effectually that is it doth not consummate nor accomplish any perfect worke but onely in those that beleeve in the rest it proves but an abortion and withers in the blade Secondly with love and readinesse of minde without despising or rejecting it No man can bee saved who doth not receive the truth in love who doth not receive it as the primitive Saints did with gladnesse and readinesse of minde as Eli though from the hand of Samuel a Child as David though from the hand of Abigail a woman as the Galatians though from the hand of Paul an infirme and persecuted Apostle For herein is our homage to Christ the more apparent when we suffer a little childe to lead us Thirdly with meeknesse and submission of heart reverencing and yeelding unto it in all things Wresting shifting evading perverting the word is as great an indignity unto Christ as altering interlining or rasing a patent which the King hath drawen with his owne royall hand is an offence against him Patience and effectuall obedience even in affliction is an argument that a man esteemes the word to bee indeed Gods owne word and so receives it Hee onely who putteth off the old man the corrupt deceitfull lusts of his former conversation and is renewed in the Spirit of his minde is the man that hath heard and been taught by Christ that hath received the Truth in him Againe in as much as the Gospell is the Rod of Christs owne strength or the instrument of his arme who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed and the instrument is no further operative or effectuall than according to the measure of that impressed vertue which it receiveth from the superior cause therefore wee should learne alwayes to repaire unto Christ for the successe of his word For he onely is the teacher of mens hearts and the author of their faith To him onely it belongeth to call men out of their graves and to quicken whom hee will Wee have nothing but the ministerie he keepeth the power in his own hands that men might learne to waite upon him and to have to doe with him who onely can send a blessing with his word and teach his people to profit thereby Another ground of the power of the word is that it is sent from God The Lord shall send forth the Rod of thy strength From which particular likewise wee may note some usefull observations as First that Gods appointment and ordination is that which gives being life majesty and successe to his owne word authority boldnesse and protection to his servants When hee sendeth his word hee will make it prosper When Moses disputed against his going down into Egypt to deliver his brethren sometimes alleaging his owne unfitnesse and infirmity sometimes the unbeliefe of the people this was still the warrant with which God encouraged him I will bee with thee I have sent thee doe not I make mans mouth I will bee with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say I was no Prophet neither was I a Prophets Sonne saith Amos but I was an heardsman a gatherer of sycamore fruit And the Lord tooke me as I followed the flock and said unto mee Goe prophecie unto my people Israel And this made him peremptory in his office to prophecie against the idolatry of the Kings Court and against the flattery of the Priest of Bethel And this made the Apostles bold though otherwise unlearned and ignorant men to stand against the learned councill of Priests and Doctors of the Law Wee ought to obey God rather than men Vpon which Grave was the advice of Gamaliel If this counsell or worke bee of men it will come to nought But if it bee of God yee cannot overthrow it lest haply yee bee found even to fight against God For to withstand the power or progresse of the Gospell is to set a mans face against God himselfe Secondly in as much as the Gospell is sent forth by God that is revealed and published out of Sion wee may observe That Evangelicall learning came not into the world by humane discovery or observation but it is utterly above the compasse of all reason or naturall disquisition neither men nor Angels ever knew it but by divine revelation And therfore the Apostle every where calleth it a Mystery a great and a hidden Mystery which was kept secret since the world began There is a Naturall Theologie without the world gathered out of the workes of God out of the resolution of causes and effects into their first originals and out of the Law of nature written in the heart But there is no naturall Christianity Nature is so farre from finding it out by her owne inquiries that shee cannot yeeld unto it when it is revealed without a Spirit of faith to assist it The Iewes stumbled at it as dishonorable to their Law and the Gentiles derided it as absurd in their Philosophy It was a Hidden and secret wisedome the execution and publication whereof was committed onely to Christ. In God it was an Eternall Gospell for Christ was a lambe slaine from before the foundations of the world namely in the predeterminate counsell decree of his father but revealed it was not till the dispensation of the fulnesse of time wherein he gathered together in one all things in Christ. The purpose and ordination of it was eternall but the preaching and manifestation of it reserved untill the time of Christs solemne inauguration into his Kingdome and of the obstinacy of the Iewes upon whose defection the Gentiles were called in Which might teach us to adore the unsearchablenesse of Gods judgements unto former ages of the world whom hee suffered to walke in their owne wayes and to live in times of utter ignorance destitute of any knowledge of the Gospell or of any naturall parts or abilities to finde it out For if these things bee true First that without the knowledge of Christ there is no salvation This is eternall life to know thee and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifye many Secondly that Christ cannot bee knowen by naturall but Evangelicall and revealed light The naturall man cannot know the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerend The light shined in darknesse and the darknesse was so thick and fixed that it did not let in the light nor apprehend it Thirdly that this light was at the first sent onely unto the Iewes as to the first borne-people excepting onely some particular extraordinary dispensations and priviledges to some few first fruits and preludes of the Gentiles He sheweth his word unto Iacob his statutes and his judgements unto Israel Hee hath not dealt so with any nation Hee hath not afforded the meanes of salvation ordinarily unto any other people the world by wisedome knew him not Fourthly that this severall
which a created nature joyned to an infinitie and bottomlesse fountaine could receive From hence therefore wee should learne to let the same minde bee in us which was in Christ to humble our selves first that wee may bee exalted in due time to finish our workes of selfe-deniall and service which wee owe to God that so wee may enter into our Masters glory For he himselfe entred not but by a way of bloud Wee learne likewise to have recourse and dependance on him for all supplies of the Spirit for all strength of grace for all influences of life for the measure of every joynt and member He is our treasure our fountaine our head it is his free grace his voluntarie influence which habituateth and fitteth all our faculties which animateth us unto a heavenly being which giveth us both the strength and first act wherby we are qualified to worke and which concurreth with us in actu secundâ— to all those workes which wee set our selves about As an instrument even when it hath an edge cutteth nothing till it be assisted and moved by the hand of the artificer so a Christian when hee hath a will and an habituall fitnesse to worke yet is able to doe nothing without the constant supply assistance and concomitancie of the grace of Christ exciting moving and applying that habituall power unto particular actions He it is that giveth us not onely to will but to doe that goeth through with us and worketh all our works for us by his grace Without him wee can doe nothing all our sufficiencie is from him But it may bee objected if wee can doe nothing without a second grace to what end is a former grace given or what use is there of our exciting that grace and gift of God in us which can doe nothing without a further concourse of Christs Spirit To this I answer first that as light is necessarie and requisite unto seeing and yet there is no seeing without an eye so without the assisting grace of Christs Spirit concurring with us unto every holy Dutie wee can doe nothing and yet that grace doth ever presuppose an implanted seminall and habituall grace fore-disposing the soule unto the said Duties Secondly as in the Course of naturall Effects though God bee a most voluntary Agent yet in the ordinary Concurrence of a first Cause hee worketh ad modum naturae measuring forth his assistance proportionably to the Condition and Preparation of the second Causes so in supernaturall and holy operations albeit not with a like certaine and unaltered constancy though Christ bee a most voluntary head of his Church yet usually he proportioneth his assisting and second grace unto the growth progresse and radication of those Spirituall habits which are in the soule before From whence commeth the difference of holinesse and profitablenesse amongst the Saints that some are more active and unwearied in all holy conversation than others as in the naturall bodie some members are larger and more full of life and motion than others according to the different distribution of Spirits from the heart and influences from the head This then affords matter enough both to humble us and to comfort us To humble us that wee can doe nothing of our selves that wee have nothing in our selves but sinne All the fulnesse of grace is in him and therefore whosoever hath any must have it from him as in the Egyptian famine whosoever had any corn had it from Ioseph to whom the granaries and treasures of Egypt were for that purpose committed And this Lowlinesse of heart and sense of our owne Emptinesse is that which makes us alwayes have recourse to our fountaine and keepe in favor with our head from whom wee must receive fresh supply of strength for doing any good for bearing any evill for resisting any temptation for overcomming any enemie For beginning for continuing and for perfecting any Dutie For though it bee mans heart that doth these things yet it is by a forraigne and impressed strength as it is iron that burnes but not by its owne nature which is cold but by the heate which it hath received from the fire It was not I saith the Apostle but that grace of God which was with mee To comfort us likewise when wee consider that all fulnesse and strength is in him as in an Officer an Adam a treasurer and dispencer of all needfull supplies to his people according to the place they beare in his bodie and to the exigence and measure of their condition in themselves or service in his Church Sure wee are that what measure soever hee gives unto any hee hath still a residue of Spirit nay hee still retaineth his owne fulnesse hath still enough to carry us through any condition and according to the difficulties of the service hee puts us upon hath still wisedome to understand compassion to pitie strength to supply all our needs And that all this hee hath as a mercifull and faithfull depositarie as a Guardian and husband and elder brother to imploy for the good of his Church that he is unto this office appointed by the will of him that sent him to lose nothing of all that which is given him but to keepe and perfect it unto the resurrection at the last day That God hath planted in him a Spirit of faithfulnesse and pittie for the cheerfull discharge of this great Office given him a propriety unto us made us as neere and deare unto him as the members of his sacred body are to one another and therfore whosoever commeth to him with emptines and hunger and faith he will in no wise cast them out it is as possible for him to hew off and to throw away the members of his naturall body to have any of his bones broken as to reject the humble and faithfull desires of those that duly waite upon him Againe from this Exaltation of Christ in his humane nature wee should learne to keepe our vessels in holinesse and in honor as those who expect to bee fashioned at the last like unto him For how can that man truly hope to bee like Christ hereafter that labors to bee as unlike him here as hee can Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot saith the Apostle So may I say shall I take the nature of Christ that nature which he in his person hath so highly glorified and make it in my person the nature of a devill If a Prince should marry a meane woman would he endure to see those of her neerest kindred her brethren and sisters live like scullians or strumpets under his owne eye Now Christ hath taken our nature into a neerer union with himselfe than marriage for man and wife are still two persons but God and man is but one Christ. Death it selfe was not able to dissolve this union for when the soule was separated from the body yet the Deitie was separated from neither it was the Lord that lay
fulnesse for themselves only Eph. 4.7 1 Cor. 12.11 Rom. 1â— 3 But a fulnesse without measure like the fulnesse of light in the Sun or water in the Sea which hath an unsearchable sufficiency and redundancie for the whole Church Ioh. 3.34 Eph. 3.8 Mal. 4.2 So that as hee was furnished with all Spirituall Endowments of Wisedome judgment power love holinesse for the dispensation of his owne Office Esai 11.2.61.1 So from his fulnesse did there runne over a share and portion of all his graces unto his Church Ioh. 1.16 Col. 2.19 3 He did by a solemne and publike promulgation proclaime the Kingdome of Christ unto the Church and declare the decree in that heavenly voice which came unto him from the excellent glorie This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased heare yee him Psal. 2.7 Matth. 3.17.17.5 2 Pet. 1.17 4 Hee hath given him a Scepter of Righteousnesse hath put a sword in his mouth and a rodde of iron in his hand made him a Preacher and an Apostle to reveale the secrets of his bosome and to testifie the things which hee hath seen and heard Heb. 1.8 Revel 1.16.2.16 Psal. 2.9 Esai 16.1 Heb. 3.1 Ioh. 1.18 Ioh. 3.11 12.32 34. 5 Hee hath honoured him with many Ambassadors and servants to negotiate the affaires of his Kingdome some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministerie and for the Edifying of his Bodie 2 Cor. 5.20 Eph. 4.11 12. 6 Hee hath given him the soules and consciences of men even to the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession and for the territories of his Kingdome Psal. 2.8 Ioh. 17.6 7 Hee hath given him a power concerning the Lawes of his Church A power to make Lawes the Law of Faith as S. Paul cals it Rom. 3.27 Mark 16.15 16. A power to expound Lawes as the morall Law Matt. 5. A power to abrogate Lawes as the Law of Ordinances Col. 2.14 8 Hee hath given him a power of judging and condemning enemies Ioh. 5.27 Luk. 19.27 Lastly hee hath given him a power of remitting sinnes and sealing pardons which is a roiall prerogative Matth. 9.6 Ioh. 20.23 And these things belong unto him as hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well Man as God Ioh. 5.27 For the workes of Christs mediation were of two sorts Opera ministerii workes of service and ministerie for he tooke upon himselfe the forme of a servant and was a Minister of the Circumcision Phil. 2.8 Rom. 15.8 and Opera Potestatis workes of Authoritie and government in the Church All power is given unto me in heaven and earth Matth. 28.18 The Qualitie of this Kingdome is not Temporall or Secular over the naturall lives or civill negotiations of men He came not to be ministred unto but to minister his Kingdome was not of this World he disclaimed any civill power in the distribution of lands and possessions he with-drew himselfe from the people when by force they would have made him a King and himselfe that in this point hee might give none offence payed tribute unto Cesar Matth. 20.28 Ioh. 18.36 Luk. 12.13 14. Ioh. 6.15 Matth. 17.27 But his Kingdome is Spirituall and heavenly over the soules of men to binde and loose the conscience to remit and retaine sinnes to awe and over-rule the hearts to captivate the affections to bring into obedience the thoughts to subdue and pull downe strong holds to breake in pieces his enemies with an iron rod to hew and slay them with the words of his mouth to implant fearfulnesse and astonishment in the hearts of hypocrites and to give peace securitie protection and assurance to his people The way wherby hee enters upon his Kingdome is ever by way of Conquest For though the Soules of the Elect are his yet his enemies have the first possession as Canaan was Abrahams by Promise but his seeds by Victorie Not but that Christ proclaimes peace first but because men will not come over nor submit to him without warre The strong man will not yeeld to bee utterly spoiled and crucified upon termes of peace Hence then wee may first learne the great Authoritie and Power of this King who holds his Crowne by immediate tenure from heaven and was after a more excellent manner than any other Kings therunto decreed and anointed by God himselfe Much then are they to blame who finde out wayes to diminish the Kingdome of Christ and boldly affirme that though a King hee could not but bee yet hee might have been a King without a Kingdome a King in personall right without subjects or territories to exercise his regall power in A King onely to punish enemies but not a King to governe or to feed a people But shall God give his Sonne the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession and shall men withhold it shall God give men unto Christ Thine they were thou gavest them unto me Ioh. 17.6 and shall they detaine themselves from him what is it that he gives unto his Sonne but the soules the hearts the very thoughts of men to bee made obedient unto his Scepter 2 Cor. 10.5 and shall it then bee within the compasse of humane power to effect as it is in their pride to maintaine fieri posse ut nulla sit Ecclesia We know one principall part of the Kingdome and power of Christ is to cast downe imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and that not onely unto conviction but unto obedience as the Apostle shewes to send such gifts of the Spirit unto men as should benefit the very Rebellious that God might dwell amongst them Psal. 68.18 for in as much as Christ came to destroy the workes of the devill that is sinne as the Apostle shewes 1 Ioh. 3.8 Ioh. 8.41.44 and in their place to bring in the worke of God which is faith in him for so that grace is frequently stiled Ioh. 6.29 Phil. 1.29 Col. 2.12 Therfore it is requisite that none of Satans instruments and confederates such as the hearts of naturall men are should be to strong for the grace of Christ. But what then doth Christ compell men against their wills to become subiect unto him No in no wise He hath ordered to bring them in by a way of voluntarinesse and obedience And herein is the wisedome of his power seen that his grace shall mightily produce those effects in men which their hearts shall most obediently and willingly consent unto that hee is able to use the proper and genuine motions of second causes to the producing of his owne most holy wise and mercifull purposes As wee see humane wisedome can so order moderate and make use of naturall motions that by them artificiall effects shall be produced as in a clock the naturall moâ—ion of the weight or plummet causeth the artificiall distribution of houres and minutes and in a mill the
be a Free agent or mover to have ex se and within it selfe an indifferencie and undeterminatnesse unto severall things so that when it moves or not moves when it moves one way or other in none of these it suffers violence but workes according to the condition of its owne nature Secondly we may note that this indifferencie is twofold either habituall belonging to the constitution of the will which is nothing else but an originall aptitude or intrinsecall non-repugnancie in the will to move unto contrary extremes to worke or to suspend its owne working or else actuall which is in the exercise of the former as objects present themselves and this is twofold either a freedome to good or evill or a freedome to will or not to will Thirdly notwithstanding the will be in this manner free yet it may have its freedome in both regards so determin'd as that in such or such a condition it cannot doe what it should or forbeare what it should or cannot doe what it should not nor forbeare what it should not Man fallen without the grace of God is free only unto evill and Christ in the time of his obedience was free wholly unto good Man free to evill but yet so as that he onely doth it voluntarily he cannot voluntarily leave it undone Christ free onely to good yet so as that he doth it most freely but could not freely omit the doing of it Fourthly the will worketh not in this condition of things unto morall objects without some other concurrent principles which sway and determine it severall wayes so that the will is principium quod the facultie which moves and the other principium quo the qualitie or vertue by which it moves And these qualities are in naturall men the flesh or the originall concupiscence of our nature which maketh the motions of the will to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the will of the flesh and in the regenerate the Grace and Spirit of Christ so farre forth as they are regenerate Fifthly as the will is ever carried either by the flesh or the spirit to its objects so neither to the one or the other without the preceding conduct and direction of the practicall judgement whether by grace illightned to judge aright or by corrupt affections bribed and blinded to misguide the will for the will being a rationall appetite never moveth bu◠per modum judicii upon apprehension of some goodnesse and convenience in the thing whereunto it moves Sixthly the judgement is never throughly illightned to understand spiritual things in that immediate and ample beautie and goodnesse which is in them but only by the Spirit of Christ which maketh a man to have the selfe-same minde judgement opinion and apprehension of heavenly things which he had so that Christ and a Christian doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thinke the same thing as the Apostle speakes Phil. 2.5 By the which Spirit of grace working first upon the judgement to rectifie that and to convince it of the evidence and necessitie of that most universall and adequate good which it presenteth the whole nature is proportionably renewed and Christ formed aswell in the will and affections as in the understanding as the body in the wombe is not shaped by peece-meale one part after another but all together by proportionable degrees and progresses of perfection So that at the same time when the Spirit of grace by an act of heavenly illumination is present with the judgement of reason to evidence not the truth onely but the excellencie of the knowledge of Christ thereunto it is likewise present by an act of heavenly perswasion and most intimate allurement unto the will and affections sweetly accommodating its working unto the exigence and condition of the faculties that they likewise may with such libertie and complacencie as becomes both their owne nature and the qualitie of the obedience required apply themselves to the desire and prosecution of those excellent things which are with so spirituall an evidence set forth unto them in the ministery of the Word As by the same soule the eye seeth and the eare heareth and the hand worketh so when Christ by his Spirit is formed in us for the Spirit of Christ is the Actus primus or soule of a Christian man that which animateth him unto an heavenly being and working Rom. 8.9 10 11. 1 Cor. 6.17 every power of the soule and body is in some proportionable measure enabled to worke suo modo in such manner as is convenient and proper to the quality of its nature to the right apprehension and voluntary prosecution of spirituall things The same Spirit which by the word of grace doth fully convince the judgement and let the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shine upon the minde doth by the same word of grace proportionably excite and assist the will to affect it that as the understanding is elevated to the spirituall perception so the will likewise is enabled to the spirituall love of heavenly things By all which wee may observe that this working of the Spirit of grace whereby we become voluntaries in Christs service and whereby he worketh in us both to will and to doe those things which of ourselves we were not obedient unto neither indeed could be is both a sweet and powerfull worke as in the raising of a man from the dead to which in the Scriptures the renewing of a sinner is frequently compared there is a worke of great power which yet being admirably sutable to the integrity of the creature must needs bring an exact complacencie and delight with it we may frequently in holy Scriptures observe that of the same effect severall things may be affirmed by reason of its connexion unto severall causes and of the severall causalities or manners of concurrence with which those severall causes have contributed any influence unto it As the obedience of Christ was of all other the most free and voluntary service of his Father if we consider it with respect unto his most holy and therefore most undistracted and unhindered will for if it were not voluntary it were no obedience and yet notwithstanding it was most certaine and infallible if we consider it with respect to the sanctitie of his nature to the unmeasurablenesse of his unction to the plenitude of his unseducible and unerring Spirit to the mystery of his hypostaticall union and the communication of properties between his natures wherby what-ever action was done by him might justly be called the action of God in which regard it was impossible for him to sinne In like manner the passive obedience of Christ was most free and voluntary as it respected his owne will for he troubled himselfe hee humbled and emptied himselfe he laid downe his owne life he became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse and yet thus it was written and thus it behoved or was necessary for Christ to suffer if we respect the predeterminate counsell and
purpose of God who had so ordained Act. 4.28 God would not suffer a bone of Christs to be broken and yet he did not disable the souldiers from doing it for they had still as much strength and libertie to have broken his as the others who were crucified with him but that which in regard of the truth and prediction of holy Scriptures was most certainly to be fulfilled in regard of the second causes by whom it was fulfilled was most free and voluntary Wee finde what a chaine of meere casualties and contingencies if we looke onely upon second causes did concurre in the offence of Vâ—sâ—ti in the promotion of Esther in the treason of the two Chamberlaines in the wakefulnesse of the King in the opening of the Chronicles in the acceptance of Esthers request and in the favour of the King unto her and all this ordered by the immutable and efficacious providence of God which moderates and guides causes and effects of all sorts to his owne fore-appointed ends for the deliverance of his people from that intended slaughter determined against them the execution whereof would evidently have voided that great promise of their returning out of captivitie after seventie yeares with relation unto which promise their deliverance at this time was in regard of Gods truth and purpose necessary though in regard of second causes brought about by a cumulation of contingencies In like maner when the hearts of men do voluntarily dedicate and submit themselves to the kingdome of Christ if we look upon it with relation unto the Spirit of grace which is the principium quo the formall vertue whereby it is wrought so it is an effect of power and as it were an act of conquest and yet looke upon it with relation unto the heart it selfe which is Principium quod the materiall efficient cause thereof and so it is a most free sweet connaturall action exactly temper'd to the exigencie of the second cause and proceeding there-from with most exact delight answerably to the measure of the grace of illumination or spirituall evidence in the minde whereby our naturall blindnesse prejudices and misperswasions may be remov'd and to the measure of the grace of excitation assistance and co-operation in the heart whereby the naturall frowardnesse and reluctancy thereof may be subdued In one word there are but three things requisite to make up a free and voluntary action First it must be cum judicio rationis with a preceding judgment Secondly it must be cum indifferentia there must be an internall indeterminatenesse and equall disposition of it selfe unto severall extremes Thirdly it must be cum dominio actus the will must have the power of her owne worke And all these three doe sweetly consist with the point of the Text That the heart is made willing to obey Christ by an act of power For first this power we speake of is onely the power of the Word and Spirit both which doe alwayes worke in the ordinary course of Gods proceeding by them with men secundum judicium by a way of judgement and conviction by a way of teaching and demonstration which is suteable to a rationall facultie Secondly which way soever the will is by the Spirit of grace directed and perswaded to move it still retaines an habituall or internall habitude unto the extremes so that if it should have moved towards them that motion would have beene as naturall and suteable to its condition as this which it followeth for the determination of the act is no extinguishment of the libertie thereunto Thirdly when the Spirit by the power of the word of grace doth work the will in us yet still the will hath the dominion of its owne act that is it is not servilely or compulsorily thereunto overswayed but worketâ— ex motu proprio by a selfe-motion unto which it is quickned and actuated by the sweetnesse of divine grace as the seed of that action according to that excellent knowne speech of Saint Augustine Certum est nos velle cum volumus sed Deus facit ut velimus Thus we see how the subjection of Christs people unto his kingdome is a voluntary act in regard of mans will and an act of power in regard of Gods Spirit inwardly â—llightning the minde with the spirituall evidence not only of the truth but the excellencie and superlative goodnesse of the Gospell of Christ and inwardly touching the heart and framing it to a lovely conformitie and obedience therunto The ground of this point why there is an act of power required to conquer the wils of sinners unto Christ is that notable enmitie stoutnesse reluctancie rebellion wearinesse aversenesse in one word fleshlinesse which possesseth the wils of men by nature such forwardnesse unto evill so much frowardnesse against good such a spring and byas from private ends and worldly objects such feares without such fightings within such allurements on the right hand such frownes and affrightments on the left such depths of Satan such hellish and unsearchable plots of principalities and powers to keepe fast and faithfull to themselves this chiefe mistris of the soule of man such slie and soaking such furious and firy temptations to flatter or to fright it away from Christ such strong prejudices such deepe reasonings such high imâ—ginations such scornefull and meane conceits of the purity and power of the wayes of Christ such deceitfulnesse of heart such misperswasions and presumptious of our present peace or at least of the easinesse of our future reformation such strong surmises of carnall hopes which will be prevented or worldly dangers incurred or private ends disappointed such lusts to be denied such members to be hewed off such friends to be forsaken such passions to be subdued such certaine persecutions from the world such endlesse solicitations of Satan such irreconcilable contentions with the flesh in the midst of all these pull-backes how can we thinke the will should escape and breake thorow if God did not send his Spirit as once the Angell unto Lot Gen. 19.16 to lay hands upon it while it lingers and hankers after its wonted course to use a mercifull conquest over it and as the Scriptures expresse it to lead it to draw it to take it by the arme to carry it in his bosome to beare it as an Eagle her young ones on her wings nay by the terrours of the Lord and the power of his Word and wrath to pull and snatch it as a brand out of the fire Certainly there is so much extreme perversenesse so much hellishnesse and devillish antipathy to God and his service in the heart by nature that if it were left to its owne stubbornenesse to kicke and rebell and fall backe and harden it selfe and were not set upon by the grace of Christ no man living would turne unto him or make use of his bloud by the same reason that any one man perisheth every man would too because in all there is as fundamentall and originall enmity
of sinnes for making compensation to the justice of God which had beene in sinne violated and to propitiate him againe So that in this regard a Priest was to be a middle person by Gods appointment to stand and to minister betweene him and men in their behalfe to be impartiall and faithfull towards the justice and truth of God and not to be over-ruled by his love to men to injure him and to be compassionate and merciful towards the errours of men and not to be over-ruled by his zeale to Gods justice to give over the care or service of them And such an High Priest was Christ zealous of his Fathers righteousnesse and glory for hee was set forth to declare the righteousnesse of God Rom. 3.25 and he did glorifie him on earth by finishing the things which he had given him to doe Ioh. 17.4 Compassionate towards the errours and miseries of his Church for hee was appointed to expiate and to remove them out of the way Col. 2.14 Touching this Priest-hood wee will thus proceed First to enquire into the Necessitie we have of such a Priest Secondly what kinde of Qualifications are requisite in him who must be unto us such a Priest Thirdly wherein the Acts or Offices of such a Priest-hood doe principally consist Fourthly what is the Vertue fruits ends events of such a Priest-hood Fifthly what are the Duties which the execution of that office doth enforce upon us or what uses wee should make of it In these five particulars I conceive will the substance of most things which pertain unto the Priesthood of Christ be absolved For the first of these wee must premise this generall rule there can be no necessitie of a Priest in that sense which is most proper and here intended but betweene a guiltie creature and a righteous God for if man were innocent in his relations towards God hee would stand in no need of an Expiation and if God were unrighteous in the passages of mans sin there would not be due unto him any just debt of satisfaction This being premised I shall through many steps and gradations bring you to this necessitie of Christs Priest-hood which wee inquire into First every creature is unavoidably subject to the Creator for he made all things for himselfe and all is to returne that glory to him for which he made them Pro. 16.4 Rom. 9.21 And this subjection of the creature to the Creator doth suppose a debt of service to the will of the Creator Impossible it is and utterly repugnant to the quality of a creature not to be subject to some Law and indebted in some obedience or other to him that made it Omne esse is propter operari it is a certaine rule in creatures that God giveth every creature a Being to this end that it might put forth that being in some such operations as hee hath fitted it for and prescribed it to observe The most excellent of all creatures that excell in strength are Ministers to doe his pleasure and to heare his voice Psal. 103.20 21. and all the rest have their severall lawes and rules of working by his wisdome set them in the which they wait upon him and according unto which they move like Ezekiels wheeles by the conduct of an invisible Spirit and by the command of a voyce that is above them as if they understood the Law of their Creator and knew the precepts which they doe obey Ezek. 1.25 26. Psal. 104.19 No creature is for its selfe onely or its owne end for that which hath not its being of its selfe cannot be an end unto it selfe in as much as the end of every thing which is made is antecedent to the being of it in the minde and intention of him that made it The end of things is as a marke fixed and unmoveable in the purpose of the supreme cause the creatures as the arrow ordered by a most wife and efficacious providence some through naturall and necessary others voluntary and contingent motions unto one and the same generall end the glory and service of the Creator Secondly no creature is in its being or in any those operations and services which to God it owes intrinsecally and of it selfe immutable It is Gods owne peculiar honour to bee without variablenesse or shadow of changing Iam. 1.17 Mal. 3.6 There was a time when the Sunne stood still and moved backward and was filled with darknesse as with an internall cloud when the Lions have forgotten to devoure and the fire to consume and the Whales to concoct God can as he will alter the courses of nature let goe the reines and dispence with the rules which himselfe had secretly imposed upon the creatures to observe which shewes that they are not in themselves immutable That constancie which in their motions they observe is from the regular government of that most wise providence which carries them to their end without any turning Ezek. 1.17 but when his glory requires and his will commands it the mountaines tremble the sea cleaves asunder the rivers runne backe the earth opens the Lawes of nature stand still for a while without any execution as if they were suspended or repeal'd by him that made them and therefore in that place things are said to move by a voice which is above them namely by the command of the supreme cause Ezek. 1.24 25. Thirdly man being in his nature and formall constitution a reasonable creature was appointed by God to serve him after a reasonable manner out of judgement discretion and election to make choice of his way above all others as being most excellent and beautifull in it selfe and most convenient and advantageous unto man therefore our service is called a reasonable service Rom. 12.1 and David is said to have chosen the way of truth and the precepts of the Lord Psal. 119.30 and Moses to have chosen the afflictions of Gods people and the reproches of Christ before the pleasures of sinne or the treasures of Aegypt Heb. 11.25 26. And hence it is that Holinesse in the phrase of Scripture is called Iudgement he shall convince the world of judgement Ioh. 16.11 and he shall bring forth judgement unto victory Matth. 12.20 Noting that the Spirit of holinesse ruleth and worketh in the children of obedience by a way of reason and conviction therefore hee is called a Spirit of Iudgement Esay 4.4 And for this cause God did not set any over-ruling law or determinating vertue over the operations of man as of other creatures that so he might truely worke out of the conduct of judgement and election of will Fourthly there is no deviation from a reasonable service or true active obedience properly so called for the obedience of brutes and inanimate creatures is rather passive than active which hath not some intrinsecall pravity in it and by consequence some fundamentall demerit or obligation unto punishment for Guilt is the proper passion of sinne resultant out of it and therefore inseparable from
that so we through the vertue and merit of his Sacrifice might bee sanctified likewise Iohn 17.19 Hee was to be God as well as man Medium participationis before hee could bee Medium reconciliationis that so he might bee himselfe supported to undergoe and breake through the weight of sinne and the Law and having so done might have compasse enough in his Sacrifice to satisfie the Iustice of God and to swallow up the sinnes of the world Fifthly in as much as the Vertue of the Deitie was to bee attributed truly to the Sacrifice else it could have no value nor vertue in it and that Sacrifice was to be his Owne Life Soule and Body who is the Priest to offer it because hee was not barely a Priest but a Suretie and so his person stood in stead of ours to pay our debt which was a debt of bloud and therefore hee was to offer himselfe Heb. 9.26 1 Pet. 2.24 And in as much as his person must needs bee equivalent in dignity and representation to the persons of all those for whom hee mediated and who were for his sake onely delivered from suffering for these causes necessary it was that God and man should make but one Christ in the unity of the same infinite person whose natures they both were that which suffered and that which sanctified The humane nature was not to bee left to subsist in and for it selfe but was to have dependence and supportance in the person of the Sonne and a kinde of Inexistence in him as the graft of an apple may have in the stock of a plumb From whence ariseth first the Communication of properties betweene the natures when by reason of the unity of the person wee attribute that to one nature which is common to the other not by confusion or transfusion but by Communion in one end and in one person as when the Scriptures attribute Humane properties to the Divine Nature The Lord of Life was slaine Act. 3.15 God purchased the Church with his owne bloud Act. 20.28 They crucified the Lord of Glory 1 Cor. 2.8 Or Divine to the Humane Nature As the Sonne of Man came downe from heaven Ioh. 3.13 and the Sonne of Man shall ascend where hee was before Ioh. 6.62 Or when both natures worke with their severall concurrence unto the same worke as to walke on the waters to rise out of the grave c. By which Communication of properties vertue is derived from the Altar to the Sacrifice in as much as it was the Lord of Glory which was crucified So that his passions were in regard of the person which bare them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both Humane and Divine because the person was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and Man Secondly from the unity of the person supporting the Humane Nature with the Divine ariseth the Appliablenesse of one sacrifice unto all men Because the Person of the Sonne is infinitely more than equivalent to the persons of all men as one Diamond to many thousand pebbles and because the obedience of this sacrifice was the obedience of God and therefore cannot but have more vertue and well-pleasingnesse in it than there can bee demerit or malignity in the sinne of man Now this Person in whose unity the two Natures are conjoyned is the second person in the Holy Trinity He was the person against whom the first sinne was principally committed for it was an affectation of wisedome and to bee like unto God as the falling-sinne now is the sinne against the third person and therefore the mercy is the more glorious that hee did undertake the expiation By him the world was made Col. 1.16 17. Ioh. 1.3 and therefore being spoiled hee was pleased to new make it againe and to bring many Sonnes unto glory Heb. 2.10 Hee was the expresse image of his Father Heb. 1.3 Col. 1.15 And therefore by him are wee renewed after Gods image againe Col. 3.10 He was the Sonne of God by Nature and therefore the mercy was againe the more glorified in his making us Sonnes by Adoption and so joynt heirs with himselfe who was the heire of all things So then such an high Priest it became us to have as should bee first an equall middle person between God and Man In regard of God towards man an officer appointed to declare his Righteousnesse and in regard of man towards God a suretie ready to purchase their pardon and deliverance Secondly such an one as should bee one with us in the fellowship of our nature passions infirmities and temptations that so hee might the more readily suffer for us who in so many things suffered with us and one with God the Father in his Divine Nature that so by the vertue of his sufferings and resurrection he might bee able both to satisfie his Iustice to justifie our persons to sanctifie our Nature to perfume and purifie our services to raise up our dead bodies and to present us to his Father a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle And both these in the Vnitie of one Person that so by that meanes the Divine Nature might communicate vertue merit and acceptablenesse to the sufferings of the humane and that the dignity of that person might countervaile the persons of all other men And this person that person of the three by whom the glory of the mercy should bee the more wonderfully magnified In one word two things are requisite to our High Priest A Grace of Vnion to make the person God and man in one Christ and a Grace of Vnction to fit him with such fulnesse of the Spirit as may enable him to the performance of so great a worke Esai 11.2 By all which wee should learne First to adore this great mysterie of God manifested in the flesh and justified in the Spirit the unsearchablenesse of that love which appointed God to bee man the Creator of the world to bee despised as a worme for the salvation of such rebels as might justly have been left under chaines of darknesse and reserved to the same inevitable destruction with the Devils which fell before them Secondly to have alwayes before our eyes the great hatefulnesse of sinne which no sacrifice could have expiated but the bloud of God himselfe and the great severity and inexorablenesse of Gods Iustice against it which no satisfaction could pacifie no obedience compensate but the suffering and exinanition of himselfe O what a condition shall that man bee in who must stand or rather everlastingly sinke and bee crushed unto the weight of that wrath against sinne which amazed and made heavie unto death the soule of Christ himselfe which made him who had the strength of the Deitie to support him the fulnesse of the Spirit to sanctifie and prepare him the message of an Angell to comfort him the relation of a beloved Sonne to refresh him the voyce of his Father from heaven testifying unto him that hee was heard in what hee feared the assurance of an ensuing glorie