sent From Christ's suing for Glory upon this Argument I might note That we may plead Promises God saith Put me in remembrance There is difference between a Plea and a Challenge Hypocrites challenge God upon the Merit of their Works Believers humbly urge him with his own Promises Not as if God did need excitement to make good his Word but we need grounds of Hope and Confidence Again Because Christ asketh nothing but what God will give I might observe That when we have done our Work we may expect our portion of Glory But I rather come to the particular discussion of the Words The words may be considered in a Mediatory or in a Moral Sence In a Mediatory sence so they are proper to Christ he prayed to the Father that thy Son may glorify thee Vers. 1. Now he saith I have glorified thee meaning in the days of his Flesh. By a Moral Accommodation they may be applied to every Christian every Christian should say as Christ I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the Work which thou gavest me to do First And which is most proper Let us consider them in the Mystical and Mediatory sense The first Phrase is I have glorified thee Christ glorified God many ways by his Person as being the express Image of his Father's Glory Heb. 1.3 By his Life and perfect Obedience John 8.46 Which of you convinceth me of Sin And Vers. 49. I have not a Devil but I honour my Father By discovering his Mercy John 1.14 We beheld his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth By his Miracles then the sick of the Palsy was cured it is said the multitude glorified God Mat. 9.8 Mark 15.31 at other Miracles they glorified the God of Israel Mark 2.12 So his Passion exceedingly glorified God's Justice In his Doctrine by discovering his glorious Essence and the Purity of his Worship The System of Divinity was much perfected and advanced by the coming of Christ. Doct. That God was much glorified in Christ. God was much glorified in the Creation of the World Psal. 19.1 The Heavens declare the Glory of the Lord and the Firmament sheweth his handy-work The Fabrick of the whole World especially of the Heavens declares his Goodness Wisdom and Power His Goodness in communicating Being to all Creatures Life and Motion to some His Wisdom in making the Creatures so various and so excellent in their general kinds His Power in educing all things out of the Womb of Mother Nothing God was glorified in his Providences especially in the great Deliverances of the Church from Egypt and from the North but mostly in Christ Redemption being the most noble Work with which he was ever acquainted It is notable that the Spirit of God in Scripture often varieth the Expression at first it was Blessed be God that made Heaven and Earth then I am the God that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt then it is Jer. 16.14 15. It shall no more be said The Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel out of the Land of Egypt But the Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel from the Land of the North then it is Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Ephes. 1.3 In Creation the Wisdom Goodness and Power of God appeared there was no need of other Attributes In Providence the Justice Mercy and Truth of God appears but these in Christ in a more raised degree In Creation the Object was pure Nothing as there was no help so no hindrance but now in Redemption Sin hinders so that here is shown not only Goodness but Mercy In Creation we deserve nothing now we deserve the contrary There was more Wisdom seen in our Redemption The Quarrel taken up between Justice and Mercy Mercy would pity and Justice could not spare In Redemption there is more Power in Creation Man is taken out of the Earth in Redemption out of Hell God's Justice opposed Redemption Christ must be sent to satisfy Justice and the Spirit sent to take away Unbelief God made all with a Word he saved all with a Plot of Grace In Creation Man was made like God in Redemption God is made like Man No Deliverance like this Babylon was nothing to Hell and the Brick-kilns of Egypt to the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone When God delivered his People out of Babylon he had to do with Creatures when he delivered them from the Wrath to come he had to do with Himself Justice put in high Demands against the compassions of Mercy his own Son must die with the Wrath of God and his own Spirit must be grieved in wrestling with the Denials of Men. Instead of our own Obedience we have the Merit of Christ. Oh here are depths of Mystery and Wonder Vse God loseth no honour by Christ. God hath more Glory and we have larger Demesnes of Comfort and Grace to live upon All Parties are satisfied we have a better Portion Adam had Paradise we have Heaven God hath more Glory the Creatures are more acquainted with the infiniteness of Mercy Power and Wisdom Innocence continued had been a great benefit but now it is more gracious and free and it is not the greatness of a Benefit that worketh on Gratitude so much as the graciousness and freeness of it Our Heaven costeth a greater price and it is not given to God's Friends but those that were once his Enemies On Earth This Phrase signifieth that Christ did not increase God's Essential Glory for that is uncapable of any addition his Nature is infinite and cannot be made more glorious and excellent but only that Christ manifested his Glory more fully to the World Observe Christ came down from Heaven to make Men glorify God We had Lesson enough before us in Creation and Providence but Men were stupid Things to which we are accustomed do not work upon us in the Gospel God would set his Praise to a new Tune God needeth us not and our Respects are due and yet at what cost is God to purchase the Praise of the Creature Blind and unthankful Men to dethrone the great God and set up every paltry Creature Therefore God sent his Son to revive the Notions of the Godhead and to give us further manifestations of his Glory That was Christ's Errand to glorify him on the Earth I have finished the Work Christ's Work was to manifest the Gospel and to redeem Sinners and how can he say I have finished the Work seeing the chief Work of Redemption was yet to come the offering up himself to Divine Justice upon the Cross I Answer He had determined to undergo Death and it was now at hand in the consent and full determination of his Will it was done So upon the Cross just before his Death he crieth It was finished John 19.30 It implieth 1. The Submission Faithfulness and Diligence of Christ he never left doing of
is as Oil to the Wheels It is a Question which is most useful Godly Joy or Godly Sorrow Sorrow maketh us serious Joy active But what should I divide what God hath joined Gaudium ineffabile cum suspiriis enarrabilibus both are wrought by the same Spirit he is a Comforter and he descended in the Form of a Mourning Dove But certainly Joy doth more quicken us in well-doing it rendreth the Functions of Body and Mind free and vigorous that we may walk with alacrity and good Conscience The Joy that we press you to is not a wantonness by which we cast away all Care and Labour and give our selves up to Ease and Lusts as those do that make their Life to be nothing else but a Recreation but such a Joy as maketh us go about our Duties and Callings with comfort This is sweet when a Man out of the Refreshings of the Spirit can go about the Business which God hath given him to do with delight Acts 20.24 Neither count I my Life dear to me so I might finish my Course with Joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of the Grace of God As the Eunuch went his way rejoicing Acts 8.39 not like slow Asses that go by compulsion but like generous Horses that delight in their strength and swiftness to take pleasure in praying in hearing in suffering in doing good in following the Duties of our Calling Most Men count Sorrow to be a Vertue and Joy to be an undecent Presumption When Men are sluggish carnal careless that they may flow in worldly Delights this is naught 2. To mar the Taste of carnal Pleasures The Soul cannot remain without some Oblectation it delighteth either in earthly or in heavenly Things Love will not remain idle in the Soul Now God will give us a taste of spiritual Joy of Pleasantness in Wisdom's Paths that we might disdain carnal Pleasures It is not a wonder for a Clown that hath not been acquainted with Dainties to love Garlick and Onions but for a Prince that hath been acquainted with better Diet to leave the Dainties of his Father's Table for those things that were strange I do not wonder at carnal Men that they are delighted with carnal Objects they never knew better but for a Child of God that hath tasted how gracious and sweet God in Christ is to find sap and savour in courser Fare this is wonderful 3. It is for his Honour Nothing bringeth Reproach upon the Ways of God so much as the Sadness of those that profess them Spiritus Calvinianus est Spiritus Melancholicus was a Lutheran Proverb because the Calvinists were against Wakes and Dancings and Revels You darken the Ways of God by your Melancholy Conversation Religion should be cheerful tho not wanton and dissolute We are to invite others Psal. 34.2 My Soul shall make her Boast in the Lord the Humble shall hear thereof and be glad Otherwise thou art as one of the Spies that discouraged the Children of Israel by bringing up an evil Report upon the Land of Canaan 4. Because he delighteth to see us chearful He delighteth in the Prosperity of his Saints Certainly the Lord doth not delight in a sad Devotion and that the Finger should always be in the Wound As a Man delighteth that his Fields should prosper and laugh with Fatness so doth Christ in the Saints They are his Charge John 15.11 These things have I spoken unto you that my Joy might remain in you and that your Joy might be full Would you make Christ's Heart glad keep your own chearful Fourthly I shall give you some Observations concerning Joy 1. God's Providence to all the Creatures doth aim at their Joy and Welfare In inanimate Creatures there is a Cessation and Rest in the Beasts a sensitive Delectation in a Man Joy All Actions that tend to the preservation of Life have their pleasure mixed with them and therefore certainly he hath provided some Christian Joy for a Christian All Actions of Godliness have a delight mixed with them 2. Spiritual Joy ariseth more from Hope than Possession Rom. 12.12 Rejoycing in Hope Heb. 3.6 If we hold fast the Confidence and the rejoycing of the Hope firm unto the end Rom. 5.2 We rejoyce in Hope of the Glory of God It is an Affection proper to the next Life but some Birds sing in Winter Tho we have not an actual Possession of Glory yet there is a certainty of Possession 3. This Joy is more felt in Adversity than Prosperity 1 Pet. 1.6 Wherein ye greatly rejoyce tho now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold Temptations Rom. 5.3 We glory in Tribulation Partly from God himself He proportioneth his Comforts to our Sorrows and then sheddeth abroad his Love most plentifully 2 Cor. 1.5 As the Sufferings of Christ abound in us so our Consolation also aboundeth by Christ. Partly from the Saints They rejoyce most in Afflictions because they taste in them what Evil they are freed from in Christ. If we never had Afflictions we should not know what it is to be freed from eternal Horrors and Pains but when we feel them then we say If I have much ado to bear these temporal Sorrows what should I have done if I had been still liable to eternal O blessed be God for my deliverance in Christ Partly because of sweet Experiences We are kept from perishing with the World a Servant and Stranger is turned out of Doors but a Son is corrected If it serveth for nothing else yet for a Spite to Satan to confound him when he thinketh he hath most advantage against us now to overwhelm us with Grief as when one seeketh to wrest a Staff out of our hands we hold it the faster 4. Those have the highest feeling of Joy that have tasted the bitterness of Sorrow Isa. 57.18 I have seen his Ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore Comforts unto him and to his Mourners Jer. 31.18 I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised c. Verse 20. Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child For since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still c. Unutterable Groans make way for ineffable Joys they feel the most lively Elevation of Joy as a Recompence for the Pangs of the New Birth God permits Sorrows that we may find the fuller Comfort Bernard thinks that the Joy of the Saints is greater than the Joy of Angels because they who have been kept and not restored had never experience of any other Condition however his Reason is notable Placet sanctis securitas sed ei magis qui timâ—it jucunda omnibus lux sed liberato de potestate tenebrarum jucundior transisse de morte ad vitam gratiam duplicat 5. The feelings of this Joy are up and down yet when the Joy is gone the Right remaineth and this
and universally opposed the Doctrine of God and always have been afflicting the Church and seeking to oppose the People of God because of their professing the Truth Mark it before Christianity began to be generally propagated in the World the Jews were the Mark and Butt of Malice whereat all Nations did shoot their envenomed Arrows of Malice and Rage and therefore it is very notable that the Romans tho they conquered many Nations yet they never put down the Idolatry of the Nations as they put down the Religion of the Jews and sought to oppose that and molested that And when the Christians began to be discovered then all their Malice was turned off from the Jews to Christians Certainly it was not meerly because of the Difference of Worship for they tolerated the Epicureans but took away all the Worship of God yea they burnt the Christians and made them to be Torches to give light to Rome in a dark Night Therefore there was so special a spight at the Ways of God Secondly I am now to prove the Truth or Divine Authority of the Word by Intrinsick Arguments or such Arguments as are taken from the Scriptures themselves Either I. From the Manner and Form of these Writings Or else II. From the Matter of them I. In the Manner and Form of these Writings you may observe these things 1. The Majesty of the Style Look as there was a difference between Christ's teaching and the teaching of the Pharisees Mat. 7.29 He taught them as one having Authority and not as the Scribes Such a Soveraign Majesty is there in the Scriptures They speak not as conscious of any weakness and so begging Assent but as commanding it Thus saith the Lord it is the great Argument in Scripture hear it or you are lost for ever Pray mark it is not said Not as the Prophets but not as the Scribes they had nothing but what was humane out of the Jewish Rabbies but Christ speaketh like an extraordinary Messenger as one that came to increase the Canon and Rule of Faith with such an awe that the High Priest's Officers were afraid to meddle with him John 7.45 46. Why have ye not brought him The Officers said Never Man spake like this Man with such an infallible Spirit Ye have heard saith Christ but I say and his great Argument is I say unto you Mat. 5.21 22. Ye have heard that it hath been said of old Time Thou shalt not kill c. But I say unto you That whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause c. So Verses 27 28 33 34 38 39 43 44. There is such a Majesty breathing forth from one end of the Scriptures to another Men can only beg assent not command it by their own Authority and therefore in all Matters which they would inforce they use Insinuaâ—â—on and Argument but the Prophets say Thus saith the Lord and Christ who had Original Authority in the Church I say unto you With what a Majestick Contempt doth Christ scorn his Opposers He that hath Ears to hear let him hear He that is filthy let him be filthy still God will not regard the loss of such that do not regard to understand and obey his Word Longinus an Heathen admired the Majesty of Moses his Writings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let it be done and it was done the Style of mighty Princes and Emperors 2. The Simplicity of the Style Tho it be full of Majesty and Authority yet the naked Truth is represented in a plain manner to the capacity of the meanest Psal. 19.7 The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the Simple As there are deep Mysteries which may exercise the greatest Wits so in Points necessary the Scriptures are so plain and clear that they may be understood by those of the dullest Understanding Such Simplicity with such Majesty is a Character of their Divine Original they speak in such a manner as to feed the greatest and instruct the meanest a Child may wade and an Elephant may swim But this is not all I mean by Simplicity the plainness of the Style but the native Beauty of it Things are nakedly reported but yet in an affective manner as if we had been actually present to see them done Look to the Histories of the Word certainly they cannot be Fictions for Fictions must either be to delight the Fancy as Poetry or to win asâ—ent for politick Ends. There is no such thing in the Scriptures not Poetry things are delivered in a plain manner not Policy to gain a repute to themselves they still seek to cast the Honour upon God as I shall prove by and by by the faithfulness of their Relations It is not imitable by Art such a plain genuine Narration For Mysteries there were Sophists in the Apostle's Times Nihil tam horrendum quod non dicendo fiat probabile The fashion was to make absurd horrid Things seem probable by the paint and artifice of Words as to prove a Gnat better than the Sun or a Worm than a Man by plausible Arguments But saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.4 My Speech and my Preaching was not with inticing words of Man's Wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power nor in ostentation of parts but in Simplicity and Power plain words have a mighty Efficacy Those Sophists and Orators did only tickle the Fancy their Aim was not to win Assent 3. The Fidelity of their Reports The Penmen of the Scripture report their own Failings which Men will not do If they must write of themselves they will be sure to write the best and not the worst but these spared not their own Faults Men naturally labour to cover their own Faults to hide them to speak well of themselves especially they are careful not to leave an ill Character of themselves to Posterity nor of their Party and Faction Now you shall see Moses spareth not to relate his own Weaknesses and Miscarriages his resistance of his Call Exod. 4. nor what a great deal of do God had to bring him into Egypt to perform his Duty to his Country his false Pleas shew his carnal Fear Vers. 19. The Lord said unto Moses in Midian Go return into Egypt for all the Men are dead which sought thy Life His murmuring against God and speaking unadvisedly with his Lips the Idolatry of Aaron the murmuring of Miriam his Sister God shutting him out of the Land of Canaan and not believing after many Miracles Numb 20.12 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron Because ye believed not to sanctify me in the Eyes of the Children of Israel therefore ye shall not bring this Congregation into the Land which I have given them Many such Instances may be given how the Penmen of Scripture relate things to their own disparagement Deut. 32.51 Because ye trespassed against me among the Children of Israel at the Waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of
Zin because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the Children of Israel 4. Another Quality to be discerned in the Manner and Form of the Scriptures is the Harmony and Agreement that is to be found in them all along notwithstanding the diversity of Times Places and Persons still there is an increase of Knowledg and Dispensations rise higher and higher as the Light increaseth till Noon-day but there is no difference Luke 1.70 As he spake by the Mouth of his Holy Prophets which have been since the World began One Mouth many Prophets They lived in such distant Ages handled such diversity of Arguments yet all conspired in promoting the same Truth which is now revealed to us in the New Testament There is a great difference of Style some speak with more loftiness and majesty others with greater familiarity and humility of Expression yet all promoting the same thing There is a difference in the manner of Prosecution yet an exact harmony in the Substance and essential Quality of their Writings not only in their general drift and scope to set out the Glory of God and the Good of Mankind but in the matter handled without any spice of secular Vanity as is to be seen in other Writings So that one and the same Spirit appeareth throughout the whole 1 Cor. 12.4 Now there are diversities of Gifts but the same Spirit Yea there is not only a diversity of Style but a different degree of Light according to the increase of God's Dispensations yet there is an Harmony God's Name and Style and the Mystery of Christ was made known to the Church by degrees the solemn Title and Style of God was not one and the same from the beginning of the World but tho they were divers yet they were not one contrary to another but one perfecting the other He is called by Melchisedeck The most High God Possessor of Heaven and Earth Gen. 14.19 Afterwards by reason of his Covenant with Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God Alsufficient Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God or the Alsufficient God walk before me and be thou perfect Then when he was put to it he made known himself by the Name of Jehovah Exod. 6.2 3. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the Name of God Almighty but by my Name IEHOVAH was I not known unto them And after the appropriation of the Covenant to the Family of the Patriarchs he is called the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob Exod. 3.15 The Lord God of your Fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob hath sent me unto you This is my Name for ever and this is my Memorial unto all Generations Then upon experience of God's care of them he is called Exod. 20.2 The Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage Then the Lord that brought his People out of the North Country Jer. 23.7 8. Therefore behold the days come saith the Lord that they shall no more say The Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel out of the Land of Egypt But the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the Seed of the House of Israel out of the North Country and from all Countries whither I had driven them and they shall dwell in their own Land Then when the Sun of Righteousness was risen the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant Mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively Hope c. 2 Cor. 1.3 Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort Ephes. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ. So for the Mystery of Redemption First it was revealed to Adam to be by the Seed of the Woman Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed It shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel Then to Abraham by thy Seed Gen. 12.3 In thee shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed which was repeated to Isaac to cut off Ishmael then to Jacob to cut off Esau. Then it was revealed out of what Tribe he should come viz. out of Judah Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the Law-giver from between his Feet until Shiloh come Then that he should come of David's Line Isa. 11.1 There shall come forth a Rod out of the Stem of Jesse and a Branch shall grow out of his Roots And that he should be born of a Virgin Isa. 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall conceive and shall bear a Son and shall call his Name Immanuel There is a difference of manifestation yet still an Harmony as there is a difference between a small Print and a great Print but the Matter is the same The Mystery of God manifested in the Flesh is set forth in a fairer Edition 5. There is one Character more in the Form and Manner of these Writings and that is Impartiality Kings and Subjects are bound by the same Laws liable to the same Punishments encouraged by the same Promises If the Scriptures were only a Politick Device to keep Subjects in awe there would be some exemption for Potentates but they are alike obnoxious to God's Judgment and the same Tophet that is provided for the Peasant is provided for the Prince Isa. 30.33 For Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared he hath made it deep and large c. Tophet was a Valley where the Idolatrous Jews were wont to burn their Children therefore as a fit Type of Everlasting Punishment it is put for Hell it is capacious enough to receive all King and Subject Now the Scriptures that threaten Potentates as well as others must needs be a Law that cometh from an higher than the Highest Who would presume else to threaten those in Power Rev. 20.12 And I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which was the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works On this side the Grave there is a distinction between Man and Man but all are alike obnoxious to Christ's Judgment and all stand in dread of it There is enough in the Scriptures to astonish the Heart of the mightiest Potentate and make it tremble II. Now from the Matter of the Scriptures I am much prevented from what is published on James 1.18 But let me speak something now All that is spoken in the Scripture may be reduced to these five Heads Precepts Promises Doctrines Histories Prophecies Now all these
them and if others do injuries to us to forgive them as God for Christs sake hath forgiven us The second Operation which the Holy Ghost produceth in us is righteousness or justice in all our dealings giving every one his due honour whom tribute and praise to whom praise belongeth not borrowing without a mind or ability to pay which is but a specious robbery and 't is a shame so many Christians are guilty of it I am sure 't is contrary to the Spirit of God for when God hath done so much to manifest his justice to the world all that have the Spirit of God should be very righteous far from Oppression Fraud or Detention of what is another mans The Third Thing is Truth or Fidelity whereby we carry our selves sincerely and free from Hypocrisie and Dissimulation or lying cozenage and deceit God is a God of Truth and the Holiness be worketh in us is true holiness the Apostle groundeth his Exhortation upon that Wherefore put away lying Eph. 4.24 25. and speak truth every man to his neighbour 'T is a sin inconsistent with sincerity more than any other Well then this is the Gospel-spirit now the Holy Ghost doth not only plant these graces in us at first but doth continually increase them and assist us in the exercise of them he doth plant them in us at first Faith is his gift and 't is he doth change our hearts and kindle an holy love in us to God and raiseth the heart to the hope of Salvation 1 Pet. 1.9 begotten to a lively hope This is his first work for men must be good before their actions can be good then he doth increase Grace making all outward means effectual to this end and purpose this is called the supply of the spirit of Christ Jesus Phil. 1.19 meaning thereby a further addition of grace wrought in us by the spirit whereby we grow and advance in the way to Heaven These Impressions are weak in us at first but they are increased by the same Author or Agent in the use of the same means Lastly he doth assist us in the exercise of the same grace still working in us what is pleasing in the sight of God Heb. 13.21 he concurreth to every action and we do not only live in the spirit but walk in the spirit Gal. 5.25 all along we are quickned by his influence Let us in the next place consider from whom we receive it 't is said here the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus it belongeth to Christ to give the spirit 1. He is the head ef the renewed state Christ was filled with the spirit to this end to be the head or quickning spirit to his Mystical Body 1 Cor. 15.45 The first Adam was made a living soul the second a quickening spirit not only as he giveth us the life of glory but the life of Grace also so Eph. 1.22 23. he is head over all things to the church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all He is an Head not only to govern and defend the Church but to give them spiritual life and motion as the Head doth to the members for he filleth all with grace all believers are supplied from this fountain and continually supplied till they be filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 3.17 18 19. That is with all the Grace he meaneth to impart to us Well then the spirit is given by Christ John 4.14 Whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life 'T is a living Conduit John 7.38 39. 2. 'T is his law that is written upon our hearts by the spirit The new Covenant is made with sinners in Christ Heb. 8.8 9 10. Behold the days come saith the Lord I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt because they continued not in my covenant for this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts Now he that taught us the Christian Faith and Religion doth impress it upon us by his spirit we find a power more than can be from the words alone in the effects on our selves This cometh from Christ whose Law it is but it is immediately wrought by the spirit 3. Christ promised it therefore Christ giveth it John 15.26 The comforter shall come whom I will send you from the father by vertue of his Merit and Intercession Christ from the Father sendeth forth the all-conquering spirit to subdue the world to himself he promised aforehand to send down this sanctifying spirit into mens souls to do this work upon them 4. He giveth it on his own conditions that is to say of Faith John 7.37 38. if any man thirst let him come to me and drink he that believeth in me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water but this he spake of the spirit which they that believe in him should receive And repentance Acts 2.38 Then Peter said unto them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Now these are the conditions of the new covenant which Christ brought out of the Bosom of God 3. By what law By the Gospel this is the law of the spirit of Christ there is some little of the spirit given by the light of nature to help men to read the book of the creatures Rom. 1.19 God shewed it them they might see somewhat of God in the creatures his Wisdom Power and Goodness and God excited their minds to behold it and did dart in some light into their consciences There was more of the spirit given by the legal Covenant they might see much more of the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God in his Statutes and Laws than Heathens could in the book of Nature but generally it wrought unto bondage the free spirit was but sparingly dispensed and to some few choice servants of God but these were but as a few drops of grace the great Flood of grace was poured out by the Gospel The Apostle puts the Galatians to the Question by what Doctrine they received the spirit Gal. 3.2 This only would I learn of you received you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith He appealeth to their conscience and experience what kind of Doctrine conveyed the spirit to them the preaching of the Law or the preaching of the Gospel and this is meant not only of the Spirit that wrought Miracles but the sanctifying spirit he speaketh of both ver 5. He therefore that ministreth to you the spirit and worketh miracles among
God Men hate those whom they fear The Roman Historian observeth it proprium est humani ingenii odisse quos Laeserit Why Because we fear their revenge We have wronged God exceedingly and know that he will call us to an account and therefore being sensible of the righteousness of his Vindictive Justice we â—ate him All that are afraid of God with such a fear as hath torment in it aut extinctum Deum cupiunt aut exanimatum 't is a pleasing thought to them if there were no God Psal. 14.1 The fool hath said in his heart there is no God As the Devils tremble at their own thoughts of God so do wicked men 'T were welcome News to them to hear there were no God 4. God's enemies carry on a double War against him offensive and defensive The offensive War is when men break his Laws imploy all their Faculties Mercies Comforts as Weapons of unrighteousness against God Rom. 6.13 Yeild not your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but yeild your selves to God Our Faculties Talents and Interests are imployed either as armour of light for God or as weapons of unrighteousness against God The defensive war is when we slight his Word despise his Grace resist the motions of his Spirit Acts 7.51 Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ear ye do always resist the Holy ghost When God bringeth his Spiritual Artillery to batter down all that which lifteth up its self against the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. When he besiegeth our hearts and battereth them daily by the rebukes and motions of his Spirit yet men will not yeild the Fortress but stand it out to the last take delight to go on in the obedience of their natural corruptions will not have Christ to reign over them and so they increase their enmity and double their misery by a resistance of grace and are Rebels not only against the Law but the Gospel stand out against their own mercies They are Enemies to an Earthly Prince that not only infest his Countrey with continual Inroads and Incursions but those also that keep his Towns and Strong Holds against him And in this sense an impenitent person and an enemy to God are equivalent Expressions in Scripture Tho you do not break out into open acts of Hostility against God yet if you will not come out of your bondage and come out of the misery and folly of your carnal estate you are enemies to him 5. That herein the enemies of our salvation agree that they all make us Rebels to God The Devil World and Flesh are equal in this The Devil's Servants and Subjects are opposite to Christ's Kingdom Eph. 6.12 Rulers of the darknese of this world And Col. 1.13 who hath translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son While we remain in the one Kingdom we are enemies to the other Luke 19.27 But for those mine enemies that would not that I should reign â—ver them bring them hither and slay them before me The World James 4.4 Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God Whosoever therefore will be a friend to the world is an enemy to God They whose hearts are set upon the pleasures profits and honours of the World they are withdrawn from God as their proper Lord and chief Happiness and will neither be ruled by his Will nor seek his love and favour First they will not be ruled by his Will for God and the World command contrary things The World saith Slack no opportunity of gain To stand nicely upon Conscience is to draw trouble upon our selves That to give is wasteful profuseness and to forgive folly and weakness God on the contrary biddeth us deny our selves take up our Cross telleth us that giving is receiving and the glory of a man is to pass by an offence or to forgive the wrongs done to him So the Flesh As the World tempts us to Rebellion against God so the Flesh swalloweth the Temptation it carrieth us to do what we list and disposeth us to a flat Rebellion against God and a contempt of his Authority 2 Sam. 12.9 Wherefore hast thou sinned and dispised the commandment of God The Flesh will have it so Psal. 2.3 Let us break his bands and cast away his cords from us Affectation of carnal liberty is the very effect of sense-pleasing and flesh pleasing so that the carnal mind implieth a downright opposition to the Law of God All our ways are enmity to it and a direct repugnancy against it Secondly Nor do we seek his love and favour as our happiness The World propoundeth Objects that are pleasant to our Senses necessary in part for our uses in subordination to other things and so enticeth us from God But it could not entice us were it not for the Flesh which greedily swalloweth the bait 2 Tim. 4.10 Demas hath forsaken us and embraced the present world And 2 Tim. 3.4 lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God And John 5.44 How can you believe that receive honour one of another And so we are detained from God by the Creature which should be a step and stair that should lead us up to him The World is full of allurements to the Flesh and those mercies which would raise the mind to God are made the fuel of sensuality and the greatest means to keep it from him None neglect him so much as those that have most of the World Jer. 2.31 O generation see ye the word of the Lord have I been a wilderness to Israel a land of darkness wherefore say my people We are lords we will come no more at thee so Mark 10.24 How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into tâ—â— kingdom of God They are most apt to live an ungodly sensual life as having less occasion than others to drive them to God 6. This enmity arising from the flesh is the more strengthned and increased the more it gaineth the mind and corrupts the mind for two Reasons First Then the leading part of the soul which should guide and command the rest is corrupted also There is in the upper part of the soul a directive and imperial power to fit him to obey God Now 't is blinded as to the directive power and weakned as to its imperial and commanding power all must needs fall into disorder and man will live a rebel to the law of his creation and so be an enemy to God First as to the leading and directing part of the soul that is the understanding there is a great blindness come upon us by the lust of the flesh so that we have neither a due sense of our happiness nor our duty not of our happiness for till the eves of our minds are opened by the spirit we have no real perswasion of the world to come Eph. 1.18 The eyes of your understanding being inlightned that ye may
bitter but the birth will occasion joy enough to countervail the tediousness of it 4. They are complaining accusing groans the Apostle saith Jam. 5.4 Grudg not one against another groan not one against another that is give not occasion to one another to complain against you to God 'T is sad when one Christian complaineth against another for his froward and perverse and unbrotherly carriage much more of near relations Husbands and Wives Ministers and People The Apostle saith 't is not profitable when they give their account with grief and and not with joy Heb. 13.17 This groaning of the creature must be interpreted by the standard of this notion The creature groaneth not with us but groaneth against us because of the slavery we put them unto they groan for vengeance and destruction not in fellow-feeling with thee but in indignation against thee if thou be a wicked man There is a groaning by way of Sympathy and Compassion as we are bidden Rom. 12.15 to rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep And there is a groaning by way of accusation and appeal for revenge against those that have wronged us we have abused the creature the groan of a worm in the ear of the Lord of Hosts will be heard so James 5.2 3. Your riches are corrupted your garments are moth-eaten your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire you have heaped up treasure together for the last days In the day of Judgment the groans of the creature and the circumstances of our sinful actions shall be brought forth as witnesses against us the moth-eaten garments the cankered silver shall be produced so Hab. 2.11 The stone shall cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber shall answer it That is the materials of the house built by oppression shall come as witnesses there is a kind of antipathy between them therein represented The stones of the wall shall cry Lord we were built up by rapine and violence and the beam shall answer True Lord even so it is The stones shall cry Vengeance Lord upon our ungodly ones and the Beam shall answer Wo to him because he built his house with blood Conscience is a terrible remembrancer The very creatures which sinners abused will be brought in testimony against them to their conviction and condemnation You will say What is this to the Restoration of the Universe or those Elementary Bodies in this lower world to which you seem to confine this restoration These creatures shall be consumed in the last fire how then brought into the Judgment Answer 1. The Elementary bodies do concur to the increase and preservation of these things Lands gotten by violence are made fruitful by Sun Air and Rain the Sun now shineth upon these wicked men and the Rain falleth upon their fields the creatures abused to excess come from both the Sunshine and the Earths Fertility which is the mother of all wealth 2. Tho many of these creatures shall be consumed in this last fire yet they shall have an esse cognitum in the memory and conscience of the sinner tho not an esse rei an actual existence And thus the wine abused to drunkenness may witness against the drunkard the sacrilegious mâ—rsels which the glutton alienated from the poor and devoted to lust and appetite shall witness against the glutton Memoria praeteritorum is one of the punishments in Hell Luke 16.25 Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things The very cloathing by which they did manifest their Pride shall witness against the proud The Lands Goods and Houses of worldlings Isa. 5.8 shall witness against the worldling The Gold and Silver which they preferred before everlasting riches shall witness against the carnal The Place the Room the Bed wherein men committed filthiness and lewdness shall witness against the unclean when conscience shall be forced to the review all these things shall come into his mind To this also may be referred that passage Josh. 24.27 And Joshua said unto all the people Behold this stone shall be a witness unto us for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us it shall be there for a witness to you lest you deny your God How could the stone which he had placed under a great Oak which was very near the Sanctuary of the Lord hear or give witness Partly by Gods Appeal and partly by their memory and conscience it was a monument to put them in mind of this solemn covenant and so might serve to convince them of their sin Thus hearing is ascribed to a sensless stone because it was a circumstance that might be produced in the judgment Thirdly How we know it For whoever heard the groaning of the whole Creation 1. By sensible experience we know the vanity of the creature Ocular demonstration is enough to tell us all that things are frail and perishing Psal. 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection 2. The Word affirmeth First That this came in by mans sin and the common apprehensions of mankind attesteth it That wicked men are unprofitable burdens of the earth and bring a judgment on the place where they live Secondly That God having repaired the world by Christ there is a better estate appointed for man and so by consequence for the creatures which are an appendage to him Isa. 11.6 7 8 9. The enmity of the creature shall cease there as in Noah's Ark. 3. The Spirit improveth it both the vanity of the creature and our mortality and the hopes of restauration God must teach us the plainest Lessons Psal. 90.12 Lord teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Deut. 29.2 3 4. Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharoah and unto all his servants and unto all his land the great temptations which thine eyes have seen the signs and the great miracles yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day And the hopes of restauration Faith is his meer gift and production Eph. 2.8 For by grace ye are saved through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God From the whole take these Corallaries 1. That sinful man is an enemy to all the creatures as well as to himself He hath brought misery upon himself and all the world which was his palace to dwell in The Creation was a well-tuned Instrument upon which man might make musick to the praise and honour of God But the strings of the Harp are broken and there is nothing but jarring instead of harmony and groans for praise Yea man himself who is the mouth of the Creation is very dumb and tongue-ty'd in the praises of God 2. That every particular land fareth the worse for wicked
that God approveth Our delights in God are often corrupted by a mixture of sensual delights so that we cannot tell what supporteth us God or the Creature our remaining comforts the help or pity of friends or God alone Therefore that the affliction may pierce the spirit the Lord causeth it to be sharpned and pointed by the scorn and neglect of men and their strange carriage towards us that we may fetch our supports from him alone That still we are not barr'd from access to the throne of grace there is our cordial that we have a God to go to to whom we may make our moan and from whose love we may derive all our comforts so David speaketh feelingly in deep afflictions Psal. 63.3 Thy loving-kindness is better than life This supplieth all his wants and sweetneth all his troubles and giveth more comfort than what is most precious and desirable in the Creature 2. I will shew you how it helpeth to raise our love to God There are two acts of love desire after him and delight in him for we love a thing when we desire to injoy it and find contentment in it being injoyed 1. Desire is the pursuit of the soul after God desiderium unionis The great act of love is an affecting of union with the thing beloved Now because of our imperfect fruition of him in this life love mainly bewrayeth it self by desires of the nearest conjunction with God that we are capable of and the motions of grace tend to this end to conjoin us to God or to bring God and us together and to this end tend faith and hope and ordinances and means the word and prayer and so Sacraments that we may get more of God When an house is a building there are scaffolds and poles and instruments of Architecture used but when the house is finished all these are taken away So here are many means to bring us to God There is Faith and Hope and Ordinances but when we come to the vision and fruition of him all these cease and love only remaineth In the Heavenly Jerusalem love is perfect because there God is all in all But while the distance continueth see how the hearts of the saints worketh Psal. 63.8 My soul followeth hard after thee All acts of the spiritual life are a further pursuit after God that we may meet him here and there and we may find more of him in every duty and be united to him in the nearest way of communion that we are capable of Psal. 27.4 One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and enquire in his Temple This was Davids great desire above all earthly desires whatsoever But have the saints always this ardent and burning desire No 't is mightily quenched by the prosperity of the flesh when they have something on this side God to detain their hearts they forget him suck on the breasts of worldly consolation you will find their desires are most earnest in affliction As David when in a wandring condition Psal. 42.1 2. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God my soul thirsieth for God yea for the living God When shall I come and appear before thee Naturalists tell us that the hart is a thirsty creature especially when it hath eaten vipers they are inflamed thereby and vehemently desire water This embleme David chooseth to express his affection thereby and his longings after God and the means to injoy God when he was in his troubles so the Prophet Isaiah Isa. 26.9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit will I seek thee right early He speaketh this in the person of the Church during the time of their troubles when Gods judgments are abroad in the earth then they had continual thoughts of God and their endeavours were early and earnest At other times you will find the Church flat cold and more indifferent as to the testimonies of his favour Jer. 2.31 32. O generation see ye the word of the Lord Have I been a wilderness unto Israel a land of darkness Wherefore say my people we are lords we will come no more unto thee can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire yet my people have forgotten me days without number They had something whereon to live apart from God therefore afflictions are necessary to quicken these desires 2. The other affection whereby love bewrayeth its self is by a delight in God the cream of it is reserved for heaven but now 't is pleasing to think of God if the soul be in good piight Psal. 104.34 My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. 'T is the solace of their hearts to entertain thoughts of God to speak of him and his gracious and wondrous works is the contentment and pleasure of their souls Eph. 5.4 Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks There is their jesting to draw nigh to him Psal. 122.1 I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord. This is their heaven upon earth to obey him and serve him Psal. 112.1 Praise ye the Lord blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his commandments Now this delight is flagged and we even grow weary of God and weary of well doing we doat upon the world and grow estranged from God and cold in his service till we are quickned by sharp afflictions Then we begin to mind God again and a serious religiousness is revived in us The hypocrites never mind God but in their troubles Job 27.10 Will he always call upon God But the best Saints need this help and would grow dead and careless of God were it not for sharp corrasives Well now seeking after God and delighting in God being our great duties we should observe how these are promoted by all the troubles thas befalls us SERMON XXXVIII ROM VIII 28 to them that love God NOW we come to the Character and Notification of the persons to whom this great Priviledg doth belong First their carriage towards God To them that love God Doct. The Elect are specified by this character That they love God Here I shall shew you 1. What is love to God 2. Why this is made the evidence of our interest 1. What is love to God Love in the general is the complacency of the will in that which is apprehended to be good The object is good and love is a complacency in it The object must be good for evil is the object of our displicency and aversation and apprehended as good for otherwise we may turn from good as evil to us now love to God is the complacency of the will in God as apprehended to be good And therefore
more that he would be our Husband and yet further that he would be our Head He counted it an Honour and bought it at a dear rate 1. We are given to him to be Subjects of his Kingdom Christ is Lord of all the World but he prizeth to Title like that of King of Saints Rev. 15.3 to rule as Lord in the Church No Throne like the Conscience of an humbled Sinner The Heart is Christ's best Presence-Chamber he loveth to have his Chair of State set there He had an eternal Right together with the Father and the Holy Ghost but he would come and suffer and be crowned with a Crown of Thorns that he might have a new Right as Mediator and have the Crown of Glory put upon his Head in the Church Acts 5.31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour The Father promised it long before upon Bargain and Contract There is never a Subject that Christ hath but is bought and with the dearest Price his Soveraign's own Blood Mat. 20.28 He gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ransome for many Many Subjects die in other Kingdoms that the Prince may be seated in the Throne but here the Prince dieth for the Subjects that he may govern his Spiritual Realm with more Peace and Quietness As the Price was great so the Father hath made him a large Grant 1. Christ's Empire is Universal and spread throughout the World He properly is the Catholick King there are no Bounds and Limits of his Empire Isa. 53.12 Therefore will I divide him a Portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong Some of all Nations are given to him Isa. 49.12 Behold these shall come from far and lo these from the North and from the West and these from the Land of Sinim North West South Jews and Gentiles The Jews that are now his Enemies shall appoint to themselves a Head as the Tribes flocked to Hebron to crown David Hos. 1.11 Then shall the Children of Judah and the Children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one Head and they shall come up out of the Land There is no King like Christ for largeness of Command and Territory All Monarchs have certain Bounds and Limits by which their Empire is terminated Christ's Empire runneth throughout the whole Circuit of Nature he hath a Multitude of Subjects 2. Christ's Empire is Eternal Of the increase of his Government there shall be no end Isa. 9.7 Kings must die and then their Favourites may be counted Offenders So Bathsheba said to David who yet was a Type of the Reign of Christ 1 Kings 1.21 When my Lord the King shall sleep with his Fathers I and my Son Solomon shall be counted Offenders But Christ liveth and reigneth for evermore But you will say Christ doth not reign for ever but till he hath put all Enemies under his Feet when he shall resign up the Kingdom to the Father 1 Cor. 15.24 I Answer In Kingly Dignity there are two things Regia Cura and Regius Honor Kingly Care and Kingly Honour Kingly Care by which he ordereth and defendeth his Subjects and Kingly Honour which he receiveth from his Subjects Certainly Christ shall be King for ever and ever Luke 1.33 And he shall reign over the House of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end because he shall always be honoured and adored as King and Mediator He shall resign the Kingdom that is that way of Administration for when the Elect are fully converted and sanctified and their Enemies destroyed there will be no need of this Care Now thus we are given to Christ that he might be a King Universally and Eternally He ruleth us by a sweet Covenant he might rule us by Power Other Kings find Subjects he maketh them He might rule us for he bought us he hath an absolute right over us As there was a Covenant between the Father and Christ so between Christ and the Church He propoundeth no less than a Kingdom Isa. 10.8 Are not my Princes altogether Kings Christ's Title is by Purchase Conquest and Consent All Christ's Subjects were Vessels of Wrath Vessels of Hell in their natural Estate he recovered us from the Devil by Power and Conquest he bought us out of his Father's Hands by Merit and Price In short concerning this Kingdom which belongeth to the second Person The Father appoints it the Son merits it the Holy Ghost as Christ's Vice-Roy governs it The Father chuseth a certain number of Men giveth them to Christ the Son dieth for these Men ransometh them from the Grave and Hell and committeth them to be ruled and governed to the Spirit as Christ's Vicar the Spirit useth the Ministry of Men we are the Holy-Ghost's Overseers Acts 20.28 by which Grace is wrought and so we are united to Christ. Our Work by the Power of the Spirit is to bring them to Christ and Christ bringeth us to God the Father by his Intercession and by final Tradition which is the last Act of Christ's Mediatory Kingdom 1 Cor. 15.24 Then shall he deliver up the Kingdom to the Father God giveth us to Christ Christ to the Spirit the Spirit uniteth us to Christ and Christ bringeth us to God So that if we would enter into this Kingdom we must go to God the Father confess thou art a Traitor and Rebel desire him not to enter into Judgment with thee but seek to be reconciled If thou thus comest to the Father he will send thee to the Son as Job 42.8 God biddeth the Friends of Job to seek his Intercession I will not be pleased with you but in Christ. If I did not regard the presence of Jehoshaphat I would not look to thee nor see thee 2 King 3.14 Go to the Son reflect upon Christ's Merit and Intercession say Lord appear for us before thy Father were it not for thee he would not regard my Face The Son will send you to the Spirit I cannot bring you to God in your Impurity and Rebellion go to the Spirit of my Father that he may wash you and purge you Plead the promise of the Spirit John 16.13 14. Howbeit when he that is the Spirit of Truth shall come he will guide you into all Truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will shew you things to come He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it to you When we come to the Spirit he will send us to Moses and the Prophets hear them The Word is the Rod of his Strength By the Word we are gained by the Sacraments we take an Oath of Allegiance in Prayer we perform our Homages in Alms and Acts of Charity we pay him Tribute Praise and Honour are the Revenues of this Crown Thus I have shewed the Title the largeness of the Grant and the manner of Administration 2. We are
express Will of God John 6.38 39. For I came down from Heaven not to do mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me And this is the Father's Will that hath sent me that of all which he hath given I should lose nothing but should raise them up again at the last Day and by conversion to be possessed of all the Privileges of the Gospel and without miscarrying to be guided unto Glory John 10.28 29. I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any Man pluck them out of my Hand My Father that gave them me is greater than all and no Man is able to pluck them out of my Father's Hand they are One and act by joint Power and joint Consent And after all this he is to give an account of Bodies and Souls John 6.39 That of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise them up again at the last day Which accordingly he doth when he presents the Kingdom to the Father and appeareth before him with all his little Ones as a Prey snatched out of the Teeth of Lions Heb. 2.13 Behold I and the Children which God hath given me 2. What Christ undertook the whole Proposal of the Father was accepted Psal. 40.7 8. Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy Will O my God yea thy Law is within my Heart Christ consented to all the Articles of the Treaty and eternal Covenant not only to take a Body to die but to take a particular Charge of all the Elect. As Judah interposed for Benjamin so doth Christ for all the Souls committed to him Gen. 43.9 I will be Surety for him of my Hand shalt thou require him if I bring him not to thee and set him safe in thy Presence let me bear the Blame for ever So doth Christ say concerning all the Persons that fall under his Charge If I do not see them converted justified sanctified saved count me an unfaithful Undertaker and let me bear the Blame for ever 2. By way of Reward As in a Covenant there is not only a Duty incumbent but a Benefit accruing to the Party that contracteth So Christ in this eternal Treaty dealt with God by way of Bargain and Purchase his aim was to get a special Interest in and Relation to Believers as Mediator This was all the Gain he reckoned of Isa. 53.10 When thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for Sin he shall see his Seed he shall prolong his Days and the Pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his Hand And therefore by virtue of this Purchase he hath many Relations to them they are given to him as Subjects of his Kingdom as Scholars of his School as Children of his Family as the Spouse of his Bosom as the Members of his Body All these Relations I shall insist upon for this was the Honour granted to Christ upon his Obedience I mean he counted it an Honour and bought it at a dear rate and yet was contented with the Purchase Alas nothing could be added to the Greatness of his Person who was equal with the Father in Glory and Power the Privileges of the Incarnation were but as so many milder Humiliations but he was so tender of Souls that he was pleased to take it as a Gift from his Father and a Reward of all his Services Mark it nothing else could bring Christ out of Heaven into the Manger the Wilderness the Cross the Grave but to get an Interest in your Souls Isa. 53.11 He shall see of the Travel of his Soul and shall be satisfied What did he gain by all his Expence of Blood and Sweat his Temptations Agonies taking our Nature bearing our Burden but to see you safe in the Arms of Mercy that he might be your King your Prophet your Priest your Head Next to the Title of The Son of God Christ valueth that of being Head of the Church And see how the Relations are diversified that he might come nearer and closer to us a King is a more large Relation a Master hath a more particular Inspection a Master may be faithful and careful but he hath not the Bowels of a Father a Father is very tender but the greatest Intimacy is between Husband and Wife we are the Wife of his Bosom if Husband be a Relation too remote because the Union is civil he comes nearer to us yet he will be our Head we his Members where the Union is natural Let us go over these severally 1. We are given to him to be Subjects of his Kingdom Christ is Lord of all the World but he prizeth no Title like that of King of Saints Rev. 15.3 No Throne to him like the Conscience of an humble Sinner the Heart is his best Presence-Chamber there is his Throne of State set He had an eternal Right together with the Father and Holy Ghost but he would come and suffer and be crowned with a Crown of Thorns that he might have a new Right as Mediator and have the Crown of Glory put upon his Head in the Church Therefore it is said Act 5.31 That upon his Resurrection God hath exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of Sins The Grant was made long before when he first contracted with Christ about the Salvation of the World but when the Price was paid then it was made good There is never a Subject Christ hath but he is bought and with the dearest price his Soveraign's own Blood Mat. 20.28 The Son of Man gave his Life a Ransom for many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In other Kingdoms many Subjects die that the Prince may be seated in the Throne but here the Prince dyeth for the Subjects sakes that he may govern his spiritual Realm with Peace and Quietness And as the Price was great so the Father hath made him a large Grant Christ's Empire is universal properly he is the Catholick King there are no Bounds and Limits of his Kingdom first or last in all the habitable Parts of the Earth there are or shall be some that acknowledg his Scepter Isa. 49.12 Behold these shall come from far and â—o these from the North and from the West and these from the Land of Sinim From the East West North South Jews Gentiles the Jews that are now his Enemies shall acknowledg his Soveraignty Hos. 1.11 Then shall the Children of Judah and the Children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one Head and they shall come up out of the Land As the Tribes flocked to Hebron to crown David so shall these to crown Christ and this Royal Garland shall Christ wear to all Eternity It is true it is said 1 Cor. 15.29 He shall resign up the Kingdom to the Father I answer In Kingly Dignity there are two things Regia Cura and Regius Honor Kingly Care by which he ordereth and defendeth his
so in the Body each Member liveth in the Whole and the Whole in all the Members and they all exercise their several Functions for the Common Good 1 Cor. 12.25 The Members should have the same care one of another We are not Friends and Brethren but Members 2. No one thing is so much inculcated in his Sermons John 15.17 These things I command you that ye love one another Will you take a Charge from a dying Man This was the great Charge that Christ left at his Death it was a Legacy as well as a Precept Speeches of dying Men are wont to be received with much Veneration and Reverence especially the Charge of dying Friends The Brethren of Joseph fearing lest he should remember the Injuries done to him in seeking his Life selling him into Egypt they use this Plea Gen. 50.16 17. Thy Father commanded us before he died saying So shall ye say unto Joseph Forgive I pray thee now the Trespass of thy Brethren and their Sin for they did thee Evil And now we pray thee forgive the Trespass of the Servants of the God of thy Father We count it a piece of Natural Honesty to fulfil the Will of the Dead When Christ took his leave of the Disciples this was the Charge that he left upon them Therefore when thy Heart beginneth to be exulcerated consider What Love do I bear Christ since I do not respect his last Commandment Again as it was Christ's last Commandment so it was his new Commandment John 13.34 A new Commandment I give unto you That you love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another It was his solemn Charge A New Commandment How New since it was as old as the Moral Law or Law of Nature New because Excellent as a New Song or new because solemnly and expresly renewed by him and commended to their Care as new Things and new Laws are much esteemed and prized Christ would have this Commandment always new and fresh or new because enforced by a New Argument As I have loved you so should ye love one another When we see how much Christ hath loved us even to the Death of the Cross we may learn to love with a new kind of Love Experti amorem meum tam novum inauditum This was a new kind of Love indeed to enkindle Love in our Souls Christ gave us such a new kind of Love as was never seen nor heard of Christ came from Heaven to propound us a Patern of Charity as to repair and preserve the Notions of the Godhead by the greatness of his Sufferings so to shew us a Patern of Charity and to elevate Duty between Man and Man Ephes. 5.2 Walk in Love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God of a sweet smelling savour In Christ's Example we see the highest Patern of Love John 15.9 As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you His Father loved him with an Infinite Love yet parted with him for the Salvation of Men and Christ parted with himself and all to raise our Love to God and Men the higher But I digress 3. In his Prayers that which he reinforced again and again is Unity and Love When he was about to die he foresaw the Divisions of the Church and that Satan would by all means endeavour to sow Strife corrupt Nature putteth us on Discords He left some Apostles others Believers but all Men wherefore he prays for the Apostles Let them be One for Believers Let them be One. Christ that left Unity as a Charge in his last Sermons he would leave it as a Legacy in his last Prayers But why was Christ so earnest in his Prayers 1. Because it is such an Excellent Blessing Christ would not have been so earnest for it if it had not been so excellent I would not digress into a commendation of Concord and Love Pax ab omnibus landatur à paucis servatur all commend it tho few observe it yet a little will not be unnecessary This is the Strength and Safety of the Church Col. 3.14 And above all things put on Charity which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bond of Perfectness or a perfect Bond the Cement of the Church The Church is but one Temple where Stones squared by Grace are cemented with Love and inhabited by the same Spirit this keepeth them fast in the Building This is the Beauty and Safety of the Church the joining that runneth through all the squared Stones As the Health of the outward Body dependeth on the Symetry and Proportion of the Members and the Harmony and Disposition of all the Parts so doth the Welfare of the Church upon the Bond of Love Next to Truth there is not a greater Blessing and Christ prayeth for the Apostles that they might be kept in the Truth for this End that they might be one in Love And as nothing is more profitable to the Church so nothing is more acceptable to God it pleaseth God exceedingly to see all that call him Father to love as Brethren Certainly there is not a greater Grief to his Spirit than to see us divided in Opinion and Affection in our Prayers and Supplications Certainly there is much in Concord in praying when all God's Children do besiege Heaven with uniform and joint Supplications Things stick in the Birth because we are not agreed what to ask As Reformation sticketh towards Men because we are not agreed what to hold forth to the World so it sticketh as to God because we are not agreed what to ask When the Israelites would have God's Help it is said They came all as one Man to ask his Counsel Judges 20.1 Then all the Children of Israel went out and the Congregation was gathered together as one Man from Dan even to Beersheba with the Land of Gilead unto the Lord in Mizpeh Oh when shall it be so amongst us there is not only Altar set up against Altar but Prayer against Prayer We are first divided in Practices and Opinions and then in Prayers God's dear Children and Servants are divided in Language we cannot in charity but judg them to be acted with the same Spirit inspired with the same Breath yet they yield a different sound It is said of the Primitive Believers that they continued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord in Prayer and Supplication Acts 1.14 And they were with one accord in one place when the Holy-Spirit descended on them Acts 2.1 And yet how seldom doth any publick Congegration meet with one mind in the same place As in an Organ when some Pipes do make a sound others keep silence Mat. 18.19 If two of you shall agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven God looks for an Agreement and Harmony in our Requests if we would speed with him 2. Because Christ foresaw
Conscience speaketh peace to them so that they have no inward trouble to damp their joy and their end is Eternal Life for the present they have some access to God their work is more easie and their comforts are more sweet 2. Let me now speak of the Honour that doth accompany an holy Life It will never be matter of shame to us as sin is to all that practise it first or last 1. Because Holiness is the very Image of God upon the Soul or that work by which he sets forth his Praise to the World If God be excellent it can be no disgrace or dishonour to us to be like God and nothing on this side Heaven so like him as an holy Soul This was the blessed Perfection in which we were created at first Gen. 1.26 And God said Let us make man in our image after our likeness and when it was lost for this end were we redeemed by Christ who came to set up Gods Image in our Nature Joh. 1.14 And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth That we may be renewed by the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.18 We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of our God It is an Image not made by Painter or Carver but the Holy Ghost Now certainly that which was our primitive glory and excellency and is renewed and repaired with so much ado will never be matter of shame to us 2. They which have their fruit unto Holiness have the best temper and constitution of Soul of any men in the World they have a new and Divine Nature which inclineth them to the noblest Objects and Ends 2 Pet. 1.4 nothing below God can satisfie them their Ends are the glorifying of God and the eternal Enjoyment of him 2 Cor. 4.18 While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Alas what a poor drossie Soul is an unsanctified Soul they that drive no higher a Trade than providing for the Flesh or accommodating a Life which shortly must expire When these are seeking after the World and scrambling for the Honours and Delights thereof they are seeking after Heaven and adorning the Soul while they are pampering the Flesh. Surely they which contemn the World are more honourable than they which injoy it and it is much better to please God that we may live with him in Heaven than to flatter men that we may rise in the World 3. Their way and course of Life as well as their Temper and disposition of Heart is more noble for when others live according to the vain course of this corrupt World they live according to the Will of God which is the highest Pattern of all Perfection The one live to the Lusts of men the other according to the Will of God 1 Pet. 4.2 That be no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God The one walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 2.2 According to the course of this world the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 6.16 As many as walk according to this rule c. Now which Course is better Let us refer this Question to the Sentiments of Nature Even though men be so much depraved by their slavery to their brutish Lusts that they might justly be refused as incompetent Judges yet natural Conscience in the worst doth homage to the Image of God shining in the Saints as Herod feared John because he was a strict and just man Mark 6.20 And Exod. 11.3 Moses was great in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaohs servants and in the sight of all the people his Person and Presence was awful to them Nature hath a secret sentiment of the Excellency of Holiness those that regard not to practise it wonder at it 1 Pet. 4.4 They think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot especially when they come to dye then do they approve a sober godly Life though they had an heart to embrace it before Numb 23.10 Let me dye the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his Though they chuse to live with the carnal yet they would dye with the righteous such an approbation is Conscience forced to give first or last to an holy course of Life 4. That is honourable and glorious which is most esteemed by God for he can best judge and the great Soveraign of the World is the Fountain of all Honour Now Holiness is most esteemed by him which he hath declared both by word and deed First By Word Isa. 43.4 Since thou was precious in my sight thou hast been honourable God that was refreshed in the review of the works of Creation is also delighted in the works that belong to Redemption yea more as these gifts are more worthy and brought about with greater expence and difficulty therefore he delights most in the holy and righteous any part of Holiness is an ornament o◠great price in the fight of God 1 Pet. 3.4 Let your adorning be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and of a quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price Secondly In Deed as they are taken into a nearness to himself and here injoy his favour and fellowship and hereafter shall live with him for ever Now they have his Favour and injoy Communion with him Psal. 11.7 For the righteous God loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright hereafter they shall see his blessed Face Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see God They are capacitated for true Happiness This is so certain a Truth that all who are made partakers of a Divine Nature have the same disposition in them Psal. 15.4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned but he honoureth them that fear the Lord. They look not to the outward pomp and prosperity of the World and therefore have an heart to honour and respect godly men as being beloved prized and set apart by God and as they are made partakers of these sute great and glorious things which are infinitely more worthy of our love than any thing below So again Psal. 16.3 To the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight When we think too highly and pleasingly of the condition of the rich and too meanly and contemptibly of the state of the holy and godly as if it were a better thing to be great in the