way or manner of its accomplishment But now when every word of it is explained declared and its Mystical Sence visibly laid open unto us in the Gospel and by the accomplishment exactly answering every expression in it it is Judicial Blindness not to receive it Nothing but the Satanical Pride of the hearts of men which will admit of no effects of Infinite Wisdom but what they suppose they can comprehend can shut their eyes against the Light of this Truth 6. PROMISES Prophesies Praedictions concerning his Person his coming his Office his Kingdom and his Glory in them all with the Wisdom Grace and Love of God to the Church in him are the Line of Life as was said which runs through all the Writings of the Old Testament and take up a great portion of them Those were the things which he expounded unto his Disciples out of Moses and all the Prophets Concerning these things he appealed to the Scriptures against all his adversaries Search the Scriptures for they are they that testifie of me And if we find them not if we discern them not therein it is because a vail of Blindness is over our minds Nor can we read study or meditate on the Writings of the Old Testament unto any Advantage unless we design to find out and behold the Glory of Christ declared and represented in them For want hereof they are a sealed book to many unto this day 7. IT is usual in the Old Testament to set out the Glory of Christ under Metaphorical Expressions yea it aboundeth therein For such Allusions are exceedingly suited to let in a sense into our minds of those things which we cannot distinctly comprehend And there is an Infinite Condescention of Divine Wisdom in their way of Instruction Representing unto us the Power of Things Spiritual in what we naturally discern Instances of this kind in calling the Lord Christ by the Names of those Creatures which unto our senses represent that Excellency which is spiritually in him are innumerable So he is called the Rose for the sweet savour of his Love Grace and Obedience the Lilly for his gracious Beauty and Amiableness the Pearl of Price for his worth for to them that believe he is precious the Vine for his fruitfulness the Lion for his Power The Lamb for his Meekness and Fitness for Sacrifice with other things of the like kind almost innumerable THESE Things have I mentioned not with any design to search into the depth of this Treasury of those Divine Truths concerning the Glory of Christ but only to give a little Light unto the words of the Evangelist that he opened unto his disciples out of Moses and all the Prophets the things which concerned himself and to stir up our own souls unto a contemplation of them as contained therein CHAP. IX The Glory of Christ in his intimate Conjunction with the Church VVHAT concerns the Glory of Christ in the Mission of the Holy Ghost unto the Church with all the Divine truths that are branched from it I have at large declared in my Discourse concerning the whole dispensation of the Holy Spirit Here therefore it must have no place amongst those many other things which offer themselves unto our contemplation as part of this Glory or intimately belonging thereunto I shall insist briefly on Three only which cannot be reduced directly unto the former heads AND the first of these is That intimate Conjunction that is between Christ and the Church whence it is just and equal in the sight of God according unto the Rules of his Eternal Righteousness that what he did and suffered in the Discharge of his Office should be esteemed reckoned and imputed unto us as unto all the fruits and benefits of it as if we had done and suffered the same things our selves For this conjunction of his with us was an act of his own Mind and Will wherein he is ineffably glorious THE Enemies of the glory of Christ and of his Cross do take this for granted That there ought to be such a conjunction between the guilty person and him that suffers for him as that in him the guilty person may be said in some sense to undergo the punishment himself But then they affirm on the other hand That there was no such conjunction between Christ and sinners none at all but that he was a man as they were men and otherwise that he was at the greatest distance from them all as it is possible for one man to be from another Socin de Servat lib. 3. cap. 3. The falseness of this latter Assertion and the gross ignorance of the Scripture under a pretence of subtilty in them that make it will evidently appear in our ensuing Discourse THE Apostle tells us 1 Pet. 2. 24. That in his own self he bare our sins in his own body on the tree and chap. 3. 18. That he suffered for sin the just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God But this seems somewhat strange unto Reason where is the Justice where is the Equity that the just should suffer for the unjust Where is Divine Righteousness herein For it was an act of God The Lord hath laid on him the iniquites of us all Isa. 53. 6. The Equity hereof with the grounds of it must be here a little enquired into FIRST of all it is certain that all the Elect the whole Church of God fell in Adam under the curse due to the transgression of the Law It is so also that in this curse Death both Temporal and Eternal was contained This curse none could undergo and be saved Nor was it consistent with the Righteousness or Holiness or Truth of God that sin should go unpunished Wherefore there was a necessity upon a supposition of Gods Decree to save his Church of a Translation of punishment namely from them who had deserved it and could not bear it unto one who had not deserved it but could bear it A SUPPOSITION of this Translation of punishment by Divine dispensation is the foundation of Christian Religion yea of all supernatural Revelation contained in the Scripture This was first intimated in the first promise and afterwards explained and confirmed in all the institutions of the Old Testament For although in the Sacrifices of the Law there was a revival of the greatest and most fundamental principal of the Law of Nature namely That God is to be worshipped with our best yet the principal end and use of them was to represent this translation of punishment from the offender unto another who was to be a Sacrifice in his stead THE reasons of the equity hereof and the unspeakable glory of Christ herein is what we now enquire into And I shall reduce what ought to be spoken hereunto to the ensuing Heads 1. IT is not contrary unto the nature of Divine Justice it doth not interfere with the principles of natural light in man that in sundry cases some persons should suffer punishment for the fine
Duty of his Obedience rendring it amiable in the sight of God and useful unto us So when he went unto John to be baptized he who knew he had no need of it on his own Account would have declined the Duty of administring that Ordinance unto him but he replied Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness Mat. 3. 15. This I have undertaken willingly of my own accord without any need of it for my self and therefore will discharge it For him who was Lord of all universally thus to submit himself to Universal Obedience carrieth along with it an Evidence of Glorious Grace 2. THIS Obedience as unto the use and end of it was not for himself but for us We were obliged unto it and could not perform it he was not obliged unto it any otherwise but by a free Act of his own Will and did perform it God gave him this Honour that he should obey for the whole Church that by his obedience we should be made righteous Rom. 5. 19. Herein I say did God give him Honour and Glory that his Obedience should stand in the stead of the perfect Obedience of the Church as unto Justification 3. HIS Obedience being absolutely universal and absolutely perfect was the great Representative of the Holiness of God in the Law It was repreâ—â—nted glorious when the Ten Words were written by the Finger of God in Tables of Stone It appears yet more eminently in the Spiritual Transcription of it in the Hearts of Believers But absolutely and perfectly it is exemplified only in the Holiness and Obedience of Christ which answered it unto the utmost And this is no small Part of his Glory in Obedience that the Holiness of God in the Law was therein and therein alone in that one Instance as unto human Nature fully represented 4. HE wrought out this Obedience against all Difficulties and Oppressions For although he was absolutely free from that Disorder which in us hath invaded our whole Natures which internally renders all Obedience difficult unto us and perfect Obedience impossible yet as unto Opposition from without in Temptations Sufferings Reproaches Contradictions he met with more than we all Hence is that glorious Word Although he were a Son yet he learned Obedience by the things which be suffered Heb. 5. 8. See our Exposition of that place But 5. THE Glory of this Obedience ariseth principally from the Consideration of the Person who thus yielded it unto God This was no other but the Son of God made Man God and Man in one Person He who was in Heaven above all Lord of all at the same time lived in the World in a Condition of no Reputation and a Course of the strictest Obedience unto the whole Law of God He unto whom Prayer was made prayed himself Night and Day He whom all the Angels of Heaven and all Creatures worshiped was continually conversant in all the Duties of the Worship of God He who was over the House diligently observed the meanest Office of the House He that made all Men in whose Hand they are all as Clay in the Hand of the Potter observed amongst them the strictest Rules of Justice in giving unto every one his Due and of Charity in giving good things that were not so due This is that which renders the Obedience of Christ in the Discharge of his Office both mysterious and glorious 2. AGAIN The Glory of Christ is proposed unto us in what he suffered in the Discharg of the Office which he had undertaken There belonged indeed unto his Office Victory Success and Triumph with great Glory Isa. 63. 1 2 3 4 5. but there were Sufferings also required of him antecedently thereunto Ought not Christ to suffer and to enter into his Glory BUT such were these Sufferings of Christ as that in our Thoughts about them our Minds quickly recoil in a Sense of their Insufficiency to conceive a Right of them Never any one launched into this Ocean with his Meditations but he quickly found himself unable to fathom the Depths of it Nor shall I here undertake an Enquiry into them I shall only point at this Spring of Glory and leave it under a Vail WE might here look on him as under the Weight of the Wrath of God and the Curse of the Law taking on himself and on his whole Soul the utmost of Evil that God had ever threatned to Sin or Sinners we might look on him in his Agony and bloody Sweat in his strong Cries and Supplications when he was sorrowful unto the Death and began to be amazed in apprehensions of the things that were coming on him of that dreadful Tryal which he was entring into we might look upon him conflicting with all the Powers of Darkness the Rage and Madness of Men suffering in his Soul his Body his Name his Reputation his Goods his Life some of these Sufferings being immediate from God above othâ—rs from Devils and wicked Men acting according to the Determinate Counsel of God we might look on him praying weeping crying out bleeding dying in all things making his Soul an Offering for sin So was he taken from Prison and Judgment and who shall declare his Generation for he was cut off from the Land of the Living For the Transgression saith God of my People was he smitten Isa. 53. 8. But these things I shall not insist on in particular but leave them under such a Vail as may give us a Prospect into them so far as to fill our Souls with holy Admiration LORD What is Man that thou art thus mindful of him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him Who hath known thy Mind or who hath been thy Councellor O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out What shall we say unto these things that God spared not his only Son but gave him up unto Death and all the Evils included therein for such poor lost Sinners as we were that for our Sakes the Eternal Son of God should submit himself unto all the Evils that our Natures are obnoxious unto and that our Sins had deserved that we might be delivered HOW Glorious is the Lord Christ on this Account in the Eyes of Believers When Adam had sinned and thereby eternally according unto the Sanction of the Law ruined himself and all his Posterity he stood ashamed afraid trembling as one ready to perish for ever under the Displeasure of God Death was that which he had deserved and immediate Death was that which he looked for In this State the Lord Christ in the Promise comes unto him and says Poor Creature How woful is thy Condition How deformed is thy Appearance What is become of the Beauty of the Glory of that Image of God wherein thou wast created How hast thou taken on thee the monstrous Shape and Image of Satan And yet thy present Misery thy
Mediator and the Discharge thereof IN our beholding of the Glory of Christ herein doth the Exercise of Faith in this Life principally consist so the Apostle declares it Phil. 3. 8 9 10 11 12. Yea doubtless and I count all things loss for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. To know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his Sufferings and to be made conformable unto his Death This therefore we must treat of somewhat more at large THERE is one God saith the Apostle and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. In that great difference between God and Man occasioned by our Sin and Apostacy from him which of it self could issue in nothing but the utter Ruine of the whole Race of Mankind there was none in Heaven or Earth in their Original Nature and Operations who was meet or able to make up a Righteous Peace between them Yet must this be done by a Mediator or cease for ever THIS Mediator could not be God himself absolutely considered for a Mediator is not of one but God is one Gal. 3. 20. Whatever God might do herein in a way of Sovereign Grace yet he could not do it in the way of Mediation which yet was necessary unto his own Glory as we have at large discoursed elsewhere AND as for Creatures there was none in Heaven or Earth that was meet to undertake this Office For if one Man sin against another the Judge shall judge herein but if a Man sin against the Lord who shall entreat for him 1 Sam. 2. 25. There is not any days-man betwixt us to lay his hand upon us both Job 9. 33. IN this State of Things the Lord Christ as the Son of God said Lo I come to do thy Will O God sacrifice and burnt offerings thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me and Lo I come to do thy Will Heb. 10. 5 6 7 8 9. By the Assumption of our Nature into Union with himself in his one Divine Person he became every way meet for the Discharge of this Office and undertakes it accordingly THAT which we enquire after at present is the Glory of Christ herein and how we may behold that Glory And there are three things wherein we may take a prospect of it 1. IN his Susception of this Office 2. In his Discharge of it 3. In the Event and Consequence thereof or what ensued thereon IN the Susception of this Office we may behold the Glory of Christ. 1. In his Condescention 2. In his Love 1. WE may behold his Glory in his Infinite Condescention to take this Office on him and our Nature to be his own unto that end It did not befall him by Lot or Chance it was not imposed on him against his Will it belonged not unto him by any Necessity of Nature or Condition he stood not in need of it it was no addition unto him but of his own Mind and Accord he graciously condescended unto the Susception and Discharge of it So the Apostle expresseth it Phil. 2. 5 6 7 8. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took on himself the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient 〈◊〉 death even the death of the Cross. IT was the Mind that was in Jesus Christ which is proposed unto our Consideration and Imitation What he was enclined and disposed unto from himself and his own mind alor◠And that in general which is ascribed unto him is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Self emptiness he emptied himself This the Ancient Church called his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we do his Condescention an Act of which 〈◊〉 God is called 〈◊〉 humbling of himself Psal. 113. 6. WHEREFORE the Susception of our Nature for the Discharge of the Office of Mediation therein was an Infinite Condescention in the Son of God wherein he is exceedingly Glorious in the Eyes of Believers AND I shall do these three Things 1. Shew in general the Greatness of this Condescention 2. Declare the Especial Nature of it And 3. Take what view we are able of the Glory of Christ therein 1. SUCH is the transcendent Excellency of the Divine Nature that it is said of God that he dwelleth on high and humbleth himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in the Earth Psal. 113. 5 6. He condescends from the Prerogative of his Excellency to behold to look upon to take notice of the most glorious Things in Heaven above and the greatest Things in the Earth below All his Respect unto the Creatures the most glorious of them is an Act of Infinite Condescention And it is so on Two Accounts 1. BECAUSE of the Infinite Distance that is between his Essence Nature or Being and that of the Creatures Hence all Nations before him are as the Drop of a Bucket and are counted as the small Dust of the Ballance yea that they are as nothing that they are accounted unto him less than nothing and vanity All Being is essentially in him and in comparison thereunto all other things are as nothing And there are no Measures there is no Proportion between infinite being and nothing Nothing that should induce a Regard from the one unto the other Wherefore the Infinite Essential Greatness of the Nature of God with its Infinite Distance from the Nature of all Creatures thereby causeth all his Dealings with them to be in the way of Condescention or humbling himself So it is expressed Isa. 57. 15. Thus saith the high and lofty one who inhabiteth Eternity I dwell in the high and holy Place with him also who is of a contrite and humble Spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones He is so the high and losty one and so inhabiteth Eternity or existeth in his own Eternal Being that it is an Act of mere Grace in him to take notice of things below and therefore he doth it in an especial manner of those whom the World doth most despise 2. IT ariseth from his Infinite Self-Sufficiency unto all the Acts and Ends of his own Eternal Blessedness What we have a Regard unto what we respect and desire it is that it may add unto our Satisfaction So it is so it must be with every Creature no Creature is self-ufficient unto its own Blessedness The humane Nature of Christ himself in Heaven is not so it lives in God and God in it in a full dependance on God and in receiving blessed and glorious Communications from him No rational Creature Angel or Man can do think act any thing but it is all to add to their Perfection and Satisfaction they are not Self-ufficient God alone wants
and offences of others I SHALL at present give this Assertion no other confirmation but only that God hath often done so who will who can do no iniquity SO he affirms that he will do Exod. 20. 5. Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation It is no exception of weight that they also are sinners continuing in their Fathers sins for the worst of sinners must not be dealt unjustly withal but they must be so if they are punished for their fathers sins and it be absolutely unlawful that any one should be punished for the sin of another SO the Church affirms Our fathers have sinned and are not and we have born their iniquities Lam. 5. 11. And so it was For in the Babylonish captivity God punished the sins of their fore-fathers especially those committed in the days of Manasses 2 King 23. 26 27. As afterwards in the final destruction of that Church and Nation God punished in them the guilt of all bloody persecutions from the beginning of the world Luke 11. 50 51. SO Canaan was cursed for the sin of his Father Gen. 9. 25. Saul's seven Sons were put to death for their Fathers bloody Cruelty 2 Sam. 21. 8. 14. For the Sin of David seventy thousand of the People were destroyed by an Angel concerning whom he said It is I that have sinned and done evil these sheep what have they done 2 Sam. 24. 15 17. See also 1 King 21. 29. So was it with all the Children or Infants that perished in the Flood or in the Conflagration of Sodom and Gomorrah And other instances of the like nature may be assigned IT is therefore evident That there is no inconsistency with the nature of Divine Justice nor the Rules of Reason among Men that in sundry Cases the Sins of some may be punished on others 2. IT is to be observed that this Administration of Justice is not promiscuous that any whatever may be punished for the sins of any others There is always a special Cause and Reason of it and this is a peculiar conjunction between them who sin and those who are punished for their sins And two Things belong unto this Conjunction 1. Especial Relation 2. Especial mutual Interest 1. THERE is an especial Relation required unto this Translation of Punishment Such as that between Parents and Children as in most of the Instances before given or between a King and Subjects as in the Case of David Hereby the Persons sinning and those suffering are constituted one Body wherein if one Member offend anonother may justly suffer The back may answer for what the hands takes away 2. IT consists in mutual Interest Those whose sins are punished in others have such an Interest in them as that their being so is a punishment unto themselves Therefore are such sinners threatned with the punishment and evils that shall befall their Posterity or Children for their sakes which is highly poepal unto themselves Numb 14. 33. Your Children shall wander in the wilderness forty years and bear your whoredoms The Punishment due to their sins is in part transferred unto their Children and therein did the sting of their own Punishment also consist 3. THERE is a greater a more Intimate Conjunction a nearer Relation an higher mutual Interest between Christ and the Church than ever was or can be between any other Persons or Relations in the world whereon it became just and equal in the sight of God that he should suffer for us and that what he did and suffered should be imputed unto us which is farther to be cleared THERE neither is nor can be any more than a Threefold Conjunction between diverse distinct Persons The first is Natural the second is Moral whereunto I refer that which is Spiritual or Mystical and the Third Foederal by vertue of mutual compact In all these ways is Christ in Conjunction with his Church and in every in one of them in a way Singular and Peculiar 1. THE first Conjunction of distinct Persons is Natural God hath made all Mankind of one blood Act. 17. 26. Whereby there is a Cognation and Alliance between them all Hence every Man is every Mans Brother or Neighbour unto whom loving kindness is to be shewed Luk. 10. 36. And this Conjunction was between Christ and the Church as the Apostle declares Heb. 2. 14. Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Hence both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one v. 11. His Infinite Condescention in coming into this Communion and Conjunction of Nature with us was before declared But it is not common like that between all other Men partakers of the same Nature There are Two Things wherein it was peculiar and eminent 1. THIS Conjunction between him and the Church did not arise from a necessity of Nature but from a voluntary act of his Will The Conjunction that is between all others is necessary Every Man is every Mans Brother whether he will or no by being a Man Natural Generation communicating to every one his subsistence in the same Nature prevents all acts of their own Will and Choice With the Lord Christ it was otherwise as the Text affirms For such Reasons as are there expressed he did by an act of his own Will partake of Flesh and Blood or came into this Conjunction with us He did it of his own choice because the Children did partake of the same He would be what the Children where Wherefore the Conjunction of Christ in humane Nature with the Church is ineffably distinct from that common Conjunction which is amongst all others in the same Nature And therefore altho it should not be meet amongst meer Men that one should act and suffer in the stead of others because they are all thus related to one another as it were whether they will or no yet this could not reach the Lord Christ who in a strange and wonderful manner came into this Conjunction by a meer act of his own 2. HE came into it on this design and for this only end nâ—mely that in our Nature taken to be his own he might do and suffer what was to be done and suffered for the Church So it is added in the Text That by death he might destroy him who had the power of death and deliver them who for fear of death were subject to Bondage This was the only end of his Conjunction in Nature with the Church And this puts the case between him and it at a vast distance from what is or may be between other Men. IT is a foolish thing to argue that because a mere participation of the same Nature among Men is not sufficient to warrant the Righteousness of
It doth change us wholly into the Image of Christ. When we shall see him we shall be as he is we shall be like him because we shall see him 1 Joh. 3. 2. But although the closing perfecting act of this Transformation be an act of sight or the sight of Glory yet there are many things towards it or degrees in it which we may here take notice of in our way 1. THE Soul upon its Departure from the Body is immediately freed from all the Weakness Disability Darkness Uncertainties and Fears which were impressed on it from the Flesh wherewith it was in the strictest Union The Image of the first Adam as fallen is then abolished Yea it is not only freed from all irregular sinful Distempers cleaving to our Nature as corrupted but from all those sinless Grievances and Infirmities which belong unto the Original Constitution of it This necessarily ensues on the Dissolution of the Person in order unto a blessed State The first entrance by Mortality into Immortallity is a step towards Glory The ease which a blessed Soul finds in a deliverance from this Encumbrance is a Door of entrance into eternal Rest. Such a change is made in that which in it self is the Center of all Evil namely Death that it is made a means of freeing us from all the Remainders of what is evil FOR this doth not follow absolutely on the Nature of the thing it self A meer Dissolution of our Natures can bring no Advantage with it especially as it is a part of the Curse But it is from the Sanctification of it by the Death of Christ. Hereby that which was Gods Ordinance for the Infliction of Judgment becomes an effectual Means for the Communication of Mercy 1 Cor. 5. 22. Chap. 15. 54. It is by vertue of the Death of Christ alone that the Souls of Believers are freed by Death from all impressions of Sin Infirmity and Evils which they have had from the Flesh which were their Burden under which they groaned all their Days No Man knows in any measure the Excellency of this Priviledge and the Dawnings of Glory which are in it who hath not been wearied and even worn out through long conflicting with the Body of Death The Soul hereon being freed from all Annoyances all Impressions from the Flesh is expedite and enlarged unto the Exercise of all its gracious Faculties as we shall see immediately WITH wicked Men it is not so Death unto them is a Curse and the Curse is the Means of the Conveyance of all Evil and not Deliverance from any Wherein they have been warmed and refreshed by the Influences or the Flesh they shall be deprived of it But their Souls in their separate State are perpetually harrased with the disquieting Passions which have been impressed on their Minds by their corrupt fleshly Lusts. In vain do such Persons look for Relief by Death If there be any thing remaining of present good and usefulness to them they shall be deprived of it And their Freedom for a Season from bodily pains will no way lie in the Ballance against that Confluence of Evils which Death will let in upon them 2. THE Spirits of just Men being freed by Death from the Clog of the Flesh not yet refined all the Faculties of their Souls and all the Graces in them as Faith Love and Delight are immediately set at Liberty enabled constantly to exercise themselves on God in Christ. The end for which they were created for which our Nature was endowed with them was that we might adhere unto God by them and come unto the Enjoyment of him Being now freed wholly from all that Impotency perversness and Disability unto this End with all the Effects of them which came upon them by the Fall they are carried with a full Stream towards God cleaving unto him with the most intense Embraces And all their Actings towards God shall be natural with Facility Joy Delight and Complacency We know not yet the Excellency of the Operations of our Souls in divine things when disburdened of their present Weight of their Flesh. And this is a second step towards the Consummation of Glory For IN the Resurrection of the Body upon its full Redemption it shall be so purified sanctified glorified as to give no Obstrnction unto the Soul in its Operations but be a blessed Organ for its highest and most spiritual Actings The Body shall never more be a Trouble a Burthen unto the Soul but an Assistant in its Operations and participant of its Blessedness Our Eyes were made to see our Redeemer and our other Sences to receive impressions from him according unto their Capacity As the Bodies of wicked Men shall be restored unto them to encrease and compleat their Misery in their Sufferings so shall the Bodies of the Just be restored unto them to heighten and consummate their Blessedness 3. THESE things are preparatory unto Glory The compleat Communication of it is by the Infusion of a new heavenly Light into the Mind enabling us to see the Lord Christ as he is The Soul shall not be brought into the immediate Presence of Christ without a new Power to behold him and the immediate Representation of his Glory Faith now doth cease as unto the manner of its Operation in this Life whilst we are absent from Christ. This Light of Glory succeeds into its Room fitted for that State and all the ends of it as Faith is for that which is present And 4. IN the first Operation of this Light of Glory Believers shall so behold the glory of Christ and the glory of God in him as that therewith and thereby they shall be immediately and universally changed into his Likeness They shall be as he is when they shall see him as he is There is no growth in glory as unto Parts there may be as unto Degrees Additions may be outwardly made unto what is at first received as by the Resurrection of the Body but the internal Light of Glory and its transforming Efficacy is capable of no degrees though new Revelations may be made unto it unto Eternity For the infinite Fountain of Life and Light and Goodness can never be fathomed much less exhausted And what God spake on the Entrance of sin by the way of contempt and aproach Behold the Man is become like one of us upbraiding him with what he had foolishly designed on the Accomplishment of the Work of his Gace he says in Love and infinite Goodness Man is become like one of us in the perfect Restoration of our Image in him This is the first Effect of the Light of Glory FAITH also in beholding the glory of Christ in this Life is accompanied with a transforming Efficacy as the Apostle expresly declares 2 Cor. 3. 18. It is the Principle from whence and the Instrumental Cause whereby all spiritual change is wrought in us in this Life but the Work of it is imperfect first because it is gradual and then because
will not seek for a Cure Some when they see their Sickness and their Wound will apply themselves unto wrong useless Remedies like them in the Prophet Hosea 5. 13. But none will make use of any Cure who see no Disease at all Wherefore to fasten a Conviction hereof on the Minds of some we may make use of the ensuing Enquiries and Observations 1. HAVE you in the way of your Profession had any Experience of these Spiritual Decays I doubt not but that there are some who have been preserved green and flourishing from their first Conversion unto God who never fell under the power of Sloth Neglect or Temptation at least not for any remarkable Season but they are but few It was not so scarce with any of those Believers under the Old Testament whose Lives and Walkings are recorded for our Instruction and they must be such as lived in an exact and diligent course of Mortification And some there are who have obtained Relief and Deliverance from under their Decays whose Backslidings have been healed and their Diseases cured So it was with David as he Divinely expresseth it Psal. 103. 1 2 3 4 5. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Holy Name Who forgiveth all thine Iniquities and herewith all thy Discases Who redeemeth thy Life from Destruction and crowneth thee with Loving kindness and tender Mercy Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy Youth is renewed like the Eagles So doth he celebrate his Deliverance from that State whereof he complains Psalm 38. which we mentioned before And there is no Grace or Mercy that doth more affect the Hearts of Believers that gives them a greater Transport of Joy and Thankfulness than this of Deliverance from Backslidings It is a bringing of the Soul out of Prison which enlargeth it unto Praise Psal. 142. 7. Of this sort I doubt not but that there are many for God hath given great warnings of the danger of a Spiritually decaying State and he hath made great Promises of Recovery from it and multitudes in the Church are daily exercised herein but I speak in general unto all Have you any Experience of such Spiritual Decays either in the frame of your Spirits or in the manner of your walking before God or at least that you are prone unto them if not mightily preserved by the Power of Grace in your own utmost Diligence If you have not so then I fear it is from one of these two Causes 1. THAT indeed you have never had any flourishing Spiritual State in your Souls He that hath been always weak and sickly doth not know what it is to want a state of Health and Strength because he never had experience of it much less doth he that is dead know what it is to want Life But he that from an exquisite Temper of Health falls into languishing Distempers knows distinctly both how it was and how it is with him And the frame of the Minds of many Professors of Religion with the manner of their walking is such as that if they are not sensible of Spiritual Decays it is evident that they never had any good Spiritual Health and it is to no purpose to treat with such Persons about a Recovery There are amongst those who make an outward Profession of true Religion many that live in all sorts of Sins If you should deal with them about Back-slidings Decays and a Recovery you will seem unto them as Lot did to his Sons-in-law when he told them of the Destruction of Sodom as one that mocked or made sport with them Gen. 19. 14. or you will be mocked by them for your pains they have been always such as they are it was never otherwise with them and it is a ridiculous thing to speak to them of a Recovery We must be able in this case to say to Men Remember whence you are fallen and repent and do your first works Revel 2. 5. They must have had an experience of a better State or they will not endeavour a Recovery from that wherein they are Such therefore as see neither Evil nor Danger in their present Condition but suppose all is well enough with them because it is as good as ever it was will not easily be brought under this Conviction but they have that which is of no less importance for them to enquire into namely whether they have had any thing of the Truth of Grace or no. Or 2. IF you have not this Experience it is to be feared that you are asleep in Security which is hardly distinguishable from Death in Sin The Church of Laodicea was sensibly decayed and gone off from it's Primitive Faith and Obedience yet she was so secure in her Condition knew so little of it that she judged her self on the contrary to be in a thriving flourishing State She thought her self encreased in all Church Riches and Goods that is Gifts and Grace while she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Revel 3. 17. in such a State as wherein it is questionable whether she had any thing of the Life and Power of Grace to be found in her or no. And so is it with many Churches at this day especially that which boasts it self to be without Error or Blame And it is strange that a Church should suppose that it flourisheth in Grace and Gifts when it hath nothing but a noise of words in their stead SO God testified concerning Ephraim that gray hairs were sprinkled on him yet he knew it not Hos. 7. 9. He was in a declining dying condition but did not understand it Hence it is added They do not return to the Lord their God nor seck him for all this ver 10. If Men will not learn and own their Spiritual Decays there is no hopes of prevailing with them to return unto the Lord the whole have no need of a Physician but the sick Christ came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance such Persons are under the Power of a stupid Security from whence it will be very hard to rouze them up Hence it is that we have so little success for the most part in calling Persons to look after a Revival and Recovery of their Decays they acknowledge no such thing in themselves such Calls may belong unto others yea if nay word seem to come near them unto their Disquietment they are apt to think it was spoken out of spight and ill will towards them they approve of themselves in their present Condition Hence is the Complaint of Christ in the Ministry of the Word I have called and ye have refused I have stretched out my hand and no Man regarded We have set at nought all my Counsel and you would none of my Reproof Prov. 1. 24 25. Hence let this Truth be pressed a thousand times it is not one of a thousand who will think himself so concerned as to apply himself unto a Relief A Spirit
unto him whereof they express First The Cause which was his meer Grace and Mercy For in thee the Fatherless findeth Mercy And Secondly The Effect of it which is Praise and Thanksgiving So will we render the Calves of our Lips And some things we may hence farther observe as unto the Case under Consideration As 1. ALTHOUGH God will repair our Spiritual Decays and heal our Backslidings freely yet he will do it so or in such a way as wherein he may communicate Grace unto us to the praise of his own Glory Therefore are these Duties prescribed unto us in order thereunto for although they are not the procuring Cause of the Love and Grace from whence alone we are healed yet are they required in the method of the Dispensation of Grace to precede the Effect of them Nor have we any where a more illustrious Instance and Testimony of the Consistency and Harmony which is between Soveraign Grace and the diligent discharge of our Duty than we have in this place For as God promiseth that he would heal their Backslidings out of his free Love verse 4. and would do it by the Communication of Effectual Grace ver 5. so he injoyns them all these Duties in order thereunto 2. THAT Tunless we find these things wrought in us in a way of preparation for the receiving of the Mercy desired we have no firm ground of Expectation that we shall be made partakers of it For this is the method of Gods dealing with the Church Then and then only we may expect a gracious Reviving from all our Decays when serious Repentance working in the ways declared is found in us This Grace will not surprize us in our Sloth Negligence and Security but will make way for it self by stirring us up unto sincere endeavours after it in the perseverance of these Duties And untill we see better Evidences of this Repentance among us than as yet appears we can have but small Hopes of a general Recovery from our present Decays 5. THE Work it self is declared 1. By it's Nature 2. In it's Causes 3. From it's Effects 1. IN the Nature of it it is the healing of Backslidings I will heal their Backslidings the Sin whereby they are fallen off from God unto whom they are now exhorted to Return These bring the Souls of Men into a diseased Estate and danger of Death The Cure hereof is the Work of God alone Hence he gives himself that Title I am the Lord that healeth thee Exod. 15. 26. And because of the poysonous Nature of Sin and the danger it brings of Eternal Death unto the Souls of Men the Removal of it or a Recovery from it is often called by the name of Healing Psal. 6. 2. Isai. 57. 18 19. Hos. 6. 1. Here it includeth two things First the pardon of Sin past and then a supply of Grace to make us fruitful in Obedience I will be as the Dew to Israel as we shall see This is God's Healing of Backslidings 2. IN the Causes of it which are 1. The Principal moving Cause and that is free undeserved Love I will love them freely From hence alone is our Recovery to be expected 2. The Efficient Cause which as unto Sins past is pardoning Mercy Mins Anger is turned away from him And as unto renewed Obedience in which two our Recovery consists it is in a plentiful Supply of Effectual Grace I will be as the Dew unto Israel Fresh supplies of the Spirit of Grace from above are so expressed This is necessary unto our Healing and Recovery 3. IT is described by it's Effect which is a much more abundant Fruitfulness in Holiness and Obedience in Peace and Love than ever they had before attained This the Prophet sets out in multiplied Similitudes and Metaphors to denote the Greatness and Efficacy of the Grace so communicated I have a little insisted on the opening of this Context for sundry Reasons 1. THE Case which I would consider is in all the parts of it stated distinctly and represented clearly unto us There is nothing remains but only the especial Way whereby in the Exercise of Faith this Grace may be obtained which is that which I shall speak unto in the last place as that which is principally intended in this Discourse 2. THAT I might shew how great a thing it is to have our Spiritual Decays made up our Backslidings healed and so to attain the vigorous acting of Grace and Spiritual Life with a flourishing Profession and fruitful Obedience in Old Age It is so set forth here by the Holy Ghost as that every one must needs have a sense of the Beauty and Glory of the Work It is that which Divine Love Mercy and Grace are eminently effectual in unto the Glory of God that which so many Duties are required to prepare us for Let no Man think that it is a light or common work every thing in it is peculiar It is unto them who are made partakers of it a Life from the Dead 3. THAT none may utterly despond under their Decays When Persons are awakened by new Convictions and begin to feel the weight of them and how 〈◊〉 they are intangled with them they 〈◊〉 ready to faint and even to despair of Deliverance But we see that here is a Promise of Deliverance from them by pardoning Mercy and also of such fresh Springs of Grace as shall cause us to abound in Holiness and Fruitfulness Who is it that is entangled with Corruptions and Temptations that groans under a sense of a cold lifeless barren frame of Heart he may take in Spiritual Refreshment if by Faith he can make Application of this Promise unto himself 4. THAT which remains is to declare the particular Way whereby in the Exercise of Faith we may obtain the Fruit of this and all other Promises of the like Nature unto the End so often proposed namely of being flourishing and fruitful even in Old Age. Now supposing a due Attendance unto the Duties mentioned I shall give some Directions with respect unto that which gives Life Power and Efficacy unto them all and which will infallibly bring us unto the full Enjoyment of this Signal Mercy And they are these that â—ollow 1. ALL our Supplies of Grace are from Jesus Christ. Grace is declared in the Promises of the Old Testament but the way of it's Communication and our receiving of it is revealed unto us in the New This belongs to the Mystery of it that all Grace is from Christ and shall be in vain expected any other way He hath assured us that without him we can do nothing we can no more bring forth Fruit than a Branch can that is separated from the Vine John 15. 3 4 5. He is our Head and all our Spiritual Influences that is Divine Communication of Grace are from him alone He is our Life efficiently and liveth in us effectively so as that our Ability for vital Acts is from him Gal. 2. 20. Col. 3. 1