by halves c. they are severely to be censured then who come in with their additions to the works of Christ and go about to botch it up with their supplies As if he had not done what he professes to his Father in my Text but had left his work imperfect So that it needed any thing which they can either do or suffer to finish it and make it perfect And here the Papists are not only faulty who make up the work of Christ and fill it out with the invented superfluities of the sufferings of their Martyrs and the merits of their Saints As if he had not done enough himself to make us perfect to satisfie the justice of his Father for us But even many of the Saints themselves sometimes though they believe that Jesus Christ hath finished the work of their Redemption and that it needs no Supplement in any kind much less that any thing that they can do can make the least addition to it yet are insensibly betrayed they know not how into a kind of joyning of their duties with him in the work of their Redemption and Salvation For this they do in some degree while they expect to be accepted with the Lord and to be justified and saved the rather for their works and duties And therefore when they seriously consider with themselves how they shall have their sins forgiven them how they shall be admitted into Gods favour they are not satisfied to look upon the work that Christ hath done to make him all in all in this business but they must also cast an eye on that which they themselves have done And when they think upon their own enlargements their deep humiliations their earnest and incessant labours in the service of the Lord they do they know not how put then in with Jesus Christ as joynt Saviours Much hath been said of late against duty so much that it hath been more slighted and neglected then it ought to be That which I speak is not against the doing of it but against the mixing of it with the work of Jesus Christ The setting of our posts by his posts and our works by his works Ah my Beloved let us be extreamly shie of this let us not so dishonour Jesus Christ as if he had not done enough to justifie us and to gain acceptance for us But since he hath finished the work himself and done it perfectly Oh let us trust him perfectly for Redemption and Salvation let us relie on what he hath done and resolve with the Apostle that we are compleat in him Col. 2.10 so that we stand in need of no addition When we are thinking how we shall be satisfied sanctified justified in this world and saved in the world to come Though we have lived like Angels and done religious duties as if we were in Heaven already let us bid all this stand by and cry out with the holy Martyr in the flames None but Christ none but Christ Is it so that Jesus Christ did not do his works by halves c. Then Vse 2 let not us my Brethren do our works by halves neither but let us finish them as Christ did If we be entred on the work and service of the Lord as many of us are O let us not give over and desist again Let not our righteousness be like the morning cloud and early dew If we have taken pains in holy Duties and have gone onward in them many years in Hearing in Prayer and in Fasting and the like let us be diligent and constant still let us hold on our way as Job saith The upright man doth Let us not give over all again as some have done in these times Let us not be weary of well doing No as we have begun to work and as we have wrought hitherto so let us work still till we have finished all the work that God hath given us to do and let our last work be more then our first And to this end I beseech you carefully to weigh these few things First If we finish not our work and if we do not end well it argues that we were not right and sound in the beginning They that are planted in the house of God saith David shall flourish in the Courts of our God they shall bring forth more fruit in their age Psalm 92.13 14. And hence it is observed by the Holy Ghost of the best of Gods servants that they never shewed such Zeal and Faithfulness and Diligence in the work of the Lord as when they drew near their end and when they saw their time was ready to expire As Jacob Moses Joshuah David Peter shewed more care of Gods Church and more zeal for Gods Glory towards their end then they had ever done before Yea Our Saviour Christ himself was never so much in prayer so painfull and affectionate in comforting and in instructing his Disciples as he was when he was ready to be offered up He wrought the works of him that sent him while it was day as his own expression is While the day of life lasted John 9.4 And therefore so let us too His unwearied diligence is very notable Luke 21.37 38. In the day time he was teaching in the Temple and at night he went into the Mount of Olives where he retired himself to prayer And all the people came early to him in the morning in the Temple for to hear him If you finish not your work and if you go not through with your business you dishonour God There is no way to glorifie him but by perseverance as our Saviour Christ insinuates in my Text saith he to God the Father I have glorified thee upon the earth How so might God reply Why I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do I have not entred on it only and carried it along awhile but I have brought it to perfection God is never glorified but by finishing his Works To begin and then fall back is to put God and Christ to shame Thirdly If you finish not your work as you dishonour God and Christ so you shame your selves too This man began to build but was not able to make an end Nothing makes a man so base and despicable in the eyes of God and gracious men as to have been religious zealous earnest hot in the beginning and to become an Enemy a Worldling a lazie idle Drone in the conclusion The salt that hath lost its savour is good for nothing saith our Saviour but to be cast out with contempt and to be trodden under feet of all men Mat. 5.13 You lose all that you have wrought and all that you have done already if you finish not your work All your obedience both active and passive is utterly lost Your active obedience is as it were forgotten with God unless you continue Ezek. 18.24 So is your passive if you fail in Perseverance Your sufferings are in vain as the Apostle speaks to the Galatians Gal. 3.4
ground on which he takes occasion to present it to his Father The hour is come Proceed we to the matter of it or the things which he desireth of the Father and this is that he may be glorified Father glorifie thy Son There is no difficulty considerable in the words To glorifie is properly to make glorious But usually and in the ordinary acceptation of the Scripture to Render glorious in the eyes of others whether it be thing or person And this is Evident by that which Christ desireth of his Father under this expression He had abased himself you know and made himself of no reputation as the Apostle Paul speakes Phil. 2.7 and now he prayes the Father that he would advance him and honour him again that he would shew him forth in Lustre and in Splendour to the world And that because the time of his abasure and humiliation was now drawing to an end and the time of his advancement and exaltation was at hand Father the hour is come Glorifie thy Son Now this petition of our Saviour intimates at least the Fathers purpose to glorifie his Son c. That he was resolved upon it and the hour in which to do it both upon the thing and time The hour is come in which thou hast decreed to glorifie me and therefore I beseech thee Father do it now fullfill thy resolution and intention The hour is come glorifie thy Son So that the point apparently suggested here is this DOCTRINE It hath been the Design and purpose of the Father to glorifie his Son Christ The Fathers resolution appeareth in the Sons Petition For that which Christs desires the Father wills Indeed he hath declared himself in this particular that he would have him honoured with the self same honour the same for nature and the same for measure which belongs to him John 5.23 That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father And therefore he himself hath honoured Christ exceedingly as you may see in the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews almost from the beginning to the end For that is the intention and the purpose of the whole Chapter God hath in these latter dayes spoken to us by his Son whom he hath made heir of all things by whom he also made the world who is the brightness of his glory and the express c. being made better then the Angels for unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son c. And again when he bringeth c. And of the Angels he saith he maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flame of fire But of the Son he saith Thy throne Oh God is for ever c. And to which of the Angels said he at any time Sit thou on my right hand c. you see the scope and drift of all is to advance and set up Jesus Christ transcendently not only above other Creatures but above the very Angels and the Apostle tells us to the same effect that God the Father exalted him for that is the expression Phil. 2.9 Now this design and purpose of the Father to glorifie his Son Christ appeareth evidently divers wayes which I shall briefly set before you It appeareth by the honourable titles that he gives him that he hath a mind to dignifie him and to set him up Sometimes he calls him Prince and great Prince Michael the great Prince Dan. 12.1 Sometimes King his King Yet have I set my King saith God the Father Psal 2.6 You see this is the name he gives him and it is written on his thigh and on his vesture that he that runs may read it Apocalyps 19.16 King of Kings and Lord of Lords Sometimes he calls him God as you may see in the forealledged place Heb. 1.8 Unto the Son he saith the Father saith Thy throne Oh God is for ever and ever And sometimes Lord not Elohim or Adonai which name is frequenlty applied to men but Lord Jehovah which name is proper and peculiar to the Living God only and which he seriously professeth that he will not give to any other and yet this name he gives to Iesus Christ Jer. 23.6 And he would have us call him by it too this is the name whereby he shall be called Jehovah so is the expression there the Lord our righteousness So that no marvail that the Apostle tels us that he honoured him in this respect exceedingly transcendently he hath highly exalted him How so And given him a name above every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow According to the Counsel of the Psalmist Psal 45.11 He is thy Lord and worship thou him And hence it is that the Apostle saith he is made so much better then the Angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name then they It appears that God hath a design to honour Christ as by the names he gives to Christ so by the names which he himself assumes in reference to Christ as he delights to call himself the Lord of Christ and the Father of Christ and the Master of Christ as being taken very much that he hath such a Son and such a servant for so he seemeth to express himself This is my beloved Son Mat. 3.17 take notice of him this is he So in another place Behold my Servant Isa 42.1 There look upon him and observe him well and see if any of you have such a servant as I have In the Old Testament the Lord was wont to call himself the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob he was honoured by those names the Lord their God that brought them out of the Land of Egypt But now in the New Testament he cals himself the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ as you may see that place for instance Ephes 1.3 I might give you many more the God that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ Thus striving to exalt him and to set him up that the eyes and thoughts of men might be taken up with him 3. It appears c. By the place in which he sets him and that is at his own right hand It is observed in Solomon by the holy Ghost himself as a great honour which he did his Mother 1 Kings 2.19 He sate down on his throne and caused a seat to be set for the Kings Mother and she sate on his right hand This honour God hath done Christ as the Apostle tels us Eph. 1.20 He raised him from the dead saith he and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places That is he set him above all other things or persons in the next place to himself And therefore it is added presently he set him at his own right hand in heavenly places far above all principalties and powers and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come this is very
Son whether we poor simple Creatures will or no but yet in any case wherein we may be instrumental to him wherein we may be usefull any way to further that which he intendeth he expects that we should come to the help of the Lord as the expression is though in another case Judg. 5.23 and therefore let us seriously consider what our duty is and let us set up Jesus Christ and glorifie him to the utmost of our power And here I shall propound two things which I shall orderly pursue First let us advance his glory when it is without our own and Secondly let us advance his glory when it is against our own Let us set up his glory when it is without our own when we have no glory by it when we have no glory with it There be many in the World that seem to glorifie the Lord Christ when his glory and their own concur and come together in a Line When Christ and they may be set up together when they advance and raise themselves in raising and advancing him they are very well content As this was Jehues case you know his interest and Gods did meet in rooting out the Line of Ahab so that he seemed to be zealous for the Lord of Hosts when he was zealous only for himself and for the greatness and the glory of his own house But when the glory of the Lord comes single and alone and naked to them so that they have nothing to quicken and encourage them to such a work to such a duty but his honour only as for their own part they are like to get disparagement among the greater part of men and to be disgraced by it they will not stir they will do nothing in such a case as this is A Magistrate it may be will be very earnest in taking course with those exorbitancies and abuses which dishonour Christ as long as he himself may attain to honour by it and be applauded every where for his integrity and zeal and courage and uprightness But when he meets with scoffs and taunts on every side when he comes to be affronted and disgraced and blasted for his forwardness and to be looked upon as a pragmatical and busie man he thinks it better to give over and be quiet A Minister it may be will be painfull in his Calling very diligent in Preaching in season and out of season while he may be commended and admired but when he misses his expected honour and applause he is like a becalmed Ship at Sea and stirs no longer then the breath of people drives him And so a private person it may be will be very holy and precise very constant and very diligent in duty very exact in waiting on the Ordinances and the like as long as those things gain him reputation and esteem with those to whom he would approve himself But when they come once to be looked upon as matter of disparagement and when he is disgraced for them he hath done with these courses These men do glorifie themselves and not Christ at least they glorifie him with relation to themselves and make his glory but a means to the attainment of their own so that their utmost end is really their own glory so that however it may seem they do not truly joyn with God in the accomplishment of this design of his touching the glorifying of his Son Christ Now I beseech you my Beloved let us not be like these men let us advance the Son of God single let us set up his glory when it is without our own Nay to go further yet let us set up his glory where it is against our own which is the second thing proposed when we are no gainers by it but rather losers in our own honour And thus the Saints of God have done as I shall give you divers instances out of the Scripture because the thing is difficult and will need the more enforcing John the Baptist was much cryed up among the people as if he had been the Messias Many men if they had been in his place would have nourished these conceits and taken to themselves those foolish attributions But he is so far from this that he endeavors every way to put them off from him There comes one after me who is mightier then I the latchet of whose shoo I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose Mar. 1.8 9. I indeed have baptized you with water but he shall baptize you with the holy Ghost q.d. You question whether I be Christ or no and thus you magnifie me and applaud me and attribute that to me which indeed belongs to Christ But I must tell you plainly I am not the Christ as in another place he doth I am no body to him I am not worthy to unty his shoes to do the meanest Office that belongs to him And for the Ministry my Art is outward and not to be compared with his I indeed baptize c. And in another place he shews the very same temper Iohn 3.30 He must increase but I must decrease q.d. It must be so and I am very well content so he increase and so his glory grow I care not though I wane and wither in my honour and in the reputation and esteem which I have among the people So the Apostles when the people ascribed the Miracle which they had done to them how did they shake away this honour from them Acts 3.12 Ye men of Israel why look you so earnestly on us as if by our own power or holiness we had made this man whole no God hath done it to glorifie his Son Christ in prosecution of this great design as it is added there in that place And when was Paul in such a heat as when the people took Barnabas and him for gods and would have offered sacrifice unto them Act. 14.13 When they heard what was done they rent their cloaths and ran in among the people crying out and saying Sirs why do ye these things you think us to be Gods but we are men of like passions with your selves and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God You see they labour to advance the Lord by taking off those high conceits which the people had of them Now I beseech you my beloved let the same minde be in us that was in these men Let us not regard a jot what becomes of our honour so the design of our God go forward touching the glorifying of his Son And let us say as Iacob in another place So Christ be glorified we have enough You that are in any office do not consider with your selves how you may carry matters so that you may be commended and approved for moderate and meek and quiet men but how you may extirpate sin which dishonours Jesus Christ and root out evil doers from the City of the Lord and if you be abused for this if loose contentious people tax you and run
any time But though he doth not yet he may No saith the Apostle Paul 1 Tim. 6.16 He dwells in light that no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see Indeed we see him darkly here as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 13.12 And therefore this is called the seeing of the back-parts of the Lord. As when we see the back-parts of a man we know him but by guess only we know him not so perfectly and distinctly as when we come to see his face Such a sight of God is that which we attain in this life And however it may seem by some expression in the Scripture that God hath fully manifested and made known himself to some here as to Jacob Gen. 32.30 and to Moses Num. 12.8 To him will I speak saith God by vision not in darkness and he shall see the similitude of God This must be understood comparatively of the Lords more clear and full revealing of himself to Jacob and to Moses then to other men But as for perfect light and knowledge of the Lord my Brethren this was not imparted neither to Jacob nor to Moses Thou shalt not see my face saith God to Moses Exod. 33.10 That is the fulness of my glory for none shall see my face and live But which way may we come to know him so far as he is to be known in this life Truly there is but one way of coming to the knowledge of him and this way is Jesus Christ No man hath seen God at any time saith the Evangelist Ioh. 1.18 What then is he not to be seen not to be known at all by any means Yes though he be not to be seen or known immediately in himself yet mediately in and by the Son he may be known for he hath manifested and revealed him to us No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him And therefore when our Saviour was Incarnate it is said that God was manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 In which respect it is that when Philip was so earnest to have the Father shewn him our Saviour bids him to behold himself and addeth presently he that hath seen me hath seen the Father also Indeed it was the business of our Saviour Christ into this Lower world to bring God down to us that we might be acquainted with him And therefore if you do indeed desire to know him go to Christ and use his help in this business If you ever see God and have that knowledge of him which is life Eternal you must have light from Jesus Christ to see him by I am the light of the world saith he Ioh 8.12 without me there is no light in all the world none but that which comes from me and which I am the Fountain of He that follows me shall have the light of Life that is the light which is life And therefore if you would have this light follow Jesus Christ for it and follow him three wayes or in the use especially of three Means follow him in a Gospel-Ordinance a Gospel grace a Gospel-duty Follow him in the Gospel-ordinance of preaching there it is that Christ shines that he gives out the light by which he shews his Father to his people It s true indeed that Moses shewed him in the Law as a Judge and an Avenger But it is Jesus Christ that shews him in the Gospel as a Father and a Saviour He is not manifest in a saving way anywhere but in the Gospel The Knowledge of him as he is discovered there and none but that is life eternal And therefore wait on that discovery if you mean to live for ever where there is any Gospel-preaching say Christ shews his Father there and follow him that so you may have life by this means I say as Solomon Prov. 4.13 Take fast hold of Instruction keep her for she is thy life Follow him in a Gospel-grace and that is faith by this it is that we come to see God and know God as by it we believe the Revelations and Discoveries that are made of God which other men may read and hear and yet because they have no faith to give belief and credit to them they get no sight no knowledge of the Lord by them It is by faith that we see him who is invisible as the expression is Heb. 11.27 There are some things that must be first believed before they can be fully understood if you believe them not you can never understand them And hence saith the Apostle in the third ver of the fore-cited Chapter by saith we understand the world to be created by the word of God A man would think he would have said by faith we credit and believe it and not by faith we understand it But the Creation is a thing that is above Philosophy and therefore is not to be fully understood unless it be believed first It is our faith that helps us to the perfect Knowledge of it and so by faith we see and know God because by faith we give assent to the discoveries that are made of God in Scripture and having once believed them we come to see and understand the nature of the Lord in them We see the Lord in his All-mightiness his All-sufficiency his Omni-presence c. which a man that hath not faith can neuer do we bring him near us by believing his Immensity and that he filleth all places as he is said to do in Scripture we look upon him now as just by us and so we have a clear and distinct sight of him Follow Christ in a Gospel-duty and that is Prayer beseech him to reveal God to you make your address to him as Philip doth Iohn 14.9 Shew us the Father we cannot see him of our selves Lord shew him to thy poor servants If Christ withdraw himself and step away go after him follow him and you shall have the light of Life If he stop his ears against you cry the louder as the Direction is Prov. 2.3 Cry after Knowledge lift up your voyce for Understanding and what then Then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the Knowledge of God Is it so that life Eternal c. If then you desire to save men from Eternal Use 4 death to bring men to Eternal Life instill the Knowledge of the Lord into them It may be you have Children it may be you have Friends or servants whom you look upon as dead they have no life of grace in them well Would you have them quickened Would you have them live for ever Do what you can by all the means that you can think upon to make them know God Instruct them bring them to the means of grace examine them how they thrive and profit by them Oh do not see them sink away to hell and die for ever for want of any help that you can yield them of any pains
that you can bestow upon them Have compassion upon them save them with fear pulling them out of the fire out of the fire of hell by this means Oh pitty such a Child or such a Friend or such a servant as you see Ignorant of God let your bowels earn upon him Ah poor dead soul And if you can be Instrumental to instill the Knowledge of the Lord into him you shall do a great work you shall save a soul from death yea from Eternal death you shall bring it to Eternal life JOHN 17.3 That they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ c. AND thus far of the thing Explained and that as you have heard is life Eternal together with the way of Explication our Saviour shews not quare sit but quid sit what this life Eternal is This saith he is life Eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent So that as you have heard it consists in holy Knowledge Proceed we now to look a little more particularly and distinctly on the Knowledge in which Eternal life consists as it is here described by the Object of it God and Christ Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent So that here is a double Object of the Knowledge mentioned and each of them is set forth by a Title and an Attribute The Title of the former God the Attribute the true God yea the only true God The Title of the latter Jesus Christ the Attribute whom God hath sent Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent And here the first thing that I shall observe is the communication of this double Object of the Knowledge wherein Eternal life consists God and Christ You see my Brethren they are closely knit together by the conjunctive particle And to shew us that they may not be divided in this great business That it is not sufficient to salvation to believe in God unless we believe in Christ to To know God unless we know Christ too Our Saviour saith not this is life Eternal to know the only true God no he doth not stop there The knowledge which proceeds no further will never bring a man to life Eternal There is another Object of this saving Knowledge which must with all be jointly apprehended by us if we mean to live for ever and that is Jesus Christ whom God hath sent And then my Brethren if we take them both together we are right It is impossible that we should perish This is life Eternal to know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Not thee alone but thee and Christ So that the Point to be observed is this DOCTRINE The Knowledge which is life Eternal in which Eternal life consists is the Knowledge both of God and Christ too not of the former only but the latter also You see my Brethren both of them are jointly made the Object of it in my Text. So that the Knowledge which neglecteth either of them is in-sufficient to salvation If it stay and rest on God and go not on to Jesus Christ it will never reach home This only this is life Eternal to know God and Jesus Christ not divided but together First it is true that it is absolutely necessary to Eternal life to know God The ignorant of him are made the Objects of a dreadful Imprecation Ier. 10.25 Yea more then so the ignorant among the heathen who were deprived of the means though not of all yet of the saving Knowledge of him and yet as you may see the Prophet prayes Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not Indeed the men that have their understandings darkened by reason of their ignorance of God whether they have means or none are alienated from the life of God Ephes 4.18 They do not live the life of Grace in this world nor shall they live the life of Glory in the world to come And the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels rendring vengeance unto them that know not God 2 Thes 1.7 So that without the knowledge of him there is no escaping everlasting wrath and vengeance There is no possibility of coming to enjoy him unless we be acquainted with him Nec cum potes aut amare quem nescias aut habere quem non amaveris thou canst not love him whom thou knowest not nor have him whom thou lovest not Nay let me go a little further that Knowledge of the Lord and only that is life Eternal which bringeth forth obedience to him You may see this evident in both the parts of godliness both in eschewing evil and in doing good As for the first hear what the Lord himself saith Job 28.28 The fear of the Lord that is Wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding To know him so to fear him to fear to disobey him and to sin against him this only is the right Knowledge As for the other part of godliness which consists in doing good see that of the Prophet David Psalm 111.10 A good understanding have they that do his Commandments They only understand and know the Lord effectually and savingly that obey the will of God Others may have understanding but it is no good understanding That alone is good and right which makes a man to do his Commandments and this the Lord himself observes of the knowledge of Iosiah Ier. 22.16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy was not this to know me saith the Lord q.d. This was knowledge to the purpose this was true and real knowledge of the Lord which made him strict and carefull in the practice of his duty And therefore because this is life Eternal God hath bound himself by Covenant to give them whom he means to save such a knowledge of himself His Covenant is to give them Understanding see the abridgement of it Ier. 31.34 They shall all know me saith God there But how shall they know God Why they shall know him so as to serve him and obey him And therefore it is said before I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts They shall not have it only in their minds to know it but in their hearts to practice and obey it And so they shall all know me So that you see the Knowledge which is saving in which Eternal life consists hath God for the object of it Secondly but though it have him for the Object of it it hath him not for the sole and only Object if our knowledge go no further it will never reach home it will never bring us up to Life and Glory The Knowledge which is life Eternal you have heard in which Eternal life consists is the knowledge both of God and Christ too Not of the former only but of the latter also To know God without Christ is not to know him savingly as I shall shew
you more at large hereafter And therefore the Apostle Peter presses those whose salvation he desires that they would grow in the knowledge of the Saviour Iesus Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 And the Apostle Paul desireth God in behalf of the Ephesians that he would give them the spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him that is of Christ Iesus Indeed this is the great thing that we must desire to know if we mean to live for ever And therefore Christ is made sometimes the only Object of a Christians knowledge as if there were no other knowledge necessary to that great End When Christ ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men saith the Apostle Eph. 4.8 and what was the intent and aim of those gifts Why to bring men to the knowledge of the Son of God God is not mentioned there but the Son of God only And the Apostle Paul taught the Corinthians nothing else but Christ and yet his aym was that they might be saved I determined to know nothing among you saith he 1 Cor. 2.2 that is I resolved so to manage and carry the course of my Ministry as if I knew nothing but Iesus Christ and him crucified And in the same respect it is that he prefers the knowledge of Christ before all other things yea before all other knowledge as being of the greatest use Phil. 3.8 He doth not only say that it is good but that it is Excellent beyond compare there is an excellency in it Yea doubtless I esteem all things but loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord yea life it self but loss for that you see is not excepted in regard of that Knowledge which bringeth us to life Eternal And hence it was that though he spake with Tongues more then they all though he abounded and excelled in all sorts of Learning yet he gloried in nothing but in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ Gal. 6.4 as intimating that especially to be considerable in the main business to make him everlastingly and truly happy But why is not the knowledge of the only true God sufficient of it self to life Eternal unless we also know Iesus Christ whom he hath sent Let us see the reasons of it Reason 1 If we know God and not Christ we know him but as a Creator and a common Saviour a Preserver not as a Sanctifier or Redeemer We know him but in such a way and very short of such a measure as Adam did in the state of Innocency And which way should we come to life Eternal by such a knowledge as this is If we look that God should save us upon this account that he hath made us we are upon a wrong ground Indeed did we continue in the state in which he made us he would be sure to save us too Could we serve him and obey him so absolutely and exactly as Adam could and did while he remained in his first Integrity I must acknowledge then it were enough to life Eternal to know him too in such a way as Adam did in that state there were no other knowledge of him necessary to make us everlastingly and truly happy But we are lost you know in the Creation there we are dead and gone and theretore it is necessary now to know the Lord under another Notion if we mean to live for ever viz. as a Repairer of the ruins of decayed and lost man-kind as a healer of the Natures and a Forgiver of the sins of his people And thus we cannot know him out of Christ and so by Consequence unless we know Christ too The old and the first frame and Fabrick of salvation was over-thrown and over-turned by the fall And if we mean to build it up again we must begin upon another ground a new Foundation God was the only Object of Fundamental knowledge then Christ is at the least the next and the mediate Object of fundamental knowledge now You know my Brethren that confession of the Apostle Peter Mat. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Son of God is made by Jesus Christ himself the Rock on which the Church is founded And other Foundation no man can lay saith the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians Eph. 1.3 11. that is no other sound and solid Foundation then that which is said which is Jesus Christ It s true the same Apostle elsewhere speaks of the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Eph. 2.20 That is the Foundation which the Prophets and Apostles laid not making them the matter of it but the layers of it for so you must conceive his meaning in that Text You are built on the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles that is on the fundamental Doctrine which the Prophets and Apostles teach of which foundation Iesus Christ himself although he be not all yet he is the chief Corner-stone The Knowledge of God was the chief point in Adams foundation The knowledge of Christ is the chief point in our foundation Christ was not there at all as Mediator but here he is in the first and chief place There are other Corner-stones that rest upon him but he and he alone is the chief Corner-stone on which all the rest are set and who supporteth all the building And therefore he that fails of knowing him must needs fail of life Eternal Secondly the Knowledge of God is not enough to life Eternal unless Reason 2 we know Christ too Because unless we know Christ we know not God as Reconciled unto us We know him only on the terms that he was with us when we fell and that is upon terms of enmity and opposition As long as we remain as Adam left us un repaired and un-renewed vve are enemies to God God is an enemy to us And if we knovv him out of Christ either we knovv him not aright or else we knovv him on such terms as these are Christ is the only Mediator betvveen God and man He came dovvn into the World to take up all the breaches and the differences betvveen his Father and his people and to make peace by the blood of his Cross And how should Christ make peace for us unless we knovv him unless we be acquainted with him unless we put our matter into his hands So that if vve know Christ vve may know God as a friend in and by and through Christ We may look upon him then as Reconciled to us as pacified and appeased tovvards us But if vve know not Christ at all vve cannot know God otherwise then as an Enemy and as a Judge and an Avenger and whether such a knovvledge of him can be life Eternal judge you Thirdly Knovvledge of God is not enough to life Eternal unless Reason 3 vve know Christ too because unless we know Christ and know him in and through Christ vve know him vvithout Interest vve know him but as none of ours We parted vvith the Lord in Adam vve lost him there and all the right
sometimes called a lye in Scripture as Ier. 10.11 his molten image is falshood or a lye because it hath not that divinity which it pretendeth to which it is supposed to have by those that worship and adore it And because it doth not yield that succour which it seems to promise You know what God affirmeth of the Idols of the Jews that they are no gods Ier. 5.7 My people have forsaken me and sworn by them that are no gods An oath is taken there by a Synecdoche for all the parts of holy worship as it is often in the holy Scripture so that the sense and meaning is q. d. My people have forsaken me the true God and worshipped them that are no gods So that the point is plain you see our God is the true God and the only true God Now the Scripture proves it further yet by Reason and Uses and Arguments in this present case it will not be unprofitable if I hint them briefly to you It appears that our God is the only true God because he and he only Reason 1 hath his being of himself He was before all things when there was nothing in the world besides him and consequently could not have his being of another Before the mountains were brought forth before the earth or world was made from everlasting to everlasting he is God Psal 90.2 he is the Lord the first and the last Isa 41.1 whereas the heathen gods are new and have their being of another and so indeed are no gods You know how David reasons They are not gods saith he and why so they are the works of mens hands Psalm 115.4 And Hosea to the same purpose Hos 8.6 The workman made it therefore it is not God Indeed it is so far from being God that it is scarce a creature it is nothing in the world Or if it be a creature it is of their own making The workman made it therefore it is not God It appears that our God is the only true God because he only is the Reason 2 living God It is the Prophets argument Ier. 10.10 The Lord is the true God But how doth this appear Why he is the living God as it is added in the next words Other gods are dead gods they have tongues and cannot speak they have feet but cannot walk And hence is the Apostles Exhortation to turn from such dead vanities as these unto the living God Reason 3 It appears that our God is the only true God as by his being and his life so by his operations and effects As it appears by what he is so it appears by what he doth Among the gods there is none like thee saith David Psalm 86.8 how doth he prove this neither are there any works like thy works And therefore the true God upbraids the heathen gods in this respect Isa 41.24 Behold you are of nothing and your work of nothing that is you are not able to do any thing you can do neither good nor evil as it is said in that place Not to speak of the creation of the heaven and the earth which is attributed to God in opposition to all other gods What can the gods of heathen or of professed Christians who make their honour or their wealth their gods what can they do to save a man in the time of his distress Riches deliver not in the day of death So that as the Prophet saith to the Idolaters of his time Isa 45.20 Ye pray unto a God that cannot save So we may say to these Idolaters of our times ye trust in gods that cannot save no this is proper to the true God There is no God besides me saith the Lord a just God and a Saviour and therefore addeth presently Look unto me and be you saved for I am God and there is none else Reason 4 It appears that our God is the only true God by the duration of his being as he is the first so he is the last Isa 41.4 he holds out when all fail For other gods they perish Ier. 10.11 Idols perish riches perish honours friends all perish but God endures to all eternity As he is from everlasting so he is to everlasting Psal 90.2 All other things are subject to decay and dissolution but he abides for evermore They do all perish saith the Psalmist Psalm 102.26 but thou shalt endure for ever They all wax old c. but thou art the same c. Use 1 Now is it so that our God is the true God Then let this serve in the first place to quicken us and stir us up to strengthen and confirm our faith in this particular and to endeavour to believe more fully and distinctly that our God is God indeed and verily the best among us have need of confirmation here for we are very apt to waver and to have doubtful thoughts about it And they that are most free from these have yet defects and imperfections in their faith of this as well as other parts of truth They have not yet attained to such a pitch but they must be adding to it and endeavour to get on to further measures and degrees And therefore let it be our labour and endeavour to encrease our faith in this particular and to grow up by full assurance of this fundamental truth that our God is the true God And to this I shall perswade and stir you up with some motives The more undoubtedly and firmly we believe that our God is the true God the more we will look to him the more we will walk with him and consequently we will converse the less among the creatures For hence it is because we have some doubts and haesitations in our faith of this particular that we have so great an eye upon the creature in our wayes that we approve our selves to men and seek the approbation and applause of men that we are afraid of men afraid of Creatures but are not afraid of God Whence is it my beloved but because we are not absolutely satisfied at all times that our God is indeed the true God but have thoughts arising in us or cast into us tending at least towards some scruple in this business and have not alwayes arguments at hand to put the matter out of all question and to suppress such thoughts as these as soon as they begin to stir in us Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall dye and of the son of man that shall be made as grass And forgettest the Lord thy maker that hath stretched out the Heavens and laid the foundations of the earth Esa 51.12 13. By which the Prophet intimates that we should never be transported so with sinful fears of men and creatures as we are but that the great Creator is set by either he is not in our thoughts or which is worse he is not in our faith And when we come to this my Brethren to have some scruples in our selves whether there
other and now they are delivered and believe lyes It is a lie and a delusion but it is a strong delusion so that you cannot stir them from it Do what you can and bring what arguments you will it is in vain the deceit is strong upon them And some are also given up to vile affections and to those burning lusts which the Apostle speaks of in the cited places This is the formidable judgement of the Lord on those who know God and do not walk according to their knowledge And therefore as we own the true God let us serve and let us worship him as such a one let us live and act for him let us be taken up with him let us make this our work to please him let us in every thing so carry and demean our selves as they should do who have the Lord for their God JOHN 17.3 Thee the only true God IS it so that God the Father Son c. is the only true God Then Use 3 let us have no other God but him only Let us be able confidently to challenge any man in the words of holy David Whom have we in heaven but him and whom have we in earth but him Is there any in the world whom we set up to our selves as a God but him only Let us be alwaies mindfull of the first and great Commandment of the Law of God which is indeed the very basis and foundation of the rest Thou shalt have no other God before me Thou shalt have a God and thou shalt have me for thy God and thou shalt have none but me for thy God And that which is annexed is very much to be observed If thou hast any God besides me it will be before me If we could go behind his back and take another god there were the less iniquity and there were the more safety it were not such a hainous thing it were not such a dangerous thing But to go and take another god before his face as if a wife should go and take another Lover and commit uncleanness with him even before her husbands face what an horrid impudence what an unsufferable provocation What saith the Lord as once Ahasuerus in the case of Haman will he commit adultery before my face for so idolatry is spiritual adultery will he do it in my presence and while I am looking on Ah desperate wretch nay then I see there is no hope of him take him away and carry him to execution And therefore let us be extreamly cautious that we have no other God but him alone who is the only true God But you will ask me now perhaps what I intend when I exhort you to have no other God but him only Truly my Brethren it involveth many things but I shall draw them to a few heads When I perswade you to have the Lord and none but him for your God my meaning is that you should serve him and none but him that you should fear him and none but him that you should trust in him and none but him Then since he is the only true God serve him and none but him Serve the Lord so as to serve no other with him So is his own express injunction Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Matth. 4.10 And here to be a little more distinct serve the Lord and not Idols serve the Lord and not Times serve the Lord and not Lusts First serve the Lord and not Idols they are all false gods he is the only true God and therefore see you serve him and not them It is a sin the Scripture very much disswades from and makes the worst of all corruptions and most abominable to the Lord. And therefore this is often called the sin in Scripture by way of eminence above the rest because it is a sin of the most infamous and odious rank And Jeroboams drawing Israel to the worship of the calves is frequently set forth by this expression he made Israel to sin He made them to commit the sinning sin the sin which is abundantly and out of measure sinfull And God himself disswading from it speaketh of it as that on which his very heart did rise which he abhorred to name on which he could not think without extremity of detestation O do not that abominable thing which I hate Jer. 44.4 And otherwise indeed it cannot be For it is the choosing of another god that is the Holy Ghosts expression of it saith he they chose new gods Judges 5.8 by which they made it to appear that they were weary of the old as if they had discovered some iniquity in God as he expostulateth with the Jews upon the like occasion Jer. 2.5 as if the Lord were found upon experience to be such a god or were not worth the keeping any longer This is a thing from which the very heathen are abhorrent and averse the Nations will not change their gods Jer. 2.11 though they be but false gods and consequently no gods as it is added there in that place Oh what an odious thing is this that the Church should change hers who hath the true and everlasting Lord of heaven and earth for her God They will not change their false gods for the true and shall we change the true God for a false Oh what an horrible indignity is this what an unsufferable provocation And therefore God is exceedingly incensed at this iniquity it is a sin that kindles anger great anger yea the heat of great anger Deut. 24.44 What means the heat of this great anger And in the following verses it is shewed to be because they went and served other gods Indeed Idolatry stirs up the jealousie of God and therefore this is added as the reason of the prohibition of it because he is a jealous God And even as jealousie in man is as the wise man notes the rage of man so jealousie in God my Brethren is the rage of God To see his Wife the Church forsake him and run a whoring after Idols is such a thing as blows and kindles up the flames of his hottest indignation In what a fearfull rage was God on this occasion behold and tremble at it Exod. 32.9 when Moses hung about him and besought him for the people he flung him off Let me alone saith God that so my anger may wax hot against them and that I may consume them in a moment And if you search the Scripture you shall find that God hath executed and inflicted the heaviest of his plagues and judgements on those that have been guilty of this sin Look on the monuments of his severest and most direfull vengeance and you shall find that as the wrath of God hath been revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men so especially against this hideous sin And as a man transported with a jealous spirit is apt to take unmercifull revenge in which respect the wise man saith He will not spare in the
could not be the least addition to him any way The meaning is that he had manifested and declared him to be glorious that he had shewed him in his glory to the world And this is that which he expresses clearly in the following verse saith he I have made known thy name to the men which thou hast given me And this he tels him he had done on earth It was done in heaven before the glory of the Lord was fully and immediately manifested there And now saith Christ it is done in earth too I have glorified thee on earth And hereupon he looks his Father should glorifie him with himself in heaven as it is added in the following words So that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE Who ever will be glorified with God in heaven must glorifie him first on Earth Our Saviour Christ himself you see can have it on no other terms And therefore he desires it only upon this account saith he to God the Father I have glorified thee on Earth and now O Father glorifie me with thy self in heaven According to his first desire in his beginning of his prayer Father glorifie thy Son q. d. I should not look for any glory from thee unless I had brought glory to thee I should be far from any expectation that thou shouldst glorifie me with thy self in heaven unless I were assured in my self that I had glorified thee here upon the earth But seeing I have done the former I pray thee Father do the latter since I have glorified thee let me be glorified by thee And as it was with Christ the Head so it must be in some degree with all the Members No glory to be had in heaven till they have glorified God on earth It s true they merit not the glory they receive from God by that which they bring to God as Christ did but yet the one is not to be attained without the other They that bring God no glory in the present world shall have no glory from him in the world to come The Lord indeed will render glory to every man that worketh good and so glorifieth him as the Apostle shews Rom. 2.10 But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness and so dishonour God in their lives and conversations he will render nothing else but shame and ignominy and confusion They shall be raised to everlasting contempt Dan. 12.2 and be made spectacles of shame to men and Angels Reas 1 And the ground is evident because so is the everlasting Counsel and Decree of God which is not to be altered or reversed Those whom he chuses for himself whom he predestinateth to be glorified with him in the world to come those he predestinateth also to bring glory to him in this present world As he predestinateth such to the inheritance above who is abundantly and out of measure glorious so he predestinates them also that they should be to the praise of his glory as the Apostle shews you Eph. 1.11 12. That he may manifest the riches of his glory in the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory so that you see as he prepares them unto glory as he appoints them to be glorified themselves so he prepares them and appoints them to bring glory to himself Rom. 9.23 To shew forth the praises of him that hath called them to his Kingdom and glory 1 Pet. 2.9 Thy people shall be all righteous saith the Lord of his Church Isa 60.21 The branch of my planting the work of my hands that I may be glorified Not only that they may be glorified but that I may be glorified too And if this be the purpose and decree of God will he not see it executed and fulfilled in all respects as well with reference to his glory as with reference to theirs shall his Counsel be accomplished in the one and not in the other do you imagine that the Lord will be put off in such a fashion that he will be disappointed of his end and of his purpose in such a business as this is No no assuredly if he predestinate men that they may be to the praise of his glory as well as that they may be glorified by him to his praise and to his glory they shall be And if they be not so at all it is apparent they are not predestinated by him and consequently they shall have no glory from him Now is it so my Brethren that whoever will be glorified with God Vse 1 in heaven must glorifie him first on earth This then may serve to shew the vanity of their conceit and apprehension who look for glory in the world to come and yet they bring the Lord no glory here It is the miserable folly and delusion of the greater part of men there is not one of us almost but thinks that God will glorifie him with himself hereafter He is an extraordinary man that doth not feed himself with this fancy And yet those very persons many of them who are strong in this opinion take no care to honour God in any of their ways nor to bring him any glory why my beloved how can you think now to be glorified with him Jesus Christ his own Son the darling of his own bosom could not have glory with him upon these terms He did not once so much as look for it Had he not glorified his Father here in this world he would not have expected that he should have glorified him with himself in heaven ye see he seeks it and desires it only upon this account And what now do you think to speed better with the Father then Jesus Christ his own Son do you imagine that you shall have glory from him though you bring no glory to him when Christ himself did not could not obtain it upon such terms as these are do you look in this regard to be preferred before Christ to have the better of God himself Ah my beloved do not gull your souls with this delusion I beseech you think upon it you who by your lewd and vitious conversations dishonour God continually you who lie in wickedness and wallow in uncleanness whose lives are full of nothing but prophaneness who are conscious to your selves that God hath not a whit of glory brought him by you unless ungodliness and sin will do it To whom a man may truly say as the Apostle doth to some Rom. 2.24 The name of God is blasphemed by your means do you expect that God should glorifie you with himself in heaven when you have done nothing else but dishonoured him on earth believe it he will be so far from this that seeing he hath not been glorified by you he will be glorified upon you He made you for his glory and glory he will have either one way or another he will not lose a farthing by you And if he be not glorified by your holy conversation he will be glorified in
your damnation and eternal ruine And all the honour that you lose him here he will fetch it out again and have his penny-worths upon you in the world to come There you must lie and burn and there is no deliverance thence till you have paid the utmost farthing Is it so that whosoever will be glorified c. you then my Brethren Vse 2 that have thoughts aspiring to the glory of the world to come and that desire to be partakers of it there you see the course you are to take you must make this your work and business how you may glorifie the Lord here how you may set him up and shew him in his beauty and his lustre to the world And though you can make no addition to him in himself yet let this be your endeavour all your days to bring in some accruments to his honour among men that they may honour him the more by your means that so when you come to die you may bespeak him as our Saviour doth when he was ready to be offered up We have glorified thee on earth and now O Father glorifie us with thy self Now there are two ways especially in which you may bring glory to the Lord either in a way of vocal declaration or in a way of real representation And both these ways you must endeavour to bring glory to him here if you desire to have glory from him hereafter First Glorifie him in a way of vocal declaration let your tongues be the Trumpeters of his glory while you are speaking upon all occasions of things that tend to the advancement of the honour and the praise of God Any thing that you conceive will set him up and raise him in the thoughts of those whom you discourse withal be sure that you insist upon it and enlarge it to the utmost let the name and let the attributes and let the works of God lose nothing by your means Glorifie him as Christ did by manifesting and by making known his name to men by telling what he is and what he doth by setting forth his power and mercy and the like that such as hear may magnifie him and admire him Study God-exalting speeches and expressions and discourses and enure your tongues to them that you may have them ready upon all occasions when there is any opportunity for Gods honour Secondly Glorifie him also in a way of real representation and here let him be glorified in what you are and what you do 1. Let God be glorified in what you are let his glory shine upon you by reflexion according to the Prophets Exhortation Isa 60.1 Arise and shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee Be you the monuments of his praise the emblems of his love and of his mercy the standing pillars on which his goodness is engraven to be read and seen of men Do you shew forth the praises or as we find it rendred in the margent the vertues of him that hath called you 1 Pet. 2.9 That every one that looks upon you observes you may see the goodness and the grace and holiness of God in you That they may say if there be so much in the stream what is there in the spring and in the fountain If there be so much in the beam what is there in the Sun of righteousness himself If there be so much vertue in them that are called what is there then in him that hath called them This makes much for Gods praise and so indeed in shewing forth the vertue we shew forth the praise and the glory of him that hath called us He hath made me saith the Church a polished shaft a choice a special and a polished piece of work and said unto me thou art my servant in whom I will be glorified When God makes such curious pieces and hangs them forth in the view of all the world he is glorified in them 2. Let God be glorified as in what you are so in the second place in what you do yea in every thing you do Let this be the utmost aim of all your actions Your acts of nature as eating or drinking or the like let these be done with reference to Gods glory as the Apostle Paul exhorts to eat and drink to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10.31 Your civil actions your trading dealing and commercing in the world your buying selling giving lending your care and labour in your calling let these have the same end You see the rule is universal in the fore-alledged Text whatsoever else you do Your holy and religious duties let those have this aspect and aim that you may glorifie the Lord and not your selves in them That when men see your good works your frequent hearing praying fasting bounty to the poor Saints they may glorifie not you the doers of them but your Father which is in heaven And in a word my Brethren no action is exempt from this direction And hence saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 4.11 If any speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any man minister let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ What then it may be you will interpose and ask Object may a man aim at nothing else but Gods glory may he propound no other end in any thing he undertakes may he have no respect to others to himself this is a hard saying who can hear it The rule as you have heard is universal Answ but that you may the better understand the meaning of it that your conscience may not be entangled you must know that other ends may be propounded in our actions in a way either of subordination or else of opposition to the glory of God A man may aim at nothing else no other end in opposition to his glory all such must of necessity be laid aside But other ends may be intended in subordination to it they may be looked upon as far as they may be subservient to this which ought to be the ultimate the utmost end of all our actions A man in his endeavours and painful labours in his calling may aim at the increase of his Estate Not that he may be lifted up above his brethren not that he may consume it on his Lusts or make it fuell to maintain his pride or his intemperance or the like These may not be his ends because they stand in opposition to the great and utmost end but that God may be honoured while he is not burthensom by his remissness and his negligence but rather hath to give to him that needeth And while he makes provision for his family and those that have dependance on him which he that provideth not for is worse then an Infidel Thus we must make the very duties of our callings pay tribute to the honour of our God who keeps his servants not as poor men do for need but as rich and
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
gavest me out of the world Thine they were and thou gavest them to me 2. All the people of the Lord Christ were first of all belonging to his Father as his chosen Not only as his Creatures but as his Elect too And thus he hath a neerer interest in those whom he bestows on Jesus Christ then he hath in any other All the world are his indeed but then there are some certain people whom he chooses for himself in a peculiar and a special way As he that is the Owner of a goodly Wood all the Trees are his indeed but yet there is a Tree or two or more which he chooses to himself and which he marks out to himself and for his own particular and private use So the earth is the Lords and all the people that are in it but yet there are some certain men whom he hath set a part from everlasting to be his to be the Vessells of his own House the Servants of his own Family As it is said of Jacob Psal 135.4 The Lord hath chosen Jacob to himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure And therefore when he gives these up to Christ and makes them actually his no marvail though he answer him as in my text thine they were and thou hast given them to me And here indeed the gift of God is most to be observed He doth not give our Saviour all that are his by Creation all the wicked he gives him but some of them and therefore he is said to give them out of the world But he gives him all that are his by Election he doth not keep one man from him God hath a special interest in them above the rest they are his own peculiar treasure as you heard but now and every one of them he gives to Christ Jesus Christ hath all his treasure take his trash who will Now for the third particular how far the Father parteth with the right he hath in those whom he bestows on Jesus Christ A man would think by the expression of our Saviour in my text that he parted with it wholly That he makes over all the interest he hath in those whom he bestows on Jesus Christ That when he gives them up to him he utterly devests himself of all his former interest so that he hath no longer any right at all in them Thine they were saith Jesus Christ why then it seems they are not now thine they were but now they are no longer thine for thou hast given them to me But certainly we must not understand it in such an absolute and rigid sense but with some grains of mitigation For when the Father hath actually given men to Jesus Christ to be his members they do not cease to be his Creatures they do not cease to be his chosen and therefore in a sence my brethren they are his still And this our Saviour Christ acknowledgeth expresly but a little after at ver 9 10. I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me and mine are thine Observe it well he saith not to the Father mine were thine before thou gavest them to me but mine are thine notwithstanding thou hast given them to me So that the Father doth so bestow his people on the Son that after the donation Christ and he do share together and have a joint and mixed interest and right in those people and however they that appertain to Christ are stiled his peculiar people Tit. 2.14 which is a term that intimates not a right in common but an unmixed and undivided right you must not understand it in opposition to the Father but to themselves and to the world and to the Devil They are his peculiar so that though they were once their own now they are their own no longer Though they were once the worlds now they are the worlds no longer Though they were once the Devils now they are his no longer But they are not his peculiar so that they are no more the Fathers No God and Christ do alwayes share as I have said and as he himself confesseth in the fore-alledged verse All mine are thine and thine are mine And in this sense you must conceive the Expression in my text Thine they were They were once wholly and entirely thine now they are not so thine for thou hast given them to me and therefore I must strike in for a share with thee Once they were thine only now it is so no longer for they are thine and mine too There is one thing yet behind That seeing all do first belong to God the Father why he doth not keep them to himself but makes them over to his Son Christ And the reason is apparent because if he should keep them to himself as things are ordered he must lose them And therefore gives them up to Christ that he may save them First Those that belong to God are his created ones or as his Creatures if he should keep them still in that Condition and should not give them up to Jesus Christ there were no other way but they must perish All that the Creator made by Adams fall have brought themselves into a lost condition His work is wholly spoyled and marr'd by sin that is come in upon it and hath defaced it and destroyed it so that unless there be a reparation all mankind is cast away and lost for ever This reparation is the work of Jesus Christ it is his business to repair the ruines of decayed mankind and to restore them to that beauty and felicity from which they are declined and departed by the fall If God the Father give him any broken piece to be amended and recovered by him he doth his work upon him and he saves him to the utmost But if the Father keep him to himself as a created one if he leave him in the condition of a Creature and do not make him over to his Son that he may be a redeeemed one that he may be recovered and restored by him he even remaineth in that miserable and undone estate wherein the whole race of mankind is involved by the fall And therefore when the Father looks on the Creation and sees his work is wholly spoiled he considers with himself I will not leave it all in this condition no some of it shall be repaired again and that shall be my Sons business And so accordingly he picks out such and such a soul and brings it to the Lord Christ There take that soul and set it right again I give it thee to this end that thou maist repair it and restore it to all the happiness which it hath lost by Adams fall Secondly they that belong to God as his Elected ones or as his Chosen if he should keep them still in that Condition and should not give them up to Jesus Christ this cannot be but if this should be supposed there were no other way but they must perish for it is not enough to the
Scripture and never leave till you know the heart of it And this is that which the Apostle Paul insinuates Col. 3.16 Let the Word of God dwell in you richly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let it dwell let it be a houshold-guest let it rise and sit and walk dine and sup and lodge with you let it be familiar to you Be you as throughly acquainted with it as any man that dwells in your house with whom you have discourse and dealing every hour And truly if you strive not thus to be acquainted with the Word of God you do not love it as you ought to do 3. If you love the VVord of God you will not easily fall out with it when you find the meaning of it and perceive it is against you in something that is naturally dear to you you will not quarrel with it your hearts will not rise up in enmity against it No your dear affections to it will make you quietly and meekly to submit to it Indeed ungodly men cannot endure the VVord of God the Precepts and Commandements of it are like bonds and cords to them they lay restraint upon them they curb them and they hold them in and hence they are enraged against it They endeavour what they can to break the bonds of God asunder they are always contradicting and opposing and gainsaying and raising quarrels and disputes against the Word because they hate it But now the Saints upon the other side are very much in Love with it and hence it is that the Commandements of it are not grievous to them they agree with their spirits they are written in their hearts Or if at any time it cross them they are not angry with the Word but with themselves that their base hearts should not in every thing agree with it Yea when it is a little sharp and bitter though their stomachs rise at first yet in the issue they submit and say as Hezekiah to Isaiah Isa 39.8 Good is the Word of the Lord which thou hast spoken They find a sweet and pleasing savour even in the sowrest passage of the Word There goes a savour with their knowledge of it as the Apostle Pauls expression is 2 Cor. 2.14 Carnal men may know abundance of the Scripture more then a pretious Saint of God but here is the difference they find no savour in their knowledg of it at least no sweet and pleasing savour No it is distastful to them it doth not suit with their palates it doth not fit their humors A Drunkard knows it is a sin to be intemperate to drink himself down to a beast A wanton and lascivious person knows it is a sin to be unclean but this doctrine doth not please him and so it is in other cases whereas the Truth is sweet to those that are in Christ they look upon it as their friend and love it because it joyns with them against their lusts who are their greatest enemies whom they abhorre and whom they hate with a perfect hatred 4. If you love the VVord of God you will hardly part with it you will not let it go from you if you can keep it any way by any means And much less will you go from it I have not departed from thy judgements saith holy David to the Lord Psal 119.102 for thou hast taught me Brethren there are a sort of men who have a kind of knowledge of the Word of God but they have no love to it and hence it is that they are easily withdrawn from it as multitudes have been in these times while they that have it dear in their affections are rooted and established in the present truth as 2 Pet. 1.12 They are not carryed clean away with every new opinion and conceit as others are They cleave unto the Truths of God with full purpose of heart They are setled in their judgements and resolved in their minds This is undoubtedly the Truth of God I know it to be so I find it to be so by sensible experience in my soul and to this I mean to stick even to the loss of goods and life and all I am resolved that I will not relinquish it what ever hazard I may undergo to hold it whatever Sophisters and slie Seducers object against it 5. If you love the Word of God you will be extreamly troubled when it is slighted and abused it will vex you to the heart to see it undervalued and despised You will be ready to reply in such a case The VVord is a good friend of mine one whom I love dearly from whom I have received much comfort And I am no way able to endure it wounds me to the very soul to see it used in this fashion Beloved these are times in which the VVord of God hath suffered much from wicked and ungodly men It hath been strangely scorned and contemned and even trampled under foot It hath been usual in these days of ours for men to speak against those things that are delivered from the VVord contradicting and blaspheming Now my Beloved how have such things as these affected you and wrought upon you what tears have they drawn from you what sorrow have they wrought in you how often have they sent you over-loaden to your closets there to open all to God It is observed by the Holy Ghost that when Jehoiakim had cut the roll in pieces with a pen-knife which Jeremiah brought him from the Lord and burnt it in the fire upon the hearth they that stood by were not afraid neither did they rent their garments nor manifest their sorrrow Jer. 36.23 24. Beloved some of you have seen as high contempt as this offered to the word of God though not in the same kind And truly if you have not rent your hearts at least if you have not been inwardly afflicted in your spirits and done what you are able to the vindication of it you have shewed but little love to Gods word By these things you may try whether you have kept the word of God in your affections by loving it and so have made it to appear that you belong to Jesus Christ by the donation of the Father Now in the last place let me quicken you a little to the love of Gods word That if you love it not already you may come to love it Or if you love it you may go on to love it yet more And to this end I shall desire you to take notice of how great excellency and admirable use it is to you as I shall lay it open in a few particulars 1. Are you yet in your natural estate the word of God is the means to convert you The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul Psal 19.7 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Sanctifie them saith our Saviour How By thy truth thy word is truth Joh. 17.17 That speech of Paul is apposite and full God hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification
thy will for thy Law is in my heart Lord we delight to pray read hear perform religious duties it is our meat and drink to do thy will for thy Law is in our hearts It is not written in our understandings only but in our hearts and our affections and this is that which makes obedience to it pleasing and delightful to us So that if you might be free from the injunctions and directions of the Word with the servant in the Law you would not value such a libertie You would not swear and be unclean and run out into all excess of ryot if you might because your spirits have by grace an inward contrariety and antipathy against it you would not cease to pray and hear and perform religious duties if you might because your spirits have an inward sweet complacencie in these things If you thus keep the Word it is a sign that you are Christs Disciples As you must keep the Word wholly and keep it cordially so you must keep it constantly you must keep it to the end as the Prophet David speaks Psal 119.33 You must hold on in keeping it you must persist in your obedience to it even to your lives end that Christ may say at last concerning you when you depart out of this world and appear before his Father Thou hast given them to me and they have kept thy word And indeed to obey it for a time and then to throw it off again is not to keep it but to lose it Alas how many such are there among us in these latter times who for a while were very diligent and Instant in the study of the Scriptures seem'd to be very cautious and exact to frame their lives in every thing according to the word of God so that they would not vary from it in the least particular Or if they found themselves at any time in any thing to swerve from the direction of the Rule they would judge themselves for it But now the Word the rule it self is laid aside as an unnecessary and a useless thing as if it were not worthy the keeping any longer there is no care at all to walk by it when there are gross and horrid deviations from it they are not looked upon as matter of Humiliation or Contrition in the least degree I wish that such would seriously consider with themselves how Christ shall own them in the latter day how he shall plead before his Father for them that they have kept his word Now my Beloved lay these things to heart and never rest till you have gotten this Character of those that are bestowed on Jesus Christ by the donation of the Father Never satisfie your selves till you keep the Word of God in your lives by obeying it till you keep it wholly and till you keep it cordially and till you keep it constantly And then there is a blessing poured out upon you by the mouth of Christ himself Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it that is that do not hear it only but obey it And to the same effect speaks the Apostle James Jam. 1.23 If as you look into the Law the word of God and understand it so you continue in it and are doers of the work not forgetful hearers of it but doers of the work you shall be blessed in the deed And that you may attain this blessedness that follows those that are obedient to the word I shall give you some direction 1. You must seek to God to teach you though you may learn to know it as that a Castaway may do yet you can never learn to keep it any other way you shall never keep the word in the obedience of your lives unless God and Christ teach you David was very sensible of this and therefore poured out his prayer to the Lord Psal 119.33 Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I will keep it to the end When thou thy self hast taught me once and not before I shall walk accordingly I shall be obedient to it It is not in the power of any in the world to teach a man to frame his life in every thing according to the word unless God himself do it But if he undertake it once if he be pleased to be our Teacher all is well And this is that which the Apostle Paul insinuates Ephes 4.20 and in the following verse ye have not so learned Christ saith he viz. to say and to profess that you are Christians and yet to live prophanely and licentiously and lewdly still If so be that you have heard him and been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus Why what doth he intend what is it to be taught by him he tells us in the following verse That you put off touching the former conversation the old man and be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man It is such a kind of teaching whereby we are transferred and brought to the obedience of it And therefore if you do indeed desire to have your lives conformed to the rule and Word of God seek to Christ himself to teach you 2. Be sure to set your selves to the obedience of it out of hand Procrastinations and delays will dash all It is observed of the Colossians that they obeyed the Word from the day they heard of it Col. 1.6 So you my Brethren do you grow practical from this day It may be you are now convinced of many things you think of this and that in which your practice is not answerable to the rule you have secret inward motions and it may be resolutions to amend all as David had I have said that I would keep thy Word saith he to God Psal 119.57 strike now while it is hot do as the same holy Prophet did I made haste and delayed not saith he to keep thy precepts Psal 119.60 Assoon as I resolved I made haste and set about it If you have holy resolutions wrought to practice any duty which you have hitherto neglected up and be doing presently do not permit such resolutions to grow cold and die within you least you never have them more I am perswaded there are many souls in hell who have purposed in many things to bring their practice to the Word to abandon such a sin and to set on such a duty they were resolved upon the thing but they could not do it yet and so the Lord hath cut them off and their delays have proved their ruine 2. If you will keep the Word of God in your lives by obeying it you must find out and mortifie the lusts that hinder you in this business or if you do not so you may resolve on this and that but surely it will come to nothing and therefore if you have within you any holy purposes of coming nearer to the Rule of leaving such a sin or setting upon such a duty think now what lust or what corruption there is
be justified when he speaketh and clear even when he judgeth Psal 51.4 when it is hardest to acquit him and to stoop to him So that you see my Brethren we must justifie the Lord in his reproofs and threatnings how sharp soever they may seem to be As Rehoboam and the Princes did when they were sharply menaced be the Prophet they replyed not they fretted not against him but confessed the Lord is righteous 2 Chron. 12.6 And Hezekiah when Isaiah dealt so roundly with him in the Name of God Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken 2 King 20.19 Yea God requireth this of all his people that they say Amen to every Curse of his and that they set their seal to it as you may see Deut. 27.26 This is the entertainment which we ought to give the word of God in this respect meekly and humbly to submit to it even when it seemeth to be most against us and not so much as once to mutter or repine at it Now this we shall not do unless we look upon it as the word of God Nothing but such an apprehension of it will bring the heart to such a temper and put the spirit into such a frame as this is That which comes to us under the notion of the word of man will never be so yeilded to No the heart will boyl and rage and rise against it But when it hath the stamp of God upon it it stoops the spirit to submission Such entertainment you may see it found in Eli upon this account It is the Lord when Samuel who was then a child declared to him what the Lord resolved to bring upon him and his house saith Eli it becomes me to be humble and sumit to this and not to murmur and repine against it for it is the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 As Hezekiah Isa 38.15 What shall I say for he hath said it to me And so in every truth that is delivered to us in every precept that is laid upon us in every reprehension that is given us in every Commination that is thundred out against us if we consider with our selves whoever be the messenger it is the Lord that speaketh this it is the word of God and not of man this and only this will make us in all humility to stoop to it 4. We must know for certain that it is the word of God that we may give it such entertainment as it ought to have in point of obedience Herein the word of God is singular it must be absolutely and universally obeyed and that not only with the outward but also with the inward man It doth not only take command upon the members but even the spirit and the conscience must be subject to it And that without delay without question without exception without reservation assoon as that which is delivered to us appears to be the word of God there is no room for disputation or expostulation but obedience All that the Lord Commandeth we must do Exod. 1â— 8 if he command it we must do it This is the entertainment which we ought to give the word of God The word of man can challenge no such honour and respect from us All the commands of men are limited and are to be obeyed so far and but so far as they agree with the commands of God or else at least as they are not repugnant to them And consequently while we look on any word as that which comes from man or as that which is of man we cannot yeild it such obedience as is peculiar to the word of God But when we know once that it is of God when we are certain that he is the Author of it we shall no longer think our selves at liberty to obey or disobey No this perswasion will convince us that it is absolutely necessary to resign our selves to the obedience of this word of his who is such a Law-giver as is able either to save or to destroy and with whom every disobedience receiveth a just recompence of reward JOHN 17.7 Now they have known that all things c. Vse 1 NOw is it so that they that will give the word such entertainment c. We see the reason then my Brethren why the word is so unworthily and slightly entertained by the greater part of men why it hath no greater reverence no greater credit no more submission no more obedience then it meets withall from those that are the ordinary hearers of it Alas how is it disrespected and despise everv where how little credit doth it find with me how do their hearts and spirits rise against it when it meeteth with corruptions and crosses them in their ways and their humors how far are they from yeilding absolute obedience to it in every thing that it requires of them And what 's the cause of all this Truly the main and principal is this that they believe it not to be indeed and truth the word of God When it is read or preached to them either they call the matter into question and are in very great suspense whether it be the word of God or no or else they peremptorily resolve as Israel did It is not he Jer. 5.12 It is not God that speaks to us this is not the word of God and then no wonder though it be neglected and despised by them They hear a man and so accordingly resolve that that which is delivered to them is of man and that it hath no higher Author then the man that speaks to them And some of them will now and then express themselves Preachers may say their pleasure in a pulpit and the like And hence it is my Brethen that their respect and entertainment of it is answerable to their apprehension of it such as belongeth to the word of man and no more They regard it and believe it and obey it just as farre as they themselves please But you will say perhaps if you could hear the Lord himself speak to you Oh how would you fear before him how would you stoop to him how would you yeild obedience to his voyce But who is this that you hear a man such as your selves are whose weaknesses and failings and infirmities are known to you Oh but remember that though you have this treasure in earthen vessels yet it is a treasure still and it is of God still That all the messengers of God in their regular prescripts ought to be instead of God and instead of Christ to you That it is not they that speak but the Holy Ghost himself that speaketh by them Mat. 10.20 And therefore even as he that heareth them heareth God so on the other side he that despiseth them despiseth God himself Luk. 10.16 They were but men that preached to the Thessalonians the Apostle and his fellows so that they might have made the same objection and so have kept themselves from due and reverend entertainment of the word which they delivered But they
such great encouragement at least to petition thee for them or to expect a gratious answer and a merciful rerurn from thee in their behalf But they are thine as well as mine I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine True thou hast given them to me but so that they are thine stil Thou art not utterly devested by thy gift of the right thou hadst in them and therefore it is meet and congruous that thou shouldst still continue thy regard to them and that thou shouldst be flexible to the Petitions that I make for them Now this he clears a little further yet that they were his Fathers still though they were bestowed on him because all that belonged to him were so I pray for them whom thou hast given me for they are thine How so might the Father say if I have given them to thee how are they mine Why saith our Saviour all that I have is thine all mine are thine and consequently they are thine too notwithstanding this donation So that the Conjunction And they are thine and all mine are thine stands for the causal particle as if he should have said for mine are thine And so we find it often used in the Scripture you may take that place for instance Psal 60.11 Lord do thou give us help from trouble and vain is the help of man so it is the Original but in our last Translation it is rendred by the causal particle for vain is the help of man so in my Text They are thine and all mine are thine that is for all mine are thine q.d. Father they must needs be thine for indeed all mine are so so that the point to be observed is this DOCTRINE That all the people of the Lord Christ do belong to God the Father They are not his so that they are not the Fathers too Christ hath not a divided but a mixed and common interest in all his people with the Father And hence he wraps up both their rights together in my Text They are thine and mine are thine and thine are mine So that the Father doth not give his people so to Christ that he doth wholly pass away his right in them No they continue his still yea let me say that they are more the Fathers when he hath given them to Jesus Christ and Christ hath taken and received them then they were before he gave them as I shall make it evidently to appear to you For When Christ hath taken them for his then he hath none but Christ to share with him whereas before he had the Devil and the world and themselves to share with him before we come to appertain to Christ we are our own as we conceive at least we are not for the Lord but for our selves we live not to the Lord but to our selves we are the worlds we are not only in the world but we are of the world too we are her own as Christ speaks Joh. 15.19 The world will love her own Yea more then so we are the Devils we are the things which he possesseth We are the Devils own possession we are Satans free-hold But when we come to be the Sons by the donation of the Father then we are our own no longer as the Apostle tells us on the very same ground Ye are not your own saith he 1 Cor. 6.19 We are the worlds no longer as our Saviour Christ himself informeth his Disciples in the fore-alleaged place If ye were of the world the world would love 〈◊〉 own but ye are not of the world for I have called you out of the world We are no longer Satans neither the Prince of this world is cast out the strong man is bound and spoiled of that which was before his own possession So that you see my Brethren Christ takes off all other sharers in his people when once they come to be bestowed on him and to be seiz'd upon by him He either buys them out by good purchase or drives them out by plain force and so they come to be the Fathers and his own entirely and peculiarly so that the Father is apparently a gainer by it his interest is greater in them then it was before for whereas there were many sharers in his people formerly now there is none but Christ to share with him He and be alone is lest and all the rest of the pretenders are casheered They are more the Fathers when he hath given them to Jesus Christ and he accordingly hath seiz'd upon them then they were before he gave them because his title now is strengthened and enlarged Indeed before he had a title to them by creation but now he hath a title to them by Creation and Redemption too For Christ doth not redeem us for himself as distinguished from the Father but as one together with him His Father gives a people to him for this very end that he may purchase and redeem them not to himself alone but to his Father too He is the Fathers Minister the Fathers servant in this business in the great work of Redemption his Father gives him and his Father seals him and his Father sends him and consequently what he doth he doth not for himself so much as he is man but for his Father and therefore when his Father hath bestowed them on him by Election and he hath bought them by Redemption his Father is so far from being outed of his right that now he hath a better title to them then he had before Now he can say not only as he could before they are mine for I have received them but more then so they are mine for my own Son hath bought them and brought them back again for me when I had lost them They are more the Fathers when he hath given them to Jesus Christ and he accordingly hath seized upon them then they were before because now they are one with him Before they did in some respect indeed belong to him but now they are one with him they are not only one with Christ but they are one with God the Father too in and by and through Christ for being joyned to Christ who is one with God the Father they cannot but be joyned to him whom Jesus Christ is joyned to and hence our Saviour speaking to his Father of his people saith he they are one in us Joh. 17.21 not one among themselves alone but one in us not in me only but in thee too So that when God bestows a people on our Saviour he brings them nearer to him then they were before He doth not only make them his but he makes them one with him and an interest of union is far beyond an interest of meer possession So that yee see the point is cleer The people of the Lord Christ do belong to God the Father and that the more because they are bestowed upon him by the Father The Fathers
as they did in the Parable we have born thy name and we have been called Christians and have been accounted thine and wilt thou not acknowledge us and own us now And Christ shall answer them depart from me I know you not go get you over on the other side among the Goats I tell you you are none of mine Ah my beloved this will be a cooling and a killing word indeed Is it so that Jesus Christ is glorified in all those that belong to him Vse 2 Both in their grace and holiness in this world and in their glory in the world to come This then should be a motive and inducement to us to strive and labour after both these both after grace in this world and glory in the world to come both to be holy here and happy hereafter 1. This should quicken us and stirr us up to labour after holiness and grace that Jesus Christ may be glorified in us If grace were only advantagious to our selves and honorable to our selves as to be really and truly gracious is indeed the greatest honour in the world there were no such reason then why we should labour to attain it and abound with it For then you know we could have no higher aim then only to set up a poor Creature But seeing Jesus Christ is honoured in the grace and holiness and the obedience of his people Oh how should this enflame us with restless and unsatisfied desires of these things How should we covet and covet earnestly the best gifts and labour that we may excell in inward grace and outward obedience that we may set up Jesus Christ the more and that his honour may be the more advanced by us When we are seeking to the Lord for holiness and grace that he would give it out to us and give it more abundantly how should we press and quicken our petitions with this prevailing argument that Jesus Christ will be advanced by it and his glory more enlarged Lord give us more faith love hope patience zeal power against corruption strength to new obedience that Christ may have the more glory We seek not these things to promote our own esteem and reputation and that we may be some body among the Saints but that Christ Jesus may be all in all It is thy great design to glorifie thy Son Christ and this is the ready way to accomplish the design on which thy very heart is set if thou give us more holiness and more grace he will have more glory Thou wilt not honour us so much but Jesus Christ thine own beloved Son will be glorified in us And therefore we beseech thee set thy Treasure open to us and give us out a large share In such a manner the Apostle deals with God in his petitions in that memorable place to this purpose 2 Thes 1.11 12. We pray continually for you saith the Apostle there that God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power That he would carry on that work of grace upon your souls till he hath brought it to perfection And why so to what end That the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you not that you may be honoured but that Christ may be glorified in you 2. And as this should stirr us up to labour after grace in this world so after glory in the world to come Since Christ is glorified as in the grace so much more in the glory of his people For glory is compleat grace and therefore Christ is glorified in that to admiration as we have shewed you formerly in explication of the point The Apostle speaks of some who seek glory Rom. 2.7 he means the glory of the other world as it is very evident by that which is joyned with it glory and honour and immortality and Eternal life And truly it is not unlawfull for every one of us to seek glory I mean our own eternal glory in the heavens because while we seek that we seek the glory of Christ in it It s that which troubles many of the Saints they think that they are scarce upright because they have so great an eye upon their own glory They doubt their own sincerity meerly upon this ground Indeed my brethren if your own glory and salvation went single and alone it were a greater cause of scruple But since the glory of the Lord Christ is comprehended and involved in it why should you not desire and seek it as subservient to the great and high end And therefore I beseech you my beloved under this notion have respect to it and draw encouragement and sweetness from it amidst the many heavy labours and bitter sufferings of this present life Look up man to the glory that is set before thee press hard towards it be diligent and patient in the expectation of it strive and labour to obtain it while thou considerest with thy self that when thou art glorified Christ will be glorified in thee And so in aiming at thy own glory do thou intend and seek the glory of Christ And this is that which thou maist do yea this is that which thou must do And therefore go on cheerfully embrace the promise that is yet afar of reach at the Crown of glory that is hung out to tempt thee and to toll thee on And let this animate thee most of all that when thou hast attained it Christ will be glorified and admired in thee He whom thy very soul loveth will have one monument the more of his own praise and glory unto all eternity And thus far of the first Consideration that induced our Saviour to become a Suitor for his Apostles and Disciples to his Father viz. the neer relation which they had to his Father and himself by means of which it came to pass that he was glorified in them The second follows now in order to be handled viz. the sad condition they were likely to be in by reason of the near approach of his departure from them to the Father and leaving them behind in an unquiet and malitious world And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee A dolefull and heart-killing word you must conceive it was to his Apostles and Disciples and now I am no more in the world They who left all for him must needs be very much dejected to be left by him And to be left alone in such a wilderness in such a troublesome unpleasing and a vexatious place as the world hath alwayes been to Christs Disciples As long as he was with them he was a very great support encouragement and comfort to them in all conditions and in all cases And therefore now he is about to leave them he thinks it necessary to commend them to the especial care and mercy and protection of his Father There are two things suggested in this dying Song this last
wholly to themselves and to their own free wils either to ratifie it or infringe it so making his decree like a Noveriut universi If men believe not persevere not then the election must be void Otherwise if they believe and continue to the end it must remain in full power strength and vertue I say that this corrupt opinion which is so confidently vented now adayes may not take with any of you I shall lay down some arguments against it and answer others that are brought for it This universal and conditional election overthrows the end of God all which he aims in all his Counsels and Decrees and in all his dispensations viz. the glory of his free grace This was that which the Lord had in his eye when he appointed men to glory even that he might make known the riches of his own glory on those which he prepared to glory as you have it Rom. 9.22 Now how shall he attain this end by choosing all men to Salvation if they will themselves how is the glory of his mercy magnified and advanced where is the freeness of his grace more to one man then another since he doth alike for all electeth all alike to glory and salvation prepareth heaven no more for one man then another so that if any man be saved he may thank himself he may glory in himself and not in God And therefore it is very notable that the Apostle making this the end of the decree of God viz. the glory of his grace withall discovers that he electeth men to life not according to their wills as they will either choose it or refuse it but according to his own Eph. 1.5 6. Having predestinated us by Jesus Christ to the praise of the glory of his grace How so according to the pleasure of his will To shew that he works freely in the business without impulsion or provocation from external causes And so he must if he will atttain his end If it be to the glory of his grace it must be according to the pleasure of his will So afterwards ver 11 12. We are predestinated that we should be to the glory of his grace And to this end we are predestinated according to his purpose who worketh all things after the Counsel of his own will If he will glorifie his grace in this business we must be saved according to his will and pleasure and not according to our own His will must have the first and greatest stroke in this mercy This universal and conditional election as it overthrows Gods end Vse 2 so it hinders our duty It cannot choose but wonderfully cool and dead our hearts in rendring thankfulness to God when we consider with our selves that he hath done no more for us in this business of election and salvation then he hath for all the world Our Saviour Christ endeavouring to quicken his Disciples to thanskgiving shews them the priviledge and the preferment which they had in the mercy of the Lord Mat. 11.25 and 13.16 17. And the same course the Prophet David takes with Israel Psal 147.19 20. He shewed his word to Jacob his statutes and his judgements to Israel He dealt not so with other Nations and therefore you are specially engaged to praise the Lord. And certainly that soul shall find it self most quickned and enlarged to the praises of the Lord that sees his special and peculiar favour to it self which millions are rejected from Oh will the soul consider with it self in such a case Why hath God pitched on me neglecting others whence was it that he took me into his decree what did he see in me more then in those whom he laid by why he did choose me In our elections who are men beloved there is something still that carries and inclines us to a choice Some fitness in the object of it some relation to our selves some motive or inducement that prevails upon us But now my brethren we are all alike to God in the act of his election we lay together in the same corrupted Mass all weltring in the same blood and tumbling in the same gore and when he came to choose a little number in comparison of those he left Oh what a mercy was it that he should pitch on thee and me which if he had not done we had been lost for ever Truly my brethren did we sit down and weigh it well in our advised and deliberate thoughts it would transport and carry us beyond our selves It would make us to break out with the Apostle Eph. 1.3 4. Blessed be God who hath chosen us us who deserved no more then others who were no fitter for his choice then others And yet us when he hath rejected others Oh blessed be the Lord for this mercy But now my brethren none of this if all be chosen to salvation with this condition that they will accept it they may have it if they will The damned reprobate in hell by this account hath as much reason to be thankfull as the triumphant Saint in heaven Why may this wretched Catiffe say God did as much for me as him only indeed I did not so much for my self And may the glorified Saint in heaven say The Lord hath done as much for those in hell as ever he hath done for me He hath elected them as well as me and he hath assisted them as much as me for he is to all alike only they have not used their own free-wills as well as I have done and this is the only cause that they are damned and I am saved And therefore I wil ever thank my self and not God At least I have no greater cause to think him then the damned have If there be any difference between them and me it is not God that made it but my self God did for them and me alike And that they are not in the same condition with me the only reason is because we did not for ourselves alike And therefore they are every way as much obliged and bound to God as I am Vse 3 This universal and conditional election doth in some respect set up man above God God for his own part chooseth all men to salvation he would have all men to be saved How comes it then to pass whence is it that they are not saved Because they will not themselves God will and they will not who carries it in this business Their will takes place and not Gods The will of God you see by this opinion is ordered and disposed by the will of man He chooseth all men on condition but his final resolution and absolute determination is suspended upon the operation of the will of man He is at liberty to make it good or make it void at his pleasure If he will be saved he may if not he must be damned though God for his part have ordained him to salvation What is this but to make God in some respect an underling to man to make the will of
Scripture how improbable soever the Saints of old have closed with them What an unlikely promise was it that was made to Abraham that he should have a Son when he was full a hundred years of age and a seed that should be as innumerable as the stars of heaven and that by Sarah too a withered and a barren woman What strong objections might they both have brought against it And yet they did not argue but believed that it should be just as the Lord had spoken as the Apostle speaks of Abraham Rom. 4.20 21. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God Yea and of Sarah too though she were somewhat doubtfull and incredulous in the beginning yet even of her he saith She iudged him faithfull that had promised That great and Master promise of the resurrection of the body from the dust is far above the principles of nature and philosophy and therefore the Philosophers at Athens laughed at it Yet Job believed this seeming Paradox as he professes Job 19.26 I know saith he he uses such a word you see as intimates a full perswasion I am confident of this that though after mys kin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God And so let us my brethren whatsoever is foretold in Scripture let us stedfastly believe that it shall surely be accomplished and fulfilled And thus of the first argument or reason with which our Saviour presseth and enforceth his petition to his Father in behalf of his Apostles and Disciples that he himself would undertake the keeping of them Holy Father keep them through thy own name Which hath been taken as you may remember from his own effectual preservation of them during the time that he had been amongst them And therefore he would have his Father keep them now because he himself had kept them and kept them very safe till now While I was with them in the world I kept them Before our Saviour adds a second reason to enforce this supplication and request of his he interposes a discovery of the end why he presents it and why he is so earnest in it Saith he I put up this Petition to thee while I am resident in this world I do it in the hearing of my Apostles and Disciples that they might have their comfort much encreased by this means And now I come to thee and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves So that the words you see are the account our Saviour gives his Father of the Petition which he makes for his Apostles and Disciples or rather of the circumstances of the making of it Why he makes it in the world why he did not defer the making of it till he came to heaven and sate down at the right hand of his Father there to be an everlasting Intercessor for his people but rather chose to make it here before he went in the presence and the ears of his Apostles and Disciples while they were by and hearkning to him These things saith he I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves And here we have two things to be examined and resolved What our Saviour means by his joy which he would have fulfilled in his Apostles and Disciples why he calls it His joy and not theirs That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves not their own joy fulfilled but my joy fulfilled in them And How this joy should be fulfilled by his presenting this Petition for them to his Father in their hearing before he left this world which way this circumstance should tend so much and be so available to the accomplishment of that joy As for the first of these our Saviour calls the joy which he would have to be fulfilled in his Disciples his ioy Not that he was the subject of it or that it was inherent in himself But either First because he was the object of it that they might have my ioy that is to say the joy which they take in me fulfilled in themselves Or Secondly as Calvin thinks because he was the author of it That they might have my ioy the joy which they have from me fulfilled in themselves But how should this presenting this Petition for them to his Father in their hearing how should this circumstance conduce so much to the fulfilling of the joy within them Truly my brethren it might be very helpfull to it many wayes Either as it manifested Christs affection to them and his care of them in which they could not but exceedingly rejoyce What he would do in their behalf when he was come to heaven was not so clearly known to them But this he did before he went in their hearing he earnestly besought his Father to take special care of them to keep them through his own name they heard it with their own ears how earnest and importunate he was which could not choose but be an extraordinary comfort to them that Jesus Christ should have such dear and singular regard to them Or else it might fulfill their joy as it assured them of their special preservation after Christ was gone from them There is no question to be made they were in many doubts and fears when he was about to leave them And had he gone without discovering any care of their safety their sorrows would have been increased If he had only prayed in secret for them to his Father and desired him to keep them this would have added to their safety but what would this have added to their joy But when they heard him being ready to depart to yield them up in such a serious solemn manner to his Father and to make this his last request to him while he was here in this world that he would keep them this could not but assure them that they should be kept and so fill them full of joy And hence our Saviour having put up that Petition for them Holy Father keep them through thy own name And that because while I was with them in the world I kept them Adds this immediately and now come I to thee and these things speak I in the world before I come I speak them here among them that my Discples being ear-witnesses to my importunate and earnest intercession for them may have the joy either which they take in me or which they receive from me the more abundantly fulfilled in themselves The words thus opened yield us out three Observations First Christ is the Author and Original of the joy of his people Secondly Jesus Christ would have his people to be full of holy joy Thirdly Their perfect knowledge of his intercession for them is one special means to fill them full of this joy DOCTRINE Christ is the Author and Original of the joy of his people If they have any true and real joy it comes from him they have it from the Lord
of Salvation so of Consolation and therefore it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good news or as the Angel tells the Shepherds Luk. 2.10 good tidings of great joy In which respect it is very notable that when our Saviour was about to preach the Gospel he was anointed with the Spirit which is called the Oyl of gladness The Spirit of the Lord is upon me saith our Saviour because he hath anointed me Isa 61.1 And what follows why then he preaches good tidings to the meek he binds up the broken-hearted proclaimeth liberty to Captives and opening of the prison doors to those that are bound there which is very joyful tidings He comforts those that are in sorrow appoints to those that mourn in Sion not to those that mourn abroad but to those that mourn in Sion in the Church beauty for ashes the Oyl of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness So that you see my Brethren it is all joy and all comfort By which it is apparent that our Saviours special aim and drift in publishing the Gospel is that the people might be full of joy And therefore it is much to be observed that when our Saviour entred on his Ministry assoon as he had been baptized and tempted he preached his very first Sermon upon this comfortable Gospel Text Luk. 4.17 to shew what was to be the main intent and drift of his ministry Christ gives his people pretious promises and seals them with his own blood that they might be full of joy Indeed this is the great end my Beloved both of the promise and of the confirmation of it It 's true if Christ had been reserved if he had kept his purpose and intention in his breast and in his bosom if he had made his people no promise the execution of his merciful designs had not been less sure and certain in it self but it had been less sure to us we had not had the less benefit but we had had the less comfort For he would surely have fulfilled his own intentions to his people though he had never been obliged by promise to perform them So when the promises were made there is no doubt they would have been observed and kept though they had never been confirmed yet Christ hath ratified them with his own blood as the Apostle shews us Heb. 9.16 Not with the blood of Bulls and Goats but with his own most pretious blood And why hath he done this why doubtless that there might be nothing wanting to his peoples comfort The promise is not made a whit more certain by our Saviours sealing of it with his blood but we are made the more certain The promise is not made a whit the more sure but we are the more assured and so we have the more comfort What do we think of God that he who is the God of Truth would not have kept his promises that he would have broken with us had they not been thus confirmed No certainly my Brethren he would have been firm and constant but we might have been assaulted with continual doubts and fears we should not have attained to such unshaken and such sweet assurance And therefore Christ hath set his seal to all the promises he hath sealed them with his blood to this end that we might have strong consolation as the Apostles phrase is Heb. 6.18 He hath shed his blood you see that our comfort might not be weak but strong comfort that our joy might not be imcompleat but full joy Christ gives his people glorious Ordinances that they might be full of joy For Ordinances are not for our profit only but they are for our comfort too Oh how was David taken with them How did they fill his heart with joy when he was banished from them for a time how did he melt to think upon the overflowing Consolations he had sometimes found in them How did his heart pant and gasp after them Oh with what self-consuming wishes did he long to be restored to them One thing have I desired of the Lord saith he Psal 27.4 No question he desired many things but one thing he desired above the rest that he might dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of his life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple where publick Ordinances were dispensed Which shews the infinite delight he took in them I might distinctly shew how special Ordinances serve for the comfort of the Lords people I will bring them to my Mountain saith the Lord and make them joyfull in my house of prayer Isa 56.7 So for the word Jer. 15.16 Thy word was to me saith the Prophet there the joy and the rejoycing of my heart With joy shall ye draw water saith the Lord out of the wells of salvation Isa 12.3 Some understand the Ordinances by the wells in that place You see particularly then what the end of Christ is in giveing Ordinances to his people and what use they serve for Not only to help onward their Salvation but their Consolation too By which it is apparent that even in these dispensations he hath a great aspect upon their comfort Christ gives his people cleer discoveries and revelations of himself that they might be full of joy you may observe how they were overjoyed to whom he shewed himself after his resurrection from the dead they were not able to contain themselves And so when Christ reveals himself to any soul at this day when he comes in and shews himself to it it is sometimes almost transported to an extasie of joy Especially when he hath hid himself awhile then such discoveries of himself are out of measure sweet and pretious When this Sun of righteousness hath been overcast awhile so that the Saints have walked in darkness dayes and years without a glimps of this reviving light Oh with what inward ravishment doth it break forth upon the soul again The wife while she enjoyes the constant presence of her loving husband it may be thinks not much upon it she is not much affected with it But if he have been long away so that she hath not heard for many years neither where her husband is nor when he means to come again and after all her fruitless expectations of him hath resolved with her self that out of question she shall never see him more and then at last when she is wholly our of hopes in strikes her husband on a suddain at the door she is not able to contain her self for joy his presence is incomparably sweet and pleasing to her Even so when poor distressed souls have waited long for Christ and thought that they should never see him more with comfort and then at length he comes and shewes himself to them his gratious presence is extremely pretious He makes them full of joy with his countenance as the expression is Acts 2.28 Christ sends the Comforter to his people that they might be full
his spirits when he was about to faint why yet saith he I shall not dye but live for all this as near as I am brought yea I shall live to glory and triumph in Gods works in that which he shall do for me to live in dangerous times and to get through them though but with an escape is mercy But to get through them with a conquest is far greater mercy To live in troubles though in the end they overcome us is an honor But to live in them so as in the end to overcome them to be as the Apostle was in deaths often and yet to live and to triumph this is happiness indeed Consider in the worst of times and in the midst of greatest troubles you may be serviceable to the Church of Christ Perhaps more serviceable then in better times because the Church may need you more This caused Paul who else had certainly desired dissolution to pitch upon continuance in the body For me saith he to die is gain it is best to be dissolved and to be with Christ But to abide in the flesh is more needful for you Phil. 1.24 And therefore that I shall resolve upon as David once I shall prefer the Church before my own joy yea before my chief joy And as you may be serviceable to the Church in the midst of greatest troubles so you may be instrumental to the glory of the Lord perhaps more instrumental then in better times It was the weakness of Eliah that God must take away his life when by his own confession there was none almost to stand up and appear for God and for his Truth against the great corruptions in those times but he only Then should he have desired to have lived when God had greatest need of him It 's true that death in such a case would be a benefit and ease to us yea but our life would be a glory to the Lord and this we should desire before the other This world is the proper place where we bring glory to the Lord in the world that is to come we are glorified by him Oh let us be so ingenuous to desire to be a while where we may bring God glory rather then where we may have glory from him Let us not be so eager for our wages for our rest till we have finished our work and served our generations and when we have done so then God will glorifie us with himself for ever And thus far of the first part of our Saviours Explication in which he tells his Father plainly and expresly what he doth not pray for I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world The second follows now in order to be handled in which he tells him what he doth pray for But that thou shouldst keep them from the evil There is no difficulty in the terms requiring any tedious Explication Some dispute indeed there is about the meaning of the word Evil from which our Saviour prays his Father to keep those that belong to him There want not some Expositors who understand this Evil here to be the world it self which indeed is very evill which lies in wickedness as the Apostle speaks 1 Joh. 5.19 As if our Saviour should have said I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the world which is evil in it self and which will surely draw them into evil too by her temptations and her sugred baits unless thou keep a watchful eye upon them and take them into thy tuition Others take evil in the ordinary notion of it and so it comprehendeth and involveth in it all sin and all affliction according to the known distinction of it into the evil of fault and the evil of pain whereof the latter is the fruit and issue of the former So that our Saviour in their apprehension prays his Father that he would keep his Apostles and Disciples from all the evil in the world For all may be reduced to these two heads Not that he would remove them from it but that he would preserve them from the evill in it Others conceive the Evil mentioned in my Text to be the Devil For he is often called the evil one in Scripture as you may see that place for instance 1 Joh. 5.18 Beza is very resolute for this interpretation For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he conceives is rather taken for a person then a thing And besides the Article saith he which is adjoyned puts the matter out of question That thou wouldst keep them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is from the wicked one And so we find the same expression used by the Apostle 1 Joh. 2.13 I write unto you young men because you have overcome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked one that is the Devil As for my own part I see no reason to reject this or either of the other Expositions but to take our Saviours prayer in the largest and most comprehensive sense which will be most for the support and comfort of the Church And so accordingly the Observation shall be this DOCTRINE God can and will preserve those that belong to Jesus Christ from all evil as long as they remain in this world Whether the evil be the evil of corruption or the evil of affliction the evil of sin or the evil of punishment Whether the evil be the world as some conceive or the Devil as others think God can and will preserve those that belong to Jesus Christ from all these in such a sense as I shall open to you by and by Both these are manifest in this Petition of our Saviours here I pray saith he that thou wouldst keep them from the evil From what evil none is excepted and therefore out of doubt he means from all evil He prays that God would so preserve them that nothing that is really and truly evil not in it self and in its nature only but to them nothing that is so to them might come upon them And seeing Jesus Christ desires it of his Father it is very evident that he is able so to keep them or else it were a vain Prayer and it is as manifest that he will keep them so or else it were a fruitless and an ineffectual prayer God can and will preserve those that belong to Jesus Christ from all evil For clearing of the observation I shall shew you particularly and distinctly that God can and will preserve them from the evil of temptation and from the evil of corruption and from the evil of affliction And if he keep from these he keeps from all from the world and Devil too though neither of them be expresly mentioned for if the world or Devil hurt us it must be either by temptation or affliction God can and will preserve those that belong to Jesus Christ from the evil of temptation Whether you understand it of the temptation of the world or the temptation of the Devil
should never be removed And there are many promises of special preservation from dangers and distresses made to those who have an interest in God and Christ I might heap up a multitude of such but there is one Psalm of David that seems to be a short Compendium and abridgement of them all viz. Psal 91. He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome Pestilence He shall cover thee with his feathers his truth shall be thy shield and buckler thou shalt not be afraid for the terrour by night nor for the arrow that flyeth by day nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor the destruction that wasteth at noon-day A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand on thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold it Thou shalt see it seize on others but for thy own part thou shalt be exempt from it There shall no evil befall thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling For he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee Now these and such like promises the Lord makes good to his even in the very letter of them when in the infiniteness of his love and wisdom he sees it most expedient for them 2. Or if God do not keep them from affliction that it doth not touch them he keeps them that it doth not stay too long with them The rod of trouble though it strike them yet it doth not rest upon them It is on and off again in due time It s true God often suffers those who belong to Jesus Christ to be brought into affliction but then he doth not leave them there his manner is to bring them out again To deliver them from evil according to that passage in the Lords prayer And therefore he is stiled the deliverer of his people and the God of their salvation He that is our God is the God of salvation and to the Lord God belong the issues from death not from inferiour dangers only but from death it self And hence salvation is ascribed to him as his peculiar It is of the Lord sath Jonah Chap. 2.9 Salvation belongeth to the Lord saith David Psal 3.8 and his blessing upon his people It is his work to save us from distresses and afflictions the secondary means are subordinate to him they move but as he acts them And this is very usual with him if he prevent not the afflictions of his people that they do not come upon them yet he delivers them at length from those afflictions assoon as they have done their work in them yea let them be as many as they will Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of all 3. Or if God do not keep them who belong to Jesus Christ from the evil of affliction by way of preservation or deliverance from it he keeps them many times by way of preservation and delivery in it So that though it seize upon them it is no pain or trouble to them And thus he kept the three Confessors he did not save them from the furnace but he saved them in the furnace Dan. 3.27 The fire had no power upon their bodies nor was a hair of their head singed neither were their Coats changed nor the smell of fire did pass upon them According to that pretious promise Isa 43.2 when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Or if not thus he qualifies his people so with inward peace and comfort and assurance that they feel not what they feel They are so ravished and transported to an extasie of holy joy that they are in a sort insensible even of the greatest torment that humane cruelty can devise to inflict Unto the righteous saith the Psalmist ariseth light in darkness glorious comfort even in the midst of greatest troubles Psal 112.4 Thy light shall rise in obscurity saith God Isa 58.10 And thy darkness shall be as the noon-day Such light did there arise to some of the blessed Martyrs when it was darkest with them in regard of outward comforts so that they sung in the prisons in the irons in the flames they were not able to contain themselves by reason of the sodain flash of joy that came breaking in upon them which made them to forget the miseries and torments which they suffered yea though the fire did kindle on them and consume them into ashes yet many of them warbled out melodious accents in the flames professed that they were amidst the fire as in a bed of down and spices where they felt nothing else but admirable joy and comfort These men you see did more then conquer they did triumph in the very midst of their unparalleld and matchless sufferings so that they might have taken up that comfortable speech of the Apostle Rom. 8.37 In all these things we are more then Conquerors And what were those things see at the 35. verse In tribulation and distress and persecution and famine and nakedness and peril and sword then which there are no greater outward evils in the world In all these things we are more then Conquerors through him that loved us 4. Or if God do not keep his people from the smart at least he keeps them from the hurt of their afflictions The world indeed may persecute them and that to the very death they may take away their names their estates their lives from them but though they kill them they can never hurt them God keeps them from the evil of all this from the evil in the world as you have it in my Text what ever comes upon them they are no losers in the main but gainers rather All things are for their sakes saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.15 for their profit and advantage Yea though the outward man perish by reason of the length or violence of the affliction the inward man is renewed day by day Their afflictions work out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory They may suffer grievously their sufferings may deprive them of the life of nature but they cannot deprive them of the life of grace or glory They may be persecuted but they cannot be forsaken totally and finally they may be cast down but they cannot be destroyed 2 Cor. 4.9 They may be destroyd as men but they can never be destroyd as Saints In this respect they are like Mount Sion that can never be removed The rain descended saith our Saviour and the floods came and the wind blew and beat upon the house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock Mat. 7.25 q.d. Nothing can hurt or overthrow him that is built on Jesus Christ he shall stand fast for evermore Nay to go a little further God doth not only
now my beloved in the dayes of the Gospel He is ascended up on high on purpose to give gifts unto men for the work of the Ministry Ephes 4.12 He makes able Ministers of the New Testament 2 Cor. 3.6 If he make them they are able and if they be not able they are none of his making Now this ability consists especially in two things 1. Ability of knowledge The Messenger of Christ is to deliver to the people the mind of Christ the mysteries the depth the secrets of the Gospel Such depths as the Angels desired to pry into but could not find the bottom of them And therefore Jesus Christ endueth them with more then ordinary understanding in these things They may not upon pain of being guilty of the blood conceal the very Counsel of God they must be able to evince the truth and to convince the gainsayers Tit. 1.9 To cleer the doubts of the erroneous and satisfie the scruples of the tender conscience They must be filled with knowledge their lips must be a store-house of it and at their mouths it must be sought for by the people Mal. 2.7 They must be ready upon all occasion to drop down the balm of Gilead the sweet and pretious comforts of the Gospel into the sores of those whom God hath wounded To speak even to the hearts of Gods people to utter a word in due season to which alone is required the tongue of the Learned Isa 50.4 To preach Christ and to deliver his errand with all wisdom Col. 1.28 And therefore whomsoever Christ sends he fitteth them accordingly in some measure He gives them that which the Apostles calls understanding in the mysterie of Christ Ephes 3.4 and makes them Scribes taught to the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Ability of utterance Behold I give you wisdom and a mouth said Christ to his Apostles Luke 21.15 So when he sendeth forth his Messengers he doth not only give them wisdom and understanding in the message that he sends them in but he gives them a mouth too to utter and communicate that wisdom to the people Or else what doth their wisdom and their knowledge serve for as Messengers or Ministers unless they have a mouth to bring it forth and to declare it to the people I do not say that all the messengers of Christ must have voluble tongues and fluent expressions There was among the Prophets a stammering Moses as well as a smooth and eloquent Aaron A plaâ—â— blunt Amos for the Countrey as well as a Rhetorical Isaiah for the Court among Gospel Ministers there was a chief speaker Acts 14.12 But yet however all that are sent by Jesus Christ have in a measure that which the Apostle calls a door of utterance Col. 4.3 a faculty to speak to edification The Priest of Old must have knowledge in his lips as well as in his head as Mal. 2.7 And the reason is annexed because he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts And you know a Messenger or an Embassador must not be dumb but able in some handsome terms to utter and express the errant of his Master And this is intended when the Apostle speaking of a Minister saith he must be apt to teach 1 Tim. 3.2 They that are sent by Jesus Christ as they are furnished with ability both of knowledge and of utterance so they are qualified with propensity And this is that which the Apostle calls a ready mind to feed the flock 1 Pet. 5.2 and a good will to deal to the people the Gospel of Christ 1 Thes 2.8 Suppose he have ablility yet if he have no mind to use it for the benefit and profit of the Church of Christ no zeal to stir up the gift that is in him but is remiss and idle and prefers his ease and pleasure before the bringing in of souls to Christ it is a shrewd presumption that Jesus Christ did never send him But if he can be well content to spend himself and to be spent for the salvation of the peoples souls if as John Baptist he be a burning and a shining light wasting himself and burning out that he may give the people light If he account it as his Master did his meat and drink to do the will of him that sent him John 8.34 so that he is not in his Element unless he be about his Ministerial work If he resolve with the Apostle this will I do if God permit and think no peril nor no pains too great that he may finish his course with joy and the Ministry which he hath received it is very probable that such a one is of Christs own sending They that are sent by Jesus Christ are qualified with sincerity I do not mean sincerity as Christians but as Messengers of Christ in the delivery of their message without addition or substraction In doctrine shewing uncorruptness gravity sincerity sound speech that cannot be condemned Tit. 2.7 And this is that which Paul himself professes he had done 2 Cor. 2.17 We saith he are not as many that corrupt the word of God but as of sincerity and in the sight of God speak we in Christ The Steward and the Messenger of Christ as he is wise so he is faithfull a faithfull and a wise steward He doth not for his own ends adulterate the Message of his Master or coin a Message from him which he never sent him in And hereby you shall know him from another that was never sent by Christ As Christ speaks of false Prophets by their fruits you shall know them Mat. 17.16 that is by their fruits as Prophets not as men Not by the fruits of their persons but the fruits of their doctrine The same may be applied to the false Messengers of Christ by their fruits you shall know them If the doctrine which they teach and the message which they bring be not the same which they have received from Christ if they speak not the words of Christ but fancies and devices of their own if they deliver that which is against Christ against the Word and Spirit and Ordinances of the Lord Christ which tends to looseness and licentiousness as many do in these times believe it they are none of Christs sending Is it so that Apostles and Ministers c. then certainly they ought to be Vse 5 received by you and so received as those that come from such a one as Christ is As Christ should be well entertained because the Father hath sent him so the Ministers of Christ should be well entertained because he hath sent them Oh how welcome should we bid them who come from such a dear pretious friend as Christ is How beautifull and lovely should their very feet their uncomliest parts be What are you come from Jesus Christ indeed hath he sent you are you come from our Master our Husband our Head You are very welcome to us And here to be a little more distinct the welcome entertainment we should give them consists
Brethren they have not gone beyond their line they have not strayed beyond the bounds of their Commission Christ doth not send his Ministers as you have heard particularly or restrictively to any Countrey or to any Nation but their Commission leaves them free to all the world Even the Commission not of Apostles only but of the ordinary Ministers of Christ as I have shewed before in Explication of the point so that they are within their compass still though they be among the Indians even at the other end of all the Earth And it is to be very much observed that Christ hath given abundant testimony to this glorious work of theirs in the incredible success of their endeavours there so that poor naked souls come continually to Jesus Christ stoop to the Government and Scepter of his Kingdom desire to be acquainted with his will to be instructed in the way of his worship to have their children brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord And in a word they shame us who have so long enjoyed the Gospel that we are even weary of it and begin to put it from us and so to judge our selves unworthy of eternal life The Lord in mercy grant it go not from us to the Indians who prize it more are more eager after it and more fruitful under it according to their light then multitudes of us professed Christians are Now I beseech you my Beloved cast an eye upon them travail thither in your thoughts and meditations there you shall see some Ministers of Jesus Christ once our fellow-Labourers spending themselves undergoing difficulties without number or measure to convert souls and gather Churches among blind Heathens There you shall see the Gospel blossoming the Church enlarging her Tent and stretching forth the Curtains of her habitation the Doves flocking to the windows of the Ark the Church of Christ the fulness of the Gentiles now beginning to come in and in a word that great work going on which is incomparably the most remarkable that Christ hath yet to do in this world What shall we do now my Beloved and how shall we behave our selves under such a dispensation shall we as many have done heretofore and it may be yet do condemn the Instruments as if they went beyond themselves in this business Shall we mock at these beginnings of the building of the Temple shall we despise the day of small things shall we as Gallio care for none of these matters Truly the least that we can do is to comply with Jesus Christ in this design of his for which he sends his Ministers into the world and to promote this glorious work to the utmost of our power It is in the hands of those for whom as you have heard it is too heavy so that they cannot mannage it they are not able to go through with it They seem to call over to us as the man of Macedonia Come to America and help us Oh let not such a work miscarry and fail of being driven on for want of any help that we can yield to it a work that is so purely Christian as this is But which way can we help it on it may be you will say to me Truly my Brethren if no other way we may promote and help it on at least without purses and our prayers This we may do at this distance I shall speak a word to either 1. We may promote it with our prayers This was the course the Prophet took as you may see Isa 62.1 In the precedent chapter he is very large and eloquent on this business shewing the future glory of the Church by the addition of the fulness of the Gentiles in all Countries and in all Nations And having done with the description of it in two whole Chapters me thinks he is an end to hasten the fruition of it For Zions sake I will not hold my peace saith he and for Jerusalems I will not rest So we my Brethren having heard of the beginning of this great work in America let us do as Isaiah did let us be always crying to the Lord let him be hard beset on all hands let him not have a quiet hour The Lord hath set his Watchmen on the walls of his Jerusalem to this purpose Isa 62.6 that they may watch such opportunities as these are And least he should forget this great work when it is upon the wheel he hath appointed some remembrancers to mind him of it and therefore let us be continually minding God of this business beseeching him to go on with this work till he hath brought it to perfection till the whole fulness of the Gentiles be come in till Christ inherit all Nations Let us remember that we have a little sister in America and that now is the day of speaking for her for now her case and business is in agitation and therefore now let us be earnest with the Lord let us pray and pray hard let us not be cold or dead in such a suit as this is We may promote it with our purses and estates And this is that especially we have in hand at this time There are very many things in that great business now on foot that need pecuniary helps as hath been said The charge that lies on these that are the agents in it is exceeding great and indeed too heavy for them and therefore we me thinks that share not in the difficulties and the labours that other of our Brethren undergo among the Indians should be content to share a little in the costs for who would willingly sit wholly out in such a blessed work as this is Alas my Brethren how much idle mony do we spend a hundred ways that might be saved for such a purpose And truly I believe we never had occasion to lay mony out to a better end then this Now we may help in a qualified sense to purchase souls with money to further the accomplishment of the Gospel promises with money we may make temporal and earthly things serve spiritual and heavenly ends And therefore I beseech you my Beloved enlarge your bounty more then ordinary in such a choise and extraordinary work as this is Let love to Christ and to his Church compassion to those blind Americans draw out your very hearts to them that those poor Indian souls whose Conversion and Salvation you may further by this means may bless you Thus make you friends of the unrighteous Mammon that you may render up a good account when the day of reckoning comes Is it so That Jesus Christ sends forth his Ministers into the world and Vse 2 that as I have said to gather Churches and erect his Kingdom over all the world Then let this raise our hearts my Brethren in reference to this work which is indeed the greatest and the most eximious that Christ hath yet to do in this world Oh let our hearts be lifted up towards it and that especially three ways in
fruitfull and have more encrease of children then she that sometimes had an husband Oh let us magnifie the grace of Iesus Christ let us adore the infiniteness of his mercy that he hath cast us on these happy times wherein he takes such care of poor Gentiles wherein he sends to them and wherein he looks after them as if they were some rich purchase Ah my beloved did we follow this mercy as far as we could reach it in our thoughts we should at length finding no end or bottom in it cry out with the Apostle Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and goodness of Christ c. JOHN 17.18 Even so have I also sent them into the world DOCTRINE 3. There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending Christ into the world and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world THis is apparently suggested here in the particle as and the particle also As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world My sending them is much like thy sending me So he compares them each with other in another place almost in the same words Iohn 20.21 As my Father hath sent me so send I you The thing is plain enough that so it was in some respects But wherein and in what respects this likeness stood will need to be explained with much Caution Because as there was great likeness between the Fathers sending Christ and Christs sending his Apostles and Ministers into the world so there was a great unlikeness too As the similitude was great so certainly the dissimilitude was great too And therefore while I shew the likness I will shew you the unlikeness both of them at one veiw That you may see the one the better for the other As God the Father sent the Son with authority and power so Jesus Christ sends his Apostles and Ministers with authority and power too as God gives him power so he gives them power And therefore having said to his Apostles All power is given to me both in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.18 he adds immediately in the very next words Go ye therefore and teach all Nations and baptize them q. d. because I have received such ample power my self therefore I give you this Commission by which I put a part of this authority and power on you Go forth and exercise it over all the world And this is that which the Apostle calls the power which Christ hath given him 2 Cor. 13.10 To intimate that he received his power and his authority by way of delegation from the Lord Christ as Christ received his power and his authority as he is man and Mediator by way of delegation from the Father and as the Father gives the Son a Key of power as you may see in that remarkable place Isa 22.22 The Key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder that is upon the shoulder of Eliakim who was in that respect a figure and a Type of Christ and he shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open so Christ gives Keyes of power to his Apostles and his Ministers as you may see exemplified in Peter Mat. 16.19 I will give thee saith Christ the Keyes of the Kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven viz. either in the preaching of the word or in the regular administration of the censures of the Church Here is a great Similitude you see between the power with which the Father sendeth Christ and the power with which Christ sendeth his Apostles and his Ministers into the world As Christ hath power to shut and open from the Father so have they from Jesus Christ as Christ hath power to bind and loose from God the Father so have they from Jesus Christ As Christ hath power to remit sins and to retain them from the Father so have they from Christ and therefore having said to his Apostles As my Father hath sent me so send I you he adds immediately in the next verse save one Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained But yet as the similitude is great in this respect so is the dissimilitude The power which Jesus Christ received from God the Father is an universal power All power is given to me saith our Saviour both in heaven and in earth Mat. 28.19 And in another place he minds his Father That he had given him power over all flesh Joh. 17.2 But now that power which the Apostles and the Ministers of Christ received from him is more particular and more confined Jesus Christ hath all power all sorts and all degrees of power they have but some power some sorts and some measures The power which Jesus Christ receives from God the Father is a Kingly power he sets him up as King upon his holy hill of Sion and so accordingly he crowns him The power which they receive from Christ is but a Ministerial power Christ hath a Legislative power to make laws while they have but a Legis-narrative or Declaratory power to publish laws Christ doth jus dare and they do but jus dicere Christ binds and looses shuts and opens remitteth and retaineth sins authoritatively as a Soveraign Lord they do it but declaratively as his Ministers and servants There is a great similitude between the Fathers sending Christ c. in regard of qualification as Christ receives an unction from the Father to his Office so they received an unction from the Son to their Office as Christ is qualified with the Spirit so are they Let us compare them each with other and we shall see it very clear The Prophet speaking in the Person of our Saviour saith The Spirit of the Lord is upon me he hath anointed me to preach Isa 61.1 And so accordingly when he first began to preach he took this very Text to preach upon as you may see Luk. 4.18 Behold my servant saith the Lord whom I uphold Isa 42.1 and mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my Spirit upon him and that to qualifie him for his Office as is apparent in the following words for it is added presently That he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles A bruised reed shall he not break c. And this is that which is suggested in the Prophesie Isa 11.2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him and it shall rest upon him in those graces and endowments that fit him for the places to which he is designed And hence it is immediately annexed The Spirit of wisdom and of understanding the Spirit of counsel and of might the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. So then you see the Father as he sends Christ so he endues him with the Spirit to fit him for the business that he sends him
own humours O no but on the contrary that we might serve him who hath saved us in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our lives By one offering of himself he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified saith the Apostle Heb. 10.14 Not them that are justified but them that are sanctified And hence the blood of Jesus which he shed when he was a made a sacrifice to God the Father hath not a pacifying only but a purging quality in it It hath not only a value to satisfie but a virtue to sanctifie The blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 Compleatly from the guilt of all in justification and inchoatively from the filth of all in sanctification I might be copious in the proof but this may satisfie to clear the point Christ did not set himself apart to be an offring and a sacrifice to God the Father for his own sake but for his peoples sakes and that to this end that they might be sanctified by this means Reason 1 And the grounds are evident I shall but touch upon them only and hasten to Application For first his scope and purpose in this work of his was not only to preserve his people from destruction but to bring them to salvation not only to deliver them from hell but to obtain their entrance into heaven And truly had he not accomplished both of these he had not been a perfect Saviour he had not saved us to the utmost as the Apostle Paul speaks Now my beloved had he justified us only from the guilt of our transgressions he had done but one of these for guilt is nothing but the obligation or binding over of the sinner to damnation so that in quitting us of this he had but saved us from the wrath to come as the Apostle speaks he had not brought us to the happiness to come And therefore since he had a further aim that he might bring his whole intent about he hath not justified us only and so delivered us from death and condemnation but he hath sanctified us also and so prepared us for life and salvation For without holiness it is impossible to see the Lord To be admitted as inhabitants into that holy habitation concerning which the holy Ghost hath said There shall no unclean thing enter into it Rev 21.27 And therefore our Redeemer sanctified himself to be a Sacrifice for us not that we might be justified only and so delivered from Hell and utter darkness but that we might be sanctified also and so made meet to be partakers of the inheritance with the Saints in light Our Saviour sanctified himself to be a Sacrifice for us not only that Reason 2 we might be justified but that we might be sanctified also because he had a purpose and design not to glorifie us only but to glorifie himself in this business And more particularly and distinctly to glorifie himself in us and to glorifie himself by us 1. It was the project and design of Christ in this great work of his to glorifie himself in us and therefore it was necessary that he should not justifie us only but sanctifie us too For had he justified us only from the guilt of our transgressions his glory had appeared indeed upon us to wit the glory of his mercy but which way had his glory shewed it self in us But now by sanctifying us and by inriching us with all the saving graces of his holy Spirit which far exeeed the brightest and Orient Pearls both in lustre and in value his glory shineth forth in us Now he us glorified in his Saints as the Apostle Paul speaks The glory of his grace appeareth in them and sparkles forth with dazling lustre And as in the Creation of the world is seen his wisdom and his power and God-head and the like So in the renovation and the new creation of some certain persons in it is seen the riches of his grace He doth it that he might make known his glory as the Apostle tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he may declare it in the vessels of his mercy prepared by him unto glory Rom. 9.23 And as the greatness and magnificence of any Prince is seen in the Revenues and the Titles and the Dignities of those whom he hath raised and advanced So in our present gracious priviledges and endowments preparing us for glory in the world to come are seen the unsearchable riches of Christ 2. It was the project and design of Christ in this great work of his to glorifie himself by us And therefore it was necessary that he should not justifie us only but sanctifie us too For had we not been sanctified we should have dishonoured Christ in our whole Conversation But being once regenerated and endowed with saving grace and purified as a peculiar people to himself then we glorifie our Saviour Then we shew forth the vertues and with them the praises of him that hath saved us We cause our works to shine before men and Jesus Christ who strengthneth us to shine in them Now is it so my Brethren that Christ did not set himself apart c. Vse 1 for his own sake but for his peoples sakes that so they might be sanctified by this means My Exhortation shall be somewhat sutable to that of the Apostle on the like occasion Gal. 5.13 Take heed you use not this incomparable grace and mercy of the Lord Christ as an occasion to the flesh by taking any kind of licence thence to give it satisfaction in the lusts thereof It is a dangerous desperate course of many men who apprehending that they are delivered by the death of Christ from all their sins and that the Justice of the Lord is satified and appeased for them are by this means imboldned and encouraged on in their evill ways And when they are reproved for their licentious courses they satisfie themselves with this that Christ hath satisfied for them and that not only for their past and present sins but for their sins to come also so that they need not be afraid to act them nor to be humbled for them after they have done them But I must tell them Christ hath not satisfied for them if he do not sanctifie them He hath not set himself apart to to be a sacrifice for them if he do not set them apart to be a holy and peculiar people to himself And unto such as turn this grace into licentiousness I say as Moses did sometime to Israel Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Oh Hellish people and prophane yea I protest against them in the words of the Apostle Gal. 5.2 that Jesus Christ shall profit them nothing Vse 2 Is it so That Christ c. Oh how should this provoke and stir us up to strive and labour after holiness and to endeavour every way to clense our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit What motive more prevailing can be tendered
1.9 Receiving the end saith he Conceive it the perfection or the reward of your faith even the salvation of your souls Salvation then you see my brethren is the end Christ is the object of our faith Use 1 Is Christ the Object of a true believers faith Then do not satisfie your selves my brethren with a general assent to sacred Revelation neither do you rest in this that you believe the word of God in gross Alas how many men that have been throughly convinced of the truth of all the Scripture are notwithstanding under everlasting Chains and darkness the Devils themselves believe and tremble They believe the word historically you must understand it and because it makes against them the greater their faith is the greater is their fear As therefore you desire to be absolved and acquitted from the guilt of all your sins which else will sink you down into the pit of Hell for ever to be invested with the righteousness of Christ without which you can never have admittance to the marriage of the Lamb nor to those joyes and pleasures at the Lords right hand for evermore lay hold on Jesus Christ and clasp the arms of faith about him Men and brethren to you is this salvation sent and we declare unto you glad tydings preaching through Christ the forgiveness of sins and that by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not have been justified by the Law of Moses We offer and exhibit Christ unto you and we beseech you to accept him that you may be saved We stand and cry Ho every one that thirsteth came to this water Now as you tender the salvation of your pretious souls let faith make out to Jesus Christ that comes towards her let her fasten on her object And that you may the better know what I perswade you to I shall shew you very briefly that there are four acts of the soul in reference to Jesus Christ wherein the essence and the being of justifying faith consists Whereof the former two are of the understanding and the two latter of the will I shall but only touch at them 1. Well then the first thing you are to do you must endeavour to know Christ aright distinct explicite knowledge of him in a measure is necessary to the being of this justifying faith And therefore knowledge is sometimes put for faith in Scripture by his knowledge or the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justifie many saith the Father of the Son Isa 53.11 And here to be a little more distinct you must know that Christ is a compleat and al-sufficient Saviour to free you from the wrath of God and to bring you to eternal life That he is offered by the Lord to you as well as any other for so the messengers of God have their Commission to make an universal tender of him to all to whom they preach without exception Go preach the Gospel to every creature Mark 16.15 And what is it to preach the Gospel to them but to say as the Angel to the Shepherds Luke 2.10 11. I bring you good tydings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord And as Peter to the Jews Acts 2.39 The promise is to you and to your children yea and to all that are afar off as many as the Lord our God shall call Yea you must know that Christ is offered to you so that you are peremptorily commanded and required to believe in him Come to me saith our Saviour Mat. 11.28 i. e. Believe in me for so himself expounds the phrase as you may see John 6.35 all you that labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest This is the first thing requisite to justifying faith of which Christ is the proper Object 2. The second act is the Assent and Credit of the mind to this that Christ is such a one indeed and that God offers him indeed in such a way as hath been said And that in this his gracious offer he intendeth as he saith That Christ and all his merits will be yours if you accept him This you must consent to you must say with the Apostle 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithfull saying and in relation to this act it is that faith is called believing John 3.36 and elsewhere often in the Scripture 3. The third act is the yeelding of the Will to this external exhibition of the Son of God this blessed offer of him in the Gospel not only for the certain truth but the incomparable excellency of it when the heart accepteth of it and embraceth it and saith with the Apostle in the fore-alledged Scripture 1 Tim. 1.15 This saying as it is a faithfull one so it is worthy of all acceptation It is a faithfull saying saith the Understanding and therefore I will give assent to it It is a saying worthy of all acceptation saith the will and therefore I will close with it So the faith of the Fathers is described Heb. 11.13 in which all the three acts which we have mentioned are wrapt up together They saw the promises conceive it with the understandings eye they knew them and they understood them They were perswaded of them they gave assent to them and they received them and embraced them for both these terms are there used not the words and surface of them but Christ in them In which respect this act of faith is sometimes called receiving of Christ as see John 1.12 To as many as received him c. So that believing and receiving are all one this is the third act 4. The fourth and last act is a resting a relying and recumbency on Christ for mercy and salvation this is the great act of the soul in faith A roling of it self on Jesus Christ expecting life and happiness no other way and by no other mean but him only And this is that which is so often called believing in the Son of God believing in his name trusting in him as the Apostle Pauls expression is Ephes 1.12 or trusting to him for all the good that we expect or look for These are the four great acts of faith and Christ you see is the immediate and proper object of them all So that you easily perceive what I intend when I perswade you and exhort you to fasten on this object and to believe in Jesus Christ Object But you will say perhaps as that is now a great Objection the Creature is not able to believe it is an impotent and dead thing what can the Creature do And why do you perswade it to believe Sol. True my beloved it can do nothing and you would have it to do nothing by this Rule Keep away the means from it and when will it attain the end It hath no faith it is not able to believe but faith comes by this means by the perswasions and intreaties
thus of the first Argument with which our Saviour prosecutes his suit to God the Father that his Disciples might be all one Which hath been taken from the furtherance that this neer unity of theirs would be to his own entertainment in the world JOHN 17.22 And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one THE second follows now in order to be handled And it is taken from the end at which he aimed in glorifying his Disciples in giving them the glory which he had received from God the Father and this was that they might be one And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one q. d. Since I have glorified them so much as I have done to this end that they might be one I pray thee Father let me not be disappointed of my purpose but let me have my end in this business Two things we have to be considered in the words First Christs communication of the glory which he received from the Father to believers The glory which thou gavest me I have given them And secondly the end of this communication that they may be one even as we are one At this time I shall make a little entrance on the first of these and that is Christs communication of the glory which he received from the Father to believers The glory which thou gavest me I have given them If there be any question what glory is intended by our Saviour here whither that which he as God enjoyed together with the Father from eternity Or that which he as Man and Mediator of the Church received from the Father It is apparently resolved in the words themselves The glory which thou gavest me Christ hath no glory given him as he is God but as he is Man and Mediator he hath much bestowed upon him by the Father Now that which he receives as man he communicates to men he gives it out again in some sence and in some degree to true believers to all the living members of his body As he affirmeth here expresly the glory which thou gavest me I have given them Them whom Why them that believe on me as you shall easily discern if you observe the series of the Text Neither pray I for those only but c. That they may all be one c. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them So that we have two Observations cleerly pointed at in these words First God the Father hath bestowed much glory on the Son as he is Man and Mediator of the Church Secondly The self same glory which the Son as Man receives from God the Father he communicates again and gives it out in a sort to all believers DOCTRINE 1. God the Father hath bestowed much glory on the Son as he is Man and Mediator of the Church You see he hath the Sons receipt to shew for it the glory which thou hast given me saith Christ It is his own acknowledgement in writing here that he hath glory given him by God the Father Indeed my brethren God the Father hath honoured Jesus Christ exceedingly Heb. 1. per tot for that is the intention of the whole Chapter as I have shewed you largely on the first verse to which I shall refer you for further prosecution of this Point and so I pass on to the second Observation DOCTRINE 2. The self same glory which the Son as man receives from God the Father he communicates again and give it out in a sort to true Believers That which he receives as man he communicates to men as he partakes it in the humane nature so to the humane nature he dispenses it again to all the members of his body This is the thing which he affirms expresly to his Father in my text The glory which thou hast given me I have given them q. d. As thou gavest it me for them so I have given it to them I have not kept it in my own hands but have as freely parted with it as I did receive it I have been true to thee and them in this business Now for the through cleering of the Point I shall review the glory which God the Father hath bestowed upon the Son as Man and Mediator of the Church and that in all parts and branches of it And then proceed to shew you particularly and distinctly that this very glory in all the parts and branches of it Christ hath dispensed again in some degree to true believers And when I have done this I hope it will be evident that the self same glory c. Then the Son as man receives most honourable titles from the Father as I have shewed you formerly at large he calls him King he calls him Lord. Yea not Lord Adonai alone but Lord Jehovah which is indeed the highest and most glorious Title that belongs to God himself But doth Christ make these Titles over now to true believers yes my beloved all of them without exception As God makes him a Prince so he makes them Princes And as God makes him a King so he makes them Kings as the Church acknowledges Apoc. 1.6 He hath made us Kings to God As God calls him Jehovah so he calls the Church Jehovah at least she is so called by his means by reason of her union with him For even as Jer. 23.6 it is said of Jesus Christ This is his name by which he shall be called Jehovah our righteousness so Jer. 33.16 it is said of true believers of the Church which consists of true believers This is her name by which she shall be called Jehovah our Righteousness A man would think Christ should have kept this glorious and transcendent title to himself concerning which the Lord professes Isa 42.8 I am the Lord I am Jehovah for it is Jehovah there not Adonai or Elohim that is my name that is in a sence my proper and peculiar name and my glory the glory of that name will I not give unto another But when the Father gives it unto the Son as Mediator he doth not give it to another for he is one with God the Father and when the Son as Mediator gives it to the Church he doth not give it to another neither She is so neer him that he will have her one way or other to partake with him in this high glory The Son as man receives much glory from the Father as in the Titles which he gives the Son so in the Titles which himself assumes in relation to the Son In the New Testament as I have shewed you he calls himself no more the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the Father of Israel but the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ He calls himself no more the Lord their God that brought them out of land of Aegypt but the God that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ Now
as he calls Christ so so Christ makes him to call all true believers so He will have them to share with him by any means in this honour Is God the God of Christ why Christ makes him the God of all believers Is God the Father of Christ why Christ makes him the Father of believers Is he the God that brings again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ why he is the God too that will surely bring again from the dead all true believers as the Apostle tells us them that sleep in Jesus will he also bring with him 1 Thess 4.14 Me thinks it is as if Christ should have said to him That which thou art to me thou shalt be to them too That which thou dost for me thou shalt do for them too I will have none of this honour unless they partake with me The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in that he sets him at own right hand in the next place to himself Why now the self same glory doth the Son bestow upon the Church in that he sets her at his own right hand in the next place to himself If Jesus Christ be raised so high how high is the Church raised If Jesus Christ be so transcendently exalted in this that he is set in the next place to God how is the Church exalted then that she is set in the next place to Christ Look upon Christ and you shall see that God hath highly exalted him and set him at his own right hand Ephes 1.21 and then look upon the Church and you shall see that Christ hath highly exalted her and set her at his own right hand Psal 45.9 On thy right hand did stand the Queen i. the Church Now my beloved is the place of Christ high How high then is the Churches place Is Christ at the right hand of God She is at the right hand of Christ Is Christ in the next place to God She is in the next place to Christ Is there none above Christ but God None is above the Church but Christ and God Is he exalted far above all principality and powers might and dominion not only in this world but in that which is to come not only above all principalities and powers on earth but even above all principalities and powers in heaven too above the very Angels yea the highest orders of them She is exalted far above them As Christ comes between them and God so she comes between them and Christ she is neerer Christ in union nature and dignity The Angels are but Ministers and servants whiles the Saints the members of the Church are heirs Yea they are Ministers to these heirs They are all the best of them ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Heb. 1. ult So that no marvail though our Saviour tells his Father here The glory which thou gavest me I have given them The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in the vast authority and power which he hath vested him withall Why now the same power he dispenseth to the Church to be executed by her Officers And therefore having said All power is given to me both in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28.18 he adds immediately to his Apostles in the very next verse Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them q. d. the power which is given me I give you in some measure As God the Father hath given me all power so I give you some power so much as you are capable of And as the government is put upon my shoulders by the Father as the Prophet speaks Isa 9.6 so I put over some part of this Government to you my under-Officers whom I depute to manage and negotiate the affairs of my Kingdom As God the Father hath set me over his house so I set you to be my Stewards under me to whom I give the Keyes of this house As God the Father hath given me the King-key of Davids Princedom which I keep my self so that I shut and no man openeth I open and no man shutts so I give you the Ministerial Keyes which I intrust with you who are the Stewards and the guides of my houshold To whom I give a special power to open and to shut the doors of my house to let in and put out And though it be my own prerogative and a chief flower of that Imperial Crown which God the Father hath been pleased to set upon my head to seal pardons and to forgive sins viz. to do it in the Court of heaven and Conscience yet I commit to you my Viceroyes and my under-Officers a Ministerial power both to remit and to retain sins in the outward Court that is the face and presence of the Church in regard of declaration Verily I say unto you whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven c. Mat. 18.18 19. And in another place whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins you retain they are retained And in a word as God the Father hath committed all judgement unto me so I commit some judgement to you And hence it is my brethren that the Church assisted by her Officers iudgeth them that are within although she judge not them that are without as Paul speaks 1 Cor. 5.22 over whom no power is given her by the Lord Christ But those that are within she judgeth and condemneth too if there be cause and casts them out and gives them over to the Executioner There take them Satan disquiet them afflict them for the destruction of the flesh the carnal part that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. The Son as Man receives much glory from the Father in the great offices of dignity and trust and honour which he hath advanced him to Why now the self same glory hath the Son communicated to believers in that he hath advanced them to the self same Offices to which he is himself advanced by the Father As God the Father hath made Jesus Christ a King a Priest and a Prophet to himself so Christ doth make all true believers Kings and Priests to God his Father for both those Offices are mentioned Apoc. 1.6 He makes them to become a royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 A Priesthood and a royal Priesthood And as he makes them Kings and Priests so he makes them Prophets too to teach their families and make known his wayes to them to teach their neighbours and acquaintance and to admonish one another within the compass of their own Spheres Col. 3.16 In which respect it is the Counsel of the Apostle in the cited place Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in you the people of Colosse not in the learned Doctors only but in the private members of the Church So that you see Christ hath advanced all true believers with him to all the offices to which he is advanced by the Father and so hath made