1. What the cross of Christ is. A figurative speech, but truly
the Divine power that mortifies the world.--2. It is so called
by the apostle Paul to the Corinthians.--3. Where it is the
cross appears, and must be borne? Within; where the lusts are,
there they must be crucified.--4. Experience teaches every
one this; to be sure Christ asserts it, from within comes
murder, &c., and that is the house where the strong man must be
bound.--5. How is the cross to be borne? The way is spiritual, a
denial of self, of the pleasure of sin; to please God, and obey
his will as manifested to the soul by the light He gives it.--6.
This shows the difficulty, yet the necessity of the cross.
The daily cross being then, and still, O Christendom! the way to
glory, that the succeeding matter, which wholly relates to the
doctrine of it, may come with most evidence and advantage upon thy
conscience it is most seriously to be considered by thee,--
First, What the cross of Christ is?
Secondly, Where the cross of Christ is to be taken up?
Thirdly, How, and after what manner it is to be borne?
Fourthly, What is the great work and business of the cross? In
which, the sins it crucifies, with the mischiefs that attend them,
will be at large expressed.
Fifthly and lastly, I shall add many testimonies from living and
dying persons of great reputation, either for their quality,
learning, or piety, as a general confirmation of the whole tract.
To the first, What is the cross of Christ?
I. The cross of Christ is a figurative speech, borrowed from the
outward tree, or wooden cross, on which Christ submitted to the will
of God, suffering death at the hands of evil men. So that the cross
mystical is that Divine grace and power which crosseth the carnal
wills of men, and gives a contradiction to their corrupt affections,
and that constantly opposeth itself to the inordinate and fleshly
appetite of their minds, and so may be justly termed the instrument
of man's wholly dying to the world, and being made conformable
to the will of God. For nothing else can mortify sin, or make it
easy for us to submit to the Divine will in things otherwise very
contrary to their own.
II. The preaching of the cross, therefore, in primitive times was
fitly called by Paul, that famous and skilful apostle in spiritual
things, "the power of God," though to them that perish, then, as
now, "foolishness." That is, to those that were truly weary and
heavy laden, and needed a deliverer, to whom sin was burdensome
and odious, the preaching of the cross, by which sin was to be
mortified, was, as to them, the power of God, or a preaching of
the Divine power by which they were made disciples of Christ and
children of God; and it wrought so powerfully upon them that no
proud nor licentious mockers could put them out of love with it.
But to those that walked in the broad way, in the full latitude of
their lusts, and dedicated their time and care to the pleasure of
their corrupt appetites, to whom all yoke and bridle were and are
intolerable, the preaching of the cross was and is foolishness.
III. Well: but then where does this cross appear, and where must it
be taken up?
I answer, within: that is, in the heart and soul; for where the
sin is, the cross must be. Now all evil comes from within: this
Christ taught: "From within," saith Christ, "out of the heart of man
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evils come from within, and
defile the man." (Mark, vii. 21, 22, 23.)
The heart of man is the seat of sin, and where he is defiled he must
be sanctified; and where sin lives, there it must die: it must be
crucified. Custom in evil hath made it natural to men to do evil;
and as the soul rules the body, so the corrupt nature sways the
whole man: but still, it is all from within.
IV. Experience teaches every son and daughter of Adam to assent to
this; for the enemy's temptations are ever directed to the mind,
which is within: if they take not, the soul sins not; if they are
embraced, lust is presently conceived, that is, inordinate desires;
lust conceived, brings forth sin; and sin finished, that is, acted,
brings forth death. (James, v. 15.) Here is both the cause and the
effect, the very genealogy of sin, its rise and end.
In all this, the heart of evil man is the devil's mint, his
work-house, the place of his residence, where he exercises his
power and art. And therefore the redemption of the soul is aptly
called the destruction of the works of the devil, and bringing in of
everlasting righteousness. (1 John, iii. 8.; Dan. ix. 24.) When the
Jews would have defamed Christ's miracle of casting out devils, by a
blasphemous imputation of it to the power of Beelzebub, he says that
"no man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods,
till he first bind the strong man." (Matt. xii. 29.) Which, as it
shows the contrariety that was between Beelzebub and the power by
which he dispossessed him, so it teaches us to know that the souls
of the wicked are the devil's house, and that his goods, his evil
works, can never be destroyed till first he that wrought them, and
keeps the house, be bound. All which makes it easy to know where the
cross must be taken up, by which alone the strong man must be bound,
his goods spoiled, and his temptations resisted, that is, within, in
the heart of man.
V. But in the next place, how and in what manner is the cross to be
daily borne?
The way, like the cross, is spiritual: that is an inward submission
of the soul to the will of God, as it is manifested by the light of
Christ in the consciences of men, though it be contrary to their own
inclinations. For example: when evil presents, that which shows the
evil does also tell them they should not yield to it; and if they
close with its counsel, it gives them power to escape it. But they
that look and gaze upon the temptation, at last fall in with it, and
are overcome by it; the consequence of which is guilt and judgment.
Therefore, as the cross of Christ is that spirit and power in men,
though not of men, but of God, which crosseth and reproveth their
fleshly lusts and affections; so the way of taking up the cross is
an entire resignation of soul to the discoveries and requirings
of it: not to consult their worldly pleasure, or carnal ease, or
interest, for such are captivated in a moment, but continually to
watch against the very appearances of evil, and by the obedience of
faith, that is, of true love to, and confidence in God, cheerfully
to offer up to the death of the cross, that evil part, that Judas
in themselves, which, not enduring the heat of the siege, and being
impatient in the hour of temptation, would, by its near relation to
the tempter, more easily betray their souls into his hands.
VI. O this shows to every one's experience how hard it is to be a
true disciple of Jesus! the way is narrow indeed, and the gate very
strait, where not a word, no not a thought must slip the watch, or
escape judgment; such circumspection, such caution, such patience,
such constancy, such holy fear and trembling. This gives an easy
interpretation to that hard saying, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God;" (Matt. xxiv. 42; xxv. 13; xxvi. 38, 42;) those
that are captivated with fleshly lusts and affections: for they
cannot bear the cross; and they that cannot endure the cross must
never have the crown. To reign, it is necessary first to suffer.
(Phil. ii. 12; 1 Cor. xv. 50.)