Worship and Obedience agreeably to her holy Baptismal Engagement And finally he observes how the Doctrine of the Trinity is connected with all the Parts of Christian Religion and made the very foundation of it without which it cannot stand It is indeed a Mystery most Superlative not to be discovered or proved by bare Reason in whose Territories it dwells not And subtle and audacious Hereticks of old and at this day have used many guilty Arts to expel it out of our Faith But to a Child of God a bare Word of God is as good as a Demonstration and the Evidence of this Truth from thence received is Victorious And unto him the three Persons in one God are so great that he makes no more of any incroaching Creature than he that sees the Sun makes of a Candle Is this his God a jealous one yea and a jealous heart it is that he himself hath one that is exceeding watchful against every Idol Against every Creature that doth fawn and flatter and would become any part of its Portion He is as truly willing to have God for his Master as his Rewarder He would have no Pleasure but in pleasing God His highest Ambition in this World is to have the favour to receive his God's Commands and the grace to Obey them For in his eyes it is a truth most evident that neither Men nor Angels are capable of any higher honour than to be Objects of God's Love and Instruments of his Pleasure And this Faith is his Victory over the World and his governing Principle in the World and that whereby he here walks with God Not indeed without innumerable and unavoidable Infirmities and Faults but these break not off that blessed Walk For it is still renewed on God's part by Pardon and on his part by Repentance Neither is his holy Walk without use of those worldly Comforts that God alloweth us to take For he knows God ever made Thanksgiving Days to be Feast Days the temperate pleasure of bodily senses doth so much promote the spiritual pleasure and gratitude of our Minds And even under the old Law God appointed many Feasts for one Fast. He doth not dream that Enoch did not walk with God because he begat Sons and Daughters His care is that the lean Kine devour not the fat that sensual Delights be not Thieves but Servants unto spiritual Be it also added his said Walk with God is but by Faith not by full Vision in frequently interrupted and never compleatly sensed Peace and Triumphant Joy If he hath temporary Raptures of Third-Heaven-Joys they are but Temporary they be his Sweet-meats and Rarities not his daily Food And he knows to his Comfort that such Raptures be his Privilege only not his Duty Indeed if his weak Bottle could bear so strong Wine he would wish all his days spent in Extasies He would be glad to have every word that he speaks of God to be accented with sighs and every sentence emphased with tears But he knoweth that the Sun of Righteousness doth graciously quicken many Souls that he doth not in this World exuberantly Comfort Yea many that sit in darkness almost all their days and see but little light do nevertheless enjoy his saving Love and his wonderful Support thereby We all know the Sun in the Firmament doth in the Earths dark Bowels make Gold and precious Minerals Though therein he shews not his beautiful beams Nor can it be hard to think how the true Father of Lights should enrich unspeakably those whom He sees not fit to fill with the Joy of it presently In a word The Soul that He doth so enrich that Soul He doth Justify Sanctify and Glorify And as truly that Soul doth Justify Sanctify and Glorify Him Justifies him against all the Cavils raised at his Decrees Laws and Providences Sanctifies i. e. sets him as the sole Object of Fear Trust and Worship And also Glorifies him or Practically expresseth supream Estimation in conforming to his Preceptive Will in Natural Civil and Religious things Thus is the first Commandment written in this Soul Thus is God's Name hallowed thus is his Kingdom come and his Will done in it Mark 2. JESUS Christ is God and sits at God's right hand in his Soul My meaning is Christ as Mediator who is next to God in Heaven and is continually with God in Heaven is next to God in his Heart and continually with God in his Heart Qi Deum cogitat sine Christo dimidiat Deum Calvin Our Saviour must be considered in respect unto his eternal Essence and Person and in respect unto his undertaken Office In the first respect he is God equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost and so he hath been considered in the foregoing Mark. In the second respect he is God and Man by a Personal Union of both Natures and the servant of God by an astonishing Condescention of grace 1 Cor. 11.3 The head of Christ is God It is of Christ thus considered that all following is spoken Thus considered Jesus Christ is the Man that is God's fellow that is who is next unto God in point of honour who hath nearest and most intimate Acquaintance with God and who in all his Works is his Joint-worker Zech. 13.7 He is in the word declared to be King of Saints Head of all Principalities and Powers Exalted above every Name that is named in this World and in the World to come the Delight of God's Soul as Isai 42.1 Nor is it any wonder for in him all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily Unto him is given all Power in Heaven and Earth And the Keys of Death and Hell are in his hand Without his leave Satan could not enter into very Swine Him the very Angels and all the Church of God are bound to worship Let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 1.6 Unto him shall the gathering of the people be That is as the Hebrew word signifyeth the bowing the submission or the worship of the People Gen. 49.10 Upon him depends all the Happiness of Men and of Angels all capable of Happiness For he is the HEAD of all Principalities and Powers Head as to Eminence and as to Government and Influence Again intimately he knoweth God's Ends Decrees Works For the Father sheweth him all things that himself doth Joh. 5.19 20. And finally God doeth nothing but he is his Co-worker in it God Reveals much to Men and Angels but 't is by Christ all of it ever since the Fall He the Essential Image is the Representative Image of God unto us We know not the Father not his Nature Will or way to effect his Will but by the Son Angels as well as Men bless the Lamb for opening of the Book Rev. 5. God upholds all Creatures but 't is by Christ Mediator He is given for a Covenant to the People to establish the Earth Isa 49.8 Heb. 1.3 God governs the world but it is by Christ My Father worketh hitherto
Father and the Son breathe forth this blessed Spirit with one and the same Spiration or Breathing This they do Eternally Inconceivably Naturally by the Perfection of their Nature not by any Arbitrary Decree And this said Spirit is a distinct Person acting according to the counsel of his own will He is called one Spirit and That one and self-same Spirit which are very particularising terms 1 Cor. 12. he is a Person declared to be the EQUAL of the Father and Son by his equal Titles and Attributes equal Works and Worship And accordingly the gracious Man that we speak of doth EQUALLY both Honour Worship and Obey him He is not of them that have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost or no. He knows there is one one Proceeding naturally from the Father and Son in respect of Substance as hath been said And also Proceeding from them dispensatorily in respect of the work of Grace One that in the former respect is their EQUAL and in the latter respect is their INFERIOR Vicarius Christi Tertull. With reverence and godly fear be it written and read that here followeth No occasion is given and I hope none will be taken for any blaspemous thought of Inequality of Essence between the Father and Son and their holy Spirit Inequality of Office it is which the Scripture declareth and which the gracious Man believeth It is a very Maxim and granted by all that Inferiority of Office doth very well consist with Equality of Essence And it is exemplified in our blessed Saviour who is expresly named God over all and the Servant of God God EQUAL in Essence Servant INFERIOR by Office Now be it observed this eternal Spirit did freely condescend to take an Authoritative Delegation or Commission from the Father and Son unto the work of Sanctification Even as God the Son did condescend to take an authoritative Delegation from the Father unto the work of our Redemption Joh. 14.26 The Father will SEND him And Joh. 15.26 I will SEND him saith Christ And frequently this glorious Spirit is said to be SENT GIVEN POURED forth c. Namely to TEACH his People to BRING ALL THINGS TO THEIR REMEMBRANCE to QUICKEN them to COMFORT them to RESTORE them Eph. 2.13 He is named the Spirit of the Promise that is that is promised in the Covenant of grace unto all the blessed purposes of Grace aforesaid And is indeed the grand and principal Gift of all promised therein in the New Testament day The main thing promised by our Saviour unto his Church at the time of his withdrawing his bodily Presence from the same So that it is most evident this Holy Spirit doth not come unto us or act within us only in his own Name but in the Name of the Father and of the Son from whom and by whom He is Promised and Sent. Upon which account it is thought by many excellent Divines to be that the Sin against the Holy Ghost is Unpardonable which no other Sin is Even because Sin against him is Sin against all the Authority of God and all the Love of God and the uttermost condescention of all the three Divine Persons to the work of our Salvation And to come to the Mark that we would give let this be attended The gracious Man is one that payeth unto the Holy Ghost his double Honour the honour of his Essence and the honour of his Office Considered as in his Essence he believes in him worships him and obeys him as God EQUAL with the Father and Son Considered as in his Office he Values him Prays for him Grieves him not but industriously Pleaseth him Delighteth in him Dependeth upon him Thanketh the Father for giving him and the Son for purchasing him and the Father and Son for sending him as the great APPLYER of all the Benefits by the Father given and by the Son purchased As one whose Presence is incomparably more profitable and serviceable to the application thereof than the bodily presence of Christ it self And is as freely vouchsafed by him for the Sanctification of the Elect and for the Consolation of the Sanctified as ever Christ's Presence was vouchsafed for the Reconciliation of God unto thâ—m by his Blood Freely our Redeemer CAME to do that Will of his Father And as freely this our Sanctifyer and Comforter PROCEEDED to do the Will of the Father and the Son For of his Oeconomical and dispensatory Proceeding unto it and not of his personal Proceeding is that Text to be understood Joh. 15.26 He PROCEEDETH from the Father Now unto this glorious Spirit in whom all the New Testament Promises are fulfilled as in Christ all the Promises of the Old Testament were unto Him who as Jesus Christ thought it no robbery to be EQVAL with God yet was Promised as Christ was Promised by God and is said to Come to be Sent and to be Given as Christ is said to Come to be Sent and to be Given and may not be esteemed a less GIFT of God than Jesus Christ himself was unto this ever-blessed Spirit descending from the bosom of the Father and the Son and residing among the needy Children of Men unto this Inspiration of the Almighty what deferences doth the gracious Man make Sciunt qi fiunt Gracious hearts do very well know what deferences They know and feel it a gracious heart would rather be no heart than be void of this Spirit It accounteth every heart that is not his Holy Temple to be no other than Satan's hideous Dunghill In short it thus testifieth concerning that Spirit that is the Soul of its Soul the prime and principal Spring of all its Motions Heaven-ward The Son of God's Work in Redemption had been in vain without the Spirit of God's Work in it's Application Without this Almighty Work as well as that most Merciful one the Work of the Father in Freation which Sin spoiled had never been repaired never restored Without this blessed Spirit never had I understood a Truth or possessed a Grace or performed a Duty or enjoyed a Privilege in hand or in hope I was Ignorant even Darkness it ' self and he was unto me the spirit of Wisdom and of Understanding I was Unconvinced of my Sin and Misery and in a feavorish Dream of the clean contrary and he convinced me making it plain to me that I was a Child of wrath by Nature and of Disobedience by all my Life I was stupid and senseless of the wrath I believed coming and he brought me to my feeling and made me cry out I am grievously tormented with the guilt of my Sins and with the power of my Lusts He brought me into that bondage without which I had never looked out after liberty Under my Conviction and Compunction I was even totally Despairing one while and going about to set up my own Righteousness another while and he it was who came and perswaded me there was a Rock of Salvation for such as I but my
the burning beams of Sin-revenging Justice but under the MEDIATOR the only Apple-Tree among the Trees of the VVood. In short Worship cannot be without Acquaintance Agreement Strength Courage and Oneness of Design But I avow it to all the World take away Christ out of my Mind and God is a very Stranger unto me Nor know I what to say unto him Take Christ out of my Mind and God is worse in my sight than a Stranger He is an Enemy one that doth and cannot but hate me and one whom I must and cannot but hate Christ is so altogether my RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE Take Christ out of my Mind and I a Creature that is a Thing of no strength of my own And a sinner also that is one that hath forfeited all the strength that God first gave me I then have no strength to speak or sigh it self graciously Yea and am one whom God will not strengthen and whom all the Creatures in Heaven and Earth cannot strengthen no not so much as to think one good thought Tell me not God is merciful and the way to him is easie I am sure God's Mercy though there be an infinite Ocean of it descends not one drop of it but through Christ And in the easiest sweetest way that Almightiness and Grace can make there can be no Motion without Strength no Act without Power Take Christ out of my Mind and verily if I remember God I am troubled horror and trembling lay hold on me I can like Devils believe and tremble I cannot believe and pray The Divine great Power scares me and his Wrath against Sin strikes me in my thoughts unto Hell Take Christ out of my Mind and what then why then whatever worship I set to I cannot possibly drive at God's end and design in it Without which it is plainly as impossible that God should be pleased with it The design of God is to advance his own Glory and to do it in the advancement of Christ Mediator as aforesaid What a worship then must I make of it if I rush into any without designing both to glorifie God and to glorifie him in Christ In Christ honoured with the honour of his Mediatorship What do I do less than overthrow as far as in me is the foundation of God's Government and Grace to faln Man I love this Mediator and he is my Meditation every day I set him always before me Old Testament and New be but Stars leading me to Jesus The Promises be precious because they conveigh Jesus to me The Precepts are precious because they lead me to Jesus for strength to perform them The Threatnings be precious because they lead me to Jesus for grace to escape them And I bless the Father of Glory his Father and my Father that he hath given him so very many Names for the help of my Mind and Memory So that it is my own fault if all things do not suggest thoughts of him to me if sight of the Morning call not to my mind him the Sun of Righteousness If putting on of my Cloaths suggest not some thoughts to me of him the Wedding Garment If I wash me and forget him the Fountain opened to wash away sin If I Eat and forget him the Bread of Life If I Walk and forget him the Way If I lye down to Rest and forget him who is my Peace If I see an earthly King and forget him the Prince of the Kings of the Earth If I converse with wise Men forgetting him the VVisdom of God with Ministers forgetting him the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession and Bishop of our Souls with Lawyers and forget him the wonderful Counsellor with Physitians and forget him the Healer of all Diseases with Merchants and forget him the Pearl of Price Yea or with very Alphabet-Children and forget him who is the Alpha and Omega Who is all that all the Letters can make words to speak praise for and much more Who is JESUS that is a Saviour from Sin and all the Curses of Sin Who is REDEEMER that is as to the manner of his saving one who saves by the payment of a price valuable or rather invaluable Who is MEDIATOR that is a Middle person by participation of both Natures to wit of God offended and of Man offending A middle Person thus by his Natures and standing in a middle place betwixt God and Man whom Sin had set at odds labouring in apt and fit ways to reconcile them To reconcile God unto them by a satisfactory price and to reconcile them unto God by a victorious Power Which Power he could not have had if he had not been God and which Price he could not have paid if he had not been both God and Man also Who is our SURETY that is a person that undertakes to see a Debt satisfied or a Covenant performed Christ undertook to satisfie for our Debt to God On his Father's behalf he undertook that he should Pardon and Save us on the terms of the Gospel-Covenant On our behalf he undertook that we should fulfill those terms Who is CHRIST that is anointed or qualified and consecrated and commissioned to be such a Surety as aforesaid Who is therefore the PROPHET to take away our Ignorance the PRIEST to take away our Guilt the KING to take away our Rebellion Who is White and Ruddy and ALTOGETHER LOVELY Whose reproaches I esteem greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt for whose sake I have forsaken all things and do account them but loss that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith O what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and go without this Saviour of the World What can be said worse of Hell than that Christ is not there Or when is Heaven praised higher than when it is said to be a Being for ever with the Lord Jesus Thus doth the gracious Heart express it self and lisp forth its Esteem and Love of Christ which are unexpressible The Fool hath said in his heart There is no God but the gracious Wise man saith in his heart There is no God but God in Christ that he can Enjoy as his Portion or Serve as his Lord. There is no God out of Christ but what is a consuming fire And their Sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another Mediator or Peacemaker with God With submission to learned Interpreters I do so understand the Psalmist In a word the gracious Man is of that Church which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ as it is expressed 1 Thess 1.1 And it must be said nextly Mark 3. The Holy Ghost is God and Christ's both Equal and Administrator General in his heart The Scripture calls him and the gracious Man calls him The Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son The