of their adoption which is the hansell and earnest of their inheritance and thereby begetteth a lively hope an earnest expectation a confident attendance upon the promises and an unspeakable peace and security thereupon by which fruits of faith and hope there is a glorious joy shed abroad into the soule so ful and so intimately mingled with the same that it is as possible for man to annihilate the one as to take away the other For according to the evidence of hope and excellencie of the thing hoped must needs the joy there from resulting receive its sweetnesse and stability By all this which hath been spoken of the mission of the Spirit in such abundance after Christs sitting at the right hand of God wee should learne with what affections to receive the Gospel of salvation for the teaching whereof this Holy Spirit was shed abroad abundantly on the Embassadors of Christ and with what heavenly conversations to expresse the power which our hearts have felt therin to walke as children of the light and as becommeth the Gospell of Christ to adorne our high profession and not to receive the grace of God in vaine Consider first that the word thus quickned will have an operation either to convince unto Righteousnesse or to seale unto condemnation as the Sunne either to melt or to harden as the raine either to ripen corne or weeds as the Scepter of a King either to rule subjects or to subdue enemies as the fire of a Goldsmith either to purge gold or devoure drosse as the waters of the sanctuary either to heale places or to turne them into salt pits Ezek. 47.11 Secondly according to the proportion of the Spirit of Christ in his word revealed shall be the proportion of their judgment who despise it The contempt of a great salvation and glorious Ministery shall bring a sorer condemnation Heb. 2.2.4 If I had not come and spoken unto them saith our Savior they had not had sinne Ioh. 15.22 Sins against the light of nature are no sins in comparison of those against the Gospell The earth which drinketh in the raine that fals often on it and yet beareth nothing but thornes and briars is rejected and nigh unto cursing Heb. 6.7 8. Thirdly even here God will not alwayes suffer his Spirit to strive with flesh there is a Day of Peace which he calleth our day a day wherein he entreateth and beseecheth us to be reconciled but if we therein judge our selves unworthy of eternall life and goe obstinately on till there be no remedy he can easily draw in his Spirit and give us over to the infatuation of our owne hearts that we may not be cleansed any more till he have caused his fury to rest upon us Ezek. 24.13 We see likewise by this Doctrine wherupon the comforts of the Church are founded namely upon Christ as the first comforter by working our Reconciliation with God and upon the Spirit as another comforter testifying and applying the same unto our soules And the continuall supply and assistance of this Spirit is the onely comfort the Church hath against the dominion and growth of sinne For though the motions of lust which are in our members are so close so working so full of vigor and life that we can see no power nor probabilities of prevailing against them yet we know Christ hath a greater fulnesse of Spirit than we can have of sinne and it is the great promise of the new covenant that God will put his Spirit into us and thereby save us from all our uncleanesses Ezek. 36.27 29. for though we be full of sin and have but a seed a sparkle of the Spirit put into us and upheld and fed by further though small supplies yet that little is stronger than legions of lust as a little salt or leven seasoneth a great lump or a few drops of Spirits strengthen a whole glasse full of water Therefore the Spirit is called a Spirit of judgment and of burning because as one Iudge is able to condemne a thousand prisoners and a little fire to consume abundance of drosse so the Spirit of God in and present with us though received and supplied but in measure though but a smoaking and suppressed fire shall yet breake forth in victory and judgment against all that resist it In us indeed there is nothing that feeds but onely that which resists and quencheth it But this is the wonderfull vertue of the Spirit of Christ in his members that it nourisheth it selfe Therefore sometimes the Spirit is called fire Esai 4.4 Matth. 3.11 and sometimes Oyle Heb. 1.9 1 Ioh. 2.27 to note that the Spirit is nutriment unto it selfe that that grace which we have received already is preserved and excited by new supplies of the same grace Which supplies we are sure shall be given to all that aske them by the vertue of Christs prayer Ioh. 14.16 by the vertue of his and his Fathers promise Ioh. 16.7 Act. 1.4 and by the vertue of that Office which he still beares which is to be the head or vitall principle of all holinesse and grace unto the Church And all these are permanent things and therefore the vertue of them abideth their effects are never totally interrupted Fiftly and lastly this sitting of Christ at the right hand of God noteth his intercession in the behalfe of the whole Church and each member thereof Who is he that condemneth saith the Apostle it is Christ that is dead yea rather that is risen againe who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.34 But of this Doctrine I shall speake more fitly in the fourth verse it being a great part of the Priesthood of Christ. I now proceed to the last thing in this first verse the continuance and Victories of Christs Kingdome in these words untill I make thy foes thy footstoole Wherin every word is full of weight For though ordinarily subdivisions of holy Scripture and crumbling of the bread of life be rather a loosing than an expounding of it yet in such parts of it as were of purpose intended for models and summaries of fundamentall Doctrine of which sort this Psalme is one of the fullest and briefest in the whole Scriptures as in little maps of large countries there is no word wherupon some point of weighty consequence may not depend Here then is considerable the terme of duration or measure of Christs Kingdome Vntill The Author of subduing Christs enemies under him I the Lord. The manner thereof ponam and ponam scabellum Put thy foes as a stoole under thy feete Victory is a relative word and presupposeth enemies and they are expressed in the text I will but touch that particular because I have handled it more largely upon another Scripture and their enmitie is here not described but onely presupposed It shews it selfe against Christ in all the Offices of his Mediation There is enmity against him as a Prophet Enmity against his Truth
In opinion by adulterating it with humane mixtures and superinducements teaching for Doctrines the traditions of men In affection by wishing many divine truths were razed out of the Scriptures as being manifestly contrary to those pleasures which they love rather than God In conversation by keeping downe the truth in unrighteousnesse and in those things which they know as brute beasts corrupting themselves Enmity against his Teaching by quenching the motions and resisting the evidence of his Spirit in the word refusing to heare his voyce and rejecting the counsell of God against themselves There is Enmitie against him as a Priest by undervaluing his Person Sufferings Righteousnesse or Merits And as a King Enmity to his Worship by profanesse neglecting it by idolatry communicating it by superstition corrupting it Enmity to his wayes and service by ungrounded prejudices mis-judging them as grievous unprofitable or unequall wayes and by wilfull disobedience forsaking them to walke in the wayes of our owne heart And this is a point which men should labour to trie themselves in for the enemies of Christ are not onely out of the Church but in the midst where his kingdome is set up v. 2. Esay 8.14 And indeed by how much the more dangerous it is by so much the more subtil wil Satan and a sinfull heart be to deceive it selfe therein for this is a certaine truth that men may professe and falsly beleeve that they love the Lord Iesus and yet be as reall enemies unto his Person and Kingdome as the Iewes that accused and the Heathen that crucified him Hee was set up for a signe to be spoken against for a rocke of offence and a stone of stumbling which the very builders themselves would reject False brethren amongst the Philippians there were who professed the name of Christians and yet by their sensuall walking and worldly mindednesse declared themselves to bee enemies to the crosse of Christ Phil. 3.18 19. To honour the bodies of the Saints departed with beautifull sepulchres is in it selfe a testimoniall of sincere love and inward estimation of their persons and graces and therefore the Holy Ghost hath recorded it for the perpetuall honour of Ioseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus that they embalmed the body of Iesus and laid it in a new sepulcher Ioh. 19 38-41 yet our Saviour pronounceth a woe against the Scribes and Pharisees because they built the tombe◠of the Prophets and garnished the sepulchres of the righteous Matth. 23.29 The fault was not in the fact it selfe but in the hypocrisie of the heart in the incongruitie of their other practices and in that damned protection which by this plausible pretext of honour to the Prophets they laboured to gaine to their persons and approbation to their attempts against Christ in the mindes of the people who yet ordinarily esteemed Christ whom they persecuted a Prophet sent from God They professe If we had beene in the dayes of our Fathers wee would not have done as they did But our Saviour reproves this hypocriticall perswasion by shewing first that it was no strange thing with them to persecute Prophets but a nationall and hereditary sinne and therefore they had no reason to boast of their descent as their manner was Luke 3.8 Ioh. 8.39 or to thinke that Gods mercies were entail'd unto them since by their owne confession they were the posteritie of those that had killed the Prophets and secondly that they did fulfill the measure of their Fathers that is that which their Fathers had beene long and leasurely a doing they now did altogether in one blow for it was the same Christ whom they persecuted in his person and their fathers in his Prophets and therefore though they seemed to honour and revive the memory of those holy martyrs yet upon them should light the guilt of all the righteous bloud which had ever beene shed in the Land inasmuch as their malice was directed against that fulnesse of which all the Prophets had but a measure If by severall enemies a man be severally mangled one cuts off a foot another an hand another an arme and after all this there come one who cuts off the head and yet bestows some honourable ceremonies upon those members which the rest had abused he shall justly suffer as if he had slaine a whole man inasmuch as his malice did eminently containe in it the degrees of all the rest and that pretended honour shall be so far from compensating the injury that it shall adde thereunto an aggravation of base hypocrisie Thus as the Iewes when they thought they did honour and admire the Prophets did yet harbour in their brests that very root of fury and had that selfe-same constitution of soule which was in their fore-fathers who shed their bloud so in our dayes men may say and thinke that they love Christ and court him with much out-side and emptie service may boast that if they had lived in the dayes of those unthankfull Iewes they would not have partaked with them in so execrable a murther and yet interpretatively and at second hand shew the very same root of bitternesse and rancorous constitution of heart against him in his Spirit and ordinances which was in those men when they cried Away with him crucifie him crucifie him Many grounds there are of this grand misperswasion of the heart in its love to Christ which I will but touch upon The first is the generall acceptation and continuance which the Gospell of Christ receiveth amongst the Princes of this world who in Christian Common-wealths doe both by their owne voluntary and professed subjection and by the vigour of their publike lawes establish the same Now this is most certain that as in all other sciences there cannot be transitus à genere in genus the principles of one will not serve to beget the conclusions of another so here especially if a spirituall assent and affection be grounded upon no other than humane inducements it is most undoubtedly spurious and illegitimate That reason which the Pharisees used to disswade men from beleeving in Christ Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees beleeved on him Ioh. 7.48 is one of the principall arguments which many men have now why they doe beleeve him because the Rulers whose examples and lawes they observe more upon trust than triall doe lead them thereunto and therefore wee finde amongst the Iewes that those very men who when the Government of the whole twelve Tribes was one did all consent in an unity of religion upon the distraction of the kingdome under Ieroboam were presently likewise divided in their observance of Gods worship and they who before were zealous for the Temple at Ierusalem were after as superstitious for Dan and Bethel the Prophet giveth the reason of it They willingly walked after the commandement namely of Ieroboam Hos. 5.11 no sooner did the Prince interpose his authoritie but the people were willing to pin their opinions and practices upon his word If Omri make
estate which shall be tendred unto them To admire adore and greedily embrace any termes of peace and reconciliation which shall be offered them To submit unto the righteousnesse and with all willing and meeke affection to bend the heart to the Scepter of Christ and to whatsoever forme of judicature and spirituall government he shall please to erect therein And this magnifies the strength of this Rod of Christs Kingdome that it maketh men yeeld upon any termes when we see the little stone grow into a mightie mountaine and eat into all the Kingdomes of the world when wee see Emperours and Princes submit their necks and scepters to a doctrine at first every where spoken against and that upon the words of a few despicable peâ—sons and that such a doctrine too as is diametrally contrary to the naturall constitution of the hearts of men and teacheth nothing but selfe-deniall and this for hope of reward from one whom they never saw and whom if they had seene they should have found by a naturall eye no beauty in him for which hee should bee desired and this reward too what-ever it be deferred for a long time and in the interim no ground of assurance to expect it but onely faith in himselfe that promiseth it and in the meane time a world of afflictions for his names sake How can we think that a world of wise and of great men should give eare most willingly unto such termes as these if there were not a demonstrative and constraining evidence of truth and goodnesse therein able to stop the mouths and to answer the objections of all gain sayers Of this point I have spoken more copiously upon another Scripture Secondly there is a Conviction unto condemnation of those who stand out against this saving power of the Gospell and Spirit of grace driving them from all their strong holds and constraining them perforce to acknowledge the truth which they doe not love Thus wee finde our Saviour disputing with the Jewes till no man was able to answer him a word and as he did so himselfe so hee promised that his messengers should doe so too I will give you a mouth and wisdome which all your adversaries shall not be able to gain-say nor resist And this promise wee finde made good the enemies of Steven were not able to resist the Spirit by which hee spake And Apollos mightily convinced the Jews shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ And this the Apostle numbreth amongst the qualifications of a Bishop that he should be able by sound doctrine to convince the gain-sayers and to stop the mouthes of those unruly deceivers whose businesse it is to subvert men for this is the excellent vertue of Gods Word that it concludeth or shutteth men in and leaveth not any gap or evasion of corrupted reason unanswered or unprevented Thus wee finde how the Prophets in their ministery did still drive the Jewes from their shifts and presse them with Dilemma's the inconveniences whereof they could on no side escape either there must be a fault in you or else in God who rebuketh you but now what iniquity saith the Lord have your fathers found in me that they are gone far from me Have I beene a wildernesse unto Israel or a land of darknesse wherefore say my people we are lords we will come no more unto thee O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against mee I raised up of your sonnes for Prophets and of your young men for Nazarites Is it not even thus O yee children of Israel Here the Scripture useth that figure which is called by the Rhetoritians Communicatio a debating and deliberation with the adverse party an evidencing of a cause so cleerely as that at last a man can challenge the adversary himselfe to make such a determination as himselfe shall in reason judge the merits of the cause to require How shall I pardon thee for this and how shall I doe for the daughters of my people Set me in a way determine the controversie your selves and I will stand to the issue which your owne consciences shall make O inhabitants of Ierusalem and men of Iudah judge I pray you betweene me and my Vineyard that is doe you your selves undertake the deciding of your owne cause When a band of armed men came against Christ to attach him and at the pronouncing but of two words I am he fell all downe backward to the earth we must needs confesse that there was some mightie power and evidence of Majesty in him that uttered them what thinke wee can he doe when hee raigneth and judgeth the world who did let out so much power when he was to die and to be judged by the world Now Christ raigneth and judgeth the world by his Word and that more mightily after his ascending up on high and therefore he promiseth his Apostles that they should doe greater workes than himselfe had done When I shall see a man armed with scorne against Christ in his Word standing proudly upon the defence of his owne wayes by his owne wisdome and wrapping up himselfe in the mud of his owne carnall reasonings by a few postulata and deductions from Gods Word to bee enforced to stoppe his owne mouth to be condemned by his owne witnesse to betray his owne succours and to bee shut up in a prison without barres when I shall force such a man by the mighty penetration and invincible evidence of Gods Word to see in his owne conscience a hand subscribing to the truth which condemnes him and belying all those delusions which he had fram'd to deceive himselfe withall who can deny but that the rod of Gods mouth is indeed Virga virtutis a rod of strength an iron rod able to deale with all humane reasonings as a hammer with a potsherd which though to the hand of a man it may feele as hard as a rocke yet is too brittle to endure the blow of an iron rod Strange it is to observe how boldly men venture on sinnes under the names of custome or fashions or some other pretences of corrupted reason contrary to the cleere and literal evidence of holy Scriptures the most immediate and grammaticall sense whereof is ever soundest where there doth not some apparant and unavoidable errour in doctrine or mischiefe in manners follow thereupon Men will justifie the cause of the wicked for reward and by dexterity of wit put a better colour upon a worser businesse as hath beene observed of Protagoras and Carneades and yet the Lord saith expressely Thou shalt not speake in a cause to wrest judgement thou shalt keepe thee far from a false matter for God whom thou oughtest to imitate will not justifie the wicked Men will follow the sinfull fashions of the world in strange apparell in prodigious haire in lustfull and unprofitable expence of that pretious
his race shall the succession increase and armies of the Church of God bee continually supplied The words thus unfolded doe containe in them a lively Character of the subjects in Christs spirituall Kingdome Described first by their Relation to him and his propriety to them Thy People Secondly by their present condition intimated in the word Willing or Voluntaries and if wee take Thy People and Armies for Synonymous termes The one notifying the order and quality of the other expressed in the Text and that is to bee military men Thirdly by their through and universall resignation subjection and devotednesse unto him For when he conquereth by his word his conquest is wrought upon the wills and affections of men Victorque volentes Per populos dat jura Thy people shall bee willing The ground of which willingnesse is further added for so chiefly I understand those words The Day of thy Power So that the willingnesse of Christs subjects is effected by the power of his grace and Spirit in the revelation of the Gospell Fourthly By their honorable attire and military robes in which they appeare before him and attend upon him In Beauties of Holinesse or in the various and manifold graces of Christ as in a garment of diverse colours Fiftly and lastly by their age multitudes and manner of their birth They are the Dew of the morning as many as the small drops of dew and they are borne to him out of the wombe of the morning as dew is generated not on the earth but in the aire by a Heavenly calling and by the shining of the morning-starre and day-spring upon their consciences Yee are all the Children of light saith the Apostle and the Children of the day wee are not of the night nor of darknesse 1 Thess. 5.5 I said before that I approve not the mincing and crumbling of Holy Scriptures Yet in these parts of them which are written for models and summaries of Christian Doctrine I suppose there may bee weight in every word as in a rich Iewell there is worth in every sparkle Here then first wee may take notice of Christs Propriety to his people Thy people All the Elect and Beleevers doe belong unto Christ. They are His People They are his Owne sheepe There is a mutuall and reciprocall propriety between him and them I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine His desire is towards mee His I say not as hee is God onely by a right of inseparable dominion as wee are his creatures For all things were created by him and for him And hee is over all God blessed for ever Nor his onely as hee is the first-borne and the heire of all things In which respect hee is Lord of the Angels and God hath set him over all the workes of his hands But as he is the mediator and head in his Church In which respect the faithfull are his by a more peculiar propriety Wee are thine thou never barest rule over them they were not called by thy name The Devils are his Vassals The wicked of the world his prisoners The faithfull onely are his subjects and followers His Iewels his Friends his Brethren his Sonnes his Members his Spouse His by all the relations of intimatenesse that can bee named Now this Propriety Christ hath unto us upon severall grounds First by Constitution and Donation from his Father God hath made him Lord and Christ. Hee hath put all things under his feete and hath given him to bee Head over all things to the Church Aske of mee and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Behold I and the Children whom thou hast given mee Thine they were and thou gavest them to mee For as in regard of Gods Iustice we were bought by Christ in our redemption so in regard of his love wee were given unto Christ in our election that hee might redeeme us Secondly by a right of purchase treaty and covenant betweene Christ and his Father For wee having sold away our selves and being now in the enemies possession could not bee restored unto our primitive estate without some intervening price to redeeme us Therefore saith the Apostle hee was made under the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hee might Buy out those that were under the Law And againe yee are Bought with a price Hee was our surety and stood in our stead and was set forth to declare the righteousnesse of God God dealt in grace with us but in justice with him Thirdly by a right of conquest and deliverance Hee hath plucked us out of our enemies hands hee hath dispossessed and spoiled those that ruled over us before he hath delivered us from the power of Satan and translated us into his owne Kingdome wee are his free men hee onely hath made us free from the Law of sinne and death and hath rescued us as spoiles out of the hands of our enemies and therefore wee are become his servants and owe obedience unto him as our Patron and deliverer As the Gibeonites when they were delivered from the sword of the children of Israel were thereupon made hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation So wee being rescued out of the hands of those tyrannous Lords which ruled over us doe now owe service and subjection unto him that hath so mercifully delivered us Being made free from sinne saith the Apostle ye become the Servants of Righteousnesse And wee are delivered from the Law that being dead wherin we were held that wee should serve in newnesse of Spirit And againe Hee died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose againe Fourthly by covenant and stipulation I entred into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Therefore in our Baptisme we are said to bee Baptized into Christ and to put on Christ and to bee Baptized into his name that is wholy to consecrate and devote our selves to him as the servants of his family Therefore they which were Baptized in the ancient Church were wont to put on white rayment as it were the Liverie and Badge of Christ a Testimony of that purity and service which therein they vowed unto him And therefore it is that wee still retaine the ancient forme of vow promise or profession in Baptisme which was to renounce the Devill and all his works the world with the pompe luxury and pleasures thereof And this is done in a most solemne and deliberate manner by way of answere to the question and demand of Christ. For which purpose S. Peter calleth Baptisme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Answere or the interrogative triall of a good conscience towards God Hee that conformeth himselfe to the fashions and setteth his heart upon the favors preferment empty applause and admiration of the world that liveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
statutes and Ahab confirme idolatrous counsels by his owne practices the Prophet shewes how forward the people are to walke in them Mich. 6.16 Therefore it is that our Saviour saith of the best sort of wicked men Those who with gladnesse and that is ever a symptome of love received the Gospell that yet in time of persecution they were offended and fell away Matth. 13.21 To note unto us that when Christ is forsaken because of persecution the imaginary love which was bestowed upon him before was certainly supported by no other ground than that was is contrary to persecution namely the countenance and protection of publike power Secondly a great part of men professe faith and love to Christ meerely upon the rules of their Education The maine reason into which their religion is resolv'd is not any evidence of excellencie in it selfe but onely the customes and traditions of their fore-fathers which is to build a divine faith upon an humane authoritie and to set man in the place of God certaine it is that contrary religions can never be originally grounded upon the same reason that which is a true and adequate principle of faith or love to Christ can never be sutable to the conclusions of Mahumetisme or idolatry now then when a professed Christian can give no other account of his love to Christ than a Turke of his love to Mahumet when that which moveth an Idolater to hate Christ is all that one of us hath to say why he beleeveth in him certainly that love and faith is but an empty presumption which dishonoureth the Spirit of Christ and deludeth our own soules There is a naturall instinct in the minde of man to reverence and vindicate the traditions of their progenitours and at first view to detest any novell opinions which seeme to thwart the received doctrine wherein they had beene bred and this affection is ever so much the stronger by how much the tradition received is about the nobler and more necessary things And therefore it discovereth it selfe with most violence and impatiency in matters of Religion wherin the eternall welfare of the soule is made the issue of the contention We finde with what heaâ—e of zeale the Iewes contended for the Temple at Ierusalem and with how equall and confident emulation the Samaritans ventured their lives for the precedencie of their Temple on mount Gerazim and took an oath to produce proofs for the authority therof and yet all the ground of this will-worship was the tradition of their Fathers For our Savior assures us that they worshipped they knew not what and onely tooke things upon trust from their predecessors The Satyrist hath made himselfe merry with describing the combate of two neighbor townes amongst the Egyptians in the opposite defence of those ridiculous idoles the severall worship of which they had been differently bred up unto And surely if a prophane Christian and a zealous Mahumetan should joyne in the like contention notwithstanding the subject it selfe on the one side defended were a sacred and pretious truth yet I doubt not but the selfe same reasons might be the sole motive of the Christian to vindicate the honor of Christ and of the other to maintaine the worship of Mahomet I meane a blinde and pertinacions adhering to that Religion in which they had been bred a naturall inclination to favor domesticall opinions a high estimation of the persons of men from whom by succession they have thus been instructed without any Spirituall conviction of the truth or experience of the good which the true members of Christ resolve their love unto him into And this we finde was ever the reasons of the Iewes obstinacy against the Prophets they answered all their arguments with the practice and traditions they had received from their Fathers Ier. 9.14.11.10.44.17 Act. 7.51 Thirdly the heart may be misperswaded of its love to Christ by judging that an affection unto him which is indeed nothing but a selfe love and a desire oâ— advancing private ends The rule whereby Christ at the last day will measure the love or hatred of men unto him is their love or hatred of his brethren and members here Mat. 25.40 45 for in all their afflictions Christ himselfe is afflicted Peter lovest thou me feed my sheepe make proofe of thy love to me by thy service and compassion to my people And how many are there every-where to be found whose love unto themselves hath devoured all brotherly love who take no pitty either upon the soules or temporall necessities of those with whom they yet pretend a fellowship in Christs owne body who spend more upon their owne pride and luxury upon their backs and bellies their pleasures and excesses yea bury more of their substance in the mawes of hawkes and dogs than they can ever perswade themselves to put into the bowels of the poore Saints surely at the day of judgment how-ever such men here professe to love Christ and would spit in the face of him who with Iustin Martyr should say they were not Christians it will appeare that such men did as formally and â—â—properly denie Christ as if with Peter they had publikely sworne I know not the man The Apostle plainly intimates thus much when he sheweth that the experiment of the Corinthians ministration to the necessity of the Saints was an inducement unto the Churches to praise God for their professed subjection to the Gospell of Christ 2 Cor. 9.13 Againe as Christ is present with us in his poore members so likewise in the power of his ordinances and in the light and evidence of his Spirit shining forth in the lives of holy men If then we are as impatient of the edge of his word when it divides betweene the bone and the marrow when it discerneth and discovereth our secret thoughts our bosome sinnes our ambitions uncleane and hypocriticall intents if the lives and Communion of the Saints be in like manner an eye-sore unto us in shaming and reproving our formall and fruitlesse profession of the same truth as Christs was unto the Iewes certainly the same affections of hatred reproach and disestimation which we shew unto them we would with so much the more bitternesse have expressed unto Christ himselfe if we had lived in his dayes by how much that Spirit of grace against which the Spirit which is in us envieth was above measure more abundantly in him than in the holiest of his members If you were of the world saith our Savior the world would love their owne but now I have called you out of the world I have given to you a Spirit which is contrary to the Spirit of the World therefore the world hateth you And this is evident when men hate another meerly for that distinction which differenceth him from them they much more hate him from whom the difference it selfe originally proceedeth We see then that they who openly professe Christ may yet inwardly hate him because the ground
God ever have beene and ever will be to the worlds end esteemed for wonders and markes and mad-men and proverbs of reproch And hereby the Lord doth provide to make his Gospell more glorious because hee giveth men hearts to suffer scorne and reproch for it To receive the word in affliction and yet with joy is an exemplary thing which maketh the sound and glory of the Gospell to spread abroad Now then if persecution bee thus an appendant to the Gospell every man must resolve to receive it in some affliction when he must be put to discard his wicked companies to shake off his flattering and sharking lusts to forsake his owne will and wayes to runne a hazard of undeserved scorne disreputation and misconstructions in the world and yet for all this to set an high price upon the pretious truths of the Gospell still is not this to receive the Word in much affliction And surely till a man can resolve upon this conclusion I am ready to be bound and to die for the name of Iesus I count not my life much lesse my liberty peace credit secular accommodations deare so I may finish my course with joy Lord my will is no more mine but it shall be in all things subject unto thee hee can never give such entertainment to the Word as becommeth so glorious a Gospell All his seeming profession and acceptation is but like the Gadarens courtesie in meeting of Christ which was onely to be rid of him Matth. 8.34 Lastly we should from hence learne a further Christian dutie which is to adorne this glorious Gospell in an holy conversation This use the Apostle every where makes of the Gospell of Christ that wee should walke as becommeth the Gospell that we should in all things adorne the doctrine of God our Saviour that we should walke worthy of him who hath called us unto his kingdome and glory that we shew forth the vertues of him who hath called us out of darknesse into his marvellous light that we should not receive so great a grace as the ministery of reconciliation in vaine but that wee should walke sittingly to the holinesse and efficacie of so excellent a rule as becommeth a royall nation a people of glory a peculiar and selected inheritance even zealous of good workes It was once the expostulation of Nehemiah with his enemies should such a man as I flie from such men as you such should be our expostulation with Satan and our owne lusts should such men as wee are who have the Gospell of Christ for our rule conforme our selves unto another Law Is not this the end why the Gospell is preached that we should live unto God Doth it become the sonne of a King to goe in ragges or to converse with meane and ignoble persons Now by the Gospell we have that great honour and priviledge given us to be called the sons of God and shall we then walke as servants of Satan Would any Prince endure to see the heire of his crowne live in bondage to his own vassall and most hated enemie Herein is the greatest glory of the Gospell above the Law that it is a Law of life and libertie a Word which transformeth men into the Image of Christ and maketh them such as it requireth them to be So that to walke still according to the course of the world as we did before is as much as in us lies to make the Gospell as weake and unprofitable as the Law How doe you say we are wise saith the Prophet and the Law of the Lord is with us Certainely in vaine made he it the pen of the Scribe is in vaine That is the priviledge of having the oracles and ordinances of God committed unto us will doe us no more good if we walke unworthy of so great a grace than if those ordinances had never beene written or revealed to men Here then it is needfull to enquire in what manner we are to adorne and set forth the glory of the Gospell To this I answer that the first and greatest honour wee can doe unto the Gospell is to set it up in our hearts as our onely rule by which we are to walke that we preferre it above all our owne counsels and venture not to mingle it with the wisdome and reasonings of the flesh that wee raise up our conversation unto it and never bend it unto the crookednesse of our owne ends or rules As yee have received Christ Iesus the Lord so walke yee in him saith the Apostle that is fashion your conversation to the doctrine of Christ let that have the highest roome and the over-ruling suffrage in your hearts There is all wisdome in the Gospell it is able to make men wise unto salvation that is there is wisdome enough in it to compasse the uttermost and most difficult end And what can the reasonings of the flesh contribute to that which was all wisedome before and which can throughly furnish a man unto every good worke This glory Saint Paul though a man of great learning of strong intellectuals of a working and stirring spirit qualities very unapt to yeeld and be silent did at the very first revelation thereof give unto the Gospell Immediatly saith he I conferr'd not with flesh and bloud I did not compare the Gospell of Christ with the principles of my carnall wisdome I did not resolve to dispute against Gods grace or to conforme unto this mystery no farther than the precepts of mine owne reason or the coexistence of mine owne secular ends and preferments would allow but I captivated all my thoughts and laid downe all the weapons of the flesh at Christs feet resting onely on this Word as a treasury of wisdome and yeelding up my whole heart to be in all things ordered by this rule It is an horrible boldnesse in many men to wrest and torture and distinguish the Gospell into all shapes for their owne lusts sake As we see what shifts men will use to make the way of life broader than it is by looking upon it thorow their owne multiplying glasses what evasions and subterfuges sinne will finde out to escape by when the letter of the Word presseth sore upon them O how many sinnes might men escape how wonderfully might they improve the Image of Christ in their hearts if they did with David make the Law their counsellor and weigh every action which they goe about those especially which they have any motions of reluctancie in the spirit of their minde unto Non in statera dolosa consuetudinum sed in recta statera scripturarum not in the deceitfull balance of humane custome but in the balance of the Sanctuary the holy Scriptures If they would seriously remember that they must alwayes walke in Christ Coloss. 2.6 make him the rule the way the end the Judge the companion the assistant in all their workes that as the members of the body doe
him in his publike Relation as a mediator a surety a mercifull and faithfull high Priest and so hee most willingly and obediently submitted unto it And this willingnesse ratione officii was much the greater because ratione naturae his will could not but shrinke from it It is easie to bee willing in such a service as is suteable to our naturall condition and affections but when nature shall necessarily shrinke sweate startle and stand amazed at a service then not to repent nor decline nor fling off the burden but with submission of heart to lie downe under it this is of all other the greatest obedience It was the voyce of nature and the presentation of the just and implanted desires of the flesh to say Transeat let it passe from me It was the retractation of mercy and duty to say Glorifie thy selfe What-ever my nature desires what-ever my will declines what-ever becomes of me yet still glorifie thy selfe and save thy Church If it cannot otherwise bee than by my drinking this bitter Cup Thy will bee done The second Act in the worke of Christs Priesthood is the act of Application or virtuall continuation of this Sacrifice to the end of the world and that is in the Intercession of Christ unto which there is prerequired a power and prevalency over all his enemies to breake through the guilt of sinne the Curse of the Law and the chaines of death with which it was impossible that hee should bee held The vision which Moses had of the burning bush was an excellent resemblance of the Sacrifice of Christ. The Bush noted the Sacrifice the fire the suffering the continuance and prevailing of the bush against the fire the victorie of Christ and breaking through all those sufferings which would utterly have devoured any other man And this power of Christ was shewed in his Resurrection wherein hee was declared to bee the Sonne of God with power Rom. 1.4 and in his ascension when hee led all his Enemies captive Eph. 4.8 and in his sitting at the right hand of God farre above all principalities and powers Eph. 1.19 20. All which did make way to the presenting of his Sacrifice before the mercy-seate which is the consummation thereof and without which hee had not been a Priest Wee have such an high Priest saith the Apostle as is set downe on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens for if hee were on earth hee should not bee a Priest seeing that there are Priests which offer gifts according to the Law Heb. 8.1.4 It was the same continued action whereby the Priest did offer without the Holy place and did then bring the bloud into the holiest of all Heb. 13.11 For the reason why it was shed was to present it to the mercy-seate and to shew it unto the Lord there So Christs act or office was not ended nor fit to denominate him a complete Priest till hee did enter with bloud and present his offering in the holiest of all not made with hands Heb. 9.24 And therefore he had not been a Priest if hee should have continued on the earth for there was another Priesthood there which was not to give place but upon the accomplishment of his for the whole figure was to passe away when the whole truth was come Now Christs Oblation was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Truth prefigured in the Priests Sacrificing of the Beast and his entrance into heaven was the Truth prefigured in the Priests carrying of the bloud into the holiest of all And therefore both these were to bee accomplished before the Leviticall Priesthood did give place Here then it will bee needfull for the more full unfolding of the Priesthood of Christ to open the Doctrine of his Intercession at the right hand of his Father The Apostle calleth it the Appearing of Christ for us Heb. 9.24 which is verbum forense an expression borrowed from the custome of humane courts for as in them when the plaintiffe or defendant is called their Aâ—turnie appeareth in their name and behalfe so when we are summoned by the justice of God to defend our selves against those exceptions and complaints which it preferreth against us wee have an Advocate with the Father even Iesus Christ the righteous who standeth out and appeareth for us 1 Ioh. 2.2 As the high Priest went into the sanctuary with the names of the twelve Tribes upon his breast so Christ entred into the holiest of all with our persons and in our behalfe in which respect the Apostle saith that he was Apprehended of Christ Phil. 3.12 and that we doe sit together in heavenly places with him Eph. 2.6 Merit and Efficacie are the two things which set forth the vertue of Christs Sacrifice by which hee hath reconciled us to his Father The Merit of Christ being a Redundant merit and having in it a plentifull redemption and a sufficient salvation hath in it two things First there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an expiation or satisfaction by way of price Secondly there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Inheritance by way of purchase and acquisition Eph. 1.14 Hee was made of a woman made under the Law for two ends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hee might redeeme us from the curse under which wee lay and that hee might purchase for us the inheritance which we had forfeited before for so by adoption in that place I understand in a complexed and generall sense every good thing which belongs unto us in the right of our sonship with Christ and that is the Inheritance of glory Rom. 8.17.23 Now all this effected by the obedience of Christs death for in that was the act of impetration or procurement consisting in the treaty betweene God and Christ. But there is yet further required an execution a reall effectualnesse and actuall application of these to us As it must bee in regard of God a satisfaction and a purchase so it must bee likewise in regard of us an actuall redemption and inheritance And this is done by the intercession of Christ which is the commemoration or rather continuation of his Sacrifice He offered it but once and yet hee is a Priest for ever because the Sacrifice once offered doth for ever remaine before the mercy-seate Thus as in many of the Legall Oblations there was first mactatio and then Ostensio First the beast was slaine on the Altar and then the bloud was together with incense brought before the mercy-seate Levit. 16 11-15 So Christ was first slasnâ— and then by his owne bloud hee entred into the holy place Heb. 9.12.10.12 That was done on the earth without the gate this in heaven Heb. 13.11 12. That the Sacrifice or obtaining of redemption this the Application or conferring of redemption The Sacrifice consisted in the Death of Christ alone the application thereof is grounded upon Christs death as its merit but effected by the Life of Christ as its immediate cause