any man pluck them out of my hands Iohn 10.27 28. And this I do this Eternal life I give them by teaching and instructing them and making them to hear my voyce as who should say by working knowledge in them My sheep hear my voyce and by this means I give unto them Eternal life And this Expression in my Text looks much the same way As thou hast given him power ever all flesh that he should give Eternal life to as many as thou hast given him And this is life Eternal to know thee the true God and so on This is the way to give them life Eternal by making them to know thee And this I have begun to do already as he addeth afterwards I have made known thy Name that is thy Nature and thy Attributes to the men which thou hast given me So that this life Eternal here is not or not so much that which is perfect and Consummate in the Heavens as that which is begun in this world and which the Saints are made partakers of while they are here for even here they have Eternal life abiding in them And this this inchoate Eternal life consists especially in saving knowledge This is Eternal life this is it in the beginning to know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent So that the Point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That Life Eternal or the life of Grace which is Eternal is begun in holy Knowledge Christ gives Eternal life to us at least in the beginning of it when as the Prophet of his Church he teaches us and causes us to know his Father and himself When he makes known his Fathers Name and his own Name to us he causes us to pass from death to life In him was life saith the Evangelist 1 John 4. and the life was the light of men This Life communicated to the sons of men was the Light of saving knowledge which he made to shine into them He gave them life in that he gave them light and knowledge who were before in darkness and so by Consequence in the shadow of death as the Scripture phrase is And hence saith the Apostle Awake and rise up from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light Eph. 5.14 Indeed as long as we are ignorant and in the dark we are all dead men we know not what the life of God means And therefore the Apostle speaking of the Gentiles saith That they were strangers from the life of God They live the life of men indeed but they were strangers from the life of God the life of Grace by reason of the Ignorance and blindness that was in them Eph. 4 18. The Grace of God is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 1.10 who hath abolished death But how hath he done this by bringing life and Immortality to light as it is added in the next words by bringing life and â—â—â—ortality The latter as I take it is the Explication of the former q. d. by bringing such a Life as is immortal as is above the power of Death as the life of Grace is By bringing this to men by shining on them with the bright and glorious light and lustre of the Gospel I might be very copious here but this may satisfie to clear the Point That life Eternal c. And this appeareth further divers wayes It will appear that life Eternal or the life of Grace which is Eternal is begun in holy knowledge if we consider what it is that is the great Impediment of Life and what it is that holds men and detains men in a state of Death It is apparently their want of knowledge the ignorance and errour that is in them How came sin and with it death into the world but by cozenage and deceit The woman being deceived was in the transgression as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Tim. 2.14 She fell into it by a meer cheat And how are men continued in this state of sin and death They are corrupt according to deceitful lusts Eph. 4 22. Look as their lusts deceive them more or less so are they more or less corrupt And therefore they that sit in darkness are said to fit in the shadow of death And which way then shall life Eternal be begun in men but by dispelling this darkness by the light of holy Knowledge and by translating men out of the power of darkness as the Expression is Col. 1.14 Out of ignorance and darkness which hath such a power upon them to hold them under sin and death and to keep them still in a condition of estrangement from the life of God as the Apostle Paul insinuates in the cited place Eph. 4.18 If it be ignorance that keeps men from the life of Grace then surely it is holy Knowledge that begins it and that brings men to it It will appear that the life Eternal or the life of Grace which is Eternal is begun in holy Knowledge if you consider who it is that is the principal Efficient of it and the way which he works it The Principal Efficient of this Life is Jesus Christ and therefore he is called our Life very often in the Scripture And he is said to give it in the words which I have finished that he should give Eternal life And which way doth he give it to his people but by working knowledge in them And therefore it is added in my Text This is Eternal life this is the life which he gives to know thee the true God Indeed he gives it to us as a Prophet he purchases and gets it for us I acknowledge as a Priest by his Invaluable satisfaction But he begets and works it in us by his effectual Teaching and instruction as a Prophet And therefore he is said to speak in life to his people Iohn 6.63 The words that I speak unto you they are Life To shew us that he quickens us in a way of Information for to what End doth speaking tend but to make us understand Thou hast the words of eternal life saith Peter to our Saviour Christ Iohn 6.68 That is the words that work life and which way can they work it but by conveying knowledge to the mind of him that hears them So that you see that Jesus Christ is the Efficient Cause of the life of Grace in his people by teaching them by working saving knowledge in them by turning them from darkness to light He gets it for them as a Priest He gives it to them as a King He works it in them as a Prophet It will appear that life Eternal is begun in holy Knowledge Because the Instrumental means of Life is the means of knowledge to Yea it is the means of Life in that it is the means of Knowledge The Instrumental means of Life you know my Brethren is the Gospel And therefore it is called the word of Life Phil. 2.16 holding forth the word of Life that
Col. 3.16 And hence it is that all the Nations that dwell upon the face of the earth have groped after God and found him too as you may see Acts 17.27 All people have acknowledged him Let a man run from East to West from North to South let him ransack all Ages and where he findeth any men there he shall find some Worship or Religion by which they all acknowledge that there is a God And though they differ in the manner of their Worship they all agree in this that there is a Deity that must be Worshipped Within these hundred years you know my Brethren there have been many Nations discovered and many are discovered still which were unknown in former Ages Among them many have been found to live without Law King house going naked and wandering in the open field yet none without some species of Religion and some notice of a God which shews us evidently that it is not so natural a thing in man to love Society to cover and to cloath himself against the injuries of weather which yet is very natural as to acknowledge God But now my Brethren among which of all these Nations who never had the book of Scriptures shall you find any notice of a Christ any inckling of a Saviour or Redeemer No no there is no hint of that among them they have no glimpse no crevice to give them any light of Jesus Christ And how then can they come to life Eternal since it consisteth in the knowledge both of God and Christ too not of the former only but the latter also And therefore we have cause to pitty them and bleed over them and to importune God for them that the Gospel may be preached where Christ as yet hath not been so much as named that to the people that are yet in darkness there may shine a great light That as they have some intimations of a God they may know Christ too and so may come to live for ever for this is life Eternal c. Is it so my Brethren that the knowledge which is life Eternal c. is the Vse 2 Knowledge both of God and Christ too Then let the Ministers and the Embassadors of Jesus Christ be hence advised as they desire to save themselves and them that hear them to bring their Hearers to Eternal life so to instruct them and to bring them on-ward in the Knowledge not of God alone but of Jesus Christ too Let it be their special labour and endeavour to acquaint them with the things of Jesus Christ and to implant his Knowledge in their hearts which is as I have shewed so necessary to salvation Paul was a very good Preacher and see what vvas the special subject of his Ministry Col. 1.26 27. saith the Apostle there the riches of the Glory of this Mysterie viz. the Gospel is Christ in you the hope of glory whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Iesus Out of Christ vve can never make them perfect and accomplished to salvation the knowledge of the Father will not serve the turn and therefore vve preach Christ to them that in and through him they may be perfect And though the same Apostle did so excel in knowledge that he durst without vain glory compare vvith the very chiefest Apostles as you may see 2 Cor. 11.5 6. Though I be rude in speech saith he yet not in knowledge but we have been throughly made manifest to you in all things q. d. There was no point of knowledge in Religion needful for you to be instructed in no difficult and thorny case of Conscience that any of you had occasion to propound to me but I was able fully and cleerly to resolve you in yea though he had received such abundance of Revelation from the Lord that he was in great danger to be exalted above reason as he himself acknowledges 1 Cor. 12.7 yet he professes notwithstanding that he made no account of all his other Learning in comparison of this to know Iesus Christ and him crucified This was the whole scope and drift of his Ministry 2 Cor. 2.2 This was the high point of Learning that he gloried in This was the Knowledge that he laboured in his preaching to bring the Corinthians to And this he did advisedly and upon mature Judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I determined saith he it was my setled and advised resolution before I preached to you that this should be the highest point of Knowledge that I would profess my self to be acquainted with and to have skill in and which I vvould in the whole course of my Ministry endeavour to instil into you I determined to know nothing among you not a title of any thing but Iesus Christ and him crucified Oh that we vvere all of the Apostle Pauls mind Oh that all Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel would do as this Apostle did that they would not so much affect the knowledge of nice intricate and curious speculations and busie their own and other mens heads with unprofitable controversies with opposition of Science falsly so called as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 6.11 That they would not make this their glory to excel others in secular Learning and in such points of knowledge as are vain as to the main and great business but rather bend themselves to study this point better and to strive to bring themselves and others to this skill to know Iesus Christ and him crucified This were the way indeed to make them happy everlastingly for this is eternal life c. Vse 3 Is it so my Brethren that the Knowledge which is life Eternal in which c. Then be you all intreated and prevailed withall my Brethren to labour after this Knowledge Not to content your selves vvith this that you have some degrees of the Knowledge of God unless withall you know Christ too Let this be your main Endeavour to get an insight into those things which concern him that you may know God in him That you may look upon him through Christ and so may see him as he is in Christ to his people We preach not our selves but the Lord Iesus Christ saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.5 It is Christ that we preach What then might some man say do you not preach God too Yes saith the Apostle there vve preach God but we preach him in Christ for God hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the Knowledge of God in the face of Iesus Christ as it is added in the next words So then my Brethren we must have the light of the Knowledge of God but it must be in the face of Christ It must not shine immediately upon us as it comes from God for then it vvill overcome us but it must shine upon us by Reflection on the face of Christ Jesus If vve would see God we must look on Jesus Christ and we shall see
true believers which strips them only of the life which stands in union of the body and the soul together and not of that which stands in union of them both to Christ is stiled a rest a sleep in Scripture not a death They only die indeed which go down quick to hell as the prophet David speaks who are cast into the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death who after many pangs and tortures suffered in the separation of the body from the soul are separated everlastingly from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Is it so that the life which Jesus Christ c. Oh how doth it concern Vse 3 us then my brethren not to satisfie our selves with the frail life of nature which may expire upon a suddain and let us sink into Eternal death but to make out after the life of Jesus Christ the life of grace which is above the reach and power of death which will not fail us but endure for ever We all have sparks of immortality within us and we have thoughts aspiring to Eternity we would not die if we could choose Oh let us labour then my brethren for the life of grace and this is an eternal life The life of nature is a fading thing it may be gone upon a suddain And it is a sad and dreadfull thing for an eternal soul to have nothing else between it and eternal woe and torture but such a fickle and perishable life which the next minute may be done and let him drop away to hell for ever Oh how suddainly may such perish and come to a fearful End but if we live the life of Christ that is a lasting and abiding life And though the natural life decay and though the body die and rot and turn to dust and putrefaction yet this will flourish and grow stronger still till it be perfected and made consummate in the life of glory And why then are our labours and endeavours wholly spent to nourish and maintain this transitory life with things that perish in the using which yet when all is done will fail and come to dissolution but never strive for the attainment of that life which is eternal It is a lamentable thing my brethren that the divine intentions of eternal minds should be laid out on nothing else but perishable things Now that you may attain this lasting and enduring life of grace I shall but give you two or three directions First You must strive for saving knowledge and seek to get your minds enlightned with the beams of truth The life of holiness and grace consists in light And hence saith the Evangelist that light viz. the light of saving knowledge from the son of God revealed and manifested in the Gospel was the life of men Iohn 1.4 And in the words immediately adjoyned to my text that he may give eternal life c. and this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent It s true indeed there may be light of knowledge without any life of grace But there can never be the life of grace without the light of holy knowledge And therefore the Apostle speaking of the Gentiles saith they were strangers from the life of God they lived the life of men but they were strangers from the life of God the life of grace by reason of the ignorance and darkness that was in them And surely if we ever look to rise up from our graves of sin and stand up from the dead we must have light from Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul insinuates Eph. 5.11 Secondly You must endeavour after faith which is the instrument and means of life by which it is conveyed from Christ to all his members And therefore we shall find that faith and life believing and living are joyned together the one as the fruit and effect of the other Whosoever liveth and believeth in me saith our Saviour Ioh. 11.26 id est Whosoever liveth by believing in me shall never die He that believeth in him that sent me hath eternal life saith Christ Iohn 5.24 and shall not come to condemnation but is passed from death to life These things are written that ye might believe that Iesus Christ is the Son of God and that believing ye might have life Joh. 20. ult I live saith the Apostle Paul and yet c. and the life which I live I live by the faith of the Son of God So that the grace of faith you see my brethren is the instrument of life it is the bond of union between Christ and all his members it is the Artery by which his Spirit is conveyed into us And therefore if you ever look to live you must labour after faith Thirdly that you may attain to saving knowledge and to justifying faith and consequently to this life of Christ you must attend upon the voice of Christ in the preaching of the Gospel For that is an effectuall means when God is pleased to concurr to raise men from the death of sin and to make them live to God And this is clearly intimated to us by our Saviour Christ himself John 5.25 The hour cometh saith Christ there when the dead the dead in sin shall hear the voice of the Son of God conceive it in the powerful preaching of the Gospel and they that hear it shall live And hence the word of Christ is called the word of life You see then what you are to do I say to you my Brethren as the Prophet to the Jews Isa 55.3 Hear with an obedient ear a flexible and yielding heart hear and your souls shall live And thus far of the thing to be dispenced by vertue of the power and the authority of Jesus Christ with which he is invested by the Father And this as you have heard is life yea it is Eternal life The manner or the way of dispensation comes next in order to be handled it is to be dispenced as a gift in the nature of a gift in a way of free donation that he should give Eternal life Not that he should communicate it or confer it only but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he should give So that you see my Brethren all is free both on the Fathers side and on the Sons The Father he is free to him that he may be free to others The Father gives him power that he may give his people life As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him There is no difficulty in the terms the point is obvious DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ doth freely give eternal life to his people They have it from him as a free gift He doth not sell they do not buy it or if they do it is as his own offer is without money and without price They have it from him out of bounty and not out of merit or desert
fathers own son But you will say wise fathers have very often weak children But Jesus Christ is so his fathers son that he partaketh with him of his wisdom it is poured out into him in abundance And therefore he is sometimes called the wisdom of the father in the abstract as see 1 Cor. 1.24 Iesus Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God And if he be so very wise you may be sure he spake wise words and wise words are worth the marking In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.3 And out of question what he bringeth forth is of the treasure that is hid in him 2. But in the next place if you look upon him downwards with Relation to the Church you will see further reason why the words that Jesus spake should be so exactly noted and so carefully observed As he is the fathers wisdom so he is made to us wisdom as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Cor. 1.30 His father hath appointed him to be the great Prophet of of his Church The great preacher the greater revealer of his truth and will to men and therefore out of question he can speak well and his words are worth the marking You may be sure the father would not send out such a Prophet to the Church as were not worth the listening to No no God hath annointed me to preach faith Christ himself Luke 4.18 not appointed me to preach but annointed me to preach endued me with abilities and gifts for that office God who in former times saith the Apostle spake to the fathers by the Prophets hath in these latter dayes spoken to us by the Son He was designed you see to be the spoksman for the father to the world to tell them what his mind is and to preach the Gospel to them We that are ordinary preachers of the Gospel we that are underlings to Christ in this business must be enabled with some competent ability in this respect or else we are not fit for this work And therefore when our Saviour sent out his disciples he promised to give them wisdom and a mouth that is matter and expression Luke 21.15 wisdom within together with a mouth to utter and to bring forth that wisdom To shew that both of these must go together in a preacher of the Gospel I know there is a latitude to be admitted and allowed in this regard but yet a competent ability to speak so as the people may be edified by it is indisputably required And if the under-ministers of Christ must have such a faculty how great ability then must their Master have Who was designed to be the great Preacher the great Prophet and as the Apostle stiles him the chief Bishop of our Souls And if he had such a transcendent faculty to speak then certainly the words he spake are fit to be commended c. Then secondly if you consider as whose the words were so in the next place what the words were you will allow them to be worthy of our choicest observation What the words were that Jesus spake either for the matter of them or for the efficacy of them let us a little weigh them in their order and we shall see they both help to this business 1. The words of Jesus for the matter of them commonly were Gospel words Such were the words to which my text alludes in the three chapters next before full of nothing else my brethren but Gospel-sweetness Gospel-Promises and Gospel-consolation against approaching troubles and afflictions these were the words that Jesus spake Christ in a sense my brethren was the first and certainly the chiefest preacher of the Gospel this great Salvation at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed afterwards by them that heard him Heb. 2.3 And hence the Gospel as you know is called Christs saying John 8.51 The Law was the fathers saying God spake these words The Gospel is the Sons saying This was spoken by the Son And hence saith Christ in the fore-alledged text if a man keep my saying he shall never see Death So that the sayings and the words of Jesus are very fit to be considered For his you see are Gospel-sayings and Gospel sayings are worthy of all acceptation as the Apostle tels you 1 Tim. 1.15 Indeed Law-Sayings are not so readily attended to and entertained You know my brethren on mount Sinai at the giving of the Law there were thunderings and lightnings and terrible voices and the event and issue was the people fled and would not hear they were not able to endure the noise But Gospel-sayings on the other side allure affection and invite attention Upon mount Tabor where our Saviour was transfigured there was a shining Sun a bright cloud a gentle and a pleasing voice and the Disciples said Edificemus Domine Let us build here c. 2. And as the words of Jesus for the matter of them were Gospel-words so for the efficacy of them they were saying words and so in that respect the words that Jesus spake are very fit to be commended c. The words that I speak saith our Saviour to the Jews are spirit and life John 6.63 they are so in their operation and effect they give Spirit and they work life And who would not attend unto and entertain such words as these are His saying if it be received and kept will surely save a man from death yea from eternal death We may depend upon it he binds it with a strong asseveration which he repeats twice for the more Surety Iohn 8.51 Verily verily I say unto you if a man keep my saying he shall never see death Death is not visible the meaning is he shall not be annoyed and hurted by it as you have the like Expression Jer. 5.12 We shall not see sword nor famine And should not such words be commended to the Church and embraced by the Church as save from death and bring eternal life with them The setting down of which upon Record in holy Scripture and leaving them to after-times hath been the life of many souls and will be yet of many more in every age even to the worlds end If you consider in the last place as whose the words were and what the words were that Jesus spake so the manner how he spake them you will see further reason yet why they should be commended c. For this you may depend upon Never man spake like him It is the attestation that is given him John 7.46 Which coming from his enemies the officers that went to take him is of the more validity Never spake man like this man Grace was poured into his lips as the expression is Psalm 45.2 to shew us that the grace there mentioned is a gift of utterance and a faculty of speech whereof the lips are instruments They are the lips that form the words we speak and bring them forth to those that hear them and hence this gift of
find it in his story that as man he was extreamly troubled at the unbelief and hardness of the peoples hearts He wept over Jerusalem with many tears Why you will say perhaps what needed this he might have wrought upon them and put the life of Grace into them No my Beloved he could not work on many of them he could not raise them to the life of Grace they were not given him by his Father and yet as man he pittied and lamented their condition as we should do in such a case he being in all things like unto us sin only excepted And this methinks should melt the hearts of Reprobates themselves to Christ and make them to relent towards him Alas he pitties you and mourns over you his very bowels yearn towards you He delights not in your ruin and destruction No it is troublesome and grievous to him But why then doth he not relieve and help us you will say Why if you be not given him by the Father it is not in his power to do it It s said indeed that he gives life unto the world as it is in his own expression Iohn 6.33 But that is but in opposition to the Jews not to the Jews alone but to the world to men of all conditions and of all Nations in the world But to the world in general he doth not nay he cannot give it So that the fault is not in him if any of you perish and that you have not life from him you see he is confined and bound up by his Father to a certain number to give this life but to as many as the Father gives him JOHN 17.3 And this is Life Eternal AND thus we have at length dispatched the End for which our Saviour is invested with so large and ample Power over all flesh That he may give Eternal Life to as many as God hath given him But what is Eternal Life what is there comprehended under that expression As when our Saviour once discoursed of Truth he had this question put to him what is Truth So having spoken here of Life Eternal if any of you now should put the question what is life Eternal you have the resolution in the following verse which I am now to enter on And this is life Eternal if you desire to understand it this it is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent So that these words you see are an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Explication of that which is delivered in the former verse in which our Saviour shews expresly what he intendeth by Eternal Life and wherein it consists in the Knowledge of the Father and the Son or of the Father in the Son And here I shall take notice only of these two Particulars viz. the thing explained and the way of Explication The thing explained is life Eternal As for the way of Explication he doth not shew you quare sit why this life Eternal is he doth not open and unfold it by the Causes of it I say he doth not here though he doth in other places but he shews you quid sit what this Eternal life is This saith he is Life Eternal life This is it what is it why it consists you see in holy Knowledge which is set forth both by the Act and Object of it The Act that they might know The Object of it God the Father the only true God and Christ the Son Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This is life Eternal that they might know thee c. What then Doth there go nothing else to life Eternal but the knowledge of the Father and the Son Doth it consist in this and this only This is a scruple that is very variously resolved by those that write upon the Text. Some think that knowledge here is put for faith by which we live the life of Grace which is Eternal as the Apostle speaks The life which I live I live by the faith of the Son of God And so it is as if our Saviour Christ had said this is Eternal life so to know as to believe in thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Others conceive that life Eternal here importeth nothing else but the way to Eternal life the ready path that leads to it And that our Saviour shews us here how he brings those to life Eternal who are bestowed upon him by his Father viz. by giving them the saving Knowledge of his Father and himself That he should give Eternal life to as many as thou hast given him And this is life Eternal this is the way to it that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent As far as I can apprehend the scruple might be cleared best by a distinction Eternal life is either Inchoate or consummate Eternal life Consummate consists especially in the compleat and perfect knowledge of God which Schoolmen all Beatifical vision And hence our Saviour Christ himself sets forth our happiness of which we shall be made partakers in the world to come by this that there we shall see God Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God that is we shall know God as knowledge ordinarily is set forth by the sense of seeing in the Scripture Yea we shall know him clearly and distinctly we shall see him face to face And this is that which the Apostle makes the main of the Beatitude and glory prepared for the Saints at the time of Christs appearing 1 Iohn 3.2 We shall see him as he is now we see him as we can then we shall see him as he is we shall know him as we are known viz. of God 1 Cor. 13.12 We shall know God even as God knows us As we are known of God distinctly clearly perfectly so we shall know God He knows us perfectly according to his nature now and we shall know him perfectly according to our nature then as far as our created nature is capable of So we shall know as we are known for as there is a note of Similitude and not of Equality And this shall be our happiness in Heaven and our glorious life there that we shall see the very face of God and not his back parts only as we have done in this world That we shall have him fully and compleatly So that this is Eternal life you see consummate in the Heavens to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent But as I take it the life Eternal mentioned in my Text is that of which the Saints are made partakers in this present life and which our Saviour gives them here in this world As in another place he tells us My sheep hear my voice saith he and I give unto them Eternal life He doth not say I will give them Eternal life hereafter but I give it them for present and therefore it is added in the words immediatly annexed neither shall
is the Gospel the Ministry of life 2 Cor. 3.7 in opposition to the Law which is the Ministry of death and condemnation And which way doth the Gospel work life but by instilling knowledge into men by making them to understand that which they never knew before that they are naturally dead in trespasses and sins that they are in a state of death and condemnation that there is life enough in Jesus Christ that he is ready to dispense and give it out to all that come to him for it And so convincing them that it is necessary for them to go to him that they may have Life Till they come to know this there is no life of Grace in them And it is by Gospel-Teaching that this life is infused into them It will appear unto you that the life of Grace is begun in holy Knowledge if you consider with what part the Lord begins when he puts this Life into us He begins not with the members he begins not with the will but he begins with the mind and understanding by Illuminating that and by endewing that with saving knowledge And therefore we are said to be transformed or to be changed from the state or life of nature to the state or life of Grace by the renewing of the mind Rom. 12.2 No doubt the will and members are renewed too for the change is universal But there the work begins my Brethren in the mind and understanding we are renewed first in the spirit of the mind Eph. 4.23 and from that it goes on to the inferiour faculties and to the outward conversation And consequently it begins in knowledge of which the mind is capable which is the proper object of it And therefore saith our Saviour sanctifie them with thy Truth Renew them make them holy work the life of Grace in them by revealing Truth to them It is apparent that the life of Grace begins in Knowledge because all other grace is brought into the soul by it and therefore this must be the first Grace The first I mean in order and in course of nature not of time As long as there is no knowledge there is no grace at all and so no Life in such a person But when knowledge once comes in I speak of sanctified Knowledge it brings all saving Grace with it This is the prime work of Grace and the Foundation of the rest The New man is renewed in Knowledge Col. 3.10 why so it is in Faith and Love and other graces But it is first renewed in knowledge there is the rise the original of all And even as in the first the old Creation the Lord began with natural Light Gen 1.3 so in the second or the New Creation he begins with spiritual Light with super-natural and saving Knowledge and gives us other graces by this means To which effect is the Apostles prayer 2 Pet. 1.2 3. Grace be multiplyed upon you through the knowledge of God and after more expresly to our purpose As he hath given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him So that we have this Life the life of holiness and grace through knowledge without it we have no Grace but with it all Grace It is the seed from whence all other graces grow it is the means by which they are begotten in the soul Holy Knowledge will bring forth heavenly Affections and desires If a man know God and know Christ his will shall close with him and his affections shall be carried out to him it will effectually restrain a man from sin and reform the Conversation They shall not hurt neither destroy in all my holy Mountain saith the Lord Isa 11.9 And why so for the earth shall be full of the Knowledge of the Lord. If you have been taught by him as the Truth is in Jesus why then you will put off the old man It will draw a man to practice and obedience if it be sound and saving Knowledge as holy David intimates in that request of his Psalm 119.34 Give me understanding saith he And what then why I shall keep thy Law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart So that you see all holiness and Grace is brought into the soul by Knowledge and therefore certainly the life of Grace begins in it Use 1 Now is it so that life Eternal or the life of Grace which is Eternal is begun in holy Knowledge This then may serve to teach us in the first place how to value Knowledge and what account and estimate to put upon it Why truly as we value life yea everlasting Life so we ought to value Knowledge at the very same rate For this is life Eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent We all of us do make a very great account even of our temporary Lives which yet when all is done must perish and decay and come ro nothing we are ready to Redeem them if there be no other way with the loss of all things else Though yet even then when all is done we know we can enjoy them but a few years and are not certain to enjoy them one hour How is it then that we despise and undervalue holy Knowledge in which Eternal life consists which if we can attain we have Eternal life abiding in us a life which is above the power of death and dissolution Alas how miserably is it slighted by the greater part of men yea by the greater part of Christians Christians I mean in name and in profession Though it be offered them they will not take it but say in effect to God Depart from us for we will not have the knowledge of thy wayes When light is tendered them they even shut their eyes against it that they may not see So that it may be said of such as God complains of some in Israel their eyes have they closed lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and be converted and be healed And the Apostle Peters charge must needs fall home upon them they are wilfully ignorant They enjoy the means of Knowledge but they will not wait upon them they take no care at all to profit by them They need not to ascend up into heaven to bring Christ down from above nor to descend into the deep to bring up Christ again from the dead as the Apostle speaks Rom. 10.6 that they may be acquainted with him the word is nigh them as it is added there in that place The Word that manifesteth and revealeth God and Christ is nigh to them They need not to go far to hear it and to hear of God in it But many will not spend an hour they will not step without their doors to meet with God and to be acquainted with him as if the Knowledge of the Lord were worth nothing as if it were of no value Ah my Beloved do you know what it is that you despise and
any time But though he doth not yet he may No saith the Apostle Paul 1 Tim. 6.16 He dwells in light that no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see Indeed we see him darkly here as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 13.12 And therefore this is called the seeing of the back-parts of the Lord. As when we see the back-parts of a man we know him but by guess only we know him not so perfectly and distinctly as when we come to see his face Such a sight of God is that which we attain in this life And however it may seem by some expression in the Scripture that God hath fully manifested and made known himself to some here as to Jacob Gen. 32.30 and to Moses Num. 12.8 To him will I speak saith God by vision not in darkness and he shall see the similitude of God This must be understood comparatively of the Lords more clear and full revealing of himself to Jacob and to Moses then to other men But as for perfect light and knowledge of the Lord my Brethren this was not imparted neither to Jacob nor to Moses Thou shalt not see my face saith God to Moses Exod. 33.10 That is the fulness of my glory for none shall see my face and live But which way may we come to know him so far as he is to be known in this life Truly there is but one way of coming to the knowledge of him and this way is Jesus Christ No man hath seen God at any time saith the Evangelist Ioh. 1.18 What then is he not to be seen not to be known at all by any means Yes though he be not to be seen or known immediately in himself yet mediately in and by the Son he may be known for he hath manifested and revealed him to us No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him And therefore when our Saviour was Incarnate it is said that God was manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 In which respect it is that when Philip was so earnest to have the Father shewn him our Saviour bids him to behold himself and addeth presently he that hath seen me hath seen the Father also Indeed it was the business of our Saviour Christ into this Lower world to bring God down to us that we might be acquainted with him And therefore if you do indeed desire to know him go to Christ and use his help in this business If you ever see God and have that knowledge of him which is life Eternal you must have light from Jesus Christ to see him by I am the light of the world saith he Ioh 8.12 without me there is no light in all the world none but that which comes from me and which I am the Fountain of He that follows me shall have the light of Life that is the light which is life And therefore if you would have this light follow Jesus Christ for it and follow him three wayes or in the use especially of three Means follow him in a Gospel-Ordinance a Gospel grace a Gospel-duty Follow him in the Gospel-ordinance of preaching there it is that Christ shines that he gives out the light by which he shews his Father to his people It s true indeed that Moses shewed him in the Law as a Judge and an Avenger But it is Jesus Christ that shews him in the Gospel as a Father and a Saviour He is not manifest in a saving way anywhere but in the Gospel The Knowledge of him as he is discovered there and none but that is life eternal And therefore wait on that discovery if you mean to live for ever where there is any Gospel-preaching say Christ shews his Father there and follow him that so you may have life by this means I say as Solomon Prov. 4.13 Take fast hold of Instruction keep her for she is thy life Follow him in a Gospel-grace and that is faith by this it is that we come to see God and know God as by it we believe the Revelations and Discoveries that are made of God which other men may read and hear and yet because they have no faith to give belief and credit to them they get no sight no knowledge of the Lord by them It is by faith that we see him who is invisible as the expression is Heb. 11.27 There are some things that must be first believed before they can be fully understood if you believe them not you can never understand them And hence saith the Apostle in the third ver of the fore-cited Chapter by saith we understand the world to be created by the word of God A man would think he would have said by faith we credit and believe it and not by faith we understand it But the Creation is a thing that is above Philosophy and therefore is not to be fully understood unless it be believed first It is our faith that helps us to the perfect Knowledge of it and so by faith we see and know God because by faith we give assent to the discoveries that are made of God in Scripture and having once believed them we come to see and understand the nature of the Lord in them We see the Lord in his All-mightiness his All-sufficiency his Omni-presence c. which a man that hath not faith can neuer do we bring him near us by believing his Immensity and that he filleth all places as he is said to do in Scripture we look upon him now as just by us and so we have a clear and distinct sight of him Follow Christ in a Gospel-duty and that is Prayer beseech him to reveal God to you make your address to him as Philip doth Iohn 14.9 Shew us the Father we cannot see him of our selves Lord shew him to thy poor servants If Christ withdraw himself and step away go after him follow him and you shall have the light of Life If he stop his ears against you cry the louder as the Direction is Prov. 2.3 Cry after Knowledge lift up your voyce for Understanding and what then Then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God Is it so that life Eternal c. If then you desire to save men from Eternal Use 4 death to bring men to Eternal Life instill the Knowledge of the Lord into them It may be you have Children it may be you have Friends or servants whom you look upon as dead they have no life of grace in them well Would you have them quickened Would you have them live for ever Do what you can by all the means that you can think upon to make them know God Instruct them bring them to the means of grace examine them how they thrive and profit by them Oh do not see them sink away to hell and die for ever for want of any help that you can yield them of any pains
that you can bestow upon them Have compassion upon them save them with fear pulling them out of the fire out of the fire of hell by this means Oh pitty such a Child or such a Friend or such a servant as you see Ignorant of God let your bowels earn upon him Ah poor dead soul And if you can be Instrumental to instill the Knowledge of the Lord into him you shall do a great work you shall save a soul from death yea from Eternal death you shall bring it to Eternal life JOHN 17.3 That they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ c. AND thus far of the thing Explained and that as you have heard is life Eternal together with the way of Explication our Saviour shews not quare sit but quid sit what this life Eternal is This saith he is life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent So that as you have heard it consists in holy Knowledge Proceed we now to look a little more particularly and distinctly on the Knowledge in which Eternal life consists as it is here described by the Object of it God and Christ Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent So that here is a double Object of the Knowledge mentioned and each of them is set forth by a Title and an Attribute The Title of the former God the Attribute the true God yea the only true God The Title of the latter Jesus Christ the Attribute whom God hath sent Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent And here the first thing that I shall observe is the communication of this double Object of the Knowledge wherein Eternal life consists God and Christ You see my Brethren they are closely knit together by the conjunctive particle And to shew us that they may not be divided in this great business That it is not sufficient to salvation to believe in God unless we believe in Christ to To know God unless we know Christ too Our Saviour saith not this is life Eternal to know the only true God no he doth not stop there The knowledge which proceeds no further will never bring a man to life Eternal There is another Object of this saving Knowledge which must with all be jointly apprehended by us if we mean to live for ever and that is Jesus Christ whom God hath sent And then my Brethren if we take them both together we are right It is impossible that we should perish This is life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Not thee alone but thee and Christ So that the Point to be observed is this DOCTRINE The Knowledge which is life Eternal in which Eternal life consists is the Knowledge both of God and Christ too not of the former only but the latter also You see my Brethren both of them are jointly made the Object of it in my Text. So that the Knowledge which neglecteth either of them is in-sufficient to salvation If it stay and rest on God and go not on to Jesus Christ it will never reach home This only this is life Eternal to know God and Jesus Christ not divided but together First it is true that it is absolutely necessary to Eternal life to know God The ignorant of him are made the Objects of a dreadful Imprecation Ier. 10.25 Yea more then so the ignorant among the heathen who were deprived of the means though not of all yet of the saving Knowledge of him and yet as you may see the Prophet prayes Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not Indeed the men that have their understandings darkened by reason of their ignorance of God whether they have means or none are alienated from the life of God Ephes 4.18 They do not live the life of Grace in this world nor shall they live the life of Glory in the world to come And the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels rendring vengeance unto them that know not God 2 Thes 1.7 So that without the knowledge of him there is no escaping everlasting wrath and vengeance There is no possibility of coming to enjoy him unless we be acquainted with him Nec cum potes aut amare quem nescias aut habere quem non amaveris thou canst not love him whom thou knowest not nor have him whom thou lovest not Nay let me go a little further that Knowledge of the Lord and only that is life Eternal which bringeth forth obedience to him You may see this evident in both the parts of godliness both in eschewing evil and in doing good As for the first hear what the Lord himself saith Job 28.28 The fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding To know him so to fear him to fear to disobey him and to sin against him this only is the right Knowledge As for the other part of godliness which consists in doing good see that of the Prophet David Psalm 111.10 A good understanding have they that do his Commandments They only understand and know the Lord effectually and savingly that obey the will of God Others may have understanding but it is no good understanding That alone is good and right which makes a man to do his Commandments and this the Lord himself observes of the knowledge of Iosiah Ier. 22.16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy was not this to know me saith the Lord q.d. This was knowledge to the purpose this was true and real knowledge of the Lord which made him strict and carefull in the practice of his duty And therefore because this is life Eternal God hath bound himself by Covenant to give them whom he means to save such a knowledge of himself His Covenant is to give them Understanding see the abridgement of it Ier. 31.34 They shall all know me saith God there But how shall they know God Why they shall know him so as to serve him and obey him And therefore it is said before I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts They shall not have it only in their minds to know it but in their hearts to practice and obey it And so they shall all know me So that you see the Knowledge which is saving in which Eternal life consists hath God for the object of it Secondly but though it have him for the Object of it it hath him not for the sole and only Object if our knowledge go no further it will never reach home it will never bring us up to Life and Glory The Knowledge which is life Eternal you have heard in which Eternal life consists is the knowledge both of God and Christ too Not of the former only but of the latter also To know God without Christ is not to know him savingly as I shall shew
you more at large hereafter And therefore the Apostle Peter presses those whose salvation he desires that they would grow in the knowledge of the Saviour Iesus Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 And the Apostle Paul desireth God in behalf of the Ephesians that he would give them the spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him that is of Christ Iesus Indeed this is the great thing that we must desire to know if we mean to live for ever And therefore Christ is made sometimes the only Object of a Christians knowledge as if there were no other knowledge necessary to that great End When Christ ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men saith the Apostle Eph. 4.8 and what was the intent and aim of those gifts Why to bring men to the knowledge of the Son of God God is not mentioned there but the Son of God only And the Apostle Paul taught the Corinthians nothing else but Christ and yet his aym was that they might be saved I determined to know nothing among you saith he 1 Cor. 2.2 that is I resolved so to manage and carry the course of my Ministry as if I knew nothing but Iesus Christ and him crucified And in the same respect it is that he prefers the knowledge of Christ before all other things yea before all other knowledge as being of the greatest use Phil. 3.8 He doth not only say that it is good but that it is Excellent beyond compare there is an excellency in it Yea doubtless I esteem all things but loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord yea life it self but loss for that you see is not excepted in regard of that Knowledge which bringeth us to life Eternal And hence it was that though he spake with Tongues more then they all though he abounded and excelled in all sorts of Learning yet he gloried in nothing but in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ Gal. 6.4 as intimating that especially to be considerable in the main business to make him everlastingly and truly happy But why is not the knowledge of the only true God sufficient of it self to life Eternal unless we also know Iesus Christ whom he hath sent Let us see the reasons of it Reason 1 If we know God and not Christ we know him but as a Creator and a common Saviour a Preserver not as a Sanctifier or Redeemer We know him but in such a way and very short of such a measure as Adam did in the state of Innocency And which way should we come to life Eternal by such a knowledge as this is If we look that God should save us upon this account that he hath made us we are upon a wrong ground Indeed did we continue in the state in which he made us he would be sure to save us too Could we serve him and obey him so absolutely and exactly as Adam could and did while he remained in his first Integrity I must acknowledge then it were enough to life Eternal to know him too in such a way as Adam did in that state there were no other knowledge of him necessary to make us everlastingly and truly happy But we are lost you know in the Creation there we are dead and gone and theretore it is necessary now to know the Lord under another Notion if we mean to live for ever viz. as a Repairer of the ruins of decayed and lost man-kind as a healer of the Natures and a Forgiver of the sins of his people And thus we cannot know him out of Christ and so by Consequence unless we know Christ too The old and the first frame and Fabrick of salvation was over-thrown and over-turned by the fall And if we mean to build it up again we must begin upon another ground a new Foundation God was the only Object of Fundamental knowledge then Christ is at the least the next and the mediate Object of fundamental knowledge now You know my Brethren that confession of the Apostle Peter Mat. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Son of God is made by Jesus Christ himself the Rock on which the Church is founded And other Foundation no man can lay saith the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians Eph. 1.3 11. that is no other sound and solid Foundation then that which is said which is Jesus Christ It s true the same Apostle elsewhere speaks of the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Eph. 2.20 That is the Foundation which the Prophets and Apostles laid not making them the matter of it but the layers of it for so you must conceive his meaning in that Text You are built on the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles that is on the fundamental Doctrine which the Prophets and Apostles teach of which foundation Iesus Christ himself although he be not all yet he is the chief Corner-stone The Knowledge of God was the chief point in Adams foundation The knowledge of Christ is the chief point in our foundation Christ was not there at all as Mediator but here he is in the first and chief place There are other Corner-stones that rest upon him but he and he alone is the chief Corner-stone on which all the rest are set and who supporteth all the building And therefore he that fails of knowing him must needs fail of life Eternal Secondly the Knowledge of God is not enough to life Eternal unless Reason 2 we know Christ too Because unless we know Christ we know not God as Reconciled unto us We know him only on the terms that he was with us when we fell and that is upon terms of enmity and opposition As long as we remain as Adam left us un repaired and un-renewed vve are enemies to God God is an enemy to us And if we knovv him out of Christ either we knovv him not aright or else we knovv him on such terms as these are Christ is the only Mediator betvveen God and man He came dovvn into the World to take up all the breaches and the differences betvveen his Father and his people and to make peace by the blood of his Cross And how should Christ make peace for us unless we knovv him unless we be acquainted with him unless we put our matter into his hands So that if vve know Christ vve may know God as a friend in and by and through Christ We may look upon him then as Reconciled to us as pacified and appeased tovvards us But if vve know not Christ at all vve cannot know God otherwise then as an Enemy and as a Judge and an Avenger and whether such a knovvledge of him can be life Eternal judge you Thirdly Knovvledge of God is not enough to life Eternal unless Reason 3 vve know Christ too because unless we know Christ and know him in and through Christ vve know him vvithout Interest vve know him but as none of ours We parted vvith the Lord in Adam vve lost him there and all the right
vve had in him and which way comes he to be ours again but by a new a second Covenant which he makes the former being broken and dissolved I entered into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine saith the Lord to his people Ezech. 16.8 And is not Christ the Foundation of the Covenant Is it not made with him in Christ Is not the condition of the Covenant Faith in Christ Mark what the Apostle saith Gal. 3.16 The Covenant was not made to seeds as many but to seed as one that is to Christ in aggregato comprizing all his members with him It was not made immediately to us no it was made immediately to Christ our Head and in and through him to us his members So that the Lord is not in Covenant with us he is not ours vve have no Title to him but in Christ And hence the Interest of Christ in God is made the rise and ground of ours I ascend to my God and your God saith Jesus Christ to his Disciples John 20.17 First mine and then yours God is our Master but in Christ He is his first and chief servant and we are his servants in him God is our Father but in Christ he is his first begotten Son and we are his sons in him So that if we know Christ there is a possibility that vve may know the Lord as our God But if we know not Christ at all how can we know God in him We may know him as a God as Adam did between the fall and the renewing of the Covenant but such a one as we shall flie from and as we can by no means close withall because we look upon him now as none of ours as one in whom vve have no Interest at all And certainly Eternal life cannot consist in such a Knowledge of the Lord as this is Fourthly Knowledge of God is not enough to life Eternal unless we Reason 4 know Christ too because unless we know Christ as we know God without Interest so we know him without Faith I mean without saving faith if vve know God without Christ we may believe in God vvithout Christ vve may believe in him as he is Omnipotent and All-mighty and Eternal and the like But such a faith as this will never justifie us in the present Life nor save us in the life to come Even Turks and Jews and Arrians boast of faith in God you know and yet because they appehend not Jesus Christ they catch at nothing but a shadow and miserably lose their own souls He that denies and so by consequence believes not in the Son can never have the Father as you may see 1 John 2.28 But he that hath the Son hath the Father also Well then if we will so believe in God as to come to life Eternal vve must believe in him through Christ Such trust have we through Christ in God saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.4 And this we cannot do unless vve know not God only but Jesus Christ whom he hath sent For distinct explicite Knowledge is absolutely necessary to the being of Faith and perfect Ignorance in any point whatever it be destroyes all faith in that particular And hence is the Apostles question How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and consequently whom they have not known So that if we know not Christ we cannot believe in him vve cannot believe in God with a justifying faith And he that believes not is condemned already such a person is in a state of death and condemnation But if we know both God and Christ too and so as to believe in God through Christ Eternal life consists in this Knowledge This is life Eternal to know the only true God c. Vse 1 Now is it so my Brethren that the Knowledge which is life Eternal in which Eternal life consisteth is the Knowledge both of God and Christ too Then in the first place we may here behold the dangerous estate of Heathen Nations who know not Jesus Christ nor can they any vvay in the condition they are in attain to this Knowledge How should they come to life Eternal if this be life Eternal to know the only true God and Iesus Christ whom he hath sent It s true that even they have means to know God as the Apostle shews and proves Rom. 1.19 20. That which may be known conceive it that which may be naturally known of God is manifest in them that is the Heathen for God hath even shewed it to them For the Invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are cleerly seen being understood by the things which he hath made even his eternal power and God-head So that there is an Image and Resemblance of him stamped upon the Creatures there are apparent Characters and foot-steps and Impressions of the God-head of his Power and of his Wisdom set upon the things that he hath made which may be looked upon by every eye How doth his Glory shine and glister in the Rare and admirable structure of the World the glorious frame of Heaven and Earth And hence it is that David saith the Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work Psalm 19.1 Indeed he tells us afterwards the Law of the Lord is perfect the Word of God and that alone is a perfect a compleat and perfect help to bring us to the knowledge of God but yet there is some declaration of him in the Creatures the Heavens declare the glory of God And the means the Heathens have the creatures Catechize them and instruct them in the Knowledge of God as Job shews Iob 12.7 Ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee the fowls of the heavens and they shall tell thee or speak to the earth and it shall teach thee and the fishes of the Sea shall declare to thee who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this and therefore the Apostle tells us that even they the heathen know God as you may see Rom. 1.21 But now they have no means to know Christ and this is life Eternal to know both both God and Christ too So that in this respect they are cut off from life Eternal which is a very sad case This Knowledge is not written in the Creature-book and they have not the Scripture-book and how then should they come to it It s true that God is written in the Creature-book as I shewed you even now but not a word of Christ there Not a word I mean as Man and Mediator of the Church as he is Christ whom God hath sent He did not make the World as man and so by Consequence as Man he is not represented in the Book of the Creation God is written in the heart but not a word of Christ there The Law is written in the heart by nature but there are no Impressions of the Gospel which is the Word of Christ as the Apostles phrase is
Man-hood too God hath highly exalted him saith the Apostle Phil. 2.9 Him Who why Jesus Christ both God and Man in his divine and humane Nature As for the former his divine Nature though that be utterly incapable of an intrinsical improvement of the Glory of it yet so far forth as it was humbled for the Administration of his Office so far it was accordingly advanced again Now he abased himself as he was God not by putting off his Glory but by permitting it to be ecclipsed and overshadowed with the similitude of sinfull flesh and to be humbled under the form of a servant even as the brightness of a Candle is hidden in a dark and close Lanthorn so that declaratorily he is in that respect exalted he is declared to be the Son of God by Power in rising from the dead and returning to his Glory As for the humane Nature that is properly exalted For being joyned to the God-head it hath an ample and immediate claim to all the Glory which from the God-head might be communicated to it and conferred upon it So that however while our Saviour Christ continued here the Exigence of the condition and the office which he had assumed and undertaken made him a man of sorrows and of sufferings and intercepted as it were the beams of the divine Glory from shining in the other nature so that there was no form nor beauty in him Yet having finished that Dispensation there was by vertue of the intimate Association of the Man-hood with the God-head a giving out or a Communication of all the Glory from the Deity which the other Nature was capable of And this is that which Jesus Christ desireth of his Father in my Text And even as by the Spirit of Holiness he was filled with Treasure of Wisdom and Knowledge and Grace and thereby fitted for the office of a Mediatour and made the Head and Ruler of the Church So likewise by the Spirit of Glory he is filled with unmatchable perfections beyond the Comprehensions of all other Creatures Being not only full of Glory but having in him all the fulness of Glory which a created nature joyned to an infinite and endless fountain could receive The God-head of our Saviour was at the right hand of the Father from Eternity But now the Man-hood of our Saviour is exalted to the same condition I say not to the same measure but to the same condition of Majesty and Glory with it God hath raised him from the dead and that you know must be as he is man and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places Eph. 1.20 That is he set him up above all other things or persons in the next place to himself And therefore it is added in the following words Far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come In which respect it is that God will have him worshipped with divine and religious Adoration and that by the very Angels Heb. 1.6 Of which the humane Nature single is not capable but that it shineth with the God-head in this high Glory Much might be added for the proof of this that even the Man-hood of our Saviour participateth of the Glory whereof c. Now to open it a little more particularly and distinctly to you Beloved you must know that the Man-hood of our Saviour comes not by nature to partake of this Glory Look upon the humane Nature as considered in it self and so it hath no right to it It is by Grace then that the Glory of the God-head is communicated to it and that by a double Grace the Grace of Union and the Grace of Dispensation First The Man-hood of our Saviour participateth of the Glory of the God-head by the Grace of Union It comes to be Partaker of it by its unutterably near and intimate Association with the God-head in the same person For so the God head and the Man-hood as you know are joyned together in such a tie as cannot fully be expressed Not as a man and a wife are joyned together who notwithstanding their Conjunction continue two distinct persons But as the body and the soul make one man so God and man make one Christ And as the glory of the soul by reason of the nearness of the Union redoundeth to the glory of the person and consequently of the body too even so the Glory of the God-head redoundeth to the Glory of the Man-hood in the person of our Saviour So infinitely near is the Conjunction that both the Natures cannot chuse but share together And as the God-head was in some respect abased in being joyned to the Man-hood being ecclipsed and shadowed with the meanness and the imperfections of it Even so the Man-hood on the other side is honoured and advanced in being joyned to the God-head and consequently shining with the Glory of it Secondly The Man-hood of our Saviour participateth of the glory of the God-head by the Grace of Dispensation from the Father He hath made it to partake of that Glory And therefore he hath raised it up and set it at his own right hand He hath highly exalted it he hath crowned it with Glory and Honour The Father if you mark it hath always had a mind to set up his Son Christ Not so much as he is God for so indeed he doth not need it But as Man and Mediatour he hath endeavoured every way to raise him and advance him and make him glorious in the eyes of all the world And this is that which the Apostle Peter notes Acts 3.13 The God of our Fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus whom ye delivered up and denyed the holy one Though you abused him and abased him yet God hath glorified him It is by him and his means that he is raised to such Glory Vse 1 Now is it so that even the Man-hood of our Saviour participateth of the Glory whereof the God-head hath been c. Here then we may take notice of the high Advancement of our nature in the person of our Saviour The very Glory of the God-head is in a sense communicated to it Our nature shareth with the God-head in such incomparable and transcendent Glory as can by no means be exprest It is many ways advanced and set up in Jesus Christ But this my Brethren is the heighth and top of all that in him dwelleth the fulness of the God-head bodily as the Apostle speaks Col. 2.9 Not that the God-head is confined or circumscribed within the narrow limits of our Saviours flesh or that his body is co-extended with the God-head as Ubiquitaries dream But the God-head dwels in Christ as Bernard speaks not umbrativè by external signs and shadows and tokens of his presence as once Christ dwelt in the material Temple not effectivè by the effects and operations of its Grace as now it dwels in the bodies of the Saints who in the
but of the invisible God In which there is a close Antithesis q. d. Having assumed our Nature he is now become the visible Image of the invisible God That God who is invisible is made visible in him And this is that which is suggested Ioh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time you may conceive it with the outward eye the Son of Man who came out of the bosome of the Father hath declared him He hath discovered him in some respect to that eye And therefore when our Saviour was incarnate it is said that God was manifested in the flesh which is the object of the eye of sense 1 Tim. 3.16 So that he that had looked upon him might have seen the Father in him In which respect it is that when Philip was so earnest to have the Father shewn him our Saviour bid him to behold himself and addeth presently He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also Joh. 14.9 This is the Vision mentioned in the Book of Iob I know that my Redeemer c. yet in my flesh I shall see God Not in my spirit or my understanding only but my flesh yea and I shall look on him not with other but with these same eyes Which can be no other way but in the glorified Body of Christ 2. Secondly Christ hath made a discovery of his Father by his Word and by his Gospel There he hath shewed him forth to men so far as it is necessary that he should be known by them And this is partly intimated in that speech of his to Philip Joh. 14.9 10. How saist thou shew us the Father Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me The words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self saith Christ My manner is not to be speaking to you of my self so much as of my Father nor to advance my self so much as to set up my Father upon all occasions And how then is it that you that have so long conversed with me and have heard so much from me are yet so unacquainted with my Father If you observe the manner of our Saviours teaching and discoursing you shall find that he insisted very much on matters that concerned his Father he was always talking of him especially when he was drawing near his passion and ready to depart from his Disciples he laboured very much to make his Father better known to them And when he was about to leave them he professed that he had perfectly acquainted them with all things that concern his Father so far as they were come to his knowledge for the instruction and the information of his people Indeed the word of Christ the Gospel containeth in it all things that are necessary to be known of God the Father whether his Nature or his Will or his Son or his Spirit c. And therefore it is said that it is able of it self without addition to make us wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 This is a perfect and a full discovery so that we need no other knowledge of the Lord to bring us to salvation then that which is revealed to us in the Scripture 3. Thirdly Christ makes a full discovery of his Father by his Spirit And this is that which is the Complement of all in this business Indeed there is a full discovery of him in the Word materially there is nothing wanting there But it is not full to us without the revelation of the Spirit Christ shews his Father there in all his glory excellency over-flowing love to his people But if the Spirit do not cure the blindness of our eyes and open them and take away the vail that is upon them we can never see him It is the Comforter the holy Ghost that teaches all things conceive it efficaciously and with success Ioh. 14.28 who comes out from the Father and makes known the Fathers Name to his people Thus we have seen how Jesus Christ makes this discovery Now let us see why Jesus Christ makes this discovery of his Father And here you may remember I propounded two things First why Jesus Christ and none but he makes this discovery And secondly why the discovery which he makes is such an absolute and full discovery 1. First as for the first of these Why Jesus Christ and none but he makes this discovery There are two weighty reasons for it For first none but he is able And next none but he is fit to make it 1. First none but Jesus Christ is able to make this full discovery of his Father For none but he is perfectly acquainted with him Alas all men are strangers to the Father the worst men absolutely and in all respects and the best in some measure And all the knowledge which any soul hath of him it hath from Jesus Christ too But now my Brethren Jesus Christ hath the full knowledge of his Father he doth not know him outwardly alone but he knows his very heart and the secrets of his bosom And therefore he is said to lodge there and so to be the only possible revealer of the Father to the world No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1.18 How is it possible for any one to make the Father known unless he know him Now this is proper and peculiar to the Son No man knows the Father but the Son that is originally primitively of himself and therefore it is added presently and he to whom the Son will reveal him Joh. 11.27 2. Secondly as none but Christ is able so none but Christ is fit to manifest his Father to his people He is the only Mediator between God and man there is but one as the Apostle tells us and that is Christ 1 Tim. 2.5 And therefore it is congruous that he should manage and transact the business all the business between God and man that all should go through his hands He is to make God friends with us and to make us friends with God the peace must be on both sides And how shall he effect the latter but by revealing and making known his Father to us in all his beauty and his glory and his excellency in himself in all the tenderness and dearness of his love to us and so to joyn our hearts to him This latter is especially the Name of God which Christ was as a Saviour to discover viz. his attributes of Love and Mercy This was the proper work of Christ indeed to manifest this Name of God all that is sweet and lovely in him to his people This may suffice to let you know why Jesus Christ and none but he makes this discovery of the Father to his people We have but one thing yet behind why the discovery that he makes is such an absolute and full discovery I give you but two reasons of it and I have done for this time he doth it
in the first place that he may be faithful and in the next place that discovery which he makes may be effectual 1. He makes a full discovery that he may be faithful as the Prophet of his Church For if he should not shew his Father to us fully if he should hide any thing of God from us which it concerneth us to know how should he be a faithful Prophet to us And even as if he should not make compleat and perfect satisfaction for us he should not be a faithful Priest So if he should not give compleat instruction to us he should not be a faithful Prophet Indeed his Father hath appointed him my Brethren to make known his Name every letter of his Name to his people and hence he gives him this account when he is even about to leave the world I have manifested c. 2. He makes a full discovery of his Father to his people that the discovery which he makes may be effectual For if he should conceal the least particle the least iota of his Fathers Name which is required to be known necessitate medii to salvation all the rest that he revealeth would be in vain it would be to no purpose If he make not a full discovery in the sense that I have said it were as good that he made none at all And therefore that he may attain the end for which he came into the world for which he executes his Mediatorship in all the offices and branches of it even the Salvation of his people he makes his Father so far known to every one of his that nothing may be hidden from them in the ignorance of which whosoever dies must perish Now is it so that Jesus Christ hath made an absolute compleat and Vse 1 full c. The less are they to be excused and the more to be condemned who yet continue ignorant of God of his Nature and his Will notwithstanding this discovery Though Jesus Christ hath done so much to make his Father known to them yet they continue wholly unacquainted with him They are meer strangers to the Father they do not know so much as a Letter of his Name which Christ hath made so manifest And this is very evident because they do not love him they do not trust in him which they would be sure to do if they did know the Name of God They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee saith the Psalmist Psal 9.10 And so it may be said as well they that know thy Name will love thee and they that know thy Name will fear thee It is impossible but mens affections should be managed and moulded by their apprehensions and that the principles which they have rooted in their understandings should have some influence and operation on their hearts So that if men did but know the wrath of God it could not be but they would fear him if they did know the power of God and know it as engaged for them it could not be but they would trust him and depend upon him If they did know the love and mercy the beauty and the excellency of the Lord it could not be but they would love him But while they shew forth none of this it is apparent that the Fathers Name of which these are but divers Letters as it were is utterly unknown to them Now my Beloved when the Lord shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance unto them that know not God what will become of those men Alas their unacquaintance with him now Christ hath shewed his Name so plainly will be void of all excuse If Jesus Christ had kept his Father close if he had hid his Name his Love his Power his Mercy and the like and had not manifested it to men they might have pleaded something when the day of reckoning comes They might have said alas it is no wonder that the Father is unknown to us for which way should we come to be acquainted with him He dwells in light that no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen or can see But then Christ Jesus will be ready to reply it was a great part of my errand and my business down into the world to help men to the sight of him to manifest his Name to men And I have done it fully and compleatly and therefore if you know him not your sin is wilful and your damnation must be heavy Is it so that Jesus Christ hath made an absolute c. then let us bless Vse 2 and magnifie the Lord Christ that he hath done this necessary work for us that he hath shewed his Father and made known his Name to us We are all of us by nature strangers to him and of our selves we have no means to be acquainted with him Indeed by nature we may come to have some knowledge of a God as the Apostle speaks at large Rom. 1. But the knowledge of the Father in reference to Jesus Christ and to his people is another thing To know God as a Father to his Son Christ and in and through Christ to us to know him by this Name of his is unattainable by any light but that which we receive from Christ himself So that unless he had discovered him we had never known the Father and so had perished everlastingly No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him Matth. 11.27 And therefore we are infinitely bound to Jesus Christ that he hath revealed him to us that he hath made such an absolute and full discovery of his Father to his people which if he had not done they had continued strangers to him both in this world and in that which is to come Indeed we might have known him as an angry and a powerful God we might know him as a Judge and an avenger without any help from Christ But as a sweet and gracious Father we had never known him if Christ had not discovered him in such a way and under such a notion to us This Name of his none but Jesus Christ could teach us we could have learned to spell and understand it of no other Master in this world And therefore we are bound the more to Christ and his mercy is the greater that he hath undertaken to instruct us and make us perfect in this sweet Lesson which is indeed the first and greatest in the Primmer of Religion the Name of the Father Vse 3 Is it so That Jesus Christ hath made an absolute c. Then let us be perswaded to address our selves to the performance of that necessary duty which this so large so ample a discovery of the Father calls for viz. To grow up in the knowledge of him and not to rest till we be inwardly and throughly acquainted with him That as the revelation of him in it self is very full so it may be so to us too Beloved Jesus Christ hath done
his work as he professes to his Father in my Text I have manifested thy Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have brought it forth saith he into the light and set it in open view for so much that word imports By which he intimateth that his Fathers Name was like a rare and curious piece behinde a curtain like a rich treasure covered or a glorious Image vailed But now saith Christ the vail is taken off the covering is removed the curtain drawn I have exposed my Fathers Name to the veiw of all my people This Christ hath done you see and now let us consider what we are to do No question he hath brought it forth that we might see it that we might feed our eyes upon it that we might grow up in the knowledge of his Fathers Name of the dearness of his love and the sweetness of his mercy the tenderness and the abundance of his compassions unto poor lost creatures This is the Name which Jesus Christ hath manifested to us that we might be acquainted with it Now I beseech you my Beloved let us not by neglecting this discovery go about to frustrate Christ and do as much as in us lies to disappoint him of his purpose Oh let us labour that our knowledge of the Name of God may be in some sort answerable to the revelation that Jesus Christ hath made of it And that as we have since our Saviours coming in the flesh a fuller and a more compleat discovery of it then they in former ages had we may accordingly exceed and go beyond them in the knowledge of it too We may know more of God especially of his love and of his mercy to his people in his Son then they did Or if it be not so to what end is the pains that Christ hath taken to manifest his Fathers Name to us Oh let us be ashamed to come behind the Saints of the Old Testament in the knowledge of this Name who came behind us in the means of this knowledge Is it so That Jesus Christ hath made an absolute c. Then let us satisfie Vse 4 our selves with the discovery he hath made And let us not attempt or undertake to know more of the Father then he hath made known to us Indeed if Jesus Christ had fallen short in this discovery it were but reason that we should exceed and go beyond it If he had not told us all that is fit for us to know it were a congruous thing that we should strive to know more But seeing the discovery he hath made is so compleat and absolute in all respects so that there can be nothing added to it we have cause to rest in it and to content our selves with so much knowledge of the Father as he hath revealed to us Indeed there is an itch in Nature to search into those things especially concerning God which are concealed and hid from us Fain we would see his face when Christ hath manifested but his back-parts to us we would know more of his Nature of his Counsels and Decrees the order of them the measure of them the objects of them then he hath thought expedient to reveal to us We would approach too nigh to gaze we would intrude on those things which we have not seen for which we have no revelation as the Apostle speaks Col. 2.18 And this my Brethren is the evill Genius of these very times men go beyond themselves in sifting into things concerning God and beyond Christ too I mean beyond any thing that he hath manifested of his Father to them Indeed they tell us that Christ reveals it to them by his Spirit But that is not the Spirit of Christ which shews us any thing beyond what he hath written in his Word The business of the Spirit is not to bring us any other truths then those which are revealed in the Word but to clear those to us If any spirit bring us any thing crossing with or but so much as diverse from the Scripture if an Angel dropt from Heaven teach us any other Doctrine he must not be believed but accursed To the Law and to the Testimony saith the Prophet Isa 8.20 If any man or Angel speak not according to this Word let him pretend what light he will it is because there is no light in him And therefore let us satisfie our selves with that which Christ hath manifested of his Father in his Word and in his Gospel Since his discovery is so full let us not seek to go beyond it That speech of God to Moses who whether he were curious or no was very earnest to behold his glory is observable Exod. 33.19 I will make all my good go before thee that is I will discover so much of my self to thee as shall be good for thee to know And this our Saviour Christ hath done compleatly We need no further knowledge of the Father here to make us happy to make us wise unto salvation And therefore let us rest in it And to this end I shall present you with a few Considerations It is a fruit and evidence of pride to strive to know more of the Fathers Name then Christ hath manifested to us It proceeds from a desire to be observed as having something more then ordinary in us and this hath much prevailed with many men in these times to know no more of God then Christ hath shewed us in the Scripture this is no such great matter this will never make them famous And therefore they must have their nice and curious speculations by themselves beyond any written word they must have hidden things discovered to them which other men are not acquainted with that they may be observed to be men of singular depth and extraordinary intercourse with the Spirit of Christ This the Apostle notes in those Impostors Col. 2.18 Intruding into those things which they have not seen But how comes this to pass vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind There is the cause of this intrusion And hence the Prophet David to shew that he was not proud and haughty makes this the evidence Psal 131.1 I do not exercise my self in things that are too high for me It is a grievous sin to labour to know more of God then Christ hath manifested to us It is no better then intrusion on the right of God himself such a man doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the fore-alledged Text Col. 2.18 Intrudes upon anothers right enters on the possession of another Now whose possession are these secret things To whom do they belong to God saith Moses Deut. 29. ult The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and unto our children So that while we content our selves with these revealed things we are like honest-minded men that keep and use their own and love not to encroach upon their neighbours But if we be not satisfied with the things which God hath manifested
Scripture how improbable soever the Saints of old have closed with them What an unlikely promise was it that was made to Abraham that he should have a Son when he was full a hundred years of age and a seed that should be as innumerable as the stars of heaven and that by Sarah too a withered and a barren woman What strong objections might they both have brought against it And yet they did not argue but believed that it should be just as the Lord had spoken as the Apostle speaks of Abraham Rom. 4.20 21. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God Yea and of Sarah too though she were somewhat doubtfull and incredulous in the beginning yet even of her he saith She iudged him faithfull that had promised That great and Master promise of the resurrection of the body from the dust is far above the principles of nature and philosophy and therefore the Philosophers at Athens laughed at it Yet Job believed this seeming Paradox as he professes Job 19.26 I know saith he he uses such a word you see as intimates a full perswasion I am confident of this that though after mys kin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God And so let us my brethren whatsoever is foretold in Scripture let us stedfastly believe that it shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled And thus of the first argument or reason with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his petition to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples that he himself would undertake the keeping of them Holy Father keep them through thy own name Which hath been taken as you may remember from his own effectual preservation of them during the time that he had been amongst them And therefore he would have his Father keep them now because he himself had kept them and kept them very safe till now While I was with them in the world I kept them Before our Saviour adds a second reason to enforce this supplication and request of his he interposes a discovery of the end why he presents it and why he is so earnest in it Saith he I put up this Petition to thee while I am resident in this world I do it in the hearing of my Apostles and Disciples that they might have their comfort much encreased by this means And now I come to thee and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves So that the words you see are the account our Saviour gives his Father of the Petition which he makes for his Apostles and Disciples or rather of the circumstances of the making of it Why he makes it in the world why he did not defer the making of it till he came to heaven and sate down at the right hand of his Father there to be an everlasting Intercessor for his people but rather chose to make it here before he went in the presence and the ears of his Apostles and Disciples while they were by and hearkning to him These things saith he I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves And here we have two things to be examined and resolved What our Saviour means by his joy which he would have fulfilled in his Apostles and Disciples why he calls it His joy and not theirs That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves not their own joy fulfilled but my joy fulfilled in them And How this joy should be fulfilled by his presenting this Petition for them to his Father in their hearing before he left this world which way this circumstance should tend so much and be so available to the accomplishment of that joy As for the first of these our Saviour calls the joy which he would have to be fulfilled in his Disciples his ioy Not that he was the subject of it or that it was inherent in himself But either First because he was the object of it that they might have my ioy that is to say the joy which they take in me fulfilled in themselves Or Secondly as Calvin thinks because he was the author of it That they might have my ioy the joy which they have from me fulfilled in themselves But how should this presenting this Petition for them to his Father in their hearing how should this circumstance conduce so much to the fulfilling of the joy within them Truly my brethren it might be very helpfull to it many wayes Either as it manifested Christs affection to them and his care of them in which they could not but exceedingly rejoyce What he would do in their behalf when he was come to heaven was not so clearly known to them But this he did before he went in their hearing he earnestly besought his Father to take special care of them to keep them through his own name they heard it with their own ears how earnest and importunate he was which could not choose but be an extraordinary comfort to them that Jesus Christ should have such dear and singular regard to them Or else it might fulfill their joy as it assured them of their special preservation after Christ was gone from them There is no question to be made they were in many doubts and fears when he was about to leave them And had he gone without discovering any care of their safety their sorrows would have been increased If he had only prayed in secret for them to his Father and desired him to keep them this would have added to their safety but what would this have added to their joy But when they heard him being ready to depart to yield them up in such a serious solemn manner to his Father and to make this his last request to him while he was here in this world that he would keep them this could not but assure them that they should be kept and so fill them full of joy And hence our Saviour having put up that Petition for them Holy Father keep them through thy own name And that because while I was with them in the world I kept them Adds this immediately and now come I to thee and these things speak I in the world before I come I speak them here among them that my Discples being ear-witnesses to my importunate and earnest intercession for them may have the joy either which they take in me or which they receive from me the more abundantly fulfilled in themselves The words thus opened yield us out three Observations First Christ is the Author and Original of the joy of his people Secondly Jesus Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy Thirdly Their perfect knowledge of his intercession for them is one special means to fill them full of this joy DOCTRINE Christ is the Author and Original of the joy of his people If they have any true and real joy it comes from him they have it from the Lord
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
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
blood of Bulls and Goats But now it is confirmed by the blood of Christ himself which is a better and a more effectual confirmation And this is that which the Apostle shews at large Heb. 9.16 and in the following verses So that the blood which ratified the Old Testament was but the shaddow and the Type of that which ratifies the new and therefore this hath the advantage of the other I must confess that the Old Testament was ratified by the death of Jesus Christ in destination for so he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world But this is ratified by the death of Christ in actual execution which is if not in it self to us at least a cleerer and a better confirmation Gospel truth excelleth for the operation of it it hath effects transcendently beyond all other truth that ever was revealed to the world I shall name but two only suggested in those two great Gospel Epithites the word of grace the word of life 1. Gospel truth works grace Not common grace and common sorrow and humiliation and repentance as the Law doth but saving grace And therefore it is called the word of grace Acts 20.32 It is so exclusively it worketh grace alone without the help and the assistance of the Law in that business Something the Law may do towards us indeed but it doth nothing in the work of grace Of his own will begat he us saith the Apostle by the word of truth that is the Gospel James 1.18 That only that is properly and strictly sanctifying truth Sanctifie them with thy truth 2. Gospel truth infuseth life and that no other truth can do The Law indeed can kill but it cannot make alive It is the Ministry of death and condemnation The Gospel only is the Ministry of life and of Salvation And therefore this exceeds the other and surpasseth it in glory as the Apostle shews at large 2 Cor. 3.6 7 c. In this respect we find the Gospel called the word of life 1 John 1.1 because it is the word that worketh life It is the quickning word that raises men from death to life to the life of grace in this world and to the life of glory in the world to come And thus I think we have sufficiently cleered the point the word of God especially the Gospel is the truth Proceed we now to make some application of it according to the divers branches of the point in order I shall but touch upon the first because I would no be prevented in the second Is it so my brethren that the word of God is all truth then certainly Vse 1 it ought all to be believed This truth on Gods part calls for faith on ours For what is faith but the belief of truth as the Apostle Paul defines it 2 Thes 2.13 He hath chosen us to Salvation through Sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth So that if the word be truth it ought to be believed by us And this our Saviour Christ insinuates in his expostulation with the Jews John 8.46 If I say truth why do you not believe me Though that which is delivered in the word of God be never so improbable never so much above corrupt reason never so impossible to a humane apprehension yet it admitteth not of doubtfull Disputation and Expostulation but rather calls for absolute belief And therefore they are deeply to be censured who give no credit to the word of truth further then their private spirits close with it who do not answer Gods truth with their faith They read it and they hear it preached but they yield no assent to it No they oppose it and dispute against it they are meer Scepticks in religion There are a multitude of such in these times They consent not to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine which is according to godliness as the Apostle Paul speaks 1 Tim. 6.3 4. Whereas they that have ever felt the saving power of Gods word have their thoughts captivated to it and will say as the Apostle we can do nothing we can speak nothing against the truth 2 Cor. 13.8 These men upon the other side when they hear the truth of God delivered to them speak against it contradicting and blaspheming as the stubborn Jews did Acts 13.45 They do not only ask with Mary how shall this be A question not of opposition but of inquisition Luke 1.34 But even peremptorily determine they can never be And thus they belye the Lord like those of whom the Prophet speaks Jer. 5.12 This in a word for application of the former member of the point We shall now apply the latter Vse 2 Is it so that the word of God especially the Gospel is the truth Is Gospel truth excelling truth Then let us give it the preferment before any other truth both in our inquisition and our acceptation Let us dive into it most and let us value and prize it most First Let us give it the due preferment in our inquisition let us dive into it most and labour more to be acquainted with it then with any other truth Let us read those books let us hear those Preachers and let us nourish those studies which help us most to this knowledge let us make this our main endeavour to be seen in Gospel truth let us undervalue and neglect all other knowledge incomparison of this It is the dangerous mistake of the greater part of men who had rather be acquainted with the matters of the world and to be skild in secular and humane learning then in the doctrine of the Gospel How do abundance plod to dive into the secrets and depths of nature and set their wits upon the tenter-hooks to search into the mysteries of Arts and Trades how do they beat and work their brains to get abundance of experience and skill in worldly dealings and employments but take no pains at all in hearing reading meditation to dive into the mysteries of Jesus Christ Tell me my beloved have you ever among all your earnest strivings after insight either into humane knowledge or into matters of the world been half so studious and industrious to search into this Gospel truth to be acquainted with Christ Jesus who is the subject of the Gospel to know that he was born and lived and dyed for you to know him and the virtue of his resurrection not by speculation only but experience raising you up to newness of life to know that he loved you and gave himself for you Alas the hearts of a great many of you cannot choose but tell you that you have hardly ever spent a serious thought on this And the very best among us cannot choose but say that we have been too slight and careless in our enquiries into this knowledge Ah my beloved had we the spirit of the Apostle Paul or of those blessed Angels who desire to peep and pry into the Gospel truth as you may
by the Gospel as they that cast behind their backs the precepts of the Gospel and will not walk accordingly in their lives and conversations It is a dreadful sentence to this purpose able to break the hearts of wicked men and to shake their joynts in pieces 2 Thess 1.8 The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire rendring vengeance to them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Indeed as Gospel truth is most excellent so disobedience to this Gospel truth is most dangerous we know what a fearful doom and dreadful sentence the Apostle thunders out against it Heb. 10.26 If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth the Gospel truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin From which perversly wrested though Novatus did extract that desperate Heresie of his denying hope of pardon unto those who after they were once baptized relapsed into sin Yet those uncomfortable inferences being laid aside this is most evidently taught us in that Scripture viz. That where the mind hath been enlightned once with Gospel truth it tends exceedingly to the increase and aggravation of those sins that are committed after and against it And therefore upon these considerations labour to walk worthy of so glorious a Gospel and so great a Salvation JOHN 17.18 As thou sent me into the world c. AND thus far of our Saviours Prayer in the behalf of his Apostles and Disciples for Sanctification Sanctifie them with thy truth thy word is truth Proceed we to the arguments and reasons with which he urgeth and enforceth this Petition request of his And they are two Whereof the first is taken from the business and employment that he is setting them about viz. the very same in some respect at least which he himself hath hitherto sustained and undergone by the appointment of the Father As thou hast sent me into the world so I have sent them into the world I am now about to send them it is as good as done already For yet they had not their Commission to preach the Gospel to all the world to every creature And therefore thou hadst need to sanctifie them saith our Saviour to his Father by a more full discovery of thy truth to them that so they may be fitted and enabled for such a service as this is It is extreamly necessary that they should be qualified with all the gifts and graces of the Spirit to the very utmost being to go upon the very self same errand and business on which thou hast imployed me Sanctifie them saith our Saviour Why might the Father answer why so Cause enough saith Jesus Christ for as thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world There are two things to be considered in the words There is something positive and there is in the second place something comparative 1. There is something positive in these words which Christ affirmeth positively of himself and his Apostles That which he affirmeth positively of himself is that his Father hath sent him into the world That which he affirmeth positively of his Apostles and Disciples is That he is sending them into the world There is something Comparative in which our Saviour Christ compares his Fathers sending him with his own sending his Apostles As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world I shall but touch on that which Christ affirmeth positively of himself and that as you have heard is that his Father hath sent him down into the world He would not suffer him to stay in heaven but sent him forth upon some weighty and important business so that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ was sent into the world by the appointment and command of God the Father The word in the Original importeth an authoritative sending which is accordingly submitted to and yield to by the person that is sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith our Saviour to the Father Thou hast sent me into the world so sent that I accordingly am come into the world I have stoopt to thy mission But this hath for the substance of it been handled on the third verse and therefore I shall wave the further prosecution of it here and pass on to the following words JOHN 17.18 Even so have I also sent them into the world AND thus of that which Jesus Christ hath affirmed of himself in relation to his Father Thou hast sent me into the world Proceed we now to that which he affirms of his Apostles and in them of his succeeding Ministers in relation to himself I also have sent them into the world And here we have to be considered three things First the author of the Mission I I stands for Jesus I have sent Secondly the term or local object of the Mission the world without restraint or limitation all the world I have sent them into the world Not into Judea only but into the world Thirdly the comparison between our Saviours mission of his Apostles and Embassadors and his Fathers mission of himself suggested in the word also I also have sent them into the world as thou sent me into the world even so have I also sent them c. As the parts so the Observations are three First the Apostles and Ministers of Jesus Christ are sent by him they are of Christs own sending Secondly Christ doth not send them particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation But their Commission leaves them free to all the world Thirdly Jesus Christ sends his Apostles and his Ministers even as his Father sent him There is a great similitude between Gods sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world I shall handle these distinctly as God shall give ability and opportunity Beginning with the first DOCTRINE The Apostles and the Ministers of Jesus Christ are sent by him they are of Christs own sending For the Apostles they have their very name from sending The word in the Original importeth such a one as is dispatched upon the errand of another upon the business that another sends him in And Christ is often said to send them There are two memorable missions of them mentioned in the Gospel story The first a little after he had called them Mat. 10.1 c. When he had called his twelve Disciples and they were his twelve Apostles as they are stiled ver 2. he gave them power against unclean spirits And these twelve he sent forth ver 1. and after at ver 16. Behold I send you forth saith he as sheep among Wolves The second memorable mission of them was a little after he was risen from the dead and was even ready to ascend Joh. 20.21 Even as my Father sent me so send I you And this is that which the Apostle Paul acknowledges that he was
now my beloved in the dayes of the Gospel He is ascended up on high on purpose to give gifts unto men for the work of the Ministry Ephes 4.12 He makes able Ministers of the New Testament 2 Cor. 3.6 If he make them they are able and if they be not able they are none of his making Now this ability consists especially in two things 1. Ability of knowledge The Messenger of Christ is to deliver to the people the mind of Christ the mysteries the depth the secrets of the Gospel Such depths as the Angels desired to pry into but could not find the bottom of them And therefore Jesus Christ endueth them with more then ordinary understanding in these things They may not upon pain of being guilty of the blood conceal the very Counsel of God they must be able to evince the truth and to convince the gainsayers Tit. 1.9 To cleer the doubts of the erroneous and satisfie the scruples of the tender conscience They must be filled with knowledge their lips must be a store-house of it and at their mouths it must be sought for by the people Mal. 2.7 They must be ready upon all occasion to drop down the balm of Gilead the sweet and pretious comforts of the Gospel into the sores of those whom God hath wounded To speak even to the hearts of Gods people to utter a word in due season to which alone is required the tongue of the Learned Isa 50.4 To preach Christ and to deliver his errand with all wisdom Col. 1.28 And therefore whomsoever Christ sends he fitteth them accordingly in some measure He gives them that which the Apostles calls understanding in the mysterie of Christ Ephes 3.4 and makes them Scribes taught to the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Ability of utterance Behold I give you wisdom and a mouth said Christ to his Apostles Luke 21.15 So when he sendeth forth his Messengers he doth not only give them wisdom and understanding in the message that he sends them in but he gives them a mouth too to utter and communicate that wisdom to the people Or else what doth their wisdom and their knowledge serve for as Messengers or Ministers unless they have a mouth to bring it forth and to declare it to the people I do not say that all the messengers of Christ must have voluble tongues and fluent expressions There was among the Prophets a stammering Moses as well as a smooth and eloquent Aaron A plaâ—â— blunt Amos for the Countrey as well as a Rhetorical Isaiah for the Court among Gospel Ministers there was a chief speaker Acts 14.12 But yet however all that are sent by Jesus Christ have in a measure that which the Apostle calls a door of utterance Col. 4.3 a faculty to speak to edification The Priest of Old must have knowledge in his lips as well as in his head as Mal. 2.7 And the reason is annexed because he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts And you know a Messenger or an Embassador must not be dumb but able in some handsome terms to utter and express the errant of his Master And this is intended when the Apostle speaking of a Minister saith he must be apt to teach 1 Tim. 3.2 They that are sent by Jesus Christ as they are furnished with ability both of knowledge and of utterance so they are qualified with propensity And this is that which the Apostle calls a ready mind to feed the flock 1 Pet. 5.2 and a good will to deal to the people the Gospel of Christ 1 Thes 2.8 Suppose he have ablility yet if he have no mind to use it for the benefit and profit of the Church of Christ no zeal to stir up the gift that is in him but is remiss and idle and prefers his ease and pleasure before the bringing in of souls to Christ it is a shrewd presumption that Jesus Christ did never send him But if he can be well content to spend himself and to be spent for the salvation of the peoples souls if as John Baptist he be a burning and a shining light wasting himself and burning out that he may give the people light If he account it as his Master did his meat and drink to do the will of him that sent him John 8.34 so that he is not in his Element unless he be about his Ministerial work If he resolve with the Apostle this will I do if God permit and think no peril nor no pains too great that he may finish his course with joy and the Ministry which he hath received it is very probable that such a one is of Christs own sending They that are sent by Jesus Christ are qualified with sincerity I do not mean sincerity as Christians but as Messengers of Christ in the delivery of their message without addition or substraction In doctrine shewing uncorruptness gravity sincerity sound speech that cannot be condemned Tit. 2.7 And this is that which Paul himself professes he had done 2 Cor. 2.17 We saith he are not as many that corrupt the word of God but as of sincerity and in the sight of God speak we in Christ The Steward and the Messenger of Christ as he is wise so he is faithfull a faithfull and a wise steward He doth not for his own ends adulterate the Message of his Master or coin a Message from him which he never sent him in And hereby you shall know him from another that was never sent by Christ As Christ speaks of false Prophets by their fruits you shall know them Mat. 17.16 that is by their fruits as Prophets not as men Not by the fruits of their persons but the fruits of their doctrine The same may be applied to the false Messengers of Christ by their fruits you shall know them If the doctrine which they teach and the message which they bring be not the same which they have received from Christ if they speak not the words of Christ but fancies and devices of their own if they deliver that which is against Christ against the Word and Spirit and Ordinances of the Lord Christ which tends to looseness and licentiousness as many do in these times believe it they are none of Christs sending Is it so that Apostles and Ministers c. then certainly they ought to be Vse 5 received by you and so received as those that come from such a one as Christ is As Christ should be well entertained because the Father hath sent him so the Ministers of Christ should be well entertained because he hath sent them Oh how welcome should we bid them who come from such a dear pretious friend as Christ is How beautifull and lovely should their very feet their uncomliest parts be What are you come from Jesus Christ indeed hath he sent you are you come from our Master our Husband our Head You are very welcome to us And here to be a little more distinct the welcome entertainment we should give them consists
of this Chapter This shall suffice for clearing of the Observation That unbelievers and unsanctified persons know not God At least they know him not in such a manner and with such a kind of knowledge as they ought to do in that they know him not with an affective knowledge they know him not with an effective knowledge and they know him not in Christ But what may be the causes why the unbelieving world is so ignorant Reason 1 of God I shall lay them open to you both with relation to the unbelieving world Heathen and with relation to the unbelieving world Christian Christian I mean in name though not in truth First for the unbelieving world Heathen it is no wonder that they know not God for they have no means to know him in such a manner as is necessary to salvation It s true that even they have means to know him in a common way as the Apostle shews and proves Rom. 1.19 20. That which may be known conceive it naturally known of God is manifest to them that is the Heathen for God hath shewed it even to them There is an Image and resemblance of him stampt upon the Creatures There are apparent characters and footsteps and impressions of the Godhead of his power and wisdom set upon every thing which he hath made which may be looked upon by every eye How doth his glory shine my brethren in the rare and admirable structure of the world the glorious frame of Heaven and earth And hence it is that David saith The Heavens declare the glory of God c. Psal 19.1 Indeed he tells us afterwards the Law of the Lord is perfect The word of God and that alone is a compleat and perfect help to bring us to the knowledge of God But yet there is some declaration of him in the Creatures the Heavens declare the glory of God And this means the Heathens have The Creatures catechise them and instruct them in the knowledge of a God as Job shewes Chap. 12.7 Ask now the Beasts and they shall teach thee the Fowls and they shall tell thee speak to the Earth and it shall teach thee and Fishes of the Sea shall declare to thee Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of God hath wrought this And therefore the Apostle tells us that even they the Heathen knew God Rom. 1.21 But now they have no means to know him savingly in Christ And this is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This knowledge is not written in the Creature Book and they have not the Scripture Book and how then should they come to it It s true that God is written in the Creature Book but not a word of Christ there God is written in the Heart Book but not a word of Christ there neither The Law is written in the heart by nature but there are no impressions of the Gospel which is the word of Christ Col. 3.16 And hence it is that all the Nations of the world have groped after God and found him too as Acts 17.27 Let a man run from East to West let him ransake all Nations and where he findeth any men there he shall find some notice of God But now my Brethren among which of all these Nations who never had the book of Scriptures shall you find any notice of a Christ any incling of a Saviour or Redeemer No Christ is not so much as named among them They have no glimpse no crevice to give them any light of God in Christ So that it is no wonder though the unbelieving world Pagan know him not in this manner for they have no means to know him Reason 2 But now the unbelieving world Christian hath the means of this knowledge and why then do not they know God true they have the outward means but they want the inward means They have the outward revelation of the word but they have not the inward revelation of the spirit And without this it is impossible for any man to know God And therefore the Apostle prays for the Ephesians that God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him Chap. 1.17 By which he intimates that without spirit-revelation they could never come to know him Now this spirit-revelation or unveiling consists in the removal of a double Veil the Veil that lies upon the faculty and the Veil that lies upon the Object 1. In the spirit-revelation which is the only means of knowing God there must be the removal of the Veil that lies upon the faculty the understanding The sence must be unveiled you know or else we cannot see an object though it be before us For what can a blindfolded person see And so it is in this case for every unbelieving person is blindfolded as it were the God of this world hath blinded his eyes The Veil is on their heart that is their understanding 2 Cor. 3 15. And this Veil the Holy Ghost must take away as in the cited place or else though God be by a man as certainly he is not far from every one of us he will not see him But when once this is removed then revelata ac detecta facie as Beza reads it Then we with open and uncovered face behold the glory of the Lord. 2. In that spirit-revelation which is the only means of knowing God there must be the removal of the Veil that lies upon the Object as of the Veil that lies upon the understanding so of the Veil that lies upon the Gospel where God is represented to us in a saving way For you must know my brethren that the Gospel is a veiled and a covered thing it hath a Curtain drawn before it It is a mysterie a secret thing Nay it is not only secret in it self but it is also kept secret Nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that is the term that the Apostle uses Col. 1.26 Not simply dark or mystical but hid on purpose de industria as Theophilacta observes Among the Jews it was covered with a veil of types and figures and dark expressions And to this day it is hid from natural and carnal men 2 Cor. 4.3 So that however God in Christ be cleerly manifested there let them do what they are able still there is something between them and God that hides him from them that they cannot see him And that is the first reason why unbelieving Christians know not God because they want the inward means of this knowledge viz. spirit-revelation And as they want the inward means of finding out this knowledge when it is closely hidden and covered from them so they want inward capability of receiving this knowledge when it is openly proposed and tendred to them They are so far from being able to go forth to fetch it from abroad that they cannot entertain it when it is brought home to them They have not of
condition the Lord notwithstanding will be mercifull to them But as you tender the salvation of your pretious souls I beseech you to observe that Gods own word is peremptory and express for this that none that know not God shall have any share in the mercy of God or in the glory of the world to come Oh continue thy loving kindness to them that know thee to them and none but them saith David Psal 36.10 It is a people of no understanding saith the Prophet of the Jews Isa 27.11 And what follows Therefore he that made them will have no mercy upon them It is the common apprehension of vulgar and ignorant people that he that made them will save them too No saith the Prophet if they be ignorant of God he that made them will not have mercy upon them They have not known my wayes saith God unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should never enter into my rest But you will ask me then Quest By what means shall we come to know God Truly there is but one way of coming to the knowledge of him Answ and that way is Jesus Christ No man hath seen God at any time 1 John 18. What then is he not to be seen or known at all by any means Yes though he be not to be seen or known immediately in himself yet mediately in and by the Son he may be known For he hath manifested and revealed him to us No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son that came out of the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Indeed it was the business for which our Saviour came into this lower world to bring God down to us that we might be acquainted with him And if ever you see or know God you must have light from Jesus Christ I am the light saith he John 8.12 He that follows me shall have the light of life And therefore if you would have this light follow Jesus Christ for it How you must follow him so as to fetch this light from him I have directed you before on the third verse of this Chapter Is it so that unbelievers and unsanctified persons know not God Vse 2 What cause have true believers then to admire and adore the special mercy of the Lord to them that they should be acquainted with him That he should give them the preferment in such a blessed and glorious priviledge as this is That now they can say to God as our Saviour in my text Oh Righteous Father the world hath not known thee but we have known thee O Lord whence is this to us how is it Lord that thou dost manifest thy self to us and not unto the world as the Disciples said John 14.22 How comes this to pass Lord Truly this is free-grace and free-mercy mercy to be admired and wondred at Oh let our souls and all that is within us bless the Lord Let us take up our Saviours words Father we thank thee that thou hast hid thy self from a world of wise and prudent men and hast revealed thy self to such babes as we are We bless thy name for this mercy And truly we have cause to bless him for this knowledge is our life keep it for it is thy life saith Solomon Prov. 4.13 and life is a pretious thing If we had still remained in the condition that the world is in we had never known God we must have died to all eternity we had been punished with eternal perdition we could never have enjoyed him who is the God of our life But now we know him so as to love him we shall be sure to live with him and that for ever Nay this is life yea life eternal in regard of the beginning such a life as is above the power of death and dissolution as our Saviour Christ assures us John 17.3 This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent JOHN 17.25 But I have known thee and these have known c. AND thus of what our Saviour speaks against the world Oh Righteous Father the world hath not known thee Proceed we to know what he speaks for himself and true believers But I have known thee and these have known that thou hast sent me There is no difficulty in the terms requiring any tedious explication I have known thee saith our Saviour to the Father though the world be strangers to thee yet I am very well acquainted with thee I know thee inwardly And my Disciples here have known that thou hast sent me They have been throughly perswaded that I am a messenger sent forth from thee to manifest thy nature and thy will to them which I have done accordingly I have declared to them thy name So they have known thee by my means So that the special thing to be observed here my brethren is the order in which the knowledge of the Father is dispensed First Christ the Mediator knows him he is acquainted with him in the first place I know thee saith our Saviour here And then Believers are acquainted with him by the means of Christ And these have known that thou hast sent me and I have declared unto them thy name The Observation then is this DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ and he alone knows God immediately and others know him by the means of Christ All saving knowledge of the Father comes out by Jesus Christ to his people Christ knows him first and then we know him in the second place by him No man hath seen God at any time John 1.18 What then is he not to be seen or known at all by any means Yes though he be not to be seen or known by us immediately in himself yet mediately in and by the Son he may be known for he hath manifested and revealed him to us No man hath seen God at any time The only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Indeed it was the business for which our Saviour came into this lower world to bring God down to us that we might be acquainted with him Ye neither know me nor my Father saith our Saviour to the Jews John 8.19 If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also q. d. I would have brought you to the knowledge of my Father And as the Book in Apoc. 5.9 had still remained a sealed Book unless the Lamb had opened it so God had still remained a concealed God he had never been discovered and manifested to us in a saving way unless the Son himself had done it So that the Point is plain you see That Jesus Christ and he alone knows God immediately and others know him by the means of Christ And therefore in the first place this may serve for information to let Vse 1 us see that no man can be saved by his own innate knowledge nor by the light that is naturally in him let him use it how he will or how
he can There hath been an opinion vented up and down of late that any man that walks according to his principles according to the imbred light he hath let this light be what it will and of what kind it will he may attain to happiness and glory in the end And so by consequence that Pagans and Mahometans and Infidels of any sort may be saved if they please All men have light enough say they if they improve and use it as they ought to do to bring them to be atitude whereas indeed no man hath light enough to bring him savingly to know God Jesus Christ and he alone knows God immediately and others know him by the means of Christ So that unless he shew the Father to us unless he undertake himself to teach us and instruct us we must continue ignorant of God and so there is no other way but we must perish and be lost for ever Is it so that Jesus Christ and he alone knows God immediately and Vse 2 others know him by the means of Christ You see my brethren then what course you are to take if you desire to know God to be acquainted with the Father You must go to Jesus Christ for information and use his help in this business If you ever see God if you ever come to have the saving knowledge of his name believe it Jesus Christ must manifest it and declare it to you If he conceal the Father from you nay if he do not shew him to you you can never come to know him All other means that you can use searching in the Book of the Creatures yea in the book of the Scriptures hearing reading meditation will be unavailable unless Christ strike in with them When you have done your utmost you will die in ignorance of God and so be lost to all eternity And therefore I beseech you my Beloved betake your selves to Jesus Christ the great Prophet of the Church be his Disciples learn of him Tell him that he knows the Father as he professeth in my Text and so beseech him earnestly to make him known to you that you may also be acquainted with him Pray him as Philip doth Joh. 14.8 Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth us And thus far we have seen to whom our Saviour speaks and what he speaks In the first place against the world and in the second place for himself and true believers Oh righteous Father the world hath not known thee but I have known thee and these have known that thou hast sent me They have been throughly perswaded that I am a Messenger and an Embassador sent forth from thee to manifest thy Nature and thy Will to them Now in the following verse he comes to shew that he hath been and will be faithful in the delivery of the message which his Father sent him in together with the reason of it First he declares that he hath been and will be faithful in the delivery of the message which his Father sent him in I have declared unto them thy Name and will declare it Secondly he shews the reason of it why he hath been and will be so That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Begin we with the first of these in which our Saviour shews First That he hath been faithful then that he will be faithful as the Messenger of God First that he hath been faithful I have declared unto them thy Name But this is for the sense and almost for the words the very same that he had said before in the 6. verse of this Chapter There it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and here it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so accordingly there it is rendred I have manifested thy Name here I have declared thy Name The phrase is varyed but the sense is one And therefore I shall wholly wave it here and pass from that which Christ hath done to that which he will further do of which he makes no mention in the former verse I have declared unto them thy Name and will declare it Whether this resolution of our Saviour to make a further declaration of his Fathers Name relate to his Apostles and Disciples then about him only or else to such as should believe in after times to the end of the world is all the difficulty in the words whether his meaning be I have declared unto them thy Name to those Apostles and Disciples present with me and will declare it that is I will declare it further to them to the very same men Or whether it be rather this I have declared unto them thy Name to them that are now about me and will declare it unto others that in after ages shall come in to me I have declared it unto these by my own immediate voyce and will declare it unto others by them and their successors to the end of the world As for my own part I see no reason why either of these Expositions should be laid aside seeing both of them agree with the Analogy of Faith and with the scope and series of the Text. And since it is most consonant to the accomplishment and execution of the Prophetical office of Christ to be continually teaching those that are bestowed upon him by the Father in all Ages Teaching them further whom he hath begun to teach and teaching other men anew to the end of the world But you will interpose and ask me Quest How can this be meant of the Apostles and Disciples then about our Saviour in the sense before expressed I have declared unto them thy Name and will declare it further to them since we have understood the first words of a full discovery If when our Saviour saith I have declared unto them thy Name his meaning be I have declared it fully to them as I have formerly explained it how can he add I will declare it further to them Very well if things be rightly and distinctly understood Answ In the first place our Saviour saith I have declared thee fully and compleatly to them as to all things necessary to be known of thee necessitate medii to salvation And here he adds I will declare thee further to them as to many other things that are yet concealed from them I have declared thee fully to them as to the foundation or to the fundamental knowledge of thee I will declare thee further to them as to the superstructure upon that foundation I have declared thee fully to them as to what I am my self to teach them with my own immediate voyce before my passion I will declare thee further to them after my resurrection when he continued forty days discoursing with them and further after my Ascension when I will send down my Spirit to them to teach them all things and to lead them into all truth So then the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE They that have the Name of God his Nature and his
Will savingly declared to them have yet defects and imperfections in their knowledge of him so that they stand in need of further Declaration The Name of God was so far manifested and declared to these Apostles and Disciples as was necessary to salvation So far our Saviour had fully and compleatly made it known to them he had concealed nothing from them of his Fathers Name in the ignorance of which whosoever dies must perish For they were in the state of grace and of salvation when he spake those words I have declared unto them thy Name And yet he addeth presently you see I will declare it I will make further declarations and discoveries of thy Name to them And so accordingly he did assoon as he was risen from the dead He shewed himself alive to them being seen of them forty days together Act. 1.3 And what did he in that time Why he instructed them in things concerning God and his Kingdom as you may see in that place And when he was ascended into Heaven he was mindful of his promise which he had often made to them and so accordingly dispatched the Holy Spirit down among them to lead them further onward in the knowledge of the Father Indeed the best are Novices in this regard they have not yet attained to a perfect man in point of holy and divine knowledge as Ephes 4.13 It is true there is a great deal of variety among the Saints aswell in this as other graces according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4.7 But in the best it is a measure and no more it is not fulness and perfection He that hath most of God revealed to him yet knows him but in part and he that hath the clearest sight of him sees him but darkly in a glass as 1 Cor. 13.12 And therefore this is called the seeing of the back parts of the Lord as when we see the back parts of a man we know him but by guess only we know him not so perfectly and so distinctly as when we come to see his face Such a sight of God it is that we attain in this world And therefore the Apostle Paul who in this point of holy and divine knowledge was not behind the very chiefest Apostles who had his Raptures and his Extasies and who was taken up into the third Heaven and had such things revealed to him as were not to be uttered by the tongue of man professeth notwithstanding that he had not yet attained nor was he yet perfect But saith he I follow after that I may apprehend Phil. 3.12 So that he was Viator and not Comprehensor he was in the condition that the people were Hos 6.3 he followed on to know the Lord. The people of Coloss were eminent for grace and knowledge and yet for them it is the Apostle prays That they might increase in the knowledg of God Col. 1.10 So that the point is plain as you see They that have the Name of God his Nature and his Will savingly c. Object But you will interpose and say perhaps That it should seem by some expressions in the Scriptures that God hath been revealed fully to some certain men in this life as to Jacob for an instance Gen. 32.30 and to Moses Numb 12.8 With him will I speak saith God mouth to mouth even apparently not in dark speeches and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold Sol. But this my Brethren must be understood comparatively of the more clear and full discovery of the Lord to Jacob and to Moses then to many other men but as for the perfect sight and knowledge of him this was not imparted neither to Jacob nor to Moses and for the latter God himself affirms expresly Thou shalt not see my face saith he to Moses Exod. 33.10 that is the fulness of my glory for none shall see my face and live That is reserved to the state of glory when we shall see God face to face as the Scripture phrase is when we shall know as we are known And this is that which Schoolmen call the beatifical vision wherein consists the main of our beatitude hereafter as Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God He doth not say they do see him but they shall see God which the Apostle makes the great ingredient in the happiness and glory prepared for the Saints at the time of Christs appearing 1 Joh. 3.2 We know that when we shall appear he shall be like him and we shall see him as he is Now we see him as we may then we shall see him as he is But why have they who have the Name of God savingly declared to them defects and imperfections in their knowledge Why doth not Jesus Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and that for the accommodation of his members furnish and supply them Why doth he not assoon as he begins to teach them declare all his Fathers Name to them but keeps back something still for further discovery There are two special reasons of it to name no more at this time Christ doth not shew them all at once because they are not capable of it A scholar is not capable of all he is to learn at first dash He cannot take in all at once even in his first lesson and hence his Master leads him onward by degrees first gives him easier and after brings him on to harder Lessons Even so doth Jesus Christ with his scholars he goes along with every one as he can learn as he is able to receive it in He doth not shew them all his Fathers glory at a clap for that he knows would dazle them and over-whelm them but le ts in now a little light upon them and then a little more as he perceives their senses to be exercised Instils into their minds and understandings the knowledge of his Father by degrees and as by learning their capacities are widened so he goes on to further discoveries This course he took with the Apostles what they were able to receive he taught them out of hand but reserved other things as you may see Joh. 16.12 I have many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now I am to say them but you cannot bear them now and therefore I will take some other time to reveal those things to you Christ doth not shew them all at once that he may keep his Saints humble As long as there is flesh and nature in us as there will be while we remain in this world high measures and degrees of knowledge may exalt us and lift us up above our selves And therefore Jesus Christ in love and wisdom uses to bestow upon his people so much knowledge as he sees fit for them A little more it may be would undo them They would set their hearts it may be as the heart of God himself They would be as Gods knowing good and evil Shrewd fellows