but a well improved Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ to know that sin and corruption it is one of the great enemies that he came into the World to encounter withâ—…l and to set it under his fear and he was manifested upon this account according to that of the Apostle in 1 Joh. 5. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil He was nail'd upon the Cross that he might have our old man crucified with him Why if we had but a well digested Knowledge of these things concerning our Lord Jesus it would facilitate the business and make us set upon it with activity and inlargement of soul. And so for that great Gospel-Service of resisting the Devil That 's another great work that 's required of Believers Now if we had but a well improved Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ O how would it conduce to the lively management of that great service and make us not to be afraid to look all the powers of darkness in the face Did we but know that our Lord Jesus hath conquered the Devil the Prince of the World he hath led him after as a slave he hath the Devil in a chain and all the powers of darkness at command therefore upon the knowledge of this how resolute may a Christian be to make opposition to the Prince and powers of darkness knowing that the Lord Jesus hath spoyled Principalities and Powers And then for that great Gospel-Service of yielding up in the subjection to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ which is the thing that the world doth so much stick at and make opposition to and say We will not have this man to rule over us No let us rather break his bonds asunder and cast away his cords from us Oh but Brethren this well improved Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ it would facilitate this great Service and make the heart free to come up to it willing to give its neck to Christ and to subject to his yoke and Government When we shall come to know this concerning Christ That God the Father hath anointed him and set him as King upon his holy hill of Sion and that there 's a Kingdom appointed to him and the day will come when in despight of Princes and Powers and Rulers and all the mighty ones in the World though they combine themselves together yet God will give the Kingdom to his Son The time will come when the Kingdoms of the World shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever This is that that is to be known concerning our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord shall rule and reign and all his enemies shall be made his footstool Now if this were well digested it would make the heart to be free to yield up it self to him O this is the King that I would yield subjection to but not in a way of rejecting of Kings and Governours O but Christ is my King and God hath set him at his right hand and all his enemies shall be made his footstool Now I say the well digested knowledge of these things would contribute exceedingly to every Gospel-Duty O how would this Knowledge of Christ be as oyle to the wheels to make them run most swiftly and speedily in the wayes of God There are other things that I would have spoken to to which I would fain have given a dispatch Though indeed we are bucketting-up out of a full Fountain the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ O it 's the pretious Knowledge that our souls should be delighted to be acquainted with O how will it conduce to help in suffering and resisting of temptations and afford comfort in all our priviledges As Justification That 's one of the great priviledges of the Gospel Now alas we lose much of the comfort of it by reason of our not being throughly acquainted with the Mysterie concerning our Lord Jesus Christ because we have not a well improved Knowledge of Christ. O did a soul but know this That its Justification did depend upon the Justification of Christ if he be justified you shall be such to be justified and if he be not justified you will never be justified your Justification will come to nothing Now the Knowledge of this concerning our Lord Jesus Christ that he is perfectly justified and according to a legal Justification Here 's the comfort of it That Christ is justified with a legal justification God according to the strictness of his Justice hath given up a Justification of his Son according to that expression Isa. 50. It is God that justifieth me And God justifies Christ with a legal Justification and gives him a full acquittance and gives this account of him That he hath fulfilled all righteousness Now Believers Justification which is of Grace depends upon Christ's Justification which is according to the Law or of his having a Justification according to the Law upon the account of his fulfilling of all righteousness Now if the soul comes to know this That Christ is fully justified with a legal Justification O how will this make a Believer to say with triumphing of soul I know whom I have believed I have believed on him who is justified with a legal Justification SERM. XV. HAving in the close of the last Argument begun to speak concerning Gospel-priviledges and how much our growth in the Knowledge of Christ will promote the comfort of those Priviledges I shall now proceed a little further with you in that Argument in making it more fully clear to you That as ever we desire to suck the sweet of Gospel-Priviledges to have our souls refreshed with them as with breasts of consolation that we may find them to be as streams from Lebanon as wine that 's able to make the lips of them that are asleep to speak It concerns us exceedingly for to endeavour and advance in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall never be able so fully justly to value the Priviledges of the Gospel nor so kindly to relish the comforts of these Priviledges if we do not well understand the Mysterie concerning growth in Grace and be well improved in the Knowledge of Christ. I toucht a little upon that great benefit that comes over to us of Justification That great Priviledge indeed such a benefit as is beyond all valuation O that we would but make it our work and business to search into it to labor that we may understand it what is the proper interpretation of the Justification of a sinner the Scriptures speak of it and they invite us to be well studied in it for a sinner a guilty sinner chargeable with a world of wickedness lyable to a hell of wrath and vengeance deserving to be everlastingly cursed of God and to be cast under everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power A poor guilty soul that
of the best things Knowledge of the Lord and Saviour and yet notwithstanding persons may perift and perish the more dreadfully And I add that place in Heb. 10. where the Apostle speaks to this purpose saith he If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of Iudgement and fiery Indignation which shall devour the adversaries There may be a receiving of the knowledge of the truth and yet a wilful sinning and so a fearful expectation and nothing but that remaining for them a fearful expectation of Judgement and fiery Indignation Now all this considered Knowledg I and knowledge of the best things it may be had and yet persons under the power of the Devil persons that after their escape from worldly intanglements may be brought again into sorer bondage their latter end worse than their beginning and they may fall under the deep and more dreadful damnation Now the improvement that we are to make of this is only thus O let us take heed of resting in our Knowledge and bearing upon this that we are knowing men and knowing women able to discourse of the things of God and the mysteries of Religion O take heed of this considering what hath been now spoken to you that you may have a great measure of Knowledge and yet be meer strangers unto saving Grace far be it from me to speak a tittle to the disparagement of Knowledge but rather most vigorously to press your pursuance of it and that you endeavour after it as I shall perform to that purpose afterwards know that it is not good that the mind be without knowledge saith Solomon nay the heart cannot be good without Knowledge you cannot believe without Knowledge you cannot pray without Knowledge you cannot live without Knowledge you must have Knowledge or else you will never be sav'd O Ignorance it is of it self a damning sin only thus rest not in your Knowledge rest not in this that you have a light in your head but look to it that you have Grace in your hearts Look to this that you know and know to love and know so as that you may believe and live if you know these things saith our SAVIOUR happy are ye if you do them If you know the truth and know it in truth of heart as the Apostle speaks Since ye know the Grace of God in truth know it to be the truth and know it in the truth of your hearts O this is that that we should mind Truly that you may know for practice and the truth is you know no more to purpose than you know to practice And it is of sad consideration that which I have now to speak unto you it is of sad consideration that that knowledge which men and women attain to of God and Christ and Gospel-mysteries if so be that it be not reduc'd to practice if there be not a due improvement of it if there be a Science and not Conseience a Science and not a Conscience to make use of the knowledge it is of sad consideration that that I have now to say The day will come when all the Knowledge that you have gotten of Christ and of the mysteries of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God that knowledge will turn upon you and it will be to your everlasting torment O tremble at the thought of it This is the torment and will eternally be the torment of the damned in Hell that they had knowledge great measures of knowledge and yet notwithstanding did not improve their knowledge did not reduce it to practice they had light but did not live up to their light they knew the will of God O but they were not conscientiously careful to perform and do the will of God O this this will be the torment the Conscience of a man will be an eternal fury to him and it will everlastingly torment him when it shall tell him Did'st not thou know that Christ was given to save sinners and to save from sin Did'st not thou know that the Grace of God that brings Salvation it did teach to deny all ungodlyness and worldly lusts thou knowest this thou knowest that it was thy duty to live thus and thus to walk with God to deny thy self to cross thy corruptions it was thy duty to study to approve thy self to God and to keep a clear Conscience It was thy duty to own Christ in an hour of temptation did'st not thou know this to be thy duty Conscience will thus charge upon thee and then you shall know it O! how did this torment Iudas on this side Hell before he came there Oh! I know my Master was an innocent person and yet notwithstanding contrary to my knowledge I went and betrayed him into the hands of sinners O how did this torment Esau on this side Hell he knew that the Birth-right and the Blessing were things to be highly valued the temptation comes upon him he was a little pinch'd with hunger and Iacob takes the advantage there was a mysterie of Providence in it of his exigence and gets away his Birth-right from him But when the time comes that the Blessing was gone then Esau knows O this knowledge torments him that he knew the Birth-right what it was and how it ought to be accounted of and yet notwithstanding he past it away for a trifle O Conscience will torment another day when a man shall come to have his knowledge set a work I know that Christ was a precious Christ that Grace it was better than Gold I had conviction upon my Conscience and yet notwithstanding I chose the World rather than Christ I preferred my lusts and corruptions before the Lord Jesus I knew this to be my duty but I made no conscience of performing my duty Well the Lord set these things home upon every one of us and that we may be wise for our souls and take heed of resting in what we know but look to it that we have such a Knowledge as is accompanied with Grace such a Knowledge as is sanctified to us by Grace And this now I speak upon occasion of this Question SERM. IX 2 Pet. 3. 18. And in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. THree things seem to lye in the Text. First that it is God's will and Saints duty As to grow in Grace so to grow in Knowledge 2. That it is the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ which is the special Knowledge wherein Saints and Beleevers ought to grow 3. They that mind growth in Grace must in order thereunto endeavour a growth in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. First of all it is the good will of God and a Saints duty to grow in Knowledge God would have his people to be a knowing people a well-knowing people God doth take no pleasure in a people that pretend to Him and profess his Name
to be known concerning Christ that this Word and Mystery which is given of the Father to Christ his ear hath been opened to listen to it most attent upon it according to that expression in Psal. 40. Sacrifice and Offerings thou would'st not Christ's ear was not much attent upon that Sacrifice and offerings thou would'st not But mine ear hast thou opened Thou hast opened mine ear to another Doctrine to another Word which concerns the salvation of souls by a sacrifice that must be offered up by me this mine ear is open to And so you have it in Isa. 50. The Prophet there speaks in the person of Christ he wakeneth morning by morning and saith he he makeneth mine ear to hear as the Learned The Lord God hath opened mine ear and I was not rebellious The Father gives the word delivers it him and the ear of the Son our Mediator is open to him 3. You are to know concerning Christ that this Word and Doctrine which is the subject matter of our Preaching and your Hearing as it is given to Christ by the Father and as his ear is open to it so it comes with all delight and complacency into his heart as you shall find in Psal. 40. First he saith Thou hast opened mine ear and not only so Thou hast bored mine ear and not only so but O Father thy Law is in mine heart and I delight to do thy will O this word that thou hast given me it 's the joy of my heart it 's the rejoycing of my soul that there should be the contrivance of such a word given to me and intrusted with me mine ear hears it as a most melodious sound my heart entertains it O my God thy Law is in my heart O it s the joy and rejoycing of my heart to think that ever thou should'st trust me with such a Doctrine as this 4. Consider that this word the Word and Doctrine of the Father thus given to Christ unto which his ear was opened and to which his heart gave such joyful entertainment to This Word and Doctrine Christ he comes to be commissioned from the Father to Preach and to make it known He hath not only an ear to hear it and a heart to imbrace it but he must have likewise a mouth opened to publish and proclaim it and this he is commissioned to This is to be known concerning our Lord Jesus that he is commissioned of God to make a solomn publication and promulgation of this Word that it may be made known to the World And therefore you have it in Isa. 50. The Lord hath given me not only to hear as the Learned but to speak as the Learned First he hath the ear of the Learned to hearken to it and then it 's exprest that he hath the tongue of the Learned that he may be able to speak a word in season to a weary soul. This is the commission that God hath given him that he should Preach and make this everlasting Gospel this word that comes out of the Father that he should make it known to the World and the truth is Brethren this that I say is of a truth to be known and acknowledged of us That Preaching work the Preaching of the everlasting Gospel and word of Reconciliation it is more Christs work than the work of any man in the World True it is the base beggerly World and the imbased spirits of the people in the World they look upon Preaching-work as a poor low mean service and look upon those that are imployed about it as persons that are little to be regarded And this is the good entertainment that the Ministers of Christ and of the Gospel have ever had in the World Generally they look upon a Preacher and upon a Preachers work as a poor low piece of service the person mean and his imployment little to be regarded I but if matters were well known this would be apprehended that the preaching of the Word is most properly the work of Christ himself He that is the great Mediator He that was in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God took upon him the form of a servant and he was pleased to accept of a commission from his Father to be a Preacher and to preach the everlasting Gospel As soon as he had suffered and was risen again he came and preached to the World as he did to his Disciples before his Resurrection and so likewise before his sufferings He came with commission from the Father to preach the Word which was given him out of the bosome of the Father That Word which is the subject matter of our Preaching and your Hearing it is the word which Jesus Christ is ingaged to preach and publish and make known to the World and I say again it is more Christ's work than it is the work of any man in the World and those that are called out to this service they are called out to the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. 5. And then add this further that this Lord Jesus Christ he hath that interest in the Father which none in all the World hath besides to the purpose of fetching out whatsoever there is of further Mystery and of discovery to be made concerning the Counsel of God the Word the Doctrine the Eternal Counsel which lay hid in the breast and bosome of God from all Eternity that Counsel that Word and Doctrine which hath so much of lustre in it Christ hath this priviledge above all creatures in Heaven and Earth above Angels Saints glorified in Heaven militant on Earth Christ hath this priviledge above them all to fetch out out of the Fathers treasury that which no Angel nor Saint in Heaven or Earth hath the priviledge to meddle withal Christ hath obtained this of the Father he hath this interest in the heart of the Father that he may with boldness come and take out whatsoever there is of secret Counsel in the Fathers bosome that concerns the Church of God to the end of the World He may be bold to come and challenge this as his priviledge Father if there be any secret yet undiscovered to the World I claim the priviledge to be acquainted with it and to have the discovery of it and to make it known unto the World This is the priviledge belongs to Christ. As now to give an Instance in Rev. 5. where you find there mention made of a Book in the right hand of him that sate on the Throne a Book written within and without and on the back-side sealed with seven seals a book full of Mysterie but a closed book nay a sealed book nay sealed with seven seals Hereupon the Proclamation is made with a loud voice by an Angel Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof Here 's a book full of Mysterie and matters of high concernment to the Church of God to the end of the World Who is worthy
everlasting Covenant which is ordered in all things and sure when it is not penn'd up but hath scope in our understandings when we can take in this mysterie of the new Covenant in the proportions of it this is the business of Faith but it is that which will not be performed to any good purpose unless there be some considarable improvement and growth in Faith and therefore it is that the Apostle doth so earnestly pray on the behalf of the Church of Ephesus in Eph. 1. saith he I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers that the God of 〈◊〉 Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory may give 〈◊〉 yâ—… the spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of blâ—… the eyes of your understandings being inlightned that yâ—… may know what is the hope of his Calling and what the 〈◊〉 of the Glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the exeeceding greatness of his power to us ward who beliâ—…e according to the working of his mighty power O how earnest was the Apostle in the behalf or the Ephesians to this purpose and Chap. 3. ver 14. sâ—…th he I bâ—…v my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he could grant unto you according to the riches of his Glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith and saith he that you may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all the fulness of â—…d Two passages they are of Scripture which are most proper for beleeving souls to be well studied in that part which I read to you out of the first Chapt. and this in the third I say they are of some proper cognisance â—…r men and woman that being brought over to the Faith of the Gospel are studious of approving themselves unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that they may answer their duty concerning these things that are here made mention of that there might be not only as I said before a weak and dim and dark apprehension of the mysterie of the Gospel the mysterie of Christ the mysterie of the hope of Glory but that there might be a comprehension that the mysterie may stand full and as much as may be compleat in us in all the proportions of it that the Gospel might not be streightned in our understandings Truly friends this is a great matter if you would but set your hearts upon it and seriously weigh and ponder what I drive now Alas how little is there of the mysterie of the Gospel that our hearts have already received how little of it And by this means God is scanted and shortened in the love praise and honour that is due to him and which our hearts would be inlarged to yield up if we were but more careful to answer our duty this way I do profess this morning to you that are partakers of the Faith of Gods Elect that are able to give any account of any saving work upon your hearts and that you have any thing of the Faith of the Gospel in you I do profess here and testifie to you in the Name of the Lord that this doth more neerly concern you for to look unto that these two Scriptures may be better answered by you that you do not please your selves in that streightness of spirit that is in you and discovers it self but that you be so heightned that there be such an inlargement of heart in believing that you may take in the mysterie in the Glories of it or else you will not so duly answer that which is required of you as touching your growth in Faith and Grace Think what you will of it this I am sure is a duty that lyes upon Beleevers to perform that they be of comprehensive spirits and that they labour to work out to a more inlargedness of heart that they may be so inabled to comprehend with all the Saints the height and depth and breadth and length or else you will never be able to give that glory to God and honour to Christ never be so much in admirings of the glorious mysterie of the Gospel as otherwise you would I would you would a little think of this point and for my part I do profess I know nothing that is more proper for a Minister of the Gospel a Dispencer of the Mysteries of God to be more earnest in pressing and urging upon Beleevers than this very thing is But alas how low spirited are most Beleevers Beleevers that it may be have got as much Faith as wil secure them from Hell and bring them to Heaven But as for the mysteries in the glories of it in the dimentions of it in the latitude of it O how uncapable of a due apprehension of it Will you therefore but consider of this this is one thing I it is it is that which doth mainly concern those that have any thing of the Faith of the Gospel in them for to be very solicitous about and studious to be answerable to I leave it with you but know that the great God of Heaven and our Lord Jesus hath laid this burden upon you and me this morning As many of us as are able to give an account of the Faith of the Gospel the Lord Jesus laies this burden upon you this morning that you look to it that there be a comprehensiveness of spirit concerning the mysterie of the Gospel which is Christ in you the hope of Glory And so I let it pass I leave it with you to be studied and pondered upon and as you will answer it to Christ another day Take heed that this particular among the rest be not slightly passed over Again your duty is to grow in Grace and Faith and so will you make it appear that you do grow When you come to have such a Faith as is not only a living Faith but a lively Faith an active stirring Faith within you when you come to have such a Faith as that you do not only live by it but that you live richly by it there 's many a man that lives and gets a livelyhood he hath bread for the day he hath to supply his necessities but he lives at a low poor rate he is not able to rise up to those expences that others are able to bâ—…ar So there are I say many Beleevers they live they gâ—…t bread for the day they get a subsistence by their Faith but they live poorly at a low rate they do not keep a good house they do not spend like rich men There are that are rich in Faith as the Apostle uses the expression in the second Epist. of James that are rich in Faith that 's it that we should press to to such a growth in Faith that we may live like
the grace and blessing of the Gospel the blessing of Salvation and much what the souls acting is upon a selfish account Fain would it be secured as touching its estate and that it should be kept from eternal perishing and this doth very much sway in the heart of a poor weak Beleever that he doth not so much mind the glory of God and the honour of Christ and the exaltation of the grace of the Gospel but fain would he be said as the poor Gaoler when he came to be convinc'd O sirs he comes trembling and quaking before Paul and Sylas O sirs what shall I do to be saved how shall I do to escape the wrath to come Men and Brethren say the people in Acts 2. when they were pricked at their hearts upon the convincement that they lay under concerning Christ and that they had contracted the guilt of his blood upon their consciences O sirs what shall we do I feel a load of guilt upon me and I see a hell before me and I am in danger to sink down into the bottomless lake O sirs what shall I do O pitty pitty a poor soul in danger of being swallowed up in destruction these are the workings of a poor Beleever that 's taken up mainly with solicitousness about his own safety And I say the Lord is pleased to deal very favourably with this poor creature and indeed God doth allow this that his people should be solicitous about their own Salvation Self-love upon such an account doth not fall under Gospel-condemnation But now this is not the advanced Faith the improved Faith this doth not argue so much a well-grown Faith as when a soul comes to this for to pursue life and salvation and to follow after a portion in the Glory that is to come upon what account why upon the account of this By my Salvation God shall be eternally glorified by my being one of his pardoned ones his reconciled ones the Grace of our Lord Jesus shall be exalted by my being delivered from the curse of the Law and from the condemnation of Hell by my being delivered I shall come to stand as a living and a lasting monument of free Love of glorious Grace and this is the rejoycing of my heart to think that I shall escape the vengeance of Hell the wrath to come and everlasting condemnation and so be with the Saints and Angels in Heaven for ever to sound forth the praises of God and to ascribe Honour and Glory and Salvation and Blessing and Dominion and Power to the Lamb that lives for evermore Ah here 's the well-grown Faith when a soul comes to work off as it were from self it looks not so much upon self my Salvation O! what 's my Salvation to the Glory of God why God shall be Glorified in my being eternally saved If I should perish and go to Hell what I should be tormented there is that all Nay God will be dishonoured Hell is a place that knows no love knows no subjection knows no fear of God it 's a place where God is continually blasphemed and shall be to all eternity O I would not come there nor go to Hell upon any tearms not so much because I would not be tortnented there but rather thus I would not perish and damn because I would not have God dishonoured by me I would not be like those damned souls and those damned devils I would not be among them that hate God and will hate him to all eternity and do nothing but curse him and blaspheme him and speak dishonourably of him O I would not go to Hell because of Blasphemies there I would go to Heaven because there is exalting and magnifying and blessing of God there When a soul comes to this to have Faith to be so improved as that he eyes the Glory of God more than his own Salvation and this you are to know that Gods Glory is the ultimate end of all his actions all his purposes and decrees and all his providential dispensations The Glory of God is that which I say is the ultimate end God hath this in design that he may be eternally glorified in the Salvation and damnation both of men and Angels Now that that is Gods utmost end should be our utmost end and the Faith which is of due growth will inable to this to say I would be saved principally that God may be Glorified I would not be damned principally because I would not have God to be dishonoured When self-interest and self-concernment begins to wear off and Gods Glory stand fully in our eye and when we are upon this design that God may be Glorified in our eternal well-being this will be a proof of a well-grown Faith Further your duty is to grow in Faith 't is your duty and thus should you grow to this point and proportion That you by being exercised in Godliness may come to mind the well-fare of others more than ever you did At the first beginning when God first sets in with a soul alas it hath scarce any charity to spare from it self it 's love and charity and care will searce look without doors scarce step over the threshold but altogether solicitous about its own concernments that it may be well with it self I but now when Faith comes to be well improved and to be a well-grown Faith then there comes to be an eving of others What shall I do to be saved Nay what shall I do that my Brother may be saved my Sister saved my Wife my Husband that my Friends and Acquaintance may be saved O! now God hath given me some hope that Hell shall never be my portion that I shall not go down to destruction I but what if my Brother should go to Hell and I go to Heaven what if my Husband should go doâ—… to Eternal Vengeance and I get into Glory O Lord what will become of such a neer relation Alas it is not enough to me now that I am secure as touching my eternal estate and that I have hope towards God that I shall escape the vengeance to come But now I begin to think with my self O such a soul lies in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity Such a child such a one in neer relation that is wallowing in the blood of his own soul O! what shall become of him what shall I do to be saved what shall I do that my Brethren may be saved and that my Relations may escape the vengeance to come The woman of Samaria when she came to have some comfortable communion with Christ she begins to be solicitous about her neighbours and goes to them and saith O I have met with Jesus and come see a man that hath told me all that ever I did is not this the Christ Truly Brethren a Beleever when he comes to be of a well-improved Faith he would not be alone in his mercy he would not eat his morsels alone he would not go
way or no he hath begun the journey and he is doubting whether he be in the right way yea or no this will put him to a puzzel and make him to be fluctuating and hesitating had I best go on I doubt whether I be in the right way yea or no this will cause slackness of his motion but if he be sure that he is in the way this will be much to the incouraging of him to make a further progress So if I find and am sure that this be the right way that I have Grace in the truth of it this will cause us to labour after the growth in Grace Eighthly You are to be upon the Faithful and diligent exercise of what you have The reason why we have no more Faith is because we are not more upon the exercise of that Faith which we have We speak of trusting in God Alas how few are there of us that do any thing to purpose in the exercise of our trust and beleeving exercising Faith upon Christ and upon the Covenant of God in Christ concerning pardon of sin sanctification why for want of exercising what Grace we have already received wâ—… improve no more the promise is a faithful promise and God will be true to it He that hath to him shall be given He that hath what 's that he that hath and useth for we must needs understand it in that sense He speaks of the man that had the Talent and had imployed it had gain'd five talents he had imployed his talent saith Christ give him the other talent for to him that hath that is that hath and doth use and imploy what he hath to him shall be given If we would now but set our selves seriously and consideringly upon this business and exercise and imploy what Grace God hath given we may be confident of it that God will come in with the inlargeings of his spirit Ninthly Our duty is in order to growth in Grace to be constant in our attendance upon such means which God hath appointed for such a purpose Word and Ministry and other Gospel-ordinances as we lye fair for the injoyment of them Truly these means are provided for this very purpose that Christians may grow God hath set up a ministry in the World not only to bring persons that were strangers to Grace to the participation of it but that being brought to partake of Grace they may come to be increased in Grace Christ ascended up on high and gave gifts unto men for the perfecting of the Saints as well as for the planting of the Saints and this is our duty when we have sound the power of the Gospel upon our hearts to bring us from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God When we have found the efficacy of the ordinances to begin Grace our duty is to attend them still that that Grace being begun may by the same means be increased unto the day of perfection This is the will of God and we may be confident of this that when Christians come to Gods means propounding Gods ends mark what I say and accordingly wisely judiciously and conscientiously applying to the means to such ends and purposes they may be confident of it that God will come in with a blessing for God doth delight to crown his own means to prosper his own prescriptions he loves to see his meat that he gives his children to prove their nourishment their physick to promote their health God loves to see his means that he provides for the good of souls to see them succesful Consider can you think so dishonourably of God of the most blessed God that he should provide a Ministry continue it in the World continue his people in their attendance upon it what meerly that they might keep on in a formalizing course and be never the better Or can we think so dishonourably of God as that he would go and tye us to hear and attend the Ministry of his Gospel and Grace and withhold his blessing while we do conscienciously and judiciously apply our selves to such means Can we think so dishonourably of God as that he will suspend his working Ah Brethren the Lord delights to meet them with his blessing that remember him in his waies Do but think of that passage in Isa. 64. and look that Text full in the face and hear what it speaks to you Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousness those that remember thee in thy waies mark it Thou meetest them to what purpose why to prosper them to command thy blessing upon them I undoubtedly if we did but propound this to our selves when we come to attend the Ordinances think thus with our selves why God hath set up this Ministry in the World that his peoples souls might prosper that they might thrive that they might grow rich that they might improve in Knowledge and Faith and Holyness and Love and the like God hath given this that there might be the perfecting of the Saints the perfecting of my Soul I go to this means I attend this Ministry and I will attend in expectation of a blessing of God upon it I will wait upon God and I will expect his blessing and reckon upon it that I shall be the better for these means 't is God's means and he loves to be found in his own way and to bless and prosper his own appointments Oh this is that would conduce exceeding much to proficiency in Faith and Godlyness if we would but go this way to work But I tell you Friends our formality spoyls us it 's a most lamentable thing to consider what formalizing spirits many of us have Will you but mind this that I say I would I might not have that occasion that sometimes we have in the way of our preaching to speak to such a purpose people come together and profess to pray as that 's one part of our publick ministry yet how many are there of you that scarce ever close with one petition in a whole prayer your eyes are wandering and thoughts are roving Do not your consciences tell you that of a truth you make nothing of this duty but you can gaze and wander and look this way and that way and discover to others an unfixed heart and that you mind not the business that you are transacting What 's this but formalizing as if we came to set out a prayer and not to bear a part in prayer And so for hearing with what a formalizing spirit are we many times we can hear as if we were not at all concerned in any thing that 's spoken never considering of the ordinances in reference to God as that that hath the stamp of his Authority upon it O this if the Lord be not the more merciful it will be the ruine of our souls This Plague Formality We have got a course of going to Church as you use to say and keep on a course and go in account for prosessors but
hope and confidence towards God It is Christ who is the foundation upon whom we are to lay the whole weight of our souls for eternity Now then consider how strongly the Argument will grow up from hence if so be that Believers be so much bound to place their trust in Christ to pitch and fix their confidence upon Christ they had need know him well this will follow upon it I tell you Brethren you had need to know reason will suggest this to you that man well whom you trust your lives withal all your estates and worldly interests withal lest putting your confidence in an unfaithful man or one that will not be responsible to you concerning the trust you place in him you be utterly undone and fall under sad and shameful disappointments Will you trust your selves in case of sickness with one that you never knew or have but little knowledge of do not know whether he have proportionable wisdom and understanding and skill to manage such an undertaking as your health and recovery from some deadly disease amounts unto Nay you will say I will know him well before I will trust him with such a concernment If so be that you have a Suit in Law which your whole Estate depends upon the well issuing of you will endeavour this to know him well whom you trust your Cause with lest it should miscarry by means of his ill management of it this we all will yield unto as a rational thing Why now I pray consider you are bound to trust Christ with your lives with your souls they are wofully diseased and He must be your Physitian and you are bound to make your application unto him for health and cure Truly you had need to know him it 's your duty to be well acquainted with him that so you may come with the more boldness to place your trust and confidence in Him and to say Well I dare venture my life in his hand I know him well I know his wisdom I know his skill I am so well acquainted with his sufficiency that if I had a thousand lives I would put them all into his hand You are to trust him for your eternal inheritance and for to plead your Cause to answer all the Suits that are to be commenc'd against you by the Devil by your Consciences it is He that must plead your Cause you are bound to this to trust Him with your Cause Now it stands you upon much therefore to know him well and be well improved in your knowledge of Christ forasmuch as you are to commit the cause of your souls to Him Consider further You are bound to place your most intire and intensive love upon Christ this is the bond the Lord sets upon every beleeving soul to love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and to love him with the most intire and intensive love Consider this you are bound to love him above your lives above your souls you are bound to love him more than you love your Father your Mother your Wife your Children your Estates every thing in the World that is most neer and dear unto you this obligation and bond the Gospel puts Beleevers under they are bound I say to love the Lord Jesus with a supream love and to give this account of themselves such as the Prophet doth of himself in Ps. 33. O Lord Whom have I in Heaven but thee and whom is there on earth that I love and desire in comparison of thee This is your duty the duty of a Beleever for to have the strength of his love let out upon Christ. It 's our duty to love him with a Conjugal love love him so as to own him for our Beloved and to refuse all other beloveds in comparison of him this is our duty Now mark you Will not then the Argument flow strongly from hence we have reason then to know him well and labour to improve in the knowledge of him Christ doth not care for a blind love He doth not make much account of the love that is set upon him by those that know him not it is a judicious love that Christ makes account of Now therefore it concerns you to endeavour a growth in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that knowing him well our hearts may break out and burn in love to him and that so he may come to have the strength of our affections let out upon him There 's never a wise woman in the World that will let out her love upon a man that she knows not or hath little knowledge of I will know him well whether he be a proper object for me to place my love upon Now thus the case stands between Christ and a beleeving soul and therefore we had need endeavour an improvement in the knowledge of Christ that so we may come to have our hearts the more free to let out our love upon him and say O I know him I know him so well that no beloved for my purpose besides himself Choose him I will choose him above all the World This was the course that the Daughters of Jerusalem took in Cant. 2. When the Spouse was giving in charge to them concerning her Beloved say they What is thy beloved more than another beloved Why saith she My beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand she speaks as one that had a full knowledge of him and upon that account her heart was so strongly drawn out to him thus it was with her Now in Chap. 6. having obtained the knowledge of her Beloved that he was so choice and precious a one their hearts begin to flame out and to be in love with him O whither is thy Beloved gone O thou fairest among women whither is thy beloved gone that we may seek him with thee for as he is thy Beloved so shall he be our Beloved now we come to know more of him now are our hearts inflamed with the love of him and our desires carried out more strongly after him Again we had need endeavour a growth in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Whereas they are bound to trust in him and to set their love upon him so they are under this obligation for to captivate their judgements to him so as to yield up themselves in all obedience and duty to be at his beck and bidding and to comport with him in all his requiries and to do whatsoever he commands them without disputing his commands this is a Beleevers duty Whatsoever he requires of them without any more ado to follow him resolvedly in every way that he leads them into If any man will be my Disciple let him deny himself and follow me and hearken to my commands such service and duty every beleeving soul stands bound to the performance of Now consider if so be that one will go and bind himself to such a Master whose will he must follow whose commands he must obey and with whose
this thing This belongs to a well improved Knowledge to understand that Christ had no reluctancy of spirit when this matter was propounded to him and when the matter was in debate Christ came in with no Negatives made no Objections but answered thus O my Father 't is thy Will 't is my joy it pleaseth thee to design me to such a purpose O my Father thy will be done my heart delights in it Thou hast prepared me a body O I come into the World with that body and I delight to do thy Will Though I fore-apprehend all the sorrow all the smart all the shame all the sufferings all the burden all those pressures that I must undergo in the managing of this great and glorious work and service yet I stick at nothing O Father it 's meat and drink to me I go about this work and service with as much content and complacency of soul as ever a hungry man went to eat his meat And then 10. It belongs to a well improved Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ That we know and understand that according to this Design of God and sutably to his accomplishments and sutably to his willing ingaging of himself he hath laid out himself to the utmost in a way of doing in a way of suffering in a way of doing fulfilling all righteousness in an active way in the course of his life and conversing here in the world In a way of suffering by the offering up of himself a Sacrifice unto God he hath made an Attonement he hath satisfied infinite Justice he hath pacified infinite Wrath he hath paid the Debt to the utmost farthing That now the Justice of God doth make Declaration that it is fully satisfied in what hath been performed by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is belonging to a well improved Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour That now which Christ said upon the Cross It is finished God from Heaven declares in the Gospel O I have full satisfaction I have nothing to object against those poor Souls that my Son hath ingaged for I have a full payment to the very utmost farthing 11. It belongs to a well improved Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that we understand this That having performed all that Justice could require in a way of doing or in a way of suffering That he rose from the dead ascended into Heaven and that God hath given him preferment that God hath given him the highest preferment upon his obedience and satisfaction to his Justice and upon the performance of this great Work and Service that he was designed unto God hath advanced him to the highest top of Honour he hath given him a name above every name he hath set him at his own right Hand above all Principalities and Powers 12. It belongs to the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ That we know how Jesus Christ thus advanc'd on High and thus raised up to a top of preferment how he doth improve that preferment He is now in Heaven he is at God's right Hand he is in fullest Glory How doth he improve this Glory and Honour that is conferred upon him Improve it He sets his heart upon this that there may be an Improvement of all the interest that he hath in God all that Glory and Power and Majesty and Dominion that he is now invested withal he sets his heart upon this that he may improve this for the benefit and behoof of his People here upon Earth He makes it his continual work and business to be negotiating with God for poor Souls for whom he hath shed his blood and on whose behalf he hath made satisfaction to infinite Justice he doth continually appear in Heaven before God to make intercession for them Now do but lay all this together and here 's the well improved Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ which I have endeavoured thus to knit up together in this compass and to set out before you And here 's the great Mysterie of the Gospel lying in these things which I have held out this morning Now the next thing to do is this To let you see how all this Knowledge of ouâ—… Lord Jesus Christ in every part and parcel of it doth draw out the heart and soul of a Beleever and doth most happily influence it so that all this Knowledge is as a fatning water that doth nourish a Plant Faith being planted in the soul and this water of Gospel-Knowledge concerning our Lord Jesus being thus poured upon it why as a fatning water it makes the plant of Faith to grow and shoot up amain There is never an experienced Christian that knows what believing means and is upon the exercise of Faith and hath set his heart upon this that he may make an Improvement of his Faith there is never an experienced Beleever but is able to set to his Seal Oh in this Knowledge thus wrought out and thus spread forth before me in this Knowledge my Faith lives and thrives and prospers and swims up and down with all delight as the Fish in the water You may easily apprehend now how a Believers Faith will grow and increase and receive strength and nourishment and shoot up amain upon the due consideration of these things that I have suggested 1. As now When a poor Beleever shall think thus with himself Why do I hesitate Why have I a fluctuating heart why is not my heart setled and fixt and come to be full of confidence in God Why I consider thus That that Jesus which is the object of my Faith he is God over all blessed for ever would I have a more able Saviour than a God It is not an Angel that I am commanded to place my trust in no it is God blessed for ever he that was God with God from all Eternity as great as God as good as God Why should I flag in my spirit why should I faint why should I have any miss-givings Have not I a God to trust upon 2. And then He is God I He is God-man where can I promise my self pitty bowels compassion if not from a man a man that is in union with God and in union with God to this purpose that he might be accomplish'd that he might be every way most compassionate and suitable to such an undertaking 3. And then again This Jesus is the Son the Son of the Father where can I place my trust and confidence so freely as upon the King of Heaven's Son He is the Son of the Father nay he is his dearly Beloved Son the Father loves him delights in him he delights to hear his Prayer he pleased him in all things 4. Nay why should not I be strong in my Faith in Christ forasmuch as this Jesus this Son this beloved Son this delightful Son is the person that the Great God hath chosen and design'd to such a purpose and it is the will of God that every
imitation But alas how little do we attain to of this Gospel-Repentance how little do we express mostly of such a temper and frame of spirit Can sin freely but repent very hardly How little doth there appear to God of any kindly workings and breakings of heart before him in the sense of all that we daily commit of sin and transâ—…ion in a way of disobedience and loose walking before the Lord. Why truly I may be bold 〈◊〉 that if so be there were any place for Repentance in Heaven though indeed it is not a â—…ce of Repentance but of joy and everlasting rejoycing Yet if Heaven were a place of Repentance I am perswaded that there are very few of those that some to Heaven that would not â—…ll upon the work and business there and that because they repented so little as they did while they were here on earth if there were any place of repentance there it would go to the hearts of many that they did not take it more deeply into consideration their evil dispositions and sinful conversations while they were in the World And what is the reason that Repentance that blessed Grace is not more largely shared in that it is not more expressed to the life of it why we may with much confidence conclude upon 〈◊〉 that this is one of the special reasons because we 〈◊〉 not more of the knowledge of our Lord and 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ. 〈◊〉 Bâ—…en if Christ oâ—… Lord Jesus were better known and the knowledge of him better digested I know this that there would be more soul meltings and heart-breakings 〈◊〉 kindly manner before God than ever otherwise there â—…like to be Consider what the Prophet speaks iâ—… â—…ech 12. saith he They shall look upon him whom they have piâ—…ed and what then They shall look upon him they shall mind Christ study Christ they shall fix their serious thoughts upon the Lord Jesus Christ and upon him aâ—… one whom they have pierced and what will follow Then shall they mourn over him as one who mourneth for an only Son and be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first-born This will raise up the sorrow this will break the heart When persons come for to know and consider and seriously ponder upon the Lord Jesus Christ consider of his dying and dreadful suffering and woful breakings and bruisings that he was pleased to undergo on the behalf of poor sinners and then their hearts will break within theâ—… What was that which made the Converts in Acts 2. for to fall into such a melting frame and to be pricked at the heart and to mourn and lameâ—… deeply Why Peter had been preâ—…ching to them the Doctrine concerning our Lord Jesus and endeavouring to bring them to the knowledge of him whom they had crucified You have crucified the Prince of Life you have been the murtherers and betrayers of him they were pricked then at the heart and cryed out O men and 〈◊〉 what shall we do O miserable wretches When a soul shall set it self to know and understand the mystery concerning Christ that the Eternal Son of God he that was in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God he that was from all eternity the delight of his Father he that was holy and unblamable knew no sin never was guile found in his mouth the spotless Lamb That he should be hanged as a malefactor that he should be put to the greatest shame and ignominy that could be that he should be under the heat of the wrath of his Father that his precious soul should be in such an agony as that he should be constrained to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me That he should undergo such breakings and bruisings and woundings that he should sweat drops and clods of blood that his soul should be exceeding sorrowful and heavy unto the very death And yet this blessed Jesus one that never sinned no not so much as in a Thought yet that all this should be undergone by him And when a soul shall come to consider that it self hath been accessary to this horrid murther it self should have a hand in this bloody business that it self should be a party to this prodigious impiety that it self should stabb Christ to the very heart when this comes to be considered when a soul comes to be well improved in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his deep and dreadful and dolorous sufferings this must needs give an advance to the Grace of Repentance Why it would argue a heart harder than an Adamant that would not upon such well digested apprehensions as these be in meltings before the Lord upon the consideration of a crucified Christ. This is that which if it were but well known and studied and seriously pondered upon would give an advance I say unto Repentance But the reason why we are no more in the lively practice of Repentance is because we are no more studied in this Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I would this were considered of by us and put to the proof whether you would not find it so in experience that this would make your hearts to break before the Lord. 4. The Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and a kindly growth in it will conduce very much as of Faith and Hope and Repentance so of Love love to God and love to Christ and love one to another The complaint may justly enough be taken up concerning this as concerning the other Graces we are little in one and other and truly it is not to be expected that they should be much advanc'd in Love that are not advanc'd in Faith and Hope and in their Repentance towards God But thus it is alas that Love that should be in us in the flame it is mostly but in the spark we have some little glowings it may be but not those kindly burnings of Love to God and Love to Christ those inlargements of heart that we should make discovery of and what 's the reason Why we may reckon it very much to this that we are not more improved in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ For the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Christ well advanc'd well grown and improved as a most strong and effectual conducement to the growth in Love When the Daughters of Jerusalem had been well instructed concerning the Spouses Beloved when they had had an account of him their hearts were exceedingly taken with him and then they would seek him with her Whither is thy Beloved gone O thou fairest among women Whether is thy Beloved gone that we may seek him with thee Thus it is if so be that we knew more of Christ we would be more in the Love of Christ. Truly the motions of the Will they will answer the sanctified light of the understanding Now where there is but little light and Knowledge 't is not to be expected that
way soever it turns Truly so is this gift of Knowledge wâ—…re it 's given of special Grace when it is not a notional Knowledge but a heart-Knowledge for such a Knowledge I speak of such a Knowledge as the Covenant of God's Grace makes a conveyance of For alas I and others may preach a great deal of light into your heads and you may come to have the notions of these things and be never the nearer but we speak of a heart-Knowledge of God in Christ Jesus according to what the Covenant makes conveyance of as I said And I say thus That where there is heart knowledge given it is such a gift as prospers which way soever it turns O the blessed benefit that comes over by the heart-knowledge of our Lord Jesus especially when there comes to be a due improvement of it as in the other respects so in respect of meekness humility of spirit Alas meekness and humility it 's a lovely Grace but where doth it appear we are lofty and are far from a disposition that way which should discover it self What 's the reason Because of a defect in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For thus Had we but more of the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus there would not be that frowardness and perversness and unto wardness and swelling of heart that commonly discovers it self if we had but a well improved and a well digested Knowledge of our Lord Jesus For consider What is there to â—…e known of Christ Why he is another manner of Christ than we take him to be than we know him to be or have a mind to know we do not know what a Christ he is he is another manner of Christ than you think he was He was not a proud Christ he was not a lofty spirited Christ he was meek and gentle and lovely and of a most humble frame of a most graciously condescending spirit Learn of me saith he Mat 11. I am meek and lowly And he gave most convincing proof and demonstration of it all along in his course and conversation in the World Did we but know this and had but a more through knowledge of what a kind of Christ he is it would conduce to the meeking and humbling of our hearts and spirits and make us to argue thus What a meek and humble Christ and I a proud swelling-hearted Wretch why how will this consist with my Profession I profess the Name of the Lord Jesus and discover little or nothing of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Surely Brethren this would conduce much to the meekning and humbling of our hearts And so for Patience That 's another Grace which we should not only have but have it in the increases and the improvements of it and yet how littlâ—… discovers it self how proud and passionate and waspish and froward are we What 's the reason of this Because we know no more of Christ we have not this heart-knowledge of Christ to such a degree as we should press after Did we but know what a patient Christ he is O! when he was reviled he reviled not again and when he was reproached he bore it patiently and he was led as a Lamb before the Shearer dumb and opened not his mouth Why did we but advance more in the hearty knowledge of our Lord Jesus it would conduce very much to the working of our hearts to patience and to a good degree of Patience This Knowledge of our Lord Jesus it would influence the Grace of Patience that we should be more conformable to Christ. And the Apostle in Heb. 12. he propounds this very consideration in order thereunto saith he Let us â—…n with patience the race that is set before us And that we may do so Let us look unto Iesus the Author and finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him indured the Cross despised the shame He indured the contradiction of sinners against him Lest saith he you be wearied and faint in your minds Look to this Jesus know the temper of his Spirit and what a patient Christ he was and what a heavenly Spirit he discovered And so I say That the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus would contribute most strongly to such a purpose 7. And so for Heavenly-mindedness What 's the reason that we are so apt to dote upon the World and upon these lying and vexing vanities here below Why because we know no more of Christ If we were but more advanced in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we should be â—…ch helped against earthly-mindedness and improve more in a heavenly frame of heart and live above the World Why do not you know what a Christ he was what a heavenly Spirit he had how he lived in the World as a stranger He set not his heart upon this and that pleasure and profit but minded his business and he had an eye to the glory that was to be revealed and so he made it his great design that he might improve his time and honour his Father And he was at length able to give this account Ioh. 17. Father I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work thou gavest me to do And now further Glorifie me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was Father I have liv'd in the World not so much by choice as upon the account of Duty and my heart is with thee and my longing's after Heaven Father glorifie me with thy self and bring me to thy Glory and thus Christ's heart was carried out Now had we but a well improved Knowledge of this it would contribute much to the promoting of a heavenly mind in us and make us to think with our selves Do I know this to have been the gracious frame and spirit of my Lord Jesus whom I make a Profession of And doth it not concern me to endeavour conformity to him that I may express the like heavenly-mindedness that Jesus Christ did I might yet speak of other Graces As 8. Fear and Reverence of God It 's a precious Grace which receives much increase by a well improved Knowledge of Jesus Christ. Let me but give an instance of that in Psal. 2. where there is an account given of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ That God the Father hath set his Son upon his holy hill of Sion That he hath given the Heathen for his inheritance the utmost parts of the earth for his possession That he hath given him a rod of iron with which he will break in pieces his rebellious enemies like a Potters vessel This is the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This Knowledge when persons come to be well advanced in and there comes to be a due improvement of it will contribute very largely to the promoting of a holy Fear and Reverence of God according to that which follows Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Iudges
Saviour Jesus Christ O it will spirit the soul and make it lively to the uttermost in publishing the praises of the most high God I instance only in Eph. 3. what the Apostle is praying on their behalf That they might be able to comprehend with all Saints the height and depth and breadth and length and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge so that you may be filled with all the fulness of God And then mark what follows Now saith he unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Iesus thâ—…ughout all ages world without end Amen Paul 〈◊〉 not hold his spirit was so full he was like a vessel that must either have a vent or burst it self O he being upon the meditation of this glorious Mysterie concerning Christ and the Doctrine of Christ why saith he Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly O how his heart was filled with praises and admirings of God upon the account of Christ. And there is one thing more now comes to mind wherein you may see the spirit of a Saint in the proper frame of it when there comes to be a due improvement of the Knowledge of Christ when the Apostle Paul in 1 Tim. 1. had been making mention of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and comes to express his knowledge and sense of that Grace according to what you have exprest and held forth in that Chapter saith he The Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with Faith and Love which is in Christ Iesus and so he goes on This is a Faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Iesus Christ came into the World to save sinners of whom I am chief howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life Paul had been thus upon the serious meditation of this knowledge concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark you now what his spirit rises up unto in the close of the Chapter Now saith he unto the King eternal having but made mention of Christ and spoken something concerning Christ and given some account of his knowledge of the mystery concerning Christ Mark how he breaks out into this acknowledgment Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen and this comes in only occasionally in the way of a digression For he intermits the prosecution of the Argument he had in hand and falls upon this by way of a digression as if he should say O I cannot fall upon the mention of our Lord Jesus and of the mystery concerning him I cannot be upon the meditation of that knowledge which is to be had of Christ Jesus our Lord but saith he my heart must be breathing out in a way of praise and blessing of God admiring the riches of his Grace And thus would it be Brethren if we were but set to it to advance in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ O it would inlarge our hearts as unto prayer so unto thanksgiving and blessing of God I add yet further O this knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ it is a knowledge that Christians should endeavour to grow and advance in for it is by great growth in this they will come to be the more happily accomplished for the performing of the service of Preaching and Hearing I joyn these two together Preaching and Hearing of the Word of God And you may consider how a well-improved knowledge of our Lord Jesus would conduce most strongly to the provoking both of ministerial Preaching and likewise of Christian Hearing and attending upon the Doctrine which is to be made known unto us according to the Commandment of the Everlasting God For Preaching work O consider now that the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that knowledge that is to be had of him well advanc'd and improved will contribute exceedingly to the most lively management of this service Alas it 's accounted in the World but a low service and many times with too much lowness of spirit performed by those that profess to be called to the performance of it O but whence is it but from the want of a well-grown knowledge of our Lord and Saviour For consider Brethren this is that that we are to know concerning our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that the Word and Gospel which is the subject matter of our Preaching and your Hearing I joyn these two together Preaching-work and Hearing-work Now the word which is the subject matter of a Ministers Preaching and of a Beeleevers Hearing This word it comes out of the very heart of God out of the blessed bosome of the Eternal God And as a precious token of that love and respect that he bears to his Son he hath given out this word out of his own breast and bosome he hath given it and committed it as a trust unto his Son Will you consider this That this everlasting Gospel this word of Salvation which is the subject matter of our Preaching and your Hearing it is given as a testimony of the Fathers Love it is given to Christ observe that expression in Joh. 17. in the Prayer that our Saviour makes unto his Father saith he ver 8. I have given unto them the words which thou gavest unto me thou gavest the words to me first and then saith Christ I have given these words unto them our Lord professeth before all the World he makes this open profession saith he my Doctrine is not mine 'T is not mine considered as Mediator but it is the Doctrine of my Father which my Father hath given me and which he hath intrusted me with to make known unto the World and to communicate to my Disciples that by them the World may have the Knowledge of him Consider this that God the Father the Great Jehovah He gives this Word this Doctrine unto his Son Jesus Christ. Well this is that that is to be known concerning our Lord Jesus Christ that the Words and Doctrine is that which is given as a gift by the Father unto him and so likewise you have it in Rev. 1. the Revelation of Jesus Christ how came it to be his Consider that it 's resolved thus which God gave unto him to shew unto his Servants which must shortly come to pass and then he sent and signifyed by his Angel unto his servant John I but Christ hath a Revelation who gave it him God gives it him God hath given Christ all the whole plat-form and frame of Doctrine that concerns the Church of God his elect ones and called ones from the beginning unto the end of the World God the Father hath given this to the Son 2. This is that that is
in heaven or earth to take this book out of the right hand of him that sits upon the Throne The Proclamation is made and the account is given Thus no man in heaven or earth nor under the earth was able to open the book nor look thereon not so much as to look upon it This goes to the heart of Iohn a great Favourite of Christ a dear Servant of God he for his part is astonisht at it and falls a weeping bitterly That there should be none found worthy to open the book Mark what follows One of the Elders said unto me weep not behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof and he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sate upon the Throne He came and took the book Here was the priviledge of Christ above Angels and glorified Saints or any in heaven and earth there was such a part of the counsel of God which was hid in his breast bosom that none durst venture upon for to make a search into The Lion of the tribe of Iudah the Lord Jesus the Lamb that was slain he was worthy and so they come with their acclamations afterwards they fall down before the Lamb having Harps and golden Vials and they sing a new song worthy worthy is the Lamb that was slain thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof And then they break out into magnifying and praising of God Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing and the four beasts said Amen and the four and twenty Elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever Why now this is to be known concerning our Lord Jesus Christ he hath this priviledge to take the book out of the hand to go into the bosom of the Father to open the cabinet of the Fathers most secret counsel he hath this priviledge above all creatures in heaven or in earth This is to be known concerning Christ. 6. Yet further This Word and Doctrine which is the subject matter of our preaching and your hearing it is such a Doctrine as Christ is marvellously pleased with the wise judicious publication and preaching of it and with the humble attention upon it and therefore Christ is perfect and he hath promised to be present to the end of the World in his Churches and in his Congregations and with his Ministry and with his under Preachers For as I said before preaching work is principally his Christ is the great Preacher and all that are imployed in the work they are but under him and they do his work principally he is present with them observant of them he hath promised to give his assistance to them and to take knowledge of all discouragements that they meet with as we see in the case of Paul When Paul was upon his preaching vvork he meets vvith very hard usage the Lord appears to him and doth as it were clap him upon the shoulder and saith Be of good cheer Paul Thou hast testified of me here at Ierusalem and in such and such a place I will stand by thee and none shall hurt thee O Christ is present with his servants and he delights to see his work graciously and judiciously managed and to see his People that attend upon him to give heed to his Doctrine The Lord Jesus he takes Knowledge how his work is entertained how it s preached and heard and how people behave themselves under the dispensations of it Why now good now beloved consider this These things are the things that we are to know concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. Now if this were well considered wold it not contribute exceedinly to the promoting of preaching and of hearing work Those that are called out to this ministration O if they had but the well digested Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ would not this spirit them and make them to look to the cause they manage how they manage this trust that is committed to them from Christ and how they deal with this blessed Doctrine that came out of the bosom of the Father and if you did but consider that you come to hear the Word that is given of the Father to Christ which is in the heart of Christ and which he ingages himself to give new life unto and how he takes notice what entertainment his Word hath c. If you did but know this certainly there would be other manner of hearing than ordinarily there is Thus now I have spoken concerning that I shall now go on and let you know That by growing in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Believers they come to be exceedingly advanced As for the other Services that I have been speaking of as Gospel-Duties in Prayer and Praising God in Preaching and Hearing the everlasting Word that came out of the bosom of the Father So by the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we come to be exceedingly advantaged for that great work of mortification and of self-denial To joyn these two together Self-mortifying work Self-denying work Alas Brethren how hardly are we brought to these Services And when we set upon them alas how aukward and how untowardly do we apply to the management of it And why Alas because we are so deficient in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ were there a well improved Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Did you but know what a self-denying person he was and how justly be may require self-denying at the hands of his People If we did but consider that this Jesus Christ he was from Eternity God with God he might have lain warm in the bosom of his Father in the dear and blessed bosom of his Father he might have lain there and delitiated himself and kept out of all the storms and tempests of the World and might have enjoyed himself with sweetest delight in his Fathers bosom O what a self-denying Christ was here That he should come and leave his Father's bosom and be content to expose himself to the difficulties and hardships of the World to undergo storms and tempests Mark what the Apostle speaks in Rom. 15. Let every one of us please his neighbour c. For saith he even Christ pleased not himself He did not set his heart upon pleasing himself but that he might please his God and profit his People here below even Christ saith he pleased not himself O a self-denying Christ and if this were well known it would promote self-denying work in us And then sin-mortifying work O we are hardly brought to it to wound and slay our corruptions and to be ever and non digging down our Walls and ever and anon to be boring in the sides of this or that corruption This is his hard work to us but had we
life is a life of Power all Power is given to him he hath the keys of Hell of Life of Death he hath the keys of Heaven and Hell all power is committed to him and he is invested with it So that the life of Christ is a life of Power he liv'd here in the world under weakness as touching his humanity but he lives now as the Apostle speaks though he was crucified through weakness yet he lives by the power of God 2 Cor. 13. 3. And then his life is a life of Peace he had much trouble in the World but all his trouble is over and he is entered into everlasting Peace 4. The life of Christ in Heaven it is a life of Rest. 5. It is a life of Joy and Rejoycing O Christ is at Gods right hand and at the right hand of God there is fulness of joy and pleasure for evermore as the Prophet speaks in Psal. 16. 6. The life of Christ it is a Kingly life he lives in the state of a King and God hath given him a Name above every name King of Kings and Lord of Lords I and know this 7. This life of Christ it is a life of Knowledge and Observation Christ in Heaven lives an observing life he observes all the actions and transactions that are here below he knows all the workings in the Nations and Kings of the World he knows all the oppositions that are made against him by the powers here below he knows the state of all the Churches and all the carriages of his Churches and People as in the Revelations he orders to all the Churches it should be signified I know thy Works and what thy condition and state is Christ lives a life of Observation 8. And he lives a life of Compassion too O that 's a comfortable consideration that the Lord Jesus in Heaven he lives a life of Compassion he hath not left his bowels of compassion here behind him but he is as merciful a High-Priest now as ever he was he was good in the world he is as full of bowels and of tender love to his poor Church and People now he is in Heaven as he was when he was upon Earth all his glory in Heaven shall never make him forget his poor suffering Members here on earth Saul Saul Why persecutest thou me 9. The life of Christ in Heaven it is a life of Satisfaction And yet withal 10. It is a life of Expectation he hath fullest satisfaction in respect of his Father and of his injoyments at the right hand of God he hath sweetest satisfaction concerning all the travel that he did undergo while he was conversant here in the World according to that Isa. 53. So doth Christ he now in Heaven looks over all his travel he considers all the cost and charge that he was at to redeem the World and he thinks not one peny too much that he hath paid to speak with a holy Reverence not one peny of all the payment too much to be laid down to purchase a People to purchase an Inheritance he doth not think that there was one drop of his Blood too much to be shed that he might redeem a People to himself and bring them to the possession of an eternal Inheritance And yet notwithstanding the life of Christ in Heaven is a life of Expectation not that his expectation is any way affective to him doth any way impead the sweetness and comfort of the life that he now lives in Glory but it is a life of joyful Expectation He lives in this double Expectation First till all his enemies be made his foot-stool He lives in this Expectation expecting the coming of that time when all his Saints that he hath redeemed from the World and purchased with his Blood be in his hand and brought to Glory Now this is no disquieting expectation but a most joyful expection that Christ lives in to see the utter downfal of all his enemies and to have them under his feet And according to that which you in Heb. 10. 13. saith he speaking concerning the Priests in the old Testament This man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sate down on the right hand of God There 's his life from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his foot-stool for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified This is now one part of Christ's Expectation which he is upon in Heaven That all his enemies be they who they will never so many never so mighty he lives in the expectation of their downfal and being brought under his feet and of this expectation he shall not be disappointed in the least no not in the least The life of Expectation which Christ doth now live in Heaven it is such a life as wherein he hath a most sweet enjoyment he knows he shall be answered in this Expectation of his And so likewise his expectation of having all his people that he hath purchased with his blood given into his actual possession He prayed for this in his last prayer Father I will that all those which thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may see my glory and share with me in that glory which is to be had in heaven This was his supplication and sutable is his expectation That the time shall come when he shall have all his Saints in his hand and not one of them wanting Now this is the Knowledge that we are to have of the life of Christ in heaven a life of Glory a life of Power a life of Peace a life of Rest a life of Joy and Rejoycing a Kingly life a life of Observation and a life of Satisfaction and a life of Expectation such is the life that Christ lives Now O how worthy is this Knowledge to be pursued and that every Believer should labour to be well improved in the Knowledge of this life of Christ in Heaven both for his greatest incouragement and comfort to think that that Jesus who died now lives and lives for evermore in Heaven That he is now in power he that was crucified through weakness he lives through the power of God Why this Jesus he lives now in the fullest injoyment of all that happiness that can he conferred upon him and in the expectation of having all his enemies subdued and all his People brought over to him that he and they may solace themselves eternally in the vision and fruition of God and of one another O what a comfort is this now for to know and consider of It was the joy of the heart of Iacob and made the old mans heart to leap within him and to revive again to hear that his son Ioseph was alive and in honour in Pharaoh's Court. O how much more joyful will it be to the rejoycing of the heart of a child of God that hath set his love upon Christ to think that his Jesus is in heaven at God's
right hand in the possession of all that honour and glory which heaven it self can confer upon him And thus now I have travelled with you and I confess it hath been somewhat a long journey that I have travelled in the handling of this Point in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus and how much it concerns Beleevers to endeavour a growth and increase in it considering how every way the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus will be beneficial to them to the promoting of grace inabling to suffer fitting for Duty and for the promoting of a holy Conversation and the like Now all that hath been spoken doth issue in this That the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ is a Knowledge that our hearts should be exceedingly set upon Now for the Improvement of this by way of Use I shall make short work of that but O that you would but weigh and consider what hath been spoken in so many Sermons that I have preached to you upon this Doctrine and for the Application I shall be brief in that Now I would beseech you consider with your selves you with whom I have to deal will you but consider with your selves whether I have been in this matter that I have performed performing a proper Service or whether I have not in your account been imployed in a needless work whether your hearts will not suggest such a thing to you You have been preaching to us concerning the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ what have you told us that we knew not before and you press upon us that we should endeavour a growth in in this Knowledge and be upon our improvements but alas what are we the further advanced in this Knowledge So that now if so be that I should come to act and perform the part of a reprover possibly there may be such a spirit found that you will think what have you told us we knew that Christ took upon him the nature of man and he came into the world and liv'd and died here and was crucified and buried and rose again and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God every common nominal Christian can chatter over these things and think with themselves what needs all this ado about a growth and increase in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. O but Brethren I would say to you as the Apostle speaks in a like case 1 Cor. 8. I know well enough that you have all knowledge I and your knowledge makes you conceited it puffs you up But if any man think he knows any thing he knows nothing as he ought to know It were good for you and me to look well to it that our light be not found to be darkness that our knowledge be not found to be ignorance This I would have said that there are clear demonstrations and convincing Arguments that some know nothing as they ought to know others that do know they are not so improved in their knowledge as they ought to be I tell you this look to it for of a truth your being so defective in the faith of the Gospel your being so apt to fluctuate and be turmoyl'd in your consciences your being so uneven in your walking your being so low spirited as you are your small measures of faith and love and hope and confidence and boldness towards God and your aptness to be startled at every providence and to be foyled by every temptation these and such like â—…s do loudly speak it out that of a truth you â—…t know Christ as you ought to know him I speak to one and other of us we shall find and be able to evidence it the conscience will be convinc'd of it That we know not as we ought to know we have not made that advance in the Knowledge of Christ as we should have done because it is thus and thus with us we have no more love to Christ did you know Christ as you ought you would never dote upon the world as you do nor be so inslav'd to your corruptions as you are did you know Christ as you ought to know you would live more honourably and more to the credit of the Gospel than you do There are many many things that will evidence it to us that we do not know Christ as vve ought to knovv SERM. XVIII HOw Righteous yea how Gracious this Requirie is That believing souls should grow in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hath been abundantly demonstrated and made to appear unto you Wisdom is justified of her children if we be Wisdom's children it will appear and so it must by our justification of Wisdoms sayings and giving in our justification we come under the strongest obligation for to carry it in a sutableness unto what we profess to be Now taking it for granted that we do acknowledge this to be a truth that it is our duty to grow in the Knowledge of Christ as that which is the most excellent and the most beneficial Knowledge this Knowledge which as you heard the last day will conduce very much to the well regulating of a Christians conversation when it comes to be known to purpose what a life Christ himself did live while he was in the World what a life Christ lives now he is in Heaven which two things were accounted to you at large in several particulars That which now remains to be done is to make application of all that hath been said and so to press on after the improving of this Doctrine Something in the very close of the last Exercise was spoken to you May I now without any check from within appear among you this Morning as a reprover for God and in the behalf of God and in the behalf of Christ and not be accounted needlesly and causlesly to pick a quarrel I remember what David said to his quarrelsom Brother upon occasion of his coming unto the Camp when he was inquiring what would be done to the man that should slay the Philistine He replies to his quarrelling Brother What have I done is there not a cause So if so be there should be any inward secret quarrel at what shall be spoken in way of reproof and blame I would speak as David did and say Is there not a cause The Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is unquestionably and undeniably pretious Knowledge excellent Knowledge profitable and beneficial Knowledge but is it prized is it pursued will our Consciences bear us witness that we are upon our endeavours after it that we may advance and improve in it and that we may answer the duty of this Text which makes this charge upon us that we grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus If our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and he knows all things Is there not a Conscience within us that can witness against us that this pretious Knowledge it was never very pretious unto us This Knowledge did
charge We have no conscience of sin though we make conscience of sinning yet we have no conscience to charge against us O this would be our fruit of the well advanced and improved knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. These things Brethren would be considered of by us and to close up this part of the Discourse I have only this to say That if so be that any of us do think in our consciences that we deserve to come under this lash of reproof and that this Complaint may be justly taken up against us That we have not so minded as we ought the knowledge of Christ and have not set our endeavours as we should that we may come to grow in this knowledge Then to close up all for I would willingly give a dispatch to this part of the Text I would only speak a few words in a way of Exhortation and I would thus perswade in the Name of the Lord That as it is the duty of the Text so it may be the matter of your practice for to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And here you must consider that this knowledge as also the Grace that God gives so the knowledge that you may have and are to have of Christ it comes not in all at once Shall I express my self thus if it may not be too low for the Argument The Lord in managing of his Trade with his People he doth not deal by whole-sale but rather by retale he doth parcel out and give by parcels dispences by parcels now a little and then a little now a little Grace then a little more now a little light and then a little further improvement The Sun it gives not out its full light at once so Christ and therefore it is that there is a growth in Grace and a growth in Knowledge and in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus So then reckon upon it we are but in the way and so we know but in part and prophesie but in part and we are not comprehensaries we come not to the full of that which is to be known press on and after and increase in the Knowledge of Christ. I need no other Arguments than vvhat have been already presented to you in the Doctrinal part It is the most excellent Knovvledge It is the most beneficial Knovvledge in all respects according to vvhat hath been accounted to you Novv there are but these three things vvhich I shall dispatch in fevv vvords First I vvould have you to consider vvhat knovvledge of the Lord Jesus Christ it is that you are to grovv in not a notional knovvledge not so much in that so as you should rest in a bare notional knovvledge and a form of knovvledge but you must knovv this That the Knovvledge of our Lord Jesus vvhich you are to endeavour a grovvth in it is a spiritual Knowledge an inward spiritual Knowledge a heart Knowledge it is not a knowledge of Christ after the flesh no not in that sense which the Apostle may mean in the second of the Corinthians We have known Christ after the flesh that is they knew him and they knew him so as to see him with their bodily eyes 't is not this Knowledge of Christ though if you have this spiritual Knowledge you will in due time have this knowledge and sight of him but now we know Christ no more so as he saith there Though we have known Christ after the flesh as he was known to the Disciples when he was here in the state of humiliation and conversant in the World We have known Christ after the flesh but henceforth know we him so no more Nor is it any carnal Knowledge but to increase in the Knowledge of Christ according to the Mysterie which is Christ in you the hope of Glory You should labour to increase in the Knowledge of him which answers his Constitution who was made a Priest Prophet and King not after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless life as in Heb. 7. You are to endeavour increase in the Knowledge of Christ which is a confiding knowledge and a conforming Knovvledge such a knovvledge of him as is a fiducial knovvledge such a knovvledge as that by knovving him to come to be more and more inabled to rest and rely upon him that you can say I knovv so much of the Lord Jesus that I can sit dovvn and look no further I have enough I have the desire of my heart here I can boldly trust here I can fix and stay vvithout any misgivings I know this foundation is strong enough to bear up the whole weight of my soul. And then you are to indeavour to grow in that Knowledge which is a conforming knowledge that knowledge by which you come to be molded into a conformity to the Lord Jesus so as what you know of his Wisdom and Meekness and Patience and Humility and Heavenly mindedness you know him in these things so as that you come to grow up into conformity to him This is the Knowledge or else your light will be darkness and your knowledge will be found to be ignorance And then I press upon you that you would endeavour to grow in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now what especially of the Knowledge of Christ would you have us to grow in I 'll only mention two things briefly First That you would labour to grow more and more in the Knowledge of the infinite fulness and sufficiency and power of our Lord Jesus Christ that you may know what a powerful Christ he is what an able Christ he is how able to do exceeding abundantly above all you ask or think I reremember it was the blessing of Judah that his hand should be sufficient for him Deut. 33. Christ is the head of Judah he is the Lord of Judah's Tribe and to be sure this blessing rests upon his head his hand shall be sufficient for him to remove Mountains to break gates of brass to cut in sunder bars of iron he is able to do all that concerns his Church and every Saint that belongs to him and that the Father hath given him he is present to go through his work and he will not leave any part nor parcel of it undone O this is pretious knowledge which we should endeavour to advance in that we may come to be more full in the apprehensions of the fulness of sufficiency of the power of our Lord Jesus that whatsoever work lyes upon his hand to perform he will be found all-sufficient to accomplish and bring to pass he is sufficient to present all that the Father hath given him without spot and blame before the presence of his Glory with exceeding joy and though there be the power of Devils and World and Corruption that may labour for to wrest a soul out of the hands of Christ why saith he None shall be ever able to pluck them out of my hands And then
above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Iesus throughout all ages world without end Amen In 1 Tim. 1. we have the Doxologie formed thus Now unto the king eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen In the Epistle of Iude we have the Doxologie formed thus Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy To the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty dominion and power now and ever Amen And in the Text thus To him that is to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To him him be glory both now and for ever Amen These are the Scripture Doxologies some of them which I have now referr'd you to And you may observe there is something of variation in words and terms and whereas in the other Doxologies the glory is ascribed and voted up unto God by Jesus Christ in the Churches here the Doxologie is made to refer unto our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and so the Apostle carries it in reference unto Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever Amen You must not think that Peter was more devoted to the promoting of the honour of Christ than of the Father and of the Spirit nor that he doth exclude the Father and the Spirit the eternal Father and the eternal Spirit from out of the bounds of this Doxologie or that he hath not an holy aim at the Glory of the Father and of the Spirit as well as at the Glory of the Lord Jesus the second Person no nothing less than so The truth is no man can honour the Son but in honouring him he honours the Father and the Spirit too no person can give glory to Christ but he must give glory to the Father and to the Spirit too but the wisdom of the Spirit appears in this and his direction that sometimes the Doxologie should in terms be referred unto God Father Son and holy Spirit sometimes it should be so formed as to have a reference unto the second Person considered as Mediator and so in the Text And there may be some reason why the Apostle Peter should refer this Doxologie unto our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ not mentioning in terms the Father or the Spirit and putting it in the ordinary form To God only wise To the great God be glory for ever But thus To him who is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be glory now and for ever There may be this apprehension that the Apostle Peter minding and remembring the great disservice that he had done to Christ when he was under his abasing and what dishonour was done to him by his threefold shameful denying of him he would now leave the best Testimony behind him that he could of his devotedness to the exalting of his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ he would leave the best Testimony to all Posterity that he could And so in this Epistle and in this closing Doxologie he makes mention of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ voting and wishing up making this application to him praying this and wishing this and voting this unto him that Glory may be unto him both now and for ever Amen And so you have this more general account concerning these words Where you have some matter To him be glory To him to whom To our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be Glory a Duty or a Vote an Apprecation that is a praying unto him A fit word to be used the sense whereof is as I say an Apprecation a praying up to Christ a praying over to Christ a voting over to Christ To him be glory This is the Apprecation And then there is the Time To him be Glory Now Now let him have Glory now while there is time while time continues and as long as there is any time as long as there is a Now as long as we can say Now why so long let glory be to him To him be glory Now now in this present time and as long as time shall continue as long as there is but a nick of time if there be but a Now of time one now even now and in this present time be glory to him And then For ever not now only but let it be for ever let it be a standing business let there be acknowledgment of honour and glory to Christ Now I and when there shall be no more time even in Eternity let there be an acknowledgment of Glory to Christ Jesus Now and for ever in the Original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto the day of Eternity Now and unto the day of Eternity to him be Glory to him be Glory now and to him be Glory In diem eternitatis â—…en to the day of Eternity Such a day there 〈◊〉 come and it will be such a day as will swallow up Time that came out of the womb of Eternity before Time was and Time shall be swallowed up of the Eternity that shall follow when Time shall be no more and that shall be a standing and lasting day a day that shall know no night and a day that shall know no limits and bounds but it shall be a lasting day and a day of Eternity Such a day there will be which shall be a dreadful day unto wicked ones that live and die in unbelief and impenitency they shall have a day or rather a night of eternity a black burning night that will never have a dawning morning no never have a dawning morning But then there will be a bright and lightsom Sun-shine day that shall never have a cloud upon it a day of Eternity and in this day of Eternity this work is to be performed and this Glory in this long day of Eternity is appointed and voted up to the Lord Jesus To him be Glory both now and to the day 〈◊〉 Eternity And then we have the confirmation of all Amen O let it be so Amen O so it shall be unto this Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be Glory for ever Amen O be it so Amen O it shall be so I thus the Apostle shuts up this pretious Doxologie this blessed Epistle which I have treated of so long Now what are we to gather from hence This is the only thing that remains to be done which is to give you an account of this one Point from the Text. That they that are acted by a Gospel Spirit have any saving Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are and will be most strongly devoted to the Glory of Jesus Christ to have Glory given to Jesus Christ. This is the Doctrine and consider of it well Now and for ever and will come in with their vote and say Amen This is the thing that I offer There was never since the Gospel sounded in the World never any
more labouring under the apprehension and the representation of their former sins they would have been made perfect and would have had no more Conscience of sin But saith he every time they come to offer these Sacrifices there is a remembrance of sins Why Why because the knowledge of all this the performance of all this would not answer the exigency of the Conscience and lay a foundation for the Conscience to bottom upon But saith he Christ He comes in and He by one offering of Himself by the shedding of his own blood once He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified and now the Conscience comes to be quiet O this is the knowledge will quiet the Conscience Therefore now judge with your selves whether there be not infinite cause that professors that mind their souls and the peace of their hearts and the comfort of their Consciences whether it doth not infinitely concern them to endeavour an increase and growth in the Knowledge of the Lord Jesus That so when Conscience would be upon stirring and startling and stumbling the soul being well versed in the mysterie and understanding to good purpose what the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ is the soul may be able to relieve it self Well be it what it will let Devils charge and let men charge let them charge to the full I bless God I have the knowledge of Jesus Christ. I understand the mysterie concerning my Lord Jesus I have endeavoured to make a good progression in this knowledge and to accommodate it to my purpose I know who Christ was what a Priest he was and what blood he shed and what a sacrifice he offered and I know that the Infinite Justice of God is not able to make any exception against this sacrifice and blood God hath rescued me well may my Conscience rescue me God is satisfied well may my Conscience be satisfied Well now for my part I know not what in all the World to preach to you that is more material and momentous than these things And these two things that I have laboured about this morning as touching a Christians accomplishment for being wise and judicious and that is by a due improvement in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And likewise concerning the Conscience and how that comes to be rectified and set to rights and to stand a mans Friend in every time of need and that he may sweetly injoy himself and come to have a Rock to repose upon in a storm and tempest how a soul may come to find a rest for it self in all the tossings and turmoylings in the World and that it is the knowledge or improving in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I say these are momentous things and we should well consider of it that of all knowledge there is none that we should endeavour a growth and increase in as the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. SERM. XII I Shall now proceed unto some other things which will yet more fully evidence it to us that it doth very much concern beleeving souls to endeavour a growth in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The third thing according to this order which I propound is That by growth in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we shall be advantaged for a growth in Grace It seems and to me it more than seems to be implyed in the Conjunction of these two Requiries Grow in Grace grow in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It seems to imply thus much as if so be the Apostle should have said Grow in Grace and that you may do so see that you grow in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They are never like to come to any eminency in Grace and to make any considerable advance 〈◊〉 Grace that make little or no progress in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And they that in uprightness of soul do make it their business to incease and grow in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are the most likely persons for to make the most considerable advantage in the Graces of the Spirit of God There is something in it that the Spirit of God by the ministry of his Apostle Peter should propound these two requiries in this Conjunction one with another Require a growth in Grace and in order thereunto a growth in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Now here first of all I shall speak a little more generally and that but in a touch And then shall endeavour to evince this by giving an account of this in a more particular way You are to know that the first plantation of Grace in the soul it is made in the way and by the means of the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ communicated to the soul through the Spirit there can be no Grace in the heart where there is no Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is the Knowledge of Christ and of the Gospel and of the Gospel-mysteries concerning Christ by the means whereof Grace comes to be planted in the soul. The Prophet in Psal. 19. gives us this account of the Law of the Lord that it is a perfect Law converting the soul. What Law is this understand it of the Law of Grace and Faith Not of the Law of Works and there by Law you are to understand the Doctrine of God concerning Christ held forth in the Gospel in the Scriptures of Prophets and Apostles And he saith that it is the Law of God this Law of Faith this Gospel-Law which is the blessed Instrument of converting the soul. Before Conversion there 's no Grace when Conversion is wrought then Grace takes place in the heart an unconverted person is a graceless person let him be what he will for his moralities and plausible conversation when once Conversion is wrought then Grace comes to be in the soul and this Conversion is not brought about but by the Gospel which holds forth unto us the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Let a man preach moral Duties never so clearly and plainly moral Duties all the Duties of the moral Law considered as it holds forth a Covenant of Works as it holds forth a Duty to God Duty to Man I say let a man preach never so clearly and plainly man's Duty he will never be able to convert the soul that is not the converting Ministry no it is not 't is not the quickning Ministry I remember how the Apostle argues to the Galatians Received ye the Spirit saith he which Spirit is a Spirit of Grace by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith That is the Doctrine of Faith Why saith he you did never receive the Spirit which is a Spirit of Grace by the works of the Law and by the hearing of the Law but you received the Spirit by
the hearing of Faith by hearing the Doctrine of Faith the Doctrine of the Gospel the Doctrine concerning the Lord Jesus Christ made known unto you in that way the Spirit came and the Spirit with the Grace of it It is therefore the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ that is the blessed instrumental means whereby there comes to be the first plantation of Grace in the Soul I this that brings men to believe it 's the Gospel men will never believe to the saving of their souls till they come to know Jesus Christ. They will never repent with a Repentance to salvation till they come to know Jesus Christ All the knowledge in the World will never bring over a soul to Faith and Repentance to the Love of God but the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. When men come once to know the Mysterie of the Gospel to know the Grace of God in Christ to know the Mysteries concerning the Salvation and Redemption of the World by the Lord Jesus this will bring them to Faith if any thing will this will bring them to Repentance this is the instrumental means whereby they come to have their hearts warmed with the Love of God The preaching of the Law as a Covenant of Works moral Duties and pressing of them without the line of the Gospel and the Covenant of Grace without reference to that this will but rather provoke and stir up the corruption of a man The Law worketh wrath against a man works wrath in a man it raises up wrath it irritates those cursed corrupt Principles that are in him O this is a Mysterie that we should be well acquainted withal O it is the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel This is that that breaks the heart and makes the heart to work out after God Never shall we begin to love God nor to love Christ till such time as we come to know the Doctrines of the Gospel concerning our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I would with all my heart that every one of you were but well studied in this Mysterie that now I am speaking to That it is the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ held forth in the Gospel that is the means and instrument to plant Grace to make the first Plantation of it in the Soul As 2ly Know That as it is the means of its first Plantation so it is the means and instrument of its Augmentation I am speaking according to the Doctrine of the Text concerning a growth in Grace and in the Knowledge of Christ. This growth in Grace is brought about by a growth in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus the more we know the more we shall believe the more we shall repent the more we shall love the more holy shall we be as I shall shew you God assisting I think this Point will take up a little more time than other Particulars will but it will be time well spent Now yet further to clear up this That it is the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the increase in that which doth promote an increase in Grace You shall find in Scripture and truly it is worthy your consideration to my apprehension that the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ it is put for all Grace 'T is a considerable thing that when God will make a promise of all grace he doth epitomise that promise thus I will give them an heart to know me When God comes to make a promise to his People concerning Grace he puts it into this Form I give them an heart to know me O how much is there complicated in that expression I will give them an heart to know me He doth not say an Head to know me Indeed that 's a Gift but Knowledge in the heart is a Grace It is the beginning of Grace and that which contributes to all the Graces an heart to know me To know me with what a kind of Knowledge with a fidelial Knowledge a Knowledge of Trust and an affectionate Knowledge a Knowledge of Love and with a Knowledge of Desire and a Knowledge of Submission I will give them an heart to know me And you shall find likewise to this purpose our Saviour speaks Joh. 17. 3. This is life eternal Why This is life eternal To know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Mark it This is eternal life in the Causes of it this is eternal life in the way and means of it To know thee and to know him whom thou hast sent To know God in Christ this is eternal life Then surely it imports Faith and it imports Love and it imports Holiness for eternal Life doth not come over to a soul but in the way of Believing and in the way of Holiness and in the way of Love and in the way of all the Graces So that I say The Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ it is such a Knowledge as under which is comprehended the Graces of the Spirit And truly this is a consideration of weight in order to this purpose that we may come to be more in our indearings of it and more in our endeavourings after it But now I shall endeavour to make this yet more fully to appear by an induction of Particulars so as that you may stand convinc'd of this that the way to grow in Grace is to grow in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Consider first of all That by growth in this Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we are most happily advantaged for a growth in Faith and Believing it is very considerable and I will commend it to you to be seriously weighed That as Knowledge is put for Faith for justifying Faith according to that remarkableScripture that you have in Isa. 53. where the Lord speaks to this purpose by the Prophet By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many Now do but weigh that passage and observe this expression This is spoken concerning Christ our Lord and Saviour And saith the Prophet By the knowledge of him shall my righteous servant justifie many Why doth the Knowledge of Christ justifie Why the Devils know him and yet they are not justified Carnal Professors they have a Knowledge of him and yet they are not justified I but that is such a kind of Knowledge as that they that have it shall be justified And Christ by the Knowledge of him shall justifie many Now what Knowledge is this Iâ—… must needs be understood of a fiducial Knowledg a Knowledge of Faith such a Knowledge as is a Knowledge of Dependance a Knowledge of Recumbency and Relyance upon the Lord Jesus Christ. There 's no other Knowledge whereby Christ can justifie souls but by such a Knowledge as this And so I say The Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ it is put for Faith and is used to be set forth unto us The faith whereby souls are justified and so