occasioned John as they say to write this Gospell wherein he asserteth the Godhead of Christ And so by the way occasionally yee see what use even Heriticks are made of to the Church of God We had lost this Gospell if Ebion and Cerinthus had not broached their heresies God suffereth desperate opinions to be vented for the purging of his owne Truth The Truth of God is compared to Silver The words of the Lord are pure yea as Silver tried in a furnace of Earth purified seven times Every corrupt opinion that cometh to be vented against any Truth of God that is a new furnace and the truth being cast into that furnace it cometh out the purer for it Purified seven times As it is with Passengers of quality and note were it not for some evill inveterate Currs in the street they might passe and never be observed the very barking of the Dogs maketh them to be noted So these evill inveterate Corrupt Hereticks by their barking have occasioned the taking notice of that truth of the Divinity of Christ Had not they barked John had not Written This was the occasion And this should incourage you to attention because the same Hereticks are with us now we have our owne Ebions and Cerinthusses to this day that deny the Divinity of Christ and say He had no being till he took it from the Virgin Mary Fourthly we come to the Scope of this Book which is to hold out the Divine nature of Christ as the object of our Faith to set forth Christ as the Sonne of God that we believe in Him so as to have Salvation by Him And This St. John telleth you to have been his aime Joh. 20. 31. These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Sonne of God and that believing you might have Life through Him He desires to set forth Christ to us as our Redeemer and therefore laboureth so much both in the beginning of his Gospell and throughout to hold forth the Godhead and Divine nature of Christ That so it might appear that he is a sufficient Redeemer If He had not been God He could not have gon through with the purchase As the Eagle trieth her young ones by holding them against the beams of the Sun and if they be able to look upon them with a stedfast eye she owneth such So John bringeth his Readers to the Sun of the Divinity of Christ and such as will not acknowledge that are bastard-Christians and not Saints Fifthly One thing yet remaineth by way of preface which is the difference between this and the other Gospells which lieth especially in two things First whereas the three former Evangelists insist especially upon things done by Christ after John was cast into Prison and so principally relate the acts of Christ in the last year of his Ministry St. John taketh in here the acts of his two former years what Christ did and what Christ said before John was cast into Prison which the other touch but sparingly upon Secondly whereas the other Evangelists insist mainly upon what Christ did Saint John relateth especially what Christ said They are much more large in recording his Miracles John in recording his Sermons and Prayers as Chap. 15. Some Miracles indeed he relateth to us but they are such as wake may either for his Discourse with the Disciples or for his disputation with his Adversaries So still he seemed more to take notice of what Christ said then what he did I now prepare you to be attentive for I begin to close with the first Chapter and with these first words of the Chapter which are of so great importance That as I told you before they had a most extraordinary force upon Junius his spirit and besides upon one Numenius a Heathen Philosopher That falling upon this Gospell cried out in a kind of indignation This Barbarian saith he for so the Greeks call the Jews hath concluded more in a few lines than our great Philosophers have in all their Books He was so taken with the mystery of these words For they are words which the most quick-sighted Christian can be hardly able to see through And throughout I shall indeavour to make it as plain as God shall inable me Onely ye must not take it amisse if some things shall be left obscure Augustine saith I will not defraud those that are able to understand for fear of being irksome to them that are not able Do but think your selves at a feast When many guests are invited to a feast They are of severall Constitutions and like severall dishes But now Shall a man that seeth such a dish before him to which he hath no stomack presently rise from the Table No he will perhaps think with himselfe Other men may like this dish So it should be taken here Suppose something be too hard for thee it may perhaps be clear to another Paul is a debtor to the wise and to the unwise therefore let none arise and goe away but let every man expect his portion Do you hope that whatsoever difficult passages there are in the Scriptures yet there will be some full of Light and Comfort To close then with the first verse In the beginning was the Word and the Word was Text. with God and the Word was God YE have here the Subject and the Predicate which are laid down in three Propositions The subject in every proposition is the same the Word And there are in these three propositions three things predicated of this Word First an eternall existency and that in the first Proposition The Word was in the beginning Secondly a Personall Co-exsistency of Christ with the Father The Word was with God namely as a distinct person from God That is the second Proposition Thirdly a divine Essence The Word was God a distinct Person indeed therefore said to be with God but of the same Nature therefore said to be God Mysteries have more need of Adoration than Locution The first thing we are to understand is a discourse of the Subject of these three Propositions The Word And for the clearing of that three Quaeries we shall resolve First what Person is here meant by the Word Quarie 1 I answer clearly The second Person in the Trinity Of Respon whom ye shall find him called not onely by St. John Christ is called the Word by Iohn but by St. Luke and Paul too Jesus Christ is called by St. John The Word 1 John 5. 7. There are three that beare record in Heaven The Father the WORD the Holy Ghost Here the Word cometh in in the second place between the Father and the Holy Ghost to denote the second Person Revel 19. 13. He was cloathed in a vesture dipt in Blood and His Name is called the Word of God Neither is John the onely man that calleth Him so though by the way St. John himselfe above all the Apostles got the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John the
is there is a farther thing then restraining grace there is holinesse of life Ephes 4. 24. That ye put on that new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Now holinesse goeth farther than to the abstaining from some evill and doing of some good Holinesse reacheth to the mortification of lust where there is a new man created after holinesse lust will be pursued not onely to imprisonment but to death The Woolf is not onely tied up but turned into a Lamb the Sow is not onely put into a pasture but changed into a Sheep A woolf tyed up doth not so much mischief as before a Sow in a pasture is not so swinish and filthy as when it walloweth in the mire but their natures still remain So it is in restraining grace their natures are the same if not some change in their conversation Where the new-birth is there is a change of the heart and a new nature wrought therefore men do duties with delight and constantly Men look at lusts now not as David did at Absolom but as Joab did at Absolom that I may use that comparison Asolom he rebelled ye know David and Joab they both set themselves against him but so as David though he could not but be displeased with Absolom's rebellion yet he carrieth affection towards him and desireth that the young man may be dealt gently withall On the other side Joab when he getteth an opportunity throweth dart upon dart and never 2 Sam. 18. 14. leaveth till he hath slain him So ye have many a man that hath some work of grace upon his heart that yet hath a months mind and longing after sin he would have his sin supprest as David would have Absolom but yet Absolom must live though a rebellious son Many would have sin supprest that it may not expose them to hell and damnation but all this while their sins must live But the new creature is carried out with hatred against sin therefore it is not content without its destruction Mortifie your earthly members saith the Apostle Such a sin saith the regenerate soul will have my death therefore I will have its death I will not be content till it be crucified with the lusts and affections thereof I shall now proceed to the 14 Verse Vers 14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld the glory thereof as the glory of the onely begotten Son of the Father full of Grace and Truth Heretofore the Evangelist having proved the Divinity of Christ's manifestation in the flesh and the glory of his Person in both Natures Jesus Christ he commeth now to tell us of his manifestation in the flesh and of the glory of his Person consisting of both Natures So as this Verse calleth to us for attention because it holdeth forth the Object of our faith the Person of Christ in both his Natures And certainly every soul that is married to Christ will be affected with his Person and therefore desirous to hear of that The difference between a wife and a harlot is The wife desires and loveth the husband's person therefore careth not for his tokens unlesse his person be enjoyed The harlot loveth the token and careth not for the person It is the property of the Spouse not to be content with the Love-tokens of Christ but with the Person of Christ And concerning him ye have four things laid down here First The Incarnation of Jesus Christ The Word was made flesh Secondly His Conversation on earth And dwelt amongst us Thirdly Here is a speciall manifestation of his glory And we behold his glory as the glory of the onely begotten of the Father Fourthly The singular Qualifications of his Person Full of grace and truth First I shall begin with the Incarnation of Christ in these words And the Word was made flesh A Clause out of which Bees may suck hony and Spiders may gather poison These words have been a stumbling-block to many Hereticks and on the other side a sure and strong hold to many Saints Some think that when the children of Israel were in the land of Goshen and had some Egyptians mixed with them at the same time the Scriptures are light to Saints darknesse to unbelievers Hebrewes drew wholesome waters out of the fountains and the Egyptians bloody water at the same springs and that it was dark to the Egyptians in the same house and light to the Hebrewes If so me-thinks It affordeth that which may lead us into the Consideration of this and the like places of Scripture Hereticks have darknesse and Believers light The one draweth bloody waters and the other wholesome waters out of the same Text of Scripture as ye shall hear in the application what use may be made of this Clause Apollinarius saith That because the Word was made flesh Therefore Christ took upon his flesh the body but not the soul of a man Three things are here to be declared to you First Who is meant by the Word Secondly What is meant by the Flesh Thirdly In what sense the word was made Flesh First The divine nature of Christ is in the Word Secondly The human nature of Christ The Flesh Thirdly The personall union The Word made Flesh These are mysteries by some more spoken of and lesse understood Things that we cannot be ignorant of without danger nor discourse of without all Reverence Things that no Eloquence of man can reach no soul of man apprehend in the full latitude of them Yet some thing we shall speak hereof by God's assistance First Who is here meant by the Word I answer the 1. By the Word is meant the second Person in the Trinity second person in the Trinity so called in that known place There are three that bear witnesse in Heaven the Father and the Word and the Spirit and these three are one 1 Joh. 5. 8. The same person that is called the word in the beginning of this Chapter is said to be with God I shall not speak of that because heretofore I have been large in it but come to the second Secondly What is here meant by Flesh Flesh signifieth 2. By Flesh is meant the whole man the whole man in diverse places of Scripture Man ye know consisteth of two parts which are sometimes called flesh and spirit and sometimes called soul and body Now by a Synecdoche either of these parts may be put for the whole sometimes the soul is put for the whole man As when it is said there were so many souls in the Act. 27. 37. Gen. 46. 27. ship with Paul And seventy souls went down into Egypt with Jacob sometimes flesh or body is put for the whole man Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you brethren by the Mercies of God offer up your bodies a living sacrifice That is offer up your selves And sometimes flesh which is the word in the Text Rom. 3. 20. Therefore by the deeds of the Law shall
something hard This is the Case for Christ to have taken our nature as it was in Adam while he stood cloathed in his Integrity and flood right in the sight of God had not been so much as when Adam was fallen and proclaimed Traitor As Bernard saith Quò pro me vilior eò mihi charior Domine Lord thou shalt be so much the more dear to me by how much the more thou hast been vile for me Here is Condescension indeed that Christ should stoop so low to take flesh and flesh wlth infirmities You know what King Ahasuerus did when he met with the passage in the Chronicles which laid open what good service Mordecay had done for him saith he What hath been done for this man and when he saw nothing was done he thinks presently of advancing him Hest 6. 3. Let us call to our selves and say What hath been done for this Jesus that hath done so much for my soul If nothing at all It is time to fall upon this duty and to think of some way to Testifie our thankfullnesse to Christ How shall we do it Christ is above we are not able to reach Him True but He hath members here on Earth though He be in Heaven He will take it as done to himselfe if ye do it to one of them Would you be thankfull to Christ be kind to his people Kings when they go their progresse and come to this and that Town and are presented with some summe of Money or piece of Plate the Present they receive to give the people content but they give away the thing to some of their Favourites So it is with Christ He giveth away the things ye tender him he taketh it well but he is content that his Children should have what you give He himselfe standeth in no need of what we can do but if we do it to his people he will accept it as if it was done to himselfe Matth. 25. 40. Therefore David maketh a full Confession of this Psal 16. 2 3. Thou art my Lord saith he my goodnesse extendeth not to thee but to the Saints on the Earth and to the Excellent in whom is all my delight You see what use may be made now of what was said of the Divine nature of Christ as he is called the Word what of his human nature as he is said to be made flesh and what followeth and what hath been said of the personall union of these two natures Ye may from hence take a view of one of the deepest The greatest mystery in the World is the Word made flesh Mysteries in all the World for it is one of the deepest in all Religions and the Christian Religion containeth such mysteries â—s the world cannot shew besides all the depths of the world are but shallow to the things of God Here is one of the deepest things of God The Word being made flesh There are three great Unions that are three great Mysteries the deepest of any that are The Substantiall union The Personall union The Mysticall union And this is one of them First The Substantiall union of three Persons in one 1. The Substantiall union Nature and one Substance So Father Son and holy Ghost make but One God Secondly There is the Personall union of two Natures 2. The Personall union in one Person So God and Man make but one Christ Thirdly There is the Union of Severall both Persons 3. The Mysticall union and Natures in one Mysticall body and so Elect Angels and Men and Christ together make but one Body whereof Christ is the Head Here are the three great Mysteries of Religion That I speak of is the second of these The Personall union In the first of these Divines use to observe that there is alius and alius but not aliud and aliud another Person but not another Thing The Father is Alius a Filio a distinct Person from the Son and the Son is Alius à sancto Spiritu a distinct Person from the holy Ghost but not a distinct Thing The Father Son and holy Ghost make but one Essence there is not aliud to be found in them In the Second is aliud but not alius a distinct Thing but not distinct Persons The Human Nature is a distinct thing from the Godhead and the Godhead a distinct thing from the Manhood but not a distinct person from the Manhood for God and Man make but one Person In the Third the Mysticall union there is both aliud and alius but not alienus There is distinct Things and distinct Persons the Angelicall Nature and Human Nature the persons of Believers and the Person of Christ but there is not alienus amongst them One of these are united to another in near relation they are not aliud one from another Though there be different things and different persons there is a union between them That is one thing that ye may learn from hence Secondly Ye may learn from hence a ground of that communication of Properties which is a very mysterious thing in Religion that which they call Communicatio Idiomatum a thing not so easily understood But by reason of this personall union of the two Natures in Christ there is a communication of Properties that is That which belongeth to the Manhood may be ascribed and given to Christ though denominated from the Godhead and that that belongeth to the Godhead may be denominated to Christ because it belongeth to the Manhood A man may truly say The Son of How the Son of Mary made the world and how the Son of God shed his blood Mary made the world Here Christ is denominated from his human Nature but it is Christ as God that made the world not Christ as the Son of Mary for he was not the Son of Mary till many thousand years after the world was made On the other side you may say The Son of God was crucified and shed his blood upon tâ—â— Crosse Here ye ascribe that to Christ under the denomination of the Son of God which belongeth to him as Man to shed his blood as God he hath none to shed But yet this may properly be said because the Person is both God and Man It is not without precedent in Scripture Joh. 3. 13. No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven Christ here when he conversed upon earth he said The Son of man was in heaven Why Because that Person was in heaven according to his Godhead and yet the Son of man denominated from the Godhead is said to be in heaven whereas nothing more certain that Christ-Man was upon earth and yet in heaven as God And so on the other side Act. 20. 28. Take heed to the flock over which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood God hath no blood yet God is
said to purchase the Church with his blood because that Person which was God had blood to shed according to his human Nature though it was sanguis humanus yet it was sanguis Dei It was human blood yet the blood of that Person which was God as well as Man Now the ground of all this is that personall union The Word being made flesh Divines have laboured much to make this clear therefore have invented divers Comparisons I shall tell you of one or two of them They suppose a flaming fiery Sword here is a union of the metal and of the fire that are met together in this sword and therefore there may be a communication of the properties This fiery thing may be said to cut and this sharp thing may be said to burn because they are so united in one sword Or thus They suppose a man under two capacities one and the same man that hath skill in two Sciences suppose he is both a good Physitian and a good Lawyer Now one may in propriety of speech say This Physitian is a Lawyer and this Lawyer is a Physitian because both meet in one man A man may say This Physitian is a diligent follower of his Clyent 's businesse and this Lawyer is very good at curing his Patients Or thus A branch of a Vine is graffed into the stock of an Olive-tree and that so as it takes of each tree both the Vine-branch and the Olive bear according to their severall natures yet are in the union both of one tree but both Grapes and Olives grow upon it One may say This Vine beareth good Olives and this Olive-tree beareth good Grapes because united in one tree So it is in respect of the Manhood united to the Godhead This Son of Mary made the world and this Son of God shed his blood upon the Crosse But no more of this The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth I now go on to what remaineth And dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifieth properly Dwelling as in a Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a Tent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to dwell in a Tent or Tabernacle Then this Clause Dwelt amongst us is capable of a three-fold sense though as I suppose but one is here intended There is a Mysticall sense of these words a Spirituall sense a Civill sense First A Mysticall sense and according to that this 1. The Divinity of Christ dwelt in the human Nature phrase Dwelt amongst us is an amplification of the former The Word was made flesh and implyeth this That the Divinity of Christ dwelleth in the human Nature as in a Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in us the plurall number noteth the human Nature and implieth as diverse go this way especially the Greek Fathers and the Arabick and Syriack all give this sense of this place to intimate That the habitation or dwelling that Christ assumed to himself was not the Person of man but the Nature of man and therefore dwelt in us There is a place of Scripture that seemeth to favour this sense Col. 2. 9. where ye find it thus said In him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily As if so be he should have said The Godhead dwelt in the body of Christ as in a tabernacle or tent which it had erected for its own habitation Dwelt and dwelt bodily Secondly There is a Spirituall sense of this Clause and 2. Christ dwelleth in us by his Spirit according to that the meaning is this Dwelt in us namely by his Spirit by influence from heaven and this way Cajetan goeth Lest men should suspect saith he because of what was said before The Word was made flesh that now we are to have none but fleshly communion with the Son of God Though It was made flesh yet he dwelt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in us by his Spirit and conversed with us in that respect and this is implyed in the Praeposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We say not inter nos but in nobis If he had meant it of Christ's dwelling in the world he would have said Inter nos but he saith In nobis that implyeth a communication of himself to our inward man according to that sense which other Scriptures hold forth That Christ-Man dwelleth in our hearts by faith Ephes 3. 17. 2 Cor. 6. 16. God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people Thirdly There is a third sense of these words that is a 3. By his conversing amongst us Civill sense Dwelt amongst us that is Conversed amongst us as one man converseth with another He took upon him the form of a servant and was in the likenesse of man and carried himself for about 33 years upon earth as a man This is his dwelling amongst us and that is the most proper sense in this place though there be a truth in all the former yet neither of them is here intended not the First which I call the Mysticall sense because the human Nature of Christ was not assumed like as a Tabernacle or Tent which is pitched for a while and then removed but as a Mansion The Divinity took up his habitation forever in the human Nature Christ now continueth and shall for ever as true Man as he was when he was born of the Virgin Mary In that place Col. 2. 9. the Apostle useth another word where he saith that all the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelleth in him bodily the word is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a Tabernacle but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in a Mansion and abiding place He so took the human Nature as never to lay it down again Therefore not as in a Tabernacle As for the Spirituall sense that cannot well be the meaning here Though it be true that Christ dwelleth in the hearts of his Saints and converseth with their spirits yet the Evangelist speaketh of some kind of habitation amongst men but this kind of habitation dwelling in our hearts was that which was usually in the Word from the beginning of the world so he dwelt amongst the Jewes for they were his beloved people long before he was Incarnate Besides this was ceased when the Evangelist wrote The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habitavit in the Praeterperfect Tense If ye take it of Christ's conversing amongst men upon the face of the earth he did dwell amongst them so but he did not dwell amongst them at this time that was past but his dwelling in his Spirit amongst us that is not past Joh. 6. 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him It remaineth therefore that the sense of this place is plainly thus not to seek into abstruse senses The
between it and the other Three Gospells First for the Title It is a Gospell The Gospell according to St. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifieth Glad-tidings Salvation by Christ imparted gladdeth the heart good newes No tydings in the world so good as those that impart Salvation by Christ And that Message was never so clearely delivered as under the New Testament though under the Old it was but more obscurely Therefore though there were Gospell in the Old Testament yet yee do not find it called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Promises But in the New Testament this message goeth under a new name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely the Gospel Rom. 1. 1. Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an Apostle separate to the Gospell of God The four first Books of the New Testament because they do most lively hold forth to you the History of Christ's Incarnation and Conversation and Passion and Resurrection and Ascension and his Sermons and Miracles Therefore they are called peculiarly by this name of Gospell All the other Books they do but inlarge and apply and illustrate these four Evangelists Even as all the Prophets under the Old Testament were but as so many Commentators upon Moses Now if it be lawfull to compare Scripture with Scripture for some kind of difference there is As in pieces of Gold though all be pure Gold yet some have a clearer stamp then others So all divine truths in Scripture are divine truths yet there is a clearer truth in some places then in others Therefore you Evangelium Sancti Iohannis est Evangelium Evangeliorum may call this of John The Gospell of Gospells as Solomon's Song was called the Song of Songs If it be lawfull to compare Scripture with Scripture He that brings glad Tydings we say He may knock at any man's door Here are glad Tydings indeed The Gospell what is that Certainly glorious things are spoken of Thee Oh Thou Gospell of God as he said of the City of God Glorious things c. It is called the Glorious Gospell of the Blessed God Such a phrase you have 1 Tim. 1. 11. according to the Glorious Gospell of the Blessed God which is committed to my trust It is called else where The Gospell of the Kingdome There is no coming to Heaven but by the Gospell Math. 4. 23. Preaching the Gospell of the Kingdome It is called the Gospell of Peace Rom. 10. 16. How beautifull are the feet of them that Preach the Gospell of peace and bring glad Tydings of good things It is called the Gospell of the Grace of God Acts 20. 24. That I might finish my Course with joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testifie the Gospell of the Grace of God Would you then have Glory or Peace or Grace or Kingdome listen then to the Gospell So much for the Title Secondly for the Writer of this Book The Pen-man of it It is John The Gospell according to John Matthew Mark Luke and John these four drew the Chariot in which Christ rid all the World over And amongst them four John hath a kind of preheminency The Ancients are wont to compare these four to those four beasts in Ezekiel Ezek. 1. 10. who had the faces of a Man of an Oxe of a Lyon and of an Eagle and they make John the Eagle because he soareth aloft more than all the rest in the Contemplation of Christ's Divinity The Eagle maketh his Nest on high as it is in Job The Eagle can do that which the other fouls of the aire are not able to do It can look upon the Sun in its highest beauty Behold the Eagle of the Gospell looking upon Christ in his Divine nature and expressing that more then all the other Evangelists They that are given to Divine speculation know the flight of this Eagle You that would be heavenly-minded listen to what John telleth you John John's Title whom the Lord loveth That is his Title There was leaning on Jesus Bosome one of his Disciples whom Jesus loved The likelier man to reveale secrets who was in the Bosome of Christ We are wont to communicate our secrets to our friends to those whom we love most You may expect to hear of Christs secrets from the Disciple whom Jesus loved And therefore saith Augustine John drew out of the bosome Christs secrets are revealed to his best beloved ones of Christ the very Heart of Christ what he was about to make known to the World The King sendeth a messenger to you and by his Favourite you expect to know the whole mind of the Prince because his Favourite is the messenger Here is the Disciple whom Christ loved And not onely so but John the Sonne of Thunder that is a true Title of his which onely he and his brethren shared in Mark 3. 17. James the sonne of Zebedee and John the brother of James He nameth them Boanerges which is the sonnes of Thunder to rowse men from security Here is Thunder in the Gospell So many Words so many Thunder-Claps John was now to deal with desperate Heretiques That denied the Divinity of Christ and here is Thunder for them enough to affright them all Junius was not able to stand Junius how converted before the force of this Thunder-clap He himselfe telleth us That in his youth he was given to Atheism and drowned in Cursed principles and the first thing that brought him to the Knowledge of a God was the beginning of this Chapter of John He cast his eyes upon these words and professed that he was not himselfe of a long time after he sâ—w so much Majesty therein beyond all humane Rhetorick that he was not himselfe of a long time after This Junius that Translated the Bible speaketh of himselfe There is a mistake amongst people as if there were no powerfull preaching but that which is Clamorous preaching As if the goodnesse of a mans Sermon were to be made out of the goodnesse of his Longues and not out of the matter by the goodnesse of the delivery and not by the sublimity of the Doctrine Here is John the meekest of the Disciples the most beloved Disciple of them all a Man of a meek spirit as we read in his Story yet this John hath something of Thunder in him How By the effect of his Doctrine not by the height of his voyce As it is said of Pericles a great and famous Orator in Athens He Thundered and ratled in his speech And so John in his Doctrine the sonne of Thunder in that respect Thirdly you must Consider the occasion of John's writing this Gospell When the Pastor was absent the Wolves broke in upon the Flock When John was banished into Patmos by Domitian Ebion and Cerinthus and other Heriticks The reasons why the Gospel of Iohn was written there were that denied the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and this
to be the Doctrine of the Divinity of Christ This is one word to Ministers to confute the gainsayers but it is not the main I will not therefore stand upon it in this Auditory As it is with the Angels that are ministring Spirits for the good of the Church so it should be with the Ministers that are called the good Angels of the Church The Angels are fometimes put upon conflicts with the Devil they have many combats with the wicked Spirits as may be gathered out of Daniel But this is but in order to their ministring for the good of the Elect. They conflict with evill Spirits that they may be serviceable for the good of the Church So should Ministers conflict with evill Angels but in reference to the good of the Church Speak comfortably to Jerusalem saith the Lord to the Angel Therefore I shall passe to another Use of Consolation The Word was God Beloved If this be not true say Hereticks what they Vse 2 can if this be not true That Christ was God our Preaching is in vain and your Faith in vain ye are yet in your sins Who can forgive sins but God Ye expect forgivnesse The promises cannot be made good if Christ be not God of sins by Christ What soul can get to Heaven if Christ be not God He hath promised eternall life to all that love him and believe in him How shall a man have this Promise made good if He be not God If a man that hath never a foot of land in England shall make his Will and bequeath to thee such and such Houses and Land in such a Town and County whereas he was never the owner of any such Houses or Land Certainly this Deed is null thou art never a whit the nearer enriching thy selfe with such a Legacy If Heaven be not in Christ's dispose how can we have it as his gift If Christ be not God we cannot have Heaven If Christ be not God we are all still in our sins For the Justice of God expects satisfaction to be made for the sins of men we cannot make satisfaction but our Surety must Christ is our Surety If Christ be not God our Satisfaction is null for an infinite Justice offended must have an infinite Price paid A man may satisfie the Justice of man but what man can satisfie the Justice of God Will God accept the first-born of thy body for the sin of thy soul No he will not Yet he will accept His First-born for the sins of the world for in him he is well pleased There lyeth a great deal of strength upon that place it is a speciall foundation of faith Act. 20. 28. Over which the holy Ghost Christ is God hath made you over seers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood The Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood This must needs relate to Christ And Christ is here called God and Christ's Blood is called the Blood of God Christ could never have gone through with the purchase of the Church if the Blood he shed had not been the Blood of God Whatsoever the Justice of God can exact that the Blood of God can discharge The blood of man would not have done it the blood of men or Angels would not have done it Man sinned and Man must satisfie Therefore the Human Nature must be assumed by a Surety for a man cannot do it If an Angel should have assumed Human Nature it would Humane nature assumed by none but God have polluted him Human Nature was so defiled by sin that it could not be assumed by any but God Now Christ being God the Divine Nature purified the Human Nature which he took and so it was a sufficient Sacrifice The person offered in sacrifice was God as well as Man This is a ground whereupon a Beleever may challenge Satan to say his worst and doe his worst Let him present God as terrible Let him present me as abhominable in the sight of God by reason of my sins Let him aggravate the heighth of God's displeasure and the heighth and depth and length and breadth of my sins I grant all And against all this I oppose this infinite Satisfaction of Christ Though the Justice of God cannot be bribed yet it may be satisfied Here is a proportionable Satisfaction here is God answering God The VVord was God This Word was He that laid down his life and shed his blood for us And now let Satan urge the Justice of God as much as he can The Justice of God maketh me sure of Salvation Salvation assured by Gods Justice Why Because his Justice obligeth him to accept of an adequate Satisfaction of his own appointing The Justice of God maketh me sure of mine own happinesse because if God be just that Satisfaction should be had when that Satisfaction is made Justice requireth that the person for whom it is made shall be received into favour I confesse that unlesse God had obliged himself by Promise there were no pressing his Justice thus far because Noxa sequitur caput There was mercy in the Promise of sending Christ out of mercy to undertake for us otherwise we cannot say that God was bound in Justice to accept of Satisfaction unlesse he had first in mercy been pleased to appoint the way of a Surety Justice indeed requireth Satisfaction but it requireth it of the person that sinneth Here commeth in Mercy that a Surety shall be accepted and what he doth is as if the person that offended should have done it himself Here is Mercy and Salvation surely bottomed upon both So much sweet comfort floweth from this consideration That Christ is God I come now to the second Verse Vers 2. The same was in the beginning with God What the Evangelist had affirmed in the former Verse The Word was with God he now confirmeth in this second Verse The same was in the beginning with God There is a Repetition but with some Illustration It may be thought that some or all of these three things may be aimed at First it may be thought to aime at shewing us that these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the beginning are to be referred to all the three Clauses and Propositions in the first Verse whereas they are there annexed but to one of them In the beginning was the Word saith he vers 1. Now the second Verse knitteth the same words to the second Proposition The same in the beginning was with God and the same was God So that ye must put both into that Proposition which concerneth the eternall Existency of Christ and to that which concerneth the Personall Coexistency The Word was with God and the divine Essentialnesse with God The same was God Though he were with God in the beginning may some say yet it is questioned whether he were God then This addition will prevent such mistakes to shew you the words In the beginning is
ye compare these two places in the Galathians Gal. 5. 6. with Gal. 6. 15. In Jesus Christ neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but Faith which worketh by love What is that see the fifteenth Verse of the sixth Chapter Neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision but a new Creature New Creature and Faith is all one where faith is there is a new Creature So then All believers are new born and new born of God because as ye have heard already which will save me a labour to exemplifie this It requireth a Divine power to beget a man to Christ Jam. 1. 18. Of his owne will begot he us with the Word of Truth Of his owne will begot he us To make a man partaker of godlinesse there must go Divine power as Peter saith 2 Pet. 1. 3. According to his Divine power He hath given us all things pertaining to Life and Godlinesse Such a power as went to the Regeneration requireth a greater power then Creation Creation yea a greater power then went to the Creation if a greater can be God putteth forth a further act of power in Regeneration then in Creating men and the whole World at first because there was then nothing to resist God spake the Word and there was no opposition made Let there be light and there was light Let the waters be gathered together and they were gathered together into one Channell But when God cometh here to Convert all is up in arms Corrupt nature struggleth for it selfe and the Devill likely to be thrown out of his hold maketh the best of it that he can and musters all his forces to maintain his possession here is required a greater power because of resistance which was not in the former work Would not a man say if he should go into a Potters shop or Glasse-house that a man might sooner make a thousand pots or glasses then when a pot or glasse is broken all to pieces to make it whole again That is a much greater work This is the case here In the Creation God brought all things out of nothing Here is but one single work But when he comes now to regenerate he findeth men's hearts broken to pieces and he must make them sound again That is a further work a double work He must pull down the old building and set up a new frame none of the old not a stick will serve Old things are done away all things are Cor. 2. 5. 17. become new Therefore it is that all the works of the Creation though an Almighty work is but the finger as it were of God When I consider the Heavens the work of thy fingers The works of man's Redemption and Conversion require the whole arme So speaking of God after the manner of men for to him all things are alike easie Luk. 1. 51. He hath shewed strength with his arme speaking of the work of our Redemption by Christ Who hath believed our Report To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed That which is manifest in the Gospell that telleth us of our Redemption saying It is the arm of God At the first it was but a word Let there be light and it was so The work of our Redemption cost not onely words but tears and sweat and blood and the Life of our Saviour God breathed the breath of Life into man that he might revive him and become a new Creature So that this work considered one cannot be born again of any but of God I proceed now to the Application If believers are born Vse 1 of God then it calleth upon them to be thankfull to God This presseth thankfulnesse for our new birth for their new birth They have received that from the hands of God that the rest of the World are strangers to They are better born then others that is the word the Apostle useth Acts 17. 11. We stand ingaged to the whole Trinity for this blessing Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewed unto us We owe our new birth to God the Father And to the Son too Isai 9. 6. The name of Christ is the Everlasting Father And to God the Holy Ghost Joh. 3. 5. Except we be born again of Water and of the Spirit born of the Spirit To th end we may be the more 3. Graces and priviledges that accompany new birth sensible of this inestimable blessing consider the graces and priviledges that accompany this new birth I will name but three First Is likenesse to God We are so born of God as to 1. Is likenesse to God bear his Image to be righteous as he is righteous 1 Joh. 2. ult If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one which doth righteousnesse is born of him It is true of all the Creatures They are made of God But it is true onely of Saints They are born of God Therefore though every Creature hath something of God in him yet a Saint hath more All have the foot-steps of God but Believers have his Image They represent him as a man's son represents his father There may be the Image of a man taken in a Picture that may shew something of him and his Image in a glasse that sheweth more that representeth his motion which the other doth not But his Image in his son that is the most lively of all that representeth his disposition Such an Image of God is in every Saint it represents the quality of God and the disposition of him He is made partaker of the Divine nature Secondly There is in him a love to God and to the Saints 2. Love to God and to the Saints which is another adjunct of the new birth of which 1 Joh. 4. 7. compared with 1 Joh. 5. 1. vers Beloved Let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God Chap. 5. 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and every one that loveth him that begetteth loveth him that is begotten of him First here is love to God the Common father of all the Saints It is true in this Case Amor descendit sed non semper ascendit Love amongst men descendeth It goeth down from the Parent to the Child but it doth not alwayes ascend from the Child to the Parent But here as there is a love descending to us so from us ascending to God As the Iron that is touched with the Load-stone hath an inclination of following the Load-stone So when God hath touched the soul with Love it leaveth an instinct behind it of following after God As every one that is new born hath a love to God so hath he also to the Saints He that loveth him that begetteth loveth him also that is begotten of him Look as it is in nature Light ye know is the prime object of sight It is the principall visible object and the more of light in any thing the more visible
that thing is So Christ is the principall object of a Christians love and the more of Christ is in any person the more lovely Christ the principall object of a Christian's love that person is in a Christian's eyes The object that standeth most in the light is most seen and the Saint that hath most of Christ in him is most beloved by every one that is new-born when they come to discern that amiablenesse in him 3. The third thing that accompanieth this new-birth is 3. Victory over spirituall enemies Victory over spirituall enemies which doth exceedingly raise the priviledge of being born of God Victory over the world and victory over the devill ye have them both 1 Joh. 5. 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcommeth the world It is true Regenerate persons may get many a blow and knock from the world and many times be foiled too and from the frowns and flatteries of the world a Saint may be worsted As it is when a thief setteth upon a man in the high-way and aimeth at his purse he may stand in his own defence and haply receive some wounds or blowes but yet the thief is not able to take his purse from him Here a man commeth off a conquerour though not without blows So Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world because in the issue Grace getteth the upper-hand Though he that is born of God may be conquered yet That which is born of God cannot be conquered It is not Whosoever is born of God but Whatsoever is born of God There is an Emphasis in that As a victory over the world attendeth this new-birth so a victory over the devill too 1 Joh. 5. 18. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not He sinneth not so as to be touched by that wicked one Take them together that is He sinneth not against the holy Ghost sinneth not so as to be devillified He that is once a child of God never becomes a child of the devill That is the meaning of that That wicked one toucheth him not Not but that That wicked one the devill may annoy a Saint and foil him many times but not with that which the Schools call Tactus qualificativus such a touch as altereth the nature of a thing As for example Men that speak of the Philosopher's Stone they suppose it to have such a property in it as when it toucheth the metal it turneth it into Gold Such a property the Spirit of God hath upon the soul of man when it toucheth the soul it putteth a divine nature into it Now saith the Apostle The wicked one toucheth him not so as to alter him and to turn him into his own nature and make him as very a devill as himself which they that have sinned against the holy Ghost do Because even as very a devill as Satan is he that is once made partaker of the divine Nature cannot be touched so as to be made partaker of the diabolicall nature Secondly This may serve in the next place To undeceive 2. To undeceive carnall Professors carnall Professors that stand so much upon their faith and have no new birth to shew that say They have believed ever since they were born when as indeed no man can believe till he be born again There is an inseparable connexion between these two Faith and the New-creature the Evangelist John putteth them together To those that believe in his name who are born of God Wheresoever Christ is received by faith there he doth renew the soul as well as save it He bringeth with him plaisters that do not onely hide sin but heal it not onely cover it but cure it He bringeth with him not onely pardoning mercy but purging mercy and renewing grace And therefore it is in vain for men to call themselves believers if they be not new-born The Pleas of carnall Professors 1. They are baptized Some pleas indeed they have which I will briefly answer First They are baptized and therefore born again their baptism is the Laver of Regeneration That is all some have to shew Whether that place Tit. 3. 5. According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of the new-birth and the renewing of the holy Ghost be meant primitively of Baptism yea or no may be disputed But I wave that Secondly Those that ascribe most efficacy to Baptism they say That Infants Elect and onely they do in baptism 2. They onely that are Elected receive Regeneration in Baptism receive a Regeneration But what kind of Regeneration whether Potential Habitual or Initial they know not not such as will serve their turn when they grow up to years for then they must have an Actuall and farther Regeneration before they can be saved Peter telleth us expresly that the outward washing with water saveth none there must go a farther work to that 1 Pet. 3. 21. Wherefore the baptism that now is answering that figure which is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but a confident Demanding which a good conscience maketh to God saveth us also by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ That no man can have that is not new born There cannot be a good conscience till there be a sprinkling of the blood of Christ For we are sprinkled from an evill conscience Heb. 12. 24. Now a man that is new-born when Satan putteth in a Plea against him he can put in his Answer against Satan's Bill he is able to plead Sincerity when he is accused of Hypocrisie and to make an apology for himself against the accusations of the Law If this satisfie not consider one or two places more to shew the vanity of this plea Gal. 6. 15. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Baptism is what Circumcision was Baptism availeth not but a new Baptism availeth not without a new-birth creature Baptism without new-birth can bring no man to salvation One may be a kind of baptized Turk as there were circumcised Ellemits in Jerusalem that is Men circumcised in the flesh and yet Heathens in their dispositions Ezek. 18. 31. Cast away from you all your transgressions wherein ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel They must die unlesse there were a new spirit and a new heart within them Nothing but death without the new creature though an Israelite When men are beaten from this they fall to a second 2d Plea of carnall Professors plea and pretend to a New-birth Why Because they are not so bad as they have been some duties they neglected before but now perform them some errours they committed before but now abstain from them Therefore surely they are born of God To make Answer to this Plea we must know wheresoever Their Plea answered this new-birth
Hebr. 2. 17. He was made like unto his brethren in all things that he might be a mercifull high Priest Christ is therefore a mercifull high Priest because he was made like us in our infirmities It is a great invitation to mercy to see one in the same condition that we our selves have been in As she said Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco she Dido Lib. 3. Aenaeid had learned to pity others because she had born the like miseries her selfe As a woman that hath had a Child can more pity women that are in Travaile because she hath suffered the like pains than other women can that never have brought forth any Children at all So the Lord Jesus hath felt the like infirmities the penall not the sinfull therefore he is likely to pitty us when we lie under them Exod. 23. 9. Thou shalt not oppresse a stranger for ye know They that have suffered can best pitty them that are under sufferings the heart of a stranger seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt Christ knoweth the heart of a man under his infirmities when they are onely painfull and not sinfull because he himselfe did undergoe such in the dayes of his flesh Therefore this may comfort a man as in generall so in diverse particular Cases when we wrestle with infirmities suppose sorrow of heart it was Christ's owne case Time was when he cried out Matth. 26. 38. My soul is exceeding sorrowfull even to death The consideration of his sorrow may help to sweeten thine when thou art afflicted in body and pinched It was Christ's case He himselfe hungred in the wildernesse and was a thirst at Jacob's well He was buffetted and scourged yea Crucified in the end He felt the nails and spear Therefore saith Luther I am ashamed that men should count my sufferings any thing when I think of what Christ indured So be our sufferings never so great we are thereby made conformable to him who suffered the like things for us And so for poverty 2 Cor. 8. 9. Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he were rich yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be made rich The like may be said in many other Instances whatsoever infirmity it is we may expect Christ will relieve us against it But the soul saith Still you except sin I would have that taken away If Christ take not that away I am undone Object This doth not so much lie in my Text now yet I shall speak a word to it I told you Christ took our painfull infirmities and not Answ our sinfull And yet I must tell you he took our sinfull infirmities As Christ took our painfull infirmities by inherency so our sinfull infirmities by imputation too in another sense not in the same way as he took the other He took our painfull infirmities in a way of Inherency and our sinfull ones too in a way of Iniputation Quicquid sustulit tollit whatsoever Christ took away he took He took away our sins therefore he took our sins in one sense or other He could not take our sins as our sorrowes It was impossible that sin should be inherent in Christ His Divinity was a protection against all sins yet He took them away by imputation Therefore It is said by the Apostle God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin He knew no sin and yet is made sin How Not made sin by committing sin for Christ was not in a Capacity of sinning but made sin by bearing the Imputation of sin and so took upon him the guilt of sin and not the Inherency of sin There be two things in guilt a worthinesse of being punished and a destination to punishment The Demerit and the Destination It is false to say That Christ took the guilt upon him in a way of Demerit as if Christ himselfe had been worthy of being punished For all Demerit implieth sin either naturall or personall Now in Christ was neither originall Corruption nor actuall Rebellion But the other thing in guilt which is Poenae obligatio an obligation and destination to punishment In this sense Christ took guilt not because of any naturall Demerit but because of his Communion in that nature of which the Demerit was found He voluntarily became our Surety and took our Nature that in that nature He might suffer for our sins And in this capacity God doth destinate him to punishment in this sense He took our sinfull infirmities And thus ye see what matter of comfort this truth affordeth It affordeth us likewise matter of duty Lessons of piety and Lessons of thankfullnesse First Lessons of piety Oh If Christ the second Person 1 Lessons of piety in the Triuity did put on man how carefull should men be to put on Christ Put ye on the Lord Jesus saith the Apostle not making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Rom. 13. 14. If Christ assumed our human nature how should we wrestle with God to be made partakers of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and pretious Promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine nature having escaped the corruptions that are in the World through lusts If Christ became thus one flesh with us how zealous should we be to become one spirit with Christ 1 Cor. 6. 17. Even as man and wife is one flesh so he that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit So she is married to Christ and God looketh upon such a soul as his owne daughter now it is married to his Son therefore dealeth with it as Caleb did to Achsah He giveth her not onely the upper Land and nether springs not onely outward blessings and accommodations but comforts and refreshments with them not onely the nether springs of Ordinances but the upper springs of Comforts and Refreshments in and by those Ordinances Secondly Here are Lessons of thankfullnesse too Was the Word made flesh Did Christ take our nature yea 2 Lessons of thankfullness did he take our nature at the worst after the Fall What exceeding great cause have we to blesse his Name for ever for this Condescension of his Should all the Princes in the World have come from their severall Thrones and have gone a begging from door to door it was not so much as for Christ to become man for our sakes And he took our nature not in the integrity of it as in Adam before his fall but in the infirmities of it which came to it by the fall As for a man that can live of himselfe to wear a Noble man's Livery while this Noble man is in great favour in the Court and hath the King's eare this is no such great matter But when this Noble man is proclaimed a Traitor and is cast out of his Prince's favour then for this man to wear his Cloath and owne him this is