great honour It appears that God hath a design to honour Christ by the authority that he hath endowed him with and that is his own authority yea all his own authority as Christ himself acknowledges Mat. 28.18 All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth not some but all power The father judgeth no man saith our Saviour but he committed all Judgment to the Son John 5.22 He hath done in this respect as great men sometimes use to do if they have any title office or place of honour they are contented to convey it over to their eldest Son that they may credit him and raise him to esteem and reputation in his Country and it delighteth them as much to have him honoured as themselves Just so hath God the Father done by Jesus Christ The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son He will be Iudge no longer by immediate execution but he hath made his Son the Judge of all the world And why so that he may compass the design of his for glorifying of his Son Christ That all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father as it is added in the next verse And as he hath in the sense that we have said resigned up his judiciary power abroad to Iesus Christ so the private Government of his family at home He hath made his eldest Son the Lord of all he hath set him over his house Heb. 3.6 The Son of God hath got a match though a poor one I confess and now the Father gives up the house-keeping wholly to him And hence saith the Apostle Paul Eph. 3.14 15. I bow my knees unto the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named The whole family of heaven and earth is named from Christ whether the upper family of heaven or the lower family on earth whether the Church triumphant or the Church militant it is Christs family and Christs Church and Christs houshold God you see hath two houses and yet he doth not govern one himself and leave the other to his Son he commits the government of both to Jesus Christ that he may be all in all that he may be the more honoured It appears that God hath a design to glorifie his Son Christ by the great offices of dignity and trust and honour which he hath advanced and raised him to For he hath crowned him with glory and honour Three offices there are which have been alwayes looked upon as full of honour The office of a King of a Priest and of a Prophet Of a King in the Commonwealth and of a Ptiest and Prophet in the Church And all of them concurr in Jesus Christ he is annointed to them altogether And this is singular to Jesus Christ it is peculiar to himself alone no other man was ever thus advanced besides himself Some other men have had one of these offices or two at most but never any man had all three but Christ only So that he is in this respect transcendently advanced you see and God hath glorified him beyond measure and beyond pattern And that you may the better see the honour that is done to Iesus Christ in that he hath these three great Offices altogether in his hands I shall represent it to you in a few Particulars First By this means whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by him only The Father that he may advance and honour Christ the more will have the Church beholding unto none but him for any good that she enjoys or looks for He must purchase peace and he must purchase grace for her the grace of righteousness and the grace of holiness he must satisfie he must sanctifie he must obtain her absolution and he must obtain her sanctification and he must obtain her glorification he must renew her right in outward things which she forfeited in Adam And he must do all this alone there must be none besides him none with him No he must tread the wine-press of his Fathers wrath alone By once offering of himself he must perfect for ever them that are sanctified The Lord hath given us no other King to subdue our enemies and to get peace for us No other Priest to satisfie his wrath and to obtain Grace for us No other Mediator between God and man either of Redemption or Intercession either of Redemption to purchase grace or of Intercession to sue out that which he hath purchased All lies on Jesus Christ you see that he may be all in all that all the glory may redound to him As whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by him only so it is revealed by him only As he and he alone must get it so he and he alone must tell us of it It is an honour to be sent with good news and God hath done his Son this honour The Gospel as you know is glad tydings of great Joy and Christ is he that makes it known to men He brings it forth out of the bosome of the Father And therefore it is called the word of Christ Not only because Jesus Christ is the author and the Subject matter of it but the revealer of it too God in these latter daies hath spoken to us by his Son saith the Apostle speaking of the revelation of the Gospel Heb. 1.2 He had good news to tell the world and he sent his Son with it He sent Moses with the Law which was a Message full of terrour Moses was good enough for that The Gospel was a Message full of sweetness and full of Comfort and Christ must have the honour to reveal that to the world Indeed my brethren whatsoever good we know of God or of his favour and good will towards us or of the work of our redemption and reconciliation and attonement all comes out by Jesus Christ Christ is the only Prophet of the Church and if we ask the question which the Psalmist mentions Psal 4.6 Who will shew us any good The answer must be None but Iesus Christ can do it or those that are sent out by him with his Message and in his Name As whatsoever good is purchased for the Church is procured by Christ only and revealed by Christ only so it is dispensed by Christ only God doth not give it out immediately himself but he communicates it to us in and by and through Christ as the Expression of the Scripture is The grace of God is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord Titus 3.6 As all comes by his means so all goes through his hands And therefore he is said to have received gifts for men Isa 68.18 God doth not give his gifts directly and immediately to men himself but Jesus Christ receieth their endowments for them of the Father that of his fulness they may all receive He is the Treasurer of his Fathers grace that every one may come to him
themselves with others more loose and vitious then themselves they rejoyce in another and not in themselves they think themselves are very good because others are more evil And even as Jerusalem justified Sodom Ezek. 16.5 so drunkards and adulterers justifie them and are occasion of their joy Others there are who finding that they have obtained a good opinion and repute with others and that they are approved by men of judgement and of conscience too are comforted in this exceedingly and here is the foundation of their Joy Oh such a godly man or such a Minister approves of them and is familiar to them and hence it comes to pass that when they once begin to lose the good opinion and conceit of men they are like persons stracken in the head their joy is blasted and their comfort gone because the ground and matter of it was without and not within O then let us endeavour my Beloved to have our comfort in our selves and if it have a spring and fountain in the heart it will not fail there will be a sufficient supply of joy and comfort there though men neglect us and cast away their good opinion of us Whereas if it proceed from that which is without us it will be like a standing Pool that is not nourished with the Spring but with a sodain fall of rain assoon as heat of Summer comes away it dryeth and is seen no more And now my Brethren having proved your joy and found it to be right the joy of Christ which he would have to be fulfilled in you preserve it as your lives and see that neither sin nor Satan steal away this jewel from you and to this end you must especially beware of sinning against Conscience which is the subject and the seat of joy As long as you do well to Conscience Conscience will say well to you but if you wound your Conscience with the guilt of sin Conscience will wound you with the horror and the sting of sin and if by sinning against light you waste your Conscience in regard of grace Conscience will waste you in regard of peace and comfort yea it may set you on the rack of such affrightments as no tongue is sufficient to express What was the cause that David cryed so often in his bones and in his heart that they were broken that it was melted in the midst of his bowels but because he sinned so grosly against the light of his own understanding and the convictions of his own conscience But if in sincerity you have your conversation in the world this will be your rejoycing And if you walk according to the rule peace shall be upon you as upon the Israel of God This joy of Christ shall be fulfilled in you and your joy shall none take from you And thus we have dispatched the first and second Observation Christ is the Author and Original of the joy of his people Jesus Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy DOCTRINE 3. Their clear and perfect knowledge of his intercession for them is one especial means to fill them full of this joy It is the means our Saviour uses in my text and certainly it is available to this end That he might cheer the hearts of his Disciples and replenish them with comfort he lets them hear him pleading for them to his Father He doth it in their presence and while they are listning to him as being very well assured that this will make their joy abound and overflow the banks And this is the account he gives his Father of the business having been very earnest with him to keep them through his own name as he himself had done as long as he had been among them and urged many things in their behalf These things saith he I speak in the world before I come away to thee I speak them here among these men for whom I am a Suitor to thee in the ears of my Apostles and Disciples who are by and listen to me that being witnesses themselves to my importunate and earnest intercession for them they may by this means have my joy fulfilled in themselves True you will say this was an extraordinary comfort to them for the present but what was this to them after Christ was gone from them Or what it this to us in these times Yes my beloved it was much to them even after Christs departure for the fulfilling of their joy For when he was ascended into heaven they could on all occasions reflect upon the prayer that they heard him make in their behalf while he was conversant upon the earth when they were in any fear or any danger when they were even ready to be overcome with grief and sorrow they could consider with themselves We perfectly remember that while our Master was among us we heard him earnestly beseech his Father for us that he would keep us and that he would Comfort us and that he would Sanctifie us and that he would save us as all those things and many more you shall observe along the Current of his prayer here and we shall surely find the fruit of it in such a time as this is Yea we have reason to believe that what he did for us in a way of intercession while he was here upon the earth he doth the same in heaven to this day and will do till we follow him to that place And why then should we not be cheerfull in the midst of these troubles And this our Saviour cleerly aims at in the words These things speak I in the world while I am yet among them that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves That hearing what I do now while I am here they might a little guess what I am like to do hereafter when I am once sate down at the right hand of my Father to be an everlasting Intercessor or for them and therefore might be full of comfort yea though I am departing from them while they consider with themselves If he do so much now surely when he comes to heaven he will do much more And as for us who live in these times it is a means to fill us full of comfort too Christs speaking these things in the world and so giving us a taste of his future intercession For hence it comes to pass that this prayer of our Saviour being uttered in the ears of his Apostles it is pend accordingly and left upon record in Scripture And so we have a specimen a form a modell of our Saviours intercession for his people which he hath left behind him for us to look upon on all occasions and to gather comfort from What he doth in heaven for us we are not able fully and exactly to discover But this he did on earth before he went he did it openly and there is a memorial of it for ever in the Church And by this we may conjecture what he doth in heaven for his people at this day and
as he calls Christ so so Christ makes him to call all true believers so He will have them to share with him by any means in this honour Is God the God of Christ why Christ makes him the God of all believers Is God the Father of Christ why Christ makes him the Father of believers Is he the God that brings again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ why he is the God too that will surely bring again from the dead all true believers as the Apostle tells us them that sleep in Jesus will he also bring with him 1 Thess 4.14 Me thinks it is as if Christ should have said to him That which thou art to me thou shalt be to them too That which thou dost for me thou shalt do for them too I will have none of this honour unless they partake with me The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in that he sets him at own right hand in the next place to himself Why now the self same glory doth the Son bestow upon the Church in that he sets her at his own right hand in the next place to himself If Jesus Christ be raised so high how high is the Church raised If Jesus Christ be so transcendently exalted in this that he is set in the next place to God how is the Church exalted then that she is set in the next place to Christ Look upon Christ and you shall see that God hath highly exalted him and set him at his own right hand Ephes 1.21 and then look upon the Church and you shall see that Christ hath highly exalted her and set her at his own right hand Psal 45.9 On thy right hand did stand the Queen i. the Church Now my beloved is the place of Christ high How high then is the Churches place Is Christ at the right hand of God She is at the right hand of Christ Is Christ in the next place to God She is in the next place to Christ Is there none above Christ but God None is above the Church but Christ and God Is he exalted far above all principality and powers might and dominion not only in this world but in that which is to come not only above all principalities and powers on earth but even above all principalities and powers in heaven too above the very Angels yea the highest orders of them She is exalted far above them As Christ comes between them and God so she comes between them and Christ she is neerer Christ in union nature and dignity The Angels are but Ministers and servants whiles the Saints the members of the Church are heirs Yea they are Ministers to these heirs They are all the best of them ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Heb. 1. ult So that no marvail though our Saviour tells his Father here The glory which thou gavest me I have given them The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in the vast authority and power which he hath vested him withall Why now the same power he dispenseth to the Church to be executed by her Officers And therefore having said All power is given to me both in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28.18 he adds immediately to his Apostles in the very next verse Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them q. d. the power which is given me I give you in some measure As God the Father hath given me all power so I give you some power so much as you are capable of And as the government is put upon my shoulders by the Father as the Prophet speaks Isa 9.6 so I put over some part of this Government to you my under-Officers whom I depute to manage and negotiate the affairs of my Kingdom As God the Father hath set me over his house so I set you to be my Stewards under me to whom I give the Keyes of this house As God the Father hath given me the King-key of Davids Princedom which I keep my self so that I shut and no man openeth I open and no man shutts so I give you the Ministerial Keyes which I intrust with you who are the Stewards and the guides of my houshold To whom I give a special power to open and to shut the doors of my house to let in and put out And though it be my own prerogative and a chief flower of that Imperial Crown which God the Father hath been pleased to set upon my head to seal pardons and to forgive sins viz. to do it in the Court of heaven and Conscience yet I commit to you my Viceroyes and my under-Officers a Ministerial power both to remit and to retain sins in the outward Court that is the face and presence of the Church in regard of declaration Verily I say unto you whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven c. Mat. 18.18 19. And in another place whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins you retain they are retained And in a word as God the Father hath committed all judgement unto me so I commit some judgement to you And hence it is my brethren that the Church assisted by her Officers iudgeth them that are within although she judge not them that are without as Paul speaks 1 Cor. 5.22 over whom no power is given her by the Lord Christ But those that are within she judgeth and condemneth too if there be cause and casts them out and gives them over to the Executioner There take them Satan disquiet them afflict them for the destruction of the flesh the carnal part that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in the great offices of dignity and trust and honour which he hath advanced him to Why now the self same glory hath the Son communicated to believers in that he hath advanced them to the self same Offices to which he is himself advanced by the Father As God the Father hath made Jesus Christ a King a Priest and a Prophet to himself so Christ doth make all true believers Kings and Priests to God his Father for both those Offices are mentioned Apoc. 1.6 He makes them to become a royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 A Priesthood and a royal Priesthood And as he makes them Kings and Priests so he makes them Prophets too to teach their families and make known his wayes to them to teach their neighbours and acquaintance and to admonish one another within the compass of their own Spheres Col. 3.16 In which respect it is the Counsel of the Apostle in the cited place Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in you the people of Colosse not in the learned Doctors only but in the private members of the Church So that you see Christ hath advanced all true believers with him to all the offices to which he is advanced by the Father and so hath made
other and now they are delivered and believe lyes It is a lie and a delusion but it is a strong delusion so that you cannot stir them from it Do what you can and bring what arguments you will it is in vain the deceit is strong upon them And some are also given up to vile affections and to those burning lusts which the Apostle speaks of in the cited places This is the formidable judgement of the Lord on those who know God and do not walk according to their knowledge And therefore as we own the true God let us serve and let us worship him as such a one let us live and act for him let us be taken up with him let us make this our work to please him let us in every thing so carry and demean our selves as they should do who have the Lord for their God JOHN 17.3 Thee the only true God IS it so that God the Father Son c. is the only true God Then Use 3 let us have no other God but him only Let us be able confidently to challenge any man in the words of holy David Whom have we in heaven but him and whom have we in earth but him Is there any in the world whom we set up to our selves as a God but him only Let us be alwaies mindfull of the first and great Commandment of the Law of God which is indeed the very basis and foundation of the rest Thou shalt have no other God before me Thou shalt have a God and thou shalt have me for thy God and thou shalt have none but me for thy God And that which is annexed is very much to be observed If thou hast any God besides me it will be before me If we could go behind his back and take another god there were the less iniquity and there were the more safety it were not such a hainous thing it were not such a dangerous thing But to go and take another god before his face as if a wife should go and take another Lover and commit uncleanness with him even before her husbands face what an horrid impudence what an unsufferable provocation What saith the Lord as once Ahasuerus in the case of Haman will he commit adultery before my face for so idolatry is spiritual adultery will he do it in my presence and while I am looking on Ah desperate wretch nay then I see there is no hope of him take him away and carry him to execution And therefore let us be extreamly cautious that we have no other God but him alone who is the only true God But you will ask me now perhaps what I intend when I exhort you to have no other God but him only Truly my Brethren it involveth many things but I shall draw them to a few heads When I perswade you to have the Lord and none but him for your God my meaning is that you should serve him and none but him that you should fear him and none but him that you should trust in him and none but him Then since he is the only true God serve him and none but him Serve the Lord so as to serve no other with him So is his own express injunction Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Matth. 4.10 And here to be a little more distinct serve the Lord and not Idols serve the Lord and not Times serve the Lord and not Lusts First serve the Lord and not Idols they are all false gods he is the only true God and therefore see you serve him and not them It is a sin the Scripture very much disswades from and makes the worst of all corruptions and most abominable to the Lord. And therefore this is often called the sin in Scripture by way of eminence above the rest because it is a sin of the most infamous and odious rank And Jeroboams drawing Israel to the worship of the calves is frequently set forth by this expression he made Israel to sin He made them to commit the sinning sin the sin which is abundantly and out of measure sinfull And God himself disswading from it speaketh of it as that on which his very heart did rise which he abhorred to name on which he could not think without extremity of detestation O do not that abominable thing which I hate Jer. 44.4 And otherwise indeed it cannot be For it is the choosing of another god that is the Holy Ghosts expression of it saith he they chose new gods Judges 5.8 by which they made it to appear that they were weary of the old as if they had discovered some iniquity in God as he expostulateth with the Jews upon the like occasion Jer. 2.5 as if the Lord were found upon experience to be such a god or were not worth the keeping any longer This is a thing from which the very heathen are abhorrent and averse the Nations will not change their gods Jer. 2.11 though they be but false gods and consequently no gods as it is added there in that place Oh what an odious thing is this that the Church should change hers who hath the true and everlasting Lord of heaven and earth for her God They will not change their false gods for the true and shall we change the true God for a false Oh what an horrible indignity is this what an unsufferable provocation And therefore God is exceedingly incensed at this iniquity it is a sin that kindles anger great anger yea the heat of great anger Deut. 24.44 What means the heat of this great anger And in the following verses it is shewed to be because they went and served other gods Indeed Idolatry stirs up the jealousie of God and therefore this is added as the reason of the prohibition of it because he is a jealous God And even as jealousie in man is as the wise man notes the rage of man so jealousie in God my Brethren is the rage of God To see his Wife the Church forsake him and run a whoring after Idols is such a thing as blows and kindles up the flames of his hottest indignation In what a fearfull rage was God on this occasion behold and tremble at it Exod. 32.9 when Moses hung about him and besought him for the people he flung him off Let me alone saith God that so my anger may wax hot against them and that I may consume them in a moment And if you search the Scripture you shall find that God hath executed and inflicted the heaviest of his plagues and judgements on those that have been guilty of this sin Look on the monuments of his severest and most direfull vengeance and you shall find that as the wrath of God hath been revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men so especially against this hideous sin And as a man transported with a jealous spirit is apt to take unmercifull revenge in which respect the wise man saith He will not spare in the
will do to the worlds end For certainly he is not less regardfull of them now in Heaven which is the most proper place of acting the second part of his Mediatorship which consists in intercession then he was upon the earth So that whatever our Condition be how sad or sorrowfull soever if we would know our Saviours intercession what it is for us in heaven we may survey this counterpane thereof on earth which is recorded for this very end That we may have an exemplar and a pattern of it continually lying by us in the Scripture to have recourse unto and to fetch overflowing comforts from in all cases Now to cleer this a little further to you I shall proceed to shew you in a few particulars that the perfect knowledge of our Saviours intercession is one especial means to fill his people full of holy joy It is a means to comfort them exceedingly in reference to all the oppositions of their enemies whether without them or within them Do you not think it was a comfort to the Host of Israel when they had got a Champion to stand up for them against the daring insolencies of Goliah who had so long defied the armies of the living God It made them even shout for joy And so it is a comfort to the poor soul when he hath been long contending with the world which sets upon him mightily with all its blandishments and its allurements on the one side and with its threats and persecutions on the other side and with the Devil who furiously assaults him with his fiery darts and his violent temptations and with his own corruptions and his lusts that warr against the soul as the Apostle speaks And when he is about to faint and sink away he considers with himself Why though I have all these against me yet I have Jesus Christ for me and he is pleading-hard on my behalf that I may not have the worst in these Encounters but that I may be more then a Conqueror I seem to hear him saying to me These enemies of thine have desired to winnow thee and to destroy thee but I have prayed for thee that thy faith may not fail Thy courage and thy strength may fail a little but thy faith shall never fail When Christ was here upon the earth he earnestly besought his Father for me that he would keep me through his own name and what he did on earth I know he doth in heaven much more and he cannot be denyed So that I am as safe as the Almighty power of God can make me Oh what a matchless comfort and encouragement is this The poor perplexed soul but now was tossing on the boystrous waters of violent temptations and of raging passions and of furious lusts and even ready to be cast away But now as David speaks the soul is glad because it is at rest and it is brought to the desired haven Ah my beloved when a man who is mightily assaulted by corruptions and temptations and persecutions and afflictions and when the stones and buffets are about his soul can look up as Stephen did Acts 7.56 and see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God this cannot choose but fill him full of comfort Nay sayes the soul If thou art there pleading for me to the Father and standing up in my defence I know it is impossible that I should perish or miscarry The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to all the accusations that are laid against us at the barr of Gods justice The Law comes in with a black bill against us layes very heavy things to our charge and taxes us with many grievous violations of it which we are no way able to deny Sathan for his part is the grand accuser of the brethren and he objecteth heynous things against us and layes it on with full load And then our consciences perhaps accuse us as fast as any of the other two They are not able to gainsay the allegations either of Sathan or the Law but are forced to acknowledge that all the curses that are written in the Book of God are very justly due to us What shall we do or how shall we keep up our hearts from sinking into utter desperation in such a case as this is As for our parts we have nothing to alledge in or of or from our selves why the sentence of the Law should not be pronounced against us But this is that which fills us full of Comfort that Jesus Christ hath enough to say for us and that he sits in heaven for this very end to make intercession for us when any thing comes in against us there to appear in our behalf and to plead our cause If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father saith the Apostle 1 John 2.2 and he is the propitiation for our sins We have such an Advocate as is a propitiation So that when Sathan and when sin accuses and makes a dreadfull noise against us he can wipe all off again with one word Saith he This person hath offended I confess but what of that There is a full propitiation made it is well known that I have done it and what hath any one to say to this man If he have out-sinned my satisfaction even let him be condemned But if not let him be acquitted or what do I sit here for How can this choose but ravish and transport the soul into an Extasie of joy and make it to triumph with the Apostle Rom. 8.33 Who can lay anything to my charge who is he that condemneth Let me but see the man that durst to do it So that no marvail though our Saviour Christ be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the forecited place which signifieth both a Comforter and Advocate To shew that Jesus Christ doth comfort us exceedingly by undertaking for us as an Advocate and pleading for us with the Father The knowledge of our Saviours Intercession for his people is a means to comfort them in reference to the many weaknesses and imperfections of our own prayers Oh how are we dejected and cast down sometimes when we are dull and flat and cold and speechless in our addresses to the Majesty of God When we are so deserted and our hearts are so shut up that as Hezekiah once we cannot speak in prayer but only chatter like a Swallow Isa 38.14 when we know not what to say nor what to plead we are so barren when we are destitute of matter and expression this puts us many times into a very sad condition and overwhelms our hearts with sorrow As David once complained in such a case Psal 77.3 I remembred God saith he I was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed But now my brethren is it not a matter of exceeding comfort to consider that we have an Intercessor to help us out with all this That he puts in
especially in two things to name no more at this time 1. You must give them honour as those that come from Jesus Christ Yea double honour the honour of reverence and the honour of maintenance The Messengers and the Embassadors of Jesus Christ must be received and entertained with all respects by you Or if they be not he esteemeth their dishonour as his own He that despiseth you despiseth me saith Christ And verily if this be true he was never more despised then in these dayes Oh my beloved what floods of ignominy and contempt and scorn are poured out upon the Messengers of Jesus Christ those that are most faithfull to him so that abundance of them are hardly able to bear up against the venome that men spit upon them 2. You must give them audience as those that come from Jesus Christ considering that the message they deliver is Jesus Christs and not their own and therefore when at any time you are advised by them to come in and stoop to Christ Oh think that Christ himself doth counsell you and call upon you And when they offer peace and mercy and atonement and beseech you to accept it Oh think that Christ himself beseecheth and entreats you by them and therefore do not baffle him and slight him and put him off with a denial for if you do it is a most unsufferable provocation O think as often as you hear them speaking to you that you are hearing Christ himself from heaven and then consider how you dare to slight them For you despise not men but Christ as the Apostle speaks in this case 1 Thes 4.8 Is it so that the Apostles Ministers c. this then should teach you in Vse 6 the last place to bear with all their earnestness and plainess and not to stomack them and storm against them when they are free or sharp with you Considering that they are but servants and cannot but deliver the message of their Master it s that to which their place and calling and the trust which Christ hath put into their hands doth bind them which trust they must discharge and not betray be the hazard what it will and therefore be prevailed withall to take all in good part and not to think them injurious to you because they dare not to be unfaithfull to Christ JOHN 17.18 Even so have I also sent them into the world DOCTRINE 2. Christ doth not send his Ministers particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation but their Commission leaves them free to all the world YOU see he doth not tell his Father I have sent them into Jewry only or into any other Region of the earth but I have sent them into the world That is the local object of their Mission the world at large without restraint or limitation all the world Indeed our Saviour once professed of himself I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Mat. 15.24 And so accordingly when first he sent forth his Apostles his express injunction was Go not into the way of the Gentiles but go ye rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel Mat. 10.5 At his ascention he appointed them to be his witnesses first in Judaa and Jerusalem Acts 1.8 This course and method the Apostles very carefully observed as you may see Acts 13 46. It was necessary say Paul and Barnabas unto the Jews that the word of God the Gospel should first of all be preached unto you But if you mark it well my brethren the final and the last Commission of our Saviour was Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature Mark 16.15 Go ye and teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 But you will say that this was a Commission proper to Apostles and doth not any whit concern succeeding ordinary Ministers and Pastors in the Church who are restrained to special places and fixed in special Congregations I grant indeed that many ordinary Ministers are restrained and fixed so but all are not so restrained neither are any so restrained but that they may in case remove to other places and to other Countreyes And in that any are restrained and fixed it is not meerly as they are Ministers of Christ but as they are the chosen Officers and Pastors of such a Congregation or of such a people Their Commission as from Christ doth not fix them anywhere but leaves them free as I have said to exercise their Ministry wheresoever they are called in all the world Indeed the Apostle tells us that God hath set some in the Church some Ministers of all sorts as you may see 1 Cor. 12.28 He hath placed and fixed them there But that is out of all dispute the universal Church which is not limited to any Countrey but is to be extended over all the world For if you mark it the Apostle saith not God hath set some in the Churches in the plural number but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Church and that in such a latitude as that it comprehendeth in it all gifts all members all officers of all sorts which cannot be intended of the Church of Corinth or any single Congregation but only of the universal Church of Christ on earth There Christ hath set his Ministers not his Apostles only but his ordinary teachers and if they be confined to narrower limits it is not properly by his Commission but by a call from men or by some other secundary means And as for that Commission mentioned even now Go ye and teach all Nations though it were given immediately to the Apostles it cannot be restrained to the Apostles being evidently meant in and with them of all the Ministers and Preaches of the Gospel that should succeed them in the Church to the end of the world And therefore it is added presently in the next verse Lo I am with you alwayes to the end of the world They were not to continue for their own parts by many hundred years so long and therefore it must also stretch to those who were to follow them in the office and work of Gospel-preaching till it be published universally to all Nations which was not done you know by the Apostles it was but begun by them and must be carried on till it be finished by other Ministers of Christ in ever age successively to the end of the world So that the point is clear you see Christ doth not send his Ministers particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation but their Commission leaves them free to all the world And there are two great reasons of the Point viz. because his Kingdom Reason 1 is to be erected and his Church is to be planted over all the world in every Countrey and in every Nation under heaven And therefore Jesus Christ doth send his Ministers to all the world for this purpose for the erecting of the one and the planting of the other 1. His Kingdom is to be erected
them hasten him and fetch him by their prayers that he may say unto them as the Angel did to Daniel Dan. 10.12 From the first day that thou didst set thy self to understand thy words were heard and I am come for thy words And here to quicken you a little I shall present you with a few Considerations 1. The Lord expects you should be very earnest and importunate with him this business He hearkens after supplications and looks that men should ply him hard Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his maker Isa 45.11 Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons command you me q. d. There are great things to come that I am doing for my Church what is the reason that ye are so stil and that I hear of no Petitions from you touching these things You are alwayes plying me for present things but I delight to hear you pleading with me for those glorious things to come which I will surely do for my people Come put in your Petitions and requests concerning them and I will stoop so low to be commanded by your prayers Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me 2. Consider in the second place to quicken you in prayer that this is such a business as is worth your earnestness assure your selves you cannot lay out too much heat and zeal upon it When once the Lord hath gathered in a people to him over all the world the Church shall have perfection of beauty It is a very high expression but you shall see it is applied to Sion Psal 50.2 And it is meant apparently my bretren of the Gospel Sion of the Gospel Church for in the following parcell of the Psalm the Lord rejecteth Jewish worship Indeed the Churches happiness shall be so great in those dayes that it is called heaven very often in the Scripture And so the Saints who are to be the Members of that Church are said to dwell in heaven Apoc. 13.6 Indeed my brethren it shall be heaven upon earth 3. Consider that the bringing in of people over all the world to Christ will be an extraordinary honour to him the enlargement of his Kingdom is the enlargement of his glory It adds exceedingly you know my brethren to the Luster of a Kingdom when it hath many people under it and when the territories of it are amplified and enlarged It s no such glory my beloved to be the King but of a little City or a little Island or of a small and inconsiderable company of men But to be the King of many Nations and of many Kingdoms to have a multitude of people in subjection this is a glorious thing indeed In this respect the Empire of Christ Jesus in the latter times shall be unparalleld when once the Jews come in and bring the fulness of the Gentiles with them And therefore out of love to Jesus Christ and regard to his glory we should be intent upon it 4. Consider that the bringing in of people over all the world to Jesus Christ will be very beneficial and advantagious to our selves Perhaps we do not apprehend it to be so this Countrey is come in already to the profession of the Gospel we are come in already and what need we care so much for other Nations and for other people We are well enough our selves and why should we look after others Yes my beloved we have reason to look after others for till all others that belong to Christ of all the Nations of the world be gathered in we are not in so good a case as we shall be afterwards We are in Christ perhaps and that is well for us indeed but others of his people by election of many other Countreyes are as yet without and we without them cannot be made perfect as the Apostle shews Heb. 11. ult We without them are members in a sence of an imperfect body We without them have but imperfect grace nay though we were in heaven already we could have but imperfect glory Till all that appertain to Christ be gathered in of all Nations so long as there is but a man without there can be no day of judgement and so no full reward no complement of our beatitude And therefore we have reason to help on this glorious work to the utmost of our power because till it be accomplished it cannot be so well with us as it will be afterwards we without them cannot be made perfect Is it so that Iesus Christ sends forth his Ministers to gather Churches and to erect his Kingdom over all the world Here then is matter of rejoycing and thanksgiving for us the once rejected and neglected people of the Gentiles There was a time my brethren when we were set without the verge the reach of mercy When the poor Gentiles liv'd and we too liv'd without God without Christ without a promise without Gospel when Christ did never send to them to invite them to come in and when he had no Scepter but in Jewry no subjects in a manner but among that people Alas my brethren Christ was a King in those dayes to break the Gentiles by his power but he was not a King to rule them by his grace But now my brethren in these Gospel dayes there is no such respect of persons with him as the Apostle shews Acts 10.34 In every Nation and in every people he hath or shall have some to serve him and to be accepted with him And therefore whereas formerly he sent his messengers to none but to V se 3 the people of the Jewish Nation and gave them an express Injunction Goe not into the way of the Gentiles In which respect it was that Peter was scrupulous to preach the Gospel to Cornelius Now he sends forth his Ministers to all the world to all Nations now he enlargeth their Commission Go preach the Gospel to every Creature So that we Gentiles are included in it All Countreys People Callings Nations are alike to Christ in this respect the publication of the Gospel and the tender of Salvation belongeth to them all alike and if they entertain it and embrace it whether they be Jews or Gentiles whether they be Males or Females whether they be bond or free they shall have salvation by him How great a cause have we my brethren that are Gentiles of rejoycing and thanksgiving that Jesus Christ should send to us that the word is come to us as it is to all the world that we should have the Gospel published and revealed to us That we who formerly were utterly shut out from the enjoyment of the means of our salvation should have as full and free a title to them now as the very Iews themselves Nay that we should have the preferment of the Jew in that by the abundant blessing of the Lord upon the means the Churches of the Gentiles which were wholly desolate and barren heretofore should be more
the world There will be some elect continually to be brought in by this means Some to be added to the Church some to be joyned to the body mystical untill the dispensation of the fullness of time which the Apostle mentions Eph. 1.10 when all things shall be gathered into one which are in heaven and which are on earth So that you see my brethren Jesus Christ will be continually making further declarations of his Fathers Name to other Nations and to other persons But how will he make these further declarations Brethren he will not do it in his own person or by his own immediate voyce But he will do it other wayes 1. By his written word and Ministers in all ages for that which they declare in his name and by authority from him Jesus Christ himself declares To this end Christ hath set some in the Church some Ministers of all sorts as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 12.28 And that is out of all dispute in the universal Church which is not limited to any Countrey or to any age That so there might be continually some in all Churches and in all ages to publish what is to be manifested of his Father And hence said Christ to his Apostles Mat. 28.20 Lo I am with you to the end of the world They were not to continue for their own parts by many hundred years so long And therefore it must also stretch to those who were to follow them in the office and the work of Gospel preaching till it be published universally to all Nations in the outward promulgation and in the inward and effectual revelation to all persons to whom it is appointed so to be revealed Which was not done you know by the Apostles it was but begun by them and must be carrried on till it be finished by other Ministers to the end of the world And therefore when our Saviour Christ ascended and consequently could no longer teach his Church immediately in his own person he gave gifts unto men such gifts as he never gave before And he gave some Apostles Prophets Evangelists Some temporary some perpetual for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry How long Till we all come all that are chosen whether Jews or Gentiles in the unity of the Faith unto a perfect man So that the Ministry shall be continued till all be gathered into Christ that shall be gathered and that is till the end of the world 2. Christ makes these further declarations of his Fathers name in every age by his spirit As he declares it outwardly to other persons by his word so he declares it inwardly to other persons by his spirit to his elect in every age to the end of the world And therefore when our Saviour Christ withdrew his corporal and fleshly presence he sent his spirit down to teach his people to lead them into all truth And by that spirit he declares his Fathers name and will do to the worlds end And he assured his Apostles in the place even now alledged Mat. 28.20 when he was even about to leave them as to his fleshly presence with them Lo I am with you alwayes viz. by my spirit to the end of the world That is with you and such as you are with you and your Successors still in every age as long as the world endureth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations and my spirit shall be with you So that what you teach all without he shall teach my elect within powerfully and with success till the last man be gathered in And then shall the end come Is it so that Jesus Christ will be continually making further declarations of his Fathers name to other Nations and to other persons to the end of the world Vse Then let us seriously consider what our dutie is in reference to this work which will be beautifull and glorious beyond all comparison and what Christ expects of us If he will do as he hath said let us examine what we are to do and what duty lyeth upon us relating to it in the mean time And here I shall propound a few things 1. Let us give him so much credit as to believe what he hath spoken And though it seem improbable that Christ should manifest his Fathers name to all Nations That all the Countreyes in the world should come to know him and to be acquainted with him yet seeing Christ hath undertaken it and bound himself by faithfull promise to his Father that as he hath declared his name already so he will be continually making further declarations of it to other persons and to other Nations let us say Amen to it As Mary sometimes when she had staggerd at the difficulty of the Promise at length recovered out of that fit of unbelief and set the seal of faith to it Be it according to thy word 2. Let our hearts be full of hope in reference to this business Since Christ hath undertaken it let us expect the execution of it Our Saviours words my brethren are a promise to the Father what he will do in after times for his people Saith he I will declare thy name to them And therefore as it is our duty to believe the promise so to expect the good things promised To be continually in a waiting frame looking and harkning after the accomplishment of this eximious work of his spying if we can see the day break and the Fathers name shine forth to other Nations who never had a glimsp of it by any Gospel Revelation till in the end from the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same his name be great among the Gentiles according to that Prophesie relating to these latter times and ages of the world Mal. 1.11 3. Let us strive with Christ in prayer that he would make good the word that he hath spoken to the Father before so many witnesses Oh my beloved when ye look on many Heathen Nations that yet are overwhelmed in ignorance and Egyptian darkness that yet know nothing of the Fathers name when you look on many Christians in profession that yet are even in as bad a case as they some of which it may be have relation to your selves go to Jesus Christ and say O Lord thou hast professed that thou wilt declare thy Fathers name to other persons and to other Nations to the end of the world Lord there are such Nations there are such persons who yet are strangers to the Father who know no more of God in Christ then the very beasts that perish O be intreated to declare thy Fathers name to them Lord manifest the Father to them that they may know him to salvation 4. Let our hearts be full of joy while we are looking forward to the accomplishment of this work O let it chear our spirits under all the sinking damps and deep discouragements that are upon them in relation to the Church to think in what a blessed state and glorious
posture she will be when Christ shall have declared his Fathers name to all the Nations under heaven when the Jews shall be converted and when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in Oh my beloved that will be a joyfull time indeed It s true those times my brethren shall be very comfortable and full of gladness many wayes And this is not the least that people shall be brougbt in to the knowledge of the Lord out of all the quarters of the world and that by heaps and multitudes And when they come thâ—â— shall be brought with gladness and rejoycing as the Psalmist speaks Psal 45.15 With gladness and rejoycing shall they be brought And truly they that have the happiness to live in those dayes cannot but be extreamly taken with it when they behold the Fathers name declared to the people of the Jews and to such multitudes of Nations of the Gentiles so that they shall come thronging in so fast as if they were in haste to be acquainted with him and to know more of him Oh they will be an end at this and their hearts will leap within them There was never such a time since the foundation of the world nor shall be till that blessed season come and therefore let our souls rejoyce in the foresight of it though we never live to see it And thus far of our Saviour faithfullness in the delivery of his Fathers Errand in the discovery of his Fathers name to his people He hath been faithfull and will be faithfull in it In the remainder of the verse he shews the end and reason of it why he hath been so and will be so That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them It is a very great question whether believers be intended here to be the objects or the subjects of the love our Saviour mentions Whether the name of God be manifested to them to this end that they may be beloved by him or to this end that they may love him I must acknowledge all Interpreters almost that I have seen make them the objects not the subjects of this love That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them That is say they may reach to them or come to them their meaning is so as to lay hold upon them and embrace them In plainer terms that thou maist love them with the love wherewith thou hast loved me with the very same affection Against this Exposition there are two Exceptions to which I must confess I know not how to give a cleer Solution For First If this were the intention of our Saviour I have declared unto them thy name that thou maist love them he would have said in probability That thy love may be towards them or That thy love may be upon them rather then That thy love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as here we have it may be in them This is a strange expression to say My love is in a man when my intention is I love him or I have set my love upon him But secondly if when our Saviour Saviour saith that thy love may be in them his meaning be That thou maist love them how shall this be the end of his forementioned delaration of his Fathers name as it is cleerly made in this place I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them That thou maist love them with the love wherewith thou hast loved me Doth Christ declare his Fathers name to men his love his mercy to this end that he may love them Is this a proper means to that end for God to be made known to men that God may love them whom he is made known to Brethren God doth not love men because his name is manifested and declared to them but men love him upon that ground and for that reason the declaration of his name to them is a means to make them love him And therefore I must needs crave leave to think the latter Exposition probable by which believers are made the subjects of the love here mentioned I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them as in the subjects of it That the love which is originally in thy self as in the fountain as all other graces are may be communicated and dispensed from thee to them and become inherent in them You know my Brethren we are said to be partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 not by participation of the essence but by communication of the properties of God when the communicable properties of God as holiness and love and wisdom are dispenst to us So here our Saviour prayes his Father that the love wherewith he hath loved Christ may be given down from him into the hearts of his people that they may have that very property in them also And to this end saith Christ I have declared thy name thy mercy goodness love to them that this love may be wrought in them That by this means their hearts may be enflamed and filled with the love of thee That they may have the love of thee in them as the Apostle hath the very Phrase 1 John 3.17 How dwelleth the love of God in him So here that the love wherewith thou hast loved me that very property may be in them by way of derivation from thee and that by the revealing of thy name to them If this be our Saviours meaning as I can see no other for the present the Observations will be two First The love which is in true believers comes from God The love wherewith true believers love is in a sense the same wherewith God himself loves Or the love wherewith God loves is in a sense in true believers Secondly The declaration of the Fathers name to them is the great means that begetteth love in them DOCTRINE The love which is in true Believers comes from God The love wherewith he loveth is in them saith our Saviour in my text viz. by way of dispensation from him Love is originally primitively and essentially in the Lord and from him it is given down into the hearts of true believers This is part of the divine nature which they are made partakers of as the Apostle speaks 2 Pet. 1.4 This is a print of his Image whereby they are conformed to God and made suitable to God when they love as he doth And consequently as he is such are they in this world So that when an enlightned eye looks first on God and sees that he doth love that he is love and then looks on the believer and sees this grace of love communicated and dispensed from God to him he finds that he is such a one as God is That he is like God in this world though he shall be better like him in the world that is to come This is a beam of his light as