had done they wrought from themselves and for themselves and so those many that were called Mat. 20 they had denied father and mother and wife and children and therefore they looked for great reward having borne the burden and heat of the day and this is the proper character of an hypocrite he doth challenge his reward out of the worth of his work whereas the chosen ones of God are taught to say When we have done all that is commanded us we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17.10 this is one difference in the rise of the work Again there is a difference in the work it self Gods chosen ones work the will of Christ and not their own though their will also goeth along with it others work the will of Christ as far as it will stand with their own Jebu's zeal did root out Baal and the house of Abab freely he drove on furiously for it was an act of his own ambitious heart to settle his own Kingdom this he aimed at no further would he go from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat he departed not And Lastly Hypocrites will out-shoot Christ in his own bow they will aim at their own ends in Christs works Jehu will root out Ahab and Baal but it is to establish his own Kingdom to walk in all the Lords Commandments he did not regard while Gods will accomplisheth his will he goeth along with it but no farther Thus we see there is a work of sanctification under a Covenant of works such as whereby men have another heart and many gifts of courage and wisdom and zeal and power come upon them for the service of the Church and yet you will find that they will work from themselves and for themselves and for God they will not work beyond their own ends and though they seem to walk with him for a while yet you shall soon see the Lord will take one course and they will take another 3. We now come unto a third work of the Holy Ghost in which he doth give himself as God unto his people for in all these works he doth work as God and so expresseth himself this work is Divine revelation he doth reveal himself like a God in the soul that so you may acknowledge his presence power and truth a very clear place we have for it Eph. 1.17 18. c. I cease not to make mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him c. mark how the Apostle doth consider God in regard of his most eminent glory and power as he is the God of Jesus Christ and the Father of glory That he might give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him that is of the Father Son and Spirit That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints c. minde what Divine revelation here is see how gloriously God is set forth that giveth it and also the gift that is given and these things the Apostle prayeth not only for glorious and transcendent Christians men of renown but for all the Ephesians for all ordinary Christians among them he would have none of them destitute of a Spirit of wisdom and revelation and what should this Spirit do it should enlighten the organ even the eyes of their understanding otherwise it is beyond the power of created gifts to reach the clear discerning of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God as they are dispensed in the Gospel of Christ and as in all sight there is the Organ and the Medium and the Object the eye is the organ the air is the medium the thing seen is the object so doth the Apostle here pray that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened far above the capacity of Reason yea above the capacity of the spiritual gifts which they had received for he desires that a spirit of wisdom and revelation might be given them though the Lord had blessed them with all spiritual blessings already they had believed and had been sealed yet here is something more to be attained they want a further enlightening by the clearing of the word of God which is the medium by which we discern all things therein and for the Object he doth express what it is that you may know what is the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward which believe c. these things the Apostle prayeth that the Spirit would reveal even the hope that God hath laid up for his Saints glorious things are spoken of the church of God great and glorious hopes are prepared for them and they are begotten unto them even to an inheritance incorruptable and undefiled that by vertue of our calling we might have fellowship with God the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 1.2 3. some degree of fellowship we have already but the hope of that which is to come is beyond all our comprehension and beyond what any created understanding can search into the depth of and yet we may see much in the hope of preservation and quickening to that which is good in the hope of God's turning all things to the best for us we may see much of the rich and plenteous redemption which God hath wrought for us and what goodness of God is reserved to every poor servant of his and what is the riches of his glorious inheritance in his Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe even that mighty power which he did put forth to bring us to believe that ever he should bring such hearts as ours were to be enlightened to see the blessings of his heavenly calling to be called unto fellowship with the Father and with the Son and with the Spirit and with the Church of God in all the promises of God and gifts of grace and duties of sanctification our calling is to be exercised in them all until at length all their enemies be subdued and death at length swallowed up in victory This the Apostle prayeth for that their eyes might be opened to behold all these mysteries And thus doth the Holy Ghost clear up our understandings and the Scriptures whereby we understand and the objects which are to be understood by us even the riches of grace here bestowed upon us and laid up in heaven for us But how doth the Holy Ghost work these things Quest indeed they are unconceivable mysteries better felt then told The Spirit doth reveal himself partly in witnessing unto our spiritual estate Answ and partly by revealing all other counsels of his truth needful for us to know in this our age and time wherein any Christian man
strength of sin so sin was the strength and sting of death 1 Cor. 15.6 but now O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory the Lord hath delivered us from him that hath the power of death Col. 2.15 Heb. 2.14 and from this evil world Gal. 1.4 and from the wrath come 1 Thes 1.10 so then this was bondage we sometimes lay under when the Law of God pressed heavily upon us the conscience of sin even unto death both first and second death and both Law and sin and death delivered us unto the power of Satan and held us under the wrath of God the world turned to be our enemy in all the blessings and crosses of it from all these bondages Christ hath redeemed us and it is a marvelous work in the eyes of all that enjoy the ben fit of it If you shall ask what Ransom the Lord did pay that we might be redeemed The answer is given in 1 Tim. 2.5 6. There is one mediator between God and man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all c. so that he himself is the Ransom I will not stand disputing whether he gave his active or passive obedience or both The Text is large He gave himself from the height of glory to become a mortal man not sinful but by imputation so that from first to last he gave himself Consider him therefore from his first taking our nature upon him and all is but one ransom for his very active obedience was passive and his passive obedience was active if he had not been active in his sufferings his sufferings had not been satisfactory therefore he willingly laid down his life No man taketh it from him but he layeth it down of himself Joh. 10.17 18. else had not his death been of any sweet smelling savour to the Lord forced death is no acceptable sacrifice Again on the other side his active obedience was passive he suffered himself to be closed in his Mothers womb and when he was born he suffered himself to be laid in a manger and although being God over all blessed for ever he was subject to no Law yet now he suffered himself to be obedient unto his Father now for great Princes to live in other Dominions to observe their Rules and be guided by their Laws it is a suffering This did the Lord Jesus for he had a special commandment to observe both Law and Gospel and in this the Divine Nature doth suffer as much as for the Creator to become a creature and to take upon him the terms of hardship which become a creature It is no debasement unto Angels nor unto Saints to be obedient but for the Creator to be obedient unto the Law of God given unto the creature in this he greatly humbleth himself when he saith Thus it behooveth us to fulfil all righteousness Mat. 3.15 And this is such kind of passion as hath all things tending to satisfaction in it And by all this you may see that from the first to the last the Lord Jesus is a Ransom take him in his Cradle and he is a Ransom take him throughout all the course of his life and he is passive and in all his sufferings he is active He went up and down doing good and suffering evil all his life long and thus he is a Ransom but above all when as he came to wrestle with the wrath of his Father he did therein exceed all the rest of his sufferings It was much indeed for the Son of God to make himself a servant but when he that is the Son of the eternal God and in regard of his God-head equal with the Father shall now stand to wrestle with the unsupportable wrath of God and to cry out My soul is in an agony unto the very death and through anguish thereof to sweat drops of bloud and though his heart as it were seems to recoil so that if it were possible he desires the cup might pass from him yet he is carried before Pontius Pilate and is there condemned and afterward suffereth the death of the Cross this was the chiefest part of the ransom which the Lord did intend to pay to the justice of his Father wherein he did also undergo the very pangs of Hell for our sins and so gave himself a Ransom for us And had not all this been we should never have been redeemed from the terrours of the Law Thus therefore did the Lord give himself in taking our nature upon him and giving himself unto a state of bondage from a state of liberty to redeem us unto liberty from a state of bondage under the curse of the Law of God even unto liberty from sin and death and Satan and this World and from the indignation of the most High A wonderful deliverance But as it is in all other liberties so this Christian Liberty doth stand in two things First As in removing some bondage and burdens Secondly So it carrieth with it some such priviledge and enfranchisement as whereby me claim some liberties which others cannot reach unto and those the Lord Jesus hath dearly paid for by suffering his Fathers wrath which did so drink up his Spirits that I believe he died not by the pains of his body for he died before his time but the wrath of God did swallow him up principally though his bodily pains did help it forward Now by this means we have access unto the Lord and into this grace wherein we stand Rom. 5.2 and that with boldness and confidence Ephes 2.12 even to enter with boldness into the holiest by the bloud of Jesus Hob. 10.19 Hereby we have liberty to call God Father and to come unto him as to a Father and to expect all blessings from him for this life and for a better both wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption from all miseries and dangers even from death to life even life eternal besides all blessings of the Kingdom of grace here below All Church-priviledges and Commonwealth-priviledges hath the Lord purchased for us by his bloud great and large are the liberties which the Lord hath purchased for us that are recorded every where in Scripture So that if the Son shall make you free then are you free indeed 2. Now for the second work of the Son in this everlasting Covenant Presupposing the Lord God the Father to have drawn the soul unto the Son from all confidence in the world and in his own righteousness and in his own returnings unto God by believing through his own power from confidence in his own resolutions and his own waiting upon Christ and from all confidence in priviledges and power of nature and grace received now it may be all this while the poor soul knoweth not who it is that hath wrought all this work in him and for him and it may be he is so far to seek in this as that he knows not whether it be the Lord God the Father or the
toward us as he saith Joh. 16.26 27. I say not that I will pray the Father for you for the Father himself loveth you Then doth he keep us in this estate And which is a farther work of the Son for this purpose he will send us his holy Spirit as He told his Disciples Joh. 16.7 It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you Thus as the Father sent the Son so will the Son send the Spirit and in the mean while he doth preserve us until the Spirit come and then he preserveth us by his Spirit Now sometimes he makes his people tarry longer before he send the Spirit in this kind of dispensation but we leave the times and seasons thereof unto the free purpose of the grace of God but I say mean while the Son preserveth us Joh. 6.39 This is the Fathers will that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing So Joh. 17.12 Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost He keeps us in a waiting frame of spirit so that we cannot but thirst after him and long for him and mourn for the want of him and then a bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking flax shall he not quench until he bring forth judgement unto victory Mat. 12.20 Thus hath the Lord Jesus promised to keep us and this he doth perform 1. Partly by praying for us Luk. 22.31 32. Simon Simon Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy saith fail not so Joh. 17.11 20 21 22 23 c. Holy Father keep through thy own Name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are c. and this is the eternal efficacy of the Son whereby every beleeving soul is kept until he do finde fulness of accomplishment of his spiritual desires and though we may be many waies wanting in prayer for our selves yet he will give us his Spirit to pray within us with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed 2. And as he ' will keep us by his prayer so secondly by his ruling Providence for all power is given unto him both in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.18 and this power he doth employ to preserve his servants from all the delusions of the sons of men The Prophet Ezekiel complains of some that thrust away and shoulder out the people of God Ezek. 34.21 22 c. but saith the Lord I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them even my servant David vers 23 25. They shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods None of all the delusions of Antichrist none of all the power of Tyrants not all the flattering world nor all the persecuting world shall be able to shoulder off the Saints of God from him 2 Tim. 1.12 I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day and the Lord Jesus engageth both his own power and his Fathers power for this end Joh. 10.28 29. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall they pluck them out of my hand my Father which gave them me is greater then all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand Thus have you seen how Jesus Christ gives himself unto Abraham and to his seed to become one with us to lead a miserable life and dye an accursed death thereby to redeem us from all our enemies unto a state of liberty by an invaluable price even by himself And having thus had the Father drawing us unto Christ though the Father said little unto the soul who had been about him all this while and so leaves the soul in no small distress as the Fathers work is Power so the Sons work is Liberty and he revealeth to us our redemption and reveals it so that the soul is set in an earnest longing after Christ in whom there is a way to the Father and a great mourning after him hungring for him so that nothing in heaven nor earth can satisfie him in which case the Lord doth give such strength and constancy unto the soul in looking towards Christ as encourageth him to expect refreshing in the end though at present he looks at all that he hath attained as a parable in comparison of what he would further enjoy in communion with Jesus Christ but it often befals the servants of God as it did the Disciples of Christ they were put unto new demurrs and doubtings We thought say they it had been he that should have restored the kingdome to Israel Luk. 24.21 these were Simon and Cleophas if it had not been He where was the comfort and blessed hope of rest which they looked for in Jesus Christ we thought it had been he a sign it was a demurr and dispute in them whether it was Gods grace in them or Christ that had been with them yea or no whilest they are at this debate in themselves Jesus himself comes unto them and reproves them for their unbelief and chargeth them to tarry at Jerusalem and there to wait for the promise of the Father And thus doth the Lord Jesus teach us to know the Father and reveals him to us by strengthning us unto all such holy duties as he calleth us unto and though we be many times affraid to pray to hear to come to Christian conference yet the Lord will not suffer us to refrain but we must pray and confer and hear and when we have used all he teacheth us to know that it is not in all these as of themselves to work any thing in us nor doth he suffer us to content our selves in any thing wrought in us but causeth us to thirst after more of himself in every Ordinance until the Spirit comes in a plentiful measure according to all the latitude of our desires after Christ Jesus Now for the Use of this Vse 1 in the first place If so be the work of the Son be such a work of redemption then certainly our state is a state of bondage before we be thus redeemed yea it is such a state of bondage as wherein we lie bound under Gods Law and under sin under Gods wrath and curse under the Devil and death and under the power of this world and all these enemies have power over us to carry us captive unto sin and misery so that great is the misery we lie under if we knew our misery few know it but are ready to say with those Joh. 8.33 We were never in bondage to any oh poor hearts then were you never redeemed to this very day if thou never yet knewest thy bondage thou never yet knewest thy Redeemer the Lord will never so dishonour his own work as to pay so great a price to