Isaiah 53 — The Fifth Verse

    Hewaswoundedforourtransgressions,hewasbruisedforouriniquities:thechastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes we are healed.

    THE prophet having in the former verse briefly touched upon the sufferings of Christ, and the cause of them, by way of confutation of the Jews, he now amplifieth the argument, and enlargeth himself by setting it out in other expressions. All words and all thoughts are little enough for so great a mystery. It should not be tedious, though a man do always dwell upon it. St Paul’s ἔκρινα justifieth a minister, if he should preach no other thing to you: 1 Cor. ii. 2, ‘For I determined not to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ and him crucified.’ Christ’s sufferings are like the widow of Sarepta’s cruse; though we spend much of the oil of it, it will not fail, it will afford more consolation still; and therefore it should not be grievous to you, if we hold your meditation to it. The prophet here, now he is fallen upon the subject, will not give it over. Though he had told you that surely he bore our sorrows and carried our griefs, yet he will not quit it so till he hath more fully expressed it to you, as he doth in the text: ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,’ &c. You may here in this verse observe three things:—

    1.      The history of Christ’s sufferings.

    2.      The cause of them.

    3.      The fruit and benefit of them. These three things are scattered in divers expressions throughout the verse.

    1.      The history of Christ’s sufferings, set out by wounds,bruises,chastisements,stripes; which expressions are multiplied to fasten the thought of it the more upon our minds. And the words do not only imply those wounds in Christ’s body by the nails, the spear, the scourge, but the whole bitterness of his bloody death; and some of the expressions will bear it. ‘He was wounded.’ It is the manner of the scripture to use wounding for killing. ‘He was bruised,’ or broken, as it were crushed to pieces by the hand of God. ‘The chastisement of our peace.’ Chastisement, the word is applied to learning; and because lazy and slow learners must be whipped, it is applied to signify punishment. Some think the prophet alludeth to those that were whipped by the sentence of the law, and by way of punishment. And then ‘stripes,’ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ,—the word signifieth sometimes gore, blood, or scars. And I conceive these things are the rather mentioned, wounds, stripes, scars, because Christ after his resurrection, for a testimony of the reality of his sufferings, retained these wounds and scars. So much for the first thing, the history.

    2.      The cause of it: forourtransgressions,forouriniquities. The first word noteth more properly the doing of evil, the latter swerving from good; sins of omission and commission: Christ suffered for them all: the least neglect of duty, and the least obliquity in duties needed Christ to satisfy for them. It was for our iniquities as well as our transgressions, our defections from the right way.

    3.      The fruits and benefits: they are two—peace and healing.

    [1.] Peace: thechastisementofourpeacewasuponhim. Some understand by peace whatsoever is good and precious; it being usual with the Hebrews to express it by the word peace. And because the Septuagint sometimes turn shelomim, the plural word for peace, into retributions, some read it thus, ‘The chastisement of retributions was upon him;’ that is, God payed him what should have been payed us, namely, punishment and wrath. But I conceive it noteth here that peace and reconciliation that is between God and a sinner. Christ was chastised to procure it for us. Sin made us odious, and enemies to God. Here is the first privilege: Christ bore the chastisement of our peace.

    [2.] Healing. A strange paradox, you will think, that we should be healed by another’s stripes; but so it is. The meaning is, by this our souls are cured from the wounds and infection of sin. From the wounds, Christ took them upon himself. From the infection, sin is wounded by it, as you will see hereafter.

    I come to the points, which are three, according to the parts of the text.

    1.      That the Lord Jesus at his death endured many cruel and bitter sufferings.

    2.      That all these sufferings were undergone for our sins and transgressions.

    3.      That by these sufferings Christ hath purchased for us peace and healing.

    Doct. 1. That Jesus Christ at his death endured many cruel and bitter sufferings. The prophet sets them out here by wounds,bruises,stripes; which words, because they imply most of all his outward and bodily sufferings, and what he suffered from the cruelty and malice of man, I shall most of all touch upon these things, that they may be matter of meditation to you.

    1.      He was betrayed by his own disciple; that is sad. It was a double stab to Caesar’s heart when Brutus was among the conspirators; the grief is the more by far. David, in the person of Christ, complaineth of it, Ps. lv. 12, 13, ‘It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid my face from him. But it was thou, a man, mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.’

    2.      Forsaken by the rest of the disciples: Mark xiv. 50, ‘And they all forsook him and fled;’ that is, all the disciples. And that is a misery, to be deprived of the solace of friends when we most want them. A friend is for adversity; that is the reason of our choice, that we may have some to stand by us in evil times. But all are gone.

    3.      He was an object of the common hatred. They do not only come out against him with swords and staves, the usual instruments of vulgar fury, but thirst after his blood, cry against him, ‘His blood be upon us and on our children.’ They would rather have Barabbas released than Christ.

    4.      Then he was haled to the judgment-seat, and there accused and sentenced contrary to all law, and their own conscience. When Pilate asked of them what evil they found in him, they could rejoin nothing but a tumultous noise, ‘Crucify him, crucify him;’ that is all the reason they urge.

    5.      There are several expressions of contempt used to him, which are like vinegar to wounds, the very smart and quintessence of grief. They buffeted him, that is an ignominious expression of cruelty; buffeting being the punishment of slaves. Spitting, which was another token of contempt among the Jews: ‘If her father had spit upon her, should she not be unclean seven days?’ Numb. xii. 14. Yea, Job reckoned it as a great aggravation of his sufferings: Job xxx. 10, ‘They abhor me, they even dare to spit upon me.’ And then they whipped and mocked him with a robe, a sceptre of reeds, and a crown of thorns. There can be no greater dishonour done to a man than to twit him with his dignity, to put the mock habiliments of majesty upon him. And then as to their several beatings and smitings, I cannot mention all. And at last they crucified him, a death designed for men accursed. Usually those that suffered that death were looked upon as accursed by God and men; Deut. xxi. 23, ‘Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a tree.’ It was the death of grievous malefactors, such as blasphemers and idolaters. Nay, he was hanged between two thieves, inmediolatronum,tanquam latronummaximus; he was put in the midst, as if he was the greatest malefactor of the three. And when he was dead, he was wounded with a spear, John xix. 34. An impotent, silly malice, to triumph over the dead! Thus I have given you a taste of what you may read more fully in the evangelists.

    I come now to apply it.

    Use 1. It serveth for consolation, for examples are apt to ease the soul. The great sting of misery is, that we think it strange, and such a thing as never happened: ‘Is there any sorrow like my sorrow?’ Lam. i. 12. We are all apt to say so. Why, here is a great example. Christ, that he might sanctify afflictions to us, endured them in his own person. Comfort is never so well taken as when we speak to the particular case. Why, here in Christ’s instance there is comfort. Whatever the case and distress be, there is some use in the argument: 1 Peter ii. 21, ‘Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps.’ There is a great deal of merit in Christ’s sufferings. Example is not all, and yet example is much. God would suffer too, that he might provide against all the terrible troubles you can be cast upon. I shall instance a little in those things that cause the greatest storm and tumult in the heart.

    1.      In case thy greatest woe is brought about to thee by the men of thine own family and cherishing, remember Christ was so used, and so was St Paul. Among the other dangers that he reckoned up, he saith, ‘In perils among false brethren.’ And divers of the martyrs in church history have been betrayed into the hands of their enemies by their friends and allies. It is much, I confess, to meet with evil usage from whom we least looked for it. And yet you see this hath been the lot of Christ and the people of God before you.

    2.      Is the case so, that you are in misery and forsaken of friends? It is a very miserable case, that you find respect no longer than you are able to purchase it. Why, Christ was left by his own disciples; and it is the lot of many a faithful servant of God, and will be till you can weed self-love out of men’s hearts. Usually they aim at their own good in dispensing of their respects; and when they cannot serve them selves of us, they will leave us: Prov. xiv. 20, ‘The poor is hated by his neighbour, but the rich hath many friends.’

    3.      Is it so that thou art an object of the common hatred, like Ishmael, thy hand against every man, and every man’s hand against thine? Christ suffered it, and it is the lot of many a public-spirited servant of God. Lapidibusnosinvaditinimicumvulgus, saith Tertullian. The common people are ready to brain us with stones wheresoever we go. Remember the Ephesian tumult, where the common people raged against Paul, so that he speaketh of them as if they had put off all humanity: 1 Cor. xv. 32, ‘If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me?’ Hinting at that story in Acts xix. And it is the lot of many of God’s people now to be cruelly handled by rude hands; and evil neighbours look upon the day of their brethren’s adversity, and are as some of them that do it.

    4.      To be denied the benefit of law, the wall of our safety, the fence of our privileges and interests. The thing we suffer many times doth not grieve us so much as the injustice of it. Why, remember it was Christ’s case; he was condemned, though none could fasten the least guilt upon him. So it is many a Christian’s case to be denied all right and equity: Eccles. v. 8, ‘If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of justice and judgment in a province, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they.’ The primitive martyrs were condemned before they were heard. Tertullian complaineth much that they would not hear the Christians plead for themselves. So it would make a man gnash his teeth for indignation to see what undue proceedings there were against the martyrs that were convened before the bishops here in England; the case was determined before heard. It was likewise so of late, agreeable to what Tertullian spake of the heathen.

    5.      Art thou handled with a great deal of contempt, as in all the in stances of Christ’s sufferings, buffeted with the back of the hand? So was Christ: Mat. v. 39, ‘Whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.’ A transverse blow, such as might light upon the right cheek, expresseth great contempt. Christ would have you bear it. Again, be it spitting upon us, any expression of contempt, this is that which the nature of man stormeth at; every one counteth himself worthy of some respect. And yet Christ submitted to it. So Job, ‘they even dare to spit upon me.’ See how the prophet speaketh in the person of Christ, Isa. l. 6, ‘I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.’ Suppose thy case to be an opprobrious punishment. John Frith was put in the stocks, mocked, and made a laughing-stock, marked as a common vagrant. So was Christ, so was Samson, and so it was with Israel: Jer. xlviii. 27, ‘For was not Israel a derision unto thee? Was he found among thieves?’ They did hoot at them, as boys do in the street after a thief when he is taken. Again, is there some upbraiding pageantry used in contempt of thee? Why, they gave Christ a reeden sceptre and a thorny crown. John Huss and Jerome of Prague had painted coats put upon them with devils round about them; and many poor souls have been served in that manner. I remember a story of a king of England in his distress, whom they would trim upon a hill with cold water. Ay but, saith he, Hot water will come, meaning his tears. Is thy case so, that thou art called to suffer a shameful death for Christ? Christ suffered the shamefulest death that can be for thee. Hanging is no dishonour to a Christian. It is not the death, but the cause that maketh it shameful. Ludovicus Marsaius thought himself honoured by his rope. Curnonetmihi quoquetorquemdonas,ethujusordinisequitemcreas?—Give me a rope likewise, saith he, and make me a knight of this noble order. St Paul saith, ‘With this chain,’ holding it up by way of triumph. A man would have thought that it had been a golden chain that he spake of, since he honoured it so much, when, alas! it was iron. Christ hath taken away all shame of punishment. And then they gave Christ vinegar instead of drink. This has been the lot of many Christians upon the inquisition-rack. So to have your dying words misconstrued and misreported; there have not been wanting in all ages those that have turned the saints’ Eloi into Elias. What reports have there been of Tremellius turning Jew, and of divers protestants turning papists! So after death; for you may live in such calamitous times in which you may see a great deal of cruelty exercised, not only upon the bodies of the saints here, but even after death; so it was with Christ, and so with his people. They were not safe when they had taken sanctuary in the grave. So the papists did against the bones of Wickliffe, Bucer, and others. Nay, if it were possible, they would reach to the damnation of the soul. As the papists said of John Huss, mandamusanimamdiabolo. And then, as Christ was crucified in the midst of two thieves, so it may be your case to be numbered among transgressors, to be counted heretics, factious, schismatics; this is what the people of God hath suffered from the proud men of the world. Papists would make Protestantism a bundle of old errors, as Baily says in the Jesuit’s Catechism. Thus the enemies, like the cruel watchmen, would fain take away the garment from the spouse, expose her to shame and contempt in the world. But remember, in all these cases Jesus Christ has gone before you.

    Use 2. Did Jesus endure such cruel and bitter sufferings? It informeth you how unlike Christ they are who live in a way of pleasure and ease, as if the way to heaven were over a bed of roses. If Christ were a Man of Sorrows, certainly they are men of pleasures, such as mind nothing but present contentments and satisfactions. Thus I have given you the history of Christ’s sufferings.

    I now come to the cause. We must not only look upon the sufferings of Christ, but must look upon the cause of it. The point is:—

    Doct. That Jesus Christ endured all these bitter sufferings at his death for our sins. Take a place or two of scripture to prove this: Rom. iv. 25, ‘Who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.’ You have need of places to confirm you when the most substantial truths are questioned. Delivered, that is delivered to death for our transgressions: 1 Cor. xv. 3, ‘For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.’ This was the doctrine St Paul would preach among them, and the doctrine that contained the drift of the scriptures. He suffered for our sins, that he might become a sacrifice to appease God for us. That was it that all the world thirsted after, an expiation; and it is fully performed by Christ. God for a while trained up his people in sacrifices, that he might type out the Lamb of God that was to be slain for the satisfying of wronged justice. But I shall say no more to that here, but proceed to application.

    Use 1. It confuteth divers errors and mistakes in doctrine, viz.:—

    1.      That evil blasphemy of the Socinians, that say that Christ only died by occasion of sin, not for sin. The scriptures speak plainly, and yet vain men list to blaspheme, that they may take away the merit of Christ’s passion, and establish only his example. Christ did not only leave us an example, but satisfied for our sins. Adam left us more than an example of sin, and Christ left us more than an example of suffering.

    2.      The derogatory doctrine of the papists, who extend this full satisfaction of Christ to sins only committed before baptism; but as for mortal sins, and sins committed after baptism, they say we receive forgiveness only of the eternal, but not of the temporal punishment of them, which remaineth to be suffered by us to the satisfaction of divine justice. But when the scriptures speak so fully of all sins, transgressions, and iniquities satisfied for, why should men fancy a restraint? In human matters we account those things that are in our favour may be construed in the largest sense that they can bear with probability. Christians, stand for your liberty against those encroachments of Antichrist.

    3.      That fond dream of some that think Christ’s sufferings were any way for himself. They urge for it Luke xxiv. 26, ‘Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and then to enter into his glory?’ That proveth it an antecedent, not a cause or merit of glory. There is a difference between consequents and effects: Phil. ii. 8, 9, ‘He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him:’ διὸ signifieth afterwhich. In Dan. ix. 26, it is said, ‘The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself.’ And so here, ‘He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities.’

    Use 2. Is exhortation to look upon the cause of Christ’s sufferings. Mr Perkins well observeth it to be a superstitious looking upon Christ, when we reflect upon his passion without looking upon the cause. So to look upon him in a crucifix is superstition to the eye; and to look upon his sufferings as a dolorous and sad story, is superstition to the ear. Look, then, upon them as they refer to the cause, to wit, our sins. This is the consideration that maketh them profitable and useful to us. The cause yieldeth this profit.

    1.      Here is matter for our faith to work upon. Christ died for those things that trouble a gracious heart, viz., sins. One saith, Send drooping Christians to the 53d of Isaiah, send them to this place, ‘He was wounded’ for that for which your consciences were wounded. When the soul groaneth under the sad apprehensions of God’s wrath and hell’s horror, why here is thy comfort, ‘He was wounded for our transgressions,’ Pray as those for the distressed: Job xxxiii. 24, ‘Deliver me from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.’ O Lord, here I have found a ransom; show him Christ’s wounds: O Lord, wilt not thou forgive in a servant what thou didst punish in a Son? What is there in sin that there is not in Christ’s sufferings? Are they manifold? Tell God here are wounds, bruises, stripes, chastisements. Are they great? Here is infinite wrath suffered, divine justice fully satisfied. Art thou a base, vile, filthy person? Christ is a glorious and all-sufficient Saviour. Every way here is triumph for faith.

    2.      Here is an object for your love. It is a great testimony of the love of Christ, that he was wounded for our transgressions. Viscerapatentpervulnera—you may see his bowels through his wounds. A strange kind of surgery! The whole body is sick, and the head wounded to cure it. We committed the sins, and Christ suffered the punishment due to them. Usually, we love them more that suffer for us, than those that otherwise do us good. Oh, work it upon your affections!

    3.      It giveth you help in your endeavours against sin.

    [1.] It is a help to humble us for sins past. There is a leanness in the soul many times, and we cannot make sin so odious and grievous to our souls as we would. Take in this circumstance; all Christ’s sufferings and wounds were but the effects of our sins. This is a glass which will discover it to us, our knowledge is by the effects. The effects of sin were never so apparent and eminent as in Christ. Oh, look upon him whom you have pierced, and then mourn, Zech. x. 12.

    [2.] To caution you against sins to come. Here is a double argument, from experience, and from love.

    (1.) From experience. Sin is not so sweet as the sinner imagines. Christ suffered bitter things when he bore it in his body upon the tree. It lieth when it flattereth you with hopes of some contentment. Sin indeed smileth upon the soul at the first coming. Therefore Solomon saith, Prov. xxiii. 31, ‘Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright;’ that is, upon the seeming pleasure of it. Oh, remember, it cost Christ dear; it is a flattering, deceiving thing.

    (2.) From love. Oh, shall I wound Christ again? Shall I grieve God once more? We hate that which hath injured our friends. Shall I allow that in my bosom which Christ hates? Use yourselves to these meditations upon the least solicitations to drunkenness, adultery, and the like: 1 Peter iv. 1, ‘Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.’ The apostle meaneth, we should arm ourselves with such contemplations as Christ’s death affordeth us. He speaketh of it as a great remedy against temptations. By such thoughts the work of the Spirit is perfected. By drunkenness, thou givest him vinegar to drink; thy oppression is a wounding of his sides; wresting scripture is a turning of Eloi into Elias; scoffing at religion is spitting upon him; jeering of his ministers is like the soldiers jeering at him; professing him for fashion’s sake, and hating him in your hearts, is a putting mock habiliments upon him; by abusing of his servants thou dost again buffet and beat him. Thus you may exemplify in every sin.

    I am now to make entrance upon the last point—

    That by these sufferings, Christ hath purchased for us peace and healing. I begin with the first of these benefits.

    1. That Christ hath purchased peace for his people, ‘The chastisement of our peace was upon him.’ Peace, among other expositions of the phrase, I take to be that reconciliation and amity that was wrought out between God and a sinner. Christ was chastised to procure it for us, and all other good things that follow upon it.

    I shall prove it to you by scripture, that one of the great benefits that we enjoy by Christ’s sufferings is peace, or the favour of God. Take a few scriptures: Rom. v. 1, ‘Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ There is peace of conscience, and peace with God, which is nothing else but our atonement and reconciliation with him. Every one that is justified hath not peace of conscience; but every one that is justified hath peace with God. There is a quarrel between God and the soul because of sin; your sins have separated between God and you. Sin maketh God not only an utter enemy, but a severe punisher. Now this strife and quarrel is taken up by Christ: through Jesus it is said we have peace. He maketh God our friend; so Col. i. 20, ‘And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself.’ By the blood of his cross; that is, by the bloody cruel death he suffered upon the cross, he took away sin and wrath. The scriptures speak of what is most visible: so Eph. ii. 14, ‘He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.’ He is our peace, the abstract for the concrete; such a speech as is usual in relation to the business of Christ’s undertaking; even as he is wisdom to us, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so Zech. ix. 10, ‘He shall speak peace to the heathen;’ so Isa. ix. 8, Christ is called ‘the Prince of peace.’ Look, as we call men by the better title, as we say the king of England, not mentioning the lesser dominions, as Scot land, Wales, Ireland; and the king of France, not taking in the petty governments in our ordinary way of speaking; so Christ is set forth by the great privilege he hath purchased for mankind, which includes other things: Mic. v. 5, ‘And this man shall be the peace.’ This man shall be our peace, the Prince of peace. All these expressions imply, that as we are said to have it this way, so we can have it no other way.

    I come to the reasons of the point.

    1.      Because Christ by his death hath slain all hatred. It is the apostle’s phrase: Eph. ii. 16, ‘And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby;’ that is, took away the cause of hatred; and the cause being taken away, the effect ceaseth. Look, as when there is a whisperer that goeth between party and party, and sets them at odds and variance, we say we shall never be friends till such an one be removed out of the way; so it was between God and the soul, there is no hope of agreement till those that do the ill offices between God and us be removed. And therefore Christ himself would die rather than not slay our enemy. He hath slain hatred by taking away the cause of it, which was:—

    [1.] The just wrath of God. Now that was abolished by Christ; he conquered it by suffering it; insomuch that God saith, ‘Fury is not in me.’ Isa. xxvii. 4. God’s justice being satisfied in Christ, he doth not pursue revenge against his people. Is there any fury in God?

    [2.] Sin in us, that was the cause of hatred. You may consider it both in its guilt and power, and both sit heavy upon the soul.

    (1.) The guilt of it. There can be no peace as long as this lieth charged upon the soul. This works all that distance and hatred between us and God; and therefore guilt will cause horror: Job xiii. 26, ‘Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me possess the iniquities of my youth;’ that is, bitter enough to possess sins, to own the guilt of them. It was as great a threatening as Christ could use, when he told the Jews they should die in their sins, John viii. 21-24. Oh, it is a miserable thing that death should seize upon us in our sins! What a perplexity is the soul then left to! Whither will it go when it dieth in its own guilt? Now this is taken away by Christ; and therefore it is so often said that we have remission of sins by his blood: 1 John i. 7, ‘And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.’

    (2.) The power of sin. This disturbeth and filleth the soul with the sense of God’s wrath, and embittereth the soul against God. Through the strength of sin we hate God, because we cannot but look upon him as a punisher ‘of it. Now Christ slayeth this hatred by sending his Spirit to kill our enmity, to heal our poisoned natures, and maketh us more willing and careful to please God. It is said, Titus iii. 6, ‘The Spirit of regeneration is shed on us abundantly (or richly), through Jesus Christ our Saviour.’ He taketh away that rancorous disposition that is in the heart. This is the first reason: Christ taketh away hatred, and therefore purchaseth peace.

    2.      Because he hath taken away all show of hatred. The ceremonial law was an ordinance hinting out our guilt. Now Christ would take away whatever in show made against us, or

    was contrary to us: Col. ii. 14, ‘He took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.’ He would not leave any ground for doubt or suspicion; he hath provided against all our scruples: Christ would not leave the least line uncrossed, our own confessions do not make against us. As soon as you give in the bill, Christ teareth it; he hath nailed all in triumph to his cross. You can urge many things against yourselves; ay! but all these things are pardoned, and God hath nothing to show for the debt. St Paul says, 1 Tim. i. 13, ‘I was a blasphemer and a persecutor;’ a heavy bill, ‘but I obtained mercy.’ All this was taken out of the way. Christ hath not only paid the debt, but torn also the bonds. By his death on the cross he did as it were declare to the believer that God hath nothing to show against him. As there is not anger, so there should not be suspicion of anger. He hath taken up the controversy that was between God and the soul.

    3.      Christ hath procured us favour. Not only the matter that kindleth anger, and all show of it is taken away, but love is procured: the children of wrath are become the children of love: Mat. iii. 17, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ The eyes of God’s holiness cannot but be offended with a filthy, polluted sinner, yet he is well-pleased with them in Christ, and so they are not only objects of his love but of his delight: Isa. lxii. 4, ‘But thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah; for the Lord delighteth in thee;’ and in another place, ‘He shall rejoice over them to do them good.’ A man delighteth in things that are most suitable and agree able to his nature. There cannot be a more pleasing work to God than to do his people good. It is said, Luke xv. 5, of the lost sheep, that ‘when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.’ Before there could be no work more suitable to God’s justice than to punish sinners; whereas now it is, as the prophet calleth it, ‘his strange work,’ Isa. xxviii. 21, a thing that he would not be acquainted with towards his people. Whereas, to the wicked, still he laughs at their destruction, Prov. i. 26. Therefore, Christ hath purchased peace for us, because he hath not only taken away anger but procured favour. Among men, anger many times may be taken away, but they have not love. Rebels, after a pardon, live in a great deal of umbrage, and are under suspicion; the scars remain though the wound be cured: as Absalom, when pardoned, did not see the king’s face. Artificial cracks will be seen though soldered; but it is not so here, for we are re-instated in God’s love and affections. Christ hath satisfied wrath and merited favour; so that the soul can look upon God with a great deal of comfort and joy.

    Use 1. This serveth to reprove those—

    1.      That fetch their peace anywhere else. No comfort is lasting but what floweth from the blood of Christ; that only is the true peace that he hath merited.

    2.      Those that are against peace, or the settling of the heart in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. I begin with these first, and they are of two sorts:—

    [1.] Such as are grossly ignorant of Christian privileges, and think it a duty to doubt, and a matter of merit to keep themselves upon terms of perplexity. A popish spirit haunts many; they think assurance a dry doctrine, and therefore do not strive to settle their hearts; as if there could be no duty where there is no fear. Hereby they plainly discover out of what principles they act for God,—to wit, out of a servile spirit; and therefore they cannot be kept right any longer than they fear wrath. O brethren! turn these evil thoughts out of your hearts. True peace is a great benefit that Christ hath purchased for us.

    [2.] Such as would fain apply themselves to Christ, but are loth to busy themselves with what should make for the settling of their hearts and establishing their spirits; as if it were more pleasing to God to keep the conscience raw with sins, than to heal it with Christ’s righteousness. A man should labour after peace with God, and peace of conscience too. It is a natural superstitious thought to think God is pleased with the mere sorrow of a creature; and, therefore, false worshippers have wounded themselves, that they might make some dolorous impressions upon his mind. Christ suffered the sorrows that you might have the peace; the chastisement of your peace was upon him. Why should you stand out against comfort, if there were not some secret thought of satisfying by your sorrow? Now you are not to satisfy, but Christ. It is good to reflect upon wrath, to drive us to mercy; but it is not good to dwell always in the preparations, for that is to forget our errand, and to stay in the porch when we should enter into the temple. Labour to get an interest in him in whom dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

    3.      It reproveth such as would have peace, but not this way, but upon wrong grounds. Now that is an evil peace that cometh any other way. Look to the grounds of your peace. How came you to such a peaceable frame of heart? The false grounds are:—

    [1.] Ignorance of our condition. A man doth not fear danger till he be sensible of it. Now many do not know that God and they are at such terms of distance and anger. Little doth a man trouble himself when he doth not know what evil is determined against him: Rom. iii. 11, ‘There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, they have no understanding.’ And it is easy to go hoodwinked to hell. Blinded sinners go merrily to the pit of destruction, never dreaming that danger was so near hand. Poor souls that do not know the worst by themselves! This is the greatest judgment that can be fall them.

    [2.] Carelessness in others. When men cannot put off sorrow, they put it by, and will not so much as reflect upon themselves. You may know it is bad with men when they cannot endure to look inward. Things that are evil cannot brook a trial; men will put all care out of their hearts as to their eternal concerns.

    [3.] When men avoid whatever may put them in mind of their misery. There are two things that humble men, doing of duty and striving against sin.

    (1.) Doing of duty seriously, that will make men see what profane, unsavoury, and senseless spirits they have. A man that lieth abed doth not feel his lame leg, but when he goeth to walk upon it he does. Exercise the soul in inward duties, and you will see it diseased. We know things when we come to make trial of them: therefore, wicked men will not meddle in inward and hearty duties, lest thereby they should discover the soul to itself. Formal duties make men the more secure: they are thereby apt to think better of themselves than they ought. The pharisee thought himself in a good case, because of his vain fasting, giving alms, and paying tithes. So formal duties are a vain refuge. But now duties wholly spiritual, and spiritually performed, make men see the weakness and wickedness of their spirits; but they are looked upon as such a disturbance to wicked men that they cannot endure to hear of them.

    (2.) Resisting of sin. Tumult is caused by opposition. When a man tamely yieldeth to Satan, no wonder if he be let alone. The devil rageth most when we set against him: Rev. xii. 12, ‘For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.’ Dying beasts bite shrewdly. Oh, how is the poor soul tortured with sin, when it is about to quit it! The sea doth not rage so much when the wind and the tide go together. Please the worst natures and they will not disturb you. This is a peace that will end in trouble: there will be a quarrelling between affections and convictions when a sinner cometh to be serious and thoughtful.