but Christ ascended to Heaven that his departure from them might not be prejudicial to them but that they might have comfort through the God of comfort the spirit of comfort the Holy Ghost I will send the Comforter And though there was no losse by the ascension of Christ they might fear by losing of Christ that all their comfort was gone I but Christ telleth them I go to prepare a place for you He goeth to take up Heaven for his Church and then to send his spirit What a blessed intercourse is there now since Christs ascension between Heaven and Earth Our body is in heaven and the spirit of God is here on earth The flesh that he hath taken into heaven is a pledge that all our flesh and bodies shall be where he is ere long In the mean time we have the spirit to comfort us and never to leave us till we be brought to the place where Christ is This is great comfort and this is the main end why Christ ascended to the Father that he might send the comforter And comfort might well come now in more abundance then before because by the death of Christ all enemies were conquered and by the Resurrection of Christ it was discovered that God was appeased The Resurrection of Christ manifested to the world what was done by death and now all enemies being conquered and God being appeased what remains but the sweetest gift next Christ the Holy Ghost And that is the reason why the holy Ghost was more abundant after Christs Resurrection because God was fully satisfied and declared by the rising of Christ to be fully satisfied and all enemies to be conquered 4. One end likewise of his Resurrection was to make a shew of his Conquest There is a double victory over the Enemy There is a victory in the field and triumph together with it And then there is triumphing in Civitate Regia a triumphing in the Kingly City So Christ did conquer in his death and shewed his Conquest by resurrection but he did not lead captivity captive and make shew thereof till he ascended and then he made open shew of his victorious triumph in Civitate Regia 5. One special end likewise why he would have this Message sent that he was to ascend was that he might appear there in Heaven for us as Heb. 9. He appears for ever in Heaven for us and maketh intercession for us When the high Priest was to enter into the holy of holies which was a type of Heaven he carried the names of the twelve Tribes ingraven in stones upon his brest Christ our true high Priest being entred into the true Holy of Holies carried the names of all his Elect in his breast into Heaven and there appeareth before God for us He carrieth us in his heart Christ doth fulfill that which in John 17. he prayeth for appearing in heaven before his Father by virtue of his blood-shed and that blood that speaketh better things then the blood of Abel it speaks mercy pardon the blood of Abel crieth for vengeance justice but the blood of Christ saith here is one that I shed my blood for And when we pray to God God accepts of our prayers and by virtue of Christs blood-shed there is mercy and pardon and favour procured which is sprinkled by faith upon the soul God manifesting to the soul by his spirit that Christ dyed in particular for such a soul which soul praying to God in the name of Christ that blood not only in Heaven but sprinkled upon the soul speaketh peace there The spirit saith that to the soul which Christ doth in Heaven Christ saith in Heaven I dyed for such a soul the spirit saith in the soul Christ dyed for me and the blood of Christ is sprinkled on every particular soul As Christ in Heaven appears and intercedeth for me so the spirit intercedeth in mine own guilty heart that always speaks discomfort till it be satisfied with particular assurance Christ dyed for me and God is mine and Christ is mine Thus particular faith sprinkleth the blood of Christ upon the soul So that now my sins are not only pardoned in Heaven but in my soul There is not only intercession in Heaven but in my soul My soul goeth to God for pardon and for mercy and rejoyceth in all the mercies it hath and hopeth to have What is done in Heaven is done in a mans soul by the spirit in some measure 6. The last end is that he might shew that our salvation is exactly wrought that God is perfectly satisfied to the full else he should never have risen much lesse ascended to Heaven And therefore if we once believe in Christ for forgiveness of sins and yet say I doubt of salvation it is all one as if you should go about to pluck Christ from Heaven The doubtful distrustful heart till it be subdued by a spirit of faith saith who shall ascend to Heaven to tell me whether I shall go to Heaven or who shall enter into the deep to tell me I am freed from hell I am afraid I shall be damned saith the guilty heart till the spirit of God hath brought it under and perswaded it of Gods love in Christ Say not who shall ascend up to Heaven for that is to bring Christ down from Heaven And what an injurious thing is it to bring Christ from heaven to suffer on the Crosse This is a great indignity though we think not of it to doubt of our salvation and not cast our selves on his mercy For as verily as he is there we shall be there He is gone to take up a place for us he is there in our name as the Husband taketh a place for his spouse And if we doubt whether we shall come there or no we doubt whether he be there or no. And if we doubt of that we doubt whether he hath wrought salvation or no and so we bring him down to the Crosse again Who shall descend to the deep that is to bring Christ from the dead again such is the danger of a distrustful heart So that by Christs ascending into Heaven we may know all is done and accomplished all our enemies are subdued God is appeased and fully satisfied Heaven is taken up in our room and therefore labor for a large heart answerable to the large unchangeable grounds we have for faith to pitch and bottom it self upon Therefore make this further use of this ascension of Christ and thereupon his intercession in Heaven for us He is there to plead our cause he is there as our surety to appear for us and not only so but as a Councellor to plead for us and not only so but one of us as if a Brother should plead for a Brother and not only so but a favorite there too all favorites are not so excellent at counselling perhaps but we have one that is favorite in Heaven
himself as indeed she had Long deferring of a thing doth but inlarge the soule Want inlargeth the desire and capacity of the soul so doth love Now when we want that we love that emptieth the soul marvellously much it mortifieth affection When God keeps off a long time and we see it is God only must do it then the affection is taken off from earthly things and the heart inlarged to God by love and the want of the thing we love And therefore we set a price on the thing so that we are wonderfully pleasing to God It is very beneficiall to our selves What lost Mary by it so shall we lose nothing We have it at last more abundantly We have it as a mighty favour Mary taketh this as a new blessing all together When things are kept long from us God only must discover When the heart is kept from second causes the heart is inlarged Certainly this comes from God and God should have all the glory of it God is wise and therefore makes us to stay a long time for that we do desire We all of us are in Maries case in a spirituall sense sometimes or other we misse Christ I mean the sweet sense of Christ Lay this down for a râ—le that Christians ought to walk in sweet communion with God and Christ that it ought to be the life of a Christian to maintain the CoÌ„munion that Christ hath vouchsafed between us and himself Then certainly we lose Christ wonderfully and not against our minds but willingly by our own slighting of him and by our own undervaluing of him or by our negligence and presumption Christ though he be low yet he is great and he will have us to know his greatness There must be communion with due respect One way or other we deprive our selves of the sense sweetnesse of communion with Christ What must we do then we must do as this woman did turn over every stone use all kind of means leave not one till we find him and when all means are used wait still Persevere in waiting as Peter speaks Believers wait hold out in waiting for Christ in his time will come he cannot hold long As Joseph did suppresse his love and affection for politick ends a great while but his pitty towards his Brethren was such that his bowels would not suffer him to conceal himself longer his passion was above his policy I am Joseph And so let us in the use of all things seek Christ and the sweet sense of his love which is better then life it self And indeed what is all without Christ Christ is so full of compassion he will not long suffer us to be prolonged but will at length satisfie the hungry soul how many promises have vve to this end Take heed of such a temper of soul as cares not vvhether vve find Christ or no. Oh take heed of that if vve vvill seek him seek him as Mary she sought him early in the morning she brake her sleep and sought him vvith tears If any thing be to be sought vvith tears it is Christ and communion vvith him she sought him instantly and constantly she sought him so that no impediment could hinder her she vvas so full of grief and love She sought him vvith her vvhole heart she vvaited in seeking that is the vvay to find Christ Seek him early in our younger times in the morning of our years Oh that we could seek Christ as we seek our pleasures we should find more pleasure in Christ then in all the pleasures of the world if we could perswade our base hearts so much Seek him above all other things Awake with this resolution in our hearts to find Christ never to be quiet till we may say with some comfort I am Christs and Christ is mine When we have him we have all seek him with tears at length we are sure to find him He hath bound himself that if we knock he will open And if we seek we shall find If we seek wisdom early with our whole hearts intirely sincerely seek Christ for Christ and then we shall be sure to find him as she did Thus seek him in the word Sacraments wherein he discovers himself familiarly Seek him in the Temple Christ was found in the Temple and then we shall be sure to find him both here and hereafter Specially we shall find him in our hearts You see how familiarly he comes to us in the word speaks to us by a man like our selves And how familiarly by the Sacrament by common bread and common wine sanctified to do great matters above nature to strengthen faith He cometh to us through our faces into our souls in the Sacrament He cometh to us through our ears in hearing the word through our sight in seeing the bread broken He comes by familiar things and by a familiar manner of conveying as if he should name every one I come to thee and give thee my body Think with our selvs now Christ cometh to me when the Minister reacheth the bread and come to me think of heavenly bread of the gift of Christ to me by means can he do it more familiarly Is it not as if he should say Mary and that is the excellency of the Sacrament It conveyeth Christ to all the Saints and to every one in particular as if he named every one And what an incouragement is this to answer again to open our hearts to receive him together with the Elements to imbrace Christ joyn with Christ and then to keep him when we have him do not lose him he will not be so dealt withall remember the Covenant we have made to him I beseech you let these sweet considerations of Christ dwell in us and work on every one of our hearts If they do good on us here on earth if we by faith lay hold on him and have intercourse with him what will it be in the day of judgement How comfortable will it be to hear him say to every one in particular Come thou and thou stand on my right hand sit and judge the world with me Doth he know our names now on earth and giveth to every one particularly by himself if we come worthily and will not he know us then oh that is far more worth then the worlds good to know us then and to call us by our names Therefore I beseech you be acquainted with Christ Have intercourse all we can with him in the word and Sacraments and never rest till we find this sweet result in the use of the means That he is ours and we are his Take heed therefore in these times desperately addicted to formality and Popery I say take heed we do depend not upon any outward thing but look to Christ in all his Ordinances look to the spirit all Gods children the church of the first born they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such
brother said the King of Israel as common Offices make kindred He had but let passe the tearm of brother and they would not let it go but catcht at it thy brother Benhadad We see what wisdom flesh and blood can teach to make an improvement of any comfort in the world if by kindred or office or any relation in the world they make use of them And when we be in Christ shall not we make use of them when we be troubled with sense of sin or in desperate conditions when Christ calleth us brother shall not we answer I am thy brother Blessed be thy mercy and love that descended so low as to make me thy brother I beseech you let us not lose the comforts we may have in the Disciples being called Christs Brethren when they were in some sort enemies but he knew their hearts were sound and it was but their weakness therefore let no weakness discourage thee He will not quench the smoaking flax nor break the bruised Reed Is thy heartright to Christ art not thou a false Hypocrite a secret Traitor to Christ and to his cause and Church then be of good comfort thou mayst go to Christ as to thy brother Though Peter denyed him with his mouth yet he confest him with his heart And therefore go tell my Disciples and Peter he hath most guilt and therefore hath most need of comfort Be thy guilt never so great if thou wilt come into Covenant with God here is mercy for thee and therefore make this use of it Never forget in your worst condition that may be since Christ will stoop so low to own you to be brethren to make use of it if your hearts be right towards him Go to my brethren now I come to the Commission or Charge given to her Go to my brethren who is the party charged Mary And what is her charge to go to the Apostles under the sweet tearm of brethren When doth he call them so after his Resurrection when he was in the state of glory what is the Message it is very sweet Go say to them I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God I ascend that is I presently am to ascend in a very short time I shall ascend It was but forty dayes between Easter and the Ascension and all that time Christ appeared now and then It is the nature of faith where it is glorious for to present future things as if present especially when they be near I ascend that is I shall very shortly ascend and it is all one as if I ascend presently To whom do I ascend I ascend to my Father To my Father that is not comfort enough therefore to your Father too I ascend to God that is not comfort enough therefore to my God and your God We shall unfold the words as we come at them First Mary Magdalen a woman a sinner is used in the great work of an Apostle to be an Apostle to the Apostles I would there were that love in all men to teach what they know and that humility in others to be instructed in what they know not It were a sweet conjunction if it were so She was a mean person to instruct the great Apostles But beloved where there is a great deal of love there they will teach what they know and where there is humility there they will be taught what they know not though they be never so great And God will humble the greatest to learn of the meanest sometimes therefore he sendeth Mary to the Apostles I beseech you in matters of salvation stand not on tearms Let us take truth from Christ let us see God and Christ in it see our own comfort in it not stand upon persons Aquila and Priscilla teach the great men knowledg And so it is sometimes mean persons are honored to be instruments of great comforts to persons greater then themselves She is to go to the Apostles under the name of Brethren Go tell my Brethren And she must go to the Apostles that were Christs Brethren and owned to be so now when he was in glory when he was risen and exempt from all his former abasements of the Crosse and grave where he was held captive three dayes under the dominion of sin when he was freed from all enemies of salvation and had triumphed over all Go tell my Brethren So you see there is a sweet affinity and nearness between Christ and his Christ took our nature on him for this end he became flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone that we spiritually might be flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone It is no comfort at all an inducing comfort it is but no actuall present comfort that Christ was incarnate for us for all the world might have comfort in that Turks Jews Pagans that had the nature of man in them And all have some comfort in it as their nature is dignified and that he took not on him the nature of Angels but the nature of man his spouse his Church it is that hath the comfort of it Therefore it is not sufficient that he be bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh but we must be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh We must be ingraffed and baptized into him by faith and then the tearm holdeth and never till then so that there is a sweet nearness betwixt Christ and his Brother is a most comfortable relation It is comfort that he took our nature upon him that God would take dust and ashes earth into the unity of his person for God to become man is a great dignifying of mans nature but to take not only our nature on him but to take our person particularly near to him thou and thou to be a Member of Christ there is the honor of it It induceth us to come to Christ that hath loved our nature so much But the other is an actual present comfort when we can say I am my Beloveds my Beloved is mine Our hearts are too narrow a great deal to imbrace the whole comfort that this word affords unto us That Christ should own us as his Brother after his Resurrection for that sheweth a reconciliation Brother is a tearm of friendship nay more then a tearm of reconciliation for a man may be reconciled to an enemy but it is a tearm of amity to shew that when we believe in Christ and are one with him our sins are quitted death is overcome Satans head is crushed when God is reconciled What have they to do with us they are only to serve our turns to bring us to Heaven and fit us for it I beseech you consider of the excellent freedom and dignity of a Christian his freedom in that he is the Brother of Christ free from all being owned by Christ after his Resurrection all being quit by his death who w as our surety else he
ever it is fit for him he will come If he should come sooner he would come too soon if afterward it would be too late He is the best discerner of times and seasons that can be and therefore wait his leasure If thou want comfort humble soul whatsoever thou art wait his leasure certainly he knoweth the best time and when the time is come he will come He that will come shall come there is no question of that Now as he sent her in all hast preferring it before any Complement to his own person so it is a constant love as it is a quick love that God bears to his Children so it is a constant invincible love They had dealt most unbrotherly with him for every one had forsaken him and Peter had denyed him yet go tell my Brethren One would think this water would have quenched this fire this unkind and unbrotherly dealing would have quenched this love in Christs breast It is true if it had been the meer love of man it had been something but it was the love of an infinite person that took our nature out of love and therefore it was a constant and invincible love nothing could conquer it not the thoughts of their unkind dealings no not their denying and forsaking of him But still go tell my Brethren Love is strong as death Death could not hold Christ in the grave but love held him on the Crosse When he came to the work of our Redemption love then held him on earth but when he was in the grave it brake through all there Indeed it was stronger then death in Christ Why is Christs love so constant so invincible that nothing can alter it The ground of it is it is free love He fetcheth the ground of his love from his own heart not from our worthiness or unworthiness but from his own freedom and Gods eternal purpose God hath purposed to save so many and those and no more he giveth to Christ to save And God looketh on his own purpose and Christs free love and that is the ground of all And therefore whom he loveth he loveth to the end because he looked on us in his election The Lord knoweth who are his the foundation is so sure if once we be Gods we are ever Gods For Christ looks on us in Gods election therefore if ever he sheweth his love to us once his love and for ever his love If any thing in man could hinder it it would have hindered it at our first conversion when we were at worst even enemies if nothing could hinder it then what can hinder it afterwards as the Apostle reasoneth strongly Rom. 5. 10. If we be reconciled by his death much more will he save us by his life If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son now much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his life If when we had no goodness but opposition and rebellion in us we were saved by his death Christ is much more able to save us now by his life triumphing over death and being glorious in the Heavens Oh but saith the poor soul I am a poor weak Creature and ready to fall away every day I but Christs love is constant whom he loveth he loveth to the end What saith the Apostle Rom. 8. neither things present nor things to come shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ and therefore be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might do not trust to your selves nor trouble your selves for things to come If thou be free from guilt of former sins never question time to come God is unchangeable in his nature unchangeable in his love He is Jehovah I am alwayes not I was or will be but I am alwayes If ever he loved thee he will love thee for ever You see the constancy of Christs love go tell my Brethren now when they had most deeply offended him they were Renegadoes having all left him and then when he had most need of their comfort being in greatest extremity and yet go tell my Brethren Beloved let us not lose the comfort of the constancy and immutability of Christs love Let us conceive that all the sweet links of salvation are held on Gods part strong not on ours the firmness is on Gods part not on ours Election is firm on Gods part not on ours We chuse indeed as he chuseth us but the firmness is of his chusing so he calleth us we answer but the firmness is of his action He justifieth we are made righteous but the firmness is of his imputation Will he forgive sins to day and bring us into Court and damn us to morrow no the firmnesse is of his action We are ready to run into new debts every day but whom he justifieth he will glorifie The whole chain so holdeth that all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth cannot break a link of it whom he calleth he will justifie and glorifie therefore never doubt of continuance for it holds firm on Gods part not thine God imbraceth us in the arms of his everlasting love not that we imbraced him first When the Child falleth not it is from the Mothers holding the Child and not from the Childs holding the Mother So it is Gods holding of us knowing of us imbracing of us and justifying of us that maketh the state firm and not ours for ours is but a reflexion and result of his which is unvariable The sight of the Sun varieth but the Sun in the Firmament keepeth alwayes his constant course so Gods love is as the Sun invariable and for ever the same I only touch it as the foundation of wonderful comfort which they undermine that hold the contrary The next point is that Christ chose Mary to go tell his Brethren and under the sweet title of Brethren to deliver this sweet message I am going to my Father and your Father to my God and your God He telleth them the sweetest words in the worst times This point differeth from the former thus The former was that Christs love is constant and alwayes the same but now Christ most sheweth his love when we are most cast down in the worst times if our casting down be with repentance He never said Brethren before but reserved the tearm of Brethren for the worst time of all The sweetest discoveries of Christ are in the worst times of all to his Children Mothers will bring out any thing to their Children that is sweet comfortable to them in their sicknesse though they frowned on them before yet the exigency of the Child requires it when there is need any thing cometh out that may please the Child The poor Disciples were not only in affliction being the scorn of the world the Shepheard being smitten and the sheep scattered but their inward grief was greater they were inwardly confounded and
of reverence for it includeth a mixt affection of fear and love And it is an affection of an inferior to a superior He is great therefore we ought to fear him He is good therefore we ought to love him There is with him beams of Majesty and bowels of compassion As there is beams of Majesty we ought to fear him as bowels of compassion we ought to love him so that fear and love mixt together is the affection we owe to God as our Father If we tremble and are afraid to go to him we know not he is loving If we go to him over boldly and sawcily we forget that he is great therefore we must think of his greatness that we forget not his goodness We must so think of his goodness that we forget not his greatness therefore go boldly to him with reverence to the Throne of Christ In the word Father there is more saving power then in ten thousand it toucheth his very bowels when a Child wanteth any thing and is in distress let it but say Father or Mother and the bowels of the Parents yearn upon him If God be our Father go to him boldly but with reverence go with affyance to his bowels Oh it is a perswasive word What cannot we look for from that Majesty that hath condescended to be called Father and to be a Father to us in all our necessities either we shall have what we want and lack or else we shall have that which is better he is a wise Father he answereth not alwayes according to our wills but alwayes according to our good He seeth it is for our good that we are not presently cōforted The Physitian giveth a sharp potion O I cannot indure the Chyrurgion lanceth oh I cannot indure it but the Chyrurgion knoweth it is not healing time even so we would be presently taken off from under crosses but God is a wise Father knoweth how long it is fit for us to continue under the Crosse Come to him boldly therefore under the name of a Father that he may move his bowels and surely will hear us For as in Psalm 27. when all forsook me my Father and Mother forsook me but the Lord took me up Fathers in the flesh and Mothers die but the Lord taketh us up he is an eternal Father and therefore a ground of eternal boldnesse with God and of everlasting comfort He was our Father before we had a Father in the world and he will be our Father when we shall cease to be in the world They be but Instruments under God to bring us into the world God is our true Father Our other Fathers are but under God to give us a being to fit us for Heaven He provideth the best inheritance and paternity for us in Heaven And therefore never be disconsolate but remember I go to my Father and your Father which is a word of eternal comfort He was our Father from eternity in election he will be our Father to eternity in glorification Can a Mother forget her Child yea though she should yet can I not forget thee thou art written in the palm of my hand God hath us alwayes in his eye A mother cannot alwayes think of her Child she sleepeth sometimes but God is a Father that never sleepeth The Keeper of Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth And this is our comfort in all times and for eternity And therefore we ought to carry our selves to God reverently and go boldly to him and alwayes make use of him And this we should learn likewise to maintain a sweet frame between God and us shall God open such an advantage to us shall God be our Father and bear the gracious eternal affection of a Father and shall not we by prayer and faith fetch from our Father all we stand in need of As our Saviour saith you that be earthly Fathers when your Children ask such a thing will you deny And have we a Father so rich so loving and shall not we have intercourse with him in all our daily necessities What a Trade is open to us if we know what a comfort is laid up in the sweet relation of a Father Your Father knoweth what we stand in need of and he will give thee the spring of all graces not only a broken heart a spirit of life and vigor in his service but go to God and he will give thee his holy spirit which is the best thing next Christ that can be And therefore be incouraged to make intercourse between thee and God considering we have a Brother in Heaven our nature is there and our spirit is below we have the best things in Heaven next Christ on earth and God hath our flesh in Heaven by Christ and therefore why should we not be much in prayer and much in prayses in all our necessities Beloved it is a comfort of that largeness that I cannot express it I rather leave it to your admiration that you may see what use to make of this sweet relation of Father 1. But we must know that every one cannot say my Father for there are a company of men in the world that may say in some respects our Father but in other respects they cannot As our Saviour Christ saith peremptorily John 8. 44. You be of your Father the Devil They bragged of God their Father and they were of their Father the Devil Therefore consider who is fit to take this name into their mouths My Father mark the disposition of the Scribes and Pharisees and then you shall see who be fit to bragg of God as their Father They be very formal men look to their outward devotion who so devout as they They studied it but what were they for the inside they were malitious men they were satanical men men opposite to the power of Religion arrant Hypocrites painted Sepulchres It is no matter for Complement or formality an Hypocrite may have much of that in the eys of the world yet may be a Child of the Devil for all that and a Pharisee for all that Thou maist be malitious against the truth as the Pharisees sought Christs blood A man may be like Herod seeking the blood of Christ in his Members persecuting Christ as all cruel men do They seek to devour Christ in his professors what they can they disparage and dishearten them they are enemies to the power of Religion and to the Ordinances of God they be the Children of the Devil and therefore have no reason at all to bragg that God is their Father Indeed an inward bitter disposition against the power of Religion though under any formality is a Character of a satanical spirit such cannot say Our Father If they do it is an usurpation for their true Father is the Devil ◠Who then can say our Father those that by the spirit of the Father and the Son by the Holy Ghost are ingraffed
into Christ by a spirit of adoption and have the stamp of the Father upon them The likeness of the Father and of Christ whom God begetsto his own likeness that are in a word like Christ Christ is the first Son and in him and for his sake we are Sons He is the natural Son and they may say our Father that labor to express the disposition of Christ who is the first Son See this disposition of Christ in the Gospel how marvellously patient he was under the hand of his Father obedienâ— to the death of his Crosse humbled full of love full of goodness He went about doing good Do we thâ—n walk as Christ did carry we the image of the second Adam have we the patient humble meek disposition of Christ in our measure do we love Christ in his members God in his Image do we love the Ordinances and the power of Reâ—igion this sheweth what we are and is our conversation sutable to our inward disposition do we walk in light do we shew by our conversation whose Children we are do our speeches give a Character of the inward man If this be in us though in never so small a measure with comfort we may say our Father But may not another man that is not in Christ come to God under the sweet name of our Father yea he may come to him as his Father by creation and providence or sacramentally a Father or as brought into the Church and having God to create him and to provide for him Lord thou hast shewed thy self a gracious Father thus far though I cannot from any inward perswasion say My Father Thus far as I can I say my Father strive against our spiritual infidelity believe God and cast our selves on his gracious promises in Christ God will meet us at the same time and he will send us his spirit to make us his Sons And therefore let no man that hath been a wicked liver be discouraged from going to God in the name of a Father in that wherein he is a Father Lord thou hast created me and preserved me and it is thy mercy I am not in Hell yet thou offer'st to be my Father in Christ thou hast made gracious promises and invited me and upon this when the heart yieldeth to the gracious apprehensions of God as a Father there is a spirit of faith wrought in the heart presently therefore think of the name of a Father and the very thoughts of it will bring the spirit of adoption Only it speaks no comfort to the bitter malicious satanical enemies of Christ and the power of Religion they be Children of the Devil But now poor souls that groan under the burden of sin let them think that God is a Father and of the mercies of God though they do not see they be interested in them By the very contemplation of the mercies of God in Christ and his inviting them to receive them the spirit of God will be wrought in the soul whereby they may have confidence to come to God as a Father I desire you therefore to remember this it is the first Sermon of our Saviour Christ after his Resurrection and therefore forget not to think of God as a Father and Christ as a Brother Indeed whatsoever comfort is in any relation God and Christ have taken it on them A Father is more comprehensive then any other Title Christ is Father and Husband and Spouse And God is our Rock and Shield and whatsoever is comfortable he hath taken on him and in Christ we may command him to be so And if we had ten thousand Worlds they could not be compared to the comforts that arise from hence that we can call God Father It is more to us if we could improve it in our spiritual Trade for Heaven then if we had a thousand worlds especially in dayes of affliction and in the hour of death For it improveth whatsoev er is in the bowels of God for poor distressed souls When nothing else will comfort this will comfort if we can say to God Father Though we cannot make a distinct prayer yet if we can say Father God can pick matter out of our broken Language Now Christ is ascended up to Heaven he doth us more good then he did when he was upon the earth The Sun in the Firmament yieldeth us heat and comfort but if it were nearer it would do us hurt or if further off it would not do us so much good God hath placed it being a common light of the world high to inlighten inferior bodies and to convey influence by means into them And so Christ the Son of righteousness being ascended and advanced to Heaven doth more good then on earth And therefore saith he it is for your good that I ascend It is for our good that we have Christ in Heaven to appear there for us I ascend to my Father and to your Father Father is here taken personally not essentially though it be true in that sense to my Father as the first person of the Trinity especially Christ might well say I ascend to my Father now for he was risen again and was mightily declared to be the Son of God by his Resurrection from the dead Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee that is this day have I declared thee It is said of things fiunt cum pate fiunt they are done when they be open and declared to be done Christ was the Son of God when he rose again because he was discovered by his glorious Resurrection to be so indeed And therefore Christ may well say after his Resurrection I go to my Father and your Father Observe from hence That God in Christ is our Father We say Relations are Minimae entitatis they are little entities founded on others but they are maximae consequentiae of great concernment I beseech you before I leave the point give me leave to go on a little further in this to shew that wonderful mercy that admirable goodness which the tongues and hearts of all the men in the world and Angels in Heaven are not able to express that love of God which is contained in the Relation he hath taken on him in Christ to be our Father 1. Consider who and whom Who the great God that hath the Son to solace himself in he did not adopt us because he wanted Sons he had Sons of his own and Sons of his love to sollace himself in what need he have took Traitors Rebels enemies to make them his Sons Oh it is a marvellous advancement of our nature that God should in Christ become our Father It is said Psalm 113. God abaseth himself to behold things below and indeed so he doth with reverence be it spoken to his great Majesty he abaseth himself in regard of things below In regard of us worms of the earth that be enemies yea Devils by nature For
to hear all the comforts spoken of before For all to whom he is a God in the Covenant of grace and have hearts to make him so the spirit raiseth up their affections to make him a God to themselves Amor tuus Deus tuus as it is said of old what we love most is our God What we joy most in is our God what we relie and trust in most is our God as it was said of the wedge of gold And therefore if any thing hath our affections more then God or equal with God that we make our God It is a quaere of the greatest concernment in the world to put to our hearts What do I make my God as David putteth the quaere to himself now Lord what is my hope is it not in thee And so put this quaere to our selves Lord what is my joy what is my hope what is my trust what is my comfort is it not in thee If our hearts cannot make an answer to this in some sincerity surely as yet we have not made God our God Time may be that he may be so but till by the spirit of God we be brought to see an emptiness and vanity in the Creature and a nothingnesse in all in comparison of God that we can say whom have I in Heaven but thee We have not comfort because we do not make him ours by a spirit of mutuallity Where there is a Covenant of grace there must be a mutual making of God our God as he maketh himself to us Alas we may be ashamed of it the best do often forget themselves Oh how do men value the favours of a man and the promises of a man the seal of a man for such and such a benifice and how doth it grieve them to have the frowns of flesh and blood the frowns of greatness but when their Consciences tell them they are under guilt of many sins and God is not in good tearms with them how doth this affect them and when their consciences cannot say they have promises sealed in Christ of the favours and mercies of God here and hereafter alas it is dead comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 give me that which is present and take you that which is to come is the Language of both How few can say from sincerity of heart that they make good to be their God And therefore it is of greater concernment then we take it Vse 2. As it is a ground and foundation of comfort so of all obedience to God as it is prefixed before the Commandements I am the Lord your God you shall have no other Gods but me do all in obedience to me from this ground But much more now then he was the Lord God that brought them out of Egypt But now God may prefix I am your Lord God in Christ that have brought you from hell and damnation that intend you Heaven and happiness and therefore do so and so Since this is the spring of all obedience we ought to labor to make it good and often to examine our selves as before what we make our God and what we pitch our affections on Alas is our soul for any thing but God hath not God made us for himself and will our hearts rest in any thing but God why then should we love vanity and besot our selves when death comes they may say as Saul said The Philistins are upon me and God hath forsaken me Death is on me trouble sickness vexation of conscience is on me and God hath forsaken me I have no God to go to what a miserable estate is this And therefore I beseech you let us labor to have interest in the Covenant of grace to make it good that God is our God in Jesus Christ Who giveth us a being to be Christians to have a new nature to have a good being but God who maintaineth and preserveth that being but God and who keepeth and preserveth us till we get into a glorious being in Heaven but God who is all-sufficient self-sufficient sole-sufficient only sufficient this God is our God now in Christ God is to us in a more special singular manner then to other Creatures because he hath raised us to a more excellent being not only as men we being in the highest rank of Creatures next the Angels and so he is a God to us more then to inferior Creatures that have a more circumscrib'd and narrow being Man hath a large being a reasonable soul and is fitted by nature to have communion with God who is wisdom it self and with Angels but all this were little comfort unless we had higher degrees of being then this If God be our God in Christ we have a spiritual being which is as much above the dignity and prerogative of our ordinary being as our being by nature is above the basest Creature in the world And so God setteth a stile upon us sutable to the excellency of our spirituall being there is nothing excellent in the world but we are learned by it Now to let out the advancement and excellency of the dignity we have from God in a special manner to be Sons Jewels his Portion his diadem to be whatsoever you can imagine that is glorious and excellent An excellent condition though spiritual and concealed from the world Gods Children are concealed men as you shall see afterward they be hidden men the world taketh no notice of them because their excellency is seen with another eye then the world hath The God of the world blindeth the eyes of worldlings They cannot see into the excellency of Gods Children no more then they can know God himself and Christ himself So you see what it is to be a God in nature and in grace to be all in all unto us to have our whole subsistance and dependence in him in him we live and move and have our being and well-being In this our excellency consisteth that God is our God in Christ who was God and that he might bring God and us to good tearms together that he might make God our God he was Emanuel God with us to make God with us in favour and love The God-head is nearest the humane nature of Christ of any Creature it is nearer to Christ then to the Angels for God hath not taken the Angels into hypostatical union to be in the same person but God in Christ is so near our nature that there is an hypostatical union they make one person our nature being taken into the second person By reason of this near union of the God-head to our nature cometh that comfort and near union between God and our nature whereby God hath sweet communion with us in Christ God by his spirit though not hypostatically yet gratiously is one with us and hath communion with us now as his Children so that sweet entercourse between God and us now is founded upon the nearness of the god-head to our nature in Christ
Gods enemies Now there be two sorts of enemies that we are especially to have nothing to do withall if we side with God enemies within us and enemies without us Sin within us we must take part against our sins take Gods part and the spirits part against corrupt motions and affections Divinity must begin from within else it is faction without It is not Religion but faction if the Religion begin not in our hearts and if we hate not sin in our selves Where there is true antipathy the nearer any thing is that is opposite to our nature the more hateful it is He that hateth a Toad hateth it in his bosom most of all And he that hates sin as sin hates it in his own heart most of all And therefore they that will pretend Religion and be naught in their own particular it cometh not from a true principle for they that will side with God side with God in their own hearts and be good men in their own particulars therefore I beseech you try your selves by this Likewise 〈◊〉 men estâ—em sinne Gods enemy wâ—â—â—esoever they see it and so far as their authority and power reacheth they will take Gods part in themselves against themselves and in the world too I will not inlarge the point because it cometh in by way of tryal and I cannot but touch it as a tryal Thus you see how we may know whether we be Gods or no by owning his cause and siding with him you have some expressions in Scripture to this purpose Micah 4. 5. All people will walk every one in the name of his God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever Every man will walk and converse in the name of his God they will own their God and take part with him and we will walk in the name of our God for ever and ever and own his cause at all times and constantly for ever and ever And likewise in Esay 44. speaking of gratious times there when men shall be bold for the Lord as in all times some men will One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord and tearm himself Israel God shall have his tongue his hand and all He shall say I am the Lords he shall call himself by the name of God he shall subscribe to it and own the cause 4. Again if we would know whether God be our God we must know whether we may lay just claim to our God as a peculiar God to us or no and that way in which God sheweth himself to be a God in peculiar respect to us Now how doth God shew himself a God in a peculiar respect to his Children He sheweth himself to have a peculiar respect to them 1. By peculiar gifts when he gives to them that which he giveth to none else shall we imagine God to be our God by common gifts and common graces no for thou comest to hear the word so Herod did Thou receivest the Sacrament so did Judas so did Simon Magus Thou hearest the truth with some joy so did the third ground Thou hast excellent partâ— so hath the Devil himself But thou art in such a place of the Church teachest others so did Judas Are these evidences to try whether we be Gods or no what then is the peculiar gift and love-token that God bestowes upon his favorites they be the graces of his spirit especially in regard of God an humble broken heart and a believing heart and a lowly heart that goeth out of it self that goeth unto God by faith and towards man full of love which argueth a great deal of self-denyal when a man can love others with denyal of his own profit and ease He that hath a humble believing lowly heart hath more then all the world besides for he hath Gods peculiar gift Many poor souls complain as if God had no regard to them and yet in the mean time they have humble broken hearts which is more then if they had all the wealth and worâ—h that the world hath which have proud hearts never broken The return of these favours will be comfort in death and glory in Heaven What will the fruit of a believing heart be he hath God and Christ if he hath a lowly large heart to do good he doth that which in the issue shall further his accompt at the day of judgement and there is the love of God shewed in his special favour 2. So the love of God especially shall be a special peculiar comfort that the world is ignorant of especially in times of extremity Inward peace of conscience inward joy and inward comforts these are signs of love that God bestoweth upon a man when he will own him in the worst times and speak peace to his soul when nothing in the world will speak peace When the Lyons roar the great Lyons of the world roar in extremity he hath inward peace and joy and comforts of the holy Ghost that inward intercourse of God with the soul is a sign of Gods peculiar love when God speaketh peace to the soul when he sheweth the light of his countenance which David in the 4th Psalm prefers before all outward comforts whatsoever Gods revealing of himself as the Scripture calleth it When God revealeth himself to his to be theirs with peace and joy and comfort accompanying it this is peculiar 3. Again a peculiar favour and love-token of God as to have seasonable and sanctifying correction To have corrections when they be seasonable when we be in a way of straying and God will bring us home by correction and when we have sanctifying correction we find by experience that all is turned to our good If I find any thing turn me to my God I know I am his if my Crosse be seasonable and sanctified he is my God for he takes that course with me which he takes with his own people These be singular signs of Gods love when he bestoweth the graces of his spirit his comforts peace and joy though not largely yet so much as shall sustain the soul And then when he seasonably meeteth us and will not suffer us to thrive in an evil couâ—se Oh it is a judgment of judgements to be hardned in sinful courses of life how can it but end in desperation at length and therefore it is a great favour to be chastized it sheweth we are Sons and not Bastardâ— Thus we see how we may lay just claim to this that God is our God in a peculiar manner 5. To name but one more to distinguish a spirit of presumption from a spirit of faith and truth that God is our God is this 1. If we have grace to answer his dealings towards us When we can eccho to Gods dealings God hath chosen us if we have grace to chuse him for our God We may know
acknowledge God to be their Father and their God And therefore answer Satan I ought not to abuse and break off and deny my interest in God as my Father and my God for any sin because the Disciples did not so and Christ hath taught how to make use of God and to acknowledge him for my comfort We cannot have a better guide then God and therefore never think of God but as our God and our Father and labor to answer all Satans temptations in that kinde from hence 3. Again this assurance that God is our God in Christ and our Father is wrought by the sealing of the spirit and sanctifying of us therefore take heed we grieve not the spirit of God Gods spirit moveth our hearts often times in hearing the word or reading or praying when we have any good motions or when we entertain them and therefore do not grieve the spirit of God whose office is to seal us to the day of redemption to assure us God is our God and our Father in Christ Grieve him not least he grieve us by reaching and tormenting our consciences and that is the way to maintain our interest Take heed of crossing the spirit especially by any sin against conscience Conscience is Gods Deputy grieve not the spirit grieve not conscience for Conscience is God Deputative it is a li ttle God within us And therefore if we will not alienate God from us to whom we have given our selves if we be true believers do nothing against his Deputy and Agent the spirit that sanctifieth us and sealeth us to the day of redemption This is the way to maintain assurance that God is our God For men may be led with a spirit of presumption and say God is my God But if Conscience telleth them they live in sin against Conscience and the motions of the spirit and suppress them and kill them as birthes that they would not have grow in their hearts then they cannot say God is my God but conscience telleth them they lie And therefore I beseech you labor for an holy life That faith that maketh this claim that God is my Father and my God is a purifying faith It is a faith quickening the soul a faith purifying a faith cleansing Faith is wonderfully operative especially having these promises what promises I will be your God and your Father Having such promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit and grow up in all holiness in the feare of the Lord. And therefore labor for that faith that layeth hold upon this priviledge God is our Father and our God make it good by this that it be a purifying faith an operative faith that worketh by love that sheweth it self in our conversation The more we labor and grow this way the more we growe in assurance of salvation Beloved favor cannot be maintained with great persons without much industry and respect and observance of distance A man that will maintain the favor of great persons must be well read in their dispositions must know how to please them and yield them all observance and respect And shall we think then to preserve respect with God without much industry and holiness It cannot be And therefore give all diligence not a little to make your Calling and Election sure It requireth all diligence it is worth your pains We live on this that he is our God and will be our God to death and in death for ever more That God is our God to everlasting that he is of an equal extent with the soul he liveth to fill it and make it happy Our souls being of an eternal subsistance therefore it standeth us upon to give all diligence to make our Calling and Election sure else it will not be maintained Why do not Christians injoy the comforts of this that God is their God in Christ more then they do the reason is they be negligent to maintain intercourse between God and them We must know our distances there must be reverent cariage to God A loose Christian can never injoy the comforts of God He is so great and we so mean we ought to reverence him we ought to love him with fear and rejoyce with trembling Humble thy self to walk with thy God where there is a great deal of humility it maintaineth friendship We cannot walk with God as a friend as Abraham is said to be Gods friend We must acknowledge our selves to be dust and ashes know him in his greatness and our selves in our meanness if he will maintain this to our hearts that God is our God If we be careful to maintain this surely he that delighteth himself in the prosperity of his Servants will delight to make himself more and more known to us that we may be assured of our salvation All that hear me are such as have not yet made choice of God to be their God or have made choice Let me speak a word to both for there be many that yet have their choice to make that have other Lords and other Gods to rule over them Let them consider what a fearful state it is not to be able to say in regard of life everlasting God is my God and my Father They can say they be Gods Creatures but what a fearful condition is it` not to be able to say God is my Father will not these know whom he is not a God to in favor he will be a God to in vengeance He must be friend or enemy there is no third in God God and the Devil divide all mankind they share all If thou be not Gods and canst not say so on good titles thou art the Devils Yet God is daily pulling men out of the Kingdom of the Devil by opening their eyes to see their miserable condition yet all go under these two grand titles Gods and the Devils If thou canst not say God is thy God then the Devil is thy God and what a fearful condition is it to be under the God of the world by a worldly carnal disposition and perhaps thou maist die so if thou be not careful to get out of it If God be not our God he is our enemy and then Creatures Angels Devils are against us conscience against us word against us all against us If he be for us who is against us If he be against us who is for us a terrible condition and therefore get out of it I beseech you But how shall I doe is there mercy for such a wretch yea he offereth himself to be thy God if thou wilt come in wherefore serveth our Ministry the word of grace but to preach life to all repentent sinners He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy And therefore God hath ordained Ambassadors of peace to proclaim if you will come in And he intreateth you to come in and he chargeth and commandeth you You be Rebels not only against him but enemies