tota plena te saith holy Augustin Confess l. 10. c. 28. There 's no grief in him when he is all in God he hath a lively life of it when he can sit so near the Fountain of Life as to be filled with the blessed inflowes of it If David cannot tell how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity you had Psal 133. 1. need of the tongue of an Angel and not mine to tell the unutterableness of that delight and Joy when Children and Father Spouse and Husband Head and Members cleave together in closest Union And if Honour use to go in the first rank of the World's excellencies Honorificum then he that 's nearest to God must needs herein have the upper hand Our blessed Saviour is exalted to highest Honour in that he is at the right hand of God and then sure that soul is no base one that lies nearest to the heart of Christ Seemeth it a small thing to you said Moses to Korah that the God of Israel hath brought you near to himself in the Ministry of the Tabernacle Numb 16. 9. in which respect Nazianzen highly extolls the now despised Ministry and Chrysostom lifts it up above Crowns and Scepters but how much more honourable is it to draw near to God in saving Grace than in that Sacred Office which sometimes they that are most unworthy climb up to They were the Grandees of Persia who sat next to the King and saw his face Esth 1. 14. May I never affect greater Grandure in this World than in nearest approaches to see the face of God in Christ though the great ones of the World set me under their footstool I might add a word of Beauty which according to the Hebrew Honestum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 24. 16. phrase hath a kind of goodness in its comeliness But even that is when the parts of the body are joyn'd together amongst themselves and all united to the head which if parted or dislocated occasion horror rather than delight But O the ravishing Beauty of Christ mystical when from him and with him the whole body is fitly joyned together Ephes 4. 16. when met together to meet with Christ they are the Beauty of Holiness Psal 110. 3. This made Moses's face shine when he talked with God Exod. 34. 29. This encompasseth the Saints in their approaches to Christ with rayes of Divine lustre that they need not be beholden to the Limner or Painter for a painted glory Though the Moon be at the full of her light and beauty when she is in furthest opposition to the Sun yet our Full is in our nearest Vnion with the Sun of Righteousness I forbear further instances But that you may further see how good it is to draw near to God give me leave to propound these two convincing Arguments That 's indeed good and good to me that makes me better but so Argument 1 do not the profits pleasures honours and the rest of those things which the World calls good A man may be extremely bad with them and too often whilst they prostitute his body and debase his mind is made the worse by them But was it ever so by our humble drawing near to God Doth it not elevate the mind The soul is then in Apogaeo 2 Cor. 3. 18. enlarge the heart innoble spiritualize and by a Divine Metamorphosis transform the soul into the Image of Christ in its nearer approaches and interviews Intellectus fit idem cum objecto The understanding is made one with him in its Divine Contemplations and love makes him one with it in its cordial embraces not in H. N. his mad phrase Godded with God but yet in the Apostles 2 Pâ—t 1. 4. divine expression made partakers of the Divine Nature Here 's cure by coming near and touching Luke 8. 44. Healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. Life and Joy in his Presence Psal 16. 11. The Prodigal dare not be so bad as he would be unless he run far from his Father's house And that tells you the good child is better Luke 15. 13. for keeping in his Father's presence When we keep near to God Heaven is not only near to us but Heaven is in us we then have not only heavenly Joyes but also heavenly Hearts and is it not good to be there and therefore to draw nearer And again good to draw near because best when nearest and Argument 2 worst when farthest off 1. First best when nearest Angels and Men by nature the best of God's Creatures because in nature they are nearest to him and most resemble him and are capable of communion with him Of Angels they are the good ones that continually behold him Maâ—th 18. 10. and they the best that are nearest and therefore the chief of them are wont to be called Assistentes Of Men as first when was Adam best when now created and enjoyed converse with God or when fallen and then run away from him Of all Men the Saints that are most honoured by him are a people near unto him Psal 148. 14. their first beginning to be well being when at first in conversion they begin to turn towards him and how well are they never better than when in the exercise of Grace performance of service in Meditation Prayer Word Sacrament in doing nay though it be in suffering they can get nearest to him let it be upon the Canon's mouth saith the soul that is truly touched if I may but so make my approaches to my Lam. 3. 25 26 27. God Let my Father whip me if whilst he so doth he takes me into his Arms. The Child is not afraid in the dark if then he have his Father by the hand nor is David in the valley of the shadow of death if his good Shepherd be with him Psal 23. 4. The whole World is not worth a Dungeon's light and a Prison's inlargement when Christ shines in and his Spirit sets the soul at liberty to go out to him The Martyr is not bound when tyed to the stake his soul is upon the wing to take her flight to her Saviour It seems then that it is so good to draw near to God that in so doing the Serpent hath lost it's sting the Lion is become a Lamb the Gridiron a bed of Roses Darkness is no Darkness Psal 139. 12. the worst evils are not themselves It s good to be afflicted tormented to suffer to dye good to be to do to suffer any thing if thereby we â—e set nearer to Christ who is all in all But how good then when in a better conditon when once come nearest in Heaven's full vision and perfect communion there and so to be with Christ what saith Paul of it he wants words and yet multiplies them it 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multò magis melius Comparative upon Comparative which riseth higher than a Superlative It 's much more better even
say to his sons Why do you look one upon another get you down and buy for us that we may live and not dye Gen. 42. 1 2. And why then should we look here and there and like fools have our eyes in the ends of the earth to find out other vanities when Pro. 17. 24. did we but lift up our eyes and hearts to heaven we might both see and get that which will make us like the God of heaven I say not therefore as Jacob there of Egypt Get you down thither but get we up hither though it be with Jonathan and his Armour-bearer on our hands and keens with humblest prayers and earnestest endeavours though as with them up sharpest rocks through greatest difficulties and dangers But is it possible that a child of wrath by nature may become a Son of God and by Grace be partaker of the Divine Nature One in himself so much the Beast and the Devil be made like the blessed God And so I that am so vile and sinful may I become holy as he is holy perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect Then sure the happiness of it would not be more inconceivable than our neglect of it unexcusable Let us therefore up and be doing 1 Chron. 22. 16. 3. And this yet the rather upon consideration of what others even Heathens have attempted in this kind and when they have been so mantling the wing this way let them shame us if we take not a further and an higher flight How doth Plato up and down define the chiefest good of man to consist in a full conformity to God! and what a noise do they make with their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their being God-like whilest they lived and Deifiâ—d when dead Oh that what we read in their Books we might find in our hearts and others may see in our lives that we might really be and do what they talked of At least for shame let us exceed what they did or could attain to whilst we do so much exceed them both for pattern and principle 1. Our pattern is more fair and our Copy far more clearly and legibly written before us in the word of truth than theirs in the dim light of nature It did more darkly discover to them the footsteps of God that by following him therein they might grope after an Vnknown God and so they fumbled about a poor conformity Act. 17. 23 27. 2 Pet. 1. 19. to him But upon us the day hath dawned and the day-star is risen in our hearts and the Sun of righteousness shineth forth which hath more fully discovered to us the image and nature of God in the face of Jesus Christ unvailed and clearly discovered to us in the glass and bright beams of the Gospel the Deity in its nature persons and properties evidently manifested nor ever could the holiness justice power truth and mercy of God be more fully declared than they are by Christ and as they are held forth in the Gospel In Christ God is manifested in the flâ—sh He being 1 Tim. 3. 16. Heb. 1. 3. â—ol 2. 9. the Brightness of His Father's glory and the express Image of his Person in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily and all grace which is this Divine nature in the Text emâ—nently and without measure for our participation imitation So that our better Abimelech our King and Father in his grace and life saith to us all as the other Abimelech did to his followers Judg. 9. 48. What ye have seen me do make haste and do like me The word was made flesh and dwelt among us that we might at a nearer John 1. 14. view behold his glory full of grace and truth and walkt among us on purpose that we should follow his steps In a word he being 1 Pet. 2. 21. God took upon him the nature and was made in the likeness of man that the like mind might be in us and that whilst Phil. 2. 7. 5. we have such a perfect pattern so near our eye according to our measure in likeness and conformity we might be made partakers of the divine nature And if the rich man thought that one coming from the dead would work so great matters with his brethren Luke 16. 30. what a transformation in our hearts and lives should Christ make who for this very purpose came down from heaven Our pattern in Christ is very fair And it very openly and clearly held out to us in the Gospel Whether by Christs own ministry he being the only begotten Son in his Fathers bosom could best declare him John 1. 18. And should we only consider his sermon on the Mount in the 5 6 7. Chapters of S. Matthew we may understand so much of God's nature and will that were our hearts and lives answerable we should therein very much partake of the Divine nature and in our measure be perfect as our Father who is in heaven is perfect as our Saviour there speaks Matth. 5. 48. Or should we consider the Gospel of Christ as dispensed in the writings or preachings of his Apostles or other servants Paul in the general speaks very full to our purpose 2 Cor. 3. 18. that we all with open face as in a glass beholding the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. In which Text every clause is very strong and emphatical We all not only Apostles and Ministers as some would expound it but all true Christians for they are not only such as we call Divines that are made partakers of the Divine nature With open face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not through Moses his darker veils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beholding the glory of God that is the glorious nature wisdom justice and mercy of God most fully and perfectly expressed and exposed and manifested in Christ And accordingly most clearly reflected and held forth in the glass and most clear mirrour of the Gospel This ex parte objecti medii But what ex parte subjecti is or should be the effect of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are or at least God expecteth that we should be changed into the very same image not only there to see and behold him but so as to represent him in speculo repraesentantes as Erasmus translateth it and so are transfigured into the same likeness tanquam secundariae quaedam imagines as Beza well expresseth it And that from glory to glory that is not only from one degree of glorious grace to another as most interpreters expound Beza Lapide it but as some add from the glory that is in God and Christ from this reflexion of it to a proportionable glory according to our manner and measure communicated to us by it And all this as by the spirit of the Lord that is so really and gloriously that nothing but the all powerful
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 7th verse to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 8th 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what was gain I counted loss for Christ But as though he had said that is not enough nor spoken strongly enough I have more to say and that more confidently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quin etiam certè an asseveration not more unusual than strong and expressing his stronger resolution upon further deliberation no fewer than five Greek Particles put together and yet no Pleonasm nor any of them expletive unless to set forth his fuller certainly and setledness in this particular 2. From an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 7. what things or those things to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 8. The indefinite is risen up to an universal to an All things not only his Jewish Priviledges in the former Verses but even to his best Christian Graces in this Nor did he think that he De justificat lib. 1. cap. 19. blasphemed in saying it though Bellarmine be bold to say that we do in so interpreting it 3. From an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have accounted in the time past v. 7. to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this 8th verse I do account them so for the present as not altering his judgment or repenting of his bargain as sometimes men do of a formerly over-valued novelty which afterward they have lower and yet wiser thoughts of But it was not so with him as appears from 4. The 4th step from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the beginning of this verse to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the latter end of it For Christ he accounted all things not only loss which yet in themselves might be precious as many things are with the Seamen in a storm with an unwilling will cast over-board then parts with but afterwards grieves for but upon his better experience and estimate both of him and them even vile dogs meat in comparison of the bread of life 5. Nay fifthly from an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He did not only account them loss in his judgment and readiness to lose them but he had actually lost them And yet 6. Which is the sixth Emphasis he accounted himself no loser but an happy gainer by the bargain as the last words of the verse express it They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That I may win and his winnings were clear gains for so according to the Greek it is to be rendred That I may gain Christ In which words we have these two particulars 1. The purchase or thing valued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. 2. The price that he rated it at and was willing to come up to and that was to the loss of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea doubtless and I count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. 'T is pitty these two should be parted that so rich a Pearl should want such a wise Merchant rightly to value it And therefore as I find them together in the Text so I shall put them together in the observation that I shall handle out of it and it is this That there is a surpassing worth and excellency in the knowledge Doct. of Christ Jesus our Lord for which all things are to be accounted loss for a Believer The first branch whereof contains the Doctrinal part and the latter may serve for the Application To begin with the first There is a surpassing worth and excellency in the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. For the subject of which Proposition by the knowledge of Christ 1. Subj Jesus we are to understand the knowledge of whole Christ his Person God Man in Himself and Offices the Prophet Priest and King of his Church In all which Faith finds transcendent Soul-ravishing excellencies and mysteries Nor this barely speculative and notional though even herein it Neg. hath an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all other learning whatsoever So that Porphyrie needed not to have pittied Paul's rare parts as cast away upon the foolishness of preaching If I would be a Scholar I would be a Christian I would read the Scripture though I were so graceless as to do it only for the excellency of the matter the strength of the argument the variety of choicest stile and story all in it met together which I so over-prize in other Authors though asunder If it were but only for bare learnings sake I would learn Christ and his Gospel For what are all your fine-spun abstractions extractions subtilties demonstrations to this great mystery God manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels 1 Tim. 3. 16. c. Here is work for a Doctor Angelicus study for an Angel If they who always behold the face of God in Heaven have yet their Matth. 18. 10. face towards the mercy-seat and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Peter Exod. 25. 20. expresseth it 1 Pet. 1. 12. even stoop down earnestly desiring to have a look what an advancement of learning is it to us whose Eyes you know what the Philosopher compared to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Metaphys l. 1. c. 1. 2 Cor. 3. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an unvailed face to behold the glory of the Lord in the glass of the Gospel The bare Theory whereof is so noble and transcendent But this knowledge I said is not barely speculative and â—â—tional but 1. Fiducial And so in Scripture we have knowledge put for faith Affirm Fiducial Isa 53. 11. John 17. 3. the knowledge of Faith whereby we apply Christ to our selves and know him to be ours as Paul here did when he saith the knowledge of Christ Jesus but he adds my Lord. And so For Christ v. 7. and For the knowledge of Christ here Cum ait propter excellentiam cognitionis ejus intellige excellenti am justitiae ejus quae nobis donatur imputatur Zanchy in the Text are put for the same It 's a knowledge whereby I gain Christ v. 8. and have him and am found in him v. 9. and not only an ability to conceive and discourse of what is in him and comes by him for so the Devilish Renegado may be enlightned Hebr. 6. 4. The Devil himself could say I know who thou art the holy one of God Luke 4. 34. The greatest Scholars have not always been Christs best Friends Time was when the greatest Rabbies were his worst Enemies Lucian and Porphyrie acute men but sharpned against him He was one of the wits of the World that said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that took cognisance of the cause but only to condemn the innocent Unless thou lookest at Christ with Faith's Eye the more quick thine is and the more earnestly thou lookest on him thou wilst either more despise him or despair or Isa 53. 2 3. prove more
no sadder sight in the World than to behold such a triste bidental such an Heaven-struck forlorn-Sinners grown blind by seeing the light and deaf as they that dwell near the out-falls of Nilus by hearing a more pleasing sound even the word of life more filthy for washing more barren or rather fruitful of poysonous weeds for watering and more desperately and irrecoverably sick by the best Physicians greater care of the Cure so that it cannot be written on his door The Lord be merciful to him It 's pity you say that fair weather should do any hurt but a thousand pities to see a miserably blinded sinner to go into everlasting darkness by the light of the Sun shine of the Gospel to see an unruly stray Sheep that would not be kept in the Shepherds Fold in the Wolfs or Lions mouth dragged through all mire and dirt into his Den and there to be devoured Seest thou this thou seest a miserable forlorn Sinner whom the good Shepherds Rod and Staff could not keep in to be fed in green pastures and led by still waters now forsaken of God like another Cain or Judas made sensless and obdurate in sin and dragged into the pit-fall of Hell to his everlasting destruction 3. Which is the third and last particular before mentioned that eternal wrath and judgment that irrecoverable loss which such Sinners in another World procure to themselves by their abuse of Ordinances when they have not gain'd Christ by them Of all others the Sinners in Sion shall be most afraid when it shall once come to dwelling with devouring fire and everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. Then Capernaum that in enjoyment of Ordinances was once lifted up as high as heaven shall be thrown as low as hell Matth. 11. 23 24. nay to the lowest depths of it where Sodom and Gomorrha's fire shall be more tolerable this furnace being heated seven times hotter whilst the breath of the Lord as a stream of brimstone shall kindle it Isa 30. 33. Mark 9. 43. 45. that Tophet intolerable that fire unquenchable when the sometimes sweet breathings of the Gospel-Spirit and Word and Ministry shall blow it up and keep it burning to Eternity Oh! No Condemnation to Gospel-Condemnation No wrath so fierce as that when after grace turned into wantonness patience shall be turned into fury How low low will that for-ever-lost Soul be sunk that in those unsupportable torments shall everlastingly have time and cause to think and say How shall I ever escape that have neglected abused despised so great Salvation That of all other aggravates and perpetuates such mens damnation Gospel-Grace and Ordinances which are the Key to open Heaven to Believers lock up neglecters and despisers in the Prison of Hell and roul the heaviest stone upon the mouth of the bottomless pit the unsupportable weight whereof will not only prevent all removal or escape but above all things will pinch and press and sink them down to Eternity Then they will be fully convinced of the truth of the point in hand that all things are loss and dung in comparison of Christ when they shall sadly but unprofitably and despairingly say Oh of how much greater worth is Christ above all other comforts even best Ordinances when notwithstanding them for want of him we are now everlastingly lodged and tormented in Hell whereas had we by the enjoyment of them come to have gained and enjoyed him we had with him in Heaven been happy for ever Which in the Application of it should most seriously advise and Use perswade us in our due both estimate and abearance both to Christ and his Ordinances respectively 1. And first for Ordinances as the former part of the point called upon us highly to prize them and diligently and constantly to attend upon them so what hath been said in this latter should with all sadness warn us 1. Not to rely on or to rest in the bare enjoyment of them 1. They may do us no good therefore rest not in them for as we have heard as they may be so should we thus do certainly they will be empty and at best we shall get no good by them Circumcision is nothing 1 Cor. 7. 19. The Letter without the Spirit signifieth little and the best Ordinances without Christ as to our Salvation will prove just nothing They are indeed in themselves and by God's Institution Wells of Salvation but to us in the issue they will prove but dry empty Cisterns if this water of life be not conveyed to us by them and therefore in this our journeying to Heaven let us not take up and dwell in our Inne and although the way of Ordinances lead thither yet if we sit down in our way we shall never come to our journeys end In this therefore follow the Psalmists example Psal 121. who when in the first verse he had said I will lift up mine eyes to the Hills of Zion and Moriah the seat of God's Ordinances as Interpreters expound it from whence cometh my help as though he had said too much of them or any Ordinances that his help should come from them as it were correcting himself in the second verse he presently adds my help cometh from the Lord which hath made Vide Augustinum Tract â— in Joannem mox ab initie Heaven and Earth It 's God and Christ only who made Heaven and Earth that can create the fruit of the best Ministers lips to be peace to his people Isa 57. 19. and therefore some Expositors read that first verse of the Psalm interrogatorily should I lift up mine eyes to the Hills as though from them should come my help The lifting up of eyes and soul in Scripture-Phrase expresseth not only delight and desire but expectance and dependance and then although we should come to Ordinances with encouraging expectations of help from God in them yet should we thus lift up our Eyes to the Hills themselves to the highest towring Eloquence or most raised abilities or most sublime piety of the Ministers that we most admire so as to expect saving help from them No. Alas Either They or at least the Event will tell thee that they are but empty Cisterns and dry Breasts which cannot afford the least drop but what Christ the fountain hath put into them and it may be out of thy experience thou maist be able to say to thy self that thou never wentest away more empty and less satisfied than when not making out after Christ in way of a Carnal-Creature-confidence thou expectedst most from them Though thou beest therefore on the Mount of Transfiguration where Christ was Matth. 17. 4. transfigured but they were not Do not sit down with Peter and say It 's good to be here unless Christ be there and in such pure glasses thou seest the face of Christ and art changed from glory to 2 Cor. 3. 18. glory into the image of Christ by the spirit of Christ sit not down satisfied That
Ephes 4. 24. Col. 3. 10. and in the other shewing forth his vertues and graces 1 Pet. 2. 9. made one spirit with him 1 Cor. 6. 17. not by any Partnership of his Essence and substance but of excellent graces holy as he is holy 1 Pet. 1. 15. pure as he is pure 1 John 3. 3. merciful as he is merciful Luke 6. 36. perfect as he is perfect Matth. 5. 48. grace for grace John 1. 16. as the Child to the Father member for member or in the Wax to the Seal stamp for stamp or in the glass face to face being changed from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord 2 Câ—r 3. 18. This likeness to God and imitation of him in hatred of sin in holiness righteousness and all other graces is as a transcript of what is in God originally and infinitely A new Creature is this Divine nature when from an inward Divine Principle and energy as in the Glossary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred Ingenium in word and deed we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 express God as well as our selves and in many things God and not our selves or God more than our selves we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Ignatius and others Deo pleni So gratia habitualis est Divina natura participata Aquin. 12. q. 110. See Gibicuf lib. 1. cap. 17. pag. 108. of old were stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like God and as Adam at first having God's image in holiness and righteousness stampt upon him was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as God Gen. 3. so a true Saint having this image renewed in him is as God vir Divinus which is even the highest Title which the Socinians will vouchsafe the second Adam our blessed Saviour In a word when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Hierocles expresseth it or as Calvin quantum modulus noster feret sumus unum cum Deo as far as our measure reacheth we are like God one with God we are here said to be partakers of the Divine nature Which is evident from the words foregoing and following 1. The Text that you might be partakers of the Divine Nature and immediately follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust added on purpose by way of exposition to tell us what it is in and by which we are made partakers of the divine nature not of God's divine essence so as to Hoc ipsum indicat cum definit naturae divinae participem fieri idem esse ac mundi corruptionem effugisse Beza be Godded with his Godhead for whosoever should ascribe to it the escaping of pollution would thereby most unworthily and blasphemously disparage his infinite and essential holiness but only a participation of his heavenly grace whereby in a way and frame of sanctification we escape worldly pollutions 2. Again immediately before the words of the Text it 's said there are given to us exceeding great and precious promises whereby we are made partakers of the Divine nature It seemeth theâ—â—fore we have it by promise so hath not God it being his essence and nature nor should we if we had his very nature of which there is no one promise made us in the whole book of God unless that of the Devils ye shall be like God Gen. 3. but of Divine grace and sanctification very many 3. And lastly that which in the Text is called a giving to us that whereby we are made partakers of the divine nature in the foregoing verse is called the divine powers giving to us all things that pertain to life and Godness and as many expound that which followeth a calling of us to glory and vertue The divine nature then is in that which pertains to godliness and vertue here in an estate and way of grace and to life and glory in the other world which leads to the 3. Third and last particular of our being partakers of the Divine Nature and that is the perfecting of grace in glory when God Beza Diodat Estius Lapide and so Calvin expounds this place Instit lib. 3. cap. 11. sect 10. shewing himself face to face shall so fill us with his light and life that then we shall be most fully Deopleni most perfectly like him when we shall see him as he is 1 John 3. 2. And if by beholding him in the glass of the Gospel in the face of Christ we are here transformed from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord into a most divine and heavenly conformity 2 Cor. 3. 18. what a far greater tranâ—figuration will it at last be when we shall be once got up into the holy mount and there see God and Christ face to face Oh how shall we then be changed from glory to glory when made 2 Thes 2. 14. partakers of the glory of Christ John 17. 22 24. and the glory of God Rom. 5. 2. when we shall as much as we are capable of Rom. 15. 7. transire in Deum be transformed into his likeness in the immediate fruition of himself there where all old things and whatever See Calvin in Psychopannuch pag. 558. we were before more unlike to God in shall pass away and God only shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. Thus at last in these particulars we have seen what it is to be made partakers of the divine nature and in the explication of them there hath gone along with it a sufficient proof that true believers are so and by truly being God-like do make good their name while they are called Godly And because the main thing I intended in the choice of this argumeâ—â— was the due improvement of it in heart and life Let us first with all humble reverence and thankfulness to God Vse 1 in Christ admire and adore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this his On bended knees with hands and hearts lifted up to God let us say now thanks be to God for this unspeakable gift unspeakable gift inenarrable that cannot be uttered or declared sufficiently The Apostle 2 Cor. 9. 15. used that phrase of God's makâ—ng the Corinthians willing and ready to communicate of their outward and temporal goods to the Saints but by how much greater right may we apply it to Gods giving himself and in the sense before explained communicating of his own nature to sinneâ—s The poor Scholar when he had nothing else he gave himself to his master and the great God as having nothing greater sweareth by himself Heb. 6. 13. so having nothing better he giveth himself to his servants It was Peters poverty that made him say to the Cripple silver and gold have I none but such Act. 3. 6. as I have give I thee But it is the unsearchable unvaluable riches of Gods grace who though he could say the silver and gold is Psal 50. mine Hag. 2. 8. when all the silver and gold in the world is his to bestow upon the heirs of
〈◊〉 may ever have the upper hand Prefer Jerusalem above our chief joy Psal 137. 6. Love all men as men as the Prophet saith Hide not thy self from thine own flesh Isa 58. 7. but yet so as to love them most with whom we have one and the same spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. Honour all men but especially Love the brotherhood 1 Pet. 2. 17. Let at least humanity prevail with us to esteem and love all that with us partake of humane nature for so far we love our selves but so as to put more abundant honour on them who are made partakers of the divine nature for so we shall love God in them SERMON XVIII ON 2 PET. 1. 4. BUT that We may have this honour and love it will be Preacht at St. Maries June 21. 1657. Vse 3. required that we examine our selves whether we have attained to this true ground of it this truly honourable state of being made partakers of the divine nature Wherein that consists hath already in the general been declared in the former doctrinal explication the main of it was that divine grace was this divine nature Pelagius heretically called humane nature grace we may piously and truly call saving grace divine nature to be Godly is to be God like God is holy just wise good spiritual heavenly and it is his very nature to be so And he that is of such an heavenly spirit and carriage although nil humani à se alienum putat yet totus divinitatem spirat though otherwise he be a poor weak man subject to humane infirmities yet by this his conformity to God he is raised to divine perfection As the eye of faith under all that bloud and spittle saw on our Saviours face his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God full of grace and truth John 1. 14. so the same eye under the mean outside of him who hath filled out of Christs fulness his measure of grace and holiness even grace for grace beholdeth with awful reverence and complacential love bright rayes and reflexions of divinity In his heavenly discourse it saith Non vox hominem sonat there is more than a man God speaks in him as Junius thought In ejus vitâ of that poor godly man who was one means of turning him from his Atheism And when it beholds his holy and heavenly conversation though it do not say with the Lycaonians Acts 14. 11. that Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men yet though but an Idiot he will report that God is in him of a truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. But enough of this in general Let us rather for our better direction consider some particular properties of this Divine Nature by which it may be discovered and manifested some from that it 's called Nature and some from that it 's stiled a Divine Nature 1. Nature is an inward inbred principle In natural bodies it 's ordinarily defined to be principium motûs quietis and so this Principium motûs intrinsecum Aquin. 1. 2 ae q. 10. a. 1. corp divine nature in a gracious spirit is an inward principle of power and act the spring that in this divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sets all the wheeles a going like the spirit of the living creatures in the wheels Ezek. 1. 20. In this sense our Saviour saith that the water which he giveth to the thirsty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall be in him but what a well of water springing up to everlasting life John 4. 14. not a Cistern which hath all its water from without put into it It is so indeed as it hath all from God but in regard of outward supplies such a well it is that hath such a spring in it as from it self is continually bubbling and springing up to everlasting life It 's no artificial engine to spout out that water which it had not of its own but a true natural fountain that poureth out of what springeth up in it self Jer. 6. 7. as in the creation the herb brought forth seed and the tree fruit after its kind Gen. 1. 12. from its innate seminal vertue its inward natural temperament and constitution and the stone moveth down to the center and the sparks fly upward from their Job 5. 7. natural propension nature being that ingenita rei vis potentia quâ ipsa à seipsá movetur so in this new creation where there is a Divine Nature there is something within not only a blaze in the lamp but also oyl in the vessel Matth. 25. 4. an inward principle which sets the soul in motion to God and heaven these divine sparks naturally fly upward as it 's said of Timothy Philip. 2. 20. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did genuinely and naturally care for the things of God and his Church and Job said of himself that the root of the matter was in him Job 19. 28. contrary to what is said of the stony-ground hearer that he had not root in himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 13. 21. which is the broad difference between a true born child of God and a formal hypocrite the one flutters and makes a great stir in the things of God but God knows and he himself knows and feels there is no inward vital principle that sets him on work nothing from within unless vain-glory or other finister â—imes and intentions which are only corrupt nature but usually all is from without either the applause or frowns of men and the one as the wind drives about the millsails which else would stand still and the other as those Trochlerâ— or water-works force the water upwards which else would lie below or fall downward But O friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he laid of Plutarch the dead statue which he could not make stand by it self there must be something within that goes to a divine nature an inward principle of Divine life and love which without these pullies and plummets sets the wheels of the soul on going God-ward Doth not even nature it self teach you saith the Apostle in that case 1 Cor. 11. 14. and doth not the Divine nature it self where-ever it is in truth from an inward principle and pondus animae prompt and incite and carry you out towards God in communion with him and obedience to him as Act. 18. 5. it 's said of Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was pressed in spirit occasioned by the Jews obstinacy but there was a spirit within him that pressed him to it But here take a double caution when I speak of this inward principle it is not with our Enthusiasts so to cry up a Christ within them as to cry down a Christ without them indeed without them because never truly in them Christ indeed dwells in our hearts but it is by faith Ephes 3. 17. and that is both brâ—d and fed by his word and ordinances Rom. 10.
29. 2. yea a Majesty and that 's more Thus by Faith the Elders received a good Report Heb. 11. 2. And by true saving Wisdome Solomon assureth us we shall receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint a Crown of Glory as ours read it Prov. 4. 9. Every particular Grace is part of a Christians Beauty But as they use to say Pulchritudo non est partis sed compositi so the perfection of Beauty ariseth from all Graces and a Perfetion in all Which though we cannot here attain to yet if we strive after it what we can we shall surely procure either love or reverence If the Amiableness of Holiness will not allure the Majesty of it will daunt the proudest Scorner and why may it not allure the most obstinate seeing it wins Grace in God's Eyes and therefore may justly challenge it in ours And here now I might open such a Cabinet of precious Jewels I mean so many several Graces as were they put on and worn by us would so beautify every part of a Christian that you should not see a Mordecai riding on Ahasuerus Horse with his Imperial Robes and Crown or another Joseph with Pharaoh's Ring on his Hand and a Chain of Gold about his Neck with the People bowing the Knee and crying Abrek but a Man of God partaker of the Divine Nature and well-nigh already glorified and so both himself and his profession glorious in the Eyes of God and Angels But all these curious pieces I have not now leisure to view many of them you may in the following Chapters of this Epistle I shall content my self with two which the Apostle unfolds in the latter part of this Verse in which he useth a Metaphor taken from an Army in which two things are required for the comeliness and safeguard of it Unity amongst themselves and Valour in beating back the adversary Proportionable to which two things he telleth us will become us in our warfare 1. Mutual Love that you stand fast in one Spirit with one Mind 2. Constancy and perseverance in the Profession of the Truth striving together for the Faith of the Gospel In the first place therefore for Love and Unity How well it sutes with the Gospel we may conceive in that it 's called the Gospel of Peace Ephes 6. 15. And therefore agreeth not with our Heart-burnings and Dissensions Brings us glad tidings of our reconciliation with God and therefore as Joseph to his Brethren bids us take heed we fall not out by the way Thus we see it fits well and would it not be as comely as fitting Yes surely And therefore our Saviour makes one part of his Spouses Beauty that her Teeth are like a Flock of Sheep whereof every one beareth Twins as well to express Love as Fruitfulness And was it not this true-hearted Love in having all things common in continuing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord in the Temple in eating their Meat with gladness and in singleness of Heart and the like which made those first Christians Acts 2. 46 47 have favour with all the people that because the multitude of them that believed were of one Heart and one Soul therefore great Grace was upon them all Acts 4. 32 33 And the same believe it would be upon us all if we as they according to the Apostle's Exhortation here would now stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one Spirit that is having one and the same spirit of Grace dwelling in us and thence with one Mind Will and Affection or in one Spirit as some expound it in one Judgment not one Paul and another Apollos not some Lutherans and others Calvinists not some Remonstrants and others Contra-Remonstrants but all of one mind in Christ for as they use to say of an unnatural Birth that hath two Heads if it have but one Heart though it be to be taken for one Man yet it is a Monster So as long as we have one Heart and agreeing in the main we may grow up into one Man yet if as many Heads there be so many Opinions and Judgments it will be if not unnatural and monstrous yet I am sure ungracious and unseemly For we should stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and withal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one Soul and loving affection to each other without hatred and variance and strife and seditions in the Bowels of Mercy and meekness and tender affection forbearing and forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us which if we did and were thus knit together in Judgment and Affection how much it would adorn and advantage the Gospel I say not because I cannot sufficiently Yet this I can that however bodily and outward comliness may be called as it is Concors discordia amica inimicitia yet in this inward and spiritual Beauty Plato's Divinity is again true that makes Vnum and Pulchrum the same a chief part of it consisting in this Holy Unity and Uniformity 2. Which adds strength likewise to that other Grace of constancy and Perseverance in the Profession of the Truth when we do not only stand together but stand fast and fight for the Faith of the Gospel as our Apostle addeth Which how answerable it is likewise to the Gospel this only were sufficient to manifest in that it shews what Christ endured for us and therefore may justly call on us to indure something for him and truly if it bring to us the sure mercies of David we should not be answerable to it if we should prove Flinchers If it be an everlasting Gospel Revel 14. 6. It would be very unfit that we should be like those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 13. 21. which for a while believe and in time of tentation fall away Nor can we more dishonour the Gospel than if by falling off in harder times we proclaim to the World that we find not so much good in it as at first we thought for as on the contrary we cannot otherwise bring more credit to it than whilst we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take part and happy afflictions in which we have such a blessed Partner with the Gospel in its afflictions as the Apostle's phrase is 2 Tim. 1. 8. we let all Men know that we indeed account it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good News which we will willingly dye for This is that for which Justin Martyr and Eusebius for the honour of Christ set him before the chiefest of the Heathen Philosophers that he had so many thousands ambitious of shedding their Blood in the defence of his Cause and Gospel which none of them could say of their followers Yea this Glory reflects upon our selves likewise So Peter assures us that if we be reproached for the Name of Christ a Spirit of Glory remains upon us 1 Pet. 4. 14. yea though we dye for it yet Stephens Face will even then shine as an Angel's So that however some indeed like our nice Dames that would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
to God His going is in the Sanctuary Psal 68. 24. He meets us in them and therefore make Conscience to use them 2. Because but means therefore rest not in them till we find that we draw near to God by them Not in Prayer till either God draw near to us in a gracious Answer or at least we get so near him as by Faith to lay hold on him in a more serious wrestling Not in hearing till God speak something to our hearts Nor in receiving till we feel him strengthning us with strength in our Souls Till we see the glory of God filling the Tabernacle as Exod. 40. 34. the Holy Ghost falling upon us whilst we are hearing the Word as Acts 10. 44. and Jesus Christ coming in and breathing upon us when we are met together in such Ordinances as John 20. 22. Let the Spouse abide in the Bed of Loves but let her seek her Beloved there Our falling short of this and sitting down with the enjoyment of bare Ordinances Cant. 3. 1. 1. Makes others as we see undervalue and despise them whilst we rest in them We in so doing make them our Idols and then they think they have thence just ground to make them their Abominations 2. For our selves instead of growing better and drawing nearer to God by them by this means we prove worse and are set further off None further from God and Salvation than they that take up in means of Salvation without enjoying God in them as none more sure to fall short of his journies end than he that sits down as having gone far enough when he hath gotten on but the half way My Friend may be gotten the further off and it may be past hope of overtaking whilst in the dark I take fast hold of his Garment and think that by so doing I keep him as fast by me 3. At best nothing at all the better as your Phrase is never the nearer for all those outward approaches It will be but the grasping of the Cloud instead of Juno a looking into the Grave when Christ is risen a seeking in the Bed when the Beloved is withdrawn an enquiring in the Temple when the Glory of the Lord is departed And what a poor empty forlorn thing is the most Royal Palace when the Court hath left it The former Lustre and Majesty which the King of Heaven's Presence conferred to a heedful Eye makes his Court look the more Desolate when he is withdrawn So that whilst others jollily vaunt and chant it The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Jer. 7 4. Lord the Temple of the Lord are these Yet the chast Spouse not withstanding all these is at a loss and still upon the Inquest with her Saw ye him whom my Soul loveth As long as she cannot Cant. 3. 3. Mat. 12. 6. find him there who is greater than the Temple who too often finds cause enough in us on his part to leave his House Jer. 12. 7. and then thou mayst come and knock hard and yet not meet with him but more often on our parts when he is most graciously and powerfully present there to others we are absent from him because absent from our selves our Thoughts wandering and then the Mind is in another place we drowsing and the Man asleep is in another World Though God be in that Place yet Jacob when asleep is not aware of it Gen. 28. 16. And Lot when drowsie and drunk together knows Gen. 19. 33 35. not when his Daughters lie down and rise up And so we may come and go to and again to God's Ordinances and yet whilst we are in like Distempers he and we may continue very strangers Ordinances are like those Golden Pipes Zech. 4. 2. and yet but Pipes do us no good will be but empty to us unless they empty into us that Golden Oyl ver 12. Sweetest Breasts of Consolation but we shall suck Wind rather than Nourishment unless like the Suckling we then find our selves in our Heavenly Father's Arms and laid close to our Saviour's Breast to suck Life-Blood from his wounded Heart It 's good thus to draw near to God and till it be thus it will not be well with us notwithstanding all outward Approaches and Ordinances And therefore our chief care and endeavour should be in our enjoyment of them that they may Instrumentally concur to the working and quickning such Graces in us as whereby we may formally I mean indeed and good earnest draw nigh to God 1. Amongst which as it 's most fit Knowledg in the first place must lead the way for he must needs go very wide that follows a blind Guide He will toto coelo errare instead of arriving at God or Heaven The blind Sodomite will sooner Gen. 19. stumble on Lot's door and a Man in the Dark hit right in an unknown way than that Man whose Eyes the God of this World hath blinded find of himself the way of access to God or indeed find in his heart to draw nigh to him For Ignorance usually is very profane and so careth not to come into God's Presence hath so much Candle-light of Sense as to commit Works of Darkness by and to see and follow that which leads off from God But as long as it continues invincible cuts off all hopes because it plucks off all those ansae by which we might be laid hold on and drawn nearer And therefore gross ignorant Men are in a most desperate Condition they that are so dark must needs be far from the Father of Lights now as that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the very Name of it denotes the remotest Mat. 8. 12. distance from God will be their Portion hereafter But on the contrary the saving and clear Knowledg of God and his Divine Excellencies especially in Christ approacheth so near that the Understanding is in a manner made one with so blessed an Object It indeed is so transcendently Glorious that it bids Moses not come near in regard of a reverential distance Exod. 3. 5. and yet so infinitly ravishing that it makes him desire to get as near as he may to see so great a Sight ver 3. as in Heaven a full Vision begets a perfect Love and Union Angels that always behold God's Face Mat. 18. 10. have the nearest Station And if the lovely Creature 's Beauty useth to draw after it many Eyes sure the infinite Beauty of God so Glorious of Christ so White and Ruddy even the Brightness of his Father's Glory if beheld with a clearer Eye could not but much more strongly snatch our Hearts to it They that turn away from him do not see him And if any be so desperate as to hate him as the School determines do so because they only Aquin. 1. q. 60. a. 5. ad 5. look at some particular in him that is contrary to their own Lusts which are nearer to them and so blind them 2. The second is
Sopita ratione excitato fomite quoquo vult hominem versat Cerda I say Impatience usurps over the Man and then betrays all On the contrary Patience keeps all the Soul at least above all in a quiet possession and accordingly Albertus Magnus makes Prudence and Patience those two Wings of the great Eagle by which the Woman Rev. 12. 14. fled into the Wilderness and was nourished from the Face of the Serpent And that 's the Truth which I am now to prosecute In which I shall 1. Explain what I mean by this Gospel-Christian Patience 2. Wherein it may be said to keep us in possession of our Souls 3. How it doth it And then 4. Conclude with a short Application 1. For the first What Patience is was shewed before and I now only mind you that it relates 1. Either to God according to that Psal 37. 7. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him when it neither swells nor sinks under his Hand but silently waits his pleasure 2. Or to Man according to that 1 Thes 5. 14. Now we exhort you Brethren be patient to all Men. But it 's called Gospel-Christian-Patience as it is found in a Christian now in the time of the Gospel And this 1. As he is directed and animated by the Example of Christ for he hath also Suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2. 21. viz. in patient Suffering as it is ver 20. his Steps having troden out to us a Path that we need not be at a loss in the most unknown Way and if the Souldier be heartned by his Fellow-Souldiers courage and company as Paul said many of the Brethren waxed bold by his Bonds Phil. 1. 14. then sure by looking to Jesus the Captain of our Salvation enduring the Cross end despising the shame we may well run with patience the Race that is set before us Heb. 12. 1 2. and without danger or distraction follow on when our Abimelek our Father-King for Christ is both hath Marched before and given us that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do as I have done as that other Abimelek did Judg. 9. 48. 2. As enabled by the Grace and Spirit of Christ according to that Col. 1. 11. Strengthened with all might unto all patience and Long-suffering with joyfulness but is is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to his Glorious power and that Power the more Glorious in that out of weakness they have been made strong as the Apostle speaks Heb. 11. 34. The fearfullest and every way weakest Ages Sexes Constitutions have oft in suffering Times been enabled with most Courage and Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostom speaks which plainly manifests that it was Christ's Spirit that kept them so in possession of their own And if the strong Man armed keep his Palace all is in peace Luke 11. 21. If the Spirit of the Almighty God undertake to keep possession who shall be able to make an Ejectment It 's a deadly aking Head that is distracted if God with his own Hand do but hold it It is an over-grown Burden that sinks me if underneath be an everlasting Arm. Such a Back of Steel will sufficiently strengthen a very weak Bow Though Paul be nothing yet by Christ strengthening him he can do yea and suffer Phil. 4. 13. all things 3. As heartned by the Comforts of the Spirit of Christ for the Joy of the Lord is our strength Neh. 8. 10. Farina in olla Meal in the Pot that takes away the deadly intoxicating bitterness of it Vinum in pectâ—re the Cordial that Antidotes these Animi deliquia these Swoonings and sainting Fits according to that 2 Cor. 4. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according as we have received Mercy we faint not such sweet Morsels strengthen the heart that it can go on in its work and way and not sink under its burden Thus we had Patience and Joyfulness joyned together Col. 1. 11. as mutually begetting and strengthening each other Patience much furthering our Joy So the Apostle we rejoyce or glory in Tribulation if it work patience Rom. 5. 3. And so Tetullian speaks of a Sagina voluptatis of Patience fatting Saginari voluptate patientia voluit Christus Cap. 5. Assideat Cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soul with delight and brings it in as the sick Man's Nurse that sits by him and cherisheth him And Joy much strengthening and confirming our patience whilst sense of Mercy drowns the sense of Misery makes the Martyr lie quietly on the Grid-Iron when it is with delight as on a Bed of Roses Whists and silenceth all discontented complaints of Pain Loss Disgrace c. whilst he is sensible of the saving health of God's Countenance can rejoyce in his spiritual Gains yea and can Glory that he is accounted worthy to suffer Shame for the Name of Christ with them Acts 5. 41. When this Candle of the Lord shines upon our head and heart we Job 29. 3. are able with Job to walk through darkness even dance in the dark without stumbling And then with more ease lie down quietly and sleep sweetly in the darkest Night Thus Patience animated by the Example of Christ and spirited by the Grace and Comfort of the Spirit of Christ becomes true Christian Patience Which was the first thing propounded and so as such in most troublesome Times helps us to possess our Souls 2. But wherein doth that consist Which was the second Particular I answer especially in two things viz. 1. In so keeping the Soul that it be not at last utterly lost 2. That for the present whatever the occasion be it be not so Disguised and Distempered but that it may be it self and we still our own Men. This was shewn in the general in the former Point And now in the second we are particularly to shew that Christian-Patience is able to do both these 1. Patience keeps possession of the Soul in taking care that it be not lost and perish eternally So that we find that patient continuance in well-doing ends in eternal Life Rom. 2. 7. And the Apostle Heb. 10. 36. saith that we have need of patience that after we have done the Will of God we may receive the Promise There is absolute need especially in evil Times that the Soul be possessed with patience if it would at last be possessed of Glory as will clearly appear from the contrary Take an impatient Man and let him meet with Trials and Exercises and he presently chuseth Sin rather than Affliction as the phrase is Job 36. 21. He cannot Suffer and therefore he must Sin nor is there the most dreadful and damning Sin which in that fright and hurry he will stick at or set him at a stand but over Hedg and Ditch though with never so many break-neck Falls to his Soul that he may but escape that outward danger that he is more afraid of Cyprian in his Book De bono
Apostle meaneth when he saith to him to live is Christ No this is a false Christ or rather an Antichrist when the true Christ is thus disguised and dishonoured by us as when the Jews had muffled and spit upon Christ then for Pilate to bring him forth and say Behold the John 19. 5. Man was rather in way of Derision than any thing else and no better do we yet deal with him when whilst we profess Him we thus dishonour Him 3. But thirdly Christ is a Christian's Life when He is Causa Finalis when He his Honour and Service is the main End and Scope at which in the course of his Life he chiefly aimeth and labours to promote as knowing or designing no end of his Life than to live to God according to that Psal 119. 17. Deal bountifully with thy Servant that I may live and keep thy Word This is that which Interpreters generally agree in to be the principal thing intended by the Apostle in this Expression which divers of them diversly paraphrase but to the same purpose If I live it is to Christ so the Aethiopick reads it Non alia causa Si vivo Christi causâ vivo si morior meo commodo morior Sasbout in promovenda gloria Christi Piscator volui vivere nisi Christi I would not live for any cause else but Christ's So Hierom I have consecrated my life to Christ and his Gospel So Estius He is the scope of my life So Piscator Si vixero nihil aliud mihi proposui non alia mercede vivo c. I propound nothing else in my whole Life I desire no other Stipend or Wages for all my Work and Warfare but only to honour and serve Christ in the Gospel So Calvin Aquinas methinks well resolveth it Life importeth Motion and is the active Principle In locum of it and therefore as in other Cases the end that moves the Agent to act he properly calls his Life Vt venatores venationem amici amicum So Christ and his Glory as being that which as his main end setteth the Christian on working may well be called his Life in which he liveth and in the Design and Prosecution whereof the strength of his Life is spent and exercised Christ is his A and Ω All he hath or is he hath Rev. 1. 8. from Him and all he is hath or can do is all for him All manner of pleasant Fruits new and old I have laid up for thee O my Beloved saith the Spouse Cant. 7. 13. The Best the All of a Christians Abilities Gifts Graces whatsoever and how precious soever they be they are all for Christ ready prest to serve Him paid in as a Tribute to Him As of Him so to Him are all things Rom. 11. 36. As there is one God the Father of whom are all things and we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Him so one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by Him 1 Cor. 8. 6. yea and to Him and for Him for of Him it 's else-where said Whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we die we die unto the Lord and so whether we live or die we are the Lords Rom. 14. 8. And these last words give a sufficient Reason of the former if we are the Lords then we should live to the Lord if we be not our own Men but Christ's ransomed Servants then as the Master's Service Honour and Advantage is or ought to be the Servant's aim and scope in his whole Employment so Christ's should be ours and so He becomes our Life For we live much in our Ends and Designs which we project and endeavour to promote and according to them though not only yet especially our Lives are to be judged of as in other Cases so in this Particular if the constant Tendencies and real Intentions of our Souls be seriously for Christ to please honour and serve Him this is to have Christ for our life and thus to live in the Apostle's Phrase here is Christ when as he spake in the Verse foregoing our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the earnestest out-lookings of our Souls are that Christ may be glorified by us whether by Life or by Death And this is best when it is in our more frequent actual Thoughts and Intentions of it however it must be in our inward general and habitual Disposition Frame and Purpose of Heart and constant course of Life as a Traveller's resolved intention of his Journies end at his first setting out and after progress in the way to it though at every step he maketh he do not actually think of it In a word when we own no other Interests but Christ's or at least none that are contrary but only such as are reducible and subordinate to it when we neither start nor pursue any other false Games which adversâ fronte broadly look and run counter contrary to him no nor with a squint Eye look aside to these golden Apples of Pleasure Profit or other Self-advantage cast in our way when we seem to take never so speedy and straight course to him but when our Eyes look right on and our Eye-lids look streight before Prov. 4. 25. us as Solomon speaketh as they Jer. 50. 5. who asked the way to Zion with their Faces thitherward and as it 's said of our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that his Face was going or as though he would go to Jerusalem Luke 9. 53. so when with a single Eye and Heart we directly and indeclinably eye and look at Christ and his Glory so that all that observe us may well take notice which way our Eye and Heart look this is to have Christ indeed fully both in our Eye and Heart and so Christ is our Life when thus in our Heart the seat of Life Otherwise to drive a Trade for our selves whilst we profess our selves only Factors for Christ to seek our own advantage as Paul Phil. 2 21. saith most do and not the things of Jesus Christ or if at all yet only in subordination to our own Ends and Interests this is Self not Christ to seek and find the Life of our own hand as the Prophet's phrase is Isa 57. 10. not to express Christ living in us as it s said of Gad Deut. 33. 21. that he provided the first part for himself and as Pharaoh said my River is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mine own and I have made it for my self or I have made my self Ezek. 29. 3. as the vulgar Interpreter reads it and both the words and the sense of the place will bear it and so proved his own both Creature and Creator together But the Creature whose Life Christ is knoweth that God hath created all for Prov. 16. 4. himself and therefore in the Apostle's sense here in the Text makes his Life to be Christ Si quidem vita mea mea inquam Christus est as the Syriack renders it Christ
is all the Life which is any way mine because nothing I own as mine which is not Christ's and which I do not enjoy or pursue in a tendency and subordination to Christ For none of us liveth to himself and no Man dyeth to himself but whether we live we live unto the Rom. 14. 7 8. Lord or whether we dy we dy unto the Lord whether we live or dy we are the Lord's as the Apostle speaks in the place before cited 4. Fourthly Christ is a true Christian's life as he is the subject or Object of his Life for so we are said to live not so much in our selves as in those things which our Hearts and Lives are either wholly or chiefly taken up with And so the Christian if true to his rule lives not in himself but Christ in him and he in Christ When the whole Man is fully taken up with Christ as to fear God and keep his Commandments is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole Man Eccles 12. 13. So Christ who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3. 11. all in all in himself and to all his is the whole of a Christian whilst he dwells in his Heart by Faith Ephes 3. 17. and so as to take up all the room there that the whole Soul is full of Christ as that which it liveth upon and the Object which he is possessed entertained and taken up with 1. In his Thoughts and Meditations and we live much in our Thoughts as being the first out-goings of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or emanations and Issues of a rational Life which Solomon speaketh of Prov. 4. 23. and those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Possessions of the Heart Job 17. 11. which the Soul of a Man is possessed with Job there speaks of the thoughts of other things but to a true Christian as such Christ is that which his thoughts are chiefly possessed with and which the first natural Issues of his Spiritual Life go out to the Gospel not a Crucifix 2 Cor. 3. 18. being that Glass which he is ever looking into to behold in it the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ It 's made the black Mark of an ungodly Man that God is not in all his thoughts Psal 10. 4. but it's the lively Character of a true Christian that Rom. 3. 25. Christ is ever in his whom as God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath set or held forth as a propitiation as a Brasen Serpent for him that is stung to look upon and be healed so a long-looking wist Eye of Faith is intently fixed upon him in saddest and sweetest most constant and serious Meditations amidst all other most beautiful Objects chuseth out Christ to pitch his Eye on as they John 12. 21. to Philip Sir we would see Jesus and as Statius of Domitian Ipsum Ipsum cupido tantum spectare vacavit Then then Christ is Sylv. l. 4. p. 406. our Life we live very much in Christ and Christ in us when our most serious and least interrupted thoughts are pitched fastned on him as the Eyes of his Hearers were sometimes on him when he Preached Luke 4. 20. and his Disciples when he ascended Act. 1. 10. where the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used which signifieth a stedfast and earnest beholding such a steady contemplating of Christ is the Life of the Life of a Christian We live said Paul to his Thessalonians if ye stand fast in the Lord and how happily 1 Thes 3. 8. should we live if our Thoughts and Hearts were more fast fixed on Christ If the Philosopher was born to look on the Sun truly the Christian's Life may well be in a steady eying and contemplating the Sun of Righteousness It is the happiness of the glorious Angels in Heaven always to be beholding the Face of his Father Matth. 18. 10. and it will be ours in that beatifical Vision at last constantly to behold Christ's Glory John 17. 24. But alas It 's here too often hid vailed and overclouded and more often such Fools are we that our Eyes are in the ends of the Earth wandring here and there our thoughts of Christ broken off and shamefully interrupted by others sinful and Praefat. in Comment in Lament impertinent crowding in In contemplationis altitudine libere volant angeli sed saltant tantum homines miseri as Bonaventure speaks Angels and glorified Saints are upon the Wing and make an even and steady flight but alas we poor Grashoppers here on Earth do but hop and leap bolt up sometimes it may be in a holy Meditation or Ejaculation but are presently down Psal 94 19. again and then so intangled and insnared with other multitudes of thoughts as the Psalmist calls them that the Rabbins account may be too true who so cast it up that they say that all the time of Methuselah's idle thoughts being defalked and taken away of the 969 years of his Life he lived but 10 years And truly a great deal of precious Time and of our Life is often spent and little or nothing done through the intercurrence of vain thoughts of other things which if pitched upon Christ would help to make up the best part of our Life whilst Christ thus more fixedly looked and thought on would animate and enliven it This the Apostle in the narrow compass of four Verses expresseth and urgeth with great variety of words very Emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neglect not take heed give attendance meditate on these things give thy self wholly to them be wholly in them 1 Tim. 4. 13 14 15 16. Were Christ and the things of Christ thus heeded and studied so to live and think and live thinking were to live Christ Christ would so be our Life when our thoughts which take up so great a share of our Lives are constantly busied about him 2. When our Hearts and Affections Desire and Love Content Comfort Joy and Delight do as fully and constantly close with him and act towards him and upon him and rest in him Such warm breathings argue Life And as the Party loving lives in the Beloved and the Beloved back again yea though dead may be said to live in him So here a Christian Vbi amat non ubi animat See what in our whole life we most love and prize and cannot live without that we use to call our Life and so Jacob's Life is bound up in Benjamins Gen. 44. 30. See Corn. a Lap. in locum Christus est meus spiritus meus anhelitus mea anima mea Vita Christus est quem spero spiro in quo respiro quem in spiro expiro c. as he goeth on in his devout raptures even lives to love and lives in loving Christ is his very Life when he is the constant Object of his Desire and Love Delight and Comfort The lamenting Church called Josiah the Breath of her Nostrils Lam. 4. 20. typifying out as Interpreters observe