of God the Lamb that was slain it s a name that he delights to be known by the Lamb upon Mount Sion worthy is the Lamb that was slain And because a Lamb slain because he was pleased to become an Offering and a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour and would undertake to redeem a People unto God by his Blood worthy therefore to have this acknowledgment made to him O worthy worthy is the Lamb that was slain Here now I have a large field to walk in but that I would contract my self and dispatch the Point The Lord Jesus Christ worthy Consider first of all who he is for his Person why he is the brightness of his Father's glory the express image of his person worthy therefore to have Glory given to him 2. What is he for his Name Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God everlasting Father Prince of Peace the Lord our righteousness King of Kings Lord of Lords the blessed and only Potentate the Prince of the Kings of the earth his Name is as an oyntment poured forth Well may it be said To him be glory now and for ever 3. Consider his Qualifications The only begotten of the Father full of Grace Then if full of Grace worthy to be full of Glory Grace leads in Glory and Glory doth most properly follow Grace Who should have Glory but they that have Grace Why none have so much Grace as Christ he was as full of Grace as ever he could hold Now where should Glory rest but upon him that is full of Grace Therefore worthily is it said To him be Glory 4. Then again Consider this Jesus this Lord Jesus Why he suffer'd he suffer'd for sin The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God He suffered and by suffering made satisfaction to infinite Justice he hath expiated the sins of his People provided for the purging of their Consciences he hath made way by his own Blood for an entrance into the Holiest Now is there not reason to say To him be glory both now and for ever Mark what our Saviour speaks after his Resurrection saith he Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer And what then And afterwards to enter into his glory It behoved him first to suffer and then to enter into Glory and he hath entred into Glory and it is our duty for to follow him with loudest acclamations and to say yea yea To him be glory now and for ever Amen 5. And then again Christ is most worthy to have these acclamations and such Doxologies a voting up and applecation of Glory to him Why Because all the Glory that ever any Saint on earth shall have or Saint in heaven doth possess all that Glory comes over to thereby the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatsoever Glory any soul here shall be partaker of or hereafter in the Kingdom of Glory they are to reckon themselves beholding to Christ for it it comes over to them by his means Worthy then is this apprecation to be made to him and that every soul that hath any hopes of Glory should say Now unto him be glory both now and for ever Amen So that these things being duly weighed which indeed are of proper cognizance for men and women professing godliness and professing to be acted by a Gospel spirit What is there that should more properly sound in an Assembly of People that attend to the Gospel What can more properly sound than this That unto the King of Sion the Lamb that was slain to him that is the King of the Princes of the earth to him that is set upon the Throne with his Father to him that hath overcome Principalities and Powers hath made a shew of them openly to him that hath vanquished Devils and enemies and hath brought Life and Immortality to light to him that is now entred into the Holiest once for all and appears in the heavens before God to plead the Cause of his Peoples souls What is there more proper in a Congregation of Saints to sound out than this To him be glory now and for ever Amen Now in a word for Application Are they acted by a Gospel spirit that design nothing less than the Glory of Christ that instead of making apprecations and voting up Glory to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ do what in them lyes to cast all the shame and dishonour and contempt upon him they can Is this the spirit of the Gospel It 's the spirit of the Devil That man be he who he will let them be never so high in the World let them be Kings and Princes and Potentatesâ—… whatsoever names and titles they are known by whatsoever dignities and honours they are advanc'd unto whatsoever breadth they carry in the World whatsoever they are for worldly respects that are set to cast contempt upon Christ and to turn reproach and dishonour upon him are so far from being acted by the spirit of the Gospel that they do walk in the very spirit of the Devil and it will appear so But are there any such are there such as walk in such a spirit There were so of old O people be apt to think that they were worthy to be spit in the face Why what did they that cryed out Not this man but Barrabas Let this Jesus be crucified let him be hanged let him be hanged for a Malefactor do him all the shame they can They did so they buffetted him they spit upon him they smote him with their fists they knock'd him upon the head they put him into a fools coat they would make him their laughing-stock Thus they did What was this spirit Why is this spirit quite worn out of the World Nay the Lord be merciful to us there is a desperate spirit of opposition to Christ among whom among the Antichristian party O that it were not to be found among persons that would be accounted godly and stand for the honour of Christ and make apprecations to him And they can patter it over in forms of words O Glory to Jesus Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the holy Ghost they can patter over such words in their mouths and in the mean time they carry swords in their hearts against Christ and their Conversations speak nothing but dishonour to Christ shame him in his Name shame him in holding out that shame him in making Profession of him And why because they live thus unchristian-like walk most unsutably to the Gospel walk most unworthy of their holy Profession are these men and women acted by a Gospel spirit that pretend to the Name of Christ that express nothing but that which is quite contrary to Christ they would be accounted Christian People and to have been baptized into Christ's Name and in the mean time they make it their business every day to cast dishonour upon Christ walking cross to him and quite contrary to the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. For men and women to
everlasting Covenant which is ordered in all things and sure when it is not penn'd up but hath scope in our understandings when we can take in this mysterie of the new Covenant in the proportions of it this is the business of Faith but it is that which will not be performed to any good purpose unless there be some considarable improvement and growth in Faith and therefore it is that the Apostle doth so earnestly pray on the behalf of the Church of Ephesus in Eph. 1. saith he I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers that the God of 〈◊〉 Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give 〈◊〉 yâ—… the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of blâ—… the eyes of your understandings being inlightned that yâ—… may know what is the hope of his Calling and what the 〈◊〉 of the Glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the exeeceding greatness of his power to us ward who beliâ—…e according to the working of his mighty power O how earnest was the Apostle in the behalf or the Ephesians to this purpose and Chap. 3. ver 14. sâ—…th he I bâ—…v my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he could grant unto you according to the riches of his Glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith and saith he that you may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all the fulness of â—…d Two passages they are of Scripture which are most proper for beleeving souls to be well studied in that part which I read to you out of the first Chapt. and this in the third I say they are of some proper cognisance â—…r men and woman that being brought over to the Faith of the Gospel are studious of approving themselves unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that they may answer their duty concerning these things that are here made mention of that there might be not only as I said before a weak and dim and dark apprehension of the mysterie of the Gospel the mysterie of Christ the mysterie of the hope of Glory but that there might be a comprehension that the mysterie may stand full and as much as may be compleat in us in all the proportions of it that the Gospel might not be streightned in our understandings Truly friends this is a great matter if you would but set your hearts upon it and seriously weigh and ponder what I drive now Alas how little is there of the mysterie of the Gospel that our hearts have already received how little of it And by this means God is scanted and shortened in the love praise and honour that is due to him and which our hearts would be inlarged to yield up if we were but more careful to answer our duty this way I do profess this morning to you that are partakers of the Faith of Gods Elect that are able to give any account of any saving work upon your hearts and that you have any thing of the Faith of the Gospel in you I do profess here and testifie to you in the Name of the Lord that this doth more neerly concern you for to look unto that these two Scriptures may be better answered by you that you do not please your selves in that streightness of spirit that is in you and discovers it self but that you be so heightned that there be such an inlargement of heart in believing that you may take in the mysterie in the Glories of it or else you will not so duly answer that which is required of you as touching your growth in Faith and Grace Think what you will of it this I am sure is a duty that lyes upon Beleevers to perform that they be of comprehensive spirits and that they labour to work out to a more inlargedness of heart that they may be so inabled to comprehend with all the Saints the height and depth and breadth and length or else you will never be able to give that glory to God and honour to Christ never be so much in admirings of the glorious mysterie of the Gospel as otherwise you would I would you would a little think of this point and for my part I do profess I know nothing that is more proper for a Minister of the Gospel a Dispencer of the Mysteries of God to be more earnest in pressing and urging upon Beleevers than this very thing is But alas how low spirited are most Beleevers Beleevers that it may be have got as much Faith as wil secure them from Hell and bring them to Heaven But as for the mysteries in the glories of it in the dimentions of it in the latitude of it O how uncapable of a due apprehension of it Will you therefore but consider of this this is one thing I it is it is that which doth mainly concern those that have any thing of the Faith of the Gospel in them for to be very solicitous about and studious to be answerable to I leave it with you but know that the great God of Heaven and our Lord Jesus hath laid this burden upon you and me this morning As many of us as are able to give an account of the Faith of the Gospel the Lord Jesus laies this burden upon you this morning that you look to it that there be a comprehensiveness of spirit concerning the mysterie of the Gospel which is Christ in you the hope of Glory And so I let it pass I leave it with you to be studied and pondered upon and as you will answer it to Christ another day Take heed that this particular among the rest be not slightly passed over Again your duty is to grow in Grace and Faith and so will you make it appear that you do grow When you come to have such a Faith as is not only a living Faith but a lively Faith an active stirring Faith within you when you come to have such a Faith as that you do not only live by it but that you live richly by it there 's many a man that lives and gets a livelyhood he hath bread for the day he hath to supply his necessities but he lives at a low poor rate he is not able to rise up to those expences that others are able to bâ—…ar So there are I say many Beleevers they live they gâ—…t bread for the day they get a subsistence by their Faith but they live poorly at a low rate they do not keep a good house they do not spend like rich men There are that are rich in Faith as the Apostle uses the expression in the second Epist. of James that are rich in Faith that 's it that we should press to to such a growth in Faith that we may live like
the grace and blessing of the Gospel the blessing of Salvation and much what the souls acting is upon a selfish account Fain would it be secured as touching its estate and that it should be kept from eternal perishing and this doth very much sway in the heart of a poor weak Beleever that he doth not so much mind the glory of God and the honour of Christ and the exaltation of the grace of the Gospel but fain would he be said as the poor Gaoler when he came to be convinc'd O sirs he comes trembling and quaking before Paul and Sylas O sirs what shall I do to be saved how shall I do to escape the wrath to come Men and Brethren say the people in Acts 2. when they were pricked at their hearts upon the convincement that they lay under concerning Christ and that they had contracted the guilt of his blood upon their consciences O sirs what shall we do I feel a load of guilt upon me and I see a hell before me and I am in danger to sink down into the bottomless lake O sirs what shall I do O pitty pitty a poor soul in danger of being swallowed up in destruction these are the workings of a poor Beleever that 's taken up mainly with solicitousness about his own safety And I say the Lord is pleased to deal very favourably with this poor creature and indeed God doth allow this that his people should be solicitous about their own Salvation Self-love upon such an account doth not fall under Gospel-condemnation But now this is not the advanced Faith the improved Faith this doth not argue so much a well-grown Faith as when a soul comes to this for to pursue life and salvation and to follow after a portion in the Glory that is to come upon what account why upon the account of this By my Salvation God shall be eternally glorified by my being one of his pardoned ones his reconciled ones the Grace of our Lord Jesus shall be exalted by my being delivered from the curse of the Law and from the condemnation of Hell by my being delivered I shall come to stand as a living and a lasting monument of free Love of glorious Grace and this is the rejoycing of my heart to think that I shall escape the vengeance of Hell the wrath to come and everlasting condemnation and so be with the Saints and Angels in Heaven for ever to sound forth the praises of God and to ascribe Honour and Glory and Salvation and Blessing and Dominion and Power to the Lamb that lives for evermore Ah here 's the well-grown Faith when a soul comes to work off as it were from self it looks not so much upon self my Salvation O! what 's my Salvation to the Glory of God why God shall be Glorified in my being eternally saved If I should perish and go to Hell what I should be tormented there is that all Nay God will be dishonoured Hell is a place that knows no love knows no subjection knows no fear of God it 's a place where God is continually blasphemed and shall be to all eternity O I would not come there nor go to Hell upon any tearms not so much because I would not be tortnented there but rather thus I would not perish and damn because I would not have God dishonoured by me I would not be like those damned souls and those damned devils I would not be among them that hate God and will hate him to all eternity and do nothing but curse him and blaspheme him and speak dishonourably of him O I would not go to Hell because of Blasphemies there I would go to Heaven because there is exalting and magnifying and blessing of God there When a soul comes to this to have Faith to be so improved as that he eyes the Glory of God more than his own Salvation and this you are to know that Gods Glory is the ultimate end of all his actions all his purposes and decrees and all his providential dispensations The Glory of God is that which I say is the ultimate end God hath this in design that he may be eternally glorified in the Salvation and damnation both of men and Angels Now that that is Gods utmost end should be our utmost end and the Faith which is of due growth will inable to this to say I would be saved principally that God may be Glorified I would not be damned principally because I would not have God to be dishonoured When self-interest and self-concernment begins to wear off and Gods Glory stand fully in our eye and when we are upon this design that God may be Glorified in our eternal well-being this will be a proof of a well-grown Faith Further your duty is to grow in Faith 't is your duty and thus should you grow to this point and proportion That you by being exercised in Godliness may come to mind the well-fare of others more than ever you did At the first beginning when God first sets in with a soul alas it hath scarce any charity to spare from it self it 's love and charity and care will searce look without doors scarce step over the threshold but altogether solicitous about its own concernments that it may be well with it self I but now when Faith comes to be well improved and to be a well-grown Faith then there comes to be an eving of others What shall I do to be saved Nay what shall I do that my Brother may be saved my Sister saved my Wife my Husband that my Friends and Acquaintance may be saved O! now God hath given me some hope that Hell shall never be my portion that I shall not go down to destruction I but what if my Brother should go to Hell and I go to Heaven what if my Husband should go doâ—… to Eternal Vengeance and I get into Glory O Lord what will become of such a neer relation Alas it is not enough to me now that I am secure as touching my eternal estate and that I have hope towards God that I shall escape the vengeance to come But now I begin to think with my self O such a soul lies in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity Such a child such a one in neer relation that is wallowing in the blood of his own soul O! what shall become of him what shall I do to be saved what shall I do that my Brethren may be saved and that my Relations may escape the vengeance to come The woman of Samaria when she came to have some comfortable communion with Christ she begins to be solicitous about her neighbours and goes to them and saith O I have met with Jesus and come see a man that hath told me all that ever I did is not this the Christ Truly Brethren a Beleever when he comes to be of a well-improved Faith he would not be alone in his mercy he would not eat his morsels alone he would not go
in the mean time the heart little with God if any thing at all not raised up to God not set to injoyment of God and of holding communion with the Lord Jesus never come to settle upon this thought why this is Gods means that he hath provided for my improving in Faith and Godliness I do profess for my own part I do not know in all the World what to speak more to the purpose as touching this Agument which is an Argument that doth most neerly concern all that are partakers of the Grace of the Lord Jesus for to look after 10. Your duty is to grow in Grace Now that you may do so I would offer this to your consideration Do but rationally weigh these things that I now offer to you You that have Grace your duty is to grow in Grace That you may do so study Heaven and the Glory that is to be revealed I tell you I look upon it as that that is beyond all controversie that well raised apprehensions of Heaven the Glorious estate there will make us to put spurs to it and set on with diligence and care If we did but know the interpretation of Heaven what Heaven is we get a notion of Heaven but know not what it is what it is to be in Heaven what it is to injoy God in Glory what it is to be with Christ and Angels what it is to be in the possession of those blessed mansions above If we did but study Heaven more certainly it would make us put on with more diligence look about us and set us upon a vigorous performance of Grace and that we may increase in it Consider a little you that have Grace you are entituled to Heaven 't is your inheritance the portion which your Father hath set out for you I but what is this Inheritance It is an inheritance incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away There is in Heaven the vision of God the most Glorious God There is a Communion an everlasting Communion with God and with the Lamb a following of the Lamb for evermore There is the injoyment of sweetest communion with Christ and with Angels and glorified Saints There is such Glory as eye hath not seen ear hath not heard it cannot enter into the heart of man to conceive It is an amazing thing what the state of Heaven is what the Glory that is there to be injoyed There is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore If so be that a man would but think of this O! is Heaven such a place such a holy pure place is there so much of the Glory of God appearing there This will make a man to argue thus with himself Good Lord what manner of person should I be that I may be fit for to come there that I may be fit to set â—…y foot upon that holy Ground O what manner of person ought I to be how shall I endeavour to be purged and cleansed according to that which the Apostle speaks in the 1 Epist. Joh. 3. saith he He that hath this hope in him he purifies himself as God is pure Such and such a thing is Heaven there is such glory and beauty there such glorious objects to behold and such delights and pleasures to be injoyed what manner of person ought I to be that I may be meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in light Certainly the thoughts of Heaven being well digested will make us to set on and be a conducement to an advance in Grace and Holiness 11. Lastly your duty is to grow in Grace Suppose you have it in the beginnings of it O bless God for what you have but withal pray that you may have more Prayer doth net obtain the first Grace You do not â—…et the first Grace by prayer for a man cannot pray to speak of prayer according to the proper use of it there 's no man can pray till he have Grace There may be something done in the strength of a common conviction a person that 's convinc'd of his cursed estate and terrified upon the conviction and apprehension he may come to send out some kind of desires O I would it were better with me for all that I see my condition is very bad and sad and naught But a true desire after Grace cannot be till there be something of Grace in truth The first Grace it comes not upon our prayer but to be sure the after Grace is to be fetch'd in in the way and by the means of prayer and therefore we are to ply the Throne of Grace as the Apostle exhorts Let us â—…me boldly to the Throne of Grace Throne of Grace to the God of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace that we may find more Grace Heb. 4. O Lord thou hast stil'd thy self a God of Grace and thou hast made a Covenant of Grace and thou hast ordered out thy Son as a Fountain full of Grace and thou hast made promises of Grace O Lord bestow more Grace O Lord hold not thy hand the Disciples they cry out O Lord increase our Faith the poor man in the Gospel breaks out with tears Lord I believe O Lord help my unbelief Lord I have a little love to thee O let my love increase Lord let my Faith increase Lord let my Holiness be more and more increased Lord let there be more and more You have a promise Open thy mouth wide I will fill it These things now I have suggested to you and have endeavoured to commend them in as pressing a way as I can that so you may perform your duty as touching growth in Grace I would now have spoken something by way of encouraging Arguments only thus at present I would have you to consider what a mercy it is that God will make this the matter of your duty you that are gracious persons upon whom he hath bestowed any Grace what a mercy of God it is that he should make this one of your duties and require this of you as a point of duty that you should grow in Grace as if a great man should say to a poor one that he hath set his love upon Friend I have freely given thee 100 l. as a stock to begin the World now go thy waies and imploy this 100 l. and see what improvement thou canst make of it and I require this of thee that thou do advance in thy estate and if thou needest 100 l. more or three or four hundred pound more come to me and I will supply thee still for I would have thee to grow rich you would think this were a high act of courtesie and kindness if a man should do so Friend I charge you see that you grow rich you have so much in stock and I will supply you still with more and more but only do you look to this that you grow rich Thus God doth in respect of Grace Indeed he doth not deal thus with us as to the
but a well improved Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ to know that sin and corruption it is one of the great enemies that he came into the World to encounter withâ—…l and to set it under his fear and he was manifested upon this account according to that of the Apostle in 1 Joh. 5. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil He was nail'd upon the Cross that he might have our old man crucified with him Why if we had but a well digested Knowledge of these things concerning our Lord Jesus it would facilitate the business and make us set upon it with activity and inlargement of soul. And so for that great Gospel-Service of resisting the Devil That 's another great work that 's required of Believers Now if we had but a well improved Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ O how would it conduce to the lively management of that great service and make us not to be afraid to look all the powers of darkness in the face Did we but know that our Lord Jesus hath conquered the Devil the Prince of the World he hath led him after as a slave he hath the Devil in a chain and all the powers of darkness at command therefore upon the knowledge of this how resolute may a Christian be to make opposition to the Prince and powers of darkness knowing that the Lord Jesus hath spoyled Principalities and Powers And then for that great Gospel-Service of yielding up in the subjection to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ which is the thing that the world doth so much stick at and make opposition to and say We will not have this man to rule over us No let us rather break his bonds asunder and cast away his cords from us Oh but Brethren this well improved Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ it would facilitate this great Service and make the heart free to come up to it willing to give its neck to Christ and to subject to his yoke and Government When we shall come to know this concerning Christ That God the Father hath anointed him and set him as King upon his holy hill of Sion and that there 's a Kingdom appointed to him and the day will come when in despight of Princes and Powers and Rulers and all the mighty ones in the World though they combine themselves together yet God will give the Kingdom to his Son The time will come when the Kingdoms of the World shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever This is that that is to be known concerning our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord shall rule and reign and all his enemies shall be made his footstool Now if this were well digested it would make the heart to be free to yield up it self to him O this is the King that I would yield subjection to but not in a way of rejecting of Kings and Governours O but Christ is my King and God hath set him at his right hand and all his enemies shall be made his footstool Now I say the well digested knowledge of these things would contribute exceedingly to every Gospel-Duty O how would this Knowledge of Christ be as oyle to the wheels to make them run most swiftly and speedily in the wayes of God There are other things that I would have spoken to to which I would fain have given a dispatch Though indeed we are bucketting-up out of a full Fountain the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ O it 's the pretious Knowledge that our souls should be delighted to be acquainted with O how will it conduce to help in suffering and resisting of temptations and afford comfort in all our priviledges As Justification That 's one of the great priviledges of the Gospel Now alas we lose much of the comfort of it by reason of our not being throughly acquainted with the Mysterie concerning our Lord Jesus Christ because we have not a well improved Knowledge of Christ. O did a soul but know this That its Justification did depend upon the Justification of Christ if he be justified you shall be such to be justified and if he be not justified you will never be justified your Justification will come to nothing Now the Knowledge of this concerning our Lord Jesus Christ that he is perfectly justified and according to a legal Justification Here 's the comfort of it That Christ is justified with a legal justification God according to the strictness of his Justice hath given up a Justification of his Son according to that expression Isa. 50. It is God that justifieth me And God justifies Christ with a legal Justification and gives him a full acquittance and gives this account of him That he hath fulfilled all righteousness Now Believers Justification which is of Grace depends upon Christ's Justification which is according to the Law or of his having a Justification according to the Law upon the account of his fulfilling of all righteousness Now if the soul comes to know this That Christ is fully justified with a legal Justification O how will this make a Believer to say with triumphing of soul I know whom I have believed I have believed on him who is justified with a legal Justification SERM. XV. HAving in the close of the last Argument begun to speak concerning Gospel-priviledges and how much our growth in the Knowledge of Christ will promote the comfort of those Priviledges I shall now proceed a little further with you in that Argument in making it more fully clear to you That as ever we desire to suck the sweet of Gospel-Priviledges to have our souls refreshed with them as with breasts of consolation that we may find them to be as streams from Lebanon as wine that 's able to make the lips of them that are asleep to speak It concerns us exceedingly for to endeavour and advance in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall never be able so fully justly to value the Priviledges of the Gospel nor so kindly to relish the comforts of these Priviledges if we do not well understand the Mysterie concerning growth in Grace and be well improved in the Knowledge of Christ. I toucht a little upon that great benefit that comes over to us of Justification That great Priviledge indeed such a benefit as is beyond all valuation O that we would but make it our work and business to search into it to labor that we may understand it what is the proper interpretation of the Justification of a sinner the Scriptures speak of it and they invite us to be well studied in it for a sinner a guilty sinner chargeable with a world of wickedness lyable to a hell of wrath and vengeance deserving to be everlastingly cursed of God and to be cast under everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power A poor guilty soul that
the day he would be sure to take time for it in the night O how much was he in intimate conversings with the Father in the way of prayer 9. The life of Christ it was a self-denying life O most eminent was Christ for this that he was of a self-denying spirit and his life in the whole of it a self-denying life denying himself Father not what I will but what thou wilt 10. The Life of Christ it was a world-despising life when they would come by sorce and make him a King he declines it and withdraws himself and turns his back upon all worldly preferments and injoyments 11. The Life of Christ was a God-pleasing and honouring life He pleased not himself he studied to please his Father and to profit the souls of his people He was for God-pleasing and manprofiting and this was the whole tenor of the Life of Christ. He devoted himself thus that he might be pleasing to God that he might be profitable to man 12. And to add no more though other particulars might be brought in The Life of Christ it was a persevering life He began well he continued well he ended well Paul could say of himself I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith Christ could say it more than any man I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the truth I have kept my way without divertion he held on to the last having honoured God he honoured him to the death having loved God and his people he loved them to the end having ingaged to glorifie God he glorified him to the last His last breath was a holy breathing into the bosome of God This is the account that is to be given of the Lord Jesus Now consider O how profitable and beneficial will this knowledge well improved be unto Beleevers profitable to shame them profitable to provoke their imitation profitable to promote their comfort Profitable to shame them Now when we come to know what a life Christ liv'd what an exemplary life what an even thred he spun what a webb he wove and when we come to consider what our life is what a difference between Christ's life and our life whose life should be set before us as a copy to write after O how will this cause shame of face sorrow of heart I remember the Lord gives a charge to the Prophet Ezek. That he shew the pattern to the house of Israel and wherefore that they may be ashamed why I shew'd you the pattern this morning of the Life of Christ and truly it may well make us ashamed to think Christ lived in the World a Scripture-life but alas how far are we from keeping conformity unto Scriptures in our lives He lived an in-offensive life how offensive are many of us in our conversations and carriages laying stumbling blocks in the way The Life of Christ was a conflicting life what is there in us of conflicting with lusts and corruptions and a sinful World The Life of Christ a convincing life a condemning life convincing of sin condemning of sin such should our conversations be But alas how little is there of conformity to Christ The Life of Christ a praying life a laborious life a fruitful life a God-pleasing life a self-denying life Alas we may look upon the pattern and be ashamed to behold it because of our incongruity to it He that saith he abides in Christ ought himself so to walk even as he walked How many profess to have an abiding in Christ and yet do not comport with his example and conform to the pattern that he hath given us for imitation and so far as we are awanting to this copy so far we dishonour the Name of God and are awanting to the crediting of our holy profession O thus would a well improved knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ be beneficial to us to the humbling and shaming of us to think such was Christ but how unanswerable are we A humble Christ a holy Christ a heavenly Christ a self-denying Christ a sin-hating Christ a world-despising Christ and we express nothing of it And how would this promote to duty and provoke to imitation O so would the knowledge of our Lord Jesus and of his life well-improved provoke our imitation of him and make us set to it with diligence and care Did Christ live thus then surely it concerns me to look better to my life and conversation that I may be able to give a better account of it than otherwise I am like to do And then to promote the comfort of a Christian and make him bear up with boldness in the mid'st of an evil Generation when he is able to plead thus I am and I am tuter'd to it by the walking of Jesus Christ. Now to draw to a close The last thing that I will insist upon as to this Doctrinal part there is an account to be given of the life of Christ in Heaven You have heard of his Life on earth but there is belonging to the knowledge of Christ to consider what his Life in Heaven is For this we are to know and sad were it with Saints and Beleevers if this were not accounted of That he that was in a state of death and he that did rise again He lives and is alive for evermore Now if it were not for this Christians were of all men in the World the most miserable but this our Saviour speaks of himself Rev. 1. 18. I am he that was dead but I am alive and behold I live for evermore Amen I am alive for evermore Amen And this he held forth for the comfort of his people and to let them know he is alive for evermore to this purpose To see to the accomplishing and fulfilling of all that in the Revelation is made known for the benefit and comfort of the Church of God while it is here in its Militant state untill the day come that it shall be together with him ingaged in everlasting Triumphs over Death and Devils and Anti-Christ and World and Sin and all This belongs unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus to know that he lives And what 's his Life in Heaven briefly thus First it is a Life of Glory for he is now entered into Glory and he lives in the fullest possession of all the Glory that the Father and Angels and Glorified Saints can conferr upon him and give unto him He hath all the Glory that Heaven can bestow upon him The Lord Jesus he lives now in Glory and he prayed for this Father I have glorified thee on the Earth now Father glorifie thou me with the Glory which I had with thee from the beginning Jesus Christ is entered into his Glory and he is clothed with it now He is clothed all over with Majesty and Glory He lives in Heaven now a life of Glory and so hath done ever since He was received up into Heaven 2. His