threatned with the burning Furnace Dan. 3.17 Our God is able to deliver us and he will deliver us Be satisfied that he who is able to save will actually save those that cast themselves upon him SERMON XXIV October 15. 1697. HEBREWS VII xxv Therefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them II. AS to the Evidence which the Apostle brings to prove his Assertion by The Eternal Life and Intercession of Jesus Christ in Heaven Here we are to consider three Things viz. The Life of Christ in Heaven His Intercession there And the Objects of it or Persons on whose behalf he lives and intercedes First The eternal Life of Christ in Heaven In opening of this we should shew That he lives and that he lives for ever and how the Conclusion of his being able to save is built and founded hereupon 1. That Christ lives not only as he is the living God Hebr. 3.12 and so eternal Life is essential to his Deity 1 John 1.2 15 20. but he lives as Mediator and that very Life which he laid down as Man he hath taken up again and possesses it now more advantagiously than before This was the grand Controversie in the Apostolical Times between the Jews and Christians so Festus represents it to Agrippa as a Quarrel about one Jesus who was dead whom Paul affirmed to be alive Acts 25.19 The Jews would have him to be really in the State of the Dead still and that his Disciples stole him out of the Grave to give Reputation to their new Doctrine but the Apostles were Witnesses of his Resurrection and preached this where-ever they preach'd the Gospel for indeed the whole Gospel would be but an empty Fable without it If Christ were not alive what 's become of the Type of the Living Bird in the cleansing of the Leper that was let loose into the open Field Lev. 14.7 What 's become of the Type of the Scape Goat that was sent away into the Wilderness Chap. 16.21 How have these things received their Accomplishment but in the Life of Jesus It was as necessary for our Consolation and Salvation that Christ should live as that he should die The meer Death of Christ would profit us nothing could be no support to us if he had continued under the Power of Death Therefore as old Jacob was transported with Joy when he heard that Joseph was alive Gen. 45.26 28. So Job in the midst of his Afflictions triumph'd and glorifie in this I know that my Redeemer liveth Job 19.25 2. That he ever lives When our Lord speaks of his Death it was matter of stumbling to the Jews because say they we have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever John 12.34 but they erred not knowing the Scripture This was not be understood in opposition to his dying but as consequent upon it for after his Death and notwithstanding his Death this was to be made good that he should abide for ever So we find our Lord himself from Heaven expounding it to John Rev. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore The Life which Christ lived upon Earth was a mortal temporary perishing Life as ours is for he took part of our Flesh and Blood in the same poor and miserable Circumstances as we do but the Life which he now lives in Heaven is of another sort of a more permanent and durable Nature So Rom. 6.9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more Death hath no more Dominion over him He cannot die a second time as Lazarus did who after his first Death was raised again and died again as the Body of his Humiliation even when dead saw no Corruption so his glorified Body with which he sits at the Right Hand of God can never see Death His present Life is such an one as swallows up mortality 3. How is the Inference of Christ's being able to save grounded here upon his Living for ever Answer Very strongly for the saving Power of Jesus Christ shines forth most illustriously in him as living Rom. 5.10 Being reconciled by his Death we shall be much more saved by his Life So Chap. 8. 34. Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is raised again c. If Christ had been held by the Bands of Death or if it had been possible for him so to be held it had been impossible for him to be the Author of Salvation to any our Faith in him had been vain and our hope as a Spiders Web whereas now 't is firm and establish'd stedfast and unmoveable considering that Jesus Christ since his ignominious accursed Death is raised up to such a Blessed and Glorious Life This gives us mighty encouragement in several respects For 1. If Christ had not been able to save he could not have conquer'd Death as he hath done This one Victory which he hath obtained over that Enemy is a signal demonstration of his Power The Grave would have detained him and must kept him as the legal Executioner of Justice if he had not finish'd the Work of our Salvation as to the purchasing part and done all in dying once He could not be discharged till he had answer'd all Demands and when they were answer'd he could be under Arrest no longer but the Prosecution must cease When the Debt was paid it would have been false Imprisonment for Jesus Christ to remain in the Custody of Death on the other hand his reviving and breaking loose from those Restraints shews that all the Obstacles of our Salvation are taken out of the way Therefore if we suspect his Ability to save we must with the Jews disbelieve his rising again and look upon him no otherwise than as a dead Man to this very day 2. Our eternal Life is inseperably connected with the Life of Christ 'T is as certain that he is our Life as that he himself lives Col. 3.4 he will not Live and Reign without us but we shall Reign in Life by him He does not live meerly for himself but for us as he did not die for himself but only for us He lives as a publick Person a second Adam in whom all that belong to him shall be made alive as a quickning Head to his whole Body and to every Member in particular John 14.19 Because I live you shall live also He asserts our Life in conjunction with his own for his Life and the Life of those that are united with him cannot be divided 2 Cor. 13.4 He though Crucified through weakness lives by the Power of God so we likewise though weak shall live with him by vertue of the same Power Hence it is that the Apostle makes the great Doctrine of Christ's Resurrection to stand or fall with the Resurrection of Believers 1 Cor. 15.15 16. Whom God raised not up if so be that the
he should be held by the Bands of Death of which there is possibility enough as to any Creature Acts 2.24 VI. Vse This Doctrine will hint many things which are proper both for our Learning and Practise 1. There are several Things which we have to Learn from hence As 1. The Contemners of Divine Revelation are miserable forsakers of their own Mercies He that refuseth Instruction despiseth his own Soul Prov. 15.32 This is most true of such as turn their backs with scorn upon the Gospel of Christ and such a sort of Men there are at this Day in the World that bid insolent defiance to all reveal'd Religion The Disciples at Antioch chose to be called Christians in Honour of their Lord on whom they believed but England and London hath bred a race of Monsters that affect the differencing Name of Deists What will the end of such be What can it be but Destruction when Faith founded on the Scripture is the only saving Wisdom 2 Tim. 3.15 From a Child thou hast known the Holy Scripture which are able to c. 2. It ought to cause no Prejudice against real Christianity that the celebrated Men of Learning and Reason embrace it not The Case is clear our heavenly Father reveals these Things to all that know them and he thinks sit to hide them from such Mat. 11.25 26. I thank thee Oh Father c. Because thou hast hid these Things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes Even so Father for so it seemed good c. 'T is no wonder therefore that not many wise Men after the Flesh are called 1 Cor 1.26 No wonder that there are so few who will in any wise believe what the Gospel declares the Doctrine of Regeneration was mysterious nousense as one says to Nicodemus an eminent Pharisee a Ruler of the Jews a Master in Israel so are other Things of the like kind to other Men. 3. It is no recommending Character of any Doctrine that it is pleasing and suitable to Flesh and Blood We have Reason to be Jealous that it is no spiritual Truth which the natural Man very readily receives The Doctrines which are promoted and countenanc'd by Flesh and Blood have the suspicious Mark upon them of accursed Doctrines 'T is no Argument why I should give Credit to this or that Opinion because 't is grateful to Nature but rather an Argument against it The swift progress of Error is owing very much to its smooth Concurrence with the Stream of Nature Nature leads all Men to build upon self but Christ will profit that Man nothing who expects to profit by any thing besides him 'T is ill judging after the Flesh John 8.15 They judge best and most wisely that judge contrary to it 4. Visible and nominal Christians may sit in darkness and the shadow of Death as well as perfect Pagans 'T is a Light within us in a sober not Enthusiastick Sense which is the true Light of Life Men may live as much upon the Borders of Hell where the Light outwardly shines as where it shines not The generality of the People in Judea receiv'd no more good by the Ministry of Christ than they in the remotest Parts of the World that never had it John 1.5 The Light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not The real Mystery of the Gospel may be as little understood by Multitudes of Persons here as it is in the wildest Places of America 5. Christians are oblig'd to know as well as do more than others As we must do all the good that other Men do and more so we must know all the considerable Truths that they know and more 'T is said of Heathens Rom. 1.19 That which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them But there is a great deal more than this to be known by those that Name the Name of Christ or else wo unto them Thou believest that there is one God thou dost well but this is not enough Dost thou believe on the Son of God This is requir'd and this was first ask of that Excommunicate Person by Christ John 9.35 Unless thou knowest and believest more than all the Men in the World can teach thee or learn of themselves thou art condemned already 6. It is both a fruitless and a needless Thing to intrude into what we have not seen as Persons that are vainly pufft up by their fleshly Minds Col. 2.18 It becomes us to be fully satisfied in what God is pleas'd to reveal or hide and to pry no further than Scripture-light Points out our way This should stop the curiosity of our enquiring Minds that we may not demand any account of Things but what God sees good to give us There is blessedness tied to his discoveries but we make our selves oftentimes more unhappy by our own He that increaseth Prophetical Knowledge particularly increaseth Sorrow 2 Kings 8.11 12. The Man of God wept and Hazael said why c. 2. There are some Things which this does very fitly put us upon the Practice As 1. It speaks to Sinners and shews what they should do 1. See your Wretchedness You cannot be blessed till the Father gives you a Revelation of his Son by his Spirit Without this Knowledge the Soul cannot be good all that perish are destroyed for lack of it The external Form of Knowledge which you have will be insignificant to you The Devils knew that he was Christ and proclaim'd him to be the Son of God but Christ rebuk'd them and would not receive any Testimony from them it was unacceptable to him and unserviceable to themselves Luke 4.41 And an heartless Confession out of the Mouth of an Hypocrite is as bad as from the Mouth of a Devil 2. Be earnest with God for the Cure of your Blindness None can do it but he he can and will if you unfeignedly beg it of him The Promise lies ready for you to Plead and he is ready to perform it Prov. 2.3 4 5. If thou cryest after Knowledge and liftest up thy Voice for Vnderstanding c. Then shalt thou understand the Fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of thy God You may ask saving Wisdom so as not to be denied if you ask it as Persons sensible that your Life is bound up in this Request and if you ask it for Christ's sake for it was his Errand and End in coming into the World That they which see not might see John 9.39 2. This speaks to Believers and shews what they have to do 2. Lift up your Heads and Hearts this Day with thankfulness to Heaven This good News to those that have heard Christ and been taught by him loudly calls them to give Glory to God in the highest Psalm 118.27 God is the Lord who hath shewed us Light even lesus Christ who isspoken of ver 22. The great Light of the World bind the Sacrifice with Cords c. in
to commit the very Sins which they had the greatest Aversion to and Abhorrence of Satan and indwelling Sin together do not make up so great a Force but that we may withstand and repel them when we have the Presence of the Spirit of God but when we are bereaved of that Presence we are too weak to grapple with them asunder Therefore the first Rule in the spiritual Warfare is be strong in the Lord Eph. 6.10 'T is not to be believed what an Head Corruption will get and what inrodes the Devil will make when a Saint is left but a little to himself One Temptation is admitted after another with very faint and fruitless Reluctancy like Jerusalem That open'd her Feet to every one c. Ezek. 16.25 4. Impenitency for a Time under the guilt of Sin committed There are several Causes of sinful hardness and among the rest we find it sometimes in Scripture attributed to God which cannot be understood as if he were in any Sense the Author of it or the Agent in it so as to produce it by positive Influence but chiefly by Way of Privation viz. by removing of the Spirit from us whose proper work it is to soften to make our Hearts tender and bring us to Repentance Hence it is that the very Children of God such as can boldly say doubtless thou art our Father do not only err from God's ways but which is more are hasten'd from his Fear Isa 63.16 17. They may not only commit Sin but continue in it a great while when the Case is so with them 'T is astonishing that David should remain without Repentance so many Months as he did we cannot imagine but that he often heard and read the sixth and seventh Commandments in that Time both in his own House and in the Temple and yet Conscience lay asleep still till the Spirit of God by Nathan awaken'd him again His Reproofs of Sin are the only Effectual Ones for while he is silent all other smitings will signifie little to sound Conviction 5. Impatience or Despondency even under light Afflictions Fretting or Fainting in a Day of Adversity are the natural Issues of our own Spirit when they are not calm or comforted by God's 1. We cannot possess our Souls in Patience under Suffering when the Spirit leaves us There is need of strengthening with all might according to his glorious Power unto all Patience c. Col. 1.11 There is a natural Frowardness of Heart which all afflictive Evils tend to Kindle and Provoke which we are no more able of our selves to Conquer than we are to rule the Raging of the Sea The same God that lays his Hand at any Time upon us must also by his own Grace humble us under it and reconcile us to it or else our rebellious Passion will struggle and contend against it Jonahs extravagant Anger for a Gourd and justifying of himself shews how ungovernable we are when forsaken of God Jonah 4.9 2. We cannot rejoyce in Hope under any Suffering when the Spirit is with-drawn We are ready to sink immediately when our Support is taken away our feeble Knees like Belshazzar's are apt to smite one against another and we cannot bare any Burden alone Carnal Fear swallows up the Soul our Hearts fail us and weare as they that have no more Spirit in them when we have lost God's encouraging Presence God's help is as necessary against Despair in Trouble as for Deliverance out of it He that believes to see the goodness of the Lord when he is feeling his Severity must be under the Influence of the Spirit of Faith 6. Shameful Denials of God's Name in perillous Times when we are called to hold it fast and to make an open Profession of it Courage and Resolution Constancy and Stedfastness in appearing for the Cause and Interest of Christ at all Times is an eminent Fruit of the Spirit and therefore Believers were not so frequently nor in such large numbers call'd to suffer for God under the Old Testament as now under the New When there is a more plentiful Effusion of the Spirit than there was before And therefore the Apostles were commanded to tarry at Jerusalem and not to Launch into a Sea of Persecution by going about to Preach the Gospel till the Spirit was given which Christ expresses by their being endued with Power from on high Luke 24.49 What a miserable Coward was Peter before this that had not the Confidence to own his Master when only challeng'd by two of the Maids of the High-Priest Mark 14.66 c. And yet how undaunted after this in his Acknowledgment of him to the Rulers of the People and Elders of Israel Acts 4.10 11. When the Disciples were fill'd with the Holy Ghost they spake the Word of God with boldness ver 31. But how easily will Men's furious Threatenings scare us when our God abandons us 7. Woful Confusion and Disorder in the Exercise of our Thoughts and workings of our Affections 1. In the Exercise of our Thoughts A Man's Thoughts are naturally quick and nimble and therefore the more apt of themselves to be hurried and confounded as we know that the swiftest Motions are perplext the soonest When Cain went out from the Presence of the Lord he became a Fugitive and a Vagabond so the Mind is full of will and loose incohaerent distracted vain Imaginations that serve to no use that will be kept in no Order when 't is not under the actual Conduct of the Spirit of God it roves and wanders from one thing to another and can fix or settle no where as it should There are swarms of bad Thoughts which thrust out the good ones and we can no more meditate to any Purpose upon spiritual Objects without the Spirit than a Man can take the Prospect of a Star through a Glass held with a shaking Hand 2. In the working of our Affections these are as hard to be regulated as our Thought are to be compos'd They will boyl over when they should be kept in and when they ought to flow out then there will be none stirring The best of our Hearts if they be not under better Management than our own will be hot and cold by fits at the contrary Seasons Upon slight occasions we know not how to restrain them and upon great occasions we know not how to excite them This is and will be the Case whenever God suspends his own gracious Acts and stands at a distance from us 8. Vnwilling and sad Expectation of Death and Judgment 'T is impossible for a Child of God chearfully to lay down his Temporal life and lay hold of Eternal unless God be with him Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no Evil for thou art with me c. How dismal must it be to think of going to a departed God Of standing at his Bar when we apprehend our selves cast out of his sight How can we be
was intirely lost It was for our Makers Honour to have the Man whom he had made after his Image live in perfect Subjection to his Will but when Man cast off the Yoke of his Obedience though God's Authority and Right remained the exercise of it by actual rule was interrupted He was a King still but of disorderly Rebels that instead of kissing his Scepter renounc'd him and bid defiance to him 2. That Glory which we are tied to give to God was withheld by sin There is a revenue of Glory due from us to God which sin tends to alienate and deprive him of and so the Devil takes the Advantage and seizes it for himself Every sin is upon this account a committing of Theft 't is robbing of God of the Honour which we owe to him We ought to Glorifie him with all we have with every Faculty and Member but the Sinner on the contrary vilifies and reproaches him by the abuse of all Such was and is the state of Mankind without Christ We do not only come short of the Glory of God but we attempt to cut his Glory short As much as in us lies we make God contemptible throw Dirt upon his Name and set him at nought 2. There was Righteousness Holiness and Happiness taken from Man also He was a real loser in all these respects being once in possession of all but cast out of it by sin 1. There was a loss of Righteousness to the Guilty Sinner So long as Adam stood while his outward nakedness was no shame to him he was inwardly cover'd with a Robe of Righteousness but Satan alluring him into sin strip'd him of his Garment and cloath'd him with Confusion instead of it As God made him in his first Estate he was a perfectly just Person and could stand in the Judgment before God but when his Integrity was removed from him Guilt was immediately contracted and he fell into Condemnation under the Sentence of the Law which he had broken And now till Christ repairs this Loss for us the Divine Tribunal is very dreadful For in God's sight no man living can be justified Psal 143.2 2. There was a loss of Holiness to the polluted Sinner The Image of God in Man was defac'd the Divine Nature destroyed and all the Habits of Grace extinguish'd the good Treasure of the Heart was turned into an evil one filled with the Seeds and Principles of all manner of Corruption Every one of them is gone back degenerated from what they originally were when they came out of God's Hands they are altogether become filthy Psal 53.3 Men are now by Nature so void of the least Relicks or Remembrances of their primitive Purity that they are insensible of their present Defilement They are so blinded with their own Mire that they think themselves clean till Christ hath anointed them with his Spirit and washed them in his Blood 3. There was a loss of Happiness to the miserable Sinner Adam's Expulsion out of an Earthly Paradise though a real Punishment was the least part of what Sin render'd him obnoxious to The Misery of Man was much greater upon him in other Respects as he was quite cut off from all Communion with God made an Heir of Wrath not only as to bodily but spiritual Evils of all sorts and not only in Time but to Eternity Upright Man was exempt and secure from all these and placed in as Happy a Condition as a Creature could be out of Heaven but when Sin enter'd Death enter'd with and by it Rom. 5.12 A Death which is comprehensive of all the Calamities and Woes of both Worlds till Christ came that we might have more abundant Life II. Wherein it appears that Christ did not take away those Things from either 1. It is plain as to God he never took away any Glory from him for he never did any Thing dishonourable or offensive to God John 8.29 I do always those Things that please him So Isa 50.5 The Lord God hath opened mine Ear and I was not rebellious neither turned away back Several of the Prophets did for a Time refuse to go at God's call and would have pluckt their Shoulders and shrunk their Necks from the Work which he put upon them as Moses Jeremy Jonas c. But our Lord Jesus shew'd no Reluctancy delighting to do and suffer his Father's Will The second Adam had none of that sinful Enmity in his Nature which all the rest of the Posterity of the first Adam have He was peculiarly that Holy Thing from his very Birth Luke 1.35 God's beloved Son and faithful Servant throughout his Life 2. It is also clear as to Man that he took not away any Rightcousness Holiness or Happiness from him He was not such a Fountain of Guilt Pollution and Misery as the first Adam had been but the contrary as we shall see afterwards The first Man poyson'd and ruin'd all his Seed but he did not so to the Children which God had given him His Conversation was not only blameless and harmless but useful and exemplary He did no Violence Isa 53.9 But he went about doing good Acts 10.38 Whatever was injurious to Men he vindicates himself from When the Disciples call'd for Fire from Heaven to consume the Samaritans he tells them that he came not to destroy men's Lives but to save them Luke 9.56 When the Woman taken in Adultery was brought to him he would not condemn her but bids her go and Sin no more John 8.11 3. The Scripture therefore speaks of Christ's being cut off but not for himself Dan. 9.26 Though he suffered in his own Person he did not suffer on his own Account Christ bath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust 1 Pet. 3.18 Sin was indeed the cause of his Suffering but not any sin committed by himself he was the just One we were the unjust on whose behalf he underwent all that was laid upon him Isa 53.4 5. Surely he hath born our Griefs and carried our Sorrows He was wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities He suffered for that of which we were guilty he made reparation for the Wrongs which we had done he discharged the Debts which we contracted and endur'd the Wrath which we provoked and drunk of the Cup which we had filled 4. The Innocency of Christ was conspicuous in his very Sufferings Though they found no cause of Death in him yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain Acts 13.28 He that gave Sentence against him did first give Sentence for him he pronounc'd him Faultless on the Bench before he deliver'd him up to Execution When they went to apprehend him they came out as against a Thief Matth. 26.55 they proceeded against him as a Malefactor and numbred him with Transgressors but could not prove any Article of their Charge against him so much as by the agreeing Testimony of their Mercenary Perjured Witnesses That which they alledged with greatest truth was that
the very top and uttermost point the head Stone and the full blown Flower of a Creature 's Felicity when you have said this you can go no higher now to assure us the more comfortably of our arrival to this at last we have the pledges and beginnings of it here but the way of our receiving them is to be consider'd 'T is by eating the Flesh and drinking the Blood of Christ by Faith in the Lamb slain in our Passover Sacrific'd for his Flesh could not have been eaten nor his Blood drunk if he had not died 'T is the death of Christ which we must lay hold upon for Life and Salvation the Kingdom which he appoints to us is founded here for as one says Christ hath purchased by his Death all the Legacies bequeath'd in his Testament which no other Testator does IV. Why did Jesus Christ make it his Work to restore what he took not away 1. It was a necessary work a work which must be done in order to his being a Saviour God will have restitution made one way or another his injur'd Name and Honour must be vindicated It became him c. in bringing many Sons unto glory yea it would have become him if he had brought but one to make the Captain of our Salvation perfect through sufferings Hebr. 2.10 It was agreeable to his Wisdom Purity Truth and Righteousness that Jesus Christ should make compensation by his Blood for the Iniquity of Mâ—â— It was not fit nor consistent with the Perfections of Gods Nature that such Indignities 〈…〉 had offer'd should be passed by 〈…〉 without any notice taken or 〈…〉 Mercy cannot be exercis'd to the dispuragement of any other Attribute he cannot exile one to the depressing of the rest In the business of Salvation there was something else to be done besides the magnifying of Grace God had said that be would magnisie the Law and make it honourable Isa 42.21 This Law had been trampled on by every Child of Disobedience and therefore to assert and recover the Reputation of it Christ must be made under it perform what it enjoin'd and suffer what it threatned 2. It was a work impossible for any meer Creature to do so that if Christ did not it could not have been done by any Person besides him The Scripture speaks of the wicked Oppressor that he shall vomit up what he swallows down and according to his substance shall the restitution be Job 20.18 He shall refund to those whom he hath drained by rapine and Violence as far as his Estate will go But what restitution can there be when all the substance is wasted This is our case we are wretchedly poor and insolvent and have nothing to pay being reduc'd by Sin to absolute Beggary we have stoln away as far as was in our power the Crown from God and we have â—ined and plander'd our selves encroach'd upon the Rights of Heaven and wrong'd our own Souls and are utterly uncapable of making the least attonement for all this We can take away but we cannot restore When the Servant that owed Ten thousand Talents to his Lord was brought before him and could not pay his Debt his Lord commanded him to be sold Matth. 18.25 but alas we are not worth so much as our Debt amounts to If Justice should seize us it must detain us for ever we must not only be cast into Prison but kept there and our lying in Hell for ever would not satisfy God as Christ's suffering once upon the Cross SERMON XVI December 15. 1696. PSALM LXIX iv last Clause Then I restored that which I took not away 3. JEsus Christ was ordained of God to this work and in that respect there was a necessity of his accomplishing it John 9.4 I must work the work of him that sent me c. This was the work of him that sent him and therefore he could not decline it Christ could not resist the Will of the Father any more than he could cease to love him John 14.31 That the World may know that I love the Father as the Father gave me commandment even so I do His Obedience was an Evidence of his Love to God as it is of ours though there be no proportion between his and ours for no Creatures love to God was ever so strong or ever so tried Cyrus was styled the Man that executed God's Counsel Isa 46.11 but he did it ignorantly for he knew not God but the Man Christ Jesus understood his Work and who gave it him to do and design'd the Execution of God's Counsel in it as an Expression of his matchless Affection to him It became our Lord Jesus in the quality of God's Commissioner To be faithful to him that appointed him Heb. 3.2 He was put in trust with this Business and he must shew his Fidelity in performing it There is such an exact Agreement between his and the Father's Will that when God pleas'd to require his Service he could not but say Lo I come 4. Christ had engag'd to take this Work upon him which is a sort of Engagement that the Scripture more than once expresses by striking Hands Job 17.3 Prov. 22.26 So our Lord Jesus had covenanted with the Father before all Time to do that which in the fulness of Time he actually came to do Now this Agreement which bears an Eternal Date could not be disanulled or made void again as God the Father had sworn with respect to Christ and could not repent Psalm 110.4 So Jesus Christ having enter'd into such a Bond it stood firm as the Ordinances of Heaven and he could not go back from the Execution or Performance of it If the Covenant of Redemption might have been broken the whole Design might have miscarried the Counsel of Peace had been overthrown and all the Thoughts of God to us-ward had come to nothing It was upon this unmoveable Foundation that the Salvation of all the Believers under the Old Testament was built as well as those under the New so that if Christ had not made good what he undertook they that were let into Heaven must have been cast out But the Considence that God reposed in his Son could not be so defeated He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not is the Character of a Citizen of Sion Psalm 15.4 But most eminently true of Christ 5. The Infinite Love of Christ to Sinners did sweetly incline him to this Work His Delights who was the Wisdom of God were with the Sons of Men Prov. 8.31 He delighted in Mercy and in them as the needy Objects of it who otherwise were altogether undelightful The Bowels of Jesus Christ were troubled for us he could not bear to see his whole reasonable Creation in this lower World made a Prey to the Devil without interposing for the effectual Rescue of a chosen peculiar Number Our Misery was the Motive to his Compassion that swayed him to Acts of Pity when our guilt would have provokt him to
now 3. It is not given to all in her same remarkable Circumstances The Kingdom of God comes with more Observation into some Souls than into others Some are more gently others more sharply dealt with the Travel of the Soul at the New-birth is not with the same sensible Difficulty and Anguish in all Persons Some pass from Death to Life with greater Convulsions Like that noise and shaking when the dry Bones came together Ezek. 37.7 Others are call'd with a more still Voice and drawn to Christ in a more soft and silent way Grace is sometimes introduc'd by deep Humiliations great brokenness extraordinary disquiet at others Times it insinuates it self into the Soul with less of those Preparatives and therefore less discernably 4. It is not given to all in the same Measure To some more Grace to others less Justifying Righteousness is bestow'd alike upon every one no one is made more righteous by the Obedience of Christ than another but as to the Gift of sanctifying Righteousness there are vastly different Degrees Some in God's Israel like Saul higher from the Shoulders and upwards others like Zacchens little of Stature Some Weak others Strong in Faith some eminent for spiritual Understanding But there is not in every one that Knowledge 1 Cor. 8.7 Some are even consum'd by their Zeal for God but all are not such lively Stones Song 1.17 The Beams of our House are Caedar and our Rafters of Firr As Beams in God's building bear greatest weight so Caedar is of greatest worth SERMON XX. June 1. 1697. EPHES IV. vii But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ 2. POsitively 1. There is some Grace given to every one which shall never be lost even to the least Babe in Christ the poorest and meanest Believer whatsoever Also upon the Servants and the Handmaids in those Days will I pour out my Spirit Joel 2.29 Every Member of Christ even such as we think to be least honourable hath this Honour bestowed upon it to be made a partaker of the Holy Ghost and partaker of him so as never to fall away For this is a Gift which is without Repentance Rom. 11.29 As to those that are God's workmanship in Christ it never Repents him that he hath new made them Whom he once effectually draws he never suffers absolutely to draw back ' The Devil may steal the Word out of Men's Hearts before 't is engraffed there by the Spirit but afterwards he cannot 2. There is Grace given to every one which is of the same kind in every one All God's Children the little ones as well as those that are more advanc't to greater ripeness and maturity have the same Divine Nature infus'd into them 2 Pet. 1.4 They are all Created again after the Image of God which as to the Substance of it is the same in all though there be some difference in lesser Features They all obtain like precious Faith 2 Pet. 1.1 The Faith of God's Elect is all alike in regard of its main and principal Fruits In every one it purifies the Heart overcomes the present World realizes unseen Things though it does not work and act in every one with equal Vigour 3. There are supplies of Grace given to every one for as all Creatures do necessarily depend upon God for their natural Beings so God's new Creatures especially for the continuance and increase of their spiritual Life From the Day that they first know the Grace of God in Truth there are further Communications every Day of more Grace both in order to Establishment and Growth How much soever God hath already vouchsaf'd it would be of fatal Consequence if he should stop his Hand God is always giving that we may retain and improve what we have receiv'd before Hos 6.3 He shall come unto us as the Rain as the latter and former Rain unto the Earth As the former Rain which opens the Womb of the Earth to take in the Seed and as the latter which serves to plump and swell the Fruit. 4. There is Grace given to every one suitable to their Condition 1 Cor 7.7 Every Man hath his proper Gift of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Gift peculiar to himself one after this manner and another after that As Christ speaks of a saying Which all Men cannot receive save they to whom 't is given Mat. 19.11 Some Men have less mastery over their Affections and God by his wise Providence casts their Lot accordingly Some are exercis'd with more Temptations and such God furnishes with more Strength to resist and stand against them Some are call'd to more eminent Services and then God enlarges their Capacity of performing them It is still so manag'd by him who knows our Necessity that they whose Condition requires most Grace have most V. What Proportion and Similitude does the Grace given to us bear to the Grace which was in Christ Here Premise a few Things to prevent misunderstanding and then State the Truth it self 1. To Premise a few Things to prevent misunderstanding As 1. That Grace in Christ to which the Grace in Believers bears any Proportion is to be understood of his Grace as Man the Grace which was communicated to his Humane Nature Psalm 45.2 Thou art fairer than the Children of Men Grace is poured into thy Lips His gracious Words which often struck the Hearers with wonder and amazement flowed from this Spring and therefore in that Character which the Spouse gives of him His Lips are describ'd like Lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh Song 5.13 Jesus Christ as God was the God of all Grace the Original Fountain of it in himself and Author of it to us as Man he was a Vessel that receiv'd it by Derivation it was truly given to him as it was given to the first Man Adam When God created him And this is that Grace of Christ which our Grace does especially resemble 2. The Grace which is given by Christ to every one of his Members is not the same individual Grace which was given to him by the Father We are not endowed with that very same particular inherent Holiness which he was for then we must suppose him to be divested of it at the same Time Those gracious Qualities which were lodg'd in Christ cannot be transferr'd to us for Qualities cannot pass from one Subject to another or belong to more than one at once The same Righteousness which Christ fulfill'd is imputed and reckon'd to us for our Justification as the same Money which the Surety lays down is judicially and legally accounted to be paid by the Debtor but the same righteous Habits cannot be infus'd into Christ and Believers not the same in number though the same in Kind The Case is plain because the Person of Christ and the Persons of Believers are really distinct they are united indeed but not by a personal Union for then there would be as many Christs as there are Believers
Persons under long and great Afflictions are very apt to say It is enough now oh Lord take away my Life as Elias 1 Kings 19.4 But whatever our Exercises be it is not enough till God thinks meet This is a venting of irregular Passion not an act of Duty Rebeckab cries I am weary of my Life because of the Daughters of Heath Gen. 27. ult But nothing will justifie such weariness till our Time to dye is fully come A discharge should be acceptable when God is pleas'd to give it but not be rashly sought out of the appointed Season 2. An humble bearing of God's fatherly displeasure if there should be any Tokens of it upon us in our Death We have an hint of this from the very Case of Moses here Chap. 32.51 Because you trespassed against me among the Children of Israel at the Waters of Meribah-kadesh c. Because you sanctified me not in the midst of them This one Sin and Miscarriage of Moses in the Conduct of the People is call'd to remembrance by God when he is going out of the World and therefore as the Lord on whose Hand the King of Israel leaned was to see the Plenty in Samaria with his Eyes but not to Eat thereof 2 Kings 7.2 So Moses now was to behold but not enjoy the good Things of this pleasant Land God had threaten'd to kill him a great many Years before for neglect of Circumcision to his Child Exod. 4.24 And now actually summons him to dye as a Rebuke for his unbelief for indeed this was the Sin that lay at the bottom Numb 20.12 Because you believed me not c. Zacharias was struck Dumb above nine Months for not believing the Angels Message Luke 1.20 But Moses must lose his Life God had once pass'd by great unbelief in him Numb 11.21 22. But this was not to escape without Corection and yet 't is born as from a Father without Complaint 3. A final Farewel to this World and to those Things particularly which are apt to render a stay in it most desirable When God calls us forth we must take our leave as Persons that are never to return as long as the present Frame of this World endures The Places which we now possess are to know us no more and we are to know them no more Every one at such a Time may say as our Lord did Now I am no more in the World John 17.11 I must reckon my self as one that shall have nothing more to do with it as one that is going to be everlastingly remov'd at the greatest distance from it and to be no further concern'd in any thing which hath the least Reference or Relation to it Such Thoughts are to govern and influence our Minds in the Performance of this dying Act of Obedience to God 4. A quitting and abandoning of this mortal Flesh as that which is not to be reassum'd till it puts on Immortality at the Dissolution of all Things 'T is indeed a great Tryal of Obedience to part with such an old and intimate Companion which hath been joyn'd and knit by the closest vital Bands it may be for Twenty Thirty Forty or Fifty c. Years together but 't is a trial which our Obedience must be approv'd in This Body of Flesh as it now is is to be given up as a Sacrifice to the Devourer that which so much Pains and Cost is bestow'd upon which so many Creatures are destroy'd to support and maintain is to be Meat for Worms corrupted and dispers'd we cannot tell where Under the Apprehensions of Death's feeding upon it after it 5. A willing Surrender of our Souls into God's hands from whence they originally came Death is exprest by God's requiring the Soul Luke 12.20 now in compliance with this great Demand of God the Soul is to be yielded up God commits this Treasure to us while we live and he expects a Resignation of it when we die But this must be with free and full Consent or else 't is no Resignation and consequently no Obedience for that which is forc'd and constrain'd is as none in God's Esteem He sees into the secret Springs and Motives of every Act and that which we do meerly because we cannot avoid it will be to him as it were not done for God's taking away of the Soul is his Act only the delivering of it up can be ours To die because we must needs die because we cannot keep alive our own Souls and have no power to retain our Spirit is consistent with the highest Disobedience and Rebellion against God But when our Wills fall in with the Appointment of God and we chuse to die when God orders that we should this is truly to die at the Commandment of the Lord as Aaron did Numb 33.38 Here is Freedom and Necessity going hand in hand as 2 Pet. 1.14 Putting off notes Freedom and must notes Necessity 6. An awful and serious Preparationto give an account of our selves to God This is as necessary as dying Rom. 14.12 Every one of us shall give Account c. And we cannot die according to the Will of God without some suitable Preparedness for it There is no true obeying of providential Calls to any Service here in this World without some previous Dispositions in our own Minds wrought by the Grace of God for its performance As when Paul was put upon remembring the Poor he tells us it was that which he was beforehand forward to do Gal. 2.10 So it is here as to departing out of the World we cannot obey God as we ought in it except we are competently fitted for it If we die in the Lord it supposes that we are ready to die and we are not ready unless our Accounts be so 7. A thankful Entertainment of our dying Lot as a real Privilege If we are in every thing to give Thanks we are to do it in this Case as well as any other Yea there is more cause for doing it at Death than at any season or time of Life going before it there is no Act of Obedience which deserves to be more chearfully performed than this nor so chearfully as this It becomes as christian to be glad when he can find the Grave to go down into it not as a Condemned Prisoner but as one who is a Triumphant Conqueror If there be matter of Joy when we fall into divers Temptations how much more when we are going to be freed from all If we are to Rejoice in the hope of Glory when farthest off how much more when upon the Borders of Fruition 8. A vigorous Exercise of Faith with respect to an unseen State when God is leading us forth to it All Obedience must be the Obedience of Faith flowing from it and impregnated with it Faith is to run through every Duty of our whole Lives or else no Duty would be accepted but especially we are to die in Faith And there is great need of our doing so for
we have no other Evidence of invisible future Things but only our Faith thomas who would not believe what he saw John 20.25 tells Christ We know not whither thou goest John 14.5 'T is indeed an unknown Land and the way through which we pass to it is dark and gloomy without the enlightning Discoveries of Faith This alone will clear up all and so it is with every Believer as with Abraham Hebr. 11.8 By Faith when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an Inheritance obeyed not knowing whether he went SERMON XXII August 24. 1697. DEUT XXXIV v. So Moses the Servant of the Lord died there in the Land of Moab according to the Word of the Lord. III. WHY we should thus die in Obedience to the Will of God There are many Reasons for it 1. God is Supream and Absolute Lord. He hath the highest Proprietyin us and the most unlimited Dominion over us Behold as the clay is in the Potters hand so are you in my hand O house of Israel Ezek. 18.6 He forms every Vessel as he pleases and is at liberty to break his own Workmanship without controul so the same God whose power produces hath a right to dissolve our Substance He is the Father of our Spirits and they are his peculiar Off-spring and therefore ought to be entirely at his Command He created and infused them and on that account may justly call for them whenever he will 'T is but like the Stream's going back to its Fountain like the Rivers returning turning to the Sea whence they came and the Sun 's hasting to the place where he arose Eccles 1.5 7. We know nothing of God as we ought to know if we know not this that God hath a far greater Interest in us than we have in our selves And that it belongs to him and not to us to govern and appoint all those things which do concern us It was almost in the same breath that David said Thou art my God and my times are in thy hand Psalm 31.14 15. We destroy his Deity if we deny his Sovereignty we renounce him as our God unless we submit to him as Lord of our Lives If he may not determine the Period of Life why should he manage any of the Affairs of it And if we exclude his Providence why should we admit his Being 2. We have the Character of God's Servants and profess Subjection to him but we contradict this Character and Profession except we die in Obedience to the Will of God 'T is observ'd that Moses is never call'd the Servant of the Lord in all his life time till now that he came to die because hereby he did most remarkably approve himself such though he had performed many great and excellent Services to God before He that is another Man's Servant must be content to be called off from his present Work and Station at his Master's pleasure they that are under the Yoke are not to be the Disposers of their own Time or rather we may say they have no Time which is their own but what is allowed them We are under a stricter Law to God and he that calls Himself a Christian does thereby acknowledge it we are not our own but the Lords both living and dying and therefore there is as much reason for our dying as for our living to the Lord and as little reason for our dying as for our living to our selves Rom. 14.7 8. It was Paul's earnest desire and hope that Christ should be magnified in his Body whether by life or by death Phil. 1.20 And this became him as a Servant of Christ ver 1. For we are falsly so called and assume a Name which our Pactice does not agree to if his Will be not a Rule to ours in every thing and particularly in this grand and important Point of Life and Death 3. OUr Lord Christ when he took upon him the Form and Quality of a Servant was our Example in this Case He became Obedient unto death even the death of the cross Phil. 2.8 A Death so circumstanced wih the most tremendous Aggravations as we can never be call'd to be obedient to yet he did not refuse or decline it as he might have done when his Hour came His Life was not taken from him but he laid it down of himself because he had received such a Commandment of the Father John 10.18 It was a free and voluntary Act he gave up the Ghost in the strictest sense as is plain from all the Passages going before his Death It was in the prospect of its near approach that he said to his Disciples Arise let us go hence John 14.31 The words were spoken where Christ had celebrated his last Supper but the place which he speaks of removing to was the Garden where he knew that he should be betray'd and apprehended Chap. 18.4 Jesus knowing all things that should come upon him went forth c. He boldly and chearfully met the Enemy whom he could easily either have shun'd or defeated He was able to escape this Death but would not and therein is a pattern to us who have no such power 4. God never give a Commission to Death nor lays his command upon us to die but when 't is really the fittest Season for us to obey him in it To speak strictly an untimely Death is never permitted by God we are never suffer'd to die when it would be better for us to live Infinite Wisdom and Grace will not permit it and he that resigns himself to their Conduct is sure to die when it is best that he should The Scripture is express Psalm 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints This may be most clearly expounded and understood by comparing with Psalm 72.14 which is a Psalm for Solomon as Type of Christ He shall redeem their Soul c. and precious shall their Blood be in his sight so precious that when it is fitter to be spar'd than spilt he will certainly preserve it Though God can kill or keep alive as he will he does not act after an Arbitrary manner he never turns a Saint to destruction when it would be good for him that his Soul should be held in Life We do not indeed see the Grounds and Reasons of God's acting and therefore our Thoughts are not as his Thoughts but it would be very strange if we must not trust God further than we yet see because we shall see hereafter though not now 5. In our Obedience to this command of God there is the greatest reward There is a great Reward in the doing of every one but above all in this There 's no Act of Obedience so profitable to our selves as this if we consider the Glory Honour and Peace which immediately follows If a Servant desireth the Shadow Job 7.2 Why should we be unwilling to enter into our Rest and receive our full Reward when our Work is
is in any of us to be delivered from Death no Soul can be excused from that Work which is consequent upon it we could not be so happy in Heaven if we were not so employed as to be kept out of Heaven by an Immortality here and be most miserable IV. To Apply this By way of Information and Exhortation First Information 1. It is a great Act of Indulgence in God to spare us as he many times doth from Death since that dying is so great and necessary an Act of our Obedience If God had let loose his hand and cut us off many years ago it would have been our Duty to acquiesce in it but by his Favour as David said of his Mountain our clay Cottages do yet stand How many Mercies National and Personal have we liv'd to partake of which we might have been sent to our Grave without and as we could not have resisted the Will of God if it had been so so we ought not to have repin'd against it In how many lesser things hath God very often gratified his Servants by prolonging their Days wherein he could have denied them without doing them any wrong As the Life of old Jacob was lengthened out above Twenty years as some compute after he had given up his Son Joseph for dead to see him living and Governor of Egypt Gen. 46.30 So David saw his Son Solomon peaceably seated on his Throne before he fell asseep 1 Kings 1.48 2. If it be our duty to be Obedient to death it self how much more should we submit to all those Evils which are previous to death We are to Suffer according to the Will of God in every thing 1 Pet. 4 19. Or else how do we like David fulfil all his will Acts 13.22 and if in that which is great surely we must not stick at that which is less I do not only mean Sickness and Weakness c. which are the usual Harbingers of Death but all those other Troubles and Afflictions which we are born to and which we may naturally expect some share of while we are in this World He who cannot patiently part with any Comfort of Life when God takes it away from him is very ill-disposed to yield up Life it self at the Call of God Are we to obey God in dying and do we not think our selves oblig'd to bear these Calamities which Providence sends upon us while we live Are we to drink of such a Cup at last and can we think that we do well to be angry and discontented at any thing which befals us in the way These Things are inconsistent 3. How irregular are the workings of our Affections with respect to those that are fallen asleep in Christ God seldom or never removes any of our Friends especially if publickly useful Persons but that we are ready secretly at least to wish that they had not died when they did We know not how to restrain our selves from such desires and yet in desiring it we are like Peter when he talkt of making Tabernacles on the Mount who knew not what he said Luke 9.33 We do not only wish their Infelicity whom we pretend to love and value but we make our selves Rebels in Heart against God we wish in plain terms that our Wills might have stood in opposition to his and that our blind mistaken Judgments might have been allow'd to overturn or alter his Wise and Righteous unerring Counsels 4. How blessed should their Memories be above all others who are most eminently Exemplary in the performance of this Duty Going out of the World as Moses did is like the burning of rich and fragrant Spices which leave a sweet Perfume behind them 'T is observable that God did that to Moses who died according to his Word which he never did for any one before or since verse 6. And he buried him in a Valley in the Land of Moab c. Though there was none to accompany his Body to the Grave yet God's peculiar Undertaking for his Interment by the Ministry of Angels as may be reasonably supposed was ten thousand times more Honour to him than the pompous Funeral of the Patriarch Jacob when he was carried with so vast a Train of Mourners out of Egypt into Canaan Gen. 50.9 Secondly Exhortation Labour to learn this Lesson well of Obedience to the Divine Will in the Point of Death and that you may do so take these Directions 1. Make death familiar to you by frequent fore-thoughts of it Those things which surprize us most we are usually least submissive to God in but what we expect and look for we are gradually reconciled to If we propose a long Life to our selves and put away the remembrance of Death we shall certainly make our dying work so much the harder 'T is necessary not only to think that our Change must come unavoidably at last but that it may come quickly in a very little time If we live longer than we think we shall live the better but if we die sooner than we think we shall die the worse If God hath made our days generally as an hand breadth Psalm 39.5 we should measure them out successively by an hairs breadth that when we are at our utmost bounds we may quietly drop away 2. Look beyond death while you are looking for it Let not that terminate your Sight which in it self indeed is a doleful Melancholy Object Consider the Excellency of the Life to come which takes place immediately upon the conclusion of this We shall not die for ever as those words should be rendred which we read shall never die John 11.26 though we die once and there is nothing here so amiable and perfect as in that World we are going to If a view of that Canaan sufficed Moses which he was never to possess how much more satisfactory will the prospect of that Heaven be where we are to dwell eternally the seeing of our absent glorified Redeemer there will help us in our following of him thither and does distinguish us from the common Men of the Earth John 14.19 3. Look upon all the Enjoyments of this present Life with such an holy Contempt and Scorn as they deserve If we be not dead to these things before hand we shall not know how to part with them at Death If we lay up our Treasure here it must needs be troublesom and grievous to renounce and quit it He that would obey God chearfully in his going hence must not think that any of the things that are here beneath can make him happy and therefore the Heart should not be set upon them It made Rachel and Leah willing to go to Canaan that they had no Expectation left in Padan-aram Gen. 31.14 4. Make hast with your living work which God gives you to do with reference to the saving of your own Souls and the serving of your Generation A Man must be strangely stupified and harden'd in a false peace that can be content to leave
the World before he hath answer'd the End and dispatch'd the Business for which he was born into it A comfortable Death does not suit with a slothful and careless an useless and unprofitable Life He that hath neglected his Duty to himself or to others in his place may very well b backward and unwilling to die Job begs that it would please God to destroy him and crys Let him not spare for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One chap. 6.9 10. 5. Clear and State your Accounts every day set them in Order for their Confusion will cause your Distraction when you come to die Seriously examine and reflect upon your daily Walk and Course and do not leave those Miscarriages to be budled up in a general Repentance when they are forgotten which when they are fresh you may and ought to be particularly humbled for The more diligent and exact we are in this case the less Advantage will Satan have against us A Man can but scarcely die well as the Apostle speaks of being scarcely saved 1 Pet. 4.18 who hath any thing else to do when his hour comes 6. Beware of grieving the Spirit and clouding your own Comforts Though full Assurance be not absolutely necessary to the yielding of this Obedience in Death yet our Obedience must needs be very defective where some degrees of Assurance or good hope through Grace are not gotten and maintain'd 'T is very hard to resign without some Evidence that God will receive us very hard to let go our Temporal Life when we can lay no hold upon Eternal therefore the Advice is needful Jude 21. Keep your selves in the Love of God do nothing that may tend to prejudice or weaken your sense of it 7. Live upon the Death of Christ as the only Foundation of your warrantable Trust Though you do walk before God in Truth you will find the need of something else to depend on for your Title to Glory Some think that there is a Gospel Mystery in Moses's dying short of Canaan and Joshua's leading the People into it viz. to intimate to us That the Works of the Law will bring none to Heaven but Christ by his Blood hath open'd our way to it He that builds his Hope of Salvation upon any thing which he hath done must either perish or pull down all again 8. Look up to Heaven for Divine Instruction in this great Point It was Moses's Prayer to God so teach us to number our days that we may apply our Hearts c. Psalm 90.12 The numbering of our Days aright is no Vulgar Arithmetick nor can we learn it without a more than ordinary Tutor No Man ever died like Moses here according to the Word of the Lord but what was taught of God to do it He that gives out the Command must guide our Spirits to obey it If we can do nothing for God of our selves least of all can we die to him without him SERMON XXIII October 1. 1697. HEBREWS VII xxv Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them THE Glorious Office of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ is the Subject of great part of this Epistle and the Apostle's main Scope and Design is to shew the superlative Excellency thereof beyond the Legal Priesthood which he does at large in various respects In the two immediate foregoing Verses he compares Christ with the Priests under the Law in reference to their Mortality Verse 23. They truly were many Priests many one after another because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death they were dying Men and how well soever they discharged the Duty of their Places yet in a few Years they left it to those that survived them and knew it no more themselves the Ministers of the Old Testament had their appointed time when their Breath went forth and returned not again as you find that the Ministers of the New Testament have now in their Generation But ver 24. this man or this Christ the Anointed of the Lord whom the Apostle here speaks of for the word Man is not in the Original but supplied by our Translators because he continueth ever hath an unchangable Priesthood his Office does not pass from him to another he hath no Successors in it whom the Exercise of it is committed to but he still manages it in his own Person and will perpetually do it Hereupon that comfortable and encouraging Inference and Conclusion is drawn up in the words of the Text Wherefore he is able c. Whcih words if they were to be cast into our usual Forms of Argument would run thus He who ever lives to make Intercession is able to save to the uttermost But Jesus Christ ever lives c. Therefore he is able c. There are many important Truths lying in this Text but all may be brought within the compass of this one Observ Christ's eternal Life and Intercession in Heaven in an infallible Proof of his Infinite saving Power Here I. I shall enquire into the Thing which the Apostle undertakes to prove The infinite-saving-Power of Jesus Christ II. Into the Evidence which he proves it by The Eternal Life and Intercession of Christ in Heaven With the distinct Uses which may be made of both these I. As to the thing which the Apostle here sets himself to prove viz. The infinite-saving Power of our Lord Jesus The Text it self will lead us to the opening of two Things under this Head The nature of this Power and the extent of it How he is able to save and how far even to the uttermost First With reference to the nature of this Power How is Christ able to save This may may be stated in the following Propositions 1. There is a Power which belongs to Christ as he is God In this as in all other Divine Perfections the Second Person is equal with the First Rev. 1.8 I am the Almighty The very same unlimited boundless Power appertains both to the Father and the Son Therefore when Christ had asserted That none should pluck his sheep out of his hand John 10.28 he confirms it by this That his Father is greater than all and none is able to pluck them out of the Father's hand ver 29. Now if any should go about to deny the Consequence the next words will clear it I and my Father are one ver 30. If my Father is greater than all so am I if he be able to secure and preserve the Sheep so am I for he and I are one we are one in Essence and Nature and so all the same glorious Perfections which are inherent in him are in me likewise But this though it be a great Article of Faith and a great support to Believers does not seem to be that which the Apostle hath so much an Eye to in this place for he is now speaking of his Ability to save