and this the Apostle speaks out yet more plainly by him we have an access unto the Father Ephes 2.18.3.12 and in him we have boldness and access with confidence I shall a little enlarge on both these Texts recorded for our instruction in the Law and Gospel in the Old and in the New Testament First we find in the Law Exod. 28.14 that Aaron was to put two stones upon the shoulders of the Ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel and so Aaron was to bear the names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial And again Aaron was to bear the names of the children of Israel in the breast-plate of judgment upon his heart when he went into the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually Ver. 29. Here we find the names of the twelve Tribes of Israel ingraven in stones which the high-Priest usually took with him into the holy place when he appear'd before the Lord first upon his humeral and then upon his pectoral in both shewing that he entred into that place not only or principally in his own behalf but in behalf of the Tribes whom he presented before the Lord that they might be in continual remembrance with the Lord a lively Type of Christ's Intercession who being entred into the Heavens he there appears in the behalf of his Elect and he presents their persons to his Father bearing them as it were upon his shoulders and upon his heart why thus Christ takes our persons into heaven and represents them in his own person to his Father Secondly we find in the Gospel a gracious promise Ephes 2.18 3.12 that by Christ we have access unto the Father and in Christ we have access with confidence Where the word access 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies properly a manuduction or leading by the hand to God an introduction or bringing into God alluding to the custome in Princes Courts where none may come into the presence-Chamber unless they be led or brought in by some Favourite or Courtier there thus none may have access into the presence of God unless they are brought in by this Favourite of heaven the Lord Jesus Christ whose very office it is to bring men unto God he takes us by the hand and leads us to the Father q. d. Come Souls come along with me and I will carry you to the Father Look how a child that haâ—h run away from his Father is taken by the hand of a friend or of his â—lder brother and so brought again into the presence of his Father even so all we having run away from God are by the good hand of Christ taken up and led again into the presence of the Father he is that Ladder that Jacob saw upon whom we ascend into the bosome of God and into heaven he is that high-Priest that takes our persons and bears them on his shoulders and on his heart sustaining our persons and presenting our conditions unto his Father and our Father unto his God and our God 5. Christs Intercession consists in the presenting of our duties unto God Not only doth he take our persons and leads and carry them into the presence of God but together with our persons he presents all our services in his own person Now in this act he doth these two things 1. He observes what evil or what falling is in our duties and he draws that out and takes it away before he presents them unto God or as a child that would present his Father with a posie he goes into the garden and gathers flowers and weeds together but coming to his Mother she picks out the weeds and binds up the flowers by themselves and so it is presented to the Father thus we go to duty and we gather weeds and flowers together but Christ comes and picks out the weeds and so presents nothing but flowers to God the Father and this is plainly set forth by that ceremony of the high-Priest in taking away the iniquity of their holy things Exod. 28.36.37.38 And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold and grave upon it like the ingravings of a Signet holiness to the Lord and thou shalt put it on a blew lace that it may be upon the Mitre upon the fore-front of the Mitre it shall be And it shall be on Aarons fore-head that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the Children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts and it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord This was the manner of the Ceremony and this was the end of the Ceremony that Aaron might bear and take away the iniquity of their holy things what was this but a Type of Jesus Christ who with his most absolute righteousness covereth all the defects of our good works which are still spotted with some defect Isa 64.6 Alas all our righteousness are as filthy rags but Christ draws out the evil of duty and failings in duty before he will present them unto God 2. He observes what good there is in any of our duties or performances and with that he mingles his own prayers and Intercessions and presents all as one work interwoven or mingled together unto God the Father And another Angel stood at the Altar having a golden Conser Rev. 8.3 4. and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar which was before the Throne and the smoke of the Incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand I know there is a controversie who this Angel should be that with the Incense mingles the prayers of all Saints some conjecture him to be a created Angel in that the incense or ordours are said to be given to him and not to be his own or to have them of himself others say he could be no other but the Angel of the Covenant for no Angel doth intercede or present our prayers but Jesus Christ as for that which is spoken concerning the seven Angels presenting the Saints prayers I am Raphael one of the seven holy Angels which present the prayers of the Saints We say it is no canonical Scripture Tobit 12 1â— nor is it authorized by any canonical Scripture besides I cannot think that the Priests were types of Angels but only of Christ Again howsoever the Greek Copies so read that Text yet the antient Hebrew Copy set forth by Paulus Fagius and Jerome who translated it out of the Caldee as Master Mede on Zachar. 4.10 avoucheth reads it thus I am Raphael one of the seven Angels which stand and minister before the glory of the holy One. And certainly in this Text of Revel 8.3 4. There is a figurative description of an heavenly service correspondent to that which was performed in the Temple namely that the people being without at
that you may better understand the manner of this generation of the Son of God together with the mutual kindness lovingness joy and delight betwixt the Father and the Son even from Everlasting SECT II. Of our Election in Christ before all Worlds NOw let us look on Christ in his Relation to us before all Worlds God being thus alone himself from everlasting and besides himself there being nothing at all the first thing he did besides what ye have heard or the first thing he possibly and conceivably could do it was this a determination with himself to manifest his Glory Or a purpose in himself to communicate his glory out of his aloneness everlasting unto somewhat else I say unto somewhat else for what is communication but an efflux an emanation an issuing from or a motion betwixt two Terms I have now brought you to the acts or actions of God in reference to his Creatures follow me a little and I shall anon bring you to Christ in relation to your selves These acts or actions of God were and are 1. The Decree 2. The Execution of the Decree of God I must open these Terms 1. The Decree is an action of God out of the Councel and purpose of his own Will determining all things and all the Circumstances and order of all things from all Eternity in himself certainly and unchangably and yet freely Who worketh all things saith the Apostle after the Counsel of his own will Ephes 1.11 and this work or action of God is internal and for ever abiding within his own Essence it self 2. The execution of the Decree is an act of God whereby God doth effectually work in time all things as they were fore-known and Decreed And this action of God is external and by a temporal act passing from God to the Creatures Now for the Decree that is of diverse kinds As first There is a Decree common and general which looks to all the creatures and it is either the Decree of creation or the Decree of Providence and preservation 2. There is a Decree special which belongs to reasonable creatures Angels and Men it is called the Decree of Predestination and it consistss of the Decree of Election and Reprobation Concerning the common and general Decrees we have but little laid down in Scriptures and it is little or nothing at all to our purpose And concerning the special Decree of Angels there is not much in Scriptures and that is as little also to our purpose we have only to deal with Men and with Gods Decree in relation to Mans Salvation before all Worlds And this we call Predestination or the Decree of Election which is either of Christ or of the Members of Christ Christ Himself was first Predestinated This appears by that Saying of God Behold My Servant whom I uphold Isa 41.2 Mine Elect in whom My Soul delighteth I have put My Spirit upon him he shall bring forth Judgment to the Gentiles These very words the Evangelist interprets of Christ Himself Matth. 12.18 Mat. 12.18 And Christ being Predestinate the Members of Christ were Predestinated in Him So the Apostle According as He hath chosen us in Him before the Foundation of the World Ephes 1.4 We are chosen in Christ as in a common Person He was the first Person Elected in order and we in Him Suppose a New Kingdom to be set up a New King is chosen all his Successors are chosen in him Why God hath Erected a Kingdom of Glory He hath chosen Jesus Christ for the King of this Kingdom and in Him He hath chosen us whom He hath made Kings and Priests unto the most High God But observe we this of the Apostle He hath chosen us in Him before the Foundation of the World 1. He hath chosen i.e. God the Father hath chosen not that the Son and Spirit chose not also for if Three of us had but one Will common to us all One could not will any thing which the Will of the other Two should not also will But because the Son sustains the Person of one Elected and the Spirit is the Witness sealing this Grace unto our Hearts therefore the Father only is expressed as the Father alone is often named in Prayer not that the other Persons are not to be prayed unto but because the Son is considered as the Mediatour and the Spirit as the Instructor teaching us to Pray as we ought therefore the Father only is expressed 2. He hath chosen us in Him This Him denotes Christ God-man and this in Him notes the same Christ God-man as the Head and first Elect in whom and after whom in order of Nature all His Body are Elected Mark here the Order but not the Cause of our Election Though Christ be the Cause of our Salvation yet Christ is not the Cause of our Election It is only the Fore-knowledge of God and His free Love that is the Cause thereof 3. He hath chosen us in Him before the Foundation of the World i.e. From all Eternity but because within Eternity God doth fore-see the Things which are done in time therefore this Phrase say some may be extended not only to respect the Actual Creation but the Decree it self of the World 's Being q. d. He hath chosen us in order of Nature before His Decree did lay the Foundation of the World My meaning is not to enter into Controversies this all grant that the antient Love which the Lord hath born to us in Christ is not of Yesterday but before all Worlds Paul mentions Grace given us before all Worlds 1 Tim. 1.9 But that which is the most observable in the Text as to our purpose is that we are chosen in Him We read of Three Phrases in Scripture speaking of Christ Sometimes we are said to have Blessings in Him and sometimes for Him sometimes through Him Sometimes in Him as here He hath chosen us in Him sometimes for Him as elsewhere To you it is given for Christ His sake not only to Believe but to Suffer sometimes through Him as in that of Paul Thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Phil. 1.29 1 Cor. 15.57 Now Blessings come through Christ in respect that Christ is a Mediatour not only of Impetration but Execution not only obtaining and receiving from Grace all Good for us but in executing and applying Efficaciously the same unto us And Blessings come for Christ in respect that Christ doth by His Obedience obtain every good Thing which in time is communicated to us And we have Blessings in Christ because that in Christ as a Common Store-house every thing is first placed which is to be imparted afterwards to any of us And thus we are chosen in Christ as in a common Person This Grace of Election began first at Christ our Head and so descends downwards on us His Members Christ is the First Begotten amongst all His Brethren having
should be offered and administred unto all Men without Exception 4. That certain singular Persons should be saved whom God fore-saw would Repent and Believe and Persevere This way is justly opposed by Others who deny God's Acts in Intention to be in the same order as we see them in Production In order of Material Existing it is granted that Christ is Revealed Promised and Exhibited after Sin and that we Repent Believe Persevere before we are Saved But in order of God's Intention Christ is before Sin and Salvation before Repentance Faith Perseverance The Apostle reckoned the Order in which Things exist thus 1. The World 2. You The Elect. 3. Christ 1 Cor. 3.22 23. 4. God 1 Cor. 3.22 23. But he gives us to understand the Order of Intention thus As First God intends His own Glory then Christ then the Elect then the World Certainly it is an hard thing to marshal the Eternal Immanent Acts of the Divine Understanding or Will into First Second Third Fourth All God's Projects are like Himself Tota simul perfecta possessio sui who is a whole and perfect Possession of Himself together and at once so as in Him considered there is no Prius nor Posterius in any of His acts but considered in Effects or in respect of us one thing may be said to be First Second or Third in Nature Time Being before or after another And thus in respect of us we say the End must be in Nature before the Means to the End Now the Permission of the Fall Repentance Faith Perseverance are used by God as Means to bring some to Salvation God therefore doth first project our Salvation and then the Means and both the End and the Means are the Product of God's Election or Predestination Here then is the Project That God will glorify His Grace to this end He will predestinate Christ in Christ He will choose some of the Sons of Men to Salvation whom Eccles 1.4 notwithstanding Sin He will make holy and without blame before Him in love This Project or Plot or Design of God will be further enlarged in the next Passage viz. His Counsels SECT V. The Counsel OF the Counsels of God concerning Man before all Worlds we read in several Texts Christ was delivered by the determinate Counsel of God For of a truth Acts 2.23 against thy Holy Child Jesus whom Thou hast anointed both Herod Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles Acts 4.27 28. the People of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy Hand thy Counsel determined before to be done Ephes 1.11 And thus the Members of Christ are said to Obtain an Inheritance being Predestinated according to the Purpose of Him who worketh all Things after the Counsel of His own Will Of this Counsel of God's Will we know but little now yet this will be made known when we come to Glory yea it will be a great Part of the Glory of Heaven for the Lord to make known the Counsel of His Will we now know his Will but we shall then know the Counsel of His Will praise Him to all Eternity for it This shall be the Glory of the Saints that they shall see into the Counsel of God's Will in chusing them and calling them and passing by others and letting others go In the mean-while thus far we may know for thus far He hath revealed Himself concerning His Counsels about Man from Everlasting 1. That Man should be a Reasonable Creature and because that very Creature is unavoidably subject to the Creator for He made all things for Himself Prov. 16.4 and all is to return that Glory to Him for which He made them therefore Man should serve Him as all other Creatures must only his Service should be after a reasonable manner out of Judgment Psal 119.30 Heb. 11.25 26. Discretion and Election Hence David is said to have chosen the Way of Truth Moses to have Chosen the Afflictions of God's People the Reproaches of Christ before the Pleasures of Sin or the Treasures of Egypt And hence it is that Holiness in the Phrase of Scripture is called Judgment He shall convince the world of Judgment John 16.11 Mat. 12.20 he shall bring forth Judgment unto Victory and hence it is that our Service is called a Reasonable Service God would not set any such determinating Law over the Operations of Man as over other Creatures that so he might truly work out of Judgment and stand or fall by his own Election 2. That if Man should deviate from this Reasonable Service and break the Law which God would give and which he himself should have an Original Power to perform that then he should incur the Displeasure of God and such a Curse and such a Penalty should be inflicted And here comes in the Fall of Man into God's Consideration He looks upon it as a wilful transgression of his Law and by how much the Law was more just and the obedience more easie by so much he judges the transgression more unreasonable and the punishment more certain and intolerable 3. That Sin should not pass Unrevenged and that for these reasons 1. Because of Gods infinite hatred thereof Hab. 1.13 He is of purer Eyes than to behold Evil He cannot look on Iniquity it provokes a Nauseousness and Abhorrency in him For all these are things which I hate Zach. 8.17 saith in the Lord They are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them 2. Because of his truth Gen. 2.17 he hath said In the day thou eatest thereof thou sâ—alâ— surely die or thou shalt dying die die Temporally and die Eternally and surely God will in no wise abolish this Law Matth. 5.8 One jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the â—aw till all be fulfilled 3. Because of his terrour and fearful Majesty for God will have Men alwayes tremble before him and by his terrour to be perswaded from sinning 2 Cor. 5.11 Matth. 10.28 Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men and Fear him who is able to destroy boâ—h Body and Soul in Hell I say unto you Heb. 12.28 29. fâ—ar him Let us have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear for God is a Consuming Fire Upon these Reasons God is resolved Sin shall not pass unrevenged lest thereby His Justice should be securely abused his Hatred against Sin the less declared His Truth questioned and His dreadful Majesty by Men neglected 4. That every Man notwithstanding Sin should not be utterly destroyed and that for theâ—e Reasons 1. Because of that infinite Delight which the Lord hath in Mercy Why this Delight is it that so disposeth Him to pardon abundantly to exercise Loving-kindness on the Sons of Men Psal 103.8 Who is a God like unto Thee that pardonest Iniquity and passest by the Transgression of the Remnant of
Thy Heritage Thou retainest not Thy Anger for ever Jer. because Thou delightest in Mercy And I am the Lord which exercise Loving-Kindness Judgment Righteousness in the Earth for in thâ—se things I delight saith the Lord. 2. Because of that Delight which God hath to be actively glorified by His Creatures voluntary Service and Subjection John 10.18 Ezek. 33.11 Herein is My Father glorified if ye bear much Fruit and I have no Pleasure in the Death of the Wicked but that he turn from his Way and live He delighteth most in unbloody Conquests when by His Patience and Goodness and Forbearance He subdueth the Hearts Affections and Consciencâ—s of Men unto Himself He esteemeth Himself more glorified in the Services than in the Sufferings of Men and therefore in this Eternity he resolves not to destroy all Men lest there should be no Religion upon the Earth When the Angels fell they fell not all many were still left to glorify Him actively in their Service of Him but when Adam fell all Mankind fell in him so that there was no Tree in all this Paradise lest to bring forth any Fruit unto God And this is most certain that God would rather have His Trees for Fruit than for Fewel Hence He resolves that Mankind notwithstanding Sin should not be utterly destroyed Hereupon the Trinity calls a Counsel and the Question is What is to be done with poor Man The Learned here frame a kind of Conflict in God's holy Attributes by a Liberty which the Holy-Ghost from the Language of Holy Scripture doth allow them they speak of God after the manner of Men as if he were reduced unto some Straits and Difficulties by the cross Demands of His several Attributes Justice calls upon Him for the Condemnation of a Sinful and therefore worthily Accursed Creature which Demand is seconded by His Truth to make good that Threatning In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the Death Mercy on the other side pleads for Favour and Compassion towards Man wofully seduced and overthrown by Satan and this Plea is seconded by Love and Goodness and the like Attributes at last when the Business comes to Determination Wisdom finds out a way which the Angels of Heaven gaze on with Admiration Astonishment how to reconcile these different Pleas of his Attributes together A Jesus is resolved on One of the same Blessed Trinity who by His Father's Ordination His own voluntary Susception and the Holy Spirits Sanctification should be fitted for the Business To this purpose this Jesus should be both a Surety and an Head over sinful Men a Surety to pay Mens Debts unto God and an Head to restore God's Image unto Man And thus in Him Mercy and Truth have met together Righteousness and Peace have Kissed each other Psal 83.10 This is the great Mistery of the Gospel this is that which the Angels as I tell you pry into nay this is that which the Angels and Saints too shall admire and bless God for to all Eternity this is that which set the infinit Wisdome of God on work from all Eternity If all the Angels in Heaven and all the Men in the World had been put to it to find out a way to answer this question how shall sin be pardoned the sinner reconciled and God glorify his justice they could never have done it this cost God dear it cost him the heart-blood of his own Son and that 's a sure sign that Gods heart was much in it and indeed we are not Christians until in some measure we see and have our hearts taken with the glory of God in this mistery O the wonder of Heaven and Earth here 's the case man is fallen through sin and ever since the fall man and sin are as inseparably joyned together as fire and heat yet God will have mercy on the man and he will take vengeance on the sin the Eternal Wisdome of God hath found out a way to translate this mans sins on another Person who is able to bear them and to interest this mans person in anothers Righteousness which is able to cover him so that now all 's one in regard of man as if the Law had been utterly abrogated and all 's one too in regard of God as if the creature had been utterly condemned And all this is done in our Jesus on him was executed the curse of the Law by him was fulfilled the righteousness of the Law for him was remitted the sin of man and through him were all things made new again the world was in Christ as in its Surety making satisfaction to the Justice of God and God was in Christ as in his Embassadour Rom. 11.33 reconciling the world unto himself again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the depths of the riches both of the Wisdome and Knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out You have seen the Project and the counsels of God for mans salvation before all worlds Rom. 11.34 it is but dimly for who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellour SECT VI. The foreknowledge OF the knowledge of God in this respect we read in Scriptures Acts 2.23 Rom. 8.29 Rom. 11.2 1 Pet. 1.2 Christ is said to be delivered by the determinate Counsel and foreknowledg of God And it is said of Christs members the called according to his purpose whom he did foreknow and elsewhere in the same Epistle God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew And Peter writes to the strangers Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father Understand that foreknowledge is ascribed to God in respect of the creature properly but in respect of God there is nothing past nothing to come all things past and all things to come are present to him and therefore in that sense he cannot be said to foreknow any thing Now the Lord in respect of us is said in Scripture to foreknow things or persons two wayes Psal 139.16 1. Generally by a general knowledge of which Davids speaks thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them 2. Specially by a more special foreknowledge which is a knowledge with love and approbation the very same which barely comprehendeth that we call Election Rom. 9.13 2 Tim. 2.19 Rom. 11.2 so Gods choosing is expressed by loving Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated And this is that which the Apostle speaks of the Lord knoweth who are his i.e. the Lord from everlasting knoweth his with love and with approbation hath God cast away his people which he foreknew i. which he before loved and approved hence we gather that after the Project was laid and the Councels of God were agreed upon it then God foreknew or foresaw whom to embrace in his eternal love as his own
his if God in Christ hath of his own free love set thee apart to life and salvation then know it for thy self Jâ—b 5 27. it is inward experimental knowledge we speak of 4. Study the purpose of God concerning thy salvation this purpose of God speaks the stability and certainty of they salvation in Christ his purpose is in and from himself who is God and not man and therefore cannot repent Numb 23.19 hath he said and shall he not do it hath he spoken and shall he not make it good 5. Study the decrees of God they are all one with Predestination the book of life the seal of God what hath the Lord decreed predestinated booked sealed thee for salvation Psal 89 15. O how blessed is the people that know this joyful sound they shall walk in the light of they countenance O Lord. 6. Study the Covenant of grace remember how the business of eternity lay thus here is every man lost said God to his Son but thou shalt in fulness of time go and be born of flesh and blood and die for some of them and satisfie my Justice and they shall be thine for a portion and they shall be called the holy people the redeemed of the Lord. To whom the Son answered be it so Lord I will go and fulfil thy pleasure and they shall be mine for ever Observe and be acquainted with this Covenant in that very Dialogue first God demands of his Son that he lay down his life and for his labour he promiseth that he shall be his seed and God shall give him many children Isa 53.10 Heb. 10.5 9. And secondly the Son consents to lay down his life and saith here I am to do thy will O God thou hast given me a body What O my soul that the Father and Christ should transact a bargain from eternity concerning thee that there should be any communing betwixt the Father and the Son concerning thy happiness and salvation Surely this is worthy thy paines Job 3.7 and study O hear it and know thou it for thy good SECT II. Of considering Jesus in that respect 2. VVE must consider Jesus carrying on this work of salvation in that eternity It is not enough to study and know him but according to the measure of Knowledg we have attained we must ponder and muse and meditate and consider of him now consideration is an expatiating and enlarging of the mind and heart on this or that subject consideration is a fixing of our thoughts a stedfast bending of our minds to some spiritual matter till it work on the affections and conversation We may know and yet be inconsiderate of that we do know but when the intention of our mind and heart is taken up about some one known object and other things are not for the present taken notice of this is consideration O that if it were possible we could so consider Jesus in this first period of eternity as that for a while at least we could forget all other things Christians I beseech you be dead to the world be insensible of all other things and look onely on Jesus it is said that men in a phrenzy are insensible of what you do to them because their minds are taken up about that which they apprehend so strongly and if ever there was any object made known to take up the mind of a spiritual man it is this even this not but that other objects may be deeply and seriously minded of men it is reported of Archimedes who was a great Mathematician that when the City was taken wherein he was and the warlike instruments of death clattering about his ears and all was in a tumult yet he was so busie about drawing his lines that he heard no noise nor did he know there was any danger but if such objects as those could take up the intention of his mind so as not to regard other things how much more should this consideration of Christ If a carnal heart a man that minds earthly things be so taken up about them because they are an object suitable to him how much more should a gracious heart that can see into the reality of these things of God Christ from everlasting be so taken up with them as to mind nothing else come then O my soul and set thy consideration on work as thus 1. Consider Jesus in his relation to God how he was the eternal Son of the Father I know in some respects we have little reason thus to look on Jesus as we are sinners and fallen from God there is no looking on an absolute Deity alas that Majesty because perfectly and essentially good is no other then an enemy to sinners as sinners so as we are sinners and fallen from God there is no looking on the Son of God I mean on the Son of God considered in the notion of his own eternal being as coequal and coessential to God the Father Alas our sin hath offended his justice which is himself and what have we to do with that dreadful power which we have provoked But considering Jesus as Jesus which sounds a Saviour to all sinners believing on him and that this Jesus containes the two natures of Christ both the God-head man-hood now we that have our interest in him may draw neer Heb 1.3 and as we are capable behold the brightness of his glory To this purpose the Scriptures have discovered to us God the Son how he is the second person in the Trinity having the foundation of personal subsistence from the Father alone of whom by communication of his essence he is begotten from all eternity when there were no depths I was brought forth before the mountains were setled and before the hills I was brought forth Ante colles genita eram Prov. 8.24 25 before the mountains I was begotten as some or ante colles filiata eram before the mountains I was sonned his son as others translate it why thus O my soul consider Jesus the Son of God but in this consideration be not too curious thou hearest of the generation of the Son and of the procession of the Holy Ghost but for the manner how the Father begets the Son or how the Father and Son do spire and send forth the Holy spirit be not too busie to enquire thou mayest know a little and consider a little but for the depth and main of this great mystery of grace let the generation of the Son of God be honoured with silence I remember one being too curious and too inquisitive Aug. lib 1 confess c. 12. what God was doing on that long Evum of eternity before he made the world it was answered he decreed to make hell for such curious inquisitors Be not therefore too nice in this consideration keep within bounds of sobriety and humility and then as thou art able to comprehend the Scriptures will discover that before God made the world in that long-long
for the Lord God will help me Heb. 2.13 Isa 50.7 8 9 Isa 59.5 therefore shall I not be confounded And behold the Lord will help me who is he that shall condemn me whereto agrees that other passage and my God shall be my strength 3. There was a promise of submission to his Fathers will in bearing the reproaches and injuries that should be done to him and to lay down his life for those that were given to him by the Father the Lord God opened my ear and I was not rebellious Isa 50.5 6 neither turned away back I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair I hid not my Face from shame and spitting John 10.17 and therefore my Father loves me because I lay down my life Christ first thus Covenanted with his Father and then he was careful to discharge the same and at last he tells God John 17.4 I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do 4. There was an earnest expectation of that glory which the Father promised Christ and his members And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self John 17.5 John 17.24 with the glory which I had with thee before the World was And Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovedst me before the Foundation of the World These were the Articles of the Covenant on Christs part and hence it is that God is called the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ viz. by reason of the Covenant Ephes 1.3 O my soul with what delight mayest thou consider muse and ponder on these Articles what that God should make a Covenant and enter into these and these Articles with his own Son for thy good and for thy Eternal good what that God should bring in the second person in the Trinity to be the head of the Covenant as on thy part what a mercy is this O run over and over this meditation a thousand and a thousand times O consider thy hope of Eternal life which God that cannot lye Tit. 1.2 promised before the world began If thy soul question what promise was there made before the World began to whom was the promise made who was there before the World began for God to make any promise to why now thou hast learned it was only to the Son of God the second person in the Trinity There was a most blessed transaction between God the Father and God the Son before the world began for thy everlasting good and upon that transaction depends all thy hope and all thy salvation O this is worthy of thy deep and sad and serious and inmost meditation I have been particular and large in this passage of Looking unto or considering Jesus but I shall be brief in the rest SECT III. Of desiring after Jesus in that respect 3. VVE must desire after Jesus carrying on the great work of our salvation in that Eternity It is not enough to know consider but we must desire Now desire is a passion looking after the attainment of some good which we enjoy not and which we imagine to be fitting for us In this respect we cannot desire after Jesus as now to carry on that work of our salvation before the World began for that work is already perfectly done But these things we may desire after as 1. After the manifestation of that work in us 2. After God and Christ the complotters and actors of that great work for us 3. After the full and utmost execution whereby God effectually works in time according to all his workings or decrees before time 1. We must desire after the manifestation of this work in us We have heard of marvellous excellent glorious things done by Jesus Christ for his Saints from all Eternity oh what desires now should be in us to know that we are of that number when I hear and consider that there was such a project and such counsels and such love and such a purpose and such decrees and such a Covenant betwixt God and Christ for salvation of souls and withal that they are but few in comparison concerning whom God and Christ hath all this care will not this whet on my desires and make me cry and cry again Oh that these loves were mine how happy were I if I had a share in these eternal thoughts of God Methinks we should not hear of such transactions but it should stir up our hearts in infinite desires methinks we should pant after assurance and still be wishing Oh what is truth and what is Christ and what did Christ for me before I was or before the World was I would I knew him I would I could enjoy him I would I were assured that he had one good thought of me in that Eternity Christians if you have any share in those transactions sooner or later you will feel these desires nay if my sinful heart deceive me not upon the very consideration of these things I feel my self another creature in my desires then I was before Tell me you that have took a full view of God Christ and of all these wonders of Eternity do you not sensibly differ from your selves in your affections Is not the world worldly pleasures worldly profits and worldly honours fallen too yea ten in an hundred with you have they not lost their price would you not rather be assured that your names are written in the Book of Life then to have all the world yours yea and all the Devils in Hell subject to your commands Certainly if these revelations work nothing in your hearts if your affections be so strong and hearty to the world and the vanities of it if your desires be so impure and strongly working downwards that Gods ancient loves and everlasting workings have no power on your hearts it is a very sad condition If David may have his wish it runs thus Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us he would have the manifestation of Gods Eternal love Psa 4.6 one smile of his countenance as an image of that countenance which God had towards him before the world began was more gladness to his heart then all that which the men of the world had in the time that their corn and their wine increased 2. We may and must desire after God and Christ the complotters and actors of that great work for us what hath the Gospel revealed this truth that before the Creation God and Christ were busied about our good yea and hath Christ especially that came out of the bosom of his Father brought the treasures of his Fathers counsel to the world discovered such love to men how then should our desires be after God in Christ Whom have I in heaven but thee Psa 73.35 there is none upon earth that I
Son Jesus Christ 1 John 1.3 Rev. 3.20 Cant. 1.1 2 Deut. 4.7 and Christ is said to come and sup with us and to kiss us with the kisses of his mouth and to be near to us in all that we call upon him for surely this is the highest happiness of the Saints that God is their God when they can say this they have enough if we could say this House is mine this Town this City this Kingdom this World is mine what is all this O but when a Christian comes at length and sayes this God that made all the world is mine this is enough indeed this is the greatest promise that ever was made or ever can be made to any creature Angels or Men herein if we observe it God gives himself to be wholly ours consider God essentially or personally Consider Jehovah Elohim all is ours God in his essence and glorious attributes communicates himself to us for good and God personally considered as Father Son and Holy Ghost they all enter into Covenant with us 1. The Father enters into Covenant with us he promiseth to be a father to us hence saith the Lord Israel is my Son my first born and again is Ephraim my dear Son Exod. 4.22 Jer. 31.20 Psal 14.11 Psal 103.13 is he a pleasant Child the Lord speaketh as through he were fond of his Children as delighting in them for so it is said the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him or as pitying of them for so it is said likewise like as a father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him 2. The Son is in Covenant with us and speaks to us in this language thou art mine how comes that about why I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name Isa 43.1 and therefore thou art mine this is Christ's Covenant with us he brings us back to his Father from whose presence we were banished and sets us before his face for ever he undertakes for us to take up all controversies which may fall out between God and us he promiseth to restore us to the Adoption of Sons and not only to the title but to the inheritance of Sons that we might be where he is Joh. 17.24 Heb. 10.14 15 16. 3. The Holy Ghost makes a Covenant with us By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness and a worker This is the Covenant that I will make with them I will put my Law into their hearts and in their minds will I write them I know the Father is implyed in this yet here is the proper work of the Holy Ghost what the Father hath purposed for us from all Eternity and the Son hath purchased for us in his time that the Holy Ghost effects in us and for us as in our time he applyes the blood of Christ for the remssion of Sins he writes the Law in our hearts he comforts us in our sadness he supports us in our faintings and guides us in our wanderings Now he that effects these things for us and in our behalf he is therefore said to make a Covenant with us Thus Elohim God personally considered Father Son and Holy Ghost are in Covenant with us 4. This is the great promise what can be greater when God said to Abraham I will be thy God Heb. 6.13 what could he give more so when God tells us I am the Lord thy God what could he say more God having no greater to swear by saith the Apostle he swore by himself So God being minded to do great things for his People and having no greater thing to give he gives himself O the goodness of God in Christ I am the Lord thy God 5. Let us see the fruit of this in reference to Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage This was God's promise long before to Abraham know of a surety Gen. 15.13 4. that thy seed shall be a stranger in a Land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years and also that Nation whom they shall serve will I judg and afterwards they shall come out with great substance See here Israel must be strangers in Egypt and serve the Egyptians four hundred years but then he will bring them out of the land of Egypt and out of their servile bondage why this argues that God is Jehovah now he has performed what he had foretold and this argues that God in Christ is our Redeemer for what was this redemption from Egypt but a type of our freedom from sin death and hell here is the work of redemption joyned with that great name Jehovah Elohim to signifie that such a redemption is a clear testimony of a true and mighty God Whether this were laid down only as a peculiar argument to the Jews to keep the Commandments or it belongs also to us being grafted in and become of the same stock with them I shall not dispute this is without any controversie that their bondage was typical and ours spiritual you see the good things promised in this Covenant 6. What is the condition of this covenant on our part as we may gather it hence The condition of this covenant is faith in Jesus which is implyed in the promise I will be thy God or I am the Lord thy God and commanded in the precept built upon it thou shalt have me to be thy God or thou shalt have no other Gods before me But where is faith in Jesus Christ mentioned either in promise or precept I answer if it be not expressed it is very plainly intended or meant God is not the God of Israel but in and through the Mediator neither can Israel take God to be their God but by faith in the Messiah In the prophets we read frequently these exhortations trust in the Lord commit thy self unto the Lord lean upon the Lord and roul thy burden upon the Lord but what the Prophets exhort unto that is commanded in this expressure of the Covenant and who can trust in the Lord or commit himself to the Lord or lean upon the Lord or roul his burthen on the Lord if he be a sinner unless it be in and through a Mediator Israel must walk before God in all well-pleasing and the Apostle tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God But to go further what is the meaning of this first commandment in the affirmative part but to have one God in Christ to be our God by faith it is true Heb. 11.6 there is no mention made of Christ or faith but that is nothing is there is no mention of Love and yet our Saviour discovers and commands it there when the Lawyer tempted Christ Master which is the great Commandment in the Law you know Christs answer Mat. 22.36 37 38. thou shalt love the Lord
them again to this Land and I will build them and not pull them down and I will plant them and not bluck them up and I will give them a Heart to know Me that I am the Lord and they shall be My People and I will be their God for they shall return unto Me with their whole Heart Hag. 2.7 8 9. Again I will shake all Nations and the Desire of the Nations shall come and I will fill this House with Glory saith the Lord of Hosts The Silver is mine and the Gold is mine saith the Lord of Hosts the Glory of this latter House shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of Hosts And I will put my Law in their inward parts Jer. 31.33 34. and write it in their Hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my People and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his Brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquities and I will remember their Sins no more 3. It excels in the discovery and revelation of the Mediator in and through whom this Covenant was made In the former expression we discovered much yet in none of them was so plainly revealed the time of his coming the place of his birth his name the passages of his nativity his humiliation and kingdom as we find them in this 1. Concerning the time of his Coming Dan. 9.24 Seventy weeks shall be determined upon thy people and upon thy holy City to finish the Transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophesie and to anoint the most holy 2. Concerning the place of his Birth But thou Bethlehem Ephrata Mica 5.2 though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting 3. Concerning his Name Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given Isa 9.6 and the Government shall be upon his Shoulders and his Name shall be called Wonderful Councellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Jer. 23.6 In his dayes Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this his Name whereby he shall be called the Lord our Righteousness Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son Isa 7.14 and thou O Virgin shalt call his Name Immanuel 4. Concerning the passages of his Nativity that he should be born of a Virgin Isa 7.14 That at his Birth all the Infants round about Bethlehem should be slain Jer 31.15 That John the Baptist should be his Prodromus or forerunner to prepare his way Mal. 3.1 That he should flee into Egypt and be recalled thence again Hos 11.1 I might add many Particulars of this kind 5. Concerning his Humiliation Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows Isa 53.4 yet we did not esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him 5. and with his stripes were we healed He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his Mouth He was taken from Prison and from Judgment 7. and who shall declare his Generation he was cut off out of from the Land of the Living 8. for the transgression of my people was he stricken It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great and he shalt divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his Soul unto Death and he was numbred with the transgressors and he bare the Sin of many and made intercession for tâ—e transgressors One would think this were rather a History than a Prophesie of Christs sufferings you may if you will take the pains see the circumstances of his sufferings as that he was sold for thirty pieces of silver Zech. 11.12 and that with those thirty pieces of silver there was bought afterwards a Potters field Zech. 11.13 That he must ride into Jerusalem before his Passion on an Ass Zech. 9.9 I might seem tedious if I should proceed 6. Concâ—rning his Kingdom Rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion Zech. 9.9 Isa 62.11 Mat. 21.5 shout O Daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee he is Just and having Salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the Foal of an Ass Behold a King behold thy King behold thy King cometh and he comes unto thee 1. He is a King and therefore able 2. He is thy King and therefore willing wonderful Love that he would come but more wonderful was the manner of his coming He that before made man a Soul after the Image of God then made himself a Body after the Image of Man And thus we see how this Covenant excels the former in every of these respects 3. How doth God put the Law into our inward parts I answer God puts the Law into our inward parts by enlivening or qualifying of a Man with the Graces of Gods Spirit suitable to his Commandment first there is the Law of God without us as we see it or read it in Scriptures but when it is put within us then God hath wrought an inward disposition in our minds that answers to that Law without us for example this is the Law without Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength Deut. 6.5 Deut. 30.6 To Answer which there is a promise I will circumcise thy Heart and the Heart of thy Seed to Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all my soul now when this promise is fulfilled when God hath put the affections and grace of Love within our hearts when the habit of Love is within answerable in all things to the command without then is the Law put into our inward parts Deut. 13.4 Jer. 32.40 Again this is the Law without Thou shalt fear the Lord and keep his Ordinances and his Statutes and his Commandments to do them to answer which there is a promise I will make a Covenant with you and I will not turn away from you to do you good but I will put my fear into your hearts and you shall not depart from Me now when this promise is accomplished when God hath put the affection and grace of fear within our hearts when the habit of fear is within answerable to that Command without then is the Law put into our hearts Surely this is Mercy that God saith in his Covenant I will put my Law in their inward parts many a time a poor Soul cries out
of assurance but if thou art perswaded of thy Interest O then rejoyce therein is it not a Gospel-duty to rejoyce in the Lord and again to rejoyce The Lord is delighted in thy delights Phil. 4.4 he would fain have it thy constant frame and daily business to live in joy and to be alwayes delighting thy self in him This one Promise I am the Lord thy God is enough to cause thy appetite to run to it and to unite it self to it by Love and to scatter it self on it and to overflow those powers of the Soul that are nearest to it that every part of the Soul may concur to the possession of it Bless the Lord O my Soul saith David and all that is within me bless his holy Name So rejoyce in the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me rejoyce in the Name of God This is true joy when the soul unites it self to the good possessed in all its parts And was there ever such an object of true joy as this Heark as if Heaven opened and the voice came from God in Heaven I will be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee I am the Lord thy God and I will be thy God What doth not thy heart leap in thy bosom at this sound John the Baptist leaped in his mothers womb for joy at the sound of Maries Voice and doth not thy soul spring within thee at this voice of God O wonder some can delight themselves in sin and is not God better than sin Others more refined and indeed sanctified can delight themselves in remission of Sin in Grace Pardon Holiness Fore-thoughts of Heaven how exceedingly have some gracious hearts been ravished with such thoughts But is not God the objective happiness the Fountain-blessedness more rejoycing than all these Why Dear soul if there be in thee any rejoycing faculty now awake and stir it up it is the Lord thy God whom thou art to rejoyce in it is he whom the glorious spirits joy in it is he who is the top of Heavens joy their exceeding joy and it is he who is thy God as well as their God Enough enough or if this be not enough hear thy Duty as the Lord commands thee Rejoyce in the Lord Phil. 3.1 Phil. 3.1 Be glad ye Children of Zion and rejoyce in the Lord your God Joel 2.23 Joel 2.23 Rejoyce in the Lord all ye Righteous for praise is comely for the upright Psal 33.1 Psal 33.1 Rejoyce in the Lord ye Righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness Psal 97.12 Psal 97.12 Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce let thâ—m ever shout for joy because thou defendest them let them also that love thy Name be joyful in thee Psal 5.11 Psal 5.11 Let the Righteous be glad let them rejoyce before God yea let them exceedingly rejoyce Psal 68.3 Psal 68.3 Glory ye in his holy Name let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord Psal 105.3 Psal 105.3 Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King Psal 149.3 Psal 149.3 Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce O ye Righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Psal 23.11 Psal 23.11 O what pressing Commands are these SECT VIII Of calling on Jesus in that respect 1. WE must call on Jesus or on God the Father in and through Jesus in reference to this gracious Covenant Now this calling on God containes Prayer and Praise Jer. 31.16 1. We must pray we must use Arguments of Faith challenging God Turn thou me and I shall be turned Why for thou art the Lord my God This Covenant is the ground on which all Prayers must be bottomed the Covenant we know contains all the Promises and what is Prayer but Promises turned into Petitions Thus prayed the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 14.21 22. Do not abhor us for thy Names sake do not disgrace the Throne of thy Glory remember break not thy Covenant with us VVhy Art not thou he the Lord our God And thus prayed the Prophet Isaiah Isa 64.9 Be not wroth very sore neither remember iniquity for ever behold we beseech thee and why so we arâ— all thy Poople q. d. Every one doth for its own the Prince for his People the Father for his Children and the Shepherd for his Sheep and will not God do for his own in covenant with him Be thy soul in the saddest desertion yet come and spread the Covenant before God A Soul in the greatest depth swimming on this Covenant of Grace it keeps it from sinking whence Christ in his blackest saddest hour prayed thus My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Be thy Soul in trouble for sin and prevailing corruption yet go to God and plead his Promise and Covenant say as Johoshaphat Lord I am so born down by the power of my sin that I know not what to do only mine eyes are unto thee O do thou subdue mine iniquities Be thy soul troubled for want of strength to do this or that duty yet go to God and Christ in the Covenant of Grace and say Lord thou knowest I have no strength of my self I am a barren Wilderness but thou hast entred into a Covenant of Grace with me that thou wilt put thy Law into my inward parts thou wilt cause me to keep thy judgments and do them Ezek. 36.27 Ezek. 36.27 As sometimes thou saidst to Gideon I have sent thee therefore I will be with thee Judg. 6.16 Judg. 6.16 Many are apt to set upon their duties in their own strength but Oh my soul look thou to the promise of Grace and of the Spirit and put them in suit and alledge them unto Christ Many are apt to work out their sanctifications by their VVatchfulness Resolutions Vows Promises made unto God but alas were there not more help in Gods Promises which he makes to us than in our Promises which we make to him we might lie in our pollutions for ever O here 's the way in every want or strait or necessity fly to God and Christ saying Thou art our Father and we are thy People O break not thy Covenant with us I confess strong expressions and affections are good in Prayer but surely strength of Faith in the Covenant of God is the greatest strength of our Prayer Here it may be some Soul will object Object O if I were assured that I were in Covenant with God thus would I pray but alas I am a Stranger an Alien and so have been to this very day I have no part in the Covenant I Answer Answ If thou art not actually in Covenant yet thou may'st be in Covenant in respect of Gods purpose and gracious intention Howsoever to encourage all to seek unto God consider these Particulars 1. The Freeness of the Promise in this Covenant of Grace Come and buy
only Psal 68.18 John 1.16 but for us He received Gifts for Men said the Psalmist not for Himself meerly but for Men Of His Fulness we receive Grace for Grace saith John His Wisdom to make us wise His Meekness to make us meek and His Patience to make us patient 3. By Faith we look at Christ as Faithful to distribute such Grace unto us as He received for us Heb. 4.2 He is Faithful in all the House of God He is Faithful in dispensing all the Treasures of Grace committed unto Him for His Churches Good He keeps nothing back His Faithfulness will not suffer Him to keep that to Himself which He hath received for us Psal 68.18 Hence as the Psalmist saith He received Gifts for Men so the Apostle renders it He gave Gifts unto Men As he receives so he gives Ephes 4.8 being faithful in all that is committed to Him 4. By Faith we seek God and beg Performance of his Promises according to our need Do we want Wisdom Meekness Patience or any other Grace Faith carries us by Prayer unto the Fountain and in this way waits and expects to receive the Grace we want As the Child by sucking the Breast draws forth Milk for its own Nourishment and thereby it grows in Strength so do we by the Prayer of Faith suck from Christ and from the Promise of Grace and by that means derive Strength to our inner Man to fulfil the Covenant which we have made with God 6. As Faith strengthens us so if at any times by occasion or temptation we fail in our Covenant-keeping Faith recovers us and restores us again to our former Estate I do not say the Covenant can be broken betwixt God and Us we may offend God and fail in the Service of God but till we refuse God and leave God and chuse another Master Lord and Husband besides God there is no Dissolution of the Covenant of Grace Now this a true Believer cannot do He may fall and fall often yet he doth not fall but he rises again he may turn aside but yet he returns again into the way of the Covenant What a sweet Point is this Christians We may and sometimes we do walk weakly in keeping of Covenants our feet slip and we step aside out of God's Path yet Faith brings us back again to God It casts Shame on our Faces that after all the Grace shewed us we should so ill requite God It reminds us of those Promises Return unto Me and I will return unto you Ye have done all this Wickedness Zech. 1.3 1 Sam. 12.20 22. yet turn not aside from following the Lord For the Lord will not forsake his People for his Great Names sake because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his People In the minding of these and such other Promises Faith doth encourage us to return unto God to take words unto our selves and to plead the Covenant of his Grace towards us This VVork of Faith brought Peter back to Christ whereas Judas wanting this Faith lies down in desperate Sorrow never able to rise up or to recover himself O my Soul Art thou acquainted with these Acts of Faith enabling thee in some good measure to keep Covenant with God Then is there a sweet Conformity betwixt Thee and Jesus 3. God in Christ hath highly honoured us as we are his People so we through Christ should honour Him highly as He is our God This is the main End of the Covenant and I shall end with this O my Soul be like to God bear the Image and Resemblance of God thy Father in this Respect He hath humbled Himself to advance thee O then humble thy self to advance Him endeavour every way to exalt his Name We are willing to be in Covenant with God that we may set up our selves that we may sit upon Thrones and possess a Kingdom But we must think especially of setting up the Lord upon his Throne Ascribe Greatness to our God saith Moses Deut. 32.3 make it a Name and a Praise unto Him that he hath vouchsafed to make us his People and to take us into Covenant with Himself Honour Him as he is God but honour Him more abundantly as he is our God Who should Honour Him if his People will not The World knows Him not The Wicked will not seek after God Psal 10.4 God is not in all his Thoughts And Shall God have no Honour Shall He that stretched out the Heavens and laid the Foundations of the Earth and formed Man upon it have no Glory O yes The Lord Himself answers This People have I formed for My Self Isa 43.21 they shall shew forth My Praise Surely God will have Praise from his own People whom he hath taken unto Himself He will be glorifyed in all those that come near Him Lev. 10.3 But How should we honour God I answer 1. We must set Him up as chief and highest in our Esteem Kings acount not themselves honoured if they be not set above other Men And hence God's People have used such Expressions concerning God as do single Him forth beyond the Comparison of all Creatures Thus Moses Who is like unto Thee amongst the Gods Who is like unto Thee Exod. 15.11 2 Sam. 7.22 glorious in Holyness fearful in Praises doing Wonders Thus David Thou art Great O Lord God for there is none like Thee neither is there any God besides Thee according to all that we have heard with our Ears Thus Solomon Lord God of Israel 1 King 8.22 there is no God like unto Thee in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath who keepest Covenant and Mercy with Thy Servants Thus Micah Who is a God like unto Thee Micah 7.18 which passest by the Transgressions of the Remnant of thine Heritage And thus should we rise up in our Thoughts and Apprehensions of God until we come to an Holy Extasie and Admiration of God 2. We must count it our Blessedness and highest Dignity to be a People in Covenant with God Are we Honourable Yet esteem this as our greatest Honour that God is our God Are we low and despised in the World Yet count this Honour enough that God hath lifted us up to be his People Christians if when we are counted as things of nought we can quiet our selves in this that God is our God if when we are persecuted imprisoned distressed we can say with Jacob I have enough because the Lord hath Mercy on me and hath taken me into Covenant with Him surely then we do bear Witness of God before Heaven and Earth that He is better to us than Corn or Wine or Oyl or whatsoever this World affords 3. We must lie under the Authority of every Word of God and we must conform our selves to the Examples of God that is we must labour to become Followers of God and imitate his Virtues It is a part of that Honour which Children owe to their Parents
to obey their Commands and to imitate their Godly Example we cannot honour God more than when we are Humbled at his Feet to receive his Word than when we renounce the Manners of the world Deut. 31.3 Ephes 5.1 to become his Followers as dear Children O think of this for when we conform indeed then are we Holy as he is Holy and Pure as he is Pure and then How should this but tend to the Honour and Glory of our Good God Thus far we have Looked on Jesus as our Jesus in that dark Time before His Coming in the Flesh Our next Work is to Look on Jesus carrying on the Great VVork of Man's Salvation in His First Coming or Incarnation LOOKING UNTO JESUS In His Birth The Fourth Book CHAP. I. Luke 2.15 Let us now go even to Bethlehem and see this Thing SECT I. Of the Tidings of Christ IN this Period as in the former we shall first lay down the Object and secondly direct you how to Look unto it The Object is Jesus carrying on the Work of Man's Salvation in His first Coming in the Flesh until His Coming again But because in this long Period we have many Transactions which we cannot with Conveniency dispatch together we shall therefore break it into smaller pieces and present this Object Jesus Christ 1. In his Birth 2. In his Life 3. In his Death 4. In his Resurrection 5. In his Ascension Session at God's Right Hand and Mission of his Holy Spirit 6. In his Intercession for his Saints in which Business he now is and will be employed till his Second Coming to Judgment 1. First For the Transactions of Jesus in His Birth Some things we must propound before and some things after his Birth so that we shall continue this Period till the Time of John's Baptism or the Exercise of his Ministry upon Earth Now in all the Transactions of this Time we shall especially handle these 1. The Tidings of Christ 2. The Conception of Christ 3. The Duplicity of Natures in Christ 4. The real Distinction in that Duty 5. The wonderful Union notwithstanding that Distinction 6. The Birth of Christ 7. Some Consequents after his Birth whil'st yet a Child of Twelve Years old The First Passage in Relation to his Birth is The Tidings of Christ This appears Luk. 1.26 27 28 c. And in the Sixth Month the Angel Gabriel wat sent from God c. Luk. 1.26 31. I shall a little insâ—st on some of these Words 1. The Messenger is an Angel Man was too mean to carry the News of the Conception of God Never any Business was Conceived in Heaven that did so much concern the Earth as the Conception of the God of Heaven in a Womb of Earth no less therefore than an Angel was worthy to bear these Tidings and never Angel received a greater Honour than of this Embassage Angels have been sent to divers as to Gideon Manoah David Daniel Eliah Zechariah c. And then the Angel honoured the Message but here 's a Message that doth honour the Angel he was highly glorious before but this added to his glory Indeed the Incarnation of God could have no less a Reporter than the Angel of God When God intended to begin his Gospel he would first visit the World wirh his Angel before he would visit the World with his Son His Angel must come in the Form of Man before his Son must come in the Nature of Man This Angel salutes the Virgin Hail thou that art highly favoured the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among Women Luke 1.28 Many Men and Women have been and are the Spiritual Temples of God but never was any the material Temple of God but only Mary and therefore Blessed art thou amongst Women and yet we cannot say that she was so Blessed in Bearing Christ as she was in Believing in Christ her Bearing indeed was more Miraculous but her Believing was more Beneficial to her Soul that was her Priviledge but this was her Happiness Christians If we believe in Christ and if we obey the Word of Christ we are the Mothers of Christ Whosoever doth the Will of My Father which is in Hâ—aven Mat. 12.50 Luke 11.27 he is my Brother and Sister and Mother Every renewed Heart is another Mary a spiritual Sanctuary of the Lord Jesus It was the Woman's Acclamation Blessed is the Womb that bare thee and the Paps that gave thee suck True said Christ but that Blessing extends only to one I will tell you how many are Blessed and rather Blessed yea Vers 28. rather Blessed are they that hear God's Word and keep it Blessed are they that so incarnate the written Word by doing it as the Blessed Virgin gave Flesh to the Eternal Word by bearing it those that hear and keep God's Word are they that Travel in Birth again until Christ be formed in them Gal. 41.9 Hearing they Receive the Immortal Seed of the Word by a firm Purpose of doing they conceive by a longing Desire they quicken by an earnest Endeavourr they travel and when the Work is wrought then have they incarnate the Word and Christ is formed in them In this Respect was Mary â—lessed and I make no question but in this Respect also the Angel calls her Blessed and Elizabeth calls her Blessed and Simeon calls her Blessed and She calls her self Blessed and all Generations call her Blessed and God Himself calls and makes her Blessed yea as Paul said Cometh this Blessedness on the Circumcision only so cometh this Blessedness on the Virgin only No Rom. 4.9 Mat. 5.3 4 5. Psal 32.2 even Blessed are the Poor in Spirit Blessed are they that mourn Blessed are the Meek and Blessed are they whose Sins are not imputed Even these hath God blessed with Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places and these shall Christ entertain with a Come ye Blessed of My Father Luke 1.29 3. This Virgin is Troubled at this Salute She might well be troubled For 1. If it had been but a Man that had come in so suddenly when she expected none or so secretly when she had no other Company or so strangely the Doors being probably shut she had cause to be troubled How much more when the shining Glory of the Angel so heightned the Astonishment 2. Her Sex was more subject to fear If Zachary were amazed with the sight of this Angel How much more the Virgin We flatter our selves how well we could endure such Visions but there is a difference betwixt our Faith and our Senses to apprehend here the Presence of God by Faith this goes down sweetly But should a Glorious Angel appear among us it would amaze us all But for this the Angel comforts her Vers 30. Fear not Mary for thou hast found Favour with God The Troubles of Holy Minds ever end in Peace or Comfort Joy was the Errand of the Angel and not Terrour and therefore suddenly he revives her
table or behind a solid partition it stirreth the needle as effectually as if it were within view Shall not he contradict his sences that will say It cannot work because I see it not Oh my Saviour thou art more mine than my Body is mine my sense feels that present but so as that I must lose it but my faith so feels and sees thee present with me as that I shall never be parted from thee 2. It is a very near union You will say how near If an Angel were to speak to you he cannot satisfie you in this only as far as our understanding can reach it and the Creatures can serve to illustrate these things take it thus Whatsoever by way of comparison can be alledged concerning the combination of any one thing with another that and much more may be said of our union with Jesus Christ To give instance out of the Scripture see what one stick is to another being glewed together see what one friend is to another as Jonathan and David who were said to be woven and knit each one to other see how near the father and the child are how near the husband and the wife are 1 Cor. 6 17. 1 Sam. 18.1 Isa 62.5 see what union is between the Branches and the Vine the members and the head nay one thing more see what the the soul is to the body such is Christ and so near is Christ and nearer to the person of every true believer I live yet not I saith Paul but Christ liveth in me John 15.5 1 Cor. 12 12. Gal. 2.20 q. d. as the soul is to the body of a natural man that acts and enlivens it naturally so is Jesus Christ to my soul and body O there is a marvellous nearness in this mystical union 3. It is a total union i.e. whole Christ is united to the whole believer soul and body If thou art united to Christ thou hast all Christ thou art one with him in his nature in his name thou hast the same Image Grace and Spirit in thee as he hath the same precious Promises the same access to God by prayer as he thou hast the same love of the Father all that he did or suffered thou hast a share in it thou hast his life and death all is thine so on thy part he hath thee wholly thy nature thy sins the punishment of thy sins thy wrath thy curse thy shame yea thy wit and wealth and strength all that thou art or hast or canst do possibly for him It is a total union My beloved is mine and I am his whole Christ from top to toe is mine and all that I am have or can do for evermore is his 4. It is an inseparable union it can never be broken I will make saith God an everlasting Covenant with them Jer. 32.40 and I will not turn away from them to do them good I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me This is a glorious promise some poor souls may say True Lord thou wilt not turn away from me I know thou wilt not Oh but I fear I shall turn away from thee Oh alass I turn every day towards sin and Satan Nay saith God I will put my fear in their heart that thou shalt not turn away from me q. d. We shall be kept together for evermore and never be separated Hence Paul triumphantly challenges all enemies on earth or rather in hell to do their worst to break this knot Rom. 8.5 Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ shall tribulation Distress Famine Nakedness Peril or Sword Come all that can come and see if that blessed union betwixt me and Christ shall ever be broken by all that you can do Thus for this union 2. There is a spiritual communion with God in Christ Both these are the effects of Christs personal or hypostatical union first union to his person and then communion with his benefits union in proper speaking is not unto any of the benefits flowing to us from Christ we are not united to forgiveness of Sin Holiness Peace of Conscience but unto the person of the Son of God himself and then secondly comes this communication of all the benefits arising immediately from this union to the Lord Jesus that as Christ was Priest Prophet and King so we also by him are after a sort Priests Prophets and Kings for being made one with him we are thereby possessed of all things that are his as the Wife is of the wealth of her Husband now all things are yours saith the Apostle whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the World c. Hitherto have we took a view of Christ in his Mothers Womb 1 Cor. 3 21.23 and O what marvails there Did ever womb carry such a fruit Well might the Angel say Blessed art thou amongst Women and well might Elizabeth say Blessed is the Fruit of thy Womb but the blessing is not only in conceiving but in bearing and therefore we proceed SECT VI. Of the Birth of Christ 6. THe birth of Christ now follows Now was it that the Son of Righteousness should break forth from his bed where nine months he had hid himself as behind a fruitful cloud this was the worlds wonder a thing so wonderful that it was given for a sign unto believers seven hundred and forty years before it was accomplished Isa 7.14 therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son A wonder indeed and great beyond all comparison that the Son of God should be born of a Woman that he who is the true Melchizedech without Father and without Mother must yet have a mother-Virgin that he that is before Abraham was should yet be born after Abraham a matter of two thousand years that he who was Davids Son therefore born in Bethlehem should yet be Davids Lord wonderful things are spoken of thee Heb. 7.3 O thou Son of God before he was born the Prophets sing the Sybils prophesie the Patriarchs typisie the Types foretel God promiseth and the Son of God performeth when he was born Angels run errands Gabriel brings tidings the glory of Heaven shines a Star displaies and wise men are the Heralds that proclaim his Birth But come yet a little nearer Let us go to Bethlehem as the Shepherds said and see this thing which is come to pass if we step but one step into his loding Heavens wonder is before our eyes now Look upon Jesus Luke 2.15 look on him as in fulness of time he carried on the great work of our Salvation here now you may read the meaning of Adams Covenant Abrahams promise Moses revelation Davids succession these were but vailes but now shall we draw aside the Curtains come take a view of the truth it self O wonder of wonders whom find we in this lodging a Babe in a Cratch a Mother-maid a
his youth because in Scripture there is so deep a silence I shall therefore pass it by Thus far have I propounded the Object we are to look unto it is Jesus in his first coming or incarnation whiles yet a Child of twelve years old Our next Work is to direct you in the Art or Mystery how we are to look unto him in this respect CHAP. II. SECT I. Of knowing Jesus as carrying on the great Work of our Salvation in his Birth WHat Looking comprehends you have heard before And that we may have an inward experimental look on him whom our souls pant after let us practise all these Particulars As 1. Let us know Jesus carrying on the great work of our Salvation in his Coming or Incarnation Come let us learn what he did for us when he came amongst us There is not one Passage in his first appearing but it is of mighty concernment unto us Is it possible that the great God of Heaven and Earth should so infinitely condescend as we have heard but on some great Design And what Design could there be but only his Glory and the Creatures good O my Soul If thou hast any interest in Christ all this concerns thee the Lord Jesus in these very transactions had an eye to thee he was Incarnate for thee he was conceived and born for thee look not on these things as Notionals or Generals look not on the bare history of things for that is but unprofitable the main duty is in eying the end the meaning and intent of Christ and especially as it relates to thee not to others but to thy self Alas what comfort were it to a poor prisoner if he should hear that the King or Prince of his meer grace and love visited all the Prisoners in this and that Dungeon and that he made a Goal-delivery and set all free but he never came near the Place where he poor wretch lies bound in Fetters and cold Irons or suppose he gives a visit to that very man and offers him the tenders of Grace and Freedom if he will but accept of it and because of his waywardness Perswades Intreats Commands him to come out and take his liberty and yet he will not regard or apply it to himself what comfort can he have what fruit what benefit shall he receive Dear soul this is thy case if thou art not in Christ if thou hadst not heard the Offer and embraced and closed with it then what is Christ's Incarnation Conception Nativity unto thee Come learn not meerly as a Scholar to gain some notional-knowledge but as a Christian as one that feels virtue coming out of Christ in every of these respects Study close this great transaction in reference to thy self I know not how it happâ—ns whether out of the generality of some Preachers handling this Subject or whether out of the Superstition of the time wherein it usually hath been handled it either savours not with some Christans or it is seldom thought of by the most O God forbid we throw out of the doors such a blessed necessary truth If rightly applied it is a Christians joy Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy that shall be to all People for unto you is born in the City of David Luk. 2.10 11. a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Sure the Birth of Christ is of mighty concernment unto thee Isa 9.6 unto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given there is not any piece of this transaction but it is of special use and worth thy pains How many break their brains and waste their Spirits in studying Arts and Sciences things in comparison of no value whereas Paul otherwise determined not to know any thing among you but Jesus Christ To know Jesus Christ in every piece and point 1 Cor. 2.2 whether in Birth or Life or Death it is saving knowledge O stand not upon Cost whether Pains or Study Tears or Prayers Peace or Wealth Goods or Name Life or Liberty sell all for this Pearl Christ is of that worth and use that thou canst never over-buy him though thou gavest thy self and all the World for him the study of Christ is the study of studies the knowledge of Christ is the knowledge of every thing that is necessary either for this World or for the World to come O study Christ in every of the foresaid respects SECT II. Considering Jesus in that respect 2. LEt us consider Jesus carrying on this great work of our Salvation at his first Coming or Incarnation It is not enough to study and know these great Mysteries but according to the Measure of Knowledge we have we must Muse Meditate Ponder and Consider of them Now this Consideration brings Christ nearer and closer to the soul Consideration gathers up all the long fore-passed Acts and Monuments of Christ and finds a deal of sweetness and power to come flowing from them Consideration fastens Christ more strongly to the Soul and as it were rivets the Soul to Jesus Christ and fastens him in the heart A soul that truly considers and meditates of Christ thinks and talkes of nothing else but Christ Prov. 4.13 it takes hold and will not let him go I will keep to thee saith the soul in meditation for thou art my life Why thus O my Soul consider thou of Christ and of what he did for thee when he was incarnate and that thou maist not confound thy self in thy meditations consider a part of these particulars As 1. Consider Jesus in his Fore-runner and the blessed tidings of his coming in the flesh now the long-looked for time drew near a glorious Angel is sent from Heaven and he comes with an Olive-branch of peace first he presents himself to Zachary and then to Mary to her he imparts the Message on which God sent him into this neather World Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call his name Jesus Luke 1.31 Till now Humane Nature was less than that of Angels but by the Incarnation of the Word it was to be exalted above the Cherubims What sweet News What blessed Tidings was this Message The Decree of old must now be accomplished and an Angel proclaims it upon Earth hear O ye Sons of Adam this concerns you as much as the Virgin Were ye not all undone in the Loins of your first Father Was not my Soul and thy Soul in danger of Hell-fire was not this our case and condition that after a little life upon Earth we should have been thrown into eternal torments where had been nothing but Weeping Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth And now that God and Christ should bid an Angel tell the News Ye shall not die lo here a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and he shall be your Jesus he shall save you from this Hell and Death and Sin he shall deliver your Souls he shall save you to the utmost his Name is
Humane Nature incourageth us to come unto him even after his Resurrection he was pleased to send this comfortable message to the sons of men Iohn 20.17 Go to my Brethren and say unto them I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God now as long as he is not ashamed to call us Brethren Heb. 11.16 God is not ashamed to be called our God O the sweet fruit that we may gather of this Tree the real distinction of two Natures in Christ As long as Christ is man as well as God we have a motive strong enough to appease his Father and to turn his favourable countenance towards us here is our happiness that there is one Mediator between God and Man 1 Tim. 1.5 the Man Christ Jesus 5. consider the Union of the two natures of Christ in one and the same Person as he was the branch of the Lord and the fruit of the Earth so these two natures were tied with such a Gordian knot as sin hell and the grave were never able to untie yea though in the death of Christ there was a separation of the soul from the body yet in that separation the hypostatical Union remained firm unshaken and indissoluble in this Meditation thou hast great cause O my Soul to admire and adore wonderful things are spoken of thee O Christ he is God in a Person of a God-head so as neither the Father nor the Holy Ghost were made flesh and he is man in the nature of man not properly the Person the humane nature of Christ never having any Personal subsistence out of the God-head this is a mystery that no Angel much less man is able to comprehend we have not another example of such an Union as you have heard only the nearest similitude or resemblance we can find is that of the Branch and Tree into which it is ingraffed we see one Tree may be set into another and it groweth in the Stock thereof and becometh one and the same Tree though there be two natures or kinds of fruit still remaining therein so in the Son of God made man though there be two natures yet both being united into one Person there is but one Son of God and one Jesus Christ If thou wilt consider this great mystery of Godliness any further review what hath been said in the object propounded where this union is set forth more largely and particularly but especially consider the blessed effects of this union in reference to thy self as our nature in the person of Christ is united to the God-head so our persons in and by this Union of Christ are brought nigh to God Hence it is that God doth set his Sanctuary and Tabernacle among us and that he dwells with us and which is more that he makes us houses and habitations wherein he himself is pleased to dwell by his holy Spirit Ye are the Temple of the Living God as God hath said I will dewll in them and walk in them and I will be their God John 17 20 21 22 23. and they shall be my People 2. Cor. 6.16 Was not this Christs Prayer in our behalf I pray not for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word that they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me By reason of this hypostatical union of Christ Gal. 4.6 the Spirit of Christ is given to us in the very moment of our regeneration And because ye are Sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father and hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit As the members of the Body howsoever distinct amongst themselves and all differing from the head yet by reason of one soul informing both the head and members they all make one compositum or man so all believers in Christ howsoever distinct Persons amongst themselves and all distinct from the Person of Christ and especially from the Godhead which is incommunicable yet by one and the same spirit abiding in Christ Eph. 4.4 1 Cor. 6.17 and all his Members they become one there is one body and one spirit he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit O my Soul consider of this and in considering believe thy part in this and the rather because the means of this union on thy part is a true and lively faith faith is the first effect and instrument of the Spirit of Christ disposing and enabling thy soul to cleave unto Christ and for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith Eph. 3.14 17. 6. Consider the birth of Christ this man-God God-man who in his divine generation was the Son of God in his humane generation was born in a stable for the saving of the Children of men who were as the oxe and mule having no understanding It were a fruitful meditation to consider over and over that sweet resemblance of Christ being a Vine me-thinks I hear the Voice of my beloved Cant. 2.10 13. rise up my love the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs and the vine with the tender grapes gives a good smell arise my love my fair one and come away if Christ knocks at the door who will not awake and arise if Christ comes in view who will not look unto Jesus if Christ the Vine calls us to come see the vine with the tender grape who will not taste the goodness smell the sweetness and after a little taste of that goodness and sweetness that is in him who would not long after more till we come from the first fruits to the last-fruits of the Spirit even to those visions and fruitions of Christ in Glory Consider O my soul of this Vine till thou hast brought Christ near and close unto thy self Suppose thy heart the Garden wherein this Vine was planted wherein it budded blossomed and bare fruit suppose the holy Ghost to come upon thee and to form and fashion in thee Jesus Christ thus Paul bespeaks the Galathians my little Children of whom I travel in Birth again untill Christ be formed in you would not this affect would not the whole soul be taken up with this come receive Christ into thy soul or if that work be done if Christ be formed in thee O Cherish him I speak of the Spiritual birth O keep him in thy heart let him there bud and blossome and bear fruit let him fill thy soul with his Divine Graces O that thou couldst say it feelingly I live yet not I but Christ
liveth in me Gal. 2.20 O that this were the Issue of thy meditation on Christs Birth even whiles thou art going with the shepherds to Bethelem and there findest thy Saviour lying in a Cratch that thou wouldst bring him thence and make thy heart to be his Cradle I would not give a farthing for a meditation meerly on the History of Christ's Birth either draw vertue from him by feeling him within or thy meditation will be fruitless 7. Consider those few consequents after Christs Birth every action of Christ is our instruction here are many particulars but none in vain Christ is considered under much variety of notion but he is still sweet under all Is it possible O my soul that thou shouldst tyre thy self in the contemplations of Jesus Christ if one flower yield thee not pleasure or delight go to a second a third observe how the Bees gather honey after a while that they have sucked one flower they go to another so for a while observe the circumcision of Jesus Christ and suck there and gather some honey out of that flower Christ had never been Circumcised but that the same might be done to our souls that was done to his Body O that the same Christ would do that in us that was done to him for us Again observe Christs presentation in the Temple this was the Law of those that first opened the womb now Christ was the first-born of Mary and indeed the first-born of all Creatures and he was consecrate unto God that by him we might be consecrate and made holy and that by him we might be accepted when we are offered unto the Lord. Again observe Christs flight into Egypt though the infancy is usually most quiet and devoyd of trouble yet here life and toyle began together and see how speedily this comes after Christs dedication unto God Alas Alas We are no sooner born again then we are persecuted if the Church travel and bring forth a Male she is in danger of the Dragons streams Again observe Christ's return into Judea Mat. 15.25 he was not sent but to the lost Sheep of the House of Israel with them alone he was personally to converse in his Ministry in which respect he was called a Minister of Circumcision Rom. 15.8 And where should he be trained and shew himself but amongst them to whom God had sent him The Gospel first began there and as a preparation to it Christ now in his Childhood returns thither Again observe Christ Disputing with the Doctors in the Temple in his very non-age Christ gives a taste of his future proof see how early his divine graces put forth themselves In Him were hid saith the Apostle all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge Col. 2.3 all the treasures were hid in him and yet some of those treasures appeared very early betimes his wisdom in his very infancy is admired at nor is it without our profit for of God he is made wisdom unto us 1 Cor. 1.38 Again observe how he spent the remainder of his Youth in all his examples he meant our Instructions He went down with his Parents and was subject to them Lam. 3.27 he was not idely bred but serves his Generation in the poor way of a Carpenter It is every way good for a Man to bear God's Yoke even from his Infancy Christ is enured betimes to the hardship of life and to the strict observation of the Law both of God and Nature See O my Soul what a world of matter is before thee to consider of here is Jesus under many a Nation here 's the annuntiation of Jesus the conception of Jesus the duplicity of natures in Jesus the real distinction the wonderful union the nativity of Jesus together with some consequents after it Go over these with often and frequent thoughts give not over till thou feelest thy Heart begin to warm true Meditation is as the bellows of the Soul that doth kindle and inflame holy affections and by renewed and more forcible thoughts as by renewed and stronger blasts it doth renew and increase the flame SECT III. Of Desiring after Jesus in that Respect 3. LEt us desire after Jesus carrying on the great work of our Salvation at his first coming or incarnation It is not enough to know and consider but we must desire Now What is desire but a certain Motion of the Appetite by which the Soul darts it self towards the absent good purposely to draw near and to unite it self thereunto The incarnation of Christ according to the Letter was the desire of Nations so the Prophet Hag. 2.7 I will shake all Nations and the Desire of all Nations shall come O how they that lived before Christ Desired after this coming of Christ Abraham Desired to see that day Two Thousand Years and more before it came it was the expectation of all the Patriarchs O when will that day come And surely the incarnation of Christ in the fruit or efficacy or application is or should be the Desire of all Christians There is merit and vertue in Jesus Christ in every passage of Christ in his conception incarnation in his birth and in those consequents after his birth now to make these ours that we may have our share and part and interest in them we must here begin O my soul do thou desire do thou seek to possess thy self of Christ set thy desire as the Needle point aright and all the rest will follow never will union be with the absent good but the Soul by Desire must first dart it self towards it True it is and pity it is Millions of Souls stand at a distance from Jesus Christ and why they have no desire towards him but O that my soul and thy soul whosoever thou art that readest would Desire O that we could Desire and long after him until we languish and be compelled to cry out with the spouse Cant. 2.5 Stay me with flaggons and comfort me with Apples for I am Sick of Love Is there not good reason for it What is there in Christ that is not Desirable view over all those excellencies of his conception of his two natures really distinguished and yet wonderfully united of his birth of those few consequents after his birth but above all see the fruit of all he was conceived that our conceptions might be sanctified he was the Son of man that he might suffer for us and the Son of God that he might satisfie divine justice he was God and Man in one person that we might be one with him Members of his Body and of his Flesh and of his Bones Eph. 5.30 he was born of the Virgin that there might be a spiritual conception and birth of Christ in our Virgin-hearts or he was conceived and born that we might conceive the grace of Christ in our hearts and bring it forth in our lives What Are not these desirable things Never tell me of thy present
there 's no room for faith in this case these are the hinderances 2. The helps of faith in this sad condition are these 1. A consideration that God is pleased to pass by and to overlook the unworthiness of his poor creatures this we see plain in the very act of his incarnation himself disdains not to be as his poor creatures to wear their own flesh to take upon him humane nature and in all things to become like unto man sin only excepted 2. A consideration that God satisfies Justice by setting up Christ who is Justice it self now was it that mercy and truth met together and righteousness and peace kissed each other now was it that free grace and merit that fulness and nothingness were made one now was it that all things became nothing and nothing all things our nature which lay in rags was enriched with the unsearchable treasures of glory now was it that God was made flesh and so that flesh which was so weak as not able to save its own life was now enabled to save millions of souls and to bring forth the greatest designs of God now was it that truth ran to mercy and embraced her and righteousness to peace and kissed her in Christ they meet yea in him was the infinite exactness of God's Justice satisfied 3. A consideration that God hath set up Christ as a Mediator that he was incarnate in order to reconciliation and salvation of souls but for the accomplishment of this design Christ had never been incarnate the very end of his uniting flesh unto him was in order to the reconciliation of us poor souls alas we had sinned and by sin deserved everlasting damnation but to save us and to satisfie himself God takes our nature and joyns it to his Son and calls that Christ a Saviour This is the Gospel-notion of Christ for what is Christ but God himself in our nature transacting our peace In this Christ is that fulness and righteousness and love and bowels to receive the first acts of our faith and to have immediate union and communion with us indeed we pitch not our faith first or immediately on God himself yet at last we come to him and our faith lives in God as one saith sweetly before it is aware through the sweet intervention of that person which is God himself only called by another name the Lord Jesus Christ and these are the helps of faith in reference to our unworthiness Gods justice and the want of a Mediator betwixt God and us 3. The manner how to act our faith on Christ incarnate is this 1. Faith must directly go to Christ we find indeed in the Bible some particular promises of this and that grace and in proper speaking the way to live by faith it is to live upon the promises in the want of the thing or to apprehend the thing it self contained in the promise but the promises are not given to the elect immediately without Christ no no first Christ and then all other things Encline your ears and come unto me 1. Come unto Christ and then I will make an everlasting Covenant which contains all the promises even the sure Mercies of David As in marriage the woman first consents to have the man and then all the benefits that necessarily follow so the soul by faith first pitcheth upon Christ himself and then on the priviledges that flow from Christ Say Soul dost thou want any temporal Blessing suppose it be the payment of Debts thy dayly Bread Health c. Why look now through the Scripture for promises of these things and let thy faith act thus If God hath given me Christ the greatest blessing then certainly he will give me all these things so far as they may be for my good in the twenty thirst Psalm we find a bundle of promises but he begins thus The Lord is my Shepherd saith David and what then Therefore I shall not want the believing Patriarchs through faith subdued Kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stoped the mouths of Lyons did wonders in the world but what did they chiefly look to in this their Faith Surely to the promise to come and to that better thing Christ himself and therefore the Apostle concludes having such a cloud of witnesses that thus lived and died by faith let us look unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our Faith 2. Faith must directly go to Christ as God in our flesh some think it a carnal apprehension of Jesus Christ to know him as in flesh I confess to know him only so and absolutely so to consider Jesus no other way but as having flesh and going up and down in weakness it is no better than a carnal apprehension but to consider Christ as God in flesh and to consider that flesh as acted by God and filled with God it is not a carnal but a true and spiritual apprehension of Jesus Christ and hither is faith to be directed immediately and in the first place suppose a case of danger by some enemies and I find a promise of protection from my enemies I look on that but in the first place thus I argue if the Lord hath given me Christ God in the flesh to save me from Hell then much more will he save me from these fleshly enemies Thus Juda had a promise that Syria should not prevail against Judah they doubted of this Isa 7.14 but how doth the Lord seek to assure them why thus a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and his name shall be Immanuel this seems a strong reason to flesh and blood I knew one turn Infidel and to deny Jesus Christ upon this very argument Ah thought he what a grand imposture is this that Christ's conception and Christ's birth many years after should be a present sign of ruin of Rezin King of Aram and of the preservation of Ahaz King of Judah alas poor soul he was not acquainted with this art of living by faith he might have seen the very same reason elsewhere the yoke of their burthen Isa 9.4 6. and the stuff of their shoulder and the rod of their oppressor shall be broken for unto us a child is born and unto us a Son is given if their faith had not first respected Christ incarnate they could never have expected any temporal deliverance by that promise of deliverance first laid down But in this way they might and so may we You will say what 's this to us they looked for Christ to come in the flesh but now he is come and that time and design is gone and past many a year since I answer no the time is gone but the design is not Christ remains God in the flesh to this very day he came not as once to manifest himself in flesh to satisfie Gods justice in the flesh for sin and so to lay it down again that flesh remains and shall remain nor is it without use for all the spirit and life which the
Blessed Object here is matter for it to work upon if thou canst possibly rejoyce in any thing at all O rejoyce in the Lord and again I say rejoyce Is there not cause read and spell what 's the meaning of the Gospel of Christ what is Gospel but Good spell or good tidings and wherein lies the good ridings according to its emency is it not in the glorious incarnation of the Son of God Luke 2.10.11 behold I bring you a Gospel so it is in the Original or behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all People for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. The Birth of Christ to them that have but touched hearts is the comfort of comforts and the sweetest balm and confection that ever was Oh my Soul what ailes thee Why art thou cast down and disquieted within me Is it because thou art a sinner why unto thee is born a Saviour his Name is Saviour and therefore Saviour because he will save his people from their sins Come then and bring out thy Sins and weigh them to the utmost aggravation of them and take in every Circumstance both of Law and Gospel and set but this in the other Scale that unto thee is born a Saviour surely all thy iniquities will seem lighter than vanity yea they will be as nothing in comparison thereof My Soul doth Magnifie the Lord said Mary and my spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour Luke 1.46.47 Her soul and her spirit within her rejoyced at this Birth of Christ there is cause that every Soul and every Spirit should rejoyce that hath any interest in this Birth of Christ O my soul how shouldest thou but rejoyce if thou wilt consider these particulars 1. God himself is come down into the World because it was impossible for thee to come to him he is come to thee this consideration made the Prophet cry out Rejoyce greatly O thou Daughter of Zion Zâ—ch 9.9 shout O Daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee he is called a King and therefore he is able and he is thy King and therefore he is willing but in that thy King cometh unto thee here is the marvilous love and mercy of God in Christ Kings do not usually come to visit and wait upon their Subjects it is well if poor Subjects may come to them and be admitted into their Presence to wait on them O but see the great King of Heaven Earth the King of Kings and Lord of Lords stooping and bowing the heavens to come down to thee surely this is good tidings of great joy and therefore rejoyce greatly O Daughter of Zion A little joy is too scant and narrow for this news hearts should be enlarged the doors and gates should be set wide open for this King of Glory to come in as Balaam said of Israel God is with him and the shout of a King is amongst them Num. 23.21 so now may we say God is with us and the shout of a King is amongst us Rejoyce Zion Shout O Daughter of Jerusalem 2. God is come down in flesh he hath laid aside as it were his own Glory whilest he converseth with thee when God manifested himself as on Mount Sinai he came down in Thunder and Lightning and if now he had appeared in Thunder and Lightning if now he had been guarded with an innumerable Company of Angels all having their Swords of vengeance and justice drawn well might poor souls have trembled and have run into corners for who could ever be able to endure his coming in this way but lo poor Soul God is come down in flesh he hath made his appearance as a man as one of us and there is not in this regard the least distance betwixt him and us Surely this is fewel for joy to feed upon O why should God come down so sutably so lowly as in our nature if he would have thy poor soul to be afraid of him doth not this very design intend consolation to thy soul O gather up thy Spirit anoint thy heart with the Oyl of gladness see God himself is come down in flesh to live amongst us he professeth he will have no other life but amongst the Sons of men see what a sweet way of familiarity and entercourse is made betwixt God and us now he is come down in humane frailty 3. God hath took on him our Nature as a vast pipe to his Godhead that it may flow out in all manner of sweetness upon our hearts if God had come down in flesh only to have been seen of us Exod. 33.12 it had been a wonderful condescention and a great mercy if I have found favour in thy eyes said Moses shew me thy way that I may know thee but to come down in flesh and to come down in flesh not only to be seen but to dispatch the great business of our souls Salvation here 's comfort indeed with what joy should we draw water out of this well of salvation Surely the great reason of the shallowness of our Comforts shortness of our Hopes the faintness of our spirits the lowness of our Graces is from the not knowing or the not heeding of this particular Christ in flesh stands not for a Cypher but it is an Organ of life and grace unto us it is a fountain of comfort that can never run dry In this flesh there is laid in on purpose such a fulness of the Godhead that of his fulness we might receive in our measure grace for grace O my soul thou art daily busy in eying this and that but above all know that all the fulness God lies in Christ incarnate to be emptied upon thee this was the meaning of Christ taking on him flesh that through his flesh he might convey to thee whatsoever is in himself as God As for instance God in himself is Good and Gracious and Powerful and All-sufficient and Merciful and what not Now by his being in flesh he suites all this and conveyes all this to thee observe this for thy eternal comfort God in and through the flesh makes all his Attributes and Glory serviceable to thy soul 4. God in our Nature hath laid out the Model and Draught of what he will do unto all his Saints for ever humane nature was never so advanced before what to be glorified above the Angels to be united in a Personal union with the second person of the Godhead surely hence may be expected great matters here 's a fair step for the bringing of our Persons up to the enjoyment of God if God be come down in the likeness of man why then he will bring us up into the likeness of God look what was done to our nature in Christ the very same as far as we are capable shall be done to our persons in Heaven Think of it O my soul why hath God made flesh so
effect the fruit the benefit of his Conception Birth and of the wonderful union of the two natures of Christ may be all thine What dost thou hope in Jesus and believe thy part in this Incarnation of Christ why then pray in hope and pray in Faith what is prayer but the stream and river of Faith an issue of the desire of that which I joyfully believe 2 Sam. 7.27 Thou O Lord God of Hosts God of Israel hast revealed to thy Servant saying I will build thee an house therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this Prayer unto thee 2. We must praise This was the special duty practised by all Saints and Angels at Christs Birth Luke 1.46 Luke 1.68 My Soul doth magnifie the Lord saith Mary and my Spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour And blessed be the Lord God of Israel said Zachary for he hath visited and redeemed his People and Glory to God in the highest said the Heavenly Host only one Angel had before brought the News Luke 2.11 unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord but immediately after there were many to sing praises not only six Cherubims as Isaiah saw nor only four and twenty Elders as John saw but a multitude of Heavenly Angels like Armies that by their Heavenly Hallelujahs gave Glory to God O my soul do thou endeavour to keep consort with those many Angels O sing Praises sing Praises unto God sing Praises Never was like case since the first Creation never was the wisdom truth justice mercy and goodness of God so manifest before I shall never forget that last speech of a dying Saint upon the stage Blessed be God for Jesus Christ O my soul living and dying let this be thought on What Christ incarnate for me why bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name SECT IX Of conforming to Jesus in that respect 9. LEt us conform to Jesus in reference to this great transaction of his Incarnation Looking to Jesus contains this and is the cause of this the sight of God will make us like to God and the sight of Christ will make us like to Christ for as a Looking-Glass cannot be exposed to the Sun but it will shine like the same so God receives none to contemplate his face but he transforms them into his own likeness by the irradiation of his light and Christ hath none that dive into these depths of his glorious and blessed Incarnation but they carry along with them sweet impressions of an abiding and transforming nature Come then let us once more look on Jesus in his Incarnation that we may conform and be like to Jesus in that respect But wherein lies this conformity or likeness to Jesus I answer in these and the like particulars 1. Christ was conceived in Mary by the Holy Ghost so must Christ be conceived in us by the same holy Ghost To this purpose is the seed of the Word cast in and principles of Grace are by the Holy Ghost infused he hath begotten us by the Word saith the Apostle Jam. 1.18 James 1.18 How Mean Contemptible or Impotent Men may esteem it yet God hath appointed no other means to convey supernatural life but after this manner Where no Vision is the People perish where no preaching is there is a worse judgment than that of Egypt when there was one dead in every Family By the Word and Spirit the Seeds of all Grace are sown in the heart at once and the heart closing with it immediatly Christ is conceived in the heart Concerning this spiritual Conception or Reception of Christ in us there is a great question Whether it be possible for any man to discern how it is wrought But for the Negative are these Texts Our Life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 and the Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth Joh. 3.8 It is a wonderful hidden and secret Conception The holy Ghost sets out that state of unregeneracy in which Christ finds us by the name of Death Eph. 2.1 So that it must needs be as impossible for us to discover how it is wrought as it is impossible for one to know how he receives his own life Some say the first act of infusing or receiving Christ or Grace they are all one is wrought in an instant and not by degrees and therefore it is impossible to discern the manner And yet we grant that we may discern both the preparations to Grace and the first operations of Grace 1. The preparations to Grace are discernable such are those terrours and spiritual agonies which are often before the work of Regeneration they may be resembled to the heating of metals before they melt and are cast into the Mold to be fashioned now by the help of Natural Reason one may discern these 2. Much more may the first Motion and Operations of Grace be discerned by one truly regenerate because that in them his Spirit works together with the Spirit of Christ such are sorrow for sin as sin and seek rightly for comfort an hungring desire after Christ and his Merits neither do I think it impossible for a regenerate man to feel the very first illapse of the Spirit into the Soul for it may bring that sense with it self as to be easily discerned although it doth not alwayes see nor perhaps usually see it is true that the giving of Spiritual Life and the giving of the sense of it are two distinct acts of the Spirit yet who can deny but that both these acts may go together though alwayes they do not go together Howsoever it is yet even in such Persons as in the instant of Regeneration may feel themselves in a regenerate estate this Conclusion stands firm viz. They may know what is wrought in them but how it is wrought they cannot know nor understand we feel the Wind and perceive it in the motions and operations thereof but the Originals of it we are not able exactly to describe some think the beginnings of Winds are from the flux of the Air others from the exhalations of the Earth but there is no certainty so it is in the manner of this Conception or passive Reception of Christ and Grace into our hearts we know not how it is wrought but it nearly concerns us to know that it is wrought look we to his conformity that as Christ was conceived in Mary by the Holy Ghost so that Christ be conceived in us in a spiritual sense by the same Holy Ghost 2. Christ was sanctified in the Virgins Womb so must we be sanctified in our selves following the Commandment of God Be ye holy as I am holy Souls regenerate must be sanctified Every man saith the Apostle that hath this hope in him 1 John 3.3 purifieth himself even as he is pure I know
be one with him in a spiritual holy and a mystical union if God be not in our persons as truely though not as fully as in our nature we have no particular comfort from this design of his personal hypostatical and wonderful union 6. Christ was born so must we be new-born to this I have spoken when I laid it down as an evidence that unto us a Child is born and unto us a son is given only one word more we must be new born as once born by nature so new born by Grace there must be some resemblances in us of Christ born amongst us As 1. Christ born had a Father in Heaven and a Mother on Earth so in our new Birth we must look on God as our Father in Heaven and on the Church as our Mother on Earth it was usually said out of the Church no salvation and to this the Apostle alludes Jerusalem which is above is free Gal. 4.26 which is the Mother of us all indeed out of the Church there is no means of Salvation no Word to teach no Sacraments to confirm nothing at all to hold forth Christ to a soul and without Christ how should there be the Salvation of souls â—o that we must look on the Church as our Mother and on God as our Father not that we deny some to be as spiritual Fathers unto others Paul tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 4.15 that he was their Father though yea have ten thousand instructers in Christ yet have ye not many Fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel but alâ—s such Fathers are but ministerial Fathers and therefore Paul seems to correct himself 1 Cor. 3.7 who is â—aul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom yea believed even as the Lord gave to every man it is God only is our Father principally originally supreamly God only puts Grace and vertue into the womb of the Soul it is not possible that any creature should be a Creator of the new Creature O then let us look up to Heaven and say O Lord nâ—w make me nâ—w Create me O be thou my Father 2. When Christ was born all Jerusalem was troubled so when this new birth is we must look for it that much commotion and much division of heart will be the Deviâ— could not be cast out of the professed person but he would excâ—edingly fear and â—orment and vex the possâ—ssed person the truth is we cannot expect that Christ should expel Satan from those holds and dominions he hath over us but he will be sure to put us to great fear and terror in heart Besides not only the evil Spirit but Gods Spirit is for a while a Spirit of Bondage to make every thing as a mighty burden unto us there are many prâ—tenders to the grace of God in Christ but they cannot abide to hear of any pains or pangs in this new Birth O this is legal but I pray thee tell me dost thou ever know any woman bring forth in her sleep or in a dream without feeling any pain and how then should the heart of man be thus new changed and moulded without several pangs look as it is in the natural birth there are many pangs and troubles in in sorrow shalt thou bring forth Children so it is and must be in our spiritual birth there is usually I will not say alwayes to such or such a degree many pangs and troubles there 's many a throb and many an heart-ach ere Christ can be formed in us 3. When Christ was born there was a discovery of many of the Glorious attributes of God then Mercy and Truth met together and righteousness and peace kissed each other then especially was a discovery of the Goodness and Power and Wisdom and Holiness of God So when this New Birth is we must look upon it as a glorious discovery of those lovely Attributes As 1. Of his Mercy Goodness Love how often is this called his Grace and the riches of his Grace Christians you that know what the New Birth means do you not say The Goodness of God appears in this surely it was Gods Goodness to make a World but this is the riches of his Goodness to create a New Heart in you when Man by his sin was fallen he might have been thrown away as refuse fit fuel only for everlasting flames it might have been with mankind as it was with Devils in their deluge God did not provide an Ark to save so many as eight persons not one Angel that fell was the Object of Gods Grace And that God should pass by all those Angels and many thousands of the Sons Men and yet that he should look upon you in your Blood and bid you Live O the goodness of God! 2. As of the Goodness so in this New Birth there 's a discovery of Gods power and hence it is called a New Creature The very same Power that framed the World Gal. 6.15 is the framer of this New Creature the work of Conversion is set forth by the Work of Creation God only creates Man and God only converts Man in the Creation God said Let there be Light and there was Light in our conversion God saith Let there be Light and presently the same God shines in our hearts Nay this Power of conversion in some sense far passeth the Creation To whom is the Arm of the Loâ—d revealed Isa 53.1 the Lord puts to his Arm his Power his Strength indeed in Conversion of Souls when he made the World he met with nothing to resist him he only spake the word and it was doâ—e but in the conversion of a sinner God meets with the whole frame of all creatures opposing and resisting him the Devil and the World without and sin and corruption within here then must needs be a Power against all Power 3. As of the Goodness and Power of God so in this New Birth there 's a discovery of the Wisdom of God I might instance in many particulars As 1. In that the regenerate are most-what of the meanest and contemptiblest persons not many wise 1 Cor. 1.27 not many noble c. 2. In that many times God takes the worst Weeds and makes them the sweetest Flowers thus Paul Zacheus the Publicans and Harlots 3. In that the regenerate are of the fewest and least number many are called but few are chosen 4. In that God chooseth such a time to be his time of love wherein he usually discovers many concurrences of strange love meeting together read Ezek. 16.4 5 6 8 9. in all these particulars is his Wisdom wonderful 4. As of the Goodness Power and Wisdom of God so in this New Birth there 's a discovery of the holiness of God If a clod of Earth or a piece of Muck should be made a glorious Star in Heaven it is not more wonderful than for a sinner to be made like an Angel doing the Will of God it argues the
affections will often break out at the window when the door is closed Thus Stephen look'd up to Heaven he sent a Post a greedy pitiful and hungry look up to Jesus Christ out at the window Acts 7.55 at the nearest passage to tell him that a poor friend was coming to him why thus let us look up to Jesus by calling on him now this calling on him contains Prayer and Praise 1. We must pray that all these transactions of Jesus during his Life or during his Ministry upon earth may be ours we hope it is so and we believe it to be so but for all that we must pray that it may be so There is no contradiction betwixt Hope and Faith and Prayer but rather a concatenation Lord I believe yet help my unbelief or Mark 9.24 be it to me according to my Faith how weak soever it will bear that sense 2. We must praise God for all those passages in Christ's life Thus did the multitude they praised God with a loud voice Luke 19.37 38 for all the mighty works that they had seen saying blessed be the King that comes in the name of the Lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest What my Soul hath Christ done all this for thee was he made under the Law to redeem thy soul and adopt thee for his Son to the inheritance of Heaven came he down from heaven and travelled he so many miles on earth to woo and win thy heart spent he so many Sermons and so many Miracles to work thee into Faith O how shouldest thou bless and prize and magnifie his Name how shouldest thou break out into that blessed Hymn To him that loved us Rev. 1.5 6. and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen SECT IX Of conforming to Jesus in that respect 9. LEt us conform to Jesus as he acted for us in his Life Looking to Jesus intends this especially we must look as one looks to his Pattern as Mariners at Sea that they may run a right course keep an eye on that Ship that bears the Light so in the Race that is set before us we must have our eye on Jesus our blessed Pattern This must be our constant Query Is this the course that Jesus steered Or that I may enlarge In this Particular I shall examine these three Queries 1. Wherein we must conform 2. Why we must conform 3. How we must conform to this Life of Jesus For the first wherein we must conform I answer 1. Negatively we must not cannot conform to Christ in those works proper to his Godhead as in working Miracles I deny not but that the works of Miracles were by way of priviledge and temporary dispensation granted to the Apostles and some others but this was but for Ministry and Service not for their Sanctity or Salvation nor must we conform to Christ in those works of mediation as in redeeming souls in satisfying Divine Justice for our sin No man can redeem his Brother Psal 49.7 nor give to God a ransom for him There is but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus Nor must we conform to Christ in those works of his Government and influence into his Church as in dispensing of his Spirit in quickning of his Word in subduing of his enemies in collecting of his Members all these are personal honours which belong unto Christ as he is Head of the Church and to these works if we should endeavour to conform we should Crack our Sinews dissolve our silver cords and never the nearer Nor need we to conform to Christ in some other Particulars in his voluntary poverty he became poor for our sakes 2 Cor. 8.9 In his Ceremonial performances as in going up to Jerusalem at the Feasts in his perpetual grave deportment we never read that Jesus laughed and but once or twice that he rejoyced in spirit Alas the declensions of our Natures cannot come up to this Pattern nor do I look at these passages as any acts of moral obedience at all 2. Affirmatively or positively we must conform to Christ's life 1. In respect of his Judgment Will Affections Compassions Look we at his Spirit observe what mind was in Jesus Christ and therein do we endeavour to conform Let the same mind be in you saith the Apostle which was in Christ Phil. 2.5 Phil. 2.5 And we have the mind of Christ saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.16 1 Cor. 2.16 2. In respect of his Virtues Graces habitual Holiness Mat. 11.29 Learn of me saith Christ for I am meek and lowly in heart Christ was of a meek and gentle Spirit 2 Cor. 10.2 I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ saith Paul And Christ was of an humble and lowly Spirit Being in the form of God Phil. 2.6 7. he thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant I might instance in all other Graces for he had them all in fulness John 1.16 And of his fulness have all we received Grace for Grace 3. In respect of his words talk spiritual and heavenly Language The very Officers of the Priests could say of Christ Never man spake like this man John 7.46 and sometimes they all wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth Luke 4.22 He never sinned in word neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled 1 Pet. 2.22 23 reviled not again The Apostle speaking thus of Christ he tells us that herein Christ left us an example that we should follow his steps Ver. 21. 4. In respect of his Carriage Conversation Close-walking with God The Apostle sets forth Christ as an high Priest who was holy harmless undefiled Heb. 7.26 1 Pet. 2.9 and separate from sinners and in like manner saith Peter Ye are a chosen generation a royal Priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the virtues of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light that ye should shew forth the virtue i.e. that in your lives and conversations you should express those graces and virtues which were so eminent and exemplary in Jesus Christ that you should not only have them but that you should hold them forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies properly to preach so clearly should we express the virtues of Christ as if our lives were so many Sermons of the life of Christ In respect of all his acts practises duties of moral obedience we find in the life of Christ many particular carriages and acts of obedience to his heavenly Father whereof some were moral and some ceremonial now all these are not for our imitation but only such moral acts as concerning which we have both his pattern and precept Come let us
vile unto thee Whipping is so unworthy a punishment that only children bondslaves and rogues were used to be corrected therewith especially if they exceeded the number of forty stripes 2 Cor. 11.24 when Paul was thus used he tells us Of the Jewes five times received I forty stripes save one Theophilact sayes they would not exceed that number lest Paul should have become infamous and ever after uncapable of publick office and hoping they might have regained him they would not brand him with that note of infamy O then if one stripe above forty was so infamous amongst the Jews what shame what infamy was this when so many scores hundreds and thousands of stripes as some reckon them were laid on Jesus Christ and yet our Lord doth not disdain to undergo them for our sakes he bears in his body those wounds and stripes that we had deserved by our sins 2. For the pain this kind of punishment was not only infamous but terrible no sooner the Souldiers had their commission but they charged and discharged upon him such bloody blows as if he had been the greatest offender and basest slave in all the World Nicep l. 1. c. 3. Nicephorus calls these whippers bloody Hang-men by the fierceness of whose whipping many had dyed under their hands Bosq de pass Domini pag. 840. The manner of their whipping is described thus After they had stripped him they bound him to a pillar whither came six young and strong Executioners Scourgers Varlets Hang-men saith Jerome to scourge him and whip him while they could whereof two whipped him with rods of thorns and when they had wearied themselves other two whipped him with ropes or whip-cords tyed and knotted like a carters whip and when they were tyred the other two scourged off his very Skin with wires or little chains of Iron and thus they continued till by alternate and successive turns they had added stripe upon stripe and wound upon wound latter upon former and new upon old that he was all over in a gore blood Isa 53.5 The Scripture tells us that He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him and with his stripes we are healed he was wounded bruised chastised whipped with stripes if you would know with how many stripes some reckon them to the number of the Souldiers Six hundred and sixty or a thousand stripes others reckon them according to the number of the bones compacted in mans body which say Anatomists are two hundred and sixty and Christ having received for every bone three stripes according to the triple manner of his whipping they amounted in all to seven hundred and eighty stripes others reckon them to five thousand above the forty which the Jews were commanded not to exceeed in And the truth is if the whole band of Souldiers were the whippers of Christ as some would have it I cannot see but his stripes might be more than so when the Son of an Israelitish woman blasphemed God the Lord said to Moses Levit. 24.14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head and let all the congregation stone him now Christ had said before all the band that he was the Son of God which they called Blasphemy and therefore why might they not all according to this Law lay their hands upon him and fall upon him if not with stones which now was turned into whipping yet with rods whip-cords and little chains I shall not contend about the number of his stripes but this is certain that the souldiers with violence and unrelenting hands executed their commission they tore his tender flesh till the pillar and pavement were purpled with a shower of blood and if we may believe Bernard They plowed with their whips upon his back and made long furrows and after that they turned his back upon the pillar and whipt his belly and his breast till there was no part free from his face unto his foot A scourging able to kill any man and would have killed him but that he was preserved by the Godhead to endure and to suffer a more shameful death We may read here a Lecture of the immense love of God in Christ to us poor Gentiles he is therefore whipped that he might marry us to himself Vse and never reject us or cast us off we read of a Law in Moses that if a man took a wife and hated her and gave occasions of speech against her and brought an evil name upon her undeservably that then the Elders of the City should take that man and chastise him Deut. 22.18 19. and she should be his wife he might not put her away all his dayes There is a great mystery in this ceremony for that man say some was Christ who by his incarnation betrothed unto himself the Gentile Church but he seems to hate her and to give an occasion of a speech against her and to bring an evil report upon her as Into the way of the Gentiles ye shall not go and into the City of the Samaritans ye shall not enter Mat. 10.5 Mat. 15.26 and it is not meet to take the Childrens bread and to cast it unto dogs And now he is accused before the Elders now he is whipt and chastised and commanded by his Father to take her to his wife and not to put her away all his dayes I know there is much unlikeness in this mystery for Christ was not whipt for calling the Church adulterous that indeed was chast but he was whipt to present the Church as a chaft Virgin to his Father that indeed was adulterous Oh he loved the Church and gave himself for it Eph. 5.25 27. that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish this was the meaning of Christ's whipping Isa 53.5 The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes are we healed Come then and let us learn to read this love-letter sent from Heaven in bloody characters Christ is stripped who cloathed the Lillies of the Field Christ is bound hand and foot his hands that multiplied the Loaves and his feet that were weary in seeking the stragling sheep Christ is scourged all over because all over we were full of wounds and bruises Isa 1.6 and putrifying sores and there was no way to cure our wounds but by his wounds our bruises but by his bruises our sores but by his sores O read and read again Christ is whipped belly back side from his shoulders to the soles of his feet the lashes eating into his flesh and cutting his very veins so that as some say with much confidence though I know not with what truth the gashes were so wide that you might have seen his ribs and bones and very inwards what
without great pain after his sore whipping his blood congealed and by that means stuck to his scarlet mantle so that in pulling off the robe and putting on his own rayment there could not but be a renewing of his wounds 2. They led him away Some say they cast a Rope or Chain about his neck Mat. 27.31 by which they led him out of the City to Mount Calvary and that all along the way multitudes attended him and a Cryer went before him proclaming to all hearers the cause of his death namely that Jesus Christ was a Seducer Blasphemer Negromancer a Teacher of false Doctrines saying of himself that he was the Messias King of Israel and the Son of God 3. He bore his Cross So John relates before it bears him he must bear it John 19.17 and thus they make good their double cry Crucifie him Crucifie him first Crucifie him with it as a burthen and then crucifie him with it as a Cross those shoulders which had been unmercifully battered with whips before are now again tormented with the weight of his Cross As a true Isaac bears the wood for the sacrifice of himself or Vriah-like he carries with him the very Instrument of his own sad death O the cruelty of this passage they had scarce left him so much blood or strength as to carry himself and must â—e now bear his heavy Cross yes till he faint and sink so long he must bear it and longer too did they not fear that he should dye with less shame and smart than they intended him Matth. 27.32 Mark 15.21 which to prevent they constrained one Simon a Cyraenean to bear his Cross after him How truly do they here again swallow the Cammel and strain at a Gnat the Cross was a Roman death and so one of their abominations hence they themselves would not touch the tree of infamy lest they should have been defiled but to touch the Lords anointed to Crucifie the Lord of Glory they make no scruple at all but why must another bear the Cross but to consign this duty unto man that we must enter into a fellowship of Christ's sufferings Mat. 16.24 1 Pet. 2.21 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me And therefore Christ hath suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps 4. He comforted the woman who followed weeping after him as he went along And there followed him a great company of people and of Women Luke 23.27 28. which also bewailed and lamented him but Jesus turning to them said Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children In the midst of his misery he forgets not mercy in the midst of all their tortures and loudest out-cryes of contumely of blasphemy of scorn he can hear his following friends weeping behind him and neglect all his own sufferings to comfort them Weep not for me He hath more compassion on the Woman that follow him weeping than of his own mangled self that reels along fainting and bleeding unto death he feels more the tears that drop from their eyes than all the blood that flows from his own veins we heard before that sometimes he would not vouchsafe a word to Pilate that threatened him nor to Herod that entreated him and yet unaskt how graciously doth he turn about his blessed bleeding face to these weeping women affording them looks and words too both of compassion and of consolation Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but for your selves and yet observe he did not turn his face to them until he heard them weep nor may we ever think to see his face in glory unless we first bathe our eyes in sorrow It is a wonder to me that any in our age should ever decry tears remorse contrition compunction how many Saints do we find both in the Old and New Testament confuting by their practises these gross opinions the Promise tells us that They that sow in Tears shall reap in Joy he that follows Christ Psal 126.5 6. or goeth forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him But what 's the meaning of this Weep not for me may we not weep for the death of Christ Deut. 34.8 Acts 8.2 do we not find in Scripture that all the People wept at the death of Moses that all the Church wept at the death of Stephen that the Woman lamented the death of Dorcas and if all Christ's actions be our instructions I mean not his miraculous or meritorious but his moral ones did not Christ himself weep for Lazarus and for Jerusalem nay is he not here weeping showers of blood all along the way and may not we drop a tear for all those purple streams of his O what 's the meaning of this Weep not for me but weep for your selves I answer the words are not absolute but comparative Christ doth not simply forbid us to weep for our friends but rather to turn our worldly grief into godly sorrow for sin as sin Christ herein pointed the women to the true cause and subject of all their sorrow which was their sins and thus we have cause to weep indeed Oh! our sins were the cause of the sufferings of Christ and in that respect Oh that our heads were fountains and our eyes rivers of tears Oh that our tears were as our meat and drink Oh that we could feed with David on the Bread of tears and that the Lord would give us plenteousness of tears to drink Oh that the Lord would strike as he did at Rephidim these rocky hearts of ours with the rod of true remorse that water might gush out Oh that we could thus mourn over Jesus whom we have pierced and be in bitterness for him Zach. 12.10 as one that is in bitterness for his first-born Mat. 27.34 5. No sooner he was come to the place of Execution but they gave him Vinegar to drink mingled with Gall in that they gave him drink it was an argument of their humanity this was a custom amongst Jews and Romans that to the condemned they ever gave wine to drink Prov. 31.6 Give strong wine unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy heart But in that they gave him Vinegar mingled with Gall it was an argument of their cruelty and envy Theophil in Mar. Theophylact speaks plainly that the Vinegar mingled with Gall was poysonous and deadly and therefore when Christ had tasted it he would not drink chusing rather the death of the Cross to which he was destinated by his Father than any poysonous death Vse Ah brethren are not we apt to think hardly of the Jews for giving Christ so bitter a potion at his time of death and yet little do we think that when we sin we do as much See but how God himself
even the forgiveness of sins Zach. 13.1 Eph. 1.7 Heb. 1.3 Heb. 9.26 Ver. 28. Levit. 16.21 22. He by himself purged our sins And now once in the end of the world hath he appeared put away sin by the sacrifice of himself And Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bear away the sins of many As the Scape-coat under the Law had upon his head all the iniquities of the Children of Israel and so was sent away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness so the Lord Jesus of whom that Goat was a type had all the iniquities of his Elect laid upon him by God his Father and bearing them he took them away Behold the Lamb of God John 1.29 that taketh away the sins of the world he bore them and bore them away he went away with them into the wilderness or into the land of forgetfulness See what comfort is here 2. Another cries thus Oh I know not what will become of me the Law is mine enemy I have transgressed the Law and it speaks terribly Gal. 3.10 cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them Oh I have offended the Law and I am under the curse Say not so for by the death of Christ though the Law be broken yet the curse is removed the Apostle is clear Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law Gal. 3.13 being made a curse for us he was made a curse for us i.e. the fruits and effects of God's curse the punishment due to sinners the penal curse which justice required was laid upon Christ and by this means we are freed from the curse of the Law It is true that without Christ thou art under this Law Do or Die end if thou offendest in the least kind thou shalt perish for ever the curse of the Law is upon thee to the uttermost but on the other side if thy claim be right to the blood of Christ thou art freed from penalty not but that we may be corrected and chastised but what is that to the eternal curse which the Law pronounceth against every sin we are freed from the curse or damnatory sentence of the Law Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus the Law is satisfied and the bond is cancelled by our Surety Christ O what comfort is this 3. Another cries thus Oh I know not what will become of me I have offended justice and what shall appeal from the seat of justice to the throne of grace my sins are gone before and they are knocking at heaven gates and crying justice Lord on this sinner I know not what will be the issue but either free Grace must save me or I am gone Say not so for by this death of Christ free grace and justice are both thy friends How e're some do yet certainly thou needs not to appeal from the court of justice to the Mercy-seat in this mystery of Godliness there may be as much comfort in standing before the Bar of justice as at the Mercy-seat i.e. by standing therein and through the Lord Jesus Christ yea this is the Gospel-way to go to God the Father and to tender up to him the active and passive righteousness of Christ his Son for an atonement and satisfaction for our sins in this way is the comfort of justification brought if we go to God in any other way than this it is but in a natural way and not in a true Evangelical way A man by nature may know thus much that when he hath sinned he must seek unto God for mercy but to seek unto God for pardon with a price in our hands to tender up the merits of Jesus Christ for a satisfaction to Divine justice here is the mystery of Faith and yet I speak not against relying on God's mercy for pardon but what need we to appeal from justice to mercy when by faith we may tender the death of Christ and so find acceptance with the justice of God it self come soul and let me tell thee for thy comfort if thou hast any share in the death of Christ thou hast two tenures to hold thy pardon and salvation by Mercy and justice free-grace and righteousness mercy in respect of thee and justice in respect of Christ not only is free-grace ready to acquit thee but a full price is laid down to discharge thee of all thy sins so that now when the Prince of this World comes against thee thou mayest say in some sense as Christ did He can find nothing in me for how can he accuse me seeing Christ is my Surety seeing the bond hath been sued and Christ Jesus would not leave one farthing unpaid as Paul said to Philemon concerning Onesimus if he have wronged thee or owe thee any thing put it on my account so doth Christ say to God if these have wronged thy Majesty or owe thee any thing put it on me Paul indeed added I Paul have written it with mine own hand but Christ speaks thus Gen. 2.17 I Jesus have ratified and confirmed it with my own blood 4. Another cries thus Oh I know not what will become of me the first threat that ever was in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die now sits on my spirit methinks I see the grizly form of death standing before me Oh this is he that is the King of fears the chief of terrors the inlet to all those Plagues in another world and die I must there is no remedy Rom. 8.94 Oh I startle and am afraid of it And why so it is Christ that dyed and by his death he hath took away the sting of death that now the drone may hiss but cannot hurt come meditate much upon the death of Christ and thou shalt find matter enough in his death for the subduing of thy slavish fears of death both in the merit of it in the effect of it and in the end of it 1. In the merit of it Christ's death is meritorious and in that respect the writ of mortallity is but to the Saints a writ of ease a passage into Glory 2. In the effect of it Christs death is the conquest of death Christ went down into the grave to make a back-door that the grave which was before a prison might now be a thorough-fare so that all his Saints may with ease pass through and sing O death where is thy sting Heb. 2.14 15. Oh hell where is thy victory 3. In the end of it Chri'sts death amongst other ends aims at the ruine of him that had the Power of death that is the Devil and to deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time in bondage Christ pursued this end in dying to deliver thee from the fear of death and if now thou fearest thy fearing is a kind of
life In some sence then and in a Mystery Christ was a Gardiner but Maries mistake was in supposing him the Gardiner of that only place and not the Gardiner of our souls Souls in desertion are full of mistakes though in their mistakes are sometimes many mysteries 2. Her speech upon her mistake If thou hast born him hence c. we may observe 1. That her words to Christ are not much unlike the answer she gave the Angels only she seems to speak more harsh to Christ than she did to the Angels to them she complains of others They have taken away my Lord but to Christ she speaks as if she would charge him with the fact as if he looked like one that had been a breaker up of graves a carrier away of Corpses out of their place of rest Sir if thou hast born him hence But pardon love as it fears where it needs not so it suspects very often where it hath no cause When love is at a loss he or any that comes but in our way hath done it hath taken him away 2. That something she spoke now to Christ which she had not mentioned to the Angels She said not unto them tell me where he is but reserved that question for himself to answer Come tell me where thou hast laid him q. d. thou art privy to the place and with the action of removing Christ my Lord Oh how she errs and yet how she hits the truth Jesus must tell her what he had done with himself sure it was fittest for his own speech to utter what was only possible for his own power to do 3. That the conclusion of her speech was a meer vant or flourish And I will take him away Alas poor woman she was not able to lift him up there are more than one or two allowed to the carrying of a corps and as for his it had more than an hundred pound weight of myrrhe and other odours upon it sure she had forgotten that women are weak and that she her self was but a woman how was it possible that she should take him away she could not do it well but she would do it though there is no essay too hard for love she exempts no place she esteems no person she speaks without fear she promises without condition she makes no exception as if nothing were impossible that love suggesteth the darkness could not fright her from setting out before day the watch could not fear her from coming to the Tomb where Christ was laid she resolved to break open the seals and to remove the stone far above her strength and now her love being more incensed with the fresh wound of her loss she speaks resolutely I will take him away never considering whether she could or no love is not ruled with reason but with love it neither regards what can be nor what should be but only what it self desireth to do 4. That through all this speech she omits the principal verb she enquires for Jesus but she never names him whom she enquires after She could say to the Angels they have taken away my Lord but now she talks of one under the term of him if thou hast born him hence tell me where thou hast layd him and I will take him away him him him but she never names him or tells who he is this is solaecismus amoris an irregular speech but loves one dialect q.d. who knows not him why all the world is bound to take notice of him he is worthy to be the owner of all thoughts no thought in my conceit can be well bestowed upon any other than him And therefore Sir Gardiner whosoever thou art if thou hast born him hence thou knowest who I mean thou canst not be ignorant of whom I love there is not such another among the sons of men as the psalmist Psal 45.2 he is the fairest among the Children of men or as the Spouse he is the chiefest of ten thousands and therefore tell me some news of him of none but him of him and only of him O tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away A soul sick of love thinks all the world knows her beloved and is therefore bound to tell her where he is the daughters of Jerusalem were very ignorant of Christ Can. 5.9 and yet I charge you O daughters of Jerusalem said the Spouse if ye find my beloved that ye tell him I am sick of love Can. 5.8 Iohn 20.16 2. Christ appears as unknown Jesus saith unto her Mary she turned her self and saith unto him Rabboni which is to say Master Sorrow may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning she that hitherto had sought without finding and wept without comfort and called without answer even to her Christ now appears and at his apparition these passages are betwixt them first he speaks unto her Mary and then she replies unto him Rabboni which is to say Master 1. He speaks unto her Mary it was but a word but O what life what Spirit what quickening and reviving was in the word the voice of Christ is powerful if the Spirit of Christ come alone with the Word it will rouse hearts raise spirits work wonders Ah poor Mary what a case was she in before Christ speak unto her she ran up and down the Garden with O my Lord where have they layd my Lord but no sooner Christ comes and speaks to her by his Spirit and with power but her mind is enlightened her heart is quickened and her soul is revived Observe here the difference betwixt the Word of the Lord and the Lord speaking that word with power and Spirit we find sometimes the hearts of Saints are quickened fed cherished healed comforted in the use of the means and sometimes again they are dead sensless heavy and hardened nay which is more the very same truth which they hear at one time it may be affects them and at another time it doth not the reason is they hear but the Word of the Lord at one time and they hear the Lord himself speaking that word at another time Mary heard the Word of the Lord by an Angel woman why weepest thou but her tears dropped still she heard again the word of the Lord by Christ himself woman why weepest thou and yet she weeps and will not be comforted but now Christ speaks and he speaks with power Mary and at this word her tears are dried up no more tears now unless they be tears for joy and yet again observe the way how you may know and discern the effectual voice of Jesus Christ if it be effectual it usually singles a man out yea though it be generally spoken by a Minister yet the voice of Christ will speak particularly to the very heart of a man with a marvelous kind of Majesty and Glory stampt upon it and shining in it take an humble broken drooping Spirit he hears of the free offer of
grace well may we cry come holy Spirit Oh what a comfortable condition would it be if our Spirits never lay still but we were alwayes hungring thirsting or moving after God and goodness 6. That the holy Ghost might according to his Office comfort his Saints amidst all their afflictions this was that which Christ had so often told his Apostles John 14.16 V. 18. V. 26. John 15.26 I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me John 16.17 If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you But how is it that the spirit comforts Saints I answer in these particulars †See at large Dr. Reynolds on Psal 116. 1. The Spirit discovers sin and bends the heart to mourn for sin and such a sorrow as this is the seed and matter of true comfort as Josephs heart was full of joy when his eyes poured out tears on Benjamin's neck so there is a certain seed and matter of joy in spiritual mourning I know they are contrary but yet they may be subordinate to each other as a dark and muddy colour may be a fit ground to lay gold upon Certainly there is a sweet complacency in an humble and spiritual heart to be vile in its own eyes But especially the fruit of it is joy and great joy John 16.21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour is come but as soon as she is delivered of her Child she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the World 22. and ye now therefore have sorrow but I will see you again and your heart shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you 2. The Spirit doth not only discover but heal the corruptions of the soul and there is no comfort to the comfort of a saved and cured man the lame man that was restored by Peter expressed the abundant exaltation of his heart by leaping and praising God Act. 3.8 and for this cause the Spirit is called the Oyl of gladness because by that healing vertue that is in him he makes glad the hearts of men 3. The Spirit doth not only heal but renew and revive again when an eye is smitten with a sword there is a double mischief a wound made and a faculty perished and here though a Chirurgeon can heal the wound yet he can never restore the faculty because total privations admit no regress or recovery But the spirit doth not only heal and repair but renew and re-edifie the spirits of men as he healeth that which was torn and bindeth up that which was broken so he reviveth and raiseth up that which was dead before Hos 6.1.2 And this the Apostle calls the renovation of the Spirit Tit. 3.5 Now this renovation must needs be matter of great joy for so the Lord comforts his afflicted people O thou afflicted tossed with tempest Isa 54.11 12. and not comforted behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with Saphyres and I will make thy windows of Agates and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant stones The meaning is that all must be new and new built up as for a goodly costly and stately structure 4. The spirit doth not only renew and set the frame of the heart aright and then leave it to it self but being thus restored he abideth with it to preserve and support it and to make it victorious against all tempests and batteries and this further multiplyeth the joy and comfort of the heart victory is ever the ground of joy Isa 9.3 They joy before thee as men rejoyce when they divide the spoyle And the spirit of God is a victorious spirit A bruised reed shall he not break and smoaking flax shall he not quench Mat. 12.20 till he send forth judgment unto victory 5. The spirit doth not only preserve the heart which he hath renewed but he makes it fruitfull and abundant in the work of the Lord. And fruitfulness is a ground of comfort Sing O barren thou that didst not bear break forth into singing Isa 54.1 and cry aloud thou that didst not travail with Child for more are the Children of the desolate than the Children of the married Wife saith the Lord. 6. The Spirit doth not only make the heart fruitful but gives it the hansel and earnest of its inheritance and thereby it begets a lively hope an earnest expectation a confident attendance upon the promises and an unspeakable peace and comfort thereupon Oh when I feel a drop of heavens Joy shed abroad into my soul by the Holy Ghost and that I look upon this as a taste of glory and a forerunner of happiness how should I but rejoyce with joy unspeakable in all these respects the Spirit is our Comforter and this is another reason why the Holy Ghost is sent I will not leave you comfortless saith Christ no no for I will come unto you by my spirit Eph. 4.30 7. That the Holy Ghost might according his Office seal us unto the day of redemption By sealing is meant some work of the Spirit by which he assurâ—s a believer that he is Gods it is all one with the spirits witnessing only under that notion I shall speak of it another time But all the question is what is that work of the spirit by which he assures I answer this work is many-fold As 1. There is a reflex work of faith and this is the work of the Spirit too assuring our souls of our good estate to God-ward 1 John 5.10 and Christ-ward He that believeth hath the witness in himself he carries in his heart the Counterpane of all the promises this is the first seal or if you will the first degree of the Spirits sealing the first discovery of our election is manifested to us in our believing as many saith the Text as were ordained to eternal life believed Acts 13.48 2. There is a work of sanctifying grace upon the heart and this is a seal of the Spirit also 2 Tim. 2.19 for whom the Spirit sanctifieth he saveth The Lord knoweth who are his saith the Apostle ay but how should we know it why by this seal as it follows Let every one that Nameth the Name of the Lord depart from iniquity none are children of God by adoption but those that are Children also by regeneration none are heirs of Heaven 2 Pet. 1.3 4. but they are new born to it Blessed be
he did this alone and it constituted the difference betwixt him as he was high Priest and other Priests for they killed and offered the Sacrifices without as well as he but only the high Priest was to approach the holy of hollies with blood and that but once a year 2. This was Typified by Melchizedech's Priest-hood which the Apostle argues to have been much more excellent then that of Aaron's in as much as Levi Aarons Father payed Tythes to this Melchizedech in Abrahams loyns now Melchizedech was his Type not so much in respect of his Oblation or offering Sacrifice as in respect of his continual presentation and intercession in heaven and therefore the same clause for ever still comes in when Melchizedech is named thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech Heb. 5.6 7.17 Here then is the agreement betwixt Christ and the high-Priests of old in respect of name both were Priests and in respect of Office both had their oblations and presentations or intercessions with God in Glory 3. In the point of Intercession they agreed in these particulars 1. The high-Priest of old usually once a year went into the most Holy place within the vail and so is Christ our great high-Priest passed into the Heavens within the Vail even into the holy of holies Christ by his own blood entred in once into the holy place Not into the holy places made with hands Heb. 9.12 24. which are the Figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us 2. The high-Priests of old had a plate of pure Gold upon their Fore-heads which was to bear the iniquity of the holy things that they might be accepted before the Lord Exod. 28.38 and so doth Christ bear the iniquity of our holy things Spiritual Christians here is your comfort you are not able to perform any duty to God but there is a great deal of sin in the same you cannot hear nor pray nor confer nor meditate without much sin but Christ bears all these sins even the iniquity of your holy things and he presents your persons and prayers without the least spot to his Father he is the Angel of the Covenant that stands at the Altar Rev. 8.3 having a golden Censer with much incense to offer it with the prayers of his Saints and so they are acceptable before the Lord. 3. The Jewish high-Priests bore the names of the Children of Israel on a breast-plate of judgment upon their hearts for a memorial before the Lord continually Exod. 28.29 and so doth Christ our great high-Priest bear the names of his people upon his heart before the Lord continually But how is Christ said to bear the names of the Saints upon his heart I answer 1. Continually in presenting of them to his Father as they are in him how is that why he represents them without spot as righteous in his own righteousness Ephes 5.27 Christ loved the Church that he might present it to his Father and in him to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish 2. In this continual remembring of them Psal 112.6 the righteous shall be had in continual remembrance this is the souls comfort in a time of desertion or in an evil day Psal 13.1 if any cry out as sometimes David did how long wilt thou forget me Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me Isa 40.14 15 16. Let such a one remember that Christ's redeemed ones are upon his heart and he can not forget them But Zion said the Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me Oh no! can a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet I will not forget thee behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me the Sons of Zion are upon Christ's heart and hands and they are ever in his sight 3. In his perpetual loving of them they are near and dear unto him he hath set them as a Seal upon his heart so was the prayer of the Spouse set me as a Seal upon thine heart Cant. 8.6 as a Seal upon thine arme and then it follows for love is as strong as death Christ hath an entire love to his Saints he dyed for them and now he intercedes for them he keeps them close to his heart and there is none shall pluck them out of his hands John 13.1 for whom he loves he loves unto the end Thus far of the agreement betwixt Christ's intercessions and the intercessions of the high Priests of old SECT VI. What the difference is betwixt Christ's intercessions and the intercessions of the high Priests of old 6. VVHat is the difference betwixt Christ's Intercessions and the intercessions of the high Priests of old There is no question but howsoever they might agree in some respects yet Christ officiates in a more transcendent and eminent way then ever any high Priest did before him now the difference betwixt Christ and them and betwixt Christ's Intercessions and their Intercessions may appear in these particulars Heb. 4.14 1. They were called high Priests but Christ is called the great high Priest such a Title was never given to any but Christ whence the Apostle argues for the steadfastness of our profession seeing then that we have a great high Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession 2. The high-Priests then were Aaron and his Sons but Christ our great high-Priest is the Son of God for so he is styled in the same verse the great high-Priest that is passed into the heavens Heb. 4.14 Jesus the Son of God 3. The high-Priests then were but for a time but Christ is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech Heb. 5.6 Heb. 7.3 Melchizedech saith the Apostle was without Father without Mother without descent having neither beginning of days nor end of life That is as far as it is known and so is Christ without a Father on earth and without a Mother in Heaven without beginning and without end he abides a Priest perpetually even to the end of the World yea and the vertue of his Priesthood is infinitely beyond all time even for ever and ever 4. The high-Priests then entred only into that place that was Typically holy but Christ is entred into that place that is properly holy he is entred into the Heavens or if you will as into the holy of holies so into the heaven of heavens 5. The high Priests then did not always intercede for the people only once a year the high Priest entred into the holy of holies and after he had sprinkled the mercy-seat with blood and caused a cloud to rise upon the mercy-seat with his
were to mediate for the people and the people had experience that God would hearken to the cry of their Priest 1 Sam 12.18 19 23. Samuel called unto the Lord and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day And all the people said to Samuel Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God And Samuel said unto the people God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you Now such an High-Priest as this though with far more eminency is Christ to God he intercedes for his people God forbid that he should ever cease to pray for his people and he hath God's ear in especial manner if ever God lend his ear to any one it must needs be to this High-Priest because of his office to intercede betwixt God and his people Christ stands in the middle or indeed next to God as he is in these Gospel-times our great High-Priest and therefore he must needs prevail with God in every petition he puts up for us Heb. 5.4 5. 2. That Christ was called to this office by God Christ glorified not himself to be made an High-Priest no no but he was called of God as Aaron was it was God the Father that designed him to it and that furnished him for it and that invested him in it Psalm 110.4 The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech Now to what purpose should God call him to this office but especially to intercede for them to whom God was willing to communicate salvation it was God's mind as well as Christ's mind to save his Elect and this was the way where on they agreed that an High-Priest should be appointed and an office of intercession should be erected and by that means the salvation purchased should be applied many times we are apt to conceive legal or law-thoughts of God the Father as that he is just and severe and that Christ his Son is more meek and merciful but this cannot be for there are not two infinite wills not two infinite mercies one in the Father another in the Son but one will and one mercy in both And to that purpose observe but the readiness of God the Father to receive Christ honourably into heaven that he might do the work of the High Priest there no sooner had Christ entred through the gates into the City but presenly sit thou down saith God at my right hand but to what end surely not only to rule as King of which we have spoken before but also to intercede as our great High Priest hence we find in Scripture that Christ's session and intercession his Kingly and Priestly office are joyned together Heb. 8.1 He is set on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens he who why Christ our High Priest we have such an High Priest who is set down It is as if Christ at his enterance into heaven had said My Father I am come hither as the great High Priest having on his breast-plate the names of all the Elect and I come to intercede for poor sinners what shall I have welcome on these same terms to whom the Father replied Welcome my son my only Son on these very terms come sit thee down and interede for whom thou pleasest I have called thee on purpose to this very office and thou shalt prevail Surely the Father is engaged to purpose to hear the Son in that he is an High Priest to God and called to his office by God 3. That Christ is God's Son and that is more than God's High Priest he is his natural Son his beloved Son his Son that never gave him the least offence sure then when he comes and intercedes for a man he is most like to speed if a gracious child do but cry my Father my Father he may prevail very much especially with a Father who is tender-hearted Jesus Christ is the gracious precious Son of God the father and God the Father is a dear and kind-hearted Father how then should the intercessions of Christ but be most powerful with God hence some gather the prevalency of Christ's intercession because in many places of Scripture where this part of Christ's Priest-hood or intercession is laid down this Sonship is also expressed or set forth Heb. 4.14 Heb. 5.5 6. as we have a great High Priest entered into the heavens Jesus the Son of God And thou art an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech But immediately before Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee O needs must the intercession of such a Son be very prevalent I say of such a Son for was ever any Son like this Son of God was ever any Son so like his Father or so equal with his Father we know he is a begotten Son and yet never begun to be a Son he is the Son of the Father and yet never begun to have a Father he is a branch of the King of ages and yet in all the ages past was never younger surely all the relations of Son and Father in the World are but a shadow of this relation betwixt God and Christ it is so near that though they are two as in all relations there must needs be relatum and correlatum yet Christ speaks of them as if they were but one I and my Father are one John 10.30 if then the Father should deny him any thing he should deny himself or cease to be one with his Son which can never be Christ is God's Son his natural Son his beloved Son Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased saith God O then how prevalent must Christ's intercession be with God 4. That Christ is God himself not only God's Son but God himself how powerful in this respect must his intercessions be unto the Father it is true that Christ is another subsistence and person from the Father but Christ is one and the same God with the Father Christ is the very essential substantial and noble representation of God himself Christ is the very self of God both God sending and God sent Christ is the fellow of God Awake O sword against my shepherd and against the man that is my fellow Zach. 13.7 nay Christ is God and not another God but one God God of God light of light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made Can we imagine now that God himself should be denied any boon of God himself if God sometimes spoke to his servants Ask of me Isa 45.11 command ye me concerning all the work of mine hands will not God much more say to God Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance Psal 2.8 and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession we have brought it now so near that if God be God
respect 4. LET us hope in Jesus as carrying on the great work of our salvation for us in his second coming Hope is of good things to come hope is an act of the will extending it self towards that which it loves as future onely the future good as it is the object of hope is difficult to obtain and therein it differs from desire for desire looks at future good without any apprehension of difficulty but hope respects the future good as it is gotten with difficulty Lazy hopes that will not be in use of means though difficult are not true hopes we see many desirable things set before us of which we may say Oh that we had our part and portion of them but shall we go on and search and find out the truth whether we have any part or portion in them or whether we have any hopes of any such thing oh this is worthy our pains come then let us yet make a further progress let us not only desire that it may be thus and so but let us say on some sure and certain grounds we hope it is thus and so we hope Christ will come again John 14.3 and receive us to himself that where he is there we may be also Heb. 9.12 Indeed there is the Christians stay and comfort such an hope is a sure Anchor that will hold the ship in a storm onely because our souls lie upon it we had need to look to it that our hopes be true the worst can say They hope to be saved as well as the best but I fear the hopes of many will be lamentably frustrated Our Saviour brings in many pleading with confidence at the last day for life who shall be rejected with miserable disappointment Many shall say to me at that day Lord Lord c. and I will confess unto them I never knew them depart from me Now to clear this point that our hopes are of the right stamp and not counterfeit hopes I shall lay down some signs whereby we may know that Christ's coming is for us and for our good and for the grace that is to be given us at the revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.3 4. 1. If we are born again then will his glorious coming be to glorifie us Blessed be the God and Father of Lord Jesus Christ who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope to an inheritance incorruptible Whoever hath the true hope of Heaven John 3.3 he is one that is begotten again so our Saviour Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Many things may be done as Herod heard John the Baptist and did many things but except a man be born again those many things are in God's account as nothing When Peter had told Christ that he and his fellow-disciples had forsaken all Math. 19.28 and followed him Then Jesus said verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the Throne of his glory ye shall also sit upon twelve Thrones Judging the twelve Tribes of Israel q. d. Peter you have forsaken all and followed me but know that bare forsaking is not enough but you who have felt the Work of God regenerating your souls upon which ye have followed me ye shall sit upon twelve Thrones In those who are alive at the last day there will be a change and this change will be to them instead of death 1 Cor. 15.51 Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed Certainly in those who at the last day shall sit on Thrones with Christ there must be a change likewise in this life i.e. a new spirit and a new life must be put into them Oh what a change is this suppose a rational soul were put into a beast what a change would be in that Creature suppose an angelical nature were put upon us what a change would there be in us oh but what a change is this when a man is born again of water and of the spirit I must tell you that the highest degree of glory in Heaven is not so different from the lowest degree of grace here as the lowest degree of grace here is different from the highest excellency of nature here because the difference betwixt the highest degree of the glory of Heaven and the lowest degree of grace is only gradual but the difference that is betwixt the lowest degree of grace and the highest excellency of nature is a specifical difference Oh there 's a mighty work of God in preparing souls for glory by grace and this change must they have that must sit on Thrones Come then you that hope for glory try your selves by this is there a change in your hearts words and lives is there a mighty work of grace upon your spirits are you experienc'd in the great mystery of regeneration why here 's your evidence that your hopes are sound and that you shall sit upon Thrones to judge the world Heb. 9.28 2. If we long for his coming then will he come to satisfie our longings Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for they shall be satisfied how satisfied but in being saved Christ was offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin to salvation unto them that look for him or long for him shall he appear the second time unto salvation it is very observable how this looking for Christ is in Scripture a frequent description of a true believer in Christ Who are true sincere and sound Christians but such as live in a perpetual desire and hope of Christs blessed coming 2 Pet. 3.12 they are ever looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God Here are two signs in one verse looking for and hasting unto true believers are not only in a posture looking for the coming of Jesus Christ but also as it were going forth to meet Jesus Christ with burning Lamps Luther could say Mat. 6.10 That he was no true Christian neither could he truly recite the Lord's prayer that with all his heart desired not this day of the coming of Christ. It is true that whether we will or no that day will come but in the Lord's prayer Christ hath taught us to pray that God would accelerate and hasten the day of his glorious coming thy Kingdom come i.e. the Kingdom of glory at the Judgment as well as the Kingdom of grace in the Church It is true that the day of the Lord is a terrible day the Heavens and Earth and Sea and Air shall be all on a bone-fire and burn to nothing nevertheless we according to his promise look for new Heavens and a new Earth we that have laid hold upon God and laid hold on him by the right handle according to his promises we look for
directive part of the Law by his life and under the penal part of the Law by his death 5. Faith must go to Christ as put to death in the Flesh and as quickned by the spirit 6. Faith must go to Christ as going up into glory as sitting down at God's right hand and as sending down the holy Ghost 7. Faith must go to Christ as interceding for his Saints in which work he continues till his coming again Of all these before 8. Faith must go to Christ as coming again into this neather world to judge the quick and the dead This is the last act of Faith in reference to Christ From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead The coming of Christ the resurrection of the dead the change of the living the last judgment and the glory of Christ with his Saints to all eternity is that transaction which must be dispatched at the end of the world now this is the object of faith as well as the former Christ's work is not fully perfected till all these be finished nor is our work of Faith fully compleated till it reach to the very last act of Christ in saving souls Oh what an excellent worker is Jesus Christ he doth all his works throughly and perfectly the greatest work that ever Christ under took was the work of redemption that work would have broken Men and Angels and yet Jesus Christ will carry it on to the end and then will he say not onely prophetically but expresly I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do John 17.46 Now Faith should eye Christ as far as he goes if Christ will not have done till he comes again and receive us to himself and settle us in glory no more should Faith it should still follow after him and take a veiw of all his transactions from first to last what will Christ come again will he summon all the elect to come under judgment will he sentence or judge them to eternal life will he conduct them into glory present them to his Father and be their all in all to all eternity why then let our faith act it self upon all these promises or if I may instance in one for all Christ's coming is the most comprehensive of all and is not the coming of Christ very frequently mentioned in the pâ—omises as the great support and stay of his peoples spirits till then do not the Apostles usually quicken us to duty and encourage us to waiting by the mentioning of this glorious coming of Jesus Christ why then let us act our faith on this glorious Object Christians what do we believe and hope and wait for but to see this coming this was Pauls encouragement to rejoycing and moderation Phil. 4.4 5. Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes and let your moderation be known to all the Lord is at hand To think and speak of that day with horror doth well beseem the impenitent sinner but doth ill beseem the beliâ—ving Saint such may be the voice of an unbeliever and it may be of a believer in desertion or temptation but it 's not the voice of faith O believe on Christ as carrying on our salvation at his coming again For yet a little while and he that shall come will come and he will not tarry Heb. 10.37 9. Faith must principally and mainly look to the purpose design intent and end of Christ in his second coming to Judgment Now the ends are 1. In respect of the wicked that they may be destroyed for he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet He shall come with flaming fire 2 Thes 1.8 and then he will take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power O miserable men now it is God's design to be revenged on you This is the day when the wicked shall suddenly start out of sleep and meet with gastly amazedness at the mouth of their sepulchers above them stands the Judge condemning beneath Hell gaping on the right had justice threatning on all sides the world burning to go forward is intollerable to go backward is impossible to turn aside is unavailable which way then Heaven gates are shut Hell mouth is open where they must end their endless misery the last torment lasteth ever O the shrikes of the wicked at every passage of this day when the Prophet Joel was describing the formidable accidents of his day he was not able to express it but stammered like a Child or an amazed imperfect person A. A. A. for the day of the Lord is at hand We translate it Alas Joel 1.17 for the day of the Lord is at hand But Lyra Ribera the Vulgar Latine and others translate it A.A.A. in Hebrew it is indeed but one word and sounds as Aha which howsoever so written yet is it pronounced without any aspiration as Aharon is pronounced Aaron The best Criticâ—s would but have it one word and so they write it A-a-a for the day of the Lord is at hand thus they that stammer and cannot suddenly speak say A-a-a it is not sense at first the Prophet was so amazed that he knew not what to say the stammering tongue that is full of fear can best speak that terror which will make all the wicked of the world to cry and shrike and speak fearfull accents oh the shrikes oh the fearful sounds that will then be heard sure that noise must needs be terrible when millions of men and women at the same instant shall fearfully cry out and when their cryes shall mingle with the thunders of the dying and groaning Heavens and with the crack of the dissolving World when the whole fabrick of nature shall shake into dissolution Psal 51.21 and eternal ashes Now consider this ye that forget God lest he tare you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Shall not the consideration of these things awake your spirits and raise you from the death of sin what do you believe these things or do you not if you do not believe these things where is your saith if you do believe them and sin on where is your prudence and where is your hope but enough of this it belongs to the wicked 2. In respect of the Godly that they may be saved Now this contains several steps As 1. They must be regenerated It is true they partake of this grace before but now is the full perfection and manifestation of it Mat. 19.28 and therefore the last day is called the day of regeneration Col. 1.13 14. 2. They must be redeemed So they are in this life Paul could tell his Colossians that Christ had delivered them from the power of darkness and that in him they had redemption through his blood Yet the Scripture calls the day of judgment
shall be quenched But I have in some measure already discovered all those acts of his grace and love till his second coming and therefore I begin there 1. Christ will come is not this love as his departure was a rich testimony of his love John 14.18 It is expedient for you that I go away so is his returning I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you Oh how can we think of Christ's returning and not meditate on the greatness of his love might he not send his Angels but he must come himself is it not state and majesty enough to have the Angels come for us but that he himself must come with his Angels to meet us more than half the way what King on Earth would adopt a beggar and after his adoption would himself go in person to fetch him from the dunghil to his Throne we are filthy lazars from the crown of our heads to the soles of our feet we are full of sores and yet the King of Heaven puts on his best attire and comes in person with all his retinue of glory to fetch us from our graves to his own Court of Heaven Oh the loves of Christ in this one act he will come again he is but gon for a while but he will come again in his own person 2. Christ will welcome all his Saints into his presence and is not this love after he is come down from Heaven he stays for them a while in the Clouds and commanding his Angels to bring them thither anon they come and oh how his heart springs within him at their coming what throbs and pangs of love are in his heart at the first view of them as they draw near and fall down at his feet and worship him so he draws near and falls upon their necks and welcomes them Methinks I hear him say Come blessed souls you are my purchase for whom I Covenanted with my Father from eternity O you are dearly welcome to your Lord in that now I have you in my arms I feel the fruit of my death the acceptation of my Sacrifice the return of my prayers for this I was born and dyed for this I rose again and ascended into Heaven for this I have interceded a Priest in Heaven these many years and now I have the end and design of all my actings and sufferings for you how is my joy fulled look as at the meeting of two lovers there is great joy especially if the distance hath been great and the desires of enjoying one another vehement so is the meeting of Christ with his Saints the joy is so great that it runs over and wets the fair brows and beauteous locks of Cherubims and Seraphims and all the Angels have a part of this banquet at this day 3. Christ will sentence his Saints for eternal life here is love indeed every word of the sentence is full of love it contains the reward of his Saints a reward beyond their work and beyond their wages and beyond the promise and beyond their thoughts and beyond their understanding it is a participation of the joyes of God and of the inheritance of the Judge himself Come enter into your Masters joy inherit the Kingdom Oh but if all the Saints have only one Kingdom where is my room fear not O my soul thou shalt have room enough though but one Kingdom yet all the Inhabitants there are Kings whole Heaven is such a Kingdom as is intirely and fully injoyed by one glorified Saint all and every one hath the whole Kingdom at his own will every one is filled with God as if there were no fellows there to share â—ith him Oh that I may come under this blessed sentence never was more love expressed in words than Christ expresseth in this sentence Come ye blessed c. 4. Christ will take up all his Saints with him into glory where he will present them to his Father and then be their all in all to all eternity This is the heigâ—t of Christ's love this is the immediate love that comes out from the precious heart and bowels of Jesus Christ this is that Zenith of love when sensibly and feelingly it burns at hottest it is true that Christ's love breaks out in all those precedaneous acts we have already spoken Oh but what loves will he cast out from himself in glory the more excellent the Soyl is and the nearer the Sun is the more of Summer and the more of day the more delicious must be the Apples the Pomgranates the Roses the Lillies that grow there surely Christ in glory is a blessed soyl Roses and Lillies and Apples of love that are eternally Summer-green and sweet grow out of him the honey of Heaven is more than honey the honey of love that is pure and unmixt and glorious in Christ must needs be incomparable I cannot say but that Christ's love like himself is the same yesterday and to day and for ever there is no intension 1 John 4.8 or remission of his love as in it self for God is love he is essentially love and therefore admits of no degrees yet in respect of the sense or manifestation of this love of Christ there must needs be a difference thus if he loved his spouse on earth how much more will he love her when his Bride in Heaven If he loves us while sinners and enemies to his holiness how much more will he love us when we are sons and perfected Saints in glory he that could spread his arms and open his heart on the Cross will he not then open arms and heart and all to them that reign with him in his Kingdom if in this life such is loves puissance that we usually say of Christ Though the head be in heaven yet he hath left his heart on earth with sinners what shall we say of Christ in glory where love like the Sun ever stands in the Zenith Deut. 33.27 where the eternal God is the souls everlastiâ—g refuge and underneath are his everlasting arms 5. And if Christ love thus how should we love again for such a love Lord what a sum of love are we indebted to thee is it possible that ever we should pay the debt can we love as high as deep as broad as long as love it self or as Christ himself no no all we can do is but to love a little and Oh that in the consideration of his love we could love a little in sincerity Oh that we were but able feelingly to say Why Lord I love thee I feel I love thee even as I feel I love my friend or as I feel I love my self Such arguments of love have been laid before us as that now I know no more we have seen whole Christ cap-a-pe we have heard of the loves of Christ from eternity to eternity we have had a view of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ wherein his love is represented to us as hot as death or as
be one person and in that person he was born and lived and died and rose again and ascended into Heaven there now he hath been sitting sending down the Holy Ghost and interceding for his Saints for above one thousand six hundred years And in this last work he will continue till the end of the World and then he will come again to judge the World and to receive his Saints to himself that where he is they may be with him to see and enjoy him to all eternity This is the epitome of all I have said onely in every particular I have set down Christ's actings towards us and our actings towards Christ in various formes and out-goings of his love he hath acted towards us and in various formes and out-goings of our souls we have been taught fitly and suitably to act towards him Now in all these actings How doth the free grace of God in Christ appear Ye are saved by grace Ephes 2.5 saith the Apostle Eph. 2.5 the decree the means the end of our salvation is grace and onely grace The decree is grace and therefore it is called the election of grace Rom. 1.5 2 Tim. 1.9 Rom. 3.24 Rom. 6.23 Eph. 1.7 Eph. 2.7 the means are of grace and therefore we are called according to his grace and we are justified freely by his grace And the end is of grace for eternal life is the gift of God both beginning and progress and execution is all of grace This is the riches of his grace the exceeding the hyperbolical riches of his grace the conclusion of all is this God's free grace which was first designed will at last be manifested and eternally praised by Saints and Angels the same free grace which from the beginning of the age of God from everlasting drove on the saving plot and sweet design of our salvation will at last be glorified to purpose when Heavens inhabitants will be ever digging into this golden-mine ever rolling this soul-delighting and precious stone ever beholding viewing enquiring and searching into the excellency of this same Christ and this free grace Now all is done shall I speak a word for Christ or rather for our selves in relation to Christ and so an end if I had but one word more to speak in the World it should be this Oh let all our spirits be taken up with Christ let us not busie our selves too much with toyes or trifles with ordinary and low things but look unto Jesus Surely Christ is enough to fill all our thoughts desires hopes loves joys or whatever is within us or without us Christ alone comprehends all the circumference of all our happiness Christ is the pearl hid in the large field of God's Word Christ is the scope of all the Scriptures all things and persons in the old World were Tipes of him all the Prophets foretold him all God's love runs through him all the gifts and graces of the Spirit flow from him the whole eye of God is upon him and all his designs both in Heaven and Earth meet in him Eph. 1.10 the great design of God is this That he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him All things are summed up in one Jesus Christ if we look on the creation the whole world was made by Christ if we look on providences all things subsist in Christ they have their being and their well-being in him Where may we find God but in Christ where may we see God but in this essential and eternal glass 2 Cor. 4.6 Heb. 1.3 Christ is the face of God the brightness of his glory the express image of his Fathers person the Father is as it were all Sun and all Pearl and Jesus Christ is the substantial rayes the eternal and essential irradiation of this Sun of glory Christ outs God as the seal doth the stamp Christ reveals God as the face of a man doth reveal the man so Christ to Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father q. d. I am as like the Father John 14.9 as God is like himself there is a perfect indivisible unity between the Father and me I and the Father are one one very God he the begetter and I the begotten Christ is the substantial Rose that grew out of the Father from eternity Christ is the essential wisdom of God Christ is the substantial Word of God the intellectual birth of the Lord 's infinite understanding Oh the worth of Christ compare we other things with Christ and they will bear no weight at all cast into the ballance with him Angels they are wise but he is wisdom cast into the ballance with him men they are lyars lighter than vanity but Christ is the Amen the faithful witness cast into the scales Kings and all Kings and all their glory why he is King of Kings cast into the scale millions of tallents-weight of glory cast in two Worlds and add to the weight millions of Heavens of Heavens and the ballance cannot down the scales are unequal Christ out-weighs all Shall I yet come nearer home what is Heaven but to be with Christ what is life eternal but to believe in God and in his Son Jesus Christ where may we find peace with God and reconciliation with God but onely in Christ God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 2 Cor. 5.19 where may we find compassion mercy and gentleness to sinners but onely in Christ it is Christ that takes off infinite wrath and satisfies justice and so God is a most lovely compassionate desirable God in Jesus all the goodness of God comes out of God through this golden pipe the Lord Jesus Christ It is true those essential attributes of love grace mercy goodness are onely in God and they abide in God yet the Mediatory manifestation of love grace mercy and goodness is onely in Christ Christ alone is the Treasury Store-house Magazene of the free goodness and mercy of the God-head In him we are Elected Adopted Redeemed Justified Sanctified Saved he is the ladder and every step of it betwixt Heaven and Earth he is the way the truth and the life he is honour riches beauty health peace and salvation he is a suitable and rich portion to every man's soul that which some of the Jews observe of the Mannah that it was in taste according to every man's pallate it is really true of Christ that he is to the Soul whatsoever the soul would have him to be All the spiritual blessings wherewith we are enriched are in and by Christ God hears our prayers by Christ God forgives our iniquities through Christ all we have and all we expect to have hangs onely on Christ he is the golden hinge upon which all our salvation turns Oh how should all hearts be taken with this Christ Christians turn your eyes upon the Lord Look and look again unto Jesus Why stand ye gazing on the toyes of this World when such a Christ is offered to you in the Gospel can the World dye for you can the World reconcile you to the Father can the World advance you to the Kingdom of Heaven As Christ is all in all so let him be the full and compleat subject of our desire and hope and faith and love and joy let him be in your thoughts the first in the morning and the last at night Shall I speak one word more to thee that believest Oh apply in particular all the transactions of Jesus Christ to thy very self remember how he came out of his Fathers bosom for thee wept for thee bled for thee poured out his life for thee is now risen for thee gone to Heaven for thee sits at God's right hand and rules all the World for thee makes intercession for thee and at the end of the World will come again for thee and receive thee to himself to live with him for ever and ever Surely if thus thou believest and livest thy life is comfortable and thy death will be sweet if there be any Heaven upon Earth thou wilt find it in the practise and exercise of this Gospel-duty in Looking unto Jesus A Poem of Mr. George Herbert in his Temple JESV JESV is in my heart his sacred Name Is deeply carved there but th' other week A great affliction broke the little frame Ev'n all to pieces which I went to seek And first I found the corner where was J After where ES and next where V was graved When I had got these parcels instantly I sate me down to spell them and perceived That to my broken heart he was I ease you and to my whole is JESV FINIS