As a gift and not a purchase or if a purchase as his purchase not their own It is our Saviours own expression with reference to his people John 10.28 I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand And therefore it is called a Gift and Christ is made the next and the immediate Donor and Dispencer of it Rom. 6.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And the Antithesis between this latter and the former parcell of the verse is very much to be observed as being pertinent to our purpose The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life As if in other words our Apostle should have said It s true indeed Death is the Consequent of sin and life Eternal is the Consequent of holiness and of obedience But mark it well not upon the same terms Death follows sin as the deserved stipend and the wages of it A man earneth death by sin as a work-man earns his wages by his labour But life Eternal doth not follow holiness in such a way it is not merited by our obedience as death is by our disobedience and therefore this is a gratuity a gift though that be wages The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life And in another place our last translation speaketh it a free gift Rom. 5.18 The free gift came upon all men all that are Christs members or upon all men universally if you respect the tender of it the free gift came upon all men to justification of life With which accordeth that which goes immediately before they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall ragn in life by one and that is Christ I shall close up the proofs with our Saviours proclamation Apoc. 21.6 I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end and I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely if any be athirst if he have vehement and strong desires he shall have life and he shall have it from the fountain I will bestow it on him and I will do it freely too I will give him of the water of life freely So that the point is plain you see That Jesus Christ doth freely give Eternal life Now that you may the better see the freeness of this gift of his and that it is bestowed upon his people without the least desert of theirs I shall lay it open to you in a few particulars Jesus Christ must needs be free in giving life to his members because on their parts it is first unbought and secondly unsought nay thirdly unthought They do not purchase it or buy it of him nay nor so much as seek it or desire it of him nay nor so much as think of having such a mercy from him And therefore it must needs be absolutely free in all respects it must come from him as a free gift First Jesus Christ must needs be free in giving life to his people because it is by them unbought Life is not their purchase and therefore it is his gift True it is bought by Christ for us but it is not bought of Christ by us For let us seriously consider with our selves What could we give or do to procure this life from Christ We are not able to redeem our natural life which yet is in comparison of no value nor pay a ransom to the Lord for it It is too great a price for us to pay and therefore it must cease for ever as the Psalmist speaks And how much less then are we able to redeem our spiritual life which is infinitely precious when we are under the Condemnatory sentence of the Law when we are dead in trespasses and sin both with relation to the raign and to the guilt when we are subject every moment to be cast into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death what can we give now to obtain our pardon we cannot purchase it and therfore certainly we have it freely Indeed Christ buyes a pardon for us because we cannot buy it for our selves He gives his blood and life for us that he may give life to us And therefore he is called our life to shew that he is all in all in that business And when we first receive his quickning grace we are described to be in such a case that there is nothing upon our parts to procure it as you may see Ezek. 16.5 6. Cast out into the open fields to the loathing of our persons polluted in our own blood and weltering in our own gore And then yea then he gives life to us It is repeated twice in that place as a remarkable choice thing that we may take especial notice of it I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live As if he should have thus expressed himself Observe it well I gave thee life at such a time when there was nothing in thee to deserve it at my hands when one would even have loathed to touch thee or to meedle with thee when thou hadst nothing else but blood and gore to give me then did I breath this life into thee So that you see Christ freely gives this life to his people in this respect that it is by them unbought And as it is by them unbought so it is by them unsought As they do not purchase it and buy it of him so neither do they seek it or desire it of him As they do not pay for it so neither do they pray for it We count a thing is very free if we have it for the asking If it be but ask and have it s a very cheap bargain The life of Christ is yet more free then this comes to to all his members he gives it them before they ask it He is found in this respect of them that seek him not and ask not for him as the Prophet speaks Isa 65.1 It is the disposition of us all by nature we will not come to Christ that we may have life from him as he himself complaineth John 5.40 and therefore he is fain to draw us Did Lazarus when he lay dead and stinking in his grave address himself to Christ beseeching him to raise him up No more do any that are dead in sin No Christ is fain to seek them out to come to the grave himself and there to call them to come forth and to put life into them that they may answer that call he is forced to do all Did the lost sheep seek the Shepherd Did the lost groat seek the Owner When Adam being falen had brought himself into a state of death and condemnation did he seek God or did God seek him Did he call God or did God call him You see the offer was
present nor our future happiness 1. Our present happiness consisteth in the title that we have to Christ the interest we have in him and the Communion we have with him Can the hatred of the world put an end to this Communion No saith the Apostle Paul Rom. 3.35 Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for thy sake are we killed all the day long Nay in all these things we are more then Conquerours through him that loves as For I am verily perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heigth not depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nay to say truth Christ loves us most and hath most communion with us when the world is most against us Then he is specially present with us as he was with Paul Acts 18.9 and with the Martyrs in the Dungeon in the Stocks in the flames And it is certain that Christ doth then reveal himself most sweetly to his people when the world discovers most malignity and rage against them So that it is not all their hatred can keep a Christian from the love and fellowship of Jesus Christ and so by Consequence it cannot keep him from his present happiness 2. And for our happiness to come it cannot hinder that neither It doth not lie so loose my brethren that all the world can take it from us No it is in Gods keeping he openeth and no man shutteth he shutteth and no man openeth He opened Heaven upon Stephen when the world was shewing the utmost of its rage against him And verily a Christian is as near the complement and the perfection of his happiness when he suffers all the wrong and ignominy and contempt that the world can pour upon him and sometimes nearer then he is at other times for that may be the way to it And hence saith Christ in the fore-alledged text Mat. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men revile you Rejoyce and be exceeding glad And why so For great is your reward in heaven JOHN 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world c. AND thus far of the second Argument with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his Petition to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples that he would keep them through his own name viz. because our Saviour for his own part was even ready to depart from them and to abandon them in such a place where they were hated universally almost the world hath hated them saith Christ Why then a man would think the only way were to remove them out of such a place where they are so ill beloved and so maligned upon all hands If the world hate them because they are not of the world what should they do there any longer the best way were to take them thence and to translate them to a place where they are likely to have more quiet No saith our Saviour I disown that that is not the intent and drift of my Petition I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world c. So that these words my brethren are an Explication of that which is delivered in the former verse that it might not be mistaken Not that our Saviour was afraid his Father would mistake his meaning but he knew they might mistake him who heard him speaking to his Father And therefore as a learned Writer notes upon the text he speaks unto his Father as a man for mens sake because he speaks in their hearing He tells them plainly and expresly what he doth not pray for I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world And then he tels him clearly what he doth pray for but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil Begin we with the first part of the explication in which our Saviour tells his Father plainly and expresly what he doth not pray for I do not pray that thou should take them out of the world So that the point to be observed hence is this DOCTRINE Removal out of this world is not the proper subject matter of Petition You see our Saviour Christ disowns it clearly in my text he would by no means have it thought that he desires his Father to remove his Disciples hence by death to take them out of the world No saith our Saviour that is not the thing I pray for I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world And even as he disowns it in his prayer so should we for we must walk in every imitable thing as we have him for an example And out of doubt he speaks not this for the direction of his Father that he might not be mistaken as I noted even now but on the other side for the instruction of his Apostles and Disciples who were by and heard him pray That they might learn not to exceed their bounds in their petitions And when they seriously consider how they are hated and maligned and abused in the world they might not yet desire the Lord on this account that he would take them hence but rather that he would preserve and keep them here as you have it in my Text I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil And the ground is evident Reason Removal out of this world is not the proper subject matter of Petition because it is not simply in it self a blessing Indeed by accident I must acknowledge death and departure hence is turned exceed ngly to the advantage of the Saints For by it they are freed from evils penal and from evils sinful from suffering and from sinning they are admitted to most near communion with him whom their soul loves and whom their hearts do even gasp after from whose immediate presence they are unavoidably debarred as long as they remain in this world But properly life and continuance in the body is the blessing and therefore it is properly to be desired We find it usually to be propounded in the promise as the reward of holiness and of obedience And in this form we have it in the fifth Commandment which is the first Commandment with promise the only one that hath a promise of the second Table the only one of all the ten that hath a distinct and particular promise And now you will expect I know there should be some transcendent mercy comprehended in such a singular and extraordinary promise as this is And yet it is but long life in this world that thy days may be long in the land c. That promise is a pregnant one to this effect Psal 91. ult with long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation First I will satisfie him with long life he
by the Gospel as they that cast behind their backs the precepts of the Gospel and will not walk accordingly in their lives and conversations It is a dreadful sentence to this purpose able to break the hearts of wicked men and to shake their joynts in pieces 2 Thess 1.8 The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire rendring vengeance to them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Indeed as Gospel truth is most excellent so disobedience to this Gospel truth is most dangerous we know what a fearful doom and dreadful sentence the Apostle thunders out against it Heb. 10.26 If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth the Gospel truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin From which perversly wrested though Novatus did extract that desperate Heresie of his denying hope of pardon unto those who after they were once baptized relapsed into sin Yet those uncomfortable inferences being laid aside this is most evidently taught us in that Scripture viz. That where the mind hath been enlightned once with Gospel truth it tends exceedingly to the increase and aggravation of those sins that are committed after and against it And therefore upon these considerations labour to walk worthy of so glorious a Gospel and so great a Salvation JOHN 17.18 As thou sent me into the world c. AND thus far of our Saviours Prayer in the behalf of his Apostles and Disciples for Sanctification Sanctifie them with thy truth thy word is truth Proceed we to the arguments and reasons with which he urgeth and enforceth this Petition request of his And they are two Whereof the first is taken from the business and employment that he is setting them about viz. the very same in some respect at least which he himself hath hitherto sustained and undergone by the appointment of the Father As thou hast sent me into the world so I have sent them into the world I am now about to send them it is as good as done already For yet they had not their Commission to preach the Gospel to all the world to every creature And therefore thou hadst need to sanctifie them saith our Saviour to his Father by a more full discovery of thy truth to them that so they may be fitted and enabled for such a service as this is It is extreamly necessary that they should be qualified with all the gifts and graces of the Spirit to the very utmost being to go upon the very self same errand and business on which thou hast imployed me Sanctifie them saith our Saviour Why might the Father answer why so Cause enough saith Jesus Christ for as thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world There are two things to be considered in the words There is something positive and there is in the second place something comparative 1. There is something positive in these words which Christ affirmeth positively of himself and his Apostles That which he affirmeth positively of himself is that his Father hath sent him into the world That which he affirmeth positively of his Apostles and Disciples is That he is sending them into the world There is something Comparative in which our Saviour Christ compares his Fathers sending him with his own sending his Apostles As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world I shall but touch on that which Christ affirmeth positively of himself and that as you have heard is that his Father hath sent him down into the world He would not suffer him to stay in heaven but sent him forth upon some weighty and important business so that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That Jesus Christ was sent into the world by the appointment and command of God the Father The word in the Original importeth an authoritative sending which is accordingly submitted to and yield to by the person that is sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith our Saviour to the Father Thou hast sent me into the world so sent that I accordingly am come into the world I have stoopt to thy mission But this hath for the substance of it been handled on the third verse and therefore I shall wave the further prosecution of it here and pass on to the following words JOHN 17.18 Even so have I also sent them into the world AND thus of that which Jesus Christ hath affirmed of himself in relation to his Father Thou hast sent me into the world Proceed we now to that which he affirms of his Apostles and in them of his succeeding Ministers in relation to himself I also have sent them into the world And here we have to be considered three things First the author of the Mission I I stands for Jesus I have sent Secondly the term or local object of the Mission the world without restraint or limitation all the world I have sent them into the world Not into Judea only but into the world Thirdly the comparison between our Saviours mission of his Apostles and Embassadors and his Fathers mission of himself suggested in the word also I also have sent them into the world as thou sent me into the world even so have I also sent them c. As the parts so the Observations are three First the Apostles and Ministers of Jesus Christ are sent by him they are of Christs own sending Secondly Christ doth not send them particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation But their Commission leaves them free to all the world Thirdly Jesus Christ sends his Apostles and his Ministers even as his Father sent him There is a great similitude between Gods sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world I shall handle these distinctly as God shall give ability and opportunity Beginning with the first DOCTRINE The Apostles and the Ministers of Jesus Christ are sent by him they are of Christs own sending For the Apostles they have their very name from sending The word in the Original importeth such a one as is dispatched upon the errand of another upon the business that another sends him in And Christ is often said to send them There are two memorable missions of them mentioned in the Gospel story The first a little after he had called them Mat. 10.1 c. When he had called his twelve Disciples and they were his twelve Apostles as they are stiled ver 2. he gave them power against unclean spirits And these twelve he sent forth ver 1. and after at ver 16. Behold I send you forth saith he as sheep among Wolves The second memorable mission of them was a little after he was risen from the dead and was even ready to ascend Joh. 20.21 Even as my Father sent me so send I you And this is that which the Apostle Paul acknowledges that he was
appellation ever and anon on all occasions so that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE God is the Father of the Lord Christ and so he apprehended him and looked upon him when he was making his Petitions to him The point you see hath two branches First God is the Father of the Lord Christ then Christ did look upon him as a Father and apprehend him as a Father when he was making his Petition to him God is the Father of the Lord Christ I shall not waste away my time to prove it it is so clearly and expresly taught in Scripture every where you shall observe them often owning one another under the relation of a Father and a Son Sometimes the Father owns our Saviour for his Son and this he doth by an immediate attestation out of heaven it self Mat. 3.17 Lo a voice from heaven saying This is my beloved Son Me thinks he seems to point him out to special observation This is he Sometimes our Saviour on the other side acknowledges and owns the Father and this is very usual upon all occasions But how is God the Father of the Lord Christ or in what sense doth he call him Father here no otherwise then we do this will need a little opening To clear it to you in a word or two you must consider that God the Father hath two sorts of sons either he hath sons made or else he hath sons begotten He hath sons made and that both by Creation and Adoption First he is said to be a Father by Creation and thus he hath a kind of universal Fatherhood to all the Creatures And therefore the Apostle stiles him the Father of all Eph. 4.6 He is in this regard the Father of our bodies and the Father of our Spirits The Father of our bodies mediatly and virtually Created in the loins of Adam The Father of our Spirits immediatly and actually infused by himself with this distinction only that there are men who under him are the Fathers of our Flesh but he himself alone is the Father of our Spirits as the Apostle lays it down Heb. 12.9 And in this sense he is the Father of the Angels who were immediately framed and created by his own Almighty hand and therefore are called the sons of God Job 1.6 This Fatherhood of God as I have said is universal and all the Creatures have a share in it so that even all of them may call him Father too as well as we and use the Prophets words Mal. 2.10 Have we not all one Father hath not one God created us And thus our Saviour as a Creature hath an interest in the Fatherhood of God And here he hath an Interest above others though not an interest without others For he is the first-born of every Creature as the Apostle Paul speaks Col. 1.15 And as this Father hath his Sons made by creation so he hath Sons made by Adoption by which a remnant of Mankinde are set apart out of the free and undeserved Grace of God to be the children and the heirs of God And here I see not why our Saviour Christ as Man should not come in for one of the Adopted Sons of God for one I mean above the rest though not for one among the rest so that he hath his Priviledge in this regard as the Apostle intimates Eph. 1.5 God hath predestinated us to the adoption of Children by Iesus Christ Perhaps the meaning may be this first he hath adopted Christ as man and as a creature and then he hath adopted us by him as part of Jesus Christ and as Members of his body And as this Father hath his Sons made both by creation and adoption so he hath his sons begotten and his sons born for both of these expressions we shall finde in Scripture He hath begotten us saith the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 1.3 Of his own will begat he us Jam. 1.18 And whosoever loves him that begat loves him that is begotten 1 John 5.1 And thus our Saviour also is begotten of the Father and here he hath his priviledge and his preheminence as well as in the rest For he is the first-begotten of the Father Heb. 1.6 when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world herein he is above Men yea he is above Angels For unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day c. And when he bringeth in c he saith And let all the Angels c. It s true that even we that are his Children are begotten as Christ is he is begotten from eternity but we in time He is begotten so that he partaketh of his substance and of his very essence that begets him We are indeed partakers of the Divine nature but not by communication of the Essence of God but by participation of the properties of God He is begotten of the Father personally taken whereas none of us are so It s true we are the Sons of God begotten by an Act without but we are not the Sons of God the Father taken as distinct from both the other persons of the God-head begotten by an act within as Christ is He is begotten by a proper and peculiar act of God the Father in an unspeakable communication of the Essence of the God-head from the Father to the Son which we are better able to admire then to express for as the Prophet saith who can declare his generation And this for clearing of the former member of the point God is the Father of the Lord Christ Now for the second that Christ did look upon him as a Father and apprehend him as a Father when he was making his Petitions to him You see it evidently and demonstratively in my Text. This is the appellation that he gives him in this prayer all along as I have noted to you heretofore It s true that God is frequently in Scripture stiled the God of Christ as see the place c. Psal 45.7 God even thy God and Christ doth sometimes call him his God as Iohn 20.17 I ascend to my God but to the best of my remembrance he never calls him so in prayer He comes not to him by the name of his God but by the name of his Father that is the sweet and precious name that he delights to call him by when he is pouring out his prayers to him I shall add no more for proof the point is plain God is the father of the Lord Christ and so he apprehended him c. Is God the Father of the Lord Christ this then may serve for sweet Use 1 and precious consolation to the Saints and to those that are in Christ For if God be Christs Father then he is their Father too And this our Saviour Christ himself acknowledges to his Disciples for their comfort I ascend to my Father and your Father My Father but so that he is yours too first mine and then yours My interest indeed in this respect is
somewhat higher and above yours but it is not without yours nay to say truth my interest is for yours God is my Father that he may be yours in me Oh my beloved what melting joy and comfort is here for every member of the Lord Christ in regard of this relation I give you but a hint in three particulars First being the sons of God in Christ we may be sure that he will hear us in and by and through Christ He always hears his son Christ and never puts him off with a denial Thou art my son this day c. Ask of me and I will give thee Psal 2.7 and this our Saviour Christ himself professes Iohn â—1 4 and as the Father always hears his son Christ so he doth always hear his Sons in Christ And truly if the first be once admitted the latter follows unavoidably For Christ the eldest Son is intercessor for his brethren in all their regular requests he never faileth to put in with them so that they cannot be denied unless he be denied too Christ and they must either stand or fall together Secondly being Sons of God in Christ we may be confident he will provide for us He hath provided very well for Christ he is not his Son only but he is his Heir too yea he is heir of all without exception Heb. 1.2 And as Christ is the Son and Heir of God so we are sons and heirs of God in Christ there is not a younger brother of us Thou art no more a servant but a son Gal. 4.7 And if a son then an heir of God through Christ If Sons of God through Christ then Heirs of God through Christ too If we be sons then also heirs Rom. 8.17 yea we are heirs of all as Christ is and therefore it is added presently Heirs of God joynt-heirs with Christ Jesus Christ as Mediator is not Heir to any thing but we are joynt-heirs and have a joynt-right with him there is an Inventory of our riches 1 Cor. 3.21 Thirdly being Sons of God we may be confident he will protect us Fathers use to protect their children if they can God can and therefore will As Naomi laid Ruths childe in her bosom Ruth 4.16 so God lays his children Isa 4.11 and that is certainly a safe place And as the Eagle spreads her wings over her young and carries them upon her wings Prov. 32 1â— so God throws his children under the wings of his protection and carries them above the reach of danger This is very sweet comfort be your troubles what they will you have a Father that is able to secure you that is very tender of you that hath set a guard upon you Heb. 1. ult Psal 34.7 John 17.1 Father the hour is come Use 2 IS God the Father of the Lord Christ And consequently Christ the Son of God the Father Why then I say as the Apostle He is the Lord of all Gal. 4.1 He is not a servant in the house but a Son over the house Heb. 3.6 And therefore he must be obeyed and served according to the Psalmists Exhortation Psal 2.11 Serve the Lord. Well then my brethren let us think of this and let us hearken to that Counsel and advice of Christ himself Take my yoke my service on you Brethren let me engage you all this day for this Lord and his service let me perswade you to receive him for the Lord your righteousness Not to call him Lord only but to take him for your Lord and to use him as your Lord and to yield him all that service and obedience which the name calls for Ah my Beloved let us not do in this regard as the greater part of Christians in name and in profession do Let us not wear the badge and cognizance of Jesus Christ and say he is our Lord and Master and the like and in the mean time never do his will nor take any pains at all in his service For this is but to deal with Christ as the perfidious Jews did to put a purple robe upon him and to bow down before him and to call him Hail Master and in the self-same breath to buffet him and spit upon him But as we call him Lord so let us carry and demean our selves towards him as our Lord and Master and let us yield to him that obedience which is due to him And to this end let us consider what engagements lye upon us to draw us and to hold us to the service of this Lord which I shall briefly lay before you as motives to perswade The first is an Engagement of Creation he is the image of the invisible God saith the Apostle Col. 1.15 The first born of every creature that is the Lord of every creature for the first born is Lord of all And why the Lord of every creature You have the reason in the following words For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth All things were made by him and therefore it is fit that all should serve him Nay my Beloved they were not made by him only but they were made for him too as it is added there in that place all things were created by him and for him By his power and for his use And therefore if we be not useful to him if we do not serve him we cross the very end of our creation The brutish and unreasonable creatures serve him in their kind and measure and therefore David saith that all things serve him But we are bound to serve him much more because in our Creation we received more from him He made us Lords of all his creatures â—â—at we might have no Lord but him He made the whole creation to be serviceable to us that we might be the more engaged and the better able to be serviceable to himself that we might serve him for it all that we might serve him with it all He put all things under us and truly we are bound the more my Brethren to be under him and subject to him he made us men he gave us reason which he gave not to other creatures the greater reason have we to obey him and to improve our parts and gifts in his service Indeed we cannot chose but see that it is all the reason of the world that as we have all from him so we should use all for him The next is an engagement of Redemption which binds us to the service of the Lord. As he is the Lord that made us so he is the Lord that bought us as the Apostles phrase is 2 Pet. 2.1 He purchased us my Brethren us I mean that are his own at a very dear rate and therefore it is just that we should serve him especially since it is evident that this was his intention in his purchase He bought us out of Sins and Satans hands not that we might be absolutely free from all commands but that we might be his servants He gave himself
entrance into glory that hour was not far off and that perhaps our Saviour Christ might aim at in my Text. However this is evident that that which he desireth here he prays may be effected and accomplished in his Fathers time And this he makes the ground of his Petition Father the hour is come the time which thou hast fore-appointed to glorifie me in And therefore I beseech thee do it now thou hast a time for this great work of thine and this is the very time the very hour the hour is come Were it not so I would not seek it or desire it of thee but seeing this is thy season now Father glorifie thy son So that the Point suggested here is this DOCTRINE God hath his time to do his Actions in and he should not be desired to do them any other time First He hath his times to do his actions in that is the first thing in the Point He hath his hour a certain set and fixed season for any business that he hath to do he hath a time for works of Justice and you see that place for instance Jer. 51.33 It is time to thresh her saith the Lord of Babylon And so their feet shall slide in due time speaking of ungodly men Deut. 32.35 He hath his time for works of Mercy as it is observed of Joseph Psal 105.18 19. his feet they hurt with fetters he was laid in irons until the time which God had fore-appointed came And as soon as that was come the Lord so ordered things that the King sent and loosed him the Rulers of the people let him go free as it is added there in that place And hence the Lord is said to wait in Scripture that he may be gracious as in that known place Isa 30.18 Now he that waits to do a thing looks for a fit time Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion saith the Psalmist Psal 102.13 For the time to favour her yea the set time is come so that you see God hath his time to do his actions in Now for the second Member of the point He should not be desired to do them any other time This is apparently suggested in this Petition of our Saviours in my Text. Father the hour is come now glorifie thy Son q. d. If thy appointed season were not come I would not seek to have thee glorifie me at this time I would not have thee do it for me now unless this were thy hour But since the constituted hour is come Lord bring thy purpose into act and execution Our Saviour is in this our pattern whom we ought to follow And hence the Saints in their Petitions have left God to his own time and sought for mercies from him in his own season As Daniel when he found by books that is the Book of Jeremy and other Books that the appointed return of the Jews out of the Babylonian thraldom and Captivity was neer at hand he set himself to seek the Lord at that time Dan. 9.3 And David in the fore-alledged Text he prays for mercy to be shewed to Sion But when when the set time was come I would not spend my time in the further confirmation of so clear a truth Let me but add two Reasons God hath his time to do his actions in and he should not be desired to do them any other time For First Let our desires be what they will he will not be prevailed withall to do them any other time Or Secondly if we could prevail with him it were not best that he should do them any other time Let our desires be what they will God will not be prevailed withall to do his works in any other time then that which he hath fore-appointed and decreed so that it were a vain and idle thing to labour to divert him from his own season We that are men are often turned from our purpose we do not that which we resolve to do or else we do not act it then when we resolve to do it because our resolutions alter we are perswaded and convinced that some other season will be better But God for his part is not changeable he is not as man that he should lye nor as the son of man that he should repent Numb 23.19 That he should so repent as man by changing of his mind or varying from his former resolution And this is that the Psalmist beats upon Psal 102. He observes all other things and persons in the world and finds that they are variable and inconstant they are on and off again But as for God he finds it otherwise with him though they be changeable he is not so No saith the Prophet there thou art the same and what doth he infer upon it why therefore all the good and all the mercy that he hath resolved upon with reference to his people he will accomplish in the set time Thou shalt endure O Lord saith he and that for ever And what follows Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion for the set time is come God hath his set time to do his actions in and he should not be desired to do them any other time because if we could prevail in such a case it were not best that he should do them any other time He always pitcheth on the fit best and the opportunest seasons for his Works As he hath his times for them so those times are the best times whether they be Works of Justice or of Mercy And hence the season and opportunity in which he doth them both is stiled the due time For Works of Justice their feet shall slide in due time Deut. 32.35 For Works of Mercy in due time you shall reap if you faint not Gal. 6.9 We that are men do usually mistake our time we miss our opportunity Man knoweth not his time saith Solomon Eccles 9.12 and therefore he is snared in an evil time that fals suddenly upon him He knoweth not the good time and therefore he is snared in an evil time that comes upon him suddenly as a snare upon a Bird in which he is entangled and involv'd and so is disappointed of his purpose But it is not so with God he knows his time and fixes on it so as none but he can do it And hence is that Expostulation Jer. 49.19 Who will appoint me the time q.d. whoever doth it will be very much mistaken The time which I appoint is best and none can do it like me and therefore certainly if we were able it were not best to turn him from it nor to prevail with him to do his work in any other time This shall suffice for clearing of the Observation proceed we now to Application And this may serve for Reprehension in the first place to check and Vse 1 censure those who take upon them to appoint God a time for execution of his Works of Mercy or his Works of Justice They do not come to God as our Saviour in
Col. 3.16 And hence it is that all the Nations that dwell upon the face of the earth have groped after God and found him too as you may see Acts 17.27 All people have acknowledged him Let a man run from East to West from North to South let him ransack all Ages and where he findeth any men there he shall find some Worship or Religion by which they all acknowledge that there is a God And though they differ in the manner of their Worship they all agree in this that there is a Deity that must be Worshipped Within these hundred years you know my Brethren there have been many Nations discovered and many are discovered still which were unknown in former Ages Among them many have been found to live without Law King house going naked and wandering in the open field yet none without some species of Religion and some notice of a God which shews us evidently that it is not so natural a thing in man to love Society to cover and to cloath himself against the injuries of weather which yet is very natural as to acknowledge God But now my Brethren among which of all these Nations who never had the book of Scriptures shall you find any notice of a Christ any inckling of a Saviour or Redeemer No no there is no hint of that among them they have no glimpse no crevice to give them any light of Jesus Christ And how then can they come to life Eternal since it consisteth in the knowledge both of God and Christ too not of the former only but the latter also And therefore we have cause to pitty them and bleed over them and to importune God for them that the Gospel may be preached where Christ as yet hath not been so much as named that to the people that are yet in darkness there may shine a great light That as they have some intimations of a God they may know Christ too and so may come to live for ever for this is life Eternal c. Is it so my Brethren that the knowledge which is life Eternal c. is the Vse 2 Knowledge both of God and Christ too Then let the Ministers and the Embassadors of Jesus Christ be hence advised as they desire to save themselves and them that hear them to bring their Hearers to Eternal life so to instruct them and to bring them on-ward in the Knowledge not of God alone but of Jesus Christ too Let it be their special labour and endeavour to acquaint them with the things of Jesus Christ and to implant his Knowledge in their hearts which is as I have shewed so necessary to salvation Paul was a very good Preacher and see what vvas the special subject of his Ministry Col. 1.26 27. saith the Apostle there the riches of the Glory of this Mysterie viz. the Gospel is Christ in you the hope of glory whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Iesus Out of Christ vve can never make them perfect and accomplished to salvation the knowledge of the Father will not serve the turn and therefore vve preach Christ to them that in and through him they may be perfect And though the same Apostle did so excel in knowledge that he durst without vain glory compare vvith the very chiefest Apostles as you may see 2 Cor. 11.5 6. Though I be rude in speech saith he yet not in knowledge but we have been throughly made manifest to you in all things q. d. There was no point of knowledge in Religion needful for you to be instructed in no difficult and thorny case of Conscience that any of you had occasion to propound to me but I was able fully and cleerly to resolve you in yea though he had received such abundance of Revelation from the Lord that he was in great danger to be exalted above reason as he himself acknowledges 1 Cor. 12.7 yet he professes notwithstanding that he made no account of all his other Learning in comparison of this to know Iesus Christ and him crucified This was the whole scope and drift of his Ministry 2 Cor. 2.2 This was the high point of Learning that he gloried in This was the Knowledge that he laboured in his preaching to bring the Corinthians to And this he did advisedly and upon mature Judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I determined saith he it was my setled and advised resolution before I preached to you that this should be the highest point of Knowledge that I would profess my self to be acquainted with and to have skill in and which I vvould in the whole course of my Ministry endeavour to instil into you I determined to know nothing among you not a title of any thing but Iesus Christ and him crucified Oh that we vvere all of the Apostle Pauls mind Oh that all Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel would do as this Apostle did that they would not so much affect the knowledge of nice intricate and curious speculations and busie their own and other mens heads with unprofitable controversies with opposition of Science falsly so called as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 6.11 That they would not make this their glory to excel others in secular Learning and in such points of knowledge as are vain as to the main and great business but rather bend themselves to study this point better and to strive to bring themselves and others to this skill to know Iesus Christ and him crucified This were the way indeed to make them happy everlastingly for this is eternal life c. Vse 3 Is it so my Brethren that the Knowledge which is life Eternal in which c. Then be you all intreated and prevailed withall my Brethren to labour after this Knowledge Not to content your selves vvith this that you have some degrees of the Knowledge of God unless withall you know Christ too Let this be your main Endeavour to get an insight into those things which concern him that you may know God in him That you may look upon him through Christ and so may see him as he is in Christ to his people We preach not our selves but the Lord Iesus Christ saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.5 It is Christ that we preach What then might some man say do you not preach God too Yes saith the Apostle there vve preach God but we preach him in Christ for God hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the Knowledge of God in the face of Iesus Christ as it is added in the next words So then my Brethren we must have the light of the Knowledge of God but it must be in the face of Christ It must not shine immediately upon us as it comes from God for then it vvill overcome us but it must shine upon us by Reflection on the face of Christ Jesus If vve would see God we must look on Jesus Christ and we shall see
commandeth not at all neither comes it into his heart They look not what the Lord hath ordered them to do Their eyes are not upon him for direction any way but what they have themselves a mind to do that they are imployed in They are a rule unto themselves and walk according to their own counsels They follow the way of their own hearts and the sight of their own eyes They are not guided by the will of God but by the will of man and the will of the flesh as it is called 1 Joh. 13. which stands in opposition to the will of God God may order what he will and they will do what they please For tell me my Beloved when you swear and when you are unclean and when you run out to all excess of riot when you prophane the Sabbaths and the Ordinances of the Lord when you do things that are apparently and grosly evill which admit of no excuse Are these the works which God hath given you to do Can you look him in the face and tell him so When you lie and when you cozen and deceive do you these things by his order No my Beloved no such matter This is the will of God even your sanctification that as he who hath called you is holy so you should be holy in all manner of conversation And therefore while you wallow in your lusts while you defile your selves with every sin you do not follow Gods order you do not walk by his rule but are a rule unto your selves I wish that such would seriously consider but these two things First It is the fearfullest and the extreamest judgement that God can bring on any man in this life to give him so far over to himself to neglect his order the direction he is pleased to give him and to walk according to his own counsel who when he permits men as he did the Gentiles Act. 10.16 to wallow in their own ways the ways which of themselves they choose and follow This is a formidable thing indeed And therefore he is wont to execute this in the close of all as the heaviest of his judgements as having nothing left but this to shew the fierceness of his wrath and fury on a person or a people When he hath proved and tryed men every way and nothing will prevail with them this is the last the parting blow he gives them over to themselves and so he leaves them And this is certainly the worst that the Almighty God can do to them Secondly If you will not be ordered by the Lord in one way you shall be ordered by him in another If you will not be ordered by the precept you shall be ordered by the threatning If you will not do his will his will shall certainly be done upon you If you submit not here to his commanding will you shall be forced to submit to his condemning will hereafter Here you say you will not hear you will not do the Lord commands you this and that but you resist and stand it out and you will not be obedient But tell me Brethren are you able to out-stand the curse and vengeance of the Lord in the last and dreadful day when he shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels And when the Lord shall order you to go to Hell and say Depart you cursed into everlasting fire will you be able to resist and to disobey that order Will you be able to controle him and hinder him from executing the sentence of the Law upon you No no you break the bonds and cords of God here but then the Lord will bind you fast enough in everlasting chains of darkness break and rent them if you can The haughtiness of men shall be brought low and God alone shall be exalted in that day And therefore I beseech you my Beloved eye the Lord in all your ways and see what work it is that he giveth you to do Be sure he give it you before you do it And this indeed is to be men after Gods own heart when you do Gods will I have found David saith the Lord Psal 89.20 called Act. 13.22 A man after my own heart who will do all my wills And if you thus do God will own you in the latter day and liberally reward you too After you have done the will of God you shall receive the promise that is the happiness and mercy promised Heb. 10.36 In doing of your own will or the wills of other men perhaps you may attain some transitory riches pleasures honors poor fleeting things which in the end will perish with you But if you do the will of God this will perpetuate and Eternize you and make you to endure for evermore 1 Joh. 2.17 The world passeth away and the lusts thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever JOHN 17.4 I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do AND thus far of the first Particular considered in the words what it was that Christ did the work which God had given him to do The Second follows now in order to be handled viz. The manner how he did it he did it absolutely and compleatly I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have made an end of it Now a work is ended then when it is so dispatched that there is no remainder of it to be done When there is nothing left of it imperfect and unfinished So that there can be nothing added to it any way to make it more accomplished and compleat And this is that which Jesus Christ affirmeth of himself in relation to the work that was committed to him of his Father saith he I have gone through with it I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do or I have brought it to a full end But had he so compleated it and ended it indeed when he put up this supplication to his Father Was there no remainder of it to be done Why the great work of all was yet behind the offering of himself upon the Cross as an oblation and Sacrifice to God the Father He had not yet laid down his life for his people Yet this he was designed to do his Father had appointed him to tread the Wine-press of his wrath and to become an offering for sin In which respect the holy Ghost affirmeth of him that it behoved Christ to suffer There was a necesse in it because it was the Fathers pleasure that it should be so it was the work that he had given him to do and how then saith our Saviour here before his passion and before his suffering I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do To this Interpreters give various answers according to their various apprehensions of our Saviours meaning in the words Some think he speaks by way of prophesie and so makes mention of that which was indeed to come as if it had been past
same respect are called the Temples of God But in him dwels the God head bodily that is really united to the humane nature to the body of our Saviour And herein Christ hath no Peer It is an high and matchless honour which no other Creature is capable of By which our nature is advanced in him above all other things and persons in the world besides Vse 2 Is it so that even the Man-hood c. Then as we may take notice here of the advancement of the nature so of our personal advancement too as many of us as belong to Christ For all the Glory of the God-head with which the Man-hood shines is for us and our advantage If he sanctifie himself it is for our sakes as his own expression is And so if he glorifie himself it is for our sakes too It is for our sakes that he prayes And now O Father Glorifie me with thy self with the Glory c. For all his Mediatour-ship throughout is with some respect to us And so it is for our sakes that this unparalelled and matchless Glory is conferred upon him Why you will ask me what is our advantage by it I answer It is very great for we poor men if we be members of the Lord Christ do share in this incomparable Glory of the Man-hood of our Saviour and that partly in fruition and partly in assured expectation First Partly in Fruition for the present we share in this incomparable Glory of the Manhood of our Saviour For as the Man-hood of our Saviour shareth in the glory of the God-head so we my Brethren share in the Glory communicated from the God-head to the Man-hood of our Saviour by reason of our Union to them both in the person of Christ Jesus And even as we are punisht in that Christ is punisht and sanctified in that Christ is sanctified so we are glorified in that Christ is glorified We shine with the incomparable and dazling Lustre of the God-head in that Christ shines with it And as we sit in Christ in heavenly places Eph. 2.6 so we are glorified in Christ with the same glory which he had with God the Father before the world was because he is invested with it as our Head in our flesh on our behalf In him God having raised him up and glorified him he hath glorified us with the very same glory In him we took possession of it So near and so indissoluble is the union between Christ and us that the Divine and Godlike glory wherewithal he shines is truly ours The members cannot choose but share in the glory of the head Secondly we share in this incomparable glory of the Manhood of our Saviour by assured expectation For as his glory in answer to the Prayer of our Saviour is now already communicated to the Manhood so far as it is capable of it So we are certain that the glory of the Man-hood of our Saviour shall one day be communicated to us so far as we are able to receive it We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him And that these vile bodies shall be conformed to his glorious body Phil. 3.21 And this should have a double operation and effect upon us 1. First it should make us to despise the shame of this world though we be trampled under foot and made the dung and the off-scouring of the Earth as this is many times the portion of the Saints our spirits should not droop or sink within us No we should bear them up in spight of all the ignominy and contempt that men pour out upon us and all the venom that they spit against us We should endure the reproach and despise the shame while we think of this glory We should not reckon of a little undeserved shame with men while we consider that we shall shortly shine with the glory of God 2. Secondly it should cause us so to walk that we be not in any thing a shame to Christ whom God hath made so glorious and who will shortly make us so glorious In whom the humane nature is advanced to such honour as to partake of the glory of the Godhead Mark what the Apostle saith Shall I take the members of Christ and make them the members of an harlot So may I say on this occasion shall I take the nature of Christ the Nature which our Saviour in his Person hath so highly dignified and make it in my person the nature of a Devil Suppose a Prince should marry with a mean woman would he endure to see those of her nearest kindred her Brethren and her Sisters live like Scullions and like Strumpets in his own eye Now Christ my Brethren hath assumed our Nature into a nearer union with himself then that of marriage a union which death it self was not able to dissolve For when the soul was separated from the body the Godhead was not separated from the one or from the other It was the Lord that lay buryed in the grave and he that ascended into heaven was the same that came down from heaven And shall we then defile this nature by wantonness intemperance and vile affections which Jesus Christ hath so honoured to take into so neer a union with himself and to cause it to partake of the glory of the Godhead Especially if we expect hereafter in our persons to partake of this glory Oh let us learn to keep our vessels in all holiness and honour And as we look hereafter to be like him so in the mean time let us purifie our selves as he is pure JOHN 17.6 I have manifested thy Name unto the men which c. WE have been very long upon the first Part of our Saviours Prayer and now at length it is ended and dispatched Charity begins at home and so our Saviour Christ began with his Petitions for himself For that hath been the substance of his Prayer hitherto that as he hath been humbled and abased with men so now he might be glorified with his Father And this he urges very hard with many pressing arguments and so he ceases to solicite any further for himself Charity begins at home as I have said but it doth not end there Our Saviour is not satisfied to put up his Petitions to his Father for himself but in the next place he becomes a Suitor also for his Church And here he prayes for his Apostles and Disciples then about him the members of the present Church And then for those who were after to be called by their preaching the members of the Church to come In the first place he prayes for his Apostles and Disciples then about him the members of the present Church who were already called and sanctified whom God had given him out of the world I pray for them saith he I pray not for the world In the second place he prays for those who were after to be called by their preaching the members of the Church that was to come in vers
but of the invisible God In which there is a close Antithesis q. d. Having assumed our Nature he is now become the visible Image of the invisible God That God who is invisible is made visible in him And this is that which is suggested Ioh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time you may conceive it with the outward eye the Son of Man who came out of the bosome of the Father hath declared him He hath discovered him in some respect to that eye And therefore when our Saviour was incarnate it is said that God was manifested in the flesh which is the object of the eye of sense 1 Tim. 3.16 So that he that had looked upon him might have seen the Father in him In which respect it is that when Philip was so earnest to have the Father shewn him our Saviour bid him to behold himself and addeth presently He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also Joh. 14.9 This is the Vision mentioned in the Book of Iob I know that my Redeemer c. yet in my flesh I shall see God Not in my spirit or my understanding only but my flesh yea and I shall look on him not with other but with these same eyes Which can be no other way but in the glorified Body of Christ 2. Secondly Christ hath made a discovery of his Father by his Word and by his Gospel There he hath shewed him forth to men so far as it is necessary that he should be known by them And this is partly intimated in that speech of his to Philip Joh. 14.9 10. How saist thou shew us the Father Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me The words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self saith Christ My manner is not to be speaking to you of my self so much as of my Father nor to advance my self so much as to set up my Father upon all occasions And how then is it that you that have so long conversed with me and have heard so much from me are yet so unacquainted with my Father If you observe the manner of our Saviours teaching and discoursing you shall find that he insisted very much on matters that concerned his Father he was always talking of him especially when he was drawing near his passion and ready to depart from his Disciples he laboured very much to make his Father better known to them And when he was about to leave them he professed that he had perfectly acquainted them with all things that concern his Father so far as they were come to his knowledge for the instruction and the information of his people Indeed the word of Christ the Gospel containeth in it all things that are necessary to be known of God the Father whether his Nature or his Will or his Son or his Spirit c. And therefore it is said that it is able of it self without addition to make us wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 This is a perfect and a full discovery so that we need no other knowledge of the Lord to bring us to salvation then that which is revealed to us in the Scripture 3. Thirdly Christ makes a full discovery of his Father by his Spirit And this is that which is the Complement of all in this business Indeed there is a full discovery of him in the Word materially there is nothing wanting there But it is not full to us without the revelation of the Spirit Christ shews his Father there in all his glory excellency over-flowing love to his people But if the Spirit do not cure the blindness of our eyes and open them and take away the vail that is upon them we can never see him It is the Comforter the holy Ghost that teaches all things conceive it efficaciously and with success Ioh. 14.28 who comes out from the Father and makes known the Fathers Name to his people Thus we have seen how Jesus Christ makes this discovery Now let us see why Jesus Christ makes this discovery of his Father And here you may remember I propounded two things First why Jesus Christ and none but he makes this discovery And secondly why the discovery which he makes is such an absolute and full discovery 1. First as for the first of these Why Jesus Christ and none but he makes this discovery There are two weighty reasons for it For first none but he is able And next none but he is fit to make it 1. First none but Jesus Christ is able to make this full discovery of his Father For none but he is perfectly acquainted with him Alas all men are strangers to the Father the worst men absolutely and in all respects and the best in some measure And all the knowledge which any soul hath of him it hath from Jesus Christ too But now my Brethren Jesus Christ hath the full knowledge of his Father he doth not know him outwardly alone but he knows his very heart and the secrets of his bosom And therefore he is said to lodge there and so to be the only possible revealer of the Father to the world No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1.18 How is it possible for any one to make the Father known unless he know him Now this is proper and peculiar to the Son No man knows the Father but the Son that is originally primitively of himself and therefore it is added presently and he to whom the Son will reveal him Joh. 11.27 2. Secondly as none but Christ is able so none but Christ is fit to manifest his Father to his people He is the only Mediator between God and man there is but one as the Apostle tells us and that is Christ 1 Tim. 2.5 And therefore it is congruous that he should manage and transact the business all the business between God and man that all should go through his hands He is to make God friends with us and to make us friends with God the peace must be on both sides And how shall he effect the latter but by revealing and making known his Father to us in all his beauty and his glory and his excellency in himself in all the tenderness and dearness of his love to us and so to joyn our hearts to him This latter is especially the Name of God which Christ was as a Saviour to discover viz. his attributes of Love and Mercy This was the proper work of Christ indeed to manifest this Name of God all that is sweet and lovely in him to his people This may suffice to let you know why Jesus Christ and none but he makes this discovery of the Father to his people We have but one thing yet behind why the discovery that he makes is such an absolute and full discovery I give you but two reasons of it and I have done for this time he doth it
yet his message is compleat for all that For though they be not clearly mentioned and set down disertis verbis they may by manifest and necessary consequence be gathered and deduced from that which he hath taught us in the Scripture And to this end I shall desire you to take notice of these three particulars 1. Where generals are taught us there all particulars comprised in them and comprehended under them are in the purpose and intention of our Saviour taught also as when he interdicteth any sin suppose it murther or adultery there all the sorts and kinds and measures and degrees of that corruption are with it interdicted and condemned 2. Where principles and causes are delivered to us there the effects that flow and issue from them and are caused by them are intended and comprised as virtually comprehended and contained in their causes 3. Where we find one like taught we must conceive alike of all the rest of like nature Quia parium par ratio and where there is par ratio there is also par Lex where things are like there the reason is alike and where there is like reason there is also like law And thus not any instance can be given of any point of necessary faith or practice that is not taught by our Saviour in the Scripture So that we need to go no further but may content and satisfie our selves with his teaching Vse 3 Hath Christ appeared himself a faithful Messenger from his Father to his people in both respects that he hath added nothing to that he hath taken nothing from his message Then let the Messengers and Ministers of Jesus Christ be faithful to him in the same respect As Christ hath his Commission from the Father so they have theirs from Christ As the Father sends him so he sends them It is his own expression to his own Apostles Joh. 20.21 As my Father hath sent me so send I you And therefore even as he is faithful to his Father so they accordingly must be faithful unto him And even as he delivers that which he hath received from his Father so they must deliver too that which they have received from Christ And that without addition without diminution as Christ doth They must deliver it without addition as Christ addes nothing to the message which his Father puts into his mouth so they must adde nothing neither to the message which Christ hath put into their mouths They must not stray beyond the bounds of their Commission and come with matters of their own devising and inventing to the people They must not preach another Gospel Gal. 1.8 another Doctrine 1 Tim. 1.3 but must be able in uprightness to say as the Apostle doth to his hearers 1 Cor. 11.23 That which I have received of the Lord I have delivered unto you Only that and no more And here there are three sorts faulty I shall but only name them to you and go on 1. The Superstitious Teacher there were a multitude of such not long ago but blessed be the Lord their number now is well lessened whose manner was to beat on nothing in the Pulpit but humane Observations and Inventions and Traditions They must stand up at Gloria Patri they must bow before the Altar and the like These were the things that many Preachers dwelt upon in which their greatest heat and zeal was shewn as if they were of greater consequence then Principles and Fundamentals of Religion 2. The Sceptick Teacher who doateth about foolish idle questions which do not serve to edifie and which when all is done have neither ground nor resolution in the Scriptures And here the Schoolmen were extreamly faulty who have filled the world with multitudes of needless and unprofitable scruples and inquiries concerning which our Saviour the great Prophet of the Church speaketh nothing of or on Such were the points that many of them even spent themselves upon which many Preachers tossed and canvassed in the Pulpit by which they spoiled the people as appears by the Egyptian darkness of those ages which they lived in And truly there are many in these days of ours who spend their time and thoughts on idle questions and disputes about words and are extreamly vain in their imaginations and so are hindred from studying weighty things and matters absolutely necessary to salvation 3. The vain-glorious Teacher who stuffes his Sermons to the people with nothing else almost but humane Learning as if that which Christ hath taught us would not yeild sufficient matter to deliver to the people It 's true my Brethren there may be in preaching a lawful use of secular learning but not a lawful ostentation of it Use it we may so far as it illustrates any thing of Christ and helps us to the clearer explication or better application of it to the hearers But if we preach our selves and not Christ if we lay aside the perfect and the pretious doctrine which he hath delivered to us and study nothing else but how to vent our own witt our own learning our own fancies this is dangerous to our selves and pernitious to the people And as the Messengers of Christ must utter what they have received from him without addition so without diminution They must fulfill the Word of Christ as the Apostle speaks Col. 1.25 declare it fully to the people as Jesus Christ revealed fully what his Father put into his mouth as we have plentifully shewed you so must the Messengers of Christ deliver fully what they have received from him they must not mince it out of fear or favour or any other base end It was the strict injunction of the Angel to the Apostle Peter and his fellows when he sent them forth to preach Act. 5.20 Go stand and speak unto the people all the words of this life And Gods immediate precept to the Prophet Jer. 26.2 Speak all the words that I command thee diminish not a word And therefore let not any Messenger of Christ suppress and smother what he hath received delivering so much as he thinks expedient and no more so much as suits with his fancy or with his ends Let him not upon any grounds considerations or pretences whatsoever wrap up any thing in silence which Christ would have him to make known But let all his Embassadors resolve with faithful Micaiah whatsoever the Lord shall put in our mouths whether it be good or evill whether the hearers will approve it or dislike it that will we speak I shall lay down a few Considerations which though they may not seem so pertinent and proper for this Assembly yet may be of some use At least to make you bear with Ministers the better in their faithfull dealing with you when you see how much it lies upon them to be faithful For 1. If they suppress and smother what they have received to deliver they draw upon themselves the guilt of blood yea of the blood of souls yea of the souls of those whom they
interest is so far from being weakned and abated 〈◊〉 that indeed it is strengthened and increased by this means Vse 1 Is it so that all the people of the Lord Christ are belonging to the Father Then certainly they are most excellent and pretious people for he will never own vile things It is a frequent thing in Scripture that admirable and eximious things are said to be the Lords The hill of Sion the hill of God because the excellentest of all other hills Psal 68.15 The trees of Lebanon the trees of the Lord because the excellentest of all other trees And so the Saints the people of the Lord because the excellentest of all other people and surely that must needs be excellent which he owns And therefore let us learn to value them aright and as the Lord in this respect hath made them high above others as he speaks of Israel Deut. 26.18.19 God hath avouched thee to be his own peculiar people to make thee high above all Nations So let us have an high esteem of them let us not slight and disrespect them as carnal men are apt to do because they have a meer outside but let us look upon them as the Fathers as that which he peculiarly owns and that not as his ordinary stuffe but as his Treasure and his Jewels as they are often stiled in the Scripture And though they may be trodden under foot awhile by wicked men we may be confident the time is coming when the Lord will make them up as it is said Mal. 3.17 When he will make up his Jewels when he will take them up out of the mire and wipe them clean from those abasures that have lain upon them to hide their beauty and obscure their lustre and shew them in their brightness and their splendor to the world Is it so that all the people of the Lord Christ do belong c. Then let Vse 2 it be their care and their endevour so to walk and so to carry and behave themselves as a people ought to do who have such near relation both to God and Christ both to the Father and to the Son And hence the people of the Lord are exhorted to be strict and to be holy in a peculiar manner on this very ground as you may see that place for instance Lev. 20.26 You shall be holy to me saith the Lord. And why so For I have severed you from other people that you should be mine And so say I to you my Brethren you are the Lords own people and he hath severed you from others to be his peculiar ones Oh see now that you walk as it becometh those to do who are the Lords and that upon these two grounds For 1. The sins of those who are his own reflect with more disparagement upon him then the sins of others do He suffers not so much in the exorbitancies of other men that appertain not to him as he doth in yours and therefore you should be the more wary Oh let not wicked men have any cause to say of you as the Heathen did sometimes of the people of the Jews the only people of the Lord at that time Ezek. 36.20 These are the people of the Lord and they are gone out of his Land They carried and demeaned themselves so ill that he could not bear with them but he was fain to cast them forth out of the Land which he had bestowed upon them So let not wicked wretches say of you These are the people of the Lord and yet they are proud covetous worldly wanton loose c. Let not his name I pray you be dishonored and blasphemed by your means but think when you are tempted and enticed to any sin Whether it be fit for those who are the Lords own people to do such wickedness and sin against their God 2. As your iniquities who are the Lords dishonour him more so he will chasten you if you miscarry sooner and quicker then he will do other men who are further off from him this should make you yet more cautious that known place is home and apposite to this purpose Amos 3.12 You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you For other families that are not mine as you are and that appertain not to me in such a special manner as you do I shall not be so quick to exercise my Discipline upon them But you are mine own houshold and therefore if you do amiss I will be sure to take a course with you If God see many Aliens to him doing any wickedness he may bear with them long for it concerns him not so much to deal against them but if he spy out any of his own amongst them doing as the rest do he will be sure to single him and call him out from all the rest and say You are my own you appertain especially to me and what will you do as these vile abominable wretches do will you run out with them to the same excess of riot Come I must order you though I let the rest alone I must not suffer you in such courses Is it so that all people of the Lord Christ do belong c. Here then is pretious comfort for the Saints arising from the property and interest that God the Father hath in them For it they be his own and that in such a special and peculiar way as we have shewed we may be confident he will do very much for them and that in divers cases I will name a few of them 1. If they be his own the Father certainly will hear the Son for them he will be easily entreated for those that have such near relation to him If they were only Christs and not his this were enough to make him facile to the Intercession that his own Son makes for them because they appertain to one that is so infinitely dear to him But seeing they are Christs and his too this carries all before it and this is that our Saviour urges in my Text That those for whom he prayed and interceded did aswell belong to his Father as himself so that his Father was as much engaged to hear as he was to pray for them I pray for them whom thou hast given me for they are thine q. d. I hope thou wilt not put me off with a denyal For they are thine as well as mine whom I intercede for 2. If they belong to God the Father we may depend upon it he doth love them and love them very dearly too as those that are so near to him Property and interest is one special ground of love we use to love our own you know yea many times to dote upon them out of measure though there be nothing lovely in them And certainly the Lord hath very dear affections to his own too though they be black yet they are comely in his eyes His love towards them is so great that it covers many faults
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth Keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Sometimes his attribute of Justice as that is also called his name in the very same place who will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the children and upon the childrens children unto the third and fourth generation Sometimes his attribute of Power is intimated by his name as you may see that place for instance Psal 20.1 The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble the name of the God of Jacob defend thee that is the power of God defend thee And this is that by which our Saviour prayes that his Apostles and Disciples might be kept keep them through thy own name that is through thy own power And so accordingly the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE They that belong to Jesus Christ as long at they remain in this world are kept by the Almighty power of God himself It is the prayer of our Saviour for them in my text you see Holy Father keep them through thy own name whom thou hast given me and therefore out of question they are kept by that name the almighty power of God For Jesus Christ is alwayes heard in every thing for which he is a Suitor to his Father So that his people are as safe as the power of God can make them They are committed by him to his Fathers Custody and he is able very well to keep that which is committed to him as the Apostle Paul speaks 2 Tim. 1.12 And this is clearly intimated in our Saviours speech John 10.29 with reference to his people My Father which gave them me is greater then all Greater in what regard greater in place and dignity No my beloved greater in power and in ability And therefore it is added presently and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand Many are willing but none is able because his power is infinitely greater then theirs is So in another place he shall be holden up Rom. 14.4 he that is weak shall be held up how so For God is able to make him stand And Jude to the same purpose he is able to keep us from falling verse 24. you see our preservation and support is still ascribed to the power and ability of God by which it is apparent what guards us that we are kept and kept safe by that power That of the Apostle Peter is express and full so that we need to add no more for confirmation we are kept by the power of God saith he through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 The point is plain They that belong c. Now to open this a little because you do not see it in the full extent of it you must conceive that such as appertain to Jesus Christ are kept by the almighty power of God Especially two wayes Either by the power of God in them or by the power of God for them Either by the power of God assisting or by the power of God protecting Either by the power of God within them strengthening or by the power of God without them guarding and defending I shall speak to these in order They that belong to Jesus Christ are kept by the Almighty power of God in them assisting them and strengthning them and fortifying them to stand and to hold out both in temptations and afflictions Man is by nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a feeble and infirm thing So weakned and enfeebled with his fail that of himself he is able to do nothing And therefore God communicates his own transcendent power to such as he intends to keep and to preserve so far as they are capable of it And thus however they be weak in themselves yet they are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might as the Apostle speaks Eph. 6.10 He stands by and strengthens them 2 Tim. 4.17 And of this inward strengthning it is that the Apostle speaks Col. 1.11 Strengthned with all might according to his glorious power that is the power of God himself which he gives in to his people and so corroborates them makes them strong as Oaks to bear the burthen that is laid upon them For if you mark it the Apostle saith not the power of God bears our afflictions resists and overcomes our temptations for us but we are strengthened by his glorious power to both these And God is able saith the same Apostle to do abundantly according to his power that worketh in us Eph. 3.20 Observe it well not his power that worketh for us but his power that worketh in us and that makes us able So that you see my brethren it is an infused thing there goes forth power and vertue from the Lord to us and becomes inherent in us Not as one friend may help another that is weak with an external succour and support bearing his heavy burthen for him but giving him ability himself to bear it Even as a man that hath been much enfeebled with along sickness and being now recovered in a measure and his malignant humours purged away encreaseth every day in strength So we my Brethren having been enfeebled by the fall God makes us sound and strong again enables us to do and suffer what he cals us to So that it is an inward and habitual power that we partake infused into the soul by God And God in this respect is strong in us His power is perfected declared to be perfect in our weakness Now my beloved to follow this a little further this glorious power of his the Lord conveyeth into a Christians soul through Jesus Christ The Father hath annointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power as the Apostle Peter speaks Acts 10.38 And upon him the spirit of power doth rest as you have it in the Prophet Isa 11.2 That so from him it might be given out to all his people He is the Conduit-pipe through which the spirit and the graces of it run obtaining them by vertue of his meritorious intercession from his Father and so conveying them to every member as he by reason of his near communion with the manhood being more deeply touched with the feeling of their wants observeth their necessities to be And so to every one of us is given grace and what is grace but power to do and power to suffer power to stand out and not to faint or yield in temptations or afflictions Habitual grace is nothing but the inward strengthening of the soul To every one of us I say is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ Eph. 4.2 that is as he is pleased to distribute And as this power proceeds originally from the Father by and through Jesus Christ so it is wrought immediatly by the Holy Ghost And hence the strength infused into a Christians soul is called the spirit of power as you may see 2 Tim. 1.7 Because indeed it is wrought in us by the
of joy when he promised him you know to his Apostles and Disciples they were full of sorrow and he did this as an antidote against it Come be not troubled saith our Saviour I will send you another Comforter that shall abide with you for ever John 14.16 I have been a Comforter to you I confess but seeing I am ready to depart from you I will not leave you comfortless no I will send you another Comforter one that shall comfort you as much as I have done and one that shall stick to you too and shall not leave you as I am about to do but shall abide with you for ever So that you see one special end of Christ in sending down the Holy Ghost into the hearts of his people is to comfort them and cheer them to be to them not only a spirit of Sanctification but a spirit of Consolation and so discovers that he hath a great regard to the joy of his people Christ gives deliverance to his people that they may be full of joy He hath divers other ends why he becomes a Saviour to them in the day of their distress but this is not the least of all that he may put new joy into their hearts and a new Song into their mouths When he appears to the salvation of his people in doing so he appeareth to their joy as you may see Isa 66.5 That is the End and Drift of his Appearance Christ hath purchased Heaven for his people that they might be full of ioy For Heaven as it is a place of the heigth of holiness so it is a place of the heigth of happiness Here indeed we are in Bochim in a place of weeping we go through a vale of tears and digg up Wells but they are of salt water the rain also fills the pools But when we are arrived at Heaven we shall weep no more but all our tears shall be wiped from our eyes We shall not have a wrinkle in our faces nor a tear upon our cheeks nor a sad thought upon our hearts but all shall be smooth and clear and sweet and that for ever Then we shall be full of joy Christs joy shall be fulfilled in us yea we shall have the fulness of joy Psalm 16. ult Indeed full joy importeth nothing but enough to fill us so much as we are capable of as is commensurate to our capacity as we are able to receive But on the other side the fulness of joy importeth all the measures and degrees of it So that there can be nothing added to it there is nothing wanting to it to make it absolute in all respects It is not to be raised higher any way And this hath Christ prepared and purchased for us By these things it is evident that Jesus Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy But wherefore will he have it to be so Why would he have his people to be full of holy joy Out of self-respect he would have it to be so because by reason of the Reason 1 neerness of his union with his people he hath a kind of share in their comfort As his joy is their joy according to his own expression in my text that they may have my ioy fulfilled in themselves So upon the other side their joy is his joy And as there is a social glory of the head and of the members as the School-expression is as Christ is glorified in the glory of his people 2 Thes 1.12 so there is a social joy of the head and of the members Christ rejoyceth in the joy of his people The Comfort of the members redoundeth also to the Comfort of the head As Christ delights in the prosperity so in the joy of his people When they are joyfull he rejoyceth over them with joy and joyeth over them with singing as his own expression is Zeph. 3.17 Reason 2 Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy to recompence them for their sorrow They are described to be such as mourn Mat. 5.4 That uses to be first with them they use to begin there But then they do not use to end there And therefore it is added presently for they shall be comforted Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted And Christ would have their comfort to be answerable to their sorrow That as his sufferings have abounded in them their consolation also may abound by him as the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 1.5 Indeed they go forth weeping bearing pretious seed as you may see Psal 126.6 They sow in showry weather in a weeping time In such a time did David sow the seed of true repentance for his sin he wept so much that he made his bed to swimm and watered his Couch with his tears In such a time did Peter sow the same see in a time of bitter weeping Mat. 26. ult But then the harvest makes them ample recompence for all the dark and sad and showry weather in the sowing time They come again with joy and they bring their sheaves with them They scatter it by grains but they gather it by sheaves they have twenty thirty forty yea an hundred fold for one So that if any now should ask me You say that Christ would have his people to rejoyce but what would he not have them mourn too Yes he would have them mourn but in order to rejoycing Sorrow is an unperfect passion and is not for it self but for some higher use as all the rest of the declining passions or affections are As hatred is for love and fear for confidence so sorrow also is for joy unto which it is subservient As lancing is not for it self but for ease and remedy and as a potion is not properly for sickness though it cause it for a season but for health so sorrow is for joy and joy is the end of sorrow in the Saints And Christ intends it to be so You shall be sorrowfull saith Christ to his Disciples but your sorrow shall be turned into Joy John 16.20 He gives to them that mourn in Zion beauty for ashes the oil of gladness for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness Isa 61.3 The ransom'd of the Lord go out lamenting but they return to Zion with Songs and everlasting Joy upon their heads Isa 35. ult Reason 3 Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy that they may be large in duty Sorrow is a kind of straightning the heart a sad heart is a straigthned heart it is shut up it cannot pray it cannot praise it can do nothing with enlargement And therefore the Apostle calleth mourning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a contraction of the heart 2 Cor. 2.4 And I appeal for this to those whose spirits are opprest with sadness and dejection whether it do not make them indisposed to duty unfit to hear unfit to pray and in a word unfit for any part of Christs service But holy joy upon the
keep them that belong to Jesus Christ from the hurt of their afflictions but more then so he doth them much good by them that they may say as David doth when all is ended It is good for me that I have been afflicted I give you but a taste of this and I have done with Explication 1. Sometimes he awakens them by their afflictions they are sleepy and secure and God jogges and startles them and rouzes them by this means When men are bound in fetters saith Elihu and held fast in the cords of their afflictions so that they are not able to unlooose themselves and get away what then why then he sheweth them their works and their transgressions that they have exceeded in q.d. At such a time his manner is to represent their sins to them with all their circumstantial aggravations See an example of it in the Lords own people Gen. 42.21 when Josephs Brethren saw themselves taken for spies in Egypt and so in present danger of their lives the sin they had committed many years ago came as fresh into their minds and lay as heavy on their Consciences as if it had been newly done I know that troubles and distresses and the approach of death it self hath not always this effect on all men the Lord hath poured on some the spirit of slumber but usually they have on Gods people 2. Sometimes God abates their pride by their afflictions There is not any sin that makes a man more odious to the Lord then pride doth or is a greater bar to his salvation All that are proud in heart are an abomination to him Prov. 16.5 neither is there are any man but hath some reliques of this leaven in him which puffeth up his heart and makes him swell beyond measure Yea the choicest of the Saints have mighty inclinations to it especially if all things go on their side As it is said of Hezekiah when he was put into a prosperous estate his heart was lifted up 2 Chron. 32.25 and therefore God exposes them to sharp afflictions that he may hide the pride of man as the expression is Joh 33.17 that he may lessen and abate and wear it out till it be not to be seen 3. Sometimes God draws his people nearer to himself by their afflictions In their affliction they will seek me early saith the Lord of his people Hos 5.15 It seems they had been wofully regardless of the Lord in former times of happiness and peace and comfort but saith the Lord In their affliction they will hasten to me they will be eager after me and never rest till they have found me And this you shall observe to be the disposition of the sons men yea of the best and holyest of them they look not after God so much at any time as when they are in greatest exigencies and distresses And as the sails though they be some addition to the burthen of the ship yet they help it on the faster to the Haven So crosses and afflictions though they be a burthen to us yet they hasten us to God and draw us on the faster to the port of happiness And therefore God relating divers judgements which he was resolved to bring upon his own people by which he meant to strip them naked of all outward comforts at length concludes that this should be the issue of it Isa 17.7 At that day shall they look unto their Maker and their eyes shall have respect unto the Holy One of Israel It is a miserable thing yet so it is as long as we have any thing on earth to rest upon we enquire not after God With Noahs Dove if we can find a twig to pitch upon we are regardless of the Ark and therefore God by heavy crosses and afflictions strips us of these outward helps and strikes away the earthly things by which we stand and when we know not what to do when we are driven out of all our holes then our eyes are upon God when we look on every hand and refuge fails us every way and no man careth for our souls then we address our selves to God and say to him Thou art our refuge Psal 142.4 It seems that David though he were a holy man was very apt while he was furnished with these outward favors to rely too much upon them so far as to neglect the Lord. But when the Lord by crosses and afflictions took them from him or made him see the vanity and insufficiency of them then he cryed out And now Lord what wait I for my hope is in thee now I have tryed how fickle and how vain the creature is now I perceive by sensible experience that no help is in it Now Lord what wait I for c. And thus I think I have sufficiently cleared the point God can and will preserve c. To add a word or two for Application Vse This serves to let us see the admirable and transcendent happiness of all that have an interest in Jesus Christ in this respect that they are safe from all evil God will withhold no good from them as the Prophet David speaks and then upon the other side he will keep all evil from them as you have it in my Text. Beloved we are here in an uncomfortable place a wicked world in which we are exposed as considered in our selves to all evil We are exempt from no temptation No not the blackest and the bloodlest to the very worst of sins We are secure from no affliction no not the sharpest and the most extream If there be any worse then other which we conceive would be most bitter and intolerable to us it is going in the world and it may seise on us as well as others Yea we are always bearing with us in our bosoms that which is infinitely worse then both the other viz. the evil of corruption so that we seem to be in a very sad condition But yet this comfort waits upon us still the Lord will surely keep us absolutely free from the evil of them all The worst of them may do us good but it shall never do us hurt as long as there is any vertue in our Saviours Intercession as long as he hath any interest in God the Father And therefore when we look upon the world and see it marching out against us with bloody persecutions and afflictions when we look upon the Devil and see him ready to assault us with his fiery darts and fierce tentations when we look inward to our own hearts and see such swarms of hellish lusts and base corruptions there and are ready to cry out in the anguish of our souls Oh miserable men that we are who shall deliver us let us look up to Jesus Christ and think upon his powerful Intercession with the Father that he hath prayed him to preserve and keep us from all the evil in the world and so let us be quiet and secure Let us say as David once Though I walk in
see 1 Pet. 1.12 we would not foolishly mispend so much of our pretious time in empty frothy and unnecessary studies nor waste away that Lamp of reason in our bosoms in unprofitable blazes but we would set more time apart to look into the Patent of salvation and to acquaint our selves with Jesus Christ before hand that when we come into his presence at the latter day we may be entertained as friends and not as strangers You hear that Gospel truth is the study of the Angels they had a little inckling of it and it was so ravishing that they must dive and prie into it they were not able to forbear it Oh Fools and Ideots that we are that now the Lord hath made it plain to us we should be so careless of it that now the knowledge of it is attainable we should wilfully neglect that pretious truth which was so studied and enquired into in Heaven which Angels reacht after and yet when all was done came short of the discovery Secondly Since Gospel truth excells all other truth let us give it the preferment as in our Inquisition so in our acceptation and let us value it and prize it above other truth Every truth of God is pretious but this truth is most pretious and therefore should be most esteemed and layed up with most care All the sayings of God are worthy of acceptation but Gospel sayings are worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1.15 all that is possible to entertain them with And therefore the Prophets call the time of the Gospel tempus acceptabile the acceptable time the year of the Lord Isa 16.2 And if we look into the Scriptures my beloved we shall see what worthy acceptation it hath found Zacheus made haste and received our Saviour gladly into his house Luke 19.6 So did the brethren at Jerusalem receive the Apostles because they brought the Gospel with them Acts 21.17 So did the Bereans receive the Gospel it self with all readiness of mind or forward affection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 17.11 So did the Galathians receive the Apostle with the honour of an Angel even as Jesus Christ himself because he preached this excelling truth to them Gal. 4.14 The Merchant in the Parable you know did dearly purchase it the Saints did earnestly contend for it and took the Kingdom of heaven by violence And hath it found the like esteem with you my brethren have you received and entertained it as a transcendent and excellent truth have your souls been even ravisht with the knowledge of it have you preferred it in your thoughts and your desires before all other knowledge yea before all other things Alas how many are there that never valued it who think it to be foolishness in comparison of that which brings them worldly profit or advantage It is a miserable thing to see how this incomparable Gospel is slighted in the world Now I beseech you my beloved think upon it what is it that you despise The wisdom of God in a mysterie which is adorned with so many glorious Titles in the Scripture to raise our hearts and our affections to it without which all the wisdom and all the learning in the world is nothing else but loss and dung And who is it that you despise in it for the contempt and undervaluing of the Gospel carries in it more dishonour to every person of the Trinity then any other sin It is a shamefull undervaluing of the Fathers wisdom which he hath shewed in no one thing so much as in the revelation of the Gospel and therefore it is called the wisdom of God as if the Gospel were the short abridgement the summ and the Epitome of Gods wisdom It is a fearfull slighting of the Fathers love as if in all the business of our Saviours passion he had but put himself to needless compassion and shewed such love to men as he might very wel have kept in his own bosome for any thing we either need it or care for it It is an horrible contempt to Jesus Christ to suffer him to stand waiting at our doors even till his head be full of dew and his locks with the drops of the night to put in his fingers by the hole of the lock to humble empty and deny himself to suffer the indignities and wrongs of men the heavy wrath of God himself and after all to have that pretious blood which was drawn out with such woful agonies and with such exquisite and horrid tortures counted no other then the blood of a common Malefactor no more regarded nor lookt after no though presented and offered to us and that with obsecrations and intreaties too who is able to express such baseness as this is It is a high indignity to the blessed Spirit of grace to suffer him to wait in vain to move and to perswade in vain to beg and to beseech in vain till we do even weary him and send him sad from us Oh let us tremble of such contemptuous usage of the Father of the Son and of the Spirit in the contempt of their Gospel And henceforth let us receive it and embrace it as an excelling truth as that which is of singular behoof and use and consequently calls for singular esteem from us Vse 2 Is it so That the Word of God especially the Gospel is the truth That Gospel truth is the truth that it excells all other truth Then certainly it lies on the professors of this truth to have a carriage answerable to it to have an excellent carriage according to this excellent truth that so it may not be disparaged and dishonoured by our unsuitable and unagreeing conversations As it is glorious in it self so it should be glorified by us and among us as the Apostles phrase is 2 Thess 3.1 As it is excellent in it self so it should be presented to the world as excellent by us while we adorn it by our holy lives as the Apostle Paul exhorteth Tit. 2.10 that we adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things And in a word my Brethren We must walk as becometh the Gospel of Christ this excellent Gospel Phil. 1.27 And to this end I shall commend unto you but these two things First you must maintain it as an excellent truth Secondly you must obey it as an excellent truth This Gospel truth must be maintained by you as an excellent truth Indeed my Brethren you must stand for all Truth you must never be against it but you must be always for it as the Apostle Paul insinuates 2 Cor 13.8 I can do nothing against the truth but for the truth But you must stand for Gospel truth rather and more then for any other truth because it is of more concernment and of more use We are more eager and earnest in asserting the right and interest we have in things of worth then in things of smaller value That which is excellent will have more to stand for it then that which is
them hasten him and fetch him by their prayers that he may say unto them as the Angel did to Daniel Dan. 10.12 From the first day that thou didst set thy self to understand thy words were heard and I am come for thy words And here to quicken you a little I shall present you with a few Considerations 1. The Lord expects you should be very earnest and importunate with him this business He hearkens after supplications and looks that men should ply him hard Thus saith the Lord the holy one of Israel and his maker Isa 45.11 Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons command you me q. d. There are great things to come that I am doing for my Church what is the reason that ye are so stil and that I hear of no Petitions from you touching these things You are alwayes plying me for present things but I delight to hear you pleading with me for those glorious things to come which I will surely do for my people Come put in your Petitions and requests concerning them and I will stoop so low to be commanded by your prayers Ask of me things to come concerning my Sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me 2. Consider in the second place to quicken you in prayer that this is such a business as is worth your earnestness assure your selves you cannot lay out too much heat and zeal upon it When once the Lord hath gathered in a people to him over all the world the Church shall have perfection of beauty It is a very high expression but you shall see it is applied to Sion Psal 50.2 And it is meant apparently my bretren of the Gospel Sion of the Gospel Church for in the following parcell of the Psalm the Lord rejecteth Jewish worship Indeed the Churches happiness shall be so great in those dayes that it is called heaven very often in the Scripture And so the Saints who are to be the Members of that Church are said to dwell in heaven Apoc. 13.6 Indeed my brethren it shall be heaven upon earth 3. Consider that the bringing in of people over all the world to Christ will be an extraordinary honour to him the enlargement of his Kingdom is the enlargement of his glory It adds exceedingly you know my brethren to the Luster of a Kingdom when it hath many people under it and when the territories of it are amplified and enlarged It s no such glory my beloved to be the King but of a little City or a little Island or of a small and inconsiderable company of men But to be the King of many Nations and of many Kingdoms to have a multitude of people in subjection this is a glorious thing indeed In this respect the Empire of Christ Jesus in the latter times shall be unparalleld when once the Jews come in and bring the fulness of the Gentiles with them And therefore out of love to Jesus Christ and regard to his glory we should be intent upon it 4. Consider that the bringing in of people over all the world to Jesus Christ will be very beneficial and advantagious to our selves Perhaps we do not apprehend it to be so this Countrey is come in already to the profession of the Gospel we are come in already and what need we care so much for other Nations and for other people We are well enough our selves and why should we look after others Yes my beloved we have reason to look after others for till all others that belong to Christ of all the Nations of the world be gathered in we are not in so good a case as we shall be afterwards We are in Christ perhaps and that is well for us indeed but others of his people by election of many other Countreyes are as yet without and we without them cannot be made perfect as the Apostle shews Heb. 11. ult We without them are members in a sence of an imperfect body We without them have but imperfect grace nay though we were in heaven already we could have but imperfect glory Till all that appertain to Christ be gathered in of all Nations so long as there is but a man without there can be no day of judgement and so no full reward no complement of our beatitude And therefore we have reason to help on this glorious work to the utmost of our power because till it be accomplished it cannot be so well with us as it will be afterwards we without them cannot be made perfect Is it so that Iesus Christ sends forth his Ministers to gather Churches and to erect his Kingdom over all the world Here then is matter of rejoycing and thanksgiving for us the once rejected and neglected people of the Gentiles There was a time my brethren when we were set without the verge the reach of mercy When the poor Gentiles liv'd and we too liv'd without God without Christ without a promise without Gospel when Christ did never send to them to invite them to come in and when he had no Scepter but in Jewry no subjects in a manner but among that people Alas my brethren Christ was a King in those dayes to break the Gentiles by his power but he was not a King to rule them by his grace But now my brethren in these Gospel dayes there is no such respect of persons with him as the Apostle shews Acts 10.34 In every Nation and in every people he hath or shall have some to serve him and to be accepted with him And therefore whereas formerly he sent his messengers to none but to V se 3 the people of the Jewish Nation and gave them an express Injunction Goe not into the way of the Gentiles In which respect it was that Peter was scrupulous to preach the Gospel to Cornelius Now he sends forth his Ministers to all the world to all Nations now he enlargeth their Commission Go preach the Gospel to every Creature So that we Gentiles are included in it All Countreys People Callings Nations are alike to Christ in this respect the publication of the Gospel and the tender of Salvation belongeth to them all alike and if they entertain it and embrace it whether they be Jews or Gentiles whether they be Males or Females whether they be bond or free they shall have salvation by him How great a cause have we my brethren that are Gentiles of rejoycing and thanksgiving that Jesus Christ should send to us that the word is come to us as it is to all the world that we should have the Gospel published and revealed to us That we who formerly were utterly shut out from the enjoyment of the means of our salvation should have as full and free a title to them now as the very Iews themselves Nay that we should have the preferment of the Jew in that by the abundant blessing of the Lord upon the means the Churches of the Gentiles which were wholly desolate and barren heretofore should be more
he knows their lying doing and rising up takes notice of their very thoughts observes them how they go to bed and how they rise whether they think of him whether they call on him or no They are so near him that he cannot choose but mark them For others that belong not to him that are without God and without Christ in the world he looks not so much after them But for those that are within him they cannot but be under his immediate care and special eye He searcheth out their wayes he doth not superficially observe them only but he searcheth deep into them he sees their very grounds and ends so that they cannot fail in any thing no not so much as in a circumstance but he spies them And this me thinks should make us very circumspect in all our wayes and infinitely cautious that we sin not That of the Prophet is remarkable Jer. 8 19. Is not the Lord in Sion is not her King in her why then have they provoked him to anger And I may say upon the other side Is not Sion in the Lord are not true believers in him in the Father and the Son why then have they provoked him to anger They that are far away from God perhaps may be the bolder to offend because they may conceive with those in Job that he is shut up in the Clouds and that he cannot see them at a distance or if he do he cannot reach them But they that are in God me thinks should be very circumspect They should consider with themselves that it concerns them to be wary how they walk and what they do because he is at hand to spy their faults and to observe their provocations 3. And as the sins of those that are in God cannot choose but be observed by reason of their nearness to him so neither can they choose but be corrected and chastised The Lord will take a course with them if they miscarry and if they misbehave themselves sooner and quicker then he will with other men And it concerns him so to do in point of honour for their iniquities reflect with more disparagement upon him then the sins of others do who are further from him It would be much for God to suffer sin by him but do you think that God will suffer sin in him That he will let it nestle there without controul as if he liked it and as if he took delight in it Would not this be a very great dishonour to him that God should not reform those that are in him Assuredly my brethren if God will be sanctified in them that are nigh him he will be sanctified in them that are in him either one way or the other in their holy Conversation or in their visible Correction as he was in Davids case that those that are without may not blaspheme as if he suffred sin and approved it well enough in those that are near to him No they shall know that he mislikes it most of all in them If he see many aliens to him doing any wickedness he may bear with them long perhaps for it concerns him not so much to deal against them But if he spy one of his own among them one of them that is in him he will single such a one and cull him out from all the rest and say You are in me and in my Son you are united to me in the neerest bonds and what will you do as these vile abominable wretches do Come I must order you though I let the rest alone I must not suffer you in such courses Use 4 If true believers be in God in the Father and the Son Then let them be enheartned hence to use their interest in God on all occasions in all the streights and exigencies of the Church of God You have the priviledges and the advantage to be more then nigh him to be in him so that undoubtedly you may have audience with him when you please and you may very much prevail with him And therefore see that you improve the opportunity and the advantage that is put into your hands by being Gods remembrancers in all cases If he seem to forget his Church at any time to be asleep while she is sinking do you come to him when you are with him in his privie Chamber and speak a good word for her Mind him of her sad condition and beseech him earnestly to think upon her and relieve her They that are abroad my brethren cannot do it They cannot have access to God they have no interest in God at all But you my brethren are not only in with him but you are in him so that you have his ear and heart you can prevail exceedingly with God and therefore see you be not wanting to promote the Churches cause with him As it is said of Jacob you have power with God and therefore you must seek him more in streights in difficulties and in hard cases because you can do more with God then others can Brethren there are some streights upon us at this time we are involved in difficulties more then every eye sees I speak as unto wise men judge ye what I say And therefore you that are in God that are more prevalent with him then others are be sure that you plead hard before him night and day in such a time as this is The businesses that are in agitation now are of a very great concernment and therefore see that you improve all the respect and interest you have in God about them Use 5 If true believers be in God you then that are without God be advised how you wrong them and how you be vexatious to them Take heed you do not injure and molest them for your lives And that upon a double ground For 1. Being in God they will have opportunity on all occasions to complain against you Be wary how you wrong these little ones For though they be of little reckoning and reputation in the world and though they be of little power to make defence or right themselves when they are injured they are so near to God that they are in him and they will readily tell him of it You that are men of earthly might do not oppress them by your power least they cry and God hear And he will very quickly hear them being in him You may abuse and injure others with infinitely less danger for they are far from God they are a great way of and so may cry yea cry aloud and not be heard But they that are in God are certainly within hearing And therefore be advised how you meddle with them and make them cry so close to God least the Lord hear and it displease him 2. Being in God he will certainly redress them when they make complaint to him It cannot be but he must be extreamly tender of those who are so near to him What do you think that the Almighty God will suffer men to be abused in him
and people that condemned and scourged and crucified the Lord of glory And now my brethren Will you say to me as the Disciples to our Saviour when he told them that one of them should betray him Will you ask me man by man Is it I and is it I No I expect to hear you say It is not I. What I an enemy to Christ I defie it and they that are his greatest enemies will be as bold and resolute in the denyal as any other And therefore as our Saviour gave a sign to the Disciples by which the Traytor might be known so I will give you certain signs out of Scripture by which the enemies of Christ may be discovered First they that are willing to submit to sin and are unwilling to submit to Christ they are enemies to Christ I will a little stand on either branch of this mark They that are willing to submit to sin they are enemies to Christ 'T is true indeed men may be taken captive by it as Saint Paul was they may be forc't to obey it in some certain acts notwithstanding all their striving by the power of a temptation which they are no way able to resist and yet may be the friends of Christ they may unfaignedly and dearly love the Lord Jesus But if they render up themselves to any lust if they make a Covenant with it as being willing and resolved to obey it if not content that they are sold by Adam they sell themselves to sin as Ahab did they are enemies to Christ No man can serve two Masters that are contrary as God and Mammon Christ and sin for saith our Saviour He will love the one and hate the other Mat. 6.24 So then if you be servants voluntarily engaged to any sin as being willing to obey it in the lusts thereof Whether it be drunkenness or swearing or uncleanness or the like If you resolve it is a sweet it is a profitable sin I will not strive nor pray against it because I mean not to forsake it you do indeed hate Christ It may be you do think that you may serve a lust and love the Lord Christ too But you deceive your own souls for the Truth of God hath said it that he that loves the one will hate the other As they that serve Christ hate sin so they that serve sin hate Christ And for the second branch of this mark as they that willingly obey sin so they that are unwilling to obey Christ they are enemies to Christ You are my friends saith Christ to his Disciples if you do whatsoever I command you Joh. 15.14 otherwise you are not And hence he styleth those his enemies who will not have him rule over them Luk. 19.27 Observe it well he saith not simply Those that will not have me raign but those mine enemies that will not have me raign over them bring them forth and slay them before me If then you will not stoop to Christ and to the Scepter of his Kingdom if you will not have him rule you if you will not do the things that he commands you but are resolved to walk according to your own humors and though you are informed what is good and what the Lord requireth of you yet you hate to be reformed and pluck away the shoulder as the Prophet speaks and say with those rebellious wretches Psal 2.3 Let us break his bonds asunder and cast away his cords from us that we may walk at liberty and that there may be no restraint from any thing that seemeth good in our own eyes be not deceived for you are Adversaries of the Lord Christ 2. They are enemies to Christ that love that which Christ hates and hate that which Christ loves It is the property of near and bosome friends to will and nill to love and hate the same things and enemies are just upon the other hand and so it is in this case They that are in love with sin which is the thing the only thing which Christ hates are surely out of love with Christ They that love the Lord hate evil Psal 97.10 and I may say as well They that love evil hate the Lord. It 's true that such as love him may commit it but yet they have a strange antipathy against it they hate it with a perfect hatred and every false way they utterly abhor And hence it is that they endeavour to destroy it to crucifie it every day to put it to the cruellest and basest death and if they had it in their power they would shew it no mercy You would not use a Turk a Toad as such a man would use sin But when a man shall cocker it and stroke it and delight in it when he shall not endure to have it striken with the hammer or wounded with the Sword of Gods Word but shall be ready to do violence to any man that offers it a blow or gives it but an ill word the heart of such a person is not right towards Christ And even as they are enemies to Christ who love that which Christ hates so also they who hate that which Christ loves and that is holiness and grace which he cannot choose but love because it is a beam of his own light a gift of his own spirit a stamp of his own Image a part of his own fulness for of his fulness have we all received and grace for grace But you will say Who hates this I answer they that persecute and scorn and vex their brethren for their strictness and preciseness because they follow that which good is because they fear an oath because they run not out with them to the same excess of riot they are the men that hate grace For it is holiness and grace you see that is the proper object and indeed the formal reason of their hatred And they that hate their brethren for their holiness and grace which they have received from Christ by which they are conformable and like to Christ would hate him so much more then them if he should come and live among them by how much he is holier then they are And therefore let not such as say they could affect and like of such a person well enough but that he is so pure and so precise he will not do as they do pretend any love to Christ For certainly the same affections of spite and malice and reproach which they discover against such men they would with so much greater bitterness express against the Lord Christ if he were conversant upon the earth by how much he exceedeth and transcendeth them in holiness and grace 3. They that are friends to the enemies of Christ and enemies to the friends of Christ are enemies to Christ himself Be they who they will that close with those that live in enmity against Christ and help them in their opposition to his truth and to his cause and to his glory they can never love Christ No if they did
an image and a pattern of that holiness which is originally and compleatly in the Lord who hath in this respect all beauty in him Yea it is called the glory of the Lord Rom. 3.23 All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God which shined in us in the state of innocency Indeed my brethren he hath in him the Sum and the perfection of beauty He hath all in him that doth win and raise nothing that cools or deadens the affection all things to invite nothing to avert love Others there are my brethren who have some things beautiful and comely to invite and draw love but other things uncomely and unbeautiful to keep it off Something or other there is in them that is odd unpleasing and so a bar and hindrance to affection Brethren it is not so with God he is all beautiful and all alluring altogether lovely Others are so in some respects but he is so in all respects He is altogether lovely the allurement of all hearts And the desire of all Nations Hag. 2.7 So he is always in the merit although he be not always so in the event Object But if God be so beautiful what is the reason that men do not love him Answ Because his name in this respect is not made known to them All men are naturally blind you know and blind men cannot judge of beauty until their eyes be anointed with the Eye-salve Apoc. 3.18 to make them see such beauty as this is The beauty of holiness is a spiritual beauty and that is not discerned by a natural Eye There must be a spiritual eye to see and to discern a spiritual beauty And when you have such eyes as these to see the beauty of the Lord your hearts will be enamoured on him you will be in the case the Church was you will be sick of love and say Lord turn away thine eyes for they have overcome us We cannot bear the dazling rayes of such beauty as thine is The goodness of the Lord is a part of his name and goodness being manifested and discovered is a means to draw love Now herein God excels my brethren he is good beyond pattern and beyond measure He is essentially good good without goodness as Austin speaks because indeed he is goodness it self The creatures be good but not goodness Their nature is good but goodness is not their nature But now the nature and substance of God is goodness it self so that he is essentially good and then he is also causally good as Psal 119.68 Thou art good and dost good Thou art good in thy self and thou dost good to the creature so that the earth is full of thy goodness He is eminently good so that whatsoever goodness is to be found among the creatures is eminently and transcendently in God himself Now goodness is the object of love and consequently the allective of affection If we have cause to fear God for his goodness as Hos 3. ult then surely we have much more cause to love him especially since he is not only good in himself but good to us If this part of his name be manifested and made known to us we cannot choose but love him and delight in him That phrase of the Apostle Paul is notable and may be very well applyed to our purpose Rom. 5.7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die but for a good man one would even dare to die Uprightness draws not love as goodness doth One man will hardly love another so much for his uprightness as to die for him but for his goodness manifested to himself on all occasions continually doing good to him he may come to love him so as even to lay down his life for him And even for this cause we shall love God and love him out of all measure so as even to die for him if this part of his name be fully manifested and made known to us The mercy of the Lord is a part of his name and this if it be manifested to us will beget love in us You know the Lord is said in Scripture to be merciful yea to be rich in mercy and that not only because the mercy that he hath is pretious but because there is abundance of this pretious mercy in him For both of these concur to riches there must be something that is pretious and there must be much of it and so it is with God in this case He hath a mass of mercy in him a bottomless and endless treasure such as the wants of all the world are never able to draw dry And as a rich man though he spend exceedingly yet because he hath a treasure the e is no failing no deficiency of his store so God though he communicate his mercy freely to the sons of men yet he cannot be exhausted no there is more behind still it is an infinite a bottomless an endless mercy A mercy that endures for ever Now this rich mercy God lays out as many other ways so chiefly in the pardon of our sins and hence we read of mercies and forgivenesses in God as Dan. 9.9 Mercies as the cause and fountain Forgivenesses as the effect and stream And both you see my brethren in the plural number to shew the over-flowing mercy of the Lord. Indeed my brethren there is mercy in all pardons but in the pardon and remission of the sins of Gods people there is admirable mercy And hence the Prophet wondred at it not knowing what to think or to say of it Who is a God like thee that pardoneth iniquity c. Mic. 7.18 The Prophet is transported and carryed out beyond himself in admiration And mark it well He doth not say There is no man like thee but there is no God like thee Indeed it goes beyond the mercy of any but the true living God to do this In which respect is that expression Hos 11.9 I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath for I am God and not man that speech of the Apostle Paul is full Ephes 1.7 We have remission of our sins according to the riches of his grace Now if this part of Gods name be made known to us it cannot choose but work love in us We love them who forgive us common debts especially if they be great we think that we can never do enough for them or manifest respect enough to them But we have cause to love him more who forgives us such debts as these are which if they should be rigorously exacted of us we were not able to discharge them but must be laid up under everlasting chains Oh my beloved how can this choose but draw out our affection to the Lord The woman in the Gospel had much forgiven her and what was the effect and issue of it Why she loved much Her love was answerable to her pardon Much was forgiven her and she loved much She was a great sinner and she had a large pardon and so accordingly she
be not the same Person And in this sense it is impossible for Christs Disciples to be so one in God and Christ as God and Christ the Father and the Son are the one of them in the other Well then our Saviour speaks here of the oneness which is between his Father and himself as he is the Mediator and as he is the Head of his Church For so they are both one as Jesus Christ himself speaks Joh. 10.30 And in another place he uses the very same expression in my Text and tells us that he is in the Father and the Father in him Joh. 14.10 Now the Father is in Christ as he is Mediator of the Church and Christ is in the Father in the same respect that is they are both one especially three ways 1. By Hypostatical union of the Manhood to the Godhead in the Person of our Saviour for the Manhood being joyned to the Godhead in the Person of the Son it must be mediately joyned also to the Father to whom the Son as God is joyned in the nearest tye that can be We have no higher phrase you know my Brethren to express the closest union then to affirm of two that they are one they two are are one and we cannot say more There is a union between faithful friends for there is one heart in two bodies as the Philosopher expresses it There is a nearer union between man and wife for they two are one flesh as the Apostle Paul speaks Ephes 5.31 and therefore they have one name But there is the nearest union between the Father and the Son for they two have one Essence one Nature one Name And so the Godhead being joined to the Manhood in the Person of our Saviour that Manhood by and through that God-head must needs be neerly and indissolubly joyned to God the Father 2. God the Father and the Son are one by dear affection Thus they are in one another and they live in one another as it were by inexpressible and tender love which they bear to one another How doth the Father love the Son beyond expression and that as he is Mediator for under that capacity he speaks of him Isa 42.1 and he seems to glory in it Behold my servant mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth and in another place he gives this attestation out of heaven to him Mat. 3 17. This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased q. d. I have some other children that I love well but This is my Beloved Son above the rest take notice of him this is he And hence he lays him in his bosome next his heart Joh. 1.18 acquaints him with his counsels tells his secrets to him entrusts him with the revelation of them sets him in the highest place next to himself advances him above yea far above all principalities and mights and Dominions and puts more honour on him then he doth on all the creatures And hence the Son is often speaking of the Fathers love to him and on the other side professes his affection to the Father and he would have the world to know it too Joh. 14.31 That the world may know that I love the Father so do I. So that you see here is union of dear love 3. The Father and the Son are one by unexpressable agreement and consent together Though they be divers yet they never differ No they continually mind the same things they will and nill the same things love and hate the same things and this agreement is between the Father and the Son not only as the Son is God but as the Son is Man and Mediator too The will of Jesus Christ as he is Man in all respects accordeth and consenteth with the will of God the Father Or if it were not so it must be sinful and irregular and therefore he submitted still yea even in those things which were against the Nature that he had assumed Not my will but thine be done And thus you see how the Father is in Christ as he is Man and Mediaator and how Christ as Mediator is in God the Father how they are both one viz. by hypostatical union by dear affection by unexpressable agreement and consent together Now we shall easily discover how he would have his Apostles to be one in his Father and himself which is the second thing to be unfolded in the point It is the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should not only be one among themselves but that they also should be one in God in the Father and the Son This is the special thing for which he prays That they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us 1. Then as the Father is in Christ as Mediator and Christ as Mediator in the Father by the Hypostatical union so Christ would have his Disciples to be in both of them by the mystical union That as the Manhood of the Son is mediately in God the Father in being joyned to the Godhead of the Son which is one with God the Father so we should also be mediately in the Father in being joyned to the Godhead and the Manhood in the Person of Christ That we should be in the Father by and through Jesus Christ And so indeed are all the members of the body mystical by reason of their union with the Lord Christ Christ is one with God the Father and we are one with Jesus Christ and therefore in a sense we are one with God the Father Jesus Christ is in the Father and we are in Jesus Christ Ephes 1.10 We all are gathered into one in him and therefore we are also mediately in the Father And hence it is that all the Saints are said not only to be one among themselves and to be one in Christ but also to be one in God the Father as in my Text you see I pray for them saith Christ that shall believe on me that they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us not one among themselves but one in us Not in me only but in thee too Not one in me but one in us So that you see believers all of them are in the Father by the Son 2. As God the Father and the Son are one by dear affection so Christ would have all his Disciples to be one both with the Father and himself in the very same manner He would not have them only to be one among themselves by love but he would have them also to be one in God by love He would have their hearts to live in his Father and himself by unexpressible and choice affection That they should find no rest no quiet anywhere but in God and Christ only To be so closely and indissolubly joyned to the Father and himself that nothing in the world should be able to divide them to separate them from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 3. As God the Father and the Son are one by will and by consent so Christ would have all his Disciples to be one with the Father and himself in the very same manner And as the Father and the Son agree in every thing and never differ in the least degree that which one wills the other wills So true believers should agree in every thing not among themselves only but with God and Christ too God and Jesus Christ and they should so accord in every thing that they should be as it were all one Look what God and Christ wills assoon as it is manifested and revealed to them they should will the very same yea though it be against them in their honours profits pleasures and delights They should conform their wills in all respects to the will of God and Christ And even as Christ said to the Father Not my will but thine be done So we should say to the Father and Son Not our wills but yours be done As you agree together so we agree in you and then indeed my Brethren we are like to agree among our selves when we agree in God and Christ and when our wills are suitable to their wills Or otherwise agreement without this is combination and not union And therefore Christ desiring that his Disciples should be one among themselves desireth also that they might be one in God in his Father and himself That they may all be one as thou Father art in me c. Now to descend to Application and therein to proceed with all the Use 1 branches of the Explication in their order First Is it the will of Jesus Christ that his Disciples should be one in God by the mystical union Here then you see the glorious priviledge of Christs Disciples of all that do indeed believe in him The Scripture makes it a great matter to be nigh to God and so it is indeed my Brethren a very blessed and a happy thing What is it then Beloved to be in him in the Father and the Son as they are in one another This is a priviledge to purpose and carries high and glorious things in it such as we are not able to conceive and much less are we able to express I shall endeavour according to the light I have to lay them open to you in a few particulars This being in the Father and the Son implies most intimate Communion with them both It is very much my Brethren to be with them to have fellowship with the Father and the Son 1 Joh. 1.3 All of us are far from God and far from Jesus Christ by nature we dwell a great way from them in a strange Countrey and so have no commerce with them and when we are converted we are said in Scripture to be made nigh to them Ephes 2.13 To have access by one Spirit to the Father and the Son vers 17 18. And this indeed importeth near and sweet Communion with them such as the world is not acquainted with But to be in them importeth yet more near and close Communion Indeed the nearest and the closest and most intimate that can be It is much to be with God with the Father and the Son there must be heavenly communion if it were but so But to be in them as they are in one another this must needs be much more This being in the Father and the Son importeth special interest in God The greatest interest that can be when we express the interest that any man hath in such or such a great man we use to say that he is in with him And truly it is much to say that we are in with God the Father and with Jesus Christ this is a very great matter It shews that we have much of their regard and love That God and Jesus Christ and we are great friends That while all the world are out with the Father and the Son we are the only people that are in with them This I confess is very much But what is it then to say that we in them That God and Jesus Christ and we are in a sense all one That as the Father is in Christ and Christ in him so we are one in both of them Here is interest indeed such as is impossible to be expressed This being in the Father and the Son importeth great acquaintance with them both They that are much with one another are acquainted each with other but they that are in one another must be acquainted much more They know not that which is without only that which every one knows but they know that which is within which is obscure and hid from other men They know God inwardly for they are in him They know the secrets of his heart Psal 25.14 and the mysterie of his will Ephes 1.9 And even as Christ is said to be in the bosome of the Father and so to be the only one that is acquainted with him fully and can reveal him to the world Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him So true believers are in the bosom both of God and Christ and so are infinitely more acquainted with them then any in the world besides And here to be a little more particular they know God more immediately and more distinctly then others do 1. They know God more immediately then others do they do not know him at a distance and at second hand but they know him by himself they have their knowledge of him at the Fountain head for they are in him Others hear of him by the hearing of the ear but they see him Job 12.5 and they taste him which sense requires the nearest application of the object 1 Pet. 2.3 They know him at first hand they are taught of God himself they do not only hear what others speak of God and so accordingly discourse of him as many do by memory but they speak with God himself God shews himself to them as his own phrase is and so accordingly are more immediately acquainted with him 2. And as they know him more immediately then others so they know him more distinctly then others they have not a confused knowledge of him only as we have of strangers or those whom we behold a far off as when we see a person at a great distance it may be we discover that it is a man or a woman in the general but are not able to distinguish whether it be such a man or such a woman whether it be such a friend or such a one of our acquaintance yea or no But they have a clear knowledge they see God evidently and distinctly in a measure for they are near enough to him they are in him so that they can distinguish God and Christ from any other that comes in his Name or that pretends that he is God or Christ And