Where is the contract between him, and his Father, that oportuit pati, all this Christ ought to suffer, and so enter into glory: Is that contract void, and of none effect? Must he not die? Where is the ratification of that contract in all the prophets? Where is Esay's Vere languores nostros tulit", Surely he hath borne our sorrows; and, he made his grave with the wicked in his death? Is the ratification of the prophets cancelled? Shall he not, must he not die? Where is the consummation, and the testification of all this? Where is the Gospel, Consummatum est? And he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost? Is that fabulous? Did he not die? How stands the validity of that contract, Christ must die; the dignity of those prophecies, Christ will die; the truth of the Gospel, Christ did die, with this answer to this question, Here is a man that liveth and shall not see death? Very well; for though Christ Jesus did truly die, so as was contracted, so as was prophesied, so as was related, yet he did not die so, as was intended in this question, so as other natural men do die. For first, Christ died because he would die; other men admitted to the dignity of martyrdom, are willing to die; but they die by the torments of the executioners, they cannot bid their souls go out, and say, now I will die. And this was Christ's case: it was not only, I lay down my life for my sheep, but he says also, No man can take away my soul; and, I have power to lay it down; and de facto, he did lay it down, he did die, before the torments could have extorted his soul from him; many crucified men lived many days upon the cross; the thieves were alive, long after Christ was dead; and therefore Pilate wondered, that he was already dead. His soul did not leave his body by force, but because he would", and when he would, and how he would; thus far then first, this is an answer to this question, Quis homo? Christ did not die naturally, nor violently, as all others do, but only voluntarily. Again, the penalty of death appertaining only to them, who were derived from Adam by carnal, and sinful generation, Christ Jesus being conceived miraculously of a virgin, by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, was not subject to the law of death; and therefore in his person, it is a true answer to this 17 Isaiah Liii. 4, 9. 18 John x. 15. 19 Mar. xv. 44. Augustine. Quis homo? Here is a man, that shall not see death, that is, he need not see death, he hath not incurred God's displeasure, he is not involved in a general rebellion, and therefore is not involved in the general mortality, not included in the general penalty. He needed not have died by the rigour of any law, all we must; he could not die by the malice, or force of any executioner, all we must; at least by Nature's general executioners, age, and sickness; and then, when out of his own pleasure, and to advance our salvation, he would die, yet he died so, as that though there were a disunion of body and soul, (which is truly death) yet there remained a nobler, and faster union, than that of body and soul, the hypostatical union of the Godhead, not only to his soul, but to his body too; so that even in his death, both parts were still, not only inhabited by, but united to the Godhead itself; and in respect of that inseparable union, we may answer to this question, Quis homo? Here is a man that shall not see death, that is, he shall see no separation of that, which is incomparably, and incomprehensibly, a better soul than his soul, the Godhead shall not be separated from his body. But, that which is indeed the most direct, and literal answer, to this question, is, that whereas the death in this text, is intended of such a death, as hath dominion over us, and from which we have no power to raise ourselves, we may truly, and fully answer to his Quis homo? Here is a man, that shall never see death so, but that he shall even in the jaws, and teeth of death, and in the bowels and womb of the grave, and in the sink, and furnace of hell itself, retain an Almighty power, and an effectual purpose, to deliver his soul from death, by a glorious, a victorious, and a triumphant resurrection: so it is true, Christ Jesus died, else none of us could live; but yet he died not so, as is intended in this question; not by the necessity of any law, not by the violence of any executioner, not by the separation of his best soul, (if we may so call it) the Godhead, nor by such a separation of his natural, and human soul, as that he would not, or could not, or did not resume it again. If then this question had been asked of angels at first, Quis angelus? What angel is that, that stands, and shall not fall? Though as many of those angels, as were disposed to that answer, Erimus similes altissimo, We will be like God, and stand of ourselves, without any dependence upon him, did fall, yet otherwise they might have answered the question fairly, all we may stand if we will; if this question had been asked of Adam in Paradise, Quis homo? though when he hearkened to her, who had hearkened to that voice, Eritis sicut dii, You shall be as gods, he fell too, yet otherwise, he might have answered the question fairly so, I may live, and not die, if I will; so, if this question be asked of us now, as the question implies the general penalty, as it considers us only as the sons of Adam, we have no other answer, but that by Adam sin entered upon all, and death by sin upon all; as it implies the state of them only, whom Christ at his second coming shall find upon earth, we have no other answer but a modest non liquet, we are not sure, whether we shall die then, or no; we are only sure, it shall be so, as most conduces to our good, and God's glory; but as the question implies us to be members of our head, Christ Jesus, as it was a true answer in « him, it is true in every one of us, adopted in him, here is a man that liveth, and shall not see death. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, says Solomon, > in another sense; and in this sense too, if my tongue, suggested by my heart, and by my heart rooted in faith, can say, non moriar, non moriar; if I can say, (and my conscience do not tell me, that I belie mine own state) if I can say, That the blood of my Saviour runs in my veins, that the breath of his Spirit quickens all my purposes, that all my deaths have their resurrection, all my sins their remorses, all my rebellions their reconciliations, I will hearken no more after this question, as it is intended de morte naturali, of a natural death, I know I must die that death, what care I? Nor de morte spirituali, the death of sin, I know I do, and shall die so; why despair I? But I will find out another death, mortem raptus", a death of rapture, and of ecstacy, that death which St. Paul died more than once", the death which St. Gregory speaks of, Divina contemplatio quoddam sepulchrum anima, The contemplation of God, and heaven, is a kind of burial, and sepulchre, and rest of the soul; and in this death of rapture, and ecstacy, in this death of the contemplation of my 22 Acts 9. 2 L interest in my Saviour, I shall find myself, and all my sins interred, and entombed in his wounds, and like a lily in Paradise, out of red earth, I shall see my soul rise out of his blade, in a candour, and in an innocence, contracted there, acceptable in the sight of his Father. Though I have been dead, in the delight of sin, so that that of St. Paul, That a widow that liveth in pleasure, is dead while she liveth, be true of my soul, that so, viduatur, gratiâ mortuâ, when Christ is dead, not for the soul, but in the soul, that the soul hath no sense of Christ, viduatur anima, the soul is a widow, and no dowager, she hath lost her husband, and hath nothing from him; yea though I have made a covenant with death, and have been at an agreement with hell, and in a vain confidence have said to myself, that when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come to me, yet God shall annul that covenant, he shall bring that scourge, that is, some medicinal correction upon me, and so give me a participation of all the stripes of his Son; he shall give me a sweat, that is, some horror, and religious fear, and so give me a participation of his agony; he shall give me a diet, perchance want, and penury, and so a participation of his fasting; and if he draw blood, if he kill me, all this shall be but mors raptus, a death of rapture towards him, into a heavenly, and assured contemplation, that I have a part in all his passion, yea such an entire interest in his whole passion, as though all that he did, or suffered, had been done, and suffered for my soul alone; Quasi moriens, et ecce vivo25: Some show of death I shall have, for I shall sin; and some show of death again, for I shall have a dissolution of this tabernacle; sed ecce vivo, still the Lord of life will keep me alive, and that with an ecce, behold, I live; that is, he will declare, and manifest my blessed state to me; I shall not sit in the shadow of death; no nor I shall not sit in darkness; his gracious purpose shall evermore be upon me, and I shall ever discern that gracious purpose of his; I shall not die, nor I shall not doubt that I shall; if I be dead within doors, (if I have sinned in my heart) why, suscitarit in domo, Christ gave a resurrection to the ruler's daughter within doors, in the house " ; 23 1 Tim. v. 6. 25 2 Cor. vi. 9. 24 Isaiah xxviii. 15. 26 Matt. ix. 23 if I be dead in the gate, (if I have sinned in the gates of my soul) in mine eyes, or ears, or hands, in actual sins, why, suscitavit in porta, Christ gave a resurrection to the young man at the gate of Naim". If I be dead in the grave, (in customary, and habitual sins) why suscitavit in sepulchro, Christ gave a resurrection to Lazarus in the grave too 28. If God give me mortem raptus, a death of rapture, of ecstacy, of fervent contemplation of Christ Jesus, a transfusion, a transplantation, a transmigration, a transmutation into him, (for good digestion brings always assimilation, certainly, if I come to a true meditation 7 upon Christ, I come to a conformity with Christ) this is principally that Pretiosa mors sanctorum, Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of his saints", by which they are dead and buried, and risen again in Christ Jesus: precious is that death, by which we apply that precious blood to ourselves, and grow strong enough by it, to meet David's question, Quis homo? What man? with Christ's answer, Ego homo, I am the man, in whom whosoever abideth, shall not see death. SERMON XXVI. PREACHED AT ST. PAUL'S, UPON WHITSUNDAY, 1627. JOHN XIV. 26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remem brance, whatsoever I have said unto you. THIS day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears, saith our Saviour Christ, having read for his text, that place of Esay', The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. And that day which we celebrate now, was another Scripture fulfilled in their ears, and in their eyes too; for all Christ's promises are Scripture; they have all the infallibility of Scripture; and Christ had promised, that that spirit 27 Luke vii. 11. 28 John 11. 29 Psal. cxvi. 15. |