that light But the wonder will be over if ye consider that The vast difference between CHRIST and John though these two are eminent lights yet to be that light was a farther business John was the light enlightned but Christ was the light enlightning In him was light and the light was the life of men John had light by participation Christ had light and was light originally John shined for a while then his light was put under a candlestick when he was beheaded but Christ shineth for ever he hath shined in darknesse and will shine to the end of the world John was a light Instrumentalitèr Christ a light Efficientèr John Instrumentally conveyed light into others by Christ but Christ the light Efficientèr Who of himself and by himself by his owne power conveyeth light by way of infusion into the hearts of his servants Therefore to put the difference it is purposely said He was not that light We may note from hence That God cannot endure to have that ascribed Note to any man which is proper to Christ Therefore I will here shew Where the holy Ghost setteth himself to advance John the Baptist yet he would not have him raised too high he would not set him in the Throne He doth purposely prevent all imaginations of his deserving what is Christ's due He was not that Light Look through Scripture and History in all ages Ye shall find how ill God taketh it at the hands of men whensoever they come to usurp any thing out of the hands of Christ As in old time where there rose up a Seducer an Impostor that gave himself out to be that Star which Balaam prophecied of which was a prophecy of Christ Now Numb 24. 17. this fellow called himself Ben-chomar The son of a Star this man professed himselfe to be Christ but he was slain with thunder and lightning from heaven And then the Jews called him Ben cosmar which signifieth The son of a Lie Ye have it said It is the voyce of God It is proper onely to God Never man spake like this man as they said true of Christ But if Herod will take this to himself when the people cry out The voice of God and not of man Herod shall pay for it it cost him his life Act. 12. He was eaten up with worms If ye look into the beginning of that chapter Herod had before this imprisoned Peter and slain James with the sword God putteth up this but if he will come to usurp what is proper to Christ God will put it up no longer then the worms devour him Herod might safelier take-away the liberty of one and the life of another than the glory due to the Son of God This is to be considered by them that take too much upon them and by them that ascribe too much to men Some take too much upon them even so much as Christ himself can take no more It is said of the man of sin that he sitteth in the temple of of God as God and some of the Popes sat down so as Pope 2 Thess 2. 4. Martin the fourth When the people of Cicily had given some offence to the See of Rome and in an humble manner sent their Ambassadors to make their peace it is frequently known in History that those Ambassadors deprecated in these very words Thou Lamb of God that takest away the The Pope usurpeth the title of Christ sins of the world have mercy upon us Was not this a wicked cursed blasphemous thing for the man of sin to have this spoken to him All power saith another Pope is given to me in heaven and in earth It is wonderfull patience that The Pope a Blaspheme◠God should suffer the man of sin so long now he hath usurped what belongeth to Christ On the other side some there are that ascribe too much to men even that which is Christ's due and ought to be reserved for him as when people in trouble of conscience go to this or that godly Minister or Friend and do expect they shall have peace spoken to them from such a mouth Here is a great deal of dishonour done to Christ That man whatsoever he be is not that light therefore they that go with this expectation ascribe too much to man God many times sendeth men away without comfort because they come in expectation of more than is in man They come as Mr. Greenham was wont to say not as to Ministers who have nothing but what is derived but as to Magicians as if men could conjure for comfort Who is it that hath the keys of David that shutteth and no man openeth and openeth and no man shutteth This is Christ's prerogative If he open the conscience all the devills in hell cannot shut it and if he shut the conscience all the Angells in heaven cannot open it As for Ministers they are Instruments through whom ye believe yet they are but Instruments therefore are ready to say to all men upon such occasion even as Peter and John said to them when they had healed the lame man Act. 3. 12 13. Ye men of Israel why marvell ye at this or why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power and holinesse we had made this man to walk The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus it is He that hath done it Look not on us but look to Christ We are not that Light I conclude this with that of the Apostle purposely 1 Cor. 3. 5 6 7. Who then is Paul or Apollos or Cephas but ministers by whom ye believe even as the Lord giveth to every man I have done with the declaration of John the Baptist's Office save onely for what followeth in the end of the Verse which is nothing else but a repetition of what went before namely He was sent to bear witnesse of that Light Vers 8. He was not that Light but was sent to bear witness of that Light Vers 9. That was the true Light which lighteth every man that commeth into the world Let us consider what is said of this eighth Verse He was sent to bear witnesse to that light Amongst other diverse The end of Repetition in Scripture ends of Repetition in Scripture this is one to set on a commendation Exod. 6. 26 27. These are that Moses and Aaron to whom the Lord said Bring up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt These are they that spake to Pharoah King of Egypt These are that Moses and Aaron Here is thrice These are they these are that Moses and Aaron The Repetition heightneth the Commendations So The same came to bear witnesse of that light And Was sent to bear witnesse of the light To teach us this That to bear witnesse of the light and to testifie of Christ is a most Observ honourable employment Of all that are born of a woman as our
Saviour telleth us there was none greater than John excepting Christ who had not a naturall generation Matth. 11. 11. Verily I say unto you Amongst them that are born of a woman there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist This great John the first What is his Employment Certainly so honourable a Person must be called to some honourable service It is The employment of the Ministers of the Gospel is an honourable employment Luk 2. 11. Mar. 16. 6. To bear witnesse to the light than which no service is more honourable It is that which Angels have not disdained They ye know bare witnesse to Christ's Incarnation they tell the shepheards That to them is born in the City of Bethlehem a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And then they bore witness of his Resurrection to women at the Sepulcher God the Father and the holy Ghost thought it no disparagement to them to bear witnesse to Christ God the Father at his Birth This is my beloved Son in whom I am well Matth. 3. 17. Matth. 17. 5. pleased and at his Transfiguration in the Mount And it is the great work of the holy Ghost in all his negotiations to the sons of men to testifie of Christ Joh. 15. 26. When the Comforter shall come whom I will send to you from the Father even the Spirit of truth he shall testifie of me There is his work I will not insist long upon this Let us learn onely from hence every one in his and her place to bear witnesse to Christ Ministers by preaching Christ as Paul did who desired to know nothing amongst his people but Christ and him crucified therefore he is called a Chosen vessell Paul is But to what end Act. 9. 15. The Lord said to him Go thy way for he is a chosen vessell to me to bear my name before the Gentiles and Kings and children of Israel Here is the Minister's work to bear Christ's name before the people like those Pitchers of Gideon Judg. 7. earthen pitchers indeed and so earthen vessells as Paul calleth them but they have a Lamp in them and are chosen vessells to bear the name of Christ to witness to this truth And so Believers in their conference should bear witness to Christ by telling one another what great things he hath done for their souls discoursing of him as the Disciples in the way to Emmans their talk was of Christ As people when they come from Market they tell of their penny-worths When people How to bear witnesse to Christ come from Sermons they speak what they have heard and what a good bargain Christ is All of all sorts are called to witness for Christ by their living and if they be called to it by their dying living to him dying for him there is witness born to Christ both these waies All are not indeed called to Martyrdom and so to testifie of Christ by their death but all are called to Testifie of Christ by their Life As ye read of some that professed God in their works so some confesse Christ in their lives those that shew forth the grace of Christ as Peter speaketh who are called out of darknesse into his marvellous Light Those that can carry themselves meekly towards the malitious and humbly towards the proud they may hereby by their Carriage bear witnesse to that meeknesse and humility which they receive from Christ as the head and fountain of it Whosoever hath received Christ Jesus the Lord truly he will walk in him not onely talk of him but confesse him not only with his mouth but his life Here is a way of witnessing to him That ye may be incouraged to witnesse for Christ take two Considerations First If we do not witnesse for Christ now Christ will one day witnesse against us Mal. 3. 5. I will come neer to you in judgment and I will be a swift witnesse against such and such sinners as he there mentioneth Christ himself will be a witnesse against us if we be not witnesses for him and a swift witnesse too And now beloved Consider with your selves what astonishment seized upon the souls of Joseph's brethren as soon as he stept up to witnesse against them and said I am Joseph whom ye sold into Egypt And yet he did this meerly to inform them and not to affright Gen. 45. 3. them Who can tell the horrour and amazement which will fall upon the souls of men when Christ will at the last day say I am Jesus whom ye Crucified and whom ye refused to believe and whose Word and Gospell ye have trampled under your feet Secondly Consider That if we do witnesse for Christ we shall have Three witnessing for us in whose Testimony we shall receive aboundance of Comfort First We shall have a witnesse without us and a witnesse within us and a witnesse above us Without us That is the Testimony of men that fear God If we witnesse for Christ They will witnesse for us even the Consciences of wicked men will be inforced many times to witnesse for us when their words witnesse against us But though they should not yet by faith the Elders obtained a good report Hebr. 11. 2. The Saints will have a good report amongst them that are Saints like themselves Jonathan will witnesse for David though he incurre Saul's displeasure for so doing Secondly We shall have a witnesse within us That is the Testimony of our Consciences Though there should be storms without yet there will be a calme within And it is the wind within that maketh the Earth-quake And the wind within that maketh the soul to quake Conscience is a witnesse within us Thirdly God is greater then our hearts He is a witnesse for us so saith Job Job 16. My witnesse is in Heaven and my Record is on high Though men upon earth should witnesse against him and though he should not at all times have the peace of his Conscience speaking good things for him yet he hath a witnesse above all His witnesse is in Heaven and his Record on high As Augustine saith Deus major Conscientia pro nostra Conscientia testatur That is one end why God will have men witnesse for him because he might have occasion to witnesse for them if time serve what a comfort is here to have him witnesse for us who is our Judge whose sentence will never Certainly go against his Testimony I have done with that and proceed now to another argument which the Evangelist useth to prove That Christ is the Fountain of Light namely from the effect of Illumination generall Illumination Vers 9. That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World Here is both the Agent the Act and the Subject The Agent Christ under the name of true Light The Act Lightning The Subject Every man that cometh into the World That was the true Light Light ye know was the first distinct Creature that God made And as
Jewes refused him The Sun is ashamed to behold the Souldiers and the earth quaked as loath to bear the Souldiers Thus far of the Witnesse-bearer the Manner of his witnessing and the Time when 4. The fourth particular remaineth namely The Matter of the Testimony which John here giveth of Christ which 4. The matter of John's testimony of Christ lyeth in these words This was he of whom I spake He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he was before me Let us expound the words first This was He. There lyeth some matter of commendations even in that So that your great Oratour of Greece Demosthenes he accounted it matter of commendations when he went in the streets to have it said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is Demosthenes Res est magnoperè laudanda It is a matter much to be valued to have one pointed at with the finger and to have it said This is such a man of note The holy Ghost speaks it by way of commendations of Moses and Aaron Exod. 6. 26 27. ye have it twice there These are that Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said Bring out the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt These are that Moses and Aaron Here it is thrice So This was he saith John But the commendations he giveth lyeth more apparent in the following words He of whom I spake He that comes after me is preferred before me for he was before me He that comes after me Quest What is that How doth Christ come after John How is Christ said to come after John Answ In three respects which I frame as a ground from this First In regard of his Nativity Secondly In regard of his own Ministry Thirdly In regard of his attendance upon the Ministry of John First In regard of his Nativity Christ was born of the 1. In regard of his Nativity Virgin Mary some six months after John the Baptist came into the world so he came after him in that respect Luk. 1. 36. You may find that the mother of John the Baptist was gone with child some six months when the Virgin Mary had newly conceived Behold thy cousen Elizabeth hath conceived and shall bear a son and his name shall be called John So saith the Angel that came to Mary and brought the first tydings of Christ our Saviour Secondly Christ came after him In regard of his own 2. In regard of his own Ministry Ministry and the discharge of that Christ did not begin to exercise his Ministry till John had ended his Mar. 1. 14. After that John was put in prison where he lost his head Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospell of the Kingdom of God We use to say that seldom comes a better but let not that proverb occasion dispair in any for here Christ comes after John It may be the people may think themselves undone now they have lost such a Minister as John the Baptist After him comes Christ even as Elisha comes after Eliah with a double portion of the spirituall truths of God for all that have to do in the world Thirdly Christ is said to come after John In regard of 3. In regard of his attendance upon the Ministry of John his attendance upon the Ministry of John the Baptist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That word is seldom or never to be found in Scripture as relating to time but alwaies to place and should not be used for post me but pone me as Beza renders it So it respects time After me in regard of his Nativity and exercise of his Ministry that ye may take in the other But now After me that is In regard of his attendancy upon my Ministry So it was with Christ who was a hearer of John the Baptist Joh. 1. 26. John answered them saying I baptize with water but there standeth one amongst you whom ye know not There standeth one amongst you Therefore Christ was one of John's followers he stood amongst John's Disciples here And in the Scripture-phrase the followers of any Teacher it is usually said of them that they go after such a one because the Teacher was wont to go before and the Disciples after which is the proper notion of the phrase in that place Matth. 16. 24. Then said Jesus to his disciples If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his crosse and follow me The Disciple is said to come after and to follow the Teacher Christ here to come after John because he was one of his Hearers Go we on to the next words He that comes after me is preferred before me Namely In regard of his worth and dignity The Prince Christ preferred before John in regard of his worth and dignity comes after the Harbinger and yet is preferred before him The Word comes after the Voice and yet is preferred before it for it was a voice during the time of articulation and not a word till it be articulated Christ was the Prince and John the Harbinger Christ the Sun of righteousnesse and John the Morning-star Christ the Word and John the Voice Though he comes after me he was before me And it is reason he should be preferred before him in dignity because he was before him in regard of his Essence as being God from everlasting to everlasting whose going forth is from all eternity He was not onely before John but before Abraham Joh. 8. 58. Before Abraham was I am Before Abraham was yea before the World was Prov. 8. 25 26. Before the mountains were setled or before the hills were brought forth while as yet he had not made the earth nor the fields nor the highest part of the dust of the world Ye have John the Baptist telling us in this Chapter vers 34. that he bears witnesse to the Divinity of Christ And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God Now this he doth in this place He proveth and bears record that Christ is the Son of God because he was before all That is a testimony of his Divinity The sum of all then is this John's endeavour is to preferre Christ before him that is the thing I would have you to observe And it should be the care of every Believer to prefer and exalt and set up Christ above himself He that came after me is preferred before me for he was before me John was put upon this because the people had a conceit of him that he was the Messias and therefore he made it his businesse throughly to depresse himself to exalt his Saviour I must decrease but he must encrease I am the friend of the Bridegroom but he is the Bridegroom that hath the Bride I baptize with water but he with the holy Ghost I am the poorest sinner but he is the Lamb of God
right hand and therefore they set in one place and rise in another even as he disposeth and appointeth them This lesson Christ teacheth you Matth. 9. ult Pray the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth Labourers into his harvest Secondly Blesse God in case you have them for they 2. Blesse God for having them are tokens sent from Heaven Hezekiah thought himself exceedingly honoured that the King of Babylon should send him Ambassadors What an honour is it then for people to have a Minister sent from God It is an act of high expression The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his Messengers rising up betimes and sending because he had compassion upon his people Lastly Entertain them as men sent from God Trample not the gifts of God under your feet The Galathians had 3. Entertain them as men senr from God learned this and accordingly Paul saith of them Gal. 4. 14. My temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not but received me as an Angel of God even as Christ Jesus Remember they are Meslengers and let them have their errand give them audience and then give them dispatch The errand God sends them about is to stirr men up to repent and believe No more of that point There was a man sent from God whose name was John He is here named to add some honour to his testimony because he had this name imposed upon him by the Angel before he was born which is an honour done to few in Scripture Luk. 1. 13. The Angel said to him Fear not Zachariah thy prayer is heard and thy wife shall bear a son and thou shalt call his name John It is the rather added because of the sense of the name which is from Jochen which commeth of Chen which signifieth Grace The grace of God which the name importeth And it well became that person both because he was given to his parents as a favour from God for Elizabeth was barren they were both old and had no children God giveth them John as an act of grace and favour to them And because he was to be a Preacher of the grace of God in Christ therefore he carrieth grace in his name because he came to point at the Lamb of God that came to take away the sins of the world Because he was endowed with grace from the womb yea and in the womb therefore might well have the name of the grace of God given him then before he was born Or because he himself received a great deal of grace and favour from God even in that which he was sent about to be the Fore-runner of Christ The voice of one crying in the wildernesse Here is the Voice the Fore-runner of the Word John was the Morning-star which was the fore-runner of the Day As the break of day is the fore-runner of the rising-Sun so was he of the Sun of Righteousnesse As it is in Trees the blossom is the fore-runner of the fruit and by the sweetnesseiof the blossom the expectation of man is raised to look for deliciousnesse in the fruit So were mens expectations raised to look for something in John more than in others because of his grace and favour with God I I go on The same came to bear witness of the Light that all men through him might believe Here ye have his Office described to you directly from the proper Act of it and the End of it The proper Act He came to bear witnesse of the Light There are two speciall waies of bearing witnesse to Christ the one by Teaching the other by Suffering First By Teaching Christ And thus all the Apostles were his Witnesses Act. 26. 16. Arise and stand upon thy feet for I have appeared to thee for this purpose to make thee a minister and a witnesse even a Witnesse and Minister to teach Christ Secondly there is another Witness-bearing that is by Suffering for Christ sealing his witness with his blood and those are properly called Martyrs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Greek word that signifieth Witnesse This name is given to Antipas under that notion Rev. 2. 13. I know thy works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's feat is and thou holdest fast my name even in those daies wherein Antipas was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my faithfull martyr and witnesse Now John the Baptist bore witnesse to the truth in both these waies in Teaching Christ and in Witnessing too in Suffering for him he was beheaded and so there was something of Martyrdome in his death The Observation from hence is this That men sent from God as John was will bear witnesse to the Light as John did God and Christ never left themselves without witnesse God hath not left himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Paul to the men of Lystra Act. 14. 17. without witnesse in that he giveth rain and fruitfull seasons As he hath witnesses in his works all the world over So Christ hath not left himself without a witnesse in his Word ever since there was a written Word in all ages The Fathers before the Flood the Patriarks after the Flood the Prophets after them under the Law the Apostles under the Gospell they all bare witness to the Light Noah he received the doctrine of the Gospell from the Fathers before the Flood and transmitted it to the Patriarks after him and him ye will find called by the name of a Preacher of righteousness 2 Pet. 2. 5. He spared not the old world but saved Noah the eighth person a Preacher of righteousnesse The very righteousnesse of Faith which we preach in these daies Noah preached in those sent forth by the Messiah to come and righteousnesse to be by him And after him commeth Moses the Law-giver And whom does he bear witnesse unto Surely to Christ as it is clearly said in John He bore witness to me saith Christ Joh. 5. 46. There is one that accuseth you even Moses in Gen. 3. 15. Deut. 18. 15. whom ye trust For had you believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me After him came the Prophets and witnessed of Christ After them the Apostles Act. 1. 8. Ye shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth So they all witnessed to the light though not all with the same clearnesse As a Light carried in the midst of a company of men they that go before the light see something of it but not so much as they that come after The Fathers Patriarks and Prophets they went before the Light and so saw things less clearly the Apostles they came after it and so are able to speak more distinctly of his Passion and Resurrection and the things that concerned him So as to this day it is the work of God that Ministers should bear witness to the Light therefore they are called Witnesses Revel 1. that is the name given to them
the World and the World was made by Him and the World knew him not Ye have here the World in another sense The world in the beginning of the verse is taken for the whole Fabrick of Heaven and Earth as Aristotle saith The World is a Masse made up of Heaven and Earth In this sense it is said He was in the World the World was made by Him Now in the latter Clause of the verse The world knew Him not The World there is put for the Inhabitants of the earth for the men of the World Rom. 5. 12. The World and Men are all one By one man's disobedience sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed over all-Men Here is the World and all men The world was made by Him and the world that is the men of the world knew him not It is a Rule in Divinity Verba Cognitionis affectiones important c. Words of knowledge import affections and operate suitably So to know carrieth more then meer speculation When Christ is said to know us The Holy Ghost telleth us It is more then barely to take notice of us It is to take care for us Joh. 10. 14. Christ knoweth his sheep that is he taketh care of his Elect. And he is known of his that is He is served and obeyed and worshipped and believed on by them So the world knew him not that is the World worshipped him not as God The world did not owne Him and serve Him as became their Creator So as now the words thus opened The observation lieth clear before us namely That notwithstanding Christ's Observ being in the world and the world being made by Him the men of the world knew him not Take a place or two to clear up this especially in reference to the Gentiles for to them properly it belongeth I should have told you that the word World is sometimes confined to them If the fall of them be the diminishing of the world and the fall of them the riches of the Gentiles He came to his owne and his owne received him not That is did not know him 1 Joh. 2. 1. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew not him There is yet a clearer place 1 Cor. 1. 21. After that in the wisdome of God the world by wisdome knew not God All the wisdome the Heathens had could not raise them to a due knowledge of God The world by wisdome knew not God Christ was in the world but the world knew him not A threefold ignorance of Christ was found in all the Gentiles First They knew him not as the second person in the Trinity Secondly They knew him not as Mediator Thirdly They knew him not as Creator which is properly here spoken to He made the world and the world knew him not Let me run over these briefly first They knew him not 1. The Gentiles knew not Chtist as the second Person in the Trinity as the second person in the Trinity so they are said to have been without Christ and without God in the world Ephes 2. 12. speaking there of the Gentiles saith he At that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the World They had the great book of the Creatures to read but that did shew them nothing of Christ as the second person in the Trinity Naturall reason could never find out that Mystery in it selfe Therefore men when they go to find out this great mystery of the Trinity they are at their wit's end They might find out a God and that he was Good and Great and that he was One but to find out a Trinity of Persons a Father Son and Holy Ghost This they could not Take a curious piece a well drawn Picture he that seeth it may be able to say that he that drew it was a skilfull and exact Painter But whether an English man or a Spaniard or a Dutch man or an Italian that he cannot tell by the Picture why because he made this piece as an Artist but not as a German or English man Therefore he discovereth his Art by the piece but not his Country So God made the World not as Father Son and Holy Ghost Three in one and one in three All the works towards the Creatures works ad Extra are common to all the persons in the Trinity God as God made the world Therefore by the sight of the world men may be able to know that it is a God that made it and that this God is good because he made so many things useful in the world this God is wise because of the variety of the creatures and this God is One because of the order of things But to say This God is Three in One the Creation of the world doth not bear this If the works be ad Intra as Generation these are the works of some one Person but the works ad extra they represent the Godhead but not the Persons Secondly They did not know Christ as Mediator therefore 2. They knew not Christ as Mediator they raised up many Mediators 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. Though there be that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be gods many and lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him The Apostle doth here clearly allude to the custom of the Heathens who had two sorts of gods they had their dii Coelestes their supream heavenly gods which they worshipt as the Sun Moon and Stars and then besides these they had their dii Terrestres inferiour gods gods on earth who were men that lived upon the earth which were afterwards canonized and made gods That is the true meaning of this There be many that are called gods whether in heaven or in earth So there be gods many and lords many gods many those are their supream gods lords many those are their inferiour gods Baalim as they called him who was the first King of Babel and the first that was made a god and all those kinds of gods therefore after him were called Baalim as Caesar being the first Emperour all Emperours after him were called Caesars Now saith the Apostle To us is but one God not many but one Lord not many but one Mediator Christ Jesus Thirdly They knew him not as Creator therefore Paul 3. They knew not Christ as Creator when he came to Athens found them ignorant of this Greece was the Eye of the world and Athens was the Eye of Greece yet even at Athens Paul found an Altar To an unknown God and that same God was the God that made the world God the Creator Act. 17. 23 24. saith Paul For as I passed by and beheld your devotions I found an Altar with this inscription
We are all sick sick to death and the Lord Christ is offered to us in the Gospell Is it not madnesse to refuse him If a poor woman that were deep in debt should have a Serjeant come upon her and arrest her and be dragging of her to prison and at the same time should have a good march offered to her a rich husband that will pay all her debts Were not she an unwise woman if she would not take him for her husband It is our case We are all deep in God's debt ready to be dragged to the prison of hell there to lie and die and rot for ever Now the Lord Jesus offereth to take us and to be married to us And for us to refuse him who will pay all our debts and advance us to an high and glorious condition Is it not madnesse And yet there is no greater and more common and frequent sin To refuse Christ offered is the great damning sin in the world than this The not receiving Christ it is the great damning sin It is this that argueth the prophanenesse of man's heart as Esau is called prophane Why Because he sold his birth-right for a messe of pottage the brand of prophannesse is fastned upon him in this respect So prophanenesse is in the hearts of all the ungodly they sell their birth-right for some messe or other of the devill 's pottage for pleasures or profits They let Christ go Not him but Barabbas not Christ but credit not Christ but wealth and estate Therefore still the Lord hath occasion to complain of men that they would not receive him Ye would not come to me that ye might have life and sonship This is laid for the first ground Jesus Christ should be received If he be not it proceedeth from the folly of men Secondly To the true receiving of Christ there must be 2. A speciall Concurrence to the receiving of Christ a speciall Concurrence of Faith As many as received him Who are they Believers That believed in his Name In his Name Name in the Scripture is often put for Person as Rev. 3. 4. Thou hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments that is a few men and women a few persons The Receivers of Christ are said to believe in his name because the direct object of their faith is the Person of Christ for this or that purpose That Christ died for all or for me or for the elect onely It is not the believing of any of these Propositions that saveth but in Christ The Person of Christ his Name is the object of faith Believed in his Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is a known distinction amongst Divines that of Credere Deum Credere Deo Credere in Deum It is one thing to believe that there is a God that is Credere Deum so the devills believe and tremble And another thing Credere Deo to believe God that is what God saith to be true But that which saveth is Credere in Deum to believe in God That is Cedere credendo in Deum By believing to passe into God and cleave to him and close with him So the same may be said of Christ It is one thing credere Christum to believe that Christ is and another thing credere Christo to believe what Christ hath said in the word of truth but another thing credere in Christum to believe in Christ Joh. 14. 10 11 12. ye shall find all these Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me Here is credere Christum to believe that Christ is and what he is that he is in the Father and the Father in him Vers 11. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me That is credere Christo because he hath said it Vers 12. Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also Here is credere in Christum that is the faith in the Text that is required to the true receiving of Christ believed in his Name Believing on him that is relying upon him Faith lyeth in recumbency therefore faith the act of faith is often expressed in Scripture by acts of relying and staying our selves upon God 2 Chron. 16. 7. 8. because thou hast relyed on the King of Assyria and not on the Lord thy God therefore is the hoste of the King of Assyria escaped from thy hands Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a great host with very many chariots and horsemen Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord he delivered them into thy hands Here is believing exprest by relying on the Lord. That in case of a temporall deliverance faith exerciseth the same kind of act as towards God in spiritualls Isa 10. 20. It shall come to passe in that day that the remnant of Israel and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that smote them but shall stay upon the Lord the holy one of Israel in truth Here is believing in his Name relying upon and staying on Christ And God hath been pleased to make faith the instrument of receiving Christ for two reasons intimated by the Apostle Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed 1. Faith the Instrument of receiving Christ both to justifie and to save First Faith is chosen out from all other graces to be the instrument of receiving Christ to Justification and to Salvation that it might be of grace that the free grace of God might more appear in this way of dispensation If God should have chosen Love or Zeal or Hope or any other Grace this would carry some shew of worth and merit in it and bring something to God with it Whereas Faith is an emptying Grace bringeth nothing but an empty hand that God might fill it And therefore it is of faith that it might be so much the more of grace because faith is a meer naked Receiver In point of Sanctification faith is a purger and worker but in point of Justification it is a meer receiver And that magnifieth the grace of God so much the more that it might be of grace Secondly That the Promise might be sure Should God 2. Salvation dependeth upon Faith that the Promise might be sure have hanged our Salvation upon any other Condition than of faith Believers could never have attained that assurance which they may now arive at by the help of the Spirit of grace Why Because God requireth nothing of us now but the taking of Christ as to point of Justification Should the Condition have been our Obedience as under the first Covenant of works Do this and live Though God had treated with us upon very low tearms Never be drunk in thy life and thou shalt be saved Forbear adultery and murder and thou shalt be saved the
Man The great man that is Ish So for Homo and Vir. It is a known story of Diogenes that went in the day time with a Candle and Lant-horn in the streets and being asked Whither he went saith he I go to seek a Man The reply was There were enow in the Market place Nay saith he I see many people but I cannot find a Man amongst them all As in English we say Such a one sheweth himselfe a Man that is exceeding worthily So then we are not born of the will of men that is Men how Eminent soever be their fathers never so godly or Pastors never so able or the Masters of the family never so Eminent As our owne wills cannot bring us to grace so the will of others cannot how eminent soever they be Men may wish us well but they cannot convey grace to us This I take to be the meaning of this phrase It is a truth that no man is born of the will of men We may pray for one another and instruct one another and spend many words and tears and prayers for one another and yet cannot bring one another to grace for all this Neither is it in vain that the Evangelist inserteth this Clause Because it is the common deceit of men And all they have to shew for the hope of salvation is that they live in a good family and have a godly Father and a religious Mother or a carefull Pastor that taketh a great deal of pains amongst them Micah what a glad man was he though he had been a Thief Judges 2. 17. For he had stollen eleven hundred shekles of Silver from his Mother and he was an Idolater Vers 5. For he worshipped moulten gods yet when he got a Minister to his mind Certainly saith he now know I that the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my Priest as if the will of this man could have helped him to the new birth But ye will say one may be born of the will of men Object Doth not Paul himself say he had begotten them Though ye have many Teachers ye have but one Father saith he for I have begotten you in Christ through the Gospell 1 Cor. 4. 15. Though ye have ten Thousand Instructers in Christ yet have ye not many fathers Therefore one may be born of men But for that it is a matter of no great difficulty The Ans Corinthians were indeed begotten of Paul but yet they were born of God Paul was but God's Instrument but a Remote Agent the man that brought them the Gospell but that which begot them was the Spirit that came along from God in the Gospell Paul begot them Instrumentally God Efficâ—ently Though Paul was a powerfull Minister whence he had all his power you may see He that wrought effectually in Peter the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles Paul's ministry was mighty How came this to passe Why Christ wrought effectually in Peter and was mighty in Paul Ministers may preach out their Lungs and spend their strength in vain if God strike not in They may fish all night and take nothing as Peter did It is Christ that standeth at the door and knocks as it is in the Revelations yea and openeth the door as well as knocketh God opened the heart of Lydia Till Christ speaketh Ephata to the ears of men all the preaching in the World will do them little or no good Be the Charmer never so wise the deaf Adder stoppeth his ear till Christ speaketh Ephata Come therefore Let men learn from hence not to presume Caution not to presume because we live under the means of grace under the means by which they live as if means of grace should be Authors of grace to them as if they could be born of the will of men Parents may put up many prayers for their Children and it is their duties so to do These prayers may be a ground of hope to the parents As Ambrose told Monica when she acquainted him with the many tears and prayers she had put up for her son-Augustine He said Be of good Comfort It can hardly be that so many prayers and tears should perish So a child cannot be born of the will of the father be the father never so good a man Though this may do much as Samuel told the men of Israell he would do his duty God forbid saith he that I should cease to pray for you and to watch over you 1 Sam. 12. 23 24. But I will teach you the good and the right way onely fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your hearts for consider how great things He hath done for you But if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed both you and your King For all his instructions and prayers they shall be consumed in their wickednesse It is a great advantage to live in a godly family but can this bring a man to grace we read of Hypocrites in David's family Thou Achitophel my friend and familiar with whom I took sweet Counsell It was he that betrayed him Was there not a devil in Christ's family I have chosen you twelve and one of you is a Devill What a powerfull Minister was the Prophet Isaiah Judas the most Evangelicall of all the Prophets and yet see how he crieth out of the unprofitablenesse of his Ministry as to his people's souls Isa 49. 4. I said I have laboured in vain and spent my strength for nought and in vain So Paul though he laboured more aboundantly then all the Apostles he was afraid he had lost all his labour amongst the Galathians Therefore saith he I am afraid lest I have bestowed on you labour in vain I may say to you of this City of London as it was said to the Rich man of his brethren that were upon the earth They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them Ye will all assent to this If a man will say This City had never more of Moses and the Prophets then at this day but will this bring you to grace Can ye be born of the will of your Ministers though they wish you never so well and take never so much pains for you No you must ioyne your owne indeavours with the Minister's labours else they will be ineffectuall yea God himselfe must joyne his blessing both to your Indeavours and our labours else ye can never be born again It must not be of the will of man but of God Which I now come to Fourthly All believers are born of God and onely of God 4. All believers are born of God All believers are new born This we must clear to you There is an inseperable Connexion between faith and the new birth So it runneth in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To them that believe in his Name who were born of God Faith and the new Creature are so inseperable that Paul putteth the one for the other If
something hard This is the Case for Christ to have taken our nature as it was in Adam while he stood cloathed in his Integrity and flood right in the sight of God had not been so much as when Adam was fallen and proclaimed Traitor As Bernard saith Quò pro me vilior eò mihi charior Domine Lord thou shalt be so much the more dear to me by how much the more thou hast been vile for me Here is Condescension indeed that Christ should stoop so low to take flesh and flesh wlth infirmities You know what King Ahasuerus did when he met with the passage in the Chronicles which laid open what good service Mordecay had done for him saith he What hath been done for this man and when he saw nothing was done he thinks presently of advancing him Hest 6. 3. Let us call to our selves and say What hath been done for this Jesus that hath done so much for my soul If nothing at all It is time to fall upon this duty and to think of some way to Testifie our thankfullnesse to Christ How shall we do it Christ is above we are not able to reach Him True but He hath members here on Earth though He be in Heaven He will take it as done to himselfe if ye do it to one of them Would you be thankfull to Christ be kind to his people Kings when they go their progresse and come to this and that Town and are presented with some summe of Money or piece of Plate the Present they receive to give the people content but they give away the thing to some of their Favourites So it is with Christ He giveth away the things ye tender him he taketh it well but he is content that his Children should have what you give He himselfe standeth in no need of what we can do but if we do it to his people he will accept it as if it was done to himselfe Matth. 25. 40. Therefore David maketh a full Confession of this Psal 16. 2 3. Thou art my Lord saith he my goodnesse extendeth not to thee but to the Saints on the Earth and to the Excellent in whom is all my delight You see what use may be made now of what was said of the Divine nature of Christ as he is called the Word what of his human nature as he is said to be made flesh and what followeth and what hath been said of the personall union of these two natures Ye may from hence take a view of one of the deepest The greatest mystery in the World is the Word made flesh Mysteries in all the World for it is one of the deepest in all Religions and the Christian Religion containeth such mysteries â—s the world cannot shew besides all the depths of the world are but shallow to the things of God Here is one of the deepest things of God The Word being made flesh There are three great Unions that are three great Mysteries the deepest of any that are The Substantiall union The Personall union The Mysticall union And this is one of them First The Substantiall union of three Persons in one 1. The Substantiall union Nature and one Substance So Father Son and holy Ghost make but One God Secondly There is the Personall union of two Natures 2. The Personall union in one Person So God and Man make but one Christ Thirdly There is the Union of Severall both Persons 3. The Mysticall union and Natures in one Mysticall body and so Elect Angels and Men and Christ together make but one Body whereof Christ is the Head Here are the three great Mysteries of Religion That I speak of is the second of these The Personall union In the first of these Divines use to observe that there is alius and alius but not aliud and aliud another Person but not another Thing The Father is Alius a Filio a distinct Person from the Son and the Son is Alius à sancto Spiritu a distinct Person from the holy Ghost but not a distinct Thing The Father Son and holy Ghost make but one Essence there is not aliud to be found in them In the Second is aliud but not alius a distinct Thing but not distinct Persons The Human Nature is a distinct thing from the Godhead and the Godhead a distinct thing from the Manhood but not a distinct person from the Manhood for God and Man make but one Person In the Third the Mysticall union there is both aliud and alius but not alienus There is distinct Things and distinct Persons the Angelicall Nature and Human Nature the persons of Believers and the Person of Christ but there is not alienus amongst them One of these are united to another in near relation they are not aliud one from another Though there be different things and different persons there is a union between them That is one thing that ye may learn from hence Secondly Ye may learn from hence a ground of that communication of Properties which is a very mysterious thing in Religion that which they call Communicatio Idiomatum a thing not so easily understood But by reason of this personall union of the two Natures in Christ there is a communication of Properties that is That which belongeth to the Manhood may be ascribed and given to Christ though denominated from the Godhead and that that belongeth to the Godhead may be denominated to Christ because it belongeth to the Manhood A man may truly say The Son of How the Son of Mary made the world and how the Son of God shed his blood Mary made the world Here Christ is denominated from his human Nature but it is Christ as God that made the world not Christ as the Son of Mary for he was not the Son of Mary till many thousand years after the world was made On the other side you may say The Son of God was crucified and shed his blood upon tâ—â— Crosse Here ye ascribe that to Christ under the denomination of the Son of God which belongeth to him as Man to shed his blood as God he hath none to shed But yet this may properly be said because the Person is both God and Man It is not without precedent in Scripture Joh. 3. 13. No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven Christ here when he conversed upon earth he said The Son of man was in heaven Why Because that Person was in heaven according to his Godhead and yet the Son of man denominated from the Godhead is said to be in heaven whereas nothing more certain that Christ-Man was upon earth and yet in heaven as God And so on the other side Act. 20. 28. Take heed to the flock over which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood God hath no blood yet God is
Christ seen in his Oracles In his Oracles In his Miracles First In his Oracles namely his discourses and Sermons and Heavenly sayings that proceeded out of his mouth They came from him with such a glory as amazed the hearers and made them acknowledge that he spake with authority Matth. 7. 28 29. It came to passe when Jesus had enae these sayings the people were aston shed at his Doctrine For he taught them as one having authority and not as the Scribes Here was a dazelling glory shined out from the words of Christ in so much as they could scarce apprehend him they had not power to lay hold on him but returned and said Never man spake like this Man What was flatteringly said of Herod is true of the Lord Jesus Christ in regard of his Ministry The voice of God and not of man not of meer man but of him that was both God and Man So this glory the Apostles saw in his Oracles for they conversed with him Secondly In his Miracles Divine glory shined in them 2. In his Miracles As it is said of the first Miracle he did Joh. 2. 11. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Canaan of Galilee and manifested forth his glory and his Disciples believed on him And so when he had raised Lazarus from the dead it is said Joh. 11. 4. This sicknesse is not to death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby The Lord Jesus Christ intended his owne glory in raising of Lazarus And so by all his other Miracles This was a Divine glory Because never any raised the dead as he did Other instances ye have of others raising some dead ones as Elisha the Shunamites son 2 King 4. â—3 34. and Paul Eutychus Acts 20. 10. But here is the difference Christ raised them by his owne power they by the power of Christ So The glory as the onely begotten of God appeared onely in his Miracles and not in theirs Luk. 14. 7. It is said of Christ He touched the bier and they stood still And Christ said I say to thee Arise Here Christ speaks to men I say to thee whereas what the Apostles did they acknowledged it done not by their owne power but by Christ Acts 3. 12 13. And when Peter saw it he answered unto the people Ye men of Israel why marvail ye at this or why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power and holinesse we had made this man to walk The God of Abraham and of Isaack and of Jacob the God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate His Name through faith in his Name hath made this man whole So as it was the Glory of Jesus that appeared even in the Miracles of the Disciples These are the things wherein he did especially appear For the times they are these two 2. The times when The time of his Transfiguration The time of his Ascension First The Disciples beheld his glory as the glory of 1. At his Transfiguration the onely begotten of the Father at his Transfiguration of which ye read Matth. 17. When his Face shined and his Raiment glittered having Moses and Elias James Peter and John there who were the spectators of all This Moses had begged long before and said Lord shew me thy Exod. 33. 13. glory Some piece of an answer God gave him when he passed before him and shewed some piece of his glory But here God sheweth his glory upon mount Tabor when Christ was Transfigured We beheld his glory namely at the Transfiguration John was one there and Peter was another as well as John And he speaks dearly of it 2 Pet. 1. 17. For he telleth you of the voice that came from the excellent glory saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him Referring to that time and that place the time of our Saviours Transfiguration upon that Mount Mark 9. 2 3 4 5. vers And after six daies Jesus taketh with him Peter and James and John and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves and he was transfigured before them and his raiment became shining exceeding white as snow so as no fuller on earth can whiten them And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses and they were talking with Jesus The second time wherein they beheld this glory of Christ was the time of his Ascension which the Disciples 2. At his Ascension were spectators of Acts 2. 9. And when he had spoken these things while they beheld him He was taken up and a Cloud received him out of their sight This cloud was Veh culum Regale a Royall Chariot wherein Christ rode up to glory And glory was not onely the terme to which he went but he went in a glorious way As you may understand that in Timothy Great is the mystery of godlinesse God manifested in the flesh seen of angels believed of in the world received up into glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You see by this time the truth of the Proposition Let us see what use we can make of it and then proceed First take notice of one great end of Christ's Incarnation Use 1 which was That his glory might be seen He was made Christ was incarnated to shew his Glory flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory Till then the glory of Christ was invisible but now by taking flesh he exposed himself and his glory to view God manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16. Indeed the flesh of Christ was a vail to him but a mirror and glasse to us To him a Vail to observe the glory which he had from all Eternity with God the Father as the Son of God but to us a Mirrour in which we beheld this glory of God which was never till now exposed to view or not so fully As God is invisible so his glory is too dazling for our weak eyes But we that cannot behold the Sun in its sphear may behold the Sun in a bason of water We that cannot behold the glory of God as in it self may behold it in Christ in the veil of his flesh Therefore he was manifested that he might be seen Secondly Be exhorted from hence to take a view of 2. Let us take a view of his glory as the Disciples did the glory of Christ as the Disciples did We cannot in the same manner yet we have one way wherein we may do it For Christ exposeth himself and his glory to believers in the glasse of the Gospell 2 Cor. 3. ult But we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even aâ— by the Spirit of the Lord. To that end he hath appointed the Ministry of the Word and furnished his Ministers with gifts 2 Cor. 4. 6. God who commanded light
even as the Angels It is said of them that they behold the face of God Matth. 18. 20. Christ saith there I say to you that in heaven their Angels do alwaies behold the face of my Father which is in heaven So when men come to be like Angels in a state of glory they shall also see the face of God But no man hath seen God at any time during this life God in his Essence For this we have more than one place of Scripture the same words in the Text are repeated in 1 Joh. 4. 12. No man hath seen God at any time And Paul hath a place to the same purpose 1 Tim. 6. 16. Who onely hath immortality dwelling in light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see There are but three waies that can be imagined by which man in a state of mortality can see God in his Essence either it must be by his Bodily eyes or by the eye of Reason or by the eye of Faith But a man cannot see God by any of these therefore no man can see God in that sense First No man can see God by his Bodily eye for the very 1. The eyes of our bodies cannot behold the Essence of God light wherein he dwelleth is inaccessible to the eye of sense we cannot so much as see our own souls or the Angels that are inferiour spirits How then shall we be able with our bodily eyes to see the Father of spirits the Lord of glory The Israelites could not so much as endure the shining of Moses his face How then can the eye of the body be imagined capable of that infinite glorious light that is in the essence of God And yet there is a place that speaks as if a man in the state of mortality by his bodily eyes had seen God Gen. 32. 30. Jacob called the name of the place Penuel for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved Here is a man in the state of mortality that saw God face to face For this ye must know that Jacob did indeed see God but God in a representation not God in his essence He saw the Second Person in the Trinity in the shape of a man that wrestled with him This was all the sight of God that he had The Second Person in the Trinity before he took the nature of man took the shape of man such a shape had Christ taken here in which he wrestled with Jacob and this is that God which Jacob saw face to face not God in his essence but God in a representation And that very thing of God appearing in the Old Testament in a representation to the eyes of the body sheweth that he never appeared to them in his essence because his representations are many and his essence is one He appeared in a Bush to Moses and to Eliah in a still Voice to Jacob as a Wrestler to Joshua as a Captain of the Lord's hoast These were all representations that God was pleased to make of himself and thus men saw him But his essence all this while was invisible neither could it be diversified as his representations were being but one That is memorable which Isaiah saith Isa 6. 5. Mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts The Jews took this advantage against him and said he was a false Prophet Why He said he had seen the King the Lord of hoasts whereas God saith to Moses Thou canst not see my face and live Therefore they put him to death No man can see God in his essence and live But Isaiah saw him and he said true but it was in a representation Secondly No man can see God in his essence no not by the eye of Reason Reason hath but three waies by which it 2. The eye of our Reason cannot behold him in his Essence Reason knoweth God three waies 1. By way of Causality comes to the knowledge of God and those are known to Schollars by these names Via causalitatis via Remotionis and via Eminentiae First By way of Causality and so reason comes to gather of God by all the creatures which it seeth lovely and looks at all these as effects of God as the cause of all and so comes to the knowledge of God as the first cause Thus Reason collects of God But how far is this from seeing the essence of God Reason discovers a God but not what God is in his Beeing onely that He is For no effect can shew the nature of its cause fully but either such as manifesteth the whole force of the cause or else such as is of the same kind with the cause as burning that sheweth the nature of the fire because the fire being a naturall agent burns to the utmost of its power Therefore burning sheweth what nature the fire is of as carrying the nature of the force in it As a child sheweth the nature of the father because of the same nature with the father But the creatures cannot shew God because they are of effects different from him These are parts of the way but how little proportion is readd of him The thunder of his power who can understand Neither are the creatures of the same rank and kind with God as the child is with the father they are all of them finite God is infinite So that all that Reason can do this way is to gather that there is a God but not what he is Secondly There is the way of Remotion by looking over 2. By way of Remotion all the creatures and by setting aside whatsoever savours of imperfection in them and ascribing the remainder to God Thus we say that God is Immortall Impassible Impeccable because we say that to die to suffer and to sin are the imperfections of the creature God cannot sin God cannot die God cannot lie God cannot suffer But this still comes short of seeing God in his essence for by this we see what God is not not what he is by this way of Remotion 3. The third way which is a way of Eminency Reason 3. By way of Eminency goeth over the creatures once again and looks whatsoever is good in them and savours of perfection in them and ascribes that to God as the Author of those perfections So when it seeth in Man wisdom and strength and goodnesse Reason can ascribe to God as the cause of them a more eminent goodness and wisdom and strength And this is the nearest and the farthest Reason can go And yet in all these it cometh short of the essence of God because in this way it findeth out what he is rather in regard of his qualities speaking after the manner of men then what he is in his essence Thus we cannot see God in his essence no not by the eye of Reason There is onely one more that is the eye of Faith which â— The eye of Faith cannot apprehend God in his