things will abound in us if we are not wanting unto the due exercise of Faith and intense inflamed Affections unto him will ensue thereon at least they will be active unto our own refreshing experience And where these things are not in reality though in some they may be only in a mean and low degree Men do but deceive their own Souls in hopes of any benefit by Christ or the Gospel THIS therefore is the present case Where there are prevailing sinful Distempers or inordinate Affections in the Mind such as those before mentioned as Self love love of the World cares and fears about it with an excessive valuation of relations and enjoyments they will so far cumber and perplex it with a multitude of thoughts about their own Objects as shall leave no place for sedate Meditations on Christ and his Glory And where the thoughts are engaged the Affections which partly excite them and partly are led by them will be fixed also Col. 3. 1 2. THIS is that which in the most greatly promoteth that imperfection which is in our View of the Glory of Christ by Faith in this Life According to the proportion and degree of the prevalency of Affections corrupt earthly selfish or sensual filling the Heads and Hearts of Men with a multitude of thoughts about what they are fixed on or inclined unto so is Faith obstructed and weakened in this Work and Duty WHEREFORE whereas there is a remainder of these Lusts as to the Seeds of them in us all tho more mortified in some than in others yet having the same effects in the minds of all according to the Degree of their remainder thence it is as from an Efficacious cause of it that our View of the Glory of Christ by Faith is in many so weak imperfect and unsteady THIRDLY We have interruption given unto the work of Faith herein by the Temptations of Satan His original great design wherever the Gospel is preached is to blind the Eyes of Men that the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should not shine into them or irradiate their Minds 2 Cor. 4. 4. And herein he prevails unto astonishment Let the Light of the Gospel in the preaching of the Word be never so glorious yet by various means and artifices he blinds the Minds of the most that they shall not behold any thing of the Glory of Christ therein By this means he continues his rule in the Children of Disobedience With respect unto the Elect God overpowers him herein He shines into their Hearts to give them the Knowledge of his Glory in the face of Christ Jesus vers 6. Yet will not Satan so give over He will endeavour by all ways and means to trouble discompose and darken the mind even of them that believe so as that they shall not be able to retain clear and distinct Views of this Glory And this he doth two ways 1. WITH some he imploys all his Engines useth all his Methods of Serpentine Subtilty and casts in his fiery Darts so to dâ—squiet discompose and deject them as that they can retain no comfortable Views of Christ or his Glory Hence arise fears doubts disputes uncertainties with various Disconsolations Hereon they cannot apprehend the Love of Christ nor be sensible of any Interest they have therein or any refreshing perswasions that they are accepted with him If such things sometimes shine and beam into their Minds yet they quickly vanish and disappear Fears that they are rejected and cast off by him that he will not receive them here nor hereafter do come in their place hence are they filled with Anxieties and Despondencies under which it is impossible they should have any clear View of his Glory I KNOW that Ignorance Atheism and Obstinate Security in sensual Sins do combine to despise all these things But it is no new thing in the World that Men outwardly professing Christian Religion when they find gain in that Godâ—iness should speak evil of the things which they know not and corrupt themselves in what they know naturally as bruit Beasts 2. WITH others he deals after another manner By various means he seduceth them into a careless Security wherein they promise Peace unto themselves without any diligent search into these things Hereon they live in a general presumption that they shall be saved by Christ although they know not how This makes the Apostle so earnest in pressing the Dury of self-examination on all Christians 2 Cor. 13. 5. Examine your selves whether you be in the Faith Prove your own selves know you not your own selves that Christ is in you except you be reprobates The Rule of Self-judging prescribed by him is whether Christ be in us or no and in us he cannot be unless he be received by that Faith wherewith we behold his Glory For by Faith we receive him and by Faith he dwelleth in our hearts Joh. 1. 12. Eph. 3. 17. THIS is the principal way of his prevailing in the World Multitudes by his Seduction live in great security under the utmost neglect of these things Security is granted to be an Evil destructive of the Souls of Men but then it is supposed to consist only in Impenitency for great and open Sins but to be neglective of endeavouring an experience of the Power and Grace of the Gospel in our own Souls under a Profession of Religion is no less destructive and pernicious than impeniâ—ency in any course of sin THESE and the like Obstructions unto Faith in its Operations being added unto its own imperfections are another cause whence our View of the Glory of Christ in this World is weak and unsteady so that for the most part it doth but transiently affect our Minds and not so fully transform them into his likeness as otherwise it would IT is now time to consider that sight which we shall have of the Glory of Christ in Heaven in comparison of that which we have herebelow Now this is equal stable always the same without interruption or diversion And this is evident both in the causes or means of it as also in our perfect Deliverance from every thing that might be an hindrance in it or an obstrunction unto it 1. WE may consider the state of our minds in Glory The faculties of our Souls shall then be made perfect Heb. 12. The Spirits of just Men made perfect 1. Freed from all the clogs of the flesh and all its influence upon them and restraint of their Powers in their Operations 2. Perfectly purified from all Principles of instability and variety of all Inclinations unto things Sensual and Carnal and all Contrivances of Self-preservation or Advancement being wholly transformed into the Image of God in spirituality and holiness And to take in the state of our Bodies after the Resurrection even they also in all their Powers and Senses shall be made entirely subservient unto the most spiritual actings of our Minds in their highest Elevation
Person Here Faith triumphs against them it â—inds that to be a Glorious Sanctuary which they cannot at all discern BUT it is not so much the Declaration or Vindication of this Glory of Christ which I am at present engaged in as an Exhortation unto the practical Contemplation of it in a way of believing And I know that among many this is too much neglected yea of all the evils which I have seen in the Days of my Pilgrimage now drawing to their close there is none so grievous as the Public contempt of the Principal Mysteries of the Gospel among them that are called Christians Religion in the Profession of some Men is withered in its vital Principles weakned in its Nerves and Sinews but thought to be put off with outward Gaiety and Bravery BUT my Exhortation is unto diligence in the Contemplation of this Glory of Christ and the exercise of our Thoughts about it Unless we are diligent herein it is impossible we should be steady in the principal Acts of Faith or ready unto the principal duties of Obedience The Principal Act of Faith respects the Divine Person of Christ as all Christians must acknowledge This we can never secure as hath been declared if we see not his Glory in this Condescention And whoever reduceth his Notions unto experience will find that herein his Faith stands or falls And the Principal Duty of our Obedience is self-denial with readiness for the Cross. Hereunto the Consideration of this Condescention of Christ is the Principal Evangelical Motive and that wherein to our Obedience in it is to be resolved as the Apostle declares Phil. 2. 5 6 7. And no Man doth deny himself in a due manner who doth it not on the Consideration of the self-denial of the Son of God But a prevalent Motive this is thereunto For what are the things wherein we are to deny our selves or forgo what we pretend to have a Right unto It is in our Goods our Liberties our Relations our Lives And what are they any or all of them in themselves or unto us considering our Condition and the end for which we were made Perishing things which whether we will or no within a few days death will give us an everlasting separation from Things under the Power of a Feaver or an Asthma c. As unto our Interest in them But how incomparable with respect hereunto is that Condescention of Christ whereof we have given an Account If therefore we find an unwillingness in us a Tergiversation in our minds about these things when called unto them in a way of Duty one view by Faith of the Glory of Christ in this Condescention and what he parted from therein when he made himself of no Reputation will be an Effectual cure of that sinful Distemper HEREIN then I say we may by Faith behold the Glory of Christ as we shall do it by Sight hereafter If we see no Glory in it if we discern not that which is matter of Eternal Admiration we walk in darkness It is the most ineffable Effect of Divine Wisdom and Grace Where are our Hearts and Minds if we can see no Glory in it I know in the Contemplation of it it will quickly overwhelm our Reason and bring our Understanding into a loss But unto this loss do I desire to be brought every day For when Faith can no more act it self in Comprehension when it finds the Object it is fixed on too great and glorious to be brought into our Minds and Capacities it will issue as we said before in holy Admiration humble Adoration and joyful Thanksgiving In and by its actings in them doth it fill the soul with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory CHAP. V. The Glory of Christ in his Love IN the Susception and Discharge of the Mediatory Office by the Son of God the Scripture doth most eminently represent his Love as the sole impelling and leading cause thereof Gal. 2. 20. 1 Joh. 3. 16. Rev. 1. 5. HEREIN is he glorious in a way and manner incomprehensible For in the Glory of Divine Love the chief Brightness of Glory doth consist There is nothing of Dread or Terror accompanying it nothing but what is amiable and infinitely refreshing Now that we may take a view of the Glory of Christ herein by Faith the Nature of it must be enquired into 1. THE Eternal Disposing Cause of the whole work wherein the Lord Christ was engaged by the Susception of this Office for the Redemption and Salvation of the Church is the Love of the Father Hereunto it is constantly ascribed in the Scripture And this Love of the Father acted it self in his Eternal Decrees before the foundation of the world Eph. 1. 4. and afterwards in the sending of his Son to render it effectual Joh. 3. 16. Originally it is his Eternal Election of a Portion of mankind to be brought unto the enjoyment of himself through the Mystery of the Blood of Christ and the Sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thes. 2. 13 16. 1 Ephes. 1. 4 5 6 7 8 9. 1 Pet. 1. 2. THIS Eternal Act of the Will of God the Father doth not contain in it an actual approbation of and complacency in the state and condition of those that are elected but only designeth that for them on the Account whereof they shall be accepted and approved And it is called his Love on sundry Accounts 1. BECAUSE it is an act suited unto that glorious Excellency of his Nature wherein he is Love for God is Love 1 John 4. 8 9. And the first Egress of the Divine Properties must therefore be in an act of communicative Love And whereas this Election being an Eternal Act of the Will of God can have no moving cause but what is in himself if we could look into all the Treasures of the Divine Excellencies we should find none whereunto it could be so properly ascribed as unto Love Wherefore 2. IT is stiled Love because it was free and undeserved as unto any thing on our part For whatever good is done unto any altogether undeserved if it be with a design of their Profit and Advantage it is in an Act of Love and can have no other cause So is it with us in respect of Eternal Election There was nothing in us nothing foreseen as that which from our selves would be in us that should any way move the Will of God unto this Election For whatever is good in the best of men is an effect of it Ephes. 1. 4. Whereas therefore it tends unto our eternal Good the spring of it must be Love And 3. THE Fruits or Effects of it are inconceivable Acts of Love It is by multiplied Acts of Love that it is made effectual John 3. 16. Jerem. 31. 5. Eph. 1. 3 4 5 6. 1 John 4. 8 9 16. THIS is the Eternal Spring which is derived unto the Church through the Mediation of Christ. Wherefore that which put all the Design of this Eternal Love of the
Mediation of the Son the holy Spirit unto whom the actual Application of them is committed communicates Life Light Power Grace and Mercy unto all that are designed parts of the New Creation Hereon doth God glorifie both the essential Properties of his Nature his infinite Wisdom Power Goodness and Grace as the only eternal Spring of all these things and also his ineffable glorious Existence in three Persons by the Order of the Communication of these things unto the Church which are originally from his Nature And herein is the glorious Truth of the Blessed Trinity which by some is opposed by some neglected by most looked on as that which is so much above them as that it doth not belong unto them made precious unto them that believe and becomes the Foundation of their Faith and Hope In a View of the glorious Order of those divine Communications we are in a steady Contemplation of the ineffable Glory of the Existence of the Nature of God in the Three distinct Persons of Father Son and Holy Ghost 7. ACCORDING unto this Divine Order the Elect in all Ages are by the holy Spirit moving and acting on that Mass of the New Creation formed and animated with spiritual Life Light Grace and Power unto the Glory of God They are not called accidentally according unto the external Occasions and Causes of their Conversion unto God but in every Age at his own Time and Season the holy Spirit communicates these things unto them in the Order declared unto the Glory of God 8. AND in the same manner is the whole New Creation preserved every Day every moment there is vital Power and Strength Mercy and Grace communicated in this Divine Order to all Believers in the World There is a continual Influence from the Fountain from the Head into all the Members whereby they all consist in him are acted by him who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure and the Apostle declares that the whole Constitution of Church-order is suited as an external Instrument to promote these Divine Communications unto all the Members of the Church it self Eph. 4. 13 14 15 16. THIS in general is the Order of Divine Communications which is for the Substance of it continued in Heaven and shall be so unto Eternity For God is and ever will be all and in all But at present it is invisible unto Eyes of Flesh yea the Reason of Men. Hence it is by the most despised they see no Glory in it But let us consider the Prayer of the Apostle that it may be otherwise with us Ephes. 1. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. For the Revelation made of the Glory of God in the old Creation is exceeding inferior to that which he makes of himself in the New HAVING premised these things in general concerning the Glory of Divine Communications I shall proceed to declare in particular the Grounds and Way whereby the Lord Christ communicates himself and therewithal all the Benefits of his Mediation unto them that do believe as it was before proposed WE on our part are said herein to receive him and that by Faith John 1. 11 12. Now where he is received by us he must be tendred given granted or communicated unto us And this he is by some divine Acts of the Father and some of his own THE Foundation of the whole is laid in a Soveraign Act of the Will the Pleasure the Grace of the Father And this is the Order and Method of all divine Operations in the Way and Work of Grace They originally proceed all from him and having effected their Ends do return rest and center in him again see Ephes. 1. 4 5 6. Wherefore that Christ is made ours that he is communicated unto us is originally from the free Act Grant and Donation of the Father 1 Cor. 1. 30. Rom. 5. 15 16 17. And hereunto sundry things do concur As 1. His Eternal Purpose which he purposed in himself to glorifie his Grace in all his Elect by this Communication of Christ and the Benefits of his Mediation unto them which the Apostle declares at large Ephes. 1. 2. His granting all the Elect unto Christ to be his own so to do and suffer for them what was antecedaneously necessary unto the actual Communication of himself unto them Thine they were and thou gavest them to me Joh. 17. 3. The giving of the Promise or the Constitution of the Rule and Law of the Gospel whereby a participation of Christ an Interest in him and all that he is is made over and assured unto Believers Joh. 1. 12. 1 Joh. 1. 1 2 3 4. 4. An Act of Almighty Power working and creating Faith in the Souls of the Elect enabling them to receive Christ so exhibited and communicated unto them by the Gospel Ephes. 1. 19 20. Chap. 2. 5 6 7 8. THESE things which I have but named have an Influence into the Glory of Christ herein For this Communication of him unto the Church is an effect of the eternal Counsel Wisdom Grace and Power of the Father BUT they are the Acts of Christ himself herein which principally we enquire into as those which manifest the Glory of his Wisdom Love and Condescention AND 1. He gives and communicates unto them his holy Spirit the holy Spirit as peculiarly his as granted unto him of the Father as inhabiting in him in all fulness This Spirit abiding originally as to his Person and immeasurably as unto his Effects and Operations in himself he gives unto all Believers to inhabit and abide in them also Joh. 14. 14. 20. 1 Cor. 6. 16 17. Rom. 8. 8. Hence follows an ineffable Vnion between him and them For as in his Incarnation he took our Nature into personal Union with his own so herein he takes our Persons into a Mystical Vnion with himself Hereby he becomes ours and we are his AND herein is he unspeakably glorious For this Mystery of the Inhabitation of the same Spirit in him as the Head and the Church as his Body animating the whole is a transcendent Effect of Divine Wisdom There is nothing of this Nature in the whole Creation besides no such Union no such mutual Communication The strictest Unions and Relations in Nature are but Shadows of it Ephes. 5. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32. Herein also is the Lord Christ precious unto them that do believe but a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence unto the Disobedient This glorious ineffable Effect of his Wisdom and Grace this rare peculiar singular Way of the Communication of himself unto the Church is by many despised They know it may be some of them what it is to be joyned unto an Harlot so as to become one Flesh but what it is to be joyned unto the Lord so as to become one Spirit they know not But this Principle and Spring of the spiritual Life of the Church and of all vital spiritual Motions towards God and Things
It doth change us wholly into the Image of Christ. When we shall see him we shall be as he is we shall be like him because we shall see him 1 Joh. 3. 2. But although the closing perfecting act of this Transformation be an act of sight or the sight of Glory yet there are many things towards it or degrees in it which we may here take notice of in our way 1. THE Soul upon its Departure from the Body is immediately freed from all the Weakness Disability Darkness Uncertainties and Fears which were impressed on it from the Flesh wherewith it was in the strictest Union The Image of the first Adam as fallen is then abolished Yea it is not only freed from all irregular sinful Distempers cleaving to our Nature as corrupted but from all those sinless Grievances and Infirmities which belong unto the Original Constitution of it This necessarily ensues on the Dissolution of the Person in order unto a blessed State The first entrance by Mortality into Immortallity is a step towards Glory The ease which a blessed Soul finds in a deliverance from this Encumbrance is a Door of entrance into eternal Rest. Such a change is made in that which in it self is the Center of all Evil namely Death that it is made a means of freeing us from all the Remainders of what is evil FOR this doth not follow absolutely on the Nature of the thing it self A meer Dissolution of our Natures can bring no Advantage with it especially as it is a part of the Curse But it is from the Sanctification of it by the Death of Christ. Hereby that which was Gods Ordinance for the Infliction of Judgment becomes an effectual Means for the Communication of Mercy 1 Cor. 5. 22. Chap. 15. 54. It is by vertue of the Death of Christ alone that the Souls of Believers are freed by Death from all impressions of Sin Infirmity and Evils which they have had from the Flesh which were their Burden under which they groaned all their Days No Man knows in any measure the Excellency of this Priviledge and the Dawnings of Glory which are in it who hath not been wearied and even worn out through long conflicting with the Body of Death The Soul hereon being freed from all Annoyances all Impressions from the Flesh is expedite and enlarged unto the Exercise of all its gracious Faculties as we shall see immediately WITH wicked Men it is not so Death unto them is a Curse and the Curse is the Means of the Conveyance of all Evil and not Deliverance from any Wherein they have been warmed and refreshed by the Influences or the Flesh they shall be deprived of it But their Souls in their separate State are perpetually harrased with the disquieting Passions which have been impressed on their Minds by their corrupt fleshly Lusts. In vain do such Persons look for Relief by Death If there be any thing remaining of present good and usefulness to them they shall be deprived of it And their Freedom for a Season from bodily pains will no way lie in the Ballance against that Confluence of Evils which Death will let in upon them 2. THE Spirits of just Men being freed by Death from the Clog of the Flesh not yet refined all the Faculties of their Souls and all the Graces in them as Faith Love and Delight are immediately set at Liberty enabled constantly to exercise themselves on God in Christ. The end for which they were created for which our Nature was endowed with them was that we might adhere unto God by them and come unto the Enjoyment of him Being now freed wholly from all that Impotency perversness and Disability unto this End with all the Effects of them which came upon them by the Fall they are carried with a full Stream towards God cleaving unto him with the most intense Embraces And all their Actings towards God shall be natural with Facility Joy Delight and Complacency We know not yet the Excellency of the Operations of our Souls in divine things when disburdened of their present Weight of their Flesh. And this is a second step towards the Consummation of Glory For IN the Resurrection of the Body upon its full Redemption it shall be so purified sanctified glorified as to give no Obstrnction unto the Soul in its Operations but be a blessed Organ for its highest and most spiritual Actings The Body shall never more be a Trouble a Burthen unto the Soul but an Assistant in its Operations and participant of its Blessedness Our Eyes were made to see our Redeemer and our other Sences to receive impressions from him according unto their Capacity As the Bodies of wicked Men shall be restored unto them to encrease and compleat their Misery in their Sufferings so shall the Bodies of the Just be restored unto them to heighten and consummate their Blessedness 3. THESE things are preparatory unto Glory The compleat Communication of it is by the Infusion of a new heavenly Light into the Mind enabling us to see the Lord Christ as he is The Soul shall not be brought into the immediate Presence of Christ without a new Power to behold him and the immediate Representation of his Glory Faith now doth cease as unto the manner of its Operation in this Life whilst we are absent from Christ. This Light of Glory succeeds into its Room fitted for that State and all the ends of it as Faith is for that which is present And 4. IN the first Operation of this Light of Glory Believers shall so behold the glory of Christ and the glory of God in him as that therewith and thereby they shall be immediately and universally changed into his Likeness They shall be as he is when they shall see him as he is There is no growth in glory as unto Parts there may be as unto Degrees Additions may be outwardly made unto what is at first received as by the Resurrection of the Body but the internal Light of Glory and its transforming Efficacy is capable of no degrees though new Revelations may be made unto it unto Eternity For the infinite Fountain of Life and Light and Goodness can never be fathomed much less exhausted And what God spake on the Entrance of sin by the way of contempt and aproach Behold the Man is become like one of us upbraiding him with what he had foolishly designed on the Accomplishment of the Work of his Gace he says in Love and infinite Goodness Man is become like one of us in the perfect Restoration of our Image in him This is the first Effect of the Light of Glory FAITH also in beholding the glory of Christ in this Life is accompanied with a transforming Efficacy as the Apostle expresly declares 2 Cor. 3. 18. It is the Principle from whence and the Instrumental Cause whereby all spiritual change is wrought in us in this Life but the Work of it is imperfect first because it is gradual and then because