be corrupted from the simplicity in Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 3. and so they should fall from the sincerity and stedfastness of their believing And where there is a decay and danger of falling off there can be no expectation or possibility of present growth and going forward in the Believing nor can any thing possibly recover the decayed and backslidden soul to its believing again but the undecieving the soul and so purging out of it those low and unwholesome thoughts and apprehensions it hath Sucked in of Christ to the poysoning of it from its believing on him and how can that be done but by a fresh and more convincing Discovery of the Excellencies and Perfections in Christ or the truth of the Testimony of God concerning him formerly doubted of or rejected by the soul in its departing from him Therefore we find the Lord and his Apostles lifting up of the Son of Man not only to and for the drawing in men to believe on him But also 1. To preserve them in the Faith and so to keep them from withdrawing and falling from him and to hearten them to abide in him and continue and go on in their believing on him Thus our Saviour himself to instruct and strengthen his Disciples to abide in him sets before them his own Excellencies as the true Vine and the Priviledges and Benefits they should derive from him in abiding as Branches in him John 15.1.4.7 8. The Apostle Peter too thought it needful for him to put the Believers in remembrance of the Grace in Christ Jesus As how Through the knowledg of him all things are given us pertaining to Life and Godliness And that they were no cunningly devised Fables that were Preached to them by them concerning the Power and Coming of the Lord Jesus and put them upon taking heed to the Words of the Prophets and commandments of the holy Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus Of whose coming again and faithfulness to perform his promises therein he also minds them that they might not be Led away with the errour of the wicked and so fall from their own stedfastness 2 Pet. 1.3 4.16.18 and 3.1 2 10.14.17 So also the Apostle John to perswade to abide in believing on Christ sets before the Believers what a one Christ is and the great Grace in him and the Testimony of God concerning him 1 John 1.1 2 3.9 and 2 1 2.24 25 26.28 and 5.10 11 12 13. That knowing they have eternal life in him they might believe That is go on to believe on him 2. To perswade to and promote growth in their believing on him that they might be rooted and grounded in him and be established in the Faith abounding therein with thanksgiving and that they might grow in Grace and in the knowledg of Christ See to this purpose Col. 2.2 3 4.6 Ephes 1.17 18 19. and 3.8.17 18 19. and 4.16 2 Pet. 5.6 with 3.18 and many other places 3. To recal and recover such as began to decline and turn aside from him to other things and so as the Apostle Peter wrote the things above mentioned to secure from declining after false Teachers 2 Pet. 2.12 c. So the Apostle Paul understanding that the Galathians through some false Apostles lifting up Circumcision and the Observation of Moses Law as necessary to Salvation thereby obscuring and darkning of the Grace in Christ were greatly indangered insomuch that he was afraid he had bestowed on them labour in vain To preserve and restore them makes it his business to lift up or set forth Christ and the Grace in him so Travelling in birth again till Christ might be formed in them Gal. 1.4.6 7. and 2.16.20 21. and 3. throughout with 4.4 5.11 12.19 and 5.2 3 4. Even as Christ also for recovering the Angels of the Churches of Ephesus Sardis and Laodicea to their first Love Life and Zeal sets himself before them and wishes them to remember whence they were fallen how they had received and heard and counsels to buy of him Gold tried in the fire c. All which implies a need of continuing to lift up to the Son of man to the preserving in promoting of and recovering to the believing on Christ So also the Apostle Paul for recovering some of the Corinthians from their denial of the Resurrection as also to preserve the rest in the belief of that Article and dependance on Christ for the Benefit included in it and promoting all their stedfastness and growth in Piety and good Works minds them of the Gospel fore-preached to them by him concerning Jesus Christ his Death Burial and Resurrection his answering and giving us Victory over the Law Sin and death c. 1 Cor. 15.4.58 CHAP. XIX Two other Conclusions shewing the Fulness and Sufficiency of this means for begetting and preserving in the Faith of Christ and for bringing to the Salvation and Eternal life to which it is appointed WHen two things are so ordered and disposed one for and toward the other as that one be the way and means to the other and that other the end whereto that way and means is directed in case that which the means to the end be some rare singular and costly thing it may be supposed that when such a means is made use of for and towards that end there was some necessity for it either as to the absolute or at least the most excellent attainment thereof as well as also that the end to be attained was of great usefulness excellency or necessity But much more is it requisite in such a case of the excellency and necessity of that which is the end that what is ordered as the means should be apt proper and sufficient for the attainment of that end for otherwise the means would be useless or in vain and therefore I here add That Conclusion 3. The lifting up of the Son of man in the sense aforesaid is a full perfect proper and sufficient way or means for prevailing with men in their giving up or attending to it to believe on him and for preserving and increasing the Faith of those that do believe I put in that parenthesis in their giving up or attending to it because Faith is of hearing where men stop the Ear and close the Eye and harden the Heart left they should see with their Eyes and hear with their Ears and understand with their Heart There is no marvel if under the most excellent means they be not converted and healed or believing follow not Yea and where there is no taking heed to the things heard that they slip not out No marvel if the believing begun be so far from increasing that it come to nothing The aptness fitness and perfection of a means is sufficiently evidenced if being duly applied it produce its effect No man judges a Medicine unfit or defective that cures not the Malady without using or applying it if but set in the Window looked on with the Eye or taken in the
over us and for us his judgments also unsearchable and full of strength youth and beauty Psal 4.6 and 92.5 6. Rom. 11.33 His eyes or inspections like Doves eyes washed with milk undefiled pure and clean chast and single and fitly set nothing wrong or amiss in them he seasonably beholds our needs and wants and discovers either love or anger as is meet for us His cheeks the appearance of his face as beds of spices sweet flowers both lovely to the view and grateful to the tast and smell sweet fragrant precious refreshing the inward senses His lips like Lillies dropping sweet smelling myrrh his words pure and clean precious refreshing the heart and physical and full of purging healing virtue to the Soul and Conscience His Hands as Gold-rings set with the Beryll his powerful acts and works precious rich heavenly and his power without beginning or end His Belly as bright Ivory overlaid with sapphires his inward hearty affections and bowelly compassions manifest pure clean and chast and most preciously rich and inriching as opened and disclosed in the Holy Books or Scriptures of truth His Leggs as Pillars of Marble his goings strong and steddy set upon Sockets of fine gold having their Basis or Foundation in his Deity or also in his precious sufferings wherein he was as Gold tried in the Fire for us and all suitable to his Word and Wisdom more precious then the finest Gold Psal 19.10 and 119.72.127 Prov. 3.14 and 8.10 18 19. His 〈◊〉 like Liâ—â—â—â—â— excellent as the Cedars his stature and the growth of his glory and glorious Kingdom such as is beautiful and fragrant strong durable and such as over-passeth all others and his love and favour marveilous great strong and refreshing His mouth most sweet his gracious and heavenly Doctrin sweeter then the honey and the honey comb Psal 19.10 and 119.72 Yea he is altogether lovely or love and desires worthy to be admired and beloved of us Cant. 5.10 16. and though he hath not always one and the same appearance attributed to him yet it s always excellent and glorious In Dan. 10.6 his Body appeared like the Beryll of a sky-colour to signify his heavenliness and the heavenliness into which he brings his Church his face as the appearance of lightning terrible to his enemies and exceeding bright pure and glorious in its sudden transient manifestations His Eyes as Lamps of Fire his inspections such as discover things in the dark and burn up things combustible and such as are saving to his People Isa 62.1 Yea his eyes behold his eye-lids try the Children of men Psal 11.5 His armes wherewith he works and his feet wherewith he walks like in colour to polished brass strong bright glorious and pure for his work is perfect and all his ways are judgment a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32.4 Or as Nebuchadnezar expressed it His works are truth and his ways judgment and such as walk in pride he is able to abase Dan. 4.37 The voice of his words like the voice of a multitude Such firmness in his sayings and testimonies that are as much or more to be believed then what is testified by a multitude of witnesses In Rev. 1.14 it s a little otherwise His head white like wooll white as snow to shew him to be from of old from everlasting Mic. 5.2 The everlasting Father Isa 9.6 and his Authority and Government to be perfectly pure and immixed with any thing of evil His eyes as flames of fire his views such as perfectly discerns what 's in the dark and makes it evident burning up the evil His feet like unto fine brass like as if they burned in a Furnace which may signify beside what we noted on them in Daniel the fiery trials that he orders in his ways and providences for purifying his members in their goings and yet the durableness of his ways and meanest and greatliest suffering members that are not thereby consumed but consume what opposeth his walkings His voice as the sound of many waters which signifies a multitude of witnesses as before In his right hand seven Stars to signify his holding and upholding by his power and favour his shining Ministers and disposing them as he pleaseth And out of his mouth went a sharp Sword his quick and piercing Word with its Instructions Reproofs and Judgments And his countenance as the Sun when it shineth in its strength his favour affording most excellent and full light of understanding warmth and chearing of heart and effecting fruitfulness in all good things when it shines forth such is He as he is represented in the similitude of a man yea as He took a body of flesh for us so He therein and therethrough is the body or substance of all things that typed him out Col. 2.16 But let us view him also in the Perfections of 2. Man's inside as made of God God breathed into Man the breath of life and Man became a living Soul Life is common to Man with other Creatures and is a great excellency of the Creatures indued with it making them therein to excel the inanimate Christ not only hath life in himself but is the life the life of the Soul the Resurrection and the Life Joh. 11.25 The Way the Truth and the Life Joh. 14.6 Yea all life he gives to the Soul as well as He hath it in himself Life of growth for as he himself grew in wisdom stature and favour both with God and man so he causeth the Soul to grow in grace as He in the knowledg of himself comes more and more into it The Thessalonians being in God and Christ their faith and love grew exceedingly 2 Thes 1.1 3. 2 Pet. 3.18 Life of sense and motion He hath that perfectly for he beholdeth all things and nothing is hid from his sight but all things are opened and naked before him Heb. 4.12 13. Though yet through charity none so blind as he not to see and observe against us our iniquities Isa 42.19 20. Psal 130.3 4. He heareth all things for he that planted the ear shall not he hear Psal 94.9 Though through charity he is oft as one deaf to what may make against men so as not to testify his hearing in punishing them Isa 42.19 20. But he hears the cry of the poor and helpless yea he hears from heaven Psal 102.20 compared with ver 25 26. and Heb. 1.10 11. He smells the savour of his Spouses Ointments above all Spices and her Garments as the smell of Lebanon Cant. 4.10 11. He tasts the sweetness of her love more then Wine and eats his honey-comb with his honey and drinks his Wine with his milk and findes sweetness and refreshing therein Cant. 4.10 and 5.1 Though he will not smell in the solemn Assemblies of evil doers tast their sacrifices nor regard their Songs or the melody of their Viols Amos 5.21 22 23. He feels also our infirmities and can be touched with his
Perfections And so 1. We may find him as the Son of man the First-born or most Choice and Excellent of every Creature and to be before all things As he in whom the choicest Virtues of all the choice Creatures are transcendently met And well they may seeing by him all things were made and by him received their several Beings Forms Properties and Virtues We may take a brief view of some of the prime of them as they are used in Scripture Speech to be as his Shadows or Representations of something of his Excellencies Who is the beginning of the Creation of God Rev. 3.14 The Wisdom in and by which all things were made Psal 104.24 Prov. 3.19 20. and 8.22 30. And here let us view 1. The Creatures made before man Of which 1. The Light was the first we read of distinctly mentioned And Truly the Light is sweet and of great good in the Creation comfortable and very useful discovering all things else and rendring them visible and affording Direction and something of Capacity for our Working Walking and comfortable Fruition of other Creatures And he is the Light of the World the true Light lightning every man coming into the World the Light of Life giving a right and true discovery of all things and affording Direction to us and Capacity for our right demeanour of our selves toward them and comfortable Injoyment of the Benefits in or by them inlightning the mind and inlivening the inward man John 1.9 and 8.12 2. The Earth with its Furniture and Garnishments is used also to represent some of his Excellencies For he is both as the Fruitful Soil that brings forth and gives Fruitfulness to the Vegetables there-on For in him the Trees of Righteousness are Planted and do Grow he being in the most choice sense the House of the Lord Psal 92.12 John 2.21 Col. 2.9 The fruitful Hill or Horn of Oyl Isa 5.2 Yea his Garden and Vineyard with all their pleasant Flowers Spices and Fruits have their Rooting in him Col. 2.6 7. And Grow in the Grace and knowledg of him 2 Pet. 3.18 Cant. 4.11 12.16 and 2.2 13. He the Word falling into the Earth the Humanity and Dying in the Manhood brings forth much Fruit that grows from and in him John 12.24 Yea he is both the Root and Off-spring of David too Rev. 22.16 Though Growing as a tender Plant and as a Root out of a dry Ground Isa 53.2 The Branch out of the Root of Jesse Isa 11.1 10. with Rom. 15.12 The pleasant Plant the Man whose Name is the Branch Zech. 3.8 and 6.12 The Branch of the Lord Beautiful and Glorious and the Fruit of the Earth Excellent and Comely No such Branch or Root or Fruit as he Isa 4.2 The True Vine John 15.1.4 Whose Grape and Juice chears both the Heart of God and man Judg. 9.13 The Apple-Tree amongst the Trees of the Forest whose Shadow is fragrant and delightful to sit under and whose Fruit is pleasant to the taste Cant. 2.4 5. Yea the goodly Cedar of Lebanon so strong and durable and the Palm-Tree so Tall and Streight growing up though under Weights and Pressures are Emblems of him and his Kingdom he being the Head of the Righteous the First and Prime of them Psal 92.11 The Green Olive-Tree also in the House of God is he ra-rather then any other trusting as man in the Mercy and Bounty of God and so Living by the Father that sent him John 6.57 For ever Psal 52.9 He is the choice Flower in Gods Garden and his Cheeks are said to be sweet Flowers Cant. 5.13 Again In the solid parts of and in the Bowels of the Earth he is represented by what is therein Excellent Whether it be what is hard and durable only or what is also precious the Stone for strength He is the Stone and Rock of Israel Gen. 49.24 2 Sam. 23.3 The Rock of Ages The Foundation of Gods Building that cannot be moved the sure Foundation the precious Corner Stone with whom what is united and upon whom whoso trusteth shall not be ashamed 1 Pet. 2.4 6. Isa 28.16 Yea if their be any Pearls in the bottome of the Sea Gems Jewels or precious Stones or Mettals in the Bowels of the Earth he is far more Rich and Precious then they He being and affording that which in the Spirit is called The Gold of Ophire and the Stones of the Brooks the Almighty that is the Defence or Gold of those that acquaint themselves with him and receive the Law from his Mouth As in him also we may find plenty of Silver or Silver of Strength His Word being as Silver seven times purified in the fire Job 22.22.24 Psal 12.6 Yea The words of his Mouth are better to the Soul then Gold then much fine Gold yea Then thousands of Gold and Silver Psal 9.10 and 119.71 He is the Pearl of Price which the wise Merchant sells all to purchase counting as Loss and Dung the most goodly and glistering Pearls besides that he may win him Mat. 13.44 45. Phil. 2.7 8 9. Yea He and the knowledg of him is that Wisdom that is better then Pearls and Rubies not to be valued with the Onyx Stone or Topaz of Ethiopia or what ever other Gems and Jewels All things that can be desired not being comparable therewith Job 28. Prov. 3.14 15. 3. If we View the Waters He is the Ocean of Goodness and of plenteous Redemption Into whose Depths he will cast all his Peoples sins Mich. 7.18 19. The Spring and Fountain of Living Waters Jer. 2.13 The place of broad Rivers and Streams much more safe then the Seas for therein goes no Gally with Oars nor gallant Ships Isa 33.21 And the Waters which he gives far transcend all others in Virtue and Goodness both for Cleansing for they cleanse the fowlest Spots make clean such as the house of David and Inhabitants of Jerusalem Persons guilty of bloody sins like Scarlet or Crimson Zech. 13.1 Isa 1.10 18 21 22. And for Fructifying for they cause the Trees of Righteousness always to be green and to bear forth precious and prosperous Fruits Psal 1.2 3. Ezek. 47.7 12. And for Quenching the Thirst for they cause the Drinkers of them to Thirst no more John 4.14 Rev. 7.16 17. Yea they also produce a multitude of Fish Souls trusting to and Swiming in the Goodness of God as manifested in him Yea and they give Life and Healing to all they come to Ezek. 47.7 8. And what are not healed by them are like Marshes and Miry places the Sinks of sin And these Waters are Christ and the knowledg of and abundance of Grace in him John 6.35 and 7.37 38 39. 4. View we the Air and there we shall find the Clouds useful for shading from the heat and the Rain and Dew thence refreshing the Earth and producing Fruits therein And is not Christ a Cloud of Protection and Shadow to his Servants Isa 4.4 And he shall come down like Rain on
forgetful hearer but a doer of the work shall be blessed in his doing Iam. 1.26 But that continuing therein minds me of another sort reproveable Namely Fourthly Those who having begun to look to him continue not till in beholding his Glory with open face as in a Glass they be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord but look off from him again going away from this glorious Glass of the Gospel in which the beautiful Face of Christ and its Comliness and Glory for Escape and for Delight is represented and so forgetting what manner of men they are And so what need they have of being healed and changed yea and what manner of one he is too and so are not healed and changed as they need Whether it be that 1. They turn with Demas to embrace the present World and looking upon the Beauty and Comeliness and pleasing Form of their Injoyments Fellowships Friendships Riches Pleasures play therein the Adulterers and Adulteresses from Christ and provoking his displeasure and judgment against themselves they leave off to believe on and follow him James 4.4.7 1 John 2.15 16 17. Or 2. With the Galatians and others they turn to beggarly Rudiments thinking to make themselves perfect in the flesh after they have begun in the Spirit looking upon the fair shews which the delude dones make in the the flesh and how great in flesh and fleshly Gloryings and Rejoycings of their Zeal Devotions Orders or Attainments others are with whose false Ways they are taken and by which they are corrupted from the simplicity in Christ Like the Adulterous Woman Aholah and Aholibah complained of in Ezek. 23. who were snared and committed Adultery with the Egyptians Assyrians and Chaldeans because of their greatness of Flesh brave appearance in their Attire and lusty Looks their flesh like the flesh of Asses and their issue like the issue of Horses vers 14 15 20. And like Jerusalem who committed Whoredom with the Egyptians great of flesh when they saw them Ezek 16.26 Gal. 3.2 3. and 6.12 Or 3. As Jerusalem of old in EZek. 16.16 17 18 Looking upon themselves and their own Beauty and Comeliness received from Christ they grow proud and high-minded and slight Christ and the lowness of the Doctrine of the Cross and so of the Gospel and say they are Lords themselves Owners Possessors Self-sufficient as full as Christ is as good and able to live as He or however able to live without exercise of Faith in and dependance on him from which therefore they cease and live upon their own Receits Conceits and imagined Perfection And truely these are in a sad and dangerous state puffed up Lucifer-like in themselves and may easily fall or rather are already fallen into the fault and condemnation of the Devil and prove the greatest mischief to others to seduce and draw them away from the Simplicity in Christ to behold and dote on them and to affect a likeness to them in like conceits of Self-sufficiency in themselves and independency on Christ-crucified for Life and Salvation Even as the evil Spirits or the Serpent fallen into and by Pride made it his design and business to Tempt and Draw man after him by the like aspiring pride to effect equality with God and so into the same fault and condemnation with himself All these are here by this Doctrine of the Exaltation of Christ crucified the Son of man Lifted up Reproved and we may be all warned that we be not led away with their errour to fall with them from our own stedfastness even from Christ Jesus and the Grace in him and Doctrine of him wherein our stedfastness lieth 2 Pet. 3 17. But that we attend to grow in Grace and in the Knowledg of him even Christ Jesus to whom be Glory both now and for ever Amen Verse 18. And truly they that rightly view and discern how little Christ is Lifted up by men even by those also who pretend to befriend him and to be his Disciples and Worshippers or that are called Christians after his Name yea his Servants and Ministers and how great defects there are in their Lifting him up who think to lift up and exalt him and how few there are that look to him or continue so to do for healing may be filled with grief and sorrow of heart both for that God and his Grand Design and great grace is so much under-valued and abrogated Christ to whom we are so much directed of God and ingaged for the infinite fulness of grace and of God in him so slighted disregarded and abused His visage so marred more then any mans and his forme more then the Sons of men as is said Isa 52.14 And so many men for want of knowledge of and looking to him perishing the cause equity and inevitableness of whose destruction may be seen also in this Decree and appointment of the Father that the Son of man must be lifted up that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have everlasting life as we shall in the next place take a little further view of CHAP. XXVIII Of the Cause and Reason Equitableness and Inevitableness of Mens destruction who shall be thereto adjudged of Christ and yet the Consolation that this Doctrine affords to Christ and his Members Use 7 HEre is also I say a Demonstration of the Reason and Cause Justness and Equitableness Certainty and Inavoidableness of Mens destruction who shall be thereto adjudged by Christ For 1. As to the reason and cause of it it appears hence to be as originally and firstly their sin against God provoking his wrath and anger against themselves in their personal sinnings against his Law and Doctrine or declared will as the original and first cause of the dying of the People in the Wilderness to whom allusion is here made was their being stung and bitten by the Serpents but against those first and original causes of destruction there is a remedy prepared of God in Christ and tendred in the Gospel and the declarations of God and his goodness leading to repentance in and through Christ as there was a Remedy in the brazen Serpent for the People there But as there the stung People then perished because they refused if any of them did so to look to that Serpent So the cause and reason here of Mens perishing is their refusing to look to Christ and to God in and through Christ and so to the grace in him for help and healing or their refusing to be healed thereby through looking off from him to other things This is now the great reason of Mens perishing the condemnation that Light is come into the World and men love darkness rather than light refusing the remedy because they love their diseases or love not the smart the remedy will put them to in order to the curing them of their diseases because their deeds be evil for every one that doth evil that goeth on and
upbraid the weakness and timerousness of new beginners Let us learn to follow his good Example and entertain any that come to seek Christ with us though they come trembling at the first and shew some fearfulness to be known by others to do so well It s an evidence of an hearty love when men will venture after Christ notwithstanding they know they therein go cross to the worlds opinion and do that which they would turn upon them as a reproch though yet its a symptome of weakness to be afraid or ashamed it should be taken notice of Let us incourage what is good and bear with and overlook the weakness cleaving to men therein So did our Saviour here taking occasion meekly to instruct Nicodemus into that which concerned both him and us to know viz. the necessity of Regeneration without upbraiding his weakness in the time of his coming for Jesus answered and said unto him Verily verily I say unto thee Except a man be born again or from above he cannot see the kingdom of God There is an heavenly Kingdom or Kingdom of Heaven or of God spoken of by the holy Prophets chiefly by Daniel which was believed and looked for of the Iews though they mistook many things about it as to the spiritualness of it and the way to it Nicodemus therefore makes no question of that as to its being for indeed both the Baptist and our Saviour had preached its nighness and thereupon exhorted the people to repentance Mat. 3.2 and 4.17 yea the Pharisees afterward inquired of him of the time of its coming as taking it for granted that it would certainly come in its time Luk. 17.20 And the people thought it should shortly be manifested Luk. 19.11 And doubtless Nicodemus desired to see and enter it and therefore our Saviour here instructed and informed him what is requisite and necessary thereto affirming his Doctrine with a double asseveration Verily verily I say unto thee that except a man be born again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from above he cannot see the Kingdom of God That happy state in which God more immediately ruling and bearing sway fills those that are subject and obedient to his Government with Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost here and with Life and Glory Everlasting in Soul and Body for ever hereafter is not to be seen known or injoyed but by new Creatures those that are born from above This earthly and carnal birth is so much defiled and ushers in such pollution of sin and mortality because of sin that we are not fit without another higher birth for the priviledges of Gods Kingdom into which no unclean or unrighteous thing as we all are by nature may find admission In this natural birth we descend of the first Adam as fallen from God and begetting in his own sinful and mortal likeness but its necessary to our injoyment of Gods Kingdom that we be born of the second Adam who begets Children in his image and likeness holy and heavenly ones Birth of Abraham Isaac and Jacob might suffice to give admission into the outward form and court of the Church and unto the Land of Canaan but to Heaven and the joys and glory thereof nothing but a birth from Heaven Nicodemus stounding at this Doctrine and yet believing Christ to be a Teacher come from God doth not reject it as false but inquires further into it of him who taught him it and who he thought also was fittest to inform him further about it and therefore asked him how it could be How can a man be born saith he when he is old as probably he himself was can he enter into his Mothers Womb the second time and be born in which he shews the grosness of his understanding as not being yet acquainted with our Saviours manner of teaching He its likely-thought and not amiss that our Saviour meant it of some more unwonted thing then were the legal observations or any thing they could confer on men and whether it might be some strange birth over again in the Flesh and perhaps in the Resurrection according to some fancies of the Platonists of all things after some long periods of time to be acted over again as before he might not know nor could conceive how a man could be born again but by such a reduction to his first entrance into the world again But it s better to shew our grosness of understanding and inquire into truths proposed to us of those that teach us them though we speak like fools therein then by an over-bashfulness or a desire to be thought wiser then we are to conceal our doubts and to pretend that we do apprehend what we are ignorant off for by so doing we deprive our selves of the help and instruction which by propounding our doubts however gross and ignorant our proposing of them may make us appear might be received and sure as the Apostle Thomas his doubting and expressing his hardness to believe occasioned a more full demonstration of the reality and verity of Christs Resurrection to the great benefit and advantage not only of himself but also of the whole Church in the present and following ages So Nicodemus his proposing his doubt here tho therein shewing the grosness of his understanding occasioned and received such further instruction into the nature and necessity of Regeneration as tended not only to his but also to our greater helpfulness and advantage For in ver 5.6 Jesus answered verily verily I say unto thee Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit In which our Saviour shews that his words are not to be grosly taken as if he spake of a fleshly birth from the Mothers Womb but of a Spiritual and Divine birth the Principles whereof are Water and Spirit By Water signifying that knowledge of God that is often in the Scriptures compared to Water as Psal 1.2 3. Ezek. 47.3 4 5 c. Isa 11.9 Hab. 2.14 Or the free grace and love of God held forth and declared in the said knowledge word or doctrine The Water in the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5.26 Grace being powred into the lips of Christ Psal 45.2 Or else also a submission to Christ in receiving him and his word and ordinances in being baptized into his name may also be implied and then the Spirit is that holy breath inspiration and working of the holy Spirit of God in and with the Doctrine of Christ which is afforded in his name working effectually upon the heart to the framing it unto the Faith and into the likeness of Christ and so effecting therein a new man a new mind judgment heart affection confidence and frame of Spirit Created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Could a man be born never so often of the Flesh
Pet. 3.18 As it follows here That whosoever believes ◠him might not perish but have Eternal Life 3. As to his abundant Love Charity Goodness and Grace in all this such as passeth Knowledge Eph. 7.18 19. And therein the love of God the Father in appointing preparing sanctifying and furnishing him to all this great business and undertaking John 3.16 1 John 4.9 10 14. It was by the grace of God that He tasted Death for every one Heb. 2.9 And his own grace even The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ it was to abase himself And when rich to become poor for our sakes th◠we through his poverty might be made rich 2 Cor. 8.9 And so to lay down his life for us even when and though ungodly and enemies worthy of no love at all much less of such and so great love 1 John 3.16 17. Rom. 5.6 7 8. John 3.16 Love worthy admiration acceptation and imitation by us Eph. 5.1 2 3.18 19. Stronger then death such as many waters could not quench it nor the flouds drown it Cant. 8.6 7. Fourthly In the preciousness of his Abasement Obedience Bloud Death Sufferings and Sacrifice for us That however he was therein made low and despicable among men and became an offence to the worldly-wise and honourable yet He in and by them was a most acceptable Sacrifice to God an offering of a sweet smelling savour 1 Cor. 1.22 23. Eph. 5.2 That for which we all have great cause to love and admire him and flee for refuge and sanctuary to him He having therein made peace for us slain the enmity broken down the wull of partition between God and man and between Jew and Gentile wrought Reconciliation or that where-through we may be reconciled or made at one with God Col. 1.20 Eph. 2.14 15 16. 2 Cor. 5.19 20 21. having therein given himself a Ransome for all 1 Tim. 2.6 and being become there through the Propitiation for our sins yea for the sins of the whole world 1 John 2.1 2. and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propitiatory or Mercy-seat through faith in his bloud for remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God and for the declaration of his righteousness therein that he is just and the justifier of those that believe in Jesus Rom. 3.25 26. There being therein Redemption and through that Redemption a free Justification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to or for all and upon all that believe v. 22.24 There-through the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us being blotted out and what was contrary to us taken out of the way and nailed to his Cross and Principalities and powers thereby spoiled and triumphed over by him Col. 2.14 15. So that great is the power and vertue of that his despised and reproched Cross So as that it 's accepted of God far before and above all the Sacrifices and Services ordained by him in the Law of Moses they being not able to take away sin But this one Sacrifice is so powerful and prevalent a purgation and expiation of it that Christ hath by that one Sacrifice once offered perfected for ever those that are sanctified So that the Consciences of the comers to God there-through are purged from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 1.3 9.14 10.2 3 4 5 10 14. So as that there-through we may have access to God in the holy of holies and may draw nigh to him and call upon him with full assurance of faith and confidence Heb. 10.19 22. His precious Bloud being the Bloud of sprinkling for sprinkling the heart from an evil conscience and speaking better things then the bloud of Abel Heb. 12.24 Therefore also the Cross of Christ the onely thing to be gloried in by us Gal. 6.14 Fifthly In the exceeding greatness of that Glory that God hath given him as a reward of his sufferings and hard service sustained against the World and Sathan for us Wherein also is further evidenced the exceeding preciousness of his Bloud and Sufferings the infinite value of them and the force and vertue they have in them with him They set forth his Glory to be far above all the glory of the world yea or the glory of Moses or any of the former glorious ones then the Glory of Solomon and the Glory of his Ministration Far transcending that of the Law as being more powerful in the discoveries of it for transforming the beholders of it into his likeness so as when we see him as he is we shall there-through be made like him 2 Corinthians 3.3 8 9 18. 1 John 3.2 Col. 3.4 For they declare that God hath glorified him with his own self filled him with all his fulness so as all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily and so as that in him we are compleat Col. 1.19 2.9 Oh let us go out and see this King Solomon this excellent Prince of Peace the Peace and Peace-maker of whom and of whose Glory Solomon of old was but a type and figure and the glory and lustre of his Kingdom but a type and figure of the the Glory of his which passeth all our conceptions and expressions let us go forth I say and behold him with the Crown wherewith his Mother the infinite Wisdom Love and Grace of God as also his Disciples who have heard and received the Word of God and kept it who are to him as his Mother Brethren and Sisters Matth. 12.49 50 have crowned him in the day of his espousals and of the gladness of his heart When being espoused to the nature of man he received the holy Spirit and poured it forth upon them Cant. 3.13 Matth. 22.1 Acts 2.33 But indeed it is not to be fully seen and known till the great day of his appearance the time of the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2.13 1 John 3.2 Sixthly In his perfect and compleat Furniture wherewith he is furnished for executing and performing the works of his glorious Offices and bringing about the end of them the salvation of man the eternal salvation of all that obey him in which they present us as compleatly provided for of all things pertaining to life and godliness as given to him and dwelling in him for us I shall here onely touch upon something thereof in some few Particulars As First They declare him to be the great Prophet and as such fully and perfectly accomplished with ability fitness and faithfulness for teaching us the knowledge of himself and of God and of all things As being filled to that purpose with the fulness of God the gift of the Holy Ghost being so immeasurably received by him that he hath the seven spirits that are before the Throne Rev. 1.4 3.1 The fulness of the Holy Ghost and of all spiritual gifts for both giving forth to men and enabling and moving men to receive the exact and perfect knowledge of God and for gifting whom
of his mouth with which he is furnished to smite the Nations even all Nations over whom he hath power to rule them with a rod of iron Such a force and power as is able to and at his pleasure doth and will break in pieces what is against him And he also treads the Wine-press of the wrath of Almighty God and on his vesture and on his thigh he hath this Name written KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS Even the most absolute and Sovereign Lord and King and with the foresaid Sword out of his mouth He and his followers or Disciples fight against and shall subdue his enemies the Beast and false Prophet and all their power either worldly or pretendedly religious that stands opposite against him Rev. 19.11 12 13 15 16 21. And this suits with what the Prophet Isaiah prophesied concerning him as the Son of man the great King sprung up as a rod out of the stem of Jesse and as a Branch out of his roots that he should with righteousness judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth and smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his mouth slay the wicked Isa 11.1 4. A mighty King indued with righteousness to punish sinners and destroy the wicked and wickedness and give peace safety and quietness to the good and righteous both in inward and outward man as he pleaseth yea both here as he sees good and hereafter fully and for ever at his glorious appearing and in his everlasting and most blessed Kingdom Isa 32.1 2. with 2 Thess 1.4 5 10. 2 Tim. 4.1 Seventhly As for his fulness of grace and truth for his saving and satisfying all that obey him he being set forth as the Author of eternal Salvation upon the account of and in the vertues of his most precious Death or Bloud of his Cross and in the exercise of his glorious Offices and Authority Heb. 5.9 They have declared that in him there is forgiveness of sins in his bloud even plenteousness of redemption for forgiving all trespasses and cleansing from all sins and unrighteousness Col. 1.14 2.14 Eph. 1.7 with Psal 130.4.6 7. 1 John 1.7 9. 2.1 2. and the fulness of all other spiritual blessings in heavenly things Eph. 1.3 Election is in him ver 4. Predestination to grace or glory ver 5. Acceptation into favour and fellowship with God ver 6. All spiritual wisdom and understanding Both as to himself for manageing his government and furnishing men in their looking and listening to him according to his good pleasure ver 8 9. Col. 2.3 And for making us wise and of an understanding heart Isa 42.1 1 John 5.20 All fulness of glorious power for strengthning with all might Col. 1.10 11. and subduing all things to himself Phil. 3.21 And what ever else may be named we might distinguish this grace into First Personal Graces and Perfections fitting him for his personal exercise of his glorious Offices as Love Mercy Truth Righteousness Patience Meekness Gentleness Strength Power Wisdom Holiness c. 2 John 3. Jude 21. 1 John 2.1 1 Tim. 1.14 16. Matth. 11.29 2 Cor. 10.1 Phil. 3.21 4.13 1 Cor. 1.24 Acts 3.14 c. Secondly Communicative Grace or Grace treasured up in him for us to be imparted to us such as Wisdom Righteousness Holiness Redemption the Spirit of God and all spiritual Gifts Efficacies or Vertues as Love Joy Peace Patience c. Gifts for Usefulness also and Edification as Knowledge Utterance Prophesie c. All the fulness of them dwell perfectly in him and all for our benefit and advantage Col. 1.19 1 Cor. 1.30 31. Eph. 1.7 8. Eighthly As to his glorious appearance and the effects of it or what he shall then manifest and bring to to pass they lift him up very highly also testifying That First He shall come again in great Majesty and Glory attended with all his mighty Angels and in the Power and Glory of God his Father to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe on him 2 Thes 1.7 8 10. Jude 14. 1. Thes 4.14 15 16. Secondly He shall raise up the dead Saints and change the then living and destroy their enemies the ungodly and wicked and the man of sin by the brightness of his appearing 1 Thes 4.16 2 Thes 2.8 2 Pet. 3.7 Thirdly He shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory and judge the world in righteousness Matth. 25.31 Psal 96.13 Acts 17.30 And then Fourthly He shall possess the Saints his followers of the Kingdom with him who shall reign with him a thousand years without any opposition threatning them and after the total destruction of all enemies they shall reign for ever and ever without disturbance or opposition in the New and Heavenly Jerusalem in inexpressible joy and happiness Dan. 7.26 27. Rev. 5.10 20.6 10. 22.5 Matth. 25.26 Such but far more excellent and glorious is the honour and glory that the Apostles in their testimony ascribe to him Lifting up the Horn the horn of his people the praise of all his Saints and his Kingdom and Dominion Psal 148.14 for 1. Largeness 2. Righteousness 3. Peace 4. Prosperity 5. Glory and 6. Endless happiness beyond all expression Of which I shall not inlarge here particularly to speak And so must and ought he also to be lifted up Fourthly Of their Followers the Ministers and Servants of the Lord in his Gospel in the exercise of their several Gifts and Administrations They that stand in his house and Courts are to praise his name and make his praise glorious Psal 134 1 2. 135.1 2 3. Not preaching and exalting themselves and seeking their own glory and honour to be adored and worshipped of men and called of them Rabbi and Master as Lords of their faith and ruling over Gods heritage but preaching Jesus the Lord and themselves servants for Jesus sake As the Apostles did 2 Cor. 4.5 being followers and imitaters of them and of the Prophets continuing in their Doctrine and the form of wholesome and sound words that they have delivered according to the furniture and assistance of the Holy Spirit to that end afforded them upon whom they are to depend and by whom to be acted and ordered therein Acts 20.28 31 35. 1 Pet. 5.2 3 4. Fifthly Yea and the Bride and whole Church and all that hear and receive his words as all ought to do and are professed followers and Disciples of him and his Doctrine ought to exalt and lift him up seeking his glory 2 Thes 1.12 Psal 99.5 6. Rev. 22.17 Living to him as all ought also to do who dyed for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 And this 1. In their hearts sanctifying him there 1 Pet. 3.15 That is thinking highly and honourably of him blessing and lauding him with all that is within them Psal 103.1 2. without grudging or murmuring in their hearts against him but keeping judgment and doing righteousness
him and accept him heartily being discovered and Preached to us to which end also God added the Law for discovering of our sins that so we might look after accept and imbrace the Saviour whom he had fore-promised to us Gal. 3.19 22 24. Yea the very promise and declaration of that Saviour shews us to have been miserable Yea and yet if we neglect him to be in a most miserable condition for in that one died for all It 's most brightly testified that All were dead Yea and in that it 's such a one that died for us as Gods only Son it signifies and testifies yet more The greatness of our misery in our selves and of that death we were fallen into that put us into a need of such a ones dying for us 2 Cor. 5.14 But that will fall in in the third proposition or observation CHAP. X. The second Observation briefly spoken to and some Objections against it answered Obser 2 THe Second Observation is That God hath no pleasure in the death or perishing of men but that they rather should have eternal life And this is evident 1. By his own assertion under his oath that we might be the more confirmed in it as was noted above in Ezek. 33.11 Where he swears As he lives he hath no pleasure in the death of the Wicked but rather that he turn and live And sure if not in the wickeds in no mans death seeing it's the wicked that he every where threatens with Death As he saith to the wicked in the same Chapter Vers 8 Thou shalt surely die And The Soul that sinneth it shall die Chap. 18.3 20. And the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him ver 21. And yet he saith and sweareth that he hath no pleasure none neither secret nor revealed that the wicked should die 2. And his holy servants assert the same who have had his mind and grace in their hearts and declared it faithfully The Apostle Paul asserts That God wills all to be or that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2.4 And the Apostle Peter that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 And the Prophet Isaiah represents the Lord calling all the ends of the Earth to look to him and be saved Isa 45.22 3. The many addresses that God in and through Christ by his Word and Spirit makes unto sinners to call and bring them to Repentance that they might live and not die are so many evidences and convincing demonstrations of his love to Mankind and that he hath no desire or delight that they should perish but have everlasting life For we may not think such a wicked and impious thought of the Almighty who is love and charity truth and goodness it self as if he should pretend one thing and intend another That he signifies one thing to be his desire and will outwardly and desires and intends the contrary inwardly and so dissembles with his lips seeing he protests the contrary Viz. That the opening of his lips are right things That he speaks right things and wickedness is an abomination to his lips That his words are all right and that there is nothing froward or preverse in them Prov. 8.7 6 8. Isa 45.19 Far be it from us to think that he is like to the wicked whom his Soul abhorreth to cover hatred with deceit As is said Prov. 26.26 Now thinking holily of God and according to truth we shall perceive the desire he hath of mens welfare abundantly testified in his addresses to us diverse ways As 1. In his calls and counsells frequently given us As it s said Wisdom cries out she lifts up her voice in the streets crying how long ye simple turn at my reproofs c. Prov. 1.20.23 And doth not Wisdom cry and Understanding lift up her voice Can that be denied Is not that evident and that to men indefinitely yea and to the worst of them therefore it follows that she stands in the top of high places where and whence she may best be heard and cries To you O men I call and my voice is to the Sons of Men. O ye simple understand wisdom and ye fools be ye of an understanding heart Prov. 8.1 2 4 5. And so Turn ye turn ye why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 33.11 Yea this was one great end of our Saviours coming into the World in order to his saving the World Viz. To call sinners to Repentance Mat. 9.13 John 12.47 2. In his promising them great and glorious things upon their hearing and obeying his calls Turn ye at my reproofs behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you I will make known my words Prov. 1.23 So in Prov. 8.32 33. Blessed is the man that heareth me watching daily at my Gates waiting at the posts of my doors For whoso findeth me findeth life and shall obtain favour of the Lord. Aske and ye shall receive seek and ye shall find Mat. 7.7 8. And abundance the like 3. In his threatning sinners if they will take the course to perish and will not listen to his counsels As Because I have called and ye refused I stretched out my hands and no man regarded I also will laugh at your calamities I will mock when your fear cometh Prov. 1.24 26 c. O wicked man thou shalt surely die Ezek. 33.8 And many the like 4. In his reproving expostulating and reasoning the case with men that he might perswade them to their own good Why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 33.11 Ho every one that thirsteth come to the waters and ye that have no money come buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price Why will ye lay out money for that that is not bread and your labour for that that satisfieth not c. Isa 55.1 2 3. 5. In his chastening men also for their follies in neglecting and refusing their own mercy in order to their awakning to Repentance that they might live As he saith I smote them thus and thus yet they turned not to me saith the Lord. As implying that he smote them to that end they might turn Amos 4.6 7 11. All these things doth God twice and thrice with men that he might keep them from going down to the pit c. Job 33.29 6. In his exercising long patience and forbearance towards them with much bounty and goodness to the same end that is To lead them to repentance As is exprest Rom. 2.4.5 With 2 Pet. 3.9.15 Isa 30.18 Waiting that he may be gracious Yea 4. The next Observation is an evident confirmation of the truth of this Namely the gift of Gods only Son the Son of Man for if he gave his only begotten Son to be the Saviour of the World evident it is then that he loved the World and if he loved it he desired not that it should perish but rather be saved
hand yea or but tasted and spit out again it heals not the Distemper If it fail not to heal when ever duly applied it s an approved Medicine and may have a Probatum est written upon it The waters of Jordan were manifested to be an apt proper and sufficient remedy for Naamans Leprosie in that it healed him perfectly upon his seven times washing in it though had he either gone away in his rage and not washed at all or washed but four or five or six times in it and not seven times as he commanded his Leprosie had not been cleansed The like we might say of the Brazen Serpent that healed in being looked upon though its bare setting up or being felt on would not have done it Now that to such as give up and attend to the Gospel it s a means of begetting preserving and increasing Faith it may be thus evidenced 1. In that its the way that God hath appointed and it s to be certainly believed that what God orders is and must be proper and sufficient for the end whereto he orders it his work being perfect and all his Ways judgment Deut. 32.4 We may not so injure the infinite Wisdom and Goodness of the only wise God who is Love and Goodness it self as to think that he would direct his Creatures to improper or insufficient means for their attaining the most excellent and necessary end as if he either could mistake himself or would impose upon and delude us Now that this is the means of his appointing is evident in this that the Gospel was ordered by him to be Preached For the obedience of Faith in all Nations Rom. 1.5 and 16.26 And that it Pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe To whom also it is the Power of God for that purpose Rom. 1.16 1 Cor. 1.21 Even to save them from unbelief and disobedience Yea it s called the Word of Faith Rom. 10.8 both as its the Word that is to be believed and as it begets and nourishes Faith where entertained As also the Preaching of the Cross is said to be the Power and Wisdom of God to the called to such as obey the call both to lead and strengthen them to and direct and uphold them in believing on Christ and God by him 1 Cor. 1 22r 24. As also it is that Faith where-through the Believer is kept by the Power of God to the Salvation ready to be revealed in the last days 1 Pet. 1.5 2. In that in and by it all things are given us of God pertaining to Life and Godliness both to quicken to and in believing and preserve in it and lead out to the right worshipping of God in the exercise of it 2 Pet. 1.3 as to say 1. A discovery of all such things or Objects as may move the heart to imbrace Christ and preserve it with him taking it off from all other things For therein is declared as was also noted before 2. The excellency of his Person that there is none like him for us to believe on he being the Son the only begotten Son of God one with God yea God over all blessed for ever Amen John 1.1 2 14. and 3.16 Rom. 9.5 One by whom and for whom all things in Heaven and Earth were Created and made and are by the word of his Power upheld Col. 1.16 Heb. 1.2 3. One that was in the Form and hath the Riches and Fulness of God Phil. 2.6 7. 2 Cor. 8.9 And therefore one mighty in Power Wisdom and Fulness for performing his undertakings for us to save us Isa 9.6 2. The greatness of his Love and Grace toward us in coming forth from his Father in the fulness of time to seek and save us to that purpose emptying himself of all his Riches and Glory and taking on him the form of a Servant the fashion of Men yea bearing our Iniquities on his Body on the Tree becoming poor a man of Sorrows and acquainted with Griefs yea made sin and a Curse for us to redeem us from sin and Curse and to inrich bless and make us Righteous to that purpose Dying the accursed and shameful Death of the Cross for us Gal. 4.4 and 3.13 Phil. 2.7 8 9. 1 Pet. 2.24 2 Cor. 8.9 Isa 53.4 5 6. 2 Cor. 5.21 Which may perswade us of his willingness to save and bless us 3. That all this was done to him and suffered by him for the World the whole World for all and every one and not only for some few out of love to the world and Grace to every one God being not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance and so to the knowledg and acknowledgment of the Truth and to be saved John 3.16 17. and 12.47 Rom. 5.18 2 Cor. 5.14 15 19 20 21. 1 Tim. 2.4 5 6. Heb. 2.9 and 4.9 10 14. Ezek. 33.11 2 Pet. 3.9.15 And so reaches to and includes every of us 4. That all this he did by the Will and Appointment of God his Father in Obedience to and in Union of mind and will with him and therefore with his Likement and Acceptance who sent him gave him made him of a Woman and under the Law yea made him Sin and a Curse for us laid upon him the Iniquities of us all pleased to bruise him and put him to Griefs and made his Soul an offering for sin upheld him in all and was well-pleased with him and therefore also bare witness to him in both Life and Death but especially in Raising and Exalting him as was formerly shewed For He raised him from the Dead it being indeed impossible that he should be held of Death Acts 2.24 and gave him Glory that our Faith and Hope might be in God He delivered him for our Offences and raised him again for our Justification and did all things needful and abundant to him in Glorifying him that he might be our Saviour the Author of eternal Salvation to all that obey him John 3 16 17. Gal. 4.4 2 Cor. 5.19 21. Gal. 3.13 Isa 53.5 6 10 11. and 42.1 Rom. 4.25 1 Pet. 1.21 Heb. 5.9 For as 5. It is also declared in this Doctrine He being such a Person in himself who did and suffered such things and doing and suffering them for us all by the will and appointment of his Father and in Union of will with him his said Abasement Sufferings and Death were accepted and owned of God as and so are a sufficient Ransome or Price of Redemption for all Both for freeing all from perishing in and under that Death and Condemnation which came upon all in the first Adam and for his Transgression out of which therefore all shall at last be Raised up by him and also for Freeing Discharging and Delivering from Curse and Death eternal upon the account of their personal sinnings against the Law Goodness and Grace of God in and through him all or any that upon Convincement thereof in the day of
believe on the Lord Jesus And to that end preached and held forth to him the Word of the Lord The Doctrine concerning him which contains according to his own expressions to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 15.3 4 the Doctrine of his Death Burial and Resurrection and so of those great Points of the Gospel wherein the Grace of God in Christ is set forth to us in minding and believing of which he was healed Act. 16.27 29 30 31 32. with 20.24 Gal. 1.6 Yea in looking to and minding this we shall be armed against all accusations of Sin Law or Sathan as in Rom. 8.32 33 34. Case 2. In case of a benummedness of our spirits through senslesness of our vileness in our selves or aptness to be puffed up with conceits of our wholeness or betterness then others and thence a carelesness to seek for health to our Souls the way to be convinced of our vileness and emptiness and so to be humbled and abased in our selves is to look to and upon Christ crucified and behold his Cross and Sufferings for us as set forth in the Gospel to us that that 's the best way to take down our pride and bring us to a sense of our wretchedness is implyed in that the Apostle tells us they judged all dead from ones having dyed for all The sight of our deadness and helplesness in our selves is best seen in that Glass that represents that Christ dyed for all and so for us 2 Cor. 5.14 Where also the sight of his grace in dying for us will cure our deadness quicken and put life into us so as to make us live so that that sight both kills and makes alive wounds and heals casteth us down in our selves and raiseth us up in Christ Crucifies us with Christ and yet makes us live in him and brings him in to live in us 1 Sam. 2.6 7. Gal. 2 20. and so the Exalting Preaching and witnessing to Christ both throws down the mountains and fills up the Vallies Isa 40.4 which was the work of the Baptist bearing witness to the Light and the effect wrought in them who beheld and looked to the Light witnessed to by him Luc. 3.4 5 6 16. with Joh. 1.6 7 8 15 23 c. Many that cannot by the law be convinced of their lostness in themselves and their need of Christ by reason that they are strict and zealous Observers and Performers of the Law in their apprehensions so as that upon that account they judg themselves righteous may and must be seen to be naturally wretched sinners and to have need of Christ in this that He dyed for them if they look upon and discern what is set before them therein yea therein they may see the utter undonness of their state upon any other account then only by his Death where together with the convincement of their being dead in themselves there is hope also presented to them that they may be saved by him Case 3. In case of temptations from our inabilities and insufficiencies to help our selves by freeing our selves from the defilement of our sins or getting victory over them or saving our selves out of the snares of sin and Sathan or working in our selves holiness and conformity to Christ so as may fit us for his Kingdom and glory our way is to look off from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and above our selves unto Jesus and consider him as the High-Priest and Apostle of our profession the Author and Finisher of the Faith what He hath undertaken with the Father for us How he is appointed and hath engaged to sanctify and wash his Church that is such as cleave to believe on and obey him and to bring forth Judgment into Victory subduing their Enemies and treading Sathan under their Feet And how faithful and powerful He is for performing his engagements This is the way I say to be helped against such temptations Heb. 2.17 18. and 3.1 2. And the like we may say for temptations from the consideration of his appearing slowness in performing his promises our finding no more deliverance from any sinful distempers and temptations to sin and from the oppressions of other enemies as Abraham was helped and Sarah also against temptations from Gods not making more hast to perform his promises by considering God's Power and Faithfulness Rom. 4.17 18 19. Heb. 11.11 12. Yea Case 4. Would we be delivered from the power of corruption and sin occasioning barrenness and temptation or otherwise prevailing over and polluting us This is our way to get freedom from and victory over them even the eying of Jesus the Son of Man for its the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus and which He himself is that makes free from the service of Sin Joh. 8.32 34 35 36. Eph. 4 20 21 22 23. and it 's the beholding his glory with open face as in a Glass in which we may be transformed into his Image and likeness from glory to glory as by his Spirit 2 Cor. 3.18 His Word and Faith it is that sanctifies Joh. 17.17 Act. 26.18 Case 5. In case of Persecutions or Chastisements from God or any troubles and afflictions here befalling us Look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of the Faith who for the Joy set before Him endured the Cross despised the shame and is now set down on the right hand of the Throne of God And this will preserve us from being weary of Gods chastisements or fainting under the contradiction of sinners partly while we there see how Christ suffered the like or greater for us and hath thereby taken away the evil and destructiveness of them from us and partly while we see how He is impowered and is faithful and compassionate to help us under them and bring us out of them He being as well the Finisher as the Author of the Faith and set down on the Throne of Majesty as one invested with the fulness of the power of God to help us and also appearing there to make Intercession for us Heb. 12.1 2 6. and 7 24 25. Rom. 8.34 Case 6. Would we see the odiousness of sin that we might abhor and beware of it Behold the Son of man suffering for it on our behalf see the Agonies Perplexities Shame Reproaches Death and Curse it brought upon Him There we may see Sin condemned in the Flesh Rom. 8.3 and 6.3 4. Having dyed to it there how should we again live in it should we not cease from that for which in Christ we have suffered in the flesh and must have suffered for it in our flesh even in our souls and bodies for our selves had not he suffered for it yea and must yet suffer for ever if through the sight of his Grace we turn not from it 1 Pet. 1.24 and 4.1 2. Case 7. Would we see the hainousness of neglecting Christ and the grace of God in him or of sinning against him after the knowledge of him received The way for it is to behold and mind
3.16 17. 2 Cor. 5.19 The whole World 1 John 2.1 2. Thence his grace is said to be saving to all men And it 's every where made mens fault in neglecting the Truth the Wisdom the Son of God in his calls and counsels the rejecting and putting him away not answering his calls or obeying his voice that they do or shall perish As Psal 81.9 10 11. Prov. 1.20 22 24 25 26 c. Isa 66.3 4. John 3.19 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. Yea the very Heathens that have least means of knowledge are in the same way charged Rom. 1.18 19 20 21 28. And as God and his Spirit in the Apostles yea and in the Prophets Isa 25.6 7. Psa 98.1.2 3 4. 145.8 9 have lifted him up as a Medicine prepared for all men sick of whatever diseases or wounds of Sin and its fruits during the day of his grace willing that all be saved and come to the acknowledgement of the Truth and not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance So are we also to lift him up to and for all that so all or any to whom we lift him up may be perswaded to look to him and be saved And they that upon any pretence whatsoever as of following other Doctors for their reputed zeal or learning or number or any imaginations and reasonings of their own in which not comprehending the shining of the Light of Gods sayings they wrangle against them and by blind mistakes oppose them do otherwise they are therein faulty and injurious to the Souls of people and opposite to Christs order here who saith As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up But our Saviours saying shall and must prevail against them do what they can to hinder it 8. As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness for the healing of the wounded whatever or how many soever were their wounds without fore-preparing them for the virtue thereof by other means as of Medicines Searching Launcing or any other way applying any thing to their wounds but this was the first thing and the only thing powâ—rful to heal Viz. The Serpent lifted up And that was immediately without any intervening or preceding course to be looked to So is Christ to be lifted up as the Direct means and the immediate cure and Medicine for all diseases of the Soul without putting men upon other rules or devises courses to prepare them for healing by him as necessary to be first looked to of them Thus the Apostle saith He delivered to the Corinthians first of all or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the first things That Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose from the dead the third day according to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 15.3 4 5. And as much less did Moses go about to heal them and then let them see the Brazen Serpent when somewhat amended first So no more should any go about to regulate or qualifie any first for Christ as if they were too badly wounded to be admitted to look as yet to Christ or for Christ though looked to to heal them till they first be by the Law or some devises of men somewhat made better as humble men penitent sinners holy sinners or the like which is as if Moses should have hindred some from looking to the Serpent because so deeply and so dangerously wounded and their sores so many till they had got rid of some of them otherwise And as such a course would have been a dangerous derogation from the virtue of Gods Ordinance there so is this putting men upon qualifying themselves by other means first to better them before Christ may be Preached to them or they directed to look to or behold him a dangerous derogation from Gods order and Ordinance here Indeed as there if any being wounded by a Serpent had denied or doubted whether he was wounded by a Serpent and so needed to look to the Brazen Serpent it might have been necessary to perswade him and demonstrate to him that he was stâ—ng and so needed to apply himself to that way of cure the Brazen Serpent for healing So in case men doubt or deny that they are Sinners or have sinned and have need of Christ it may be needful to shew and demonstrate to them that they have sin and have sinned and need to look to Christ that they may be saved And so men may make use of the Law as a discoverer of Sin to that purpose And yet the best way to shew men their need for looking to Christ is to lift up Christ as given of God through his Death for them to be their helper and their Salvation So the Apostle We thus judge that if one died for All then all were dead That 's a demonstration most certain and effectual that every one needs to mind him and to apply themselves to him for Salvation as being sinners that Christ hath died for them all 2 Cor. 5.14 15. But of that way of Conviction they have no skill that do not believe that Apostolical Doctrine the denying and rejecting of which leads them to fall upon other courses as necessary to prepare them and make them not only to see themselves Sinners but also endeavour to work some reformation and good frames in them first before they lift up Christ to them and direct their eyes to him that so they might see some cause first to judge that there are at least some probable Signes of their Election in them upon which they may ground a hope or confidence that Christ dyed for them and so that there is in him saving virtue for healing them 4. As to the end of their lifting up And so 1. As the Serpent was lifted up by Moses as for all the stung People so also for all manner of stings and wounds received from the fiery Serpents yea for those that were inflicted as punishments for slighting other Types as the Manna was for slighting of which and for Murmuring against Christ therein the fiery Serpents were sent unto them and bit them Num. 21.5 6. Yea surely had a Serpent bitten any Man for despising the Brazen Serpent there had been no cure for him but in looking to the Brazen Serpent Even so the Son of Man is and must be lifted up for the pardoning healing and delivering from all sins and the misery that comes by them Yea for sinnings also against Christ and the grace and blessing in him There is forgiveness in him for our neglects of him and wickedness against him in refusing to be governed by him while yet it is a day of grace and patience and men be not as it were quite dead of their wounds whence Christ calls them who for some time have loved their simplicity when instructed by him yea scorners and lovers of their scorning and those that have been some long time fools and have hated
and despised knowledge brought to them by him to turn at his reproofs promising to pour out his Spirit to them and make known his words In which is implied that upon their turning he would forgive their former sleightings of him and sinnings against him which if they had not been to be forgiven and overlooked by him would have hindred them of such dispensations of his Grace and Spirit to them Prov. 1.22 23. As thence also the wicked are called upon to forsake their ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and turn to the Lord and he will have mercy upon them and abundantly pardon them Isa 55.7 And Christ tells the unbelieving Jews that would not come to him that they might have life that he would not accuse them to his Father and that if any man heard his voice and believed not he judged them not now because he came not into the world to judge the world but to save the world John 5.40 45. 12.47 In which saying it 's evident that the world he came to save includes also the now unbelieving persons in it while it 's yet a day of Grace he is saving them Also by his Intercession for transgressours as the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world and by renewed dispensations of patience forbearance and further grace to them as appears 1 John 2.1 2. Isa 53.12 Luke 13.8 Yea he prayed for such as actually abused and crucified him and in the repenting of such afterward he actually pardoned and forgave them Luke 23.34 with Acts 2.37 38 39. 3.19 20. 2. As Moses lifted up the Serpent that whosoever were stung with the fiery Serpents might have advantage and opportunity there-through to look upon it he declaring and informing them that it was set up as a means of healing and that it was Gods mind for giving healing by it that they look up to it and that it would not give forth any healing-virtue to them if not beheld by them yea probably if not beheld till they were healed if they turn'd their eye from it before its virtue had its force in and upon them though the Serpent was the same whether beheld or not beheld Even so is and must the Son of Man be lifted up that men may have an advantage and opportunity of beholding him he being not to be beheld if not lifted up How can they believe on him of whom they have not heard And how can they hear without a Preacher Or how can they preach except they be sent For Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.14 17. Which makes it needful that they that know him and are commissionated of God as every one that hears hath commission to say to others Come Rev. 22.17 do hold him forth commend and magnifie him to men It 's true that the Apostle there in Rom. 10.18 propounding that question Have they not all heard answers Yes doubtless their voice is gone into all the world and their words to the ends of the earth Alluding to Psal 19.2 3 4. Where the Holy Ghost speaks of the Heavens declaring the glory of God and the firmament shewing his handy-work And so of Gods Works and Providences setting him forth and uttering knowledge as elsewhere it 's said All his works shall praise him To which also they are often called upon Psal 145.8 9. 148. 150. And the Lord they commend and praise is doubtless the same of and to whom he saith Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands c. Psal 102.25 Which the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews applies to the Lord Jesus the Son of Man by whom the Lord hath spoken to us in these last days and by whom he made the worlds Heb. 1.1 2 10 11. And surely whosoever beholds him as there lifted up and praised so as to betake themselves to him for help they do and shall find mercy with him Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved In every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him Rom. 10.12 Acts 10.34 They that by nature or without verbal or vocal instruction do the things contained in the Law that love God and their neighbour though uncircumcised or not under the outward Regiment of Gods Kingdom and Ordinances their uncircumcision shall be accounted circumcision that is they shall be accepted and accounted of as Gods Church Rom. 2.25 26. And of those that by such means also are won in to God I understand in part what our Saviour saith That many shall come from the East and from the West even such as are not the children of the Kingdom and born under the distinct knowledge and Ordinances of God as the opposition to them in the following words do manifest wherein he adds and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac in the Kingdom of God when the children of the Kingdom such as are born and brought up in the professed Church and so are professedly under Gods Government or Ordinances shall be cast out Matth. 8.12 But I say notwithstanding whatever of this nature may be true however God in his lifting him up in his Providences and Works and the manifestations of him implicitely therein may do for the rendring him visible to men that they may behold him look to him and be saved by him Yet it concerns us as our duty and is that which God requires of us that we so lift up Christ in our distinct Preaching of him to men that men through our ministration may behold him in the distinct express declaration of him and be saved from their errours ignorances and iniquities which while they by their wisdom know him not in the wisdom of God as manifested in his works and providences they run into As to that purpose and for that cause it hath pleased God to appoint the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.21 It was not another light John bare witness to then that which enlighteneth every man coming into the world and that shined in the darkness before he bare witness to it It was not made another in or by his witness only more plainly declared and pointed to It was the same that was in the world though the world knew him not that came to his own and by his own was not received which whosoever received whether of the world or of his own were made the sons of God It was the same Word which was in the beginning with God that in due time was made flesh to bring us through his Sufferings in the flesh unto God in whom was the life and from whom the light came that always shined and in all the world But God to help men to discern him whom otherwise in his wisdom or more wise way to the view of the world as the way of his Creation and Providence is they usually overlook and