to refuse him or any thing enjoyned by him Men have sold their Services and hir'd themselves for Slaves but who ever sold his Life but Sinners for no Hire 3. But whatever others do or whatever becomes of others do not you to whom the Lord of Heaven and Earth doth make a gracious Tender of his only Son and Eternal Life refuse not nor delay to have the Son of God for you profess and are engaged to have him Your Baptismal Covenant binds you to go thorough with the Match you have put him on Gal. 3.25 26. O know him as he is esteem as he deserves joyn Hearts and Affections to him renounce all Friendship with Sin and the World and receive the Son to dwell in your Hearts as Sovereign Lord and Master and cleave to him to the end and you shall have all that he is gone before to prepare for them that love him 4. I know not how to make an end of perswading you the business is so great and urgent If there were any Comparison to be made between these two of having Christ and Life and not having him and Life there might be something to be said for chusing the worst before the best but there being no comparison between the one and the other let me urge you for the love of Jesus and your own Souls to have the Son of God Many a Man may be such a Fool as to chuse the worst and part with the best of it Esau chose a Mess of Pottage before his Birthright in his Extremity of Hunger and Impatience Our first Parents thought of bettering themselves by eating the forbidden Fruit. But mark it here is no colour for chusing If the case were If you have the Son of God you shall have the best of Lives but if you have not this Christ the Son of God you may have another tho not so great and good But if you have not the Son you can have no other Saviour there is no pretence for refusing him If the Case were If you have the Son you shall be justified and all your Iniquities forgiven you shall have the Life of a glorious King a Saint in Heaven and of perpetual and endless Communion with God in his Glory But if you have him not you shall live indeed tho more meanly you shall live tho barely and poorly by the sweat of your Brows you shall live but between Sickness and Health Pain and Ease Peace and Trouble sometimes you shall be well but for the most part ill you shall have no better a Life than Lot had in Sodom or David in Meseck some such Life as Sinners have upon Earth you shall have but the Life of Heaven you shall not have nor the Life of Faith nor the Life of Joy and Hope But now this is the case If you have not the Son you have not Life no better Life than the Life of the damned in Hell What madness of Unbelief is this Here is no comparison but direct opposition and the greatest Contrariety of Good and Evil. Many a Man and Woman do chuse the worse for an Husband or Wife But what a Self-hater is that Man or Woman that would have none of an Abraham or a Sarah or any other great and blessed Man or Woman and have a cursed Branch of some cursed Stock yea to lead ones Life with a very Devil Apply this Consideration and then you will find worse than the worst Comparison you can make No Son of God no Life not one good Day or Moment of a Day to Eternity O that you would hold your Thoughts to some such Illustrations of the greatest Loss where there is not the least Advantage the greatest Loss of the greatest Good to fall into the greatest Misery 5. You cannot separate either of these things from the other both go together You cannot refuse Christ the Son of God and yet have Life and you cannot separate the not having Life from the not having Christ Christ will make any Soul happy in the highest degree that hath him But if there were no better a Life to be had with Christ than Christ with Banishment Persecution with with a Cross yea many Crosses in this Life to live as the Apostles did sometimes in Bonds Prisons Stocks how infinitely is that to be preferred before all other Lovers The excellent Properties of a Person in Marriage will make a Wife follow him through the World The Perfections of the Son of God make him most desirable with all Afflictions and Sufferings But what when you have Christ you have a blessed Life now and a glorious one hereafter But you cannot have the Glory without Christ yea now if you consider the Life of Glory you should have Christ tho he were but like a curs'd Husband O ponder the Comparison and Supposal it is but to illustrate the Point As many a Woman marries a Crab-stick for a great Estate and ample living fat Sorrow is digested the Sorrow is swallow'd because it is fat But Oh! there is nothing but Sorrows and Wo attends them who have him not nothing to shew be it never so little that is good and abides with them nothing but what will make them as ill at ease in their Minds as their Bodies in Flames of Fire O! then before I leave you let me in the Name of Christ on hiâ— Behalf and for your dearest Life sake beg you to be prevail'd and won this day over to Jesus Christ 6. Consider one thing more whose Work it is to make you averse from Jesus Christ Oh! the wonderful power of the Devil upon the corrupt Natures of Men The Devil himself never had the Impudence to bely or slander the Son of God with his own lying Tongue The Father of Lies did never forge an ill word to the Dishonour of the Lord of Glory nay he spake to his Honour and yet he works by means of the World upon the sinfulness of Man to dishonour him to belie him We remember this Deceiver said Men spake what the Devil durst not yet he was that lying Spirit from whom they speak he filled the Heart of Judas to betray him and the Hearts of all others with Prejudices against the embracing of him he crams them with the Chaff of worldly things they tho now gilded laid over with various Colours and strewd with Spice will prove no better that feeding them to the full they may lie under the Wo to them that are full Luke 6. that there may be no room for the Son of God in your Thoughts and Affections It is he that keeps all he can possibly prevail upon not to have the Son of God for Satan must out when the Son of God comes in Therefore knowing the design of the Devil be not such Enemies to Christ and your own precious Life and such Instruments of the Devil against Christ and your own Souls as to lose Life and lie under eternal Death through his Temptations and prevailing Power
That the First-born is of the same Nature with the rest of the Children thinking thereby to strip him of his Divine Nature and Godhead and to make him no more than a Man then he would partake of the Nature of every Creature as well as Mans for he is not said to be the First-born of Men only but of every Creature This therefore is a Title of Dignity and Honour as much as to say He is the First-born Heir and Lord of every Creature He is not a Creature nor called first Mr. P. Bayn on the Colos Christianni Schotanni in Collegio Miscellaneorum Theologicorum Disp 1. de prim genitura Sec. 11 12. Zanch. in Col. as tho first made but first and chief in Dignity and Power over all Creatures Psal 89.28 I will make him my first-born higher than the Kings of the Earth All things are subject to him 1 Pet. 3.22 and put under his Feet Ephes 1.22 His Dominion is over all This is the Son of God's Love manifested in the Flesh suffering in our Nature even unto Blood to make Attonement and to procure us the forgiveness of Sin O how happy are they who have him 5. That he is not a Creature not a meer Man or made God which implies the greatest Contradiction Nor a Divine Man as if he were more like God than other Men as the Arians and Socinians dream and feign him to be but that the Son of God the Son of God's Love is true God and hath an undoubted Title to the Dominion of all Creatures is made evident from ver 16 17. in which there are these infallible Proofs of his Godhead 1. All things were created by him that are in Heaven and that are in Earth c. 2. As all things were created by him so they were created for him All things were created by him and for him therefore he was not an Instrument in the Hand of the Creator but the most High God and one God with the Father and Holy Ghost To us there is but One God of whom are all things c. 1 Cor. 8.6 All things are by Christ the Son of God and also for him as their End therefore he is the High God See Rom. 11.36 The Instrument is for the principal Cause That which I as the Principal do use my Servant to do is not for his sake but my own but the end of all these things was no less the Honour of Christ than the Father Reverend Holy Bayn on the Coloss If Christ were the Instrument of God the Creator in the Creation then all things would not be for him for his Service and his Glory who was the Instrument He was an equal Cause with the Father and the Holy Ghost because all things are for him for his Service and Glory therefore he was not an Instrument nor an inferiour Agent but one God with the Father Yet we must observe an Order in the Government and Administration of the Mediatory Kingdom of Christ Christ as God is one with the Father but Christ God-Man as Mediator hath a respect to God the Father John 5.8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much Fruit so shall you be my Disciples John 11.4 I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do John 7.18 He that seeketh the Glory of him that sent him is true and there is no unrighteousness in him And Phil. 2.11 And that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father 3. And he is before all things ver 17. before the World and all things in it If he were a meer Creature he could not be before all things he could be but the first of Creatures but being before all Creatures he should not be degraded and debased to be made but a Creature But he is before all things that are made therefore God the Creator of all things for there can be nothing before All things but God as before all Time nothing but Eternity And that Saying of the Reverend Davenant upon these Words Quomodo fuit ante omnia si ante suam incarnationem non fuit Quomodo condidit omnia qui ipse non extitit Expos Rep. P. ad Colos might stop the Mouths of all the Socinians who make the Conception of Christ to be the Principle and beginning of his Filation or being the Son of God grounding their Error upon that Text spoken of before Luke 1.35 How was he before all things if he was not before his Incarnation How could he make all things who was not himself in being Saith that clear and learned Man 4. By him all things consist He supporteth and beareth up all things upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power Heb. 1.3 All things are continued in their Being Place Order and Usefulness by him by whom all things were made He beareth up the World and keepeth things together from falling into confusion and ruin I have been the longer in the Description of the Son that you may know him and that knowing him you may desire him come to him believe in him have him honour him admire him and do all that is required of you Consider one thing before I go to the next Head The Son of God is to be had as he is given and sent of the Father and as he is said to come into the World All which Expressions do signifie to us his Office and Undertaking of a Mediator with the Performance and Benefits thereof The Knowledge of him as such is necessary to and is the beginning of Eternal Life John 17.3 This is Eternal Life to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent as Mediator to mediate Peace between the infinite God and sinful Men. Therefore let me in few Words open to you the meaning of the Word and the reason and nature of the Office of the Mediator as he is called 1 Tim. 2.5 There is one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all where observe these things plainly 1. The Mediator is a middle Person between Parties 2. The Parties between whom he dealeth as Mediator are God and Man Medius Natura Medians Officio Trelent alii 3. The high Quality of the Mediator is set out by his Humane Nature and by his Names the Man Christ Jesus 4. What he did he gave himself a Ransom for all And by this last Particular we understand three things of great Moment 1. The Condition of all Men they were guilty of an heinous Transgression against God and were fallen under the Curse and Justice of God A miserable Condition 2. What God required and must have or sinful Men must abide and perish under the Wrath and Curse of God there must be a Ransom given and paid for them and that was the precious Blood of the Son of God 1 Pet. 1.18 19. and his Life
unto a Living Stone disallowed indeed of Men but chosen of God as precious They disallowed the living stone chosen of God and precious upon whom as upon a Corner-stone the Church is built and that was their Unbelief they would not have him but laid him aside and threw him by He was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness but to them that believe Christ the wisdom and power of God The Believer approves what the Unbeliever disalloweth the one admireth what the other despiseth II. To have the Son is to have him highly in our Estimation it is to have him by a new spiritual convincing Evidence in our Minds and to think highly of him to esteem so highly of him as to honour the Son as we honour the Father John 5.23 Mark the place before quoted 1 Pet. 2.4 Certainly saith the Soul God cannot be mistaken in the choice of a Saviour a Rock of Salvation for one to build upon for eternal Life Christ is a Stone perfectly fitted for his Place he is a Living Stone that will put Life into all the Stones the Spiritual Building as the Church is called 1 Cor. 3.9 He is chosen of God and precious therefore the rightly informed and illuminated Soul esteems him highly as a living stone as chosen of God who perfectly knew his Excellency and precious But to you that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2.7 Life is precious to him that hath been convicted and found himself condemned and lost and the Son that hath Life for him is most precious to him He can't prize him according to his Worth The greatest Honour he can do him is to believe what is testified of him O how base is every thing in comparison of his Saviour They that are called out of Darkness to Light do see the Wisdom and Power of God in him 1 Cor. 2.24 They admire him in all his Characters and Properties They glorifie him as the Son of the highest as the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth as the only Name under Heaven given among men whereby they shall be saved They fall down and worship him they cannot reach him with their highest Thoughts As his Name is wonderful so is he wonderful in his Person Emmanuel God-man the Holy one of God the fairest among ten thousand yea altogether lovely They esteem him for himself for his All-sufficiency for the greatest and hardest of all Works that of a Saviour They esteem him for his Singularity He is One and but one like the Sun in the Firmament one Sun for the whole World so he is one Sun of Righteousness with healing in his Wings for all that are wounded and fear the scorching burning Wrath of the just and holy God They esteem him as a Pearl of great Price all the goodly Pearls sought for by the Merchants will be given for him at any time by every wise understanding Heart They who have him count all things but Dung and Loss that they may win him There is nothing in him but unsearchable Riches They who have him have nothing but gains and winnings by him yea tho they should lose their Lives for him they can't lose them but shall have eternal Life Mat. 16.25 That I may win Christ said Paul O that the World could believe it Believers are made Partners with him in the Benefits of his Sufferings Victories Exaltation and Glory What things are these O think of him as he is that you may have him O labour to be acquainted with him that you may set up a Throne for him in your Hearts as for a Prince and Saviour that you may prize him 1. As he who is all and in all 2. That you may prize him according to your need of him and his fulness and freeness to supply Mean things are valued when we need them But Christ is one of incomprehensible Worth he hath in him the desirableness of all things necessary and of all things that are called incomparable 3. Esteem him as your Souls Alas who esteems them tho not to be exchanged for a World esteem him as your Life yea infinitely better than the longest and happiest Life upon Earth The highest and dearest thing you can reckon of is Life is eternal Life esteem Christ as that Life He gave his Life for it he hath it in his Gift and Power he brought Life to the Dead and Life from Death III. He that hath Christ for Life hath him in his Will and Heart He doth understandingly judiciously and heartily receive him He hath him so as to close with him with a voluntary intire gladsom Consent He hath him with the Approbation of his Mind and Judgment he hath overcome his Doubts and his Cavils if he had any he hath not a Word nor a Thought against him he is fully satisfied with him and therefore doth receive him into his Heart and with it No man hath the Son for Life except the Son hath his Heart that is the House in which Christ will dwell That Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith The Heart of Faith is wanting till Faith hath the possession of the Heart Holy Mr. Baxter in that Excellent Treatise Dir. and Perswasions to a sound Conversion p. 283. Ephes 3.17 That is the place of his Rest which he desires to dwell in who dwells not in Temples that are made with Hands Such was his Grace and Love that he came down from Heaven to cast out Devils fleshly and worldly Lusts out of thy Heart to make thee free to recover the possession of thy Heart for himself O give him thy Heart he best deserves it This is the Word of Faith which we Preach If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe with thy Heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the Heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10.8 9 10. He that believeth with his Heart that God raised Christ from the Dead for our Justification Rom. 5.24 is righteous and justified before God He and he alone who believeth with his Heart will have Courage and Boldness in dangerous Times to confess him before men and call upon him and he alone shall be saved and have Life through him Then Lidia had Christ and Salvation when the Lord opened her Heart Acts 16.14 Judas had Christ in his Head and upon his Tongue as a Preacher but he had not the Son for Life because he had him not in his Heart In the Gospel the Son is set forth in his Names and Properties which are admirable commending and inviting all that know him and believe the Testimonies concerning him And not only so but he is propounded and offered by his Embassadors yea he makes gracious Offers standing at the Door If any man hear my voice and open unto me I will come in to him c. The Covenant of Grace is a