to do thy will where you may easily observe that Christ as God sent himself as Mediatour that he might redeem us from the power of the Prince of darkness and the spiritual bondage of our sins Nevertheless because the first Person of the blessed Trinity is the Father of our Mediatour and the Person a quo filius agit from which the Son doth act the sending of Christ into the world for our salvation is particularly attributed unto him as you may see in the 5. Chapter of S. John 36. ver the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me which verily is asserted in many other places of that Gospel and so in that sence we must say my meat is to do the will of him that sent me for indeed you must observe that that person amongst these of the blessed Trinity who sends another is that person from which the person sent proceeds and so we reade in the Scripture that the Father hath sent his Son and the Son misit Spiritum à Patre did send the holy Ghost from the Father but we do not reade that the Son hath sent the Father nor the holy Ghost the Son because the Father proceeds not from the Son nor the Son from the holy Ghost but the Son is from the Father alone and the holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and Son then let us say as before My meat is to do the will of him that sent me And indeed you must consider that the Father is Authour of our salvation by a way which is not given to the Son our Mediatour as the Son our Mediatour is Authour of our salvation by a way which is not given to the Father for as the Learned men distinguish some essential operations of the blessed Trinity respectu termini and make them personal operations as the Creation to the Father the Redemption to the Son and the Sanctification to the holy Ghost so they divide the waies by which the Persons of the blessed Trinity are said to be Authours of our salvation for the first Person of the Blessed Trinity which is the Father is said to be the authour of our salvation by way of procuration because he procured us that great work in the sending of his Son and so Christ saith my meat is to do the will of him that sent me the Son our Mediatour is authour of our salvation by way of merit because the Son of God alone is the meritorious cause of our salvation not the Father for he alone acquired it for us through his bloud the holy Ghost is said to be authour of our salvation by way of application because the holy Ghost our Sanctifier applieth unto our souls the great benefit of our Redemption by his divine vertue Now you must observe in our Text the Father to be authour of our Salvation by way of procuration and the Son by way of merit for in my Text the Father sends the Son and the Son our Mediatour finisheth the work and executeth his Fathers will for Christ speaking as Mediatour saith My meat is to do the will of him that sent me c. But let us come to the explication of Gods will and give me leave to say with some Learned men for our illustration that there are three sorts of wills attributed unto God respectu rerum quas Deus vult extra seipsum in regard of things which God wills out of himself I say in regard of things which God wills out of himself for if you consider the object of Gods will as not being out of himself you must know that the object of his will is God himself and by consequence there is no difference in Gods will for it is nothing else but Deus scipsum volens In regard then of things that God wills out of himself the first sort of will attributed unto God and that properly is voluntas decreti the will of Gods Decrees by which he freely and most certainly from all eternity determined to manifest all things which were to be framed in time of which will it is spoken in the 1. Chapt. to the Ephesians the 9. ver when the Apostle saith that God hath made known unto us the mystery of his will that is the will of Gods decree which by the Schoolmen is called voluntas beneplaciti the will of Gods good pleasure because by it according to his good pleasure and without any merit in our selves he loved us voluntas antecedens Gods antecedent will because from all eternity before any thing was created it was approved in God voluntas absoluta Gods absolute will because it is grounded upon his good pleasure and doth not depend of things which are framed in time and voluntas occulta Gods secret will because a a priori at the first it was not revealed unto the sacred Angels nor perceived by men The second sort of will ascribed unto God and that improperly is voluntas signi Gods will of signe by which God shews us what is agreeable unto him and what he will have us to do which is the mark and testimony of Gods decree manifested in his holy word although not always the signe of that decree which is first conceived by us which will indued with several names as Gods conditional will Gods revealed will and Gods consequent will is declared unto us under the prescription of a commandment or prohibition and under the rule of a promise or threatning for as the Magistrates Commands are called their will so Gods Commandments or Promises are called his will as you may see Act. 13.22 I have found David the Son of Jesse a man after mine own heart which shall fulfill all my will or as it is expressed in the Original in regard of several Commandments and Orders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all my wills The third and last sort of will attributed unto is voluntas objecti Gods will of object which is nothing else but the things that God wills commands and prescribes unto us that is the object of Gods Commandments as it doth appear 1 The. 4.3 this is the will of God even your sanctification so in the Lords Prayer when we say thy will be done and in our Text Christ speaking of that will of object saith my meat is to do the will of him that sent me Now to know what is meant by that will we cannot have a better Interpreter then Christ himself who saith in the 6. Chapter of S. John ver 39. This is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day it was that which his Father told him before his Incarnation Isa 42.6 7. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness to open the blinde eyes to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house and you know when Christ prepared himself for
Dorcas full of good works your thoughts are always in heaven though you live upon the earth your words tend continually to union and peace and your great care is to work out your salvation with fear and trembling which is seen not onely in your private devotions but in the publick ones where I may say that you are a pious and godly example to all others of your Sex indeed the Church of England among all the daughters she did procreate there are few to be compared with you but if your humility will not accept of that expression permit me to make all the English world know that the Church never possessed a better one for every one knows that your house is a Temple and a little Church where Vows and Prayers are continually sent up to heaven for the preservation of the Church of England our mother and for our gracious Prince nay for the conversion of those that are distant from the true knowledge of our Saviour who came into the world to redeem us from our iniquities the redemption of men being our Saviours meat which I present you with as it was delivered by me in a Sermon which I hope you will accept being the meat which daily you and your worthy Family feed upon for I am not ignorant that it is your singular pleasure and delectation nay I am sure that it is so agreeable unto you that you will kindely receive it from him who is Madam Your most humble and obedient Servant James Le Franc. Christs Spiritual Meat Delivered in a Sermon Preached in English at the French Church in Norwich S. JOH 4.34 My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work IT is common amongst men to extoll the persons of merit and reputation but if any amongst you hath ever esteemed a learned and most prudent wit that could upon any matter choose considerations fit for the instruction of his auditours and by the object of the sight and other external senses could with a marvellous industry and aptness awake the internal senses and lift up our understandings to the contemplation of the highest things let him now reflect upon our Master the eternal Wisedom of God the Father our great doctour Christ who is over all God blessed for ever let him say with me that there is none that ought to be parallel'd with him for if you consider the industry which Christ our Mediatour used when he was living upon the earth you will easily conclude that it was admirable for he ever made use of his Celestial Industry to promote his Fathers glory and mens salvation taking sometimes an occasion from their too great inclination which they had after the things of this world to draw them into the knowledge and inquisition of spiritual and eternal things of the heavenly Jerusalem as you may observe in the 6. Chapt. of S. John where Christ seeing the people carefull to seek after him for onely corruptible and common meat took occasion to discourse with them about the sacred bread of God and the spiritual manna which if any man eat of he shall live for ever Now let us follow Christ through Samaria to observe some things of his celestial actions and wonderfull works but seeing that Christ doth stay let us stay with him for I perceive that our Saviour is weary of his journey and forced to rest himself on Jacobs well but while he resteth himself there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Christ discourseth with her about the true and spiritual worship of God and takes occasion from the water to instruct her about the celestial fountain of living water which she tasted of with such pleasure that she leaving her waterpot went into the City to call her fellow-Citizens the Samaritans and invite them to the participation of that spiritual water which she had received from our blessed Saviour But while she thus runs to invite them the disciples of our Lord desire him to eat but Christ whose hunger was after the souls of men said unto them I have meat to eat that ye know not of which made them beleeve that while they were absent some body had brought him something to eat saying one to another hath any man brought him ought to eat but Christ that he might no longer keep them in suspence because it was given unto them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven teaches them with sew but significant words a great and sublime mystery saying My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work which are the words which I have chosen to entertain you with by the special assistance of the holy Ghost but for a clear intelligence of them I shall divide my Text into two parts where in the first I shall entertain you with the will and work of him that sent Christ and in the second part I shall shew you that that will and work of God is our Saviours meat My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work The first Part. As the Philosophers place the moral vertues in two ranks where in the first the vertues are glorious and worthy to be loved of themselves as Justice and in the second rank worthy to be wished for the vertues of the first as Courage which is a sit vertue when justice ceaseth amongst men so the Schoolmen divide the attributes of God into two orders where in the first the attributes are incommunicable unto the creatures as Gods Immensity Independency and Unchangeableness for all the creatures of the Universe even the Angels are dependent changeable and limited natures but the attributes of the second order are said to be proportionably communicable in effectis analogis by the resemblance of the effects as Gods Wisdom Goodness and Will for you know that those attributes are ascribed unto Angels and given unto men and as God hath a will so have Angels and men as being the right of the intelligent creatures But here we shall not speak of Angels nor mens will but of Gods will My meat is to do the will of him that sent me for he that sent Christ is God the Father the Son and the holy Ghost according to the old Maxim of Divinity opera Dei ad extra sunt indivisa seu toti Trinitati Communia the outward operations of God are common to the whole Trinity so that you must observe that the Son the second Person of the blessed Trinity was sent as Mediatour for he was one of those blessed Persons who did consult about mens redemption nay more then that he was that sacred one who of his own free-will offered himself to be consecrated for the performance of that gracious work as you may see Heb. 10.5 6 7. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared me in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure then said I lo I come
the execution of his Fathers will that he said Lo I come to do thy will Heb. 10.9 by which will saith the Apostle ver 10. we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all But for a clearer illustration let me tell you that this will is the salvation of man which our Lord came to advance and to accomplish for you know that to that end Christ was sent into the world that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 a truth which manifestly appears Isa 49.6 when he saith in the person of the Father speaking to the Son I will give thee for a light unto the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth nay a truth manifested by our Saviour when he lived amongst us as now he will have us to understand it when he saith My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work then you may observe that this will of God was the manifestation of his Fathers most sacred counsel unto the world Christ being the sacred Interpreter of his Father and the word by which he informs us of his will for as Christ saith S. Mat. 11.27 all things are delivered unto me of my Father and no man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son and be to whom the Son will reveal him this sacred will of God was the sulfilling of the Law for those who should receive him by a most siducial apprehension for as Ambrosius saith persectionem legis habet qui credit in Christum he that beleeveth in Christ hath the perfection of the Law which he had learned from the Apostle S. Paul Rom 10.4 who says Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end or perfection of the Law for righteousness to every one that beleeveth this sacred will of God was the death of our Saviour for the sins of those that should obey him as you clearly see Heb. 5.9 where we reade that Christ being made perfect through sufferings he became the authour of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him that they may be conformed to the most bright image of him that saith My meat is to do the will of him that sent me but let us adde and to sinish his work To tell you that I need not to give you an enumeration of all Gods works for the work of God of which it is spoken in our Text is the same as the will of him that sent Christ for as Euthimius saith the will of the Father who sent Christ and the work committed unto him is the Salvation of men according to that of S. John 17.4 where Christ saith I have sinished the work which thou gavest me to do and so the will of God which we have expounded unto you is the work of God which our Saviour had to perform and indeed it is not without cause that this will is called a work because the satisfaction for mens sins and their reconciliation with God is a work by excellency a work compounded of many works which nevertheless are under one work which is our redemption then you must observe that this work doth not consist in the last act that Christ performed upon the Cross for he wrought in it when he sought after the lost sheep of the house of Israel he wrought in that gracious work when he lett the Gentiles their neighbours take some crumbs of his sacred bread for the salvation of their souls he wrought in it when he did communicate himself unto the Samaritans which were grown a base people and amongst whom the service of the God of Israel was not pure he wrought in that sacred work all the time he was upon the earth till his obedience was accomplished upon the Cross where he said It is sinished S. John 19.30 ver But observe that this work is of another rank then that of our good works which God commandeth approveth and worketh in us by his holy Spirit for this work of our salvation is the great and sublime work of God a work which excels the great work of the Creation being a work as I may say of greater labour then that of the Creation for as S. Austin sayes Deus loquendo creavit sed patiendo redemit God created the world by his speaking but he redeemed it by his suffering because the ruine and perdition of men was such that there were more obstacles at the redeeming of men then at the creation of the Universe for besides there was the same vertue required to raise the dead as to give being to nothing and life to dust the justice of the living God was opposed unto their salvation therefore to satisfie the divine justice the death of our dear Saviour was necessary for them to whom God had said Gen. 2.17 In the day thou eatest of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt surely die Moreover this work of our salvation is a work in which God manifested his Wisedom in an higher degree then he did in that of the Creation for besides we know more of the Divinity by the work of our redemption then we do by the work of the Creation the mystery of the Trinity being revealed unto us by that work of his grace which was not not discovered by the works of nature we see in our Redemption Gods admirable work a most wonderfull way where God punisheth our sins and with all saves men by it so that the punishment of mens sins in our Saviour becomes the salvation of them nay more then that in that sacred work Christ the Physician took Physick for us his Patients to heal us of our spiritual sicknesses where in nature the Physician gives Physick to his Patients to cure them of their corporal diseases then let us say My meat is to to do the will of him that sent me and to sinish his work where you must yet observe that this work is the onely work of Christ for this work is such that no man nor angel can reach unto it there is none but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah the Son of God that can say in regard of this great and mighty work of our Redemption My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to sinish his work which leades me to the second part of my Text. The Second Part. Those that are acquainted with the Scripture know there are two sorts of meat the one for the body which is the common signification as it is the common meat the other for the souls which is spiritual by resemblance and proportion to the corporal meat which is the metaphorical signification of that word meat and indeed as the material meat maintains and keeps our bodies so are our souls maintained and kept by the spiritual meat moreover as our bodies increase and receive their strength against weakness from the material