Eternity unto Eternity thou art God Now the things of the world perish from their using yea perish from their use and yet there is a love to the world Moral As there is a carnal so there is a moral love which I shall reduce unto three heads Magisterial Parental and Conjugal Magisterial This is a love from the Master to the Servant A good Master hath a great love especially for a good Servant The Centurion's love was great to his Servant it is expresly said Luke 7.2 3. that he had a servant which was dear unto him but he was sick and ready to dye now hearing of Jesus he sent unto him the Elders of the Jews beseeching him that he would come and heal his Servant A Servant dear unto him The word imports a Servant of great price or a precious and honourable Servant Good and faithful Servants are rare and therefore precious May not that be said of Servants which is said of all other Relations among men for a few good there are many bad and like Jeremiah's Figs the good usually very good but the bad usually very bad There was not one Servant that went into the Ark with Noah nor out of Sodom with Lot which undeniably demonstrate that few Servants were good Parental As there is a Magisterial so there is a Parental love Davids love to Absalom was great if not too great That I had dyed for thee 2 Sam. 18.33 oh Absalom my Son my Son Was Absalom dead Spiritually Is Absalom dead naturally or rather violently yea is Absalom dead everlastingly Is he damned as well as dead It may be this was the reflection that was like a Dart to the Heart of David Oh that I had dyed that he might have lived Oh that I had gone to the grave of silence that he might not have gone to Hell The love of Jacob to Benjamin was great so great that the life of the Father seemeth to be bound up in the life of the Son Gen. 44.30 Kill the Son and you kill the Father one grave will serve for both But as there is a love from the Father to the Child so there is a love from the Mother to the Child The love of the Mother is a great love if not the greatest love Isa 49.15 Can a woman forget her sucking Child from having compassion on the Child of her womb Is there such a Woman among Women Can a Woman lay aside her nature Is not that Woman very unworthy to be ranked among Women that can desert the Babe of her Breast and expese it to have its Brains dashed out or its Bowels troden out Is there such a Woman 'T is pity there should be such a Woman Conjugal As there is a Magisterial and a Parental so there is a conjugal love This is a love from the Husband to the Wife and from the Wife to the Husband Husbands love your Wives Col. 3.19 and be not bitter against them A Metaphor taken from such things as are bitter in the Taste Gall mingled with sweet things makes them distastful So if the Husband be bitter the Wife will not digest it Among the Heathen the Gall of the Sacrifice that was slain and offered at Nuptials was cast out of doors to signifie that persons in a conjugal-state should be as Doves without a Gall. A man loves his Child as something of himself but he loves his Wife as Himself The Athenian-Lawgiver Tanquam aliquid sui tanquam Se. Solon commanded that Men and Women should marry together for Issue Pleasure and Love but not for Money Did they so then 't is to be feared that few do so now 'T is said of Wallaeus Clark's 1. Part. Eccl. Hist p. 982. and his Consort that their mutual care was so to please each other as by Deeds to prevent each others Desires Conjugal-Love is at least ought to be great love The love of Abraham to Sarah was great of Isaac to Rebecca was great Livia nostri conjugii memor esto vive vale of Jacob to Rachel was great of Elkanah to Hanna was great of Augustus to Livia was great who dyed in the embracement of her with these words Remember that we were one live and farewel As there was love in life so there was love in death Eph. 5.25 Husbands love your Wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it This as is an as of quality not of equality for Christ so loved the Church as to give himself to death for it even the death of the cross but thus Man doth not for his Wife if he did it would be insignificant for he could not save her nor sanctifie her nor satisfie her Spiritual As there is a carnal and a moral so there is a Spiritual love Thus there is a love in God to Man Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us There is also a love in Man to God I love the Lord Psal 116.1 because he hath heard my voice and my supplications There is a love in Christians to Christians to all Christians and as Christians Since we heard of your Faith in Christ Jesus Col. 1.4 and of the love which ye have to all the Saints And John 13.1 as there is a love in Christ to Christians Having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end so Can. 1.4 there is a love in Christians to Christ The upright love thee By a Christian I understand not a Babe of Nature but of Grace not a Christian of Mans but of Christs making It is a person that hath a life from Christ and a life for Christ 'T is a person that hath a Life from Christ I am crucified with Christ Gal. 2.20 nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me He had a life whereby he did live saith one but he had not this life from himself nor in himself Aug. to give to others as Christ did I live yet not I. I live saith another a Spiritual life Perkins but not I as a natural man 'T is a person that hath a Life for Christ Where there is a life from him there is a life for him and where there is a life for him there must be a life from him Phi. 1.21 To me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Or Christ is to me life and death is gain so the Greek The meaning is this Christ is my life here by Grace and hereafter by Glory he is both the Author and the end of my life I live for him I live to him I live in him I live by him and if I be put to death it will not endammage me but advantage me for I shall exchange Earth for Heaven a Cottage for a Palace a Prison for a Paradise This is a Christian indeed and the love of this Christian to a
God His Intercession He is able to save to the utmost Heb. 7.25 all that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Christ is Intercessor who hath the Judges ear Christ is the Churches Prince Christ is King of Sion King of Saints and to be King of Nations though the Kings of the Nations can hardly bear this Pardon this innocent Digression 1 Joh. 5.3 Come Lord Jesus come quickly He is lovely in all the administrations of his Regal Office His Commandments are not grievous Nihil difficile amanti Nothing is difficult to him that loveth Christ's Laws are Lines drawn in Love yea Lines drawn in Blood His yoak is easie and his burden is light Christ hath on his Vesture and on his Thigh Rev. 19.15 a name written KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS It s Act. As there is a Reception of Christ so there is a Recumbancy upon Christ As Christ is received so he is rolled and rested upon It is not Christ or some others not Christ and some others but Christ and no other Faith in the vital Act of it is a resting upon another Faith in the most proper and essential Act of it is a rolling upon Christ Commit thy way unto the Lord. Psa 37.5 Golgnal-Jehovah darkecha Roll upon Jehovah thy way so the Hebrew Cast thy Soul and all thy Concerns whether for temporals or for eternals upon Jehovah It is with a Soul in this Act of rolling and resting upon Christ as it was with the four Lepers 2 Kings 7.3 4. who said one to another Why sit we here until we die If we enter into the City the Famine is there and we shall die there and if we sit still we die also now therefore come and let us fall into the Host of the Syrians if they save us alive we shall live and if they kill us we shall but die Thus saith the Soul when duly and truly awakened I see an indispensable necessity of Faith Mark 16.16 for He or She that believeth not shall be damned but no Man or Woman can from himself or her self believe Ex puris naturalibus If I go to Moses he is dead as Aaron died upon Mount Hor so Mose died upon Mount Nebo God now speaks not by a Servant but by a Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things and by whom he hath made the world If I go to Moses Heb. 1.2 I die and if I sit still I die if I remain in my blood I am like to bleed to eternal death If ye believâ— not that I am he Joh. 8.24 ye shall die in your sins Well saith the Soul I have but one way left but this is Christ who is the Way Joh. 14.6 and the Truth and the Life the Way without Error the Truth without Falshood the Life without Death I will cast my self into the hands of this Christ I will cast my self at the Feet of this Christ if he will save me I shall not be damned if he will not save me I can but be damned though I know not how to bear the thoughts of damnation I will adventure here I will live or dye here I will in this case do as the Queen did in another Esth 4.16 I will go and if I perish I perish This is a going unto Christ this going unto Christ is a believing in Christ this is the direct though not the reflect Act of Faith this is a Faith of Affiance though not a Faith of Assurance Now the Man or the Woman that hath this Faith though He or She hath not Assurance shall not perish for the promise is made unto this Joh. 6.37 All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out Herein ye have a twofold Assertion the one refers to the Father and therein a twofold Act of Giving and of Drawing All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me Giveth me chooseth in me Thou hast given him power over all flesh Joh. 17.2 that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him shall come unto me shall believe in me going or coming unto Christ is believing in Christ He that cometh unto me shall never hunger Joh. 6. â—5 and he that believeth on me shall never thirst The other Act belongs to the Son And he that cometh unto me that is believeth in me I will in no wise cast out Wherein ye have three things worthy a most spiritual and serious reflection the person promising the person promised and the subject matter of the promise The person promising This is Christ who hath Bowels of Mercy as well as Beams of Glory This is Christ who is the Being of Beings as God the Beauty of Beauties as Man the Blessing of Blessings Joh. 6.36 as God-Man But I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not The Promiser is Christ Matth. 1.23 25. Jer. 23.6 who is as able to perform as to promise One who cannot out-bid himself and whose names are Emanuel Jesus Jehovah The person promised Him Him that cometh unto me believeth in me Him or Her the Man or the Woman without exception or exemption as to Nation whether Jew or Gentile as to Age whether a Methuselah or a Josiah as to Degree Acts 10.34 a Craesus or a Codrus God is no respecter of persons The subject matter of the Promise I will in no wise cast out There are two Negatives in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which strengthen the Affirmative I will not not cast out of doors As if Christ had said though there be not grace desired if there be grace desiring I will not not 1 Pet. 2.2 cast this person out of doors Though there be not the Faith of Assurance if there be the Faith of Affiance I will not not cast this person out of doors Though there be not the reflect act of Faith if there be the direct act of Faith I will not not cast this person out of doors I will be so far from shutting the door upon this person when He or She cometh that I will not cast this person out of doors after He or She is come Oh infinite mercy As this is an endeared so an endearing Text and thousands of Souls may have happily closed with a Christ in it It 's Rule Gospel-Faith hath it's Rule and 't is an infallible one Christ is to be received and rested upon according to Gospel Tenders and Terms Now the Terms of the Gospel are free freely-free Christ must be received and rested upon not upon the account of the merit of his own but upon the account of his own merit The Sinner must come as a Sinner Mat. 9.12 13. unto this Saviour The whole need not a Physician They see no need of a Physician But those that
Pearl before Swine Mat. 7.6 Apply not Evangelical Promises unto swinish Men who regard them no more than Swine do Pearls of whose use they can have no sense Hast thou faith Rom. 14.22 Have it to thy self before God If thou beest persuaded in thy self that a thing is indifferent use this liberty to thy self have Faith with thy self but boast not of it to the offence of another By Hope sometimes understand the thing hoped for Looking for the blessed Hope That is Tit. 2.13 for the blessing hoped for Here Hope is Metonymically put for the blessing hoped for By Hope sometimes understand Christ Jesus himself the Object of Hope Acts 28.20 For the Hope of Israel I am bound with this Chain Christ is called the Hope of Israel in respect of the Fathers who looked for his coming according to promise By Hope sometimes understand some mighty Prince Isa 20.5 or People They shall be afraid and ashamed of Aethropia their expectation and of Egypt their glory By Hope sometimes understand a certain persuasion 2 Cor. 2.7 Our hope of God is stedfast knowing that as you are partakers of the Sufferings ye shall be also of the Consolation By Hope sometimes understand the Grace Ps 131.3 or Act of Hope Hope thou Israel in Jehovah from now as yet unto Eternity So the Hebrew Text. Now 't is the Grace or Act of Hope that is the Subject to be discussed as I am more or less indulged the Gales and Gusts of the Spirit But what is this Grace Qu. or Act of Hope Gospel-hope Sol. is a Grace and Fruit of the Spirit consisting in an assured and abiding Expectation Descr having God and all promised Good future and possible for its Object grounded upon the Mercies of the Father and the Merits of the Son Now in this Description there are four things that call for Discussion being indispensably necessary in order to its Constitution The Nature of it the Quality of it the Object of it the Cause of it 1. The Nature of it Gospel-hope is a Grace and Fruit of the Spirit The Apostle speaks of some of the Spirit 's Fruits against which there is no Law Gal. 5.22 23. no Law of Condemnation The fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Longsuffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance Hope is not expressed but 't is implied the reason is obvious for Hope is a Grace now all Grace groweth upon this Tree and is the Fruit of this Tree the Spirit That Hope is a Grace is as evident for it is ranked with Faith and Love 1 Thess 1.3 Remembring without ceasing your work of Faith and labour of Love and patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ Here is the work of Faith 't is not a dead but a living Faith 't is a work but 't is a Work of God a work of Grace and it worketh by Love Here is the labour of Love Love is laborious it labours much labours most though it thinks it labours least And here is the patience of Hope here is a bearing of the Cross in hope of the Crown a passing through the Wilderness in hope of the Land of Promise a Suffering for Christ in hope of Reigning with Christ The Quality of it This Grace Hope is an assured and abiding expectation 'T is an assured expectation This Hope is acted by the Spirit Gal. 5.5 We through the Spirit wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith Here is a waiting or expectation and this is through the Spirit which must needs be certain and sure Yea that 't is an assured expectation the Apostle endeavours to insinuate Rom. 5.2 We rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God Where there is Joy there is Assurance There will come a time when Time shall go into Eternity and the Soul shall go into Glory and we rejoyce in hope of this Time There will come a time when we shall go Home when we shall go to our Father's House wherein are many Mansions and we rejoyce in hope of this Time There will come a time when we shall be arrived at our Haven our Heaven our Palace our Paradise and we rejoyce in hope of this Time 'T is an abiding expectation Hope is no remover but an abiding grace Hope is not a fading quality though it doth not always act at least in that degree act yet it always is where it ever was Though it be not always a lively hope yet 't is alwaies a living hope Dùm spiro spero dùm expiro spero While I live I hope saith the Heathen while I dye I hope saith the Christian 'T is written that the wicked is driven away in his wickedness Prov. 14.32 but the righteous hath hope in his death There is a hoping to death and a hoping in death Hope is to last so long as this life lasteth and to run parallel with the longest minute and moment of Time A Christian of Christ's making never loseth his hope until he hath found that which he hoped for That Hope which is the Concomitant 〈◊〉 of Faith is an assured and abiding ex pectation Heb. 6.11 may be read by him that runneth We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end Here is not only hope and assured hope but also the assurance of hope yea the full assurance of hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Metaphor taken from Ships that have all their Sails up yea and all these Sails filled with Wind. As Faith hath an eye to the truth of the promise so Hope hath an eye to the good of the promise but the assurance of this hope is that we shall receive that Good Though Hope in vulgar-Dialect and in the things of the World signifieth of things to come a probability yet in Scripture-Dialect and in the things of Salvation it signifieth an undoubted certainty The Object of it The Object of Hope is God and all promised Good future and possible The Object of Hope is God That God is the Object of Hope is evident for he is called the God of Hope Rom. 15.13 Now the God of hope fill you with all Joy and peace in believing Objectivè effectivè that ye may abound in hope thorough the power of the holy Spirit He is called the God of hope objectively because the proper and primary object of it and effectively because the worker of it by his Spirit Both these are legible in this proof The God of Hope there he is the Author and the Object of it That ye may abound in hope there he is the Actor and the Worker of it This Hope is in God formally as in the Subject of it and in God causally as in the Fountain of it He is the Author of it and the Donor of it the God of it and the Giver of it As God so Good all promised
good is the Object of Hope Though God or Christ be the immediate Object of hope yet there are subordinate Objects of hope as the Word of God and the good things of God yea all the good things of God relating to this life and that which is to come But this Good which is the Object of Hope must be promised good all promised good In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye promised before the world began Or rather Tit. 1.2 from the beginning of ages Gen. 3.15 in that famous promise of the blessed seed Non ab aeterno sed ante multa saecula Grotius Not from eternity saith one but before all ages As there is a Hope by which we lay hold which is the Grace or Act of Hope so there is a Hope upon which we lay hold which is the Good for which we hope the Object of hope God himself and all the good things which he hath promised This hope may be considered two wayes for the grace acting in us or for some promised good upon which the grace acts If therefore we take promised good to be the object of hope then it falls under a two fold Notion Hope looks at that which is good No man ever did or can hope for that which is evil of it self or to him if it appears so to be though many have hoped for that which is indeed so and hath proved so to them in the event and issue Hope hath for it's Object some good future and possible Future Hope springeth from the apprehension of some good that is to come The Object of Hope is some future good but the Act of Hope is a present good and that is present pay to bear our charges in waiting 'T is a future good that is Hopes Object not something had but something to have not something in Hand but something in Heaven yea especially Heaven it self for as Christ is the Object of Faith and Christians the Objects of Love so Heaven is the Object of Hope For the hope which is laid up for you in Heaven The Object of Hope is a future good for that which a man hath already in his possession or doth already enjoy he cannot be said to hope for Enjoyment swallows up hope or rather perfects it Thus the Apostle argues Rom. 8.24.25 Not saved Ro but Spe. we are saved by hope Not by the Grace or Act of Hope but we look for salvation promised and for salvation to be performed What follows but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it Possible As future so possible good is the Object of Hope 'T is some possible good or such a good as we have good grounds to attain for impossibilities are rather the Object of Despair than of Hope Now that is a possible good which is a promised good for the Apostle having asserted a hope laid up in Heaven connecteth and connexeth this Col. 1.5 whereof ye have heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel Whatsoever God hath laid under promise is possible and attainable now what good is it that is for the good of those actually his that is not laid and left under promise That Heaven into which all will run as all the rivers run into the Ocean is under promise Fear not little-little flock so the Greek for it is your fathers good pleasure to give the Kingdom Luke 12.32 True faith is rooted in the promise and fruited with peace A believer hath something in hope though little in hand much in the promise though little in his purse The Cause of it The mercy of the Father and the merit of the Son Free-grace is the moving cause the Action and Passion of Christ the meritorious cause Free-grace is the moving cause of this Gospel-Hope Free-grace is the wheel that sets all a going in the Heart Primum mobile yea the wheel that sets all a going in Heaven All good is from God and is an Act of his Free-grace May the Apostle speak Every good gift the temporal and smaller and every perfect gift spiritual and greater is from above and cometh down from the father of lights Jam. 1.7 with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning The active and passive obedience of Christ is the meritorious cause of this Gospel-hope As all this promised good is grounded upon the mercy of the Father so upon the merit of the Son The Socinians say that Christ dyed only as an Example that he did not satisfie divine Justice by his active and passive obedience Are not many not only breathing the Veins but also letting out the Vitals and bleeding to death this blessed and sacred truth that Christ by his active and passive obedience hath given satisfaction to the Father for all given unto him by the Father If God be reconciled certainly then he is satisfied but God is reconciled Reconciled to God but how Rom. 5.10 thorough the death of his Son There was a concurrence of Christs active and passive obedience in order to Satisfaction and Salvation There must be the Action of Christ A Christ must do Man would be doing though it was to his undoing for he sinned against a negative precept and did that which was prohibited The Woman gave unto me and I did eat Now as Man would do so Christ must do as Man did that which was prohibited so Christ must do that which is imposed I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do John 17.4 Christ for His hath exactly answered what the Law perfectly required Christ hath fulfilled the righteousness of the Law for his and Christ is fulfilling the righteousness of the Gospel in his It is written that when Christ had upon the Cross received the Vinegar John 19.30 he said It is finished Now the Prophesies of him were finished saith one Aug. Now his pilgrimage and the wrath of God were finished saith another Chrysist Now the Jewish Law and Sacrifice was at an end saith a third Jansenius Here is the Action of a Christ There must be the passion of Christ A Christ must dye As there must be his active so there must be his passive obedience As Christ did so Christ dyed and so satisfyed Is not Redemption a Good a great Good a Soul Good This is by Christ Eph. 1.7 In whom we have redemption thorough his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace Man had sinned God was offended and would be satisfied the same way that he was offended that is by the Sinner or by the Surety by the Person or by the Proxie by the Creature or by Christ Now 1 Pet. 3.18 Christ hath suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God That he might bring God down to