to them. As for you (saith he to them) ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, Gen. 50.20. even to save much people alive.] Judas in betraying, the chief Priests in condemning, the Jews in crucifying the Lord of life; they all thought evil against him, intending to take him out of the way; that his very name might either be blotted out, or rendered infamous to all posterity. But God meant it unto great good, even to save much people alive; making use of this as the means to effect and bring to pass the Redemption and salvation of his Elect. Thus doth God make use of the wicked counsels and designs of his, and his Church's enemies, to bring about his own gracious purposes; still overreaching, being above his enemies, how potent, or politic soever. So it is said of the Egyptians, Exod. 18. Exod. 18.11. In the thing wherein they dealt proudly God was above them.] And what was that thing? why, that design of theirs against the Israelites, (of which you may read Chap. 1. Cap. 1. ver. 10.16.22. ) Come, let us deal wisely, say they: They thought what by policy, and what by power, to have suppressed, and kept under the Israelites: But herein God was above them; frustrating their counsels, nay, bringing out of them a clean contrary success. Not only judging them in the very thing wherein they thought to judge Israel, Vid. Ainsworth, in Exod. 18.11. (as the Chaldee paraphrase glosseth upon that place,) drowning them in the sea, who had designed to drown all the males of the children of Israel in the rivers; but making use of that bloody design, as a means to bring about the deliverance of his oppressed people, as you may read it in the second Chapter of that Book. Exod. 2.3, 5. etc. Instances of like nature are obvious; Proud Haman designs the ruin not only of Mordecai, (that was too slight a revenge) but of the whole Nation of the Jews. But see how God was above him, turning it as to his ruin, and Mordecai's advancement, hanging him up upon the Gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, Hester 7.10. chap. 10. v. 3. chap. 8. v. 17. and setting up Mordecai in his place; so to their comfort and enlargement, causing light, and joy, and gladness to break forth unto his people out of that black cloud which threatened them with ruin and destruction. Reason. The power, wisdom, goodness of God therein manifested. This God hath done, and this he daily doth; therein manifesting his power, wisdom, goodness; viz. in bringing one contrary out of another, light out of darkness. It is the skill of the Physician to turn the rankest poisons into sovereign medicines, vipers into treacles. And it is the power, wisdom, goodness of our God, thus to turn the counsels and intendments of his, and his Church's enemies to great good, making use of them for his own glory, and the good of his Church. Applic. Let the meditation be useful, Applic. and that both to the Church's Enemies, and Friends. 1. For her Enemies, 1. To the Enemies of Christ. Let them cease to meditate vain things. such as plot and conspire, and take counsel against God, against his truth, religion, cause, people, let them be advised to desist, and break off their vain undertake. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? Psal. 2.1, 2. The Kings of the earth set themselves, and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed.] To plot, and conspire, and take counsel against God, and his Christ, against his truth, his people; it is but a vain thing, they do herein but meditate vanity, (as the Original there hath it.) It matters not how promising the design be, how cunningly contrived, how closely carried, how potently prosecuted, yet all is in vain. ver. 4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh them to scorn: being able to confound or overrule all adverse counsels, so as either to bring them to nought, or else to bring good out of them. And this he will do; not but that for a time the Church's enemies may seem to prevail. So did the Jews against our Saviour; they brought him to the Cross: I, but yet they shall miss of their end. So did the Jews, in stead of blotting out the Name of Christ, they make it glorious. In stead of turning back a few from him, they draw the world after him. And what happened to the head, shall also happen to the body. What ever wicked men, open or secret enemies, plot and contrive against the Church, shall tend to the good of it in the end: He that hath promised that All things shall work together for good, Rom. 8.28. etc. both can and will make the counsels and endeavours, the plots and practices of his enemies turn to the good of his people: Let wicked men than be persuaded to break off these vain undertake. Had the Scribes and Pharises, and the rest of that malignant crew, ever dreamt that this should have been the issue of their counsels, in crucifying the Lord of life, viz. that thereby the world should be drawn unto him, certainly they would never have done what they did. 2. For Gods own people, 2. To God's own people. Comfort against Adversaries. such as are friends to Christ, friends to his truth, his Church and Religion, let them make use of this Meditation for the staying and comforting of their hearts against all the plottings and conspiring of the many and potent enemies of the Church: Many and Potent, so they are, some open, others close and secret, all setting themselves against the truth, the Religion of God, by all means seeking the suppression of it. To which end they deal with Christ's Religion and the Professors of it, even as the Jows dealt with Christ himself; they crucify both, labouring by all means to make it and them as odious and infamous in the eye of the world as possibly they can; and thence it is that they spit upon the face of Religion, casting those terms of infamy and reproach upon the good ways of God, and those that endeavour to walk closely in them; (I shall not need to name them, they are but too well known) all which are but as so many nails whereby they fasten the true Religion of Christ, the power of godliness, to the Cross, wounding and piercing it through; that so having rendered it infamous, they may deter or discourage any from looking that way which lieth under such a cloud of reproach and disgrace. But let not all this dishearten: It was not the crucifiing of Christ in his Natural body that could turn the eyes of men from looking towards him, or their hearts from believing on him: It is not the crucifying of Christ in his Mystical body, the crucifying of his Religion, or the Professors of it, that shall deter men from owning Christ and his ways. The experience of all ages hath made it good, that the malice, rage, and violence of the bitterest and bloodiest enemies of the Church, hath been but as bellows to this fire, blowing up, spreading and dispersing that Religion, that truth of God, which they have sought and thought too have suppressed and extinguished. Such was the issue of the rage of those. Heathenish Tyrants in the infancy of the Church, the ten Primitive Persecutions, Sanguis Martyrum, The blood of those Martyrs proved the seed of the Church; This Vine having ever since been the more fruitful for that blood which was poured at the root of it. And the same we may say of that Antichristian Tyranny which hath been exercised in succeeding ages, upon the true professors of the Gospel of Christ. Bloody Persecutors have thought by their Dracoes Laws, laws written in Blood, and the severe execution thereof, utterly to have suppressed the truth of the Gospel, that none should have dared to own it. But see how it hath fallen out contrary to their expectation, every Martyr proving like a Phoenix, out of whose ashes not one, but many more have sprung up. Thus Jesus Christ where ever he hath been crucified in himself or members, still he hath drawn many to himself. No fear therefore that by this means by, crucifying of Christ, the enemies of the Church should prevail against it. Hereby they do but lift up Jesus Christ, that he may draw the more unto him, Quàm non sint formidanda impiorum consilia? (saith Musculus upon it.) Such little cause have we to fear the plots and counsels of wicked and ungodly men; being against Christ, they shall not prevail, their counsels shall be brought to nought and return upon their own heads; Psal. 7.16. This is one of the privileges and Prerogatives given unto Christ by his Father, Psal. 110.2. That he shall rule in the midst of his enemies; This he doth, he sits at the stern of their counsels, turning them this way or that way, making them, whilst they go about to do their own wills, to effect his; as to clear his truth whilst they go about to darken and obscure it, to promote and further the cause of his Gospel, whilst they go about to hinder it; so getting glory to himself, and good to his Church out of their most malicious and dangerous intendments. Such was this of the Scribes and Pharisees, and Chief Priests against our Saviour; They plot his death, hoping that when they had brought him to the Cross, not only his person, but his cause should have for ever been buried in silence and oblivion; but behold the success clean contrary; by this means the Son of Man being lift up, he comes to have a more vigorous influence upon the world then ever before: now he cometh to draw not a few, but many, not many, but all; If I be lift up, I will draw ll men unto me. Having taken up this in the general, come we now to deal with the words more particularly. Four particulars. And therein for the more clear opening and distinct prosecuting of them, take we notice of these four particulars. 1. Who draweth: 2. Whom he draweth: 3. Whether he draweth them: 4. How he draweth them. In the first we have the Agent, the person drawing. In the second the Object, the things or persons drawn. In the third the Term of the Action, whither they are drawn. In the fourth, the Manner; how they are drawn; we shall find a resolution to each in the Text. Touch upon them severally and briefly by way of Explication. Q. 1. Who draweth? An. Christ himself; 1. The person drawing. He it was that was lifted up, and being so, he draweth; I will draw. Obj. But is not this the Act of God the Father, How God the Father draweth. Joh. 6.14. to draw, to bring men home unto Christ? So saith our Saviour himself elsewhere, No man cometh unto me, except the Father draw him, how then saith he here, that when he should be lift up, he would draw all men to himself? An. To this the Answer is obvious. The Father draweth, Filio trahente pater trahit. Aquin. ex Chrys. ad loc. and the Son draweth; having one and the same essence, they have also the same will, and the same work; that which the one willeth, the other willeth, and that which the one worketh, Joh. 5.17. the other worketh; [My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,] both joining together, and co-operating in every work that is wrought in, for, or upon the creature; Opera Trinitatis ad extrà sunt indivisa. So was it in the first Creation, the Father created, and the Son created; the Father working by the Son. And so is it in the New Creation, the work of Regeneration, and Conversion, in bringing men home unto Christ; the Father draweth, and the Son draweth, the Father working by the Son through the Spirit. The Father draweth men to his Son, the Son draweth them to the Father, and to himself. I will draw all men.] Qu. 2. The second Enquirie is about the Object 2. The object, or things drawn. upon which this attractive power and virtue is exercised, whom Christ draweth. An. All men (saith the Text.) The Latin Translation hath it, All things, All things. Omnia. A reading which Augustine retaineth, and contendeth for. And Beza tells us, that he finds one Greek copy, and that an ancient one, Non dixit [omnes] sed [omnia.] Hoc utique non ad universitatem hominum retulit, sed ad creatura integritatem, i. e. spiritum & animam, & corpus, etc. August. Totos corpore & animo faciam mihi servire. Aretius' ad Text. Utrumque ad se trahit, ut saliut utrumque. Ferus ad loc. Phil. 2.6. All men. 1 Tim. 2.5. The word [All] explained. allowing it, reading the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, all things: Shall we so take it? how shall we understand it? Why, Christ draweth all things, that is, (say some) not only the souls, but the bodies of men, the one here, the other hereafter; drawing both to himself, the one in his Kingdom of Grace, the other in his Kingdom of Glory. Others more fully; Christ draweth all things to himself, not only men, but other creatures. How? why in respect of that universal Authority and Sovereignty which he hath over them, being lift up, viz. from the Cross to the Crown, he hath all Power given unto him, and not only over all Men, but over Angels, Devils, and all other creatures, all which how the knee to him, yielding to him either a voluntary or involuntary subjection and obedience. But to let that pass. The Greek Copies generally read the word as our Translation renders it, not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; not All things, but All men, for their sakes it was that Christ took upon him the Office of Mediatorship, he is the Mediator betwixt God and Men, and upon them he excerciseth a spiritual government in drawing them to himself; and this power he exerciseth upon all, he draweth all men. Qu. What? are all men drawn by Christ unto Christ? An. For Answer. I find the word [All] here diversely expounded. Some (in the first place) taking it universally for all men whatever, All drawn to Christ, how. Potest hic tractus non solum de gratiâ quâ Electi trahuntur, sed etiam de potestate, quâ reprobi quoque velint nolint, coguntur Christo subesse. Omnes enim five boni, sive mali, ab ipso secundum merita sua judicandi sunt, etc. Ferus ad loc. whether Elect or Reprobate, good or bad; both these are drawn by Christ unto Christ. The one by the cords of his grace and mercy, the other of his power and justice; the one drawn to him as to a Saviour, to believe on him, to be saved by him, the other drawn before him as a Judge, brought to his Tribunal, there to receive according to their demerits. Thus shall all wicked men be drawn by Christ, and to him. A truth, but I suppose, not here intended. The drawing here spoken of, is by way of grace and mercy; But how doth Christ thus draw all men? 2. Why this he doth (say others in the second place) by offering himself to all, offering grace and mercy, life and salvation to all upon the condition of believing. 2. Christ offered to all. Omnes vocat, & omnibus salutem offered. Ferus. Mat. 23. True, such an offer Christ maketh unto all, all those whom he sendeth the Gospel to. And so he may be said to draw all men, calling, inviting them to come unto him; so did he draw Jerusalem in the days of his flesh, O Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee? And thus he draweth all those that are within the pale of the Church, the sound of the Gospel. Muscul. ad loc. Ferus. ad loc. I dare not say with some, Quantum in se est, trahit, that as much as in him lieth, he draweth all men; no, I know that if Christ put forth his power, he can overpower the soul of the most obstinate and rebellious sinner, and cause him to come in, and that willingly: Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy powers, Psal. 110. Psa. 110.3. When Christ puts forth the arm of his power, accompanying his Word with his Spirit, (for that is the day of Christ's power) then shall his call be effectual, all that are so called shall come to him, and that willingly. Isa. 65.2. Pro omnibus in cruse pependit, & omnes quantum in se est, expansis ad se brachiis veluti trahit. Musc ad loc. Mat. 28.19. Mark 16.15. Thus Christ doth not draw all men; yet outwardly he doth, offering himself alike to all. So he did upon the Cross, where his arms were extended and spread abroad, as inviting all, willing and ready to receive and embrace all that should come to him. There behold the Son of man lift up, and drawing all men unto him; this he doth more clearly in the preaching of the Gospel, which he requireth to be published to all Nations, to every creature under heaven. There he makes known himself, offers himself to all that will receive him, inviting, persuading them to come to him to believe on him. Thus he draweth all in respect of an outward call; that this drawing proveth ineffectual to some, to many, to the most, the fault is their own, in that they do not hearken to this call, they will not follow him drawing, but draw back; Mat. 23.37. I would have gathered you, but ye would not, saith our Saviour to Jerusalem. In the mean time, Christ draweth them outwardly. Thus he draweth all; not that he intends to save all, but that by this means he may draw forth his Elect out of all, and bring them home to himself; even as the Fisherman (the similitude illustrates it well) in drawing of his net, his drag, he draweth all that cometh within the compass of it, not only good fish, but weeds, and stones, and mud; and wherefore doth he this? why, it is for the good fishes sake; that what is good he may save. Mat. 13.47. Even thus is it with Christ's Drag-net, the preaching of the Gospel; The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net (saith our Saviour) It draweth all that come within the reach and compass of it, Christ offering grace and mercy alike to all. But wherefore this? why, it is for the Elects sake: that Christ may save those which are his, by that means singling and drawing them out of the world, and bringing them effectually home to himself. He draweth all, that he may save some; draws all outwardly by his word, that by his Spirit accompanying his word, he may draw his Elect out of all, making that his drawing effectual to them, to all of them. Thus Christ draws all men, A truth, but not the whole truth here intended. The drawing which our Saviour here speaketh of, I look upon it as an inward and effectual work, a drawing and bringing of men home unto himself, to believe on him. Inquire yet further then: How may Christ be said thus to draw all men? Why. (in the third place) thus Christ draweth * All the Elect. all his Elect. So the the word [ * Quod omnes dicit, referendum est ad Dei filios, qui ex grege sunt. Calvin ad loc. 1 Tim. 2.6. All] is frequently to be understood and taken in Scripture: Christ gave himself a Ransom for all men, (saith the Apostle,) that is, for his Elect. And so very properly and fitly may the word here be restrained in the Text: I will draw all men. † Siper [omnia] ipsi homines intelligendi sunt, omnis praedestinata ad salutem pessumus dicere: August, ad loc. Praedestinatos scilicet ad salutem. Such as God hath predestinated unto salvation, them Christ draweth: Those whom God his Father hath given unto him, them Christ bringeth home to himself, drawing them, and that effectually, as I shall show you hereafter. And thus he draweth, not some, but all of them: This is the Father's will, John 6.39. that of all that be hath given me, I should lose nothing. 4. Or if you will (in the fourth place) by all men, here understand we all sorts of men, 4. All sorts of men. August. ad loc. Omnia hominum genera; All kinds, and sorts of men, some out of all. So the word All is frequently used in Scripture. God will have all men to be saved, 1 Tim. 2. 1 Tim. 2.4. God will have all men to come to repentance, 2 Pet. 3. 2 Pet. 3.9. that is, all sorts of men, some of all Nations, conditions. Even as it is said that our Saviour he cured all diseases and sicknesses, Mat. 4. Matth. 4.23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, (as our Translation renders it.) All manner of sickness, and all manner of disease. So all men, that is, all sorts and kinds of men. Omnes, intellige non Judaeos tantum, sed & alienigenas. Grotius ad loc. In hoc Chrysostomo assentior, qui particulâ universali Christum usum esse tradit, quia Gentibus pariter & Judais colligenda est Ecclesia. Calv. ad loc. And so very congruously and fitly may we understand the word here in the Text; I will draw all men: that is, all sorts of men; of all Ages, Sexes, Degrees, Conditions, Nations, Jews and Gentiles, etc. So chrysostom, and divers others here give the sense of the word; and that (as I conceive) very genuinely. Christ before his death he had drawn only one Nation, the Nation of the Jews, to whom in an ordinary way the offer of grace and mercy was confined; but being lift up, lift up upon the Cross in his passion, now henceforth he draweth not only Jews, but Gentiles; the Gospel being from thenceforth to be published to both; and the Church to be gathered, and made up out of both; according to what our Saviour had foretell a little before, Cap. 10. ver. 16. There shall be one Fold, and one Shepherd. And therefore saith he here, When I am lift up, I will draw all men unto me. Of these two later acceptions it matters not which we embrace. Or if you will, put them both together. Christ being lifted up, he promiseth to draw all men: that is, all his Elect people, being some of all sorts and conditions of men. Such are the Elect of God, a selected company, gathered out of all Nations, all ranks, ages, etc. and so specialis quadam universitas, Appellatur etiam mundus in bonis, qui fimiliter toto terrarum orbe diffusi sunt. Aug. in John 12.31. a kind of special universality, a world in the world, and so called here all men. Here then are the persons drawn; all Gods elect, being some of all Nations, etc. Quest. 3. But whither 3. Whither Christ draweth men, viz. to himself. are they drawn? That is the third Enquiry. Answ: To which the Text makes answer, they are drawn unto Christ, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; I will draw them to myself.] So Christ draweth his elect. Even as magnetical, or electrical bodies, as the Loadstone, Jet, and Amber, etc. attract iron and straws, etc. unto themselves. So doth Christ draw his elect unto himself, viz. to have union and communion with him; to believe on him, to be saved by him. And thus he draweth all of them, effectually bringing them home to himself: All that the Father giveth to me shall come unto me, John 6.37. being given unto Christ before time, they shall be brought home to him in time; being given to him in election, they shall be brought to him by effectual vocation; they shall come unto him, that is, believe on him. So our Saviour expounds his own meaning, ver. 35. of that Chapter. He that cometh to me, shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me, shall never thirst. The later explains the former. Non enim ad Christum ambulando currimus, sed credendo: nec motu corporis, sed voluntate cordis accedimus: August. in John 6.44. To come unto Christ, is to believe on him. And thus all his Elect being given to him, they shall come unto him, Christ will draw them, bring them home to himself, to have union and communion with him in his Kingdom of grace here, and glory hereafter. This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day, John 6.39. Quest: 4. The fourth and main question is yet behind; And that is how Christ draweth them? 4. How Christ draweth. Ans. For answer to this at present, I shall only look upon the word in the Text, The word [Drawing] explained. and the proper signification thereof, reserving the way and means, and manner of Christ's drawing till afterwards. The word here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, traham, I will draw. Now to draw properly, we know what it is: viz. to force a a thing this way or that way contrary to its nature, or will. As to draw water, is to force it upwards contrary to the ponderous nature of it. To draw a man, is to force him this way, or that way, contrary to his own inclination and will; herein drawing differs from leading. In leading, one goes before, and directs the way, the other follows of his own accord: In drawing, a man is forced, or overpowered, made to do what otherwise he would not. And even thus doth Christ draw his Elect to himself; he not only leadeth them, but draweth them, propoundeth himself to them, and not only showeth them the way to come, but over-powereth them: which he doth none violenter, sed amorosè, (as Carthusian Carthus. ad loc. Trahitur animus & amore. Aug. in Joh. 6.44. glosseth upon it) not violently, but sweetly; not bringing men to him against their wills, or yet forcing their wills, (which cannot be done) but sweetly overpowering them by the effectual working of his Grace and Spirit, making them both willing, and able to come, who of themselves were neither. Drawing imports two things. The word and phrase being thus opened, it giveth us to take notice of two things: 1. Man's natural indisposition; and 2. Christ's effectual working: The indisposition of man to come unto Christ, the effectual working of Christ in bringing man home to himself; the one necessarily employed, the other clearly expressed, both in this phrase of drawing, both useful Observations. I shall insist upon them severally, beginning with man's natural indisposition. Obs. Doct. Men come not unto Christ unless they be drawn. [I will draw them.] He doth not say, Men come not to Christ without drawing. (saith Musculus upon it) Current add me, when I am lifted up, all men shall run unto me; no, there is no such principle in Nature to carry men unto Christ; but I will draw them, men must be drawn before they can come un-unto Christ, otherwise they come not. Qu. And why do they not come of themselves? An. Take a double reason for it; Reason. they cannot, they will not; They cannot if they would; they will not if they could; both these keep them from coming, impotency, reluctancy; They are unable to come of themselves, and not more unable than unwilling; see both made good. 1. Their impotency, 1. Their impotency. they cannot come, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith our Saviour, No man can come to me, except my Father draw him. Joh. 6.44. Q. And why cannot men of themselves come unto Christ? A. See a double impediment, A double impediment. the one inward, the other outward; the one in and from themselves, the other from Satan. 1. In themselves they are both blind and lame: 1. Inward in themselves, being Blind in their understandings, lame in their wills; both hindering them from coming unto Christ, from believing on him. 1. They are blind: 1. Blind. Act. 26.18. Isai. 42.7. Paul was sent to the Gentiles to open their eyes, their blind eyes; so it is said of Christ, that he was given for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes: Such is the condition of all men by nature, they are born blind, Eph. 4.18. having their understandings darkened through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, as Paul saith of the Gentiles, 1 Sam. 11.2. having their right eye put out, (as Nahash would have dealt with the men of Jabesh Gilead) so as they do not, cannot see and know the things that belong to their peace: Natural men know little of God, (only so much as may serve to convince and condemn them) but nothing of Christ. Nature can tell a man somewhat of the one, but nothing of the other; now how shall any one come unto him, believe on him whom he knoweth not? How shall they believe on him, Rom: 10.14. of whom they have not heard? (saith the Apostle.) Men are naturally blind. 2. And not only so, but lame; 2. Lame. being born blind, they cannot come unto Christ whom they know not; but suppose their eyes were opened, so as they did know Christ, yet can they not come to him, they cannot incline their own wills to receive him, to believe on him. Faith in Christ, it is a supernatural work, a gift of God, Eph. 2.10. By grace ye are saved through faith, It is the gift of God. It, as salvation itself, so that faith whereby we are saved, it is the gift of God. To believe is a thing which a man cannot do of himself, no, though Christ be revealed, and made known to him: So he is in the preaching of the Gospel not only revealed, but offered and tendered to all that will receive him; but this men of themselves cannot do. He that giveth Christ himself to us, must also give us the hand to receive that gift. He that offereth Christ to us and requireth us to believe on him, he must also work that in us which he requireth from us; No man can come unto me (saith our Saviour) except it be given him of my Father, Joh. 6.65. Man cannot believe of himself. Time was indeed, when man had power to have done what his Creator required of him: In state of innocency he could have performed the condition of the Law, much more of the Gospel, had it been propounded to him. He could then by himself have fulfilled the righteousness of the Law, much more could he have believed on another for righteousness, if God had required it of him. But now through the fall of Adam, Man lamed by the fall of Adam. we are all become like Mephibosheth, who by a fall from his Nurse's arms, became lame of his feet. Such is our condition by nature; how ever at first created sound and perfect, yet falling in the arms of our first parent, we are become lame and impotent, so as now we cannot of ourselves come unto God, either by the way of the Law, or Gospel; either by doing, or believing: We cannot believe of ourselves. This is the work of the Spirit of Christ, which as it must enlighten the understanding to the beholding of Christ, so it must bow and incline the will to receive him, rest upon him, believe on him: Thence it is called the Spirit of Faith, 2 Cor. 4.13. Neither the eye, nor hand, whereby we behold Christ, and take hold of him, are our own. Of ourselves, we are both blind & lame. And here is the impediment from within. 2. Outward impediment. Satan. 2. Besides this, there is another from without. Satan hinders men from coming unto Christ; even as Paul tells his Thessalonians concerning his own coming to them; We would (saith he) have come unto you once and again, but Satan hindered us, 1 Thes. 1.18. So doth Satan hinder men from coming unto Christ; how Satan hindered Paul in his journey is uncertain; probably by raising up against him some storms of trouble and persecution, at land, or else some tempest at sea, so stopping his passage to them: And by such ways and means Satan often hinders men from coming to Christ; when they begin to look towards him, he raiseth up storms and tempests of persecution and trouble, casteth some stumbling blocks or other in their way, whereby he disheartens and discourageth them from coming unto him; besides he holdeth them captive; so saith Paul of such as oppose themselves against the truth of the Gospel, They are in the snare of the devil, taken captive by him at his will, 2 Tim. 2. 2 Tim. 2. last. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Taken alive; as Captives taken in the wars, or as Beasts and Birds taken by Hunters and Fowlers in nets and snares, which are carried whither they please. Even so are wicked men taken by Satan; I, so are all men naturally, all taken captive, and held captive, and led captive by him; some captivated in their understandings by Erroneous and Heretical Doctrines; some in their Wills and affections, by vicious provocations and enticements; and hereby he keepeth them off from coming to Christ. The Parable in the Gospel holdeth forth this truth; the Guests which were invited to the Marriage Supper, Luke 15.18. every one had something to keep him away, one a Wife, another a Farm, etc. Thus it is with poor sinners when they are invited to come unto Christ, to believe on him, to have communion with him, every one hath something or other to detain and keep him back, either the pleasures, or profits, or honours of the world, etc. and these are Satan's snares wherein he taketh and holdeth poor captivated souls, so as they cannot come unto Christ. Exod. 5.4, 5. Even as Pharaoh held the Israelites under their burdens, that they could not go forth to serve the Lord their God; So doth Satan hold men under some burdens or others, so as they cannot be brought unto Christ, unless they be brought to him by a strong hand; so were the Israelites brought out of Egypt; Exod. 6.1. and so must poor sinners be brought unto Christ, they must be drawn to him, and that by a power greater than Satan's: Luke 11.21. Where the strong man keepeth the house, he cannot be dispossessed but by a stronger: where Satan keepeth his hold (as he doth in every mere natural man) he is not easily ejected; neither are his captives easily taken out of his hand: There must be an overpowering power to rescue them, even the power of Jesus Christ, who unless he draw men, they can never come to him of themselves: As themselves are both blind and lame, so Satan hinders them. They cannot come though they would. 2. Reluctancy. Men will not come unto Christ, either as, 2. Nay (in the second place) that which maketh the case the more desperate, they will not though they could: There is in them naturally not only an Impotency, but a Reluctancy: They will not come; so our Saviour chargeth it upon the Jews, Ye will not come unto me, Joh. 5.40. Such a reluctancy there is naturally in the heart of man, not only an indisposition but an Opposition; so as though Christ be offered and tendered unto men, yet they will not come to him: They will not come to him as to a Lord, no nor yet as a Saviour. 1. Not as unto a lord 1. A Lord. Nolumus regnare, say those Rebellious ones, Luk 19.14. We will not have this man to reign over us; Such rebellion there is in the heart of every man naturally; men will not have Christ to reign in them, over them. A Truth, whereof we have but too sad experience at this day, in regard of the outward Government of Christ in his Church; How many are there who cannot endure to hear of it? no not of any Government at all. It is much more true of his Inward Government; men naturally are averse hereunto; and why? because they are wedded to their own wills, to their own lust, which they are loah to part with: Hereupon they will not yield up themselves to Christ, to be governed by him. They will not come to him as to a Lord. 2. No nor yet as a Saviour. 2. A Saviour. True it is, those that hear of Christ, haply they could be content to be saved by him; I, but they will not come to him that they may be saved; Ye will not come to me that ye might have life: Men will not come to Christ as to a Saviour; they will not believe on him for life and salvation. Qu. And why will they not? The reason of this Reluctancy. An. Because they will not go out of themselves: neither do they feel the need they have of him. 1. Men are not willing to go out of themselves. 1. Men will not go out of themselves. Quisque sibi proximus. Naturally men are wedded to themselves, and so are loath to be divorced Self Denial is a hard lesson, specially for a man to deny and renounce his own goodness, his own righteousness: now this a man must do before he come unto Christ: They who come unto him must come not like Peter, Joh. 21.7. Mark 10.50. who girt his coat about him to swim to Christ; but like Bartimaeus, who cast off his cloak to come to him; so must men cast away the garment of their own righteousness in respect of any affiance or confidence in it, before they can come to Christ. Now this flesh and blood is loath to do: A little of a man's own is better than a great deal of another bodies: A man's own righteousness is a pearl which nature is loath to part with; men are loath to go out of themselves. 2. Neither (in the second place) do they apprehend the need they have of Christ. 2. They feel not the need of Christ. Naturally men, though sick in their souls, sick unto the death, yet like men in an Apoplexy or Frenzy, they feel not their grief, they apprehend not their danger: Now what hope that they should look out for a Physician? much more that they should go unto him? A very difficult thing it is throughly to convince men of the misery and danger of their natural estate, and so of the need they have of Christ. And hence is it that they will not come unto him, though pressed & urged. They will not go upon a needless errand (as they suppose) nor yet go seek for that abroad, which they presume either they have, or may have at home; hence it is that men though invited, they will not come unto Christ unless he draw them, by enlightening their minds, and inclining their wills, of unwilling making them willing, And thus you see this first Observation cleared and made good, viz. That men come not unto Christ of themselves: What use shall we now make of it? Use. 1. Man's natural power and liberty of will in the work of Conversion, decayed. Applic. Not to spend time in Controversy, which yet the Text giveth just occasion to, viz. touching the power of nature, and the liberty of man's will in the work of conversion, which is so much cried up by Pelagians, Papists, Arminians, and other Sectaries of the times: A Doctrine how directly contrary to the sense and meaning of this expression here used by our Saviour in the Text? where he tells us, that being lift up, he will [Draw] all men unto himself. Now surely, were men of themselves able to come, and had they such a command over their own wills (as they dream of) there should not need any such drawing, overpowering: there should not need any such sweet violence to be offered to the soul. Certainly drawing presupposeth either Impotency or Reluctancy, one or both. As for that gloss upon this word which some would father upon chrysostom (whose soever it is) it is justly by Illiricus renounced as corrupt and erroneous, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Philosopho. The ologi proferun Oraculum ex suo Chrysostomo etc. Glossahaec è diametro pugnat cùm voce, Traham. Flac. jilic. Clavis. voc. Traham. Qui trahit, volentem trahit; He that draweth, draweth him that is willing to follow; not so, but the clean contrary; it is the difference (as I have told you) betwixt Drawing and Leading; a man that is willing is led, a man unwilling is drawn. And such are all men, before Christ comes to overpower their wills. So as Grotius might well have spared his gloss upon the Text: I will draw all men, Sed eos intellige qui non reluctantur, Grot. Annot. in Text. that is (saith he) Eos qui non reluctantur, Such as are willing to follow; But where are they? I shall not dwell upon that. More usefully for ourselves. Use. 2. The glory of Conversion to be given to Christ. As many of us as have tasted of this grace of God in the great work of our Conversion, in bringing us home unto Christ, learn we hence whither to give the praise and glory of it: Not unto ourselves, but unto Jesus Christ; not unto our willing, or running, but unto his drawing; It is not of him that willeth, Rom. 9.16. nor of him that runneth (saith the Apostle). Alas, of ourselves we could neither run, nor yet will to run: before conversion, being dead in trespasses and sins, we could not so much as move towards Heaven, no nor yet will to move, no more than a dead man can will his own resurrection; even this will is of God. It is God that worketh in you both to will, and to do, Phil. 2.13. Had not Christ drawn us, we had never come unto him. And therefore not unto us, not to the goodness of our natures, not to the tractableness of our tempers, the ingenuity and sequaciousnesse of our dispositions, nor yet to the benefit of our education, or what ever else, but only to the free grace of God in Christ, be all the praise and glory of this work. Use. 3. Be convinced of natural Impotency and Reluctancy. For others who are as yet strangers to this work, who never yet felt this attractive power working upon their souls, let them be convinced of the truth of what hath been now delivered; viz. that they cannot come unto Christ of themselves; they cannot come except Christ himself draw them. Whence is it that many neglect seeking after Christ, and after faith in Christ? and put off the work of their conversion from day to day? why, there is a false principle in their hearts; They think that to believe is the easiest thing in the world; that they can come unto Christ when they list: Not so, except Christ himself draw thee, there is no coming unto him; It is not in man to bring himself; nay, it is not in all the Men and Angels in the world that can draw a soul to Christ; Except Christ himself put to his hand, it neither can nor will come to him. Be convinced of this. And being convinced hereof, now take heed of drawing back Use 4. Take heed of drawing back. when we feel Christ beginning to draw. Our coming unto Christ depends upon his drawing. And therefore, doth he begin to draw? take heed how we hold off: How know we whether ever he will draw again? which if he do not, we are men without hope: But of this more hereafter in the next point, to which I now come. The second thing held forth to us in the Text, is, The effectual working of Jesus Christ in bringing his Elect home to himself: Observe. 2. The effectual work of Christ in bringing men home to himself. [I will draw them to me.] Those who in themselves are both unable and unwilling to come, Christ overpowreth, and causeth to come to himself. A truth excellently shadowed out in that known parable of the lost sheep, Luke 15.5. which the shepherd having found, he layeth it upon his shoulders, and bringeth it home. This Shepherd is Christ, the chief Shepherd, the Shepherd and Bishop of souls, 1 Pet. 5.4. 1 Pet. 2.25. (as Saint Peter calls him.) The lost sheep are his Elect before conversion; who in regard of God's Election are sheep; Matth. 15.24. in regard of their natural condition are lost sheep, wand'ring in the paths of sin and death, having no disposition of themselves to return to the fold. These sheep this great Shepherd seeketh. Luke 19.10. [The Son of man is come to seek that which was lost:] And seeking, he findeth them; and finding them, he bringeth them home, causing them to return to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls. 1 Pet. 2.25. For the opening and illustrating Illustrate. of this useful truth, viz. Christ's drawing of poor sinners to himself, give me leave to propound and resolve these two or three Questions: 1. Whence they are drawn: 2. Wither they are drawn: 3. By what means Christ draweth them. For the two former more briefly, Whence, and Wither they are drawn. In drawing (as in every motion) there are two terms; A quo, and Ad quem; Whence and Wither; whatever is drawn, is drawn from one place, or thing, to another. Quest. Whence Christ draweth men. Queen 1. First then, Whence doth Christ draw his Elect? Answ. In general, Out of the state of nature. An. To this we might answer in the general, He draweth them out of the state of nature, which is a state of sin and death: In this estate do all men naturally lie, in a state of sin; The whole world lieth in wickedness, 1 Joh. 5.19. And consequently in a state of death, Death passed upon all, for that all have sinned, Rom. 5.12. Now out of this estate Christ draweth his Elect; as so many Lots out of Sodom, so many Lazaruses out of the grave; Bringing them out of that state of sin and death, into a state opposite to it, a state of righteousness and life. More particularly, More particularly, Christ draweth men, 1. Out of Darkness. 1. Out of darkness. Jer. 38.9, 12, 13 Even as Jeremy was drawn by Ebedmelech out of the Dungeon where he was like to perish: So are poor sinners drawn by Christ out of the Dungeon of ignorance. In this Dungeon do all men naturally lie. They all sit in darkness, Luke 1.19. and in the shadow of death: being by nature no better than darkness itself: Ye were sometimes darkness, Ephes. 5.8. destitute of heavenly light, wholly ignorant of what belongs to their eternal peace and happiness. Now out of this dungeon doth Christ draw his Elect, calling them out of darkness. That you should show forth the virtues of him who hath called you out of darkness, 1 Pet. 2.9. And this he doth by causing a light to shine forth unto them; Luke 1.79. Matth. 11.25. Giving light to them that sit in darkness, revealing unto them those supernatural mysteries, which are hid from the wise and prudent of the world. 2. He draweth them from under the power of Satan. 2. From the power of Satan. Acts 26.18. Under this power do all men naturally lie, possessed, and held captive by Satan. Now from under this power Christ draweth his Elect; even as Moses a temporal Saviour, he brought the Israel of God from under the power and tyranny of that Egyptian Pharaoh; So doth the Lord Jesus, the eternal Saviour of his people; he bringeth his Elect out from under the power of this spiritual Pharaoh, challenging and vindicating his own right. His own right: So they are, both by a right of Donation and Purchase; being given to him by God his Father, & purchased by his own blood. And thus being his, now he rescues them from the hands of his enemy, and theirs; even as David rescued his Lamb, (or Kid), 1 Sam 17.34, 35. taking it out of the mouth of the Lion and Bear: So doth Christ rescue his Elect, delivering them from the power of Satan; which cannot be done without great force and power. And therefore he may well be said to draw them: Satan will not willingly yield up his hold. He that contended so earnestly with Michael the Archangel, Judas 9 about the body of Moses, will much more contend about the souls of men. The stories in the Gospel inform us how unwillingly Satan was ejected out of the one, how being compelled to leave them, he rend and tore them. Certainly, he will not willingly leave what possession he hath in the other. Here is the power of Christ in drawing men from the power of Satan. 3. He draweth them out of the world: 3. Out of the world. John 15.19. having chosen them out of the world, he draweth them out of it. To this end Christ gave himself; He gave himself for our sins, (saith the Apostle) that he might deliver us from this present evil world. Gal. 1.4. And this he doth, when he maketh an actual application of the merit of his death unto his Elect people, he delivereth, draweth, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Erip●ret. plucketh them out, (as the word in the Original properly signifieth) of this present world. But how doth he do it? not in respect of place, but in respect of quality. I pray not (saith our Saviour, speaking of his Disciples) that thou shouldest take them out of the world, John 17.15. but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from that evil one, viz. Satan; or from the evil that is in the world. And thus Christ delivers his people, viz. from the evil world; 2 Pet. 2.20. severing them from the corruptions and pollutions which are in the world. In this mire the world generally sticks and lieth. Now in this respect Christ draweth his people out of the world, causing them to steer a new course, no longer, to walk according to the course of this world, Ephes. 2.2. as sometimes they did: but teaching them now to deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts. Tit. 2.12. What these worldly lusts are, I shall not need to tell you: Saint John hath reduced them to three heads, The lusts of the flesh; voluptuousness, 1 John 2.16. sensuality: The lusts of the eyes, covetousness: The pride of life, ambition: These, and the like lusts the men of the world are given over to, so as they rule and reign in them. But these Christ teacheth, and causeth his people to deny, renounce, abandon: which he doth by putting a new spirit into them, even a Spirit of sanctification; changing them in the inward, and outward man, so as they are no longer conformed unto this world, viz. Rom. 12.2. in the corrupt manners and customs of it. Thus are they severed from the world, and drawn out of it. And that not only in regard of a renunciation of the sinful lusts of it, but also a holy sequestration from it, Thus also doth Christ draw his people out of the world, so as though they live in it, yet they live like men of another world; not minding only the things of this present world, but seeking after, and setting their affections upon the things that are above; where their chief treasure is. 4. Thus drawing them out of the world, he draweth them also out of themselves. 4. Out of themselves. This is a lesson which all Christ's disciples must learn. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, Mark 8.34. And this lesson Christ teacheth all that come to him; to deny themselves; viz. their own carnal reason, perverse wills, corrupt affections: and not only so, but he teacheth them to deny, to renounce their own righteousness; viz. in respect of any affiance and confidence in it. Not having mine own righteousness, Phil. 3 9 (saith Paul of himself.) And so he draweth them out of themselves. The case is ordinary, men when they are drawn out of the mire of this world, brought to renounce and abandon the gross evils therein, and to walk, in regard of their outward conversation, regularly, and blamelessly, yet now they stick in themselves, setting up their own righteousness, (as the Pharisee did) as if that were sufficient to justify and save them, by which means they are kept off from coming unto Christ. Now Christ drawing his Elect, he draweth them out of themselves, causeth them to renounce all, to make loss of all, (as Paul saith of himself) What ever they have, have done, can do, merits, privileges, virtues, performances; whatever is, or may be supposed to be theirs, Christ causeth them to relinquish all, so coming naked unto him. Thus doth he take them off from their own bottoms, and draw them out of themselves. And here are the things from whence Christ draweth them. Qu. 2. But whither doth he then draw them? Qu. 2. Wither he draweth them. An. An. To himself. Here is the second Inquirie, to which the Text itself returns a general answer; He draws them to himself: even as the Loadstone draweth the iron to itself, so doth Christ draw his Elect people to himself, viz. to have union and communion with him, in grace here, and glory hereafter. More particularly, Christ draweth his Elect to himself, as being under a double relation: 1. As to a Saviour. 2. As to a Lord. Both these Christ (being lift up) is made. Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, Act. 5.31. and under both these relations doth Christ draw his people to himself. 1. As to a Saviour. 1. As a Saviour. My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour, (saith Mary) Luk. 1.47. even as the Brazen Serpent drew the eyes of the Israelites to itself, as the only means of their temporal cure; so doth Christ draw the eyes and hearts of his Elect to himself, as to a Saviour, their Saviour, the only means of their eternal salvation. Thus do poor sinners come unto Christ, even as those woundrd Israelites did to their Brazen Serpent, fixing their eyes upon him, looking up to him, and resting upon him for Justification and Salvation. Thus was the blessed Apostle drawn unto Christ, Christ being effectually revealed to him, Phil. 3.9. now he lets go all, maketh loss of all, renouncing whatever he had formerly put any confidence in, wholly betaking himself unto Christ, desiring only that he might win him, and be found in him, not having his own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ: Thus did the desires of his soul go out after Jesus Christ, seeking justification and salvation only in, by, and through him; and thus doth Christ draw all his Elect unto himself, drawing off their eyes from all other things, he draweth them to himself, inclining their hearts to believe on him, to rest and rely upon him, as an alone alsufficient Saviour. 2. He draweth them to him as to a Lord: 2. As a Lord. under this relation do all true Believers come unto Christ as unto a Saviour, so unto a Lord, every one taking and acknowledging him for their Lord: Job. 20.28. My Lord, and my God, (saith Thomas. Hos. 8.5. ) As their King; They shall seek the Lord their God, and David their King, (saith the Prophet;) that is, the Messiah, Christ the Son of David, whom all true Believers seek as their King, willingly submitting themselves to his government, yielding up themselves to be ordered by him; Act. 9.6. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do, (saith Paul;) even so do all believers come unto Christ, willingly putting their necks under his yoke, giving up themselves unto him, as Paul saith of his Corinthians, They gave themselves to the Lord; 2 Cor. 8.5. that is, they wholly dedicated and consecrated themselves to the service of Christ: So do all true believers, being brought home to Christ, they now look upon themselves as no longer their own, 1 Cor. 6.19, 20. neither do they any longer desire to live to themselves, but unto Christ, Rom. 14.8. whom they acknowledge as their Sovereign Lord: And thus are they drawn by Christ unto Christ, effectually persuaded to receive him in both these Relations; as a Saviour, as a Lord; as a Saviour believing on him, as a Lord submitting to him. Quest. 3. The third Question is yet behind, and that is, By what means Christ thus draweth men, Quest. 3. By what means Christ thus draweth men. and bringeth them home unto himself, who of themselves are so unable and unwilling to come? Ans. Answ. To this we answer: The ordinary means whereby Christ effecteth this great work are his Word and Spirit. His Word being the Instrument, his Spirit the Principal Agent: By the one he draweth outwardly, by the other inwardly, by both together effectually. 1. Christ draweth men by his word, 1. By his word, the Gospel. This is the ordinary Instrument, which Christ maketh use of in effecting this great work, his word: what word? The word of the Gospel, the Gospel preached and published. By this means Christ when he was upon earth he drew many to himself. He went about preaching, Luke 8.1. showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God. And being lifted up from the earth, he still draweth his Elect by the same means, viz. by his word, his word in the mouths of his messengers, his Ministers: They are the servants whom the great King sendeth forth to bring in guess to the marriage of his Son, bidding them compel them to come in; Luke 14.23. the Ministers of Christ, sent forth to bring men to have union and communion with Christ: which they are to do, not by any outward violence, but by preaching the Gospel to them. Their office is to draw men to Christ. And hence is it that sometimes they are called fishers: I will make you fishers of men, (saith Christ to Peter and Andrew.) Mat. 4.19. Fishers. But with what tew, what nets, what hooks, what baits are they furnished? why, only Christ putteth his word, his Gospel into their mouths, Mark 16.15. Go preach the Gospel to every creature. Matth. 13.47. This is the Net, The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net cast into the sea, (saith the Parable.) The Kingdom of Heaven, that is, the Doctrine of the Gospel, which is sometimes called the Kingdom of Heaven, because it is the means to bring men thither: This is Christ's net, which he by his Ministers casts into the sea of this world; thereby drawing men to himself. The Baits which he maketh use of, are the sweet and gracious promises held forth in the Gospel; the chiefest of all which is Christ himself; Him the Gospel propoundeth, lifteth up, offering him with all his benefits; viz. life and salvation to all that will receive him. And hereby doth Christ draw men to himself. Ista Revelatio ipsa 〈◊〉 Attractio, (saith Augustine. Augustinus in John 6.44. ) This very Revelation of Christ is an Attraction: Ramun viridem ostendis ovi, etc. Ramum viridem ostendis ovi, & trahis illam. Nuces puero demonstrantur, & trahitur, etc. Ibid. (So he goeth on.) Even as by the holding forth of a green bough to a sheep, it is drawn to and after it. Thus by holding forth of Christ in the Gospel, poor sinners are drawn to him, and after him. And thus (as I have in part already shown you) Christ being lifted up, he draweth all men, Thus Christ being lifted up, he draweth all men. viz. by causing his Gospel to be preached, and published unto all, all Nations, not only Jews, but Gentiles. Before his lifting up, in an ordinary way the Gospel was preached only to the Jew: John 4.22. Salvation was of the Jews, Christ was not sent save only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Matth. 15.24. (so he tells the Cananitish woman.) And his Apostles are interdicted for preaching the Gospel to any but them. Go not into the way of the Gentiles, etc. Matth. 10.5, 6. but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But being lifted up, now the partition wall is broken down: Now the net which before was cast only into a pond, as I may say, is cast into the sea. The Apostles have their Commission enlarged, Matth. 28. Mark 16. Go teach all Nations, preach the Gospel to every creature; that is, not only to Jews, but Gentiles. Christ is now offered alike to all. Acts 2.39. The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to them which are afar off, etc. i. e. to the Gentiles as well as Jews, Ephes. 2.14. ver. 121 who before the death of Christ were afar off, strangers to the Covenant of grace. To them is the promise now tendered, Christ being without any difference held forth and offered alike to all, so drawing all men. Christ draweth by a weak Instrument. And here is the Instrument which Christ maketh use of for the drawing of his Elect to himself, the preaching, plain and simple preaching of the Gospel; Seemingly a weak and unlikely instrument, thence called the foolishness of preaching; 1 Cor. 1.21. Yet by this weak means doth Christ effect this great work: Hereby drawing men out of Darkness, from under the Power of Satan. Paul was sent to the Gentiles, Act. 26.18. to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God: But how was he to do it? Why, by preaching of the Gospel, by bearing the name of Christ before them; Act. 9.15. Hereby drawing them out of the World, as fishes out of the sea; Hereby drawing them out of themselves, convincing them of their insufficiency, and Christ's all sufficiency; and so drawing them to himself; first as to a Saviour to believe on him, working faith in them by this means, Faith cometh by hearing, Rom. 10. hearing the word, the word of the Gospel: Then as to a Lord, to be governed by him, which is also wrought by the same Instrument. 2 Cor. 12.4, 5. Here is the outward means, but this often proveth ineffectual. Many there are who hear the word, and hear it powerfully dispensed, who yet, are never the better for it; so saith the Apostle of the Jews, The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it, Heb. 4.2. And so ineffectual it often proves to many that sit under the sound of it: They are not thereby brought home to Christ. Even as many of the Jews saw Christ lift up, beheld him crucified, who yet believed not on him, nay thereby they were hardned-against him. Even so it is now in the preaching of the Gospel:. Many there are before whose eyes Christ is lift up, crucified in the Word and Sacraments, who yet are not brought to believe on him, or submit unto him. 2. To this therefore (in the second place) is joined the Spirit; 2. The Spirit. The Spirit of Christ which he sendeth forth to accompany his word, and to make it effectual in the hearts of his Elect; and by this means he draweth men effectually; even as the Loadstone draweth Iron by a secret efflux and emission of subtle and insensible spirits, thereby attracting that which of itself was unapt to move: So doth Christ draw men to himself by sending forth his Spirit; Act. 2. By this means did he draw so many at the day of Pentecost, viz. by sending down his Spirit upon his Apostles, which accompanying the word preached by them, made it effectual in them that heard it: There might we have seen the accomplishment of what our Saviour here in the Text foretells, and forepromiseth, When I am lift up, I will draw all men unto me; this he did at the day of Pentecost: Being lift up first upon the Cross in his Passion, and then upon his Throne in his Exaltation, see how he draweth all men, all sorts of men, some of all nations to himself; this he did by pouring out his Spirit according as he had promised: Act. 2.17. Joel 2.23. I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, hereby multitudes were brought to believe on him; and hereby it is that Christ draweth poor sinners unto himself at this day, viz. by sending his Spirit along with his word: The word in itself is but a dead letter, 2 Cor. 3.6. it is the Spirit that quickeneth it, that putteth life into it: The words which I speak are Spirit and Life (saith our Saviour to the Jews; John 6.63. ) What ever efficacy the word hath, it hath it from the Spirit. Cue, Qu. 2. What the Spirit herein doth. Why, what doth the Spirit in this work? Answ. An. I answer. The work of the Spirit lieth principally in two things, in Enlightening the Understanding, and Inclining the Will. 1. It Enlighteneth the Understanding, 1. It inlightneth the understanding. Gal. 1.16. letting in a supernatural light into the soul, a light of knowledge, revealing Christ to it, and in it, discovering to it what need it hath of him, what an all-sufficiency it may find in him; convincing it of it own unrighteousness, and of a perfect righteousness to be found in Christ. This is the work of the Spirit: it is that which out Saviour maketh promise of to his Disciples, Joh. 16. that when he was departed from them, Joh. 16.7, 8. he would send the Comforter (the Spirit), And when he is come (saith he) he shall convince the world of sin, and of Righteousness, etc. And this the Spirit doth; the Spirit accompanying the word, it convinceth men of sin, of their own sinfulness, the sinfulness of their natures, hearts, lives; and as of sin, so of righteousness; as of sin in themselves, so of a righteousness, which is to be sought, and may be found out of themselves, viz. in Christ, who is made Wisdom, 1 Cor. 1.30. and Righteousness to all those who in the sense of their own righteousness go out of themselves unto him. This the Spirit with clear and convincing evidence revealeth unto the soul. And hereby Christ prepareth the hearts of his Elect whom he intendeth to draw unto himself. 2. Having thus enlightened the Understanding, now (in the second place) he cometh to incline the Will, 2. Inclineth the will. causing the soul to come unto himself. Quest. But how doth Christ bring off the soul hereunto? what, doth he compel the Will? Answ. Not so: The will being in it own nature free, it cannot be compelled; being compelled, it should cease to be a will. How then? Why by a sweet and gentle overpowering of it, working upon it in a way suitable and agreeable to it own nature, effectually persuading, bowing and inclining it to yield to what with such clear and strong evidence is held forth unto it; Phil. 2.13. so drawing forth a consent from it, working in it a will, of unwilling making it willing to close with Christ offered and tendered to it. to receive him as Saviour and Lord: Thus doth the Spirit work upon the spirit; the Spirit of God upon the spirit of man: And by this means Christ draweth men to himself: sending forth his Spirit together with his Word, he worketh effectually in the hearts of his chosen, causing them to come unto him, to believe on him, submit unto him. And thus have you the Doctrinal part of this useful Truth briefly opened unto you. Now bring we it home to ourselves by way of Application. Applica. Examine whether we have been thus drawn to Christ. Use 1. And that first by way of Examination and Trial, whether we have been thus drawn unto Christ or no: Drawn we have been outwardly all of us. None of us but have had Christ propounded, offered, held forth unto us in the Ministry of the Word, there crucified, lift up before our eyes. Haply some, and many of us have also felt an inward drawing, felt our hearts at sometimes somewhat moved and inclined to look towards Christ. We have at sometime found the Word exciting and stirring up some motions and breathe that way: But, are we drawn home unto Christ? Many there are who through a common work of the Spirit accompanying of the Word, are brought to look towards Christ, who never yet come at him. Acts 26.28. It was the case of Agrippa, whom (as himself acknowledgeth) Paul had almost persuaded to become a Christian. Let our enquiry be for this thorough work; whether we have felt the effectual power of Jesus Christ in drawing our hearts and souls, not only towards, but to himself. This is the saving work, without which we can have no benefit by Christ. No Communion without Union. A man must first be brought home unto Christ, before he can be justified, and saved by him. Are we then thus drawn unto Christ? O that every of us here present could but make this good to ourselves! But (alas!) how many are there who are mere strangers to this work? Evidences of persons not drawn. never felt any such power put forth in their souls, know not what it means, To find out some of them, I beseech you go along with me, and deal impartially with your own souls, see whether you be not in the number. 1. Such (in the first place) are all ignorant persons; 1. Ignorant persons. such as are not yet drawn out of the dungeon of spiritual darkness. Persons grossly ignorant: Such as live without the knowledge of Christ: Though living under the means of knowledge, where Christ is preached and published to them, yet they are wholly ignorant of the mystery of Christ, not knowing so much as what Christ was, what he hath done, what he hath suffered, what he hath merited, by what way or means they should have any benefit by him. Such there are, and that too many every where to be found. Now (alas,) against such the evidence is too clear; They are not yet drawn, and brought home unto CHRIST. Christ never draws men blindfold to himself. But that he may draw them, Acts 26.18. he first opens their eyes. Paul was sent to the Gentiles, first to open their eyes. to turn them from darkness to light. And this Christ in measure doth in every soul which he intendeth to draw to himself, he causeth a light to shine into it, revealing himself to it. By this means was Paul drawn to Christ, by an effectual revelation of Christ to him. Gal. 1.16. When it pleased God to reveal his Son to me, (or in me,) etc. Till Christ be thus revealed to the soul, the soul neither will, nor can come to him. Still in drawing, Christ worketh first upon the understanding, then upon the will; first enlightening the one, before he bow and incline the other. They who never yet found a work of illumination, and conviction in themselves, certainly it cannot be that as yet they should be drawn unto Christ. 2. A second sort against whom the evidence is clear, that they are not drawn unto Christ, are all profane, 2. Profane persons. wicked, and ungodly persons, such as are yet under the power of Satan, having him ruling and reigning in them. Such as are not yet drawn out of the world, not having escaped the gross pollutions of it. 2 Pet. 2.20. Such as stick, and lie, and wallow in the mire of sinful lusts, Ephes. 2.2. walking after the course of this world, according to the Prince that ruleth in the air, (as Paul saith of his Ephesians before conversion,) giving over themselves to known and scandalous evils, Swearers, drunkards, unclean, profane, licentious, unrighteous persons, etc. Let not such deceive themselves; they are far from being drawn unto Christ. 2 Cor. 6.15. What agreement hath Christ with Belial? (saith the Apostle,) that is, with Satan that wicked one, or with wicked men, in whom Satan dwells and rules. Christ drawing men to himself, he draweth them from under the power of Satan, and he severeth them from the world, teaching them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Certainly, that soul that so embraceth any one sinful lust, as being convinced of the sinfulness of it, yet liveth and lieth in it, being resolved not to part with it; it never yet knew what this effectual work of Christ meant in drawing men to himself. 3. A third sort are all mere carnal men; 3. Carnal persons. Phil. 3.9. such whose hearts and affections are wholly set upon earth, and earthly things, minding earthly things. The profits, and pleasures, and honours of the world, with such other sensual and carnal contentments, these are the things which they are wholly taken up with, In the mean time, as for heaven, and heavenly things, Grace and Glory, these are things which they do not trouble themselves about, neither have they any affection to them. These also we must conclude to be in the number of them who are not yet drawn unto Christ. Christ in drawing men to himself, he draweth them from the earth, in measure weaning them from the world; draweth them above the earth, causing them to seek the things which are above, Col. 3.1, 2. and to seek them in the first place. Certainly, they whose hearts and affections are all upon earth, they cannot yet be drawn to Christ, who is in Heaven. 4. A fourth and last sort are mere Civil, or Pharisaical Justiciaries: 4. Pharisaical Justiciaries. Such as are not drawn out of themselves; such as rest in their own righteousness, not feeling the need they have of Christ: such as bear themselves upon the innocency and harmlessness of their lives and conversations; they are no swearers, drunkards, unclean, unrighteous persons, but they are regular and orderly in their course; they (as near as they can) give both God and man their due; and here they rest, hoping and trusting to be justified and saved by their own righteousness. As for such, the evidence is also clear against them, notwithstanding they may seem to be drawn out of the world, severed from it in respect of any scandalous evils, yet they stick in themselves, and consequently cannot be drawn unto Christ. Christ in drawing men unto himself, he draws them out of the dungeon of ignorance, he draweth them from under the power of Satan, he draweth them out of the world, and he draweth them out of themselves. Whoever they are that stick in any of these, they are not yet drawn unto Christ. Quest. Quest. But how shall we know, and be assured that we are in the number of those that are truly drawn unto Christ? Evidences of men, drawn to Christ. Ans. For answer. 1. Reflect upon what hath been spoken: Ans. 1. Such as are drawn out of all the v particulars. Inquire we whether we find ourselves drawn out of all these. Are we drawn out of our natural darkness, the darkness of ignorance? Can we say that a supernatural light hath shined into our hearts, revealing unto us the mystery of Christ? Are we freed and delivered from the power of Satan? so as we are not led captive by him, as sometime we were. Are we drawn out of the world? Have we received another spirit, than the spirit of the world? a spirit teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to mind the things which are above? Are we drawn out of ourselves, taught to deny ourselves, and to renounce our own righteousness in respect of any affiance, and confidence in it? If so, here are comfortable evidences that Christ hath begun to put forth an effectual power in, and upon our souls. 2. But (secondly) Inquire how our hearts stand affected towards Jesus Christ. 2. Inquire touching the affections of the heart towards Jesus Christ. This is Christ's drawing of men to himself; viz. the drawing of their hearts and affections to him: These are the feet of the soul? whereby a man cometh unto Christ, Non pedibus, sed affectibus. Now, are these drawn to Christ? How stand our hearts affected towards him? Make this enquiry in three or four particulars. 1. In respect of our affiance 1. Affiance. in him. Can we say that we rest upon him, and him alone? Have we cast our souls upon him, as upon an alone all-sufficient Saviour? Have we committed them to him? 2 Tim. 1.12. I know whom I have believed (or trusted, saith Paul) and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him: Thus stood Paul affected towards Jesus Christ, so as he durst trust him; nay he had trusted him, and that with his best Jewel, with his precious soul (or with his Crown) which he had committed to him deposited with him: And thus doth the soul that is truly drawn to Christ; it let's go all other things, and betakes itself wholly and alonely unto Jesus Christ as unto an alone Saviour, leaning upon him; that is the Church's posture, Cant. 8.5. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Embracing and resting upon him: Now are we thus drawn to Christ? Do we find our souls thus coming out of the wilderness of this world, and clasping and embracing Jesus Christ? leaning and resting upon him, fixing all our affiance and confidence upon him, so as we can say that we have none other in heaven or earth but him? if so, certainly the heart which thus leaneth upon Christ is drawn to him. 2. In respect of Love. 2. Love. Eph. 6. last. Can we say that we do unfeignedly love the Lord Jesus? Love him in sincerity; so as our souls do cleave unto him: Thus will it be with the soul that if truly drawn unto Christ, it will close with him, and be exceedingly affected with him: Thus was it with Peter; Peter, lovest thou me? Lord, Joh. 21.15. Luk. 7.47. thou knowest that I love thee: Thus was it with Mary Magdalene; She loved much, because much was forgiven her. Cant. 5.8. The Church in the Canticles, is sick of love. And thus will it be with the soul that is truly brought to Christ, it will be enamoured with him. Apprehending the entire and infinite love of Christ towards it, it cannot but be inflamed with love towards him again; and this love it expresseth by a high prising of him. 3. Which may serve for a third enquiry, 3. Appretiation What price do we set upon Jesus Christ. The soul that is truly drawn to Christ, is drawn to an high estimation of him, so as it prefers him before all other things, accounting meanly and basely of all other things in comparison of him: I account all things loss and dung (saith Paul) so that I may win Christ, etc. Phil. 3.9 4. 4. Willingness to part with all for Christ. And this estimation it expresseth by a willingness and readiness to part with all for Christ, which may be a fourth Enquiry. Are we so taken with Jesus Christ, as rather than part with him, we are resolved to part with all? So was Paul affected towards him, he accounts all dung, and he willingly maketh loss of all for Christ; and so will the soul do that is truly drawn to Christ, it will let go all, what ever it is that stands betwixt Christ and it, Riches, and Honours, and Pleasures, and Ease, and Credit, and Life; Even as Peter and Andrew when Christ had called them, They straightway left their nets and followed him. Mat. 4.20. Thus, where Christ draws the soul effectually, it leaves all, parts with all, viz. in purpose and resolution. In case any thing comes to stand in competition with Christ, the resolution of such a soul is, rather to part with it, than Christ. 5. And hereby it expresseth an earnest and Longing Desire after Christ, 5. Longing desires after Christ. which may yet be another Enquiry. Can we say, that our souls do go out in earnest desires after Jesus Christ? after nearer union and more full communion with him? Such affection the Spouse in the Canticles frequently expresseth towards her Well beloved; complaining of his estranging and withdrawing himself from her, how doth she seek after him? earnestly desiring to enjoy him and to be enjoyed of him: And truly so will it be with the soul that is truly drawn unto Christ, it will affectionately long after him, earnestly desiring to be more nearly united to him, to have a more full communion with him, to enjoy the presence of his grace here, and glory hereafter; The Spirit and the Bride say, Rev. 22.17, 20 Come; Even so come Lord Jesus, come quickly. 6. To name but one more; in the sixth place, as touching our Submission to Jesus Christ. Can we say, that we have taken him as our Lord? that we have given up our souls unto him? and that we are not only contented, but desirous to be ruled, and governed by him? that we are as willing to be ruled, as to be saved by him? If so, finding our hearts standing thus affected towards Jesus Christ, in respect of our affiance in him, love to him, High-prizing of him, readiness to part withal for him, earnest desires after him, willingness to be governed by him, now may we conclude it to our comfort, that we are in the number of those who have felt the effectual power of Jesus Christ put forth and exercised in and upon us, in drawing us to himself. Otherwise, having no such affections towards him, our hearts not resting upon him, not closing with him, preferring other, things (it may be every base lust) before him, not willing to part with any thing, much less with all for him, having no desires after him, not submitting unto him; certainly, we never yet knew what this effectual work meant. Upon this Trial thus made, two sorts of Use, 2. persons come now to be dealt with. 1. To such as are thus drawn. Such as shall find themselves thus in measure wrought upon. Let them, 1. 1. Comfort from their interest in Christ. Take unto themselves the comfort of this blessed work: Having by experience felt in themselves this fruit of Christ's death, let them be assured that all the merits and benefits of his death belong unto them. Those whom Christ thus draweth, he draweth not only to union, but communion with himself: being thus drawn to Christ, to receive him, believe on him, submit unto him; now all that is Christ's, is theirs. The merit of his death is theirs, for their Justification: The virtue of his death and resurrection is theirs for their vivification, resurrection, first, and second. The benefit of his Intercession is theirs for their perseverance and continuance in grace, and for bringing them through grace to glory. Being drawn to Christ in his Kingdom of grace, they shall be drawn up to him in his Kingdom of glory, where they shall participate of that happiness and blessedness, which himself as their Redeemer hath merited for them, and as their Head hath already in their names taken and keepeth possession of. 2. Exhortation to seek to feel more of this attractive power. 2. In the second place: Being thus drawn unto Christ, let them labour to find this effectual working in them more and more. This let every of us do who have had any experience of this attractive power in ourselves. Let our desire still be that we may be drawn nearer unto Christ. Whilst we are here below, still there will be a distance betwixt us and him. And therefore finding our hearts in measure drawn unto him, still seek after a nearer union; that we may be every day drawn more and more out of darkness, from under the power of Satan, and the dominion of all sinful lusts, as also out of ourselves, and so may be more incorporated into him. And being thus drawn unto him, let our desires be that we may also be drawn after him. Draw me, and I will run after thee, Cant. 1.3. saith the Church. That we may follow him; which we are not able to do without his continued drawing. Even as it is the same strength and force, which at the first sets a bowl, and after continueth it in its course. It runs not further than the force of the Arm which threw it carries it: Even so fareth it in the course of new obedience: The same power and strength which at the first puts a man into that way, must still carry him on in it; viz. the strength of Christ. I am able to do all things, Phil. 4.13. saith Paul; But how? Through Christ that strengtheneth me. A regenerate person, who hath a principle of new life put into his soul, he is made willing, and in some measure able, as to come unto Christ by faith, so to follow him in a way of obedience: but all by the power and strength of Christ. Gal. 2.20. It is Christ that liveth in him, and moveth in him; It is Christ that draweth the soul to him, and after him. Both are wrought by the same power; and therefore having felt the first grace in bringing us unto Christ; now seek we after a second grace, even the continuance of the same grace. Having felt a Prevenient, now seek for a subsequent grace; that being still drawn nearer, and nearer unto Christ, we may follow him throughout the whole course of our active and passive obedience, until we shall be drawn up unto him to partake with him in his Glory. This for those who do find themselves in measure thus drawn unto Christ. 2. Such as are strangers to this work; let them not rest till they find Christ thus drawing them to himself. 2. In the next place a word or two to those who are as yet strangers to this work, who never yet felt this effectual working in themselves. Let them be exhorted never to give rest unto their souls, until they find and feel Jesus Christ thus drawing them to himself. Beloved, upon this depends our comfort here, and salvation hereafter; viz. upon our union with Christ. By this may we be assured that we are within the compass of God's Election of grace; that we are in the number of those whom God hath not ordained unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ. By this may we know and be assured, that we are given to Christ; John 6.37. All that the Father giveth me, shall come unto me. Those whom God the Father giveth to his Son before time in his Decree of Election, the Son draws them to himself in time by an effectual vocation; causing them to come unto him as unto a Saviour, as unto a Lord; to believe on him, to submit unto him. Let not any of us give rest to our souls till we find this blessed work begun in them. And here take heed of that common deceit, of resting ourselves contented with an outward drawing; Rest not in an outward drawing. viz. that Christ hath been revealed and offered to us in the word, that we have been invited to come unto him. The parable in the Gospel tells us of many guests that were invited to the Marriage Supper, Matth. 22. who yet never tasted of it. So fareth it with many, whom Christ by his Ministers invites to come, & partake in his merits, his benefits, offering himself to them, who yet shall never be the better for him. Nay, better for them they had never known what any such offer or invitation meant: And therefore rest we not here; nor yet in that common work of the Spirit, Nor yet in a common work of the Spirit. in stirring up some velleities, some good motions and inclinations, drawing the soul towards Christ; but seek after a thorough work, to find our hearts effectually persuaded to come out of the world, to come out of ourselves, to come unto Jesus Christ, to receive him as Saviour and Lord. To this end for the furthering of this work, Means to further this drawing. 1. Submit to the drawing Ordinance. 1. Submit ourselves to a conscionable attendance upon the Ordinance of Christ, that Ordinance wherein, and whereby Christ ordinarily putteth forth this power for the effectual drawing of men to himself, viz. the public Ministry of the Word. Ever begging a blessing from God upon it, that through the secret work of his Spirit accompanying it, it may be made effectual to us for this blessed end and purpose. 2. Submitting to this Ordinance (in the second place) take heed of making resistance against Christ. When Christ gins to draw, take we heed of drawing back: 2. Take heed of drawing back. Take heed of opposing, resisting, quenching any good motions kindled in our hearts by the Spirit through the Word. Such motions at sometime or other such as constantly sit under the Ministry of the Word shall feel in themselves. And now, doth Christ begin to draw? Take we heed in this case of withdrawing, drawing back, which is a thing of dangerous consequence. Heb. 10.38. If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the phrase, where less is said, but more intended. My soul shall have no pleasure in such a one; that is, I will hate, I will abhor him, set myself against him. Take we heed of all such rebellious and disloyal refusing to follow Christ beginning to draw. Obj. Why, but (you may say,) what is our Resistance in this case? Is not Christ able by his Grace to overpower the soul, though never so rebellious, never so obstinate? Christ will not draw men against their wills. Matth. 23.37. Answ. True, he is able to do it, but he will not; where the offers of Grace are rejected, and slighted, Christ will not put forth this his effectual power: See the truth of it in Jerusalem; Christ could have gathered them, and brought them under the wings of his Grace and Mercy, but they would not: therefore he leaveth off to draw them, giveth over the work. The soul that rejecteth the offers of Grace, and standeth it out against Christ, what can it expect but that Christ should desist from drawing it? Certainly, as Christ will never bring a man to himself against his will, Gen. 6.3. so his Spirit shall not ever strive with men: for a time it may, (which yet is wonderful mercy; wonderful mercy it should knock at all, but much more that being repelled and resisted, it should continue knocking,) but it will not ever do it. To draw back is the next way to provoke Christ to give over drawing, than which, what can be more pernicious and destructive to the soul? They who draw back, draw back to perdition. O take we heed that none of us be found in that number; Heb. 10. ult. We are not of them (saith the Apostle) who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Happy, thrice happy we, may we be found such, such as are drawn by Christ to believe on him, submit unto him. Being thus drawn to him, we shall communicate with him in all his merits, all his benefits, in Grace here, and Glory hereafter. FINIS. THE SAINT'S Joint-Membership, WITH The mutual Respects and Offices, which upon the account thereof they own each to other. A Subject generally useful for all Christians, in special for such as are under a particular, and more Regular Church-Relation. As it was lately presented unto the Church of God at Great Yarmouth. By JOHN BRINSLEY, Minister of the Gospel there. 1 Joh. 3.18. My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. LONDON, Printed for Ralph Smith. 1653. TO THE CHURCH, AND CHURCHES of CHRIST in Old ENGLAND; With all the Living Members of the same. Especially, Those in the Town of GREAT YARMOUTH, Grace and Peace. CHRISTIANS, LET not the first word in this Inscription offend any of you: They who familiarly denominate the Ocean from that Coast, which it lieth upon, and passeth by, calling it the British or Irish Sea, etc. shall not need to stumble at the like language being applied to the Church: Nor yet that word, which you shall frequently meet with in the body of the Treatise, where I call the Church, under consideration looked upon, a Mystical Body. I am not ignorant that that Phrase is commonly and properly given to the Church as Invisible; but in as much as that Division of Visible and Invisible is but of several Affections and Modes belonging to the same Subject, and that the one of these is so involved and enwrapped within the other, as that they cannot be actually severed, I have therefore indifferently (I hope without any just offence) applied it to either. This Apology being premised, let me now crave acceptance of what I here present to you; all of you, every of you; whom from my soul I wish, I could as easily join together in real Affection, as here I have done in a verbal compellation and Dedication; this it hitherto hath been, now is, and so long as I am, shall be my desire and endeavour: in order thereunto it is that I have heretofore adventured abroad some small Tracts, tending to the prevention or removal of what might impede or obstruct such a conjunction. And upon the same errand I now send this after them; wherein I have endeavoured to mind all the Members of the Mystical Body of such respects, Affections, and Offices, as by virtue of their Joint-Membership they own each to other; a Subject generally useful to all, who profess and would approve themselves Christians; more specially to such as are under a particular and more regular Church Relation. A privilege which I cordially wish for all in this nation that want it: Truth is (what cannot be denied, or excused) the stones in our Ecclesiastical buildings, as they have done, so yet generally they lie too lose, not cemented as they ought to be; Not that I look upon the formality of an explicit Covenant as essential to a constituted Church: I shall not dare upon so slight a ground to unchurch the Churches which have been and are in this Nation, and elsewhere; yet somewhat I conceive should be done for the distinguishing of the Members of one Congregation from another, besides their bare habitation within the compass of a perambulation line; or yet then an ordinary attendance upon Ordinances in such a place: Surely, besides duties of Piety towards God, there are also duties of Charity, which Christians are bound to perform, as to all their Brethren wherever, so in special to those of the same particular Society with them. What these, and those are, and how to be discharged, I have endeavoured here to set forth: Herein beginning (so Providence hath ordered it) where my Reverend Brother in a Sermon Mr. Marshal's Sermon at the Spittle, on Easter Monday, April 1652. lately preached and published upon the same Subject and Text, (which came to my hand the day before I finished this) left. What I here hold forth, I desire may not only be read, but regarded, and practised. And that as by others, so in special by you, among whom Providence hath cast my lot: and to whom (under God) I have devoted and dedicated myself, and labours. To you (it cannot without great ingratitude be either denied, or concealed.) God hath been good and gracious in the midst of all those late Changes, which have passed over the heads of this, and the Neighbour Nations: Not suffering the sword to enter within your walls, (as it hath done many others) in an Hostile way: not giving you wholly for a spoil, whether to Domestic plunderers, or foreign Robbers; but yet reserving to you some competent remainder of a Temporal Subsistence: And whilst he hath remembered the outward man, he hath not been unmindful of the inward; having vouchsafed to you the liberty and enjoyment of some Ordinances requisite to the well being of a Church, and comfortable subsistence of a Christian, which many other Congregations in this Nation desire, but want. What remains then, but that you should now make some returns, answerable to these receipts; stirring up yourselves to go before others, as in duties of Piety towards that God who hath thus put a difference betwixt you and them, so in all offices of true Christian Love each to other. Of this later I have lately minded you by word; and now do it again by writing, that so you may be able after my decease, (which how nigh it may be, he above knoweth, in whose hand my times are) to have these things always in remembrance. Which that you may do, I shall second my Counsels with my Prayers, resting Yours under God, ready to serve you in the Gospel of his Son, JOHN BRINSLEY. July 1. 1652. THE SAINT'S Joint-Membership. ROM. 12.4, 5. For as we have many members in one Body, and all members have not the same Office; So we being many, are one Body in Christ, and [Every one Members of another.] IN the verse foregoing we have a Charge; A general charge propounded. a charge directed by this our Apostle to these his believing Romans, and in them to all other Christians: The sum whereof is, that they abandoning of Arrogancy and curiosity, not overweening themselves, or intermeddling with other folk's businesses, they would quietly content themselves in the Stations wherein God had set them, wisely improving the several gifts bestowed upon them to common and mutual Edification in all Christian Humility and Charity: For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think (or, to be over-wise above what he ought to be wise) but to think soberly (or, to be wise unto sobriety) according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. This Charge, in the words I have now read, he prosecuteth and presseth; which he doth by an Argument taken à Comparatis, from a Comparison, Prosecuted by a comparison. a Comparison betwixt the Natural and Mystical body; in which (as in every Comparison) we may take notice of two things, two parts, the Protasis and Apodasis; the Proposition, and the Reddition: The former we have in the fourth verse, For as we have many members in one Body, The parts of the comparison. etc. The later in the fifth verse, So we we being many, are one body, etc. In the former of these (the Proposition 1. The Proposition. ) the Apostle maketh observation of three paticulars: 1. The Unity of the body; [one body:] 2. The Plurality of members; [We have many members in one body:] 3. The Diversity of Offices [And all member, have not the same Office.] So is it in the Natural body, the body of Man, or other living creature; The body is one, one Totum integrale, one integral whole, made up of many members, which are distinct and differing the one from the other; Differing in site and place, some higher, others lower, as the head and the feet: Differing in external form and fashion; some of one fashion, others of another: Differing in Order and Dignity, some more noble and principal, others more ignoble: Differing in their Offices and Operations; All have not the same Office (saith the Text) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the same Action, the same Operatoon: the eye hath one Office, the ear a second, the tongue a third, and so in the rest; Thus it is in the Natural body. There is the Proposition. But that is but the shell or paring: The kernel and meat which our souls are to feed upon, we shall find it in the later part, the Reddition; 2. The Reddition. which followeth: [So we being many, are one body in Christ. We] Meaning the Church; in special that particular Church to which he directs this Epistle, the Church at Rome; in general the whole Catholic Church, whereof that Church was a part, and Paul himself a member, which he was not properly of the Church at Rome, no more then of Corinth or Ephesus, or (for aught I know) of any other. And this Church he here calleth a Body, The Church called a Body. a term usually and familiarly given to any society, or combination of men; Thus in the Camp; as the whole Army, so every Brigade, every Company being ordered in a martial way in ranks and files, they are called a Body; the Body of the Army, a body of Horse, a body of Pikes, etc. A Military Body; thus in the Civil State; as a whole Kingdom or Commonwealth, so every particular Society, every Corporation is a Body, a Political Body; and such is the Church. As the Church Catholic, so every particular Congregation is a Body; an Ecclesiastical Body, so our Apostle here calls it, as often elsewhere, 2 Cor. 12.12. Ephes. 4.4, 16. Colos. 3.15. Hebr. 13.3. And not unfitly may the Church be so called; and that in regard of those Resemblances which are betwixt it and the Natural body: Resemblances betwixt the natural and Mystical body The chief and principle whereof our Apostle here in this verse sets before us. I shall take them up in their order as I fall with them in the words. 1. The first which we meet with is the Plurality of members Resembls. 1. Plurality of members, which are divers, in [We being many] So is it in the natural body, which is a compages of many members meeting and joined together. And so it is in this Mystical body of the Church [We being many] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; so the members of the Church may be said to be, and that in a double respect. 1. In regard of their Persons; 1. Their Persons. they are many: Such is the Church catholic, a Body made up of many Members. The Church Catholic Invisible, of the whole company of true Believers in all Ages and Places of the world. The Church catholic visible, of the whole company of Professors; which under the Gospel, may well be called many: and such is a particular Church, a congregation, a body made up of a plurality, of many members. How many there must be, or may be in such a Church, the Spirit of God in Scripture hath not precisely determined it; I know some others have done it, making the least number in a particular church to be seven, without which number it cannot be a constituted organical church: And the greater to be so many as may conveniently meet together in the same place to partake in all the ordinances of Christ. But for my part I shall not vouch either of these; contenting myself with what the Text holds forth; that a church is a Company, a Plurality, a Body made up of many members; Many for their Persons. 2. Many in regard of their Offices 2. Offices. and gifts, which are various and divers: So is it in the Natural body (as the former verse tells us;) Many members, many offices [All members have not the same office.] And so it is in the Church; as the persons are many, so are their Offices and gifts divers: So it followeth in the next verse, ver. 6. Having then gifts differing, etc. Here is a first Resemblance. 2. A second is in the unity of this Body. Resembls. 2. Unity of the body. Many members, but one body; so is it in the natural body, We have many members in one body (saith the Proposition;) So we being many are one Body (saith the Reddition): Such is every particular Church; where there is a company of visible Saints joined together in the fellowship of the Gospel; united in the profession of the same faith and love; attending upon and submitting to the Ordinances of Christ; and performing mutual offices each to other, this is one Body. And such is the Church catholic: consider it as we will, whether in the Invisible or visible state of it, it is on Body. The Church catholic invisible, The Church catholic invisible, one Body Being made up of all true Believers, such as having a real union with Christ, have also union and communion one with another: These make up one Body; As the Body is one, etc. so also is Christ (saith the Apostle, 2 Cor. 12.12. Christ mystical, the Church, whereof Christ is the Head.) For by one Spirit we are all baptised into one Body, ver. 13. A mystery represented to our eye in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper; where the Sacramental Bread being made of many grains meeting together and making one loaf: and the Sacramental Wine being the juice of many grapes meeting together in the same Cup, do excellently represent unto the receiver, the unity of the Church catholic; wherein all true believers being knit together by Faith unto Christ, and by love one to another, make up one mystical Body; So our Apostle unveils this mystery, 1 Cor. 10.17. For we being many, are one bread, and one body. Such is the Church catholic invisible. And such is the Church catholibk visible; The Church catholic visible one Body. Consisting of the whole company of visible Saints, such as profess the true faith of Christ with subjection to his Ordinances; profess Faith and Obedience. This also (as it is one Church, so called by the Apostle in that 1 Cor. 12.28. God hath set some in the church, first Apostles, secondarily Prophets, thirdly Teachers etc. meaning thereby the Church catholic visible, to which those extrordinary and catholic officers were properly, and to which the other ordinary officers are primarily given; so it) is one body, so called by the same Apostle, Ephes. 4.4. There is one body; meaning thereby the church catholic, to which belongeth that one baptism, ver. 5. and to which those officers were given by Christ, spoken of ver. 11. He gave some Apostles, some Prophets, some Evangelists, etc. These Christ gave to his Church catholic, as considered in the visible state of it: And so may we understand the Apostle here in the Text; We being many, are one body; not only that particular Church at Rome; but the church catholic visible, whereof Paul himself was a member; (as I before expounded it) This is One Body. Whether one Organical body (as they call it) or not, is made a matter of great dispute in the present times; but I shall not trouble you with that notion; It is enough for my present purpose (that which I suppose in a morderate sense will be granted at all intelligent hands) that there is such a Church catholic visible, and that Church also is one body, one essential and integral body, made up of many members, combined and knit together in the profession of the same faith. Thus the church, take, it as we will, still we find a unity in it (I mean in the notion; O that it were so also in the practice!) It is one body. And that under one head. There is a third Resemblance. Resembls. 3. Unity of the head, which is So is it in the Natural body, there is one body under one head: A head there must be, and but one head; otherwise it would be a monstrous body, should it be either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, without a head, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, having more heads than one. And so is it in this Mystical body; it is also one body, under one head, which head is Christ; so it followeth in the Text. We are one body in Christ. Christ. Sumus unum corpus in Christo, id est, per Christum, qui corporis istius compactor fuit. Grot. ad Text. ] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is not only per Christum (as Grotius dilutely expounds it) By Christ, as being the Author of this union, the gatherer and compacter of his Elect people into one: True it is, this Christ doth; he being the great Shepherd, gathereth all his sheep into one fold; so much we may learn from that Suffragan High Priest, who spoke more than himself understood (as too many at this day do) though not more them the Spirit of God intended to speak by him, Joh. 11.51. where he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation: And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad; This Christ in part hath done, and further will do to the end of the world; gather together his Elect of Jews and Gentiles, so making them one Body. This is a Truth; but not the whole truth. There is somewhat more in this phrase, [In Christ.] viz. as being the Common head of his Church. So Grotius himself rightly expounds that other place of the same Apostle, Ephes. 1.10. Grotius Com. ad Ephes. 1.10. where he setteth forth the mystery of Gods will and purpose, now revealed in the Gospel, viz. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ.] Per Christum, tanquam caput, by Christ, as a Head. And so much the word there translated, [Gather together] may be conceived to import, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to bring under one Head. Such is Christ to his Church: Not only a Head over all things to it, (as he is said to be, Ephes. 1.22.) but the Head of it. Oft times we find him expressly so called; The Head of the Body, the Church, Col. 1.18. Ephes. 5.23. Such a relation there is betwixt Christ and his Church, as betwixt the Head and the Body. And thence it is that as he is called the Head of his Church, so the Church is called his Body, Ephes. 1. last. 1 Cor. 12.27. And well may they be so called: Christ the Head of the church, the Body. Christ the Head, the Church, the Body. It The Head participates in the same nature with the Body. So doth Christ with his church. 2. The Head is above the Body, set over it, to rule and guide it; so is Christ over his Church. 3. The Head looketh out for the Body, providing for it; and so doth Christ for his Church. 4. The Head giveth influence, communicateth animal spirits, giveth sense and motion to all the members of the Body; so doth Christ communicate his Spirit to all the members of this mystical Body, whereby he giveth spiritual sense and motion to them. 5. The Members of the Body are all united to the Head by some common bands and ligaments, nerves and sinews, whereby they come to have union and communion with it. And so are all true believers unto Christ; united to him by his Spirit on his part, by Faith and Love on their part; whence they come to have union and communion with him. And hence is it that they are said to be one Body in Christ.] Being united unto him, as unto one common Head; all having interest in him: all having union and communion with him; viz. all true livingmembers. Here is the Head to this Body. And this Head is but one. So is it in the natural; and so is it in the mystical Body. The Head of the mystical Body, but one. The Church hath but one Head; not one Principal Head, and another Ministerial. So they of the Church of Rome would have it; who cry up their Pope to be Head of the Church, viz. subordinate under Christ. But what were this but to make the Church a monstrous Body; having a Head and a Head, one Head under another? Many other Arguments I find here taken up by Pareus and some others writing upon this Text, to refute and nullify this claim of the Pope's Headship. But I shall pass them by as needless; This being an Argument so trite and worn, as every one may see the thread of it. As for the Pope, well were it if he might once approve himself a sound member of this Body; as for Head, he neither is, nor can be. This is Christ's peculiar, not communicable either to Man, or Angel. The Church is one Body, under one Head. [We are one Body in Christ.] There is a third Resemblance. The fourth and last followeth: viz. The mutual Relation betwixt these members: Resembls. 4. Mutual Relation betwixt the members. which we fall within the last clause, [And every one members of another.] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) singulatim, severally every one. [Members one of another.] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, One another's members. Invicem membra; mutual Members, Commembres (a word sometimes used by Augustine, as Estius Estius ad Text. notes it) Com-members, Joint-Fellow-members; so is it in the natural Body. The Members thereof are Joint-members, having all a common relation to the same Head, they have a mutual relation each to other. So is it in a Military Body; where all the soldiers are Commilitones, Fellow-soldiers. And so is it in Political Bodies: Those who are of the same Corporation, are Concives, Fellow-citizens, Fellow-burgers, Fellow-members, as it were members one of another. And so is it in the church; not only in a particular congregation, the members whereof have, or aught to have, a special relation each to other. But in the Church catholic; all the true members of the Church, are fellow-citizens. So called Eph. 2.19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Fellow-citizens with the Saints. And Fellow-heirs: So you have it Ephes. 3.6. where the Apostle speaking of the believing Gentiles, he calls them Fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and joint-partakers of the promise.] Three words very emphatical in expressing and setting forth this mystical union and communion among Christians. They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Joint-heirs, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Joint-members of the same body; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Joint-partners in the same promise. Among all expressions looking that way, we shall find none more full than this in the Text, where the Apostle speaking of church-members, saith, they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, one another's members. Thus have I, with what brevity and perspicuity I could, passed through the severals in the Text; wherein I have given you a succinct and short account of five Doctrinal Propositions. 1. That the church is a body. 2. That in this Body there are many members. 3. That these many members make one Body. 4. That these many members are one Body in Christ. 5. That these members are members one of another. That which now remains is the Application; Application. where we shall find never a one of these Branches but is fruitful. I shall only give you a taste of the four first, intending to make a full meal of the fift, and last. 1. Is the Church a Body, a spiritual Society, a mystical Corporation? Why then let all the members thereof seek the good of the whole: Use 1. All the members of the Church ought to seek the good of the whole Body. not only of that particular Society, that congregation whereof they are members in particular, (as our Translation renders that Text, 1 Cor. 12.27.) This indeed they ought to have a particular regard unto, but not so as to impropriate their respects unto it. Let them all seek the good of the whole, the Church catholic. Thus do the members of the natural Body; they all seek to maintain not only that part of the Body to which they have a proximate adherence, but the whole Body. And thus is it in a military Body; every soldier seeketh the safety, not only of his own company or Regiment, but of the whole Army. And thus it either is, or aught to be, in civil Societies, in Bodies politic, the members thereof should seek the welfare, not only of their own families, but of the whole Incorporation. And so let it be in this spiritual Incorporation of the church: Let all that profess themselves members thereof, seriously seek the good of the whole: Seek the peace of it, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, Psal. 122.6. Seek the prosperity of it, Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces, v. 7. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion, build thou the walls of Jerusalem, Ps. 51.18. Seek to maintain the outward privileges of it. This the members of civil Incorporations, upon their first admission into those Societies are sworn to do (an Oath too little regarded, as many other of like nature are) to maintain the Privileges, Immmunities, Lawful usages, and Customs thereof. Let all Christians do the like in the behalf of the Church, the Church catholic, whereof they are made or acknowledged to be members by their Baptism: Let them seek to maintain the Spiritual privileges thereof; to hold up all the Ordinances of Jesus Christ, that they may be dispensed with Liberty, Purity, Power. Every ways seeking the good of this body. Use 2. Every member ought to keep his place, and look to his office. Are there many members belonging to this Body, and these having several offices, functions, and gifts? why, then let every one rest himself contented with that degree, that station wherein God hath set him in the Church, not thrusting himself upon the offices and employments of others. This is one thing (as I told you, and a principal one, which the Apostle here aimeth and drives at; This I say, (saith he) that no man think of himself above what he ought to think, but think soberly, according as God hath given to every man the measure of faith; He requireth every one to know his own place and his own gifts, and so move within his own sphere, containing himself within the bounds and limits of his Calling, not affecting to put his oar into other men's boats, his Plough into other men's fields, his sickle into other men's harvests, busily intermeddling with what belonged not to him: And this lesson he would have church-members to learn from the members of the natural body; where the several members have several Offices, and several faculties; the eye to see, the ear to hear, the tongue to speak, etc. And having so, each one holdeth to its particular function, no one member encroaching upon the office of another: even so would he have it for to be in the Mystical Body of the church, and so let it be; There being therein a like plurality of members, and diversity of Offices, parallel and answerable to the former; the Ruler as the eye, the Teacher as the tongue; the Hearer as the ear; the Distributer as the hand, etc. some having one function, others another; let every one look to his own. Thus is it in the Military body, where there are Colonels, and Majors, and Captains, and Leiutenants, Sergeants, Officers and private Soldiers, every one intends his own employment. And so is it in Politic Bodies, where there are Mayor, Bailiffs, Sheriffs, Justices, Constables, etc. every one looketh to his own office, not interrupting, not disturbing one another: the inferior by no means intruding upon the place of the Supeior: And so let it be in the Church. But I hasten, Is the church one Body? Then let all who profess themselves members thereof, seek to maintain the unity of it; Use 3. Seek to maintain the Church's unity. not rending and tearing it asunder by factions and schimes, unwarrantable Separations and Divisions; but labour to keep the oneness, the unity of this body: The unity, not only of those particular congregations whereof they are Members (which Christians ought have a special regard unto, not withdrawing themselves upon every slight occasion, or making breaches in them) but also of the church catholic. So as though it be divided into several congregations, yet all they may keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; as so many lines meeting in the same centre; by their Associations and Combinations helping and strengthening each other: all endeavouring (as much as may be) a Religious uniformity, that they may all walk by the same Rule, as of Faith and Manners, so (if it might be) of Discipline; a thing much to be desired by all those who pray for the peace of Jerusalem: and without which they are not like to see what they long for. But I pass to the fourth. Is the church one body in Christ? Then let all the members thereof know and acknowledge him for their Head: Use 4. Know and acknowledge our head. Holding fast to him; It is that which our Apostle chargeth upon some in his time, Colos. 2.19. They did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Hold fast the head; They did not hold themselves to Christ alone, but they would be setting up other Mediators, other Intercessors with him and besides him (even as Romanists at this day do). For us, take we heed of the like; remember we that Christ is our Head, our Mediator, our Advocate; and therefore hold we to him, and him alone; not admitting any other to any participation with him in his Headship: Submitting ourselves unto him to be governed by his laws: leaving him to the regulating and ordering of his Church; seeking after a nearer union, and a more free and full communion with him. The members of the natural body, the more free communion they have with the head, the more active and vigorous they are; whereas if that be intercepted and obstructed (as in some cases it is, as viz. in Palsies and Apoplexies, etc.) they prove useless and dead. The Christians life is bound up in Christ (whence it is that he is called their life, Col. 3.4.) And therefore holding fast this head, seek nearer union and further communion with him. But I promised to give you but a taste of these. Come we now to the fifth and last, upon which I have a special design, as conceiving it to be a branch, Use 5. A fruitful Branch. The Saints Joint-membership, which may afford us a great deal of good fruit, such as will be well worth my shaking and your gathering; much matter which will be very useful unto you, and to all Christians in reference to their church state. Where let me only premise one general caveat; what I shall speak of Church members, A Caveat concerning the word [Church-members.] and their mutual respects and duties, let it not be construed in too strict a sense, as intended only to the members of particular congregations, in reference unto that particular body whereof they are members. True it is, I will not deny (what I have already yielded) that the Apostle here in my Text, in laying down the Doctrine, hath a special eye to such a particular Relation: And so shall I have in the Application. But, as he doth not, so neither shall I impale and confine what I am to say within so narrow a room. As for a particular Church, (as I said before) it is but a part, a member of the Church catholic visible; so much is by some collected from that Text forecited, 1 Cor. 12.27. where out Apostle telleth his Corinthians, that they were the Body of Christ, and members in particular,] The Original hath it word for word, Members of a part, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. So the vulgar Latin (as also Ambrose) there renders it; Membra de (or ex) membro, (possibly, by the change of a letter, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etc. Chrysost. ad loc. Aliquatenùs. Nam omnes Ecclesiae per orbem dispersae diversa sunt unius corporis membra. Beza Annot. Vide Calvin. Con. ad locum. (as Beza conjectures, and Heinsius approves it,) reading it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.) members of a member: that is, (as chrysostom and Beza gives the sense of it) members of that Church of Corinth, which was but a part, a member of the catholic christian Church: but that I will not stand upon, conceiving that it may admit of another construction, more apposite and agreeable to the scope of that place, (to which Calvine directs me.) Neither need I, seeing it is a truth clearly held forth by the Spirit of God in the very language of the Scripture: which speaking of the church catholic, calleth it [the church,] without any other addition, or modification; As in the ver. there foregoing, ver. 28. God hath set some in the church, etc.] so often elsewhere. But speaking of particular Congregations, calls them churches: [Hear what the Spirit saith to the churches, Revel. 2, 3. etc.] Or the church at such a place, and such a place, clearly importing that the one is a totum Integrale, the whole Body, the other parts and members of it. And being so, parts of an Homogeneal Body; what I say of, or concerning the one, let it be conceived as intended also to the other. This general caution being premised, (which as myself shall, so I shall desire you to carry a long with you) now come we to particulars. Are the members of the Church Joint-members, Useful Instructions from the consideration of the Saints Joint-Membership. 1. Negative Instructions. members one of another? from hence we may take up many useful Instructions: useful to all the members of this mystical Body; which I shall divide into two ranks: Negative, and Positive. The former showing what Christians should not do; the other what they ought to do. Begin with the former. What church-members should not do. Let them not envy one another; 1. Church-members not to envy one another. an evil which all men by nature are prone and subject to. The spirit that dwelleth in us, lusteth to envy, (saith Saint James,) Jam. 4.5. The spirit of Satan, or the spirit of a man, so far forth as he is unregenerate, being depraved and corrupted, among other lusts, it inclines and puts him on to envy. Thus we read of the Patriarches, that being moved with envy, they sold their brother Joseph into Egypt, Acts 7.9. Thus even christians are too apt to envy their Brethren. But thus let it not be: Let not Inferiors in the Church envy their Superiors. Those who have lesser either gifts or estates, envy those that have greater. Let not private christians envy public officers: Those who are under Government envy those who are set over them in the Lord. To that end let them remember (what they should never forget) that they are members one of another; so as what the one receiveth, is for the benefit and advantage of the other. Livius Hist. Lib. 2ᵒ. It was the argument which Menenius Agrippa in the Roman story is said to have made use of (a story taken up and made use of by divers Expositors writing upon the Text) for the quieting of a mutiny among the Plebeians, P. Martyr Pareus Grotius ad Text. the common people in Rome, who envying the wealth, honour, and pomp of their Senators, were ready to have made a defection from them. Thereupon he tells the fable of the Members and the Belly; how that they fell foul with it, complaining that they were feign to labour and take pains to maintain that, whilst that only spent what they got; whereupon they withdrew their wont allowance; which having done, in conclusion by pining it, they starved themselves. And by this argument taken from the communion betwixt the members of the natural Body, he appeased that tumult, and reduced them to due subjection; let the like argument be useful unto Christians in a like way. Is it so, that others have gifts and offices in the Church, (for that I have now properly to deal with) above themselves, let them not envy them, repine and murmur at them. So did the Israelites at Moses and Aaron; of whom the Psalmist tells us, Psal 116.16. They envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron the Saint of the Lord. This did Corah and his confederates, (as you may read it, Numb. 16.2.) They envied Moses as a Magistrate, and Aaron as a Minister, one set apart for the Priesthood: And how many are there, who (as if they had taken a pattern by them) do the very like at this day? They envy Moses and Aaron, the Magistrate, and the Minister. And why? because they are, the one in the commonwealth, the other in the church, advanced above themselves. But this let not any of you do: no reason you should. What they have is for your good. He is the Minister of God to thee for good, (saith Paul of the Magistrate) Rom. 13 4. And it is no less true of the Minister, you and they are members of the same Body; and being so, ye are members one of another: and therefore no reason you should envy one another. So the Apostle himself maketh use of this very Argument in that Text, which I have, and shall have the frequenter recourse unto, in as much as (as Pareus saith of it) it may serve as a commentary upon this I have now in hand, 1 Cor. 12. where having to deal with some, who envying the Offices or Gifts of some others, were ready thereupon through discontent to fall off, and separate from the Church; he tells them, ver. 14, The Body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, therefore I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the Body? etc. And so he goeth on; willing every one to content himself in the station wherein God had set him; not being discontent with others who were preferred before themselves: This being a thing not only of conveniency, but of necessity, that there should be such a disparity and difference among the members (as of the natural, so) of the mystical Body. So it followeth, ver. 17, 18, 19 For if the whole Body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members, every one of them in the Body, as it pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the Body? Let the consideration hereof for ever lay this evil Spirit of envy. Church-members being members of the same Body, they are members one of another. And being so, what any one hath, is useful to the rest: and therefore let them not envy one another. There is a first Instruction. 2. Whilst they do not envy, let them not disdain one another. 2. Not disdain one another. A useful and needful lesson for Superiors; such as God hath preferred and advanced above their brethren, betrusting them with offices, honouring them with gifts, or with success in their labours, or in any other way above their brethren, let not them disdain Inferiors, despising them, insulting over them, thinking meanly of them, looking overly upon them. Thus (as the History tells us) that matchless Philistine looked upon David, when he saw him, being but a youth, a stripling, a child in comparison of him, he disdained him, saith the Text, 1 Sam. 17.42. And truly thus Superiors, both in Church and State, are subject to look upon their Inferiors: men of greater estates, are subject to despise their poor brethren, (though richer in faith then themselves.) So Saint James chargeth it upon some in his time, Jam. 2.6. Ye have despised the poor. Thus aged persons are sometimes apt to despise young ones (though it may be their seniors in grace.) Thereupon was Paul's advice to Timothy, that he should carry himself the more warily, That no man might despise his youth, 1 Tim. 4.12. And writing to his Corinthians concerning him, he giveth them charge that no man should despise him, 1 Cor. 16.11. And thus the strong Christian is apt to despise the weak: whereupon the Apostle giveth that caveat to these his Romans, Rom. 14.3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not: He that knoweth his liberty, despise his weaker brother. This take you heed of. This is a thing which the members of the natural Body will not do. The more principal and noble parts will not despise the less principal or ignoble; the eye or hand will not disdain the foot; but own it as a member, an useful and needful member; I, and as one of their members. The like let the members of the mystical Body do, and that upon this ground. So the Apostle presseth it in the sequel of that Chapter, 1 Cor. 12.20, 21. etc. Now are they many members, yet but one body: And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you: nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary, etc. So is it in the natural, and so is it in the mystical Body. The most noble members in this body, they are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (as the Apostle hath it in that verse forecited, Membra ex parte sunt, sicut cuique attributa est sua portio, & fivitum officium, Calvin. ad loc. ver. 27.) Membra ex parte, that is, members each one for his part, and in his place, (as Calvine most genuinely expounds it.) And the meanest members are needful to the whole, and may be useful to any other member. They are members one of another, And therefore let them not disdain or despise one another. There is a second. Thirdly, Let them not offend one another: 3. The third Negative Instruction. Not offend one another. This will not the members of the natural Body do, being members one of another, they will not willingly offend, or any ways hurt one another: let not the members of the mystical Body do it. This Paul telleth his Corinthians, that for his own part, he was very of, Giving none offence, saith he of himself, 2 Cor. 6.3. And he would have them to be the like, to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Inoffensive; and that towards all. So runs his charge, 1 Cor. 10.32. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God.] Three words under which he comprehends all sorts of persons then in being; who were either Jews, or Pagans, or Christians. Christian's should not willingly offend any of these, especially the last. Church-members being their members, let them not offend them. Which may be done divers ways; Which is done three ways. 1. By example. 2. By word. 3. By deed. By example, scandalising of them; by word, defaming them; by deed, wronging and injuring of them. Let Church-members take heed of each. 1. Of offending one another by example, 1. By Example, scandalising one another. scandalising their Fellow-members; this will not the members of the natural Body willingly do. The hand will not put a mote into the eye, or lay a stumbling block before the foot. Let not the members of this mystical Body do it: let them take heed of being either causes or occasions of stumbling to others: Let no man put a stumbling block, or an occasion to fall in his brother's way, Rom. 14.13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 1. Whether it be by the abuse of their christian liberty. 1. By abusing Christian Liberty. Concerning this speaketh the Apostle there, It is not good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, or any thing, whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or made weak, ver. 21. Three words (the two later whereof, are not to be found in the Syriack, nor yet in all Greek copies, as Grotius notes it, importing for substance one and the same thing. Some indeed have indeavonred to distinguish them, and put different senses upon them. But they may rather seem to be Synonymaes, a Congeries, an heap of divers words signifying one and the same thing: which yet is not without an observable Emphasis: Thereby the Apostle insinuates the great heed, care, and circumspection that Christians should take, lest any ways, by the use of things indifferent, they should be so much as in occasion of offence in any degree to their weak brethren. The like care the same Apostle presseth upon his Corinthians, 1 Cor. 8. where, in the 12th verse he tells them, When ye so sin against the brethren, (viz. offending them by the abuse of your Christian liberty, which he had spoken of before) and wound their conscience, ye sin against Christ.] This do they who willingly, or heedlessly offend their weak brethren; they sin against Christ, whose members they are, and whose work is thereby interrupted, and hindered in them. Upon this account Paul willeth them to take heed of it. Neither doth he therein (Pharisee like) lay a burden upon other men's shoulders, put a yoke upon their necks, which himself was not willing to touch or bear. No, in the very next verse he tells them what his own Resolution was: Wherefore if meat make my brother to offend (or offend my brother, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,) I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, ver. 13. A truly Heroical and imitable resolution; for Christians, rather than be occasions of scandalising, hindering the salvation of any, to abridge themselves in the use of their christian liberty: not to do what otherwise they lawfully might do. 2. Much less (in the second place) to do what they ought not to do: and so to offend, whether grieving or endangering others by their scandalous examples, by their inordinate walking. 2. Scandalous and inordinate walking. Thus did the Sons of Eli, by their lewd and debauched carriage, they made the people to abhor the offering of the Lord, 1 Sam. 2.17. This did the Priests in Malachies time, By their departing out of the way, they caused many to stumble at the Law, Mal. 2.8. By their evil examples, they seduced some, and gave occasion to others to disdain the worship and service of God. O christians! take heed that the like never may be charged upon any of you, that by your examples you should cause any of your brethren to stumble and fall: That by your walking unanswerably to your profession, you should make any of those who begin to look Sion-ward, and Heaven-ward to turn aside, and to be out of love and liking with the good ways, and Ordinances of God; and so to fall off from their following after him: that your unchristian courses should be as a nipping frost to these hopeful buds and blossoms, and cause them to fall off from the tree. O this is a matter which will turn to a sad account another day. So our Saviour himself hath cast it up, Matth. 18 6. Who so shall offend one of these little ones that believeth in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the bottom of the sea.] Of such high consequence is it for a man by his evil example, or otherwise, so to scandalise a weak brother, as to be an occasion of his halting, or falling off from his profession; better that such a one should suffer the greatest punishment in his body, then that he should thus ruin, or endanger the soul of his brother. Take heed of thus offending your fellow-members by your example. Or (in the second and third place) by word or deed. Concerning both these (as Grotius looketh upon it) our Apostle giveth a jointcaveat to his Galatians, Gal. 5.15. But if ye by't and devour one another; take heed ye be not consumed one of another.] By't one another in words, Devour one another by deeds. Both these let Christians take heed of. Of Biting one another, offending one another in words. 2. By Word, defaming one another. This will not the members of the natural Body do. The teeth will not by't the hand, nor the hand scratch the face: Let not the members of the mystical Body do it, by speaking evil one of another. It is one of those lessons which Paul willeth Titus to teach the Christians of his time, that they should speak evil of no man, Tit. 3.2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And I wish that Christians in these times, would have a greater regard to it; To blaspheme no man, speak evil of no man; by backbiting, slandering, defaming of them. Every of which is a kind of blasphemy, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, q. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. a hurting the good name of another, (which the word properly signifieth;) an evil speaking, not only censured by the Spirit of God in Scripture, but condemned by the very light of nature. Let Christians take heed of it, of thus speaking evil of any; specially of their brethren, fellow-members, members of the same mystical Body. Quest. But may not men speak the evil which they know by others? Ans. I answer, not always; no, Christian's may not always speak the evil which they know by their Brethren. though it be a truth, and a truth which they are assured of. Doeg, when he spoke unto Saul concerning David and Abimeleck, he spoke nothing but what was the truth, and what himself was an eyewitness of (as he tells saul's, 1 Sam. 22.9.10.) yet David calls him a false tongue, in that Psalm, which the Contents in your Bible's will tell you is to be understood of him, Psal. 120.3. True things may be spoken evilly and falsely; viz. when they are spoken out of rancour or malice, or without any just call or reason; and so tend only to the defamation of the person of whom they are spoken; this is an evil which I shall desire you to take heed of. And the rather, because it is now grown so Epidemical, more rife than ever. Is it so that you know any commendable good concerning your Brethren, as occasion is offered, speak it, and speak it freely. I know no danger in it, where there can be no suspicion of flattery. But for evil, look about you; Examine it, before you utter it. Quid de quoque viro, etc. Examine not only whether it be true which is spoken, but whether it be fit to be spoken to such a person, at such a time, in such a place, and to what end it is spoken; and what good may come of it. If it tend only to the defaming of another, now suppress it. It is an ill Principle, which maketh men tonguetied in the deserved praises of others, whilst they are openmouth in what may tend to their disgrace. Such measure let not Christians offer to any, least of all to their Brethren, their Fellow-members. Christians not to blaze the infirmities of Brethren. Not blazing their weaknesses, their infirmities. It is Chams brand, which no time will ever wear out the infamy of, that espying his Father's nakedness, he went and told his two brethren without, calling them in to see it, and laugh at it, Gen. 9.22. Let not Christians do the like to their brethren. Is it so that they occasionally espy the nakedness, the failings, the infirmities one of another, let them not presently tell it to others. To themselves they may, and aught in a Christian way; advising, admonishing, reproving them, that so what is out of joint, may be set again, what is amiss, may be healed, reform. But now to others, specially such as are without: Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon, 1 Sam. 1.20. As for Fellow-members in Church-society, our Saviour's rule and direction is, that, where private admonition taketh not place with an offending brother, they should take one or two more with them, Matth. 18.16. And if that avail not, then (as it follows ver. 17.) Tell it to the Church, not to the whole Congregation, (that, to make the best of it, were but a preposterous course); but to the Church-Officers, the Church Representative. All which ought to be done with all christian tenderness and wisdom. But for others, who are strangers, if not enemies to the Church, let them (as much as may be) be strangers to the infirmities of the members thereof. A Lesson which the members of the mystical may learn from the members of the natural body, where if one member have a secret ailment, a soar, the tongue will not presently blab it, speak of it, or the hand open it to every passenger But if it do open it, or speak of it, it shall be to a friend, or to a Surgeon, some that may probably contribute somewhat towards the cure of it. Thus let Christians deal by the infirmities of their brethren, not in opening them, but in order to a cure. Thus take heed of offending by word, by speaking evil one of another. And (thirdly) of evil doing one to another, of wronging, injuring one another: 3. By Deed, wronging and injuring one another. not biting, let them much less devour one another. This will not the members of the natural body do. The hand will not buffet the head, or wound the foot. Let not the members of the mystical Body offer such measure one to another, to hurt one another, as not in their Reputations, so in their Bodies, or Estates, or any other way. Receive us, we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man, (it is Paul's Apology for himself, and his Fellow-Ministers, to his Corinthians,) 2 Cor. 7.2. All these had the false Apostles, his Competitors, done to them, (as he there secretly insinuates.) They had wronged, corrupted, defrauded them; wronged them by their examples, corrupted them by their doctrines, defrauded them by their wiles, their covetousness. But this had not Paul done, nor any of his Colleagues. This let not any Christian do. Do it not to any, no not to Heathens; much less to Brethren. This is that which Paul chargeth as no small aggravation upon some of his Corinthians, 1 Cor. 6.8. Ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. To do injury to any is a crime, much more to a brother. For one member to wrong another is unnatural; and for Christians to wrong one another is unchristian. Here is the third negative Instruction, which I take up from the Joint-membership of Christians: Being members one of another, let them not offend one another, by Example, by Word, by Deed. To which let me subjoin a fourth: Not offending one another, let them not be offended one with another. 4. The fourth negative Instruction. Be not offended one with another. Scandals are of two sorts; Data, & Accepta: Active and Passive: Given and taken. Now Christians should equally decline both: As not giving offence to, so not taking it from their brethren. A thing which corrupt nature is very prone to do (being like tinder, or gunpowder, which is ready to fire upon every spark that falls upon it,) to take offence; and that ofttimes before it is given: not unlike a horsé, which is ready to start at every shadow. So did the Pharisees at our Saviour's warrantable practices. Now this, (being rather the making then the taking of an offence) let all Christians beware of it, remembering that they are mutual members; members one of another. Members of the natural body are not apt to be offended one with another: let not the members of the mystical Body be so. To which end let them not be too quicksighted in espying one another's faults. Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye? (saith our Saviour) Matth. 7.3. meaning that Christians should not be too sharp-sighted in espying their brethren's infirmities, (especially when they indulge the like, or greater evils in themselves.) It is observed, that the most ravenous birds, birds of prey, (as Eagles and Hawks) are most quicksighted. And so is it among men; They which are most wicked themselves, are most ready to find faults with others; especially to espy the infirmities of Saints. Again, I say, let Christians beware of it; not looking through false glasses, not readily giving entertainment to flying reports, not harbouring of groundless suspicions: But rather judging the best, expounding doubtful matters in the better part, where there may be any probability of a candid construction; as the story tells us Jacob did the dreams and death of his son Joseph; Gen. 37.11.33. It is one property of true Christian charity, it thinketh not evil, 1 Cor. 13.5. and another, it hopeth all things, ver. 7. still making the best Construction of what is dubious. Christian's should not readily take offences, though really given. But suppose it be an offence really given, yet let not Christians be ready to take it. Be it 1. An offence offered to themselves. It is the wisdom of a man, (much more of a Christian) to pass by many such offences; either not taking notice of them, or not being over affected with them. However, not meditating revenge for them. Dear beloved, avenge not yourselves, (saith our Apostle,) ver. 19 of this Chapter, Rom. 12. And Recompense to no man evil for evil, ver. 17. much less to Brethren. If the one foot by interfering, hurt the other, the other will not do the like to it again. Let not the members of the mystical Body return such unkind, and unchristian requitals each to other. But (secondly) suppose it be an offence against God, yet let not Christians be offended; I mean so as to stumble at it. It is that which David saith of godly men, Psalms 119.165. Great peace have they that love thy Law, and nothing shall offend them. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ] There is no stumbling block to them, (saith the Original,) Nothing so offends them, as to make them out of love and liking with the good ways of God, so as to recede, or turn aside from the path of his Commandments; but still they go on: Whatever stumbling-blocks are cast in their way, they step over them, holding on their course. Thus do we; whatever offences, scandals, stumbling-blocks, we meet with (among which, it cannot be denied, the scandalous courses of Professors are none of the least) yet be we not so offended at them, as to think ever the worse of the ways by God, or the Ordinances of God, or the people of God; but still hold on our way. If the one foot chance to tread awry, trip or stumble, yet the other holdeth on its way. And so let it be with the members of this mystical Body: Let them not be offended one with, or by another. To this I shall add one more, and but one. Are the members of the Church members one of another, then let them not lie one to another. 5. The fifth Negative Instruction. Lie not one to another. This I take from the Apostle, Eph. 4.25. where he requireth from his Ephesians that they should put away lying, and that upon this account, For we are members one of another, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Laying aside deceit, falsehood, lying. Whether it be, 1. In speech. Or 2. In opinion. Or 3. In fact. Or 4. In life and conversation. All these ways may Christians, Church-members, deceive and lie one to another. Let each be taken heed of: 1. Lying in speech. 1. In speech, deceiving one another. That is one of the Laws which God giveth to his people, Levit. 19.11. Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, nor lie one to another: This God requireth from the Jews. And the same our Apostle requireth from Christians, Col. 3.9. Lie not one to another.] This Christians may not do to any. It is one of the Characters of those that are without (without the Kingdom of Grace here, and Glory hereafter; and such as ought to be, and shall be shut out of the Church, when Discipline cometh to be duly executed; as in the last and purest Church it shall be,) [Whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, Rev. 22.15. & 21.27. least of all to their Brethren: Being all children of that God, who is the God of truth, and truth itself, let them not deceive one another by lying in speech. 2. Or (secondly) in opinion: Seducing one another. 2. In opinion, seducing one another. It is an ill office when the eye seduceth, misguideth the hand or foot: which willingly it will not do. And it is an ill office when the members of the mystical Body shall seduce one another: as Ahabs' Prophets did him, whom by their persuasions they seduced, that he might go and fall at Ramoth Gilead, 1 King. 22.22. So did those lying Prophets, whom the Lord complains of, Ezek. 13.10. They seduced his people, saying, Peace, when there was no peace. So did that New-Testament Jezabel, of whom we read, Revel. 2.20. (some wicked woman, either Jezabel by name, or Jezabel by condition, resembling that former Beldame, one or both,) being a member of the Church of Thyatira, and calling herself a Prophetess, (boasting of some divine and special Revelations) she taught and seduced the servants of God. Such seducers there have been some or other in all ages of the Church, (surely never more than in this Nation at this day,) who taking upon them to teach, & pretending to some more than ordinary Inspiration, seduce others, drawing them into dangerous and pernicious errors. And no wonder; Should the foot usurp the office of the eye, and take upon it to direct and lead the rest of the members, what could be expected but that which our Saviour tells us is to be looked for when the blind lead the blind, Matth. 15.14. (a blind teacher, a blind people) that both should fall into the ditch? The worst office that one member can do to another. And therefore let Christians beware of it; and upon that account taking heed of usurping that office which belongs not to them. 3. There is a lying in fact, 3. In fact, defrauding one another. when the members of the Church shall hid themselves one from another. A thing expressly prohibited, Isai. 58.7. Thou shalt not hid thyself from thine own flesh.] i. e. turn away thy face from thy brother in his need, as taking no notice of him, and his condition; This should not Christians do from any, they being of one flesh with themselves: much less from their Brethren, such as are knit unto them in spiritual Relations; such was Peter's denial of his Master, whom at his Arraignment first he would not own, and afterwards forswear, Matth. 26.70, 72, 74. And such was the dealing of Paul's friends and companions with him, of whom he complains, that at his appearing before Nero, None stood by him, all forsook him, 2 Tim. 4.16. Even as David's friends dealt by him, of whom he complains, Psalm 38.11. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore, and my kinsmen stand afar off. This is a deceiving, a kind of lying one to another. Church-Benevolence not to be withheld. And so is it when Christians shall defraud one another, by withholding one from another that which is their due. Thus Paul would not have Husband and wife to defraud one another, 1 Cor. 7.5. viz. by withholding one from another a due Conjugal Benevolence. Let not Christians do the like, by withholding one from another a due Church-Benevolence. Thus did Ananias and Sapphira lie unto God, and man, (as Peter chargeth it upon them, Acts 5.4.) when they kept back part of the price of their possession, which they pretended to come and lay down at the Apostles feet for the Church's use. And truly little better do they, to whom God having given a larger portion of this world's goods, yet do not communicate unto their poor brethren in some measure proportionably. It was Paul's order to his Corinthians, 1 Cor. 16.2. that upon the first day of the week (the Lord's Day,) every one should lay by somewhat in store (for the poor) as God hath prospered them. Now should any herein have dissembled, either laying by nothing, or nothing proportionable to what God had blessed them with, this had been a kind of lying both to God, and to their Brethren. And so is it when men pretending to contribute to the necessities of the poor in a public Congregation, shall choose out the worst of their Coin, (clipped or counterfeit,) not regarding what it be for quantity or quality, so it will but ring in the Basin. What is this but for Christians to lie one to another? Now surely, were it to give an alms to Prisoners in the Grate, or Dungeon (the worst of malefactors,) either give what is good and sweet, or give not at all. How much more to Fellow-members. Surely the members of the natural Body would not so deal one by another. Should a portion of bread or meat be put into the hand, it would not withhold it from the craving mouth, and hungry belly. And why? because they are members one of another. And so are Christians; being Church-members, they are members one of another. And therefore let them not defraud one another of what in this way is their due, a due Church-Benevolence. Nor yet deceiving the trust reposed each in other: Like false friends, Trust, not to be deceived. which prove like staves of Reed to those that trust in them, (as the Prophet compares Egypt, Isai. 36.6.) Or as Brooks in the Summer. It is Jobs comparison, Job 6.15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of Brooks they pass away. Job hoped to have had some comfort from his kindred and friends, (whom there he calleth his Brethren,) in the time of his adversity, (a brother is born for adversity, Prov. 17.17.) but than they failed him, (like brooks in the Summer) when he had most need of them; so deceiving whatever trust or confidence he had reposed in them: let not Christians so deal one by another. The members of the natural Body will not do it. The legs will not willingly deceive the body which rests upon them. But I hasten. 4. And Lastly, There is a lying in life and conversation, 4. In life and conversation; Hypocritical Dissembling. which in one word, is Hypocrisy. When men shall only act a part in the Church; seeming to others to be what they are not. This will not God's people do, They are children that will not lie, Isai. 63.8. They will not play the gross hypocrites. But so do many in the visible Church, who are no better than as glassen eyes, and wooden legs and arms to the natural Body; which are only tied on by some outward bonds and ligaments, having no life in them. Such are there many, who out of some by and sinister respects cleave unto the body, hold communion with the people of God; but they are nothing less in truth, then in appearance. They are among them, but not of them, (as Saint John maketh the distinction, 1 John 2.19.) Such were the Scribes and Pharisees in the Jewish Church: and such ever have been, and will be in the Christian Church. Though persons openly profane, may be, and shall be shut out, Rev. 21.27. yet Hypocrites, some or other, will keep in. Such as have a form of Godliness, but no power, no life, no truth of piety in them; such as deceive themselves; nay such as knowing themselves, yet deceive others, gross Hypocrites; such as join themselves to the Church, putting on a vizard of public Profession, merely for private advantage. Now what is this but for the members of this Body to lie one to another? which, being members one of another, their reciprocal Relation forbids them to do. Thus have you seen some few (of many) negative Instructions, which may be by way of inference deduced from this consideration of the Saints Joint-membership: wherein you have seen what Christians should not do. Come we now to the later sort, to positive Instructions, to see what they ought to do. Are Church-members thus members one of another? Positive Instructions. Then let them be admonished and exhorted to give such mutual respects Mutual respects to be given by Church-Members each to other. one to another as are due upon the account of this Reciprocal Relation. These I shall refer to two heads. They are Inward, or outward; Affections, or Offices expressing those affections. Let Christians bear the one, and perform the other, and that in a mutual way, as being members one of another. Begin we with the former, Inward respects, 1. Inward Respects. Affections, which ought to be mutual and reciprocal betwixt these joynt-members. This is that which the Apostle meaneth, where he presseth it upon his Philippians, that they should stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, Phil. 1.27. And again in the next Chapter, ver. 2. Fulfil ye my joy (saith he) that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, before) Concords, of one heart, one soul. Thus was it anciently said of two entire friends, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, There was one soul in two bodies. Thus should it be with Believers; though they be distinct persons, and divided into several societies, yet they should have but one soul, be all of one heart. Sois it in the natural Body, there are many members, but one heart. Thus should it be with the members of the mystical Body, (O that it were so!) they should have but one heart. So is it promised to the Church under the Gospel in those known Texts, Jer. 32.39. Ezek. 11.19. I will give them one heart.] And accordingly it was performed in the Proto-primitive times, as you shall find it, Acts 4.32. The multitude of them that believed, were of one heart, and of one soul.] unanimous in their judgements, & united in their affections. O that it were so in these, & might be so in all times. All of us pray for it, strive after it. 1. That we may be of the same mind, the same judgement. 1. Oneness of judgement to be desired. This our Apostle begs for; and from his Corinthians, 1 Cor. 1.10. Now I beseech you brethren, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgement. (A Text which I have heretofore handled in this place, and given a public account to the world.) And this let all of us beg for ourselves, and for all the Churches of Christ, in this Nation, and elsewhere, that we and they may all be in this sense , thinking and speaking the same thing. Thus is it with the members of the natural body; many members, but one Tongue. Thus should it be with the members of the mystical Body, they should all speak the same thing: all looking the same way. In the natural body there are two eyes, and two legs, but they both look and go one and the same way. Cross eyes, and splay-feet, where the one looketh one way, and another another, are no small blemish and deformity to the natural body. And so are Crosse-Christians to the mystical Body, such as are cross in their judgements, singular in their opinions, & affect to be so. 2. Much more they who are cross in affections. It is that which I now more directly and principally aim at, and I wish I may hit the mark. Christians, 2. Christian's should be of one heart, like affected towards each other. though they cannot always be of the same mind, yet should they be of the same heart. Though they cannot be like minded towards some controverted points of lesser concernment, yet they should be like minded one towards another. So our Apostle presseth it upon these Romans, ver. 16. of this chapter, Be of the same mind one towards another; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Be like affectioned one towards another; A consectary fitly following upon this conclusion in the Text, Christians being members one of another, let them be like affected one towards another, 1 Loving one another: 1. Loving one another. Be ye like minded, having the same love (saith the Apostle in that place forenamed) Phi. 2.2. Love, as it is the bond of all Christian virtues, so it is the bond of all Christian Societies; In both which respects it is called the bond of perfectness, Col. 3.14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: The most perfect bond, tying hearts together, which no other bond can do: And being so, it must in the first place, be put on by all those who would join themselves to the mystical body: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (saith the Apostle there) Above all, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. This our Saviour layeth down for a character whereby his Disciples may be known; By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples, if ye love one another; Joh. 13 35. As malice is Satan's brand which he sets upon his Goats, so Love, true Christian love, brotherly love (as the Apostle calleth it Heb. 13.1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) it is the mark of Christ's sheep: All of us then who profess such a Relation to Christ and his Mystical body, see that this affection dwell in us; that we do unfeignedly love all out fellow members: So our Apostle presseth it in the 9 verse after the Text; Let love be without dissimulation; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; a useful and needful qualification. There is a great deal of seeming, but little sincere love in the world. Scarce is there a man but maketh some show of love, or friendship to his neighbour; yet how many in the mean time have their heart's brim full of rancour and malice? Let Christians seek after sincerity, as in all graces, so in this of love; that they may embrace each other with mutual and cordial affection. So the Apostle there prosecutes his Charge in the verse following, ver. 10. Be kindly affectioned one towards another with brotherly-love,] (or in the love of the Brethren.) A very emphatical expression; Christians must not only be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, lovers of the brethren; but they must also be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, kindly affectioned in that love. The word properly signifieth a parental love, such as is betwixt Parents and their children; a natural love. Such should the love of Christians be towards their brethren: wherein they ought to abound each to other. That is Paul's prayer for his Thessalonians, 1 Thes. 3.12. The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another, and towards all men. Thus was Paul affected towards them, as it there followeth; [Even as we do towards you.] And thus would he have them affected towards their brethren, with an exundant love, so as it might overflow even to others also, to all that came in the way of it. And it shall be my prayer for you, all of you of this Congregation, and particularly for you who have given up your names and selves anew unto Christ, to wait upon him, and submit unto him in all his holy ordinances. And not for you only, but for all the true Churches of Christ, and all the members thereof, (as elsewhere, so specially) in this Nation; Now the Lord make you to abound in love one towards another. A low Ebb of Brotherly-Love in this Nation. A Prayer (I think) never more needful since Christ had a Church upon earth, than it is at this day amongst us in this Nation: wherein what a sad and low ebb of this affection may we see every where. Divided heads have made divided hearts; Division in judgement hath bred division in affection: so as the love of many is now waxed cold. So it was foretold by our Saviour, Matth. 24.11, 12. Many false Prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.] And surely, never was it more truly and sadly verified, then in this Age, this Nation; wherein through the seduction of false teachers, every where sowing the tares of their erroneous doctrines, and the abounding of all kind of iniquity; the love of many, (many professors) their love to God, and love to their Brethren, is now grown cold, not showing itself as heretofore in the offices and exercises of true piety, and charity. O that that God who causeth the sea, when it is at the lowest ebb, to flow again, would also cause a return of this Affection unto his Church and people in this Nation! That those, who being members of the mystical Body, are also members one of another, might be truly and cordially affected each to other. which, were there no other argument to persuade, yet (me thinks) this alone which I have now in hand, being duly considered, should be abundantly sufficient. What? members of the same Body, and mutual members, members one of another? and shall we not own one another? shall we not embrace one another? be cordially affected each to other? Now the good Lord, who can, and will make dry bones to live, revive this affection where it is dead, or dying; and confirm it where it yet continues; that being thus members one of another, we may fulfil the great and everlasting Commandment, which as it hath been taught from the beginning of the world, (as Saint John tells us, 1 John 3.11.) so is it to be practised to the end of it, yea, to eternity. That we love one another. And that not impaling and confining this Affection within the narrow bounds of that particular Society, to which we have a special Relation, (love so appropriated may well be suspected,) but extending it to all the true Churches of Christ, and all the true members of those Churches, as being all members of the same Body. To this grand and primary respect, I may now subjoin some other, which are but as off-sets to this main Root, daughters and handmaids to this Mother, and Mistresse-Affection; as viz. 2. In the second place: 2. Sympathising one with another. Christians upon the account of their Joint-membership, thus loving one another, let them also sympathise one with another. This do the members of the natural Body; being joint-members, they sympathise, have a fellow-feeling each with other. So much (did we not know it by experience) we might learn from our Apostle, 1 Cor. 12.26. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. So should it be with the members of the mystical Body; being fellow-members, let them thus sympathise one with another. So Saint Peter presseth it, 1 Pet. 3.8. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Sympathising, having a fellow-feeling of each others condition. Thus should Christians be like affected with their Brethren, rejoicing with them, sorrowing with them. So our Apostle here presseth it upon these his Romans, bringing it in upon the account of this their Joint-membership, ver. 15. of this Chapter, Rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep. H. Grotius. Drusius ex Rabbi Jud. ad loc. An allusion (as some conceive of it) to the two Gates in Solomon's Temple; the one of which was the marrying door, the other the Penitents door; and so those who entered in at the one were merry and joyful; those who came in, or went out at the other, were sad and sorrowful; to both which the Levites applied themselves in their speech and demeanour suitable to their conditions, speaking cheerfully to the one, mournfully to the other. Thus ought Christians to sympathise with their brethren, being like affected with them both in regard of joy and sorrow. 1. Rejoicing with them that rejoice; 1. Having mutual joys. Rejoicing in the welfare of their brethren. In their Temporal welfare, not envying it nor repining at it, but rejoicing in it: So did Elizabeth's Neighbours and Friends (as the story tells us Luk. 1.58.) When they heard that the Lord had showed great mercy unto her (viz. in giving her a son) they rejoiced with her. But specially in their Spiritual welfare; Are there any entered or entering in at the Marrying door, coming in, giving up themselves to be married to Jesus Christ, here is a matter of rejoicing; It is so with the Angels in Heaven; There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth, Luk. 15.10. And so let it be to the Saints upon earth: Do we see any who were before alienated, brought home unto God, either in their first conversion, of returning after their defection and departing from him, herein rejoice. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad (saith the father of the Prodigal to his malcontented son) for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found, Luk. 15.32. And so where we see any standing fast in the faith, walking in the truth, herein rejoice: So did John on the behalf of the children of that Elect (honoured) Lady (as he calls her, and tells her, 2 Joh. v. 1, 4.) I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in the truth. The like he tells Gaius in the following Epistle, ver. 3, 4. And so was this our Apostle affected for these his Romans; Hearing of the fame of their obedience, I am glad therefore (saith he) on your behalf, Rom. 16.19. Thus should mystical fellow-members rejoice one with another. 2. 2. Mutual sorrows. And so mourn one with another; having a fellow feeling of each others sorrows and sufferings. Such a Sympathy there is betwixt the Head and members of this mystical Body; We have not an High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, (saith the Apostle, Hebr. 4.15.) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Christ being the head of his Church, is sensible of the ailements of his meanest members, Sympathising with them; Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? (saith the voice from heaven, Act. 9) The foot was trodden on upon earth, and the Head feels it in heaven; And such a Sympathy there should be betwixt the members of this body; and that both in their Spiritual distempers, and Temporal Sufferings. An Instance of the former we have in the Apostle himself, 2 Cor. 11 29. Who is weak (saith he) and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? Thus did he take to heart the Distempers, In Spiritual distempers. Infirmities, Scandals of any weak member of the Church. The like should all Christians do; not insult over the falls of their Brethren, but mourn over them. Is it, so, that any are coming in at the Penitents door, being fallen under the censures of the Church, of Suspension or Excommunication, or by any scandal giving just cause for them? here is matter of Humiliation and Grief to their fellow members who take notice of it: Paul chargeth it as no small crime upon his Corinthians, that taking notice of a scandalous member, the Incestuous person, They were puffed up, and did not rather mourn, 1 Cor. 5.2. And so in Temporal Sufferings. In temporal sufferings: Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body, Heb. 13.3. Thus did the Primitive Christians sympathise with their brethren in their bonds: so they did with the Apostle, Heb. 10.34. Ye had compassion of me in my bonds, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; They sympathized, were as fellow sufferers with him; and as with him, so with other of their brethren, as he tells them in the verse foregoing; Ye became companions of them that were so used (meaning the Martyrs of those times): And as in sufferings for Christ, so in any other losses or crosses, or ailements, Christians should have a fellow-feeling with their fellow-members, condoling with them; not rejoicing at them; no, such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, rejoicing over the miseries of others, is not only unchristian, but inhuman and unnatural; but lamenting over them: Thus did David sympathise even with his enemies (as himself tells us Psal. 35.12, 13. Such as rewarded him evil for good, to the spoiling of his soul (as he saith, even to the taking away of his life, had it lain in their power) Yet (saith he) as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, I humbled my soul with fasting, etc. And did he this for his enemies? how much more should Christians do it for their Brethren, their fellow-members? Truly, not to be affected with the sufferings of Saints, is a shrewd evidence of one that is no true member of the body; or if he be, he is under some sad and dangerous obstruction. To this let me add: As these mutual members should have mutual joys and sorrows, so mutual Desires, and mutual Cares, and mutual Fears; I will but touch upon each. Mutual Desires or Well-wishes 3 Mutual wel-wishes. each to other. Well-wishes for their Temporal, much more for their Spiritual welfare: Such were the wishes of the beloved Disciple to his wellbeloved Gaius, 3 Joh. ver. 2. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayst prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth: Be in health in his body, and prosper in his soul. These were the two things which the Heathens (according to the light which they had) were wont above all things to wish to their friends, (Orandum est ut sit mens sana, in corpore sano) that they might have sound minds in hail bodies; Juvenal. and I know not what Christians can better wish one for another, then sound bodies, and sanctified souls: Thus the members of the natural body, by a secret instinct they do, as it were, seek and desire the welfare each of other; let the members of the mystical Body do the like; Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth (so our Apostle instructs his Corinthians 1 Cor. 10.24.) Not but that Christians both may, and aught to seek their own wealth, their own Spiritual and Temporal welfare, and that in the first place, therein preferring themselves before others: So runs the rule, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, Mat. 19.19. Now, Regula est prior Regulato, The rule must be in order before that which is regulated by it: Christians must first love themselves, otherwise they cannot love their neighbours as themselves: But they may not impropriate these well wishes to themselves, but extend them to others, to their neighbours, brethren, as being a part of themselves: So the same Apostle expounds his own meaning, Phil. 2.4. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Also: The desires and well wishes of Christians, being fellow-members, must be mutual. And so should their Cares be: 4. Mutual c res. So the Apostle presseth it, 1 Cor. 12.25. The members should have the same care one of another: So have the members of the natural body, they have a mutual care for the preservation and welfare each of other. And so should the members of the Mystical body; they should have such a mutual care specially for the Spiritual welfare each of other. It is the commendation which Paul giveth of Timothy, that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, naturally care for the state of his Philippians, Philip. 2.20. Those things which concerned the salvation of their souls, and the welfare of their Church. Such is the care of the natural, and such should be the care of the mystical members; a natural, cordial, sincere, affectionate care each for other. And so again for their fears; they should also be mutual. 5. Mutual fears and jealousies. Christian's should be afraid of each other, where there is just cause of fear. So was Paul of his Galathians, when he took notice of their haltings; I am afraid of you (saith he) lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Thus Christians may and aught in some cases to have a kind of an holy jealousy one over another: Jealousy is an affection which flows from love. And however, being inordinate, it groweth to great and sinful inconvenience betwixt the nearest Relations, (Jealousy is the rage of a man, Prov. 6.34) yet being well ordered, it is an useful passion. Thus was Paul affected towards his Corinthians, (as he tells them) 2 Cor. 11.2. I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. And thus Christians both may, and aught to be affected each to other. When they shall see their brethren begin to warp, and turn aside from any of their principles, and to suck in any dangerous errors, (which was the case of those Corinthians,) or to fall from their first love, to abate of their zeal and forwardness in the practice of Piety, now they not only may, but aught to be jealous over them. Only let it be with a Godly jealousy, A Godly Jealousy. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (saith the Apostle) with the jealousy of God: not out of any light and ungrounded suspicion and surmise; not out of any by and sinister respect; but with an eye to God, to his glory, and their brethren's good. And that Christians both may and aught to be jealous over one another. As it is with the members of the Body, if one of them have a tumour, a sore breeding, the rest are jealous of it, fearing what it may come to. The like Christians may and aught to be over one another in a like case; that so they may perform those offices each to other, which their mutual relation in that case calleth for. Which what they are, I shall now come (in the second place) to show you. Christian's being Fellow-members, 2. Outward Respects. and so bearing mutual Affections one to another, they are also to express their affections by performing mutual offices each to other. So do the members of the natural Body, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Manus fricat, manum lavat. Adag. Manus manum, one hand rubbeth and washeth the other. All the members of the body are officious, ready to serve one another: the like should the members of the mystical Body be. So the Apostle requireth it from them, Gal. 5.13. By love serve one another. This let Christians do; and not in word only (as the mode of the times is, which hath turned this to a compliment, (and for the most part it is no more,) Your Servant, Sir; Thus we hear men speaking sometimes, whose hearts yet in the mean time would disdain and scorn to perform what their mouth professeth, and promiseth,) but in truth; being ready to approve themselves servants to their fellow-servants, by performing all Christian offices of love to them. Of these offices there are many, very many. I shall only single out some chief and principal and such as are most obvious: which I shall desire you, all of you, and in special you who are joined in Sacramental Communion in this place, to take notice of, and make use of respectively. A first shall be that which our Apostle himself doth here in this place properly and principally aim and drive at, viz. that Christians should make improvement of their offices or gifts to mutual Edification. 1. Make improvement of offices and to mutual Edification, whether Thus do the members of the natural Body; having their several offices and faculties, they improve and exercise them for the mutual good and benefit each of other. The eye seethe, the ear heareth, the tongue speaketh, the hand worketh, the foot walketh, all for the good one of another; being mutually helpful each to other. And so let it be with Church-members. Let them make the like improvement of their offices and gifts. 1. This are Public Officers 1. Public officers. to do (in the first place.) Of them, and to them properly speaketh Saint Peter, 1 Pet. 4.11. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good Stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the Oracles of God. If any man minister, (viz. in any other Church administration) let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, etc.] And of them speaks our Apostle in the verses after the Text. Having then gifts differing one from another, according to the grace that is given us; whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering, etc. And so he goeth on, reckoning up such gifts and offices as were then usual in the Church: All which he requireth those on whom they were conferred, to exercise and make use of accordingly, to the common edification and benefit of the Church. This are public Officers to do; Pastors, Teachers, Elders, Deacons, being as Eyes, Tongues, Ears, Hands to the Ecclesiastical Body, they are to discharge these offices carefully and faithfully for the good and benefit of their fellow-members. And as Public Officers, so also private Christians. 2. Private Christians. They being also members of the Body, they ought also in their places and stations to do the like to their Fellow-members, Edifying one another. So the Apostle presseth it upon these his Romans, Chap. 14.9. Let us follow after the things which make for peace, and wherewith one may edify another.] And the like upon his Thessalonians, 1 Thes. 5.11. Wherefore edify one another, even as ye do. Thus are private Christians, not only to build up themselves; which Saint Judas requireth they should do: Edify (or build up) yourselves in your most holy faith, Judas ver. 20. This are they to look to in the first place; having laid a right foundation, they are in the use of all holy means to confirm and advance themselves in their spiritual estate. But not only to this: Building up themselves, they are also to help to build up others. It was our Saviour's direction unto Peter, Luke 22.32. When thou are converted, (viz. from his approaching miscarriage) strengthen thy brethren. And the like are all private Christians to do, having tasted of the mercy and goodness of God, in bringing them home unto himself, they are now in their places to be helpful unto others, in confirming and building up their brethren. Q. Why, what shall private Christians do in this way? Private Christians to edify one another in a private way. Ans. To this I answer in the general, that what they do in this way, being private persons, they are ordinarily to do it in a private way. As for the public and ordinary teaching of private persons, unless it be in a case of necessity, I know no ground, no warrant for it. What private persons do to their brethren, must be in a way suitable to that state and degree wherein God hath set them. Otherwise they cannot in an ordinary way be freed from that which the Apostle in the verse foregoing prohibits, of thinking of themselves above what they ought to think. What they do regularly, must be in a private way. And thus they both may and aught. 1. Teach and instruct one another. 1. Teaching one another. So runs the Apostles direction to his Colossians, chap. 3.16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching one another.] Which is to be understood not of public teaching, (which belongs to the Pastoral Function,) but of private Instruction. Thus are more knowing Christians to lend and communicate their light to their weaker and more ignorant brethren. So did Aquila, (and possibly Priscilla too, who is joined with her husband, but whether as a partner in the work, or only a well-willer to it, is uncertain,) teach and instruct that eloquent Apollo's, Acts 18.26. Having heard him preaching in the Synagogue, being then but a novice in Christianity, they took him home unto them, and expounded to him the way of God more perfectly. Mark it; They took him home to them: not indoctrinating him in the Synagogue; not disputing or reasoning with him in that open and public Assembly. No, that was not for Priscilla to do, being a woman, and so not allowed to speak in the Church; neither did her husband do it: but they take him home, being private persons, they instruct him in a private way. A commendable office for one Christian to perform to another, thus to teach and instruct one another, by communicating their own knowledge, or experience; or by reading of good books, or repeating of Sermons, or the like. Thus edify one another by way of Instruction. 1. Admonishing one another. 2. And so (in the second place) by way of Admonition. So it there followeth. Col. 3.16. Teaching and admonishing one another, etc.] As Christians are (as God offers them opportunity,) to teach the ignorant, so to admonish their remiss and careless brethren. Where they see any thing amiss in them, in a gentle and Christian way to reprove them. That is one of the Laws which God of old gave unto his people, Levit. 19.17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, thou shalt in any wise rebuke him, and not suffer sin upon him. A Law which is obliging to us Christians, no less than it was to the Jews; the ground of it being piety towards God, and charity towards our neighbour. And being so, be we not wanting in it: it being an office of greatest and truest love. So David looked upon it. Let the righteous smite me, (saith he) and it shall be a kindness: And let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head. As precious oil is to the head, so is seasonable, wise, gentle, faithful reproof, to the heart; soaking into it, it may do much good, no hurt. Let Christians look upon this, not only as their liberty, but as their duty; I mean to their Brethren. As for others, persons openly profane, Pearls are not to be heedlessly cast before such swine. Reprove not a scorner, (saith the wise man) lest he hate thee, Prov. 9 8. But mark what followeth; Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. This Christians may do; this they must do to their brethren, that so they may not be accessary to their sins, which by their silent connivance they may make themselves. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, (saith the Apostle) Ephes. 5.11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Convince them, as by a Godly and exemplary life, so by seasonable admonitions, and reprehensions. 3. Admonishing, they are also to exhort one another. 3. Exhorting one another. Exhort one another while it is called to day, (saith the Apostle to his Hebrews) Heb. 3.18. And again, Cap. 10.25. Exhorting one another, This are Christians to do, taking all advantages to put one another on to duty. So the former ver. there explains it, v. 24. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love, and good works. Thus are Christians to keep an holy watch over each other; prudently observing one another's dispositions and demeanours, graces and infirmities, that so they may take all advantage to excite and quicken each other to all duties of piety and charity. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (saith the Original,) to the sharpening of love. A metaphor taken from edge-tools, which are sharpened by whetting one against another. Thus are Christians to whet and sharpen each other. So the Wiseman explains the Metaphor, Prov. 27.17. Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Iron sharpeneth iron by mutual attrition; and thus Christians may and aught to sharpen one another by mutual Exhortation; whetting one another's spirits, exciting and quickening each other to holy duties. Thus when the hands are cold or benumbed, by rubbing each other they come to their natural warmth and vigour. And thus Christians come to recover and keep their spiritual warmth, their zeal and fervour by mutual incitations, exhortations. 4. Comforting one another. 4. Exhorting one another, they are to comfort one another. Comfort yourselves together; so our Translation rendereth that (and the word will bear it) 1 Thes. 5.11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Comfort one another. Thus are Christians to do each to other in times of public calamity: In public calamities. Then they that feared the Lord spoke often one to another, (saith the Prophet Malachy) Mal. 3.16. In those calamitous times, when the Church say under many sad temptations, [When the proud were called happy,] (as you have it in the verse foregoing) proud and presumptuous sinners prospered and flourished; they carried the flag in the maintop, they were the only men: [They which wrought wickedness were set up; yea, they which tempted God, were even delivered.] Daring and desperate sinners, they were preserved, and protected, and delivered from eminent dangers, as if they had been Gods special Favourites; whilst in the mean time, it went sadly with those which feared God: A sad temptation! So it was to David; When he saw the prosperity of the wicked, how they were not in trouble like other men, but their eyes stood out with fatness; whilst in the mean time, waters of a full cup, (a cup of affliction) were wrung out to Gods own people; the one drank wine, and the other water; and that of the waters of Marah, bitter waters; This when David saw, he tells us, his feet were almost gone, his steps had well nigh slipped, Psal. 73. ver. 2.3 5, 7, 10. And surely so it was with the Church at that time. When they saw such crosse-providences, Gods own people brought low, his and their enemies raised to the height of temporal prosperity. Now, in this time, They that feared the Lord, spoke one to another, and that often. As they were much in speaking to God in prayer, (calamitous times are praying times) so they were frequent in speaking each to other, for the animating & encouraging each of other to faith, patience, constancy in obedience. The like are Christians to do each to other in the like times. And as in public calamities, so in private afflictions. In private afflictions. Herein Christians should be comfortable each to other. Thus if there be a tumour in the leg or other part, the hand is ready to anoint it, to assuage the pain of it. Thus should Christians in their painful sufferings, supple each other with seasonable consolations. Which they are to do both in outward crosses, & inward conflicts, in the sufferings both of the outward & inward man. Of both these may we understand the Apostle, 1 Thes. 5.14. Where among other Offices of love which brethren should perform one to another, he willeth them to comfort the feeble minded, and support the weak; i. e. comfort such as were ready to sink under their crosses, and support such as were ready to faint under their Tentations. Let Christians have a regard to both. 1. Outward crosses: wherein they are to comfort each other; 1. For comforting their fellow members in their outward crosses: In the loss of Husband, Wives, Children, Friends, Estate, in sickness, and the like. In these cases Christians are to comfort one another: Which they are to do, 1. By words, 1. By words. speaking comfort; Wherefore comfort one another with these words (saith the Apostle to his Thessalonians, 1 Thes. 4.18. speaking of such as were in heaviness for their deceased friends, whom he would have their brethren to comfort by minding them of what he had said touching the Doctrine of the Resurrection.) Such comfort Job expected from his friends when they came to him in his distress, that they should have spoke comfortably to him, whom being deceived in his expectation, he calleth miserable comforters, Job 16.2. And such Comforters David in his distress looked for (as he tells us) but he found none, Psal. 69.20. Christians! let not your brethren take up the like complaint against any of you: This is one of God's Attributes; He is a God that comforteth those which are cast down, 2 Cor. 7.6. And it is one of the best Offices that one man can perform unto another. Job speaking of himself in the time of his prosperity, and what respect he then had from the people, he saith, he was as one that comforteth the mourners, Job 29. last. Let not Christians herein, according to their power, be wanting to their brethren. Blessed be God (saith the Apostle) who comforteth us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 2 Cor. 1.4. Thus do God's Patients receive heavenly Cordials from the hand of their great Physician, not only for their own sakes, but that they may be able (as occasion is offered) to minister to others of their brethren; comforting them by words. 2. But not by words only; 2 In deed. When need requireth; they are to minister unto them real comforts: Such a Comforter was Job in the time of his prosperity to the afflicted & distressed: The blessing of them which were ready to perish came upon me (saith he, ver. 13. of that 29. chapter) and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy: And such comforters God expects Christians should be to their brethren in their distresses and wants: Not only giving them a few good words and nothing else; there is but cold comfort in such an alms; If a Brother or Sister be naked and destitute of daily bread (saith Saint James to such comforters) and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give him not those things which are needful for the body, what doth it profit? James 2.15, 16. For the hand only to stroke the foot being in pain, is to little purpose, unless it also apply somewhat to assuage the pain. Words being but wind, though they may refresh the spirit, yet they will not the back, or fill the belly. Christians, where God giveth them ability, must be real as well as verbal comforters to their brethren in their outward distresses. 2. And so in their inward conflicts, 2. Inward conflicts. Soul-Afflictions: When the spirits of brethren are dejected and cast down in the apprehension of sin or wrath, How to deal with penitent offenders. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Castigario illa quae à Presbyterio fieri solet, more Judaico. Grot. ad loc. A pluribus] Sic distinguitur haec in Presbyterio facta increpatio, tùm à privata, tùm à publica coram universae Ecclesiae coetu, quod factum fuisset necessariò, si fuisset Satanae traditus. now is a time to minister comfort to them. Thus the Apostle willeth his Corinthians to deal by that their scandalous brother, the incestuous person, who being for a time under an Ecclesiastical censure, was brought to deep humiliation and sorrow for his sin, he willeth them not to deal too rigorously with him, but rather to comfort him. Sufficient to such a man (saith he, 2 Cor. 2.6, 7 is this punishment (or censure, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉) which was inflicted by many. (viz. by the Presbytery of that Church, as Beza and Grotius, and many other rightly expound it): So that contrariwise you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. So it was (as Beza Gr. Ann. ad loc. Beza most probably conceives of it) that this brother having been sharply reproved by the Church Officers, and being under a suspension or abstension from communion with the Church, some there were, who having been before taxed by the Apostle for their too great remissness and carelessness, now they would have him further proceeded against, to be delivered up unto Satan by the sentence of a more full and formal Excommunication, which was to be done in the presence, and with the consent of the whole Congregation. But Paul understanding of his deep humiliation and repentance, willeth them to forbear that rigour, not to proceed any further against him (which had he been already excommunicated, they could not have done) but rather to forgive (to gratify him, as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifieth, viz. by granting some indulgence to him, remitting somewhat of that summum jus, that extremity of the highest censure which he had deserved) and to comfort him, receiving him into communion with them again, that so he might not be swallowed up in the gulf of despair. A notable and famous precedent, Locus diligenter observandus: Donec enim quâ aequitate & clementiâ temperanda sit disciplina Ecclesiae, ne rigor modum excedat. Calv. ad loc. teaching Christians, such as are under a regular Church relation, how they are to deal with their lapsed brethren, in whom they see tokens of humiliation and repentance: In this case they ought not to be rigorous in seeking extremities against them, for casting, or keeping them out of Church communion; but receive them comfort them, renewing and confirming their love towards them (as it there followeth, ver. 8) So tenderly should Christians handle their fellow members, as the members of the natural body would do theirs: So the Apostle directs his Galatians, chapt. 6. ver. 1, 2. Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one (〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, set him in joint again) in the spirit of meekness, etc. Bear ye one another's burdens, etc. Thus are Christians to deal by their penitent brethren; not overloading burdened souls, but supporting, comforting them. But I see the thread of my discourse is already drawn forth beyond the staple which at the first I intended it. I shall be brief in that which remains. 2. Forbear one another. Thus edifying one another, let them also forbear one another, and forgive one another: I put them together, because I find the Apostle so doing, Col. 3.31. Forbearing one another; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. A duty pressed by our Apostle upon his Ephesians, ch. 4.2. With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering forbearing one another in love. Christian's must make account sometimes to meet with provocations, and that from brethren: So it is among natural brethren; differences sometimes happen among them, and those not easily reconciled: A brother offended (saith Solomon, Prov. 18.19) is harder to be won then a strong city; and their contentions are like the bars of a castle (which being strong will neither bow nor yield.) And thus it sometimes happen to mystical brethren: Differences fall in betwixt them (as did betwixt Paul and Barnabas, Act. 15.39.) which rise to some height. But thus it should not be, and thus it would not be, had Christians but learned this lesson, to bear with one another's infirmities, to forbear one another; the strong Christian to bear with the weak, etc. And forbearing, 3. Forgive one another. let them also forgive one another: So the same Apostle presseth it in the last verse of the same chapter. Eph. 4.32. Be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you: In which one verse there are three words worth the taking notice of, being of great concernment unto Christians; I wish they were engraven upon every heart that hears them, Christians should be, 1. Kind, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ready to gratify one another, yielding each to other, wherein they may, as Abraham did to Lot, Gen. 13.8. 2. , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a word peculiar to the Scriptures; and it signifieth to be pitiful: (so you have it rendered, 1 Pet. 3.8.) to be inwardly and intimately moved with pity and compassion; to have the bowels easily and affectionately stirred and moved at the misery of another. The 3d. is Forgiving, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, freely pardoning and passing by the offences each of other; thus doth God forgive us (as it there followeth in the next words) freely for his Son Christ's sake; and thus do we forgive our brethren; both forgiving and forgetting wrongs and injuries done to ourselves. 4. Defend one another. And thus forgiving, in the next place defend one another. This will the members of the natural body do; if a blow be made at the head, or a thrust at the body, the hand is ready to ward it off, to put it by: The like Office are Christians to do one to another; Defending (as the lives, and estates, and liberties one of another, so far as they are able and lawfully may (for which they have Abraham for a Precedent, who made an adventurous attempt in the rescue of his kinsman Lot, when he was taken and carried away prisoner by the five Kings, Gen. 14.14.) so also of their good names; this is a thing which Christians should be very tender of; as of their own good names, so of their brethren (inasmuch as the Gospel whereof they make profession, and the Church whereof they are members are interested in it) vindicating and maintaining of their reputations against unjust slanders and calumnies, giving (as occasion is offered) a free and just testimony each to other. So did John to our Saviour, Joh. 1.34. and so did our Saviour to him again, Mat. 11.11 But I hasten. 5. Communicate each with other. Again, thus defending each other, let them also communicate each with other: So do the members of the natural body; and so let the members of the mystical body. Quest. But wherein communicate? Not in what is evil. Answ. I answer, first Negatively; not in any thing that is evil, Simeon and Levi were brethren in evil, Gen. 49.5. That was their brand, let it not be ours. 1. Here (in the first place) abandoned and abominated be that unclean and beasticall communion, Abandoning, 1. Unclean & bestial communion. which upon this very ground was maintained and practised by that impure primitive sect of the Nicolaitans, of whose Doctrine and deeds you may read, Rev. 2.6, 15. and is said (I fear with too much truth) to be both maintained and practised by some, and many of their followers, Familists and Ranters at this day, viz. communion of bodies; which being a sin not to be named among Christians (not being so much as named among moralised Heathens, as the Apostle saith of it, 1 Cor. 5.1.) I shall pass it by. 2. Abandoned be all uncivil and sensual communion, 2. Uncivil and sensual communion. such as that which the world calleth good fellowship. Herein let not Christians bear a part: As not in chambering and wantonness, so not in rioting and drunkenness: So the Apostle puts them together, giving a joint inhibition concerning them to these his Romans Rom. 13.13. and S. Peter the like, 1 Pet. 4.3. These are among those unfruitful works of darkness, wherewith Christians may have no fellowship, Eph. 5.11. But they both may and aught to have a Christian Communion and fellowship, Embrace Christian communion. and that both Sacred and Civil: I will begin with the later, because I principally intent the former. 1. Civil communion christian's both may and aught to have, and that in Counsels, Purses, 1. Civil. Tables. 1. In Counsels 1. In Counsels; Such a communion there was betwixt David and his friends (probably Achitophel, as the Chaldee nameth him (being one of his Peers, his equals (as he calleth him) his guide and acquaintance, they took sweet counsel together (as he tells us) Psal. 55.13.14. Thus are Christians in their straits and doubts to ask counsel of, to give counsel to, to take counsel each from other. Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart (saith the Wise man): so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel, Prov. 27.9. 2. Purses. 2. Where need is they are to communicate Purses, Estates: So did some of the Primitive Christians in an extraordinary way, suitable to the exigencies of those times; Act. 2.44.45. All that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need: Thus did they at Jerusalem; which being peculiar to that time and that place (for in other Churches we read not of the like) is not to be made a standing precedent for after times; Paul writing to his Corinthians, he ordereth them touching a Collection for the poor, that every one should lay by somewhat, as God had prospered him, 1 Cor. 16.1: But this he needed not have done, had there been such an absolute community amongst Christians (as Anabaptists dream of.) No, Christians have a propriety in their Estates, and that both by a civil and divine right. It is Paul's order concerning some Church-members, who thinking to live upon the Church's alms, were negligent in their callings, Them that are such (saith he) we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread, 2 Thes. 3.12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, their own bread, not other men's; clearly importing that Christians have a propriety in their estates: And having a propriety in them, they are in the first place to have a regard to themselves and families: If any provide not for his own, (saith our Apostle, 1 Tim. 5.8.) (his near Kindred) and especially for those of his own house (Parents, Wife, Children) he hath denied the faith, (though not in word, yet in deed) and is worse than an Infidel, having cast away not only religion, but humanity. Thus Christians in the first place both may and aught to have a regard to themselves and theirs. But so in the mean time they forget not others of their brethren, to whose necessities they are to communicate according as God hath given to them: a duty not to be forgotten: To do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased, Heb. 13.16. A lesson generally for all to whom God hath given any competent portion of this world's goods; they who of their superfluity cannot, yet even out of their penury are to cast in their Mite into the Church's Treasury. But more especially for rich men: Charge them that be rich in this world, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, (so Paul directs Timothy,) 1 Tim. 6.17, 18. Thus are Christians to be communicative to all; whose pressing necessities call for it, as God inables them, reaching forth somewhat to their relief. This the Preacher calls casting of bread upon the waters. Eccles. 11.1. But specially to Saints. As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, specially to them who are of the household of faith, Gal. 6.10. Such as through the communion of faith, are made true members of the mystical Body, and so joint-members with their brethren; these challenge a larger share in the Christians liberality. And I might add, amongst them, such as under a practical Church-Relation ought to be looked upon by the members of that Society in the first place. It is in Churches, as in Families, where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Domestics are first to be provided for. But I am drawing to a conclusion. 3. Communicate Tables. 3. Tables. So did the Primitive Christians, of whom we read, Acts 2.46. That they broke bread from house to house,] which I understand not of a Sacramental, (for that was mentioned before, as I shall show you anon) but a Civil Communion. So the Syriack explains it, (as our new Annotation taketh notice,) Domi frangebant portionem, they invited each other home, and eat together. The like is not only lawful, but laudable for Christians to do, so as it be in a sober, and moderate way, suitable to their condition. As for profuse and lavish feasting, I have no warrant for it. In such ways men's tables become snares, both to themselves, and others; and that more ways than one; snares to their estates, snares to their bodies, and snares to their souls; exhausting the first, surfeiting and distempering the second, destroying the third. And therefore, if Christians upon special occasions do make more liberal and bountiful provisions, (which I dare not in some cases prohibit) let them do it with fear. St Judas sets it as a brand upon some in his time, These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, Judas 11. Even those sacred feasts, those love-feasts, which were annexed to the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, and intended for maintaining the Communion of Saints, even they became a snare to some; they became occasions of sinful inconveniences, whereupon they were justly left off in after times. How much more may other feasting do the like, where there is no such bridle upon the appetites of men as there was. But sober, moderate feasting, this becometh Christians. Such were those Primitive meetings, (which the Greek Scholiaes', (how solidly, I will not say) collect from that phrase, of breaking of bread,) they were frugal and sober: such feasts best become Christians. To which, according to our Saviour's direction, they are to invite not only their richer friends, but also their poorer brethren, (as you have it) Luke 14 12, 13, 14. Here is the Christians civil Communion. 2. Religious Communion. But there is another Communion, which is of an higher import. And that is sacred, Religious Communion; which may be divided into Public, and Private. 1. Public. 1. Public: Christians as joynt-members of the same Body, are to have communion and fellowship in public Ordinances, as viz. in the Word, Sacrament, and Prayer. You meet them altogether in that one verse, Acts 2.42. where the Apostle speaking of the primitive believers, members of the Church at Jerusalem, he saith, They continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. So he describeth their Church-Communion; which was, 1. In hearing the word; 1. In hearing the word. They continued in the Apostles doctrine, that is, in hearing them preach. To which end they frequently repaired to the Temple, (as you have it, ver. 46.) They continued with one accord daily in the Temple; viz. to hear the word, as occasion was offered. And hearing the word together, they had fellowship and communion in those two other Ordinances, wherein Church-Communion may be conceived more properly and immediately to consist; viz. the Sacrament, and Prayer. Which are there brought in, (as some not amiss look upon them, Vide Bezam. Gr. Annot. ) as two species of that Genus. So the vulgar Latin following the Syriack, and some other copies expresseth it, reading the words. Et communicatione fractionis panis, & orationibus. V L. [They continued in the Apostles doctrine, and in the fellowship of breaking bread, and in prayers. 2. 2. Receiving the Sacrament. Vide Bez. ad loc. Gr. Annot. By the former of which I there understand the Sacrament of the Lords Supper (so the Syriack there explains it, rendering it fractione Eucharistiae, the breaking of the Eucharist.) Which is there, as also elsewhere (though not often) called Breaking of bread: So called, not properly from the Sacramental action of breaking the bread in the Sacrament (as I suppose it is vulgarly looked upon) but rather with reference to their Love Feasts, whereof the Sacrament was one and the principal part (as Beza and Grotius observe): Bez. & Grot. in Act. 2.42. & 20.7. Thus did they, (having a respect to the language of the Hebrews, who were wont to call their whole Diet by the name of bread) they called those (as other feasts) by the name of breaking of bread: And from thence it was translated to the Sacrament, as being the chief part of those chiefest feasts; upon which account (by the way) I conceive that that phrase (being used in a civil as well as in a sacred sense, & primarily in the former) is not to be affected by us above others which we meet with in Scripture; which as they are more common, so do they more properly express and set forth the nature of that Sacrament. Now herein (to return from whence I have a little occasionally deviated) those Primitive Christians had frequent Communion; and so ought their successors to have; frequently meeting together at the Lords Table, participating in that Sacrament of the Supper; which as it represents and sealeth up their union and communion with Christ, so it mindeth them of that union and communion, which they have and aught to have one with another. In both which respects it is called by the Apostle (in a language which I am sure cannot misbecome a Christians mouth,) The Communion, 1 Cor. 10.16. 3. And so (thirdly) in Prayer. 3. Prayer. Herein Christians are to join together in the public Congregation; Coimus ad Deum, quasi manu factâ precationibus ambiamus. Tertul. Apolog. surrounding, and as it were, beseeching the Throne of Grace, by their Joint-supplications, (as the Father saith the Christians in his time did.) Haec vis Deo grata, (saith he.) Nothing more acceptable unto God than such a sacred and humble violence, wherein they are to join not only hands, and eyes in lifting up them; or yet tongues, in saying Amen to the public prayers, (which was wont to be practised in the ancient Church, where the whole Congregation was wont to sound out Amen, Hieron. in Prologue. in Epist. ad Galat. In veteri Ecclesiâ Episcopo aut alio quovis Deum precante vel laudante, plebs accinebat, Amen; unde illud, Et resonaturis fecit aethera vocibus, Amen. Grot. in 1 Cor. 14.16. Calvin. Beza, etc. with so loud a voice, as that it did instar tonitrui reboare, (as Jerome speaks of it,) made the Church to ring again; and a practice not altogether without precedent and warrant from the Apostolical Churches, where the manner was, for every one to say Amen to the public prayers, as is not improbably collected from that of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 4 16. But withal, and above all, to join hearts together, Come let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the Heavens, (saith the Church) Lam. 3.41. To which let me subjoin (what ought not to be severed, it being a part of prayer,) the joint-praysing of God by singing of Psalms. Which being a divine Institution, so much cried up in the Old Testament; and once and again recommended by the Apostle under the New, Eph. 5.19. Col. 3.16. ought not to be abrogated, or laid aside; but conscientiously practised, as being an Ordinance tending (as to the Glory of God, which it doth directly and immediately, so) to the mutual edification and comfort of Christians. But I hasten. Here is the Christians public Church-Communion. 2. Besides which, there is also a private Communion, 2. Private, religious Communion. which being of great use, is not to be neglected: and that both in conferences, and prayers. 1. In Conference. 1. In Conference. Thus did Saint Paul upon his coming to Jerusalem communicate with the rest of the Apostles, and others, whom he found there, as himself setteth it down, Galat. 2.2. The like are Christians to do, as occasion is offered; communicating their knowledge, opening their doubts, and seeking resolution from such as are able and faithful; being ready to give a reason of the hope that is in them to every one that shall ask it, (as Saint Peter requires it) 1 Pet. 3.15. 2. And lastly, in their Prayers. 2. Prayers, praying for one another. In private praying for, and as occasion is offered, one with another. So did our blessed Saviour for, and with his Apostles: I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, saith he to Peter, Luke 22.32. And being to leave the world, he commands him, and the rest unto God by prayer, as you may see it in that most effectual prayer of his, Joh. 17. Where first praying for himself, than he prayeth for his Apostles, and then for all other that should believe on him to the end of the world: Therein setting a pattern for us, teaching us in our prayers not to be mindful of ourselves alone, but of others; as of those who are more nearly related unto us, (as the Apostles were unto Christ) so of all other Believers: So Paul directs his Ephesians, chap. 6.18, 19 Praying always with all prayer and supplication for all Saints, and for me: This did Paul for them, and for the rest of the Churches; in his private devotions he still made mention of them: So he tells these his Romans, Rom. 1.9. so his Ephesians, chap. 1.16. his Colossians, chap. 1.3. & 4.3. his Thessalonians, 1 Thes. 1.2. & 5.25. And the like he requires them to do for him and the rest of the brethren; Col. 4 3. 1 Thes. 5.25. A mutual office which Christians should not be unmindful of, thus to pray one for another. Which as they are to do at all times, so specially when their necessities call for it after any special manner. Thus when Peter was in prison, many of the Saints went to prayer for him, Act. 12.12. Thus are Christians to remember them that are in bonds, praying for them. With one another. And as they are to pray one for another, so one with another; as in Public (of which I have spoken already) so, as occasion is offered in private. Thus did Paul, being to take his leave of the Elders at Miletum, his last act was to pray with them: When he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all, Acts 20.36. The like parting had he, and the Disciples at Tyre, when they had accompanied him to the sea side, where he was to take shipping, they kneeled down on the shore, and prayed, Acts 21.5. The like are Christians to do as they have occasion. And that not only to get their Ministers to pray with them, which occasionally they are to do. It is Saint James his direction to sick persons, that as they should pray for themselves, (Is any among you afflicted, let him pray, Jam. 5.13.) so they should send for the Elders of the Church, (the Ministers) that they might pray over them, ver. 14. An office which Paul performed to the father of Publius; being sick, Paul entered in, and prayed with him, Acts 28.8. And the Ministers of the Gospel are still occasionally to do the like, However they cannot lay hands on the sick, and so heal them as Paul there did him, (that miraculous power, together with the sign of it, (Anointing) being now ceased, having been peculiar to those primitive times) yet they are to lift up their hands for them; which they are to do ex officio speciali, as a duty belonging to them after a special manner, by virtue of their office: but not only to them. This are other private Christians also to do ex officio charitatis, as an office of charity. So it there followeth in that place of Saint James, ver. 16. Confess your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may he healed. Thus have I briefly pointed at some amongst many of those respects and offices, which Christians upon the account of their Joint-membership own each to other. Now what remains, but that (by way of conclusion) as a Minister of Christ, in his Name I beseech, and require you, all of you, and in special you who are joined in Sacramental Communion in this place; that you would have a regard to every of these; that knowing what is your duty, you would seriously apply yourselves to a careful and conscientious discharge of it. Truly Christians! shall you and I examine ourselves for the time past, none of us but shall find just cause of humbling for our failings in some, in many of these. In the sense thereof, begging pardon for what is past, stir we up the grace of God for the future; that whilst we perform duties of piety towards God, we may not be wanting in duties of charity towards our Brethren. Now consider what I have said, and the Lord give you understanding in all things. FINIS.