Redeemer when the good Angels are so ready to attend him at his beck and command and that in the meanest services and ministries Shall poor worms make bold with his Laws slight his doctrine despise his benefits Heb. 2.2 3. If the word spoken by angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation 4. And lastly to make us more reverend in our approaches to him for he sits in the Assembly of the Gods the holy Angels are round about him Psal. 138.1 Before the Gods will I sing praise to thee That is in the presence of the holy Angels 1 Cor. 10.10 Eccl. 5.6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the angel that it was an Error The Angels in heaven observe our behaviour in Gods worship what vowes we make to God what promises of obedience But above all there is our glorious Redeemer himself Heb. 12.28 29. with what reverence and godly fear should we approach his Holy Presence II. Use. Is to quicken us to Thankfulness for our Redemption that our Creator is our Redeemer None of the Angels did humble himself as Christ did do to do so great a piece of service and yet he is far above them There is a congruity in it that we should be restored by him by whom we were made but he made the Angels as well as men but he did not restore them No they were not so much as in a condition of forbearance and respite he assumed not their nature he created all things but he redeemed mankind His delights were with the sons of men he assumed our nature and for a while was made a little lower then the Angels Heb. 2.9 We cannot sufficiently bless God for the Honour done to our Nature in the person of Christ for it is God incarnate that is made head of Angels Principalities and Powers God in our nature whom all the Angels are called upon to adore and worship The devil sought to dishonour God as if he were envious of mans happiness Gen. 3.8 God doth know that in the day that ye â—at thereof ye shall be aâ— Gods And he fought to depress the nature of man which in innocency stood so near to God now that his humane nature should be set so far above the Evangelical in the person of Christ and be admitted to dwell with God in a personal Union this calleth for our highest love and thankfulness III. Use. Is an encouragement to come to Christ for sanctifying and renewing Grace I have three Arguments 1. The Person to whom we come To whom should we come but to our Creator God infinitely Good Wise and Powerful The creation sheweth him good and whatever is good in the Creatures is wholly derived from his goodness It is but like the odour of the sweet Ointments or the perfume that he leaveth behind him where he hath been Iam. 1.19 He is infinitely wise when he created and setled the World He did not jumble things in a Chaos and confusion but setled them in a most perfect order and proportion Which may be seen not only in the Fabrick of the World but in the disposition of the parts of Mans Body yea or in any Gnat or Fly Now cannot he put our disordered souls in frame again If the Fear of God be true Wisdom to whom should we seek for it but from the Wise God His Infinite Power is seen also in the Creation in raising all things out of nothing And if a Divine Power be necessary to our Conversion to whom should we go but to him who calleth the things that are not as though they were Rom. 4.17 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness 2 Pet. 1.7 2. From the work it self which is a new Creation which carrieth much resemblance with the old Eph. 2.10 For we are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works 2 Cor. 4.6 For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ. It is such an effect as comes from a Being of Infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness that man may be in a capacity to love please and serve God What was lost in Adam can onely be recovered by Christ. 3. From the relation of the Party that seeketh it Psal. 119.73 Thine hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments We go to him as his own Creatures This plea hath great force because of Gods goodness to all his Creatures Not onely the Angels but every worm and fly had their being from Christ there is a great variety of living things in the World but they are all fed from the common fountain therefore we may comfortably come to him for life and quickning Ioh. 1.4 We need not be discouraged by our baseness and vileness for the basest worm had what it hath from him 2. That Christ as Creator beareth such Affection to man as the work of his hands Is it good unto thee that thou shouldst despise the work of thy hands Iob 10.3 Artificers when they have made an excellent work are very chary of it and will not destroy it and break it in pieces Iob 14.15 Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands As Creatures beg relief and help if you cannot plead the covenant of Abraham plead the covenant of Noah 3. God forsakes none of the faln creatures but those that forsake him first 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with you while you be with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you 1 Chron. 28.9 If thou seek him he will be found of thee but if thou forsake â—im he will cast thee off for ever 4. Especially will Christ be good to man seeking after him for Grace that we may serve and obey him For he is no Pharaoh to require brick and give no straw Creating Grace layed the debt upon us and his redeeming Grace provideth the power and help that we may discharge it Now when we acknowledge the debt and confess our impotency to pay it and our willingness to return to our duty Will Christ fail us A consciencâ— of our duty is a great matter but a desire of grace to perform it is more Therefore come as creatures earnestly desiring to do their Creators will and to promote his Glory God will not refuse the soul that lyeth so submissively at his feet SERMON IV. COL 1.17 And he is before all things and by him all things consist THE Apostle had asserted the dignity of Christs Person by ascribing the work of Creation to him now the work of Conservation and Providence By the same divine power by which Christ made all things he doth
person when he giveth him glorious qualities and powers or by revealing and manifesting those glorious qualities which he hath or when he doth receive him and treat him agreeably to his Glory The meaning of Christs prayer then must be of one or other of all these senses when he prayeth that the father would glorifie him with that glory that he had with him before the world was if you take it in the first sense he dâ—sireth that God would bestow upon him as Mediator or God Incarnate a Glory sutable to that Glory he had with him from all Eternity If in the second sense he desireth his Glory may be revealed or become conspicucus in his humane nature If in the third that God would receive him honourably and agreeably to that Glory which sense is the chiefest for it containeth the other two The meaning then in short is that he might be received to the full enjoyment of that glory which he had before the World was Christ was from all Eternity the glorious God this Glory of his Godhead by his humiliation was not diminished and lessened but obscured and hidden and therefore prayeth that he may be received by the Father and openly declared to the World to be the Son of God Or that the Glory of his Godhead might shine forth in the person of Christ God-man Well then before any creature was Christ had a divine Glory how had it he The enemies of this Truth say by decree or designation not by possession but that cannot be he that is not hath nothing if he had not a divine being how could he have divine Glory before the World None can say Paul was an Apostle of Christ before the World was because he was appointed or designed to this work yea none can say he had Faith and brotherly love when he was yet an unbeliever and persecutor yet it pleased God to separate him from his Mothers Womb and predestinated him to have these things Again then all true believers may thus pray to God glorifie me with c. for they are thereunto appointed but this is absurd Besides if he had it then how could he want it now The decree is the same it remaineth then that Christ had a being and substance in the Godhead before any of the Creatures were made VSE 1. This serveth for the confutation of those Atheists that say Christ took upon him the appellation of a God to make his Doctrine more authentick and effectual they confess the morals of Christianity are most excellent for the establishment of Piety and Honesty but mens inclination carrying them more powerfully to vice then vertue this doctrine would not be received with any reverence if it came recommended to them by a mere man and therefore Christ assumed the glorious appellation of the Son of God or pretended to be God A blasphemy very derogatory both to the honour of Christ and Christianity and quite contrary to the drift of the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament The Messiah promised in the Old Testament was to be God all the Prophets agree in that Jesus Christ proved himself to be God both by his Word and Works and the Apostles still assert it Could they that lived in so many several Ages as the Prophets and Apostles did lay their heads together and have intelligence one with another to convey this Imposture to the World Surely if Christ be the Messiah promised in the Old Testament as clearly he is then he is God for that describeth him to be such and if Christ usurped this honour how did God so highly favour him with such exâ—raordinary Graces by iâ—spiring him with the knowledge of the best Religion in the World to authorise him with miracles to raise him from the dead And must this Religion that condemneth all frauds and doing evil that good may come of it be supported by a lye or cannot God govern the World without countenancing such a deceit or is it possible that such Holy persons as our Lord Jesus and his Apostles were could be guilty of such an Imposture Did they do this by command of God No surely for God which is the God of Truth would not command them to teach a lye or to make use of one He hath power enough to cause the Truth to be embraced by some other means and a greater injury cannot be done him then to go about to gratifie him with what he hateth much less would God have commanded a mere man to call himself his Eternal Son and God equal to him which is a blasphemy and sacriledge as well as a lye the greatest of the kind for mortal man to take upon himself to be the eternal God If it were not by his express commandment would he suffer such an attempt to go unpunished would he witness from Heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased would he have raised him from the dead and so ingaged the World to believe in him and adore him Acts 17.31 2. If Christ were before all things let us prefer him above all things This consideration is of great use to draw off our hearts from all created things and to lessen our respects to wordly vanities that they may be more earnestly fixed on what is eternal and glorious He that was before the world was will be when the world shall be no more Christ is from Everlasting to Everlasting Psal. 90.2 to him should we look after him should we seek he is first and last the beginning and ending It is for an Everlasting blessedness for the injoyment of an eternal God that our souls were made He that was from the beginning will be when all things shall have an end it is he that should take up our minds and thoughts How can we have room for so many thoughts about fading glories when we have an Eternal God and Christ to think of What light can we see in a Candle when the Sun shineth in his full strength All things in the World serve onely for a season and then wither and that season is but a short one You glory in your Riches and preeminence now but how long will you do so To day that House and Lands is thine but thou canst not say it will be thine tomorrow but a believer can say my God my Christ is mine to day and will be mine to all eternity Death taketh all from us honours and riches and strength and life but it cannot take God and Christ from us they are ours and everlastingly ours Secondly We come now to the second point his sustaining all things by his Almighty power and by â—im all things consist Doct. II. That as Christ made all things so he doth sustain them in being and working Let me explain this how the creatures are preserved by Christ. 1. This is to be understood not only meritoriously as a moral cause but efficiently as a natural cause of the creatures sustentation for the Apostle
therefore we should often revive the considerations that may represent his worth and excellency Fourthly That we may place all hope of Salvation in him and may make use of him to the ends which he came to accomplish We can hardly consider the work of Redemption but some base thoughts arise in our minds nor entertain this mistery with due respects to the truth and greatness and admirableness of it whithout raising our thoughts to the consideration of the dignity of the person who is to accomplish it Heb. 3.1 Therefore brethren consider the Lord Iesus the great High Priest and Apostle of our profession Fifthly That we may the better understand two things 1. The Humiliation of the Son of God 2. The way how we may recover the lost Image of God 1. The humiliation of the Son of God certainly he that came to Redeem us was the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image of this Person now how did he humble himself was he not still the Image of God in our nature yes but the divine glory and Majesty was hidden under the vail of our flesh little of it did appear and that only to those who narrowly did observe him the brightness of his glory did not conspicuously shine forth was this all no his dignity was lessened there was capitis diminutio the lessening of a mans estate or condition As of a man degraded from the Senatorian Order to the Degree of Knight thence to the Plebian Thus was the Eternal Son of God lessened less then God as Mediator Iohn 14.28 My Father is greater then I. As God incarnate he took an office designed to him by God and obeyed him in all things They were one in essence Iohn 10.30 yet with respect to his Office to save Souls he was lessened nay not only less than God but lesser than the Angels Heb. 2.7 He was made a little lower then the Angels Not born so but made so Man is inferiour to an Angel as a Man in the rank and order of beings the Angels dye not therefore his Incarnation and liableness to death is a great lessening of his dignity so not in respect of Office only but humane nature assumed 2. It sheweth us how the Image of God may be recovered If we be changed into the likeness of Christ for he is the Image of God his merit should not onely be precious to us but his example it is a great advantage not only to have a rule but an example because man is so prone to imitate that an example in our nature maketh it the more operative his execuse is ready at hand we are Flesh and Blood what would you have us do therefore Christ came incarnate to be an example of Holiness he had the interests of Flesh and Blood to mind as well as we and so would shew that a holy Life is possible to those that are renewed by his Grace he obeyed God in our nature therefore in the same nature we may obey please and glorifie God though still in a self-denying manner the foundation of it is layed in the new birth the Spirit that formed Christ out of the substance of the virgin the same Spirit is ready to form Christ in you he maketh new creatures so that there is not onely Christs example but Christs power Use 1. then let the excellency and dignity of Christs Person be more upon your minds and hearts think often of those two notions in the Text that he is the Image of the invisible God that therein you may be like him You cannot be the Image of God so as he was but you must be in your measure the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily but you must be partakers of the divine nature He shewed himself to be the Son of God by his works when the Jews said he blasphemed when he said he was the Son of God Ioh. 10.27 If I do not the works of my Father believe me not he allowed them to doubt of them if he did not those works which were proper to one sent from God certainly this is the glory of man to be the Image of God there is no greater perfection then to live in the nearest resemblance to his Creator Christ is more excellent because he hath more of the Image of God upon him 2. Consider again that he is Lord of the whole creation and therefore calleâ— the first-born of every creature Well thâ—n we should he subject to him and with greater diligence apply our selves to the obedience of his Holy Laws and use the means appointed by him to obtain the blessedness offered to us There is in us a natural sentiment of the authority of God and we have a dread upon our hearts if we do what he hath forbidden but we have not so deep a sense of the authority of Christ and play fast and loose with Religion as fancy and humour and interest lead us Now from this argument you see we should honour the Son as we honour the Father and be as tender of his Institutions as we are of the Commandements evident by natural light for he is not onely the messenger of God but his express Image and the first-born of every creature Not to believe him and obey him and love him is to sin not only against our duty but our remedy and the Law of our recovery SERMON III. COL 1. 16. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him THE Apostle had told us in the former Verse that Jesus Christ is the first-born of every Creature The Arrians thence concluded that he himself was created out of nothing in order of time before the World But it is not the first created of any creature but the first-born which noteth a precedency not only in point of Antiquity but Dignity and is as much as to say Lord of every creature For the first-born was the Lord of the rest and the Title may be given either Relatively or comparatively 1. Relatively when the rest are of the same stock or have the relation of Brethren to him that hath the preheminence So it is given to Christ with respect to new Creatures Rom. 8.29 That he might be the first-born among many brethren 2. Comparatively onely When several persons or things be compared though there be no relation between them So David is called the first-born of the Kings of the earth Psal. 89.27 That is superior in Dignity and Honour So here it is taken not relatively for so Christ is primogenitus the first-born that he is also unigenitus the onely begotten none went before or come after him that are so begotten of God What he asserteth in that verse he now proveth by the creation of all things in this 16th verse and the conservation of all things verse 17. We are now
Scriptures Isa. 4.2 Christ is prophesied of In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely When he is called the Branch of the Lord his Godhead is signified when he is called the fruit of the earth his Manhood So again Isâ— 7.14 A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and thou shalt call his name Immâ—â—uel That is to say God with us which can agree to none but to hiâ— that is God and Man So that this Mystery of God Incarnate was not hid from the Church of the Old Testament for his very Name did import God with us or God in our Nature reconciling us to himself So Isa. 9.6 To us a child is born to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called The wonderful Counseller the mighty God the everlasting father the prince of peace Who can interpret these speeches and Aâ—â—ributes but of one who is God-Man How could he else be a child and yet the Everlasting Father born of a Virgin and yet the Mighty God So Isa. 11.1 with the 4th Verse A rod out of the Sâ—em of Iesse and a branch out of his roots Therefore Man And verse 4. He shall smiâ—e the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall be slay the wicked Therefore God So Isa. 53.8 He shall be taken from prison and judgement therefore Man yet who shall declare his generation therefore God So Ier. 23.5 6. A branch raised unto David from his deaâ— stock therefore Man yet the Lord or Iehovah our righteousness therefore God Shall I urge that speech whereby Jesus did silence divers of the Learned Pharisees Psal. 110.1 The Lord said to my Lord sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool He was born in the mean Estate of humane Flesh and King Davids seed and yet Davids Lord which he could not be if he were not God himself the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Well then he was Davids Son as Man but Davids Lord as he was God And so do many of the Ancient Iewish Rabbins interpret this place So again Micah 5.2 Thou Bethlehem Sphratah Though thou â—e little among the thousands of Iudah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting He is born in Bethlehem yet his goings forth are from everlasting He came out of Bethlehem and therefore Man his goings forth are from everlasting and therefore God So Zech. 12.10 I will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced He is God because he giveth the spirit of grace Man because he is pierced or crucified So Zech. 13.7 Against the man my fellow A man he was but Gods companion his only begotten son and co-essential with himself and so God Secondly Come we now to the New Testament in which this mystery is more plainly and fully demonstrated There often the son of Man is plainly asserted to be also the Son of God Thomas calleth him his Lord his God Ioh. 20.28 We are told that the word was made flesh Ioh. 1.14 That God purchased the Church with his own blood Acts 20.28 which can be understood of no other but Christ by whose blood we are redeemed and who being Incarnate hath blood to shed for us But God as a pure Spirit hath not flesh and blood and bones as we have So Rom. 1.3 4. Iesus Christ was made of the seed of David according to the flesh but declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness c. In respect of his Divine subsistence he was begotten not made in regard of his humane Nature made not begotten True Man as David was and True God as the Spirit and Divine Nature is Again Rom. 9.5 Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Than which nothing can be said more express as to that nature which is most apt to be questioned for surely he that is God over all cannot be said to be a mere Creature The Jews confessed him to be Man and one of their blood and Paul asserteth him to be God over all They accounted him to be accursed and Paul asserteth him to be blessed for ever They thought him inferiour to the Patriarchs of whom he descended and Paul over all so that no word is used in vain and when he saith according to the flesh he insinuateth another Nature in him to be considered by us The next place is 1 Cor. 2.8 They Crucified the Lord of Glory He was Crucified there his humane nature is acknowledged but in respect of the Divine nature he is called the Lord of Glory as in the 24th Psalm The Lord or King of Glory is Iehovah Sabaoth The Lord of Hosts Go we farther Phil. 2.6 7. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with Gon but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of men By the form of God is meant not only the divine Majesty and Glory but also the divine essence it self for without it there can be no true divine Majesty and Glory Now this he kept hidden under his humane nature letting onely some small Rayes sometimes to shine forth in his Miracles but that which was most sensible and conspicuous in him was a true humane Nature in a low and contemptible estate Again 1 Tim. 3.16 Great is the Mystery of Godliness God manifested in our Flesh. That is the Eternal Son of God became Man and assumed the humane nature into the unity of his person Once more 1 Pet. 3.18 He was put to death in the flesh but quickned in the spirit That is dyed according to his humane nature but by his divine nature raised from the Dead 't is not meant of his soul quickned signifies not one remaining alive but made alive that power belongeth to God Secondly By Types Those that come to hand are these 1. Melchisedec Gen. 14.18 Melchisedec King of Salem brought forth bread and wine to Abraham Which Type is interpreted by the Apostle Heb. 7.2 3. First being by interpretation King of Righteousness and after that also King of peace Without Father and without Mother having neither beginning of dayes nor end of Life but made like unto the Son of God abideth a priest continually What Melchisedec was is needless to dispute The Apostle considereth him only as he is represented in the story of Moses who maketh no mention of his Father or Mother Birth or Death Certainly he was a very Man but as he standeth in Scripture there is no mention of Father or Mother beginning or end what he was or of whom