were not some Havens and Harbours to strike into in a storm so no living in the World if there were not some comfort to be fetched from Heaven Look through all the Scriptures and ye will hardly find a safer harbour than this The relation between God and believers He is their Father they his Children They receive Christ and so become sons This will afford comfort to us in severall Cases which I shall briefly run over First In case of weak abilities and performances when they shall think that God is their Father and therefore is 1. Receiving Christ affordeth comfort in case of weak Performances willing to bear with them though their performances be but weak and their abilities small according to that Psal 102. 13 14. Like as a father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him For he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are but dust God consider what mould we are made of that we are Men and not Angels sinfull men and not men in a state of Perfection Therefore when we follow on to know him and go lamenting after the Lord as it is said of the men of Israel Jer. 9. though God discover a great deal of weaknesse in our services yet we find a great deal of acceptance in him when he looketh upon us as children The truth is though our faith be weak our God is strong and from thence commeth our safety As when a father carrieth his little child in his armes the Infant with his little feeble arms layeth hold upon the father but the safety lyeth in the father's holding him and not in his clasping about the father So we hold Christ by the feeble arm of our faith but Christ holdeth us more strongly by his Spirit and our safety commeth from thence It is true our faith is weak and so our services are accordingly weak but still look at God as a Father Suppose a man have a son in forraign parts sent abroad for his education before he hath well learned the Language he writeth a Letter home to his father He is but a scribler what he writeth is written but in broken language and badly writ But it commeth from a child and therefore the father taketh it well and passeth by all the faults The father biddeth the child shoot at such a mark the child draweth the bowe and letteth go the arrow falleth a great deal short of the mark yet he is encouraged by the father because he hath done his best As men are in a condition of belief so accordingly in a condition of As our Faith is so is our Comfort comfort If I can but go to God as a Father though with a great deal of infirmity I may hope to find successe Indeed Lord Lord is often sent away without a blessing they cried Lord Lord and had no blessing But Father Father that alwaies proceedeth from the Spirit of Adoption by which we cry Abba Father that is never sent away without an answer Deus non negavit sua petentibus saith Augustine sweetly God that freely offereth himself to those that ask not for him will be sure to give his good things to them that ask him because he is their Father Secondly As in the first place it ministreth comfort thus 2. In case of sinful failings in case of weak abilities and performances so In case of sinful failings We are not onely weaklings but sinners in what we do But yet Look at God as a Father and consider that Mal. 3. 13. I will spare them as a father spareth his own son that serveth him If we be sons serving-sons that go on to serve our Father according to what we have received from him he will spare us as a man spareth his son that serveth him Doubtless many are here that know the bowells of parents let those that do not consider David's carriage towards his sinfull son Absolom Absolom taketh up arms against his father and endeavoureth to deprive him of his Estate Crown and Life An Army commeth against him and messengers come and tell David that Absolom is overthrown What enquiry doth David make How fareth it with the Host No but Is the young man Absolom well And when a second messenger came and told him Absolom was slain How do his bowells break out at his mouth My son Absolom my son would God I had died for thee Let us judge by this how God looketh at a failing child whose bowells are infinitely much more large than those of David's Ye know the Parable of the Prodigal Luk. 15. he had run a wild course but resolving with himself to take up I will go to my father saith he and say unto him Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee He doth so And this word Father breaketh the heart of him to whom he made his addresse as ye know the story He fetched the robes and the ring and killed the fatted calf Though a prodigall yet a son still Our Saviour knew the comfort of this Relation and therefore directeth us to make use of it in his Prayer Our Father which art in heaven for give us our trespasses That is a melting word and therefore this must needs be a comfortable Relation Thirdly This affordeth Comfort to Believers In case of 3. In case of temporall sufferings temporall sufferings and want and losses and dangers Whatsoever our sufferings be they come from a Father And the holy Ghost calleth upon us again and again to consider that Deut. 8. 5. Thou shalt a so consider in thy heart that as a man chastiseth his son so the Lord thy God chastiseth thee The father will call for a rod to correct his son but will not turn him out of doors Ye have it at large Heb. 12. from the 5th verse to the 11th Ye have forgot the exhortation which speaketh to you as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him for whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth For they verily for a few daies chastise us at their pleasures but he for our profit that we might be partakers of the holinesse of God All chastisements tend to make men partakers of the holinesse of God As for the wants of Believers whatsoever they be here is comfort for them they do not want a Father It is the great consolation that Christ gave to his Disciples when he was to depart from them in regard of his corporall presence Joh. 14. 18. I will not leave you comfortlesse but I will come to you That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word in the Original signifieth I will not leave you orphans or fatherlesse A child though he be a son and heir yet in his minority is often kept short a servant haply the steward of a family hath as good allowance as he The children of Christ here are in minority therefore they are
in some wants but here is their comfort they have an inheritance laid up for them and that is a rich one They are now in their nonage when they come to heaven they shall have enough In all dangers let it be considered what care their Father taketh for them because they are his children Are they not all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation An heir of a great family what shall he need to fear so long as he is conversing among his fathers servants All the creatures are such to God and thou being a child thou art amongst thy Father's servants and therefore needest to fear no danger from them Fourthly In case of spirituall faintings and fears and 4. In case of spirituall faintings fears and desertion desertions The soul of a believer sometimes fainteth away for fear David saith My heart and flesh fail me Here is now a swounding child consider what fathers are wont to do in such cases how they send out for help presently all the house is little enough to look after a child in such a condition God himself pittieth his swounding children and sendeth his Ministers yea his own Spirit to speak comfort to such and to administer some Aquavitae to them some water of life that he may fetch them again out of their faintings Sometimes fear possesseth a child of God perhaps of falling into desertion as it is possible such may befall the dearest of God's Saints as with Heman who thought himself free amongst the dead God sometimes doth this but sal 88. 5. still as a Father As a father that seeth his child ready to run into a river or into the mire he will take the child and make him believe he will throw him in but it is to make him fearfull of being thrown in So God makes his children believe that he will throw them into hell it self but it is for this very end and purpose that they may never come there for this fear will keep them from the waies of hell Yea sometimes God is pleased to desert his own children Sion saith My God hath forgotten me as it is in Isaiah but then it is no more but as when a father goeth behind a door and suffereth his child to cry after him and hideth himself on purpose to try the affections of the child to make him the more eager in the pursuit of his father which done then he discovereth himself Just so it is with God He withdraweth the light of his countenance not on purpose to keep it so for ever but to make it more endeared to his children As the Prophet speaketh In a little while I hid Isa 54. 8. my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy God and thy Redeemer Lastly Here is comfort in case of approaching death a 5. In case of approaching death time when men stand much in need of comfort when they are to leave all their outward comforts in this world therefore they had need of better Now if a man can say in assurance of faith as Christ did Father I commend my spirit Luk. 23. 46. into thy hands Here is an everlasting consolation a Fort that all the devills in hell cannot batter A man that in his life-time hath got acquaintance with God may with confidence commend his soul to God as to a Father when he dieth Other people may leave an estate behind them and men may look after that A man may commend his estate to his friend and his body to the grave and some may have so much charity as to interr that But whom shall he commend his soul to It is not for every man to think to commend his spirit to God with confidence Upon what acquaintance will God say can you do this Will we trust our Jewels to any but our best friends will we put them into the hands of those that we never saw in our lives No. But a man that hath known God for his Father he will with confidence say Father into thy hands I commend my spirit I do not onely lay my Jewell at thy feet but put it into thy hands that so it may be safe in thy custody I commend it into thy hands out of which all the devills in hell shall never be able to pull it With this confidence Paul believed Happy is that soul that is able to say as our Saviour did before his Ascension to his Disciples I go to my Father and to your Father and to my God and your God When a man is able to look his friends in the face though with a dying look and shall say Be of good comfort I shall be no loser I go to my Father and your Father Blessed are the people that are in Joh. 20. 17. such a case Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. Blessed are the people that have received Jesus Christ aright and so are become sons of Adoption I have now done with that Point and shall go on Vers 13. Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God This verse containeth a further description of them that received Christ They were described in the 12 Verse by their faith And in this 13 Verse they are described by their birth To them that believe in his Name which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Their birth concerning which we are here told First what is not the efficient Cause of it Secondly what is First what is not the efficient Cause of it Three things are here removed 1. Blood 2. The will of the flesh 3. The will of man Secondly what is God and God onely I shall take the Clauses as they lye in order First I shall shew That Believers as such are not born of blood Secondly That they are born not of the will of the flesh Thirdly not of the will of man But Fourthly they are born of God First Believers as such They are not born of blood 1. Believers are not born of blood what is that Ye know in our ordinary manner of speech we are used to make mention of base blood Noble blood blood Royall and accordingly they are said to be born of blood to intimate that they have not grace from their Ancestors It doth not come to them by descent We say of many diseases that such and such come of a blood because they are derived from parents They are not born of blood to shew that the work of grace is not derived from one's Ancestors Therefore the word in the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are not born of bloods We may think it on purpose to be put in to meet with that mistake of the bragging of the Jewes who still boast to be the sons of Abraham Joh.
lusts before the embracing of and yielding obedience to our blessed Saviour We are ready to defie the Jewes for crying Not him but Barabbas and yet our actions cry as loud Not Him but the world not Him but the flesh Rather imitate good Tremelius who was himself a Jew born and after when he turned Christian in reference to what his Country-men the Jews had once said Not him but Barabbas he made this his Motto Non Barabbam sed Christum Not Barabbas Tremelius his Motto after his Conversion but Christ to intimate his having renounced all for the Lord Jesus Christ Let it be thine Not the world but Christ not the creature but Christ not the flesh but Christ He was before all and shall be before all in my esteem Whom have I in heaven but thee Psal 73. 25. That is one Duty we are to learn from hence Secondly Seeing Christ is Eternall trust him for Eternall things expect such from him that is an everlasting Father Isa 9. 6. Do you think an everlasting Father will lay up none but temporall blessings for his children He that was from the beginning hath provided something that shall be after the end for everlasting for you if ye will seek after him Remember what the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4. ult While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporall but the things which are not seen are eternall Oh! look at those eternall things trust in an eternall Saviour who hath purchased them first and since provided them for you He is gone before to provide heavenly things for you Grace is a thing which hath something of eternity in it The way of holinesse the Scripture calleth it the everlasting way Psal 139. ult Lead me in the way everlasting Seek to Christ for that For your everlasting Saviour will give you that which Grace begets Glory hath an influence into eternity so Grace hath It is an immortall seed that begets its glory and that is everlasting too Ye have a Promise Isa 45. 17. Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation He that was before the world hath happinesse world without end for all that believe in him So much for the first Proposition namely In the beginning was the word The second is that that concerneth the Personall Coexistency Propositi ∣ on 2d of the Word with the Father and it lyeth in these words The word was with God By the Word we still understand the same Person Jesus Christ By God in this Proposition ye are to understand the Father For you must know this tearm God is taken two manner of waies in this Verse Sometimes the term God is taken essentially and so it is appliable to all the Persons in the Trinity as when it is said God is a Spirit God there is taken so as to signifie the Nature of God and the Essence of God which is common to all the three Persons And so it is taken in the last clause of this Verse The word was God But otherwhile it is taken Personally and so it signifieth not the whole Essence but some one Person in the Trinity As when it is said God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself The Father in the Son When it is said Joh. 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son Here is God loving the world and giving Christ So in the second Proposition The word was with God that is with God the first Person This implyeth at once a Nearnesse and a Distinction A Nearnesse to God The word was God and yet a Distinction from him for it was but with him Now that which is with another doth imply a person distinct We do not say a man is with himself but Peter is with Paul or Paul with Peter So here The word was with God Take two or three places to help you to understand this Joh. 1. 18. No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father c. Here is the Son in the bosom of the Father that is the Word with God Here is a nearnesse and yet a Personall Christ near to and yet distinct from the Father distinction Nearnesse for it is in the bosom and yet a Personall distinction it is the Son in the Father's bosom One more clear that is fully parallel with the Text that is 1 Joh. 1. 2. The life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witnesse and shew to you that eternall life which was with the Father Eternall life is a Person here By Eternall life ye must understand the very self-same Person who is called the word of life in the first verse Eternall life is something that was seen and born witnesse to namely the Lord Jesus Christ of whom saith he vers 1. they have seen him and lookt upon him and have handled the word of life So that it is no new thing for John to call Christ the Eternall life He saith This is the true God and eternall life What doth he say of this Eternal life Why that we have seen it and bear witnesse That is of that Eternall life which is with the Father Take another which is parallel to the Text Prov. 8. 29 30. where by Wisdom is understood Christ which saith of it self Then I was by him as one brought up with him and was daily his delight Rejoycing alwaies before him rejoycing in the habitable part of his earth and my delights were with the sons of men Where Christ is spoken of as a son in the presence of the Father He is said to be with him as here in the Text. Take notice of two Praepositions there used in reference to Christ In and With 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is said Joh. 14. 10. Believest thou not saith Christ to Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father And then he saith I am in the Father and he in me Here Christ is said to be in the Father and in my Text with the Father with this difference in that noteth Unity with that importeth Distinction in that falls upon the Essence with that falleth upon the Person So as in plain tearms Christ is in the Father in regard of the Unity of the Essence which is the same with that of the Father Christ is with the Father in regard of the Distinction of his Person So as between the Son and the Father there is alius alius but not aliud aliud as Divines say That is The Son is another Person from the Father but not another thing from the Father The Father and the Son are Unum but not Unus the Father and the Son are one Thing but not one Person Ye may truly say The Son is with the Father as my Text hath it but ye cannot say The Son is
go blind-fold to work but will prove what is acceptable The word in the Originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a Metaphor taken from Goldsmiths that prove their Mettle by the Touchstone not by the colour onely or tinnitu by the jingling of the Mettle onely but bring it to the Test if it will not bear that they disallow it Many things have a fair colour to the eye that seem good and beautifull fit to be practised by a Christian and some things that sound well to the ear as of good report in the world but here is not enough bring them to the Test believe neither colour nor sound if they will not bear the touchstone of the Word A man that walketh holily will endure the proof it Thirdly He that walketh as a child of light must walk Cheerfully for there is a light of Joy too Such a phrase ye 3. Walk Cheerfully have in the Psalms Blessed is the man that heareth the joyfull sound they shall walk in the light of thy countenance Here is now one walking as a child of light that walketh in the light of God's countenance cheerfully and joyfully Serve the Lord with gladness and come into his presence with singing Psal 100. 2. This is acceptable to God and creditable to Religion God liketh it well that his servants should walk in the light of his countenance joyfully The Apostle telleth you this is acceptable to God Rom. 14. 17 18. The kingdom of God standeth not in meat and drink but in righteousnesse and peace and joy in the holy Ghost He that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men This is one of the things wherein we must serve Christ joyfully in the holy Ghost Christ doth not like to be served uncheerfully They that make conscience of serving Christ in righteousnesse and of serving Christ in peace dare not be the Authors of division Why do not people make conscience of serving Christ in joy too He that in these things namely in righteousnesse and peace and joy serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men The Saints of God like it well when they see men go chearfully on in the way to heaven otherwise they bring a bad report upon the good Land and make men to suspect that the service of Christ is not so acceptable when men walk so droopingly that stand in relation to him You know what Jezabel said to Ahab who had a mind to Naboth's Vineyard and because he could not compasse it he walked droopingly She came to him and said Why is thy spirit so sad Dost thou now govern the 1 King 21. 6. Kingdom of Israel and be so sad Implying how ill it became a King that hath the world at will to walk droopingly and uncheerfully Every one in whom this Image is renewed is made a King Christ hath made him a King to God and his Father What! a King and droop One that hath such a nearnesse and so near a relation to God and yet so full of discontent Let me yet say to every child of God as the Apostle Phil. 5. 4. Rejoyce in the Lord alwaies and again I say Rejoyce So I have now done with that Verse In him was life and the life was the light of men Vers 5. And the light shined in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not Ye have heard in what estate man was created it was in a state of Light and the next news ye hear is of Darknesse The light shined in darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not First here we find man fallen and Christ's demeanour towards him in that estate Secondly his inability to receive that light which Christ shed abroad Thirdly Here is a supposition of the Fall intimated by that word Darkness Fourthly Here is a declaration what Christ did to man thus fallen He still sendeth forth light The light shined in darknesse And fifthly Here is a manifestation of man's carriage towards Christ in reference to this communication of his And the darknesse comprehended it not The first thing to be observed from hence is That Man Observ 1 by his fall from the state of light became dark yea darkness it self The second Observation is That light from Christ hath Observ 2 continued to shine ever since the Fall The light shineth in darkness It is something emphatically uttered for it is not in the Praeter perfect Tense as before it is not The light shined in darknesse or hath shined but it is The light shineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shew that the light continueth to shine There is no time since the Fall wherein it could be said The light shined not This was alwaies an approved Proposition ever since man became darke The light shineth in darknesse Thirdly We must imagine That it is naturall to man Observ 3 since the Fall not to comprehend the light of Christ The light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not Here ye have a supposall of Man's Fall and a declaration both of man's carriage towards him and of his carriage towards Christ since the Fall I shall but touch upon the first which is this First That Man fell from a state of light and became dark yea darknesse it self Light was the life of men by Creation and since the light shineth in darknesse By darkness understand the persons of unregenerate men all the world before the Lord Jesus Christ enlightneth them savingly with the light of life come under this notion of darknesse Therefore Satan who is elswhere called The prince of the world is said to be the ruler of the darkness of this world that is of unregenerate men Ephes 6. 12. Ephes 5. 6. Ye were sometimes dark but now are ye light in the Lord therefore ye were sometimes unregenerate but now ye are sanctified Ye were sometimes dark That which predominateth useth to give the denomination that is the reason why the naturall man is called darkness in the abstract because darknesse hath a predominancy in their minds As when a man is extreamly vitious we call such a man Vice Non est invidiosus sed invidia He is not envious but envy and malice it self Non est vitiosus sed vitium He is not vitious but vice it self The Papists call the Pope of Holy His Holiness in the abstract because they would have the world to believe him to be exceeding holy Dark in the abstract is exceeding darkness in regard of the dominion of a threefold darknesse the darknesse of Ignorance opposed to the light of Knowledge the darknesse of Sinfulness opposed to the light of Holiness the darknesse of Misery opposed to the light of Joy This three-fold darknesse accompanieth the state of nature even in all men as long as they continue in it First therefore that of Ignorance Ephes 4. 18. Having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of 1. A darkness of Ignorance God through the ignorance
found in this Relation as to take away the bitternesse of all other dispensations and providences though in other respects very averse Our Chroninicles tell us of King Edward the first when he was in forraigne parts newes was brought him at once both of the death of his father and of his son The King was exceedingly struck into sadnesse at the relation but especially at the death of his father For saith he I may have more sons but never another father We may have more friends and more estates if we lose our friends or estates but we can have no more fathers if we once lose our God we shall never have such a Father as he lose him once and all is gone Am not I said Elkanah to Hannah better to thee then ten sons Well may God say to us Am not I better to you then ten thousand sons and ten thousand times ten thousand estates All sweetnesse concenters in this Relation God is our Father we are his Children But there may be a great deal of wealth and honour 5. It is a safe estate and freedome and sweetnesse and yet no safety may attend this condition This is a safe estate that is the commendations of it This honour and riches and freedome and sweetnesse they shall all continue The servant he abideth not in the house for ever but the son abideth ever saith our Saviour Joh. 8. 35. Therefore fear not little flock saith Christ It is your Fathers pleasure to give you the Kingdome Nothing shall intervene so as to hinder a son from the Inheritance It is his Fathers good pleasure and his will shall stand to give them a Kingdome in the issue So it is clear that this is an high priviledge What use shall we make of it First examine whether we be thus preferred yea or Vse 1 no. It is that which almost every one in the visible Church Examine our selves wherher we be sons or not pretendeth to be a son and daughter of God It is therefore worth the while to try whether the Lord Jesus Christ hath made us partakers of this priviledge It is a use both for the assurance of the Saints and for the discarding of Hypocrits that are but pretenders to it They favour even those men of whom Christ saith You are of your father the Devill They pretend sonship to God Joh. 8. 41. We say they be not born of fornication we have one Father even God And yet Christ saith to them ye are of your father the Devill We are of God say they ye are of your father the Devill saith Christ One way to try this and the onely one that I will name is by the spirit of adoption If we be sons then God hath sent forth into our hearts the spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father This ye have expressely laid down in so many words Gal. 4. 6. Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba father Wheresoever there is sonship there will be crying Abba Father Crying implyeth fervency of spirit as Why cryest thou to me faith God to Moses when he was in a great strait at the Red-sea Because both the profane persons and formall professors will put on for a share before we can break the childrens bread we must discard them from the comforts of this If crying Father and if praying argue my sonship Formality and Prophaneness reproved then I am a son saith the profane person for I say my prayers ever and anon Alas what is this to the purpose Thy praying is but craving yea thy praying is but houling in God's esteem Isa 7. 14. They have not cryed to me with their hearts when they houled upon their beds How irksom is the houling of dogs to the ears of men such is that which profane persons call Praying in the ears of God The truth is their praying is but a driving of contradictions because their life all the while giveth their tongue the lie Our Father saith the profane person which art in heaven and in the mean while he serveth his father the devill which is in hell Hallowed be thy Name so say his lips but in the mean time he dishonoureth God in swearing and lying and whoring and drinking and prophaneness Thy kingdom come and in the mean while he opposeth the Kingdom of Christ in his heart and in the lives of his Saints and doth what he can to hinder the comming of it Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven and in the mean while he doth the will of Satan that will which the damned do in hell Give us this day our daily bread seemingly acknowledging that he receiveth all even his outward mercies from God and in the mean while perhaps sacrificeth to his own net commending his own skill for the estate he hath gotten Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us and in the mean while he goeth on in malice and envy sinning to his very hour of death as it were Lead us not into temptation in the mean while he tempteth the devill to tempt him He cryeth Deliver us from evill and delivereth himself up to evill while he saith so He layeth the reins upon the neck of his lusts that run away with him into all mischief Call you this praying I but saith the formall professor I pray and that frequently not in distress onely but haply keep a constant course of prayer Surely I must go for a child of God That we be not deceived let us consider It is one thing to draw nigh with the heart and another thing to draw nigh with the lips You know the complaint of Isaiah compare two places together Isa 1. 15. When ye so read forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you and when you make many prayers I will not hear you And yet he complaineth of them by Isaiah Isa 4. They make many prayers and yet none heareth that prayer Why Because Isa 29. 13. This people draw near to me with their mouths but remove their hearts far from me Therefore they pray and their prayers are no prayers because their hearts are not in them I will not deny but many a formall professor may have attained to the gift of prayer but that which I make an argument of Sonship was a spirit of prayer the spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father What that is ye may see Zach. 10. 12. I will pour out upon Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication How worketh that They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and mourn for me as one mourneth for his onely son Wheresoever the spirit Spirituall Prayer looks up to Christ of prayer is there will be a looking up to Jesus Christ in all our devotions The spirit of Adoption that commeth from the Son guideth to the Son and taketh us along with him in all our addresses to God They that
would have their voices to resound will make choice of Rocky places which send forth the best Eccho This Rock the Lord Jesus Christ is he that maketh our prayers to return with a blessing into our own bosoms You shall have many men that go to devotion and leave Christ behind them What a poor devotion is here The spirit of prayer is alwaies accompanied with Evangelicall humility with a mourning that floweth from our looking to Christ I know there is a great deal of legall sorrow in formall professors Men may go blubbering to hell without true repentance But here is a mourning that floweth from a looking up to Christ Where there is a spirit of Adoption men will speak from feeling which floweth from the apprehension of Christ and the certainty of God's grace in him Now this spirit of Adoption argueth Sonship But then commeth in the poor weak Believer and saith Object I am undone The other plead for themselves without a cause and he pleadeth as much against himself without a cause I cannot find such enlargement in prayer Surely the Spirit of Adoption is not in me if it were I should cry Abba Father with more importunity All Believers are not alike gifted there may be a gift of Answ prayer where there is not a spirit of prayer and a spirit of prayer where there are but poor gifts Haply thou canst onely chatter with Hezekiah like a Crane and Swallow yet consider whilst thou canst not speak there are two Spokes-men for thee the consideration whereof may render A Believer hath two Spokesmen to stand for him thee confident of success even in thy devotions how weak soever they be The lispings and stammerings of a child God liketh better then all the Oratory in the world The Spirit of God is in thee and the Blood of Christ is for thee The Spirit and We know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit maketh intercession in us And God knoweth the meaning of the Spirit and heareth the least whispers of his own Spirit in the soul of a poor Believer And then The Blood of Christ that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel the Blood of of Christ As Christ saith of himself it may be said of this Blood Father I know thou hearest me alwaies But I pass now from matter of Triall and I come now to matter of Exhortation All Dignity ye Use 2 know calleth for Duty Such as are partakers of this Priviledge To exhort to Duties of being the children of God they are obliged to certain Duties that flow from hence First Obedience The sons of Jonadab they were obedient 1. To Obedience to the commandment of their father Jer. 35. I set before the sons of the family of the Rechabites pots ful of wine and cups and I said unto them Drink wine But they said We must drink no wine for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father hath forbid us saying Drink no wine you nor your sons for ever Neither build houses nor sow seed nor plant ye vineyards but dwell in tents all your daies that ye may live all your daies upon the face of the earth where ye are inhabitants So we have hearkned to the voyce of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he commanded us So we drank no wine all our daies we nor our wives nor our sons nor our daughters When God hath said Drink not of the world's cup taste not of the world's dainties lest you surfeit on them it becommeth an obedint child to say My Father hath commanded me I dare not drink when he is tempted to the enjoyment of any unlawfull pleasures Mal. 3. 17. Ye read there of a son that serveth Indeed the best service God hath done him is by his sons all other services are little worth in comparison I will spare him as a man spareth his own son that serveth him The son goeth naturally and ingenuously about his father's work he doth it kindly much more kindly than a servant will that doth it onely for his wages Therefore of old they were wont to set their children to the work The chief work lay in husbandry We read of Rachel's keeping her father's sheep Gen 29. 6. and so of Jacob keeping his father in law's sheep Would we approve our selves children of God we must do the works of God Our Saviour beateth off the Pharisees from their plea upon this ground We are the children of Abraham say they If ye were saith Christ then would you do the works of Abraham Abraham believed in me No man can ever approve himself the child of God that doth not abound in the work of the Lord. The second Lesson is for Imitation Ephes 5. 1. Be ye 2. For Imitation followers of God as dear children It is naturall to children to imitate their parents look what the father doth the child is apt to learn the same If we be dear children we must be followers of God and walk in love as Christ hath loved us Blessed are the mercifull they shall be called the children of God Why Because that maketh it appear they follow God And so Be ye holy saith Peter 1 Pet. 1. 15 16. As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation Because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy Thirdly We should learn from hence this Lesson that is 3. Learn Dependency upon God of Dependency Children hang upon their parents so should we upon God if we will carry our selves as becommeth sons This Argument Christ useth Matth. 6. 22. Take no thought saying What shall we eat and drink and be cloathed with for your heavenly Father knoweth you have need of all these things Leave the care of all these to your Father If ye were Orphans and had no father or if your father were not willing or not able to supply your wants then ye might be carefull but seeing you have an heavenly Father that knoweth all these things cast all your care upon him for He careth for you Doth not he tell us That he that provideth not for his owne family is the worst of Infidells Ye are of Gods family therefore be sure He will provide for you if ye trust Him Fourthly It teacheth us a lesson of Patience Hebr. 12. 4. It teacheth us to be patient 5. Forget not the exhortation which speaketh to you as Children My son despise not thou the Chastisements of the Lord For whom the Lord loveth He chastiseth Faint not under the correction of a Father and because it is from a Father that will lay on no more no longer than the Child standeth in need of it Herein that of our Saviour should be often in our thoughts Joh. 18. 11. The Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Why every affliction that befalleth me is a Cup out of my Fathers hand and from Him I should
take it and drink it because it is mixed by Him who will be sure to put no poyson into his Children's Cup. Fithly It should teach us a lesson of reverence If I 5. It teacheth us reverence be a Father Mal. 1. 6. A son honoreth his father and a servant his master If then I be a father where is mine honour The children that will be playing the waggs happily together if the father come into their presence he husheth all the noise and the respect they bear him taketh them off from their vanity The Reverence we owe to God should take us off from all unseemly Carriages It was a report made of Luther by one that lived much with him and observed his devotion Tanta reverentia cum Deo Tanta fiducia cum Patre He goeth to God saith he with so much reverence as a man that cometh to a Lord above him but with so much confidence as a man that goeth to a Father 6. It teacheth us to seperate from the iniquity of the World Lastly It should teach us a lesson of seperation from the folly and iniquity of the World This ye have in that place 2 Cor. 6. and the two last verses Come out from amongst them and be ye separated and touch no unclean thing and I will be a father to you God expecteth a great deal of holinesse in his Children that they should nor run into the like excesse of Riot with the men of the World We should all be separatists in this sense namely from the pollutions of the world we should not behave our selves unbeseeming the sons and daughters of God It was an excellent advice given by a Philosopher to a young Prince under his Tuition and Care The Prince was to go abroad into a place where he knew he should meet with some naughty Company he desired his Tutor to teach him how he should govern and behave himselfe He giveth him this rule Memento te silium esse Regis Remember Thou art a King's son when thou comest there do nothing but what becometh the son of a King Could we alwayes carry this Memento along with us how pure would our Conversations be Thou art a son and daughter of God be sure to do nothing unbeseeming this relation and thou wilt do well enough Is this thy son's Coat say they to acob when they brought it home imbrew'd with blood When we see a mans Carriage defiled with lust and scurrility and bitternesse is this the Coat of a Son is it the badge of an heir of Heaven and Child of God He that will do nothing unworthy of this relation must be sure to walk unspotted of the World Thus I have run over the Observations that flow from the first particular of the Text namely The benefit The power or priviledge or prerogative to become the sons of God Secondly The next thing is The Benefactor that is 2. Christ our Benefactor giveth power to become sons Christ He gave them power to become the sons of God Sons of God in a speciall way not onely sons by Creation so all men are Mal. 2. 10. Have we not all one Father Hath not one God created us Nor onely sons by profession so all the members of the visible Church are Gen. 6. 2. The Sons of God saw the daughters of men Nor onely sons by Deputation So all Magistrates are according to that Psal 82. 6. I have said ye are Gods and all of you sons of the most High But sons of God by adoption That which the Apostle telleth us of Gal. 4 5. That we might receive the Adoption of sons Of which there are two sorts A naturall Adoption and A personall Adoption A naturall adoption That belonged properly to the Naturall adoption properly of the Jewes Jewes who were in that respect called the first-born sons of God Exod. 4. 22. Thou shalt say to Pharoah Thus saith the Lord. Israell is my son my first-born Therefore the Adoption is said to belong to Israell Rom. 9. 4. Who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the Adoption namely this naturall Adoption Secondly There is a personall adoption that of which Personall adoption properly is to believers I told you out of Gal. 4. 6. As many as received Him gave He the priviledge to become the sons of God Here is the benefit and the Benefactor He gave it it is the gift of Christ He made us adopted Sons Thirdly The Persons on whom the Father doth bestow 3. The persons upon whom God the Father bestoweth Chtist the gift of Christ being described by their faith I shall wrap up all in this one Observation which will take in all the remainder of the verse namely that It is given to all such as truly receive Christ by faith to become the sons of God by adoption For the explication whereof four things are to Observ be demonstrated First That Christ should be received To as many as received Him Secondly That to the true receiving of Christ there must be a speciall concurrence of Faith Even to them that believe in his Name saith the Text. Thirdly That all such as do receive Christ by faith are adopted ones To them gave He power to become the sons of God as many as received Him Fourthly That this sonship is a free gift He hath given them power to become the sons of God These all lie clearly in the words when I have explained them I shall come to apply them First Jesus Christ should be received Col. 2. 6. As ye 1. Christ should be received and how have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him Walk in him but receive him first Therefore it is that Christ is compared to such things in Scripture as do import a receiving of him conveying of him to mens souls He is called the Bread of life Joh. 6. 35. If bread be not eaten it nourisheth not if Christ be not received he saveth not We are said to put him on as a garment As many as have received Christ have put on Christ A garment must be taken and applied to the body or it cannot warm it to sence it from the weather He is said to come with healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. Christ bringeth medicines with him salves for sores medicines for diseases But the salve must be applied to the sore else the salve healeth not and the medicine to the disease else it cureth not Christ is the husband of our souls Thy Maker is thy husband By marriage there must be a mutuall receiving of each other else it is no marriage All these expressions imply the receiving of Christ and not to receive him is the greatest folly and madnesse in the world As Who would not think that man besides himself that having a violent disease upon him when the best medicine in the world shal be offered him and which will infallibly cure him shall refuse to take it That is our case
6. Now because they did not so much bear themselves upon their immediate Progenitors as upon their Fore-fathers farre remote Therefore the Apostle saith not of blood of immediate parents nor of parents long before born It came from neither of these It is an usuall manner of speech As he speaketh of a man that bragged of his birth Longo sanguine sincere To fetch Commendations from the blood of our Progenitors of the blood of many genetations together So that the meaning of this phrase is That the new birth cometh not by propagation Grace cometh not by descent Not of blood If it had gone along with the Kindred Certainly so holy a Virgin as Mary was yea the holy One himself Christ Jesus would not have had any unholy people of his Kindred And yet such there Three demonstrations that believers are not born of blood 1. Because good parents have bad as well as good Children 2. Because bad parents have good Children and good parents bad Children in a line 2 Chron. 28. 27. 2 Chron. 32. 33. 2 Chron. 32. 25. 2 Chron. 36. 1. 3. Because the younger many times hath the greatest share in spirituall things Gen. 4. 4. Gen. 21. 14. Rom. 9. 13. were John 11. 10. Neither did his Brethren believe in Him I shall give you three Demonstrations to make it appear That believers as such are not born of blood First Because many good parents have bad Children as well as good ones Adam had Cain as well as Abel And Abraham Ismael as well as Isaac And Isaac Esau as well as Jacob. And Jacob had Simeon and Levi as well as Joseph and Benjamin Secondly It appeareth because sometimes good parents have bad Children and bad parents have good Children in a line Look into the Chronicles ye shall find that bad Ahaz had good Hezechiah good Hezechiah had wicked Manasses so he was for a great part of his life And wicked Manasses had good Josiah and good Josiah had wicked Jehoaz Good parents bad Children and bad Children good parents Thirdly It appeareth because the younger many times hath the greater share in spirituall things whereas if grace were a naturall priviledge the greatest share would go to them first The first-born in all naturall priviledges hath a double portion But the Scriptures and many times our own experiences will shew that the first-born hath the least share here therefore this is not a naturall priviledge God accepted Abel the younger and not Cain Isaac findeth more acceptation then Ismael God loved Jacob the younger and hated Esau the elder and so in many other instances Grace doth not come by propagation Believers are not born of blood Whereas it may be objected that Parents beget Children Object after their own Image It is said of Adam Gen. 5. 3. He begot a son in his own Likenesse after his own Image Therefore it should seem that godly Parents must needs have godly Children otherwise how do they beget them after their own Image The answer is easie They beget Children as men not Answ as Saints It is a certain Rule Personalia non propagantur Things that are personall are not propagated Now grace is a personall thing not a naturall thing A learned and a godly man begetteth a son that is a man but neither learned nor godly because learning is an acquired habit and godlinesse is infused And a man conveyeth what is naturall not what is acquired He that is begotten of him is not a Scholler much lesse a Saint because holinesse is supernaturall beyond him As it is with the Corn it is threshed and severed from the Chaffe before it is sown but then it bringeth forth the blade and husk and afterward the eare of Corn. The Circumcised parent begetteth a Child that is born uncircumcised because his Circumcision is not propagated So it is here a father that is free from the power of sin and guilt of sin by the work of grace upon his heart yet begetteth a Child that is contrary to both these How then is it said That if the Root be holy the branches Object are holy That is a further Objection that ye have Rom. 11. 16. If the first-fruits be holy the lump is also holy If the root be holy so also is the branches This is to be understood not of a personall holinesse Answ which is an inherent quality But of a federall holinesse which is of Relation for that the root was holy The Jewish parents were in the outward Covenant of God being members of the visible Church therefore their Branches were partakers of a faederall holinesse but it doth not follow as to personall holinesse A man may at once be a child of wrath in regard of the common condition of man in Adam and yet be holy in regard of the Covenant made in Abraham That God would be his God and the God of his seed Well then if it be thus that believers as such as are not born of blood Let it serve to take men off from their boasting of their Ancestors and Descent of comming of this or that Family and Blood It were worth the bragging of if Grace came by Propagation But seeing it doth not Non sanguine sed virtute nitamur Let us not rely upon Blood but upon Virtue saith the Heathen Let me say Upon Christ and in that sense upon Blood There is one Blood we may rely upon but it is the Blood of Christ the Blood of the everlasting Covenant otherwise there is no great difference in point of Blood between men and men Act. 17. 26. God hath made of one blood all nations of men that dwell on all the face of the earth All men out of one blood The poorest Beggar commeth from Adam who was Lord of all the world as well as the greatest Potentate upon earth so as No glorying in any blood but the Blood of Christ there is no glorying in any blood but in the Blood of Christ he that hath a conscience sprinkled with that he hath cause of glorying He that glorieth let him glory in this that he knoweth me Saith Prudentius Sanguis Christi facit hominem esse nobilem That which maketh a man noble is to have Christ's Blood in him it is to be one of Christ's followers It was that that ennobled the Beroeans Act. 17. 11. These speaking of the Beroeans were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readinesse of mind and searched the Scriptures daily The word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These were better born than those of Thessalonica He is well born that is new born Here is a Blood to confide in This is a Blood that cannot be tainted The best blood may be tainted Great men may become Traitors and so taint their blood Here is a Blood without possibility of tainture that washeth white wheresoever it commeth Secondly Believers They are not born of the will of the 2. They are
ye compare these two places in the Galathians Gal. 5. 6. with Gal. 6. 15. In Jesus Christ neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but Faith which worketh by love What is that see the fifteenth Verse of the sixth Chapter Neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision but a new Creature New Creature and Faith is all one where faith is there is a new Creature So then All believers are new born and new born of God because as ye have heard already which will save me a labour to exemplifie this It requireth a Divine power to beget a man to Christ Jam. 1. 18. Of his owne will begot he us with the Word of Truth Of his owne will begot he us To make a man partaker of godlinesse there must go Divine power as Peter saith 2 Pet. 1. 3. According to his Divine power He hath given us all things pertaining to Life and Godlinesse Such a power as went to the Regeneration requireth a greater power then Creation Creation yea a greater power then went to the Creation if a greater can be God putteth forth a further act of power in Regeneration then in Creating men and the whole World at first because there was then nothing to resist God spake the Word and there was no opposition made Let there be light and there was light Let the waters be gathered together and they were gathered together into one Channell But when God cometh here to Convert all is up in arms Corrupt nature struggleth for it selfe and the Devill likely to be thrown out of his hold maketh the best of it that he can and musters all his forces to maintain his possession here is required a greater power because of resistance which was not in the former work Would not a man say if he should go into a Potters shop or Glasse-house that a man might sooner make a thousand pots or glasses then when a pot or glasse is broken all to pieces to make it whole again That is a much greater work This is the case here In the Creation God brought all things out of nothing Here is but one single work But when he comes now to regenerate he findeth men's hearts broken to pieces and he must make them sound again That is a further work a double work He must pull down the old building and set up a new frame none of the old not a stick will serve Old things are done away all things are Cor. 2. 5. 17. become new Therefore it is that all the works of the Creation though an Almighty work is but the finger as it were of God When I consider the Heavens the work of thy fingers The works of man's Redemption and Conversion require the whole arme So speaking of God after the manner of men for to him all things are alike easie Luk. 1. 51. He hath shewed strength with his arme speaking of the work of our Redemption by Christ Who hath believed our Report To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed That which is manifest in the Gospell that telleth us of our Redemption saying It is the arm of God At the first it was but a word Let there be light and it was so The work of our Redemption cost not onely words but tears and sweat and blood and the Life of our Saviour God breathed the breath of Life into man that he might revive him and become a new Creature So that this work considered one cannot be born again of any but of God I proceed now to the Application If believers are born Vse 1 of God then it calleth upon them to be thankfull to God This presseth thankfulnesse for our new birth for their new birth They have received that from the hands of God that the rest of the World are strangers to They are better born then others that is the word the Apostle useth Acts 17. 11. We stand ingaged to the whole Trinity for this blessing Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewed unto us We owe our new birth to God the Father And to the Son too Isai 9. 6. The name of Christ is the Everlasting Father And to God the Holy Ghost Joh. 3. 5. Except we be born again of Water and of the Spirit born of the Spirit To th end we may be the more 3. Graces and priviledges that accompany new birth sensible of this inestimable blessing consider the graces and priviledges that accompany this new birth I will name but three First Is likenesse to God We are so born of God as to 1. Is likenesse to God bear his Image to be righteous as he is righteous 1 Joh. 2. ult If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one which doth righteousnesse is born of him It is true of all the Creatures They are made of God But it is true onely of Saints They are born of God Therefore though every Creature hath something of God in him yet a Saint hath more All have the foot-steps of God but Believers have his Image They represent him as a man's son represents his father There may be the Image of a man taken in a Picture that may shew something of him and his Image in a glasse that sheweth more that representeth his motion which the other doth not But his Image in his son that is the most lively of all that representeth his disposition Such an Image of God is in every Saint it represents the quality of God and the disposition of him He is made partaker of the Divine nature Secondly There is in him a love to God and to the Saints 2. Love to God and to the Saints which is another adjunct of the new birth of which 1 Joh. 4. 7. compared with 1 Joh. 5. 1. vers Beloved Let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God Chap. 5. 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and every one that loveth him that begetteth loveth him that is begotten of him First here is love to God the Common father of all the Saints It is true in this Case Amor descendit sed non semper ascendit Love amongst men descendeth It goeth down from the Parent to the Child but it doth not alwayes ascend from the Child to the Parent But here as there is a love descending to us so from us ascending to God As the Iron that is touched with the Load-stone hath an inclination of following the Load-stone So when God hath touched the soul with Love it leaveth an instinct behind it of following after God As every one that is new born hath a love to God so hath he also to the Saints He that loveth him that begetteth loveth him also that is begotten of him Look as it is in nature Light ye know is the prime object of sight It is the principall visible object and the more of light in any thing the more visible
Hebr. 2. 17. He was made like unto his brethren in all things that he might be a mercifull high Priest Christ is therefore a mercifull high Priest because he was made like us in our infirmities It is a great invitation to mercy to see one in the same condition that we our selves have been in As she said Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco she Dido Lib. 3. Aenaeid had learned to pity others because she had born the like miseries her selfe As a woman that hath had a Child can more pity women that are in Travaile because she hath suffered the like pains than other women can that never have brought forth any Children at all So the Lord Jesus hath felt the like infirmities the penall not the sinfull therefore he is likely to pitty us when we lie under them Exod. 23. 9. Thou shalt not oppresse a stranger for ye know They that have suffered can best pitty them that are under sufferings the heart of a stranger seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt Christ knoweth the heart of a man under his infirmities when they are onely painfull and not sinfull because he himselfe did undergoe such in the dayes of his flesh Therefore this may comfort a man as in generall so in diverse particular Cases when we wrestle with infirmities suppose sorrow of heart it was Christ's owne case Time was when he cried out Matth. 26. 38. My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even to death The consideration of his sorrow may help to sweeten thine when thou art afflicted in body and pinched It was Christ's case He himselfe hungred in the wildernesse and was a thirst at Jacob's well He was buffetted and scourged yea Crucified in the end He felt the nails and spear Therefore saith Luther I am ashamed that men should count my sufferings any thing when I think of what Christ indured So be our sufferings never so great we are thereby made conformable to him who suffered the like things for us And so for poverty 2 Cor. 8. 9. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he were rich yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be made rich The like may be said in many other Instances whatsoever infirmity it is we may expect Christ will relieve us against it But the soul saith Still you except sin I would have that taken away If Christ take not that away I am undone Object This doth not so much lie in my Text now yet I shall speak a word to it I told you Christ took our painfull infirmities and not Answ our sinfull And yet I must tell you he took our sinfull infirmities As Christ took our painfull infirmities by inherency so our sinfull infirmities by imputation too in another sense not in the same way as he took the other He took our painfull infirmities in a way of Inherency and our sinfull ones too in a way of Iniputation Quicquid sustulit tollit whatsoever Christ took away he took He took away our sins therefore he took our sins in one sense or other He could not take our sins as our sorrowes It was impossible that sin should be inherent in Christ His Divinity was a protection against all sins yet He took them away by imputation Therefore It is said by the Apostle God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin He knew no sin and yet is made sin How Not made sin by committing sin for Christ was not in a Capacity of sinning but made sin by bearing the Imputation of sin and so took upon him the guilt of sin and not the Inherency of sin There be two things in guilt a worthinesse of being punished and a destination to punishment The Demerit and the Destination It is false to say That Christ took the guilt upon him in a way of Demerit as if Christ himselfe had been worthy of being punished For all Demerit implieth sin either naturall or personall Now in Christ was neither originall Corruption nor actuall Rebellion But the other thing in guilt which is Poenae obligatio an obligation and destination to punishment In this sense Christ took guilt not because of any naturall Demerit but because of his Communion in that nature of which the Demerit was found He voluntarily became our Surety and took our Nature that in that nature He might suffer for our sins And in this capacity God doth destinate him to punishment in this sense He took our sinfull infirmities And thus ye see what matter of comfort this truth affordeth It affordeth us likewise matter of duty Lessons of piety and Lessons of thankfullnesse First Lessons of piety Oh If Christ the second Person 1 Lessons of piety in the Triuity did put on man how carefull should men be to put on Christ Put ye on the Lord Jesus saith the Apostle not making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Rom. 13. 14. If Christ assumed our human nature how should we wrestle with God to be made partakers of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and pretious Promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine nature having escaped the corruptions that are in the World through lusts If Christ became thus one flesh with us how zealous should we be to become one spirit with Christ 1 Cor. 6. 17. Even as man and wife is one flesh so he that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit So she is married to Christ and God looketh upon such a soul as his owne daughter now it is married to his Son therefore dealeth with it as Caleb did to Achsah He giveth her not onely the upper Land and nether springs not onely outward blessings and accommodations but comforts and refreshments with them not onely the nether springs of Ordinances but the upper springs of Comforts and Refreshments in and by those Ordinances Secondly Here are Lessons of thankfullnesse too Was the Word made flesh Did Christ take our nature yea 2 Lessons of thankfullness did he take our nature at the worst after the Fall What exceeding great cause have we to blesse his Name for ever for this Condescension of his Should all the Princes in the World have come from their severall Thrones and have gone a begging from door to door it was not so much as for Christ to become man for our sakes And he took our nature not in the integrity of it as in Adam before his fall but in the infirmities of it which came to it by the fall As for a man that can live of himselfe to wear a Noble man's Livery while this Noble man is in great favour in the Court and hath the King's eare this is no such great matter But when this Noble man is proclaimed a Traitor and is cast out of his Prince's favour then for this man to wear his Cloath and owne him this is
We beheld his glory which is the shining forth of excellency such appeared in Christ The specification of that Object What kind of glory Why the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father Ye read in Scripture of severall sorts of glory There is the glory of the Celestiall bodies the Sun 1. Glory of Celestiall bodies Moon and Stars of which it is said 1 Cor. 15. 41. There is one glory of the Sun another glory of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one Star differeth from another in glory We read of the glory of Man 1 Pet. 1. 24. All flesh is 2. Glory of Man grasse and all the glory of man as the flower of the grasse The glory of Man because as the Stars and Sun and Moon excell inferiour bodies so they excell the Beasts there is a shining forth in him beyond what is in the creatures that have no reason We read likewise of the glory of the Angels who are 3. Glory of Angeis therefore called the Cherubims of glory Heb. 9. 5. And over it the Cherubims of glory shadowing the Mercy-seat of which we cannot now speak particularly But there is beyond all these for all these are but created 4. The Glory of God Glories there is the glory of God of which he himself saith He will not give it to any other This is the Glory of which we read in the Text He will not give it to another Isa 42. 4. I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another I but Christ was himself of the same Nature with himself therefore the glory they saw in Christ was the glory as of the onely-begotten of the Father Some difference is in these words First In that Christ is said to be the onely begotten Do Object 1st we not read in the thirteenth Verse of this Chapter of other children of God which were born not of blood nor of flesh nor of the will of man but of God How then is Christ the onely begotten seeing God hath other children and other begotten children too That will not serve the turn to say We are adopted Christs as his begotten Saith James Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures If God hath begotten us how then is Christ the onely begotten of the Father I answer Out of this place of St. James Of his own will Answ 1st begat he us There lyeth the differences Christ is the begotten of the Nature of the Father we are begotten of the Will of the Father Of his own will begar he us Christ is a Son of eternall generation we are sons by adoption He begotten of his Nature and we begotten of his Will And so in that sense Christ is the onely begotten because the onely Naturall Son of God Still here is a farther difference We beheld his glory as Object 2d the glory of the onely begotten of the Father In this Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is but as another thing is not the same thing simile non est idem Why now we hold out and that according to truth that the glory of Christ was the very self-same glory which God the Father had the self-same glory which is due to God is due to the Son of God Therefore it is here said It was the glory as of the onely begotten For that you must know that the Hebrew Caph and the Answ 2d Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is two-fold there is a two-fold As in Scripture one of Similitude the other of Identity There is as Similitudinis Veritatis an as of comparison As for example If one shall see a Noble-man richly attired and bravely attended to go through the streeets and say Such a Noble-man goeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a King here is an as of similitude If the King himself should be going to Parliament in great state we may truly say of him he goeth in state 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a King Here is an as of Verity and Identity The former was but an as of similitude Aand there are many places of Scripture where as doth not note a likenesse but the self-samenesse as I may so speak an Identity It is said of John the Baptist that all the people looked at him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Prophet Matth. 14. 5. When * Herod he would have put him to death he feared the multitude because they counted him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a prophet Do you think the multitude looked at John as if he had been something like a prophet No they took him for a Prophet indeed yea it is expressed they counted him for a prophet Phil. 2. 8. the Apostle speaking of Christ being found in fashion of a man he humbled himself What was not Christ really Man Yes But he being found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in fashion as a man Here as is an as of Identity not an as of similitude As a man that is really so As a man that is the onely begotten Son of God that is really the onely begotten Son of God Ye have the words expounded Now for the proof of this The Disciples beheld the glory of Christ as the glory of the onely begotten Son of God you shall have their owne Testimony 1 Joh. 1. 1 2. That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have look't upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life for the life was manifested and we have seen and bear witnesse and shewed unto you that Eternall Life which was with the Father and was manifested to us Other men To see Christ and to see into Christ is not the same thing they saw Christ as well as the Disciples did but not so much into Christ as the Disciples did As the Temple of Solomon was all beautifull without of costly work fair and comely stones but within it was all over-laid with Gold The Passengers that went by they could see the out side of the Temple and could not but acknowledge a beautifull frame but the Priests that served within they saw it all over-laid with Gold and so saw a farther beauty All the Jewes amongst whom Christ conversed might behold his out side but the Disciples had a farther in sight into Christ We beheld him that is we beheld him as the word of Life and saw his glory that is as of the onely begotten Son of God Whereas others saw his glory that is as of a Man that did many glorious things but these saw the glory of God through the Manhood For the farther manifestation of this I shall shew you in what things and at what time the Disciples beheld the glory of Christ and then proceed to Application First In what things 1. The things wherein Christ's glory appeareth 1. The glory of
even as the Angels It is said of them that they behold the face of God Matth. 18. 20. Christ saith there I say to you that in heaven their Angels do alwaies behold the face of my Father which is in heaven So when men come to be like Angels in a state of glory they shall also see the face of God But no man hath seen God at any time during this life God in his Essence For this we have more than one place of Scripture the same words in the Text are repeated in 1 Joh. 4. 12. No man hath seen God at any time And Paul hath a place to the same purpose 1 Tim. 6. 16. Who onely hath immortality dwelling in light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see There are but three waies that can be imagined by which man in a state of mortality can see God in his Essence either it must be by his Bodily eyes or by the eye of Reason or by the eye of Faith But a man cannot see God by any of these therefore no man can see God in that sense First No man can see God by his Bodily eye for the very 1. The eyes of our bodies cannot behold the Essence of God light wherein he dwelleth is inaccessible to the eye of sense we cannot so much as see our own souls or the Angels that are inferiour spirits How then shall we be able with our bodily eyes to see the Father of spirits the Lord of glory The Israelites could not so much as endure the shining of Moses his face How then can the eye of the body be imagined capable of that infinite glorious light that is in the essence of God And yet there is a place that speaks as if a man in the state of mortality by his bodily eyes had seen God Gen. 32. 30. Jacob called the name of the place Penuel for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved Here is a man in the state of mortality that saw God face to face For this ye must know that Jacob did indeed see God but God in a representation not God in his essence He saw the Second Person in the Trinity in the shape of a man that wrestled with him This was all the sight of God that he had The Second Person in the Trinity before he took the nature of man took the shape of man such a shape had Christ taken here in which he wrestled with Jacob and this is that God which Jacob saw face to face not God in his essence but God in a representation And that very thing of God appearing in the Old Testament in a representation to the eyes of the body sheweth that he never appeared to them in his essence because his representations are many and his essence is one He appeared in a Bush to Moses and to Eliah in a still Voice to Jacob as a Wrestler to Joshua as a Captain of the Lord's hoast These were all representations that God was pleased to make of himself and thus men saw him But his essence all this while was invisible neither could it be diversified as his representations were being but one That is memorable which Isaiah saith Isa 6. 5. Mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts The Jews took this advantage against him and said he was a false Prophet Why He said he had seen the King the Lord of hoasts whereas God saith to Moses Thou canst not see my face and live Therefore they put him to death No man can see God in his essence and live But Isaiah saw him and he said true but it was in a representation Secondly No man can see God in his essence no not by the eye of Reason Reason hath but three waies by which it 2. The eye of our Reason cannot behold him in his Essence Reason knoweth God three waies 1. By way of Causality comes to the knowledge of God and those are known to Schollars by these names Via causalitatis via Remotionis and via Eminentiae First By way of Causality and so reason comes to gather of God by all the creatures which it seeth lovely and looks at all these as effects of God as the cause of all and so comes to the knowledge of God as the first cause Thus Reason collects of God But how far is this from seeing the essence of God Reason discovers a God but not what God is in his Beeing onely that He is For no effect can shew the nature of its cause fully but either such as manifesteth the whole force of the cause or else such as is of the same kind with the cause as burning that sheweth the nature of the fire because the fire being a naturall agent burns to the utmost of its power Therefore burning sheweth what nature the fire is of as carrying the nature of the force in it As a child sheweth the nature of the father because of the same nature with the father But the creatures cannot shew God because they are of effects different from him These are parts of the way but how little proportion is readd of him The thunder of his power who can understand Neither are the creatures of the same rank and kind with God as the child is with the father they are all of them finite God is infinite So that all that Reason can do this way is to gather that there is a God but not what he is Secondly There is the way of Remotion by looking over 2. By way of Remotion all the creatures and by setting aside whatsoever savours of imperfection in them and ascribing the remainder to God Thus we say that God is Immortall Impassible Impeccable because we say that to die to suffer and to sin are the imperfections of the creature God cannot sin God cannot die God cannot lie God cannot suffer But this still comes short of seeing God in his essence for by this we see what God is not not what he is by this way of Remotion 3. The third way which is a way of Eminency Reason 3. By way of Eminency goeth over the creatures once again and looks whatsoever is good in them and savours of perfection in them and ascribes that to God as the Author of those perfections So when it seeth in Man wisdom and strength and goodnesse Reason can ascribe to God as the cause of them a more eminent goodness and wisdom and strength And this is the nearest and the farthest Reason can go And yet in all these it cometh short of the essence of God because in this way it findeth out what he is rather in regard of his qualities speaking after the manner of men then what he is in his essence Thus we cannot see God in his essence no not by the eye of Reason There is onely one more that is the eye of Faith which â— The eye of Faith cannot apprehend God in his
excellent speech which he writeth concerning this subject of seeing God in his hundred and twelfth Epistle where he had disputed largely about this thing he taketh himself off and saith Let us be wise â—o sobriety and not be too full of heat In the carrying on of this Argument let us dispute fairly lest while we seek in a way of contention and bitternesse how God may be seen we lose that peace without which God cannot be seen Follow peace and holiness without which it is impossible to see the Lord. I come now to the second thing the Intimacy of Christ The Intimacy of Christ with his Father with the Father which lyeth in these words The onely-begotten Son which lyeth in the bosome of the Father Christ is the onely begotten Son that is in the bosom of the Father that lyeth clearly in my Text. Of his being the onely begotten Son I shall need to say nothing now because I spake before to it upon the fourteenth Verse And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory as of the onely begotten of the Father full of grace and truth This expression is to be opened here Which is in the bosome of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is not which was to be before the Incarnation or which was to be in the bosome of the Father after the Ascension but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in the bosome of the Father When these words were uttered and in every moment of time yea from eternity Christ is in the bosom of the Father The phrase I take it implyeth these three things The unity of Natures The dearnesse of Affections The communication of Secrets First It implyeth unity of Natures and so there is something 1. To be in the bosome of the Father implyeth unity of Natures more in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more in unity of Natures then distinction of Persons In the bosome of the Father The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But for the unity of Natures they use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus the bosome is the child's place Look to the Scripture-expressions Ye find Moses speaking of himself as a father carrying Israel as a child in his bosome Numb 11. 12. Have I conceived all this people have I begotten them that thou shouldest say unto me Carry them in thy bosom And so in Nathan's Parable 2 Sam. 12. 3. A poor man had nothing save onely a little ewe-lamb which he had brought and nourished up and it grew up together with him and with his children it did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosome and was unto him as a daughter A daughter in the bosome And so accordingly here The onely begotten Son that is in the bosome of the Father to shew the unity of Natures that is between the Father and the Son Christ being God co-equall with the Father Secondly As it implyeth unity of Natures so it implyeth 2. It implyeth dearnesse of Affection dearnesse of Affection Bosom as it is for children so for nearness of Relation The wife of thy bosome and The husband of thy bosome Deut. 28. 54. His eye shall be evill towards the wife of his bosome and verse 56. Her eye speaking of a wife shall be evill against the husband of her bosome Because of those dear affections which that nearnesse of Relation as that of Marriage calleth for between man and wife John the beloved of the Lord ye find him lying nearest Christ even in his bosome Joh. 13. 23. And there was leaning on Jesus his bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved The posture of leaning upon Christ's bosome was an argument that Christ loved him In this sense Jesus is the Son of the Father's bosome because the Son of the Father's love He shall translate us into the kingdom of the Son of his love This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased saith the Voice from heaven Matth. 3. 17. Thirdly Being in the bosome implyeth communication 3. It implyeth communication of Secrets of Secrets the bosome is a place for them It is a speech of Tully to a friend that had betrusted him with a secret Crede mihi c. Believe me saith he what thou hast committed to me it is in my bosome still I am not ungirt to let it slip out But Scripture addeth this hint too where it speaketh of the bosome as the place of Secrets Prov. 17. 23. A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosome to pervert the waies of judgment speaking of a bribe Prov. 21. 14. A gift in secret pacifieth anger and a reward in the bosome expiateth wrath Here is secret and bosome all one as gift and reward are one So Christ lyeth in the Father's bosome this intimateth his being conscious to all the Father's secrets So have ye an opening of this phrase Much is to be learned from it 1. Give the same Worship to Christ as to the Father First Seeing Christ's being in the bosome of the Father implyeth unity of natures this should teach us to give the same worship to Christ as we give to the Father because there is the same nature in both It is that that Christ expecteth and calleth for Joh. 5. 23. The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him Jesus Christ requireth the same honour which we give to God the Father it is fit he should have it and it is fit this honour should be pleaded for now in this age wherein many plead against the Divinity of Christ We should give him the same honour that we give to the Father Heb. 1. 6. When he bringeth him in as the first-born of the world he saith Let all the Angels in heaven worship him If they then how ought all the world to worship him We should give him the honour of Invocation praying to him as Stephen did when they stoned him he called upon God and said Lord Jesus receive my spirit As with Worship and Invocation so with Faith It is said that Abraham gave glory to God by believing in him We should give honour to Christ by exercising the act of believing in him this he called for Let not your hearts be troubled ye Joh. 14. 1. Christ the proper object of Faith believe in God believe also in me He is the proper object of faith as he justifieth Circumferentia fidei est Verbum Dei sed Centrum est Deus The whole Word of God is the circumference of faith every thing learned in it is to be believed But the center of faith as the Word justifieth that is the Word God that is Jesus Christ blessed for evermore Secondly His being in the bosome
of the Father implieth 2. It teacheth us to set our affections upon Christ the dearnesse of affection between the Father and the Son And this teacheth us who are bound to be followers of God as dear children to set our affections upon Christ because God doth so He who is the Son of God's love should be the object of our love God hath a bosome for Christ we should have a bosome for Christ too It is said of Ignatius that after his death his body being opened the name Jesus was found written in his heart That is a fable yet hath a good morall every soul should have Jesus written in the heart because the love of the heart should be bestowed upon Christ as the noblest object and best deserving it Again ye have an expression that comes home to that in the Text Cant. 1. 13. ye shall see where the Church laid Christ A bundle of myrrhe is my well-beloved to me He shall lie all night between my breasts Here the Church maketh a room for Christ to lie in her bosome This is a most significant expression This comparing Christ to a bundle of myrrhe which is of a bitter tast but a sweet smell And so fitter to represent Christ Crucified in whose death there was a concurrence of these two bitternesse and sweetnesse Nothing so bitter in it self as the passion of Christ the token of which was the paschall Lamb which was to be eaten with bitter herbs He indured more then we can comprehend His owne soul onely could know that bitternesse As there was a great deal of bitternesse in it so a great deal of sweetnesse too as in myrrhe He offered himselfe to God a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour Ephes 5. 2. saith the Apostle Myrrhe they say is of speciall use to keep from putrefaction to dry up moist humours therefore they took myrrhe to inbalm Christ's body withall And such drieth up the superfluous humours of the soul As Physitians say That in nature a bundle of myrrhe between the breasts is Cordiall surely we have no such Cordialls as Christ in the bosome Therefore A bundle of myrrhe my beloved is to me He shall lie all night between my breasts Nothing so bitter as my sins were but the crucifying of Christ and yet nothing so sweet as that Christ was crucified for my sins to take them away Therefore let us find a bosome to lay Christ in for the time to come If we will be glad of his bosome when we die He will be content to lie in ours now if we will but receive him Certainly it concerneth us to know what we do with our affections How we bestow our love Loe here is an object to be beloved more then the wife of the bosome more then the husband of the bosome Here is the Mediator in the bosome If any thing will draw-out love from us it is the consideration of that love which he hath shewed to us Love is the Load-stone of love See how he Amor magnes amoris hath opened his bosome to us how he hath exceeded all the patterns of love We find in Scripture Rebecca loved Jacob better then Esau Therefore she put him into a way of getting the blessing And when Jacob was afraid of the event lest his father should curse him The curse be Gen. 27. 13. upon me my son saith she The Lord putteth us into a way of getting an eternall blessing from God the Father and for the procuring of this he himselfe is become a curse for us He was made sin for us and a curse that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Jacob loved Rachel better then Leah therefore was content to serve so many years For us the Lord took upon him the form of a servant and in that form served for us three and thirty years and more here in the flesh Jonathan loved David and to manifest his love he put his owne garment upon him Christ so loved us as to cloath us with his owne righteousnesse David loved Mephibosheth and therefore set him at his owne Table to eate bread continually though he were lame Christ so loveth us notwithstanding all our lamenesse and imperfections as to provide a Table for us where we shall one day sit down with Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of Heaven Beloved do you provide a room for Christ in your bosomes and he will provide a room for you in Abrahams bosome yea in his owne Thirdly This being in the Fathers bosome implieth Communication 3. It teacheth us to go to Christ for illumination of secrets Let us learn from hence to go to Christ for Illumination that he who knowes the secrets of the Father would discover them to us so farre as they are necessary for our salvation or the edification of our brethren Whither should we go but to the great Counsellour for advice The Disciples took this course Luk. 11. 1. One of the Disciples said to him Lord teach us to pray So Lord teach us to hear Lord teach us to meditate and Lord teach us to conferre to go to Christ for all teaching If any man want wisdome let him aske it of God Jam. 1. 5. Who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not we cannot be wise to Salvation unlesse Christ be made wisdome to us otherwise the Devill will be too hard for us he is so cunning and subtile as to make fools of us As soon as a subtile man will cheat a Child of what he hath so soon will the Devill cheat us There are wiâ—es of the Devill depths of Satan mysteries of Iniquity How shall we be able to shun these to avoid the danger of them if we be not instructed by Him who knoweth the secrets of the Father As there are mysteries of Iniquity so of Godlinesse too The Gospell it selfe Paul calleth it wisdome in a Mystery And that even amongst the perfect 1 Cor. 2. 6. Howbeit we speak wisdom amongst them that are perfect ver 7. We speak the wisdome of God in a mystery Which mystery wisdome in a mystery such is the Gospell So mysterious that one mystery is wrap't in another wisdome in a Mystery and that hid and that amongst the perfect How shall we come to find out this wisdome if the Lord Jesus the wisdome of God be not made wisdome to us As there are mysteries in every point of Doctrine so there are secrets in every point of Practice which without the help of Christ we cannot come to be made masters of Psal 25. 14. The secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him In every duty we can put our hands to there is a secret It is a Common thing to pray but to pray in the Holy Ghost is a great secret It is a Common thing to come to the Lords Table but to discern the Lords body that is a secret It is a Common thing to hear the word but so as it may be mixt
with faith in us that is a secret To keep the Sabbath is a common thing but to call the Sabbath a delight that is a secret Would we be acquainted with the secrets of the power of godlinesse let us go to Jesus Christ who is onely conscious to all the secrets of God seek to him that he would reveal them to us by his Spirit for He is in the bosome of the Father So I have done with the second thing I come now to the third thing concerning the discovery of the Father by Christ He hath declared him You have heard of a two-fold sight of God a Beatificall and Scientificall vision A Beatificall Vision in Reference to his Essence A Scientificall Vision in Reference to his Counsell And that Christ the onely begotten Son may not be excluded from either of these the next Clause implieth Which is in the bosome of his Father I say It implieth That Christ the Son hath a beatificall vision of God the Father even in his essence here while upon the face of the earth amongst the Children of men And besides this He must needs see the essence of God that is essentially God himselfe And His lying in the bosome of the Father implieth That he could not but have the scientificall vision of the Father Hence we inferre that none is fitter to declare the Father then he that saw the Father and none more able to shew forth the mind and the Counsell of the Father then he that lay in the Father's bosome The onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father He hath declared him The word in the Originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is an Emphasis in the expression and Erasmus noteth that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de eo dicitur qui res alioqui latentes obscuras planè ac dilucidè declarat It is oftentimes spoken of him that revealeth obscure and hidden things and maketh manifest things otherwise not to be revealed And it is properly to be applied to Divine and Heavenly Mysteries Hence there ariseth a difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first is properly applied to divine and heavenly mysteries the other to vulgar and things more obvious and common And some think that Christ in the beginning of this Chapter is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word because he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father's Interpreter or he that declareth the mind and will of the Father So then Concerning the discovery of the Father by Christ two things are to be observed First The person declaring Christ Secondly The person declared the Father First The person declaring From hence note two things The Fitnesse of the Messenger The Fulnesse of the Message First The fitnesse of the Messenger by whom in these latter times the deep mysteries of the Father's Divine essence and will so farre as is necessary to Salvation is declared For Jesus Christ the onely begotten Son of God that lay in the bosome of the Father who is the expresse Image of his Person Heb. 1. 3. hath shewed to us the Invisible glory and made it visible so farre as we are capable to behold it An expression you have to confirm this out of the mouth of Christ himselfe Matth. 11. 27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father and no man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son and he to whom soever the Son will reveal him Joh. 6. 46. No man hath seen the Father save he that is of God he hath seen the Father Secondly The fulnesse of the Message that Christ hath declared which is indeed Every thing necessary for man's Salvation and whatsoever Christ hath declared is true profitable wholesome and sufficient Therefore no leaving the Word of Christ and flying to human Traditions for saith he Joh. 3. 11. Verily verily I say unto you we speak that we do know and testifie that we have seen And Hebr. 1. 1. God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken unto us by his Son The words in the originall are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by piece-meal darkly by riddles and visions formerly but now he hath clearly declared not onely himselfe by his Son but whatsoever else so much as our frail natures and weak capacities can reach unto tending to the salvation of all the Elect of God Secondly The next thing is the Person declared That is the Father or the mind and will of the Father or more plainly Christ that lay in the bosome of the Father hath declared from the Father's bosome the glorious mystery of man's Redemption his Justification by faith and the way to everlasting happinesse and glory I now go on to as brief an Application First Doth Christ declare the mind of the Father get then Intimacy and Familiarity with Jesus Christ Take Him into thy heart that lay in the bosome of the Father For what greater stay can we have in the time of trouble and what more supporting Comfort and consolation in the hour of Temptation than to be acquainted with and united to him that is the Churches Head and our Lord and Saviour the onely begotten Son of God and to lye in the bosome of the Father Secondly Take notice of the Dignity of a Christian that hath so able and so gratious an Interpreter even the Eternall Son of God He it is that to us declareth the will and layeth open the whole Counsell of his Father Thirdly Let dignity oblige you to duty If Jesus Christ declareth the will of the Father then upon the life of your souls it exceedingly much concerneth you diligently to observe and carefully to attend unto what Christ declareth Learning alwayes to submit to the will of the Father thus declared by his Son that his Name alone may be glorified and our souls Eternally saved FINIS